The Drubbing

A great story out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin today by ESPN.com. Earlier this month a senior on Milwaukee Madison’s basketball team lost his mother to cancer. He wasn’t planning to play in the game that night but later changed his mind and arrived at the gym in the second quarter.

He wasn’t in the book that night, so when his coach inserted him into the game, the officials had no choice but to access his team a technical foul, even at the objections of the opposing team.

So when the opposing team’s player stepped to the line to take the two foul-shots, because his team was aware of the circumstances surrounding the family of the Milwaukee Madison’s player, he shot both shots about three feet, intentionally missing both of them.

It was a wonderful gesture by an opposing team and an even better example of two coaches showing the boys on their teams how to be “grown ass men” and responsible people. It’s ironic that this story comes out the day after Zach Randolph tried to turn an NBA game into a street fight.

I sincerely hope Zach gets tossed for the rest of the season. I find this act so much more egregious than the brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills, or even the scuffle between the Rich & Creamies (Denver Nuggets) and the Knicks at MSG. All of those were reactive, kicked off by a spontaneous event. Zach on the other hand stood over Louis Amundson, stalking him, waiting for him to return to his feet before Zach cocked back his wet noodle of a hammer and popped Amundson in the kisser.

And further cause to remove Zach for the rest of the season, he can’t punch for shit. The NBA has enough security problems with Antoine Walker and Eddy Curry getting robbed. Now thanks to Zach, NBA players will be even bigger targets because everyone knows they can’t punch. In case Zach was wondering, this is what a real punch at close range looks like.

As some have commented, it’s sad that events like this are news, when they should be the norm. But I take the more optimistic stance that even if these types of events were the norm, these are still the kinds of stories we need to hear about. These are the kinds of stories that need to be on the news. A long time ago the news stations crossed over from providing negative news as a public service, to providing negative news as a ratings tool, and the more sensational the better. It’s too bad we don’t also have more newscasts like this one.