Rob Q. Ink - A Philly Sports Blog

It never ceases to amaze me how fast Sixers “fans” want to gut their favorite team to get the latest petulant brat demanding a trade. Actually, it’s not true fans that are now salivating at the ridiculous notion that the Sixers could trade for Kobe Bryant. It’s merely the “cool guys” that catch Sportscenter once in a while to see that the Sixers lost, and offer a heartfelt, “Dude, they suck,” amidst other “cool guy” speak. Yes, the Sixers have been pretty awful in the last couple decades aside from a few blips on the radar. But anyone actually watching them knows they finally rid themselves of a big part of the reason that they weren’t very good in the last 10 years, and were actually a playoff-caliber team in the second half of last season. So, just because Bryant decided to announce through every NBA star’s favorite mouthpiece, Stephen A. Smith, that he needs to be burped by the Lakers, doesn’t make it time to “trade the whole roster” to get him. (By the way, when a columnist for you

Reports are that no one is really watching the NBA playoffs, and the league seems to like it that way. It’s the only reason I can see that they decided to taint the best series they had going. The “debate” over the suspensions handed down in the NBA this week is absurd. Anyone that doesn’t think commissioner David Stern absolutely screwed Phoenix in their playoff series against San Antonio needs to find a clue. Suspending Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for a game after they came off the bench when Robert Horry body checked Steve Nash was as dumb as it gets. Stern and his supporters are simply dead wrong on every count. Stern followed the letter of the law, and had no choice: Really? Tim Duncan wasn’t suspended when he came on the court after a teammate was under cut early in the playoffs. And if the letter of the law allows a sub to pick a fight and have his team benefit, which is exactly where happened, the law stinks. In fact, if the commissioner isn’t empowered or able to over rule

First, some guy named Imus called the women’s basketball team from Rutgers nappy headed hoes. Then the world of academia published a study essentially calling NBA refs racist because white officials call more fouls on black players than white players. Now ESPN took a poll to show more whites than blacks are rooting for Barry Bonds to fail in his quest to hit the most home runs in a career in Major League history. I’m not about to make a fool of myself and question when the race issue will be put to rest. It’s a real issue, and, sadly, it seems destined to always be an issue. Some may think I’m a fool for the question I am going to ask: Why are we looking so hard for so-called examples of racism? The easy answer is it sells. Stories like the Don Imus and Rutgers issue gets ratings. That’s the only reason a racist joke by a radio host plenty of us never heard of two months ago became a two-week story. Ratings bring advertising dollars, and as we all know advertising dollars are really w