Questions, questions and more questions

So many questions...


The Boston Globe is asking a "Huge Question" on what the real value of Albert Haynesworth is? A great quote from Bill Belichick in that piece on why they took on the troubled player:

“I think we can look at every player, every person in this room’s past, and find something that was a mistake and is less than ideal - on any team, in any group of people. We’ve all made mistakes."

Haynesworth has not had a Full-Pad practice let alone played a down for the Patriots, and the Herald asking an even bolder question: If Haynesworth is convicted of groping a Washington, D.C., cocktail waitress and gets the max, will it be 6 months before he even has a chance to don #92?



Delonte "@CharleeRedz13" West is asking a question too, if Home Depot is hiring?

Delonte's wasn't stopping with his twitter update, maybe he should've, but the follow up was just as quoteworthy:

“I actually might have work with Sam’s [Club], BJ’s, selling knives. That’s pretty cool too. I get a microphone and everything. “You gotta get with it, do something that you love. I’m an architect, I was an art major. At Home Depot, I get free discount on hammers and nails.”

A guy with weapons charges stemming from carrying a Bowie Knife, a Beretta 9mm handgun, a Ruger .357 magnum handgun, and a Remington 870 shotgun probably shouldn't be joking about selling knives while still under probation.



Finally, Malcolm Gladwell asks what are the "Psychic Benefits" of the NBA Lockout for the Owners? This is a really good read and not just for his blasting of Tom Yawkey's unforgivable racism ("Yawkey was not just a racist, in other words. He was a racist who put his hatred of black people ahead of his desire to make money.").

Here are a few of the points made by Gladwell:

• Since 2000, there have been eight basketball stadiums either built or renovated for NBA teams at a cost of $2 billion — and $1.75 billion of that came from public funds.4 And did you know that under the federal tax code the NFL is classified as a nonprofit organization?5 Big genial Roger Goodell, he of the almost $4 billion in television contracts, makes like he's the United Way.
• Pro sports teams are a lot like works of art. Forbes magazine annually estimates the value of every professional franchise, based on standard financial metrics like operating expenses, ticket sales, revenue, and physical assets like stadiums. When sports teams change hands, however, the actual sales price is invariably higher. Forbes valued the Detroit Pistons at $360 million. They just sold for $420 million. Forbes valued the Wizards at $322 million. They just sold for $551 million. Forbes said that the Warriors were worth $363 million. They just sold for $450 million.
• The big difference between art and sports, of course, is that art collectors are honest about psychic benefits. They do not wake up one day, pretend that looking at a Van Gogh leaves them cold, and demand a $27 million refund from their art dealer. But that is exactly what the NBA owners are doing. They are indulging in the fantasy that what they run are ordinary businesses — when they never were.