Will Laimbeer Be Brought In For Toughness for new blood Josh/Stephen Smith, i.e

Not taken sides here as I grew up on the "west side", and know where AG is coming from as we all got a little thug and a little angel in us, whether we choose to admit it or not.

Over these past 50+ years, I've learn to accept everything and move on so I don't really mind or get bogged down in what Letterman says about Palins' daughters or who plays on the Pistons team as long as they can ball and they put forth a team effort with a common goal to win.

With that being said, I guess it may time to close this thread and reopen it under another subject matter....

I like Steve Jackson. In fact, a group of my friends work at a club in SF that he frequents and to a man they state how cool and down to earth he is. (They also say how Al Harrington once left with a tranny, but he can play for the Pistons too!)

Anyhow, here is a better version (and better doesn't really do it justice - including the police report) of what happened that fateful night at an Indiana strip club. The phrase handicap short arm is liberally used here so you may not want to read this if that might offend you.

SLAM ONLINE | » Stephen Jackson and the Police Report

What did Kobe do to that "young girl"? What did that young girl try to do to Kobe?

She accused Kobe of Rape.

Kobe indicated it was consentual.

If by "young girl" you mean his wife, then the answer is obvious.

How do we go from talking about what Laimbeer would bring to the sidelines of the Pistons, to discussing Kobe's marital and extra-marital activities?

Don't know about the rest of you, but I've suffered from enough Kobe-over-dose in the media these last several weeks to last several life times.

Let me make it short and sweet for you, then we can move on to something else with all due haste. It's not your team, you are only a fan of it period. Come tommorrow morning, Joe D and management won't give a damn what we think, because they will field a team of their liking not ours. So if he brings in Stephen Jackson, Artest, Smith their mommas fathers or distant cousins, we either continue rooting for our team (in the words of Locstah) pick another team, or turn the channel. That's why technology is so great and we live in the greatest country in the world, we have choices. We can even get tattoos that can say and/or represent anything.

Ooooooooooookkkkkkaaaaayyyyyy? Who ever said this wasn't the case?

It wasn't me by the way that said I'd stop being a fan. Not sure what is being disputed here anymore.......hopefully nothing because this doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

What's happening here is; in my initial thread I mentioned in general terms, how some of us would go on and on about not wanting certain players on the pistons squad because of their past behavior, (malice at the palace, personal and on-going issues that violates our values, i.e.)

I even put myself out there, hell I called Rasheed a base head (before he came to the Pistons). When he got here, he was the best thing since sliced bread. That's just me, I keep it real that's why it grates me when folks come with weak stuff. I can call myself out and will quickly admit when I make mis-steps, it's no "Shame In My Game".

As a result of this thread, I guess it must have struck a nerve with you and your perception was that I was personally attacking your statement about Stephen Jackson being a felon and Artest a thug.

IMHO that these are pervasive steretypes regardless of your color, creed or national origin, ones that many folks have been dealing with for years. You can have fortune 500 CEO's, doctors, lawyers, i.e who have come up through the ranks and have all types of dirt in thier past, however, they have transcended and moved on, built their character and are now upstanding citizens. It is not expected for some reason in the sports culture that someone like Jackson and whomever else can become something other than that face in the stands when he was cold cocking somebody. Is he any worse than Dick Cheney and those other yahoos who swindled people out of thousands of dollars?

This is not personal Loctash.

I understand that, I just wanted to make it clear that my opinion is based on (not so distant) past incidents and that I personnaly don't feel like he's what we need here. Obviously people can change and I agree with you that the capacity to change is not/should not be tied to ones background (race, wealth, religion, etc.). I also agree that my or anyone's opinion of someone else could change once they don the red, white and blue but for now I have the opinion I have and until I see actual change I'm gonna call a spade a spade. I was never saying he can't change I just haven't seen anything to make me believe he has.

A few have mentioned that Jackson has been singled out as team captain and the consumate teammate by those that play with him. Maybe this is a better indication of what he's made of than news reports. Although he may be a good guy deep down he needs to work on projecting that to the rest of the world. People are judged on actions and not intentions unfortunately. Sorry to come across as hostile but I originally felt my opinion was justified. In going back and forth with you I have realized that there's more to a book than it's cover. Thanks.

Exit, Voice and Loyalty

Albert O. Hirschman

...Nellie seems to like him.