Friday, December 26, 2014

Wizards showing last year was no magic trick

Amid the rush of people returning unwanted Christmas gifts or perhaps enjoying a relaxing day off from mingling with relatives or fighting shopping mall hordes, my thoughts turned to the National Basketball Association after its slate of Christmas Day games.

Specifically, I pondered some of the meaning behind the Washington Wizards defeating the New York Knicks 102-91 at Madison Square Garden in New York Thursday. Sure, the Knicks are in such disarray they wouldn’t even qualify as a hot mess with a 5-26 record and a rookie head coach in Derek Fisher who is one year removed from being a reserve point guard. Sure, the Knicks are trying to adopt the triangle offense espoused by team president and legendary former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson, and that offense is complex.

But a win is a win, and this win marked the 20th of the season for the Wizards, snapping a two-game losing streak. For a Washington team that all too often in its history has struggled to win 20 games out of the NBA’s 82-game schedule, winning 20 games out of the first 28 games on the schedule is a notable accomplishment. Winning on the road in one of the league’s most storied venues, even against a decrepit Knicks squad that fell to 5-26 as a result of Washington’s victory in front of a national television audience is significant.

The team has won games it would have lost in years past. A come-from-behind victory over Milwaukee when the team started flat after beating Cleveland the night before was a prime example of a game the Wizards would have lost in years past that they’ve learned to win. Another example was a lethargic outing against Orlando on Dec. 10 that saw shooting guard Bradley Beal struggle mightily all game until he hit a buzzer-beating game-winning shot that secured a 91-89 victory as Wizards play-by-play announcer Steve Buckhantz shouted, “Dagger!”

The best part of this for long suffering Wizards fans who didn’t jump onto the bandwagon of a suddenly successful team has been watching a team that isn’t just struggling to sneak into the playoffs as a low seed to get an expected beat down from the elite teams in the conference. This team has the look of an outstanding team in its own right. It’s a team that former Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon argued doesn’t get enough attention from a D.C.-area fan base that’s obsessed with the Washington NFL team.

In a signature victory-type outing Dec. 12 against a powerful Los Angeles Clippers squad featuring Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, the Wizards seized control of the game and never let the Clippers get closer than eight points in the second half, defeating Los Angeles 104-96. It was a game that wasn’t as close as the score suggested, and point guard John Wall completely outplayed Paul.

Just as important as Wall has been with his assists and with his court vision has been the veteran leadership of forward Paul Pierce, who has helped the team take “maturity steps” on the way to becoming a team to respect. One media outlet in the Washington, D.C. area reported that Pierce got on his teammates about bad habits after the team won a game.

Wilbon also touched on the chemistry the team has developed on the court and off and has complimented the team’s personalities in addition to the quality of their play. This definitely does not have the look of a Wizards team that nearly five years ago saw former superstar guard Gilbert Arenas and fellow guard Javaris Crittenton have an altercation that led to Arenas leave four guns in Crittenton’s locker with a sign saying “pick one.”

Not only that, but Randy Wittman has successfully removed the label of coaching retread over the past two-plus seasons. His failures as a coach – with admittedly inferior teams in Cleveland and Minnesota – were well documented before the Wizards dispatched the Bulls four games to one last season. Sure, his overall record of 211-337, with a winning percentage of .385 is awful. However, after Wall returned from an injury in 2012-13 with his team mired in a 4-28 start, the Wizards started their rebound with a 25-25 record the rest of that season. Last year, they finished 44-38 in the regular season. That’s a combined 89-71 mark and a .556 winning percentage since that disastrous beginning.

It’s still not a record that would draw comparisons to Jackson, Pat Riley or any other coach who may have Hall of Fame aspirations. But for a team that has been so bad for so long, and celebrated mediocrity by printing T-shirts that celebrated merely qualifying for the playoffs 10 years ago, it’s been amazing to watch a team that people are now saying can contend for a conference title.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

More violence in St. Louis, and more problems for our country

For many people, the day before Christmas Eve may be a day for finishing up work projects before taking off for a holiday break. It may be a day of packing and getting on the road to visit Grandma or other relatives. It may even be a day devoted to finishing up last minute holiday shopping and wrapping presents.

For the family of Berkeley, Mo. resident Antonio Martin, 18, it will be a day of grief. Martin was killed after a confrontation with police during which the officer who shot Martin accuse him of pointing a gun at him.

More than four months after 18-year-old Michael Brown’s shooting death turned the otherwise little-known St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo. into a household word and inflamed racial tensions, St. Louis County police are once again drawing national scrutiny. Officer Darren Wilson may not have been indicted in Brown’s death, but protests have made headlines and fault lines between people who argue that police are abusing their powers and those who assert that police wouldn’t have to be in a position to be accused of brutality if people obeyed the law have become more pronounced.

Tensions have gotten so heated that an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released just the other day reported that 57 percent of Americans believe race relations in the country are poor. Twenty-three percent said relations are “very bad,” the highest number since October 1995 when a majority-black jury declared O.J. Simpson not guilty in the murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

Protestors have decried police tactics and the militarization of police units around the country, including people who wore T-shirts bearing the words, “I can’t breathe” to protest the choking death of Eric Garner. Some police have taken part in counter-protests and worn shirts that have said, “breathe easy. Don’t break the law.”

That’s bad enough because it shows insensitivity to people who are grieving. Regardless of whether Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Martin or 12-year-old Tamir Rice, gunned down Nov. 22 for pointing a toy gun at a police officer were at fault or had any responsibility for what happened, it’s a direct insult to people who are grieving and those who support them.

To make matters worse, police demands that the National Football League and the St. Louis Rams extract apologies for a protest where five Rams took the field at Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis making a “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture. The NFL rightly refused to apologize for or discipline the players.

Police demanded that the Cleveland Browns apologize for and discipline wide receiver Andrew Hawkins for wearing a shirt to protest Rice’s death. Hawkins responded all right, but didn’t apologize.

“Justice shouldn’t warrant an apology,” he wrote.

It’s bad enough that some police choose to antagonize people in grief. It’s even worse that they demand apologize for people exercising their rights of freedom of expression. When once police officer wrote a blog post entitled, “Today I Stopped Caring,” it only served to inflame tensions even more.

“Today, I stopped caring about my fellow man. I stopped caring about my community, my neighbors, and those I serve. I stopped caring today because a once noble profession has become despised, hated, distrusted, and mostly unwanted,” the post began.

Instead of taking the time to evaluate all sides, including people who broke laws and people who abused the authority symbolized by their badges, the post blamed parents who “refuse to teach their kids right from wrong and blame us when they are caught breaking the law,” among others. I’ll admit that as soon as the writer wrote, “I stopped caring today because Liberals hate the police as we carry guns, scare kids, and take away their drugs,” he or she lost me completely. Even though the post later blamed conservatives for hating them because “we are the government,” the post served to do nothing to heal the great divide. It only reinforces it.

Many police out there do great things, including Larry DePrimo, who dropped $100-plus on a pair of boots for a barefoot homeless man two years ago. I consider one or two police officers friends of mine. But instances of police brutality exist, and must be addressed effectively. Lawbreakers need to be dealt with effectively, and the punishment should fit the crime.

More importantly, however, these events that have cast a dark shadow on race relations in this country are proof positive that we need to tackle the roots of the problem. Passing laws won’t necessarily solve the problems. Electing an African-American to the White House hasn’t eliminated racism. What’s needed is a long term cooperative solution that demonstrates respect on all sides.

An old song by Traffic singer Dave Mason called “We Just Disagree” might be a good place for us to start, as the chorus talks about not declaring either side to be wrong or right.

“So let’s leave it alone/Cause we can’t see eye to eye/There ain’t no good guy/There ain’t no bad guy/There’s only you and me and we just disagree.”

Come to think of it, we all could use the lessons from that song.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Does actor's admission make matters worse?

Just over two months ago, actor Stephen Collins's alleged confession to sexually molesting underage girls over a 21-year period surfaced as part of a protracted divorce battle between him and ex-wife and fellow actor Faye Grant.

The sordid case was a sad footnote for a man who became famous for playing the Rev. Eric Camden, a beloved figure on the hit TV show 7th Heaven during its 11-season run and also played a key role in Star Trek: The Motion Picture as Cmdr. Will Decker. I noted back in October that Collins hadn't been charged yet and hadn't formally admitted to molesting anyone.

Now he has admitted to molesting three young girls between 1973 and 1994 in a statement he released to People Magazine. The 67-year-old described three specific incidents in graphic detail which were included on a tape secretly recorded by Grant of an otherwise confidential couples therapy session between Collins and Grant in 2012.

"Forty years ago, I did something terribly wrong that I deeply regret," Collins said in the statement. "I have been working to atone for it ever since."

All the supposed good those contrite-sounding words may have done likely was wiped out with the defiant tone intimated by his subsequent comments about the leaked confession.

"I've decided to address these issues publicly because two months ago, various news organizations published a recording made by my then-wife, Faye Grant, during a confidential marriage therapy session in January, 2012. This session was recorded without the therapist's or my knowledge or consent."

It's true that leaking a secretly taped conversation opens the door to legal problems in its own right. But this reaction suggests that Collins is trying to deflect at least some of the criticism on the methods Grant used to bring these accusations to light.

"On the recording, I described events that took place 20, 32, and 40 years ago," Collins continues. "The publication of the recording has resulted in assumptions and innuendos about what I did that go far beyond what actually occurred. As difficult as this is, I want people to know the truth."

The truth is that Collins' now admitted actions are some of the ugliest, most heinous crimes that can be visited on children. They deserve the kind of scorn which is increasingly being visited on the people who truly deserve such scorn, people who commit various acts of exploitation.

Cases of sexual and other forms of abuse have taken center stage this year, especially in light of incidents such as Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson's abuse of his 4-year-old son by hitting him with a switch. That led to what amounted to an indefinite suspension from the National Football League and what has now become a protracted legal battle as the league and Peterson battle over what was allegedly supposed to be a two-game suspension.

Besides abuse inflicted on minors, the case of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice knocking out his then-fiance Janay Palmer brought the NFL's domestic violence policy under much-needed scrutiny, even though the league made itself look bad by essentially subjecting both Peterson and Rice to double jeopardy. The stories of alleged drugging and sexual assaults by Bill Cosby also underscore the massive problems society needs to address.

The league may not be subject to constitutional prohibitions against double jeopardy, but the NFL Players Association argues the league can't punish players a second time for the same offense based on its collective bargaining agreement. That's why it was so critical to get it right the first time, and why the league's mild punishment was so problematic.

If there's one good thing to come from all the reports of domestic violence and sexual abuse, the fact that many people are now having difficult conversations that would have been suppressed in recent years may shine enough of a light in the hidden dark corners of society to force much-needed changes to how we treat abusers and victims.

Whether various statutes of limitations mean Collins, Cosby or anyone else who may be guilty of abuse in years past will face the music of legal ramifications or not, the fact that these accusations have brought hidden demons out into the open may prove to be its own form of justice.