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Inciting Histrionics League
The Las Vegas Thunder may have the best record in the International Hockey League and a corps of 8,000 fans, but the team is guilty of one cardinal sin in the eyes of everyone who actually loves the game:
The team insists upon dumbing-down its fans, constantly promoting and exploiting fighting.
A fight breaks out during a Thunder home game and instantly the old Pat Benatar song “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” blares over the public-address system. Then the picture on the big-screen above the ice focuses on the combatants and follows them to the penalty box, where the players are encouraged to ham it up with gestures and taunts toward the opposition.
What are they supposed to do, wait for a hockey game to break out?
Thirteenth man on a 12-man team
John Salley had no shot in Toronto, not with bosses like former Pistons cohorts Isiah Thomas and Brendan Malone. They were already weary of his act.
Salley hasn’t left the Raptors’ bench in weeks. Rock bottom came in a recent win over Boston. Rather than play Salley, Malone used small forward Carlos Rogers at center. “It didn’t faze me,” Salley said.
The Raptors were also missing Oliver Miller (flu), so Malone went with Zan Tabak at center and Tony Massenburg at power forward. When Tabak got in early foul trouble, Salley appeared to be Malone’s only option - until the coach realized former Celtics bust Acie Earl was on the roster. And when Massenburg needed a breather, Ed Pinckney got some rare minutes.
Some have suggested Thomas has benched Salley, a charge Thomas denies. “Brendan Malone is the type of coach that if he had the Devil himself on his bench and he thought the Devil could help him win games, he’d play the Devil,” Thomas said. “There are simply players ahead of Salley right now that Brendan thinks can help.”
Salley might help matters if he’d just remove that third “6” from his jersey.
Katz calls can wear on a guy
Philadelphia 76ers coach John Lucas is making the best of a tough situation, plugging on while owner Harold Katz continues his search for a replacement. Katz interviewed former Celtics coach Chris Ford last week.
“How am I supposed to coach this team now?” Lucas asked. “I just dress out every day and come to play. But the first one of those guys who says, ‘Screw you, you’re just a short-timer,’ I’m going at him.”
Lucas has already gone after center Sharone Wright, nicknaming him “Chiffon” because his injuries coincide with matchups against David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Cage.
Nice league
How bad has 1995-96 been for the Dallas Mavericks? Keith Grant, the team’s director of player personnel, recently flew to San Diego to scout a Continental Basketball Association game - but the team folded 30 minutes after he arrived. Grant stayed in the hotel and watched eight college games on ESPN instead.
The last word …
“I told him when we started: ‘When I get through with you, they’ll call you ‘No Bread Red.”’
- Minnesota Fats, late pool hustler, recalling 1961 match with Cornbread Red Birge
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo