bird/barkley

I have just two comments:
1)I live in Ohio and was in Cleveland listening to a sports station on the
radio.  The question of the day was if you had to start a team who would
your pick for your first player and your coach/manager in each sport.  A
caller said he would take Jordan as the player and Bird as the manager to
run the show.  The radio host laughed at the Bird pick based on the fact
he was very involved and in considerable favor for picking Montross. My
question is how much do you think Bird was involved with the pick and is
Bird in the front office reason to laugh at or do you think he might be
great in the future?

2)Just a quick point about the article in USA Today about the old players
moving on and the young players lack of respect for elders and the game.
I completely agree with the article and can't stand the likes of Webber,
Rider, etc.  However they continuously had remarks from older players like
Jordan, Malone and Barkley about the younger players lack of respect.  I
love Jordan and Malone as true professionals on and off the court and
respect what they say.  As well I now love Charles as a person and player,
but he is a hypocrit talking about respect for elders.  IMO and if my
memory serves me correct, Barkley did not respect anybody when he came
into the league.  Granted he turned himself around and hopefully some of
these other players can to.


 Christopher R. Gee