Stoudemire proves his stupidity in bunches.

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Maybe I'm a little behind the rest of the planet on this, having just read 
it in the Globe, but it's reported that Damon Stoudemaire of the Blazers 
was arrested while trying to sneak 1 1/2 ounces of grass wrapped in tinfoil 
through a metal detector.

Apparently, some people should have studied harder in school, else he'd 
know that tin is a metal.  Leaving aside the fact that the grass itself is 
illegal (and I'm not looking for a debate on the medicinal quality of 
marajuana, at this time, it's not legal), he must have been using some of 
it when he came up with this "plan".

This is exactly what concerns me about potential trades.  Some of the 
available players--like Spreewell--should be in jail, not the NBA.  The 
Trail Blazers president said he'd fire Damon if he could.

Why not?  Assuming he is guilty--which has, in fairness, NOT been 
established at this time--he's taken an illegal drug and tried to smuggle 
it onto an airplane.  Soon, the NBA will be playing more overseas 
games.  Other countries are not nearly so forgiving of this kind of 
idiocy.  What happens when an entire team is imprisoned and their plane 
impounded for someone's unfortunate choice of private pick-me-up?  We've 
got Darrell Armstrong in Orlando--who has admitted to resisting and 
attacking a police officer--showing he shouldn't be out after dark without 
a keeper.

These people are well-known NBA players.  What they do reflects on their 
team as well as their fans.  I remember--vaguely, I admit--reading about 
Dave Cowens (or it might have been Havlicek, I don't remember clearly just 
now) being in some remote place and getting in a fight--I think someone 
made a comment about his wife, or something.  The player came to Red and 
apologized.  Red knew it was unusual for the player to do this, but made it 
clear it better not happen again.  It never did.

Yes, these guys are human and fallible like us all.  But there's only 29 
teams--soon to be 30--and a limited number of players on the roster.  The 
percentages are too high for my liking.  The league--and the individual 
teams--need to come down on this with both feet.

At the very least, if a player is going to do something utterly idiotic, 
there's no reason the team should reward him for it. At least Damon was 
fined and suspended.  Darrell Armstrong should, reasonably, expect at least 
that.  If I ran the NBA, Spree would never set foot on an NBA court again, 
I don't care HOW talented he is.

Yes, it would apply to Celtics players, too.  If Len Bias had lived, I'd 
have suspended him for at least a month for what he did, if only to impress 
upon him and his teammates that it wouldn't be tolerated.  I like Kevin 
McHale as a player, but when he screwed up with the contract mess, he got 
what he deserved, as did the team.

I'm just tired of reading about NBA players more on the news than in the 
sports sections.  I'll go have a chocolate chip cookie now, and stop being 
such a grouchy beagle.

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
Please visit the <http://www.celticsbeagle.net/>Celtics Beagle Website