No Hall of Famer
I used to be a big Vince Carter fan. To the point where I’d have heated debates with former colleague John Tomase that the young Carter would be better than (gulp) the young Kobe Bryant.
ProBasketballReference.com gives the slam dunk champ a 78.6 percent chance of making the Hall of Fame.
I don’t care that Carter has scored nearly 22,000 points, he’s a gunner with no heart. Real good player, but he’s no Hall of Famer.
Should be in
Without much research, here’s my list of modern basketball players who should have been (but won’t be) Hall of Famers.
No heart: Vince Carter, Derrick Coleman, Tracy McGrady.
Drugs: Roy Tarpley, Micheal Ray Richardson, Marvin Barnes
Clueless: Rasheed Wallace, Darryl Dawkins, Shawn Kemp
Injuries: Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway, Yao Ming, Larry Johnson
Cakes are baking
UTL birthday wishes go out to Johnson and Wales baseball player Tyler Pacheco from Pinkerton (turns 22 tomorrow), Andover football player Brandon Marti (turns 15 Wednesday), University of Portland distance runner Kevin MacPherson from Derry (turns 20 Thursday) and Merrimack soccer goalie Meghan Gulbrandsen of Haverhill (turns 19 Friday).
World’s worst teammate
Google the stunning video of Farmington (Minn.) High School goalie Austin Kruse, He got the start on Senior Night and deliberately scored on his own net to tie the game at 2-2 with 3:13 remaining. He then gave the finger in the direction of his coaches and gave a salute before leaving the ice. He posted on his Facebook after the game that it was because the coach played a sophomore goalie who was terrible.
Magnanimous martin
Few in the area are as generous as well known local coach and referee Brian Martin. I witnessed him voluntarily plowing a neighbor’s unshoveled driveway the day after the blizzard. Then he noticed another neighbor, an elderly woman, shoveling her walk. He insisted he’d do it.
Somehow it’s not surprising that during his week off he’ll be helping build houses in Guatemala.
miaa reversal
Nearly three weeks after its controversial ruling that Gardner athletes and teams wouldn’t be able to participate in the winter state tournaments, the MIAA had a change of heart. The dispute was over Gardner refusing to return last year’s sectional swimming trophy, which it had to forfeit.
Football Follies
There is a certain science to picking all-star teams. In football, often the best players play the same position so you balance the team out listing the players at another position.
A star running back, for example, often is a star linebacker of defensive back. But the player at least has to be pretty good at the other position. A buddy of mine from the Southern part of the state said his town’s local star, who made the 26-player Mass. Football Coaches Association All-State team as a defensive back, couldn’t have played more than a handful of plays on defense the entire season.
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Follow Michael Muldoon on Twitter under the screen name @MullyET.
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