I don’t often discuss the WNBA (this is my first time, be gentle with me), but I caught a glimpse of an article today about last night’s game between the LA something-or-others and the Detroit whatevers.
Let me set the stage, and see if you can figure out what happened.
A) The game was being played in Detroit
B) The home team, who plays in Detroit, was about to lose the ball game.
C) Detroit, who was about to lose, is coached by Bill Laimbeer.
D) Detroit’s assistant coach is Rick Mahorn.
Five bonus points to the first person who can figure out what happened next.
Yep, you guessed it…..a brawl erupted. Here’s some quick video of the brawl….
Look, the sports broadcasters are talking about it left and right today, and about how terrible and awful it is, and “what can we do to prevent this sort of behavior?”
I hate to tell you this, but this is your bed. Lay in it, dammit. This type of activity comes from the NBA allowing, nay, PROMOTING the “Bad Boy” mentality that the Detroit Pistons used to win ball games in the 1980s. Now only the thugs aren’t playing anymore…..they’re coaching a new generation of thugs.
The hilarious part of the whole incident is the quote from Laimbeer regarding Mahorn;
“Rick Mahorn is known as a peacemaker, from even the brawl we had here with Indiana,” Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer said. “He went out there to get people off the pile, and to get people to stop the confrontation. That’s who he is, that’s what he does.”
Ask any Cleveland Cavalier fan from the late 80s what he/she thinks about Mahorn as a “peacemaker”. Hell, ask Mark Price himself.
Rick Mahorn of the Pistons has been fined $5,000 by the National Basketball Association for elbowing Mark Price of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the head in a game Detroit won Tuesday, the league announced yesterday. ”Throwing an elbow can be just as damaging as throwing a punch, and if it is deliberate, the penalties will be just as severe,” said Rod Thorn, a league vice president.
The game in which Mahorn threw the elbow? Price was lighting it up from outside, and he was always tough to defend against. On one possession, Price was trailing behind the play. After he crossed halfcourt, Mahorn (who was an inside player), came out from the paint to the midcourt. As Price (6’0″) turned around, Mahorn (6’10”) threw an elbow at his temple, and floored him for the rest of the game (and if I recall, three weeks beyond). The Pistons went on to win against the Cavs, who had trouble recovering without their go-to shooter that night.
Mahorn a peacemaker? No, far from it. Hell, watch the video again. He shoved a woman in it. Yeah, nice guy that Mahorn.
Sorry WNBA. This is what you get when you put thugs in charge of people in a thug city known and praised for thug behavior.
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