Bob, stop it ... you're killing me ...

Ready for a good laugh? No, I mean a REALLY good laugh ...

Take a look at what Oakland A's manager Bob Melvin said about his team's signing of two-time drug cheat Manny Ramirez:

“He can be a great example with his work ethic,” Melvin said. “We have some young kids and, who knows, maybe something will rub off.”

Well, yes, something could rub off — an illegal substance, perhaps; a bit of his selfish personality, maybe. They can learn how to feign injury, certainly.

Work ethic?

Earth to Bob: this is the same guy a former manager — Terry Francona, who knew him well — called the "worst human being he'd ever met."

Say, "Maybe his hitting will help us." Say, "Maybe the kids can look at his mechanics and patience at the plate." But "He can be a great example with his work ethic?"

You've just lost all credibility, Bob ...

Talk about a loose cannon

That would be Pat Knight — Bobby’s son — who was slightly perturbed by his team’s effort in Wednesday’s 62-52 loss to Stephen A. Austin.

"We've got the worst group of seniors right now that I've ever been associated with," he said minutes after the loss. "Their mentality is awful. Their attitude is awful. It's been their (custom) for the last three years. To come out in a game like this, with no emotion and flat, it's terrible."

That may sound harsh, but Knight, in his first year at Lamar after being fired from Texas Tech, was just getting started.

He also said:

* "These [seniors] are stealing money by being on scholarship with their approach to things."

* He inherited an “infestation” of players that are difficult to coach.

* "We've had problems with these guys off the court, on the court, classroom, drugs ..., If you act this way in the real world, you're going to be homeless, without a job."

Maybe his players would have a better shot at a good job if they had a famous dad. It’s hard to see how Pat Knight would have gotten the gig at Texas Tech — even a short-loved one — without his father arranging that his son would succeed him.

Pat Knight might be right about his players, but its’ hard to see how such a public and spontaneous trashing of them will do him or them much good. It would seem to speak of a coach’s frustration, and his inability to contain it. It smacks of a coach sending the following message: These players aren't mine, so I'm not responsible.

Lamar’s three remaining regular-season games and the Southland Conference tournament should be quite interesting.

Don't worry about Lin

Recommended reading:"The Evolution of a Point Guard" by Howard Beck of The New York Times, detailing how Jeremy Lin became an "overnight success."

Not surprisingly, it has to do with tremendous persistence, study and hard work.

There were reasons Lin was overlooked coming out of Harvard: He had had a slight build, which meant he could be pushed around on the court and he lacked a decent outside shot, among other things. And there are reasons he overcame all those deficiencies: He's outworked and outstudied everyone else.

Wrote Beck on Lin's arrival in New York: " ... the same traits Lin showed in Golden State quickly emerged. He was the first to arrive every day, and the last to leave. He sought and devoured game tapes. When he requested his own clips, Lin asked to see his turnovers and missed jumpers, not his assists."

What the Beck story tells me is not to worry about Lin's recent poor game against the Heat. Said one of Lin's Harvard coaches before the Miami game: "I’m sure in the next couple weeks, someone’s going to figure out how to slow him down and stop him. It’s a chess match. He’s going to figure out how to beat that. That, to me, is a kind of a testament of who he is.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/sports/basketball/the-evolution-of-jeremy-lin-as-a-point-guard.html?_r=1&ref=basketball