Wishing people would make up their minds

It's clear the sports world is made up of critics.

It takes a critic to know a critic.

However, perhaps we need to recognize there are good critics and then there are the other approximate 85 percent of them.

OK, I just threw out that number. It could be 75 percent or it could be 95 percent. That's what makes it an approximation.

What brought that to mind was hearing folks criticizing Boston's Glen (Big Baby) Davis and Nate Robinson's activities in Game Four of the NBA Finals.

Robinson jumped on Davis' back in celebration following the big boy's conversion of a put-back basket. Davis screamed and drooled simultaneously as he helped lead the Celtics into a 2-2 tie of the best-of-seven.

Robinson, a former defensive back at the University of Washington, basically had his legs taken out from him by Lakers' forward Lamar Odom as he attempted to trap a high pick-and-roll. Robinson, 5-foot-9 on a good day, got off the court and got into Odom's chest.

What the always feisty Robinson said, I have no idea. I do know referee Greg Willard immediately whistled him for a technical foul. Now this is the same Willard, who should have had to pay his way in to see the game or at least watch it on television.

The same guy who called a three-second violation on Kevin Garnett with four seconds elapsed on the 24-second clock. The same guy whom I believe has gotten more and more attitude as the years have passed.

Willard may have heard the words coming out of Robinson's mouth and those justified a taunting technical. However, after basically being tripped by a dude a foot taller during a heated contest for the NBA championship, as one of those little dudes, I can understand Robinson being hot and having a little something, something to say.

Commentators say he's got to stay under control just after they say, "a guy coming off the bench has to bring the intensity and energy."

C'mon! Make up your mind. Yes, both can be accomplished, but we're talking about two young players attempting to make their respective marks in the game.

Davis' power and strength come with his intensity. This is the same guy who took an elbow on the jaw from Orlando's Dwight Howard in the Eastern Conference finals, went down and then scrambled to his feet and staggered down court to get back into the play.

That effort alone should be enough to overlook a couple of primal screams and/or flex positions when they accompany superior and potentially series-saving plays.

Other critics say these Finals have too much defense. Not I.

Other some of the ridiculous officials calls, this has been a strong series. Two teams playing their hearts out battling to the end.

Sometimes it's difficult to figure what critics want. Defense win championships, so they say. Now, we have teams generally playing lockdown defense and resultant offensive woes draw complaints.

C'mon! Make up your minds.

World cup only has one way to go

One day and 180 minutes worth of viewing into the 2010 World Cup and I need more.

Two combined goals from four teams. Each team put three shots on goal.

Now, I'm not new to soccer.

I'm old enough to have covered Pele (Brazil's Michael Jordan) and Giorgio Chinaglia (an Italian star) when they were with the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League.

My favorite player was Pato Margetic, an Argentine star who did such amazing things with the ball he reminded me of soccer's Earl Monroe. The boy was sweet.

Granted, my expectations are high because these players were some of soccer's all-time greats.

The teamwork utilized in soccer often times is so subtle, a relative novice as myself doesn't see the entire scenario until the deed is done. It truly can be beautiful.

However, can a brother get a couple of scores.

When you think you know, you don't

One thing about sports, is unlike Charles Barkley, we all really are experts.

One other thing about sports is the only place we are experts is in our minds.

Ultimately, Charles is right, at least about this one. We all know Charles weaves in facts amongst his hilarious takes on life, sports and basketball.

However, from the guys we used to pass on 205th st and Linden Blvd. every morning our way to Andrew Jackson High School to the allegedly big-time sportswriters toiling for the New York Times, New York Daily News, the old Long Island Press, the New York Post and Newsday, we all thought we knew why the New York Knicks, New York Mets, Yankees, Giants and Jets were doing what they were doing.

Nothing has changed. Those winos we passed daily waiting for the liquor stores to open didn't know any more or much less, for that matter, than the sportswriters. Everybody had theories, but no one truly knew or ever knows.

I can't speak for the so-called experts, but if they know so much, take it to Nevada and put that cheese where all the verbiage comes from.

I know I would if I felt that strongly. But you never know.

Many brainiacs believed the Boston Celtics would close out the Orlando Magic Friday night. However, many of those brainiacs, myself included, thought after the Celtics took that 3-0 series lead, they were going to win in four.

Moreover, how many of the brainiacs, myself included, would have guessed Nate Robinson would prove to be the Game Six spark offensively and defensively. Robinson clearly took Orlando's Jameer Nelson out of the game with his feisty, aggressive defense. All that while Robinson directed the Boston offense impeccably and scored 13 second-quarter points to enable the Celts to seize control.

By the way, what was that cheap-shot garbage Kevin Garnett did when he twice slammed his right forearm against the right wrist of Orlando's Dwight Howard with 8:09 left in the first quarter. Garnett got away with the first time before referee Mike Callahan whistled him after the second.

Garnett complained Howard was holding him. I've always been a proponent that when you're hooping and the referees won't help you, then you've got to do it yourself. Now, Garnett merely used his left hand to slap Howard's hand away once before twice violently slamming his right forearm.

So in a way I'm torn. You, especially at the professional level, have to keep people off you, pretty much by any means, necessary. However, that was Garnett's second foul early in the first quarter on a night when no one truly knew how long or how well either Rasheed Wallace and/or Glen (Big Baby) Davis could play.

The play occurred right in front of Callahan on the baseline. Whether he saw the entire situation only he knows. Yet, Callahan should have whistled Garnett for a flagrant foul because simply, it was flagrant.

Since this blog is in it's infancy, we'll be coming from different directions. It's like that when things are on the fly. We're going to start with a question or questions of the day. Feel free to reply in the comments section, but please bring the noise. Weakness is discouraged.

Who is the NBA's point guard and why?