My interview with SportsHustlas.com

I’d like to thank Nick “The Commish” Andeson for having me on. This is the 1st interview i have done since becoming a sports writer for BMSRadio.com & i have to say that it was very fun! Check it out

By the way, The Commish is not related to Chicago native & former NBA guard Nick Anderson.

Interview with Mattie T. of BMSRadio.com
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Intro by Nick “The Commissioner” Anderson of SportsHustlas.com

July 25, 2007

Usually the summer is a boring time on the sports calendar. 

 

Baseball is the only game in town, not unless you’re a huge fan of Arena Football and the WNBA.  Few things come up to talk about which makes PS3 and Xbox 360 more appealing than SportsCenter. 

 

But thanks to Kobe, Pacman and Mike Vick, there’s something to not only talk about, but actually DISCUSS this summer!  It sucks that it has to come at the expense of Jerry Buss, strip clubs, and tortured dogs, but that’s the hand that recently got dealt for the aforementioned individuals. 

To talk about these topics and more, I interviewed Mattie T. of BMSRadio.com in the Chi (Southside stand up!).  For those of you who don’t know, Mattie T. is a sports writer who covers not only the Chicago sports scene, but the national scene as we do here.  We got to rappin’ about things such things so enjoy the back-and-forth below between two bruthas with opinions!

SH: Mattie, what’s good, playa, and thanks for taking the time out to holla at us.  I have to start out by asking you this since the indictment just came out: What’s your feelings on the charges that were handed down by the Feds against Michael Vick?

MT: I feel that these charges will take a tremendous hit on Michael Vick’s image. He is a franchise player for the Falcons & the NFL that many fans look up to & I’m not so sure that the same can be said now that he’s being indicted.

It also creates a big-time distraction for 1st year head coach Bobby Petrino, who now will not have Vick available for the team’s 1st day of training camp. Very disappointed to hear about this.

SH: True that! Disappointed also that I won’t have Vick’s rushing yards in my fantasy keeper league this season, but I digress. Now if you were the commissioner, what would you do to Senor Vick knowing hat even though he’s been indicted on federal charges, he hasn’t been found guilty of any wrongdoing? Football may be his only livelihood and source of income once his cooperate sponsors start backing out. Would you sit him?

MT: I’d have no other choice but to sit him. Michael Vick should have tons of better ways to spend his $130 million than to bet on dog fighting. If you take a gamble & play him without suspension, then PETA will be on his tail EVERYWHERE the Falcons go, and I do mean everywhere. This type of legal process could take months & months to sort out, and I don’t feel that Vick will be able to focus himself on the field, learn new plays for every Sunday & perform to the best of his ability if he constantly has to appear in court during the upcoming NFL season.

SH: Totally agree, even though I’m still trying to figure out why the Vick supporters are trying to downplay the charges. Switching topics, what was your take on Kobe demanding to be traded, then saying he wanted to be a Laker for life, then again saying that he wanted to be traded! Is he just feeling sorry for himself because he hasn’t seen the second round of the playoffs since Shaq Diesel left or was/is just “Kobe being Kobe”, meaning spoiled, aloof and wanting attention focused back on him?

MT: I think for the 1st time, we are seeing a lot of frustration vocally from Kobe.

It is true that the Lakers’ front office has not made the best trades over the past 3 years which has resulted in zero playoff series wins, but the recent signing of Derek Fisher should help. Kobe is still a great player & wants to win badly, but I don’t think asking for a trade was the right way to go about things.

Kobe should be a Laker for life, but then again I thought Allen Iverson would finish his career out in Philly. It is a business & nothing is guaranteed these days. Kobe is now realizing how difficult it is to become a championship contender without a dominant big-man down low.

 

Tim Duncan or Shaquille O’Neal have appeared in the last 9 NBA Finals series, which is truly amazing.

I think deep down inside, Kobe really does miss Shaq’s presence, but life must go on.

SH: Even though we both agree that he misses Shaq, I don’t think he would ever admit to it. I’m about halfway through that book Phil Jackson wrote before he left the Lakers, “The Last Season”, and some of the things that Kobe did and said to Phil, about Shaq and his teammates kinda made me sour on him. He is without a doubt the greatest active player on the planet, but his attitude and selfishness makes the casual fan turn away from the NBA. Can the league be saved and if so, what suggestions would you like to fax over to King David Stern?

MT: Oh man, it might take years & years for the NBA to fix this. Who’s to say that Tim Donaghy isn’t the only referee that has fixed games? It’s such a serious blow for the league, even bigger than the ‘99 lockout that wiped out almost half of the season.

I’d suggest for David Stern to do a stricter background check on all referees before they can work any NBA games, whether it be preseason, regular season, All-Star Game, playoffs or NBA Finals. This should most likely kill any talks of the NBA getting a franchise in Las Vegas, which I didn’t think was a good idea to begin with.

SH: Out of the three commissioners that are running each of the Big Three professional sports franchises (NFL, NBA and MLB), which ones shoes would you LEAST want to be in and which commish’s league do you think has the brightest ‘upside’? Each is embroiled in some sorta controversy and you can’t mention one without mentioning the two words that have become synonymous with their sports, “grand jury”.

MT: I would definitely not want to be in David Stern’s shoes right now. This is a very serious issue he’s dealing with that could take years to clean up. The NFL probably has the most upside. Even with all the recent players that have gotten into trouble (which would probably apply to half of the Cincinnati Bengals), you never hear a lot of steroid talk like you do in baseball. Plus, football is the most physical sport out of the three. Everyone knows there’s tons of floppers in the NBA that will never play good defense. In baseball, there are players who don’t hustle hard when fielding a ground ball, or running the bases. But if you do not hustle & give it your all in the NFL, there’s a spot on the bench with your name written all over it.

SH: Agreed! There’s not enough money in the world (right now) that anyone could pay me to be in David Stern’s shoes at the present time. Speaking of present time, right now the NBA’ers are practicing in Vegas to compete in a QUALIFIER for the next summer Olympic games. Now, I’ve been bangin’ this drum for a minute and I want your opinion on whether you agree or disagree. We’ve been getting our backs blown out by the Euro’s in a game WE created for the past 6 or 7 years now. Instead of sending a team of NBA’ers who don’t play together regularly to compete in the games, why not send a traveling team that has played together for years! What do you think about us sending the AND1 basketball team to compete in international events?

MT: I don’t even know if that would help our cause. Sure, the fans would love all of the nice crossovers & slick ball-handling skills, but International competition continues to get better & better every year.

 

We need some shooters, so I would like to see guys like Michael Redd, Shane Battier, J.J. Redick & Mike Miller make the team. Team USA has tried to use athletic guys in the past & it ended up costing them badly.

 

 

They need scorers (Kobe, LeBron & ‘Melo to name a few), dominant post-players (Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire) but you must have shooters. They can break up any type of zone defense & make the opposition pay should they choose to double team any of our bigs in the post.

I don’t see any of those And1 ballers play any d either, it’s like they do whatever the hell they want on offense without having to face any pressure whatsover from the opposing defender. They’re fun to watch entertainment-wise, but there’s a reason why they’re playing street ball.

SH: Dag, there goes my plea to get more people added to my And1/Olympic bandwagon. Well, before I let you get outta here, I gotta ask you one non-sports related question. ESPN’s SportsCenter is running this “Who’s Now” contest to see which sports athlete is hot right now. Instead of giving me an athlete, I want your ‘Final Four’ of women who you think are hot right now.

 

MT: Wow, that’s a good one! Ok, my Women’s Final Four would have to be…Jennie Finch, Candace Parker, Diana Taurasi & Laila Ali.  All 4 of these women are blowin’ up right now & should continue to have much success in many years to come.