“I want out, trade me to Dallas.” – Cincinnati Bengals running back Corey Dillon
“Trade me to Dallas.” Who would have thought those words would ever be echoed by one of the NFL’s premier running backs in the year 2003? Corey finally woke up and realized that he plays for the Bungals, but why didn’t he do something about it when he was a free agent two years ago?
Dillon could have gone to a handful of premier teams for a boatload of benjamins, but he resigned with the Bungals. Corey don’t hate the organization, hate the agent.
The sporting industry is a business, and some players are taking it way too personally. Take former Celtics power forward Antoine Walker for example. He’s a 6-9, 245-pound power forward who attempted 582 three-pointers last year. He doesn’t play defense and he led the league in technical fouls. Antoine’s a perfect fit for the run-and-gun Dallas Mavericks, but instead of praising the championship contending team that acquired him, he used the media attention to rip on the Celtics organization.
Of course, some players don’t make it easy on themselves when they open their mouths. When Dolphins linebacker Junior Seau was asked how to stop former teammate Ladainian Tomlinson of the San Diego Chargers this Sunday, he said, “you give him watermelon and load him up with fried chicken and tell him to keep eating.”
Whoa, Fuzzy Zoeller flashback. Luckily for the Miami Dolphin’s public relations department, Tomlinson and Seau are boys.
OK, enough of the negativity. Let’s switch to some of the good guys in sports. It’s great to see Georgetown’s own Alonzo Mourning healthy again and in a Nets uniform. If he’s healthy come June, New Jersey may be able to avoid becoming the Buffalo Bills of the NBA. Another reason for the Sermon’s high regard for the Nets-they cut ties with another Georgetown grad, Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean Jacque Wamutombo. Enjoy those stone hands Knicks fans.
One thing Knickerbocker fans should enjoy is the latest Georgetown grad to enter the NBA, Mike Sweetney. The Sermon hasn’t respected a New York basketball team since the days of John Starks, and while Sweetney is the polar opposite of Starks, we love the way he handles the game. Mike’s father passed away a little while back, making his rookie season in the Big Apple a little more complicated. Reflecting on the subject, Mike said, “It’s up to me to take care of business now, and that’s exactly what I am going to do.”
Corey and Antoine should learn to be like Mike. Good luck No. 50.
