Washington Wizards

For the benefit of anyone who does not fellow the National Basketball Association, for about thirty years, there was a team in Baltimore, called the Baltimore Bullets. Until 1996, when the team's oner, Abe Pollin, moved the team a few miles down the road to Washington D.C., and renamed the team the Wizards. Political correctness strikes again. Of course, naming the team something other than the Bullets would solve the problems of crime and violence in the nation's capital. (A note to my non-American readers: try looking of the rates of violent crime in the District of Columbia for the past fifty years. Your eyes are likely to pop out of your head. So much for the effectiveness of strict gun control laws- for over three decades DC had the nation's strictest.) Of course, some smart alecks pointed out that 'Wizard' is usually the name given to a leader of the Klu Klux Klan; pretty ironic in a city that is overwelmingly black.

A few days ago, two of the Wizards, Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton, got into an altercation in the locker room, and although reports differ (dispute over a gambling debt?), the two reportedly drew guns on each other. *sigh* The thing that amazes me about this is that Mr. Arenas recently signed a 6 year contract- for $111 *million*. If I was that rich, making $18.5million a year, would I let *anything* bother me enough to pull a gun? I think I'd manage to settle any gambling debts- and if I had concerns for my safety, I think I'd hire a whole bunch of bodyguards. (It's a very good bet that Mr. Crittenton is a multi-millioniare too.) It remains to be seen what action the District Attorney and the NBA will take.

In view of those two gentlemens' maturity, good sense and generally exemplary behavior, perhaps the Pollin family should borrow a phrase from the UK...and rename their team the Washington Wankers.