Sgt. Stoudemire, reporting for duty

I guess Amare Stoudemire is off to Iraq sometime in the near future, judging by his choice of pre-game attire for Thursday night's home tilt against the Sonics. Do us proud Amare, and be sure to steer clear of the smack while you're over there.


And just so you all know, Stoudemire will of course be reporting to Lt. Winslow.

-WCK

Amare's going in for surgery again

We're big fans of Amare Stoudemire, whose vicious dunks and pure raw athleticism are exceptionally rare in big men. He's also one of the true young talents in the NBA worth paying money to see. That's why today's news is not good.

According to the AP, Amare's going in for surgery tomorrow.

The operation to remove a loose particle will be on the All-Star's right knee, not the left on which microfracture surgery was done two years ago. That operation forced him to miss virtually all of the 2005-06 season.

"It's a procedure that Raja Bell just went through just to clean it up," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We have time to do it so we thought let's go ahead and get it done."

Team orthopedic surgeon Thomas Carter will perform the operation.

There was no mention of the impending surgery, by Stoudemire or anyone else, during the team's media day gathering on Monday. The plans were revealed in a news release issued by the team Monday evening.

Something about this doesn't sound good. You release info like this late in the evening so that the press can't get a full story for the next day's papers. We're also getting pretty close to the regular season, which means this probably only started bothering him recently. Hopefully Stoudemire will only miss the expected 2 to 3 weeks.

However, when Stoudemire originally had his left knee scoped in 2005 after some minor discomfort, no one thought it would result in microfracture surgery.

Needless to say, a lot of people will be paying attention to the results of this surgery.

-WCK

Maybe Stern has us all fooled!!!

"During an altercation, all players not participating in the game must remain in the immediate vicinity of their bench. Violators will be suspended, without pay, for a minimum of one game and fined up to $35,000. The suspensions will commence prior to the start of their next game."

- Rule No. 12, Section VII, Part C of Official Rules of the NBA

Maybe NBA Commissioner David Stern isn't as arrogant a person as he came off as.

Maybe he's like one of us, a basketball fan who couldn't believe he'd have to suspend Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for a game apiece for leaving the bench area after Robert Horry elbowed Steve Nash into the scorers table like he just looked at his sister in a dirty way.

Maybe he also thinks the rule is absolutely ridiculous ... he's just being sly about it in his own little way.

Any reasonable person looks at this situation, reads this rule and thinks there's no way you can suspend Stoudemire and Diaw for one game and Horry for only two.

Any reasonable person knows the two Suns shouldn't be suspended for any game of the series while Horry should be done for the rest of the playoffs.

And maybe Stern is thinking the same way. But unfortunately as commissioner, he has his hands tied according to the NBA rule book.

So maybe his little interview exclaiming that he had to stick to a strict interpretation of the rule was simply his way of putting it out there that the rule needs to be changed.

In essence, a giant wake-up call (I'd use another phrase, but I decided to keep it PG) to the owners.

NBA officials say the rule is out to protect against fights during a game. Did Stoudemire or Diaw through a single punch during the game? No. So why suspend them?

The only "punch" thrown was Horry's elbow to Nash, and he got a suspension that was only one game longer than Stoudemire and Diaw. Seems more like slap on the wrist to me.

Stern may be sending a message as best as he can. Maybe his arrogance wasn't directed at the media, players or fans. But at the owners, who have the power to change the rule.

And it didn't take long for Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to voice his opinion on changing the rule ... an emphatic NO! However, Robert Sarver, the owner of the Suns, has made it clear that he'll look to change the rule.

Stern's a smart man. You don't become commissioner of the NBA and take it to the levels its at right now without being a smart man. Maybe this is just his ploy to "convince" the owners to change an already antiquated rule.

Could be true.

-PB