Like a flaming dragon on a playdate

Finally the Varejao situation is taken care of! I was pulling for him to play for the Bobcats for a couple reasons. First, because I could go see him play the Suns next year. (I can't go see them in Cleveland, because my Cavs loving cousin probably wouldn't like it if I rooted against his team.) Also, the Bobcats organization is in favor of players playing for their national teams. The Cavs are kind of on the fence about that (unless your name happens to be LeBron).

I'm mostly just happy that he's back to playing again. I enjoy his energy, his enthusiasm, his hair, and having another Brazilian team member to cheer for. Not that I cheer for the Cavs too often, but still.

I'm really dismayed and angry about Stern's statement regarding the settlement between Madison Square Garden and Anucha Browne Sanders. It sends a very clear message about how he regards women. As a friend has said, "he'll fine players for not wearing ties, but not Thomas for flagrantly harassing a high level female executive?"

MSG and Thomas created a very clear hostile working environment for women. Stern can take a definitive position supporting the many women who work for the NBA, not to mention female basketball fans. But he refuses. This from a man who has been an important supporter of the WNBA. It makes me very angry. I'm going to be trying to find contact information for him and/or Stu Jackson, and writing a letter. There's not much else that I can do.

On a not quite happier note, I wanted to touch on some things from Monday night's game against Miami.

Number one, since when does Shaq hit all his freethrows? It was only 4, but still. If he had missed them, it would have gone into overtime. I'm mostly kidding, but it really did take me by surprise.

Second, how cool is it that the Suns hit five threes in the last 1:47? It was like they just weren't going to give up. "You guys can keep making twos," they seemed to say, "but if we keep making threes, eventually we can catch up." It was pretty awesome. Even more awesome? That three of those threes were from Hill. Hill! Who everyone keeps saying should lay off the long range shots. I guess he just had a hot hand. Unlike some people I could name. *cough*Diaw and Barbosa*cough*

Next up, tonight versus the Jazz we finally get another televised game!

Because of some issues with the feed, I haven't posted here in forever. I think the issues have been resolved, and so now I just have to deal with the inertia of not writing for months.

The season has (clearly) started, and the Suns are doing great. This two game slide notwithstanding. (Although, can I just say, WTF is up with losing to the Timberwolves? I guess in an 82 game season the Suns can spare a loss, but still.)

On Friday I got to see them play live against the Wizards (in DC). It was very fun, I had terrific seats and they won 122-107. Plus Nash set a Verizon Center record with his 19 assists. I was sitting among a lot of fellow Suns fans, which caused my friend to remark that our section sucked.

Strawberry got big cheers from the crowd (even the Wizards fans) when he got to play in the fourth quarter, which wasn't too surprising but it made me smile. In a world where Grant Hill can get booed by Orlando fans, anything is possible.

(As an aside, those Magic fans really didn't have much cause to boo. Hill points out that his health was fine last season when he played 65 regular-season games. "I sat out a lot of games last year because the team wanted me to sit, not because I necessarily wanted to sit." From here.)

Also worth mentioning, this article is a good recap of the game, especially notable for the assist discussion and the sidebar about Barbosa's flagrant foul.