Archive for January 9th, 2008

The debate that never ends

Here’s what happened on the 620 SportsLine with Dave Burns on Tuesday:

* The debate that never ends: When will the college football season FINALLY end with some finality?

* Is a playoff system the most pressing need in sports today? Even more so than a salary cap in baseball, the elimination of the DH in the American League, the shortening of football’s pre-season, or the changing of the overtime system in the NFL.

* Burnsy votes for the elimination of the DH. Most callers say there needs to be a playoff (not much of a surprise there).

* Not much to complain about after the Suns big win over Denver. Suns coach Mike D’Antoni stopped by for his weekly visit. First off, coach was thoroughly confused by George Karl’s criticism of the Suns running up the score with some “excessive 3s.” Coach wasn’t sure if Karl wanted him to tell his bench players to pass on open looks and “drive in and (get your shot) blocked.”

* Of course, D’Antoni was quick to draw a distinction between what happened at the end of the Denver game and what isn’t appropriate in a blowout win. Coach referenced calling timeouts and staring down your opponents. He didn’t name Phil Jackson, but the inference was pretty clear. (At least to me, you can make the call on that one).

* As for Amare not calling anyone about his absence from practice on Sunday (save for a text to the trainer), D’Antoni said situations like Amare’s have occurred before and that, “he made a little mistake by not contacting some people.”

* Coach also agreed with Shawn Marion’s assessment that there has been a tendency to “dwell on the negative” this season, saying there were a lot of positives that his team was overlooking, and that they just “whined too much.”

* And last, but certainly not least, coach said that the days of the dreaded 9-man rotation may be over provided that Marcus Banks keeps providing a spark off the bench. D’Antoni said that if Banks continues to contribute, “there’s enough there that we can expand it to nine.”

* And, finally to close the show, Republic columnist Paola Boivin joined Burnsy to discuss the Suns problems and ASU’s big test versus U of A tomorrow evening.