The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York is hallowed ground. The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio is a sacred shrine.
The Basketball Hall of Fame is an absolute joke.
I realize it's weird timing, seeing that this year's class - Michael Jordan, Jerry Sloan, David Robinson and John Stockton - is one of the strongest ever. But here's where basketball double-dribbles its immortality.
Included in that elite group is C. Vivian Stringer. Exactly. Who?!
Actually, you've heard the name. Coaches Rutgers, the team that Don Imus lovingly labeled a bunch of "nappy headed 'hos." Yeah, that's her. She's won 800 games, third on the women's all-time list. Yadda, yadda and more yadda.
I'm not saying Stringer doesn't deserve to be inducted. But she damn sure doesn't deserve to cut in line in front of two former Mavericks' head coaches.
Neither Don Nelson nor Dick Motta is in the Basketball Hall of Fame. While you let that injustice bounce around your brain pan, let me again ask:
C. Vivian Stringer?!
And for that matter, how about Mirko Novosel, Pedro Ferrandiz, Cathy Rush, Sandro Gamba, Sue Gunter and Dino Meneghin. Each has been inducted in the last five years while Nelson and Motta get nary a mention.
For the record, Nelson is the NBA's 2nd all-time winningest coach and Motta 8th. Both have championship rings: Nellie as a player with the Celtics and Motta as coach of the '78 Washington Bullets. They are colorful characters whose innovative offenses help shape an era of NBA hoops. Point-forward? Run TMC? It ain't over til the fat lady sings? Ring any bells?
And selfishly, c'mon, where's Dallas?
Motta would probably be attached first and foremost to the Bullets and Nelson could choose the Celtics, Bucks or Warriors as "his" team. But each has strong Dallas connections.
Together, Motta and Nelson have coached 60 percent of the Mavericks' all-time 1,149 wins. We've buried football's Cowboys Bias regarding the Hall of Fame, but if Dirk Nowitzki isn't a first-ballot inductee, we'll have ourselves a Mavericks' Bias.
Speaking of, think Jason Kidd will have the audacity to wear a Mavs' uniform into the Hall?
