John Zant: Awards and Suspensions Print E-mail
By John Zant   
Friday, May 18 2007

Players, coaches, referees, scholar-athletes, musician-athletes, sports event organizers, supporters and reporters received accolades at Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort on Monday night. Almost 100 awards were dished out at the 40th annual Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Hall of Fame banquet.

Two recipients received standing ovations from the 500 attendees - Steve Glick, a Special Olympics athlete and coach who brought unencumbered joy to the podium; and Brad Ebner, the Dos Pueblos High football player who is glad to be alive after incurring a traumatic head injury last fall.

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John Zant
Marc Jacobs, who announced the athlete-of-the-year awards, described Ebner's ordeal in graphic detail. It usually would have been difficult to hear about a swollen brain over a dessert of chocolate mousse. But it was reassuring when Ebner himself, escorted by his father Chuck, walked onto the stage. The bright-eyed young man has come a long way in his recovery, but he still has a ways to go.

I thought about Ebner's injury again the next day, when the fracas at Monday night's San Antonio-Phoenix NBA playoff game was all over the news. I lost a great deal of respect for Robert Horry of the Spurs. His foul against Phoenix star Steve Nash was crude, cynical and dangerous. Nash is a full-speed-ahead player, and when Horry intentionally bumped him, he crashed into the scorer's table. If he had hit his head, it could have been a concussion, or worse, but fortunately he was not hurt.

Horry truly earned his two-game suspension. A heated controversy arose when the NBA also suspended Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw of the Suns for one game, because they left the bench in reaction to the Horry-Nash collision. Assistant coaches stopped them well short of the shoving match that ensued, and they returned to the bench. But they were in violation of the league rule against making any movement toward an altercation, and they were punished by the NBA's pious higher-ups.

Just about every pundit in the land screamed that the league's action was outrageous and unfair, and I agree. Horry was a part-time player for the Spurs, averaging four points and three rebounds a game. Stoudemire was the Suns' most important player after Nash, and Diaw a key reserve. Their combined averages of 30 points and 14 rebounds were missed when San Antonio wore down the Suns on Wednesday night and won 88-85 to take a 3-2 lead in the series.

NBA commissioner David Stern, often accused of being more interested in TV ratings than fair competition, argued that the league proved its integrity by enforcing the don't-leave-the-bench-area rule over the objections of the fans. But this appearance of being uniformly tough on miscreants does not wash when you see blatant physical contact on the court that does not even draw a whistle.

Curt Pickering, the coach of the Santa Barbara Breakers, remembers a time when players took care of matters themselves. "There used to be a gentlemen's agreement that if you went over the line, you'd face retaliation," Pickering said. "Remember the battles between the Celtics and Lakers, (Kurt) Rambis and (Kevin) McHale, (Kareem) Abdul-Jabbar and (Larry) Bird? Why is it different now?"

The Breakers have been too busy running up and down the floor to get into any altercations. They play in the International Basketball League (IBL), which has rules encouraging a wide-open game. In their last game, the Breakers made 23 three-point baskets in a 161-127 rout of the Chico Force.

The IBL allows only one time-out per team per quarter, and Pickering said that helps cut down on disputes. "It puts a limitation on the coaches," he said. "I haven't gotten a technical foul in nine games. I used to get T'd up a lot."

Santa Barbara (5-4) will return to action at the SBCC Sports Pavilion on Saturday night (7:05 tipoff) against the visiting Salem Stampede, which was 10-0 entering a trio of road games this week. Salem's lineup consists almost entirely of players from colleges in the Northwest. Ryan Skinner, a 6-foot guard, set an IBL record last year by scoring 61 points in a game.

The Breakers have had a fluctuating roster. Fifteen players suited up for the Chico game, and they all saw action. Toby Bailey and Billy Knight have been the team's consistent leaders in home games. They recently added former local stars Shantay Legans (Dos Pueblos) and Mike Garrett (Santa Barbara High).

Only five home games remain in the Breakers' inaugural season. After the Stampede, they will face the Tri Valley Titans on May 26, the Eugene Chargers on June 2, and the Vancouver Volcanoes on June 22 and 23.
 
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