Tuesday, April 25, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 7
Commentary
Lawsuit wrong response to locker room comments
Jim McMahon once said the way Mike Ditka combed his hair made the coach's head look like a pair of "wing tips."
Ditka didn't sue.
Steve Sax once said spring-training workouts with the Los Angeles Dodgers came with this option: Run around the field three times or around manager Tommy Lasorda once.
Lasorda didn't sue, either.
But last week, Knicks forward Marcus Camby called his old coach, Butch Carter of Toronto, "a liar," and Carter sued.
Few skills serve a coach better than learning to tell stars what they want to hear. But Carter believes that is hardly the same thing as lying. Judging by the damage figure in the lawsuit friday in New York Supreme Court, the difference is $5 million.
Talk about chilling effect: Players and coaches taking potshots at each other In the newspapers is practically a rite of spring. In sports, it's known as "bulletinboard material," generating stories that bring a simmering rivalry to a boil. But
if Carter's suit reaches trial, the practice will be called something else in legal circles: a license to print money.
"Until we see it in black and white, we can't comment," said players union attorney Ron Klemper. Then he went ahead and dissed the lawsuit anyway, saying, "Any such claim would be insufficient legally on too many grounds to even begin counting."
"Inappropriate," said NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik just before Carter's Raptors and Camby's Knicks opened their playoff series Sunday in New York. And here's why.
A league already alienating fans because of too many spoiled brats cannot afford bruised feelings. After torching Charlotte for 40 points in Philadelphia's series opener, Allen Iverson proved he'd saved his best shots for afterward.
Unhappy about some innocuous comments by 76ers general manager Billy King about the need for mutual "soul-searching" by the ballplayer and management. Iverson said management might be searching for him on some
Camby, meanwhile, used the L-word in an interview with a New York newspaper at midweek, saying that just before he was traded from the Raptors two seasons ago. Carter told him and teammate John Wallace they would form the cornerstones of the franchise.
"No one likes him, and no one wants to play for him." Camby went on. "That is the kind of guy that he is."
Carter said at first that spending time in Canada had mellowed him to the point where he was prepared to turn the other cheek. A day later, though, he filed the lawsuit in White Plains, saying it was important to clear his name.
"I'm not going to allow my three sons to wake up and see in the national media that I'm a liar." Carter said.
And then Sunday, after the Knicks beat the poorly prepared Raptors, Carter said the legal action had a benefit the rest of us never even considered; It shifted the pressure from a first-ever playoff appearance off his team onto his own shoulders.
"I think I did that," Carter said. "I kept the media off them, but I couldn't keep Sprewell and Houston off of them."
Talk about delusions. This is like the guy who burns down his own house in response to an eviction notice and calls himself unselfish. Carter could have tacked the news clipping with Camby's remarks to a locker room bulletin board, then gone about the business of getting his team, especially young stars Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady, ready to play.
He could have prepared Carter, in particular, for those rugged double-teams the Knicks like to run at shooters that light them up the way he did during the regular season. Instead, the coach spent too much time worrying about the wrong court.
Carter missed his first 12 shots as New York raced out to a 19-point lead. Camby, meanwhile, managed just four points in 24 minutes, playing on a delicate right knee. Midway through the second quarter, Camby made consecutive shots, glared at coach Carter both times and
appeared to mouth an obscurity the second time. He looked like he was going to eat that word, until his teammates beat back a late Toronto challenge.
Carter conceded afterward he lost Sunday's battle, but he sounded like he was gearing up for a long war. At first he said an apology would make the lawsuit go away; suddenly, he didn't sound so certain.
"I like Marcus. I have seen him six or seven times and I have no problem with him. We drafted Marcus, we know a lot about Marcus Camby that's bad," he said. "If I wanted to open that file up ..."
In a book just out, Carter accused his old coach, Bob Knight of Indiana, of using a racial slur. He also got into a shouting match with George Karl, his counterpart at Milwaukee, as the regular season wound down.
"From what I hear," Camby said, "a lot of people are mad at him."
Looks like it works both ways.
Jim Liske the national sports columnist for the Associated Press
Applications for sports columnists and fall sportswriters are available today at Room 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
Kansan
Contact Melinda Weaver or Jason Walker at 864-4810 with questions.
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