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Assigning blame without naming names is acting like a chicken.
By Dave Begel
Special to OnMilwaukee.com

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Published Jan. 8, 2008 at 5:24 a.m.
There are lots of things in this world I don't like, but one of my biggest peeves is a chicken.

You know exactly what I mean. It's the guy who throws a brick through a window, runs away, and when caught, blames it on his friend.

A chicken is also a big time newspaper columnist who takes big time shots at some people and doesn't have the guts to name names.

In case there is any doubt about it, I'm talking about Michael Hunt, the only sports columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the absolutely incredible column he wrote last week about the Bucks.

In his column, he called for a gutting of the Bucks from top to bottom. I am now going to quote his third paragraph.

"Herb Kohl has surrounded himself for years with the same inner circle, and the results speak for themselves. They regularly fail to place the right people in positions to make winning decisions, squeezing the potential right out of this once viable and proud organization."

In the fifth paragraph Hunt wrote "The question is whether Kohl and his people will allow a GM with only a few months left on his contract to blow up the team."

Now, I share the frustration over the Bucks. I have covered this team, off and on, since their second year of existence. I love this team like no other. Maybe they do need a housecleaning.

But Hunt, the world's most disheveled chicken, blames "they" and "his people" and doesn't have the guts to tell us, the people who buy his paper and pay his salary, who he's talking about.

One possibility is that he doesn't know. Maybe he made it up. Maybe there is no "they" and there are no "his people." That's a possibility.

But there is another, far more likely possibility. And that is that Kohl does have a circle of friends and advisors whom he listens to and whose advice he gives great weight.

As a matter of fact, that is the truth. And I know who they are. Or at least I know who some of them are. I know them personally. And while I think they may have some responsibility for some of what ails this team, I don't think they have any more responsibility than, say, Bango.

Oh, there are people like Rick Majerus, and Ric Cobb and a lawyer named Ron Walter who is ill suited to the NBA and a John Castellani, a Milwaukee attorney who coached the Minneapolis Lakers for 36 games in 1959 and has been talking basketball every since. These are Kohl's friends and advisors, but I'm pretty sure they aren't the ones who need to shoulder all the responsibility for what has happened to the Bucks.

I'm really not trying to figure out what's wrong with the Bucks in this column. What I'm trying to do is call out the only sports columnist in our daily paper and tell him I think he's absolutely gutless for blaming some people and then not naming them.

HEY, MIKE! If you are listening, and you should be, I've done what you do. I was doing this before you got out of short pants. And you are giving your profession a bad, bad name.

Just so we understand ourselves here. There is a big difference between using anonymous sources and what Hunt did. One is designed to get information into the newspaper. The other is designed to cover your ass, either for a lack of reporting or a lack of fortitude.

As we used to say on the playground. Put up or shut up.

Oh, there are people like Rick Majerus, and Ric Cobb and a lawyer named Ron Walter who is ill suited to the NBA and a John Castellani, a Milwaukee attorney who coached the Minneapolis Lakers for 36 games in 1959 and has been talking basketball every since. These are Kohl's friends and advisors, but I'm pretty sure they aren't the ones who need to shoulder all the responsibility for what has happened to the Bucks.

MartyConlonOnTheRun wrote:glad he pointed them (Kohls men) out, but it seems like he has a vendetta against hunt. Normally, I'm all for ripping on JS guys, but i dont think this was deserved

emunney wrote:Here's what I don't understand: ostensibly, Kohl tinkers with the team because he likes to tinker. And yet, rather than doing what he really wants to do with the team, he's getting all this input from this menagerie of people who have no qualifications when it comes to NBA personnel decisions other than the fact that they've been helping Kohl bungle them for years. If he wants to take the reins from the GM, why does he share them? It's one thing to be a meddling owner; it's another thing to be a meddling owner with no convictions who has to get feedback from a bunch of guys who could never get a job with any well-run NBA franchise.

I'm to the point where I barely even care who the next GM is as long as he actually gets to make the decisions so that someone can evaluate him. Apparently Larry Harris is very respected in league circles, but for what? If he's just an errand boy and an administrator, why would he be respected for that? Conversely, if he's more than that, the team he built is losing again -- why would he be respected for that?

And why isn't Kohl aware of the esteem Harris is held in, or, if Kohl is aware, why doesn't he let him do the job he pays him to do? It's just a big **** gast of flabber.

xTitan wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



I can promise you that Harris is quite respected in NBA inner circles and from what I have been told would not have problems finding a job in the NBA and perhaps even a GM job. People around the league know what Harris is up against, why do you think Collins turned the Bucks down the first time? People know deals that were vetoed and the crap Harris is forced to put up with....saying all that Harris has also made mistakes, but when you can't even hire your own coach who would share the same vision as you, what chance do you have?

steger_3434 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Here is your perfect chance to tell us who told you Harris won't have trouble finding a job. I believe you, but you said you've been told without naming who. I"m positive this "source" you have won't be upset for you spilling the beans that Harris is looked highly around the NBA.

xTitan wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Um sure, its far more important for you to know that then for me to ever hear anything again........I have a better idea, lets just see how it turns out in the end, afterall I am just sharing an opinion like everyone else

steger_3434 wrote:-= Here is your perfect chance to tell us who told you Harris won't have trouble finding a job. I believe you, but you said you've been told without naming who. I"m positive this "source" you have won't be upset for you spilling the beans that Harris is looked highly around the NBA.

MickeyDavis wrote:Begal is a blowhard, he's drifted from job to job over the years. He makes it sound as if he's somehow "leaking" a big secret. All those guys he mentioned were already known to be in Kohls inner circle. There was no "scoop" here. I'm no Hunt fan but the fact that he didn't "name names" is meaningless. Those names have been out there for years.