FanHouse David Stern

Could the NBA and its minimum age requirement really be guilty of hypocrisy?

It certainly appears that way to Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel and some other Big 12 coaches after watching the most recent NBA Finals and seeing which NBA players were pushed as the faces of the league throughout the season.

The straight out of high school players, who are the type of players the NBA no longer wants to be associated with, are now carrying the torch for the world's best pro game.

"If you follow the NBA, if you look at the guys who are promoted as the face of the NBA, you are talking about Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett," Capel said. "Those are four that jumped right out and none of those guys attended college and I don't think it hurt them."

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So it turns out Sammy Sosa was a steroid freak.

Who'da thunk it?

When it comes to surprises, last week's revelation was like finding out Iran's elections were juiced for the incumbent. If you want shocking news, however, you've come to the right place.

We are ready to reveal all the players who failed baseball's 2003 drug test. The results were supposed to be kept confidential, but Alex Rodriguez's name was leaked to Sports Illustrated and Sosa was outed last week in the New York Times.

There are 102 names to go. This drip-drip-drip could go on for years, but we're not going to let it.

ORLANDO – Shoot-from-the-hip Stan Van Gundy just couldn't help himself Thursday night before Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Even with commissioner David Stern in the building, Van Gundy didn't need much prodding to criticize a rule that Stern had embraced before the last collective bargaining agreement was signed.

It was Stern who pushed the Players Association into accepting the rule that prohibited anyone coming into the NBA directly from high school, forcing them into at least one year in college or one year playing overseas or in the NBA Development League.

"I don't like the one-and-done. I really don't understand how we get away with that as a league, that we tell a guy out of high school he can't come and play in our league,'' Van Gundy said. "And what I really don't like is the way our system is set up. Kids should be going to college if at least part of what they want to do is get an education.''

ORLANDO -- Commissioner David Stern made the announcement Sunday that Los Angeles would be hosting the NBA All-Star Weekend in 2011. What he left unsaid was that Orlando will have it in February of 2012.

You can start making reservations. It's only a coincidence that the Lakers are playing the Magic in the NBA Finals this year.

Although no one was talking on the record about it Monday, two sources with knowledge of the talks said that the league has assured Orlando that it would be following Los Angeles in the All-Star Weekend rotation of warm-weather cities. The only thing that could stop it would be a major construction delay of the new downtown Events Center.

OK, the fact that David Stern did nothing to give us an NBA Finals with LeBron and Kobe is messing with my mind.

Admit it.

You're tripping, too.

For instance: With Kobe Bryant and his Los Angeles Lakers already in the Finals, all that LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers had to do was conquer Dwight Howard and his Orlando Magic to create LeBron-Kobe.

No problem. The Stern Conspiracy Theories lived, because Howard is a Cavalier killer, and the Powers That Be whistled Howard for six technical fouls during the playoffs. One more 'T,' and Howard would be banished for a game under the rules. If nothing else, Howard would be playing gingerly to make LeBron-Kobe happen.

It was a bad week if you believe that UFOs exist, the mob killed JFK and the NBA banished Michael Jordan to Area 51 to cure his gambling addiction.

LeBron James did not make the NBA Finals. If that doesn't shoot down the whole notion of conspiracy theories, nothing will.

I don't know about you, but my heart can't take another week like the last one. It had enough suspense to qualify as an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

The only thing missing was the shower scene where a psycho Bud Selig pulls back the curtain and finds Jose Canseco injecting steroids into Alex Rodriguez's rear end. Which brings us to one of the week's riveting questions:

The FanHouse Podcast: Because bloggers are much sexier on the phone.

In Episode 24, Will and Ryan welcome FanHouse's Tom Ziller to talk NBA. The draft lottery offers a temporary respite from the playoffs, and Tom discusses the potential implications for his hometown Sacramento Kings.

The conversation also touches on David Stern, draft lottery conspirator, before continuing with the Malcolm Gladwell HausCast theme. On Monday, we talked to MDS about Gladwell's suggestion that the nothing-to-lose Detroit Lions should have run the no-huddle offense with more frequency since, you know, they had nothing to lose.

Today, Tom responds to some of the proposals born out of the 9,000-word Bill Simmons-Gladwell e-mail exchange, specifically: the merits of the full-on, full-court press, and if the reverse draft order idea makes sense.

By theory, the NBA Draft Lottery (Tuesday at 8:00 PM ET) is left to randomness. But what if, as the conspiracy-minded have insisted for more than two decades ... what if David Stern dictated the results? With the power of Merlin, who would the commissioner designate the winners of the lottery prize?

Close your eyes and imagine such a world ...

While the National Hockey League continues to fight for what they feel is right for the Phoenix Coyotes, it appears they have some friends in high places.

Commissioner Gary Bettman isn't going into this fight alone. Filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Monday included statements from the National Football League, National Basketball Association, and Major League Baseball.