FanHouse JalenRose

During my visit to Bristol, Connecticut, last week, I spent a lot of time talking to a lot of ESPN employees about Twitter. I was assured that ESPN does not hate Twitter, but more than that, several ESPN employees told me they're actively studying the use of Twitter by ESPN talent.

And, when it comes to ESPN talent on Twitter, I was told by one ESPN staffer, "Bill Simmons is number one, and number two is -- there is no number two."

Jimmy Walker, who played at Providence in the 1960s, and Jalen Rose, who played at Michigan in the 1990s, were two of the best college basketball players of their respective generations. They were also father and son, though Walker never supported Rose and died in 2007 having never met his son.

College basketball fans have known that story for years, and the lack of a father-son relationship was a major theme of the Rose life story told in Mitch Albom's book Fab Five. But if you'd expect Rose to feel bitterness toward the father he never knew, you'd be wrong.

Juwan Howard's roller-coaster of meaninglessness rides on tonight. He got traded in June to play with Kevin Garnett. Then, KG got traded as Minnesota set the ray to 2011 and Juwan frowned. Now? He's close to becoming freed from the shackles of his multi-million dollar contract, according to (?!) Timberwolves.com's Mike Trudell (via Canis Hoopus by way of Ballhype).

Howard isn't just useless to a befuddlingly young team; he'll be useless to most teams in the league. Someone will surely give him another night in the corral; perhaps Miami, who now needs some power forward help behind Udonis Haslem, could party like it's 1996. And he'll give said team some ugly jump shots and maybe some crafty defense. But he's not a difference-maker in any way, shape or form... unless fellow free agents Jalen Rose and Chris Webber want to recreate some semblance of Fab Five-ishness in the CBA or something. (How sad is a world where the NBA will soon feature no Fab Five members? Jesus, we're all getting old.)

By the way, Trudell also reports Minnesota won't be asking Wayne Simien to pick up his jersey... um, because they aren't spending the $60 to make him one. (Bummer.) I have a feeling Simien's definitely getting another chance in the league immediately, if for nothing else than all the promise he showed in his Kansas days. (And the known sympathies for salmonella victims. Undercooked chicken is really the NBA's silent killer.)