Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Thursday, there are 5 days remaining.
It takes five years of retirement for a player to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Make it 10 for Dennis Rodman, who always did things differently. He did win five NBA titles.
If you think that Michael Jordan caused a commotion with an unconventional acceptance speech last month when he headlined the Class of 2009, just wait until Rodman shows up in 2010 wearing a dress and lipstick.
Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Monday, there are 43 days remaining.
While Karl Malone's ring-chasing with the Lakers prevented the most prolific Jazz teammates from going into the Hall of Fame together, John Stockton and the Mailman have been honored as a pair before.
At the NBA's 43rd All-Star Game in Salt Lake City -- back in 1993, before the Jazz had ever made the Finals -- Stockton and Malone shared the MVP award as the West won 135-132. While home cookin' was certainly involved in Utah in Stockton's case, it was a nice touch for the media to split the award between the inseparable stars.
The Jazz owner is survived by his wife Gail. Miller was a somewhat controversial figure in Utah, as a result of both actions relating to the basketball team and beliefs away from the arena of sports.
The Bills picked Bell in the seventh round of the NFL draft, and several media outlets reported that Bell was the son of Malone, the NBA great. But not every outlet made clear that Malone was a deadbeat dad who hadn't been there for his son, and hardly any followed up on the report, which first appeared in the Buffalo News, that Bell's mother was 13 years old when she gave birth.
That news would make Malone not just a deadbeat dad but also a criminal, and it was shocking that ESPN and the rest of the mainstream sports media completely ignored it. The Buffalo News and Los Angeles Times were the only media newspapers that reported it, and as far as I know it has never been mentioned on television.
Maybe Hill's column will change that. Bell is from all accounts a fine young man whose life story should be told. And that story isn't complete unless it includes disturbing details about his father.
But it's a story that the mainstream media has almost completely ignored. As far as I can tell, only two newspapers, the Buffalo News and Los Angeles Times, have made any mention of the report that Gloria Bell was 13 years old when she gave birth to Demetrius. A couple of other news sources, including BET.com, have mentioned the story, but I have been unable to find it mentioned in Sports Illustrated or on ESPN or ABC or TNT or Fox or any of the other media outlets that cover the NFL or the NBA.
Malone was 20 when Demetrius Bell was conceived. It is a very serious crime for a 20-year-old man to have sex with a 12- or 13-year-old girl. I can't say whether Malone committed that crime -- I don't have a DNA test or a birth certificate -- but no one has disputed the original Buffalo News report.
An all-time NBA great committing a sex crime that resulted in the birth of a boy who is now in the NFL would seem like the kind of thing the media would be all over. Why is this story being thoroughly ignored?
Bell is the son of Malone, but the Mailman had no role in Bell's success except passing along athletic genes.
The two have had very little contact during Bell's life. His mother, Gloria Bell, reportedly was only 13 years old and Malone a college sophomore at Louisiana Tech when Demetrius was born. Malone might have served jail time had her family asked the district attorney to file criminal charges.
So far, Malone has said nothing publicly about Bell. But he needs to now. Wilson's column accuses him of a very serious crime -- sex with a 12- or 13-year-old girl -- and Malone needs to explain himself.
The Buffalo Bills picked Northwestern State offensive tackle Demetrius Bell on Sunday in the seventh round of the NFL draft. Seventh-round offensive linemen rarely get any attention.
But Bell is gettinga lot ofattention today because of his famous father, NBA legend Karl Malone. And Bell says the genetics of a great athlete is all he ever got from that famous father.
When they met for the first time, Bell was 18, and Malone delivered a harsh message that, according to several reports, amounted to, "It's too late for me to be your father, and you'll earn your money on your own."
Charming. There is one nice piece of news in all this: Bell has become close to his half-sister Cheryl Ford, a WNBA player who is another one of Malone's children out of wedlock. Bell calls Ford the biggest influence on his football career.
On the night in question Karl Malone, the Utah Jazz legend, was setting illegal screens that too often ended with Malone's elbow in the face of Terry Porter, Mitchell's Minnesota Timberwolves teammate. Pleas to the referees went unheeded and soon enough, Porter's fist was planted in the Mailman's sub-drawstring.
"Terry didn't hit him hard ... You ain't got to hit `em hard. All you've got to do is graze `em ... Just tap `em. Just ring the little bells," said Mitchell. "And Karl Malone just dropped. He was screaming, `Ahh! He hit me in the balls! He hit me in the balls!' The next pick Karl Malone set ... he kept those arms in. I'm telling you, there's things you can do."
When Bryan Colangelo took over the Raptors, Smitch was seen as too dissonant a style to mesh with the up-tempo, finnese mentality. But, judging by last year's overachievement and even Andrea Bargnani's pronounced nasty streak, is Smitch a perfect antipodal match for the squad? Mix smooth players with a ball-crunching coach and you get some form of Euro trash baskebtall, I guess.
The most prominent alum from Louisiana Tech showed his love for his alma mater by donating $300,000 to the school for work on the basketball arena and another $50,000 towards the volleyball team. At the same time it was announced that Karl Malone would be the Director of Basketball Promotion and Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach. Malone also announced that he will not be taking salary for the jobs.
Malone joins the staff of newly hired Tech men's basketball coach Kerry Rupp, a personal friend who was brought in on Malone's recommendation.
He said he would take no salary, and asked for no office space. "I don't want an expense account," Malone said, chuckling.
The whole athletic department is excited and looking forward to having Karl Malone as a regular presence. For the obvious reason.
"We have kids calling us asking if Karl will be there when they take a visit and we definitely plan on using that," Rupp said. "Having him involved in the program with his legendary status will be huge for us."
"We're not going to leave anybody out," Malone said. "If you've got $25, you'll get a catfish plate. If you've $100,000, I might have you over to my house."
The first thing I'd do if I was the athletic director, put some really good lawyers with experience dealing with the NCAA on retainer. This is an incredibly generous and direct involvement from their biggest and one of their richest alum. The NCAA will be watching closely.
Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Thursday, there are 5 days remaining. 
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Kudos to Jemele Hill of ESPN.com for 
When we learned that Buffalo Bills draft pick 
We've previously noted the story of 
The Buffalo Bills picked Northwestern State offensive tackle Demetrius Bell on Sunday in the seventh round of the NFL draft. Seventh-round offensive linemen rarely get any attention.
The most prominent alum from Louisiana Tech showed his 
