Buckle up, my friends. This one is gonna be a bit bumpy.
I’m about to clear the cluttered haze that’s hot-boxed my brain since the NBA shut down three weeks ago.
Admission: I am one of the many knuckleheads who needed something dramatic to take this pandemic stuff seriously.
And for some knuckleheads, like me, when Adam Silver speaks, the E.F. Hutton Rule comes into play. If you don’t understand that reference, either head upstairs from your basement bedroom to ask your landlord/parents, or run a quick Google search.
Before you can even finish entering the man’s name, auto-fill kicks in and presents a billion options for “E.F. Hu....”
Poof! You know everything there is to know about the iconic and widely successful TV ad campaign of the ‘80s. In short, when men and/or women of great intelligence and integrity speak, the rest of the room needs to shut the hell up.
Call me shallow, but Silver is one such man for me, and I’m obviously not alone. As an unseemly product of the many breathless media types who try to make some sort of cringy connection between the early horrifying stages of this pandemic to JFK’s assassination, from what I’ve seen, heard or read since that dark day three weeks ago, most folk know exactly where they were when Silver took the lead to further establish himself as the Pied Piper of sports.
While Silver was hitting all the right keys, deftly striking a balance between what needed to be said and done, and how the chorus should sound, Roger Goodell, Gary Bettman and Rob Manfred were passively waiting for someone, anyone, to give them some solid marching orders, enhancing — more like cementing — their respective reputations as puppets for the owners.
So thank you, Mr. Silver, for almost always doing the right thing when sh-- gets squirrely. May I call you E.F.?
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How great would it be for former A’s ace Tim Hudson, who won a World Series ring with the Giants and had many outstanding seasons with his hometown Atlanta Braves, to come out of retirement on a one-day contract if and when MLB action is allowed.
This wouldn’t be ceremonial, mind you. This would be to face the disgraced Astros.
Huddy’s the ultimate competitor, a redass through and through. And when he saw people cheating the game, he let them know in every way under the law.
Pitch count? I put the over/under on four. Follow me?
Hey, this is a time to fantasize in the absence of real games, so I posed to him my fantasy about him. And just you never mind about how creepy the previous sentence came off.
Huddy’s an honest guy. How do you think he answered? I’ll just say two words: Classic Huddy. Get back here next week for some of his down-home ATL wisdom.
You will NOT be disappointed.