Hello and welcome to another edition of Tuesday’s Random Rambles.  I am thinking about changing the theme of my blog as it seems that I have lost my ’side bar’ from the right hand side.  It is at the bottom of the page and I am finding that really really annoying.  If you have any thoughts on this, leave a comment at the end of this post or email me at ashleyproud@gmail.com  Anyway here we go:

- It seems as though some people are actually reading my blog.  My Google Analytics account tells me that I have had 1 084 visits!  Thanks for reading my blog.  At the end of this post I have a big rant and a challenge for you. 

- The first episode of the TO was reasonably well received by people and lots of fun to do.  We are going to try and make it a weekly thing and if I can get my head around the technology side, have some guests ring in and do interviews. 

- Speaking of Podcasts, I really enjoyed the latest edition of The OT with Kirk Penney.  He seems like a really humble guy and really down to earth.  I know that DJ Rod was a huge fan of him and said that he was a great guy.

- The Townsville Crocs have seemed to have snapped their lossing streak with a win over the Hawks.  In his post game interview coach Trevor Gleeson talks about how hard it was to bench Corey Williams, Russell Hinder and John Rillie from the starting five.  It was a pretty gutsy thing to do but they got the job done.  Williams still played 29 minutes, Hinder played 21 minutes and Rillie played 26 minutes.  It will be interesting to see if Trevor Gleeson sticks with this for the remainder of the season.  I think that he really needs to play those three guys more for them to be successful against the power teams in the league (Breakers, Dragons and Tigers) but good on the Crocs for getting the job done.  It was extremely pleasing to see Daniel Egan put up some great numbers.  9 from 10 from the field and 3 from 3 from the 3 point line certainly helps my FNBL team.  Thanks Daniel!  Once again, I forgot to activate Brad Williamson and it turned around to hurt me.  It seems that Corey Williams is not overly happy with his benching. 

- It seems as though my post on the NZ Breakers has proven to be correct.  If you are not a believer by now, you are an idiot.  The Breakers are going to make a deep run into the playoffs this season.  If they can get home court advantage, they should be in fantastic shape. 

- Michael Scibilia has wrote an interesting article titled ‘Smoke, Mirrors and a Salary Cap’. I really enjoy reading his blog and wish that he would write more often.  Anyway, in this article he discusses the possiblity of the ‘New NBL’ (we need an awesome name!) doing away with the Salary Cap.  He feels that this idea is shocking and I would have to say that I agree with him.  This is not the English Premier League where Russian Maffia families own teams and have an unlimited supply of money. 

- Ryan Mobillia has some interesting thoughts on how Zac Efron could svae the sport in our country.  I stumbled across his blog as well (it was linked to JR’s) and it is another good read.  He should write more often as well. 

- Whilst I like to keep this blog Australian related, I have to ask this question: What the hell is going on with Stephon Marbury?  In the game against the Bucks, he dressed but refused to play.  Is this guy serious?  I understand that he is not happy with the situation but there are twenty million basketballers around the world who would love to even put a NBA uniform on and he is refusing to play.  This just blows my mind.  Come on Stephon!  Pick up your game!

- It seems as though St Marys has taken over the mantle from Metro State as the production factory for young Australians playing college basketball.  I really enjoyed watching their game against Freno State last week on ESPN and loved the style of game that they play (e.g pushing the ball at every opportunity)  Their coach seems to have a firm handle on the Australian basketball scene.  Having David Patrick (who I played against at the Australian Schoolboys Titles in Newcaste in 1994) also helps as well.  I read with interest that they have signed three more Australians to their roster next year – Jorden Page, Matthew Dellavedova and Mitchell Young 

- The NBL is fuming that the AAP has cut its regular coverage of mathces as of next round and so they bloody well should be.  This is a disgrace and should not happen.  We are fighting hard to keep our sport above water in this country and this crap happens.  Boo to AAP!

I would like to personally challenge every blogger out there to put out more NBL coverage.  We need to ban together as a basketballing community and keep the information flowing about this league.  If the whole ‘New NBL’ thing is going to happen next season, that is great,  but lets enter the season with a bit of momentum.  It seems as though some people in power are just resting and doing nothing to promote the game in our country.  More needs to be done people.  Individual sites for each NBL club should have features on players etc.  They are not hard to do.  I have sent out a whole bunch of requests to certain players for interviews for my little site and I have already done one and have another two defintely ready to go.  If I can do it, why can’t others?  Come on offical NBL sites.  Have some interviews with players or something.  Get it done!

End of my rant!

If you have been living under a rock for the past week, you wouldn’t have heard that Ben Cousins has been granted permission to re enter the AFL after spending a year on the sidelines for his drug addiction.  Ben never tested positive for an drugs throughout his career but admitted that he was a drug adict and the league de registered him for twelve months.

Luckily for the NBL, there has never been any huge drug scandals.  Yes there was Baywatch Bobby Breenan who allegedly tested positive for pot along with Damon Bailey who was supposedbly a big smoker but no huge controversies like the Cousins one.  So how would the NBL handle a situation like this? 

Lets be honest, Ben Cousins is a huge star.  Lets say that a certain star from a new NBL franchise called the St George Saints has a huge drug issue.  He is into some serious drugs but has never tested positive.  How would our current NBL management handle this scenario?  Would they just let it go through to the keeper and keep it hush hush in the media or would they get it out in the open and put him to the cleaners like the AFL did to Cousins?  I have a lot of doubt that the NBL could handle this situation correctly at all. 

Does the NBL have a drug culture?  I highly doubt that it does.  I am sure that there are some guys who do (just like there is in any run of society) but I think that the biggest issue is that most of the young NBL players don’t have the disposable income that some of the AFL / NRL guys do.  Also most basketball players in Australia can go to a club or bar and be recognised but not swarmed.  I know for a fact that many a time I have been out with NBL players on the drink.  They love the free drinks (like anybody would) but to the common man, they are not overly famous.  A young kid in the AFL could earn up to $100 000 a year.  Not many basketballers in Australia would earn that. 

Hopefully we will never have to deal with this situation in our game.  Fingers crossed!

Episode One – The official podcast of Basketball and Everything in Between

This is the first ever episode of The TO – The official podcast of Basketball and Everything in Between.  This has been inspired by The OT with JR and DJ Rod.  We are nothing compared to them but we are attempting to make our contribution to the NBL community.  Hopefully you all enjoy.  I am not sure about the site that it is hosting it yet but we will see how it goes.