A Sorry S.T.A.T.

I'm going to go ahead and join the majority of rational people and shake my head at New York Knicks power forward Amare Stoudemire. Usually when Amare is featured in one of my blog posts it's due to his lack of heart, rebounding or the inability to consistently make winning basketball plays for the Knicks, but this time it's a little different. Yes, his 7 rebounds in 41 minutes in game two's loss to the Miami Heat still won't cut it for an *elite* forward, but that performance wasn't any more out of the ordinary for Amare than his 5 boards in 32 minutes in game one's 34-point loss. What's stealing this blog's space is Stoudemire's realistic possibility of watching the rest of the Knicks first round from the sidelines due to a badly lacerated hand from punching glass covering a fire extinguisher following Monday's loss. I've seen this type of hot-headed behavior countless times during my time playing sports or watching them, and I figured that Amare took in the same lesson I had: The wall...the ground...the glass, they're all undefeated. There is zero upside with assaulting these non-living things. Don't misunderstand, I get the instinct to hit something in the heat of the moment out of frustration, but the urge to keep my bones and skin intact is stronger than the one that wants to hurt something that can't feel in the first place. I'll take it one step further...typically, the wacko who's doing the smashing is usually just as concerned about letting others know how mad he is as he is actually concerned about burning off his 'uncontrollable' frustration. Who knows Amare's true motive for attacking a sharp, inanimate object, but sources are saying it was the mere 9 shot attempts in game 2 that set him off. To that I'd ask, how bad did he want the ball in the first place? In 84 offensive rebounding opportunities the Knicks had in the first two games of the series, Stoudemire (who, allegedly, is an athletic 6'11 power forward) collected a grand total of 2. Considering that the Heat don't even have a true rebounding forward or center, that's a pretty telling 'S.T.A.T.', don't you think? (OK, so I did bang on Amare again for not rebounding, back to the punch) Recently I've been spending time in an urban high school and have seen this "Punch 'X' because I'm pissed" behavior a handful of times. I've witnessed students punch lockers, desks and walls, most of them with the cast covering their hand the following day to prove it. I understand Stoudemire came directly out of high school to the NBA, but at nearly 30 years old I trusted that he'd broken those 15-year old instincts. In an apologetic tweet, Amare said that the incident had "bad timing". Show me "good timing" to fish-fillet your hand with glass and I'll show you a padded room. As a lifelong sports fan I find myself passionately defending players on my favorite teams, but I think even the truest and bluest Knicks fans will have their hands full defending this one...one handful, anyway.