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Saturday's Book Signing In Detroit Scrubbed Thanks To D.C. Weather

The approaching El Nino winter storm bearing down on Washington D.C., Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay has already canceled my book signing 550 miles away in tony Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

I was scheduled to sign copies of Metro Detroit's High School Basketball Rivalries at the Barnes & Noble on Mack Avenue tomorrow at 2pm but all flights in and out of Baltimore and D.C. have already been scrubbed in lieu of the approaching storm, predicted to be 'paralyzing' to those of us in the footprint of the Beltway.

Of course, any amount of precipitation is paralyzing to these folks. School was canceled in Anne Arundel County Wednesday; For God sakes, there was 1.5 inches of fresh snow in the driveway when we woke up! When 22 to 25 inches fell in Annapolis beginning Friday, December 18 through Saturday, December 19, the same county canceled school on Monday...and Tuesday...and yes, Wednesday, too! Seriously, it takes five days to clear roads, driveways and sidewalks? This makes Michigan look like a lil' slice of heaven when it comes to snow removal.

These storms represent Armageddon to a lot of people in the Mid-Atlantic. Many stores ran out of toilet paper, milk and bread before the dinner hour yesterday. The local television stations are all up and running with their familiar storm trackers, storm of the year and basic 'Death Watch' mentality. Also, this just in -- several furniture stores are liquidating! Everything must go!

I just hope we survive at this point.

And don't even try to drive on the interstates and county roads in the snow, much less a rain storm, because the locals start white-knuckling it the minute it starts to sprinkle the windshield. Snow's tough, too. The week before the 22-inch mother of all storms, a couple inches of sloppy pancake batter started falling on a Saturday afternoon in Glen Burnie, Maryland. I was doing 62 mph in the right lane of southbound interstate 50/301 -- and passing everyone in the three lanes to my left. Last weekend it took me 90 minutes to drive to Philadelphia with no snow on the ground in the morning and three-and-a-half-hours to drive back at 4.pm. because it snowed a couple inches. 

I wish I had a sign on the back of my car that read: "I'm from Michigan. I've seen snow. It's really not that big of a deal. Just get the hell out of my way..."

Pray for us...

~T.C. Cameron is waxing the shovel and gearing up for Armageddon in Annapolis, Maryland this weekend. Run for your lives! Save yourself while you still can! Follow me to freedom!

Johnny U Blazed The Trails Manning Follows Today

Detroit News sports writer emeritus and king milkshake Jerry Green opens a debate today about the greatest of great Colts quarterbacks: Baltimore's Johnny Unitas or Indy's Peyton Manning. Green is one of only four writers alive to have covered every Super Bowl, although he's not bought a green banana since Super Bowl XVI at the Pontiac Silverdome.

But there's no debate. Give me Johnny U. And no, I don't say that because I live within shouting distance to Baltimore, either. It's rooted in fact; Manning has merely perfected what Unitas created for him.

First, a few conciliatory words for Manning, perhaps the most diligint quarterback in the league. Words like driven and determined paint Manning's template of success, and perhaps no player personifies work ethic in today's NFL more than Manning.

Manning, who made his mark for Jim Irsay's Indianapolis franchise, is the latest and greatest installment of quarterbacking 7.0, built from a platform conceived in the shadows of old Yankee Stadium on a blustery night in the Bronx in 1958. Unitas marched the Colts down the field in what was America's first look at a two-minute drill. He wasn't the first signal caller to lead his team back; Ole' whiskey-breath himself, Bobby Layne, had done it dozens of times in Detroit, as had 'Automatic' Otto Graham in Cleveland, but Unitas was the first to do it as the entire country watched.

Unitas called his own plays, too. Manning might be the only quarterback to be trusted to do the same in today's micro-managed NFL, but Unitas blazed a path for every other quarterback to follow, Manning included. 

The credit has to go to the player who made it possible for all others to follow into future glory. That's Unitas.

Regards...

~T.C. Cameron writes for The Capital newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland and still roots for the Detroit Lions, for reasons unknown to sane football fans everywhere.

Politicos Walkin', Criminals Talkin' & Referees Keepin' It Real!

Today Sheila Dixon finally becomes the former Mayor of Baltimore. Her undoing was a series of forceful extortions made onto building developers in and around Charm City -- made under the guise of helping the poor -- but really about securing gift cards from major retailers to feed her need to shop.

Great ed-op in today's Baltimore Sun about Dixon's bold-face lies and her lack of accountability. She accepted a plea deal after she was convicted by a jury of her peers, but continues to squawk like a victim. Which she is...of her own doing.

In Detroit, another one of Kwame Kilpatrick's appointees has turned state's evidence. DeDan Milton, one of the dozens of Kilpatrick flunkies who have fumbled their ethical duties to not be a liar, thief and crook as a servant of the people, will now cooperate with federal authorities. 

Kilpatrick, who is still remembered in D.C. as the 'Playa Maya', is now at the mercy of the city he created. What's really funny? In Detroit, perhaps more than any other city, the phrase 'Only bitches become snitches' is a mantra in just about every neighborhood. But as Kilpatrick lives the life of luxury 1000 miles from Detroit, it would seem his former friends would prefer to throw him under the bus.

SIGNING DAY SLEEPER: Tip of the cap to MaxPreps' Steven Spiewak, who propped me in a sleeper article about Meade High School (Ft. Meade, MD) gridder/grappler Mwanza Wamulumba. 

An defending state wrestling champion in the 4A/3A class of Maryland public schools, Wamulumba signed with Miami University (see Cradle of Coaches) of the Mid-American Conference. He's a genuinely nice kid and a physical freak of nature, which often is one of the key components of earning a Division-I scholarship.

FRANK FACTS ON FACEBOOK: Props to Ray Kelser, Eric Lee, Harold Bettie and Mike Lombard for chiming in on my FB post regarding the job performance to date of President Barack Obama. The officials I still call friends offered some strong talking points; don't tell me America doesn't care.

Yeah, I still have some love for Detroit...always will, too.

Regards...

~T.C. Cameron authored two prep sports rivalries books for Arcadia Publishing and now writes prep and collegiate sports for The Capital newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, America's oldest, continuously-printed newspaper.

Of Coach-Speak, A Book Signing & Ohio's Greatest

After almost 14 years of prep and collegiate officiating, I find myself awed by the coaches I'm covering in ways both good and bad. So much of what's said to an official is offered into the teeth of crowd noise or said while the official is running by and therefore goes unheard.

I'm reporting for The Capital in Annapolis with more frequency these days. We're dedicated to giving as much quality journalism to prep sports and Naval Academy athletics as possible. It reminds me of the Detroit city and suburban dailies, circa the late 1960s and early 1970s, when a football Friday looked like Game Seven in Saturday's paper. That's today's Capital. I'm seeing coaches in a light I previously had turned a overtly blind eye to as an official. The coaches are passionate and care very much about their kids. Anyone with a heartbeat who can't see that is faking it...the heartbeat, that is.

I've shuddered at some infrequent but brazen attempts by coaches trying to influence the officiating, as well as one or two acts of unsportsmanlike behavior directed at opposing student-athletes, too. Sometimes the officiating has left a lot to be desired, too. The specifics of these instances would serve no purpose to be divulged in this forum and unfortunately, you'll find all of that in every city, county and state in the union.

Seeing the prep game from the stands again, it's feels like I'm re-discovering a part of Americana floating below the radar of endlessly loud chatter of varying social and political importance.

BOOK IT! I'm in Grosse Pointe, Michigan's Barnes & Noble at 19221 Mack Avenue on Saturday, February 6th for a 2pm book signing...that's 1400 hours for all you seaman and soldiers out there. I'll be signing copies of Metro Detroit's High School Basketball Rivalries. 

BUCKEYE STATE'S BEST: A tip of the cap to Larry Phillips of Mansfield, Ohio's News Journal, who jumped out on a limb and attempted to pick an all-time Ohio prep football team. I took the time to write Phillips and he managed to convince his editor it was a worthy comment, including it in yesterday's reader comment recap -- where do I send the check? 

I appreciated his efforts; I knew I was going to be put through the keyhole and back when I did my prep football book, too. The first book in any genre is the toughest to get onto the presses. Publishers are wary about unproven markets and while being first to the finish line is important, it's more important to have a few bills in the bank after the race.

In Ohio, every day a publisher prints prep football news, he puts his or her paper's reputation on public display. Ohio is to prep football what the D.C. Beltway is to politics. Perversely passionate best categorizes Ohioans and their relationship with high school football. Hey, it's either that or laying claim to the largest group of unionized breadtruck drivers in America. I'd accept being perversely passionate about football over driving the Wonder Bread truck any day.

Ever wonder why Ohio hates Michigan? Sure, the Michigan-Ohio State game is usually played with the Big Ten title and Rose Bowl berth contingent on the outcome, but look closer. Look at how many Ohioans populate the varsity rosters annually at Michigan and Michigan State. Better yet, drive through the state on a football Friday. All you'll find on your radio is country, Christian or any number of games playing in the county you're driving through.

A few debatable selections aside, it's a great list and accomplishes the one thing every writer appreciates: Quotable chatter.

Regards...

~ T.C. Cameron is a two-time author, three-sport official and four days away from eating two coneys with everything in Detroit!

Who Makes Up Your Mt. Rushmore Of NFL Coaches?

Why do some drivers feel the need to veer left into the lane to complete a right-hand turn? Stay in your lane.

This and other things are on my mind today.

Let's go to Farm Lane Road. Have you seen Michigan State's new Spartan logo? I will admit my first reaction was not a positive one, but the more I've studied it, I'm starting to buy in. I wish the connector between the plume and the helmet would be fragmented like in the current logo, but a guy can hope, right? I do admit the helmet is a fierce upgrade.

On Baltimore's sports talker, the self-anointed 105.7 The Fan, Ed Norris & Co. debated the NFL's Mt. Rushmore of Coaches. The usual suspects were well-represented. Lombardi, Shula, Landry, Walsh, Parcells, etc. Hell, I half expected Bill Belichick to be thrown on the rock, too. He's a grad of nearby Annapolis High, after all.

Here's what immediately struck me: No George Halas. Nary a mention of Paul Brown, either. Now I despise everything about Chicago and Cleveland as much as the next God-fearing fan, but how do you omit Halas and Brown -- in the same sentence, no less -- and call yourself a fan of pro football?

I would have a hard time putting Landry or Shula up there for pure championship merit, but what of staying power, ideals and overall contributions to the craft of coaching and the evolution of the NFL as we know it today? Start carving.

For the record, I can omit Lombardi for Halas, Landry (in the hat), Brown (also hatted) and Shula, pre-glasses. Lombardi is more lore than legend. He didn't coach for an incredibly long time and while I wouldn't dare say he wasn't a worthy coach, he simply didn't put in enough time to earn a spot of just four.

Speaking of locals and fans, you hear the local mediaites here in Charm City often declare Baltimore 'over' the loss of the Colts 25 years ago. Not so fast, my friend. If you were watching, listening, breathing or just basically alive, you would have witnessed about 90% of this region rooting for the New York Jets this past Sunday. Yeah, Baltimore's over the Colts like I'm over Western Michigan University cheating us out of the 1993 Mid-American Conference outdoor track & field championship. Yeah, the photo finish just 'happened' the only time in three days on the 4x200 that you didn't hand the sticks out correctly. 

For the record, that would have been five cross country, indoor and outdoor titles in a row. Bob Parks, I've got your back.

Remember Syracuse losing to LeMoyne College's Dolphins back in November? I'm not surprised Jim Boeheim is 5-0 versus the Top 20 and has earned yet another 20-win season. Outside of the ACC, there's no tougher league in major college basketball than the Big East. When does Boeheim finally get his due?

How about the Mt. Rushmore of Running Backs? Would you have O.J. Simpson up there?

Michigan State by 10 tonight in the 'House That Cazzie Built'.

Regards...

~ Buy Metro Detroit's High School Basketball Rivalries at national online retailers nationwide.

Finally, An Admission Of Difference in Prep Basketball

As a journalist, I'm no fan of quoting my friends. It's something I abhor and further, stains your work with a smudge of nepotism.

But Mick McCabe's article in today's Detroit Free Press shed some light on an issue many basketball officials know to be true: Officiating girls basketball and boys basketball is, in many respects, officiating two completely different games. This admission was courtesy of Mike Dempsey (one of McCabe's very best friends), who lives outside of Detroit in one of its' swanky suburbs and is part of the old guard within Detroit's officiating community.

In 2006 I wrote as much in this same space. I admitted that working a girls game wasn't as enjoyable as a boys game for me for a few blunt reasons. The speed and physicality of a girls' game is completely different to what you might find in a high-level boys' contest, and because of that, your decision-making as an official changes drastically. 

I also pointed out that in Michigan, sometimes the coach with lesser experience or success was relegated to the girls' position. It wasn't always the case but for a few schools,  but for one metro Detroit school district, it took a court order to tender the more-experienced coach with the boys' job. My writing didn't garner much opposition until I was working on an Super Bowl article for Referee Magazine and editor Bill Topp blew his top when he found the post in my blog's catalog. As a punishment for my opinion, Referee killed my article.

Maybe the truth hurt more than I knew. What Referee failed to acknowledge from my post is I have a soft spot for girls basketball. It gave me my start as an official and for that, I'm forever grateful. Because of that, I still work girls basketball today, although I'm certain a few coaches wish I would reconsider.

Regardless, Dempsey observes that while the rules, timing and floor surfaces are the same for boys and girls, that's where the similarity ends: "In the old season, you had girls in the fall, you could get in that mindset. Now going back and forth, it affects your decision-making. You're going to do a worse job on one of them because they're not the same game."

I never imagined I would concur more until I moved to Maryland. Here, the overwhelming majority of games statewide are staffed by two officials. In metro Detroit, it's news when a game only has two officials. Additionally, prep girls in the blue crab state play with a 30-second shot clock, whereas the boys do not. Naturally, a few select moments have found me starting a backcourt count simply out of habit, drawing snickers and questions from the coaches, and in one instance, an outright declaration from a coach to my partner that, "...maybe boys' officials shouldn't be working girls' games."

Perhaps that's a revealing insight into why high schools struggle to find and keep good officials more than anything else. But perhaps there's some truth in that statement, too.

I covered the Army-Navy women's basketball game for The Capital Saturday afternoon, played in Annapolis after the Midshipmen men played Army in the same arena. Is there a collegiate rivalry more revered than Army-Navy?Both sets of officials did an admirable job of letting players play through contact when appropriate and stopping the clock for fouls as needed in kind. 

But it would have been unfair to ask either set of officials to apply the same judgment from one game to the next, because they were two different games. The women's game was staffed by Bryan Brunette, Diana DePaul and Shannon Feck, while Mike McCloskey, Gregg Durrah and Brandon Cruz preceded them during the men's contest. Two games between two service institutions in the same arena that were completely different simultaneously.

The bottom line is officiating basketball at any level -- and any gender -- is much like a good plasterer or drywaller. It might not seem like the most palpable skill, but it's much more of an art that we all would admit and you can usually tell the good from the bad rather quickly. 

Regards...

T.C. Cameron is a writer and referee living along the Chesapeake Bay.

Air America Fell On Deaf Ears

I confess I should post more than I do, but there's an honest answer for my tardiness. I work and the hours are sometimes longer than I'd like. It's good to have skills in demand, something to be thankful for, too.

Air America fell off the dial for good yesterday. The ultra-lib, conservative-hating firestarters fell by the curb for one reason. No one was listening, at least not enough to keep advertisers and investors to keep buying. The syndicate had run through a litany of buyers and investors and staved off bankruptcy in 2006. A six-year run of live programming ended abruptly last night when Air America started playing rerun programming and announced it would formally sign off Monday.

The New York Times quoted Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers Magazine, a talk media pub: "It would be a shame if the world sees the failure of Air America as representing the failure of progressive talk radio."

I ask how could you not see it as a failure of the platform? Air America is dead because America stopped listening.

Look, I didn't think George Bush was a very good president and I watched him ignore Michigan for eight years while the state's overwhelming majority democratic leadership sat idle and twiddled thumbs, presumably whistling Dixie with all the other out-of-work, transplanted southerners. The tired, played-out political process both parties engage in forced my family and I to move to Maryland, a state better-suited to confront an ever-changing economic climate. 

Does Bush deserve all the blame for that, too?

The lesson here is obvious, and it's rooted in Air America's crash: Bashing Bush, Republicans, conservatives and FOX News might make for good radio for a few fleeting moments, especially when fire-filled passions are stoked high, but in the end, Air America was a lot like the movie Groundhog's Day, replaying the same blather, every day, over and over and over. There's an oft-retold children's story about this platform of crying wolf repeatedly, but Air America refused to heed it.

Say what you want about Rush Limbaugh and FOX News, but they are franchise models of staying power. Lib talkers Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Al Franken and Randi Rhodes won't admit it, but as Barack Obama and his agenda of change becomes more and more mired in the politics he promised to leave behind, America is tuning out.

Regards...

Colts, Ravens Still Share Conflicted Past

If only the Baltimore Ravens had not turned the ball over four times. If only the Ravens had not committed so many crucial penalties. If only the Ravens had...defeated the Indianapolis Colts Saturday night. 

But they didn't. In fact, the Colts dominated Baltimore. So once again, Baltimore's Ravens missed yet another chance to exorcise a demon of the city's past. Until the Ravens eliminate the Colts in a meaningful playoff game, the Colts will remain an enigmatic part of Baltimore's fabric. 

A lot of Baltimorians will bend your ear over to tell you the story is dead, they've moved on and the Colts were and are in the past. This town isn't yet over the Colts leaving. When my wife and I looked for a home this past summer, about one in 10 was still adorned with a horseshoe. Sure, the Ravens won a Super Bowl 10 years ago, but many still look at the Ravens as the poison fruit from another town's lost love.

The story is well-documented. The Colts used to symbolize the heart and soul of the Mid-Atlantic harbor town from 1953 until the early spring of 1984, when the irascible, irrational Bob Irsay hired Mayflower Moving Vans to hastily move the Colts out of Baltimore. Five trucks loaded with everything except the Colts' Marching Band uniforms and memorabilia plowed through Maryland's snowy interstate system to sleepy Indianapolis.

And professional sports was never the same. Teams began hijacking cities for whatever they wanted and started getting it, too. Mayors and pols alike quickly acquiesced, fully aware of the fallout associated with being on the clock if the city's heroes picked up their toys and went somewhere else to call home.

Sure, the Brooklyn Dodgers packed up and left for California, as did Harlem's New York Giants in the same year of 1957 but the Dodgers and Giants tried to stay; New York City czar Robert Moses wanted baseball infrastructure on the fringe of his inter-borough canvas of bridges and freeways.

The truth as it relates to Baltimore? There remains a generation of football fans who will never forgive the Colts and yet, will never accept the Ravens until they exact a fitting revenge on behalf of a city still wounded by the loss of their first love. Unfair to the Ravens as it may be, and make no mistake -- it is -- the story will be re-told, re-hashed and will continue to re-emerge until the Ravens make Charm City forget the Colts.

Regards,

~T.C. Cameron is a member of the American Society of Journalists & Authors (ASJ&A), the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and officiates three sports in the Mid-Atlantic footprint.

Bengals Overmatched, Just Like Gibbs, Rodriquez and Roberts

There might be little I loathe more than a former athlete for coach who lacks the stones to call out one of his own for foolish decisions. You can add Joe Gibbs to that list this morning.

Watching, and more importantly, listening to the first quarter of the New York Jets' 24-14 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, Gibbs called the second of Cincinnati Coach Marvin Lewis's two challenges 'a good decision'. Mind you, neither one of the plays Lewis challenged was even close to being worth the timeout he lost, but more importantly, it cost the Bengals the chance to challenge anything else for the remainder of the game. 

As soon as Gibbs lauded the decision to challenge, referee Bill Levy announced the call on the field was upheld and lead announcer Tom Hammond declared what I had said 25 seconds earlier, except I was in the family room with a paint brush in my hand. The Bengals could no longer challenge a single call the rest of the game, one with nearly the same clock time of a regulation NBA game left to play.

Former athletes and coaches rarely provide the insight and critical observation that viewers crave, which is why Charles Barkley is forgiven over and over for his many transgressions. He says what you would hear from him to his fellow athletes in a lockerroom. He still carries the bravado of an all-star. That Barkley's funny in both his message and delivery is the gravy on the steak with Sir Charles.

But I'm supposed to believe Gibbs when he says it's a good decision to lose a third of your timeouts and lose the right to challenge with more than three quarters remaining to play? The Bengals haven't won a playoff game in 19 years, but Gibbs, showing the same denial that showed the game had passed him by in his 2nd stint with Daniel Snyder's Redskins, would have none of it. Much like listening to Matt Millen, I'm not fooled.

Speaking of Dan Snyder's Redskins, did anyone else notice Braylon Edwards calling himself a member of Lloyd Carr's University of Michigan last night? Earlier this week, Edwards was quoted in the Detroit Free Press about the message, one he first uttered on January 4th and repeated in yesterday's introduction. Edwards says he means no disrespect to current coach Rich Rodriquez, but Bo Schembechler is quietly rolling in his grave. Is this the evolution of Schembechler's 'Michigan Man'?

Hardly. Edwards isn't fooling anyone of substance here. The essence of the empire Schembechler built in Ann Arbor was simple: A Michigan man would never think to place one player, one coach or one team in front of the overall importance of Michigan, a lesson Bill Frieder learned the hard way. 

Michigan High School Athletic Association Director Jack Roberts appeared to push the coaches he serves under the bus while explaining the archaic rules that declared Inkster's Devin Gardner and Detroit's William Gholston ineligible from further competition in any sport for playing in a high school All-Star football game a few weeks ago.

Mick McCabe writes the has come for the MHSAA to stop enforcing rules that serve nobody's interests and he quotes Roberts as saying the rule has evolved from winter and spring coaches' concerns they risk their best athletes to lost practices or injury stemming from participation in these games. 

The article brings to mind a story Detroit Country Day Coach Kurt Keener told me a year ago while researching my basketball book. Shane Battier played in a similar All-Star game in his final year at DCD and likewise, the MHSAA declared him ineligible. After leaving Country Day, Battier was asked by the MHSAA to do a public service announcement about the positives of playing multiple sports in high school. Keener, who also coached Chris Webber, was still bemused by what he perceived as incredible gall by the MHSAA for asking a famous athlete to advocate something it excluded him from doing. Regardless, Battier did the spot.

Regards...

~T.C. Cameron is a writer and referee living the dream in Annapolis, Maryland. Buy his 2nd title, Metro Detroit's High School Basketball Rivalries at online retailers everywhere.

Gilbert Arenas, Meet Reggie Harding

If history reveals any truth about professional athletes and guns as it relates to the plight of deposed Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas, it's probably safe to assume Arenas won't be the last pro athlete to bring a handgun onto a professional sports property. But he wasn't the first and he certainly wasn't the most infamous athelete to do so, either.

That dubious distinction belong's to Detroit's Reggie Harding. It was during the early years of his pro career Harding became famed for carrying a loaded handgun in his gym bag. To be fair, one can only speculate on the contents of the bag Harding is shown carrying above, captured at Detroit's Metropolitan Airport in the 1960s.

Harding's the first player in NBA history to be drafted without playing college basketball. A Parade All-American at Detroit's now-closed Eastern High, which was converted into the present day Martin Luther King High on Detroit's downtown perimeter to it's east side neighborhoods, Harding was the Detroit Public School League's first seven-footer and an all-league, all-city and all-state selection in 1961 as a prep senior.

But Harding's persona included a dark side that made Gotham look like Times Square. The tales of Harding's troubled past still reverberate in metro Detroit's hardwood circles. One longtime basketball official and assignor still active in each advocation in metro Detroit who requested anonymity for this article called Harding 'a straight thug'. The man-child phenom was linked to several petty larcenies as a youth in the mid-to-late 1950s, but his rumored transgressions soon included car theft and a sexual adventure with a minor girl as a prep basketball star. 

Despite his lithe frame and rumored criminal penchant, Harding was signed by the Detroit Pistons in 1963. Harding averaged 12.3 points and 12.4 points in a career spent mostly with the fledgling Pistons, who would later trade Dave DeBusschere and waste the Hall-Of-Fame careers of both Dave Bing and Bob Lanier. The Pistons dealt Harding to the Chicago Bulls in 1968, where his career flamed out amid concerns about drug use and poor play, his inability to out-muscle stronger counterparts league-wide now glaringly evident.

Out of basketball, Harding returned to Detroit and took up the more-documented portion of his criminal life. The tale of Harding knocking over a party store just blocks from his home is oft-regaled. Harding allegedly pulled a ski-mask over the top of his seven-foot frame, entered a party store and stuck a gun in the clerk's face while demanding the contents of the cash register. Reportedly, Harding was identified by name by the store's clerk, who begged Harding not to shoot him as he emptied the till. 

Harding's alleged response to the clerk: "Man, I told you it wasn't me!" 

His amazing talent long-since lost to drugs and a gritty street life, Harding was shot to death, absorbing a bullet to the head in Detroit on September 4, 1972. He was just 30 years old. 

More than 35 years after his death, Harding's exploits were again brought to life as Jennifer Hudson's amazing performance in Dreamgirls brought attention to the plight of former original Supreme singer Florence Ballard. Former Detroit Free Press reporter Peter Benjaminson authored The Lost Supreme in 2008,  a compelling biography of Ballard's rise, fall and tragic struggles with destitution before her death in 1975 at 30 years of age, the same age Harding passed at. Based on interviews with Ballard and her closest family members, Benjaminson reported Harding allegedly raped Ballard at knife-point in the backseat of a car within Detroit's city limits in 1960, well before she attained fame with the iconic Motown label or Harding claimed NBA notoriety.

Sadly, Arenas has only realized contrition for his foolish immaturity after NBA Commissioner David Stern suspended him without pay -- approximately $147,000 in lost wages for every game Arenas is sidelined -- and must now worry about an employer and league that may unite to attempt a voiding of the superstar's contract for cause. But he wasn't the first NBA mega-talent to tote guns into an arena, just the latest to be felled by his own ill judgment.

Regards...

~T.C. Cameron is the author of Metro Detroit's High School Basketball Rivalries, available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com and other fabulous retailers nationwide.

(photo courtesy of DetroitPSLBasketball.com, the premiere source of online information about the amazing history of the Detroit Public School League, arguably the greatest public school prep basketball league in America)