A break from Buddhism

Well, it's my worst day of studying today, and it is time to take a break from it all.  Buddhism has occupied most of my day today, along with the Mets earlier on (they wasted another great Santana outing, hooray).  Now, however, it is time to turn to the goings on in sports.  Today, there is something bothering me, and it deals with the NBA playoffs.

If you are not aware, Dwight Howard elbowed 76ers center Samuel Dalembert after grabbing a rebound.  It was deliberate, but not what I would call dirty. He was whistled and given a technical foul for it.  Great job by the officials in my opinion.  Now there is a huge deal being made out of the whole deal, and it has resulted in Howard being suspended for the next game in the series.  This is absurd.  First off, Howard wasn't even given a flagrant foul, it was a technical foul.  You shouldn't be suspended for a technical foul.  Second off, Howard also elbowed his teammate Courtney Lee and he will be out for the game 6 also.  Basically, this suspension is the NBA deciding that they want a game 7 in what has been a closer series than many expected.  Without their star and a key role player, I don't see how the Magic can pick up a win on the road.  The NBA should be ashamed of themselves.

In a related incident, the Bulls-Celtics series continued to be incredible.  They had another overtime game which the Celtics won to take a 3-2 lead.  With 3 seconds left the Bulls had the ball and were down 2.  Brad Miller got free on the inbound, took a dribble to the hoop and went up for what should have been a routine layup, until Rajon Rondo came flying in and smacked him in the face hard.  Rondo was whistled for the foul, Miller went to the line and missed the free throws, Celtics won.  People are now complaining that a flagrant foul should have been called on Rondo--get out of here.  That was a great hard foul late in a game.  It could have been called a flagrant foul--but that doesn't mean it should have.  People are now acting like the non-call cost the Bulls the game.  News flash--it didn't.  Even if the flagrant was called, Miller would have presumably missed the foul shot (since he did that anyway), and then the Bulls would have had the exact same inbound as before--down two, except now with less time to play.  Rondo's play was not dirty.  He admits that he knew he had no chance of getting the ball, so he just swiped.  That's the NBA; that's protecting a lead; that's how you win games some of the time.  It's that simple.  What really stinks about this whole deal is that people are not focusing on the game anymore--it was an awesome game.  These two teams went into overtime again, and then everyone seems to have forgotten about the 3 clutch shots Paul Pierce hit in the final 90 seconds of that game.  He was great.  The Celtics had no one else left with Ray Allen fouling out, and Paul Pierce stepped up just like everyone has been waiting for him to.  I'd look for it to happen again in game 6.

I guess my point is this:  stop worrying about the officials and the suspensions, and start worrying about the games.  Other than the Cavs-Pistons series and that 58 point win by the Nuggets, the NBA playoffs have been great so far.  That's why I want Dwight Howard in there still.  He didn't cheat, he didn't play dirty, and he is great to watch.  Let him play, and we'll be in store for more great games.