Mailman still delivering 17 years later

I don't pretend to be an NBA expert. As a matter of fact, I consider it the worst form of basketball out there.

It is uncontrolled, arrogant, and overpriced. Players are reckless, drug abusing, overpaid athletes who care little about dedication.

Do you think Bill Parcells would let Allen Iverson get away with not practicing? I think not.

I prefer the controlled basketball played in the NCAA. Even though people like Jerry Tarkanian and Jim Harrick Jr. are trying their best to ruin a good thing, you can't beat the full-court press and the tight defense.

That said, there are a few athletes that embody basketball even though they play in the NBA.

Recently I was looking through some college scouting reports, and I came across the report on Karl Malone from 1985. Marty Blake, the NBA Director of Scouting said Malone, "has the potential to be one of the top power forwards in the NBA."

Not a bad prediction considering for the past 16 seasons Malone has defined the position.

Blake went on to say that, "despite fall off at FT line, has good form from the charity stripe... POTENTIAL to be a star... must get intensity level up but talent is there."

Normally I think scouts are just hacks who think they can predict the future by watching a kid play one game, but Blake seems to have had this one down.

As of this season, Malone is second on the all-time scoring list, only a little under 3,000 points behind Kareem( don't call me Lew) Abdul-Jabbar for the top spot in NBA history. If Malone continues, as he is capable of doing, he should break the record sometime in the 2004-2005 season.

As for the free throw problems, Malone seems to be doing alright, being the all-time free throw leader with over 9,000 made.

In 1996, Malone was named to the NBA's 50 All-Time Greatest Team.

So now Malone has his sights set on the grand-daddy of all basketball records -- the all-time scoring record.

Why should Malone be the one to break Jabbar's record? The answer is simple.

Malone embodies the spirit of basketball. Not only has he dedicated himself to keeping his body in top form, he has dedicated himself to one team, the Utah Jazz. For 17 years Malone has been a staple in the Jazz front court, playing in eighty or more games in every season but two. In fact, he is second on the list of all-time minutes played behind (yes him again) Jabbar.

You will never see Malone doing a dumb promotional gig like a tortilla chip commercial or movies like "Airplane" or "Naked Gun." He prefers to spend his time with his wife and four children.

He spends his money on the things that count. He once gave $200,000 to pay off the mortgage of a Native American family living in Utah that had sick children and could not afford their home. Besides personal donations, Malone has a hand in the Utah Special Olympics and began the Karl Malone Foundation for Kids.

That, my friends, is the biography of a hero.

In this year when we saw Emmitt Smith break Walter Payton's record, it seems fitting to honor one of the NBA's best of all time. This is a guy, like Smith, who loves the game he plays and has pride in his own accomplishments.

Malone has never won a championship, and while he deserves to get a ring, it may not be in the cards.

Whatever the rest of his career holds, Malone will remain true to himself. On the court he is a ferocious scorer and rebounder and off he is the nice guy who lives next door.

Congratulations, Mailman. You are the NBA's greatest player. You have survived longer than Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. You have outscored, out-shot, and out-rebounded the both of them, not to mention they can't hold a candle to your defensive skills.

People may never give Malone the credit he deserves, but like it or not, he is the best at what he does. One day he will be in the Hall of Fame and he can sit back and laugh at his critics. For now he endures their criticism with a smile and a nod.

Thank you, Karl Malone, for bringing some decency to the trashy league that is the NBA.