No Podcast This Week

Because of the Christmas holiday, the podcast will go dark until Dec. 28.

Ep. 8 - Grizzlies Cancel LeBron Show

Enslen talks about his new role as Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. He also talks about Memphis' win over Dallas and Cleveland.

Here is the information about the tickets for Friday's game against Oklahoma City (from Memphis Business Journal):

Starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday, the Memphis Grizzlies are offering a limited number of $3 tickets in the Terrace level and $33 tickets in the Plaza and First Tennessee Club levels for Friday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Grizzlies defeated the Dallas Mavericks and Cleveland Cavaliers during consecutive home games Dec. 3 and Dec. 8.

Greg Campbell, president of business operations for the Grizzlies, said the team is trying to give fans “a reason to cheer off the court” with the discounts. The team is 9-12 overall and is 8-4 in its last 12 games. The Grizzlies are 6-3 at home this season, their best home record since the 2005-06 season.

“We’re hoping that all of our fans throughout the Mid-South take advantage of this special $3 offer, so that on Friday night all of the members of Grizz Nation can help lift the Grizzlies to another win,” Campbell said in a statement.

Fans can visit the FedExForum Box Office, any Ticketmaster location, ticketmaster.com, grizzlies.com or by phone at (800) 4NBA-Tix or (901) 888-HOOP to purchase tickets.

Next Podcast will be posted on Wednesday

Hi everyone,

The new podcast will be coming out on Wednesday. We will be talking about the team's win over Dallas and Tuesday night's game against Cleveland. Look for it here and on iTunes Wednesday.

Memphis Grizzlies Report #7 - Is Conley the Point?

Enslen talks about the first three games of the road trip and Mike Conley.

On-Air Comments About Grizzlies' Hamed Haddadi Merit Suspension

(Cross-posted from Bleacher Report)

The Los Angeles Clippers' television broadcast team was suspended for one game because of on-air comments made about Memphis Grizzlies' center Hamed Haddadi.

Longtime Clippers announcer Ralph Lawler and broadcast analyst Michael Smith were pulled from the Clippers' game last Friday against Denver. Because the Clippers' feed was not seen in Memphis, the comments about the Iranian-born player did not get a lot of attention and became a footnote in a 106-91 Grizzlies win last week.

The team got into trouble because of one Clippers fan sent an email saying that the Lawler pronounced Iran as "Eye-ran," the Los Angeles Times reported. The fan only wanted to highlight the issue and was not demanding punishment.

But FOX responded with an apology and suspended the broadcast team.

In other on-air comments, the team also asked if Haddadi was "Borat's older brother" and "If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I'm going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part."

Everyone mispronounces words, including me. I hate that I do it. I thought that the the "Eye-ran" error was not worthy of a suspension, only because we would not have cable news anchors because most of them would be suspended for making the same mistake.

It does not make it right, but that is not a reason to pull them for one game. However, the "Borat's older brother" comment went a little over the line.

So I can live with the announcers sitting for one game. Lawler and Smith were cracking jokes (bad ones) during garbage time of a blowout loss. So a one-game suspension is fine with me.

Hey, they are forced to sit through 82 Clippers games every year. That is enough punishment for anyone.

You can watch a video of the comments here .

You can see a story along with a written transcript from the LA Times here .

One footnote: The Clippers will be hosting "Iranian Heritage Day" featuring Haddadi. They will offer discounted seats and fans who purchase tickets iwill also have a chance to meet the player and get an 8x10 photo.

What did you think of the decision? Justified? Not justified? PC run amok?

Note: You can listen to my weekly podcast called Memphis Grizzlies Report . Go to the website for past shows and show notes.

Ep. 6 - Four out of Five

Enslen talks about the Grizzlies' winning four of five games, the departure of AI, and more.

Grizzlies' Owner Michael Heisley Should Show Allen Iverson the Door

(Reposted from Bleacher Report)

This morning, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported that Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley has finally taken a stand with Allen Iverson.

Show up or else.

“I’ve treated this like Allen told me it was—a personal leave,” Heisley said on the paper's website. “But either he’s retiring or coming back to play. I’m not upset with Allen. We’ll be happy to accommodate Allen. If he retires, then he retires. If he wants to come back, we’ll gladly accept him back. But I have personally made it clear that there’s going to have to be a decision made. We’re expecting an answer in a couple of days.”

It is about time. The future Hall-of-Famer has been away from the team for 10 days and counting. The article said that there has been no contact with the team in that time.

It's clear that the signing of Jamaal Tinsley last week has put Iverson on the clock. He can either choose to join the team or he can go away.

Personally, I do not think Iverson adds to a 2-8 team. The Grizzlies would be 2-8 with him in the starting lineup, if he was the sixth man, or if he were in Charlotte, Cleveland, or sitting at home in Atlanta.

Heisley should acknowledge that his Iverson experiment was a screw-up from beginning to end and get rid of him. He should not play the waiting game for Iverson, if does not want to play.

The Iverson-Memphis relationship did not make sense from the beginning. But Allen, it is time to earn your $3.1 million contract.

If you do not want the money, retire.

Note: You can listen to my weekly Memphis Grizzlies podcast at Memphis Grizzlies Report .