Comments on: Headband-gate: Ben Wallace and Scott Skiles feud

By: Chicago Bulls « Buzzer Beater

Chicago Bulls « Buzzer Beater — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 21:48:28 +0000

[…] Headband στο κεφάλι του Big Ben […]

By: See what you’re missing, Ben? | Detroit Bad Boys

See what you’re missing, Ben? | Detroit Bad Boys — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 06:21:47 +0000

[…] DBB reader MichSt was at the game Saturday and caught Lindsey Hunter playfully greeting Ben Wallace at center court with a headband. From Detroit News: Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups both tried to present Wallace with a red headband before the game. Lindsey Hunter greeted him wearing one himself, all in honor of Wallace’s headband stand with the Bulls earlier this season. […]

By: mc

mc — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 15:00:06 +0000

Listen,

I have to agree with g. Don’t get mad at Ben Wallace for leaving Detroit. I think it’s safe to say Detroit won’t be winning any Championships anytime soon. That is why Ben left, he knew Flip was no Larry Brown! Neither is Scott Skiles. You have to do what it takes, within reason, to make your players happy. I’m pretty sure many of you need a cup of coffee in the monrning, or you are cranky all day!

Ben needs his pregrame regimine. And no headbands?? What is this 1942 Germany? Forcing him to tape his ankles? Why don’t you make me wear pink socks while you’re at it?
Scott Skiles is a fool for preventing players from wearing gear that was made/endorsed by the NBA!!!! I’m pretty sure the NBA logo is on it!

By: Dirty Carl Sports » Blog Archive » Blogdome: Seriously, Bring In Orton!

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 16:35:24 +0000

[…] • The Bears might have themselves a big QB problem on their hands. [Yellow Chair Sports] • Here’s what Rasheed likes. [Need4Sheed] • A big day for the thief of gay sheep. [The Fanhouse] • Goodbye, Mike Shula. [From The Bleachers] • In defense of Michael Irvin? [Leave The Man Alone] • Not a good weekend if you’re an Irish and Giants fan. [The Assimilated Negro] • It’s rapping Redskins fans! [The Fanhouse] • “The buffet line is for closers!” [extrapolater] • Summing up sports’ “Douchebag Moves.” [Sports Gone South] • Ben Wallace is rather protective of his headband. [Detroit Bad Boys] • Tim McCarver loves “Welcome Back, Kotter.” [The 700 Level] […]

By: walle

walle — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 10:05:25 +0000

Thanks JackDutch. No valid reason at all then…

By: JackDutch

JackDutch — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 00:53:55 +0000

LOVE that googling “headband-gate” results in inquiring minds finding this chat. especially from other countries. we’ve officially done our job of talking this to death. well done, people!

for walle, supposedly the no-headband policy currently enforced by the chicago bulls regime stems from certain former players who had a less than exemplary attitude/effort in how they approached the game. bulls management obviously thought that the crooked headbands they were wearing were the cause of their poor work ethic and inconsistent play, and those few bad apples spoiled the whole bunch for all players who might enjoy, or even need, a headband. see ben wallace. now why he blatantly and brazenly refused to take off his headband when he knew it was against bulls team policy is a whole different question. a question that involves going beneath the ‘fro and figuring out the psyche of one benjamin wallace. and there’s about 3 dozen other blog entries about that can of worms, if you’re interested…

By: Trey

Trey — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:10:34 +0000

We all fail to realize that basketball is an occupation just like any other job or career. I don’t think to many of us today stay at the same job for 20 years anymore. That is because we want to move on where the bigger paycheck is. Ben is just a person like all of us. He has the right to bitch complain, move on, and then still bitch a little more if he needs to. Now Piston fans and Bulls fans get off your high horse and give the man a break. The bottom line is I love B-ball, but it is still just a game and entertainment. Sorry, but it just aint that serious. Let the man wear the headband, who the hell is it hurting?

By: walle

walle — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 16:47:05 +0000

Coming from Sweden not following NBA at all I read a small notice about Chicago winning over Knicks. In that notice there was a small part about the headband-thing.

This sounded so freaking weird that I had to Google it and then I turned up here.

So my question is the same as JackDutch has. What is the idea with a no headband rule? For me it sounds like an insanely stupid rule.

Can someone explain this for me?

By: Is Headband-gate over? | Detroit Bad Boys

Is Headband-gate over? | Detroit Bad Boys — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 03:24:03 +0000

[…] I feel a little silly talking about headbands two days in a row, but given the tone of my first post on the topic (and the considerable interest shown by the readers in the comments), I felt a quick follow-up post was in order. […]

By: Cameron

Cameron — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 03:20:01 +0000

It’s no surprise all of this is happening to Ben. His attitude had clearly been declining, along with his skills, since the championship in 2004. Sitting out the end of the game last year was a major part in the Piston’s eventual downfall.
At this point in his career, he simply has a negative attitude along with his declining skills and I think he would be a detriment to almost any team.
You can’t play 4 on 5 on offense if you’re not getting incredible contributions and effort on the defense and rebounding end, and Ben simply doesn’t provide that anymore.

By: Twomey

Twomey — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 00:11:00 +0000

As a long-time Piston fan, I get no enjoyment at seeing Ben going through a rough time in Chicago. But I am glad he’s gone. I’ll never forget how shocked I was when it was officially announced that he was leaving. I didn’t want to believe it and it took me about a week to come to grips with it. Ben has meant more to the Franchise than any single player except for maybe Isiah. But when I got my head straight and remembered how much of a liability he was in the playoff series with Miami, I realized that it was time to move on. Ben is the WORST free throw shooter in NBA history and hasn’t shown any improvement. He’s also getting an attitude that isn’t healty. He’s not worth even close to the $12 mill/year Joe offered him. $15 mill a year is a joke. At the pace he’s going, he’ll be lucky to be starting four years from now. But I don’t wish that upon him. I really hope he does start playing better, just not against us!!

By: JackDutch

JackDutch — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:12:31 +0000

here’s something we may have overlooked:

how friggin’ retarded (using in the tom jackson sense) is it to have a no-headband policy? are you kidding me? it does serve a function, you know. like keeping sweat out of one’s eyes when one gets sweaty. patrick ewing should have worn three. it’s like jim leyland telling his players they can’t wear batting gloves anymore. paxson and skiles are complete morons. and the best part is that both parties, by not being up front and actually communicating about things, have now drawn an immovable battle line, over a NO-HEADBAND POLICY. if they let ben wear a headband, they’re going to look like pushovers. if they don’t, they’re going to speed up the timer on the ticking clock, because you know ben’s too stubborn to let it go.

these guys truly deserve each other…

By: julie

julie — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 21:22:18 +0000

Quite a discussion you all have going here. My thoughts:
1) I was actually sad to hear that Ben had such a horrible showing the other night, but there is a small part of me that is glad he’s not playing for Detroit anymore.
2) I think the rules sound pretty ridiculous, however Ben’s actions were very disrepectful and unprofessional. If he and the other players wanted to address this situation, why not have a player’s meeting and then discuss it with the coach? His behavior did nothing to further his cause and only served to hurt the team (maybe).
3) I don’t think it’s sacriledge to question Ben’s current abilities or his current (and past) behavior, and to be embarrassed that a fan might wish him “misfortune” seems a bit strange when you think of the very nature of a fan- you root FOR one and AGAINST the other (and most of us root against our ex-es– team-based and otherwise–at least a little, don’t we?).
And for that matter, we certainly don’t mind calling out players or coaches (Larry Brown, anyone??) when they’re on our team for poor performances or behavior.

And people offering counter arguments and opinions in the COMMENTS section is not “piling on”. This is a BLOG, it’s the writer’s job to offer opinions and commentary, some with a light heart and some with serious insight… readers get to comment and agree or disagree. It’s what we do, and we do it quite well on both sides of the issue.

4) I believe (and I think everyone can be happy about this) (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) that this is all really a scheme to make the Bulls crappy and poor. Ben and Joe came up with a long term solution to the rising “Bulls” problem by sending Ben in as a saboteur. He’s really wearing a Piston’s jersey underneath. LOL.:)

By: the_Allrights

the_Allrights — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 20:07:38 +0000

I’m not quite sure I believe Paxson when he says they didn’t know this issue would be a problem.

You mean Ben just said OK when they told him about it? I doubt that. They knew he didn’t like it, I’m sure, but they didn’t think he would make a spectacle of himself/them, so they made no change. That’s why he did it, I bet.

I think the Bulls players are tired of being treated like kids and Ben is the only one man enough to stand up to the tyrant policies.

I bet this endears him to players, not the opposite. Players and fans and press people are three very different animals.

I think Ben will explode and be a beast soon enough. His demise is greatly exaggerated.

By: Matt Watson

Matt Watson — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 19:49:09 +0000

From the sounds of it, maybe they would have made an exception had he handled this better. John Paxon in the Chicago Trib:

“We have to be a little careful in terms of changing something for one player at this time. If I knew this was going to be an issue a month or two ago and Ben had expressed that to us, that might’ve been a way to handle it. Right now, we’re in a tough position. We have the rule for the right reasons.”