So the question is: Where do you think Anthony Davis will finish up his NBA career?

Didn’t mean to make anyone in New Orleans spit out their Sazerac. Not suggesting that there are problems buzzing around the hive of the Hornets.

It’s just that when the word came out over the weekend that Kwame Brown was signed by the Sixers, it got us to thinking about overall No. 1 picks in the NBA draft and how many of them went on to be certified stars and played their entire career with the team that picked them.

Not many, as it turns out.

If we discount the past five top choices — Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin, John Wall, Kyrie Irving and Davis — as being too early in their careers to measure, the fact is that only a dozen of the first 61 No. 1 picks in league history played for just one team. That is including Dwight Howard, who has one foot out the door in Orlando and Greg Oden, who has not yet been signed by another team since leaving Portland.

What’s more, only four of those No. 1 picks went on to become Hall of Famers — Elgin Baylor, Magic Johnson, James Worthy and David Robinson. Tim Duncan will surely become the next to join the elite list.

The point is that even at the very top of the draft batting order, it’s quite rare to plug in a name and expect that player will never wear another jersey. Oscar Robertson went to Milwaukee to get his championship ring. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar jumped from Milwaukee to L.A. Hakeem Olajuwon finished his career in Toronto, Patrick Ewing with stops in Seattle and Orlando.

Which brings us back to Brown, who’ll be taking career averages of 6.8 points and 5.6 rebounds to Philly.

Sixers president Rod Thorn has heard and read all of the wise cracks about his team’s pick-up and thinks it is time that fans got past the line on Brown’s resume that says where Michael Jordan picked him in 2001, according to Spike Eskin of CBSPhilly.

“You’re looking at Kwame Brown from the standpoint of being the first pick in the NBA Draft once upon a time,” Thorn told 94WIP’s Angelo Cataldi and the WIP Morning Show. “We don’t need him to do that. What we need him to do is be a defensive player, rebounder, stalwart on our back line to help us from that angle, that’s something we didn’t have and what Kwame has done over the latter part of his career. He wasn’t a great player as the first pick the draft. If he was the 25th pick in the draft I think the fans would look at him a little bit differently.”

While Philly is the seventh stop on Brown’s career, he is hardly the most peripatetic No. 1 pick. That is just over halfway to Joe Smith’s record of 13 different teams since he was the No. 1 pick in the 1995 draft.

But Brown has plenty of traveling company. After being picked No. 1 in 1959 (Wilt Chamberlain was a territorial pick of the Warriors then), Bob Boozer played for six different teams. Walt Bellamy was the top pick in 1961, played for six different teams and never won a championship, but still was enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Jim Barnes was the No. 1 pick in 1964 and also played for a half dozen teams.

And, of course, there was The Big Ring Chaser, Shaquille O’Neal, who hopscotched from Orlando to L.A. to Miami to Phoenix to Cleveland to Boston.

So in the wake of Kwame Brown’s latest move, we’ll ask the question again: Where do you think Anthony Davis will finish his up his NBA career?

On Monday, Morrilton native Shekinna Stricklin became the second Arkansan to be taken as a  #2 overall pick in the draft of a major sports league*  By my count, only former NBA players Jim Barnes and Joe Barry Carroll have been drafted higher among native Arkansans. Congrats to Stricklin, who will soon be starting training camp with the Seattle Storm. Throughout her college career at Tennessee, she proved to be the one of the most versatile women in college basketball (I’d say #2 overall, after Delaware’s ridiculous Elena Delle Donne, who likely has been giving Joe Foley nightmares for weeks)

Here are athletes with Arkansas connections to be taken highest in a major sports league’s regular draft**:

• Number #1 – Jeff King of Arkansas Razorbacks (1986 by MLB’s Pittsburgh Pirates)
• Number #1 – Jim Barnes of Tuckerman (1964 by NBA’s New York Knicks)
• Number #1 - Joe Barry Carroll of Pine Bluff (1980 by NBA’s Golden State Warriors)
• Number #2 - Lamar McHan of Lake Village and Arkansas Razorbacks (1954 by NFL’s Chicago Cardinals)
• Number #3 – Cortez Kennedy of Osceola (1990 by NFL’s Seattle Seahawks)
• Number #3 – Kay Eakin of Atkins and Arkansas Razorbacks (1940 by NFL’s Pittsburgh Pirates) [h/t to @bwaldrum for bringing Eakin to my attention]

None of the above #1 picks graduated from an Arkansas high school like #2 picks McHan or Stricklin. Jeff King was a Colorado native. Joe Barry Carroll moved to Denver as a child and Jim Barnes moved to Texas as a teenager.

*Yes, I consider the WNBA a major sports league. Basketball is a major sport, and millions of women play it. Although those women can earn more money in overseas leagues, no female league in the world surpasses the WNBA in terms of a) quality of basketball competition and b) a platform for marketing opportunities.

** No supplemental or January drafts for me. Also, call me lazy and irresponsible, but no checking of the NHL or MLB draft histories either. I simply can’t believe an Arkansan has snuck into the top three picks in either of these sports, despite the wee-est sign of emergent national cache in soccer. For that matter, I would be shocked if an Arkie has gotten into the top 10 picks in either sport.

But I’m open to surprise. So please, somebody, surprise me.

UPDATE: Surprise accomplished. Turns out former #1 overall MLB draft pick, Pat Burrell,  spent the first few years of his life in Eureka  Springs before moving to California, playing against Tom Brady in high school football, becoming an actual Hurricane at the University of Miami and then a metaphorical hurricane of drinking, sexing and bat-swinging at subsequent major league stops in Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and San Francisco. [h/t to Caleb Hardwick]

Enjoy!

Sam

A great place for cancer care, if you are not too demanding 

by Jim Barnes

If you are considering getting care for your cancer, Princess Margaret might be a good choice. They have world-renowned specialists, excellent nurses, and a generally efficient and caring staff. Some of the facilities have been upgraded, but others are showing their age.

Accommodation at the clinics, chemo unit, and blood labs is sometimes a little crowded. Advance reservations are definitely recommended. Palapas are hard to find. Waiting room chairs vary a bit in their comfort level. One positive is that there are seldom problems with people using towels to reserve their chairs. The chairs are not too bad if you’re feeling fairly well, but they are not recommended for those in pain–a good idea to take your pain killers and bring extras.

In my experience, the physicians are dedicated and give guests as much time as they require, and this can lead to some long waits. The nurses do what they can given the constraints they are under. After getting my chemo fairly quickly on my last visit, the nurse explained how lucky I was because for the previous two days staff shortages had kept one chemo unit closed and this caused 3 hour waits. Tipping is discouraged, though the occasional kind or grateful comment will go a long way with the staff.

The clientele varies in age from the very young to the elderly, with a preponderance of older guests. Dress is usually casual. Bathing suits are discouraged in the restaurants and clinics. This does not seem to be a party crowd.

Food choices are somewhat limited, though we’ve only used the “a la carte” and I can’t comment on the “all-inclusive” option. There’s a Tim Horton’s with a limited menu and a Druxy’s. The lines for the Tim’s are often fairly long, though the staff is efficient. The Druxy’s offers their usual fare and it’s not bad, though definitely not gourmet. If you’re willing to go off-site, Baldwin Street, one block east, has a good selection of restaurants. Parking in the area is expensive, though until Toronto goes through with the proposed changes to handicapped parking, you can park on the street without charge with a handicapped permit, even in the restricted spaces opposite the school.

Within the hospital, the bartenders are volunteers and usually quite pleasant, though the drink choices are somewhat limited: no wines, beer. or pina coladas. They will offer a cookie to go with your drink. Entertainment is usually limited to solo performances by wiling volunteers. Show times are a little haphazard, usually over the noon hour on the main floor. We haven’t stayed for any of the late night extravaganzas or attended the discos and so I can’t comment on them. A few large screen televisions are scattered around, but these are usually tuned to CP24.

In the three years we’ve been traveling to PMH, management has made some improvements, perhaps as a result of some earlier negative postings. Waiting times for the blood labs are definitely shorter, and the new chemo unit is much more comfortable with water, tea, complimentary newspapers, and available television.

Check-in is somewhat impersonal. The hospital seems to have a policy of wanting to keep check-in staff away from guests. Guests are required to leave their  cards in plastic boxes rather than to seek personal service.  As well, even when the staff know that the waits will be long, they are discouraged from informing guests of this. This means that guests sometimes sit for long periods when they could be elsewhere: visiting friends, shopping, or going out for a meal. The pagers in the chemo unit at least allow for some flexibility about where you spend your time. Checkout is quick and there are no lineups of staff looking for tips at the end of your stay.

Overall, PMH is a great place to visit and receive care. It’s only 2 or 3 stars for accommodation, but 4 stars for care.  It is definitely not for those who aren’t patient with waiting or who are too demanding.

Posted on Mon, Dec. 05, 2011 Florida gambling law filled with barrel-sized loopholes By Michael Vasquez   Angela Harrison helps her horse “Colors Runaway King” to hit the brakes as they near a barrel on Thursday. Barrel racers took to the racing arenas at the Gretna racing venue on Thursday, December 1, 2011. Visitors got to bet on the results for the first time.   As Florida considers ushering in a new era of casino mega-resorts, a dispute in the tiny Panhandle town of Gretna has focused attention on the state’s existing gambling landscape — and the considerable confusion that surrounds it. Florida’s current gambling laws, some say, are so haphazard, so disjointed, that no one can even agree on what the term “horse racing” means anymore. If you’re thinking of the Kentucky Derby, think again. Gretna’s new Creek Entertainment barrel racing facility — which also will offer poker and hopes to add slots — has just opened, despite fervent opposition from the state’s horse trainers and breeders. Instead of racing around an oval track, these horses zig-zag around red barrels, rodeo-style. The owners of Creek Entertainment — which include a savvy Gulfstream Park lobbyist who once tried to install slots at Miami International Airport — say the particulars of how the horses are running don’t matter. Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation has agreed, and signed off on barrel racing as fully compliant with Creek Entertainment’s quarter horse racing permits. By opting for unconventional barrel races, Creek Entertainment is poised to reap all the rewards of running a horse track, while avoiding the typical requirement of sharing profits with the horsemen. “This is nothing more than a get-rich-quick scheme,” said Kent Stirling, executive director of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. “When this gets to court, they’re going to have a lot of questions to answer.” Stirling and other horsemen will soon argue their case before an administrative law judge, and the legal tussle will likely continue after that. Attorney Marc Dunbar, a Gulfstream Park lobbyist with an ownership stake in Creek Entertainment, says the dispute over his new track boils down to greedy horsemen who are unwilling to share racing purses with barrel racing riders. As for the notion that barrel racing isn’t true horse racing, Dunbar is incredulous. “First of all, why is it called barrel racing?” Dunbar asked. Of late, Dunbar has not only had to justify barrel racing, but he’s also been put on the defensive by accusations that influence-peddling played a role in the state approval of his racetrack. When Jim Barnes, a former investigator with the state’s Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, retired last month, his farewell email to colleagues said he was joining the “dark side” and taking a job as head of security at the new barrel racing track. Dunbar insists that Barnes has not been hired and never even filled out an application. When reached by a reporter, Barnes’ only comment was, “I really hope you don’t screw up my retirement job.” Horses, jai alai These days, as horse racing fades in popularity but slot machines and poker generate huge profits, horse racing permits can be lucrative not because of the actual races but because, under Florida law, running horses entitles the permit holder to offer poker and sometimes slots. The same is true of jai-alai permits, which can allow casinos so long as the permit holder stages an even-less-popular gambling sport that features acrobatic men bouncing a ball off a wall. The owners of Miami’s Flagler Dog Track/Magic City Casino recently obtained a summer jai-alai permit using a 30-year-old loophole in state gambling laws. The new permit allows construction of a casino/jai-alai fronton anywhere in Miami-Dade County. Even if no one shows up to bet on jai-alai, the casino could post a heavy profit through poker and slots. For now, Flagler’s owners have yet to unveil any concrete plans for what they might do with the new permit. In Broward, influential developer Ron Bergeron is pursuing a jai-alai permit, with the possibility of building a facility in Weston. Bergeron’s attorney in that jai-alai bid is David Romanik, a Florida gambling law expert who also has a stake in Gretna’s barrel racing operation. The state’s gambling laws, he said, are the result of decades of lobbyist influence — a dog track or horse track, looking to boost the bottom line, will persuade a lawmaker to insert a beneficial clause or two. The frequent goal, Romanik said, is to reward just one particular company, but writing specialized laws like that is unconstitutional. So the law is broadened just a touch, making it conceivable, but perhaps unlikely, that the new law could apply to someone else. But that kind of legal wording can lead to legal loopholes big enough for attorneys in the know to exploit later on, Romanik said. “The statutes are published, so they’re available for anyone to read,” Romanik said. But, he added, “I think you have to have specialized knowledge to be able to connect the dots.” Legislation The notion of insider attorneys driving Florida’s gambling policy strikes state Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff as all wrong. Bogdanoff, a Fort Lauderdale Republican, is sponsoring a bill in the Legislature this year that would allow three large-scale “destination” casinos to open in South Florida. Though disagreements over the wisdom of allowing more casinos has dominated the public debate so far, Bogdanoff’s bill would also set up a statewide gaming commission that could, in theory, replace Florida’s hodgepodge of gambling laws with clear, understandable rules of the road. The current slew of loophole-exploiting gambling proposals proves a legal overhaul is necessary, Bogdanoff told a gathering of Broward business leaders recently. “I couldn’t have written the script better myself,” Bogdanoff said. Why can’t Florida’s gambling guidelines be updated without approving new casinos? Bogdanoff says she’s tried a stand-alone regulation bill in the past and it got nowhere in the Legislature. But this time, the three casinos’ provision could end up killing the bill as well. Some opponents of destination casinos, including the Florida Family Council and Hallandale Beach’s Mardi Gras Casino, say they would welcome a cleanup of Florida’s gambling rules if it was proposed on its own. But joined with new casinos, they’re fighting hard to stop Bogdanoff’s effort. “Somebody needs to go through all the gambling statutes in the state,” acknowledged Dan Adkins, vice president of Mardi Gras’ parent company. “Say what’s legal, remove the gray, what’s not legal, and here are the rules.” Miami Herald Staff Writer Mary Ellen Klas contributed to this report. http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/05/2527534/florida-gambling-law-filled-with.html

© 2011 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.miamiherald.com

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/05/v-print/2527534/florida-gambling-law-filled-with.html#ixzz1fift0wTA

“It is time for the court system to finally put a stop to the shenanigans going on in Gretna.  If there was any remaining doubt, the revelation yesterday that a Florida pari-mutuel regulator involved in approving the infamous ‘pari-mutuel barrel racing’ for Gretna Racing, LLC was planning to go to work for the very business he regulated and helped to get licensed should indicate to all of Florida’s public officials that it is time to pause and ask questions, rather than celebrate what others are describing as an ‘outright scam.’

It is a total embarrassment to the Sunshine State, with its ‘Government in the Sunshine,’ that the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering has completely evaded any public scrutiny or accountability and gotten away with its actions.  The Division has denied every request for a fair hearing on the issue and, to this day, refuses to be held accountable for its decisions.  The Division’s lawyers are too busy creating legal roadblocks to the public’s effort to find out the truth behind the barrel racing sham.

The cruel irony of today’s ‘pari-mutuel barrel racing’ opening is that it is actually designed to replace jobs with slot machines, rather than grow our economy through the recognized benefits of legitimate horse racing.  Because the City of Gretna’s economic development benchmark started near zero, its impoverished people don’t realize the economic development that could otherwise happen there with legitimate Quarter Horse racing and the thousands more jobs and prosperity it would bring, as opposed to the predatory slot machines that will now outnumber people, while concurrently killing Florida horse racing industry jobs throughout the State.

With such scrutiny being placed on ethics at all levels of government, it should send alarm bells throughout our regulatory, legislative and judicial system that the State of Florida is standing idly by while its taxpayer-funded pari-mutuel regulators are vigorously defending their unilateral sanction of ‘pari-mutuel barrel racing’ and sham horsemen’s organizations created by Gretna Racing and Hamilton Downs to shade their farcical activities.

It is time for the courts to step in and either stop, or call time-out on these rogue and illegal actions before it’s too late.”

For more information, contact:

• Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association:   Kent Stirling, Executive Director (305) 628-2989 or khs0813@bellsouth.net
• Florida Quarter Horse Racing Association and Florida Quarter Horse Breeders’ and Owners’ Association:  Dr. Steve Fisch, DVM (850) 510-9650 or sfischDVM@avsequinehospital.com
• Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners Association:  Dr. Phil Matthews, President at phil@matthewsoffice.net

The United Florida Horsemen are:

• National and Florida Barrel Horse Association (24,000 members)
• American Quarter Horse Association (350,000 national members; 7,163 Florida members)
• Florida Quarter Horse Racing Association (439 members)
• U.S. Trotting Association (25,000 members)
• Florida Standardbred Owners and Breeders Association (630 members)
• Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association (1,300 members)
• National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (35,000 members)
• Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (5,000 members)

www.UnitedFloridaHorsemen.org

The combination of Mr. Barnes’ abrupt career change and the conspicuous timing of his departure is raising more than a few eyebrows.  The veteran regulator is leaving the agency just in time to assume his new title as Gretna Racing LLC’s Chief of Security for the brand new facility’s much acclaimed opening day on Thursday, December 1.

Yesterday, November 29, 2011, a Leon County circuit judge refused to stay litigation currently pending at the Division of Administrative Hearings that challenges the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering’s unprecedented approval of “pari-mutuel barrel racing” as a brand new form of gambling in Florida.  The lawsuit is expected to lead to the depositions of Division officials believed to have been instrumental in the decision.  The lawsuit claims that the agency’s action was taken without the necessary legal authority, proper regulatory hearings or public input.

Just hours before the facility’s debut, details of how normal regulations such as wagering processes would be carried out at Gretna Racing, LLC, and even directory assistance listing information have yet to be revealed.

Stephens Press book designer Sue Campbell accepts the Moonbeam Children's Book Award from program director Jim Barnes at the American Library Association meeting in Denver, Colorado.