Is today the day?

More speculation that Rasputin Thomas may have authored his last groaner for your New York Knickerbockers. But whenever I read stuff like this, I can't help but feel like it's a newspaper obit file for some old celebrity -- it's just on file at any time, with minimal name changes necessary to make the story over-fresh and ready to roll.

Seriously, what could you say in regards to Thomas getting the perp walk that you couldn't have said, oh, three to four years -- or even three to four jobs -- ago? He's the George Bush (the Younger, naturally) of major sports executives. His career path and public trajectory makes Ralph Nader's look sexy? He's only managed to cling to power through an accumulation of dead bodies in his crawl space? Give me something new here, people.

(Oh, and Knick Fan who is prone to some sad Charlie Brown with the football level of hope with the departure of Zeke? You felt the same way when he got you Zach Randolph, didn't you? And also this -- Randolph hasn't even gone crazy in Manhattan yet. In many ways, the year you have gotten from him has been the *best* case scenario. And your owner is still the guy who has put up with Thomas all these years. Now, put your head back in the oven and continue moaning.)

On the off chance that Thomas is no longer with us, I'd like to extend my personal moment of thanks for all the good times he's given me in the past decade. Zeke, we've never been close -- as a diehard Sixers fan who also, you know, didn't want basketball to turn into complete goonery, I hated you as a player, too. But I can't deny that whenever I was feeling tapped for blogging content, you were always there for me. Whether it was pointless hard fouls that ruined the Denver franchise, sex scandals that shocked the imagination of anyone with any sense of public relations, press conferences that made Baghdad Bob give you the slow clap or personnel moves that started with charity and ended with insanity... you were always there for me. I don't know how I'm going to fill this blog without you man.

(Dammit, I told myself I wasn't going to cry.)

Godspeed, Zeke. And I hope I'm writing this obituary next year, and the year after that...