The Rummage Diary

Good news for the Phoenix Suns, Michael Beasley will be arriving with, literally, less baggage. Last weekend, there was an estate sale at the house Beasley was renting in Minnesota. According to attendee and journalist Joan Niesen, there was a bevy of bizarre bric-a-brac that wasn't befitting of a basketball player, such as Swedish screenplays, medical textbooks and a set of salt and pepper shakers shaped like bunnies. Those belongings don't seem to belong - except on Antiques Roadshow - but perhaps in his spare time Beasley was studying cinematography and anatomy, while lounging on pile of frilly pillows.

Maybe not every millionaire athlete buys Bentleys, maybe some buy baubles. Either that or he hired an elderly interior decorator - how else to explain glass grapes (because edible fruit isn't fragile enough)? Beasley has had past problems with possession, but it's his possessions that leave us perplexed.

No Game Hunter

In a discouraging divination, players association executive director Billy Hunter doesn't foresee a 2011-12 season taking place, saying the squabbling sides are "$800 million apart per year," a Shaq-sized gap (maybe in his retirement, the conciliatory center can remake himself as "The Big Arbiter"). Hunter blames obstinate new owners, who he alleges are holding David Stern's "feet to the fire." Make no mistake, if an entire season is lost, the flames from this fire will spread far and wide, burning all bodies involved -- be they owners, players, union reps or the commissioner. We want to follow the Trailblazers, not follow the trail of a destructive blaze. Both sides have thrown kindling into this bonfire of the greedy*.

Unlike during the NFL's work stoppage, players' testiness hasn't manifested itself in truculent Tweets (unless Gilbert Arenas dissing his dates counts), but they have become belligerent while balling. Matt Barnes punched a player in a pickup game (and wasn't ejected), while Michael Beasley took temper troubles to another level by shoving a spectator. In separate youth camps they conduct, footage surfaced of LeBron James forcefully throwing down on a teen, while Dwyane Wade was spotted blocking layup attempts of kids several feet shorter than him, compelling us to pose the question: Are these guys teaching or terrorizing those tykes? We're not sure what Ron Artest is up to at the moment, but there could be money to be made by the mental health advocate in founding a counseling camp for his peers. Right now, locked-out players lashing out against those around them appears to be all the rage.

* or the electric gatorade acid test, for you Tom Wolfe fans