When I contacted Joe Maloof earlier today for a reaction to the NBA's one-game suspension of Tyreke Evans (reckless driving), the Kings co-owner was in Los Angeles preparing for Saturday's skateboarding competition in Orange County. He loves this stuff - the Maloof Money Cup that consists of competitions in New York and Orange County, and soon, South Africa and Portland. Anyway, he mentioned that Saturday's event would be televised live on Fox (noon), and almost as an aside, revealed that the entire family (Colleen, Adrienne, Joe, Gavin, Phil, George) was interviewed Thursday by CNN host Larry King. Frankly, Joe was very excited about the skateboarding event, and I wanted to know more about the Larry King/CNN/family chronicles. Anyway, the show that will air on CNN on Sept. 18 is a conversation about the family's history, how their economic empire was built in the liquor business in New Mexico, the impact of George Maloof, Sr.'s early death and their former ownership of the Houston Rockets, etc. as well as their future plans.
Too stern a penalty?
David Stern's decision to suspend Evans was a foregone conclusion. The only thing that surprised me was the length of the suspension. I had guessed two games. Tyreke might have helped himself with the way he has handled the situation.
NYC, Orange County, South Africa, Portland ....
While I was speaking with Joe Maloof about Evans, Kings, Maloof Money Cup, among other things, I asked when he as going to build a skate park in Sacramento. He explained the construction of the facilities as follows: The Maloof family enters into a private/public partnership with a respective city, the city and/or county donates the land, the Maloofs build the structure and hold a Maloof Money Cup event, then depart and leave the park for the kids. "I have had 27 cities call me and ask about doing this," Joe said Friday. Pressed about Sacramento, he said: "I think Sacramento is a great market for skateboarding. It's very, very popular here, and it's just going to get bigger. What I'm thinking is ... when we get the new arena built, we can build a skateboarding park adjacent to it. And I want to do it right." Meantime, I'm going to pitch my bosses on a trip next summer to Kimberley, South Africa. Covering a skating event there would be very cool. We loved those snowboarders at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, remember ....
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