Chicago: Just Lucky? Or Something More Sinister?

The world probably believes it is witnessing what the sociologist Robert K. Merton calls a "self-fulfilling prophecy." But are we ignoring a blatant conflict-of-interest in the city that gave us Rod Blagojevich?

The flamboyant Glen Davis is filling in for the "injured" Kevin Garnett, and he is laying it on a little thick with the defeatist bad attitude in this story.

"The way I look at it, there is no pressure because the majority of the country out there are doubting me anyway," Davis said. "Why would you put pressure on yourself if people don't think you can help make it to the championship. I think with Kevin being out and the bigs that we have right now, we have a chip on our shoulder. We're not trying to prove anything but we are trying to let the world know that we're here and we're ready to play. With or without Kevin, we are going to play Celtics basketball."

But what do we know of Glen Davis? The selfsame story informs us he's the childhood friend of Tyrus Thomas, his opponent on the Bulls, and there appear to be posts on websites less credible than this one speculating as to whether the two are on the so-called "down low." Personally, I wonder if this all isn't a distracting sideshow meant to deflect attention from these two unavoidable facts: the two hail from the notoriously corrupt state of Louisiana, and Vinny Del Negro cannot possibly be the name of someone who isn't ethically bankrupt.