Say what you want about Finchem, NBA dictator David Stern is much worse

Recent controversy surrounding the Tour’s decision to let Phil Mickelson play in the Byron Nelson Championship despite missing the Pro-Am due to weather had a lot of players grumbling.

But Tour commissioner Tim Finchem and his boys stepped in and let Lefty play in a diluted field that had few big names. Letting Mickelson play despite the tour’s policy you must play in the Pro-Am in order to play in the tournament was not only fair but was was best for the tournament.

Finchem and his henchmen had the foresight and the dignity to be fair with Mickelson and do what’s best for the tour. That’s more than you can say about NBA commissioner (or as Rasheed Wallace calls him “dictator") David Stern and his right-hand man Stu Jackson.

In the final minutes of Sunday night’s playoff game in San Antonio, Spurs player Robert Horry body-checked Phoenix’s Steve Nash into the scorers table. He then elbowed another player in the face. During the scrum, two players from Phoenix’s bench, Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw ran towards the scrum before being pulled back by coaches.

Neither of them touched anyone, but will both be suspended for the all-important game 5 with the series tied at two.

Yes, the NBA has a policy that you can’t leave the bench if there is an on-court altercation. But like Finchem and the Tour cited extenuating circumstances allowing Mickelson to play in the Byron Nelson, the NBA should have done the same. The impact on the Spurs losing Horry, an aging bench player, versus Stoudamire - a first team All NBA selection and Diaw, a key bench player who sees a lot of minutes, common sense shows Phoenix is suffering way more despite San Antonio doing all the damage here.

TNT analyst and friend of BadGolfer.com Charles Barkley agrees with me on this.

In essence, Horry’s cheap shot on a two-time MVP is helping San Antonio thanks to Stern.

This isn’t the first time Stern has been a complete bonehead. Prior to the season they switched to a new, cheap ball because the NBA’s sponsor, Spalding wanted to market a cheap, composite ball as “official NBA". They did so without ANY input from players, a.k.a. those who use the ball to bring in billions of dollars. The NBA switched back to the old leather ball only after several players said it made their hands bleed.

Finchem isn’t perfect. Few head honchos are. But at least the PGA Tour isn’t stuck with David Stern.