Losers don’t get lucky

By John McMullen

It’s been a tough day at work...

You walk in to your favorite watering hole, sit down and order an adult beverage.

At that moment you fixate on the prettiest girl in the room. While struggling to build up the confidence and wherewithal to approach the enticing beauty, you are startled when someone taps you on the shoulder.

It’s her!....

It’s usually at that moment when your make believe world comes crashing down as the alarm sounds and it’s off to another day at the salt mine.

You see, luck like that is limited to the rich, famous and beautiful of the world -- the David Beckhams.

And just maybe the Philadelphia 76ers.

By jettisoning Allen Iverson and Chris Webber -- the Sixers guaranteed themselves one thing -- a lot of ping-pong balls come lottery time.

That translates into a chance to win the powerball and -- in NBA terms -- that means Greg Oden.

Or does it?

As we all know, by NBA standards, the Sixers are your typical schlep. They are the poor relation, the ugly duckling, the black sheep -- while the Ohio State freshman center is the stunning beauty.

Oden, by leaps and bounds, is the best available big man set to enter the NBA since Tim Duncan. So if the Sixers brass screams Yahtzee in Secaucus later this year -- in layman’s terms -- the loser got lucky.

But, just like all losers, the Sixers will find a way to fumble their good fortune away.

Oden has as much chance of headlining the Wachovia Center next year, as I do of picking up that hot blonde at Pub 500.

I can envision David Stern now -- “With the first pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, the Philadelphia 76ers select Texas forward Kevin Durant...”

Now don’t get me wrong -- Durant’s not exactly a terrible consolation prize but he’s the hot blonde’s best friend.

And, he will always remind you of what could have been.

John McMullen’s column appears every Saturday on this page. You can ruminate about how the Sixers will screw up next with him at jmcmullen1@comcast.net


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The Phanatic