The Life and Times of Bobby Sura

For reasons I can't sufficiently articulate, I've been a Bob Sura fan for over a decade now. Though he's drifted from team-to-team, been unable to consistently stay healthy, and hasn't exactly been a frontline player (he's never averaged more than 32 minutes a game), Sura has always remained one of my 10 favorite players in the league. Even when he nearly disappeared, logging just 16.8 minutes per game for Cleveland in '98-'99, I didn't lose sight of Bobby S. I think I just have always liked something about the way he played -- pushing the ball, rebounding well for a guard, constantly going to the hole. You might see an injury-prone underacheiver; I see a guy who's always had all the tools to be an outstanding offensive basketball player but hasn't ever had the luck to land in the right situation. (And yes, I'm fully aware that this is starting to sound suspiciously like a man-crush.)

Coming out of Florida State in '95, Sura was supposed to be a Hawk. The Hawks had the #16 pick in the draft, and I couldn't see any way imaginable that they'd pass him up. But these were (and are) the Hawks, and in a moment I'll never forgive, the Hawks uttered the name of mouthpiece-gnawing lummox Alan Henderson, a man with arthritic knees who fittingly had no upside. Sura was scooped off the board by the Cavs one pick later. It stung like paprika sprinkled in a paper cut.

Sura eventually did become a Hawk, donning the ATL red and white for one glorious 27-game stretch in '03-'04, the ninth season of his career. His numbers (14.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 5.3 apg) and energy electrified The Omni -- whoops -- Philips Arena. With Sura running the show, the Hawks were almost fun to watch. Yes, they were horrendously bad, but this was something very closely resembling entertainment, and that was news for any Hawks fan during the dark age.

The next season Sura was gone -- the Hawks didn't seem interested in keeping him, a decade after the mistake at #16, the status quo of ignorance still intact. Sura was good for the Rockets last year, a crucial starter on a playoff team. At age 32, he had finally arrived as a consistent and productive NBA player. Maybe not everything he could have been, but somewhere close.

Today, Sura underwent knee surgery that he says could end his career. His doctor has called his knee "a train wreck." If you've followed Sura's career at all, you know that he's been knocked down before. Train wreck? Shoot -- this guy's been run over by a tank 10 times over. You heard it here first: Bobby Sura will rise again.
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• Speaking of last hurrahs, if this was Tom Glavine's final start in a Mets' uni, it sure was sweet. Somehow, the man's still got it at age 39, even without King Leo to guide him. The great mystery of the Glavine-as-a-Met era: Why couldn't he put it together for a full season?

• Even the most rabid sports fanatics have to draw the line at some point when it comes to insignificant news, and this situation with Dick Vermeil taking offense at Champ Bailey's comments while mic'd up on Monday Night Football is one of those cases. What a waste of time.

• 47 HR's, 146 RBI's? I've changed my mind. Who cares if he's a DH, and who cares what happens this coming weekend. David Ortiz is your AL MVP.