Marty Mac's World: He's just what these basketball players need

The Sacramento Professional Developmental League is many things to many people.

Around these parts, it's a summer showcase for the area's best players to play in a controlled setting and be pushed by legitimate competition. It's a proving ground and educational platform for the young and up-and-coming.

And to quite a few players, it's often the nightcap of a day-night doubleheader. You can find quite a few of the same hoopers who play in the evenings at Capital Christian High School in the league playing at Basketball Town under the direction of skills coach Guss Armstead.

Armstead, who also doubles as a pseudo-drill sergeant, has full-court games going alongside each other that last five minutes or the first team to seven.

The winning team on the main court stays and is challenged by the winner from the other court. Armstead is the coach for both squads, calling out play sets and calling fouls that are not acknowledged on the floor.

The games are competitive and often feature players who are earning money playing professionally somewhere. Or it could be DeMarcus Nelson, who will go back to Duke this fall but is not permitted to play in the Developmental League because he already has played at his school.

Playing in the league are Ryan Anderson, formerly of Oak Ridge, who will begin playing for Cal in the fall; former Kennedy High star Zack Graves, who is heading to Montana; and Kevin Galloway, who is headed to USC from Sacramento High.

After the games, players run the dreaded 17s, sprinting across the court 17 times in less than a minute. It's pretty much the last thing you want to do after playing, but anybody who is getting up to play ball at 9 a.m. daily is fairly serious about honing the craft.

Explain this, please

How do the same folks who can watch a golf tournament complain about the lack of action in soccer? Soccer definitely is a sport, albeit one often lacking high scoring or even any scoring.

Granted, golfers display all types of skill and talent, but when you're walking your way through the day, that one is beyond me.

Showing no class

New York fans allegedly bill themselves as some of the country's most knowledgeable and sophisticated, but they certainly are sabotaging that concept with their treatment of third baseman Alex Rodriguez.

Rodriguez is getting booed consistently at Yankee Stadium, his home ballpark, by these so-called fans. And having grown up as a die-hard Yankees fan, I can only describe it as embarrassing and disgusting. Rodriguez only shows up every day, plays hard and does his best.

Really, there is nothing more that can be asked of the man. And it doesn't matter that he makes $25 million a year. If the Yankees fans wanted to direct their ire in the proper direction, they would boo general manager Brian Cashman, who decided against retaining pitchers Jose Contreras (Chicago White Sox) and Jon Lieber (Philadelphia Phillies).

The Yankees went out of their way to help Contreras after he came over in a dramatic defection from Cuba and then gave up on him far too quickly. They made a bright move to sign Lieber, who was coming off shoulder surgery, waited a season for him to rehabilitate, then did not try to re-sign him.

And now the Yanks, with their humongous payroll, can barely field a representative starting staff.

About the writer:

• The Bee's Martin McNeal can be reached at mmcneal@sacbee.com.