Heavy is the head that used to wear the crown?

The historian Lord Acton once said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Based on Mark Murphy’s recent Celtics Notebook it looks like Rasheed Wallace agrees. By now it’s common knowledge that Sheed was ejected from the Pistons opener, which according to the mighty MJD put him on pace for 164 technical fouls. I say this because someone just traded for him in my fantasy league. But back to Lord Acton. Prior to last night’s game Detroit’s remaining Wallace echoed the long dead historian’s sentiments:

“In my opinion it’s (expletive). It’s just giving (the refs) more power than they can handle.” – Rasheed Wallace

“If you already got a beef with a ref, then you have to watch out. And with me, that means about 90 percent of them. It’s (expletive). You ain’t really got to say nothing or do nothing. If they come in with an attitude, then you are (expletive).” - Rasheed Wallace

Rasheed’s frustration over the new stricter rule was somewhat validated by The Truth’s assessment of the aforementioned ejection, “Wow, that was low-keyed for him.” – Paul Pierce

Hopefully the refs are taking a hard line initially that will help change behavior (it was getting out of hand) and then settle into a place where they are not determining the outcome of games. Of course the whole issue has been an amazing smoke screen for the fact that the refs are not that good. But that’s another post. It is worth noting that the former champs may have actually lost both Wallaces – Ben to free agency and Rasheed to technical fouls.