Red Auerbach

Initially I was going to say Phil Jackson, but as a life-long Bulls fan the tazer they install when you've been to over 10 playoff wins goes off if you say anything bad about Phil Jackson.

I know Red won like 10 titles or whatever as coach of the Celtics (fine, i'll look it up - 9 titles) but really, how good were alot of those other teams he was coaching against? There were only like 4 teams in the NBA in the 50's and 60's, he was bound to luck into a title every handful of years anyway.

And now that i'm looking things up, he coached 9 hall of fame players; some of them you may even have heard of. Guys like John Havlicek, Bob Cousey and Bill Russell to name just a few of them.

While I realize the same could be said for almost any great coach (except Phil Jackson - Phil Jackson is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life), Red had a much easier time considering there still weren't that many great players and he had most of them. Also, Red had the benefit of not being racist which was a huge competitive advantage over alot of other coaches/owners/people at the time (although he seems to have fielded the whitest teams in the 80's so maybe he was just trying to be counterintuitive).

He did smoke a cigar on the during games to basically piss of the other team. Thats pretty cool. But other than that, i'm still not sold on Red Auerbach.

Novak Djokovic

I know he won the Australian open yesterday, but I'm not there yet.

First, he beat Andy Murray who hails from a country that hasn't won a grand slam event since tennis was played by neanderthals swinging rackets made from dinosaur bones. He has also never advanced past the semifinals of the French Open or Wimbledon.

But the worst thing he's got going for him? The fact that his dad wears a t-shirt emblazoned with his face.

Democracy in the Middle East

Many commentators have pointed to popular movements sweeping through Tunisia and Egypt as the sign that the winds of change have finally come to Arab nations in North Africa and the Middle East, thanks to so-far successful popular uprisings against entrenched and corrupt leadership.

While it's true that the volatile mixture of social networking technology and a new generation of restless youth can help spark political change, we're a long way off from seeing new, democratic regimes take hold and prosper.

I'd ask every optimist to check in with the the Iranian Green Revolutionaires before proclaiming democracy ascendant in this part of the world.

Welcome to Still Not Sold On ...

If you are reading this, you are probably not sold on someone, something, or somewhere. In the days and weeks to come, we intend to start a dialog of things that we just aren't sold on. Some post might be related to sports (still not sold on ... soccer), movies (still not sold on ... goodfellas) or even politics (still not sold on ... democracy). If you're not sold on it, chances are we aren't either.

If there's something you're not sold on, or if the you think you can prove us wrong, please write send us an email at stillnotsoldon@mailinator.com or drop us a line in the comments.