Why Josh Howard has to go

After spending an absolutely magnificent Christmas evening making dinner for and just hanging out with My Hero, I returned home to see most of the second half of the Dallas Mavericks-Portland Trailblazers and discovered when I turned on the TV, much to my astonishment, the Mavericks ahead on the road against a very good team. But then Dirk Nowitzki picked up his fourth foul and had to sit and it fell on Josh Howard to carry the Mavericks' luggage.

So what does Howard do? He commits a flagrant foul. No biggie. Sometimes they are called for. But then immediately after Howard picks up a technical. And while Portland is shooting that foul shot, Howard, totally disregarding what's in the best interests of the team, gets his second technical foul, an automatic ejection. Now Nowitzki has to return with four fouls.

Howard's off-the-court antics last season didn't bother me as much as it riled a lot of people. But actions like tonight's are unconscionable. The sooner the Mavericks get rid of this jerk the better off the team will be.