He couldn't let Nick Saban get all the press

When Nick Saban bolted Miami for Alabama this week, one of the first things that came to mind (besides calling him a liar, weasel, and coward) was to compare him to everyone's favorite coaching nomad, Larry Brown.

Apparently, L.B. heard that, stopped lighting cigars with all of the $100 bills he stole from the Knicks, called Joe Glass, and said (in his typically sleepy drone):

"Hey, there's only one Larry Brown. I can't let this Saban guy steal my thunder. He didn't even quit the right way. He didn't even get more money from the Dolphins on his way out the door.

I'll show 'em. I'll show 'em all. Where's my next job, Joey?"

And so we have the triumphant return of Larry Brown to the city of Philadelphia, where he'll be named an executive vice president with the 76ers today. Among his duties will be assisting Sixers general manager Billy King with basketball operations, along with the hilariously vague responsibility of "special projects." (Surely such tasks will include counting all the cash Brown swindled from the Pistons and Knicks, making sure Allen Iverson stays away from Philly, and looking for the next job he'll be taking within a year or two.)

▪▪ Also very much worth noting from Phil Jasner's report in the Philadelphia Inquirer is that the Sixers are currently exploring a buyout of Chris Webber's contract.

Any chance someone is smiling over a pin-riddled voodoo doll in the University of Michigan athletic department right now? Basketball karma is quite a b!+@#, is she not?