Warning: Don’t Mess With Rafer’s Mom

By Bethlehem Shoals
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Over the last decade, we’ve seen our share of spunky NBA moms. Ann Iverson. Gloria James. The troubled Carrie Stoudemire. But this anecdote from the eternally unctuous Peter Vecsey announces that, indeed, the champ is here:
[quote="Peter Vecsey"]Around midnight Sunday my cell phone identified the caller as Geraldine Alston who lives in a “Hamptons type” community 30 miles outside Houston. Her loving son, the starting point guard for a Rockets team that’s won 22 straight games, lives nearby on the golf course.
“My husband can’t believe I’m calling you at this time, but I’m from New York and I brought my chutzpah with me.”[/quote]
Like everyone else in America, Vecsey had taken issue with Jeff Van Gundy’s assertion that Skip is the league second-best point guard. Vecsey, of course, did so in typically unpleasant fashion, which prompted Geraldine -- with whom he has had contact in the past -- ring him up way after hours.
[quote="Vecsey"]“My husband and I just now got to read your column on line when we came home,” Geraldine allowed. “While I don’t agree with your assessment, I do respect your right to voice an opinion ... Having said that, do me a favor; please e-mail your picture. We’re making a print out of the column and we’d like to burn it and your picture together in effigy.”[/quote]
You know, if she hadn’t called him so late, I’d tell Geraldine to calm down and take her (son’s) lumps. However, that’s the detail that turns her from crazy to holy soldier sent from above. This isn’t about the Alstons, it’s about one woman striking a blow for old-fashioned American decency.↵