Question of the day: Is it possible for a brick wall to be transparent?

	The Mailman has made some strange and positive points in the last few weeks.

Prior to All-Star weekend, I didn't think so.

But now, after listening to Utah Jazz power forward Karl Malone, it seems more and more likely that the answer is yes.

Somebody got to Malone.

Or, perhaps more appropriately, something.

Perhaps middle age.

Perhaps his mortality.

Perhaps, as he says, "maturity."

But no longer will you see Karl Malone ripping the league, as he did so arduously on his radio show during the lockout, and in subsequent interviews since then.

No longer will you see him talking about skipping All-Star games, as he did in 1997, and again last season, when he was angered by being waved off a pick by Kobe Bryant and said the league had outgrown him.

Suddenly, the only man you will see is the Ambassador Karl Malone, elder statesman and public relations spokesman for this great league of ours, the NBA.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not ripping Karl. I think it's great that he is settling into his new role.

I just find it amusing that a man who for so long was antiestablishment suddenly embraces the office of David Stern henchman, touting all that is good and true about a league that has taken a bath in the public relations spotlight recently.

It would be like James Carville suddenly becoming a presidential candidate for the Republican Party.

Unfathomable.

Karl is basically saying that he has seen the light, and that may be true. But it almost seems to me that he got a phone call from somebody, or somebody talked to him about his lasting image.

When you hear talk about the transition of the league, you always hear the same people who helped the league expand into global popularity: It started with Wilt and Bill, and then was passed on to Magic, Larry and Michael. I think Karl wants to be added to that list of greatness.

He will be anyway, especially if he stays around long enough to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring record, which should go down in another 2 1/2 years, if Malone stays with his current scoring pace.

But there is an additional amount of respect of glory added if you not only are considered one of the greatest players of all time -- which he surely is -- but also if you are Kissingered. It gives you a sort of diplomatic immunity for all-time.

	“	If I run through this room naked, I have to understand that it is going to be on the front page of the paper tomorrow. I can't blame you guys. You are just doing your jobs. And we, as players, have to understand that. ”
		— Malone

I would not have believed it if I didn't hear it myself, so I stepped up to the table at the media availability session this past Friday at All-Star weekend and listened in on the Karl's take on things.

I swear, it was as if Russ Granik had gotten himself a life-size Karl Malone outfit, complete with Harley Davidson hat and a son that sits in his lap, and plopped in on before taking a seat.

Malone supported Stern and said that he thinks the league should implement an age limit on incoming players.

Malone -- who threatened to skip the All-Star game in 1997 in Cleveland, then again last season, when he also skipped the very same media availability session and was fined $10,000 by the league -- said he thinks everybody that is selected should attend the All-Star game, and play if they are not seriously injured.

I almost fell over when Malone praised the media, saying "you all are just doing your job. If I run through this room naked, I have to understand that it is going to be on the front page of the paper tomorrow. I can't blame you guys. You are just doing your jobs. And we, as players, have to understand that."

Somebody call an exorcist, I nearly shouted, because something kooky has gotten into Karl.

Fortunately, there were enough radio putzes walking around asking players to do promos for their radio station in Minsk that nobody heard me over the din. Finally, Malone was asked why he has done a 180 turn -- or, as he said a few years back, a 360 -- and praised and supported a league that for so long he has criticized.

"When I go out and speak to young people, the last thing I always say to them is 'Always leave society a little bit better than you found it,'" Malone said. "So, I'm sitting there thinking to myself, 'If I left the game today, I don't think I've used all my resources to help get this thing back on the right track.' And I think that happened to me in the last couple of months, where I said 'You know, I owe it Dr. J, Larry Bird, Magic, I owe to all those guys, Elvin Hayes, Wes Unseld, that played before me, and they had it great.' So I was able to come in and reap the benefits. So, for me to get my money and run and say, 'I don't want to have anything to do with the NBA,' then the speech I was giving to kids wasn't right.

"I never thought I had duty but just play the game of basketball, take my money, and go home, but then you start thinking about what guys did before me, and I feel like it's my duty now to try to right this ship a little bit before I retire."

Maybe that is why Ambassador Malone got invited to the White House Friday afternoon.

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