Karl Malone is one of a kind

I miss Karl Malone.

Not for his points and rebounds.

I miss his gift for gab and drama.

The man could talk.

Not in an eloquent way — every time he opened his mouth, he sent English teachers screaming into the night. His subjects and verbs didn't have disagreements; they had full-scale wars.

That didn't stop him. He gabbed like a talk-show host. He couldn't help himself. Sometimes he'd take a vow of silence in a moment of petulance, but it didn't or couldn't last long.

I am tempted to state that he said what's on his mind, but words didn't get that far. Words tended to exit his mouth before they formed in his brain, not vice versa. He talked first, then thought about whether he should say it much later.

"This is Karl Malone speaking for Karl Malone," he said once. "I have every right to say what I want."

And so he did. We media types appreciate guys who speak honestly and originally. Where in the Jazz locker room are you going to find that now? Deron Williams? Pa-lease!

We just gotta execute the offense.

The Jazz are completely unquotable now. It's like going to a Dick Cheney news conference. They talk, but they don't say anything.

Not Malone. Instead of saying teammates were out of shape and needed to "pay the price," Malone would call them his "fat-a-- teammates."

Instead of telling young players they needed to play unselfishly at the All-Star Game, he called them "knuckleheads" and vowed not to play with them again.

He created a furor by saying what his peers probably wanted to say but didn't — he didn't want to play against Magic Johnson because he was afraid he might catch AIDS.

After Allen Iverson was named Player of the Week for scoring 40 or more points in five straight games — all losses — Malone spoke up:

"It's a mockery of the game. Oh-and-five and you score 40? So what?"

Sometimes he said things that actually made sense; other times, not so much.

"Karl Malone the person will not change, but the business person has done a 360-degree turn," he once said.

And Yogi Berra smiled.