Let's take them in opposite order of this post's title.

Sentiment 

The VIX closed at just a little under 24 yesterday. Yawn.  Total CBOE put/call ratio? 1.14. Reaching above 1 (more puts than calls purchased) is at least encouraging, but a panic-type reading would see this level solidly above 1.3.  In other words: for a 300-point down day, there was indeed far too much complacency. There's no evidence this market has washed out yet.

Doug Kass

What should the Fed have done? Doug Kass had the perfect line before the Fed met earlier this week, saying, "the consumer would be more helped by reining in food and energy costs than he would be penalized by higher short term interest rates." Amen.

Ben Bernanke may fear the economic consequences should he lift interest rates. Problem is, higher oil prices will deliver recession, anyway, if he doesn't.  Might as well at least defend the dollar if economic weakness is in our future, regardless.

Shaq

See the video of Shaquille O'Neal's recent rap? It was so pathetic I'm not even going to link to it like I typically would.  What do I see as the worst part of his "performance?"  Not the actual dig at Kobe-- their bratty, ongoing tiff is hardly worth mentioning and represents what makes today's NBA virtually unwatchable to this sports fan. The fact Shaq lost some of his volunteer Sheriff badges [1]? Nah.

The most repulsive part of Shaq's rap was the part where he ripped Kareem Abdul Jabbar and insulted him as an inferior center.  Absurd. In fact, I still believe that Kareem routinely gets slighted in every "best player ever" conversation. You know how it starts... the conversation begins with Jordan, goes to Magic, then Bird, etc.

Wait just a second. As far as I'm aware, there has only been one player in the history of the NBA that no other player in history could have guarded: Kareem. In the Lakers half court set, everyone knew exactly who the ball was going to and exactly what shot was going up (the sky hook), but there was absolutely nothing anyone could do about it. Kareem got the ball so frequently in crunch time-- essentially everytime-- that it just became routine.

That's in stark contrast to Shaq, who couldn't touch the ball in the last 5 minutes because it would essentially result in a turnover-- foul him, rebound the missed free throw and go the other way.  You can't be the MDE-- the 'most dominant ever," as Shaq humbly refers to himself-- if your teammates won't let you touch the ball in the 4th quarter.

I grew up in So Cal with the Showtime Lakers. I knew Kareem Jabbar.  Kareem Jabbar was a friend of mine. Shaq the Rapper, you're no Kareem Jabbar.