I wanted to write this days ago but never got the chance but I'll try to make it brief....maybe
So here are a few thoughts
- Regarding Donald Sterling's fall from grace so much has been said. He does seem like a despicable human being if the reports are to be believed and the penalty handed down by the NBA seems to be the way to go.
Showing posts with label NBA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NBA. Show all posts
Friday, May 02, 2014
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Lebronalypse Now
Well its been about two weeks now since the "self proclaimed" King Lebron James made his move to Cleveland. I had wanted to write something about it earlier and truth be told I've got another post about Chris Bosh and kids and heroes that I wrote just before the Lebron announcement but I couldn't bring myself to or find the time to write about Lebron's big decision before now.
What can I say that hasn't already been said. Not much really.
Lebron may win championship(s) in Miami but dude has done some serious damage to his image and his brand. Not that he had no right leaving for Miami but dude could have shown some class and done it a bit better. The Decision TV show was just silly and really showed up his immaturity but then again he's a pro athlete who's been pampered all his life how's he supposed to know the right way to act in public lol.
However I did think his people would or should have spoken to him beforehand and said hey guy consider your image. By going to Wade's Miami the team isn't even yours anymore. You're not even clearly the alpha dog. Kobe fought to rid himself of Shaq who shared the spotlight but Lebron willingly steps into a situation where he's sharing the spotlight. Go figure! Maybe its just symbolic of the new generation and the way we raise our kids. The phrase used to be "without struggle there is no progress" but these guys are now likely to give up the struggle or try to find help in shouldering the burden instead of trying themselves first.
Not sure I'm down with that. Yea sharing the burden is cool but sometimes you gotta be the man and try to overcome the hump yourself. Jordan did, Barkley, Ewing, Malone etc tried but failed but at the same time we respect them for rising to the challenge and taking teams on their back and trying to win. You can always jump teams later on and try to win as a second fiddle and ride a younger cats coattails but in your peak naa man you want the glory all for yourself.
But who knows! I am sure this move does take Lebron out of the G.O.A.T equation though. Jordan, Kobe, Dr J stay ahead cause they were/are the man and willingly accepted it.
but maybe Lebron is onto something. A new kinder more top dog. No longer alpha dog, a beta dog perhaps? Maybe this teaches kids valuable lessons about sharing and combining forces to reach a goal instead of being obstinate and hardheaded and not making it over the hump. Perhaps.
Oh well, all I know is that for now Lebron gutted Cleveland which from what I've read was already a sports town with somewhat lowered self esteem and I cant back him for that. Yea owners do players dirty sometimes so you can say he owed the team nothing but what about the fans. The guys who loved you as their hometown saviour? Got to be hard on them. And its not like the team didn't try to accommodate you. You think they didn't made that Shaq deal to please you or that deal for Antoine Jameson? They built around you, it just didn't work and hence this oh so messy messy divorce necessitates counseling on the part of some of the Clevelanders.
C'est la vie though. As they all say its a business. Do your thing. Just hope you win some championships in South Beach and don't tire of being the Beta dog. Oh and can you even go home again after what you did to the guys there? I don't know man I just don't know.
What can I say that hasn't already been said. Not much really.
Lebron may win championship(s) in Miami but dude has done some serious damage to his image and his brand. Not that he had no right leaving for Miami but dude could have shown some class and done it a bit better. The Decision TV show was just silly and really showed up his immaturity but then again he's a pro athlete who's been pampered all his life how's he supposed to know the right way to act in public lol.
However I did think his people would or should have spoken to him beforehand and said hey guy consider your image. By going to Wade's Miami the team isn't even yours anymore. You're not even clearly the alpha dog. Kobe fought to rid himself of Shaq who shared the spotlight but Lebron willingly steps into a situation where he's sharing the spotlight. Go figure! Maybe its just symbolic of the new generation and the way we raise our kids. The phrase used to be "without struggle there is no progress" but these guys are now likely to give up the struggle or try to find help in shouldering the burden instead of trying themselves first.
Not sure I'm down with that. Yea sharing the burden is cool but sometimes you gotta be the man and try to overcome the hump yourself. Jordan did, Barkley, Ewing, Malone etc tried but failed but at the same time we respect them for rising to the challenge and taking teams on their back and trying to win. You can always jump teams later on and try to win as a second fiddle and ride a younger cats coattails but in your peak naa man you want the glory all for yourself.
But who knows! I am sure this move does take Lebron out of the G.O.A.T equation though. Jordan, Kobe, Dr J stay ahead cause they were/are the man and willingly accepted it.
but maybe Lebron is onto something. A new kinder more top dog. No longer alpha dog, a beta dog perhaps? Maybe this teaches kids valuable lessons about sharing and combining forces to reach a goal instead of being obstinate and hardheaded and not making it over the hump. Perhaps.
Oh well, all I know is that for now Lebron gutted Cleveland which from what I've read was already a sports town with somewhat lowered self esteem and I cant back him for that. Yea owners do players dirty sometimes so you can say he owed the team nothing but what about the fans. The guys who loved you as their hometown saviour? Got to be hard on them. And its not like the team didn't try to accommodate you. You think they didn't made that Shaq deal to please you or that deal for Antoine Jameson? They built around you, it just didn't work and hence this oh so messy messy divorce necessitates counseling on the part of some of the Clevelanders.
C'est la vie though. As they all say its a business. Do your thing. Just hope you win some championships in South Beach and don't tire of being the Beta dog. Oh and can you even go home again after what you did to the guys there? I don't know man I just don't know.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Paul Shirley
I just read former NBA player Paul Shirley's letter on Haiti and I am completely flabbergasted.
This is the main part everyone's focusing on but check the link for the full article.
Seriously were you just trying to get the heat off Pat Robertson for his statements the other week cause I mean you cant be this callous and heartless can you?
I mean this week I was arguing over who was the bigger jackass as an NBA player, what with Greg Oden's nude photos that he sent on his cell phone and Gilbert Arenas getting suspended the entire season for gun play and losing $20+ Mil in pay but you Mr Shirley have seriously upped the ante, beat the pre-race favorites and threaten to run away with the entire eediat contest. Hell you could possibly be the biggest eediat who played any professional sport in North America (and yes that includes such classic eediats as Plaxico, Vick and O.J)
But look let me school you here star. It was an earthquake. Its not like the Haitians were playing with guns or bombs and something accidentally went off. No it was an act of God, a natural disaster, it could have happened to anyone so seriously how can you blame the victim for the disaster?
And how distasteful that you telling people wear condoms and bout birth control. Star ya mudda neva teach ya nuh rass manners? Ya aint got no broughtupsy or what? Ya uncouth and out of line, rude and out of order. In basketball terms that means ya flagrant category 2, now shut up and get ya tail out the game.
And to think I read a few of your ESPN columns over the course of the years when you were struggling playing in the minor leagues and telling people what it was like to be striving to get back in the NBA and such and thought he's a nice guy, he trying real hard I hope he makes it back.
No instead now I see you as worse than the pampered current lot of NBA players cause you sir cant even have a little compassion for your fellow man that down on his luck.
I mean nuhbody aint saying you have to donate no money but at least realize that this is a tragedy any which way you look at it and that while yes things could have been better in Haiti we not sharing no blame to innocent people and if we were to be sharing blame realize that a whole heap would have to go to you and your country so hush up.
Imagine you comparing giving these people money to giving it to homeless street people that going waste it and comparing the people themselves to cavemen building unfit to live in abodes. Eh eh, rudebwoy ya really really going too far with this thing.
Compassion, Empathy, love for your fellow man star. And thank God that you were born where you were and had the ability to play a game for a living and make more money in a few years than a whole heap of these Haitian people pooling their resources could ever see in their lifetimes.
Clearly you know nothing about Haiti, clearly you are just chatting for chatting sake so please go away. David Zirin at the Nation magazine said it best though Dear Paul Shirley, I only wish your father had taken your own advice and worn a condom. Go to hell.
Whats even worse is you should see the comments on the original article agreeing with him. wow, says alot about some of the human race.
This is the main part everyone's focusing on but check the link for the full article.
Dear Haitians –
First of all, kudos on developing the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Your commitment to human rights, infrastructure, and birth control should be applauded.As we prepare to assist you in this difficult time, a polite request: If it’s possible, could you not re-build your island home in the image of its predecessor? Could you not resort to the creation of flimsy shanty- and shack-towns? And could some of you maybe use a condom once in a while?
Sincerely,
The Rest of the World
Wow! You mean somebody actually thought this and were ignorant enough to not only voice it but take the time to sit down and write it? You mean someone actually believes this? And people say you Mr Shirley are an educated man, went to College, got a degree, was writing columns for ESPN (they fired him yesterday after this came out).
Seriously were you just trying to get the heat off Pat Robertson for his statements the other week cause I mean you cant be this callous and heartless can you?
I mean this week I was arguing over who was the bigger jackass as an NBA player, what with Greg Oden's nude photos that he sent on his cell phone and Gilbert Arenas getting suspended the entire season for gun play and losing $20+ Mil in pay but you Mr Shirley have seriously upped the ante, beat the pre-race favorites and threaten to run away with the entire eediat contest. Hell you could possibly be the biggest eediat who played any professional sport in North America (and yes that includes such classic eediats as Plaxico, Vick and O.J)
But look let me school you here star. It was an earthquake. Its not like the Haitians were playing with guns or bombs and something accidentally went off. No it was an act of God, a natural disaster, it could have happened to anyone so seriously how can you blame the victim for the disaster?
And how distasteful that you telling people wear condoms and bout birth control. Star ya mudda neva teach ya nuh rass manners? Ya aint got no broughtupsy or what? Ya uncouth and out of line, rude and out of order. In basketball terms that means ya flagrant category 2, now shut up and get ya tail out the game.
And to think I read a few of your ESPN columns over the course of the years when you were struggling playing in the minor leagues and telling people what it was like to be striving to get back in the NBA and such and thought he's a nice guy, he trying real hard I hope he makes it back.
No instead now I see you as worse than the pampered current lot of NBA players cause you sir cant even have a little compassion for your fellow man that down on his luck.
I mean nuhbody aint saying you have to donate no money but at least realize that this is a tragedy any which way you look at it and that while yes things could have been better in Haiti we not sharing no blame to innocent people and if we were to be sharing blame realize that a whole heap would have to go to you and your country so hush up.
Imagine you comparing giving these people money to giving it to homeless street people that going waste it and comparing the people themselves to cavemen building unfit to live in abodes. Eh eh, rudebwoy ya really really going too far with this thing.
Compassion, Empathy, love for your fellow man star. And thank God that you were born where you were and had the ability to play a game for a living and make more money in a few years than a whole heap of these Haitian people pooling their resources could ever see in their lifetimes.
Clearly you know nothing about Haiti, clearly you are just chatting for chatting sake so please go away. David Zirin at the Nation magazine said it best though Dear Paul Shirley, I only wish your father had taken your own advice and worn a condom. Go to hell.
Whats even worse is you should see the comments on the original article agreeing with him. wow, says alot about some of the human race.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Pitino
Ok so I'm just loving this Rick Pitino story.
Is not the fact that he big, hardback, 50 something married man, 5 kids, 2 dogs and an all-American picket fence plus not to mention a nice job as a NCAA basketball coach had an extramarital affair. I figure that probably happens more than we know or would like to admit.
Its not that he had the "tryst" with the woman in question at a restaurant after hours on a table with one of his assistants nearby standing guard to make sure no one found out. No is not that even though I wonder where he recruits his staff cause a fella like that must be one in a million since good help is so hard to find these days. I must say this assistant really went beyond the call of duty, way beyond the job description. I wonder if Pitino and the assistant coach use a clipboard to draw up plays before Pitino went into the game so to speak. "Alight Rick we can do this, I want you to be aggressive on offense, cause the clock is ticking down fast. I calling a for a Daggering play with the Ramping shop option."
Its not even that after the woman end up pregnant Pitino gave her $3,000 for an abortion although he claims it was for medical insurance. (Big lie!) No man, he was trying to cover his trail avoid the drama and the backlash that would have come with the coach fathers child after one night stand stories.
No, the one part of the story that puts it way, way over the edge and just got me here laughing is that sometime after the event Pitino's equipment manager married the woman and she alleges that Pitino set that up to keep her quiet.
Damn, damn damn!
Now let me get this right. You marry a woman cause you boss mek you marry she? Wow! This boggles my mind.
All I can say is that Pitino has really upped the ante for all celebrity, big money maker entourages. I mean the assistant keeping watch was bad enough but this. Plus back in the day your random celebrity, big money type, just needed a fella to carry the drugs and a fella to take a fall and claim the unlicensed firearm that went off in the club was his and not yours. And that could have been the same fella cause you could always tie he back with a drugs firearm relationship and make it seem like you Mr random celebrity were still innocent. Now thanks to Pitino you need a fella in your entourage to marry the jump-off (And in case y'all don't know jump off is it is what dese young people duz call women that ya duz have one night stands etc with) to cover your indiscretions.
That is a harder thing to find than a bodyguard cause a fella might not feel a way about catching a bullet for ya but catch a marriage? You know how many fellas would do that? Not many I'm guessing.
Still all seriousness now, I'm wondering how a fellow like Pitino still has a job or at least hasn't been suspended from his job. How does a nice school like Louisville, in a red state like Kentucky, where they always try to give the impression that they have superior morals and they are so prim and proper, at least in public, can still support the man is even more mind boggling to me. And the NCAA, the College Athletics Association, the head authority, how do those guys that will routinely throw the book at a student athlete if he or she take a stick of chewing gum or a free donut from anyone, how can they stand aside so silently on this situation?
And God help us if this situation was with a professional sports player. Lawd a mercy those Authorities would have thrown the book at him long time ago and we would be inundated with comments on his infidelity, his stupidity, his womanizing, his attitude and his sense of entitlement cause he makes big money and he has enablers around him in his entourage. Well I don't think anybody has bigger enablers than Pitino and his take on a sham marriage for the boss staff. So how come he getting a pass?
We would hear how this story reflects badly on which ever sports league the player belong to as well. How come Pitino isn't getting much of that negative press yet? I mean he makes big millions of dollars too, he got a big ego, he in the public eye and clearly he has an enabling entourage. If anything this is worse than the players doing it cause he actually the boss man leading and teaching young students athletes.
So how come they trying to act like this incident is nothing spectacular when this story is bare bacchanal. How they acting like it is par for the course?
I guess is like Animal Farm teach we. All Animals created equal but some just more equal.
Is not the fact that he big, hardback, 50 something married man, 5 kids, 2 dogs and an all-American picket fence plus not to mention a nice job as a NCAA basketball coach had an extramarital affair. I figure that probably happens more than we know or would like to admit.
Its not that he had the "tryst" with the woman in question at a restaurant after hours on a table with one of his assistants nearby standing guard to make sure no one found out. No is not that even though I wonder where he recruits his staff cause a fella like that must be one in a million since good help is so hard to find these days. I must say this assistant really went beyond the call of duty, way beyond the job description. I wonder if Pitino and the assistant coach use a clipboard to draw up plays before Pitino went into the game so to speak. "Alight Rick we can do this, I want you to be aggressive on offense, cause the clock is ticking down fast. I calling a for a Daggering play with the Ramping shop option."
Its not even that after the woman end up pregnant Pitino gave her $3,000 for an abortion although he claims it was for medical insurance. (Big lie!) No man, he was trying to cover his trail avoid the drama and the backlash that would have come with the coach fathers child after one night stand stories.
No, the one part of the story that puts it way, way over the edge and just got me here laughing is that sometime after the event Pitino's equipment manager married the woman and she alleges that Pitino set that up to keep her quiet.
Damn, damn damn!
Now let me get this right. You marry a woman cause you boss mek you marry she? Wow! This boggles my mind.
All I can say is that Pitino has really upped the ante for all celebrity, big money maker entourages. I mean the assistant keeping watch was bad enough but this. Plus back in the day your random celebrity, big money type, just needed a fella to carry the drugs and a fella to take a fall and claim the unlicensed firearm that went off in the club was his and not yours. And that could have been the same fella cause you could always tie he back with a drugs firearm relationship and make it seem like you Mr random celebrity were still innocent. Now thanks to Pitino you need a fella in your entourage to marry the jump-off (And in case y'all don't know jump off is it is what dese young people duz call women that ya duz have one night stands etc with) to cover your indiscretions.
That is a harder thing to find than a bodyguard cause a fella might not feel a way about catching a bullet for ya but catch a marriage? You know how many fellas would do that? Not many I'm guessing.
Still all seriousness now, I'm wondering how a fellow like Pitino still has a job or at least hasn't been suspended from his job. How does a nice school like Louisville, in a red state like Kentucky, where they always try to give the impression that they have superior morals and they are so prim and proper, at least in public, can still support the man is even more mind boggling to me. And the NCAA, the College Athletics Association, the head authority, how do those guys that will routinely throw the book at a student athlete if he or she take a stick of chewing gum or a free donut from anyone, how can they stand aside so silently on this situation?
And God help us if this situation was with a professional sports player. Lawd a mercy those Authorities would have thrown the book at him long time ago and we would be inundated with comments on his infidelity, his stupidity, his womanizing, his attitude and his sense of entitlement cause he makes big money and he has enablers around him in his entourage. Well I don't think anybody has bigger enablers than Pitino and his take on a sham marriage for the boss staff. So how come he getting a pass?
We would hear how this story reflects badly on which ever sports league the player belong to as well. How come Pitino isn't getting much of that negative press yet? I mean he makes big millions of dollars too, he got a big ego, he in the public eye and clearly he has an enabling entourage. If anything this is worse than the players doing it cause he actually the boss man leading and teaching young students athletes.
So how come they trying to act like this incident is nothing spectacular when this story is bare bacchanal. How they acting like it is par for the course?
I guess is like Animal Farm teach we. All Animals created equal but some just more equal.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Bosh Bash
Poor Chris Bosh!Been a tough season. Man oh man!
First off injuries, then de team that was supposed to be so good, according to the GM anyways, flop this season, then Shaquille O'Neal called him the Rupaul of big men in the NBA and now this! And them buss this new set of news on his birthday just to shame he lil more when he should be out feting. Cuhdear!
What news? I talking about the news that Bosh's former girlfriend/financee (yes I mispell it on purpose) suing him for child support.
Cuhdear!
And yes many of you will say NBA player being sued for child support ain't no big deal happens all the time. Which is true but Bosh has made his name in the NBA and in Toronto as being one of those guys who wouldn't be caught up in this type of drama. He's a "good guy". Nice guy image. That is the type of athlete Toronto likes and embraces even if they don't perform.
I mean irony of ironies Bosh's image here like O.D.B is all about the kids. Raptors foundation, Sick Kids, Make a wish, Literacy campaigns, Boys and Girls Club of Canada. Bosh is all over the media daily repping for one children's program or another so imagine how it look that he not taking care of his home responsibilities. Ya mean, he trying to look out for other people pickney but not his own. Mi naa buy it!
Image buss!
Truth be told I tell Bosh get ridda dat financee gal from the time she was on the sidelines heckling and riling up Lebron and mek we lost that game last season cause juss cause ya got front row seats and is a player girlfriend aint nuh right fa you to get involved in the game. Sit down, shut up and enjoy the overpriced ACC food like everybody else and leff off dat sorta thing to fellas like Mars Blackman and Col. Jessop, that's Spike and Jack Nicholson in case you didn't figure it out. If you want the spotlight I sure there is video girl work available otherwise stay outta big NBA man business that.
Still I din know that he (Bosh) had she pregnant. How he going kick she out of his house full pregnant and then refuse to support the child?
Cuhdear! Wha wid an alleged move like that I can only guess that he trying to tek heat off the other Chris (Mr Brown I talkin bout you).
Still I didn't come to beat up on Bosh yet. Like they say three sides to each story. She side is that he is a deadbeat dad. Lawless, good for nothing, igrant, ugly brute that wont look after his responsibilities. Only see the 4 month old pickney two time so far and baby mudda broke and need money to tek care of this chile.
His side? Well that came out this morning. He claim that his lawyers are the one's that started the proceedings and that he's apparently down to take care of his responsibilities and support the chile (whic he should be with all them millions he duz mek) but like de former financee she want extra and hit he wid a suit. Whax! Hmmmm.
Boshy boy ya have to be careful. I was just reading a Sport Illustrated article saying that about 60% of former NBA players duz be broke 5 years after their playing days done and saying that child support and divorce is two of the main reasons these men duz end up broke. Dont let she stick ya for all ya paper boy.
But anyways like I said three sides to each story. She side out, he side coming out and one can only hope to pick little piece of the third side, that being the truth, out of each of the other two stories.
All I know is Bosh image tek a good lik this week. Not sure if it going recover here in Toronto.
Ah what do I care I've been pushing for the GM to trade him since January anyways.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Pretty ugly
Got permission for this one cause certain people will email me and say I unfairing my wife too much on this blog, especially after I posted this one last year. I'm still am absolutely certain she is trying to bump me off though but that is another story.
Anyway was watching the NBA playoffs the other night and the wife joined me for a few minutes. Conversation swayed towards the NBA and the relative beauty or lack of, of most of its stars.
So I asked my wife her thoughts on one particular player who will remain nameless for now and her response was
"Naa he too pretty. I dont like pretty men like he."
So now I'm sitting there laughing my head off cause I'm thinking well either one of two things. If I good looking then the wife dont like me and if she like me then I musse real ugly.
Its a no win situation. :-)
Anyway was watching the NBA playoffs the other night and the wife joined me for a few minutes. Conversation swayed towards the NBA and the relative beauty or lack of, of most of its stars.
So I asked my wife her thoughts on one particular player who will remain nameless for now and her response was
"Naa he too pretty. I dont like pretty men like he."
So now I'm sitting there laughing my head off cause I'm thinking well either one of two things. If I good looking then the wife dont like me and if she like me then I musse real ugly.
Its a no win situation. :-)
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Bye Bye Garbo
I must commend Raptors General Manager Bryan Colangelo for the job he's done with the team over the past season and a bit. Via his personnel moves he has been able to get the team to some semblance of respectability and an Atlantic Division title. Good job!
A significant part of that revival has been the influx of European players onto the Raptors roster.
As an aside though when you think of the invasion of European players into the Raptor ranks you have to at least grudgingly give credit to former GM Rob Babcock for starting the trend by picking up Jose Calderone, Uros Slokar and Roko Ukic a few years back. The flood gates however didnt officially open until Colangelo arrived two summers ago and picked up number one draft pick Andrea Bargnani, free agent Jorge Garbajosa and made the trade with San Antonio for Rasho Nesterovich.
And it has not been a faulty plan. Actually to be honest it was a great move on the Raptors part. Not only because the European players are highly skilled and usually well trained but also because unlike some of their African-American counterparts they have no issue with playing in Canada.
The Raptors over the past have been burned considerably by several myopic US basketball players who grudgingly came but skipped town as soon as possible, complained about playing in Toronto as if we were a third rate Mexican border town, complained about raising their family in Canada as if we were located somewhere behind the old Iron Curtain or who forced management to overpay for their services just cause they were going to be an hour outside the good ol US of A.
In light of that drama it has been a pleasure to have European professionals here who actually want to play here and help build up a good franchise in a cosmopolitan North American city like Toronto.
But if the problem with American players is their wish not to play professionally outside their home country the problem with European players is their wish to play for their home country's squad during the NBA off-season. Even at times when it may have a detrimental effect on their performance for their professional team, the one that actually pays their huge salaries.
Case in point: Raptors and Spanish forward Jorge Garbajosa.
Garbo as he is affectionately called made what can only be described as a bad call this summer. (oh and I called it twice. Here and here. See even a broken clock can be right sometimes.)
He broke his leg late in the last NBA season. Doctors at that time told him it would take approximately six months to rehab properly. Garbo four months later played for Spain in the European Championships against the advice of Raptors doctors who still thought that he needed surgery to correct parts of his damaged leg. Fast forward to yesterday and it has now been announced that Garbo will need to have surgery after all and in all likelihood will miss a significant portion if not all of this season. (Oh and I also read that he had indeed been practicing with the Spanish squad for up to 5 weeks before the actual Eurobasket tournament begun)
Now I'll admit that I'm upset with this. Been upset with it since I first heard he was playing in the FIBA Eurobasket tournament this summer instead of sitting it out to rehab for the NBA season. Look I'm not adverse to a player wishing to represent his country but Spain had already qualified for the 2008 Olympics and this Eurobasket tournament was about nothing more significant than bragging rights. To me it made sense if you were coming off an injury to play it safe and sit out the summer tournament so you could be 100% by the time NBA training camp rolled around.
Maybe Garbo had a right to be skeptical about the Raptors doctor's diagnosis and go against their advice. Professional teams do try to protect their investments and in the case of NBA teams there has been much fuss about international players who play a full NBA season then rush off to play all summer for their home countries. When do such players get a chance to rehab and relax and recharge one wonders? Still if a player thinks he can handle it and its necessary I say more power to him ......once he's are healthy.
Garbo was however by no means injury free and should have sat out this summer's tourney with a view towards being 100% in the fall. The biggest clue to the injury and how it was coming along may have been the fact that the Spanish federation and Garbo had to take out an insurance policy which cost them an exorbitant one million dollars for three months coverage this summer in order for him to play in the Eurobasket tournament. If the insurers thought he wasn't a big risk to reinjure himself or was close to full rehabilitation why was the premium so high?
It seems pretty clear that a never fully healed Garbo rushed back to play in Eurobasket 2007 and in so doing risked his rehab maybe even damaging himself further.
I honestly would like to think that he would have had some more regard for the franchise that pays him and the fans that cheer him here in Toronto and not have rushed to play this summer and then not even last a full month into the NBA season.
Like I said in my previous blog in reference to Garbo back this summer "Now you'll probably get to Raptors training camp and fall apart within a month of the season then have surgery and miss the entire season. All the while being paid by the Raptors. That's to me is like you have just dealt a b* slap to the entire Toronto fandom collective with your actions. Boy and they complain that home grown NBA players are childish, haughty and own way! I do hope you stay semi-healthy so we can trade you but alas I know that wont happen. Enjoy the season on the sidelines."
Damn I wish I had been wrong.
Guess this just goes to show that athletes can be idiots regardless of where they are from despite what some folks may think.
There are terms written into players contracts forbidding them to ski or ride motorbikes or engage in other slightly dangerous hobbies that may injure them. Maybe there needs to be terms written in forbidding injured players from playing in tournaments that can cause them to lengthen their time on the injured list. Or just clauses about using common sense to determine what events to engage in during the off-season.
Personally I think Garbo owes us Raptors fans an apology. Maybe he owes the franchise some money too but for sure he owes us an apology for risking his ability to play for the Raptors leaving us a weaker team in his absence.
ps: In terms of responsibility why isn't Garbo getting more heat on this? Vince went to his University graduation the morning of a playoff game but returned to play in that game and was widely pilloried as letting down the team. Garbo plays all summer on a bad leg and then comes to the season injured. He has let down his team too. Actually in my opinion more than Vince did. Shouldn't he be hearing it from the fans for letting us down?
A significant part of that revival has been the influx of European players onto the Raptors roster.
As an aside though when you think of the invasion of European players into the Raptor ranks you have to at least grudgingly give credit to former GM Rob Babcock for starting the trend by picking up Jose Calderone, Uros Slokar and Roko Ukic a few years back. The flood gates however didnt officially open until Colangelo arrived two summers ago and picked up number one draft pick Andrea Bargnani, free agent Jorge Garbajosa and made the trade with San Antonio for Rasho Nesterovich.
And it has not been a faulty plan. Actually to be honest it was a great move on the Raptors part. Not only because the European players are highly skilled and usually well trained but also because unlike some of their African-American counterparts they have no issue with playing in Canada.
The Raptors over the past have been burned considerably by several myopic US basketball players who grudgingly came but skipped town as soon as possible, complained about playing in Toronto as if we were a third rate Mexican border town, complained about raising their family in Canada as if we were located somewhere behind the old Iron Curtain or who forced management to overpay for their services just cause they were going to be an hour outside the good ol US of A.
In light of that drama it has been a pleasure to have European professionals here who actually want to play here and help build up a good franchise in a cosmopolitan North American city like Toronto.
But if the problem with American players is their wish not to play professionally outside their home country the problem with European players is their wish to play for their home country's squad during the NBA off-season. Even at times when it may have a detrimental effect on their performance for their professional team, the one that actually pays their huge salaries.
Case in point: Raptors and Spanish forward Jorge Garbajosa.
Garbo as he is affectionately called made what can only be described as a bad call this summer. (oh and I called it twice. Here and here. See even a broken clock can be right sometimes.)He broke his leg late in the last NBA season. Doctors at that time told him it would take approximately six months to rehab properly. Garbo four months later played for Spain in the European Championships against the advice of Raptors doctors who still thought that he needed surgery to correct parts of his damaged leg. Fast forward to yesterday and it has now been announced that Garbo will need to have surgery after all and in all likelihood will miss a significant portion if not all of this season. (Oh and I also read that he had indeed been practicing with the Spanish squad for up to 5 weeks before the actual Eurobasket tournament begun)
Now I'll admit that I'm upset with this. Been upset with it since I first heard he was playing in the FIBA Eurobasket tournament this summer instead of sitting it out to rehab for the NBA season. Look I'm not adverse to a player wishing to represent his country but Spain had already qualified for the 2008 Olympics and this Eurobasket tournament was about nothing more significant than bragging rights. To me it made sense if you were coming off an injury to play it safe and sit out the summer tournament so you could be 100% by the time NBA training camp rolled around.
Maybe Garbo had a right to be skeptical about the Raptors doctor's diagnosis and go against their advice. Professional teams do try to protect their investments and in the case of NBA teams there has been much fuss about international players who play a full NBA season then rush off to play all summer for their home countries. When do such players get a chance to rehab and relax and recharge one wonders? Still if a player thinks he can handle it and its necessary I say more power to him ......once he's are healthy.
Garbo was however by no means injury free and should have sat out this summer's tourney with a view towards being 100% in the fall. The biggest clue to the injury and how it was coming along may have been the fact that the Spanish federation and Garbo had to take out an insurance policy which cost them an exorbitant one million dollars for three months coverage this summer in order for him to play in the Eurobasket tournament. If the insurers thought he wasn't a big risk to reinjure himself or was close to full rehabilitation why was the premium so high?
It seems pretty clear that a never fully healed Garbo rushed back to play in Eurobasket 2007 and in so doing risked his rehab maybe even damaging himself further.
I honestly would like to think that he would have had some more regard for the franchise that pays him and the fans that cheer him here in Toronto and not have rushed to play this summer and then not even last a full month into the NBA season.
Like I said in my previous blog in reference to Garbo back this summer "Now you'll probably get to Raptors training camp and fall apart within a month of the season then have surgery and miss the entire season. All the while being paid by the Raptors. That's to me is like you have just dealt a b* slap to the entire Toronto fandom collective with your actions. Boy and they complain that home grown NBA players are childish, haughty and own way! I do hope you stay semi-healthy so we can trade you but alas I know that wont happen. Enjoy the season on the sidelines."
Damn I wish I had been wrong.
Guess this just goes to show that athletes can be idiots regardless of where they are from despite what some folks may think.
There are terms written into players contracts forbidding them to ski or ride motorbikes or engage in other slightly dangerous hobbies that may injure them. Maybe there needs to be terms written in forbidding injured players from playing in tournaments that can cause them to lengthen their time on the injured list. Or just clauses about using common sense to determine what events to engage in during the off-season.
Personally I think Garbo owes us Raptors fans an apology. Maybe he owes the franchise some money too but for sure he owes us an apology for risking his ability to play for the Raptors leaving us a weaker team in his absence.
ps: In terms of responsibility why isn't Garbo getting more heat on this? Vince went to his University graduation the morning of a playoff game but returned to play in that game and was widely pilloried as letting down the team. Garbo plays all summer on a bad leg and then comes to the season injured. He has let down his team too. Actually in my opinion more than Vince did. Shouldn't he be hearing it from the fans for letting us down?
Friday, October 26, 2007
NBA preview
Yes its back, finally! The NBA regular season starts on Tuesday night. Its been a long time well at least in my opinion
Ok as I usually do every year I'll make some not so great predictions based on my feel for the game at the moment. They all make sense to me at this point in time but usually 4 months down the line in hindsight a few are slighty questionable ie dead wrong! But me neva claim fi name Miss Cleo or fi ave crystal ball so without further ado here are my predictions:
- The East will be a better league than the West in this coming season. Yes the elite teams in the West; Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix are miles ahead of the Eastern teams but after this summer's comings and goings the West now has more scrub teams than the East. Shall I name the West's scrub teams? LA Clippers (Without Brand they are weak), Minnesota, Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, and if Kobe gets traded add the Lakers to that list.
- Don't count out New Jersey as Sports Illustrated seemingly has by predicting they wont even make the playoffs. Ridiculous. New Jersey is Boston without Garnett but with better supporting players and a team that has experience in playing together.
-Houston's biggest opponent is themselves. If Mcgrady and Yao remain injury free this team joins the West Elite. Houston is a force this year. Actually addendum to this I can see Dallas dropping out of the West Elite.
-GAP (Garnett, Allen, Pierce) is overrated and expensive. Hmmm sort of like the other Gap, who knew.
-Isiah doesn't last the season as coach cause again his team has too many players who need the ball to be effective. A glut of star players or used to be star players does not a champion make. Go ask the 2000 Trailblazers.
-The Raptors will make playoffs but wont win their division. Well actually I hope they do but gut feeling says they wont win the division. The Raptors win or lose on the strength of their point guard play this season.
-Chris Bosh will be spending at least two weeks on the injury list. Garbajosa's leg doesnt hold up to December.
-Miami will not make the playoffs. Shaq is no longer Diesel more like Diesel fumes and the supporting cast is terrible. Without an effective Shaq, Wade just becomes a poor man's Kobe.
- Atlanta will still suck! Memo to GM: Trade some of the young talent for a few veterans.
-Charlotte will still suck just less than they did last year.
- Dont expect consistency from rookie Kevin Durant.
- Jermaine O'Neal is the big trade in February.
-Kobe will not last the season in LA. Actually Kobe might not even begin the season in LA. Phil just dissed him. He's alienated his teammates more than usual with his off-season mouthings. I think he's gone. Possible destination Chi-Town but only if they can get away without giving away Deng for him. I'd pitch a Gordon, Thomas, other scrubs deal if I was the Chicago GM.
-Orlando and Milwaukee are the dark horses in the East. Watch them carefully.
- Cleveland struggles this year. They might not even make the playoffs if they cant re-sign the flopper and that other guy. Last playoff spot in the East comes down to Washington and Cleveland if my above mentioned dark horses get going.
-San Antonio are odds on favorites to repeat but they seem to have a tendency to let down the year after a championship. As much as I would like to see them repeat I don't see it happening. I'm predicting a Chicago vs Phoenix finals with Phoenix winning it all so that they can finally disband the damn Suns squad.
All predictions can be upset by injury to critical players but thats my story and I'm sticking to it.
The trash heap has spoken Nyeah!
Ok as I usually do every year I'll make some not so great predictions based on my feel for the game at the moment. They all make sense to me at this point in time but usually 4 months down the line in hindsight a few are slighty questionable ie dead wrong! But me neva claim fi name Miss Cleo or fi ave crystal ball so without further ado here are my predictions:
- The East will be a better league than the West in this coming season. Yes the elite teams in the West; Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix are miles ahead of the Eastern teams but after this summer's comings and goings the West now has more scrub teams than the East. Shall I name the West's scrub teams? LA Clippers (Without Brand they are weak), Minnesota, Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, and if Kobe gets traded add the Lakers to that list.
- Don't count out New Jersey as Sports Illustrated seemingly has by predicting they wont even make the playoffs. Ridiculous. New Jersey is Boston without Garnett but with better supporting players and a team that has experience in playing together.
-Houston's biggest opponent is themselves. If Mcgrady and Yao remain injury free this team joins the West Elite. Houston is a force this year. Actually addendum to this I can see Dallas dropping out of the West Elite.
-GAP (Garnett, Allen, Pierce) is overrated and expensive. Hmmm sort of like the other Gap, who knew.
-Isiah doesn't last the season as coach cause again his team has too many players who need the ball to be effective. A glut of star players or used to be star players does not a champion make. Go ask the 2000 Trailblazers.
-The Raptors will make playoffs but wont win their division. Well actually I hope they do but gut feeling says they wont win the division. The Raptors win or lose on the strength of their point guard play this season.
-Chris Bosh will be spending at least two weeks on the injury list. Garbajosa's leg doesnt hold up to December.-Miami will not make the playoffs. Shaq is no longer Diesel more like Diesel fumes and the supporting cast is terrible. Without an effective Shaq, Wade just becomes a poor man's Kobe.
- Atlanta will still suck! Memo to GM: Trade some of the young talent for a few veterans.
-Charlotte will still suck just less than they did last year.
- Dont expect consistency from rookie Kevin Durant.
- Jermaine O'Neal is the big trade in February.
-Kobe will not last the season in LA. Actually Kobe might not even begin the season in LA. Phil just dissed him. He's alienated his teammates more than usual with his off-season mouthings. I think he's gone. Possible destination Chi-Town but only if they can get away without giving away Deng for him. I'd pitch a Gordon, Thomas, other scrubs deal if I was the Chicago GM.
-Orlando and Milwaukee are the dark horses in the East. Watch them carefully.
- Cleveland struggles this year. They might not even make the playoffs if they cant re-sign the flopper and that other guy. Last playoff spot in the East comes down to Washington and Cleveland if my above mentioned dark horses get going.
-San Antonio are odds on favorites to repeat but they seem to have a tendency to let down the year after a championship. As much as I would like to see them repeat I don't see it happening. I'm predicting a Chicago vs Phoenix finals with Phoenix winning it all so that they can finally disband the damn Suns squad.
All predictions can be upset by injury to critical players but thats my story and I'm sticking to it.
The trash heap has spoken Nyeah!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Tipping?
I've changed my mind. I actually think that Mrs Browne-Sanders is going to lose her case against Isiah and the Knicks. Earlier I thought she had a slam dunk case that was going to really tear apart the Knicks and bring down Isiah but now......
Well that ain't to say her story isn't the truth. I wont get into a judgment call cause it seems like its a classic case of he say she say (I heard it through the gravevine, no static got an automatic , too much of anything can make you an addict). However the Knicks have really closed ranks and paraded a slew of staff who have done a number on Browne-Sander's credibility, professionalism and abilities. Mind you most harassment cases go this way but lets just say I think any jury would probably have a bit of doubt now regarding her claims. Also didn't help that this one former intern that Browne Sanders claims slept with Knicks player Stephon Marbury against her wishes came out and said the sex was consensual. Could be a case of big business just buying off or scaring folk into testifying for them or could not be. That said I think she loses the case and Isiah continues grinning.
Yesterday's Toronto Star had an article about Asian-Canadian fishermen who have been recently assaulted up near Sutton (about an hour north of T-dot).
"Typically, young adults drive around in the middle of the night seeking out Asian fisherman standing near piers and bridges. Then they'll push them into the water and sometimes steal or damage their fishing gear."
OK I get it, country folks ain't got nothing better to do right? Ever heard of cable?
Look no matter how they talk about this, its racist plain and simple. Then the police are apparently taking this lightly. That just plays really badly in terms of the image of that community. Plus, they actually have a name for it up there....nippertipping. What the hell? You think folks are animals that you can just randomly walk up to them and throw them in the lake. You think they find this funny? You think randomly assaulting someone in general is funny?
One guy is in hospital because of an incident related to this but they're trying to play it down as oh just a random assault. Come on admit it was racial motivated and deal with this.
And in other actually rather ironic news since I just decried racism against Asian-Candians (and I stand by that stance), China is a racist state ain't it? Makes one wonder why so many Caribbean nations are in bed with these guys. Feel sorry for this yout though.
"The detainees included 22-year-old Joslyn Whiteman, son of Grenada's ambassador. One witness said he saw police grab Mr Whiteman and beat him repeatedly, despite onlookers crying out, "Stop! He's a diplomat!" According to the South China Morning Post, Mr Whiteman spent the night in a hospital with concussion."
It sure is going to be interesting to see how next years Olympics plays out. Maybe we need a new Jesse Owens.
Oh and before I go, I knew there was a reason for this blog. Anyone catch Bill O'Reilly's comments about his visit to a black restaurant in Harlem? Apparently he couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between this black run restaurant and others in the city. Dude commented "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, '[Expletive], I want more iced tea!' . . . There wasn't any kind of craziness at all."
You know I knew O'Reilly was an idiot but I just think this comment is interesting cause you know he's not the only person who thinks that the only way black folks can communicate is through swearing. Mind you it doesn't help when David Banner goes before congress and swears in his testimony (of course I don't see the point to hearings on rap, I never heard any hearings into violence in Hollywood movies and they make lots more money). Blame the media, blame rappers, blame BET, blame whoever but there are a lot of misguided beliefs about black folk in this society. And its sad. No wonder nooses are back in fashion down south and Chinese are kicking our asses. How long till Cross burning catches on again?
Well that ain't to say her story isn't the truth. I wont get into a judgment call cause it seems like its a classic case of he say she say (I heard it through the gravevine, no static got an automatic , too much of anything can make you an addict). However the Knicks have really closed ranks and paraded a slew of staff who have done a number on Browne-Sander's credibility, professionalism and abilities. Mind you most harassment cases go this way but lets just say I think any jury would probably have a bit of doubt now regarding her claims. Also didn't help that this one former intern that Browne Sanders claims slept with Knicks player Stephon Marbury against her wishes came out and said the sex was consensual. Could be a case of big business just buying off or scaring folk into testifying for them or could not be. That said I think she loses the case and Isiah continues grinning.Yesterday's Toronto Star had an article about Asian-Canadian fishermen who have been recently assaulted up near Sutton (about an hour north of T-dot).
"Typically, young adults drive around in the middle of the night seeking out Asian fisherman standing near piers and bridges. Then they'll push them into the water and sometimes steal or damage their fishing gear."
OK I get it, country folks ain't got nothing better to do right? Ever heard of cable?
Look no matter how they talk about this, its racist plain and simple. Then the police are apparently taking this lightly. That just plays really badly in terms of the image of that community. Plus, they actually have a name for it up there....nippertipping. What the hell? You think folks are animals that you can just randomly walk up to them and throw them in the lake. You think they find this funny? You think randomly assaulting someone in general is funny?
One guy is in hospital because of an incident related to this but they're trying to play it down as oh just a random assault. Come on admit it was racial motivated and deal with this.
And in other actually rather ironic news since I just decried racism against Asian-Candians (and I stand by that stance), China is a racist state ain't it? Makes one wonder why so many Caribbean nations are in bed with these guys. Feel sorry for this yout though.
"The detainees included 22-year-old Joslyn Whiteman, son of Grenada's ambassador. One witness said he saw police grab Mr Whiteman and beat him repeatedly, despite onlookers crying out, "Stop! He's a diplomat!" According to the South China Morning Post, Mr Whiteman spent the night in a hospital with concussion."
It sure is going to be interesting to see how next years Olympics plays out. Maybe we need a new Jesse Owens.
Oh and before I go, I knew there was a reason for this blog. Anyone catch Bill O'Reilly's comments about his visit to a black restaurant in Harlem? Apparently he couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between this black run restaurant and others in the city. Dude commented "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, '[Expletive], I want more iced tea!' . . . There wasn't any kind of craziness at all."
You know I knew O'Reilly was an idiot but I just think this comment is interesting cause you know he's not the only person who thinks that the only way black folks can communicate is through swearing. Mind you it doesn't help when David Banner goes before congress and swears in his testimony (of course I don't see the point to hearings on rap, I never heard any hearings into violence in Hollywood movies and they make lots more money). Blame the media, blame rappers, blame BET, blame whoever but there are a lot of misguided beliefs about black folk in this society. And its sad. No wonder nooses are back in fashion down south and Chinese are kicking our asses. How long till Cross burning catches on again?
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Dumb and Dumber
1) OJ! sigh! What can I say? Were you worried you were fading from the spotlight? Dude last time you got away with murder, maybe literally. You're also quite possibly the most hated black man in the US. Why would you push your luck? Were you upset that Mike Vick and Pacman Jones were getting all the current evil NFLer press? Is that it?
2) Isiah Thomas. Oh yea buddy way to explain your use of the B word. eediat!
3) Jose Garbajosa. Yea I said it, Jose Garbajosa. As a Raptors fan this guy has pissed me off this summer. He broke his leg, he rehabbed, Raptors doctors wouldn't give him clearance to play in the European Championship so he gets his own insurance, gets clearance from Spain's doctors and plays anyways. Ok so granted I understand the whole nationalistic stance and wanting to play for your country but at the same time Spain had already qualified for the Olympics prior to the tournament and your leg isn't 100%. Plus odds are in order to get to 100% you'll need more surgery. So you decided to play for Spain this summer when you could have had the surgery that your needed instead. Now you'll probably get to Raptors training camp and fall apart within a month of the season then have surgery and miss the entire season. All the while being paid by the Raptors. That's to me is like you have just dealt a b* slap to the entire Toronto fandom collective with your actions. Boy and they complain that home grown NBA players are childish haughty and own way! I do hope you stay semi-healthy so we can trade you but alas I know that wont happen. Enjoy the season on the sidelines.
2) Isiah Thomas. Oh yea buddy way to explain your use of the B word. eediat!
3) Jose Garbajosa. Yea I said it, Jose Garbajosa. As a Raptors fan this guy has pissed me off this summer. He broke his leg, he rehabbed, Raptors doctors wouldn't give him clearance to play in the European Championship so he gets his own insurance, gets clearance from Spain's doctors and plays anyways. Ok so granted I understand the whole nationalistic stance and wanting to play for your country but at the same time Spain had already qualified for the Olympics prior to the tournament and your leg isn't 100%. Plus odds are in order to get to 100% you'll need more surgery. So you decided to play for Spain this summer when you could have had the surgery that your needed instead. Now you'll probably get to Raptors training camp and fall apart within a month of the season then have surgery and miss the entire season. All the while being paid by the Raptors. That's to me is like you have just dealt a b* slap to the entire Toronto fandom collective with your actions. Boy and they complain that home grown NBA players are childish haughty and own way! I do hope you stay semi-healthy so we can trade you but alas I know that wont happen. Enjoy the season on the sidelines.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
By his deeds part deux
By now most of you folks have heard about this NBA referee who bet on games and may have likely attempted to meddle in the outcome of games.
Now this is a serious sports scandal anyway you look (bigger than Vick and the dogs in my opinion) at it but I'll leave it to the respected media to cover all the angles and implications of the issue and whether Game 3 Suns vs spurs was fixed and whether my Raptors won against Philli in the regular season or lost against the Nets in the playoffs because of Donaghy's meddling.
Naa, I'll leave all that alone.
What I do want to speak on is all of the reports about previous bad things this guy has done. Its like now that these betting accusations are in the open everyone is coming out saying this guy was never a good guy and finding more ways to tarnish his image. Its like that saying that implies that when you're down they will find a way to kick you even more.
Seriously I mean we've heard about how he was a big time gambler, stalked a neighbour's wife, called the police on a 6 year old, chased a postman in his car, cheated on his SATs and was generally a bad bad man. No one has a good word to say about this guy; not colleagues, not neighbours probably not even family. I mean its only a matter of time before his mom comes out and says she knew he was a bad seed ever since he stole cookies from the pantry as a child or something like that.
So it got me thinking. Was he really that bad or is it just that bad news begets more bad news? Is there a serious attempt to tar and feather him one time or are people just finally not afraid to speak up about this alleged bully and criminal? Or does the real truth lie somewhere south of the picture being painted?
To me its interesting cause press stories on people usually follow two sorry three no make that four predictable angles in my opinion. There are the lovable loser, down on your luck stories. Then there are the stories where if you've done a good deed or achieved something memorable you are heralded for every good deed you've ever performed or every hardship you've ever overcome and almost anointed with sainthood. Then on the flip side if you do something bad well lord help ya cause like this Donaghy case they will blackball ya. And finally there are the fall from grace stories where they make it seem as if the rise was too good to be true and you had deep dark secrets and it was inevitable that you would end up on the dark path.
Also gets me wondering what would people say if I got into something bad. What would they dredge up from my past. What minor story would suddenly be embellished to make me more monster than man? Hmmm I can think of quite a few actually so maybe I best not to do anything wrong lol. Personally I'm hoping for a fall from grace story those are the coolest, hey I'd give them some help in writing my own. Course I'd have to do that rise to the top thing first. Naa forget it too much hard work lol.
Anyway its just something to think of.
Now this is a serious sports scandal anyway you look (bigger than Vick and the dogs in my opinion) at it but I'll leave it to the respected media to cover all the angles and implications of the issue and whether Game 3 Suns vs spurs was fixed and whether my Raptors won against Philli in the regular season or lost against the Nets in the playoffs because of Donaghy's meddling.
Naa, I'll leave all that alone.
What I do want to speak on is all of the reports about previous bad things this guy has done. Its like now that these betting accusations are in the open everyone is coming out saying this guy was never a good guy and finding more ways to tarnish his image. Its like that saying that implies that when you're down they will find a way to kick you even more.
Seriously I mean we've heard about how he was a big time gambler, stalked a neighbour's wife, called the police on a 6 year old, chased a postman in his car, cheated on his SATs and was generally a bad bad man. No one has a good word to say about this guy; not colleagues, not neighbours probably not even family. I mean its only a matter of time before his mom comes out and says she knew he was a bad seed ever since he stole cookies from the pantry as a child or something like that.
So it got me thinking. Was he really that bad or is it just that bad news begets more bad news? Is there a serious attempt to tar and feather him one time or are people just finally not afraid to speak up about this alleged bully and criminal? Or does the real truth lie somewhere south of the picture being painted?
To me its interesting cause press stories on people usually follow two sorry three no make that four predictable angles in my opinion. There are the lovable loser, down on your luck stories. Then there are the stories where if you've done a good deed or achieved something memorable you are heralded for every good deed you've ever performed or every hardship you've ever overcome and almost anointed with sainthood. Then on the flip side if you do something bad well lord help ya cause like this Donaghy case they will blackball ya. And finally there are the fall from grace stories where they make it seem as if the rise was too good to be true and you had deep dark secrets and it was inevitable that you would end up on the dark path.
Also gets me wondering what would people say if I got into something bad. What would they dredge up from my past. What minor story would suddenly be embellished to make me more monster than man? Hmmm I can think of quite a few actually so maybe I best not to do anything wrong lol. Personally I'm hoping for a fall from grace story those are the coolest, hey I'd give them some help in writing my own. Course I'd have to do that rise to the top thing first. Naa forget it too much hard work lol.
Anyway its just something to think of.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Notes from the NBA Draft
As usual I camped out in front of my television last night to take in the annual NBA draft. This is like one of my all-time favourite sporting events and its not even an actual game. Its just so much fun to watch franchises pick up players in an attempt to rebuild or revive their chances at winning a title. Trades are made, some players are chosen based solely on upside and you wonder what drugs certain GMs are on or how many blind men are in their scouting department. Dick Vitale gets all excited (actually I have an idea in my head for a reality series with Dick Vitale and Chuck Swirsky, I'm telling you its the bomb son!) and Steven A Smith looking to all the world like Ludacris' long lost twin strategically potificates in the exact tones of certain black preachers like Al Sharpton. All in all a fun time is had by all.
Alas my Raptors didnt have a pick this year so I cannot complain about how they made the wrong choice again like I did when they took Bargnani last year (maybe thats why they never returned my phone call inquiring about a potential spot in the front office) but at the least I can still share my thoughts on last nights proceedings.
- The picture to the side is that of Joakim Noah, the number 9 pick to Chicago. All I have to say is why does the man look like he just escaped from a clown car? If he doesn't already have a nickname I'm pushing for Sideshow Noah. Man that suit alone should have dropped his stock out of the top 10. It'd be like and with the number 9 Chicago selects....., What the !!! Wait a second Whats that he's wearing? Seersucker? Oh hell no! No no no, time out, time out! Can we have a minute to rethink this pick.
- This draft has got to be one of the first I've ever seen where pretty much every pick in the top 11 or 12 went as predicted in most of the mock drafts. Pretty amazing actually.
- I think I'm going to like Greg Oden. He's hilarious without even trying plus the cat has his own blog.
- Portland traded Zach Randolph. So now you have a young big man core of Oden, Lamarcus Aldridge (last years number 2) and Channing Fyre. Great move except not one of these guys can put the ball in the basket. You just gave up your 20 point a night player who's going to put up the points. Maybe there will be long term gains but in the short run its going to be rough especially playing in the West. Still I guess the young guys will have to develop.
- New York picked up Zach Randolph and only gave up Stevie Franchise and Frye. Great move .......except Randolph and Eddy Curry have got to be the two laziest big men in the league. Offensively it'll be raining buckets from those two but your defense will be as porous as a strainer. Oh and you just traded the one cat in Channing Frye that was the key to any other trades you might have made. You think you're going to get Kobe by offering Renaldo Balkman? ummm no. Oh and you just added more money to your salaries as usual. Does New York have never emptying coffers or what?
- Oh and New York grabbing Randolph just puts a damper on all the happy New York trade rumours this season with Kobe, Jermaine O'Neal, Rashard Lewis, Kevin Garnett and every other big priced, big name free agent or disgruntled wannabee traded star. That sucks the fun out of everything. Boooo!
- Corey Brewer went #7 and is listed at 6'7" 185 lbs. In comparison I'm 6' 1" 185 lbs. I am nowhere close to being built, actually I'm on the slim bordering skinny side so just how skinny is this Corey Brewer guy if he is 6 inches taller than me and the same weight? I've heard about starving students but the man must be all skin, sinew and elbows either that or he has hollow bones.
- Michael Jordan pulled off the steal of the draft by trading his number 8 pick for Jason Richardson. And we said this guy wasn't a real GM. Guess this means Golden State is officially in the Kevin Garnett sweepstakes now!
- The Celtics traded for Jesus Shuttlesworth my bad I mean Ray 'He got Game' Allen. So now they have Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. That's like the Nets with Vince and Richard Jefferson except Boston doesn't have a Jason Kidd to get them the ball. You think Al Jefferson's going to develop when he's fighting for the ball with both Pierce and Allen? Way to go Boston!
-Atlanta drafted another top 10 big man. Hmmm don't they do this every year. Man this is like Deja Vu. At some point they're going to have to trade that glut of forwards.
- Chicago picked up Sideshow Noah to go along with Ben Wallace (I sense a crazy hair competition in the making), PJ Brown and Tyrus Thomas. 4 big power forwards who cant shoot worth a damn. You'll out-rebound every other team in the league but on offense why is the other team even bothering to guard your 4 and 5? I've got a trade for you. Chicago's got big men who play defense and rebound but cant score, New York's got big men that can score but don't play defense. Work with me here people.
- Milwaukeee drafted Chinese big man Yi Jianying (pronounced EE te-anne li-anne). The man has basically said he didn't want to play in Milwaukee (who would) so this could turn into a Steve Francis rejecting the Vancouver Grizzlies thing. Plus isn't he a 4? If he stays does this mean you have given up on Charlie V? If so can we have him back cause I'm still mad that the Raptors traded him last year even though I'll admit it worked out.
Alas my Raptors didnt have a pick this year so I cannot complain about how they made the wrong choice again like I did when they took Bargnani last year (maybe thats why they never returned my phone call inquiring about a potential spot in the front office) but at the least I can still share my thoughts on last nights proceedings.
- The picture to the side is that of Joakim Noah, the number 9 pick to Chicago. All I have to say is why does the man look like he just escaped from a clown car? If he doesn't already have a nickname I'm pushing for Sideshow Noah. Man that suit alone should have dropped his stock out of the top 10. It'd be like and with the number 9 Chicago selects....., What the !!! Wait a second Whats that he's wearing? Seersucker? Oh hell no! No no no, time out, time out! Can we have a minute to rethink this pick.- This draft has got to be one of the first I've ever seen where pretty much every pick in the top 11 or 12 went as predicted in most of the mock drafts. Pretty amazing actually.
- I think I'm going to like Greg Oden. He's hilarious without even trying plus the cat has his own blog.
- Portland traded Zach Randolph. So now you have a young big man core of Oden, Lamarcus Aldridge (last years number 2) and Channing Fyre. Great move except not one of these guys can put the ball in the basket. You just gave up your 20 point a night player who's going to put up the points. Maybe there will be long term gains but in the short run its going to be rough especially playing in the West. Still I guess the young guys will have to develop.
- New York picked up Zach Randolph and only gave up Stevie Franchise and Frye. Great move .......except Randolph and Eddy Curry have got to be the two laziest big men in the league. Offensively it'll be raining buckets from those two but your defense will be as porous as a strainer. Oh and you just traded the one cat in Channing Frye that was the key to any other trades you might have made. You think you're going to get Kobe by offering Renaldo Balkman? ummm no. Oh and you just added more money to your salaries as usual. Does New York have never emptying coffers or what?
- Oh and New York grabbing Randolph just puts a damper on all the happy New York trade rumours this season with Kobe, Jermaine O'Neal, Rashard Lewis, Kevin Garnett and every other big priced, big name free agent or disgruntled wannabee traded star. That sucks the fun out of everything. Boooo!
- Corey Brewer went #7 and is listed at 6'7" 185 lbs. In comparison I'm 6' 1" 185 lbs. I am nowhere close to being built, actually I'm on the slim bordering skinny side so just how skinny is this Corey Brewer guy if he is 6 inches taller than me and the same weight? I've heard about starving students but the man must be all skin, sinew and elbows either that or he has hollow bones.
- Michael Jordan pulled off the steal of the draft by trading his number 8 pick for Jason Richardson. And we said this guy wasn't a real GM. Guess this means Golden State is officially in the Kevin Garnett sweepstakes now!
- The Celtics traded for Jesus Shuttlesworth my bad I mean Ray 'He got Game' Allen. So now they have Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. That's like the Nets with Vince and Richard Jefferson except Boston doesn't have a Jason Kidd to get them the ball. You think Al Jefferson's going to develop when he's fighting for the ball with both Pierce and Allen? Way to go Boston!
-Atlanta drafted another top 10 big man. Hmmm don't they do this every year. Man this is like Deja Vu. At some point they're going to have to trade that glut of forwards.
- Chicago picked up Sideshow Noah to go along with Ben Wallace (I sense a crazy hair competition in the making), PJ Brown and Tyrus Thomas. 4 big power forwards who cant shoot worth a damn. You'll out-rebound every other team in the league but on offense why is the other team even bothering to guard your 4 and 5? I've got a trade for you. Chicago's got big men who play defense and rebound but cant score, New York's got big men that can score but don't play defense. Work with me here people.
- Milwaukeee drafted Chinese big man Yi Jianying (pronounced EE te-anne li-anne). The man has basically said he didn't want to play in Milwaukee (who would) so this could turn into a Steve Francis rejecting the Vancouver Grizzlies thing. Plus isn't he a 4? If he stays does this mean you have given up on Charlie V? If so can we have him back cause I'm still mad that the Raptors traded him last year even though I'll admit it worked out.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
King James Version
Ok, so this one is a bit late but it's been lurking in my head for weeks if that counts for anything.
The NBA playoffs are over, congrats to the San Antonio Spurs, and the NBA draft and silly season aka the off-season, where the trade rumors multiply almost exponentially on a daily basis, is upon us.
They say it was one of the most boring finals and that may be true not just because the Cleveland Cavs team was one of the weakest finalists in years but also because the vastly superior Spurs played down to their level and actually kept the series scores closer than they should have ever been. It could easily have been 4 straight complete blowouts if the Spurs had stayed focused instead of lapsing and allowing games 3 and 4 being as close as they were. The Spurs would play great in spurts, then realize they weren't playing against the Phoenix Suns or another elite team and start to coast on cruise control giving the Cavs a brief glimmer of hope and some viewers the belief that maybe the Cavs actually had a chance or were actually close to being an elite team.
I say not. As mentioned above the Cavs were one of the weakest teams I've ever seen in a finals. To be honest though Iverson's 76ers, finalists back in 2002 were probably as bad. Built around the same premise with a lone superstar and a complete bunch of scrubs they yet still managed to not get swept that series against theLakers of Shaq and Kobe. The complete single mindedness and resolute determination of Iverson managed to get them a lone win.
Well Lebron really ain't no Iverson ...yet in terms of willing a team to a win despite the game 5 heroics vs Detroit so his squad got swept.
Frankly, I blame this whole Cavs in the finals debacle all on the Chicago Bulls. If they had won that game against New Jersey on the last day of the season, the Cavs would have had a harder road to the finals playing Miami in the first round and possibly Detroit in the second and if they ever got that far Chicago in the conference finals. Plus my Raptors would have ended up playing the Wizards instead of New Jersey and might have actually made the second round. Damn you Chicago!. They (the Cavs ) would have never made it past all three of those teams. As it stands though they ended up having easy early round opponents in an injury depleted Washington and a so so New Jersey squad and then managed to get past a completely self destructing Detroit. Oh well Que Sera Que Sera!
What bugged me the most about the NBA finals though was not the standard of play on display but the premature coronation of Lebron James as the new King. I'll be honest I'm not his biggest fan so maybe I'm being a bit harsh and he was amazing in game 5 against the Pistons so maybe I should cut him some slack but.....
From the time the Cavs made the finals the talk was all about Lebron and his ascendancy. Yes I realize that the NBA needs or thinks they need that one uber-star, or superstar of superstars, for marketing purposes and its been devoid of one since Jordan took flight into the sunset over Washington a few years ago but why oh why must they keep trying to push force ripe superstars on us?
Lebron is good, possibly great even, but get over it people he is not Michael Jordan and he wasn't going to win against the Spurs. His willpower and mind state aren't there yet. He won against the Pistons or rather the Pistons lost mainly because the Pistons fell apart rather than any real supremacy of the Cavs squad. In the finals Tim Duncan and his crew of focused professionals were not about to let themselves fall apart and be upset like the Pistons were meaning the Lebrons just didn't stand a chance.
It was so annoying listening to the commentators push Lebron as the best thing since sliced bread when in truth they should have been telling us about how much help he really needs and how devoid of a second option his squad is, leaving everything on his broad but somewhat incapable shoulders (at least in the finals).
The commentators failed in this aspect hoping that he could somehow pull off the impossible against the Spurs. And when I say he I don't mean his team I literally mean he, Lebron, one man vs the Spurs because when you look at his teammates there wasn't much to write home about amongst the group. Marshall, Snow, Hughes, Ilguyskas, Gooden, Varejao etc are all bits and pieces players. Even the few who may have at earlier points in their career stepped up on other teams are now shells of themselves or perhaps overawed to be in Lebron's presence. In essence they sucked!
It was left to rookie Daniel Gibson to inject some life into the supporting cast and he really isn't that good.
But if the story is told truthfully and one really looks at the history of the NBA finals one gets a different story to what the numerous commentators were pushing. No matter what the hype NBA finals have never really been about one man.
Since Jordan has retired the teams that have won titles have won on the strength mainly of good all around teams anchored by a good if not great big man not anchored by solo swingman acts. The Spurs have Duncan and all stars in Ginobli and Parker, the three-peating Lakers had Shaq and Kobe, the Pistons had a starting 5 of potential all-stars including the two Wallaces up front even Wade although he was the superstar on the Miami Heat squad last year still had a decent enough Shaq and to a lesser extent Mourning to ease things for him a bit. The swingmen and guards may get all the glory and were integral parts but it wasn't a one man against a team thing. they all had competant big men teammates.
Then lets go back to the 90s, where as far as titles go the Pistons won one, Bulls won 6, Houston won 2 and Spurs one. Lets ignore the Spurs, Houston and Pistons wins since for the most part these teams fit the mould of the teams with good big men that have been winning in this decade and focus on Jordan's Bulls.
Jordans Bulls won 6 titles in the 90s broken up into two three-peats. There is no denying that Jordan was definitely a singular talent in his heyday but .......
The myth though is that on Jordan's strength alone his teams won their titles. Absolute hogwash! The Bulls knew the strength of having a team and especially of having excellent big men. Think about it. For the first three titles (91-93) pre-first retirement Jordan had a great swingman in perennial allstar Scottie Pippen, a decent point guard in BJ Armstrong and a premier rebounder and all defensive team power forward in Horace Grant along with decent role players like John Paxson, Stacey King and Bill Cartwright.
For his second batch of three championships (96-98) Jordan didn't exactly ride as solo as they would wish you to believe either. He had Pippen again, and a bit past his prime but still decent Ron Harper at point guard and one of the greatest rebounders of all time in Dennis Rodman, (ignore the off-court antics) at Power Forward. Then he had Tony Kukok, Steve Kerr, Bison Dele and other decent players.
Jordan was hardly playing one man against five here folks. Thats not to take anything away from his will and determination which were second to none in that era but lets just realize that its a myth to think that he was the only star on the court in a Bulls uniform when they won their titles. Bulls management was smart enough to surround him with, get this novel concept, a team something one hopes the Cavs management will clue into.
So I just wrote all that to say no matter how good Lebron is he will never win or rather it will be extremely difficult for him to win without a decent team supporting him and its wrong to accelerate his ascendacy and fill the airwaves with so much hyperbole when you know he and his squad still have quite a ways to go. Jordan for all his greatness could not have won with this asembled Cavs team. If you dont believe me look up the Jordan rules and see how hard it was for Jordan acting as one man army to get past the then dominant Detroit Pistons of Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. The myth that is Jordan will have you believing that he could accomplish the impossible and to some intent it almost appears thus, but the truth is as great as he was in order to win his championships he needed help. Help which management graciously provided.
The NBA playoffs are over, congrats to the San Antonio Spurs, and the NBA draft and silly season aka the off-season, where the trade rumors multiply almost exponentially on a daily basis, is upon us.
They say it was one of the most boring finals and that may be true not just because the Cleveland Cavs team was one of the weakest finalists in years but also because the vastly superior Spurs played down to their level and actually kept the series scores closer than they should have ever been. It could easily have been 4 straight complete blowouts if the Spurs had stayed focused instead of lapsing and allowing games 3 and 4 being as close as they were. The Spurs would play great in spurts, then realize they weren't playing against the Phoenix Suns or another elite team and start to coast on cruise control giving the Cavs a brief glimmer of hope and some viewers the belief that maybe the Cavs actually had a chance or were actually close to being an elite team.
I say not. As mentioned above the Cavs were one of the weakest teams I've ever seen in a finals. To be honest though Iverson's 76ers, finalists back in 2002 were probably as bad. Built around the same premise with a lone superstar and a complete bunch of scrubs they yet still managed to not get swept that series against theLakers of Shaq and Kobe. The complete single mindedness and resolute determination of Iverson managed to get them a lone win.
Well Lebron really ain't no Iverson ...yet in terms of willing a team to a win despite the game 5 heroics vs Detroit so his squad got swept.
Frankly, I blame this whole Cavs in the finals debacle all on the Chicago Bulls. If they had won that game against New Jersey on the last day of the season, the Cavs would have had a harder road to the finals playing Miami in the first round and possibly Detroit in the second and if they ever got that far Chicago in the conference finals. Plus my Raptors would have ended up playing the Wizards instead of New Jersey and might have actually made the second round. Damn you Chicago!. They (the Cavs ) would have never made it past all three of those teams. As it stands though they ended up having easy early round opponents in an injury depleted Washington and a so so New Jersey squad and then managed to get past a completely self destructing Detroit. Oh well Que Sera Que Sera!
What bugged me the most about the NBA finals though was not the standard of play on display but the premature coronation of Lebron James as the new King. I'll be honest I'm not his biggest fan so maybe I'm being a bit harsh and he was amazing in game 5 against the Pistons so maybe I should cut him some slack but.....From the time the Cavs made the finals the talk was all about Lebron and his ascendancy. Yes I realize that the NBA needs or thinks they need that one uber-star, or superstar of superstars, for marketing purposes and its been devoid of one since Jordan took flight into the sunset over Washington a few years ago but why oh why must they keep trying to push force ripe superstars on us?
Lebron is good, possibly great even, but get over it people he is not Michael Jordan and he wasn't going to win against the Spurs. His willpower and mind state aren't there yet. He won against the Pistons or rather the Pistons lost mainly because the Pistons fell apart rather than any real supremacy of the Cavs squad. In the finals Tim Duncan and his crew of focused professionals were not about to let themselves fall apart and be upset like the Pistons were meaning the Lebrons just didn't stand a chance.
It was so annoying listening to the commentators push Lebron as the best thing since sliced bread when in truth they should have been telling us about how much help he really needs and how devoid of a second option his squad is, leaving everything on his broad but somewhat incapable shoulders (at least in the finals).
The commentators failed in this aspect hoping that he could somehow pull off the impossible against the Spurs. And when I say he I don't mean his team I literally mean he, Lebron, one man vs the Spurs because when you look at his teammates there wasn't much to write home about amongst the group. Marshall, Snow, Hughes, Ilguyskas, Gooden, Varejao etc are all bits and pieces players. Even the few who may have at earlier points in their career stepped up on other teams are now shells of themselves or perhaps overawed to be in Lebron's presence. In essence they sucked!
It was left to rookie Daniel Gibson to inject some life into the supporting cast and he really isn't that good.
But if the story is told truthfully and one really looks at the history of the NBA finals one gets a different story to what the numerous commentators were pushing. No matter what the hype NBA finals have never really been about one man.Since Jordan has retired the teams that have won titles have won on the strength mainly of good all around teams anchored by a good if not great big man not anchored by solo swingman acts. The Spurs have Duncan and all stars in Ginobli and Parker, the three-peating Lakers had Shaq and Kobe, the Pistons had a starting 5 of potential all-stars including the two Wallaces up front even Wade although he was the superstar on the Miami Heat squad last year still had a decent enough Shaq and to a lesser extent Mourning to ease things for him a bit. The swingmen and guards may get all the glory and were integral parts but it wasn't a one man against a team thing. they all had competant big men teammates.
Then lets go back to the 90s, where as far as titles go the Pistons won one, Bulls won 6, Houston won 2 and Spurs one. Lets ignore the Spurs, Houston and Pistons wins since for the most part these teams fit the mould of the teams with good big men that have been winning in this decade and focus on Jordan's Bulls.
Jordans Bulls won 6 titles in the 90s broken up into two three-peats. There is no denying that Jordan was definitely a singular talent in his heyday but .......
The myth though is that on Jordan's strength alone his teams won their titles. Absolute hogwash! The Bulls knew the strength of having a team and especially of having excellent big men. Think about it. For the first three titles (91-93) pre-first retirement Jordan had a great swingman in perennial allstar Scottie Pippen, a decent point guard in BJ Armstrong and a premier rebounder and all defensive team power forward in Horace Grant along with decent role players like John Paxson, Stacey King and Bill Cartwright.
For his second batch of three championships (96-98) Jordan didn't exactly ride as solo as they would wish you to believe either. He had Pippen again, and a bit past his prime but still decent Ron Harper at point guard and one of the greatest rebounders of all time in Dennis Rodman, (ignore the off-court antics) at Power Forward. Then he had Tony Kukok, Steve Kerr, Bison Dele and other decent players.
Jordan was hardly playing one man against five here folks. Thats not to take anything away from his will and determination which were second to none in that era but lets just realize that its a myth to think that he was the only star on the court in a Bulls uniform when they won their titles. Bulls management was smart enough to surround him with, get this novel concept, a team something one hopes the Cavs management will clue into.
So I just wrote all that to say no matter how good Lebron is he will never win or rather it will be extremely difficult for him to win without a decent team supporting him and its wrong to accelerate his ascendacy and fill the airwaves with so much hyperbole when you know he and his squad still have quite a ways to go. Jordan for all his greatness could not have won with this asembled Cavs team. If you dont believe me look up the Jordan rules and see how hard it was for Jordan acting as one man army to get past the then dominant Detroit Pistons of Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. The myth that is Jordan will have you believing that he could accomplish the impossible and to some intent it almost appears thus, but the truth is as great as he was in order to win his championships he needed help. Help which management graciously provided.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Respond React
So on the sporting front one of the bigger stories this week was Robert Horry's hard foul of Steve Nash in game 4 of the NBA Western Conference Semi-finals Spurs vs Suns game.
Horry for his part received a 2 game suspension for the hit while Sun's players Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw received automatic one game suspensions for leaving the Sun's bench during the incident.
Now I actually happen to like Robert 'Big Shot Bob' Horry. Been a fan since he was in Houston winning championships in the early 90s. In fact I like him so much that I even supported him when he was a Laker and anyone who knows me well knows I've been hating on the Lakers since back in the Kareem and Magic days. But having said that it was a cheap foul on his part. He got caught up in the game and it was unnecessary. I'm a still support him after he comes back from the suspension though.
Anyway the aftermath of the incident highlights what for a long time has been in my opinion one of the dumbest rules anywhere. I mentioned it in passing early last year in another post regarding another silly NBA rule but this one is worse. Its the rule which caused Amare and Boris Diaw to be suspended for a game just for getting up from the bench. It states something like if there is an incident and you're not on the court you cant leave the bench or step so much as one foot on the court or you get an automatic suspension. Its been pretty much enforced rigorously by the league since its inception (which may or may not have been following the Heat, Knicks incident back in the 90s when Van Gundy was hanging on to Alonzo Morning's leg for dear life during an altercation).
This rule is just plain stupid and neglects to take into account any sort of normal human behavior. The NBA wants its players to play with passion but just as quickly turn off that joie de vivre when they step off the court.
Instinct says that if you see your fellow player pushed or shoved to the floor on court at the very least your first move will be to stand up and take a step towards the incident. This doesn't mean you're going out there to bust heads or escalate the issue it just means you're human and your concern for another individual, that you know, has made you want to go help them. We wouldn't be human without that instinct.
So for the league to have no tolerance and enforce this rule with such an iron fist tells me that they don't really think of their players as human beings. They are just product.
The NBA has tonnes of rules regarding players, their behaviour and appearance etc. Some I agree with, others I think are too strict since we are dealing with grown men here not children but this one is the worse.
Mr Stern I know you don't want to have melees on your hand like what occurred in Detroit in 2005 but at the same time you need to acknowledge that just getting up off the bench and moving towards an incident in a highly charged basketball game should not be a punishable offense or at the very least you need to be subjective and not follow this rule to the letter of the law in every single case.
This ruling in this specific game could have some serious ramifications for the outcome of the series as you left Phoenix short handed last night and they lost. It just wasn't fair.
That said I'm still backing King Tim and the Spurs over the Sun.
Horry for his part received a 2 game suspension for the hit while Sun's players Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw received automatic one game suspensions for leaving the Sun's bench during the incident.
Now I actually happen to like Robert 'Big Shot Bob' Horry. Been a fan since he was in Houston winning championships in the early 90s. In fact I like him so much that I even supported him when he was a Laker and anyone who knows me well knows I've been hating on the Lakers since back in the Kareem and Magic days. But having said that it was a cheap foul on his part. He got caught up in the game and it was unnecessary. I'm a still support him after he comes back from the suspension though.
Anyway the aftermath of the incident highlights what for a long time has been in my opinion one of the dumbest rules anywhere. I mentioned it in passing early last year in another post regarding another silly NBA rule but this one is worse. Its the rule which caused Amare and Boris Diaw to be suspended for a game just for getting up from the bench. It states something like if there is an incident and you're not on the court you cant leave the bench or step so much as one foot on the court or you get an automatic suspension. Its been pretty much enforced rigorously by the league since its inception (which may or may not have been following the Heat, Knicks incident back in the 90s when Van Gundy was hanging on to Alonzo Morning's leg for dear life during an altercation).
This rule is just plain stupid and neglects to take into account any sort of normal human behavior. The NBA wants its players to play with passion but just as quickly turn off that joie de vivre when they step off the court.
Instinct says that if you see your fellow player pushed or shoved to the floor on court at the very least your first move will be to stand up and take a step towards the incident. This doesn't mean you're going out there to bust heads or escalate the issue it just means you're human and your concern for another individual, that you know, has made you want to go help them. We wouldn't be human without that instinct.
So for the league to have no tolerance and enforce this rule with such an iron fist tells me that they don't really think of their players as human beings. They are just product.
The NBA has tonnes of rules regarding players, their behaviour and appearance etc. Some I agree with, others I think are too strict since we are dealing with grown men here not children but this one is the worse.
Mr Stern I know you don't want to have melees on your hand like what occurred in Detroit in 2005 but at the same time you need to acknowledge that just getting up off the bench and moving towards an incident in a highly charged basketball game should not be a punishable offense or at the very least you need to be subjective and not follow this rule to the letter of the law in every single case.
This ruling in this specific game could have some serious ramifications for the outcome of the series as you left Phoenix short handed last night and they lost. It just wasn't fair.
That said I'm still backing King Tim and the Spurs over the Sun.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Coming of age
Chris Bosh and the Raptors came of age tonight with the game 2 win over New Jersey. They really had to grind out this game. Welcome to real playoff basketball guys.
I get the feeling Sam Mitchell's been reading my blog cause the team seemed to address most of the concerns I addressed in my last post. Mo Pete got some playing time instead of Joey Graham, TJ played at the death and we took better care of the ball and stayed within striking range all game.
Oh and big up to Sam Mitchell for winning NBA coach of the year. Last year the guy was voted the coach most players didn't want to play for in an unscientific poll done by Sports Illustrated so what a difference a year makes. Mind you I still think he has a ways to go to match up to the elite coaches in the league but his team did win20 more games than last year.
So Game 3 on Friday. What's the advice? Well Sam in case you're reading here goes.
- Keep on doing what you're doing but lets get Bosh to take it inside more.
- Lets get back to Raptors basketball with more passing.
- Don't give up on Graham just yet. His confidence seems to go in streaks. If he can get going again he's definitely an asset.
- Bargnani is a bit out of it bring him along slowly. Tell him he needs to up his intensity too.
I get the feeling Sam Mitchell's been reading my blog cause the team seemed to address most of the concerns I addressed in my last post. Mo Pete got some playing time instead of Joey Graham, TJ played at the death and we took better care of the ball and stayed within striking range all game.
Oh and big up to Sam Mitchell for winning NBA coach of the year. Last year the guy was voted the coach most players didn't want to play for in an unscientific poll done by Sports Illustrated so what a difference a year makes. Mind you I still think he has a ways to go to match up to the elite coaches in the league but his team did win20 more games than last year.
So Game 3 on Friday. What's the advice? Well Sam in case you're reading here goes.
- Keep on doing what you're doing but lets get Bosh to take it inside more.
- Lets get back to Raptors basketball with more passing.
- Don't give up on Graham just yet. His confidence seems to go in streaks. If he can get going again he's definitely an asset.
- Bargnani is a bit out of it bring him along slowly. Tell him he needs to up his intensity too.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Raptors Nets game 1
As a follow up to the last post I'll give you my thoughts on game 1.
The Raptors lost and deserved to lose. They just didn't play well enough. They do have the talent to compete I believe but they just messed up on this one.
Where did they go wrong? Let us count the ways:
- No one could stop Richard Jefferson. So much was focused on stopping Vince and Jason Kidd that somehow Jefferson was able to get easy baskets early in the game on his way to a 28 point night.
- Chris Bosh got early fouls and we lost him for much of the first half. Also Bosh settled for jumpers for much of the game. Bosh needs to go inside a lot more. Lets face it he still had 22 points but if he was going inside getting to the foul line more he would have had a greater impact on the game.
- The Raptors shot free throws atrociously. OK maybe not atrociously but 7 missed free throws in a game that you lose by 5 has got to hurt.
- Sam Mitchell as I sort of suspected didn't have a good coaching game. Biggest mistake of the night, in my opinion, was leaving TJ Ford on the bench in the dying minutes of the game. Yes I know that Calderone was playing quite well at the time but at the death without question TJ has to be the man on the floor. TJ had already imposed his will on the game and kept us in it almost sinlge handedly in the first half so sitting him at the death was a big mistake.
- Joey Graham was a bit overawed in his first playoff game. Don't get me wrong Graham is possibly my favorite Raptor right now but given that he has just started getting constant minutes when Bargnani and Garbajosa went down about 10 games back it was a bit too much to ask for him to be consistent today. First quarter he seemed to play pretty well but then in the second half he started making mistakes and I think he dwelt on them a bit and they started to escalate. How deep is Mo Pete in Mitchell's doghouse that he only got 7 minutes the entire game? I think at some point Graham should have been benched fora few minutes and Mo played a bit more. I expect Joey to improve as the series goes on but today his minutes needed to be cut down.
- Turnovers hurt us. 14 turnovers is not typical of the Raptors. They are usually good at taking care of the ball. Again could be playoff jitters.
- The Nets bench outplayed ours. The Toronto bench has been one of its strengths this season but with Garbajosa out through injury and Bargnani still rusty after being out some time our bench didn't contribute the way it usually does. Humpries brought his energy and was probably the biggest positive for me in this game but besides him our bench wasn't up to par. On the other hand the Nets bench played quite well.
- The Raptors dug themselves into a hole or many holes throughout the game. In the playoffs where every possession counts 10 point leads are usually hard to overcome. It may work in the regular season where you can put together big runs but against a veteran team like New Jersey the best bet is to stay close and not continually have to be pulling oneself out of a hole.
- We need to play tighter defense and get more rebounding. Probably the main reason we wont go far this playoff season. Both Phoenix and Dallas learned about the necessity of defense in past seasons so maybe we'll learn this year.
The Raptors lost and deserved to lose. They just didn't play well enough. They do have the talent to compete I believe but they just messed up on this one.
Where did they go wrong? Let us count the ways:
- No one could stop Richard Jefferson. So much was focused on stopping Vince and Jason Kidd that somehow Jefferson was able to get easy baskets early in the game on his way to a 28 point night.
- Chris Bosh got early fouls and we lost him for much of the first half. Also Bosh settled for jumpers for much of the game. Bosh needs to go inside a lot more. Lets face it he still had 22 points but if he was going inside getting to the foul line more he would have had a greater impact on the game.
- The Raptors shot free throws atrociously. OK maybe not atrociously but 7 missed free throws in a game that you lose by 5 has got to hurt.
- Sam Mitchell as I sort of suspected didn't have a good coaching game. Biggest mistake of the night, in my opinion, was leaving TJ Ford on the bench in the dying minutes of the game. Yes I know that Calderone was playing quite well at the time but at the death without question TJ has to be the man on the floor. TJ had already imposed his will on the game and kept us in it almost sinlge handedly in the first half so sitting him at the death was a big mistake.
- Joey Graham was a bit overawed in his first playoff game. Don't get me wrong Graham is possibly my favorite Raptor right now but given that he has just started getting constant minutes when Bargnani and Garbajosa went down about 10 games back it was a bit too much to ask for him to be consistent today. First quarter he seemed to play pretty well but then in the second half he started making mistakes and I think he dwelt on them a bit and they started to escalate. How deep is Mo Pete in Mitchell's doghouse that he only got 7 minutes the entire game? I think at some point Graham should have been benched fora few minutes and Mo played a bit more. I expect Joey to improve as the series goes on but today his minutes needed to be cut down.
- Turnovers hurt us. 14 turnovers is not typical of the Raptors. They are usually good at taking care of the ball. Again could be playoff jitters.
- The Nets bench outplayed ours. The Toronto bench has been one of its strengths this season but with Garbajosa out through injury and Bargnani still rusty after being out some time our bench didn't contribute the way it usually does. Humpries brought his energy and was probably the biggest positive for me in this game but besides him our bench wasn't up to par. On the other hand the Nets bench played quite well.
- The Raptors dug themselves into a hole or many holes throughout the game. In the playoffs where every possession counts 10 point leads are usually hard to overcome. It may work in the regular season where you can put together big runs but against a veteran team like New Jersey the best bet is to stay close and not continually have to be pulling oneself out of a hole.
- We need to play tighter defense and get more rebounding. Probably the main reason we wont go far this playoff season. Both Phoenix and Dallas learned about the necessity of defense in past seasons so maybe we'll learn this year.
Vinsanity
I needed to get my thoughts down on paper for this one.
In a few hours the Toronto Raptors play the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. First playoff run for the Raptors since 2002 I believe, and joy of joy we have home court advantage this round.
Should be an interesting match up as the Raptors can claim the better all around team but new Jersey can claim a heap more playoff experience. I've been thought that playoff experience counts for quite a bit in this game so although I'm a Raptors fan I'm a bit pessimistic about their chances of getting out of the first round.
Would have been more optimistic if they had ended up playing Washington. Even before Agent Zero and Caron Butler went down I fancied our chances against those guys but alas it wasn't meant to be as the Wizards (always resisting the urge to call them the Bullets) slipped down the stretch to drop from third spot all the way to 7th.
That meant as third seed we got New Jersey. Its being hyped up as the match up of Vince Carter vs Toronto. Now lets be honest I'm not a big Vince Carter fan. I respect the skill when he's actually focused but in the pantheon of NBA stars who have pissed off Toronto and Raptors fans Vince reigns supreme. And by the way in case you're wondering who else is part of that group it includes Tracy Mcgrady, Damon Stoudamire, Alonzo Mourning, Antonio Davis and Kenny Anderson, and in case you forgot Kenny Anderson refused to report here from Portland after being traded for Damon somewhere back in 97 or 98.
However I think way too much is being made of Vince's return to play us here where it all started for him as 'Air Canada'.
The cover of one of our local newspapers yesterday actually featured him portrayed as a big baby.
Why I ask why must we continue to give this cat fuel to actually show up for a game? Why must we continue to hype this Vince vs Toronto feud? Yea Vince let us down when he phoned in his performances during his last years here as he attempted to orchestrate his own trade and yes Vince has always been seen around these parts as a whiny superstar, lacking in heart and unable to embrace his leadership role with the Raptors club but stop giving the man fuel to come back and prove something to us.
Yes I know its hard to forget and forgive but I'm not asking that. I'm just saying, the booing at the ACC and the media articles are just not needed now. Just keep your disdain on the low. He knows you don't like him just ignore him and see how he plays. Hyping him up for this match up can only prove detrimental to our cause as the cat can heat up and drop 40 on us in an effort to silence the criticisms.
Oh well! With regards to the actual match up as it stands I think ignoring playoff experience we stack up pretty well against the Nets. We definitely have the deeper bench and our front court is stronger but I cant count out the influence the trio of Carter, Kidd and Jefferson will have on the game. The key is going to be to contain those guys.
Also should be noted that Jersey played some of its better games down the stretch while the Raptors kind of faded as they tried to adjust to quite a few injuries. That being said guys like Kris Humphries and Joey Graham really stepped up their game in the absence of Jorge Garbajosa and Andrea Bargnani.
It should also be interesting to see what coach Sam Mitchell has up his sleeve. Adjustments become quite important after game 1 and I'm still wondering what Sam can pull out to keep the guys in a position to win this series.
Game one will be important. My keys to winning this series are
Not going to stick my neck out on a Raptors win but I'll be in front of my tv supporting them. That means no interruptions hint hint. Go Raptors!
On another note, oh happy day, the dark lord Sauron is dead! A new but not necessarily immediately better day is dawning.
In a few hours the Toronto Raptors play the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. First playoff run for the Raptors since 2002 I believe, and joy of joy we have home court advantage this round.
Should be an interesting match up as the Raptors can claim the better all around team but new Jersey can claim a heap more playoff experience. I've been thought that playoff experience counts for quite a bit in this game so although I'm a Raptors fan I'm a bit pessimistic about their chances of getting out of the first round.
Would have been more optimistic if they had ended up playing Washington. Even before Agent Zero and Caron Butler went down I fancied our chances against those guys but alas it wasn't meant to be as the Wizards (always resisting the urge to call them the Bullets) slipped down the stretch to drop from third spot all the way to 7th.
That meant as third seed we got New Jersey. Its being hyped up as the match up of Vince Carter vs Toronto. Now lets be honest I'm not a big Vince Carter fan. I respect the skill when he's actually focused but in the pantheon of NBA stars who have pissed off Toronto and Raptors fans Vince reigns supreme. And by the way in case you're wondering who else is part of that group it includes Tracy Mcgrady, Damon Stoudamire, Alonzo Mourning, Antonio Davis and Kenny Anderson, and in case you forgot Kenny Anderson refused to report here from Portland after being traded for Damon somewhere back in 97 or 98.
However I think way too much is being made of Vince's return to play us here where it all started for him as 'Air Canada'.
The cover of one of our local newspapers yesterday actually featured him portrayed as a big baby.Why I ask why must we continue to give this cat fuel to actually show up for a game? Why must we continue to hype this Vince vs Toronto feud? Yea Vince let us down when he phoned in his performances during his last years here as he attempted to orchestrate his own trade and yes Vince has always been seen around these parts as a whiny superstar, lacking in heart and unable to embrace his leadership role with the Raptors club but stop giving the man fuel to come back and prove something to us.
Yes I know its hard to forget and forgive but I'm not asking that. I'm just saying, the booing at the ACC and the media articles are just not needed now. Just keep your disdain on the low. He knows you don't like him just ignore him and see how he plays. Hyping him up for this match up can only prove detrimental to our cause as the cat can heat up and drop 40 on us in an effort to silence the criticisms.
Oh well! With regards to the actual match up as it stands I think ignoring playoff experience we stack up pretty well against the Nets. We definitely have the deeper bench and our front court is stronger but I cant count out the influence the trio of Carter, Kidd and Jefferson will have on the game. The key is going to be to contain those guys.
Also should be noted that Jersey played some of its better games down the stretch while the Raptors kind of faded as they tried to adjust to quite a few injuries. That being said guys like Kris Humphries and Joey Graham really stepped up their game in the absence of Jorge Garbajosa and Andrea Bargnani.
It should also be interesting to see what coach Sam Mitchell has up his sleeve. Adjustments become quite important after game 1 and I'm still wondering what Sam can pull out to keep the guys in a position to win this series.
Game one will be important. My keys to winning this series are
- Adjusting to playoff basketball
- Containing the New Jersey trio
- Rebounding
- Coaching adjustments
- The return of Bargnani
- The play of Kris Humphries
Not going to stick my neck out on a Raptors win but I'll be in front of my tv supporting them. That means no interruptions hint hint. Go Raptors!
On another note, oh happy day, the dark lord Sauron is dead! A new but not necessarily immediately better day is dawning.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Raptors win Raptors win
Raptors win!
Who would have thought that after a 2-8 start to the season the Toronto Raptors would win the NBA's Atlantic division? Way to go Raptors! Congratulations! Big up! Respect!
What can I say! I doubted that the Raptors would be any good this season. Yea they made moves in the off-season but I thought way too many moves. I mean how does a team with 9 new players, including a bunch who had never played NBA ball, coming in win? Guys have to become comfortable with their roles, they have to learn to trust each other, they have to bond as a team so I figured any improvement this year would just be a step towards actually competing next year.
I thought yea that Bargnani draft pick is a definite bust and why trade Charlie Villenueva for TJ Ford. Well what do you know Coangelo's moves seemed to have worked well for us this year. Actually only bad move he has made so far seems to be picking up Fred Jones in the off-season and he managed to trade him away for Juan Dixon who has fit in quite nicely with the team in the second half.
So yea we did compete this year. Who would have thought?
Ok well yea the Atlantic division is bar none the worse division in professional basketball and there were a couple of nights where we actually led the division while still having a record that was under .500. But still look at us now 44 wins and 33 loses (including tonight's victory over the Bulls), 10 games over 500, a guaranteed playoff spot and right now the fourth best record in the Leastern ummm Eastern conference.
Pretty nice turn around for a team that only won 27 games last season.
Still I cant say I'm an ultra fan like Chuck and Leo who bring the play by play or like a few of my friends are. I like the team, even though I'll admit that they've screwed up my love of the NBA since I seem to watch very few non-Raptor games these days.
I wont pretend like I think they have more than a passing shot of making it past round one of the playoffs either unless they somehow end up playing a hobbling Washington Wizards team cause I just see too many deficiencies despite their record and improvement this year. I still say they are still too green for the playoffs and their lack of a consistent inside game and rebounding will hurt when the rough and tumble playoffs start. But who knows, I've been wrong before maybe they'll surprise me again.
All I can say now though is they've done the city proud even if when they won the division they were still only the second biggest sports story here, the biggest being the Maple Leafs having to play the Habs to keep their NHL playoff hopes alive. Got to love this city its definitely a hockey town. But hockey town or not got to give props to the Raps. Good looking out guys. Bosh, Ford,Parker, Graham and the boys thanks for making us proud of Toronto basketball once more.
Who would have thought that after a 2-8 start to the season the Toronto Raptors would win the NBA's Atlantic division? Way to go Raptors! Congratulations! Big up! Respect!
What can I say! I doubted that the Raptors would be any good this season. Yea they made moves in the off-season but I thought way too many moves. I mean how does a team with 9 new players, including a bunch who had never played NBA ball, coming in win? Guys have to become comfortable with their roles, they have to learn to trust each other, they have to bond as a team so I figured any improvement this year would just be a step towards actually competing next year.
I thought yea that Bargnani draft pick is a definite bust and why trade Charlie Villenueva for TJ Ford. Well what do you know Coangelo's moves seemed to have worked well for us this year. Actually only bad move he has made so far seems to be picking up Fred Jones in the off-season and he managed to trade him away for Juan Dixon who has fit in quite nicely with the team in the second half.
So yea we did compete this year. Who would have thought?
Ok well yea the Atlantic division is bar none the worse division in professional basketball and there were a couple of nights where we actually led the division while still having a record that was under .500. But still look at us now 44 wins and 33 loses (including tonight's victory over the Bulls), 10 games over 500, a guaranteed playoff spot and right now the fourth best record in the Leastern ummm Eastern conference.Pretty nice turn around for a team that only won 27 games last season.
Still I cant say I'm an ultra fan like Chuck and Leo who bring the play by play or like a few of my friends are. I like the team, even though I'll admit that they've screwed up my love of the NBA since I seem to watch very few non-Raptor games these days.
I wont pretend like I think they have more than a passing shot of making it past round one of the playoffs either unless they somehow end up playing a hobbling Washington Wizards team cause I just see too many deficiencies despite their record and improvement this year. I still say they are still too green for the playoffs and their lack of a consistent inside game and rebounding will hurt when the rough and tumble playoffs start. But who knows, I've been wrong before maybe they'll surprise me again.
All I can say now though is they've done the city proud even if when they won the division they were still only the second biggest sports story here, the biggest being the Maple Leafs having to play the Habs to keep their NHL playoff hopes alive. Got to love this city its definitely a hockey town. But hockey town or not got to give props to the Raps. Good looking out guys. Bosh, Ford,Parker, Graham and the boys thanks for making us proud of Toronto basketball once more.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
March Madness
What can I say this March is a great month for sports.
Not that March isn't usually a great month for sports but this March is made even better by the Cricket World Cup. Look! West Indies won yesterday over Pakistan so forgive me for being slightly happy for a moment. Tomorrow I can get back to cussing the islands for wasting money on this event and robbing patrons with outrageous prices at the concession stands but today........
Well today I'm trying to follow Australia vs Scotland and Kenya vs Canada. Yea not the stuff of sporting legends but every game counts towards the big picture. Thank God for the Internet which makes it possible for me to get ball by ball scores and even radio coverage and sometimes video feeds of the matches. I still remember back in the days, before the Internet, having to call home or use that Toronto Star phone service (Can't remember the name. Was it Star Phone?) which gave you match updates all at its own pace just to find out how my team was doing.
Anyway besides cricket the other great thing about every March is the NCAA March Madness tournament. To paraphrase Dick Vitale or in the immortal words of Austin Powers. Yeaaaaa baby!
You don't understand my love of March Madness do you? How often to you get to watch 32 basketball games in two days or any sporting event where in every game played each team is literally playing for their tournament life? Its win or get the bleep outta Dodge. Yea the NBA is cool especially a nice game 7 of a playoff series but March Madness that starts off with like 32 game 7's in 2 days. Now that's fantastic!
I usually take the first two days of March madness off. Why? Well its just an exceptional time of year and a great time to veg out. You don't understand my fanaticism do you? Why I'm still trying to plan how I'm going to get a decent lunch tomorrow and not miss any games from my couch.
I mean March Madness just sucks me in. This is the time of the year where I just tell people I'm ignoring them; family, friends, children it don't matter. Don't mess with my March Madness focus.
From the time the brackets are announced I'm on it. Scouring the Internet for info, entering as many free pools as I can find (the days of putting money on this thing are long gone with my College days), chatting with anyone who may have actually watched more of the season unfold than the annual Duke, UNC game and thereby is ahead of me in terms of actual knowledge of what to except from the selected teams.
Trying to answer questions like whats the record of the top ranked teams? Who are the Cinderella teams? How many number 5s will be beaten by number 12s this year? Should I choose Number 9s over Number 8s? Which lower seeded player has the most NBA ready player? Where are those cursed Duke blue bas...... ummmm I mean devils ranked? Who or where exactly are Gongaza, Creighton, Holy Cross, Xavier, Old Dominion and George Washington?
And yes it is imperative that I watch as much of the games as possible. Its intense, its dramatic, its heartbreaking, its exhilarating, its big man crying over sports whether they win or lose, its 40 minutes of pure action down to the last second.
Plus how else can I, a few months hence, objectively sit and cuss NBA teams and GM's on draft day as they overlook proven College stars for long shots and European nobodies. How else would I have known that Dwayne Wade should have gone higher in the draft or that the Raptors should have held onto Kareem Rush instead of trading him for Chris Jefferies a few years back. With any luck I'll see the NBA stars of the future and make my predictions on not just the hyped ones like Kevin Durant and Greg Oden but some more obscure small forward or super quick point guard leading a mid major with grit and determination through the first round.
It gets no better than this folks.
Now to get back to my biggest dilemma. How do I follow cricket scores when the computer is upstairs but the TV and couch are downstairs.
Not that March isn't usually a great month for sports but this March is made even better by the Cricket World Cup. Look! West Indies won yesterday over Pakistan so forgive me for being slightly happy for a moment. Tomorrow I can get back to cussing the islands for wasting money on this event and robbing patrons with outrageous prices at the concession stands but today........
Well today I'm trying to follow Australia vs Scotland and Kenya vs Canada. Yea not the stuff of sporting legends but every game counts towards the big picture. Thank God for the Internet which makes it possible for me to get ball by ball scores and even radio coverage and sometimes video feeds of the matches. I still remember back in the days, before the Internet, having to call home or use that Toronto Star phone service (Can't remember the name. Was it Star Phone?) which gave you match updates all at its own pace just to find out how my team was doing.
Anyway besides cricket the other great thing about every March is the NCAA March Madness tournament. To paraphrase Dick Vitale or in the immortal words of Austin Powers. Yeaaaaa baby!
You don't understand my love of March Madness do you? How often to you get to watch 32 basketball games in two days or any sporting event where in every game played each team is literally playing for their tournament life? Its win or get the bleep outta Dodge. Yea the NBA is cool especially a nice game 7 of a playoff series but March Madness that starts off with like 32 game 7's in 2 days. Now that's fantastic!
I usually take the first two days of March madness off. Why? Well its just an exceptional time of year and a great time to veg out. You don't understand my fanaticism do you? Why I'm still trying to plan how I'm going to get a decent lunch tomorrow and not miss any games from my couch.
I mean March Madness just sucks me in. This is the time of the year where I just tell people I'm ignoring them; family, friends, children it don't matter. Don't mess with my March Madness focus.
From the time the brackets are announced I'm on it. Scouring the Internet for info, entering as many free pools as I can find (the days of putting money on this thing are long gone with my College days), chatting with anyone who may have actually watched more of the season unfold than the annual Duke, UNC game and thereby is ahead of me in terms of actual knowledge of what to except from the selected teams.
Trying to answer questions like whats the record of the top ranked teams? Who are the Cinderella teams? How many number 5s will be beaten by number 12s this year? Should I choose Number 9s over Number 8s? Which lower seeded player has the most NBA ready player? Where are those cursed Duke blue bas...... ummmm I mean devils ranked? Who or where exactly are Gongaza, Creighton, Holy Cross, Xavier, Old Dominion and George Washington?
And yes it is imperative that I watch as much of the games as possible. Its intense, its dramatic, its heartbreaking, its exhilarating, its big man crying over sports whether they win or lose, its 40 minutes of pure action down to the last second.
Plus how else can I, a few months hence, objectively sit and cuss NBA teams and GM's on draft day as they overlook proven College stars for long shots and European nobodies. How else would I have known that Dwayne Wade should have gone higher in the draft or that the Raptors should have held onto Kareem Rush instead of trading him for Chris Jefferies a few years back. With any luck I'll see the NBA stars of the future and make my predictions on not just the hyped ones like Kevin Durant and Greg Oden but some more obscure small forward or super quick point guard leading a mid major with grit and determination through the first round.
It gets no better than this folks.
Now to get back to my biggest dilemma. How do I follow cricket scores when the computer is upstairs but the TV and couch are downstairs.
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