Tag: NBA (Page 7 of 8)

NBA Draft

June 29, 2007 / DB

Well, the kids intervened a little, and some household chores kept me from watching as much of the draft as I would have liked. By the time I was able to sit down in front of the TV for good, I was just too tired to rewind and watch the entire thing from the beginning. So some truncated thoughts, or I guess some thoughts based on my truncated viewing and reviewing of the picks.

Both Portland and Seattle had remarkable nights. Unlike most teams who are in position to land the two clear Best in Class players, they did not stand pat. Some outstanding moves by both GMs to remake their respective teams. I think New York got the better of their trade with Portland, assuming Zach Randolph can stay clean and focused in NYC, but Channing Fry is a player everyone wanted to trade for last season and will serve as a solid backup to both Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge. I’m not sure how Stevie Franchise fits in, but if he can humble himself a bit, be might be a useful piece as the Blazers’ young guys develop. I keep hearing great things about Rudy Fernandez, who may not join the Blazers for another year.

A stunning move by Seattle to send Ray Allen to Boston for Jeff Green’s rights, Wally Z. and Delonte West. Green will be a fantastic match for Kevin Durant, Delonte provides solid depth in the backcourt, and Wally can serve as mentor to the Sonics’ young players. I know Danny Ainge wanted to get Paul Pierce some help, but I’m trying to figure out how Allen was the right answer to that problem. If the West wasn’t already getting tougher with the addition of the top two picks, the Sonics and Blazers are setting themselves up to be contenders soon.

I guess the big surprise in the first round was Milwaukee taking Yi Jianlian when he made every effort to tell them he had no interest in playing for them. This could be interesting.

My man Julian Wright didn’t fall too far, still in the lottery although not a top ten pick. He should do well playing in the Hornets system. I liked how ESPN started looking to see who in the green room was nervous around pick 12. You know the producers were praying that someone would get the Matt Leinart pout going.

Fortunately, I only heard Dick Vitale a couple times, but wasn’t it predictable that when they did patch him in, his comments were often about everything but the player just selected? Kind of like talking about Duke when Duke isn’t on the court in front of him. Wright is picked, he talks about Al Thornton. I enjoyed his comment about Julian, “Well, he’s being drafted on potential as opposed to the guys who stayed three years and are finished products.” What?!?! That doesn’t make any sense. Is he saying Horford, Brewer, Noah, etc. won’t get any better but Julian can? Wouldn’t it make sense to draft Julian higher, then? Those guys might be more accomplished than the sophs and frosh that came out, but they’re far from “finished products.” As usual on NBA draft night, Dick has no idea what he’s talking about.

Two other quick KU-related thoughts. I had two recurring thoughts last night. First, I bet Julian would have been drafted higher a year ago, and not just because that was a shallower draft. That second year made his flaws more obvious and GMs more prone to think they can’t be corrected or improved upon. A strange world we live in. Second, I have a feeling Brandon Rush, had he not gotten injured and stayed in the draft, would have been drafted ahead of Julian, which is odd considering when the season ended, Julian was generally in the top five and Brandon not even in the first round.

Two Indy guys in the first four picks, two more Indiana players in the second round. Solid night, although Josh McRoberts sure couldn’t have expected to be a second round pick when he went to Duke two years ago. But he ends up in Portland, which isn’t a bad spot for him to be, especially with his old AAU homey manning the low block. McRoberts is a complimentary player, and that situation is ideal for his skill set.

Most predictable pick of the night: Brandon Wright to Charlotte. Like MJ wasn’t going to draft another Carolina guy. In fact, when his second pick rolled around, I bet the conversation was something like this in the Charlotte war room:
MJ: Let’s take Hansbrough.
Assistant: Umm, Mr. Jordan, he’s not in the draft this year.
MJ: He’s not? How about Reyshawn Terry?
Assistant: Mr. Jordan, he’s a second round pick, at best.Are you sure you want to waste a first round selection on him?
MJ: Waste a pick?!?! You’re never wasting a pick when you take a Carolina man!
Assistant: My bad, but perhaps another player might be more suitable for our needs in this slot.
MJ: Whatever, take another ACC guy as long as he’s not from Duke.
Assistant: How about Jared Dudley? He was the ACC player of the year.
MJ: Sounds great! What school is he from? Maryland?
Assistant: Boston College.
MJ: Boston College? That’s an ACC school?
Assistant: Yes, has been for two years.
MJ: Fine, take him. I need to call Nike and see about getting our colors changed to Carolina blue for next year.

I’m man enough to admit that there were three players in the first round that I’ve never heard of, and they all went to US colleges.

Wow, the Pacers really went nuts, trading a future second round pick for some stiff from Bosnia the Heat selected in the second round. Well done, Larry. He can replace that other stiff who’s always injured, David Harrison, as the third center. Big moves! Shaking up the franchise!

Finally, I caught Stuart Scott doing his act with Wilson Chandler after the Knicks took him, despite never working him out. Stuart tried to be super cool, be Chandler’s buddy, etc. and said, “Just between you and me, no one else has to know, what did Spike Lee say to you?” Best line of the night was from the overwhelmed Chandler, who didn’t understand he was supposed to play along with Stuart’s little game. “I’ve never talked to Spike, he just shook my hand.” Well done, Wilson.

Oh, Joakim Noah’s overall look was outstanding!

I’m sure I missed some other good stuff, or at least things to get my blood pressure up, but that’s all I’ve got for now.

Draft Preview

June 28, 2007 / DB

It is my hope to continue a small tradition of the blog and provide some kind of commentary on tonight’s NBA draft. Conveniently, S. is working, so I’ll have the TV to myself. Inconveniently, we have two kids, so I’ll be DVRing and watching after bedtime, hoping I don’t get interruptions from upstairs. A quick preview seems in order, though.

Oden vs. Durant. It’s not even a question in my mind. Since the Jordan/Bulls era ended, only the 2004 Detroit Pistons have won a championship without a dominating big man, as Shaq and Tim Duncan have split the other eight titles. For all of the talk about the NBA moving away from the power low-post game towards a more run-and-gun style based on versatile wingmen, the best step towards building a contender is still a strong low-post presence. Shaq is about toast. Duncan is at best at his peak, but probably already entering a slow decline. Greg Oden will be THE man in the NBA for the next decade, baring injuries, even if Durant becomes the more exciting player. I think Durant will do fine. But even if Durant becomes a perennial scoring leader and adds 10 boards a night, he’s more Kevin Garnett than Michael Jordan.

Mike Conley will be the big winner in the draft. And I mean Mike Conley Sr, who represents both his son and Oden.

For all the talk of how deep this draft is, and it is very deep, I don’t see superstars after the top two. Perhaps that is from looking at too many charts in the last couple weeks that show the top five or ten picks in recent drafts. Other than 2003, which was insanely deep, most draft lotteries seem to produce only a couple stars, then a bunch of washouts and role players. It almost seems worth it to trade down and go for the more experienced players instead of drafting the over-hyped freshmen and sophomores.

I hope my man Julian Wright doesn’t turn into Brady Quinn, but he sure seems to be dropping in a lot of mock drafts. We’ll see if the GMs agree.

Check back for more tomorrow.

Suggestion – Prediction

November 21, 2004 / DB

Saturday was Brawl Day in Indy. Almost every local newscast was devoted entirely to recapping and replaying Friday night’s brawl between the Pacers and Pistons. A day later, I still don’t know what to say about the event as a whole. So I’ll just move on and offer these suggestions/predictions to the NBA before they hand out suspensions tonight or tomorrow.

Ben Wallace: 5-10 games. Every summer you hear about people who innocently throw a cigarette into some dead brush, forget to properly put out their camp fire, or are just screwing around with open flame and end up starting massive, destructive forest fires. Their intent may not have been to burn thousands of acres, if not subdivisions and places of commerce, but they’re responsible nonetheless. Ben Wallace’s reaction to Ron Artest’s hard, but totally legal, foul at the end of the game was wildly inappropriate and excessive. If he doesn’t decide to shove Artest in the throat, the brawl in the stands never happens. I know he didn’t mean or expect to cause what eventually happened, but he lit the first match and holds a high level of blame.

Jermaine O’Neal: 10 games. As Ben Wallace’s actions were totally out of character, so were JO’s. He’s always seemed like a very good guy who avoided trouble on and off the court. By going into the stands, though, he’s earned at least a Vernon Maxwell level suspension. JO is quite lucky he didn’t a major injury, or even kill, the guy he hit on the court. I imagine Jermaine will be securing the services of a lawyer soon.

Stephen Jackson: 15 games. Not only did he go into the stands, but as the initial ruckus on the court was winding down, it was largely his actions that extended the verbal tussle and opened the door to further mayhem.

Ron Artest: 25 games. In principle, I agree with the ESPN crew on Friday night that said if you’re attacked, you have the right to defend yourself. When Artest was hit in the face by a bottle thrown from the stands, as a man he had every right to search out whoever threw it and take a swing. As an NBA player, however, he had an obligation to turn the other cheek and get his ass to the locker room. The fact he was provoked by a viscous and obvious attack from the crowd should be a mitigating fact to David Stern, but not an absolving fact. We don’t know if the guy Artest went after was indeed the person who threw the bottle. We don’t know if the second guy on the court Artest took a swing at had done something to Ron, or if he was just standing there minding his own business. Even if you explain away 2/3 of his activities, there’s still plenty of disturbing images for David Stern to consider. Ron’s past doesn’t help him. It can be argued that by suspending him for the remainder of the year, he can be saved from himself, saved from this happening again, etc. If the bottle hadn’t hit him before he went in the crowd, I don’t think there would be any question he wouldn’t play in the NBA again until November 2005. I wouldn’t be surprised if the suspension is longer than 25 games, but that’s my gut feeling. It’s a shame the Pacers didn’t trade him when they had a chance. I think he’s sunk their season and they’ll be lucky to get a draft pick for him next summer.

More Friday Nonsense

June 25, 2004 / DB

Blogger appears to be a little jacked up. I haven’t been getting the automatic e-mails when people post comments for the past couple days. The two posts I added this morning didn’t show up for nearly an hour. I highly doubt Christie took the time to type her comments up five times (at last count) either! Oh the price I pay for using a free application. Hopefully things will work out soon and none of you are having trouble accessing the site or posting.

A few quick thoughts on the NBA draft, of which I only saw and hour or so. Based on what I read today, I’m in a tiny minority on this, but I just don’t get the whole Ben Gordon thing. Great college player, absolutely no question about that. But the dude is listed as 6’2”, which means he’s 6’1” at best. That makes him undersized to play the two spot in the NBA. He doesn’t have a pure point mentality, so I don’t see a smooth transition there. And then the Bulls, who already have Kirk Hinrich and Jamal Crawford in their backcourt, take him? There were rumors the Pacers wanted to trade for him, which I don’t get either. I may be way off here, but I just don’t look at him and see NBA star. Also, I don’t understand how the league can be so high on him, yet so low on Jameer Nelson. Nelson might be small, but he’s a proven point who can punish defenses with his outside shot. He’s not going to be a star, but I can see him being a high quality role player or backup for a long time.
I buy into the backlash against all the high school picks about 75%. I’ve lamented the rash of high schoolers thinking they belong in the Association for several years. I think it hurts the NBA, college hoops, and the players themselves. For every LeBron that’s clearly ready, there are three Kwame Browns who aren’t ready physically, mentally, or ability-wise and will never live up to the hype they arrived in the league with. Is it just me, though, or does ESPN orchestrate a backlash du jour (since I don’t know how to say “year” in French) for each year’s draft? Last year, we heard four hours of xenophobic rantings against foreign players. This year, it’s pile on the high school kids. Sure seems pre-planned to me.
Dick Vitale still knows nothing about the NBA.
Apparently ESPN poured most of their budget for June into the marketing for SportsCenter in HDTV. Memo to Bristol: You might want to get some decent audio equipment and test it before next year’s draft so we’re not forced to listen to reverb and feedback, not to mention entirely too much crowd noise, all night. It was like someone talking to you from the end of a long hallway. Then again, with Mike Tirico and Stuart Scott serving as hosts, maybe less is better.
Tom Tolbert’s magic suit must have been at the cleaners.
I’m always torn on Stephen A. Smith. Anyone who can get into full rant mode and still make complete points deserves respect. But not every opinion requires a rant to back it up. However, a nice counterpunch to David Alrdrige’s smooth personality.

In other sports news, the Royals Revival of the early 00’s is officially over with Carlos Beltran’s trade to Houston last night. When I was a kid, the Royals just didn’t lose homegrown talent. Here’s to hoping David DeJesus develops as everyone says he will, the young pitchers currently playing stay healthy, the young pitchers on the DL come back next year, and the prospects in the minor leagues develop quickly. Oh, and a new economic structure for baseball and/or an ownership group willing to spend money in order to win.

I received my Livestrong wristbands in the mail today. If you’ve not heard about these, it’s the marketing tool the Lance Armstrong Foundation is using to raise awareness and money for supporting those who live with cancer. $10 buys you ten bands. I’m married to the daughter of a woman who lost her battle with cancer ten years ago, and am the step-son of a man who beat cancer 15 years ago. $10 plus a donation to the foundation seems like a small price to pay to support a cause that touches my life so closely.

Freak Boy And The Genius

June 16, 2004 / DB

As noted a week ago, I’ve got a phone stalker. Freak Boy is the guy who accosted me in the office chair section at Costco a few weeks back. For some reason I gave him my cell phone number and he left a message a little over a week ago saying he was looking forward to talking to me. Since that message, he’s called five more times. Twice when I was in Portland. Once over the weekend. Last night. Tonight. Which begs the question: unless you’re dating someone and getting the cold shoulder, why do you continue to call someone who isn’t answering nor returning your messages? It’s becoming equal parts scary and sad.

I know there’s a certain element (mostly those who don black and gold during college football and basketball seasons) who roll their eyes each time I expound on the genius of Larry Brown. Now that the NBA Finals are over, I think we can all agree that Larry is a true basketball genius. What the Pistons did to the Lakers is absolutely amazing. They made a team that was compared to the 96 Bulls, 87 Lakers, and 84 Celtics look bad. Really bad. If you don’t watch much NBA basketball, you have to understand, there just aren’t upsets in the Finals. There are upsets in the earlier rounds of the playoffs, but not in the Finals. It doesn’t happen. Ever. If you told me Detroit was going to win, I would have thought it could only happen if they somehow extended the series to seven games and got lucky in the fourth quarter of game seven. I would have expected that either Shaq or Kobe would have missed at least one game to injury. Never would I have thought it was going to be a fairly easy five game triumph, which could have been a sweep if not for one amazing shot. Much like the 1988 Kansas team he coached to an NCAA title, Brown coached the Pistons to believe in themselves at exactly the right time. The Pistons were lucky to score 25 points a quarter against the Pacers in the Conference Finals. Against the Lakers, they suddenly found their flow, started scoring more easily, and became a team that was fun to watch instead of an embarrassment to the game. The fourth quarter of game five was a joy to watch. The Pistons were all grins, playing free and loose, and until the last two minutes when things got silly, they were hitting everything. Bravo to Larry and the Pistons. Now the Pacers need to trade for Tracy McGrady so they can compete with Detroit next year.

I’m off to Arizona later today, but someone remind me that I need to comment on Larry Bird’s statement regarding white players in the NBA.

Bloom Off The Laker Rose

June 14, 2004 / DB

Some NBA dominated thoughts on a Sunday evening.

Each game of the NBA Finals I’ve been struck by the irony in how things change over the course of 15 years. This time in 1989 (and 1988), I was rooting passionately for the Lakers against the Pistons in the NBA Finals. The Lakers were part of my holy pro sports trinity along with the Cowboys and Royals. This year, while not pulling with all my powers for Detroit, I am rabidly rooting for a Laker loss. I’d love for Larry Brown to get a title. Chauncey Billups is becoming one of my favorite NBA players. While the Pistons will be in the Pacers’ path for the foreseeable future, this June I’m hoping they get four wins.

My man E-Bro in NoCal told me, back in the days when Dennis Rodman was on the Bulls, to spend an entire quarter watching Rodman’s antics. He told me it was amazing how The Worm took some plays off, how hard he worked away from the ball on other plays, and otherwise rewarded your attention. Although it’s on a different level, Rasheed Wallace is approaching that level of interest. In the Pacers series, anytime he was on the court, he was yelling at someone during every dead ball. Officials. Fans. Teammates. Opponents. I don’t think it’s possible for him to keep his mouth shut for more than 10 seconds. I’d love to have uncensored access to his comments during the game as well. Bill Simmons had a great scenario in his column a couple weeks ago about how it would be fun to play Scrabble with Rasheed. You’d through down a word like “query” and ‘Sheed would stomp around the room complaining about you using crazy words like that against him. I laugh every time I think about that.

Karl Malone has a daughter in the WNBA?

Good Lord Shaq came to play in game four. While Kobe was throwing up bricks and whining, Shaq just put his head down and played his ass off until the Lakers got too far behind to keep giving him the ball.

I feel sorry that Karl Malone’s career is going to end with such a whimper. I do not feel sorry that he’s going to end his career without a title. I get so sick of “Player X deserves a title”. Horseshit. In this day and age, chances are anyone who you’re saying that about has more money than God if they’ve been playing professional sports for 20 years. They don’t deserve anything; they’ve got it pretty good already. Karl Malone played for a title three times. He got beat by the best non-center ever twice. The third time, he chained his fortune to a train wreck that was lucky to make it to the Finals before it spun out of control. There are a lot of great players who would have done anything for one chance to lose in the championship series. Karl was one of the greatest players ever. He’s not any less great without a ring, and he wouldn’t be any greater with a ring.

What’s up with NBA officials calling lane violations over and over?

As much as I love Larry Brown, he does often say things I hate in order to defend his players. He says Rasheed Wallace is “misunderstood” and only acts like he does because he “wants to win so badly”. Coming from someone who took sports far too seriously as a child and was warned many times by coaches, officials, and my mom to cool it or I’d get my ass stuck on the bench, that’s a fine message to give to the kids, Larry.

I’ll be the first to say it: Al Michaels is not a great basketball announcer. It’s as if he doesn’t understand the pacing of the game. His humorous comments he always seems to slip in at the right moment in football games all seem to come at the wrong time during NBA games. You know you’re struggling when even Doc Rivers falls silent for a few moments after you try to be funny. It doesn’t help Al that most NBA fans our age think of Marv Albert when we think of NBA playoffs. Marv has the perfect combination of intimate knowledge of the game, great grasp of history, knowing exactly how the game should be called, a terrific sense of humor (and understanding of how to use it), and the ability to get the most out of his analyst.

The previews for all of ABC’s fall shows disturb me. Wifeswap? Promos about bored housewives that look like Victoria’s Secret models? Dramas with voice overs of teenage girls telling their boyfriends it’s time to hit it while the parents are gone? In an election year, no less! Where’s Dan Quayle when we need him?

Doc Rivers: “I’ve never seen the Lakers complain about the officiating this much.” That’s because they’ve been getting every call for the past five years!

Good grief, Detroit is a win away from the title!

Time to drop some props on myself. Back in January, I set down some goals for the year. I don’t like to call them resolutions. One goal was to read between 24 and 30 books this year. Friday night, I finished off book #30. Traveling for work and having a wife who works in 18 and 24 hour chunks sure helps digest the words faster. I must tell you, though, in a year in which I’ve read a huge amount of very good books, #30 was truly special. Last week’s entry was Jonathan Lethem’s The Fortress of Solitude, a truly amazing book. Fortress was last year’s big buzz book, following on the heels of Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections and Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Fortress is totally brilliant, not only in story but in craft. There were moments when I had to put the book down because I was so frustrated by the writing. I would read a few lines and start to think to myself, “I can never write anything this good. I shouldn’t even think about ever writing anything for public consumption again.” Fortunately, I persevered. It was a highly rewarding experience and one I recommend to everyone.

Saturday we went to the first baby shower locals are throwing for us (We had hoped for just one, but most of S’s family was out of town last weekend, so we’re doing another, family only shower, in two weeks.). There was some Kansas City representation too, as a gift from what I’ll call the Falloon Crew was waiting in our living room when I got home on Thursday. I will not confirm rumors that I’ve already placed a basketball and various KU paraphernalia in the Pack ‘n Play.

Finally, in a milestone that warrants mentioning, I was married a year ago today. Some of you may be thinking, “I must have really been drunk at your wedding, because I thought we visited in July.” Of course, we were legally married on this date last year in Kansas City. Some other milestones this week include: Wednesday the anniversary of the packers coming to our apartments. Thursday when the movers came, and we trekked east to Indy. Sunday will be Father’s Day, my birthday, and the day I spent all day on the phone yelling at the movers to get their asses here when they promised. I think that day was the beginning of my stomach problems. It aches just thinking about it. Anyway, what am I supposed to get my wife for the 1st anniversary? Paper? China? A fetus?

Wrapping Some Things Up

June 11, 2004 / DB

As I posted earlier, back home again in Indiana. Naturally, there were tornado warnings here last night, although none close to our part of the city. I’m starting to feel a little cursed. Almost four inches of rain here in Carmel this morning. It’s like Seattle, only it’s 90 with a thick layer of steam from all the water on the ground.

Yesterday was my brilliant day in the first class cabin of American Airlines. I must admit, while it was nice to get on and off the jets first, have decent if unspectacular food delivered to me, and as many Diet Cokes as I wanted (Does Roy Williams know about this?) the best part was for the first time in my life, I took a serious nap on a plane. After my 3:55 AM wake up call yesterday, I was in great need of some additional sleep. After downing my omelet, bagel, and fruit plate, I leaned my comfy seat back and promptly dropped off for two hours. Normally when I sleep on a plane, I’m wedged into my seat and wake up ever ten minutes. After about 60 minutes of that, I give up. I fell asleep somewhere over Utah and woke up 30 minutes before landing. Very nice. One thing I noticed about first class is everyone wants to have rather loud conversations on their cell phones until take off, and immediately after landing. Apparently the average first class passenger is so important no minutes can be wasted not making calls, even if they’re personal. I, on the other hand, find some deserted corner in the airport to make all my calls from.

The rest of my Portland visit was good enough. Downed some very good fish & chips Tuesday night, had some outstanding Vietnamese food Wednesday. Great beer both nights. Wednesday I drove out to Astoria, on the coast. Typically, we were socked in by clouds so another visit without seeing Mt. St. Helens. I couldn’t even see Adams or Hood on this trip, until the flight home. Along the way to Astoria is a town called Longview, which is right on the Columbia River and a huge logging town. Roads are clogged with logging trucks transporting felled trees. The asphalt is littered with chunks of lumber and bark. When you get ready to cross the river, a quick glance to either side offers nearly endless views of trees ready for processing and transport stacked along the shore. Roughly halfway to Astoria, you hit a section of road that is literally completely covered by trees. It was similar to driving through a covered bridge. Suddenly, you come to a more open section and you notice that you’re in an area that has been heavily logged. While staring in awe at the open space, I noticed a large bird floating across the road. “That’s a big hawk,” I thought. Then I snapped out of it and realized I was staring at a Bald Eagle. Extremely impressive.

We were sitting in a bar Tuesday night and heard the Pistons lead the Lakers late. We moved nearer a TV to watch, and LA promptly took the lead. We lost interest a little, until we noticed Detroit had fought back. Then they extended. This was amazing! The Pistons were going to win two in LA! Then Kobe hit the biggest shot since Jordan shoved Byron Russell. We looked at each other and said, “We’ll be able to tell our kids where we were when the Lakers won the series.” So what happened in Detroit last night was just stupid. Larry Brown’s a witch, but no way should the Pistons be making the Lakers look absolutely silly like that. I’d still bet on the Lakers to win, but all of a sudden, you can see the confidence in the Pistons that they can not only compete in the series, but they have a great shot to win. Fascinating.

For some reason, anytime I travel to the Northwest, I get a huge thrill when I hear any of the 90s grunge bands on the radio. It’s like buying a t-shirt of a sports team at the stadium where they play; there’s something extra special about hearing Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, or Everclear in their home territory. Maybe it’s because people still wear flannel there.

While we’re on the subject of music, I heard this new group Velvet Revolver a lot in Portland. Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots on vocals; Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum from Guns ‘n Roses manning three of the four instruments. Surprisingly, the styles come together quite nicely. Check them out when you have a chance.

I must sing the praises of the folks at Blogger and Google. First, a month or so back, they added comments as an included feature, offered more templates, and made some administrative changes that make running a blog much easier. Then, they offered photoblogging, which is very cool. Finally, they’ve incorporated Audioblogging as a free feature this week. I didn’t have a chance to try it out yet, but I can call into a number, record up to two minutes, and then an audio file is posted to the blog. This has been an option you can pay to have for some time; I just never figured it was worth it. I’ll try to give it a shot sometime soon to see how it works. Blogger members have been offered a chance to use Google’s new mail app in its beta format. I’m holding off, just because I have four e-mail addresses already and don’t want to add another until I know it’s a stable product. Thank you, Google Gods!

This ad war between Budweiser and Miller is stupid. First, the Miller commercials are just dumb. These are the natural progression of arguably the greatest campaign ever, Tastes Great – Less Filling? Then, AB’s response commercials are equally dumb. Miller may have been purchased by a South African company, but is it not still made in Milwaukee? Does any beer made at Budweiser plants around the world (which they used to brag about) not count as American beer even though it tastes exactly like what’s made in St. Louis? We’re at war in two countries, facing terrorist threats, about to pick a President for four years and Congress for two, and we’ve got idiotic mudslinging rather than intelligent, clever ads for beer that doesn’t even taste good. What’s the world coming to?

Pacers Post-Mortem

June 4, 2004 / DB

Have I mentioned lately that the NBA sucks? I just got finished watching that travesty of a series between the Pacers and Pistons wrap up. Is there some kind of rule that no more than one person on the court at any given time is allowed to hit shots? During one exhilarating stretch tonight, the Pistons outscored the Pacers 10-2 over an 8:00 period. I know it’s apples and oranges, but I recall seeing the 2002 and 2003 Kansas Jayhawks put many a 10-2 run on teams in a matter of 90 or even 60 seconds. I thought the NBA was supposed to be the highest level of basketball. Sure, they play intense defense, but if no one can shoot, how do you really know? The Lakers, Celtics, Rockets, and Sixers of the 80s all played great defense. But they also had not just five but often seven or eight players who could score, so teams consistently scored over 100 points a game. Some say Naismith would be turning in his grave over games like tonight’s. I beg to differ. I think modern NBA ball is shockingly close to the original game. Those dudes back in Springfield, Mass couldn’t shoot! According to the Indy Star, of the ten lowest scoring playoff games since the advent of the shot clock, all have taken place since 1997 and five took place this year. And don’t get me started on Karl Malone not getting suspended for basically the same thing that Anthony Peeler had done a couple nights earlier, or a referee in Monday’s game asking how many fouls Shaq had. Really, do NOT get me started here.

As for why the Pacers lost: stupidity, youth, injuries, in that order. Ron Artest reverted to form throughout the series, really only having one good game. He continually put his head down and drove into the lane either forcing up bad shots or getting his shots blocked. He took long threes early in the shot clock before Jermaine O’Neal had a chance to set-up in the post. He used his slow-as-molasses behind the back dribble in traffic and continually had the ball stolen away. Worst of all, his flagrant foul in the final four minutes of a tie game Tuesday night was the turning point. Youth, because players like Artest, Jermaine O’Neal, Fred Jones, Al Harrington, Jamaal Tinsley, and Jonathan Bender still have so much to learn about playing consistently at a high level. The good news is the Pacers have such a stable of young players. The bad news is I think Artest, Tinsley, and Bender are the kinds of players who will always drive you mad with their inconsistency. Injuries kept Tinsley off the court much of the last two games, and rendered him ineffective the remainder of the series, plus kept O’Neal from playing at his highest level in the final two games.

At least I know how the Finals will turn out and I won’t have to watch. Larry Brown will find a way to win game one. The Lakers will win the next two. The Pistons might get lucky and win game four to even the series, but the Lakers will close things out in six. Kourageous Kobe Bryant and Shaq are too much for the Pistons to handle, even with their depth in the post. I can see Rasheed Wallace dominating Karl Malone, but I have a hard time seeing Rip Hamilton get off consistently while being guarded by Kobe.

I’ll try to edit down my storm watchers log from the weekend and get that posted later.

Pacers And Royals

May 19, 2004 / DB

I’m still struggling with my affection for the local NBA squad. I watched most of the game last night, but was distracted for much of the second half when I heard Randy Johnson was throwing a perfect game and switched over to TBS (no AI in this house). I’ve stated my indifference for Reggie Miller before. Jamaal Tinsley could drive any fan insane with his erratic play. It doesn’t help his case with me that he was 4-0 against KU in his Iowa State career. But I struggle most with Ron Artest. He brings it every night. He totally sells out to win games. Some nights he can look like the best player in the league. But he plays such a physical style that I’m always a little uncomfortable cheering for him. I love Jermaine O’Neal, Al Harrington, Jeff Foster, and Jonathan Bender. Maybe next year things will finally click between me and the blue and gold.

Worth noting, both Saturday and last night, I devoured some outstanding brisket courtesy of John H. Both nights, the Pacers win. Better keep the smoker stocked for a few more weeks, John!

The trade rumors of Shaquille O’Neal for Jermaine O’Neal are completely insane. Why trade away a franchise player you’ve signed to a long term deal, who happens to not even be in his prime yet for an aging superstar who is one more leg injury from becoming an ineffective, 400 pound, salary hog?

I’m clearly getting old. I watch NBA games and become enraged at the fact no one holds their pivot foot anymore. Some guys post up, get the ball, then slide their pivot foot six feet as they try to determine if they should shoot or pass (Chris Webber). Others completely change their pivot foot, but if they fake two passes between establishing their first foot and changing to the second, referees never call it. I feel like those old guys who go to games and count on their own three second calls the entire night. “One…two….THREE!!!!!!!”

People I love: citizens with seats near the high cameras at basketball games who insist on standing and waving their hands in front of the camera each time they have a chance to cheer. I like them so much I think they should be shot. Some idiot in Miami last night insisted on not only putting his head and hands in America’s face, but swinging some noise maker around as well. Thank goodness for the local coverage of the game, which used a different set of cameras.

Something I actually like: spring downpours. We got a good soaker last night. I love sitting in the house, having no place to go, no need to step outside, then hearing monsoonal rains hit the roof. Of course, as a native Kansan, I revel in all spring weather. On our second night in Indy last year, we were at the in-laws for dinner when the tornado sirens went off. Indiana gets its share of storms, so everyone sat calmly at the table eating, watching the radar on TV to make sure they didn’t need to head to the basement. The Kansan in the house went running outside to look for the storm. I spent at least 20 minutes staring at one set of clouds. “Are you going to eat or not?”

Hey, I heard Fred White doing the Royals game last night! That was outstanding. No body can replace the almost impossible to listen to Denny Matthews better than the monumentally horrid White. I thought the Royals ran him off. What’s with this guilt that he was “wronged” and bringing him back to cover for vacations? They did him a favor by manufacturing several excuses for his dismissal rather than just saying he’s an awful announcer. Is there some kind of law that the Royals have to have the worst announcers in baseball? Denny, Ryan, and Fred are all historically bad. Bob Davis is exceptionally poor. Paul Splittorf is ok, but he’s not the most dynamic person in the world. Sleepy announcers for a sleepy team, I suppose. Maybe they’ll perk up now that the Zack Greinke era is about to begin. .500 here we come!

Of Books And Wedding Dresses

April 29, 2004 / DB

Putting some assorted thoughts down while watching Keith Olbermann’s Countdown Wednesday night. The #5 story was about a backlash against the wildly popular novel The DaVinci Code. I don’t know much about the book, other than I may be the only person to fly American Airlines in the past year who hasn’t read it. Anyway, there are several “rebuttal” books coming out that argue against some of author Dan Brown’s plot developments, especially those regarding the life of Jesus. One rebuttal author appeared on the Countdown story. His assertion was people are getting “confused” by Brown’s use of history in a novel and unless they read non-fiction, historical accounts, they’ll continue to be confused about what really happened 2000 years ago. So let me get this straight: it’s a reasonable expectation that people who read a work of fiction and take it as fact can make an honest assessment of true historical documents? It’s a freaking novel! It’s made up! It’s a series of ideas that popped into somebody’s head and he wrote them down, even if he put them in a historical context. What’s wrong with people?

I’ve watched almost none of the NBA playoffs so far, which is an odd shift from where I was last November. Remember when I was contemplating a future in which I was a bigger NBA fan than anything else? For starters, few of the match-ups are intriguing. The Kings-Mavericks series lacks the sexiness of last year’s series between the two teams. Other series just aren’t good match-ups; especially in the East with sub .500 teams getting into the postseason this year. But most important, the NBA has ruined the playoffs. Seven game first round series are just ridiculously long. Worse, first round series which should be the least competitive of the playoffs, are stretched out over insane amounts of time. Had the Pacers not swept the Celtics, but rather gone the full seven games, the series would have been played over the course of 18 days. That’s just stupid. Perhaps this stupidity is some of the reason that I’m more into baseball than the NBA playoffs this year.

Living in Indiana, which isn’t exactly a battleground state when it comes to presidential politics, we don’t see many of the commercials my friends back in Missouri get to see. Occasionally, however, while watching a national program, I’m lucky enough to catch a Bush or Kerry commercial. I like politics, especially the horse race element of it, but I’ve never seen so many totally negative commercials so early in the campaign. John Kerry isn’t even officially the nominee yet, and the mud is flying anyway. What I do like is the little disclaimer at the beginning, “Hi, I’m Joe Blow and I approved this message.” Two weeks later you read that the commercial is full of lies, half truths, and makes assertions about one candidate that could easily be made about the person paying for the commercial. Makes them look really smart if they “approved” the message, wink wink.

We do have a governor’s race this year in Indiana, though. I’m pleased to see one of the three major candidates thinks the two most important issues the next governor of Indiana needs to worry about are gay marriage and abortion. That is if his commercials are to be believed. All the ills of Hoosier taxpayers would be solved if we could just keep the gays from getting married and women from having abortions. It’d be a veritable utopia here in Indiana if we could resolve those two issues. I’m incredibly proud not only to live in a state with so few problems, but with a candidate who understands them and is willing to tackle them head-on.

I fear I’ve done you all a great disservice this TV season. I’ve talked about a few shows that I watch, but I don’t believe I’ve spent any time talking about my favorite show. No, not Seinfeld reruns. Scrubs. It’s freaking brilliant. There’s never an episode that I don’t laugh myself silly over. It’s exactly the kind of intelligent yet stupid humor (if such a thing exists) that scratches me right where I itch. If you don’t watch, write yourself a note to start watching next fall. Nothing else remotely good will be left on NBC, so it should be easy to catch in between Divorcee Fear Factor and The Janitor.

I forgot to mention the other highlight of our weekend past. We went to dinner at the home of one of S’s coworkers who just happens to be 36 weeks pregnant. There was also a couple present who brought their six week old son with them. You guessed it, dinner discussion was 90 minutes of theories on birthing techniques, when to feed, do you let you baby cry or not, and on and on. And I was into it; I thought it was a great discussion. It wasn’t until later that I realized four years ago, when every Saturday night meant going to the Peanut, if you told me this was what my life would one day become I would tell you that you were a total idiot. Those cats at Johnson and Johnson have it right: having a baby changes everything.

As you all know, I moved away from Kansas City last June. I immediately filed the appropriate paperwork with my employer to stop the withholding of the KCMO earnings tax. Wednesday, I received a bill from the fine city of Kansas City, MO requesting immediate payment on approximately $550 of back taxes, penalty fees, and interest. So immediately I was pissed, despite the fact I know I owe nothing. I read the document further, looking for the process for letting them know they’re wrong. I found the official dispute policy which makes great pains to point out that the balance is due no matter what. There is no phone number to call, only a mailing address and fax number. I spread the word with a couple coworkers, one of whom went through the same thing when he worked in Overland Park a couple years back. He chose not to pay the fee while he protested, which resulted in a warrant for his arrest. He went ahead and paid the $200 he owed to get the warrant removed, only to have the city return the money a few months later when they found his story to be believable. Anyone else gone through this mess? I think it’s safe to say there will be no checks written to the city of Kansas City from this house, regardless. I’ll also make great pains to ensure I’m not pulled over by any traffic police while the balance is still pending. Idiots.

Larry Star, eBay legend. He’s on Countdown right now. A genius for the common man! I salute you! The famous wedding dress went for $3850.00 tonight. Some of the high bids were apparently joke bids that had to be weeded out before the auction could be closed. Still, he cleared about $2500 more than the dress originally cost and has dreams of a new motorcycle that he can ride to Mariners games. I’m sure the Ex will be claiming her share of the bounty soon.