Wednesday, December 16
GP
I've watched this video at least five times, and I still can't figure out what that thing is behind Gary Payton's right shoulder. I have, however, narrowed it down to what I believe to be the three most likely possibilities, listed in reverse order of likeliness:
1. A video poker machine. The light (?) on the top is a dead giveaway, as are the buttons below the screen. I know what you're saying, "Why in the world would Gary Payton have a video poker machine in his living room, especially considering he lives in Las Vegas?" Asked and answered, my friend.
2. An entertainment unit from 1988. Less likely, but who knows, maybe he got it for winning Pac-10 Player of the Year back in the day and just never felt like parting with it. Kind of like the Christmas tree behind him.
3. A microwave. Least likely, but a possibility. Hey, you're The Glove, you're watching Chris Webber on TNT, you're wondering why the heck you ain't on TV, and your anger makes you hungry. Now, do you want to walk the 18 feet to the kitchen, or do you want to just take two steps to the microwave? I thought so.
Tuesday, December 15
Now That's a Scheduling Problem
You may have read today that Rick Adelman's a bit perturbed by his Houston team's schedule for the balance of 2009.
In a group of games he calls "a horrendous stretch," the Rockets will play four back-to-back contests in the span of two weeks (running his team's total to five B2B's in the month of December), which is doubly troubling because it's the holiday season, after all.
Of course, if Rick could remember back to his halcyon days of the late 1960s when he was a rookie guard for the San Diego Rockets, he might temper his rage a bit. Back in the 1968-69 campaign, Adelman's Rockets also played five back to backers in December, including one memorable stretch in which San Diego played at Los Angeles, at New York, at Cincinnati, at Milwaukee, then at New York again - all in the span of six nights.
Or, better still, he could have played for the Sonics in 1967-68, when Seattle was forced to play 12 games between December 15th and the 31st, including, are you ready for this, five games in five nights.
You read that right. In December 1968, the Sonics played Dec. 22 (New York), Dec. 23 (at San Francisco), Dec. 24 (San Francisco), Dec. 25 (at Cincinnati), and Dec. 26 (at Philadelphia). Five games, five nights, all during the holidays.
I think, if I remember correctly, the Sonics formed a Player's Union on the flight back from Philly, somewhere over Omaha.
In a group of games he calls "a horrendous stretch," the Rockets will play four back-to-back contests in the span of two weeks (running his team's total to five B2B's in the month of December), which is doubly troubling because it's the holiday season, after all.
Of course, if Rick could remember back to his halcyon days of the late 1960s when he was a rookie guard for the San Diego Rockets, he might temper his rage a bit. Back in the 1968-69 campaign, Adelman's Rockets also played five back to backers in December, including one memorable stretch in which San Diego played at Los Angeles, at New York, at Cincinnati, at Milwaukee, then at New York again - all in the span of six nights.
Or, better still, he could have played for the Sonics in 1967-68, when Seattle was forced to play 12 games between December 15th and the 31st, including, are you ready for this, five games in five nights.
You read that right. In December 1968, the Sonics played Dec. 22 (New York), Dec. 23 (at San Francisco), Dec. 24 (San Francisco), Dec. 25 (at Cincinnati), and Dec. 26 (at Philadelphia). Five games, five nights, all during the holidays.
I think, if I remember correctly, the Sonics formed a Player's Union on the flight back from Philly, somewhere over Omaha.
Monday, December 7
Upsetting
Today marked the second of a two-part series from Neil Paine of Basketball Reference, wherein he looks at the biggest playoff upsets of all time.
You already know where this is going, don't you? I mean, the question isn't: Are the Sonics in the Top 50, but, rather, Where in the Top 50 are they?
And, of course, they're first. While the first part dealt with the biggest upsets in an individual game, today's episode detailed the biggest playoff series upsets (or calamities, depending upon one's point of view, I suppose).
Surprisingly, the biggest upset wasn't the Nuggets debacle from 1994 (it ranked a respectable fourth), but the loss to Los Angeles the following season. (You'll remember that as the Tacoma Dome Toilet Bowl).
If you feel like indulging in a little pain, feel free to take a look. And, if you're looking for a bright side to that dark cloud, ponder this: The same team that laid two of the five biggest eggs in NBA playoff history in consecutive seasons followed it up with a trip to the NBA Finals in the third year.
Okay, they lost the Finals, but at least they didn't fall on their faces for a third time, right?
You already know where this is going, don't you? I mean, the question isn't: Are the Sonics in the Top 50, but, rather, Where in the Top 50 are they?
And, of course, they're first. While the first part dealt with the biggest upsets in an individual game, today's episode detailed the biggest playoff series upsets (or calamities, depending upon one's point of view, I suppose).
Surprisingly, the biggest upset wasn't the Nuggets debacle from 1994 (it ranked a respectable fourth), but the loss to Los Angeles the following season. (You'll remember that as the Tacoma Dome Toilet Bowl).
If you feel like indulging in a little pain, feel free to take a look. And, if you're looking for a bright side to that dark cloud, ponder this: The same team that laid two of the five biggest eggs in NBA playoff history in consecutive seasons followed it up with a trip to the NBA Finals in the third year.
Okay, they lost the Finals, but at least they didn't fall on their faces for a third time, right?
Friday, December 4
Swift
The Seattle PI checks in with an update on former Sonic #1 pick Robert Swift, who has left his D-League team in Bakersfield to deal with a family matter in Seattle.
It's unknown when Swift will return, and I'll thank you for not making any jokes about the situation in the comments. Seriously, if he's leaving the team for family matters, it's obviously not a great situation.
It's unknown when Swift will return, and I'll thank you for not making any jokes about the situation in the comments. Seriously, if he's leaving the team for family matters, it's obviously not a great situation.
Tuesday, December 1
Brandon's One Shining Moment
A few days before Thanksgiving, Henry Abbott of ESPN’s TrueHoop offered up a brief story about Portland guard Brandon Roy’s decision to isolate himself from his team during the national anthem.
As the team’s best and most well known player, Roy is ostensibly the leader of the Blazers, and drew criticism from a local Portland newspaper columnist (to whose name and column I choose not to link, because he is, to put it in the most kindest terms I can summon, a moron) for not being a team player.
Two issues came to the forefront, one blatant, one subtle:
1. Brandon Roy is a leader and a leader should stand alongside his troops.
2. Brandon Roy is not patriotic.
Roy’s response to the whole idea was, essentially, “Hey, it’s my deal, and it doesn’t seem to be bothering anyone.”
To which both writers pointed out – a lot of people are going to be bugged, which is, while unknowable, also possibly true. Abbott employed a metaphor about wedding rings to illuminate for Roy why the flag is important, and why people would be bugged by his actions.
Unfortunately for the two writers, it turns out that Brandon Roy’s father was … a Marine. Meaning, of course, that he knows better than either of them the significance of the American flag and the sacrifices associated with it and meaning, of course, that they have about as much right to, well, not lecture, exactly, but inform him of that significance as I do informing Hedo Turkoglu about the significance of Kemal Ataturk’s birthday.
Further, to the first point, that Roy is a leader, notably absent from either story was any quote from a member of the team about how Roy’s actions have affected “team chemistry” or any other such nonsense. In fact, the only quote in either story was from Coach Nate McMillan, who, while admitting he wouldn’t follow Roy’s example, noted it didn’t bother him, either.
So, in essence, we have a complete non-story, fabricated by a columnist who covered the exact same topic a year ago and came to the conclusion that it was just fine and dandy. Then, the non-story is picked up by a national writer who, while taking pains to point out that mandatory anthem observation is silly at best and tyranny at worst, nevertheless provided additional fuel to the fire. (And, to be fair, a number of other blogs and websites chimed in as well).
Thankfully, the story seems to have died an appropriate death, and Roy has continued to live his life without any sort of Abdul-Rauf-type of fallout. (Luckily for Roy, this story came to light when America was not on the verge of invading another country/being attacked by another country/etc, or else both he and the rest of us would have been forced to endure weeks of pundits extolling patriotism and Roy uttering half-hearted apologies, followed by his knitting a flag from used Blazers jerseys (Kevin Duckworth’s making up a large percentage) that he would then raise to the rafters at the Rose Garden and the fans would all clap and cheer and then promptly forget what they were so riled up about to begin with because Greg Oden had dropped yet another entry pass).
All of which leads us back to the Big Lesson we should all Learn From This: namely, that we (those who write about these sorts of topics) ought to take a small pause before penning stories about the relative morality or patriotism or motivations of individuals engaged in professional sports.
I can understand the motivations of the Portland columnist – he was trying to drum up interest in his pathetic column. And, I can understand the motivations of Henry Abbott. He’s an avowed Blazer fan, and Brandon Roy is The Guy on his team, so if a story such as this arises, then he’s interested, and he writes about it.
But consider the repercussions which could have followed: Here you have Brandon Roy, by all accounts a model citizen for the team, who prior to each game chooses to spend a few moments thinking about … well, it’s his business so I won’t bother to guess what it is, but I think we can assume it’s not about if he remembered to delete the Jenna Jameson movie he downloaded onto his laptop.
And, surrounding Roy, we have a team which apparently is unfazed by his actions, and a coach who is pleased with the performance of his player.
But by throwing their spotlight onto this subject, both Abbott and the other writers came close to forcing Roy to abandon his routine and join his teammates in lockstep as they Honored America prior to the game, not because they felt it was the right thing to do (because that would be tyrannical), but because they thought it was the most expedient thing to do.
In essence, then, Brandon Roy, son of a marine, had people tell him: Hey, we get it, Brandon, you like a few minutes of reflection before the game, and that’s cool, but you know what, a few people might be bothered by it, and their uncomfortableness is more important than anything.
Well, screw that. I want to see Brandon Roy to stand on the sidelines twittering (“Chk the crzy dude w/ the Sabonis jersey in 118”) during the anthem. I want to see Chris Anderson compare tattoos with a biker chick during the anthem.
But more than that, I want to see two things:
1) A little more consideration of the inherent importance of a story, and
2) A little more respect for what patriotism truly is
Patriotism, to me, is not 18,000 fans standing in unison. Patriotism is helping your neighbor move, it is educating yourself about the issues in your country, it is standing up for your fellow citizens, and it is a million other little and big things.
Yes, it would be expedient for Brandon Roy to follow his teammates and stand with them at the anthem, but since when is patriotism about expediency?
Further, by asking athletes to conform to a set guideline of Proper Etiquette, we are left with a generation of stars such as Tiger Woods and LeBron James, who never make any comments the slightest bit politically offensive, lest they alienate even one fan.
Maybe a bunch of conformist, hermetically sealed superstars is what today’s society wants, but it’s not what I want. I want someone like Brandon Roy, someone who thinks for himself rather than letting someone else do his thinking for him.
Seems more American to me, anyways.
As the team’s best and most well known player, Roy is ostensibly the leader of the Blazers, and drew criticism from a local Portland newspaper columnist (to whose name and column I choose not to link, because he is, to put it in the most kindest terms I can summon, a moron) for not being a team player.
Two issues came to the forefront, one blatant, one subtle:
1. Brandon Roy is a leader and a leader should stand alongside his troops.
2. Brandon Roy is not patriotic.
Roy’s response to the whole idea was, essentially, “Hey, it’s my deal, and it doesn’t seem to be bothering anyone.”
To which both writers pointed out – a lot of people are going to be bugged, which is, while unknowable, also possibly true. Abbott employed a metaphor about wedding rings to illuminate for Roy why the flag is important, and why people would be bugged by his actions.
Unfortunately for the two writers, it turns out that Brandon Roy’s father was … a Marine. Meaning, of course, that he knows better than either of them the significance of the American flag and the sacrifices associated with it and meaning, of course, that they have about as much right to, well, not lecture, exactly, but inform him of that significance as I do informing Hedo Turkoglu about the significance of Kemal Ataturk’s birthday.
Further, to the first point, that Roy is a leader, notably absent from either story was any quote from a member of the team about how Roy’s actions have affected “team chemistry” or any other such nonsense. In fact, the only quote in either story was from Coach Nate McMillan, who, while admitting he wouldn’t follow Roy’s example, noted it didn’t bother him, either.
So, in essence, we have a complete non-story, fabricated by a columnist who covered the exact same topic a year ago and came to the conclusion that it was just fine and dandy. Then, the non-story is picked up by a national writer who, while taking pains to point out that mandatory anthem observation is silly at best and tyranny at worst, nevertheless provided additional fuel to the fire. (And, to be fair, a number of other blogs and websites chimed in as well).
Thankfully, the story seems to have died an appropriate death, and Roy has continued to live his life without any sort of Abdul-Rauf-type of fallout. (Luckily for Roy, this story came to light when America was not on the verge of invading another country/being attacked by another country/etc, or else both he and the rest of us would have been forced to endure weeks of pundits extolling patriotism and Roy uttering half-hearted apologies, followed by his knitting a flag from used Blazers jerseys (Kevin Duckworth’s making up a large percentage) that he would then raise to the rafters at the Rose Garden and the fans would all clap and cheer and then promptly forget what they were so riled up about to begin with because Greg Oden had dropped yet another entry pass).
All of which leads us back to the Big Lesson we should all Learn From This: namely, that we (those who write about these sorts of topics) ought to take a small pause before penning stories about the relative morality or patriotism or motivations of individuals engaged in professional sports.
I can understand the motivations of the Portland columnist – he was trying to drum up interest in his pathetic column. And, I can understand the motivations of Henry Abbott. He’s an avowed Blazer fan, and Brandon Roy is The Guy on his team, so if a story such as this arises, then he’s interested, and he writes about it.
But consider the repercussions which could have followed: Here you have Brandon Roy, by all accounts a model citizen for the team, who prior to each game chooses to spend a few moments thinking about … well, it’s his business so I won’t bother to guess what it is, but I think we can assume it’s not about if he remembered to delete the Jenna Jameson movie he downloaded onto his laptop.
And, surrounding Roy, we have a team which apparently is unfazed by his actions, and a coach who is pleased with the performance of his player.
But by throwing their spotlight onto this subject, both Abbott and the other writers came close to forcing Roy to abandon his routine and join his teammates in lockstep as they Honored America prior to the game, not because they felt it was the right thing to do (because that would be tyrannical), but because they thought it was the most expedient thing to do.
In essence, then, Brandon Roy, son of a marine, had people tell him: Hey, we get it, Brandon, you like a few minutes of reflection before the game, and that’s cool, but you know what, a few people might be bothered by it, and their uncomfortableness is more important than anything.
Well, screw that. I want to see Brandon Roy to stand on the sidelines twittering (“Chk the crzy dude w/ the Sabonis jersey in 118”) during the anthem. I want to see Chris Anderson compare tattoos with a biker chick during the anthem.
But more than that, I want to see two things:
1) A little more consideration of the inherent importance of a story, and
2) A little more respect for what patriotism truly is
Patriotism, to me, is not 18,000 fans standing in unison. Patriotism is helping your neighbor move, it is educating yourself about the issues in your country, it is standing up for your fellow citizens, and it is a million other little and big things.
Yes, it would be expedient for Brandon Roy to follow his teammates and stand with them at the anthem, but since when is patriotism about expediency?
Further, by asking athletes to conform to a set guideline of Proper Etiquette, we are left with a generation of stars such as Tiger Woods and LeBron James, who never make any comments the slightest bit politically offensive, lest they alienate even one fan.
Maybe a bunch of conformist, hermetically sealed superstars is what today’s society wants, but it’s not what I want. I want someone like Brandon Roy, someone who thinks for himself rather than letting someone else do his thinking for him.
Seems more American to me, anyways.
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