Grin and Bear It

As the Sonics continue to stumble through a difficult road trip, I'm reminded of David Halberstam's book "Summer of '49," which detailed the incredible 1949 season from the perspective of the Yankees and Red Sox.

One story in particular stayed with me. The Yankees' pitching staff had a term for when a starting pitcher was forced to stay in the game in order to preserve the overall health of the staff, even though said pitcher was getting hammered and losing badly. They called it "your turn in the barrel," in that it was going to kill your ERA and you had no chance of winning, but you did it regardless.

From my perspective, the last four games have been the Sonics' "turn in the barrel." Even in a best-case scenario - a healthy Ray Allen, Robert Swift, and Earl Watson - the Sonics would have struggled on this trip. But with all 3 of those folks MIA for some or all of the trip, the Sonics really didn't have much of a chance. It kills us as fans, but it happens in the NBA. There are trips that you just have no chance in and you just have to muddle through.

That turn in the barrel ends tonight, though, when the Sonics travel to Memphis. The Grizzlies are just that - they've lost 6 straight and are a 2-point win over the Celtics from a 10-game losing skid. Memphis is a terrible rebounding team, and Pau Gasol's return from injury has yet to pay dividends.

If ever there was a team ripe for a home loss, it's the Memphis Grizzlies. The Sonics MUST take care of business tonight, regardless of it being the 2nd of a back-to-back on the troad. A loss tonight would put this club in full-fledged desparation mode, and Chris Wilcox has to be able to take advantage of the weaker Grizzlies for a bona-fide 20-10 night. Luke Ridnour has to punish Mighty Mouse and look more like the guy who went for 26 and 9 assists against the Warriors than the imposter who went for 2 and 1 against the Cavs a couple of nights ago.

Otherwise, with the Mavericks coming to the Key on Wednesday, Christmas could start to get ugly for Bob Hill.

Wha' Happened?

The whole Christopher Guest mockumentary deal is getting tired, admittedly, but Fred Willard's role in A Mighty Wind still makes me laugh. I don't know what it is about the guy, I just think he's a genius.

Anyway, I think it's fair to say that more than a few people who follow the Sonics are asking, "What Happened?" right about now.

“I just think our team is at a point right now, we’ve had so many injuries and our schedule has been so tough, they just don’t believe they can win,” Sonics coach Bob Hill said, courtesy of Frank Hughes at the TNT.

Ouch. Anytime you've got a coach saying his players don't believe they can win, you know things are in somewhat dire straits. As Gary Washburn points out in the PI, the Sonics have fallen behind by double-digits in their past three games - all losses. This was the same formula they perfected earlier in the season, and it's one we'd hoped had been lost on the last long road trip, when the Sonics seemed to be emerging from their early-season funk.

Fortunately, Ray Allen is on the mend. Not so fortunately, Pau Gasol is as well, which means the Sonics might not have the same pot of gold sitting at the end of the rainbow they were expecting when the road trip finishes in Memphis. With the next game in Detroit, the final one in Memphis, and the start of a homestand against Dallas, a 6-game losing streak suddenly doesn't look so unlikely.

Worse, if the Sonics do lose all 3 of those games, they'll be standing at 10-17 on the season. Which means that in order to win 42 games - the absolute minimum I'd guess for a playoff bid - they'd have to go 32-23 for the remainder of the season, or basically win 60% of their schedule, something they've managed to pull off once(!) in the past nine seasons.

Thursday Morning Whine

Today, with last night’s loss fresh in our minds, I thought I’d take the opportunity to use that foul taste to vent on something that’s been bothering me all season: NBA League Pass and its bastard step-child NBA Broadband.

I live in Canada, and I don’t have extended cable, but I’d like to watch the Sonics play. These are my options:

1. Get digital cable, which enables me to see the Sonics about once every other week on the various Canadian all-sports channels.
2. Buy a satellite dish, and get somebody to install an illegal satellite chip that enables me to watch Fox Sports NW.
3. Buy NBA League Pass, which enables me to watch the games on tv ... and on the internet.

But here’s the kicker. This is the option I want, but cannot get:

4. Get NBA Broadband, but not League Pass

You see, I’m not interested in paying $200 for NBA League Pass for the occasional time I’d like to watch the Sonics play. I am interested in NBA Broadband, but according to NBA policy, you can only get NBA Broadband IF you order NBA League Pass, or, as the league puts it, “NBA LEAGUE PASS Broadband is not sold as a stand-alone product. You must be an active NBA LEAGUE PASS satellite or digital cable subscriber to get NBA LEAGUE PASS Broadband.”

My question is: Why? Why can major league baseball – perhaps the most stodgy of all the major sports – offer all of their games on the internet for about $15 a month, but the NBA can’t? Why am I forced to subscribe to something I don’t want – NBA League Pass – in order to get something I do want – NBA Broadband?

Can someone smarter than me explain why the NBA deems it necessary for their customers to buy League Pass, when there are thousands of people like myself who only want to watch the games on the internet, and who are willing to pay for it? That it’s either pay us $199 for League Pass, or nothing?

At this moment, you can go to mlb.com and sign up for mlb.tv all winter long for $15. Now, there’s not much going on in the winter, but that’s a heckuva deal. Why is Major League Baseball able to do this, but the NBA – the self-proclaimed purveyor of all things hip and now – is not?

Maybe there’s an intelligent explanation out there. Until I hear it, though, I’m forced to use things like TVU or SopCast to watch TV on the internet, and hope the connection works when the Sonics are on.