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Showing posts with the label NBA

2017-18 NBA Tip-Off!!!

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     After an off-season that seems to have never actually ended and with a season ahead of us full of seemingly foregone conclusions, the NBA season is back on tonight with two pretty highly-touted games.  Boston and Cleveland will tip off the season at 8pm, a game of interest with the movement and back-and-forth between the teams late in the offseason.  That will be followed at 10:30pm by the up-and-coming Houston Rockets taking on the defending champion Golden State Warriors. It’s as if the NBA schedule writers KNEW the NFL would be mired in knee-deep shit with the protests and beefing with the fuckboy in chief 45 and decided to throw out some games of interest right from the start. As much time as I would love to expound on the virtues of basketball, I am already 138 words in and I have a short attention span.  I will get right to the NBA season predications. Rookie of the Year      LaVar Ball, Los Angeles Lakers…  No, that was not a typo.  I am well aware that

The Asian "Crush" in American Sports

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Urban Dictionary defines "Yellow Fever" as... Yeah, someone will surely view this as clearly one of the most racist blogs I have ever written, but… The major American sports all seem to have developed a form of Yellow fever in which EVERY player to come through their organization of Asian descent, they’re lifted and treated like the crown savior of that sport. Don’t believe me? Hideo Nomo came in with the baffling stretch-and-twist delivery that was soon caught onto by batters in MLB and despite the "ZOMG, HE'S ASIAN!!!" hype machine that carried him, he was traded once and released 4 or 5 times within his first 5 years. 12 MLB seasons, TWO post-season appearances, both losses, $35ish million earned on the strength of being Asian, it seems. Tiger Woods you know what? I can't be all the way mad at this one, he was by far the most successful on this list, speaking purely in terms of accomplishing what was ahead of him to do as his job. I can fully understand

If the lockout persists...

This is going to be a LONG fall/winter for me without NBA basketball… Yes, I know I will have NCAA ball from November through the beginning of April, but that is just not the same to me… Know who ELSE is going to miss those millionaires running up and down the court? TNT/TBS, ESPN/ABC and NBATV are all going to be HURT for the missing content. I thought to myself about what WOULD they put in the slots that are at this moment still allotted for the televising of NBA games this coming season if there happens to be no (or a shortened) season? This weekend, NBATV showed some “Hardwood Classics” games from years past, and the younger generation may have gotten to see a time where teams like Phoenix, Indiana, Portland and the New York Knicks all pretended to be credible threats to win an NBA championship. Yes, it was all pretending because of that Michael Jordan guy, and Hakeem Olajuwon while MJ went to pretend to be a baseball player to avoid suspension over gambling

Se Acabo

What a run it was, ¿que no? It’s been said that when your inevitable demise is met by universal cheer, you were either REALLY good at what they wanted to be or were a really bad person. I guess sports, as an arena in general is funny like that. One minute they hate you and the next they love you, sometimes stopping in-between to not bother with differentiating what or why they love or hate, just following what other people say is the proper response. Growing up in NC, where college basketball is God and deep-seated passive-aggressive racism his only son, Jesus , I see it daily in the form of individuals who cheer for or against Duke and UNC. Seeing it first hand is the number one way to become intimately acquainted with the very motives of the “anyone but…” -type fan. Of course, I am talking about the Lakers’ embarrassing loss yesterday to a team that, if history indicates ANYTHING, will inevitably choke and let their fans down… I’d left my house at the end of the second quarter, as

NBA Season-End post

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And what a season it was, no? Needless to say, for reasons not related to basketball, we have reached the close of one of the most interesting NBA seasons since the halcyon days of dudes who played in shorts that covered less than most dudes’ briefs do in 2011. Strangely, though, it had so little to do with actual basketball! “The decision/the ‘new big 3’ in Miami” “Where will Melo go?” “Where did these San Antonio Spurs guys come from?” “Why are the Bulls this good this fast?” “Why aren’t the Celtics and Lakers as good as we thought they were?” “Anyone seen Steve Nash lately?” “That Blake Griffin guy sure can dunk!” “Kevin Love… How’d we miss THAT guy!?” I really could carry the list on and on, but I try to limit myself to 5 million words or fewer in these posts… So never mind the drama that kept us watching basketball this year in the void that might be football (and basketball, by the way) in the coming fall/winter. Let’

LeBron, enjoy that vacation

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Why does it feel like we've been here before? Wait, it is more than likely because we have . My last posts on basketball (2 links, that) were rife with concern that Cleveland SHOULD be a problem for anyone they meet. In so many words, I had conceded to the inevitability of this being their championship season. Man, am I EVER glad I was wrong. Look, I know it seems like I am hating on the boy, and to that I will admit, fuck it. What bothers me not is the amount of times he gives, through his actions, REASONS to be hated on. No one remembers how he reacted to being blown off the court in his first finals, as no one expected them to be there, even themselves so their sweep was not even a small surprise. We ALL remember his walking off of the court without even congratulating his "friend" Dwight Howard, then offering the excuse... “It’s not being a poor sport or anything like that...If somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them,” James said. “It doesn’t

(28) Rules Changes

Ladies and gentlemen, I have taken on yet another full-time gig. Those that know me best know that I have only had 4 full-time jobs in the 12 years that I have been working full time, I will use this, my newest one as a supplement to my income and have a reason to spend time analyzing and looking over something I terribly enjoy. In such, I will not be quitting the old job, seeing as how the work that I will need to do most for the new one can be done from a computer during and/or after work. Keep in mind, now, that I did not apply for this job, I just decided that I wanted and went in and took it. Think somewhere along the lines of Fidel Castro in Cuba, Joseph Mobutu in Congo and George W. in 2000. I just walked in the fucking door and took the job and dare anyone effected by it to do something about it, care to try me? I will quit killing you talking AROUND what I will be doing, I am just going to tell you. ... right after I explain that the NBA is tore it's own ass

(15) The 'New' Season Begins

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This is what we're all after now... Okay, we have finally separated the wheat from the chaff and the NBA regular season has drawn to a close. Teams who did not stand a chance can spend the next 8 weeks thinking about what they will do in the NBA draft, and 2 following that making moves for the free agency boom that will see LeBron keeping his ass in Cleveland. [ Phlip note - I been saying it for 2 years now, and I will eat the proverbial crow if it doesn't happen] We can now speak of the things that one should at the end of a season, awards and playoffs and such. **Post Season Awards** I was wrong about Rookie of the Year, but I was not expecting The Clippers to be so unlucky as to have the kid Blake Griffin go down without playing a single game. As it were, and as a watcher of basketball, DeJuan Blair SHOULD win it, but Tyreke Evans or Brandon Jennings will win it, I am thinking Evans personally. Defensive player of the year is a no-brainer. Dwight Howard leads the league in

This (well, last) Week in Sporting news...

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NFL is gearing up for Draft Day and teams are feverishly releasing and signing players who already are and/or have been in the league for a while... And the Will he - Won't he Brett Favre drama rears its ugly head yet again. ... and Ben Roethlisberger allegedly inserting his penis in an unauthorized manner into someone's recently post-teenage daughter. [ Phlip note - put a pin in that one, I am coming back to it] The NBA is in the post-All Star lull just following trade deadlines, where players pay actual acknowledgment and medical attention to any injuries to prepare themselves for either the post season or next season, dependent upon whether or not they will even BE in the playoffs next year. We also see players posturing to shore up their stats, or make last-ditch efforts to make their names as huge as possible in hopes of windfall monetary gains in the offseason, if not directly through a free agent contract, then by any means necessary, word to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz .