The Arizona Diamondbacks are a disappointing 30-30. Yet I couldn't be more optimistic about them.
The Diamondbacks have a great, albeit enigmal, manager in Kirk Gibson. They just signed a purdy good catcher to stay with them for five more years. They have great talent at first base (Goldschmidt), and all three outfield spots (Parra, Young, Kubel). They've found great 'fill-in-the-gaps' guys for the rest of the infield (Hill, Bloomquist, MacDonald, Roberts), and they have A TON of talented, young pitching. Kennedy, Hudson, Cahill (who may not stay long), Miley, Corbin, Bauer, Skaggs, Collmenter.
The Diamondbacks are in good shape for at least four more seasons after this one. As long as they stay as far away from Robert Sarver as possible, they'll be in good shape.
Anyway, I've been able to see the Diamondbacks live much more this season and last season than ever before. Growing up sure is fun! They went into this season with a starting rotation of Kennedy, Hudson, Collmenter, Cahill and Saunders. Kennedy had a rough start, but he's looking a lot better lately. I've been consistent and adamant that Daniel Hudson is not a No. 2 starter at the major league level. A 3 at best, but most likely a 4. I like the guy, I've met him, but he isn't that good. Collmenter came out and had an ERA of about 178.35 or so. Cahill and Saunders have both been pretty solid for what people expected.
Collmenter has been moved to the bullpen where he has been wonderful. Wade Miley moved from the bullpen to the rotation where he has been wonderful.
I've seen Wade Miley pitch twice. Last year he came up and got a few starts under his belt. He looked shaky, but the offense always backed him up. This year he has been phenomenal. I watched him pitch eight innings of one run ball last week.
As things stand right now, he is ninth in the National League in ERA at 2.53. Um, he's a rookie.
He's tied for 14th in WHIP at 1.09.
Tied for 15th in opponent batting average at .225.
Dude's a rookie!
I know it's difficult for pitcher's to earn fan respect over position players, but Wade Miley is easily NL Rookie of the Year to this point. Don't insubordinate him for being a pitcher. Don't call his talent and work ethic into question for being a member of the 'West coast' Diamondbacks. Give him the respect he deserves, Baseball Experts!
Monday, June 11, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Season Wrap Up
The '05-'06 Mesa Junior High Eagles Basketball team.
#22-Jorge Rivera (7 points per game)
#32-Adrian Bernal (8.4 ppg)
#23-Greg King (7.8 ppg)
#21-Erik Portillo (1.7 ppg)
#13-Martin Vega (8.1 ppg)
Top left-Max Hoshnic, assistant coach extraordinaire
#43-Lorenzo Velazco (11.9 ppg)
#40-Alex Castellanos (0.4 ppg)
#30-Craig Roberts (0.2 ppg)
#31-Andy Huber (0.5 ppg)
#42-Angel Sanchez (1.2 ppg)
James Todd McEvers, proud head coach (with his signature on his chest)
Tina Orellana, scorekeeper
(You can click on the picture to enlarge it and better see the fine details.)
EDITOR'S NOTE
#20 Sealtiel Bazoco doesn't count. He flunked out of both tennis and basketball and hardly helped the team in any way. I lobbied for him to not be in the picture.
The numbers aren't perfect. Tina did her best. She was really good. And she didn't take any crap, she was often found yelling at various members of the team.
The biggest stat is 139 for 312 on free throws for the season. That's 45 %. That's beyond awful! We would've won at least four more games if we could've made free throws.
We were a team. Custom team shorts that you can catch me wearing. We had team shoes, team socks. I tried to get everybody to wear a headband.
The best three months. I would really do anything to get another chance like that one.
Hendrix, Kino and Powell Part Deux
January 31, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Hendrix.
This is a team we had beat rather easily two weeks prior. It's always more difficult to win on the road. Home court advantage is real, especially in basketball. It's statistically proven and I know it from experience. Personally, I had distanced myself from the team. I grew selfish and just wanted playing time, even though I knew I wasn't nearly as good as the guys ahead of me. McEvers talked to the team about this, but I knew it was 100% directed at me.
Anyway, we got to use the girls' locker room at Hendrix. Something happened in there that I hope not to forget, but I hesitate to post because of the comments I may get.
As the game got started, I took the last seat on the bench, furthest from halfcourt. This isn't normal. I was usually right over there, next to Max, the assistant coach. I feel like there were at least two chairs between me and the closest teammate the whole time.
We led 16-8 after one and 30-14 at half. We were in total control. We were using a full-court press that was just ripping them apart. They couldn't beat it! They were completely suppressed. We laid an egg in the third and only put up six points. No worries. We were still up 36-24.
Adrian got a technical foul in the third quarter. If I remember correctly, it was a loose ball. Adrian dove for it, had complete control of the ball and was lying there by himself. A Hendrix player then jumped on top of Adrian and started trying to wrestle the ball away. The refs blew their whistle to indicate a foul on Hendrix. Adrian forcefully used his elbow to push the Hendrix player off of him and leave his body print in the court. He got T'ed up for that.
McEvers didn't like that. Common sportsmanship tells us we should let up on the full-court press, being up big in the fourth quarter. McEvers encouraged us to continue with it. He didn't care at all. Adrian shouldn't have been called for a technical foul in his opinion. He was gonna take it out on Hendrix.
With about five minutes to go, McEvers put me in. I made a three. The Mesa Jr. girls team had played before us and were all in the stands. I remember it well. Adrian promised to get me an open look. I was on the left wing by myself. He got me the ball. #40 of Hendrix, their biggest guy, came running at me. I launched it over his outstretched hand. I like to think it was a swish. It definitely went in the hoop. I was basically a hero in front of all the girls.
We wound up winning 57-38. 15 of our 21 fourth quarter points came from three pointers. In fact, our last twelve points were from three pointers. Adrian had three, Greg had one and I had one.
6-11.
February 2, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Kino.
Two weeks prior, we had won an epic battle against this team. In our building. That's crucial.
We had two pretty good quarters in this game. But, this is one of those times where you say the team just wasn't focused. Wasn't ready mentally. First of all, we got their tiny, cramped weight room to meet in. They had pictures of all kinds of nasty, roided-up guys in there. But, Kino wanted revenge pretty badly.
We go out and think it's gonna be another close game. But, Kino is playing this zone defense that is just killing us. It seemed like a miracle when we finally got our first point from a Jorge Riviera free throw. We were lucky to be down 14-3 after one. McEvers obviously didn't know what to do and was willing to try anything, I got some playing time in that first quarter.
We must figure out a way to get Lorenzo the ball in the second quarter because he puts up seven points for us. It looks like we're gonna be down 35-20 going into halftime. But Greg gets the inbound, dribbles to halfcourt and just basically lobs it up as the buzzer sounds. I still think he didn't get it off in time, but the ball goes in. For no good reason. Our bench erupts. The officials look at each other and almost simultaneously put their arms up to signal the basket is good. 35-23. We go into their tiny, cramped weight room with lots of energy and momentum. We were gonna win this in dramatic fashion...
...We score one point in the third quarter. One Adrian Bernal free throw. Where the energy and momentum went, I have no idea. McEvers was again willing to try anything because I got in there in the third. I remember crouching in front of the scorer's table. Our scorekeeper, Tina, told me, "Always be ready for the ball. Expect them to pass it to you." We were down 49-24 after three.
With the game in essence over, our guys decided to start having fun. Lorenzo started launching threes, he even made two. Jorge got one for himself. McEvers was gonna put in, I assume, Erik and/or Angel with about four minutes to go. He looked up at the scoreboard.
"Oh, what the hell!" he said as he hugged the air in front of him. He emptied his bench all at once. I'm sure we didn't score another point from that time on. We lost 67-40.
Kino may think they're the better team because they barely lost to us at Mesa Jr. and beat the crap out of us at Kino. However, anybody should be able to win a home game. A five-game series is really the only way to tell. And I strongly believe we would've won had we played again. Doesn't matter where.
6-12.
February 3, 2006. Powell vs. Mesa Jr.
The last game of the season. We had pretty easily handled Powell the first time, but that was coming off a very big, emotional win. This time we were coming off a loss where the starters just sat and laughed the final minutes away.
We're up 12-8 after one and 30-23 at half. Our crowd is good, but not great. Don't they know this is their final chance to see a respectable team at Mesa Jr.?
Lorenzo scores 11 of our 12 third quarter points and maintains our lead. 42-35. This game is closer than I wanted it to be.
We're up two late, but Powell has possession. I really wish I could remember the final play of the season, but I can't. I just know we ended it with a win. 56-54.
A 7-12 record doesn't seem all that great. It's a .368 win percentage. But, we won six of our last eight games. Everyone thinks Ken Whisenhunt and John Skelton are heroes for taking the 1-6 Cardinals to and 8-8 finish this past season. We'll see how they do this upcoming season and say that's how Mesa Jr.'s '05-'06 basketball would've done if we would've had another season. IF we could've had more time, we definitely would've looked more respectable. IF we could've played another season together or anything like that, we would've been the team nobody wants to play.
This is a team we had beat rather easily two weeks prior. It's always more difficult to win on the road. Home court advantage is real, especially in basketball. It's statistically proven and I know it from experience. Personally, I had distanced myself from the team. I grew selfish and just wanted playing time, even though I knew I wasn't nearly as good as the guys ahead of me. McEvers talked to the team about this, but I knew it was 100% directed at me.
Anyway, we got to use the girls' locker room at Hendrix. Something happened in there that I hope not to forget, but I hesitate to post because of the comments I may get.
As the game got started, I took the last seat on the bench, furthest from halfcourt. This isn't normal. I was usually right over there, next to Max, the assistant coach. I feel like there were at least two chairs between me and the closest teammate the whole time.
We led 16-8 after one and 30-14 at half. We were in total control. We were using a full-court press that was just ripping them apart. They couldn't beat it! They were completely suppressed. We laid an egg in the third and only put up six points. No worries. We were still up 36-24.
Adrian got a technical foul in the third quarter. If I remember correctly, it was a loose ball. Adrian dove for it, had complete control of the ball and was lying there by himself. A Hendrix player then jumped on top of Adrian and started trying to wrestle the ball away. The refs blew their whistle to indicate a foul on Hendrix. Adrian forcefully used his elbow to push the Hendrix player off of him and leave his body print in the court. He got T'ed up for that.
McEvers didn't like that. Common sportsmanship tells us we should let up on the full-court press, being up big in the fourth quarter. McEvers encouraged us to continue with it. He didn't care at all. Adrian shouldn't have been called for a technical foul in his opinion. He was gonna take it out on Hendrix.
With about five minutes to go, McEvers put me in. I made a three. The Mesa Jr. girls team had played before us and were all in the stands. I remember it well. Adrian promised to get me an open look. I was on the left wing by myself. He got me the ball. #40 of Hendrix, their biggest guy, came running at me. I launched it over his outstretched hand. I like to think it was a swish. It definitely went in the hoop. I was basically a hero in front of all the girls.
We wound up winning 57-38. 15 of our 21 fourth quarter points came from three pointers. In fact, our last twelve points were from three pointers. Adrian had three, Greg had one and I had one.
6-11.
February 2, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Kino.
Two weeks prior, we had won an epic battle against this team. In our building. That's crucial.
We had two pretty good quarters in this game. But, this is one of those times where you say the team just wasn't focused. Wasn't ready mentally. First of all, we got their tiny, cramped weight room to meet in. They had pictures of all kinds of nasty, roided-up guys in there. But, Kino wanted revenge pretty badly.
We go out and think it's gonna be another close game. But, Kino is playing this zone defense that is just killing us. It seemed like a miracle when we finally got our first point from a Jorge Riviera free throw. We were lucky to be down 14-3 after one. McEvers obviously didn't know what to do and was willing to try anything, I got some playing time in that first quarter.
We must figure out a way to get Lorenzo the ball in the second quarter because he puts up seven points for us. It looks like we're gonna be down 35-20 going into halftime. But Greg gets the inbound, dribbles to halfcourt and just basically lobs it up as the buzzer sounds. I still think he didn't get it off in time, but the ball goes in. For no good reason. Our bench erupts. The officials look at each other and almost simultaneously put their arms up to signal the basket is good. 35-23. We go into their tiny, cramped weight room with lots of energy and momentum. We were gonna win this in dramatic fashion...
...We score one point in the third quarter. One Adrian Bernal free throw. Where the energy and momentum went, I have no idea. McEvers was again willing to try anything because I got in there in the third. I remember crouching in front of the scorer's table. Our scorekeeper, Tina, told me, "Always be ready for the ball. Expect them to pass it to you." We were down 49-24 after three.
With the game in essence over, our guys decided to start having fun. Lorenzo started launching threes, he even made two. Jorge got one for himself. McEvers was gonna put in, I assume, Erik and/or Angel with about four minutes to go. He looked up at the scoreboard.
"Oh, what the hell!" he said as he hugged the air in front of him. He emptied his bench all at once. I'm sure we didn't score another point from that time on. We lost 67-40.
Kino may think they're the better team because they barely lost to us at Mesa Jr. and beat the crap out of us at Kino. However, anybody should be able to win a home game. A five-game series is really the only way to tell. And I strongly believe we would've won had we played again. Doesn't matter where.
6-12.
February 3, 2006. Powell vs. Mesa Jr.
The last game of the season. We had pretty easily handled Powell the first time, but that was coming off a very big, emotional win. This time we were coming off a loss where the starters just sat and laughed the final minutes away.
We're up 12-8 after one and 30-23 at half. Our crowd is good, but not great. Don't they know this is their final chance to see a respectable team at Mesa Jr.?
Lorenzo scores 11 of our 12 third quarter points and maintains our lead. 42-35. This game is closer than I wanted it to be.
We're up two late, but Powell has possession. I really wish I could remember the final play of the season, but I can't. I just know we ended it with a win. 56-54.
A 7-12 record doesn't seem all that great. It's a .368 win percentage. But, we won six of our last eight games. Everyone thinks Ken Whisenhunt and John Skelton are heroes for taking the 1-6 Cardinals to and 8-8 finish this past season. We'll see how they do this upcoming season and say that's how Mesa Jr.'s '05-'06 basketball would've done if we would've had another season. IF we could've had more time, we definitely would've looked more respectable. IF we could've played another season together or anything like that, we would've been the team nobody wants to play.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Rhodes and Carson Part Deux
January 24, 2006. Rhodes vs. Mesa Jr.
We were cocky. We had a three game win streak. But we knew this team beat us two weeks prior. We knew it would be a challenge.
We feel good. We're hyped. We have a good crowd. We put up six points in the first eight minutes. Down 17-6 after one. We put up 18 points in the second quarter, but so does Rhodes. We're down 35-24 at half. That isn't terrible. 11 points is a climbable mountain.
But, we put up six more points in the third quarter. We're trailing 53-30. McEvers lets me start the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, I really don't remember playing in this game. We held them to five 4th quarter points, but managed to lose 58-38.
A really poor showing. 4-11.
January 27, 2006. Carson vs. Mesa Jr.
So, we got trounced by a better basketball team a few days earlier, but we knew we could beat Carson. We knew we should've won the first meeting. We weren't gonna let them come to our gym and beat us.
This was a really good game to watch. We were up 20-14 after one and 36-27 at the half. We had gained a lot of confidence throughout the season and knew we had this in the bag.
Four of five starters scored in double figures for us. We led 50-40 after three. I wish I could remember more. McEvers earned himself a technical foul during the course of the fourth quarter. I don't remember why. I just remember we let them back in the game and it came down to the last play.
Our home crowd was rockin. We're up 62-60 with less than 20 seconds to go. Carson has the ball. They run their play and do their stuff, the dude goes up for a shot to tie it from the top of the key. And Lorenzo Velazco gets his nasty paw on the ball to seal the win! The crowd went crazy.
5-11.
We were cocky. We had a three game win streak. But we knew this team beat us two weeks prior. We knew it would be a challenge.
We feel good. We're hyped. We have a good crowd. We put up six points in the first eight minutes. Down 17-6 after one. We put up 18 points in the second quarter, but so does Rhodes. We're down 35-24 at half. That isn't terrible. 11 points is a climbable mountain.
But, we put up six more points in the third quarter. We're trailing 53-30. McEvers lets me start the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, I really don't remember playing in this game. We held them to five 4th quarter points, but managed to lose 58-38.
A really poor showing. 4-11.
January 27, 2006. Carson vs. Mesa Jr.
So, we got trounced by a better basketball team a few days earlier, but we knew we could beat Carson. We knew we should've won the first meeting. We weren't gonna let them come to our gym and beat us.
This was a really good game to watch. We were up 20-14 after one and 36-27 at the half. We had gained a lot of confidence throughout the season and knew we had this in the bag.
Four of five starters scored in double figures for us. We led 50-40 after three. I wish I could remember more. McEvers earned himself a technical foul during the course of the fourth quarter. I don't remember why. I just remember we let them back in the game and it came down to the last play.
Our home crowd was rockin. We're up 62-60 with less than 20 seconds to go. Carson has the ball. They run their play and do their stuff, the dude goes up for a shot to tie it from the top of the key. And Lorenzo Velazco gets his nasty paw on the ball to seal the win! The crowd went crazy.
5-11.
Hendrix, Kino and Powell Part Un
January 17, 2006. Hendrix vs. Mesa Jr.
Hendrix rolled into our gym. We didn't know anything about them. They looked like pretty much any other team during warm ups. We felt pretty good. We were 1-10, but we weren't losing by 30+ points anymore. We felt like we could have and should have won at least three more games.
Hendrix had red uniforms. #12 on their team had pasty white skin and black hair. His last name is Brusnahan. Kirk Hinrich played for the Chicago Bulls at the time. I swear this Brusnahan guy looked exactly like this:
Anyway, me having the best seat in the house, and Mr. Brusnahan getting playing time in every quarter, I was relentlessly annoying. Every time he was anywhere near our bench, I would nonstop pester him, "Lookin good, Kirk Hinrich!" "Take that shot, Kirk Hinrich!" "etc., Kirk Hinrich!"
Now, that may seem really stupid to many of my readers, but I kid you not, I was annoying!! And I strongly believe to this day that I got under his skin and into his head.
Jorge Riviera, Greg King and Adrian Bernal all came up big in this came with the latter two combining for six trifectas. (That's huge at this level of the sport!)
We're up 15-6 after one and 26-19 at half. We put up 20 points in the third quarter, nine of which came from Greg's three three's. This was the start of a crazy hot streak for him. We're up 46-35 after three and McEvers had enough confidence in us to put both me and Craig in the game. Nothing exciting though. We won 57-43.
2-10 never felt so good.
January 19, 2006. Kino vs. Mesa Jr. This game was epic.
We were high off a win two days earlier. Having 6th hour P.E. and then about 40 minutes after school until tipoff always gave us quite a bit of time to screw around before home games. Well, on this day we were messin around (because McEvers let us [dare I say encouraged it at times]) and someone (I really don't know who, not me and not Lorenzo) launched a ridiculous shot that bounced off the wall and hit McEvers in the back of the head. He lost his God-given mind!!!
Immediately the blame was placed solely on Lorenzo, our star, leading scorer, rebounder and biggest guy. I swear he did not do it. I don't know who, just not him. McEvers absolutely lit him up!! It ended with McEvers telling Lorenzo he couldn't play that day. Basically a one-game suspension.
Lorenzo went to the locker room with his head down. The rest of us were shocked. Adrian and Greg, the other two team captains, started making their case to McEvers. He obviously had given up on the season, us being 2-10 and there being only seven games left and all. After a bit of deliberation, McEvers told us Lorenzo could play if we could talk him into it.
We all ran to the locker room. Lorenzo was slowly pulling his blue and gold long socks off (a team decision to all wear them.) He was crying. He didn't wanna play for McEvers. Not after that. I kinda don't blame him. We eventually got him to suit back up and lead his team.
Kino came in and looked like a bunch of big, tough guys. I think #44 even had a tattoo. They had one guy who was bigger than the rest. #23 Christian Trejo. I swear he looked just like this except in a jersey and without the smile:
On to the actual game. We soon learned we would have to be strong and physical if we were going to win. Our starters (Lorenzo Velazco, Jorge Riviera, Greg King, Adrian Bernal and Martin Vega) were pretty good at this. The rest of us were softies. We trailed 14-11 after one.
The crowd really showed up for this game. Having won a home game two days earlier, the word got around and that small grandstand was packed. They weren't a dead crowd either. "M-J-H!!!" rung around the gym. It was a good feeling, even from the bench.
Martin Vega played out of his mind in this game. I remember one sequence where he launched a three, knew he missed right away, ran down and grabbed the rebound, and laid it in for two. He scored seven of his 20 points in the second quarter. Greg kept launching threes and missing because he thought he was on a hot streak (he was.) McEvers took him aside during a timeout and told him straight up that his hot streak was over and he needed to pass more. We were up 30-26 at half.
Things started to get chippy in the third quarter. Martin put up six more points. We got six points off the bench and had our highest scoring quarter of the season, 22 points. Kino's #44 started to get into it with both Greg and Jorge. I knew Greg from about 4th grade through graduation. He had a reputation for fighting. He was gonna back down. Jorge was also a tough guy. Greg wound up ankle hurt in a scuffle and had to come out. #44 ended up getting T'ed up and forced to the bench. He scored 10 of his 14 points after that instance.
We were doing fine until Jorge fouled out in the third. Then, coming to the bench for a timeout, Adrian pulls his jersey out of his shorts. I thought nothing of it. He got T'ed up. His fifth foul. We're down two of our best players. We find a way to extend the lead to 52-42 after three quarters.
Even with the crowd being awesome, giving us as much of a home court advantage as possible, we got outscored 23-13 in the 4th. 9 of those 13 from Lorenzo before fouling out. Sucks to lose him, but we couldn't have won without him. 14 huge points. He and Jorge fouled out big Christian Trejo. That's huge. They no longer had a big, intimidating enforcer guarding the basket.
Greg was forced to play on a bad ankle. He and Martin were the only starters left. The game was tied at 65 after four quarters. The two head coaches and two officials met briefly to discuss what would happen. McEvers walked away from that meeting quite unhappy. There would be a four minute overtime period.
With three starters out, I got to play for about 30 seconds in overtime. But it was mostly Greg King, Martin Vega, Erik Portillo, Angel Sanchez and Alex Castillanos. Not a great lineup. Greg and Martin scored eight of our nine overtime points. This was an intense time. Greg knew it was up to him. He was ferocious! Offense, defense rebounding, everything. The crowd was very loud. Trejo was the only Kino starter who had fouled out.
I remember vividly watching Greg sink free throws with a grimace. He was in pain, but he knew losing this game would hurt more. It was perfect. He had the sweat dripping off his chin and everything. His last two were most important. We were down 73-72. Greg got fouled with four seconds on the clock. When he was on, he could sink free throws blindly. He sunk both of them. Calmly. With the atmosphere so chaotic, he seemed so calm. Really like he slowed down time.
Kino attempted to throw a full court inbound pass. But guess who stopped it. Greg King. He's probably never jumped that high since, but he leaped with all his energy and swatted the ball away. Erik ended up with it and the game was over.
Mesa Jr. 74 Kino 73 F/OT
The crowd rushed the floor. Oh, my!!!!! How cool that was!! Gilbert the security guy started blowing his whistle, but nobody could hear. Kino disrespected the chairs we let them sit on as the left the gym. They wanted to fight. I wanted to celebrate. McEvers made us get out of there. I wanted to stay and enjoy the moment. What a crazy emotional high! We ruled the school!!!
And to think, this all started with our coach threatening to not let our star play. We probably would've lost by 35 without him.
Best. Game. Ever.
January 20, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Powell.
One day after our epic victory. We went to Powell and they had a cool mural in their gym. They honestly didn't stand a chance. We were on a two-game win streak. Nothing could stop us.
We led 12-11 after one. 32-25 at half. I remember getting into this game, but not exactly when. I remember I was supposed to guard their big man. That's all McEvers wanted. I got one play. One chance. They were inbounding from halfcourt. I knew it was gonna come to my guy. He was bigger than I was. I just jumped as high as I could. He almost got it even still. But my efforts prevailed.
That's it.
Greg put in 18 points, including three from behind the arc. He was still hot. Lorenzo added 17 of his own. We were up 44-38 after three and won 59-46. A three game win streak. From 1-10 to 4-10. We were never gonna lose again. We just knew it!
Hendrix rolled into our gym. We didn't know anything about them. They looked like pretty much any other team during warm ups. We felt pretty good. We were 1-10, but we weren't losing by 30+ points anymore. We felt like we could have and should have won at least three more games.
Hendrix had red uniforms. #12 on their team had pasty white skin and black hair. His last name is Brusnahan. Kirk Hinrich played for the Chicago Bulls at the time. I swear this Brusnahan guy looked exactly like this:
Now, that may seem really stupid to many of my readers, but I kid you not, I was annoying!! And I strongly believe to this day that I got under his skin and into his head.
Jorge Riviera, Greg King and Adrian Bernal all came up big in this came with the latter two combining for six trifectas. (That's huge at this level of the sport!)
We're up 15-6 after one and 26-19 at half. We put up 20 points in the third quarter, nine of which came from Greg's three three's. This was the start of a crazy hot streak for him. We're up 46-35 after three and McEvers had enough confidence in us to put both me and Craig in the game. Nothing exciting though. We won 57-43.
2-10 never felt so good.
January 19, 2006. Kino vs. Mesa Jr. This game was epic.
We were high off a win two days earlier. Having 6th hour P.E. and then about 40 minutes after school until tipoff always gave us quite a bit of time to screw around before home games. Well, on this day we were messin around (because McEvers let us [dare I say encouraged it at times]) and someone (I really don't know who, not me and not Lorenzo) launched a ridiculous shot that bounced off the wall and hit McEvers in the back of the head. He lost his God-given mind!!!
Immediately the blame was placed solely on Lorenzo, our star, leading scorer, rebounder and biggest guy. I swear he did not do it. I don't know who, just not him. McEvers absolutely lit him up!! It ended with McEvers telling Lorenzo he couldn't play that day. Basically a one-game suspension.
Lorenzo went to the locker room with his head down. The rest of us were shocked. Adrian and Greg, the other two team captains, started making their case to McEvers. He obviously had given up on the season, us being 2-10 and there being only seven games left and all. After a bit of deliberation, McEvers told us Lorenzo could play if we could talk him into it.
We all ran to the locker room. Lorenzo was slowly pulling his blue and gold long socks off (a team decision to all wear them.) He was crying. He didn't wanna play for McEvers. Not after that. I kinda don't blame him. We eventually got him to suit back up and lead his team.
Kino came in and looked like a bunch of big, tough guys. I think #44 even had a tattoo. They had one guy who was bigger than the rest. #23 Christian Trejo. I swear he looked just like this except in a jersey and without the smile:
The crowd really showed up for this game. Having won a home game two days earlier, the word got around and that small grandstand was packed. They weren't a dead crowd either. "M-J-H!!!" rung around the gym. It was a good feeling, even from the bench.
Martin Vega played out of his mind in this game. I remember one sequence where he launched a three, knew he missed right away, ran down and grabbed the rebound, and laid it in for two. He scored seven of his 20 points in the second quarter. Greg kept launching threes and missing because he thought he was on a hot streak (he was.) McEvers took him aside during a timeout and told him straight up that his hot streak was over and he needed to pass more. We were up 30-26 at half.
Things started to get chippy in the third quarter. Martin put up six more points. We got six points off the bench and had our highest scoring quarter of the season, 22 points. Kino's #44 started to get into it with both Greg and Jorge. I knew Greg from about 4th grade through graduation. He had a reputation for fighting. He was gonna back down. Jorge was also a tough guy. Greg wound up ankle hurt in a scuffle and had to come out. #44 ended up getting T'ed up and forced to the bench. He scored 10 of his 14 points after that instance.
We were doing fine until Jorge fouled out in the third. Then, coming to the bench for a timeout, Adrian pulls his jersey out of his shorts. I thought nothing of it. He got T'ed up. His fifth foul. We're down two of our best players. We find a way to extend the lead to 52-42 after three quarters.
Even with the crowd being awesome, giving us as much of a home court advantage as possible, we got outscored 23-13 in the 4th. 9 of those 13 from Lorenzo before fouling out. Sucks to lose him, but we couldn't have won without him. 14 huge points. He and Jorge fouled out big Christian Trejo. That's huge. They no longer had a big, intimidating enforcer guarding the basket.
Greg was forced to play on a bad ankle. He and Martin were the only starters left. The game was tied at 65 after four quarters. The two head coaches and two officials met briefly to discuss what would happen. McEvers walked away from that meeting quite unhappy. There would be a four minute overtime period.
With three starters out, I got to play for about 30 seconds in overtime. But it was mostly Greg King, Martin Vega, Erik Portillo, Angel Sanchez and Alex Castillanos. Not a great lineup. Greg and Martin scored eight of our nine overtime points. This was an intense time. Greg knew it was up to him. He was ferocious! Offense, defense rebounding, everything. The crowd was very loud. Trejo was the only Kino starter who had fouled out.
I remember vividly watching Greg sink free throws with a grimace. He was in pain, but he knew losing this game would hurt more. It was perfect. He had the sweat dripping off his chin and everything. His last two were most important. We were down 73-72. Greg got fouled with four seconds on the clock. When he was on, he could sink free throws blindly. He sunk both of them. Calmly. With the atmosphere so chaotic, he seemed so calm. Really like he slowed down time.
Kino attempted to throw a full court inbound pass. But guess who stopped it. Greg King. He's probably never jumped that high since, but he leaped with all his energy and swatted the ball away. Erik ended up with it and the game was over.
Mesa Jr. 74 Kino 73 F/OT
The crowd rushed the floor. Oh, my!!!!! How cool that was!! Gilbert the security guy started blowing his whistle, but nobody could hear. Kino disrespected the chairs we let them sit on as the left the gym. They wanted to fight. I wanted to celebrate. McEvers made us get out of there. I wanted to stay and enjoy the moment. What a crazy emotional high! We ruled the school!!!
And to think, this all started with our coach threatening to not let our star play. We probably would've lost by 35 without him.
Best. Game. Ever.
January 20, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Powell.
One day after our epic victory. We went to Powell and they had a cool mural in their gym. They honestly didn't stand a chance. We were on a two-game win streak. Nothing could stop us.
We led 12-11 after one. 32-25 at half. I remember getting into this game, but not exactly when. I remember I was supposed to guard their big man. That's all McEvers wanted. I got one play. One chance. They were inbounding from halfcourt. I knew it was gonna come to my guy. He was bigger than I was. I just jumped as high as I could. He almost got it even still. But my efforts prevailed.
That's it.
Greg put in 18 points, including three from behind the arc. He was still hot. Lorenzo added 17 of his own. We were up 44-38 after three and won 59-46. A three game win streak. From 1-10 to 4-10. We were never gonna lose again. We just knew it!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Rhodes and Carson Part Un
January 10, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Rhodes.
This game was the first of 10 in our division or region or whatever. We found out quickly they are the best team in our division or region or whatever.
16-8 after one quarter. 31-14 at half. 50-35 after three. 69-46 final.
I got in to play in the fourth quarter. I remember I was fighting for a rebound and got pushed out of bounds with the ball. I heard the whistle and thought it was just an out of bounds call. Little did I know they were waiting for me to get to the free throw line. I was shocked. All the starters on the bench were yelling at me to make sure I didn't airball it and stuff. It was a one-and-one situation, so I had to make the first one to earn a second. I went through my dribbling and breathing routine that I had practiced all season. And I bounced it off the back of the rim. Still, I can say I only missed one free throw all season.
As we left Rhodes, we were a 1-9 team. However, we felt like we played well against them. Well enough to beat them next time. We were confident.
January 13, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Carson.
This is a game we should've absolutely won. It was tied at 9 after the first quarter. We were up 17-14 at half. McEvers seemed especially emotional during this game.
I got about 20 seconds of action during the third quarter because McEvers was so mad at one of the other guys. Then I took an ill-advised shot and found my chair still warm from when I had left it.
Tied at 25 after three, we lost 41-35. 6 for 23 on free throws. That's a solid 26%. That's what McEvers pointed to afterward. That and foul trouble. Two things our team wasn't able to solve all year.
This game was the first of 10 in our division or region or whatever. We found out quickly they are the best team in our division or region or whatever.
16-8 after one quarter. 31-14 at half. 50-35 after three. 69-46 final.
I got in to play in the fourth quarter. I remember I was fighting for a rebound and got pushed out of bounds with the ball. I heard the whistle and thought it was just an out of bounds call. Little did I know they were waiting for me to get to the free throw line. I was shocked. All the starters on the bench were yelling at me to make sure I didn't airball it and stuff. It was a one-and-one situation, so I had to make the first one to earn a second. I went through my dribbling and breathing routine that I had practiced all season. And I bounced it off the back of the rim. Still, I can say I only missed one free throw all season.
As we left Rhodes, we were a 1-9 team. However, we felt like we played well against them. Well enough to beat them next time. We were confident.
January 13, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Carson.
This is a game we should've absolutely won. It was tied at 9 after the first quarter. We were up 17-14 at half. McEvers seemed especially emotional during this game.
I got about 20 seconds of action during the third quarter because McEvers was so mad at one of the other guys. Then I took an ill-advised shot and found my chair still warm from when I had left it.
Tied at 25 after three, we lost 41-35. 6 for 23 on free throws. That's a solid 26%. That's what McEvers pointed to afterward. That and foul trouble. Two things our team wasn't able to solve all year.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Stapley and Mesquite
January 5, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Stapley.
Christmas break brought good practices. Only problem was four of our top five guys never showed up. McEvers told the bench guys we would get to start the game against Stapley for showing up. However, when we were in the Stapley gym with the game about to start, he pulled us aside and said, "I wanna start my regular guys. I think it gives us the best chance to win. That ok with you guys?" The other four said yeah. I said screw that.
So, I started this game. After my guy scored two quick layups, I was on the bench until the fourth quarter. We were down 11-7 after one. 24-13 at half.46-21 after three.
Somewhere along the line I leaned over to assistant coach extraordinaire Max Hoshnic and said, "Put me in, and I'll foul them and injure them. Then I'll make a three." The ref heard it and called me for a technical foul. McEvers didn't like this at the time, but he learned to laugh it off later.
We wound up losing 63-29.
January 6, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Mesquite.
On the way to this game, McEvers had the bus driver stop at a Fry's or Safeway or somethin. He went in and came out with a big ol' Gatorade for each one of us.
Mesquite was probably the coolest gym we played in. The players had cushy seats and there were seats on both sides, and it was very well lit. I remember that.
We were down 8-6 after the first quarter. I got to play in the second quarter. I got a wide open shot. It was a long two. I took my time with it, and it barely rimmed out. I knew if I could've made that, I would've gotten to stay in the game. I got yanked. We were down 20-14 at half.
McEvers had a bunch of trouble with the refs in this game. We had seen the same refs a bunch of times playing teams in Mesa, but these were different ones and they wouldn't let him call a timeout. He was screaming for one and couldn't get it. Finally he wrote "TIMEOUT" really big on the back of his whiteboard and took 3 or 4 steps onto the court. Staring down the refs, he finally got his timeout. You could tell he wanted us to throttle Mesquite after that.
We were down 38-20 after three and lost 59-27.
On the bus ride back to Mesa Jr., McEvers was talking to someone and said, "I'm just looking at my situation, and would I rather be doing something else right now? The answer is yes."
Must be tough to coach a team to a 1-8 record.
Christmas break brought good practices. Only problem was four of our top five guys never showed up. McEvers told the bench guys we would get to start the game against Stapley for showing up. However, when we were in the Stapley gym with the game about to start, he pulled us aside and said, "I wanna start my regular guys. I think it gives us the best chance to win. That ok with you guys?" The other four said yeah. I said screw that.
So, I started this game. After my guy scored two quick layups, I was on the bench until the fourth quarter. We were down 11-7 after one. 24-13 at half.46-21 after three.
Somewhere along the line I leaned over to assistant coach extraordinaire Max Hoshnic and said, "Put me in, and I'll foul them and injure them. Then I'll make a three." The ref heard it and called me for a technical foul. McEvers didn't like this at the time, but he learned to laugh it off later.
We wound up losing 63-29.
January 6, 2006. Mesa Jr. vs. Mesquite.
On the way to this game, McEvers had the bus driver stop at a Fry's or Safeway or somethin. He went in and came out with a big ol' Gatorade for each one of us.
Mesquite was probably the coolest gym we played in. The players had cushy seats and there were seats on both sides, and it was very well lit. I remember that.
We were down 8-6 after the first quarter. I got to play in the second quarter. I got a wide open shot. It was a long two. I took my time with it, and it barely rimmed out. I knew if I could've made that, I would've gotten to stay in the game. I got yanked. We were down 20-14 at half.
McEvers had a bunch of trouble with the refs in this game. We had seen the same refs a bunch of times playing teams in Mesa, but these were different ones and they wouldn't let him call a timeout. He was screaming for one and couldn't get it. Finally he wrote "TIMEOUT" really big on the back of his whiteboard and took 3 or 4 steps onto the court. Staring down the refs, he finally got his timeout. You could tell he wanted us to throttle Mesquite after that.
We were down 38-20 after three and lost 59-27.
On the bus ride back to Mesa Jr., McEvers was talking to someone and said, "I'm just looking at my situation, and would I rather be doing something else right now? The answer is yes."
Must be tough to coach a team to a 1-8 record.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Paradise Valley, Brimhall and Smith
December 6, 2005. Mesa Jr. vs. Paradise Valley.
First of all, this was the longest bus ride ever. It was even longer on the way back. McEvers only played six guys this game. I was still in his inner circle and was Guy #6.
We were still confident from playing Fremont closely for a quarter and had a 14-11 lead after the first quarter. Lorenzo didn't score and we had a lead. That's crazy.
Sometime in the second, I was standing under the hoop waiting for a rebound when Greg King inexplicably passed me the ball. I was open, sure. But I can't catch a basketball. And I sure can't throw one. I was too surprised to have any composure and just threw it where I thought the hoop was. It bounced high off the backboard and went in.
We went into the locker room up 22-21. That was an excited locker room. It was our first lead of the season! We were super giddy. Unfortunately it was short lived. I don't know if it was because Mesa High's JV squad and coaches had arrived to play after us and were watching, but we got outscored 14-5 in the third quarter. One Adrian Bernal trifecta and one Lorenzo Velazco field goal. That's all we could muster.
Our fourth quarter efforts were matched by Paradise Valley. 46-38 was the final. We were pretty ticked off after this one to say the least.
December 9, 2005. Mesa Jr. vs. Brimhall.
As you can see, we'd slowly been building confidence and learning how to play together. Honestly, during pregame warmups, I looked at Brimhall's team and thought we were gonna lose. Greg sat this game out. He said he was sick. Load of crap. I got the start because of that.
I don't remember much of the gameplay in this one. We were up 14-4 after one. 24-15 at half. After getting some third quarter minutes, I was replaced. As I went to sit down, McEvers had his hand out toward me. I didn't notice. After sitting, he came and towered over me with his hand extended. I was tired and my mind wasn't functioning properly. "I don't know what that means. I'm sorry," I said.
"Shake his hand!" yelled Luis Hernandez, our 'manager', from behind. So, I shook his hand. He squeezed as hard as he could, leaned in and said, "You will sit the rest of this game."
With his nicotine-laced breath hanging there, I said, "Ok," and checked out mentally. He must've seen this as bad sportsmanship by me. As me being pissed off that I was being taken out. I honestly was just tired and not very cognizant of the situation. This was the turning point of the season for me. I had been given a lot of playing time up to this point. I had been the sixth man up to this point. This mental slip moved me straight to ninth man and official benchwarmer.
We were up 41-27 after three. With Greg out, McEvers only had nine players and was forced to put me in the fourth quarter to get one of his starters out. I couldn't focus though. We ended up winning our first game of the season 56-40.
December 13, 2005. Smith vs. Mesa Jr.
The guys gave Greg crap about not playing. Telling him he shouldn't play anymore and we might keep winning. I think we may have been a tad overconfident coming off our first victory.
We were up 7-4 after one and 17-12 at halftime. Trailing 29-26 after three, we felt like we could win.
I really only remember one thing about this game. In the closing minutes, we were trailing. I don't recall the exact score and situation, but we needed a three. Adrian Bernal, our sharpshooter, was literally four feet in front of me. I had as good a view as anybody. He caught a pass on the right wing, pump faked, took a dribble and repositioned to the left to take an open three. The ref called him for a travel. Awful call. I saw it as good, if not better than that ref. There's no way that was a travel. He would've made that shot and we would've been right back in the game.
We wound up losing 44-38.
First of all, this was the longest bus ride ever. It was even longer on the way back. McEvers only played six guys this game. I was still in his inner circle and was Guy #6.
We were still confident from playing Fremont closely for a quarter and had a 14-11 lead after the first quarter. Lorenzo didn't score and we had a lead. That's crazy.
Sometime in the second, I was standing under the hoop waiting for a rebound when Greg King inexplicably passed me the ball. I was open, sure. But I can't catch a basketball. And I sure can't throw one. I was too surprised to have any composure and just threw it where I thought the hoop was. It bounced high off the backboard and went in.
We went into the locker room up 22-21. That was an excited locker room. It was our first lead of the season! We were super giddy. Unfortunately it was short lived. I don't know if it was because Mesa High's JV squad and coaches had arrived to play after us and were watching, but we got outscored 14-5 in the third quarter. One Adrian Bernal trifecta and one Lorenzo Velazco field goal. That's all we could muster.
Our fourth quarter efforts were matched by Paradise Valley. 46-38 was the final. We were pretty ticked off after this one to say the least.
December 9, 2005. Mesa Jr. vs. Brimhall.
As you can see, we'd slowly been building confidence and learning how to play together. Honestly, during pregame warmups, I looked at Brimhall's team and thought we were gonna lose. Greg sat this game out. He said he was sick. Load of crap. I got the start because of that.
I don't remember much of the gameplay in this one. We were up 14-4 after one. 24-15 at half. After getting some third quarter minutes, I was replaced. As I went to sit down, McEvers had his hand out toward me. I didn't notice. After sitting, he came and towered over me with his hand extended. I was tired and my mind wasn't functioning properly. "I don't know what that means. I'm sorry," I said.
"Shake his hand!" yelled Luis Hernandez, our 'manager', from behind. So, I shook his hand. He squeezed as hard as he could, leaned in and said, "You will sit the rest of this game."
With his nicotine-laced breath hanging there, I said, "Ok," and checked out mentally. He must've seen this as bad sportsmanship by me. As me being pissed off that I was being taken out. I honestly was just tired and not very cognizant of the situation. This was the turning point of the season for me. I had been given a lot of playing time up to this point. I had been the sixth man up to this point. This mental slip moved me straight to ninth man and official benchwarmer.
We were up 41-27 after three. With Greg out, McEvers only had nine players and was forced to put me in the fourth quarter to get one of his starters out. I couldn't focus though. We ended up winning our first game of the season 56-40.
December 13, 2005. Smith vs. Mesa Jr.
The guys gave Greg crap about not playing. Telling him he shouldn't play anymore and we might keep winning. I think we may have been a tad overconfident coming off our first victory.
We were up 7-4 after one and 17-12 at halftime. Trailing 29-26 after three, we felt like we could win.
I really only remember one thing about this game. In the closing minutes, we were trailing. I don't recall the exact score and situation, but we needed a three. Adrian Bernal, our sharpshooter, was literally four feet in front of me. I had as good a view as anybody. He caught a pass on the right wing, pump faked, took a dribble and repositioned to the left to take an open three. The ref called him for a travel. Awful call. I saw it as good, if not better than that ref. There's no way that was a travel. He would've made that shot and we would've been right back in the game.
We wound up losing 44-38.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Taylor, South Mountain, Shepherd and Fremont
We had almost exactly three weeks from the first day of tryouts until the first game. Let's face it, it ain't easy to get a group of 14 and 15-year-old kids who haven't ever played real basketball to look good. McEvers and the point guard from his old championship team Max Hoshnic did their best to teach us plays and get us ready.
November 21, 2005. Taylor vs. Mesa Jr.
Bottom line: We weren't ready. First of all, they had Donte Medder and Jamar Johnson. Those two alone matched all of our offensive output. I still wonder what happened to Jamar. Donte's playing for Tulsa these days.
It was 21-11 after the first quarter, so we weren't totally out of it. 41-23 at half. 57-30 after three, and 77-42 final score. I had the most unforgettable play of the game. Jamar and Donte brought it up to me more than two years later. I, being a scrawny wimp, ended up on the floor. I had the ball under our basket. I looked around and I swear all my teammates were on the other side of the floor already. I was afraid I'd get whistled for a travel if I stood up, so I just threw the ball up. It nearly went in the hoop, bounced around the rim and into the enemy's hands.
One more thing to show how unprepared we were. In high school basketball, after a certain number of fouls in a half, the team fouled gets to shoot a "one-and-one." They shoot a free throw, if they make it they get a second free throw. If they miss the first, it's a live ball. Well, Taylor had a one-and-one situation. Dude missed the first and the ball bounced right to me. Everybody was just standing there, so I bounced it to the ref who jumped out of the way and let it go out of bounds. He blew his whistle and rewarded Taylor with possession. I had no idea. Apparently neither did anyone else.
The girls team was at Taylor and walked in just before our game ended. They had put up five points in their game.
November 29, 2005. South Mountain vs. Mesa Jr.
These guys were way late for this game. They thought they were supposed to go to Mesa High and it took forever to figure out it was lil' ol' Mesa Jr. instead. We were down to seven guys because Alex wanted to do some baseball thing instead. Greg and Erik both decided to pretend to be sick. When the South Mountain guys walked in, we were intimidated. These dudes were figgin huge!!!!!!!!!!!! Huge and black!!!!!!!
I got my first start of the season because the guys didn't wanna play. We were thoroughly outmatched. They had a full-court press on that we had no idea how to break. And they kept it on through at least three quarters.
20-4 after one. 47-9 at half. In the locker room at halftime, all seven of us were sitting on the island in the locker room, McEvers walked in and shook the hand of each of us.
"You're playing them like gods," he told us.
As proud as he was, it couldn't have lasted long. It was 55-19 after three. I gave us our first points of the 4th quarter with a straightaway three. The next possession I threw a three off the backboard. Anyway, we lost 73-26.
December 1, 2005. Mesa Jr. vs. Shepherd.
Our first road game. We didn't have all the kinks worked out yet, so we weren't able to take our scorekeeper.
All I know is the final score was 57-41, and that we outscored them in the second half. A tiny momentum builder.
December 2, 2005. Fremont vs. Mesa Jr.
Fremont had some nice lookin purple jerseys. We had some momentum from the night before and were down 19-16 after the first quarter. I distinctly remember looking at the scoreboard and seeing it be Fremont 19 Mesa Jr. 18. I don't know what happened exactly, but I can imagine we stopped giving the ball to Lorenzo and started taking bad shots.
I incurred an intentional, flagrant foul in this game. One of their bench guys was on a fast break. We were already down by at least 27. I pushed him down. He was classy about it. He defended me the entire fourth quarter and didn't retaliate. He just never gave me an opportunity to get the ball.
50-24 at half. Outscored 31-8. I don't know. 66-32 after three. 82-40 final. Even though we got trounced, we felt good because we kept it close for an entire quarter. That was a HUGE accomplishment for us.
November 21, 2005. Taylor vs. Mesa Jr.
Bottom line: We weren't ready. First of all, they had Donte Medder and Jamar Johnson. Those two alone matched all of our offensive output. I still wonder what happened to Jamar. Donte's playing for Tulsa these days.
It was 21-11 after the first quarter, so we weren't totally out of it. 41-23 at half. 57-30 after three, and 77-42 final score. I had the most unforgettable play of the game. Jamar and Donte brought it up to me more than two years later. I, being a scrawny wimp, ended up on the floor. I had the ball under our basket. I looked around and I swear all my teammates were on the other side of the floor already. I was afraid I'd get whistled for a travel if I stood up, so I just threw the ball up. It nearly went in the hoop, bounced around the rim and into the enemy's hands.
One more thing to show how unprepared we were. In high school basketball, after a certain number of fouls in a half, the team fouled gets to shoot a "one-and-one." They shoot a free throw, if they make it they get a second free throw. If they miss the first, it's a live ball. Well, Taylor had a one-and-one situation. Dude missed the first and the ball bounced right to me. Everybody was just standing there, so I bounced it to the ref who jumped out of the way and let it go out of bounds. He blew his whistle and rewarded Taylor with possession. I had no idea. Apparently neither did anyone else.
The girls team was at Taylor and walked in just before our game ended. They had put up five points in their game.
November 29, 2005. South Mountain vs. Mesa Jr.
These guys were way late for this game. They thought they were supposed to go to Mesa High and it took forever to figure out it was lil' ol' Mesa Jr. instead. We were down to seven guys because Alex wanted to do some baseball thing instead. Greg and Erik both decided to pretend to be sick. When the South Mountain guys walked in, we were intimidated. These dudes were figgin huge!!!!!!!!!!!! Huge and black!!!!!!!
I got my first start of the season because the guys didn't wanna play. We were thoroughly outmatched. They had a full-court press on that we had no idea how to break. And they kept it on through at least three quarters.
20-4 after one. 47-9 at half. In the locker room at halftime, all seven of us were sitting on the island in the locker room, McEvers walked in and shook the hand of each of us.
"You're playing them like gods," he told us.
As proud as he was, it couldn't have lasted long. It was 55-19 after three. I gave us our first points of the 4th quarter with a straightaway three. The next possession I threw a three off the backboard. Anyway, we lost 73-26.
December 1, 2005. Mesa Jr. vs. Shepherd.
Our first road game. We didn't have all the kinks worked out yet, so we weren't able to take our scorekeeper.
All I know is the final score was 57-41, and that we outscored them in the second half. A tiny momentum builder.
December 2, 2005. Fremont vs. Mesa Jr.
Fremont had some nice lookin purple jerseys. We had some momentum from the night before and were down 19-16 after the first quarter. I distinctly remember looking at the scoreboard and seeing it be Fremont 19 Mesa Jr. 18. I don't know what happened exactly, but I can imagine we stopped giving the ball to Lorenzo and started taking bad shots.
I incurred an intentional, flagrant foul in this game. One of their bench guys was on a fast break. We were already down by at least 27. I pushed him down. He was classy about it. He defended me the entire fourth quarter and didn't retaliate. He just never gave me an opportunity to get the ball.
50-24 at half. Outscored 31-8. I don't know. 66-32 after three. 82-40 final. Even though we got trounced, we felt good because we kept it close for an entire quarter. That was a HUGE accomplishment for us.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
The Good Ol Days Part III
I don't remember winning any awards at the end of eighth grade. My production didn't slip, the teachers just liked me less or something. Ninth grade was just a ton of fun. I would gladly relive ninth grade.
By this time I was officially the coolest white guy at Mesa Jr. And that reputation was only gonna grow.
I wanted to do sports, which required 6th hour P.E., because I wanted to run cross country, wrestle and play baseball. I was too late deciding on 6th hour P.E. for football. Outside of football, there were about eight guy 'athletes.' Out of those about eight, I was the only one who wanted to run cross country. Therefore, Mesa Jr. didn't have a boys cross country team that year. I was forced to either change my schedule or play tennis.
I had never given tennis a chance. I think it's great now. It's my fourth favorite sport to watch. I was one of the worst on the team. The matches I played didn't count until after grades came out and all the guys above me flunked out. I did legitimately beat a kid. I think he was from Kino. Good match. Lost the doubles match because Alejandro Rivera sucked it up. I was pretty frustrated to say the least. On the ride over, Coach Arbo told us that if we won he would take us to Pizza Patron. I did my part.
I didn't get to try Pizza Patron until about four years later. Pretty good little place.
So, after both the football and tennis teams failing to produce a victory, it was lookin like another run of the mill year for Mesa Jr. athletics. I don't know how girls cross country and tennis did. I really don't care. At that level, sports with girls playing really are irrelevant.
I decided to try out for basketball before going to wrestling. The coach, James Todd McEvers, was my 3rd hour world history teacher. He liked me in class, so I thought I had a chance. On the first day of tryouts he pulled me, Alejandro Rivera and some other guy aside and basically told us, "You guys suck. Maybe if you keep practicing you can make it next year, but right now you suck too much."
That was tough, but I stuck around. I asked McEvers if I could help out. He liked that idea. By the third day of tryouts he had a pretty good idea of who he wanted. Only, a lot of the guys he wanted stopped showing up. He had 13 guys there that day, three of whom would stop showing up soon. He had us stand on the baseline and told us, "Everyone here is a part of this team. Even Andy." And just like that I was on my first and last basketball team.
By this time I was officially the coolest white guy at Mesa Jr. And that reputation was only gonna grow.
I wanted to do sports, which required 6th hour P.E., because I wanted to run cross country, wrestle and play baseball. I was too late deciding on 6th hour P.E. for football. Outside of football, there were about eight guy 'athletes.' Out of those about eight, I was the only one who wanted to run cross country. Therefore, Mesa Jr. didn't have a boys cross country team that year. I was forced to either change my schedule or play tennis.
I had never given tennis a chance. I think it's great now. It's my fourth favorite sport to watch. I was one of the worst on the team. The matches I played didn't count until after grades came out and all the guys above me flunked out. I did legitimately beat a kid. I think he was from Kino. Good match. Lost the doubles match because Alejandro Rivera sucked it up. I was pretty frustrated to say the least. On the ride over, Coach Arbo told us that if we won he would take us to Pizza Patron. I did my part.
I didn't get to try Pizza Patron until about four years later. Pretty good little place.
So, after both the football and tennis teams failing to produce a victory, it was lookin like another run of the mill year for Mesa Jr. athletics. I don't know how girls cross country and tennis did. I really don't care. At that level, sports with girls playing really are irrelevant.
I decided to try out for basketball before going to wrestling. The coach, James Todd McEvers, was my 3rd hour world history teacher. He liked me in class, so I thought I had a chance. On the first day of tryouts he pulled me, Alejandro Rivera and some other guy aside and basically told us, "You guys suck. Maybe if you keep practicing you can make it next year, but right now you suck too much."
That was tough, but I stuck around. I asked McEvers if I could help out. He liked that idea. By the third day of tryouts he had a pretty good idea of who he wanted. Only, a lot of the guys he wanted stopped showing up. He had 13 guys there that day, three of whom would stop showing up soon. He had us stand on the baseline and told us, "Everyone here is a part of this team. Even Andy." And just like that I was on my first and last basketball team.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
The Good Ol Days Part II
I went into eighth grade having lost most of my friends because they were mostly ninth graders. So, I made new ninth grade friends, Amy Root (now Hale) being the primary focus.
With the departure of so many Drama Kids, I became one of the main players in the program. I was the dude who got to sit in the booth in the back and screw with the lights and microphone levels. It was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed doing that.
Mrs. Peralta was the drama teacher. Bless her soul. She is one of the nicest and most understanding women ever, but she was a pushover at times and often found to be unorganized. Needless to say, I felt she leaned on me a lot for support of making sure our productions would come through.
For P.E. that year, I had Coach Humes. According to my brother Mark, he's a big joke. However, to scrawny, eighth grade me, he was intimidating with his bulging muscles and booming voice. I was scared he would actually hurt me if I didn't do everything he barked at us. He had us running countless miles and rolling all over the dead grass in that field doing exercises. He got me into, to that point, the best shape of my life.
I gotta admit, I felt pretty good. I felt like I could run forever without stopping and do one million push ups. It didn't hurt that I got to walk a pretty girl home everyday as well.
The second semester of that year I got into intramural wrestling. Partly because I wanted to be like Mark. Partly because one of my better friends, Alex Villapondo, was also doing it. I was nothing short of atrocious. I wrestled five matches and lost four. But that one I won, I DOMINATED that kid!! Also, I can honestly say I've wrestled with Anthony Robles and lived to tell the tale.
With the departure of so many Drama Kids, I became one of the main players in the program. I was the dude who got to sit in the booth in the back and screw with the lights and microphone levels. It was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed doing that.
Mrs. Peralta was the drama teacher. Bless her soul. She is one of the nicest and most understanding women ever, but she was a pushover at times and often found to be unorganized. Needless to say, I felt she leaned on me a lot for support of making sure our productions would come through.
For P.E. that year, I had Coach Humes. According to my brother Mark, he's a big joke. However, to scrawny, eighth grade me, he was intimidating with his bulging muscles and booming voice. I was scared he would actually hurt me if I didn't do everything he barked at us. He had us running countless miles and rolling all over the dead grass in that field doing exercises. He got me into, to that point, the best shape of my life.
I gotta admit, I felt pretty good. I felt like I could run forever without stopping and do one million push ups. It didn't hurt that I got to walk a pretty girl home everyday as well.
The second semester of that year I got into intramural wrestling. Partly because I wanted to be like Mark. Partly because one of my better friends, Alex Villapondo, was also doing it. I was nothing short of atrocious. I wrestled five matches and lost four. But that one I won, I DOMINATED that kid!! Also, I can honestly say I've wrestled with Anthony Robles and lived to tell the tale.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
The Good Ol Days Part I
I wanna put on here my recollection of the best year ever. Ninth grade was awesome. I don't wanna forget it.
Start in seventh grade. The summer prior had me worried. Everyone kept telling me how terrible Mesa Jr. was and how I would get beat up everyday for being caucasian. I tried to persuade my parents to enroll me at Taylor, which was deemed to be safer and far superior.
Needless to say, I was in Mrs. Goff's class during the first hour of the first day at Mesa Jr. Mexicans weren't anything new to me. My best friend at Lindbergh was Mexican. I was surprised to hear all the new swear words that cool junior high kids knew.
Anyway, I wasn't into sports much at all. I liked the stage. Drama and theatre. That's who I hung around, The Drama Kids. They eventually let me into their group and I would stay after school, watch rehearsals and learn the finer things of a play production.
Junior High P.E. was a whole new thing. They were finishing up new locker rooms the first part of the semester, so we went to the pool everyday. The coaches seemed like they expected us to get naked and change clothes and shower in front of each other. "We all have the same plumbing." That was their song. It was weird and awkward. And swimming everyday got pretty tiresome.
Once the locker rooms were finished, we started doing other things like basketball, dodgeball and running around the track. I was one of those kids who walked the whole time and ended up with a solid 13 minute mile.
Sports and physical competition just wasn't what I was into. I was the kid who made a strong case to Mrs. Dennison to allow me, a seventh grader, into Biology, a strictly ninth grade class. She considered it, but ultimately left me to deal with the dregs of Seventh and Eighth Grade Science classes.
I missed a lot of P.E. that year because I suffered a fracture of both the radius and ulna in my left arm. When this happens, they send you to the library to do a report for every day missed. I read a whole lot of sports magazines and wrote a whole lot of crappy reports. I even attempted to count the ceiling tiles in there. Well over 700.
As far as getting beat up every day, there was only one kid who was hostile toward me. I don't remember his name, but he was a short Mexican kid with ugly hair. The type who won't do anything unless he has five or six other kids behind him. He pushed me around one day before some of my ninth grade friends saw and came to the rescue. In junior high, the ninth graders are typically A LOT bigger than the seventh graders. Basically Tracy Cipola stood between me and the kid and called him a bunch of bad names. The kid never came near me again.
At the end of the year, there was an awards assembly for each grade class. I was startin to feel a little dejected when it was nearing the end of the hour and I hadn't gotten an award. Turns out they saved the best for last. The winners of Seventh Grade Boy of the Year and Seventh Grade Girl of the Year were me and Cathy Sadar.
I guess my teachers liked me.
Start in seventh grade. The summer prior had me worried. Everyone kept telling me how terrible Mesa Jr. was and how I would get beat up everyday for being caucasian. I tried to persuade my parents to enroll me at Taylor, which was deemed to be safer and far superior.
Needless to say, I was in Mrs. Goff's class during the first hour of the first day at Mesa Jr. Mexicans weren't anything new to me. My best friend at Lindbergh was Mexican. I was surprised to hear all the new swear words that cool junior high kids knew.
Anyway, I wasn't into sports much at all. I liked the stage. Drama and theatre. That's who I hung around, The Drama Kids. They eventually let me into their group and I would stay after school, watch rehearsals and learn the finer things of a play production.
Junior High P.E. was a whole new thing. They were finishing up new locker rooms the first part of the semester, so we went to the pool everyday. The coaches seemed like they expected us to get naked and change clothes and shower in front of each other. "We all have the same plumbing." That was their song. It was weird and awkward. And swimming everyday got pretty tiresome.
Once the locker rooms were finished, we started doing other things like basketball, dodgeball and running around the track. I was one of those kids who walked the whole time and ended up with a solid 13 minute mile.
Sports and physical competition just wasn't what I was into. I was the kid who made a strong case to Mrs. Dennison to allow me, a seventh grader, into Biology, a strictly ninth grade class. She considered it, but ultimately left me to deal with the dregs of Seventh and Eighth Grade Science classes.
I missed a lot of P.E. that year because I suffered a fracture of both the radius and ulna in my left arm. When this happens, they send you to the library to do a report for every day missed. I read a whole lot of sports magazines and wrote a whole lot of crappy reports. I even attempted to count the ceiling tiles in there. Well over 700.
As far as getting beat up every day, there was only one kid who was hostile toward me. I don't remember his name, but he was a short Mexican kid with ugly hair. The type who won't do anything unless he has five or six other kids behind him. He pushed me around one day before some of my ninth grade friends saw and came to the rescue. In junior high, the ninth graders are typically A LOT bigger than the seventh graders. Basically Tracy Cipola stood between me and the kid and called him a bunch of bad names. The kid never came near me again.
At the end of the year, there was an awards assembly for each grade class. I was startin to feel a little dejected when it was nearing the end of the hour and I hadn't gotten an award. Turns out they saved the best for last. The winners of Seventh Grade Boy of the Year and Seventh Grade Girl of the Year were me and Cathy Sadar.
I guess my teachers liked me.
Friday, April 29, 2011
MLB regular season, NBA playoffs and NFL Draft 1st round
My guy, Stephen Drew, hit his first grand slam last night. A hanging fastball over the plate got deposited in the right field stands to give the Diamondbacks a 4-0 lead with zero outs in the first inning. He gets no respect. This Diamondbacks team is difficult to figure out. They blasted through Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt of the Formidable Phillies to end a five game losing streak. Joe Saunders continues to suck and suck some more. I don't know. This team may not make the playoffs, but they'll definitely be a deciding factor in what teams do make the playoffs.
I saw the first Memphis Grizzlies jersey ever this week. Some dude at MCC had an OJ Mayo jersey on in light of the Griz possible upset of the Spurs. I'm rooting for them. Danny Granger disappointed the heck out of me in his series against the Bulls. Are you or are you not the leader of your team? Rise up and lead your army to victory, young warrior!!!!!!
Celtics v. Heat should be fun. I'm takin Celts in 6.
OKC will beat either Memphis or San Antonio, no contest. (Update 5/2/11: I've already been proven wrong.)
Lakers will crush the Mavericks.
Bulls should blast through the Hawks.
The Cardinals selected studmaster Patrick Peterson with the fifth pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. This is AWESOME! Make DRC realize he has to work for playing time. Make DRC realize he isn't all that. Make DRC play to his potential. This really helps the Cardinals.
I saw the first Memphis Grizzlies jersey ever this week. Some dude at MCC had an OJ Mayo jersey on in light of the Griz possible upset of the Spurs. I'm rooting for them. Danny Granger disappointed the heck out of me in his series against the Bulls. Are you or are you not the leader of your team? Rise up and lead your army to victory, young warrior!!!!!!
Celtics v. Heat should be fun. I'm takin Celts in 6.
OKC will beat either Memphis or San Antonio, no contest. (Update 5/2/11: I've already been proven wrong.)
Lakers will crush the Mavericks.
Bulls should blast through the Hawks.
The Cardinals selected studmaster Patrick Peterson with the fifth pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. This is AWESOME! Make DRC realize he has to work for playing time. Make DRC realize he isn't all that. Make DRC play to his potential. This really helps the Cardinals.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Restin Bones
Bickley wrote a recent column re-enforcing what I've been trying to tell everyone for three years. The best thing he says in there is "The facts are indisputable, and the blame ultimately rests on one person: the businessman running a basketball team, even though I'm sure Sarver wouldn't let an NBA executive run one of his banks." What a freaking solid point. I've never thought of it that way, but how correct is that? Frikin solid, Bickley!
The Suns are off restin up. The NBA owners are gonna lock out the players in July. No summer camp for rookies and sophomores. Probably no training camp and preseason. Likely a shorter season because of games in November and maybe even December being missed.
Steve Nash has one year left on his contract. He's expressed interest in staying here for at least two years after that. He feels slightly responsible for turning this team around and leaving it in good hands.
The Diamondbacks are gonna be really good in two years. Give the pitching staff time to grow up and mature and this team will be difficult to beat.
The Suns are off restin up. The NBA owners are gonna lock out the players in July. No summer camp for rookies and sophomores. Probably no training camp and preseason. Likely a shorter season because of games in November and maybe even December being missed.
Steve Nash has one year left on his contract. He's expressed interest in staying here for at least two years after that. He feels slightly responsible for turning this team around and leaving it in good hands.
The Diamondbacks are gonna be really good in two years. Give the pitching staff time to grow up and mature and this team will be difficult to beat.
Friday, April 8, 2011
On The Coattails Of A Dead Man
Who would've guessed Marcin Gortat would be this good?? Seriously, this guy is GOOD. Once he gets his offensive game under control (hoping for this summer), he will be a Top 5 center in the game.
Grant Hill and Steve Nash both say they would like to stay with the Suns. What idiots!!! I respect them both, but that's just stupid!! This team is dead! Leave it to Jared Dudley, Marcin Gortat and Channing Frye to rebuild. Just retire with nice careers that may land both in the HoF.
Here's what Bill Simmons wrote in his most recent column:
"17. Phoenix SunsAn incredible ten months that included …
A. Owner Robert Sarver pushing Steve Kerr out after Kerr miraculously got his Suns under the luxury tax AND to the cusp of the Finals.
B. Sarver replacing Kerr with agent Lon Babby, who acquired two of his clients (Hedo Turkoglu and Josh Childress) at a prohibitive cost. One never plays; the other got traded within a few months. So that's worked out great. And for the record, Sarver allowed Amare Stoudemire to leave (defensible), then spent 80 percent of what it would have kept to keep Stoudemire on Channing Frye, Childress and Hakim Warrick (indefensible).
C. The team trading Turkoglu and Jason Richardson for Marcin Gortat and Vince "Half-Man, Half-Amazingly Washed Up" Carter, which ended up being a steal (Gortat emerged as the franchise's first legitimate center since … Alvin Adams?) and a disaster (Carter single-handedly murdered their playoff hopes).
Who knows what Steve Nash did in a past life to deserve playing with the Ghost of Vince Carter?
D. Nash suffering through a brutally tough season off the court. To be honest, I wasn't talking about his divorce, I was talking about the fact that every morning, he had to wake up thinking, "Oh my goodness, I have to play with Vince Carter."
E. You realize Grant Hill quietly just had one of the most incredible seasons in the history of the league, right? He played 135 games total from 2000 to 2006; in the past three seasons, he's played every game but three and averaged 30 minutes a night. This season, he tossed up 48-84-39 percentages for FG/FT/3FG, scored 13 a game, played the best perimeter defense of anyone other than Andre Iguodala and even wrote a takedown essay of Jalen Rose for The New York Times. He's 38 years old! This shouldn't be happening.
But hey, at least Sarver was consistent; he's like Nic Cage, you can always count on him to do the wrong thing."
Solid stuff.
Diamondbacks seems optimistic. This team is gonna scrap and fight to win every night.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
The Setting Suns
Bickley's smarter than I give him credit for. He has a good column on the Suns most recent trade.
The Suns realized they were just running in place with the crappy lineup of Hedo Turkoglu, Channing Frye and Hakim Warrick that Alvin Gentry used every night. Small Forwards Anonymous is still at large, but this time they're better defensively and better athletically.
The Suns realized Steve Nash isn't able to win by himself. Amare Stoudemire's attitude and on-court fire weren't as easily replaced as they thought. I completely agree with the Suns for not giving in to Amare's financial demands. However, it's been well-documented that it takes at least two, and now more like 3 or 4, bona fide superstars to win in the NBA.
The bona fide superstars on NBA champions since 1991:
1991: Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippen
1992: Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippen
1993: Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippen
1994: Hakeem Olajuwon
1995: Hakeem Olajuwon & Clyde Drexler
1996: Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippen
1997: Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippen
1998: Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippen
1999: David Robinson & Tim Duncan
2000: Shaquille O' Neal & Kobe Bryant
2001: Shaquille O' Neal & Kobe Bryant
2002: Shaquille O' Neal & Kobe Bryant
2003: Tim Duncan & Tony Parker
2004: Chauncey Billups & Rip Hamilton
2005: Tim Duncan & Tony Parker
2006: Dwayne Wade & Shaquille O' Neal
2007: Tim Duncan & Tony Parker
2008: Paul Pierce & Kevin Garnett
2009: Kobe Bryant & Pau Gasol
2010: Kobe Bryant & Pau Gasol
2011: Dirk Nowitzki
As we can see, for the most part, it's a tandem of a superstar big man and superstar small man that wins championships. That's what the Suns had. Not only did they have it, they were on the brink of the Finals. There's no way to know how much of a chance they would've had against the Celtics.
Now the Suns have a big man locked up for a long time. Marcin Gortat is good. He's been playing against Dwight Howard (aka The Biggest Man In The World) for a few years. If that doesn't toughen you up, nothing will.
I would like to see the Suns go after Greg Oden or Yao Ming. Their training staff is top notch. I don't know why, but everybody is less injury prone when playing for the Suns. Greg Oden is an unknown who is worth a gamble at the right price. Yao Ming is a known game-changer who is worth a gamble at the right price.
The Suns will be fighting for the 6th seed now instead of 9th place. Good trade, Lance. I still miss Steve Kerr.
The Suns realized they were just running in place with the crappy lineup of Hedo Turkoglu, Channing Frye and Hakim Warrick that Alvin Gentry used every night. Small Forwards Anonymous is still at large, but this time they're better defensively and better athletically.
The Suns realized Steve Nash isn't able to win by himself. Amare Stoudemire's attitude and on-court fire weren't as easily replaced as they thought. I completely agree with the Suns for not giving in to Amare's financial demands. However, it's been well-documented that it takes at least two, and now more like 3 or 4, bona fide superstars to win in the NBA.
The bona fide superstars on NBA champions since 1991:
1991: Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippen
1992: Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippen
1993: Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippen
1994: Hakeem Olajuwon
1995: Hakeem Olajuwon & Clyde Drexler
1996: Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippen
1997: Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippen
1998: Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippen
1999: David Robinson & Tim Duncan
2000: Shaquille O' Neal & Kobe Bryant
2001: Shaquille O' Neal & Kobe Bryant
2002: Shaquille O' Neal & Kobe Bryant
2003: Tim Duncan & Tony Parker
2004: Chauncey Billups & Rip Hamilton
2005: Tim Duncan & Tony Parker
2006: Dwayne Wade & Shaquille O' Neal
2007: Tim Duncan & Tony Parker
2008: Paul Pierce & Kevin Garnett
2009: Kobe Bryant & Pau Gasol
2010: Kobe Bryant & Pau Gasol
2011: Dirk Nowitzki
As we can see, for the most part, it's a tandem of a superstar big man and superstar small man that wins championships. That's what the Suns had. Not only did they have it, they were on the brink of the Finals. There's no way to know how much of a chance they would've had against the Celtics.
Now the Suns have a big man locked up for a long time. Marcin Gortat is good. He's been playing against Dwight Howard (aka The Biggest Man In The World) for a few years. If that doesn't toughen you up, nothing will.
I would like to see the Suns go after Greg Oden or Yao Ming. Their training staff is top notch. I don't know why, but everybody is less injury prone when playing for the Suns. Greg Oden is an unknown who is worth a gamble at the right price. Yao Ming is a known game-changer who is worth a gamble at the right price.
The Suns will be fighting for the 6th seed now instead of 9th place. Good trade, Lance. I still miss Steve Kerr.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Am I the only logical one here?
Dwayne Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh are teammates. They all are employees of the Miami branch of the National Basketball Association. The Miami Heat have a very smart general manager in Pat Riley. Erik Spoelstra is a smart, young coach.
The question has been asked 90,000 times on various sports media outlets How will these three superstars coexist on the court? How will they alter their games to accommodate one another?
And the answer has always been something akin to I don't know. I just know they'll have to dramatically change the way they play.
That's ridiculous. How about this for a brain teaser? Only play all three at once for the first five minutes of the game, the last five minutes of the half, the first five minutes of the third quarter and the fourth quarter as necessary. The rest of the time, play two at a time, or even one. Will their stats take a hit? Of course. Will they be fresh for the playoffs? Of course.
Why is this such a phenomena that some teenage retard from Mesa, Arizona, who is like combining the Black Plague and Great Depression to businesses that know nothing about him , came up with it? It's the only thing that makes sense. The Heat have other good players.
Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem, James Jones, Eddie House. All quality NBA players.
While I'm here: I attended the Fall Frenzy on the 18th. I was able to see the awesome Primus perform. Les Claypool is a true and complete master of bass. Then Sublime raided the stage. I don't understand how people can listen to more than two of their songs in a row and still like it. Here's their secret: play the same riff over and over and over and over and over and hope the crowd is drunk enough to cheer.
Then Weezer played. They were awesome except for their technical difficulties. Once those were "fixed", Scott's bass was too loud the rest of the time. Josh Freese is a true and complete master on drums. Sorry for saying bad things about you earlier.
From left: Patrick Wilson, Rivers Cuomo, Scott Shriner, Josh Freese and Brian Bell.
The question has been asked 90,000 times on various sports media outlets How will these three superstars coexist on the court? How will they alter their games to accommodate one another?
And the answer has always been something akin to I don't know. I just know they'll have to dramatically change the way they play.
That's ridiculous. How about this for a brain teaser? Only play all three at once for the first five minutes of the game, the last five minutes of the half, the first five minutes of the third quarter and the fourth quarter as necessary. The rest of the time, play two at a time, or even one. Will their stats take a hit? Of course. Will they be fresh for the playoffs? Of course.
Why is this such a phenomena that some teenage retard from Mesa, Arizona, who is like combining the Black Plague and Great Depression to businesses that know nothing about him , came up with it? It's the only thing that makes sense. The Heat have other good players.
Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem, James Jones, Eddie House. All quality NBA players.
While I'm here: I attended the Fall Frenzy on the 18th. I was able to see the awesome Primus perform. Les Claypool is a true and complete master of bass. Then Sublime raided the stage. I don't understand how people can listen to more than two of their songs in a row and still like it. Here's their secret: play the same riff over and over and over and over and over and hope the crowd is drunk enough to cheer.
Then Weezer played. They were awesome except for their technical difficulties. Once those were "fixed", Scott's bass was too loud the rest of the time. Josh Freese is a true and complete master on drums. Sorry for saying bad things about you earlier.
From left: Patrick Wilson, Rivers Cuomo, Scott Shriner, Josh Freese and Brian Bell.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
LeBron, CP3 and Despicable Me
I don't understand why so many people are pouncing on LeBron James. If you're gonna say someone made a dumb decision, talk about Amar'e Stoudemire who left a Western Conference finalist for a likely 35-win team. James left a good team for a better team, the opposite of Stoudemire.
I respect Amar'e. He's usually a hard worker. I think my guy, Jared Dudley, made him more of a team player. However, he is just straight up stupid as a person.
I also respect Mike D'Antoni, Stoudemire's head coach. He's an offensive genius who got cheated out of two NBA championships by Suns ownership and the NBA.
Back to LeBron. From my experience, fans have constantly complained about professional athletes and their egos. They have too big of an ego to take less money and play together and win. Wait a second! That's exactly what LeBron James and Chris Bosh did. They are the Anti-Amar'e and Anti-Joe Johnson. Johnson's stuck on a mediocre-at-best Hawks team for the next six years! LeBron is showing his commitment and willingness to win at least one, but probably multiple, championships.
LeBron put his ego behind him and proved me wrong. I don't think he really wanted to win a championship these past few seasons. Going to Miami, where Dwayne Wade is the star, proves that he wants a ring. He's hungry now.
ESPN's choice to have an hour-long special for LeBron James was wrong. Even though all proceeds from that hour went to The Boys and Girls Club, there's never a time to pay for news. ESPN lost money and, eventually, credibility because of 'The Decision.'
Bill Simmons said he once heard that James, Wade, Bosh and Chris Paul made a pact to play together when they were in Beijing in 2008. I gotta say, I would absolutely love to see that. It seems beyond unlikely. The agreement the NBA Players Association and the NBA (i.e. team owners) have now is over after this season. Chris Paul has two years left on his contract. The new agreement will have a lower salary cap and whatnot. So, unless the Heat can nab CP3 in a trade or he takes a tremendous pay cut, I don't see it happening.
Chris Paul has been saying lately he wants a trade to a contender with a superstar. Recent anonymous reports are saying the Orlando Magic is the leading candidate. The Hornets would be dumb to trade him at all unless the Heat want to send Wade and Bosh over for him. He's the guy people pay lotsa money to see.
On a different note, I saw Despicable Me in 3D. Not really into paying extra for 3D. It doesn't do a whole lot for me. Good movie, though. Good morale. Good jokes. I recommend it for sure.
I respect Amar'e. He's usually a hard worker. I think my guy, Jared Dudley, made him more of a team player. However, he is just straight up stupid as a person.
I also respect Mike D'Antoni, Stoudemire's head coach. He's an offensive genius who got cheated out of two NBA championships by Suns ownership and the NBA.
Back to LeBron. From my experience, fans have constantly complained about professional athletes and their egos. They have too big of an ego to take less money and play together and win. Wait a second! That's exactly what LeBron James and Chris Bosh did. They are the Anti-Amar'e and Anti-Joe Johnson. Johnson's stuck on a mediocre-at-best Hawks team for the next six years! LeBron is showing his commitment and willingness to win at least one, but probably multiple, championships.
LeBron put his ego behind him and proved me wrong. I don't think he really wanted to win a championship these past few seasons. Going to Miami, where Dwayne Wade is the star, proves that he wants a ring. He's hungry now.ESPN's choice to have an hour-long special for LeBron James was wrong. Even though all proceeds from that hour went to The Boys and Girls Club, there's never a time to pay for news. ESPN lost money and, eventually, credibility because of 'The Decision.'
Bill Simmons said he once heard that James, Wade, Bosh and Chris Paul made a pact to play together when they were in Beijing in 2008. I gotta say, I would absolutely love to see that. It seems beyond unlikely. The agreement the NBA Players Association and the NBA (i.e. team owners) have now is over after this season. Chris Paul has two years left on his contract. The new agreement will have a lower salary cap and whatnot. So, unless the Heat can nab CP3 in a trade or he takes a tremendous pay cut, I don't see it happening.
Chris Paul has been saying lately he wants a trade to a contender with a superstar. Recent anonymous reports are saying the Orlando Magic is the leading candidate. The Hornets would be dumb to trade him at all unless the Heat want to send Wade and Bosh over for him. He's the guy people pay lotsa money to see.
On a different note, I saw Despicable Me in 3D. Not really into paying extra for 3D. It doesn't do a whole lot for me. Good movie, though. Good morale. Good jokes. I recommend it for sure.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Two New Suns
The Phoenix Suns traded Leandro Barbosa and Dwayne Jones to the Toronto Raptors for Hedo Turkoglu Sunday. The Raptors are expected to send Jones and a future draft pick to Charlotte for Boris Diaw.
The Suns also used some of the trade exception they got in the Amar'e Stoudemire deal to do a sign-and-trade with the Atlanta Hawks for Josh Childress. The Suns also sent the future draft pick they got from the Knicks to the Hawks.
Turkoglu has four years and about $43 million left on his contract. Josh Childress signed for five years and about $33 million.
Steve Nash tweeted this today, "Today's the end of an era. My close friend Leandrinho leaves the Suns making me the last player from 04-07. Great memories. Boa sorte irmao!" It must be kinda hard on him to lose all of these friends. Raja Bell was Nash's best friend on the team and I'm sure he and Barbosa were close.
I think the Suns will be fine now. They overpaid for everyone and don't have a backup for Jason Richardson. Gambo called Childress a poor man's Shawn Marion. I would call him a homeless man's Shawn Marion, but he does rock an afro, which gives him extra likability points.
Turkoglu can dribble, pass, shoot and run. He's 6-foot-10 and should get a solid six or seven rebounds per game. Hakim Warrick is a homeless man's Stoudemire. He's extremely athletic and can dunk with the best of them.
The Suns will be fine. I just hope my guy, Jared Dudley, gets his due share of money with all of these fools getting overpaid. It's weird. The three greatest free agents of the summer are underpaid, whereas the rest of the available players are extremely overpaid.
Anyway, Bill Simmons is going to make The Decision today on SportsNation. I'll be sure to let you all know how it turns out.
The Suns also used some of the trade exception they got in the Amar'e Stoudemire deal to do a sign-and-trade with the Atlanta Hawks for Josh Childress. The Suns also sent the future draft pick they got from the Knicks to the Hawks.
Turkoglu has four years and about $43 million left on his contract. Josh Childress signed for five years and about $33 million.
Steve Nash tweeted this today, "Today's the end of an era. My close friend Leandrinho leaves the Suns making me the last player from 04-07. Great memories. Boa sorte irmao!" It must be kinda hard on him to lose all of these friends. Raja Bell was Nash's best friend on the team and I'm sure he and Barbosa were close.
I think the Suns will be fine now. They overpaid for everyone and don't have a backup for Jason Richardson. Gambo called Childress a poor man's Shawn Marion. I would call him a homeless man's Shawn Marion, but he does rock an afro, which gives him extra likability points.
Turkoglu can dribble, pass, shoot and run. He's 6-foot-10 and should get a solid six or seven rebounds per game. Hakim Warrick is a homeless man's Stoudemire. He's extremely athletic and can dunk with the best of them.
The Suns will be fine. I just hope my guy, Jared Dudley, gets his due share of money with all of these fools getting overpaid. It's weird. The three greatest free agents of the summer are underpaid, whereas the rest of the available players are extremely overpaid.
Anyway, Bill Simmons is going to make The Decision today on SportsNation. I'll be sure to let you all know how it turns out.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Crazy NBA
So, my playoff brackets got pretty busted. For those of you who don't know, the Lakers beat the Celtics in the Finals. Bottom line on that is the Celtics played awful basketball in Games 6 and 7.
Steve Kerr and David Griffin are both leaving the Phoenix Suns at the end of the month. David Griffin has been a mainstay in the organization for over 12 years. He was Kerr's right-hand man. Kerr wanted a raise given to the grunts of the organization because they deserve it and the team got $10 million unexpected from the playoffs.
J.A. Adande, who has many more sources than I do, put it this way in his recent column:
"Kerr wanted a little raise, Sarver wanted him to take a pay cut," one source said. "There's no other way to spin it."
Well, a second source indicated it wasn't as simple as a money grab by Kerr. He wanted more money for the coaching staff, video crew, front-office secretaries -- all the people who helped produce this unexpected trip to the conference finals that yielded more than $10 million in extra revenue from eight home playoff games. Except when Kerr went to bat with Sarver, "The guy just bludgeoned Steve," the second source said.
So Kerr's out. Stoudemire's next.
"Amare's done," according to the source. "He's gone."
So, anyway, my main point is that starting in April 2008 I was hinting that Sarver is the worst. As late as May 2008, I was blatantly saying Sarver is the reason the Suns won't win a championship.
I like Doug Franz's idea. If every Doug and Wolf listener chipped in $10, we could buy the Phoenix Suns. I know I'd be more than willing to make that the best $10 investment of my life as long as I received recognition for being the first one to be right on this subject.
Steve Kerr and David Griffin are both leaving the Phoenix Suns at the end of the month. David Griffin has been a mainstay in the organization for over 12 years. He was Kerr's right-hand man. Kerr wanted a raise given to the grunts of the organization because they deserve it and the team got $10 million unexpected from the playoffs.
J.A. Adande, who has many more sources than I do, put it this way in his recent column:
"Kerr wanted a little raise, Sarver wanted him to take a pay cut," one source said. "There's no other way to spin it."
Well, a second source indicated it wasn't as simple as a money grab by Kerr. He wanted more money for the coaching staff, video crew, front-office secretaries -- all the people who helped produce this unexpected trip to the conference finals that yielded more than $10 million in extra revenue from eight home playoff games. Except when Kerr went to bat with Sarver, "The guy just bludgeoned Steve," the second source said.
So Kerr's out. Stoudemire's next.
"Amare's done," according to the source. "He's gone."
So, anyway, my main point is that starting in April 2008 I was hinting that Sarver is the worst. As late as May 2008, I was blatantly saying Sarver is the reason the Suns won't win a championship.
I like Doug Franz's idea. If every Doug and Wolf listener chipped in $10, we could buy the Phoenix Suns. I know I'd be more than willing to make that the best $10 investment of my life as long as I received recognition for being the first one to be right on this subject.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Playoff Time
The playoffs start Saturday. Here are my predictions.
Round 1
Eastern Conference
#8:Chicago Bulls vs. #1:Cleveland Cavaliers
Result: Cavaliers in 4.
#7:Charlotte Bobcats vs. #2:Orlando Magic
Result: Magic in 5.
#6:Milwaukee Bucks vs. #3:Atlanta Hawks
Bogut's grotesque injury really hurts the Bucks.
Result: Hawks in 5.
#5:Miami Heat vs. #4:Boston Celtics
Result: Heat in 6.
Western Conference
#8:Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #1:Los Angeles Lakers
Result: Lakers in 6.
#7:San Antonio Spurs vs. #2:Dallas Mavericks
Result: Mavericks in 7.
#6:Portland Trail Blazers vs. #3:Phoenix Suns
Result: Suns in 5.
#5:Utah Jazz vs. #4:Denver Nuggets
Result: Jazz in 6.
Round 2
Eastern Conference
#5:Miami Heat vs. #1:Cleveland Cavaliers
Result: Cavaliers in 5.
#3:Atlanta Hawks vs. #2:Orlando Magic
Result: Magic in 6.
Western Conference
#5:Utah Jazz vs. #1:Los Angeles Lakers
Result: Lakers in 5.
#3:Phoenix Suns vs. #2:Dallas Mavericks
Result: Suns in 6.
Round 3
Eastern Conference
#2:Orlando Magic vs. #1:Cleveland Cavaliers
Result: Cavaliers in 7.
Western Conference
#3:Phoenix Suns vs. #1:Los Angeles Lakers
Result: Suns in 7.
Round 4
#3:Phoenix Suns vs. #1:Cleveland Cavaliers
Result: Cavaliers in 6.
That's right. I called it. The Suns will make the Finals the year I'm not here.
Round 1
Eastern Conference
#8:Chicago Bulls vs. #1:Cleveland Cavaliers
Result: Cavaliers in 4.
#7:Charlotte Bobcats vs. #2:Orlando Magic
Result: Magic in 5.
#6:Milwaukee Bucks vs. #3:Atlanta Hawks
Bogut's grotesque injury really hurts the Bucks.
Result: Hawks in 5.
#5:Miami Heat vs. #4:Boston Celtics
Result: Heat in 6.
Western Conference
#8:Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #1:Los Angeles Lakers
Result: Lakers in 6.
#7:San Antonio Spurs vs. #2:Dallas Mavericks
Result: Mavericks in 7.
#6:Portland Trail Blazers vs. #3:Phoenix Suns
Result: Suns in 5.
#5:Utah Jazz vs. #4:Denver Nuggets
Result: Jazz in 6.
Round 2
Eastern Conference
#5:Miami Heat vs. #1:Cleveland Cavaliers
Result: Cavaliers in 5.
#3:Atlanta Hawks vs. #2:Orlando Magic
Result: Magic in 6.
Western Conference
#5:Utah Jazz vs. #1:Los Angeles Lakers
Result: Lakers in 5.
#3:Phoenix Suns vs. #2:Dallas Mavericks
Result: Suns in 6.
Round 3
Eastern Conference
#2:Orlando Magic vs. #1:Cleveland Cavaliers
Result: Cavaliers in 7.
Western Conference
#3:Phoenix Suns vs. #1:Los Angeles Lakers
Result: Suns in 7.
Round 4
#3:Phoenix Suns vs. #1:Cleveland Cavaliers
Result: Cavaliers in 6.
That's right. I called it. The Suns will make the Finals the year I'm not here.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Amare talks.
Amare Stoudemire spoke with Doug & Wolf this morning on Sports 620 KTAR. When asked what he would say to people who think he is playing this MVP-caliber basketball just for the money, he responded.
"They are just simply retarded. They haven't been watching my career at all since I've been in the league," Stoudemire said. "Ever since I've been in the league I've been improving every single summer, keeping myself in total top shape, focusing on winning a championship through those playoff runs, coming back with force and reckless abandon, and even after the All-Star break I've been improving. So if they just think I'm playing for a contract they are out of their minds."
Amare is smart. He can't outsmart me, though.
Amare is kind of injury prone. Not the kind of guy I want to give a max contract.
Amare has just recently been averaging more than 10 rebounds per game. He's 6'10" and has mad hops!!!! What reason is there he shouldn't have been doing that for years?!?!!!
Amare is a great player, but he can't make an impact without the ball. No Steve Nash means not as many passes to Amare.
I don't wanna see Amare leave. I love watching him play, as infuriating as he can be. But, I don't think he's changed. I don't think he has the championship drive that Kobe has. He's done nothing to make me believe that in the past. He's done nothing to make me start believing now.
"They are just simply retarded. They haven't been watching my career at all since I've been in the league," Stoudemire said. "Ever since I've been in the league I've been improving every single summer, keeping myself in total top shape, focusing on winning a championship through those playoff runs, coming back with force and reckless abandon, and even after the All-Star break I've been improving. So if they just think I'm playing for a contract they are out of their minds."
Amare is smart. He can't outsmart me, though.
Amare is kind of injury prone. Not the kind of guy I want to give a max contract.
Amare has just recently been averaging more than 10 rebounds per game. He's 6'10" and has mad hops!!!! What reason is there he shouldn't have been doing that for years?!?!!!
Amare is a great player, but he can't make an impact without the ball. No Steve Nash means not as many passes to Amare.
I don't wanna see Amare leave. I love watching him play, as infuriating as he can be. But, I don't think he's changed. I don't think he has the championship drive that Kobe has. He's done nothing to make me believe that in the past. He's done nothing to make me start believing now.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Dunkface extreme!
Kurt Warner retired a while back. The Cardinals lost to the eventual Super Bowl champions. Coach Whisenhunt has declared Matt Leinart as the starting quarterback.
Matt Leinart is going to win a Super Bowl. I have great confidence in him and the Arizona Cardinals offense. They're going to be unstoppable again. Matt Leinart, possibly Derek Anderson, with Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Breaston and Early Doucet to throw to. Beanie Wells bulldozing through every stunt and trick any defensive line may have to offer.
I have the Cardinals finishing at a second consecutive 10-6 record before the schedule is released.
Meanwhile, the Coyotes are tearin up the rink! They're battling for first place in the conference and home ice throughout the playoffs.
In other news, the Phoenix Suns are doing well. Amare Stoudemire is FINALLY, after seven long years, playing to his potential. If he would've done this a few years ago, the Suns would have two NBA championships to boast about. Alas, he decided to play well when the Lakers are indestructible and when he is eligible for a new, bigger contract after the season.
If anyone knows of any can't-miss hot spots or restaurants or anything in Albuquerque, New Mexico, lemme know.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Sad Day
Cardinals 14 Saints 45
Suns 99 Bobcats 125
Coyotes 6 Wild 4
Diamondbacks got rid of the burden that was Eric Byrnes.
What has the Valley come to?
The Diamondbacks are hoping for one playoff appearance before Brandon Webb becomes a free agent. This year for sure, if the Diamondbacks make the playoffs, their pitching gives them a decent shot.
The Phoenix Coyotes are 5th in their conference. It must suck to be a hockey player. I've heard them mentioned on Bickley & MJ twice. Nobody talks about them. They're doing great and nobody cares.
The Suns got pounded. I didn't see it, but it seems they were out of it from the very beginning. Earl Clark played 21 minutes. Those are Big Boy minutes.
The Cardinals got pounded. I wish Larry Legend hadn't fumbled the football last week against the Packers. If he hadn't, I would feel no shame or remorse ripping into Jerheme Urban. His fumble is what changed that game. The Cardinals scored a touchdown on their first play. Jerheme Urban caught the ball and was running for a big gain on their second play when he fumbled. Darren Sharper recovered and the Cardinals did not. It seemed as if they gave up after the Saints made it 14-7 and 21-7. I still had hope when Beanie Wells busted a touchdown to make it 21-14, but the Cardinals couldn't avoid mistakes and, more importantly, couldn't stop the Saints.
Suns 99 Bobcats 125
Coyotes 6 Wild 4
Diamondbacks got rid of the burden that was Eric Byrnes.
What has the Valley come to?
The Diamondbacks are hoping for one playoff appearance before Brandon Webb becomes a free agent. This year for sure, if the Diamondbacks make the playoffs, their pitching gives them a decent shot.
The Phoenix Coyotes are 5th in their conference. It must suck to be a hockey player. I've heard them mentioned on Bickley & MJ twice. Nobody talks about them. They're doing great and nobody cares.
The Suns got pounded. I didn't see it, but it seems they were out of it from the very beginning. Earl Clark played 21 minutes. Those are Big Boy minutes.
The Cardinals got pounded. I wish Larry Legend hadn't fumbled the football last week against the Packers. If he hadn't, I would feel no shame or remorse ripping into Jerheme Urban. His fumble is what changed that game. The Cardinals scored a touchdown on their first play. Jerheme Urban caught the ball and was running for a big gain on their second play when he fumbled. Darren Sharper recovered and the Cardinals did not. It seemed as if they gave up after the Saints made it 14-7 and 21-7. I still had hope when Beanie Wells busted a touchdown to make it 21-14, but the Cardinals couldn't avoid mistakes and, more importantly, couldn't stop the Saints.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Cardinals v. Saints
I just wanna let everyone know I played a Saints vs. Cardinals game in Madden 10. I controlled the Cardinals and won 63-41. So, it's official. The Cardinals have nothing to worry about. Actually, one of the Saints receivers had over 200 yards receiving, but one wide receiver cannot win a football game.
People are actually picking the Cardinals in this matchup of NFC powerhouses. I appreciate that some "experts" are willing to give them R-E-S-P-E-C-T after they put a beatdown on the Packers. I still adamantly believe if the Arizona Cardinals played any football team on the planet and both teams played at peak performance, the Arizona Cardinals would come off conquerer.
That won't happen this weekend though. Anquan Boldin may play but is nowhere near 100%. Mike Gandy, as much as I hate him, is out. Gerald Hayes is most likely out. Calais Campbell is hurt but will play. And many more. I'm sure the Saints have their fair share of injuries as well.
The Cardinals will play in domes the next two weeks and play in Miami for the Superbowl. The Cardinals secondary will play better this week.
Cardinals 38 Saints 34
People are actually picking the Cardinals in this matchup of NFC powerhouses. I appreciate that some "experts" are willing to give them R-E-S-P-E-C-T after they put a beatdown on the Packers. I still adamantly believe if the Arizona Cardinals played any football team on the planet and both teams played at peak performance, the Arizona Cardinals would come off conquerer.
That won't happen this weekend though. Anquan Boldin may play but is nowhere near 100%. Mike Gandy, as much as I hate him, is out. Gerald Hayes is most likely out. Calais Campbell is hurt but will play. And many more. I'm sure the Saints have their fair share of injuries as well.
The Cardinals will play in domes the next two weeks and play in Miami for the Superbowl. The Cardinals secondary will play better this week.
Cardinals 38 Saints 34
Friday, December 18, 2009
Perfection!!!
We all know that there has only been one perfect person. Jesus Christ.
Most of us know the 1972 Miami Dolphins are the only major professional sports team to end a season with a zero in the loss column.
The New England Patriots were very close to being perfect two seasons ago. They lost a thrilling Superbowl to the New York Giants.
The NFL is really the only plausible major professional sports league in which a team can be perfect. Right now the Indianapolis Colts are 14-0 and the New Orleans Saints are 13-0 with a home game tomorrow evening against the Dallas Cowboys.
If it weren't for the Arizona Cardinals being legitimate contenders, I would be all for a Colts v. Saints Superbowl that features them both at 18-0. Having two undefeateds in one Superbowl is an event that may never happen.
The simple rarity of it is ridiculously intriguing. However, I think that it is more possible for the Arizona Cardinals to beat the 17-0 Saints in the NFC Championship game and beat the 18-0 Colts in the Superbowl.
Peyton Manning is the greatest. Drew Brees is excellent. The Cardinals are legit. They are going to beat the tar, stuffing and living daylights out of the Lions.
Most of us know the 1972 Miami Dolphins are the only major professional sports team to end a season with a zero in the loss column.
The New England Patriots were very close to being perfect two seasons ago. They lost a thrilling Superbowl to the New York Giants.
The NFL is really the only plausible major professional sports league in which a team can be perfect. Right now the Indianapolis Colts are 14-0 and the New Orleans Saints are 13-0 with a home game tomorrow evening against the Dallas Cowboys.
If it weren't for the Arizona Cardinals being legitimate contenders, I would be all for a Colts v. Saints Superbowl that features them both at 18-0. Having two undefeateds in one Superbowl is an event that may never happen.
The simple rarity of it is ridiculously intriguing. However, I think that it is more possible for the Arizona Cardinals to beat the 17-0 Saints in the NFC Championship game and beat the 18-0 Colts in the Superbowl.
Peyton Manning is the greatest. Drew Brees is excellent. The Cardinals are legit. They are going to beat the tar, stuffing and living daylights out of the Lions.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Week 15 prediction
I fully expect the Arizona Cardinals to bulldoze and demolish the Detroit Lions. The Cardinals have often followed what many consider a statement win with a humbling loss. The Cardinals have often followed that humbling loss with a huge win.
Week 6 of 2008. The Cardinals pull off an amazing victory over the Dallas Cowboys. Nobody saw it coming and Troy Aikman was soooooooooooooo annoying commentating for that game. They had a bye in Week 7 and lost to the Carolina Panthers in Week 8. Everyone expected the Panthers to win, but it was still humbling.
Week 7 of 2009. The Cardinals beat up on the New York Giants. They come home and get spanked by the Carolina Panthers the next week. They follow that with a beatdown of the Chicago Bears in Soldier Field.
Week 13 of 2009. The Cardinals steamroll the Minnesota Vikings. They head to San Fran the next week and fumble away the game. Those balls had to be slick as snot. The Cardinals did show that they are a better football team than the 49ers. If you only lose by 15 after committing seven turnovers, you are the better football team. You just had an extraordinarily bad game.
The Cardinals are still the team to beat in the NFC. They're going to host a first round playoff game. The second round of the playoffs will be in a dome. As will the NFC Championship game. The Cardinals have shown they are an elite team when they need to be.
Anyway...
Cardinals 41 Lions 17
Week 6 of 2008. The Cardinals pull off an amazing victory over the Dallas Cowboys. Nobody saw it coming and Troy Aikman was soooooooooooooo annoying commentating for that game. They had a bye in Week 7 and lost to the Carolina Panthers in Week 8. Everyone expected the Panthers to win, but it was still humbling.
Week 7 of 2009. The Cardinals beat up on the New York Giants. They come home and get spanked by the Carolina Panthers the next week. They follow that with a beatdown of the Chicago Bears in Soldier Field.
Week 13 of 2009. The Cardinals steamroll the Minnesota Vikings. They head to San Fran the next week and fumble away the game. Those balls had to be slick as snot. The Cardinals did show that they are a better football team than the 49ers. If you only lose by 15 after committing seven turnovers, you are the better football team. You just had an extraordinarily bad game.
The Cardinals are still the team to beat in the NFC. They're going to host a first round playoff game. The second round of the playoffs will be in a dome. As will the NFC Championship game. The Cardinals have shown they are an elite team when they need to be.
Anyway...
Cardinals 41 Lions 17
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Softball '09
Last night was the first night of softball for the Mesa South Stake. As I pulled into a parking space I noticed a bunch of girls on the field that was supposed to be reserved for the elders. I walked over to the other field that featured young men finishing up a game. More people from Sherwood Park Ward showed up, and we got some warm-up throws in.
Well, I looked over to the other field, and the females were still there. Apparently, City of Mesa double-booked that field. Stupid. When the females did start to actually "play", they weren't even in the outfield. How stupid is that? Possibly ruin a bunch of people's night just to be stupid. If you're not going to try to be competent and relevant, get out of everyone else's way.
The elders had to combine with the young men. I went up to bat first for our team, swung at two strikes and walked back to the dugout. Will Bradshaw got my attention, "Thanks for taking the pressure off the rest of us."
At-bat number two consisted of an inning ending groundball to third base.
Third at-bat. Aaron Crisp had just hit a monstrous grand slam. Chris Stevenson got an out. Josh Stevenson got on first base. I walked to the plate, pointed at my mom in the first row and said, "This one's for you mom." Mackay Shelley, who was sitting there and keeping score, said, "I hope he hits it." Bishop Standage and Sister Pyper laughed. I stepped into the batter's box. The pitch comes and is just ridiculously perfect to hit. I swing with all my might. Aluminum on softball is such a good sound at times. The ball soars into right-center field. I don't know how far it went, but I like to think that it at least rolled to the wall. I busted around the bases. As I turned second base, I saw Josh a few steps ahead. I was worried his speed wouldn't let me score. Luckily, he picked up the pace a bit and I "slid" into home. Moment of a lifetime for a mother.
We would end up winning 17-7. Game MVP honors go to Aaron Crisp who totaled 9 RBI and 12 total bases.
Well, I looked over to the other field, and the females were still there. Apparently, City of Mesa double-booked that field. Stupid. When the females did start to actually "play", they weren't even in the outfield. How stupid is that? Possibly ruin a bunch of people's night just to be stupid. If you're not going to try to be competent and relevant, get out of everyone else's way.
The elders had to combine with the young men. I went up to bat first for our team, swung at two strikes and walked back to the dugout. Will Bradshaw got my attention, "Thanks for taking the pressure off the rest of us."
At-bat number two consisted of an inning ending groundball to third base.
Third at-bat. Aaron Crisp had just hit a monstrous grand slam. Chris Stevenson got an out. Josh Stevenson got on first base. I walked to the plate, pointed at my mom in the first row and said, "This one's for you mom." Mackay Shelley, who was sitting there and keeping score, said, "I hope he hits it." Bishop Standage and Sister Pyper laughed. I stepped into the batter's box. The pitch comes and is just ridiculously perfect to hit. I swing with all my might. Aluminum on softball is such a good sound at times. The ball soars into right-center field. I don't know how far it went, but I like to think that it at least rolled to the wall. I busted around the bases. As I turned second base, I saw Josh a few steps ahead. I was worried his speed wouldn't let me score. Luckily, he picked up the pace a bit and I "slid" into home. Moment of a lifetime for a mother.
We would end up winning 17-7. Game MVP honors go to Aaron Crisp who totaled 9 RBI and 12 total bases.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
So, I'm not blogging about the Cardinals because they are frustrating and if you want to hear opinions on the Cardinals 20-16 loss to the 49ers, just listen to any Valley sports talk through Wednesday.
No, this post is about the ceremony that was held Friday night in Massachusetts. Vivian Stringer, David Robinson, John Stockton, Jerry Sloan, and Michael Jordan are the Class of 2009. I don't like Vivian Stringer. And I don't think Michael Jordan is the greatest of all time.
All the video that I see of him only makes me think of Kobe Bryant. I don't see any difference in the way that they play or their hunger to win. Kobe is easily the hardest working athlete in the NBA right now. He has an absolutely insane training regime.
But, yeah, I don't see any difference. You can throw the whole number of titles thing at me, but Michael said why he has six in his speech. It was one of the first things that he said and deservedly so. The first person that he thanked was Scottie Pippen. I was surprised that he didn't mention Phil Jackson, who has been there for all six of Jordan's championships as well as all four of Kobe's.
As for Michael's speech being proud and bullysome. No. It was fine. The only reason that he said those things is because of the fans and media. If all of you stupid fans and media wouldn't go around saying "I wanna be like Mike" and "Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever" then he wouldn't have sounded so pompous in his speech.
The fans have all the power in sports. It's the fans who make or break everything about sports. If the fans would possess the least bit of intellect, there wouldn't be all these divas (i.e. Michael Jordan, Terrell Owens, Brett Favre, Alex Rodriguez.)
No, this post is about the ceremony that was held Friday night in Massachusetts. Vivian Stringer, David Robinson, John Stockton, Jerry Sloan, and Michael Jordan are the Class of 2009. I don't like Vivian Stringer. And I don't think Michael Jordan is the greatest of all time.
All the video that I see of him only makes me think of Kobe Bryant. I don't see any difference in the way that they play or their hunger to win. Kobe is easily the hardest working athlete in the NBA right now. He has an absolutely insane training regime.
But, yeah, I don't see any difference. You can throw the whole number of titles thing at me, but Michael said why he has six in his speech. It was one of the first things that he said and deservedly so. The first person that he thanked was Scottie Pippen. I was surprised that he didn't mention Phil Jackson, who has been there for all six of Jordan's championships as well as all four of Kobe's.
As for Michael's speech being proud and bullysome. No. It was fine. The only reason that he said those things is because of the fans and media. If all of you stupid fans and media wouldn't go around saying "I wanna be like Mike" and "Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever" then he wouldn't have sounded so pompous in his speech.
The fans have all the power in sports. It's the fans who make or break everything about sports. If the fans would possess the least bit of intellect, there wouldn't be all these divas (i.e. Michael Jordan, Terrell Owens, Brett Favre, Alex Rodriguez.)
Sunday, September 6, 2009
J-Up
A.J. Hinch just told Justin Upton to grab some bench. I couldn't be happier. Upton was being his usual idiot self and finally got some discipline for it. I'd make him sit the rest of the series.
Here is the play.
Justin has done this all season long. For some reason it seems like I've been the only one that didn't like him for it. So, finally, in a 100% meaningless game for the Diamondbacks, A.J. Hinch shows that he has stronger huevos than I've given him credit for.
Here is the play.
Justin has done this all season long. For some reason it seems like I've been the only one that didn't like him for it. So, finally, in a 100% meaningless game for the Diamondbacks, A.J. Hinch shows that he has stronger huevos than I've given him credit for.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Shaquille O' Krimnal?
A television show aired it's third episode last night. It's called "Shaq Vs." and it features perennial great Shaquille O' Neal against stars of other sports. I find it highly entertaining. Others, not so much.
Shaq has been accused of stealing the idea from former teammate Steve Nash. Nash tried to brush over it, but it's hard to hide when you hire a patent lawyer. So, to quiet it all down, Shaq put Nash in the credits as a producer.
Dan Bickley dropped this bomb on his blog last week.
I like this show. Shaq has always been about himself. He wants his name to be synonymous with the word "basketball". He wants to have plenty of jewelery when he retires.
I didn't like when Shaq came to the Suns on February 6, 2008. 'Twas a day of infamy. But, I'll admit, he grew on me. He entertained me until I liked him.
With Shaq, you just need to not take anything that he says seriously. He's a comedian. He'll joke his way out of any situation. He thinks Shaq first 100% of the time. Shaq is Shaq. Shaq does as Shaq does. You can laugh or criticize, but Shaq isn't going to change for anybody.
Shaq has been accused of stealing the idea from former teammate Steve Nash. Nash tried to brush over it, but it's hard to hide when you hire a patent lawyer. So, to quiet it all down, Shaq put Nash in the credits as a producer.
Dan Bickley dropped this bomb on his blog last week.
I like this show. Shaq has always been about himself. He wants his name to be synonymous with the word "basketball". He wants to have plenty of jewelery when he retires.
I didn't like when Shaq came to the Suns on February 6, 2008. 'Twas a day of infamy. But, I'll admit, he grew on me. He entertained me until I liked him.
With Shaq, you just need to not take anything that he says seriously. He's a comedian. He'll joke his way out of any situation. He thinks Shaq first 100% of the time. Shaq is Shaq. Shaq does as Shaq does. You can laugh or criticize, but Shaq isn't going to change for anybody.
Monday, August 31, 2009
State of the Arizona Diamondbacks: 2010
2009 is a lost cause for the Arizona Diamondbacks. For a majority of the season the only rays of hope were Dan Haren winning the NL Cy Young Award and Mark Reynolds being awesome. But, now Dan Haren has fallen way off the chart for any consideration in the NL Cy Young race. Luckily, John Hester has come up and been the best thing that could've ever happened to this team; however, that is a completely different story. Mark Reynolds is still awesome and still has a chance to beat Pujols in the home run race. To be realistic though, the Diamondbacks are focusing on next season with an entire month left in this season.
(By the way, here is the link to John Hester's first big league at-bat.)
But, this offseason is a big one for the Diamondbacks. I don't think Josh Byrnes is a good general manager in any way.
Mark Reynolds is going to get a pay raise. He was getting a AA salary because that's where he was in May of 2007.
I like Doug Davis. I want him to be re-signed by the Diamondbacks. But, I had no idea that he was getting paid more than Webb and Haren.
I would think that if Josh Byrnes had any baseball sense at all he would make sure that Scott Schoeneweis, Eric Byrnes, and Chad Tracy are not with this team next year. I don't want to see Jon Garland back, but if that's the best deal out there, then whatever. I think that Yusmeiro Petit has earned a shot at the number 5 starting job next season.
So, here's my 2010 Arizona Diamondbacks opening day roster.
1)Stephen Drew-SS
2)Ryan Roberts-2B
3)Justin Upton-RF (Even though I don't like him, it'd be stupid of me to not think he'd be there)
4)Mark Reynolds-3B
5)Miguel Montero-C
6)Gerardo Parra-CF
7)Brandon Allen-1B
8)Alex Romero-LF
9)Dan Haren-P
The rotation should go Haren, Webb, Davis, unknown offseason pick up, Petit. The bullpen would feature Clay Zavada for the 7th inning, Chad Qualls for the 8th, and Max Scherzer as the closer. There would still be Juan Gutierrez and Leo Rosales and maybe Daniel Schlereth as well. On the bench would be John Hester, Trent Oeltjen, Conor Jackson, and Augie Ojeda. The other two roster spots would be filled in the bullpen.
Trade Chris Snyder to get a pitcher or 1B. Let Dan Haren start next season, it wouldn't be fair any other way. Pick up the option on Brandon Webb. Give Chris Young a shot to earn his pay, but don't just give him the starting CF job.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Mark Andrew Reynolds
Mark Reynolds is an absolute beast. As of right now he is hitting .284 with 33 home runs, 76 RBI, and 20 stolen bases. Those are very good numbers to say the least. Right around the Fourth of July, whilst everyone else was celebrating, Mark Reynolds was calling out his team. That's not to say that he isn't patriotic, but the Arizona Diamondbacks were playing AA baseball at the time. He called them out and backed it up with a 3-run homer the next game.
Mark Reynolds is the epitome of hustle and effort. He busts his butt on every play, does all in his power to get an out on every pitch when in the field, does all that he can just to get on base when up to bat. Mark Reynolds never takes a play off. He's not too worried about his personal stats, he just wants to see his baseball team win.
The Diamondbacks are 10.5 games back in the wildcard race. With 53 games to play and the way the Diamondbacks have been playing, I give the playoffs a plausible. Dan Haren will need to return to his first half form, but Mark Reynolds will make sure to perform in the clutch. He has a hunger in his belly that can only be quenched by a World Series win. Whether or not he gets one with this team, or at all, is yet to be seen?
Also, as far as the playoffs go, I have the same thoughts as last year. Last year the Diamondbacks were in contention to win their division and I thought that if they could do that, they had a good chance at a World Series berth. I think the same of this year. They have the starting pitching to make a run if they can make a competition of it.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
23 Meets 32.
The King is going to be working with The Big Aristotle. The Phoenix Suns and the Cleveland Cavaliers have agreed to a trade that sends Shaquille O' Neal to the Cavs and Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, the 46th pick in next year's draft and $500,000 cash to the Suns.
Actually, it's more like two old pals agreed to this trade. Danny Ferry, Cleveland's GM, and Steve Kerr are old teammates and relatively good friends. Kerr realizes that he and his boss, Robert Sarver, are blubbering idiots when it comes to a NBA front office, but Sarver a trillion times more.
It's highly likely that the Suns will buy out the contracts of both Wallace and Pavlovic. I thought that the plan was to trade Shaquille O' Neal this offseason because his trade value was high, yet they received practically nothing in return for him. So, this is purely a way to get some financial relief and not an attempt to improve the Suns championship chances. The Valley of the Suns is used to winning and going deep in the playoffs. It appears that Steve Kerr is more into making sure that he makes his mark on the franchise before the fans crucify him and Sarver.
Here's list of all recorded 46th picks. I've bolded the ones I've heard of.
Dennis Awtrey (Philadelphia 76ers, 1970)
James Edwards (Los Angeles Lakers, 1977)
Jerome Kersey (Portland Trailblazers, 1984)
Adrian Branch (Chicago Bulls, 1985)
Jeff Hornacek (Phoenix Suns, 1986)
Morlon Wiley (Dallas Mavericks, 1988)
Ricky Blanton (Phoenix Suns, 1989)
Kenny Williams (Indiana Pacers, 1990)
Richard Dumas (Phoenix Suns, 1991)
Robert Werdann (Denver Nuggets, 1992)
Richard Petruska (Houston Rockets, 1993)
Voshon Lenard (Milwaukee Bucks, 1994)
George Banks (Miami Heat, 1995)
Marcus Brown (Portland Trailblazers, 1996)
God Shammgod (Washington Bullets, 1997)
Andrae Patterson (Minnesota Timberwolves, 1998)
J.R. Koch (New York Knicks, 1999)
DeeAndre Hulett (Toronto Raptors, 2000)
Loren Woods (Minnesota Timberwolves, 2001)
Jamal Sampson (Utah Jazz, 2002)
Sani Bečirović (Denver Nuggets, 2003)
Ha Seung-Jin (Portland Trailblazers, 2004)
Erazem Lorbek (Indiana Pacers, 2005)
Dee Brown (Utah Jazz, 2006)
Stephane Lasme (Golden State Warriors, 2007)
Trent Plaisted (Seattle Supersonics, 2008)
Daniel Green (Cleveland Cavaliers, 2009)
Gani Lawal (Phoenix Suns, 2010) [I've only heard of him because it's the Suns]
Andrew Goudelock (Los Angeles Lakers, 2011)
If you're going to rebuild, then you need to get rid of Nash and Amare. They both have a lot of trade value. Amare isn't a guy who can carry a team and Nash doesn't want to be on a rebuilding team. It's late in his career and at that point all guys want is championships. Build around Lou, Dudley, and Barbosa. Re-sign Grant Hill to keep a veteran presence and go and get Tyler Hansborough in the draft. I'm sure he'll be there at 14. He's the smartest basketball player in the draft.
AND DON'T RE-SIGN BARNES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Actually, it's more like two old pals agreed to this trade. Danny Ferry, Cleveland's GM, and Steve Kerr are old teammates and relatively good friends. Kerr realizes that he and his boss, Robert Sarver, are blubbering idiots when it comes to a NBA front office, but Sarver a trillion times more.
It's highly likely that the Suns will buy out the contracts of both Wallace and Pavlovic. I thought that the plan was to trade Shaquille O' Neal this offseason because his trade value was high, yet they received practically nothing in return for him. So, this is purely a way to get some financial relief and not an attempt to improve the Suns championship chances. The Valley of the Suns is used to winning and going deep in the playoffs. It appears that Steve Kerr is more into making sure that he makes his mark on the franchise before the fans crucify him and Sarver.
Here's list of all recorded 46th picks. I've bolded the ones I've heard of.
Dennis Awtrey (Philadelphia 76ers, 1970)
James Edwards (Los Angeles Lakers, 1977)
Jerome Kersey (Portland Trailblazers, 1984)
Adrian Branch (Chicago Bulls, 1985)
Jeff Hornacek (Phoenix Suns, 1986)
Morlon Wiley (Dallas Mavericks, 1988)
Ricky Blanton (Phoenix Suns, 1989)
Kenny Williams (Indiana Pacers, 1990)
Richard Dumas (Phoenix Suns, 1991)
Robert Werdann (Denver Nuggets, 1992)
Richard Petruska (Houston Rockets, 1993)
Voshon Lenard (Milwaukee Bucks, 1994)
George Banks (Miami Heat, 1995)
Marcus Brown (Portland Trailblazers, 1996)
God Shammgod (Washington Bullets, 1997)
Andrae Patterson (Minnesota Timberwolves, 1998)
J.R. Koch (New York Knicks, 1999)
DeeAndre Hulett (Toronto Raptors, 2000)
Loren Woods (Minnesota Timberwolves, 2001)
Jamal Sampson (Utah Jazz, 2002)
Sani Bečirović (Denver Nuggets, 2003)
Ha Seung-Jin (Portland Trailblazers, 2004)
Erazem Lorbek (Indiana Pacers, 2005)
Dee Brown (Utah Jazz, 2006)
Stephane Lasme (Golden State Warriors, 2007)
Trent Plaisted (Seattle Supersonics, 2008)
Daniel Green (Cleveland Cavaliers, 2009)
Gani Lawal (Phoenix Suns, 2010) [I've only heard of him because it's the Suns]
Andrew Goudelock (Los Angeles Lakers, 2011)
If you're going to rebuild, then you need to get rid of Nash and Amare. They both have a lot of trade value. Amare isn't a guy who can carry a team and Nash doesn't want to be on a rebuilding team. It's late in his career and at that point all guys want is championships. Build around Lou, Dudley, and Barbosa. Re-sign Grant Hill to keep a veteran presence and go and get Tyler Hansborough in the draft. I'm sure he'll be there at 14. He's the smartest basketball player in the draft.
AND DON'T RE-SIGN BARNES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Oh, the joy of themed Mad Libs.
One day, Little Brown Riding Hood was going through the forest carrying a basket of toilet paper rolls for her grandmother. Suddenly, she met a big, smelly wolf. "Crap!!!!" said the wolf. "Where are you going, little dookie?"
"I'm going to my grandmother's house," she said. Then the wolf dumped away. When Miss Riding Hood got to her grandmother's house, the wolf was in bed dressed as grandmother. "My, Grandmother," she said, "What big toilets you have."
"The better to flush you with," said the wolf.
"And Grandmother," she said, "What big turds you have."
The wolf said, "The better to wipe you with."
And then she said, "What big farts you have, Grandmother." But the wolf said nothing. He has just died of indigestion from eating Grandmother.
"I'm going to my grandmother's house," she said. Then the wolf dumped away. When Miss Riding Hood got to her grandmother's house, the wolf was in bed dressed as grandmother. "My, Grandmother," she said, "What big toilets you have."
"The better to flush you with," said the wolf.
"And Grandmother," she said, "What big turds you have."
The wolf said, "The better to wipe you with."
And then she said, "What big farts you have, Grandmother." But the wolf said nothing. He has just died of indigestion from eating Grandmother.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Goodbye May.
So, May is about to end. Been quite a month. I turned 18. My dad turned 60. I graduated from high school. The Diamondbacks fired Bob Melvin and have shown some good signs of improvement since then. Yankee Stadium has been a hitters dream and a pitchers nightmare. Mark Teixeira hit a ball off of Cole Hamels that severed his bat, but the ball still went over the left field wall. And the NBA playoffs have been stellar.
From the Denver Nuggets absolutely thrashing the Hornets in New Orleans (121-63) to the Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls giving us the series of a lifetime that had a very anticlimatic ending thanks to the officials.
LeBron James delivered a shot that will not soon be forgotten. It's a shame that it had to come when the seemingly unstoppable Cavaliers were all-of-a-sudden springing leaks all over the place.
We all wish that the Suns could've made it and gotten swept in the first round. But, it's time for Dwight Howard to really step up. The Magic won both games against the Lakers in the regular season. Both were close and both had the now injured Jameer Nelson as Player of the Game. So, it'll be up to Dwight Howard to play smart, stay on his feet, and dominate the paint. If he can do this, Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, Mickael Pietrus, and Rafer Alston will be open from long range.
Sadly, I must address this point. The officiating in these playoffs has been abosolutely terrible. It ruined the best series (Bulls v. Celtics) and completely put the underdog Jazz out of contention. I watched every game of the Jazz v. Lakers series and really, seriously, the Lakers had it made with the refs.
Bill Simmons, writer for ESPN, addresses this issue and more here. (Mama Bear, pay special attention to what he says starting with the sixth paragraph of the "Where Aging Doesn't Happen..." section all the way to "The General Motors Syndrome")
I would also like to add that being an official in the NBA is not easy at all. My brother, Daniel, says at least once during every game that he watches that he could be (and should be) a ref. I really think that he would be not so good at it.
But the problem is that the NBA is comfortable with the bad refs that they have now. However hard as it may be to find young, good referees, they need to try. They need to hold their refs accountable. If only the refs had to answer to the media.
From the Denver Nuggets absolutely thrashing the Hornets in New Orleans (121-63) to the Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls giving us the series of a lifetime that had a very anticlimatic ending thanks to the officials.
LeBron James delivered a shot that will not soon be forgotten. It's a shame that it had to come when the seemingly unstoppable Cavaliers were all-of-a-sudden springing leaks all over the place.
We all wish that the Suns could've made it and gotten swept in the first round. But, it's time for Dwight Howard to really step up. The Magic won both games against the Lakers in the regular season. Both were close and both had the now injured Jameer Nelson as Player of the Game. So, it'll be up to Dwight Howard to play smart, stay on his feet, and dominate the paint. If he can do this, Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, Mickael Pietrus, and Rafer Alston will be open from long range.
Sadly, I must address this point. The officiating in these playoffs has been abosolutely terrible. It ruined the best series (Bulls v. Celtics) and completely put the underdog Jazz out of contention. I watched every game of the Jazz v. Lakers series and really, seriously, the Lakers had it made with the refs.
Bill Simmons, writer for ESPN, addresses this issue and more here. (Mama Bear, pay special attention to what he says starting with the sixth paragraph of the "Where Aging Doesn't Happen..." section all the way to "The General Motors Syndrome")
I would also like to add that being an official in the NBA is not easy at all. My brother, Daniel, says at least once during every game that he watches that he could be (and should be) a ref. I really think that he would be not so good at it.
But the problem is that the NBA is comfortable with the bad refs that they have now. However hard as it may be to find young, good referees, they need to try. They need to hold their refs accountable. If only the refs had to answer to the media.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Playoffs
So, I drew up some playoff brackets but I don't know how to scan them onto my computer.
Eastern Conference 1st Round:
8)Detroit vs. 1)Cleveland Winner:Cleveland in 4
5)Miami vs. 4)Atlanta Winner:Atlanta in 6 or 7
6)76ers vs. 3)Orlando Winner:Orlando in 5
7)Chicago vs. 2)Boston Winner:Boston in 6
Western Conference 1st Round:
8)Utah vs. 1)Los Angeles Winner:Los Angeles in 7
5)Houston vs. 4)Portland Winner:Houston in 6
6)Dallas vs. 3)San Antonio Winner:Dallas in 7
7)New Orleans vs. 2)Denver Winner:Denver in 5
Eastern Conference Semi-finals:
4)Atlanta vs. 1)Cleveland Winner:Cleveland in 4
3)Orlando vs. 2)Boston Winner:Orlando in 6
Western Conference Semi-finals:
5)Houston vs. 1)Los Angeles Winner:Los Angeles in 6
6)Dallas vs. 2)Denver Winner:Dallas in 7
Eastern Conference Finals:
3)Orlando vs. 1)Cleveland Winner:Cleveland 5
Western Conference Finals:
6)Dallas vs. 1)Los Angeles Winner:Los Angeles 5
NBA Finals:
1)Los Angeles vs. 1)Cleveland Winner:Los Angeles in 6
Eastern Conference 1st Round:
8)Detroit vs. 1)Cleveland Winner:Cleveland in 4
5)Miami vs. 4)Atlanta Winner:Atlanta in 6 or 7
6)76ers vs. 3)Orlando Winner:Orlando in 5
7)Chicago vs. 2)Boston Winner:Boston in 6
Western Conference 1st Round:
8)Utah vs. 1)Los Angeles Winner:Los Angeles in 7
5)Houston vs. 4)Portland Winner:Houston in 6
6)Dallas vs. 3)San Antonio Winner:Dallas in 7
7)New Orleans vs. 2)Denver Winner:Denver in 5
Eastern Conference Semi-finals:
4)Atlanta vs. 1)Cleveland Winner:Cleveland in 4
3)Orlando vs. 2)Boston Winner:Orlando in 6
Western Conference Semi-finals:
5)Houston vs. 1)Los Angeles Winner:Los Angeles in 6
6)Dallas vs. 2)Denver Winner:Dallas in 7
Eastern Conference Finals:
3)Orlando vs. 1)Cleveland Winner:Cleveland 5
Western Conference Finals:
6)Dallas vs. 1)Los Angeles Winner:Los Angeles 5
NBA Finals:
1)Los Angeles vs. 1)Cleveland Winner:Los Angeles in 6
Preps 2 Pros
I love Adande and won't even try to say this in my own words.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=adande_ja&page=highschoolers-090416
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=adande_ja&page=highschoolers-090416
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The D'Antoni-Gentry system.
If only we could, in some delicate, scientific process, combine Mike D'Antoni and Alvin Gentry, then the world could meet the greatest basketball coach of all time.
D'antoni averaged 58 wins per season in his 4 full seasons as Phoenix Suns head coach. Pretty gosh darn good. He also accumulated 26 playoff victories in that time. I'd like that number to be the maximum 64 as much the next guy, but 26 is not too shabby.. Compare that 26 to any team other than the Spurs and Pistons and I'd bet that the Suns are looking pretty good.
Gentry is a measly 13-11 so far in his head coaching tenure with the Suns. That's bad, but we need to remember that he has done nearly all of it at much less than full strength. Amare Stoudemire has missed all but two-and-a-half of those and Leandro Barbosa has missed 10-12 of those games. Those two are huge components in a run-n-gun system.
Now, if we could just find a guy that's as much of an offensive genius as D'Antoni and have that guy play his bench as much as Gentry does. That would be perfection. I do believe the Suns offense was much better under D'Antoni than it is with Gentry. That might be difficult for some to understand because the three games that Gentry had the Phoenix Suns at full strength they scored 140 each game. However, two of those were against the injury ridden Clippers and the other was against the lowly Oklahoma City Thunder.
As much as my blog may indicate that I didn't like Mike D'Antoni, I really did like him. I just wished that he would've told his starters to "Grab some bench" more often. Look at Goran Dragic. He would've never played under D'Antoni and Porter never played him, but Alvin Gentry stuck him out and told him, "Don't worry if you make mistakes. Just play through them and we'll look at the film later. Just don't make the same mistake again. And when you do make a mistake, don't look at the bench of you're gonna be grabbing some bench." That may not be an exact quote.
So, I need those filthy liberals to mess with God given genetics and find a way to combine the philosophies of these two men.
D'antoni averaged 58 wins per season in his 4 full seasons as Phoenix Suns head coach. Pretty gosh darn good. He also accumulated 26 playoff victories in that time. I'd like that number to be the maximum 64 as much the next guy, but 26 is not too shabby.. Compare that 26 to any team other than the Spurs and Pistons and I'd bet that the Suns are looking pretty good.
Gentry is a measly 13-11 so far in his head coaching tenure with the Suns. That's bad, but we need to remember that he has done nearly all of it at much less than full strength. Amare Stoudemire has missed all but two-and-a-half of those and Leandro Barbosa has missed 10-12 of those games. Those two are huge components in a run-n-gun system.
Now, if we could just find a guy that's as much of an offensive genius as D'Antoni and have that guy play his bench as much as Gentry does. That would be perfection. I do believe the Suns offense was much better under D'Antoni than it is with Gentry. That might be difficult for some to understand because the three games that Gentry had the Phoenix Suns at full strength they scored 140 each game. However, two of those were against the injury ridden Clippers and the other was against the lowly Oklahoma City Thunder.
As much as my blog may indicate that I didn't like Mike D'Antoni, I really did like him. I just wished that he would've told his starters to "Grab some bench" more often. Look at Goran Dragic. He would've never played under D'Antoni and Porter never played him, but Alvin Gentry stuck him out and told him, "Don't worry if you make mistakes. Just play through them and we'll look at the film later. Just don't make the same mistake again. And when you do make a mistake, don't look at the bench of you're gonna be grabbing some bench." That may not be an exact quote.
So, I need those filthy liberals to mess with God given genetics and find a way to combine the philosophies of these two men.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)