Friday, November 30, 2007

"You don't just come out and quit. You have to have a reason or someone has to make you quit."-Kevin Garnett

"Patrick Ewing is rolling over in his grave."-Charles Barkley

A Game in Quotations
Part 2 of 5


Second Quarter

"You can't make this stuff up...which has to be a first in NBA history."-Marv

"The Big Baby out of nowhere diving on the floor!"-Reggie

"...and the Knicks shooting has been brutal."-Marv

"Oh! Nice move by Allen. The second effort, Balkman thought he had him but Allen kept coming."-Marv

16-32

"That's two free layups off the same play that the Celtics have gotten."-The Czar

18-35

"The Celtics have outscored the Knicks 10 to 2 in the second quarter."-Marv

"When your #1 and #2 options, the Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry, are not going then you start to press and start to shoot outside shots."-Reggie

18-37

"Garnett out hustling two Knicks and it pays off. Eddie House from downtown!"-Marv

18-43

"There is no excuse for this. This is unbelievable."-Reggie

"Fred Jones has come on the floor for the first time."-Marv

22-44

"With the talent we brought in it's like 'wow,' it's like a breath of fresh air."-Paul Pierce in pre-taped interview

"What Pierce just said about a breath of fresh air. Is that what the Knicks have been going through? It has been six seasons since Jeff Van Gundy being the last coach when they won 48 games seven seasons back. Since that time 30, 32, 39, 33, 23, 33 wins, a stretch of futilty that they have to deal with."-The Czar

"Nice move by Robinson!"-Marv

29-48

"Pierce for THREE!"-Marv

29-52

"Right now the effort that the Knicks have given is subpar. I look at the body language on the Knicks bench, I'm looking at Mardy Collins and these guys and I don't even think they're...the body language doesn't look good."-Reggie

"For the Knicks a season low for a half with just 31 points."-Marv

31-54

End of the Second Quarter

"I've never even someone get beat at darts this bad." -Kenny Smith

A Game in Quotations
Part 1 of 5


Pre-Game
"Stephon Marbury and the Knicks have won their last two but are winless on the road. They'll try to change that in Boston where Kevin Garnett and the Celtics haven't lost en route to the NBA's best record. Kevin Garnett and the Celtics are eleven and two. It's time for TNT NBA tipoff presented by autotrader.com"--Ernie Johnson

"And this is a matchup of two teams that are going in opposite directions. This is a Knicks team that is 0-6 on the road while the Celtics at home, 7 and 0...The Knicks have been a team in utter chaos and it's tough to consider this a rivalry if both teams do not excel. As the Celtics control the opening tip..."-Marv Albert

First Quarter

"Rando takes it to the rim."-Marv Albert

0-2

"Right now New York has three possesions, three jump shots. Something Isiah Thomas really did not want to see. They need to establish Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph down low."-Reggie Miller

"That's Richardson for Three!"-Marv Albert

3-4

"Their record really doesn't indicate how good they good be and they're a joke because they should be much better than they have really indicated so far."-Reggie Miller

"This is a team that is very poor at the defensive end and they'll turn the ball over. Their is a lack of chemistry. If you look at it in terms of a fantasy league team, yes."-Marv Albert

"But, Marv, I really like their talent. I think they've got talent. They've got size, uh, they're strong at each position. I really like they're second five. While they miss a layup right there, but I like their size and I think their big problem and question mark is going to be with the Knicks is chemistry."-Reggie Miller

3-8

"Allen pulls up. Yes!"-Marv Albert

3-10

"Since we're jumping on the Knicks right now to start out the game, one of the problems right now is chemistry. Chemistry right now because of all the scorers."-Mike Fratello

"And this is a Boston Celtic team that was horrendous."-Marv

"You can immediately tell that New York is going to have to get back in transition. The Celtics are running the floor hard and pull up and spot up behind the three point line and there is no one there to challenge the shooter."-The Czar

"So, the Knicks are 1 of 9 here at the start."-Marv

3-12

"Right now if I'm Isiah I'm scratching my head because this is a big game and you've won two in a row against Chicago and Utah. This is a chance on national TV to come out and make a statement and right now they're not doing that."-Reggie

"Well, Reggie, this is a very good offensive unit, this, as Curry turns for the turnaround jumper and misses it, it's a very good offensive unit. It's a very bad defensive unit."-The Czar

5-16

"The Knicks open up 2 of 13...and Kevin Garnett already has 7 rebounds."-Marv

"Welcome back to Boston, the Celtics have a 16-7 lead. I'm Craig Sager with the Lincoln Sideline Report. The last few months have been very difficult times for Isiah Thomas...He said last night a personal grudge was renewed between he and Boston and the Celtics fans. He checked into his [hotel] room [last night], went to a spin class and he said that when he went back to his room he was locked out. They had changed the lock."-Craig Sager

7-18

"How about the Knicks now? 3 for 16 from the field and it's not like the Celtics are going at a blistering pace with their shooting."-Marv

"Randolph rarely gives it back once the ball goes down low to him"-Marv

"Their is no ball movement for the Knicks right now on offense. You gotta have some kinda system where the ball moves a little bit from side to side."-Reggie

"Randolph! It is deflected. He is Oh for Six here at the start."-Marv

"Here's Brian Scalabrine who just came on, that's a THREE, off the bench to give the Celtics a 23-98 lead"-Marv

8-23

"The guy who made the play is Scalabrine, who settles, puts it on the floor, dribbles hard and gets a wide open look for Rondo."-The Czar

"Randolph! So Randolph with his first bucket, he had missed his previous seven shots."-Marv

14-25

"So the Celtics with a 27-16 lead after one."-Marv

End of First Quarter

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving

Things I'm Thankful For Today:
-That I'll be sitting down for a meal later today with all four of my grandparents who are still running around and having a fine time.

-Game 7 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals. Game 7 of the 2000 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. Game 5 of the 1998 Eastern Conference First Round Playoff Series.

-The POSSIBILITY that Isiah Thomas could be fired soon. Maybe even tomorrow. Even if it is not likely it is still possible and for that I am thankful.

-Endy's catch. I was there.

-That David Stern rigged the NBA Draft Lottery in 1985.

-The Dunk.

-The chance to attend so many Knicks games when I was kid. I'm very thankful for all those nights that started out with dinner at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant called The Print Room in Hackensack, NJ. Hamburger with fries. The hamburger was usually a little over done and the fries were those thick "steak fries." And, then off to MSG with my dad, my grandfather and my uncle.

-The 4-point play.

-That for one afternoon all of New York and New Jersey and Connecticut will be rooting for the same football team: The Jets. As a Jets fan in a family full of Giants fans it will make the day go a bit smoother. Of course, they'll all be blaming me after the 'Boys roll over Gang Green.

-That Guillermo Mota is history. The Mets traded this horrorshow yesterday for the artist formerly known as Johnny Estrada. Addition by Subtraction.

-That Trent Tucker hit that shot to beat Chicago before they invented the Trent Tucker Rule.

-That my sister, Sarah, made it home from New Mexico for Thanksgiving.

-Anthony Mason, Xavier McDaniel, Kurt Thomas and every crazy-eyed and hard-nosed player who has donned a Knicks uniform.

-Game 5 of the 1990 NBA Playoff Series between the Knicks and the Celtics. Ewing and Bird each scored 31, but Patrick lead the Knicks over the C's with a memorable three-point shot in the deciding game of this series.

-That the Knicks found Gus Johnson after they shamefully fired Marv Albert. The only way Thanksgiving could be better was if Gus was at our table and announcing the meal. And, "Marilyn PASSES the sweet potatoes! OOH! This IS Thanksgiving!"

-Gerald Wilkens, Kenny "Sky" Walker, Johnny Newman and every other good Knick who gets forgotten.

-All of the food that I'll be eating in a few hours and the great nap that I'm going to take afterwards.

-And of course, I'm thankful for June 27, 1988. On this day the New York Knickerbockers traded Bill Cartwright and some draft picks for Charles Oakley and some draft picks. Oak was three seasons out of Virginia Union and the inside presence that the Knicks needed to pair with Ewing. Say what you want about Rick Pitino as an NBA coach but this was an inspired move. It is one of the best days of an era that is finally starting to be recognized for how good it actually was.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Oakley would fire Isiah

And, whoever runs the video screen at MSG

Apparently, Charles Oakley was in attendance at the game last night. My roommate, who caught some of the game on television, told me that. What? Those of us at the game had no idea that one of our most beloved heroes was sitting in the same auditorium and breathing the same vitriol as we were. We had no idea because Oakley was never shown on the GardenVision screen at any point. Of course, I could tell you that the scourge of ESPN Classic, Robert Wuhl, was there. Because he merited some screen time. They give us Wuhl and no Oak? This is a travesty and has to be an intentional slight against the team's past. Someone, somewhere in that building hid him from us. Perhaps because Oakley would remind us of a time when hustle and heart and passion where the hallmarks of the players who donned the home uniform in that building. Perhaps because he came from a team that was perpetually in contention for a title on the basis of their brute strength and force of will. Perhaps because he would have brought each and every fan to their feet and only bad things could happen for Isiah if that ever happened.

Monday, November 19, 2007

One Thing I Think Really Bores Me

In case you didn't know, Peter King (of SI) watches games in a fancy room at NBC, regularly exchanges text messages with Trent Green or just about any other white veteran in the league and enjoys a latte while traveling around the Mid-Atlantic states where he occassionally watches game from inside of a stadium. This is apparently news. About football.

What used to be a fine column (Monday Morning Quarterback) is now the cult of no-personality every week. It is a shame. And I think it bores me. I still go back and read some weeks but am almost always greeted by passages like this now infamous excerpt from a few weeks back:

"Is it my imagination, or does Romo lead the league in smiling?"

I gave it another try this morning (because of the Jets) and was predictably underwhelmed. Surprisingly, I'm not interested in Peter's trip to Albany to see Springsteen this weekend. And I'm from Jersey and like Bruce. A lot. King went to the show with a producer from HBO. Did you know that Peter King does television? Oh, you didn't? Well, he does. And, you don't.

Clutch [kluc - h]:

transitive verb
1. to grasp, seize, or snatch with a hand or claw
2. to grasp or hold eagerly or tightly

intransitive verb
1. to snatch or seize (at)
2. to engage the clutch of an automobile, etc.

noun
1. a claw or hand in the act of seizing
2. a device for gripping or clawing, as in a crane
3. a woman's small handbag with no handle or strap
4. Matt Ryan, quarterback of the Boston College Eagles

You can have Tim Tebow for the first three quarters and ten minutes of the football game. He is a man-child powered by faith and gatorade. But with the game on the line there is no one else on the Earth who I would want leading my team down the field than Matty Ice.

On Saturday night Ryan lead the Eagles to a come-from-behind victory in Death Valley against the 15th-ranked Clemson Tigers by throwing a 46-yard touchdown pass with under 2 minutes to go, clinching BC's first appearance in the ACC Championship Game.

Additional Reading: The Aura of Matt Ryan [ESPN.com]

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

"In-House" for the Out-house.

Isiah Hates Me and Thinks I'm Not Very Smart

If the last 24 hours in Knick-land have taught us anything it is that Isiah Thomas does not care what you think and he doesn't think you are very smart. With his cheshire smile beaming forth last night before the game against the Suns, Isiah repeatedly referred to everything involving Steph as being an "in-house matter." Meaning, he wasn't going to answer any questions with any certainty. He wasn't going to tell anyone what happened. He wasn't going to defend his player. He wasn't going to castigate his player. He wouldn't comment on whether Steph had been sent away from the team or if he had fled from the team. He wouldn't confirm Steph's claim that he had permission to fly home. Nothing.

By refusing to deal plainly with the media and by extension the fans of the team, the coach has again shown that he has no respect for the people who root for the Knicks. He believes that we have no right to know what is happening and that we are too slow-witted and trusting to think that things are other than he says they are. It's a method of conflict resolution that he seems to have picked up from the Bush administration.

Yeah, Iraq is doing awesome. And the Knicks are too. Now, go out and have some fun, kids.

Hanging wih Carmen Sandiego

Where in the World is Stephon Marbury?

Apparently he is back in NYC this morning. Maybe eating breakfast right now. Maybe packing a bag to fly out to LA to play against the Clippers tonight. Maybe packing a bag to fly to Italy to play against La Fortezza tonight. Maybe he is just driving around in his truck thinking about old times. Who knows? Not me. And, not any of the intrepid writers who are on the case.

Is this just about Marbury being benched because of his play at the end of the Miami game? Is this about Dolan brining the hammer down on Isiah who is scapegoating his former pupil? Is this about an underachieving player who has just lost his desire? Is this a coach's teribbly executed plan at motivating one of his most gifted players? Is this about a sexual harrasment case in which Marbury's testimony didn't do anyone at MSG any favors?

Whatever it is about it isn't about winning basketball games. That much is clear after watching last night's game. Even if Steph's defense is porous he is still a better player than either Nate or Mardy. That is just a fact of the game. Nate is more exciting to watch and Mardy could, at some point, be better at keeping opposing players from getting into the paint, but neither is going to give the team a better chance to win tomorrow. Neither is likely to average 19 and 7. Oscar Robertson did that. Magic Johnson did that. Isiah Thomas did that. Stephon Marbury does that. And, lest we forget, almost every other player in the rotation prior to last night is subpar on the defensive end. Only Lee and Balkman are nominally considered D-oriented. And Lee still has a ways to come with his one-on-one defense. Q can play defense (and frequently does) but he is still a scorer first. So, that leaves Marbury with plenty of company in ineptitude.

According to Isola in the NEWS, Curry was also set to start last night's game on the bench before Steph flew back to NY. That makes a bit more sense. For all of his shortcomings as a player, it is hard to pin the team's defensive woes all on Steph. This move makes more sense if it were part of a larger move by Isiah intended to send a message to the team during a game that they would have been hard pressed to win even if they were playing well. Still, even if one were to give Isiah the benefit of the doubt regarding his intention there hasn't been a plan executed this poorly since Cobra Commander and Destro thought they could take over the world by controlling the weather.

All of that being said, there are number of ways in which the team could be better off with lesser players in Marbury's spot and we'll get into that later today.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Happy Birthday Vincent Frank Testaverde!

44 years ago today the world was blessed by the birth of an American treasure: Vinny's right arm.

The Brooklyn born, Testaverde currently laces up his cleats and dons his well-worn leather helmet for the Carolina Panthers. He is already the oldest quarterback to win a game in the NFL (doing so at the tender age of 43) and looks to break his own record this week when the Panthers take on another NFL graybeard, Brett Favre. Vinny had already thrown 96 interceptions before everyone's favorite denim-wearing riverboat gambler had even donned a Packer uniform.

The winner of the 1986 Heisman trophy and the number one overall draft pick in the following year, Testaverde would play for the Tampa Bay Bucaneers in less than auspicious fashion over the course of six seasons. Throwing an epic 35 interceptions in '88, he would endure a bumpy tenure down in Tampa before departing for Cleveland.

Moving along with the equipment to Baltimore prior to the 1996 season, Testaverde would put together a Pro-Bowl campaign for the new team. Landing with Jets in 1998, Vinny would finally live up to his potential in his eleventh season in the League. Throwing for 29 touchdowns against only 7 picks he would stake the Jets to a lead in the AFC Championship game before succombing to Elway and the Broncos in the second half of that game.

A freak achilles tendon injury in the opening game of the following season halted hopes of a Gang Green return to the postseason and lead the team to draft Vinny's future replacement, Chad Pennington out of Marshall.

Notable Accomplishments:
1986 Heisman trophy winner
1987 number one overall pick in the NFL draft
1988 threw 35 interceptions
1996 became first starting QB in history of Baltimore Ravens
1996 selected to Pro Bowl as member of Baltimore Ravens
1998 lead New York Jets to AFC Championship Game
1998 selected to Pro Bowl as member of New York Jets
2000 orchestrated the "Monday Night Miracle" as Jets came back to defeat Dolphins after falling behind 30-7 going into 4th quarter
2005 threw last touchdown pass (to L. Coles) on ABC's version of Monday Night Football
2007 threw touchdown pass for the 21st consecutive season (to S. Smith)

Notable QBs replaced by Vinny:
Steve DeBerg
Bernie Kosar
Glenn Foley
Quincy Carter
David Carr

And another reason why Vinny is better than your team's QB: the man who gave us the "Vinny-Face" after so many poorly thought-through interceptions is also one of the original investors behind the extremely successful Outback Steakhouse chain. The guy is loaded beyond comprehension.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Stan, Jeff and Patrick: A Band of Brothers

Those Van Gundy brothers really love themselves some Patrick Ewing. The Big Fella was back in the Garden this past Friday evening as a member of the Orlando Magic coaching staff. Head Coach Stan Van Gundy brought Patrick on board during the offseason to serve as a mentor to young, big-man Dwight Howard. With his rangy, muscular build, defensive prowess and relative offensive ineptitude Howard does resemble a college-aged Ewing.

Seeing as how Ewing was able to develop one of the best outside shots ever for a low-post player, he does seem an ideal candidate for the gig. Stan hired the former #33 at the recommendation of his brother, Jeff. The former Knicks coach and recently deposed headman in Houston was fiercely loyal to Ewing during their shared Knicks days and hired him to work with a young Yao Ming once he got the coaching gig in Houston.

Patrick has never been shy about his aspiration to someday coach the Knicks, but he likely won't be offered any sort of coaching position while Isiah is still running the show.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Drew draw Rutgers-Camden in Finals

Double OT win over #1 Ramapo College Sends Rangers to ECAC Finals

Minutes into the second overtime period, Drew freshman midfielder Matt "Greenie" Greenberg sent a pass across the goal mouth that found teammate Adrian Kawuba amidst the crowd of Ramapo defenders. Recieving the pass, Kawuba calmly stayed with the ball, even after his first stab goalwards was thwarted, to slot home the winner.

Drew Athletics

Friday, November 9, 2007

The Heat is Off (and they're out of Diesel fuel)

One year ago the Miami Heat were defending champs, bringing back the NBA Godfather in Shaq and a young Michael Corleone in Wade. Now they are the losers of 16 games in a row (going back to the end of last year) and are heading for a season that may be remembered in South Beach less kindly than third installment of that famous film trilogy. Here's how it went down:

2006-2007 Regular Season
L 89-91 Boston
L 68-94 Orlando
These two games can be excused because the Heat had qualified for the playoffs. At this point, the defending champs couldn't be blamed for mailing in the last two games of the season. Still, the streak has begun...

2006-2007 Playoffs
First Round Series versus Chicago Bulls
L 91-96 (Shaq's line: 27 min, 19 points, 6 rebs, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 6 fouls)
L 89-107 (31 min, 17 points, 8 reb, 1 assist, 7 turnovers, 3 fouls)
L 96-104 (32 min, 23 points, 13 reb, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls)*
L 79-92 (16 points, 7 reb, 0 assists, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls)
This performance was shocking even though everyone knew this team was getting old and that they had coasted through stretches of the regular season. Wade lead the team in scoring in every game of the series and Shaq's only effort worthy of his playoff history came in a game three loss. He then turned in a 16 and 7 clunker in the elimination game.

2007-2008 Preseason
L 86-103 Detroit (Shaq DNP)
L 100-106 OT Atlanta (16 min, 10 points, 1 reb)
L 69-102 Orlando (DNP)
L 76-92 Charlotte (6 points, 3 reb; he left after 1st quarter with injury)
L 85-92 New Orleans (DNP, injury)
L 98-104 Memphis (DNP injury)
L 87-104 San Antonio (17 points in 1st half but left with injury)
Obviously you can't get too worked up about the NBA preseason. In a league where the regular season is largely meaningless then what is there possibly to say about the pre-season? These games generally fall under the "if a tree falls in the woods..." category. However, given the struggles of this team that bookend these games they are worth noting. And, you'd have thought that if this team (and Shaq) felt like they had gotten raw deal in the playoffs last year that they would come out guns-blazing before settling into cruise control. Teams with something to prove showed up in the preseason this year. Surprisingly. There was even a tilt between the Knicks and Celtics that felt like a playoff game because both teams were trying to send a message. The message sent by Miami was decidedly different.

2007-2008 Regular Season
L 80-91 Detroit (29 min, 9 points, 7 reb, 2 assists, 4 turnovers, 5 fouls)
L 85-87 Indiana (28 min, 8 points, 7 reb, 1 assist, 4 blocks, 6 turnovers, 6 fouls)
L 88-90 Charlotte (32 min, 17 points, 9 reb, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 5 fouls)
L 78-88 San Antonio (31 min, 17 points*, 3 reb, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 2 fouls)

And, here we are. 16 losses on the bounce. The sky is falling. The jet boats are sinking. While Wade could have made the difference in all of these games it looks quite clear that Shaq is no longer capable of doing that. Focusing on the middle two ball games, 2 points losses to Indiana and Charlottte, it is clear that the Diesel is running out of gas. No matter how much better either Indy or Charlotte are than anticipated these are the sort of close game that Shaq used to take over down the stretch. Instead of totaling 8 points in 28 minutes against the Pacers he would have scored 8 in the final 3 minutes a few seasons ago. He was too powerful and determined to lose a game like that very often.

All-Star pitchman and All-World player Dwyane Wade is still sidelined after undergoing knee surgery. His first full-contact practice was earlier this week and there is yet to be a solid return date. Meanwhile, Pat Riley's hair badly needs an oil change and the acquistion of Ricky Davis is a short-sighted, stop-gap solution to replacing Wade's offense and not an actual plan to reconfigure this roster in such a way so that it can compete for a title. Honestly, I think they'll be hard pressed to make the playoffs.

It seems to be the end of an era. Someone needs to replace Dwight Howard's Bible with rhyming dictionary if he has any chance of being the Next anything. Of course, Shaq may break out a big game here or there once Wade is back to take some pressure off of him, but unless he can find that Fountain of Youth, which Ponce de Leon did believe was located somewhere in Florida, it seems that the Heat are in trouble. And, with the Phoenix Suns coming to Miami tonight it doesn't look like they'll be turning things around just yet.

Additional Reading: Ian Thomsen over at SI doesn't think that Shaq is done just yet.

What If....NCAA Champions League

Given the fact that Kansas could very likely be shut out of the BCS National Championship game even if they can run the table and remembering that Boise State was held out last year with an undefeated record it is clear that most teams in the country are entirely prohibited from playing in the BCS National Championship game.

And if that is the case then I say we embrace that insular reality and play America's favorite game: let's figure out a better and more exciting way to determine a National Champ within the small pool of teams that could actually win the whole thing. If the regular season doesn't really matter as much as we say (meaning a one-loss team from the right conference can jump ahead of an undefeated team from the wrong one) then let's institute the NCAA Champions League that emulates the UEFA Champions League in Europe. This annual, extended soccer tournament pits the very best professional teams from each of the separate domestic leagues against one another in the most compelling sporting event on the earth. It is like March Madness but even better because there is more of it and the level of competition is higher. And we have nothing like it in America. Here's our chance:

The current college football season lasts approximately 18 to 20 weeks for those teams who make it to a New Year's Day bowl. These are the teams that we're talking about so let's work within that timetable and remember that no one likes the obscenely long lay off between the last regular season game and the NC game.

Each team currently in a BCS affiliated conference (since we should stop pretending that the rest factor into the NC conversation) would have 10 weeks to play a 7 to 8 game conference season. At the conclusion of this conference season the top two teams from each of the six BCS affiliated conferences would send their two best teams to participate in the NCAA Champions League just the way it works when each of Europe's top soccer leagues send their top teams to vie for the title of the Champions of Europe.

If the Champions League of College Football were to exist in lieu of the BCS bowls and other top tier bowl games (and there wasn’t any more shuffling in the conference rankings from today to the end of the season) then we would be looking at a mini-season of games between these 12 teams.

PAC 10:
Oregon
Arizona State

BIG 10:
Ohio State
Michigan

BIG 12:
Kansas
Oklahoma

ACC:
Boston College
Virginia Tech

BIG EAST:
West Virginia
UConn

SEC
LSU
Georgia

These NCAA Champions League participants would be broken into two groups for a round-robin group stage. This could be done via seeding, geographically (ACC, BIG EAST and SEC/PAC 10, BIG 10 and BIG 12, which I think actually works from a competitive standpoint) or it could be done via random drawing like the UEFA Champions League.

Each team plays every other team in their group. The top two teams from each group after the five weeks would advance to the next stage. Rankings within the group would be determined first by number of wins and losses. In the event that two teams finish with the same record the team to advance would then be decided by margin of victory over the course of all five games just as it is in soccer (goal differential). This would ensure that no team would take a single play off during any game. This also eliminates the "well if X beat Y and Z beat X but lost to Y then [insert SEC team] advances!" arguments that always crops up as the BCS rankings harden.

These games would be amazing. A week one schedule could look like this:

LSU vs. Kansas
Boston College vs. Michigan
West Virginia vs. Arizona State
Oregon vs. Virginia Tech
Oklahoma vs. UConn
Ohio State vs. Georgia

There would be five whole weeks of games like this. Fans would get to know these teams and to love and to hate them. And even if a team were outclassed in a particular matchup late in the five-week season they would know if their opponent needed to win by a specific number of points to jump up in the standings and suddenly the difference between losing by 13 or 21 becomes as exciting as a close game would have been. In effect, this would make the over/under and the point spread an actual on-field factor in every game.

After two winners emerge from each of the two separate groups then the remaining four teams would either be seeded one through four or chosen at random in the manner that it is done in soccer. Each team would then play a home-and-home series with the team they are matched with. Each team gets to sell out there stadium, showcase their fans and their atmosphere for high school recruits and the television time is sold twice over as we get two weekends of great football in which these teams have enough time to develop a rivalry. The winner of each match-up is decided first by wins and secondly, only if necessary in the case of a series split, by aggragrate point total. In the event that the points totals also match up then the team who scored more points on the road moves on. Same as with the soccer version of this event.

The incorporation of margin of victory into the decision again means that each game will be exciting and compelling. Even if a team looks certain to lose the opening game of the set you can't throw in the towel because a "garbage" time touchdown could make the difference. Every play counts.

More importantly, the home-and-home format prevents a team playing at an unexpectedly friendly or hostile “neutral” site. Every year in the NCAA basketball tournament certain teams end up playing before a home crowd for the first two weeks. In this scenario, each team plays before their home crowd and there is no possibility for an unintended advantage. The two-game format also eliminates the “any given Saturday” logic that muddies the picture and can be used to cast doubt on any winning team. In a two-game series, potentially using aggregate scoring in case of a split, the better team is far more likely to advance consistently than in any other scenario. It’s not a lock but death and taxes have the monopoly on sure things.

And, then once the two better teams advance from each semifinal pairing there is a single National Championship game between the last two standing after a seven-week mini season against the best teams from the various power conferences. At this point college football fans will be very familiar with all of the players after having watched these games over the preceeding several weeks. Every team will have a national following at that point and there will be NO boring matchup in a National Championship game. It just isn't possible because no one can be considered unworthy after making it this far and no one can claim to have been railroaded after playing a group stage and a home-and-home series. There can be no controversy.

The National Championship game will now be held at a neutral site that is selected from a pool of four sites on standby at the outset of the NCAA Champions League season. Having four potential hosts each season allows the governing body to pick a site that is as neutral as possible. While one school will always be somewhat closer this system prevents LSU from playing a national championship game in the Superdome because it was selected as host site a few years in advance of the game. And just so the people at the Superdome don’t get too upset, in the event that they are in the pool of potential host sites in a year that LSU looks like the may make the final then they will just go back into the pool for the following season.

Wherever the game is played it is simply four quarters of football between the two teams with an unimpeachable right to be there. They have survived their conference season and then played the toughest possible out-of-conference schedule possible in the form of the NCAA Champions League. To make it through, a team must have talented athletes but it also must have the fortitude and maturity to show up and perform each and every week.

And, yes, this is the most far-fetched college football scenario that I’ve ever seen. It is not even within the realm of possibility for so many reasons that it doesn’t even pay to go into all of them. But this should have provided some non-soccer fans a pretty good tutorial on how the UEFA Champions League works in Europe. And you didn't even know you were learning!

It should also convey the unbridled awesomeness that is the UEFA Champions League and the complicated and wonderful inconvenience that it presents for those teams involved. It is the best of the best playing a separate season to pit the two very best teams against each other in a match after which no one can contest the winner. That sounds simple enough, but clearly it isn't.

*In case you were wondering, this NCAA Champions League scenario would last exactly as long as the current college football season and requires the athletes to play at most (if they make it the NC game) one or two more games. Also, in this imaginary system the teams who do not qualify for the NCAA Champions League would then be able to accept invitations from all of the dozens of other bowl games that proliferate. Those folks at the Meineke Car Care Bowl could still have their party and invite the 4th best teams from whatever conferences they are nominally associated with.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Mullets and Newark, just like oil and water

Apparently the Canada-coifed Barry Melrose is not a fan of Newark, commenting during an ESPN broadcast - with a national (or at least regional) television audience (although neither "national" nor "audience" accurately describe anything pertaining to hockey these days) - he cautioned viewers who were planning on coming out to the Devil's new arena "Don't go outside if you have a wallet or anything else, because the area around the arena is just horrible."

Someone should tell ol' Barry that it's been a while since the six days of rioting in '67. Newark is nicer. For one, it's not on fire. It's just another stop on the PATH train. Needless to say, the Newark Tourism Board might not necessarily be feeling pleased about all the money the city put into that new arena.

"In-famous, Is When You're More than Famous"

In, who would've thunk it news, yesterday's "Charles Oakley says Stay in School" piece (scroll down) has been getting some nice attention out in the wider world, most notably at:
The Sporting News
(which apparently gets picked up by MSNBC)
The Big Lead

[note: scroll to the bottom of all articles to find Oakley says, "Stay in School"]

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Charles Oakley says, “Stay in School”

Or, how a lack education may be keeping the Knicks from winning:

At one point during Sunday night’s home opener against the T-Wolves, Eddy Curry turned to David Lee in the moments immediately following another uncontested Craig Smith lay-up and just threw his hands in the air as he stood their in the paint. The look on his face was one of resigned confusion.

As I was reminiscing about watching Craig Smith terrorize similarly weak zone-defenses while he was at Boston College it dawned on me why the Knicks might be so horrendous playing anything other than a straight man-to-man (which they’re still not exactly great at): Few of these guys ever went to college for more than a season or two. Virtually everyone on the roster was eying the NBA draft from the moment they accepted their high school diploma. And, their coach had done the same thing. Maybe this is why they are so undisciplined. Maybe this is why they can’t seem to sustain effort or focus over the course of a game, let alone over the course of a season.

I started wondering whether this sort of team composition was in line with the rest of the league and how it might compare with those teams that have won championships the past few years. Has a winning team been built largely without players who played much basketball in college? How flawed is the construction of this Knicks team? Nature? Or nurture?

Coincidentally (or perhaps not…), as I set about calculating the average number of collegiate years for players who played on the past few NBA championship teams I noticed that the numbers I was coming up with were on a four-point scale just the same way that grade point average is commonly displayed. Therefore, next to each team’s average years spent in college you will see the letter grade that would accompany an equivalent GPA. Not surprisingly, the grades meted out in this manner reflect quite accurately the dominance of each given team.

(NOTE: Including the foreign-born players was not actually as tricky as it seems. Most of these guys were pros for several years before they debuted and made it through their rigorous National training programs. I have counted their professional experience to be equivalent to college ball.)

2007 San Antonio Spurs:
Bruce Bowen / 4 years at Cal State Fullerton
Tim Duncan / 4 years at Wake Forest
Francisco Elson / 2 years at Kilgore (Texas) Junior College and 2 years at Cal
Michael Finley / 4 years at Wisconsin
Tony Parker / attended the National Institute for Sports and Physical Education (INSEP) in Paris and played for the French Junior and Senior National team before debuting in the US in ’01-’02.
Robert Horry / 4 years at Alabama
Manu Ginobli / made professional debut in 1995; played for the Argentinean National team since 1998 and was MVP of the Italian League in ‘01 and ‘02 before coming stateside.
Brent Barry / 4 years at Oregon State
Fabricio Uberto / played professional in Europe from ‘98 to ‘05 before becoming the oldest rookie in the Spurs’ history
Beno Udrih / played first professionally in 1999 in Slovenia and played for Macabi Tel Aviv in Israel before moving on to the Russian and Italian leagues before signing with the Spurs in 2004.
Matt Bonner / 4 years at Florida
Jacques Vaughn / 4 years at Kansas

Average years spent in college: 4.0 (A+)

2006 Miami Heat
Gary Payton / 4 years at Oregon State
Dwyane Wade / 2 years at Marquette
Udonis Haslem / 4 years at Florida
Antoine Walker / 2 years at Kentucky
Shaq / 3 years at LSU
Jason Williams / 3 years at Florida
Alonzo Mourning / 4 years at Georgetown
James Posey / 3 years at Xavier
Jason Kapano / 4 years at UCLA
Michael Doleac / 4 years at Utah
Shandon Anderson / 4 years at Georgia
Derek Anderson / 4 years at Kentucky

Average years spent in college: 3.4 (B+)

2005 San Antonio Spurs
Bruce Bowen / 4 years at Cal State Fullerton
Tim Duncan / 4 years at Wake Forest
Nazr Mohammed / 3 years at Kentucky
Tony Parker / attended the National Institute for Sports and Physical Education (INSEP) in Paris and played for the French Junior and Senior National team before debuting in the US in ’01-’02.
Robert Horry / 4 years at Alabama
Manu Ginobli / made professional debut in 1995; played for the Argentinean National team since 1998 and was MVP of the Italian League in ’01 and ’02 before coming stateside.
Brent Barry / 4 years at Oregon State
Tony Massenburg / 4 years at Maryland
Beno Udrih / played first professionally in 1999 in Slovenia and played for Macabi Tel Aviv in Israel before moving on to the Russian and Italian leagues before signing with the Spurs in 2004.
Rasho Nesterovic / He was voted the MVP of the European Under-22 Championship in 1996 and played professionally in Italy before coming to the US.
Glenn Robinson / 3 years at Purdue
Devin Brown / 4 years at University of Texas, San Antonio

Average years spent in college: 3.75 (A)

2004 Detroit Pistons*
Richard Hamilton / 3 years at UConn
Chauncey Billups / 2 years at Colorado
Tayshaun Prince / 4 years at Kentucky
Rasheed Wallace / 2 years at UNC
Ben Wallace / 4 years at Virginia Union
Elden Campbell / 4 years at Clemson
Lindsey Hunter / 4 years at Jackson State
Corliss Williamson / 4 years at Arkansas
Mehmet Okur / played five professional seasons in Europe before sailing over the sea
Darvin Ham / 4 years at Texas Tech
Mike James / 4 years at Duquesne

Average years spent in college: 3.5 years (A-)
*Coached by Larry Brown, who got his start coaching in college

And, now introducing your 2007-2008 New York Knicks:
Stephon Marbury / 1 year at Georgia Tech
Jamal Crawford / 1 year at Michigan
Quentin Richardson / 2 years at DePaul
Zach Randolph / 1 year at Michigan State
Eddy Curry / 0 years of college
David Lee / 4 years at Florida
Nate Robinson / 3 years at Washington
Renaldo Balkman / 3 years at South Carolina
Fred Jones / 4 years at Oregon
Wilson Chandler / 2 years at DePaul
Mardy Collins / 4 years at Temple
Malik Rose / 4 years at Drexel
Jerome James / 3 years at Florida A&M
Randolph Morris / 3 years at Kentucky

Average years spent in college: 2.5 (C)
Average years spent in college by players who have appeared in game thus far: 2.1 (C-)
(Percentage of those years that belong to Fred Jones: 21%)
Average years spent in college by players in the starting lineup: 1 (D)


So, it seems that perhaps the Knicks look so bad playing zone defense because they don’t know how to play it. This is a C student team with D student starters. Unlike the previous four championship teams, who had a combined zero American-born players with less than 2 years of college basketball experience, the Knicks have four key contributors with either 1 or zero years of college hoops. The only players that will see regular playing time and have at least 3 years of college experience are David Lee, Nate Robinson and Renaldo Balkman. These are the spirited, hustle guys but these are not the orchestrators, these are not the men upon whose shoulders this team must climb the standings. Still, these three players comprise the second unit, the unit that has been on the floor during the few positive stretches this team has put together in the first two games.

Meanwhile, the central figures of Marbury and Curry (I’m leaving Randolph out for the time being) considered themselves the finished project by their high school graduations. That is nonsensical. With the talent and size that such players have there is no way that they really learn how to play the game at the high school level. They are bigger, faster and stronger than most everyone else and just dominate. Scoring at will against high school kids does not necessarily equate to knowing how to play the game. There was a time that Kwame Brown dominated high school kids.

But Brown passed on college and gave up the chance to develop his considerable natural gifts. Now, I don’t want to tar and feather Marbury and Curry with the same brush that should be used on Brown but both Knicks are clearly lacking something and whatever this evasive quality is it has kept them from reaching their potential. After all, potential isn’t success no matter what Isiah tries to tell you.

And, when it comes to transforming high school potential to NBA success the catalyst has historically been 3 to 4 years of running suicide sprints with bricks in each hand and playing close games night after night from the start of a collegiate conference season through a conference tourney and into the Big Dance or the NIT.

Perhaps someone in the Knicks front office should make the connection between the energy and sustained interest that players like Lee and Balkman bring over the course of an entire game and the fact that they played college ball over the course of several seasons. They played in tough games. They made runs deep into tournaments. They were drilled in the fundamentals and taught not to take plays off. They were taught that a season is a marathon and every possession counts. They had coaches who had absolute authority over them and insisted that they learn to play the game a certain way: the “right” way that Larry Brown was always talking about.

If you have to learn how to win just like you have to learn calculus then perhaps there is a simple reason why so many players on the Knicks never learned.

For all of the noise kicked up about double standards in colleges and the existence of football factories in the SEC and their basketball equivalent in the ACC there is one thing that gets lost in the shuffle from an NBA perspective. Even if these young men are not learning anything of academic merit in their athletes-only General Studies classes they are still learning how to play basketball every day in practice. They are majoring in basketball. They are learning the necessary skills to prepare them for their chosen profession. In this case those skills are the pick-and-roll and the proper way to set a screen. In the same way that English majors aren’t asked to take statistics classes basketball players shouldn’t be looked down upon for not worrying about English literature. The Princeton offense is their Proust.

And based upon the level of education that seems synonymous with winning in the NBA recently, someone needs to send the Knicks the CliffsNotes before it is too late. Oh, and that person should probably fire Isiah while they’re up*.

*The full-length to-do list for fixing this team and making the playoffs is still on the way. I wanted to see a couple of games in person before recommending that anyone lose their jobs. In any case, I should be ready to make such proclamations after tonight’s game versus Denver.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

An Introduction: What? Where? Why? Oakley?

What: Sport. Athletic Competition. Unbridled Enthusiasm. Masochistic pessimism. Unbridled pessimism. Masochistic optimism. Most notably, involving the New York Knickerbockers, who will be featured in this space over the course of the 2007-2008 NBA season. The ups. The downs. The downs. And, did I mention, the downs? From the opening tip-off of Friday night’s game in Cleveland and all the way through the team’s shocking appearance in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals (full predictions to come). Of course, there will news and notes and such on other teams in the NBA. And on other sports that most people like far more than basketball: Baseball, College Football, Professional Football, Soccer (which is actually a third kind of football), and even more.

Where: Madison Square Garden, Jersey City, East Rutherford, Flushing, New York City, North London, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and, most importantly, our television screens.

Why: You know how Kevin Bacon’s character in the film "Footloose" just really wanted to dance? And how Superman’s character in "Superman" just really wanted to help people and fight crime? Well, that’s like me and writing about sports. I can’t really help it.

Oakley: Charles Oakley was drafted out of Virginia Union University in 1985 by the Chicago Bulls. He was traded to the New York Knicks in 1988 and gained a fearsome reputation while polishing the floors of Madison Square Garden with his elbows and his opponent's faces. He was selected as an All-Star in 1994 and ranked in the top ten in rebounds per game five times between 1987 and 1994. He currently ranks 14th in Games Played in NBA History, 17th in Rebounds and 3rd in Personal Fouls.

So, now that we’re all acquainted, what are 10 things you should be expecting from What Would Oakley Do?

1. More Knicks coverage than you thought you wanted, well, until this site made you realize how much Knicks coverage you actually wanted. I’ll be posting something each day of the season and covering the team just like any other reporter. I’ll be spending money that I don’t have to go to a lot of games but will be doing most of my viewing from the couch, where I’ll be writing about this team and this season and just about anything else from the perspective that each fan shares.

2. Oakley. Remember that time when he kept starting fights with Tyrone Hill (former 76er) in 2001 because Hill allegedly owed Oak over fifty grand from a dice game? No. Oh, don’t worry, you’ll be hearing all about it.

3. Links to other great writing and commentary out in the world. There are lots of people out there doing this whole sports-writing thing better than me and I will point you in the right direction.

4. Oakley. He has made it clear during the summer that he feels ready to contribute to an NBA team this season. If the Knicks can let Allan Houston suit up for a few days then they've got to let Oakley come back. Right? If you put him in a small enclosed room with Curry, Randolph and Jerome James it would be like one of those "Scared Straight" tv shows.

5. Weekly Columns: You’ve already seen the “IF…THEN” statements: BCS Edition that I posted. Each week there will be a new “IF…THEN” statement about whatever is in the news. I’m coming up with a few more ideas for recurring columns. They’re still very top-secret but one involves tracking down former NBA players (I mean who hasn’t wondered what happened to Richard Dumas), another involves old basketball cards and another involves my Yahoo Fantasy Basketball simulation of the NBA’s Atlantic Division.

6. Oakley. The man owns a car wash in Yonkers. My car is dirty.

7. Conversation, debate: Here’s where you, the prospective reader, come in. It seems like most of my free time is spent talking/debating/heatedly arguing about all of the minutiae of sports. Should the Mets attempt to sign A-Rod? Should Matt Ryan win the Heisman Trophy? Why is no one talking about how Marbury slept with an intern in the back of a truck? I hope that this site and these posts can become a jumping off point for those sorts of arguments and opens up the floor to people who don’t frequent my living room.

8. Oakley. It is very well publicized that he is BFF with Michael Jordan. What does this mean to a Knicks fan? Discuss.

9. Short(ish) articles on the many things going on that you sort of heard about but then something came up and you had to go meet that guy about that thing with the girl and the car. I know that most people out there don’t have the time to do background reading on the news of the day. And that even fewer of the people who have the time to pay attention then have the time and antisocial habit of really just thinking about this stuff all-the-livelong day. Well, I’m going to make the time and I’m just the right sort of crazy for this type of thing. You’re welcome.

10. Charles Oakley and lots of him.