Friday, August 29, 2008

And, the Son of (the) Man Shall Be Our Savior...Or, He Shall Come Off Our Bench

Knicks Acquire Patrick Ewing, Jr.

In a very welcome and very surprising move, the New York Knickerbockers have acquired the son of the greatest (or second or third greatest depending on who you ask) player ever to tread the boards for the home team in franchise history. The offspring of soon to be Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing was picked up from the Houston Rockets today in exchange for, and you won't believe it, the rights to the 1999 draft pick and forever draft-joke Frederic Weiss of France. Not only is this the greatest-possible karmic move ever considering the way last the Ewing we had left town (traded to Seattle rather than given a one-year deal and being allowed to retire as a lifelong Knick) and the unmitigated disaster that was the drafting of Weiss with the 15th pick in '99, but I think that it also makes sense both on and off the court.

Ewing Jr. was drafted by the Sacramento Kings with the 43rd pick in this year's draft after being named the Big East Sixth Man of the Year during his final year at Georgetown University. He was then part of the Ron Artest deal and found himself traded to Houston, where he was unlikely to find a spot in the rotation due to a glut of forwards. In a strange, and I guess meaningless side note, Jr. was also drafted with the top overall pick (in their own private draft) by the Harlem Globetrotters in July. The 6-foot, 8-inch Ewing Jr. is as athletic as they come (which is why the Globetrotters were so high on him) and nearly as a hard a worker. Growing up in his father's large shadow he seems to have learned from an early age to know his place and find his role. Unlike most uber-gifted athletes he doesn't have a history of getting ahead of himself or trying or do too much. He plays like a guy who is at the office rather than a guy who thinks he's too good to have to work. Having grown up around professional athletes and seeing his father encased in ice after every game in the final third of his career he knows what happens when the flashbulbs aren't popping and how much grit and determination it does take to play in the Association.

All of that being said, he received one of only two perfect scores at the 2008 College Slam Dunk Championship and is a guy who I really thought was as a nice late sleeper pick as the draft was approaching. He's a role player. And, he knows it. In fact, he embraces it. This a rare thing these days and I think that mentality puts him ahead of a lot of young players who waste their early careers trying to become a star instead of just trying to take the smaller opportunities being offered them. Aside from the fact that I think Jr. has a chance to be a legit contributor on an NBA roster as an on-the-ball defender, the guy who pushes the vets and the starters in practice (which can't really be taken for granted), and an energizer off the bench, this move shows that new GM Donnie Walsh and new coach Mike D'Antoni get it.

This move shows that they already better understand what it is to be a part of this organization than their predecessor ever did. Under Isiah Thomas there was no effort to make connections to franchise history beyond the league-mandated and financially-driven occasional wearing of throw-back jerseys every few weeks. Thomas wasn't making overtures to former players (or their kids) and there was a night when Charles Oakley was sitting courtside and never even appeared on the big screen above the court for fans to see him in the house. Obviously I don't think Thomas was running the in-house video display that night - after all, he was barely running the team on the court - but that sort of disregard for the fans and the Knicks past was indicative of the cult of personality that Thomas was hoping to build. He didn't want to be upstaged by guys with the last names like Ewing or Oakley or Starks or Frazier or Reed. He wanted this to be his show all the way. And, ultimately it was. Right up until the point when that show was cancelled for being utterly unwatchable.

Walsh and D'Antoni know that even if Jr. ends up not sticking on the roster past this season or if he really can't crack the rotation that the goodwill boost alone is worth it. They will get credit for trying this. And, the first time the Garden PA announcer hollers "Two points, Paaaa-trick EWWWWWing" the fans will go absolutely wild. I know I will.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Does Dr. Harvey Mandrake Work For the Chargers?

In Oliver Stone's gridiron film Any Given Sunday there is a crooked and amoral team doctor, played by the one, the only James Woods, who will patch up/drug up injured players to keep them on the field. He does this with no regard for their health and with the total support of the organization, the fictional Miami Sharks. You could say, that he doesn't care what happens to the players come Monday. Only how they perform on that particular given Sunday. According to Wikipedia (is it responsible or irresponsible to actually source Wikipedia?), Woods' character, Dr. Harvery Mandrake, was based on long-time Oakland Raiders team doc Robert Rosenfeld. Another employee on the same Raiders medical staff, Dr. Robert Huzienga, wrote a book Your Okay, It's Just A Bruise chronicling what he thought were the dangerous practices of Rosenfeld and the ways in which Raiders chieftain Al Davis condoned, if not demanded, them.

Even a former player who has no broken bones about that way Rosenfeld sent players out on the field acknowledges the same sort of dubious medical treatment:
"After your first day of training camp, there is never another day that goes by without something being wrong with you physically. The guys that could play injured. The guys that could play injured were kept around for a long time... Dr. Rosenfeld was a great guy for getting you back on the field with surgery. there were a lot of pills available to us that helped get us back on the field. I saw a lot of guys play injured, and I was one of them. But I never saw a guy play injured that didn't want to. This doctor who wrote the book - and I wouldn't even read it - is probably one of these guys that didn't belong in the Raiders organization." -Phil Villapiano, Raiders linebacker from 1971-1979 as quoted in The Super 70s
Of course, it's no surprise that NFL players play hurt and that most of them would chose to play hurt rather than not play. Nor is it a surprise that this guy is avoiding reading books. It's also not a shock that the Any Given Sunday character is based, in part, on a real person and that such was the way of life a few decades ago in pro football. There are enough former players limping/wheeling around like Earl Campbell to know that health was a short-term proposition in those days.

Anyways, I have to think that either Wood's Mandrake or some other Rosenfeld disciple is working for the San Diego Chargers these days because I can't imagine how anyone not wired that way would really allow injured outside linebacker Shawne Merriman to play football this season with two torn ligaments in his left knee.Merriman has tears in both the posterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments in his left knee. That is two of four ligaments shown in this wonderful artist's rendering of the insides of our knees. Two is too many torn ligaments for one knee.

It blows my mind that the Chargers are apparently allowing Merriman to decide if he plays or sits even though, according to ESPN, four out of four doctors agree that he needs knee surgery. I guess in the no-guaranteed-contract world of the NFL the Chargers can afford to send him out there and hope for the best, knowing that if the worst happens (he further injures his knee or something else because he is too slow or timid because of the knee) they have the ability to cut him. But even that run-of-the-mill NFL callousness doesn't make any sense given how young and talented Merriman is. He is 24 years old and has already been to three Pro Bowls. This is a guy that you should want to take care of. It's not like sending an older player, not long for the roster, out to play with a bad injury. This guy should be the future of the Chargers defense. Most of the team's other stars are young enough that they should be able to give it a go without Merriman on defense this season if that's what it takes to get him back healthy for the long haul.

I can see why Merriman himself would want to play. He likely thinks he is also impervious to bullets. And herpes. He is a football player who thinks he's stronger than fire and doesn't know any better. Moreover, he just watched his team's quarterback play in the 2007 AFC Championship Game with a torn ACL (another knee ligament that the higher-ups in San Diego were not overly concerned about). And, you know that a linebacker doesn't want to get out-toughed by a quarterback. Especially one named Phillip. So, I get it that the player wants to play. I just don't get it how someone with even the medical training of Dr. Nick can really be letting this happen. Maybe it's possible that Merriman is really, really fine. And that there is no way he can do further damage by playing. But I just don't see that and I don't get how organization can send him out there knowing that virtually every medical opinion that has been on the record says this kid needs surgery before playing football again. How can they explain this to their fans and the rest of the guys in the locker room if Merriman predictably gets further injured? And, who knows, if the Chargers did bench Merriman then they might find they're very own linebacking-version of Willie Beamen to lead them to the Panthean Cup.

Monday, August 11, 2008

All Points (West) Bulletin: Best-Of (my) Photos

Images from a great, great weekend in Jersey City

FRIDAY




Backstage before Girl Talk Set






(notice Greg's Starbury sneaks)

On stage during Girl Talk Set








Radiohead








SATURDAY




Animal Collective





The Roots



Radiohead (again)




SUNDAY
Ben Jelen
Matt Costa

Backstage Area


Super-Serious Guitar-Tech Guy
Cat Power




Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals


Trey Anastasio and Classic TAB