Saturday, January 31, 2009

Requiem For A Miracle

My Last Trip To Shea Stadium




























BallHype: hype it up!

Friday, January 30, 2009

Around the Internets: Super Bowl Edition



While I'm busy constructing my fool-proof gambling plan, I figured you might want some things to read about the big game.

-The fine folks at Football Outsiders have broken down all the numbers and carried all of the ones for their annual SB Preview.

-They've also done the same with all of the exotic prop bets. This is my favorite pre-SB column to read.

-Speaking of prop bets, if you know me then you've undoubtedly already heard about the wagers that I may or may not have placed on Springsteen's set at halftime. Does he open with The Rising and close with Born to Run? Will he really play Born in the USA? Who knows? Not me. But after some speculation in Rolling Stone magazine, a bunch of online sports books were pulling down the bets for fear that word was out on what songs the Boss may or may not be playing.

-While most people are worrying over Heinz Ward's knee and Big Ben's brainspace, the fine folks at The Times are getting to know Pittsburgh's long snapper.

-The key to the Super Bowl: mullets.

-Don Banks at SI, Gene Wojciechowski at ESPN.com, Adam Schein at FOX Sports and Butters Professor Chaos are taking the Steelers. I'm not. My neighbor Carl, on the other hand is.



-Adam Duerson, Big Daddy Drew, The Sports Gal, Gregg Easterbrook, The Wildcat, King Kaufman and WWOD? are going with the upstart Cardinals.

-Although WWOD? is pulling for the Cardinals and is crafting a theory in which they win this game handily, I wouldn't mind if the Steelers won just so we could, as a nation, watch the fiscal situation in the Steel City play out. Because, you see, the economy is in such a state of disrepair that the city of Pittsburgh cannot actually afford a victory parade.

-The Super Bowl means four things. 1) Football 2) Gambling 3) I use the deep-fryer and my apartment smells like a carnival for two weeks 4) Commercials. With the fourth thing in mind, here's a rundown of the best Super Bowl commercials. Ever.

-If sport is not your cup of tea (which means you probably also have a literal "cup of tea" that you prefer over all others) then perhaps you should check out The Puppy Bowl. This marathon of canine cuteness is counted as one of EW's best counterprogramming options for those people too good for football or your boyfriend's, brother's or buddy's Super Bowl Party.

-The tens and tens of longtime Cardinals fans around the country are hoping that Sunday will provide a marquee moment for a franchise that has only given us one all-time great gridiron moment.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

2008-2009 Knicks' Pregame Video Montage

Growing up one of my favorite moments of any Knicks game was the video that played above the court immediately before the Knicks' starting lineup was introduced. The house lights went down, the neon lasers fired, the strains of "Go NY, Go NY" mingled in the rafters with the retired jerseys of the 1969-70 club and all eyes were on the GardenVision screens.

I never wanted to be late for a game because I didn't want to miss the action on the front end. Even as the team started to decline you could count on the pregame highlight montage. When Nazr Mohammed was heading out to the center circle for the opening tip you still knew that you'd have a chance to catch an image of Patrick Ewing throwing down a dunk over the Empire State Building. At least until last season, when fans were ocularly accosted by some sort of dance/aerobic video featuring freestyle walking and hopping and scampering of various non-Knicks persons around town. The video made a tolerant individual want to spew homophobic invective at whomever was responsible for this sham of a montage. At first it was a sharp disappointment. The video was so bad that you almost felt hope before each game that it had been changed. But it wasn't. And, it eventually became another source of comedy. Another self-contained flaw in the patchwork travesty that was the Isiah Thomas Era.

The removal of the franchise's heros from the video montage also kept in line with Thomas's seeming disdain for Knicks history. Thankfully, Donnie Walsh and co. have again embraced the past and the fans. And, the pregame video montage is returned to its former glory.

Friday, January 16, 2009

The Post is (Epilogue and) Prologue: Wizards @ Knicks

Knicks (15-22)
@
Wizards (7-31)
Verizon Center
7:00 p.m.


I love the home and home. Just love it. It's a mental/emotional test for a team no matter how the first game plays out. Ego comes in to play because nobody wants to lose to the same group two games in a row. Things get testy. I'm looking forward to an angry game tonight from both teams. I think the Knicks are anxious to extend their mini-streak and I know that the Wiz don't want to lose to the Knicks for the fourth time this season.

Perhaps it's just inertia or the ghost of Gilbert Arenas, but I still see the Wizards as a dangerous team in spite of their 7-31 record. Or at least, I see them as a danger to these Knicks. They've got two players who participated in last year's all-star game suiting up tonight. That's two more than we've got. Apparently Vegas agrees. The Wizards are giving the Knicks 2.5 points. They're also winning this game 62% of the time according to ESPN.com's Accuscore. My guess is that these two facts say more about the overall lack of confidence in the Knicks to win a third straight game than it actually does about the ability of the Wizards to win one.

As (is again becoming) per usual, I've been trading emails today with a blogger who covers the Knicks' opponent. Below you'll find a back-and-forth with noted Wizards blog Bullets Forever. I answered a few questions for them that were posted over at their shop before Wednesday night's Knicks game.

WWOD?: First of all, welcome to the bad team's club. Secondly, how did you end up here? Was 7-31 something that crossed your mind before the season began?
BF: I figured we’d struggle once Brendan Haywood went down for the season. Haywood’s always been criminally underrated as the lynchpin of our defense and on the offensive glass. Gilbert Arenas’ third knee surgery was big, but Haywood’s loss was bigger. But I can’t say I expected 7-31 bad. The fan in me kept thinking optimistically, hoping that Arenas would return, hoping that Haywood’s so-so defensive plus/minus numbers in 07/08 (at least compared to previous seasons, when his presence single handily made us a league-average unit when he was on the floor) was a sign that we didn’t need to lean on him as heavily on that end. Obviously, those were just empty hopes.

WWOD?: For a few seasons I made a point of paying for tickets when the Wizards were visiting MSG because I always wanted to see Gilbert Arenas play. For me, he made those appointment games. But now I almost feel like I will avoid buying tickets to see the Wiz so that I don't have to deal with the disappointment of having paid for tickets only to learn he's hurt the week before the game. At this point, what's the vibe in the District about Agent Zero and his contract?
BF: Umm…the detractors feel vindicated, I suppose? There was always a ton of objection to the deal, particularly because there’s a vocal minority of Wizards fans that believe Arenas wasn’t worth the money even when he was healthy. Ernie Grunfeld clearly took a major risk with the deal (though reports are that it was Abe Pollin move) and it doesn’t look like that risk has worked thus far.
But there still is a lot of time on that deal left for Arenas to perhaps turn it around, even if the signs point increasingly to the opposing view.

Personally, I always felt the move was justified based on the circumstances of the team. Letting Arenas walk either indicates you’re rebuilding or that the Arenas-less team of 2007/08 had a legitimate chance to make noise in the East. The latter view is pure lunacy, as indicated by the team’s lack of success this season. The former is a big risk in and of itself, particularly when, to sign any marquee free agent last year, the team would have also had to get rid of Antawn Jamison. You’re then left with a 28-year old Caron Butler, several veteran role players, a ton of kids that aren’t necessarily can’t-miss prospects and maybe enough cap room to sign Corey Maggette or Luol Deng. Not exactly promising either, at least not until the long process of clearing out bad contracts occurs. Washington doesn’t necessarily have this luxury in the same way New York does, since Washington isn’t the draw for free agents like New York.

Still, if Arenas continues to stay hurt, Ernie and the organization should definitely be held accountable. So yes, I suppose there is an ever-growing group of fans justifiably exhibiting buyers remorse.

WWOD?: Eddie Jordan was fired the day after the Knicks beat the Wiz in DC with just seven players. If the Wiz win that game does Jordan still have a job?
BF: Probably, but it was only a matter of time before he would be ousted. He and Ernie never were on the same page. Ernie has always wanted a more defensive-oriented coach, but Abe Pollin hired Eddie before Ernie, and Eddie exhibited enough success where it would look bad if Ernie fired him. Ernie was just waiting for the right moment to lay down the hammer. If it wasn’t that game, it would have been another.

WWOD?: What's the deal with Interim Head Coach Ed Tapscott? Is he a viable candidate to take over this team permanently? Or is he a patsy to take the many falls that the Wiz have ahead of them this season?
BF: He’s a patsy. At least I hope. It’s become clear that he has no real power and that he is continuing to favor many of his veterans over the team’s young guys. That’s slowly starting to change, but it should have happened sooner.

WWOD?: I know little about Tapscott but the quotes of his that I've read have been pretty darn good. My favorite may be "A day without Jamison would be a day without sunshine for me." Even though Antawn Jamison is having a heck of a first half, are ready to equate him with the life-giving sun?
BF: No. But Antawn’s having one of the best seasons of his career, shooting the ball extremely well and continuing to rebound well (one theory was that Haywood made his life easier, but that’s somewhat been shattered). If he wasn’t on the Wizards, he’d get more all-star consideration.

WWOD?: After having worked under the brothers Van Gundy in Houston and Orlando, could DC be the place where former Hoya Destroya Patrick Ewing earns his first head coaching gig?
BF: Dear God I hope not. What exactly are Ewing’s qualifications? And you want to put a man in charge who’s major weakness as a player was his aloofness. No thanks.

WWOD?: I know all about what Caron Butler and Jamison are capable of doing on the court, but what under-the-radar player should I be paying attention to during tonight's game?
BF: Watch Nick Young. He’s been scoring extremely well in the past couple games (as you saw when he went off for a career high on Wednesday) and is finally getting the playing time he’s always deserved.

WWOD?: The Wizards picked Jared Jeffries with the 11th pick in the 2002 draft and then declined to match the free agent offer he received from the Knicks a few years ago. Was this because the Wiz weren't that high on him or because the Knicks offered an illogical amount of cash?
BF: Both. Probably mostly the latter.

WWOD?: Looking back over the past decade+ a lot of players have come through your town and moved on (Mitch Richmond, Rod Strickland, Chris Webber, Rasheed, MJ, Oak, Ben Wallace, etc.) Who are the players that Wizards fans really consider as your guys?
BF: Gilbert Arenas. Wes Unseld?

WWOD?: Lastly, Charles Oakley played 514 minutes for Washington during the course of 42 games during the 2002-03 season. Which was your favorite?
BF: Favorite Oak game? None of them. He was such a cancer on that team, hate to say it.

Monday, January 12, 2009

The Devil Went Down In Nashville

In the waning moments Saturday's AFC divisional playoff between the Tennessee Titans and the Baltimore Ravens there was a tear in the veil separating this world from the next. And lo and behold, NFL fans witnessed the visage of damnation pouting on the Tennessee sideline. As the CBS camera panned the Titans sideline there was revealed a red-eyed Kyle Vanden Bosch. Centered in the whites of his eyes were blood-red pools of pure evil. A momentary glimpse quieted and sobered a room full of boisterous and mildly intoxicated football fans. The smell of sulphur burned in our nostrils as we looked into Vanden Bosch's red eyes.
We wound back the DVR to make sure that we had seen what we thought we had saw. And, we had. We had beheld the morningstar. Or, at least some foot soldier of the fallen host. Digging slightly deeper (by means of google and wikipedia) into this sinister character's background I uncovered further evidence that this defensive end may in fact be pure evil. While attending the University of Nebraska, Vanden Bosch was a member of the "Society of the Innocents," which was a secret-ish society on campus. The insignia for this organization is an illustration of Satan. Rumor has it that Vanden Bosch also frequently attended lectures given by Gozer the Gozerian whenever he visited Lincoln.
Of course, it's also possible that Vanden Bosch is just wearing amber-tinted contact lenses in place of eye-black or a visor to protect his sensitive God-fearing eyes from the sun. I guess that is possible. And boring.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

The Sincerest Form of Flattery

76ers Reportedly Aim to Emulate Knicks

I found an interesting/weird/heartening story over at SI.com today. According to SI hoops maven Chris Mannix, The Philadelphia 76ers are looking over the shoulders of the New York Knicks to try to steal our answers. And, not the 1969-1970 Knicks. The 2008-2009 Knicks.

With expensive free-agent acquisition Elton Brand sidelined, Sixers GM Ed Stefanski wants the Sixers to run, gun and hoist up some more three pointers in hopes of keeping afloat. According to Mannix, he wants them to play like D'Antoni's Knicks. Which is sort of weird since D'Antoni's Knicks are 13-20 while the Sixers, under neophyte playcaller Tony DiLeo, are 15-20.

I was confused but bemused when I read the article. I forwarded it a Philly resident and he experienced a total mind blow. Apparently, he has little interest in his team playing like my team. Just a few months ago the 76ers were on the cover of Sports Illustrated's NBA Preview issue (at least the edition that ended up in my mailbox) and were a trendy pick to win the Eastern Conference. Fast forward to the first week of 2009 and they're under .500 and purposefully trying to play like the Knicks.

Of course, it worth noting that none of the quotes in the story from anyone associated with Sixers actually mention the Knicks or D'Antoni. So, it seems that Mannix made the "Be Like Mike (D'Antoni)" connection himself when he was told Philly wanted to pick up the tempo and add more perimeter shooting. Which is fine. And makes sense. Mostly. Because if any NBA team wants to play fast and aim to hit 10 three pointers a night in this era then they will likely bring to mind the Seven Second or Less philosophy that D'Antoni employed in Phoenix with Steve Nash, Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire.

In this regard it makes sense to mention the Knicks, who are in their first year under D'Antoni and doing their bestest to play fast and well. But, really the Sixers don't want to be more like the Knicks. They actually want the same thing as the Knicks. They want to be like the 2006-2007 Suns. Because the Knicks still aren't very good on many nights. And, nobody should want to be like them.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The Importance Of What Happens Next

The longest book that I've ever read is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien. The single-volume edition clocks in over a 1,100 pages. I tried to read it once when I was late in my elementary school years, shortly after reading and re-reading The Hobbit, but it was just too long. And, there was too much going on. At least, for the sort of little kid that I was. Every plot point had a back story and every character came from somewhere and went somewhere else. Nothing was transient and without context. You were thoroughly convinced that if Tolkien had the time he would have written through the life story of virtually ever character who he mentioned even fleetingly (actually, he pretty much tried to). When I returned to the book during college, this richness and complexity was precisely what made me mildly obsessed with the book for a brief spell. I've since read it four times and even took a course "The Philosophy of Tolkien" during the first semester of my senior year, just as The Return of the King was being released in movie theaters.

But, I digress. When I was mature enough (in other words, anyone who doesn't like LOTR is just immature...right?) to appreciate Tolkien's life's work I did so largely for it's breadth and depth. The story was epic and the characters well drawn for certain, but the best aspect of the trilogy was that it was complete. Which is why it consumed the entire writing career of its author. I'd really never read anything like it. I'd read books that were more artful or thought provoking or more...whatever, but nothing like it. And, I was a dorky kid who read a lot of books. For fun.

For me, the best way to show how complete a world it was that Tolkien created is to take a look at the conclusion of "Return of the King," the third part of the trilogy. The story climaxes with the main character tossing the titular ring into a volcano, which vanquished all of the bad guys. At that moment the good guys had won. The bad guys lost. The war was over. And the world was saved. Damsels were to be married and kings were to be crowned. Most books/films would have just ended then and there. Jerry Bruckheimer would have had Frodo and Sam (the two characters at the volcano) high-five and then one of them would have made an "I'm getting too old for this shit" remark and we'd be done. Fade to black. Roll credits.

I know several people who would have liked the novel (and the film) to end that way. They claim the stuff at the end was boring and unnecessary. They claim the story would be the same if it ended in Mordor (the place where the volcano was). But they are wrong. The Lord of the Rings would be less real and a lesser work if it just ended following its climax. It wouldn't be complete. Because what happens next matters. In life, in literature and especially in sport. Tolkien knew this and followed all of his characters through what happened next. He followed them home. Because in life the hardest part of any large event (like saving the world) is picking up the pieces afterward. If a character is so wounded that he or she can't move on successfully then doesn't that reality drastically affect the nature of their victory? Most books/films centered around any action-packed climax ignore the aftermath. There is no falling action or denouement. Tolkien provides these things and is a legend for it. Perhaps he was sensitive to this because he was writing in a postwar England were "victorious" London was all ash, rubble and poverty.

The fact that the main characters get back to their home after being gone for so long and find it totally overrun and fucked up is important. Learning that the main-est character is fractured beyond repair by his experiences is crucial. His realization that he has to leave behind the place he gave everything to save unalterably changes the way a reader thinks of everything that he did in the proceeding thousand pages. The falling action and denouement/resolution of a story can be more important, albeit less exciting, than the climax. And at the very least, those two elements of a story can place the action of the climax into a context that is more meaningful. Such context is arguably more important in sports than in literature. Because there can be value in ambiguity at the end of a novel. There is no ambiguity at the end of a game or a season. There is a boxscore.

Even though The Lord of the Rings would still be hanging around if the last fifty pages had been excised from the manuscript by an editor at Allen & Unwin there is no way that Bill Buckner's error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series would be widely remembered today if the Red Sox hadn't blown the 3-0 lead they had heading into the sixth inning of Game 7. If the Red Sox win that Game 7 then nobody remembers Buckner. What happens next changes what happened before it. That's why Johan Santana's brilliant "season-saving" three-hit shutout against the Marlins on the second-to-last day of the 2008 regular season is meaningless. If the Mets won the following day then Johan's gem would have gone down in franchise history as one of the biggest performances of all times. But, the Mets lost the next day so the game doesn't really mean a thing.

And this is why the Knicks win over the Celtics on Sunday was rendered meaningless when they lost to the woeful Oklahoma City Thunder last night. The Knicks victory over the NBA's best team needs to be disregarded. Because the Knicks lost their next game to the worst team, by record, in the NBA and they lost badly. They trailed by 23 points at one point, which is more points than Oklahoma City has led in a game this season. The Thunder had won just four games heading into last night (while losing 30) and had not won a single game by more then 8 points. Yet they were able to get up 23 on the Knicks. This was a must-win for the Knicks if they were going to show that the spectacular effort against Boston was anything more than an aberration.

But there was no win. Just an inexcusable loss. All of the optimism of Sunday was washed away in a baptism of suck last night. The Knicks were listless in the early going against an energized StolenSonics club. The Knicks forced shots and relied on the 3-ball. They chased guys on defense who already had the ball rather than actively denying the ball and getting hands and arms into passing lanes. It was an unmitigated disaster. At the half, MSG play-by-play man Mike Breen summed it up: "Playing hard. Sometimes it's that simple. Sunday against the Celtics the Knicks played harder than the Celtics. Here tonight, clearly, the Thunder are playing harder than the Knicks."

It makes no difference the Knicks closed the deficit and gave themselves an opportunity to win in the fourth quarter. In fact, all the unfinished comeback does is highlight how bad self-inflicted the wounds of the first half were. The Knicks didn't play hard. Or smart. They didn't play at all like they did on Sunday, proving that they fundamentally do not understand what it takes to be winners even if they are capable of beating anyone on any given Sunday.

***
And, yes. I'm fully aware that writing about the importance of what happens next in understanding what just happened after games 31 and 32 of an 82-game season is a fundamentally flawed exercise. But, I did it anyway. Try not to worry about it. I clearly didn't.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Sunday's Best

Knicks Top Celtics at Garden, 100-88

In a mildly shocking turn of events - overshadowed by the implosion of the Miami Dolphins and the toppling of UNC hoops by Boston College - the Knicks beat the Celtics yesterday at the Garden behind a career-high 31 points from Wilson Chandler. And, there are really no asterisks to this win. I don't think. The Big Three was intact, Paul Pierce went off for 30+, and the Celtics wore green. Everything was in its right place and seemed as it had during each of the Knicks eight straight losses to Boston heading into yesterday's tilt. Yet, the Knicks won the game. They beat the Celtics. Thoroughly. The Knicks won three out of the four quarters and were propelled by a 28-15 performance in the third. Weird.

Even stranger, the Knicks are now 3-2 in home games contested on New Testament's sabbath. Which means that they're better on Sunday than on other days of the week, when they're 10-17. And those three Sunday wins at the Garden came over the Celtics, the Pistons and the Jazz. Not too shabby. On top of that, the Knicks spoiled another dominant home performance on the Lord's Day by frittering away a late lead to the Mavs and falling in OT. Of course, the other blemish on the seventh day was in the first week of the season and came at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks, who have already beaten the Knicks three times. Ugly, uninspiring losses each of them. Which shows that all of these trends and whatnot are probably meaningless. And, looking at the schedule... I hope this trend is meaningless. Because the Knicks next home game scheduled for a Sunday won't take place until the playoffs or next season. All remaining Sunday tilts in the 2008-2009 regular season are on the road.

Read All About It:
ESPN
The Times

Friday, January 2, 2009

Shipping Up To Boston

Before the season began I was concerned that Stephon Marbury would end up playing for Miami. I had nightmarish visions of him pairing with Dwyane Wade, Shawn Marion and the No. 1 pick from the previous draft to lead a resurgence in South Beach. I imagined him running the pick and roll with Udonis Haslem to perfection during a key game in late March as the Knicks and Heat battled for one of the last playoff spots in the East.

I wanted D'Antoni to give Steph a chance to play so that we wouldn't have to see that. I also wanted D'Antoni to give Steph a chance to play because I beleived (as I do now) that he was the best professional basketball player on the Knicks roster. Well, Steph never stepped on the floor for the Knicks. Yet, according to recent reports, I don't need to worry about him playing for the once and possibly future rivals in Miami. Which is a relief. Instead, I need to brace myself for Marbury winning an NBA title with the Boston Celtics.

As each day passes without a buyout, rumors about Marbury's eventual destination are going to multiply. Today he's heading to Boston. Tomorrow it might be San Antonio. The day after he might be heading to Dallas. Or Phoenix. The Knicks created this situation by benching/alienating/exiling a healthy player with a All-Star talent. The worst thing that can happen is for Donnie Walsh and Jimmy Dolan to get cheap and spiteful right now. We can't be concerned with where Marbury ends up. Do I want to see him win a title in Boston? Nope. But that's just because I wanted to see him win a title at the Garden and not because I hold any ill will towards him.

Aside from the fact that there is really no reason for Walsh to want to wrong Marbury, the team needs his roster spot. Badly. And, the fate of the Celtics has little to do with the Knicks right now. These two teams are not competing for the same things. If Marbury ends up lowering his shoulder and barrelling to the rim in the waning moments of Game 7 of the NBA Finals and dropping in the clinching bucket then so be it. Walsh and D'Antoni didn't want him here. But they've got to realize that decision was based in their ideas about the direction of the team and not in any lack of ability our health on the part of the player. They need to cut him. And, let him go whichever way the wind blows. It may help the Celtics (and Marbury) down the road but it will definitely help the Knicks immediately. That has to be the main concern.