Pennsylvania Will Give Obama the White House

The Steelers and the Phillies Won Election for Dems

It's true that I haven't even voted yet. Yet. It's not even lunchtime on Election Day but the race is over. Because the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series last week and the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football last night. It's done and done. Obama can stop kissing babies in swing states. McCain can stop scaring babies in swing states.

You see, when a National League team, like the Phillies of the NL East, wins the World Series in an election year then the Democratic candidate wins the presidency. Or at least, this was true from 1952 to 1976. It's been a little screwy as of late, although both W "wins" were accompanied by American League wins in the Fall Classic.

And, when the Washington Redskins lose their final home game before a presidential election then the incumbent party goes on to lose the popular vote and, except in one glaring case, the election. This has held true since the Redskins arrived in DC and has accurately predicted 17 out 17 election results. The one glaring asterisk is the Kerry/Bush face off from 2004. The Skins lost the home game just before the election to the Packers, 28-14, which should have meant a Bush loss as well. With the help of some nefarious doings in Ohio and other places, Bush managed to hold onto the highest office in the land. But, he didn't win the popular vote. Kerry did. Just like the Redskins game predicted.

It's no wonder that Obama was hanging out with Steelers legends earlier in the campaign. He knew that a Pittsburgh win in Washington on Monday Night Football was the key to this whole thing.

Oakley says, "Go Vote"

Because today is Election Day

We've been talking about it for two years, dreading/anticipating it for too long. Now go vote. It'll all be over in the morning. Or, it won't. It'll be even worse. Either way, go vote for president and every other office on the ballot. Each vote does matter. Even if you think you know how your state is going to turn out. And, even if you're voting for the old guy who may have actually killed somebody in a car-wreck in 1964.

FIND YOUR POLLING PLACE

WWOD? Review of the Knicks Previews

Everyone Else's Look Ahead at the 2008-2009 Knicks

John Hollinger, ESPN
Hollinger is the Worldwide Leader's numbers guy when it comes to hoops. His Player Efficiency Ratings are, for my dollar, the zenith of statistical analysis. And, yes, part of the reason I dig his numbers so much is because they provide a cornerstone for my idolatry of Chris Paul.

The Bright Side: "At least the worst is over. After the season, the Knicks finally cut the cord with Thomas and put a grown-up back in charge, hiring former Indiana Pacers GM Donnie Walsh as the new team president... While Curry and Randolph have their shortcomings, each is a beast on the low post who can finish and draw fouls... David Lee, who is a perfect complement to either Randolph or Curry because he's so good at roaming the weak side for offensive boards."

The Half-Empty Glass: "This is still Thomas' team... The same problem of pairing Randolph and Curry remains, as do the hordes of shoot-first, ask-later types at the guard spots and the assorted overpaid underachievers filling out the bench... it's still hard to imagine them cracking the league's top 20 in defensive efficiency. Offense may be a struggle too, even with D'Antoni's genius at that end.."

The Unexpected: Hollinger warns the Association "don't sleep on Quentin Richardson. Yes, he was an absolute dog last season, but he can pummel smaller guards on the blocks, and the Knicks have been strangely reluctant to make use of this skill. He also had his best season under D'Antoni in Phoenix four years ago."

The Prediction: 28-54, 4th in Atlantic Division, 14th in Eastern Conference

J.E. Skeets, Ball Don't Lie (Yahoo)
BDL is a must-stop spot on any hoops fans daily Interweb meanderings. It's matches sarcasm, knowledge and enthusiasm in good measure. They've also been kind enough to link a handful of my posts over the past few months.

The Bright Side: Um, not so much.

The Half-Empty Glass:"The ascension of Chris Duhon to the top of the point guard heap in New York seems as much of a bum move as trading for Zach Randolph to play alongside Eddy Curry... not the most able guy in transition, you don't have to guard him anywhere on the court, he's not a creative passer, he's not even that good a passer."

The Unexpected: According to Skeets, the album that best embodies the 2008-2009 Knicks is Born to Be Blue, by Grant Green.

Sports Illustrated
It's everyone's favorite printed source for full-color photographs of week-old events. And, the grandaddy of the sports journalism that has better access to the pros than anyone this side of ESPN. In the SI team previews we hear from anonymous NBA scouts and someone attributed as C.M., who I think is NBA writer Chris Mannix.

The Bright Side: Again, we've got slim pickings when looking for positive things to say...

The 3/4-Empty Glass:"I don't think the improvement in coaching by hiring Mike D'Antoni is going to make that big of a difference this year... the new coaching staff is going to want to win games and establish a new style, but management is going to need the next two years to clear away the bad contracts and attitudes. The way it looks right now, this is a throwaway year unless they can get something out of the draft from it."

The Unexpected: "The best player on their training camp roster is probably Marbury. Look at his skills: When healthy he can score, and if he wants to -- if -- he can defend his position; I've seen him body up. He's quick, he can push it up the floor, he can handle."

Prediction: 13th In East, 4th in Atlantic

The Big Lead
This is the gateway blog that could lead you to abuse more dangerous and more cynical blogs. TBL brings most everything under the sporting sun to your attention and has been kind enough to link to a few WWOD? posts. The A.M. Roundup is great way to ease into the work day.

The Bright Side: "the talent is clearly there for Mike D’Antoni to blend into playoff team. Jamal Crawford’s shot selection is questionable, but he is undeniably a scoring machine. Zach Randolph, who amazingly stayed out of trouble in his first year in Gotham, can still provide 20-10. David Lee is the quintessential role player. Nate Robinson can provide a spark off the bench."

The 1/3-Empty Glass: " The disastrous, tyrannical reign of Isiah Thomas is over. The stench, of course, still lingers... comparing Starbury, Q Rich and Randolph to Nash, Marion and Amare is pure lunacy. "

The Unexpected: Frankly, the genuinely enthusiastic take on the positive possibilities for the Knicks throughout this preview was unexpected. And welcomed.

The Prediction: "40/45 wins and very, very close to a playoff berth."

Basketbawful, via Deadspin
A fine and funny blog in its own right, Basketbawful is the official NBA blog of the artist formerly known as Deadspin.

The Bright Side: " Isiah Thomas is gone. Isiah Thomas is gone. Isiah Thomas is gone. Isiah Thomas is gone. Isiah Thomas is gone. Isiah Thomas is gone. Isiah Thomas is gone. Isiah Thomas is gone. Isiah Thomas is gone. Isiah Thomas is gone."

The Half-Empty Glass: "I don't think Mikey Boy can repair the Knicks' defensive inadequacies; D'Antoni's teams couldn't guard somebody with a gun. And if all that wasn't ominous enough, Stephon Marbury is still around, hoggin' the ball and cap space. What I'm trying to say is that, so far, bringing in Walsh and D'Antoni is like putting curtains on a port-o-potty. The minor aesthetic modifications on the outside won't change the fact that what's on the inside still stinks."

Marc Berman, NY Post
Berman is the Post's man on the Knicks beat. He's got fruit-bearing personal relationships with the players and the coaches. He was the guy texting with Marbury when he left the team last year in Phoenix and he was the guy who talked to Isiah when his world was crumbling at the end of last week. Berman's blog is the go-to spot for late-breaking Knicks news.

The Bright Side: "On nights Quentin Richardson has confidence in his 3-pointer, the Knicks' offense will hum like that of the Suns. D'Antoni has gotten this club to move the ball and it resulted in lots of preseason open looks."

The Half-Empty Glass: "The red flag is defense. The Knicks allowed 106.2 points per game in preseason. Lee and a rejuvenated Randolph make for a versatile offensive paring but can be overmatched on the defensive end by bigger teams. Neither blocks shots."

The Prediction: "37-45, No playoffs."

Frank Isola and Mitch Lawrence, Daily News
Isola and Lawrence are the guys my Uncle Elliot reads every morning at the News. And, I don't mean that disrepfectfully. They've got the contacts and the time and the in-house view that the rest of us don't. The flip side is that they've also got the burnout and the taking-things-for-granted-itis that those unpaid love-of-the-game guys don't have to worry about.

The Bright Side: "D'Antoni and Knicks president Donnie Walsh are thinking big picture. Their goal is to get under the salary cap for the summer of 2010 when LeBron James can become a free agent. In the meantime, Walsh will look to remove some of the dead wood and fat contracts and, along with D'Antoni, try to establish a winning culture for a franchise that hasn't had a winning season in seven years." (Isola)

The Half-Empty Glass: "D'Antoni is the New York Knicks' fourth head coach in the past five years. Two of those coaches - Lenny Wilkens and Brown - had more impressive resumes... If history has taught us anything, D'Antoni's run may be brief. But this is supposedly a new era for the Knicks - new president, new system, new media policy (we think) and of course, a new coach... Everything is new except the players. The core group that over the last four seasons produced a grand total of 112 wins and 216 losses remains intact. This group will hurt D'Antoni's career winning percentage in year one. That is a fact." (Isola)

The Prediction: "32 wins begin the long climb back to respectability." (Lawrence)

And, coming up tomorrow morning afternoon is the official WWOD? 2008-2009 Knicks Preview Extravaganza

Allan is All Out, Finally

Knicks Cut Allan Houston
While sitting in the second row of the bleachers in the gymnasium at Pace University last Sunday morning as the Knicks practiced practicing I found myself intently following Allan Houston around the floor. This was unexpected. I mean, I knew he was going to be there. I knew all about his latest comeback attempt. But it all seemed sort of besides the point as I got ready for the debut of the D'Antoni/Walsh Era. Houston was an afterthought. He was closer to an AARP subscription than to contributing on an NBA roster.

Like I said, he was afterthought. Until I couldn't stop watching him. He surely doesn't have the frenetic energy of Nate Robinson, the rubber-neck inducing, cataclysmic charisma of Stephon Marbury or the sheer size of Eddy Curry. And, he was, even then when he still was a member of the team, far less relevant to the Knicks 2008-2009 season than any of those three. But he was the guy who hit the shot against Miami in Game 5 in 1999 against the Heat. He was the guy who played with Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley and who pushed John Starks out of the starting lineup. He has scored the fourth most points in franchise history and the sixth most minutes played. He is ALLAN HOUSTON.



Or, at least, he was ALLAN HOUSTON. Now, he's just Allan Houston. He's 37 years old. He's got creaky knees. Therefore, I wasn't surprised when he was cut from the roster yesterday. It was the right move, the necessary move. Because Houston is done. The more I watched him this past Sunday the more that I knew it. Aside from the fact that he couldn't even participate in the five-on-five that they ran at the end of the hour, he just looked out of place the whole morning. He moved gingerly and without conviction as he went through the motion on the other drills. He was apart from the other players on the floor even when he was standing in line with them waiting for his turn to take a shot from elbow. And, when he stood on line waiting to take his shot he kept shaking out his limbs as if he could break loose the shackles of age with a shimmy or a shiver. He was flexing and bending and twitching like a fiend waiting for a fix. And, in his way he was. Waiting on line behind guys so much younger than him, waiting for a "teammate" to feed him the ball so he could take his jump shot from the elbow. Shooting that shot is his drug.


And from 1996 to 2005, when he was scoring those 9,243 points in a Knicks uniform, that sweet jump shot was our drug too. It was beautiful. It was perfect. It was the essence of basketball. After all, the set shot was there before the ally-oop, before the slash to the lane (which everyone forgets that Allan used to be quiet adept at as well). I've never seen anything as simple and ideal as Houston's jumper. It was all muscle memory and thoughtless focus. It was what Matthew Graham was really talking about when he said, "Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body." He only thought he was talking about dancing because that was all Graham knew. The fluid, wordless expression of the soul was Allan Houston's jump shot more than it was ever a pirouette. If you've seen it then you know what I mean.

And, as Houston finally trades in the hundred-dollar high tops for the the shined-up penny loafers that he'll wear as a Knicks executive it is a shame that he isn't appreciated as much as he should be. Too many Knicks fans, one of my brothers included, never forgave him for pushing Starks to the bench. Too many Knicks fans never forgave him for signing the one hundred gazillion dollar contract that he was offered. Of course he signed it. Wouldn't you? What else could he do? It's not his fault that management offered him all that money without thinking about what it meant for the long-term health of the franchise? It's not Houston's fault. We can't hold him accountable for it. But we can give him credit for all of the beauty he gave us. For all the games that he won. Hopefully with the passing of time and with his continued involvement in the organization he can eventually receive the respect he deserves. Hopefully we'll remember him for what he was on the court and not who he pushed off of it or what he signed off of it.

Hopefully, we'll remember him for this:

The Verknickular

Additions to the native language of our locality inspired by the New York Knicks

Charles Smith Layup Line
Function: Noun
Etymology:

Definitions:
1: a dire predicament caused by incompetence
2: the condition of public embarrassment
3: a total loss of control
4: a no-win situation in which higher powers are blocking the path to success (or not calling any of the many fouls in the play)

In use:
1. The Republican insistence upon deregulation at every turn made it inevitable that Wall Street would end up a Charles Smith Layup Line and ensured it was just a matter of time before I was living in a lean-to and hording canned goods.
2/3. So, me and my brother were out doing shots of jagermeister with these Australian dudes all night long. I totally blacked out. The next thing I know, I wake up in the hallway of the hostel. I'm squatting with my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. And, I'm only wearing my underwear. Yeah, that sh*t was a complete Charles Smith Layup Line.
4. Sigourney Weaver's character in Working Girl, Katherine Parker, is determined to steal the credit for the good ideas of her subordinate Tess McGill, ensuring that Tess is stuck on a Charles Smith Layup Line.

Real Geniuses

Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni Edition

Although the product on the court isn't exactly transcendent, or even mediocre, there have already been signs that both the Knicks new President and Head Coach are as clever as their press releases would have you believe. In fact, I'm willing to concede genius. Real genius.

As the papers filled with stories of Eddy Curry's large spot on the bench and Stephon Marbury's ever-imminent removal from the roster during the preseason there was something amazing happening. Because genius was at work. Lazlo-level genius.

I didn't understand what was happening at first. Because I am no genius. In fact, I was so far off the scent just a few weeks ago that I thought the opposite of genius was at work at MSG. I thought both Walsh and D'Antoni were experiencing a bit gun-shyness due to the enormity of the problem that they inherited from Isiah Thomas. I was puzzled when the Knicks didn't pull the trigger when they could have traded the Zach Randolph to the Los Angeles Clippers in July. The Clips were dealing from a position of weakness after Elton Brand's shock defection to the 76ers and the Knicks would have been able to shed Randolph without having to take back substantial contracts in return. I was bewildered, bordering on bepissed when Walsh rebuffed the offer. A few weeks later the Knicks again didn't trade Randolph when the chance arose. This time the potential suitor was the Memphis Grizzlies and the haul included a bunch of spare parts featuring Dark Milic.

At this point, I was not bewildered or befuddled. I was beside myself. What were they waiting for? Why weren't they taking what they could get for the man who I spent most last season referring to as the Zach-hole? Why weren't they packing the bags of the player this side of Steve Francis who most exemplified Isiah Thomas's facile understanding of team building? Everyone knew that dumping his contract (he's due $14.7 million this season, $16 million next and $17.3 million in 2010/11) was the keystone to constructing a bid for Lebron James when he enters free agency after next season. Everyone knew that it would be near impossible for the Knicks to clear the necessary salary cap space without moving Z-Bo. In the New York Post, Marc Berman equivocally said the only way [signing Lebron] would be possible is if they can deal Zach Randolph for shorter-term contracts.

What were they waiting for? I thought, as Berman did, that the team needed to get rid of him in order to turn this thing around. And that was the problem. If I knew it then so did every General Manager in the NBA. And, therefore it was impossible that Walsh would get fair value for a guy who, in spite of his many foibles, is one of the few players in the Association capable of putting up 20/10 each and every night. A good GM doesn't just get cap space (which is what the Clippers deal offered) or spare parts (the Grizzlies deal) for a player with that statistical potential. A good GM finds a contending team needing a scorer to put them over the top and cherry picks the most promising youngsters of the roster. A good GM doesn't trade a player when his perceived value is at his lowest. And, Zach Randolph's perceived value could hardly have been any lower than it was during the second half of last season and the first half of the offseason.

What did Walsh do? He got together with his head coach and in a matter of weeks the two of them turned Randolph from headache to honor roll, albeit in a severely remedial class. D'Antoni has benched Marbury, railed against Curry and stood by as the seemingly unquashable confidence of Jamal Craword was thoroughly quashed. And now, we're a week away from the season opener and Randolph is no longer the Knicks main problem. Quite the opposite. It could even be argued that he is the team's most dependable player. He will score and he will rebound for a team with very few stats you can project in pen. Moreover, with Curry seemingly out of the rotation to start the season Randolph will have free reign in the post when the Knicks settle into a halfcourt set on offense. He won't be pushed out to the perimeter by a teammate, where he was at his ball-stopping worst last year. Rather, Randolph will be the focal point of the offense and likely be able to work against centers who are not quick enough (and, yes, it does feel so very wrong to talk about someone not being quick enough to handle the flightless Z-Bo) to stay with him.

Now, has Randolph fundamentally changed at all? No. Is moving him any less important to the team's goal of landing Lebron James? Nope. But does it seem like those things are true? Maybe. Does it seem like Marbury and Curry are more pressing problems right now? It sure does. Especially if you read the papers. That is the beauty of this "plan" that I have given Walsh and D'Antoni credit for. And quite possibly conjured from thin air. I think they think that Randolph still needs to go. I think that they just don't want everyone else to think that they think that. You follow? So rather than driving a FOR SALE sign into the front lawn for the neighbors to see they have gotten to work repainting the house's siding and fixing the broken shutters. They stopped saying that they were going to sell their home. They turned down a few lowball offers and told the neighbors how great the house was and how many points it was going to score. And in a few months when a neighbor's roof starts to leak he may stop by and ask if you ever thought of selling that great, point-scoring house of yours.

Before we know it Randolph will be averaging more than 18 points and 10 rebounds per game. After a few weeks of getting the ball in whatever semblance of D'Antoni's "seven seconds or less" offense the Knicks manage to scrap together, Randolph will again be considered the go-to offensive force that he was considered when Isiah Thomas traded for him. Or, at least, the numbers will be about the same. And then everyone won't think that Walsh needs to trade Randolph. After all, he'll be the team's leading scorer and second-leading rebounder. He'll have those magical 20/10 numbers that make GMs salivate. Back when Randolph was acquired by the Knicks the move made no sense as far as team-building strategery was concerned, but his numbers were so impressive that Knicks fans uncomfortably got behind the deal. Those numbers make lesser men (read: Isiah Thomas) do things that don't always make sense. Donnie Walsh understands this.

Walsh was named Knicks President the day after April Fool's Day and in less than seven months he is well on his way, with a great deal of help from Mike D'Antoni, to fooling just such a lesser man around the league. Because he is smarter than they are. While we've been debating Duhon vs. Marbury and pondering the potential of Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari these two have been slowly and surely rehabilitating Zach Randolph's image.

In about a month and a half Walsh will have everyone right were he wants them. And, then Randolph will be shipped to the Cavs to provide the scoring that Ben Wallace can't or he'll head to Detroit to provide some off-the-bench offense for a team that has everything but that. And, in return Walsh and D'Antoni will get back far more than the Clippers or Grizzlies were willing to offer when they thought they had the Knicks over a barrel. Just watch.

Well played, sirs.

The More Things Change...

Knicks Lose to Celtics, 90-101

Bobbing and weaving my way south through midtown it started to seem real again. It being the shrill autumn wind slaloming between the office buildings, the Knicks, basketball and the Garden. All of it. There have been so many night at Shea and even a few in the Bronx for baseball and already so many hours logged in front of the television for football that hoops has been pushed past the last remembered bits of waking dreams into the recesses of my brain. Of course, it's also possible that recent Knicks history has played a part of in my pushing aside of basketball after the final game was played last season. It's possible that I sought refuge in the 2008 Mets to salve the burn left behind by the 2007-2008 Knicks. Thankfully, that whole Mets thing totally worked out for me. For us. Right?
Anyway, it all comes rushing back as I set the plastic tray down at my second-floor table at the Nathan's on 32nd Street and Seventh Avenue. I'm ready to go. And by "go," I mean eat the No. 2 meal and then cross the street to watch pre-season basketball by myself at Madison Square Garden.

After eating my two hot dogs and drinking my lemonade I make my way past the ticket scalpers and Donnie Walsh's welcome-back message and towards the bag-checkers and body-searchers. The crowd is a decent size for a Tuesday night in the middle of October. In East Rutherford, that is. It's unremarkable compared with the teeming masses several floors below in Penn Station.Fans were crowded about the merch booths snapping up the newest/bluest gear and a surprising amount of foam fingers. Seriously there were way to many people buying foam fingers. And, I'm not really sure why. The foam-fingered crowd never even flirted with capacity and was made up of a noteworthy minority of Celtics fans. Because the champs were here.

(Thoughts on the "game" itself are coming soon to a post near you. In the meantime, enjoy the pretty pictures)

And on the Seventh Day, They Practiced

Images From the Knicks Open Practice
(More Words/Pictures To Come Later Today/Tonight)
It was bright and early. It was too early and far too bright. But here I was in the car cruising north on the Saw Mill Parkway headed for Pace University in Pleasantville, NY. The occasion was the annual open practice held by the Knickerbockers. The early wake-up call, though, was well worth the hour that I got to watch the team practice.

It wasn't anything extraordinary. They stretched. Ran a few drills. And then went through the motions in a bit of 5 on 5. But the 150-200 folks in that gym were right up close for all of it. We heard Jared Jeffries cracking wise about Patrick Ewing, Jr. We felt the awkwardness when Chris Duhon and not Stephon Marbury took the floor with what sure looked like the first team. We cringed with the same embarrassment that everyone on the team did each time Jerome James took a shot. And, we knew the simultaneous awe and pity inspired by Allan Houston as he did what he could when he could.

TBS = Thwarting Baseball Supporters

Or, Is it Just That They Love Dick Clark and The Steve Harvey Show?

What a great night for sports. You got Texas and Missouri playing over on ABC. You got Boston College and Va.Tech on ESPN2. And you got The Steve Harvey Show on TBS. Uh whaaaa?

For some reason, Game 6 of the ALCS between Tampa and Boston is nowhere to be found. There was an old episode of Bloopers featuring Dick Clark and some co-host which then gave way to that Harvey show. Which I had forgotten even existed.

Steve Harvey just made a joke about going to an "oxygen bar." Up next, he's going to make a topical crack about the age the Republican candidate for President, Bob Dole

MLB.com has no mention of what's going on. Neither does ESPN.com. Same for TBS.com. Very Funny.

UPDATE: The game finally replaced the comedic talents of Mr. Harvey. You have to think that Frank Caliendo was pretty pissed off that they weren't airing his show during whatever technical difficulties were going on down in Atlanta.

Cliff Floyd is the Man

Floyd as quoted in today's New York Times:

“We don’t go up there and think, Now we’ve got to beat Beckett — no one cares about Beckett,” the Rays’ Cliff Floyd said. “Face him the same way you face everybody else. If anything, Beckett should be worried about us. We just beat him.”