Understandable

Apologies to Nathaniel Friedman on my Slate rant yesterday. He commented on the blog, and I re-read his article. I still don't quite "agree," but I can see where he's going with it. I really kind of misunderstood it when I read it yesterday.
He's not advocating a shortening from the standpoint of someone who obsesses over basketball (me), but rather the "casual fan." And I can understand that most fans don't go home from work and park in front of the tube for 6 straight hours of Ernie, Charles, Kenny and the playoffs... everyday. And most of them don't play in 3 fantasy leagues and follow the stats and as many games as possible, all year, for all the teams. Additionally, I'd imagine, most of them don't know what the PER is, or the +/-, or why you should never listen to what Bill Walton is saying. (Even as I write this, I start to wonder; am I watching too much? The answer is no.)
So for them (being the vast majority of fans), I understand why he preferred the best-of-5 first round to the best-of-7, and he does actually make a good point about how more than half the league makes the playoffs. That doesn't really seem right when you think about it. Still, maybe it would just be better if we added an additional round or three, and just included all the rest of the teams...
Can you say 1 seed vs. 15 seed? 4 months of playoffs? 80 games in 80 nights? Lordy, that would be kick ass...

Stockton or Nash?

John Stockton '89-'90
78 games
37.4 min/game
17.2 PPG
.514 FG
.819 FT
2.60 rebs/game
14.5 assists/game
2.65 stls/game
3.49 TOs/game

Steve Nash '06-'07
Already missed more than 4 games
35.3 min/game
19.1 ppg
.533 FG
.882 FT
3.3 rebs/game
11.7 assists/game
2.3 treys/game
3.8 TOs/game

Those are both stellar lines, and very hard to pick one over the other. What would you rather have? Nash's %s and threes? Or Stock's extra dimes and steals? The thing that puts Stock well over the top in my book is that he put up numbers in that ballpark for 19 straight seasons(playing in all 82 games for 16 of those seasons). Nash on the other hand is enjoying a late-in-the-career renaissance. For my money? I'd take Johnny Stock (AKA the Pasty Gangsta) every time. And he played in the era of giants. I know, Bronny, Wade, 'Melo, Kobe, these are legends. But I'm talking giants. Stockton had to play against the likes of Jordan, Magic, Bird, Zeke, Drexler, and Barkley. Don't get it twisted, some day Bronny and Wade will be mentioned in the same breath as those guys. But not yet. Bottom line, Stockton was as good as Nash if not better and never won the MVP, let alone twice (maybe thrice?) in a row.

Oh My Sweet Lord! Words Can't Describe the Brilliance...

I don't know what this is, but leave it to the maniacs behind Basketbawful to find this clutch gem. It appears to me as if there's like a whole sub-culture of homemade video game mash-ups. Just like when Danger Mouse mainstreamed mash-ups by laying Jay Z on top of the Beatles. It seems like ever since then, people are suddenly fascinated by the possibilities of laying one song on top of another. As if the concept of two songs in the same key sounding good on top of each other is really that mystifying. At any rate, this is so much more brilliant, because it's not as obvious, easy and basically self explanatory. This isn't a DJ playing 2 records at the same time, this is people creating something. They're using a program called RPG Builder, so don't marvel at their programming abilities, just marvel at the genius. A dude known only as Chef Boyardee has created what might be the best concept ever: he mashed up Charles Barkley's SNES title, Shut Up and Jam! with Final Fantasy. You get to be Charles Barkley, and you stalk the post-apocalyptic wastelands of a basketball-less future antagonizing, battling and chit chatting with all sorts of mutants, monsters, wizards and hall-of-famers. The result is pure hilacrity:



I am absolutely downloading this game and playing it post haste. If I wasn't so computer illiterate, I'd make my own... Stay tuned as I consider doing it despite my technological limitations. And be sure to watch the priceless trailer for the game.

The Tale Of The Tape

Today's post will be about the upcoming run off between reigning bag of bones Dick Bavetta and Master of the Classless, Charles Barkley. Let's face it people, they are both old, out of the game, and deserve to be retired. Not to retire, but be retired by somebody else.

Bavetta has been a personal bane of mine for a while now. His failing eyesight and slow reaction time have caused multiple teams to be expelled in the playoffs, not to mention the multiple atrocities committed upon the regular season.

Barkley, another personal bane, will not give the Cavs any credit, no matter what their record, who plays for them, or what kinda of hope they bring to Cleveland.

The call?

It's so hard to pick one over the other given that I hate them both so much. If Dwyane Wade was on the ticket, I'd pick him to lose, but I don't have that luxury. Instead here is my pick:

Barkley wins the contest in 15 minutes (for a mere 235 feet). 7 Minutes in (before either hits the far baseline) Bavetta is distracted when somebody glances in Dwyane Wade's direction. He runs away from the course to call the non-existent foul, completely forgetting he's in a race, drawn to the mystical non-foulness of DWade. Barkley tries to capitalize, yet falls and breaks both knees, after Kevin Johnson preemptively greased his side of the floor. Bavetta and Barkley both crawl to the finish line, only to have Bavetta's heart fail. Barkley wins in a gain for us all, Bavetta is dead, never to judge anyone or anything again. Barkley is humbled by the experience becoming a hermit for the rest of his life.

Let's all pray for this,

Slop