For a good portion of youth, I was a basketball fan. More specifically, I was a diehard Lakers fan. I would watch any Laker game, reveling in blowouts (the better to check out the bench players), and screaming at the television while Chick Hearn, in his rapid-fire style, berated the Lakers players for doing something stupid. I was a member of Lakers' nation.
That changed in a short time span when the team traded Shaq, Kobe had nonconsentual sex with, as it turns out, the sister of some friends of my brothers, and Phil Jackson left. Ever since, I have been an ex-Lakers fan. I still watch NBA games, even Lakers' games, on occasion, but the passion is gone.
With that said, I still follow the NBA, and Bill Simmons is one of my favorite sports writers. Actually, he is my favorite. And Bill Simmons is a NBA fan. He's such a big NBA fan that he wrote a 1200 page book on the NBA, and I read ever word of it. With his help, I feel like I'm slowly being pulled back into the fold as a basketball fan.
So, contrary to the past few years, I've been following the NBA finals much more than ever. It certainly helps to have a team like the Dallas Mavericks pull off one impressive run after another. But more than that, the play of Lebron James has been fascinating to watch.
Lebron James, if you have never seen him, is the single most impressive athlete ever to grace the NBA. He is 6'8" - classic small forward size - 260(ish) lbs, and probably 2% body fat. He is, by most accounts, the fastest player in the NBA, is blessed with lightning quickness, and because of his size, weight and speed, can play any position on the court. Not only is he blessed with tremendous athletic ability, but he has incredible "court vision" - he's able to see, and comprehend where everyone on the basketball court is, and where they will be. As a result, he can pass the ball with amazing skill. He is, as advertised, a basketball player who can score like Jordan, and pass like Magic Johnson. Oh, and he can defend every position on the floor - from a 6'0" point guard to a 7'0" center, and does so with striking aplomb.
No other player in the NBA finals can come close to James' ability. Dwyane Wade, James' teammate, and a great player in his own right, for instance, is a 6'4" guard who plays with absolute abandon and will do whatever it takes to win. But he cannot guard a much taller player, nor can he post up a larger player inside. Dirk Nowitiski, the great Mavericks player, is a freakish 7'0" forward who can shoot with absolutely deadly accuracy doesn't have the quickness to guard players outside. Similarly, all the other players on the court have deficiencies in one area or another. None have the ability of Lebron James.
Yet, with all that talent, Lebron James is fading on the world stage. Last night, he scored 17 points, had 10 assists and 10 rebounds (a triple-double), which was good, but not good enough. In the last quarter, he scored a mere 2 points. The game before, James scored only 8 points. And his numbers for the other three games weren't spectacular either. In the meantime, Nowitiski has been a man possessed, scoring nearly 30 points per game for the series. While some would attribute James' disappearing act on his heart or his manhood, I wonder if it is something else.
Specifically, what if James' athletic ability is hampering him on the world stage. For his entire life, James has played basketball better than everyone else, based purely on his ability. Whatever he wanted to do, he could do, almost as well as anyone else. Almost. And that's the problem - James never specialized, never developed a "move" that he could use when all chips were down, because with the exception of the NBA Finals, he doesn't need a move because his talent is limitless.
That's a problem because our limits lead us down the path of our lives. When I was a child, I wanted to be a physicist like my father, a fighter pilot (I grew up in the shadow of Top Gun - both the movie and the actual place), an astronaut and the President of the United States. As a I grew up, I discovered I didn't especially like math (sorry Mom), and that knocked out physics. My eyesight and reflexes aren't good, and that knocked out being a fighter pilot and an astronaut. So, I followed my talents to where they lead me - into the law.
In the NBA Finals, when the chips are down, and the team needs to score, specialists are needed. That's why the great ones all had moves. Hakeem had his Dream Shake, Jordan started with his drive to the basket, and then moved to the fadeaway, Shaq had his dunk, and Kareem had the absolutely deadly Sky Hook. Because each practiced his moves over and over and over again, when it was time for a score, the ball went to them, and more often than not, they scored. These moves, mind you, weren't developed because these players wanted to have a move, they developed out of their own limitations. Kareem developed the Sky Hook because he was tall and lanky and couldn't score inside. Jordan couldn't take the beating from driving to the basket anymore, so he developed the fadeaway. It was their limitations that created their moves. The fact that James has no limitations, can play any position almost as well as anyone else, means that during crunch time, he can't be counted on. And that's why we see the fade.
Showing posts with label Bill Simmons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bill Simmons. Show all posts
Friday, June 10, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
The NFL Has Issues. . .
As a football fan, I have been watching stories about the NFL's potential lockout with particular interest. While I may be wrong about this, I have noticed a fair number of articles about the NFL owners and greed. For instance, the most recent columns of Rick Reilly and Bill Simmons - the only columnists regularly found on ESPN.com's opening page - harshly criticize NFL owners for their greed. Peter King, who is typically a cheerleader for the NFL has been slightly critical of the owners lately.
Now, sure in every labor strife there are winners and losers, but the last few labor stoppages in sports have consistently been blamed on the players. The MLB in 1994, the NBA in 1997 or 1998, both ended with the players getting more or less crushed by the owners. That might be the case here, but I don't think so. No, instead, I think the owners will take the brunt of criticism if there is a labor stoppage.
Here's why - for the past twenty years or so, NFL fans have become more and more savvy when it comes to player contracts and the life of NFL players. We all know that a $100 million contract isn't worth $100 million in the NFL (unlike in baseball or basketball), that most players' careers last 3-4 years, and football players suffer horrific injuries. Indeed, we have all be so educated by the NFL through the video games it sponsors. More than a few of us have read articles on the lasting effects of concussions in football and are legitimately scared. And we have all seen the devastating effects of greed by large corporations upon our communities.
All of this conspires against the owners. Worst of all, any labor stoppage will be the result of a lockout - the owners, not the players, want this stoppage. The status quo, which the players advocate, already sucks for the players, but the owners want to make it worse by reducing the salaries paid to players and increasing the number of games in a season. In other words, the owners want more work for less money. Did I mention that NFL players have significantly shorter lifespans than everyone else, and that they suffer traumatic brain injuries on a regular basis? Dave Duerson, who played safety for the Bears, was so damaged by years of trauma, that he committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest, as opposed to the head, so that his brain could be studied. Oh, and its not as if the trauma is limited to the brain - watching football is now practically a lesson in physiology.
No, I think a labor stoppage will not go well for the owners, even if they get every concession possible from the players. From a public relations perspective, this is a nightmare. And given that the NFL completely and utterly depends on public relations - the public builds its stadiums, watches its games, buys its merchandise - any nightmare could affect the NFL's bottom line. The worst case scenario for football is the long slow death of boxing (another sport I love. . .sigh).
So, what should be done? First, I think the 18 game schedule idea is dumb and needs to be scrapped completely. The amount of money going to the players should either remain the same or increase, but with an adjustment - there should be a rookie payscale, with every high draft pick getting a 2 or 3 year contract. Anti-concussion helmets should be mandatory. And more money should go to player pensions.
Now, sure in every labor strife there are winners and losers, but the last few labor stoppages in sports have consistently been blamed on the players. The MLB in 1994, the NBA in 1997 or 1998, both ended with the players getting more or less crushed by the owners. That might be the case here, but I don't think so. No, instead, I think the owners will take the brunt of criticism if there is a labor stoppage.
Here's why - for the past twenty years or so, NFL fans have become more and more savvy when it comes to player contracts and the life of NFL players. We all know that a $100 million contract isn't worth $100 million in the NFL (unlike in baseball or basketball), that most players' careers last 3-4 years, and football players suffer horrific injuries. Indeed, we have all be so educated by the NFL through the video games it sponsors. More than a few of us have read articles on the lasting effects of concussions in football and are legitimately scared. And we have all seen the devastating effects of greed by large corporations upon our communities.
All of this conspires against the owners. Worst of all, any labor stoppage will be the result of a lockout - the owners, not the players, want this stoppage. The status quo, which the players advocate, already sucks for the players, but the owners want to make it worse by reducing the salaries paid to players and increasing the number of games in a season. In other words, the owners want more work for less money. Did I mention that NFL players have significantly shorter lifespans than everyone else, and that they suffer traumatic brain injuries on a regular basis? Dave Duerson, who played safety for the Bears, was so damaged by years of trauma, that he committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest, as opposed to the head, so that his brain could be studied. Oh, and its not as if the trauma is limited to the brain - watching football is now practically a lesson in physiology.
No, I think a labor stoppage will not go well for the owners, even if they get every concession possible from the players. From a public relations perspective, this is a nightmare. And given that the NFL completely and utterly depends on public relations - the public builds its stadiums, watches its games, buys its merchandise - any nightmare could affect the NFL's bottom line. The worst case scenario for football is the long slow death of boxing (another sport I love. . .sigh).
So, what should be done? First, I think the 18 game schedule idea is dumb and needs to be scrapped completely. The amount of money going to the players should either remain the same or increase, but with an adjustment - there should be a rookie payscale, with every high draft pick getting a 2 or 3 year contract. Anti-concussion helmets should be mandatory. And more money should go to player pensions.
Friday, November 13, 2009
My weekly random posting. . . .
So, I've come to realize that this blog will most likely be a weekly post - I'm too busy with work to really post as much as I'd like, and I'm too much of a loudmouth to do short postings. That said, here's another random topics posting:
JFK and Mad Men - I grew up going to Catholic school, with Baby Boomer parents and with a fawning Boomer media, but it wasn't until I saw the JFK assasination episode of "Mad Men" that I really understood the psychic wound inflicted by his death. But rather than being about the Boomer generation, this had more to do with the "Greatest Generation" - my grandfathers' generation who grew up during the Great Depression and fought in WWII. Basically, after WWII, this group of people looked around, realized that the U.S. was the most powerful country on Earth (with the Soviet Union not too far behind) and felt pretty damn good about themselves. JFK's election was about breaking from the past and this generation asserting themselves. When he died, the reins of power fell to LBJ, an older and more traditional politician, and the Generation was denied its rightful place.
Carrie Prejean is now my favorite conservative trainwreck - Talk about local girl not going good. Whether she got screwed or not during the Miss America pagent (I didn't watch, and I don't care), is one thing, but her behavior is downright odd. From the nude pictures to the (no more alleged) sex tape to getting stripped of her title as Miss California to her recent odd behavior on Larry King, I am constantly amazed at what's going on, and I can't get enough.
I blame the "Tyson Zone." The "Tyson Zone" was coined by Bill Simmons to describe when a celebrity has done so many crazy things that it ceases to become shocking. Prime examples include Britney Spears, Mike Tyson, and Tara Reid. But here's the thing - as these celebrities entered the Tyson Zone, everyone was utterly fascinated. I feel the same way about Carrie Prejean - just when I think things have settled down, she gets crazier and crazier. Seriously, the Larry King thing was bizarre - he asked not-too-difficult questions, she demurred, and as he tried to move on, she threatened to leave the set. How bizarre is that?
Does her political beliefs play a role in my fascination? To some degree, yes. Last week, I went to a cheese shop by my house and purchased a really good Gouda. While watching the Chargers game, I paired said gouda with some apples and a Belgian style ale. The pairing of the apple and beer to the Gouda was amazing, but that didn't detract from the fact that the Gouda was excellent. In the same vein, the pairing of a celebrity who became famous for opposing gay marriage and espousing sexual purity with her utter self-destruction is an amazing pairing. But the self-destruction is the thing of fascination, not the conservative beliefs.
Lou Dobbs' Future - In a OMG/WTF move Lou Dobbs suddenly quit CNN. Not the, "I'm going to resign at the end of the month," thing, but the, "Fuck all y'all, I'm out of here." Now normally, I'd think that Dobbs was going to move to Fox, but his resignation statement was interesting - he left because people were pushing him to make a positive contribution. That makes my spidey sense tingling - someone is running for office. So, what office?
If he is thinking about running in 2012, leaving CNN would be an awful idea - he's off of TV too soon, and going to Fox would pigeonhole him. So, I think he's planning a run for office in 2010. Now, there's no way in hell Dobbs is going to run for anything less than a statewide position. He lives in Jersey, but Christie was just elected as Governor, and both Senators aren't up in 2010. So Jersey is out. But two neighboring states, New York and Connecticut, both have Senator and Governor positions up for grabs in 2010.
That said, Dobbs doesn't want to be a Governor - that's too much work, and it takes him too far from his core issues: trade and xenophobia-err-immigration. So, here's my guess, Dobbs is going to run against Chris Dodd for U.S. Senate. With Dodd's unpopularity, and Dobbs' name ID, Dobbs has more than a shot - and that's enough for Dobbs to quit CNN.
JFK and Mad Men - I grew up going to Catholic school, with Baby Boomer parents and with a fawning Boomer media, but it wasn't until I saw the JFK assasination episode of "Mad Men" that I really understood the psychic wound inflicted by his death. But rather than being about the Boomer generation, this had more to do with the "Greatest Generation" - my grandfathers' generation who grew up during the Great Depression and fought in WWII. Basically, after WWII, this group of people looked around, realized that the U.S. was the most powerful country on Earth (with the Soviet Union not too far behind) and felt pretty damn good about themselves. JFK's election was about breaking from the past and this generation asserting themselves. When he died, the reins of power fell to LBJ, an older and more traditional politician, and the Generation was denied its rightful place.
Carrie Prejean is now my favorite conservative trainwreck - Talk about local girl not going good. Whether she got screwed or not during the Miss America pagent (I didn't watch, and I don't care), is one thing, but her behavior is downright odd. From the nude pictures to the (no more alleged) sex tape to getting stripped of her title as Miss California to her recent odd behavior on Larry King, I am constantly amazed at what's going on, and I can't get enough.
I blame the "Tyson Zone." The "Tyson Zone" was coined by Bill Simmons to describe when a celebrity has done so many crazy things that it ceases to become shocking. Prime examples include Britney Spears, Mike Tyson, and Tara Reid. But here's the thing - as these celebrities entered the Tyson Zone, everyone was utterly fascinated. I feel the same way about Carrie Prejean - just when I think things have settled down, she gets crazier and crazier. Seriously, the Larry King thing was bizarre - he asked not-too-difficult questions, she demurred, and as he tried to move on, she threatened to leave the set. How bizarre is that?
Does her political beliefs play a role in my fascination? To some degree, yes. Last week, I went to a cheese shop by my house and purchased a really good Gouda. While watching the Chargers game, I paired said gouda with some apples and a Belgian style ale. The pairing of the apple and beer to the Gouda was amazing, but that didn't detract from the fact that the Gouda was excellent. In the same vein, the pairing of a celebrity who became famous for opposing gay marriage and espousing sexual purity with her utter self-destruction is an amazing pairing. But the self-destruction is the thing of fascination, not the conservative beliefs.
Lou Dobbs' Future - In a OMG/WTF move Lou Dobbs suddenly quit CNN. Not the, "I'm going to resign at the end of the month," thing, but the, "Fuck all y'all, I'm out of here." Now normally, I'd think that Dobbs was going to move to Fox, but his resignation statement was interesting - he left because people were pushing him to make a positive contribution. That makes my spidey sense tingling - someone is running for office. So, what office?
If he is thinking about running in 2012, leaving CNN would be an awful idea - he's off of TV too soon, and going to Fox would pigeonhole him. So, I think he's planning a run for office in 2010. Now, there's no way in hell Dobbs is going to run for anything less than a statewide position. He lives in Jersey, but Christie was just elected as Governor, and both Senators aren't up in 2010. So Jersey is out. But two neighboring states, New York and Connecticut, both have Senator and Governor positions up for grabs in 2010.
That said, Dobbs doesn't want to be a Governor - that's too much work, and it takes him too far from his core issues: trade and xenophobia-err-immigration. So, here's my guess, Dobbs is going to run against Chris Dodd for U.S. Senate. With Dodd's unpopularity, and Dobbs' name ID, Dobbs has more than a shot - and that's enough for Dobbs to quit CNN.
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