Wednesday, April 16, 2008

A few thoughts off the dome

You know what's really grinding my gears? Paula Abdul. I mean, there she is on my TV screen looking at me and what? I don't know what to do with her. I thought we got rid of her back in the late 1980s when she danced with a cat and brought out Keanu Reeves' true acting ability. Wasn't that enough? Now she's got to put out a record and no one's got a sniper rifle aimed at her fat head. What is the world coming to?

- Speaking of the world, now that the stars have aligned and the NCAA Frozen Four is finally over, we can congratulate the Boston College Eagles and turn our attention to the NBA, a sport where you can play below .500 ball for the first three months, then get hot in the new year and be the cat's meow for a moment (Houston, I"m looking in your direction) before fading back into the pack.

By the way, the idea that NBA isolation and/or pick and roll basketball is a better team game than college is probably the same guy who doesn't think that Greg Maddux is the greatest pitcher we'll ever see, an argument I might make later.

- Direct TV is also grinding my gears right now. I switched from Dish Network to get the MLB Extra Innings package AND all the regional sports channels, something Dish doesn't offer. It worked well during college basketball season, allowing me to watch the Mid-Atlantic feed to catch Georgetown games, but it has become about useless now.

Yes, I knew that the Extra Inning package and a subscription to SNY and YES was the same thing for games. But here's the kicker - I don't get replays of games like I was expecting. That means if I wanted to stay home and watch Mike Pelfry pitch shutout baseball this morning, I would have been two flagsticks short of a tent.

- Granted, my knowledge is based entirely on Sportscenter highlights, but I would hav to believe the MVP race should have ended when the Celtics clinched the best record in the game and the largest turnaround in the sport's history. Kevin Garnett has been everything advertised and then some for the C's, making them relevant again.

You could argue a similar case for Chris Paul, who would get my No. 2 vote with Kobe a close third. Then agian, he gets cool points for cursing in foreign languages but I think it's clear that the addition of Pau Gasol has allowed Kobe to be better than he previously was. If I saw the stat correctly, the Lake Show is 19-4 with Gasol in the lineup. Wanna know what the Hornets are without CP3? The worst they can be in 0-2 because that 5-11 thug has played in 79 games this year.

That's all the NBA I can dish out with any sense of smarts. People like it when you're topical.

- Speaking of being topical, I was watching the latest George Carlin special, "It's Bad For You" and was wondering from the unofficial mayor of Columbia, SC, was that a similar act to the one you recently saw? It was funny, but depressing to hear Carlin talk about death so much and not about killing useless people. Not that I think he'll live forever, but we'll lose a legend when he goes.

- I purchased "I Am Legend", another Will Smith movie that I really liked with a couple of other films, like The Simpsons Movie and I'll leave with a little Thompsons' trivia.
Part One - Describe the episode where they're called the Thompsons?
Part Two - What was Bart, Lisa and Maggie's first word?

4 comments:

THE INNOVATOR said...

I just bought the DVD of season 5 in which the Thompsosn episode appears, and since its purchase Saturday morning I have watched that episode 4 times already.

I am unclear on the first words, but Lisa's was Bart and Maggie's was Dad (voiced by Liz Taylor if I am not mistaken).

Yes the Carlin act I saw was the warm up tour for that special, and yes he was a bit morbid, knowing that even he wont live forever. I have one question did he tell the 3filthiest jokes ever?

Dan Filowitz said...

Here's why your analogy comparing an appreciation of Greg Maddux to an appreciation of college ball:

Greg Maddux did his thing against the very best. It is rare if a successful college basketball player can even make the NBA.

You see, I can appreciate how dominant Maddux was, even though in his prime it was more of a finesse than a power game, and even though he rarely could do it in the playoffs (remember how many World Series those Braves teams won?)

What I can't appreciate is watching relatively untalented basketball players play a slower, less athletic, and less proficient brand of basketball.

For example, Stephen Curry beat three teams pretty much by himself in the NCAA tournament.

He wouldn't get 5 minutes a game on the Lakers, Spurs, Celtics, Pistons, Suns, Jazz, Hornets, and Rockets. And probably not even on the Sixers, Wizards, or Raptors, either. Because all the other players on those teams are way better than Stephen Curry.

Also, I didn't exactly see a ton of "four passes before a shot" in any college game I watched this year.

In fact, most college games feature a team letting their best guy jack up whatever shot he wants, or a lot of guys jacking up way too many three pointers early in the shot clock.

So please spare me the "purity and fundamentals" argument about the NCAA.

Finally: tell me the last time the NBA Finals came down to something as fundamental as missed free throws.

THE INNOVATOR said...

1995 Orlando vs Houston off the top of my head came down to something as simple as a missed FT

Twinkie said...

The Maddux comparison is that of what you like better, the power of Clemens or the mastery of Maddux. Do you like the coach's game of college or the players' game of the NBA?

Yes, when it gets to the tournament and just in general, there's a lot of NBA influence with one-man shows when it comes down to it, but the difference is we all get back and play defense, whether it's man to man or zone. Take Syracuse with Melo. Their offense ran through him, but he still dropped back and got into the Orange 2-3.

Bart's first word was Ay Carumba when he saw Home boy and Marge in the sack. Actually, the same episode where they showed Lisa's and Maggie's first words

If I remember correctly, Maggie has had about three different first words if you include her saying 'Sequel?' during the credits of The Simpsons Movie.