FreeDarko at the hem of USA Basketball
So USA Basketball was nice enough to put FreeDarko on press row to crash the USA-PR game for pictures and words. Right behind Peter May and Chris Sheridan and right in front of the ESPN2 second unit. The atmosphere in the arena was amazing. The military presence probably would have added a little more intimidation if both teams hadn’t been American citizens. And whatever Shoals has to say about Dwyane Wade, his little dunk, stumble, salute was perfect and threw the place into a frenzy.
USA 114, Puerto Rico 69 says it all, but the real question is why Carlos Arroyo plays like the second coming of AI in his prime during international competition and then plays like he doesn’t give a rat's when he’s in the backcourt with the Jazz/Pistons/Magic.
The other question is what to call the look sported by Daniel Santiago. Neo-Caribo-Rambis? Bespeckled Borricua? He’s from the West Texas town of Lamesa (which sounds better when you sing it) so even the Puerto Ricans are bigger in Texas.
Lastly, am I the only one who has a hard time getting behind a Puerto Rico team that doesn’t include José “Piculín” Ortiz (speaking of players who teased the Jazz with excellence in international play)?
Anyway, here's what it looks like when Vegas rolls out the red carpet for FreeDarko:
Brad Miller at Best Buy about five hours before the game. The guy from the hotel was taking forever to pick him up, so he had time to chat and give FreeDarko an exclusive inside look at the US game preparation, which included stocking up on DVDs for the trip to China. He hates it when you miss the last five minutes of a bootleg movie because the guy filming gets dragged out of the theater.
He told me that the team goal for the night was to win by 50. He was dead serious, too. Anybody who thinks this US team isn’t focused on smothering the competition hasn’t chatted with Brad Miller at Best Buy while he holds a FreeDarko shirt.
Lenny Wilkins with the Air Force color guard
Bill Walton prepares for the broadcast. He was the rockstar in the room, and had more kids clamoring for his autograph than Shane Battier. I guess he had a better year.
Jerry Colangelo moves like a phantom before the game. My camera doesn’t lie, and Colangelo and LeBron are the only ones who showed up blurry in every photo. They transcend the photographic medium.
Hinrich warms up before the game. The place was already more than half full more than an hour before the game. The inclusion of guys with actual college experience like Hinrich, Chris Paul, and Dwyane Wade seems like a great move. They seemed like they enjoyed picking up their man full court for the first time in a long time.
I bet Bosh does a great velociraptor impression at parties. How perfect is it that he’s in Toronto? It’s like there’s some kind of mascot/player anthropomorphism involved here. I guess that means the Bucks will be trading for Daniel Santiago soon.
Walton gives Chris Paul some pointers before the game.
No one treats Paul like a rookie, maybe because he isn’t anymore, and also because he’s older than a lot of the guys on the team
The place went nuts when LeBron came in to warm up.
The new FIBA ball. I’ve been ruined by Salt Bagel’s comment about the dark psychological humor of the striping. And yet, there were several palming violations called during the game.
If the new NBA ball looks like a crappy playground ball, this FIBA ball looks like the plastic ball left in the elementary school toy box. Or a tetherball.
Voice of America doing their pre-game show. This guy had a great faux-hawk mullet. Talk about business in the front.
Who had the most points out of those pictured? Antawn Jamison, of course
Paul Silas spends all his time in a Zen place. He was incredibly nice.
Dr. J chats with coach Marc Iavaroni. Soon after this picture was taken they announced his name over the PA system and the place gave him a well-deserved standing ovation. I spoke with him about the ABA for a bit, and he didn’t even mind my telling him that I have a picture of him on the New York Nets playing the Virginia Squires in 1976 in front of about 200 fans. He's so smooth it's crazy.
Jim Gray next to Silas, behind Dr. J. While I was talking with Dr. J., he interrupted me to grab Gray and congratulate him for being newly single. He joked that he was probably working it with every girl in the building, while Gray tried to change the subject.
Jermaine O’Neal and someone who I should probably know, watching from the stands a few feet away from Chuck Daly, Spencer Haywood, and Donyell Marshall.
Even Pat Croce made a guest appearance.
Donyell was also all alone, no crew, no one with him. Still, he was thrilled to be there.
Is there a modern-day equivalent to Chuck Daly? He’s got style and gravitas and I couldn’t seem to get closer than 20 feet.
The press room. No one stuck around to talk to Carlos Arroyo or Julio Toro. I was going to ask a question in Spanish but I couldn't figure out a way to do it without sounding pretentious. Plus I wasn't sure how to say "three man weave" in Spanish. Coach Toro was nice enough to talk to me about their plans for Japan while he waited for Coach K to finish up.
Carlos Arroyo getting some love from the Telemundo guy, who both filmed and asked questions. Unfortunately Arroyo wasn’t interested in passing a FreeDarko shirt on to Darko.
Gilbert is in charge of spreading FreeDarko throughout China and Japan. I gave him the only shirt I had, so hopefully we’ll see it surface sometime during their China tour. He asked about the site, but unfortunately, we didn't get to talk long. First, he was getting dogged by some morning zoo team who wanted him to say their jingle, then a bunch of kids came in looking for autographs and security led him out to the bus.
It was an amazing night in Vegas, complete with a bizarre appearance in a fully-lit house by Blue Man Group at halftime, vendors in tuxedos selling cracker jacks, and sharing the media buffet line with Peter May and his daughter. I even thought about visiting Hoover Dam during the day, but thought that might be piling on.
posted by Spencer @ 8/05/2006 05:50:00 PM
64 comments
64 Comments:
outstanding work, PCA. I think Shoals must be foaming at the mouth with Gil holding the shirt.
FreeDarko takes over the basketball world.
As to the FreeDarko shirt to Darko front, I know Dwight Howard's girl. I wonder if I can work a shirt through her to Darko.
not to distract from PCA's fine fine work, but BJ Armstrong put up a first person perspective about the Seeds of Peace hoops camp on espn.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2536419
The closeup of the ball erases any sort of high-tech image I might have had in my mind. At least the American version will be all orange. I bet when it says "Spalding" on it, it will instantly look better.
Chuck Daly is so bad. Kane, PA, just a short drive from my hometown, is known for two things: Chuck Daly is from there, and a tornado demolished part of it a few years ago. In an even tinier town nearby, there's a drive-up ice cream stand where the 'small' is more than most people can eat, and the 'large' is so big they can't fit it through the window (they have to take out the back door). None of that is relevant, I know. It just came out.
Arroyo was a beast. Is it mental? Does he have to know he's the guy in order to step up? Maybe it's an uptempo thing.
Lastly, what was up with the block/charge calls? I tried in vain to think of how the rule must be interpreted in the international game. Every time I thought I had it figured out, I was baffled again. K's #1 job is gonna be keeping these guys cool after bad calls.
i'll take the blame for that. the night of the game, i inexplicably blanked on paul silas's name; all that came up in my head was "sort of like john thompson." this was one of the first things i asked PCA about when he sent me these photos, and i wouldn't be surprised if said confusion infected his brain.
Wow, that's what happens in a room full of faces you've seen before. Paul Silas, ladies and gentlemen. That's almost as good as when I thought Bryan Colangelo was Jud Buechler.
And speaking of Dwight Howard, and I'm sure I'm not the first to bring this up, but what are the chances that he's actually David Robinson's love child, and he's secretly been tutoring him in all things Christian, Basketball, and Weight Room for his entire life?
in the likely event that this becomes an all-purpose USA basketball thread, i want to quietly let forth my and silverbird's theory that jermaine o'neal was left off because of his political outspokeness and possible objections to the war.
I'm not sure if that's it, but it does seem like another pseudo center would have been handy.
Jermaine O'Neal or Brad Miller?
Hmmmmmmm.
krymzs -- what I do when fantasizing about my nonexistant wife
I bet 10 bucks that Gilbert will check FD at halftime in Japan. That dude is obviously sick with the RSS feed, not to mention the online poker.
Sick pics. Nice work.
I envy thee... let me count the ways...
Ok, now about Arroyo...
It isn't mental. It is the system he is in. When he was with the Jazz, before Slone put his foot down, Arroyo played his game (no D, lots of passing and penetrating). But he didn't play D (I am not sure he can at his size, I met him once, he is smaller than me @6'1"), so he got benched. When he came to the Pistons, the first few games, he was a monster. Just amazing. All over the court. And the Pistons lost every one of those games. Pistons were not set up for that kind of penetrating offense. I am sure he was told to play more D too... all he can do is steal the ball. Probably was mental because Larry (like Jerry) beat it into him, and then didn't get PT at the right times durring the games.
He seemed to do well again in Orlando when he basically did whatever he wanted.
wow, looks like FD's got some cred. Is it ever hard to get an interview because you're representing a site called freedarko?
that was fucking awesome. Nice work, gents! I'm almost certain we'll see Gilbert rocking that tee real soon.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
stop the beat a minute : can we get some thoughts on Gray. I was beyond amused with that pic of him, then my head almost exploded at the thought of him spitting game at the ladies now that he's single.
Sager's gotta play wingman, right?
How freedarko is this move by Kobe? Seems like his Italianosity has never been fully exploited by the league.
I have a separate question. What is the difference between wearing an article of clothing and "rocking" said article? The latter-day ubiquity of "rocking" as a transitive verb has failed to assure me that it adds any meaning to a conversation.
So Jim Gray murdered his wife? Good for him.
"even the Puerto Ricans are bigger in Texas."
"It’s like there’s some kind of mascot/player anthropomorphism involved here. I guess that means the Bucks will be trading for Daniel Santiago soon."
"________ spends all his time in a Zen place. He was incredibly nice."
"Is there a modern-day equivalent to Chuck Daly? He’s got style and gravitas and I couldn’t seem to get closer than 20 feet."
As a new reader of this blog, I don't remember any posts by Pichi Campana Aguanta before this. I was wondering if the author would explain a couple of these asides I have listed above, namely the first two, which come off to me as casually racist? I am fascinated by this blog so far and so was slightly crushed to read something to the effect of calling players dinosaurs and Bucks. On the flip side, the blog is much better without jokes such as these and especially in the occasional times when it attempts to tangle with the race politics of the league, and the sternian style-wars, and the didacticism of the media/hoops intelligensia toward ballers, all of which, if allowed to roost unopposed, yield strange jokes about Anthropomorphism, puerto rican vs. african-american body-types, etc.
casually racist?
really?
it seems it's a pretty simple equation to me (not that I am PCA, but this seems pretty straightfoward)
1. Daniel Santiago is from Texas. - check
2. "Everything's Bigger in Texas." - well known statement about the size of the state, as well as things within the state or from the state.
3. "even Puerto Ricans are bigger in Texas" - using 1 to "confirm" 2.
And I suspect that his relation to the Milwaukee bucks has a lot more to do with his hair style than his "body-type" Anthropomorphism = assigning human characteristics to non-humans, ya heard?
Finally, for something to be racist, doesn't it, um, have to disparage negative connotations due to race? Just a thought.
a couple things before the argument gets serious.
a) is it racist that i thought the photo of jim gray was actually chad ford?
b) sometimes basketball players look like animals. black and white it's just the facts. as can be seen at wizznutzz' separated at birth page, steve blake looks like the taco bell dog, brendan haywood looks like a disney dinosaur
i'm not the only one who is curious about what dvd's brad miller bought, right?
Anon 12:49:
I appreciate your interest in the post, but I'm surprised at your choice of throwaway jokes to find offensive.
The first thing you need to know is that I haven't had much sleep over the last 3 weeks, so I might not make much sense when I write.
Anyway, the "puerto ricans in texas" thing is only commentary on the absurdity of a guy who was born and raised in Texas playing against the US in international competition. And as a former resident of the great state of Texas, it was a slight commentary on the idea that everything is bigger in Texas. I see no casual racism here.
The anthropomorphism comment treads on racially charged territory, I understand, but the readers of this site are smart enough to approach these topics with the proper dose reality. Doesn't every team implicitly apply animal/musician/solar body/mechanical characteristics to their team through use of a mascot?
This comes back to the observation made by Rocco Chappelle on the McSweeneys piece that Stern and Co could stand to come up with a less loaded term for "the trading block." And come draft time everyone throws around new words to describe the physique of the draftees. I'm just saying that instead of noticing that he was "long" or had a huge "wing-span" (how anthropomorphic is that?), I just observed that he has the fluidity necessary to do a good velociraptor impression, if he wanted to.
As for Daniel Santiago, I heard that Walton made a comment on the broadcast that "tonight Daniel Santiago has become a man and a horse in international competition." I have no idea what that means either.
The zen place thing is simple. Look at that face, he's completely serene. Seriously the nicest guy in the room.
As for Chuck Daly, what more is there to say? The guy is still smooth after all these years. I don't understand why that line would jump out to you.
I guess the wingspan thing would be zoomorphic, but whatever. What T said.
anon needs a hug. or maybe a night out on the town with Jim Gray.
What Anon12:49 is trying to say is that there is a thin line between the anthromorphic comparisons that are racist and the ones that aren't. For example, Chris Bosh resembles a dinosaur. Not racist. Devean George resembles a gorilla. Racist. Bruce Arena resembles a gorilla. Not racist.
Maybe it's just that i haven't seen basketball in a long time, but the first half of that game was really fun to watch. If iverson were on this team, it would be perfect (actually, iverson and artest). i'd actually rather have miller on this team than j o'neal. after things get out of control, and the usa tries 3 half-court alley oops in a row that go into the stands, you need that little 10 foot jumper to come in and calm things down.
i was most surprised that lebron didn't do more. he was sort of invisible, except for 1 fast break dunk and one block. is he not yet at the point where he can incorporate his greatness into an all-star team game? wade stole the show big time (and a backcourt of arenas and wade is just devastating).
so who gets cut? I say the first to go has got to be jamison, and probably johnson too. but if amare had been a little farther along, that 3rd cut would have been hard. i'd be fine with battier or bowen going, but i feel they have some odd sort of immunity because they are the keys pieces to those who shriek "This team is different than last year! we play d! we hustle! we can shoot! no iverson!" fuckers.
wv: kihqfdmx - are these getting longer?
Also, anyone got links to j o'neal war comments stuff? I hadn't heard that before.
i meant i wouldn't be surprised if he had some feelings on the subject
oh, and just so there's no ambiguity on the topic, i fucking hate this team usa and all the sportscenter puff pieces on them. (inspired by WPDK's "this team is different from last time's" comment).
all i care about is alley oops from chris paul to god cypher divine (yeah, that's right...i just named dwight howard).
Nice.... Just one thing, did anyone else recognize Brad Miller?
Nice pics. Gil and Free Darko, is there a better combination?! Besides peanut butter and chocolate.
This is about 10,000 times more interesting than your typical major media coverage. I feel like I get a lot more of a sense for things.
Arenas looks like a really nice guy, Arroyo looks like he's carrying someone's books to school and Chuck Daly looks like he's sizing you up for a 42R extra long coffin.
The fact that the "racism" comment came from an Anonymous poster shouldn't be that surprising.
Good stuff guys. Hopefully Agent Zero rocks that FD shirt in the Far East or better, shows up on these comments himself.
I think FD might just retire itself (or simply implode) if that happened.
WV: hidzy -- new Bay-area slang for "hiding". shake them dreads.
paging any of the Masters of the Klondike present:
Just out of curiousity, how many of those FreeDarko shirts have you guys moved?
that would be a question for the brown recluse, esq., who has hand-stitched every one of them.
China's guards suck, and without yao ming the china game is just brutal to watch. lebron sort of answered my questions about him (and joe johnson is making me look bad for wanting him off the team), but we were so lazily destoying people that no one really looked thatgood.
the only thing worth mentioning was brad miller's unstoppableness. he might be the best american-born white player in the nba, and now that he has freedarko cred he's really moving up in the world.
China's guards suck
Indeed. There's a lot of reasons why this is - state run basketball system, China's previous coaches coaching out of the 1950s Hank Iba system, minimal encouragement of creativity in the school system- but it doesn't matter. It's all true for the time being. (I think there's hope though - Sue Yue who's a 6'8" point guard and there's another kid on the CNT - Chen who's 5'9", but is crafty and speedy - but neither is good enough for the Association).
More to the point - I hope, finally, that NBA teams would see the folly of drafting Yi Jianlian (the 7' center who started in place of Yao and Wang Zhizhi - didn't do poorly, but some draft predictions had him top 3) with a really high draft pick.
Even with Yao, the Chinese National Team tends to look pretty poor, since they're always pressured into lots and lots of turnovers. And if you thought Steve Francis and Cat Mobley throwing passes to the post for Yao was an adventure, imagine all those Chinese guards trying to feed the post. It's a wonder Yao ever gets to touch the ball in international competition.
As a side note. Whoever came up with the pronouciation guide for Walton and whats-his-name did a piss poor job. No one else around here probably cares, but the pronouciations in the guide were about as far off as one could be.
we always care about justice, be in linguistic or otherwise
Bosh looks like a velociraptor. Raptors fans are aware of this - it is not a racist comment. He is also equally unstoppable on offence.
Scott Carefoot
"he might be the best american-born white player in the nba"
What is the purpose of this statement?
"he might be the best american-born white player in the nba"
What is the purpose of this statement?
it's a constant ongoing discussion around the halls of FreeDarko, ain't it? Especially with the predominance of Euros, the frequent discussions of urban vs. suburban style, it's just one more salvo in the conversation.
In other news: the US barely beat Brazil last night/this morning (4 points). My friend at the game texted me and said Carmelo went down hard - looks like a knee.
Jesus, the Anon’s are quick to jump lately.
I guess there are two points to that statement. The basic point is that Brad Miller is really good. The other point is that Brad Miller has always been under the radar for most fans, and I think that’s interesting.
Race, of course, is a topic that can’t be avoided when you talk about the NBA. Specifically, any time a white player comes along who is any good, out come the great-white-hope stories, and some people say he’s not as good as everyone says he is and he gets too much attention because he’s white, and others say that he’s really better than everyone says he is but no one pays attention because he’s white.
(Then Euros came along and complicated everything, because while they are undeniably Caucasian (for the most part), they are not really white in the sense of “white basketball players.”)
So all the other talented, white, American players (Jason Williams, heinrich, ridnour, wally z, jj, Morrison) have this racial maelstrom swirling around them that they confront or avoid with varying degrees of success. But for some reason this conversation leaves Brad Miller alone. Whereas every other white player is a “white player,” brad miller is never described in this way. That’s what I meant—that for some reason it’s almost surprising to be reminded that brad miller is, in fact, white. And he’s better than all those other white guys!
Why is this? I don’t know. Maybe it’s his position, or the city he plays in, or his attitude. But regardless of the cause, I think it’s interesting, considering he might be the 3rd or 4th best center in the world.
wv - "miler" - I'm not kidding
Yeah, Melo's knee is hyperextended. Coach K said that it wasn't too serious and that he'll be fine in a few days. 16 points in the first half though -- did anyone watch this game? Melo seems like he's been in top form recently. Can't wait for the season to start. The story's on the front page of Yahoo Sports.
WPDK: Interesting observation about Miller never being described as white. For some reason he seems to just be described a solid center who is a good passer; no one seems to use him to fulfill any politico-positional ideal of the great white hope.
Maybe it's because he just blends into his surroundings. I mean, even though he's listed at 7'0" and he was dressed in practice gear, he didn't really stand out when I ran into him at Best Buy. Like Natalie mentioned above in the comments, it took me a couple takses to convince myself it was him.
How about how Miller isn't part of the white American conversation because he plays like a Euro?
Back when Divac and Miller were the twin towers for Sacramento, I felt like they were essentially the same player. Divac was (a bit) hairier, but I don't think there's too much difference otherwise.
My best friend Joel reckons that BMiller is Sabonis-lite but a package nonetheless; perhaps we should ask Miller while perusing Jessica Alba dvds what he thinks of Qana and Tyre? Given the collective concern for Justice.
Another thought re Miller: How much might it have to do with the fact that he has been pretty much unhyped throughout his career? He went to a notable major conference school (Purdue) and went undrafted--which is kinda shocking when you think Rafael Araujo was a lottery pick. He wasn't particularly notable his first few seasons in the league and got shuffled around a little bit until he got noticed as Jermaine O'Neal frontcourt partner. As far as I can tell, he was never anyone's great white hope/hype.
As opposed to say, Adam Morrisson, whom we've all already seen way too many feature articles on.
i think static kid's theory is right--miller was never supposed to be this good, he was never hyped up as anything. also, since the great center era (dream, ewing, admiral, shaq), a very good center just doesn't impress anyone. people see miller was an all-star, and they dismiss it as "well, they had to pick someone to play center." but, yeah, dude is good. he and redd were at the top of my list of guys that should have been in athens.
also, as the sole employee of the FD sweatshop and CEO of the t-shirt emporium, i can say with absolute certainly we've sold somewhere around 200-300 shirts. if you've ordered one in the past couple weeks, i apologize for the delay. my life has been crazy. i will get them out soon. promise.
wv: fxhghrec = fuck ecstacy, human growth hormone as recreation
Don't forget... Brad Miller, good as he is, has career averages of 12 ppg and 7.8 rpg, and has never averaged more than 15 ppg over a season. He has also never been the #1 player on a team. He's a nice player, but he's never really been a star player.
I did a search for Kaman on this page and came up nothing. Did everyone just completely forget about him? He demands discussion.
If I recall correctly, Daniel Santiago was on the Bucks a few years back.
Checking NBA.com confirms that he was on the team from 03-05.
Fair enough, makes sense in the context of mainstream sports coverage.
If Miller incorporated the sky hook into his game he would be much more recognized...
Shoals, throw up some post. I'm fiending for some new material.
I ddon't think of Brad Miller as white as much as I think of him as a hick. Though, that's how I think of Karl Malone too.
anon 5:51 has it pretty correct. I know that for the entire Rockets/Kings trip to China in 2003, Brad Miller went everywhere (Great Wall, Tienanmen Square, Portman Ritz Carlton, Grand Hyatt Beijing, etc. etc.) with a big hunk of chaw in his mouth.
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