6.18.2008

Notes from an Intervention



Shoals speaking here. . .

Right at the buzzer, Dr. LIC put up an extremely bitter post decrying this championship. For those of you who only recently discovered FreeDarko, the Doctor is pure Twin Cities. He was around the organization pre-Garnett, and met KG the day the teen joined the team. Needless to say, he has some very complicated feelings about this. Still, I thought he was being way too subjective, so I took it down.

I also couldn't have had a more different reaction. When Garnett gave THE INTERVIEW, I had the sudden revelation that, wow, underneath this all he still really was the player I had such a strong affinity for. The Recluse was a little more cynical, wondering if KG hadn't become a caricature of himself, or at least had parts of that interview that were more contrived than others—like, he said, a guy holding an Oscar speech in his pocket. To me, though, that only heightened the "finally!" feeling of it.

But in the end, the three of us agreed that this is a tremendous relief for Garnett, even if we might've preferred it to have gone down differently, or with some other team. From his on-court past and from the tension of this season. But not from all of whatever pain lives inside him, since that's deeper than just winning and losing basketball games; he's an emotional athlete, not an escapist. But you probably didn't need us to tell you that, so let's just stop arguing about Garnett until next season.

Oh, and for all the issues I had with Dr. LIC's first outpouring, he did make one absolutely brilliant point: "I'm certified" was perhaps the first real show of arrogance in Garnett's entire career. And he waited till the only time he truly felt he'd earned that right.

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21 Comments:

At 6/18/2008 2:27 AM, Blogger Bethlehem Shoals said...

One last thing: I missed the press conference thingy because we were having that heated chat, so can someone post a link? Thanks.

I AM NO ONE'S VILLAIN.

 
At 6/18/2008 2:40 AM, Blogger STC said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 6/18/2008 2:42 AM, Blogger STC said...

Here's a link to the Garnett press conference: http://multimedia.boston.com/pub/tn/8/celtics.htm?bctid=1612702004

 
At 6/18/2008 2:50 AM, Blogger acnefighter said...

Glad other people loved the KG interview as well. That was CLASSIC!

For the Lakers, here is a telling sequence that basically explains why they lost in a nutshell. I covered this on my blog, but I'll post the excerpt here. Check out this wonderful sequence of championship basketball:

Edit: ...the worst sequence of basketball in history goes to these next five "plays" that the Lakers made:

- Space Cadet Vlad with an UGLY miss on a 3 point attempt.
- Space Cadet Vlad's head must be in his own planet right now: the dude just committed a inexplicable over the back foul on Paul Pierce on a frickin inbounds pass, with the Lakers sitting on 4 team fouls. Pierce is headed to the line.
- Luke Walton misses a wide open jump shot....it goes over the backboard.
- Jordan Farmer loses the ball off his foot out of bounds with no one guarding him....
- Kobe Bryant turns it over....

-----------------------------------

So, to conclude, that was a horrendous miss by Radman, followed by a stupid foul, followed by a wide open miss, followed by two straight turnovers. The Lakers should have lost by more than 39.

 
At 6/18/2008 2:58 AM, Blogger Octopus Grigori said...

Minnesotans, take heart: KG loves you.

I've never seen a NBA player that was more real. I don't think I've ever seen any sports star that was more real. He cares about this shit, and it's coming from his heart.

 
At 6/18/2008 3:53 AM, Blogger The Other Van Gundy said...

"Still, I thought he was being way too subjective, so I took it down."

Since when did you guys do objectivity?

 
At 6/18/2008 7:28 AM, Blogger Teddy said...

Nice post, though I also thought the original went a long way towards helping explain the conflicted feelings around here about the title, as LIC joined Shoals in admitting to some anti-Boston personal sentiment. And while that is many things (common, possibly even justified), it's not liberated. Rooting for or against laundry sure seems un-FD, and to the abiding credit of the guys around here, they realized that--hence the hand-wringing. I admire that they're even trying to rise above, as I cherish the few hates I have and have very little interest in trying to rise above them.

Anyway, to me the interesting thing about the KG interview wasn't that he might be faking (any time there's melodrama on that level, fakery is on the table) but that there's actually a chance he was serious. We don't much see unbridled emotion of that sort, but he's just crazy enough to both crank it all up and let it all out without a filter.

As a comparison, I'd go with Sally Fields's oscar speech. Yes, there's artifice at work, but the underlying emotion driving the speech was so shockingly naked that it ultimately couldn't be anything other than an authentic expression of self.

 
At 6/18/2008 7:31 AM, Blogger dizzle said...

those locker room videos' on the globe site are pretty great, and is yet another testament of pp's truthiness. i think i liked it best when he was licking champagne/making out with the LOB, and then pouring moet straight down his throat, while ray allen stood next to him wiping his eyes.

 
At 6/18/2008 8:57 AM, Blogger Beau said...

Maybe this is a case of wanting something because I can't have it, but I would like to read the DLIC post, even if it is complicated and too(?) subjective. I think that the readership here can handle it. It would be interesting to see an honest perspective, even if it happens to be a little bit reactionary.

 
At 6/18/2008 8:58 AM, Blogger Dr. Lawyer IndianChief said...

admitting that i am a bitter minnesotan and admitting my beef with boston is personal rather than having to do with some stereotypical notion of "entitled/annoying white fans" is just my way of saying, i have a fairly individualistic take on this whole thing. i'm not being contrarian, it's just a complicated moment.

at any rate, i just watched that SAS interview with KG, and THAT is way more real than anything....except that "I didn't want to depart" bit. Um, you waived your no-trade clause.

SAS IS AN INCREDIBLE INTERVIEWER (cf. Shoals) and he gets the truth.

 
At 6/18/2008 9:29 AM, Blogger Dr. Lawyer IndianChief said...

also, maybe we should stop arguing about kg until next year. i have a very idiosyncratic view on this that (a) hardly anyone else will share and (b) may not be that interesting to others.

there is a point to be made here that the good guy (kg) won, and that is pretty damn satisfying.

 
At 6/18/2008 9:46 AM, Blogger Mr. Shrimp said...

As a Lakers fan, it's tough to swallow that your team just stunk it up and didn't even make a content of it. Credit to Boston - they clearly were better AND wanted it more. It's that second part I can't understand. I'd love to be able to say that a loss like this is educational for young players, but these guys just looked so bad out there, you have to wonder.

My point is, what I most want is for it to be a series, no matter who wins, and the Lakers didn't even manage that, despite it going 6 games. Only part of that is because of the admittedly amazing D of the Celtics. The rest of it... who knows.

But the liberated fan in me is satisfied to see great players - KG, Jesus, and The Truth - win it all, even if they aren't my team.

 
At 6/18/2008 10:21 AM, Blogger Tom Deal said...

it just feels like such a betrayal. ray ray and KaGe basically admitted that the only way to win a championship was to go to Beantown and prostrate oneself before the undying legion of Red. my beef is less about what the team actually was, and more about what it represents, but then again, what's the difference?

i would like to note for the point of spoil-sportery that KaGe not only waived the no-trade clause, but basically whined about wanting to get traded all last year starting as soon as the regular season ended. and then there's the whole "i would never play for boston/Bill Russell's numba one homie" routine.

it all feels so ersatz. but yeah, i guess KG can be crazier and more arrogant and whatevah now that he has a ring. i still miss the 04-05, 05-06 Ray Ray more than anything.

 
At 6/18/2008 10:38 AM, Blogger Bethlehem Shoals said...

Just heard the NPR report, which is always a good barometer of very broad stuff I've become oblivious to. They interview an "ecstatic Boston fan," who randomly said "Larry Bird" twice for no reason while talking about how great this ring felt. Fuck that.

I'm going to try and get the edited Dead Sea chat up later today, once the last non-Boston buzz has cleared.

 
At 6/18/2008 10:41 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i agree w/ shoals that the KG interview revealed something about his "true" self, but on a note of media criticism, I hate the way Tafoya got in there--can't the media ever just let them be, at least for a little while? She's the last one KG wants to see at that moment.


Also, did it seem like the Lakers just conceded after the half? Kobe's lack of...whatever was revealed more in this series than in any other, or his complementary parts were showing their true colors.

 
At 6/18/2008 10:58 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Rebar - and DLIC -

"i would like to note for the point of spoil-sportery that KaGe not only waived the no-trade clause, but basically whined about wanting to get traded all last year starting as soon as the regular season ended."

I'm from Sota too, and though I haven't been a Wolves fan as long as it seems DLIC has, I just can't fathom not being deliriously happy for him. As for the above quote from Rebar, even if it is true - which I don't believe, save the waiving of his trade clause - how can you be unhappy about it? Some things in life are important enough that you have to leave behind those who've loved and supported you to have a chance at accomplishing them.

The FD community is at least quasi-literary, so I'll put it this way: say you spent the last 12 years of your life working on the board of the Bumfuck Review, pubished out of Eden Prairie. You've never really published anything that anybody read, except that one Tony Hoagland poem in the spring of 04. All of a sudden the New Yorker calls and says they're sending you a box of pirated versions of Pagemaker to the Bumfuck Review, but you have to come be on their board. How do you not take that opportunity, even if it means leaving behind people you've worked with and lived with your whole life?

The beautiful part about KG, and not many other people, is that he had that opportunity, took advantage of it to its fullest, and unlike most people, never forgot the people who helped him get there. Fuck not being happy for KG. What a selfish and boring sentiment.

 
At 6/18/2008 11:11 AM, Blogger Dr. Lawyer IndianChief said...

i just wrote a big response, but i deleted it instead and say that you're right to say not being 100% without qualification happy for kg is selfish.

 
At 6/18/2008 11:19 AM, Blogger Wild Yams said...

After the game last night I went back and re-watched that interview KG gave with John Thompson back in 2005. Even if KG has changed or sold some parts of himself out or whatever, I'm completely happy for him winning the title because there is definitely at least some of that guy from the interview who can now exhale. KG deserved and needed a title probably more than anyone since Jerry West.

 
At 6/18/2008 11:24 AM, Blogger Tom Deal said...

yeah, i'm a selfish fuck, and i'm dealing with it. i guess the real test of whether KG is still the people's champ is how he acts next year. It'll be telling if this team pulls a miami heat and gets swept by some young team (philly?)

 
At 6/18/2008 11:34 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

also:

my long-winded post said, count me in the group waiting anxiously for the dead sea post.

 
At 6/18/2008 3:19 PM, Blogger Forever 21 said...

You guys are reading way too far into this interview. He had a mic shoved in his face amisdt a celebration with his teammates. The Tafoya compliments? Not contrived, he's don it before after more meaningless games. The scream? It was all pouring out... and anyone that honestly thinks he was trying to spout the Adidas slogan... please. KG has given shout outs to SC and his mom and peanut (sister I think) in so many post game interviews that I've lost count. This is no different. It was real.

As far as the Dr.'s problems with the way the last few years went down in Minnesota... yes, he got too involved with personnel moves. But he wanted them to hold onto the only guys he had ever tasted success with. It was probably tough to trust McHale to revamp the roster yet again, after he had failed for so long.

All of the negative stories I hear about KG with the Timberwolves basically share one concept. It was him behaving less than favorably because he wanted to win so desperately. I have a few friends that have met him more than once, off court, off camera, and they have nothing but the nicest things to say about him. I'll trust their opinions over some unfavorable rumors about his poor behavior resulting from a burning desire to win.

 

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