One Room to Another
Tonight is the Seattle launch party for the Almanac. I know it's unrealistic to ask all of you to come out here for it, but for those of you in the Northwest, here's the info:
FD Northwest Book Launch Thing
Redwood
514 East Howell Street
Capitol Hill
6-10PM
Early game is Rockets/Mavs, which should be okay, I guess. Second game is the far doper Blazers/Bulls. I'll have books for sale, our friends at Sports Northwest Magazine will be in the house, and there will hopefully be a lot of people drinking and talking ball.
Speaking of which, that was Greg Oden's coming-out party tonight. I can't stop making the Bill Russell comparison, which is obviously a style thing, not a prediction of 21,000 rings for Portland. Plus, only an idiot would not see the miles of implied qualifier in front of that. A few hours ago, I referred to him as "the richest man in the world's Tyson Chandler," which might be a little easier to stomach. Why am I flipping out? Because, at the risk of jinxing the PDX, the pop in his legs, in fact in his whole body, was astounding. I saw umpteen plays, some of them routine, that reminded me of a certain missed dunk. I don't want to say I suddenly find Dwight Howard less impressive, but he's definitely got to be redefined as a genre, not the only lineage going forward.
Also, these Warriors are simply ridiculous. Even weirder than I could've imagined. In retrospect, the 2006-07 team seems so. . . mainstream. Instead of churning out highlights, half of the playmaking or moves leave you totally confused, and the structural Nellie-logic is like a feral Moebius strip trying to chew off its own foot. Anthony Morrow only touches the ball with his fingertips. They are truly the Third World pirates of the NBA (that's not obvious, or racist, it's synchronicity).
UPDATE:
-My TSB two cents on Knicks/Celtics.
-Face revealed in a Seattle Weekly profile.
Oh, and also:
This should provide about 55 months of discussion right here. I, for one, was shocked to discover that swag could be swag, but also have negative characteristics. Yes, I am white and 30.
Labels: announcements, FD book, greg oden, warriors
posted by Bethlehem Shoals @ 11/19/2008 03:01:00 AM
22 comments
22 Comments:
Oden may have compiled some impressive stats tonight on paper, but his performance, in my opinion, was anything but impressive. He had some horrendous, momentum killing fouls and turnovers in the first half, and only six of his points were legitimately contested. Until he proves he can dominate against someone other than Kelenna Azibuike, I think the Russell comparisons are way premature. I want to see it, but I just can't.
nice pair.
I got tix to see Oden vs the Celtics on December 5th and I am looking forward to see how he matches up with KG, Perk, Powe, and BBD.
Can I get some feedback on the Paul Pierce vs. Q Rich situation.
To me this is laughable. Q Rich had some game once upon a time, but he always is running his mouth. Last year he talked it up and the C's beat the helpless Knicks by 50.
I give Rich some props for showing some fight. But last night he comes up with some Rah Rah Blah Blah about how the C's are the champs but if it was on the street we would punk em.
Am I too much of a homer to respect what Q is doing or is he just out of his mind?
Good luck with the book thing.
PS...."third world pirates of the nba."
That is nice.
I see your strategy here. I get fired from my job b/c of the tits...which gives me more time to sit at home and read your book. Well played.
There is a world in which the Bulls are considered watchable?
1. I probably overreacted to Oden. M point, though, was mostly about his athleticism and overall physical presence. And I don't just mean that in the "HE IS SO BIG" way. But yeah, he's a work in progress, and that's why I had that thing about "implied qualifiers."
2. Derrick Rose.
WV: intecol=when everyone smuggles drugs to me tonight in the cd cases for "turn on the bright lights" they still haven't thrown out
Greg Oden just stole my oil tanker.
I probably should've saved that Warriors line for another post. There's almost too much to work with there.
Oh, and if anyone's coming to Seattle, let me know here (if you haven't already), so I can stop worrying about sitting in an empty bar watching Ben Gordon take all the shots.
W2,
Q-Rich is only responding to the constant trash talk from the Celtics. As defending champs go, they are pretty classless, but they hold the crown, so they get a pass from everybody.
I know it adds to their swag, but I just find it amusing. Just over a year ago, they were failures and disappointments. Now, KG feels the need to ask nobodies "What the fuck is wrong with you?" in the one time a game he doesn't shoot an 18 footer, and catches an alley-oop, or clap and point in Jose Calderon's face.
Trash talk is fine with me, but they go overboard.
Shoals,
I think you mean:
"...so I can stop worrying about sitting in an empty bar watching Ben Gordon take ALL the shots."
Even the capital letters can't do it justice.
I listened to the Warriors game on the radio (thank you NBA.com Audio Pass) and there was a halftime interview with Nellie wherein he gushed about how "sure, Maggette is a natural at 3," but how he thought that Maggette was more effective playing at the 4.
Let's not forget that the team is in the Bay Area and there is something beautiful about a fanbase (or at least a radio producer) that feels comfortable flaunting these idiosyncrasies. For some reason, I don't see this philosophy flying in very many other places... unless it's the 2005 Suns and they are wining all of the time.
Oracle Arena is the old school Haight-Ashbury of the NBA. (Which makes Phoenix the commercialized but still sort of interesting modren Haight?)
Quentin Richardson is a genius
Real GM has a good article they are calling Bakers Dozen (Gin wore Celtics green for afew disasterous minutes I would like to forget).
They hit the nail on the head in a variety of areas, minus rook of the year-my vote goes to Rose. I'll take 5 wins over more points every day.
http://www.realgm.com/src_feature_article/189/20081118/the_bakers_dozen_november/
Is there a world where the Hawks and the Warriors can play well on the same night? Seems like there is not enough SWAG to go around for both teams to be winning. This could be hoops law of relitivity.
I'll be at the redwood tonight, Shoals. Looking forward to it for sure, but I wish there was a Warriors game to look forward to. Portland will have to suffice.
I'm pretty much floored by Artest up there. I kept trying to read an oblique diss of the Almanac out of it, but I'm pretty sure it's not there, despite his polymorphic definition of swag.
I never saw the genesis of the beef which at least paints a context here. What crazy timing with Prop 8 and everything...
i'll be at the wood, maybe with an extra or two
The Celtics' ring has caused me to do a complete 180 on Kevin Garnett. Can't stand the guy anymore. I don't think his personality has changed. His context has. It's like, you love your mildly hilarious coworker until the day he gets promoted to partner. Before, you didn't mind covering for him while he took a three-hour lunch break and got a massage-parlor-handjob uptown. Now you hate him for it because he's getting paid four times your salary and still won't ever offer to pick up a fucking happy hour bar tab.
BreadCity: Dead on. KG's had this chip on his shoulder for so long that now he's got his ring, the intensity comes off as just unseemly rather than inspiring. We get it, you play hard.
Re Oden: He looks top heavy and dense in a way that Dwight Howard or Andrew Bynum don't. I don't care if you can do a chin up on an uncontested dunk - let's see some post moves. Right now (I turned the game off midway through the second), it looks like he's got a slow trigger. Watch Aldridge in the post - he's formulated his shot in about half a second. No reason Oden can't dropstep a softbody like Joakim Noah to DEATH.
Rose just looks fed up - when he's going to drive to the hoop, it's as obvious as one of Kobe's frustration 20 footers.
Ty Thomas' spaciness continues to astound me.
I hope it didn't ruin the party that Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes started in the same NBA game.
Typical of Artest that his response to some rapper calling a dude gay would be to encourage the rapper to "call out some more names." Because yes, what we need is rappers calling out gay rappers. Like Mr. "What Happened To That Boy" wouldn't retaliate when his "son"/pedophiliac object of affection gets called out.
once again, you guys are killing me on the work safe stuff.
i need my FD fix but it's so hard to comply when my dealer is sticking magnificent breasts into the mix.
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