New Print, Same Person
Okay, that sounds a bit too auspicious, like I've gotten that Wall Street Journal column I always wanted.
TONIGHT: Me in Portland. Will brave any and all snow, school delays be damned. Powell's, 7:30, more info at Blazer's Edge.
EVERY SUNDAY: Second Sporting News column, this one a work in progress that caps off the week while looking forward without too obviously rehashing previous posts. Please read and comment on this first go so they believe it's succeeding.
Will get you guys a real post Tuesday. In the meantime, feel free to indulge all your Amare fantasies in the comments section. That sentence begs the question of whether Amare is indeed, in all possible senses, basketball porn.
Labels: announcements, FD book, links
posted by Bethlehem Shoals @ 2/09/2009 11:13:00 AM
21 comments
21 Comments:
This idea actually kept me up at night: Bosh for Amarae. People in Toronto HATE this team, and would be willing to let go of Bosh, and it should revitalize both players.
That and if the Raptors trade JO for Marion, and lure Nash back home in 2010 then we will finally be the 'Phoneix of the North'.
If Amar'e ends up in Chicago (PLEASE END UP IN CHICAGO), D'Antoni is going to be even more pissed that he didn't take the Bulls job.
I know that this is grossly off topic, but I keep encountering it simmering below the surface of, shall we call it, the "sports media" and it irks me to no end that with all the A-Rod and steroid stuff going on people inevitably also throw in comments/ accusations about no one paying attention to football and basketball players getting big and stuff. While I do agree with it about the NFL (no one's thinking of revoking Merriman's awards or records) it seems unbelievably reckless to just throw the NBA into the fray as well, just because its a "sport". Do these people not watch any actual games? Have they seen Tayshaun Prince? Kevin Durant? How about all the European prospects who we say have to bulk up every year around draft time? They don't look like the juiced up Latin American ballplayers in the minors at all.
Even with allegations of HGH helping players recover faster... you can't help but wonder where someone like Shaun Livingston is.
I apologize if no one here gives a shit about it or gets upset that I'm ranting about something completely off topic, but let me tell you, it's out there and it's only a matter of time before the spotlight turns on the nba, and if no one's defending it we'll see a lot of honest athletes' records dragged through the mud.
The recent SI story about Lebrons ballooning size doesn't help either, because it eerily reminds me of those "just egg whites and protein shakes!" stories about guys like Bonds, Giambi, or David Boston a few years back.
The difference is that the NFL and NBA actually test players for steroids and have done so for years. Though, I guess the issue here is HGH and other types of steroids which are not easily detected. But still, Baseball was the last of the "Big 3" to begin testing their atheletes, they knew it was a big hornets nest and would've loved to let Sosa, Bonds and McGuire keep swinging for the fences. Remember, "Chicks dig the longball". I was never an ARod fan, but I used to watch Braves game in the 0s and I feel like ALL of that isht is tainted now.
0s should be, "90s"
I was looking forward to a non-A-Roid Post.
Ok. I have the book, read it multiple times and recommend it to anyone with more than just superficial thinking. I love the insight you gave into Amar'e's personality.
With that said, I think he's overrated. My evidence is: Only D-12 rivals him in athleticism, and he leads the league in boards and blocks. Amar'e lets Shaq outrebound him, and he has no knees. This isn't to say that he's not immensely talented, but I get the sense that he chooses not to be bothered with the gritty things a frontline player has to do. He does whatever will get him a new poster pic.
nfl doesn't really though, therein's the rub. steroid testing is mostly for skill positions since football is much better about keeping things close. you can find all kinds of stories about the nfl treating retired linemen like racehorses to be put out to pasture, or just dumped with measly pensions (sorry no links, lazy) until they expire. still kind of a racial thing of course. why shouldn't we suspect ballers? and all that, you know. but it took a freight train of circumstantial/eyeball evidence with clemens for anyone to believe.
i guess what i mean is, Rush doesn't watch basketball.
Hey, I attended the reading last night in Portland. Thanks for coming out. My favorite part was at the end when a few people mentioned that the teams transformation was because of local activism. You managed to bite your tongue at Powells. Was that ever later addressed or undressed. It is an absurd idea, right!?
I was also fucking beat by then.
I don't live in Portland, and am a fairly new arrival in the Northwest. But I think that activism, disdain, angst, and outrage are all cosmetic (regional?) variations on the same emotion when you're talking about people's relationship with a team that's let them down or otherwise given them little to believe in.
Shoals, regarding your concerns about Gerald Wallace's recovery time - he stated in an ESPN interview that he'd be back after the All-Star break. I'm not a doctor, but that sounds good to me. Thanks for coming to Portland!
Hey, thanks for the reading last night. I meant to ask, was it just me, or was Lamar Odom crying at the end of the Lakers/Cavs game?
Please write a Volume 2!
Daniel,
I have always wondered why there isless conversation about roids in hoops. Jason Caffey, Reggie Evans. These dudes may be totally clean, but they are beefy.
Not to mention a rigorous schedule. Just for the recovery alone.
Re: Odom. Sunday was his Karl Malone sit on your rifle game. If he can sustain that kind of interest, the Lakers will be wearing rings, Bynum or no.
Here is hoping Pax has a pair and gets Amare. Amare and Derek Rose would be exciting.
Are you all ignoring Christopher? Isn't what he said true, that the NBA has pretty rigorous testing, and that's why it's not an issue? Also, basketball prizes skill, speed, and jumping ability more than pure strength, so steroids or whatever wouldn't help as much, right?
Olympic sprinting has had TONS of steroid problems, so they must do something for speed. And the shortened recovery time granted by steroids would be beneficial in any sport.
I've got my eye on you, Carlos Boozer.
I am a Jazz fan and Duke alum -- haters hop on -- and I suspect Boozer of 'roiding up around the same time as ARod. Look at how lithe he was in the high school slam dunk contest Shoals posted at SNews; then, look at the brick shithouse he is now. Also he had horrible acne for a couple of years in his early 20s. But steroids and hoops don't mix because of the nature of the game. One might, say, tear a hamstring (and the heart of a fanbase) or crunch a patella from landing on too much weight. To his credit and detriment he has never demonstrated any rage.
@goathair: change "speed" to quickness.
@mcwelk: boozer was always kind of a hoss, but if a man can sue prince and screw over a blind man, he can use 'roids.
Check the vid
http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/16798/undefining_moments_in_mcdonalds_all-american_game_history_
Your Minny allegiance is showing and I have only have so much sympathy for blind billionaires who never saw, just owned, the North Stars. Besides, Booz had to leave lest he and LBJ become the Bash Brothers of the NBA.
Boozer has crazy backne.
Rigorous testing? Maybe.
Anyone interested in saying where the most darko place for Amare to go. I say Chicago with D Rose and long ball chucker Ben Gordan.
As a Suns fan, Amare is the equivalent of free porn on the internet that shows ten seconds of footage and then goes into "buffering"...
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