by Stop Mike Lupica on December 12 at 3:52PM
Some weekly links, and quick thoughts:
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Alan Hahn has a post up about "Changes are coming" in the Knicks organization. He doesn't really specify what he thinks is coming, but does present a "wish list" of what the Knicks need (a ball moving point guard, and a shot blocking center). He also presents a list of what's wrong with the team this season:
It would fit in well in the series that MC Bias and I had going back a few months ago, looking into the past and future of sports blogging. Bottom line: this post points out that where as other genres of blogs (political, gossip, music) have found themselves breaking news as well as reporting it, sports blogs are failing in that respect.
Of course, one thing that sports blogs do well, perhaps better than others, is unearth those random pieces of news that get buried, or unearth great You Tube videos, etc. Why is that? Because most blogs are following the lead of the big MSM blog leaders. Those guys set the bar, the template, and a lot of blogs that came afterwards followed their lead. You don't have too many "journalistic-oriented" sites as a result... D-Wil and The Starting Five kind of tried to do that, offering up journalistic pieces, interviewing real writers (both for, and as, posts), but that's not what gets you "noticed" by big MSM blogs. What does get you noticed? "How The NY Knicks Are Like Pirates" and sh*t. It's fun, it might be humorous, it might even be good, but... aside from True Hoops, few mainstream big blog sites try to really break the mode and give props/links to all types of stories. More on this some other time.
*************
This Peter Vecsey article from a couple of days ago, on the Jamaal Tinsley shootout, is must-read. Despite all the knee-jerk reactions that accompanied the initial reporting on the Tinsley story ("why was he out?", "of course another Pacer is involved in a shooting"), this really shows you how crazy the life of an athlete can be sometimes. Especially a black athlete. It kind of reminds me of what D-Wil wrote in this Sean Taylor post:
Yeah, he could have done things differently... he didn't need to be going out at 1 AM, he could have called the cops (yeah, because that always works out well for black men), etc... but I'm not here to pass judgments on his decisions. What you and I should be realizing is that they face far different experiences, far different circumstances, than white athletes. That's all....
***********
Interesting read from the New Yorker (found via The Big Lead): Malcolm Gladwell on race and IQ.
***********
Also, from the New Yorker, is a short Talk of the Town feature on Jared Cohen, who wrote a book called "Children of Jihad", after hopping around Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq post-graduation, and partying with local Muslim kids in those places.
Compare and contrast to field goal kicker Jason Elam writing a fictional book based on his trip to the Gaza Strip as a Christian missionary.
One guy's work is based on actually talking to people in that area, getting to known them, hanging out with them. I haven't read either yet, so I'm not going to compare and contrast the two. Nor are they aimed at the same audience. But having spent some small amount of time in Lebanon and Syria with locals myself... Jared Cohen approach is more to my liking.
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Speaking of traveling... the 53 Places To Go, according to the NY Times. "Hell" once again did not make the list, but I can vouch for some of the locations myself... I've been to 10 of them, with another 5 on the list for 2008 (including Tunisia and Libya with the GF, and Bogota with the Indian Playa, hopefully). Nothing better than a fresh batch of vacation days starting in January, and figuring out what to do with them this year.
***********
Oh, that reminds me. I'm taking the afternoon off to run an errand with The Greek Professor. Hopefully we'll have some good pictures for you guys tomorrow.
**********
And lastly... speaking of photo-stic adventures... here is some video footage of Grand Central during the Santa Con thing on Saturday:
Leave a comment
***********
Alan Hahn has a post up about "Changes are coming" in the Knicks organization. He doesn't really specify what he thinks is coming, but does present a "wish list" of what the Knicks need (a ball moving point guard, and a shot blocking center). He also presents a list of what's wrong with the team this season:
"This team is in desperate need of a ball-moving point
guard (how many times recently has Thomas made reference to the Knicks' needing
"better ball-movement" in their offense?), Curry's alarmingly awful defensive
instincts make it impossible to play him and have obliterated any potential he
had to be an all-star, Q-Rich, considered the heart-and-soul leader of the team
last season, is not the same since that back surgery last spring . . . the
offense is about as creative as stick-figure art."
That's a pretty comprehensive list, minus one thing: defense. How the Knicks gave up 117 points to the Sonics yesterday is beyond me. Check that... how did they give up 58% FG% to a team whose strategy all season long as been to throw the ball at the basket, rebound it, throw it at the basket again, rebound it, until it goes in?!? This Sonics team has looked like they've taken their game plan from watching old videos of Dominque Wilkens/Mose Malone all season long, shooting 44% for the season (7th worst in the NBA), but with 45 rpg on average (good for 2nd in the NBA behind the Pacers). Yesterday they need only 36 rebounds to beat the Knicks, since they were shooting like they were the Suns yesterday.
Defense is pure effort. The Knicks are not putting up the effort this year, and that's the first (and biggest) problem they have right now. I think, to take commenter BK's suggestion from a previous post, Isiah Thomas should step down as coach, let Herb Williams take over, and stick to GM. If Dolan let's him make a move (big if), then it should be for a point guard who can move the ball: Sam Cassell, Damon Stoudemire, Brevin Knight, Andre Miller, Mike Bibby.
Even if doesn't make a move, though, this Knicks team could be 4-6 games better right now if they had more effort. And that's the thing that is pissing Knicks fans off the most.
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Um, in the interests of lightening up the mood: Check this Amazon customer review out... a sampling:
He always brought home milk on Friday.
After a long hard week full of days he would burst through the door, his fatigue hidden behind a smile. There was an icy jug of Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz in his right hand. With his left hand he would grip my waist - I was always cooking dinner - and press the cold frostiness of the jug against my arm as he kissed my cheek. I would jump, mostly to gratify him after a time, and smile lovingly at him. He was a good man, a wonderful husband who always brought the milk on Friday, Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz.
Then there was that Friday, the terrible Friday that would ruin every Friday for the rest of my life. The door opened, but there was no bouyant greeting - no cold jug against the back of my arm. There was no Tuscan Whole Milk in his right hand, nor his left. There came no kiss. I watched as he sat down in a kitchen chair to remove his shoes. He wore no fatigue, but also no smile. I didn't speak, but turned back to the beans I had been stirring. I stirred until most of their little shrivelled skins floated to the surface of the cloudy water. Something was wrong, but it was vague wrongness that no amount of hard thought could give shape to.
Over dinner that night I casually inserted,"What happened to the milk?"
"Oh,"he smiled sheepishly, glancing aside,"I guess I forgot today."
That was when I knew. He was tired of this life with me, tired of bringing home the Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz. He was probably shoveling funds into a secret bank account, looking at apartments in town, casting furtive glances at cashiers and secretaries and waitresses. That's when I knew it was over. Some time later he moved in with a cashier from the Food Mart down the street. And me? Well, I've gone soy.
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I'm obviously neither a fan of this website (exceptions: when Jack Cobra or Jordi are writing), nor this author (well, you know, Shoals from Free Darko did call him out a while back) but I did think this was a great post on "The Future of Blogging". That's a pretty comprehensive list, minus one thing: defense. How the Knicks gave up 117 points to the Sonics yesterday is beyond me. Check that... how did they give up 58% FG% to a team whose strategy all season long as been to throw the ball at the basket, rebound it, throw it at the basket again, rebound it, until it goes in?!? This Sonics team has looked like they've taken their game plan from watching old videos of Dominque Wilkens/Mose Malone all season long, shooting 44% for the season (7th worst in the NBA), but with 45 rpg on average (good for 2nd in the NBA behind the Pacers). Yesterday they need only 36 rebounds to beat the Knicks, since they were shooting like they were the Suns yesterday.
Defense is pure effort. The Knicks are not putting up the effort this year, and that's the first (and biggest) problem they have right now. I think, to take commenter BK's suggestion from a previous post, Isiah Thomas should step down as coach, let Herb Williams take over, and stick to GM. If Dolan let's him make a move (big if), then it should be for a point guard who can move the ball: Sam Cassell, Damon Stoudemire, Brevin Knight, Andre Miller, Mike Bibby.
Even if doesn't make a move, though, this Knicks team could be 4-6 games better right now if they had more effort. And that's the thing that is pissing Knicks fans off the most.
***********
Um, in the interests of lightening up the mood: Check this Amazon customer review out... a sampling:
He always brought home milk on Friday.
After a long hard week full of days he would burst through the door, his fatigue hidden behind a smile. There was an icy jug of Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz in his right hand. With his left hand he would grip my waist - I was always cooking dinner - and press the cold frostiness of the jug against my arm as he kissed my cheek. I would jump, mostly to gratify him after a time, and smile lovingly at him. He was a good man, a wonderful husband who always brought the milk on Friday, Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz.
Then there was that Friday, the terrible Friday that would ruin every Friday for the rest of my life. The door opened, but there was no bouyant greeting - no cold jug against the back of my arm. There was no Tuscan Whole Milk in his right hand, nor his left. There came no kiss. I watched as he sat down in a kitchen chair to remove his shoes. He wore no fatigue, but also no smile. I didn't speak, but turned back to the beans I had been stirring. I stirred until most of their little shrivelled skins floated to the surface of the cloudy water. Something was wrong, but it was vague wrongness that no amount of hard thought could give shape to.
Over dinner that night I casually inserted,"What happened to the milk?"
"Oh,"he smiled sheepishly, glancing aside,"I guess I forgot today."
That was when I knew. He was tired of this life with me, tired of bringing home the Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz. He was probably shoveling funds into a secret bank account, looking at apartments in town, casting furtive glances at cashiers and secretaries and waitresses. That's when I knew it was over. Some time later he moved in with a cashier from the Food Mart down the street. And me? Well, I've gone soy.
***********
It would fit in well in the series that MC Bias and I had going back a few months ago, looking into the past and future of sports blogging. Bottom line: this post points out that where as other genres of blogs (political, gossip, music) have found themselves breaking news as well as reporting it, sports blogs are failing in that respect.
Of course, one thing that sports blogs do well, perhaps better than others, is unearth those random pieces of news that get buried, or unearth great You Tube videos, etc. Why is that? Because most blogs are following the lead of the big MSM blog leaders. Those guys set the bar, the template, and a lot of blogs that came afterwards followed their lead. You don't have too many "journalistic-oriented" sites as a result... D-Wil and The Starting Five kind of tried to do that, offering up journalistic pieces, interviewing real writers (both for, and as, posts), but that's not what gets you "noticed" by big MSM blogs. What does get you noticed? "How The NY Knicks Are Like Pirates" and sh*t. It's fun, it might be humorous, it might even be good, but... aside from True Hoops, few mainstream big blog sites try to really break the mode and give props/links to all types of stories. More on this some other time.
*************
This Peter Vecsey article from a couple of days ago, on the Jamaal Tinsley shootout, is must-read. Despite all the knee-jerk reactions that accompanied the initial reporting on the Tinsley story ("why was he out?", "of course another Pacer is involved in a shooting"), this really shows you how crazy the life of an athlete can be sometimes. Especially a black athlete. It kind of reminds me of what D-Wil wrote in this Sean Taylor post:
"The black athlete’s experience is far too often the polar
opposite of his white peer. When the black athlete and his friends enter, the
nightclub atmosphere becomes immediately charged with negative energy. Some male
club patrons immediately look to “size up” the athlete; what’s he wearing (damn,
I wouldn’t wear that mess if I had his money); what’s his crew like (they sure
look like punks); what jewelry does he wear (man, I got earrings that nice, or
damn, I want them); how big is he (he ain’t all that, or, the bigger they are,
the harder they fall). Men walk by and act as if the athlete doesn’t exist. Men
walk by and glare. Men try to catch one of the athlete’s friends alone in the
restroom and contrive a confrontation, or perhaps they run and tell their
friends the athlete mouthed something foul."
Yeah, he could have done things differently... he didn't need to be going out at 1 AM, he could have called the cops (yeah, because that always works out well for black men), etc... but I'm not here to pass judgments on his decisions. What you and I should be realizing is that they face far different experiences, far different circumstances, than white athletes. That's all....
***********
Interesting read from the New Yorker (found via The Big Lead): Malcolm Gladwell on race and IQ.
***********
Also, from the New Yorker, is a short Talk of the Town feature on Jared Cohen, who wrote a book called "Children of Jihad", after hopping around Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq post-graduation, and partying with local Muslim kids in those places.
Compare and contrast to field goal kicker Jason Elam writing a fictional book based on his trip to the Gaza Strip as a Christian missionary.
One guy's work is based on actually talking to people in that area, getting to known them, hanging out with them. I haven't read either yet, so I'm not going to compare and contrast the two. Nor are they aimed at the same audience. But having spent some small amount of time in Lebanon and Syria with locals myself... Jared Cohen approach is more to my liking.
***********
Speaking of traveling... the 53 Places To Go, according to the NY Times. "Hell" once again did not make the list, but I can vouch for some of the locations myself... I've been to 10 of them, with another 5 on the list for 2008 (including Tunisia and Libya with the GF, and Bogota with the Indian Playa, hopefully). Nothing better than a fresh batch of vacation days starting in January, and figuring out what to do with them this year.
***********
Oh, that reminds me. I'm taking the afternoon off to run an errand with The Greek Professor. Hopefully we'll have some good pictures for you guys tomorrow.
**********
And lastly... speaking of photo-stic adventures... here is some video footage of Grand Central during the Santa Con thing on Saturday:
Along those lines, even though this is from 2006, this is what the train platform looked like on Saturday as thousands of Santas boarded the 6-train:
And one more for you, also from 2006: Santa loves the House of Pain:
This is going to end badly, you know. Just like the Irish and Puerto Rican parades in NYC... thousands of people who "look alike", and can blend in and disappear within the crowd = trouble. Eventually this thing is going to end badly.
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3 Comments
Comments
Barnesgasm
said
Man, "How the NY Knicks are like Pirates" does NOT get you noticed. If it did, man, I'd be one of the top ten sites on the internet.
I loved the link about the guy who traveled around the Middle East. My girlfriend is Lebanese, and I have to listen to a lot of nonsense from friends and family about Middle Eastern people. If only stories like Mr. Cohen's were more widely known, people wouldn't have such misconceptions about the Islamic world, and the Middle East in particular