Central Village

Yikes

Hearing the Garden crowd boo Steph every time he touched the ball was depressing. Really really low. Maybe the lowest point I've felt at a Knicks fan. You do that to the guy on the other team who talked shit in the pregame, or the guy who started a fight the last time they played. Really drastic situations.  But your own point guard? Even after the shit he pulled last week? I dunno...

The team is in a tough spot right now, and there is no sign that they're in any mood to turn it around. The boo birds don't seem to realize that Mardy F'n Collins is the other option at PG, and he is terrible. Just a dreadful NBA player. Q is completely useless on the court. He can't keep up with his man and has lost all confidence in the shot. Curry can't board, Crawford can't stay hot, Balkman can't stay healthy, Lee trys hard, but looks alone and out of step out there. Robinson looks OK when he plays, which is far too little. The only player out there I'm happy with is Zack, who just is a pure pleasure to watch.

Isiah has to be a problem. He has no control over this team, and can't get them to play. He's trying to teach lessons to $20 Million players. He treats these guys like a High School JV squad, and that isn't going to help. So the easy answer is to can the boss...but who's going to get these guys motivated to play again? Not Herb Williams, that's for sure. He's useless. Will these guys respond to Mike Fratello or some other out of work coach with no connection to the team? Doubt it. It's easy to chant "Fire Isiah," but there's no quick fix to get these guys on track. I'm open to ideas. I don't wanna give up just yet, but a fire needs to be lit under this team. Somehow.

It's draining to watch these guys go through the motions out there to get blown out by a 2-7 team. Just an awful, miserable place to be.

My quick thoughts on Barry Bonds and 756*

Is it just me, or does anybody else have the feeling that in 30 years, when Barry Bonds is old and quiet and ravaged by cancer brought on by all the steroids, we're gonna look back on the last couple years and say man...we were really tough on that guy. Ya know, cause he's clearly not the only person who took steroids. Sooner or later we'll find out that nearly every superstar took em at some point or another from this era, and it we'll look at the last decade just like we look at the deadball era or the pre-1900 game. It was there, and those records are officially on the books, but it was just part of the history of the game.

Think about it like this...If in a couple years someone hits 60 home runs in a season. Are we not going to still get excited about it? Will that mean any less because Sosa and Bonds and McGuire did it before? Of course not. Above all else..above the game and the players, baseball's history is about the discussion. If there were so many clear cut answers, if wouldn't be a sport people would feel so passionately about. And this era in baseball is doing nothing else but continue that trend. There isn't a record in the sport that can't be argued or disputed. I once read a columnist who wrote Cal Ripken did a disservice to his city and his team by insisting on playing every day, weakening him over the season so he couldn't fulfill his potential. And that is the one record that pops to mind that you couldn't possibly complain about. So who knows.

Everything looks better in time. Everyone tries to hold on to their youth and claim that their memories are the most valuable and important ones. Right now the loudest voices in the media are still the ones who remember Sgt. Pepper and Roger Maris so fondly (tho they just as likely booed both when they came to town in the 60s.) The advantages that one player has over the ones of the previous generation will continue on and on until the end of time. Sure, Aaron did it without steroids, but he also did it without legal supplements, advanced weight machines, digital video analysis and the whole lot. Whatever. We can only dream what the guy who breaks Bond's record will have at his disposal. I can already see the "Bonds did it without cloning!" Signs in the outfield of decrepit CitiField.

But in the end, nobody got hurt. There's no way to go back and change things now, so what can you do. It's all just something else to talk about. The need for that will never go away.

I am a Knicks 2007-2008 season ticket holder

I did something silly a few weeks ago, and while I am extremely excited and in no way regret what I've done, I understand the hesitation when I tell people the news.

I bought season tickets to the Knicks.

I know! But let me explain. I split a pair of tickets with a friend of mine who's a big NBA fan. The Knicks are having a deal right now for $25 tickets, and l called up and got the best ones they had left. They're in the 400's section, but in Row A on the isle. They're about as good as 2 seats in the bargain section get. (for what that's worth.) I was on the fence about the whole thing, but being in the front row was the kicker for me.

So! Now that I've got an invested interest in the New York Knicks, I've got a few things to say about the upcoming season.

• I like the Randolph trade. Sure, interior D is a big concern when he and Curry are both out there together, but I can't figure out how any team in the East is going to defend both of them at once. When 2 players demand a double team at the same time, how on earth are there enough players on the floor to cover them both?
• Yes, it would be nice if Curry was more of the rough, down low beast that he looks like. I really don't understand how someone can be that big, yet not be able to establish himself down low without the damn ball. Perhaps having a gun pulled on him this summer will toughen him up a bit. That said tho, even with his current skill set, I still can't see how a team will guard him and not leave a shooter or Z open. He does what he does pretty well.
• If the team doesn't change from now till opening day, my biggest offensive concern is there not being a lock-down outside shooter. Between Q and Crawford, they might get by from time to time, but it's really nowhere near enough. The whole point of having a thumping post game is to draw double teams and leave shooters open, right? I'm just not happy having Nate Robinson launch 3s all night. That would kill me. It's really tough to work anything out (especially with my Artest business below going through as well,) but a Mike Miller type would be ideal. I'm looking around, and there's gotta be some shooter signed for another 3 years that a team would be willing to take Malik Rose's contract to rid of. Jason Kapono would have been PERFECT, had he not JUST signed to the Raptors this summer (awful contract, BTW.)
• Yes, this Demetrius Nichols kid would supposedly be the perfect fit for the role, but of course the team already has like 17 players signed, so they can't even bring them on even if he was good enough. 2nd Round picks always look great in July and August, but the fact that the potential answer for the shooter role got passed over by every team (some twice) is not exactly reassuring.
• I'm still confident the Knicks will make another move before the season starts. Nothing, however, will happen until the end of the month, when Dickau and Fred Jones can be moved. These guys represent about $6 Million in expiring contracts that are the key to anything happening. They can't be traded until two months after they were last dealt, which I believe is August 28th or so.
• Lets just assume that Kobe is out of the question. The Lakers, like the Knicks, are not going to blow up the team and put a bunch of rookies, projects and scrubs on the court for an entire season or two. The Knicks can't offer them anything that would draw half the interest having Kobe on the floor does, and they're not gonna do it.
• I think the Artest rumors hold water, however. Ric Bucher recently said that the combination of the Kings looking to get rid of him, Artest's desire to come to NY and The Knick's interest in having him is too perfect a combination to not eventually work out. I was actually reading some Kings message boards this weekend, and it seems that they'd be thrilled to get the expiring contract/young talent pu-pu platter (Simmons' term.) Sounds like they'd even be content with some sort of Malik Rose deal!
• This is what they proposed:
  
  Ron Artest $7.8mil
  for
  Fred Jones $3.3mil (ender)
  Dan Dickau $2.8mil (ender)
  Nate Robinson $1.3mil (ender -- team option)
  Renaldo Balkman $1.2mil (ender -- team option)
  1st rnd pick
  
  Not only are their fans agreeable, but excited about it! I like Balkman in principle, but to basically trade him and a 1st rounder for a player with the ability and impact of Artest seems like a no brainier to me. He would make the Knicks an instant contender in the East. He fills their need for a 3 who can defend the parameter, rebound and score his share. And honestly, if the worst case is that he loses his mind and does something batty, at least we get to watch that trainwreck all season. It's win-win as a fan just looking for an entertaining season. if you don't make that trade (or something like it) the Knicks will struggle to get that 7th or 8th spot in the playoffs, only to get killed by The Bulls or whoever in the first round. They make that trade, there are suddenly few teams they can't run with.
• No, that doesn't directly address the shooter concern noted above, but they should be able to get someone on the cheap to come off the bench and do nothing except sit in the corner and hit open 3s. There must be an overpaid guy like that somewhere they can rope in exchange for Malik Rose' shorter deal...
• My final point is about Lee and Balkman. Listen...I like them both. A lot. I've been a David Lee fan since he won that High-School dunk contest before going to Florida. I'd like nothing more than to be able to watch him in New York for the next 10 years. But lets get real. He's an athletic, undersized power forward. He's playing out of his mind right now. I love him. But he is at the absolute peak as a player and his trade value will never be higher (Not to mention this curious, lingering ankle injury...) He might be good for 13 and 10 for his career...excellent numbers, no doubt, but not someone worth what the Knicks will surely be pressured to pay him once he becomes a Free Agent. If the Knicks insist on keeping him around to be stuck behind Z and Eddy for the next however long, it'll just be a big waste. If they can put him in a deal to net an actual good player, then they gotta pull the trigger, right? He's the type of trade asset Isiah always talks about getting to make big moves. If you keep him around just for the hell of it, it defeats the purpose. Same goes for Balkman, but on a lower scale. Sure, he's been a great surprise, but he's not getting any better. He's an energy guy. They're nice to have, but the longer they play, the more their faults are exposed. Trade them now, like they should have traded Frye after his big rookie season, cause they'll never be worth more and they'll never help the Knicks actually win. Mark my words.

I have for almost a decade now since the Knicks hit this post-Ewing, post-Van Gundy drought, exclaimed that the Knicks need to clear salary and start over. Well, now that I'm paying for this team with my actual money, I'd prefer them to win now. But hear me out...The East has a handful of very young and very well constructed teams that are built for the near future. The Knicks make a push for a real team today and they have maybe a 2 year window before the rest of the league catches up. They can really do this. The West will start getting older soon and the east will move in to balance the league. I would rather make a move now instead of when the rest of the league comes around. This is what the Celtics decided to do (they're totally fucked in 2 years, but have a shot right now)

Everyone always says you can't mortgage your future for one year. Well, you can. If your future is, at best, a 1st round playoff team for the next decade, you go for broke when you can make a serious run. Realize that David Lee will not stay in New York to be a backup, and the guys in front of him aren't going anywhere. Realize that Balkman will never look better than he does now. Get what you can and make a push. Realize how bad the East is right now, and how much better it will be in 3 or 4 years.

Do I have faith that Isiah can pull this off, either as a Coach or a GM? No way. But I'm prepared for whatever. I'm invested.

Running...

A couple days ago I decided it was time to start running again. I was into it for about a month last year, then got a cold so I stopped and then the weather got cold and I officially shut it down. Now I already missed the ideal restart time in the spring due to massive laziness and I realize I'm getting remotivated right during the hottest and most awful time of the year. But I think I like running when it's hot out. Makes me feel like I'm working harder.

Anyway, point is that I've got that iPod nano sneaker doohickey gathering dust and I need a new jogging playlist. No surprise that what I was listening to last September is not necessarily gonna work again for me now. So this is what I came up with last night:

(Note that I put this together last night with the full intention of getting up this morning and running, and ended up going back to sleep for an hour. Last night was a tough one tho. Tomorrow will be better...)

Sia - Breathe Me
Seriously, just hearing this song makes me wanna run.
Spoon - The Ghost of You Lingers
This is a weird one, but it's kinda trippy and spacey, but with a beat. I'm usually pretty out of it during the first couple songs anyway so I like that.
Pinback - Good To See
Nice, light, and upbeat.
Tegan and Sara - Nineteen
Just a good song.
The Spanish Morrissey song
Don't know what this is actually called. It's that Spanish song that just goes Morrissey Morrissey Morrissey for the chorus. Starting to pick up the pace a bit...
EL-P - The Overly Dramatic Truth
Now we're starting to really get going...
Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (MSTRKRFT Remix)
MSTRKRFT - Easy Love
Quad City DJs - Come on Ride the Train (MSTRKRFT Remix/Mashup)
If I can even make it this far, These three should set a good pace.
Kings of Leon - McFearless
One final rockin push...
Black Lips - Hippy Hippy Hurrah
And the triumphant warmdown.

I don't think I can make it this far in reality, but I'll set to go 3 miles or something and see how it goes. This also all might be a huge mistake, cause if I remember right, I do much better with more chilled out songs rather than these fast paced jams. Those usually just stress me out and make he tired faster. May have to cut that whole MSTRKRFT part altogether to keep it at a better pace.

Pressing Sports Questions

I follow sports fairly carefully (MLB, NBA and NFL, at least) but I haven't heard anything about these three fairly important topics about my teams.

1. Who is gonna be the Giants Running Back next year? I love Brandon Jacobs more than most, and I'd be more than happy to give him 25 carries per game and pound down the D, but are they going to draft or sign anyone else to act as a David Meggett 3rd down/quick alternative back to run routes and change pace? If so, who are they looking at? Free Agency is in full swing and I've come across nothing.

2. Where are all the "Hey, Renaldo Balkman isn't so bad!" articles? After being universally panned (panned is an understatement. Isiah and the Knicks got KILLED for that pick) on draft night, turns out the Knicks actually picked the exact type of player they needed. A tough, hard working three who will never be an all star, but can get some tough minutes off the bench. That's the kind of guy you are supposed to get in the mid 20s of the first round. If you're lucky. I don't like Isiah as a coach, and he has been a trade/free agent disaster ever since the Van Horn "We need to get less white more athletic" deal, but his draft record has to be better than anyone else in the league. He gets the most out of his picks, and drafts to the strengths of his team. The NBA draft is so hyped and everyone has something nice to say about everyone there, the ability to see through all that mess and pick the best products to play in the NBA is a real skill, and I have to credit Zeke for having such an ability

3. Who is gonna round out the Mets rotation? Last I checked, Opening day is April 1st, which is exactly 10 Days away(!). Are any of the low-cost question marks looking ready? I assume Glavine, El Duque and Maine are solids, but have Chan-Ho or Sele regained any of their early career consistency? Can Perez be an effective starter again? Are any of the highly touted prospects ready to pitch yet in the bigs? I am thrilled that the Mets held back in that crazy Free Agency spree and love the Low Risk/High Reward Alou signing, so I'm not gonna go out and say they should have overpaid for Zito or one of those other $10 million a year scrubs cause they shouldn't have. I have faith Peterson and the Mets will be able to make a starting pitcher out of one of the 7 or so guys they have to pick from, but I'm just wondering why I haven't read any clues as to who we might see first. The NL East looks really scary this year and I don't wanna get in an early rut while still trying to figure all this out.

That is all. Thanks for reading. Here's a video of The Federation performing at SXSW to a bunch of embarrassing hipster stereotypes. My favorite part is the "Yeaaaaaaaahhhhhh" from the crowd right around the 20 second mark. (BTW, deffo not from the iheartcomix party, despite what the video is tagged)

3 and 8. Money down the drain.

Seriously, 8? C'mon! My only hope is that either Peyton lets loose for 4 TDs and The Bears can only manage a FG. Or a TD and a 2 FGs. Or 2 TD and 3 FGs. Or 3 and 4. You get the point. Three is my favorite number for this stuff, but 8 is hell. 8 and 18 are nearly impossible. 28 is too high a TD total to realistically root for, since if they're rolling like that, chances are they got a couple FGs along the way. Can you even get 38? 5 TDs and a FG? Oof. Even for the Colts.

So once again, for like the bazillionith year in a row, I'll be rooting for one team to get safeties and 2-point conversions all night. Hardly a recommended way to approach this thing.

PS...Bonus points if anyone can find a site that calculates the odds of winning for each number combination based on likely scores. Is 3 and 3 the best? I bet it is, since it, 6 and 7 are the only good ones that you can nail in the single digits, and those are much harder to nail going up. Oh, and zero too. That's probably better than 3, actually. I've always wondered this.

That missed sack

I gave up on the Giants after the Bears game. I'm not sure why, or what it was, but I just knew it was over. I never had much faith in them to begin with, despite all the "best team in the NFC" hype leading up to that game. Injuries are a part of the game, I know this. The Giants just got too many, all at once. This is almost an entirely different team. It just looks the same because Tiki, Plex, Shockey and Eli are still on offense, but without a defense and supporting cast, they are not nearly effective enough. They're like the Redskins at this point.

Anyway, my point is, and I'm only writing about this because nobody else has said it and it just doesn't make sense for a player to "quit" mid sack, but what I saw happen was an untimely mix between a Rookie scared of breaking the rules and an old playground basketball fakeout. See, Vince Young pumpfaked as he was in the grasp. Like when you are guarding a basketball player and they fake a pass over your head, you think the ball left the hands and you turn around to see where it went. When Vince faked the pass, the Rook (whose name I don't remember) pulled back, thinking the ball was released. Had it been and he continued to tackle, it would have been a roughing flag and a free first down. Surely, knowing Coughlin's temper and the Giants penchant for untimely penalties, he assumed the worst thing he could do on a 4th and 10 would be to give the Titans a free first down. In hindsight, it would have been the second worst thing.

It's the only logical explanation I can think of. It makes a whole lot more sense than the common TV commentator reaction of, "He quit! He just plain quit!!"

Anyway, I hope Pac-Man Jones celebrates his good play and the win by doing something awesome like beating up a homeless dude or smashing his Ferrari into a police station.

Gilbert Arenas is a once in a generation human being

Since any real Knicks fan is really hoping for the team to lose and rid ourselves of Isiah, I'm gonna pick the Wizards as a team to root for this year. All because of Gilbert.

A. The Esquire article is a good jump-off. If you are not fascinated by this man after reading this, I want to meet the people you hang out with.
B. He has a blog. From the looks of it, he's really writing it and really enjoys it. I just added his RSS to bloglines.
C. He's in a fantasy basketball league, and is stoked that people like Pam Anderson and Kid Rock are playing with him.
D. He's a real NBA fan. He speaks of and writes about other players like they're celebs. He says things like "Me and Marbury is pretty cool. I met him outside of basketball once at a carwash in L.A."
E. He is a ridiculous videogame player. The thing about NBA 2k6 in the Esquire piece (seriously, read it) is inhuman. He also runs a professional Halo 2 team. Such a thing exists, and he is involved.
F. He loves to buy shit he doesn't need. From his blog:

"I don’t know what I was thinking … I bought an 18,000 piece puzzle. The lady told me four years that it would take me to do it, and I was like, “yeah right, I can do it in a couple months.” I don’t think I’ve found two pieces that connected together yet.

G. He comes up with t-shirts like this:

and they get made.

Favorite basketball player is an understatement. Favorite person.

A Banner Year...

So...the Mets are 9-3. Season's going great, right? Well, not so fast to celebrate. They just debuted the 2006 theme song! Think MSTRCRFT remixing Forward Russia...

The 2006 Mets Theme (mp3)
(mp3 via NYO, via Deadspin)

Proof that no matter how good the team is on the field, they'll always find a reason for you to be ashamed of them. God Bless.

Dunzo

Deadspin is calling it "Baseball's Watergate" and deeming  Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams "as close to Woodward and Bernstein as we’re gonna get." I could not agree more. This is a big deal. Maybe the biggest deal we've seen in a very long time.

I've always happily taken the view that steroids are no big deal. I was never bothered really by athletes taking them, never thought the integrity of the game argument was that pressing. Basically, I didn't care. Previously, the line between legal supplements and illicit drugs seems too blurry for me to really buy any of the arguments trying to decry the use as that bad. It seemed kind of inevitable and expected. It seemed normal.

This article is so unbelievably good. For the first time, it not only makes the use of these drugs seem not normal, but outright scary. It described the routine, the process and the consequences in such vivid and painful detail there is no way to brush it off any longer. Where I was indifferent before, I am now convinced that this is a really bad thing, and that Barry Bonds is a bad man for doing it. Well done.

Please read this article now. Even if you don't follow sports, it should transcend interest. I am excited to follow the aftermath.