I hereby announce my retirement from blogging. However, I reserve the right to unretire in years to come a la Michael Jordan, Brett Favre, et al.
Monday, September 14, 2009
I would like to annouce my retirement...
I hereby announce my retirement from blogging. However, I reserve the right to unretire in years to come a la Michael Jordan, Brett Favre, et al.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
THE WORST SOFTBALL CHANTS (for you mike)
I played softball for 8 loooonnnnng years and I'm pretty sure I enjoyed the cheering. As an adult, I can't drive by the softball fields (should I say cheerleading tryouts) without my face getting flush...did I really do this???? In some little league states they have now banned baseball chatter, I thought we were big in to equality now, if we can’t have the chatter, do we really need the long drawn out cheers taking three innings to get through. Won’t a slap on the butt suffice? Oh yeah, we are girls, we need positive reinforcement; "We need a home run, just a little home run."
Video Poll(Worst Cheer)
A)Tic Tac Girl
B)She-Man "ARE YOU READY"
C)Still the same in College
Video Poll(Worst Cheer)
A)Tic Tac Girl
B)She-Man "ARE YOU READY"
C)Still the same in College
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
My Fave Five Shooting Guard: Agreement
Shooting Guard
Michael Jordan. End of discussion.
Any charade of justifying this pick would merely serve to undermine the absolute and unquestioned nature of the pick itself.
Honorable Mention: Jerry West, Kobe Bryant
Watch Out For: A kid you've never heard of... check him out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8sfYZ0-Dws
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
My Fave Five Point Guard: Counterpoint
I've got a lot to say about who's in my Fav Five, so I'm gonna go position-by-position. On some points I'll agree with my bodacious wife with amazing sports knowledge, but on others I'll definitely disagree.We'll start with the point guard position, where I definitely disagree. Hope you enjoy!
Point Guard
How can you go wrong with Magic? The man redefined the point guard positions and brought "Showtime" to the Lakers. Who could I possibly choose over Magic? Well, for my money, I'll go with The Big O, Oscar Robertson.This guy was arguably the best all-around player to ever play the game, let alone the best point guard. How easilywe forget the greats who played before our own lifetime...
The Big O averaged a triple-double per game over his first five seasons. Let me repeat that: The Big O averaged a triple-double per game over his first five seasons. Here'show it breaks down: 30.3 points, 10.6 assists, and 10.4 rebounds per game! Can you even comprehend that? Everyone wants to crown Lebron as "King James" just 'cuz he's had a few years of 25+points, 7+ assists, and 7+ rebounds... I can't even imagine the hoopla Lebron would get if his statlines had him upwards of 30/10/10 over his career to date, and yet everyone seems to sleep on The Big O. And let me also point out that it's more difficult for a point guard to pull down 10 boards a night than it is for a point forward to dish out 7 assists a night. I know, there's no need for me to compare Oscar and Lebron in this forum since we're breaking it down by position, but I just want to emphasize how little recognition The Big O gets compared to his inferior modern-day counterparts.
And lest you think Oscar's greatness halted after his first five years, here are his per-game statsover his first ten years: 29.3 points, 10.3 assists, and 8.5 rebounds. Again, putting this in perspective, during the playoffs last year, everyone was going googly over Chris Paul reaching 30 points and 10assists so many times... yet The Big O averaged 29+ points and 10+ assists over his first 10 years. Not 10 games... 10 freaking years. Whoa. My brain is on overload just trying to imagine if a modern-dayplayer was putting up these numbers.
So back to the Magic comparison... Magic was obviously a phenomenal point guard--second only to The Big O. However, I think his greatness is artificially supplemented by the following factors: 1) Magic has 5 championship rings, whereas The Big O only has 1 ring. But let me remind you that Magic's 5 rings represent that his team was the best team five times. Idon't think Oscar's one ring disqualifies him from this race... it only means his team was the best team only once. And let's remember that Magic played with all-time greats Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bob McAdoo, Jamaal Wilkes, James Worthy, Norm Nixon, Michael Cooper, Byron Scott, AC Green, etc. The Big O wasn't so fortunate... I bet you can't even name one of his teammates during his prime (anyone guess Jerry Lucas, Tom Van Arsdale, or Jack Twyman? Didn't think so). Funny thing is, once Oscar passed his prime, he finally got a chance to play with a great teammate--Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971. And guess what, they won a championship! Imagine the damage Oscar and Kareem could have done playing together for as long as Magic and Kareem... Besides the lack of quality teammates, Oscar's career just happened to coincide with the greatest dynasty in professional sports history--the 1960s Boston Celtics. In The Big O's 15-year career, the Celtics won 9 titles, including 8 out of 9 during The Big O's 10-year prime. As great as he was, even he couldn't beat out a team laden with all-time greats up and down the roster. Let's put it this way, if we put Oscar on the 1980s Lakers, they win AT LEAST five rings, probably more. If we put Magic on the 1960s Cincinnati Royals, I guarantee he's not winning championships against Red Auerbach & Co. Thus, we give Oscar a pass on the championship ring tally. 2) Magic played more recently. 3)Magic played a brand of basketball that came to be known as "Showtime", played in an era when television coverage of the NBA was exploding, and played for the New York Yankees... oops, I mean the LA Lakers; these combined elements gave him a disproportionate amount of publicity and fanfare.
Oscar was a better scorer. Oscar was a better rebounder. I'll give them a push on the passing (Magic was certainly a more "showtime" passer, but I've noticed his turnovers were relatively high, resulting in a pretty mediocre assist-to-turnover ratio as far as great point guards go. Magic doesn't even reach the prerequisite 3-to-1 threshold, while guys like John Stockton and Chris Paul are pushing 4-to-1. Unfortunately, turnovers were not tracked in Oscar's day, so we can't directly compare). I never got to see Oscar play defense, and steals and blocks were not tracked in his day, so I can't speak to Oscar's defense. But given the phenomenal athlete he was, I'm imagining he was a great defender. Magic was a good defender too, often raking in the steals, but he's not known for his great two-way abilities in the same way guys like MJ, Tim Duncan, Wilt, Bill Russell, and others are. By default, I have to give them another "push" on defense.
All things considered, I'll take The Big-O to run the show in My Fav Five.
Honorable Mention: Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas
Watch Out For: Chris Paul
Point Guard
How can you go wrong with Magic? The man redefined the point guard positions and brought "Showtime" to the Lakers. Who could I possibly choose over Magic? Well, for my money, I'll go with The Big O, Oscar Robertson.This guy was arguably the best all-around player to ever play the game, let alone the best point guard. How easilywe forget the greats who played before our own lifetime...
The Big O averaged a triple-double per game over his first five seasons. Let me repeat that: The Big O averaged a triple-double per game over his first five seasons. Here'show it breaks down: 30.3 points, 10.6 assists, and 10.4 rebounds per game! Can you even comprehend that? Everyone wants to crown Lebron as "King James" just 'cuz he's had a few years of 25+points, 7+ assists, and 7+ rebounds... I can't even imagine the hoopla Lebron would get if his statlines had him upwards of 30/10/10 over his career to date, and yet everyone seems to sleep on The Big O. And let me also point out that it's more difficult for a point guard to pull down 10 boards a night than it is for a point forward to dish out 7 assists a night. I know, there's no need for me to compare Oscar and Lebron in this forum since we're breaking it down by position, but I just want to emphasize how little recognition The Big O gets compared to his inferior modern-day counterparts.And lest you think Oscar's greatness halted after his first five years, here are his per-game statsover his first ten years: 29.3 points, 10.3 assists, and 8.5 rebounds. Again, putting this in perspective, during the playoffs last year, everyone was going googly over Chris Paul reaching 30 points and 10assists so many times... yet The Big O averaged 29+ points and 10+ assists over his first 10 years. Not 10 games... 10 freaking years. Whoa. My brain is on overload just trying to imagine if a modern-dayplayer was putting up these numbers.
So back to the Magic comparison... Magic was obviously a phenomenal point guard--second only to The Big O. However, I think his greatness is artificially supplemented by the following factors: 1) Magic has 5 championship rings, whereas The Big O only has 1 ring. But let me remind you that Magic's 5 rings represent that his team was the best team five times. Idon't think Oscar's one ring disqualifies him from this race... it only means his team was the best team only once. And let's remember that Magic played with all-time greats Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bob McAdoo, Jamaal Wilkes, James Worthy, Norm Nixon, Michael Cooper, Byron Scott, AC Green, etc. The Big O wasn't so fortunate... I bet you can't even name one of his teammates during his prime (anyone guess Jerry Lucas, Tom Van Arsdale, or Jack Twyman? Didn't think so). Funny thing is, once Oscar passed his prime, he finally got a chance to play with a great teammate--Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971. And guess what, they won a championship! Imagine the damage Oscar and Kareem could have done playing together for as long as Magic and Kareem... Besides the lack of quality teammates, Oscar's career just happened to coincide with the greatest dynasty in professional sports history--the 1960s Boston Celtics. In The Big O's 15-year career, the Celtics won 9 titles, including 8 out of 9 during The Big O's 10-year prime. As great as he was, even he couldn't beat out a team laden with all-time greats up and down the roster. Let's put it this way, if we put Oscar on the 1980s Lakers, they win AT LEAST five rings, probably more. If we put Magic on the 1960s Cincinnati Royals, I guarantee he's not winning championships against Red Auerbach & Co. Thus, we give Oscar a pass on the championship ring tally. 2) Magic played more recently. 3)Magic played a brand of basketball that came to be known as "Showtime", played in an era when television coverage of the NBA was exploding, and played for the New York Yankees... oops, I mean the LA Lakers; these combined elements gave him a disproportionate amount of publicity and fanfare.
Oscar was a better scorer. Oscar was a better rebounder. I'll give them a push on the passing (Magic was certainly a more "showtime" passer, but I've noticed his turnovers were relatively high, resulting in a pretty mediocre assist-to-turnover ratio as far as great point guards go. Magic doesn't even reach the prerequisite 3-to-1 threshold, while guys like John Stockton and Chris Paul are pushing 4-to-1. Unfortunately, turnovers were not tracked in Oscar's day, so we can't directly compare). I never got to see Oscar play defense, and steals and blocks were not tracked in his day, so I can't speak to Oscar's defense. But given the phenomenal athlete he was, I'm imagining he was a great defender. Magic was a good defender too, often raking in the steals, but he's not known for his great two-way abilities in the same way guys like MJ, Tim Duncan, Wilt, Bill Russell, and others are. By default, I have to give them another "push" on defense.
All things considered, I'll take The Big-O to run the show in My Fav Five.
Honorable Mention: Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas
Watch Out For: Chris Paul
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Welcome to LewiSCenter
We were doing our thing the other night…watching the Lakers and Nuggets, and Kobe was doing his thing… hitting every shot, when Jeff Van Gundy (aka “Ankles”) says, “Kobe Bryant is the best Laker ever!” Realizing the weight of his words he quickly threw in a “maybe.” As though a simple “maybe” could make the world right again… what a cop-out.
Anyway, this blasphemous comment had Brad and I bantering like Cornusker and Willybuns style (btw, can a get an Amen for the Cornhusker leaving Monday Night Football? But blaming it on a fear of flying? Who does he think he is, Madden? I mean how many of these guys are afraid of flying? What a bunch of wusses…) Anyway, as we were bantering about whether or not Wilt Chamberlain was with the Lakers long enough to be considered in the conversation, all the sudden I felt like we were on PTI, with the 30 seconds ticking away…and next on the list we’d be arguing whether it was an awesome game winning steal or a horrible bad pass …. In that moment I realized our sports banter has taken over our dinner table conversations, our sofa conversations, our bedroom conversations (yikes, not a good sign…), our phone conversations, our car-ride conversations, our instant messaging conversations, our texting conversations, the list goes on.
We needed a new outlet, I decided… a sports haven if you will, a sanctuary in whose sacred walls we could rant about the latest clutch plays (can I get a witness, Lebron?), gloat about our teams’ victories (round 1 goes to me as the M‘s take 2 of 3 over the Gnats), and bicker over sports’ current events.
Welcome to our sanctuary. This is LewiSCenter.
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