Pistons, baby! Someone's going to put Manu on his ass the first time he comes down the lane. (This, of course, assumes the Pistons are not forced to overcome the refs again.)
It's not so much that I'm a Pistons fan, as that I have a tendency to reframe these sorts of things into good vs. evil stories, and the Spurs are clearly Evil. Too much help from the refs, an undeserved reputations as "good guys," a soft superstar whose success has covered up some real weaknesses, etc. The Spurs are the new Celtics. If you loved and understood the NBA, this much would be clear.
That you can't see that Bruce Bowen's "defense" is no different than the infamous McHale clothesline takedown of Rambis only demonstrates the cold bleak blackness of your heart.
You fashionably imply that having sex is always one's first priority. But unless this is your ONE OPPORTUNITY ALL YEAR TO HAVE SEX, you should be watching the Finals.
Earlier this week, I had sex instead of watching the Finals, and since then I've been learning what it means to live with regret.
Ogged, do you often find yourself in relationships in which the other person asks you if you're going to get any hotter? Or if your chest could get larger? "Well, now that we're having sex, I feel comfortable asking you about your hotness trajectory..."
There was something painfully ironic about the postgame interview with Larry "Negotiating During The Playoffs" Brown in which the correspondent told Brown that there was a picture of him in the dictionary next to the word class. Next to "successful coach," sure. But class?
It is interesting how the word "class" gets used in sports. In Brown's case, I think it means something like "gracious." But even that's a stretch, when you think about his relationship with Iverson. Maybe it just means that he reads books.
I'm a huge admirer of Coach Smith, and actually believe that "basketball was only the second most important thing he taught his kids." Which makes it really hard to sort Larry out. He clearly idolizes Smith. He clearly intends, in some fashion, to model himself after Smith. But I can't imagine anything less like Smith than the neurotic ball of nerves that is Larry Brown.
I hate this guy's TV ads. "I don't consider myself a basketball coach. I consider myself a leader." I consider him a fricking moleman.
He aparrently was appointed faculty member at Duke's Fuqua School of Business as part of The Fuqua/Coach K Center of Leadership and Ethics. Duke's Fuqua School of Business? The Fuqua/Coach K Center of Leadership and Ethics? Why haven't I heard jokes about this shit?
Baa, last night's main event was Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Geurrero. Shockingly, Mysterio won by displaying a lot of heart, coming back from adversity, etc. Good times.
The announcers' main theme was "They were like brothers once...but that's not how you treat a brother!"
What I love about the Mysterio style is that its acrobatic theatricality not only reduces the effectiveness of the moves, but does so in an obvious way. I can't believe he jumps off the ropes so reliably.
More cruiserweights, fewer big slow steroid cases. That would be my advice to the WWE. Although it warmed my Neoconservative heart to hear crowds across America chanting "Goldberg! Goldberg!"
Have you noticed, also, how frequently WWE turns sterotypical tropes against themselves? To wit, the two biggest heels being obnoxious self-made man/patriot in his own mind JBL and (all time great villain) "Olympic Hero" Kurt Angle.
True, it's parallel even to the Virgil-like figure of Orlando Jordan. However, I think a big part of the heel appeal of JBL is his insuferable "I am an American Patriot" spiel. Everyone knows a guy like that. It's similar to when Angle did the great parody of sports-as-character-building hooey with his "three Is: Intelligence, Intensity, and Integrity" while at the same time being a classic pussilanimous cheater. Good times!
I was so hoping the WWE would pull the ultimate coalition of the willing move and have the Iron Sheik (newly inducted into the hall-of-fame, as I am sure you saw) join up with Hogan to beat up on the new Arab villain. If I ran the WWE, you'd see that kind of thing all the time.
I have a friend here in NC who did a stint as the commissioner of the East Coast Wrestling League, and they had the Iron Sheik come in for an appearance at one of their events. My friend picked him up at the airport and said the first thing the guy did was pull out and light a zucchini-sized joint. He turned out to be a super-nice, fairly quiet guy.
I didn't know (before I was told the above story) that he had been an Olympic wrestler for Iran and a bodyguard for the Shah.
More cruiserweights, fewer big slow steroid cases. That would be my advice to the WWE.
Yeah, but that'd be advice to give professional boxing, too. The only problem with it is that it doesn't seem to work. The people who draw money still tend to be gigantic, immobile and increasingly unskilled bores.
From this I think one could make a tired point about sports viewership being an outlet for suppressed homoerotic impulses, but I don't really have the energy. You do have to admit, though, that the big guys end up being more charismatic. Guerrero got vastly better mic skills than, say, Big Show, but until the actual wrestling starts, he's somehow much less compelling.
None of this changes how awesome Kurt Angle is, of course.
It is interesting how the word "class" gets used in sports.
Is it different from the normal (mis)use of the word, in which it helps to spell it with a "k"?
I was thinking that "class" has a specific meaning in horse racing--dominance--which might have filtered into other sports. If, indeed, there is some specific sports-meaning.
Maybe it was a reference to On the Waterfront. Who knows, hours before the game someone could have taken Brown aside and said: "Tonight's not your night, Larry. Your team's offense is going to take a hard fall in the 4th."
In boxing, the heavyweights draw the big money because of the possibility of the huge, one-punch knockout. You're right, though, that the division is almost bereft of any real talent. Vitali Klitschko, Chris Byrd, James Toney, John Ruiz and Lamon Brewster are the top contenders? Bleah.
Lightweight, middleweight, and junior welterweight, however, are just loaded with talent (especially the junior welterweight division, which should by all rights be the glamour division right now), and they do pretty good PPV business.
Pistons, baby! Someone's going to put Manu on his ass the first time he comes down the lane. (This, of course, assumes the Pistons are not forced to overcome the refs again.)
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 6:08 PM
Why would Labs' post mean that?
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 6:11 PM
Now you're a Pistons fan? I'm a little embarrassed for you.
Ben, because the kind of relationship in which questions like those are acceptable is usually a gettin' some relationship.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 6:36 PM
It's not so much that I'm a Pistons fan, as that I have a tendency to reframe these sorts of things into good vs. evil stories, and the Spurs are clearly Evil. Too much help from the refs, an undeserved reputations as "good guys," a soft superstar whose success has covered up some real weaknesses, etc. The Spurs are the new Celtics. If you loved and understood the NBA, this much would be clear.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 6:49 PM
Yeah, but what reason have we to believe that those questions were actually posed to Fontana by someone else? Precious little, I'd say.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 6:50 PM
I agree with you about Duncan, actually. But it's a stretch to make the Spurs the Celtics. The trouble is that both teams are pretty likable.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 7:01 PM
That you can't see that Bruce Bowen's "defense" is no different than the infamous McHale clothesline takedown of Rambis only demonstrates the cold bleak blackness of your heart.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 7:23 PM
You fashionably imply that having sex is always one's first priority. But unless this is your ONE OPPORTUNITY ALL YEAR TO HAVE SEX, you should be watching the Finals.
Earlier this week, I had sex instead of watching the Finals, and since then I've been learning what it means to live with regret.
Posted by Chris Brody | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 8:11 PM
Ogged, do you often find yourself in relationships in which the other person asks you if you're going to get any hotter? Or if your chest could get larger? "Well, now that we're having sex, I feel comfortable asking you about your hotness trajectory..."
Posted by FL | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 9:07 PM
I was watching the game, then I switched to pro wrestling. I'm very sorry, and it's been nice chatting with all of you.
Posted by FL | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 9:12 PM
Ogged, do you often find yourself in relationships
I think we can cut the question off here, really.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 9:12 PM
Labs, I can't imagine any other situation where someone would ask me those questions. Were you auditioning for something?
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 9:13 PM
Is Kurt Angle still on Smackdown? I love that guy.
Posted by baa | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 9:19 PM
Fucking refs.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 9:48 PM
Were you auditioning for something?
I assumed he was asking himself, in the mirror.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 10:42 PM
There was something painfully ironic about the postgame interview with Larry "Negotiating During The Playoffs" Brown in which the correspondent told Brown that there was a picture of him in the dictionary next to the word class. Next to "successful coach," sure. But class?
Posted by Matthew Yglesias | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 10:49 PM
It is interesting how the word "class" gets used in sports. In Brown's case, I think it means something like "gracious." But even that's a stretch, when you think about his relationship with Iverson. Maybe it just means that he reads books.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 10:53 PM
It's because he's a product of the UNC system. It imparts instant class, just like with Rasheed.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 11:12 PM
You joke, Apo, but Brown confuses me b/c of UNC.
I'm a huge admirer of Coach Smith, and actually believe that "basketball was only the second most important thing he taught his kids." Which makes it really hard to sort Larry out. He clearly idolizes Smith. He clearly intends, in some fashion, to model himself after Smith. But I can't imagine anything less like Smith than the neurotic ball of nerves that is Larry Brown.
Very wierd.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 06-23-05 11:29 PM
I hate this guy's TV ads. "I don't consider myself a basketball coach. I consider myself a leader." I consider him a fricking moleman.
He aparrently was appointed faculty member at Duke's Fuqua School of Business as part of The Fuqua/Coach K Center of Leadership and Ethics. Duke's Fuqua School of Business? The Fuqua/Coach K Center of Leadership and Ethics? Why haven't I heard jokes about this shit?
Posted by Joe O | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 1:14 AM
Baa, last night's main event was Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Geurrero. Shockingly, Mysterio won by displaying a lot of heart, coming back from adversity, etc. Good times.
Posted by FL | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 7:29 AM
Even I'll admit that Tim doesn't quite live up to expectations. But it's great to have him there drawing coverage, so that other guys are open.
He wasn't too shabby last night.
Posted by Joe Drymala | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 7:45 AM
I hope at some point someone said: "You were like family to me, now you're nothing!"
Rey Mysterio is quality entertainment. I need to get a TV again.
Posted by baa | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 8:03 AM
The announcers' main theme was "They were like brothers once...but that's not how you treat a brother!"
What I love about the Mysterio style is that its acrobatic theatricality not only reduces the effectiveness of the moves, but does so in an obvious way. I can't believe he jumps off the ropes so reliably.
Posted by FL | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 8:09 AM
More cruiserweights, fewer big slow steroid cases. That would be my advice to the WWE. Although it warmed my Neoconservative heart to hear crowds across America chanting "Goldberg! Goldberg!"
Have you noticed, also, how frequently WWE turns sterotypical tropes against themselves? To wit, the two biggest heels being obnoxious self-made man/patriot in his own mind JBL and (all time great villain) "Olympic Hero" Kurt Angle.
Posted by baa | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 8:27 AM
[redacted]
Posted by [redacted] | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 8:57 AM
True, it's parallel even to the Virgil-like figure of Orlando Jordan. However, I think a big part of the heel appeal of JBL is his insuferable "I am an American Patriot" spiel. Everyone knows a guy like that. It's similar to when Angle did the great parody of sports-as-character-building hooey with his "three Is: Intelligence, Intensity, and Integrity" while at the same time being a classic pussilanimous cheater. Good times!
I was so hoping the WWE would pull the ultimate coalition of the willing move and have the Iron Sheik (newly inducted into the hall-of-fame, as I am sure you saw) join up with Hogan to beat up on the new Arab villain. If I ran the WWE, you'd see that kind of thing all the time.
Posted by baa | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 9:12 AM
I have a friend here in NC who did a stint as the commissioner of the East Coast Wrestling League, and they had the Iron Sheik come in for an appearance at one of their events. My friend picked him up at the airport and said the first thing the guy did was pull out and light a zucchini-sized joint. He turned out to be a super-nice, fairly quiet guy.
I didn't know (before I was told the above story) that he had been an Olympic wrestler for Iran and a bodyguard for the Shah.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 9:26 AM
More cruiserweights, fewer big slow steroid cases. That would be my advice to the WWE.
Yeah, but that'd be advice to give professional boxing, too. The only problem with it is that it doesn't seem to work. The people who draw money still tend to be gigantic, immobile and increasingly unskilled bores.
From this I think one could make a tired point about sports viewership being an outlet for suppressed homoerotic impulses, but I don't really have the energy. You do have to admit, though, that the big guys end up being more charismatic. Guerrero got vastly better mic skills than, say, Big Show, but until the actual wrestling starts, he's somehow much less compelling.
None of this changes how awesome Kurt Angle is, of course.
Posted by tom | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 11:55 AM
It is interesting how the word "class" gets used in sports.
Is it different from the normal (mis)use of the word, in which it helps to spell it with a "k"?
I was thinking that "class" has a specific meaning in horse racing--dominance--which might have filtered into other sports. If, indeed, there is some specific sports-meaning.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 11:57 AM
Maybe it was a reference to On the Waterfront. Who knows, hours before the game someone could have taken Brown aside and said: "Tonight's not your night, Larry. Your team's offense is going to take a hard fall in the 4th."
Posted by eb | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 12:03 PM
In boxing, the heavyweights draw the big money because of the possibility of the huge, one-punch knockout. You're right, though, that the division is almost bereft of any real talent. Vitali Klitschko, Chris Byrd, James Toney, John Ruiz and Lamon Brewster are the top contenders? Bleah.
Lightweight, middleweight, and junior welterweight, however, are just loaded with talent (especially the junior welterweight division, which should by all rights be the glamour division right now), and they do pretty good PPV business.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 12:14 PM
So what explains the appeal of John Cena?
And I agree with Tom that there's something mezmerizing about the Big Show...
Posted by baa | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 12:23 PM
Fontana many not be getting some, but profgrrrrl is.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 2:52 PM
PG is a public school teacher?
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 2:56 PM
Public university, maybe.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 2:57 PM
Anyway, that's awesome for her. Too bad her site has slowed to a crawl.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 06-24-05 2:57 PM
Is it acceptable for Eric Bishoff to let Chris Jerico assult Cena. Remember Vince M. was in the building too. Shouldn't he have stopped it
Posted by Kai | Link to this comment | 08- 4-05 2:12 PM