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A Second Look at "Second Wind"

 

Looking back at Bill Russell's 1979 memoir.

NBA WEEK: A Meditation on the Geriatric Celtics Roster And Why It Doesn’t Matter

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NBA WEEK: A Fan's Top Ten Storylines

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NBA WEEK: Puddles of Myself 2012-2013 NBA Season Preview, Part 1

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Theoharides and Domino: The NBA Offseason Breakdown

The Olympics are over and training camp doesn't start for a month, so Alex Theohardies (@Minne_Pop) and Matt Domino thought it was a good time to break down the insane NBA offseason.

45-15-5

 Matt Domino weighs in on last night's game and Lebron's 45-15-5 performance.

The Puddles of Myself 2012 NBA Playoffs Predictions, Part 2

 Matt Domino continues with Part 2 of his 2012 NBA Playoffs predictions. 

Love and the NBA

Alex Theoharides (@Minne_Pop) sorts through his heartbreak to ruminate on Ricky Rubio's injury, the Minnesota Timberwolves, love, and writing.

Must See TV

*Editor's Note: I'm posting this after watching the Celtics lose to the Heat in five games last night. That series was easily a seven game series fit inside of five competitive, exciting and hard fought games that featured excellent defense without slogging play. I hope this is not the end of this Celtics team as we've known them. Even though I have wanted the Heat to win the title all year out of curiosity for their great experiment and what they could possibly achieve if they ever figured it out, I love this Boston Celtics team. I've loved them for the past four seasons. There is something right about the team, from their mixture of talent and chemistry right down to their love of each other and their toughness. Now that they are out of the playoffs, it feels like I have finished a novel where I loved the characters so much that I didn't want to see them go. However, I had to because there was still another story to keep reading and that story may just be the more compelling one than the novel with the characters I loved so much.

It’s no secret that I watch a lot of sports. However, as much as I watch sports, I read about them ten times that amount. I love finding out what all the sportswriters thought about the action of the night before; what meaning they ascribed to a shot or facial expression or the dynamics between players on a specific play.  Sports are rife with symbolism, and signs and symbols are what lie at the heart of our conversations and at the root of our thought.

Despite the amount of sports I watch, I perhaps have only one or two friends who truly love sports, the act of watching a game, the meaning to be gained from a sporting event and the warmth of story and of history wrapping and unfolding around you as the action plays on the screen. My childhood friend Jeff is the main person I talk to about sports. We text during basketball games, football games and even huge golf or tennis events. Hell, one of my favorite sports memories was watching Smarty Jones lose at the Belmont back in 2004 while we ate steaks and drank beer at his old house on the Long Island Sound as the sun set in May and we prepared for our first college summer. I talk to Jeff about sports because I know he understands the moment. My brain retains stats and history better than his (sorry, Jeff, its true) but we both understand the moment and what it means. Plus he has more channels on his TV in the house he lives in now so he gets to watch more games than me.

This past weekend, on Mother’s Day, I happened to be texting with another friend of mine who is starting to love basketball.  He was watching the Lakers implode and lash out against the Mavericks as they lost in disgrace in the Western Conference Semifinals. He texted me about some of Phil Jackson’s funny and off-the-cuff remarks during his press conference about taking peyote. I was immediately itchy and jealous because I wanted to be watching Phil speak, but I was out to dinner with my family.  I pictured Phil at the podium or press table, that slow grin on his face that’s stuck there after any loss because he’s won so much in his career. I could hear his gravelly voice. And I imagined the weight of the moment sinking in. Far off reporter’s voices would sound their muffled questions and Phil would answer. The room would be warm with stale May air and the stadium smell of popcorn, while outside, people in Dallas sunk into the rest of their Sunday afternoon. “This might have been Phil Jackson’s last game as a coach in the NBA.”

I texted my friend: I hate family and I hate girls. They take me away from sports. Of course I was joking—maybe.

The NBA Playoffs have been fantastic, but I’m ashamed to say that I have missed two defining games of these playoffs and also maybe in NBA lore: The Roy Time Machine Game and the Rondo Elbow Game. These are two performances that make it known immediately that History is happening and making itself clearly known to you.  History occurs every day in every small aspect of our lives—we are most definitely History, the culmination of History and Myth—but it is only in those rare instances where History actually makes itself completely visible and graspable and many of those instances occur in sports.

Earlier in the season, they said that Brandon Roy was done. Roy has been the face of the Portland Trailblazers since 2006 when he was drafted into the league.  He has helped reclaim the Portland franchise from being known as the Jailblazers and restored them to the Blazers of Bill Walton’s day—a roster of hard working, team-oriented players. However, like Walton, Roy’s knees have been an issue from Day 1.  And this year it was reported that Roy had no meniscus in his knee, no cartilage to absorb the impact that comes with playing the game of basketball at the highest level, which is what Roy has done since he entered the league. Then, on Saturday, April 23, 2011 Brandon Roy and History crossed paths. The Blazers were down to the Mavericks by 23 points in the third quarter and then trailed by 16 entering the fourth quarter.  That is when Brandon Roy took over. He started driving into the lane, using his unique blend of size and off-speed movement and laying in floaters. He spilled to the baseline as the normally fervent Rose Garden crowd took their pitch to another level, bodies exploding up with raised hands after each basket. Barely anyone was sitting as you could almost feel them trying to figure out if they were in 2008 or in 2011.  Roy tied the game at 82-82 with a little over a minute remaining by converting a four-point play. It seemed like the crowd’s collective head was going to explode. Then, with under a minute to go, Roy hit a bank shot to put the Blazers up 84-82. It was as if the knee problems, the rumors of his career being over, never happened. And when Jason Terry missed a last second three that had a chance to go, the crowd erupted even more than they had before. Seeing everyone pump their fists and jump up and down as a dejected Dirk Nowitzki walked off the floor gave me goose bumps.  And I didn’t even see any of this live. It just gave me goose bumps as I watched the recap on mute on my computer at work.  That’s when you know a game was great. But I missed out on the jaw dropping phenomenon of watching a game like that live, when your skin crawls the entire time and the power of the moment spreads to you, the viewer at home, and you feel like you could take on the world, just like Brandon Roy did on April 23, 2011.  Where was I at the time? I was on a miserable ride home on the LIRR, tracking the game on my iPhone.

Rajon Rondo is currently one of my favorite players in the NBA. He may not be as dependable or offensively skilled as a scorer like Derrick Rose is, but he is a playmaking freak and force of nature. Rondo’s ability to control the basketball, to make freakish layups with his alien hands, is unparalleled in the league (well, maybe, Chris Paul can match it). Some of the moves and motions he makes when he drives or moves the ball around the key have never been seen on a basketball court. Rose is a phenomenal player, an MVP, but he is not singular. We do have Russell Westbrook after all.

This past Saturday, the Boston Celtics played the Miami Heat in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Heat had taken a 2-0 lead in the series and were clearly acting as the aggressors against an aging Boston team that usually prides itself on its toughness, on being the team that lands the first blow to the face. The Celtics needed Game 3 and they came out like it. I watched in the kitchen of my parents' home as Boston pulled ahead early.  However, Miami came back and took a lead going into halftime, as the Boston Garden crowd grew anxious.

The Celtics came out with aggression in the third quarter and took a lead.  However, during the quarter as Dwyane Wade drove to the basket, he and Rondo got tangled and fell to the floor. I received a text message from my friend Jeff.

Jeff: I just almost threw up seeing that hyperextension on Rondo’s elbow

Me: I missed it

Jeff: Oh man it like bent the way it should but backwards so sickening

Where was I? I was in the basement of my friend’s mom’s house drinking beer and waiting to go the local bar in my hometown.  We didn’t have the TV on because no one likes watching basketball.  I saw the footage after the fact.  How it looked like Wade might have swept Rondo down in the awkward position, but it was really just incidental contact. Then, how Rondo had to leave the court and how the initial rumors from the locker room were that his season might be over due to a dislocated elbow. I watched further as Rondo then came back to a roaring ovation from the crowd and proceeded to fuel the Celtics to a victory running around the court with his left arm looking like dead weight.  He managed to play with one hand and even came up with an amazing steal before swooping in for a patented, slinky Rondo layup. I scanned the crowd as I watched the replays and saw the Boston Garden crowd, which is already one of my favorite crowds in the NBA, going absolutely nuts each time Rondo did something. They exploded with ten times the force of a reaction to a Ray Allen three pointer and that is the single best crowd reaction in the NBA today. I got chills seeing Rondo walk back onto the court and as I watched, I focused on one fan who was just idly clapping as he noticed Rondo entering the game again. The fan pauses for a second and then immediately explodes as the excitement spreads to the rest of the crowd. Rondo was not Rondo for the rest of the game, but he tipped a ball away with his injured hand and put the effort out there and that stood as a symbol to the crowd and the team, that they weren’t going to let History be written without their say, not on that night.  Rondo and History intersected and it was a brief moment where History gleamed bright and apparent.

Basically, this is a literary way of saying that as a sports fan you feel a constant urge to be in front of the TV whenever there is a game on because you might miss that very direct line to seeing History directly. We can move about each day in our own mundane, yet mythically important ways, but its never easier, never more direct than when a great sporting moment arrives.  There are plenty of blowouts and no shows. There are teams that are simply overmatched no matter how much we want them to succeed as the underdog.  However, there are those rare days and nights, those special games where history crosses paths with a specific team or individual and it is loud and clear. History is in the hands of that player or that team and they can mold it. That’s why we sift through the everyday, for that chance to take History by the reins and write what we want. That’s why the sports fan never wants to leave the TV.

2011 NBA Playoffs

The 2011 NBA Playoffs officially started on Saturday, April 16, but I was in the final moments of my vacation (aka a delayed flight to Dallas, missing a connection in Dallas to LaGuardia, re-routing to Newark, having the flight delayed because of torrential weather in New York, having take-off delayed because of a sick passenger, sitting while a passenger had a heart attack or some other issue on the plane and an oxygen tank was wheeled out and then having a delayed exit due to having to wait for paramedics to arrive to take care of the fallen passenger). And since I was on vacation for the entire week I couldn’t properly prepare an NBA Playoffs Preview before the Playoffs got under way. So, now that all the series have one game in the books (*as of the writing of this post) it seems like a much better time to actually gauge what to look for and expect out of these series. Does that make any sense? Maybe not, but we are going to roll with it because the Playoffs are going to be great, I need to put my two-cents in about all the teams and after today you’ll get plenty of music and other rambling, existential posts to feast on.

Let’s dive right in shall we?

Eastern Conference:

First Round:

1. Chicago Bulls vs. 8. Indiana Pacers

The Bulls have in many ways overachieved this season due to the fantastic play of Derrick Rose. A lot of people expected them to be good, but no one expected them to be the number one seed in the East and also the favorite to represent the East in the Finals heading into the Playoffs. All of this has occurred while the team has not truly been healthy with all their parts until the last two months, when they have really picked up steam. Rose is playing out of his mind this year and is clearly the MVP as his clutch performance in Game 1 to steal the upset from the Pacers perfectly exhibited. The Pacers are a very likeable team with some good pieces. Tyler Hansbrough is a great effort guy who has improved his shot; Daren Collison is a quick and improving point guard; Roy Hibbert is a mediocre to above average center who can give you solid numbers and a big game from here to there; Danny Granger is a solid player; Jeff Foster is tough; Brandon Rush can give you minutes and points; Posey has championship experience; Josh McRoberts can also give some minutes off the bench and play a few positions; Paul George is a young, raw talent that has upside and this playoff run can only help him learn. All that is nice and makes for a compelling watch, but they don’t have a truly go-to player (Granger is certainly not that piece). They still lack a cohesion that a dominant presence would help provide.  Because of that, they can’t match Rose and the way pieces like Deng, Boozer, Noah, Gibson and Korver fit nicely into place on the Bulls.

Prediction: Bulls in 5.

2. Miami Heat vs. 7. Philadelphia 76ers

For me this is tough because I have a natural allegiance with the Sixers, but out of all the Philadelphia teams, I have the least connection with them. I’ve always been a Wade fan and I tend to appreciate the bad guy, so I route for the Heat. The Heat have been playing well over the past month and are starting to utilize more diverse and solid portions of their offense like the varied potentials off the Wade and LeBron pick n’ roll, which has opened things up for them. The 76ers are a young team with a lot of talent. As Bill Simmons pointed out, their best player Andre Iguodala realized that he wasn’t their best player and has settled into a Scottie Pippen-esque roll of playing great perimeter defense. The only problem is, he can’t shoot like Scottie and there is no dominant player to compliment. They have nice pieces like Jrue Holliday, Thaddeus Young and Evan Turner, as well as good role players like Lou Williams and the glorified Elton Brand. That will certainly not hold up against the Heat.

Prediction: Heat in 4

3. Boston Celtics vs. 6. New York Knicks

You can’t argue with this series. Two classic franchises and two “Garden” arenas. Its great to add an historical element to the Playoffs as well as two of the best home crowds in not only the NBA, but all of sports (that Boston explosion when Ray Allen hits a three—like he did in Game 1—is maybe the best current crowd reaction in sports). The atmosphere of each of these games alone will make it worth watching even if there’s a sweep. But there won’t be a sweep because the Celtics are struggling into the postseason like they did last year. However, whereas last year’s team was a run down car that could still run perfectly if the owner would let the right person drive it (i.e. the Big Three realizing that Rondo was the key to the offense) this year’s team has new features and gears and that right driver (Rondo) is experiencing a loss in confidence. Meanwhile, the Knicks have plenty of offensive firepower but are lacking in size and defense, though the defense has been improving as Game 1 showed. The Knicks fans are excited about the team being in the Playoffs and expect a lot, but I think this hard fought series is going to bring out the competitive fire in the Celtics and key them to a cohesion they’ve been lacking.

Prediction: Celtics in 6

4. Magic vs. 5. Hawks

The Hawks are one of the more boring teams in the NBA. Each year they entice you with a good collection of talent who just never seem to care how to learn how to actually play well or with heart. Yet, they get to the 5 seed each year because of the talent they have. They are still boring this year, but they have a certain toughness that they lacked last year, even if they still don’t have great effort. They are also matching up against a Magic team that has not been able to develop chemistry all year and as also taken a step back defensively. For example, in Game 1, Dwight Howard dropped 46 points and grabbed 19 rebounds and the Magic lost. He was dominant and the Magic still lost. However, despite their struggles, I still think they will win the series, even though it will be the worst series out of the entire Playoffs.

Prediction: Magic in 7

Semifinals:

1. Chicago Bulls vs. 4. Orlando Magic

This matchup actually favors the Magic because they don’t have anyone that can truly stop Dwight. Boozer can’t match his strength, quickness or length. Noah can bother his shot but not his size. Asik has the size and good defense but is too inexperienced. However, the Magic have no one to really match Rose and their team defense has slipped so they will have trouble slowing him down when he decides to take over a game like he just did in Game 1 against the Pacers. They have no one who can really make him a jump shooter for even short stretches. Dwight can alter his shot, but that won’t be enough to help them win the series.

Prediction: Chicago in 6

2. Miami Heat vs. 3. Boston Celtics

The Heat lost the season series to the Celtics, but each game was close. The Heat managed to win the last matchup of the season against a Celtics team that was (and still is) struggling with their chemistry. By this round I expect the Celtics to have their chemistry back after having to strong-arm the Knicks out of the Playoffs. So, what will make this series different from the regular season? The first thing is that the Heat have been playing better over the past month. The second is that because it’s the Playoffs, Spolestra can play LeBron, Wade and Bosh more minutes than he would have been inclined to during the regular season. You tie that into the fact that you give great players like LeBron and Wade that small taste of beating the Celtics at the end of the season, of knowing that they can, and that changes things. Doc Rivers will have his own wrinkles and plays to draw up, but it still feels like the Heat are holding back some of their Wade/LeBron offense and I think they unveil a lot of the tricks here.

Prediction: Tough, classic series. Heat in 7

Eastern Conference Finals:

1. Chicago Bulls vs. 2. Miami Heat

The key to this series is the fact that the Heat can and will stick both LeBron and Wade on Derrick Rose. Rose will certainly make his crazy floaters and layups as well as take a game or two by himself, but having that luxury of switching the bigger and just as fast Lebron or the craftier, better defensively, Wade on Rose is something that most teams don’t have. They can also buy minutes by sticking Chalmers on Rose, who should be able to at least rough him up. Bibby becomes a key to this series because if he can make threes like he has been, then the Heat can stretch the tight Chicago defense and open up the lanes for LeBron and Wade. If those two can also work their two man game into the flow of the offense then that leaves room for the Heat to work the ball down to Bosh as the series goes on because the Bulls will have to decide which aspect of the offense to focus on. Bosh needs to be aggressive against Boozer and the Heat need Anthony to match Noah’s energy. The key is that if the Bulls get cold and can’t generate offense, how much will they be able to lean on Rose this far into the playoffs, especially if he is getting hounded by LeBron and Wade for the entire series. I think that catches up to the Bulls and the experience and overall greatness of Wade and LeBron win out.

Prediction: Heat in 7

Western Conference:

First Rounds:

1. San Antonio Spurs vs. 8. Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizzlies have a tough team as Game 1 exhibited. The Spurs went on one of their spine-crushing runs at the end of the game when Bonner hit two clutch three-pointers, but the Grizzlies were able to bounce back and win thanks to Shane Battier’s three-pointer. The Spurs of old would have won that game and crushed the morale of this young Memphis team, but Memphis has a lot of really good pieces like Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, Tony Allen, O.J. Mayo, Sam Young, Dorrell Arthur and Battier. They have size and experience to bother the Spurs who are very young besides Duncan, Parker, Ginobli and McDyess.  I think Ginobli will come back and the Spurs will pull out one of their moral crushing wins along the way. It will not be easy, but the Spurs will win.

Prediction: Spurs in 7

2. Los Angeles Lakers vs. New Orleans Hornets

Chris Paul has been nursing his recovering knee all season. He has shown flashes of his old speed and brilliance but has also looked slow and washed up. In Game 1, he looked like his old self and even better. He turned in what is already being considered a masterful point guard performance—I watched it, it was. Paul’s greatness alone (even though his role players, like Carl Landry are tough competitors) can’t carry this team. This is the kind of series that the Lakers use to wake themselves up and get rid of their overconfidence. The Hornets will make some of these games close, but I see the Lakers pulling away in the end.

Prediction: Lakers in 5

3. Dallas Mavericks vs. 6. Portland Trailblazers

The Blazers have a very long, versatile team. They can trot out a frontcourt of Nic Batum, Lamarcus Aldridge and Gerald Wallace or they can mix it up and insert Camby with Lamarcus Aldridge and Wallace or put Batum in with Wallace and Camby for a shut down defensive unit. They also have Andre Miller to guide the offense and Brandon Roy coming off the bench for control and whatever intangibles he can still add with his terrible knees. The Mavericks basically have Dirk. Kidd is just a three-point shooter, Terry is streaky, Marion is over the hill and Chandler will be neutralized by the Blazers’ frontcourt. I just don’t know who the Mavericks go to besides Dirk. It’s going to be a tough and very close series, but I see the Blazers pulling it out in the end.

Prediction: Blazers in 7

4. Oklahoma City Thunder vs. 5. Denver Nuggets

This was perhaps the most intriguing series of the entire Playoffs on paper and after watching Game 1 last night, I still feel that way. The Nuggets are so deep and have so many good, likeable and hard working players like Raymond Felton, Ty Lawson, Aaron Afflalo, Nene, Danilo Galinari, Wilson Chandler, Kenyon Martin, Chris Anderson.  They are a tough team but they have no true go-to player. Lawson and Felton can give Westbrook, Harden and Maynor problems in the backcourt with their speed, especially when they play together. The only issue is that they have no one player who can go basket for basket with either Durant or Westbrook. The Thunder have greater size, but the Nuggets can send tough defensive players at Perkins and Ibaka. The post-Carmelo Nuggets like each other and are playing much more freely now that they have the weight of Carmelo off their back, but the Thunder are the true team of the future and I can’t help but see them make progress off of last year.

Prediction: Thunder in 6

Semifinals:

1. San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

This is a “changing of the guard series.” The GM of the Thunder is Sam Presti who has ties to the San Antonio Spurs organization and the sound way they built their franchise around a low-key, super competitive and smart super-star. The Spurs are on their way out as a truly dominant franchise, despite their great record this season. The Thunder are on the rise with stars like Durant and Westbrook and now Ibaka and Perkins down low as their anchors. With Perkins being a tough defensive presence down low, Ibaka is now able to roam and make more athletic plays at his natural position of power forward rather than playing center. Parker and Ginobli don’t have a true advantage over Westbrook and Durant and I think the Thunder take this series from the Spurs.

Prediction: Thunder in 6

2. Los Angeles Lakers vs. 6. Portland Trailblazers

The Blazers’ depth and their length can definitely bother the Lakers. You can go to war against Odom, Bynum, Gasol and Artest with Batum, Aldridge, Wallace and Camby, hell the Blazers frontline this year may even be better than that Lakers frontline now that I look at the names. Miller and Fischer are both crafty veterans at the point guard and they play to a draw with their clutch ability and playmaking. Batum is certainly capable of slowing down Kobe, but can he stop him? I’m not sure. This year he may have a chance, but with Kobe there are always those intangibles. Even when the Lakers lost to the Hornets on Sunday, Kobe just started having that look, that M.J. look where you just feel like all the tough shots are going to go in. That is something you earn over time and I don’t know where that strange, spiritual element of the game appears on the Blazers. It will be a good series and the Blazers should be in almost every game, but this just seems like the Lakers will prevail.

Prediction: Lakers in 6

Western Conference Finals:

2. Los Angeles Lakers vs. 4. Oklahoma City Thunder

This is Durant and company’s chance to get revenge on last year; however, this still seems like one year too early. Perkins will definitely help them against Gasol, Bynum and Odom as will the newly freed and improved Ibaka. However, I still believe the Lakers are bigger and more experienced. Artest can play Durant tough and the Lakers can use Kobe at key spots to slow down Durant. The Lakers may just make Westbrook and Durant beat them, which will make the series close but won’t make them lose it. I think the Thunder come to the brink, but the Lakers prevail in one those crazy endings like they did against the Suns last year.

Prediction: Lakers in 7

2011 NBA Finals

2. Los Angeles Lakers vs. 2. Miami Heat

This is not an original prediction but it is the NBA Finals that I believe that most people want to see and it may be the NBA Finals that saves the league from a momentum-killing lockout. The NBA is riding such a high right now and will be throughout these playoffs that I have to hope that this series happens. The amount of stars will be legendary and nearly unparalleled. The Heat will need Dampier and his size to come up big and for some reason I feel like if the Heat make it this far, Haslem will come back from his injury and contribute one great, gritty intangible moment that shifts the series. In the end I believe that the Lakers will be too tired and that LeBron and Wade will carry the Heat to the title. The other key factor will be the fact that Bosh and Gasol sort of mirror each other and it seems like Bosh actually feels like he’s tougher than Gasol, which helps his mentality throughout the series. The Heat can wear down and annoy Bynum with Dampier’s size and Anthony’s energy and they can throw Ilgauskus in there for spots to pull Bynum away. The Heat match up with the Lakers better than any team in the East and if they get to the Finals, they will prevail even though we will see some great heroics from Kobe and Odom and a few shots of LeBron and Artest going face to face and Kobe and Wade trading steals and dives along the court. Just those images are giving me goose bumps and making me feel slightly better at not picking the Celtics and Lakers rubber match as great as that would be—and it is just some level of Celtics confidence and swagger away from happening. It’s all up for grabs, but this is what I’m predicting.

Prediction: Heat in 7

Theoharides On the NBA

I hope you're enjoying your Wednesday, my Puddlers.  Although, I hate referring to days of the week in that manner. In the way that people will say, "Happy Friday!" as though it were a holiday. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate each day, but you have to give the days of the week credit for their workman like quality to just keep churning out hours and weather day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year. It's their workmanlike quality that makes them so stellar, we don't need to speak of them as if they were a holiday—their holiness lies in their ordinary nature.

Anyway, since I'll be on vacation next week and there are so many great sports items coming up, we're bringing you another sports post today. It's Wednesday, so Alex Theoharides will be bringing you his thoughts on some NBA storylines. Its nice to know I can hand over the reigns to another NBA fan—even if his opinions may be slightly skewed (i.e. his thoughts on Kevin Love).

But, I'll step aside and leave you with Mr. Theoharides:




Theoharides On the NBA


Alex Theoharides

Bill Simmons summed up Monday’s championship game between UConn and Butler best, when he tweeted, “April, 2011: the month that women’s college basketball caught up to men’s college basketball.” Amen. For most of the title game, both teams were playing like they were auditioning for roles in a movie made about the intramural basketball team I co-captained in college. Yes, the team that went 0 and 11 for the season. Three point shots were heaved in the general direction of the rim. Lay-ups were thrown up as if the goal of the game were not to score but to break the backboard. The inbounds plays seemed like they were designed by kindergartners. The ball handling was too ugly to be shown in a Ron Jeremy production, let alone a college basketball game. Ugh. I mean, Butler made only 12 field goals in the game. Out of 64 shots. Yes, 18.8 percent. And everyone’s celebrating UConn’s fine defensive performance, but Butler was getting open shots. They just couldn’t make them.

Now that the excruciating NCAA Championship is over, it’s time to turn back to the Association, aka, the only real basketball league left in this country. Before looking forward to the upcoming playoffs, I’d like to look back on a few of the top stories from the regular season, which as my good friend Jon recently reminded me, really doesn’t mean a thing (and really, he should know, he’s a masochist, err, excuse me, a Cleveland sports fan). That being said, I like to think of the regular season as a time of reflection, when good players are mistakenly made out to be superstars, smart veterans play at 75% of their capabilities, and hair-brained talking heads like Skip Bayliss earn bogus salaries pretending to be journalists. In short, the regular season is all about hype. With further ado, the top four over-hyped stories of the 2010-2011 NBA Regular Season. (And don’t forget to check back next week, for the under-hyped stories heading into the post-season. And perhaps a few fearless predictions!)

Overrated:

4. Kevin Love, Kevin Love, Kevin Love

Look, ever since I moved to Minnesota, I’ve watched countless Timberwolves games. I want to like them, and I really want to like Kevin Love, especially after he recorded a 30-30 game (30 rebounds, 30 points) and went on a string of 53 straight double-doubles. Both accomplishments are impressive. But all they are is fluff, which covers up for the fact that K. Love is a terrible defender, a limited offensive player, and an average teammate. Supposedly, he’s the savior of the Wolves, and the talking heads have made a big deal about the fact that Love’s numbers are better than Kevin Garnett’s. Yes, except for one fairly important thing. With KG the Wolves were a perennial playoff team. With Love, they have the worst record in the Western Conference.  

Sure, a large part of that has to do with the fact that the Wolves have the youngest roster in the league and a terrible coach in Kurt Rambis, who still seems to believe that the Wolves should be running the triangle offense even though it has only worked for two teams - Jordan’s Bulls, Kobe’s Lakers. Yeah, I don’t think the Wolves have quite the same make-up as those two teams. Still, K. Love never should have been an All Star. Lamarcus Aldridge was far more deserving. Love’s a nice player, who rebounds and can make the three-ball. But that’s it. I can’t ever picture him starring for an NBA Championship team. For instance, would he have gotten much run on last year’s Lakers. Or the 2008 Celtics? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

3. Carmelo Anthony Forcing a Move to New York

I grew up during the modern heyday of the Knicks when Patrick Ewing roamed the paint swatting shots and missing clutch baskets and John Starks used to slap the floor on every key defensive possession. Knicks fans love defense. It’s what they chant. It’s what their favorite teams have played. Who were my favorite players as a kid? Starks and Charles Oakley. Both of whom were ferocious, aggressive defenders. The Knicks of my youth played such violent, rigorous defense that they effectively ruined offensive basketball in the NBA, forcing Commissioner David Stern to change the hand checking rules on defense.

Everyone knows what happened to the Knicks in the years following the Riley and Van Gundy era. But now they have Carmelo, a talented player, who I loved watching in college. He is a silky smooth scorer, and a true triple threat on offense. But he hasn’t proven to be a real MVP type player in the NBA yet, and ultimately, his decision to leave the Nuggets for New York will have had little effect on the season. The Nuggets wouldn’t have won the championship with him, and the Knicks won’t win the championship now that they’ve acquired him. For all the talk it garnered, both of the teams most directly involved in the so-called Carmelo sweep stake are essentially exactly right where they would have been if it had never happened.

Yes, Carmelo has a chance to bring the Knicks back to their glory days. But if that’s going to happen, they need to acquire a few more pieces that fit with his offense first, slow the ball down mentality. In short, they need some defenders. Carmelo and the Knicks will be a big story in a few years. He’s the sort of player that needs the criticism the New York media will bring. In Denver, he played with head cases (ie: JR Smith, the Birdman, Kenyon Martin) and he was treated as a star. In New York, he’ll be blamed for the losses, and the media will pick apart his every move. Hopefully, this criticism will motivate him to develop into the star everyone seems to think he is. If that happens, the Knicks could prove to be a thrilling rival for the Miami Cheats down the road - just not this season.

2. The Celtics Early Season Dominance

I should preface this by admitting that the Celtics are my favorite current NBA team. For God’s sake, as I write this column, I’m wearing a Celtic’s t-shirt. And I, along with every other fan of the team, was ready to anoint them world champions two months into the NBA calendar. However, what we all missed is how old and slow they can look. When they’re at their best, Rondo is flying up and down the court, whipping one-handed passes to open teammates. When they’re at their worst, Paul Pierce is sluggishly dribbling from side to side, trying to find a way to score. I hated the Kendrick Perkins trade, but I don’t think they could have won the championship with him and I’m fairly certain they won’t without him. They just look too old. (And yes, all of that, was my attempt at a reverse jinx.)

1. The Downfall of the Lakers

Standing alongside everyone who handed the trophy over to the Celtics two months into the season, was a large group of people who were excitedly promoting the fall of the Lakers. It was finally here! The team everyone loves to hate (me more than most) was finally crumbling. They were old! Kobe was injured! Phil Jackson had lost his touch! Now they look like the best team in the league. And I look really stupid eating crow.

Back to Business AKA Deadlines

The Free Forest City Redemption Project is over, my Puddlers, and now you’re back to following my sensitive, nostalgic and ignorant musings while also enjoying the brief respite of thoughtful commentary from guest columnists.  We will have another Mark Jack column on Friday as well as a new guest columnist’s debut tomorrow. I’ll introduce that columnist tomorrow and hopefully he will be contributing another weekly column that will add its own dynamic to the narrative of this site. Later this week I’ll post another one of my long, epic columns where I discuss the greatness of the new Strokes album Angles and the Woody Allen movie, Manhattan.

However, today I have to catch all of you sports fans up on the current events in the NBA (I’ve also been watching A LOT of college basketball, but I’ll spare you those thoughts this year since I don’t want to anger any basketball gods due to the fact that my Tar Heels are a fragile but very talented young bunch who have a chance to do something in the NCAA tournament). Over the course of the past three weeks, the NBA has gone through such a huge mid-season upheaval on multiple levels. I want to break down those changes and stories by talking about a few of the teams that went through the most major changes and that will lead us into the league-wide stories at large.

- We start of course with the Miami Heat. Obviously there has never been a more scrutinized team in NBA history or perhaps sports history than the 2010-2011 Miami Heat. Much of the scrutiny is due to the fact that Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade made such a spectacle of their union. However, what truly separates this team and their attention from any other team in history is the fact that their union as a team coincides with media (especially sports media) reaching its most fervent and crazed pitch. Take for instance this past period of insanity where sports news was focused squarely on the fact that the Heat took an important, playoff-caliber game against the Chicago Bulls so seriously that some of the players might have cried after they lost. There argument can certainly be made that a team that expects to win the title should not be crying after an NBA regular season game in March. I understand that argument, but the media had been so consumed with the following narrative: The Heat act as if they are entitled to a championship and expect the league to just hand it over to them so they don’t care about the games, they don’t put in their full effort. Here you had superstars who didn’t fully understand the pressure and the antagonism they would face in this new world where any event that goes wrong (see 2011 Oscars) is dissected in minutia by pundits on Twitter or Facebook in moment by moment increments. The 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls were the last professional team in any sport to garner this much attention. However, 1995-1996 is a completely different landscape technologically than 2010-2011. Our culture is drastically different as well. In that time, we still wanted our heroes to fail just as much as we wanted them to succeed, but we didn’t have the means to totally reflect or exploit this desire in ourselves as much as we do now.  How often do people use Twitter or Facebook or their favorite blog to complain, insult or poke fun at someone or something? I know that I do it. I use these mediums to poke fun at my friends, sports figures and celebrities almost as much as I use them to poke fun at myself and the actual digital or online presence I am engaging in and creating. We do not exist in the world of Michael Jordan. The world of Michael Jordan was a world where we could plausibly believe that there was a person that could be universally adored or admired for sheer will and success.  Now, we live in the time of the Miami Heat. That is to say, we live in a time perhaps of a true reality—a time where there is no one person, one thing or entity that is sacred. We adore nothing and only wish for things to fail so that we can anoint a new successor.  Perhaps through some level of success, the Miami Heat will be able to generate a bit of adoration, some modicum of appreciation for effort and the public admission to experiment with the game of basketball that will unite people.  After the Heat hit rock bottom with a five game losing streak, they have won consecutive games against the Lakers, Grizzlies and Spurs who are all playoff bound teams. There is an aspect of hope for them as they make a run to the playoffs. Yet, the problem with the Miami Heat is that they were never meant to play a game of basketball, they were only meant to make us wonder. So, in that sense, we actually live in a time that values less than reality, not hyper-reality or actual reality.

- The team that made the most controversial trade in the NBA was the Boston Celtics. The Celtics traded their defensive enforcer and one of their fan-favorite players in Kendrick Perkins (along with disappointing Nate Robinson) to the Oklahoma City Thunder for underachieving Jeff Green and solid offensively but not great defensively Nenad Kristic. This trade came as a shock to even league insiders.  The main reason being that the Celtics claimed they lost the 2010 Finals to the Lakers because Perkins was injured in Game 6 and they couldn’t get a rebound down the stretch in Game 7 when they truly needed it. The Celtics based the 2010-2011 season on the fact that they were getting Perkins back, they were deeper on the front line, they all liked each other and they were going to march their way to the Finals to avenge their heartbreaking loss. The Perkins Trade basically annihilated the company line. It also marked the end of one of my favorite teams to watch over the past four years. The Celtics with Perkins had everything: the mercurial point guard in Rondo; the gutty defensive leader and veteran in Garnett; the lights out classy shooter in Ray Allen; the dangerous, savvy, tough, clutch swingman in Pierce; and the rebounding enforcer in Perkins. After they figured out their new dynamic last year, when Rondo became the orchestrator on offense, they became extremely fun to watch. Everyone knew his role. They all knew where the other would be on the floor on both offense and defense. The crowd loved them and they learned to love each other. It was a great win for the NBA to have a Celtics team that mattered and who the Boston fans genuinely loved. However, Danny Ainge had to be a businessman and realized that Perkins was 26, had one bad knee and a second one that might be damaged. He saw a guy that could put up 10 and 10 for a season but never did and probably never would. He saw a window closing that he could help prop open in hopes of repairing for some day in the future.  Bill Simmons best explained the reaction of the Celtics to the trade in his column from a few weeks ago. The Celtics were devastated. They loved each other. Perkins cried his eyes out and Rondo was catatonic because his best friend had been traded. Its stories and reactions like the Celtics’ reaction to the Perkins Trade that make us love sports—it shows us a few guys genuinely caring about each other because of the time they spend with each other, the trials and tribulations that they go through, those are actions that require you to give up a bit of your soul, that is why retired players cry when they think about old teams that they enjoyed playing on: they gave something of themselves away and it belongs to that time and team.  Are the Celtics better because of this trade? I have been talked into believing that they are. Jeff Green is a good player who needed a fresh start and I think he will adapt to the team and gain a level of toughness that Garnett, Pierce, Allen and Rondo can teach him. He’ll change and expand on the looks that the Celtics can throw at other teams in the Playoffs. Kristic will have to adapt defensively or face Garnett. He gives them size and more offense than Perkins. Doc Rivers can get a rotation of Shaq, Jermaine O’Neal and Kristic to provide fouls and size inside to work. However, you still do wonder if they will miss Perkins’ gargoyle scowl and sharp elbows when push comes to shove—literally.

- The Lakers made no trades but they have received perhaps the second-greatest level of scrutiny this season. There have been times during this season where people have written them off as being too old, of not caring enough and as simply lost. Yet, here we are in the April and the Lakers have won ten of their last eleven games and are starting to round into postseason shape once again. This is nothing new. The same thing happened to the Lakers last year and it usually happens to most good championship teams. They go through the season and figure out the best ways to use their energy, they find out what dynamic will work for them this year, what balance of old tricks and fundamentals mixed with new wrinkles.  What’s fascinating about this Lakers team is really how much the Kobe Bryant narrative has changed. I’ve been thinking more and more about this lately due to the Young Michael Jordan Essay in Free Darko’s Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History. That essay focuses on how the legend of Michael Jordan was re-written while it was in progress. When Michael entered the league, he was seen as an extremely talented, selfish and dangerous object of change. It was only later through his failures and his lessons about teamwork that he became the greatest player of all time and perhaps the greatest athlete of all-time. Kobe was once seen as the villain of the NBA. He was a cocky upstart, an alleged rapist, a selfish player who ran two legends out of Los Angeles.  However, Kobe then went through his phase of loss. He had to admit he needed Phil Jackson. He had to admit that he couldn’t win the title without at least a little bit of help (Pau Gasol). He had to go through a non-playoff season and a loss in the Finals to the Celtics before he was able to re-write his narrative by winning two more championships and perhaps on the verge of winning his sixth total.  Instead of being The Guy Who Wants to Imitate Michael Jordan So Badly Its Painful, he has entered the discussion as being the best player since Michael Jordan. A guy who might not be as transcendental or great as Jordan, but who could conceivably win as many championships and have perhaps a more productive career (though he never willingly walked away from the game in his prime like Michael did—arguably twice). It is this kind of story-telling, this kind of history manifesting itself that makes this NBA season so terrific. We have a slate of great games each week filled with talented and focused players as well as certain players writing themselves into history and myth with each passing weak. It’s a shame if the league loses its momentum by going into a lockout during the summer.

- What has also made this season compelling was the insanity that was the Trade Deadline. Never before has the league had such activity when at the Trade Deadline. If you don’t believe me, just look at all the trades that were made.  The two or three days prior to Thursday, February 24, 2011 were extraordinarily fascinating to a basketball fan. You had all these teams posturing and positioning themselves in case there is a lockout. Players were traded without any rumors being spread. Players you thought were untouchable or untradeable were all of a sudden gone. Even the smallest cash-saving trade became fascinating. Each trade reflected the mindset of that team and its ownership in relation to the lockout. Some (Nets) were confident that the lockout would not be a huge ordeal and that any new CBA would allow them to keep a high-profile star and build around. Other teams (Celtics) were nervous and wanted to make their changes and save their money NOW.  Usually, the Trade Deadline passes, teams don’t make a move and NBA fans groan and wonder at “what if.” 2011 was a completely different story.

- The most notable trade was the Denver Nuggets trading Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks for Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Danillo Gallinari and Timofey Mozgov. This trade was six months in the making and after months of posturing and countless news stories and rumors, Carmelo wound up in New York, which is where he wanted to play all along.  Now, Carmelo Anthony is a great player. He is one of the best scorers in the league and one of the most reliable players in crunch-time. However, he is not a great defender and he has not exactly shown great flashes of leadership. Despite that, he is productive and the Knicks had to make the move. I don’t know how his partnership with Amare will pan out for the Knicks. Together they provide a great core of leadership, but they are going to have to become more accountable on defense in order to make a huge impact on this team.  I think it is fascinating, though, that Amare shouldered the load of New York for the first half of the season. Amare made the city excited about basketball again. He talked big and the Knicks backed it up for much of the early part of the season playing energetic, up-tempo basketball and showing a scrappiness (see Fields and Felton) that made the team endearing to the crowd.  It seemed that Amare’s confidence and success spread and rubbed off on St. John’s as well which has made the Garden the center of the basketball universe once again. Then, Carmelo pushed everything over the top. I have heard that the Garden is back to its early 90’s level again and then some. Even the Big East Tournament was phenomenal with Kemba Walker, a New York City kid, stealing the spotlight with buzzer beaters and gutsy play. Every New Yorker wanted the trade to happen so badly that they are now throwing all of their energy into the team. And why not? The Knicks have two of the ten starting All-Stars from the 2011 NBA All-Star Game—that’s pretty impressive when you break it down. However, I’m not sure where it will all lead. I have no doubts about Carmelo and Amare playing well together—their games compliment each other well. I am just curious about what they will accomplish. Perhaps it doesn’t actually matter what they accomplish. Maybe all that matters is that New York remembered that it is a basketball town over any other sport. Yet, knowing New York, even remembering that elemental fact is going to get old at some point.

- I just want to give a shout-out to Kevin Love and his double-double streak.  Seriously, if you do not know who Kevin Love is or how good of a player he is, you really need to look him up.

- The other major trade was the Utah Jazz sending Deron Williams to the New Jersey Nets. This trade was an absolute shocker, even Deron didn’t know about it. However, the Jazz saw the writing on the wall: Deron had run the out-dated but successful Jerry Sloan out of Salt Lake City; he was going to be a free agent in 2012 and would have held them hostage next year just like Carmelo did to Denver this year; they were not going to lose him for nothing like the Cavaliers and Raptors did with LeBron and Bosh. So, Utah beat Deron to the punch and traded him without warning.  Now the speculation begins as to whether or not Deron stays in New Jersey. The most recent rumor is that Williams has bought into Prokorhov’s plan and wants to be the centerpiece of the team going forward. I went to a Nets game last Friday when they played Blake Griffin and the Clippers (yes, Blake had a dunk that was the ESPN Top Play). The Nets and that arena and Newark are in a sad state. It seems like the set from a movie about a fictional professional sports team. It is truly a bizarro world. I think if they move to Brooklyn it will change the dynamic of the crowd.  Most New Yorkers are obviously Knicks fans and that dynamic won’t change. However, I imagine that most Nets fans are either from New York City or Long Island and those people will come to the games. Also, with the arena so prominently located in Brooklyn with access to the LIRR and most subways (better subway access than MSG actually) when a player like Blake Griffin comes to town, the arena will generate a greater crowd than what I saw in Newark on Friday. Above all, New Yorkers love basketball and even if the Nets aren’t great for the next year or two, each home game they will get to see Deron Williams (a better overall player than Carmelo Anthony and a Top Three point guard) play against some of the greatest superstars in the league. The fact that they won’t have to take the Path Train or NJ Transit after work to do so only makes the deal sweeter. I, unlike a lot of people, think that the Nets in Brooklyn is a no-brainer. It certainly hinges on Deron staying on the team (and from his recent performances while injured and his belief they can steal the eighth seed in the East, I think he is staying), but either way I think it works and that Brooklyn natives and New Yorkers in general will come.

- Finally, a shout-out to my man Tyler Hansbrough from the University of North Carolina. They said you wouldn't do anything in the pros. Hey, you’re not a superstar, but you’re better than people thought—and in a league full of superstars in an era that is perhaps the best ever, that’s saying something. God must have been a Tar Heel fan because he made the sky Carolina Blue.

Garden Party

I’m a huge basketball fan.

Oh, you already knew that.  Well, in case you didn’t then let me briefly explain.  I’ve had a love affair with the NBA and the game of basketball since I was about seven years old.  I’ve followed NCAA basketball and NBA basketball each year since 1993.  I have memorized players’ names, their stats and most importantly their stories—what colleges they went to, who coached them, how they developed their style and game, how they were known in the locker room among their teammates.  Basketball is a more dynamic sport than baseball and doesn’t rely completely on statistics to tell a story or to keep interest.  It is not as in-your-face masculine as football, but still retains an element of swagger and testosterone style.  Basketball players are put right in front of you on a stage, on the basketball court.  There are no helmets; there is no large outfield. Basketball is ten players, ten abnormally tall and strong players, on a shiny wooden court beneath spotlights.  There is a drama and an excellence to it that strike me as being very important at all times and it is perhaps the best sport to watch live. 

My love affair is particularly strong with the NBA.  I know the histories of all the teams so well that I have grown to love each franchise in its own way.  When you add the fact that this year has been the best basketball season since perhaps 1986-1987 season or the 1991-1992 season, you have to appreciate the fact that I could watch any team, any game on any particular night and be entertained by a game of professional basketball.

So, when the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat played in Boston this past Sunday in their third matchup of the season, my friend Jeff (an equal appreciator of basketball) and I had to go to the game.  The fact that the game was for first-place in the Eastern Conference standings made it even better. As did the fact that the Heat had already lost two games to the Celtics earlier in the season. The fact that the Heat had lost those two contests when they hadn’t yet attained the chemistry they had since gained made it all the more fascinating.

I’m going to save some more of the meaningful stuff regarding friends and sports contests and time for another post. Instead, here I will post some of my observations from a Sunday at the New Boston Garden.

- The New Garden is a classic bit of Boston architecture.  It sort of just blends in with the rest of the buildings around it.  That is to say, it looks weird, but still seems to mesh with that insanely dated architecture and those spiraling staircases of the Lindemann Mental Health Center. That being said, its in a pretty convenient and awesome location right on the water. Its not in the heart of the city like Madison Square Garden, but still pretty good.

- Inside, the arena is so intimate.  When the crowd stands at the beginning of the game it seems like people will spill out onto the court. It really adds a great look to the game environment.  Definitely two thumbs up.

- The most frequently worn jersey at the game wasn’t a Garnett jersey, a Pierce jersey, an Allen jersey or even a vintage Bird jersey (though I did see someone rocking a Bird, Indiana State Sycamores jersey), it was shockingly enough a Rondo jersey.  Now, I love Rondo and I knew that the Boston fans appreciated him, but I didn’t realize how popular he actually was. He deserves it of course, but it was just surprising.

- On the subject of Rondo, he is a freak of nature.  His hustle is insane when going after loose balls.  Jeff and I had seats along the baseline and we got to watch up close when Rondo guarded LeBron in the fourth quarter. Although Rondo is undersized, it was amazing to see his weird sinewy strength and his length give LeBron some problems.  Also, when he flicks a layup with those huge hands, it’s really just something special.

- The Celtics pass really well. It’s fantastic to watch in person.

- You know when you watch a Celtics game on TV and Ray Allen hits a huge three pointer and the crowd just explodes? Yeah, when that happens in person it is very, very loud. The crowd literally roars.  Plus, there is nothing like seeing a smooth Ray Allen three pointer in person. The crowd gets about this loud:

- LeBron in person is a spectacle. He is so large and when he muscles his way through the lane to the basket, you sort of have to take pity on whomever he’s hitting into.  I’ve never really seen anything like it.  I mean we all know that LeBron is an alien and freakishly talented, but to see him in action is something completely different.

- Bosh has a very smooth shot. I don’t know who’s shot is smoother, his or Garnett’s.

- Wade is so sneaky getting to the basket.  He had an off game because he missed a few tip-ins and layups, but the way he figures out how to dart through the lane and along the baseline and get close to the basket is pretty much unparalleled in the game today.  It’s a sort of rare talent that I haven’t been able to place the origins of. Its sort of Barkleyesque in its sneakiness, but Wade obviously lacks the force and the atypical body type that Barkley had.  I’ll think about it some more.

- Watching Wade, Bosh and LeBron communicate with each other after a timeout is so fascinating.  You know that their basketball IQ is so high and that they are speaking at a level above so many of the players on the court that you are just drawn in whenever they are close to each other.  You want to know what exactly they are figuring out as they make hand motions and point to certain spots on the floor.  Probably one of my favorite parts of watching this game and being so close.

- As J.A. Adande pointed out on his Twitter feed, the Heat definitely had an element of cool during the game and it cost them.  They could have taken that game and made a definite statement, but it seemed like they had the approach of, “We’re better now than we were in November. We know we’re better. We don’t have to try too hard to win this game. We’re going to win it because we’re better than we were.” But, they didn’t fight for everything and they lost a game that was very winnable. I’m hoping that was just a “regular season game right before All-Star break” syndrome, but that was a big game and they should have felt the urgency and playoff intensity that was needed. I know the Boston crowd felt it.

- Once again, the Boston crowd is great and the environment is definitely special. I’m glad the Celtics are good and relevant. I will miss this current team when the window closes and I’m very happy that I have now seen them.

Hazy Shade of Winter

Hello, my Puddlers. Yesterday, I wanted to give you an update on what's coming up on the blog, but some work related issues and then computer related issues kept me from posting.  However, I am going to give you the run down now.

First of all, I've been listening to Simon & Garfunkel's album Bookends, which is pretty phenomenal.  I had actually forgotten how amazing it is. When you listen to "America" and "Mrs. Robinson" in the flow of the album they get such a great new clarity to them.  This album is also great to listen to really loud on speakers. A deep cut that will definitely get in your ear is "At the Zoo." I'm thinking of doing a write-up of it.

The main news about blog programming is that starting next Monday, February 21, we will be commencing the Free Forest City Redemption Project.  In a bit of an update to that page (and for those of you who are not in the loop), I will be releasing a track a day of the Forest City album, Forest City, that I have compiled and sequenced from various recording sessions over the past year.  The album itself is 11 tracks and will feature three bonus tracks.  Each day, you will be directed the the Band Camp page I have set up for the album where you can download each track and or contribute a donation should you feel inclined.  The album will then be available to download as a whole after all of the album tracks have been posted.  The first post will feature an essay that I've written and there may be other fun notes and things to follow.  There will be no new blog posts by either myself, Mark Jack or any guest columnists until all of the tracks have been posted. This project has been a labor (albeit very slight labor—listen for the aptly placed silences I put between tracks) of love for me, so I hope you all enjoy it.

As for upcoming columns and posts, you can expect:

1. Bookends review
2. New Fiction Roundup (Thoughts on Freedom, Super Sad True Love Story and Great House)
3. NBA Playoff Preview
4. NCAA Tournament Running Commentaries
5. A rambling post on the changing of seasons
6. Review of Frank Sinatra's Watertown
7. Huge post on the return of the Strokes as soon as I get Angles.

Plus you never know what the hell kind of wisdom Mark Jack is going to drop and who else is going to put their two cents up here.

Tomorrow, I will provide some brief observations from the Celtics/Heat game from Sunday and then Mark Jack will have a new column for you on Friday.

It's all good stuff.  Just stick with my, my Puddlers.  You have no idea how close you are to winning it all with me.