Cell Phone 2nd Thoughts And Thoughts On Last Night's Playoff Games

It’s been 11 days since my Blackberry went kaput, thus forcing me back into the Stone Age with my not-so-smartphone. My original plan was to borrow an unused smartphone from someone I know until I was eligible for an upgrade (or until the next iPhone came out…whichever happened 1st). Now, I’m not so sure. I just got my Verizon bill for the month, which was about $40 cheaper than it regularly has been when paying for 2 separate data plans. $40 doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you add it up, that’s close to $500 a year…I really like $500. And the part of the phone plan that you can attribute that $500 is basically the toy aspect of it. $500 a year for a toy? And I have another thing (my iPod Touch) that can do all the “toy-ish” things and more that my Blackberry could do in the presence of Wi-Fi anyway. What about the other smartphone things that my regular ol’ cell phone can’t do? Well, I haven’t exactly felt the compulsive need to send an email from my phone in those 11 days. My job is a desk job for the most part, and (homebody that I am) I probably only spend on average 2-3 nonworking hours away from our apartment per weekday. If I found myself really not being able to wait to send out an email between the time I left work for the gym and the time I got home, I might have bigger problems to worry about. Yes, not having all of my contacts in the phone I’m using now has been a minor annoyance once or twice, but that would happen with any phone switch (smartphone or not). The only time I can honestly say that I’ve missed my Blackberry in the last week and a half is when I have to take a dump at work. I’m sure there will come a time where I will be somewhere, and it would be nice to have some kind of device to look up directions or some other information, but it seems like those situations are few and far between. Now, let’s move it along to a little NBA Playoff update from the 2 series that had games last night…

Yep...basically.

Heat-Pacers (tied 1-1)…With Chris Bosh, I would have taken Miami to win this series in 5 tough games (similarly to how Miami beat Chicago last year in 5 tough games). Without him, I think it goes at least 6 games. Indiana’s strengths (its frontcourt size and depth) are the Heat’s biggest weaknesses in the 1st place, and those soft spots are even further exasperated with Bosh sidelined. But while the Pacers are a very good team, I’m just not sure they are good enough to step on Miami’s throat in the situation either. In game 2, the Heat were basically playing 2-on-5 the entire time, as no one else other than the big 2 could even muster more than 5 measly points. Even before Bosh went down, it should have been obvious by now that their supporting cast is not exactly as good as Pat Riley envisioned. If Mario Chalmers was a little more consistent or they had the 2007 versions of Shane Battier, Mike Miller, and Udonis Haslem, it would be a different story…but they don’t, so it’s not. Miami could argue that James and Wade’s presence on the court still gets Miami’s role players makeable open looks, and if the Heat shot even a smidge better than 1 for 16 from 3-point land in game 2, they would be heading to Indiana up 2-0…but even that doesn’t seem likely. And I didn’t even mention the chances LeBron and Wade had at the end of last night’s game either!

With Bosh out, the Pacers have the potential to make life difficult for the Heat.

Spurs-Clippers (Spurs lead 1-0)…Well, that was kind of predictable. I actually think that LA matches up better with the Spurs than most people believe, but who could foresee San Antonio winning on their homecourt in game 1 after having a week to rest while the weary Clips just finished a grueling 7 game series with Memphis? The Clippers actually hung tight with the Spurs for a quarter in a half before San Antonio started going off from the 3-point line. The Spurs finished the game a ridiculous 13 for 25 from the arc. If LA is going to make this a long competitive series, they are going to have to amp-up their D, hope that the Spurs miss a little more often, and get Chris Paul going. CP3 made his 1st 2 shots of the game, then went 1 for 11 the rest of the way. That may all be predicated on getting stops though. The Spurs are like a well oiled machine on both ends of the court when they are able to set up and get organized. Even with a banged-up group, better defense would allow Paul, Griffin, and the other uptempo members of Lob City to get out and finish plays on the break though…just don’t count on the Spurs to lend any helping hands with poor execution.

CP3 and Lob City were grounded for most of game 1.

The Thing About Knees...

The world we live in is so competitive that we often forget to celebrate the things that we accomplish. Often, the grief that accompanies our failures so easily overwhelms any kind of joy we get as a result of our successes that we forget about them entirely. After all, this refusal to fail is often the driving force behind the greatness within a person. Coming up short on 1 particular goal shouldn’t diminish all of our achievements though. Everyone can always strive to be better, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a step back once in a while and say to ourselves, “Damn, look what I did”…and now back to our regularly scheduled snarkiness, subversiveness, and self-deprecation.

Blah, blah, blah, inspiration, blah, blah, blah...

 All injuries share the same psychological elements, but different injuries emphasize some of those traits more than others. Upper body injuries incur feelings of frustration and uselessness. When I hurt my index finger on my left hand a few months ago, the most mundane tasks were suddenly difficult. This included things like opening doors and water bottles, but in a sports context it also included things as simple as making a chest pass. Ankle sprains make you feel clunky and slow, as if you have a cinder block strapped to 1 of your legs. When my achilles are really acting up, it feels like I have a knife sticking out of the back of my heels, but I feel like that kind of injury is mostly about rest and pain management.

Knee injuries are a different thing all together. All injuries carry a certain amount of uneasiness along with them. For example, when you are recovering from some type of mild muscle injury like a lower back spasms or a pulled hamstring, you’re not sure how far you can push yourself…but if you try to play a sport with a knee injury, that feeling of uneasiness is replaced with something closer to plain fear. I have had what I guess could be categorizes as a couple semi-serious knee injuries over the years. (I guess I would categorize bone breaks and ligament tears under “super-serious.”) The lack of stability that you have in that joint following an injury is unsettling to say the least. You get the feeling that it’s possible that your knee could just collapse on itself like a demolished building at any time…not a fun thought. Eventually, the knee heals and feels less aggravated, and you begin to think about it less and less, but I’ve noticed that I still have developed coping mechanisms over time. For example, ever since my 1st knee injury (partial medial meniscus tear in my left knee) I now rarely ever jump off of my left leg. If I do, my vertical is pretty weak…instead of an explosion, my left-footed jump is more like a small firecracker. As a result, I usually have to come to a jump-stop when driving for a layup. This is fine, and like I said I’ve learned to cope, but as a right-handed basketball player who drives right the majority of the time it’s easy to see how this could be a problem.

Ok...bad use of imagery.

Knee injuries can also be befuddling. A couple of years ago, that same knee buckled when I landed jumping over a dog gate in my in-law’s house (a trip to the doctor later on revealed that it was a sprained MCL). That happened in the morning on that particular day. The knee was sore and stiff, but not enough that I was really concerned about it at the time. In fact, I went to the gym in the afternoon, and it just so happened to be leg day for me. I did squats, leg presses, lunges, and probably 1 or 2 other exercises that my knee didn’t appreciate either. That same night, I went to go play basketball for a few hours with Krissy and 2 of her brothers, Frankie and Nicky. I could tell that something wasn’t really right, but I was able to run, jump, and cut mostly like normal. I wasn’t worried until we got back to the house, when the knee had really started to stiffen up. The next day I could barely walk, and it probably took about 3 or 4 months until it started to feel close to normal again.

Last Saturday, something similar happened. I felt that same troublesome left knee hyperextend a smidge during a touch football game. So, what happened next? I played on for another hour and a half. It was stiff that night and the following morning, but it loosened up enough for me to play several hours of basketball on Sunday. Then, stiffness and soreness ensued the rest of the week. When it was time to hoop for a few hours this past Saturday afternoon, it took a good 45 minutes before it loosened up to the point that I was no longer thinking about it while playing. So, I’m not sure what it is exactly that I did to make it finally stop hurting, but it did stop eventually…similar to how it stopped hurting the week before. As I told my friend Mac, “If only there was a way that I could harness what I did to make feel normal…” Realistically, the best prescription for my knee is probably rest. Unfortunately, that is usually not a realistic option for me…more injury updates to come.

Little Big Man

Going for a B-Court All-Star record here: 4 days in a row with a blog post. May started out pretty sluggishly for me on the posting front, but I’m back to being more prolific in churning these out. The only problem was that I couldn’t think of anything to write about for today. I considered just mailing it in and posting a YouTube video, but that is almost akin to Michael Strahan breaking the single season sack record because Brett Favre fell down or Ricky Davis trying to record a triple-double by throwing a ball off of his own backboard. Things looked pretty grim, and then I thought, "Andrew Bynum." This gave me pause too. Did I really want to break my record by writing about the Knicks and Lakers on back-to-back days? That almost sounds like blasphemy to me. If I write about the Yanks, Sox, and Cowboys next week, I might have to give a self-imposed suspension to myself or something. Screw it…let’s go for it.

Bynum’s behavior this year has resembled that of a petulant child. The worst thing that ever could have happened to Andrew Bynum is for Andrew Bynum to become relevant. The Lakers’ center has long been a favorite of the franchise’s brass, but hasn’t always necessary had the production on the court worthy of that type of hype. Drafted straight out of high school, Bynum was brought along slowly during his 1st few years in the league somewhat similarly to another big man who made the jump to the pros without playing any college ball, Jermaine O’Neal. During his rookie season, Bynum played sparingly. In his 2nd year, he started 53 games and averaged about 22 minutes a night. From his 3rd season on, Bynum has been the Lakers’ regular starting center when healthy…and prior to this season, “when” was the key word. He showed flashes of being a dominant big man from time to time (when Kobe would actually allow him to touch the ball on offense), but he always seemed to be injured.

Bynum has shown the potential to be dominant at times...at times.

This season has been Bynum’s best by any measure. He has played and started all but 6 games. He set career highs in points, rebounds, and minutes per game. He even was voted to start in the All-Star game. (With all that being said, let’s not get carried away. It’s not exactly a golden age for centers where Bynum had to beat out Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson to get in.) Bynum had some nice moments on the court, his 30 rebound game against San Antonio and a 10 block game earlier this series against Denver coming to mind 1st. That’s all well and good, but Bynum might have started feeling himself a little bit too much. Maybe he started hearing the voices out there that said Kobe should be feeding the post a little bit more and shooting less in his old age (probably true). Maybe he heard his name coming up in Dwight Howard trade rumors a little too often, and he started thinking of himself as a megastar along the same lines as Dwight (a discussion of how good Howard is will be saved for another day). Maybe Bynum really enjoys the fact that he was an All-Star starter this year, or that he was the 21st highest paid player in the league this year according to HoopsHype.com.

No matter what the reason, Bynum’s brattiness has been on full display this year. (Actually, it dates back to last year’s playoffs when he clotheslined little JJ Barea, and disrobed on the way to the locker room following his subsequent ejection.) He took an ill-advised 3 in a game against the Warriors, got benched, and later defied his coach by saying he would continue to take 3’s in games if he wanted to. With the Lakers up 3-1 in their current playoff series against the Nuggets, Bynum couldn’t help but open his mouth again, saying something to the effect of “closeout games are easy because the other team usually folds.” If that’s not billboard material for the other team, I’m not sure what is. (Bynum and the Lakers responded by getting clobbered the next 2 games.)

Oh yeah..."that."

More than any of that though, Bynum’s demeanor has been the most disturbing thing of all throughout year. His arrogance and the apparent fact that he just doesn’t get “it” never cease to amaze. It showed through in the “3-point-gate” episode with Mike Brown and in his eyebrow-raising comments about closeout games, but it’s much more than that. It’s his lack of participation in team huddles during timeouts when he doesn’t feel like it, his on court temper tantrums or disappearing acts when he doesn’t get the ball on offense a few possessions in a row, his eye rolls and woofing at teammates when they make a mistake (usually trying to cover up for a mistake that Bynum himself made through his own laziness earlier in that play). After LA’s game 5 loss, there was a Grantland article dedicated to how Denver’s Kenneth Faried was outplaying the superior athlete and physical specimen, Bynum, simply by playing hard all the time. For example, the article shows 1 play where while Bynum showboats to the crowd following a basket, and Faried then beats Bynum back down court to get a layup of his own. Anyone who has watched any of this series will tell you that regardless of whether the Nugget big man is Faried, JaVale McGee, or Timothy Mozgov, similar plays have been a common scene.

Bynum's actions often still call his maturity into question.

I would love to see the star-less Nuggets knock off the Lakers in game 7, but as I said before I just can’t really see that happening (http://bcourtallstar.blogspot.com/2012/05/less-is-more-best-of-7-in-round-1.html). Kobe will play great, the refs will give the Lakers all the calls they need, and Bynum will play hard enough for 1 game at least to ensure LA advances. Maybe that’s all for the better, as we’ll get to see OKC’s very active front line put the wood to Bynum all series in the next round. It’s sad because Bynum is 1 of only a handful of competent true back-to-the-basket big men in the world anymore, and his combination of size, power, footwork, and touch around the basket is probably unparalleled in the league. Still, his babyishness makes it almost impossible for you to root for him…that is unless you’re a Lakers fan, in which case you probably think Bynum is the future of the league. If that’s true, God help us all.

Contemplating The New York Knicks

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always hated the New York Knicks. I’m not sure what it was exactly that spawned my intense dislike of them. Maybe it had to do with my youthful man-crush on Michael Jordan and the fact that the Knicks were always an obstacle for Jordan’s Bulls. Or maybe it had to do with the constant obsession of the media with them just because they were the team from New York, which led to the Knicks being on national TV all the time despite the fact that they were usually mediocre. Maybe it was some combination of the 2. Either way, I was forced to at the very least temper my hatred for the Knicks once I married a lifelong Knick fan. I’ve watched an inordinate amount of Knicks games over the last 2 years though, so I feel like I’m almost a Knicks fan by proxy now…well, maybe not just yet, but I’m getting there.

What I’ve come to understand though is that the Knicks are actually similar in some ways to a team that’s always been near and dear to my heart: the Washington Redskins. Like the Skins, the Knicks so desperately want to be relevant in their sport that they will try and do just about anything to field a good team. Also like the Skins, they try a little bit too hard at times…either that, or both franchises just like to go grab every shiny new toy that’s available without thinking about things like team chemistry and how all the parts fit together. That may work with a sport like baseball, which has some team sport elements, but it is really a lot closer to an individual sport on a lot of levels. Players who have a certain skillset can usually be projected to perform similarly if they are put in a specific role on another team. Basketball is a much more fluid game, and often the whole is greater than the sum of the parts or vice versa in some cases. Just look at last year’s Finals, where Miami had 3 of the best 4 individual players on the court at any given time and still came up short against the Mavs.

Anyway, the Dan Snyder method for forming a team rarely works in football…it’s almost impossible in basketball. (Yes, I’m talking to you, James Dolan.) All this year, people made it seem as if the Knicks would be some kind of juggernaut once they had their full complement of players. After all, they rarely, if ever, played a game this year where Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, JR Smith, Jeremy Lin, and Baron Davis all dressed. That’s a lot of talent right there…but you’re also only allowed to play 5 people at once, there’s only 1 basketball to go around, and someone other than Chandler’s got to play defense once in a while. I can’t be the only 1 that noticed that over the past 2 years the Knicks played their best basketball when only 1 out of these 3 guys was in the lineup: Melo, Amare, and Lin. Last year prior to trading for Melo, the Knicks were 1 of the league’s hottest teams with Amare leading the way. Once Carmelo came on board, everything seemed to bog down. When Melo and Amare were out of the lineup and Linsanity exploded onto the scene earlier this year, the Knicks suddenly went on a win streak. And when Lin and Amare were out towards the end of the regular season, Melo carried New York to a strong finish. Why? Because with each of those guys the Knicks had a distinct style of play with all the team’s role players (Novak, Shumpert, Fields, Jeffries) coming in and doing whatever their specific jobs were. The couple of games that I saw where all those talented offensive players were all in the lineup (and these playoffs without Lin too), the Knicks were ugly to watch.

For what it's worth, I really do think Amare and Melo tried to make it work. The pieces just didn't fit.

Now, you almost have to grade the Knicks on a curve this past series against the Heat. Lin didn’t play a single minute due to a knee injury, and Shumpert and Davis both had catastrophic knee injuries of their own during the series as well. Those are their 3 best backcourt players. Having said that, they just seemed overmatched. To me, Tyson Chandler is the 1 guy on their roster that could be placed on any team that uses any style of play, and he’d be fine. He is going to control the paint on D, block shots, grab rebounds, and finish around the basket. Everyone else on the Knicks needs to be in the right system for them to succeed, which is the problem. Take Stoudemire for example…if you disregard his health problems, Amare plays best in the pick-and-roll (so does Jeremy Lin, in fact). Unfortunately, Carmelo is best in mid-post isolation plays. This usually involves him going to work while the other 4 players on the court stand and watch. This works when you are playing Melo next to Chandler and 3 guys who can spot-up and shoot 3’s, but if Amare and Chandler are both on the court with Melo, the floor isn’t properly spaced. Defenders can sag and help on Anthony, while still being able to get out and contest shots if Melo drives and kicks the ball out, thus rendering this offense pretty useless unless Anthony happens to shoot about 80% from the floor.

The other problem with how these guys all fit together is that Anthony, similar to LeBron, is really most effective on offense when he’s not playing the 3. Small forward is the natural position for both guys, but their unique size, quickness, and skillset allows them to play other positions too. When Amare was hurt towards the end of the regular season, the Knicks often went small with Melo at the 4. This allowed the Knicks to spread the floor even more effectively when Anthony was isolated in the wing or in the post. However, to me Anthony is best when he is matched up with a smaller player that he can just bully in the post and on the offensive glass. We saw shades of this a few years ago in the playoffs against the Lakers while Anthony was with Denver. Kobe is a pretty big 2-guard, but Melo could have his way with him if Kobe ever switched off on his man to guard Melo. The problem with this is that Melo isn’t quite the ballhandler, passer, or defender that LeBron is, so playing him at the 2 opens up other avenues to opposing teams.

The last thing seems minor, but can someone please tell me what the Knicks were thinking with JR Smith? Smith is uber-talented, but he’s a terrible fit for the Knicks. If the Melo acquisition was the worst example of Knicks Daniel Snyder-ism, Smith’s signing was a close 2nd. There was no need to pick Smith up once he finished playing in China. He’s an explosive scorer, but he’s streaky, has terrible shot selection, and turns the ball over like crazy. I feel like JR Smith took about 5 years off George Karl’s life while he was in Denver. More than that, you already have 2 guys, Melo and Amare, who are offense 1st players who take a lot of shots. What the Knicks felt they needed with a gunner like Smith is beyond me. Couldn’t those minutes have gone to Novak, Fields, and Shumpert (before he got injured) instead? It’s probably a small bone to pick, but Smith drove me crazy watching this series with Miami. If you looked at your TV closely enough, you could see Pat Riley smirking in the stands every time Smith dribbled away 10 seconds of the shot clock and then jacked-up a contested 20 footer. Don’t get me started on why they kept trying to play him at point guard either…

Apparently, Smith wasn't feeling the love from Knicks fans after the game. I'm sure they would tell him not to let the door hit him in the a** on the way out.

Anyway, I’m not sure what the Knicks do going forward. It looks like a pretty meager free agent class this offseason, but even so they might already be pot-committed to the hand they’re already playing. I’m not sure who they can afford to sign given how much of the salary cap they have tied up with Chandler, Melo, and Amare. Logic would dictate that they would try to trade Stoudemire given that Melo and he don’t really seem to be good complements for each other on the court, but I’m not sure if there are going to get any takers on that contract with those uninsured knees. And if they want to keep Jeremy Lin, I’m sure they’re going to have to pony up a good amount of cash for him too. Their best bet is probably to trade Amare at 50 cents on the dollar, plan to play small ball next year with Anthony at the 4, and then hope that they can improve internally. It all seems like a mess to me, but this is what happens when your owner plays fantasy sports with the roster. Just ask Dan Snyder…

Less Is More: Best Of 7 In Round 1

It’s been about a week and a half since the last time I made mention of the NBA playoffs, and, well, we are not much further along from where we last left off. Ever since the NBA switched from a best of 5 to a best of 7 format for the 1st round before the start of the 2003 playoffs, that’s pretty much been the norm though. That combined with the need to space the games out so that every game can be seen on national TV at a time that doesn’t conflict with another game has caused the NBA postseason to drag on until what seems like Halloween. If the NBA cared about making a better playoff system, they would at least go back to a best of 5 series in the 1st round. It will never happen because the NBA is a business, and the current system is more profitable; however, the NBA and all the other major professional sports leagues would be wise to understand that “more profitable” and “a better product” don’t always come hand in hand. With that being said, let’s look at each 1st round series and see whether a best of 7 is necessary in each.

Bulls-76ers (76ers lead 3-2)…In a best of 5 series, the Sixers would have taken this in 4 games, but even with Rose out, Noah out, and Deng hobbled I don’t trust Philly as far as I can throw them. They are just too young, inexperienced, and limited on the offensive end. Still, this had the makings of an ugly series ever since Rose went down at the end of game 1. This could very well end up going 7 games, but who honestly cares?

The verdict: This series should have been put out of its misery already…Best of 5.

Heat-Knicks (Heat lead 3-1)…This series is tailor-made for a best of 5 series. As Miami jumped out to a 3-0 series lead, it was clear as day that the Knicks weren’t going to offer the Heat a stiff challenge. Watching New York’s entire backcourt’s knees shatter every game didn’t help, but the Heat are overwhelmingly better. What was the result of having this series be a best of 7? A game 4 in New York where Miami looked bored and disinterested. There’s still no excuse for playing bored and disinterested in any playoff game, but do we really need to see the Heat smash the Knicks for 4 games instead of 3 to know they’re the better team?

The verdict: Was I not clear?...Best of 5.

Really? More?!?

Pacers-Magic (Pacers won 4-1)…In game 1, Indiana looked so much better than Orlando and somehow lost the game anyway. After that slip-up, the Pacers pretty much put their foot on the Magic’s throat in the next 4 games. This series probably would have been very interesting with a healthy Dwight Howard. Without him, it was a laugher.

The verdict: At least it was already put out of its misery…Best of 5.

Celtics-Hawks (Celtics lead 3-2)…I still maintain that for whatever reason Atlanta is a tough matchup for Boston. If this was a 5 game series, this would have been over already though. But with some what-ifs (the game 2 loss in Atlanta with Rondo suspended) and woulda-shoulda-couldas (the game 3 overtime loss in Boston) the Hawks could have conceivably been up 3-0 in the series too.

The verdict: And yet there’s almost no hypothetical scenario where I could see the Hawks winning a game 7 against the Celtics, which makes this kind of a silly argument…Best of 5.

Spurs-Jazz (Spurs won 4-0)…I thought Utah might have been able to at least make things interesting, but San Antonio just keeps rolling along. Just a quick note on the Spurs: including the end of the regular season they have won 14 in a row and 25 of 27 now!

The verdict: 1st degree murder. Wait, sorry…Best of 5.

Somebody notice us! We've only lost 2 games since mid-March!

 Thunder-Mavericks (Thunder won 4-0)…Would have liked to see the defending champs not go down in flames so quickly and give the young Thunder some of their comeuppance, but after deflating losses in the 1st 2 games in OKC this 1 seemed academic. The Thunder (and Spurs too by the way) did what Miami couldn’t in this 1st round: not get bored and disinterested in game 4.

The verdict: Sensing a pattern here?...Best of 5.

Lakers-Nuggets (Lakers lead 3-2)…This series is only interesting to me because I like watching George Karl teams play. There are no stars or egos. Everybody just plays hard. It’s almost like a college team in that respect. It’s especially fun since they are matched up against a Lakers team (that I loathe) who is the complete polar opposite of the Nuggets, where Kobe seemingly shoots 10 for 27 every night and Bynum looks like he’s always about to pout about something. And yet, much like the Hawks, the Nuggets would have been eliminated in 4 games if this was a best of 5 series. And, much like the Hawks against the Celtics, I have no confidence in the Nuggets eliminating LA no matter how many games they push them to.

The verdict: I gave love to Nick Young in a past post after constantly crushing him, so here’s some dap for JaVale McGee too, who has had a very nice couple of games in this series...Best of 5.

Grizzlies-Clippers (Clippers lead 3-1)…There have been other good games and good moments so far in these playoffs, but this has actually been the only series worth watching in its entirety. Both teams are young and hungry, there is a distinct contrast in playing styles, and it’s the only series where there seems to be some real animosity between the 2 teams (which is always fun). Still, you could argue that if this had been a best of 5 series it would already be over, and it wouldn’t have even gone the distance. With all that being said, LA has needed 1 of the greatest comebacks ever, a 1 point nail-biter, and overtime for each of their respective wins. The Grizzlies protecting home court in game 6, stealing a game at Staples Center, and coming back to Memphis for a deciding game 7 doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibilities.

The verdict: This is the only series where the NBA’s current best of 7 1st round series actually works for me. In fact, I’ll take best of 9 for Clips-Grizz please…Best of 7.

The Grizz had a chance to win every game in this series so far, so don't count them out yet.

A Slave To Technology And All Its Wonders

I once wrote that while I enjoyed being a technological contrarian and resisting the urge to go buy an iPhone, I thought that it was inevitable. This weekend may have inched me even a little bit closer to that inevitability. Normally, I don’t bring my Blackberry to the field with me when Krissy and I have a football game. Instead, it sits in my truck (uselessly, some people may add parenthetically) until the game is over…not this past weekend though. I foolishly left it in a side pocket of my duffel bag while we played. Meanwhile, a fluke 15-20 minute rainstorm decided to pass by just as the game started. The refs flirted with the idea of calling the game off, but eventually decided to let us play it out…which was a lot of fun to be honest. I probably hadn’t played a muddy, rain-soaked football game since I was a kid. It also ruined my Blackberry though. I used to think my Blackberry Bold was the tank of all smartphones, capable of having giant boulders smashed down on it while showing no ill effects. Unfortunately, it apparently was not an amphibious tank. A better phone case probably would have helped, but you will be hardpressed to find any Blackberry accessories anywhere but online anymore.

Since I had insurance on the phone, Krissy and I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal to just go swap out a new phone from a Verizon store, but we couldn’t find a store in the area that even carried that. We then figured we would just call Verizon and have them ship us 1, but we discovered that we would have to fork over $100 for the replacement phone (the retail price of a new Blackberry Bold is $200…so much for insurance). We decided to simply deactivate my data plan for now and reactivate my old enV 2 for the time being. This was distressing to me. I had had my Blackberry for almost 2 years, but I had just now finally started to use it for what is actually good about Blackberries compared to other smartphones. I finally synced-up my work email with my phone, I had actually gotten into the habit of using the phone’s calendar to set reminders for appointments, and I developed a system of internal memos so that I always had running grocery and to-do lists with me at all times…trivial things, I know, but what can I say? I had become just as much of a slave to technology as the next poor slob.

By the way, what kind of guy would be texting courtside with Rihanna sitting next to him? Wait, don't answer that.

At some point late on Sunday I entered the acceptance stage though. I thought, how quickly I became dependent on something that didn’t even exist 10 years ago (well, it existed, but I don’t think I knew anyone my age who had a smartphone until I was well into college…it didn’t exist in my world at least). Somehow people managed to live before smartphones or cell phones though. When you left the house, you didn’t worry about how someone would contact you; they would contact you when they contacted you. Now, if I leave the house and forget my cell phone, I feel as though my entire family is going to die by the time I get back to it…and yet I don’t think full family homicides were any more prevalent before the cell phone age started. I also thought about the money we would save in the months that we would be paying for only 1 data plan instead of 2. All of it made me think about the Louis CK clip that went viral a few years ago where he famously said, “Everything’s amazing, and nobody’s happy.” Not a bad perspective…maybe I would just go back to a regular ol’ cell phone and be done with smartphones altogether. How much better is the quality of my life by being constantly plugged into my email and the Internet anyway?

And then Krissy came home from work and said she had been talking all day with coworkers and family trying to get them to lend me 1 of their old smartphones that had been lying around until I got a new 1 of my own. Apparently, the unlimited data packages that Krissy and I have are not offered anymore. Since we already have those packages, we are grandfathered into them, and they can’t be taken away…but if we didn’t call up Verizon within a certain amount of time we would lose that option forever (on my phone at least). I tried to reason with Krissy that this was ok, and that I could survive on a lesser data plan. After all, I don’t use that much “data” to begin with, and I think I could make do not playing any word games on my phone until I got home from work. Let’s just say that my wife knows a bargain when she sees 1 though, and she was having none of this. Probably smart in the long run, but I had just gotten to the point that I was actually ok not having a smartphone for a while! Oh well…I guess I’m resigned to being a slave of the smartphone again. Just another poor sap who can’t stop taking the world in from a 3 inch screen while real life passes him by…nevermind, it’s my turn in Lexulous. Peaceout, motherf*****.

The Kid's Alright

With my “government Friday” winding down and not much chance of a blog post tomorrow, there’s simply too many things to write about…the Redskins (RG3, Kirk Cousins, etc.), the Clippers-Grizzlies game from last night, the Heat at MSG tonight, my newfound commitment to get to the office before 8am, and on and on and on…how about we stick with Bryce Harper?

The kid.

In 4 games since being called up to the majors, Harper has definitely caught a lot of people’s attention. 1st, there’s his ability. It’s a small sample size, but in 4 games he’s batting 0.385 with 3 doubles, and he’s shown he has a Howitzer for an arm to boot. His swing seems to be effortless and completely violent at the same time somehow. It’s the kind of swing that makes it easy to misjudge the ball off of his bat when watching on TV. What look like nice line drives are suddenly careening off outfield walls once the behind-the-backstop camera view is switched to. And while he may be the type of guy that draws the ire of opponents now and again (his blatant look-at-me helmit flip on his way to 2nd base following a double to the gap a couple nights ago, his ridiculous haircut and eyeblack, and his brash personality will no doubt get some sweet chin music thrown his way sometime in the not so distant future), he also seems to be the type of guy that is going to do everything 100 miles per hour all the time. Ruffling people’s feathers is expected with Harper, but I doubt it will be for dogging it on his was to 1st after a groundout or anything hustle-related. He appears to be a balls-to-the-wall kind of player. And behind that ability and machismo might even be a cool dude in his own way. YouTube was blowing up the other day with this clip of Harper taking a couple of swings in a slow-pitch softball game at the National Mall in DC.

Apparently Harper was just doing the tourist thing in the nation’s capital, was walking by the game, and decided to pick up a bat for a minute or 2 in what looked like a local beer league game. That doesn’t seem like something a lot of “modern” athletes would do in an era that’s all about protecting one’s brand. (Think back to a couple of summers ago when there was that whole “videogate” episode over whether LeBron either did or didn’t have Nike pull the grainy footage of Jordan Crawford dunking on King James in a summer pick-up game.) So yea, Harper may rub some people the wrong way early on in his career, but it’s cool to see a 19 year old kid actually be 19 sometimes. And 19 year old kids, even ones with superhuman talents, have bad haircuts, can be loudmouths, and can get themselves into trouble from time to time…and they also play hard and don’t worry about getting struck out by some pudgy weekend warrior in a park either. Like I said, it’s a small sample size, but despite his foibles it’s hard not to like Harper’s swagger, game, and charm. Whether he becomes a superstar or not, the Nationals need a guy like Harper. The Nats are full of do-gooder, yessir-nossir types. Just look at their other phenom, Stephen Strasburg. When he’s not on the field, Strasburg appears to be perfectly content being completley ignored. The limelight is not for him. Harper, on the other hand, seems to embrace it. The coming weeks, months, and years will tell us whether he’s worth all the hype or not, but 1 thing seems certain: the Bryce Harper era is going to be fun.