Sasha Vujacic has had a tough week
Comments off
Diary of a Mad Hoop Fiend
Basketball = My Life …. any questions?Archive for January, 2008
Step away from your crack dealer
Stan McNeal of the Sporting News put together an idea for a Jason Kidd-to-Dallas trade that made sense to him:
To make the salaries match, the Mavs could offer Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, DeSagana Diop, Juwan Howard and Devean George. The latter three all have expiring contracts, which would clear about about $5 million off the Nets’ books this summer, free them of paying Kidd $21-plus million next season and give them a pair of solid guards in Harris and Stackhouse.
McNeal emailed Mark Cuban for his response, which was priceless:
“Step away from your crack dealer.”
That crazy Mark Cuban ….
Comments off
Choking game costs kids their spot on the basketball team
Two New Brunswick kids were kicked off their basketball team, and a third was suspended when a frantic mother complained about the kids playing the choking game.
The “game” involves restricting the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain to create a feeling of lightheadedness followed by a momentary rush before passing out for, literally, about 5 seconds or less. Usually this is achieved by placing one’s hands over the throat and pinching the fingers to the palms. As soon as the oxygen and air flow return, consciousness is regained. It doesn’t take more than 5 seconds for the whole event to be over.
I have a mixed reaction about this.
On the one hand, the parent in me completely understands the severity of the situation and how it can lead to accidental deaths. I don’t think I’d want my son doing that sort of thing.
On the other hand, I remember DOING it as a teenager. And not a 13 or 14 year old. I’m talking 18, 19. It was funny at the time. I used to do it in Japanese class. Great way to pass the time. And I never used to do it alone. There was another guy who sat at the back of the class who did it with me. We could be heard giggling at various points throughout the class.
And while funny at the time, I never tried it outside of that scenario and felt kind of bad …. you know … cuz I was killing my own brain cells and all. In retrospect, it was a dumb game to play and I’m grateful that nothing serious came of it. And since that one semester, i’ve never tried it again.
But I’d attribute it to being a stupid, uninformed kid more than anything. I don’t know if I’d consider it serious enough to kick someone off a team for it. It certainly seems like an over reaction by the coaches and school.
—-
I was originally going to post a picture of the choking game, but it appears most of the pics appear to be of other kids choking each other. That’s too graphic for me, I think.
This is not the way I ever played this thing. I always did it to myself and my reason was that the body wouldn’t completely choke itself and so I would always let go as I passed out. Hell, someone else doing it isn’t a game, it’s attempted murder!
Regardless, it’s just one of the many stupid things we do as kids, I think. I remember <Rico’s edit: removed all of the bad things I did that I typed out on the first pass through> and through it all, I’m glad that no one removed me from my activities. Because I never did anything out of desire for being BAD, it was more for the newness and the thrill of it; stupidity personified.
Regardless, this was an interesting story that i thought deserved sharing. Especially because it relates to basketball. 
Comments off
NBA News & Notes (January 30, 2008)
Mighty Mouse could end up in San Antonio by tonight!
Also, Celtics out of the running for the Damon Stoudamire sweepstakes.
Toronto still has a shot.
Phoenix now wants The Mouse
Portland? They’re just dandy thank you very much.
I say that it’s good that the Celtics aren’t gonna sign him. Rajon is having a great year and it would be crushing to sit now. It would be a “we don’t have the confidence in you so we’re bringing someone else in” thing. And i’m surprised to hear Toronto still wants him.
As for San Antonio … with Tony Parker being shelved for a minimum of 1 week (some are saying indefinitely - could this be a Stephon Marbury “surgery” scenario?) and Jacque Vaughn performing poorly in his first start, it looks like Popp and RC Buford might have no other option BUT to sign Damon if they hope to get a good conference standing for the playoffs.
Chris Webber back in GState with Nellie
How long will it be before Nellie ships CWebb out to Washington again?
Devin Harris out 2-3 weeks with bone bruise in left ankle
Another ankle injury to a good young PG …. it’s a pandemic!
Luke Walton injures hip in game
Last time Walton got injured last year the Lakers went into a tailspin nearly falling out of the playoffs. With Bynum AND Walton out now, how will the lake Show react?
Jason Kidd almost definitely leaving NJ this year. Where could he land? Look to Beverly Hills …
Wow. J-Kidd would give the Lakers an immediate punch and propel them up the standings. But how much can they accomplish without Bynum and Walton?
And less than 6 months after being acquired by the Knicks, Z-Bo wants out; dislikes his coach
I think that, at this point in his NBA executive life, Isiah would have a hard time getting Mother Teresa to like him ….
And in the world of the Stupid and Boneheaded ….
Stromile Swift receives 1 game suspension for trying to physically intimidate his coach during a game. Oh, boo hoo, “I’m being pulled so rather than TALK about it or try to WORK HARDER, I’m gonna try to scare the coach into giving me more playtime.”
Did this guy NOT see how the Latrell Sprewell thing ended up?
Talk about not appreciating the good things you have in life ….
Comments off
NBA News & Notes (January 29, 2008)
Mighty Mouse to San Antonio/Boston/Toronto?
The story talks about Boston and Toronto and Portland being destinations for Stoudamire. But in the last day there’ve been rumblings that San Antonio might be in the running for a wily PG vet.
I have a hard time that Toronto would be in the running for Damon. Especially after the boos he got for like 3 years after leaving for Portland. Boston … maybe. It would certainly crush Rondo’s confidence and performance. As for Portland; I doubt they NEED him, but it IS his hometown. And he was a great prescence in the locker room for the young’uns there.
San Antonio has Jacque Vaughn (great backup) but Damon would be a great fit there as he is a better defender and shoots well enough from the line to command attention.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens.
Chris Webber – back with the Warriors?!?!
Could we be seeing the re emergence of Run-TMC?!?!?
All we need is to get Mitch Richmond and Tim Hardaway back from retirement …
Sam Mitchell and Gregg Poppovich are surly – and other great NBA revelations
Good article that shows just how hard it is to vote for all stars this year.
Kevin Durant sucks and his teammates are starting to hate him
That’s right. I said it.
He’s an extremely young KID hoisting 20+ shots a game with reckless abandon.
And despite the comparisons, he’s certainly no LeBron.
If I remember correctly, Lebron shot 60% from the field and tallied 25 points, …. something like 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals …. correction …. 25 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals.
Durant? 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals on 31% shooting from the field with 28% shooting from 3 point range and 50% shooting from the stripe. (source: nba.com). And lets forget all of that for a moment and see that this kid is developing some bad basketball habits that will come back to bite hi in the ass later.
Now, all that being said, Wally Sczerbiak is not a reliable source on unselfish play. But the stats don’t lie. Nor does the Sonics’ 9-35 record.
Comments off
Who comes up with this stuff?
These are three little posts that I made up for our Fantasy basketball league. I don’t THINK sometimes when I’m writing. Sometimes the words just flow …. or gurgle … out of my head ….
how do i come up with this stuff?
Posted by Can-O-Whoop-Ass:
I saw this pot smoking monkey in an overcoat riding his golden unicycle yesterday night and he told me (in Turkish, no less) that Nate PURPOSELY tried to screw Teddy over.
Now, I don’t make it a habit of believing golden unicycle riding, pot smoking monkeys (no matter how well dressed they are) … but this little revelation has nearly shattered my belief in the human race ….
is it possible that our beloved Commish is Crooked?
And post #2
Posted by Can-O-Whoop-Ass:
The day i actually care about (and willingly memorize) American politics will be the day two leprechauns named Tony come down from their magical mushroom and fly me to Istanbul on a magic pig for a date with the Queen of Brazil.
And the reply to one of the fantasy team owners when he asked me if there were any mules to rent instead of pigs …
Posted by Can-O-Whoop-Ass:
I actually think the rental company is ALL OUT of mules. So while I’ll be flying the friendly “flying pig” skies, everyone else will have to settle with Roseanne Arnold’s used underwear as a mode of transportation. I’ve been told that it’s roomy.
I think I need to lay off the Peyote or something ….
Comments off
Quote of the week (January 26 – February 1, 2008)
“You don’t win a championship by trusting in your teammates – you win 4″
~Tim Duncan~
I saw this quote in an adidas ad and was immediately comforted by it. Just keep playing hard, as a unit, boys. We’ll see this thing through.
Comments off
Orlando Magic have got the Celtics' number
I think it’s worth a mention that the Magic once again beat the Celtics, this time a 3 point victory at the 4th quarter buzzer.
I don’t know if any of you out there watched it but the end of this game was electric. Hedo Turkoglu showed the world, in a nationally televised game, why he’s their go to guy in the fourth as he launched what appeared to be a hail-mary fade-away three with time expiring. But the shot was true and perfect as it splashed bottom twine.
The crowd went bananas and the Celtics (sans KG) went home without a W for the second time this season. Yes Dwight Howard was huge once again and Paul pirce did his thing and Ray Allen was clutch in bringing back the C’s and giving them a chance to win but the day belonged to Turkoglu and his soon to be legendary buzzer beater.
Is this a sign of things to come in the playoffs?
Comments off
Andris Biedrins is a rebounding BEAST
Andris Biedrins grabbed 26 rebounds …… IN ONE GAME!
The man is a rebounding machine!
That HAS to be some sort of NBA record … (I’ll look into it later …)
Comments off
Song of the week (January 26 – February 1, 2008)
The Lost Tribe of Boodah – On The Blacktop
Now THIS is an OLD basketball Song. Back from 1993′s NBA Jam Session CD, this song was bangin on my car stereo for about 4 months straight.
It was not the most creative of songs but it was a fun little ditty. It was buried due to mega monster hits Rim Shaker (Wreckx N Effect) and (Bel Biv Devoe) Above the Rim.
Nevertheless, I was sitting around playing Guitar Hero 3 when this song INEXPLICABLY popped into my head. So here ya go. This week’s SOTW.
For the record, I actually DO have this CD in my collection still. I can’t get rid of it …… nostalgia ….
Comments off
COMPLETELY unrelated to basketball …
My addiction to Guitar Hero 3 is now complete as my PS3 is now online and hooked up to the interwebs.
I’ve created an account on the guitarhero.com website and linked it to my game. So now my account is being populated by my game info. And I have to say, it’s rather addicting.
You can create rock bands, try to join one (if you want the feeling of rejection as 13 year olds in middle America deem you too “shitty” to join) and you can earn crap (though I don’t know what)
If you have Guitar Hero 3 at home and wanna make me your friend (won’t you be my neighbour?), then look me up …
I’m ShakaDula14 (wonder why? ask me) and my rock band is called Killa Aces.
Comments off
Adversity
My Men’s League team, Shaka Dula, was founded about 7 years ago by a group of people who enjoyed the game and enjoyed each other’s company. We were committed to fair play, respecting each other and playing as a unit.
From our very first year we’ve known nothing but success. We have a ridiculous record like 83 wins and 5 losses. We’ve won 3 championships and we’ve always been in the top 3 of every division we’ve played in. PER SEASON, we’ve only ever lost 1 game (2 max).
Until this year, that is.
From the very start, this year has been a study on coping with adversity.
We played tonight. And we lost once again. By 10 points. But the loss doesn’t hurt as much as the WAY in which we lost. I’m not talking about strategy and x’s and o’s. I’m talking simply about personnel issues and …. dammit …. simply the idea that what we’re doing right now is not enough. We all tried our best. I truly believe that. but right now it doesn’t appear like anything we do is enough.
We were killed on the boards. But even more than that, the attention we had to put on rebounding took us away from our perimeter defense, which left shooters wide open.
Byrnesey (referred to this way ONLY to protect his identity) did not play tonight . He is our …. de facto …. floor leader. I may organize personnel and collect the money. I may have been a coach to all of these guys growing up. I may even be more physically imposing. But on the floor, Byrnesey is our go to guy when we need something. He guards the other team’s best offensive player and he gets the ball in crunch times with the ONLY words said to him being “make something happen.” And he almost always does. On the court, even I consider him the team’s leader. But right now, he’s nursing a fractured hand – a freak accident that happened at Monday Ball (our practice slot on Monday nights)
As much as I try to NOT be paranoid, I can’t help but think that we haven’t been the same since Nate Dawg left. I’ll write more about Nate and what he means to this basketball family later, but for the here and now I’ll stick with the current story.
Since Nate left … let’s see …. I tore ligaments in both wrists, Jimbo fractured his leg, I herniated two discs, Kenny suffered a couple of bad ankle sprains …. one of our (ex) guys, TJ, suffered from epileptic seizures and is going through some other personal turmoil, Thunder Dan fractured his hand and now Byrnesey fractures his hand.
The fact that we were able to play for the first 6 years or so without any major injuries is great. But the sudden influx, in the past couple of years, of physical injuries (ranging from the obvious to the obviously bizarre) makes me wonder what the hell is going on.
This isn’t EVEN counting the roster changes we’ve faced in the last 2 years after being a solid 11 for 5 years.
Part of me wonders if it isn’t some kind of karmic force that is out there regulating things and evening things out. Part of me wonders if we’ve been cursed. And yet another part of me is wondering if we did something to get this type of adversity being thrown at us.
I know it’s stupid to think that. i know it is. It has to be.
But one thing I KNOW is for certain: This year has been the most trying since that first year I started the team. I’ve never faced so much adversity on this basketball team.
For the first time, we’ve got a losing record. 4 wins, 5 losses.
My mind can’t fathom that.
We’ll go out and play hard the next game and try to change that. That’s for sure. And, if nothing else, I’m glad that I’ve got this group of guys on the team right now by my side. I know they will not give up and that we will fight for everything we get.
But wow ….. 4 and 5 …
Player Update
Just a note to inform everyone that Juwan Howard is averaging 0.9 points per game.
But he’s making millions of dollars playing professional basketball … I guess that explains the grin on his face.
Comments off
Quote of the Week (January 19 – January 25, 2008)
“Nothing in particular”
~ Some guy ~
Sometimes you just have to take everything people say as this week’s quote of the week. Just keep marching to your own drum and don’t let the haters get you down.
Comments off
Movie of the Week (January 19 – January 25, 2008)
I decided today that NO movie was worthy of being crowned MOTW this week!
So sayest I … eth.
Actually I didn’t have the time. But it sounds better to declare the movie world unworthy of MOTWs this week …. eth.
Comments off
NBA News & Notes (January 17, 2008)
Nene has tumor removed from testicle – Not cancerous
I’d be so embarrassed if this happened to me and went national. It’s bad enough to find out you might have cancer and have to have a part of your testicle removed. but then to have it go national and have every blogging jackass like me writing about it …. wow. The price of fame …
Joakim Noah pissing off Big Ben
Joakim Noah is a dumb meathead. He’s already clashed with Scott Skiles and is making no friends in that bulls locker room. This kid is one stupid move from having his career be a footnote on someone’s blog. and all because he’s not mature enough to handle two NCAA Championships and an NBA career.
Mike Bibby makes return to court
I’ve been keeping my eyes on this one for a long time as I wanted him for my fantasy team. And now I have him. Ha ha.
Tinsley not “injured” – actually suspended
This is bad for Nate’s fantasy team, sure. But it’s not good for Tinsley as the trade deadline approaches, too.
Wonder if the Pacer’s are gonna make a move.
NBA grants whining Heat a re-do of 51.4 seconds
This is the BIGGEST load of BS I have ever read. i can’t believe the League would allow this crap to go ahead. I mean, HOW many games have been decided because of a bad referee call? I can think of a couple dozen just in the last few years. And that’s not including our Men’s League games. But no one says boo about it. But when “The Godfather” and “Slick Pat” complain … well, you GOTTA listen then.
I hope the Hawks win and keep the Heat in the NBA basement.
And speaking of Miami Heat players ….
Glen Rice arrested for beating a man hiding in his estranged wife’s closet
And here I thought R-Kelly’s song was based in fiction. I didn’t know it was a story about R-Kelly and Glen Rice …..
Comments off
Amir Johnson likes Kool Aid & a redraft
With all the (lame) talk of redrafts going on in my fantasy league, I went in and found this little ditty by Dime Magazine.
It’s a redraft of the 2001 draft class.
Interesting read.
And no, I don’t want to redraft my NBA superteam
Comments off
Quote of the week (January 12 – January 18, 2008)
Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying “I will try again tomorrow”
We are imperfect beings living in a fallen world. We make mistakes. We fail often. But we always have the opportunity to make things right the next day. Keep trying.
Comments off
Song of the week (January 12 – January 18, 2008)
Busta Rhymes (feat. Mystikal) – Gettin Rowdy wit’ Us?
I can take or leave Mystikal as an artist for the most part. But, as is the case with most of hip hop’s artists, when he gets together with Busta Rhymes he sounds good and has an edge that no one can touch.
This song is one of the most intense of Busta’s catalogue. The lyrics are ~meh~ but the DELIVERY (hyper speed) is what makes this song stand out. I’ve had this song in my collection since the day it came out (1998′s Extinction Level Event) and it took me until LAST YEAR to figure out most if the lyrics. I mean, I have a hard time keeping up with them while READING the lyrics …. rapping along to the entire song is next to impossible. hahaha.
NOTE: The file sharing website I frequented (eSnips) has just recently passed forth an Audio Copyright policy that has made 1/2 my file virtually worthless – songs that I had shared here were deleted without my consent and I’m quite irate with that because the only purpose for posting those files was so that I, and my loyal readerbase (~wink~) could hear what I’m currently listening to. Therefore I’ve decided to stop using the website in protest for a hypocritical stance on a lame issue. I’ll post more about it at a later date.
Comments off
Movie of the week (January 12 – January 18, 2008)
“They just might be the biggest bunch of losers that ever became winners.”
With a tagline like that, you wouldn’t be wrong to assume that this movie was crap.
And a lot of people DID think that. But I feel that Sinbad IMMEDIATELLY adds some …. level of …. hilarity to every movie he’s in. And this movie is no exception. Starring Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap, Star Trek: Exterprise), the aforementioned Sinbad and the beautiful Kathy Ireland the movie centers around a college program on the mend after a corruption scandal. The characters mentioned above meet to help the team out as players or coaches and, of course, hilarity ensues.
This isn’t the type of movie you watch for its plot or for it’s football action (though it’s not too bad) … no, you watch it for Kathy Ireland and Sinbad. And if that’s why you watch, then you’ll enjoy what you see.
I somehow was always expecting Scott Bakula to ask Ziggy for something at some point in the movie (that’s a Quantum Leap reference for all you young’ins) but it never happened.
And I watched this movie when I was like 12. So it’s been a while since I watched it last … and the humour of a 12 year old isn’t necessarily the gauge for movies to be measured by …. but I was talking about htis movie with a pal and had some fond memories, which is why it’s this week’s MOTW.
Comments off
Dime dissects the Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire's basketball scenes
So Will Smith was a baller on the show. And no one, and I mean NO ONE, cared at the time about the “accuracy” of that part of the storyline. But here, this Dime Mag writer dissects, in minute detail, all of the basketball related stories from the show. it’s an entertaining read … but come on … who cares?
I never saw anyone mention the fact that the “Friends” all must have slept with each other about 2 dozen times and remained friends. Talk about unreal …. 
Oh, by the way, Tatyana Ali got HOT!
Comments off