Rendclaw

Someone who has been sucking the dick of the Big Aristotle for a long, long time. Of course.

Wade lost his explosiveness because of his crash-bang style of play... you know, think of that commercial of him getting knocked on his ass all the time. He got hurt, he tried to play through it, got hurt more, finally was forced to shut down. He can't play balls-out crash-and-burn, because his career is going to be very very short.

Here in the Detroit area, I think that Sean Baligian is very underrated, and that's because he tries to be objective 99% of the time, and he is very funny. I think that the mainstay, Stoney and Wojo have jumped the shark, because Wojo spends too much of his time playing the whiny, elitist Detroit sports fan schtick, and always making fun of his co-host. A few years ago I would listen to them fairly regularly, but after Rome went off the air (I've been into him since 1998 or so and while I think that his having kids has taken a few MPH off his fastball and the callers have gotten progressively worse, to the point that he didn't take a single call for a week straight) I just listened to something else. Now that I work nights, I podcast like nobody's business. And yes, Petros and Money are hysterical. I got into them when they were guest hosting for Rome one week, and I podcast them too.

I agree with that, too. Jordan was as imperfect as the rest of us. His competitiveness got way out of control at times, but you never heard about it because he was the face of the league. Believe me, if Stern could have gotten away with it, Jerry West would not be the logo right now. The closest thing they have right now to Jordan 2.0 is Kobe, and that's only because Kobe patterned himself after Jordan in so many ways it was silly. People made fun of him. Only recently did Kobe realize that he needed to show his humanity and trying to be THE MAN every second of every day wasn't going to fly because people are tired of that act, no matter what you do on the court. As far as his on the court performance it is much more watchable, because he has teammates he can trust and whats more important, *he decided to trust them*. He's happier than a pig in mud right now not only because he has better players, but he finally realized that he can't do it all himself, no matter the level of ability of his teammates. Its a repeat of Jordan as far as the realization and his team getting people he can pass the ball to. And that's a place where LeBron needs to get to. He already is more willing to play through the system and pass first. As was said before he is a Magic/Jordan hybrid, but he needs much better players to make noise in the East. He came into the league with a hell of a lot of fanfare and hype, he proved he can handle it and live up to it, now he needs a better team around him. I just wish that Stern and the networks would go back to promoting the teams as a whole rather than the individual players, but I know that age is never, EVER coming back for a number of reasons.

I have a couple problems here. First of all, I find it hard to believe that the concept of talented athletes trying to win at all costs did not exist prior to 1990. Second of all, you call this a backlash, which has a distinct negative connotation. I want a league where the best are playing their hardest. Why should anyone settle for anything less? I don't think the bar is impossibly high. Replacement-level talent plays to win at all costs. Why shouldn't superstars? My spin on Rendclaw's point is moreso that the league wants to find their Jordan sequel for marketing purposes. Jordan was an unbelievably talented SG/SF who had the ability to carry and take over for his team. The league made a lot of money being Jordan-centric, and apparently Stern and his marketing guys are like someone who can't get over an old girlfriend. Endorsement and promotion wise, they favor any superstar level SG/SF, like Kobe and Lebron, and the lesser ones like Wade, Carter and McGrady (and we'll throw Carmelo Anthony in here for the hell of it). They always get compared to Jordan, and the media covers them accordingly. Denver, Lakers, Miami and Cleveland each had twenty nationally televised games this season. Everyone wants a league where the players are playing their hardest. So if your going to be labeled a Jordan-esque player you have to play accordingly. If you can deal with that, you'll be fine, like Kobe and Lebron. If you can't, you become the BUTT of everyone's jokes, like McGrady and Carter. I agree with everything you said. Magic, Bird, and Erving might have saved the NBA, but Jordan made the NBA successful beyond its wildest dreams, and Stern and his comrades want the next cash cow. Stern made the NBA about the players and much less about the teams, and its not going back. Promotion of the players takes such a high precedence, it borders on the ridiculous. That's why I laud the Pistons' win in 2004; they were a team and they won as such, not because they had one player dominating the scoring and headlines.

Detroit: Juan Dixon, Jarvis Hayes, Walter Herrmann, Lindsey Hunter, Theo Ratliff I dunno if Juan wants to be the third PG after Billups and Stuckey. I think that Stuckey has earned the backup point guard role, but with Billups and Hunter teaching you every day, I don;t see how you can't improve. They're going to sign Jarvis, I think. He provided that shooting touch off the bench that they have desperately needed for a few years now, and he's a passable defender. Walter is a BIG fan favorite here, which means they prolly are going to not re-sign him. I haven't seen someone with hands that big that make palming the basketball look like he's holding a dodgeball. He can shoot and rebound a bit, but not good enough to resign. Too bad, I like the guy. Lindsey is probably going to retire and take a job in the front office. Theo is an interesting call. He's not the defensive beast that he once was, but he does make a decent backup to Sheed in the middle. I'm on the fence about him.

This is the backlash of the Jordan era. Every SG/SF that comes out nowadays that has a great amount of talent all of a sudden has to have that "I'll snap my own grandmother's neck to win" mentality, or has to have the extremely rare ability to put the team on his back and take over in the 4th quarter of games like Jordan did in order to be great. Talent and a desire to win are not enough anymore, now it has to be a combination of talent and a desire to win at all costs. The bar is set for these guys way high, almost impossibly high for most. I thought how T-Mac was treated at the end of his stay in Orlando was fucking stupid. He might have wanted to leave anyway (not that I blame him, really), but if he is leaning towards leaving, you don't plant your hand in his back and give him a shove out the door. T-Mac is not without blame in that situation, especially when he didn;t back up his talk about winning that playoff series against the Pistons in 2003 (I think). I do think that T-Mac is a little sensitive about getting blamed when his teams aren't as successful as people want them to be, but I can't blame him too much, when he has been dealing with this for at least five years, especially in the playoffs. As good as he is, no one man can ever win it all by himself. Jordan couldn't until he got Scottie Pippen to play off of him and take enough heat away from Jordan. That, and getting better players around them, too. Kobe can't do it, LeBron certainly can't. At least T-Mac is trying to keep things upbeat by joking about it, but you know he has to be thinking "oh here we go AGAIN." Vince Carter is nice offensively, but he is not a good defender to be nice about it. That and he is used to getting his way, and when he doesn;t it translates to his performance on the court. See his situation in Toronto.

This is what I meant about the Pistons needing to choke the other team out. They figured that Philly was going to roll over and die after they got up by what, 19 at one point?? No, the Sixers maybe not be a great team, but they usually keep right on playing because they have absolutely nothing to lose, and the Pistons let them back into that game when they should have gone up by 25 and cruised to a 10 point win. That game was very frustrating to watch. And the Cavs blow out the Wizards by 30. The last thing you need to do is talk shit about a superstar player, and then try and shove him out of the air in a hockey goon moment, THEN get your asses kicked. Arenas is straight up crazy, and Stevenson is one step away from being out of the league altogether because he, quite frankly, sucks. Way to back up your smack, DC.

I love Chris Bosh, but the Raptors are one or two players away from making any serious noise in the playoffs. The Magic are going to take care of them.

Eh, I could care less either way. We haven't beaten the Spurs in San Antonio since '99 and I preferred not to play them in round one anyway. On another note, I'll root for Denver to take out LA but I'm not going to be delusional like Skip Bayless and say that they'll win that series. I wouldn't worry about anything Skip ever says anymore, because he is so obviously slanting his opinions and views to pander for a reaction, and the more negative the better. He's a waste of oxygen.

Like teams in the NBA haven't done that before.

I'm just wondering what the future is now for Slash and Velvet Revolver... I hated the hell out of Nirvana but they grew on me a little, STP started to get better once they found their own voice so to speak, and even though I hated Man in a Box to start, I got into AIC almost immediately. I fucking love Jerry Cantrell's guitar work. Not a lot of flash, just solid.

Boston in 4 Cleveland in 7 Orlando in 6 Detroit in 5 Lakers in 6 Utah in 6 San Antonio in 7 New Orleans in 5

Those are exactly my worries. Their bench is much better *and* Saunders is actually using them more this year (I think Joe Dumars ordered him to), but it all comes down to focus. They need to simply choke out any team in front of them. I am also of the opinion that it is going to be Boston and Detroit in the ECF and its going six games at the very least, if not seven. Stuckey is developing nicely, he's pretty fearless inside, and he has proven veterans in Billups and Hunter mentoring him. He is the future leader of the Pistons as Chauncey ages, and with a few decent draft players and trades in the coming years, the Pistons can stay on top or near it. I am not going near the West. It is a total tossup and dogfight, as teams 1-8 can win any series. I just pray the Jazz don;t make it to the Finals if the Pistons win through the East.

Amen to that. Hell, I won't watch new movies out of China without subs. Curse of the Golden Flower was wonderful. As to DBZ, I know a friend who basically has the entire series fansubbed long before it hit the States, and it was a great story, especially the Cell Games. I always liked DBZ becuase I figured out Goku's and Vegeta's relationship long before anyone in our watching group. Funimation should have released episodes in order and with the subtitles. This movie isn't going to go very well. Nuff said.

That's fine by me. I can live with the storyline as long as I have fun doing it. 2500 moves?? No fucking way, thats Fire Pro-esque. Even HCTP didn't have that many, or the first SvR.

More than forty-nine? The West is so insane, two or three games would make the difference.

Provided of course that they can win a few more basketball games in the regular season...

The reason why the Magic shoot so many threes is the same reason why they did so in the early-to-mid 90s. Dwight Howard is a beast down low, and so most teams collapse on him the moment he gets the ball on the block, thus leaving Turkoglu and Lewis open on the perimeter. I wish that Lewis would take the ball to the hole more, that only makes his outside game more effective. Turkoglu is doing both fairly well. TJ Ford is a handful when he's healthy, and we all know about Chris Bosh. It would be one hell of a series. And yes, whomever comes out of that war is going to get beat by the Pistons or Celtics.

Its funny to me, seeing all of these younger people get married as if its going to complete their lives somehow. Relationships are something that is rarely that you getr right on the first try, but yes, its as if people think that they can;t do any better. The Devil you know, and all that mess. I'm not immune to that. Up until recently I was settling for those who were not good for me until I met my current girl, who is living with me now. She showed me by her actions that under no circumstances should you ever settle for someone who is not good for you. That's insecurity on your part, because you don;t think you can do better. Never settle for less than what you want in a person. That;s the best advice I can give you all. Never, EVER settle.

The way the Magic are playing right now, I cannot see the Raptors beating them in a seven game series. And the Pistons are doing pretty good. Resting their starters, the bench and young players are doing well, and they are still winning games. Granted, its against teams that have for the most part already checked out mentally, but its a good thing that they are keeping things on a simmer heading into the playoffs.

Been playing guitar for 20 years now. I'm a passable rhythm player nowadays, though I am going through a rut where I need people to jam with more than anything else, since playing to tracks is getting boring, and learning new songs is tedious.

Medium all the way. And steak sauce enhances the flavor. It only kills it if you use half the bottle.

I'm down for that.

I dunno, just like the same team scored 120 and lost by 16.