Archive for June 18th, 2006
Continue Reading June 18th, 2006
Game Five of the NBA Finals will serve as your capper to an excellent sports weekend. And there’s certainly no lack of intrigue for tonight’s game. The Heat have all the momentum. The Mavs can’t stop Dwyane Wade and his myriad of injuries and ailments. Dirk Nowitzki has gone into hiding. Avery Johnson’s mad at his team. There’s still controversy over the Stack-on-Shaq crime. And the series just might turn on tonight’s game.
Avery Johnson has moved the Mavs 45-minutes away from Miami, accusing them of having too much of a “vacation” mentality. They’re now staying in Fort Lauderdale, two men to a room, and eating all of their meals together as if they were in training camp. They don’t have access to family or friends. Mark Cuban hasn’t even posted on his blog in four days. I suspect that he’s been busy ordering special shoes for the Mavericks with Jerry Stackhouse’s name and number embroidered into them or something.
The Game is at 9:00 on ABC, but tune in at about 9:15 if you’re tired of the weird guy in silver goggles waving Heat flags before the game.
The straight line into moaning [Free Darko]
Johnson rants about Stackhouse suspension [MSNBC]
Dick Bavetta Is a God Among Men [The Sports Hookup]
Continue Reading June 18th, 2006
Game Five of the NBA Finals will serve as your capper to an excellent sports weekend. And there’s certainly no lack of intrigue for tonight’s game. The Heat have all the momentum. The Mavs can’t stop Dwyane Wade and his myriad of injuries and ailments. Dirk Nowitzki has gone into hiding. Avery Johnson’s mad at his team. There’s still controversy over the Stack-on-Shaq crime. And the series just might turn on tonight’s game.
Avery Johnson has moved the Mavs 45-minutes away from Miami, accusing them of having too much of a “vacation” mentality. They’re now staying in Fort Lauderdale, two men to a room, and eating all of their meals together as if they were in training camp. They don’t have access to family or friends. Mark Cuban hasn’t even posted on his blog in four days. I suspect that he’s been busy ordering special shoes for the Mavericks with Jerry Stackhouse’s name and number embroidered into them or something.
The Game is at 9:00 on ABC, but tune in at about 9:15 if you’re tired of the weird guy in silver goggles waving Heat flags before the game.
The straight line into moaning [Free Darko]
Johnson rants about Stackhouse suspension [MSNBC]
Dick Bavetta Is a God Among Men [The Sports Hookup]
Continue Reading June 18th, 2006
David Segui, who hit 139 homeruns in 15 years in Major League Baseball, is one of the players named in Jason Grimsley’s affidavit. Segui fully admits to his use of Human Growth Hormone, and claims that it was all perfectly legal, medically necessary, and done under a doctor’s care.
I tend to believe him, if only because it seems like a guy who was abusing HGH as a performance-enhancer should’ve been a little bit better than David Segui (although that forearm is Michael Pittman-huge). He says that tests indicated that his natural levels of HGH were “off the charts low,” and that, for him, HGH was a medical necessity. He even produced a doctor’s prescription in his chat with ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap. Of course, there are doubters, such as Deadspin reader Kyle, who wrote in with the tip:
Sounds really fishy to me, as a guy that is good enough to make it to the majors probably doesn’t need HGH. I’m not a doctor, but I’ve heard many of them say that nearly no one needs HGH and a professional athlete has no reason to take it (outside of not having a pituitary gland).
Well, for me, this is the final straw. Steroid-related suspicions about Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmerio, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds… fine. I can handle those. But when a cloud of suspicion hangs over David Segui, then there’s just nothing left for me to believe in. Mickey Mantle getting a hummer in Yankee stadium, David Segui using HGH… when will it all stop?
Transcript: David Segui’s interview with ESPN [ESPN.com]
Mickey Mantle, God Among Men [Deadspin]
Continue Reading June 18th, 2006
There are obviously bigger things going on today than the New York Knicks stable of overpaid, shoot-first point guards.
For example, Game 5 of the NBA Finals, or this Q&A with the suspended Jerry Stackhouse.
That said, when one of the higher profile players in the league begins to tip over the edge of sanity, it simply must be addressed. Steph, speaking to reporters in NYC yesterday:
“I love Larry Brown,” Marbury said. “Period.”
With adoring children surrounding him, Marbury initially told reporters that he wouldn’t answer basketball-related questions. He spoke instead about helping children and about how his mind, once “trapped,” is now “free.”
But then, asked what had freed him, the point guard quickly responded, “Larry Brown! I was tested,” Marbury said. “But that’s all it was: a test. … I passed the test. I’m moving on to the next grade.”
“I love New York more sometimes than I love myself, because this is what made me. And that’s a sin. You’re not supposed to love anything more than you love yourself, but that’s how I feel.” As for his health - he sat the final 11 games last season with left knee tendinitis - Marbury said, “I’m beyond healed. I’m in a whole ‘nother place.”
This all went down at the opening of Steph’s Coney Island youth basketball camp, where he also said he was going to begin selling a line of $220 shoes for $14.98 a pair. He said they’re the exact same shoes.
We don’t know everything about retailing and margins and such things, but we know somewhere in there that math doesn’t work.
As for what the “next grade” and the “whole ‘nother place” are, we’ve known a few crazy people, and all signs point to Steph thinking he’s playing not basketball, but a live-action version of Candyland. By the way, even in that crazy game come to life, there’s no way Steph loves Larry Brown.
(Heat by 2 tonight.)
Continue Reading June 18th, 2006
Dear Dad,
Even though you’ve explicitly told us you don’t read this site anymore, we still find you to be an excellent role model and a fine, upstanding old young man.
You’re the best dad we’ve ever had, and that would be true even if we had more than one. Thanks again for everything, including the many beatings which left us both insecure and unsure of our physcal strength capabilities.
Brian
