I agree with First Cuts, I like the shirt.
Smooth moves by Common on there too, but who’s cooler than Boom Dizzle? (Certainly not Diz Gibran, the M.C.)
For the love of pete, vote for Baron to be in NBA JAM.
I was going to spend my self-allotted blogging time today writing haiku about NFL Wildcard weekend, but then the levee broke and EA announced the glorious return of NBA JAM for Wii - you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for playoff poetics.
“NBA JAM is one of the most recognizable franchises in videogame history,” said Peter Moore, President, EA SPORTS. “Diehard fans of the original game have been asking for a remake for more than a decade. We’re very excited to give them their wish this year with the return of this iconic franchise.”
Forget Namath’s daughter. Forget McGwire on steroids (thanks for the heads up, Capt. Obvious). Forget Ochocinco’s truck on steroids. This is the sports story of the day.
In a fun little twist, EA is letting you vote on which three players you’d like to be featured for the Kings, Clippers and Thunder. For instance, on the Clips, you can pick between Baron Davis, Blake Griffin, Al Thornton, Chris Kaman and Eric Gordon and Marcus Camby.
EA should probably just start working on the beard renderings now, because I don’t think Boom Dizzle has to worry that much about getting picked for BOOM-SHAKA-LAKA, the next generation. However, if I’m Baron, should I be somewhat offended that they’re putting it to a vote? He’s a ten year vet in the midst of serious 2010 campaign. And yes, there are some electric young guns to choose from here (and one older gentleman), but Baron is an established star, plus he has 2-3 other nicknames with the word boom in them.
For the record, I voted for Davis, Blake Griffin, and Camby for nostalgia.
Earlier I was reading the Washington Post’s latest on the Gilbert Arenas- Javarus Crittenton Mexican standoff, a.k.a. the sports story of the year. It’s a must read, very quotatious.
The Post is now reporting that the dispute began during a card game between Crittenton and JaVale McGee. Arenas was simply heckling Crittenton, who’s apparently not exactly the Teddy KGB of team bus hustling.
The dispute between Arenas and Crittenton began on the team plane during a popular card game between players called “Boo-ray.” Crittenton lost roughly $1,100 to JaVale McGee, a Wizards center, in the game, according to a player who watched the game and who also spoke on condition of anonymity. Crittenton, already angry over a dispute over the game’s rules, became irate when Arenas began needling him.
Their barbs escalated to a point where Arenas, smiling, said he would blow up Crittenton’s car, according to two players on the flight, who requested anonymity. Crittenton replied that he would shoot Arenas in his surgically repaired knee.
After reading this, I felt compelled to check out the rules of Boo-Ray, popular in Louisiana and seemingly a great way to piss away your bankroll. To give a quick and dirty explanation, first, each player is dealt three cards, then you go around the table and each player can decide to pass or play. Everyone antes a chip before the deal and regardless of whether or not they decide to play. If you pass, you’re out for the duration of that deal. If you elect to play, you can discard any of your cards and be dealt new ones.
When the game starts, the player to the left of the dealer selects the trump suit. Whoever plays the highest trump at the end of the hand wins the trick and gets to pick trump for the next pass. Once all the players have played three cards, the game ends and the player who took the most tricks wins the pot.
Now, the kicker, any player who won no tricks is said to be the “boo-ray,” which was initially meant to reference something like a borro or a donkey; those Cajuns put their own little flavor on the name. You’re considered the donkey because before the next game the boo-ray has to ante the equivalent of the last pot. So say you started playing with seven players, for the second deal, the boo-ray has to ante seven chips while everyone else ante’s one, making the new pot 13 chips. The boo-ray for the hand after that will have to ante 13 chips.
I know that was probably confusing, but I think the key takeaway is that boo ray sounds like it gets wild with pots growing exponentially. Even Charles Barkley was probably like too rich for my debt-ridden blood. However, with only two people it sounds like suited war and not really that interesting. It wouldn’t surprise me if it came out that more players on the bus were involved in the game, strictly from a level of enjoyment perspective. If you want the full run-down of the rules , you can read up on boo-ray here.
Wizards’ Arenas suspended indefinitely as new details emerge in gun incident (Washington Post)
‘Net reaction: Gilbert Arenas’ suspension, troubles (Balls Don’t Lie)
Like his Washington Wizards teammate and blogging kinsman Gilbert Arenas before him, Brendan Haywood has decided to retire from the blog game. When he started out blogging for Yardbarker earlier this year Haywood, the self-proclaimed Bad Guy, hoped to openly express his opinions w/o having to worry about people calling up the organization and inquiring as to why exactly he wants to buy Backstreet Boys records for Elin Woods? Well, as Victor Mancini would say, Hope is just a stage of your life (or blogging career) that ends - and can be seemingly be expedited when you support Mike Vick.
Haywood goes out on his Yardbarker blog saying…
I’ve had a great time blogging, interacting with the fans and letting yal know my points of view on different dicey topics but with the way this season has gone –at this point, I don’t want anything written about me that’s not basketball related. When you’re winning and you’re on top, you can really speak your mind and put your thoughts out there. When you’re losing and trying to stay afloat, you’ve got to know when it’s time to be seen and not heard.
I know some of my blog topics have been controversial but I just felt like writing a boring blog about how I went to the gym and got a certain amount of shots up just wouldn’t cut it. I tried to keep yal on the cutting edge and really let yal know what’s going on in my mind and it was hard to do at times. It was hard because a lot of times when you make comments, people really blow them out of proportion and interpret them in a lot of different ways than you originally meant them. Gilbert Arenas told me that it would be like that when I first started blogging but I guess I had to see for myself. I was amazed at how people cold really misinterpret my words!
Haywood won’t be concluding his blogging career on the heels of his own Blogger of the Year award like predecessor, Agent Zero. He did get 234 comments (not all negative too) on that Elin Woods post though. And speaking of comments, those who left comments on his retirement announcement post are mostly sad to see him go - there’s only six comments, but that’s six more than I’d probably get if I retired from blogging. Even Buster Douglas stopped by with some kind words for Haywood:
Dag, just when I was going to ask you for four Cavs floor seats!!!
Take care Brendan, now who’s going to fight with Chantelle’s?
Truly understand that people are going overboard.
I agree with not just blogging about your sport, because you want to show people who you really are.
Thanks for keeping it real!
Just another case of blogging bringing 7-footers and former Heavyweight champions together as brothers.
The legacy that is Washington Wizards blogging moves on to rookie JaVale McGee, who says the point of this blog secretly is to dare anyone with a Ps3 to a challenge on Call of Duty Modern Warefare 2.
This is turning into quite the lineage you created, eh Gilbert?
We’re moving offices tomorrow. My day job, that is. The Steady Burn offices remain intact - we’re going to do a few more rounds of funding before we explore further capital gains, probably after we see if the world exists after 2012.
On the short list of wants for my new office is one of those Nerf basketball hoops that you hang over the door. Something subtle like this…
I figure it will impress my clients, as well as make the Fresh Direct delivery guys want to be me. While I peruse e-commerce for the perfect hoop, check out these Top 8 Moments in Nerf Basketball History…
You all remember the enigmatic Chuck Nevitt, no? That's him pictured above, getting him armpit tickled.
Chuck was an esteemed member of the 1982-83 Rockets, one of SI's Top 8 Worst NBA Teams of All Time. That roster also included Albany State University's finest, the Jones brothers, Major and Caldwell (a.k.a. "Pops"). Check out the rest of the list on SI.com and good luck tonight, New Jersey.Brett Youmark, chief executive of the in limbo New Jersey Nets, tells Richard Sandomir of the NY Times, “From Day 1, we’ve had two strategies..One, to market ourselves as if we’re staying long term in New Jersey to give people a reason to come see us. But it’s important to seed our brand in Brooklyn.”
Not an easy strategy to execute considering how delayed and convoluted the Nets’ plan to move the team from New Jersey to Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn has become - they’ve kind of reached the “oh, geez, this is awkward” phase in their relationship with Jersey.
Made easier, however, when you got guys like Devin Harris, who’s willing to do a promotional appearance in the bread aisle at Pathmark.
Sandomir on Harris:
His off-the-court schedule shows that he had breakfast with a hero police officer at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Hackensack, N.J., helped clean Branch Brook Park in Newark before its Cherry Blossom Festival and took a cooking class at Fabulous Foods in Moonachie, N.J., with youngsters from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Morris, Bergen and Passaic counties.
Harris drove an eighth grader in Hawthorne, N.J., to school in his Ferrari, appeared with Nets center Brook Lopez at M&M’s World in Manhattan (M&M’s is the team’s official candy), conducted clinics, hiked, climbed rocks and bowled with youngsters.
The Ferrari, M&M’s, even sitting at a table signing photos at the Pathmark - none sound too strenuous. But everything adds up to him being the Net who’s made the most appearances in his just under two years with the team.
Not bad for a 26-year old who’s the marketing face of an organization mired in uncertainty. I like the attitude on this guy.
This week in 1994, New York City kind-of- a rap group Fu-Schnickens released their second album Nervous Breakdown. It featured the hit single What's Up Doc? (Can We Rock) w/ a guest appearance from Shaq Fu, himself.
Shaq's adeptness at inventing halfwords - like alidocious - would not be fully appreciated until later in history…Lamar and Khloe tied the knock this weekend. (4 months; at least one very regrettable spin-off series.)
There were some real winners in attendance - Kelly Osbourne and Stuttering John Melendez’ gut.
But no one at the nuptials had swagger like Baron Davis.
I’m no fashion persona myself, but to quote my man Frank Slaughtery, did the ladies ever tell you you look like a f***ing optical illusion?
(H/T at J.E. “heartache to heartache” Skeets for this one)
Leading up to this past weekend’s inception of the 2009-10 NFL season, I polled the sports blogosphere on What’s the Greatest Sports Day of the Year. Thought we’d get a top-10 out of it, but it turns out everybody sort of likes the same days with a few wild cards thrown in. (Actually, just The Indy 500 sort of puzzles me.)
Therefore, here’s my highly arbitrary Top-5 based on the sports blog intelligentsia’s feedback.
Don’t forget to vote at the bottom…
Hanging out in a bar or ensconced on a couch with onion dip for 8-12 hours on a Sunday watching pro football is a truly iconic American experience. We wait all Summer for that experience, the whole time left to believe that sort of behavior is inappropriate and lethargic. Then, on a faithful Sunday in September - no matter what level of balmy Indian Summer weather we’re having - all your dreams come true, sloth. And, it’s not just one day, but the start of 5+ months of Sundays like this.
Here is Adam Best’s (Fansided.com) take on NFL opening day…
Not only is the NFL the professional sports league with the best product, it’s the sports league with the best presentation. After waiting for over half a year for the real thing, you get a taste of actual NFL regular season action on opening Thursday. That just wets your appetite for the 13 games on the Sunday slate. From tailgating to fantasy football, there isn’t a sports day that offers this much from start to finish. Christmas in September. Watching the Red Zone Channel for almost 7 hours before you switch over to NBC for the encore, and ESPN and the NFLN for the nightcap recap. From 8 AM until Midnight it’s all NFL. You can’t get non-stop action and highlights like that anywhere else.
I’ll take the sights at the local OTB on the day of the Kentucky Derby over any exploding fireworks spectacular. If they put an OTB there, even Mayberry would look like public squalor on Derby day. Utterly, fantastic.
But, to quote something The Cincinnati Kid Steve McQueen might have said - it’s not just the gambling, it’s also the drinking. You can muddle fruit everyday of the year, and it’ll never taste as well muddled as in a julep on Derby Day.
Also, you can wear a seersucker suit or a hat shaped like an extra large Triple Meat Italiano from Pizza Hut every day of the year, and people will always look at you with vague condescension, but at least on Derby Day they’ll have formulated an explanation as to why you’re dressed like a doofus.
I got more responses that read I know it sounds crazy, but I really enjoy the NBA Draft. Why so ashamed?
Two rounds, five minutes a pick (two minutes in the second round even), and all the wardrobe audacity that you could ask for in under three hours. I don’t think ESPN could get a more efficient display of unintentional comedy if they got Keyshawn, Kruk and Lou Holtz to tri-anchor SportsCenter live from Pamplona at the Running of the Bulls.
Answer: The first day when teams play each other in this sport is commonly referred to as Opening Day.
What is baseball, Alex. This would be a $200 dollar question in Jeopardy round. Under the category: Sports, amateur hour.
There’s a reason it’s Opening Day, and not Opening Sunday in the norms of society. And, the explanation might be that this is actually the greatest sports day of the year.
As Josh, from Josh Q. Public, puts it:
Hope springs eternal. Dads with their sons playing hookie from school and work, your first smells of the fresh cut infield and outfield grass, grilled ballpark franks, batting practice and ice cold beer…and then you go home that night to watch march madness…perfection.
I used to work with a guy who took Thursday and Friday of the NCAA tournament off every year, and went to Vegas with his buddies for the first round of the tournament. In a world where most of us lose vacation time do to sinister company policies, he’s an inspiration.
Interchangeably known as the least productive day of the corporate year, sports fans might actually be at their best and brightest these two days. There are 13 games on NFL Opening Sunday, and due to mitigating circumstances (spreads, fantasy players, food comas) you’re bound to let the outcome of one or two slip until Sport Center, Monday morning. Also, due to occurrences like Opening Day: Kansas City at Baltimore, you’re likely to not care about the full MLB slate on April 1. 32 teams play on each of the first two days of the tournament, and you will know the fate of every single one (and you won’t need to reference a fistful of sports book tickets to conjure up this knowledge).
Hit the poll to vote for the greatest sports day out of these five, and check out some other bloggers’ takes below…
Ethan Jaynes (NESW Sports)
I’ll give you a top eight…
1. Super Bowl Sunday
2. Opening Day Baseball
3. Game 7 ( MLB or NBA )
4. NFL Championship Sunday NFC AFC
5. The Big Dance Day 1
6. The Big Dance Final 4
7. The Big Dance Sweet 16
8. First Saturday of NCAA Football
Dan Adams (In Game Now)
Thanksgiving. The day progresses from pretending to be an athlete, to eating like an athlete, to sleeping & watching athletes.
Isaac (World of Isaac)
I used to love Thanksgiving…that was until Barry Sanders retired…now I regret going to the games
Zoner (Zoner Sports)
Hope springs eternal with the NFL draft.
Matt Clapp (Sharapova’s Thigh)
1st 2 days of the NCAA Tournament, NFL opening Sunday close second, then Baseball opening day close as well. After that, nothing is close for me.
Anthony Panici (Paneech.com)
The best sports day of the year for me is New Year’s day. I love college football and having it to watch from 11:00 in the morning until after midnight engrooses me every single year. The first two days of the NCAA Basketball Tourney run a close second, and baseball opening day is third.
Doug Sheckler (Epic Carnival, on205th.com)
First NFL Sunday, Super Bowl Sunday, First day of March Madness, Indy 500.Toss in MLB Opening Day as well
Joe Kinsey (Busted Coverage)
20 years ago - New Year’s Day.
Present day - Super Bowl Sunday. Nothing compares to 8 hours of eating and 3 hours of a game.
Kellex (Blaze of Love)
This is going to sound ridiculous, but one of my favorite days has always been the NBA All-Star game day/weekend. My birthday always happens to fall on that same weekend so I get to celebrate my bday along with my favorite sport’s all-star festivities.
