NBA in NY/NJ...

...has gotten a wee bit better in the past few days.  Still not enough to keep my attention, but hey, at least they're making headlines for something positive.

The Knicks got former one-year-wonder at Syracuse and Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony as part of a 13-player deal.  Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony on the same team is a pretty lethal combination - but the same can be said for the Heat.  The Knicks lost almost 51% of their scoring in the trade - for one player.  Not such a great deal.

Today, the Nets - yes, the Nets - traded for point guard extraordinaire Deron Williams for two players and two draft picks.  That's a pretty good deal - 21 points per game and 9.7 assists per game?  This guy has been a premier point guard since he came into the league.  Now they just need some players to finish.

At least the NY/NJ basketball teams are making an attempt to get better.

Go NY Go NY Go!

Tragedy in AZ; Oh Duke!; Heat get Cooled Off & Karma's a Bitch

This Jared Loughner guy is some piece of shit.  This phenomenon is something that seems to happen all too often.  But who's at fault? 

Police?  Not really.  You can't expect them to keep an eye on every single person alive - scouring profiles, internet posts, articles; interviewing friends, classmates, acquaintances.  It's not realistic. 

The guy?  Probably.  His parents?  Unless they're legally blind in both eyes, then yes.  They're just as much a part of this mess as their son.

I am not waxing poetic about what it takes to be a parent (Lord knows I have no idea, but I'll let you know come April).  But this is your son, your flesh and blood.  You can't tell me they don't speak or communicate with him.  I  know it's wrong to judge a book by the cover, but this guy looks the part of a killer.  He's looks like a cold, deviant, psychopath. 

He kept articles on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in a safe.  What do you keep in a safe?  Money?  Jewelry?  Family heirlooms?  Chocolate even.  But the things you generally associate with being kept in a safe are things that hold some value to you.  I never had a safe.  If I had, I probably would have put my Frank Thomas (The Big Hurt) baseball card collection in there - instead, I stuffed them into shoe boxes.

Communicate.  I am 29 years-old and speak with my parents regularly.  He was what, twenty-two?  As parents, you have got to see something wrong, abnormal, off with your son.  All it takes it communication.  When I was twenty-two, I spoke with my parents regularly.  Maybe this guy's family was a pack of jackasses, or maybe they were just too dumb to see what a monster they had raised.  Were they embarrassed?  Afraid of him?  Ignorant?  Blind?  I'm going with all of the above. 

What happened was a tragedy.  Are there more people like this loser running around out there in the US?  Yes.  Are we gonna stop them all?  No.  Just make yourself aware of the people you surround yourself with.  If someone looks shady, chances are they are.  If you hear them talking about creepy shit, walk the other way and/or tell the police.  Be safe friends, family, co-workers, Blog Army!

On a lighter note (for some), sports.  As you already know, #1 Duke lost in Tallahassee last night to the unranked Seminoles.  There was no inside game for Duke, the shooting was horrid, and they made this Derwin Kitchens guy look like Michael Jordan.  Miles Plumlee is soft which directly related to their lack of an inside presence.  Five points and five rebounds a game?  You're 6'10" tall.  Act the part.  Thirty-one percent shooting?  35 three-point field goals attempts?  15 turnovers to 9 assists?  It seems like every time they play down there, they lose (it's actually only the third time in 9 years).  Derwin Kitchens?  10.2 PPG on the year and he goes off for 22 points?  Put a hand in his face, the guy was 9-13.  Anyway, it was a good run as #1, we'll see how far they fall from here.  Back to Cameron Indoor for a game against the Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday.  (I'll be stuck at Draddy for a Manhattan game).

NBA basketball sucks.  Except when the Clippers (13-24) beat the Heat (30-10) and LeBron James gets hurt, all in one night.  I don't wish ill upon anyone, but this guy just runs his mouth left and right.  Blake Griffin is a BEAST (24 pts./14 rebs. - 30th double-double this season).  LeBron only sprained his ankle, so he probably won't be out for long, but he tweeted about karma the other day when the Lakers pumped the Cavs by 55.  Soon after, karma bit back.

Time to get busy!

MJ Poops on The Decision Maker

HA!

Another Boston Celtics Calamity

K.G. calls Charlie V a "cancer patient" - trash talking is certainly something that's gone on in all of sports for decades, but this one just crossed the line.  Read the article, you'll see what a dickhead K.G. is.  And as far as Villanueva's tweet about getting Garnett into a ring and exposing him - I bet he would.  Granted, Villanueva looks a little different (he has alopecia universalis - no hair on his head or eyebrows) but that's uncalled for.

K.G. thinks he's a real bully - I'm sure Mauldin, SC is just as tough a place to grow up in as Queens, New York.  New York City basketball has always been a matter of survival of the fittest (read: toughest).

Let's do a city by city comparison based on the information Wikipedia offers.

Mauldin, SC - 8.6 square miles - 15,224 people (circa 2000) - 74.25% White, 20.82% African American, 0.30% Native American, 2.24% Asian - median income per household of $51,657 - notable natives are K.G. and Orlando Jones (the 7Up guy)

Queens, NY - 109.24 square miles - 2.229 million people (circa 2000) - 44.1% White, 20% African American, 17.6% Asian - median income per household of $37,439 - notable natives include John Gotti, 50 Cent, Rodney Dangerfield, Run DMC, Johnny Ramone, Donald Trump, and John McEnroe.

Charlie V would wreck you K.G.  Shut your mouth, keep cancer out of your trash-talking lexicon, and just play the game.

Just another example of the renegade NBA not patrolling it's players.  Stay hot.

Sounding off on the NBA

  I've rarely (read: I can only remember one) wasted time formulating thoughts about the NBA here on WRT (besides that one time I remember in April, when the Spurs were about to TKO the dimwitted, Mark Cuban-led Mavs), and this story I just came across backs my decision to ignore the NBA altogether in this type of forum.

  Time to sound off.

  Yahoo! Sports writing Kelly Dwyer reported yesterday that the NBA has banned players donning their headbands upside down - a trend apparently started in 2007.  Apparently, you aren't ballin' unless you flip that Jerry West logo upside down.  I am still trying to wrap my head around how the hell this actually constitutes a story in this early NBA season. 

  Here's two things I'd rather write about concerning the NBA:

  1. The fact that the Celtics original and older Big 3 defeated Miami's new and improved Big 3 in Boston on opening night and the very next night, the LeBron-less Cavs beat the original Big 3 in Cleveland.  Parity. 

  2. The Knicks and Nets won their openers and are sitting atop the Atlantic.  The last time this happened?  Funny enough, it was only the 2008-2009 season (NYK def. Mia 120-115; NJ def. Was 95-85).

  I digress.

  Rajon Rondo (known primarily for being a great PG and secondly for his headband-wearing) has decided against sporting his headband - simply because he wants to wear it upside down.  Maybe in some past life, he was a ninja (see: SF Giants closer Brian Wilson's 12-minute ninja class) and was able to stand on his head, but something inside me highly doubts that.

  Wearing the logo of the league you play for, the one that includes the team that pays you millions of dollars a year to dribble, pass first, and shoot second, is straight disrespectful.  Utterly disrespectful.  Wear it right or don't wear it at all (which is exactly what he did).  The equivalent of this is Josh Hamilton out in center field wearing his Texas Rangers hat backwards.  It's something that just doesn't belong.

  Ms. Dwyer's final light reads like this - "Why? Because, yes, the NBA is that petty."

   Petty?  Really?  Petty?  Defined:  Petty [pet-ee] -adjective 1. of little or no importance or consequence.  2. of lesser or secondary importance, merit, etc.  3. having or showing narrow ideas, interests, etc.

  In my opinion, this is absolutely the right thing for the league to do.  Many, many years back, they traded in the Larry Bird/John Stockton shorts for the modern day baggy, looser fitting garb.  They changed the pre- and post-game dress code a few years back in an attempt to clean up the league's image.  The league needed a facelift and with all the nonsensical bullshit that surrounds this league (Gilbert Arenas' gun problems, Chris Anderson's tattoo problem, Kobe's alleged rape years ago, yada yada yada) it seems to me that it's players have a hard time controlling themselves off the court.  It gives the players like Dwayne Wade a bad rap who always does community service projects (built and renovated church for his mother) and genuinely seem like decent guys.  I could be totally off the mark with my thoughts on DWade, but I'll back him. 

  Maybe all this behavior starts from what goes on between the lines.  There are rules, and I applaud the league for putting an end to this degradation of an NBA legend and logo.  Well played David Stern, well played.

  I can go on with this for another four hours and address plenty of other topics I haven't even begun to talk about.  But I won't, because this dog crap of a sport will not consume any more of my time.

  Jerry West, you will always be standing on your feet if (and that's a big if) I even wear NBA gear (or a headband).