PHOTO
“Homey, take six…and take this…haters” - Kanye West, Stronger Who’s done now?  5 straight US Opens and his 13th Grand Slam.  I don’t fault Federer for losing the French again (that’s Nadal’s surface), and the Wimbledon final was one for the ages, but also one that could have gone either way.  Who knows what would have happened if the sun didn’t set. And don’t tell me that this Grand Slam isn’t legit because he didn’t play Nadal in the final.  He still went through Djokovic and beat the guy who sent Nadal home.  The surface is still too fast for Nadal, as is the Australian.  And Wimbledon is going to be a toss-up between them.  So he still has a better at winner Slams going forward than Nadal.

“Homey, take six…and take this…haters” - Kanye West, Stronger

Who’s done now?  5 straight US Opens and his 13th Grand Slam.  I don’t fault Federer for losing the French again (that’s Nadal’s surface), and the Wimbledon final was one for the ages, but also one that could have gone either way.  Who knows what would have happened if the sun didn’t set.

And don’t tell me that this Grand Slam isn’t legit because he didn’t play Nadal in the final.  He still went through Djokovic and beat the guy who sent Nadal home.  The surface is still too fast for Nadal, as is the Australian.  And Wimbledon is going to be a toss-up between them.  So he still has a better at winner Slams going forward than Nadal.

Comments (View)
LINK
Re-ranking the West’s future

This is a great article by Tim Kawakami about the state of the NBA’s Western Conference teams — not their championship/playoff hopes for next season, or even the season after that, but for the next 3-5 years. I disagree on some points though:

#1: I don’t agree with the Spurs being #4. I think their window is only a year or two, because after that, Duncan will be on his last legs and they have NO replacement plan for him. The Duncan-Ginobili-Parker triumvirate will keep them competitive for the time-being, but is it enough to beat the Lakers, Celtics, Hornets or any other contender? Bump the Rockets up one spot.

#2: I’m uncomfortable puttingHouston at #5, but here’s what I’m thinking. I love the make-up of their team right now, with Artest in the fold. But Yao has proved that he can’t play more than 60 games a season, and T-Mac is not exactly an ironman either. Also, nobody on this team has really proved that they are a legitimate leader or winner. I really think they have 1 chance to win it all in the next four years, and that will be that magical season when everyone is healthy for the playoffs.

#3: What to do with my Warriors? I think this is a probably a spot or two too high for us. While I like our moves this summer, I think this is still a “Don-Nelson” roster on a team that might only be coached by Don Nelson for one or two more years. What do we do after that? We’ll have to change the makeup of the team, and that will push our window back further. And while I like Mullin at the helm because he usually makes smart decisions, he’s been unable to bring in a franchise player like KG or Brand during his watch. I think #9 is a more accurate spot for us.

Dallas, while aging, has Mark Cuban’s cash to woo some legit talent after Kidd’s contract expires. Phoenix still has the potential for life without Nash with Amare, Barbosa and Diaw.

Here’s my updated rankings:

#1: Lakers
#2: Hornets (their time is now, while Blazers have to wait)
#3: Blazers
#4: Rockets
#5: Spurs
#6: Jazz
#7: Mavericks
#8: Suns
#9: Warriors
#10: OKC (I believe in Sam Presti)
#11: Clippers (They’ll never win with this team)
#12: Grizzlies (Gay, Mayo and some cap space)
#13: Nuggets (Melo + Kiki + fairly desirable FA destination)
#14: Wolves (some young talent but McHale will mess it up somehow)
#15: Kings (nobody wants to play in Sacramento)

Comments (View)
VIDEO

My friend Pong shared this video of Baron Davis and Steve Nash in their movie spoof of Step Brothers on ibeatyou.com. Check it out! It’s basically just the two of them dressed up as dorks and messing around on the streets of LA. I guess Baron is enjoying his new surroundings.

PHOTO
Me tangling with Shaq. Jump ball ref, jump ball!!!

Me tangling with Shaq. Jump ball ref, jump ball!!!

VIDEO

I was writing my last entry and Emily was talking on the phone when ESPN2 broadcasted a replay of X-Games 2007. After about 2 minutes of flipping to the channel, we saw Jake Brown take this jump, hit the first ever 720 in this event, then fall 40 feet on the second jump. If you thought the Shaun Livingston knee injury was gruesome and cringe-inducing, watch this clip.

Amazingly though, he gets up and walks away about 10 minutes after!

PHOTO
I ran the Wharf-to-Wharf 10K from Santa Cruz to Capitola yesterday. It was a mixed bag of fun. Getting up at 6am to drive to Santa Cruz, not so fun. Goofing off to warm-up calisthenics, fun! Trying to weave through a horde of 15,000 runners, not fun. Running with Eugene, Winnie, Andy, Grace, Dawn, Elvis and a banana, among others, fun! Waiting an hour to grab brunch afterwards was not a lot of fun. But speeding through the last 3 miles and limping around on jello-y legs afterwards was surprisingly a lot of fun. Next decision is whether or not to run the San Jose Rock ‘n’ Roll Half-Marathon in October…

I ran the Wharf-to-Wharf 10K from Santa Cruz to Capitola yesterday. It was a mixed bag of fun. Getting up at 6am to drive to Santa Cruz, not so fun. Goofing off to warm-up calisthenics, fun! Trying to weave through a horde of 15,000 runners, not fun. Running with Eugene, Winnie, Andy, Grace, Dawn, Elvis and a banana, among others, fun! Waiting an hour to grab brunch afterwards was not a lot of fun. But speeding through the last 3 miles and limping around on jello-y legs afterwards was surprisingly a lot of fun.

Next decision is whether or not to run the San Jose Rock ‘n’ Roll Half-Marathon in October…

LINK
What should Oklahoma City's nickname be?

By now you’ve heard that the NBA filed for trademarks to 6 possible names for the new Oklahoma City basketball team: Barons, Bison, Energy, Marshalls, Thunder and Wind. My initial reaction was BWAHAHAHHA!

First of all, I absolutely hate team names that come in the singular form. You never know if you should say “the Heat are…” or “the Heat is…” It’s also gimmicky and amateurish. This isn’t the NBDL or the WNBA.

With that said, at least we’re saved from the misnomer created by NBA teams taking their old team names to new cities, like the Lakers, Jazz, Hornets, etc. Well, not like “Seattle Supersonics” ever really made any sense.

Energy, Thunder and Wind are horrible, horrible names. Bison is pretty bad, but at least I kind of associate bison with the frontier and OKC. My vote would be for Barons over Marshalls — Barons is slightly cooler, if only because it would be one of the highest-flying team names (2nd to the Suns). We’ve never had any plane names.

Marshalls loses because of the inevitable association with the discount-clothing store and/or Marshall Hao. Besides, you can’t have a marshall without a gun, and you can’t have guns associated with NBA teams, like the Bullets proved.

What should the OKC team be named?

PHOTO
Where have all the basketball players gone?I’ve been walking around New York for 2 weeks now and every time I pass by a park, the basketball courts are completely empty, but there are hordes of people playing handball! If you haven’t seen people play handball, it’s basically a bunch of people slapping a small ball against a wall. Like racquetball without any racquets. But the people who I’ve seen play it are muscular and intense!How can we be expected to regain international basketball glory if the youth of today are not fine-tuning their jumpshots or practicing their handles, but slapping a ball against a wall? Where will the next generation of And 1 Mixtape Tour stars be culled from? What will become of Rucker Park? Something must be done about this…

Where have all the basketball players gone?

I’ve been walking around New York for 2 weeks now and every time I pass by a park, the basketball courts are completely empty, but there are hordes of people playing handball! If you haven’t seen people play handball, it’s basically a bunch of people slapping a small ball against a wall. Like racquetball without any racquets. But the people who I’ve seen play it are muscular and intense!

How can we be expected to regain international basketball glory if the youth of today are not fine-tuning their jumpshots or practicing their handles, but slapping a ball against a wall? Where will the next generation of And 1 Mixtape Tour stars be culled from? What will become of Rucker Park? Something must be done about this…

page 1 of 3