Artest is genuinely star-struck by Kobe. You gott make this trade. Can we get rid of Walton in the same deal? Please?
Drunken Audible
Los Angeles Sports Musings for the Sneaker Inclined. // The Drunken Audible is an RSS feed from CLH and Sharky H. Towers with an emphasis on the Lakers, the National League West, the various Fútbol leagues of the world and how much money we're losing during the NFL season. And shoes.
“ Boo? Fuck you.
Chase Utley
Cards of Ages
‘Los got mad cred and I didn’t even notice. Nobody reblogs my NBA conspiracy rants. I’m jealous.
Junior’s card got me thinking about the all-time sweetest cards. With apologies to Fuck Face I’m gonna have to go with Big Cecil chillin’ w/ the Famous Chicken.ok—so this could get interesting. favorite baseball cards of all time?
clearly Fuck Face, as “the audible” mentions, is something of a legend.
and I give the audible big cred for digging out Cecil and the Bird
now i know i’ll want to amend this later, but i can’t stop thinking about the 1987 Topps Bo Jackson Future Stars. it somehow captures the potential energy of young Bo’s career—one that would serve as manifestation of our outsized American dreams. on the warning track, eyes on the deep fly ball, Bo no doubt ready to gun down with a ground level missile the runner tagging from 3rd. not to mention the ‘87 Topps designs—without question the most endearingly ugly of all time. the wood panel border, the dull rainbow fade in the “future stars” font. any guy b/w the ages of 26-34, i’d guess, could immediately summon the image of this card.
i’ve never before sought a “reblog,” but this is clearly way too important to me, and i’m awfully curious what other old cardboard gems could be dug out of the memory banks…
“ And consider this less of a commentary on coaching cruelties than it is on the profession’s arbitrariness when determining who gets the hardware and the hugs.
Harvey Araton writes an interesting piece about the seemingly interchangeable fates of Willie Randolph and Doc Rivers.
To Clarify:
I just want to make sure the Audible’s stance is clear: The Celtics COMPLETELY deserved this title. The only game that was manipulated in this series was game 2 (and the 1st bit of game 3 where Kobe was the beneficiary). The NBA needs to stop its policy of trying manipulate its product and let the chips fall where they may. It’s one thing to implement a “star” system and give rookies the shaft, but it’s an entirely different matter when you start to mess with the fundamental way games are called to create “drama” and story-lines, extend series and assist teams depending on how they’ll help TV ratings.
David Stern is lucky that the government has already investigated MLB and the NFL or this investigation would go much deeper.
“ You work hard, play hard and it’s all bull. But, it’s what you see and the consumer believes it. Whoever “they” say are the “champs” are the “champs” (deserving or not). “They” are controlling the whole thing.
Former NBA player Doug Christie talking about how the NBA is indeed manipulated
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
“Los Angeles is Burning” by Bad Religion is all I could come up with to put a soundtrack to the Lakers melting down in Game 4.
For the Record: A Dispatch of Despair
- That was the biggest stomach punch game for the Lakers since the Tim Thomas three. In fact between those two losses I can’t figure which is worse. When Thomas hit the three it pretty much sealed the Lakers as being the hopeless, 1st-round-exiting team that almost made Kobe Bryant wear another jersey. In this game the stakes were higher, but since the Lakers future is so bright the Tim Thomas punch to the balls is probably worse historically speaking.
- The better team is winning (and will win) this series. Game 2 was still an abortion, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. The Celtics are more aggressive, hit shots when they need to, rebound better, play better defense and clearly have the psychological edge. I can only hope to see a rematch next year. In fact, who DOESN’T hope to see a rematch next year?
- This game, and this series has really been catastrophic for Lamar Odom, Luke Walton and POSSIBLY even Jordan Farmar (in Farmar’s case the Utah series was pretty bad for him as well). Radmanovic is probably too oblivious to realize how bad this series has been for him psychologically.
- Gasol will need to undergo some sort of aggressiveness training program in the off-season. That or Lakers fans can hope that Andrew Bynum comes into next season with a serious attitude. Bynum has it in him, but I think it might be a few years away before he really displays it.
- Vujacic has fuel for life. If I’m his coach I put that play on in the locker room before he plays every game next season. In fact, the Lakers should buy him a video iPod loaded only with that play. Where was the help though? That was atrocious.
- Mitch Kupchak’s primary focus this off season should be a veteran forward who is either borderline psychotic or is a certified pugilist. Somebody really, really mean. This team needs an attitude on it that goes beyond Kobe Bryant’s brand of disappointed scorn. They need a player who will make the opposition pay when driving the lane, getting lippy or generally punking this soft Lakers team. I have no idea if Ron Artest is even a realistic option contract-wise, but this team NEEDS him.
- The entire series (from the Lakers point of view) is encapsulated in the play in the 3rd where Gasol goes up against KG for what should have been a gimme-dunk and blows it. If he’s even remotely pissed he makes that shot.
- The question for Lakers fans now becomes what tweaks will be made in the off-season and exactly how many games will be won in the regular season. 65? 70? 81?
