Those hanging out at the Basketball Lounge better make room for the new rock on the block. The NBA had something stashed inside a black box for weeks and surprise! - It was a newly designed basketball. Channel area, moisture management, blah, blah, blah... the key here is the way the NBA delivered some Apple-like marketing.

Tommy Points
Hopefully you all had more opportunities than I did to catch many of the NBA's Greatest Games marathon last weekend on ESPN Classic. From the action I did watch, I learned that from now on I'll hang on every word Tom Heinsohn speaks.

First, during a Wizards vs. Celtics game from 1998, Tommy comments on how much he likes Ben Wallace's game based on the little playing time he gets. On more than one occasion, Heinsohn highlighted Ben's play, even though Wallace was on the court for 10 to 15 minutes that game. Wallace wasn't the only future NBA Champion working the bottom of the benches in that game - Bruce Bowen and Chauncy Billups were stashed away on the C's pine.

Second, during a Sixers vs. Lakers game from 1987, Tom Heinsohn used his declared Charles Barkley a future hall-of-famer. At that time, the Sixers were still considered Dr. J's team and the Sixers were in the middle of turning over their Championship winning roster from a few seasons earlier. Barkley was just getting started and wasn't terribly polished on either end of the floor. As a matter of fact, Andrew Toney and Tim McCormack stole a great deal of the show in this game against the Lakers. Still, Heinsohn like Chuck's drive and athleticism enough to put him in Springfield 12 years before he retired.

Labels: NBA

It's never a bad time to go Inside Your Mouth with Dr. Toothsdale. The only flash game I've ever created is still stashed away on a BlazeNet server: creation.blazenet.net. Now if I could only convince Palmer to hook up that High Score page.

Labels: web design

Email correspondence excerpts:

From me to them: I’ve been receiving the message below when trying to
connect to Yahoo!’s fantasy sports page. Would it be possible to receive an
override password for this? I like to check my prior day’s fantasy baseball
stats before work or during lunch hour.
-------
From them to me: In response to support request 15502 regarding the Websense override password, certain non-work related websites are being filtered to everybody company wide. I’m sorry I cannot accommodate your request at this time.

What's worse is Yahoo!'s free fantasy sports leagues only offer email alerts for trades and league messages, no daily recaps like CBS and others. So it looks like I'm stuck with the restrictions (which also include Smooth Jazz 92.7's web site), unless anyone has any ideas...

Labels: websense

What's up with ESPN's infatuation with the trade deadline? Thankfully, my exposure to the network's baseball coverage this season has been limited, but the few instances where I had no better choice, all I heard was talk about who's going where before the trade deadline. Last year, this talk started weeks into the season on ESPN Radio as Tim Kurkijan declared which teams were going to take on the big salaries and which teams were looking to dump those salaries. Doesn't this whole Buy/Sell, trade deadline concept cheapen the sport? So why turn it into such a circus? Selling the actual on-field action short by replacing it with rumors and gossip is a disservice to the game.

Looking around the diamond

Looking at Randy Johnson... he's like the anti-babyface. They say he's getting old and losing his stuff a bit, but he looks exactly like he did on his '89 Donruss Rated Rookie - like a 45 year old man.

Looking at Andruw Jones... he looks just like Antoine Walker, who looks like a beefy, battered middleweight boxer. Therefore, Andruw Jones looks like a beefy, battered middleweight boxer. That's like algebra or something.

Looking at Rickie Weeks... I think he's the new Ron Gant. Pop and speed, he's got 30/30 potential. Also, he plays a lousy second-base and will undoubtedly be moved to the outfield within the next few seasons.

Looking at Adam Dunn... call him Hans Solo. He's got 23 homeruns and 43 RBI. What kind of ratio is that?!?** The kind you end up with when you only hit solo shots. I can't find homerun breakdown stats, but when looking at the other NL hitters with over 20 shots, it appears as though Dunn should have at least 50 RBI. Only Alfonso Soriano (49) joins Dunn with less than 50, but he's a leadoff hitter.

** Yes, Adam Dunn is on my fantasy team.

Labels: baseball, bunkum, rants

MLB's wacky blackout policy has kept thousands of area fans from enjoying Nationals baseball. The Institute's policy has done the same to the entire Lakeview Lumber Co. fan base.


The bottom line is this team has potential. But without the benefit of swinging lunch-hour deals, who knows? Could one of my arch-rivals have The Institute's IT connections?

Labels: websense

Finally someone's rapp'n' 'bout skat'n'. Lupe Fiasco (his father was a prolific African drummer, & his mother was a gourmet chef!) bridges the skateboard and hip-hop cultures in his new track Kick, Push:

He couldn't understand it, branded
Since the first kick flip he landed
Uh, labeled a misfit a bandit
Ka-kunk, ka-kunk, ka-kunk
His neighbors couldn't stand it
Soooo, he was banished to the park
Started in the morning wouldn't stop 'til after dark
Yeah, when they said it's gettin' late in here
So I'm sorry young man, there's no skatin' here

I like it. But the boys in blue love it... it's like a 2-for-1 sale at Harassments R Us.

Oh yeah, and SK8 or Die!

Labels: music

NBA Finals: White Hot Heat
Shaq's done it again... I'm struggling to think of another superstar to have played a lead role in leading 3 different NBA franchises to the Finals. A guy like big shot Bob Horry did it, but he wasn't a superstar whom the team depended on to carry the load. Moses and Kareem took 2 franchises each. Clyde Drexler played a big role on 2 Finals teams. What about 3?

NBA Finals: More Mavericks
I'm not sure what inspired Tim Thomas to talk trash to Dirk in game 5, but Nowitzki took over the series shortly after, and ended it last night. That means more Cubes, more Diop, more Hasselhoff, more Frank Drebin, and more Dirk!

Get Hungry!
This Pirates bunch is suddenly becoming one of the most watchable squads in the league. Exciting, clutch offensive play by a handful of players has Bucs baseball on FSN Pittsburgh must-watch TV.

TWIB Links

• Todd Pratt's RISP w/ 2 Outs ain't too shabby.
• Leo Mazzone hasn't been a miracle worker for the lowly O's pitching staff to this point, but he would make a great babysitter.
• My preseason choice for first overall pick in an NL-only fantasy league may not be such a laugher now.
• If I operated a baseball card company, my series would have a subset called Ace of Diamonds. Tony Armas, Jr. would be card #1 in that set.
  

Labels: baseball, NBA