NBA Numerology

I've been trying to work as much sports-viewing as my schedule will allow these days. (Current rotation: NBA/NHL playoffs, UEFA Champions League/EPL and baseball.)

I'm most excited for the start of the NBA playoffs. One thing I've noticed is that the current crop of vanguard stars are taking on more single-digit uniform numbers.

Aside from Kobe switching from #8 to #24 (attributable to sexual assault allegations) you have LeBron going from #23 to #6 (post-Decision) & Carmelo going from #15 to #7 (& even KG going from #21 to #5).

Now consider the current stars: CP3, Stoudemire & Rose #1, John Wall #2 (he can Dougie!), Wade #3, Deron Williams & Rajon Rondo #8.

I have a theory that the shift is due to the most recent Olympics team (2008 gold medal) and its positive experience team-building in Beijing. Because FIBA (basketball's international governing body) requires uniform numbers between 4-15 during international competition (including the Olympics), many established NBA players had to eschew their professional number for a different number. Make of these facts what you will.

-dk

June 23, 2010

June 23rd, 2010 wasn't quite the day that June 17th, 1994 was, but still a banner day for sports overall.

After a morning that saw one of the most memorable goals in US soccer history, John Isner & Nicolas Mahut played the longest professional tennis match in history during a first round Wimbledon matchup. (Producing this delirious all-day liveblog from The Guardian.)

Props to punch-drunk for the espn3.com screen grab. I'm proud of humanity for progressing to this point in terms of live sports viewing technology.

-dk

World Cup Fever

... and the only prescription is, more soccer!

But seriously, as much as one can take a cynical attitude towards the mega-corporate business monolith that is Nike, their kind of money and cultural cachet can really make for quite the elaborate soccer propaganda. The cameos (e.g. Federer, Kobe, & Homer) were an especially entertaining touch.

My point in all this is to say that I'm super excited for this year's world cup to start in South Africa. I don't know exactly where I'll be for the start of the first US match (June 12 vs England!) but it's sure to be a proper pub with a rowdy soccer crowd, and I'm sure I'll be many a pint deep.

-dk

Someone should call PETA

I know it's a team of humans, but this song is so bad, I think it's detrimental to actual marlins. PETA's not in favor of killing animals, but I'm sure everyone is in favor of euthanasing Scott Stapp.

I'll take ICP over Stapp any day. Unless, of course, SS starts wearing face make-up and mixing some Faygo with his liquor and singing about miraculous magnets. What a maroon.

(It's Time For) Sports!

If there's one thing I've learned in trying to consistently write in this blog, it's that it can be difficult to focus for extended periods of time on the music world at large. For that reason, I'd like to really explore the studio space here and express my excitement for the upcoming months of sports.

To recap, we are in the home stretch of the (interminably long) baseball season, which means that playoff baseball and the World Series are only a couple months away.

Just three weeks ago the English Premier League kicked off, and I already have a feeling from the first games that it will be an exciting season. I've decided to throw my support from here on out behind Manchester United (the New York Yankees of the EPL), which I defend by pointing out that they have a Korean-born player (Ji-Sung Park), and also that United's games are broadcast liberally stateside. Jeff has already told me that he will be supporting Liverpool this year--Matt, you need to jump on a team as well.

And of course we have the NFL season right around the corner and the NBA/NHL starting about a month after that. All in all, it is a good time of the year for sport.

-dk

PS: the Tim & Eric song is awesome.

"Gilbert Arenas is Cool"

For those who don't know, Gilbert Arenas is an all-star point guard for the Washington Wizards. As of this writing, he is out with a knee injury that has sidelined him for most of the season. He still updates his nba.com blog, however, which is a consistently entertaining read about the life of a superstar athlete. His latest blog explores his frustration with not yet being cleared to play by the team despite his knee feeling healthy. He expresses a thought that I've had many times while behind the wheel of a car, and then uses the music he listens to as a way to reflect on his thinking.

[After being held out of the game] I had to go home anyway to pick up a collared shirt and a sports jacket. It's about a 35 minute drive each way. On the way home I was listening to music and I started to calm down.
...

It was just me and my car ... speeding -- something that I shouldn't be doing.

Then I got that thought that I know everybody gets once in a while, I was like, "You know, what if I just ran my car into this pole right here?"

I don't know why I thought that, but I kept going with it.

"Then I can jump off the road into this lake and just swim ... or drown. Whichever one comes first."

It was really devastating.
...
But I listened to Young Jeezy's verse in "They Know" to get me past those bad thoughts ... plus, I'm sane. I'm a sane person, I wouldn't do that to myself.

(h/t to truehoop)