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Midnite Blogger

When The Chain Goes Awry

I always love it when a personal workday email chain suddenly gathers some life and makes me forget that I’m a 40 something “professional” with grown up responsibilities.  This morning a friend back East sent out this shot of Dr. J to a small group of guys and the ensuing reply’s had me laughing for hours.  Below is a classic example of a chain gone awry.

 

DB:

 

1408619-julius_erving

 

 

EJ:  Past his prime, two bulky knee braces, shoes with zero support, and yet the Dr. still has a 50″ vertical, forehead at rim level, ‘fro six inches above the goal.  Honestly?!  Absolutely amazing!

DB:  The shorts, the knee “sleeves,” and the socks are notable.  The vertical is not normal.

SB:  We’re all clear this is photoshop, right?

DM:  Is that Will Perdue?

DB:  Thought no one would get that.  Amazing.  The lighting makes him look like Julius, but you’re absolutely right.  That is Will Perdue, with the Bulls, in 95.  Had no idea he could jump like that.  And I have no clue why he’s wearing a 76ers jersey.  Must have been the All-Star game … or Halloween.  Funny guy that Will Perdue.

DM:  

The all-star game was ON Halloween in ’95.  Duh.  Everybody knows that.
And no one had mad risers like Will “Rafters” Perdue.
I once saw him dunk left-handed on John Starks.

 

BB:  No doubt Perdue had sick hops back in the day but nobody could jump like Larry Bird in the pic below:

 

tom-chambers

 

 

DB:

How about Serena Williams in this shot at Wimbledon in 07 …

ny_dhoward_08

DM:  Serena is amazing… On GRASS.  Not so much on clay.

DB:  All this is true.  Sort of the way you were once straight.

BB:

In this dunk Chambers took off vert and hovered like that for 2.3 secs before windmilling.  God they were cool back then.  Didn’t need jet packs in the ’80’s!

DB:

Here’s Chambers again, throwing down on two of the lead singers from ABBA and one of their lighting dudes. 

 gilmore-dunk

DB: By the way, can we talk about Nance’s left thigh in the shot above?  Holy schnitkers

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Midnite Blogger

3 Point Plan for NCAA Hoops

Midnight Blogger here to voice a complaint:  NCAA Division I College Basketball is broken.  What was arguably the best sport in the land in the 80-90’s’s is now just a shell of it’s former self.  Do you remember when Big Monday was a big deal?   When a dreary January Monday would suddenly transform into something special with a Big East, Big 10 and Mountain West (UNLV) must see triple header?  I was raised on Big Monday.  Because of Big Monday, I was barely granted admission into an average out of state public university.  Because of Big Monday, I never had a date in high school. Because of Big Monday, I developed a rare sleeping disorder where I would unconsciously jump out of bed and post up my dresser in the middle of the night.  Okay one of those is a fib but seriously, who studied when Stevie Thompson and Sherman Douglas were on TV?  I’m proud of my decision dammit.

Fast Forward 25 years: Tonight I saw a Big Monday battle between UNC/Syracuse in the TV guide and I glossed over it as if it were a televised mano a mano high stakes poker game between a fat white guy chomping on a stogie and a Asian woman in shades with a startling amount of cleavage peeking out.  I was bothered by my lack of interest.  So after embracing this concern and practicing a tranquil 20 minute mindfulness session, here are three easy fixes to bring the game back to the forefront.

One:  Stop realigning the leagues every 3 years.  Enough of the money grab from these University presidents.  Something isn’t right when the only people in the country who know what league the top 50 teams play in are the Vegas oddsmakers.  Syracuse in the ACC?  Maryland in the Big 10?  Stop it.  Just stop it.  I want my rivalries back.

Two:  Enough already with the TIMEOUTS!  There are now 8 automatic TV timeouts and 5 (One 60 sec and four 30 sec) for each school per game.  I’ll repeat, 8 soul crushing, flow killing TV stoppages of the action.  That’s just plain greedy on the NCAA’s part if you ask me.  How many dollars from Little Caesars and Appleby’s do these guys need to keep the lights on over at corporate headquarters? And as a fan, how do you expect me to stay engaged in a close game with 18 timeouts? Jiminy Christmas the game is only 40 minutes long.  This isn’t football.  These kids aren’t even breaking a sweat.  Why it’s the poor kids standing in the student section and the cheerleaders who are getting the workout.  I’d like to see a Fitbit cardio battle between the power forward on the floor and the kid doing cartwheels in the Gator mascot suite on the sidelines.

So, if the NCAA has to keep their 8 TO’s to pay the bills, then the schools only get 1 TO for the entire game.  I know that these are amateur athletes in a teaching environment, but come now, let these kids learn to be creative and resilient under fire and figure it out on their own.  Everybody will benefit. And think of the added excitement it will bring watching the poor $3,000,000/year coaches sweat over when to use their lone TO.

Three:  The NCAA, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA Players Association  must broker a deal that requires a kid to play 3 full seasons of college ball or be 21 in order to enter the draft.  I know I’m a horrible, un-American, Commie rat bastard for taking away a young man’s right to earn a living for he and his family, but think back to the days when kids stayed three years.  Ewing will always be synonymous with Georgetown.  Jordan with UNC.  Larry Johnson with Vegas.  College ball was more exciting than the NBA, which is no longer the case.  Today’s good college teams are decimated annually in the draft and as a fan, it’s hard to get used to an entire new cast of characters every season.

Case in point:  Wouldn’t you like to see a Kansas team this season with McLemore, Wiggins and Embiid on the floor.  Or how about this Duke team with Parker and Hood.  Arizona with Drew Gordon.  Kentucky with Julius Randle, Nerlens Noel and James Young.  Michigan with Stauskas, McGary and Glenn Robinson III.  Shoot even a UCLA team with Shabazz, Zach LaVine, Jordan Adams and Kyle Anderson would be fresh.

Enough.  Somebody make it happen.

Midnight Blogger Out

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Midnite Blogger

Talk About the Midnight Blogger

And A Good Evening Boys and Girls,

It’s your midnight blogger here rapping about all things going on on the hardwood.  Time is tight, so here are a few quick bytes to chew on before it’s time to call it a night.

Don’t stop the rain Mr Klay T!  Boogie Cousins and his royal mates felt the rain inside the coliseum arena on a lovely January night in Oakland. For 12 magical minutes, Thompson staged an exhibition of unconscious shooting mastery the world has never witnessed before.   The result: 37 points on 13/13 from the floor with 9 treys.  Beyond belief.  Sorry Iceman, your record of 33 points has been smashed.

Oh but how nice would it be to see a video of each of The Iceman’s buckets over a smooth live track of Grover Washington Jr’s, “Mister Magic”?

It’s happy times in Warrior Nation right about now.  And to the Western Conference coaching All-Star electorate sitting in dark rooms breaking down game tape with a sack of Chicken McNuggets,  I think Mr Klay T has made his point.  He deserves your vote.

Pack a warm coat for the Big Apple son.

Lebron is Officially Locked and Loaded in Cleveland!  Timofey Mozgov and JR Smith to the rescue!  Who knew that those words would ever be uttered in any sort of basketball context, but Mozgov and Dirty JR are exactly what LBJ needed to get back to business.   He now has a mad shooting assassin a la Vernon Maxwell and big rim protector to play the role that Big Z played in his early days.  Look out East.

In Stan Van Gundy We Trust!  The amazing resurgence continues ever since Stan the Man put his foot down and cut Josh Smith, his highest paid player.  They are now 12-2 since the move and have surged from a horrid 5-23 to 1 game out of a playoff spot.  Don’t ever doubt a Van Gundy!

 

Until next time, this is your Midnight Blogger signing off.