Another Classic Rock Weekend at KnicksMecca

Bill Murray Qualifies for the Stockholm 500

So what? Bill Murray gets pulled over driving a Golf cart in the middle of Stockholm and he might have tipped a brew or two. The real mystery is where the hell he hot-wired the Golf cart from;

Murray, who had been at a golf tournament in Sweden, signed a document admitting that he was driving under the influence, and agreed to let a police officer plead guilty for him if the case goes to court, Holmlund said.

"Then he was let go. My guess is he went back to America," Holmlund said.

He said Murray would only be charged if tests show his blood alcohol level exceeded the legal limit, which is quite low in Sweden.

A very high alcohol level could lead to a prison sentence, but Holmlund said fines were more likely.

"There were no obvious signs, like when someone is really tipsy," he said.

Holmlund said it wasn't clear where Murray picked up the vehicle, or to whom it belonged.

"It was a golf cart. How it ended up in this predicament I don't know," he said, adding that Murray wasn't facing any theft charges.

It isn't illegal to drive a golf cart in city traffic in Sweden, but Holmlund said it is very unusual.

"I have done this since '68 and I've never experienced anything like this," he said.

Unusual? Pfffft... Different people have different ways of getting ready for the season.

Hari vs EC

Patti Boyd's Daily Mail interview has this fascinating little tidbit;

I felt undermined and unloved and George was so terribly difficult to talk to. He had become worse in the last year, maybe because Eric kept coming around and making it obvious that he wanted to see me. George must have sensed we were having an affair but he never said so.

One evening the actor John Hurt was with us. Eric was due to come over too and George decided to have it out with him. John wanted to make himself scarce but George insisted he stay.

John remembers George coming downstairs with two guitars and two small amplifiers, laying them down in the hall, then pacing restlessly until Eric arrived – full of brandy, as usual.

As Eric walked through the door George handed him a guitar and amp – as an 18th Century gentleman might have handed his rival a sword – and for two hours, without a word, they duelled. The air was electric and the music exciting.

At the end, nothing was said but the general feeling was that Eric had won. He hadn't allowed himself to get riled or to go in for instrumental gymnastics as George had. Even when he was drunk, his guitar-playing was unbeatable.

Free the Jena Six Before the Season Starts

I hate distractions.

I mean it. Make sure these kids get a fair shake.

See: Racism and Resistance: The Struggle to Free The Jena Six
by Jordan Flaherty

On Playing Fair

I saw this on Truthout.org and while I respect Moyers, I was wholly sickened by the generous fictions that proclaimed Karl Rove a good man, smarter than any of us can imagine - a happy go lucky politco who -sniffle- -sniffle- we will all miss so much.

I have news for these delusional bastards. Rove is as evil a political operative as Western Civilization [and others] have ever encountered. He and the Bush cabal have so thoroughly plundered this country of context, meaning, hope, legitimacy as a democracy, moral fortitude, honesty, and pride that it is hard to imagine if it ever can be repaired. A lot of us never deserved the abuse [and abuse at the hands of these monsters is a kind observation]. And I only hope those who empowered and supported and continue to pander to them reap a richly deserved helping of their own medicine.

May the starving dogs of Justice hunt you all forever.

Jeffries Gets It

“I haven’t played as well as I would have liked my entire NBA career,” Jeffries told the website. “I’ve had good moments and bad moments but I feel like I’m only 25 years only and my better days are in front of me.”

Yessir!

An Emann site-ing

http://www.forumsnycsports.com

Get it?

Sactown Fans on Crawford

It seems Knicksblogger and the Sactown Royalty blog is having a most interesting dialog about the inevitable trade of Ron-Ron.

Sactown fans are insulted that they're being treated loke Homers - incapable of appreciating Artest the basketball player just because of his history. They claim to be much more sophisticated than that and I believe them.

They seem to believe Bibby is gone and think Nate is merely okay.

Most interesting are these observations;

Quentin Richardson would be preferable to Jamal Crawford, but he's still not the right fit. (Why Q over Crawford? Q has some semblance of a conscience. Jamal does not. His usage rate was 3% higher than Martin's last year... and Martin scored five more points per 40 minutes. If you're going to toss up a 40% field goal percentage, your three-point percentage better be high. 32% is not high.

My guess is a three-way deal; Miami, NY, Sacto

Miami sends Haslem and Williams to Sacto and Antoine Walker to NY

Sacto sends Bibby and Kenny Thomas to Miami, Artest to NY

NY sends Nate and Jeffries to Miami - Q, Malik Rose, Collins, and Balkman to Sacto plus vets

Sacto puts Haslem, Balkman, and Moore on the same court, Collins grows into the PG spot under Williams

NY clears roster spots, adds Artest, Antoine dines with JJ

Happy, happy, eh?

Miami teams Shaq with Nate (OMG!) - Bibby, Thomas contract is shorter than Antoine's

Holy Cow!

I miss Phil.

Stardust Review

I went to see Neil Gaiman's Stardust movie and I have to say I thought it was largely a bore. A lot of the small audience got into the movie a lot more than I did but I don't really know why.

This film reminds me of Hook in far too many ways. The love story, if you would call it that, is simply devoid of emotional attachment at all. And while the performances are good, I am beginning to think that the shear volume of noise these movies produce creates an artificial suspense that the movie and plot never deliver.

In fact, after seeing Stardust, I wonder what older films might be like ultra-amplified with endless staccato strings driving the score with deep swoosh and bang effects every other minute punctuating dreary special effects scenes.

If they can colorize old film, why not reaudify them as well?

I got much greater satisfaction out of renting The United States vs John Lennon.


I had forgotten how much we've missed Lennon all these years.

Is Viagra a Fountain of Youth Steroid?

Earlier in the summer I joked that the NBA might adjust the court for old-timers to play.

This week Charles Oakley, Reggie Miller, and Allan Houston are the biggest wannabe sports comeback stories. Dennis Rodman must be waiting in the wings. Stern is talking about a Geezer of the Year (GOY) trophy, ESPN wants to do postmortems before the game, Lurch is thinking about suiting up, and the NBA wants to change the shape of the backboard to look more like a tombstone.

There isn't enough geriatric equipment in the world to keep these guys going.

You know what, these guys had their day. Start a Night of the Living Dead Basketball League if you like but please, if Barkley is younger than the guy making the shot I'm out.

The Mechanics of Setting Records

Michael Witte in an article called "Barry Bonds' HR Record Tainted by Elbow 'Armor'?" details the multiplier effect of the various exoskeleton devices worn by Barry Bonds over the years.

For years, sportswriters remarked that his massive "protective" gear – unequaled in all of baseball -- permits Bonds to lean over the plate without fear of being hit by a pitch. Thus situated, Bonds can handle the outside pitch (where most pitchers live) unusually well. This is unfair advantage enough, but no longer controversial. However, it is only one of at least seven (largely unexplored) advantages conferred by the apparatus.

The other six:

1) The apparatus is hinged at the elbow. It is a literal "hitting machine" that allows Bonds to release his front arm on the same plane during every swing. It largely accounts for the seemingly magical consistency of every Bonds stroke.

2) The apparatus locks at the elbow when the lead arm is fully elongated because of a small flap at the top of the bottom section that fits into a groove in the bottom of the top section. The locked arm forms a rigid front arm fulcrum that allows extraordinary, maximally efficient explosion of the levers of Bonds' wrists. Bonds hands are quicker than those of average hitters because of his mechanical "assistant."

3) When Bonds swings, the weight of the apparatus helps to seal his inner upper arm to his torso at impact. Thus "connected," he automatically hits the ball with the weight of his entire body - not just his arms - as average hitters ("extending") tend to do.

4) Bonds has performed less well in Home Run Derbies than one might expect because he has no excuse to wear a "protector" facing a batting practice pitcher. As he tires, his front arm elbow tends to lift and he swings under the ball, producing towering pop flies or topspin liners that stay in the park. When the apparatus is worn, its weight keeps his elbow down and he drives the ball with backspin.

5) Bonds enjoys quicker access to the inside pitch than average hitters because his "assistant" - counter-intuitively - allows him to turn more rapidly. Everyone understands that skaters accelerate their spins by pulling their arms into their torsos, closer to their axes of rotation. When Bonds is confronted with an inside pitch, he spins like a skater because his upper front arm is "assistant"-sealed tightly against the side of his chest.

6) At impact, Bonds has additional mass (the weight of his "assistant") not available to the average hitter. The combined weight of "assistant" and bat is probably equal to the weight of the lumber wielded by Babe Ruth but with more manageable weight distribution.

At the moment, Bonds' apparatus enjoys "grandfathered" status. Similar devices are presently denied to average major leaguers, who must present evidence of injury before receiving an exemption.

I had never really thought about this much but you can't help but wonder when something along these lines appears in the NBA.

I have invested in numerous basketball videos to instruct my kids with and they all agree that the jump shot requires a smooth even arm action and that you shouldn't throw the elbow out. The same rugged exoskeletons athletes wear on their knees after injury "assist" in this exact way.

If steroids are ubiquitous and shrugged off as "that's just the way it is" and exoskeletons that do more than prevent injury are okay then how long will it be before athletes in all sports are similarly armored and manufactured? Seems to me the prototypes are already in play.

Yowza!

Marvel Beats DC, 18-9

Marvel News reporting on their charity win over DC.

When the dust settled and the bats and gloves were laid down, the final score was 18-9 with Marvel the victor. Marvel team captain Mike Pescuillo said he could taste victory when that first homerun past the outfielders and put Marvel in the lead once again.

"After DC's monumental comeback, you could definitely feel the momentum shift and even when we had regained the lead by a run, it was still anyone's game," says Pasciullo, Marvel's VP of Business Development. "But once Humberto hit that laser line drive home run, you could just feel that the game had turned in our direction. And with Jenkins on the mound pitching lights-out in relief of our ace Peter David, it was just a matter of time until we would be celebrating with the Cup again." Marvel's co-MVPs were Humberto Ramos and Paul Jenkins.

Not everyone could be MVP, but that doesn't mean that there weren't some stellar performances given by the rest of the Marvel team. Slick-fielding shortstop John Dokes, who when he's not beating out artist Jim Lee on a close force play to second, is Marvel's Vice President of Online Operations and Marketing, also turned in a strong performance, going 2 for 2 with 2 runs scored. Both acclaimed artist John Romita Jr. and Mavel's own Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada each also scored 2 runs.

The Paralysis of Analysis

I happen to believe the rumors that a Kobe trade is in the works. I also think a Ron-Ron trade is in the works. You might ask, why hasn't anything happened?

The reason is simple. You have to do one or the other and Isiah is waiting it out looking for the better alternative. The question is not that the Knicks are questioning the quality of the player they'd be receiving but rather working out the details of those leaving so as to ensure enough is left to last through the playoffs.

In both deals the Knicks will be saddled with a bad contract or two. Now that the Knicks have pretty much dried up their own legacy of bad contracts, there's good reason to be cautious taking on too much incoming dreck. The Knicks are preparing for a championship run not another spin around the NBA hamster wheel of mediocrity.

And the Knicks have plenty of healthy desirable trade assets IIF(if and only if) the right deal is put into play.

If media reports are correct, Kobe has already psychologically checked out of LA. He's ready for a clean break. The choice is to catch a rising star team to latch onto or to overstay your welcome (see Nowitski) and wind up getting traded to the geriatric All-Star teams of the year and try to win a ring that way (Lots of luck to the Clover Acres team this year).

The vibes I'm sensing are that Artest is a Knick very soon unless the Artest talk is a smokescreen for the deal of the decade.

Stay tuned.

The Day After

There are still writers who believe that Garnett could have been traded to the Knicks. McHale would die before that happened.

Berman on his blog says, with shocking credibility, that Boston still is a ho-hum team. I agree. They finish third at best in the East. Behind the Knicks and Toronto.

I looked at the RealGM salaries and Boston reminds me of the Layden Knicks. Pierce will be traded by February for a bag of inexpensive supporting characters. No way Boston maintains that payroll.

Don't be surprised to see Webber sign with Boston.