It’s that time of year. That’s right, you guessed it, the Basketblog Header Playoffs. Sixteen sweet basketball blogs, one prize. So who’s graphic banner will reign supreme? It’s your call.
The brackets have been set and our friends at Pete Marasmitch put Fear the Beard as the number one seed in the “The Grimes Conference” (aka. the independent blog conference). Being the number one seed can be a lot of pressure. But we can handle it. We’ve been training for this moment since we launched this itch.
Here’s the first round match ups in the Grimes:
(1) Fear The Beard vs. (8) The Puns Are Starting to Bore Me
(2) Need4Sheed vs. (7) Both Teams Played Hard
(3) Blaze of Love vs. (6) Red’s Army
(4) Empty The Bench vs. (5) Basketbawful
In the end, there can only be one, so go cast your vote. Polls close on Thursday, April 16, before midnight ET.
With the trade deadline approaching, it is now fairly certain that the Warriors spent some time during that recent home and away back to back with the Suns talking trade. Namely, the Dubs are said to be coveting the increasingly disgruntled Amar’e Stoudemire. While he of the recently added apostrophe is one of the few bigs who is proven to be comfortable and effective in a Nellieball-esque, uptempo system, apparently the cost would be steep. Namely, either Monta Ellis or Andris Biedrins (but not both) and at least one promising young player with some upside. With Anthony Randolph having recently fired agent B.J. Armstrong in favor of someone/anyone who can help get him more playing time, he is on the short list of prospects that fit the bill. At least according to Tim Kawakami.
Without even getting into the whole “is this a good idea” thing, what we also can surmise from the rumors is that Phoenix wants at least one hefty expiring contract to come along for the ride. And other than GM Chris Mullin himself, this does not appear to be something that the Warriors can supply. Additionally, after fooling around with the ESPN Trade Machine for a while, Stoudemire’s gargantuan contract is a bit tough for the Warriors to match up with, even with a Biedrins or an Ellis, but not both. As a consequence, some people think the daunting numbers and lack of an expiring deal make the possibility pretty slim.
But let’s forget about this and suspend reality for a minute. Understand that any deal not involving a third team would likely involve another high-priced player like (say) Corey Maggette, or a whole roster full of other folks. Forget this for a minute. Should the Warriors try and do this? And if so, who should be the marquee name headed from the Dubs to the desert. Polls are open. Oh, and I should probably mention that Stoudemire isn’t that far from free agency. I’m just sayin’.
In the golden age of Superheroes of the hardwood, Stephen “Frozone” Jackson was partners in glory with Mr. Incredible, Baron Davis. With Mr. Incredible exiled to the Clippers and both teams struggling, Frozone is apparently ready to flex his superpowers, one of which is talking. After Sunday’s game in L.A., he spoke rather freely to Marcus Thompson II of the Contra Costa Times about conversations he had with Baron a day earlier. And then he went and nominated himself President of what he termed the “Bring BD Back” to the Dubs campaign. A little research tells me that it doesn’t sound like Mr. Incredible put him up to this, but I suppose reluctant superheroes sometimes need a push. And like Frozone is want to do, it appears that he’s ready to take matters into his own hands, laying down a sheet of ice upon which he can glide right into Robert Rowell’s office for some personal lobbying. But enough of my analogizing, here’s Jack in his own words, courtesy of MTII and the Coco Times.
“That’s all we talked about,” Jackson said. “I went to his house, spent some time with his mom and his grandmother. He wants to come back. And if he wants to come back, I want him back.” Jackson [also] said he’s going to be the president of the “Bring B.D. Back” campaign. “I think that would be great for us,” Jackson said. “Coach loves him. Him and (guard) Monta (Ellis) have good chemistry. If they could work that out, that would be great for the organization.”
Frozone sure knows how to put the cool in being a super. By putting his boss on blast, of course! And since he’s able to freeze the moisture in air quicker than you can say ice, he can glide through any trouble that this might create, right? Well, we might just see. If Jack can work that Frozone magic on Robert Rowell where Chris Mullin couldn’t, he definitely gets the key to the city from me. Perhaps he’s not to be underestimated. After all he did successfully negotiate his own deal with Rowell, and he and Bobby are reportedly pretty chummy. Who knows, maybe he’ll be remade as the first player/GM in league history. But jokes aside, if anyone has leverage in the corner office, it might just be the man with the power to cool folks down at will. Because certainly any deal would involve some “emotional repositioning statements” from the front office. But as with any half-good rumor some interesting possibilities are already lighting up the Internets, most notably these.
First, there’s the matter of the other guy in the muscle suit. You know, the alleged super who is nursing a hamstring injury into double digits in terms of games missed. Well, apparently, Clippers owner Donald Sterling never really wanted to see Corey Maggette go. Hmm. Second, Mr. Incredible hasn’t really been himself in Cryptkeeper Dunleavy’s slow-it-down offense. Third, the Warriors have several possible point guards that could be packaged with Maggs to make the salary-cap numbers work if the vibe were to be right about making a deal. Marcus Williams anyone?
There doesn’t seem to be much to this right now, at least in the sense of any dealmaking, but let’s have some fun with the rumor and/or innuendo. And let’s see what the vibe is around these parts. It’s probably not a huge surprise to guess where we FTB’ers stand on such a possibility, but let’s take a little vote and hear from some of y’all in the comments.
Turman
Loading …
PS. The Dubs pulled one out tonight to make it two out of the last three. Not a bad night. Marco continues to toughen up before our eyes and Frozone went for 30 points, 7 assists and 7 boards.
It’s been a while, but this is a “slow-burn” kind of contest. That being the starting five of ill-advised hoopers turned rappers. We started off a while ago with the battle for who would run the point. In spite of Gary Payton’s overall Oaklandishness, Troy Hudson walked off with the win. So he gets the start. Which brings us to the two-guard slot.
I decided to go straight to the chase with this. In spite of an inspired Dana Barros/Cedrick Ceballos collabo from way back, this one is the clash of the unreleased baller/rapper titans: Kobe vs. A.I. In other words, the battle of the albums that were never really released. A.I. was shut down for a variety of lyrical choices, while Kobe was doomed by his rhymes being, well, the Casey Jacobsen of rap.
So, without further ado, judge for yourself. Who should inhabit the two-guard slot in our baller/rapper hall of infamy. A.I. or Kobe. “Forty Bars” or “Thug Poet.” Oy. Neither are terrible, neither are particularly good. Okay, call it an honorary “Hater Tuesday” post, but let’s get one step closer to filling out the starting five. Did I mention that you should vote for the wackest? Well, vote for the wackest.
The polls are open,
Turman
Loading …
Okay, make the jump for the Ced Ceballos and Dana Barros track. They even got Native Tongue Sadat-X on the guest spot to deflect some of the wackness. He’s no, Q-Tip, but still. Read More »
Recently, MTV opened up their vaults to the public, via the Internets. This was big. But it took me a couple of weeks to notice (or for them to add) the embed codes that could bring the love directly to the FTB. Now that we’ve got ‘em, let’s waste some of the valuable workday. Here are five primo vids from the last decade, plus or minus a few years. We’ve got ‘Pac going all “Road Warrior.” We’ve got Michel Gondry doing the Foo Fighters proper. Missy gets her freak on. Gnarls Barkley traverses the decades. And the White Stripes are remade in Lego. Watch. Vote. Be inspired. Go back to work.
The Reebok “Framed” campaign went all YouTube the other day. They dropped the Baron Davis short film (above) to a somewhat confused response from the blogosphere. Perhaps that’s because the OG art of roller disco has suffered mightily in the intervening 30 years. So, in the interest of context, we at FTB offer you an opportunity to see where Baron stacks up in the pantheon of roller disco. First up, BD’s clip. Personally, he’s lightweight clean with it. But where on earth did he get that ‘fit, much less the moves? Well, now that you asked, we bring you the following.
Next up, a scene from the Earth Wind and Fire movie “That’s the Way of the World.” I personally remember being about 11 and trying to get with “September” at the roller rink in Hayward with disasterous results. These folks are getting it.
Which brings us to Rudy Ray Moore in “Disco Godfather.” Now, Rudy Ray is better known as Dolamite, but something is really going down in this clip. It’s almost NSFW, but dang, so was the entire time period between 1976 and 1979.
In Baron Davis’ latest post he threw down a most fearsome Fatwā. Creating a competition for “The Best Beard.”
No doubt, his beard skills are mighty. Commanding even. FTB has commented long and often on the seemingly superhero prowess of his whiskers. Lately, we have also noted a sizable expansion of said beard. Both in width and overall fullness. It certainly now meets (possibly even exceeds) Teddy Pendergrass levels.
As evidenced in our previous poll, much of the FTB community seemed to be leaning in the “fuller” growth direction (44%). But, beware competitors. Too much beard may not always be a good thing.*
I got a fever. Oh, I do. And it’s only going to be cured when someone smacks this douchenozzle directly in his extra douche-y-ass mug. I make little secret of this: I do not like me no Ron Artest. I do not like him in a car. I do not like him in a bar. I do not like him in the stands. I do not like his trade demands. I do not like him Sam I Am.
But seriously though, I love Marcus Thompson II and my daily fish wrap, the Oakland Tribune/Contra Costa Times/San Jose Mercury/Mid-Peninsula Somethingorother. But why, Marcus? Why would you possibly want to upset the Dubs’ talent base with Artest? He’s a proven force, but yet he is so uncontrollably douche-y that the bag of the douche is insufficient to represent his douche-y-ness, hence the douchenozzle sobriquet. Stephen Jackson already followed him up into the stands into infamy once, and two times doesn’t seem like a good plan for either of them. Moreover, just watching the chippiness on the floor tonight made me glad that I wasn’t at the Oracle trying to explain to my kids what a flagrant two would mean down the stretch (comments?). Frankly, I was surprised that there wasn’t a fight.
F’real though, anyone who would basically run away from getting the firkin’, farkin’ fark slapped out of them by Ben Wallace to go fight a 140-pound junior account executive seated in section 104 deserves to find out what the seventh level of douchenozzle hell looks like: to wit, a lottery season in Sacramento.
Anyway, my rant is almost out of gas, but to synopsize: Ron Artest should never, under any circumstances be rendered a Golden State Warrrior. In the event that this should occur, I am prepared to delicately retract some (but not all) of these statements in the interest of decorum, much as I did after Matt Barnes set me straight on the whole Webber thing. And for the record, Webber did much better tonight: more active, better passing and he put his nose in there for a couple of crucial boards. But no, no, no. No Ron Artest.
Turman
PS. Anyone wanna vote? Yes or no. Or, Whitney Houston style, “hells to the no.” Just the same, if the Dubs could reasonably acquire the aforementioned Mr. Artest, should we? Polls are open.
Loading …
PPS. Monta Ellis had a monster game. I’m feeling lazy so I’m not even going to bother to confirm it, but I believe it was a Jordan-esque 34 points, 7 boards and 4 dimes. Getting to the line down the stretch was massive too. To the future! Huzzah!
Earlier this season Baron Davis gave FTB “permission” to suggest some possibilities to him for his vaunted beard.
FTB, def glad you respect my grindin’ and the old skool style, ya dig. I may rock a design in the beard this year… Let me know what I should do. Lol.
We like a good challenge here, but we wanted to open up the discussion a bit and let the Dubtown constituency speak. Flush with a new polling tool on the site, what better way to open the polls than with one of some possible consequence? As election season swings into full gear, let’s get to the real issues. Like, what should Baron do with The Beard?
The all-star break is around the corner and we need to get The Beard on the right path for a monster second half and an epic playoff run. So get involved! And here’s your chance. Vote among several possible options for The Beard as we get ready for New Orleans and beyond. Picture “Hardwood Classics Baron” above with the facial-hair options listed below and then vote for the best choice for glory.
Three of these things belong together
Three of these things are kind of the same
Can you guess which one of these doesn’t belong here?
Now it’s time to play our game (time to play our game).
Stay tuned for some more “interactive polls”, sometime in 2008. Until then, you’ll just have to work with me and put your thoughts into the comments box.
Loading …
