In the winter of 1968, my pregnant (with me) Mom and Dad, purchased a rolled VW Bus to flee the rough-n-tumble boroughs of NYC for the love-crazed Haight-Ashbury in SF. At the same time the bearded baller duo of “Jesus” and “Clyde” where the celebrated backcourt of New York Knicks. By the time I was an Oaklandish scrub of three, the two delivered an NBA title to the Big Apple.
Hall of Famers, Earl “the Pearl” Monroe and Walt Frazier deserve special mention on FTB for their silky smooth skills and their bad-ass bristles of beardness.
G. Dolin
Wiki-Trivia:
Walt Frazier was one of the “new breed” of athletes that emerged in the 1960s, such as Joe Namath and Dick Allen. While playing in New York, he was famous for dressing in a blaxploitation-inspired style that included long fur coats, fedora hats with feathers, sunglasses, and shirts with butterfly collars.
In the Spike Lee film He Got Game Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington) explains to his son, Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen) that his name was inspired by Earl Monroe’s nickname: “Jesus”.
Whoa! Holy mother of Nellieball! What in tarnations?
Manute Bol and Muggsy Bogues weren’t teammates with the Dubs, but they did both play for the squad. They were, however, teammates in Washington. Arguably, the most recognizable supertall and supersmall in league history, the two certainly represent extreme ends of the NBA’s height range. (Over here! Stop looking at the picture.) Okay I give up. Look at the picture some more. Be careful though.
Do not stare at the above image for longer than ten seconds or your brain will turn to escargot.
And it don’t stop! We at the Beard can’t get enough of the disarray down south. It brings back such fond memories of Laker irrelevance during the Ced Ceballos gone to Havasu era.
Honestly, I need that bitter-beer-faced mug on my shoe like Kobe needs Smush Parker running the point. But at least I can tell you flat out that the shoe is crap. Kobe has to try to tread lightly around his disdain for the current direction of player/personnel decisions by way of hamfisted posts to his blog, a blog that awkwardly manages to bridge the gap between mega-star ego and high-school-ish grammar proficiency with satisfying dissonance.
So, without further ado, grab a cold bottle of Arctic Freeze “Haterade” and sit back for a while. Enjoy, as the Beard presents Kobe’s top five “read the hate between the lines” comments from the official Kobeblog. Who knew that the Lakers’ recent early exit from the show would bear such prodigious early fruit? All posted within the last two days. Wow.
5. “…Dr. Buss requested a meeting with me during the 04 season long before I opted out of my contract, and he told me he had already decided to not extend Shaq, as he was concerned about Shaq’s age, fitness and contract demands. Dr. Buss thought it was best for the Lakers to make a trade to get value for Shaq while they could.” It’s never too late to bash Shaq, while not mentioning his extra ring and his current-year playoff appearance. Hateration: 5.5.
I can forgive the MVP award – it was a great regular season. BUT, is it just me or is the cut of Nowitzki’s jacket a tad on the long side? I mean, that jacket is at least as tall as Avery Johnson.
Hey Dirk, you can’t get over your Pogonophobia by hiding in an oversized jacket.
He had a nice weekend. He’s a six-four junior guard. Willie’s going to Oak Hill Academy (Stephen “Crazy Eyez” Jackson’s alma mater) for his senior year in the fall.
Only the Germans could come up with a word like schadenfreude, which translates to “taking pleasure in another’s getting crapped on.” Or something close. Which brings us to the Jazz and the Spurs.
Let’s see. Game four recap. Usual Jazz tactics (see above) fail against Manu. Mr. Congeniality (Derek Fishsticks) gets thrown. Deron Will melts under pressure. Kirilenko gets ghost altogether. Chris Mullin sucks. Jazz lose. Wait! Chris Mullin what?
PS. Just in case you aren’t stimulated enough by the above to click through to something or other, check out the cynicism in a quoted highlight from a playoff game against the Dubs.
In game three of things back east, Rasheed’s beard succumbed to LeBron’s beard in an epic showcase of LeBron’s massive above-the-rim beardosicity.
In a related story, no news yet on whether (bearded) teammate Ira Newble’s petition has reached LeBron’s desk in Nikeland. Yo, LeBron! It’s fast, it’s easy. Be a witness.
Daniel Turman
PS. Perpetual props to Marcus Thompson II for the steady driveway dose of Dubnews.
Our friends at Golden State of Mind are among those chatting about rumors of a possible Zach Randolph departure from Oregon and the speculative scenarios with the Dubs.
The questions seem to be, for whom, and how is #50’s baby face gonna’ look with a fearsome beard?
Regardless, this a good quote from the Blazers Blog – “But what I can’t figure out is why the Warriors would have any interest in Randolph. If they want a “low-post force,” make Al Harrington get his butt in the paint. That would seem easier than trading for Zach.”
What happens when genocide, the NBA Playoffs, the Olympics, a $90M shoe endorsement deal, destiny and a nascent superstar collide in a fusion of geo-political dimensions? So far, not so much.
The short of it: Cleveland Cavaliers players recently signed a petition condemning the ongoing genocide in Darfur, as well as China’s culpability as a de facto supplier of money and arms to the ruling regime, mostly by virtue of the fact that China purchases two-thirds of the country’s oil exports. Well, almost everyone signed, that is. All but two players: LeBron James and Damon Jones. Jones has an endorsement deal with a Chinese shoe and apparel maker. And LeBron has Nike. Nike has some interests there. Or so I hear.
Is it just me, or can I can hear the crickets in Beaverton from here? Given the pub, there has been a shockingly limited amount of actual discourse from this drama’s participants. With so much on the table for so many stakeholders, somebody really should be saying something right about now.
