A Game of Content

Long time, amiright?

It's been hard to get some lucid content that isn't just trailers or funny short videos. Ideally, the rate at which I would like to be churning out content would be equal to the speed at which it is delivered over the interwebz, but frankly there have been a whole host of things that have diverted my mind elsewhere; ideally, all these new things are great for blogger contemplation, so for the sake of getting some much needed writing exercise, I thought I would do a stream of consciousness piece that would explore some of the things that have piqued my interest, and examine some of the things that have commanded  my attention.

The NBA Finals

On paper, these Finals are joke. As if the NBA couldn't have planned it any better for their commercial viability, the Miami Heat are finally at full strength. Any way you look at the current matchups with the Dallas Mavericks, there is just no way you can completely shut the Heat down; conversely, there are several ways to derail the Mavericks (double team Dirk down to 35% shooting and make their bench beat you) and it just so happens that Miami has also one of the quickest and most athletic defenses in the league that is up to the task.

Talent wise, watching the Heat is like watching a constant highlight reel that can pretty much score without any set play, while the Mavericks is like watching a bunch of cagey veterans flip through a book of plays and then have  to get into a half court set to free up their shooters and get any sort of offense.

Yep, it's pretty much like an unfair NBA Jam game.

I'll save my breath for the ref conspiracy theories, but I have already  witnessed some blatant no-calls that were going Miami's way in Game 1. If you look at it from purely a financial "bottom line," the NBA needs the Heat to win; David Stern wants LeBron to validate himself in the wake of last Summer's PR nightmare that was "The Decision," and ascend to the rank of our generation's "Basketball Jesus." The conflict that LeBron created was good for dialogue and selling tickets, but I am sure the NBA would rather the top player of an era be as loved as MJ was (even though he was kind of a dick). Honestly, even though these Finals will be predictable, I'll still watch because the talent in tandem of Wade and James is undeniably entertaining. Also, the last living Neanderthal named "Dirk" can shoot the "J," y'all!

Dirk shoot ball! Dirk happy!

My Dog has a Facebook!

I know what you're thinking : I claim to have no time to write, yet I created a Facebook Account for my dog? It was a dare turned fun little exercise, as trying to picture how "Gus" views the world has been an legitimate time-killer.

I am sure if everyone who owned a pet tried to analyze and synthesize each of their individual quirks, you would come to find that these creatures that live with us actually have quite robust personalities. My dog Gus, for instance, is mortally terrified of grates and sewer drains, and I can't for the life of me figure out why. The phobia  has gotten worse with age, yet he has never had a traumatic experience that would lend itself to the aversion or his behavior; hell, my parents' beagle/retriever dog is probably the smartest animal I know, and she has had a myriad of traumatic sprays to the face from skunks and never put 2 and 2 together that she probably shouldn't go sniffing that creature's ass.

It's funny, because while the fear Gus developed of vortexes he can't see into is completely instinctively rational, the behavior he exhibits is a little loopy : if I were on a normal sized residential street walking down the center, and there was a sewer drainage ditch to my right twenty feet away, and I took one step toward that ditch while he is on the leash, you would think that I suddenly was dragging him toward a pit of vipers the speed at which he puts the breaks on; he will desperately  run the other direction. However, if I were going down the middle of the street, and I released Gus from his leash while the ditch was in sight, he would actually run right over to it and stick his whole damn head down the hole sniffing and examining it. Clearly, the rationale is: human + leash + hole = puppy spelunking.

Nope, you're right Gus. Fuck that.

Meh, the kid's cute - so I put up with it.

One Series to Rule Them All

Back in April, I explored how awesome the existence of HBO's Game of Thrones  was, and how far fantasy as a genre had come that it could get such a big budget, hard-R adaptation. Having not read a lick of the novels the show was based on, I noticed several initial similarities that seem to be pervasive through almost all the popular modern fantasy series of the last 20 years, similarities to me that had become trite and predictable, and I hoped that this series would not follow a similar arc.

Crises fucking averted.

Three weeks ago I started George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series. Three weeks later, I am 3500 pages into the series, having finished  A Game of Thrones , A Clash of Kings , A Storm of Swords, and am currently blazing through A Feast for Crows - and finally officially at only the midpoint of Martin's epic.

Listen, I know many of you will only watch the show, so I will not spoil anything. I was peeved a few weeks back when it seemed that the show was vaulting ahead on some plot points faster than I could read, and was already spoiling material I hadn't gotten to in the books; now I am comfortably in a place where I can enjoy both the show and the books for what they are. I can only hope the show stays alive to do the major plot developments and characterizations justice (so far so good on that front), because everyone is in for an amazing treat (if I did a 1:1 comparison on how much ground the show covers in a week in relation to the books, I am at about episode 37).

Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice  is the series that shatters the fantasy paradigm established by The Lord of the Rings and the clones that followed. In Tolkien's LOTR, there is black and white - good and evil - with very few shades of grey in between. The bad guys are literal monsters, while the good guys are human or some dwarf or elf variation. It's probably shouldn't be a shock that one of the most memorable and deepest characters is the one that also diverts from the black and white formula s so prevalent in the series (and also happens to be literally grey) : Gollum. There are subplots to be sure, but it all serves to feed back into main story and theme. Yet, the language and history have always been the deepest, the characters the coolest, and the battles were epic.

For years, trudging through fantasy post-LOTR has been like reading lesser variations of Tolkien's masterpiece. No one really attempted to break away from the norm (save for introducing sex) that there exists Good and Evil, and the hero could be altruistic to a fault but still end up triumphing. Why? The stories were easy to churn out and accessible, the characters familiar and identifiable, but the plots became rote and predictable.

Then came A Song of Fire and Ice in the  90's. George R.R. Martin's initial novel, A Game of Thrones , was lauded by everyone in the business as a literary masterwork and technical achievement, yet it never reached best seller status until it was announced in 2008 that HBO would be adapting it. Not only have the four books that have been released since then (released 4-6 years apart from each other) achieved multiple literary awards, but inside the jacket of each book exists paragraph after paragraph of only the highest praise from the best-selling fantasy writers of our time. If you read between the lines of their praise, you would understand that THIS  was the series they wish they were capable of.

Again, how could something of this magnitude that insiders were raving about not achieve commercial success until the brilliant minds of HBO declared it worthy of throwing down damn near sixty million dollars?

Because it's a once in a lifetime genre-busting game changer. Everything that was comfortably established by Tolkien is gone. In A Song of Fire and Ice , the characters aren't easily identifiable - there IS no black and white, because only the grey can survive in this world. These characters are real  people with real motivations and very adult cravings acting as if they would have existed in a historical medieval setting where there just so happens to also exist fantasy elements;  Martin based the idea of the series on the historical machinations of the ruling families during the War of the Roses, and as a result the plot is probably the richest account of political intrigue in the entirety of the genre, one that at times is Shakespearean in its level of tragedy. 

In the fantasy world of the Seven Kingdoms, Westeros, there are no magic bullets or plot devices to save our heroes and defeat the perceived evil; you play the "game of thrones" or you die. Ancient family Houses position and reposition themselves with Machiavellian plots that are so complex that at any one time there could be up to 15 individual characters with their own motivations who are affecting the progression of the story. As kings fall, the lines of family succession and codes of conduct and morality are so complex that each novel comes with an almost 70 page appendix of names and descriptions of the Houses "Great and Small" and everything in between.

But wait, isn't this a fantasy novel? 3500 pages into the series and just now are some of the traditional threads of fantasy being woven in, albeit with sublime subtlety. Even if you are watching the show, there is nothing really overtly magical  happening. At the point I am at, there are so many characters who follow so many schisms of religions, one could guess that the gods are as diverse and morally grey as the characters that worship them; hell they too even could even be playing a "game of thrones" themselves. This fantasy elements are not forced, nor does they need to be to hold our attention - it is the richness and diversity of the characters who may emerge to the forefront, only to recede or die shockingly.

This is very much an adult series in every sense of the word (sexy wenches!), and readers are quick to learn that established characters' fates are highly unpredictable. Though the series seems on the surface to be about a few powerful people and families, Martin changes the script and establishes early on in the novels that it's not only kings that decide the fate of man, but also seemingly lesser individuals whose actions may have consequences that create ripples throughout the giant world they live in. What higher praise could be said of a story but that it captures the vulnerability of men and women, both great and small; they all may die, while those who live change. Through it all, the characters have life .

For all the political intrigue, I will say that my favorite story follows that of the Stark bastard Jon Snow and his snow-white direwolf "Ghost."  I won't say too much, but his position on the Wall guarding the north removes his character from the game of thrones that happens far to the south. If I would venture a guess, I would say that Snow has to also be Martin's favorite character to write about, as his adventures with Ghost follow a more traditional fantasy model, and Jon himself is in the vein of an archetypical fantasy hero. I have already learned to stop trying to predict the fates of characters as the series is far from over, but the stakes that exist for Jon are a little higher than winning a throne. There is a Helms Deep moment on the Wall that I will look forward to seeing on any screen.

Jon Snow = win!

I should be finishing up A Feast For Crows  just in time for the release of A Dance With Dragons  which comes out in June. Hopefully, I won't have to wait 6 years like some people for the next book, as I hope George R.R. Martin has a Stephen King like crises of mortality Dark Tower moment and churn out the two remaining chapters sooner rather than later.

Don't die on me, bro!

As the show concludes book 1, I will go over some important questions that the viewers should be asking themsleves.

In the future

After my upcoming  one-year anniversary with my lovely wife, I am hoping to catch up on some more writing. Look forward to a Bridesmaids Vs. Hangover  piece, an X-Men review, and some coverage and contemplation on what is to be revealed at the videogame expo, E3. Right now, I am going to go devour another 500 pages of A Feast for Crows  and wait on bated breath for it's follow up.

OD: Spurs - Limping in?

So Fresh, So Clean

I've had a lot of Spurs fans bemoan the teams sluggish efforts the last few weeks; it's funny how the oldest team in the league in the Lakers, who do not have the top seed in the west like the Spurs, are promoted as have an "on and off" switch that they can flip at will. Hell, they equaled the Spurs worst loss streak, yet the Spurs have been nationally written off as a "pretender" to the crown.

I could go on all day about the bias, but it's something that Spurs fans should be use to by now. So when I hear some of those diehards already start to shrug the Spurs off as one of those teams that have already "peaked," I try and point out how futile it is to try and treat the last 10 games as any sort of evidence of a decline, or that it is even truly representative of the current state of the team.

To recap, the Spurs were up six games on the Lakers with 10 games to go. Pop had already begun the conservative approach to managing Tim, Manu, and Tony's minutes, and George Hill saw an increased role. 

Did Pop envision Timmy going down for a week? Probably not. 

Did Pop envision Matt Bonner and Gary Neal would shoot just 27% from the arc in Timmy's absense? Probably not. 

Timmy was a reliable force in that he gave you 10 solid points, and 7-10 rebounds a game. With him out, that kind of slack is not as easy to make up when your other key contributors go cold. We can just look to the law of averages and be thankful that the shooting percentages will even back out, and be glad that Red Rocket's  flaccidity was just in the regular season. 

The Spurs see the Grizzlies in the first round and - wouldn't you know it - the number 1 seed in the west is again getting no respect. Many believe that this number 8 has a legitimate shot at knocking out the Spurs; I admit "athletic" front lines did give our pick and roll game some trouble in the regular season, especially going through the low post. But now that Rudy Gay is out for the year, I really can't envision who could make up his scoring differential on the Grizzlies, not to mention how inferior their bench is to the Spurs'. 

Even if Manu's injury to his less dominate right-elbow hinders him or removes him from a couple of games, there are still so many on the Spurs roster (see: George Hill, Gary Neal) who could easily make up for the loss of Ginobili in the short term. Yes, I know Hill or Neal might not have the majestic schnoz or yamaka shaped bald spot to give him extra "clutch" powers, but they have the ability as long as he stays aggressive.

Here is my power ranking list of the top 10 Spurs at the end of the season (previous ranking in parenthesis):

DeJaun Blair: Mutant w/o ACLs

1. Tony Parker + (2): After a healthy diet of escargot, the fast French man has seemingly been better than ever. Parker is the most consistent scoring threat on the team, and if he is able to find driving lanes, the game is pretty much over. 
2. Manu Ginobili - (1) The extent of Ginobili's injury is still in doubt, but luckily for the lefty he hyper-extended his right arm. Manu has seen his playing time significantly reduced as the season waned, with George Hill coming in to give him a rest. Even though there have been some games in the last few months that have come down to a last possession that Ginobili has mucked up, he still gives the Spurs the most clutch final shot opportunities in a close game. 
3. George Hill + (5) Hill was tasked by Pop to fill some of the scoring voids left when Timmy went down for a stretch, and then when stars took a couple games off. He responded nicely, recording season highs in scoring during that stretch. The way the Spurs are built now as a run-and-gun shooting team, Hill's ascension is essential to maintain a penetrating force (snicker) through opposing team's interior when the starters go out; only by staying aggressive can Hill keep the Spurs momentum going.
4. Tim Duncan - (3) Duncan's playing time has been extremely coddled by management, so here is hoping he can play with abandon and get back to his championship form. Even though the majority of the offense no longer runs through him, Timmy's defense, rebounding, basketball IQ, and court-vision make him an important cog in the pick and roll game. 
5. Gary Neal - (4) Neal was the diamond in the rough during the regular season. Though he went a little cold from the arc, he (unlike Bonner) is still adaptable and a threat even when his long-shot goes cold because of his clutch short game; also, have you seen this kid turn and shoot on a dime? Gary Neal, by himself, can be the difference between a close game and a blow out.
6. Antonio McDyess + (8) "McNasty," as we call the crafty vet, has been dependable - when he can stay on the floor. He has had a tendency as of late to rack up some early fouls as a starter, especially when he is matched up against a big and athletic opposing center. Lets face it, most people in the league are faster than McNasty, but he has a money short-shot and some of that veteran experience that can be invaluable in close game situations. He sort of fills that role that Robert Horry once filled - not the manwhore role - but the spry sage. 
7. DeJuan Blair - (6) No one is quite sure how it happened, but DeJuan Blair found himself deep in Pop's doghouse at the end of the season, and found himself stripped of his starting role, cutting his playing time in half. He has come back stronger as of late, and is a genuine physical force under the rim even though his finishing can at times be as elegant as Helen Keller trying to find a bathroom. 
8. Richard Jefferson - (7) Let me just say, if I see this guy fail to complete a dunk or a layup again, I will hack into his computer and release his collection of  Grizzly-Men in Banana Hammocks . I implore you Richard,  just stay behind the 3 point line. You're less annoying there. 
9. Matt Bonner -- (9) The Red Rocket has been in a bit of a slump, but he still earns his keep on the defensive side of the ball and his rebounding ability. Like Gary Neal, if he manages to get hot, he can be the barometer on whether or not the game will be a blowout. 
10. Tiago Splitter + (12) With his increased playing time at the end of the season, Splitter impressed the hell out of me. There were times when he looked light years beyond DeJuan Blair in his ability to finish, and he is no where near the liability on defense he once was when he was failing to recognize assignments and rotations. Chalk it up to being a foreign rookie who has to not only learn the non-native lingo, but the system of the team in that same language. Splitter could be on the cusp of having a breakout postseason, especially if we fall behind those teams with athletic interiors. Fun fact: when Splitter was guarding those athletic big men, the Spurs were actually in the positive in terms of scoring differential and field goal percentage. What does this mean? Splitter might be the best defensive presence on the team. The problem: there just is not enough data or playing time to truly call it a trend, and there still might not be that trust from Pop to gain him quality minutes in the playoffs. 

Rumor has it, Memphis has hired Eva Longoria to sit behind the Spurs bench and hawk-stare Tony Parker down in an effort to help steal one game on the road when the playoffs start on Sunday. The Spurs are set to counter by having coach Pop get his unsightly visage as close as possible to her face in order to scare the beauty off it. 

No, Coach Pop, she will NOT love you!

Series VS Grizzlies: Spurs in 5 

Spurs: Midseason Report Card

At 47-10, the Spurs are still hold the best record in the league; by anyone's standard, that alone should earn the Spurs top marks in the way they have handled the the transition to a faster-paced, inside-out pick-and-roll game.

Regardless, I think it is a good exercise to go through the roster individually and analyze some strengths and weaknesses, and what the Spurs might do to assure a title shot.

The Big 3

Tim Duncan:

Timmy's stats have significantly lowered with the conservative amount of minutes he is playing, but his game is still making those around him better. He truly has been a force on the defensive end, blocking shots and pounding the boards harder than I think I have seen him in a couple of years (also probably attributed to his limited use).

Though his offensive production has contracted, his high ball-IQ in the pick and roll game and passing ability have confounded defenses and built up the numbers and confidence of his teammates, like DeJuan Blaire. He still commands a ton of respect from defenses, and still has the ability to take over games when he is feeling it. Timmy hasn't been as accurate around the rim as in years past, but he is making up for it by grabbing offensive boards or drawing fouls. Consequently, he is also doing better at the foul-line than he has in four years.

Wait, that's not Tim Duncan.

Grade: A-

Manu Ginobili

People often like to think that the Spurs go as Manu does, and the numbers so far do not lie. Of the Spurs 10 losses this season,  7 of those came when Manu scored under 11 points. Conversely, the Spurs have proven almost unbeatable when he scores more than 20.

When Manu is clicking, he not only hits his own daggers and crazy lay-ups, but he is also dishing it out wide for some open 3 point looks. Unlike Tony Parker, Ginobili is such an asset because he really can thrive in almost any line-up that Pop throws out there. Be it an orchestrater of the pick-and-roll, or a sniper from the arc, Ginobili is the most fluid, and thus most important player on the team. He is not only the Spurs leading scorer, but has supplanted Duncan as the "go-to" guy for the final shot. Yes, Ginobili ocassionaly gets a little too flippant with the ball with inexplicable turnovers, but he wouldn't be the improviser and highlight maker he is without a little bit of that gun-slinging attitude.

Thankfully, he isn't flopping  as much (which he had been decried for league wide), but he does rely on contact and expects whistles to bail him out on occasion. Keeping him healthy is a top priority, so I could see his minutes decrease as the playoff's approach and the Spurs close in on that number one seed; his reduced presence will probably  yield more losses down the stretch, but Pop and the Spurs' staff are historically unconcerned with appearances in terms of the final tally of W's - especially if they have already cemented the top spot in the West.

Cool off, you are doing a great job down there. 

Grade: A+

Tony Parker

It appears the Spurs have benefited from Tony's off-season turmoil. The "French Philanderer" has had to shift his priorities away from the Hollywood spotlight and back to working on his game, which has notably improved from his injury-laden 2009 campaign. His offensive numbers are virtually identical to Ginobili's - he sits at 975 to Manu's 1001 points scored this year (obviously Manu's efficiency has benefited from his 115 3-pointers made, to Tony's only 15 ). Simply, his scoring is essential (pun intended).

Awkward

Parker's speed is back to form, and his finishing around the rim has been remarkable at times (his stop-and-pop floater is the best in the league). If Parker is penetrating consistently (pun intended?) then it's virtually over for the opposition. Teams that fair the best against Parker fair better against the Spurs; those ball clubs with highly athletic interior players (Portland, 76ers, New Orleans, Bulls) are best suited to removing the lanes from Parker and Ginobili. Thankfully, only New Orleans really threatens the Spurs come the playoffs.

In relation to Ginobili, Parker's only real knock on his game this season is that he isn't nearly as good of a defender (even backup George Hill has cemented playing time because he is so much better than Parker for on the ball defending). Parker also suffers from an inconsistent 3 point shot, so he is much more liable to become one-dimensional if teams can successfully cut off his driving lanes. If Parker's speed doesn't fail him this year, he'll be a tough cover for some of the older point guards out West.

Grade: A


X-Factors


DeJuan Blair


Let's face facts, DeJuan Blair is being groomed to one day competely take over for Timmy D. I know it's  hard to think about the post-Duncan era, but it is only a few years away (maybe closer if he wins one more title); Pop and Spurs management know this, so they have been slowly working in DeJuan Blair. Essentially, the production that Duncan use to have is now being split amongst himself and Blair, and it is impressive for a sophomore in the league to already be that dependable.

It seems counterintuitive to say, but a no-ACL Blair has some surprising agility and finesse around the rim.  Most kids would quit if they already had two ACL-removing surgeries in HS, so it really speaks to the kind of player Blair is for persevereing and getting better at his craft despite his perceived limitations. He has has changed my preconceptions on the necessity of knee ligaments, and I am now convinced they are vestigial. If anyone needs some, contact me - I think we can work out a fair price.

Wait, he doens't have those things?

The biggest problem to DeJuan's game is staying in it; he has wracked up fouls faster than Richard Jefferson, and it's mostly off ticky-tack reach in's. Look for him to get better, and play a bigger role in the playoffs.

Grade: B+

George Hill

If only there was a cross through that real basketball...

With the emergence of Gary Neal, George Hill has become less of a factor on the offensive side of the ball; yet, his value has been immeasurable when Pop uses him as the sub who facilitates the transition to the more defensive minded, three point chunking second unit. I was starting to think that they were trying to turn him into the next Tony Parker, but his game more resembles Rajon Rondo's; Hill is just more ball-movement and defensive minded. He doesn't look for his shot first, but he has the potential to get hot from behind the arc and really give the second unit a boost.

What Hill really needs to improve on is calling his own plays once and awhile. He can be a bit too selfless, and he really needs to assert himself more in the offense when the rest of the second unit isn't clicking; the Spurs second unit has been known to stagnate and give teams a sliver of hope.

Also, George Hill might be part Alien.

Score: B+


Gary Neal

Gary Neal sort of reminds me of the old "Ninja," Sean Elliot, in that he is a total assassin from the three point line. How many times this season has he brought the ball up the court and, on a dime, laser a 3-pointer home. Neal has a more automatic and faster looking shot than Ray Allen at times.

He is one of those "old" rookies that have spent their time honing their craft overseas for 3 or 4 years. (Stefon voice) It's not like that kind of thing when really old people start taking college classes and ask an obnoxious amount of questions because they are terrified by their ability to learn new things.

The best part about his game is that it's completely unexpected from a rookie. Do you think that at the start of the year, Spurs management though that Gary Neal would be averaging 10.6 points in 21 minutes?  His presence alone has vaulted S.A. to being a 100+ point, league-leading offense.

Like DeJuan Blair, Gary Neal has a tendency to foul himself out of playing time; he has a ways to go as a man-to-man defender, but if he stays on the floor he can really be dangerous. His best lineup appears to be any where Manu Ginobili is drawing defenders and creating.

Score: A-

Ridin' the Pine 

Matt Bonner

Yep, looks like a penis. 

Where DeJuan Blair has risen above his bum knees, I don't think Matt Bonner will ever live down his nick-names. He was probably tormented as a kid for being a ginger with a last name that looks and sounds eerily like "boner." Matt broke through those barriers, finally making it to the big stage - the NBA;  hey, he even landed on championship caliber team with a city that matched his unassuming nature.

Only to be called the "Red Rocket."

I am appreciative that the Spurs acquired the 3 point percentage leading in the league. Now, I can giggle to myself whenever I am driving home from work at night and listening to a game on the radio, only to hear "Splash-down for the Red Rocket" every time he nails a three. Poor boner.

Grade: B

Tiago Splitter


He was much hyped when word came of his signing last summer. The giant kid with a Rocky bad-guy name (and voice) and big time Europe experience was coming to the Spurs - another drafting coupe.

Tiago, in his rookie year, is much like Gary Neal in age and experience. Unlike Neal, however, the transition hasn't been as fluid. A language barrier might be a problem (it took Pop a whole year of racial slurs in French to break Parker), but they still aren't comfortable running sets with him. Do not get me wrong, Splitter has an upside similar and maybe greater to Pau Gasol's, but it's going to take time.

Right now, he looks a little caught up in the moment and almost like he is so excited to be out there he doesn't know what to do with the ball.

Exhibit A - welcome to the danger zone:




Grade (based on video): B-  


Richard Jefferson: 


I really don't know what it is about "R.J" but I just can't stand him. He fails at dunking at least 20 times a year, and then has the audacity to exclaim "aiiiiyand one" in a high-pitched squeal every time that he goes to the rim. 


I still might be bitter about last year. Then again, he did opt-out of his contract and took less money to become the good "Bruce Bowen" clone they wanted him to be. It took a lot of beating a square peg into a round hole, but Jefferson finally fits "comfortably" in the system. 


But dammit, that tattoo is attrocious:

Aiiiiiyand ugly

Grade: B

Final Thoughts 

At this point in the season, what we can take away from the Spurs is that they are a deep and capable mixture of established and seasoned veterans, and confident young-guns. If they can stay healthy and secure the home court advantage, it'll be smooth sailing until meeting Dallas in the conference finals. 

Aiiiiiiyand done. 

OD: That's my Neal!

I can't remember the last year when watching the Spurs from the get-go has been such a pleasure. The perennial stalwarts on defense have been replaced by a more up-tempo and free-shooting team. Don't get me wrong, they can still lock other teams down when they need to, but clearly the philosophy has changed as the the roster has gotten significantly younger.

The usual Spurs' detractors always like to point to age, but guess what - the Lakers are now the oldest team in the NBA. With new faces like Tiago Splitter, Gary Neal, and James Anderson all putting in quality minutes and energy while learning the system, as well as sophomore-year stars like DeJuan Blair and Richard Jefferson finding their stride (although I could do without R.J.'s continual Michael Jackson-like cry of "and one" every time he goes to the rim) alongside a budding George Hill, the "Big Three" have found the support they need to make a deep run into the playoffs.

Splitter has the potential to supplant Pau Gasol at his own game, he is just really green right now and plays antsy when he gets some minutes; his progression is going to be the most important thing to watch as the playoffs approaches, as he'll probably need to take over some of Duncan's minutes to get him rested (even though Timmy is already only averaging just under 30 minutes - and they are 19-3).

The early surge is vastly important, as last years team had to struggle to even make the playoffs and force their aging crew onto the floor longer than they probably should have been. The good news this year, is that all of the Spurs' young guns that will one day be the bedrock of the franchise - DeJuan Blair, George Hill, Matt Bonner, and Tiago - have shown tremendous upside and have reinforced just how talented the Spurs' main-office has been at building toward a post-Duncan era.

Hell, Gary Neal has already proven that he is a one man team:

Offensive Defense: Bottom Feeding

Another weekend, and another set of Hindenburg-like disasters from the Longhorns and Cowboys. The level of beat-down and the sheer amount of quit that is pervasive through the two teams have made me dread even watching them. It's like looking at two ugly mirror images.

The Longhorn, for all their preseason bluster, are plumbing new depths of fail in the Mack Brown era with each passing week. The last time the Longhorns were this bad, a coaching change swiftly followed. Brown himself opened up the bag of worms when he put every coach or assistant coach on notice, but the threats seem to have fallen on the deaf ears of the players who may be clamoring for the Muschamp regime to start earlier than perhaps Mack was anticipating. Brown himself has admitted that his role in recent years has found him as more of a CEO than head-coach, and his willing lack of presence as he prepares himself for better things has left his team wanting. There is no rallying figure to bridge the rift in the philosophies of the offensive and defensive coaches.

Clearly, Gilbert has been mismanaged by Greg Davis worse than Britney Spears, and his attempt at reinventing the offense poorly conceived. The "pro-style offense" is great and all with the right personnel, but why recruit a kid that was borne out of the spread? He has no go to possession receivers, a "senior" line that seems easily confused by simple defensive stunts by their opponents, and no dominant running-back to take the pressure off and open up the game and dominate time of possession. Why press when you don't have the personnel? Pressing, though, has been all that Gilbert is able to do, with his most recent attempt matching historical Longhorn totals for interceptions in one game. This recruiting class was supposed to have been special, so either the kids that were brought in have been totally unprepared (which falls on the coaches), or they are prepared but unresponsive (which falls on the coaches).

Mr. Davis, the game has passed you by.

Muschamp's defense and its recent problems seems easier to diagnose as full-scale "quitting." In some respects, once the bottom falls off along with the expectations for the season it's probably human nature to just get the year over with as fast as possible. Why get up the energy when the kids on the offensive side of the ball and special teams are hemorrhaging points off turnovers and can't produce? Even still, the fact that there seems to be very little self-respect or UT pride on display should is pretty alarming and points to Mack's laissez-faire CEO approach.

So wholesale changes are "on the way," but that's exactly where things get interesting. If there are sweeping coaching changes, who is tasked with rebuilding the staff and the team? Is it Mack Brown, whose waning attention has resulted in the meltdown? Is it Will Muschamp, the coach in waiting? For his pride's sake, I find it difficult to believe that Mack would allow himself to go out like this, but what would it have mattered to even name Muschamp the "coach-in-waiting" if he isn't even given the opportunity to hire his own staff?

It pains me, but the only excitement I get from football are the prospects of change in the off-season.

Speaking of off-season - I can't wait for the Cowboys'. No really, I wish I could wait, but I sit on baited breath, waiting for news of the axe coming down on Wade's marshmallow-man noggin. First and foremost, Jerryworld needs to divorce himself as the GM and just focus on owning the damn team, because clearly his greasy Wingstop fingers have been mucking up the works for 16 long years. Really bro, trade away all your backup linemen - I love to watch long-toothed QB's get rag-dolled.




At least I have, my Los eSpurs. The team looks injected with quality youth, with Blair playing the bruiser to Splitter's finesse. I really can't wait to see Tiago take on Lama-face - it is going to be epic. Honestly, they have two pretty solid rotations and the size down low with Splitter/Blaire/McDyse/Duncan to push around anyone in the league. The frail and suspect crew from the 2009-2010 season that had Pop "experimenting" with rotations deep into January is now suddenly deep at almost every position. Oh yeah, it's also going to be 2011, when the astral alignment will be in place to win a championship because it's an "Odd-year."

Thank god, because 2010 can suck a green weenie.

Spurs: A Treatise on Beards

It's pretty obvious: David Stern has found ways to make beards a marketable commodity. This occurred to me when I was sitting there watching the Spurs lax on defense and blow another lead; I wondered if the quality of beards in the NBA was any indication of the level of potential for the team it represented. It also gave me an excuse to finally blame Gregg Popovich's crazed Civil-War era beard.

Despite my loathing of Phil Jackson, he keeps a manicured powerstache - the thing just commands respect. Its street name is Diablo's Tickler. Contrary to that is Pop's unkempt nest. Its style is elusive and its color patchy. If he had a harem of feral cats living in his yard, it would not be surprising.

These varying degrees of beard can show confidence or reveal the lack of it. Clearly Ginoboli wouldn't have come back too soon and hurt himself if he had still had that confidence that rehabbing his leg would actually be better for the team; it was a confidence sapped by Pop's lack of bearded-authority. I am pretty sure the beard also stole Tony Parker's ability to understand English, and thus, his inability understand plays. Tim Duncan doesn't even keep his conditioning up because he is high as a kite thinking about those pictures of Mehmet Okur that Fabricio Oberto gave him.

Ok so sure Ginobili's health was probably compounded by him playing in the Olympics, and Timmy's health wasn't helped by the fact that they have no depth at his position or at center. What the Spurs now have waning production due to injury of one of the league's top men - one of the best in history - as well as no viable third option now that Ginobili is out.

Still, Pop could have groomed the beard. I don't expect to win the playoffs with all the injuries, but at least I wanted the team to go with some class. Pop is making a mockery of the NBA's new business model, and I had hoped the league's best beard would be our undoing.

You can't blame the NBA for hooking up with the Just for Men's ad-department. Seriously, that stuff was golden in the NFL.

Chris Paul: Big Body/Small Head

As I was watching Chris Paul - or CP3 to his peeps (we need more athletes named after Star Wars droids) - pretty much outplay every Spur on Sunday Night, it dawned on me that something about him just didn't feel right.

It hit me when he was making one of his 3 free-throw after his full-body air-spasm was considered "in the act of shooting":

CP3 may have Downs and not even know it.

Let that sink in for a second. Ok, it is quite possible that he MAY just be some disproportioned freak, but it got me thinking just how crazy it would be if there was just some famous athlete out there who happens to be retarded, and their agents and family are just milking him for being an athletic savant; that he/she wasn't legally allowed to operate a moving vehicle.

Were you thinking Shaq too? Seriously. What a retard.