Feels good to be back

Olowoke is the most revered elder male in Game'. The day is the Feast of the Assumption as well as the fourth day of a traditional wedding ceremony the village was holding for Lori and I. We are both dressed up for the occasion. BOW! Blazers, baby!

Lori and I spent a week in her village, Game'. We had a wonderful and crazy time. Living is pretty hard. There is no electricity. No one knows about the NBA. Zero relevance. Olowoke had no idea why I was excited about his jersey, even when we explained the connection. But a cheap jersey is cheap jersey, and West Africa, like most under-developed and impoverished areas of the world, is inundated with Goodwill cast-offs, including NBA jerseys.

Upon returning from a great adventure with many a tale, I must admit I thought a lot about the NBA on the trip. The immediate futures for both of the teams I love, Boston and Portland, looks as bright as I could imagine. With deep respect to my friends in Minnesota and fellow Wolves lovers, I am so elated that the Celtics have KG that I have been spontaneously smiling and giggling several times a day for the past four weeks.

K Motherf*ckin G.

Talk about a need for a supporting cast all you want, but the Garnett-Pierce-Allen trilogy is some serious business if they where running with Ron McDonald and Bozo. The Celtics young core of Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, Leon Powe, and Tony Allen will be a strong compliment to the veteran triumvirate. Their energy and youth can be maximized as an asset because they will be playing with three consummate stars, as far as consistency, commitment and execution. Young players struggle when they get out of control and play outside the system. Garnett, Pierce and Allen will bring a stability to the system so the young guys thrive ala Richard Dumas, John Salley, Daniel Gibson or even Sam Cassell.

I think Boston has a serious shot at #17 in the next few years. Of course, King James' men, the Detroit 4, and da Luva-Bulls will offer some competition. The HEAT may even have some life let in em. The West remains superstacked, but luckily the C's will only have to beat one of those muthas.

By that time the C's window will close, Portland could be looking towards title contention. Nutso. Oden, Aldridge and Roy will have put in some years together, developing skills and chemistry. This coming year is going to be much fun. I am sure there will still be nights of misery, blown leads, and frustrating losses, but the amount of young talent is pretty extraordinary. Beyond the big names, Jarret Jack, Channing Frye, Travis Outlaw, Sergio Rodriguez and Martell Webster all have exciting potential to contribute to a winning team. Portland even has the rights to Rudy Fernandez, the Euro league standout from Spain.

The celebration on the Feast of the Assumption was unreal. There was singing, dancing, eating, drumming, drinking. . . so much joy and exuberance. Here's how I am gonna be dancin when the Celtic's and Blazers go back to back.



















In the big cities like Lome', Togo and Accra, Ghana, people new a bit about the NBA. Sprite even sponsors these outdoor courts in Lome'. Folks like Kobe and the King. As well they should, if they care about B-Ball. LeBron and Kobe have been superb thus far on as teammates for USA, which has been great to see. Luckily for the Celtics, Blazers and everybody damn else, neither is blessed with such a running mate in the pay league.


So, let Kobe and and the King get their propers. Fans worldwide will know there fame. Meanwhile, here in the NBA, this summer has most been the best in memory. Our host Jean Pierre knows what's up.

I know this is supposed to be a hoops sight but it is almost September.

How good is Albert Pujols? Going into Sunday he needed just 17 RBI to achieve the mind boggling average of at least .300 ba, 30 hr, 100 rbi for each of his seven major league seasons. WTF

Mike, cleverly disguised?

Maybe this is a story from our guy's wedding? Balling indeed.

If you were already having trouble understanding what the hell is wrong with us Boston sports fans, check this out.

Diligently sweating out the baseball season, salivating over the up-coming nfl season, all while day dreaming of hoops...

I recently sent a text to the point guard on the basketball team I coach. Moses is an 8th grader and a committed Kobe supporter, thus Laker fan.

Dave: The Celtics are better than the Lakers again

Moses: Not really

Shit. Moses might be right. Kobe or KG? For so many reasons, I vote KG. If I am honest...they are at best equal. But really? (ouch) Kobe is better. (ouch) Paul Pierce vs. Lamar Odom? Well, PP is better. By how much? Odom is 6' 10", a little injury prone but a true big man. Big men matter in the NBA. Ray Allen is by better than Luke Walton, Andrew Bynum, Kwame Brown or Derek Fisher... aka 3rd best player. The Lakers have a veteran roster that made the Western Conference Playoffs last year. Boston has three great players and a bunch of scrubblies. Also don't discount Doc verses the Zen-toupee. In the East, Boston has a better chance of making the Finals, thus winning the Larry O'Brien trophy. Which does not necessarily make the C's better than the Lake show. That pisses me off.

I recently discovered that Netflix has classic NCAA championship games. I watched '82 Finals. What a fun game. A FEW NOTES:

• No three point line made for a lot more passing because why on earth would you chuck it up from that distance.
• Very little fouling is not the same as no defense. That said, Carolina seemed to be just standing around watch Georgetown pass the ball at times. The crazy part is the Hoyas were just as content to pass it around for a while instead of attacking the basket off the dribble.
  
• Billy Packer is his same sucky-ass self.
  
• The fans of New Orleans are treated to a Jumbotron for the first time (according to the play-by-play guy) and are reacting to the replays. The beginning of the end for referees everywhere.
  
• Sleepy Floyd is one of the more underrated players of his era for shear explosiveness. He has a great game right down to a huge bucket that was of course trumped by Jordan.
• Sam Perkins misses a 13 footer and the play-by-play guy comments on how that was a deep shot for the Tar Heal pivot man. Sam would go on to take over 2,300 3-point shots in his NBA career.
• With apologies to James Worthy, his numerous dunks and his 27 points, the freshman from Cambridge Rindge and Latin was the best player on the court that night. Ewing not only anchored John Thomson's full court press with his shot blocking and rebounding, but he scored at will over the smaller Carolina front court. Ewing's baseline fade (that would stretch almost to the three point line is his NBA prime) was dropping in from 5-6 feet. Unstoppable and easy to see how he became such a great scorer.
• MJ is so aggressive on the offensive boards and repeatedly uses his left hand on put-backs and drives.
• The play-by-play reports that Perkins spent the summer working constuction in order to become tougher and stronger. Hmmm. Hmmm? Wonder if Rasheed did that between his Freshman and Sophomore year at UNC?

Enjoy the rest of yo summ-ah time kiddos!

Serious stuff

Okay, so a little Moonball bizness.

First, here's the draft order as determined in Mike's backyard:

1. Knick33
2. The JLE
3. Cous-Cous KY
4. Me-Wolves (Me-C's?)
5. Ironwood Flash
6. Defending Champs (aka Red Black n Blue aka Hello! Shooters)
7. Rec Leaguers
8. Rabbis
9. Monkeyshoes
10 the WB
11. HP All Stars
12. Rathouse

Second, are people up for a conversation about any changes for the coming year? I have heard a couple of ideas that I think are interesting. One is a switch to a head to head league - you set your lineup once a week and you "play" one other team - whoever gets more points for the week wins that week's game. We could do that with or without playoffs (played the last few weeks of the season). Also up for discussion is whether we should switch to a different service provider. I will admit to not being a huge fan of yahoo, but I'm not sure what's better. The two questions are somewhat related, as we have to make sure whatever site we use will fit the Moonball Way. One site that has a little grungy, TQStats-style feel but with some of the 'self-help' things that are good about yahoo is yourfantastyteamsucks.com. If you want to check it out go here:

http://www.yourfantasyteamsucks.com/leagues/basketball/moonball/index.php

The password for the test team is moonball.

So, if you have feelings on either issue, post in the comments. If we don't get many comments, I'll start an email thread.

Hope everyone is good. Great pics, Monkeyshoes.

EDIT - we also need to confirm where we're doing the draft. A subset of us talked about this possible rotation for the draft:

2007: Chicago or Madison
2008: the Nati
2009: Pacific NW
2010: East Coast

we don't have to decide 'em all now, but i figured we should at least get this year's confirmed.

whole wide world

Wow, what a time. Thank you all for coming and helping so much. I know Mike had the time of his life. I enjoyed having you all out of cyberspace and into reality. While the Newton boys may have gone 0-2, our sporting wounds where quickly healed. The Big Ticket is bringing the sexy back to The Hub. Reminiscent of Moonballers (and such; who could forget the stellar play of Whitfield?) on Mt. Tabor, bringing the sexy back to pick-up hoops.

KG n Papi

Notice middle finger in Ortiz back pocket; he has it all the time. I remain stunned. KG was in the luxury box going wild when the Sox came back and won this game against the Orioles. Is this really happening? Boston teams really just traded for Randy Moss, Eric Gagne and Garnett? I know the C's aren't title contenders yet. The Green does matter again. Sorry guys...sort of...welcome back Leprechaun.

Upper Midwest Disaster

WOW - I hope everybody is OK in Minny. Drop us a line so we can stop worrying.

I bet I rode across that bridge in the same car with each of you who reads this blog.

Assuming all is well...in the theater surrounding the League, a new character could be introduced and add a whole new dimension to our understanding of the Game. I love it.

Lastly I vote MIKE & LORI for Best Wedding.