31 03 2009

Deconstructing Carlos Zambrano

Okay, so I’ve searching throughout the Internet for a way to embed PDFs into Word Press blogs. Make that, EASY ways to embed PDFs into Word Press blogs. Lo and behold, there is a relatively easy way, although my next step is to find a way to make that image appear initially on my blog. 

What you have to do is click on the above link, then click again on an image which will subsequently appear. Then you’ll be brought to the actual PDF, which is my first post in what will be a weekly column for RotoExperts.com and SportsIllustrated.com this season. It’s called Deconstructing…, and I pick one player each week to deconstruct. It basically will consistent of analyzing the underlying statistics of unpredictable players. Through the statistical analysis, the reader should become more comfortable with assessing how genuine a player’s past stats have been. Predicting stats is not something I claim to have the ability to do, but understanding past stats help set a more realistic vision for future performance.

Anyway, just click a couple times and read the damn article.


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Christmas time

31 03 2009

Being that I’m Jewish, I’m not supposed to feel the Christmas spirit. I’m not even supposed to celebrate the holiday, which hasn’t prevented me from doing so every year of my life. But as a sports fan, it seems like the real gift-giving season is right about now. You have Tiger Woods winning golf tournaments again, NCAA basketball finally wrapping up in its only interesting time of the season, Major League Baseball finally transitioning from the Hot Stove to real games that actually matter, and, finally, the NBA playoffs. I love the playoffs, even if they take three years to complete.

What’s also outstanding about this time of year is that everyone is slowly beginning to get their sporting goods ready to bust out. I cleaned my golf clubs the other day, finally bought a new baseball glove (long overdue), and am even considering pumping up my basketball. There’s big things happening over here. 

Anyway, I don’t have any sort of message for the greater good. I just wanted to type something considering it had been nearly 10 days.


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Categories : Miscellaneous

The NCAA Tourney NBA-style

21 03 2009

I love the NBA, but don’t find the same enthusiasm to root for NCAA basketball. I realize that I’m likely in the minority, but this time of year doesn’t excite me the same way as it does others. March Madness does not exist in the Stack household!

One aspect of college ball that does excite me is checking which pro players each program produces (say the latter part of that sentence three times as fast as you can). Have you ever wondered which college has the best collection of active NBA players? Ever thought about who might win a tournament featuring NBA players representing their alma maters? Well, here are eight squads which have the most enticing 7-9 man rotations of NBAers.

UCONN

C – Emeka Okafor 

F – Josh Boone, Charlie Villanueva, Rudy Gay, Caron Butler 

G – Ben Gordon, Rip Hamilton, Ray Allen

Why I like them: They have four legitimate NBA stars and Okafor and Gordon are very solid professionals. This team has tons of scoring power.

Why I don’t like them: Their backcourt defense, although Okafor and Butler are pretty good. Boone can bang down low.

Duke

C – Elton Brand

F – Carlos Boozer, Shane Battier, Grant Hill, Luol Deng

G – Corey Maggette, Mike Dunleavy, J.J. Redick, Chris Duhon

Why I like them: I feel like this would be one of the smartest, most disciplined teams. 

Why I don’t like them: Lack of size and lack of an alpha dog. Who takes over? I suspect Maggette has the attitude to do so, but do you want him as the Big Dog?

North Carolina

C – Brendan Haywood, Rasheed Wallace

F – Antawn Jamison, Marvin Williams, Brandan Wright

G – Rashad McCants, Jerry Stackhouse, Vince Carter, Raymond Felton

Why I like them: Lots of size and enough athleticism. 

Why I don’t like them: No particular reason, actually. Even with Vince and Wright, there might be quicker, faster teams. But this team is pretty versatile.

UCLA

C – Dan Gadzuric

F – Kevin Love, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Matt Barnes, Trevor Ariza

G – Russell Westbrook, Jordan Farmar, Baron Davis, Jason Kapono

Why I like them: They’re fast as hell. This team would run all over the place. And there’s enough Ben Howland guys that they could buckle down defensively.

Why I don’t like them: I had to pick Gadzuric over Arron Afflalo to have size. Love is an awesome rebounder, but this team might get pushed around down low.

Arizona

C – Channing Frye

F – Richard Jefferson, Luke Walton, Andre Iguodala

G – Mike Bibby, Jason Terry, Jerryd Bayless, Gilbert Arenas

Why I like them: This team would run and score the whole time. You gotta love Terry, Iguodala, Jefferson, Bibby and Bayless running teams down. 

Why I don’t like them: Arenas used to be a superstar, but who knows how good he is now? If he’s healthy, this team would kick ass offensively. Just no defense, though.

Texas

C – Chris Mihm

F – Kevin Durant, Maurice Evans, LaMarcus Alridge

G – T.J. Ford, D.J. Augustin, Daniel Gibson, Royal Ivey

Why I like them: Durant and Alridge would be a really fun tandem to watch. Durant might be the best player in this fake tournament.

Why I don’t like them: No backcourt size, so they would get posted up by bigger backcourts like UCONN or North Carolina.

Florida

C – Al Horford

F – David Lee, Udonis Haslem, Joakim Noah, Marreese Speights, Matt Bonner

G – Mike Miller, Corey Brewer, Anthony Roberson 

Why I like them: This team has tons of size, so they’d rebound really well. 

Why I don’t like them: They wouldn’t be able to score if the other team was drinking from a keg near their bench. Miller and Bonner can shoot, but Roberson would have to be their main ballhandler.

Kansas

C – Nick Collison, 

F – Paul Pierce, Drew Gooden, Julian Wright, Darrell Arthur, Darnell Jackson

G – Kirk Hinrich, Jacques Vaughn

Why I like them: Nice mix of veterans and youth, and Pierce is a Big Dog.

Why I don’t like them: They’re probably the least talented team, especially in the backcourt. 

Overall, I think the best four teams are UCONN, UNC, UCLA and Arizona. UCONN and UNC probably would be the best two from that group, and UCONN should be the best team. When you can run a starting five of Okafor, Gay, Butler, Allen and Rip with Gordon and Villanueva coming off the bench, you’re dangerous. 

Three teams I thought about but didn’t include were LSU, Memphis and Kentucky. 

LSU is interesting with Shaq, Stro Swift, Anthony Randolph and Ty Thomas. No team could match that frontline, but LSU doesn’t have a guard in the NBA — unless you want Big Baby Davis at the point guard spot.

Memphis could be very good, with Derrick Rose throwing oops to Rodney Carney and Chris Douglas-Roberts. Aside from Rose, though, there’s not enough high-level talent.

Kentucky just sucks. Rajon Rondo and Tay Prince are good, but the rest are a collection of marginal big men and/or shooting guards.


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Categories : Miscellaneous

I remember when…

16 03 2009

I’m close to turning 26, which means I’m officially an adult and removed from any type of early 20s demographic which I might have stayed in at 25. Twenty-six. That means I’ve been following sports for 20 years, ever since an earthquake (which I felt in L.A.) rattled the Bay Area during the ’89 World Series. 

That brings me to another point. I’m old enough that I can say I’m old enough to remember when so-and-so event happened. I could talk about Jack Morris’mustache and some 18-year-old punk would look at me dumbfounded. And the scariest thing is, I’m old enough to actually screw up details of what I think I remember. In honor of failed memory, I’m going to run through a list of sports occurrences I remember from when I was a young buck. Just for some fun, I’m not going to name the years of these events. I know them (I think), but you can play along to see if you can identify the year.

I remember when…

Sid Bream beat Barry Bonds’late throw to home plate and vaulted the Braves into the Series. Yes, I’m old enough to remember when Bonds played for a team before the Giants.

Sedale Threat was the man to score the bucket which gave Magic Johnson the all-time assist record.

Chicago was THE sports city. Air Jordan. Big Hurt. Chelios and Roenick.

I actually watched NHL games, start to finish, and wasn’t ashamed to admit it.

The first NBA Jam came out, on arcades no less — with Shaq!

I nearly cried after buying Jam for Sega Genesis and realized Shaq wasn’t in it.

L.T. re-arranged Joe Montana’s left shoulder. That was my introduction to the NFL after spurning the hometown Rams and Raiders to root for the 49ers.

I bought my Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen “Joint Chiefs of Stuff” Barcelona Olympics poster in Oregon.

Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason and Xavier MacDaniel tortured puppies and likely ate small children as the intimidators for those very badass Knicks teams.

Reggie Miller straight-up owned Madison Square Garden two years in a row. First, dropping bombs and sprinkling in some trash talk with Mars Blackmon, then pushing Greg Anthony in the back to drop two three’s in about two seconds.

Chris Warren was a top-five running back for the Seattle Seahawks.

William Floyd tore his ACL in his rookie season with the 49ers. 

An even more gruesome injury occurred: Napolean McCalum’s leg on Monday Night Football. Seriously, do not click on the link if you get nauseous from human bones twisting in ways they’re not supposed to twist.

Michael Jordan made the most overrated play in sports history with that stupid right hand-to-left hand maneuver in mid-air.

Joe Carter made Mitch Williams into a bigger goat than Scott Norwood. Speaking of…

The Bills came back from that 35-3 defecit. And how sick were those Oilers teams with Moon and Webster Slaughter and Haywood Jeffries?

I sat way the hell up in the Forum rafters during a ’90 playoff game against the Suns and set the first-half NBA playoff record for most sweatshirt-on, sweatshirt-off transitions.

I saw my first drunk fight: Dodger Stadium, right field pavilion (halfway up), ’91 vs. the Reds. And my introduction to the miracles of beer.

Fred McGriff was the “Crime Dog.”

The Undertaker and Bret Hart were two of my favorite characters in WWF Royal Rumble for Genesis.

I tried to replicate IRS’signature clothesline move on a buddy in fourth grade during our faux-WWF fights on the playground. He ducked and I ran into a jungle gym. True story.

I would play as the Magic in NBA Live ’95. Dennis Scott and Nick Anderson would get hot from downtown, and I couldn’t lose.

My buddy Scott would cheat like hell in the old Madden games by setting up Neil Smith five yards off my left tackle and sacking me every time.

Chris Webber called that timeout. Why Chris?!

The utterly preppy Christian Laettner made that turnaround jumper from the free throw line against Kentucky. A life full of Duke hatred commenced.

Gino Toretta won the Heisman Trophy. I will repeat that to confirm the insignificance of the award. GINO TORETTA WON THE HEISMAN TROPHY.

Keyshawn Johnson was killing it at Southern Cal.

Glenn Robinson signed a ludicrous $68 million rookie deal. The shock of any athlete signing that deal then would be like someone hitting the $300 million mark now. (Yes, I know A-Rod sort of hit that, but we’ll pretend he’s not actually alive.). 

The O’Bannon brothers, Tyus Edney, Toby Bailey and George Zidek brought home title number 11 for UCLA hoops.

Best of all, I remember when we used to follow sports before the Internet. I dare you to remember that far back in time.


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Categories : Miscellaneous

I don’t want a bromance with Kobe

15 03 2009

As a Los Angeles native and a lifelong Lakers fan, it’s only in my best interest to worship at the altar of Kobe “Why did my parents choose Bean as my middle name?” Bryant. He’s been my boy since Draft Day ’96, a day where I sat in my uncle’s house in Seattle and nearly hyperventilated at the news that Lakers general manager Jerry West traded starting center Vlade Divac to the then-Charlotte Hornets for the rights to Kobe. It was a future bromance  – or man-crush, if you prefer — in the works.

Between then and now, I’ve watched Kobe’s greatest Lakers moments, worn his jerseys, and valiantly taken every kind of rape joke on the chin. I’ve defended his shot attempts per game, explained why he’s displayed more unselfishness throughout his career than he’s been given credit for, and purchased NBA League Pass primarily so that I could watch Kobe in his prime.

Many NBA haters think Kobe is still in 2005-06 mode, when he looked at his starting lineup on a nightly basis, saw Kwame Brown and Smush Parker adjusting their headbands before tipoff, and said to himself, “I might have to score 32 just for us to have a chance.”  He scored 35 on 27 shots per night, justifying the notion that Kobe cared as much about his shot output as the final score.

So now I get teased by various NBA and Lakers haters about Kobe, and his shooting and rape trial and bloodfest with Shaq, for which he has been inaccurately labeled as the lynchpin for driving Shaq from L.A. (it was actually Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who refused to re-up a fat man for three years at $90 million on top of a similar deal which was already signed.). 

This whole teasing situation came to a head recently, when a kind-of friend (more like a person I know rather than a friend) asked me how I could worship a player who was so arrogant and who had been accused of rape (I tried to emphasize to him the accused part, much to no avail.). And I had a very simple answer for him: I try not to judge people on a personal level when I don’t know them.

I don’t know Kobe. Never met him, never talked to him, and I don’t see that changing in the immediate future. What I do know about him is that he is an amazing basketball player, which is where I try to draw the line when evaluating athletes. And what I love about Kobe is the rare confluence of physical and mental abilities he holds. 

Not only is Kobe one of the most physically-gifted basketball players of all-time, but he possesses the inner focus, hyper-competitiveness, and unbreakable will to win that are usually found in much less-physically talented athletes. It’s only when an athlete can merge his outstanding athleticism and physical skill for a sport with a desire to squeeze every last bit of talent he has that we, as sports fans, are presented with a once-in-a-generation athlete. Jordan had it. Jerry Rice had it. Tiger has it. Kobe has it. 

Rather than focus on all his personality characteristics that many people seem to loathe, instead I look at his love for basketball. Only a player with a true appreciation for the game will do whatever he can to make himself the best possible player. Too often we see athletes — not just in basketball — who never realize their potential due to laziness, indifference, or injury. In Kobe’s case, we have seen how close an athlete can come to mastering his sport by matching his physical talent with an unrelenting work ethic. And for that, I show appreciation to him. The bromance, though, will have to wait. I really like that Brad Pitt guy.


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Categories : Uncategorized


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