Wiz-Board Rules, Links, Traditions and HOF Posts Thread

[doclinkin]

Proving doubters wrong since 1971:

LeBron's a phenomenal talent, a student of the game, even plays defense, and while sure I like my grapes sour as the next guy, in this case the guy frankly turns my stomach.

There's a reason we never had a long thread dedicated to hate on DWade despite the fact that he kills this squad every time he's healthy. DWade just has a quiet sort of class, has worked to earn his talent.

LeBron's act though is tiresome. The whining to referees, checking his tampax for blood whenever someone intrudes on his aura. Loves the smell of himself, and has been stroked by the gods since he was in infancy. Rooting for LeBron is like getting a tattoo of the MicroSoft logo, and bragging about how much money Bill Gates' got. Yeah, and? So? Only an idiot would suggest LeBron ain't good. But only an asswipe or a Clevelander would root for him.

Ladies and gentleman, the great doclinkin. Just fantastic stuff right there, doc.

HOF post?

(I don't make these decisions and Doc isn't pompous enough to put it there himself.....though he's close)

Smell the pomp...

But seriously though. Just making a point. Anyone can feel free to drop their nominees up in here. If you want to show the casual viewer what kind of smart caustic witty or cogent clear-headed insightful responses you like best on here, feel free to drag and drop them in here yourself. I get busy, might miss a couple.

Like, I forget where TheSecretKevin's conversation with Mike Ruffin is, but it seems like the sortof thing we wouldn't want to lose track of.

[doclinkin]

The Ginobili thing is a false choice. How few minutes should he be playing? He got only 26.8 minutes per game this season.

Sorry, I didn't realize his minutes were already so low. Point conceded.

LR conceded a point. HoF post!

^ I knew I'd get a HOF post one way or another!

Linker.

[doclinkin]

FROM THE CAVS board, a Cavs fan admits they're sick of LeBron's act...

Okay, I appreciate that you don't bother to deny it. Appreciate that you know your guy gets away with it, and that you hated it when MJ had a separate set of rules. And if LeBron ever did roll on to the Brooklyn Nets I fully expect you'd feel the same sort of sick, or okay far worse. But at least you have the sense of character to be honest about it. Here's my argument:

Eh, the point of the article is not so much that LeBron gets star treatment, it's that the treatment he gets is practically unprecedented.

An again the least of what's galling is that he is treated well by the refs, and more that he expects he deserves it, is entitled to it. Whines when he doesn't get it, throws tantrums like he thinks it's cute that a full grown baby man acts like a pampered infant. And if he makes a mistake, he immediately looks for a ref to bail him out.

I mean granted in a play like this one he was basically like totally decapitated by Trevor Ariza, basically:

Note the gouting blood.

I mean come on. He's built like a God Of Victory. Is lauded like a hero of days of yore. A Legend. But to allatime pretend you were fouled or check your lip for blood whenever someone brushes your shadow with their unclean foot. (Or their eyebrow in the case of Trevor Ariza) . Come on now, is that heroic?

In wrestling, say, where the heroes and villains are scripted, the good guy doesn't wait 'til the ref has his back turned then throw chalk in the opponents eye, smack him with a chair, and when the ref turns back roll around on the ground complaining it was the other way around. That's a villain. A heel.

Part of what we look for in sports is that metaphor for honor, hard work, personal achievement. You know, sportsmanship. What does LeBron embody? He can't help but be a role model for people who admire him, and he wants to be a Global Icon. (Mother*@#* a Barkley with his 'I'm no role model' jazz-- LeCon-artist wants the status). But an 'icon' stands for something, some greater concept. So whats he stand for? So what does this this teach your kids? If it don't go your way look for someone to bail you out? It's a different set of rules for them who God almighty, the refs, and David Stern has blessed. Manifest destiny.

Nope. Point of sports, and rules in sports, and referees in general, is that we all get the same set. It's a true meritocracy. You win by virtue of, well, Virtue. Don't matter your color. No different rules for you nor anybody else. Again, if LeBron wants to play the heel, fine I don't fault him, that's how he wants to brand himself: LeFraud, LeTravel. But I don't expect the refs to play into it when you know it just happens to be one of his tactics.

And okay yeah I just don't expect the spoiled brat routine from the best of the best, most talented player in the league. I guess I like heroes to act you know heroic and not like a spoiled Brat who has been handed everything his life ever gave him. If I get my ass kicked, better not be by a skirt wearing pantywaist dressed in a man's body. Looking for Mommy or the refs to intercede whenever he's not allowed to win. It's frankly a little nauseating to seen a grown-ass man whine to the referees so much. Makes you wish for the old school league with beer drinking in the locker room where you had enforcers on the squad who would knock a guy out. Think about your grandfathers generation (or their fathers before them) coming out of World War Two. They would have shaken their collective head in disgust at the antics.

Seriously though. You think Bill Russell was rolling around on the floor checking for loose teeth whenever someone bumped his elbow? Grown ass man. Most talented in the league. Stop acting like a spoiled child, and refs-- don't buy the act. Sit him in a corner for a few minutes until he can behave like the rest of the kids. Because, quite frankly, that's your damn job.

Mods -- feel free to edit out the 'Le-[fill-in-the-blank] ' references. This was from the general board thread on the topic. Also apologies if you'd prefer I keep it on the Wiz board. We have a long-standing tradition of allowing a bit of give-and-take over there, Manny will let you know, we appreciate a fan who can make a strong (witty, well-reasoned) argument for themselves. But I've noticed some boards aren't quite as free-flowing. (Shoot we used to have a 'Trolls' thread [pats self on back] just because smack talk is one of the true joys of sports. Elsewise, why would we all be on here].

Personally I love the Cavs rivalry, even though it hasn't been in my squad's favor. Oh well, can't win 'em all (or apparently more than 18 of 'em this year....).

Thanks Cleveland, Later, have to go back to praying at the shrine of the Basketball Gawds to land us Blake Griffin. See y'all tonight. Oh and thanks in advance for the ass-kicking I expect tonight. We'll probably get waffle-stomped.

-doc.

good post doc...you, donkey, and ccj are like the anti po'ed, freeballing, yungal, brenice and g0a

heres my take...lebron doesnt committ alot of fouls because he doesnt put himself in position to get fouls (in fact he is actually committing more fouls per minute this season than he did in his second season). he is rarely near the paint if someone gets beat off the dribble to pick up a cheap foul. he essentially plays free safety and tries to jump the passing lanes as much as possible or get the chase down block - fouls rarely are committed in either of those two scenarios (and yes the jrich one was a foul but the dude tried a 360 dunk with his team like 3 games out of the playoffs - i think the refs let that one slide due to the fact that jrich is a moron ). his athleticism is so great where he can jump higher than anyone on the court, so he doesnt pick up over the back calls. his fouls come primarily from offensive charges.

about the acting...i really hate it. lebron either has the worst threshold for pain in the history of civilization or he needs to hire a better acting coach (the ******* ref laid him out for a good 5-10 minutes in a recent game ). i think the acting has gotten worse and worse since a ref told mike brown that fouls werent being called on the opposition against lebron because lebron "wasnt being re-routed" - even tho i think only a few players in the league logistically re-route lebron. since then (and i would say this was about two months ago or so) any slap on the wrist or hipcheck gets met with lebron scaring the hell out of everyone in the arena while he lays there for a good five minutes - it just gets annoying. now granted he does get hammered on alot of plays, but you can never tell because even the slightest bump is sending him to floor (and he is usually yelling "HEY" or "AND 1" )

we really need a win here...not just because of the wizards owning us this season (that part of it) but also we need a 5-0 finish for hca advantage and we cant afford to be dropping anymore games in the standings to the lakers - that two game stretch from hell was a killer

Link.

[doclinkin]

terrible terrible win. Why does every thread i start result in the opposite of what we want

[miller31time]

Donk McDonk with the honors....

Ji's thread - Biggest Disaster Day in Bullets history

First response in.....

Thu Oct 30, 2003 1:33 pm

Ji's profile

[doclinkin]

Classic literary Irony, (if unintended):

there is no way flip is going to trade away his KG clone in Blatche.

To imply that Blatche is even close to KG is beyond absurd.

And he has probably never had a shooting guard with the offensive basketball IQ and combo physical attributes of Young.

Basketball IQ of Young... Is that a joke?

Jamison low percentage chucker. Shoot a low field goal percentage for a poweforward. I think Flips experience with championship teams will allow him to immediately identify who the players are on this team that shoot high volume of shots at low field goal percentage against ranked teams. Once that stat is maginfied, combined this with who doesn't play defense..and poof...EG will will build the team tailored to Flip. There is no way flip can go from having two defensive powerforwards with rasheed and kevin Garnett...to a shot jacking perimeter powerforward that plays no defense and gets most of his offensive points and defensive rebounds off other people's ability to break down a defense not post up moves.

Sheed's obviously a much better defender than Jamison, so you don't need to make up bullshyt to make a point. Sheed relies on long jumpers every bit as much as Jamison does. They had the exact same number of 3 attempts last season. Sheed hasn't made over 44% of his FGs in any of the last 6 seasons, while Jamison has 4 times.

Rasheed's post game during clutch when flip was around...so take your bullshyt somewhere else secondly...blatche has range on his jumper and 100 blocks. Only a handful of players have this ability...comprende...and yeah Nick Youngs can take over a game offensively...can't do that with a low basketball IQ...comprende. All Nick young needs a coach who has more to say than.."take two dribble and shoot or pass". You are dealing with a heavy weight...your best suited for tackling light weight arguments related the wiz..

Appropriately arch response:

Rasheed's post game during clutch when flip was around...

That's not a sentence. It's not even a thought. The fact is you were wrong, and - rather than admitting it - you just blathered some incoherent garbage.

blatche has range on his jumper and 100 blocks. Only a handful of players have this ability...comprende

And he's nowhere near the player that KG is and has shown no reason to believe he ever will.

and yeah Nick Youngs can take over a game offensively...can't do that with a low basketball IQ...comprende. All Nick young needs a coach who has more to say than.."take two dribble and shoot or pass". You are dealing with a heavy weight...your best suited for tackling light weight arguments related the wiz..

Fine, we can all agree that Nick Young's offensive basketball IQ ranks right up there with yours.

[miller31time]

As per request, Ji's "Twas the Night Before the Lottery"

Twas the night before the lottery
Real GM’ers clicked their mouse
Looking at a crappy draft board
Hoping for the next eddie House

The players were analyzed by DaT2u with Care
In Hopes that Blake Griffin soon would be there
But the wizards fans were nestled uncomfortably in their beds
While visions of Jordan Hill:( danced in their heads

And Abe in his kerchief and Ernie studying the cap
Had just settled down to try to untangle the crap
When out in Secaucus there arose such a clatter
I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter

Away to the TV I flew like a Flash
To see The knicks jump into the top 3
more David stern rigged trash
In hopes of getting the drafts only Diamond
Now its CCJ hoping we trade for Morris Almond

We move from 2 back to 5 and we groan and frown
We only win lotterys when the top pick is Kwame Fooking Brown
If you’re a wiz fan, this is how the wind blows and the trees sway
Instead of getting Wade in 2003 draft, we end up with Jarvis Hayes

So welcome James Harden or Stephan Curry
Maybe it will help get rid of Deshawn in a hurry
Etan Thomas, what do you think of this prose
Better yet, I cant wait till your contact expires you son of a $#@

Linkage

[ZonkertheBrainless]

What happened to the Etan Thomas Memorial poetry slam thread?

[miller31time]

By popular demand....

HAHA! daSwami with a zinger. cue the highhat. i'd love to sit in on the convo between EG and Memphis where he brings up the "future considerations".

yeah, it'd prolly go something like this:

brring brring (that's the phone ringing)

Memphis GM: hello?

Ernie: Hey Chris, it's me, Grunny!

Memphis GM: Yo, Easy- E! What's the haps? Got any more disgruntled Spaniards to give away?

Ernie: Um, no, actually I was calling about something else ...

Memphis GM: I'm all ears.

EG: I read something interesting today on a VERY credible website. Anyhoo, the reporter, a guy named Ji--heard of him?

Memphis GM: Of course I know Ji! The guy with the curse, right? Love that guy!

Ernie: Good for you. (Then, under his breath) Homo.

Memphis GM: Hey I heard that!

Ernie: Anyway, the article said that you might be looking to part with the #2.

Memphis GM: (giggles)

Ernie: what? what's so funny?

Memphis GM: You said "number two." That means poop.

Ernie: Yeah, as in the second overall pick in the draft. We want it.

Memphis GM: ok, what are you offering?

Ernie: Well - here's the thing - we'll give you Etan Thomas, AND ... here's the part I need your help with...

Memphis GM: uh-huh, listening ...

EG: remember those "future considerations" you owe us?

Memphis GM: uh, yeah, and....?

EG: I'm sure those have been weighing heavily on you. Now would be the perfect time to cash those in don't you think?...

Memphis GM: You're right. How about I give those considerations to you right now,ok?

EG: Sure!

Memphis GM: are you ready?

EG: Yup. Fire when ready.

Memphis GM: Ok, I consider your mother a whore. *hangs up laughing, high fives with office mates*

Lizzink

[fishercob]

Re: LeTravel and the Crabeliers Thread - The Crab Walk Baby
by pancakes3 on Sun May 31, 2009 10:35 pm

Drew Pinsky of Loveline fame wrote a book called "The Mirror Effect" about narcissism and how it affects celebrities. One of the points he makes is that child stars especially are affected moreso by fame than other stars because the younger someone is, the easier it is for the brain chemistry to set in and establish dissociation from normal social cues.

Lebron lately has demonstrated some serious narcissistic traits especially in his definitions. A travel isn't a travel, but a crab dribble. Not graciously accepting defeat isn't being a poor sport but being too good at being a winner. Wearing NYY hats, doing interviews shirtless, etc. are all transparently calculated events to project this convoluted image of superstar that Lebron imagines himself as - someone who can do no wrong. The lack of humility, the dissonance between what he thinks and what he does, and the overt melodrama is nauseating to see.

It's so ironic how MJ was endearing and yet Lebron is repulsive to me.

[Ruzious]

Not basketall related (Stephen King is the subject.), but wow, just wow.. and he (Doc; not King) writes gems like this all the time. Sampling doc:

Late night and the highway is hissing, road spray from a passing truck overloads the wiper blades you know you should have changed a dozen storms ago; and your tired is tired. When you roll off at the next blue sign with the proper icons, and turn the corner: that Stuckey's logo, that '...billions sold', that Dunkin' logo-- like a natural born relief, you'll make a choice. Anywhere in America you know where you are.

And if the lady behind the counter is a little odd, a little too old, wandering eye makes it look like she's talking to a guy who isn't behind you. If there's a booth with two long-haul truckers, rigs idling out back, one turns his head when you come in. If you have a bleary moment when the menu makes no real sense, or if --coffee in hand-- the rain on the window beads up like gel, like jellyfish on the sand, no really what the f*ck-- like Dippity Doo hair gel that your sister used to use in junior high.

Well that sense of the familiar becomes threatening. It could be you, here, on this page.

It's a shortcut. Stephen King is saying: the setting is today, the time is now, and I'll write another book next month if you need me to keep it current. Little is so dated as last month's 'now', read a People magazine from six months ago and you might feel a sort of sick feeling at how quickly popular culture expires, goes 'funny', quicker than skim milk in southern heat.

But I don't know that that quality makes it bad, a Stephen King book or the like. It just hasn't 'antiqued' enough to turn quaint. Or comfortingly nostalgic. But when you're seventy, eighty, and the kids these days don't remember what was a Tower Records, a cassette mixtape, a VCR, pumping 'gas' into your car, well I'm pretty sure these brightly colored logos will still be vivid in your head, be like finding a working cigarette vending machine with pull knobs at an abandoned gas station, somewhere between Nevada and Mexico and you took a wrong turn.

Pretty sure I recall even Gatsby had a moment or two of what was then current, now sepia tone. And if at the nursing home on movie night someone plays The Breakfast Club, pretty sure more than a few aged snobs will feel a cresting swell of nostalgia, leaves you seasick with longing or deja vu.

Stephen King just hasn't yet passed, become a touchstone figure of a time and place. Not every work of every author survives as a classic. But there are a few stories of Stephen King that will become or stay important. To me anyway. Most have become movies actually. Kubrick's The Shining, say.

One that will always stand out for me, that I could go back and read at any time sorta illustrates the above point precisely: the novella The Body from the collection Different Seasons, chock full of his childhood logos and fizzy sodas and jingles long gone, became the move 'Stand By Me' with dead River Pheonix. Pretty sure I won't forget that one for quite some long time, and if they play that at movie night, I'll surely wheel my chair to the front row.

[BigA]

Rescuing this one from the archives

Thread: Buckhantz, his ex girlfriend, DAGGER, and a life lesson
Poster: imperium1999
Posted: December 20, 2007, 6:02 PM

So last night i'm at this new place in georgetown called hook. well not that new but newish.

i'm sitting at the bar with my friend having some much deserved after work drinks and this 40ish blond walks in and is waiting by herself. so i strike up a conversation with her and find out she lives in Aspen blah blah blah and then we get to the dating thing (see because i'm married of course).

turns out she says she was buckhantz's girl friend here for years.

now she was pretty hot for a 40 year old (hahahah 40 aint old when you can see it coming right around the corner) and i was kinda surprised at the buckhantzer's pull with the hot blond.

i had had two martinis at this point so i asked her if he ever shouted DAGGER in the bedroom with her.

she looked at me kinda strangely and said she had no idea what DAGGER meant.

so i laughed and laughed and then geeked out on her by explaining that i was going to come online and share this odd story with my internet friends that i originally met in a britney spears chat room (right jason?).

thats where i lost her i think.

so the point of this story is:

1) buck had a hot girlfriend (who said that he's not as fat in real life as he looks on TV)
2) buck never shouts DAGGER in the bedroom or in any other personal situations apparently
3) don't talk about your internet friends when flirting with a hot blond

EDIT:
Here's the entire thread:

Some direct links to the thread via the Wayback Machine:
page 1
page 2
page 3
page 4
Warning, the links are painfully slow.

[fishercob]

The great doclinkin eulogizes Abe Pollin

I loved old uncle Abe. Something about the guy was endearing even when he was awkward. I'll hear nothing bad about him today. Those who lack perspective may point out a man's shortcomings in a retrospective on his life, but if you look closer you'll wish you lived more in Abe's world than the one you live in now.

Thirty years with no ring. Yes. But every year he had irrepressible enthusiasm and belief that this year his team could pull together and shock the world. He hired people he trusted and then mostly stood back and let them do the job, occasionally standing on a matter of principle, yes often at the wrong time. But the core principles were worth upholding even if they didn't ring true at the time.

Loyalty: Wes Unseld won Mr Pollin a ring and was a staunch and loyal friend, in return Mr Pollin found a place for him in the organization at every level, an employee for life. And a place in the family for his son Wes Jr.

Character: Okay he let Chris Webber go. But show me how many rings CWebb won elsewhere? More importantly, at the time Webber was constantly embarrassing the organization with petty arrests, speeding, drugs, being at the wrong party busted by police. Go back far enough and you notice that golden boy CWebb lied to a grand jury and accepted large money under the table. Not like he was poor either, he was a middle class kid, no inner city Jalen Rose/Juwan Howard. CWebb envied his fab five teammates for their poverty and played the gangster in his later associations. Always managed to sorta slide out from the consequences by batting his eyelashes and giving that sly million dollar grin. So he was traded for certified good guy Mitch Richmond. Toothless and old as he was. Mistake perhaps from a pure talent perspective.

And true, perhaps the move was out of step with the times, athletes nowadays are outsized characters who get in scrapes with the law. Even last year's championship MVP dodged a rape charge. Morals perhaps are not measured in the wins and losses column. Athletes simply operate with different rules, and the more outsized the talent, often the more they can get away with.

But should they? You're paying an employee millions of dollars not only to run around and sweat in short pants or stay in shape year round -- but to be a public figure, broadcast to millions, like it or not: a role model for hundreds of thousands of kids. All this in a city that has been through periodic epidemics of drug plagues, along with attendant violence. Here is a man who quietly poured untold thousands of dollars into ensuring that kids had turkeys for Thanksgiving, sneakers, ballcourts, books for schools. He was doing this for decades before Mr Stern followed his lead and instituted a league-wide 'NBA Cares' program. He did this on a yearly basis, with or without a press release, simply because it was the right thing to do. Should he keep an employee as a role model who teaches kids the wrong message? That it's okay to break certain laws, and that if you're good enough you'll get away with it?

Values. To me the ideal illustration of Abe Pollin, awkward and all, came in his dealings with Mike Jordan. In Jordan's farewell tour he was feted and celebrated across the league. Fans came out in hordes to see him, opponents fawned to pay him their respects. Miami GM/Coach/GM-again/CEO Pat Riley retired the guy's jersey number, and if I recall it right, rolled him out a motorcycle, Harley Davidson or something, and a Rolex I'm thinking, or a box of cuban cigars and fancy humidor or the like to honor him. Abe Pollin by contrast gifted his employee by donating something like a few hundred computers in MJ's name to area schools.

Right, what the hell is Jordan gonna do with that? In Jordan's name? What good is that? Not like Pollin wasn't going to donate the computers anyway. Riles showed him up. He looked like a piker, Abe looked cheap, and MJ accepted it with poor grace. Hell if MJ wanted to donate computers he surely could have done so himself.

Fact is, he didn't though. Now who knows if he ever rode that bike, pretty sure he already had a nice watch. Pretty sure he could have bought himself a cigar or two. Nice gesture to retire a number I suppose. But long term, ultimately if a dozen kids got into college because their school had a computer lab, if a few kids learned secretarial skills from a typing program, or spent a few hours after school farting around on cyberspace instead of running with the rough crowd, then which gesture did more good?

My absolutely favorite Abe memory in my limited DC tenure was how thoroughly chuffed he was in the first Jamison year when Tawn and Gil made the all star team and Larry might have but for his yearly injury vacation. I couldn't help but chuckle when Abe came out saying how "gotdamned proud he was of all of you" then to honor the guys he had a special surprise for them: "Where's the cake? Bring that cake out".

Cake. Not rolex, not new cars. Here's the old guy beaming a billion watt smile, and the players basically nonplussed. Gilbert was in fact about to play the prankster and dump cake on (Awvee? maybe?) when in the background I think Coach Eddie or Tawn caught him and stopped him. Letting the old guy continue to bask in the moment, show his respect the best way he knew how. Was it 'cheap'? Out of touch with the modern athlete? Or was it just a guy following his instincts, trying to do something nice for people on a basic level, because, in all honesty, when we're kids growing up, who doesn't like cake?

I hope to all the gawds of basketball that someday soon the ping pong balls of fate bounce just the right way and this team wins the whole dang thing. And on that day I'll get myself a huge slice of cake in Abe's honor, knowing the good old guy is just beaming down on his City and the folks he cares about. My thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Mr Abe Pollin. And my thoughts and prayers to the people of the District. You just picked up another guardian angel and a tough fighter and advocate in heaven. Hopefully up there his values have more sway. Love that old guy.

-doc.

[lupin]

Orlando is in for 74M next year. That would be a 40M cap hit DAME
http://hoopshype.com/salaries/orlando.htm

It's DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! WTF is DAME? I've read DAME for two **** years and I kept thinking it was a **** mistype, but every single **** time I read your posts I see a GAWDDAMN DAME!

[HPM]

I haven't really read this thread through but shouldn't there be a hall of fame for people too? I remember browsing this thread and I would always read Giltawn Butler's posts.... he was always insightful and full of wisdom.

[mohammed10]

How do I PM one of the Board Mods?

I have a great idea for a thread that I want to clear from one of them...

Thanx

[miller31time]

How do I PM one of the Board Mods?

I have a great idea for a thread that I want to clear from one of them...

Thanx

Unfortunately, PMs have been disabled for non-mod users. The admins are (supposedly) working on fixing that issue.

If you need to reach me, here's my email address...

Xela2340@aol.com

[Zerocious]

Miller, it might be time to add another topic here in the announcement section. i know it has already extensively been covered in pretty much every topic here not in the least this thread here, but something that catches the eye saying something like: BEFORE YOU EVEN F'IN THINK ABOUT CREATING A NEW THREAD TOPIC READ THIS!!! lol. and then state in the firts post: don't. just don't do it.



this is getting crazy! reminds me of when a certain poster managed to get mod status over some rogue thread starters end of 2006 season.....oh wait.....nevermind

[miller31time]

Requested by TSW...

If your fanbase is so happy why is your signature so sarcastic?

Oh no, we're not capable of sarcasm here. You see living in the nation's capital has provided us with a strong lack of tact and subtlety, so you can pretty much take everything we say at face value.

chubby_1_kenobi, first of all thanks for starting a thought-provoking thread.

Anyway, you are totally right about everything you're saying; the day that the Wizards buyout Zydrunas Ilgauskas is the day that the music will die for this franchise. I'm not such a good writer but I want to talk about why I just said that and I figured it would be nice if it was well written so I'm gonna do this like this website I found told me I should write to get a good grade on a social studies paper.

First it says you should look up the word you wanna talk about and just say that in the paper; I'm going to do that so give me a second... OK Google says pride is a Japanese fighting thing but it also says its "a becoming or dignified sense of what is due to oneself or one's position or character; self-respect; self-esteem." Then it says to explain what the definition has to do with what you're talking about, and I'm not so sure I know but I'll try. The character of the Wizards, as a professional basketball franchise, is to attempt to put the best product out on the court that it can and to look to do everything it can all the time to make the team better. So being proud as a basketball team is about always working to be better, and wanting to improve. If the Wizards want to be a self-respecting team they have to be good, or armbar really fat guys, I don't think google really knows what it's saying.

Ok so now I have to back up my argument and provide examples, but I'm agreeing with your argument, so I'm improvising a little. The Wizards have the rights to Big Z right now and they want to buy out his contract to save money and so that other teams will keep trading with them and players will like them. But if they were proud of being Wizards they'd be holding on to Z like (it says metaphors are like steroids for grades) they needed him to live. The right way to become the best team you can be is to be as petty and and conniving as possible. Z doesn't want to be here and the Cavs probably entered into an agreement with the Wizards with the understanding that we'd let him go but if we're huge jerks and make everyone angry then we'll be feared, and fear will keep the local franchises in line. (The guide doesn't say this but Star Wars is cool so I'm going for broke) We need to get everyone else to listen so we'll have pride, help me chubby_1_kenobi, you're my only hope.

Thread...

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=990797

[Scabs304]

Not basketall related (Stephen King is the subject.), but wow, just wow.. and he (Doc; not King) writes gems like this all the time. Sampling doc:

Late night and the highway is hissing, road spray from a passing truck overloads the wiper blades you know you should have changed a dozen storms ago; and your tired is tired. When you roll off at the next blue sign with the proper icons, and turn the corner: that Stuckey's logo, that '...billions sold', that Dunkin' logo-- like a natural born relief, you'll make a choice. Anywhere in America you know where you are.

And if the lady behind the counter is a little odd, a little too old, wandering eye makes it look like she's talking to a guy who isn't behind you. If there's a booth with two long-haul truckers, rigs idling out back, one turns his head when you come in. If you have a bleary moment when the menu makes no real sense, or if --coffee in hand-- the rain on the window beads up like gel, like jellyfish on the sand, no really what the f*ck-- like Dippity Doo hair gel that your sister used to use in junior high.

Well that sense of the familiar becomes threatening. It could be you, here, on this page.

It's a shortcut. Stephen King is saying: the setting is today, the time is now, and I'll write another book next month if you need me to keep it current. Little is so dated as last month's 'now', read a People magazine from six months ago and you might feel a sort of sick feeling at how quickly popular culture expires, goes 'funny', quicker than skim milk in southern heat.

But I don't know that that quality makes it bad, a Stephen King book or the like. It just hasn't 'antiqued' enough to turn quaint. Or comfortingly nostalgic. But when you're seventy, eighty, and the kids these days don't remember what was a Tower Records, a cassette mixtape, a VCR, pumping 'gas' into your car, well I'm pretty sure these brightly colored logos will still be vivid in your head, be like finding a working cigarette vending machine with pull knobs at an abandoned gas station, somewhere between Nevada and Mexico and you took a wrong turn.

Pretty sure I recall even Gatsby had a moment or two of what was then current, now sepia tone. And if at the nursing home on movie night someone plays The Breakfast Club, pretty sure more than a few aged snobs will feel a cresting swell of nostalgia, leaves you seasick with longing or deja vu.

Stephen King just hasn't yet passed, become a touchstone figure of a time and place. Not every work of every author survives as a classic. But there are a few stories of Stephen King that will become or stay important. To me anyway. Most have become movies actually. Kubrick's The Shining, say.

One that will always stand out for me, that I could go back and read at any time sorta illustrates the above point precisely: the novella The Body from the collection Different Seasons, chock full of his childhood logos and fizzy sodas and jingles long gone, became the move 'Stand By Me' with dead River Pheonix. Pretty sure I won't forget that one for quite some long time, and if they play that at movie night, I'll surely wheel my chair to the front row.

Which thread is this from????