Blackmarks.net

December 31, 2006


A new year is just around the corner. And with that, a new era of Black Marks on Wood Pulp is prepared to launch.

Well, maybe that’s a little bit of an overstatement. As of now, the address of the most prestigious personal/commentary blog in the Sioux Falls area has changed to www.blackmarks.net.

www.blackmarks.net — make sure you change your links, your feeds and your bookmarks. The original address will work for a while — forever, probably — but you’d be better off using this much cooler, much easier to remember, much more expensive name. Just trade “cdub.driscocity.com” for “www.blackmarks.net” and everything else will run smoothly and stuff.

Welcome to the new www.blackmarks.net. Same as the old cdub.driscocity.com.

Tags: Blogging, Meta |

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Season Ticket Review: Anything but the game

December 30, 2006


Skyforce

Game 8 – Albequerque Thunderbirds (6-6) at Sioux Falls Skyforce (9-6). December 29th, 2006.

The Skyforce. A team that wins 7 of 8, then drops a game to the completely defeated, 0-12 Austin Toros. They played in Austin Thursday night and didn’t get back into town until 1 PM. Things didn’t look good for the home team.

They weren’t.

“Who is this team?” we all thought – Albuquerque blasted out of the gates looking absolutely frightening. The Skyforce, fresh off of a long trip to Austin and back, played nearly in slow motion. Albuquerque played like their cross-state affiliate Phoenix Suns, running and gunning around the court as if our players were standing still.

Realistically, we might as well have been. Andre Brown (on his own Poster Night!) had a horrible first half. He picked it up in the second half, just in time to watch the rest of his team shut down. The free throws were horrible, again. (And there were a lot of shots to go around – I’ve never seen so many fouls called; five fouls alone in the first two minutes of the game.) In fact, Albuquerque shot better from the field (58%) than Sioux Falls shot from the line (55%). It was an inside, fast game. And Sioux Falls blew it. I can’t talk about it anymore. Ew.

The incestuous nature of the CBA/NBA D-League sprouted up yet again as former Skyforce player Chris Rodgers was on the court for Albuquerque. This is a common theme throughout the league. I’d be willing to guess that, even though just a handful of teams remain from the CBA 2004-5 season, every NBA D-League team has at least one player or coach that is completely familiar to me. It’s nice – I already know these players, so I know what name to curse and hex as much as possible from our upper level seats.

Part of this callback to CBA days must have included the scoreboard and audio technicians, both of whom were both horribly off their game. Andre Brown makes his first shot in five tries? EN FUEGO pops up on the scoreboard. A 20-foot jumper? “Slam” by Onyx! Of course, Brown WAS on a one shot shooting streak, and the jumper did SLAM into the back of the rim as it went down, so both are understandable.

Friday’s game also brought back a frightfully failed contest, though this one is a fairly recent phenomenon – the Dakota Adjusters “roll around in money and pick as much up as you can” game. The object is for a partner to completely wrap you up in tape, sticky side out. From there, you roll around on the court and try to collect as many faux dollars as possible. Your partner is there to lead you.

Of course, this isn’t what happens. Instead, two people roll around on the ground collecting an uncountable amount of green paper, followed by an awkward stand and an even more uncomfortable walk off of the court.

You have to remember – these people can’t get up on their own. They’re completely bound by tape. They can barely walk on their own (naturally, with their legs wrapped together like a three-legged race) and they exhibit a pained expression all the way back to their seats, as if the tape was slowly riding up towards their junk with no sign of relent. Add to this the fact that the staff doesn’t have time to count the hundreds of small green slips of paper on each person so they just guess who the winner is, and you can imagine how horrible this game is. I concur. It’s a horrible game.

Unfortunately, this was also the second game in a row that our half-time show was cancelled. On Christmas Day, the act’s luggage was lost. Seriously. Friday’s half-time show was stuck in Denver. So we got free stuff. Lots of it – shirts, balls, more balls, more shirts. In fact, there were vendors selling their wares in the aisles for the first time in recent memory. Mini-basketballs (33% off! Just $10!) and programs were on tap. But I never have the need to buy these things.

What’s that? I only spent two paragraphs actually talking about the game? Well, I can sum it up in one word: Missed. As in, missed chances, missed free throws, and missed opportunities; missed defensive assignments, missed three pointers, and more missed free throws.

Sorry. I really don’t want to talk about it anymore. You understand, right?

Skyforce 104, Albuquerque 111.

P.S. – Skyforce center Jared Reiner has his own blog. This is great - Reiner is one of the bright spots on this Skyforce team. Just don’t call him tall. He hates that.

Tags: Basketball, Sioux Falls Skyforce, Sports |

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Emerson’s advice

December 28, 2006


When I get down on my chances of ever doing something worthwhile, I look to a quote that I have plastered at my desk. Someone at my old job gave it to me just before I left upon learning of my new position as a writer.

Every Day is No Ordinary Day

I had an almost intolerable awareness that every morning began with infinite promise. Any book may be read, any idea thought, any action taken.

Anything that has ever been possible to human beings is possible to most of us every time the clock says: six in the morning.

On a day no different from the one now breaking, Shakespeare sat down to begin Hamlet.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

I get a lot from this quote. I’m a person who has grown up casting a wary eye at any praise I’m given and fostering a suspicion for any talents I possess. I know that the bottom could fall out of my experience at any time – that I could be dropped and forced to search elsewhere for enlightenment. I can’t luck out all the time, I figure.

Then I gaze across these words. They’re easy to miss; posted just to the left of my computer screen, the copied print-out is slightly obscured by a pen holder and just enough out of reach to warrant an easy forgetfulness. But they’re there, and they remind me of the boundless nature of words; of how every day starts anew, with a clean white space and nothing written, and it’s up to me to create something.

I often take charge of a vast amount of uncreative work. Sometimes I struggle through simple rewordings, or I become bogged down in simple human resources postings. Other days, I get a chance to come up with hundreds of ideas – ideas that are formed out of nowhere, that come rushing at me faster than I can spill them onto the paper. It’s these days that I remember what I do – what it is to be creative.

So when I find myself bored, or filled with a loss of purpose or self-aggrandizing doubt, I think of the promise – the infinite promise – that comes each day. Every morning is new. Each word is poised to be written. My personal Hamlet is waiting in the wings.

And with that thought, it’s easy to get to work.

Tags: Vilhauer, Writing |

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A haiku

December 27, 2006


A haiku:

The five hundredth post
at Black Marks on Wood Pulp: An
uninspired haiku.

This is #500! After two face-lifts, thousands of words, and hundreds of hours in lost productivity, Black Marks on Wood Pulp is five hundred posts old.

I won’t go through the “best of the past 500 posts” because, well, I’ve done that already for 100 and one year, and I plan on making it a yearly tradition. So you’ll have to wait until mid-March. Or February. I don’t remember. Whatever.

Yay 500!

Tags: Blogging, Meta |

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The crush of VW

December 27, 2006


VWThe Volkswagen AG GTI was named the 2007 Car of the Year by Automobile Magazine today. This distinction does little for me – after all, Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award is much more prestigious, and that was given to the Toyota Camry (in fact, Volkswagen last won COY in 1985, for the GTI).

The real story here is a personal one – my love affair with the Volkswagen. It’s an unhealthy love, one that tormented me for six months in high school and drove us to purchase a car we couldn’t afford a few years ago. But it’s strong, all the same.

I grew up in the 1980s, when the Volkswagen Beetle was nothing more than a cute reminder of the 70s – a darling example of how weird that period of time could be. I was a collector of small cars, primarily Micro Machines brand vehicles, and above all I treasured my Volkswagen Beetles. After all, they were the most realistic. The closest to actual size.

So it was no surprise that my first vehicle – a car that I purchased with a loan from a family friend – was a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle. It was a dull gold color with one unpainted black front fender – a black eye, it seemed like – and a fair amount of nicks and scratches. It wasn’t the prettiest car, but it was a Volkswagen. More importantly, it was mine.

Over the next few months, I turned that car into my own. I put stickers all over the already-small back window, I cushioned my behind with a warm seat cover, and I excitedly placed my new first aid kit (complete with jumper cables!) in the backseat, right above the oddly located battery. I even equipped it with a tape player.

Yes, a tape player. I know, I know. This was the age of CD players. But something in me wanted to equip it with a more realistic, more historic option. So in went a tape deck – a new tape deck that was in no way realistic or historic. It was just a tape deck, one that played tapes at a slow crawl during the freezing winter and one that didn’t posses the benefits of song-skipping that a CD player would have.

Eventually, after six months of driving “Herkamafritz” (so named by our friend Mary), a wire came unplugged, thus negating the effectiveness of the automatic stick shift. This special shifting method was designed to give the illusion of driving a stick shift with the ease of an automatic transmission. You just let up on the gas and shifted. There was no clutch. Of course, when the wire was unplugged, it didn’t work. At all. So my car was stuck.

Two months later, we lifted up the floor mat and saw that a simple tape job could have fixed it. By this time, however, it was leaking oil – apparently from a broken head gasket or something expensive. It had broken down on me numerous times on me. The gas gauge didn’t work, so I’d have to remember to fill up every Friday. Once I didn’t, and my car sputtered to a stop at the top of a hill. It took everything I had to get it into someone’s driveway before rolling back down. Sometimes, it would die in the middle of the road. Sometimes, it would fail to start altogether.

It was not a good car. It was an out of shape VW. And it was maddening. But it was mine.

After the oil leak, however, I had no more time for it. The car was left behind as I went to college, and eventually it was completely forgotten about.

Six years later, Kerrie and I moved back to Sioux Falls. We were in need of a second car and, as any logical person would, we sought out a used Toyota or Honda. We passed on a first generation Toyota Prius. We passed on a used Honda with low miles and a great price. We passed on everything logical, actually, and went straight into improbable.

Why we decided on a new $18,000 car – especially when one of us was fighing to string together a teaching career – is simple: it was a Volkswagen Jetta, and we both fell in love. The salesman fleeced us with its German precision, its solidly closing trunk, its total Volkswagen-ness. We were slaves to the design – to everything, really. I fell in love with Graham Automotive that day, with its old-school Volkswagen Beetle advertisements and its clean garage. I fell in love not with the car we were buying, but with the image we were getting with it.

I still love our Jetta. Kerrie has since moved on and drives the object of her longtime vehicle crush – a Subaru Outback. I have great respect for everything Volkswagen has done in the way of marketing and advertising, enough that I purchased and framed a series of old VW ads for our office and computer room. I’d buy another VW, and another, and another, if it wasn’t for the fact that buying a car is a two-person decision and the other person doesn’t have a fog of nostalgia and tradition fogging her mind.

So I felt a twinge of excitement for the announcement of the Volkswagen GTI’s award. I felt like a distant relative had just won a prestigious grant, or that a co-worker just won $500 in the lottery. Nothing more than that. Just a slight ray of cheer during my shower. After all, I’m not financially tied to VW or anything.

I’m just emotionally attached. And the way things are shaping up, I don’t think I’ll ever be breaking the crush.

Tags: On..., Random |

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Season Ticket Review - Giving some Christmas spirit

December 26, 2006


Skyforce

Game 7 – Colorado 14ers (6-2) at Sioux Falls Skyforce (8-5). December 25th, 2006.

Ah, the Christmas Day Game – a Skyforce tradition. What better way to show the Christmas spirit than by playing a friendly game of hoops?

On second thought, let’s not. Let’s play a rowdy, physical game. Let’s take one of the best teams in the league and dismantle their game plan. Let’s get our starting point guard kicked out. Screw Christmas – let’s pretend like this is New Year’s Eve.

The Colorado 14ers (what kind of name is that?) came into Sunday Night’s game at 6-2, atop the Western Division, while Sioux Falls was sporting an 8-5 record after winning 6 of their last 7 games. Both teams have been playing good basketball. So, naturally, someone had to give.

Thankfully for the nearly 4,700 in attendance, it was the 14ers that gave.

We knew things might be rough when we saw our least favorite NBA D-League referee suited up: the dreaded #32, Jose Calderon, a referee that looks more “high school wrestling coach and subtle Kurt Angle look-alike” than “NBA D-League enforcer.” Calderon has become my least favorite referee over the beginning of this still-young D-League season; primarily for his nasty habit of taking over whatever game he happens to be officiating.

It was under his watchful eye that Frank Williams was kicked out of the game. Williams, who was attempting to clear the lane out from behind the three-point line, swung and elbowed Colorado guard Pooh Jeter in the head. A foul was called – flagrant, yes – and Jeter responded by trying to scuffle with Williams, slapping the ball out of Williams’ hands. Calderon gave a technical foul to Jeter. Then, to throw a whole barrel of exclamation points on the ordeal, he threw Williams out of the game.

Maybe I sound like a Skyforce homer, but the actions did not warrant a locker-room walk for Williams. That doesn’t matter, though. Calderon, as he is wont to do (and has done in previous games), always feels the need to become part of the action – to let everyone in the arena know that, yes, Jose Calderon is officiating tonight, and you’d better pay attention.

A few plays later, Calderon blew his whistle…for no reason. He then restarted play without leveling out any explanation. Maybe he was just letting everyone know he was still on the court. Maybe he’s just an overzealous referee. Regardless, I don’t like him.

The ejection left the crowd fired up. The Skyforce blasted out with a 17-point lead after Frank hit the showers. Of course, anything could have fired up the crowd. From our actual season ticket seats, back in row 21, we were subjected to two groups of people that apparently had been locked in their house for the entirety of the Christmas weekend. Beers were flowing, college-aged kids were chanting, and the entire Arena knew where the party was: right HERE, BABY!

It’s nice to see a large group show up for a Skyforce game, even if that group is three sheets to the wind and a little over-excited. I could have done without the constant chanting during every foul (“Did he do it? Yes he did!”), and I could have done without the off-time DEE-FENSE calls, but overall it lent an air of importance to a game being played on a holiday stage.

It also gave our faithful backup center a chance to shine in front of a big-time crowd. Often-Pouting Joe Dabbert was at his best – pointedly hanging on the rim, elbowing his chair, throwing his warm-up jersey; doing anything, really, to show his frustration an incredibly “cry-baby-esque” sort of way. It was a little embarrassing, actually. I mean, you’d think he would be at a mature enough stage in his life to understand that pouting about your poor play isn’t going to endear yourself to your teammates or your fans.

Dabbert did redeem himself a little in the second half, to be fair, helping to spur a run in the 3rd quarter with two rebounds and a handful of points. The Colorado defense was letting our big men run wild – Jared Reiner had 27 points before fouling out, and Andre Brown had his usual 23 points (and would have had more if not for a poor shooting night). Everyone was allowed an open pass to the basket, it seemed, and even though the 74% free throw shooting wasn’t very promising, we still ended up with eight more points on free throws alone.

Every basketball game is a struggle between give and take. Colorado, for all of their success this year, decided that Christmas Day would be a good time to give. And the Skyforce, filled with Christmas and ready to take a break, was perfectly willing to take as much as they could.

With seven wins in the last eight tries, I’d say the Skyforce are back on track.

Skyforce 120, Colorado 110.

Tags: Basketball, Sioux Falls Skyforce, Sports |

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Season Ticket Review - Awaiting a call-up

December 23, 2006


Skyforce

Game 6 – Austin Toros (0-9) at Sioux Falls Skyforce (6-5). December 22nd, 2006.

How much longer will Andre Brown be around?

Last night, we watched two players that looked fully capable of rising above their D-League status and becoming NBA mainstays. One was Austin forward James White, an NBA player on assignment. The other was Sioux Falls forward Andre Brown, the best and most fundamental player I’ve seen in my three years as a Skyforce fan.

Brown, who had 28 points and 14 rebounds last night against the completely-defeated, 0-10 Toros, is in the top five league-wide for points and rebounds this season. He’s got a wonderful lay-up touch, and can move his defender so far into the paint with a barrage of fancy footwork and low-post moves that he never needs to take more than a five foot shot. He’s a very good player, at least on this minor league, big-fish-in-little-pond environment.

Which begs the question – how long until he’s called up to the NBA? How long until the Detroit Pistons or Minnesota Timberwolves stick this guy at the end of the bench?

For now, he’s with us. And thankfully so – the Toros came into the game looking like a team that hadn’t won a game. Their defense was horrible and their jump shots were even worse. Unfortunately, the Skyforce played a horrible third quarter and allowed the Toros a faint glimmer of hope right up until the last two minutes of the game.

Why did the Skyforce allow them to stay in the game so long? Well, three problems kept hurting them throughout the game.

1. Turnovers – The Skyforce had 20 turnovers in this game. That’s a lot – even for an NBA D-league. Three players – Brown, Frank Williams, and Vincent Grier – combined for 13 of the 20. That’s bad.

2. Free throws – 58.8%. That’s it. Twenty of thirty-four from the charity stripe. That’s fourteen points, missed, in the easiest of places, with the least pressure and no one defending. That’s horrible. Just horrible.

3. Jared Reiner – our starting center had a miserable game. His hook shot wasn’t falling. He couldn’t grab a rebound to save his life. He ended up with four points on 2-9 shooting and just four rebounds. He also had three fouls in just 19 minutes of game play.

But, since we were playing the worst team in the league, we still managed to win by six points. It would have been more, but White (a San Antonio forward and Indiana Pacer draftee) swooshed around the court as if no one was guarding him. He was the only dependable jump shooter on the team. He looked like an NBA player. Unfortunately, he’s an NBA player that spends his time on a super-stacked Spurs team and can’t get any minutes. From one of the best teams in the league to the 0-10 Toros. Ouch.

Two more notes. First, don’t eat the pretzels at the Sioux Falls Arena. They are utterly horrible. The Arena needs an outside force in the concessions department. That way, when I buy a pretzel, I won’t get a hard ball of dough with tepid cheese. Ugh.

Secondly, we received our first comp merchandise (aside from our free Season Ticket Skyforce T-shirt, that is): a Kory Davis Rally Towel. To which I say just one thing:

Nine four, zero. Fifty-five, forty-four!! Kory, Davis. Kory Davis realtor!

Skyforce 106, Austin 100.

In sad news, former Skyforce forward David Jackson was waived this past week from the Idaho Stampede.

This is sad because, as our friend Amy’s Hunky Skyforce Player during the Skyforce’s championship season, he was a source of inspiration for all of us that thought professional basketball players should look as good as they played. He was the Anti-Pippen – a hot basketball player for us to rally behind.

Well, he really wasn’t that hot. And now, apparently, he’s lost a lot of his basketball skills as well. Regardless, I always liked him. As far as I’m concerned, there’s always a spot at the end of the bench for David Jackson.

Tags: Basketball, Sioux Falls Skyforce, Sports |

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