Another Finals, finally

June 4, 2009


One unfortunate side effect to our quest to save money by ditching cable is that my love affair with NBA basketball gets relegated to the nether regions of the schedule.

During the regular season, it’s only a Sunday afternoon indulgence. Through the first round of the playoffs, only one in sixteen games seem to make their way to the big three. And once the Conference Finals have started, basketball has disappeared from my life altogether (not including the Internet).

But here we stand, staring down the barrel of yet another NBA Finals. An NBA Finals that can be summed up as David vs. Goliath, that is, if David was a giant and his only weakness was that no one knew who the hell he is.

I expect this to be a long, tough and physical Finals. Tougher than last year, and (unfortunately) probably more exciting. As a fresh-faced Boston fan, it’s my contractual obligation to root against the Lakers. But barring a sudden rule change that allowed the Celtics to sneak into the Finals without actually winning anything worthwhile, there isn’t another team I’d rather root for than the Orlando Magic.

I was 16 when Orlando last made the Finals. There, they faced off against a Houston Rockets team that had already won a title the year before. By butting up against an established power, an Orlando team – featuring a fresh Shaquille O’Neal and blossoming Nick Anderson – sought to prove themselves against a league superpower.

They were underdogs. They had no chance.

And despite the fact that they knocked my Pacers out of the playoffs just a round or two earlier, I couldn’t help but root for them.

It was my conference, after all. My Eastern Conference. My pride was at stake – best be beaten by the team that won it all, right? Best be a footnote in the championship recap video, rather than missing entirely from it altogether.

This year is very much the same. Orlando knocked Boston out. Dwight Howard plays the part of Shaquille O’Neal, Rashard Lewis acts as Nick Anderson. And Kobe Bryant stands in the way – a star with three rings, a sure fire Hall of Famer, a man looking to cement his legacy, to prove that the three-peat in the early 00’s wasn’t a fluke. That he can do this himself, without the big man he once stood next to.

That big man. Shaquille O’Neal. Who brings this analogy back full circle. Who was able to win a title without Kobe. That big man, who knows what Dwight Howard is going through, understands, because he was in that position – facing up not only the best team remaining, but his own insecurity in reaching the Finals at such an early age.

Dwight would do well to ask Lebron James what it means to get to the Finals before you’ve even been able to live up to the hype. Maybe he already did. After all, he’s already gone Cleveland to get here.

No one expects the Magic to win this thing. No one wanted this match-up. We’re missing Lebron vs. Kobe. Or Lebron vs. Carmello. Hell, we’re missing a rematch of last year’s Finals.

Instead, we’re looking at something we didn’t expect. A team that has come into its own earlier than we thought they would. A manchild that’s just seconds away from becoming the biggest thing in the league. Both literally and metaphorically. And he’s going against a perfect foil. Kobe: the anti-Michael Jordan; blessed with so much talent yet none of the approachability, Lex Luther to Superman, respected yet hated.

These metaphorical side stories have been happening for the past four rounds. But I’ve missed them all, only picking up the static from the Internet and text messages.

My Amazing happened all through second hand sources.

Until now. The Finals start tonight. And I’ve got a date with another year of basketball history.

Tags: Basketball, Boston Celtics, Sports |

Comment

A love letter to Garbage Time All-Stars

April 27, 2009


Sports are too human to take seriously. They ultimately prop us up for failure; unless, of course, your team is one of 32 that wins, you’re going to be disappointed in how your season ends – and take it from me, even if your team wins, you’re sure to be disappointed the next season. Or the one after that.

Ultimately, sports are a series of agonizing stories of potential gone wrong, spiked intermittently (if you’re lucky) with stories of success.

Now, I’m not saying sports aren’t fun. I’m just saying we shouldn’t take them seriously.

Yeah right. This coming from the dude that about flipped his wife and unborn child off the couch yesterday in disgust after a particularly egregious mistake by Paul Pierce.

I say this because, every once in a while, we need to step back and enjoy sport for what it is – entertainment, a sense of belonging, action, fitness and, most of all, fun.

Which is why I love Garbage Time All-Stars.

It might be not only the best sports comic, but the best comic overall. It might not be the best basketball blog, but the best sports blog in general. I’ve loved it since I discovered it on Yahoo!’s Ball Don’t Lie. I continue to love it, and wish they’d just quit their jobs and draw Kevin Garnett as “monster freakazoid baby-eater” for the rest of their lives.

It’s not for the non-fan – it’s chock full of NBA inside jokes and third-tier knowledge. It’s Free Darko with a pen, Questionable Content with basketball shorts. It’s funny, clever and – most of all – awesome.

And the best part: the dudes are humble.

A recent GTAS strip came equipped with a bonus panel. Attached was a contest asking for comments. It was a pretty awesome one-panel strip – a throwaway, it seemed – featuring Kevin Garnett as, you know, crazy. Below it was a little comment from the artist. The strip:


©2009 Garbage Time All-Stars


Mimicking the punch line, I said, indeed, that they sucked. Meaning it in jest of course, despite knowing the fact that sarcasm is lost on the Internet. Something about not being able to hear the tone or something.

A day or so later, I receive an e-mail filled with genuine concern. I had the type of blog that he’d hoped would be a fan of GTAS. Did I really think GTAS sucked?

Sheepishly, I explained myself, feeling awful for wrongly piercing the fragile armor of artist-hood. I know better.

On the contrary. I love GTAS. Seriously. Love it. A lot.

Which made it even cooler that I won the contest.

Thanks guys. Keep up the awesomeness.

Tags: Basketball, Boston Celtics, Random Links, Sports |

Comment

School spirit

March 23, 2009


I didn’t give a damn about school sports when I was in high school.

There wasn’t much of a reason to in the first place. I went to Lincoln High School here in Sioux Falls. We were a smart kid school. We won debate tournaments, not football championships. We slaughtered in band, not basketball.

In fact, we seemed to only one game per year in football, and aside from a blip in 1995 we were pretty mediocre in basketball.

But now, whether it’s through some force of aging or a reminiscence for easier days or some other rah rah alma mater bullshit, I find myself caring again. I don’t follow the sports - I mean, come on, I have no connection outside of a diploma; it’s not like Sierra’s on the team or anything - but I find myself genuinely excited when the school does well.

Call it a common thread that we all have - all of us that graduated from Lincoln High, whether we were connected at the time or mortal enemies - but it’s as if we feel the same rush of electricity when our high school is mentioned. Not because of anything important, but just because it’s an item of identity. It’s part of who we are, regardless of whether we liked it at the time. It helps define us.

Part of me is there in that school. Even still today.

What I’m trying to say is that, against all odds, with the claws of irony threatening to tear away my genuine joy, I’m proud of Lincoln High School - my high school, my alma mater, my identifiable location for 9-12 grades - for doing something we all thought impossible.

On top of the sports world - not once, but twice. 2008 State 11AA Football Champions. And now, undefeated 2009 State AA Basketball Champions.

Congrats, guys. From all of us who still feel a part of it somehow.

Tags: Basketball, Football, Sioux Falls, Sports, Vilhauer |

Comment

Season Ticket Review: Bored

February 9, 2009


Skyforce

Game 16 – Fort Wayne (10-15) at Sioux Falls Skyforce (14-13). February 6, 2009.

I couldn’t tell you the score of Friday’s Skyforce game. In fact, I had to look it up.

Actually, I wouldn’t know if the fourth quarter was as exciting as it seemed to others. I wasn’t there.

I won’t try to convince you that D-League basketball is always great. It’s not, as we saw Friday night. On one hand, we had the Fort Wayne Mad Ants (seriously, it seems like we play them every home game these days) who were running crazy, playing like, you know, the game mattered.

On the other hand, the Skyforce; camouflaged in Military Night uniforms, blending into each other as if drops of mercury rejoining the site of a spilled thermometer. They played sluggish. They didn’t care.

And, for that reason, either did we.

This was our first night seeing last year’s MVP Kasib Powell. I had hoped for a good showing, and he didn’t disappoint, seemingly the only guy who had even bothered to commit to the game. Unfortunately, his play was overshadowed by the rest of the group. A group that was tired. A group that couldn’t be troubled to fight through that tiredness. A group that was as uninterested to be there as we were come halftime.

It was a date night, and we were excited to be there without Sierra. It turns out that the best part of the evening was when we left, went to Culvers, and watched as the guy blending my Concrete Mixer was giving more of an effort than the paid basketball players we had just left.

It was sad. There were a lot of people there to witness a good time. And I know the Skyforce are a better team.

Listen to me. An angry fan, just another railing against the professionals, telling them to know their place, bitching about poor play with a ham-fisted series of lame accusations.

It was probably just an off night. But whether or not it’s because we go to fewer games, or because we were expecting something better – payback for the last two Fort Wayne losses, perhaps – or simply because we’re getting tired of being losers at home, I took the loss personally.

I took their lack of effort personally.

I took the game personally. I just hope they did the same.

Skyforce 89, Fort Wayne 95.

Tags: Basketball, Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Skyforce, Sports |

Comment

Boom Tho on rivalry

January 28, 2009


Checking Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo! Sports today, I was surprised to see a couple of Sioux Falls Skyforce players rocking the rebound.

Well, duh. I totally forgot that regular blogger Rod Benson plays for the Dakota Wizards, who were in town last Saturday. (We missed it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they revoked our season tickets for missing a heated rivalry game. Seriously. I feel like a chump for missing the game.)

Anyway, he does a good job of summing up the Dakota Wizards/Sioux Falls Skyforce rivalry without hyperbole, helping lend some credibility to my claim that, yes, D-League Basketball is indeed entertaining, important and high quality.

From the post:

On Saturday we played in Sioux Falls. These guys are our rivals, a rivalry that borders on the Bulls-Pistons level back in the day. I mean, I guess I should say it’s as close to that kind of hard-fought, knockdown, drag-out rivalry as a minor league basketball rivalry can be. The guys on each team are usually some of the best in the D-League. They have been with the same team for years. Of course, the whole “North Dakota vs. South Dakota” thing plays a part. The attendance is the best in the league for these games. There’s just a lot of emotion involved every time we play.

The bad thing is that Dakota won thanks to some stupid heat-of-the-moment technicals and fouls. If it wasn’t for getting into our own heads, the Skyforce would be undefeated.

Regardless, nice to see some semi-national attention for the ‘Force.

Tags: Basketball, Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Skyforce, Sports |

Comment

Season Ticket Review: Two nights of entertaining

January 19, 2009


Skyforce

Game 12 & 13 – Fort Wayne (5-11) at Sioux Falls Skyforce (12-8). January 15 & 16, 2008.

The last Skyforce update came nearly a month and a half ago.

It’s not that we haven’t been going to games this season. It’s just that, you know, we’ve been pretty busy, what with the world continuing to spin despite the continuation of the NBA D-League. Imagine that – even in the wake of a new season, life moves on.

Actually, I should be fair. If we’ve been missing games, it’s our own fault. We can no longer blame Sierra – especially since the advent of her willingness to hang around for the entire contest. To begin the season, we were wary of her attention span, assuming she’d be out around half-time – her natural bedtime. But, thanks to a couple souvenir balls we’ve snatched out of the air, and owing a lot to her advanced patience with daddy’s favorite sport, we’ve gotten to stay longer and longer each game.

Unfortunately, this added attention has come as the team began its decline. We began the season with a 9-2 record, losing only the season opener vs. Iowa and a lopsided contest in Austin that sparked a 9-game Toros winning streak.

But then Christmas happened – a two-point loss to Dakota at home – and then 3-6 happened.

And that’s the story of the first half of the season. After 20 games, the Skyforce were a disappointing 12-8. Looking for a spark, they sent longtime guard Carl Elliot to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants for longer-time-guard David Bailey. Things seemed as though they’d be okay – after all, we had a weekend home series against the last place Mad Ants, and we just brought back one of the most popular players of recent memory – a player who, theoretically, new the opponent about as well as you possibly could.

At both games, we were joined by company. We were surprised to see our friends Eric and Tony at the Thursday game, and just the next day we invited more friends (Jim and Mel, Sara and Ryan) to join us.

It was a different feeling to have friends at the game. For so long, we have simply made the Skyforce our little thing – never making the connection between the pastime and the friends we’d visit after the games. The Skyforce are our vice, and by having friends at the game it felt as if we were entertaining – as if we were responsible for how the team played. After years of being a hardcore fan, we found ourselves passing that fanhood on.

What’s refreshing is that our friends look at the game from a different angle. To them, it’s still fresh and somewhat exciting. They question the conventions, and they ask about things we’ve long held as truth.

We talked about half-time shows. We answered questions about the league itself, and about the team, and about the NBA affiliate system and how NBA players are sent down and D-League players called up. We went through the subtle nuances of the league and discussed the mundane nature of the Arena’s pretzels. We were Skyforce experts, and, while we might not be proud of that fact, it was fun to inform instead of grumble silently.

It was like rediscovering the game we had become so numb to, looking at them from a fan’s perspective, and not from the chiseled glasses of a bitter, long suffering cynic.

“So, who’s the go to guy,” Eric asked on Thursday.

This question stopped me. I was stunned, actually, that I couldn’t think of an answer. I didn’t know, I said. The Skyforce have never really had a go to guy. It changes daily, the team turning toward whoever had the hot hand.

On both nights, it turned out to be Frank Williams, averaging 26 points over the two contests. Newcomer/old favorite David Bailey poured in a few of his own, sure, but it was Frank – seemingly absent from the games we had attended previously – who put the team on his back and charged forward.

He was really the only consistent bright spot. As is the team’s custom, we took a lead into the half both nights, and, as is our habit, we promptly lost it in the 3rd quarter both times. The refs could be to blame – both nights saw an attempted comeback thwarted by tic-tac fouls called by a greenhorn ref – a ref who called loose in the beginning and tight near the end (the exact opposite of what you’d expect). But really, it was Carl Elliot who took the wind out of our sails, leading the Mad Ants to two straight wins on the road, sending our record to 12-10, lovingly giving us a little payback for sending him to one of the worst teams in the league.

It was the Carl Elliot we had ourselves enjoyed. And while both nights were cold, and much quieter than usual, we were torched by a Mad Ants team that simply wanted to win a lot more than we did.

It wasn’t the best face to show a set of visitors. But we couldn’t take it personally. After all – we’re merely visitors as well: visitors that show up more often than most, often leave early, and occasionally consider ourselves proud fans – fans that always end up looking on the bright side, who always enjoy the game for what it is.

It’s simply basketball. And it’s for all of us to share.

Thursday: Skyforce 127, Fort Wayne 131.
Friday: Skyforce 115, Fort Wayne 124.

Tags: Basketball, Friends, Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Skyforce, Sports |

Comment

A meaningful game, for once

December 28, 2008


The Miami Dolphins haven’t had a winning season since 2005. They haven’t been to the playoffs since 2001.

Last season, I rooted for them to lose. I stayed mum about their only win. I watched Minnesota Vikings games because they wouldn’t show Dolphins games. Which is okay, because I’d probably have watched Minnesota Vikings games anyway. The Dolphins were that bad.

I came into this season without a peep, uncharacteristically, figuring they were already sunk. After all, they entered the season with someone else’s discarded quarterback, with the same team that won only one game the year before only without the Pro Bowl players they had depended on for so long.

I felt no need to write about them. Despite my blind loyalty to the team, I had nothing to say. Nothing to say that hadn’t been said before, that is.

They began the season 2-4. The NBA season was ready to strike up the band. And so my attention waned.

But they won against a hot (at the time) Buffalo team.

And they won again.

And again.

Going 8-1 over the next nine games, they found themselves back in the playoff race. Not just the playoff race, but the division race, holding tiebreakers over the hated Patriots and needing just a win against the hated Jets – the team that handed the Dolphins their first loss in the first game of the season, at home, in Miami.

It was Brett Favre’s first game in Jets Green. It was Chad Pennington’s first game against his former team. And now, the two quarterbacks meet again, their fortunes reversed, the Dolphins riding a wave of success while the Jets have watched their division lead boil away to nothing.

To this game. To this win.

It’s on television, which means this is the first Dolphins game I get to watch. It’s the first meaningful game since 2001, which means there’s something to play for.

It’s a chance for the playoffs, which means it’s the first time I’ve been able to sit down, shield my eyes, and hope for the best since Dan Marino was throwing the ball.

It’s kickoff. And I’ve got a game to watch.

Tags: Football, Miami Dolphins, Sports |

Comment

Next Page →