Season Ticket Review - Stolen

March 31, 2007

Game 23 – Dakota Wizards (27-15) at Sioux Falls Skyforce (27-16). March 30th, 2007.

“We feel like we stole one tonight.” - Dakota Wizards head coach Dave Joerger.

Dear NBA D-League Official,

Last night, you took over the game. Yes, you – the blond haired, afraid-to-look-at-the-crowd referee. You ruined an exciting game by making one of the worst calls we’ve ever seen at Sioux Falls Arena. Yeah! You did it! You’ve become legendary! You’re officially the worst!

Imagine – Dakota Wizards vs. Sioux Falls Skyforce. Two seemingly unassuming teams with an incredible history. It’s the greatest rivalry in CBA history. It’s the only real rivalry in the NBA D-League. It’s a team filled with former Skyforce players and coaches vs. the new blood – the new, stronger, faster, more high-paced squad – and the first championship coach.

Sioux Falls has won two CBA Championships. Both of the coaches that won those championships were on the floor last night. Oh, and to make it a little more important – Sioux Falls is just ½ game behind Dakota for a first-round bye in the playoffs.

It’s a big time game. There’s no reason for an inexperienced referee – an easily startled and carless referee – to be on the court.

So the Skyforce got off to a fast start. They always do. Coach Joeger was yelling at his players loud enough for us nosebleeders to hear (and I quote: “You’re 6’11”! Go to the rim!” after a tall skinny player passed the ball right out of bounds.) The Wizards seemed off balance. Amir Johnson had 20 points and Elton Nesbitt had 18 – in the first half.

But the typical Skyforce mid-game collapse let the Wizards back in the game. In fact, they were down by 12 going into the fourth quarter.

Remember that, hapless referee? We had all but given up. And then, we fought back. We scratched and clawed and did all of those other clichés and we made it back within a few points.

We had a brilliant series of plays. Remember when Amir nearly dove out of bounds to save the ball, then got up and ran back under the basket for the alley oop? Ridiculously good.

And remember when, with the game tied at 100, we inbounded the ball to Eddie Fobbs for another great alley oop – Fobbs’ long arms snatching the ball out of the air and slamming it through the hoop, leaving 24.5 seconds left on the clock – enough time for a wing and a prayer if we got the ball back again.

Yeah. We had the lead. It was 102-100. The Arena was louder than I’d ever heard it. No one was sitting. It was the most exciting game I’ve ever been a part of. It was fantastic. My legs were shaking. I’d never been so proud to be a Skyforce fan before – never felt so connected to our little D-League team. We nearly had the win. Nothing could happen now. Could it?

Well, bumbling moronic ref, it did. And you allowed it. The Wizards came down and shot from behind the line for the win. The shot didn’t go in. The grabbed the rebound.

But the Wizards player that grabbed the rebound traveled.

He traveled.

This wasn’t some little traveling call, like an absently shifted pivot foot or an extra half step before the drive – this was a stumble, a blatant walk, a traveling call so obvious that half of the Arena was yelling at you to call it, rolling their arms around in the universal basketball symbol for traveling. He was nearly out to the three-point line before he finally passed the ball – that’s a long way to go without dribbling the ball. So, yeah, that was a horrible call. One of the worst. And it was at one of the worst times. Unfortunately for you, it was televised. Watch it on Wednesday on NBA TV. Maybe you’ll get the call right this time.

Unfortunately for us, the game was pretty much over after that. Ronaldo Major, former Sioux Falls Skyforce player, launched up a blind, arcing three point shot that hit nothing but net. Assistant Coach Nate Tibbetts was concerned that Major’s foot was on the line (making it only worth two). But if that was a concern, it was also a non-call. You didn’t call the traveling call, why would you call something as simple as a foot on the line?

From just seconds earlier - when the noise was so deafening I could hardly hear Kerrie speak - to after the botched traveling call, the crowd turned, morphing the deafening cheer into a floor rumbling boo. There was more discontent in the Arena than there had been as long as I can remember. With five seconds left, we couldn’t manage to get a shot off. We stood there, stunned, our exciting, thrilling spectacle over. Killed. Shot down from the sky.

I could have screamed, if it would have mattered. Instead, I just cursed your entire presence to myself, under my breath.

You. You’re the ref that cost us our best shot at leading the division. You’re the ref that tore apart an exciting game and threw it in our faces. You’re, officially, the worst ref we’ve ever seen.

Congratulations. You fucking moron.

Sincerely,
Corey Vilhauer.

Skyforce 102, Wizards 103.

Tags: Sports, Basketball, Sioux Falls Skyforce |

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Swim across the Atlantic Ocean

March 30, 2007

I love Google Maps. A lot. I love everything associated with it.

So I had to chuckle when I saw this over at Gadgetopia – the directions from New York City to Dublin.

NY to DUB

Hopefully, you brought your swim trunks.

(From Kottke, through Gadgetopia.)

Tags: Random Links, Travel |

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Ode to a laptop

March 29, 2007

I’m commonly about five years behind on most technological advances. For every technologically progressive act I take part in, there are at least eight that I don’t have – or really, understand.

Not to say I don’t have wants. But even when I acquire one of these new-fangled devices, I’m clueless as how to use it fully. It’s not that I don’t understand how to use it – I just don’t know when I’ll ever find a major use for it.

Case in point – our computer came with a DVD burner. “This is great!” we thought.

Well, we don’t use it much. We had grand dreams of building a movie studio, complete with digital camcorder and editing programs. Two problems arose – first of all, we couldn’t justify buying a camcorder we’d hardly ever use. Second, even if we had a camcorder, we would never allow ourselves time to edit movies.

So, now have a very expensive storage burning device. I use DVDs to store pictures and music. And that’s it. It’s handy, but not necessary.

The things I currently desire, technologically, make up a short list.
• Laptop
• Two cell phones (instead of Kerrie and I sharing the same one) with text messaging
• Mac computer

Yeah – it’s old news. None of these things are really that cutting edge. Sure, we’ve got the obligatory iPod, and we’re lifetime fans of Sirius satellite radio, but we don’t even have separate cell phones with text messaging. I think getting a laptop is a romantic idea.

PS3? Wii? I’m still stoked about my Dreamcast. I’m about eight years too late in everything.

Simply put, Kerrie and I are not a technological family. We will probably never abandon paper books and we enjoy the newspaper for it’s tangible newspaperness and we like magazines and watch non-cable television and listen to public radio. I love technology, but I’m too cheap and realistic to need most of it. I have a hard time paying money for something that has a high whiz-bang factor but little necessity. What a spoilsport I am.

What’s the point of all this?

Well, I can cross two things off of my list. I’ve acquired a Mac laptop (an older iBook G4) at work. And while it’s a work computer, it’s still a laptop that I can bring with me if needed. Going on a road trip? I can pass the time attempting to write short stories. Staying in a hotel? Wifi, baby. It’s fun. It’s exhilarating. It’s freedom… FREEDOM!!

So yeah – Ode to My Laptop and all of that.

Tags: Random, Vilhauer, Career |

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Sirius 24 (Lithium) on random

March 27, 2007

Steinbeck is at home. But I can’t let the fun stop without it. Really, I haven’t missed it – I’ve been wallowing in the hit-and-miss sea of 90s alternative. Specifically, channel 24 on Sirius – the new Lithium: 90s alternative and grunge.

This is the music I grew up listening to. I was old enough to pay attention to music when Pearl Jam and Nirvana hit the major label scene. So this – especially the early to mid 90s stuff – was my lifeblood. I trailed off, admittedly, around 1996 (the personal discovery of punk, emo and true indie) but have begrudgingly returned to truly enjoy the old Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains stuff I used to rock out to.

Of course, R.E.M. and Radiohead always stuck around with me, but they’re tragically underrepresented. And Nirvana? Well, let’s just say that bands with Dave Grohl and Chris Cornell seem to dominate the channel.

With that, let’s listen.

1. “Steal My Sunshine” – Len

Really? I know this is from the summer of 1999 – I remember hearing it on the radio all the time when I worked at Software Etc. at The Empire Mall. But alternative? No. That’s not correct.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say this is the anti-alternative – a song written especially to anger and annoy every fan of so-called “alternative” music. I mean, sure – I’ll give them Blind Melon and Candlebox. But Len? Are you fucking kidding me?

Sorry. This was a bad way to start.

2. “Spin the Black Circle” – Pearl Jam

Ah, yes – the first single off of Vitalogy, a severely underrated Pearl Jam album and, effectively, the song that turned millions of Pearl Jam fans away.

Seriously – think about it. Was Pearl Jam ever as relevant after vs.? vs. was their heyday – their peak. Now, do you remember the din when this song came out? The radio-ready Pearl Jam fans slowly turned their back, hoping for the next ballad (they got it with “Better Man,” but by then was it too late?)

I still like it.

3. “Change” – Candlebox

Did I jinx myself earlier?

Okay, I’ll admit – I bought this tape when it came out. But, then again, I was at a crossing point in my musical tastes. It was pre-Bad Religion, post grunge. I didn’t know what I liked.

Of course, later that summer, I discovered Green Day. My path was enlightened.

But Candlebox? They suck.

4. “Good” – Better than Ezra

Can I reiterate this fact any more? Oh boy, alternative in the late 90s sucked. Bad.

5. “On a Plain” – Nirvana

Thank you. I was starting to lose faith in music all together.

It’s funny to think how important Nirvana was to people. My friend Jim and I were talking about this the other day. Looking back, the music could have succeeded in any era – any group of disenchanted, adolescent kids could have latched onto these messages of alienation and self-hate. But here’s the thing – it’s really good. It’s not just inflated praise for the music that changed a generation from arena rock to small clubs – it’s true praise. It’s really good.

And this song is one of my favorites. So thanks, Lithium.

6. “Friends of P” – The Rentals

Former Weezer members and the woman who recorded The Who Sells Out without any instruments. Huh.

7. “Longview” – Green Day

See above for what I think about this album and this song. It changed my life from MTV Buzz Bin to punkroxxors LOL!

(And, it’s about masturbation. * giggle *)

8. “Jump, Jive and Wail” – Brian Setzer Orchestra

As someone who has formally taken a swing dance class (about three years after it was cool) and enjoys music that is upbeat and different from the norm, I will admit that I actually like this song.

Now, that doesn’t mean I like it enough to put on my iPod, or enough to actively seek it out, but it is pretty good. I really think it boils down to, “I could dance to this, if necessary, so I should enjoy it from a respect standpoint.”

I do. Give me these guys over the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies any day.

9. “Sex Type Thing” – Stone Temple Pilots

I really thought these guys were the second coming of Pearl Jam when they first broke onto the scene. Actually, they were – they tried as hard as they could to sound exactly like Pearl Jam, right down to the clenched teeth vocals and ascending guitar licks.

Then, they shed the grunge title (just in time) and soared on with cleaner, alternative songs, saving themselves from the grunge backlash that ate up Alice in Chains, Mudhoney and (nearly) Soundgarden and Pearl Jam.

10. “I Can’t Wait One Minute More” – CIV

Holy shit – here’s a song I haven’t heard since it was on MTV. CIV was a sanitized version of the hardcore movement – think Sick of it All and Snapcase, but with a shiny bald guy that used to be a big deal (he was the lead singer of Gorilla Biscuits.) It’s the equivalent of Gwen Stefani going solo and becoming a big deal and creating a new legion of fans that have no recollection of older projects. (No Doubt? Who? And why haven’t I heard any of THAT yet on Lithium?)

That being said, I liked this song a lot. And they played at the Pomp Room when I was in high school, which shows you how big they eventually got.

(Fun Fact – the guy from Sick of it All sings on this song, which makes it great.)

That’s all. Back to work.

Tags: Steinbeck on Random, Music, Sirius |

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Season Ticket Review - All About Location

March 25, 2007

Game 22 – Tulsa 66ers (17-23) at Sioux Falls Skyforce (26-16). March 24th, 2007.

There’s a great article on Amir Johnson, the Skyforce’s NBA savior, in the Argus Leader today. While he’s left unused on a championship-contending Pistons bench, he has become our go to guy in Sioux Falls. And there’s a reason for that – he’s good and has a rare desire to play, whatever it takes and wherever it takes.

Many young NBA rookies and sophomores see the D-League as an insult – a downgrade. Sure, there’s no glamour when you’re going from Sioux Falls to Tulsa to Bismarck. But others take the chance they get to play real minutes against real players and run with it. Case in point: Amir Johnson, second-round pick of the Detroit Pistons and recent D-League assignee.

Amir wanted something more than bench duty in Detroit. He wanted to play. So he asked to come back to Sioux Falls – to get some minutes and hopefully help the team succeed in their late-season surge. And we’re glad to have him.

Last night was another inkling of proof that Johnson, like Andre Brown before him, could become Sioux Falls’ true to life low post power. 20 points, 19 rebounds, lots of monstrous dunks and an immeasurable presence all around the court. We like what we see in Amir, obviously. It’s too bad we can’t count on him being around next season. Hell, in the D-League, you can’t count on anyone being around next season.

Regardless, we still left early. A blinding headache couldn’t wait for me to get home, so I appeased the pain and left about five minutes before the end. We were comfortably ahead. We swept the 66ers for the weekend. We left happy, knowing that we’ve done as well as we could over the past seven game win streak.

Two more home games. That’s it for the season. Then five on the road and, hopefully, some playoff games in Sioux Falls.

That means two more times to see Amir Johnson tear opposing teams apart, limb from limb, shot for shot, rejecting and throwing down and obliterating any chance the opposing team has to win.

As a misplaced Pacers fan, I enjoy the comparisons to Jermaine O’Neal’s early years, and I hope he does well in the NBA. I appreciate his willingness to slum around in Sioux Falls. It’s meant a lot to the team, I’ll tell you that.

Skyforce 123, 66ers 104.

Tags: Sports, Basketball, Sioux Falls Skyforce |