I have watched this video hundreds of times. It's Michael Jordan's Final Game, what more can I say. Well I can say it's a good video, which is certainly worth the almost five minutes of time it takes to watch.
(If the quality is bad, use the link)
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
More Money, More Money. I'm Takin' Your Money, Your Money.
More Money, More Money. I'm Takin' Your Money, Your Money. That has got to be the Ben Gordon Theme Song. He must have played that song so many times that he started to believe it was written about him. Now after that mostly useless introduction we will continue with our feature presentation: Ben Gordon; The Man, The Mystery, THE MONEY.
There are a few things in this whole issue surrounding BG that I don't quite understand and they are; why is Ben Gordon so damn greedy, why is Ben Gordon so damn greedy and why is Ben Gordon so damn greedy? Okay so they're all the same thing but you get my point. I can understand that Benny Boy wants what he believes is a fair price for his services, which is fine all ballers desire a fair and reasonable paycheck. According to my sources BG will decide in the coming days as to how much he will leech off the Bulls and maybe even where he will leech his cash from (if a trade is manufactured).
Ben wants 13 mil a year for six years but the Bulls are offering him approximately 10 mil for a six year time period. Ben also has the option of signing a 6.4 million dollar qualifying offer which means he can test the free agency waters at the conclusion of next season. I will finish throwing facts at you now and get to the point of this post.
The Bulls have just come of a horrid 2007-08 campaign in which they only won 33 games (sorry, more facts). This helps illustrate my first point which is; if Ben wants BIG money he has got to play like he deserves the money. If he wants a max contract he has to lead his team not just in statistical categories but in leadership and most importantly lead his team to wins, playoff berths, round advancements, you know, all the good stuff. (watch out here comes some more facts) For a player with max money aspirations Ben averaged only 18.6 (points), 3.1 (rebounds) and 3 (assists) solid but not excellent once again highlighting the difference between what Ben thinks he deserves and what his stats indicate about what the size of bank account should be.
Has anyone stopped to think as to how this affects Chicago's new Golden Child, Derrick Rose. Derrick has just fulfilled, what I assume, was his life's dream and he turns up to his first practice (We talkin' bout practice!) and there's bickering and hatred flying around like he's just walked into the middle of a Jukai vs Eboy vs BETCATS e-beef. (that's an in-joke for the SLAMonliner's) As a rookie Derrick is as impressionable as a child and all the drama of the Ben Gordon fiasco can't be good for team chemistry or Mr Rose's view of the league. What is BG teaching DR? That fighting with your team is all part of the ride as an NBA basketballer. All I'm saying is that I Hope Derrick doesn't pick up some of Ben's Bad habits.
Now for all you stoners, try your hardest to remember (yes, remember) back to the first quarter of the 07-08 season when the Kobe-to-Chicago rumours (that's right with a "U") were running riot around the Bull's and as a direct result of those rumours the Bull's played poorly and Scott Skiles was fired. Now imagine what Ben Gordon's over-inflated sense of self-worth is doing to Chicago and this time it is being caused from the inside out.
I sincerely hope someone who holds some authority in the Bulls organization realises that Ben Gordon is toxic and they should give him his qualifying offer and then let him go. They can do that as long as they ensure he does not come to Philadelphia, my Sixers are fine without a toxic under-achieving, under-sized two guard who can talk the talk but struggles to walk the walk which is a direct result of all his egocentric talk.
For The Record: Ben signed the Bulls qualifying offer and will have another shot at free agent success and the completion of 08-09 season. I believe this was the best move for Chicago because it doesn't leave them strapped for cash and they have an opportunity to get rid of Ben (wishful thinking) in a season's time.
There are a few things in this whole issue surrounding BG that I don't quite understand and they are; why is Ben Gordon so damn greedy, why is Ben Gordon so damn greedy and why is Ben Gordon so damn greedy? Okay so they're all the same thing but you get my point. I can understand that Benny Boy wants what he believes is a fair price for his services, which is fine all ballers desire a fair and reasonable paycheck. According to my sources BG will decide in the coming days as to how much he will leech off the Bulls and maybe even where he will leech his cash from (if a trade is manufactured).
Ben wants 13 mil a year for six years but the Bulls are offering him approximately 10 mil for a six year time period. Ben also has the option of signing a 6.4 million dollar qualifying offer which means he can test the free agency waters at the conclusion of next season. I will finish throwing facts at you now and get to the point of this post.
The Bulls have just come of a horrid 2007-08 campaign in which they only won 33 games (sorry, more facts). This helps illustrate my first point which is; if Ben wants BIG money he has got to play like he deserves the money. If he wants a max contract he has to lead his team not just in statistical categories but in leadership and most importantly lead his team to wins, playoff berths, round advancements, you know, all the good stuff. (watch out here comes some more facts) For a player with max money aspirations Ben averaged only 18.6 (points), 3.1 (rebounds) and 3 (assists) solid but not excellent once again highlighting the difference between what Ben thinks he deserves and what his stats indicate about what the size of bank account should be.
Has anyone stopped to think as to how this affects Chicago's new Golden Child, Derrick Rose. Derrick has just fulfilled, what I assume, was his life's dream and he turns up to his first practice (We talkin' bout practice!) and there's bickering and hatred flying around like he's just walked into the middle of a Jukai vs Eboy vs BETCATS e-beef. (that's an in-joke for the SLAMonliner's) As a rookie Derrick is as impressionable as a child and all the drama of the Ben Gordon fiasco can't be good for team chemistry or Mr Rose's view of the league. What is BG teaching DR? That fighting with your team is all part of the ride as an NBA basketballer. All I'm saying is that I Hope Derrick doesn't pick up some of Ben's Bad habits.
Now for all you stoners, try your hardest to remember (yes, remember) back to the first quarter of the 07-08 season when the Kobe-to-Chicago rumours (that's right with a "U") were running riot around the Bull's and as a direct result of those rumours the Bull's played poorly and Scott Skiles was fired. Now imagine what Ben Gordon's over-inflated sense of self-worth is doing to Chicago and this time it is being caused from the inside out.
I sincerely hope someone who holds some authority in the Bulls organization realises that Ben Gordon is toxic and they should give him his qualifying offer and then let him go. They can do that as long as they ensure he does not come to Philadelphia, my Sixers are fine without a toxic under-achieving, under-sized two guard who can talk the talk but struggles to walk the walk which is a direct result of all his egocentric talk.
For The Record: Ben signed the Bulls qualifying offer and will have another shot at free agent success and the completion of 08-09 season. I believe this was the best move for Chicago because it doesn't leave them strapped for cash and they have an opportunity to get rid of Ben (wishful thinking) in a season's time.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Being Gilbert Arenas
Not that I would know or anything like that (I am definitely not Gilbert Arenas) but I assume that life as one of the most loved and unpredictable basketballers on the Earth isn't smooth sailing at the moment. Despite being seemingly upbeat about another round rehabilitation on yet another knee surgery *sigh* one would have to assume that Gilbert "Agent Zero" Arenas is coming to a crossroads both in his life and his career as a basketball player and to an extent a blogger.
To understand where I am going with this you must understand that I am trying take on the persona of one, Hibachi. The point here is to highlight an alternate point-of-view on the whole knee injury, media shunning and conspiracy theorying fiasco that has followed Arenas ( Me; for the purposes of this post). Amid all the stories of Gil turning his back on the media, I can see some method in his madness. From now until the conclusion I will try my best to give an opinion on the Arenas-Files from the inside-out (inside-out being what Gil would say about the events that transpired) rather than the prototypical outside-in (outside-in being what everyone else would say).
---------------------------------------------
Now imagine you are Gilbert, lets say a month after the end of the season, you had just signed a BIG contract extension, secured your future (and the rest of your families future) and your rehab was going well (except for a little twinge in your knee: smell foreshadowing, anyone?) and all signs pointed to a healthy recovery and an end to the injury bug that had plagued you and your team for the past two seasons. Things are looking bright and why shouldn't they be, right. WRONG! Unbenounced to you there is a storm brewing over some little debris in one very important knee.
Eventually after trying to ignore this so-called twinge you realize that your best option is to sadly have *duh duh duuuuuhhh* surgery and miss the first month or two of the NBA season. It is a difficult decision but one that needed to be made, you convince yourself that this was the best choice for yourself, your team and your fans all over the world. You break the news to the hoops community and it is obviously shocked and dismayed over what seems like a rotten stretch of luck. You receive sympathy from your fans on your blog like Tyson Chandler receives perfectly weighted lob passes from Chris Paul, but things can turn (just ask Spree) and they did.
Your beloved fans started questioning whether this injury may spell the end of your career and that you won't ever get back to your old self, they start speculating that you knew you would need surgery and that you signed a contract, for guaranteed money and then let your team down, ON PURPOSE! These ideas came from the same mouths (and fingertips) of the people who once supported you, this is blasphemy, they ought to be excommunicated, you thought so you decided to stop talking to the people who doubted your integrity and betrayed your trust, the Judas Escariot's of the basketball world. If you didn't talk to them they couldn't hurt you, or so you thought. The rest as they say is the future.
------------------------------------------
And I'm back, see, being Gil especially with these latest setbacks ain't so easy. I may be completely wrong about everything I've just typed but if anyone actually reads this I hope it was worth your while, if not, tell your sister to stop calling me, she's ugly.
Count yours
elf officially OWNED!!
To understand where I am going with this you must understand that I am trying take on the persona of one, Hibachi. The point here is to highlight an alternate point-of-view on the whole knee injury, media shunning and conspiracy theorying fiasco that has followed Arenas ( Me; for the purposes of this post). Amid all the stories of Gil turning his back on the media, I can see some method in his madness. From now until the conclusion I will try my best to give an opinion on the Arenas-Files from the inside-out (inside-out being what Gil would say about the events that transpired) rather than the prototypical outside-in (outside-in being what everyone else would say).
---------------------------------------------
Now imagine you are Gilbert, lets say a month after the end of the season, you had just signed a BIG contract extension, secured your future (and the rest of your families future) and your rehab was going well (except for a little twinge in your knee: smell foreshadowing, anyone?) and all signs pointed to a healthy recovery and an end to the injury bug that had plagued you and your team for the past two seasons. Things are looking bright and why shouldn't they be, right. WRONG! Unbenounced to you there is a storm brewing over some little debris in one very important knee.
Eventually after trying to ignore this so-called twinge you realize that your best option is to sadly have *duh duh duuuuuhhh* surgery and miss the first month or two of the NBA season. It is a difficult decision but one that needed to be made, you convince yourself that this was the best choice for yourself, your team and your fans all over the world. You break the news to the hoops community and it is obviously shocked and dismayed over what seems like a rotten stretch of luck. You receive sympathy from your fans on your blog like Tyson Chandler receives perfectly weighted lob passes from Chris Paul, but things can turn (just ask Spree) and they did.
Your beloved fans started questioning whether this injury may spell the end of your career and that you won't ever get back to your old self, they start speculating that you knew you would need surgery and that you signed a contract, for guaranteed money and then let your team down, ON PURPOSE! These ideas came from the same mouths (and fingertips) of the people who once supported you, this is blasphemy, they ought to be excommunicated, you thought so you decided to stop talking to the people who doubted your integrity and betrayed your trust, the Judas Escariot's of the basketball world. If you didn't talk to them they couldn't hurt you, or so you thought. The rest as they say is the future.
------------------------------------------
And I'm back, see, being Gil especially with these latest setbacks ain't so easy. I may be completely wrong about everything I've just typed but if anyone actually reads this I hope it was worth your while, if not, tell your sister to stop calling me, she's ugly.
Count yours
elf officially OWNED!!
Welcome to the blogoshpere, ME!! (that's what the computer nerds call it, don't they?)
ahmm ahmm *clears throat in an official yet incredibly sexy manner* Good Morning/Afternoon/Whenever ladies and gentlemen and people with either too much time on their hands or no friends. I would like to introduce me, (or as far as you know) Mike, to the world of talking about things in which I hope people will read so therefore I will feel important otherwise known as blogging.
In this blog I will endeavor (sweet, I used endeavor, sweet [by the way I'm bringing sweet back, Yeah! Them other bloggers don't know how to act, Yeah! Take 'em to the blog!]) to give my opinion on important opinion-provoking opinions like what shoes should I wear with this; the Jordan's, Terminators, Shell Toe's, or AF-1's (I seriously have that problem).
Seriously, though I plan to give my opinion on basketball (among other mostly useless things) specifically NBA basketball, because of my blissful ignorance of High School Hoops and the NCAA and my complete and utter disrespect for my native basketball league, the NBL. I know that there is no shortage of basketblog's floating around cyberspace, which means one of two things I am either going to have to find every other basketblogger on the planet and give them nasty little paper-cuts so that they are no longer able to type or that I must type the best darn-diggity b-ballblog ever. I intend to do the latter so world get ready for me, Mike!!
In this blog I will endeavor (sweet, I used endeavor, sweet [by the way I'm bringing sweet back, Yeah! Them other bloggers don't know how to act, Yeah! Take 'em to the blog!]) to give my opinion on important opinion-provoking opinions like what shoes should I wear with this; the Jordan's, Terminators, Shell Toe's, or AF-1's (I seriously have that problem).
Seriously, though I plan to give my opinion on basketball (among other mostly useless things) specifically NBA basketball, because of my blissful ignorance of High School Hoops and the NCAA and my complete and utter disrespect for my native basketball league, the NBL. I know that there is no shortage of basketblog's floating around cyberspace, which means one of two things I am either going to have to find every other basketblogger on the planet and give them nasty little paper-cuts so that they are no longer able to type or that I must type the best darn-diggity b-ballblog ever. I intend to do the latter so world get ready for me, Mike!!
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