Better than popping firecrackers!
A+!
drgnslayr
11251 posts
I've got it!
New conference name:
"XII-II"
"Big 12 minus 2!"
The only conference name that properly represents the conference while teaching math skills to the fans!
"(Spouse is 100% Greek)."
Excellent! It is a great culture with spectacular food!
So much to see... from that location it is worth a boat ride up to Kerkira (Corfu). I never had a bad time on any of the Greek Islands. The Peloponnese is quite nice (from what I saw of it). The canal at Corinth... Navplion, the old capital city.
Maybe jump on a ferry and head into the Cyclades. Every island has a different flavor and caters to different tourists, too.
I used to go to the islands every two or three years when I lived in Northern Europe. Now... it's been something like 7 years since my last visit. I'm taking my wife and newborn next summer to the islands... definitely Crete.
Have you tried Retsina yet? It's pretty smooth these days. Back in the 70s, when Greece's economy was still aimed at Greeks (instead of tourists) Retsina used to taste exactly like Pine-sol. It was fun watching tourists tasting it and spitting it out while turning purple. I don't believe you can find the traditional Retsina any longer. All the companies softened down the resinated flavor to make it mild so tourists would enjoy it.
What I don't get...
Basketball games lose continuity with all the stoppages by refs going to the monitor.
Why not hire a couple of guys to do nothing but watch games and look for mistakes? Put a rule on them that they have to be able to make a decision within 30 seconds and then have them be able to send a wireless warning to the floor refs to stop the action when they need to intervene.
Have them cover all 40 minutes.
It would put pressure on the floor refs to get it right the first time because their work will be constantly reviewed.
Figure out a way to handle ties if these guys disagree.
Our economy could use a few more jobs. Let's see... 2x how many D1 games in a season?
And the winner is:
[
I hope AW3 finally gets the PT he so deserves!
Gooooo, AW3!
Ya sas! Ti kánis?
Can you keep us informed on where you are and what you are doing? I'm guessing you are still in Greece.
Why Araxos? That isn't a typical Greek vacation destiny.
Maybe the magic recruit is a 5-star superstar that isn't going to quite make the NBA lottery list after 1 year.
We'll test that theory this year with Kentucky... who has a boatload of 5-star recruits who will be sophomores. My guess is, barring injuries, Kentucky will be the team to beat and it will take one heck of a performance to dethrone them off their path to a NC.
@jaybate 1.0
"Seems like he took deep to heart what Jabbar meant. "
Until recently.
Good point about wives calling the shots, especially on where is home. I know from personal experience! ;)
"Given the way the salary structure in the NBA works, they are better off taking less money to have a stronger team than to get paid at market value."
And how much did LeBron make on all those TV ads? Probably equal to his NBA contract.
Consumers like winners... advertisers like consumers... therefore, advertisers like winners... LeBron became a winner at Miami. Even if he wins more championships at Miami... it has become redundant, expected, and almost a cliche.
LeBron winning at Cleveland is new and exciting! He would be rewarded with gargantuan endorsement contracts!
It just seems that LeBron is getting bored at Miami. He needs a new challenge. Been there, done that. Winning more trophies in Miami will prove something historically, if that matters in today's society. With most people, I think not.
LeBron should think it Nike's way and "Just Do It!"
Orange is their country color and the entire country turns orange during World Cup and almost as orange on Queen's Day every spring.
Got to hand it to them... they have the best public parties of any country I've been in!
Hup, Holland!
"Found it thanks, the area I stay is walking distance. I won't be there until FIFA is over so maybe we'll have some luck."
Or... if Holland wins the world cup this spot will be absolutely packed with fans partying down! The Museumplein is an area used to stage gigantic public events.
"He recognizes that OADs aren't the panacea. "
Amen. I think Self sees OADs as a piece, and even then, only as a potential piece. He recruits the best talent he can land, but I think he realizes an easier path is to only have one or two OADs playing on a team full of experienced 3 and 4 yr players.
I wish we would consistently land solid PG recruits who had their heads on right and were not focused on starting as freshmen. I'd like to see us give 90% of the PG minutes to a quality PG who is either a junior or senior. The rest of the minutes goes to the freshman or sophomore coming up.
Su casa has a court right off a big circular swimming pool? ;)
The court on the Museumplein will be easy for you to find. It is right behind the Van Gogh museum and the Rijksmuseum... two big time attractions.
I last witnessed the court about 7 years ago. No one was on it on a beautiful day. The big attraction for young guys was the skateboard ramps. Pity...
Back in the day, that court had a line of guys ready to challenge the current game winners on every decent weather day.
@jaybate 1.0
Lots of nice reading... thanks!
In my books, the one missing piece to Self (and what will help him succeed in March) relates to having a chip.
Let's examine Self's two most-successful NCAA March seasons.
2008 - We were just stacked with everything. What didn't we have on that team? Nothing... we had everything. We should have stomped the entire field but we had to rely on some luck to win it all. We were one shot away from losing.
2011 - We didn't have a single McDs AA on that team and we finished runner up to an all star team. This is the only team we've had during the Self era that had any kind of chip on their shoulders... I venture to say, without the tragic loss of TRob's mother, we probably wouldn't have made it to that championship game. That team played inspired basketball in March with the limited tools they had.
Pretty much all the other years we had plenty of championship-quality talent and teams and they were all beaten by teams that had more inspiration. Our 2011 team came together as a team and they didn't want the season to end because when it did end, Thomas was going to have to face a bigger chunk of his loss. That team had something to play for... they were inspired to win to see another game in front of them. I'm pretty sure if there was guaranteed an extra game for the winner of the NCAA Finals, we would have beaten Kentucky.
Self never really talks about a chip. This is the only area I think he could use real big improvement. He needs to get his guys on the same page and on the same chip every year. Do that and we'll go a long ways in March every single time. It is almost impossible to lose if a team has developed the right chip.
"What if Mario Chalmers hadn't made that shot in 2008? How would we look at Self then?"
As unfair as the "what if" is regarding Chalmers' shot, is as fair as the criticism of premature tourney exits is. The only way for Self to increase his stature is to win more NCAA titles. That's it."
That's it. Winning conference championships is important and does help lift his reputation, but at a certain point the focus has to be on NCs. At a certain point, he even damages the B12 by owning it and then never winning another NC. Bill Self needs another title soon, and so does our league! We've had that discussion in here recently, too... how can our league be so highly valued without winning the big prize more often?
Last year was kind of a unique situation. We had one of the youngest teams in the country. We lost all the vital players off our team from the year before. So even though we laid an egg in March, I do think it was helpful that we played one of the toughest schedules. We should keep that up.
Self needs to find the reasons why we under-perform in March. Why do we often come out flat? Why don't we mix up our strategy more when games get off on the wrong foot? Why don't we focus more on executing better in the last 2 minutes of a game?
I know we better do well representing our country in the World University Games. That will reflect on Self's reputation (and Kansas) in a big way if we lay an egg on that one.
"Just for clarification sake, TRob lost his mom during the '11 season, not the '12 season."
Thanks... I was counting on my fingers and goofed!
@jaybate 1.0
"If Lebron leaves, then Riles unloads Bosh too, spends a wad on a dominant center and picks up a late career power forward and is ready to go."
I think Riley has under-appreciated Kareem, and what he contributed to all those Laker teams.
"...get someone productive to take the burden off of Wade."
Well said. Wade needs to go on vacation for the next 50 years. He should leave the game while people still respect him and not pull a "Muhammad Ali."
For some reason, it does make sense to me for Carmelo to end up in Miami. I think Riley wants to build kind of a recruiting reputation like Calipari has in college.... except his will be that Miami is the place for desperate all stars to go to who haven't ever won an NBA championship and are running out of time. It is a place to go where you will have to make financial sacrifices so you can be surrounded by other big players.
Maybe that is the reputation Riley seeks. After all, Florida is the "retirement state." So maybe the Heat becomes the "seniors assisted-living" team. If you have all star credentials and can still do some scoring come to Miami and take minimum wage pay with a bunch of other golden oldies and shoot for the stars!
But seriously...
@jaybate 1.0
Personally, I'm having a hard time imagining 5 better college coaches than Self. I constantly nag on some of his moves... but I would nag far more on all other current coaches in D1.
Some of my favorite D1 coaches include: Bill Self (#1) and then a grouping including Izzo (HOFamer), Hoiberg (love/hate relationship), Boeheim (just teasing!), Donovan (sometimes), Larry Brown (HOFamer), Calipari (he's so fun to hate)... and probably a few more. I wouldn't have Coach K at the top... unless it is a list of the most-fortunate coaches. There have been too many easy pathways for Duke... in tournaments, in games (bad calls).
It is time for Bill Self to win another NC... time to prove the first one wasn't just a fluke.
I give him a lot of credit for holding that 2012 team together after the loss of Robinson's mom. And how they took a rag-tag team all the way to the finals and still put up a challenge to a team of all stars.
We have lost too many March games that we should have won. That is the one chink in Self's armor. He really really really (using Self language here) needs to figure out that glitch so he can catapult his March records to match his season records. Maybe he should exchange one of his assistant coaches for a fast-talking preacher man who can talk the team up into a fever pitch every time they come on to the floor.
Hallelujah!
I'm of the belief that Miami is nervous about LeBron going on. It seems that LeBron made their draft selections. Everything was about appeasing LeBron in hopes he'll stay.
They want more guard options... but what they really need is a shot blocker.
I think they've put such a head twist on Chalmers, he seems to have lost confidence with this team. Not many teams out there tailor-made for Chalmers, but he should find somewhere else to go where he'll click better so he can build his mojo back.
Interesting. I didn't know LeBron's wife was from Ohio. I thought she would be the one holding him back from returning.
People make the place... that's why I returned to Kansas after leaving for a few decades.
"Just curious, what makes you believe that T-Rob acquired his swagger playing street ball? "
It isn't a requirement of developing swagger to play street ball. However... do we really know TRob's childhood info? I looked at the Google street views of the neighborhood surrounding the church that held the service for his mom. It didn't look well-to-do but also didn't look too bad.
The twins played more like boys from the inner city, than TRob. More because they had a tougher adjustment to college life, rules, college ball, etc. Swagger can be a great thing, but there are often "side effects" that have to be dealt with, too. It took some backfiring experiences from the twins to show them a better path. They eventually learned that developing a street cred in D1 came with a price, like being tossed from games or not given charitable calls... or firing up an opponent by dishing jaw.
I'm really curious how their careers will turn out. They are still puppies in the league.
What people forget is LeBron is an Akron boy. It hurt James, too, to leave Cleveland. Home is home and Miami will never truly be his home.
He should take his clunk championship rings and go home. Spend the rest of his career trying to make it happen in Ohio. Problem is, I don't know if his wife, Savannah, would handle Ohio. Didn't she open up a business in Miami? They are settled into a Coconut Grove mansion. Life is good, so why would he leave?
I believe he is spiritually torn inside. He has two sons and he is concerned about his legacy. He doesn't want to be known as the guy who gave up on home for an easier path to his goals.
“I want to win. If he wants to win, we’d be good together.”
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/06/andrew-wiggins-cavaliers-draft-lebron-james ↗
Imagine that? Wiggins, James and Irving... the future "three amigos" doing it right for Cleveland!
Time to go home, James!
"And if Andrew plans on dressing like that in public very often..."
Oh, man.... I almost bought that jacket at TJ Max.
What the jacket told me... that Andrew decided to stick out at the big dance was because he already knew he was the #1 pick. If he knew he was #2 or lower, he would have dressed softer.
Thanks everyone, for posting on this.
I'd like to see more posters come in here and share their experiences, good and bad.
I'll keep the faith, @jaybate , that the game will be saved by future generations of boys (and girls).
I defend street ball because I played so much of it as a kid and young man. I also, have a soft spot for YMCAs... because it was the Y's that took kids like me and gave us organized (and monitored) sports to play, especially through the summers, when kids tend to stray off course.
I definitely picked up some moves (and swagger) playing street ball, but learning to play within the boundaries came from early organized basketball (for me). I feel fortunate to have both backgrounds. I do really think I could help a player like Perry reach his potential if I could get him onto the right summer court somewhere.
We could extract the aggression out of him like a dentist could extract a wisdom tooth.
"Former New York City playground legend and NBA player Felipe Lopez, now an ambassador for the NBA Cares program Wiggins spent time with on Wednesday, thinks Wiggins is ready for anything."
Felipe is a guy who would know.
Recently, I posted info about city hoops basketball (playground ball) in our forum.
There is so much going on today with education. Schools in poverty zones are being closed at an alarming rate with the hope of centralizing and homogenizing education for our inner-city youth. There are many factors at play here, including an attempt to make sure and expose children from various backgrounds to other children from various backgrounds (including differing races and cultures).
I have no desire to open a can of worms on these school closings. However, what is clear is these closings will impact the game of basketball moving forward. Just like soccer, where so many developmental elements of the game came from favelas in Sao Paulo. The same favelas that have been systematically destroyed to revamp Brazil for the current World Cup and also the coming Olympics. So many moves in basketball today came from inner cities... came from inner city playgrounds... came from inner city schools.
So it seems likely, that basketball will suffer consequences as America revamps her inner cities.
We've witnessed the NBA over the years, systematically adapting rules to remove parts of the game that has always been a part of inner city basketball. So much of the contact is now penalized in hopes of rebranding the game to focus away from the more violent aspects towards the artistic high-flying ballet highlights. College basketball got a big taste of all this last year. Defenders weren't allowed to keep hand checks on a driving player and the charge calls restricted further in attempts to reduce contact.
Will the game live on? We know it will continue high viewership in the near future, but what about down the road?
I believe many people don't like when the play gets rough. It can play a part in creating more injuries and it can stop plays, dead in their tracks, from finishing out to offer even more acrobatic highlights and more scoring.
However. Rough play has a dramatic role in basketball. Like life and like most dramatic performances, there always needs to be a bad guy, there needs to be a hill to climb, there needs to be hardship for the greats to prove they can conquer it to prove themselves great.
At what point does the game of basketball move backwards? At what point is it not attractive enough for audiences to just watch more and more scoring? How many points is enough? Can the game live without villains? Can the game live without the added development created through the magic of inner city lifestyles and their localized basketball?
In past posts I shared a part of that inner city culture. Part of that magic that was the tool for developing so many great basketball players and the moves that brought them greatness.
I am a huge fan of the game. I possess so many highlights in my memory. Plays that will continue to recycle through my consciousness until I die. Many came from the NBA and college basketball. An equal number came from playground basketball. So many came from the short periods between playground games, when the unknown talents had to show their stuff in hopes that they would get selected to stay on the court. NBA draft? It all started on the playground, when kids finally were selected to play game ball. That was their first draft... their first selection process.
Here is a link, answering the question, ‘Where’s Felipe?’
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/zone-ny-hoops-legend-felipe-lopez-article-1.1738959 ↗
Answers:
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Antwerp
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Athens
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Chania
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Amsterdam
I had mentioned previously about the court in Amsterdam was near Vondelpark. Which it is... it is in Museumplein, the park area around several big museums. The court was much different back in the 80s but it is still there.
RUMOR MILL -
I'm taking Thon with me this summer to the Greek islands for an olive-picking tour. We'll make a fortune! He'll pick high, I'll pick low.
@jaybate 1.0
Thanks for making me smile. Any way you can update it on Friday to get me through the weekend?
;)
While digging around on the internet with Google Maps and Earth I ran across this nice helper:
http://www.courtsoftheworld.com/ ↗
Very cool website! I'm just getting into using it now. I know at least one of the above are on that site.
Wow.... even an iPhone app!
http://www.courtsoftheworld.com/mobile ↗
What I would have given to have this 30 years ago!
If you are going to Amsterdam soon, and if you have an iPhone (the GSM version) it will work in Europe. Set the phone to use WIFI and shut off the Cellular data and then I think you can roam for free (as long as you find a hotspot). I always had good luck finding some free internet abroad. The GSM aspect is only if you want to use the cellular part. Europe doesn't support CDMA (Verizon).
I highly suggest plucking down the $.99 for the mobile version of this app.
"He’s either going to be the best player in this draft (and probably by a significant distance), or he’s going to be a disappointment because of injury. If healthy, he’s a star. If not, he’s a bust."
I think that sums it up pretty well.
The thing is... look back on past drafts and look at how many of those players were busts. It seems, too often, that the guys who really make it in the league were not Top 10 picks.
So why wouldn't a team just go for broke? What they need to realize is they are going for broke with anyone they pick. Might as well shoot for the stars and go with a guy that will clearly dominate if he can stay healthy.
We were all chatting in another thread about basketball courts in Europe. So I started digging around on Google Earth in hopes to recover some of my favorite old spots from a few decades back. I had success finding some, and not so successful with others. I have a feeling life has moved on for some of those outdoor rims because the property values in European cities is sky high. My guess is someone's office or bedroom marks the spot where I battled players for loose balls back in the '80s and '90s.
But I did find a few places and thought it might be fun to post them here, without identification, and ask posters to guess the city. I apologize that some of the images are blurry. I had hopes of having very clear images, but I guess Google Earth and Google Maps is not always accommodating when it comes to clarity.
!a.jpg ↗
!b.jpg ↗
!c.jpg ↗
!d.jpg ↗
Good luck guessing.... I'll post answers soon.
Oh yeah... we won that game, right?
(surely I don't have to mention the sarcasm)
"Ok .. but do you think Self will forget he's 7 foot tall?"
...and @truehawk93
You are both right, and because of that reason I'm doubtful we land this uber talent.
However.... this kid has not butt... so maybe, just maybe....
Seriously.... I'd make this guy a wing at the 3.
Sticking him in the paint is kind of a waste. He has too many lateral moves to clog him up in the post around too many bodies.
The best way to think about this guy is to forget he is 7 feet. Think of him as a 6'6" dude with a little longer reach.
"Heading to Amsterdam in a couple of months. I will look for your court"
I'm working right now... but later this evening, I want to see if I can make time to grab a beer and sit down to Google Earth and go searching out some rims.
If that works out okay I think I can post the urls!
"Awesome! You played oversees? What countries? When?"
Let's see... I was playing in Southern Holland and Northern Belgium in the mid-90s. My first experience goes back to the mid-80s on Crete. Chania was the town, not too far from a US Navy installation at Souda Bay. Sometimes we'd get a few sailors to practice with. At that time, Americans were put on a pedestal there when it came to basketball.
I grew up in the Midwest. Born in Kansas. Then had opportunities to go on to bigger places and my pursuits to find ball wherever I went. LA when I was young, sometimes Chicago and even Detroit. The only time I felt threatened (ever) was in Detroit.
What took me to Europe was a job, representing an American sportswear company. I visited all kinds of schools and teams throughout Europe and I sold them basketball, American football and baseball uniforms. That was great until the manufacturer had liquidity issues. Then I moved on to MMA and worked with a company that was involved in MMA just about everywhere in the world (except America).
Playing ball over there never paid for much of anything for me. Quite a few meals, all travel relating to playing, and basically beer money. I was in the second division... never playing for those top teams. But it was still fun, kept me in shape and made me lots of great ball friends. I had my real job so the pressure wasn't on to make a living playing basketball.
I came back to the US about 5 years ago and met my future wife the night I returned.
My favorite places in the world to play basketball... Amsterdam, near Vondel Park, Paris-Berlin-Rome-Athens had some good places but I'd have a hard time explaining where they are at. And Chania, Crete, right beside their big stadium. I spent a year there playing. Those Cretan guys were tough and had more pride than anyone else. You could go into the mountains and visit small villages and hardly find a male, because family feuds always ended in bloodshed. They fought off a complete air assault from the Germans in WWII with simple farm guns, making the Germans put more resources into taking Crete. The Germans always had problems in Crete. They'd cut off Cretan heads in the main squares to instill fear and power. What they didn't know was that just pissed them off and would make them retaliate. The Cretans finally captured a big guy in the German military and killed him, too.
At that time some of the fiercest basketball was being played in the south. Greece and Italy were good places, and I know Spain was good (but I didn't spend enough time there).
Today... I think I'd go to the former Yugoslavia. My wife is Serbian so we pay attention to athletes in that area. These people are tall and athletic. Right now, there are several good players from this region playing down in Wichita. I believe their is a guy 6'10" and one taller. I need to find out more info on them. I heard one has an offer from a big school, maybe Arizona.
@ralster - I'm completely envious. Sometimes I have that feeling... to get out on a court and dribble between my legs and go up for 360-degree collapse. My vertical today is probably about 6 inches. I never touched a ball again after going down in the mid-90s. My only remaining swagger is in play when I'm reaching out for a hand rail so I don't fall down. But seriously... I'm not quite that bad but have a hard time getting on the ground to play with my 1 yr old son.
I keep thinking about what sport would do him right. He's just like his old man... about a 30 lb 1-yr old. He looks better in a muscle shirt than I ever did! His mother said football is out. Sometimes I think basketball and tennis should be out. These days I'm thinking soccer and baseball, but it will be his choice to make. All we can do is guide him. Fortunately, my trophy cabinet that was stuffed with basketball trophies has gone missing! I really don't know which move was the culprit. I never really liked trophies anyways beyond the very moment they were awarded. After that, my trophies always went into boxes and stored in the attic. I never liked looking backwards.
Very sad. He had already overcome so much. I wish him all the best to finding a new path with his life.
I don't have height. I'm a footer.... a 6 footer! But I was a big guy and played like Charles Barkley. I could leap pretty good. I didn't have a problem stuffing with my hand, but much harder with two.
My problem was I had height until the middle of junior high. So I started out as a center, then moved over to PF. I never obtained the right skills to be a perimeter player. Average shooter, average ball handling. I was a post guy, including back to the basket. But I loved playing the post. I always loved physical play. Growing up, we played a game called "baskfoot" which meant tackle basketball on a concrete court. I grew up on city courts. It was fun playing... it was fun rapping BS and then having to prove yourself. It was real fun watching others do the same. There was always tough competition. This was the crowd that lived to play. Guys defended their reps. Some courts you couldn't even get on until you developed a rep first. That meant hanging out at the court, getting out there between games and showing what you got. Some guys never got in games. There was a court reputation, too. The court rep helped establish the players' reps (and vice-versa). Sometimes the guys from one court would visit another. They better win because everyone is going to know what happened. The news eventually turned into folklore.
The best times were games at night, on a full moon (or close to it). We called that "moon ball" because the moon (on a clear night) gives off plenty of light. You had to learn how to play at night. Your 3d perception completely changes (is reduced).
This was all about swagger. And you had to carry swagger with you. What took you a long time to build (rep) could be discounted and humiliating within a single game. This is what took so many guys to the next level. They didn't have fancy gyms to work out in, or coaching. They had NBA school on the tube. Everyone mimicked their idols. I'll never forget when Doctor J took the ball under the rim and seemed to change his flight pattern to bring the ball back under on the other side for a score. I saw a guy do it on asphalt and chain net every bit as good as the Doctor did. He had achieved one of the bigger reps.
I spent 20 years in Europe. I sought out city courts all through Europe during those years (until my knee gave out). It was cool... but never reached the same level as in the USA mostly because the cultures didn't match our inner-city culture. Guys earned reps over there, but they didn't have much swagger or animation.
Right on! Chalmers and Robinson had the same impact Napier and Boatright had for UCONN. They didn't turn the ball over much and they created turnovers. When you get that out of your perimeter, and then add KU's always good rebounding in the post, you will come out ahead on possessions every game. Then a team has to totally out shoot you to win, and that isn't easy to do because if you are winning the TO battle you probably play decent shot defense.
On offense, our perimeter guys need to know how to create shooting space. When you can do that comfortably and you practice enough reps to where your final move against your defender and your shot all come off as one big fluid motion, you'll become an effective shooter. This is where college ball needs to improve and tighten up on to be more similar to pro ball. We are very guilty of this... have decent trey shooters but they can't create their own shot so they perch on the trey line and keep whipping the ball around until one of them gets wide open. Come March, many teams you face will never leave these guys open on a "stand and shoot" opportunity.
But, heck... why am I talking about it when I can show one of the best guys ever to play the game when it comes to creating his own shooting space:
[
Awesome story!
I'd put my skill level down as a middle of the pack juco player. My best moments in basketball were on urban courts and YMCA lunch ball courts in America. These were the places where every now and then some big time players would flow through for a few games. From my diligence of playing all those years almost every day I was fortunate enough to be on the court with several great NBA players. I felt comfortable with my game, but matching up with these guys in simple, meaningless games would show just how far I was from their talent level. It was all worth it to be caught standing in the lane when one of these players would fly through, nearing a 4 foot vertical flight and throw the ball down sometimes knocking me down with the ball. That was some of the sweetest humble pie I've ever eaten!
Having that opportunity clears up any thoughts that "I coulda been somebody..." So I found out I was somebody, just not an NBA player! ha..
Those moments also showed to me what kind of physicality is in the game, especially with big players. For a half a year in Belgium, I had to guard a legitimate 7'1" tree that must have gone about 280 lbs. Several times he went down on top of me. It felt like a car wreck.
Consider the speed, the height and the size of these guys and it won't take long to understand what kind of impact damage they can have with each other, and the floor.
I forgot to mention one of my injuries. A broken nose that kept breaking. Finally had it fixed (after retiring my game) and haven't suffered any symptoms ever since. Besides the ugliness of it, it would suddenly burst into bleeding, like a red waterfall, for no apparent reason. That was a real nuisance for me. I recall most of the players I played with abroad had issues with broken noses. There was more contact in euro ball mostly because of lazy refs. All the eastern block countries played very rough. Makes me think Svee will be one heck of a player!
Thanks.... how did you do that? Do you add html link code around the text? Can we use html in our posts?
I had to change my diaper after seeing that!
Muchos gracias!
God, I'm sick of this comparison. These two players have so little in common with their own unique basketball talents that comparing the two may be equal to comparing a wildebeest with an antelope. Concerning my animal reference, I think we all know which animal symbolizes which player.
However, there may now exist a situation where the two super talents can be compared.
LeBron James played his first 7 years of NBA ball in Cleveland. LeBron became a NBA superstar at Cleveland. LeBron did everything in his power to bring a title to Cleveland (but failed). LeBron (finally) had to divorce his marriage with Cleveland to pursue a realistic chance at the big prize by running off with another woman (The Heat) when he became a free agent.
Andrew Wiggins number is up. After the report of teammate Joel Embiid's most recent injury, most feel that Wiggins will move into the cherished 1st pick in the upcoming NBA draft. Guess who has that pick? None other than Cleveland, the team the franchise that seems to be inoculated against NBA championship trophies. Followers of the NBA can hardly imagine Wiggins at Cleveland without referencing the previous history of James at Cleveland. Could Wiggins be in for a unfulfilling 7 years at Cleveland? Could Wiggins be the next superstar to divorce Cleveland and leave town with fans burning his jersey like they did with James?
There are some similarities in this situation that point to the possibility of history repeating itself. And there are also differences that stick out to let us know it is unlikely Wiggins will follow the same footsteps James took in and out of Cleveland.
First off... James marriage (and divorce) with Cleveland was incestuous. James was born in Akron, Ohio. He was adopted as a native son of Cleveland. Wiggins was born in Toronto, Ontario, 292 miles north of Cleveland, a long, freezing swim for Cleveland fans. If Cleveland signs Wiggins to a contract one of the first questions he will be faced with may be about baseball. Will he support his hometown Blue Jays or jump fence to the Indians? There isn't a lot of love between Indian and Blue Jay fans. It is unlikely he will ever be received (loved) like James was in Cleveland.
Second... Even though Wiggins has received astronomical hype from all the sports media outlets, he is yet to play an NBA game and few people around the game expect him to shoot out of the block like James did. James scored 25 points in his first NBA game and set an NBA record for most points scored by a "prep-to-pro" player in his debut. He was named "Rookie of the Year" and finished with averages of 20.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg, and a remarkable 5.9 apg. in his rookie year. James was off to the races, races he couldn't win in Cleveland. Who amongst us believes Wiggins will have that kind of success in his rookie year? Especially when considering that the pressure will be on Wiggins to produce for a team that can't help relieve the pressure off of him.
You have to wonder what piece of advice James would give to Wiggins today if they could speak in total privacy. Would James tell Wiggins to bite the bullet and sign with Cleveland and earn his wings through years of struggle? Or would James tell Wiggins to bite the bullet and tell Cleveland he won't play there and force a trade (which could damage Wiggins reputation and hurt his paycheck)?
It seems young Andrew Wiggins will have to make some hard decisions soon, though word has it that Cleveland will trade Wiggins if the right deal comes to give them more quality bodies to fill their depleted roster. Maybe young Wiggins (or his agent) has already laid down his ground rules with Cleveland.
So the world turns...
Question to all you great Jayhawk fans:
What NBA team would best utilize the services of one young Andrew Wiggins?
@jaybate 1.0
Here is a link all our Jayhawks better get familiar with between now and then:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/jazzace/ace/hoop/rulediff.html ↗
...and coaches, too!
Basketball from a kid until in my 30s.
Football from a kid through my junior year of HS.
Boxing from my senior year of HS for about 6 years.
I suffered several concussions in football and boxing, none in basketball. I also broke a rib in football.
Most of my body damage came from basketball. My left knee basically had to be completely overhauled after I suffered a complete patella tear during a game. My knee cap had come off and was floating around my upper thigh area. Players looking on were getting sick to their stomachs. The instability of my knee while going down did other structural damage. That ended my basketball days after many years of organized basketball.
I also suffered lots of damage in my hands with jammed fingers and dislocations that eventually gave me problems gripping. 5 years ago I couldn't open a jar or do much of anything with my hands. I have improved since then because of my improved diet (which helped removed the inflammation in my joints).
I feel fortunate in that I could be worse off. Though I've had to go through years of therapy with my knee, and at this stage could use some surgical repair again on both knees. I had to learn how to walk again in my 30s. I had worn a leg brace (like a cast) for 6 months and so all my left leg muscle had withered away to nothing by the time the brace was removed to start my therapy.
I was athletic for my day... but compared to the athleticism today there would be no comparison. All my play was amateur status except for one team in Europe that was semi-pro ball. "Semi-pro" tends to mean "under paid." Meals, basketball (and game) related expenses, and small change.
While we all marvel at all the athleticism these kids bring to the game (and to the fans) we should respect the risk they take on by playing at the level they play at. I know I totally respect these guys and what they do.
Go JoJo!
I was always the guy telling players to stick it out in school. None of these guys are ready for the pros.
I'm starting to think otherwise. Basketball beyond HS is just downright plagued with injuries. Maybe guys should grab the money and run while they have the chance.
Just look at how many Jayhawk players have gone down during the Self era. Many have been injured and it wasn't reported to save their draft dreams.
I'm starting to think that if JoJo had decided to return, he would have gone down to injury this year (again) as a Jayhawk.
In my books, I'm starting to slide the game of basketball over into the category of football when it comes to risk of injury. I know, I know... football is rougher, but we can't discount the impact of playing on a hard surface, especially without body pads.
Football, basketball, tennis (and other sports) have sort of come to a point where the advancement of athletic training works against the athlete.
Athletes are competitors, and competitors want to win. In order to win today you must over-train your body. Hence... fast-twitch muscles are maximized for performance. But other areas around these muscles remain the same (or at least, do not strengthen to an equal degree). Players are hitting harder, jumping higher, making cuts faster. Their bodies can't keep up, plus the training is so much more intense.
After taking that into consideration, I'm starting to think that athletes need to take the money when they can. Get in, cash in, and try their best to play safe (to whatever degree that can).
I've suffered sports-related injuries that I'll have to live with until I die. I wasn't good enough to make big bucks. It's a b*tch to deal with it all and not have created a nest egg from the sacrifice.