Monday, March 31, 2008
winning an NBA championship
While playing 2k8 the other day, I was thinking of ways to improve my dynasty and asking myself the question, how do I build a Championship contender? While if I were playing all 82 games, all I would need is a great ball handler, a good 3 point guy, and a good defensive lowpost/ great rebounder. I could probably do OK with say, Devin Harris, Brent Barry, and Dwight Howard. I would do better than OK. I would win at least 75 games, and a championship every year.
But this gaming experience wasn't about playing, but about simming. I know that line up would get drilled in the sim game by just about everybody. This is when my real NBA brain came into focus.
What does one need to win a championship? Is it an all fast break 3 point shooting team? Is it a slow defensive minded grid it out team? Then I came to realization that it isn't even really a team at all. Its about the stars on the team.
Here is what I mean.
You need 3 things to have a championship team.
1. A top 10 player overall.
2. A top 25 player(s)
3. People who serve a specific role on the team.
I chose the Raptors for little reason as they were decent, with upside, and had some good contracts I could trade away. I don't want to bore you with "look how good i am with this game talk," so long story short, In year 2, i won a simmed championship with this roster, Bosh(top 10) Gerald Walace(top 25), Caldaron(penetrating PG), Kapono(3pt guy) Bargnaii(stretch the Def Center), and Chris Duhan(back up points).
Each guy had a role that was used, that covered up other weaknesses.
I know, Its just a video game.
Its not how the real NBA works.
You need stuff like team chemistry, and veteran Leadership, and deep pockets, yada yada yada.
Or is the NBA just like the video game?
This formual seems rather simple in explanation, and surly thats not all you need to suceed in the real life NBA.
Well, lets just take a look back as the last few NBA champs.
O0s Spurs - Duncan - top 10,
Manu/Parker - Top 25
Finley - 3 point, Elson/Oberto - Low post defender/rebounders, Bitch Ass Bowen - defensive guru.
05 Heat - Wade - top 10
Shaq - top 25
walker - strech d 3 point, Payton - solid D back up PG, Haslem - Rebounding low post.
early 00 LA Lakers - Kobe/Shaq - top 10
Kobe Shaq - top 25
Role Players - Derrik Fisher, Rick Fox, Rober Hory
90's Bulls - Jordan - top 10
Pippen - Top 25
Role Players - Rodman, Grant, Armstrong, Paxston, Winnington(ok maybe not winnington)
94-95 Rockets Hakeem - Top 10
Drexler/Hory - top 25
role players - Maxwell, Elli, (starting to get into teams I don't remeber much of their role players, I'm sure grunge dave will pipe up with some I left out)
The list can go on.
In fact, the only team in the last 25 years who doesnt' fit this mold is the Detroit Pistons of a few years ago. The reason for this is they ran into a crazy disfunctional Lakers team that was imploding from the inside out. There maybe something to this thery after all.
As to not make this a SUPER long post, I'll come back in a few with how this theroy plays out this year for our little mavs, and for the rest of the NBA.
How good of a GM is Donnie Nelson?
Donnie Nelson has been synonymous with the "behind the scenes" Dallas Mavericks since 2000 when Mark Cuban bought the team. Yes, he technically arrived in 1998 and was an assistant coach for awhile, but work with me here.
Donnie Nelson is given more credit than anyone in building the Mavericks from the old 14 win teams of the early years into the perennial 50-win (maybe) contender they are today. You can't lie with numbers either. Since Nelson has been involved, the Mavericks:
- Have won 66% of their games
- Have had 4 50-win seasons
- Have had 2 60-win seasons, including the 67 win season of last year
- Have made the playoffs seven consecutive seasons
- Made the Western Conference Finals twice
- Made the NBA Finals once
- Won their first Division Title in 20 years
Nelson is given credit for building this team through shrewd free agent signings, impressive trades and draft picks. Dirk and Josh Howard via the draft. Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse, Erick Dampier, Jason Kidd, Antawn Jamison, Steve Nash, Nick Van Exel via trade and FA.
Make no mistake about it, Donnie Nelson is directly responsible for building this Maverick team, be it the run and gun style with his father or the "defense" oriented style with Avery.
Here's my question...is he really that great?
Let's first weigh the drafts, we'll start in 2000, when Cuban bought the team:
- Good hits
- Eduardo Najera (no longer with team)
- Etan Thomas (no longer with team)
- Josh Howard
- Bad hits
- Donnell Harvey
- Courtney Alexander
- Kenny Satterfield
- Kyle Hill
- Mladen Sekularac
- Xue Yuyang
- Vassilis Spanoulis
- J.R. Pinnock
- Maurice Ager
- Milovan Rakovic
- Renaldas Seibutis
- Nick Fazekas
Let's weigh the trades
- Good
- w/Bucks for Dirk Nowitzki (yes, this was 1998, but Nelson is given credit. Dirk is the cornerstone of the Dallas Mavericks)
- w/Suns for Steve Nash (yes, this was 1998, but Nelson is given credit. Fan favorite, led to the Mavericks upsurge to prominence.)
- w/Wizards for Juwon Howard, Calvin Booth, and Obinna Ekezie (new blood to a new team chemistry)
- w/Nuggets for Raef LaFrentz, Nick Van Exel, Tariq Abdul-Wahad, and Avery Johnson (provided the run 'n gun stylings for Nellieball)
- w/Golden State for Antawn Jamison, Danny Fortson, Jiri Welsch, and Chris Mills (added to the run 'n gun stylings for Nellieball and provided contracts to move)
- w/Boston for Antoine Walker and Tony Delk (added to the run 'n gun stylings for Nellieball and provided contracts to move)
- w/Golden State for Erick Dampier (he's the starting center, and he's serviceable and shows flashes of brilliance)
- w/Atlanta for Jason Terry and Alan Henderson (Terry is a big part of this team and Henderson was a "defensive specialist"
- w/Washington for Jerry Stackhouse and Devin Harris via a draft pick (Stackhouse is a big part of the team and Harris WAS the future)
- w/New Orleans for Darrell Armstrong (don't underestimate what Darrell Armstrong was to this team's finals run)
- w/Milwaukee for Keith Van Horn (a great trading chip...maybe)
- w/Indiana for Anthony Johnson (was a "defensive specialist"...kind of)
- w/Minnesota for Trenton Hassell (I liked Hassell and would have liked for him to stay instead of packaged to NJ)
- Bad
- None that are truly bad come to mind, as all trades above held value and led to positive gains for the team
- Unrated
- w/New Jersey for Jason Kidd, Antoine Wright and Malik Allen (kind of leaning towards the bad)
Let's weigh the free agent signings
- Good
- Marquis Daniels
- Avery Johnson
- DeSagana Diop
- Adrian Griffin
- Brandon Bass
- Jamaal Magloire
- Bad
- Wang Zhizhi
- DJ Mbenga
- Pavel Podkolzin
- Rawle Marshall
- Doug Christie
- Greg Buckner
- Devean George
- Pops Mensah Bonsu
- J.J. Barea
- Eddie Jones
- Juwan Howard
I think that, on the whole, Donnie Nelson is a good GM. He's damn sure responsible for dragging this team out of the cellar. However, I think he's a guy who tinkers entirely too much. He's terrible at the draft, and his free agent signings are just "eh". He's a wizard at trades, but it's almost as though he drafts and signs to make trades.
I listed those trades as "good" because in retrospect, they did lead to the team advancing as a whole. Problem is, that was when this team needed to make moves to rebuild themselves into being a contender. Now this team is being compared to the Sacramento Kings of the early 00's as a team that just can't push through. I don't like trade flurries and bad drafts/signings that are made that don't address what a team truly needs to breakthrough. As the windows close and time ticks, the moves seem wasteful and pretty stupid. If Donnie Nelson is as good as the numbers advertise him, he'll do what needs to be done to cut the fat and get this team back on track.
Sometimes, even I've got nothing to say
Well, it's true. Sometimes there just isn't much to say.
It's the beginning of baseball season, but I've already given up on the Rangers (record pace, normally that happens at the end of April). Sure, I could spend any number of posts bitching about the Mavericks, but I won't do that. The draft is still too far away, so the Cowboys aren't on my radar. I love soccer, but I don't pay for Setanta sports and the MLS is weed to a crack head, just not enough buzz. I could write a review of Wrestlemania, but the people that would give a damn were watching it last night.
Since I really don't want to resort to link lists and YouTube clip posts, though I have done so in the past, I want to open the door to others to get their write on.
I know a fair share of you think you can write better stuff than Big and I, so here's your chance. Write up a post, email it to us (link's on the sidebar), and if it has any kind of substance, we'll post it. Think of this as "Big and Brown Idol". So all you people who, like we used to do, just sit on the sidelines and talk shit, here's your chance. We're not looking for other bloggers (got that, Unit and Dorsey?) . We're looking at those people who put on the airs that they know everything there is to know about everything (ass holes like me).
Fair warning, we're not claiming responsibility for these guest posts. You write it, we post it, you catch praise/heat for it.
Phone lines are open.
Friday, March 28, 2008
A budding internet star
beware of the fan.
Norm Hitzges Stole an Idea from Big
Norm just made a point today regarding a theory that he said he came up with.
The theory? The Dallas Mavericks are the Sacramento Kings of the early 2000's.
Big had the same discussion with me last week. I have the text messages to prove it.
Thief! Vandal! Monkey-hipped vagabond!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
HAPPY K. DAR DAR DAY!!!!
Kirby Dar Dar.
He was the best Free Agent WR in the first Madden on the Playstation. He was a solid number 2, great slot WR who could return kicks and was a staple of every team we ever did a season with.
As a real player, he played for the Dolphins, Returned kicks, and only played 3 years, but he was a vital peice of alot my Madden teams of that year.
Happy K.Dar Dar Day!
tonights the night for love
The best mascot ever. Big Red. Western Kentucky. Sunbelt. Bitches.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Brown meets a real live football coach. Says nothing.
However, I was eating dinner last night in Baton Rouge while on business, and I turn to my right only to see a small group of large gentleman in black and yellow shirts at the table next to us.
The man at the center?
Pittsburgh Steelers' coach, Mike Tomlin.
After doing a triple take, my boss wanted me to "Roger Murdock" him and introduce myself as a big fan of "House" and say I really think he was a better Willy Mays Hayes than Wesley Snipes ever could have been.
I couldn't do it for a few reasons:
1) Mike Tomlin really does look like Omar Epps, more so in person. I didn't want to be "that guy" and bring it up.
2) Mike Tomlin is a big fucking dude.
3) The Steelers scouts and coaches that were around him are big fucking dudes.
So, instead of nutting up and saying something witty about Cedrick Wilson and James Harrison or asking him if Ben Roethlisberger was mildly retarded, all I did was interrupt the conversation they were having about the Houston Texan receiving core (I shit you not), and in my meekest "Dikembe. Mr. Mutombo?" voice said "Hey Coach, big fan." and shook his hand.
This was my chance to "Roger Murdock" Mike Tomlin, and I failed.
I'm a big pussy.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The NBA, its FAAANNNNN-tastic
-We said it yesterday, but it needs to be said again, Dirks out at least 2 weeks, now it might be the rest of the year. Since the Kidd trade Dirk was playing the best basketball of his career. It hurts to see him go. Now 1 of 2 things can happen.
1. The Mav's rally around the stars Kidd, Stackhouse, and Howard, keep in the playoff race, Dirk returns with a few games left, and they wreck shop.
2. They fall apart. They miss the playoffs. Avery gets fired(bad thing?). We take a long hard look at this team(bad thing?). We get our pick back from the Raptors, and get a draft pick somewhere around the 14-18 range.
-How is this not getting some looks from the league? I don't want to sound like the Mav's fan who hates all things Spurs, while yes, Their fans are obnoxious, Manu flops worse than the movie Gigle, Bowen is a dirty mother fucker, and I heard Pop kills puppys while masturbating, but when the Mav's get CRUCIFIED for wanting to trade Stack, so they could cut him and then sit out 30 days, then come back to the Mavs. Thats a big no no said Stern. They can't do that. a week later the Spurs traded Barry for Kurt Thomas, then Barry was cut, waited 30 days and resigned with the Spurs. How is this any different?
(fuck the Spurs, last time we met in the playoffs, we won)(bitches)
- The Supersonics of Seattle are all but gone. Or are they? While the team will be moving, the name Sonics, colors green and gold, and all the records might be staying in Seattle. Good call boys. Maybe if you change the name and colors people will forget how you douched the fans of Seattle.
- Rockets were a cute little story with their 22 game winning streak. They are 2-3 since. Its a little harder to win when you play Boston, New Orleans, Golden State, and Phoenix. (They only won against GS)
Extra Turnbuckle! Joo-uce!
He was feeling Sausy, so and he had something else on his mind, so here is another entry from el blogadore.
I just glanced over to My27 and saw that "In the Army Now" was on. I watched for a little bit. I love Pauly Shore movies. This is probably the worst one. The Blogadore criteria for judging a movie if it isn't automatically good is "how would this make as a wrestling show?"
"In the Army Now" has 4 recognizable actors in it. Pauly Shore, Andy Dick, David Alan Grier, and Lori Petty. The tent scene with these 4 caused parts of my brain to stop working. None of them have anything. Pauly shore kind of does, but it's not enought to count. It's a what Delkus would call a "trace" amount, but nothing measurable.
Putting these four together is like a cage match with Chuck Palumbo, Kenny Dykstra, Jamie Noble, and Jimmy Wang Yang. You kinda like them as individuals, but when they're carrying the match you're checking other channels.
"Bio-Dome" is by far Shore's masterpiece. Why? You have pre-Jesus Freak Stephen Baldwin, Kylie Minogue, William Atherton (the jerk that made them shut down the containment unit in Ghostbusters), and Henry Gibson (the head of the Illinoise Nazi Party from Blues Brothers).
So all these characters/actors carry parts, but not the entire movie. Very similar to say a battle royal or 8-man tag match. Example, the No Way Out match between DX and Owen Hart/Steve Austin/Chainsaw Charlie/Cactus Jack . Nobody had to carry that match because all the work that was needed to be done was done by role players.
I can go on all day analyzing the Pauly Shore collection as it compares to professional wrestling, but I don't want captivate you too much keep you from getting things done.
No, you don't get that time back.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Breaking down A bracket
Every year I try and get a Bracket pool going for a little bit of money(monolopy of course, becasue gambling is against the law here in Texas.) Sometimes the players are many, and sometimes they are few, but its always a good time. I send out brackets to everybody in the address book vie email, knowing that some people don't even care about sports. I got this bracket back somtime saterday, from my buddy N8 (his name not mine, and he is in his mid 20's not 12.) It looks like this.
Click here for a bigger pic.
Lets just break this down a little bit.
First off, you know he is a Soccer fan, having Manchester win it all.
In a move to make Brown happy, the Indian Cricket Team is better than both The Green Bay Packers, and Fidel Castro, but not the Govenator.
Hitler was a 1 seed that got upset in the sencond round.
Texas(the state I beleive) bested Bradd Pitt, Steve McQueen, and JFK (well, Dallas really bested JFK)
The Univ of North Carolina had a hard road to the final 4, with hard matches against The Dali Lama, Jessica Alba(must be the pregger thing), the State of Tennessee, and Darth Vader.
In what would have to be the most one sided match from the aspect of trailer park support, Dale Ernhardt got past Bin Laden in the round of 16, only to loose to the predator.
Upsets in my mind were as follows.
John Wayne Gacy over the 92 Cowboys.
Gonzaga over Ghandi
and
Tennessee over both Godzilla and King Kong.
Good time waste, good concept. way to go N8(nate), it was gr8(great). TTYL(talk to ya later), you bdb (big douce bag).
the 2nd Turnbuckle - Wrestlemania Style
Screw Brackets. Those things are fixed anyway. Tennessee a #2 in the same bracket as UNC? NCAA just trying to hold down Jews.
Gimme Wrestlemania.
This the one time it's ok for mainstream athletes and celebrities to show up at a WWE event.
I assume the card will go in order from least interesting to most. So with the first match-
Bunnymania Lumberjack w/ Snoop Dogg as Special MC.
Why Snoop? Does he think he's master "scripted reality" and can jump in the ring? Granted he has always come out as a fan, but Special MC has no significance. Just like having Pam Anderson walk out Kevin Nash or a special bell ringer.
And the match is going to be horrible too. If you really want to see impressive women wrestling check out TNA. You want the possibility of a fake boob popping or popping out watch the Divas. If you're late for the start of WM, it's ok you won't miss much here. Gimme Mae Young in some crazy stunt that excites 4 people, one of which being Gruber.
JBL and Fit Finlay in a Belfast Brawl
I can't stand either one of these guys. The only one who brings anything is JBL and that's only with decent mic work. This is also almost as corny of a name for a hardcore match as the The Roddy Piper/Goldlust "Hollywood Backlot Brawl"
24-Man Battle Royal for a shot at the ECW title
Guys are fighting for a chance at Chavo? Really? Chavo? They always throw in a Battle Royal at WM. They're easy to do, everyone knows who is supposed make it to the final 4 or 5. There is so much going on in the ring you can talk to a guy without the fans noticing you're laying out your spots. The gimmick battle royal was the best. This one may be alright, but here is my hope, and it never happens. They allow Al Snow to compete in the Battle Royal as all of his personas. I don't even care who wins this. Gimme The Shockmaster in an amazing comeback. In all reality expect a surprise comeback, Bobby Lashley....?
Batista VS. Umaga
Hey, we've got big names, they don't have anyone to fight, they're not in our long term plans, what do we do? Have to yellers push each other around and do nothing exciting. This match will suck. Here is your chance to go get more food and drink, quick Kroger is a little further than you think.
Money in the Bank Ladder Match
These are becoming classic. And this line-up has lots of promise. John Morrison, Shelton Benjamin, Carlito, Mr. Kennedy, MVP, CM Punk, and Jericho.
MVP will not win it because he had to fight Jamie Noble for his spot. Jamie who? Exactly.
Carlito won't win because he doesn't have any push behind him. He will always be this era's Razor Ramon. Great IC champ, never the big dog.
Shelton Benjamin. He's in it because he's pure athlete and will do a great show. Too bad he can't find a great gimmick to get behind. Third time is not the charm.
John Morrison. Nope. Too wierd. Too small. The Shaman of Sexy needs to stay in ECW. For some reason the creative is cramming him down our throats.
CM Punk is definitely a fan favorite. But I don't the WWE is ready to put a big title on him. He will get a push for a title that will be vacated shortly. It'll be his trial run. Nobody goes straight to the Big Belt.
Mr. Kennedy will be a big player, but I don't that he's got the heat to be a champ. They could do an "Edge" deal with him and push him with the briefcase to see if he's worthy of holding the belt.
And my pick is Chris Jericho. The WWE would be stupid not to get him in the big mix. He is a headliner. You don't hype someone up as long as they did to have him fight mid-card. It would be like bringing back the McRib and putting it on the Dollar Menu.
Ric Flair V. Shawn Michaels (career threatening match?)
I wish they wouldn't put that in there. It's just a match. The stipulation has been attached to every Flair match for 6 months. Now the story is pretty good. HBK and Flair have been pretty Brokeback for each others abilities and careers and if HBK beats Flair, Flair has to retire. This one can go either way and I'd be happy. I hold hope it will be one of the best matches and put itself up there as one of the greatest in history. HBK over Flair, they walkout arms over each others shoulders or hands on each others bums wear the back pocket should be.
Mayweather V. Big Show
This will go up there with Inoki and Ali in reality, but won't be anywhere close to Balboa and Thunderlips as far as entertainment.
Reality- Mayweather hires someone in his posse to shoot him at a casino, because Mayweathers superfast-rockhard-tiny hands do nothing to Show's watermelon sized melon and body shots would be useless, the guys too big. Unless he punches him wear Jeff Watts happened to make an observation back at Starcade '99 (most obscure reference possible).
I don't how this will playout but you can catch the highlights on Sportscenter.
Edge V. Undertaker (Heavyweight Title fight)
It'll be a decent match. The only storyline here is will the WWE/Undertaker give the OK to put Edge over as the man who ended 'Takers WM undefeated streak. I so want it to happen. So we can put the Taker in the HOF next year. He's only around for nostalgia. Plus I don't want to risk the chance of BikerTaker coming back.
Triple Threat Match for the WWE Title: Cena V. Triple H V. Orton
This is a very classic match. No highflying theatrics, just guys beating on each other with the most impressive thing being someone bouncing of a rope and Orton possibly going to the top rope.
Orton gets taken out of this pretty early. You were an OK champ kid, thanks for keeping the belt warm. Because they have not changed the appearance of the belt I see it going to Cena. But, looking at the timeline I could see it going to Triple H. He hold the belt through the summer feuding with Cena and hints of Jericho.
Cena and Triple H feud up until One Night Stand or Vengance, that's when Jericho steps in to cash in on his Money in The Bank win and sets up another Triple threat match at SummerSlam. Which would automatically become greatness both in the ring and on the mic. Give me 3 other guys that would be better to feud with the stick? Hilarity and hijinx (hijinks?) ensue.
Thank you Wrestlemania.
Welcome to Hell, Gentlemen.
Now, with a single image, hope is lost for the city of Dallas and the people have given up...
I sent a text message to Big and Bear after the Mavericks' loss against the Spurs yesterday, and it was this:
Blind loyalty? Yes. Homerism to the highest degree? Yes. Faith in a sinking ship? Yes. Did not use retarded text messaging language? Yes.
"12 game streak into the playoffs. I'm calling it. The mavs are the nba version of the ny giants this year. Gonna win the opening round, beat the division rival, then the 2nd seed, then the boston team for the title."
Don't bail on these guys yet. If you do, you're racist. That's right, I said it. White guy goes down and all the white people bail? For shame.
Friday, March 21, 2008
"Beat Brown's Caption" Contest!
(Note: Sadly, this wasn't photoshopped...H/T With Leather via Fan IQ)
How did you get to our website?
Here's some highlights of ACTUAL SEARCHES that people have done that have made them visit this little site right here.
twogirlsandacup - I like the fact that our website is now synonymous to women eating shit. Why do people need to Google this? Haven't they figured out the site to go to?
soulja boy ejaculation - I can only imagine some guy sitting at his computer looking for naked pictures of Soulja Boy Tellem, apparently ejaculating, and ending up on Big's comparison of the Mavericks to the Big Lebowski.
june jones fucker - Have we ever mentioned June Jones on this site? Neither of us care about SMU football or Hawai'i football. Let alone, why someone wants to see or call him a fucker.
new porn order - Giggle.
sam elliot nude blogspot - Again, I picture some frumpy housewife who has just seen "Tombstone" and thought the guy with the bushy mustache was uber-sexy. So she's in front of her computer looking for nude pics of him to get her rocks off. She specifies blogspot because, let's be honest, that's much more innocuous on your search history. What does she come across? A "STOP Hammertime" picture.
around and brown porno - And here I thought no one found out about this.
bigs clitoris - I always knew that he had one. This proves it.
bigs moms on small boys - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
boylove - Thanks, Google. I'm just waiting to walk into my own living room one day to find Chris Hansen asking me to sit down and tell him what this has to do with our website.
brown porn - A vast collection indeed. You should search for it.
That may be the sun, but these are dark times in Dallas
Quick Pop Quiz:I'm not sure just what the fuck is going on in this city and its sports teams. Do the Mavericks and Stars not realize that the Cowboys left a bad taste in our mouths and the only thing coming up is Ranger season???
Name that Team
1) They are sliding late after a promising start of the season.
2) They just made a huge trade that looked great, but now is causing all sorts of growing pains.
3) Their Coach is in danger of being fired if this doesn't turn around.
4) Their Players are accused by some of not having the guts to win when it matters.
5) Their Playoff reputation is what keeps anyone from buying into them.
6) They just got beat at home by a team from Southern California.
7) They play their home games at the American Airlines Center.
8) They frustrate the heck out of me.
9) You would be foolish to bet on them advancing past round 1 this year
10) They might need another drastic overhaul when this season is over.
Answer:
If you named either the Stars or the Mavericks, you win.
Come on. I'm begging the Sports Gods' mercy. Laura Miller is not in office, forgive us for her parade sin. Forgive us for Jessica Simpson. Forgive us for Matthew McConaughey. Just please, have mercy on this city.
Day one,
In our little bracket thingie over at ESPN, guess who is in last? That's right, its Brown. I can't say much because I'm second to last, I missed USC, Kent, and the upset special Winthrop(bastards, make me look dumb!!!), but out of those I only have USC going to the next round, so its still anybodys game.
teams I liked from yesterday:
UNLV played great and could give Kansas some problems.
Pitt may have the best defense in the nation right now.
Notre Dame can beat anybody if they get hot.
Teams i didn't like yesterday:
Duke has to play better than that. they might be the weekest 2 in the tourney
Xavier scared me yesterday. I have them all the way to the round of 8. That didn't look like a 3 seed yesterday.
Another slate of games today, and much like yesterday I will be poping on and giving some "reports" on whats going down while i'm at work today. Games i am looking forward to seeing:
Western Ky. vs. Drake - Its the classic David vs. well... David.
Davidson vs. Gonzaga - Its the classic David vs. well....David-son(ha!), again (did they do this so we will most def get a smaller school in the second round?)
South Alabama vs. Butler - Do you see the pattern? All of these are the early games, almost saying go fuck yourself mid majors.
Austin Peay vs. (The team that can't be named for fear Brown will kill me for writting about and "jinxing" his alma mater)
UT-Arlington vs. Memphis - Maybe this Mavrick team will play with some heart.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
NCAA Live!!! (kinda)
love the 16-1 match up, Kansas already has 64 and still has 10 left in the game.
The fact that Xaiver/Georgia is the only competive game has the streamming very shaky. I can hear just fine, but I'm watching a silde show right now. Its like someone explaining to you their first time at a basketball game and showing you still pics. "And this Gaines going to the rim." when all it looks like is a bunch of blurry black guys on a basketball court.
Tied at 49 with 7:50 left to go, then Georgia missed 2 layups, followed by a fast break 3 pointer by Xaiver. This could be the begining of the the end.
Other games don't look worth watching at all, Kansas by 25, Mich St by 18.
Yup, in 2 min the X Men have taken all the big mo, now lead by 8 with 5 min left
Dave Bliss from Geogria(how on EARTH did this team not play Baylor in the first round?) just slammed home a NASTY dunk to get the dawgs back to within 4.
Temple is trying to get back into the game againt Mich St, pulling within 12 with 2:20 to go, but nobody is watching because Georgia keeps fouling Xaiver in their comeback attempt.
So Xaiver, Kansas, and Mich St all move on to the round of 32. Good stuff
NCAA Live!!!
Looking forward to later today
Kentucky Baylor Kansas St.
v v v
Marquette Purdue USC
Texas A&M George Mason
v v
BYU Notre Dame
and my upset special
Winthrop
v
Washington St.
Where I think Winthrop will shock the fine older ladies that just wanna fuck us young dudes.
More to come. Keep Checking this post.
15:35 left and Xaiver is down 11 (!) to Georgia. Georgia was 4-12 in the SEC this year.
Mich St. is starting to pull away from Temple, 42-26 with 17:00 left in the game.
And no shocker in the Kansas game, they are blowing up Portland state, who has a 5 foot 6 starting point. They are up 20.
Xaiver started playing like a 3 seed again, pulling withen 4 and has the ball
OK - so the live bloging has lagged my video streaming, so This will the be the last post till after the early games.
Last Chance
Go to here over at ESPN, and sign up, when asked for group search The Big and the Brown, make your pics, if your Number One, you get a post on this here interweb.
Good stuff. I will be on later with some team/people to watch today.
Sex me.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Please, Howard, don't hurt 'em
Here's a basic synopsis of the movie:
The film begins in "Duckworld", a version a planet Earth, only with talking ducks...naturally. Howard, our duck-hero, is sitting on his recliner flipping through the latest edition of "Playduck" (a hilarious play on the magazine "Playboy" if you ask me), and his chair takes off like a rocket and ending up in Cleveland, Ohio.
That's right, if aliens are coming to America from Duckworld, they're coming to Cleveland. I have no problem with that what-so-ever.
A gang of punks mistake him as a child in a costume a proceed to carry him into a club where Lea Thompson's band is playing. The bouncer, also believing Howard is a minor, throws him out of the club. Howard hears Lea Thompson getting accosted by two thugs, and prceeds to use his "Quack Fu" skills to dispose of the would be attackers. Lea Thompson invites him to her apartment.
I think that this was a direct statement on society in general. Here, it says that the gang mentality of America (remember, it's Cleveland) is to assume anything different is to be feared and removed from our daily lives. It takes a extraordinary task to truly earn acceptance by human society from an outsider.
Howard tries to get a job, but is ridiculed for being different. He dismisses Lea Thompson and goes on to cope with life by working in a hot tub and sauna center fixing, you got it, hot tubs and saunas. He is treated unfairly by his employer and leaves.
This is a great statement on how illegal aliens are treated and exploited to do the menial tasks that the rest of us want to do. I know when I need my hot tub fixed, I request aliens.
Howard returns to Cleveland...you know what? Forget it. It was fucking "Howard the Duck". Only two guys I know will argue the movie has relevance, and one of them is the Blogador. I wonder just how high George Lucas was to read the comic and say "I'll make a movie out of this. After Star Wars, I can't miss!"
The 2nd Turnbuckle - Return of the "lost" Blogadore
So maybe the Blogadore isn't as great a performer as previously thought, but, hey, people still go nuts for Hulk Hogan. Or in the case of Brooke Hogan's 33 year old friend, some people still go for Hulk Hogan's nuts. Heeyyooooh!
I think the writers for "Lost" were part of the creative form late-90s WCW.
The survivors of Flight 815 were the regular WCW. We thought "how are they going to get off the island?" just like we used to think "Who's going to be the next heavyweight champ?"
Then walks in the Outsiders, Hall and Nash. All of a sudden the Others are here to add to the crappy situation. Ethan and Goodwin are making lists and stealing kids. You follow me?
That storyline gets a little boring. But there are still each individual story to watch. That's like the wrestlers who weren't a part of the nWo or feuding with the them.
Eventually everyone is conglomerate or each other. The Others are teaming with Survivors, Survivors are fighting survivors. This is the same situation the WCW/nWo was in. Everyone was either WCW or nWo and someone was trading teams at one point.
So what did they do? Wolfpac.
(I'm pretty sure they misspelled it on purpose to be kewl)
You had nWo (black and white) and nWo: Wolfpac (black and red).They fought each other while still pushing around the WCW regulars. Now on the island you have Camp Locke and Camp Jack, who not only feud with each other, but with the new visitors to the island.
There is something to this theory. People tune in every week just to see who the mystery person is, be it Ben's spy, one of the Ocanic 6, the Captain. Just like we tuned in every week to see who was joining or getting kicked out of the nWo.
Next...WM 24 picks.
T-Shirt Design Contest
Are we actually going to follow through on getting shirts made? Only if demand breaks the 10 person barrier.
Who chooses the best design? Once we get a minimum of 4 designs, we will post them on the site and make it the poll for the week.
Remember, this shirt has to stretch over Big's frame and match my Brown skin...it's the name of the blog for a reason, ass hats.
Here's the first offering, from my bad MS Paint skills and even worse design skills.
New Feature!!!!
Is it a cheap pop? Yes.
Will you still do it? Yes.
Do you love us? Yes.
Check it out on the sidebar, just above the links.
We love you.
Why did the Mavs lose last night?
There are a lot of reasons this team lost the game last night:
-Bad play for 2.5 quarters
-No motivation
-Disappearance of Jason Kidd
-Bad call on Stackhouse
-Having Howard pass in the ball instead of a good passer
-Kidd's double pump three pointer attempting to draw the foul
All of those are good reasons, sure. But here's the real reason....
Guess who was sitting courtside???
I'm not saying, but I'm just saying...
I didn't see my friends die face down in the muck......
That's right, I have come to think of this team as this man.
Walter Sobchak.
The man that keeps fucking shit up.
I don't understand. This was a league game, Smokey. It wasn't Shomer Shabbos. The lakers were over the line, and yet we did nothing.
Where was the fight for the first 2 1/2 quarters? Where was the Intensity?
Dirk played out of his mind trying to will the team back in it with 35 and 11. JET got hot at points and finished with 19. But it seemed the Mav's brought their pomeranian bowling as Jason Kidd's line was 7 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 effin point.
1 EFFIN POINT!?!?!
And your the guy who takes a double clutch 3 pointer? Nice.
Don't get me wrong the Kidd trade is still a good thing in my mind, unless he keeps playing like this.
As for the Lake show? Man that creep Kobe can roll.
too bad he's a petter ass. And by petter ass I mean a guy who like to rape chicks from Colorado.
He had 29 and 7 assists. Most in then first half when they blew up the Mav's.
The Mav's can still get on point with a win in their next 2, but right now they are playing way more like a scared little team with no heart than a championship team. In the grand scheme of things, this game means very little. For all we know, she kidnapped herself dude. If this team makes the playoffs and wins (first time I have ever said IF they make it), then its no big deal. But I'm telling you, the ringer can not look empty.
And right now it does. So as the Mav's keep fucking shit up, just like Walter, I'm going to sit here and finish my coffe. When I'm done, maybe I wont care so much that LA just pee'd on my rug.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Too many great things about this clip to name...
You have to get through the first 20 seconds...apparently Pawl TV should get the hat tip here.
Let's try...
1) Greatest song ever made.
2) Mockery of the music video with a man I believe to be Jason Garrett
3) Mockery of women's basketball
4) Confused old people
5) Cheerleaders dancing as if this is totally normal
6) "Scientology Kills" sign
300 Jumps the Shark

Let me get this straight, Michigan State decided it was a good idea to dress their basketball team's head coach as King Leonidas from 300.
Wasn't Izzo a respected coach at one time? Honestly, I just don't see Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski, Rick Barnes, Billy Gillespie, John Calipari, or any other coach that has an ounce of respect doing stuff like this.
I blame Bruce Pearl.
Umm, tonights kinda huge
I have been paceing for the past 2 weeks thinking about.
This thursday might be the biggest sprots day of our young year.
NCAA Tourney Starts. Mav's play the Celtics. I'm sure somewhere Jerry Jones is wheeling to make a big splash in the draft. And i'm sure Tatoo is still playing indoor soccer.
I don't know how I can take it all in.
I need a warm up.
What?
The NCAA tourney play in game is tonight?
Nice, but thats won't be enough
What?
Rockets and Celtics tonight too on TNT at 8:30? 22 games in a row is on the line?
Nice, but I still don't think that will prepair me for the Sports intensive thursday.
Really, They are?
The Mav's and Lakers play tonight? But we just saw Mamba drop 50 on us the other week. Its going down again. This time at home? Nice.
I think this will do. It will get my blood pumping basketball. This week is going to be Awsome.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Need help on your brackets?
- Read a few posts on different sites so you know just enough about each team. Just say "I like Psycho-T" after each question about a player and you'll appear to have the basic grasp of things.
- Make a few daring picks like a 15 over a 2. If you're right, you can claim you're a genius. If you're wrong, just say "come on, did you really think I thought Tennessee would get upset? Whatever. "
- Make statements like "George Mason is totally setup to upset Notre Dame because they're a better team, but got a bad seed." People eat this shit up, and you look like you know what you're saying.
- Hate Duke, after all, that's the chic thing to do. Greg Paulus is the new J.J. Redick.
- Say "Bruce Pearl is a great coach who obviously cares about his team and his school" and make sure you ignore anyone who brings up the whole Illinois tenure...that didn't count.
- Mention to me that Texas set themselves up nicely by falling into the Houston region. Really, I need to know from other people what my team does because I've never paid attention to Texas sports.
- Mention to Big that mid-majors have no chance of ever succeeding. Seriously, he loves that shit, and might buy you a beer for your trouble.
- If anyone asks you what you think about teams that were left out of the tournament, just say "the NCAA hates the state of Virginia"....VCU totally deserved a chance to lose in the first round.
- Make sure you share your bracket with everyone. Don't wait for them to ask. It's like fantasy football, everyone is really interested in how your stuff looks and how things are going for you and your bracket.
- When Beasley gets "Kevin Durant-ed" out of the first round, be the first to make the comment: "It doesn't matter, he'll still be the first pick in the NBA!"
- Pick a random team, and claim you've followed them all season. Drake! Xavier! Brown's perennial, Gonzaga! St. Joe's! Come on, folks, bandwagons are filling up now!!!
- Look down on anyone when they question why the tournament names an "MOP" and not an "MVP"
- Tell anyone from California that Kevin Love isn't as good as Tyler Hansborough. Watch a live brain aneurysm take place as they argue the East Coast media bias.
- If anyone from Baylor speaks up, tell them Dave Bliss called and said "you're welcome"
If you really want some insight on what's happening, check out the boys at Thirty Five Seconds. These guys have paid attention to CBB all season, unlike anyone else you know who claim to have done the same thing.
Are they really going to help you pick your bracket? Probably not, but at least you can make some educated guesses.
Have fun on your brackets people. It's Spring Break, so your boss wasn't expecting you to get much work done anyway.
Side note: For those that are wondering why I haven't filled out my bracket in our ESPN challenge, it's because my computer won't load the bracket picker. Rest assured, I've already got it loaded on CBS Sportsline, so my picks are made.
This made my day
Dirk loves him some Hitler humor!!
Yes, it’s just locker-room humor. It’s not Louis-Schmeling and all its societal gravitas. It’s not World War II. It’s just a highly-competitive race for the playoffs in the NBA’s Western Conference. But there is pressure. And inside the Mavs, there are tensions and conflicts and adversity. There are newcomers trying to mesh with holdovers. There are black and white people, pulling together, rooting for the same thing.
And in the middle of it, there is Dirk Nowitzki. Happy? Yes, so happy that he’ll allow himself to be the butt of Hitler jokes.
Could it be true? Could it really be true? The guys on the team actually make Hitler jokes at Dirk's expense? Oh please, oh please let this be true. If I read a story about Josh Howard beating Jason Kidd with a cookie and then making Toni Braxton jokes, this team can go ahead and miss the playoffs because I'm thrilled!!
Everybody is Irish Today
And of course the Rap Video
I ain't this ballsy
However, this shit is unacceptable.
How are you gonna stick a rattlesnake in vodka and sell the shit??
The only acceptable excuse here is to say that this is another Texan attempt to smite the Mexican. "Sure, you put a worm in your tequila, now try a mother fucking rattlesnake in your vodka, Pedro!"
Bracket Time Baby!
You come on over to the site, find that we a few new posts, you read them, all the while you are saying to yourself, "man these guys have no clue what they are talking about."
First off I must say we are not talking, but Typing(poorly), ass hat.
Second, here if your chance to do something about it. If you, the sexy reader, think you know about basketball than either me(probably) or my hetro-sexual life mate Brown, bring it on.
ESPN every year has a Bracket Challenge. All you need to do is sign up, when it brings you to the "Join a Group or create one" screen, you search The Big and The Brown. If you can't figger it out, hit us up with an email.
What do you get if you win? Well, the number 1 guy/girl who gets the most right at the end of the Tourney wins a free post to rub it in our faces. Thats right, you too can have nobody read your sports thoughts on our website! Or you can take the time to say how much we suck! Or even better yet, how thankfull you are that we let you read what we think!
Who knows, you could be the next Blogadore, Nayfa, or even the Next Kennith Noisewater!
Remember, the Group Name is the Big and the Brown, or send me your email at thebigandthebrown@yahoo.com and I will invite you. Enjoy Bitches!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Coming to a TV near you
Here's a video of all the Rangers television commercials you can expect to see on televisions across Dallas.
I'd like to note the running theme of "there's no crying in baseball" as the Texas Rangers' theme. Why in the fuck would they choose that as the motto? Does the front office not understand how bad the fans really have it?
I can guarantee tears over the Rangers. If not from sadness of defeat, then from laughter at the piss poor pitching.
Yay for alliteration, Brown, yay indeed.
ATTENTION, SEXY READERS!!!
Today, my friends, is your day.
Today is Steak and BJ Day!
(Use your common sense, that's obviously not a safe for work site.)
So, make sure your woman (or right hand) cooks you a steak tonight and polishes the chrome.
Between today and St. Patrick's day, it's the bitches that need to beware the ides of March.
Was that a Julius Caesar reference? You're god damned right it was.
I'd like to think we had a hand in this
Now, in a sweet, sweet turn of justice, the NBA is suspending Bowen.
Bruce Bowen of the San Antonio Spurs has been suspended one game without pay for striking Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets with his leg, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
The incident occurred following a foul call on Paul with 5:15 remaining in the third period of the Spurs' 100-75 loss to the Hornets on Wednesday, March 12 at New Orleans Arena. Bowen will serve his suspension tonight when the Spurs visit the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Did you know Bruce Bowen had the longest active streak of consecutive games in the NBA? You didn't? Oh wait, it doesn't matter because that ends tonight.
"Beat Brown's Caption" Contest!
How long until Jon Daniels trades Eric Hurley and Josh Hamilton for Billy Crystal and Daniel Stern?
Time Waste
Such as.....
Enjoy.
Hat Tip to my boy Unit QM. Good looking out.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
No, really, Bowen's the best defender
Yeah, that was a blatant attempt to stomp Chris Paul's manly bits, but make sure you don't call Bowen a dirty player, lest the entire city of little Mexico come down on you. Ass holes.
I also really like how Bowen has worked with Duncan on the "raise your hands and looked shocked that anyone would dare assume you did something wrong." Between those two and the Oscars that Parker and Ginobili should receive, I'm shocked Pop hasn't opened an acting school.
A Coin flip?
Ryan Mckinney: Do you think the Mavs got a chance to go all the way? They have a winning record against the Spurs, Rockets, Suns and Hornets over past 5 years and Jason Kidd is doing great.
David Thorpe: I do. Almost a coin flip, as I see it, with LA.
This from a chat yesterday.
While the Mav's have gotten themselves on a nice little run against bad teams, including whooping up on the Bobcats last night, 118-93, They are still only 7-5 with Kidd, and in 7th place in the west. Can they win a title? Sure, are they a top 2 team as Thorpe calls them? Not yet. We will find out next tue, thurs and sunday, when they play LA, Boston, and the hated Spurs, respectively. They must win 2 of those games to be considered a top gun.
Talk to me Goose.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
First Felix Pie's nuts, now this???
Kaz Matsui (ignore the picture, as he's with the Astros now) is taking a bit of a rest from playing over the next four or five days because of anal fissures. What's that you say?
Well...
An anal fissure is an unnatural crack or tear in the anus skin. As a fissure, these tiny tears may show as bright red rectal bleeding and cause severe periodic pain after defecation. [...] Most anal fissures are caused by stretching of the anal mucosa beyond its capability. Various causes of this fissure include:
- Straining to defecate, especially if the stool is hard and dry
- Severe and chronic constipation
- Severe and chronic diarrhea
- Crohn's disease and Ulcerative colitis
- Tight sphincter muscles
- Anal Intercourse
Go west young man, and you find Trouble!!
Last week, durring the Artic Blast 08, we saw what was was the low point so far in Mavericks basketball, with a crazy whoopin' that the streaking Houston Rockets put on the Mavs. After a couple of games against New Jersey and New York, its time to start the West Confrence Watching, to see how it will all turn out in the end. Here is the shake down as of right now, with about 18 games left.
Team Games Back
1. LA Lakers --
2. San Antonio 0.5
3. Houston 1.5
4. Utah 3.5
5. New Orleans 2.0
6. Phoenix 3.0
7. Dallas 4.0
8. Golden State5.0
9. Denver 7.5
10. Portland 11.5
11. Sacramento 16.5
12. LA Clippers 23.0
13. Seattle 29.0
14. Memphis 29.5
15. Minnesota 30.5
Here are some thoughts.
-LA isn't wont be as good in a 7 game playoff than they are right now. Unless of course Bynum can come back.
-Houston will cool off, but unlike I thought 2 weeks ago, they will make the playoffs, but will probably still be beaten in the first round.
-Devner is the only team that can sneek past one of the last few teams. Portland and Sactown are both almost completly out of it.
-Dallas and Phoenix both better get better as the season hits its final run, or the world will explode.
-Seattle, Memphis, and Minnesota are all playing the "Mike Beasley" game right now. Well, Minnesota might be playing the Derrik Rose game.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Welp, at least he didn't go all crazy
He was getting a big "push" from the company, and could have held the strap at some point this year. I'm bummed to see him go. He was intertaining. For more info, check out Ring Posts
In a little bit better news, Jake the Snake Roberts is out of Rehab! It was his 3rd go, hope its the last.
BTW- If Snake was on the Rehab show with Dr. Drew, I would have watched it.
BTW2 - He kinda looks like Sam Elliot right? You know the guy from Tombstone? He is the voice of the Whataburger? Go fuck yourself.
Great read for your late lunch
My personal favorite part of this post is the comparison of Brad Davis to Bill Bates and Rusty Greer.
Really, there is no better way to describe the mustachioed one, and I am unbelievably jealous that I couldn't think of that.
Wait, greatest Maverick ever?
I think you've all forgotten a certain Lafayette "Fat" Lever.
Suck it hard, bitches.
Jesus, why is this even a debate? Of course Dirk is the best Maverick player of all time.
The woes of being a Ranger fan
Where was I? Oh yeah, the Rangers.
The Rangers have always had a problem with pitching. It's a gimme. It's like traffic at 5 pm on the highway. You know it's there. Everyone else knows it's there. HOwever, we bitch about it none-the-less (and get in wrecks, like yours truly yesterday).
However, this year might turn out to be the worst pitching staff ever cobbled together from the scrap heap.
Let's take a look, shall we?
Starters
The "Ace" - Kevin Millwood
10 - 14 season last year, ended in injury, ERA in the 5's. Still injured. Hasn't thrown a pitch to a batter yet. Plans on being the opening day starter. *Cough*Ryan Dreese*Cough*
"SuperCrazy" - Vicente Padilla
6 - 10 season last year. ERA in the 5's. Batshit crazy.
"Free Agent" - Jason Jennings
2 - 9 season las year in the NL. ERA in the 4's. Hasn't been relevant since 2004.
"Young Gun" - Brandon McCarthy
5 - 10 season last year. ERA in the 4's. Injured and out for 6 weeks already.
"Anyone?" - ????? Kason Gabbard or Sidney Ponson, I guess
Spot open, if anyone wants it.
Closer:
"Maybe" - C.J. Wilson
Showed promise at the end of last year. Injured already.
The Best of the Rest:
Joaquin Benoit? Frank Fransisco? Wes Littleton? Jamey Wright? Eric Hurley?
Do those names do much for anyone?
Look, I don't claim to be that knowledgeable of who's coming up in the ranks and who is doing really well at spring training. Check UweBlogSports or the Newberg Report for that. All I'm saying is that not only does this staff make me want to ram my head into a wall, there is no one that appears to be coming up! The Rangers defied technology and decided that DVD wasn't their future. I can only guess we've got enough guys to create the word "LASERDISC" somewhere in Frisco.
I agree that I could use some baseball, but at this point, I'm wondering if it's worth it.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Tomorrow, Shawn Marion plays for two teams at one time
What bothers everyone (including me) is that both of these teams are COMPLETELY different.
Let's see, a large fellow was traded to Phoenix for an all star. A bunch of guys were traded to Sacramento for a veteran point guard. A few guys are in the D-league now. A coach has quit on his team to become a scout...pretty much a flip from the last time.
The argument has been made that it's really a question of two entities playing each other, and it isn't the players. That's retarded. The NBA is NOT a league based on the name on the front of the jersey, it's based on the name on the back. James, Bryant, Howard, Nowitski, Duncan, Garnett, etc. Those are the entities you are associated with.
Anyway, the Heat were, indeed, fucked on a scorekeeper's error and now they are getting another crack at it.
My question here is, doesn't this set a bad precedent?
How many people are going to claim they were screwed by a time clock, shot clock, a scorekeeper, this, that or the other? Can't they just point to this game and say "you let them replay it, why not us"?
For a league that Stern and Jackson want to run on objective thought and rule, this seems to be about as arbitrary and subjective an application of rules as it gets.
As for the Shawn Marion thing? He already played a game on December 19th for the Suns, and that's in the stat book. Now he's going to play in a game for a different team that will go on the stat book for December 19th. Physics be damned, he really is "the Matrix"
A voice from Germany's past requests victory
Beckenbauer is a legend in German soccer, having won the World Cup as a player in the 70's and again as a coach in the 90's on the foot of Jurgen Klinsman. (He's also famous for playing along side Pele in the long forgotten New York Cosmos, but that doesn't really apply.)
Keep in mind this is a VERY young German team that reached the semis of the World Cup 2 years ago, and has pretty much coasted into the Euro qualifiers. Here's the kicker. They've WON the past few friendlies that they've played, but according to Beckenbrauer, they played sloppy and uninspired soccer and he's calling bull shit.
How does this affect anyone who reads this blog? Think about it.
If one of Dallas's local sports teams is far outperforming what's expected from a very young team, and they've gone on to damn near coast to everything they've played and consistently win games by a decisive margin...would you hear anyone get pissed off?
You might argue that people were saying that about the Cowboys. However, phrases like "Don't worry, they're just reserving themselves for the playoffs" or "A win is a win, no matter how ugly, right?" pretty much say that people accept sloppy play regardless of what it might mean for the future.
The point here is, no matter how good your team is playing, no matter how much they are out performing what you'd expect from them, if they play listlessly, carelessly, or without fire, they can never break through to win.
Perhaps the coaches, supporters and players/leaders should take note of this and realize what it take to get out of the first round of a playoff run...or in the case of the Rangers, get through April and still have fan support.
Javol Mein Furher!
Thats my wunderkind.
As for the game, Dallas smoked the Nets 111-91 in a contest that wasn't ever really close. Dirk had 34, Stack 20, and Kidd threw in his 13 dimes. Surprising play of the night? Brandon Bass had a season high 19 pts off the bench.
We got to see our former players Devin Harris(9 pts 2 assists), and Diop(1 pt 5 boards) struggle, so that was kinda nice for the whole Kidd trade flavor.
But the story of the night was Dirk. He passed Ro Blackman with his last 2 points in the 4th quarter, to become Mr. Dallas Maverick.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Wow...three names I never thought would go together
Steve Kerr:
"I think maybe there was something behind the scenes there," Suns GM Steve Kerr told Sports 620 KTAR.
...
"If I'm Seattle, I'm not going to let Barry go, I'm going to let Donyell Marshall go," Kerr said.
...
"(Seattle GM) Sam Presti used to be in San Antonio as an assistant," Kerr said. "Who knows? I don't have any proof of that and I'm not about to look into that."
Bill Simmons:
"In my post-trade-deadline blog, I wondered why Otis Smith didn't trump San Antonio's offer for Kurt Thomas. Well, Florida Today reported Seattle demanded first-rounders in 2008 and 2010 from Orlando, then settled for a 2008 first-rounder from San Antonio that will be a worse pick than the pick Orlando was offering. Um, how is that not collusion? Sam Presti worked for the Spurs; now he's giving them a discount price for Thomas? Throw in Brent Barry's curious decision to spurn Phoenix for the Spurs, as well as Steve Kerr's frustrated comments afterward, and this is like one of those shady incidents that happens in a fantasy league. I thought Presti stopped working for the Spurs?"
Me:
"Don't think that Mark Cuban is going to sit still when Barry goes back to the Spurs. Remember how the league was going to step in and say "Hey, Jerry Stackhouse, you can't do that?" Well, now the Spurs are going to pull the same shit about it with Barry. If Cuban doesn't purposely overpay Barry as a confusing "fuck you", then he's certainly going to piss and moan when Barry goes back to San Antonio."
Yeah, I wasn't right about Cuban getting too mad. However, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks some seriously fucked up shit is going on down in Lil' Mexico.
"Beat Brown's Caption" Contest!

Keep talking, McCarver, Joe Buck is showing the world "Blue Steel"
I had no idea we were so popular among English majors
We all know that Big is semi-retarded when it comes to spelling. We all know that grammar and punctuation haven't been strong points in either of our writing since maybe the 9th grade.
That being said, don't waste my fucking time by pointing out words that have been misspelled or incorrect usage of punctuation in posts. You try dragging Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes!
I love you.
We bow to our Rocket overlords
You know what? I'm tired of this crap. Look, I've been a Mavericks fan since the days of the 14 win seasons, so I'm not complaining too much. However, I'm really getting tired of finding myself saying the same god damned thing over and over again about this team:
-Need more interior presence.
-Stop the perimeter shooting game.
-Get nasty.
Even then, I'm okay with things because those are the kinds of players we have. When Jerry Stackhouse is your best "drive to the hoop" guy, you gotta expect this shit.
What is really a thorn in my side these days is Avery Johnson, the Overcoacher. I'm an Avery fan. I think he is the kind of coach this team needs, in that he's a task master and he's, supposedly, a czar who forces his team to do what he asks. At least that is what I thought he was supposed to do.
How in the fuck does the COACH OF THE TEAM complain that his team spends too much time on the perimeter and doesn't have any interior presences. I don't want the coach to say "geez, I'm pretty sure I could have driven the lane tonight." YOU'RE THE FUCKING COACH! YOU NEED TO TAKE YOUR MIDGET-LIKE, NEW ORLEANS CAJUN ACCENT AND TELL THESE PEOPLE HOW TO PLAY BASKETBALL!
That being said, Grunge Dave over at Dream Shake said it best, the Mavericks are playing against the Suns to see who can choke themselves out of the playoffs. Note how both of these teams made "big moves" to match the Lakers and Spurs this year. I've still got faith the Mavericks can sneak in, but god damn it, play some fucking basketball people.
Time to Eat some crow
As you can tell by the pic above, The Dallas Mavericks lost to the Houston Rockets last night 113-98 at home.
We had a little side bet with the boys over at The Dream Shake, a Rockets blog; Whose ever team wins get to pick the Image and get a few lines in the others morning blog, so they choice the Tony Braxton Kidd above, and this.
"Jason Terry and the Mavs were no competition for the streaking Houston Rockets. The Overcoacher had no answers for Tracy McGrady or "Luis Landry" and even let Rafer Alston be the hero of the game. You know you suck when Rafer gets his season high against you in a 15 point victory. Meanwhile, Dirk Nowitzki was likely enjoying his one-game reprieve by taking Ms. Toni Braxton out for a nice seafood dinner... and then never calling her again. Just to stick it to Jason Kidd. Show him who's still the boss. The Mavericks are now fighting with the Phoenix Suns to see who can choke their way out of the playoff race faster."That from Grunge Dave at the Shake. I got one other email last night from him simply saying "pwn3d, bitches." (they requested the text to be "Rockets Red," So if its a red rocket you want, let me holla at my buddy's dog Vegas. He's always sporting one. )
yup.
It pains me to see that Kidd had a line of 7 6 and 6 in such a big game because I'm still on board with the Kidd trade. The thing that I'm not on board with right now is the play of our other "stars." I knew that having Dirk out would be a hard pill to swallow, but I thought "Hey, we have 2 former all stars, Josh Howard, and Jerry Stackhouse, and a score from any where threat, Jason Terry, we will be alright."
Boy was I wrong. Terry had 17, all in the first half, Stack had a measly 11 off the bench and while Howard had 21, his main job was to stay in front of T-Mac last night, and well not so much buddy. His 31 points said we didn't have ANYBODY that can d up on that guy.
The "Luis Landy," as the Shake people call the combo of Luis Scola and Carl Landy, was painstakingly great last night with 29 points and 11 rebs between them.
And then good ol' Skip to my Lou Alston had a season high 24.
It pretty much just sucked all around last night. At least the bet made it fun/agonizing to watch. I hope we can do the same kinda bets with these boys over the rest of the season.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
A Must Win Game...in March?
Center
Mavericks: Erick Dampier
Rockets: Dikembe Mutombo
Brown's take: If the Damp that has played in games prior to Utah shows up, then this is going to be a fun matchup to watch. Mutombo has been playing out of his big African mind, and I expect that if Damp nuts up tonight, you'll see some banging in the post. Mutombo has been playing very well in Yao's absence and over the streak. If Yao was healthy, no friggin' contest.
Edge: Mavericks
Power Forward
Mavericks: Brandon Bass (I guess)
Rockets: Luis Scola
Brown's take: I happen to like Brandon Bass, and I think he does well in a reserve roll either at the 4 or the 5. Do I think he's going to make noise as a starter? Not so much. And who's going to play behind him when the Rockets bring in the surprising, Carl Landry. Scola's averages about 15 and 7 in the past few games, which is serviceable as a role player. If Dirk were playing, no friggin' contest.
Edge: Rockets
Small Forward
Mavericks: Josh Howard
Rockets: Shane Battier
Brown's take: Doesn't this really depend on which Josh Howard shows up tonight? If it's the poor shooting, lump of crap, that we've seen the past few games, then Battier has this wrapped up. If J-Ho pulls his head out of his ass, then maybe he'll remind everyone why he's part of the trio that is this team. Battier is exactly what the Rockets need him to be, steady and consistent force. Battier is a glue guy, and you can't really underestimate that.
Edge: Mavericks (I'm betting on J-Ho to find himself...God I hope so.)
Small Guard
Mavericks: Jason Terry
Rockets: Tracy McGrady
Brown's take: I'm a homer, but I'm not that much of a homer.
Edge: Rockets
Point Guard
Mavericks: Jason Kidd
Rockets: Rafer Alston
Brown's take: The aging veteran against the And-1 tour. I happen to like Rafer Alston, but I don't think he's quite on par with what Jason Kidd brings to the table at the 1.
Edge: Mavericks
Bench
Mavericks: Jerry Stackhouse, Eddie Jones, Devean George, Malik Allen (TB&TB Favorite), Jamaal Magloire
Rockets: Carl Landry, Bobby Jackson, Luther Head, Gerald Green, Steve Novak
Brown's take: I think the Rockets have a stronger bench presence. They've adjusted to Yao being gone, and they've made the necessary changes to the rotation. The Mavericks are without their guy, and now they are depending on an steaky bench to bring this home.
Edge: Rockets
Coach
Mavericks: Avery Johnson
Rockets: Rick Adelman
Brown's take: Boy, ask me a year ago, and I'd have said that Avery is your guy left, right, up and down. Now a days, the "overcoacher" seems to make the wrong decision every which way he turns. Adelman on the other hand has his guys playing as a team and getting hot at the right time in the West right now. He's adjusted for the loss of his anchor, and has his engine humming.
Edge: Rockets
Miscellaneous
Brown's take: The Mavericks have matched up very well against the Rockets, and they are playing at home. Dallas has proved that at the AAC, they are much more of a force to be reckoned with. The fans are going to be bumping because they know that Dallas needs support with Dirk out. I'd love to say that Houston is "due" for a loss, but I'm not one to believe in those kinds of things. I just think that given the circumstances, the Mavericks know how much of a "must win" this really is, and that gives them an edge that really can't be discounted.
Brown's Final Take: Mavericks in OT.
CHAA-LOUNG
Our Buddys over the Dream Shake, a H-Town Blog, have put a little something something on the game. Which ever team wins tonight, The Blog from the team who wins gets the pick the Image, and a little part of the recap for the other site.
Its time to put up or shut up Mav's, don't make us look like Douches.
Teenagers are the bane of society
Teen Killed Dad for Banning MySpace
Shocking, huh?
I'm really not sure what bothers me most about this story.
-Is it the obvious notion of a child killing their parent because of restricted access to MySpace?
-Is it the fact that said child was, indeed, considering suicidal thoughts and this was some kind of subconscious acting out of those against others?
-Is it the fact that the parent left a shotgun and ammunition sitting on a counter in the garage?
-Is it the hard to believe fact that this kid has female friends and she, of all people, was able to "talk him out of it"?
-Or the line: "Me and my dad would go squirrel hunting. Apparently he trusts me with a rifle"
I just don't get it. When I was 15, I got upset over things like not being able to acurately determine if it was a boob or an elbow on squiggly porn. How in the hell does one get so upset over something as trivially retarded as MySpace to kill their parents?
Really, it's times like these I wish some parents took the Chris Benoit approach to parenting.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
ESPN has a story worth reading
I've often thought of what kind of a mind fuck it must be to recieve 10's of million of dollars in one check when I was 21 or 22. I'd have probably blown it on strippers and sour punch straws.
Think about guys like Mike Vick who sunk his money into the best rape stands money could buy. Or Pacman who spent his money making it rain on strippers. Or Tony Mandarich who, well, no one knows what the hell he's doing. I'm sure there are more stories of former NFL players who are back to working the loading docks at Home Depot because they blew through their cash.
For all the flack the NFL and NFLPA cathes (and rightfully so) for not taking care of the older players, this is a genuinely good thing that they offer.
Why are people surprised?
My question is, why is anyone surprised?
This is who runs the organization:
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Two quick points
He's retiring. I hope someone has John Madden and Peter King on suicide watch. Aaron Rodgers? Craig Nall? Paul Thompson? Draft Pick A? Who's the guy that's going to be put in the next Brian Griese/Jake Plummer/Jay Cutler type fiasco of trying to replace a legend and fan icon?
2) You won't like Dirk when he's angry
Sure, the Mavericks lost last night, and badly to the Utah Jazz. Did anyone else kind of feel taken aback that Dirk went all Kermit Washington on Andrei Kirilenko? Better yet, does anyone think he screamed "HITLER WAS BETTER THAN STALIN!" when he did it? I hope he did. I'm probably one of the few who thinks Dirk should stare down David Stern and Mark Cuban as much as possible. I bet Big was proud of him.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Can anything not be graphed?
Whoever did this, god bless you.
I'll never write this again.
Will the Mavericks win a title? Probably not, at least not in this year's Western conference. Are they a better team then they were 3 weeks ago? Yes.
I'll be totally honest, I haven't paid much attention to Kidd since the Nets were the finals a while back. Sure, I always knew he was a great basketball player and that he was one of the last remaining pure point guards, but getting to actually watch the guy play reminds you just how good he is and how much he really can change a team.
You've got guys like Dampier who are directly benefiting from having a guy find them right under the rim where they can't miss a shot. You've got guys like Dirk, Howard, Stackhouse and Terry that are benefiting by no longer having to create their own shots. Shit, I'll even say that J.J. Barea, the great Mexican hope, is benefiting by learning to play the game under Kidd.
Again, as much a Mavs fan as I am, I don't think they've got what it takes to win the West THIS YEAR. However, I think a trio of Dirk, Kidd and Howard is much more potent and much more successful then a trio of Dirk, Howard and Harris.
