Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Tonight's the night

First and foremost, huge game for the Yankees tonight, got to get back to you know, actually winning games. Of course it's raining now so who knows if we'll even play.

But the big event taking place tonight is the NBA Draft Lottery. For the Knicks, this is basically boom or bust. We're guaranteed to pick no lower than 7th, but if we don't get one of the top 3 picks, I think we should just trade down since there's no real difference between 4 and 11. Derrick Rose would be the dream come true, although I'd "settle" for Beasley or Mayo. Obviously there's a big difference between Beasley and Mayo, but not as much as between Mayo and Gordon/Bayless/Brook Lopez, in which case we might as well trade down and aim for Augustin or Gallinari.

But in a perfect world, we'll be in position to get Derrick Rose.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Behold the power of The Captain

Last night, we got our rear ends handed to us, not good times. I'll take the blame since I got to the game late (6:15, I'm a terrible human being). But that's not as important as one event that took place during yesterday's game.

Carlos Delgado hit a home run to put the Mets up 6-0. However, The Captain decided that it was a foul ball, told the umpires to change the ruling, and sure enough, it was ruled a foul ball. Replays after the game showed, and people who were watching the game told me that it was clearly a fair ball, and the home plate umpire Bill Davidson admitted that "bolts and nuts, I fucked up". He even overruled the 3rd base umpire who, you know, is actually right there, and stuff.

So behold the power of The Captain. (He also went 1-3 with a walk and a SB, so if the rest of the team would stop sucking it would be tre-freaking-mendous.)

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

D'Antoni

A few short weeks ago, the Knicks were coached and general managed by one of the worst to ever hold either position. Today, our president of basketball operations (which at this stage is also in effect GM) is Donnie Walsh, one of the most respected and successful of the last 20 years, and our coach is one of the 3-5 best in the league, Mike D'Antoni.

Pretty damn sweet.

I was all set for Mark Jackson, ready to watch the rebuilding project with young, inexperienced players and a young, inexperienced coach. Then Avery Johnson got fired, and it looked like he was gonna be the guy, and I wasn't that pumped, but at the same time anything would be an improvement over the last regime. Then the great reports came out that Phoenix was letting D'Antoni shop around for another job. It looked like he would choose Chicago, since they supposedly have more talent than we do*. But he's ours now.

*This is bullcrap. I'd take Marbury/Crawford/Chandler/Lee/Curry/Randolph/Balkman/Nate/our sweet lottery pick over Hinrich/Gordon/Deng/Nocioni/Noah/Thomas/Sefolosha/whoever else you want to put here.

Quentin Richardson's best years came with Phoenix, Marbury's been talking how he wants to play like Phoenix (whatever makes him happy, his contract's expiring after this season so it'd be nice to see Starbury back in action leading us to where we need to go) and it'll be a lot of fun to see Zach Randolph try to get a shot off in 7 seconds or less. D'Antoni's system is built for athletic players who can run and shoot. While Curry and Randolph (and of course Jerome James) don't exactly fit the bill, guys like Marbury, Crawford, Nate, Chandler, Q, Balkman/Jeffries if they learn how to shoot, and Lee should all thrive with the change. I still think Curry's only hope is for Patrick Ewing to come in as an assistant coach and do with him what he did with Dwight Howard.

Oh yeah, we also have a sweet lottery pick coming our way.

The only possible downside is D'Antoni's bad defensive reputation. I think this is greatly overstated; it's not his fault Steve Nash is in his mid-30s with a bad back, and other than that glaring hole Phoenix had solid defense the last few years, especially after the Shaq trade. Also, hopefully he'll be bringing in solid defensive coaches to help out with that.

Now just because we got D'Antoni doesn't mean we should completely change up the rebuilding plan. I'm not too happy with these Barbosa/Diaw rumors because their contracts are insane and that's what we're trying to get away from. But we're no longer the laughingstock of the league, and that's pretty damn sweet.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Helluva QB, terrible singer

I'm embarrassed to even be blogging about this since it was so terrible, but I received a link to a video of my boy Romo singing the 7th inning stretch in Wrigley yesterday. Out of respect to his greatness I won't put the video up here, but wow.

Jeter Christ almighty, Tony, please, never sing again, you make Jessica sound like freaking Whitney Houston or something.

You know which Cowboy probably has a great set of pipes? PacMan. Don't be afraid to ask him to sing, just pat him down before he enters the stadium, or actually, before he enters the city limits.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Finally

I have to admit, I was starting to get worried (as was he) that The Captain would hit .400, but with no homers. I even went so far as to go on a blog-hunger strike, which is why the countdown was abruptly halted (3-Yankees stuff, 2-Rangers beat Devils, 1-It's the PacMan Jones). But then today he crushed one into the right-field seats, so we can return to normal.

The Captain went 2-5, with 2 runs scored, the solo homer, and 2 beautiful double plays.

Yankees win, the Yankees win, what a Joba by Joba, Joba Joba Doo, and Mariano too. (The preceding line paid for by Harold Moskowitz. All rights reserved.)

Oh yeah, D'Antoni. That'll get its own post eventually. For now, go to your friendly neighborhood Knicks blog (the one on the side, not quite Shaking and Baking but...)