A Quote
Denver Nuggets coach George Karl on what team he would prefer to play in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs:
"If we had to pick and choose on it, we would probably say 55 percent Dallas, 45 percent Oklahoma City, only because Oklahoma City is athletic like we are and they have two great players...I just think right now our speed might have more effect against Dallas than it will against Oklahoma City."
What's the over/under for how long it will take for Mark Cuban to respond to this? Especially with how active he is on Twitter? If I set it at 12 hours, would anybody take the over? Anybody? How about the over/under for the dollar amount he will get fined? Never mind...
George Karl has always been especially candid with the media, but I also read this as a sign of how refreshed he feels with this new team. Now that he has players who will listen to his coaching, he is reminding us all just how good a coach he is. With that new feeling comes this confidence, methinks.
Having said that, I am a bit nervous about how much attention the Nuggets are getting as a "dangerous" team entering the playoffs. Hopefully their depth and athleticism will be enough to overcome their opponents' determination to crush the media's new darling team.
Another Quote
Allen Iverson is making me sad. Here is part of his tirade after police officers informed him that his car (with tags that expired two years ago) was going to be towed:
"Take the vehicle, I have 10 more...Police don't have anything else [expletive] to do except [expletive] with me. ... Do you know who I am?"
When Iverson was a Denver Nugget, he generally won fans over by giving us the impression that he was an older, wiser, calmer AI. Now he is blowing up, Lindsay Lohan style.
A Video
Here is a bit of Rory McIlroy's press conference after he shot a 65 in the opening round of the 2011 Masters, which has him tied for the lead. When Rory gets hot, he rips it up like a great NBA streak shooter, such as Jason Terry or J.R. Smith. You know, those times where you're watching and you think to yourself, "he just can't keep this up...can he?" And then he does...in Rory's case, for the rest of his round. It will be interesting to see if McIlroy can take advantage of this fast start and stay atop the leaderboard as the conditions get more demanding this weekend and as he hears the footsteps from veterans like Phil Mickelson (-2).
A Bonus Video!
Here is Alvaro Quiros after his opening round 65. Who cares? We do now, after David Schaffner mentioned his antics in his Masters preview. We can only hope Quiros sticks around long enough for fans to see him repeat his patented (has to be, right?) 'driver off the deck' shot in a major championship.
A Photo
Sports Illustrated gives us the top 15 NBA floppers. None of these really surprised me, although I was a bit disappointed that Shane Battier was on the list. But let me jump to #15: Sasha Vujacic. To flop, you have to pretend to care about defense...at least a little bit. Right? I'm surprised he even drops back on defense. If Vujacic just spent the whole game (all 6 minutes that he plays) spotted up at the three point line on his team's offensive end, would anybody notice? I guess there would be one less body flying around.
A Tweet
@PaulPabst: Try to use your "Masters voice" today in casual conversation. Buttery...whisper a lot..."yeah Jim, can you pass me the TPS reports?"
I was absolutely planning on using my Jim Nantz voice in class today, something like this: "Hello friends. Here on this beautiful Thursday morning, I am struck by the author's conversational voice. It's shaping up to be a glorious and exciting weekend in the Colorado State Library. Now let's send it back to Professor Ronda."
I decided not to, mainly because I could not think of a way to pipe in the relaxing theme music so that it was playing in the background. But that's the only reason I didn't do it...
A Masters prediction!
Will you believe me that I made it before play started? You probably will since he's 7 shots off the pace. I will stubbornly continue to pick Lee Westwood until he finally finishes the deal and wins a major.
A Thought on the Red Sox
This is far from an original insight, but here it is anyway: you can't win the division in April, but you can lose it. I think this 0-6 start will prove to be nothing, because this team will win games in bunches. But they better stop the bleeding...soon.
A Suggestion
Watch Nuggets vs. Thunder tomorrow night. It might not impact Denver's playoff seed, but it should still be an intense and entertaining match-up. These might be the two best teams in the Western Conference right now. Let me emphasize right now again...because if the playoff Lakers show themselves, this theory no longer holds.
Links
Rick Reilly on the 1986 Masters http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=6295999
Dan Wetzel on why Brad Stevens will stay at Butler http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=dw-wetzel_stevens_already_found_big_time_040311
Lisa Olson on the San Francisco Giants fan who was recently critically injured in a parking lot assault (warning: will make you upset) http://aol.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2011-04-06/critically-injured-giants-fan-described-as-gentle-calming-presence
Wayne Drash writes about Nick Charles (warning: this is sad) http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/06/nick.charles.facing.death/index.html
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