Class of '92: Where are they now?
So Shaq the rapper wasn't quite as successful as Shaq the baller...


You can't stop the reign of Shaquille O'Neal...the first black king of Ireland

But when his lyrics got quoted this week, something jogged in my memory banks...from Shaq's What's up Doc (Can We Rock?):

Now who's the first pick? me, word is born and
Not a Christean Laettner, not Alonzo Mourning
That's okay, not being bragadocious
Supercalifragelistic, Shaq is alidocious

With Shaq heading to Miami, I've thought how interesting it is that the Heat will now have had two of the best centers in the past decade--the "alidocious" Shaq and Mourning--who by luck, were taken 1 and 2 in the '92 draft. And from such beginnings, there was even a little bit of a rivalry (though all of those other rivalries are so 1997).

But what the rap song made me remember is that Laettner was the third pick in the '92 draft--and now he's going to play for the Heat as well. This now means that the first five players--and eight of the top nine--taken in that draft have now been members of the Miami Heat--and none were originally drafted by them.

1. Orlando Shaquille O'Neal -Just signed with the Heat and immediately becomes the best player in franchise history
2. Charlotte Alonzo Mourning -...replacing 'Zo, who went to Miami after three great seasons with the Hornets
3. Minnesota Christian Laettner -Just signed with the Heat--his fourth team in three months! Not the same career trajectory as Shaq or 'Zo.
4. Dallas Jimmy Jackson -Even more of a vagabond than Laettner. Averaged 10.7 ppg with the Heat in '01-'02
5. Denver LaPhonso Ellis -A shell of himself when he signed with Miami in '01; played two seasons and retired.
6. Washington Tom Gugliotta -The only guy on this list NOT to be with the Heat yet...though maybe he'll follow Ellis' lead
7. Sacramento Walt Williams -Played for the Heat during their stretch run in '96
8. Milwaukee Todd Day -He averaged 40 ppg for me in NBA Live 96. He also played five incredibly non-memorable games for the Heat in 1997
9. Philadelphia Clarence Weatherspoon -A vital role player during the '98 and '99 seasons

This has to be some kind of historical statistical fluke...and I have zero interest in spending any more time analyzing it. But before I sent it off to ESPN or CNN/SI or whomever, I wanted to put it out there before you saw Lang Whitaker breaking it down (and giving me no credit for the linkstigator that I am).
- posted by DD @ 1:21 PM

 
How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

So they're not quite the bomb squad...

U2's making headlines all week--they've been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame AND their new single is coming out by end of the month.

What can I say--they're the bomb.
- posted by DD @ 3:05 PM

 
Shots fired

I like to shoot, early and often.

More possible bad one-liners include:

They said Rodney White never met a shot he didn't want to take.

Not the way to improve your shooting percentage.

And I wondered why I couldn't sleep Saturday night...it's because at 3 a.m. NBA free agent Rodney White was driving around my neighborhood shooting his gun off.

I know what book I'll have read by Thanksgiving break...
The latest Tom Wolfe novel...with excerpts turning up all over the place...and with a lurid story allegedly based on Duke?

There's a place for everyone in a Republican White House...! Just know your place.


- posted by DD @ 11:37 AM

 
Terp-irrific Tuesday update

I might not start this year!

Terps back from their tour of Italy...sounds like a number of players enjoyed a good two weeks but also interesting for who (Gilchrist, Mike Jones) isn't mentioned.
- posted by DD @ 10:43 AM

 
Breaking news
My friend Jake--who may be surprised to see the term "friend" used as a descriptor given the level of mockery that passes between us, mostly from him and to me--said something reasonably wise this one time. I know, that's giving him a lot of credit, but it was only once; it even snows in Florida every so often. So anyway, Jake was talking about the news and what usually gets covered--politics, sports, weather, etc. To Jake, these stories weren't necessarily news; they were pieces of information, used to provide safe passage through your day (I'm paraphrasing here). The real news was chronically underreported: scientific breakthroughs, medical treatments, or new discoveries that were going to change the world, hopefully for the better.


This guy isn't Jake, but the resemblance is eerie.

With that thought ever-lodged in the back of my mind, I took on the day's stories this morning as usual, and came across the following--which even Jake might concede is newsworthy.

But back to news that you can use. I usually hate on Philly for being a second-tier city, but this is pretty cool.

Don't call it a comeback: Ankiel and 'Zo--who will last longer?

This MJ never arrived--but will the other ever really leave?

And the Ravens secondary just got a whole lot more interesting...but is Prime Time's contribution only a fantasy?
- posted by DD @ 9:14 PM

 
Every Olympics needs a villain...
The point has been made by many that in the absence of the Soviet Union, East Germany, and the rest of the eastern bloc, there's a dearth of bad guys to root against during the Olympics*, leaving the competition less compelling television as a result.

(*unless you live in any country that is not the U.S.)

Luckily, though, NBC offered us up a potential villain...

So what happens if she can't conceive? Will she take a baby from the maternity ward and pretend that it's hers anyway?

I just feel sorry for Svetlana, really. But I also highly enjoyed watching the drama of her losing again. Thanks NBC!

Gymnastics, in general, was really just a lot of fun to watch over the past few weeks--but it's the one sport in the Olympics that I would never, ever, want my daughter to participate in. And I know you've all got my back. Someone sent me this last week; it's from ESPN, I think...and it sums up my feelings on the poor gymnasts:

"As for the "women's" (and I use that word loosely) gymnastics on Sunday night ... I mean, what would possess someone to direct his or her daughter toward the seedy world of competitive gymnastics? Would you ever send your kid to the Karolyi Ranch? After the ongoing Michael Jackson fiasco, isn't it every parent's duty to avoid sending their kids to a place that features someone's last name with the word "Ranch"? Besides, what's the thought process behind pushing your child to such a sport?

My daughter's a little on the small side ... maybe we should push her toward gymnastics. This way, she'll look like a hobbit for the rest of her life; she won't menstruate until she's 25 years-old; she won't be able to eat ... EVER; she'll never meet anyone other than tiny, non-menstruating gymnasts who look just like her; she'll have a decent chance of being socially dysfunctional because she spent 15 hours a day in her formative years with a pommel horse and high bars prominently involved; and as an added bonus, a frightening Romanian will become the dominant father figure in her life. Also, she'll suffer from chronic knee problems for the rest of her life. And we'll make this gamble just in case she defies million-to-one odds and wins a medal some day, which she can hawk off some day to pay her bulimia/anorexia bills as an adult. This sounds fantastic! Sign me up."

Interesting links:

A different take on movie reviews (I think I've linked to her before, but not recently)

Who's in and who's out: A popularity contest in the U.S. Congress.
- posted by DD @ 6:34 PM

 
No surprise.


In an outcome that shocked no one who saw the US finish 6th in the 2002 World Championships--held in Indiana!--the Olympic basketball team lost to Argentina today in the semifinals, elminating any chance at a gold medal. The men's basketball team had lost just once in Olympic competition before this year. This year alone, they've lost three times. So far.

For weeks, pundits across the country have attacked the team's attitude and performance (leading a few defenders to fight back), the willingness of some players to participate, but particularly the screwy selection process which left the team filled with athletes but sans shooters.

Speaking to the first criticism: Admittedly, an NBA player isn't going to approach the Olympics the same way a Michael Phelps will. Phelps has been building towards the Olympics for 8 years. Lamar Odom, maybe 8 weeks. And you have to applaud the NBA players who do take their summers off, knowing that they're putting their careers in the balance.

And to the second: I don't think the answer lies in securing the participation of Kobe, Shaq, and the rest of the first-tier NBA stars (though that team would be considered, at first, nearly unbeatable. But the current team still has, by far, the most individual talent in the Olympics. Based on that alone, a team filled with NBA superstars is no lock). First, that team would be nearly impossible to put together. It worked in 1992, with Jordan, Magic, and Bird setting the pace, but who's going to be the inspiration to the other superstars this go-around? Kobe was enough of a prima-donna that he was trying to get the Clippers to play home games by his house, an hour outside of L.A. His dream is to be the greatest ever--in the NBA. Do you think he wants to put his career at risk and be a complimentary player for a couple months in his prime? Or any of the superstars (save Duncan)?

Rather, it's the third problem--the selection process--that's both easiest rectified but requires the most strategy to fix. Despite the 2002 failings, the national committee still patterned this year after the original Dream Team: the most marketable, dominant NBA stars. Again, this might have worked with a perimeter of McGrady and Bryant, a forward tandem of Duncan and Garnett, and O'Neal down low. Still, I'm not sure what the national committee was thinking when NBA stars began cancelling, one after another. And rather than go out and try to build a team, it was almost like a college admissions process--since up-and-coming NBA star #18 won't go, we'll invite marketable young NBA star #19 in his place.

If the US is going to have a gold-medal winning basketball program again, we're not that far away; however, our future squads need more practice time and more care in assembly. So many observers have offered potential solutions, though in my mind, none have quite hit it. And, according to Wisdom of the Crowds, a book that's generated some buzz lately (and full disclosure, I've been reading), while an individual expert might not hold all of the answers, selectively picking among the responses might identify the best alternative.

Here's what I would posit for the next twelve-man roster the U.S. puts together; something not on the order of a year-round national team, but far more permanent than the team that was hastily assembled this year. And I'm pulling from a number of opinions that I've seen all over the Web. Imagine that this team would have first been assembled back in May...

3-4 "savvy veterans"

Guys near the end of their NBA career or recently retired; physically somewhat worn down but mentally tough as nails; wouldn't mind taking a $50,000 stipend to practice and play for 4-5 months a year.

Think John Stockton, Kevin Willis, Robert Horry.


6-7 "up-and-comers"

Non-NBA players who are looking for more exposure; who have international experience playing overseas; the fire in their belly that a multi-million dollar contract seems to put out. And a few shooters.

Guys like Anthony Parker, Tyus Edney, Trajan Langdon.

1-2 NBA players

There must be a handful of second-tier players who are willing to put their careers on hold and take a key role on a national team for several months. Someone like a Shane Battier or Fred Hoiberg, guys who are skilled and used to filling complimentary slots. Though these would have to be players also able to leave their non-playoff bound teams a month or two before the season ends. A Casey Jacobson, say, or Bo Outlaw.

2-3 NBA stars

The Duncans, the Garnetts--the guys who you do add last minute because they're that good.

Now tell me--would that team do any better than this year's? It certainly could do no worse.

Addition (8/28): I hate pundits who tell you what's broken but don't see the serious flaws in their own arguments. Case in point--"pick more teammates" is one of this guy's suggestions. Well, half of the team (LeBron-Boozer; Odom-Wade; Stoudemire-Marion) played together this past year. The author also writes that a guy like Kidd would've wanted to play a lot more "if he knew he was feeding Kenyon Martin for two weeks." Well guess what--Kidd and Martin were on last year's Olympic qualifying team, which won handily with far fewer sets of teammates, along with fellow Net Richard Jefferson, and both dropped out this year. Plenty of other sets of teammates--such as Rip Hamilton and Ben Wallace--were approached for this year's squad, but declined.


- posted by DD @ 3:14 PM