The 2008 Melbourne Homeless World Cup is right around the corner. Get tickets now if you would like to enjoy the Australian summer while taking in some transient action on the pitch.
While common sense reason would tell me otherwise…..living in Washington, DC, where the homeless presence has increased in the current economic environment, the idea of a Homeless World Cup, now in it’s 6th year, can’t help but conjure up some interesting images in my head.
I imagine spirited competition just like any other serious sporting event. However, instead of uniforms, participants are wearing tattered clothes, worn in upwards of eight layers. Perhaps there’s a guy trying to play while a hefty bag full of world possessions is in his grasp. Maybe the main striker wonders off the field during the course of play to pee in a glass jar. Instead of Gatorade baths, players squeegee each other off. The goals are over-sized grocery carts turned on their sides. Each player has homemade cardboard signs pinned to their back with name and jersey number…..some signs go on diatribes about implanted government chips. (Actually, if you are homeless and you make something yourself, can you really call it homemade?) In any case, perhaps the benches would be akin to the gentlemen in the photo below making comfortable use of a chain between two poles.
But the Homeless World Cup does have some interesting ‘Street Soccer’ Rules…including:
- If you’re homeless and younger than 16, no dice. So, a homeless man’s homeless Freddy Adu is left at home….or wherever……left to consider his self worth.
- You are eligible if you meet one of the following conditions:
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The good folks at Epic Carnival got their hands on a $50 gift card from MLB……so the obvious choice was to hold a Photoshop contest (despite a call for boobies and zingers) to see who would get their hands on the prize.
Naturally, I wanted to put my Photoshop skills to the test and attempted to get creative in the 11th hour of the deadline….and here is that attempt:
Hank Steinbrenner is at the wheel. Roger Clemens, Sidney Ponson, and Jose Canseco are all aboard. Milton Bradley is ordering Barry Bonds to get back on while Elijah Dukes is trying his best to escape the fray.
Check out all the other entries here. If you’re around…..you can, like, go and vote for me and stuff. Read more »
Every time I hear the word ‘constancy’ I think of that Simpsons episode where Reverend Lovejoy lost enthusiasm for his trade….his droning voice uttering constancy, slowly and painfully, over and over again. It’s funny that a cartoon could lead me to have such a negative connotation of a word.
But is constancy such a bad word? Some cases yes, some cases no. There’s a lot to be said about dependability…..constancy is the main reason why chain restaurants are so popular. On the other hand, it’s life’s diversions which can make us well rounded people, as long as we don’t get too high or low before it’s all said and done.
Obviously, we can find similar principles in basketball. Veterans know not to get too emotionally high or low before a game, a series, a season has been completed. Only then can one set aside the time to get through the depths of celebration and/or reflection.
As I glossed over HoopsHype today, the rumors were rampant as expected. Next to the trade deadline, the NBA draft has become as much of a culmination of trade fodder as it is a stage of kids hoping to making it to the next level. But as I read, I became more thankful of the current path of the Washington Wizards…..working under a ‘status quo’ assumption of course.
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Washington Wizards Player Evaluation #9, head over to Bullets Forever to check the thoughts of the Pradamaster and JakeTheSnake on DeShawn Stevenson.
Previous Entries:
Etan Thomas | Oleksiy Pecherov | Dominic McGuire | Nick Young |
Andray Blatche | Roger Mason | Darius Songaila | Antonio Daniels|
If you were guessing which Wizard would have the best chance of surviving a season of Deadliest Catch, who would it be? Caron Butler, obviously…..especially since he grew up in the climate of Racine. But right behind Tuff Juice would be DeShawn Stevenson, this year’s recipient of the Warrior Award. He made it through watermelon knee, grandpa’s ankle, and pregnant woman’s back without missing a game…..and while turning in the best season of his career.
Stevenson also provided a king’s share of off-court fodder, while significantly boosting business for The Pride of Fredonia’s Sports Bog. DeShawn dubbed himself the Lock Smith, had trouble keeping it real, lost feeling in his face, danced at his 80s birthday party the same night he sprained his ankle and lost to the Bucks in devastating fashion, led me to realize that he had something in common with Ricky Davis, and made trash talking history. And I’m not even mentioning last summer’s gun play (which has seemingly been swept under a rug – DeShawn and Andray Blatche are the poster children for the perils of bringing hoes, and their male baggage, home), Black Card escapades, jersey tattoos and Lindsey Lohan solicitations.
I certainly appreciate some of DeShawn Stevenson’s off-court antics. He makes the team more bloggable, which garners more attention….and the end result is better for the franchise in an ‘any pub is good pub’ manner. However, many times, I found DeShawn’s on-court antics disgraceful and sophomoric. I know, I know….go easy on the guy, he’s a warrior. But being a numb-faced hype man is one thing, acting as an incendiary device for opponents is another. If only DeShawn could find the balance between maturity and motivation.
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- From ABC’s report….Kevin Garnett got all of the Celtics (including Ray Allen who seemed to be the biggest surprise) eating PB&Js before games? I wonder which Celtic wears the banana suit?
Ahh…peanut butter and jelly, more American than apple pie….as I doubt GI’s in WWII had time to bake a damn pie.
I’ve got one friend/co-worker who eats pre-made PBJs, as an afternoon snack, out of the cooler from the little store on the first floor of my work building in downtown DC…..and I’ve got another friend I’ve known since ten who claims to have never eaten a PBJ.
- Poor Rajon Rondo……each one of his layup misses hurt a little more. But I must give him a ton of credit…..he made damn sure that he did whatever else he could to contribute to victory. Six steals, eight assists, seven boards….who cares if he got 21 points on 8-20 shooting. Dude is the Kyra Sedgwick of the NBA.
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I was doing some cleaning around the apartment yesterday, working on a project for Father’s Day (Happy Father’s Day to my dad all the real dads out there) and came across a clipping from the Washington Times that my pops gave me just over three years ago.
“What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been,” was Tom Knott’s proclamation of purged bad karma for DC’s pro-basketball franchise just before game one against the Chicago Bulls in the ’05 NBA playoffs. It made me think, so much of that trip was spent bonding with my dad. We probably made the trek out to Landover, MD, and then downtown to Chinatown years later, at least 175 times together, witnessing years of futility and a lone playoff game pre-2005. To pass time with my father, to follow a hometown team together, it was all worth it.
I couldn’t help but get a chuckle out of Knott’s column. The long, strange trip continues and some would argue that Wizards fans still have not been exonerated of bad karma. Is this article to remind us how appreciative we should be for a four year playoff run, or have our expectations justifiably risen to the point where wanting more supersedes being spoiled by morsels of success?
The circus acts of yore are all featured: “Nervous” Pervis Ellison, Manute Bol, Boo-nard King (is that the best picture they had?), Mel Turpin, Rex Chapman (one of my all time favorites), Rod Strickland, Juwan Howard, Chris Webber, Jerry Stackhouse, and finally Old Man Jordan.
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Part 8 of Washington Wizards Player Evaluations, head over to Bullets Forever to check the thoughts of the Pradamaster and JakeTheSnake on Antonio Daniels.
Previous Entries:
Etan Thomas | Oleksiy Pecherov | Dominic McGuire | Nick Young |
Andray Blatche | Roger Mason | Darius Songaila|
Antonio Daniels is my Catch-22. I love his steadying veteran presence. He fills in wherever needed and does whatever is asked of him without thinking twice. Daniels has been a model of consistency during his 11 year NBA career. This past season was no exception as Antonio Daniels was asked to sub for an injured Gilbert Arenas. In doing so, AD started 63 out of 71 played games for the Wizards. In his previous 10 seasons, Antonio started a total of 149 out of 722 games.
In Daniels’ 07-08 starts, he contributed about nine points, five assists, and three rebounds in just over 30 minutes a game while only turning the ball over 86 times total (a 1.36 average). So, I’ll throw around terms such as admirable and will give AD a big ‘thank you’ because without him, I highly doubt that the Wizards would have achieved 43 wins.
However, there’s a Sir Mix-a-Lot sized ‘but’……..Antonio Daniels can neither shoot nor defend. As his career 30.9% from 3-point land would indicate, AD is not one for distance buckets. Now, he is no where near Rajon Rondo bad, but throughout the season, opponents proved more times than not that they were willing to risk leaving Daniels open to protect the paint. And AD did not disappoint by hitting only 17 of 74 attempts from beyond the arc. My expectations of Daniels in this area have always been tempered, but I still have wishes that he could keep defenses honest. But alas, it is what it is…..if Antonio hasn’t improved his shot to date, then it’s probably never going to happen. Old dogs don’t learn new tricks.
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As an NBA fan, I want to believe that the fix wasn’t in. But as an NBA fan, I really don’t care. I’m still going to watch the games and the NBA will continue to be the Grade A of my favorite sport.
David Stern simply wanted to make more money. If Donaghy’s rhetoric is true, then the Commish has made his own bed….and should sleep in it, as he has potentially over-stepped his bounds in an unfathomable manner.
Stern has done a ton to promote basketball, and not just the NBA: Globalization of the sport, subsidizing the WNBA, the dress code, NBA Cares program, a tightly kempt Wikipedia profile. I still maintain that Stern is the best commissioner in sports, but if the turd hits the fan, will he continue his 20-year-plus year reign at the helm?
Gotta have money to make money, right? To get that capital for expansion, you need ad revenue. To get ad revenue, you need ratings. To get ratings, you need the involvement of the major media markets. But is this necessarily true? Sure Stern’s heart may have been in the right place, but did he have the wrong fix?
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Last week, the good folks at We Rite Goode put some of us Wizards bloggers on alert about the freshly unsealed letter from the Department of Justice to US District Court Judge, the Honorable Carol Bagley Amon, in regard to the US v. Timothy Donaghy, a criminal case against the disgraced former NBA referee. That now seems like years ago as Donaghy’s lawyer found the opportune time to drop a new bombshell on the same day as Game 3 of the 2008 NBA Finals. An NBA fix? Stet Sports has the word on that.
While the DoJ’s Donaghy letter [via thesmokinggun.com] reads like a episode of the Sopranos, in real life, the story of Tim Donaghy is as trivial and dysfunctional as Growing Up Gotti.
Donaghy began dealing with James Battista and Thomas Martine, both of whom Donaghy knew from high school….[The trio met in December of '06 in Philly]….Donaghy indicated that although he would meet with Martino, Donaghy did not want to meet with Battista because Donaghy knew that Battista was a professional gambler…..When Martino arrived, Donaghy noticed that Battista was also in Martino’s car…..Battista then told Donaghy that he should provide his picks to Battista and Martino, and not to [Jack] Concannon [a prior gambling associate of Tim Donaghy]. Battista also told Donaghy that Battista “didn’t want the NBA to find out” about what Donaghy was doing…..At a later meeting back at Donaghy’s hotel……Battista told Donaghy that “you don’t want anyone from New York visiting your wife and kids.”
It’s your classic case of worse gets worser as Donaghy took the entertainment aspect out of gambling and towards a downward spiral gone overboard like Goldie Hawn in a thong (20-year-old movie reference kids).
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Part 7 of Washington Wizards Player Evaluations:
Etan Thomas | Oleksiy Pecherov | Dominic McGuire | Nick Young | Andray Blatche | Roger Mason
My thoughts are below, head over to Bullets Forever to check out the thoughts of the Pradamaster and JakeTheSnake on Darius Songaila.
More than anyone else on the team, Darius Songaila had a full share of detractors this past season. Sure he took an occasional ill-advised shot. And perhaps his 6’9″ (or 8″) frame wasn’t enough to deal with the sizable tasks asked of him. But Darius was always up to the challenge, and in my opinion, the type of key role player that winners need.
The main issue with Songaila, more than shot selection, is rebounding. His rebound rate (10.2) was below that of both Dominic McGuire (11.7) and Oleksiy Pecherov (12.1). Darius still out-rebounded Caron Butler per 36 minutes (6.3, good enough for 6th on the team), but that’s not saying anything at all. Even without athleticism, you’d expect Songaila would have the tactic to do better than a couple rookies. When you think about the needs from a power forward, and the woes on the glass for the Wizards, D-Song’s board effort comes up as a disappointment. When factoring Songaila’s on-ball defense, or lack thereof, I can certainly sympathize with those who are emphatic about limiting his presence on the court.
Now consider the offense that Eddie Jordan runs, a pro-style Princeton. When operating at a higher pace, which we all know occurred less in 07-08 than in years before, Songaila has the veteran savvy to move with a purpose….whether it be posting up, or setting high ball screens in transition.
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