Don’t know who Scott Templeton is? Shame on you……as you’ve missed out on one of the greatest television series in history. Templeton was the quintessential douche-bag reporter, a character on HBO’s The Wire. To be clear, I’d like to separate this from associating Templeton with or making any stereotypes or judgments on real journalists…..at least those from DC. [I understand there is some type of blogger-MSM war going on] — in any case, I could estimate that I do not have a problem with 75-85% of journalists out there (I feel terrible as that is such a crude guesstimation……and yes, I used the “word” guesstimation — so what!!). In any case, what made Scott Templeton such a d-bag on The Wire was that he was wrought with lies, plagiarism, and staunch, unsupported defense of his despicable acts.

While I am sure that Cleveland journalists are no where near the reprehensible nature of the character on The Wire, they sure have been adept in displaying skills of hackery as of late.

Tales of Hack Jobs:

First, there was this excerpt for Brian Windhorst’s blog (he’s also the Cavs beat reporter for the Akron Beacon Journal)
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To ironically quote a Jay-Z song title….”What More Can I Say?” — meaning, the way Jake put it on Bullets Forever, “the rivalry just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” would be an understatement.

Taking a rewind, I tried my best to keep away from this internet thing for the past 24ish hours….for no particular reason as I did get a 10 minute check yesterday afternoon. I took in a pitiful Nats loss against the Cubbies, did some drinking, which unfortunately involved tequila shots, and justifiably found myself with a mini-hangover this morning. The usual antidote would be the tragically tasty grease of McDonald’s. Since one is not convenient to my Mt. Pleasant/Columbia Heights location, the next best bet was the Marx Cafe on Mt. Pleasant Street. You usually don’t have to deal with Sunday morning crowds, the food hits the spot and the service has all the international neighborhoody friendliness one could want. [by the way, for you're a Redskins fan, I stumbled across this City Paper article about Vinny Cerrato...interesting suggested reading]

Feeling slightly better, perhaps not 100% as I opted not to chase the hair of the dog (that bit me) I came back to do some reading on what I thought would be the life and times of Gilbert’s knee injury……NoPE!

As I’m sure you are aware, all of this happened instead. What unprecedented craziness…..leading to columns and rhyme droppings from the distinguished Mike Wise and nationwide ABC mentions of nightclub fodder by Stuart Scott and Mike Tirico.

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TAI: Uh oh….if you’ve somehow found your way to this blog, that means that SB Nation still has Bullets Forever held hostage with technical difficulties…..I smell hints of a Cleveland conspiracy (just kidding….maybe). Now begin the game 3 thread from BF’s Jake The Snake:

(Hey guys, sorry about the technical difficulties over at Bullets Forever today, I can assure that all the SB Nation tech gurus are doing their best to get things back to normal as soon as possible. Until then, many thanks to Truth for graciously allowing us to host the game thread for tonight’s game here. -Jake)

The Essentials:
Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Game 3 (Cavs up 2-0)
Verizon Center
8 p.m.
TNT

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This is not so much a game 3 preview as it is a festival of related links and the best words from them. I’ve read them all and can vouch for each and every one. Enjoy.

flickr/wizardsdotcom

Good Words to Start
>> “We have to channel all of our aggressiveness, all of our excitement and all of our bravado into being organized within the team framework.” [Eddie Jordan via WashingtonWizardsBlog]

>> “Discipline first is self control. Discipline second is The Enforcer. If you can’t control yourself, The Enforcer must control it, and that’s me.” [Eddie Jordan via DC Sports Bog] – Oh yea, same link….Caron Butler shaved a message in the back of his head.Advocating to use Roger Mason Junior as the “enforcer” because of his “super human strength.” [Basketbawful]

>> Great piece on the upbringing of Roger Mason aka The Silent Assassin [Jon Siegel, Washington Times]

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Put yourself in this all too familiar situation: You see a player on the team you root for commit a foul on an opposing player going for a shot…..but the foul isn’t strong enough. Actually, the foul is rather clement as the opposing player brushes it off and scores the basket, And 1. What do you say to yourself? “If you’re going to foul the guy, don’t let him get a shot off!”

My truthful opinion: Brendan Haywood’s foul on LeBron James deserved a flagrant 1 and not a flagrant 2.

But…..I understand why the referees felt the need to toss Haywood from the game. And don’t worry, I’m not pulling the “Superstar Call/David Stern Conspiracy” card. At that point in the 3rd quarter, the refs had to do something, as they were well aware of the situation….. from the war of words off the court to the blade cutting tension on it. A message needed to be sent to both teams: crossing the line beyond ‘physical play’ will not be tolerated. Do I like being on the losing end of that message, and the game? Of course not.

I will contend that the act of Brendan Haywood’s foul was no worse that Anderson Varejao’s arm swipe at Andray Blatche’s head.

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Remembering history? Doomed to repeat it? Well, let’s hope these react quotes reverse karma in the direction of the Washington Wizards. Oh yea, a muzzle on Gil and DeShawn wouldn’t hurt either……..especially because I really don’t feel like putting together an ‘Egg on Our Face’ photoshop in the future.

If you dare, here’s the Wizards-Cavs game two blog on Bullets Forever.

React Quotes

“Last night, Washington decided to value physicality over skill, and in the process managed to lose the ability to do either effectively. [JakeTheSnake, Bullets Forever]

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As we all prepare for tonight’s game, especially in Cleveland where they will be handing out complimentary tissues to combat the flow of tears which will no doubt be shed from Cavs coaches, some type of Ohio King, and ‘mistake by the lake’ fans alike, I suggest that you buckle up for a good one. But first, go check out the ‘need-to-know’ game 2 preview from Bullets Forever.

Cleveland Cavalier Coach Mike Brown is a learned fellow, graduating magna cum laude from the Phil Jackson School of Using The Media to Politick for Whistles. Tonight’s referees will have David Stern’s tears-to-calls ratio chart on hand.

baby photo from flickr/pigstyave

Tonight: Gilbert Arenas is wrapped, bankrupt, and ready to go, Caron Butler is quietly focused, and Joe Smith scoffs at game one’s physicality…..as should you. [Wizards Insider]

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flickr/T.SC

Hindsight is always 20/20, right? (Actually, 20/20 is not “perfect” vision, but we’ll just stick with the saying.) If the Wizards “talk trash”and then lose, well, it’s confirmed, they are the dumbest team in the history of civilization.

Now, I won’t detract that bulletin-board material can provide effective examples of motivating opponents in the history of sports. Deadspin has pointed to Chuck Person in 1991. But I find it hard to draw direct lines of comparison between the #7 seed Indiana Pacers talking smack to the #2 seed Boston Celtics, and one of the greatest trash talkers of all-time, Larry Bird.

So, it’s easy for someone like Charles Barkley to assume that what was said prior to yesterday’s Wizards-Cavaliers game would be the equivalent of prodding a sleeping giant with a hot poker. But maybe we should use a new word, assyouhim….because Barkley has just made an ass out of you and him (assuming you are in the thought contingent that Gilbert Arenas should never have opened his mouth).

LeBron James is right. He does not need simple words to motivate him. LeBron James is good. He’s the real f-ing deal. Kobe Bryant may be the better entertainer, and that’s why people mistakingly refer to him as the best player in the NBA, but LeBron Raymone, father of Maximus, James is the best player….let me repeat slowly….play…yer…..in the National Basketball Association. To call LeBron a sleeping giant, to simply think that he needs the motivation of words from others, is an insult to him.

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Matt from Hardwood Paroxysm recently posed some questions to a round-table of Wizards and Cavs bloggers. Here are my initial responses, stay tuned for the rest.

1. How is this time around going to be different from the other times you’ve met the Cavs in the playoffs? Last year was obviously a joke with the injuries, but the year before that was a pretty entertaining series. How confident do you feel right now going into this matchup?
Yea, I’m not counting last year. For the Wizards, injuries and lack of depth sealed their fate. So, I’ll compare this year to what happened in 05-06 when the Cavs took out the Wizards 4-2 in a thrilling series:

In the 05-06 playoffs, the Wizards struggled to field even a seven man rotation. Arenas, Butler (before he really came into his own) Jamison, Haywood, and Jared Jeffries were the series starters. We all loved the defense of Jeffries (at times), but that dude was soft like goo and couldn’t finish a layup to save his life…..not to mention that he wasn’t opening a damn thing inside with any sort of outside presence. Insert DeShawn Stevenson, the Lock Smith. Not only has DeShawn been a warrior, playing through a multitude of injuries this year, but he’s played great defense against some of the toughest match-ups in the league. Did I mention that Stevenson has drained 157 threes this year…only about 30 more than DeShawn made in his previous seven NBA seasons combined.

Bench please. In 06, it basically consisted of Antonio Daniels and several square pegs trying to fit into round holes: (total series minutes played in parens) — Billy Thomas (13:55), Etan Thomas (18:20), Michael Ruffin (69:36:), and Donell Taylor (3:12). You’re putting yourself behind the 8-Ball when Michael Ruffin is your key 7th man. And yes, I do realize that the bench time shortens during the playoffs, but that should not detract from the need to have kick-ass relief.

This year, you have Roger Mason Jr. aka Mase-ON, aka The Potomac Rainmaker, aka Dr. Trey, coming off the pine to confidently make buckets son. You also got your Darius Songaila, the Lithuanian Brawler, hitting jumpers, driving to the hoop, getting boards, and helping the offense tick. If up and coming Andray Blatche can stay out of foul trouble, he can contribute with energy, rebounds, blocks and passing. Oh yea, that Gilbert Arenas fella….Eddie Jordan has said that he’ll continue to bring Arenas off the bench during the playoffs — we’ll see if that lasts. I’m all for severely limiting the minutes of Nick Young, Dominic McGuire and Oleksiy Pecherov in the post-season.

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We all know what transpired the last time the Washington Wizards and Cleveland Cavaliers really faced each other in the playoffs on May 5th of 2006. LeBron James talked trash to Gilbert Arenas before two crucial free-throws. Gilbert missed both. Damon Jones hit a deuce with four seconds left and the rest is history. Cleveland won 114-113 that night and took a very hard fought series in six games. Leaving the Verizon Center, my buddy Chris and I had only one choice: drink our troubles away in Chinatown with a boatload of scotch.

Even last year when the Cavs swept the Wizards without Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler in the playoffs, all seemed quiet on the Eastern Conference front between Cleveland and Washington….until 2008. Below is the time-line of the trash talk that’s gone since.

flickr/wizardsdotcom

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