Backcourt Ink - R.I.P.

Well I'm here to let my non existant fans know that Backcourt Ink will now be officially terminated. It's been a good couple of months with Google adsense income approaching the 1 dollar mark! Anyways, dont sweat it because you can find the new and improved site over at www.oytun.co.uk. So just popping in here one last time to let all of you know to change your homepages and bookmarks from www.backcourtink.blogspot.com to www.oytun.co.uk

Farewell.

GameDay 2

Well GameDay 1 didn't go as smoothly as planned with the Rockets blowing a 12 point lead with just over a minute left. Anyways the Warriors pulled through in the first quarter, barely, but just as in the playoffs the Jazz revealed their flaws and exploited them. So my record this year is now (1-1). Onto gameday 2.

GameDay 2
Pick 1

Game: Dallas @ Cleveland

Pick: Dallas -4.5

Reason: Dallas was the best team in the league last year and after an unexpected first round exit to GSW, they will want to start the season on the right foot. Cleveland meanwhile continues to puzzle just about everybody on how the hell they made it all the way to the Finals. Dallas is by far a superior team and will show that on Wednesday night against a Cleveland team that looked very poor in the preseason.

Pick 2

Game: San Antonio @ Memphis

Pick: Memphis +7.5

Reason: San Antonio just had their championship ceremony and their official match of the season. So just 24 hours later they will enter their first back to back games, which is always difficult at the beginning of the season. Memphis on the hand have been resting since...well since 20 games into last year, and will be eager to impress in their season opener at home. They will definitely not get trashed, and might even make it a tight game down the stretch.

Pick 3

Game: Washington @ Indiana

Pick: Washington +1.5

Reason: The simple reason is that Washington is a much better team than Indiana. However, there is also the fact that Gilbert Arenas no doubt wants to make a splashy entrance back into the league, and the original big three will be too much for the mediocre Pacers to handle.


Non-Official Picks for all games (1-2 this season so far)

The three picks that I have mentioned above.
-New Jersey -2.5 vs Chicago
-Milwaukee +7.5 vs Orlando
-Toronto -7.5 vs Philadelphia
-Sacramento +10.5 vs New Orleans
-Denver -10.5 vs Seattle

Game Day 1

So the NBA season is starting tonight, and that of course means that my betting mission will also finally see the light of day. I’ve thought about how I can present the information and I have decided that the percentage of correct ‘guesses’ on handicap bets (50/50 bets) are the best way to measure my skill.

For those not familiar with betting, here’s a quick rundown. Vegas decides to put a ‘line’ somewhere giving a team a starting ‘handicap’ of a couple of points. Essentially this is what they think the game will result in. So for tonight’s game between San Antonio and Portland, they have chosen to give Portland a 12.5 point starting lead (expressed as Portland +12.5). Otherwise you can choose to side with San Antonio -12.5 which would mean San Antonio would have to win by 13 or more for you to win the bet. Since it is believed that these are equally likely outcomes (hence actually a 50/50 bet), the odds are the same and most sportsbooks give you a 90% profit on investment (as opposed to 100% because they take 10% for themselves). Anyways, in the betting business it is said that if you bet the same amount on every game then you need to be correct 55% of the time to make a profit. Since a simple flip of a coin would grant you a 50% chance, it technically doesn’t seem to be all that hard to make money from this. However as simple as it might seem, it is widely acknowledged that no one can be consistently over 65% on these bets. In fact 60% is deemed as a very respectable percentage that would make you a good amount of pocket change: If you bet 10$ on each game, after 10 games on a 60% performance you would make: 6x (0.9x10)=54 would be your profit from the 6 wins, and you would lose 4x10=40 from the losses meaning 14$ net profit. If you bet 5000$ per game as most serious gamblers do and bet on 300 games over the season, then your profit would be 210,000$, not so bad!

Anyways so what I will do is post all these ‘handicap’ bets that I feel strongly in each night, and hopefully be able to go way over this 65% that pro’s deem as near impossible. I think that if I can achieve this then I can finally prove to the rest of the world my NBA ‘gift’. With that said, here’s my two picks for the night.

Day 1: (0-0-0)

Bet 1:
Game: Houston Rockets @ L.A Lakers

Pick: Houston -4.5

Reason: Houston is clearly one of the best teams in the league this year while the Lakers are a complete mess, even at full strength. Lamar Odom will not play, and Kobe Bryant doesn’t seem to be at 100% both physically or mentally. Houston should take this one comfortably.

Bet 2:
Game: Utah Jazz @ Golden State Warriors

Pick: Golden State -0.5 in first quarter

Reason: Golden State always have ridiculous first quarters, and things should be no different for their season opener in front of their home fans and against a team they will want to get revenge over. It will take Utah some time to get into this game, and also into the season after last year’s surprising run in the playoffs.

Predictions for the whole night: (doesn’t count towards the official percentage, but I might keep a record of my performance in all games just for fun)
-Houston -4.5
-Golden State -3
-Portland -12.5

Working Yourself Back Into Regular Season Form

The NBA season is right around the corner and every sports fan with a hint of basketball in their blood is eager for the season to finally get underway. Over the past couple months we ‘witnessed’ a very dull NBA final, we had some big trades that went through and some that didn’t, we’ve had scandals, many comeback considerations, and much much more. However alll of that will clear the way on Wednesday night for the season openers and real basketball headlines. I don’t really mind NBA news being dominated by offcourt incidents during the offseason, especially as the alternative is no news at all, but it will be nice to finally see and talk some basketball which is the quite obviously the reason why all of us enjoy the NBA.

To tell you the truth, initially the excitement of the new NBA season didn’t come naturally to me. As I wrote about earlier, the regular season can be a very long and tedious process where if you analyze the season on a game-to-game basis, it will be very difficult to derive any meaning or purpose from any one game.

So it doesn’t just apply to the players and NBA staff when we say “work yourself back into ‘shape'”. For me, what got me back into regular season form was a combination of internet reading, media watching, and advertisement absorbing. So below I list my offseason regimen and training camp that has helped me cut that off-season fat, and gotten myself fully pumped and ready to go for the 2007-2008 regular season..

Working my way back

-NBA Previews: Any self respecting sports-reporting media outlet will have their annual season previews packed with exciting things to look forward to, predictions, and the latest developments since the end of last season. Even if you have shut basketball out of your life since a Cavs-Spurs Final had been decided, you will quickly be up-to-date on everything you need to know about. Furthermore, besides giving you the latest information it serves as a great hyping tool because there are always things to look forward to including how teams respond post-playoffs, new and exciting trades that have reshaped teams, and rookies that are sure to bring a whole new level of excitement to struggling franchises. Make sure you check out your favorite magazine/newspaper/website’s NBA season and/or team previews.

-New NBA ad campaign: The NBA has adopted a new advertising campaign this year with the slogan ‘Where Amazing Happens’. It is essentially a slide show of interesting NBA pictures that define what the league is about and conveys a powerful message when combined with the inspirational music and the slogan “Where … Happens”. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in this case that statement wouldn’t do the pictures justice because they communicate a feeling that words simply can not. This will surely send chills down the spine of any NBA fan. If you really are having doubts whether you want to invest ample of your time on watching basketball this season, your reaction to these ads will be the answer you’re looking for.

-2006-2007 All-Access NBA DVD: What better way to get ready for the upcoming season than to relive some of last season’s most memorable events with exclusive access to the stars, locker rooms, and every other aspect of the NBA that you just don’t get the opportunity to see everyday. While that last sentence sounded awfully like a sales pitch, watching this DVD instantly flicked on my game-face for the season. Seeing the work, tears, heart, and commitment these guys put in everyday just to be able to be out there in what I have previously called ‘meaningless regular season games’ is gut wrenching. A look into the less glamorous and more real side of the NBA, will be sure to make you appreciate more every ounce of NBA you consume.

-NBA Fantasy Games: If you think that NBA fantasy games are strictly for jocks, and the super-involved then you are mistaken. Not all games require you to have perfect knowledge of the NBA, enter a live draft, constantly make trades, and generally waste a lot of your time. Some salary cap games such as the one provided by http://www.sportingnews.com/ is easy, not time consuming, and extremely fun. Make sure you get a bunch of your friends, make small bets, engage in ‘friendly’ trashtalk and just have a good time. At best you get the chance to make fun of your friends, have a shot at the countless prizes on offer, and have bragging rights for the rest of the year. At worst, you have an emotional attachment to players, and have a genuine rush of excitement everytime you wake up and check out those box scores. There’s nothing like that feeling when that relatively unknown player on your team that your friends have ridiculed you about finally pulls through and fills up that boxscore like “The Godfather 4” would fill up the boxoffice.

-Betting: Once upon a time a very controversial issue, betting has now become acceptable in most parts of the world. Even David Stern himself overlooked the fact that everyone of his refs had broken a league rule not to gamble. In that regards, it might not seem terribly unethical to suggest that betting on NBA games is another source of fun that can motivate you towards the season. I have already announced that I will be taking on the role to beat the ‘market’ by announcing my bets and predictions, and a close following of the NBA is crucial if I am to have a shot. Also, it has been practically proven that having some money on the line when watching sports greatly increases the excitement level. The golden rule is to make sure you don’t bet any amount that will make you more unhappy than when you started in the event of a loss.

NBA works for You

There are many other methods to work yourself into the right zone to accommodate another marathon of a season back into your life. Some play 2008 versions of NBA branded video games, some follow the offseason and preseason religiously, some enter heated debates with others on what their thoughts are about the upcoming season, some blog, some commit by purchasing season tickets or satellite packages and others simply tune in randomly to a game one night and have all those feelings rushing back to them automatically. No matter what, if you love this game it will have a way of working you back into shape – that’s the beauty of being a spectator over a player. It’s FANtastic, its where amazing happens, it’s a game we love, its everything anything and nothing – it’s the NBA and it starts on October 30th at 8pm ET.

NBA China Games: Orlando Magic - Cleveland Cavaliers

The highly anticipated game between the Cavaliers and the Magic in Shanghai was due to start at 8pm in Qizhong Arena. I didn't have a ticket to the game, but this was China in the end so I thought the black market was as or even more reliable than any ticketing agency that I would have gone to. As expected, scalpers were in the hundreds (I kid you not), and after being ambushed by a large group of them 100 meters from the arena, I finally decided to buy a ticket. The 1000rmb ticket (130$) I was able to haggle down to 500rmb (65$) in a matter of seconds and even was even able to bring the scalper all the way to the entrance to check if the ticket was a fake. After avoiding the hectic promotional campaigns by the big multinational companies set up all around the stadium, I went ahead and found the way to my seat. It ended up being surprisingly above court level as a result of what I can only imagine to be bad stadium architecture (and of course bad ticket). As I sat down and looked around me, I saw a wide array of jerseys being worn by the young crowd ranging from USA national team ones to Cleveland throwback ones, to even a Ray Allen Boston jersey. I suspected them to be fakes as a real throwback costs more than what an average Chinese makes in a month, but regardless the young Chinese basketball fans came 'adequately' dressed. Anyways after a brief message from Dwight and Lebron to the fans, the game was ready to get underway. Didn't bring a pen/paper, so these are straight from memory.



FIRST HALF

-Damon Jones got the most love in the player introductions, after of course King James.

-Just before tipoff, Lebron and Damon had an interesting handshake sequence that ended up with them bowing to each other.

-Starting Lineups: Cavs- Damon Jones, Larry Hughes, LeBron James, Drew Gooden. Orlando- Jameer Nelson, JJ Redick, Keith Bogans, Hedo Turkoglu, Dwight Howard.

-First 5 possessions or so saw the Cavs go down low to Big Z. I'm pretty sure that's not what the Chinese spent their life savings to see.

-Orlando tried to go down low to Howard early on as well, but Z managed to block, smother, or bother most of his attempts in the first half.

-There was a lot of driving and dishing to the outside on Orlando's part, which is quite logical with a squad packed with shooters.

-Is it just me or does Keith Bogans move, play AND look awfully like Ray Allen.

-First timeout sees the Orlando 'dance team' come out, and immediately receives the highest crowd noise I've heard all night.

-JJ Redick's hesitating a lot on the threes. He needs to put that on automatic if he wants a shot at being good.

-Damon Jones keeps sticking his shoulder into Jameer Nelson to create space as he tries to run the offense - ala Gary Payton.

-Midway through the first quarter and Lebron gets his first proper touch on offense. The crowd starts cheering intensely, but Lebron disappoints with just a pass.

-In fact, in the first half LeBron was highly anti-climatic with barely any shot attempts and a mere couple of points stemming from dubious calls. I guess LeBron felt the pressure after numerous stories proclaiming what an icon he is in China.

-Second Timeout and again it's the Orlando dance team providing the entertainment again. I discuss with a friend whether the Magic actually brought their full dance team. Moments later, I witness each and everyone of them jumping on the trampoline and landing crazy dunks. The crowd is impressed, and so am I.

-First Quarter ends 23-20 in the Cavaliers' favor.

-Hedo Turkoglu has guarded everyone from Hughes, to Lebron, to Drew Gooden…I guess he's more versatile than he seems.

-Shannon Brown checks in and wastes no time lighting it up. After consecutive tough step-back fadeaway jumpers he holds his follow through and has the 'who's the man!' face on. Too bad it's a preseason game in Shanghai and not the NBA finals huh.

-Some fat Orlando center performs what would have to be called a skyhook. I find out soon later its none other than Adonal Foyle.

-Jameer Nelson is particularly good at going straight through double teams, he's done it about 8 times already. Perhaps Damon Jones and Ira Newble aren't the best defenders..that might be it

-Damon Jones checks out to be replaced by another notorious PG; Devin Brown. I'd say he's 50 pounds overweight..and that's just to be a small forward..

-First half ends 46-42 in favour of the Cavs. Truth be told they've kept the Magic at arm's length the whole half and look in total control.



SECOND HALF

-Same starting lineups begin the second half .

-LeBron wastes no time making up for his horrible performance in the first half. In a span of a minute he catches an alley hoop and throws it down..finally giving the crowd something basketball related to scream about, soon followed by a spin move in traffic with a finesse double clutch layup with the left hand. And One. Crowd is going nuts like one of those Bruce Lee scenes where he screams for no apparent reason.

-Speaking of Bruce Lee, we see his successor Jet Li on the large screen. He receives a standing ovation to my surprise. His two little kids with him have those SARS masks on their face. I guess they didn't hear Drew Gooden's neckhair virus had been exterminated.

-Jameer Nelson's got game. Well you gotta have some game to relegate Arroyo to the bench, but this kid could get some All-Star consideration in the near future.

-Dwight Howard, having been locked down by Z most of the night and been forced to settle for 15 footers, finally decides its time to step up. His athleticism ends up being too much for Z and the Cavalier reserve big man to handle. He ends up with game highs of 31 points and 14 rebounds.

-The Cleveland reserve big men that I mentioned above is what I now find out to be A.Tulliver. He has no nba.com player profile page so I can't really shed anymore light on him. But I think its safe to say that Cleveland must re-sign Anderson Varejao.

-Orlando is struggling to create any offense without Grant Hill. I hate to say this but Rashard Lewis is exactly the player they needed and actually probably deserved that max contract.

-Global Brands are all over this game, making sure the Chinese know their brand through timeout entertainment in the form of mini basketball games. What I remember from it is having to watch 10 successive airballs from beyond the arc in an Adidas sponsored hotspots contest.

-LeBron checks out towards the end of the 3rd with 17points. We won't see anymore of him tonight.

-End of 3rd: Cleveland 72-64 Orlando

-I don't want to bring up timeout entertainment again, but it really has been the most enjoyable part for the Chinese audience in attendance. In fact the loudest cheers of the night comes when free t-shirts are catapulted out towards the crowd. You wouldn't think T-shirts made by the Chinese themselves wouldn't get these people so excited..but I guess everyone loves free stuff.

-Beginning of the fourth it seems like Cleveland is going to run away with this one.

-The Orlando dance team is high up in the stands now giving out fliers with a picture of the whole team on it. Why these ladies want a billion Chinese men with half naked photos of them, is beyond me. However it sure is working. Everyone is going to take pictures with these cheerleaders and even autographs. I'm actually worried for their safety as they are just by themselves. The cheerleader that I see on my row is none other than the same cheerleader I voted to get in the All-Star cheerleader squad 8 months ago. (Well I don't get the privilege of voting for MVP, so I get my voting fix where I can!) I'm tempted to go up to her and tell her this sad fact, but I decide I rather not look even more pathetic than the swarm of Chinese guys around her.

-Meanwhile, most of the crowd (including me) has missed Orlando's comeback.

-Cleveland is playing exclusively with their bench while Orlando's playing at full strength (minus Rashard Lewis).

-Lots of lead changes towards the end but baskets down the stretch by Nelson and Turkoglu give the Magic a 4 point lead with less than a minute to go. LeBron aka the Little Emperor stays on the bench seemingly content on biting his nails.

-About half of the 13,000 or so in attendance has already left hoping to avoid the mass crowd of people waiting for the bus and the crazy traffic that will ensue.

-Last second attempts by Marshall, Newble, Tolliver, Devin and Shannon Brown are futile as expected.

-Final Score: Orlando 90 – 86 Cleveland. Mike Brown had a chance to give the crowd their money's worth and practice some crucial end game plays – but instead he decided go for players who will never see the light of crunch time again in the foreseeable future.

-These teams meet again in Macao (Las Vegas of China) in a couple of days, and I personally would rather spend my money on the Blackjack table than watch two mediocre Eastern Conference teams' benches go at it.
-Orlando barely managed to beat the Cleveland bench and truth be told I don't see them making the playoffs this year unless Rashard Lewis plays like an MVP. Cleveland on the other hand are really weak at the Point and Center positions even with Gibson and Varejao back. LeBron will need some sustained heroics to get past the first round this time around.

Mission Statement

I must say, every year I find myself making some great predictions concerning the NBA. I predicted last season that the Golden State Warriors would beat Dallas in the first round way back in March (what many people deemed as the biggest upset in American sports history). While this makes me feel good inside, it doesn’t mean much without a profit to show for it or some praise to satisfy my over bloated NBA pride. What really frustrates me is reading excerpts from articles and news reports the following line “Who would have guessed that …… would happen…”. I usually end up shouting at my screen like a maniac: “I DID!!….I @!#%& SWEAR I DID!!”. I also tell my friends the same thing, but they end up giving me the same reaction my PC screen does.

Well no more. I’ve decided to step up and do something rather than sulk like Shawn Marion. I have decided to get into the betting game to demonstrate once and for all that I know more than the average NBA fan/bettor. Notice I didn’t say I can beat the House..because everyone knows such claims are associated with degenerate gambleholics. Instead I will compete against other ‘civilians’ like me on Betfair.com where there is no ‘House’, odds are determined amongst people. Since money is the only language that really convinces people these days, I will post my picks everyday and keep track of how much I have won …or lost.

Feel free to jump on the bandwagon and make yourself a fortune, or just sit back and admire my unearthly ability to predict outcomes. Either way, by season’s end, no one will be able to look at me with a blank face when I tell them stories of my NBA conquest…not even my computer screen!

So that’s the direction this blog is taking. Perhaps I’ll post a random article here and there, but the blog will now focus mainly on this betting mission. I think I’ll have a couple of sentences for each pick to explain my reasons.

Having said I leave you with my predictions for the top 8 teams of the regular season for each conference.

West
1. Phoenix
2. Dallas
3. San Antonio
4. Houston
5. Golden State
6. Denver
7. Utah
8. Los Angeles Lakers

East
1. Chicago
2. Detroit
3. Boston
4. Miami
5. Washington
6. Toronto
7. New Jersey
8. Cleveland

Regular Season MVP: Kevin Garnett
2008 Champs: Phoenix Suns over the Boston Celtics in 6

Sports... It's a Helluva Drug

With the internet, increased media coverage, blogs and other new age trends towards the ultra-wired world we live in today – being a sports fan has changed tremendously over recent years. Sports fans back in the day were regarded as tech geeks do today, consistently awing randomers with their borderline obsessive/pathetic knowledge of their respective passion. You could tell your friends living outside the United States how Magic Johnson scored 40 points the previous night and you would impress them with how closely you follow the NBA. You could ask younger kids which pick Michael Jordan was drafted in, and draw ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ when they heard the correct answer. You could walk around with your Dominique Wilkins jersey and know that everyone who knew anything about basketball would respect you.

Today, the same things can't be said. The internet has made access to information so easy, that you'll find information quicker on google than trying to remember it in your own brain. The three ‘impressive’ feats that I mentioned above can be replicated today by a grandmother who'd probably think of an episode of “The Young and the Restless” if you mentioned ‘48 minutes’. While the idea of a grandmother wearing a Dominique throwback and going around spreading NBA trivia and up-to-date news is one I would soon like to forget – it just symbolizes, in some strange way, how being a sports fan is no longer something 'special'.

You'll surf around myspace/facebook and see your clueless friends say how amazing it was Lebron did against Detroit in this year's playoffs and how he's much better than Kobe. You'll find yourself on random forums arguing with a 9 year old kid with the name "Dwaine Wayde Rulzz" how D-Wade is in fact NOT the best thing that has happened to the league since the 24 second shot-clock. You'll be exposed to a blog that argues how Allen Iverson should be banned from the league because he's a bad influence. You will see all around uneducated and downright clueless opinions that you were not used to seeing back in the day, because back then, 'these people' didn’t have access to any information and couldn't dare open their mouths. Only people who had invested time, effort, and their brain to their sport could. But now if I say how Wade isn’t actually the legend some people think him to be, ‘Dwaine Wayde Rulzz’ would do a quick check on NBA.com and point out to me that he averaged 38 points in the NBA finals which is the 3rd highest in NBA history, and that makes him among top 3 players ever. End of argument, as far as he’s concerned. What bothers me most is that this D-Wade fanboy hasn’t seen Wade play outside of youtube highlights.

Before you get a sense of elitism creeping up on my tone of voice, let me make it clear that I am not regarding myself as a basketball guru who would like all casual fans to never speak their minds. In fact, I think the opposite. One of the best sides of sports is the fact that you can start up a conversation with just about any stranger and quickly get into an interesting sports related debate. The information age has made this more possible and actually leads to better conversations as the casual fan has much more data and knowledge to support their arguments. However it can not be denied that the special feeling of knowing much more than the people around you on a specific subject is now long gone. You can lose fantasy basketball games to people who've never heard of the game, you can end up dead last in that office NCAA bracket tournament to your colleagues who copied the picks off of ESPN.com, and you can downright feel embarrassed at being a lesser fan to your life long supported team than your 13 year old nephew who's memorized all the stats and puts you to shame in front of the whole family at Thanksgiving dinner.

Yes that feeling of being a hardcore sports fan is now gone. You can no longer feel superior as there are now millions with the same knowledge as you. You can't feel special because any chance your local team has of being good – and you'll get more random fans trying to get on your teams’ bandwagon than thieves try to get on the Money Train. So as a result, the thrill you get from sports is no longer the same. If you look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs below, you can see that a human needs to feel unique, get respect, and experience purpose – all factors that a hardcore sports fan could once upon a time feel.

But now that you no longer get those same feelings from sports, you must change something. It must be what drug addicts feel like as they get less of a thrill from a fixed amount of drugs – they consequently have to step up the intakes or just quit. So first it might be getting sports satellite so you can catch all the teams’ games, then it might be season tickets, then before you know it you’ve got your face painted in your teams’ colors and you're shouting your lungs out as you storm the field tackling opposing teams’ players. Sports is indeed like an addictive drug that your body grows attached to and cant let go until it consumes you for all your worth, it is a drug that losses effectiveness as more people share it with you, and intensifies with the consumption of alcohol. Sports...its a helluva drug.

Sports: Not Just a Game

It’s been a while since I have had the will to write another article. You see, the reason for this is that there’s been this topic on my mind I’ve been stuck on, and I feel unable to move past it. Usually my articles are strange, comical, and sometimes absurd– but right now, I feel like I can’t go back to that state of my mind, at least without first unburdening myself of the topic that I will talk about today.

Sports in context

Have you ever said something along the lines of “sports is my life”, or “I can’t live without (some sport) ” ? Do you own a “(some sport) is life, the rest are just details” t-shirt? Is sports a major part of your life and always on your mind? Does watching an important game become more important than anything going on in your life at some specific times? Do you want to be free of everything else when watching your favorite team?

If you have said yes to any of those questions, then you are one of countless millions of people who love sports more than logic suggests we should and some even follow it to religious extents. For me, sports is a big part of my life, I’m not gonna lie. I love playing sports and do it at every chance I get. I also love watching sports particularly basketball and soccer. Especially around big tournaments and with teams I really care about, it’s hard for me to do anything else than actually follow those games. I’ll stay up until 2 a.m. on a work day to catch the game, I’ll watch it on some scrambled channel like Canal+ and ruin my eye sight, if I have to I’ll even listen to it on the radio, I’ll download the game somewhere if I can’t catch it live, I’ll stay home on a Saturday night, I’ll cancel appointments, and I generally will push everything else in life away when a major sports match is taking place. I never really questioned this fact or its meaning and importance to the bigger picture…until very recently.

Couple of weeks ago my parents were in a serious car accident. I remember it clearly when I first heard about it, or actually just BEFORE I first heard about it. I was mad and upset that there would be no way for me to watch the FIBA America’s or FIBA EuroBasket championships in the upcoming weeks because they didn’t show it in the area that I lived. It was the main thing on my mind at that time. Then my brother got the phone call and told me about the accident, and all I remember thinking was “Who the #$%@ cares about sports!?”. I was just depressed for caring so much about such a little thing – and it really put sports into context for me as to where it stands in life. I didn’t give a damn about my job, my current problems, and obviously anything sports related was not on my mind the least bit after that point. I was actually hating myself for having such a deep involvement in something so insignificant as sports. Life was real. Sports, in the end, was just a game…

Unexpected Savior

My brother and I got on the first plane to see my parents at the hospital. My mother was fine but my father was in intensive care and was not stable. He had severe internal bleeding and was transfused litters of blood that put his life in great risk. Mortality rate, we had read on the internet, was close to 50% for a situation such as his.

The next morning after we arrived, we had a chance to see my father for the first time, he was about to have his big surgery. I hadn’t really been in a situation like this before so I really didn’t know how to act when I would first see my dad. We walked in to this dark room full of patients looking like they were on the verge of death and being kept alive by machines, when we finally saw my dad. He did not look good. In fact, I could barely recognize him both in the physical and mental sense. My brother and I were simply speechless, and could not find words to say to my father. We had flown half way across the world, left everything behind, and were solely there to give my father the least bit of support…but yet we did not know what to say to him.

Then, almost instinctively, I started speaking. You know when you are expected to say something and don’t for an uncomfortably long time, there comes a time when you just open your mouth and blurt out anything without thinking, just so the moment passes. What did I end up saying? I told him that our soccer team that we support had won that weekend. Perhaps the doctors roaming around or my mom and brother who were next to me were surprised to hear this, as the first thing I said to my dad. However, I saw a brief sparkle in his eyes and a rare smile that indicated to me that he was still the same old father that raised me for 22 years and made me who I am today. I think that it also made him remember that there was a world outside of the walls of this intensive care room, where countless machines each beeping strange noises repeatedly made even us feel like it was robot hell. That brief soccer comment connected us, it connected him with the world, and surely enough the conversation and mood in the room changed from depressing to 'normal'.

Straight after our chat, my father was taken into the operation room and had a very serious surgery that lasted several hours. Me and my brother were at least happy that we sent him in there with positive thoughts and our full pledged support.

Luck was on our side and surgery went well and my father was finally stabilized and his life was no longer in immediate danger. The two weeks after that, I stayed in the hospital, seeing my father at every chance the doctors gave us. And every time the main topic of conversation would be sports. Some days we even requested the doctors bring in a television into the intensive care room so we could watch soccer games with him. The nurse didn’t want us to stay too long to tire him out, so she asked us to leave after a brief stay. My father however asked and insisted that we can at least come back at half time of the game so we can analyze how the game went in the first half. It was quite remarkable how much sports ended up helping us. It brought my dad out of the depressing world of machines, heavy medicine, pain, and the thought of not being able to walk for the next 3 months – and it helped us connect back with him and use it as the medium to share everything and anything else.

Impact of Sports

I know I said at the beginning that I had begun hating sports and how I felt stupid for caring about it so much. However, what transpired over those 2 weeks has made me feel completely different on the matter. To be frank, I still can’t quite put a sense or logic to it, and I don’t exactly understand why sports had such a big impact. But the same can be said for things such as love and faith – two of the most powerful human emotions.

Yet when I think about it even more, this idea of sports and its larger importance to humanity is all around us, and not just inside the walls of a hospital as was the case for me. Kids throwing a football or baseball around with their fathers, moms driving their kids to soccer practice, families going to watch their kids’ match and recording it on camera, brothers/sisters becoming closer amidst sharing a common sport, old friends reuniting for the first time in years thanks to an alumini game, the generations of a family supporting the same local team, and the list goes on.

Sports is in fact everywhere and its not just a game or just entertainment. Sports is real, it’s a part of life, and its great in so many ways beyond the scope of this article. Perhaps some time in the distant future, I will create a part two and talk about all the other reasons but today I feel satisfied in knowing that one of my life’s main passions is not meaningless. It brings people together like nothing else. And for me, it brought me back my dad.

Solution for an exciting NBA Regular Season

Regular Season, the excitment is gone

So the NBA schedule has just been released for the upcoming 2007-2008 season. Couple of quick highlights for me was: Chicago being one of the most nationally broadcast teams (does the League know about some Kobe trade plans we're not aware of?), Portland-Seattle Christmas Matchup (am I the only one not excited about this, a Durant vs Oden matchup sounds like one of those Chrismas presents your grandma gives you that you dont really want) .

What I will be looking out for is certain matchups. Games with either Kobe vs Tmac vs Gilbert vs Wade vs Lebron should be interesting, thats if they don't chicken out and they actually guard each other. Besides these scorers trying to outdo each other, I dont know what else can motivate me. Watching Yao Ming shoot 15 footers over Dwight Howard isnt really my cup of tea. Watching two defensive teams like Detroit and San Antonio can quickly get boring in a setting where it doesn't matter at all who wins. I'm not from the States, so I can't truely get attached to a team and experience crazy suspense when I'm just watching another one of the 82 games that make up a season. Teams can have 12 game losing streaks and still win their conference, or they can go undefeated all season and just gain the advantage of playing a lower seeded team which might or might not be better than the team the 2nd seed has to play. Homecourt advantage isn't enough for me, and clearly wasn't enough for Dallas this past summer. Add the fact that half of the League is a non-factor (the East), and you might just start to wonder why at all should we be excited about the regular season.

Well the answer is simple, we love basketball, and that is the best we got. You look at the MLB with their 68,507,298 games season and you can see that this kind of problem is present in most leagues. The NFL and certain football competitions (Champions League) beat this problem since they have very few games, so each one counts significantly. This sort of do or die situation is what creates the suspense in spors. No one wants to see a game that doesnt matter. No one wants to watch a game with a blowout - even if Im cheering for a team, I sometimes want the other team to make a comeback. Simply put, there needs to be hype and consequences. There can be no trace of "so what" surrounding a game. So why hasn't the League addressed this issue. Well, the NBA is a business so it wants to have as many games as possible - to increase TV money, game ticket money, and any other revenue that might arise from a lenghtier season. The NFL would also lengthen its season if it could, but the brutal nature of the sport prevents that from happening. Having said that, it's not that this is an unsolvable problem, it's just that the NBA hasn't thought it through, or hasn't thought that it was necessesary. With recent problems, and all time low ratings, perhaps this is the best time for me to suggest my idea to improve this meaningless regular season which we are being subjected to each year.

What to Do

Grand Slam

If we start thinking outside the box for a second there can be immediate solutions to solve the 82 game "boredom-marathon". What if I told you we should take a page out of the ATP and Tennis' book. Their 'season' actually lasts the whole year and each player can play easily over 100 games. The real excitement starts to grow around the Grand Slams (Australian Open, Roland Garos, Wimbledon, US Open). Each of these are very exciting moments for tennis fans, comparable with the Playoffs for NBA fans. The difference is obviously that they get this excitment 4 times per year, with increasing excitement as each tournament progresses. In the current state of the NBA, we get it once and ratings almost seems to go down as the Playoffs progresses.

The IDEA

So what can we take from the Tennis format to possibly improve the current framework the NBA employs? Simply put, turn the long marathon into a couple of sprints! Split the season into 3 parts.

Part I: Battle of the Conference

First part will start off with 14 basic games, with each team of a specific conference playing the other. Following these 14 games the team with the worst record (15th) will be out. The 1st and 2nd teams of each conference will get a bye to the quarter finals. The 3rd through 14th teams will get matched up in similar style to the current Playoffs (3/14, 4/13, 5/12, 6/11, 7/10, 8/9). These teams will play a single elimination game with the better rated team having homecourt advantage. This way we can assure that everyteam is motivated to get better seeds, as anything can happen in a single game series. Also, the top two teams will be approapriately rewarded and not have to face the risk of a single game elimination.

Following that round we will have 8 teams left in a conference. Quarterfinals and semifinals will be played using a 3 game series. The final of each conference will be a single game. Meanwhile, so other teams also get to play and participate despite being out, they will play similar series to determine the rankings of 1-15.

So in a mere 20 or so games, fans will be able to see each team of a conference play against each other. Each fan will be rooting for their team to get a good seed. There will be great excitement in avoiding being the 15th, and also in trying to be in the top 2. The elimination games and mini-playoff series will no doubt be hugely popular rivaling that of the actual playoffs. That NCAA march madness fever will be present throughout a whole NBA season, can you imagine??!

Part II: Battle of the Conferences

The second 15 game cycle will be similar to the first, but instead of playing every team in its own conference, teams will play every team outside their conference. Teams will again be rated 1-15 in their own conference, judged on how they performed against the opposing conference. Then the 2 'conferences' will be split up as follows:

Conference A

1. 1st of West

2. 2nd of East

3. 3rd of West

4. 4th of East

5. 5th of West

6. 6th of East

7. 7th of West

8. 8th of East

9. 9th of West

10. 10th of East

11. 11th of West

12. 12th of East

13. 13th of West

14. 14th of East

15.15th of West

The exact opposite would constitute Conference B. The winners of these tournaments would be decided in the same way that I explained for Part I.

Part III: Battle of the League

Part 3 is where everyone plays all other 29 teams once. Seeds are then formed across the whole league, 1-30. Teams with the worst 2 records are out. First two teams receive a bye. Then the tournament carries on in normal fashion. All games are single elimination except the Quarter/Semis/Finals which are 3 game series. The eliminated teams still play games to rank all the teams from 1-30.

Part I+II+III: Determining who gets into the Playoffs

To decide what are the top 16 seeds to finally go into the playoffs, this is the formula that should be used.

Ranking in Part 1+Ranking in Part 2+ ( Ranking in Part 3 divided by 1.5)=Total Number

The 16 teams with the lowest total number are our Playoff teams.

What this system accomplishes

-Every game in the season matters!

-Every team and its fans, no matter how bad of a roster they have, will have a shot.(Just the inclusion of a playoff hungry team like Golden State changed the whole playoffs last year)

-Fans of 'rebuilding' teams wont be totally left out in the cold

-All three parts of the season are important, while the end counts the most (thats why we divide by 1.5 and not 2)

-No more teams throwing away their second half of the season just to land lottery picks

-No more teams with great records having nothing to worry about in the second half of the season

-No more "unbalanced" East vs West problems

-Regular Season is great fun and exciting, yet still the Playoffs are where Champions are made

-More opportunities for great memorable moments, and exciting highlights/games for fans

Conclusion

This system seems close to perfect for me, but of course there can be changes made to how long the mini-series last, how many points are given and hence which playoff teams selected. The best of it is that there is no reason why this system cant be implemented. There is still a framework where each team plays at least 80 games, where only tried and tested teams get into the playoffs, where each team plays every other team at least twice. Just think about all that Ive said and imagine all the possible excitement. Imagine those crazy games where the 28th seeded Cinderella-Hawks try to upset the Spurs. Imagine all those one game battles and cluth heroics in single elimination games. Imagine the unprecendeted hype/interest/and involvement from every team in the league and every fan in the world.

Then imagine our current league. With 82 straight boring games where excitement doesn't start to kick in until April, at best. Sports is suppose to give fans suspence and excitement, its suppose to test players and determine whether they can compete with the best when stakes are high. Currently, our sport is a long grind that seems to be tedious rather than exciting. Let's bring fun and excitement back into the league - for every game, for every team!

Top 10 NBA WTF Moments in Recent Memory (with Links!)

10)Gilbert Arenas Trampoline at ASG

I'll let Gilbert himself explain how this crazy moment came to be:

We were sitting there in the timeout watching them Elvis guys dunk, and my big mouth, I was like, “Man, I can do that better than them.” And then they missed a couple so I was like, “When they finish up, I’m going to go do it.”
Shaq was like, “Yeah, right.” He said, “I’ll put $100,000 in your foundation.”
I was like, $100,000 or get in trouble by David Stern?
$100,000 or get in trouble by David Stern?
Oh man, I’ll take that fine. So I did it for my Zer0 2 Her0 charity.
It was great though. Between the legs…Yea-ahhh!
I used to practice those trampoline dunks back at Golden State. I can flip and everything. But I didn’t want to flip and crack my neck.

9)Karl Malone Fighting Dennis Rodman on WCW

Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman had their fair share of arguments on the court, but no one expected them to take it to the next level - on a fake wrestling show!

8)Chris "The BirdMan" Andersen Dunk Attempt

This is one of those things that you don't know whether to boo, to laugh at, or just to sit there cringing and hoping the ball goes through the hoop. The fast forward in the youtube video, helps make this top 10 worthy.

7)Qyntel Woods 360

Not many people knew Qyntel Woods, but one thing about him was certain - he wasnt normal. Fortunately for us, before he was kicked from the League for being involved in Dog Fighting, he left us with one crazy moment that had everyone watching go "What the %$#@".

6)Morris Peterson's Buzzer Beater

Washington actually ended up losing this game. I can't imagine what his teammates must have said to him in the locker room. Oh wait I can: "WTF MAN!?"

5)We talkin' about practice

What are we talkin' about?

4)Rasheed Wallace throws a towel at the face of legendary teammate Sabonis

Well if you went ahead and pressed my fake link, then I sincerely apologize. My blogging credibility, if I ever had one, is now in complete shambles. Fact is, I searched for a video for a good 10 minutes (10 minutes on the internet is like 2 hours in real life)! Anyways the title does justice to what an outrageous and unexpected moment this was. Reason for Rasheed's actions (not that HE ever needs one): Sabonis accidentally elbowed him on the court.

3)Reggie Evans Grabbing Chris Kaman's Balls

Seriously, WTF.

2)Ricky Davis Triple Double

Couple of seconds left in the game, you have the ball on your side of the court and you are one rebound shy of a triple-double. What do you do? What Ricky did of course. People might not agree with this choice but this is one of those WTFs that made sense. In fact, call me crazy but he became one of my favorite players after this incident.

1)Ron Artest

The king of craziness. Responsible for many WTF moments including the massive Brawl in Detroit. Dennis Rodman looks like the Pope next to this guy.

10 Nicknames for the new Big 3

I'd love to have detailed analysis on the new golden trio of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett but I think there's a couple million news posts/blogs floating around about that already. Instead here are 10 nickname ideas for the greatest trio since MJ, Pip, and the Worm:

1) Fellowship of the Ring
fel·low·ship (fěl'ō-shĭp'): The condition of sharing similar interests, ideals, or experiences, as by reason of profession, religion, or nationality. The companionship of individuals in a congenial atmosphere and on equal terms. 'Nuff Said.

2) 20,34,5
Jersey numbers of these three superstars. Note that there is no 'number 1' in the team.

3) Pee-Pee, Ray-Ray,Ku-Ku
Sounds of a baby, because like babies all eyes will be on these three stars.

4) Big Bang Boom!
Big: Pierce because he almost got assasinated like rapper Notorious BIG. Bang: Allen because he shoots the lights out. Boom: KG cuz he’s so explosive. Also makes sense because when it was just BIG BANG, it was a theory, now with the BOOM, theres no more denying the legitimacy to their championship chances.

5) Krap PG
This is what you get when you re-arrange their initials.

6) Truth Kid Jesus
Combining all three players current nicknames to form an analogy: kid Jesus seems so nice in our minds, but is the truth really so? (If you didn't understand this one, dont worry, neither did I.)

7) S.O.S
Short for "Slash, Outplay, Shoot"; the best abilities of Pierce, Garnett, and Allen - respectively.

8)The SonicWolves
Just because I have this really cool mental-image of what a sonicwolf would look like.

9)The Three Basketeers
Sorry, I had to have one really super lame one to show how the others weren't as lame as you thought.

10) Nice Guys Finish Last
All nice guys. 0 rings. Truth Hurts.

NBA: Rated E

Ever since Michael Jordan's third retirement, League Commissioner David Stern has been faced with increasing pressure as fan interest on domestic soil has been consistently on the fall. Amidst a lack of a true heir to MJ, criminal charges, hip-hop culture, domestic violence, brawls, and now a reffing scandal - natural growth for the sport has naturally become inconceivable. First the NBA did what any other MNC is doing these days, and that is gaining a new market by banking on globalization. While this has been largely successful, it hasn't changed things back at home, as clearly shown by the worst ratings ever for a Finals series this year.

So David Stern and the League Office, instead, have tweaked with the game to try to make it more viewer friendly, to make it more 'entertaining'. While this has certainly helped attract new fans into the league, with players like Wade and LeBron becoming the heroes of so many unsuspecting fans and teenage girls across homes, it has taken chunks out of the game that has no doubt left hardcore fans, true fans that have stuck by the league in lockout seasons and recent bad years, out in the cold.

Why go Casual?

Let me first warn you that what is about to follow is not for the casual basketball/sports fan, so if that's you then STOP reading immediately. Now that that's out of the way, I can tell you without any guilt or remorse, why casual basketball fans have and will keep ruining the sport of basketball for us true fans. For any of the casual fans that have passed through the filter I carefully planted at the beginning of this paragraph, don’t be too mad, the hate is not directed at you. Fact of the matter is it's not really your fault but the fault of the NBA for wanting to grow and become more important by any means necessary.

Yes, they could have clearly co-existed without making any changes despite slumps in ratings. NBA revenues might have fallen, stadiums attendances as well, but at the end of the day this would only lower the player's salaries. So what if Rashard Lewis makes 7million per year rather than the 20 or so he will average for the next 6 season. You think he's going to say "Ah screw it, I'm gonna go take that job at Wal-Mart"? European/International basketball is no where near offering the same salaries as the NBA so there isn’t even anywhere he can go play basketball. Oh wait I almost forgot, he can join the And1 Tour and make some pocket change embarrassing a 48 year old man called "Half-Man Half Amazing". Oh and if the Players threaten a lockout, you can read them that last line I just wrote, it should send chills down their spine. Alternatively teach them a little something about free market economics, or yet just basic maths - a team making 40 million can't spend 50 million on its players.

Why does the NBA want to grow and grow, 70% of the revenue goes to the players anyways. As much as I love the NBA and its players, I am getting sick of getting screwed over with far less than ideal basketball so the likes of Juwan Howard can make 20 million per year. I would never spend couple hundreds of my hard earned money on an NBA game, unless it's Kobe in a game 7 of the Playoffs. Is this what the game has fallen down to - me, an NBA fan since I learned to open my eyes and stare at a TV screen, doesn't want to go see a game? As a fan, should I care that the League becomes more profitable, should I care that more people watch, should I care that the WNBA/NBDL exists? No. If it is entertainment that you are trying to sell me, Mr. Stern then I don't care about any of those things. I don’t care about woman's basketball, why should I support it, you're just selling me entertainment after all, not a sport, not an art form. You don't care about spreading the beauty of the game, you're the one ruining it to increase your profits!

NBA: Entertainment, not Sport

There's a reason why true basketball connoisseurs laugh at the USA 'dream' team every time it 'unexpectedly' gets crushed by international opposition. Back in the day I use to cheer for the Dream Team, the original and only 'Dream Team' that is. It was a team whose life was basketball, who earned the respect of their 'colleagues' around the world with playoff wars that left the viewers in pain, awe, and appreciation. Then you look at the last couple teams that strolled in with complete arrogance, eliteness, headbands, and fancy high-fives. The players? The likes of LeBron, Dwayne, Bosh - who are the leaders of this new NBA, already regarded as heroes for a couple years of living and dieing by the referee's tight calls. Do I need to mention what happened with these NBA heroes at these international tournaments? Dwayne realized he can't shoot, and that he needs to run over a couple people then jump into a couple more to score/get fouled. Same for LeBron. Chris Bosh, meanwhile, looked like a Dinosaur (in more ways than one) wondering where the hell he was.

Charge after charge, travel after travel, miss after miss - my hope for basketball began to grow again. I thought perhaps after 3 successive major tournaments without a championship, that the NBA and USA might learn its lesson. It might perhaps learn that what they are playing over there in America isn't real basketball. It isnt a sport that was designed to use all 5 players to the max, it isnt a sport where teamwork above anything else is important, it isn’t a sport that gives sacrifice, intelligence, or camaraderie any where near the amount of respect it deserves. Unfortunately, the Americans haven't learned a thing. They have always been known for repeating mistakes they have previously made, this is no exception. You have rules that prevent players from taking charges in specific places, you have rules preventing teams to properly play defense as a team, you have rules preventing your bench team mates to give you support when something breaks out on the court. Meanwhile, international players keep taking over the NBA and not because of superior athleticism, but simply because they know what the game is about - smart teams like the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns have taken advantage of this.

What kind of league is this?

We have taken out the most important ingredients of basketball and replaced it with high flyers, one-on-ones, star players, and highlights. "Oh we dont want players to get called for travel, the casual fan might lose interest and switch over to watch WWE instead". "Lets put this little circle below the free-throw line where players cant stand, so there can be more dunks in a game, you know how much those random fans love to see dunks." "Oh and lets not allow players to dress 'wrong', or bench players to rush on to the court, that might lead to the perception that we condone gangsters and fights." "Hey, lets tighten the officiating so maybe we can see someone score loads like MJ did." So what's left? A league where basketball is eroding, and entertainment is taking over.


Darkening memories of the Past

The current state of the league doesn’t stop at abysmal basketball today, but also darkens our memory of basketball in the past. Do you remember back in the day, when 50 point games would wow you and be on your mind the rest of the day. I do, although very vaguely. Today, everyone and their mother is scoring 50 points. The officiating has become so tight, that drivers and slashers have started to receive a huge advantage over not only over the current batch of shooters/post players, but over the drivers/slashers of the past. LeBron James and Dwayne Wade don’t deserve to be even mentioned in the same sentence as Michael Jordan. Both have used the horrid state of the Eastern Conference, and referee protection to turn themselves into superstars and downright legends. Worst of it is that everyone is buying into this. There are very few amounts of people that don’t realize that Wade's performance in the Finals, and LBJ's performance in this year's playoffs were far far less impressive than people make it out to be. When years pass, and us crazy 'conspiracy theorists' are no longer around, what do you think the general public is going to remember and believe.


Adios NBA Basketball

I've said a lot, more than I wished to say on this topic. Very few people will probably derive any meaning or even sense from this article. I guess this is just something that I needed to get out of me, this was my way of finally accepting the fate of the NBA. I will never say goodbye to basketball in general, but it certainly feels like this was a goodbye to basketball in its highest form. I'll still see real basketball, when I watch kids playing out in the streets just battling to stay on the court, I'll still see basketball in high schools where kids listen to their coach and execute plays and win as a true team - I'll still see basketball and that, no greedy businessmen can ever take away from me. However as far as the NBA is concerned, this is it, adios. When I look at you from now on, it will not be basketball that I watch, but mere entertainment.

The Greatest TV Show Ever

In recent years, NBA players have started to gain much attention outside of basketball quarters. Three of these players diversifying outside of basketball: Gilbert Arenas, Shaquille O'neal, and Stephon Marbury also happen to be among the most entertaining people in show business. Gilbert has gained superstar status mostly through his blog and crazy behaviour, Shaq has and always will be the Godfather of entertainment, and Stephon Marbury has shown flashes of insanity on numerous occasions. So what would be better than bringing these three together, and making one crazy motherfreakin' show? Nothing I tell you, absolutely nothing! Just imagining those three together puts a big smile on my face. Therefore, in order to make this timeless classic a reality, I present to you my 5 ideas for a Big Diesel/Agent 0/Starbury television show.

Show Ideas

1) A question of Sanity

If you have watched any BBC, you might have run into a sports trivia show called 'A question of Sport'. There is one host, two regular team leaders and then 2 guest celebrities on each team. Question are presented to each team on sports, with video clips, pictures, and in other entertaining forms.This is in fact a perfect model to copy and one that would enjoy unprecedented success.

Shaq would be the host and the man providing witty remarks at every approapriate junction. He would need to go to some speech training course so that people can actually understand what the hell he's muttering, but that can be arranged. Gilbert Arenas, as a leader of 'Team 0', would always come up with some crazy answers that will have the crowd laughing as often as a 'Friends' episode. His team would probably be stuck on 0 points for most of the game, but that doesnt mean they cant win. Thats because on the other team you have Stephon Marbury, who will no doubt try his best to outcraze Arenas and come with some wacky stuff that will occasionaly cross the line and have everyone in the room quiet, wondering whether to boo him. Shaq will break that ice and come up with one of his classic punch lines that will restore sanity to the room.

Verdict: This show knows no limits besides the craziness of Arenas and Marbury, so yea - no limits. Sports celebrities guests would provide a nice colourful background to this mayhem, and some watchers will even be drawn by the sports trivia itself. This is a platinum mine.

2) The Next Big Invention

The SMG (Shaq/Marbury/Gilbert) trio no doubt have some crazy ideas deep inside their brain. This show would be reveal who among the three is the craziest of them all. The premise would be to make the best and craziest invention that they can possibly make. Their budgets would all be something around $50,000 and they would have this amount of capital to make their idea a reality. THe camera would go around tracking their progress to make their crazy invention happen. Shaq would perhaps try to make a 100% freethrow making catapult, Gilbert would try to develop a basketball jersey that hydrates your body while still playing, and Stephon Marbury would make the viewers cringe with his god-awful idea of making a solar-powered flashlight. The presentation would be similar to "The Apprentice" and the host would be no other than Mr. Donal Trump himself.

Verdict: Just imagining Marbury in a lab coat and brainstorming inventions with his advisors is enough for me to invest my life savings on this show.

3) Favorite Uncle

There's a lot of dating shows on television where one guy/girl goes on dates with three other members of the opposite sex. In the end, through these dates the one person has to pick one of the three he/she likes best. A similar idea can be implimanted for the SMG trio where they are the contestants and instead of a woman, it is a kid's love they have to win (I feel bad for even making this point but I dont want to get sued: its obviously a much different kind of love they need to win with the kid). What makes this idea so great is that 1) all three are just overgrown kids 2) love children - Shaq has kids, Gilbert looks after one, and Marbury writes children's books 3) probably are the type would want to be the favorite uncle 4) and the kid can and will say anything that's on his mind to these manchilds. Seeing these three dissed by a kid and seeing them all fight each other to be the 'favorite uncle' would be some good old fashioned entertainment.

Verdict: Im still not sure if three old strangers trying to impress a little kid falls in the Bill Cosby or Michael Jackson area.

4) The FaceOff

This show besides the SMG trio would need one more suitable NBA personality, my vote goes to Sam Cassell. This show is a mix between American Idol/BET Freestyle Friday/And1 Tour. Each of the 4 NBA stars is an agent/coach and has to find 5 under-21 team members. They each have to find 1 basketball player, 1 hiphop freestyler, 1 dancer, 1 comedian, and 1 model. After a search through auditions, parks, events, and the street, the team will be formed. Then, each week there is a small tournament to decide which of these NBA stars' picks were the best. A one-on-one game for basketball, a freestyle battle for rappers, a dance off for dancers, a short comedy routine for comedians, and a cat walk for the models. It's a straight 4 team bracket elimination tournament for each field, and the winner gets 4 points, 2nd gets 3, 3rd gets 2, and 4th gets 1. At the end of these 5 competitions, the coach with the most points wins. Of course along the way, there will be a lot of trashtalk between the NBA players each claiming their discovery to be the best. Coaching and motivation will also be important. Three notable NBA players/celebrities will be on hand to judge who is the winner (except for the basketball part which will be decided on score, and be the last weeks event where points count 2x more.)

Verdict: Alot to love about this show, Cassel teaching his ball player some dirty tricks, Arenas telling his rapper to diss Shaq, Marbury being uncomfortably close to his model, and Shaq telling his comedian joke ideas should all be memorable highlights.

5) Garage Sale

This time the SMG trio is on the same team, where they will face three contestants each episode (preferably celebrities, but not a must). The object of the game is to make the most money possible. They will have 100 dollars to go to garage sales and pick out undervalued items. Then after bargaining and arguing amongst themselves, they will have a bunch of items which they spent 100 dollars on. They will then along with the other team (say made of P.Diddy, Charles Barkley, and Jessica Alba) host their own garage sale and see who gets the most money from the sale of their recently purchased items. Seeing Shaq box out "Barkley the Salesman", Arenas/Marbury putting on crazy outfits and demonstrating the product to bypassers while trying to compete with Alba should make this an enjoyable show.

Verdict: This show could be total chaos. The chance that they will agree on what items to buy is as likely as them agreeing on who should take the last shot if they were on the same basketball team.


Let's Make it Happen

While I only have 5 shows listed, there are infinite possibilities. I think the SMG trio are all quite crazy but still make a good tandem - similar to Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Reggie Miller. However, I'm one who feels that three such crazy personalities shouldnt be wasted talking about basketball, there is room and possibility for so much more. They all seem to be interested to be on television, so I dont see why this can't happen. If anyone out there is reading and knows either a TV executive or either one of these three players, please pass them this idea - and make the greatest TV show ever come to life.

Tim Donaghy: The Gift and The Curse

Last week, we learned that our beloved NBA was the latest major sports organization connected with match fixing. You can sure as hell bet on the fact that the last thing David Stern wanted was to be associated with the mafia, fixed gambling, and crooked refs. Since then, much has been said and written with most agreeing that this was a collosal development, yet not very shocking. I personally knew something was wrong when every NBA ref seemed to be an old Italian-American with an attitude. True NBA fans will deeply be hurt by this scandal and think back at past times trying to think whether any of it was actually real. Eventually they will realize this was a good development - like finding out your fiancee was cheating on you.

In fact, dear basketball fans, this was the best thing that could have happened. The improvements you will see in the NBA resulting from this will be monumental - if theres one thing that gets the Sternminator fired up, even more so than brawls, poor ratings, and hiphop culture - its the integrity of his precccciousss league. No only will he want to make changes, he will have to - so at least to the public, it looks like he's doing his best. Here are the 5 improvements that the NBA should and must see.

NBA Cleanup

1) New Refs: Finally its time to cleanout the dinosaurs still left in the NBA and bring in some new blood. I've always wondered why the average NBA referee age was on par with my grandfathers. Surely, eyesight, stamina, and being able to relate to players' psychology (old people forget what its like to be young and crazy) should favor younger people as refs. The League probably rates this 'experience' thing too much, and to be honest refs have made countless mistakes at critical stages of the game, so that point is moot in my book. Furthermore, the longer a ref stays in the league the more of a subconscious bias he builds against players, teams and specific plays. Im not talking about unconscious racial bias, but about histories with certain teams and organizations. A referee who made a mistake against one team might be much more leniant next time a huge play occurs, a ref might not like a certain player due to past games and be less leniant. Like Gilbert Arenas claims to do, players can even analyze refs and see what trends certain refs show, and play accordingly. So, a ref should not stay in the league too long.

New, younger refs will try their hardest to ref the perfect game and stay a NBA ref. Rumour is that all the current refs are quite close to eachother and it is time to break this closed circle apart, time to split the gang. Competition, and having to be at your best to keep your job will most definitely improve officiating as a whole.

2) Transparency: The Turkish football league can be a good example to build on for the NBA. An official watches every game from the stands and rates a referee's performance. Those who score low points do not get to ref as many games. Those who score really low even get a suspension and are taken off refereeing all together for a certain time. These ratings are made availably to the public even. Every week there are a couple dozen TV shows focusing simply on replaying certain calls in that weeks games and analyzing whether the correct decisions were made. Of course ex-refs are in the studio to give 'expert analysis'. In the end, everything is out in the open and much like a player, a ref's actions have consequences and his future relies on his performance.

3) Freedom of Speech: What is up with the NBA and fining players/coaches/GM's for statements they give the press after games. Doesn't this seem abit like communism? Players/Coaches lives are altered by decisions of refs, you would think that they would have the right to voice their oppinion. With the recent developments, the League has no longer any rights to suppress the oppinions of its employees. If you were cheated by your company, wouldn't you feel like you had the right to at least complain about it!

4) Infinite Tolerance Policy: The Stern tyranny introduced a zero tolerance policy at the begninng of last season. This was a way that Stern felt he could keep his trouble-prone players in check and make the game more viewer friendly. Well that was obviously an unforgivable error, but perhaps he had the right idea. However, instead of making the players have no rights on the court it is time to take away that bulletproof vest and crown away from the refs. You look at football, and players yell, scream, and swear at referees without remorse. While there should be limits, it is time to put a stop to this nonsense where referees continiously take center stage. I dont want to hear referees names anywhere, anytime, for any reason. I don't want to see them in allegations, I dont want to see them running in races against ex-players, and I sure dont want to see them teching people up for looking at them the wrong way. They are just there to make sure the game progresses correctly, they need to stop acting like prom queens and getting upset at anyone who doesn't suck up to them. I saw far too many ejections last year, especially in the playoffs and against Golden State. I want to see some proper basketball, and not some middle-aged man in stripes shitting all over it.

5) Fixing the 'stupid' rules: While we are dealing with officiating, we might as well cleanup those rules that just make no sense. The Diaw-Amare suspensions and the 'stepping onto the court as a benchplayer' rule must be changed, that is clearly overdue.

Also, no one except Gilbert Arenas and Dwyane Wade can be happy about the amount of small contact fouls that are called. The search for MJ still continues, but the true heir will never be someone who benefits largely from such tight officiating.

Of course, no one has forgotten the constant fouling of Ben Wallace/Shaq at the end of games fiasco either, I hope. One weak area of a players game should not be enough to force him not to play. Intentionally fouling someone, shouldnt be a way to not only get back in the game but take out the most dominant player to ever play the game.

Last and perhaps least, what is up with the semi circle. I like people getting posterized as much as the next guy, but do we really need to alter game rules to make this possible. There's a reason why FIBA aka 'basketball without the stereoid-like entertainment injections', does not employ this rule. What's next, are we gonna have mini trampolines on different parts of the court?

Whistle has been Blown

Like I said, many good things will happen to the NBA. Perhaps the most important one being that we won't be forced to tear out our hair in frustration over the many non-basketball related fallbacks associated with the NBA. With the proper foundations and infrastructure back in place (rules, refs, policies) we can focus on just enjoying the game. The NBA might see yet another drop in ratings, and refs overall might suffer over all, but that's not something for us to worry about. I wouldn't even support a wage increase for refs, as suggested by some - like $200,000 is not enough salary to have the best nonseat in the house every game. In fact, I may even decide to take up that dream of being an NBA ref afterall.

STATS: Time For a Change

One of my favorite quotes of all time is one by Mr. Albert, not Marv but Einstein: "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted". Truer words can not be said for what I think of statistics in basketball. I don't know if it's just that people like to simply things; Kidd is known as Mr. Triple double, Duncan is the double-double machine, LeBron had a sneaker out called 20-5-5 - but stats sure as hell get more attention than they should deserve. It's common habit for people to judge a players performance by looking straight at the boxscore. In a 82 season league with 30 teams, you generally have no alternative unless you are glued to your couch at home and watch League pass every moment of your living day. However, besides single games, whole seasons and MVP races are evaluated using that box score and ultimately the success of a players career. First I want to take a look at the current batch of stats, and then identify some new stats that should be introduced.

Box Score aka Report Card aka KPI

Everyone at every level is judged based on certain aspects. At school you get grades which make up your report card. At work you might have some Key Performance Indicators. In the NBA theres is the boxscore. A couple of numbers in the end summarizes all of your efforts and endeavors. Here's what I think of each stat and how much meaning we should attach to it when we look at them.

Points- This is the number one most important stat in basketball. You have 30 points or more and it doesn't matter if you had 6 airballs, 12 turnovers and played the most selfish basketball in your life - people will think you had a good game. In fact that isn't unlike something players like Kobe and Allen Iverson did for many years. Jerry Stackhouse was a scoring champion, Ricky Davis could average insane amounts at will, and even Ronald Murray had a season where it seemed like he was going to be one of the best scoring players in the league. So basicly it doesnt mean much. Six points scored in crunch time against a good defensive team is much more meaningful that someone who scores 25 in garbage minutes.

Assists- The way an assist is calculated is that a player must take no more than one dribble after a pass is made and score. The reason I know this is because I would always complain at our stats keeper in high school that she didnt count my assists correctly. In fact, there are so many things wrong with this stat I don't know where to begin. First of all it includes as an assist many instances where the person who passed the ball might not have done anything significant. Imagine Smush Parker passes the ball to Kobe, Kobe takes couple of seconds to eye down his opponent and throw a couple of jab steps, then he dribbles takes one step back and hits a fade away three. Assist goes to Smush Parker. Now imagine theres a 2 vs 3 fastbreak and Steve Nash cleverly misleads the 3 defenders and passes to a wide open Amare Stoudamire, and Amare dunks the ball in after two quick dribbles - Nash gets no assist. These two examples hopefully help point out the problems associated with trying to track how well a player is setting up his teammates. I'm not even going to get into the whole, 'PG creates a perfect setup and Center misses a layup' argument.

Rebounds- I'm always surprised at how much attention this stat gets. I can bring in a tall Mongolian freak of nature who has never stepped onto a basketball court before, and he can get 10 boards easy in a single game. Well in fact this has already been done with the likes of Gheorge Mursan. This stat almost encourage players to play the wrong way - the person who boxes out the player gets no credit while the guy who doesn't and goes for the board does. Again, the context in which you grab a rebound is also not considered. A rebound from a center after an uncontested free-throw gets the same credit as a person who jumps over three players and manages to grab the board.

Steals and Blocks- These stats are okay I guess but many times a player gets a steal due to the defensive efforts of his other teammates. Similarly, a block is often achieved my a player intentionally leading his defensive assignment to where his big men can swat the ball.

FG/FT/3PT %: Perhaps the most useful of the stats, as it gives you exactly it says it will. Percentages can be misleading depending on what kind of team you play for, what kind of looks you get, and even small things such as launching shots at the end of buzzers. Last year's FG% leader was Mikki Moore of the Nets, but yet he isnt a remarkable shooter by any means, he just ends up shooting alot of easy shots (dunks).

Thinking Outside the Box Score

Charges- I've heard people mention that Battier leads the league in charges taken, but I'm not sure if theres an official sheet with everybody's charges. If so I would definitely like to see it. Taking a charge might be the most impressive single feat in basketball. Think about it, you sacrifice your body so that MAYBE you can get the win the ball for your team. If that doesn't embody everything that is basketball, I don't know what does. So please, lets start keeping track of this stat and include it as a separate column in the box score.

Crunch Time- NBA.com and Nestle had a neat tracking of performance in the game when it really mattered, but I don't see it anymore. Their execution wasnt perfect, but it was as close to tracking players' clutch ability as I have ever seen using numbers. 82games.com also had a FG% for game winning shots which was also interesting to see. More of this needs to be officially tracked.

Setup- As I mentioned earlier, assists aren't a good indication of how well the PG does his job because it varies with how well his players shoot the ball as well as other factors. So a new stat can be introduced where we track how many clear cut scoring opportunities a player prepares for his teammates. The immediate objection would be that it's subjective to a specific person how 'clear-cut' the scoring opportunity is. However such minor subjective takes doesnt prevent sports like tennis from having "Unforced Errors" stats from being displayed.

Hustle Play- Among the most important plays in the course of a basketball game is hustle plays. These are plays that sometimes singlehandedly change the momentum of a game. Imagine Ben Wallace plays extremely good defense on one end of the court and forces a player to travel. On the other side he jumps into the crowd and saves a ball from going out leading to a basket. Here, Ben Wallace provides his team with a 4 point swing, but his box score hasn't changed.

Defensive Stop- Back when Ron Artest was in Indiana, an intern had calculated what Ron Artest's defensive assignment's field goal percentage was. Along with this, how many stops vs. scores he let in should be tracked. So at any given time we can see a player's defensive stop %. Another category can be added for how many turnovers he forced.

Statisticly Speaking

While stats do a good job giving us a general picture, it is something we have begun to rely too heavily on. So if this is the case, changes and additions need to be made to the way we keep stats. We can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to all the plays that dont show up on the stats sheet, for we may devalue those who specialize in those areas, areas that take the most effort and will. If we do make some of these changes I have proposed, and consider the currents stats with a grain of salt like Ive indicated, we may be in a world of surprise..