... and, yes, the Blob knows it's supposed to be Throwback Thursday. But then, it's never been a particular respecter of memes, unless it's memes the Blob has made up itself, like, well, Throwback Sunday.
And so, for your viewing enjoyment, we bring you Florida Gators guard Canyon Barry, who is indeed another of Rick Barry's sons. The young Barry just proved himself to be a Canyon off the old block by setting the Florida record for most consecutive free throws made with 39.
And, yes, he did exactly the way Pops did: With that older-than-old-school underhand stroke.
Sure, it looks weird. Sure, it's an express-mail delivery from Dorksville, and also from your granddad's day -- aka Back Then We Played Defense And Didn't Hotdog It While We Were Taking The Ball Out Of The Peach Basket. And We Shot It With Both Hands!
Still ... there is something weirdly awesome about watching a guy shoot free throws underhanded in 2016. If you squint your eyes just right, it feels like time travel. Suddenly it's 1930 again and you're standing in a soup line while everyone wonders why Hoover doesn't get off his butt and do something about this doggone Depression.
Or, I don't know, suddenly it's 1975 and Pops Barry himself is playing again.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Dumb, meet dumber
And now we check in one more time on the Trainwreck That Walks Like An NBA Franchise, aka the New York Knick(ed)s, aka Public Relations? We Don't Need No Public Relations.
Let's go to the tape, shall we?
* First, here's the guy who built this mess of a team, Phil Jackson, sniping passively-aggressively once again at the team's star, Carmelo Anthony, because he isn't man enough to come out and say he doesn't want the guy, and also because he wasn't man enough to tell his owner he wasn't going to re-sign him. Now he's soured the relationship so badly it's rumored Carmelo will refuse any trade (he has a no-trade clause) just to spite Jackson.
Nice job, Phil!
* Moving right along, here's a video clip of Madison Square Garden security goons physically dragging Knicks icon Charles Oakley out of the arena after Oak got a little rambunctious the other night (or didn't, in Oakley's version). This was followed by a snotty tweet from the Knick(ed)s saying they hope he gets help soon.
Way to humiliate one of your all-time greats, Knick(ed)s!
* And now, there's this: Oakley has been banned from MSG, with Knick(ed)s owner/cartoon character James Dolan suggesting, sans proof, that Oakley has a drinking problem.
Way to continue humiliating (and possibly smear) one of your all-time greats, Knick(ed)s!
Can't wait for some usher to turn Clyde Frazier away at the door some night because he didn't recognize him.
Let's go to the tape, shall we?
* First, here's the guy who built this mess of a team, Phil Jackson, sniping passively-aggressively once again at the team's star, Carmelo Anthony, because he isn't man enough to come out and say he doesn't want the guy, and also because he wasn't man enough to tell his owner he wasn't going to re-sign him. Now he's soured the relationship so badly it's rumored Carmelo will refuse any trade (he has a no-trade clause) just to spite Jackson.
Nice job, Phil!
* Moving right along, here's a video clip of Madison Square Garden security goons physically dragging Knicks icon Charles Oakley out of the arena after Oak got a little rambunctious the other night (or didn't, in Oakley's version). This was followed by a snotty tweet from the Knick(ed)s saying they hope he gets help soon.
Way to humiliate one of your all-time greats, Knick(ed)s!
* And now, there's this: Oakley has been banned from MSG, with Knick(ed)s owner/cartoon character James Dolan suggesting, sans proof, that Oakley has a drinking problem.
Way to continue humiliating (and possibly smear) one of your all-time greats, Knick(ed)s!
Can't wait for some usher to turn Clyde Frazier away at the door some night because he didn't recognize him.
Thursday, February 9, 2017
The wheels on the bus
... go 'round and 'round. Especially when the bus driver is out of round.
St. Louis men's basketball was already having the dreariest of winters, but last night might have been rock bottom. Not only did they lose to St. Bonaventure to slide to 8-16 on the season, their bus driver decided not to stick around, inexplicably taking off and leading state police on something of a merry chase before finally being flagged down.
No explanation as yet for the driver's mad flight, but apparently she was acting erratically from the time she first picked the team up. The rest of the story will no doubt come later.
In the meantime, given St. Louis' woeful hoops prowess, the Blob wonders with what the bus driver might have been charged.
"Leaving the scene of a dumpster fire" comes to mind.
St. Louis men's basketball was already having the dreariest of winters, but last night might have been rock bottom. Not only did they lose to St. Bonaventure to slide to 8-16 on the season, their bus driver decided not to stick around, inexplicably taking off and leading state police on something of a merry chase before finally being flagged down.
No explanation as yet for the driver's mad flight, but apparently she was acting erratically from the time she first picked the team up. The rest of the story will no doubt come later.
In the meantime, given St. Louis' woeful hoops prowess, the Blob wonders with what the bus driver might have been charged.
"Leaving the scene of a dumpster fire" comes to mind.
Today's philosophical question
No, not what would happen if Superman fought Batman. As the Blob has noted before, that's already been done. Badly.
The question for today, rather, is this: What constitutes cheating?
"What the Patriots did, like, three times at least," is one acceptable answer.
"What the Indianapolis Colts did, during roughly the same period," is another, at least according to Deion Sanders.
The Hall of Fame defensive back turned NFL Network analyst said that the other day, when one of his colleagues, LaDainian Tomlinson, pointed out on the NFL Network that the Patriots' dynasty might have been besmirched by Spygate and Deflategate. Sanders begged to differ.
"Those same critics, did they say anything about the wins that the Indianapolis Colts had? You want to talk about that, too? Because they were getting everybody's signals," Sanders said. "Come on, you don't walk up to the line and look over here and the man on the sideline giving you the defense that they've stolen the plays of. We all knew. LT knew. Everybody in the NFL knew. We just didn't let the fans know. That was real and that was happening in Indy."
Tony Dungy, of course, begs to differ, pointing out that stealing signals goes back to the 1800s in baseball. Which is true.
So does that make it cheating, or just time-honored tradition?
It is, admittedly, a fine line, and only a blue-face-painted Colts fan would claim otherwise. The foundational definition of cheating, after all, is trying to gain the upper hand by surreptitious means. By that standard, stealing a team's signals is different only in degree from what the Patriots did in Sypgate.
Here's the thing though: Degrees matter here.
That's why Spygate was cheating, and stealing signals is not. Contradiction in terms it may be, but there is an acceptable norm to these things, as Dungy suggested. Stealing signals lies within that norm, because, yes, baseball teams have been stealing signals since the 1800s, and professional football teams (not to say college teams) have likely been doing it for almost as long.
If you think the Colts were the only NFL team trying to steal signals during the Dungy era , there is some lovely oceanfront property in Nebraska you might want to check out. Ditto if you think stealing signals never happened in, say, the Shula or McCaffrey or Marchibroda eras.
So why is Spygate different?
Because it did go outside the norm. The Patriots' skullduggery took skullduggery beyond the unspoken parameters for these things. It took it to a place everyone agrees, without saying so, is unacceptable. That's why no one does it -- or if they do, they are properly punished for it, as the Patriots were.
So is stealing signals cheating?
Well ... yes. But in the gray-shaded world of professional sports, there is cheating -- and there is, well, cheating.
The question for today, rather, is this: What constitutes cheating?
"What the Patriots did, like, three times at least," is one acceptable answer.
"What the Indianapolis Colts did, during roughly the same period," is another, at least according to Deion Sanders.
The Hall of Fame defensive back turned NFL Network analyst said that the other day, when one of his colleagues, LaDainian Tomlinson, pointed out on the NFL Network that the Patriots' dynasty might have been besmirched by Spygate and Deflategate. Sanders begged to differ.
"Those same critics, did they say anything about the wins that the Indianapolis Colts had? You want to talk about that, too? Because they were getting everybody's signals," Sanders said. "Come on, you don't walk up to the line and look over here and the man on the sideline giving you the defense that they've stolen the plays of. We all knew. LT knew. Everybody in the NFL knew. We just didn't let the fans know. That was real and that was happening in Indy."
Tony Dungy, of course, begs to differ, pointing out that stealing signals goes back to the 1800s in baseball. Which is true.
So does that make it cheating, or just time-honored tradition?
It is, admittedly, a fine line, and only a blue-face-painted Colts fan would claim otherwise. The foundational definition of cheating, after all, is trying to gain the upper hand by surreptitious means. By that standard, stealing a team's signals is different only in degree from what the Patriots did in Sypgate.
Here's the thing though: Degrees matter here.
That's why Spygate was cheating, and stealing signals is not. Contradiction in terms it may be, but there is an acceptable norm to these things, as Dungy suggested. Stealing signals lies within that norm, because, yes, baseball teams have been stealing signals since the 1800s, and professional football teams (not to say college teams) have likely been doing it for almost as long.
If you think the Colts were the only NFL team trying to steal signals during the Dungy era , there is some lovely oceanfront property in Nebraska you might want to check out. Ditto if you think stealing signals never happened in, say, the Shula or McCaffrey or Marchibroda eras.
So why is Spygate different?
Because it did go outside the norm. The Patriots' skullduggery took skullduggery beyond the unspoken parameters for these things. It took it to a place everyone agrees, without saying so, is unacceptable. That's why no one does it -- or if they do, they are properly punished for it, as the Patriots were.
So is stealing signals cheating?
Well ... yes. But in the gray-shaded world of professional sports, there is cheating -- and there is, well, cheating.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Trash talk
Phil Jackson has his Zen and his triangle and all those rings Kobe and Shaq and MJ won for him, but these days he has something far less glittering: A mean spirit.
Ever since the dubious architect of the New York Knick(ed)s re-signed Carmelo Anthony, he's been bashing Anthony, even as the Knick(ed)s star has pretty much taken the high road. Now Phil's done it again, weighing in on a Bleacher Report column that takes his side in the escalating and mostly one-sided feud.
The column, which frankly reads as if Jackson himself dictated it, casts doubt on Carmelo's desire to win, a pretty egregious slur. Phil then tweeted his kudos, comparing Carmelo to former Georgetown star Michael Graham, a troubled soul who played for Jackson during his CBA days, argued with him during a game and was cut.
All of this seems grossly unfair to Anthony, who's only averaging 22.9 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists for the calamity of a team Jackson's built around him. He can hardly be blamed for the Knicks' 22-31 record, although Jackson seems mightily to be trying.
And why is that?
The theory is he didn't want to re-sign Anthony to begin with, that he got forced into it by his owner. So because Jackson caved (and come on, he's Phil Jackson, do you really think he couldn't have talked his owner out of re-signing Anthony if he'd really tried?), he's taking it out on Anthony.
And that, frankly, is profoundly unfair. Not to say gutless.
If the Knicks are a Hazmat site right now, after all, much of the blame falls on Jackson. What of substance, after all, has he done in New York? Outside of signing rising star Kristaps Porzingis, his resume is emptier than Betsy DeVos'. But it's all Carmelo's fault?
Look. If Jackson doesn't want Anthony, he should man up and say so. Passively-aggressively smearing the guy until he finally gets sick of it and requests a trade (Anthony has a no-trade clause in his deal) exhibits a lack of character, and it's beneath a man of Jackson's stature.
If, that is, he's truly deserving of that stature.
Ever since the dubious architect of the New York Knick(ed)s re-signed Carmelo Anthony, he's been bashing Anthony, even as the Knick(ed)s star has pretty much taken the high road. Now Phil's done it again, weighing in on a Bleacher Report column that takes his side in the escalating and mostly one-sided feud.
The column, which frankly reads as if Jackson himself dictated it, casts doubt on Carmelo's desire to win, a pretty egregious slur. Phil then tweeted his kudos, comparing Carmelo to former Georgetown star Michael Graham, a troubled soul who played for Jackson during his CBA days, argued with him during a game and was cut.
All of this seems grossly unfair to Anthony, who's only averaging 22.9 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists for the calamity of a team Jackson's built around him. He can hardly be blamed for the Knicks' 22-31 record, although Jackson seems mightily to be trying.
And why is that?
The theory is he didn't want to re-sign Anthony to begin with, that he got forced into it by his owner. So because Jackson caved (and come on, he's Phil Jackson, do you really think he couldn't have talked his owner out of re-signing Anthony if he'd really tried?), he's taking it out on Anthony.
And that, frankly, is profoundly unfair. Not to say gutless.
If the Knicks are a Hazmat site right now, after all, much of the blame falls on Jackson. What of substance, after all, has he done in New York? Outside of signing rising star Kristaps Porzingis, his resume is emptier than Betsy DeVos'. But it's all Carmelo's fault?
Look. If Jackson doesn't want Anthony, he should man up and say so. Passively-aggressively smearing the guy until he finally gets sick of it and requests a trade (Anthony has a no-trade clause in his deal) exhibits a lack of character, and it's beneath a man of Jackson's stature.
If, that is, he's truly deserving of that stature.
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
When the money dries up
Once upon a time, when the world was young and NASCAR still looked like an eternally flowing money fountain, Danica Patrick was the hottest property this side of a private island in the Caribbean.
IndyCar had made her the face of its sport, a sketchy move that was both crassly commercial and an eventual detriment to everyone concerned. She had, yes, the face, but not the resume. And so resentment of her unduly exalted status quickly grew within IndyCar's ranks.
It didn't help, of course, that she handled both the status and the resentment badly. It also didn't help that, like a handful of other IndyCar stars, she then made the mistake of jumping to NASCAR, lured by all that eternally flowing dough.
As with other IndyCar defectors (Sam Hornish Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti), she hasn't found anywhere close to even the limited success she enjoyed in IndyCar. Worse, the eternal money fountain didn't turn out to be eternal after all.
Oh, NASCAR is still the king of American motorsports, and likely will be for a very long time. But as the sport descends from its unsustainable peak, the sponsorship deals are drying up, both for the drivers and the product itself. It says something, after all, when your title sponsor used to be a communications giant and is now an energy drink (Monster). And mostly what it says is not good.
As for Danica, the marketing magic is gone. She's just another back marker now, scrambling for dollars the way all the back markers do. And so now comes news, via George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel, that she's short $15.2 million to go racing this year -- and Daytona is less than three weeks away.
Her primary sponsor, Nature's Bakery, abruptly bailed on its deal with Patrick, an act that will land it in court as Patrick's team, Stewart-Haas Racing, sues for breach of contract. So at least she has that going for her. She also still has three primary sponsors to pick up the tab for 10 races: Aspen Dental (four races), TaxAct (three races) and Code 3 (three races).
The bad news here is that it's Aspen Dental, TaxAct and Code 3, entities that are not exactly on the tip of America's tongue. Neither is Nature's Bakery, a tiny company of similar obscurity.
This is a far more than a stone's throw from the sponsors Patrick used to attract. And it's the starkest evidence that her star has truly dimmed.
It's not just that her primary sponsor has ditched her, you see. It's that her primary sponsor was Nature's Bakery.
IndyCar had made her the face of its sport, a sketchy move that was both crassly commercial and an eventual detriment to everyone concerned. She had, yes, the face, but not the resume. And so resentment of her unduly exalted status quickly grew within IndyCar's ranks.
It didn't help, of course, that she handled both the status and the resentment badly. It also didn't help that, like a handful of other IndyCar stars, she then made the mistake of jumping to NASCAR, lured by all that eternally flowing dough.
As with other IndyCar defectors (Sam Hornish Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti), she hasn't found anywhere close to even the limited success she enjoyed in IndyCar. Worse, the eternal money fountain didn't turn out to be eternal after all.
Oh, NASCAR is still the king of American motorsports, and likely will be for a very long time. But as the sport descends from its unsustainable peak, the sponsorship deals are drying up, both for the drivers and the product itself. It says something, after all, when your title sponsor used to be a communications giant and is now an energy drink (Monster). And mostly what it says is not good.
As for Danica, the marketing magic is gone. She's just another back marker now, scrambling for dollars the way all the back markers do. And so now comes news, via George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel, that she's short $15.2 million to go racing this year -- and Daytona is less than three weeks away.
Her primary sponsor, Nature's Bakery, abruptly bailed on its deal with Patrick, an act that will land it in court as Patrick's team, Stewart-Haas Racing, sues for breach of contract. So at least she has that going for her. She also still has three primary sponsors to pick up the tab for 10 races: Aspen Dental (four races), TaxAct (three races) and Code 3 (three races).
The bad news here is that it's Aspen Dental, TaxAct and Code 3, entities that are not exactly on the tip of America's tongue. Neither is Nature's Bakery, a tiny company of similar obscurity.
This is a far more than a stone's throw from the sponsors Patrick used to attract. And it's the starkest evidence that her star has truly dimmed.
It's not just that her primary sponsor has ditched her, you see. It's that her primary sponsor was Nature's Bakery.
That Baylor brand
Maybe they just need to lay off football for awhile, down there in Waco. No matter what the hometown school does, it seems, it can't get out from under the dark cloud of its football program.
First, Baylor football turned into a de facto vacation spa for sexual predators, with lawsuits alleging the university itself took, shall we say, a cavalier attitude toward the goings-on. Art Briles' program, after all, had become a national power. And we all know how much they love national football powers in Texas.
The whole thing eventually blew up in their faces, as these sorts of things tend to do. Briles was cast into outer darkness, and -- even as the lawsuits proceed apace -- Baylor has vowed to clean up its football act. And that's what it brought in Matt Rhule from Temple to do.
Except ...
Well, except that one of the guys Rhule brought with him -- a 33-year-old assistant strength coach named Brandon Washington -- just got nicked in a Waco prostitution sting.
McLennan County (Texas) deputies arrested Washington in a Waco-area hotel on a prostitution solicitation charge, a Class B misdemeanor. Baylor immediately fired him, but once again it's left looking like a place where its football program can't keep its collective pants zipped.
Not a good look for a Baptist school.
First, Baylor football turned into a de facto vacation spa for sexual predators, with lawsuits alleging the university itself took, shall we say, a cavalier attitude toward the goings-on. Art Briles' program, after all, had become a national power. And we all know how much they love national football powers in Texas.
The whole thing eventually blew up in their faces, as these sorts of things tend to do. Briles was cast into outer darkness, and -- even as the lawsuits proceed apace -- Baylor has vowed to clean up its football act. And that's what it brought in Matt Rhule from Temple to do.
Except ...
Well, except that one of the guys Rhule brought with him -- a 33-year-old assistant strength coach named Brandon Washington -- just got nicked in a Waco prostitution sting.
McLennan County (Texas) deputies arrested Washington in a Waco-area hotel on a prostitution solicitation charge, a Class B misdemeanor. Baylor immediately fired him, but once again it's left looking like a place where its football program can't keep its collective pants zipped.
Not a good look for a Baptist school.
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