one last try

Because of the allergen concentration in Western Washington and the unfortunate effect it has upon my sinuses, I have decided to kick start my blog. Hopefully, this time it will be more of a sustained effort. I blame the last sputtering out on my bankruptcy--after going up $1000 in a week, I caught a bad run which decimated my bankroll. So, perhaps the ticket will be to treat this, as others do, as a running journal of thoughts and impressions and not as some tutorial on how to play poker. And I've read enough literary blogs during the past week of house arrest to understand what they really are: forums for literary groupies, not the type who follow around writers, but the types who follow around editors/agents: a shameful act.

I've been bandying this list around for a couple weeks now, trying to perfect it, at least in my head, and not because I believe in lists, but more because this, if nothing else, seems to be an issue that needs to be sorted out. So, here it is in annotated form...

Top 10 NBA players of my remembered lifetime
-meaning from MJ's first championship and forward, because as much as I want to remember the Celtics glory years, all that remains of those seasons is my memory of an "ACs Power Club" poster which hung on my closet door.

1. MJ- Best memories: a) the flu game in which MJ put up something like 34 and permanently estranged Scotty Pippen by refusing to pass the ball in the last two minutes of the game. b) the double-clutch reverse against the Lakers, which is only topped by Dr. J's windmill whirligig scoop, a shot which was performed before I was born. c) Reggie Miller shoving MJ in the chest in the last seconds of a playoff game, getting the foot of space he needed before burying a game winning shot.

2. Shaqapulco- I'm more of a fan of Shaq's public persona than I am of his game. Back in the Lakers early championship runs, when the babyhook was money, Shaq was probably the second most unstoppable center of all-time, behind Wilt. Now he has trouble getting the ball and seems to fade in the second half of big playoff games.

3. Hakeem- Which was more unstoppable: the late Jordan fade-away or the Dream Shake?

4. Groundhog Day- There's something despicable about top-tier college players who stay in college all four years. I always feel as if they (and here I'm speaking directly to all big white stiffs who stay in college, ahem, Eric Montross, Nick Collison, etc.) are risking their livelihood to make good with that group of white asshole sportswriters, who, themselves, never got over their days at Sigma Ep. I'm not convinced that this is the case with the Big Fundamental, but something kept him at Wake for that final year, despite the fact that Tony Rutland was the second best player on his team. Now, any black kid who wants to leave college early has to hear about how much better Tim Duncan got during his senior year in college. Fucking garbage. Anyone with a prayer of the first round should declare for the NBA draft. Just don't hire an agent if your name is Shavlik Randolph.

5. Mailman- Tough to argue with the numbers, tough to argue with "The mailman doesn't deliver on Sundays." I imagine, in twenty or so years, that Mailman will be given the same reconsideration that Wilt is enjoying now. People will look at his numbers and forget that when a Jazz game was on the line, nobody in the Delta Center wanted Karl to be anywhere near the ball. I still will never forget the shock I felt when I actually saw Malone bang in a 15 footer in the last seconds of a play-off game. But its tough to argue with the career averages...

Actually, 5 is enough for now. I will also post some new photos, and even perhaps, change my template, which is dreary and hard to read.