Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Keeps Getting Better

My new employer sure knows how to throw a holiday. So far – two holiday lunches, one holiday dinner, and one (casino-themed) holiday party. My former employer? English muffins and butter in the conference room, no toaster (fire hazard), maybe a few stray rice cakes or donuts left over from the meeting on the 24th floor. Okay, I’m exaggerating but… chocolate gingerbread cake and pumpkin ice cream! Giant scallops! Open bar! It’s a little overwhelming but I’ll adjust.

Good Arrested Development news. Sure, you need a Hollywood insider translator to understand Variety’s secret language but it looks like good news.

Last night’s Timberwolves loss to Sacramento (last-second three-pointer by Bonzi Wells) was particularly painful. Maybe they’ll gain strength from this tragic defeat. Maybe they’ll learn to put away an average team at home so it doesn’t come down to a guy with an unstylish headband knocking down an unlikely shot.

3 comments:

jc coates said...

Ali

Know why I call the Timberwolves the T-pups? Cuz they play like puppy dogs, especially in the 4th. C'mon, giving KG the ball for the last shot is the thing to do but only when he's in the low post, not when he's forced to make a mid-range jump shot with a hand in his face like last night (and he clunked it the night before against Philly in the waning seconds, I might add). I was watching last night's game live and I LAUGHED so hard when Bonzi's shot hit NBN (nothing but nylon in Dickie-V-speak) cuz I wanted the Kings to bring in Francisco Garcia instead of Wells but whatever works works. If the T-pups can't keep a smelly team from making a play on them in the last 2.7, how do you think they'll match up against the Spurs, the Mavs, the Suns, the Grizz, the fuckin' Jazz even. Face it: Western Conference basketball is OVER! Even when the Western Conference was the power conference the East was more fun to watch: AI, Shaq, Flash, LeBron, the Pistons, the Bucks, the Pacers, I'd even rather watch the Hawks (I own a Hawks lid, even). C'mon, the only Western Conference team that's not stale is the Clips. GO CLIPS!!! (They should move back to San Diego, though, huh?)

Still, I hope my "office" holiday party lives up to yours. Speaking of holiday, are you coming to Roch City next week? We'd love to have you and Lolo over for dinner. Do you prefer Chinese, Italian, quiche or other ("other" means take-out and the quiche almost always includes bacon)? You can let me know either here or on my blog.

Ali said...

Thank you for the kind invitation. I believe Lolo has already indicated our acceptance and any of those foods sound good but who could pass up a quiche in winter?

I agree with everything you say about the Timberwolves but I have to disagree about the East being more fun to watch. I've watched a lot of Clippers game this year and they're always fun to watch. And the Lakers continue to fascinate me if only for the fact that the team is constructed so awkwardly, with none of the pieces fitting together. Watching Phil try to figure out a way to make them fit makes for great TV especially because you know he'll figure it out, even if it takes trading Kobe and Chris Mihm to the Pacers for Ron Artest and Jeff Foster. And the Mavericks and Suns always entertain. In the East, if it doesn't involve AI or Chauncey or TJ Ford, it's kind of dull. And as long as the Eastern Conference contains a Pat Riley-coached team, it will always be the less interesting conference. I put the blame entirely on Pat Riley for the NBA losing its offensive identity in the 90s. His 93-94 Knicks, despite almost winning it all, still make me very very very angry.

jc coates said...

The Western Conference has the most boring players in the league: Kobe, Duncan, Ray Allen, Abdur-Rahim, Yao, Wally, anyone who plays for Portland. yeah, these guys score but they do it in the most ho-hum ways (except when Kobe goes baseline for the reverse jam ande Ray starts raining threes). It's interesting that you say the Mavs and the Suns always entertain becuz Western Conference basketball died for me when Mark Cuban failed to resign Steve Nash; I always thought him and Dirk would go down in history with the likes of Bird and McHale or Magic and Worthy or Stockton and Malone; now they split and neither one of them will win a championship. And as for Kobe being traded: How can the Lakers choose Kobe over Shaq, then trade Kobe two years later? Tell you what, what they should've done in the first place was kept Shaq and traded Kobe for Iverson straight up: Kobe goes back to his hometown and AI brings the league's (the world's?) toughest body to the Lakers for three more championships. Now, not even Phil can zap life into the Frankenstein's monster that is the Lakers. And FYI, I think Pat Riley is the 2nd best coach in the league (the best? Jerry Sloan, BAY-BEEE!).