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At the Intersection of Sports and Culture

Photo Credit for Header: Alex Foucre-Stimes

Unguarded But Not Untouchable

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After watching Unguarded I felt like I should have known more about Chris Herren before sitting down to watch the ESPN Films documentary. After all, Fall River isn’t too far away from New Hampshire and he did only graduate from Durfee 3 years before my senior year of high school. If Al Gore had invented the internet back in 1994 I would have been able to follow his meteoric rise and humiliating descent with a bit more regularity. But I rarely read the Boston Globe and wasn’t ever invited to travel on an AAU basketball team with the likes of Scoonie Penn, Wayne Turner, and the Curley brothers.

I first remember hearing the name Chris Herren when he started his amazing run at Fresno St. Back then, the Bulldogs were featured quite prominently on ESPN2 primarily because of their famous coach Jerry Tarkanian and also because the WAC monopolized the 12am tipoff like they worked for the power company. Tark’s Fresno State teams always felt like they had a little Running Rebel in them, impart because their star guard Chris Herren had tattoos before Chris Anderson and bleach blond hair before Eminem.

I can remember talk of Herren being a high draft pick but that there also being concerns of baggage related to earlier run-ins with the law and drugs. When he was traded to the Celtics in 2000 it barely registered with me but mostly because Boston was in the midst of the Rick Pitino years and as we can all remember “Larry Bird is not walking through that door”. And then, more trouble and drugs and eventually Herren moved his game overseas and became somewhat of a footnote or a cautionary tale on the price of small town fame and addiction. It wasn’t until watching Unguarded that Chris Herren’s life came in to focus and I can now truly appreciate his story.

A few other quick observations from Unguarded:

1) Who knew scoring drugs was so easy? It’s one of the scarier realizations in the entire film. If you want to catch a fix, the dope is going to find you. Some of us would probably end up looking like Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm when he buys some “medicinal” marijuana for his father who is suffering from glaucoma. But the way Herren describes the process makes it seem like such a simple endeavor.

2) Antonio McDyess and Nick Van Exel, two of Herren’s teammates during his rookie season with the Denver Nuggets, were legit team leaders. I always thought Van Exel was a hothead and was therefore quite surprised to hear Herren describe how these two basketball veterans lived good, clean lives off the court so as not to tempt their addiction addled rookie point guard. Couldn’t see Kenyon Martin or Carmelo Anthony doing this today.

3) Chris Herren is an impressive public speaker. He has a resounding presence and credibility when he stands before a group of kids and recovering addicts. I would not be surprised to hear or see his career as a public speaker/coach take off after more and more people watch this documentary.

Finally, as Herren said, being a recovering addict is a day to day proposition. By the end of the documentary, as he was staring into the bathroom mirror, I got the sense that it would much easier for him to fall back into a life of drugs than it is for him to stay sober. I hope Chris Herren keeps clean and continues to share his message with others. It’s an important story, one that we can all learn from and appreciate.

view from Hinkle Fieldhouse courtesy of @shmos 

 

Whitey Bulger and the 2011 NBA Draft

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Living in anonymity. That’s what repugnant Boston mobster Whitey Bulger had been doing for 17 years until his capture in Santa Monica late last night – special thanks to Jack Nicholson for breathing new life into the search – and that’s what the majority of picks in the 2011 NBA Draft will be doing for the foreseeable future. To borrow a line from Major League, “who are these f*%$ing guys?. Are any of these picks destined for stardom or do we have nothing more than a bunch of back of the rotation guys who will struggle to earn consistent minutes in the NBA? We’ve heard of Kyrie Irving. We know the charming story of Glens Falls, NY native Jimmer Fredette. But Jan Vesely? Tristan Thompson?

In times of column crisis, I typically turn to my wife for inspiration who, like the majority of casual sports fans, couldn’t be bothered to tell you the first informative thing about this NBA Draft or any of the players involved. I gave her the names of the presumed top ten picks, without any sort of backstory, and asked her to tell me who she thought these “people” were.

If it’s real draft “analysis” you’re looking for, head here, here, or possibly here. Otherwise, enjoy this totally unscientific breakdown of the 2011 NBA Draft presented by my wife.

#1: Cleveland Cavaliers – Kyrie Irving, PG Duke

“Don’t you mean “Kyle” Irving? I went to grade school with a Kyle Irving. He was a bad seed. It has been my experience that certain names fit certain personalities and I have never met a “Kyle” or “Brandon” or “Zach” that I could trust.”

#2: Minnesota Timberwolves – Derrick Williams, PF Arizona

“Isn’t there a Derrick Williams playing in the NBA? It feels like there is a Derrick Williams playing in the NBA.”

#3: Utah Jazz – Enes Kanter, C Turkey

“Oh, got this one, he’s that Republican Congressman who always seems to be lurking behind John Boehner during those creepy announcements from Capital Hill.”

#4: Cleveland Cavaliers – Tristan Thompson, PF Texas

“Reminds me of Brad Pitt’s character from Legends of the Fall. Do you remember when we were trying to come up with names for our son and I suggested “Tristan”? Such a dreamy name.”

#5: Toronto Raptors – Brandon Knight, PG Kentucky

“Wasn’t he a member of the New Kids on the Block? Or was it the Backstreet Boys? Either way I’m kinda hoping for a boy band revival. Never did get to see N’Sync live.”

#6: Washington Wizards – Jan Vesely, SF Serbia

“Harry Potter’s BFF and Hermione’s future husband. Speaking of Harry Potter, you better do one of those Plodding through the Previews posts for The Deathly Hallows: Part II.”

#7: Sacramento Kings – Kawhi Leonard, SF San Diego St.

“Doesn’t sound like anybody I know. I don’t even know how to pronounce Kawhi”

#8: Detroit Pistons – Bismack Biyombo, PF Spain

“The King of Zamunda. Maybe I think this because Coming to America has been on all the time recently. Great movie although I feel that it has become a bit underrated recently.”

#9: Charlotte Bobcats – Kemba Walker, PG Connecticut

“Point guard of the National Champion UConn Huskies. I’m not completely ignorant to all things sports.”

#10: Milwaukee Bucks – Klay Thompson, SG Washington State

“Why is it not “Clay” with a C. I have never understood why parents change the spelling of fairly traditional names like Staci, Rodger, and D’Brickashaw.”

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So there you have it. Thanks to my wife for being such a great sport and enjoy the 2011 NBA Draft live for Newark, NJ. That’s right Newark, NJ. Enjoy!! 

view from the 2011 NBA Draft courtesy of @prucenter

 

Monday Morning Musings: Mavericks Edition

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Congrats to Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks for ending our season long nightmare by defeating the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. LeBron James will have to wait at least one more season before claiming his first championship. On the ABC postgame, Jeff Van Gundy tossed out the notion that the Miami front office would possibly entertain the idea of trading LeBron or Dwyane Wade for either Chris Paul or Dwight Howard this offseason because, in his mind, the pieces just might not “fit” as currently constituted. Don’t you have to wait at least one more year before blowing the whole thing up?

For me, the arithmetic just doesn’t add up on this one. LeBron will be back. Dwyane Wade will be back. Even Chris Bosh and Coach Spoelstra will return for another season in South Beach which is what we should all want, another opportunity to root against the Miami Heat.

As the curtain falls on an incredibly entertaining NBA season, and the Stanley Cup Finals stare down a Game 6 tonight in Boston, MLB is about ready to take center stage for the long summer months. And who knows, if the billionaires and millionaires that operate the NFL don’t get their s*#$ together soon, we could be looking at nothing but baseball chatter for the foreseable future.

A Quick Trip Around the Bases

1B – I guess we all spoke too soon about the Cleveland Indians. Losers of 9 of their last 10, the Tribe are starting to play like the team we all thought they were going to be before the 2011 season began. And now here come the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox ready to make a race of the AL Central. Two questions: can the Indians hold on a little longer, say until the all star break or are they in the midst of a total free fall? Second, the Twins have won 8 of 10 and sit only 9 games out of the division lead. With a healthy(?) Joe Mauer returning behind the plate this week, does Minnesota make their traditional run to the top of the standings or are they simply snake bitten this season?

2B – Good for you Atlanta! At least we have one team willing to hang in there in the NL East and not allow the Philadelphia Phillies to sit back and map out their postseason pitching rotation starting in August. Is Brian McCann the best catcher in baseball right now? With Posey and Mauer both injured, and my main man Matt Wieters quietly emerging but not quite yet ready for prime time, McCann is probably the gold standard right now.

3B – The Chicago Cubs are not a good baseball team. Whenever Lou Montanez is batting 3rd in your lineup you know you have issues. Not only are the Cubs struggling on the field but now Peter Gammons, MLB columnist and baseball emissary especial, has called Wrigley Field a “dump” and mentioned how the new ownership group in Chicago, the Ricketts family, is not prepared financially to handle the cost of essential ballpark renovations.  Of course, take anything the Boston based Gammons writes with a grain of salt. If Larry Lucchino or Theo Epstein were to go to the bathroom in the middle of Boston Common Gammons would find a way hail the masterpiece as an important work of impressionist art.

HR – Derek Jeter is now 7 hits away from 3,000 and unfortunately for Yankee fans it doesn’t look like the Captain is going to reach this milestone in Yankee Stadium. I guess it’s possible, 7 hits in 4 games at home this week, but in all likelihood Jeter will reach 3K in Wrigley Field over the weekend in front of 40K over served Chicago Cubs fans. Ahhhh the memories.

view from American Airlines Arena courtesy of @marcus_hammond

3 Reasons a Hockey Fan Should Watch Game 6 of the NBA Finals

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I had an interesting conversation with a friend on Friday night. We were talking about the NBA and Stanley Cup finals and he was arguing that the fans of these two sports are mutually exclusive. In general, his point as a hockey fan was that they don’t really care about the NBA Finals and vice versa. As an NBA fan, I felt that his argument was incorrect and incredibly shortsighted.  If there were ever a time to care about both, now is that time. Even I can acknowledge the incredible cross continent fight taking place between the Bruins and Canucks.  So to all those hockey fans out there who are unwilling to give the NBA Finals a chance, here are 3 simple reasons why you should care about Game 6 tonight between the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat.

Reason #1: The superstars play the hardest. It’s true. The best players in the game tonight – Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James, are also the hardest workers.  A lot of non NBA fans are turned off by the perception that all NBA players are self promoting, narcissists who thump their chests after every made layup. And although this may still be the case for some – see Chris Bosh – the majority of NBAers today genuinely care about giving their best effort.

Reason #2: For hockey fans that appreciate a good rivalry, this series has all the essential ingredients . The Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat do not like each other. The James and Wade video mocking Nowitzki’s illness is just the latest in a long line of competitive animosity between these two sides. Wade and Nowitzki have had a rivalry since the Heat beat the Mavs in the ’06 finals and the style of these two teams couldn’t be any more different. The Heat are South Beach glamor personified while the Mavs have come to symbolize veteran savy and work ethic.

Reason #3: LeBron James is the most polarizing figure in professional sports today. Picture the amazing physical skills of Alexander Ovechkin coupled with the disdain for your least favorite politician. This is the complicated formula that besets LeBron as he prepares to take the court in Game 6. Publicly vilified for “The Decision” but universally lauded for his amazing basketball ability, LeBron has been unable to come through in the 4th quarter of this series when it matters the most. All of the pressure rests on his shoulders tonight. Will he help the Heat stave off elimination and send the series to a game 7 or will he head into another offseason in pursuit of his first, elusive NBA Championship?

Stay tuned hockey fans, there is something for everyone in the 2011 NBA Finals.

view from outside the American Airlines Arena courtesy of @aguilaruben

Wednesday Worries

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I’m worried that….

having a 4 month old son and a full time job precludes me from staying up past 9:30. I would have loved to see the Mavs come back on the Heat and close out Game 4 in Dallas but unfortunately, I didn’t make it past the LeBron to DWade alley oop making it 67-64 Miami with only 2 minutes to go in the 3rd. After that, nighty night. How can a global audience on the world wide web take a writer/blogger seriously after they admit to not watching the 2nd half of an NBA Finals game? Sure, I could disguise my fatigue and act like I watched the whole thing but that would be disingenuous. I did last 3 months in the Cub Scouts after all.

this series is going 7 and I will be too tired to remember any of it.

the national sportswriters of America have gone completely schizo regarding LeBron. One morning the headlines read “LeBron is Jordan”, next day it’s “Wade Plays Alpha to James’ Beta”, and now after Tuesday night we are looking at a days worth of “Gone Missing” stories. Let’s wait till the series comes to a conclusion before we etch anything permanent on LeBron’s headstone. I will say however that James scoring less than 10 points last night does shock me. Maybe Dirk’s German shooting coach Holger Geschwindner has been sending Lebron some evil eastern European vibes.

Rick Carlisle is going to panic some more and start Brian Cardinal over Tyson Chandler in Game 5.

this latest heat wave enveloping the Northeast will lead to a brown out right as the puck drops for Game 5 Bruins/Canucks. Of course, with a 4 month old son and full time job, I probably wasn’t going to watch much more than the 1st period anyway.

view from American Airlines Center courtesy of @cbs11news