chicowalker

A generation of Garden denizens will tell their grandchildren about watching countless entry passes (never to return) to Patrick Ewing, who would then thrillingly back his defender to the basket for 20 seconds while his comrades stood around moths agape at such mastery, before either shooting a baseline fadeaway or rumbling through the paint for a…[Read more]

John Starks may have worked on a garbage truck, but there was no stink on his game as he hit a sizzling 1/3 of his three pointers, which is a Knicks record, probably

And who could forget the bitter mid nineties rivalry with the Miami Heat?  With never more than 1 or 2 people on the court who could hit so much as a 15 footer, these games that averaged 140 points between both teams may have lacked “grace” or “fluidity” or “rudimentary basketball skills you currently find in middle schoolers” but they did…[Read more]

Speaking of yesterday’s game…yet another miraculous recovery from LeBron, I legit thought there was a torn something in his knee (shame on me, sleep deprived) to him being back on D as soon as we got the closeup of him wincing on the other end.  I want the Lakers in the finals.

If he was a little older (more overlap w/jordan) or a little younger (more overlap w/peak leBron) OR the Hornets had told him to get bent and not traded him to LA, he’s rich man’s Jerry Stackhouse

If Tatum’s three at the buzzer had went, but was negated by the worst offensive foul call of all time, I’d need a new TV

I was at the Friars-Marquette game saturday, best seats I’ve had in some time.  I got to see that kind of nonsense up close, Markus Howard too 17 free throws despite only taking 7 two pointers on a bunch of shit that would…[Read more]

And if it doesn’t come to pass that in one of their 9 home game seasons, the sainted Giants/Rams don’t play a road game against the Jets/Chargers, I’ll eat my hat

The ONE thing the NFL gets consistently right is the schedule. Perfect math, no thumbs on the scale (except perhaps bye placement and when they games are, but that seems more random/TV influence)  Who is the 17th opponent going to be?  Are we going to have a rivalry week like they used to do in MLB with interleague? (Remember the glorious Red S…[Read more]

Ray Handley! From the glory days when the coach was wearing  the same starter jacket as 50% of the goons in the stands

Fucking baseball reference rabbit holes.  For as much as Weaver* was willing to buck the system and embrace platooning (when Fisk was catching 150 games per year with the Red Sox ) he leaned in to that early 70s trend of pitching your starter until he dropped.  In 71 (the year they had 4 20 game winners) The Orioles 4 starters pitched 1…[Read more]

Only 4 people on the 83 team qualified for the batting title, while 11 had between 115 and 448 plate appearances.  Of those 11, 7 had an OPS+ under 100.  How Murray and Ripken didn’t walk 120+ times each is a miracle.

Speaking of, up until 5 minutes ago I confused Ron Roenicke with Gary Roenicke, who I remember from those platoon happy early 80s Oriole teams. Per wiki he’s a member of the orioles HoF. .250/.355/.448 w/106 hr in 8 years w/Baltimore   Maybe because he was on the ’83 tital team? Off to check on Lenn Sakata!

Didn’t Bedard claim he was going to still do BSJ as well as the Vegas gig when initially hired?

My buddy’s sister named her kid Kobe (her husband’s favorite player) He’s about 12 so by the time her could be truly into basketball Kobe was on the back 9/injured/retired.  But he does get to answer the question, as a (likely) non rich/famous person the rest of his life…”yes, after him…yes, I was sad I guess…so about that job listing..”

Bigger picture, it’s an unfortunate indictment of the hyper competitive/exploitative side of youth athletics.  No 13 year old’s basketball game was worth even sniffing this risk.  I saw a thing the other day detailing how much travel leBron’s son’s team has done this year, it’s fucking ridiculous.

Embiid’s thumb is just a freak thing but his knee/back issues have to be at least partially related to his weight.

Contemplating the fate of the Sixers a bit more last night- in 5.5 seasons, Embiid has missed 267 games (and counting).  In 60(!) combined seasons, Chief, Kareem, and Duncan (all same position as Embiid for the most part, you can debate Duncan at 4/5) missed a total of 299 games

what % would he have to hit for him to not be completely ignored, though? Especially when their top offensive player is often posting up (rare in today’s NBA) and inviting double teams? if he could hit even 30% (terrible) they’d have to at least hang near him. It would also give him leverage on going to the rim, which he’s legitimately great at,…[Read more]

Zion seems like a good dude, so I’m going to give him a chance.  That said, espn.com had an article this morning (to your point) that meticulously described his appearance in the tunnel before the game, etc. Jimmy Garrison would have told them to dial back the detail.

To his credit, Williamson (not a three point shooter by any stretch) took…[Read more]

I think our old friend Kevin should tweet something completely benign, not sports related, and @Upton Bell to see if he responds.  BFFs