ESPN.com: Sources: Kyrie Irving plays key role in Friday call with players

From Woj:

When the National Basketball Players Association conducted a conference call and vote on restarting the season a week ago, Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving was an active participant — although his questions were of a mundane nature.

Sources say Irving asked, as an injured player, if he would count among the Nets’ allotted 35 people should he want to join the Orlando, Florida, bubble. Could he sit in the stands to cheer on his teammates? Use a sauna for his rehab?

He had a question about NBA sponsors on campus, and whether they would be supplying players with products. A union official asked him for an example, and Irving mentioned a popular adult beverage — before insisting that he had indeed simply shared an example — and wondered what food might be provided to players under league partnerships.

All in all, his inquiries weren’t of weighty consequence.

There were two dozen-plus team representatives and several more executive committee members on the call, and Irving’s stature as one of the NBPA’s six elected vice presidents, in addition to his credentials as an NBA champion and All-Star Game MVP, elevated him among those peers voting on the call. The final tally: 28-0.

Looking back, the call itself was much less a discussion on the merits of restarting the season, and much more a Q&A with NBPA executive director Michele Roberts and president Chris Paul on the mechanics and rules expected to govern teams, players and the bubble environment, sources said.

So, yes, it surprised several of his NBPA colleagues that Irving — lost for the season with shoulder surgery in March — was simultaneously lending his voice to a far different discussion with rank-and-file union members on upending the league’s plans for a 22-team restart at Disney World in Orlando, sources said.

On a call that included nearly 100 players and several stars on Friday night, Irving made an impassioned plea for players to make a stand and sit out the season’s resumption in Orlando, sources said. Around 90 minutes in length, the call included several players suggesting they’d be willing to sit out the season — and numerous more discussing social issues, league economics and, ultimately, a sense that they needed to be united in a decision.

Where it leads the NBA now remains unclear. Even after the call, there was still a belief within the league that the NBA would have the players’ support it needed to resume the season, but no one could be as sure as they seemed to be a mere week ago.

What a fascinating turn of events. With Lebron pushing players to support re-opening, I would bet on that side ultimately winning, but it’s interesting to see what will happen here.

413 replies on “ESPN.com: Sources: Kyrie Irving plays key role in Friday call with players”

Kyrie Irving is [Jean Ralphio voice] the wooooorrrrsssssst

I am very happy that I was never down for the Kyrie-Durant scam. Kyrie is just a huge downer. He had a golden opportunity with the Celts and their fans couldn’t be rid of him fast enough. And Durant and his achilles has said some really dumb shit too. I mean, who knows how good the Nets will wind up being, but given their bloated contracts, I feel more than ever that we dodged a major bullet. Just wish that chasing them didn’t cost us KP.

I mean, I agree with the poster who said the longer fans go without basketball, the more used to it people get, and they’ll stop missing it.

Regardless of your views on Covid and police protests, if players keep saying “there are more important things than basketball” (which is obviously true), then the fans will say “oh yeah, there are more important things than basketball!”

I want players to have a platform and speak their minds, but there are plenty of other things to divert my attention if they don’t play.

Seriously, for the first time in my life I am having back issues bad enough to be mulling permanent retirement from pickup basketball. It may not seem like a big deal for you young ‘uns but believe me, it’s really emotional. I have loved playing basketball regularly for over 50 years, and (knock on wood) never had a serious injury. So not being able to live vicariously through the NBA only adds to my despair. I could easily live without the other sports (honestly, I miss the majors in golf maybe most of all!)

Z-man: Maybe you should try Fortnite? It’s the one sport Kevin Knox seems to excel in.

But yes, getting old sucks. I gave up hoops at 40, and even workouts have gotten tougher (slower recovery times), but I’m fine wearing my body down — there’s just no way I can risk an Achilles tear though. That, or anything in that league, would be rough.

ess-dog: the longer fans go without basketball, the more used to it people get, and they’ll stop missing it.

As a Knick fan, I’ve gone without any real basketball since sometime in the early 2000s. Can’t say I miss it that much anymore, either.

say what you will about kyrie I
Irving, but the dude is not dull…

I would imagine he can be a serious pain in the ass to deal with, but not dull…

Z-man, you’re old as fuck but you’re not too old to do hex bar deadlifts. I wouldn’t fuck with conventional barbell deadlifts because they’re a liability if your form is rough, but hex bar is safe and functionally useful.

Jokic appears to have lost 40 pounds. Very interested to see if he plays better as a result.

I know you’re talking to Z-man, Jowls, but I love the hex bar. Sadly, I’ve been limited to bands and body weight stuff since lockdown.

Re: Larkin, why the hell not? I’m sure he’d instantly be our best pg, and he’d probably be relatively cheap.

“Apparently, Atkinson is gaining ground.”

The cynic/realist in me thinks this is disinformation leaked to assuage the feelings of Atkinson acolytes. “Well…. we gave him due consideration ….and then chose Thibs…..”

wouldn’t mind giving this guy another shot…

Larkin is a fascinating case. There’s really no reason he should have ever left the States. It’s amazing how many decent players are priced out of the States, even with the impressive deal the NBA has where veteran players don’t cost teams extra money. Teams would still prefer to take fliers on younger guys than play decent vets like Larkin.

Apparently, Atkinson is gaining ground.

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/258433/Kenny-Atkinson-Gaining-Legitimate-Internal-Support-As-Next-Head-Coach-Of-Knicks

It’s just such an obvious move that it makes a lot of sense if it is true (namely, the more that they think about it, the more obvious it should become), but I can’t hold out any hope. I mean, look at that story. “Kenny Atkinson is reportedly receiving “legitimate internal support” to be named the next head coach of the New York Knicks, sources told Ian Begley of SNY.

Atkinson is gaining support due to his ability to develop young players.” Oh, ya don’t say? Who could have ever thought of that?

ess, as you well know, there’s no substitution for heavy ass weight. In our home gym we have an EliteFTS Safety Squat Bar, a Titan Rackable Hex Bar, a Rogue Ohio Power Bar and a Titan Cambered Swiss Bar. Really no shortage of options for us right now, but I feel for people unable to get that kind of work in. I’d be going crazy without it and my daily five mile walk.

As an aside, my kid was in the top-130 in the world and top-75 in the US in the Crossfit Games in her age bracket. I was doing it with her for a while and it was fun, especially the lifting stuff, but I got tired of being last to finish. When the gyms open back up. I’ll look into doing some hex bar stuff.

It’s funny, I actually can’t remember there ever being a more obvious coaching decision for the Knicks than hiring Atkinson. I mean, I guess hiring Van Gundy full time after the 1995-96 season?

It’s a real no-brainer. There have been a bunch of good things that have bubbled up about Thibs lately but Atkinson is such an easy choice.

Also, and I know I shouldn’t, but since we have been talking about Chaz and because Jowles lives in Chaz and because I also love Monty Python, I had to post this.

It’s honestly one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

https://twitter.com/jbillinson/status/1271887686899511297

Clearly the entrance points to CHAZ should be guarded by The Knights Who Say “Nee”

You know, if I were the hiring manager for someone and there was someone I knew pretty well and was on good terms with of course I would make sure he got an interview. But that wouldn’t mean I was intending to hire him. I would be just ensuring he had a fair shot. I might even think he wasn’t a good fit for the position, but I would do the hiring process including him to be fair. Then I would hope to end up with a good reason that I could tell him if some other candidate is the one chosen. If it’s an important job, you can’t hire someone who doesn’t fit just because you know him. That would be bad for both of you eventually.

So I buy it that Thibs’ connections with Rose could be why he’s being interviewed. He’s an obviously available experienced coach anyway. But I don’t buy it that those same connections mean he will be the one hired. If he gets hired it’s more likely Rose really decided he was the best candidate. And that is a very open question.

Thinking back, I guess bringing Woodson back for his first full season was an even more obvious call than hiring Atkinson.

Not necessarily. His limits as a coach were readily apparent in the playoffs. It would have been awkward to replace him, but not unprecedented.

And I’m not saying that we should have, only that it wouldn’t have been crazy to have replaced him with a better coach. And it probably wouldn’t have made much difference, except maybe we would have eked into the playoffs that year.

Oh, believe me, I never liked Woody, but after the team went 18-6 under him and made the playoffs, you’d be hard pressed not to bring him back.

Walton went like undefeated with the Dubs. Didn’t mean he was a great coach. Woodson was a known mediocre commodity.

woody’s incredulous face was next level…he had magnificent control of his facial features…

The most ridiculous headline to article relationship I’ve ever seen. The headline says:

Kyrie Irving plays key role in Friday call with players

Then in the body of the piece:

All in all, his inquiries weren’t of weighty consequence.

Even in the era of clickbait that’s like what??? And then on the strength of this people are talking down on the guy. I don’t like him and didn’t want him on the Knicks but come on.

seems kyrie might have something against certain round objects…bubbles, planets – no good, very bad…

Walton went like undefeated with the Dubs. Didn’t mean he was a great coach. Woodson was a known mediocre commodity.

And Walton got a head coaching gig right away based on that, with multiple teams lining up to hire him.

Even in the era of clickbait that’s like what??? And then on the strength of this people are talking down on the guy. I don’t like him and didn’t want him on the Knicks but come on.

You have to read further. Woj is saying that in the official discussion, Kyrie said nothing, but then secretly was putting together his own discussion with players urging the 90+ players he had on the conference call to boycott the season.

You have to read further. Woj is saying that in the official discussion, Kyrie said nothing, but then secretly was putting together his own discussion with players urging the 90+ players he had on the conference call to boycott the season.

OK, yes, that does change the picture.

happy dad’s day gentlemen 🙂

I hope you all are getting a chance to spend the day as you’d like…heck, that should happen at least one day out of the year…

oh shit, I thought it was today…never mind…

well, fuck it – hope ya’ll get to do what you want anyways 🙂

Oh man, you got me excited for a second that ALL of my kids had declined to wish me a happy Father’s Day.

I’m sure they’re all helping to keep you young donnie…or, you may be just too busy to notice they’re draining your life force daily…

dang THCJ, that’s a sweet set up…not that I would probably ever use it much, but I’m a bit jealous anyway…

one of my neighbors just re-did their garage and added in a smith machine…always wanted a smith machine…not that I’d use it much, but, just a cool looking piece of equipment…

I’m staring now at my “total gym” which I have set up in my bedroom and haven’t touched once in a couple of weeks now…

The Knicks have a lot of cap space and a few extra draft picks.

They can rent the cap space for more picks, give out a few 1 year deals to save the space for next year when there are better free agents available, or use the space and picks as assets to try to bring in a couple of legitimately good veteran players ready to compete for the playoffs now.

An all young team would probably better off in Atkinson’s hands, but a team trying to make the playoffs with a mix of veterans and young players may be better off with someone like Atkinson as an assistant to help with development.

Does anyone have an idea of what will happen to the market for deadline “win-now” expiring deals like the Morris trade if the cap shrinks by, let’s say, 20%?

Is this an opportunity to take on albatross deals for future picks?

The Honorable Cock Jowles:
Does anyone have an idea of what will happen to the market for deadline “win-now” expiring deals like the Morris trade if the cap shrinks by, let’s say, 20%?

Is this an opportunity to take on albatross deals for future picks?

That’s the hope…but it assumes a FO that understands that…

Question: who are the contenders who have both an albatross contract to dump AND have attractive assets that they would be willing to give up to include to do so? OKC maybe, but who else?

The Wizards don’t have much to package with Wall. Maybe the Cav throw something in to dump Love (he’d be a good fit for us, no?) Maybe the Pistons and Blake? Maybe the Sixers and Horford? Blazers? Sacto and Barnes? Not sure what options will be out there, despite the conditions.

The players have a right to protest or advance social causes any way they see fit including ruffling feathers and making people uncomfortable if they think that’s how they will be most effective. But I think it’s worth pointing out that a segment of the population has very little respect for the opinions of Hollywood, musicians, or athletes. In fact, right or wrong, one could say they are turned off by mixing politics with entertainment. They especially don’t like being pontificated to by people that in many cases have less education, no expertise, and haven’t even examined the data as well as they have on whatever the subject may be .

I have no idea what the players are thinking, but imho I think it should be small and symbolic as a group and leave the heavy lifting to people with expertise in the area or that seem especially educated, experienced, and informed on the subject. Someone like Kareem Abdul Jabbar doing all the Sunday political shows with experts on policing and some community leaders etc… might be more effective than whatever the players are planning. Everyone knows Kareem and he’s an excellent and educated communicator.

There’s a reason Colin Kaepernick’s efforts failed and why the ratings for the Academy awards go down every year. People still love football and movies. Most people are very sympathetic to people suffering from injustice and are open to major change and reform no matter what the issue . They just don’t want the case brought to them by people that in many cases know less than they do as if fame gives them some special insights. The players can do whatever they want, but if the goal is to be effective I think the idea is to convince people and not turn them off. Send out guys like Kareem.

I don’t agree they should shut up and dribble. I think police brutality’s popularity is at an all time low and they should play and protest. It would be great for the brand, good for the pocket book, and a relative ratings bonanza for the network.

The health issues are real but manageable.

That’s probably just me speaking from a place where I really want to see some ball. But I think it’s right. Worrying what a bunch of old white people who watch Fox News think seems to me an economically dumb idea for a league whose appeal and revenue base is very young and very international.

I was reading Jonathan Macri’s Ronnie Brewer interview, and man if it isn’t completely obvious that Dolan really fucked up with his weird wait-and-bullshit statement…

I mean, puting aside the main thing, which is that it would be the obvious right thing to do as an owner of an athletic club made up mostly of people of color to stand up with every other company that showed solidarity with BLM. I mean, your company wouldn’t even stand out, so many other companies did it, MSG would fit in, and be forgotten, and go right back to business. So what was the downside… sheesh

But take it further, it looks like athletes are – justifiably – REALLY going to care about Dolan’s anti-stand and say, ‘hey, the only possible reason you decide to not take a stand… is racist’.. then you’re SOL.

Imagine an alternate universe, where Dolan acted like Tsai, and offered a place to ‘assemble’ in front of his building- and then completely support and speak up… talk about a statement, a free one at that, and the chance to INSTANTLY be seen differently, which would be huge here.

I think Dolan really screwed the pooch on this one, and although the FO hires were good (not great- it seems the running theme is ‘hire guys with relationships, get some stars, here, use the capologist to do it’)… it may not help when players don’t want to come here.

I don’t get ‘shut up and dribble’ – do you not believe in freedom of speech? Why does the opinion of the public on whether athletes ‘should’ talk about politics even matter? If a player wants to talk, talk. If a player wants to kneel, kneel. If a player wants to say nothing, say nothing.

What the hell does a man’s occupation have anything to do with his freedom to discuss politics?

If he ends up disliked by portions of the public, I am sure he either is ok with that sacrifice, or is grateful to have the unfollow.

And FYI- (in specific response to Deefense saying these dudes are ‘uneducated,’ ‘lack expertise,’ or whatever) for a huge segment of the population, athletes are their ambasssadors to the public- people who grew up like them and have a similar background and viewpoint – maybe we SHOULD be listening to athletes MORE.

I, for one, don’t really care that much about Dolan’s slowness on the draw or terseness of his statement. There is nothing wrong with his words, and at the end of the day, actions speak louder than words. I care far more about 32 football teams blackballing Kaepernick over his kneeling.

MSG has promoted lots of social causes over the years, often well ahead of the competition. The Knicks have had more Black front office personnel over the last 20 years than most NBA teams. Dolan has many deep flaws, but tone deafness to racism is very low on my personal list. If anything, he is just criminally inept at public relations.

Celebrities of any kind should feel free to speak out on any societal issue that they choose, and should be encouraged to do so. People can choose to care or not care as they see fit.

I have no idea what the players are thinking, but imho I think it should be small and symbolic as a group and leave the heavy lifting to people with expertise in the area or that seem especially educated, experienced, and informed on the subject.

True, the Knicks let Phil Jackson become their top executive without any expertise in the area and he did fail miserably. So you’ve given us something to think about.

I don’t really think it’s a free speech issue. Private businesses have the ability to curtail employee speech if they want. I just don’t think it makes sense here to do so.

Dolan’s statements, leaked and otherwise, do bother me. They bother me as a human being but I’d also agree that his inability to handle the ABC’s of public relations angers me as a Knicks fan a tremendous amount.

Just a colossal unforced error.

The First Amendment is the single most important safeguard we have against tyranny, and I’m glad that our celebrities are weighing in, regardless of their stands. It is what makes social progress in the realm of human rights possible. I believe that we are seeing a seismic shift in the power of freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly due to the advent of the social media age. Like a powerful new medicine (albeit with horrific side effects) everything is being flushed out into the open, every one of us is a watchdog, every one of us owns our words and deeds for cyber-perpetuity. Social justice, from discrimination to police brutality to vigilantism to corruption in politics, courts of law and prisons, is under a microscope that was not possible without social media access for all Amerticans. Every one of us has the capacity to be an activist and/or a journalist of sorts.

We still have a looooooong way to go, but it’s pretty cool to be witnessing what is going on in the streets of our country right now.

Owen: Dolan’s statements, leaked and otherwise, do bother me. They bother me as a human being but I’d also agree that his inability to handle the ABC’s of public relations angers me as a Knicks fan a tremendous amount.

What bothers you most about his actual words? I just want to reflect on your views in forming a firm opinion.

They especially don’t like being pontificated to by people that in many cases have less education, no expertise, and haven’t even examined the data as well as they have on whatever the subject may be .

I like how you couched this garbage in what “other people” might think. Some of your word choices made it pretty clear, at least in my view, where you stand too.

Anyway, every single black person has a more valid and valuable opinion on the relevant issues than any non-black person regardless of education, expertise, or data analysis. This is a situation where qualitative data just so happens to matter a lot.

On the off-chance your actual concern is that taking a stand would alienate “other people,” why the fuck should anyone care? Anyone alienated by a stand of some sort was almost certainly never winnable in the first place, and likely isn’t much of an NBA fan anyway.

Exactly! Since Dolan HAS been pretty good at racial equality in his company (sometimes at the detriment of gender equality…), it would have been SO EASY to have a well-devised statement – does he know a good PR firm? – and be at the forefront. Especially because of his history of hiring and depending on quite a few black executives.

And you may think his statement was ‘ok’ but the league in general most certainly does not, deservedly or not. The whole email thing refusing to make a statement just puts more emphasis on this. His entire demeanor fits a Sterling type of racist, even if he isn’t. All I’m saying is … come on man.

I’m not a huge fan of either kyrie or dwight howard, I kind of get what their saying though…

the insane rate of current unemployment is one of the reasons that people have been able to make such a strong statement with the protests that have been ongoing for a few weeks…that shit that happened at Wendy’s on friday continues to demonstrate the need for public pressure and change…

I mean damn, just in the last few weeks there have been multiple reminders as to why this police reform is so critical…

it’s amazing that we are all starting to get a chance to see some of these body cam videos, fuck 2 shots to the back…otherwise the killing Friday would have been some 3 minute mention on the local news, and – it would not have been truthful…

if you’re broadcasting NBA games throughout the day, it will take away from the focus of protest and reform…

I was all hyped for the return of basketball, I’m not so sure now…

Z-Man – Well, the leaked emails bothered me because the idea that you can’t take a stand on police brutality as a corporation is absolutely insane and stupid in every way.

The actual formal statement bothered me because it said nothing about Black Lives Matter, nothing about George Floyd, nothing about police impunity and the current moment. It could have been plucked from a corporate statement from any year in the last 20 years.

This is a moment where Nascar is banning Confederate flags and MSG, based in the most cosmopolitan city in the world, can’t go beyond ” we stand with all who act for positive change?”

The goddamn Premier League, home to many of the most racist fans outside of Eastern Europe and Boston, is having players wear BLM messages on their jerseys and patches. And an NBA team stops at generalities?

Thanks, Owen. He’s just such a despicable human being that it’s hard for me to expect much from him. Whether from hopeless tone-deafness and ineptitude, or from harboring virulent “law and order” feelings, I guess it’s totally unacceptable either way.

“Worrying what a bunch of old white people who watch Fox News think seems to me an economically dumb idea for a league whose appeal and revenue base is very young and very international.”

Since “a bunch of old white people” actually make up a large proportion of the Knicks 472M revenue (as well as the league) it would be wise to pay them some mind if the Knicks value money (which I’m in places other than CHAZ is le raison d’être.)

It’s funny how LeBron had a COW when Morey made a completely principled statement but I guess yellow lives don’t matter as much as $$$$ to LeBron.

Just for the record the players may certainly do whatever they please within the constraints of what they have collectively bargained. God bless them and I seriously mean that as I support their right to protest any non violent way they please. But don’t be surprised by TVs clicking off
Put on your big boy pants and accept whatever repercussions there are from their actions.

If the league universally had a 10 second moment of silence for all oppressed people worldwide and in America, no one would object. Kneel or turn your back on the flag (certainly within one’s rights) during the anthem and people are going to react.

I don’t really understand why the players want to antagonize people that generally agree with their position.

Dolan likes to cosplay as a blues man and he likes to starfuck people like Isiah Thomas and he kept Steve Mills around as his personal toady for a long time but that’s about as far as he goes when it comes to giving a shit about black people.

“If you still think it’s about disrespecting the flag or our military, you clearly haven’t been listening.”

If NFL Houston Texans giant white jughead JJ Watts gets it, I wonder how it is that Bob doesn’t.

Yes, some people won’t like it. But that’s partly the point — letting them know that they’re rapidly becoming the ugly foamy backwash of history.

HAHAHAHA…. Humpy…. were you in such a state of high dudgeon when NBC Today Show Correspondent said this to a seated United States Senator the other day?

” The moment occurred during an interview with NBC’s Craig Melvin, who pressed Scott to respond to a number of questions about the senator’s efforts toward criminal justice reform and the White House’s response to the national debate surrounding the wrongful death of George Floyd.

“Senator, you have faced a fair amount of criticism,” Melvin said, “especially over the past few days, because you are the only black Republican senator.“ (there are 2 AA democrat Senators, correct?)

The NBC anchor, who is black, added, “SOME HAVE SAID” that your party is using you, “THEY’VE” even thrown around the word ‘token,’ as well. Your response to that criticism?”

He wasn’t actually saying that himself, right…. just couched in with the ubiquitous “some people said” (psssst….. me!”)

I bet you thought that was really cute, right??????

Save the outrage for someone else……

Teaching older white folks what racism actually means is an exercise in futility. So many of the ones who claim not to be racist had virtually nothing beyond a superficial relationship across racial lines, and are of the “I’m colorblind” or “institutional racism is an excuse” and the “they just don’t know what’s good for them” mentality. I have a relative who’s a retired HS athletic director from a diverse but typically “segregated” town in the NYC suburbs. He has helped scores of Black athletes get into college sports programs, donates tons of money to his now liberal alma mater, hobnobs with Black coaches, referees, and former players, and has received all kinds of community sports awards. He thinks that makes him incapable of being racist, even though he buys into the whole “monuments are their heritage” and “you don’t disrespect the flag” and “stop and frisk saves lives” thing.

Raven: Yes, some people won’t like it. But that’s partly the point — letting them know that they’re rapidly becoming the ugly foamy backwash of history.

Correct. Not liking it is fine by me. Believing that players should face repercussions is not.

HAHAHAHA…. Humpy…. were you in such a state of high dudgeon when NBC Today Show Correspondent said this to a seated United States Senator the other day?

” The moment occurred during an interview with NBC’s Craig Melvin, who pressed Scott to respond to a number of questions about the senator’s efforts toward criminal justice reform and the White House’s response to the national debate surrounding the wrongful death of George Floyd.

“Senator, you have faced a fair amount of criticism,” Melvin said, “especially over the past few days, because you are the only black Republican senator.“ (there are 2 AA democrat Senators, correct?)

The NBC anchor, who is black, added, “SOME HAVE SAID” that your party is using you, “THEY’VE” even thrown around the word ‘token,’ as well. Your response to that criticism?”

He wasn’t actually saying that himself, right…. just couched in with the ubiquitous “some people said” (psssst….. me!”)

I bet you thought that was really cute, right??????

Save the outrage for someone else……

Let me get this right: you want TNFH to defend a question asked by a news anchor on a program he likely doesn’t watch and has never commented on in the past? That’s some serious straw, Bob.

Quit watching so much tv news and enjoy your golden years.

Let me get this right: you want TNFH to defend a question asked by a news anchor on a program he likely doesn’t watch and has never commented on in the past? That’s some serious straw, Bob.

I was about to say, I did not feel strongly in any direction when someone asked Tim Scott a question on cable news

I don’t get ‘shut up and dribble’ – do you not believe in freedom of speech?

We apparently have to keep talking about what freedom of speech means — it is not carte blanche to say whatever you want whenever you want. It is the limited right to express without the threat of prosecution by the government, provided one does not interfere with the rights of others (as in libel, slander, incitement, copyright infringement, et al.). But restrictions on expression exist virtually everywhere. If you, for instance, go to a party and start referring to everyone you meet as, I dunno, Mr. or Mrs. Throbbing Dickhead, you would only double-down on your stupidity by appealing to “free speech” as the reason that you should be permitted to stay.

“Shut up and dribble” isn’t about freedom of speech in the constitutional sense. It’s a value judgment about wearing two hats at once: that of a well-paid professional athlete whose job responsibilities involve doing things that are doing apolitical tasks like shooting a basketball and that of a private citizen expressing opinions that are functionally distant from those tasks. It’s a way for private citizens to try to police the behavior of other private citizens by reminding them of their compensation package.

What we’re trying to do here is to expand the idea of what’s acceptable in public discourse, and to remove that (arguably) arbitrary line between the two identities at play: the NBA player, and the private citizen. You could maybe argue that this conversation is a consequence of having free speech as a legal foundation, but it really doesn’t have anything to do with the boundaries of constitutional free speech itself.

And of course I realize I missed Owen’s post, which says pretty much what I said.

https://theathletic.com/1869755/2020/06/15/hollinger-the-ten-nba-free-agent-contracts-that-look-the-best-right-now/?source=dailyemail

Good piece that touches a few things we’ve discussed here. A few highlights without giving it all away:

So if rookie deals and superstar max contracts are the biggest bargains, there has to be another place where teams get less value.

That place is called “free agency.” Every other kind of contract besides rookie deals and superstar maxes are much harder by which to “win.” In particular, deals worth between $5 million and the max have proven perilous, which makes sense: A market that pushes down the contracts of rookies and superstars will inevitably push up all the others.

As a result, treading the in-between part – anybody who isn’t either a rookie or a superstar — is a rocky landscape littered with contractual shipwrecks. The S.S. Midlevel Exception, in particular, has crashed upon these shores many times.

While the center position has a much higher “replacement level” floor than the other positions – you can find halfway decent centers relatively easily – Zubac is good enough that he still offers significant value on this contract.

In addition to the constitutional concept of freedom of speech, there is also the cultural aspect, where it is considered morally wrong to limit employees when speaking in public about political issues not relevant to the company. An employee can be wrong to share corporate secrets, or racist comments on social media, but it has to be ok to speak for racial equality without consequence. I am not speaking of legal standards.

I think one distinction is that person making it clear they are speaking on behalf of themselves rather than the company. Wasn’t that part of the issue with Morey?

“Let me get this right: you want TNFH to defend a question asked by a news anchor on a program he likely doesn’t watch and has never commented on in the past? That’s some serious straw, Bob.

Quit watching so much tv news and enjoy your golden years.”

Yeah…. I’m sure everyone is unaware of this exchange…. all you knowledgeable guys.

I was merely pointing out the IRONY of noble face humper whatever indignation when DEEfenssse wrote “other people yadda yadda..”.:

I like how you couched this garbage in what “other people” might think. Some of your word choices made it pretty clear, at least in my view, where you stand too.

I was juxtaposing his indignation over this but his lack of indignation where a network interviewer said this about a sitting US Senator:

The NBC anchor, who is black, added, “SOME HAVE SAID” that your party is using you, “THEY’VE” even thrown around the word ‘token,’ as well. Your response to that criticism?”

Delicious irony and hypocrisy at it finest….

Bob continues to think that left-of-center cable news anchors speak for left-of-center citizens. Gee, I wonder why.

Wasn’t that part of the issue with Morey?

The issue wasn’t who he was speaking for, but who he spoke against. There was some spin out there to make it sound like he was being unprofessional, but if he had said, “Stand with Ukraine,” no one would have tried to split hairs about whether Morey were a private citizen or an NBA team’s official.

It was all about China’s blood money, start to finish.

“Bob continues to think that left-of-center cable news anchors speak for left-of-center citizens. Gee, I wonder why”.

Oh cut out the BS Jowles…. don’t tell me you were outraged when you read that exchange and didn’t give him a little “attaboy”…. hahahahaha

I’m not sure you have accepted that I don’t have television and further do not give a fuck about what The Today Show, is trying to pass as journalism or analysis. You really think this is a team sport for me like it is for you.

The FDA just revoked authorization for hydroxychloroquine. Was causing too many heart attacks. I ccan’t wait to see how Fox News spins it.

So, are we having basketball or not? Very confused.

“I’m not sure you have accepted that I don’t have television and further do not give a fuck about what The Today Show, is trying to pass as journalism or analysis. You really think this is a team sport for me like it is for you.”

Jowles… I haven’t watched the Today show since Dave Garroway was the host. I saw the clip on Real Clear Politics news aggregator. Since you seemed so well informed every time the police breaks wind somewhere I’m guessing you get your news somewhere if you don’t own a TV.

I’ll accept at face value you don’t consider yourself part of the “team”….. you just happen to agree with the team 106% of the time….. you free thinker, you!

Dolan likes to cosplay as a blues man

i don’t know about that…every pic i googled came up with a bunch of white folks in it…hmmmm, maybe it’s just for the studio that he has some folks of color playing with him…

i had a friend who used to work the monterey jazz festival…one year he got me the “tent” badge thing so i could sit where the musicians were hanging out…i’ll never forget listening to these two old black dudes swearing that white people could not play the blues…

yeah, i didn’t say shit…just kind of nodded my head and drank…i was young…

i do disagree though…clapton, van morrison, allman, plant – blue-eyed blues… it may not be common, but it is possible…

dang, i just looked at the names i wrote – not too hard to tell what part of the century i was born in 🙂

hey jowles, finally had a chance to check the pics on that equipment, that’s some sexy gear…

the thing that always intrigues me with the smith machines was the chance to use free weights without needing a partner to spot, and, having to fear death while working out alone…i think it was one of those final destination movies that got me thinking the whole death by bench press thought…

for the life of me, i can’t remember their name, but, those pieces of gym equipment which allowed you to stack free weights on them while serving as press and bench equipment…they follow a specific range of motion, but, are really easy to use…not really home gym stuff though…

The FDA just revoked authorization for hydroxychloroquine. Was causing too many heart attacks. I ccan’t wait to see how Fox News spins it.

people are going to be very ideologically confused when they try to figure out whether they are supposed to be afraid of a vaccine trump brags got emergency use authorization because he booting it twice a day for two months

TheClashFan:
FWIW and for entertainment value only:

https://www.essentiallysports.com/nba-news-nba-trade-rumours-new-york-knicks-looking-to-make-big-changes-with-marc-gasol-and-one-more-player/

Mar Gasol, eh?

I’ve said this before, Marc Gasol makes sense for these Knicks because it opens up the paint for Elf to run the PnR with Randle. Randle should get back up near a .600TS% and the D should improve with Gasol over Taj.

That’s a low seed playoff team at least. Of course I don’t advocate for that, but since that’s continuously been the misplaced goal, the Knicks might actually meet it if Marc doesn’t fall of a cliff.

According to the article, the knicks are also looking at Kaminsky or Ibaka, they would slot in next to Mitch and open the floor for him too. But not sure they’re really worth it.

The Honorable Cock Jowles: The issue wasn’t who he was speaking for, but who he spoke against. There was some spin out there to make it sound like he was being unprofessional, but if he had said, “Stand with Ukraine,” no one would have tried to split hairs about whether Morey were a private citizen or an NBA team’s official.

It was all about China’s blood money, start to finish.

True. I was just remembering the “cover story.” (am I allowed to agree with someone who has disagreed with me on the internet or will I be banned)

the thing that always intrigues me with the smith machines was the chance to use free weights without needing a partner to spot, and, having to fear death while working out alone…i think it was one of those final destination movies that got me thinking the whole death by bench press thought…

We use something like this, with the safety arms always mounted, even when L.J. is spotting me.

(am I allowed to agree with someone who has disagreed with me on the internet or will I be banned)

Fuck no, and fuck u!!!!!!! But seriously, welcome to the Greek Chorus! Hope you’ve been practicing your virtue signalling — we’re gonna need it if we want to sanctimoniously shame conservatives into releasing those migrant children from their holding cells!

***I’ll accept at face value you don’t consider yourself part of the “team”….. you just happen to agree with the team 106% of the time….. you free thinker, you!***

“The Team” is bullshit. Both my parents are Republicans. One of them was even the chairman of the GOP in our state. I got a masters degree in government from one of the most conservative universities in the country. I watched the 2008 election coverage largely through the Fox News lens. I’ve voted for Bushes, Clinton’s, Obamas, and Naders in my life. I met GW Bush at the Whitehouse, he is a warm and pleasant person.

Partitioning people into “teams” because of their world view is garbage. I’m a free agent. I’m not affiliated with a party. I just happen to think that the current Republican Party is reaping what it has sown, has no backbone, and is a global embarrassment that I want to be as far away from as possible at this moment in time.

don had dwight and michael bennett (defensive end for the cowboys) on the show…

wow, michael bennett is an excellent speaker…clear, simple and smooth…

dwight is still dwight…I think the stance of not resuming games is something to be considered – it’s just the voices saying it have a really hard time effectively communicating…

I’ve enjoyed listening to some of the different governors and mayors speak since the beginning of the pandemic – we desperately need younger leadership than mid 70’s and beyond…

I still haven’t heard stacy adams speak, I’m curious, kamela is a little too “stern” for me…I’ve seen images of stacey speaking, haven’t heard the words yet…

Geo:Peter Greene you have to listen to if you like blues, J.J Cale(omnibus genre) and Bob Dylan has some of my alltime favorite blues songs like Meet me in the morning and Pledging my time….well Bob has almost all of my alltime favorite songs:)).

“All I know is nobody tells Scott Baio to “shut up and act”.”

When people like Scott Baio and Alyssa Milano open their mouths they accomplish little and typically make fools of themselves. I’m not sure either is helping their own side.

For the record, I never said anyone should “shut up and dribble” or “shut up and act”.

I said the players should do whatever whatever they think would be most effective.

What I argued was that not only are actors and athletes typically ineffective, they can sometimes create backlash that hurts their cause because some people resent being pontificated to by people they don’t consider experts.

Again. that’s why the ratings for the Academy awards keep going down. People may be interested in climate change, but no that’s thoughtful wants to hear what actors think about it non stop throughout a show about great actors and great movies, They tune out and sometimes there’s a backlash.

That’s why I suggested using a player like Kareem.

He has been especially thoughtful speaking out on social issues, is educated, has experience with racism, and is known around the world. IMO, that’s a far superior approach than some other possible options the players might consider.

It’s not a matter of free speech. Of course they have a right to free speech. So do Scott and Alyssa. The point I am making – or rather the question I am asking is – “what works best?”.

I don’t think having Kyrie and Lebron as the voices of basketball is such a great idea. One thinks the earth is flat and other other is a hypocrite on China. Let Kareem and others like him do it.

“It was all about China’s blood money, start to finish.”

100%

That’s why I consider some of the most outspoken NBA coaches hypocritical frauds also. Every thoughtful person out there now knows they are frauds. Why would anyone consider them some kind of moral authority on anything? You just tune them out and if they annoy you enough you stop watching. That doesn’t help.

“And Kareem was a greater player than LeBron anyway.”

So true! hahaha

Again. that’s why the ratings for the Academy awards keep going down.

A lot of reasons why the ratings are dropping, but I’m not sure if you can say it’s mainly due to politics. The awards have always been extremely political (see Sacheen Littlefeather, Elia Kazan’s lifetime achievement award, etc) and that hasn’t hurt ratings in the past. It’s 2020, less people watch tv across the board and we have less of a cultural consensus when it comes to films. I think those are likelier explanations for the ratings decline.

What I argued was that not only are actors and athletes typically ineffective, they can sometimes create backlash that hurts their cause because some people resent being pontificated to by people they don’t consider experts.

An OSU running back recently called out his white HC for wearing an OAN t-shirt. This 21y.o. forced one of the most powerful state employees in Oklahoma to apologize and address racial concerns with the team by just bringing it up on twitter. The kid wasn’t an expert, he just called out his coach’s bs and IT WORKED. In Oklahoma. Nobody worth a damn gives a shit about ‘expertise’.

All exercise is good for you, but Jowles is correct in saying that moving heavy weights is the very best thing for humans as they age. I can finally admit that, as much as I hate gym culture.

BUT… I do think bodyweight exercise is the next best thing, especially when done as HIIT. It’s just boring as hell lol.

It’s possible to become a serious athlete without any equipment at all (maybe a bar at least), but it takes a shit ton of willpower and commitment.

It’s possible to become a serious athlete without any equipment at all (maybe a bar at least), but it takes a shit ton of willpower and commitment.

If anyone’s interested in strength training w/o equipment, I have the book for you.

All you need is a 8×8 room.

Oh great, reub is back.

I mean, I dunno, maybe he is, but not in this instance.

Sorry, I get all the idiots who keep rejoining with different names mixed up.

There’s three:

Reub, Project Knicks, and the other one. This is the other one.

I far prefer HIIT because I am lazy and it’s convenient. I totally agree lifting is the best thing for you but my experiment in trying to get back into it with a trainer, just ended up with me hurting myself or aggravating existing injuries. So I stick to lighter weights and bodyweight stuff.

China is complicated. More than half a billion people have been lifted out of the most dire poverty imaginable over 40 years. 500 million more to go. Obviously, it’s an authoritarian regime that has trampled minority rights and done a bunch of other terrible shit. But it’s not like the rest of the world hasn’t looked the other way too and benefited tremendously.

Honestly, when people criticize the NBA for its stance on China it just makes me chuckle. Is there anyone in America who is not just as complicit? Every aspect of American life in the last 30 years has depended on China in one way or another.

I totally agree lifting is the best thing for you but my experiment in trying to get back into it with a trainer, just ended up with me hurting myself or aggravating existing injuries.

Ass-to-grass safety bar squats, hex deadlifts, neutral-grip barbells. The straight barbell is a relic of the past, in my opinion. Traditionalists swear by it, but it’s unreasonable to believe that one bar would be the best way to do a dozen different exercises.

If you’ve never tried a good safety squat bar, look into it. Its camber centers the bar over the center of your body throughout the motion (diminishing the lever action at the bottom end of the barbell back squat) and the total elimination of the shoulder and elbow torque that causes so many injuries. Same with the hex bar deadlift — the center of gravity is so much easier on the low back.

https://garagegymlab.com/5-safety-squat-bar-benefits/

I’m an advocate for calisthenics, but I do think that having a loadable weight vest is necessary for upper body development. Once you’re able to do ~12 slow, perfect-form push-ups, you’ve reached the end of the road. Just becomes cardio and “muscle burn” after that.

My opinion is to work smarter, not harder, i.e. feeling “sore” after lifting doesn’t mean you’re doing it right. My wife’s thiCCening posterior chain agrees.

Here’s a thought RE: PG

Considering we are absolutely getting a PG in the draft, would anyone here consider offering Payton and DSJ for Schroeder if OK really doesn’t wanna move CP3?

I actually would

Also, HIIT is one of the best ways to exercise if your body is fit enough to handle the stress, but I think some novices struggle to identify where their actual max is. L. Jowles, with limited experience, thinks our airdyne bike is “easy,” which, haha, nah? But if you’re not used to being at 95% capacity, and you’re not prepared to lie down and pray to god that you don’t puke at the end of a HIIT tabata or hill sprint or airdyne session, you’re probably more in the “cardio” zone and not getting the hormonal benefits from it, in which case just do steady-state cardio for a half hour, which is also quite good for you.

Yeah too much HIIT will stress the average body out too much (we already deal with enough daily stress amirite?) I bought an Airdyne earlier this year and it’s brutal, but it’s really best as a complement to strength training.

For bodyweight training, you can achieve more bulk by isolating more (one-armed pushups and the like), but it’s just a lot easier to use weights (p.s. – I’m making it sound like I work out a ton, but I’ve fallen off quite a bit over the last month or so and am none too pleased about it!)

That safety squat bar looks interesting. Would relieve a lot of pressure on my shoulder which is one major problem area. My knees aren’t great either. Have done mostly hex bar and that really is the easiest and best for me.

Going to have to wait till this pandemic is over anyway!

i’d like to introduce the world to geo’s all day LICC workout (low intensity continuous chilling)…visualization is key…lots and lots of thinking about working out…what’s so great about it is while you’re thinking about working out you can actually do enjoyable stuff like play video games, watch tv and snack…

Re: point guard, I think this team has to just overpay for VanVleet because no matter who they draft, that point guard won’t be ready to start for a while, and Elfrid/DSJ/Frank clearly aren’t the answer.

I’ve been following the LICC routine ever since the pandemic started, geo.

Really started to see big mental and spiritual gains when I switched to cannabis butter for my morning bulletproof coffee. 🙂

Owen, try dropping the weight and focusing on the deepest squats you can with a SSB. You’ll see a lot of quad development with that bar, as it’s closer to a front squat in form (upright posture, weight shifted forward, more ab engagement).

I had bad knee bursitis while hiking with any kind of distance or elevation gain when I weighed more than I should have, and it was a combination of bodyweight creep and a lack of quad strength. A few years ago, I hadn’t even reached the top of Observation Point at Zion National Park and my knee had locked up completely, to the point where passerbys asked if I had suffered an injury and if I needed help. Now I regularly go on 10-mile walks on consecutive days with no pain at all, which I attribute to a whole lot of quad muscle around my knee.

Oh, and one last thing — I got a pair of parallettes for weighted decline push-ups, and man, they are amazing. The extra couple inches at the bottom of the movement put so much tension into the pecs, and of course, doing push-ups with bars instead of on the ground will save your wrists over the years. Makes the movement much harder and will help keep mobility in the shoulder and pecs.

I was surprised to find out that full ROM resistance training can yield as much mobility development as static stretching does. I always thought it would be a balancing act between lifting and stretching, but it turns out that you can do both at the same time.

Yeah, that quad development in my knee really is a big issue. Never recovered from an ACL injury.

It’s a good idea, will try to get it organized. Thanks for the tip.

Olympic weightlifting shoes are a must for people with knee issues, too. I don’t think I would lift without them.

I was pretty devastated when the gyms closed and immediately ordered a pair of loadable dumbbells and olympic weights. They took forever to come since all home fitness equipment was backordered up the wazoo, but I got them and am doing a pretty standard 4-day upper/lower dumbbell routine (https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/dumbbell-only-upper-lower-workout-routine) while throwing in as much cardio as possible on the off days.

Honestly, I’m not 100% sure I’ll be going back to the gym. As long as you can throw together a makeshift bench, the money and time you save vs the gym sure seem worth it to me. The only things that might bring me back are:

1) the squat rack, goblet/pile squats don’t quite hit the same
2) indoor cardio equipment–I’m new to the world of running outside and while it’s mostly perfectly pleasant now…not looking forward to December

“Every aspect of American life in the last 30 years has depended on China in one way or another.”

And that is precisely the problem. I get my underwear 4 cents a pair cheaper while the “1%” rakes in bazillions. In the meantime we have destroyed the industrial base in America and become a nation of very well educated people and a bunch of baristas and Uber drivers.

I went to Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA in 70-72. If a kid graduated high school and had no interest in college he could walk down the street and get a good, well paying job with benefits where he could afford to raise an actual family. Today he can drive for Uber making around 18$ an hour and net maybe 12/h if he’s lucky….. great!

Dumbbell lunges? It’s not the same, but it’s something.

One-legged dumbbell squats! They will hurt like a mfer. Great for balance, too (for old timers like me).

jowles thank you — i’m on the verge of buying a bunch of equipment from scratch and this thread has been really useful. question. does a safety squat bar help someone (unnamed) whose instinctive form seems to err frighteningly toward back rounding?

I really pissed off my sister-in-law by doing my first pistol squat on the first attempt without any warmup. I then proceeded to walk with a hitch for two days.

And that is precisely the problem. I get my underwear 4 cents a pair cheaper while the “1%” rakes in bazillions. In the meantime we have destroyed the industrial base in America and become a nation of very well educated people and a bunch of baristas and Uber drivers.

You’re not entirely off-base here. Bernie Sanders and other Democrats with strong ties to the labor movement were warning about these outcomes all the way back during the MFN debate, etc.

I know your boy likes to sort of rant incoherently in a way that may or may not be addressing them too, but he’s had plenty of time and has barely made a dent with regards to outsourcing, manufacturing jobs, and labor protections for the baristas and Uber drivers you mentioned. What gives, bob?

Dumbbell lunges? It’s not the same, but it’s something.

I do them, as well as all kinds of squat variations. Overall the leg routine is perfectly challenging and allows for progression, there’s just something I miss about a true barbell squat…which is not something I ever thought I’d say back when I could actually do them.

The balance of the bar forces you to stay upright, so if anything curves, it will be your upper back, which leads to collapsing forward, and you’ll just fail the rep before it does any damage to you. It seems virtually impossible to have lower back curve with a safety bar, provided you’re doing a safe load relative to your strength level.

Here’s a video from a few months back, showing that “collapsing” tendency. Spine remains neutral, but my chest tilts forward involuntarily. This is form breakdown, but it somehow remains safe despite me being a bit overloaded. If I did this with a barbell, I bet my spine would have turned into mom’s spaghetti.

https://imgur.com/a/gDDGD0K

You also eliminate the scapular contraction needed for a sturdy back squat, since you don’t have to create a platform for the bar to rest on. You can ignore your elbows and wrists and shoulders altogether and focus on maintaining a tight core (hold your breath before and throughout the movement, until you reach the starting point again!) and engaging your back.

I would suggest the EliteFTS Yoke bar, or the Titan Fitness one if you’re not concerned about paying money to Chinese IP thieves. Cheap SSBs are bad, bad, bad. The Rogue one is nice but the EliteFTS is worth every penny.

Yeah, nothing quite like a fully loaded squat. Hell, I miss the leg press machine sometimes. My quads are rarely as tired as the rest of my body at the end of a hard squat session.

ess-dog:
Jowles has monster glutes – who knew?

Lady Jowles ::sunglasses emoji::

I mean, I did say I was built a little like Nate Robinson… just without the athleticism, work ethic, fearlessness, hand-eye coordination…

“You’re not entirely off-base here. Bernie Sanders and other Democrats with strong ties to the labor movement were warning about these outcomes all the way back during the MFN debate, etc.

I know your boy likes to sort of rant incoherently in a way that may or may not be addressing them too, but he’s had plenty of time and has barely made a dent with regards to outsourcing, manufacturing jobs, and labor protections for the baristas and Uber drivers you mentioned. What gives, bob?”

A lot of politicians talk a good game but my boy as you said was the only one in the last 30 years who slapped tariffs on the CCP and has actually tried to negotiate a better deals with them. The notion that we can just leak a half a trillion to China a year interminably is complete folly just as the notion we can be an economically strong country with a primarily service economy is just complete nonsense. The notion that you can continue to import cheap labor to depress the wages of working people forever is just as much folly. Look at the reaction you got from the ex factory workers of the midwest in 2016.

But the idea that you can pay baristas and uber drivers a wage commensurate to a 60’s auto worker is more folly because the product/service they produce doesn’t have that much real value.

You can’t charge $40 for a latte or $40 for a 3 mile uber ride to generate the revenue to pay the employee like you can for 10 tons of steel that industrial workers can generate.

You need to create value to get a good wage….. most service jobs don’t do that.

Really started to see big mental and spiritual gains when I switched to cannabis butter for my morning bulletproof coffee. 🙂

thanks sounds like a dunk – dink…it’s crazy, but my overall stress level has significantly dropped the last few months…i was involved with helping the god kids and their mom navigate some legal stuff for the last year or so…fucking stressful…thankfully there’s a lull in the battle with the other “parent”…work was absolutely sucking my soul dry once we lost another staff member without replacing them last year…

working from home (i still go in to the office for a few hours a few days a week) now though, while trying to care for children has given me a whole different perspective on work and life…that and spending more time in the garden…

anyway, point of the story is – i’m starting to really enjoy this tincture stuff…it’s definitely expanding my thc/cbd tolerance level…seriously – that stuff is like the PED of weed…what’s nice though is now that my stress (thoughts, heart rate and breathing) is under much better control – i can indulge in sativas once again, the indica stuff just plants me in place a bit…lot more shit in the day gets done with sativas…

i just winked at some of the exercising stuff located all around the room…we’ll, at least other shit is getting done…

In my experience every successful meathead bodybuilder is a closet scientist and engineer….

Add libertarian to that blanket statement, Owen. So many goddamn Gadsden flags in the backgrounds of weightlifting content, and often, without irony, the Thin Blue Line American flag right next to that one…

Is aggro Frank real? 51.2% TS! 3rd best in on/off behind only Mitchell Robinson and deadly sniper Wayne Ellington!

Frank is potentially a very solid defensive guard/small wing with good ball skills who should get reasonably good from 3 as a catch and shoot player. I see his ceiling as a 7th-10th man on a contender, depending on how he develops. Maybe if he really matures he can be a decent utility starter on the right team. It’s just not going to happen during his rookie deal, i.e. it was a mistake to draft him in the lottery.

I don’t know about that Z-man, because if he just maintains the stats quoted in the article for the second half of the season, he’s probably already that. Point guards usually don’t have as good shooting stats as other positions. A 52% TS and 20% usage is probably ok for that role and he plays good defense too. It’s hard to believe he’s reached his ceiling at what, 21 years old?

“Knicks’ Kevin Knox can become ‘star’ with new coach: UK assistant
By Marc BermanJune 16, 2020 | 10:35pm”

This might be the absolute worst in an illustrious career of shitty hoops pieces by Mr. Berman!

Cliffs notes:

Kevin Knox can never fail…. only Knick’s coaching can fail the great glacially footed Kevin Knox!

We can only pray there is another GM in this universe with similar sentiments……

Thank god we have a stronk 540 min from Frank in the second half of last season which allows us to discount the 3,257 from the rest of his career.

Early Bird:
Thank god we have a stronk 540 min from Frank in the second half of last season which allows us to discount the 3,257 from the rest of his career.

His “career” is that of a 19-21yo, so one would hope that the trajectory would be up. As I’ve consistently said, he was not ready for the NBA when he was drafted and he was shoehorned into the wrong position. His earlier minutes shouldn’t be ignored, just put into perspective.

KnickfaninNJ: I don’t know about that Z-man, because if he just maintains the stats quoted in the article for the second half of the season, he’s probably already that. Point guards usually don’t have as good shooting stats as other positions. A 52% TS and 20% usage is probably ok for that role and he plays good defense too. It’s hard to believe he’s reached his ceiling at what, 21 years old?

Even with the 52% TS% he’s not a good player yet. He makes tons of mistakes out there on both ends. If he werr a utility starter on a good team right now, he’d be a huge liability. But yeah, I could see him being a Trevor Ariza/Doug Christie/Mario Chalmers-level complementary player (that’s a range from top-to-bottom) if he continues to improve.

I agree he’s not a good player yet, but I think he will get there. Just out of curiosity, I checked the TS% for guards in the NBA last year. It was 53.7%. I would have checked for point guards only, but I couldn’t find that stat. If Frank can do that for a season, which seems in reach for him, I think he will be over the hump as far as scoring is concerned.

Our resident Frankophiles have really gotten lazy if the new talking point is that he amassed a 52% TS% in his best 500 minute sample

It’s nice to see him improve, but it is a small enough sample that we won’t know if it’s real until he plays some more.

Frank is a winning scratch off lottery pick-et
waiting to be scratched!

I’d never seen that Gawker post before. That was hilarious…fractions breaking the minds of weightlifters…

I still think my wife’s ass was the greatest I’ve ever seen. But I’ve never seen Jowles’s (at least, not that I know of…). I’m willing to be convinced, but only with irrefutable visual evidence.

Whatever Frank N’s ceiling is won’t happen unless he stops getting hurt all the time…those groin issues…

The video evidence is freely available upthread.

Some things you can’t unsee, that’s all I am going to say….

I’m willing to be convinced, but only with irrefutable visual evidence.

i believe we all have had a chance to view mister jowles glorious bum…what’s really freaky is that despite him being all buffed up he has an amazingly smooth voice…they all sound good, but, check out “Want”…it’s a bit hard to reconcile that voice banging out some heavy squats though…

worse yet would be the thought of some muscled up dude sitting down and whooping your ass in chess…that just wouldn’t be fair…

yes, our very own THCJ is full of surprises…it all makes me think – i was cool once too, it’s just been a while 🙂

My eyes are up here, Owen.

worse yet would be the thought of some muscled up dude sitting down and whooping your ass in chess…that just wouldn’t be fair…

Just imagine the same guy circa 2013, having just completed a graduate degree with high marks, walking into a Honda dealership asking for a job to deliver car parts for $9 bucks an hour, and the two dealership bros looking at my resume, then at each other, then laughing, “Are you serious?” It ain’t all roses, my dude.

But yeah, if we play 100 chess games, you will lose 100 times.

The Honorable Cock Jowles:
My eyes are up here, Owen.

Yeah, but the camera is set up behind and under you…so, kind of hard to see your eyes! BTW, that’s not irrefutable proof. Could be any guy working out. I need to see the part of the video where you turn to the camera and verbally chastise Bob Neptune…

I enjoyed the Op-ed by Kareem about Gone With the Wind.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kareem-abdul-jabbar-why-gone-wind-needs-a-warning-label-not-a-ban-1298347

I still don’t miss basketball and at this stage I’ve already forgotten whether I used to like basketball.

Curling anyone?

Chess anyone?

I watched a fantastic finals between Carlsen and Crauana a few days ago. I was shocked at how well Caruana played in that tournament. He’s more of a Classical chess player. His Rapid and Blitz games are much lower. He had the champ on the ropes, but champions are champions for more reasons than their talent and skills. Champions rise when nothing else we get the job done. Carlsen did it again.

I hope they trade Frank. He deserves so much better than to be associated with an organization like the Knicks and many in the fan base that take joy in his failures because others overdo the love. He belongs on a team that values defense and team play with the patience to see if can develop further on offense. Then again, this is the NBA. So maybe he belongs back in Europe where he’ll excel in a more team oriented style and where the competition is a notch lower. For the life of me, I don’t understand why he loves being a Knick so much. If I were him, you couldn’t get me out of NY fast enough after Mudiay, Payton, Burke, and even Trier and RJ were all given shots at PG to displace him. They’ve basically shit on him for 3 years straight, Dude, get a real agent and get out of this cesspool.

“Every aspect of American life in the last 30 years has depended on China in one way or another.”

And that is precisely the problem. I get my underwear 4 cents a pair cheaper while the “1%” rakes in bazillions. In the meantime we have destroyed the industrial base in America and become a nation of very well educated people and a bunch of baristas and Uber drivers.”

I have no formal education in economics, but it became a passion in my late 20s when I finally had a savings account. I fell for the “free trade” and “globalism” mantra for about 30 years. I consider it the greatest intellectual blunder of my life.

They’ve basically shit on him for 3 years straight, Dude, get a real agent and get out of this cesspool.

Trying to ignore obviously dumb Frank related stuff these days, but this is the most hilarious part of the Frankophile narrative to me. Dude has played thousands and thousands of minutes despite being one of the worst players in the NBA. Pretty sure there’s no team in the league he would’ve played more for during that time.

Yet somehow he hasn’t gotten a fair shake, and he’ll clearly play even more for all the good teams lining up to trade for him! Frank Ntilikina’s about to get 3000 minutes for the Bucks baby!

Ime Udoka is a long time Poppovich assistant. He played for Pop for like 3 years and then after he retired in 2012 he became a Spurs assistant until 2019, when he went to coach on Brett Brown’s staff.

I’ll take that all day long.

“Why would I chastise a man I pity?”

You know a wise man once wrote the only things we pity in others are the evils we hold within our own heart.

You are pretty funny sometimes, though……

Yeah, Ime Udoka is a top of the line coaching prospect. I’d be totally fine with him. I’d probably still pick Atiknson over him, but Udoka would be a close second. I’m thrilled that they’re interviewing him.

Udoka is a great coaching prospect and while I haven’t heard about Delany, the Heat are the kind of organization from which we should be looking to pluck. If nothing else, the interview announcements make me hopeful this isn’t all a show with Thibs being inevitable.

These coaching interview names make me think that we haven’t given Leon Rose enough credit for the amount of people he might actually know.

We’re interviewing Chris Fleming as well. He had a ton of success in Germany and was the lead assistant in Chicago this season after working with Kenny Atkinson in Brooklyn from 2016-2019.

Speaking of Chicago, I hope we target Kris Dunn to compete for a starting job. The guy is a phenomenal defender and learned how to not completely tank an offense with his shooting this past season.

I was flipping back and forth between the Napoli-Juventus and Man CIty-Arsenal matches today.

For the Napoli match, they had no piped in crowd noise and for the Man CIty match they did. I have to say, I’ll take the fake crowd noise. It was just too eerie hearing only the players and coaches voices, made it seem much more like a practice.

From what I hear, the NBA is going to go with the fake crowd noise as well. They’re all grabbing the sound effects from EA Sports, which is pretty funny.

How dynamic is the fake crowd noise being used in the EPL games? Does the crowd roar/boo at all?

I would definitely be on board with trying to steal Kris Dunn on the cheap. I’m a little surprised no one has ever made this comp, but he’s kind of a best-case scenario for Ntilikina. A genuine terror defensively who won’t completely tank you on offense. We might be able to get him for an AAV lower than Ntilikina’s!

I’ll take the fake crowd noise.

that’s interesting…i watch more than my share of disney and nick shows, they use laugh-tracks a lot…i’m not usually okay with the notion of being obviously deceived, and still being okay with it all…danger force and raven’s home are okay, but, they ain’t really all that funny, like every other line audience laugh kind of funny…

it is an effective tool though…we certainly are built for deception…

I defintitely prefer fake noise. It’s very strange to admit but its better that wzy. I think its made me realize that on some level the crowd noise is a big reason I like watching in the first place. My wife on the other hand hates the noise.

How David Luiz has a job in the Premier league is baffling. That’s some Knicks level mismanagement. The guy is horrific.

Trying to ignore obviously dumb Frank related stuff these days, but this is the most hilarious part of the Frankophile narrative to me. Dude has played thousands and thousands of minutes despite being one of the worst players in the NBA. Pretty sure there’s no team in the league he would’ve played more for during that time.

Yet somehow he hasn’t gotten a fair shake, and he’ll clearly play even more for all the good teams lining up to trade for him! Frank Ntilikina’s about to get 3000 minutes for the Bucks baby!

I am probably one of those Frankophiles you refer to, but I still agree with you that Frank has certainly gotten minutes, even with bringing in other point guards to compete for the position. He’s won the job of backup point guard over DSJ, Mudiay and I’ve forgotten who else, so it’s not like the coaches paid no attention to him either.

How David Luiz has a job in the Premier league is baffling. That’s some Knicks level mismanagement. The guy is horrific.

He’s given up 5 PK’s this season. Truly terrible.

No self-respecting person with an ounce of humor appreciates a laugh track. That’s all I’ve got to say about the NBA right now.

The fake crowd sound effect is an easy but also dull way to “decorate” an nba game with empty seats.
I’ d prefer a more creative way full of music from Wagner to Morbid Angel, sound effects, movie snippets, animal sounds, porn sounds, circus sounds and other stuff.
For example Morricone’s Ecstasy of Gold would be more fun during the last minutes of a close game.
Or Porn sounds during a blowout game!
Think about it Adam.
Special occasions need special effects!

“Z-man
June 18, 2020 at 2:24 am
Bill Russell: “Ahem, wait a minute, sonny….””

Anyone who doesn’t think Wilt, Russell, Elgin Baylor and Oscar Robertson wouldn’t be super elite athletes today is silly. Put these guys in hi tech shoes and give them a personal trainer for 15 years and see what they look like.

There is a reason Russell blocked all those shots…. That photo is amazing because he is just leaping over the bar with brute athletic ability and antiquated western roll technique.

Of all the threads to randomly pop in on — this one is a goodie. I thought I was making progress by purchasing a jump rope to melt away my quarantine figure. I’m happy like Larry.

I wonder..
How likely- in their search for a PF- is it that Portland would look into a Nurkic for Randle deal of some sort? He’d be a great backup to Mitch, making a great 1-2 punch considering we can’t trust either to play upwards of 30mpg right now. I don’t know how Randle would fit with Whiteside, but I think it’s worth the inquiry

Well Trump is really owning the libs with that pro-concentration camp take. Excited to see how they spin it if they even bother. It’s just amazing to live in a country where something like that gets reported and everyone is like, “yep, that checks out.”

I like the idea of Udoka. He was a Knick for a minute right? Was always a heady though undertalented player.

Totes, I think Randle is the sort of player Portland would like, but who would be their center if Nurkic is gone?

“Well Trump is really owning the libs with that pro-concentration camp take. ”

Hey…. he was just pandering to all the libtards who idolize FDR and HIS concentration camps approved by the KKK led Hugo Black supreme court Korematsu decision. 🙂

Has anyone torn down any FDR statues …. and actual president who actually imprisoned American citizens without cause solely BECAUSE they had yellowish skin?

Kinda ironic…. don’t ya think? Probably not…eh?

Green-lighting Xi to clamp down on minorities is certainly horrible if that is what actually happened. The US ambassador to Iraq under Bush 41 made a similar error in the run up to Iraq War I. We will see what the corroborators have to say……

Right, today’s liberals look back fondly on FDR’s internment of Japanese-Americans. They would never criticize him for that!!

“Right, today’s liberals look back fondly on FDR’s internment of Japanese-Americans. They would never criticize him for that!!”

I don’t see any virtue signalers burning copies of “Sunrise at Campobello” like Gone with the Wind….. I don’t see any virtue signalers campaigning to rename Roosevelt Island or FDR park at its southern tip nor defacing his bust there.

Have you campaigned to have him removed from the dime? Probably not. Why not if your are intellectually consistent.

What is “Sunrise at Campobello?”

Was that a serious point you were making or a joke?

I am glad that we can all agree concentration camps are bad. It’s good to have some consensus around here about something other than Dolan being an ass.

” I wonder..
How likely- in their search for a PF- is it that Portland would look into a Nurkic for Randle deal of some sort? He’d be a great backup to Mitch, making a great 1-2 punch considering we can’t trust either to play upwards of 30mpg right now. I don’t know how Randle would fit with Whiteside, but I think it’s worth the inquiry”

Yep… this is just what the Knicks should be looking for a 12M/year back up center who is a complete non shooter from distance and is a huge man coming off a gruesome leg fracture. Yep…. we need more 7 foot non-shooters.

The Knicks gotta fever….. and the only cure….. is more non-shooting 7 footers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVsQLlk-T0s

https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.fcgi?request=1&sum=1&player_id1_hint=Jusuf+Nurki%C4%87&player_id1_select=Jusuf+Nurki%C4%87&player_id1=nurkiju01&player_id2_hint=Julius+Randle&player_id2_select=Julius+Randle&player_id2=randlju01&idx=bbr__players

“What is “Sunrise at Campobello?”

A movie made about the early life of FDR in the early ’60’s (maybe?)

It’s so strange that I have never heard of the second most popular film of the 20th century. Will have to go check it out.

“It’s so strange that I have never heard of the second most popular film of the 20th century. Will have to go check it out.”

It was nominated for 4 oscars although it didn’t win any so it was reasonably highly regarded in its time. I remembered it from when I was 8 years old so it must have made an impression on me.

Yeah, sure, FDR was no DJT. Shocking how he was elected 4 times, all by landslides. If only FDR could have unified the country with his words and deeds like DJT does. Just ask DJT, he’ll tell you

I could imagine this DJT tweet: FDR was a liberal hack, and boring, Those fireside chats? Sad! What a dope! Overrated! Would have been impeached if he didn’t die! With real peaches! We didn’t need to fight that war. I would have used tarriffs and then made great deals with Germany and Japan. Don’t believe the fake news, Hitler wasn’t against the Jews, I heard he was even part Jewish. I actually asked him about it, and he denied it, and denied it very strongly. And I heard from a very smart person that FDRs mother was in on the Lincoln assassination. Killed our second most beloved Republican president, next to me. We didn’t need to fight that civil war either. Ruined our economy and cost so many lives, especially so many great southern generals. I would have made a great deal, that’s what I do, make deals. And these police problems we have today, you never had them back then. Make the Confederacy great again!

I should add that his G league team is in the Sixers organization and the Sixers don’t need a center which could be a reason he is still in G league and probably readily available.

There will always be another Whatabout to steer the conversation toward something a conservative is more comfortable with. Why bother talking about the current president’s conduct when we can grill libruls about a president who’s been dead for 75 years, that literally zero of us helped elect?

You want to criticize Trump’s ongoing response to COVID-19? Well, what about in 1932, when FDR’s Public Health Service initiated the Tuskegee experiment? Huh? What about that? You damn liberals and your lack of internal consistency.

No interest in defending internment and if there was a movement to stop honoring FDR in various ways because of it I would have no problem with that, but proooooobably worth noting that, while horrible, internment is still pretty damn far from “trying to secede from the country in order to protect the institution of chattel slavery.”

Are people “burning” copies of Gone With The Wind? Because as far as I can tell all that happened is that it was temporarily removed from HBO Max.

Just took down the FDR fathead in my bedroom so that I can remain intellectually consistent.

I implore all fellow members of the libtard diaspora to do the same.

“I am probably one of those Frankophiles you refer to, but I still agree with you that Frank has certainly gotten minutes, even with bringing in other point guards to compete for the position. He’s won the job of backup point guard over DSJ, Mudiay and I’ve forgotten who else, so it’s not like the coaches paid no attention to him either.”

If you are tanking and the idea is to develop your young talent, you don’t bring in Burke, Mudiay, DSJr, Payton, and even try Trier and RJ Barret at PG over your young player. That goes double if one of his primary problems is confidence.

You do what they did with Knox last year. You put him out there, live with the mistakes, and try to develop him.

Look what happened to Knox this year. The pulled a “Frank” on him. His confidence fell apart and he regressed in some ways instead of taking a step forward.

Furthermore, Frank started FEWER games than both Mudiay and DSJr last year. Granted some of that was his injuries, but MUDIAY was given the starting job even though he sucks and was out at the end of the year. They shit all over Frank last year.

This year he was given more of an opportunity only because Payton was hurt (still another replacement), DSjr was hurt and had personal problems, and Trier and RJ didn’t work (but they tried both). They did everything possible to let him know he’s not a player they value or that they were going to try to develop at PG. I’m surprised they didn’t make Randle the PG for awhile,

The team is allowed to do whatever it wants and fans can think whatever they want.

My point is, if you are Frank and you aren’t asking for a trade you are being foolish. They have been screaming for two years that he is not a priority. If he was, they’d start him, live with the results (which incidentally have been much better when he’s on the court), and stop bringing in every retread and scrub around the NBA to play in front of him unless there are injuries.

All I’m saying is trade him for his own good. He deserves better than to play for a cesspool organization.

“You damn liberals and your lack of internal consistency.”

True Dat.

I could give a shit less about treasonous traitors who fought against this country. tear down their monuments if you think it is wise. I spent many months in Pinehurst , NC training horses right down the road from Fort Bragg and I didn’t know until last week who it was named for.

But where was Ms. Pelosi when she was Speaker with an AA president and control of the Senate? Was she in a state of high dudgeon about 11 Confederates in statuary hall in the Capitol…. ummmmm Nah! Why??? Because she is full of shit as a Christmas turkey and a brazen opportunist There is no consistency.

No there is a movement to discredit Washington and Jefferson and remove their names from buildings:

https://santamariatimes.com/news/local/state-and-regional/2-california-schools-named-after-george-washington-thomas-jefferson-to-be-renamed-in-response-to/article_815589a2-da1f-5614-8f0c-7c9e115e5139.html

And while FDR was not only a racist but his record on European Jews desperately fleeing the actual Hitler wasn’t exactly stellar either:

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/franklin-delano-roosevelt

I know it is hard sometimes but try to be consistent….

“Just took down the FDR fathead in my bedroom so that I can remain intellectually consistent.

I implore all fellow members of the libtard diaspora to do the same.”

The journey of a thousand miles starts with one small step…..

Your whole schtick here assumes there is virtue in consistency. I would challenge that assumption.

It’s ok to take a position today that contradicts a position you took yesterday, as long as you believe it’s right.

And believing one thing doesn’t require you to believe an entire set of things that people who believe that thing also believe.

“No interest in defending internment and if there was a movement to stop honoring FDR in various ways because of it I would have no problem with that, but proooooobably worth noting that, while horrible, internment is still pretty damn far from “trying to secede from the country in order to protect the institution of chattel slavery.”

I would guess the 120,000 or so Japanese Americans would beg to differ with you. You know when your best argument to put a good spin in it is…. “Well…. FDR didn’t enslave them and sell them,” your argument is kinda like putting whipped cream on dog shit…. it doesn’t do much to improve the taste.

If you could take bobneptune and put him in a time machine and send him to 1942, do you think he’d be all up in arms about internment? Somehow I doubt it.

I do love when Woke Neptune shows up here tho.

“Your whole schtick here assumes there is virtue in consistency. I would challenge that assumption.

It’s ok to take a position today that contradicts a position you took yesterday, as long as you believe it’s right.”

People’s positions are absolutely able to and often should evolve. However, you aren’t actually trying to say that Nancy Pelosi’s opinion has evolved and she’s had a moment of epiphany of some sort and isn’t just using this “issue” in statuary hall as rank political opportunism, are you?

Wm of Ockham most certainly does not approve of your message. :-0

I don’t believe in the theory that rookies should be treated like Knox was his first year. It’s better you are honest with them about what they need to do. I also don’t believe that they need tons of playing to get better. They need some playing time to find out what works and doesn’t work in actual games versus NBA level competition. But once they have enough for that more playing time probably won’t help them improve and could reinforce bad habits. They have to improve skills in practice. Did more minutes for Mudiay make him a better player? No. More minutes on the court despite lousy play might give confidence in a way, but having to beat out other players for minutes and succeeding through practice and hard work is likely to give confidence too and also tend to instill habits of hard work and practice.

“If you could take bobneptune and put him in a time machine and send him to 1942, do you think he’d be all up in arms about internment? Somehow I doubt it.

I do love when Woke Neptune shows up here tho.”

I am pretty consistent in my views of the US Constitution. I’d like to think I’d be just as true to them in 1942 as in 2020…. but I’m not that perfect to actually know.

I would guess the 120,000 or so Japanese Americans would beg to differ with you.

I would guess this is completely wrong, actually. Do you have any reason to believe Japanese Americans regard the horrors of internment as worse than the horrors of slavery, or are you just being an ass?

If you are tanking and the idea is to develop your young talent, you don’t bring in Burke, Mudiay, DSJr, Payton, and even try Trier and RJ Barret at PG over your young player. That goes double if one of his primary problems is confidence.

82 x 48 = 3,936. You also have overtime, though, so a truly smart team would have given Frank Ntilikina somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 minutes per season.

Hey, maybe Thibodeau will realize the error of our prior ways.

Re reading my post, I realize it addresses the comment about playing time but not the statement that Frank should ask for a trade. Of course he should ask for a trade if he wants to
leave, but he shouldn’t do it just because he thinks he’ll get more minutes elsewhere. He is the Knicks backup point guard now. I can’t imagine him being traded somewhere else and getting a bigger job than that. He’s just not good enough yet. Of course, if the Knicks acquired personnel that meant he wouldn’t be back up point guard, then that would more motivation to leave.

“I would guess this is completely wrong, actually. Do you have any reason to believe Japanese Americans regard the horrors of internment as worse than the horrors of slavery, or are you just being an ass?”

No , just being logical. If tomorrow Trump declared, “I think noblefacehumpers are a danger to our liberty and we are going to haul all of them out of their homes and ship them a thousand miles away a week from next Tuesday and put them behind barbed wire for a few years… I’m just guessing quoting the immortal words of Demi Moore in a A Few Good Men you might say, ” I very strenuously object!”

Did FDR sell them or cut their feet off like in ROOTS, um…. no but pretty close.

And thanks for defending ACTUAL racism by parsing words and splitting hairs.

Thank you for answering my question. As usual, it was the latter.

The problem with the idea of Frank Ntilikina demanding a trade is Leon Rose would naturally ask his agent to find a team willing to give up, like, a single second round pick for him and that’s where the conversation would end

When I see the word “libtard” being used, I just can’t help but feel that the user has the emotional maturity of a child and a level of hate in the heart nearing the ballpark of a certain Mr. Hitler. Unless of course the user is being ironic.

But, I guess that just makes me a card-carrying member of the Greek Chorus. Bummer.
🙂

People’s positions are absolutely able to and often should evolve. However, you aren’t actually trying to say that Nancy Pelosi’s opinion has evolved and she’s had a moment of epiphany of some sort and isn’t just using this “issue” in statuary hall as rank political opportunism, are you?

Of course, Pelosi and Schumer are disingenuous swine who are trying to capitalize on this movement to gain power.

But how fucked up is it that they can?

Why isn’t the Republican party vocally antiracist right now? Forget about Lincoln. I mean today.

Antiracism should be built in to both parties. Then the Democrats would have to run on the rest of their stupid platform instead of being able to get elected based on being the only party that’s vocal about equality. It’s past time to stop defending a man who is obviously and spectacularly unfit for office just bc you like a few of his policies and hate liberals.

Yeah, uh, antiracism is pretty off-brand for the Republican Party.

You know, Lee Atwater and the Southern Strategy and all that. It’s a thing.

Re: Frank, Knox, etc…

It really is a shame that players are allowed to play in the NBA before age 21. Sure, we’d miss out on a couple of savants who defy the curve, but most players under 21 suck ass to some degree. I mean, does anyone really pine over “The Lost Ewing Years?” Just about every HOF player entered the league at age 21 or older, and those who entered earlier largely sucked before age 21 compared to after. Maybe there could be a committee that determines eligibility to play in the NBA, limiting it to true proven savants like LeBron, Doncic, and Zion. It would be better for the league to keep overhyped 18-19 yo’s from polluting the draft pool.

I know it will never happen (we’re actually moving in the other direction) but I for one would like to see it.

Woof, Z-man. That might be the hottest, and worst, take I’ve seen from you in years.

Maybe there could be a committee that determines eligibility to play in the NBA, limiting it to true proven savants like LeBron, Doncic, and Zion.

I’m pretty sure there are committees already in place to determine eligibility. They’re called “front offices” and they make voluntary, non-coerced decisions to hire players based on the previous play that those players have exhibited. No one forced the Suns to pick Josh Jackson in 2017, nor Dragan Bender in 2016, nor Alex Len in 2013. The players were merely eligible, and the Suns fucked their own decisions up. Removing the risk from drafting is impossible; reducing that risk via nanny-state ageist regulation is downright immoral against the labor.

What you’re referring to is known as “collusion” and would be a radical abuse of the NBA’s cartel power.

Z-Man that idea sucks for so many reasons. If NBA teams want to employ adults under the age of 21 there is no semi-decent reason to arbitrarily deny that option to those players, and thus force them to continue to risk injury etc. before getting paid.

Furthermore your justification doesn’t even check out. 22 players in the 18-20 age range have played 500+ minutes this season, 10 of them have managed a .050 WS48 or above. It’s not some incredibly rare feat to not suck as a young NBA player. Frank and Knox just suck.

Obviously, as is the case with…literally any career, there is a general trend of newer players being worse than more experienced players. You’d almost certainly continue to see that no matter where you arbitrarily set the age threshold to play in the NBA.

Admittedly not my best work. 🙂 but mostly on the basis of not having a prayer of ever happening.

But I don’t get the moral objections. There are lots of jobs one can’t do if one doesn’t meet a certain skill or age threshold, or doesn’t have a certain amount of credentials. The NBA is free to determine eligibility requirements, isn’t it? Should you be able to draft a 4-year old? 12? The bar is set somewhere, correct? Why not allow 16 year olds to be drafted? Would Zion Williamson or Luca Doncic have been more productive at age 16 than Kevin Knox or even Frank Kaminsky?

We’re essentially quibbling about where the bar should be set. I don’t think the past policies of requiring a minimum amount of college was deemed illegal, was it? Remember the “hardship” provision? Was that legal?

I mean, to extend your arguments, isn’t the entire draft mechanism collusion? Why should a player be forced to play somewhere that he has no interest in playing? Why not just eliminate the draft and make all players free agents at any age, just limit the amount of players that a team can have under contract?

By definition, the word “Association” implies collusion. it’s just a matter of how much.

There are lots of jobs one can’t do if one doesn’t meet a certain skill or age threshold, or doesn’t have a certain amount of credentials.

We’re talking about basketball performance, not civil engineering. There is no risk to public safety by drafting a young player, just as an engineering firm would be within their rights to hire a PE who is aged 18 if that individual had passed all of the qualifying exams and had all of the relevant degrees.

Being that there are no qualifying exams for playing basketball, it should be entirely the responsibility of the drafting team to determine eligibility.

Should you be able to draft a 4-year old? 12?

Well, first off, there are age of majority laws in nearly every nation, with 18 being the threshold in every state save Alabama, Mississippi and Nebraska. And given that there is a whole lot money at stake for the individual performer, you could argue to set the bar for gainful employment alongside the threshold for legal majority. I would argue that teams and players reach a mutual agreement that the player is capable of performing the tasks of an NBA player. If a player is 15 and declares himself willing to play in the NBA, and a team voluntarily offers him a contract, I see no problem with it.

We’re essentially quibbling about where the bar should be set.

We are, but you’re advocating stripping legal adults to seek employment in the United States, in the hopes that billion-dollar organizations would be protected from their own bad decisions, producing a “better” entertainment product.

Perhaps we should disqualify any player below six feet, since those players tend to be unproductive as well.

JK47:
Yeah, uh, antiracism is pretty off-brand for the Republican Party.

You know, Lee Atwater and the Southern Strategy and all that. It’s a thing.

It doesn’t need to be.

Progress isn’t necessarily electing Democrats. Real progress would be people like Bob – a guy I think we all know is not racist – creating change within his own party.

If this movement is just about all the people who already agree with each other getting together to shout, then all the change will be temporary. We have to get to the point where the Bobs of the world say “I can’t stand for this shit and I won’t let the Democrats be the only party that’s making this part of their agenda.”

Imagine an election where we can take for granted that both candidates have the same position on human equality and we can argue about shit that is reaonable to have a different opinion on.

It’s cute that you think the party that has given us 50 years of the Southern Strategy, “welfare queens,” Willie Horton, “very fine people,” and all sorts of other dog whistle bullshit is going to do a face turn right now and embrace anti-racism. It’s just ADORABLE. Maybe the Libertarians will endorse Medicare for All and my cats will start barking at me too.

Watch about ten minutes of FOX News then get back to me about when this beautiful Kumbaya moment is going to be happening.

Almost every player drafted, even Knox & Ntilikina are legitimate NBA players or close enough to NBA-level to be in the league. I see no reason to force Knox to play more time in the NCAA for free.

What measure of skill should one even use to determine savant-ness in basketball? Almost everyone on this board finds workouts laughable and stats are incredibly biased toward certain types of players.

It’s not that far off, JK.

In 2012, I wasn’t afraid of what might happen if Mitt Romney became President. I wasn’t terrified of what a Kasich Administration would mean for minorities, either.

I’ve seen great progress in the last month from Republicans I know. I’ve gotten Republicans to attend BLM marches in Montauk, FFS.

The Honorable Cock Jowles: We’re talking about basketball performance, not civil engineering. There is no risk to public safety by drafting a young player, just as an engineering firm would be within their rights to hire a PE who is aged 18 if that individual had passed all of the qualifying exams and had all of the relevant degrees.

Being that there are no qualifying exams for playing basketball, it should be entirely the responsibility of the drafting team to determine eligibility.

Well, first off, there are age of majority laws in nearly every nation, with 18 being the threshold in every state save Alabama, Mississippi and Nebraska. And given that there is a whole lot money at stake for the individual performer, you could argue to set the bar for gainful employment alongside the threshold for legal majority. I would argue that teams and players reach a mutual agreement that the player is capable of performing the tasks of an NBA player. If a player is 15 and declares himself willing to play in the NBA, and a team voluntarily offers him a contract, I see no problem with it.

We are, but you’re advocating stripping legal adults to seek employment in the United States, in the hopes that billion-dollar organizations would be protected from their own bad decisions, producing a “better” entertainment product.

Perhaps we should disqualify any player below six feet, since those players tend to be unproductive as well.

All fair points. Although, as I said, there are teenage stars in tennis, golf, gymnastics, skating, and in Europe, in pretty much all sports. Why should 18 be the magic number in the NBA?

In 2012, I wasn’t afraid of what might happen if Mitt Romney became President. I wasn’t terrified of what a Kasich Administration would mean for minorities, either.

Does the Republican Party seem to be moving TOWARDS Mitt Romney/John Kasich types, or AWAY from them?

The GOP nominee in 2024 is probably gonna be Don Jr. Bookmark that one.

1. Trump understood that a lot Americans were shifting away from believing in free trade and and that they don’t want wide open borders for millions of illegal immigrants. That’s what got him elected. Beyond that, he’s a narcissist, has racist tendencies, thinks of women as sex objects, and has an endless supply of other personality disorders and faults.

2. This election should be a 45 state slaughter or worse, but somehow the democrats wound up with a candidate that’s probably less than a year away from needing assisted living. How they can be that dumb is beyond me. If they would have found anyone palatable to the moderate swing states they would have demolished him in every one of them. They may wind up winning anyway because Trump is so psycho, but IMO some of that hinges on who the Vice Presidential nominee is. EVERYONE knows that long before his term is over, if Biden hasn’t been put away in a nursing home or assisted living, it’s going to be like a “Weekend at Bernies” in the Whitehouse, The Vice President is largely the person running for president.

3. Trade Frank. The Knicks would have no problem getting more for him than the consensus here. Mudiay was tradeable and he does nothing well. lol

Basketball people understand Frank’s value on the defensive end. His potential as an “impact” defender and P&R disrupter that can also be a secondary play maker is too high to not give him a couple more years to develop on offense. That’s especially true because he clearly WAS improving on offense last year and is still very young He deserves to be on a team that will use him effectively and where he can reach his potential. That’s not NY.

“Does the Republican Party seem to be moving TOWARDS Mitt Romney/John Kasich types, or AWAY from them?”

Trump split republican party is split in two by bringing Reagan blue collar democrats back but while also making many conservatives, free market republicans, neo conservatives, and others bat shit crazy with hate.

The Trumpians are anti “pure” free trade, anti excessive involvement overseas (NATO, Middle East etc..) , and anti wide open orders.

The mainstream republicans are pro free trade, pro open borders (for cheap labor), and pro American influence and leadership around the world. The neocon wing (the true Satanic influence that’s the aggressive war mongering group is passionately anti Trump)

There is a fight for the soul of the republican party.

I’m mostly with Trump on policy, but he’s too much of a sick fuck and widely hated on both sides to be a the standards bearer of better trade deals, sensible immigration reform, and withdrawing from unnecessary conflicts overseas.

JK47: Does the Republican Party seem to be moving TOWARDS Mitt Romney/John Kasich types, or AWAY from them?

I think the media and the attention is moving towards those types. I don’t know where the party is going. I hope the people I know are more representative than the caricatures I see in the media and the comments section.

I feel the same way about the Dems, FWIW. Y’all are moderate, sensible liberals. Sometimes it feels like the party is moving away from you, too. When I have anti-liberal sentiments, for example, it’s not bc of people like you. It’s the NahNahs of the world who seem as hateful, angry, and close minded as racists.

I still have this wild hope that after all this is done and we look at the carnage we’ve created, we’ll take a step back and say “hey, maybe we shouldn’t be following all the crazy people.”

Deeefense: This election should be a 45 state slaughter or worse, but somehow the democrats wound up with a candidate that’s probably less than a year away from needing assisted living. How they can be that dumb is beyond me. If they would have found anyone palatable to the moderate swing states they would have demolished him in every one of them. They may wind up winning anyway because Trump is so psycho, but IMO some of that hinges on who the Vice Presidential nominee is. EVERYONE knows that long before his term is over, if Biden hasn’t been put away in a nursing home or assisted living, it’s going to be like a “Weekend at Bernies” in the Whitehouse, The Vice President is largely the person running for president.

I think you’re right, but it’s pretty clear the Dems think it’s more important to pick a woman of color to balance out Biden’s white maleness.

I saw Biden post something a couple weeks back that said “we can’t take 4 more years of this.” If I were his campaign manager I would tell him “say nothing except this for the next 5 months.”

The idea that you can somehow separate the GOP from racism is laughable–racism is the Trojan Horse they use to get their voters to accept their wildly unpopular economic ideas. It’s been this way for decades, Trump just doesn’t have the deft dog whistling touch of Nixon, Reagan, etc.

Without the racism (and to some extent anti-abortion crusade and other “cultural” issues) you have a party whose pitch to voters is that they want to make rich people richer. It doesn’t sell on its own and Trump exposed that. There’s a reason the Libertarian Party can’t make an electoral dent.

There is no great schism in the Republican Party between people who like the racism and people who don’t like the racism but like the economic policies. There are a tiny number of people who might fall into the latter category, they’re just wildly overrepresented in the media. They pretty much all have op-ed columns. In reality, Trump’s approval rating among registered Republicans is through the roof.

3. Trade Frank. The Knicks would have no problem getting more for him than the consensus here. Mudiay was tradeable and he does nothing well. lol

Yet every time it’s reported the Knicks are shopping him, including for a single second round pick on the night of the 2019 draft, there’s no dice. Mudiay was only tradable to the New York Knicks, something that isn’t an option for Frank.

I am so god damn sick of this argument though. Until we’re actually trying to be good and/or have better options on the roster, I’m fine with playing him for the duration of his rookie deal.

I am NOT fine with passing up on literally any acquisition because of Frank Ntilikina’s presence on the roster (the idea that the Burke flyer was a bad idea because of this is nuts) and I am NOT fine with paying him any substantial amount of money in restricted free agency.

I don’t know where the party is going.

Hubert, I honestly don’t think you’re a bad guy — I want you to read this book if you want an answer to that question:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/books/review/dark-money-by-jane-mayer.html

I think it’s pretty clear where the GOP is going: empty suits willing to do whatever the Koch, Mercer, DeVos and other elite families want them to do. I don’t think you have a full picture of just how much money is out there for people who will carry water for the nation’s most right-wing billionaires. And they are extremely right-wing. Like “abolish the Department of Energy” right-wing. Like “eliminate all income taxes” right-wing.

thenoblefacehumper

It would appear you know even less about the republican party than the Knicks. There was plenty of interest in Frank last year after France. It was the year before there was no market because he was hurt. there IS a market now.

You should try getting out more and mixing with moderate republicans that love guys like John Kasich, Mitt Romney, and other anti Trump RINOs. There are loads of them. Those are the guys fighting to get Trump out, but they haven’t learned they can’t do it with pure free trade, wide open borders, and middle east invasions.

What they have to do is take Trump’s lead on trade. They have to try to attract and keep investment in the US and enforce fair trade to keep the trade deficits manageable.

They have to promote an immigration policy that allows people to come here and find a better life, but in numbers that make sense for communities, hospitals, schools, law enforcement etc..

They have to realize that we can no longer afford to be the policeman of the world imposing our values and ideals on others . We don’t have to become isolationists, but the empire is over. It should be dead and buried along with the neocons (who are so anti Trump they have jumped ship to the democrats anyway).

Both parties have drifted towards extremism. The Republicans are certainly ahead but Bernie’s done one helluva job making up ground.

When I say I don’t know where it’s headed, I mean I have hope that the moderate majority will find a way to bring things back to Sanityville.

At some point, these party structures can and should fall apart. Now that social media exists, you don’t need a convention, a party, or money to get your message to the people. Eventually someone will figure this out and I do think a moderate, non-affiliated candidate, someone of a reasonable age (like not over 70) would appeal to everyone in the Democratic and Republican parties who feel left behind by the crazy people driving their party’s bus.

If not, we’ll just implode, bc this current shit is insane.

Both parties have drifted towards extremism. The Republicans are certainly ahead but Bernie’s done one helluva job making up ground.

Uhhh Bernie did way worse in 2020 than in 2016, and the most centrist centrist who ever centristed, Joe Biden, waltzed to the nomination virtually unopposed. The Bernie left is a pretty small rump within the party, they top out at 30% or so of the party and they haven’t been able to grow that number at all in four years.

There’s Bernie, Warren, Katie Porter, and The Squad, and that’s pretty much it as far as high profile progressives go. Bernie and Warren are nearing the ends of their careers.

>Trump’s approval rating among self-identified Republicans is currently 85%, which is close to a two-year low.<

I'm trying to explain what's going on, but you aren't listening.

Virtually every republican in my circles thinks Trump is an asshole. However, many like that he's getting tough on trade, tougher on "illegal" immigration, and trying to withdraw from foreign entanglements. So they hold their nose about all personality disorders and other bad qualities because the alternative is either an extreme leftist they can't support or a borderline senile moderate like Biden. I think many will go Biden if the Vice Presidential choice is moderate.

If the democrats put up a young, bright, energetic, moderate Bill Clinton now that would just get a little tougher on trade, it would be the greatest slaughter in US history. While republicans might not agree with him on everything, no one cares that much about tweaks to tax policy, trade, or immigration that are at least reasonable. But they aren't gong to vote for a socialist or someone they think is delusional. Many republicans hate Trump, but they think much of the left is mentally ill and deranged since Trump won .

I know plenty of Republicans. Not one of them gives a flying shit about getting tough on trade. I’ve known some of these people for many years and in those many years “getting tough on trade” was not a thing that they mentioned, not ever.

What they’re overwhelmingly against is “big government,” AKA social programs, AKA things that benefit people of color.

You should try getting out more and mixing with moderate republicans that love guys like John Kasich, Mitt Romney, and other anti Trump RINOs. There are loads of them. Those are the guys fighting to get Trump out

I think you need to re-acquaint yourself with Trump’s polling numbers inside the GOP.

“I know plenty of Republicans. Not one of them gives a flying shit about getting tough on trade. I’ve known some of these people for many years and in those many years “getting tough on trade” was not a thing that they mentioned, not ever.”

I am describing the “new” republican party (at least for now).

I grew up in a blue collar area of NY. My entire family belonged to the democrat party from the moment they came here about 100 years ago. I’d say 90% of the kids I grew up with were democrats. They mostly became auto mechanics, plumbers, electricians, construction workers, carpenters, worked in manufacturing etc… Most belonged to unions. A few of us made it to college and became accountants, computer programmers, or other white collar workers. Some of the white collar workers slowly shifted right, but the rest remained die hard democrats. Almost all those union guys are Trump republicans now, All they do is talk about lost jobs, how trade screwed them, and how cheaper labor from overseas and illegal immigrants killed all the unions and their jobs. That’s how Trump won in a lot of the battleground states. He created a “new” party that included blue collar and union workers. Few seem to get that because the mainstream and left media don;t fully understands it. All they talk about racism. But it’s obvious to me because so many of my childhood friends switched parties (all to my utter shock). That’s what happened in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania etc..

I don’t think the degree to which Republicans have been herded and “tribalized” by Murdoch and Ailes can be understated. The fomenting of distrust “mainstream media” has done as much to unite conservatives as anything. Bill O’Reilly’s “No Spin Zone”, followed by Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, etc., and Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the lineup on Hate Radio, grabbed the torch from the more cerebral conservatives like William F. Buckley Jr. and marginalized them.

Both parties have drifted towards extremism. The Republicans are certainly ahead but Bernie’s done one helluva job making up ground.

Cosign everything in JK’s response. It hurts me to say as a former Bernie volunteer and current DSA member but the ‘radical’ left is a mess at the moment. I wish we were more successful in pushing the Dem party left, but there haven’t been that many successes. The Tea Party has been much more effective at getting what they want out of their party.

There’s also been wayyy more pushback by mainstream dems against leftists compared to Republicans pushing back against their extremists. Just look at the Engel vs. Bowman primary going on in NY. You wouldn’t see Republicans circling the wagons for a shitty incumbent like Eliot Engel. Especially when the challenger is more dynamic/charismatic like with Bowman.

We’re still a long way from the Dems actually becoming socialists.

Deeefense:
“I know plenty of Republicans. Not one of them gives a flying shit about getting tough on trade. I’ve known some of these people for many years and in those many years “getting tough on trade” was not a thing that they mentioned, not ever.”

I am describing the “new” republican party (at least for now).

I grew up in a blue collar area of NY. My entire family belonged to the democrat party from the moment they came here about 100 years ago. I’d say 90% of the kids I grew up with were democrats.They mostly became auto mechanics, plumbers, electricians, construction workers, carpenters, worked in manufacturing etc… Most belonged to unions.A few of us made it to college and became accountants, computer programmers, or other white collar workers.Some of the white collar workers slowly shifted right, but the rest remained die hard democrats.Almost all those union guys are Trump republicans now,All they do is talk about lost jobs, how trade screwed them, and how cheaper labor from overseas and illegal immigrants killed all the unions and their jobs. That’s how Trump won in a lot of the battleground states.He created a “new” party that included blue collar and union workers. Few seem to get that becausethe mainstream and left media don;t fully understands it. All they talk about racism. But it’s obvious to me because so many of my childhood friends switched parties (all to my utter shock).That’s what happened in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania etc..

Let’s ignore polling, here’s what my friends say is the eye-test of politics. Deeefense, you ever think that maybe you’re the one in the bubble, that maybe there’s a whole bunch of other other Republicans out there you don’t know?

Early bird, I don’t know what polling you’re talking about. Trump is anti immigration and anti free trade and he’s vocal about it. No other candidate came close. I think some people voted him just because he wasn’t a Democrat, but a significant number of people liked these particular policies and it made a difference for him. Hillary didn’t expect this and kept campaigning against his personality instead of his positions. The only Democrat who really seemed to believe this was Yang, but he wasn’t dynamic enough to appeal to enough people.

It would appear you know even less about the republican party than the Knicks.

i love this statement so much, it brings mirth to the mundane…whenever anybody really really strongly disagrees with someone’s point of view – they’ll make sure to include the fact that they also think their knick analysis sucks ass too…

sure, you could have all sorts of blind spots and frailties in life – but, seriously, your thoughts processes are all fucked up – and – you don’t really know shit about the knicks…that’s making a point…

shoot, some of ya’ll think we’re fighting, i think we’re finally talking…

Definitely not going to spend an evening arguing with someone who appears to very earnestly believe their claimed anecdotal experiences are more valuable than heaps of empirical data, so I’ll just highlight what I think is the funniest part:

Almost all those union guys are Trump republicans now,All they do is talk about lost jobs, how trade screwed them, and how cheaper labor from overseas and illegal immigrants killed all the unions and their jobs. That’s how Trump won in a lot of the battleground states.He created a “new” party that included blue collar and union workers. Few seem to get that becausethe mainstream and left media don;t fully understands it.

Heh, do you really think this is some novel theory no one knows about? It was all the rage to talk about this alleged phenomenon after the 2016 election.

It died down a little bit after more exit polls and other data came in showing Trump’s base was actually pretty damn similar to every other Republican’s base: buncha rich white dudes. I am not going to bother to link it because I am tired and you will just respond by saying it’s disproven by the existence of your second cousin Johnny or something.

“The GOP nominee in 2024 is probably gonna be Don Jr. Bookmark that one.”

The GOP nominee in 2024 is probably going to be Sen. Tom Cotton/Nikki Haley

“Progress isn’t necessarily electing Democrats. Real progress would be people like Bob – a guy I think we all know is not racist – creating change within his own party.

If this movement is just about all the people who already agree with each other getting together to shout, then all the change will be temporary. We have to get to the point where the Bobs of the world say “I can’t stand for this shit and I won’t let the Democrats be the only party that’s making this part of their agenda.”

Hubert I assume when you say. “I can’t stand for this shit, ” You mean racism. I would say 99% of people you would consider republicans are antiracism. But it depends on what you define racism as.

If you define racism as not treating people by the content of their character but rather the color of their skin than I would say 99% of people in general agree actually walk that walk.

However if you define racism as an original sin of being born white with no hope of redemption other than confessing to the sins of someone else’s ancestors… then I’m going to disagree.

I found this piece on Real Clear Politics chilling while I’m sure many here applaud it”

https://thepostmillennial.com/the-nyc-school-system-is-teaching-my-10-year-old-son-that-hes-racist

Cliffs notes:

“What this means is that the school is teaching kids how to interpret history before they learn the history they are meant to interpret. They’re telling kids what opinions to have before they’re giving the facts about which that opinion should be formed. Educators are making sure that these fourth graders look at history through the lens of critical race theory before they even know what that history is.”

Et cetera…. et cetera….. et cetera……

Hubert I assume when you say. “I can’t stand for this shit, ” You mean racism. I would say 99% of people you would consider republicans are antiracism. But it depends on what you define racism as.

If you define racism as not treating people by the content of their character but rather the color of their skin than I would say 99% of people in general agree actually walk that walk.

However if you define racism as an original sin of being born white with no hope of redemption other than confessing to the sins of someone else’s ancestors… then I’m going to disagree.

So there you go, Hubert. There’s bob, trying to tell us that 99% of Republicans are not just not racist, they are in fact anti-racist. That 99% of Republicans judge people by the content of their character. That 99% of Republicans would have no problem, say, with their daughters dating or marrying a black man.

That somehow all of the Proud Boys, corrupt murderous cops, Barbecue Beckys, AR15-toting militia cosplayers, n-word dropping rednecks, Confederate flag wavers, and alt-righters somehow squeeze into that 1% of bad apples. That they’re just a teeny tiny percentage of all Rapublicans. And that in fact, it is the libs who are the racists, for making the false accusation that white privilege exists.

Hubert, you’re right. They’re ceding that ground to us entirely. Whatever, I’ll take it. History is on our side.

“That somehow all of the Proud Boys, corrupt murderous cops, Barbecue Beckys, AR15-toting militia cosplayers, n-word dropping rednecks, Confederate flag wavers, and alt-righters somehow squeeze into that 1% of bad apples. ”

Murderous corrupt cops, etc, etc…. you really think there are more than 3.4 million in this country. Not everyone that owns a gun is a troglodyte.

Just curious how many “murderous cops” (whatever the fuck that means) do you think exist in America?

Okay forget that part.

What about the rest of that group of people? 1% of all Republicans?

99% of all Republicans would be okay with their daughter marrying a black guy?

You can’t fool me, dude. My first wife was from Crossville, Tennessee. I’ve been there. I’ve met those people. Just about every single person I came across there used the n word very liberally. There are thousands and thousands of Crossvilles.

My ex-wife’s toothless drunken absent father had a dog named “N*gger.” He was no outlier in that town, trust me.

bobneptune:
“That somehow all of the Proud Boys, corrupt murderous cops, Barbecue Beckys, AR15-toting militia cosplayers, n-word dropping rednecks, Confederate flag wavers, and alt-righters somehow squeeze into that 1% of bad apples. ”

Murderous corrupt cops, etc, etc…. you really think there are more than 3.4 million in this country. Not everyone that owns a gun is a troglodyte.

Just curious how many “murderous cops” (whatever the fuck that means) do you think exist in America?

What About Bob hijacks another thread. And we’re all the dumber for it.

FDR made a mistake while guiding the world out of multiple crises that he didn’t create, therefore he should be treated like confederate generals that did nothing but try to destroy the country and fail.

Andrew Jackson committed genocide, and he was a Democrat, therefore democrats can’t criticize Trump.

Abraham Lincoln was a republican who freed the slaves, therefore republicans are anti-racist.

Bill Clinton was a sleaze bag, therefore Donald Trump can grab women by the pussy .

Jeffry Dahmer ate a libtard once, therefore the libs are the worst and everybody else is second worst which is better.

It’s all so dumb, I just can’t keep up. Somebody get some live horse racing back to give Bob something better to do than come here and embarrass himself pease.

“You can’t fool me, dude. My first wife was from Crossville, Tennessee.”

Just curious when you were in Tennessee 1975? I’m guessing not 2017, right… the country and specifically the south is a vastly different place today than it was 40-50 years ago. FFS 3 friends and myself were asked to leave a diner outside of Savannah, Ga in 1971 for the offense of having hair down to out shoulders.

First of all 99% of blacks aren’t good with black men marrying white women for example, but getting back to your point from PEW:

In 1967, when miscegenation laws were overturned in the United States, 3% of all newlyweds were married to someone of a different race or ethnicity. Since then, intermarriage rates have steadily climbed. By 1980, the share of intermarried newlyweds had about doubled to 7%. And by 2015 the number had risen to 17%.4

If you consider 72% of the population is white the maximum % of mixed marriages would be 28% randomly.

FYI everyone south of the Mason/Dixon like isn’t out of casting from Deliverance and not everyone in NYC is as pure as the driven snow.

And by the way, please explain to me how this fellow isn’t a racist by definition walking around 16th street:

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/disturbing-video-shows-random-attack-hydrant-head-smash-of-92-year-old-woman-in-manhattan/2466659/

“What About Bob hijacks another thread. And we’re all the dumber for it.”

Ummmm… no! Owen left the enthralling Frank discussion to make this pithy comment:

“Owen
June 18, 2020 at 8:29 am
Well Trump is really owning the libs with that pro-concentration camp take”

And I merely responded with y’all are hypocrites for calling out Trump for something he (supposedly) said and juxtaposed it with something FDR actually did which was a 100 times worse.

THEN you fellows got all apoplectic about the truth. Facts are dam nasty things……

First of all 99% of blacks aren’t good with black men marrying white women for example

What the fuck are you talking about? Any basis for this, or are you just being racist?

I finally figured it out.

The US is the most racist country in the US and virtually every republican is a racist.

How else can you explain that the US elected Obama with only 53% and 51% of the vote?

I know he got a very similar amount of the white vote as previous white democrats that ran for president (and either won or lost), but that other 47% and 49% couldn’t possible just disagree with him on policy as they did with other democrat candidates. They are all racists or he would have gotten 100%. In fact, I suspect the only reason Kamala Harris isn’t the nominee is all the closet white racists in the democrat party.

I’m not sure what this group is more delusional about, the Knicks/basketball or politics.

“Let’s ignore polling, here’s what my friends say is the eye-test of politics. Deeefense, you ever think that maybe you’re the one in the bubble, that maybe there’s a whole bunch of other other Republicans out there you don’t know?”

It wasn’t an accident that he won Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

He actively campaigned on bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US, protecting US markets, opening some coal mines again, getting companies to the invest in the US instead of Canada, Mexico, China etc.. That gave him WAY more of the blue collar and union vote than any republican would typically get.

If democrats still haven’t figure that out 4 years after it was happening right in front of their eyes they don’t deserve to get those people back.

It’s a bummer the Knicks won’t play in the resurrection league. They would have 100% made their draft position worse but this blog could use some live games. And I usually loves the political talk around here.

Anyway why are they waiting with the season restart for so long? Could have started already isn’t it?

“What the fuck are you talking about? Any basis for this, or are you just being racist?”

HaHaHaHa…. you really have been brainwashed by your statist uni professors. All white people are stained with the original sin of slavery and are bigots and can’t do anything about it and no minorities can hold racial prejudices. You actually believe that tripe. Pro tip for you humpty… all people are basically alike and some have pretty serious character flaws but thankfully there are less and less of them as time goes by.

You ask for evidence where some people black people are vehemently against interracial marriage?

Google is your friend. Google a word salad of terms like “question why black men marry blondes” and you will get some fairly racists POV’s from black people. For example the very first link that came up was this witheringly racist piece, not from the Proud Boys, but from the blackradionetwork.com …. Larry Page and Sergy Brin listed this link first….. not me:

https://www.blackradionetwork.com/why_black_men_marry_white_women_explored

If you don’t consider this a racist piece of psychobabble with a large dab of self hating then I don’t know what to tell you.

Uhhh Bernie did way worse in 2020 than in 2016, and the most centrist centrist who ever centristed, Joe Biden, waltzed to the nomination virtually unopposed.

Bernie’s performance isn’t necessarily the indicator of his influence. His influence is found in how far left he pulls all the candidates fighting for the nomination. Your favorite, Warren, should have walked to the nomination, but she had to walk an impossible tightrope of being crazy enough to win his supporters over for the nomination and being sensible enough to appeal to the majority of America, all while overcoming the inherent disadvantage of being a woman in a field dominated by men. Unsurprisingly, she couldn’t pull it off.

You guys are sitting here trying to act like the Democratic party isn’t extreme when people literally could not go outside in NY bc of angry mobs on the street entirely made up of far left protesters and the remnants of occupy wall street.

You’re going to sit here and say the party that has been in the streets all month screaming to defund the police so we can send unarmed social workers to deescalate a domestic abuse case in progress is not extreme bc Bernie didn’t poll as well as he did in 2016?

I’m not buying it. These people – not any of you – are fucking insane, and they’re carrying your party’s flag.

If you define racism as not treating people by the content of their character but rather the color of their skin than I would say 99% of people in general agree actually walk that walk.

I’m defining it as systematic inequality, and I do not think the Republican party is committed to addressing it. The current administration actually seems committed to maintaining it.

However if you define racism as an original sin of being born white with no hope of redemption other than confessing to the sins of someone else’s ancestors… then I’m going to disagree.

This isn’t really how anyone defines racism. You’re just taking the craziest position on the left and trying to make it emblematic of the entire left.

“You guys are sitting here trying to act like the Democratic party isn’t extreme when people literally could not go outside in NY bc of angry mobs on the street entirely made up of far left protesters and the remnants of occupy wall street.

You’re going to sit here and say the party that has been in the streets all month screaming to defund the police so we can send unarmed social workers to deescalate a domestic abuse case in progress is not extreme bc Bernie didn’t poll as well as he did in 2016?”

I wish you the best trying to get a bunch of etatists (and I’m being kind when I say that) to act like Daniel Patrick Moynihan or Jacob Javitz. My condolences in advance….

I’m not buying it. These people – not any of you – are fucking insane, and they’re carrying your party’s flag.

“This isn’t really how anyone defines racism. You’re just taking the craziest position on the left and trying to make it emblematic of the entire left.”

Have you been in any 4th grade classes in NYC lately?

Him…. this lady disagrees with you. She says this is precisely what the kids are being indoctrinated with in 4th grade classes in Brooklyn today as part of the citywide curriculum.

“At the direction of the Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, New York City Public Schools have taken the opportunity of the protests surrounding George Floyd’s murder to teach fourth graders about systemic racism and white privilege. But for the children who are either immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants—which is much of the class—and for my son who is the only white kid in the class, this was not a lesson that decreases racism, but one that verges on instilling it.

For the kids who are Chinese, Arab, or whose families come from Mexico, Central and South America, the lesson on racism between whites and blacks was just another study section that came with right and wrong answers. They learned that the country to which their parents had decided to journey from their homes abroad was founded on racist ideology and that, because it is permanently ingrained, there’s nothing that can be done about it. My son learned that he is perpetuating the problem of racism, and that he doesn’t even know how he’s doing it, and that his whole family is racist, even if they don’t think they are. The kids also learned that there’s no way to fix it.”

isn’t this precisely what I said?

https://thepostmillennial.com/the-nyc-school-system-is-teaching-my-10-year-old-son-that-hes-racist

Lmao bob you are truly a clown of the highest order. You said “99% of blacks” hold a certain opinion, which is basically making a categorical claim about all black people, and when asked to support that insane statement you provided the opinion of one person from some obscure website that looks like it hasn’t been touched since 2001.

It’s sad, because I think you’re a decently intelligent guy, but it’s clear Fox News et al. have just broken your brain completely. I mean “statist uni professors?” What conspiracy-laden utter garbage.

I hope for your own sake you take a step back from the conservative media cesspool someday. It materially damages people.

bobneptune:

isn’t this precisely what I said?

https://thepostmillennial.com/the-nyc-school-system-is-teaching-my-10-year-old-son-that-hes-racist

Bob, nowhere in that article does it define racism that way. What you’re quoting is clearly an opinion piece that makes no attempt at an objective presentation of the facts, you’ve quoted the authors opinion and nothing any teacher actually said- it’s all narrative meant to inflame the passions. The fact you can’t distinguish between journalism and opinion is telling of how far your bias leans.

Moreover, the presence of systemic racism is fairly uncontroversial and defined differently than in your propaganda hitpiece. There’s an endless amount of scientific literature on it, not just critical theory. Maybe you should engage with the literature instead of its caricatures. But again, you don’t even realize that you’re dealing with the caricature instead of the actual thing.

I disagree with Bob on a lot of things (and he still owes me an apology for a post he made), but I agree the article about what fourth graders are being taught is disturbing. Teaching young kids that everyone is racist doesn’t serve anything and teaching them that the country was founded on racism ignore a lot of other reasons the country was founded.

Him…. this lady disagrees with you. She says this is precisely what the kids are being indoctrinated with in 4th grade classes in Brooklyn today as part of the citywide curriculum

I just looked up ‘this lady’ (Libby Emmons). Turns out she’s an insane bigot who’s obsessed with trans people. She’s written no less than 20 anti-trans articles in the past 2 years, mainly for the Federalist. Also wrote some heinous shit about Dwyane Wade and his kid.

Bob’s so brain poisoned he thinks this woman is credible. Can’t recognize an alarmist right wing grifter when it’s staring him in the face.

“Bob, nowhere in that article does it define racism that way. What you’re quoting is clearly an opinion piece that makes no attempt at an objective presentation of the facts,”

Of course…. the link which I provided had the 4 minute video about Systemic racism that was shown in the NYC school. They defined it and then the teacher put their own special spin on it.

As expected the film was full of half truths. For example it remarked that lower property values led to lower amounts of funds available for public schools in minority neighborhoods. In NYC the largest per pupil allocations are found in the South Bronx (district 7), Central Brooklyn (district 16), Upper Manhattan (districts 4 and 5) . Don’t let facts get in the way of a good story.

They also neglected to mention the fact that the largest determiner of wealth is whether there is an adult male in the household. You know…. personal responsibility and unimportant stuff like that

Don’t make me post some link about some rednecky school in Texas that teaches intelligent design as science and that the cause of the Civil War was “states rights.” I mean come on with this horseshit already.

Wow, Crossville, TN in the thread!? Hey, my mother moved us to Crossville, TN in 1977! Major culture shock, coming from North Adams, Mass. At the time, Cumberland County was a dry county and there were, supposedly, no blacks at all. I never saw a black or hispanic person there my entire time. I graduated from Cumberland County High School in Crossville.

I started at UT in Knoxville in 1980, coming back to Crossville for holidays and summers. My last time there was in 1984…I swore I’d never go back and haven’t.

Maybe it’s changed. I don’t know. I do live in Knoxville, TN still.

You guys are sitting here trying to act like the Democratic party isn’t extreme when people literally could not go outside in NY bc of angry mobs on the street entirely made up of far left protesters and the remnants of occupy wall street.

There’s lots of polling indicating that the public solidly approves of the protests that came after the death of George Floyd. There’s also lots of polling indicating that the public hates the way Donald Trump has handled the aftermath of Floyd’s murder.

We’re winning this debate pretty handily.

I just looked up ‘this lady’ (Libby Emmons). Turns out she’s an insane bigot who’s obsessed with trans people. She’s written no less than 20 anti-trans articles in the past 2 years, mainly for the Federalist. ”

In good faith I thought maybe Dink knew something I didn’t so I google searched Libby Emmons anti trans articles and I got this first:

https://nypost.com/2020/05/12/judge-sides-with-trans-athletes-against-girls-who-just-want-fairness/

In the piece Ms Emmons makes the argument a judge overstepped his bounds mandating lawyers for the plaintiffs couldn’t use the term biological males when describing two people born with Y chromosomes who were athletes who feel they are girls and want to compete athletically against people woth only X chromosomes.

The article says virtually nothing about transgender people but it does rip the judge. she goes on to acknowledge:

Gender dysphoria — the mismatch between a person’s subjective sense of gender and his biological sex — is real. In some cases, it’s very painful. Even so, a subjective state of mind doesn’t override natural reality.

I guess the question actually is if Usain Bolt woke up today and said, “Ya know…. I’ve been really queazy about my maleness and today I had an epiphany and realize I’m really a woman on the inside regardless of what my karyotype says,” should he be able to compete against the girls in Tokyo next year?

Many people would reasonably say no. I’m failing to see the insane bigotry here

Bob, any thoughts on Trump and Pence running a campaign ad with Nazi imagery this week? You know, the symbol used to classify the largest category of prisoners at Auschwitz?

Owning the libs?

“There’s lots of polling indicating that the public solidly approves of the protests that came after the death of George Floyd.”

Jesus Christ I approve of peaceful public protests. I don’t approve of looting, violence stealing causing general havoc, etc. I guess that makes me crazy.

bobneptune:
“There’s lots of polling indicating that the public solidly approves of the protests that came after the death of George Floyd.”

Jesus Christ I approve of peaceful public protests. I don’t approve of looting, violence stealing causing general havoc, etc.I guess that makes me crazy.

Well you apparently watch Fox News on an endless loop so you probably think it’s mostly looting and violence. But after an initial spasm of violence the protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful.

Most people realize this which is why the protests and BLM itself have high approval ratings.

Read her Federalist garbage. She believes that people are transitioning because they want to cure their gayness and that they feel forced to do this because conversion therapy has been outlawed in a bunch of states. She also believes that some parents are pushing their possibly queer children to transition because they believe it’s more socially acceptable than being gay. The only thing she cites are nameless ‘LGB’ activists who are critical of trans people. Just a bunch of vile, incorrect horseshit.

Not gonna link to the Federalist but you can probably find it in your bookmarks.

But after an initial spasm of violence the protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful.

Yeah…. that initial spasm lasted 6 days:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8377277/Americans-survey-damage-sixth-night-riots.html

I got it…. just boys being boys, eh…..

Do you lose your membership badge if you say the violence and looting were fucking awful and completely unnecessary and mostly carried out by people that couldn’t give 2 shits on a rainy day about Mr Floyd.

I mean Mr Floyd was heinously killed . Virtually everybody agreed. The Minnesota AG was one of the most liberal black men in America. Minneapolis and Minnesota was under complete democrat control. No chance anything was getting brushed under the carpet.

They arrested everybody consistent with everyone civil right once the facts became clear. Trump told the Justice Dept and FBI to look into civil rights violations federally. What the fuck else were the authorities supposed to do?

The cops are out of control in Minneapolis, NYC, Chicago, Philly, Boston and LA? OK… who runs those towns and who has run the the majority of the past 50 years? Hold them accountable.

I’m all for it.

Not a single bit of that justifies burning another man’s shit or stealing his property. Doesn’t justify throwing a firebomb in a random cop’s car.

“Bob, any thoughts on Trump and Pence running a campaign ad with Nazi imagery this week? You know, the symbol used to classify the largest category of prisoners at Auschwitz?

Owning the libs?”

You know what the campaign said. I wasn’t a very good dog whistle because it flew right over this canines head/ears

JK47: There’s lots of polling indicating that the public solidly approves of the protests that came after the death of George Floyd. There’s also lots of polling indicating that the public hates the way Donald Trump has handled the aftermath of Floyd’s murder.

We’re winning this debate pretty handily.

I agree with the protests and I hate the way Trump has handled the aftermath.

It’s such a long journey from righteous protest to sensible policy action, though.

“Don’t make me post some link about some rednecky school in Texas that teaches intelligent”

Public schools shouldn’t be teaching ‘intelligent design’ under any circumstances. Neither should NYC public schools be teaching 4th graders they bear the scarlet letter of racism. Because they don’t.

“You know what the campaign said. I wasn’t a very good dog whistle because it flew right over this canines head/ears”

Huh?

Literally 95% of the prisoners at Auschwitz wore a red triangle. And they ran it in a Trump ad.

As for what percentage of Trump’s base is racist, there is zero chance Brad Parscale thinks it’s 1%.

It’s such a long journey from righteous protest to sensible policy action, though.

Stay Tuned with Preet has a great pod with the police chief who oversaw the abolishment of the Camden PD.

He has an op ed in the Washington Post today too.

What struck me is how insanely difficult it is to pass anything that requires civil service reform. He and Anne Milgram, who appointed him to the position originally, both refledcct on how insanely lucky they had to get just to have the chance to make any changes at all.

JK47: But after an initial spasm of violence the protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful.

I agree, but that initial spasm was traumatic to the people who were cowering in their apartments in fear while people downstairs were throwing bricks through their windows.

It was also disrespectful and insulting to the millions of people who lost their livelihoods staying at home to stop the spread of covid.

You can talk about polling all you want, but I still fear a Trump reelection as a backlash to all this activity.

Do you lose your membership badge if you say the violence and looting were fucking awful and completely unnecessary and mostly carried out by people that couldn’t give 2 shits on a rainy day about Mr Floyd.

Uh, yeah, that’s kind of my point actually.

When the cops fuck up so bad that the citizens take to the streets en masse, you’re gonna have some opportunists that take advantage of the fact that the cops are now completely outnumbered.

The good news is that most people who don’t have Fox News Dementia Syndrome are aware that most people out in the street protesting are NOT looting or burning things. The overwhelming majority of people protesting are protesting peacefully.

The wingnuts are desperate to turn this into something it’s not but they’re failing.

I also think you should examine why there’s an entire socioeconomic class in this country who will take advantage of a public crisis to commit acts of aggression and destroy property for no material gain whatsoever.

Quoth Henry Rollins, white man, 1981:

It feels good to say what I want
It feels good to knock things down
It feels good to see the disgust in their eyes
It feels good, I’m gonna go wild
Spray paint the walls
Don’t want to see the plan succeed
Won’t be room for people like me
My life is their disease
It feels good and I’m gonna go wild
Spray paint the walls
Feels so good to say what I want
Feels so good to knock things down
It feels good to see the disgust in their eyes
It feels good and I’m gonna go wild
Spray paint the walls
It feels good and I’m gonna go wild

bobneptune: Of course…. the link which I provided had the 4 minute video about Systemic racism that was shown in the NYC school. They defined it and then the teacher put their own special spin on it.

Bob, you’ve again mistook the author’s editorializing for the stance of the school itself. There are no direct quotes from the teacher, there is only the author’s slanted interpretation of the curriculum. In fact the video itself contradicts her statement that there’s nothing to be done. The video cites several scientific studies and accurately reports the facts. The video itself is uncontroversial scientific consensus.

Even your tiff with the NYC public school funding is specific to NYC and doesn’t reflect the rest of the nation. Yes some schools with large minority populations do receive more funding, much like Kevin Knox hits some of his shots; still the overall trend is schools districts with large minority populations receive less funding and Knox is more likely to miss a shot than make it.

All people have implicit biases. Again this has been scientifically verified, at this point you’re really just arguing that science is wrong and we should not teach science in schools.

Again this has been scientifically verified, at this point you’re really just arguing that science is wrong and we should not teach science in schools.

You are absolutely correct and could reuse this exact line in summarizing just about any argument with bob and people like him.

I thought the Camden story was excellent (it’s been around for a few days electronically). It’s a great example of how to deal with the multiple obstructions to reform that make it so hard to have even incremental improvements. Putting the link here, although the WashPost has a firewall for those who don’t have a subscription. For those who can’t get to it, short story is basically tear the thing down and remake it. Which happened in Camden due to a series of fortuitous events that might be hard to replicate, but are worth considering. Because it has resulted in what a lot of people are looking for, and clearly seems to be working.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/camden-police-chief-old-new-department/2020/06/18/37407536-b0b8-11ea-856d-5054296735e5_story.html

Giannis is a loyal guy with integrity who loves challenges.
If we manage to create a high character environment while promoting the idea of the hardest challenge in the nba:
“A title with the Knicks”
we may have a chance.

I’m so sure they thought they had a mini-Giannis in Knox. Tall gangly kid, big hands and feet.
I looked at Giannis’s stats just now, I can’t imagine Knox even getting to 2nd-year Giannis (who still kind of sucked, but at least was on a fast path upward).
And that video Jowles shared made me wince once again at Fizdale’s ‘eat what you kill.’ I know it’s often said here that coaching doesn’t matter, but you look at how Bud has put his team in positions to succeed — hell just schemes, much less effective ones that are constantly tweaked to be even better — and I think I differ.

I truly believe that the hardest task is not to bring Giannis to the Knicks or any other team but to make him leave the Bucks.
Loyalty is a bitch.

And it’s a scheme based on statistical evidence…focus your defense on minimizing shots in the paint and corner 3’s, concede 3’s from above the stripe taken by non-volume 3-pt shooters, concede the long 2. On PnR, Big drops back, ball defender fights over screen. Love it.

Bob, it’s telling that you think the term Marxist is some form of bogeyman. You’re so insanely out of touch that the mere mention of the word makes you think ill of everyone who would associate with her.

Putting aside whether anything is wrong with that organization, Black Lives Matters is not the organization she’s a part of that calls itself by that name. Those who support the movement want cops to stop killing black people for no reason. This is as uncontroversial an issue as could possibly exist. Bob, are you for killing black people? If not, then you should support Black Lives Matter.

That “journalist” is one of the key op-ed writers for the Herald Sun, which is basically Rupert Murdoch’s pet hate rag. Try again, boomer.

There’s no racism and 99% of all Republicans are already anti-racist, so there’s no need for Black Lives Matter. Also Marxism something something.

Right, bob?

Of course bob doesn’t support Black Lives Matter. He just believes whatever is shoveled into his brain by Hannity and Tucker Carlson and isn’t capable of an original thought.

Greek Chorus indeed.

“Bob, it’s telling that you think the term Marxist is some form of bogeyman.”

You are right… I’m fucked up for thinking Marxism is a boogeyman term. It has been so successful and increased the individual freedoms of billions everywhere it has been tried,

Sorry for the error…..

Berman says the team expects to exercise their option on Kenny Wooten-hope he actually gets some minutes with the big team next year.

From Greek Chorus to Marxism through butts of steel. An endless journey.
Only on knickerbloggerflix!

Boomer as a slur is about mentality, not age. I would not call you boomer, even when you advocate discrimination against talented young basketball players, because you don’t regularly rail against things like avocado toast and Bernie Sanders.

Calling you boomer for being old is like calling me a Chad just because I have swollen glutes. We might look the part, but don’t fit the mold much at all.

There’s about a billion ways that the term Boomer fits me like a glove, so it’s all good. Now, back to my Friars Club Roasts infomercial…

“That “journalist” is one of the key op-ed writers for the Herald Sun, which is basically Rupert Murdoch’s pet hate rag. Try again, boomer.”

pounding the table at its finest. And so typically Jowelsian to ignore the complete video of one of the founders of BLM saying unprovoked on tape she is a trained Marxist, and objecting to the person who posted the link.

Nothing like shooting the messenger simultaneously with table pounding.

But you probaly believe Marxism is the answer for America right?

“Of course bob doesn’t support Black Lives Matter”

Bob supports equality of opportunity for all. That’s one of the reasons I support charter schools. Bob doesn’t generally support organizations founded by avowed Marxists. I’m kinda funny that way….

I don’t know much about the BLM organization. I haven’t donated to them, nor would I advocate for their particular organization without investigation. But Black Lives Matter, as a philosophical movement, is a different thing entirely. In short, I don’t care about your video.

It’s all matter of interest.
When you’re a slave or poor or unemployed Marxism looks like paradise.
When you’re rich Capitalism looks much better than communism.
When you’re selling weapons War is your business.
When you’re trying to raise a family Peace is better than war.
When you’re an actor Exposure is preferred.
When you’re masturbating Privacy is ideal.
When you’re a Lakers fan you know that there’s God and loves you A Lot!
When you’re a knicks fan you know that something’s wrong with your life and you start believing in occult religions.

bobneptune:
“Of course bob doesn’t support Black Lives Matter”

Bob supports equality of opportunity for all. That’s one of the reasons I support charter schools. Bob doesn’t generally support organizations founded by avowed Marxists. I’m kinda funny that way….

Bob supports equality of opportunity for all, unless it’s black people getting killed by cops or any other systemic racism. Otherwise he would support the movement Black Lives Matter, as distinguished from the organization Black Lives Matter.

But he refuses to acknowledge the difference between the movement and the organization, and so abides by the current state of affairs in which there does not exist equal opportunity for all. Of course Bob would know this if he paid attention to the facts in the video within the article, citing research, as opposed to the author’s editorializing of the curriculum.

When  you’re a knicks fan you know that something’s wrong with your life and you start believing in occult religions.

yep, that pretty much sums things up there…if you can talk yourself in to caring about the knicks, well, there really is no end to the bullshit you just might be able to feed yourself…

so it seems like we’ve interviewed at least six or so head coach candidates…maybe thibs isn’t such a lock…

Covid-19 cases are spiking in Florida. Is the NBA going to have to reconsider restarting the season there? Maybe they should have had a backup state. This season could still get cancelled if that trend continues.

When did Eskimo become a derogatory term?

My Ancestry test said I am 2% Eskimo. All of a sudden I’m so insulted.

Clearly, Covid-19 is the 2nd most serious health problem in the United States behind mental illness.

Classic. ‘My deep ignorance means you’re all crazy.’

The term was an insult aimed at a group of Native people that became common usage among non-Native people. Does the fact that you never bothered to learn that mean it’s okay?

Well, you learned it now. Never too late, it seems. Another small step, even if your first reaction is to deem it insane. Knowledge can be painful, especially as it can shift one’s previous world view. Never a comfortable experience. And actual empathy’s a bitch.

Empathy is a bitch, Sharing is a slut and Justice is a pimp.
…and Knicks are a bordel.

“When you’re masturbating Privacy is ideal.

and yet here you are”

Your advanced posting taught me about Load management

“Bob supports equality of opportunity for all, unless it’s black people getting killed by cops or any other systemic racism. Otherwise he would support the movement Black Lives Matter, as distinguished from the organization Black Lives Matter.”

EB, you are entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts. Don’t state things with metaphysical certitude which you have no idea of. I’ve never been bashful to express my opinions publicly, don’t characterize them falsely. I’ll be happy to tell you what I think.

Bob supports equality of opportunity for all including black people. I don’t apologize for the fact my dad was the son of an illiterate broken English speaking immigrant who went through the NYC schools and ended up at Cornell. My mom was the daughter of an illiterate Bariese ice man who graduated from Julliard.

For 50 years we have spent 22 trillion dollars on social programs with very little effect. The minority kid that is born with no father in the household is at a gigantic disadvantage AS IS THE WHITE KID BORN UNDER SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES. That is the major factor in economic success, not that police killed 11 unarmed black people in 2019 (completely tragic.)

If you want equal opportunity allow black kids a choice in the schools they attend.

However, this bigotry when it comes to policing is not ubiquitous nation wide as this chart shows:

https://www.statista.com/chart/21872/map-of-police-violence-against-black-americans/

Interesting the largest disparities in blacks being killed by police take place in Washington, DC, NY, NJ , RI and IL. generally run by democrats. If there is a HUGE problem their, they can fix it IF THEY WANT TO. Maybe some politicians like having it as a wedge issue?

In the racist republican states like Idaho, Utah, N&S Dakota, WY and MT it seems when it comes to killing minorities are pretty even handed with whites per capita.

I support everyone being treated equally.

I know a guy who writes a lot of rants of Marxism, and the accompanying articles are always links to Breitbart News, so I figure “Marxism” is the bogeyman they’re feeding their troll army with. My guess is that none of them have read Kapital, the Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon, or the German Ideology. But Marx was anti-capitalist, so it plays well, and Marx was white, so it’s safer than using Obama at the moment.

ptmilo with another killshot.

BTW I realized I have a spreadsheet of suggested gym gear with prices, descriptions and upsell alternatives I made for my sister-in-law a few months back. If you want it, I’ll export and host it somewhere apart from my personal Google account.

Bob, all I’m doing is reiterating your stance and combining it with the scientific consensus. If you have an issue with that, then the metaphysical dishonesty lies in your own preference for editorializing in lieu of the facts presented by scientific research. Your continuous couching of this issue as Democrat or Republican is illustrative of your bias and fails to address any substantive issue.

If A, then B. And you’ve asserted A.

it’s almost rally time…I’m so excited…good thing they set up that overflow site outside the building…I imagine they’ll be a full 19k inside and another 30 to 40k gathered outside…

I heard somewhere earlier this week that demand to attend this event was really great, amazing and beautiful…so much winning…

“Bob, all I’m doing is reiterating your stance and combining it with the scientific consensus”

What is this “scientific consensus” of which you speak? Social sciences? Be specific please.

“I know a guy who writes a lot of rants of Marxism, ”

Could you enlighten me about the glories of Marxism vs Capitalism please?

BTW I realized I have a spreadsheet of suggested gym gear with prices, descriptions and upsell alternatives I made for my sister-in-law a few months back. If you want it, I’ll export and host it somewhere apart from my personal Google account.

yes this would really helpful and sincerely appreciated. i have pretty much nothing right now and we’re repurposing a good bit of space. in general i’m ok paying up for quality. thank you.

“***Could you enlighten me about the glories of Marxism vs Capitalism please?***

What, you want me to read Das Kapital to you? I don’t really have the time or interest in that, but since you want to understand it, try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE6qa3bhnOo

You know I wasn’t asking for that. I asked for examples of how Marxism has been gloriously applied in the real world.

the head coach interview list is pretty encouraging-Thibs and Mike Woodson for some reason are the only old retread guys in the bunch. Now, if this is all a show and it’s Thibs all the way I’ll be wrong, but it’s a lot better than looking at Mark Jackson

Maybe the head coach interview list is just a marketing trick after the Floyd msg fiasco to show that Knicks are no racists of any kind.
The list of coaches has white, black, men, woman,
young, old, fat, thin, bearded, shaved, experienced, rookies….
If they add in the list an openly declared LGBT candidate a Marxist, an Atheist and a European it’s gonna be Thibs in the end….

Yeah, agree. Maybe they think it will give Thibs an extra veneer of legitimacy.

The Dolan Knicks have had a very diverse array of incompetents in management positions

Slid by to see if there was any news about the increase of cases in FL imperiling the appendix season, found out that Bob thinks marxism means that black lives matter is bad for black people and everyone else. I was confused about that until I stared to see the connections. Observe:

-Ma(r)x Player came in third at the Belmont.
-The cultural revolution, as we all know, was not driven by policy from the top but by the independent action of isolated ‘cadres’ who were trained (indoctrinated) by shadowy party members.
-The BLM woman is an independent organizer who was also trained.
-Basketball is popular in China, AND
-basketball players engage in training.
-The cultural revolution sent elites to the countryside to do backbreaking agricultural work without enough horses.
-The monuments that are being toppled often feature horses.
-NBA players are elite basketball players.
-Jokic has lost weight.

I hate to break it to you all, but chaz is going to result in a multi-year famine that primarily affects NBA players, AND IT HAS ALREADY STARTED.

“Slid by to see if there was any news about the increase of cases in FL imperiling the appendix season

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article243600032.html

The above link is a pretty good tale about not being stupid. Don’t go out to crowded bars. Wear masks. Socially distance. People forget the whole lock down idea was to not overwhelm the healthcare system, not that everything would be hunky dory at its conclusion.

today’s FL data:

4049 new cases

704 in Miami-Dade

295 in Orange County/Orlando

“I hate to break it to you all, but chaz is going to result in a multi-year famine that primarily affects NBA players, AND IT HAS ALREADY STARTED.”

Keep up with the times…. CHAZ is now CHOP 🙂

It’s crazy how the Knicks are lining up interviews with pretty much every candidate that we would have put together if this blog collectively had a list of candidates we’d like for the Knicks to hire.

So that’s good.

But they’re also interviewing Thibs and Woody.

So it’s this weird balancing act that could go either way. Hopefully they pick Atkinson or one of the hot shit new coaching prospects like Udoka or Hammon.

I understand that the roster construction is even more important than the coach, but wow have we really had some awful coaches over the last since I can remember…

somehow our coaching choices just kept getting worse…

So you have to give Rose credit, then, as he is interviewing some top of the line coaching prospects.

And hell, while I think hiring Thibs would be a total self-own, at least he’s probably at least a competent coach.

And hell, while I think hiring Thibs would be a total self-own, at least he’s probably at least a competent coach.

Why? At least competent?

Thibs record over 5 seasons with Chicago: 255/139 = .647 win % He did this without 1.5 seasons of his best player Derrick Rose

.475 win % at Minny. 19-21 the year he was fired and after he was fired 17-25.

The guy wins at a very high rate. I am not advocating for him because I have no understanding of the other fellows, but Thibs is a very highly winning coach with a significant record of success in the NBA.

For perspective his 5 year tenure with Chicago had a 3% higher win % that red holtzman FFS!

He’s a pretty damn good coach…. the other fellows ????

At first I thought the whole point of the coaching search was just to make the inevitable Thibs hire seem like the result of a real process, and that’s still possible but this would be an extraordinary amount of effort for that purpose. So I have some hope.

It sure would be nice to have an affirmatively good coach for the first time since D’antoni, as opposed to thinking the best we can do is someone who won’t mess things up.

I’d basically be happy with anyone we’re considering save for Thibs and Woody (though I gotta say, I wouldn’t hate the nostalgia factor resulting from hiring the coach of the only good Knicks team I’ve ever rooted for). Atkinson, Udoka, and Hammon are probably my top choices but all of these people seem like strong options.

People forget the whole lock down idea was to not overwhelm the healthcare system, not that everything would be hunky dory at its conclusion.

It was also to give the federal government time to put together a mass testing regime and contact tracing apparatus, but we skipped that part because for all intents and purposes we do not have a federal government.

“It was also to give the federal government time to put together a mass testing regime and contact tracing apparatus, but we skipped that part because for all intents and purposes we do not have a federal government.”

Yeah…. It is certainly Trump’s fault the vaunted CDC (which is funded to the tune of $1,239,914,000 in 2020… a 5% increase from 2019 by the way) fucked up its own Covid 19 test which delayed its distribution by 5 weeks. Yeah… Trump should have been in the lab holding Fauci’s hand checking their quality control.

In a CNN town hall, on March 12, 2020, Fauci’s answer reflects the attitude that has left the US where it is now:

GUPTA: Let me ask one more question though about this testing. I know you’ve talked a lot about it, but I think, you know, Dr. Fauci, there was a test. It was being distributed around the world. WHO was using this test, I believe it was created in Germany, in Berlin, and it was being used, and yet we did not use it in this country even as a stopgap measure, even as we prepared to make our own test. And as a result, we got behind. That’s a problem. And I’m just wondering, was that a mistake? Should we have used that test? Why didn’t we?

FAUCI: Well, you know, Sanjay, I’m not sure that it was a mistake. But certainly, you know, if you look back and Monday morning quarterback, it would have been nice to have had a backup. But what the CDC has done over many, many years when we have things like this is to develop their own test, which is always really a good test, and to roll it out in a way that we call a public health-directed, where they give it to departments of public health.”

Fauci has been there for 40 years and he says for many many years it was their policy to make their own tests. Definitely Trump’s fault they fucked up their own test!

For the record the US has tested 27,981,272 people as of yesterday 8,000,000 more than any other country (russia) and 20,000,000 more that the second highest…

On average about 313 people are shot in America every day. That includes about 21 children between 0-17 every day. That’s about 114,000 shot every year (with almost 1,000 shot annually by the police). Meaning about 113,998 people are shot annually in Bob’s America. So not really sure what his point is.

Sunday afternoon in the midst of a lock down would be a great time to debate the merits of guns vs nail studded clubs vs knifes.

happy dads day gentlemen…

hope all is well in your immediate world…

gonna ride our bikes downtown later with godson to enjoy stopping by our favorite ice cream shop…he’s digging into his stash of $5’s and $1’s to treat 🙂

***the US has tested 27,981,272 people as of yesterday 8,000,000 more than any other country (russia) and 20,000,000 more that the second highest.***

The US ranks #26 in tests per capita, currently nipping at Belarus’ tail.

Why are you citing per game stats? You act like we are a bunch of HuffPost reading Marxist lobots, but you actually DO know a lot about us. If anything, you know we know the difference between counting stats and rate stats.

To refresh: if you play the most minutes, and take the most shots, you’ll probably score the most points. That doesn’t make you the best player.

The US is currently the Iverson of testing. Yay them.

Trump’s a failure, a national joke, and he’s tanking so bad I wonder if Brad Parscale is actually Sam Hinkie in disguise. 6200 people showed up at his rally and his campaign tried to blame it on Antifa. So much winning!

He did manage to drink the water with two hands like a big boy, so the libs got owned again I guess.

https://gofile.io/d/avOaXM

For ptmilo — we can figure out a way to chat if you have questions. I would recommend Titan Elite Bumper Plates, and have a pair of change plates of 2.5, 5 and 10# as well.

The cornerstones of a new home gym:

EliteFTS Safety Squat Bar (Rogue SSB alt)

Rogue Ohio Power Bar

Rogue Trap/Hex Deadlift Bar (Titan’s is nice, I have it)

Rogue SML-2 or S-2 squat rack with 1.25″ pull-up bar, half-rack add-ons with 4x plate storage arms (long) and safety spotter arms

A landmine of any kind, with a variety of handles

Dip bar (Rogue Matador Infinity or Monster Lite, depending on which size rack you buy)

Horse stall mats (some companies make them with interlocking puzzle cuts, the foam mats on Amazon probably suck)

Squat shoes (raised, non-compressible heel)

Adjustable incline/decline bench with a narrow post under your feet

Resistance bands (pairs of each color) to help with pull-ups, face pulls, etc.

JK47:
Trump’s a failure, a national joke, and he’s tanking so bad I wonder if Brad Parscale is actually Sam Hinkie in disguise. 6200 people showed up at his rally and his campaign tried to blame it on Antifa. So much winning!

Oh yeah, but what about (fill in the blanks: Cuomo/Clinton/FDR/Karl Marx/Pericles…)?

Bob, I’m not here to explain science to you, but peer-reviewed, data-driven, empirical research confirms and forms the scientific consensus that systemic racism is real. The research is literally cited to in the video for 10 year olds within the article you linked.

Bob, do you know who appoints the head of the CDC by nominating them and who can, at his discretion, remove the head of the CDC for not complying with his directives? The president, Donald Trump.

If Donald Trump could nominate competent heads of agencies, then maybe we’d have testing by now.

We wouldn’t have so many cases of COVID if we just didn’t test so much.*

*Actual thing said by current president

Imagine *this* President being the one you stoop for. That’s the crazy thing, to me. This is the guy for whom you line up John Kelly, Rex Tillerson, Jim Mattis and the rest of the Twitter-fired departed declaring virtually the same things about this man (illiterate, easily distracted, rules by emotion, dismissive of evidence, lazy) and say, “Meh, bunch of disgruntled ex-employees.”

This guy, the “maybe we could inject a cleaner into the body, maybe we could look at that” guy. The guy who didn’t know people died from the flu. The guy who didn’t know India and China shared a border. The guy who didn’t know that HIV and HPV were different things.

This guy. This is the guy.

It’s far from his worst quality (don’t even know where I’d start brainstorming that), but one of the more irksome traits of Donald Trump and his apologists, at least to me, is how the buck always stops with someone else.

Yeah…. It is certainly Trump’s fault the vaunted CDC (which is funded to the tune of $1,239,914,000 in 2020… a 5% increase from 2019 by the way) fucked up its own Covid 19 test which delayed its distribution by 5 weeks. Yeah… Trump should have been in the lab holding Fauci’s hand checking their quality control.

Yes. You were trying to be sarcastic, but this is all true. He signed up to be in charge of the federal government. It’s actually not ridiculous at all to suggest he should’ve been constantly checking in on the CDC during a fucking pandemic, and a half-competent President would’ve done so.

You know how George W. Bush was widely criticized for his Katrina response, even though he was not the person neglecting to physically disperse aid to victims? That’s how this shit works, bob.

The federal bureaucracy is enormous. By your logic, we can’t ever blame the President for anything because there’s always going to be someone else more directly in charge. As usual, I am sure you’ll be ruthlessly consistent in applying this logic to the next Democratic Preident.

Really curious to see how would KP play after a long, long rest. If he’s good for one month in top shape Dallas can be dangerous in West and go to the finals and win!

(Doing my best to change the subject, even at the price of idiocy. This thread has been awful.)

I mean we knew the rally was going to be a joke, but I never anticipated “teenage TikTok users successfully troll the campaign and the end result is a 1/3 full arena and an empty overflow area, which causes the campaign to blame Antifa” levels of lulz.

The guy was doing a passable job of faking it for a while until he had to actually deal with some problems, but he had two back to back and he utterly and miserably failed to deal with both, and now the stench of failure surrounding him is so thick he’s trailing by double digits against an opponent who isn’t even trying to campaign and is simply running out the clock. Every time he tries to shake up the narrative he makes things worse for himself.

When we needed leadership he shit the bed, twice, and everybody knows it. He’s finished.

Hi all. Been reading for a long time. The political discussion is both interesting and infuriating. So here goes:
If we don’t have to have a “winner,” don’t have to have one side or tribe be absolutely right, then life gets so much simpler and more complex. Yes, America is Regan’s shining city on a hill. America moved the world forward in respect to Enlightenment ideals of human rights and liberty. I bet we can all agree that the world is a better place due to American influence.
And yes, America has a tortured history of oppression and repression that is still playing out today in both actual bigots/racists walking our streets as well as in the systemic treatment of people of color. And of course, that is not the only mistake we have made as a nation. There are many more!
There is no doubt that both these things can be true and discussion would be so much more productive if we could just agree on that.
Most of our progress of implementing these ideals for all has been opposed by reactionary forces defending a status quo that enshrined their privilege. To overcome that opposition, violence has occurred again and again – usually started by those defending their privilege. Right now we are in one of those moments when the oppressd are not just taking it. Talk about the looters all you want, but how many videos of people being shot in the back do we need to watch? What about the attack against peaceful citizens expressing their constitutional rights – an attack that was unprovoked, that was authorized at the highest levels of the federal government and was for the purpose of a photo op?
This isn’t inherently right vs left, Dem vs Rep. It is about american idealism vs status quo and oppression.

“I bet we can all agree that the world is a better place due to American influence.”

Are you a gambler ?

personally I think it’s a major triumph for humanity that we’re not usually hunting and eating each other…

Hunting and eating each other is not as profitable as milking and pimping and stealing each other.
The creator has a master plan….

how’s things over on your side of the world knew your knicks?

beautiful day here in So Cal…playing a little fortnite and the world is right for the moment 🙂

still ain’t got a solo win yet…I’ve taken second so many times 🙁

I’m really good at camping, much less good at actually fighting…

Greece is Ok
Me listening to psych, prog, garage rock and other summer goodies

jowles tyvm. list goes straight to the gc (wife).

still ain’t got a solo win yet…I’ve taken second so many times 🙁

geo you suck. i know this because i sucked when i played for a couple of months in 2018ish as the 14th stage of my mid life crisis and even i won a few dozen times.

I’m surprised we aren’t seeing more articles in basketball circles about the growth rate of Covid-19 cases in Florida. I’m seeing some for political purposes, but few about the impact on basketball. I know there is some debate about whether the increase is entirely the result of increased infections or a combination of infections and much better targeted testing and tracing. But even if it’s a little of both, by the time the NBA season is ready to start, Florida could be in a similar position to the northeast at its peak. I think that would almost guarantee the season gets cancelled, If I were Adam Silver, I’d already be either looking for a backup location or making plans for a cancellation because the probability of a cancellation is growing with each acceleration of new cases.

For the record, I think most of the people the Knicks are interviewing for the coaching job are what I would call courtesy interviews. They are coaches that might be serious prospects SOME DAY, but not now and not for this job . They just want their names out there as being interviewed so they will be considered by other teams down the line. Their agents probably called the Knicks to arrange the interviews. The Knicks are willing to talk to some of them, learn more about them, and do them a favor. It’s a win win.

The job is between Thibs and Atklinson unless both blow it or someone else does shockingly well. We are going to get a good coach. It’s just a matter if they want the more proven one or the one that may be more suited to a young team that may have to grow into the position with the team when it starts to compete. That might depend on what Rose is thinking when to comes to free agency. Will he stay young and bad for a few more years or is he going to start cashing in chips and adding players ready to win.

yes milo, every time I place second (just happened about 5 minutes ago, I had to shut the machine off for fear of destroying the controller and ps4) I think of your post about all your solo wins…and, I feel both hope and envy…I mean it shouldn’t be that hard, right…

everytime my godson casually mentions another solo win though I slip a little lower in life…he’s only nine…that’s just not fair…

I’m actually pretty okay with sucking at stuff…as long as I continue to win at the whole staying alive and breathing thing – I figure I’m doing good…

I just don’t understand why I can’t get lucky…much much better to be lucky than good, right…no, not really right…

the last game I matched up against someone worse than myself, but, somehow managed to get myself stuck in build mode when I should have been shooting…epic fail…

think I’ll just watch tv for a while…fairly confident I won’t fuck that up…

If I were Adam Silver, I’d already be either looking for a backup location

VEGAS BABY YEAH!

My wife has Big CMaR Energy in our house. I consider myself the overconfident GC against whom she makes her demands, i.e. I’ll be damned if I’m subcontracting someone to re-seal our sinks, even if it takes me a whole weekend. Gotta keep some margin in it. The good thing is that her metaphoric checks always clear.

“For the record, I think most of the people the Knicks are interviewing for the coaching job are what I would call courtesy interviews.”

There’s more to it than that. Smart GM’s interview widely as a form of self scouting. You ask the candidate questions about your own personnel and how he would change/deploy them and you get the opinion of various staffs around the league. That is valuable information.

“There’s more to it than that. Smart GM’s interview widely as a form of self scouting. You ask the candidate questions about your own personnel and how he would change/deploy them and you get the opinion of various staffs around the league. That is valuable information”

They are all going to say, “I wouldn’t have drafted him, but since you have him I’d trade him while he still has some value.” 🙂

i.e. I’ll be damned if I’m subcontracting someone to re-seal our sinks, even if it takes me a whole weekend. Gotta keep some margin in it.

oh yeah you’re just like me except the exact fucking opposite

anyone reaching defcon 1 withdrawal, the second clip of daryl morey’s kid telling him how to play mygm is out

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnzow-p44YU

alright, i know i can be a little prone to hyperbole at times (sadly donald has turned a once great communication tool in to something not so amusing anymore) – but, god damn does it seem like there’s a fucking: leafblower, edge clipper, lawn mower going off outside my home every day, all day…

sorry, i just thought it would be good to share that…good for me 🙂

No fireworks geo? It’s all I’m hearing every night in Newark. Friends in Brooklyn also dealing with it.

Can we get a new thread for the Begley news that Kidd might soon be under consideration for the hc gig?

fireworks, fireworks dink?

actually at night there were some fireworks going off around town…pretty normal this time of year…i like watching fireworks…landscaping equipment just happens to be probably my least favorite noise in the world…dogs, kids, birds never really bother me…gas motors though, yuch…

not sure how i would react to living in a more urban environment…i remember growing up and at one point living close to a train track and a fire alarm siren, we were really close to macarthur airport too…that was pretty noisy at times…

my company hosts this thing at the san diego convention center…i go down to help out…each year a buddy of mine share a room at the marriott overlooking the marina…one of the few rooms down there with balconies facing the water…there are concerts by the water on friday and saturday night..after the show there’s a barge out in the water that starts shooting off fireworks, it’s cool…if you get a room on the north west corner you can see the fireworks up by the midway which will usually happen at least once during the week…

nice place to sit, smoke, drink and watch the show…

well now, today seems like a fine opportunity for story time as we all await a fresh thread…good thing about one of these old, tired and ready to run out threads is that you can say just about anything and be assured it will quickly be forgotten…

this is back in the late 70’s and macarthur airport was still small and fairly undeveloped – i’m not really sure what it looks like today…however, at the time it made for a fun place to investigate…i remember one time i was with a friend and we suddenly got the genius idea to grab some of the flags along the runway and wave a few planes in…

i remember it well because as security was chasing us my friend, who was a little slimmer, made it back underneath the hole in the fence to get away and – i got caught…security guard just yelled at me for awhile and let me go…

confessing feels good…i also set the knights of columbus building on fire that was in town…in all fairness at the time, it was in a pretty bad state of disrepair…it did have a bowling alley in it which was cool…however, in the equipment room next to it there was a pretty good sized hole in the floor leading to the basement…i remember looking down and seeing all these jagged boards sticking up…the image stuck with me because a friend fell in, but thankfully caught himself on the edge…

had to jump off the second floor ledge in to the snow because it took a while for us to notice the fire had started spreading fast…

it was terrible – when i hit the ground one of the lenses of my glasses popped out… this happened during a period of time when i was going through glasses like every other month…i knew i couldn’t go home missing a lens…

i’ll never forget my friend finding it in the snow as the sirens were getting a lot closer…

“confessing feels good…i also set the knights of columbus building on fire that was in town…in all fairness at the time, it was in a pretty bad state of disrepair…it did have a bowling alley in it which was cool…however, in the equipment room next to it there was a pretty good sized hole in the floor leading to the basement…i remember looking down and seeing all these jagged boards sticking up…the image stuck with me because a friend fell in, but thankfully caught himself on the edge…”

So you think being an arsonist is cool???? looking for positive affirmation??? Probably came to the right place…..

hahahahahahahahaha…that’s right bob…burn baby burn…and defund whomever…is anarchy and atheism about the same i wonder….

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