Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Still losing, but seriously, the cloud has lifted a bit. Something new to watch.
Theme...did not really prepare anything, so wil have to off the cuff it...so...theme tonight = Bricklayer's Favorite Philosophers. Should be very exciting.
Cisco ( B ) -- the first of our guys on this list to play one quarter for us and consider it a game. Did little in the early going before leaving with some sort of thigh thing? I dunno -- at this point with all the drama queening he's going to have show me the bloody stump of his amuputated leg before I'm going to believe it was anything serious. Predictably returned to get some points from the line. But came out firing in the third, and brought us back with a 7 point burst of scoring capped by a setup for a Hawes (I think it was) dunk inside. All of a sudden, we were back in the game. Kept the pressure mildly on the Hornets throughout the quarter with passing as much as scoring before obviously entirely handing things over to Kevin in the 4th.
Niccolò Machiavelli -- I decided to lead off with someone colorful who's stature may be less, but fame more than some of the giants that will follow, "the ends justify the means" having become one of the most famous summations of realist political philosophy of all time. One of the classic ethics problems involves a train barreling down the tracks. There are two sets of tracks, and which track the train heads down is controlled by a switch. On the set of tracks the train is currently headed down lies a baby. On the other set of tracks lie two babies. If you are standing by the switch, what is the correct moral choice? If you do nothing, two babies die, but it is not your fault -- the train was headed that way without your doing. If you throw the switch, only one baby dies, but now it dies because of an affirmative action you have taken. Well...Machiavelli would have thrown that switch without a second's thought and sat back and had a sandwich after he was done. But he wouldn't have done it because he was psychotic and liked killing babies. He would have done it because it is better for society to have 2 babies alive and 1 dead than 1 alive and 2 dead. And hence "Machiavellian" as a synonym for selfishness or evil is not quite accurate. More accurately it is the willingness to use evil means (or whatever means) to acheive some goal. And Machiavelli himself would have identified the goal he was aiming for -- a strong, stable state -- as a good. It was a radical departure at the time it was written, centuries ahead of its time, and was of course soon banned by the church. It was clear sighted, and cold hearted. And it has begged the question ever since -- if something really matters to you, if something is that that important and the chips are down, might Machiavelli have been right in the end?
Thompson ( C- ) -- the foul problems have now become THE defining issue in Jason's rookie campaign. Was in quick foul trouble of course -- very quick foul trouble. And yet he was left in by Natt in what I thought was either a gutsy coaching move to try to teach Jason to play through the fouls or a stupid one taking a risk with a kid who has shown absolutely no ability to avoid reaching, poking, shoving, and yes, occassionally getting screwed byt he refs. Well...it turned out to be stupid (shocker) as Jason picked up his third by the 8:12 mark of the first quarter (in an improvement he apparently got the message and quit complaining so vociferously on every call). That was it for him for the entire first half, and he again picked up his 4th quickly in the 3rd quarter on a push on Chandler. And again he was left in with the fouls, and maybe it really was Natt trying to teach him to learn how to play with them. And maybe this time it even worked as Jason contributed several nice inside takes as we hung around, including a pretty post move against West, and left before nabbing his 5th. That was it though, and his non-return for the 4th had little to do with Jason, and much to do with the Natt. For that brief 3rd quarter stretch when he was actually able to play, he did some good things. But I could not go any higher on the grade for a guy who is supposed to be our starting PF but is just hack hack hacking himself into uselessness right now.
John Stuart Mill -- perhaps my favorite philosopher, as well as one of the most brilliant men in history. The product of an early planned childhood, but one with a far higher goal than the baseball dads trying to force their tyke to become a big leaguer. JSM's dad (a noted philospher in his own right) and close family friend Jeremy Bentham (the father of the utilitarian schood of philosophical thought) took it upon themselves to try to produce a brilliant philosopher from young JSM. And it worked -- he could read greek by age 3, was reading Plato (in greek and latin of course) by 8, was writing a continuation of the Iliad by age 12 and so on. He took Bentham's pragmatic theory of utilitarianism -- simply put that the moral worth of any action is dependant on the happiness it creates amongst all people -- and gave it nuance before moving onto other things. His masterpiece "On Liberty" laid out the radical at the time proposition that society and the state should just leave you the hell alone unless you are harming somebody else with your action -- a principle still not fully accepted by some meddling factions today. Stemming from his belief in personal liberty he became an early proponent of the abolition of slavery, and through his wife, women's rights as well. His belief in freedom of speech was not only a question of liberty, but stemmed from his belief that only by being challenged by alternative belief systems could current dominant belief remain vital and not sink to the level of brainless dogma. Anyway, he was a very cool guy, and his writings resonate two centuries after he wrote them as if he just published them yesterday.
Hawes ( B ) -- quietly effective first half, although benefitted from getting matched up aginst Sean Marks for part of it -- man that Hornets crew of backup big men suck. Was not rotating well on defense, nor recovering after he showed. But had a few good finisihes and used his length to grab boards against the short and soft Hornets frontline when Tyson was out. Our one and only rebounder in the first half with nearly half our total. Started off the second half with a nice take against Chandler in the post. Controlled the glass in the thrid, and made several nice passes setting guys up. But not sure how many times he lost contact on Tyson Chandler leading to the now classic Paul to Chandler alley oop -- threatens to become this generation's Stockton to Malone pick and roll. But it was probably the same number of FGs + FTS/2 that Chandler had. Sheesh -- what a dunkfest. Had one possession late in the 4th where he missed the hook, got the ball back, missed the follow, got the ball back, and missed the follow again. Came back with another post move a minute later though. Settling in as a starting center -- good rebounding night, and he needs to board with the Natt just constantly smallballing now. But loses ticks for just not understanding the defense on that Chanlder lob all night long -- was outscored by Tyson, and all Tyson did was catch alley oops.
David Hume -- I have realized that I have to start keeping these shorter, or I won't be done before gametime tommorow. So Hume...I did not always agree wiht him, think he was flat wrong at times, but this guy was just ****ing brilliant. No other way to put it. Once up and rolling on a topic, he was devastating. His work on miracles and the design argument (i.e. that the universe could only have resulted from a conscious design) in particular made him persona non grata with the church as he logically chewed them up and spat them out.
Martin ( B ) -- one of the ultimate what do you do with this grades. Kevin was just awful for 3/4 of this one -- not only bad, but bad as in apparently lacking effort. One time a loose ball rolled right to his feet and he could scarcely be bothered to bend over to pick it up before Hornets players went diving to the floor to snatch possession away from us -- might break a nail you know. And then after 3/4 of wandering around apparently not giving a damn, he suddenly explodes with a superhero quarter -- kind of the Salmons infection spread onward I guess. And so now what do you do? Started the game briefly trying to dribble and force in the face of pressure from the Horents wings, but it did not work, at all, and he soon quit even trying to do anything more than chuck or hand the ball off. Finally got a three, wide open courtesy of McCants in the mid 2nd. Was too small to stop Posey in the post as a SF (where he got forced while we had McCants on the floor), and didn't seem like he wanted to challenge and just settled for jumpers, which he did not hit. Got ugly in the third when we kept on going to him and going to him and except for one layup off of a nice Spencer board and feed, he came up with nothing. And then...boom! Playing possum? Playing Salmons? Who knows, but in a radical reversal of his normal pattern, after his teammates carried him the entire game he suddenly woke up in the early 4th for back to back to back 3pt plays, one on a contiuation, then a three, then another continuation. Sandwiched around an airballed three actually). He squared up Poseyt and blew right by him time and again. Every time he was oipen on the perimeter, it was a swish. Just a monster scoring quarter, and after havin 8, on 2-12 shooting no less through 3/4, he shoots 7-9 in the 4th for 24 points. Maybe it is the stamina issue again -- maybe if he tries early, he'll fade late, so he figured he would coast early and then pour it on down the stretch. Don't know. But it was strange, and nearly impossible to grade.
Voltaire -- quick with a quip, and the smartest guy in the room, he wasn't afraid to let everyone else know it and made many enemies while fighting for civil rights and religious freedom at a time and place (the ancien régime in 18th century France) where such things were not done. He was arrested, banned, censored, and persecuted throughout his celebrated life. This is the guy who said "if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him." Which did not go over well with the church as it implied that just such a thing might have happened. He is also credited with the early free speech motto "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," although that was actually a biographer of his summing up his career. When on his deathbed he was asked to renounce the devil by a clergyman, he is supposed to have answered "Now is no time to be making new enemies."
Theme...did not really prepare anything, so wil have to off the cuff it...so...theme tonight = Bricklayer's Favorite Philosophers. Should be very exciting.
Cisco ( B ) -- the first of our guys on this list to play one quarter for us and consider it a game. Did little in the early going before leaving with some sort of thigh thing? I dunno -- at this point with all the drama queening he's going to have show me the bloody stump of his amuputated leg before I'm going to believe it was anything serious. Predictably returned to get some points from the line. But came out firing in the third, and brought us back with a 7 point burst of scoring capped by a setup for a Hawes (I think it was) dunk inside. All of a sudden, we were back in the game. Kept the pressure mildly on the Hornets throughout the quarter with passing as much as scoring before obviously entirely handing things over to Kevin in the 4th.
Niccolò Machiavelli -- I decided to lead off with someone colorful who's stature may be less, but fame more than some of the giants that will follow, "the ends justify the means" having become one of the most famous summations of realist political philosophy of all time. One of the classic ethics problems involves a train barreling down the tracks. There are two sets of tracks, and which track the train heads down is controlled by a switch. On the set of tracks the train is currently headed down lies a baby. On the other set of tracks lie two babies. If you are standing by the switch, what is the correct moral choice? If you do nothing, two babies die, but it is not your fault -- the train was headed that way without your doing. If you throw the switch, only one baby dies, but now it dies because of an affirmative action you have taken. Well...Machiavelli would have thrown that switch without a second's thought and sat back and had a sandwich after he was done. But he wouldn't have done it because he was psychotic and liked killing babies. He would have done it because it is better for society to have 2 babies alive and 1 dead than 1 alive and 2 dead. And hence "Machiavellian" as a synonym for selfishness or evil is not quite accurate. More accurately it is the willingness to use evil means (or whatever means) to acheive some goal. And Machiavelli himself would have identified the goal he was aiming for -- a strong, stable state -- as a good. It was a radical departure at the time it was written, centuries ahead of its time, and was of course soon banned by the church. It was clear sighted, and cold hearted. And it has begged the question ever since -- if something really matters to you, if something is that that important and the chips are down, might Machiavelli have been right in the end?
Thompson ( C- ) -- the foul problems have now become THE defining issue in Jason's rookie campaign. Was in quick foul trouble of course -- very quick foul trouble. And yet he was left in by Natt in what I thought was either a gutsy coaching move to try to teach Jason to play through the fouls or a stupid one taking a risk with a kid who has shown absolutely no ability to avoid reaching, poking, shoving, and yes, occassionally getting screwed byt he refs. Well...it turned out to be stupid (shocker) as Jason picked up his third by the 8:12 mark of the first quarter (in an improvement he apparently got the message and quit complaining so vociferously on every call). That was it for him for the entire first half, and he again picked up his 4th quickly in the 3rd quarter on a push on Chandler. And again he was left in with the fouls, and maybe it really was Natt trying to teach him to learn how to play with them. And maybe this time it even worked as Jason contributed several nice inside takes as we hung around, including a pretty post move against West, and left before nabbing his 5th. That was it though, and his non-return for the 4th had little to do with Jason, and much to do with the Natt. For that brief 3rd quarter stretch when he was actually able to play, he did some good things. But I could not go any higher on the grade for a guy who is supposed to be our starting PF but is just hack hack hacking himself into uselessness right now.
John Stuart Mill -- perhaps my favorite philosopher, as well as one of the most brilliant men in history. The product of an early planned childhood, but one with a far higher goal than the baseball dads trying to force their tyke to become a big leaguer. JSM's dad (a noted philospher in his own right) and close family friend Jeremy Bentham (the father of the utilitarian schood of philosophical thought) took it upon themselves to try to produce a brilliant philosopher from young JSM. And it worked -- he could read greek by age 3, was reading Plato (in greek and latin of course) by 8, was writing a continuation of the Iliad by age 12 and so on. He took Bentham's pragmatic theory of utilitarianism -- simply put that the moral worth of any action is dependant on the happiness it creates amongst all people -- and gave it nuance before moving onto other things. His masterpiece "On Liberty" laid out the radical at the time proposition that society and the state should just leave you the hell alone unless you are harming somebody else with your action -- a principle still not fully accepted by some meddling factions today. Stemming from his belief in personal liberty he became an early proponent of the abolition of slavery, and through his wife, women's rights as well. His belief in freedom of speech was not only a question of liberty, but stemmed from his belief that only by being challenged by alternative belief systems could current dominant belief remain vital and not sink to the level of brainless dogma. Anyway, he was a very cool guy, and his writings resonate two centuries after he wrote them as if he just published them yesterday.
Hawes ( B ) -- quietly effective first half, although benefitted from getting matched up aginst Sean Marks for part of it -- man that Hornets crew of backup big men suck. Was not rotating well on defense, nor recovering after he showed. But had a few good finisihes and used his length to grab boards against the short and soft Hornets frontline when Tyson was out. Our one and only rebounder in the first half with nearly half our total. Started off the second half with a nice take against Chandler in the post. Controlled the glass in the thrid, and made several nice passes setting guys up. But not sure how many times he lost contact on Tyson Chandler leading to the now classic Paul to Chandler alley oop -- threatens to become this generation's Stockton to Malone pick and roll. But it was probably the same number of FGs + FTS/2 that Chandler had. Sheesh -- what a dunkfest. Had one possession late in the 4th where he missed the hook, got the ball back, missed the follow, got the ball back, and missed the follow again. Came back with another post move a minute later though. Settling in as a starting center -- good rebounding night, and he needs to board with the Natt just constantly smallballing now. But loses ticks for just not understanding the defense on that Chanlder lob all night long -- was outscored by Tyson, and all Tyson did was catch alley oops.
David Hume -- I have realized that I have to start keeping these shorter, or I won't be done before gametime tommorow. So Hume...I did not always agree wiht him, think he was flat wrong at times, but this guy was just ****ing brilliant. No other way to put it. Once up and rolling on a topic, he was devastating. His work on miracles and the design argument (i.e. that the universe could only have resulted from a conscious design) in particular made him persona non grata with the church as he logically chewed them up and spat them out.
Martin ( B ) -- one of the ultimate what do you do with this grades. Kevin was just awful for 3/4 of this one -- not only bad, but bad as in apparently lacking effort. One time a loose ball rolled right to his feet and he could scarcely be bothered to bend over to pick it up before Hornets players went diving to the floor to snatch possession away from us -- might break a nail you know. And then after 3/4 of wandering around apparently not giving a damn, he suddenly explodes with a superhero quarter -- kind of the Salmons infection spread onward I guess. And so now what do you do? Started the game briefly trying to dribble and force in the face of pressure from the Horents wings, but it did not work, at all, and he soon quit even trying to do anything more than chuck or hand the ball off. Finally got a three, wide open courtesy of McCants in the mid 2nd. Was too small to stop Posey in the post as a SF (where he got forced while we had McCants on the floor), and didn't seem like he wanted to challenge and just settled for jumpers, which he did not hit. Got ugly in the third when we kept on going to him and going to him and except for one layup off of a nice Spencer board and feed, he came up with nothing. And then...boom! Playing possum? Playing Salmons? Who knows, but in a radical reversal of his normal pattern, after his teammates carried him the entire game he suddenly woke up in the early 4th for back to back to back 3pt plays, one on a contiuation, then a three, then another continuation. Sandwiched around an airballed three actually). He squared up Poseyt and blew right by him time and again. Every time he was oipen on the perimeter, it was a swish. Just a monster scoring quarter, and after havin 8, on 2-12 shooting no less through 3/4, he shoots 7-9 in the 4th for 24 points. Maybe it is the stamina issue again -- maybe if he tries early, he'll fade late, so he figured he would coast early and then pour it on down the stretch. Don't know. But it was strange, and nearly impossible to grade.
Voltaire -- quick with a quip, and the smartest guy in the room, he wasn't afraid to let everyone else know it and made many enemies while fighting for civil rights and religious freedom at a time and place (the ancien régime in 18th century France) where such things were not done. He was arrested, banned, censored, and persecuted throughout his celebrated life. This is the guy who said "if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him." Which did not go over well with the church as it implied that just such a thing might have happened. He is also credited with the early free speech motto "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," although that was actually a biographer of his summing up his career. When on his deathbed he was asked to renounce the devil by a clergyman, he is supposed to have answered "Now is no time to be making new enemies."
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