Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Apologies -- had family over this weekend. And this one agitated me anyway, so could not motivate.
The theme was one suggested to me by a colleague in honor of the "Jazz": Musicians Who Took The Die Young Thing Too Seriously
Artest ( C ) -- this game was a test for Ron's recent offensive hot streak, matched up against the incredibly rangy AK47. We only got to see it for about a half before Kirilenko went down with injury, but you would have to say Ron pretty much failed that test and was largely silent in the first half. Did have one nifty steal, breakway and +1 play (he bricked the 1). And even after the Jazz lost Kirilenko for the second half, things did not get much easier for Ron as he was then confronted by one fo the few SFs in the league able to go muscle for muscle and bruise for bruise with him in Matt Harping. Began to assert himself a little more with occassional drives in the second though, and grabbed a lot of boards for us. Logged huge minutes again, and you will have to ask Muss why. Of course Muss may not have any say in the matter -- Ron might give him an atomic wedgie if he tried to pull him from the game.
THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED -- which is obviously not a person, but a famous event immortalized by a famous song -- American Pie by Don McLean (the title of which was obviously picked up for a famous movie some 30 years later). In any case, lots of famouses surrounding this one. Three big names in the first generation of Rock 'N Roll, Buddy Holly (of course picked by Weezer years later), Richie Valens (made the movie La Bamba about him) and the Big Bopper..ok, he's largely been forgotten now despite the colorful stage name. Stuck on a freezing tour bus with a broken heater in the Dakotas in winter, they decided to hire a single engine plane to fly them to their next tour stop in Feb of 1959. Oops. Lost a lot of music all at once when the plane fell from the sky only 5 miles off the runway. Historical footnote: instead of the "Bopper", we also almost lost Waylan Jennings that night, as he too was in line to be on that plane but ended up taking the bus instead. He was forever haunted afterward by a joking exhange he had with Holly before takeoff where Holly joked that he hoped the bus froze, and Waylan responded "yeah, well I hope your plane crashes." Yikes.
Reef ( B- ) -- decent first half other than a spate of early turnovers. Was providing some solid support scoring inside, and grabbed a respectable number of boards. But did not give us much after half as the youth ran away with the game and left Reef plodding along in the dust cloud.
Kurt Cobain -- rarely has such a crappy musician, with such a short career, had such an enormous influence on music. And I happened to like Nirvana and bought their first album after hearing Smells Like Teen Spirit just once, but Kurt himself would cheerfully admit that he only knew a handful of chords. Actually, he didn't do much of anything cheerfully. Which was part of the angst that wiped away cheesy hair metal seemingly overnight, but also maybe a major part of what led him to commit suicide via shotgun at age 27. Oddly though, like many of the musicians on this list, he has acheived a kind of immortality and legendary status in death that he might not have if he had lived on and slowly faded away. Grunge's own martyr.
Miller ( INC ) -- sluggish start even by latter day Brad standards, and one little banging interior finish aside, was worthless and quickly pulled in favor of the much more active Justin Williams. And that was it. The foot problems presumably, but Brad only logged 5 min and did not start the second half. Why has he not been shut down at this point?
JIMI HENDRIX -- and we go from an immensely influential 27 year old who openly knew a few chords, to an immensely influential 27 yr old who probably invented more than a few. One of the greatest, if not THE greatest guitarist of all time, Hendrix was at the heart of both the musical and social revolution of the late 60s. In between inventing new ways to play the guitar (left handed -- he turned a Fender upside down and had it specially strung) that people still emulate to this day, playing an infamous version of the star spangled banner, playing with his teeth, inventing reverb and phasing, he also experimented with every drug known to mankind. Ironically being an early victim of the "choke to death on your own vomit" fad not for anything illegal, but by taking too many sleeping pills, getting loaded up on alcohol, and not being able to wake up when...well, messy. One of those classic savants with an inherent understanding of their field that no mere mortal could approach, but struggled at the rest of life.
Martin ( C+ ) -- a curious game this was for Kevin. Started off hitting his first two 3pters and was off and on the way to the big first half against the underzied Derek Fisher. Shot very well in so doing, but it was a one diomesnional effort -- nothing but scoring (17pts 0reb 0ast). But that wasn't the odd part. The odd part was the second half. Youth was served, and with the Jazz suddenly down Deron Williams and AK47, our young guns ran away wiht the game. Thing is, Kevin wasn't part of it. He was effectively an "old hand" as Justic, ronnie and Cisco did all the damage. Meanwhile Kevin had 17 at half, and just got insvisible after the break, finishing with 21pts 2reb 1ast and playign little part in our big comeback. In fact was largely outplayed by Goron Giricek after the break. Happens, but was odd given the youth centric up and down nature fo the game after the break.
TUPAC -- at the heart of the rap/hip hop violence insanity in the mid 90s, Tupac Shakur led a short, troubled life in which he produced music, and an entire image/lifestyle that still has him listed as the all time #1 album seller amongst hip hop artists. Caught up in legal troubles and a key figure in the juvenile "East Coast-West Coast" feud which polarized hip hop during that period, Tupac was shot 5 times in a Manhattan recording studio...and lived. Tough son of a gun. Not tough enough to survive 4 more bullets when he was hit in a drive by shooting in Vegas a couple of years later. Gunned down at 25 by some punks in a drive by shooting -- just about as ridiculous a way to go as can be for a world famous multi-millionaire, but the way he led his life.
The theme was one suggested to me by a colleague in honor of the "Jazz": Musicians Who Took The Die Young Thing Too Seriously
Artest ( C ) -- this game was a test for Ron's recent offensive hot streak, matched up against the incredibly rangy AK47. We only got to see it for about a half before Kirilenko went down with injury, but you would have to say Ron pretty much failed that test and was largely silent in the first half. Did have one nifty steal, breakway and +1 play (he bricked the 1). And even after the Jazz lost Kirilenko for the second half, things did not get much easier for Ron as he was then confronted by one fo the few SFs in the league able to go muscle for muscle and bruise for bruise with him in Matt Harping. Began to assert himself a little more with occassional drives in the second though, and grabbed a lot of boards for us. Logged huge minutes again, and you will have to ask Muss why. Of course Muss may not have any say in the matter -- Ron might give him an atomic wedgie if he tried to pull him from the game.
THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED -- which is obviously not a person, but a famous event immortalized by a famous song -- American Pie by Don McLean (the title of which was obviously picked up for a famous movie some 30 years later). In any case, lots of famouses surrounding this one. Three big names in the first generation of Rock 'N Roll, Buddy Holly (of course picked by Weezer years later), Richie Valens (made the movie La Bamba about him) and the Big Bopper..ok, he's largely been forgotten now despite the colorful stage name. Stuck on a freezing tour bus with a broken heater in the Dakotas in winter, they decided to hire a single engine plane to fly them to their next tour stop in Feb of 1959. Oops. Lost a lot of music all at once when the plane fell from the sky only 5 miles off the runway. Historical footnote: instead of the "Bopper", we also almost lost Waylan Jennings that night, as he too was in line to be on that plane but ended up taking the bus instead. He was forever haunted afterward by a joking exhange he had with Holly before takeoff where Holly joked that he hoped the bus froze, and Waylan responded "yeah, well I hope your plane crashes." Yikes.
Reef ( B- ) -- decent first half other than a spate of early turnovers. Was providing some solid support scoring inside, and grabbed a respectable number of boards. But did not give us much after half as the youth ran away with the game and left Reef plodding along in the dust cloud.
Kurt Cobain -- rarely has such a crappy musician, with such a short career, had such an enormous influence on music. And I happened to like Nirvana and bought their first album after hearing Smells Like Teen Spirit just once, but Kurt himself would cheerfully admit that he only knew a handful of chords. Actually, he didn't do much of anything cheerfully. Which was part of the angst that wiped away cheesy hair metal seemingly overnight, but also maybe a major part of what led him to commit suicide via shotgun at age 27. Oddly though, like many of the musicians on this list, he has acheived a kind of immortality and legendary status in death that he might not have if he had lived on and slowly faded away. Grunge's own martyr.
Miller ( INC ) -- sluggish start even by latter day Brad standards, and one little banging interior finish aside, was worthless and quickly pulled in favor of the much more active Justin Williams. And that was it. The foot problems presumably, but Brad only logged 5 min and did not start the second half. Why has he not been shut down at this point?
JIMI HENDRIX -- and we go from an immensely influential 27 year old who openly knew a few chords, to an immensely influential 27 yr old who probably invented more than a few. One of the greatest, if not THE greatest guitarist of all time, Hendrix was at the heart of both the musical and social revolution of the late 60s. In between inventing new ways to play the guitar (left handed -- he turned a Fender upside down and had it specially strung) that people still emulate to this day, playing an infamous version of the star spangled banner, playing with his teeth, inventing reverb and phasing, he also experimented with every drug known to mankind. Ironically being an early victim of the "choke to death on your own vomit" fad not for anything illegal, but by taking too many sleeping pills, getting loaded up on alcohol, and not being able to wake up when...well, messy. One of those classic savants with an inherent understanding of their field that no mere mortal could approach, but struggled at the rest of life.
Martin ( C+ ) -- a curious game this was for Kevin. Started off hitting his first two 3pters and was off and on the way to the big first half against the underzied Derek Fisher. Shot very well in so doing, but it was a one diomesnional effort -- nothing but scoring (17pts 0reb 0ast). But that wasn't the odd part. The odd part was the second half. Youth was served, and with the Jazz suddenly down Deron Williams and AK47, our young guns ran away wiht the game. Thing is, Kevin wasn't part of it. He was effectively an "old hand" as Justic, ronnie and Cisco did all the damage. Meanwhile Kevin had 17 at half, and just got insvisible after the break, finishing with 21pts 2reb 1ast and playign little part in our big comeback. In fact was largely outplayed by Goron Giricek after the break. Happens, but was odd given the youth centric up and down nature fo the game after the break.
TUPAC -- at the heart of the rap/hip hop violence insanity in the mid 90s, Tupac Shakur led a short, troubled life in which he produced music, and an entire image/lifestyle that still has him listed as the all time #1 album seller amongst hip hop artists. Caught up in legal troubles and a key figure in the juvenile "East Coast-West Coast" feud which polarized hip hop during that period, Tupac was shot 5 times in a Manhattan recording studio...and lived. Tough son of a gun. Not tough enough to survive 4 more bullets when he was hit in a drive by shooting in Vegas a couple of years later. Gunned down at 25 by some punks in a drive by shooting -- just about as ridiculous a way to go as can be for a world famous multi-millionaire, but the way he led his life.
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), I give Batman and Robin their A.
