I’m pulling for OKC because LeBron’s “where am I going to go” nonsense from two years ago, complete with his own hour long TV special, still irks me. I want to see him lose and continue to lose.
6.
the Conster
It’s all rigged by the refs – OKC will win tonight because they can’t be too obvious with the calls, but when it comes to the end, they’ll make sure LeBron gets there this year, as long as he keeps playing and doesn’t turtle. Fucking NBA sucks.
ETA: as does ESPN, also too.
7.
hhex65
@Violet: Lol, how dare LeBron use the “Decision” TV show to raise $2.5 for the Boys and Girls Club of Ohio!! Such arrogance.
It will end up with a game seven, because the advertising industry says it should. The rubes must be milked.
10.
hhex65
@hhex65: uh, should read “raise $2.5 million…”– #snarkfail
11.
MikeJ
Ok, I know almost nothing about basketball, but did you see the interview with the ref this morning before the footie started? He was saying, yeah sure, it’s fine if people slam into James at full speed because he’s a big guy. You can hit him ten times as hard before it will be a foul. That sounds like something the fans should be more upset over than palming or traveling.
12.
Violet
@hhex65:
That’s pocket change to LeBron. He could have just donated the money. Or raised it some other way. The show was pure ego.
From the article DougJ linked:
Beyond “The Decision,” which he even now regrets,
Even he now thinks it was a stupid thing to do.
I’m sure he’s a great guy, been through a lot, does wonderful work for charity, etc., etc. I don’t hate him. I just don’t like those kinds of stunts.
Open Thread right? If not, this is WAAAAY OT: So, I got kinda obsessed with Tolkien and frequently reread his stuff, and if the movies come on for whatever reasons I’ll pretty much always step in and watch a bit. So, that said:
Two Towers: Theoden is freed from Suraman’s spell and promptly – and rightly – is about to kill Wormtongue when Aragorn totally cock blocks him and let’s Wormtongue go, prattling on about “enough death already.” OK, nice and humanitarian.
But, 1. How is this appropriate on Aragorn’s part? He just pushed the damn King out of the way so he couldn’t kill a vile traitor that just had him under an evil spell. Why would his guards put up with that? Why would Theoden?
2. What is the first thing Wormtongue does? Races back to Suraman and helps him organize first his attack on the fleeing villagers, and then the large assault on Helm’s Deep. These attacks cost many lives.
What the hell, Aragorn?
15.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Litlebritdifrnt: Sounds like my mom. Except I remember last year – yay Mavs – won it in six.
Lebron and Wade are insufferable douchebags and the OKC stars are not. For all the (justified in my view, if overwrought) criticism Lebron got for the Decision, he’d been acting like a grade A jackass long before that happened and has been one on quite a few occasions since, too. Before anyone accuses me of hypocrisy or whatever, I don’t root for convicted criminals or other assorted lowlifes who play sports either, even when they’re on my preferred team. And Wade has become the most entitled WATB I think I’ve ever seen in the past few years. His go-to move now is to go up for a layup, intentionally fall down, and then look to the refs for a call (which he gets too often). F that guy. And they were so arrogant in the aftermath – anyone remember their little victory rally a few days later? I thought you had to, you know, win something, to put on a party like that. Assholes.
I hate the way the OKC franchise left Seattle too, but I’m not pinning that on the players (easy for me to say -I have no connection to the Sonics other than that my brother has lived in Seattle the past 10 years. He’s going for OKC in the Finals too, fwiw)
I will root against the cHeat always and forever while those narcissistic clowns are there. I get that their maneuver to get to Miami together with Bosh was within the NBA rules and all, but I don’t have to like it.
/stupid, entirely too passionate rant about sports
18.
some guy
fuck David Stern, and fuck the thieves who stole the SuperSonics after the citizens of Seattle refused their blackmail attempt.
19.
Yutsano
@some guy: So of course they try it all over again. But the city is pushing back hard.
20.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@redshirt: Did Aragorn read the script? Did he ever seen Wormtongue again? Unless he knew the plot, it’s not like he knew what was going to happen next.
[Ho Chi Minh] petitioned U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to help remove the French from Vietnam and replace them with a new, nationalist government. Although he was unable to obtain consideration at Versailles, the failure further radicalized Nguyễn, while also making him a national hero of the anti-colonial movement at home in Vietnam
One wonders how the course of US history might have been different if Woodrow Wilson hadn’t been a stone-cold racist.
This fascinating thread at The Straight Dope looks at whether the Wilson quote “it’s like history written by lightning” about The Birth of a Nation is actually true, and it looks as though the consensus is, “No, but that doesn’t mean Wilson wasn’t a racist.”
Also, too, I think The Birth of a Nation is a valuable film for people to watch, just as I think Triumph of the Will is a valuable film for people to watch. It’s helpful to see how easily filmmakers can use spectacle and stereotypes to sway audiences to believe odious things.
26.
Another Halocene Human
@redshirt: Don’t you go dragging that logic all up in my Tolkien.
27.
Wallis Lane
Rooting for OKC, because Westbrook’s repping UCLA (and judging from the picture, also repping the Urkel-Wear clothing line at K-Mart).
28.
burnspbesq
In which Charles the Clueless reaches a new high in low.
Dude, Scott Lemieux is a smart guy with one huge blind spot, and citing him doesn’t make this pile not stink.
I’m a big fan of our jury system. I think juries get it right far more often than they get it wrong. This is one of those times when the jury got it wrong. Roger Clemens lied to Congress, and he got by with it solely because the prosecution’s witnesses are as sleazy as he is.
29.
Mr Stagger Lee
Listening to Seattle Sports Radio, after the endless talk of the new arena, the endless knob polishing of the supposed owners(One of them is Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer a billionaire, who somehow couldn’t be bothered to buy the Sonics, when they first were put on the block)The thinking is that the Sacramento Kings will be the team that Seattle Steals oops I mean saves.
30.
RossInDetroit
I’m actually kind of digging that shirt. It says ‘I don’t give a damn’, which is the five word sentence I speak most frequently. Everyone needs at least one absurd outfit to wear with a straight face. Keeps people guessing.
31.
beltane
@Mnemosyne: I’m sure Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes are familiar with both films.
Nope. The Kings are going to end up in Anaheim. I’d like to see the new ownership throw a bone to DougJ and honor the team’s Rochester roots be going back to calling them the Royals (expecting them to go all the way back and call them the Seagrams is a bit much, I’m afraid).
33.
Nicole
Just flew back today from a visit to OKC (husband’s family). While we were there, we drove past a sign outside a CVS that said, “Fear the Beard! Go Durantula!” I had to ask my husband if that was even English (I am not familiar with the game of sports).
Even the OKC Memorial had a big “Go Thunder!” sign over the entrance.
@burnspbesq: That may be the case, I think if the Kings go to Anaheim, I’m sure Orange County money, will placate Jerry Buss and Donald Sterling, so that the turf will be protected. Personally I would like to see them stay or at least Kansas City.
40.
sdstarr
I am rooting for OKC to lose. And to never win another game. Ever. Of course, I’m from Seattle….
Who the hell cares whether Clemens used PEDs? The original Congressional hearings were also a colossal waste of time and money, and these trials are just heaping stupidity on top of stupidity.
I don’t know all the details, but the previous owner of the Sonics wanted a new arena and the city balked. He then sold it to some guys from Oklahoma who took about 15 minutes to move the team to OKC.
48.
Soonergrunt
@Violet: When the current owners bought the (then) Super Sonics, they swore up and down they weren’t going to move the team, but then they started bitching about needing a new taxpayer funded arena in Seattle (which everybody and his brother KNEW was never going to happen) and they pulled every trick in the book to move the team to OKC which they were planning to do all along.
49.
Soonergrunt
@MikeJ: at least we moved the out-houses around back.
50.
Violet
@Mark S.: @Soonergrunt: Ah, thanks! I could tell from the comments it had something to do with a new stadium, but I didn’t know the rest.
Good for Seattle for refusing to pay for the stadium. Those kinds of things are nothing but weights on the taxpayers. If the owners want one so badly, they should be willing to chip in.
51.
Heliopause
I’m pulling for OKC
I mean, why not? Oklahoma had the highest percentage vote for McCain in ’08. The place was created as a concentration camp for Indians who managed to survive genocide, then expropriated when they needed a little more room for white people. This state simultaneously has the most country’s most notorious climate change denier and is God’s favorite victim of global warming. What’s not to love?
Hot as hell here as well, and so dry you can step out of the shower, and dry off before you can even grab a towel. The rainy season is a couple weeks off, to maybe cool us down a bit, and lesson the likelyhood of forest fire. Still not near as bad as Tuscon or Phoenix, so not complaining too much.
Politics is a complete mind numbing enterprise.
53.
CW in LA
Fuck David Stern, fuck Clay Bennett, and fuck the Oklahoma Shitty Pigfuckers.
Good for Seattle for refusing to pay for the stadium. Those kinds of things are nothing but weights on the taxpayers. If the owners want one so badly, they should be willing to chip in.
The bad news is Seattle is attempting to build a new basketball/hockey arena. There’s opposition from the city council because the location is right next to the shipping docks. I haven’t seen who’s ponying up the dough for it yet but if they try another tax increase there may be blood.
Good for Seattle for refusing to pay for the stadium.
I agree with the sentiment, but as noted, it was just an excuse. They were planning to move the team from day one, and it would have happened if the city had built an arena out of gold bricks.
56.
burnspbesq
OT, but if you’re a fan of smart, literate songwriting, you need to own this record.
The NFL keeps dangling a team in front of Los Angeles if only the city or county is willing to have taxpayers foot the bill for the stadium. So far, both the city council and the county Board of Supervisors have stood firm, and fortunately they can point to the Staples Center to show that a smart company can build a stadium with private funding and do very well with it, thank you.
60.
angler
Amazing series, amazing.
61.
Origuy
@redshirt: In the book, Aragorn isn’t there when the scales fall from Theoden’s eyes. It’s Theoden and Gandalf who let Wormtongue go.
Of course, Wormtongue has one task left in the book, but Jackson left out the Scouring of the Shire from the movies.
MikeJ
Fuck the Supersonics.
Yutsano
I hate you. And don’t even get me started on Soonergrunt.
@MikeJ: Clay Bennett beat you to it. Fucker.
Litlebritdifrnt
I could not give a shit. YMMV.
DougJ
@MikeJ:
I hear you.
Violet
I’m pulling for OKC because LeBron’s “where am I going to go” nonsense from two years ago, complete with his own hour long TV special, still irks me. I want to see him lose and continue to lose.
the Conster
It’s all rigged by the refs – OKC will win tonight because they can’t be too obvious with the calls, but when it comes to the end, they’ll make sure LeBron gets there this year, as long as he keeps playing and doesn’t turtle. Fucking NBA sucks.
ETA: as does ESPN, also too.
hhex65
@Violet: Lol, how dare LeBron use the “Decision” TV show to raise $2.5 for the Boys and Girls Club of Ohio!! Such arrogance.
DougJ
@Violet:
Good piece on why no one should hate LeBron. And I say that as someone whose closest NBA franchise is Cleveland.
Litlebritdifrnt
It will end up with a game seven, because the advertising industry says it should. The rubes must be milked.
hhex65
@hhex65: uh, should read “raise $2.5 million…”– #snarkfail
MikeJ
Ok, I know almost nothing about basketball, but did you see the interview with the ref this morning before the footie started? He was saying, yeah sure, it’s fine if people slam into James at full speed because he’s a big guy. You can hit him ten times as hard before it will be a foul. That sounds like something the fans should be more upset over than palming or traveling.
Violet
@hhex65:
That’s pocket change to LeBron. He could have just donated the money. Or raised it some other way. The show was pure ego.
From the article DougJ linked:
Even he now thinks it was a stupid thing to do.
I’m sure he’s a great guy, been through a lot, does wonderful work for charity, etc., etc. I don’t hate him. I just don’t like those kinds of stunts.
DougJ
@MikeJ:
It’s interesting, I saw that segment too..they’ve always called it that way and it’s unfair, yes.
redshirt
Open Thread right? If not, this is WAAAAY OT: So, I got kinda obsessed with Tolkien and frequently reread his stuff, and if the movies come on for whatever reasons I’ll pretty much always step in and watch a bit. So, that said:
Two Towers: Theoden is freed from Suraman’s spell and promptly – and rightly – is about to kill Wormtongue when Aragorn totally cock blocks him and let’s Wormtongue go, prattling on about “enough death already.” OK, nice and humanitarian.
But, 1. How is this appropriate on Aragorn’s part? He just pushed the damn King out of the way so he couldn’t kill a vile traitor that just had him under an evil spell. Why would his guards put up with that? Why would Theoden?
2. What is the first thing Wormtongue does? Races back to Suraman and helps him organize first his attack on the fleeing villagers, and then the large assault on Helm’s Deep. These attacks cost many lives.
What the hell, Aragorn?
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Litlebritdifrnt: Sounds like my mom. Except I remember last year – yay Mavs – won it in six.
Omnes Omnibus
@redshirt: Not in the book so it doesn’t count.
Turgidson
Lebron and Wade are insufferable douchebags and the OKC stars are not. For all the (justified in my view, if overwrought) criticism Lebron got for the Decision, he’d been acting like a grade A jackass long before that happened and has been one on quite a few occasions since, too. Before anyone accuses me of hypocrisy or whatever, I don’t root for convicted criminals or other assorted lowlifes who play sports either, even when they’re on my preferred team. And Wade has become the most entitled WATB I think I’ve ever seen in the past few years. His go-to move now is to go up for a layup, intentionally fall down, and then look to the refs for a call (which he gets too often). F that guy. And they were so arrogant in the aftermath – anyone remember their little victory rally a few days later? I thought you had to, you know, win something, to put on a party like that. Assholes.
I hate the way the OKC franchise left Seattle too, but I’m not pinning that on the players (easy for me to say -I have no connection to the Sonics other than that my brother has lived in Seattle the past 10 years. He’s going for OKC in the Finals too, fwiw)
I will root against the cHeat always and forever while those narcissistic clowns are there. I get that their maneuver to get to Miami together with Bosh was within the NBA rules and all, but I don’t have to like it.
/stupid, entirely too passionate rant about sports
some guy
fuck David Stern, and fuck the thieves who stole the SuperSonics after the citizens of Seattle refused their blackmail attempt.
Yutsano
@some guy: So of course they try it all over again. But the city is pushing back hard.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@redshirt: Did Aragorn read the script? Did he ever seen Wormtongue again? Unless he knew the plot, it’s not like he knew what was going to happen next.
Along a similar vein, in real life:
Micheline
Being a Miami girl, I have to root for the Heat.
Mark S.
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Odd there’s only been three seven game series in the last 25 years.
@redshirt:
That’s a common theme in Tolkien. It rarely works out very well, but Gollum does kind of save the day.
redshirt
@Omnes Omnibus: Just looked it up. Yay! So, bad move, Jackson.
Another Halocene Human
Repeat after me: Oklahoma is NOT okay.
Mnemosyne
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
One wonders how the course of US history might have been different if Woodrow Wilson hadn’t been a stone-cold racist.
This fascinating thread at The Straight Dope looks at whether the Wilson quote “it’s like history written by lightning” about The Birth of a Nation is actually true, and it looks as though the consensus is, “No, but that doesn’t mean Wilson wasn’t a racist.”
Also, too, I think The Birth of a Nation is a valuable film for people to watch, just as I think Triumph of the Will is a valuable film for people to watch. It’s helpful to see how easily filmmakers can use spectacle and stereotypes to sway audiences to believe odious things.
Another Halocene Human
@redshirt: Don’t you go dragging that logic all up in my Tolkien.
Wallis Lane
Rooting for OKC, because Westbrook’s repping UCLA (and judging from the picture, also repping the Urkel-Wear clothing line at K-Mart).
burnspbesq
In which Charles the Clueless reaches a new high in low.
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8071810/the-roger-clemens-verdict-our-senseless-national-drug-hysteria
Dude, Scott Lemieux is a smart guy with one huge blind spot, and citing him doesn’t make this pile not stink.
I’m a big fan of our jury system. I think juries get it right far more often than they get it wrong. This is one of those times when the jury got it wrong. Roger Clemens lied to Congress, and he got by with it solely because the prosecution’s witnesses are as sleazy as he is.
Mr Stagger Lee
Listening to Seattle Sports Radio, after the endless talk of the new arena, the endless knob polishing of the supposed owners(One of them is Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer a billionaire, who somehow couldn’t be bothered to buy the Sonics, when they first were put on the block)The thinking is that the Sacramento Kings will be the team that Seattle Steals oops I mean saves.
RossInDetroit
I’m actually kind of digging that shirt. It says ‘I don’t give a damn’, which is the five word sentence I speak most frequently. Everyone needs at least one absurd outfit to wear with a straight face. Keeps people guessing.
beltane
@Mnemosyne: I’m sure Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes are familiar with both films.
burnspbesq
@Mr Stagger Lee:
Nope. The Kings are going to end up in Anaheim. I’d like to see the new ownership throw a bone to DougJ and honor the team’s Rochester roots be going back to calling them the Royals (expecting them to go all the way back and call them the Seagrams is a bit much, I’m afraid).
Nicole
Just flew back today from a visit to OKC (husband’s family). While we were there, we drove past a sign outside a CVS that said, “Fear the Beard! Go Durantula!” I had to ask my husband if that was even English (I am not familiar with the game of sports).
Even the OKC Memorial had a big “Go Thunder!” sign over the entrance.
DougJ
@Nicole:
I like Fear the Beard.
MikeJ
@Nicole:
Pure class.
burnspbesq
@DougJ:
Harden’s beard reminds me of Cornel West.
/shudder
Valdivia
@burnspbesq:
ha ha. me too!
Mark S.
Nice dish by LeBron.
Mr Stagger Lee
@burnspbesq: That may be the case, I think if the Kings go to Anaheim, I’m sure Orange County money, will placate Jerry Buss and Donald Sterling, so that the turf will be protected. Personally I would like to see them stay or at least Kansas City.
sdstarr
I am rooting for OKC to lose. And to never win another game. Ever. Of course, I’m from Seattle….
J.W. Hamner
@burnspbesq:
Who the hell cares whether Clemens used PEDs? The original Congressional hearings were also a colossal waste of time and money, and these trials are just heaping stupidity on top of stupidity.
MikeJ
@DougJ:
I thought that was a baseball thing. Brian Wilson, but not the good crazy one.
lamh35
Anyone else like watching the Olympic trials. Here’s a link to the television schedule for the US Olympic trials.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1227456-us-olympic-trials-2012-tv-schedule-daily-listings-nbc-coverage-and-more
burnspbesq
@Mr Stagger Lee:
I don’t see how that’s possible at this point. Even if an arena deal could be made, it’s gotten very personal between the Maloofs and Kevin Johnson.
Violet
Can someone explain why Seattle fans are so upset with Oklahoma? The team got moved? What happened?
Soonergrunt
@Yutsano: Hey, wait a minute? What did I do?
I like the players, but the owners are a bunch of corrupt oil and gas wingnut billionaires.
Mark S.
@Violet:
I don’t know all the details, but the previous owner of the Sonics wanted a new arena and the city balked. He then sold it to some guys from Oklahoma who took about 15 minutes to move the team to OKC.
Soonergrunt
@Violet: When the current owners bought the (then) Super Sonics, they swore up and down they weren’t going to move the team, but then they started bitching about needing a new taxpayer funded arena in Seattle (which everybody and his brother KNEW was never going to happen) and they pulled every trick in the book to move the team to OKC which they were planning to do all along.
Soonergrunt
@MikeJ: at least we moved the out-houses around back.
Violet
@Mark S.: @Soonergrunt: Ah, thanks! I could tell from the comments it had something to do with a new stadium, but I didn’t know the rest.
Good for Seattle for refusing to pay for the stadium. Those kinds of things are nothing but weights on the taxpayers. If the owners want one so badly, they should be willing to chip in.
Heliopause
I mean, why not? Oklahoma had the highest percentage vote for McCain in ’08. The place was created as a concentration camp for Indians who managed to survive genocide, then expropriated when they needed a little more room for white people. This state simultaneously has the most country’s most notorious climate change denier and is God’s favorite victim of global warming. What’s not to love?
General Stuck
Blast from the past, to take the edge off. Was first posted on BJ, maybe 3 years ago by I can’t remember who. I stumbled across it a few days ago on Youtube.
Hot as hell here as well, and so dry you can step out of the shower, and dry off before you can even grab a towel. The rainy season is a couple weeks off, to maybe cool us down a bit, and lesson the likelyhood of forest fire. Still not near as bad as Tuscon or Phoenix, so not complaining too much.
Politics is a complete mind numbing enterprise.
CW in LA
Fuck David Stern, fuck Clay Bennett, and fuck the Oklahoma Shitty Pigfuckers.
Yutsano
@Violet:
The bad news is Seattle is attempting to build a new basketball/hockey arena. There’s opposition from the city council because the location is right next to the shipping docks. I haven’t seen who’s ponying up the dough for it yet but if they try another tax increase there may be blood.
Geoduck
@Violet:
I agree with the sentiment, but as noted, it was just an excuse. They were planning to move the team from day one, and it would have happened if the city had built an arena out of gold bricks.
burnspbesq
OT, but if you’re a fan of smart, literate songwriting, you need to own this record.
http://www.amazon.com/Kin-Songs-Mary-Rodney-Crowell/dp/B007TCAWT6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340161522&sr=8-1&keywords=rodney+crowell
Mark S.
Westbrook’s keeping them in it.
trollhattan
Jesus, Westbrook is lighting the joint up. (Er, so to speak.)
Mnemosyne
@Violet:
The NFL keeps dangling a team in front of Los Angeles if only the city or county is willing to have taxpayers foot the bill for the stadium. So far, both the city council and the county Board of Supervisors have stood firm, and fortunately they can point to the Staples Center to show that a smart company can build a stadium with private funding and do very well with it, thank you.
angler
Amazing series, amazing.
Origuy
@redshirt: In the book, Aragorn isn’t there when the scales fall from Theoden’s eyes. It’s Theoden and Gandalf who let Wormtongue go.
Of course, Wormtongue has one task left in the book, but Jackson left out the Scouring of the Shire from the movies.
Geoduck
Plus, by the time Wormtongue gets to Isengard, the Ents have already trashed the place and imprisoned Saruman in his tower.