PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMO…UMMM…TANKS
PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMO…UMMM…TANKS
By The Fillerbuster
The Cast 022818
SIDE NOTE: The old school style, one sentence style, of my blog is still running. Go on my site, click on “This And That,” and recent activity is there. Enjoy the randomness.
PLANES:
This theme started with me thinking about NBA “tanking,” my pop culture mind found a good match, so I have to go with the theme. What do I mean by “plane?” I mean elevation. I mean elation. I mean excitement. I mean HIGH.
We are close people. I won’t spend the time today to break down all teams again. I will just say this.
This is going to be one of the best March Madness tourneys EVER. Why? The parity. I could name you TWENTY teams who could make the Final Four, and TEN of those I could make an argument could win it all. We don’t have separation. We have an open THREE #1 seeds right now. At this stage of the season, that is nuts. UVA is the only team we know will be one. And 97% of the general population couldn’t name ONE player on that team. They actually have a better shot at naming the coach.
It is so crazy that my bracket system is JACKED this year. I typically only pick ONE bracket, and then the same bracket in the other with UVA going all the way. That used to be funny. It is not anymore. Crazy when the reason I am sad is that so many people will be picking them, I will just look like I am going chalk. THAT is what I am sad about. And that is FUN.
The bottom line is that teams have FLAWS…all of them. And that makes this March even MORE special. I remember a couple of years ago when all four #1 seeds made the Final Four. People complained there were no Cinderellas (which I would argue against in that we ended up with the four best teams and THAT was special), but they don’t have to worry this year. It will be pandemonium.
Did you watch the Va Tech-Duke game the other night? The ELECTRICITY in that building at the end of the game was priceless, and a great representation of what we are heading for. Tech is a team that now has beaten Duke AND UVA. Creighton just beat Nova. Miami just beat the Heels at UNC on Senior Night. No one cares about how good you think you are. Everyone has flaws.
I met a guy who liked sports the other night and I was enjoying the conversation until he broke out “but who cares about basketball, right?” I care. Lots of people care. And I am elevated and feel like I am a mile above Earth. And whether I am just using the theme, just using a simile, or am serious, it is OK because I live in Colorado.
TRAINS:
US Curling:
I couldn’t stay up long enough. I tried though. I also didn’t realize just how long curling matches were as I had never watched one start to finish. Thankfully, when I woke up the next day, it wasn’t only ON as a replay, but I already knew which “end” to pay attention to.
But that is neither here nor there. Did you SEE it? Did you at least HEAR about it? In an Olympics when the USA couldn’t rake in as many medals as the cold countries, it was AWESOME seeing a couple of dudes take out the best in their sport. About time those drinkers up in Duluth, MN got their game together and won it all for the first gold medal by the US in curling. For a couple hours that night into the early morning, and the next morning, I didn’t care whether I thought they were athletes or not.
How come the USA curlers look like we would imagine USA curlers to look, but the Swedish guys still looked like athletic, good looking Scandinavian dudes?
Golden Knights:
The Golden Knights started the NHL season being known as the new team that did the classy MGM shooting dedication before their first home game. They were supposed to go away. They were supposed to fade in the standings. They were supposed to simply be a feel good story. They have not abided.
The Golden Knights are second in the standings overall, trailing only SC favorite Tampa Bay. But the Lightning are FULL of stars. They were supposed to be good. Every other NHL team is looking at the Golden Knights in horror, because ALL of the teams contributed to this cause in the expansion draft. Sure, you can argue with me how lenient those rules are. I get it. But, ALL players were left unprotected, and the Golden Knights should give raises to EVERYONE involved with EVERY decision made in that draft. Genius on many levels. They blitz opposing teams with a league high 33 shots per game, and are winning as relentlessly. The NHL players couldn’t play in the Olympics to give the league THAT minor ratings spike, but if people aren’t watching these guys during the playoffs, then they just hate hockey. Plain and simple. Awesome story that has no down side even if they lose early.
TANKS:
The NBA has a slight problem. EIGHT teams have won 20 games or less. But, that is actually NOT the problem. The problem is that ALL of those teams have won at least EIGHTEEN games. They are all within TWO games of each other. That is insane.
- Mark Cuban didn’t really help things, and I feel like it is tough to separate his persona in Shark Tank, where he CAN’T get in trouble for what he says.
- All eight teams are on pace to win less than 30 games…first time ever.
- A couple of these teams were on EIGHT game losing streaks just last week.
- All have had pressers saying their process is a Houston Astro look alike.
- The Knicks are even four games ahead of these guys.
- All teams but Brooklyn have their first round pick, and sadly the Nets are one of the teams AHEAD of the others.
Convenient with the Oscars coming around soon, they all need to be great actors. The historical fact is this. Once you get outside of that top 10 in the NBA Draft, you might as well go play roulette at the casino. So, there IS reason, outside of sports values, to TANK. Look at this list. Tell me you wouldn’t want any of these guys on your team, but notice how the first five guys are RINGERS at the next level, but the next five become more of a wild card:
And look at the drop off after 10…when it really gets scary:
It is very evident.
Those top five guys I want in a heartbeat. Those next guys become a risk. Probably will be good, but not a guarantee. Do I condone it, no. I hate it. But, you it is what it is, and if you can make it look good, then maybe they should buy in…or buy out. Maybe try and destroy the other team for about 45 minutes, and THEN look at the scoreboard. Then, make it look good.
The scary thing is that basketball players have to look bad to do it. You can’t disguise trying to lose among five guys as you can with 11 guys on a field.
Don’t do it. I mean, do it. You know what I mean-don’t do it. Even I am confused. But this was worth a discussion. I would play it out personally. I wouldn’t fold into tanking. Easy to say from my couch in a professional money rich sport where every draft pick is key and about the next season’s money. And, I have no idea what it is like to play in the NBA and therefore won’t pretend to know how they roll.
Listen, tanking will happen. And maybe it should happen. And if it does? It just depends on whether the players can pull off Oscar like performance like in Three Billboards. Even the Philly people like Three Billboards.
I already told you about Three Billboards in This And That a week or two ago, but I will say it again. GREAT movie, and it kicked the crap out of Shape Of Water. I can’t speak for Ladybird (and probably won’t be able to unless they win and I have to know what was better than Three Billboards).
You know you’re in St. Louis?
LINKS TO SAVE YOU INTERNET TIME:
I was going to do this blog tomorrow actually, but…just started typing, so I will just post tonight and let the blog list magic start a new cycle.
That is it for today. Hope you enjoyed or are at least more informed. Will I blog again? That is a CLOWN question, bro. Peace.
EXPANSION PLAN: I truly want this to be big, but every time I sit down with my template I am about to send to sports writers, I just feel like WRITING instead. The Catch 22 is that taking that time to network takes time away from my material I write. Which is more fun for me? The obvious. I guess I would like to be just randomly “discovered.” I will work it out…AFTER March Madness is complete.
