Thursday, October 16, 2008

A New Breed of Tennis Evil

Public Tennis courts are bad enough as it is. Cracks in the court, grass growing in cement and nets that are half torn are only some of the problems encountered at these courts. Usually you can have a good time playing tennis regardless of these issues. But there is one problem that pushes the annoyance of public tennis courts over the edge.

Kindergarten Tennis Teachers

They show up at the court right next to yours. They bring about one hundred tennis balls, and ten very hyper five year old tennis players. The result? A pissed off you.

Its very difficult enjoying a game of Two on Two when you have countless numbers of tennis balls landing in the middle of your court. Eventually you get tired of keeping track on who's ball is whose, and you just pick one up and serve. You try your best to enjoy the game even though your blue court has suddenly turned green due to all of the badly hit shots flying your way. And then you realize, you just can't. Kindergarten Tennis Teachers ruin everyones fun. In fact, the majority of them don't Even know what they're teaching. The only thing they're good at is telling them to form even rows and to stop hitting each other over the head with the rackets. Way to take out the fun from Kindergarten Tennis.

After one kid lost grip on his racket launched it towards us and nearly took off my head, it was time to go. We decided to take every tennis ball on our court out of spite. In response to this, the kindergarten teacher yells out "THE ONES WITH THE BLACK DOTS ARE OURS". In response to that, I smirked and kept putting the tennis balls in our basket. Although we won the battle, we still lost the war. Its time to relocate to new courts.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Your Basketball Friends

The 2008/2009 NBA season is almost here. And you know what that means. That's right, another year of arguing with your friends about who'll win what, who'll beat who, and why your team is only one short winning streak away from establishing themselves as the inevitable NBA champ. To some people, all the arguing and bickering might be tiring, annoying and childish. To that I say: What would following the NBA be like without it? Honestly, if you can't afford to sit court side at every game, what purpose is there in following the NBA? When your team wins, you don't get a ring. You don't get paid. The only thing you get, is the satisfaction of being right when your friends are wrong. Of course with all the personalities you deal with, you tend to realize that they all have certain thinking patterns. One friend always thinks team A is one player away from dominating their conference, one friend thinks Team B is the second coming of the mid 90's bulls, one guy is an all out band wagoner. These following generic personalities can probably be found in every group of NBA following buddies:

The Dreamer: Hope is never on short supply for this fellow. Even if his teams jet (with all the players inside) fell into a bottomless pit and have an estimated 1 year get-out-of-pit time, he'll still believe. This guy heads into the season thinking the Isiah Thomas run Knicks will not only make the playoffs, they will win the championship. He's so oblivious to reality that he will sit there, stare you right in the eyes and say "The Knicks are going all the way", without the slightest hint of him joking. That's because he's not. He's insane.

The Band wagoner: As soon as a team/player has a breakout season/moment you can bet your bottom dollar that Band wagoner will be there rooting for them. These dirty smug characters will change their myspace skins to that of Baron Davis as soon as he helps complete a huge upset against the Dallas Mavericks. Then, only a season later, he will constantly tell you how the Boston Celtics are the equivalent of the 1990's bulls. He'll wear his KG jersey everywhere he goes. Yes, that includes funerals. As soon as the Celtics get beaten twice by the Hawks, he'll tell you how he thinks the hawks are on their way to becoming the second coming of the 1990's bulls. He'll even tattoo their logo on his face, only to remove it a week later upon the hawks elimination. In which case, he will tell you how Chris Paul is the second coming of God for destroying the Spurs in game 1 and 2.

The Thinker: This guy finds meanings within the comments of announcers that you'd never think possible. For example, an announcer might say, "Since Kenyon Martin has been out of the game Kobe Bryant has lit up the Denver Nuggets". With no prior knowledge of Kenyon Martin or Kobe Bryant one might assume that Kenyon Martin is a good defender. That's the astonishing part. The Thinker has prior knowledge of everything, he just interprets it in an unbelievable way. That same announcer sentence would have The Thinker immediately classify Kenyon Martin as one of the best defenders in the NBA, and store it in his brain for life. You could be sitting their and say, "boy, James Posey might be one of the best defenders in the NBA" The Thinker will reply with "Yeah, so is Kenyon martin". Another quality of the thinker is a lack of acceptance to new data. If the Celtics limit Lebron James to 20% shooting for one game, The Thinker will always claim that the Celtics always lock-down Lebron. Lebron scoring 40 two games straight, or 100, will not change the thinkers stance. Nothing will. Not even brutal torture. Eventually the thinkers constant trips out of reality will result in him being alienated from your basketball group, until the season passes that is.

Your Archenemies: This particular guy always pisses you off. You'll talk about how you're glad your teams looking like they will , Archenemies will tell you how it seems like a long shot. And when he's right, he'll make sure to remind you. But when he's wrong, he will simply doubt the next step following whatever achievement your team accomplished. Made the playoffs? You won't make it past round one. Made the western finals? You wont get any further. Made the finals? Yeah that's all you'll make. Won the finals? Yeah enjoy it cause it will never happen again. Its possible that this guy is just extremely cynical. Or maybe he just likes pissing you off.

The guy who just wants player X to win a ring: This guy loves the NBA, but doesn't love a team in particular. He just wants guys to win rings. In fact, if it was up to him, there wouldn't be one NBA champion. There would be thirty. Since that's impossible they usually root for whoever they feel is due for a ring. These players include but are not limited too: Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Grant Hill and Tracy Mcgrady. Last year, the common "just want him to win a ring" player everyone was rooting for was KG.

The Stat Cruncher: Its quite possible that every single basketball related stat is memorized in this guys brain. He'll have complete confidence in his predictions, and bombard you with stats when you oppose his prediction. He'll tell you that the combination of Kobe only averaging 25 ppg on 3 days rest and Kevin Martin having his best games off 1 days rest will result in the kings smashing the Lakers. He'll tell you that Tuesdays the day that Darko goes from a waste of a lottery pick to a decent 12 points 10 rebounds performer, and that will be the X factor that gets the grizzlies past the bobcats. Avoid having one of these friends.

Well, there you have it. A pretty well rounded description of what I will be putting up with until the NBA finals are over in June 09.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

My Entire Team...

You know, after the Mets made it to the National League championship game I was pretty certain the days of them being a futurama punchline were over. As it turns out, that was far from the case. Following that great year, the Mets put on the biggest September collapse in baseball history. And this year, yet again, the Mets have collapsed in September. Unlike last year, they had a chance to win the Wild Card. They didn't even have to fight against the big bad bully who always spoils their parties, the Phillies. No, they just had to hold off the brewers. The brewers are probably the only team in the MLB more mentally fragile than the Mets. And yet, they couldn't even do that.

Mentally fragile. Psychologically unstable. Not tough enough. No sense of urgency. Confused. These all describe the 07/08 Mets pretty well. But why? What in the world can make a team so mentally weak that they can't even handle the pressure of winning 1 extra game a season to make the playoffs? I'll tell you what it is.

My Entire Team Sucks

Clearly the whole M-E-T-S thing is shaking up the players subconsciously. So much so, that its safe to say the Mets will never win until they either change their name or ship out this pansy of a player core they got. Some of you might point out the 86 Mets, and claim that if they could do it so can these current Mets. No. The 86 Mets were so bad ass that they transcended the curse of the M-E-T-S. In fact, if anyone even tried passing that M-E-T-S crap on a member of the 86 Mets, its safe to say their shit would be promptly ruined. Now as we all know the 08 Mets are a bunch of Pansy's. The only solution for them is to have the teams name changed until they get some tough players. I even have a few suggestions.

#1. The Animal Abusers- This ones particularly good because it would scare the lights out of the Cubs, Cardinals, Marlins, Blue Jays, Orioles, etc. I mean seriously, if you were a mere baby Cub going up against the ANIMAL ABUSERS wouldn't you forfeit the game? Yeah you would.
#2. The Champs- If you're already the champs, everyone else will bow down.
#3. Armageddon- You're sitting their at your kitchen table, having your morning cup of coffee. You open the news paper, and notice that Armageddon is coming to town to play your home team. I don't know about you, but I'd run for my life.

Quite frankly, I don't see how anyone can call a team with those names "psychologically fragile". So dear Mets, please change your name. Ridiculous you say?

So is collapsing two years in a row.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Home Court Advantage

I've been playing tennis at the local tennis courts for about two months now. With my usual two trips a week to the courts, I've come to realize something. The people there are always the same people. Always. Its kind of creepy. Are these people unemployed? Did they lose their families somehow and have nothing but the Alley Pond tennis courts to pass the time? I'm not sure. What I am sure of is that they're all crazy. All of them. In their own special crazy ways of course. I think there is a possibility that all of their generic tennis personalities can be found in other courts, so I've decided to categorize them, along with advise on how to deal with said crazies.

#1. The old guy who takes recreational tennis too seriously: You know who I'm talking about. He has wrist bands on, a head band on, he yells at the top of his lungs after every serve and even worse he demands instant replays after ever close call. Scratch that. He demands instant replay on EVERY call. Even if the ball is out by a good three feet he'll claim that it "HIT THE DAMN LINE! STOP TRYING TO CHANGE THE SCORE, SCREW YOU MAN!"

How to deal with him: Simple, don't play him. Let him stand their serving all of his balls over the net in complete isolation. No game at all is better than a game with this guy.

#2. The critic: This guy never actually plays, he just watches everyone. He'll sit their, watching your game, and make annoying remarks like "you call that a serve?" "this guys backhand is terrible" "MY GRANDMA HUSTLES HARDER THAN YOU".

How to deal with him: Challenge him to a game. This usually exposes him as the shitty player he truly is, which breaks his super inflated ego into a million pieces. This is a good thing, as once he loses his ego the mind controlling critic-leech exits his body and he will once again be a normal human.

#3. The would-be tennis superstar and his brother: Man, these guys are annoying as hell. They hog the court for hours, HOURS. Older brother throws balls at the younger would-be star, and he hits them back. Older brother passes younger brother advice, and plays him in friendly matches to prepare him for his inevitable clash with Roger Federer. Yeah Right.

How to deal with them: Tell em' to get the hell off the court after an hour. And if they don't, just play on the court pretending they're not their until they get frustrated and leave. Trust me, it works.

#4. The guy who always returns your tennis ball: This is a really odd one. As soon as your tennis ball rolls into his court he'll return it to you immediately. Even if hes in a tight match with bragging rights on the line vs his friend, instead of returning the serve he'll pick your ball up when he noticed it rolled over. He won't just go out of his way to get your ball back to you asap, he'll go REALLY FAR out of his way.

How to deal with him: Just say thanks. This tennis court angel probably has a secret demonic side that comes out after tennis, and this is how he balances it out. You know, murderer by night, friendly tennis player by day.

#5. The fat guy who never wears a shirt: Man, I wish this guy would just wear a shirt. Seeing him flopping around trying to return his wife's hits is pretty disturbing. He also seems to have a temper problem. Constantly slamming his racket against the floor when he gets owned by his wife. Perhaps he rips his shirt off in fury before I arrive to the courts. Or maybe he ate his shirt. Who knows.

How to deal with him: Just don't play near him.

#6. The guys who always remind you that tennis is not their best sport: You'll find me and most of my friends in this one. As we play our matches along side "would be pros" and people who take it too seriously, we tend to find ourselves laughing at our skill, or lack thereof. Of course we always make up for our constant double faults and our complete miss-swings with a simple "come see us at basketball" remark. Seriously. No one at the tennis courts can beat us at basketball. And that's not just because they're all old and crusty at the tennis courts.

How to deal with them: Play them at basketball, or don't judge. It ain't cool man.

I wonder if that's how they all feel.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Let go of my Balls.

About a three weeks ago I bought a set of twenty tennis balls for, well, playing tennis. Oddly enough, after my first few games with the new balls I found that a couple were missing. I was heading home with less balls that i had set out with. I didn't give it much thought. After my second trip, I noticed that the total number was even less. And by the third trip I was down to half of what I started off with. Were my tennis balls suffering from a Tennis-ball specific strain of the plague? Were UFOs secretly abducting them while I was hitting double faults into the net? I had to find the answer. During my fourth trip I made sure to watch where every ball went, and to watch out for any funny business from the people playing next to me. I hit one ball over the fence, I figured I'd just pick it up later as it rolled by some tree's. To my surprise, a middle aged fat lady picked the ball up and walked into the forest, so said one of my friends. Wow was the only word that could describe my thoughts at that moment. To make matters worse, amongst the confusion of who's tennis balls are who's, the jackass playing on the court next to me must have decided to put 5 of ours in his basket. Amazingly I was down to four tennis balls after a little over a week. Four.

I sat there, wondering whether it was worth playing tennis in public courts anymore. These people all seem to have been struck with a strong case of the "cheap bastards who steal tennis balls". And then It hit me. Pink. Pink was the answer to all of my tennis ball related problems. You see, the cool "tennis players" all use pro styled "green" balls. From the cigarette smoking guy with the head band, to the two twelve year old idiots moaning like their favorite tennis stars after every swing (someone needs to punch them), they're all far too"manly" to go with the pink.

I went off to models and got myself a nice basket of Pink tennis balls. Showed up at the courts, and gave all those tennis ball stealing mother fuckers the "Lets see you steal my shit now, assholes" look. Since then, I've only lost three tennis balls. And those were do to post double-fault rage. So if you want to save yourself from all of those tennis-ball stealing zombies, just go with the pink.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Rappers Love Ballers

Basketball references in Rap songs. We've all heard em'. Some of them are good, others confuse the hell out of you. I decided to go ahead and list a few of the basketball related lines I've heard, along with my interpretations for said lines.


Kanye West - Swagger Like Us

"Trying to get that Kobe number, one over Jordan"

Kobe: 24 Jordan: 23

Olympic numbers

Kobe: 10 Jordan: 9



Kayne West must be implying that he's aiming for being one up on the greatest. Although Kobe
may have one up on Jordans jersey number, Jordan pretty much has him beat in everything Basketball related. So does that mean Kayne is aiming to be a wanna-be #1? Or what? He lost me with that line.


Lil Wayne- Swagger Like Us

"And my jewelz blue and yellow
Type of shit that make em call you Carmello"


Apparently Lil Wayne has a thing for Aquamarine and Topaz. So much so that it must appear as if he's wearing a Nuggets jersey as he rocks them stones.


Three 6 Mafia - ridin spinners

"You see my kin folks, cars, and glisten
Ain't nothin' like Sprewells cause they spinnin'"

Mr. Crunchy Blacks cars AIN'T NOTHIN like Sprewell sneakers! They actually spin! Sprewells
don't spin. They strangle.

Lil Wayne- Dough is what I got

"And when it comes down to this recording
I must be Lebron James if he's Jordan
No, I want rings for my performance
I'm more Kobe Bryant of an artist
Same coach, same game, been starting
...Same triangle offense
I come through the lane like dargent
Refree niggaz is lame they call charging
I have no brain I'm retarded"

when it comes to recording Lil Wayne is Lebron (the next great thing) if he (who?) is Jordan (widely thought of as G.O.A.T) But then Lil Wayne realizes he wants rings for his performance. Kobe has three rings and is just as great as Lebron, so Wayne turns into Kobe. Wayne's been sticking with the same coaches doing the same triangle offense since the get go. Uh oh, lil Wayne got called for charging (???). The refs are lame, yo'. He has no brain, he's retarded. Yup, I have no clue whats going on here.

Trife- Biscuits

"I'm from a place where chunkheads and zombies dwell/And niggaz keep they heat blazin' like Bonzi Wells"

So basically the people from Trife's neighborhood keep their glocks hot . Similar to what Bonzi's style as a JailBlazer.

The Game- My Life

"Got a Chris Paul mind state, I’m never out of bounds."

The game is never out of bounds, just like Chris Paul. And Deron Williams. And Steve Nash. And Darko Milicic. Seriously, who the hell is ever out of bounds? You have to "have no brain and be retarded" to be constantly suffering from being out of bounds. Or maybe he means hes always pulling down rebounds? In which case I say he should have gone with a Dwight Howard state of mind. 5 rebounds per game just doesn't cut it man.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Top 3 Disapointing moments for Superstar Athletes 07/08

To be a Superstar athlete is to be extremely talented, and most importantly, to win. Although, as 07/08 showed us, even Superstars fail to deliver when it matters most. Falling short of an ultimate achievement, flopping when it matters most, missing a shot at history, all of these can be found in the top three disappointing moments for superstar athletes 07/08.

#3. Kobe Bryant Game 4 2008 NBA Finals

Game 4, what a turning point in the 2008 NBA finals. Leading by 24 points through three quarters the Lakers were well on their way to evening up the series 2-2. And then the unbelievable happened. The Celtics went on a 21-3 run to end the third, and took the lead midway through the fourth. After being beaten by one of the largest comebacks in finals history, the Lakers went down 3-1. For the game Kobe scored 17 points on 6 for 19 shooting. For Kobe, this had to have been the biggest personal failure of the year. As team leader it was Kobe's responsibility to stop the bleeding, to help everyone gather their composure and finish off the game. Kobe failed to do so, and thus his chances for a fourth title pretty much came to an end that night.

For the series Kobe averaged only 25 ppg on 40% shooting to go along with 4 assist and 5 boards per game. In comparison, during the Western Conference playoffs Kobe averaged about 30 ppg on 50% shooting to go along with 6 assists and 6 rebounds per game. This was a terrible blow to Kobe Bryant as he was presented with the opportunity to be only the second player in NBA history to achieve: The Mvp award, First All-NBA team , NBA All-Defensive First Team, Finals Mvp x (who else would have got it? PAU GASOL?), Finals Champion x and Olympic gold medal all in one year. Even worse, it led to Shaq mocking Kobe in a freestyle. Now that had to have burned.

#2. Roger Federer Wimbledon 2008

For five years straight years Roger Federer walked away from Wimbledon as the champion. In 2008 he got his chance to break Borgs record for most consecutive wins at Wimbledon in the modern era. After an epic match against Nadal, Federers reign had come to an end. His failed to win #6, he handed his arch rival his first victory at Wimbledon, and his 65 match winning streak on grass was snapped. Worst of all the aura of invincibility that surrounded Federer was broken. When Federer loses to James Blake, as he did in the Olympics, you know somethings wrong. Although Federer might never get a shot at breaking Borgs record again, he’s still got a pretty legit shot at reclaiming #1. He’s only 27 and far from washed up. Its not too far fetched to imagine him going back to his dominating ways in 2009.

#1. Tom Brady 07/08 Super Bowl

Plaxico Burress predicted a final score of 23-17. Tom Brady laughed. Tom Brady sarcastically asked if Plaxico was going to be playing defense. Why shouldn't he have? After going 18-0, with the most deadly offense in the game, he was one win away from sweeping both the season and the playoffs. Unfortunately for Brady the New York Giants prevented that from happening. In what happened to be one of the biggest upsets in sports history, the Giants prevailed 17-14. First team to go 19-0? Your quest for redemption will begin in a few weeks, Tom.