Thursday, November 13, 2008

Thursday 11/13 A.M. Quickie:
Pats, Jets, Celtics, Lakers, Fight, Maddon

Expect a media overload on Pats-Jets today. Sigh. But what if you hate both the Patriots AND Brett Favre? What are you supposed to do then? That's today's SN column lead. (Watch CSI, I guess.)

Meanwhile, as healthy as the NBA seems to be right now, here's a quick temperature-taking of the league:

What will make more news: The fantastic game between the defending champ Celtics and the previously unbeaten Hawks, which went down to the buzzer? The almost-as-fantastic game between the unbeaten Lakers and one of their top competitors in the West?

Or the bit-more-than-a-scuffle-bit-less-than-a-melee during the Rockets-Suns game, which featured T-Mac throwing Steve Nash to the floor? I'm betting it's the latter.

(Let's not let those three games obscure two big events: Dwight Howard's first triple-double, which featured 10 blocks, and the Wizards' first win of the season. Finally.)

Jake Peavy to the Braves? That's a big move for Atlanta. And they needed it. The Phillies rule that division; the Mets already have an ace in Johan; and the Marlins seem to stay competitive despite that lowest-in-league payroll.

Which moron MLB award-voter didn't give Joe Maddon his first-place vote for AL Manager of the Year, instead voting for Ron Gardenhire? What a d'bag.

(UPDATE: I hear the offender in question was Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. Isn't Pluto a generalist columnist? What special insight qualifies him to vote on baseball awards?)

You didn't hear it here first, but UCLA freshman guard Jrue Holliday is going to be a huge stud, particularly if he gets the shots he deserves.

(Totally not true fact: "Jrue" was a baby-name finalist for No. 2. You get all the value of the "J" first name, combined with the phoenetic advantage of the fine name "Drew," which was thrown out there very early on in the name discussions, but quickly dismissed by me because all I could picture was Drew Magary.)

Did you see Gilbert's Obama tattoo? Yikes, that had to hurt. And whoever said that he probably should have done it in a different order on his fingers was right. It looks like "In Believe We Change," not the other way around.

This was... Yikes.

Complete SN column here. More later.

-- D.S.

3 comments:

River Otter said...

Joe Posnanski loves Gardenhire, so it wouldn't shock me if he voted for him. Poz does make a compelling argument that the Twins seem to play above their talent level almost every year (although Twins' fans might disagree). Posnanski is my favorite sports writer, and I certainly wouldn't consider him to be a d-bag if he voted for Gardy.

Unknown said...

I'm not sure the order of Gilbert's tattoo really matters... if he had made his index finger the top one instead of the bottom (and reversed the order so his pinky was the bottom), then it would read "Change we believe in." It's a much less natural way to position your fingers... but, it would work.

I think the bigger question is... why did he get it on his fingers instead of someplace else?

Ted Hill said...

Dan, do you have a pick for VT @ Miami tonight?