Tuesday, April 12, 2011

4/12 (Interregnum) Quickie

A few stray thoughts on a morning I'm feeling chippy:

*It's "Tell-a-Friend Tuesday" at Quickish. All that means is that you recommend Quickish to a friend today. Ideally, lots of friends. Actually, really ideally, you tell lots of friends every day. But we'll settle for just one friend on one day. It's a more concerted effort to get the word out about Quickish. I know most of you already tell friends -- can't tell you how much I appreciate that. So here's a spin-off: Tell your friends to tell friends. Virality!

*Mariners fans deserved that comeback last night. It was as improbable an event in baseball as there exists -- that the wispy-hitting Mariners would be able to come back from a 7-0 deficit in the game's final three innings? (Oh, and in a start where King Felix got shelled, no less.)

*Even more than other years, the NBA Playoffs first round feels like a fait d'accompli. The marquee is Celtics-Knicks. Does anyone actually see the Knicks taking this more than 5 games, let alone winning?

*It's admittedly a low bar, but I'm more engaged in this year's NHL Playoffs than any in recent years I can remember. I'm nominally a Caps fan, so I'd like to see them avoid the ignominy of a first-round exit (particularly after being up 3 games to 1), but I can absolutely see the inherent drama of Bruins-Habs.

*Randy Moss to the Jets? Why not?

*So one-and-done Josh Selby skipped the Kansas hoops banquet because he was looking into his draft status? And? If your dream employer called you a few weeks before graduation and said they'll give you a job but they need you to start right away and you'll have to miss your graduation, you'd skip your graduation. By the way, this was a basketball banquet, not a graduation.

*By the way, this year's NBA Draft is awful. I'm fully on board with Bismack Biyombo going No. 1 overall. He has more upside than any player in the draft. Though that's not saying a lot.

*I think Tom Brady going in the 6th round is the greatest story in the history of the NFL Draft. (His story is being re-told tonight on ESPN, and the clip of him crying while remembering his drop through the draft is the most viral sports video of the week.) I'm totally comfortable using his draft story as a club to mock the draftniks, who are charlatans.

That said, he was pegged as a system QB who needs to be in the right fit in order to succeed in the NFL -- you could say that about most great QBs, from Montana to Elway to Favre. And you can't argue that Brady didn't benefit in some ultimate sense from being paired with Bill Belichick (and vice versa). Brady going in the 1st round to some horrible team would have obliterated his career. The lesson: When it comes to the draft, it's all about fit, about system and about opportunity.

Lots more coming throughout the day at Quickish. Please pop by (and tell a friend!)

-- D.S.

No comments: