One down, 4 to go.

Source

Really ESPN? We led for like 97% of this game. Except for about 2 minutes, this was a domination. C'Mon, Espn.

Go Spurs..

NBA Finals Update

Well I intended to have game-2's review done before game-3 took place, but after everything went down the way that it did, I'm glad I didn't.

Game-2:   HEAT 103 - SPURS 84   (a doimination)
Game-3:   SPURS 113 - HEAT 77   (not a domination)

So Sunday in Miami, we saw game-2 play much like game-1 did through the first half. It was tied at 22 after 1 quarter of basketball. Both the Heat and the Spurs would hold a 5-pt. lead during the 2nd quarter, but Miami would do it twice. The last one as the quarter finished, 50-45. The 3rd quarter was once again tight, as the Spurs came back with a 16-7 run, squashing the Heat's 8-pt. lead. But Danny Green's bucket

Image Via

with 3:49 on the clock, putting the Spurs up 62-61, would be their last one.. for a long while.

For the next 10+ minutes the Heat would hit everything they put up, going on an unbelievable 33-5 run, and before anyone knew it, Pop was emptying the bench, and the score was 94-67. During the run Chalmers, Miller, and Allen all contributed, and nothing the Spurs did went right. After 4 turnovers in game-1, the Spurs ended up with 16 in game-2, and a lot of them came during this stretch. With our back-ups in for the last (almost) 7 minutes of the game, however, we outplayed them (their starters for a couple minutes) 17-9 to make the loss a little less painful. Heat win 103-84. Here's the box score.

The media and sports sites all over were touting the Heat as glorious again, and all of a sudden they were unstoppable.. referring to the 10-minute run when calling the game a total domination. OK so we played a super-sloppy 10 minute stretch, but was the game a domination? Not in my opinion.

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                              --------------------------------------------------------------

Fast forward to game-3 on Tuesday, back in Texas. San Antonio fans had waited more than 2 weeks for another home game. Specifically it had been since May 21st, game-2 vs. the Grizzlies! More importantly the organization had waited SIX YEARS for this new opportunity. Obviously fans, and players alike were stoked. Atmosphere was incredible, and in showed as the Spurs jumped out to an early 8-pt. lead, 15-7. Spurs took a 4-pt. lead into the 2nd quarter, 24-20, as it appeared everyone was happy to be at home. Green was hot again (he hasn't really cooled off), Gary Neal was hitting, Kawhi Leonard was hitting, and we were taking care of the ball. With the game tied at 44, and 37 seconds left in the half, Tony hit an amazing three from the corner, followed by a steal on the ensuing possession, and a Gary Neal three at the buzzer. The moment was exciting, as momentum was 100% ours going into halftime 50-44.

Image Via

Including those 6 points, San Antonio would go on a 69 to 33 run for more than 24 minutes of Finals basketball. Neal and Green would combine to hit 13 of 19 threes for the game, and the Spurs as a team hit 16 of 32. Kawhi added 14 pts, and Duncan 12, while Tony was hampered with a strained hamstring. This, my friends, was a total domination. Mike Miller hit 5 of 5 from three, but LeBron was held to 15 points on 7 of 21 shooting. Spurs win game-3 113-77, Miami's worst playoff loss of all-time. Here's the box score.

Box scores via ESPN

Experts

Source: ESPN.com Screenshot

I just have to laugh at these things. It was the same way with the last series vs. Golden State. No one gives us much credit. We win titles.. we contend every single season for the last ... 19 seasons? Nine of these seasons we've been in the conference finals. C'mon, man! And Magic was saying the other night (just before our game-3 win, when ESPN thought of nothing better than to allow these guys to ponder when the Spurs were going to retire.. when they'll be done..), "All these young teams are gonna take over the Spurs next year..."

We're all used to it though.. All the media bias. All the lack of respect. All I have to say to them is "Expert this!"


Source / Via

That Wasn't Cool, Mr. Costas

Via

Spurs Update

Source

So the buzz all night as the San Antonio Spurs visited the Miami Heat earlier Thursday night was the fact that Gregg Popovich chose not to play Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Danny Green for their 4th game in 5 days.

Spurs had won 5 straight road games, and 29 out of their last 33 (an all-time NBA record). Now for the final game of this long road-trip, and their second long road-trip of the season already, the best coach in the league decides to rest some key players. What better experience could the guys on your already strong bench get?

The issue that shouldn't have been continued to be an issue because, of course, the TNT announcing crew of Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, and Kevin Harlan wouldn't leave it alone. Most had positive words to say, and I applaud them for that. But the media also wouldn't leave it alone. But what's new with the media? They take stupid stories involving the big-market teams (in any sport), and blow them way out of proportion. And the Spurs never get any media bias, but we, as Spurs fans, are OK with this. We don't need it, nor want it.

Not long after the starting lineups were announced, NBA commissioner David Stern came out with a statement:

"I apologize to all NBA fans. This was an unacceptable decision by the San Antonio Spurs and substantial sanctions will be forthcoming." (Source)

Not only is this BS, but after the fact, it's going to be very interesting to see how Stern reacts after the outcome of the game. The game was a good one! Spurs had the chance to win down the stretch, and even led for a lot of this game. David Stern needs to step aside already, and apologize for his remarks. In a statement that his successor, Adam Silver, made in response to a very similar situation last season regarding the Spurs, Silver said:

"The strategic resting of particular players on particular nights is within the discretion of the teams." (Source)

Be sure to take a look at the box score for this game of "no-names" against the current NBA champions.

By the way, here's how ESPN's Sportsnation views the (non)-issue:


Source

Click here to go vote on this..

Spurs are 13-4, and doing very well, stupid issues aside. They host the hot Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday, Dec. 1 in only their 4th home game since Nov. 7th. Memphis currently holds the best record in the NBA at 11-2. I would think I'd want my players fresh for that game, especially since the Grizzlies are not only a conference opponent, but a division foe as well.

UPDATE: David Stern has fined the organization $250,000.

Crock. Of. Horse$%&@.

And here's an awesome Reddit thread about this..

Good Point, Sir

Via / Source unknown

More Dr. Thomas Sowell quotes here: Domestic Divapalooza..

Serious Kudos to Reddit

Image Source, and of course Reddit itself

For the first time I can recall since about September 11, 2001, I have been glued to the news regarding the Aurora, Co. movie theater incident.

I've flipped among HLN, CNN, MSNBC, and even FoxNews for almost two straight days now. While these networks have done a decent job in their reporting of the events as they occur (some better than others), their journalism skills are in great need of improvement.

FoxNews was actually very good with today's coverage of the investigation of Holmes's apartment. I don't normally watch FoxNews. Nope, never. CNN and HLN were both doing well at first until they both dropped the ball, and started rebroadcasting loops of CNN's Anderson Cooper's and Piers Morgan's interviews.. and HLN's Jane Valez-Mitchell & Vinnie Politan seemed to speculate for hours while independent media outlets were coming up with new updates by the minute!

Reddit user integ3r has provided to the public (along with hefty assistance from nilicule, shankee, quantumraiders, and dozens of other contributors), the most detailed report of the events -as they happened- as I've ever seen.. for any event, ever. These guys deserve some SERIOUS credit for the unprecedented realistic & thorough journalism work they've put in. (integ3r has already been given tons of credit across the Internets, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.)

The LIVE feed from 9NEWS out of Denver has been top-notch, and I have chosen to watch it over any of the main national media outlets. It is however not online 24/7. Nothing against them - they can only do so much, and what they have done has been incredible!

I have taken the time to post this because as a quasi-journalist myself, I am SICK of the national media, and their lame reporting of extremely important news. I remember how things were during the 9/11 attacks, but I was just beginning to see it then. They did the same thing during the Casey Anthony trial, and they do the same thing whenever there is a major celebrity death.

Something I saw on CNN today: "We are trying very hard to focus only on the victims in this case, and not the individual who chose to take the lives of these victims, blah blah blah.." Not a quote, it's my paraphrased statement. Five seconds later the station posts a picture of James Holmes, and the voice being heard says something of the like: "Who is this James Holmes? We'll be right back with more information about his background, his possible motives, and more details we've just discovered." Again, not a direct quote.

This is my point. Besides the fact that every 2 minutes someone is injecting their own speculation as to "why this, or why that." And it's not only that. The national media is a complete failure because of their inadequacy on the job. Mispronouncing names.. blatantly getting stuff wrong.. FoxNews is still to this minute saying there were 71 victims! "Why would he join a sex site?" is another gem I heard. Why would anyone join a sex site?

Here is the link to the creme of the crop coverage directly from Reddit. They have also provided a blog site with all of it in one place.

This is the definition of journalism.

Historic Quotes: Malcolm X

Original Image Credit: National Museum of American History / Via - (NSFW)

Facebook Shares

Source / Via - (NSFW)

Spurs' Success Starts at the Top

This is a terrific article by ESPN's John Hollinger (1, 2) about the Spurs' organization. I think the national media may be waking up to exactly what it is we've been doing here for many years now. I think I even heard several "experts" publicly praising us - who have never, ever praised us - now that we've won 16-straight, and in dominating fashion. Greg Anthony, Tim Legler, Jeff Van Gundy, and more.

This is an ESPN "Insider" article, which means it's an article you only get to read if you pay ESPN for their Insider package. I'll let you know now, I'm not the one who ripped it and posted it. That credit goes to georgestephanopoulos. But I give the guy a ton of thanks for sharing an incredible article with a ton of people who would have otherwise not seen it.

Via / Source

Once the rest of the league starts to pay attention to what we've been doing for years & years, I think they might start to figure it out. Then again why has it taken them so long? More importantly once the media drops their "old & aging team" moniker that has been present since about, oh 2007, perhaps they'll also realize this franchise isn't gonna have a rebuilding stage. We're gonna be there - competing with the best of them - winning 50 games a season - for many, many years to come. My only hope is that Timmy & Pop stick around a little longer.

The Media Today

Source / Via - (NSFW)

Some Things Never Change

Source: This ESPN poll..

So we win 11-straight, and 12 of 13. We go 8-1 on a 9-game road trip, and come home at 24-10 at the "half-way" point. Then we play a hard-fought game against one of the best teams in the league, and lose by 7, and suddenly a majority of the nation thinks we're not contenders? That's OK - they've said the same thing every single year that I can remember - even between 1999 & 2007. And yeah every season since '07 we're "washed-up".. we're in "rebuilding mode".. we're "so old" that our only weapons are our canes.

Once again, I just laugh at them all.

Alone We Stand

This was one of the pictures at ESPN's Daily Dime page around game time tonight. Are you kidding me? All you have to say is that this is the end of an era?

Obviously the thought was that we'd lay down and fall to the Grizzlies 4-1. Even if not - I know the percentage of people who believed in this team had substantially decreased after our game-4 meltdown - If we should go on to win game-5, extend the series, etc., is this really an appropriate thing to be posting? Not yet I say.. either way!

Take a look at this ESPN poll from early Tuesday morning:



It's obvious that most of the country thought we were done. It was early, but I couldn't find the poll again to check the results yesterday when I got up.

So back to game-5. Aside from a tiny little spell in the late 3rd quarter of this game, we were in control. Even when Memphis finally took their first lead, I could tell that this game would be different. We were resilient down the stretch. So I go back to ESPN just to see what they chose as their headline.

This is what they chose with 4-5 minutes left in the game:


And what's crazy here, is that the game is now over. It's been 30 minutes or so. This image is still there - same title. Only they changed a few letters.

"as the Spurs look to avoid elimination Wednesday night."

was replaced with

"as the Spurs avoided elimination Wednesday night."

Yeah we all know how the national media is. But I'm gonna do you one better. This Memphis team is very good. They are not like any other #8 seed I've ever seen (there are a few possible exceptions). We played this team 3 times in a month near the end of the season. All three were close, but they beat us up all three times, and won two of them. This team won a lot of games after the all-star break, culmanating in a 9-2 record just before they tanked their last two games "rested their players" - obviously OK with the idea of playing San Antonio. Why wouldn't they be? I told everyone time and time again near the end of the season - "We need to avoid Memphis. Portland isn't a good match-up either, but we must avoid Memphis."

So now here we are.

Never underestimate the heart of a Champion! --Rudy Tomjonavich (Houston Rockets' Head Coach), 1995

That quote is all I can think about right now. Count us out if you want to. Start elaborating about what this team is gonna be like without Tim Duncan, or without Gregg Popovich.. Consider how we've blown a few chances in a few seasons (specifically 2010, 2009, and 2002) - But what most of the critics who celebrate those three seasons in which we admittedly didn't do it down the stretch, I remind you of this:

2004 - Tim Duncan hit a shot at the (apparent) buzzer to put us up in game 5 of the semi-series against the Lakers, only to have Derek Fisher hit one of the most improbable shots of all time. Yeah 0.04. He doesn't hit that shot, and I feel strongly we win that series, and perhaps the rest is history.

2006 - Being down 3-1 in the western conference finals to Dallas, we stormed back, and did well in game-7 at our place. If it was not for a subtle Manu Ginobili foul on Dirk Nowitzki at the buzzer, that game was ours, and WE go on to the finals against Miami. Remember: Dallas won the first two games of those finals, and then lost 4 straight.

I see a ton of people online wanting to argue that this is not a DYNASTY. They claim that a team must repeat a Championship to be a dynasty. They claim three-peats, and all sorts of things. This Spurs team has won 4 Championships in a span of 13 seasons. 13 seasons in which we have not only compiled the best regular season record in ALL OF SPORTS, but have continued to be competitive with the same primary nucleus for more seasons than any other team I can think of.

Going backwards:
• 12 straight 50-win seasons: 687-297 (69.8%) - Three titles - 3-0 in Finals
• 37-13 in the 1998-1999 season (74%) - 74% of an 82-game season is 60.7 wins - 1 title
• 1997-1998: 56-26
• 1996-1997: David Robinson Injured in game-6 of the season.. (20-62) Leads to Tim Duncan acquisition.
• 1989-1996: 383-191 (66.7%) - 5 more 50-win seasons
• 127-95 playoff record in 21 seasons prior to this season - 21 playoff appearances in 22 years, including this season

Think about it all. Not only is this certainly a professional sports dynasty, it's not over with just yet.

Now it's after midnight, and ESPN has posted several variations and different camera angles of the Gary Neal Shot on its main page. But most are videos, and they all contain the same text as before. And the same title. We are Barely Alive and have "avoided elimination". Here is the final analysis page.

Perhaps some of this media attention is deserved. Not because we "eluded fate," or surprised everyone by playing the kind of basketball we've played all season, but because we freaking deserve it, and have much more to say in the coming days.

Images Source

Anything To Say Now, National Media?

Source (and the full box score)

Feel free to jump on the bandwagon..



Source

Conan / Leno

All right I've had enough. Jay Leno & Conan O'Brien are both equally average. Enough said.

Just another media rant.

That's all..

Mark McGwire and the Media

It hasn't even been a full day yet, and the media is already totally blowing Mark McGuire's recent admissions way out of proportion!

Mark McGwire is one of the greatest hitters of all-time.

Yeah, he may have used some drugs that weren't banned from the game in most of the years he played. Yeah the substances that the docs recommended to him to help him heal his injuries just happened to manifest themselves in subsequent years as BAD STUFF.

There is no doubt in my mind that the following fact is completely true:

Most of these guys who were dabbling in stuff their doctors recommended for good health, healing, muscle growth (is it a crime to help your muscles grow?), had no idea that their actions in any way deviated from the popular public opinion at that time. Is this a banned substance? No it's not. I'll always be able to purchase something to do the things that my body needs right now.

Is there ever going to be a "fine line" in Major League Baseball?

Why hasn't the steroid issue been such a HUGE deal in anything except for MLB?

How does this affect his ______?

How does this affect MLB?




All I care about is that this guy gets SOME of the kudos he deserves. There happened to be an era in the big leagues in which a lot of guys used the newest technology in medicine - to help them heal, to help them rehab, to help their stamina, to help their muscle growth.

Is this safe? Yeah.. Is it legal? Yeah.. All I want to do is be the best player I can be!

Tiger Woods: I feel Sorry For The Man

This went from:

"Tiger Woods was involved in a minor, 1-car accident a block from his home at Thanksgiving."

-to-

"Tiger quit golf."

"Tiger is retiring."

"Tiger won't be back until probably May or June, and will miss his first Masters."

"I don't think he really will catch Jack Nicklaus."

...in 15 days!!

It won't surprise me if the media is posting its 92nd member of Tiger's illustrious "list". You know, sometime in March - 3 full months from now - when there are two huge golf tournaments right around the corner...

Heck, maybe news will come out that:

Tiger was on his way to his own personal lighted driving range area, when he swerved to miss his neighbor's dog, and while re-correcting, mowed over a fire hydrant on its way to coming to rest against a tree.

Tiger was never driving the Escalade. One of the 92 women came and stole it, and Tiger was chasing them down with the 3-iron.

Tiger left the house at 2 am to take a short drive to remove himself from a situation he didn't want to be in at that moment. Then he decided crashing his car felt like it'd be fun. "I'm a billionaire - why is that news?"

Tiger was leaving for the store late at night to get his wife some ice cream. He was jumped in the driveway, and in a matter of seconds overtook the assailant. The vehicle then took out a fire hydrant, a neighbor's dog, and crashed into a tree. The assailant fled.

Elin was the one driving the Escalade. She knew about a few of Tiger's real mistresses at the time, and was driving them around at his request. The mistress took over control of the vehicle for a few seconds, but was subsequently bludgeoned by Elin with a 3-iron. The body has yet to be found. Tiger says he quickly ran to get help, and saw nothing. Elin then attempted to kill her own mother a few days later. Tiger's been effectively kidnapped to Sweden. Elin releases the statement: "I was blackmaled with $58 million from about 14 women to kidnap this bastard, and remove him from the game of golf. What do I have to lose?"

No One Can Leave It Alone

Source

Thanks Kurt!

One Last One

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And I mean last.

To the Media:

You all need to stop. Stop reporting Tiger Woods' accident. Stop reporting everything "Tiger". Wasn't hurt.. wasn't arrested.. accident. Somehow everything from this point on is the result of your actions. If it weren't for you, the story wouldn't be what it is. So why is it?

So why is it? With every day of continued coverage, you are going to expose perhaps for the first time ever your biggest flaw.. perpetuating the fact that there is so much more going on than what you choose to report. And it's not just Tiger. Or Michael.. or Anna Nicole Smith, or Lohan, Kanye, Britney... or college football BCS crap that you have no clue about.

Or how about Osama Bin Laden. Saddam Husein or 9/11 in retrospect.. Why are there no follow-ups for this? We're at war, and no one really knows why, right? Can anyone tell me why?

Or perhaps in one single 24-hour period, there are still at least a dozen good stories to report. If there are not, or if there seems to be nothing crime-related to report on, then find some good stuff! When your local news leads off with 10 straight crime reports.....

For how many months are we going to hear about Jon & Kate?

The Casey Anthony trial is coming up. You better start preparing... Now.