Badalona Baddie

I seem to remember a certain Western Conference Finals in which the team with the homecourt advantage lost it early on by getting drubbed by nearly 30 points. Said team came back to (barely, and painfully for us) win the series. Apples and oranges? Perhaps. But it's an example of how a horrible home loss does not necessarily spell doom.

Sad news. I remember watching Marvin Webster back in the '70s/early '80s. Condolences to Martell and the rest of the Webster fam. Update: Posters have questioned whether Marvin Webster was actually Martell Webster's uncle. The original version of this story stated that this was the case, but it was redacted from later versions. I have long seen the Marvin/Martell connection stated as fact on the Internet. It's possible that this is just not true and that Marvin's death has led to some factchecking.

After Nate he is totally my favorite NBA coach.

I have never been a fan of John Canzano's rather, shall we say, over the top way of writing, but today's column about Kevin Love's family takes the cake. It's the usual blend of Canzano-style hamfistedness and self-insertion, just taken to extremes. My favorite part was his encounter with Przybilla. Did it really go the way Canzano described it? Did Joel see him with a far-off look in his eye and say hey, John, a penny for your thoughts? Seriously? But most of all, this column was a masterpiece of paragraphs that aren't really paragraphs, just quick declarative statements isolated to look more meaningful and dramatic than they really are. If you follow the bald-faced wonder at any length, you know this is Canzano's calling card as a literary stylist. Here are, verbatim, whole paragraphs from today's column: "Emily Love is 15." "What?" "You were expecting Kevin here?" "Not one." "Not two." "But three." "And maybe it's right there." "Not weird before." "Weird now." "And that really tells you all you need to know." Does this man have an editor? Because that's what I want to know. It's the least we can ask. As readers of Portland sports media.

Read the comments -- true, they're doing it partly as a way to rip the Hawks, but it's nice to see our team get so much respect from out of town. Lots of teeth-gnashing about not drafting CP3/Deron OR Brandon Roy.

Here's the reason why we're all here madly debating trade scenarios. Looking back on it, it seems nuttier than ever that this player was given this much money for such a long period of time. May Paul Allen and KP never do anything this dumb.

It appears that, barring a setback, the Hornets will not be suffering a devastating blow to their playoff position efforts.

Apparently the Bonzi-China honeymoon is particularly sweet.

Some thoughts as All-Star voting heads into the homestretch: 1. Will China's Sport Ministry intensify its compulsory "vote for Yi online" initiative to get favorite son Yi Jianlan a completely undeserved starting spot in the ASG? He is currently about 150,000 votes behind KG for the second spot. 2. Would you be chagrined or amused if Yi beat out KG for the spot? 3. What changes should be made to ASG voting if Yi makes it to Phoenix in a capacity other than playing on the Sophomore team? 4. Will votes suddenly be "lost" if it appears Yi is going to be a starter? 5. Finally, here's a list of some players who've gotten more votes than Brandon Roy: Rafer Alston Jason Terry Jamal Crawford Luis Scola LUKE FREAKIN' RIDNOUR (?????) Turkey Glue Mehmet Okur B-Roy's vote total is a disgrace.