SB Nation User Blog: plinytheelder

"Put Miles on the court, say the Blazers, and we may sue you."

plinytheelder — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:16:31 -0000

"Put Miles on the court, say the Blazers, and we may sue you."

This is absolutely ridiculous. Please sign him Glen Taylor please please.

A new angle from which to compare Mayo and Love: chinstraps.

plinytheelder — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:36:24 -0000

A new angle from which to compare Mayo and Love: chinstraps.

the wolves need to trade for this guy RIGHT NOW!

plinytheelder — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:17:34 -0000

the wolves need to trade for this guy RIGHT NOW!

Completely unrelated to anything. 60 years old. Butt naked.

"Love must earn his minutes"

plinytheelder — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:33:28 -0000

"Love must earn his minutes"

Nice article from Zgoda on Love's minutes. I don't think I totally agree with McHale but he comes across as pretty sensible, I suppose.

Also check out the note at the end of the article - Zgoda's bet is that with Ollie out, the Wolves waive Booth and sign Ahe(a)rn.

On a tangentially-related note, a friend of my wife's did yoga with Booth the other day.

Michael Barry on training camps

plinytheelder — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:51:50 -0000

Michael Barry on training camps

This is from the Sunday Times. It's somewhat less depressing than the one I just posted. Yo Lance and Yaroslav, nice kits!

"In harm's way"

plinytheelder — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:44:41 -0000

I don't mean to bring down anyone's mood, but this is an interesting article from my local paper about a guy who was attacked on a local bike path. The problem with many of these paths in Minneapolis is that they're built on old railway beds, and hence are often deserted (even though they're in the middle of the city); the only traffic is from other cyclists, runners, etc. So they're prime spots for robberies, especially at night.

It's sweepstakes time!

plinytheelder — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:03:39 -0000

In the spirit of the first sweepstakes, "When will Wittman get the axe" (who won that one by the way? please come forward and claim your prize of a game of ping pong with Kris Humphries next time he's in town), I hereby propose a second contest: "What will McHale's record be?" I'll start the ball rolling with my prediction: 27-36. (I wanted to go 30-33 but couldn't bring myself to do it.) We could also have a third sweepstakes, "When will McHale give himself the axe?" My prediction: the day after the season ends. "When will Hoiberg get promoted?" "When will the Wolves up and move to Seattle?" "Will they hire the same middle-of-the-night moving company as the Browns or Colts or whoever the hell it was?" Ah, the possibilities are endless...

outlet passes

plinytheelder — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:27:39 -0000

I just read something interesting in Steve Aschburner's SI.com NBA preview. (Ah, the joys of procrastination.) The format is "63 things to watch for this year" (it's the NBA's 63rd season), and no.16 is the following:

16. Kevin Love's full-court outlet passes, an asset over which the Minnesota personnel staff has beaten drums since acquiring the former UCLA big guy on draft night. It's a little like raving about a pitcher's pickoff move -- something that might be showcased, what, once every two or three games? It's all the stuff in between Love's alleged awe-inspiring heaves downcourt that will make or break him as an NBA rookie.

I wanted to post this here because it made me realize what's been bothering me about all the talk about Love's outlet passes: are we ever going to see them? I.e., in the NBA, the outlet pass isn't really what you can call a weapon - NBA teams are too good for that. Are we really going to see Love grab a rebound, turn around, and chuck the ball 75 feet down the court to a streaking Telfair or Foye for a layup? 1. Love is a relatively short frontcourt player - who's he going to pass over? 2. Are the potential pass recipients really that much faster than anyone else?

Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that Love is a great outlet passer. Maybe if nothing else this skill will be a factor just by virtue of the fact that teams have to respect it, much like a pickoff move in baseball; a big guard who likes to crash the offensive boards will have to think twice before doing that against the Wolves. But I just think NBA teams are too good, too big, too fast, to really be hurt by home run (lotta baseball analogies here! and I hate baseball) type outlet passes. Like Aschburner says, I'm guessing we'll see one once every 3 games or so, if that.

Greg Lemond interview on doping, etc.

plinytheelder — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:59:13 -0000

Apologies if this has been posted already (aux patrons: feel free to take this post down if it has), apologies also because it's not exactly new - the interview was given immediately after Armstrong's presentation at Interbike. However I thought I'd post it here because I find it really interesting, especially at the end: one of the gems is where he states that Contador's times during his TdF win are basically impossible "unless we've all mutated over the past 15 years." Interesting guy, that Greg Lemond, cycling's own Don Quixote (for me that's a compliment)...

http://www.thefredcast.com/?p=406

NY Times article on Josh Childress

plinytheelder — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:15:04 -0000

NY Times article on Josh Childress

Probably many of you have seen it, but here's an article from the Sunday Times on Childress, kind of interesting in light of the discussions we were having when he signed. Also a hot photo of him dunking, and another of him trying to block KG's shot.