State of the Union

Team USA Basketball beat Italy earlier today after being down at the half. I won't go into the details because I don't particularly know them. But as I read the story I began to think about the team that the United States is fielding. Lebron James, DWade, Melo, and Chris Paul just to name a few. Now many of you who are unfamiliar with the NBA might see look at this list and see it as just another NBA all-star game where the best players basically play street ball. No team, all offense, very messy. This is not the case with Team USA. The four players I mentioned are team players. Let me repeat that. TEAM PLAYERS. Yes, Wade might drive too often, but he knows when to dish the ball, as proven in the Finals when he let Shaq have his day. Carmello is the definition of clutch and all-star, but he also knows that on this team he is not the best player, so he has changed his game to reflect the niche of a role player. There are not many superstars who can do this and still score thirty-five points like he did today. Lebron is Lebron, enough said. Chris Paul is the best true point guard to come out of the draft since Steve Nash. He makes his teammates better, and that's his priority.

Note: I saw Chris Paul when he played in college when Wake Forest came to SMU. Despite the Mustangs actually playing a decent game against the Deacons, and almost winning; they could not stop Paul. He singled handedly won them the game by dishing the ball and opening up the paint by draining threes. I was convinced on that cold winter's eve that this guy was real. I feel privileged to have seen this.

(The highlight of the game though was me and the rest of the SMU student section reigning down chants of "zero, zero" to a player at the end of the bench who wore the number 'zero' as his jersey number. For those of you who are blessed enough not to have had to attend a game a Moody Coliseum, the student section is literally directly behind the opponents bench. I mean three feet from it. These people hear everything we have to say. In fact, when Texas Tech came to town, Bobby Knight complained that we were rude and used the term, "never encountered such fans before." Freaking Bobby Knight who has choked a player and thrown chairs onto the court said we were to rough!?!? I'll take that as a compliment.

Regardless, by halftime Zero was fully acknowledging everything we said and even was laughing about it. As he warmed up for the second half, we would "YAY!" his makes, and "AWW" his misses. It slayed him. It got to the point that his teammates joined in while the coach stared at us with a face that looked like we had just told him we slept with his sister. Good times. We eventually got the, "Put zero in!" chant going. Coach put him in. We cheered wildly. Stuff like that makes tough losses a little easier. Just thought you should know that. And yet, I digress...)

Add team oriented Coach K into this, and I see the United States winning this thing. Coach K's college style of ball resonates the team theme that is found in the European and World style of play. It's the only way that Team USA can win. The United States has such far better players that the NBA has become a personal showcase for the elites of the world to show off their skills against five guys, rather than looking for the open man or making the extra pass. Far too often players like Kobe put on personal highlight shows that dazzle us, but corrupt the game of basketball. Is it wrong? No, not really, but we finally realized that we need to play more cohesively to win on a global platform.

Maybe we lose a game, but who cares. This is not 1990 anymore. The world has shortened the gap in basketball between us and them, but we still do have the better players. They just need to play that way, and they need to recognize that they are playing along side four others who are on the same level as them, and use it to their advantage. Think of it as Hide-and-go-seek. Wait...bad example. I don't know what I was trying to prove with that... Think of it as Pac Man. In the early stage of that game, the little ghosts would chase your around, but they had no coordination to their attacks. Even the craftiest four year old could master levels one and two. You'd be strolling along munching on those yellow balls, making that "wonka wonka" noise Pac Man makes without a fear in the world. It wasn't until you reached the higher levels that the ghosts would come at you from all sides, predicting your next move and trying to impede your path rather than just chase you around. Suddenly you're surrounded by ghosts there are no yellow balls around and you feel the creeping terror. That wonka wonka turns into a blood-curdling scream real fast. Wait, where am I going with this?...Oh yeah, basketball. So basically basketball is like Pac Man, only if you are the ghosts. If you play like the ghosts in the first level you're done; no matter how good of a ghost you are. If you play like the raptor-esque ghosts in the later levels you can overcome the toughest opponent. That's what Team USA is doing right now. And yes, I know only three people still care about basketball.

Rangers: So the Rangers had won nine of their last eleven and not gained a single game on Oakland. That's tough to swallow. What's worse is that they then proceeded to lose two games in a row to the lowly Devil Rays.

(Side Note: In all seriousness, it just took me six attempts to write "Devil Rays." I kept writing "Devil Rats." Maybe Freud had something after all? Or maybe I'm just bitter. Anyways..."

Luckily for the Rangers, Oakland lost one of those games. I hate to say this, but its over for this team. And its not like they couldn't make it up. Between Oakland, LA, and themselves, they have the fewest games against teams above .500 by large margin. That means theoretically, if they could win the series with Oakland and the series with LA, they would have to play some good ball, but could take the division. It won't happen. Division winners don't get beat by the D Rays in crunch time. They don't get beat when the division is wide open. Face it, the Rangers are a very mediocre team in a very mediocre division. What does that make them? Mediocre

Along those lines, I think it's about time that Buck Showalter packs his suitcase. As Bob Sturm said today, there is no reason this team should be six games back. This team is under its fourth year of Buck, and has finished in 4th, 3rd, 3rd, and most likely 3rd again (although 2nd place doesn't seem unreasonable). It's about time for this team to do something. It has been seven years since they have been in the playoffs, and the team has not really been a contender in all but one year since. Buck has helped this team, but he is not going to be the one to get this ship to port. Showalter should be coaching for his job right now. Period. I mean I could manage this team about as well as he can. Make the starting line-ups, sit and eat sunflower seeds, make a predictable pitching change, and sit around waiting for a three-run homerun while I'm being paid millions. There hasn't been a better job since they invented the Monarchy. Where do I sign up?

To put the Rangers in perspective, me and my buddy Pat spent a late evening on my balcony drinking beers and discussing teams from all sports who we could never see ourselves rooting for. When we got to Major League Baseball I came up with my list. I included teams like the Pirates and the Brewers, but one thought came into my head. If I weren't already a Rangers fan, they would be on my list of teams that I couldn't see myself rooting for. That's a humbling thought to a fan. The best way to think about that is to think of it as the guy in everyone's group who has been dating his girlfriend for so long that he'd rather stay with her than break up with her, even though he cannot find one justifiable reason to keep her around. He hates how she treats him and he hates how he feels around her, but thinks that its just too hard to start something new after being so vested in the relationship that he can't give up. Maybe every now and then she brings him some excitement and joy, but overall everyday spent together is like a day spent crawling through the mud. That's about how I feel with the Rangers right now. I think I'm going to stop talking about this before I start slamming my head on the keyboard.

Quote of the Year: At the Rangers game the other night (why do I do this to myself?) Drew was talking about how he was glad he did not accept the position of becoming the SMU Mustangs mascot during this upcoming football season. He went on to say though, that his father had thought differently. The conversation went like this:

Drew: "My Dad said that becoming the mascot would be a once in a lifetime experience."

Me: "So is prison rape, Drew. It doesn't mean that it's good."

Conway: "Yeah, they're both hot, sweaty, and uncomfortable experiences."

ZING! Exploding high five for Conway.

*I just realized I inadvertantly plagarized the title of this from KCott. Had to mention this in good conscience.