DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN ABOUT THE NBA ALL STAR GAME

 While my wife and I will be toasting our love, marriage, children and grandchildren tonight on Valentines day, I will be missing the only contest in the NBA's All Star Celebration that's at all interesting. Not that the Dunk Contest couldn't be risen from the dead with more than one leaper and lots of understudies. I leave that fix to the league. I'll also leave the skills contest to the league. I'm only interested in the All Star Game itself. Let's be clear: without a modicum of D, the game is boring, just a bunch of 3s and dunkers. Yawn! Here's my fix: Create a 4 point line. Add a 5 point box at the ends of the midcourt stripe where they meet the sideline. You want long bombs, give the fans long bombs. Create a Super Dunk Line just below the free-throw line and award 3 points for such massive dunks. Dunks within that semi circle will be only awarded 1/2 points. By diminishing the value of the dunk lesser dunk, you increase the value of the 2-pt shot, floater and such. Winners of quarters receive money for their favorite charities. Charities to be represented at the game to receive awards. At half time, bring down three fans for a 1 million dollar attempt from the midcourt stipe. 

Okay, that's enough for now. Even if you have an argument with my ideas, that's okay. My point is the NBA has some creativity mind fog. The All Star Game is about The GAME. That's the most important fix. 

An interesting aside about the Winter Olympics: Three of America's men's figure skaters have Slavic names. I hesitate to say Russian names becayse Russians are not so popular these days, But as a Russian immigrant, what can I say. It's cool the popularity of figure skating translated from the old county to the new country. Immigration? Get it Trump. That's what America is all about, you jingoistic, homophobic, racist moron. 

                                                   TIP OF THE PEN

It may be a mystery crime writing convention that the crime/murder should happen reasonably close to thre begining of the novel. I've noticed reading recent mysteries that this is beginning to get out of vogue. I'm suspicious of this trend. Unles someone can convince me otherwise I'm sticking with the quicker the crime the faster I get into the story. Note, I do NOT mean solving the crime. I want to get into my chracter(s). They will carry the story to its conclusion. 

ON THE COURT ON VALENTINES' DAY 2026   By Tom Meschery

That the court turns into a heart,
That the ball flies like cupid's  arrow
That as the ball swishes 

through the hoop like love. 

That its  skirt dances the samba. 

That it was a ten year romance.

That I had to kiss it goodbye

That I still remembering the dance

That passed from my life with a sigh. 

OLYMPICS, STUPID BOWL & MORE

 I say it and say it proudly: Bad Bunny Rules, sticking it to our fake presidant. Donald's response,,"I didn't unserstand a word." Awh, gee whiz, Not a word? Poor baby. What the F--k? Bad Bunny was singing and rapping in Spanish, you moron. A side note: I'm a huge GA GA fan. 

The game itself was a bore made so particularly by the SeaHawks staunch defense and so many commercials that the game itself felt like an afterthought. Yawn! By the way, has any company ever done their own independant servey of how much their ad on Super Sunday improved their sales the next day or week or month or year. The Ad biz has been perpertrating this Emporer's New Clothes hoax for decades. I do have to say I appreciate how the ad companies have bought in to racial equality. Must drive a guy like Trump nuts to see mixed race couples buying mattresses. 

Norway rules the Winter Olympics, but Ilya Malinin rules Men's figure skating. A back flip on on one skate? Snow boarder Cloe Kim wins the silver in the half pipe. She's Korean American. Just sayin' if Donald Rump doesn't know. I was saddened by Lindsey Vonn's injury, but she was heroic even giving it a shot at her age. 

I'm getting slightly sick of hearing all the sides trying to find solutions to teams sitting stars. If the NBA and owners and players would get off some of their profits - to say the money is extraordinary is an understatement - the solution is easy: Reduced the season by ten. Forget Play-ins. They just water down the meaning of the regular season; reduced the first round of the playoff back to best of five; rule that no player, including super stars shall sit out games unless verifiably injured, variable by a doctor who could lose his/her license. Eventually the leaugue is going to have to face doing what's good for the game or good for their money. 

                                                   TIP OF THE PEN

About dialogue: It is often a good idea to attribute your own philosophies about life to one of your characters rather than present them to the reader as an omniscient voice. This is true even when you are writing from an omniscient point of view and it's easy to sound God like. Or as someone once told me, look at me, look at me, see how profound I am. 

Here's a short poem haiku style about the Winter Olympics Men's Free Style figure skating:

Malinin,
 Golden Boy, falls
Twice on his ego

TRADE DEADLINE APPROACHING

 It's the end of January and we've paid our bills. Now the only other thing to worry about is the NBA trade deadline. In my case I'm most concerned with the Golden State Warriors, my #1 team and the Sacramento Kings, my #2 team because Sacto is the city in which I make my home these days and the basketball home for my wife's grandchildren. Let's begin with the Warriors.

There is lot's of speculation that the ownership of the Warriors is seeking to obtain Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Buck. Holy Greek Holiday, wouldn't that be gigantic. Imagine Giannis and Steph together. Wouldn't that guarantee another championship parade down Market Street? Notice, I placed a question mark at the end of that sentence. It's a question worth asking. Sports cognoscenti figure the Warriors would have to give two to three first round draft choices, and players: Probably Butler, if the bucks aren't scared away by a 37-year-old with two major ACL injuries. 

On to the Kings. Strong rumors the Kings want to trade Domatas Sabonis. Also in their trade sights is DeMar DeRozen and Zach Levine. Unlike the Warriors complicated situations, the Kings decision should be easy. Fire the incompetent Doug Christie. Then, trade all three players for as many first round draft choices as they can get and a few young upside players. They desperately need a top-notch point guard. This year's draft is one of the best in recent history. In the top four is the young point guard from U of Kansas, Darryn Peterson. Right now, I'd rather be the Sacramento Kings GM that Mike Dunlevy, the Dub's GM because things are pretty straight forward for the Kings. They're heading for the bottom of the NBA and will, with some trade capital, wind up with a lot of good young players to build around their young core of Raynaud, Murry, Ellis, Clifford, and Cardwell. If they do that, the Kings have a solid future that their fans can get behind. 

So, back to the Warriors. If the Warriors acquire Giannis for the players I mentioned and the draft choice they'd have to give up, would the Warriors have a future? If you consider the future as NOW, which at my ancient condition, I have to do, then maybe they do. Enough to win a championship? Possibly, but unlikely, not with OKC, Denver, and Detroit around. What happens after Steph retires? 

While we're on the topic of the Giannis trade, the talking heads have yet to mention the Lakers as a landing  spot for the Greek super star. How about a Laker package of Reeves, Hashimura,  Knecht, Vanderbilt, and first round picks for this coming draft and 2028. Imagine Steph with Giannis, now imagine Giannis with Luka, the  two European players joining forces. 

As for LIFE: 

Have we had enough to the Trump Magas? Is ICE turning into the Gestapo? Be careful America. 

As for LITERATURE:

                                                     TIP OF THE PEN

As I wrote from the start, these tips are not in any chronological order. They come to me as I'm writing my mysteries. Here's one that might be useful to a writer after he or she has finished his or her first draft. PUT IT ASIDE for a while, at least two weeks before going on to the second draft. The chances are you'll find some really funky MISTAKEES and possibly some AWFUL mistakes made in the first writing. Be particularly aware of chronological mistakes. I made one with day of the week in a recent new series I am writing that screwed up my entire plot and required a month to fix. 

MORE LITERATURE: 

For all you ballers out there, who inspired you? Did you have a gym or playground that you called home? Home where the heart is. This is my pome about the players and the playground that was my home learing how to hoop.

JULIOUS KAHN PLAYGROUND #2

 

No one said a word when my ups came.
In the eighth grad and already six feet
with a sweet jumper. Who’d planted
that seed is no longer living, this memory
being written when nature has reversed itself.
He could have been Les Brillant,
a guard I admired from Linclon High
or Goose Grider, a center, from Lowell.
Names such as these, don’t need bodies.
Each afternoon, I played until the sun
began to set. Walking the twelve block home,
drimbbling, I threw the ball ahead
of me with such a backward spin
that it always striking the cement,
returned to me, on a bounce as it
always has ever since, like a pet I’d trained.

 Championship? 

BBACK ON MY SOAP BOX & ETC

 Basketball has been good to me from the first day I felt that pebbly surface of the ball when I was eleven years old to now, at 86 years young sitting in front of our TV watching the NBA and cheering for my Dubs. However, these days between cheers, I find myself nodding off. It is not old age that brings on the yawns, it's the game, its endless drive and kick offenses. My eyes begin to glaze over. 

I wonder if anybody out there in Blog-reader-land is experiencing the same kind on boredom I am. Please respond and tell me how you're feeling. 

As I see it, most of the offensive action centers around a player in a one-on-one situation or dribbling off a screen and diving to the paint looking for a layup or a kick pass to the corner to a player waiting in the corner with his hands out as if praying for the ball like a beggar holding out his hands for alms. It's that pitiful in my mind. Begging, because he knows the 3 pt corner shot is a cheat. It is the easiest 3 at 22 feet from the basket than the 23.9 feet that is the normal three point distance. That's one foot and nine inches closer to the hoop. Yep, a cheat and the NBA game has been diminished by it. That cheat shot makes help defense more difficult, often impossible. It has taken away the natural movement of the game and boiled it down to a few repetitious driving dives, corner shots and end to end fast breaks. 

If you see this as a problem, as I do, then the fix is simple: Widen the court so the corner three is 23.9 feet from the basket. Surely, the rich NBA can manage a little additional construction costs. To save the game? It might mean eliminating a rich folk front row seating. Just as well. No more wiping beer spilled on the floor when a player lands out of bounds on someone fan's lap. 

WRITE THE NBA: NO MORE CORNER CHEATS. FLOOD THE INTERNET. CALL YOUR LOCAL SPORTS SHOW; SAVE THE GAME. 

WAtched the 49ers beat a rugged Chigago Bears team and get closer to first seed in the Western Conference. For the sake of poetry and our 49erss, it's time to repost my ode to Christian McCaffery.

McCaffrey (With apologies to T.S. Elliot

)McCaffrey’s the running back
Who’s a mystery to none at all
He breaks through any D line
He keeps his fans in awe
 
He’s the bafflement of tacklers
Defensive coaches’ despair
For when they look to find him
McCaffrey’s not there.
 
 
McCaffrey, McCaffrey,
There’s no one like McCaffrey,
He breaks the rules of velocity
His powers of misdirection
Would make magicians stare
For when the tacklers look for him
McCaffrey’s not there.
 
Defenders seek him running
Or receiving, which is hardly rare
But they are left with weeping
‘Cause McCaffrey’s never there

                                                                    TIP OF THE PEN

Thnking back to yesterday's TIP. I explained how important it was to get all the characteristics of your characters, all of them, fixed in your mind and stored somewhere where you can refer to them from time to time. Believe me, it is easy to forget  dates and types of clothing, favorite cigar brands, shades of lipstick, It is also a good idea to re-read your dialogue as you go along down the writing road. After every chapter, I do not write further until I have read the dialogue aloud. Your ear will tell you mistakes in tone and language that your eyes won't. Consistency is essential. However, do not go overboard with dialect or time period slang, accents, etc. Intro these only at specific times to remind your reader the character talking is a teen or a cop from the Big Apple. Write in contemporary English for a sort of centrist audience. 

unless my math is wrong

NNBA NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

 We, The NBA League will endveavor to do our best to think of ways to reward our loyal fans 

this year and years to come. We are fans or our fans, and want you all to know how much your attendance at games and television viewing is at the foundation of our financial success. Signiture of Adam Silver and all owners  of teams required.

If only?

Without the cynicism, what if the hierarchy of the NBA made such a resolution? 

To encourage them, I've thought of a few ways the league could do this:

1. Lower ticket prices across the board by a few bucks, say 5%.

2. If not across the board, how about someting like discount deals: buy a season ticket this year and get 10% off on the same tickets for the following year. 

3. I like what someone called a roulette wheel deal. Spin the wheel at center court at half time with numbers that coincide with seats. If the ball lands on that seat, the winner gets four 20% off tickets next season. How about hotdog deals contests played the same way? Hotdogs at Chase cost $10 bucks. Good golly miss molly!!!!

4. Star player sits out, kids sad because their favorite player they cam to see they won't. Dad totally pissed off because he spent close to a grand on tickets for family and his kids are unhappy. What does a team do for poor dad and his checkbook? How about refund of some kind? Something? Come on, the team can't be that heartless. Think of SAD KIDDIES. I said a sad child, you dig? How about a signed something from the star who didn't play????

5. Reduce the cost of parking, or have contests/draws at center court for a three game free parking pass? It's not always about big reductions, but the belief that the team cares and is looking for ways to thank its fans. You dig? Who's listening in the front office??? Better be careful front office. In a marriage one partner begins to take the other for granted and the slippery slope to divorce is not far away. 

Okay, enough. You get the picture. I'd like all my readers to begin sending their suggestions for fan appreciation to their favorite NBA team. Go to it! 

Did you know that the Anglo Saxons of the 7th century used to enjoy making up riddle poems. Here's one from my collection of sports riddle poems: WHO DAT?

A Griffin Griffen                
 
There’s a griffin who can dunk
Unlike any other griffen.
He’s the envy of the block.
All the girls are Griffin smitten.
 
He’s the envy of the blobs
Who can’t jump above the basket.
While they’re ordinary yobs,

He’s the slam-a-jamma master.                  

NAME THE NBA PLAYER?

                                                TIP OF THE PEN:

BEFORE YOU START YOUR NOVEL:  be sure you have ALL the DETAILS you want your characters to have fixed solidly in your mind. Personality changes of your main characters will occur, especially as they are going to be part of the resolution of the mystery. There is always some kind of interior revelation your cop/PI/amateur sleuth comes to understand about him or herself or about the world around him or her at the end of mysteries. Don't forget flat character, those persons who make up the protagonist's environment, but remain static throughout the series. Be sure you have their habits and characteristics down. They will rarely change from novel to novel. Keep a written or printed record of all characters and their characteristics for reference as you write.