Isn't it high time the Kings realize who their center is? If they don't, the answer to the question is an extremely talented basketball center/forward (stretch if you prefer as he can hit 3's) who will be just good enough to be considered great, but not emotionally capable of greatness. Case in point. After the the recent game against the Washington Wizards, he could not admit that he was thoroughly outplayed on both ends of the court by Marcin Gortat, the Wiz's Polish center. No Polish jokes please, this guy is a true pro. He outran, out hustled, out shot, out rebounded and out smarted Cousins at every turn. Cousin's response to the media was to excuse his lack of effort on the coach's the defensive scheme. He was just following orders? Give me a break.
From the very beginning of his career, DeMarcus Cousins has whined, or angered, or complained, or rationalized the fact that it is his responsibility, given his talent, to lead his team (he loves to refer to the Kings as "his" team.) by example. Example is, in fact, the only way to lead a team. One more time with feeling: By example. Not by talk. Talk is as useless as titties on a papa pig. As long as the Kings are not playing my Warriors, I am a loyal King's fan, and I am tired of watching Cousin lumber down the court. He is the last man back on offense and the last man back on defense most of the time. I can't imagine this lack of hustle has not been noticed by the coaching staff and administration, since it is clearly evident by any fan who's not visually handicapped. I've been a part of professional basketball as a player for ten years, and as a coach, both head and assistant, and for many years as a devoted enthusiast of the game, and I know a con-job when I see it during the game and hear it after the game, or read it in the sport pages. I do not doubt DeMarcus Cousins' talent. Countless times, I've turned to my wife after watching some fabulous move Cousins' made that led to a score, and remarked on his skills. So, it breaks my heart when I see those skills at the mercy of a weak temperament. I don't know how Cousins can change. It may be tragically that he will remain throughout a long career averaging 20 pts and 9 boards a game while never getting close to a championship.
In this morning's Bee, a article by my favorite sports writer Ailene Voisin about Omri Casspi. Right on, young man. Don't think the coaches around the league haven't noticed your improvement. Talk about hustle both ends of the court. Israel should be proud.
Good news. Steve Kerr looks like he is close to returning to the Warrior bench. If anyone doubts this will be a smooth transition back to leadership, don't be concerned. This team understands the meaning of the word team from top to bottom.
Enough about basketball. How about a lovely sonnet about archery, a sport not often in the sport pages.
Archery Instructor
My boys walk down the range intent to find
Lost arrows well beyond the target flown.
Tomfoolery forgot, they scuff around
The underbrush, each searching on his own.
To them it's treasure hunting of a kind.
But since it's I who am responsible
For all the archery equipment used.
I wait here hoping they will find them all.
The boys move dimly in the woods. Bemused,
I slowly let the scene be blurred unreal
And dream that I might well be Cupid here
Whose orders were, 'Bring back my misfired darts!'
Except on second thought I feel more sure
That what I'd mean is, 'halves of broken hearts.'
A very foolish fond old man, said Lear.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
R.I.P. Jungle Jim
In my rookie season with the, then, Philadelphia Warriors, in the Boston Garden, I threw a punch at Tommy Gun Heinsohn because he hit me with an elbow. I missed him. Ready to throw another punch, I felt my arms being pinned behind me. Guess who? Jungle Jim Loscutoff, fellow Russian and San Franciscan had me securely in his grip, just in time for Heinsohn to land a right cross. The skin above my eye opened like a dropped tomato. Thanks 'Loscy.'
I remember Jim as the quintessential NBA enforcer, but not without basketball skills. He was an effective man on the boards at both ends of the court. He set picks that hurt, opening guys like Frank Ramsey and Sam Jones for jumpers. He was a pro's pro. Gave no quarter, took no quarter. He was older than me, but we grew up playing on the same playgrounds in San Francisco. His family was part of the generation of Russian immigrants that came to the U.S. in the late 1800's. I was part of the White Russians who immigrated to the States after World War II. I'd like to think that I was more than an enforcer for the Warriors, but it does seem that on occasion that became my role. So, Jim, from a fellow enforcer, I wish you a safe trip into the universe. My own trip is not too distant, and I'll be looking for you. I owe you one.
The following little poem I wrote that's in my collection: Sweat: New and Selected Poems About Sports fits this blog. The persona in the poem could very well be Jim Loscutoff.
In The Moment
The whistle blows
and I'm caught
between curbing my anger
or hitting the player
who just fouled me.
Oh, what the hell, I say.
I remember Jim as the quintessential NBA enforcer, but not without basketball skills. He was an effective man on the boards at both ends of the court. He set picks that hurt, opening guys like Frank Ramsey and Sam Jones for jumpers. He was a pro's pro. Gave no quarter, took no quarter. He was older than me, but we grew up playing on the same playgrounds in San Francisco. His family was part of the generation of Russian immigrants that came to the U.S. in the late 1800's. I was part of the White Russians who immigrated to the States after World War II. I'd like to think that I was more than an enforcer for the Warriors, but it does seem that on occasion that became my role. So, Jim, from a fellow enforcer, I wish you a safe trip into the universe. My own trip is not too distant, and I'll be looking for you. I owe you one.
The following little poem I wrote that's in my collection: Sweat: New and Selected Poems About Sports fits this blog. The persona in the poem could very well be Jim Loscutoff.
In The Moment
The whistle blows
and I'm caught
between curbing my anger
or hitting the player
who just fouled me.
Oh, what the hell, I say.
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Sports News from Monday's Bee
The Sacramento B is not the San Francisco Chronicle, but it will have to do since this paper services my adopted city. My biggest complaint, of course, is lots of news about the Kings, and not much about my Golden State Warriors. Well, Duh, Meschery, why would they cover a team that regularly kicks the Kings in the butt?
Still, the B's sport page generates fodder for this Blog. First, I'd like to comment on the article about the Kings Defense, with a capital D because it is probably the main reason for most of their losses. Fellows, listen carefully if you're reading this, it's not about the defensive scheme; it's about heart and guts and a willingness to attack on D and to close out on every single pass, and I mean every one, not just the first one or the second one, but the third, fourth or fifth pass, and to help each other and to talk to each other. It's that easy. And, that hard. But, men, if you're not willing, you'll never do it.
I was struck by a creative headline for College Basketball: Oklahoma cruises past Villanova at Pearl Harbor. Great verb given the setting.
LeBron is a Nike lifer. Can anybody tell me where Nike is producing LeBron's shoes? Is Nike still paying pauper's wages in Vietnam? Or is it Indonesia? Anyway, Nike won't reveal what it pays workers. I'm guessing somewhere around 50 cents an hour. Maybe LeBron can share some of his wealth with those underpaid folks, huh? Or perhaps the Oregon Ducks who are heavily endowed by Mr. Knight, owner of Nike, might want to skip a couple of snappy uniforms and donate the $ to the workers. Oh, all right, I own up to being knee jerk liberal. But who out there doesn't see a terrible corporate injustice going on?
Class Action OK'd in NCAA Lawsuits. Good deal. The NCAA has to come up with a better solution as to how they compensate athletes in basketball and football who are generating so much wealth for their universities. I don't see it as a money issue. The value of a free ride is enormous in our society today. If my grandson wanted to attend my Alma mater today, he'd have to pay $50 grand a year, tuition, room and board. So, athletes, take your increased stipend and suck it up. It's an education issue. What I see that the universities need to do (must do) is provide their athletes lifetime scholarships. That way if these kids leave school early, they can come back at any time later in their lives to earn their degrees. Same goes for athletes who go four years but don't graduate. Or drop out of college after a couple of years unable to reconcile the high level of training and the required classroom work. Whatever? A formula can be created to identify the worthy and exclude the slackers.
Is Tony Romo snake bitten or what. I've never been a Cowboys fan, not since the days when they advertised themselves as America's team. Give me a break. But I've to fee increasingly sorry for Romo who is a fine quarterback, perhaps an excellent one. This years team despite the loss of Murry could have been terrific. So let's hear it for Romo. The question is when will he finally decide he doesn't have the energy to go through so much rehab? The same can be said for players in all sports who are prone to injuries. Derrick Rose of the Chi town Bulls, for example.
I've probably used this poem before, but it is one of my favorites about skiing, which is finally happening up in the Sierras, according to my daughter, a resident of the mountain town of Sierraville.
Skier by Robert Francis
He swings down like the flourish of a pen
Signing a signature in white on white.
The silence of his skis reciprocates
The silence of the world around him.
Wind is his one competitor
In the cool winding and unwinding down.
On incandescent feet he falls
Unfalling, trailing white foam, white fire.
Still, the B's sport page generates fodder for this Blog. First, I'd like to comment on the article about the Kings Defense, with a capital D because it is probably the main reason for most of their losses. Fellows, listen carefully if you're reading this, it's not about the defensive scheme; it's about heart and guts and a willingness to attack on D and to close out on every single pass, and I mean every one, not just the first one or the second one, but the third, fourth or fifth pass, and to help each other and to talk to each other. It's that easy. And, that hard. But, men, if you're not willing, you'll never do it.
I was struck by a creative headline for College Basketball: Oklahoma cruises past Villanova at Pearl Harbor. Great verb given the setting.
LeBron is a Nike lifer. Can anybody tell me where Nike is producing LeBron's shoes? Is Nike still paying pauper's wages in Vietnam? Or is it Indonesia? Anyway, Nike won't reveal what it pays workers. I'm guessing somewhere around 50 cents an hour. Maybe LeBron can share some of his wealth with those underpaid folks, huh? Or perhaps the Oregon Ducks who are heavily endowed by Mr. Knight, owner of Nike, might want to skip a couple of snappy uniforms and donate the $ to the workers. Oh, all right, I own up to being knee jerk liberal. But who out there doesn't see a terrible corporate injustice going on?
Class Action OK'd in NCAA Lawsuits. Good deal. The NCAA has to come up with a better solution as to how they compensate athletes in basketball and football who are generating so much wealth for their universities. I don't see it as a money issue. The value of a free ride is enormous in our society today. If my grandson wanted to attend my Alma mater today, he'd have to pay $50 grand a year, tuition, room and board. So, athletes, take your increased stipend and suck it up. It's an education issue. What I see that the universities need to do (must do) is provide their athletes lifetime scholarships. That way if these kids leave school early, they can come back at any time later in their lives to earn their degrees. Same goes for athletes who go four years but don't graduate. Or drop out of college after a couple of years unable to reconcile the high level of training and the required classroom work. Whatever? A formula can be created to identify the worthy and exclude the slackers.
Is Tony Romo snake bitten or what. I've never been a Cowboys fan, not since the days when they advertised themselves as America's team. Give me a break. But I've to fee increasingly sorry for Romo who is a fine quarterback, perhaps an excellent one. This years team despite the loss of Murry could have been terrific. So let's hear it for Romo. The question is when will he finally decide he doesn't have the energy to go through so much rehab? The same can be said for players in all sports who are prone to injuries. Derrick Rose of the Chi town Bulls, for example.
I've probably used this poem before, but it is one of my favorites about skiing, which is finally happening up in the Sierras, according to my daughter, a resident of the mountain town of Sierraville.
Skier by Robert Francis
He swings down like the flourish of a pen
Signing a signature in white on white.
The silence of his skis reciprocates
The silence of the world around him.
Wind is his one competitor
In the cool winding and unwinding down.
On incandescent feet he falls
Unfalling, trailing white foam, white fire.
Monday, December 7, 2015
NCAA Football Missing the Boat & etc
It is so perfect that how the NCAA is missing it astounds me. Here's the way the Final Four in Division I football should look like: Final four picks get a by, while waiting for the winners of the Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl and the Peach Bowl. The winners of those bowls create an Elite 8 and playoff at the Orange Bowl until Two Winners face each other for the NCAA Championship. Imagine the hype an extended series such as this would create.
World Peace says he'd like to coach, adding that in his playing days he was "reckless" like his only act of recklessness was his fight in Detroit. Can he coach? Does he have the patience and the understanding of the game, the whole court, not just his position? Even if Peace is at Peace with himself, I just think he's too edgy to be a successful coach on any level. But if indeed he isn't afraid to take on any head coaching job, why not start in a high school? God knows high school kids need adults to take an interest in them.
What is Cousins doing shooting tons of 3's. Granted he's got a decent deep ball, but where do you need him? He shows the 3 and who's on the offensive glass?
Warriors let the Nets "hand around" but I was never in doubt the way I was with the Raptors. The minute Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez started backing down their opponents (dribble, dribble, dribble, bump, bump, bump) and the rest of the team stopped moving and watched them, I knew the Dubs were home free. Even Carmelo, the grandaddy of all ball stoppers has made an effort to keep the ball hopping. Time for the Johnson, Lopez and others like them to get on board. It's a new day in the pros. Go Dubs!
No worries Raiders' fans. This is the turnaround year, and turnaround was accomplished. The Raiders are now ready to return to the John Madden, Bill King era. Hear that, Bill wherever you are in the universe.
A quick note to end the Pac 12 football season, consider if the Oregon Ducks hadn't lost their quarterback, Vernon Adams, for three games, would they be playing in the Rose Bowl?
Here's a poem I wrote about football
Why I never Played Football
It's not that I lacked courage,
I was big and weighed enough to make
a decent tight-end or with a little work
an offensive lineman or a fullback.
What I couldn't see myself doing
was getting dirty, playing in mud
or freezing in snow which back then
when I was young is what you had
to endure. Perhaps these days
with covered stadiums I'd think
differently. Still, there was bound
to be more blood playing football,
yours or somebody else's, than
playing another sport. Golf
for example. See how clean
those guys are out on the links,
how civilized in their cardigans,
in their neatly pressed trousers.?
World Peace says he'd like to coach, adding that in his playing days he was "reckless" like his only act of recklessness was his fight in Detroit. Can he coach? Does he have the patience and the understanding of the game, the whole court, not just his position? Even if Peace is at Peace with himself, I just think he's too edgy to be a successful coach on any level. But if indeed he isn't afraid to take on any head coaching job, why not start in a high school? God knows high school kids need adults to take an interest in them.
What is Cousins doing shooting tons of 3's. Granted he's got a decent deep ball, but where do you need him? He shows the 3 and who's on the offensive glass?
Warriors let the Nets "hand around" but I was never in doubt the way I was with the Raptors. The minute Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez started backing down their opponents (dribble, dribble, dribble, bump, bump, bump) and the rest of the team stopped moving and watched them, I knew the Dubs were home free. Even Carmelo, the grandaddy of all ball stoppers has made an effort to keep the ball hopping. Time for the Johnson, Lopez and others like them to get on board. It's a new day in the pros. Go Dubs!
No worries Raiders' fans. This is the turnaround year, and turnaround was accomplished. The Raiders are now ready to return to the John Madden, Bill King era. Hear that, Bill wherever you are in the universe.
A quick note to end the Pac 12 football season, consider if the Oregon Ducks hadn't lost their quarterback, Vernon Adams, for three games, would they be playing in the Rose Bowl?
Here's a poem I wrote about football
Why I never Played Football
It's not that I lacked courage,
I was big and weighed enough to make
a decent tight-end or with a little work
an offensive lineman or a fullback.
What I couldn't see myself doing
was getting dirty, playing in mud
or freezing in snow which back then
when I was young is what you had
to endure. Perhaps these days
with covered stadiums I'd think
differently. Still, there was bound
to be more blood playing football,
yours or somebody else's, than
playing another sport. Golf
for example. See how clean
those guys are out on the links,
how civilized in their cardigans,
in their neatly pressed trousers.?
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Kobe Goodbye and etc
Kobe Bryant will never surpass Michael Jordan on the Greatest Ever pantheon of NBA players, something I believe Kobe has been striving for since he entered the league. Why else would he try to make a comeback this season after all the injuries? Some might speculate that he wanted to make a final tour of the league cities and receive the adulation. But I don't think so. I believe he fantasized that he could replicate the past for a few more years, play until he was forty? Big egos equals big achievements, and Kobe had one of he biggest in the game. And, to be greatly admired, one of the greatest work ethics in the game. So, goodbye Kobe, and welcome to the Legends.
Once again, Steph Curry saves the day with a giant closing three pointer. But was this his victory? Not by a long shot. The night belonged to Draymond Green, snagging the rebound in the closing minutes, passing ahead to Curry, then hustling down court to save Curry's missed layup, which doesn't take into consideration Green's consistent work on D and on the boards all game long. More and more Draymond Green is becoming the Warriors long distance runner to the rest of the teams sprinters.
Guess what? The Kings have their own Curry on the menu. Eight points in one quarter for the little bro in their win over the Mavs. Wouldn't it be fabulous if Seth truly made it into the league as a starter or at least a solid performer of the bench? Can you imagine in the future a Seth/Steph match-up? Might get some high TV ratings, wouldn't you think?
I'm not happy with the 49ers. Trying to turn Kaepernick into a pocket passer was a huge error. The kid has legs, so why not use them? Check out Cam Newton as a model for a future Kaep. It would serve the 49ers right, if they traded Kaepernick away, and he came back and bit them on the ass. One other question, can Tomsala be smart? I wonder.
Remember the first year Kobe was drafted by the Lakers. I wrote a poem about a game he played as a rookie against the Jazz.
Coaching Guilt
Three air-balls in a row
and the face of the cock-sure
Laker millionaire becomes the face
of Billy Harris who I told
to take the last shot
for the city championship
although he was too young,
the only sophomore on the team.
When the ball left his hand
I knew right away it had no chance
and wanted to climb the air
to pull it back before
it fell two feet short, and the fans
began stomping their feet
and pointing their terrible fingers
at him as if you, you, you,
the pronoun of disgrace
didn't already understand
he'd never be the same person
he was before the game began.
Tonight, on TV against the Jazz,
I watch you, Kobe, and believe
it's my fault all over again
because Billy Harris never
got his shot back no matter
what I did or said to him
for the next two seasons.
And what how would I feel
if tonight's game, like Billy's,
ended your promising career?
Once again, Steph Curry saves the day with a giant closing three pointer. But was this his victory? Not by a long shot. The night belonged to Draymond Green, snagging the rebound in the closing minutes, passing ahead to Curry, then hustling down court to save Curry's missed layup, which doesn't take into consideration Green's consistent work on D and on the boards all game long. More and more Draymond Green is becoming the Warriors long distance runner to the rest of the teams sprinters.
Guess what? The Kings have their own Curry on the menu. Eight points in one quarter for the little bro in their win over the Mavs. Wouldn't it be fabulous if Seth truly made it into the league as a starter or at least a solid performer of the bench? Can you imagine in the future a Seth/Steph match-up? Might get some high TV ratings, wouldn't you think?
I'm not happy with the 49ers. Trying to turn Kaepernick into a pocket passer was a huge error. The kid has legs, so why not use them? Check out Cam Newton as a model for a future Kaep. It would serve the 49ers right, if they traded Kaepernick away, and he came back and bit them on the ass. One other question, can Tomsala be smart? I wonder.
Remember the first year Kobe was drafted by the Lakers. I wrote a poem about a game he played as a rookie against the Jazz.
Coaching Guilt
Three air-balls in a row
and the face of the cock-sure
Laker millionaire becomes the face
of Billy Harris who I told
to take the last shot
for the city championship
although he was too young,
the only sophomore on the team.
When the ball left his hand
I knew right away it had no chance
and wanted to climb the air
to pull it back before
it fell two feet short, and the fans
began stomping their feet
and pointing their terrible fingers
at him as if you, you, you,
the pronoun of disgrace
didn't already understand
he'd never be the same person
he was before the game began.
Tonight, on TV against the Jazz,
I watch you, Kobe, and believe
it's my fault all over again
because Billy Harris never
got his shot back no matter
what I did or said to him
for the next two seasons.
And what how would I feel
if tonight's game, like Billy's,
ended your promising career?
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