Podcasts.
Yes folks Portland Men on Sports can now go with you everywhere. We will have all of our shows up as well as additional podcasts. You will be able to find these at Bookie Productions under podcasts on Saturday May 31, or on iTunes by clicking here.
Two Time Defending Champions
Series wins over
Total of five series wins versus tournament teams
Three wins over #1 seeds
Unfortunately the Beavers had many bad loses this year as well. Specifically a three game sweep to USC to end league play. My gut is if they win that series they would still be playing.
If you haven't heard the postgame from last night with Mets reliever Billy Wagner, it's definitely worth checking out. NSFW.
The long and short of it? Wagner makes himself available to the press after the Mets lose 1-0 to the Nationals and promptly directs his ire at the teammates that are not in the clubhouse talking to the press. Specifically he seemed to be "gesturing" to the vacated lockers of Luis Castillo, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos Delgado. And he nearly goes all Clerks on them saying he can't figure out why he's getting interviewed when he didn't even play.
Wagner repeated the performance on his weekly radio appearance last night, saying pretty much the same thing minus the f-bombs. The one major addition to his previous tirade being a denial that his remarks were directed solely at the Latino players on the roster.
It's unfortunate that we don't yet live in a society in which the race card can simply be ignored because it's unthinkable that someone would single out an ethnicity in a tirade like this. But I'm not debating that issue with this space.
I'm dedicating this post to Billy Wagner. Way to be human, Billy.
There's nothing I hate more than meaningless drivel passed off in soundbites. Interviews with coaches between quarters? Slightly less irritating than attaching a car battery to your testicles. Talking to the injured star on the sideline? I'd rather have ravenous ferrets stuffed in my boxer briefs.
Most of the time we get nothing of any value from these encounters. The interviewee is annoyed because instead of coaching and/or ogling the cheerleaders they have to pay attention to the dolt behind the microphone asking repetitive inane questions. The interviewer is resigned to getting Gerber sound bites (so palatable a baby could handle it) and so asks Gerber questions. Unless, of course, the interviewer is doing more research on base and eye shadow than on the actual questions they'll pose.
As fans, we collectively accept it. We know that every interview goes something like this:
" What do you need to do to get your team back in the game."
"Well, I think we need to play team ball, you know, and look for opportunities to get everyone involved in the game, you know. I think we just need to keep our energy up and find a way, you know, to make plays."
"How are you going to do that?"
"Well, I think we need to stay positive, you know, focus on executing well, you know. We have to play hard and, um, you know, just play the way we know we can play, you know."
At which point I'm shoving a rusty corkscrew in my ear because it hurts less and is a hell of a lot more entertaining.
We need Billy Wagner. We need players who say something...what's the word? Interesting!
Look, I know professional sports is all about business. The management perspective is to keep all employees, communication, and marketing toeing the company line, the bottom line. We own you, now smile for the camera. Sell those jerseys, keep 'em coming to the park, and your personality is the personality we tell you to have, a satisfied employee who loves all his co-workers and strives to be the best they can be!
Boring. Just goddamn boring.
I have an active interest in the Mets now. I want to see what's going to happen next. Will Wagner's words have an effect on the team? What kind of effect? Will anyone else stand up and say the same thing? Will someone stand up to him? What was his rationale? What is the rationale of the players who aren't making postgame appearances? Which Mets player will Randolph kill first?
When will ownership and management figure out that we want our stars to be human. We have to work with buzz word spouting corporate dillholes all day long. Why would we want to come home, turn on the game, and listen to another corporate dillhole spouting buzzwords?
No one wants their team to become a bickering, in-fighting, bitch fest. But there has to be some allowance for human nature. We have to have some ground in between corporate automaton and Albert Belle. Last time I checked, that's part of the manager's/coach's job. Steer the boat, set the rules, discipline where necessary.
So the next time you hear a player sounding off in a suspiciously normal, dare I say human, way, contact your team. Tell them you appreciate the freedom of expression they've given their players (even if they haven't) and you look forward to a more interesting season because of it.
Besides, it gives me something to write about.
- Gavin Dawson needed to stay on the news desk. Holy cow, is that guy annoying. It seems like he's trying to out-Rome Rome. But he doesn't have that LA punch to his speech (believe me, I know what I'm talking about, I'm married to an Angelino) so he just comes across as mildly retarded. Take some Ritalin and settle down.
- On the morning show, Katy Brown does a decent job. It sounds like Kenny Vance is constantly trying to shout over her, though. Here's a tip, louder ain't better.
- Rome is Rome. People either tell me they love him or hate him. I can take him in small doses but his interviews are unimaginably banal and completely unlistenable.
- Their website needs some work. There's no link back to the home page once you leave it, Wheels' personality page has "test test test" in the description area, clicking on a program link from the Program Guide pops up a window that looks like it should have a picture on it but doesn't, no "contact us" link, and a few other minor issues. Overall, though, not bad. The layout is at least navigable.
- Canzano spent an hour talking last night talking about LeBron telling his mom, "Sit your ass down." Really. An hour. Slow news night, apparently. Or maybe it's just Canzano grabbing whatever topic he thinks he can make a big stink out of and beating it endlessly until we're all just drooling and nodding along. What a waste of air space. Hey, it's Portland though, so we need to take what we can get.
- Chris Meyers is a little bit better than okay. I like that he's pretty straightforward and doesn't have a lot of pomp and circumstance going on. He's certainly not going to keep you awake, though, so don't listen right after lunch. Oh, wait, he's on right after lunch. Crap.
- I haven't heard Wheels yet, but he's only doing an hour 4 times a week. Bummer. More Wheels damnit!
- Has anyone heard Game Time React? I haven't tuned in for that yet so I'm interested to hear how it's going down.
Just a quick update on the show. We filmed our next episode last night, May 9th. It will be on the air starting May 16th. Below is a little bit we did for the next show, enjoy the sneak peak.
...some guy walks in and starts using the urinal next to me.
We all know the code: look straight ahead or straight down, no chatter, no more than three shakes. I'm staring at the wall when I hear the guy say, "Nice hat."
I'm wearing my ubiquitous Blazers cap, salt stained from being worn every game during our undefeated softball run last summer. I respond, "Yeah, I like it. It's nice having a team I can actually root for."
The guy says something affirming my statement as I zip up and head to the sink. Something about the way he talked made me glance over at him and I'm sure glad I did.
I think I know who this is, but I need another look so I take my sweet time at the sink waiting for him to walk over so I can get another look.
When he heads over I ask, "I'm going to kick myself if I don't say something, so are you Kevin Pritchard?"
"Yes I am."
Awesome.
Okay, think fast, what do you want to say to the saviour of your franchise? Do you ask him if Rudy will be playing here next year? Are we pursuing a quality pass first PG during the off season? Does he want to come on your public access sports show? Can he really walk on water?
"Thanks. Thanks for putting a team out there we can believe in." Okay, not too bad. At least I manage to be coherent.
"Thank you, that means a lot to me. They're a great bunch of kids."
"I agree. Well, have a great evening."
"You, too."
Thus concludes my interview with the GM of the Portland Trailblazers, Kevin Pritchard. Chalk another one up for the journalistic instincts of my bladder.
So the NBA just announced a suspension in the playoffs.
For DeShawn Stevenson's near beheading of Lebron James? For Jason Kidd's throat tackle of Pargo? For Zycyzydrewnalsus Ilguskaususakasasas' punching of Songaila? For Kendrick Perkins and Marvin Williams leaving their benches during an altercation?
Get real! This is the NBA!
No, the suspension went against Songaila!
Here's the lowdown. Songaila gets his arm tangled with LeBron (who I'm going to anoint with a special bitch nickname if he doesn't stop flopping), Lebron jerks Songaila's hand up into his own face (in the same game in which the aforementioned Illgasketsauce punch occurred), and this earns both a technical and, now, a suspension for Songaila.
The moral of the story, kiddies?
There isn't one! How can there be a moral to this idiocy? Stern has blatantly decided to govern the league not by rule, but by whim! There is absolutely no consistency from one situation to the next and it's pretty obvious that Stern chose to suspend Songaila because you've probably never heard of him. God forbid we suspend the revenue generating star or, in the case of Stevenson, the revenue generating motor mouth. Songaila's suspension is a warning to the rest of the league to simmer down before Stern actually has to do his job.
Basketbawful had a good post about the players coming off the bench for Atlanta and Boston. After last year's debacle in the Suns/Spurs series during which Stern clearly stated that the suspension rules for leaving your bench were ironclad, how can he possibly have ignored this?!?! I'm going to morph into Mugatu in a minute and start shouting, "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!"
