What's New With Mick

Author: Mitchell Laurren-Ring

  • NBA Writers vs. NBA Fans

    Jack McCallum writes in his column for Sports Illustrated that NBA fans make questionable choices when choosing the starters for the NBA’s All-Star Game. This has long been an argument from sportswriters, the so-called “experts” of the game. I think the first so-called controversy over fan-balloting that I remember was when A.C. Green was chosen over Karl Malone to start for the West in 1990. Malone was outraged and so were the writers. Even though Green was a valuable role player for the Lakers in their trip to the NBA Finals the previous, he was certainly no Karl Malone. “Nobody could argue that,” I thought at the time.

    Four years later the fans voted BJ Armstrong to start for the East team in the 1994 All-Star Game and the same rumblings rolled around the NBA. But this time I took notice and offense. This time they were insulting my favorite player. Why didn’t they think BJ deserved to be in the All-Star Game? There are two answers to that question: Mookie Blaylock and Mark Price.

    Price played for the Cleveland Cavaliers at the time and was arguably their best player. He was a pass-first point guard who was also an excellent three point shooter. During the Bulls’ domination of the NBA in the early 90s, the Cavaliers were the Bulls’ under-rated rival in the East. While the Pistons-Bulls and Knicks-Bulls rivalries got all the headlines, the Bulls battled the Cavs in nearly every one of their playoff runs.

    Blaylock was the gutsy point guard for the Atlanta Hawks who inspired Pearl Jam to name their first album after his jersey number. I remember seeing him play in an important game where he was 0-13 from three point range. With his team down by 2, he drained a three pointer as time ran out on the game. That’s gutsy.

    Armstrong, of course, was the starting point guard for the World Champion Chicago Bulls. He took over the starting duties from John Paxon in the 1992-1993 season and excelled. That year, he led the league in three point shooting percentage and helped his team to win a third championship. In the process, he successfully defended some of the best point guards in the NBA including the Suns’ Kevin Johnson in the NBA Finals. Along the way he also faced a couple of point guards named Blaylock and Price, whose teams were both swept by the Bulls. Although Armstrong was certainly not the star of the team, he was instrumental when they came back from a double-digit second half deficit against the Knicks in the third game of the Eastern Conference Finals. Down two games to none, Armstrong’s rally catapulted the Bulls to three more wins and into the NBA Finals, where they defeated the Suns four games to two.

    The season after the Bulls’ third championship was their first without Michael Jordan. Despite all the dire predictions, the remaining Bulls all played better than they ever had. They turned in a 50 win season and only lost to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals on a questionable foul call. Nearly every player’s statistics improved because of the vacuum left by Jordan and BJ Armstrong was no exception. Sure his accomplishments were dwarfed by Scottie Pippen’s, who led his team in nearly every major statistical category that year, but he still looked well on his way to becoming one of the top three contributors on the team.

    Still, Blaylock and Price both had superior 1993-1994 statistics to Armstrong. Why would anyone vote to see BJ start instead of the other two? Because he had more television exposure. The fans had seen him play about 20 playoff games the year before and the Bulls were playing network games nearly every weekend. Unlike the writers, who get to see all of the players play in person for free, the poor fan might go to one or two games a year but watches all the TV games he can. Fans also vote for players they like to watch play. Fans do not, by and large, vote for statistics.

    So, quite simply and reasonably enough, the fans voted for BJ Armstrong because they liked to watch him play and they wanted to see him play in the All-Star Game. They liked watching him play more than any other Eastern Conference point guard they had seen play that year. And that’s what the writers and the so-called “experts” don’t understand. They live in a different world than the fan and they can’t understand the fan perspective.

    So even though Jack McCallum makes a good argument, it’s only valid if you are lucky enough to see all the players play. McCallum reveals alot when he writes, “The criterion is simple: Who, in the 2005-06 season, has played the best.” That’s not the criterion at all. That’s the criterion for the reserves, which are voted in by the coaches. The fan criterion for starters is even simpler than what McCallum suggests: Who do we want to see play in the 2005-06 All-Star Game?

    And, even though McCallum and his ilk don’t like it, we want to see Yao Ming play. We don’t want to see any of the Pistons play because they’re just not that exciting to watch individually. We want Dwyane Wade, not Chauncey Billups. We want Shaq, not Chris Bosh (who?). See the pattern? It’s about the excitement and the glamour. There’s nothing at stake here besides rewarding the fans for being fans. That’s something that Jack McCallum will probably never understand.

    In fact, if McCallum were “in charge” of the 1992 All-Star Game, Magic Johnson’s fabulous All-Star farewell would have never happened. That was the year that Magic announced that he had HIV and retired from the NBA, but the fans voted him in anyway. The result? One of the most memorable All-Star Games of all-time.

  • Saga of the New Tivo, Part VII

    Previously: “…this saga may finally come to an end and Tina will have her birthday present before Valentine’s Day.”

    As arranged previously in Part VI, a service technician arrived early Sunday morning, January 15 to put everything right with my satellite dish. He was there for less than a half hour before declaring that one of my LNB’s (low noise block converter) was non-functional. After he replaced it, I tried unsuccessfully to get him to install the coax run from the breakout box to the new Tivo. “That’s a sixty dollar charge,” he said. He did, however, take me to his truck for a shopping spree of parts. I got him to make me a 40 foot length of this nifty dual-coax cable that they use for external installation. He also gave me some fasteners to attach the coax to the side of the house and a couple of wall plates for fancy internal mounting. I later wished I had asked for a couple of short lengths of single coax for inside, but I have plenty of old coax laying around.

    That afternoon, I ventured out in the rain long enough to drill a couple of holes through the wall of the Big TV room. Thomas helped me fish the coax in Alaska fishing trips with Mark Glassmaker
    through the holes and I found some wall anchors for mounting the dual coax faceplate inside. The whole procedure only took me about an hour. For the time being, the dual coax cable is laying loose outside by the house. When the weather gets nicer, I’ll get out there and fasten it to the side of the house.

    After the external coax was hooked up and the wall plate mounted, I only had to attach a couple of coax cables to the wall plate and Tina’s DTivo. I temporarily hooked it up to the stereo in order to finish the step-by-step setup procedure. Both satellite channels indicated 97% reception, which is optimal. The DTivo was now ready to watch and record television shows. I moved the coax cable that goes to the bedroom (as mentioned in Part IV) from the old Tivo to the new Tivo. Graham ran back to the bedroom to confirm that he could see the new Tivo on the bedroom with tv beds.

    The night before I had Googled “Tivo Remotes” to find out how to configure the remotes so they didn’t conflict with each other. The Tivo remote allows you to set its address so that it will only talk to Tivos set for that address. I set my Tivo/remote to use address 1 and Tina’s Tivo/remote to use address 2. The process was a little confusing so it took me about 15 minutes to figure out exactly what needed to be done. However, once I figured it out it was obvious and it only took a minute to set the address of the remotes and Tivos properly.

    One side effect of the IR Extender that Tina had noticed was that when she turned her TV on/off in the bedroom, the “game TV”—a little 13” TV that we have in the Big TV room for Playstation/Nintendo—would also turn on/off. The IR Extender isn’t smart about the infrared signal that it relays to the other room, so, even though we only need Tivo IR to be relayed, it also relays the TV IR. Combine that with the fact that all of our televisions are the same brand and have the same set of IR code and you can understand what was happening. It drove the boys crazy when they were playing games.

    I had come up with an excellent solution: cover the IR port on the little TV so that no remote could turn it on/off. The boys use the front panel controls anyway, so nobody needs to use a remote with it. Although I would eventually buy some black electric tape which is barely visible on the front on the TV, for the time being I put a big piece of duct tape over the black smoked plastic on the front of the TV. I then pointed the remote at it and tested it. Surprisingly, the TV turned on!

    Shocked, I used a flashlight to confirm that I was covering the IR receptor. I was. I then tried a longer piece suspecting that maybe some IR was leaking under the tape. Again, the TV turned on. What the hell? Then, on a whim, I stuck a second piece of duct tape right on top of the first. This time the test failed. Evidently, IR will pass through a single slice of duct tape!

    After I was done, I decided to draw a diagram illustrating how everything works together to produce our magical TV watching experience:

    Everything in the orange box is in the Big TV room, which is on the far north side of the house; while everything in the blue box is in the bedroom, which is on the far south side of the house. The dish is mounted on the north side of the garage roof and the breakout box is about 15 feet from it on the north side of the house. Coax cables that cross room borders are outside. Infrared (IR) and radio frequency (RF) signals only move in one direction (as indicated by the arrows). If I had a receiver that capable, we could watch both Tivos in the Big TV room, but my amplifier only has two video connections. One is used by the DVD player and the other is taken by the old Tivo.

    And it only took three months to get everything working.

  • Vital Statistics

    Current reading: Armor by John Steakley
    Recent listening: Zoe’s Show, Still Feel Gone/Uncle Tupelo, Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, Before and After Science/Brian Eno
    Recent viewing: Sportscenter, Countdown with Keith Olberman, Poker Superstars, Deep Core, Book of Days
    Recent playing: Poker Room
    Imperative To Do: Pinewood Derby: Paint, Pinewood Derby: Drill, Pick up Ryno mail

  • TriMet passenger vs. bicyclist

     

    TriMet_rider.jpg 

    A recently filed lawsuit and an article about it in the Oregonian has stirred up the bicyclists vs. motorists pot here in Portland. As described here, Randy Albright is suing TriMet for an incident that happened as he biked across the Hawthorne Bridge two years ago. The incident can be summarized as follows:

    1. Bus passes too close to biker
    2. Biker catches up to bus when it has to stop for traffic
    3. Biker proceeds to yell at bus driver who ignores him.
    4. Biker moves self and biker in front of stopped bus (in the road) and continues yelling.
    5. Angered passenger moves to front of bus.
    6. Bus driver opens door for passenger (against TriMet regulations when not at a bus stop).
    7. Passenger disembarks, beats the biker up and moves him on to the sidewalk.
    8. Passenger gets back on the bus.
    9. Driver closes the door and drives off.

    The driver did not report the assault to the proper authorities and the biker ended up in the emergency room where he got stitches for his split lip. TriMet released a video of the incident. Relevant excerpts of the video are used in the graphic below to show what happened.
    bike_incident.jpg
     

    The Big O also did a follow-up story a few days later that described reader reactions to the original story. The anti-bike and pro-violence sentiment of many of the readers is absolutely sickening to me.

    Local and national biking blogs picked up on the story and published commentary. Here’s a few:

    The Oregonian also had a few letters to the editor:

    As one would expect from reasonable people, most are not pleased with Mr. Albright but most are even more outraged by the actions of the passenger and the TriMet driver. Mr. Albright’s suit is against TriMet but it’s important to note that the driver died some time after the incident in an unrelated boating accident. The passenger is still “in the wind” and there is a movement afoot to locate him, but the statute of limitations on assault will run out for Mr. Albright next month.

    Sources-
    http://sideeffectsofxarelto.org/xarelto-lawsuits/

  • Vital Statistics

    Current reading: Armor by John Steakley
    Recent listening: Greatest Hits/Duran Duran, Albinoni, Floorfillers, The Carter Family
    Recent viewing: AFC and NFC Championships, Iowa vs. Michigan State, Deep Core, Nature, Saturday Night Live
    Recent playing: Poker Room
    Imperitive To Do: Pinewood Derby: Paint, Pinewood Derby: Drill, Pick up Ryno mail

  • Suns beat Lakers

    Last night and this morning I watched the Suns cream the Lakers. Nothing beats seeing one of your favorite teams beat one of your least favorite players. Here’s a few thoughts about the Suns I had during the game:

    • Kurt Thomas has turned into an excellent pick-and-roll man with Nash. He slips perfectly and has a decent mid-range jump shot for the pick and pop. Of course, nobody is better at pick-and-roll than Amare Stoudemire.
    • Even if Stoudemire doesn’t come back in time for the playoffs, I think they still have a decent shot of a deep run.
    • They hardly miss Joe Johnson. I wasn’t that impressed with him last year and didn’t understand all the hype. I thought Quentin Richardson and Jimmy Jackson were much more valuable for them.
    • The Suns made some excellent off-season moves this year. The aforementioned Kurt Thomas gives them a defensive presence in the paint that isn’t Stoudemire, but the bigger pickup has to have been Boris Diaw. I think he only took about 5 shots, but he was really huge in the game.
    • I don’t think James Jones has turned out to be the player they expected. In the games I have seen him play this season and last season (with the Pacers), he is not nearly the dead-eye shooter that a three point specialists needs to be.
    • Shawn Marion is a really great role player. And I don’t mean a one dimensional three-point shooter or defensive stopper. I mean he is great in many roles: rebounding, defending multiple positions, three point shooter, finishing, etc. He is a truly uncommon talent. I wonder why they don’t use him more on the pick and roll? Perhaps small forwards are better at defending against it. Marion’s NBA ranking in some major categories:
      • Scoring: ranked 19 (21.2 ppg)
      • Shooting: ranked 14 (51%)
      • Blocks: ranked 16 (1.89 per game)
      • Steals: ranked 7 (1.87 per game)
      • Rebounds: ranked 3 (12 per game)
      • Double-doubles: ranked 2 (29 in the season)

    Update 2/2/2006: Kevin Pelton over at 82Games did an extensive analysis of the Suns’ defense during this game.

  • Smoker Confrontations, Part III

    This morning the lady who was involved in Smoker Controntations, Part II was at the 162nd and Burnside Max station again. I pretended like I did not see her and if she said anything to me, I did not hear because I was listening to my iPod. However, I did note that she was on the outside edge of the platform, leaning over the wall and smoking. I count this as a step forward.

  • Vital Statistics

    Bike odometer: 5675 miles
    Current reading: Armor by John Steakley
    Recent listening: Zoe’s Radio Show, Crooked Fingers, The Carter Family
    Recent viewing: 24, Attack of the Show, Desperate Housewives, Sportscenter, The Colbert Report
    Recent playing: Poker Room
    Most Important To Do: Pay bills

  • Right turners

    Bicyclist in Portland are blessed with an abundance of bicycle lanes on our city streets. Bike lanes, however, come with their own set of problems. One of these is the right turning motorist.

    The right turning motorist (RTM) often does not appear to be aware or considerate of the bike lane. Thus, the RTM does not check the bike lane before executing his right turn. The most careless will turn right into you even when you are directly in view (i.e. adjacent or in front of their hood), but that doesn’t happen often. The more common occurrence is the driver who executes the turn just as you are passing him. This is often called the “right hook”.

    This morning I was riding downhill on Lloyd Blvd towards Grand Avenue. Almost everytime I take this route, I get caught by the very long traffic light at Grand because Grand has more traffic than Lloyd. Also, once it turns green, the light changes to red rather quickly.

    As I rounded the curve and the light came into view, the light changed to green. Not wanting to miss the light and have to wait through a full cycle, I accelerated down the hill as fast as I could. Cars filled both lanes and were stacked up about 8 deep. As I approached each car, I checked for their right turn signal as well as the subtle drift to the left that often presages the right turn. Several cars drifted into the bike lane, but I forgave them because there is a curve there. As I neared the intersection, the light was still green and the car beside also started to drift into the bike lane. Just as I got up to her rear door, the turn signal came on about a half second after she started the right turn. Normally I would give the trunk a slap to let her know I was there, but this time I only had time to slam on the brakes and yell, “HEY!” She did turn around and I shook my fist at her as I whizzed through the intersection, still mindful of the light.

    Just another day as a bike commuter.

  • Smoker Confrontations, Part II

    As I explained in Part I, smoking is now banned on TriMet property as of January 1. This morning I had my second confrontation with a smoker disobeying the new rules.

    First, let me clarify my stance on smoking. Although I have made the decision not to smoke for a variety of reasons, I respect the right of others to smoke if they want. I also acknowledge that there is such a thing as considerate smokers. In fact, I know several and am related to a few. I was a smoker once myself, too, although I always considered myself to be considerate. Sometimes I don’t even mind subjecting myself to second-hand smoke, as long as it is my choice. Being forced to breathe the smoke of others is just not cool.

    Having said that, I object strongly to being forced to breathe unclean air, especially when I have the force of law on my side. This morning I had a long, wet climb up the hill to get to the nearest Max station. When I arrived there quite breathless and fairly wet, I was in no mood to be sucking someone else’s smoke. Unfortunately, that is precisely what was foisted upon me. As I took off my helmet and gloves, I immediately noticed the sting in my throat and turned upwind to find an old, wrinkled lady smoking six feet from the No Smoking sign.

    I walked up to her and pointed to the sign and said, “There’s no smoking on the Max platform.” She explained that she had just left cancer treatment and was going home, as this is note her only illness but she has it also in the ovaries. You can find the information in Ovarian Cancer Symptoms Inspire organization content and reviews.

    So I turned around, walked back to my bike, grabbed my water bottle, walked over to her and squirted the cigarette in her hand, which was now away from her body. She sort of spazzed in surprise and then started yelling at me for “assaulting” her. She then stepped up to me with the now-soggy cigarette and snubbed the remains directly on my chest. We then yelled at each other for a few minutes and she threatened to call the cops before leaving.She also said she would not put out her cigarette and not even her vaporizers. I asked her again twice and she refused twice. I pointed out what the rules were but they had no

    She returned a few minutes later with a younger gentleman who confronted me about what I had done to this fine lady. I confirmed that I had doused her cigarette because she refused to do so. He yelled and threatened me for several minutes and I (regrettably) yelled back. Eventually, things died down and I returned to my bike and they settled in to making snide remarks about me while we all waited for the Max to arrive.

    At some point, another young man joined their conversation and eventually joined her for another smoke. After asking them to put them out, I decided it was best to ignore them rather than start the conflict again. However, after the Max arrived and I got on, I immediately went to the little button that calls the driver:

    Driver: How can I help you?
    Me: Two people who were smoking on the platform refused to put out their cigarettes and are now on the train.
    Driver: Are they smoking on the train now?
    Me: No.
    (pause)
    Driver: I will notify the proper people.

    I walked back to my bike while the smoking lady rushed up to say her peace with the driver. Unfortunately, she couldn’t figure out how to press the button and succeeded only in yelling at the box for several minutes with no response from the driver. She then yelled a few choice words at me before grumbling off to her seat.

    I knew that if anything was going to happen, it would happen four stops later at the Gateway Transit Center, which is the usual place where the transit cops are seen. Gateway eventually came and went with no authorities boarding the train. I read Just A Geek and escaped into the world of Wil Wheaton while she continued to gripe to the passengers around her. I got off before her and it ended there.

    I replayed the incident in my mind many times and concluded that I made many bad choices. Getting drawn into a confrontation is definitely a bad idea and it spiraled out of control very quickly. I’ve decided that in the future I’ll just take a picture of the smoker in front of the No Smoking sign and present that to the TriMet authorities. I’ve also been meaning to talk to one of the Gateway supervisors with whom I am on friendly terms. I’ll find out from him what the recommended course of action is.