Lots of little and wildly interesting items (no, really, they are)

All kinds of little things, hope you don’t mind.

And it’s always fun to do things like this because I find it terribly interesting to see what captures your imagination and fancy.

Let’s go.

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Sometimes, it’s wise to just keep your mouth shut and your thoughts to yourself.

Not sure if you heard but Mark Cuban made some crack on a radio show last week that, because of the impending NBA tax changes, the Lakers might want to consider using the amnesty clause on – get this! – Kobe Bryant.

As if simply casting aside one of the top three or four greatest players in franchise history and one of the top three or four players in the game today makes any sense at all.

Cuban, of course, backtracked a little, but it was out there as a somewhat silly statement, in my opinion, and Kobe noticed.

He glared his way to 38 points and a huge Lakers win and punctuated the day with this tweet:

“Amnesty THAT”

Now, I don’t mind bold statements from owners or players because it makes good copy and we’re all about good copy. But it amazes me in this day and age, where everyone eventually hears everything, that someone as smart as Cuban would poke someone as intense and good as Bryant. He had to know that it would drive the uber-competitive Bryant to try to do something special and that’s just what he did.

No, I don’t think you should ever poke the bear.

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It doesn’t get much better than this, and it’s a nice touch, I think, on George Harrison’s birthday.

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Nice line.

I know no one imagines that Andrea Bargnani as much of a personality because of the way he comports himself on the court and in the media.

And we are all a bit dubious when team officials or teammates tell us he can be a bit of jokester with a nice touch of sarcasm and humour.

Well, we’re standing there talking to him yesterday for the little story that came out of practice (you can find it here) and got a wee glimpse.

Zic asks him something along the lines of whether the elbow injury will result it any long-term issues with his shot, his shooting form or his ability to get the ball in the basket.

He deadpans:

“I think I’ll never be able to shoot the ball again until the end of my career.”

That’s big league sarcasm I’d be proud of.

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So, how were the Oscars?

Funnily enough, post-dinner and before the show, I got to lying down on the couch watching Grizzlies-Nets and when I finally woke up, it was about 9:45 p.m. and this week’s edition of Sports Illustrated was to be read.

Yeah, missed the whole show, can someone catch me up?

I heard some of the speeches went long, some of the outfits were out of this world and the show went long.

(Oh, wait, that’s every single year in the history of the Oscars, isn’t it?)

But I know one Irregular had to have been pretty pumped for the music from Life of Pi winning best original score.

Can’t say it’s my cup of tea but I’m not an academy voter and it’s cool that the dude who wrote is somewhat local and a friend of someone I know.

And I must admit I was a tad confused.

He wins for original score and Adele wins for original song?

Thought this show was about movies.

Adele killed, though.

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This, I don’t get.

We’re hoping to have a word Sunday with Sebastian Telfair since we all got occupied with the game on Friday when arrived and Saturday was a quiet day.

And then it turns out he’s sick with the flu and not at practice.

Given that Bargnani missed a couple games with the flu, Ross missed one and Dwane told us he was laid low with it the entire all-star weekend, I’m wondering what kind of monster bug is floating around that locker room.

And I’m also going to suggest that youth and good fitness is over-rated since old beaten up guys like me are sailing through the entire winter without so much as an afternoon of flu-like symptoms.

Chalk up one for the unhealthy side of things!

Anyway, there’s no word on whether Telfair will be around today or tonight and it means I’ll have to drag my sorry butt to shootaround instead of heading into the office to do some much-needed paperwork.

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One little fashion thingy.

Got a chance to watch some of the TOD on Saturday afternoon – man, was it good to see a ball game or what? – and I have to say that while I generally like they’re uniforms and I’m all about celebrating their Canadian thing, that Maple Leaf on the BP hats is waaaaaaaay to big.

I’d prefer a far more subtle one, perhaps an inch or two off centre, than the one they came up with.

But maybe that’s just me.

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Hang on!

Jennifer Lawrence fell down while going to get her Oscar?

Outstanding. Wish I’d seen that.

And I’ve got to give her credit for a great answer to the: What went through your mind when you were falling? Question.

“A bad word that I can't say that starts with F.”

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I know no one connected with the HOTH will admit this publicly but this is a very, very big week for them.

Washington tonight, at Cleveland on Wednesday, here against Indiana on Friday and at Milwaukee on Saturday?

Yeah, that’s big. Bigger than big given the opponents, where they are in the standings and a tough western road trip coming up the following week.

Sure, there’s plenty of time left in the season to make a move but if they don’t go 3-1 this week, it’s going to be even harder to legitimately have playoff aspirations.

Maybe they get away with 2-2 but I think that’d a disappointing week to all concerned.

It’ll be interesting to see how they react; the overall confidence level has never been higher, wonder if they can come out and play hard and smart four nights in a row.

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Comments

[DMcG]

@Andrew Gregg

I'm not sure why I choose to waste my time, and I know I am, but when you use a specific stat line to justify your "completely and utterly useless" commentary, perhaps you can consider other "stats", such as:
How many points, rebounds, assists, did Chandler get while matched with Bargnani. The answer is zero. Another stat you may wish to consider is how many points the team scored, with the lane wide open, while Chandler was out at the 3 pt line guarding Andrea. Would that be considered useless? Would the screens he set be considered useless in your books too?

[Lorie]

Afternoon, Doug:
Sadly, Argo won Best Picture. It was a film about politics and I would say it was a case of back-room politics that were in play in order for it to have even been considered for one of the - let alone THE - top film of the year. If they'd asked me - and they did not - my favourite two films of the year were Life of Pi and Amour. I think in order for a film to be considered one of the 'best' in any given year, it has to have altered your reality, changed the way you view the world or life or love or something equally meaningful. All Argo did was have me scrambling to reread the real story. And cringe at those awful 1970's mustaches and faux Farrah Fawcett side-flips. Groan. Did we really think we looked cute? And, yes, a lovely win for the score - to have won for the song as well might've been too much to wish for. But the song is beautiful, isn't it? You're right - it's sort of amusing to watch the ever vigilant germaphobes earnestly washing their hands with that antibacterial soap at every opportunity, spraying the stuff on their phones, their doorknobs, their keyboards, their kids, etc etc. And guess who's always sick? The old broad who's never had a flu shot, forgets to wear a hat, gloves and to button up her coat (and is still trying to refrain from fresh air...!) or the folks who buy Purell by the gallon? And don't you think, Doug, that by this point in life, we've probably built up immunities to just about everything? I think it's a case where our aged bodies, along with a daily glass or two of aged Cabernet Sauvignon is all we really need. :)

[J]

@Andrew:

Short of reminding you the difference between opinion and fact (sorry, but my pet peeve is with people trying to pass the former as the latter), your comparison is erroneous. Perhaps that is why it is perceived as cheap.

The time period suggested by your claim spans multiple years ("$10 million in cheques every year"), yet you attempt to support it with anecdotal evidence (citing his box score versus the Knicks). Even if you cited several games, it would still not come close to your claim of complete uselessness during the entire time he has been cashing "$10 million in cheques every year." Perhaps if your claim was that it was easy for him to joke around after being paid $122k for doing nothing against the Knicks, you'd have a more legitimate claim (still not a fact though).

Despite his terribly below-average season (even by his own standard of average), he has managed to be quite decent while playing away (0.469 FG, 0.338 3PT, and 15.8 points in under 30 mins/game). Yes, he has always been terrible on the boards. Yes, he's never been a very efficient scorer in terms of points per FGA (though amusingly, DeRozan was even less efficient the two seasons prior). None of this is news. Has he been an overall detriment to the team? Arguably yes, but completely useless? Last year's edition of the Raptors didn't seem to think so (29% wins when he was absent, versus 42% when he played). It's still anecdotal, but at least it's a much larger sample size than you used.

[GM]

Thanks DMcG and J. But I fear AG is in it too far to back off now. Just for fun, since he was using one stat line to justify his cheap shot, I checked yesterday's box scores. Twelve other players played at least 12 minutes and scored zero points last night. Granted, Bargnani is paid more than all of them, but Gerald Wallace ($9.7mil) and Biedrins ($9mil) are close. And, yes, only one other (Dorell Wright) had zeros across the board (Wallace had a whopping 1 board and 2 assists). And that's not even counting Ron Artest's 1pt, 2 reb, 1 ass line in 37 minutes.

Not saying it justifies Bargnani's line, but it does happen. And as J pointed out, it's not that frequent an occurrence, historically speaking, with Bargnani. Just seems like it. (In that Knicks game, Shumpert went 15 minutes without scoring or assisting, and only grabbing 2 boards.)

As for Cuban, he clearly wasn't saying the Lakers should amnesty Kobe. But the media, being what it is, took the quote out of context in the lede, and then only quietly provided context later on after the outrage set in. And the media is always surprised when they get boring quotes. Who would talk in this culture of instant outrage?

[sportschic]

If you have the ability to jinx yourself, I'm with the others here, and I'd suggest stocking up on kleenex! With the amount of time you spend in planes and hotel rooms, I'm sure there's a bug out there just waiting for you.