Running into a Friend

Just thought this was worth sharing. It's one of those incidents that you'd just want to note or to write about so that you can remember it.

I ran into Cess today. I was on my way home, walking outside Shang. I saw her standing outside Mercury, waiting for a ride. Without hesitating, I walked towards her and called her name. She looked just as surprised to see me. We both asked each other what we were doing there; I told her I was on my way home, she said she was waiting for a cab to go to Astoria. We talked for a bit; filling each other in on what we've been occupied with after graduation. After a while I told her she might have better luck waiting for a cab at the waiting line, but I wasn't sure how long the line was, or she could walk to Astoria. She started asking me for directions and I told her I could walk her there, I was going the same way.

So we walked together, continued talking and catching up with each other. It was a nice chat. Nostalgic. It's always nice seeing a familiar face again.

Aside from the fact that it was nice running into her, I guess I was drawn to write about this because I've been in a weird mood today. I haven't been in the mood to talk to anyone the entire day. I talked to Cha for a while, called her twice; mostly because I wanted to apologize and make sure everything was okay. Both Ai and Liz said hi online, but I wasn't very open to talking to either of them; told them both I'll talk to them more tomorrow. Before leaving work, I told Hans I won't be able to talk to him later. I didn't even bother listening to my Zen on the way home. In a way, I just wanted "silence".

I guess I was just surprised that my mood changed. Thanks Cess. :)

Thanks Pop (guess you were reminding me the importance of being open...or something like that...) :p

Excerpt: Spurs shrug off Cuban's comments

I love Tim Duncan. One of my all-time fave NBA players, if not my all-time fave.

Loved these lines:

“A couple coaches, a couple players,” he said. “We'll just add him to the list. Everybody hates us.

“Hate is such a strong word. I don't hate anybody; not with a passion, at least.”

“I don't hate anybody,” he said. “Come on, now. I'm a loving guy.”

- T.D.

***

Spurs shrug off Cuban's comments
By Mike Monroe - Express-News

Web Posted: 04/22/2010 12:00 CDT

Duncan said Cuban wasn't the first NBA personage to express hatred for the Spurs.

“A couple coaches, a couple players,” he said. “We'll just add him to the list. Everybody hates us.

“Hate is such a strong word. I don't hate anybody; not with a passion, at least.”

Told that Cuban tempered his words of hatred by asserting his respect for them, Duncan reiterated his lack of concern.

“I don't care,” he said. “It's insignificant is what it is.”

Asked if there were at least one NBA referee he hated, Duncan stood his ground.

“I don't hate anybody,” he said. “Come on, now. I'm a loving guy.”

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich wasn't buying Cuban's comments at all.

“I think that's exaggeration,” he said. “If he hated us that much, he wouldn't have that good barbecue in our locker room after the games.”

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/tb/b3Mqk

Cool Shot

Source:

Video: World's longest basketball shot

By J.E. Skeets

"For every 100,000 views their Summer Camp edition clip receives, the guys will sponsor an impoverished child through an organization called Compassion International."

Repost: Top 50: Tony Parker, no. 15

Love Tony's teardrop. Love the Big Three.

***

Top 50: Tony Parker, no. 15

The definitive ranking of the NBA’s best players.

by Adam Sweeney

Look up the word envy and you will see it is described as a noun originating from France that expresses a feeling of discontent and resentment aroused by and in conjunction with desire for the possessions or qualities of another. Ask me to use it in a sentence and I can give you a few. For example, I envy the speed and teardrop floater that Tony Parker shows off every night he plays. You could also say I, a Houston Rockets fan, envy how many titles Tony Parker has helped lead the San Antonio Spurs to in his career. And it should go without saying that any sane individual must envy Parker for his relationship with a certain Desperate Housewife. It’s only fitting that both the word being dissected and the player in focus come from the same country.

Let’s step back a few sentences and clarify a point of discussion. You might be thinking, “Tony Parker didn’t lead S.A. to multiple titles. That was Tim Duncan.” You’d be partially right. Tim has unquestionably cemented himself as the greatest power forward of all-time. Without him the Spurs don’t have a dynasty. But there is a lack of respect that the point guard position receives, none more understanding of this notion than Parker. It wasn’t Tony’s job to take the last shot. That was Timmy’s job. Until recently, it has always been Parker’s job to defer. And while Duncan stepped into the spotlight from day one of his NBA career, there is a certain beauty to the way Parker’s game has grown over the years, so much so that it shouldn’t be surprising if Parker supplants Duncan this season as the franchise player in San Antonio.

To study the timeline of Parker’s career is an exercise in maturity. He was a player that was initally dismissed by Gregg Popovich in a workout because he couldn’t handle the physical nature of the NBA game. Nothing has come easy for Parker. He had to figure out how to craft his style of play. He’s been in Pop’s doghouse plenty of times, even to the point where he was warned not to shoot 3’s. But every season that we see Parker, there is a new facet to his game. He’s not perfect but neither are we. Have any of us not been chastised by a coach for firing outside of our range? Parker is a player worth celebrating because he is the best of us. He has had to weather the same hardships every talented baller with a touch of recklessness had to endure, the difference being that he found a way to put it together. Parker’s growth as an NBA player is what we wish we could have achieved, if only we had that speed, that elusiveness, that… sorry, here comes the enviousness again.

It is only a matter of time before you see an ESPN header that reads “The French-ise” with Parker’s smiling mug underneath it. There’s no accounting for taste in headlines but it is time that we start accounting for Parker in terms of importance to the Spurs and the league in general. He’s already become the first European player to win an NBA Finals MVP, and Parker had career highs last season in points per game and assists, at 22.0 and 6.9 respectively. As Manu Ginobili and Duncan enter perhaps the twilight of their careers, which is strange to hear myself say, Parker is hitting his prime.

Anyone who questions this notion can go back to the 4-1 series loss the Spurs suffered at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks. Tony dropped 28.6 a game on Dallas even though the Mavericks knew he and Duncan were the only two players worth guarding on the Spurs. Try convincing me Michael Finley was a threat. You have a better chance of arguing that Paul Blart: Mall Cop deserves an Academy Award. It takes a special player to slash through a defense that is waiting for him. Parker is that player.

Ask someone to name the best point guards in the NBA and you almost assuredly will hear the names of Chris Paul, Steve Nash and Deron Williams listed first. How many rings do those guys have between them? Nada. Parker has three to his name. If he wins this year, and the Spurs have to be considered a serious contender with the acquisitions of Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess, maybe Parker will be generous enough to keep one ring for himself and give one a piece to the aforementioned PGs on the list.

You can argue that Parker’s outside game is sorely lacking, that his jump shot can be inconsistent at times and that he has been blessed with exceptional talent around him. I’ll give you the first two contentions but you can’t blame a player for being placed on an organization that understands the importance of chemistry, balance and depth. And talent doesn’t equal championships. I submit the Phoenix Suns for your consideration. At the end of the day it is all about winning and right now there isn’t a point guard in the league with the amount of talent and rings to match Tony Parker.

In the same way that the New England Patriots don’t measure success by number of magazine front covers or jersey sales, the Spurs all understand that legacies are measured by championships. Based upon that criteria, Parker’s legacy rises higher than Vince Carter did in the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest. Parker said it best. “When there is talk about the best point guards, sometimes they don’t talk about me. But that’s not my main motivation. They can talk about Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Deron Williams and Chris Paul. I still have the most rings.“

Truer words have never been spoken.

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/slamonline-top-50/2009/10/top-50-tony-parker-no-15/

Repost: Top 50: Manu Ginobili, no. 29

Loved this line: "Manu Ginobili is a statistical freak: he has no imbalance whatsoever in his game."

***

Top 50: Manu Ginobili, no. 29

The definitive ranking of the NBA’s best players.

by Adam Sweeney

Underrated. It might be the most overused word in sports. As hoop-aholics we always beat our chests and stand on the curb shouting about how our favorite player gets no love. Therein lies the roundball rub. Our arguments are often dismissed because of our allegiances. This case for Manu Ginobili’s greatness can’t be. Why? Because as a Houston native, I loathe the San Antonio Spurs. I can assure you that no bias exists here. I went to college twenty-five minutes away from San Antonio and had to listen every day about the San Antonio Spurs dynasty. I made it my mission to debunk the fantasies Spurs had about their team. The thing is that the more you examine Manu’s career, the better he becomes. In fact, Manu may be the most underrated, there’s that word again, player of our generation.

Fact: Kanye West can cry about how a VMA was robbed from Beyonce but one of the truly great steals in history came when the Spurs grabbed Manu Ginobili with the 57th pick in the 1999 NBA Draft. Let me throw out a stat, seeing as we spent the last few weeks drinking the champagne of greatness that was Michael Jordan’s career. Manu is only the second player ever to win a NBA Championship, Euroleague title and Olympic gold medal. But you still don’t get it.

Seeing is believing and anyone who saw the San Antonio Spurs fall apart in the playoffs against the Dallas Mavericks last year got a huge dose of how important Manu is to the team’s success. Say what you want about the addition of Richard Jefferson. Give deserved praise to Tim Duncan as the greatest power forward ever. Gasp at Tony Parker’s speed and emergence as a team leader. A run at an NBA title begins and ends with Manu Ginobili.

And what’s funny is that as NBA fans we only got a partial glimpse of the picture. Before he came to the Association, The Argentine was tearing it up in Argentina and the Italian League. MVPs? He’s got them, winning the 2001 Euroleague Final Four MVP. He was only voted one of the thirty-five greatest players ever but we don’t want to talk about that. The NBA is king, oh wait, except when Manu led Argentina to Gold in the 2004 Olympics. Yeah, he was the MVP of that also. Perhaps it’s Manu’s foreign origins that make us shy away from him. You make the call.

If that wasn’t enough, the most exciting player in S.A. is the first sixth man to win All-NBA honors. If Ben Gordon is worth over $50 million, what is Manu’s value? You can’t put a price on it. Unlike Gordon, who is at his best when he is coming off the bench, Manu has proven he could dominate as a starter. The stats don’t lie. In a five-game stretch as a starter last season, he averaged 34.4 points per game and 6.6 assists per game in 37.4 minutes per game. Efficiency, Manu is thy name.

How well-rounded is Ginobili’s offensive game? A New York Times article regarding Shane Battier, the defensive student of the game that he is, studied the very subject. Battier is given data to study every opponent. The results speak for themselves. “Manu Ginobili is a statistical freak: he has no imbalance whatsoever in his game,” the article offers. “There is no one way to play him that is better than another. He is equally efficient off the dribble as he is off the pass, going left and right and any spot from on the floor.” It’s true. You’re just as likely to get beaten by a quick slash to the lane as you are a bucket from behind the line when it comes to Ginobili. He can score from anywhere. On any other team he would be a perennial All-Star.

But it’s not about that. See, unlike other players who are too caught up in the “importance” of getting starter’s minutes (see Allen Iverson), Manu Ginobili kills ‘em softly any way the team needs him. He doesn’t mind letting Timmy and Tony have their names on the marquee, even though he could lead the team in points and assists. He just keeps on keeping on and counts the championship rings at the end of the day.

The word clutch has become synonymous with Kobe Bryant but it’s an undeserved association. Yeah, you guessed it, Manu’s the real heir to the last minute throne. Forbes did a study chronicling the top players in the last five minutes of a game including overtime. It wasn’t even close. Manu topped the list and shoots lights out at a 57.4% clip. Your boy Kobe? 44.8%. Do I have your attention yet?

The only thing that can stop Manu Ginobili is his health and he has suffered a few setbacks in the past few years. The 2008-2009 season ended unceremoniously for him as he had to shut it down with a stress fracture in his right distal fibula. That only means you’ll be sleeping on him this upcoming season, just like the majority of us have slept on the Spurs all these years. So when you are watching the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals next season, perhaps against the defending champion Lakers, don’t be shocked if Manu slaps the taste out of your mouth with a game-winning three. The quiet ones always sneak up on you. The funny thing is you’ll be the one left speechless. Manu Ginobili has been doing it his entire career and yet we still can’t find words to describe him. For now, underrated will have to do.

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/slamonline-top-50/2009/09/top-50-manu-ginobili-no-29/

Pretty Cool

Read Yahoo Article:
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Davidson-wins-with-Reggie-Miller-esque-miracle-f?urn=ncaab,224785

Obi-Wan-Ginobili

I hope Manu remains a Spur.