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HTML5 disturbingly close to bringing a tear to my eye

2 September 2010 in kansas city, music | 1 comment

Aw, man. It just got a little dusty in my office at Cooper. Seeing my old childhood home in Leawood, Kansas will do that, especially when the Arcade Fire provides the soundtrack and when Google engineers work with a music video director to create the experience.

8710 Lee Blvd - Wilderness downtown

The photo above is from an “interactive video” called “The Wilderness Downtown,” and it’s actually as technologically interesting as it is emotionally-provocative. (It’s especially emo if the Google Maps satellite imagery from your home looks appropriately old and nostalgic; see image above). Anyway, it’s referred to as an “experiment” with Google’s Chrome browser, which is probably why, at times, it started to feel like a showcase of whizzy HTML5 elements — windows get launched and shuffled around; you’re asked to scribble on the screen; graphics are animated and layered. I don’t know, maybe I’m just the right mix of cheeseball and geek, but it kind of worked for me.

As he steps to the line, he feels game pressure

7 January 2009 in basketball, kansas basketball | No comments

The Bilastrator has coined a new term: “Game pressure.” During last weekend’s Kansas-Tennessee game, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas repeatedly said that Kansas players were feeling “game pressure” when they stepped to the free throw line. Game pressure? As opposed to ... practice pressure? As opposed to other kinds of pressure that you’d feel during a big game? Or a nationally-televised game? Game pressure? That’s the best that you’ve got?

Now, I was going to let this go, because I think I know what he means: “Game pressure” sounds like a specific kind of pressure that can’t be replicated outside of a game. Young teams, perhaps, are particularly vulnerable to it because they haven’t been in as many ... games. Anyway, I was going to let it go until Bilas referred to Kansas guard Sherron Collins as “Lawson-esque” (as in North Carolina guard Tywon Lawson) and then predicted that Tyler Hansbrough will again be the national player of the year.

You mean Lawson is “Collins-esque,” right?

Where was Lawson in the Final Four? I’ll tell you: He was getting killed by Collins. If Collins played in the ACC, he’d be getting compared to Chris Paul. (I think he’s more like Vinnie “the Microwave” Johnson). On that note, I hope that Bob Knight is going to break up the ACC-loving commentary cabal at ESPN. From the couple of games I’ve seen, he is made for TV. And he speaks to basketball fans, not just fans of the ACC. He’s not afraid to say unpopular things; not a surprise. He’s also likely to compare current players to non-ACC players (such as his Indiana players from the 70’s), and he’s completely at ease in dissing other talking heads. Is there some way that I can get his commentary on every game? Please?

Aldrich rips the ball away from Hansbrough
Aldrich ruled Hansbrough in the Final Four. “But he just works so hard.” Other athletic centers rule him regularly. “He doesn’t take possessions off.” The argument against him being player of the year is so strong; it seems almost silly to carry it out. Photo: Getty Images

I’ve got no real beef with Psycho T, as Hansbrough is known, but he is not the best player in the country. How could he be? Whenever he plays against anyone big and athletic, he gets killed. Yes, he brings it every night; yes, he leaves it all on the court. Dickie V loves it. All the older commentators love it. Who doesn’t love a kid who plays hard every minute he’s on the court? I love it. He’s like Nick Collison. Nick Collison was awesome, but he was not the player of the year, was he? Would anyone argue that he was, other than hopeless Kansas loyalists? He was a good player on a great team. Like Hansbrough, now. Collison’s problem was that he didn’t play for the most visible program in the most over-hyped conference in the country. If Hansbrough played at Texas, he’d get compared to Collison all the time, and he’d be the feel-good choice for the Naismith. If only.

March Madness / Zapruder analysis of Mario’s shot

13 April 2008 in basketball, kansas basketball | No comments

A couple of days ago, I was watching Mario’s three-pointer for like the 150th time, and I decided to do it JFK/Zapruder style. Click. Sherron blows by Derrick Rose. Click. Click. Click. Sherron begins to fall. Click. The ball emerges in Mario’s hands, he takes a big jump-step toward the top of the key, jumps, fades. Derrick Rose leaps. Ball leaves Mario’s hand. Arc-ing, arc-ing. Swish. (Rewind). Swish. (Rewind). Swish. I felt like Kevin Costner in JFK: Back, and to the left. Back, and to the left. Back, and to the left.

An obscured leaping figure

As I stepped through the swish multiple times, I saw something I hadn’t seen before, a sort of puff of smoke on the grassy knoll. There’s a leaping figure behind the backboard, at the very far end of the Kansas bench. Just after Mario’s shot goes through, the players on the bench appear to be in disbelief, but a black clad figure at the end of the bench suddenly springs up, spinning, arms flailing. I think that this was pretty close to my reaction as well.

Ballard celebratesThis is closest I could come to a shot of the bench at that moment Mario’s shot goes through the net. It’s unclear who it is from this photo, but it’s almost certainly the same guy you can see onscreen, jumping and celebrating.


You can kinda see a black blur behind the backboard in this YouTube clip, but it’s much more clearly viewed in high-definition about two feet from your TV screen.

Fast-forward to the post-game celebration, and it becomes clear that the figure is none other than former Kansas backup point guard and current video assistant, Brett Ballard. Awesome. I was always a Ballard fan because he’s a Kansas kid, from Hutchison. [Here’s a nice Kansan profile of Ballard.]

Now he’ll always be the visual record of my own reaction to Mario’s shot.

March Madness / Final Four shit

2 April 2008 in basketball, kansas basketball | 1 comment

If words are windows to the soul, this blog has become a massive vista onto my sports obsessions and, specifically, Kansas basketball. Soon enough it’ll all be over, the fever dream will end, the sun will rise, and I’ll be back to the old stuff. Until then, I want to post one more thing, to commemorate the Jayhawks’ run to San Antonio.

Kansas Jayhawk Final Four 2008 t-shirt - I could give a shit about Carolina
I designed a t-shirt that expressed my feelings with regard to the Heels, which — in a really weird coincidence — echo Ol Roy’s sentiments c. 2003.


For many Kansas fans, Roy’s angry words ring true — truer, even — today. Sure, Roy may have claimed to have “given a shit” at that moment, but he changed his tune a week later. Jayhawk fans probably still couldn’t give a shit, to say the least. Now, we can declare this to the world. [Buy it now now now from Zazzle].

A day that will live in infamy

In case anyone’s wondering what the heck the shirt is all about, let’s take a quick trip down YouTube lane. The year was 2003; the time was 10 minutes after KU’s national final loss to Syracuse; the place was the tunnel outside the Kansas locker room.


It actually gets better with age, doesn’t it?

The “shit” part clearly wasn’t pre-meditated, yet it was perfectly timed, putting a bitter exclamation point on a ringing rebuke. Of course, the most shocking part of it all was that it came from the man who had — to that point — cornered the market in “dadgums” and “doggones:” Ol Roy, the kind country cousin of college basketball. In more ways than one, that interview was the end of an era, and in retrospect, Roy’s aw-shucks-ing and dadgum-ing seems a little silly, but it sure worked well for a while.

Now, well. Times have changed.

Basketball / Tale of two teams

26 February 2008 in basketball, kansas basketball | No comments

Baron!
The Bay Area: Where Baron happens. Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Living in the Bay Area, I’ve watched Baron Davis and Don Nelson breathe life into the corpse of the Golden State Warriors by playing fast, loose, undisciplined, unpredictable basketball. When they’re clicking, the Warriors are invigorating and life-affirming. Nellie doesn’t burden the team with structure — they don’t really run an “offense” or play “defense” in the traditional senses — instead, they rely on the players’ abilities to improvise, pull their opponents out of their own structures, and wear them down with running and gunning.

Playground electicity

When the Warriors are good, they’re like the best playground basketball team you could ever imagine. What makes them all the more exciting is that their roster lacks key traditional dimensions associated with successful teams. They compete without the traditional man-mountain in the low-post to take on Shaq, Yao, Duncan, or Pau; instead, Andris Biedrins, who has very little in the way of a J and doesn’t ever try to play facing the basket, uses his quickness and hops to rebound, follow, and generally surprise opponents with his ability to keep Warrior possessions alive. (Check out where The Wages of Wins ranked Biedrins for the 2006 – 2007 season) Spoiler: He’s #1 on the team, with 11.7 to Baron’s 9.7.

On the guard front, Baron and Stephen Jackson and Monta Ellis don’t really run an offense as much as they weave through defenses in perpetual one-on-fives, driving to the rim, dishing to teammates. Baron has a (admittedly deserved) reputation as a shoot-first point guard, but he defers to others when they’re hot and his teammates seem to feed off his energy. Monta, more of a two-guard than a point, somehow can’t shoot the three, but he can blow by just about anyone and he’s one of the better finishers in the league right now. 6’9″ Al Harrington is more reliable from behind the arc than he is with his back to the basket; Wages of Wins doesn’t think much of him, but it’s hard to deny the problems that he creates for defenses when he’s in the game. Stephen Jackson — Stack Jack, as Baron calls him — is the glue; when he’s in the game, everyone is better. Seriously, who wouldn’t want to play with him? He’s got everyone’s back.

Darnell
Darnell can’t do it alone. Photo: Nick Krug, Lawrence Journal-World.

Contrast the Warriors with the other team that I follow, the Kansas Jayhawks. Where the Warriors are dangerous, inscrutable, fierce competitors who save their best for big games, the Jayhawks have been the opposite: soft, predictable, vulnerable when the game is on the line. Where the Warriors have at least three guys who thrive in pressure situations — Baron, Stack Jack, and Harrington — the Jayhawks have eight guys who could start on any team in America, but not one who wants to take over a game.

Last week, I trekked to Oracle with Justin, Mara, and Lynne (Lynne? Blog?), and we watched the Warriors wear down the Celtics and, in the final moments, drive a dagger into their hearts. Three days later, I watched the Jayhawks wilt in the final moments against a very, very fired up Oklahoma State team.

Part of the problem is that Kansas simply doesn’t have reliable offensive weapons; another part is that teams love beating the Hawks, and each Jayhawk opponent is playing its biggest game of the season. College basketball is different in that regard. Message boards don’t rejoice each time the Lakers lose a game, but oh how people love to see teams like Kansas (Google: “kansas” + “choke”), Duke (Google: “duke” + “choke”), and Kentucky (Google: “kentucky” + “choke”) lose. Which is fine. If people didn’t really react this way, the wins wouldn’t be as much fun.

The root of the Hawks’ problem is offensive, though. The Warriors are stocked with guys who can create their own shot, but Kansas has to rely on Mario Chalmers and Sherron Collins (and, to some extent, Russell Robinson) to break down defenses and spring Brandon Rush on the perimeter or Darrell Arthur inside. Like the Warriors, the Hawks don’t run a structured offense with interchangeable parts; they rely on athleticism. This lack of dimension is easily exploited by teams who effectively pressure the Hawks’ guards, and who run big guys out to trap the ball at the three-point line. Add to this mix the fact that Kansas guards cannot seem to defend opposing guards, and there’s no question that they’ve got some big problems to solve before mid-March.

Kansas basketball / Post-Julian thoughts

10 April 2007 in basketball, kansas basketball | No comments

Julian at the SIU game

Julian Wright is taking the opportunity of a lifetime, and who can blame him? He brought enthusiasm and energy to every game, contributed hugely in many of the big wins in the last couple of years (cf. these dunks during the Florida game and this epic 33-point performance at MU), and showed enough skill and potential to be very highly regarded by NBA scouts. Who wouldn’t seize a chance to be financially secure, and to play in the NBA? The future is rarely certain in these situations, as these guys can attest. Best of luck to you, JuJu.

The KU-sports-related Internet is (predictably) thrashing around with the news, and the emotions range from hurt to happy, fatalistic to optimistic. And who can blame them, really? The last four years have been tough on Kansas basketball, so tough that the mention of certain names — Roy, Micah, Padgett, Galindo, Giddens, CJ, etc — can provoke pangs and spasms of hurt and guilt. I guess Julian gets added to the list now, though personally I think he’s ready and I’m happy for him. Most of the commenters at the end of this story feel otherwise.

Julian’s departure is complicated, of course, by the fact that he pledged to stay following the loss to UCLA. This CBS reporter was really peeved that Julian reconsidered his prospects after the season ended, which seems kinda silly to me. Did it really take Julian’s change of heart to communicate to him that big-time college sports are bittersweet, unpredictable, and perpetually compromised by the twin prospects of major, life-changing injuries and major, life-changing paydays?

Whatever happens, I think that Julian will eventually have a good NBA career. Ryan Greene of kusports.com compares Julian to Shawn Marion, and I see the resemblance as well. That said, he would be way better off with established, veteran-heavy teams like Phoenix (who wouldn’t?) or Chicago, where he’d be able to learn and adjust out of the spotlight. Career-endangering teams like Memphis, Atlanta or (once again) Sacramento will give him too much responsibility too soon, though he may be able to survive that either way. Long term, he’s a Western Conference player who will come off the bench, get his 12 and 8, continue do all the little stuff that makes him great (deflecting passes, setting other guys up, keeping offensive rebounds alive), and be a good team guy to boot.

The bright sides

Looking forward to next November, here are three scenarios that reflect my thinking on the remaining possibilities for early entries and (yikes, not again!) transfers.

  • Without Wright: Actually may be better. Like Drew Gooden’s early exit, I actually think there’s quite a significant bright side here. Julian’s athletic ability and talent require that he play a major role in the offense, which results in fewer opportunities for the talents of other players — Mario’s drives and shots, Sherron’s shot and drive, Rush’s entire offensive arsenal, Shady’s sweet moves inside 12 feet. When Gooden left, Collison’s McHale-like low-post presence and Hinrich’s Stockton-like ability to make the right decision on every fast break ended up providing a system more stable than the one focused on Gooden’s always athletic, sometimes erratic presence. Without Julian at the 4, Shady starts and gets more time. This means that the line-up gets bulkier without losing that much in the way of speed. They’ll miss Julian’s explosiveness and shot-blocking, but they gain Shady’s sweet touch and better ability to (more dependably) make plays while posting up. If Rush is still around (not likely, so see the bullet point below), I tend to think that this line-up may even be more dangerous than if Wright had stuck around.
  • Without Wright and Rush: Lots of re-jiggering, lots of uncertainty. Losing Rush is a much bigger deal than losing Wright, obviously. He’s the team’s best on-the-ball defender; he became the go-to scorer during the games in San Jose, and he can stroke it. Unfortunately for him, he’s not the explosive athlete that Julian is, and scouts are not evaluating his draftability in the crystal-ballish terms of upside and potential. His capacity is known, apparently, and therefore it has limits in the eyes of scouts. Does this mean he can’t become, say, a Bruce Bowen type of player? Heck no. In fact, I think he’d fit in really well with the type of team who would draft him in the 20’s or so. And this is probably what will happen, so it all works out for the best, for him. If money and academics (which are a major hassle for him) were not issues, he’s in a great position to thrive next season. He fits into Self’s system really well; he really began to shine at the end of the season; another season would really give him a chance to refine his dribble-drive and his outside shot. But this is not an ideal world, and barring the entry of the entire UNC team or an injury that prevents him from competing in the pre-draft camps, I suspect he’s gone. Good luck to him.
    So. How do the Hawks replace Brandon? Who becomes the stopper? Who takes over the offense at the end of games? Who attracts the other team’s defenders whenever he’s on the floor? I’m not really sure about any of this. A couple of things are certain, though: This will be a seasoned, capable team. They’ve been through a lot, beaten Kevin Durant twice, won two Big 12 tournaments, etc. Moreover, they’ll be without a superstar like Brandon and Julian, and this — weirdly — might make them much more like Self’s Illinois teams — gritty, hungry, scrappy and dangerous in the tournament.
  • Without Wright, Rush, and Collins: !@$#%$#@*&. Almost too painful to consider. How many times did I text the words “Thank God for Sherron” during the Big 12 season? How many times did he single-handedly change the pace and momentum of a game with a vicious drive to the basket? He’s not ready to jump to the League, but rumor has it that he wants to be closer to home. But would he really want to sit out a year, play for a school in a mid-major conference, give up a chance to play in a Final Four, give up a chance to play on national television for 15 – 20 or 20 – 25 games next year? I really hope not. Man, that would hurt.

Pre-post-season thoughts / Containing Kevin Durant

5 March 2007 in basketball, kansas basketball | No comments

In a previous post, I suggested that the Kansas defense must “contain” Kevin Durant, thereby implying that Kevin Durant could, in fact, be contained. I said: “he’s going to get 10 – 15 points no matter what you do,” and anything in excess of that was a matter of the opposing team’s defense shutting him down. Against Kansas on Saturday, he rattled off 12 points in a row between the 17:41 and the 14:14 marks in the first half, and had 20 points just five minutes later. (Thanks to ESPN’s play-by-play for this). And it wasn’t like the Texas offense was getting him a lot of open looks: He was burying every shot, no matter who was guarding him and no matter where he was on the court. 22 feet away, Julian Wright’s hand in his face: Rattled in. Pulling up from 27 feet at the tail end of a fast break: Swish. Texas didn’t even need to run an offense, they just needed to get him the ball and then worry about getting back and playing defense. In the first half, this worked.

In the second half, different story. Two things changed (at least): Brandon Rush was on Durant, rather than Julian Wright. It was hard to say whether Durant just cooled off, or whether Rush cooled him off, but the fact was that he missed 4 of 5 shots before going down with a twisted ankle. Second thing: Another player immediately double-teamed Durant on the perimeter whenever he got the ball, and Texas failed to exploit this for easy low-post baskets. (Nice call by Coach Self. Not sure why he didn’t go to this earlier, but I’m just glad that it worked). At the same time, I can’t believe Texas couldn’t exploit this. I mean, teams must be doing this all the time. Why weren’t they able to find Damian James for easy baskets underneath, or Augustin on cuts to the basket? (I share Bill Simmons’s assessment of Texas coach Rick Barnes, by the way: “How can you not run more plays for Kevin Durant? Post him up and he has 27 different ways to score. Curl him off picks and he makes 15-footers like they’re layups.”)

Speaking of bad coaching, I was mystified that Texas didn’t start fouling sooner. Kansas wasn’t even in the bonus until the 2:20 mark, and Texas didn’t start fouling until the 1:18 mark when they were down by 8. RussRob missed the front-end of a one-and-one, and Texas cut the lead to 6. Then, on consecutive possessions, Mario makes one of two; RussRob makes one of two; Julian makes one of two. HEART ATTACK TIME. Instead of a 6-point lead, it’s a 3-point lead, and Texas has a chance to tie. This is a huge, huge issue going into the post-season, both for the Hawks chances and my own physical and mental health.

Incidentally, with this in mind, I deeply enjoyed a recent piece by Gene Weingarten about FT shooting: “If I took a year off and practiced all day, every day, I could then defeat the NBA’s best free-throw shooter in head-to-head competition” (via kottke).

Big Saturday / KU-UT thoughts and predictions

1 March 2007 in basketball, kansas basketball | 1 comment

Watching the Longhorns repeatedly (and ultimately successfully) drive a stake into the heart of Acie Law IV last night, I got to thinking about Saturday’s showdown between the Longhorns and the Hawks. (I also penciled in A&M for the Final Four. Is there any team in the nation — other than UCLA, I guess — that has such a perfect blend of March-ready qualities — go-to guy, great defense, grit, gumption? Totally g’ed up). Anyway, here’s the big stuff that KU has to address:

Contain Kevin Durant. I know, I know. Obvious. Duh. Everyone tries to do this. But I think Kansas has a chance to succeed. Yes, he’s going to get 10 – 15 points no matter what you do. He’ll be everywhere — around the basket, out on the perimeter, getting put-backs, rolling off picks and taking jumpers. The challenge for the Hawks is to make sure he doesn’t get 30 – 35, to limit the number of open looks he gets on the perimeter, and to make sure that he doesn’t get anywhere near a rhythm like he had against Texas Tech (37 points, 23 rebounds). Durant thrives when teams don’t have someone who can get in his face when he’s away from the basket. At 6’9″, he’s going to shoot over the kind of guy who will take away the drive, but he’s also fast and agile enough to go around most guys his size. All of that said, I think he’s going to have problems with KU’s long, fast, and highly disruptive defenders — Julian Wright and Brandon Rush. I think it’s totally possible for them to contain him, as long as they stay out of foul trouble.

Disrupt the supply chain. DJ Augustin kept them in the game last night when Durant went into a funk. In many games this year, I’ve seen him slice through defenses, get to the basket, and generally create the kind of chaos that leads to easy put-backs for Durant. Mario Chalmers, Russell Robinson, and Sherron Collins have to keep him from driving, and complicate his distribution of the ball.

Run them ragged, and don’t get beat by AJ Abrams. Or anyone like him. Last year, the relatively quiet Abrams exploded for four three-pointers during a first half run, singlehandedly demoralizing the Hawks. The good news is that, this year, the Longhorn weaponry is far from secret. Abrams, Augustin and Durant play pretty much all game, every game. This is an opportunity for the relatively deep Hawks to be relentless in their defense — Maybe even press a little? C’mon, Coach. Gimmick defenses have stunned KU twice recently (A&M, OU). Why not break one out once in a while?

Making free throws. The mere thought that this game will come down to free throws makes my stomach hurt. The last five minutes of the Oklahoma game was excruciating in that it almost turned into A&M, Part II. Unfortunately, it’s no secret that Kansas can’t shoot free throws. They’re going to get fouled late in the game; with any luck, Chalmers and Robinson will control the ball and hit their freebies.

Lastly, Collins and Arthur must contribute, and Rush has to get his shots. It’s pretty amazing that the Hawks could get by OU without contributions from any of these guys, but there’s no way that a win versus Texas is possible without them.

Kansas basketball / Jitters, a jinx, and a stinging loss

17 November 2006 in kansas basketball | No comments

Question: What happens when a young college basketball team without a proven low-post presence somehow manages to secure a high national ranking then faces a really hungry, experienced team? The Hawks found out two nights ago, getting their rear-ends tanned by an unheralded and obviously hungry Oral Roberts team.

Where does this rank among the hardest-to-swallow losses in recent memory? I don’t want to go overboard here; it’s not as crushing as the two NCAA Tournament early exits. It also wasn’t as demoralizing as losing to K-State (at home) and Missouri (after leading by 7 with a little over a minute left) last year. It’s most reminscent of the 2004 home loss to Richmond, when the entire sporting nation could turn on ESPN to see the Hawks implode on their home floor to a team that wasn’t even playing that well. ESPN didn’t carry the ORU game on Wednesday night, THANK GOD, but the loss rippled through the sports press in a way that always seemed to emphasize the Hawks simply failed to look, umm, good. SI said simply: “Oral Roberts outplayed No. 3 Kansas the whole way.”

Question: How in the world does SI rank KU above a team like Florida, the defending national champions who returned every starter from last year? Did they want to avoid jinxing Florida for some reason? (SI added KU to its list of cover jinxes). Maybe they settled on this arrangement before Sasha Kaun got hurt, and before CJ Giles pulled a Lawrence Phillips and got himself kicked off the team?[1] Even so, how does any front line arrangement compete with Gator paint-dominators Al Horford and Joakim Noah? We’ll find out soon enough, I guess, since the teams will meet a week from tomorrow in Vegas. Gulp.

[1] Wikipedia’s abstract on Lawrence Phillips: “Lawrence Phillips (b. May 12, 1975 in Little Rock, Arkansas), is a former professional American football and Canadian football running back who has had numerous conflicts with law enforcement.” Sorta says it all.