heres a guy playing the transition from mean mr mustard to polythene pam to she came in through the bathroom window from abbey road on bass and guitar.
I finally got my hands on Bill Simmons' book yesterday. I read Malcom Gladwell's intro (with a hilarious line I'll go over later), which talked about why Bill is who he is, followed by the prologue and the first chapter. About 60-70 pages total read.
In yet another another "Danny Glover, you right" moment, I got really sleepy and tired around midnight and had to go stop reading and go to bed. In my younger days, like, 18 months ago, I would have stayed up and read at least 300 pages before I called it a night. Then I'd sleep for 3 hours and the next day I'd be fine assuming I have enough AC/DC through the ears, coffee through the mouth, and soul through the wire.
After the prologue, my initial reaction was "this isn't as funny as I had expected". I wasn't thinking that in a bad way though. The prologue was more than just comedy. It was...human.
Bill opens the book telling us why he is who he is and why he loves basketball so much. He tells us his history: his father got a tax return in 1973 and wanted to buy a motorcycle. Mrs Simmons refused. So he spent the money on Celtics season tickets. It just so happened that was the year everything clicked for the Dave Cowens Celtics teams and they won the championship. They'd win two of the next three, in fact. Bill, at age 6 or 7, spent 35-40 nights a season with his dad at Boston Garden and witnessed the action up close and personal. Bill tells us how that was before a time when all the athletes cared about were money, bling, and crap. They played with passion, they played with heart. The league, not yet hit by all the stigma for being um, hip hop, were rough and physical.
Then, he tells us how he and his father hoped and prayed the Celtics land Larry Bird after Cowen's reign ended. He tells us what it was like to see your team land a top five player, one of the most transcendent athletes ever, of all time and follow his entire career. He equates that to winning the life lottery--you don't win money, but you win plenty of memories.
The Cs upgraded the Simmons' season tickets to near the tunnel in the 80s, and that's when he first interacted with many a basketball players via high fives and 7 second conversations. Bill tells us he loved basketball and the league so much he wanted to be Black (something that may sound ridiculous to HKers but most Americans who loved ball all thought that at one point or another. I tried to grow a fro just a couple of years ago)
After Bird retired in 92, the Celtics spiraled into mediocrity for the next 16 years (except that one year The Truth and Toine went to the ECF). Bill tells us how his dad, tired of seeing unmotivated spoiled athletes lose games, thought about not renewing season tickets several times this decade. But the elder Simmons could never do it--he loved the team too much.
In 2007, with two potential "once-a-decade player" (Oden and Durant) about to enter the draft, the Celtics shamefully tanked away the 2007 season in order for a better shot to land either the 1st or 2nd pick. The Celtics, despite having the highest odds to land the 1st pick, ended up with the fifth pick. A worthless pick in a two-man draft.
All hope seems lost for the elder Simmons...when out ofthe blue, the Celtics landed Ray JESUS SHUTTLEWORTH Allen and Kevin Garnett in a trade. Suddenly the Cs were contenders.
Still, Bill and father didn't want to get their hopes up, they figured the Cs would take a year or two to gel. They gave the team a three year window to win.
But the Cs won it all the first year. And given KG's knee, the three stars's age, and the dillution of the league, it's not unlikely that this Celtics core is done--they won't be winning anymore. So for Bill Simmons, the 2008 title was yet another championship moment shared with his father, only this time, given the elder Simmons' age, it may be the last.
"I'm just glad I witnessed the Celtics win once more before I go," the dad was quoted saying in an article last year.
So yeah. This 700 page book of basketball will give me--and the millions of Simmons fans aroundt he world--what we love about Simmons' articles:
1: insightful, opinionated basketball talk that is aimed to start arguments 2: obscure ass random pop culture references that connects basketball with professional wrestling or Rocky Balboa, or Saved by the Bell, or The Departed 3: cheapshots at every Lakers, most notably Kobe and Kareem
and most importantly...
Heart. Passion. And why sports matters.
I've long been proud of my ultra passionate geek attitude towards all things I love. Other cats usually look at me like I'm weird because I get so passionate about basketball, or a movie, or a band, or a book. But I believe that being passionate about what you like--and what you do--is important to being happy. You have to let it be known that you love something. You must be willing to defend your point of view or argue to the death about your favorite anything. It doesn't have to be just movies, or an album. It could be anything. The point is--you can't be apathetic. If you like something--let the world know and share the love. There are others out there who are just as crazy about it as you are.
Bill Simmons loves sports. Detractors may argue that sports ultimately don't matter in the world and that there are more important issues at hand to worry about. But really that's not for anyone to say. Sports is the only thing that matters in his world.
Anyway, speaking of Bruce Wayne, a bat somehow flew inside the gym of a Spurs game tonight, and while some players were scared, Ginobili just slaps it in midair, either knocking out or killing it, then picked it up casually and handed it to the custodian.
This is looking good. Aside from Leo, who's proven to be a very capable actor the past several years (think it started with Catch Me If You Can, one of my "casual favorite" movies. Casual favorites = I will watch it everytime it's on TV and I will always goodmouth it, but I won't actually declare myself a huge fan like I do for say, Taxi Driver or Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure), aside from Leo, Alfred is in this (he's the Lam Suet to Chris Nolan's Johnnie To), and two indie kings and queens--JGL and Ellen Page is in it.
Joseph Gordon Levitt, I've watched him since I was a kid (we roughly the same age). He inspired me to like baseball for a few months when he starred in Angels in the Outfield (AITOF is the 3rd greatest baseball movie *in Kanye voice* OF ALL TIME, behind Sandlot and Rookie of the Year. No, Field of Dreams ain't no baseball movie, no "guy movie" can ever star Kevin Costner, who's like born to star in movies for chicks and saps). Then I loved him on 3rd Rock From the Sun, one of the rare sitcoms with an original premise--the story centers on a group of aliens posing as a human family on earth.
(Random tangent: John Lithgow is the head alien and he's hilarious. Everytime I watch him as the villain in Cliffhanger now I can't take him seriously. Has this ever happened? Where an otherwise solid performance in a serious role is ruined by that same actor being associated with a goofy character later on in his career? Sigh, who am I talking to with this? Aint no one on AnD can answer this. Bill Simmons could. My US pop culture-savvy geek friends could.)
Anyway, after 3rd Rock, JGL then starred in a series of indie films, honing his acting abilities along the way. Then this summer he hit it big--first as the freaking COBRA commander in GI Joe (surprisingly good. it's like a Michael Bay movie with the stupidity and ridiculousness turned down 4 notches), then as Tom Hanson, aka a dude every normal guy can relate to in 500 Days of Summer, one of my favorite films this summer and a movie that the local film PRs are buzzing about.
Now...Inception. In the trailer, he's actually the dude fighting the brotha in that awesome gravity defying, Matrix-like scene, so he looks to have a big role.
BTW, everyone is pitching Johnny Depp to take over the role of Joker in the Batman sequels, I'm thinking JGL is the way to go. He has the acting ablity--if you seen Brick you know he can play a tortured soul/intense dude with inner demons. And he even looks like Heath Ledger.
Oh yeah, I forgot that JGL and Ledger starred together in 10 Things I Hate About You, probably the best of the bunch of teen movies that came out in the late 90s. I was forced to watch it by then-GF and I had to pretend I hated it, but deep down I liked it.
She forced me to watch Sex and the City and I liked that too. But then she made me miss a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert because she bought tickets to see Phantom of the Opera. I will never forgive her for that crap.
In West Philly, born and raised. On the playgound's where I spent most of my days. Chilling out maxing relaxing all cool and all shooting some bball outside the......
In West Philly, born and raised. On the playgound's where I spent most of my days. Chilling out maxing relaxing all cool and all shooting some bball outside the...
Nah, just kidding.
I'm like this half local half ABC dude. I've lived exactly half my life in LA and the half in HK. I'm not really like them westernized ABCs that hang around LKF everynight, but then I'm not really that local cause my Cantonese cussing is not up to par and I don't carry a freaking man-purse (that's the HK style, man. Not hating... just saying.) I'm stuck in the middle.
I used to write for BC and Beats Magazine. I did mainly movie reviews and the occasional feature here and there. Now I'm freelancing (aka unemployed). Yeah. Still writing though.
I love basketball. movies. music. food. poker. In that order.
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