Season 8 came to a close on Saturday. The season was a success on the whole and we’ve managed solid numbers all year long. Some new players helped breathe new life into the league. Roger Estes came with unbridled energy and never seen before willingness to hit the floor. John Folmar brought his skill and wide array of runners. Keith McMenamin was probably the most low key rookie, and probably led all rookies in rebounds without even trying. Isaac Lin came out of retirement and out in a solid year long performance. Nicky Santore continued his dedication week in and week out. Ethan Conner-Ross was another stable member and put numbers up in every column. Myself – well the three point line is my best friend and worst enemy. Stats will be posted shortly, and Summer games are in the works. Stay tuned art fags.

More last day photos here – AFBL Season 8 Flickr set

Once again there are trials and successes, and lots of missed layups. Despite an apparent rise in athleticism the games are erratic as ever. The new players have taken AFBL to another level. Maybe not the next level up, but somewhere else for sure. Ethan Conner-Ross was easily the early choice for rookie of the year. His consistency of showing up has put him in the pole position for this key award. The latest rook to make a run at the award is Mary Van Ogtrop. In her first game she scored the game winning bucket. She still needs to let the press know she’s here to stay, but you know how the writers/haters love the underdog. The dark horse is Anthony Malerba. He’s only played on day at this point. He’s had some really bad excuses for not coming out: including shopping for christmas gifts and something about his grandmother. These things will not help him in the ROY voting, but maybe his play will change some minds. Time will tell and there’s still a lot of season to go.

The missing in action haven’t stopped the tru warriors from hitting the linoleum hard and messy. Jay Yarrow’s lone AFBL showing proved that a little time away does a lot of good. In his one appearance he played like he knew what he was doing and even made wide open shots. We he grace us again with his efforts, no one knows. Has New York made him hard, or just lazy. Jim Houser has been out of action on the injured reserve. We hope he can make it back out before the season ends. “Crazy” Don Kahler is still MIA, with no word on a comeback.

The old veterans are still chugging along. Nicky Santore has continued his strong play. Newly committed AFBLer Rawle Anders has changed the game with his size and long range bombs. Andrew Jones seems like he’s still playing baseball, and some are questioning his motivation. Ben Jones on the other hand has been solid as ever – when he shows up that is. The Ballzman is the Peter Pan of the league, he still plays like a hungover energizer bunny. Me – John Freeborn – I continue to jack up ill-advised shots, circus junk while playing weak D.

There are about three months left in season 7. Lots of time to make a fool of yourself, or make a push for MVP. What happens between the fading lines at McCall Elementary from here on out is up to you.

Today I slept till noon after going to bed at 2:30 am. I then ate breakfast and read then took an hour long nap. I then did some other stuff and read some more. I took another shorter nap. The naps were at 3:00 and 9:30 each. Where is my energy? After taking the first nap I got scared that something might be wrong with me and I should see a doctor.

Anyway here is the basketball link, check it out dawgzz:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-23-27/Salim-Stoudamire-Runs-on-Broccoli.html

The reason I bring this up is that in journalism I’ve been told or heard or heard through the grapevine that you are not supposed to bury the lead. I excel at burying the lead, at traveling through completely obscure metaphors to arrive at my point. If you’ve read any of my posts I think it’s pretty obvious. Take for instance the post about Jay-Z and John Freeborn. It’s convoluted and weak at best, as far as the connection is concerned.

And here I am getting off topic, burying my lead. I wanted to write a long opening, but decided I should put the best part up front then put in the filler. Then this mess happened. I can’t help myself. I might have lost my audience already. This is what I envision my journalism teachers telling me. They’ll probably tell me to take out all the digs at Houser and Freeborn too. I’m not sure I’ll have what it takes to make it in the field of writing. Whatever.

I went to the Sixers game with My World Famous Artist Friend Jim Houser the past Sunday. Our seats were directly behind the Sixers bench, courtside. We were lucky enough to witness a little history. The Sixers lost by 50 points. That loss is the worst home loss in the history of the franchise. The Rockets own the Sixers. The last game they played against each other the Rockets were ahead by 37 going into the fourth quarter. This time they were up by 36. The first game the Rockets won by 20, this game they won by 50. I think the problem was that Mo Cheeks didn’t put in Fake Korver soon enough.

I screamed and yelled for this guy to get in, but it wasn’t until garbage time that they put him in. On the ride home I learned via sports radio that Fake Korver was signed to a 10 day contract. I looked up his numbers while he was in college:

His 2005-6 stats are decent, but how does this guy make it to the NBA? Are they hoping that he’ll be funny and turn into the next Paul Shirley? Is that something the Sixers even want or need? The Sixers are awful. They’re so bad that it’s funny. We stayed for the whole game, they don’t need a quasi-funny guy like Shirley on the squadron. They’ve got Sammy Dalembert. Watching Dalembert get juked by Yao Ming’s slow motion maneuvers is enough comedy for me.

Houser described it as such: “Sammy defense is like a dog. When you pretend to throw a ball to a dog then hide the ball behind your back and the dog takes off running, that’s how throwing a head fake at Sammy works.” He’s totally right. We watched Yao post up Sammy get jammed throw a minor head fake at Dalembert which led to Dalembert jumping, then shooting right over him. Dalembert is stupid.

Remember when I said that thing about burying the lead, this is what I meant. All I really wanted to post in here is this picture of Ed Snider and me. I saw him walking across the court at half time and got Jim to take this photo.

The tournament is still a work in progress.  Haas recommends that we call it March Fagness.   I agree.   So far the squads are:

Crazy D/John Free

Houser/Yarow

Haas/Christian

Nicky/Dom

and AJW is looking for a partner.

This weekend, in the flesh we’ll put it together and set it up for next weekend.

So Gilbert takes his free throws. As he gets ready for the third and final one, he turns to the Golden State bench and says: ‘Go to the lockerroom. Get on the bus. It’s over.

Gilbert Arenas is such a strange figure.  He feels like the closest thing in the NBA to the Arcade Fire.  The Arcade Fire is one of those critical darling bands but has begun to generate cross over success.  As is witnessed by their profiles in the Ny Times Sunday Magazine  and the New Yorker.  Hell, even Tony Kornheiser is openly petitioning the listeners of his radio show to give him tickets to their sold out D.C. show.  I personally don’t care much for teh Arcade Fire, but I respect bands that seemingly do this on their own and make it big time.

Gilbert Arenas is going the same route.  He is generating his own star power with his quirkiness.  However, when will he have to step up?  Will he ever be a star like T-Mac and V.C. who burn for a minute on skills and then fade out all together?  Will Arenas ever win anything and would he become a bigger star if he was somewhere besides D.C.?

I just wanted to post that insane bit about telling the team to get on the bus before he took his last shot.  Last year he choked in the playoffs when LeBron handed him the ball on the free throw line and said this is your season, don’t fuck it up.  This year he’s calling people out in the regular season.  Dude’s got stones. 

I am interested in this because of the level of confidence and bravado it takes to do something like that.  Not just on a basketball court.  I’m talking about every where in life.  I never ever feel that confident.  If I ever feel good about something, I immediately start to wonder why I feel good and then I get paranoid about the fact that I’m paranoid about the feeling I thought was good.  Then it’s usually over.  What happens to Gilberto?  Does he not feel those feelings?  What happens when he is wrong?  Can he just laugh it off?  These are the burning questions in my life.

Theres thousands of these videos on youtube, I just chose this one of Vince Carter because it is amazing and it highlights the difference between American ballin and Euro ballin. I like to think that Carter made this dunk lost his mind and Team USA was down by 20. That would summarize our nation’s basketball pretty succinctly.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsOwqT40IU0&mode=related&search=]

I haven’t written about the Sixers because I haven’t watched the Sixers since a week after the Iverson trade.  Initially, I found their ineptitude amusing.  Now, I find it tiresome.  The only team that interests me at all is the Suns.  They have everyone interested.  Unfortunately, I don’t really see them winning it all.  Maybe if the Colts win on Sunday I’ll change my mind.  Or maybe if the Suns win a game against a tough opponet like the Mavs, Spurs, Lakers or Jazz, then I’ll start to believe.  Until then, it is just fun to watch them.

How far off the radar has the Iverson and Anthony tandem gone?  I don’t know if it’s because they are in Denver or what, but nobody talks about it.  I haven’t heard a thing about Iverson.  There was a blip after the first game together.  The funniest thing I read was by Bethlem Shoals of FreeDarko fame on his aol sports blog.  I don’t regularly read it, I just sorta wound up there.  He said, “the Nuggets idea of unselfish basketball seems to be no look passes.”  This laconic statement laced with sarcasim is an omen.  Kelly Dwyer, I think, also on Free Darko, wrote that you didn’t see this many behind the back passes ten years ago.  The portentous nature of these statements is two fold. 

One.  Has Steve Nash’s back to back MVP awards, along with the drooling throngs of Chris Paul fans created a fundamental shift in the ideology of the NBA?  Are the phony Jordananiacs dying off, to be replaced by a new era of guys that think its fashionable to make bizzaro passes?  Think about it.  When you dunk in a crowded lane, its rather unsexy.  If you run into that crowded lane look left and then throw a bounce pass to the right between someone else’s legs, it’s pretty much amazing.  After making the pass, all the pressure is off the passer.  It’s almost a defense mechanism.  It’s in essence a way to say, “I’ve done my job, it’s now on you.”  And if the recipient of an absurdo pass is caught off guard, then they look foolish for letting the team down.

two.  This will be the undoing of the Nuggets.  If they try to play a Suns-Globetrotters hybrid they’ll distintigrate.  How many bobbled passes by Reggie Evans will Iverson tolerate?  Will Iverson tolerate the untalented version of himself in J.R. Smith as he clanks a 1 for 9 evening leading to a loss to the Charlotte Bobcats?  And there were rumors that, No Homo, A.I. and Melo are too close as friends.  Melo, he of Stop Snitching fame, and Iverson he of notorious gambling and partying habits.  Are these guys really going to beat anyone in the west?  Of course not.  Denver is going to be let down like Philly was when Webber came here.   

What does this have to do with the AFBL?

Last week’s balling started off somewhat auspiciously.  Avon Grove high school sent their alumni team out to McCall.  Josh Ferguson, John Balzarini, Andrew Jones and Toby Leahman all went to school together and played as a squad in the first four games.  They picked up Jason Haas after the first game.  They’ve know each other for quite some time and it showed on the court as they rattled off the four straight victories.  Never underestimate the power of chemistry in the AFBL.  They were literally able to read each others minds.  That is a distinct advantage in the AFBL.  I think.  If anyone on my team could read my thoughts, they’d just get scared.  They’d immediately come to me looking for the ball.  “Oh my god, he wants to do a bounce pass alley oop to someone posted up in the lane,” my teammate would learn.  Instead of backing down their defender and then spinning as I slam the ball into the court to give it proper elevation they’d come and grab the ball away from me.  And why do I want to do this?  Because I’m one of those slobbering throngs in love with the point guard.  I love the defense mechanism I can employ.  If I don’t shoot too much, then it’s not my fault we lost.  And my teams lost alot last week. 

We lost in part becuase the second week of the three point experiment has totally ruined my game.  Even more so than it was already ruined.  Ever see those bikes on the street that have been sitting out for ever and eventually someone starts denting and bending the rims of the tires?  That was my game before.  Now that there is a three point line, take the rubber off the tire, remove the seat and get rid of the bike chain too, and you have an idea about my game.  If I made the chuckers list today, I’d be 1 2 and 3.  It’s bad.

HOUSER WATCH:  Week 12, Double Shot!

Houser is a fan of the blog in general and the Houser Watch in particular.  He’s always the first to respond.  I respect that.  He was the only one that read the first, truncated version of my post.  I hope.  Our boy is leaving for Australia soon, so I might run thin on material about Houser.  But why not blow my load here and throw down a double shot of Houser Watch material.  I mean, if you’ve made it through all the other stuff I wrote, its the least I can do.

1.  Jimmy attempted to dribble between someone’s legs en route to the hoop last week.  It was not the first and it will not be the last time he tries to do something like this.  I personally love it.  It is the definitive act of the AFBL.  Where else can you do something like this?  On the Denver Nuggets?  Okay, maybe.  But I already told you that wont last very long.  This AFBL is strong and it will remain strong as long as people pick up on Houser’s gunning tendencies and Pres. Freeborn’s circus tendencies.

2.  Last year Houser told me that on his short drive home after basketball he throws out his socks.  After every game he takes off hsi sweaty socks and rather than wash them or hold on to them he just (unsurprisingly) chucks them.  Here is what he said in a response to my initial post.

“it started as a skateboarding thing… after a sesh, my feet would hurt . felt good to take off the socks . but who wants to carry around socks ?  it’s evolved into a game . there’s a trash can on 4th street . i ball the socks up while i am driving, and try to chuck them in the can . aint made it yet.  so, if your see a ball of socks on the ground near essene , now you know whose they are.  whatwhat.”

Have I mentioned that he’s crazy?

big ups to m’man Adam Wit for audio support.