Welcome to I Love Hoops!

My real game is college ball - I'm a huge Syracuse fan, and like Matt I send them unreasonably far in my NCAA bracket every year. Not coincidentally, 2003 is the only year I've ever won an office pool.

I played through eighth grade, making up for my lack of size with erratic three-point shooting and my naive willingness to throw bows against kids much bigger than me; if I wasn't the Ron Artest of a bunch of mid-90's Liverpool Optimist Club rec league teams, I was at least the Anthony Mason.

I played in jr. high on the "C" (i.e. short kids) team; my "natural" position was the point, though I didn't really have a left hand or handles. I haven't played in so long that I can no longer dribble and I'm having trouble finding my shot again.

Chris Mullin is my favorite all-time player.

I suppose I am a Raptors fan, but the franchise wasn't around when I was growing up, so I used to root for whoever the Bulls opponents were. One of my closest friends was a huge Barkley fan, so I became one too. The Suns' loss to the Bulls in 1993 really ripped my heart out. It so happened that I already had plans to get blitzed with some friends the night of Game 6, and the disappointing result of that game was an excuse to drink more. I think that was the most I drank in one night while I was in high school. My mom was none too happy when I came home the next morning and went to bed instead of going to work.

Anyway, hi.

Now that I'm in Athens I've tried to rally around another dixieland disgrace, the Hawks, probably doubling Turner South's ratings when I started tuning in to their games last year (I even attended one, my first NBA contest, and was very impressed with the Phillips Arena if not the fans that (sorta) filled it).

Ultimately, I doubt I'll ever feel about any NBA team the same way I feel about my Tar Heels, though now that the Hawks have got Marvin Williams who knows?

I'm a bit standoffish nowadays, tho, re: pro & college alliegances - I tend to root against UConn when I w/ pro-Huskie fans, because I'm an asshole. I did pick Syracuse when Carmelo took them all the way, though, which is something that will probably never happen again. Me winning a tourney pool, that is.

My game, BTW, is all about using my ass to indimidate my opponent, hitting folks with my knees as they drive by, and taking ill-advised jump shots.

Vinne Johnson was the coolest, and I think because he wasn't so tall and intimidating I liked him most. I was also nuts for Joe Dumars, who I would later get to know a few other ways (both as fans, rooting for the private school where my girlfriend and his kid went to school; both as professionals, me covering his team's 04 Eastern Conf. championship) and I can say he's one of the warmest, most personable executives I've ever met.

I was a freshman at Mich State when they won in '99, and our out-of-control dorm floor's Resident Advisor was a Flint guy who, the two times we saw him that semester, brought a few of the Flintstones through to say hi. I'm not sure anything legal compares to the collective ecstacy of a NCAA championship on a college campus.

Stern just wants to appeal to the big bucks in corporations who, like any older generation, are somewhat disgusted by the younger generation's way of speaking, dressing, acting, and behaving. The players have a uniform already - their basketball jersies. I have a lot more to say on the subject but I want to hear from other people.

i follow the lakers out of some morbid curiosity and the remnants of the shaq association (said morbid curiosity also fuels my desultory interest in the clippers) but since i have a like/hate relationship with kobe at best i tend to play Oatu the Watcher a bit and am a general fan of the league. loved phoenix last year, wanted to see the pistons win it (but horry's megadunk was classik) and i hope for kg's mental state he either gets himself traded or mchale blows up the team yet again.

(As for NCAA action, I somewhat pathetically support Texas. "Hook 'em Horns! What team did they most recently play again?")

I spent a year in fan exile during the 1996-7 season when D Rob and Sean Elliot decided to not be healthy. At least I got to see Dominique Wilkins pad his career points stats. I rooted for the Bulls because seeing teams win a lot is fun and Jordan was everyone's favorite player.

Then Tim Duncan was drafted and I was back on the wagon. Since then I have: advocated the trade of Rasho Nesterovic six times; uttered "Fucking Lakers" at least 200 times; not seen a game live since we played in the Alamadome. My favorite Spurs game was when I was in the 4th row to see Mario Elie hit a game-winning shot against the Rockets in a come from behind game.

Also, Dee, you are absolutely losing it if you don't think Finley and Van Exel make us a lock for an 80-2 record. Preseason means absolutely dick!

Also, Dee, you are absolutely losing it if you don't think Finley and Van Exel make us a lock for an 80-2 record. Preseason means absolutely dick!

I would like to believe that Finley and Van Exel will = FEAR THE SPURS time, but I'm not sure they'll be able to do for the team what Duncan has done, i.e. take over a leadership position with the team. IF they can and will do that, the team will be most fearsome indeed, because hey, the more players the opposition will have to worry about will obv mean a weakened defense vs. the Spurs and better chances for the Spurs to control the game. But I think I'm going to have to adopt a wait and see attitude here.

Actually, maybe I should just wait for the regular season to really begin and for the team to play their first 20 games or so before being able to determine if you're right. Which I do hope you are, but again.

Yeah, I live in Oakland.

then the knicks started to become no fun. not even in a thuggish sort of way. and the nets, somehow, impossibly, became the best team in the area to watch. and now they're moving to my ancestral homeland of brooklyn. i may have defected permanently. and i can live with that.

I can't get myself interested in college basketball. I couldn't tell you why.

I was on the worst CYO basketball team of all time when I was in fourth grade. We went 0-10 and I was our leading scorer, averaging a massive 3.5 points per game. My skills have only gotten worse.

Let's ball!

Holla!

prescient words from polyphonic

Never would've guessed in a million years that what they needed was Stephen Jackson.

They should go hard after Chris Bosh imo

then the knicks started to become no fun. not even in a thuggish sort of way. and the nets, somehow, impossibly, became the best team in the area to watch. and now they're moving to my ancestral homeland of brooklyn. i may have defected permanently. and i can live with that.

― bucky wunderlick (bucky), Friday, October 28, 2005 8:59 AM

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