After a very productive April, I have not been productive in May. This is only my second blog post of the month. Not much has been going on. I was getting frustrated because I couldn't figure out what to do. I probably would have gone somewhere if I had a four day weekend for Ascension Thursday (that's when I went to San Diego last year), but I lost that because of the hurricane. Traveling on Memorial Day weekend was going to be too expensive. So I haven't gone anywhere this month. Last year I went to at least one baseball game in every month from April to September. That won't happen this year. After four games in April, I'm not getting to a game in May. It's been a slow month, but things are about to pick up.
This summer will be the first summer since 1999 that I won't work at camp. I'm going to take advantage of my free time. I already have two baseball trips planned for sure. I'll save the details of those for later. But the big trip is my second trip across the Atlantic, this time to England.
My good friend Pete is getting married on July 6 in Canterbury, England. I've known Pete for 15 years (hard to believe). We had good times on Model UN trips and then we worked at camp together. It's also hard to believe that it was 10 years ago that Pete, Bill, and I worked precamp under Alex. That was my first of many precamps and the rest never lived up to that one.
This week I booked my trip to England. I'll be in London for five days and then two more in Canterbury. If anybody has any recommendations for things to do in London, let me know, but I'm sure Pete will have many. One thing that I really want to do is go to Wimbledon. I'm no tennis fan, but I've always liked Wimbledon. Part of it is that it's played on grass. Part of it always starts right around the beginning of my summer vacation. And part of it is that it was dominated by an American when I was growing up (Pete Sampras). I've never been to a professional tennis match in my life, but it would be awesome to get to Wimbledon. If I don't get there, I'll get over it. But this is probably the only time I'll ever be in England while Wimbledon is going on, so I hope I can do it.
While I'm really excited about going to England and Pete's wedding, I'm also very conflicted. If you know me, you know how much I love the United States. God, Country, Notre Dame. Country comes before Notre Dame, so I think that tells you all you need to know. This is the first time I'll be out of the country on the Fourth of July. And I'm going to be in Great Britain on the Fourth of July. That seems awkward, kind of like being in Los Angeles to celebrate the Celtics beating the Lakers in the NBA Finals. I'll be thinking of John Adams's meeting with King George III in 1785. Pete says that we'll be able to celebrate, but I hope this will be the only time I'm not in the United States for the Fourth of July.
Oddly, if I'm going to be out of the country on the Fourth of July, I think Great Britain is the country that I'd most want to be in on that day. America and Britain have a special relationship. Only Australia is a more loyal ally (the Aussies were with us in Vietnam, the British weren't), but Britain is our most important ally. I love America. The only other country I might say that I love is the Vatican City. I strongly like Australia (that might be its own blog post one day). As a Catholic and an American, my feelings on the British are a little bit more mixed, but I do like the Great Britain very much. I used to have a Union Jack in my room (I purposely bought one that was smaller than the American flag in my room). I like how the Americans and British have been able to move past our history of two wars fought against each other to work together for the good of the world. I have many historical heroes. Most of the them are American, but Winston Churchill is one of my favorite people in history. There are so many Churchill quotes that I love and this is one of my favorites: "We can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the other possibilities." That's exactly what happened in World War II. After the French surrendered to Germany in June 1940, the British were the only ones left to stop Hitler. For almost four months, Germany bombed the hell out of Britain and thanks to Churchill's fearless leadership, Britain refused to surrender. Americans like to think that we saved the day in World War II. We did, but if not for the British, it might have been too late. There is no greater political hero of World War II than Winston Churchill. So I will be celebrating my freedom and thinking all the good that the United States and Britain have done for the world together.
My trip to England and the baseball trips I currently have planned will be done by the middle of July. I want to do some other stuff as well. I really want to get to the Missouri stadiums this summer. I'm hoping to do a Valley Forge-Gettysburg-Cooperstown-Springfield-Boston road trip. I have to find something to do for the last month and a half of summer.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Friday, May 3, 2013
My Favorite NBA Players*
I wrote a three-part series on my favorite baseball players in the fall. In honor of the NBA playoffs, I'm doing a post on my favorite basketball players. I had to put an asterisk on the title because I gave myself some rules to spare you from a list that included James Posey and Eddie House (I'm not kidding, those two would be on this list, and P.J. Brown and Leon Powe also would have gotten serious consideration). So I'm limiting myself to players that have played during my lifetime and are in the Hall of Fame, will be in the Hall of Fame, or players that I think should be in the Hall of Fame (so I gave myself some leeway). I came up with a 12-man roster. Here we go:
12. Rajon Rondo (2006-present). I'm taking advantage of that leeway because I needed a point guard. It's a little bit of a stretch because he's not a Hall of Famer yet. All I know is he has Hall of Fame talent. When he's playing his best basketball, he's the best point guard in the NBA. It doesn't always happen (you're not getting 28, 14, and 13 from Rondo on a Tuesday night against Toronto), but when it does, he's better than Chris Paul or anybody else. In 2010, he was the best player in the series that LeBron James played in. I don't know why the Celtics occasionally mess around with the idea of trading him. He has a reasonable contract and they'll never get equal value. Just build around him now that the Pierce-Garnett Era is coming to an end.
11. Robert Horry (1992-1997, 2003-2008). You'll notice I'm not counting his Laker years. I absolutely believe Robert Horry belongs in the Hall of Fame. I don't care that he averaged 7.0 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game. I remember him with the Rockets, but I remember him well from his days with the Lakers and Spurs. When he was with the Lakers, I was terrified any time he took a big shot. You know it was going in. There are nine players in NBA history that won at least seven championships and Robert Horry is one of them. The other eight were Bill Russell and his teammates (and they're all in the Hall of Fame, except for Jim Loscutoff, who is one of two people the Celtics retired number 18 for). It's no coincidence that Robert Horry won that many. He played a huge role on championship teams. Robert Horry's performance in Game 5 of the 2005 NBA Finals was one for the ages. It was probably his best game ever, but as Bill Simmons noted, it wasn't his only great performance. I know he probably won't end up in the Hall of Fame, but you can't convince me that he doesn't belong there.
10. David Robinson (1989-2003). He was a great player, but certainly not on the same level as Shaquille O'Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon. If not for the fact that he got hurt and only played 6 games in the 1996-1997 season, he probably never would have won a championship. That bad season led to the Spurs getting Tim Duncan, which is what put them over the top for their first championship in 1999 (Duncan was already the best player on the team in 1999). But I had to put Robinson on the list for two reasons. First, he served the greatest country in the history of the world in the navy for two years before going to the NBA. And second, his son Corey is now a wide receiver on the Notre Dame football team. USA! USA! USA! Go Irish!
9. Kevin Durant (2007-present). I like everything about Kevin Durant. I like the way he plays the game and I like the way he handles himself. He's the hope for the NBA fans who despise everything about the Miami Heat (like me). He will move up this list a lot as soon as he wins a championship (unless he beats the Celtics).
8. Dirk Nowitzki (1999-present). I was never a big fan of Dirk until 2011. He is an American hero for beating the Lakers and Heat in the playoffs in the same year. Yes, I know he's German, but he's an American hero. If you want to see something funny, look at some of the clowns that were drafted before Nowitzki and Paul Pierce in the 1998 Draft. Nowitzki and Pierce are so much better than the eight guys that went in front of them. Vince Carter might have been the most talented player in that draft, but as Vince Carter has shown us, there's a difference between having talent and being great.
7. Tim Duncan (1997-present). The Spurs beat the Lakers in the playoffs in 1999 and 2003 and Tim Duncan was their best player. That's enough to get him on the list. But I have a question (and an answer). Who is the best player since Michael Jordan? LeBron James is the most talented player since Jordan, but he hasn't accomplished enough to be there yet. There's a good chance that he'll get there, but he's not there yet. I think there are three possibilities: Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kobe Bryant (as much as I hate to put him on that list). Duncan and O'Neal have four championships and Bryant has five. But I think there's a difference between Duncan's championships and O'Neal's and Bryant's. Duncan was the best player on his team for all four championships. He's played with some excellent players. Robinson was still a very good player in 1999, but he was a role player in 2003. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili are great players, but they were role players in 2003 (the 2003 team was Duncan and a bunch of role players). Duncan played with the great Robert Horry in 2005 and 2007. So yes, Duncan's played with some great players, but I think what he's done is more impressive than what Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant have done. Shaquille O'Neal was the best player on three of his championship teams (Dwyane Wade was the best player on the 2006 Heat). Kobe Bryant was the best player on two championship teams. He also got to play with Pau Gasol when Pau Gasol made a deal with the devil and wasn't soft for two years (he was so soft in 2008 and then became soft again in 2011). O'Neal and Bryant also both benefited from three years of Robert Horry. So yes, I hate the Lakers (although as you will see, I do not hate Shaquille O'Neal), but I have Tim Duncan ranked as the best player since Michael Jordan. If only the Celtics had won the 1997 lottery.
6. Manu Ginobili (2002-present). I don't know if he'll end up in the Hall of Fame or not, but I think he belongs there. I like watching the way he plays. He's left-handed so I like to think that if I was taller and had athletic ability (as in superior athletic ability by normal standards, but kind of slightly above average athletic ability by NBA standards), I would play the game the way he does. Until Dirk Nowitzki did what he did in 2011, Ginobili was the response to "Name a European player that isn't soft." The only problem with that was that he's from Argentina.
5. Shaquille O'Neal (1992-1996, 2004-2011). I have a complicated relationship with Shaquille O'Neal. I liked him when he was in Orlando, but I thought he was over-hyped. Hakeem Olajuwon was better. When he was with the Lakers, he was my second least favorite player in the league (behind Kobe Bryant, of course). Once the Lakers ran him out of town, he became my favorite player. I was really rooting for Miami to win in 2005 and 2006. If not for Dwyane Wade getting hurt and missing Game 6 of the 2005 Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat might have won the 2005 championship. After Winston Churchill, there's nobody I enjoy quoting more than Shaquille O'Neal. My favorite might be "Me shooting 40% at the foul line is just God's way to say nobody's perfect," but there are so many good ones.
4. Player number 4 is currently dead to me. You can probably figure out who it is.
3. Larry Bird (1979-1992). He's the second greatest Celtic ever. He was their best player at the beginning of my life. He won three championships (the second came the year I was born) and made the Finals two other times. Unfortunately, I have no memory of him until 1990, which is why he doesn't rank higher. He was my favorite player growing up (33 was my number in CYO basketball because of Larry Bird), but he was past his prime and dealing with back injuries. I should have been alive in the 1950s for baseball and I should be old enough to remember the 1980s in basketball.
2. Kevin Garnett (1995-present). Kevin Garnett turned the franchise around. He should have won the MVP award in 2008. He wasn't great in the finals that year, but he was great in Game 6. If he hadn't gotten injured in 2009, the Celtics probably would have won the championship that year also. He's been great and it's been a privilege to watch him play for the Celtics. But things could have been very different. Remember, Garnett didn't want to come to the Celtics at first. If they had won the lottery in 2007, he never would have ended up on the Celtics. I remember being at Yankee Stadium for Yankees-Red Sox the night of the lottery. I found out from my dad on the phone that the Celtics had gotten the fifth pick, the worst pick they could have possibly ended up with. If they had gotten the first pick, they probably would have taken Greg Oden and the franchise would have been set back another 10 years. If they had gotten the second pick, they would have taken Kevin Durant. They certainly wouldn't have won the championship in 2008, but they would have had Kevin Durant. That might have led to a championship by now. If not, there would be a good chance of championships in the future. I'll always be thankful for 2008, but it would be nice to have Kevin Durant now. Garnett did help deliver a championship. I might still be waiting without him.
11. Robert Horry (1992-1997, 2003-2008). You'll notice I'm not counting his Laker years. I absolutely believe Robert Horry belongs in the Hall of Fame. I don't care that he averaged 7.0 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game. I remember him with the Rockets, but I remember him well from his days with the Lakers and Spurs. When he was with the Lakers, I was terrified any time he took a big shot. You know it was going in. There are nine players in NBA history that won at least seven championships and Robert Horry is one of them. The other eight were Bill Russell and his teammates (and they're all in the Hall of Fame, except for Jim Loscutoff, who is one of two people the Celtics retired number 18 for). It's no coincidence that Robert Horry won that many. He played a huge role on championship teams. Robert Horry's performance in Game 5 of the 2005 NBA Finals was one for the ages. It was probably his best game ever, but as Bill Simmons noted, it wasn't his only great performance. I know he probably won't end up in the Hall of Fame, but you can't convince me that he doesn't belong there.
10. David Robinson (1989-2003). He was a great player, but certainly not on the same level as Shaquille O'Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon. If not for the fact that he got hurt and only played 6 games in the 1996-1997 season, he probably never would have won a championship. That bad season led to the Spurs getting Tim Duncan, which is what put them over the top for their first championship in 1999 (Duncan was already the best player on the team in 1999). But I had to put Robinson on the list for two reasons. First, he served the greatest country in the history of the world in the navy for two years before going to the NBA. And second, his son Corey is now a wide receiver on the Notre Dame football team. USA! USA! USA! Go Irish!
9. Kevin Durant (2007-present). I like everything about Kevin Durant. I like the way he plays the game and I like the way he handles himself. He's the hope for the NBA fans who despise everything about the Miami Heat (like me). He will move up this list a lot as soon as he wins a championship (unless he beats the Celtics).
8. Dirk Nowitzki (1999-present). I was never a big fan of Dirk until 2011. He is an American hero for beating the Lakers and Heat in the playoffs in the same year. Yes, I know he's German, but he's an American hero. If you want to see something funny, look at some of the clowns that were drafted before Nowitzki and Paul Pierce in the 1998 Draft. Nowitzki and Pierce are so much better than the eight guys that went in front of them. Vince Carter might have been the most talented player in that draft, but as Vince Carter has shown us, there's a difference between having talent and being great.
7. Tim Duncan (1997-present). The Spurs beat the Lakers in the playoffs in 1999 and 2003 and Tim Duncan was their best player. That's enough to get him on the list. But I have a question (and an answer). Who is the best player since Michael Jordan? LeBron James is the most talented player since Jordan, but he hasn't accomplished enough to be there yet. There's a good chance that he'll get there, but he's not there yet. I think there are three possibilities: Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kobe Bryant (as much as I hate to put him on that list). Duncan and O'Neal have four championships and Bryant has five. But I think there's a difference between Duncan's championships and O'Neal's and Bryant's. Duncan was the best player on his team for all four championships. He's played with some excellent players. Robinson was still a very good player in 1999, but he was a role player in 2003. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili are great players, but they were role players in 2003 (the 2003 team was Duncan and a bunch of role players). Duncan played with the great Robert Horry in 2005 and 2007. So yes, Duncan's played with some great players, but I think what he's done is more impressive than what Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant have done. Shaquille O'Neal was the best player on three of his championship teams (Dwyane Wade was the best player on the 2006 Heat). Kobe Bryant was the best player on two championship teams. He also got to play with Pau Gasol when Pau Gasol made a deal with the devil and wasn't soft for two years (he was so soft in 2008 and then became soft again in 2011). O'Neal and Bryant also both benefited from three years of Robert Horry. So yes, I hate the Lakers (although as you will see, I do not hate Shaquille O'Neal), but I have Tim Duncan ranked as the best player since Michael Jordan. If only the Celtics had won the 1997 lottery.
6. Manu Ginobili (2002-present). I don't know if he'll end up in the Hall of Fame or not, but I think he belongs there. I like watching the way he plays. He's left-handed so I like to think that if I was taller and had athletic ability (as in superior athletic ability by normal standards, but kind of slightly above average athletic ability by NBA standards), I would play the game the way he does. Until Dirk Nowitzki did what he did in 2011, Ginobili was the response to "Name a European player that isn't soft." The only problem with that was that he's from Argentina.
5. Shaquille O'Neal (1992-1996, 2004-2011). I have a complicated relationship with Shaquille O'Neal. I liked him when he was in Orlando, but I thought he was over-hyped. Hakeem Olajuwon was better. When he was with the Lakers, he was my second least favorite player in the league (behind Kobe Bryant, of course). Once the Lakers ran him out of town, he became my favorite player. I was really rooting for Miami to win in 2005 and 2006. If not for Dwyane Wade getting hurt and missing Game 6 of the 2005 Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat might have won the 2005 championship. After Winston Churchill, there's nobody I enjoy quoting more than Shaquille O'Neal. My favorite might be "Me shooting 40% at the foul line is just God's way to say nobody's perfect," but there are so many good ones.
4. Player number 4 is currently dead to me. You can probably figure out who it is.
3. Larry Bird (1979-1992). He's the second greatest Celtic ever. He was their best player at the beginning of my life. He won three championships (the second came the year I was born) and made the Finals two other times. Unfortunately, I have no memory of him until 1990, which is why he doesn't rank higher. He was my favorite player growing up (33 was my number in CYO basketball because of Larry Bird), but he was past his prime and dealing with back injuries. I should have been alive in the 1950s for baseball and I should be old enough to remember the 1980s in basketball.
2. Kevin Garnett (1995-present). Kevin Garnett turned the franchise around. He should have won the MVP award in 2008. He wasn't great in the finals that year, but he was great in Game 6. If he hadn't gotten injured in 2009, the Celtics probably would have won the championship that year also. He's been great and it's been a privilege to watch him play for the Celtics. But things could have been very different. Remember, Garnett didn't want to come to the Celtics at first. If they had won the lottery in 2007, he never would have ended up on the Celtics. I remember being at Yankee Stadium for Yankees-Red Sox the night of the lottery. I found out from my dad on the phone that the Celtics had gotten the fifth pick, the worst pick they could have possibly ended up with. If they had gotten the first pick, they probably would have taken Greg Oden and the franchise would have been set back another 10 years. If they had gotten the second pick, they would have taken Kevin Durant. They certainly wouldn't have won the championship in 2008, but they would have had Kevin Durant. That might have led to a championship by now. If not, there would be a good chance of championships in the future. I'll always be thankful for 2008, but it would be nice to have Kevin Durant now. Garnett did help deliver a championship. I might still be waiting without him.
1. Paul Pierce (1999-present). Paul Pierce is the best Celtic I've ever seen. Yes, Larry Bird was better, but I didn't see Larry Bird in his prime. I've seen Pierce's whole career and it's better than the Larry Bird I saw. The Celtics were unlucky to not win the 1997 lottery for a chance to take Tim Duncan. They were kind of lucky and kind of unlucky to not get Kevin Durant in the 2007 Draft. But they were very lucky that Paul Pierce was still there when they picked tenth in the 1998 Draft (seriously, look at that draft again). If not for 2008, Larry Bird would still be number 1 on this list. It's been a pleasure watching Pierce's whole career though. It's really really easy to come up with the four best Celtics of all time (kind of like with the Yankees, Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle). It's Russell, Bird, Havlicek, and Cousy. I think Pierce is fifth. He's the Celtics' all time leader in three pointers made, free throws made, and steals. He's second in points (he has a chance to pass Havlicek for first, but that's not a sure thing, he needs to play at least two more years with the Celtics) and points per game (way behind Bird, but he'll probably stay ahead of Havlicek). He's third in games, minutes, and field goals, fourth in assists and blocks (but not really for blocks, they didn't count blocks when Bill Russell played), and seventh in rebounds. It's just a shame he didn't have anybody better than Antoine Walker to play with for the first nine years of his career. I don't know what the future holds for Pierce. It might be best for the Celtics to move on, but I never want to see Pierce in another uniform.
So here's the starting lineup for the All-Jim Team:
PG- Rajon Rondo
SG- Paul Pierce
SF- Larry Bird
PF- Kevin Garnett
C- Shaquille O'Neal
I know Pierce has played the small forward spot for most of his career, but he has played shooting guard and he had to get in the starting lineup. Bird is an easy choice. Rondo is my only point guard. And I could only start two of Garnett, O'Neal, and Duncan. I said Duncan was the best player since Jordan, but those three are close (if Garnett had been in San Antonio and Duncan had been in Minnesota, Garnett would have more probably have more championships than Duncan). I went with my two favorites of those three.
So here's the starting lineup for the All-Jim Team:
PG- Rajon Rondo
SG- Paul Pierce
SF- Larry Bird
PF- Kevin Garnett
C- Shaquille O'Neal
I know Pierce has played the small forward spot for most of his career, but he has played shooting guard and he had to get in the starting lineup. Bird is an easy choice. Rondo is my only point guard. And I could only start two of Garnett, O'Neal, and Duncan. I said Duncan was the best player since Jordan, but those three are close (if Garnett had been in San Antonio and Duncan had been in Minnesota, Garnett would have more probably have more championships than Duncan). I went with my two favorites of those three.
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