1/22/05 8pm: Breaking Prediction Update!

Pretty amazing snowstorm today. Very steady, very intense.  I think Joe M. is going to be off by close to a foot in his prediction.  AJR has chimed in with a blizzard-related prediction of his own.

With any luck, both conference championship games will be played in blizzard conditions tomorrow.  I think Philly is a more reasonable bet for fun snow football; Pittsburgh looks like it might just be a bit messy. I suppose I should wish for reasonable conditions "so the best team wins," but screw that.  There's nothing better than getting nice and toasty on the couch and watching pro athletes tumbling all over the field in a snowstorm. I was burned when my Chargers lost to Cincinnati in the 1982 playoffs, playing in something like -27 temperature (with the wind chill).  Now let somebody else's team suffer.  Besides, they're supposed to be big tough football players, let's see who's got the grit to overcome the conditions.

One thing to watch for: if Philly plays badly, their shithead fans are going to start throwing tons of iceballs at each other and onto the field.  This might be the chance for my prediction (#48) to come true.

1/22/05: Taxi Driver II: Electric Bickleoo

I was a little freaked out to see that DeNiro and Scorsese are considering a Taxi Driver sequel. Not just because it's a terrible idea -- and as terrible ideas go, it's right up there with Young Einstein II, although for different reasons -- but because a sequel would ruin my man Kissel's theory (Taxi Driver I spoiler alert!) about what happens at the end of Taxi Driver 1. I wish I had the movie in front of me so I could give you a better recap, but here are the basics. After Travis goes on his bloody rampage in the whorehouse/pre-crack den or whatever that place is, he takes several bullets and is left bleeding against the wall. You can practically see the life draining out of him. The next scene in the movie indicates that not only does Travis survive his injuries, but he receives a hero's reception after the shootout: medals of commendation and notes of thanks from Iris's parents, inviting him out to the beautiful country house as soon as he recovers.  Finally, Travis is back driving again and he improbably encounters the object of his one-time obsession, Betsy. She gets in his cab and we see that the tables have now turned.  No longer is she too good for Travis.  Now she finds him intriguing and basically throws herself at him, only to be rejected by him.

Kissel's theory (and I see a brief reference to someone else sharing the theory here) was simple.  Travis dies at the end.  Everything after the last shot of him laying there bloody with a blank look on his face is his dying fantasy. You could certainly argue, and you'd probably be right, that Scorsese was making a statement about the state of  the world in 1976 by allowing his psychotic vigilante to triumph at the end of the film. But the last few minutes tie the whole thing up in such a neat and implausible way that I totally buy into the fantasy theory. Travis clearly wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, and in his dying moments he sees all of his childlike dreams of redemption come true:

-Iris, the young girl who he felt obligated to 'save' is rescued. She returns to her happy life with the parents in the country, a pretty ridiculous development considering that was the same life that apparently drove her to become a teenage New York prostitute in the first place.
-If I recall correctly, the parents even indicate that they want Travis to come visit as soon as he is able, which is not only slightly improbable but also leaves the door open for Travis to pursue a romance with Iris. Earlier in the movie, he clearly has sexual feelings towards her, and is conflicted by the fact that she's LIKE TWELVE YEARS OLD.  Her parents' approval would justify his longings and allow him to be with her without feelings of guilt.  Sounds like a fantasy to me.
-Betsy, his fantasy girl, now wants him, but he rejects her in an immature act of spite.  Just the kind of thing a lonely pscyho dreams about doing -- I'll show you! You'll see!.
-Throughout the movie, Travis talks about wanting to clean the scum and filth off the streets. His gruesome rampage and the ensuing commendation validates his simplistic ideas about "cleaning up" the city.

So basically, here is a man leading an empty life filled with frustration, consumed with insane ideas about how the world should be, feeling completely left out of society.  Then he goes and shoots a bunch of people and all his wildest desires come true.

Sounds like a dying man's sad fantasy if ever there was one.  Of course, if they're making a sequel, we can only accept that he really did survive the first film.  I also think it's funny that DeNiro and Scorsese think we'd really want to catch up with Travis Bickle 30 years down the road.  I am pretty satisfied never seeing that character again.

I think if he were alive now he'd be a dispatcher for Carmel Limousine.

***

I can't speak for anyone else, but I have to admit that for me personally Bush's reelection was so crushing that I have found myself unable to think about it at all over the last two months.  I have just resigned myself to the four more years and I was thinking maybe I'd try to make the best of it and stop whining about ol' W. But then this week came, first with Condi's confirmation hearings and now with this nauseating and inappropriate inauguration extravaganza. And now I am riled up again.  This administration is just so fucking awful, I can't take it. The bullshit about this being a defining time for freedom and all that is just a bunch of hooey. I'll say it: America sucks right now.  How did we elect this joker again? How stupid are we? Leno and Bush, the double barometer.

***

It's just about the halfway point in the NBA season, which means it's time to do some mid-season evaluatin'. I'll get to the morass that we unfortunate Gothamites call the Knicks in a minute, but first let me say that tonight's San Antonio-Phoenix game not only lived up to the hype of the whole "two best teams" stuff, but it was also the most entertaining NBA game I've seen in about ten years. The 80's are alive in Phoenix -- they've got five terrifically exciting players and they're clearly having tons of fun.  And San Antonio is a marvelous team.  They will win it all, barring an injury.  Tonight, Popovich really showed me that he's more than just a smart, hard-ass tactician.  He also has a feel for the rhythms of the game, which he showed by benching half his starters and going with an oddball lineup for about the last twenty minutes.  He didn't just stay with them until they brought the Spurs close again, he rode them all the way through the overtime to the win.  Duncan is a perfect player, even though his personality is dullsville.  And Ginobili is probably the most electrifying player in the league right now.  For about three years, D. Lee has been trying to sell me on his Ginobili-Kobe comparison, and I haven't really been buying it.  Tonight, though, I saw a little bit of what he's talking about.  Ginobili seems to be able to get wherever he needs to get whenever he needs to get there, and he does sort of have a Kobe-like ability to take over a game. Still, I think his style is totally unique and I don't want to associate him with shoot-first Kobe.  Also, Kobe is a two-foot leaper, whereas Ginobili is a one-foot leaper, which makes Ginobili's fierce lefty drives more reminiscent of Sarunas Marciulionis to me. Whatever, the guy is a stud who plays every part of the game well and he's a pleasure to watch.  Tonight he was just out there balling like a teenager discovering his love of the game for the first time. It was beautiful. It would be nice to see him at West 4th Street or in the Rucker league.

OK, I guess I'm not the only one looking to do some evaluatin'.  Lenny Wilkens is apparently resigning under pressure, and I can't say I blame the team for wanting him gone. The team seems to play hard for him, and he's definitely a man of integrity, but they are playing very very badly and Lenny needs to bear some of the blame. I love the guy, and he inherited a team that is sort of a mess of ill-fitting parts, but I think a younger, more demonstrative coach could get more from this roster. It's not Lenny's fault completely, but you simply cannot allow your team to have a 24 second violation with a 1 point lead in the final minute. Crap like seems to happen all the time with this team.  I think a large part of that is that our team has an inordinate number of boneheads who have no clue how to win games, but whatever the case we need a change.

Anyway, I've only watched about 8-10 Knicks games all year, so I really should keep my mouth shut, but here at www.verbungle.com, lack of knowledge has never stood in the way of our willingness to share our opinions. And I figure if there are people out there dedicated enough to this cruddy bunch of stiffs to actually create entertaining and informative blogs about 'em, the least I can do is weigh in with a sentence or two on each player. Again, these are just casual observations and you should probably disregard them (if you've even made it this far).  Here goes.

1. Stephon Marbury - you know I've always loved Stephon, beginning with that ridiculous alley oop he caught at the Garden as a Georgia Tech freshman. And I still think if I could have any player's skill set, it would be Marbury's.  He's just a potent little ball of basketball talent.  He also passes the ball plenty, so I don't think it's fair to call him selfish.  But his decision-making at the end of games has been pretty atrocious, and his play in general is just a little too random.  If his man can't guard him, he needs to go by that man every time down the floor until the defense does something to stop him. Instead, he always seems to be thinking too much, trying too hard to manage the game and keep everybody happy.  His defense is also butt-rotten. He just doesn't seem interested enough (I can't blame him -- defense isn't very interesting) and he consistently gets burned by inferior guards.  Grade: B-

2. Jamal Crawford - I hate it when a guy has a few good games and everyone anoints him the next King of New York. Crawford has real talent, and he and Stephon seem to like playing together, but he's also a chucker who can't distinguish good shots from bad. Just looking at the way he was run out of Chicago gives you an indication that he can turn into a real problem if things don't go his way. They haven't exactly missed him there this year.  He's one of those guys who can get smoking hot, which can make you forget a) how often he's smoking cold and b) how little happens for other players on the team when he's in one of his zones. I have a feeling he'll never live up to his potential.  But few of us do. Grade: C+

3. Nazr Mohammed - he's had a great year statistically, and he's 50 times better than I thought he would be.  But most of his points are gifts from Stephon's passes, or garbage cleaned up off Stephon's misses that draw the defense away and leave Nazr alone underneath.  He's limited, but he gets the most out of what he's got. I still can't fathom why the Knicks have drawn up two last second shots for him this season. Grade: A-

4. Kurt Thomas - He still seems a little bit crazy, but he plays a nice, under-control game and you can usually count on him for 10 and 10. He also hasn't publicly griped on the nights when he gets left out of the offense. He's a pretty solid pro. Grade: B+

5. Tim Thomas - another guy who looks like a million bucks and plays like $3.99. His numbers are actually better than I would expect from what I've seen, and I say that knowing that he's only shooting 39%. At this point in his career, he should be much further along. He gives us a disadvantage at the 3 against maybe 85% of the teams in the league. I still sort of like him, though.  Seems like a nice guy. Grade: D+

6. Allan Houston - watching him play is like sitting through an expensive meal that tastes like shit. Or going to your high school reunion and realizing that all of a sudden everybody got old. I like Allan, and I still think he can contribute if he ever gets healthy, but he has looked VERY old and weak this year.  I think there is a 65% chance he's done, and I also think his $100 million deal may be the worst contract in NBA history.

7. Michael Sweetney - I like Sweetney for a number of reasons: he's got a mint 1980's physique, and he has some cool McHale-style moves underneath.  He's got a great knack for offensive rebounding and he has a pretty nice touch from 15 feet as well. Good hands and a very refined game overall. HOWEVER, I don't foresee nearly as big a future for him as a lot of people do. He's neither athletic enough nor big enough to finish consistently inside.  And he looks real winded out there after just a few minutes of play. I can maybe see him someday being a 12 and 7 guy, but I think he's more effective as a boost off the bench for short stretches. Grade: B

8. Jerome Williams - I loved him at Georgetown but never thought he'd make it this far in the pros. Good for him. Again, though, he's just a very limited player who's most effective in short stints. And he's got to learn to tone down the aggressiveness when the game is on the line (or, probably better, he should be sitting in those situations). Still, I love having him on the team. Grade: B

9. Moochie Norris - another guy who seems like a great role player until he comes to your team and you realize that he's not very good at all. He's too small and not very athletic. He's an erratic shooter and he can't bring the ball up against pressure. All we need is somebody to spell Marbury for a few minutes a game, and he ain't it. I like him as a person, but I don't like seeing him out there. Grade: C-

10. Trevor Ariza - I think he's got a chance to be very good in a couple years if he fills out and polishes his game.  It's nice to have young guys with some room to grow. Grade: B

11. Penny Hardaway - what could have been.  And what isn't ever going to be. I like Penny, but he depresses the hell out of me. Grade: C

12. Vin Baker - why keep a guy like this around if you don't plan on using him?  Baker's amazing decline brings up an interesting question: when was the last time a star athlete pissed his career away on booze? I almost give him credit for his throwback approach to self-destruction.  But I can't. Grade: F

13. Jamison Brewer - he can dunk hard, but he's not very good at the other parts of the game. Grade: C-

There you have it, your 2004-05 New York Knicks, as reviewed by somebody who's paid casual attention all year.

Oh, and wheredat above right?.