Big news for the blog

I have been waiting for the right moment, but I would like to announce a big development in my blogging life. As my loyal readers know I enjoy spending a decent amount of time writing about my favorite NBA team the Utah Jazz. In addition to writing about them I like to follow them regardless of it is during the NBA season or not. One of the ways I have followed them is by checking out local blogs like Salt City Hoops. Recently they had an "open tryouts" to try and get new blog writers. I sent out an email asking to be a part of the team. The organizer sent me back a response saying that he would love for me to join. Therefore I would like to officially announce that I am taking my talents to the Salt City Hoops as a contributor to their blog.

One great thing about Salt City Hoops is that is affiliated with ESPN. If you go to espn.com, then click on the NBA, then on TrueHoop (the great blog run by Henry Abbott) then you will see Salt City Hoops as ESPN's Jazz blog. This is a great partnership because it will increase readership and get our opinion out through such a large sports media outlet. For example my post on Malone vs. Duncan has received 6 comments. As you probably know from following this blog that is a lot for me.

Anyway, my first post (which you can see unedited on this blog) is featured on ESPN's Monday Bullets and on Salt City Hoops. I am excited to be joining this team and hope to produce a few more pieces a year about the Jazz.

Is Karl Malone the greatest power forward of all time?

I was watching the Twins game the other day and they were honoring Dan “The Dazzle Man” Gladden as one of their 50 greatest players. This seemed about right in my mind. I mean I remember him as someone on both championship teams and the image of him running in for the winning run in the 1991 World Series is a classic baseball image. However, I checked his stats and they were absolutely dreadful. From 1987 to 1991 he played for the Twins his OPS+ (a great stat partly because 100 = the average baseball player) in his 5 years in Minneapolis was 90 making him a below average player. On the 1991 World Series winning team he was ranked the following out of the 9 starters; 9th in OBP%, 8th in Slg%, 9th in OPS+ and 7th in hits.

Statistics are funny like that sometimes. Sometimes like in the above example they completely contradict what you had always thought. Dan Gladden had always been in my mind one of the Twins best players. He was a gritty, gutsy player who helped will the Twins to two World Series titles. In reality the Twins won those titles not because of Dan Gladden, but in spite of Dan Gladden.

Other times though statistics back up your gut feelings about a player. The case below is a perfect example.

Karl Malone is going to be elected to the Hall of Fame this weekend. That is no surprise considering his incredible accomplishments over a long NBA career almost exclusively with the Utah Jazz. He is one of the NBA’s best players of all time and when he retired it was common wisdom to tout him as the “best power forward of all time.” This title has since has been unofficially passed along to Tim Duncan. The collective wisdom is that Malone was one of those great regular season players, but Duncan was better in the playoffs and had the 4 championship rings as the ultimate trump card. Everyone seems to remember Malone as someone who would carry a team to the playoffs, but once there he was often disappointing. What Jazz fan can forget the two missed free throws in Game 1 of the 1997 Finals? Or of course the infamous turnover right before Jordan ’s game winning (offensive foul) shot in the 1998 Finals. This epitaph of playoff failure was assigned to his NBA career.

Now do the stats back it up?

We have had plenty of time since Malone retired to forget a lot of games and maybe our memory has failed in us in remembering Malone as someone who didn’t produce in the playoffs. Maybe we remember the bad (the end of Game 6 of the 1998 Finals) and forget the good (Game 5 of the 1998 Nba Finals)? Have we been unfair to Malone? Is he the best power forward of all time? Below is the case for and against:

Karl Malone is the best power forward of all time

When you at Karl Malone’s stats compared to Tim Duncan it is hard to make the case that Duncan is a better player that Malone. Why? Because it is hard to make the case that many players are better than Karl Malone by looking at the stats. He is 2nd all time in career points and 3rd all time in win shares (an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player) with more win shares than everyone but Kareem and Wilt. Tim Duncan would need 6 more years of his average production to equal Malone. As it currently stands he is still isn’t within shouting distance of the Mailman. However, any Duncan supporter might bring up the fact that of course Malone’s career numbers would be better because he played 19 seasons. If we take that away and just compare averages here are some points in favor of Malone:

• Scoring: Malone averaged 25 points per game. Duncan 21.
• Efficiency: Malone shot 51.6% from the floor and 74.2% from the line. Duncan’s respective numbers; 50.8% and 68.7%
• Reliability: Malone’s work ethic and incredible conditioning was legendary and that shows in the numbers. He played in 99.3% of the Jazz possible games during his 18 year career in Utah . Duncan so far with San Antonio has only played in 94.5% of the possible games. Over an 82 game NBA season that means that Malone would play in about 4 more games than Duncan.
• Longevity: The same conditioning led him to be able to play for so long at such a high level. Not to say that Duncan can’t do that, but let’s see if he is still playing as effectively as Malone was when he was 39 and still contributed 11.1 wins (10th in the league) to the 2002-2003 Jazz team.
• Front line help: Sure this is a little subjective, but I think that playing with the Greg Ostertags and Felton Spencers of the world didn’t help Malone quite as much as playing along side David Robinson helped Duncan.

Tim Duncan is the best power forward of all time

Even the most pro-Duncan fan has to respect and take note of points made above in terms of strong regular season production over a long period of time. However, those battles aren’t something that even really interest Duncan fans since they have the following points in their favor:

• NBA Titles: 4 > 0. While basketball is a team game it is common practice to assign more credit to individual players who help the team win. Duncan ’s teams have won in the playoffs and he has received his share of praise for those accomplishments.
• Playoff Stats: This is where Malone fans might wish the stats contradicted common viewpoints, but unfortunately they don’t. This is where the questions above about how maybe our memory has failed in us in remembering Malone’s playoff performance get answered. Unfortunately for Jazz fans the answers aren’t good and they are the main reason why I think someone can make the case for Tim Duncan being the best power forward of all time. Malone’s numbers dropped across the board from the regular season to the playoffs. He shot considerably worse (from 51% to 46%) in the playoffs and his WS/48 minutes dropped from 0.205 to 0.14. Compare this with Duncan who had almost identical shooting percentages and WS/48 numbers. One thing to consider is that Duncan has more Win Shares (28.6 compared to 23) in the playoffs despite playing in 23 fewer games. Those are just a few stats that I researched, but they all paint a very similar picture. Just like it is hard to make the case that Duncan was better than Malone in the regular season, it is also look like it is hard to make the case that Malone was better than Duncan in the playoffs.

Those are the arguments for both sides. As a Jazz fan I tend to side with the points in Malone’s favor. While the playoff stats was something that was tough to digest (again since I had to live though it the first time) it still doesn’t completely overshadow Malone’s incredible career.

Regardless I would like to congratulate Karl Malone for his induction into the Hall of Fame. You are the greatest power forward in this biased Jazz fan's mind.

The rules of friendship

In sports there are basic rules that are easy to understand and follow. Five fouls in a college basketball game equals disqualification for the rest of the game for that player. Three strikes and you are out in baseball. If any part of the ball touches the line in tennis the shot is in. These rules create order and are necessary for the health of athletics. Maybe that is part of the reason I have been drawn to sports my entire life because unlike others areas there is a certain rationality to sports?

I bring this up because last night I had an interesting conversation with an old friend. He asked me why he wasn't invited to the wedding. This was the first time the topic of not being invited had come up in such a straight forward manner. I assume that most people who weren't invited to the wedding understood the reason or reasons why they weren't on the list. Even if they didn't know why it had never directly come up before because people were probably too passive to actually ask M or I.

It isn't like the question caught be off guard since I knew the reasons why I didn't invite this friend or his girlfriend. Sure the *timing was maybe unusual, but I was actually glad for the question because I had spent a lot of time thinking about it. How did such a close friend of mine go from a potential groomsman to someone who wasn't even invited to the wedding? How did someone who is a easy to talk to, fun to be around and shares a lot of similar interest go from being a friend to a former friend?

*We are a bar downtown Minneapolis and were a few drinks in to the evening.

I told him the reasons why he wasn't invited to the wedding and I hope my message wasn't lost in the loud music at the bar. My message just was I didn't think this person really wanted to be friends otherwise we would have played basketball or hung out together once in the past 6 months. I wasn't trying to be vindictive in not inviting him. There was no ulterior motive. It just seemed like our friendship had gone it separate ways. Whenever I tried reaching out to him he always had something else going on and I don't remember him ever contacting me to do anything.

That is one difference between sports and life that can be very frustrating. While there is order in sports (for the most part) there isn't the same in society. Social norms exist, but they can sometimes be vague and tough to follow. If everyone spoke honestly and with a background of trust then it would much easier to understand people's intentions. One of my groomsmen is easy to be friends with because he is almost always straightforward. If he wants to go to a Twins game then he will tell you that. There is never any game playing or any *white lies as far as I can tell. We have reached that level of comfort that I never have to try and analyze what he says or how he says it. The frustrating thing is that most people don't act that way and I am constantly trying to read into people's intentions.

*I vividly remember the first time my Mom explained to me about a white lie. It was so confusing as a child to grasp my head around the concept.

One thing that I love about M (and no I am not trying to be sappy or romantic in this blog post...I don't want to be that kind of writer) is that it is very easy to know where I stand with her. The first time I kissed her she thanked me. Most people think that is a strange response, but really what was different about her choice of words was that it was completely honest. There was no games being played. She (in retrospect) wanted me to kiss her and was thankful that I did. The end. Again I don't want to be sappy, but that is a unique *quality in a person to be so literal and honest.

*Not to write that there isn't something valuable in someone who can speak at a different level other than literal. Two of my good friends from college are two of the funniest people I know and part of their humor is based on sarcasm, exaggeration and being facetious. It is always fun to hang out with these friends because you are always on your toes.

Anyway, I hope that this unique honest conversation last night with my old friend means that we can move forward. I don't know if we will be friends again, but it was a good start last night. In fact M and I are planning on meeting up with them at the Uptown Art Fair after I received a text from him while I was writing this post.

Mississippi and Marty's wedding

A week ago M and I went back to my hometown of Jackson, MS for my friend Marty's wedding. I reprised my role as a bridesman (like Nancy's wedding 3 years ago) and a amateur videographer. The wedding was great and I am very thankful to have been a part of such a great celebration. The Hitts are like family to me and I wouldn't have missed Marty's wedding for any reason. My top highlights from the trip were:

• Walking Mrs. Hitt (the mother of the bride) down the aisle to her seat.
• Being in attendance for 10-15 speeches from Marty and Matt's friends and family at the rehearsal dinner was very memorable. Specifically Mrs. Hitt gave a great, touching speech about watching Marty grow up.
• Seeing a bunch of people (Rev. Poole, St. Andrew's friends, etc) that I haven't seen in a long time.

And then there was the random highlight that I didn't expect....something that I hadn't ever really thought about as an adult. There was the fact that when I left Mississippi this time I could imagine myself living there again. Now this isn't a revelation that should get any particular blog readers too excited, since it probably doesn't really mean that much. It is just the type of feeling that I never have had before and I would like to try and examine the reasons why.

The main reason that I can think that living in Jackson, MS would be enjoyable is that I no longer think of what living in Jackson is not and instead I just focus on what Jackson is. In the past (when going to college in Ohio or looking for jobs) I had always discounted Jackson because it isn't a big city. It isn't progressive politcally or socially. It isn't something new and exciting. There aren't any professional sports teams in the NBA, MLB or NFL. There isn't even a big university in the city. And then of course there is the huge factor that Jackson isn't a city where there are many jobs for someone with M or I's work background. Jackson is a city that is missing a lot of things that makes living in a city like Minneapolis desirable.

However, when you focus on what Jackson is then you realize that there are a lot of things in its favor. First and foremost I enjoy my family and having my parents, sister, brother-in-law and nephew near by is a huge advantage. However, there are other reasons that have made me think highly of Jackson. There are the incredible people who offer a hospitality that I find lacking in Minnesota. I don't know if is because I have known these people longer, but I just feel comfortable being myself around pretty much everyone there. It isn't a struggle to make friends or feel included. One example is that I can go over to Johnny's place and feel instantly part of his circle of friends.

Also, besides that Jackson offers a city with no traffic and a very affordable cost of living. If we could find a jobs there then it is almost guaranteed we would have more free time, more friends and a better home. We might not have as many options in the city, but New Orleans and Memphis are only 3 hours away. Again I am not saying that it is feasible for us to move to Jackson, but for the first time ever I think that it would at least be considered.

Al Jefferson

Big Al is joining the Utah Jazz. To say I am excited is an understatement and I will try to explain the reasons why I am so thrilled with this move. You can read about what Hollinger thinks of the deal here or Kelly Dwyer's take here or even a review of the entire Jazz team from nba.com right here.

1. Al Jefferson is from Mississippi. Even better I went with Johnny to go see him play in 3A title game when he was with Prentiss high school.


2. When he entered the 2004 Nba draft out of high school I was convinced that the Jazz would take him to try and fill a Karl Malone sized hole at the power forward position with one of their 3 first round picks. The Jazz did take a young power forward, but unfortunately they took the wrong guy in Kris Humphries. Humphries ended up playing two years for the Jazz before being traded.


3. After Boozer left the team to go Chicago it was clear that the Jazz needed somebody else in the low post to help out Paul Millsap. Jefferson can be that guy.
   


Jefferson should help the Jazz compete against the Lakers and their incredible front line.



All the Jazz had to give up was a protected 1st round pick (from the Ronnie Brewer trade), their own 1st round pick (which shouldn't be high pick) and *Kosta Koufos.



Al Jefferson is young and should be still improving.



After dealing with the Sebastian Telfairs, Kevin Ollies and Jonny Flynns of the world he is going to be amazed at how much easier things are with Deron Williams.


Jefferson always seemed to pick up his game when it was important. He seemed to want the ball and responded to the moment better than anyone else on the Twolves roster. If anything I think playing for a team that didn't play many big games overshadowed how much of a dominating offensive force he can be when the game is on the line. Someone who can take the ball and score in the paint is a valuable commodity.




Jefferson is thrilled to be with the Jazz. After all the years of losing I think you can see his motivation with quotes like "I'm going to do whatever it takes. I'm just thankful for the opportunity to be here."


Jefferson's addition sends a clear signal to Deron Williams that he can stay with the team and compete for an NBA title. The management is willing to take the extra step (and go into the luxury tax) if it means fielding a team that can win.

*the one Jazz fan I know up here told me the following thing after the trade was announced "I actually cheered when I saw he was thrown in."

This is a great time to be a Jazz fan and I can't wait to cheer on Al Jefferson when he returns to Minnesota this year. Hopefully by then I have a Jazz 25 Jefferson jersey.

Honeymoon in Spain

Well we made it back from Spain and with that we can put a close to all wedding related activities since the honeymoon is the "omega" to the engagement's "alpha." Of course that doesn't mean we aren't finished with the wedding since there are still pictures to compile and a video for me to work on. However, this blog post is just going to focus on the Honeymoon in Spain. Since my like/dislike post from the wedding was well received I will try the same format for the Honeymoon.

Liked

Mojitos - This great, summer drink was the featured beverage at many of the bars in Spain that we visited. We were both fans and would enjoy sipping a mojito while people watching especially in Palma.

Disliked

The expensive hotel we had in Barcelona that was smaller than my tiny freshmen year college dorm room. The fact that we had used a travel agent (which could also be in the dislike section, but I think I have talked/written enough about that experience) made me think we might have better accommodations. That was a faulty assumption since our Barcelona hotel (Petit Palace) was small and also had a bathroom door that wasn't set up to close all the way.

Liked

European beaches liberal dress policy - I wish I could have the self-confidence as some of the beachgoers that we witnessed in Spain.

Disliked

The quality of the beaches. The sand, water and overall feel of the beach is nothing compared to Florida. From a pure beach perspective the beaches in both Barcelona and Mallorca were not nearly as the nice as where my family would vacation in Florida.

Liked

Pigs blood mixed with rice. The surprising delite was part of my favorite meal of the trip. We ordered a tapas platter and were surprised when one of the things on the plate looked to be a brownie....pictured below:

When we tried it out it wasn't sweet and it was definitely not a brownie. Still it was really tasty and went well with the random pot of beans we were also served. We thought it could be something strange and that feeling was confirmed the next day when our food tour guide the next morning confirmed to us that it was pigs blood mixed with rice. Anyway, the place we went was expensive, but it was worth every penny. The wine was what I expected from Spain and the steak was unique and extremely tasty. Still the pigs blood mixed with rice was unexpected and good.

Disliked

Having to admit to my Dad that it might have been better paying more attention in Spanish class. In all I took 5 years of Spanish between middle and upper school, which is surprising based on my ability to actually communicate with people who spoke Spanish. Generally speaking our best best was to just speak in English and point. Thankfully you can get pretty far with that strategy even though it probably would have been better to actually know the language.

Liked

Gaudi's park and his unfinished Cathedral. Both were more impressive than I thought and my only complaint is that they were surrounded by tourists. I would have loved to have been able to relax at the park and enjoy Gaudi's work at a slower pace.

Disliked

The efficiency of the unfinished Cathedral - Sagrada Familia. It has been under construction since 1882 and the optimistic projection of when it will be completed is 2026. You mean to tell me that they couldn't complete a church in the time the following things have been invented: Coke, radio, TV, planes, *bra, microwave, calculators, computers, and the Ipad. They don't even have pews yet. I know that it is a really nice looking church, but I think that even the most ambitious of projects should be completed in 10 years.

*Invented in 1913 by Mary Phelps Jacob

Liked

La Rambla (for a day) - For those of you unfamiliar with Barcelona there is one main street of bars, shops and restaurants that seems to be designed specifically for tourists. The best comparison I can think of is Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Anyway, this street is really exciting for about a day. The energy and the amount of people walking around is amazing. It is great visiting the tourist shops and seeing the street performers. However, after a day it made me want a more quiet hotel that was not near La Rambla. It just seems like most of La Rambla isn't authentic and while it is something to see and experience it isn't something that is best enjoyed over a long period of time.

Disliked

La Rambla (for longer than a day) - Explained above.

Liked

Sundresses - I am a big fan of how the July heat in Barcelona brought out the best in women's attire in Spain. In fact I was a big proponent of M getting a nice dress that I financed the purchase of one near the end of the trip. It was worth the money.

Disliked

College/high school students. I felt very old walking around Spain next to a bunch of kids that were probably backpacking across Europe. It amazed how much English was on the streets and how so many of the people we ran into seemed to be much younger than us. It made me wish that I had study abroad for a semester in Europe at Miami since my time for backpacking across Europe has likely passed.

Liked

M making the best of sometimes less than ideal situations - I appreciate how M can be resilient in her attempt to have a good time on a trip. It is almost like she realizes that things might not be going perfect, so she amps up the energy and enthusiasm. I like this because it prevents me from wallowing in poor decisions and not moving on. During the middle of a long day of seeing the tourist sites she helped pep me up at just the exact moment when I was starting to lose my enthusiasm. She is a fun person to travel with and I think we complement each other well.

Overall the trip to Spain went well. I can see the appeal though of going to one of those all inclusive resorts in the Bahamas and we already have talked about that as a possible destination for next year.

Neighborly love

There is a lot of negativity in the world. Turning on the news can be a depressing adventure with the economy, the crime and the constant bickering in Congress. Has it always been like this? It feels different for me, but I don't know if that is just because I am getting older and I am noticing it more. It seems like when I was younger I didn't follow the stock market or get offended when someone did something contrary to my social expectations. Even better when I was younger I wasn't aware that so many things I could do could possibly offend people. This point was hammered home in planning a wedding. The logistics and invite list were two topics that I now had to worry about not because I cared, but because I was was worried about offending someone.

Because of that I would like to share a story that isn't negative and is something that brightened up my day. This wasn't anything big, but it is a point in favor that the world isn't as bad as it might seem. There are good people and good things that can happen and sometimes it is better to focus on that.

Here is the story.

On Wednesday before I started writing some thank you notes I decided it would be nice to have a cocktail. Since it is rarely proper to drink alone and M wasn't home from the Bullseye yet I decided to knock on my *neighbors door and offer then a drink. We are friendly with our neighbors and it isn't unusual for us to offer them drinks or treats just like it isn't unusual for them to help out with things like grabbing our mail when we are vacation.

*Neighbors in a duplex is different than other types of neighbors. We share a garage, a wall and it is hard not to know what is going on the other side. You don't want to be intrusive in their lives, but when you are going about your day to day activities you tend to run into their Mom, boyfriend, friends, etc. Even if you didn't say a word to them I feel like you would at least feel like you know some things about them. I didn't feel the same way when I lived in a condo or a real house.

Anyway, Emily (the 11 year old girl) opens the door with Peggy (her Mom) standing near by in the kitchen. This is how the conversation went:

• Me "I was going to make some drinks, would you like any."


• Peggy (being polite) "Yes that would be great if it isn't much trouble."


• Me "No problem. Any preferences?"


• Peggy (again being polite) "Whatever you are having or whatever is easiest."


• Me " Emily... Do you have a preference?"


• Emily (not playing or knowing the social game) "A smoothie"

Thankfully I had the ingredients (a Target smoothie package, some bananas and honey) to make a smoothie for her. In addition to that I also made some adult beverages for Peggy and I. They thanked me and I went on my way with the task at hand of writing some wedding gift thank you notes.

About an hour passed and I heard my doorbell ring. This was unexpected since I didn't know of anyone planning on coming over and also it is rare that if people do come over that they use the doorbell. I went to the door and there wasn't anyone there. I looked out and couldn't see anything in the distance. Then I checked the door and there was a note stuck there. On the outside was "Mary and Kevin" in a kids handwriting. On the inside was the following note:

"Mary & Kevin thanks yoo sooo much for always being nice neighbors like giving us drinks and cookies! That's so thoughtful. Thanks Emily."

To say that brought a smile to my face is an understatement. The kids are alright. The kids are alright.