- Multiple things that frustrate and I hope I'm not knee jerking. This is based on the start of the season and what I have seen -
1) I'm sounding the alarm on Dirk. He has got caught up too much in Avery's new plan. He has forgotten that HE'S the MVP, HE'S the superstar, and HE should own the 4th quarter. It's fine that he drifts in and out in quarters 1-3 and defers to teammates, in fact this is what has made them successful in the past few years. But he needs to realize that he's Dirk and they're not. He looks out of sync, and out of place. I don't think he's comfortable with this new role/team philosophy.
2) The offense looks horrible without Devin Harris in. There's no rhythym, no flow, no speed to keep up with the top PG's of the league.
3) Once again they get exposed athletically at the 2 guard. They haven't looked right on defense all year. Defense carries you to strong play on the road. They're now 4-6 on the road, with 3 losses to Eastern Conference bottom feeders. That should sound an alarm right there.
4) Josh Howard needs to learn how to score in the 2nd half. This would be ok if Dirk steps up in the 2nd half (like they've been doing for the past 2-3 years), but this year, sleepy Dirk decides to float all game now. It used to be Howard in the 1st half, Dirk in the 2nd. Now the latter is non-existent.
5) I hope this isn't true, but this team's best chance with Dirk in his prime was 04-05 (loss to Phoenix in Conf Semis), 05-06 (lost in Finals), and 06-07 (lost in 1st round). The window of having their superstar be able to lead them to a title may have been shut significantly.
6) They could be the 2000's version of the 90's Seattle Supersonics......
7) Getting bad flashbacks of 03-04, where they had a lot of weapons on offense and Dirk didn't shoot as much, wasn't aggressive, the team played horrible on the road, the defense was terrible, and San Antonio dominated them.
- Without Tim Duncan, against a team they usually can take care of, they still lose. Pitiful. Dallas-Ex Marc the troll Stein bangs it home about Dirk.
Why Dirk Needs To Shoot More
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
SAN ANTONIO -- After giving the home team what he and Tim Duncan normally supply offensively, Manu Ginobili felt helpless when the ball found Dirk Nowitzki in the corner.
"I was holding my breath," Ginobili said. "Definitely."
As for the Dallas perspective …
"I was running back to the locker room," Jason Terry said. "I bet nine times out of 10 he's going to make that shot."
The reaction on both sides of the biggest rivalry in Texas was grand surprise Wednesday night. Nowitzki was presented with a great look on a game-winning triple at the buzzer and somehow managed to leave it short, preserving a gutsy (and chippy) 97-95 victory for the home team at the AT&T Center, with Duncan watching it all in a blazer and jeans.
Truth is, though, that there were bigger surprises in this one. Much bigger.
Exhibit A: Nowitzki had only 11 field-goal attempts and just four in the fourth quarter, or one less than Mavs newcomer Brandon Bass.
Exhibit B: Mavs coach Avery Johnson volunteered almost immediately in his post-game remarks that Nowitzki was the second option on the play, behind Josh Howard.
Wait a second.
Second option?
Nowitzki's sluggish start has consumed almost one-fourth of the season and finds him connecting on just 27.3 percent of his 3-point attempts, which doesn't seem possible for a shooter of his pedigree, someone who just posted three straight seasons in the .400 Club from deep. So current form tells us that the miss wasn't all that surprising, especially since Nowitzki missed a similar 3 at the end of regulation that could have beaten New Orleans as recently as Saturday night.
The reigning MVP can't duck blame here. Since his first-round nightmare against Golden State, Nowitzki is seeing more double-teams and traps from the baseline and swarms from smaller defenders. But he's been too passive at times in response. And he knows it.
"I'm still trying to figure it out," he said.
However …
As a frequent Mavs observer, I'd say it's time for Johnson to rethink his equal-opportunity offense and start giving Nowitzki more touches. Keep trying to hold his minutes down, yes, but ask him to be even more involved than usual when he's out there. One obvious way to help Nowitzki shake this malaise is to force feed him out of it by calling more plays for him.
Calling the game's biggest play for Nowitzki, at the very least, would be a good start.
"He's still climbing up the mountain right now," Johnson said. "He's going to get it going. And once he gets it going, we know what he can do."
History says so, too. It's difficult to envision Nowitzki's percentage on 3s staying anywhere close to where it's been, since he's only the sweetest shooting 7-footer of all-time.
But it's worth noting that this wasn't the first time in the Mavs' 19 games that Bass -- a fantastic free-agent find, don't get me wrong, who supplied 18 points and six boards in 26 productive minutes here -- has been featured for a spell in the fourth quarter. Which should be Nowitzki Time.
You wouldn't have been thrown by anything San Antonio did without Duncan in moving to 16-3. Long before he set up Nowitzki's chance to be the hero with 10 straight points in the final 2:23, Jason Terry felled Tony Parker and Ginobili with hard fouls that enraged the hosts. But Ginobili typically responds to rough stuff better than anyone and did so again, throwing down a memorable dunk in traffic halfway through the third quarter and capping that 16-point period with an uncontested 3 that enraged Johnson. Relinquishing his sixth-man role to start in Duncan's place, Ginobili was so hot in a 23-point second half that the Mavs (12-7) actually ran three defenders at him at one stage, making you wonder how Ginobili was ever a candidate to join Duncan in street clothes because of a sprained finger on his shooting hand.
Yet it's a borderline shocker to hear that Nowitzki -- going for the tie or the win on an inbounds play against their biggest rivals -- was Johnson's second choice. As a matter of confidence, if nothing else.
Isn't it?
"It's a shot that [I've] got to make," Nowitzki said, rapping only himself for botching the finish after he unexpectedly got himself open in the corner by running "the wrong route."
"Hopefully we as a team and I get better from month to month and we'll be there at the end."
- Stars lose.
Dallas Stars can't catch up to Sharks in 3-2 loss
12:08 AM CST on Thursday, December 6, 2007
By CHUCK CARLTON / The Dallas Morning News
ccarlton@dallasnews.com
On the scoreboard, the Stars were always chasing the San Jose Sharks.
It felt that way on the ice, too. And when Joe Thornton saw two plays no one else did, the Stars were trying to explain a 3-2 loss Wednesday in their homecoming from a six-game road trip.
"Our ability to make plays and pass and skate with the puck was really ineffective tonight and below average," Mike Modano said. "We just didn't have much puck possession. It seemed like most of the night we were chasing it around. By the time you get it, you're too tired to do anything with it anyways."
The Sharks outshot the Stars 28-19 and never trailed.
"Five-on-five, we just need to be better and get the pucks out of our zone and into theirs and create opportunities," Stu Barnes said.
The game had significant ramifications on the Pacific Division, more than the standings reflected on first glance.
The Sharks (13-8-4) moved within two points of the Stars despite having played three fewer games.
And the Pacific just got even more competitive. Defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim got a boost with the announced return of defenseman Scott Niedermayer.
Thornton was the game's unquestioned dominant force and first star, with two assists and the game-winning goal at 11:24 of the third period.
He dumped the puck into the trapezoidal area of the Stars zone where goaltender Marty Turco was not allowed to play the puck.
Milan Michalek won the race to the loose puck and was able to shovel the pass to Thornton, who scored rumbling to the Stars' net.
"He's a rare combination of big and unbelievable skill, great hands, a great shot," Barnes said of Thornton, who has 34 points in 26 games. "A great player and a great game."
The Stars' best chance for a tie came with less than four minutes to play. San Jose's Mike Grier was called for interference – the first Sharks penalty of the game – and Craig Rivet sent the puck over the glass on the penalty-kill for a delay of game.
But even with a two-man advantage for 47 seconds, the Stars were able to get the tying score against San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov.
"We had a couple of point-blank chances on the 5-on-3 and couldn't convert, which was certainly frustrating," Stars coach Dave Tippett said.
Modano, whose goal had given the Stars a tie earlier in the third period, suggested the timing was bad. The ice was beat up and snowy late, Modano said, making it difficult to set up a perfect play on the two-man advantage.
The Sharks had gotten the game's first five power plays, scoring when Jonathan Cheechoo's pass deflected off Stars defenseman Nicklas Grossman for the game's first goal.
- The theme of kick ass off-seasons continues for the Rangers. You gotta love the commitment to winning. This guy will sell some tickets and be worth at least 10 wins.
Texas Rangers acquire infielder Shelton from Tigers
01:19 AM CST on Thursday, December 6, 2007
By EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News
egrant@dallasnews.com
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – If the Rangers' management team and expeditionary force can find their way out of the cavernous labyrinth known as the Gaylord Opryland Resort today, the winter meetings will officially end.
At least, the club will have a little something to show for the month it spent in Nashville the last three days. On Wednesday night, the team completed a trade with Detroit that sent bypassed outfielder Freddy Guzman to the Tigers for one-time Rangers killer Chris Shelton.
Hey, we said it was a little something.
Shelton, 27, has not played in the majors since being sent down in July 2006. He began that season with 10 home runs and a .326 average in April. It included a series in which he went 8-for-15 against the Rangers with three homers and seven RBIs.
In Triple-A Toledo last season, he hit .269 with 14 homers and 65 RBIs
Shelton could give the Rangers some right-handed-hitting depth at first base and in the outfield. The club is looking at three left-handed options at first base: Frank Catalanotto and free agents Sean Casey and Mike Lamb.
And unless something happens in the waning moments of the meetings, Shelton will represent the entirety of the Rangers' Nashville haul.
Oh, the club has "kicked the tires" on lots of situations. But all they have to show for the tire kicking is sore toes and a lot of clarity. So they have that going for them.
"We said that this was probably not going to be our year to make a big, splashy kind of move," general manager Jon Daniels said. "We're realistic about our situation.
"We've gotten a lot more information and flushed out some options, gotten some clarity of cost and gotten a realistic sense of what it would take to make some deals," Daniels said. "I'm not optimistic [about other moves]."
The Rangers have had ongoing dialogue with agent Larry Reynolds, who represents reliever LaTroy Hawkins, and they were supposed to meet with Eric Gagne's agent, Scott Boras, Wednesday night.
Daniels acknowledged interest in signing more than one reliever to add to what could be a very crowded bullpen. C.J. Wilson, Joaquin Benoit, Frank Francisco and Akinori Otsuka all seem to have spots if healthy. There will be at least one lefty, probably John Rheinecker. Signing Hawkins and Gagne would leave little room for Kameron Loe, Wes Littleton and Scott Feldman. It would also probably mean not bringing back long reliever Jamey Wright.
The club has also held internal discussions about outfield options Corey Patterson and Milton Bradley. The Rangers were expected to discuss Patterson in more depth with Boras on Wednesday. The Rangers are awaiting a clearer medical picture on Bradley, who is recovering from knee surgery, before proceeding on him.
"I'd be very comfortable with Milton Bradley," manager Ron Washington said. "If he becomes available to us, I'd certainly like to have him."
Other expeditions have not progressed much. For the second time in two weeks, the Rangers explored getting involved in the race for Johan Santana, but that went nowhere. The Rangers are not interested in pitcher Mark Prior. They have apparently turned away from veteran free-agent center fielders who might require more than a one-year commitment, such as Mike Cameron and Aaron Rowand. They found the asking price too high – in terms of young starting pitching – to make a serious play for a younger center fielder.
They've fielded some calls about Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla, but they are not interested in straight salary dump trades right now.
In Nashville, the Rangers got Shelton and clarity. So, they've got that going for them.
- Rhyner's not dead, he's alive and well singing for Petty Theft.
Dallas Talk Radio Drums Up Local Music Support
By Merritt Martin
Published: December 6, 2007
When I was 21, I had an apartment a half-block and one possible mugging away from Greenville Avenue. Social calendars wrapped around live music and, on shitty show nights like Mondays, drink specials. There was maybe—and I stress maybe—one night a week our social activities team, Quick Like Bunny (I'm so not lying, and I have the shirt to prove it), was not out spending hard-earned cash at the bar and merch booths. Back then, I could drink today's me under the table, smoke a pack and do it all again the next day. I learned that vodka doesn't leave trace stench like gin and earplugs are God's gift to music lovers.
It's different now. I've gotten older. I finally learned how to download music. TiVo has become a member of my household and the livers of QLB just aren't functioning at the rate they once were. We've grown up and slowed down.
But we haven't stopped. Thing is, I notice that while my circle of music fans has naturally slowed down with age and added responsibilities, music audiences in general also have gotten smaller. There are a few must-see/must-hear bands for everyone, but unless there's something like a charity tie-in or a local celeb to meet, people just don't seem as excited about music. That is, unless someone they trust tells them to be.
MySpace, blogs and, hell, papers like this one give readers on the low end of the age bracket their low-down. But I've found we aging hipsters find guidance on the radio. Sounds obvious enough, but I'm not talking about music formats. It's all talk.
Dedicated listeners of shows such as The Hardline and The Russ Martin Show get their daily dose of info from these beloved sources. Along the way, they get tips on what to listen to and—even if it means going to see a cover band—what to do come day's end.
Russ Martin, the head honcho of The Russ Martin Show on KLLI-105.3 FM, avoids taking any credit for influencing his listeners' entertainment choices (a surprise to those who are familiar with his slightly egotistical shtick). "As much as radio people think they are the vanguard of entertainment and music, for the most part, we're just background noise," he says.
Still, his listeners flock to see the Russ Martin Show Band (they benefit the Russ Martin Show Listeners Foundation, supporting the families of fallen police and firefighters). Their free Christmas show is Friday at House of Blues, and based on past RMSB events, it will be packed tighter than the Double Wide and Granada put together. Fans want to see their local celebs in action and will come out for a good cause. The band could be crap or absolutely stellar, but there's added excitement. It's not just a basic local show.
Mike Rhyner, from KTCK-1310 AM The Ticket's weekday drive time show The Hardline, is the lead member of Tom Petty cover band Petty Theft, which enjoyed a packed house at Sullivan's Steakhouse last Saturday night. The audience was a mix of McMansion-ed restaurant patrons (doing the patented housewife side-to-side during "American Girl") and Ticket P1s there to see Rhyner rock out. More important, though, is that listeners, who at one time would have chosen a Deep Ellum every-band over any cover band, were in a Tollway steakhouse to worship at the altar. A dozen guitars, two keyboards, pleated pants and leather vest accompanied their radio king, the Old Gray Wolf.
"We're just some old guys trying to have fun before we get put on the short bus," Rhyner says. "I think a goodly amount of people who come see the band are people who also listen to the radio station and listen to this show. And we have played a few show events, or a few radio station events, and I think that some of the people there who probably wouldn't be inclined to come see us became inclined to come see us elsewhere, after having seen us there. It's a nice dovetail."
The Hardline does more for local music than plug two or three Petty Theft shows each month. It provides music samples, info about local shows, general music news and even the occasional music history lesson during what has morphed from sports talk into all-out pop culture talk. "We do E-News every day. We do community quick hits every day. We do 'What's on Mike's Mind' every day. Any one of those things could turn toward [music]," Rhyner says. "About once every week or two we do new music...Whenever the other boys on the show are getting curious about a band from back in the day, they'll tell me to put together a 'What's the Deal With So-and-So.' We'll play some of their music, and I'll talk about what they did back in the day and what they meant back in the day, all that stuff."
Anyone who listens to The Hardline knows producer Danny Balis (bassist for local darlings Sorta) is the self-deprecating element of the show, and he hates it when the other guys talk about his band. "It's unfair to hundreds of other bands out there that don't have a media forum to shamelessly promote their stuff," Balis says. "I'm more interested in helping other artists than shoving my stupid crap down listeners' throats." Though he says he thinks The Hardline plays more new music than most music stations, Balis won't take undue credit for affecting show turnout.
"Just because we say it's good or suggest that people should attend a show, I think it might translate to a couple of new attendees, if any," Balis says. "Now, if we have some audio to play of a band, and they're good, it will be heard by 100,000-plus people. When we debuted the Redwalls and Midlake, the response was overwhelming. But, if you suck, you suck, and no matter what we say, people ain't coming out." Fair enough.
Rhyner agrees that while the show exposes new music, motivating listeners to get out to clubs requires more than a good play list. It's hard to persuade someone who would be just as happy listening to recorded music to see a show. "You gotta get off your ass to go, and you don't really have to get off your ass and get out of your pajamas or whatever to download something," he says. "And sometimes when you're out, you might think about something you heard us talk about, and you might wheel into Best Buy or wherever and buy the thing. But going to a show, as you well know, is an entirely different and more complicated proposition.
"I think that people base their willingness to go to shows on 30-second clips of a song they hear on iTunes rather than actually being adventurous and checking bands out sight unseen. Basically, people are fucking lazy," Balis says. "Me included."
That's truer and sadder than more of us would care to admit. But what comes first? The live experience or the download? How do you get people excited enough to get off their asses and go to a show and revive that grit we all had just a few years ago? Guilt everyone by tying every show to a charity event? Have a local celeb like Martin or Rhyner in every band? It's not possible.
Non-music shows like the Ticket's The Hardline and Dunham & Miller and Live 105's Russ Martin Show are the event guides to P1s who don't listen to music radio. And they may not think they make a big dent in suggesting and discussing goings-on in Dallas, but they do if just one more person shows up, even to a cover band's show. Because, schlock or not, going out to shows is addictive. And that's not a bad thing.
I'll just have to make sure my downloads are finished before I head out.
- Follow up to the D-Bag column in the Observer.
Douchebags in the Follow-Up Blog Item
Thu Dec 06, 2007 at 12:00:47 PM
I have so thoroughly enjoyed the barrage of mail and comments received about my $30,000 millionaire expose in last week's paper version of Unfair Park. Even (or especially) the part when a guy wrote in calling me a "jaded, man-hating cunt." I just wish he hadn't held back, you know? Oh, well. I needed a catchy name for my next blog, anyway.
The best part was hearing the first-person accounts of homo sapiens douchebagus interactions from across North Texas. You, brave readers, are to be commended for your courage and valor in dealing with douchebagus, who, as we all know, can be a difficult creature. But in reading these letters, I have gained a fair amount of sympathy (or maybe, empathy) for the $30k millionaire, which perhaps I didn't express enough of in the article. Are we not all victims of a consumeristic, materialistic society of judgmental pricks, striving to cover ourselves in whatever pre-packaged façade we find most appealing? If anybody wants to write 5,000 words on narcissistic functional alcoholic wannabe-hipster writers with inferiority complexes who still haven't gotten over the fact that they weren't even C-list popular in high school, I can totally hook you up with a good lead.
Nevertheless, I've hand-picked a few of the very best first-person accounts to post here that we may all further our education with regard to douchebagus. Knowledge is power, people.
Let's blow our load right up top with a letter from Eric in Dallas. Eric sent in this gem about his (good?) friend: "He is a real-life, text-book example of a $30,000 millionaire. Upon graduation from college, my friend moved to Dallas but was essentially unemployed for the better part of a year. He now has a job cold-calling unfortunate individuals who are about to default on their home mortgages and trying to get them to refinance. I do not know his exact salary but I estimate it is in the low $30s."
Eric's friend then "bought a $3,000 home-theater system that takes up most of the square footage in his small living room." As for nightlife, "He enjoys going out on weeknights, always dressed in designer jeans, shiny leather loafers, with a sports coat over a form-fitting t-shirt. He wears copious amounts of gel in his hair. His pride and joy is his 2008 GMC Yukon (leased), topped off with 22 inch rims." Eric was once told by his friend, "'Only 2 other people in Dallas have these rims, Tony Romo and one of the Dallas Stars”
But, according to Eric, "what really makes this guy a true $30K millionaire is the fact that he doesn’t know he is a $30K millionaire. He honestly thinks this is just how people live, from pay check to pay check, with no money in the bank, just paying the minimum every month on his credit cards. His goal is, of course, to have sex with women, preferably attractive ones." Unfortunately for Eric's friend, it seems "the market is flooded with $30K millionaires … he was depressed on account that he hadn’t been laid in 3 months. That was over 2 months ago and as far as I know, the dry spell continues."
Another of our faithful readers supervises a douchebagus in the workplace: "I have one that works for me that somehow was able to buy a 1000 square-foot townhouse [in Uptown.] Price tag: $325,000 American dollars. Salary: $48,000. He doesn't have any furniture."
And, a true treat from John in Dallas, regarding the sighting of female homo sapiens douchebagus: "I was having dinner at the bar in Primo's when this girl flashing her iPhone like a diamond asked about the George Saunders book I was reading. After I described a bit about it, she asked me what 'products' it made me want to buy. As you can imagine, this was about the most nonsensical comment I'd ever heard directed toward an innocent book of essays in my life. She then asked what time I had to work in the morning, and when I said, '8am,' you might have thought I told her I shop at Walmart or something."
A gentleman named Gabe had a case of mistaken BMW-identity with a douchebagus: "The other night leaving Mantus, at the valet stand, I encountered one of them. My car was brought up, and this budding 30K MM, grabbed his silicone breasted gold digga gf and made a beeline towards my car. I was pretty certain it was my car but he looked so confident walking towards it; I thought maybe I could of been mistaken. He got to my car and looked in and made a disgusted look on his face. t was one of those looks that you get when someone mentions your parents in the act of your conception. I said 'Is this your car or mine?'/ The 30K MM looked at me like I had said something blasphemous and replied, 'Nah, you kidding bro...mine has the Navi.'"
I heard from more than one letter writer about an apartment complex called Austin Ranch in the Colony. Reader Andrew calls Austin Ranch "a nest" for douchebagus and writes, "I used to live there. No joke, there was a guy renting above me (couldn't be paying more than $700 per month) that had two, brand-new cars: a BMW 745i and a Mercedes CLS 550. But, it gets even better: 1) he washed his cars himself, 2) he purchased two extra parking spaces in the garage to ensure his cars' safety, and 3) he parked his cars in the garage like they were on display at a car show."
Andrew had another encounter, "even better than that guy." His story: "The day I moved out, I ran into a $30K millionaire (frosted tips, white pants and sweater, big tinted shades) sitting on a curb outside the UPS store at The Ranch waiting for a cab. He asked for my help. His story was touching: he told me he had spent $500 at Dragonfly the night before on an Austin Ranch 'hottie' and was car-less to get home. He offered me $30 (lest he take a cab) to take him back to, get this, the Budget Inn on I-35. In typical douchebag fashion, he blamed his dire straits on 'the things hot chicks make you do, you know?' I said I don't. Then I got in my Acura TSX, drove away, and never felt so rich."
I would also be doing readers a disservice if I didn't point them in the direction of the scandalous DirtyBigD.com, an entire Web site dedicated to doing the kind of work I embarked on for "Douchebags in the Mist." But this is Douchebags On Your Computer Screen.
Do continue to send in your tips, insults and personal accounts. --Andrea Grimes
- Good ol Dwight, won't find these on CMT
- Great Vegas video here
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