Paul Revere Was A Rapper

Earlier today, I offered what is to date the most comprehensive, and honest, interpretation of DeShawn Stevenson's facial area tattoos. No one is anywhere near on my level. However, one important bit of information didn't make it through the editing process, perhaps because it was too dangerous. This being a free country, and this site mine and mine, I will use this space to reveal unto thee the true meaning of the two numbers five.

My bosses at SN decreed it obvious that these connected to Lincoln in that our greatest President appears on the five-dollar note. Then why two of them? That the font is identical serves doesn't make them an afterthought; had Stevenson wanted simply to ornament his Lincoln, he could've used something less cryptic or potentially fraught, like a log cabin or the Memorial. No, it's a clue, a signpost toward the life of The Man From Hope that we would be foolish to dismiss.

Scholars in the field of Great American Presidents know that 1855 was a pivotal year for Honest Abe, in which he overcame his personal troubles, rallied the Republican Party, and started himself down the road to immortality (and, as it were, premature mortality). I can only guess that Stevenson is trying to tell us something about his plans for 2009-10—it will be his 1855, or maybe that for the Wizards, who have not won a championship since sometime in the seventies.

Or, since Lincoln ruled the Republican, it could be a commentary on the Republican Party's recent spasms of joyous growth. I speak of the Tea Parties; maybe Stevenson is warning us of just how potent they are, or is himself a supporter reveling in their might. Only time knows all the answers.

Just Another Good Friend

How did I miss this? Late, and the emotion's receded, but Russell makes anything matter, and there are some good tid-bits in here.

Now, don't forget to read my latest on Oakland's finest.

2009 Sport Car Renault Megane Trophy

The 2009 Megane Trophy will go on sale at the end of the year in the form of kit after the completion of its development programme which will enable existing cars to be upgraded.
The 2009 Renault Megane Trophy is based on the new Megane Coupe which is powered by the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s mid-rear 3.5-liter V6 24V engine that produces 360 hp.
The front and rear light units and windscreen are from the Megane Coupe road car while flowing lines of the bodywork was designed from digital simulation technology to improve the aerodynamic.
The Renault Megane Trophy features front splitter which channel air flow to the extractors and rear diffuser and wing that generated downforce. Downforce has improved by 20 % with the refinements to the set-up and drag was reduced by 15 % , which together, represent a gain of almost 40% in terms of the new car’s aerodynamic performance over the previous generation vehicle.

Apart from that, the Megane Trophy also features butterfly doors reminiscent of the world of GT and sports-prototype racing. The V6 3.5 24V engine is mated to a semi-automatic gearbox with the same mechanical features as the current car, including an FIA-homologated sports-prototype tubular chassis, steering wheel-mounted paddle shift, double wishbone suspension with adjustable dampers, 18-inch wheels and Michelin tires.
The power of the standard 330 hp engine was boosted to 360 hp with the help from the new inlet manifold. Rebuild is still at every 5,500 km for the car’s reliability. According to Renault, with the new aerodynamic gains, the extra power from the engine will enable the 2009 Renault Megane Trophy to lap in similar times to those of a Porsche GT3.

2009 Sport Car Audi R8 GT3

Audi Sport will offer a racing sports car specifically developed for customer use in the form of the powerful 500 hp plus GT3 version of the Audi R8 which will be available from autumn 2009. The logistics and factory space required for the AUDI AG customer programme will be created over the next few months in Ingolstadt, Neckarsulm and Györ.
The Audi R8 conforms to the production-based GT3 regulations allowing the car to be fielded in numerous national and international race series.
Because the GT3 regulations prohibit the use of four-wheel drive the Audi R8 comes with the typical GT rear-wheel drive. The power is transmitted via a newly developed six-speed sequential sports gearbox. The suspension uses almost exclusively components from the production line. A comprehensive list of safety equipment guarantees the highest-level of passive safety. A modified front end and a large rear-wing generate the required downforce for the race track.
The Audi R8, which bears the project name “R16” within Audi Sport, was developed under the direction of Audi Sport. Mid August, the first prototype successfully completed a roll-out in the hands of Audi factory driver Frank Biela.

Where Now, Endorser of Folly?

Hey all, neglect not my voluptuous team previews over at you-know-where.

All sort of crazy stuff coming down from the foggy hilltop lair of the Golden State Warriors. Down a bit in this Baseline post, you get Monta equivocating on just where he stands with the team, and whether or not he thinks Ellis/Curry could ever make that bank. Dude's got a point: Both are small, and while Ellis isn't say it, Curry's unproven, much less as a do-it-all weirdo that Nellie will demand if he's actually paying attention. For my three dolmas, I don't see why the team wouldn't go with Morrow, other than the fact that Curry's got just enough to keep everyone under his spell (or rather, to justify using him when his name is potentially big draw. At least NY felt that way.)

Morrow is a shooting machine, and while Ellis doesn't naturally play the 1, I fail to see exactly why the team wins by accommodating Curry, rather than trying to figure out how to best make the team work around Monta. Come on Nellie, you're letting down your foremost theoretial boosters! In fact, you could run out a line-up that's surprisingly conventional, albeit with a few wrinkles, and still learn a lot, teach others, and win some games. What's so bad about Ellis/Morrow/Jackson/Randolph/Biedrins, with Curry and Wright featured prominently off the bench?

But this ain't The Baseline, and you aren't here to watch me rattle off possible line-ups—however irrational, or ideologically-motivated, they might be. I come to speak to you of the current interactions of Jackson and Ellis with the press, respective. Jackson, in particularly, is somehow straddling the line between calm/cool and outlandish, saying, more or less, "I've seen everyone else go. The team I helped win is gone. The new formation is, if not looking for an identity, at least not that good yet. I proved myself with the Spurs, brought love to the Bay, and signed an offer I'd have been foolish to turn down here. Please trade me." Yes, there's a paradox there: WHY SIGN IF YOU WANTED TO LEAVE YOU SELFISH THUG FUCK!???!! But Nellie himself is talking a similarly rational game, along the lines of "we'll see what we can do, but it won't tear the team apart." In short, the two still seem to trust the other to exercise some form of reason—a funny sentence if ever there were one, but the way it is.



(By the way, I think most of my paraphrases are taken from this here San Francisco Chronicle story. For Monta, see Baseline link above.)

Ellis is a trickier proposition. He's being paid like the franchise, but is increasingly depicte as the odd man out. Why exactly has Ellis gone from one of the league's most coveted young players to disgruntled trade bait? Because he's not a true PG? Because his three-pointer has bad credit rating? This is a Don Nelson team we're talking about. For the same reason that we'd expect him to both respect Jackson's will to exit and forge ahead with him nonetheless, it's a total letdown that Ellis now poses such a quandry.Who exactly is Nelson waiting for when it comes to making this team fall into place? Is he suddenly appealing to the templates of convention? Yes, he loves Randolph. How are those two not a package deal? I guess there's some PR/business shit to sort out, but as for basketball, if ever there were a time for fearlessness on Nellie's part, today is that hour.

It's tempting to blame it all on Curry, and all that he stands for. But whatever, even his uneven skill set might end up best tucked away somewhere in a Ellis/Randolph superstructure. I don't get why, on the level of feelings and abstract coach-speak, Nelson seems so willing to break the mold as he plays reasonable with Jackson, but can't get a little restive or provocative when it comes to putting players on the floor.

Or perhaps the repartee with Jackson must be viewed alongside Nelson's threat to coach for free in 2011-12. The Positional Revolution has sapped him; now, he's smacking up and down the entire culture of labor and coach/team/player relations. That would be cool and all, but at this crucial time for the Dubs, when so much is possible and at the same time so much slipping away, now is the time for Nelson to get off his ass, slap some water on his face, and one more time ride into battle like the wind around him can drown out all but the sound of his own thoughts.

Sport Car Ferrari F430

Ferrari F430 is a sports car manufactured by Ferrari. The F430's brakes were collaboratively designed with Brembo. The F430 features E-Diff, a computer-controlled limited slip differential which enables to vary torque distribution based on inputs such as steering angle and lateral acceleration.

Friday Didn't Happen

You know Twitter has #FF, when no one says anything, or responds to anything, and the whole thing turns into an open-air bazaar for absolutely nothing? In honor of that, I'm doing a quick post here that's similarly pointless.

First, up top, an absolutely amazing drawing of Artis Gilmore from an old SI that, were this several years ago, we would be trying to put on a t-shirt. Now, I think the most we can do is put it up here and wave our arms some. Unless The Vault, which rules, wants to partner with us to do a series of old illo tees curated by us. Just a thought.

Last basketball: Very soon, I'm dropping a really long Gilbert Arenas piece over at The Baseline that I swear you will all love. Stay tuned.

Maybe you noticed that the store ads disappeared (for now) and ye olde Amazon widget moved up. I've decided to get back in the swing of that, partly for the added revenue stream, but in large part because I like writing blurbs about non-sports stuff. Up there now: Cooperstown Confidential, a Bloomsbury book that's less about scandal-mongering and more turning it's grotesquely, indiscriminantly mythic—and totally supra-American—past into something more believable. I think it saves history, while creating a bridge between those days and the imperfect present. I hope we manage that in the new book. Steven Johnson's The Ghost Map had me talking about cholera and shit to anyone who would listen in the week before my wedding, but is really worth it for the finale, where he smushes together the last sentence of every magazine feature he's ever written about civilization, evolution, terrorism, health, and the value of cities.

The Damned Don't Cry is one of those rare movies where Joan Crawford is both scary and hot, as well as a genre pic with layers, or maybe two genres at once. This coming from someone who watches at least one forgettable noir joint a week. I still don't get why there's a song on Africa Brass with the same name, and would prefer to not look it up. The Big O is well past my cut-off year for basketball memoirs, but Robertson's an intensely private man who decided to open up here, and as with his game and personality, you can feel the anger simmering just beneath the stately (okay, sometimes staid) prose. They Cleared the Lane is not only the single best book about race in the early NBA, but also, in its eye for detail, gives you some invaluable info and understanding of that era in general. Breaks my heart that this isn't more widely-read.

Finally, Heaven and Earth's I Can't Seem to Forget About You. Buying this import new is expensive, but there are cheaper used copies up there. The kind of sweet soul so haunting, and uneasy, it borders on scary. Oddly, "Let Me Back In" might be the song I most associate with my wedding weekend.

UPDATE: New column on Arenas now up and running.

It's his Pasture

Okay, what's getting lost in this whole LeBron James/Russian tycoon/global tycoon synergy is WHERE THE FUCK JAY FITS IN. For pure spurts and puddles, read Woj's column on Mikhail Prokhorov, which will leave you thinking that Prokhorov is hard (of course), his money questionable (it's Russian), and his grand entrance into the lobby of a NYC hotel nothing short of a Jay-Z video.

Incidental, you say? Did Sean fail, since his token ownership stake failed to get the Nets relocated, or generate that much buzz? What about this: Even if the man mattered very little in this particular case, it's his influence that allows James and Prokhorov to make so much sense together. His presence in this deal may add some residual cred, and make it pop a little more, but it's more a lifetime achievement award. Remember, Jay was the first to take the hustle all the way into the boardroom, and make the boardroom respect it. Forget the kingpin fantasies that made our favorite music. That was the old totem; Jay saw a way to really leverage street smarts, and street branding, in a way that brought him real power.

Is he still the figurehead he once was? No matter what you think of the new joint, the answer is no. He's closer and closer to Russell Simmons everyday. That is, less and less involved in any real manipulation of what we might term "gangter capital." Gangsters by themselves are business rubes, at least once they try and enter the halls of legal money. Capital of all kinds is synonymous with selling out, exactly the reason why anyone trying to be the Next Jordan has to tread lightly: Jordan could get away with anything, and even he ended up a corporatized shell on the public stage.

I believe in the power of music. I believe that Jay-Z inspired a generation to believe that there was no shame in trying to clean up a little and invest back in ventures that didn't have to choose between profit and legitimacy. He made a seamless transition from fake drug kingpin (is mafia even lower than this?), to vague wealthy and influential baller with skeletons in the closet, to the nexus of the board room and the streets in a way that worked for everyone. LeBron wants to be like Jay, not Mike; this Russian fellow finds himself with instant credibility because of the pioneering work done by the man without a pen. When the photo opp happens, he needs to symbolically bless the handshake, because it might be his greatest legacy.

(You try and tell me how "My President is Black" fits in here.)

In other news, I am positively baffled by Flip's "Arenas will have the ball more than eighty percent of the time because we're scrapping Princeton". Isn't that an awful lot already? I know that Butler and the other guards did touch it sometimes, and that Arenas's quickness/quick release means he doesn't stand around so much. But I just don't see how this does anything to encourage a change in Gil's game, or the team's complexion. It's not like he was being denied his touches or discouraged from attacking before. This is what happens when Ziller or Kevin Pelton aren't online early.

Update: Maybe he meant "I want him to control the ball and run the offense, not just fire away or attack." But the comment was about % of the time Gil has the ball, not how patient he is.

2009 Daewoo Veritas Pictures

2009 Daewoo Veritas Pictures

2009 Daewoo Veritas Interior

2009 Daewoo Veritas Car Wallpaper

Your Need is Now Empty

I'm been having a field day with Russkie-takes-Nets on The Baseline, wandering into Red Dawn territory, and saying that Stern's being bum rushed by the devil he danced with. I have also spent twenty minutes trying to find just the right clip from Deep Blue Sea, preferably the one with the underwear and shark electrocution.

But while America crumbles and the NBA must make a hard choice between its dreams and the nightmare they've become, Tom Ziller has confirmed that LeBron James is "so headed to the Nets." He'd have to do a year in Jersey and then, a New York franchise with absolutely no cash flow problem. Ever. Plus, with Harris, Lee, and Lopez, there's a nucleus on par with anything's Bron's ever had in Cleveland. Most importantly, though, there's absolutely no underestimating what a marketing this team will be. LeBron + Yi + Jay + some guy whose last name is Lopez + international ownership that shows no mercy? All other franchises should resign and quit.

Maybe it's not so clear how this translates into absolute dominance on these shores. Remember, though, that's only a small fraction of the world's population. And they like LeBron. The rest of the world, well, they're pretty much covered, and there's no way what's-his-face is seeing this as anything other than a global market investment. Like soccer or some shit. Perfect storm or way of the future, where eventually the NBA plays for nearly-empty USA arenas (peppered with kids who love the game and were last seen in the KG/Marbury "fun police" ad), while billions come in from overseas.

Note to self: File restraining order against that new Bruce Willis movie.

2009 Nissan 370Z Best Car Picture

2009 Nissan 370Z Car Wallpaper

2009 Nissan 370Z Interior Car

2009 Nissan 370Z Car Picture

It'll Find You

I've been trying to figure out why it is that I've got zero to say about Delonte West. Maybe it's because I'm fairly confident that he'll lawyer up hard and be ready for the start of the season. Or because the Michael Beasley saga, in all its opacity and yanking around after answers, ended up covering so much broad "mental illness in sports" territory.

Then I realized: It's because I'm neither amused, shocked, nor saddened by it. West is bipolar; so am I. That doesn't make me unsympathetic to his situation—on the contrary, to me it's almost mundane, the kind of thing you wake up from and shake your head at. Not that I've ever ended up strapped to the teeth on a mini-bike, re-enacting a scene from a shitty movie. But since no one got hurt, and the explanation is obvious, the specifics are neither here nor there. This is what happens when you go off your meds. The legal system knows this, and presumably, Delonte is a little closer to figuring it out.

So if I'm failing to come up with anything penetrating, or start any meaningful discussion, it's because this is so close to home, it's a non-entity. I don't even feel like having a conversation about living with said disorder, because that's not even interesting to me. It's the hand some are dealt. It probably explains why West is such a tremendous personality, and also reduces this incident to a feature-less bump in the road.

Update: Baseline column on West/coverage of Beasley.

A Significant Bullet

When we found out that Elton Brand produced Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn, it seemed like an amazing convergence of basketball and one of the most influential figures for this site. Then it turned out the relationship was pretty basic -- at a Q&A I went to almost two years ago, Herzog said he knew little about Brand's athletic career, met him through a mutual business associate, and found him to be an all-together pleasant individual. (The major revelation of the story was that said associate is a 300-lb ex-truck driver/nightclub owner.) An interesting moment, to be sure, but not a mind-breaking collision of worlds.

But now there's this, from a recent interview with Herzog in Vice:

La Soufrière is a good example of one of your many films where athleticism, or at least enduring very harsh and inhospitable conditions, was essential to the making of it. Are you worried about aging to the point where taking these types of risks and putting your body through these intense experiences are no longer possible?
No, I don’t really care about that. The connection between athleticism and cinema is in part, of course, metaphoric. It’s about the understanding of movement in space. That’s why I admire NBA players so much—how they move and how they understand space is just phenomenal. Besides, it is a statistical fact that a good amount of filmmakers have been quite athletic people. You don’t see that among painters or among musicians. I have never met a composer who was an athlete.

Surely a film about Ron-Ron bringing Asian pop music to the the ends of the world cannot be far off.

BONUS QUOTATION! -- From the press kit for Herzog's new film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans: "I call upon the theoreticians of cinema to go after this one. Go for it, losers."

2009 Novitec Ferrari Scuderia Spider 16M

2009 Novitec Ferrari Scuderia Spider 16M Car Wallpaper

2009 Novitec Ferrari Scuderia Spider 16M Engine

2009 Novitec Ferrari Scuderia Spider 16M Rear View

Unknown Unknowns

I don't know exactly how noz, proprietor of the world's famous Cocaine Blunts, came to tell me he had this record. It was definitely off-hand, like "if I can find it and you're interested, I'll send you a rip." My hand went numb with anticipation, but even that was only a taste of how awesome this is. Well, more how awesome it is that it exists. Happy Hall of Fame, MJ!!!!!!!



MOST PEOPLE PANIC FOR A WAY OUT. BUT MYSELF, I IMAGINE A THOUSAND DIFFERENT WAYS TO GET MYSELF OUT.

Put this right up on the playlist alongside the Ultramag All-Stars intro and Taborn's Manute Bol ode "Block the Ball", another gift from noz.

For reasons I don't get, the DivShare player sometimes turns up blank unless you go to the actual post URL (as opposed to plain old FD.com). Here's a link. Sorry, and someone explain.

It Touched the Ground, Hard

(Your call: Is this A) 9/12 march footage B) my wedding C) proof that we're still secret racists here)

No, we have not all died and gone to heaven. There just hasn't been much NBA to write about, and at this point of the year, the very air around you seems to choke out many attempts to discuss the Association.

That and the next book is bearing down on us, myself and others disappeared to Maine this month for my wedding, and you know, I do have another blog. If SN didn't pay me, my columns on Jordan/David Thompson and The Speech/Serena would've lived here, as would have shorter posts on early athlete development and Brandon Jennings's views on the limits of online authenticity. Sucks for this RSS feed, but not necessarily for you guys.

All of which is a nice transition into some news about the store: For the time being, it's going to take a little breather. It's a one-man operation, and between the store, a move, a dissertation, and the book, that one man fell a little behind. Those of you who are still waiting on orders, they should be out soon, or otherwise accounted for. Don't hesitate to hit up the FD gmail with questions. We'll be back for the season's start with new product, a more streamlined system, and hopefully, a clean slate with any of you who feel wronged.

Enough with the gloominess. This site will begin to pick up soon, especially now that I don't have a wedding to plan. Strangely, I also think that working hard on the book can at times spur activity on here, at least for me. But rest assured that when you need us most, there will be blood. And for heck's sake, read The Baseline. Unless you want it to fail so I have to do all my writing here for free.

You friend,

Shoals

P.S. Can someone help me explain why Gretzky doesn't defy both my "to be the greatest in sports, you must be a dick" and "only Jordan is the consummate best ever" statements? Thanks.

2009 BMW M3 ALMS Car Wallpaper

2009 BMW M3 ALMS Front View

2009 BMW M3 ALMS Picture

2009 BMW M3 ALMS Side View

2009 BMW M3 ALMS Rear View

2010 Ferrari 599XX Sport Car

2010 Ferrari 599XX Sport Car

2010 Ferrari 599XX Car Show

2010 Ferrari 599XX Car Side View

2009 GeigerCars Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Wild Thing

2009 GeigerCars Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Wild Thing

2009 GeigerCars Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Wild Thing Car Images

2009 GeigerCars Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Wild Thing Rear View

Say What You Feel

Let that sink in, then go visit my in-depth musings on the topic over at The Baseline.

P.S. The word "musings" should be outlawed, I'm just in too much of a rush to do better right now.

P.P.S. Don't sleep on the newest FD presents DoC podcast. Here for you!

2009 Unique Sport Cars Ferrari F430 Cavalera

2009 Unique Sport Cars Ferrari F430 Cavalera Car Picture

2009 Unique Sport Cars Ferrari F430 Cavalera Dasboard

2009 Unique Sport Cars Ferrari F430 Cavalera Side View

Word, Sound

In this episode, Ken and Dan are joined by Ken’s college friend Andy Manoff, who spent a year in Ethopia and ended up teaching girls to play basketball. Not a euphemism. Also, Andy has a story about reading a book near an NBA player, which leads to a larger discussion of NBA books/movies (including this fine book by Alexander Wolff).





Also, Dan finds out he has a surprising number of songs with “Africa” in the title:

“Ball of Fire” - Israel Vibration
“African Children” - Aswad
“Africa Center of the World” - Fela Kuti
“African Walk (Zamunda)” - Madlib
“African Woman” - Burning Spear
“Thank You For Talkin’ To Me Africa” - Sly and the Family Stone

For other means of obtaining this program, try iTunes and the XML feed.

2009 Konigseder Porsche Carrera GT

2009 Konigseder Porsche Carrera GT Wallpaper

2009 Konigseder Porsche Carrera GT Front View

2009 Konigseder Porsche Carrera GT Rear View