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.