Win The Expected

 Iam sitting back drinking a cold Bobcat Beer. Very cold. Charlotte's finest yeast and barley and best grains avaliable. So its really bad, kinda like Norm's favorite beer, Meister Brau. We beat Charlotte and we should have. Was not on the radio for this one but heard we let them get back into a big lead we had built up. I found I can get KJR 950 Sonic flagship station here in Portland so I will be listening to games and watching a select few at my Charger bar Claudia's once the Bolt football season is over, hopefully early Feb! I will be attending the game here in Portland 12/16 yahoo. The Blazers are better, as good as we are in record. McMillan rawks dudes, you'll see here in Portland. I love th I-5 rivalry and I'm green in the Rose City baybee! Crack another Bobcat. 

In Charlotte's Web?

  Told ya the blogging could get spotty on occassion. But I must pre game blog for a game that in the past would usually be a walkover. The legacy that is the Bobcats comes to the Key Wed. night. In our current state we can not afford to take ANY team lightly. The Cats seem to match up well w/the Sonics. They are in Sacramento tonight and we'll see how they perform there.

 Seems Cat forward Gerald Wallace just earned Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors, a 1st for any Bobcat player and that includes Okafor. So Wallace seems to be becoming a force to be reckoned with. Emeka O is always trouble and Matt Carroll is a scrapper who ain't pretty but does the job. I actually read his blog on the Bobcats website...a decent read. Its our stellar 5-8 record against Charlotte's almost identical 5-9 before tonights game against SAC.

 My beloved Emerald City ballers (not bawler's, contrary to my last blog) are mentioned in the same breath and same caliber of play as the expansion Bobcats. Depressing, but the cliched "the season is still young" works for me right now. We got some streaks in us. I have an opinion of Weiss' coaching savvy and it is not a good one. McMillan was a motivator and the current Sonic team is in a bit of dissarray I feel.

  We were 0 and 3 last week and we have had a nice little break so lets crush the Cats. Attack the homestand and savor each expected victory. Hang with the tough teams and steal a few in the process. I haven't lowered my expectations of what I think this team is capable of. We are better than we are playing. Was it coaching magic last year and we really do suck? Possible but I don't think so. Cleveland looms but in our house, lets beat them also and be right back in the hunt.

 I'm a Seattle homer who is a little deflated. Plus I hate losing to the Lakers, more than anything. We will comeback, much stronger than the Limp Bizkit reunion. Oh, you didn't hear? Niether did I. And you can take that cookie and stick it...! I'm a little angry too, can you tell? Make it right this week at home Seattle, for my sanity's sake!

HORNETS NEST

We Suck, OK?

LAKERS LOOM ON TURKEY DAY

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY! The Sonics will make the Lakers look like the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. Hopefully, I boast with mild confidence at best we will beat them in "The Clip Joint"

Jazz Plays the Sonics

 I'm in the thick of Thanksgiving guests and working my stand and had that week of downtime so the blogs have been laggin' I know. And I have to cook Thanksgiving dinner too on my day off. I will try to do better. I'll be back full blogs in a few days when everyone clears out. 

 I thought we were righting the ship and gonna clear the .500 mark against Utah at home but no such luck. Hear we also made a furiuous rally in the 4th quarter coming back from 16 down but this rally ultimately came up short. Questionable foul against Nick Collison near the end puts Utah on the line and pretty much ends the threat.

 Weiss is juggling combinations of players to try and come up w/the right chemistry and its only working part of the time. Let's get it right for Thanksgiving. I hate the Lakers and their on the court off the court antics and stupid ass drama like some valley girl cast member on the OC. Kobe is a great player yes, offensively. He is offensive on defense and in personality. Arrogant. How's it feel in LaLa land w/out Shaq? About 10 games under .500 eh Kobe? Like Smush though. Always like the underdog I do. Hope you guys serve up a big turkey to the Sonics from your house (and the Clippers house, and they are better than you) on Thanksgiving. Staples Center is still a hard place for the Sonics to win, hopefully not this Thursday. Lets get to .500 and go from there.

KING BEAT DOWN

KING ON A STRING

    I like to consider the Sac Kings as rivals. The Kings of Sac might be getting up off the floor, just like the Sonics seem to be doing. Consecutive victories over Boston (on road) and Chicago are promising after getting punished 3 games in a row by more than 20, and one by 39 or so, brutal. On the road but no excuse. Soon. The Lakers. We will hopefully prove Ice Cube back in the day, when he didn't have to use his AK, drunk as hay ull but no throwin up he said, "the Lakers beat the Supersonics". Not to be Ice Cube cuz we 3 kings be stealin' the gold!

  Sacramento 1st. Haven't become to acquainted w/their team but know its Miller, Bibby, Pedjdra, and ouch...Shareef. Good player but loser wherever he goes. He won't keep them out of the post season either. Saw him here in Portland. I know something you will learn Kings fan. He is the ultimate underwhelming point scorer of all time. Never a clutch basket in the bunch. Keep your eye open, tell me if I'm right later in the season. But unless he's playing us I wish him well.

  Our next 2 games, although not to be taken lightly, should be in the W column. After the dreaded Lakers its 2 at home. NO/Okla and Charlotte. Should wins for sure. Blogs will get better...oh yeah.

BULL EMIA

CELTIC SHA LOCKING

DRAG NETS

  Due to technical (AOL's fault) have not been able to blog for a week. Seems to be fixed so I will catch up this evening. We got a big win in Boston to cap the road trip...hoo ray. I will get you the past scores I missed and a pre game blog for the upcoming game later this evening.  My site quit working after the Jersey game so do the math. Be back full force.

We Know How To Rap

  Ok, again there is a little hope in for the Emerald City's NBA team. But this will be no glowing review or basking in victory blog entry. Because we almost gave it away to a very poor team, albiet on the road. This road trip was a barometer of where we stand early in the season. And right now we stand less than mediocre.

  Do they give game balls in the NBA? If they do mine would go not to Rashard Lewis, who had a whopping 41 pts but to Nic Collison who had a career high 20 pts and 12 rebounds, and two critical baskets in OT to help lift the Sonics to a 126-121 victory.

  The funny is we had a 10 pt lead with 2 1/2 minutes left and lost it, which isn't a good thing. The Raps buried successive treys and were shooting free throws and had to intentionally miss one for a chance. They did, and they got the rebound and the 1st put back failed but they collared another rebound and Chris Bosh (sounds like a NASCAR driver, eh?) nailed a short bank shot to tie it and send it to OT. So the Sonics kinda did what my beloved Charger football team has been doing all season. Never putting it away and then allowing the opponents to somehow get back in it. Usually through a bizarre scenarios of bad luck and bad team play at crucial moments. Hopefully we will improve and Jesus will don a green Starter Sonic hat and give us some help!

  One last point and this is a good sign. We were 41 of 49 from the line. That means we are takin' it to the hole, getting fouled and converting the shots into alot of points and that helps. Free throws are gifts. Uncontested set shots that count. As long as you don't Shaq'em they are muy beneficial. And 40 points is alot from the foul line. I like that stat and hope that trend continues.

  Tuesday night its Joisy and the Kidd. And supposed MJ incarnate Vince Carter, who is good but far from. Lets show some heart and cajones and beat the Nets. I took a trek to where the Nets play the season the Sonics made it to the championship and lost badly 94-95 I believe. A friend and I went, we were both from the NWest and the game was sparsely attended. Hada blast despite our whuppin' by an inferior team. But sh*t happens.

  Joisy is NOT the cultural capital of the world. You can pass by a barber shop in Trenton (if you haven't already been shot multiple times) and the sign in the window says: Style Cut: $20  Buzz Cut: $10.00  Mullet:  $30.00 . Yes, the mullet lives in NJ. And a majority of the women still wear spandex and have hair that would do a Winger video proud. I have seen some of these women light up a cigarette and explode on the spot from Aqua Net residual fume age! The art galleries are full of Nagels. Is Target an art gallery? It is in Jersey! But enough of dissing Jersey. Its a basketball game and the 50 people who show up will hopefully see the Sonics prevail with a little breathing room.

I Will Not Dignify That Question With A Response

This posting will be in black. Cuz we are up shit creek without a paddle. Never would I give up on a season this early...but I'm ready. Losing by 41 on the road or anywhere is totally unacceptable. The Wizards are a decent team, but far from elite. Although my perception is fu*ked up anyway cuz I thought we were at least decent. I slammed the Clippers and the Wizards...who don't have bloggers yet on this site, but should. I may be the big loser, jokes on me. I can handle being 1-4 in an 82 game season, but not losing 3 straight, 2 by over 20 pts and one by 41. Isn't that some kind of algebra? Both the Wiz and the Clips may lose 3 in a row this season, and maybe even 1 or 2 by 15, but 41?!

  I will avoid all questions like White House Press Secratary McClellan, cuz this is an ongoing investagation. If we get beat by 20 by the Raptors then I will get the towel ready. But I ain't gonna throw it in the ring. Nor will I knot it and hang myself. I will use it to escape from this loser prison. Problem is, I've got one shitty white Motel 6 towel and I'm on the 33rd floor. I'm gonna break everything or die during my escape!

  No figures or point totals need be published. A loss by 41 explains itself. Bobby Weiss get it done. You were always the bald guy in the spokes of my bike tires going clickety clack in the early 70's while the cool cards sat in my shoebox. But I was an ABA kid...the Doctor and exciting basketball. When you couldn't dunk in college...how lame is that?

 When a young Bill Walton told me as a 10 yr old to f*ck off when I asked him for an autograph at a bike race at a phone booth and he was alone, no one was around and I told my mom, it was priceless. She walked up to that 20 yr old ass with a margarita in hand (it was the 70's mind you) and cursed his ass out. He still didn't sign. He fully looked scared though. Later, big red went down in the middle of the pack and got run over numerous times. Karma is a bitch. I still look for him since I'm in Portland and old coots claim to know him cuz I want to remind him. I now feel like the the asian dude also involved in the crash, he was bleeding everywhere and his head smacked the curb. He was left to bleed while everyone attended to Walton. I'll never forget it. The Sonics are the dude smacked to the curb, and nobody cares. I hope he went on to major success and tells the story of his brush with greatness on the curb. We better not get kicked to it again like this game.  Gonna check the Blazers score now...least they have won a couple and tried! Told ya this was gonna be wierd!

  This blog entry was influenced and powered by Cuervo Gold...thank you very much!

A Very Cavalier Attitude

  Another extremely lackluster effort on the part of the Sonics. And a bad sign that things are not all good in the green house. Radmanovic is bitching to the press that coach Weiss dosen't play him enough. Well Rad you'll get your time now...cause Rashard Lewis went out with a shoulder injury, in the 1st quarter, the same one he hurt last year. So now our #2 scorer and the only other guy on the team who can take over a game on rare occassions is out for who knows how long. Whenever players start complaining this early, its never a good thing. I know coach Weiss is laid back and this team may need some discipline. No panic button pushing yet, but suffering two HUGE blowouts in a row shows lack of motivation and heart on the part of the team. Ray Allen had virtually no support in his 25 point effort tonight.

  To start Cleveland killed us at the free throw line, sinking an amazing 28 of 28 before they missed one. I could stop here and say there is the scoring disparity right there, but there is so much more to whine about. King LeBron had 31, and flip those numbers and you have Larry Hughes total of 13. LeBron even took a seat on the bench for almost the last 9 minutes of the 4th quarter and we still didn't make up any points. Heard LeBron took an alley oop pass from Donyell Marshall twisting in the air and one hand tomahawk jammed it in spectacular fashion while Luke Ridnour wished he had a steel umbrella to take cover under it went through the hoop with such force! I'm a Seattle fan, but f*ckin' LeBron is da man. Every time he goes up for a shot I think of golf fans before every shot in a tournament shouting, "You da man!" What's he gonna do next? Its usually good.

  So V Rad, did you like dee ing up on LeBron after replacing Rashard? 21 pts he smoked you for...in the 1st half! You can shoot Rad, but your dee sucks like a black hole whether your guarding da King or not!

  So its a travel day tomorrow and then its off to the bad Washington, not the beautiful one in the great NWest. We play the Wizards and we best regroup and get on it. We can totally win the next 2 games, the Wiz and the lowly Jurassic Park named Raptors, stupidest Barney logo insignificant team in the league. When will they go the way of the old Vancouver Grizzlies and move to a place where someone cares. The funny is the road purple they wear, just like Barney, he is so fierce. People are into the Maple Leafs there, not the Raptors. Before I rip on the Raptors too much I should wait till we play them but I don't care. If we lose to them, even this early, we gots problems boyeeeeee! So the road trip has started out horrendously but can be salvaged. Lets take the Wizards wand and instead of casting a stupid ass spell, lets beat them over the head with it and then shove it...I'll stop there, anger management bro...chill.

 

 

A Bear Beat Down

  Didn't get to watch the game but heard some updates on the radio and it seemed we were on our way to a very competitive game against the Grizzlies. I heard 34-34 middle of the 2nd quarter was the score. I was selling falafels at my stand with no access to the net so the Walkman on the sports station had to suffice. Living in Portland, OR I have to listen to 45 mins per hr of Blazers news, then its all about T.O. Every 1/2 hr they will shoot the NBA scores to ya. As I packed up my cart and closed and went to get some produce I was thinking to myself...hey were hangin' tough, on the road, we'll get this.

  So I get home an hr later and sweet dial up connection f*cked me again! Some girl I know got taken away by the men in white coats, I'm not kidding. She had left me a message about it so I call her at the mental hospital and as she is talking to me someone pulled the phone out of the wall! I called right back and the front desk person said call back in 20 mins. I barely know her, she is a sweetie and hot but has that "people are watching me cause I overheard a conversation I wasn't supposed to and I may be killed by the IRA cuz this priest was selling guns" thing going on. Know what I mean Vern? I thought it was strange but she seemed composed. Still don't know the story, kept trying to call her and gave up. And you thought this was just gonna be a hoops blog, huh?

  My pc could be compared to the appliances on the Flinstones, ancient. I hope to be into a new pc soon but I'm stuck with dial up...I refuse to deal with Comcast, thieving bastards. So I get on the net, finally. And check the score. The game is over and we got spanked by 25! Ouch! Not a great start to a 6 game road trip.

  It looks like Shane Battier took Ray Allen to the woodshed. And Pau Gasol (is that a spanish suntan lotion?) had 23 and also tore up the Sonics. From reading the recap and the box score we went into a coma in the 2nd half. The individual point totals for the Sonics aren't even worth mentioning. We shot 33% for the game. Totally like non awesome,dude. We never scored less than 73 points in a game all of last season when we won the Northwest Division. David "Skywalker" Thompson back in the day in the old ABA once scored 73 in a game. One man with more points in a game than 12 on this Sonics team. Not happy about the loss but the season is young and trends will develop and we'll see what kind of team we have. If we suck at mid season who knows, maybe I will start hearing voices in my head and I'll get rolled away on a Hannibal Lector dolly to the funny farm! Just as long as I get to keep the mask he wore, that thing rawked!

  Tomorrow I say bring on LeBron and the Cavs. Tough game but I got faith in the green. C'mon Luke, I'm counting on ya to get in the mix. Pip Pip Cheerio...and all that rot.

Hitting the Road

  Ray Allen was the man. And the go to man in OT with 11 pts ending w/spectacular totals, 32 pts and 11 rebounds. Rashard threw in 19 of his own to help the cause. Ridnour and Collison, the "draft" boys had 10 apiece in a solid outing for the Sonics.  The Wolves felt the sting for sure.

  Here is the killer stat of the game. And hitting at this pct. consistently will win a lot of games, close or not. The Sonics hit , get this...33 out of 36 free throws on the night. Thats as good as it gets. Bobby Weiss also picked up his 1st real victory as head coach of Seattle. Kudos to Bob...back at .500 already.

  Now we hit the road. The Griz, Cavs, and Wiz next, all in their houses. 3 games in 4 days. All the way back east. Tough road ahead, but if we return from 6 away at .500 or better, thats an accomplishment. Hopefully it will be done. Develop who you are early then play in that mode like last year. Are we true contenders, this trip will shed some light on how this season develops. 11/8@Memphis, 11/9@Cleveland, 11/11@Washington...11/11 is a really bad beer that is usually in the 40oz container, ghetto store beer...ever had it? Nasty. Oh, uh, I've never had it. Pass the PBR, official beer (I'm not kidding) of Portland, OR!

LACL: 101 SEA: 93 0W 1L

  Looks like Sam Cassell had a huge on us. Box score says 35 pts and 9 assists for "the alien", ouch. So we lost the opener ok, like baseball, there is tons more games to go. Don't like to lose to the Clips just cause of who they are and their commitment to futility. They beat us.  I was checking the score on the net and it was looking good at the end of the 3rd. Wha appen? Down for Friday nites game VS the Wolves. A test of where were at early. Not so good on stamina against the Clips. Need to improve for a W tomorrow night.