August 11, 2004

usa! usb! usc!

my mind is possessed with burning man possibilities. everyone says to go, and everyone is making it easy to go: places to camp with elsewhere or blyss abyss, playa bikes offered from allyn & jodi, maybe even meal options! not that i actually eat anyway. but it’s nice to have the option. plus, it’ll be fun, and there will be a lot of naked people there. and who doesn’t love naked people? everyone is telling me to go, and no one’s saying no. so, what then?

of course, we will talk about basketball instead.

team usa just finished their pre-olympic run of games, where they trounced puerto rico, and then embarrassingly lost to italy, barely beat germany, and had to fight hard to win two games over turkey. there’s been lots and lots of talk about how usa basketball still can’t assemble the right team for international play, namely getting people who play as a team, and specifically, players who can just out and out shoot, which is the key to the international game. where’s michael redd? where’s rip hamilton?

but anyway, quick impressions:

solid:

  • td, but we expected that.

better than expected:
  • ai: filling it up from the international 3, and playing good d to boot!
  • carmelo: holy moly. this guy can just out and out score! dishing, passing, and just putting needed points on the board. don’t talk to me about darko.
  • odom: fantastic play. things might not be so horrible for the lakers this season after all.

disappointing:
  • wade: this is the guy who’s going to be the next superstar partner of shaq? are you kidding?
  • lebron: man, he looked good last year, but he just looks like a young lost kid. where’s his chaperone?
  • boozer: foul a minute. welcome to utah.
  • marbury: can there be a worse point for the international game? where’s white chocolate when you need him?
  • jefferson: i’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again: this guy is the most overrated player in the nba.

horrible:
  • okafor: this is the bobcats’ franchise? what, wasn’t maddog madsen available?

Posted at August 11, 2004 11:31 PM
Comments

don’t go to burning man. it’s hot and dusty and your feet will crack and your nose will bleed and you’ll feel so lethargic in the sun but be unable to sleep and you’ll need to jack up on freaky drugs to stay awake at night and eventually you’ll get kind of disgusted that so many people with so much disposable income and energy spend it on creating things that will just burn up instead of, say, creating a better world or saving the seas or just on spending a week in hawaii with someone they love.

that’s just in case you really didn’t want to go and needed some back up.

i went. i loved it. i’m never going again.

also, i hope the US loses in basketball. we’re too damn cocky and i hope we get trounced by sri lanka or something humiliating.

Posted by: xz at August 12, 2004 10:24 AM

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