The Season is Upon Us...

With the holidays comes the much anticipated and delayed opening of the 2011-2012 NBA season. Hard to believe that after its four best consecutive seasons since the end of the Jordan Bulls era the league let a lock out potentially ruin the tremendous momentum it had built up. Luckily for everyone from players to owners to fans it appears eyes will be on flat screens and asses will be in seats come tip off this Sunday in what promises to be an exciting Christmas Day of hoops. As we have a few days to go a previewing the games is a bit premature, but what is timely is looking at a few key pick ups for teams in the hunt for gold and for teams that know it is time to compete:

Tyson Chandler, NY Knicks: It has been years, years, since the Knicks had a player who not only can, but wants to change games through defense, rebounding and his presence. That man is Tyson Chandler. Chandler, who was key to the Dallas championship run last season has openly stated (interview coming soon from ENEW FILMS) that he wanted to have the same affect on the Mavs last season as Kevin Garnett did when he arrived in Boston four seasons ago. He now brings that mentality to New York where the Knicks have not thought about defense since Marcus Camby was running around blocking shots and Kurt Thomas was bumping each opponent to enter the paint at every opportunity. The MSG crowd will not only be in a new look garden but will also finally have a taste of a new look attitude defensively which is necessary to advance in the east regardless of who you have on the offensive end.

It appears the NBA is back...

Going into the Thanksgiving weekend I had this feeling we would be coming out of it with an NBA season on the horizon. While enjoying a Friday lunch with my parents I turned to my dad and said "I think they are going to get it done this weekend, they kind of have too",  in which he nodded in agreement as he was clearly enjoying what was left of on his plate.

STAND UP...YES WE WILL

As many of us have been caught up watching the disgraceful news from Penn State or the pathetically humorous republican party debates you may have missed what happened in the Midwood section of Brooklyn last week. Anti-semitism and hatred reared its evil face on the community on the anniversary of one of the most painful days in the history of the Jewish people,  Kristalnacht, which occurred 73 years ago when the Nazi's took a drastic step in their quest for the "final solution" and destroyed countless homes and synagogues in Germany and Austria. 

The Ainzworth

With each week presenting a new list of life and career things to get done sometimes getting out for Sunday football has to take a back seat. One place I wish I could frequent more often is the Ainzworth. Thanks to my childhood friend, a little league second base phenom named Dave Bloch I have an open invite each and every Sunday. Nowhere in NYC do you have Biggie pumping, the games playing and the beer flowing quite like here on the west 2-6. The women, the energy and the quality NFL viewing make this a true Sunday football club. Big ups to the Ainzworth for keeping it more than real for Sunday Funday.

Darkness Awaits...

As I sit sipping brews with The Senator watching
the UNC Michigan State Careier Classic we are
also in view of the latest Penn State nightmare
headlines and it is only getting worse.
Mike McCrery is now in protective custody
as he is done as a coach at Penn State.
Within 36 hours this drastic change leads
me to believe that this is only getting worse.
With protesters, an emotional student body
and increased security set to all coverage
tomorrow in Happy Valley you hope that cooler
heads prevail in the nightmare situation.
As Coach Paterno is rumored to have
contacted high profile attorney J. Sedgwick
Sollers Who also represented George H W
Bush during the Iran Contra scandal one
Can only wonder what will be released to
the public next.

Penn State Disgrace

As this nightmare of a story was developing I was waiting for all the facts to come in before I picked a side on Coach Paterno. With every detail that came in I got sicker and sicker to my stomach. Regardless of the educational institution you work at, or are a leader at, or an icon at, it is your responsibility first and foremost to look out for the safety of kids. It doesn't matter if they are your players, kids attending football camp, or just a kid walking around campus. Some are saying, "well, he reported it to his supervisor." We are not talking about someone walking out of the football offices with a computer in an act of petty theft or a fight between players in the weight room. This was a grown man, a coach at Penn State who had set up a charity to target and prey on kids, doing just that within the football walls at Penn State. How the GA at the time who is now a ten year staff member did not stop it in on the spot is unreal to me. But when you give long time coaches that much power, people get scared, people's minds get warped, and the little people, the victims do not become the immediate priority. 

NBA Friday!!! Well, it would have been nice...

Halloween has passed, Thanksgiving is closer than you think and tonight would have been a terrific evening to kick back, crack a seasonal brew and watch some hoop. With a slate of games that would have featured the Thunder hosting the Pacers, the Celtics in the ATL, the Lake show in Phoenix and an early battle for Texas with the Spurs hosting the champion Mavericks I would have been content. But as this goes from weeks to months, and both college and high school season begin (yes, I said high school) I think people are going to care less and less about the lockout and when, or if it will end.

If you love basketball, then you love basketball. Besides the ridiculous shifts in some major conferences college basketball is still of high quality. When that conference schedule begins and I can get a dose of Musburger and Knight from Lawrenceville on Monday, Vern and Raff from Stores on a Wednesday,  or Nance and Kellogg from Chapel Hill on a Sunday afternoon the last thing I am going to be thinking about is wondering about who we could have been watching on TNT or the league pass instead. Being that I am in New York City I will have more than enough options to go see some high level high school in person and not pay $10 a beer or be pissed off when I ask for well done fries and they still give me the soggy joints.

With NBA 2K12 out in full effect and ESPN and HBO both giving us high quality content such as Unguarded and Prayer for a Perfect Season I am confident that besides missing my team in green just a little bit I will be fine with or without a season. This is coming from a basketball head who has been living, eating and breathing the game for quite a long time. So while I do not fault the players one bit as the owners put themselves in this position I have to say to both sides you best figure this out soon or the masses may start to sound like me.