Are my eyes really blue?

I don’t currently own a laptop of any kind. All my mobility computing is in my iPhone and in my work laptop. For some reason I found myself thinking back over the various portable machines I’ve had (including during that stretch where I was entitled to any Apple laptop I wanted for work/home use…and other times when work just sort of provided). In roughly reverse chronological order…

Dell netbook (Mini 1012)

2nd-gen black MacBook

1st-gen black MacBook

pre-production original MacBook Pro 15″

12″ Powerbook G4

12″ iBook G4

15″ Titanium PowerBook G4

original gray iBook G3 SE

original bronze PowerBook G3

14″ 233Mhz “Main Street” PowerBook G3 (first laptop, bought in 1999)

The common theme here seems to be “consumer-grade low-cost and small”. Note that the move to a larger system has always been occasioned by a more powerful processor, and has always been succeeded by a smaller device with the same processor. (Aside from the netbook experiment, which was a special circumstance solely occasioned by the availability of Dell credit and birthday money.) On paper, at least, anything less than a 2.66 Ghz Core 2 Duo or 4 GB of RAM is a non-starter at this point.

I bring this up because this time next week we’ll know what’s doing with the iPad 2. Which I have to think will include some sort of iOS update, whether to a notional iOS 5 or just a bump in 4. The combination of iPhone and Kindle has pretty much done for my previous bouts of iPad glee, but I’m still tempted – maybe because of the constant allure of Alan Kay’s notional Dynabook in the back of my head, maybe because I think I might actually do more blogging and writing and try to make something of it besides sharing the misery of Vanderbilt sports.

But I’m definitely saving my birthday money for a bit.

I hate everything. That was absolutely the worst performance this team has given all year – at least sixteen turnovers that I counted and a complete collapse down the stretch in the last ten minutes. I don’t see a sure thing the rest of the way, not even at LSU, and this team will get romped hard in the postseason. At least now we know what happens when Jeffery Taylor and John Jenkins don’t show up.

This team needs some frontcourt presence and fast. Somebody has to develop a killer instinct and take it to the rack, and I don’t know who that’s going to be at this point. I said this could be a really special team if they could ever get it all together at once. Instead, it looks more and more like we’ll never know.

(cross-posted from Anchor of Gold)

Before this game, I pronounced that either we’d see double-digit minutes from Joe “Fluffy” Duffy or we’d be on the wrong end of an embarrassment for the ages. At halftime, it was hard not to get the impression that the team thought this one was going to be a milk run. Fortunately, the light came on in time, and a 14-0 burst helped the ‘Dores put Auburn away, 77-60. John Jenkins delivered another answer-the-bell performance after an almost scoreless first half with 22 points (including five 3s) and Jeffery Taylor added 20 points and 10 boards to go with Brad Tinsley’s 16.
The highlight of the game for me had to be the long-anticipated return of Andre Walker, though. After missing 17 of the last 18 games with a run of illness and injury that would make a nun kick a kitten through a stained-glass window, Andre’s modest 6 points in 11 minutes belied a court presence that we’ve long missed. If he comes all the way back Tuesday night, it could be a really good night in Memorial.
Let’s not mince words: Auburn is an awful, awful team, and this game should never have been close. If this is the biggest mental letdown the rest of the way, we’ll be in good shape, although this should serve as a wakeup call for the LSU game next week. But any win you can walk away from is a quality win…and now it’s all about the Big Orange, losers of 4 of their last 5 since Pearl returned, coming to town on Tuesday. Let’s not make that one any closer, how ’bout it?

I first discovered NBA JAM in early 1993, when my interest in professional basketball was at its peak. It was the rookie season for Shaquille O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner, Horry and Sprewell from Alabama (both in the first two dozen picks!), and Oliver Miler, the Razorback who joined a team with Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, and…Charles Barkley, in his first year with the Suns. Who promptly became my team of record, after a sporadic flirtation with the Pistons and Trailblazers. And there was the machine, in the arcade at Brookwood Village, with its computer voice bellowing out one bombastic cliche after another. Naturally, I had to seize on it, after years of video-game football.

And I never played anything but the Suns, obviously. Between Barkley and Majerle, I had a well-rounded operation and could sink threes or break backboards with equal aplomb. Sure, it was a quarter per quarter, but hell, it was worth a dollar a throw to watch that ball catch fire and trail smoke on a 40-foot shot. Naturally, I grabbed it as soon as it was out for the Sega Genesis and worked it into the rotation with Bill Walsh College Football (even though the Sega version swapped Barkley for KJ). And I got plenty of action out of that, until my NBA interest started to wane with my grad school career….which was ironic, given that I finally moved to a place that had a team.

I never got back into the NBA again until the Warriors made their unlikely run in the “We Believe” year, and I tried to get stuck in – but once Baron Davis left, and the team sank back into the swamp, my attention drifted again. Every year, I kept saying “maybe this is the year I get back into it” but couldn’t decide between the Warriors or Kings (or even Wizards) and never really found a hook. And honestly, I was more inclined to think I should just wait and see where the Vanderbilt guys end up…and then, by some random happenstance, the wife got third-row seats at the Warriors earlier this winter, and we went, and they won, and they got on a bit of a streak…

And then, NBA JAM for the iPhone happened.

And as it happens, Stephen Curry and David Lee, at least in Rookie mode, are good for (checks phone) 19 consecutive wins (including 16-0 in campaign mode). Curry can shoot the lights out, Lee helps take care of stuff inside, and it’s worked out pretty well so far. And I’m not just saying that because I think Curry is the easiest way of playing John Jenkins until he actually gets drafted.

This may be the thing that gets me back into the league. Names of players, knowing who the stars are, taking an interest, keeping up with things…who knows, maybe if I have another sport to spread my interest around I won’t wind up as a mental case. Hell, it might be nice to find out what it’s like to casually follow a team for shits and giggles instead of trying to get my soul saved.

And besides, I think the wife will tolerate blue and gold. ;]

…Alabama fans being tarred as psychotic rednecks, or Auburn fans getting justification for their persecuted-martyr complex.

Either way, it proves that I was right to bump my Crimson Tide affiliation to fourth among supported teams and to go all-in on Vanderbilt. Commodore Nation may be many things, but fortunately “world’s largest open-air special needs kindergarten” is not among them. Which is not something you can say about the football powers in the Heart of Dixie.

VANDERBILT 64

GEORGIA 56

FINAL

Down 14 at one point. John Jenkins scoreless at the half. He finishes with 21.

I BELIEVE.

According to a recent survey, only 28% of likely Republican primary voters think Barack Obama was born in the United States.

Let me put this another way: almost three-quarters of the people who will pick the next GOP question the citizenship of the President of the United States.

We’ve now got a whole political party in the hands of people with the intellectual capacity of AL.com commenters. Seriously, I’m sorry, GOP-leaning friends, but you’ve got fucking retards steering the ship.

(cross-posted from Anchor of Gold)
I mean, what else can you say about this game? John Jenkins with a career day and a new nickname: “The Flamethrower.” There were points in the game where I honestly expected the ball to come off his hands on fire a la NBA JAM back in the day. If there was any doubt about who is the superstar of this team – hell, of this league – there should be none now. This was John’s game of distinction.
The rest of the game went well too. Brad Tinsley has overcome his earlier bad outings to become clutch at the free throw line, Festus Ezeli is still a force, and Steve Tchiengang had a spectacular day that shows what he’s capable of when he’s back at 100%. The 2-3 zone continues to be a confounding force on defense, and the new power package with Fes and Steve on the court together looks like another wrinkle to confound our opponents. Add that to the fact that Kyle Fuller seems to have figured it out…don’t look now, but this is a really, REALLY good team.
About the only down point was Jeffery Taylor’s 4 points – it’s tough never quite knowing which 44 will show up, but this team has reached a point where it’s no longer dependent on any one person having to go large in order to win. Which is the kind of thing that will be helpful…later. (I’m not about to jinx anything.)
For those who were there: great, great, great work. The Blue Mist always seems to seep in, but it’s nothing compared to the Black Rain. =)

#18 KENTUCKY 77
#23 VANDERBILT 81
FINAL
JOHN. JENKINS.

(cross-posted from Anchor of Gold)

We can’t help it. It’s in our nature. We know that something will go wrong – Green will get away with a walk, Bennett will catch an inexplicable celebration flag, Murray State will hit a ridiculous jumper that we have to see every March for the rest of time. So in the interest of inoculating us against the worst possible calamity, I decided to take a look at our worst-case scenario for next year, in which we lose more or less everyone that could reasonably go short of injury. It’s not pretty, at first glance, but upon review it may not be as bad as it looks.

First up, Andre Walker. This is a young man who is on track to graduate in May – and who lost a parent during his college years. The person who recovers from that sort of tragedy often isn’t the same person to whom it happened. Couple that with all the injury and illness problems he’s suffered this season, and it wouldn’t be surprising for Andre to decide to take his diploma and move on with his life. Under the circumstances, I couldn’t fault him at all, and if he chooses to go, well, God bless him and thanks for a great career as a Commodore.

Next up, the Big Three, the consensus NBA prospects. Right now, I’d say the most likely to go is actually Festus Ezili – you can’t coach 6-foot-11, and what you can coach, he has shown the ability to learn, and fast. Consider what it was like watching him go to the free throw line a year ago, versus down the stretch Saturday against South Carolina. Now I realize that the NBA is no longer in the draft-a-big-body-and-hope-for-the-best mode of years past, but even so, Skynet has so much potential upside that someone will take a flyer on him if he chooses to come out.

As for John Jenkins and Jeffrey Taylor, I suspect they could both use another year’s seasoning – Jenkins to work on his defense and continue improving inside, and Taylor just to get straightened out and find his killer instinct again. But it’s not inconceivable they could turn pro and take a chance on the draft – they’re certainly no worse prospects than AJ Ogilvy was at this time last year. I don’t think they would go, but remember, this is the worst case scenario, so off they go and please let the Warriors get at least one of them.

As for the guys who aren’t part of the current rotation: Meriweather and Duffy are done, although I expect to be reading Fluffy’s column at ESPN.com in a year or two. Darshawn McClellan has a year left after his surprise redshirt, but he too is on track to graduate and rumblings are that he will use the NCAA transfer rule to attend grad school elsewhere and play his final year. So all told, we could see seven guys take a hike come April – again, this is the worst case scenario.

So what does this mean for next year?

For one thing, it seriously depletes the bodycount in the frontcourt – that’s our entire opening-day starting front three, representing an average total of 31 points, 18 rebounds, 3 blocks and 76 man-minutes per game. And JJ23 has averaged 19 points in 34 minutes per game – so that’s 50 points a game, gone. (46 without Andre Walker, just to acknowledge that he hasn’t been around that much. No point in lying – the worst-case scenario is devastating for next year.

But.

We do have three new talents coming on board. Dai-Jon Parker isn’t quite on the level of John Jenkins coming out of school, but he already has a name and a reputation. His only weakness is the ability to move over to point guard – and with the arrival of Kedren Johnson, that might not be an issue. Johnson has size for a PG (6-4) and is a known good defender, as is Parker. And to them, add Shelby Moats, a 6-7 forward with good passing skills and a cerebral approach on the court (sound familiar?) We also get to activate current redshirts Josh Henderson (6-11) and James Siakam (6-6), who presumably have as much practice time as Rod Odom and Kyle Fuller – and after Saturday, it’s starting to look like Rod Odom is clicking.

Right now, though, the worst case scenario for 2011-12 looks a lot like 2008-09: size, youth, and a lot of reloading for the next year or two to come. Five first-year players might make things a little too exciting, and not in a good way, but 2013 and 2014 have the potential to look a lot like the last couple of seasons as a whole bunch of guys get to spend a lot of years together gelling as a team. And let’s not forget we (presumably) still have Steve, Lance and Brad to be the senior leadership on next year’s squad.

The practical upshot of all this is: we have reloaded with this year’s class, enough that the train will continue to run. I don’t think I really appreciated Kevin Stallings as a recruiter until I went through this little exercise, but make no mistake, we have the talent to keep this run going for some time. Yes, the future is still now – but it’ll be there next year and the year after, too.