When my homeland security secretary Hon T-Sparkles vented that the winner of the Pepsi challenge was bound to disappoint, I couldn't help but shake my head.
I'd wager few are unmeasured in their expectations of what the Big O can deliver. See, only the young, the naive and Youtubers don't realise that Obama is inheriting the worst franchise since, well, the New York Knicks. And when that's the case, you aren't thinking championship. Not this year anyway.
Now I might not be an American, but as a Knicks fan, I know all too well what it is like to be ruled by Bush-like incompetence. Isiah Thomas almost singlehandedly destroyed basketball for me. He ran wild on that team like a whiteboy at Gas Panic.
You want to talk about Iraq and New Orleans? I'll give you the following: Marbury. Francis. Curry. Jerome James. Larry Brown. Draft picks gone. Cap inflexibility.
Truly there were weapons of mass destruction, and they were us.
But after years of incompetence, change came to the Garden. Donnie Walsh and Mike D arrived in town and turned that sinking superfreighter around. Traded Z, benched Curry and sent Cancerbury to the NBDL (or something). They cleared cap space (18 mil in 2010-11) and let the boys get back to playing basketball. Meanwhile, Thomas was demonstrating that his ability to mismanage even extended to overdosing on pills. Hell, I couldn't be happier.
And the Knicks are 17-24.
Because the way I see it, it isn't about today or tomorrow. If Obama is going to turn this thing around, it's going to take a great deal longer than 100 days. I think he knows it. I think we know it. So much was evident in his inauguration speech.
It isn't time for grandiose speeches. Instead, it's time for a couple of seasons where you make hard choices and you don't make the playoffs. It's about rallying supporters, cutting the dead wood, clearing cap space and positioning yourself for a distant summer.
In that context, hope is not misplaced. And that's what I feel is happening here, whether Pepsicola is involved or not.
Spark said that if you deify a man, you're eventually going to be let down.
False.
| Season | Team | G | GS | MPG | FG% | 3p% | FT% | OFF | DEF | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PF | PPG |
| 08-09 | CLE | 39 | 39 | 37.2 | 0.497 | 0.287 | 0.777 | 1.3 | 5.9 | 7.2 | 6.6 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 3.13 | 2.00 | 27.6 |
Maybe Obama sells fewer T-shirts than Che, but it wont matter.
Come 2010, I'll be wearing a Lebron jersey.
I absolutely agree. We didn't get into this mess in a year, and we won't get out in a year. But it's nice to feel we're headed in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteMy post was written semi-Devil's advocate and full-retard, but I do believe the Obama jocking has reached insane proportions. Intelligent people can see that it takes baby steps (word to Bill Murray), but the masses want results. And when results aren't provided...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, comparing Obama to Lebron is silly, mostly because Lebron won't save the Knicks (because he's not going to New York), but also because LBJ is a proven stud.
Obama? Greg Oden.
And while I expect a player like Oden will flourish eventually, who's to say that he will?
Mostly, though, I'm adamantly opposed to thinking of politicians as cool. I understand the historic iconography behind America having its first black president, but I also realize that people have shotgun weddings which they horribly regret later on.
Let's stop being so impatient as a species. Let's slow our roll, here. I fully understand the excitement (I was excited myself), but a knee-jerk reaction or a premature ejaculation, while perhaps satisfying, can come back to haunt.
Remember when Harold Miner was the next MJ?
(Death by analogy)
I wasn't suggesting that Lebron = Obama. I meant that Lebron is the sort of hope and promise of a better day that Obama is working towards.
ReplyDeleteObviously that takes place in the reality of today; an America that is in a very real way fourth place in the Atlantic division (17-24).
Fact is, I agree with a lot of what you're saying. The media has indeed been evangelical about Barack. And a lot of people are probably setting themselves up for disappointment, at least if they want immediate rewards.
Nevertheless, my point was that it finally seems like someone has stepped up with the right ideas in mind, both long and short term (see Walsh, D'Antoni). That is, as you suggested, achieved through baby steps.
And I saw that shift happen in Obama between candidate and elect. He became grounded about the task ahead. I think the inauguration speech captured that.
And so the way ahead is long and slow, but at the very least the country seems like it is on the right track. And so what if the kids are a little excited? After 8 years under Bush, I think they're entitled to have a little hope.
After all, that's what Harold Minor was. A hope unfilled, but a hope nonetheless.