Rivalries get a little nit-picky and that's what's going on between Dallas and San Antonio, albeit somewhat under the radar. A couple years ago, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban casually described the San Antonio Riverwalk as a brown, muddy mess. Of course he said that with a lot more flash than I could achieve, but you get the picture. I will not deny the San Antonio River's varied brown hues, but the actual river itself does not the Riverwalk make.
To me and to those who still live there, the Riverwalk is first and foremost a tourist trap, with scenic views and a few top-notch restuarants lined along the river, but the Riverwalk is much more than that. City leaders back-when had the foresight to build this unusual feat of engineering that would not only serve as a money magnet for businesses, but also as a necessary tool for flood relief. The Riverwalk portion of the SA River is a part of a larger flood control project that encompasses a great deal of central San Antonio beyond just the downtown area. Through a series of pumps, dams and even tunnels dug beneath the city, flood waters are diverted away from downtown San Antonio. During the major flood event of October 1998 (see my previous "top ten weather events" post) , there were stories written afterwards saying that if the current pumps and tunnels were not in place, the business along the Riverwalk would be under 6 to 8 feet of flooded river water.
I hate to say this, but a few folks here in Dallas will mock and put down something that they don't have and need. And I am referring to two specifics things here. First, the city of Dallas needs another downtown attraction to bring tourists dollars to an anemic downtown district and to revamp its levee system. There has been an initiative in the works to upgrade the levees and revitalize the Trinity River. I hope that it passes only if it's intended to serve as a safeguard against major flooding and if it becomes a scenic park that's a stone's throw from downtown.
The second and last thing I want to comment on is how all this got started in the first place. As usual, this came about because someone would rather point out something negative about someone or some city in this regard, than to realize their own shortcomings. You can't blame Mark Cuban or any Mavericks fans in Dallas for feeling the least bit jealous of San Antonio's successes that stem from the San Antonio Spurs recent run of 4 NBA championships. Petty comments only reinforce the shame connected with them. Don't knock what you don't have or need.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
It has a nice *RING* to it!
Houston, for while, was known as "Clutch City" during the Olajuwon era in the mid 1990s. If you want to look at what happened in the 2006 Finals, you can call Dallas, "Choke City", after the Mavericks debacle against the Miami Heat. And you can even group Tony Romo's botched snap in last season's NFL playoffs in there as well. With all this said, I'd like to call San Antonio something new after the Spurs clinched their fourth title in nine seasons:
"RING CITY"
I gotta say it has a nice "ring" to it...
"RING CITY"
I gotta say it has a nice "ring" to it...
Friday, June 15, 2007
All Hail the Champs
Last night the San Antonio Spurs won their 4th NBA title in 9 years in a 4 game sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers. In winning their 4th championship, the Spurs joined the Boston Celtics, the Minneapolis/Los Angles Lakers and the Chicago Bulls as NBA franchises that have won at least 4 championships. I don't know about you, but that's pretty elite company and the word dynasty should now be mentioned when referring to the present day San Antonio Spurs team.
It was another day at the office for San Antonio as the Cavs did not prove to be as formidable a foe as the Spurs' Western Conference opponents. I personally did not think that the series would end in a four game sweep but maybe in five or even six games, so it was a little surprising to see them win like they did. The Spurs totally outmatched the Cavaliers in all aspects of the game. LeBron James, after having a coming out party against the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals, looked human. He never got in a rhythmic groove where the game came to him, as in his 48 point explosion against the Pistons. He hardly took advantage of his size/strength against Bruce Bowen. If Bowen looked like he needed help, a quick double-team came and forced James to look at other options. Otherwise, Bowen played a remarkable defense against the future Michael Jordan type player of the NBA.
I love to watch the Spurs play defense. It's all about teamwork. I usually look away from the ball to see how the defenders move through the picks and screens set up for the offense. If a defender gets picked off on a pick down along the baseline, another teammate will pick him up and will guard him for as along as necessary. From time to time you'll hear about a motion offense where the players move all around the court, well in this instance, you can say that the Spurs have a motion defense. Their defensive rotations are crisp and their one on one defense is superb from the starters down to the bench players. They all have a job to do, and seen by their four championships, they do that job extremely well. Everything they do revolves on their defense.
Speaking of a coming out party, Spurs point guard Tony Parker, otherwise known as the 2007 NBA Finals MVP, has vaulted himself onto the list of elite point guards. He pretty much outplayed every point guard the Spurs encountered: Allen Inverson, Steve Nash, Derron Williams, & Larry Hughes/Daniel Gibson. He might not have outplayed them all numberswise but he outhustled them fairly handily. Hence why the Spurs won.
I will be the first one to say that this Finals series was rather boring. It was anticlimactic. You can even say that it was a foregone conclusion that the Spurs would win the series unless some miraculous event occurred. Prior to game four, I heard people propose something like reseeding all the playoff teams from both conferences in order to get a meaningful Finals matchup. One of the talking heads on ESPN said that the Finals would end up being the Spurs against the Phoenix Suns. Most, if not all would agree with that outcome as that was the most entertaining series in this years' playoffs. Right now, it is not unfair to say that most of the talented teams reside in the Western Conference and might be for while as the top two players in the upcoming draft, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant should be drafted by the Portland Trailblazers and the Seattle Supersonics, respectively.
Who knows if the Spurs can duplicate this year's magic next season, but hopefully the league will finally realize what kind of franchise they have residing in San Antonio. It's a team led by the most consistent, fundamentally sound player this side of Michael Jordan in Tim Duncan, who is considered to be the most unassuming and plain superstar in the league, and by my reckoning, is the only tattooed Spurs player. They have a young and supremely talented point guard in Tony Parker who is now considered one of the top players at his position. Then there's Manu Ginobili. What player in the league is more unselfish than this guy. This all-star caliber player is asked every year to come off the bench in each game, but is entrusted to secure a Spurs win with the ball in his hand at crunch time. There's nowhere like him. Nor is there a team out there like the Spurs who thinks defense first, led by it's defense minister Bruce Bowen. Whether or not the NBA wants to consider such a team a dynasty, but it is hard to miss a group of players that thinks as one and that thinks of only one thing, winning a championship.
It was another day at the office for San Antonio as the Cavs did not prove to be as formidable a foe as the Spurs' Western Conference opponents. I personally did not think that the series would end in a four game sweep but maybe in five or even six games, so it was a little surprising to see them win like they did. The Spurs totally outmatched the Cavaliers in all aspects of the game. LeBron James, after having a coming out party against the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals, looked human. He never got in a rhythmic groove where the game came to him, as in his 48 point explosion against the Pistons. He hardly took advantage of his size/strength against Bruce Bowen. If Bowen looked like he needed help, a quick double-team came and forced James to look at other options. Otherwise, Bowen played a remarkable defense against the future Michael Jordan type player of the NBA.
I love to watch the Spurs play defense. It's all about teamwork. I usually look away from the ball to see how the defenders move through the picks and screens set up for the offense. If a defender gets picked off on a pick down along the baseline, another teammate will pick him up and will guard him for as along as necessary. From time to time you'll hear about a motion offense where the players move all around the court, well in this instance, you can say that the Spurs have a motion defense. Their defensive rotations are crisp and their one on one defense is superb from the starters down to the bench players. They all have a job to do, and seen by their four championships, they do that job extremely well. Everything they do revolves on their defense.
Speaking of a coming out party, Spurs point guard Tony Parker, otherwise known as the 2007 NBA Finals MVP, has vaulted himself onto the list of elite point guards. He pretty much outplayed every point guard the Spurs encountered: Allen Inverson, Steve Nash, Derron Williams, & Larry Hughes/Daniel Gibson. He might not have outplayed them all numberswise but he outhustled them fairly handily. Hence why the Spurs won.
I will be the first one to say that this Finals series was rather boring. It was anticlimactic. You can even say that it was a foregone conclusion that the Spurs would win the series unless some miraculous event occurred. Prior to game four, I heard people propose something like reseeding all the playoff teams from both conferences in order to get a meaningful Finals matchup. One of the talking heads on ESPN said that the Finals would end up being the Spurs against the Phoenix Suns. Most, if not all would agree with that outcome as that was the most entertaining series in this years' playoffs. Right now, it is not unfair to say that most of the talented teams reside in the Western Conference and might be for while as the top two players in the upcoming draft, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant should be drafted by the Portland Trailblazers and the Seattle Supersonics, respectively.
Who knows if the Spurs can duplicate this year's magic next season, but hopefully the league will finally realize what kind of franchise they have residing in San Antonio. It's a team led by the most consistent, fundamentally sound player this side of Michael Jordan in Tim Duncan, who is considered to be the most unassuming and plain superstar in the league, and by my reckoning, is the only tattooed Spurs player. They have a young and supremely talented point guard in Tony Parker who is now considered one of the top players at his position. Then there's Manu Ginobili. What player in the league is more unselfish than this guy. This all-star caliber player is asked every year to come off the bench in each game, but is entrusted to secure a Spurs win with the ball in his hand at crunch time. There's nowhere like him. Nor is there a team out there like the Spurs who thinks defense first, led by it's defense minister Bruce Bowen. Whether or not the NBA wants to consider such a team a dynasty, but it is hard to miss a group of players that thinks as one and that thinks of only one thing, winning a championship.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Motivating Medium
I've been on a consistent health kick for about a year and half now, but the last five months or so, I've been working out a lot harder and it shows. My clothes are fitting better: loose around the middle and because of my upper body regimen, I'm filling out my shirts a little differently, too. On top of looking better and getting compliments on how thinner I look, my emotional well being has also improved. Of course, the occasional ego boost from the opposite sex doesn't hurt either.
What has kept focused while I workout is listening to music. Most if not, all of the music I listen to while I workout is usually some form of techno/trance music. The omnipresent pulsing beats serve as a natural metronome when I'm on the elliptical or treadmill: I try to keep my gait faster than the bass drum beats that keep the music pumping, which in turn make my workouts that much more efficient.
Try it and you'll see what I mean!
What has kept focused while I workout is listening to music. Most if not, all of the music I listen to while I workout is usually some form of techno/trance music. The omnipresent pulsing beats serve as a natural metronome when I'm on the elliptical or treadmill: I try to keep my gait faster than the bass drum beats that keep the music pumping, which in turn make my workouts that much more efficient.
Try it and you'll see what I mean!
Monday, June 04, 2007
The Act You've Known for All These Years
Forty years ago, last Friday, June 1st, The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is the quintessential concept album, music-wise and, of course, album cover-wise. While the rest of the pop music world tried to play catch-up, the Fab-Four cranked out sounds that were, you know, unheard of at that time.
I had always considered Sgt. Pepper's as my all-time favorite Beatles album, but as my musical tastes have matured over the years, I've leaned towards Revolver as the better album. BUT- my favorite song is from still from Sgt. Pepper's, A Day in the Life. Now if Strawberry Fields Forever was on Sgt. Pepper's to begin with, there would be no question what the best Beatles album would be. You know, it's always surprised me that SFF was not added to Sgt. Pepper's because it was recorded at the same recording sessions, and it even sounds like it belongs to Sgt. Pepper's!
Nevertheless, The Beatles were always ahead of their time. They were only together for several years, yet their musical legacy is still felt today and will be for decades to come.
I had always considered Sgt. Pepper's as my all-time favorite Beatles album, but as my musical tastes have matured over the years, I've leaned towards Revolver as the better album. BUT- my favorite song is from still from Sgt. Pepper's, A Day in the Life. Now if Strawberry Fields Forever was on Sgt. Pepper's to begin with, there would be no question what the best Beatles album would be. You know, it's always surprised me that SFF was not added to Sgt. Pepper's because it was recorded at the same recording sessions, and it even sounds like it belongs to Sgt. Pepper's!
Nevertheless, The Beatles were always ahead of their time. They were only together for several years, yet their musical legacy is still felt today and will be for decades to come.
Field of Frustrations
I've been a Texas Rangers fan for as long as I can remember and I can never remember ever feeling so frustrated with the team's performance so early into a season. Yeah, I'm used to the team begin their usual "summer wither" 'round about August, but this is ridiculous. And yes, there have been injuries to key personnel (Blaylock and Millwood), but two people being out does not an abyss create.
I cheer them on as often as one would a winning, contending team, but it has gotten a little difficult to sit through a week's worth of losses from home. Of course nothing beats being at a game in person, but lately it's been easier to click over to something else on cable. I've always joked that if I ever left the Dallas area that I would order a high-end satellite cable package just so that I could get Rangers games. That's pretty gung-ho, but the way things are going right now, I might as well save my money and nix that idea.
As noted above, I consider myself a die-hard Rangers fan, however, with the personnel decisions the team has made these last couple of years, it's hard to keep up with the ever changing roster moves and lackluster play. They have traded away productive fan favorites, Kevin Mench and Francisco "Coco" Cordero for a player they got nothing for in the Milwaukee trade last year, Carlos Lee. They traded an up and coming home grown starting pitcher in Chris Young for a decent bullpen guy in Akinori Otsuka. They gave up on John Danks for another semi-mediocre starting pitcher in Brandon McCarthy. The list goes on and on. There's even a chance the team may not re-sign Mark Teixeira to a long term deal. Well, that's not a big issue because they have someone in their farm system who could fill his spot if that were to occur. Wait a minute... nevermind! They gave away the possible heir apparent, Adrian González, in that Otsuka trade with the San Diego Padres!!!
Do you see what I mean? I haven't figured out if any of the blame rests on manager Ron Washington. It could be that he's been given a roster full of losers (sorry guys!!!) or he's too much of a nice guy to motivate his team to win. Whatever the case may be, Jon Daniels better have something up his sleeve to remedy this problem because all he's done up to this point is trade away popular players and young talent for quick fixes in otherwise losing situations. Talk about sailing up you-know-what creek without a paddle.
I cheer them on as often as one would a winning, contending team, but it has gotten a little difficult to sit through a week's worth of losses from home. Of course nothing beats being at a game in person, but lately it's been easier to click over to something else on cable. I've always joked that if I ever left the Dallas area that I would order a high-end satellite cable package just so that I could get Rangers games. That's pretty gung-ho, but the way things are going right now, I might as well save my money and nix that idea.
As noted above, I consider myself a die-hard Rangers fan, however, with the personnel decisions the team has made these last couple of years, it's hard to keep up with the ever changing roster moves and lackluster play. They have traded away productive fan favorites, Kevin Mench and Francisco "Coco" Cordero for a player they got nothing for in the Milwaukee trade last year, Carlos Lee. They traded an up and coming home grown starting pitcher in Chris Young for a decent bullpen guy in Akinori Otsuka. They gave up on John Danks for another semi-mediocre starting pitcher in Brandon McCarthy. The list goes on and on. There's even a chance the team may not re-sign Mark Teixeira to a long term deal. Well, that's not a big issue because they have someone in their farm system who could fill his spot if that were to occur. Wait a minute... nevermind! They gave away the possible heir apparent, Adrian González, in that Otsuka trade with the San Diego Padres!!!
Do you see what I mean? I haven't figured out if any of the blame rests on manager Ron Washington. It could be that he's been given a roster full of losers (sorry guys!!!) or he's too much of a nice guy to motivate his team to win. Whatever the case may be, Jon Daniels better have something up his sleeve to remedy this problem because all he's done up to this point is trade away popular players and young talent for quick fixes in otherwise losing situations. Talk about sailing up you-know-what creek without a paddle.
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