WHAT?!

In case you haven't heard, former Mavs/Apple Orthodontics superstar Marquis Daniels and two other Pacers teammates are under investigation in connection with a fight that happened at a nightclub. The nightclub manager ended up with a broken jaw and severed earlobe. Read the whole article here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2757273

I have no idea if Daniels or his teammates were actually involved in the incident. But that's not really what I'm concerned about. The players were at the 8Seconds Saloon to celebrate the Colts Super Bowl win. Fine. Now go google 8Seconds Saloon.

Leon Russell...Feb. 9th
Leon Russell is coming to 8Seconds Saloon on Friday February 9th , 2007. Doors Open at 7pm. The MECHANICAL BULL will be present during the concert.

Why would anyone want to hang out at what appears to be a relatively low-end shitkicker bar? And I live in Texas so I can totally say that. Nothing against Leon Russell (seriously) or mechanical bulls but is there not some slightly classier joint in Indianapolis? Wait, so you're telling me that at a nightclub whose upcoming events calendar features "March 2nd - 911 Slugfest" there was a brawl? Get out! Apparently this club is half UFC cage match and half bar. How do you pitch that to the insurance company? There may be a joke somewhere in this whole thing: Three Indiana Pacers walk into a Fight Club Nightclub....

Now I get why Austin Croshere always looks sad.

The Photo-tastic Blog Entry!

Avery says that when the Mavs blow big leads it's because they start playing like the Harlem Globetrotters and forget about defense. I saw the Harlem Globetrotters at camp when I was 8 but later that day I also saw the people who bend iron bars between their teeth and tear phone books in half. So by the end of the day, I had a picture of myself posing with a very tall man who could dribble three basketballs at once AND a piece of a hot water bottle that a man had blown up by mouth until it exploded. But I digress...

Non-game related rant #2: If the MVP race is really down to Steve Nash v. Dirk Nowitzki, I would like to direct the jury's attention to Exhibit A ("Short Hair"):



Steve "Make-a-Wish" Nash

VS.



Dirk "Unfortunate Pose" Nowitzki

Verdict: Dirk for MVP

Tonight's game (in a "We Didn't Start the Fire" kind of way):

Dampier hurt, just sore knee
Mbenga hurt, right knee mystery
Dirk goes over thirty
Pau Gasol in misery
Miller needs a Hair-dini
At halftime I went to buy a Slurpee
By the time I got back home the Mavs lead had gone from 20 to 7

I will be blogging about Friday's game from my Blackberry since my little worker bees The Theater Fire will be playing at Granada with Baptist Generals. So if either of the following sound like your idea of a good time:
a) a good night out watching some killer bands OR
b) having a beer with someone who is furiously typing on a Blackberry keyboard while also yelling at inanimate objects like televisions sets

BE HERE:

Ok, that was close. Again. God, I like exciting games so I guess I'm gonna have to come up with a more creative sentence.

First off, way to go Diop. I guess being threatened with an extended vacation in Fort Worth has done him some good. Maybe JJ Barea brought back stories of sleep deprivation and water boarding? Whatever happened, a big "Welcome Back!" to both Diop's game and JJ "The Pride of Puerto Rico" Barea. I don't know if that's actually his nickname but I hope that if it isn't, somehow it will catch on.

So ummm, yeah Kevin Garnett is good. Ricky Davis was kind of starting to scare me in the first half with his 17 effortless points. But then he forgot how to play or got a popcorn kernel stuck in his throat or something really distracting. The end of the fourth must have dislodged whatever was stuck in his throat because he briefly came back to life. It was almost enough and had Josh Howard not randomly lobbed the ball down the court (apparently Josh's internal game clock was about 7 seconds ahead of the actual game clock) Minnesota would not have been able to get off one final deperation shot from WAY behind the arc that actually went in. Maybe he was just excited about his baby. Or mad. You may have heard he got snubbed in some contest.

Which brings me to the topic I really am too amused by to actually want to tackle right now. The All-Star thingy. Whatevs. I am not as twisted about it as other people seem to be. But that's probably because of a much wider view that I have of the whole All-Star/MVP scenario to begin with. I have volumes to say about the whole thing but that's for another gameless day.