Dreaming The Dream 4/21/11

NEWS & CURRENT EVENTS

Well…isn’t this a nice image to kick off the holidays? Just in case you were wondering how the Teabaggers and the GOP really think, here is a nice little progressive bit of humor from Orange County GOP official and Teabagger Marilyn Davenport sent via email. And this comes after former GOP Chairman Richard Steele, who is African American, by the way, had the audacity to say on Bill Maher last week that he believed that Teabaggers are not all Republicans, some are just disenfranchised independents. Well I don’t see any of them anywhere else but in the Republican party.

Look, I would love to say that not all Teabaggers are racist, or violent, or brain-dead. But then I see things like this, the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona, and Sarah Palin; and can’t help but to just go with the stereotype.  

SPORTS

I can’t believe I’m about to write this and put it on record, but here it goes…Bud Selig (gasp!)...(long pause)…did the right thing in appointing a MLB representative to oversee the day to day operations of the Los Angeles Dodgers. We are not talking about some third tier, barely breathing small market team that gives away free beer to get fans to a game. This is a storied franchise with a great deal of history, Hall of Fame players and 6 World Series Championships. A team that has done nothing in free agency and has not lived up to its potential at all. The circus surrounding club owner Frank McCourt and his divorce is typical of all court cases in Los Angeles, and I’m glad Bud Selig refused to allow a major league baseball team to be a part of it. And Mets fans rejoice, cause you might be next!

The Carmelo Anthony trade is a long term deal that will produce the desired results in New York if fans and management are willing to be patient, additional pieces are added, and someone tells them how important defense is.

Having said that…Knicks fans, I’m not one of you, but let’s dream together for a while…

Imagine if Blake Griffith had not hurt his knee prior to the 2009-2010 season and had actually played a game in the NBA for the LA Clippers. He would have been the Rookie of the Year by a considerably wide margin, not allowing anyone with a vote to even consider anyone else. Unfortunately for you, that is exactly what happened this year. Had that not been the case, I believe as you do, that Landry Fields would have gotten a lot of consideration. He is the only player on the team to have played in all 82 games, averaging nearly 10 points (which would have been higher without the Carmelo trade) and 7 rebounds a game. Playing in New York certainly doesn’t hurt for exposure, and the Knicks could have very well had their first NBA Rookie of the Year since Mark Jackson (St John’s!) in 1987.

Then let’s pretend that the season was only the first two months, and your rejuvenated team was being led by a rejuvenated superstar in Amar’e Stoudamire. That team brass would have not been pressured by Cold War tactics from Nets ownership to make the Carmelo Anthony trade and gut the team in the process. That Stoudamire would have been allowed to be a focal point on a team that would have been forced to play defense to win instead of having to rely on two scorers to win games. With all due respect to Derrek Rose, you would have had your first league MVP in Stoudamire since Willis Reed in 1969-70.

Ok…now wake up!

THIS WEEK’S REASON WHY TERRORISTS WANNA KILL US

And yes, the Time Magazine 100 Most Influential People issue came out this week, and yes their list is so sad as to provide me with a considerable amount of rant material. But you know what? I’m actually tired of doing that. Like it’s gonna matter anyway? Are some of the wastes of space that are on here going to stop being considered influential just because I think they are wastes of space? No…but it’s what I do.

Mark Zuckerberg of course he has to be on here, Julian Assange, yes. The best player in the worlds most popular sport, Lionel Messi, yes. But I was shocked when Vice President Joe Biden was on the list. I’d be shocked if any Vice President was on that list. Seriously, the only reason this man had been in the news lately was for his imitation of Sleeping Beauty during Barack Obama’s budget speech last week. As I was reading the article it mostly touted his developing good relationship with the President. OK well how does that translate to being influential, without having to stretch? Cory Booker might be a genius according to Oprah Winfrey, who I guess is qualified to make every decision for every lonely housewife in America, but ultimately is still just the mayor of Newark, NJ. Look, don’t get me wrong, there are many heroes on this list who are surely inspirational, but only influential if you know about them. I may loathe Justin Bieber’s music, but even I acknowledge that everything that infant does is copied by every pre-teen in America, but who the fuck is Blake Lively?

Then there is Michele Bachmann. Really? She can only influence the brain-dead, so does not deserve to be on this list, unless of course, her being on this list is a testament to where this country, this world, is going intellectually.