Cavs beat Mavs 103-97, claim first and only preseason win
October 19, 2015Johnny Manziel: A man, his mess, and the aftermath
October 20, 2015
Happy Tuesday, WFNY!
I’m happy. Are you happy? We are exactly one week away from the first pitch of kickoff to the opening tip of the 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers season!! One week from tonight, the Cavaliers will be in Chicago to start the season off against the Bulls on TNT. One week until basketball is fully back in our lives. I really couldn’t be more excited, but it sure feels like the season just ended a couple weeks ago. I guess in four years I had completely forgotten how short the offseason is when your team makes a deep playoff run.
While we know the Cavaliers will play their first game next Tuesday, we don’t exactly know what the roster will look like to start the season. The Cavaliers are definitely a little more banged up than you would like them to be at the start of a season. It’s not exactly comforting when LeBron James is getting back injections before the season has even started. We don’t know yet when Kyrie Irving will be back. Kevin Love should be ready to go, but he’s unlikely to be in full game shape. Iman Shumpert will be out for another couple of months. And oh yeah, there’s still absolutely no news whatsoever on the Tristan Thompson front.
The parallels between this year and the season in which Anderson Varejao held out are starting to become uncanny. That season Varejao held out until December, LeBron was banged up to start the season, and the Cavaliers, who were coming off an NBA Finals appearance the year before, stumbled out of the gate. In fact, they woke up Christmas morning of that season with a 12-16 record. All of which eventually led the Cavaliers to making the trades for Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, Joe Smith, and Delonte West.
Could the Cavaliers find themselves in a similar scenario this year? It’s possible. The Cavaliers’ bench in that 2007-08 season, though, was basically Eric Snow, Ira Newble, and Damon Jones. If you want to know why the Cavaliers couldn’t overcome injuries and the holdout, that’s a big reason why. The Cavaliers have to believe their bench this year is stronger and will be capable of helping this team get through the first few months of the season shorthanded.
But shorthanded or not, I’m ready to get this thing started!
*****
Best wishes to Lamar Odom
When I first heard the report on Odom’s hospitalization last week, I was obviously concerned, but I didn’t pay it much attention. But then I saw JR Smith’s Instagram post with a message that said “RIP LO”, followed by a eulogy. I was stunned. I thought Lamar Odom was dead.
Thankfully, JR’s post was premature and Odom now looks to be doing much, much, much better and there is real optimism that he will make some sort of recovery and will make it.
I’ve always been a big fan of Odom’s. We are roughly the same age, and I remember being in high school and hearing about this huge high school basketball phenom around the same time. He was supposed to be the heir apparent to Michael Jordan. And while his career never really played out that way, he was an influential player on a lot of really good NBA teams and someone who was always beloved by fans and teammates alike.
I’ll admit, I watched Khloe & Lamar. I loved it. I thought it was great. Not for the Kardashian side, but as some kind of a glimpse into the bizarre reality of life as a professional athlete. I’ve never watched the Kardashian’s reality show, nor do I particularly find any aspect of their existence to be particularly interesting. I watched Khloe & Lamar because I wanted to see more about Lamar Odom’s life.
But in watching the show, like most who watched it, I enjoyed seeing the relationship between Khloe and Lamar. I generally tend to watch reality shows with a giant grain of salt, but there seemed to be something genuine about the love between the two. Maybe there was, maybe there wasn’t, I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that many have cited that show as the beginning of Lamar Odom’s spiral of destruction to where he ended up in that Las Vegas hospital bed.
And in following the “news” reports of Odom’s condition over the past week, it’s really been driven home to me what a bizarre circus Lamar Odom found himself tangled in within the twisted world of American celebrity culture. There were so many “leaks” of information on Lamar’s condition from “sources” close to the Kardashian family. The fact that the Kardashian family has media “sources” tells you all you need to know, really.
For the Kardashians, Lamar’s close encounter with tragedy is unfortunately yet another tool of TV viewing gold. What will the ratings be for the inevitable Kardashians episode in which Lamar’s hospitalization occurs? And if you think they won’t use this to drive up interest in their show, you’re kidding yourself. I dare them to prove me wrong.
Reports say Khloe has been by Lamar’s side this whole time and that she is refusing to use this as part of any filming or TV related products. I hope that’s the case. But I also can’t help but wonder how healthy it is for Lamar to have her there. But oops, there I go again pretending like I know them and pretending like I’m qualified to have an opinion or that any of this is my business whatsoever.
That’s the evil magic of reality TV. I watched them put their lives on display and invite us all into our lives. And it’s just oh so easy to delude ourselves into thinking this is real life. The celebrity machine is capable of chewing up so many people and spitting them out without giving two [expletive deleted]s. And just like rooting for our sports teams and our favorite athletes and having opinions about the things they do off the field, so too do members of the pop culture zeitgeist watch these shows and find themselves opinionated on things that there’s zero reason to actually have an opinion on.
It sucks that Lamar Odom got caught up in all of this to whatever degree he did. But it’s also true that he had more demons in his life than most of us combined, and those demons existed before he ever met Khloe Kardashian. The only thing I know for sure is that Lamar Odom is a beloved sports figure and I’m ecstatic to see the news that he’s doing better and they are hopeful he will be ok. Here’s to wishing the best for Lamar.
*****
New music of the week
More like old music of the week. Once again, there really isn’t anything coming out this week that I’m super stoked about. So yet again I’m going to talk about something older. This one is older than most stuff we talk about here.
Every year I seem to find a few things that came out the previous year that completely escaped my attention. One such thing was the debut full length from A Pregnant Light, “My Game Doesn’t Have a Name”. I had never heard of A Pregnant Light prior to this year, but I’ve since gone back and listed to as much of his old stuff as a I could find.
Originally born out of the black metal scene, A Pregnant Light has taken many shapes and sounds through the years. There are elements of thrash, hardcore, punk, etc laced throughout his musical progression, and in the last two years, the music has taken on a decidedly more listener-friendly approach that I really dig.
Having released most of his music as 7 inch singles and split EPs, last year’s full length qualifies as his debut album, and it’s a really, really great listen for fans of metal, hardcore, and punk. He recently released a new single “No Longer N 2 U” and to bring this full circle back to new music, you can check out the video for it below.
Check out more of his music at his own Colloquial Sound Recordings shop.
*****
That’s it from me for today. Have a great day here on WFNY and I’ll check back in next week for the start of Cavs season!
50 Comments
Stay healthy. Build chemistry. Make the playoffs.
Then and only then, step on the gas.
the best was when the Kardashian clan got mad at the media for being intrusive. They asked for their privacy to be resepcted. HAHAH!! Suck it, OJ Defenders!! Who cares?
I really liked Kris Jenner “frantically pacing” outside the hospital……right where she knew the cameras could get good shots of her. It’s just disgusting.
For the Kartrashians, this isn’t ratings gold…this is ratings platinum.
Nothing is too low for that bunch of preening harpies and their wretched TV show.
Also: stay healthy
I’m wondering why all the outpouring of sympathy for LO? I mean, don’t get me wrong, on a humanity level, I feel awful for him. From all accounts, heard he’s a good dude, and he’s had an incredibly tough upbringing. But of course that was followed by hitting the lotto of the NBA.
But I don’t understand why someone with a drug problem and parties his way at a whorehouse into a comatose stage gets instant hands-off sympathy as opposed to the head shake, “what an idiot” or “what a waste” take?
Johnny’s got a problem…maybe his best PR move now is to party himself within inches of his life.
No wonder those lame proposed rules were never accepted by Fight Club!
Reality tv is trash, period. The last show of that genre I willingly subjected myself to was Real World: Hawaii, otherwise known as the year the Real World stopped being even remotely real. From Hard Knocks to anything involving a Kardashian, you can’t pay me to watch “reality” programming.
From the accounts I have read, it is due to his actions towards others over time. He has banked credibility with many.
it’s silly, right? Lamar has been a trainwreck for years, yet he gains sympathy.
but remember: only stay healthy if you can stay healthy.
I miss Delonte West.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVA00Fngvmg
I feel badly for the guy, but the ball washing, candlelight vigil treatment is a bit much. Like mgbode suggested, dude built up a lot of capital around the league with his kindness–somehow that, plus the Kardashian dramatization, has shaped the narrative across the media including blogs. Very odd.
Agreed. Don’t go sacrificing health just for the sake of health.
Edit: Get Healthy
He has banked credibilty with many, but perhaps not the most important one.
Amen I hate all things Kardashian, period.
You mentioned the water shed moment that started all of the dark days we’ve had to live under the days I call the Kardashian Days! The OJ Simpson trial. That’s when we first became aware of the Kardashians and since they just won’t go away. In fact they keep spawning.
What, no Star Wars? C’mon Schnitkey! In case you missed the trailer unveiled last night during MNF here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGbxmsDFVnE&feature=youtu.be
In fact, there is a decent case to be made that the coverage of the OJ Simpson trial in general is what helped spawn the ridiculousness of reality television to the world.
He gets my sympathy only because he thinks that Wookie he’s still married to is anything but a soul sucker! I kept hoping when he woke up and spoke a few words those words were, “Please tell me Khloe signed the divorce papers!”
True dat and I am guilty because I was drawn to it like a moth to the flame.
You can think someone is an idiot while also feeling sorry for them.
I am cautiously optimistic about the upcoming Cavaliers season solely based on health. We ended last season totally decimated from injuries and we are picking up right where we left off. On top of that the one guy who has actually been able to stay healthy and never miss a game has chosen this time to become what appears to be a diva. It’s very unfortunate. On a side note I just read this morning that the story about the Cavaliers reportedly pulling their 5 year $80M is untrue. If this is in fact true then all of this mess rests on the shoulders of Mr. Thompson and his agent. Period.
As for the Cavaliers if we have to endure more injuries I would prefer they happen at the start of the season rather then the end. In truth I don’t want them to happen at all the problem is the core of this team (KI, Love, Varejao and Shumpert) are all injury prone. And LBJ’s tread is being worn away the more and more he has to perform his Superman routine.
So I’m hoping an improved roster both in depth and playability can help lessen the load LBJ has to carry. I think Mo, RJ and Sasha will all play important roles as the season progresses. Mo will be first because he will be starting with KI out. But I think RJ could be the one overlooked player who could quietly keep this group together. JJ as well.
I’ll conclude by ending where I started and that is the guy sitting wherever he is away from his teammates because he’s decided it needs to realize just how big of a mistake he’s making. That is of course if this isn’t all about the Benjamins!
BORING
Them’s fightin’ words son. Don’t poke the bear. You have been warned!
You just can’t SAY it.
Not out loud anyways. Save it for a blog!
Or Twitter.
Or Facebook.
Or Instagram.
Or Snapchat.
Of course you can. Not even a question.
I would say though that the level of compassion you can have for someone is inversely proportionate to their level of idiocy and unlikeability.
Make 2 takeaways from this are: 1. LO must be really likeable. and 2. the media are sheep on this one.
double-tap that.
yes, i also feel for him. that wasn’t conveyed in my post. But he gets treated like the Easter Bunny while Johnny gets treated like this bunny:
I like Hard Knocks.
Griffin has Haywood’s trade exemption in his pocket, in case the 4 spot gets shakey later in the season.
I hope they find the real killer one day.
Yes he does and I don’t think that was an accident either. I wish we had seen more of Cooley he was a beast last night. Although we have to remember it was the last preseason game too. But maybe he’ll make the D-league team.
he’s serving a sentence for kidnapping and robbery in Las Vegas last I heard.
Btw Khloe Kardashian Odom is still legally married to Lamar Odom yet she’s been with a rapper and James Harden who she reportedly just broke it off with in light of what happened with her ya know still husband. If that wasn’t bad enough she left Lamar’s bed side to attend a Cosmopolitan Party. But who am I to judge.
dude! that ain’t right.
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/dtndnw.gif
haha. i think this is the funniest picture i have ever seen!
I thought OJ found him in Vegas?
Since we’re TMZg this mutha up today…just read on Twitter that the rumor about Joe Haden revolved around drug money laundering. Nothing else has been mentioned by anyone I just hope to hell, for you few Browns fans, the team and this city that this is a load of flaming BS because if it’s not. Johnny Manziel u r safe!
i LOL then made sure i was alone just in case.
Kelly Olynyk does not accept any rules.
I’m tempted to replace my avatar.
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