Thursday, June 13, 2013

Sports: NBA FINALS 2013

                                              *photo credit to google images *

 “When Breaking Records Doesn’t Matter”
June 13, 2013
By Rey Andrade-Garza

San Antonio, TX

          The San Antonio Spurs didn’t just break some records in game 3, in retrospect some were shattered. Gone it seems are the days when breaking records didn’t just matter it solidified a team’s place in mystical lore. It added to the mystique. Oh, the glory days of 2012, when it was the Miami Heat breaking the records and not these bland Spurs. The Spurs Big Three won their 100th playoff game together, 2nd all time for a trio.  The Spurs set a NBA Finals record with 16 three pointers. Gary Neal tied John Starks for 24 pts is also a Finals record.  Those were the records that were scrolling after the game on ESPN and NBA TV that no one out of San Antonio seemed to pay any attention to.  Other statistics that were also glaring were the following:  Miami is 4-5 in the last nine, Spurs 7-1. The second trio on the Spurs in Leonard, Neal and Green are outscoring the Big Three of Miami in LBJ, Bosh and Wade. You tell me who is playing championship style basketball? What is most glaring is this fact that no one seems to have caught on to: Miami is 3-23 vs Spurs in San Antonio all time! Spurs have taken games 1 & 3 which are the statistical plateau markers everyone points to in who will win in this series but no one seems to care. Everyone seems to be giving the defending champions a pass they seem to not make on the court let alone deserve in this conversation. What is more indicative is this double standard for the Miami Heat that should be reserved for storied franchises like the Celtics or the Lakers, hell even the Spurs as the fourth best franchise in NBA history should get that kind of rarified respect but they don’t.  Some call this Miami team a dynasty with one chip to the Big 3 belt, really?! Flip the script and no one would give the Spurs a pass as defending champions playing this poorly in a playoff run. I would say if LeBron James were not playing on this team everyone would admit that this defending champion, with this current 9 game record, ranks as the worst in 20 plus years.  In fact, I will take a step further, Wade is playing hurt yet, when Manu went down a couple of years ago during a playoff run no one gave the Spurs a chance and with good reason one of the main pieces or the glue of the team wasn’t on the court or couldn’t even step on the court to contribute in anyway. Reading this morning’s shoot around Tony Parker seems a lock to play tonight in any condition which begs the question: Why is it that the Heat’s injuries are more magnified and forgiven but the Spurs play bang up all year and the same respect is not given? Let me make the point clearer.  Stephen A. Smith said yesterday in our fair city, that no way the Spurs win the championship with Tony Parker not on the court, yet when Sean Elliott interjected that the Spurs have proven all year they can step up when one of the Big Three didn’t play he forgot to mention that the Big Three for the Spurs missed 50 games together, yet still as a team, compiled 50 or more wins for 14th straight year. Everyone makes excuses for why the Heat is playing this shoddy but not me.  James with his humorous cape delivered a guarantee when in hindsight he should just keep his mouth shut.  He hasn’t delivered, champions always deliver. MJ never scored less than 22 pts in any NBA Finals game, yet, with all his guarantees, LBJ hasn’t scored 20 in any of the 3 Finals games where it matters! Instead, the Heat combined Big Three make like 300 million dollars yet can only tie the secondary 3 of the Spurs who make like 250 million dollars less but seem to shut up play and deliver with no guarantees.  It’s comical to see a superhero drink his own kool-aid and guarantee mythical wins and why not right?  The media has crowned Miami to win this title before the first thud of the basketball hit the court and they’ve been celebrating this phantom trophy all year, all along the way, cheapening the ride with hanging rim dunks, chest pumps and now sadly, with a homemade cape! The Heat have made everyone forget that records matter and distorted the myth, yet, quietly, between the hype and the “He was going to be on Sports Center one or way or another”-- when game four is done, the statistics should ultimately play out and the quiet champion should emerge and Sports Center will have to play it one way or another.  Sometimes instead of just saying you’re going to get the job done, just do what the Spurs have been doing all along, keep your head down, keep your mouth shut, play the game and get it done in the court no matter what the records say.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Original Poem: A response to Mr. Floyd, "Pounding these Emotional Walls"

     Once again, I pulled another poem from my vault, it focuses on a response to Pink Floyd's emotional rocker, "Hey You".  Since I was a kid, I've been a huge fan of Pink Floyd, as this band was passed down from my older brother Juan, who's always had great taste in music, especially rock. From an early age, He introduced me to Queen, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Bad Company, UFO and of course, Rush! This particular Pink Floyd song, has always clung to my heart, because it asks more questions than supplies answers and it asks us to examine ourselves. The lyrics expose our limitations as humans and the ways we harm ourselves and society. "Pounding these Emotional Walls", focuses on the questions asked in the song and tries to supply some answers, 30 or so years later, in my understanding of my world. Hope you enjoy this piece, please comment!- Rafael Andrade Garza, 2013 (c).

Pounding these Emotional Walls


Hello Mr. Floyd, I felt the cold
Living lonely, hearts fold
Will you echo again?
Hey you, I'm tapping these walls
With sticky situations and numb expressions
I felt the cold
Hey there, there's only diminishing light out here
And only wet candle wicks inside

Hello there, out here on my own
I'm fully clothed but my heart is exposed
I reach for you
Hey there, I cup my hand to sound
It's just that there's no cell phone around
I reach for you
But, these stones are more than two can carry
Without a destination for home, my heart is wary

But we're living in reality
And no visible walls in wi-fi,
As you can see,
No matter how hard we try
We can never escape
Our thinly disguised government veils

Hey there, I'm at your block
Resisting to what I'm told
What can I do from here?
Between accepted curtains of separations
And these so-called right conservative reparations
Hey you, it seems like there's no hope from here
Hearts fall like walls in a crumbling emotional veneer

(power…twin towers)
(bricks…bones)
 hearts alone

 © Rafael Andrade Garza, Oct. 13, 2006.
photo courtesy of www.tumblr.com