A Fan's Note

I was fortunate enough to take in last night’s Knicks-Blazers game. Here are a few random thoughts from the evening, as experienced from section 345, row D, seat 1.

Chris Duhon is better than advertised. David Lee works hard. Brandon Roy plays like Clyde Frazier. Greg Oden looks lost. LaMarcus Aldridge is nice. So is Travis Outlaw. Rudy Fernandez has lots of fans and is an absolute chucker. Malik Rose has no business playing basketball. Tim Thomas is still Tim Thomas. Channing Frye is irrelevant. Al Harrington is better than Anthony Bonner. Q is fat. Roberson is tiny. The Knicks ran out of gas. D’Antoni pays attention to everything, except Stephon Marbury. Nate McMillan needs to tighten up his team's D. The Knicks City Dancers are off. The Garden overestimates people’s hankering for cotton candy. And, finally, Knicks fans don't drink nearly as much beer as Rangers fans.

Thanks to NT and PF-T for looking out.

The Powers of the Potomac

The Plank's Michael Crowley, with a dime from Ben Smith at Poltico, points out that a big chunk of Obama's likely cabinet know how to handle the rock.

Jones played forward at Georgetown. Geithner reportedly likes himself a good pickup game. And the Times says Eric Holder was once known, impressively, for his 'easy dunk.' Susan Rice, too!

With Obama, that's a solid starting five. Still, they'd do well to recruit Mayor-elect Kevin Johnson to help run the floor at their local YMCA. I doubt, though, Obama's keeping open a spot for Sarah Barracuda.   

(Via Yglesias)

Line of the Night

29 points. 10 rebounds. 2 assists. 2 steals. 2 blocks. Dirk Nowitzki.

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

The ink has yet to dry on the ridiculous contracts of Indian pitching fads Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel—neither of whom even picked up a baseball until last year—but the Pittsburgh Pirates are already in hot pursuit of another free-agent talent: Mark Loretta.

The 37-year-old Loretta, oddly described by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as the Pirates’ longtime nemesis (isn’t that Robert Nutting?), hit .280 with four home runs and 38 RBI last season for Houston. Loretta is a respectable .297 career hitter and, in fairness, a pretty reliable infield glove. And, as the article points out, a number of teams are interested in his services.

Still, he’s Mark Loretta, a player contending teams bring in to shore up their defense in the late innings. He’s not the answer, and he really shouldn’t be the Pirates’ marquee off-season target, particularly after they shipped off, in mid-season, favorites Jason Bay and Xavier Nady to the Red Sox and Yankees, respectively; and especially not after the team’s pitching staff finished the 2008 season with a 5.08 earned run average, dead last in the National League.

I understand the organization can't chase after the likes of C.C. Sabathia or Mark Teixeira, but they can't even set their sights higher than Mark Loretta or two kids who don't yet know how to pitch against live batters? Man, it just has to be punishing to root for the Bucs. Their fans aren't even allowed to get excited about the Hot Stove. 

Line of the Night

37 points. 13 assists. 5 rebounds. 3 blocked shots. Dwyane Wade.

Are You Sure We Can?

With President-elect Barack Obama’s security and economic teams securely in place, it’s worth checking in, as promised, on the progress of Obama’s brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, the head coach of the rebuilding Beavers of Oregon State, whose team lost their season opener to the lowly Howard Bison 47-45, on November 14.

To put it gently, the Robinson administration isn’t off to as fast—or as impressive—a start as Obama’s.

Following their opening night loss, the Beavers ran out of gas against Nevada and, after finally returning home, lost close games to Yale and Montana State by a combined four points. I'm sure that one-point loss to Yale really rankled Robinson, a graduate of Princeton, but his Bulldog-inspired agita was probably just a hiccup compared to his team's Thanksgiving Eve gag-fest against Montana State, which put the Beavers' current losing streak at an unsightly 25 straight going back to last season, before Robinson was hired to change the culture of the OSU basketball program. 

Still, Robinson and his team kept on keeping on, and finally won their first game of the season-- and first in about a year-- last night against Fresno State, a so-so squad from the Western America Conference, 62-54, behind senior guard Rickey Claitt's 14 points.  

Not exactly "Hill at Foggy Bottom," but, as even the president-elect would tell you, a win is a win is a win. 

The Beavers next take on the 4-1 Iowa State Cyclones, in Ames, on December 6.  

Line of the Night

47 points. 8 assists. 7 rebounds. 1 steal. Devin Harris.