Sunday Funnies: The October Surprise Gang
Is it an October Surprise if you are expecting it?
The more I read the daunting litany of the challenges facing the McCain Campaign, the repeated missteps and almost comic cluelessness, the secrecy surrounding his medical condition and the awesomely bad selection of Sarah Palin, the more certain I become that there is no way that McCain-Palin will be the Republican ticket when November rolls around.
Palin’s nomination cleared the way for a complete reset of the ticket when it becomes clear that McCain cannot continue due to health issues or simply being 20+ points down in the polls.
I don’t even see this as requiring the tinfoil hat anymore – the deck is so obviously stacked against McCain right now that it seems delusional to believe it can make it to November. I think the questions are “when” (shorter is probably better, Oct. 15 is my bet) and “who” (Michael Bloomberg plus some respected military figure).
NBA Comix: Vegas line on Isiah’s next career move
It’s with a (somewhat) heavy heart that NBA Comix mourns the departure of one of its patron saints, Isiah Thomas from the hardwood.
Whether he was trading draft picks for Larry Brown or just for comic relief, replacing one of the greatest basketball minds with himself, matching wits with a puppy or attempting to singlehandedly bring one of the NBA’s storied franchises to its knees, you could count on Isiah to give 110%, and look sharp while doing it.
“Listless, tawdry and dreadful” says Sports Illustrated, to which we here at NBA Comix have to add a tearful “There will never be another.”
DELETED! Technology
For the best experience, click to sbemails and scroll to the Technology video…
Strong Bad and Homestar and friends from HomestarRunner.com are probably my favoritest show on the internet. Or off the internet. Anywhere there’s shows, they’re my favorite. Also, I noticed they weren’t in my blogroll so I added them. And deleted some. I’ll try to keep that shorter and change it more.
Anyway, an article from Wired about Matt & Mike Chapman, of HomestarRunner rejecting a cartoon Network deal flashed across my Gmail:
“There was a brief flirtation with Comedy Central and Adult Swim,” Matt said. “The whole TV thing seemed creepy. They wanted to plug it into their model — that all comedy was gag-related, not character-driven. They left the door open, but we liked what we were doing and kept doing it online.”
I love HomestarRunner for many reasons, and the fact that the attitude and tone that aren’t cynical and dark are huge attraction. While I do enjoy some Cartoon Network fare now and then, it’s not something I could watch all the time. If my cable package had a Strong Bad Talk Show option, I would totally upgrade.
Apparently, their online store (I just ordered the Kick the Cheat for my daughter’s birthday) is bringing in enough money that they feel they can stay independent.
If (when?) you are a HomestarRunner fan, you have to watch this interview with Mike and Matt Chapman.
A reader asks…
…why do you always link things like 12 times? Do you think we’re stupid? Are you stupid?? Both???
The answer is actually:
d) By linking to specific (HomestarRunner welcome video, Kick the Cheat) I am providing detailed information to you. By linking to the main HomestarRunner.com and Yahoo! Store page, I am linking to the most popular pages for the general subject as the Google (and other search engines, if there in fact are any left) see them. It also provides the creators with the ability to manage your visit.
NBA Comix: Gimme the Damn Remote with Charles Barkley and color commentary from the beards of Baron Davis and Carlos Boozer
This was supposed to be just a link to the excellent new NBA heavy BallHype and a little bit of regretful (if predictable) lamenting about how my extreme busyness means no NBA Comix, especially in this, the Time of the NBA.
Saw Cat Wade’s Pulitzer Prize winning photo of Baron shaking hands with Kirilenkos’ face at Golden State of Mind, from whence I watched the video of Baron Davis posterizing Andrei Kirilenko. Somewhere on the Warriors “blog” I watched a video of the Trackrunners song Game Time that is in the Warriors pre-game and is really a treat. After I saw the F*ck Chuck shirt and Fear the Beard, well, it was far too late to stop.
The image below is rated B for Beards and is appropriate only for NBA fans, beard lovers and the criminally insane. Read the rest of this entry »
NBA Comix: Legends of Greek Basketball
A few notes.
- I really did look for legends. I think Greece would be hard put to field a team in the Legends of the World One-on-One Tournament.
- The kid above is not Greek. He merely represents the caliber of player our team was prepared to face.
- Man, it’s a damn good thing we didn’t take Bruce Bowen – the results could have been humiliating.
- Say whatever you want about how the NBA is the end-all, be-all of basketball, but I think it’s feeble as hell that the USA can’t put together a competitive team. Tip for the selection committee: “Me First” doesn’t fly on the world stage.
NBA Comix: Mike Knows Motivation
In case you can’t read the above: Sapporo: Team Usa Coach Mike Krzyzewski sought to “light a fire under these spoiled superstars” by screening a motivational video featuring Ron Artest while simultaneously dunking a helpless Anderson Varejo.
While Carmelo Anthony & Dwayne Wade seemed intent on perfecting their new hand signs, the presentation did have an effect on star LeBron James: “Coach K is serious. Serious as a heart attack. And he should be. This is the world stage. Our national pride and honor is at stake.”
Meanwhile, the whole incident was denounced by the Argentinian media as “Predictable American Imperialism”.
I’d like to give an Explosion sized shout-out to the Cavalier (hopefully this will keep him off my back for a few weeks) and also to direct you to the latest addition to my blogroll, NBA Basketball and Other Unrelatedness by the Hype which is darned funny.
PS: The video from Ron-Ron, NBA Clown Prince of Craziness wasn’t really for Team USA. You wouldn’t want to put Ron in front of players as any kind of example. You of course only put Ron in front of children where he shares wisdom like “someone started trouble and I ended it”. To be fair, he does follow that up with “I would always encourage you to protect yourself but in certain situations, if you can avoid them, avoid them”.
Farlane Comix: Have it your way … as long as “your way” means “with large breasts”
OK. I’m crossing a line here, something that I’ve been uncomfortable with ever since my first grade teacher Mrs. Allington whacked me across the back for coloring outside the line on Abe Lincoln’s stovepipe hat. Until today, I’ve confined my comix to the NBA. Then something came along that I could think of no other way to deal with than the application of entirely too much Photoshop: Burger King’s BK Table Guest. In the words of BK, the premise is simple:
When you HAVE IT YOUR WAY® there’s no need to sit solo. Pull up a chair and select one of our guests for some company that’ll chat while you chew. Don’t forget to check back often. There’s no telling who might drop by.
Gloria Steinem? The ACLU?? Barbie??? I tell you the questions this raises are many.
Foremost among them is “Has Burger King totally written off women as a target audience?”
That’s closely followed by “How did the idea of representing women with three Maxim “Hometown Hotties” get past whatever passes for a review process at BK Headquarters?” I can picture Marketing Guy 1 discussing this with Marketing Guys 2 & 3 over lunch at Hooters, amidst lots of “awesomest thing ever” and “big rack” references. Meanwhile Marketing Gal was presumably making coffee or reading romance novels … or working for some other company with a less neolithic view of women.
If you’d like to experience BK’s version of reality, go to bk.com, click the menu at the bottom and select “BK Table Guest”.
Check out Maxim.com Models Star In Burger King Promotion from MediaPost.
David Stern: Tyrant or Dictator?
Detroit News sportswriter Chris McCoskey drops the hammer today on everyone’s favorite commish with an absolutely scathing column:
David Stern is either out of control or too much in control. It’s not good, either way.
He might be the most effective and successful commissioner in all of professional sports, but I am starting to suspect he’s gotten drunk on his own power. His need for utter and absolute control is bordering on the maniacal.
It’s one thing for the commissioner to have firm control on the business side of the game, but Stern has crossed over and is now lording over the competition side, as well. And that is a real problem.
Read the rest of Stern: Commish or tyrant? because Chris makes some really valid points about where the NBA could be headed.
NBA Comix: Steve Nash Haircut Triggers Panic
NOTE: I’m just kidding about Adam Morrison’s world-class mustache. By all accounts, the mustache is safe and resting comfortably on his face.
I tell you, it’s been quite a depressing couple of month or so for NBA Comix. First my beloved Pistons unraveled like a cheap suit in the face of Pat Riley’s expensive suits. Then Antoine Walker shoved the NBA’s most hallowed relic into his armpit. Then Big Ben Wallace, face (well, fro) of the Pistons bolted for the City of Michael Jordan. Now NBA Comix best friend Steve “the Haircut” Nash has elected to shave his head and challenge Sam Cassell for the Alien Lookalike title.
YAYSports has additional coverage on this breaking news and I invite you to take a trip back with NBA Comix to the happier days of Steve Nash’s hair. I think that if there’s anything funny in this story, it’s that ESPN is covering it but doesn’t have a photo of the haircut.
WordPress is showing a lot of love to this post right now. Why? I have no idea! Thanks though!!
Click for entirely too many more NBA Comix or check out other posts that may have nothing at all to do with basketball (or anything else for that matter).
NBA Comix: Lebron’s Reasons
Need4Sheed is hosting the latest Carnival of the NBA, plus the Cavalier over at YAYSports really likes the pie charts. I’m just sad I couldn’t figure out a way to fit Antoine Walker in there somewhere…
Those who have been living under rocks or just plain don’t care about the NBA might not be aware that Lebron James took a very long time to sign his contract extension but finally did so.
It’s interesting to note that Lebron is the only NBA player whose personal web site comes up ahead of their NBA.com “official” bio page on a Google search. What’s up with that?
