so, these 2 kids in the middle of this picture, the twin brothers, are trouble. they're headed to the University of Kansas, and they're not like the collins brothers or those 2 twins who were on that one Valpo team that made it to the sweet sixteen. these kids can seriously play, and for my money were the stars of the whopping 7 solid hours of basketball that i sat through on saturday at the jordan brand classic. 15 bucks buys you a pretty solid day of entertainment, and i was totally disappointed for about 4 minutes that they were not serving beer at the garden. in reality, i figured, a day of drinking super expensive game day beer at Madison Square Garden really leaves a lot to be desired, and i'd get bored with the games and become more interested in drinking more beer, and i'd just leave without watching the game, and what's the point in that? i got my drinkin' done later, anyway, cheaply and efficiently at the Holland Bar, in a scene that resembled the middle section of LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out." It went a little something like this..."DAMAGE" huh "DAMAGE" Huh "DAMAGE" HUH! HUH! HUH!, and then i'm stumbling towards the train a mere 1 hour later. Okay, points of interest from the JBC (you want the recap, check here.)
1. never in a million years, and i've been to MSG a few times now, but never in a million years would i have guessed that among the retired numbers of Messier & Reed & Frazier, hang the retired/celebratory numbers of Billy Joel and Elton John. thanks, international all star game! your combination of balanced scoring and sound fundamental basketball led my eyes to wander, and a productive wandering at that. i spotted the sweet lower level seat that i occupied for the rest of the 5 hours i was there during that game.
2. the morris twins can roll, dude. they're gonna be like snakes in the grass for big XII foes for the next 2-4 years. my initial reason for attending the JBC was to see willie warren play, hoping he'll be the next savior of oklahoma basketball. now, i'm hoping he's also our own little riki tiki tavi.
3. willie warren was wholly underwhelming. sad to say it, and those all star games are all about dunks & 3's, but he mostly just turned the ball over & threw up ugly shots. he wasn't really the star of the show, though, that kid was Brandon Jennings. Bill Simmons has a typically brilliant idea called the "All-Shootaround Team." we all know this kid/guy, NBA he's huge and athletic & canning 3's all over the floor. college kid is tiny and white and hitting NBA 3s with his eyes closed, like 20 in a row. well, for my money, Brandon Jennings is a scrub for the All-Shootaround team. Every single time in shootaround, he goes up for a spectacular between the legs 180 dunk...and every time blows it. Never actually successfully dunks the ball. For my money, his game is all sizzle, no steak, but he can really toss up an alley oop. big deal.
4. in shootaround, while checking B. Jennings, i was drawn to his haircut, which was more bell biv devoe than i've seen in years. and, in an incredible moment of synchronicity, who comes out to sing the national anthem, but Boys II Men.
5. pre-game, the crowd becomes astir. someone real famous is here, i can tell, much more famous than ron harper, who has been roaming the sidelines chatting. no, the buzz is "it's jordan! it's jordan!" sure enough, it was michael jordan. he was only maybe 7 rows down from me, and about 3 sections, so i had a pretty clear view. everyone was kind of electrified by his presence, and i found myself staring at the back of what might be the most famous bald head in the history of bald heads (who else? buddha? atlas? Mr. Monopoly? Mr. Clean?). i always hated jordan when he played, and rooted for whoever was playing against the bulls in the finals, including a few pride swallowing years rooting for the lakers and the Utah Jazz. however, i kind of wanted to thank him. it has been a long time since there was any sort of real, exciting basketball in a building that jordan himself calls the Mecca of basketball. it was nice of him to bring it back, even if just for a night.
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