Even yesterday as I was writing about the Celtics being fine, I was envisioning them avenging Saturday night's fiasco by blowing the Wizards out by 20 points. There seem to be a few things wrong right now. First, with Rondo hobbled and seeing fewer minutes, the offense is simply not running as smoothly. Secondly, Tommy indicated last night that Ray is looking either worn down or hurt. If this is the case, they need to start resting him more. Tony Allen is getting stronger every game (see above) and there is no reason to be wearing Ray out right now. Third, they're just not hitting their shots. KG's shot down low on the second-to-last possession last night is usually automatic. Ray Allen and Eddie House were a combined 3 of 13 on three pointers. This has been a trend over the past few games. I was actually hoping that they would look to Posey to shoot the three at the end of the game. He probably would have gotten a better look than Allen, House, or Pierce, and he has shot them well all year. This team needs to have more fire on Wednesday night, or else Portland will make it three losses in a row.
The Wizards are better without Gilbert Arenas. Now, I know that I'm not the first person to say this. I have heard Bill Simmons (who I hold in very high regard when it comes to the NBA) and others say this countless times this year. But, I don't ever watch the Wizards unless they're playing the Celtics, so I only got to see it for myself over the past few nights. Any good defense can stop a guy that wants to be his team's entire offense. This is why the Celtics have blown out the Lakers twice this season. Gilbert loves to be the go-to guy on every possession. We know he's got an ego. We know that he idolizes Kobe (and, from a basketball perspective, why wouldn't you). But, he needs to look around the league and see that being your team's only scoring option on every possession is not an enviable position to be in. The Wizards are a much tougher team to stop when they are moving the ball around and different guys are scoring. Now, if Gilbert can come back with more confidence in his teammates and a new view on the way he wants to play team basketball, the Wizards could be a great team.....
Now, in remembering the Room of Zen, I would first ask you to recall this scene from Star Wars that takes place at the Mos Eisley Space Station. Skip through the first one minute of the clip until they are in the cantina with all of the aliens playing music and such:
Now, the staff at Winner's (and the customers for the most part) were all very friendly, and we never had anything but outstanding food and drink there. However, I often times felt like I was walking into a bar filled with various alien species. You see, Winner's was down the street from the Brunswick Naval Air Base, where diehard fans of all different NFL teams had been assembled for duty. Now, you would assume that Jacksonville Jaguar fans, Seattle Seahwaks fans, Arizona Cardinals fans, Tennessee Titans fans, and Carolina Panthers fans exist, but you probably don't ever expect to see one in real life. You probably never imagine that you could casually put forth the question "hey, who gives a shit about the Chiefs/Cardinals game, why don't we change that to the Red Sox? (early in the NFL season)", and suddenly some dude in a Trent Green Kansas City jersey would stand up and angrily say "why don't you shut the fuck up." You would probably never imagine that, at the same time, one man in a Jacksonville Jaguars jersey would leap to his feet screaming about a Fred Taylor breakaway run, while another celebrated a Seattle Seahawk touchdown by screaming "Let's go Hawks!" and throwing back a shot of whiskey. You almost just have to avert your eyes when this happens so they don't see you staring. There was even one man with the Tennessee Titans logo, the glorious flaming thumbtack, tattooed on his entire upper arm. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.
A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Celtics/Grizzlies game. There was one Grizzlies fan at the game, and I found it really hard not to go back a few rows and start asking him questions. I really didn't think that one of those existed. This is what it was like at Winner's every Sunday, except that there were always like five or six aliens.
As for the Room of Zen itself. Let me just give a quick description of the layout. Winner's was connected to the Atrium Hotel. If you walked down past the bathrooms and the ATM, you came to the lobby of the Atrium Hotel (a wall now separates them). This was the oddest hotel lobby that I have ever seen. The entire floor was turf, even though they kept a hose. There were three live parrots, one that talked. There was a small stream that ran right down the middle of the lobby; four turtles roamed that stream. A bridge crossed the stream and led you to a volleyball net which was never used. Above it hung blank championship banners. Off to the side was a sign for an all-you-can-eat Mexican buffet. There were tables, but no restaurant was ever running. Next to the volleyball net was a small pool. All around this room were the balconies of the hotel rooms. Rather than looking out on Brunswick, these pilgrims instead looked out on this surreal scene. In the middle of it sat the oracle at a computer desk, often eating Wendy's. We spent many halftimes (halftime of 1 o'clock and 4 o'clock games) in this room, communicating with the animals and soaking in the soothing sounds of the stream.
Please read the thoughts from the very wise Ted Gilbert on his experiences with the room. it should be noted that although Ted has not posted in quite a while, he has still been instrumental in the development of this blog. As an employee for Relapse, he has contributed greatly to the variety of music that you have seen and heard here.
Finally, I would just like to add an addendum to my Foil in the Oven from yesterday. I would just like to point out that the backlash from Wade Phillips and the many Cowboys fans that keep insisting that "the better team lost" is totally absurd, but not unexpected. I took great pleasure in seeing Jerry Jones disgraced on the sidelines. Of all the NFL fanbases, there are none more arrogant and smug than the people associated with the Cowboys. Cowboys fans act like their team sits on some plain high above all other teams. All season long, especially last week, all I heard about was how great Tony Romo was and how clutch he was. Seriously, all these Cowboy fans talked about how many clutch plays Tony Romo makes and what a clutch quarterback he is. Well, that talk has subsided since Sunday night, but just in case some of you still feel that way let me just ask you HOW YOU COULD HAVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT THIS:
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