My Thoughts and Sports Bottle's Prayers...

-Go out to Minnesota Twins fans everywhere. Believe me when I say that Joe Nathan's arm falling off hurts me more than it hurts you.

-Go out to our fellow Milwaukee Brewer fans. If yesterday is any indication (3IP, 6H, 3ER), we may have to endure a season without Jeff Suppan and his 5.68 ERA in our starting rotation, it is going to be extremely tough on me personally because I always bet the over when he pitches...

-Go out to people trying to ignore the NBA. The Bucks have won 10 of 11, and aren't going to let you.

-"Lost" fans. Clearly all of your questions have already been answered after last night. You might as well quit watching.

THAT WAS NOT A BLOCK!!!!

I have an all-NBA post! I caught the last half hour or so of the Bucks-Lakers game last night after the Badger game got way, way out of hand (within the first 5 minutes). The Bucks game summed up one of the reasons I can't fully get on board with the NBA.

Let me recap. About a minute left in OT. Bucks lead 106-102. Kobe drives the lane, lowers his shoulder, and absolutely destroys the chest of 7 foot Andrew Bogut, sending him flying backwards about 10 feet. Kobe then lands, and throws up some scoop shot that goes in. The whistle blows immediately, but there is no signal from any of the refs. Then, the referee that was standing at half court, the one who had the worst possible view of the attack, after 20 seconds where the refs just stared at each other, signals a block. This was a horrendous, inexcusable call. The call led Bucks color analyst Jon McGlocklin to have a coronary on the air, and scream "THAT WAS NOT A BLOCK!!!". I mean, he FREAKED OUT. It was awesome.

So Kobe gets the call, and the bucket, and makes a free throw to cut it to one. The Bucks fail to score and Kobe comes down and drills a fall away at the buzzer, which I would have bet my entire life savings (like $30) on. So predictable.

The situation is exactly why I hate the NBA. The stars of the league get every chance to get every call. Had that been Derek Fisher barrelling through the lane, it was a charge. Had it been Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, it is a charge. Had it been LeBron, it was a block. You cannot take the NBA seriously, because the NBA wants the stars to win. The officiating is crooked. I was turned off by the NBA in 2001 when the Bucks got hosed in the Eastern Conference Finals. And it continues to happen.

Aside from my NBA hating, the Bucks should have won that game. If Michael Redd wasn't dead and hit either of the two wide open threes he missed in OT, the Bucks win. If Bogut makes a free throw at the end of regulation, the Bucks win. If Ersan doesn't miss two free throws in OT, the Bucks win.

Counterpoint RE: Hammonds

I don't really understand what is going on with the Bucks. Granted, I haven't truly cared about any of this since about 2002, but the landscape of the NBA confuses the shit out of me. Let's retrace this thing back a few years:

1) We give someone named Bobby Simmons a crapload of money.

2) He immediately gets hurt and plays like 4 games for us in 2 years.

3) Due to the money spent on Simmons, the resulting injury and other injuries, we crap out and get a top 5 pick.

4) We spend the pick on Yi even though he made it clear he didn't want to come here, and the Bucks knew nothing about him other than he could work the shit out of a folding chair in workout tapes.

5) We completely give up on Yi after one year, and trade he and Bobby to the Nets for Richard Jefferson.

6) Everyone gets hurt again, and we decide that losing money like every other team isn't worth it any more, so we trade Jefferson for three corpses.

7) Next year we may have like $1 billion in cap room.

So where are we going from here? Is there anyone on our team that is good enough to be the best player on an NBA team? I would argue no.

For the record, I completely agree with Bear on Sessions and Villanueva. Sessions cieling is Redd (who we already have on our team). Villa has already hit his ceiling, and will totally stop caring again next year. But for them to decide to gut the entire team and to rely on draft picks is both exhausting and near impossible.

I can't recall any team that was able to pull this off unless you count Orlando in the mid-90's, and that was only because they lucked out and got Shaq and Penny in the draft (and could've had Webber instead of Penny too). Oklahoma City and Portland appear to be close to making some noise based on similar roster moves, but they may never get there. Teams like the Clips and Grizzlies have been trying to do this for years and have failed miserably.

So what do we do? The obvious answer is to hire the Sports Guy as GM. He seems to know everything about the NBA. I'm clearly not smart enough to figure out all the cap ramifications. And I'm not that good at evaluating NBA talent. But it seems to me that if you get rid of everyone for expiring contracts, you better have someone that resembles an NBA player to replace them. And right now, I don't think the Bucks do. And LeBron, D-Wade and Melo aren't stepping foot in Milwaukee no matter what. Bombing out for the next three years guaranteed and hoping for high picks is stupid. You need to mix the draft with veterans, although hovering around the 8 seed every year isn't going to get it done. You need to pick your spots to bomb (like the Spurs did when they got Duncan), and load up on good vets when you can to make a run or two.

Actually, I think old man Kohl should sell the team to someone who wants to spend money. I'm not saying Herb doesn't because lord knows he has lost enough on the team. But realistically, if the Bucks don't get out of the semi-shithole that is the Bradley Center pretty soon. They may not be in Milwaukee long. Which wouldn't bother me that much other than I like the idea of a team in Milwaukee.

I'm not sure what my point is other than the trade doesn't make me like the Bucks any more, I'll tell you that much.

Where do I go from here?

As the world of sports keeps churning with another shitty NBA finals in the works, Tiger winning another tournament, the Twins continuing their quest to have the worst road record in baseball (and somehow still being competetive in their divison) and Favre coming closer to achieving his goal of being the first person to alienate fans from EVERY team in the NFL, I continue to sit in my dusty office with outdated furniture, no company website and hard feelings.

That is why a potential change is in the works for Twinkie. In the words of Milton "that is the last straw."

What would you do if you were me? Would you take a job with a raise of about 2K a year, better healthcare, better retirement, paid mileage and with a nice boss who will help you? Or would you continue to work in the same depths of hell where nobody gives a shit about you, except how much money you make them every month. And to make things worse, if that amount isn't good enough to help them make their SUV, boat payments and support their addiction to gay porn, you have to listen to them bitch you out about it. Also, when you ask for your mileage check, you are questioned about it, like you are a lying sack of shit or something.

That's right, I may surrender my license to do what it is that I do (or at least place it on hold) while I potentially dive into greener pastures. I may give my notice within the next week and may possibly become an overpaid secretary for a career (or at least for awhile). Not sure how long that career will last, but it beats the stress of trying to cram the information from 300 bitchy "customers" in your head (ok, more like 12). And if for some reason I change my mind and decide to stay, you can A) forget this entire post or b) you can track down my boss(es) and blackmail me for drugs or sex or both.

On another note, we just finished our second week of co-ed, slow-pitch, softball last night and we are 2-2, with our 2 losses being by a combined total of nearly 40 runs. On a side note, I also hit 2 balls to the left field fence for a triple and an inside the parker and almost had a heart attack both times.

This entire post is why I don't post anymore. It is incoherent, boring and nobody gives a shit about it because they don't know me. Except Juice and even he is a prick and probably doesn't care. You can all burn in (Sportsbottles and my) God's hell. I just realized I forgot my Prozac.