Nathan

As usual, great article today. Only one minor quibble with how you would tweak the NBA (and frankly all sports except the NFL need to fucking shorten their seasons much more than just 4 games): I can't see letting teams pick their opponents in the playoffs working for a couple of reasons. The first would be too much gamemanship going on such as a #1 picking a #2 to go against for whatever strategic reason they might come up with whether it was to show they weren't scared or they were on a roll and #2 wasn't, etc. The second reason would be somewhat related to the long season issue: for many fans (such as myself sadly these days) the seasons are way too long to get to know players and teams and thus only tune in come playoffs meaning that fans may not be able to establish their playoff 'relationships' properly given this format and thus the story line of the playoffs could be screwed up. Otherwise hard to argue with a lot of what you say and I especially appreciate you staying on the refs in an even handed manner... god I hope they fix this in the NBA at some point. I am a big Bulls fan and that Rondo foul last night and the subsequent shitty call didn't surprise me at all and, really, like the torture 'debate' these days me falling into complacency with shitty ref'ing is the saddest thing of all.

Oh Kobe.  Will you never learn?  'My team' eh?  I won't go into it that far because I don't want to waste my breath on this but look for this mentality to creep up and bite you again this year.  Just like last year when you decided to give up in the finals because 'your' team was struggling a bit or something?  

You came to us late on a Tuesday. I have been stealing kisses from you since. You act like you don't like it, but I know better.

You were just asleep in my arms (which I love by the way) but I laid you down in your little vibrating bed because darn if typing with one hand isn't hard. You smiled, but just a bit. Is it because you know how much I love you? Or because you know how much your mom is doing for you? We gave you your second official bath yesterday and it seemed to go well and like daddy you like when the water runs on your head.

Will you have blond hair or brown or some other color? It is hard to tell. It is also hard to tell what color your eyes will be right now, but I will say that when I look into them I see my own eyes looking back at me. Eyes from a different time, but my eyes nonetheless.

So do enjoy my little one as we are enjoying you. Your great (and great!) uncle Rolfe is coming by today to meet you for the first time. We will try to get a picture for you.

Labels: audrey

You have only been in our lives for a few days now, but in just these few short days I have felt my heart swell to accommodate all the love I feel for you. I alternate sometimes between not being able to catch my breath thanks to your beauty and feeling my eyes and heart swell with pride and love. I have only *almost* cried a few times.

You came to us happy and healthy and for that I am eternally grateful. You and your mom had a bond almost from the first moment and you couldn't even barely take your eyes off of each other. Right now you are both laying together on the couch and enjoying a short snooze and break. When I look at both of you I am struck with how lucky a man I am to have two such wonderful girls in my life. You give me pause and you make me thank whatever good luck I have had to deserve the two of you.

In the coming years you will learn that your dad is not a perfect man and will make mistakes, but do always know this: the love I feel for you is perfect. It doesn't just swell my heart and stop my breath but it flows around you always and forever. If you should ever find yourself feeling sad or should you ever just need a reminder of something perfect in this imperfect world please just think of my love for you.

Yours always,
Daddy

Labels: audrey

tonight you saw me for the first time my love. really saw me. and i saw you and my heart melted and swelled, all at the same time, just a bit more.

Labels: audrey

Audio: Bob Dylan on Barack Obama, Ulysses Grant and American Civil War ghosts: "BF: Are you a mystical person?

BD: Absolutely.

BF: Any thoughts about why?

BD: I think it’s the land. The streams, the forests, the vast emptiness. The land created me. I’m wild and lonesome. Even as I travel the cities, I‘m more at home in the vacant lots. But I have a love for humankind, a love of truth, and a love of justice. I think I have a dualistic nature. I’m more of an adventurous type than a relationship type."

What an interesting guy that Dylan.

That Green NBA - TrueHoop By Henry Abbott - ESPN: "I am glad to see the NBA coming (later than just about any corporation) to the idea that the environment matters.

I'm sorry that it comes with more different uniforms. Honestly, these days, across a crowded sports bar, I don't know how any casual can tell which teams are playing. The Nuggets at home, in green? And 'Melo doesn't even have his distinctive hair anymore?

-snip-

I'm not saying the NBA doesn't care. I'm certain smart people are figuring out ways to make all that better, and sooner or later sustainable approaches will be in place.

But what seems a little weird is the tone of this campaign is that the NBA is giving us tips about how to be more environmentally responsible? The NBA, which still glamourizes people tooling around in Hummers and Escalades, and has players changing uniforms every time they get sweaty, is telling us to carpool and spot-treat our stains?"

'This system was a powerful engine of wealth creation and lifted millions out of poverty, but it relied upon the risks to the Market and to Mother Nature being underpriced and to profits being privatized in good times and losses socialized in bad times.'