Emily ROCKS!! Reason #7234

Life imitates art.

Does anyone remember an episode from The Cosby Show where Denise makes a shirt for Theo? Emily loves her Cosby Show and claims that episode is a classic.

And as I type this, she is making like Denise, and making a shirt based on a designer shirt she saw in the store that cost three figures. She is using $3.00 worth of scarves (give or take a dollar) to make this shirt. Only rather than making the shirt for someone else, Emily is making it for herself. And also, this shirt should turn out much better than the one Denise made for Theo.

I don't think too many people in south Minneapolis are in the basement right now making a shirt out of scarves. In fact, maybe only one person is, and she two floors below me.

SPURS RULE part 2387

Anyone following the Spurs/Sonics series remotely closely has been subjected to stories of Ray Allen (a Seattle guard) complaining about the rough play of Spurs' defensive specialist Bruce Bowen. Hell, Allen's been crying about Bruce for two years now.

Click here for just a teeny sample of Allen's whining.

Well, his pissing and moaning paid off, sort of, as the refs called five fouls on Bowen last night and he played only 17 of 48 minutes.

The result? Spurs win by 18.

And here's my point. Allen is the leader of the Sonics, and no team will ever get anywhere with a leader like him. He has spent the last week chirping about Bruce Bowen, but hardly mentioned the 11 other guys on the Spurs. So the message he sent to his team is "this series about how Bruce Bowen guards me."

Bullshit. It's about how your 12 guys match-up against the Spurs' 12. Bowen was taken out of the game last night. So you got what you wanted, Ray Allen, and you got run out of the gym. Cliches have staying power because they are true, like the cliche, "basketball is a team game."

What has bothered me about this entire Bruce Bowen vs. Ray Allen drama is that not one person from the Seattle, San Antonio, or national media outlets has called Ray Allen out on any of this. There's been a lot of "Is Bruce Bowen a dirty player or not?" chatter, but no one, to my knowledge has asked, "Is Ray Allen being a selfish by focusing only on how Bruce Bowen plays him too rough?"

Maybe in Ray Allen's world he won last night's game: Ray Allen 25 points, Bruce Bowen 2 points. But the real score would actually be Ray Allen 25, Spurs 108.

Michael Jordan. Larry Bird. Hakeem Olajuwan. Magic Johnson. Tim Duncan. Those are true leaders. I challenge anyone to find me one occasion where any of those guys spent three fucking days bitching about one player, let alone two years.

This is why, as pretty as Ray Allen is to watch, he'll be in as memorable as Tom Chambers and Dan Majerle when his career is over. Never heard of or forgot about those guys? My point exactly.

Go Spurs Go

More Sadness

Symbols rarely evoke emotions for me, except for one. One of the absolutely saddest sights for me is the American flag flying at half mast. And that is what I saw out my office window all day, as St. Paul had to bury one of its police officers who was killed in the line of duty. I could never find the courage to be a cop. Especially one who goes undercover to bust human and drug trafficking rings.

Today, this letter was in the Opinions sections of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

A true hero

As director of PRIDE (from Prostitution to Independence, Dignity and Equality) at Family and Children's Service, I have to tell you about our experience with Sgt. Gerry Vick.

He was a remarkable human being. I can't begin to tell you the number of women and teens Gerry helped get out of prostitution.

And do you know how he did it? He genuinely cared about them -- about their lives, their children and their futures.

He listened to their stories and wanted to know about their families. He even shared things about his family and his life with them. He treated everyone the same: with dignity and respect.
When the news hit the streets about Gerry, we all cried. How could someone who had saved so many be gone?

The PRIDE women and teens he had helped and our staff are all devastated. Our hearts go out to his family.

We know the work that he and the St. Paul Police Department are doing to end the vicious cycle of prostitution will continue.

But it won't be the same without Gerry. He personally changed lives every day, and many days, he literally saved them.

Lani Suarez, Minneapolis.

Click here for the link.

Also, a college fund has been established for the children of Sergeant Vick:

Sergeant Jerry Vick Memorial Fund
C/O City and County Credit Union
144 11th Street East
Saint Paul, MN 55101

Chung Chung

There are only three things that I go out of my way to watch on TV: the Twins, the Spurs, and Law and Order. I watch Law and Order for the same reason I eat beef jerkey. It's solid, thought-free, guilt-free entertainment. But I never thought I'd see a Law and Order good enough to blog about.

So did anyone else see tonight's Law and Order? Damn, it was good. It was about a guy who was arrested for murder nine years after the fact. He came awfully close to having his charges dismissed, all because he became a born again Christian after he committed his murder.

He had atoned for his sins in the highest court possible, the eyes of the Lord. He could serve society better on the streets, than behind bars. Or at least that is what his lawyer argued.

The judge threw the motion to dismiss out, and the murderer decides to plead guilty after all because the Lord showed him, nine years later, that was the right thing to do. All's well that ends well, but the defense attorney made a chilling comment at the end of the show.

She said, and I paraphrase, "If that case had gone to trial, the way things are going in this country, I'm sure I could have had a hung jury."

It's scary becasue it's true. This morning, for the first time since Norm Coleman beat Walter Mondale/Paul Wellstone, I felt depressed about the state of affairs in this country and state. I can't stand to see how many American soldiers and Iraqi civilians are being killed in Iraq, but I stay hopeful that we will see that mess through to a good end. But this morning, as I read the paper, I felt that for the first time corporate America and the religous right have indeed taken over our country and we, the real silent majority will never get it back. Tonight's Law and Order was a fitting conclusion to today.

I was really turned off by Steve Earle in his last swing through Minneapolis. As a wise woman in St. Hedwig, Texas said to me, "He just seems like an angry little man." But I do like his cynical optomism. As he concludes in his liner notes from his latest album, "Yours for the motherfuckin' revolution."

Happy Mother's Dawn

The St. Paul Saints, the Twin Cities' minor league baseball team, offers many things the Twins don't, like 80 mile per hour fastballs and piss poor fielding, but no one goes to see quality baseball. The go for all the other fun things a Saints game offers:

Outdoor baseball
A pig that brings the balls out to the umpire
A nun that gives massages
Haircuts
A hot tub party in the outfield

The Saints slogan is "Fun is good." They forgot that sleep is good too.

On Mother's Day, they had an exhibition game that started under the lights at 5:35 a.m. Some 200+ crazed fans spent the night at the ballpark and 2000+ went to the game. The rationale for the early start was that this would allow fans and players alike to have the rest of the day to spend with their family.

The Saints is a remarkable organization. The baseball is mediocre on a good day, and management knows this. So they find other ways to sell their product that don't involve comparing their experience to the quality of play at a Twins game.

Click here for the story.

Reason #98748 Why SPURS RULE

The Spurs' All-Star forward, Tim Duncan, is also a huge geek. It turns out he is a wicked dungeons and dragons player. Sure the story is from 1997, but it's still funny.

From Spursreport.com

San Antonio Express-News (Texas)

November 30, 1997, Sunday , FINAL

HEADLINE: Duncan's unusual hobby and more unusual request

BYLINE: Jerry Briggs

Tim Duncan has a couple of obsessions not usually equated with today's hip-hop NBA: Renaissance fairs, samurai swords, and most importantly, Dungeons and Dragons. Known as "D&D" among afficinados, the fantasy role playing game engages players' imaginations as they trek through the imaginary world of GreyHawk. Along the way, players encounter friendly and hostile dragons, elves and a variety of otherworldly beings.

"It's a great escape from the rigors of the NBA," Duncan said while rolling his lucky 20 sided die while casting a spell of invisibility.

"I got hooked on D&D at Wake (Forest). Me and some buddies would play for hours at a time until I had to go to practice. My character is a 13th level lawful evil sorceror named Merlin (after the magician from Arthurian legend). Today, he has 98 hit points and an armor class of 2. My Charisma is 21. That's perfect."

The game's jargon aside, Duncan has made a more permanent commitment to his love of D&D.

"I have a tattoo of Merlin. He's like my alter-ego."

D&D's traditional player community is often labelled as "nerdy," but that doesn't faze Duncan.

"If playing D&D and dressing up in my purple sorcerors hat, velvet cape and magic wand is nerdy, call me a nerd. Though I'd prefer you called me Merlin," he grinned.

His obsession with Merlin and the black arts led to Duncan's quiet feud with the NBA this off-season. Wanting the back of his jersey to read, "Merlin," instead of his last name, Duncan sought the help of the NBA Players Association. Citing the NBA uniform code, Duncan's unusual request was rejected by the league.

Click here for the link.

Cottage Cheese

Emily's uncle has a blog now. Last weekend the Minnesota Men of Emily's family went to Wisconsin to open her family cottage. The coolest part of her cottage is that it is on the very land that was homesteaded by her great-great, hell I don't know how many greats, grandfather, 150 years ago.

So Emily's uncle documented the weekend on his blog. If you want to peep into what my weekend was like, click here.

Sometimes Only Platitudes Will Do

David Hackworth passed away today. I am not big on using words like "hero" or "good man," especially since I never met the guy. But if I ever had to apply those terms to complete strangers, he'd be right at the top of my list with Paul Wellstone.

Click here for more on his life.