(Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)

(Yes, I know it’s not Friday anymore, but (a) it still is for two more minutes on the West Coast, and (b) Doc Funk Saturday doesn’t sound as good.)

From Magic/Bobcats Game 4

From Hawks/Bucks Game 5

From Nuggets/Jazz Game 5

From Mavs/Spurs Game 5

From Hawks/Bucks Game 5

(via jose3030)

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Andrew Bogut’s season ended early last night, after an appalling injury that I will not link to because I would rather you get a full night’s sleep.

My response – and I mean this in the full, three-year-old usage of the term – it’s just not fair.

It ain’t.

Sure, this injury won’t decide the identity of your 2010 NBA champions. It won’t decide who plays in the Finals, or the Conference Finals. Hell, it probably doesn’t even decide who wins a series (though the Bucks had the best chance of pulling off a first round upset in the East). Chances are, this just means that the Hawks/Celtics are a tad less tired when they get demolished by the Cavs/Magic.

Still not fair. Not one little bit.

Because if you’re an NBA fanatic like me – and if you’re not, I demand that you stop reading this instant, quit your job, get League Pass, watch at least 20 full-game replays, check the per-minute stats of the top 250 players in points per game, and get back to me – you know that Andrew Bogut, the sickly white, weird-haired, clumsy Australian center, was one of the most exciting players in the NBA this season. And watching him in the playoffs was another huge, bold and italic headline heading into this year’s postseason.

Sure, he shouldn’t have been drafted ahead of Deron Williams and Chris Paul. Sure, he looks kinda funny, much more Luc Longley/Greg Ostertag than he is Dwight Howard/Shaq. Sure, he’s never going to be in a dunk contest, and even when he (rightfully) makes an All-Star Game, his moves won’t make the highlight reel. But if you don’t like the beautiful interior passing, the world-class post defense, and that soft, soft touch around the basket, then you don’t like basketball.

And that’s before you get into the leadership. Bogut has spent the past few months of his life being the heart and soul of the league’s new up-and-coming, come-out-of-nowhere team. A team that defends, that shows and recovers, that swings the ball for the open shot. And even if they weren’t close to a title, this team was good. This was a squad that I was legitimately excited to see. “Can they beat the Hawks? They seem to play them well … wait, what about the Celtics? Ooooh, I’d love to see them against the Celtics! And how about that classic game against the Cavs? Seven games of that? Yes, please!”

Now?

“Can they beat the Hawks? No. Wait, what about the Celtics? No. And how about that classic against the Cavs? Seven games of that? Well, we won’t get it.”

Seriously, I hope you’re pumped to see Primoz Brezec get playoff minutes.

It depresses me, as a viewer of the game, that I am deprived of a fun player on a fun team playing fun basketball. And yes, I’ll find my kicks elsewhere. Hell, there’s not a single team in the league that I won’t watch. Every squad has at least 2 players for whom I monitor box scores on a daily basis. I mean it. Wolves? Love, Jefferson, Brewer, Flynn. Nets? Lopez, Harris, Courtney Lee, CDR. Pacers? Granger, Hibbert, Josh McRoberts (ha, fooled ya there). Pistons? Stuckey, Jerebko, Sir William Bynum. Try me. I dare you.

But even if you’re not a nutjob like me, even if you don’t go “Whoa! Four offensive boards for Chris Richard? Way to go, Chris!” Bogut made basketball just a bit funner. From the Duncan-esque statlines (31/18 or 25/14/5/1/2 or 18/14/4/6), to auditioning for the loudest, craziest fans in Milwaukee, so he can give them all season tickets and create “Squad 6,” the guy just gets it. (I can’t stress how great this Squad 6 idea is. I cordially invite you to come to a Hapoel Jerusalem game some time, and see how basketball crowds should behave. Squad 6 answers to that standard. See video below for background info.)

Which is what makes this so, so unfair. Forget about me and my quirks. I’m crushed no matter who gets injured. More than anybody else, this isn’t fair to Andrew Bogut. Because Andrew Bogut is what happens when you get over the injuries. After playing less than half a season last year, after his would be co-star tore his ACL for the second straight year, he comes back and leads a team stuck in nowhere land to the playoffs — for this to happen? I can’t imagine how bad it feels for him to miss the playoffs again after getting a slight taste of them in his rookie year, and missing them ever since.

This whole injury thing just sucks. And don’t give me the “it’s part of the game” speech. I know it’s part of the game. And it shouldn’t be. When the basketball gods had their “let’s create basketball” meeting, and they were discussing what they would like to include in the game, the son of a bitch that said “injuries! We gotta have injuries!” just made himself an enemy for life.

I can honestly say that this is the second most depressed I’ve been after an injury all season (get well soon, Greg Oden).

And it sucks.

This is a video about Squad 6. Not a video of Bogut’s injury. If you really want to watch that, go here. Disclaimer: It’s really, really gross.

Head over to The NBA Breakdown to listen.

(Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

Basically, once upon a time, Andrew Bogut got fouled and was supposed to shoot two free throws. But he’s a terrible free-throw shooter as you know. So Brandon Jennings, who is a good free-throw shooter and a guy who me and like a dozen other people call The Pterodactyl, thought to himself that he could use the ensuing commotion of the referee telling the scorer’s table what had just happened to sneak in and take the free-throws.

And it worked.

Sorta.

Brandon steps to the line, catches the pass from the referee and shoots — and makes — the first free-throw. But the other ref soon realizes what’s going on and runs over and is all like “the jig is up, Pterodactyl Face With The Flat Top” and takes the ball away, ruining both Brandon’s master scheme and disappointing all the children.

Then Bogut goes to the line as regularly scheduled.

And, in a tale as old as time, he misses two free throws.

The end.

(video via BareKnucks)

I honestly am not sure if he was actually trying to be slick and funny for if he’s just such a weirdo headcase at this point that he’s not exactly sure how the free throw protocol goes anymore. (video via Ball Don’t Lie and Oh Me Oh My, The Jello’s Jigglin’)

Either was, as far as free throw handshaking shenanigans goe, this one is indeed great but is definitely still only a distant second to Andrew Bogut’s classic self-high fives (second video).

That was epic. Nice work, Andy Bogues.

So, just FYI, we’ll now be referring to him as The Pterodactyl around these here webtubes. Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm came up with it. djturtleface gave us the below illustration. And I think it’s a perfect fit for the kid who has inspired us to say “Chuck Norris is the white Brandon Jennings.”

Thus, it is now official. Put it on the board.

In related news, CDR is now The Dread Pirate Chris Douglas-Roberts courtesty of Russ Bengston Update your Outlook and Gmail contact lists accordingly.

Mostly, it’s just great to see all these early-year additions to the big board. Keep up the good work.

It’s not the best job, but I make it much better. I steal. A lot. I’d say that out of any given ten letters I pick up, I thieve seven or eight. And ya know who writes a ton of letters? NBA players. I was shocked too. But I’m talking, like, a ton. In fact, the only thing they mail more than letters are postcards. Yup. Postcards. They send em to everyone. They send them to each other. They send them to their coaches. People send postcards to them. And sometimes they even send postcards to themselves.

These are the ones I stole last week.

Chicago Bulls

Cleveland Cavaliers

Detroit Pistons

Indiana Pacers

Milwaukee Bucks

]]> http://www.bothteamsplayedhard.net/2009/10/27/nba-postcard-preview-09-the-central/feed/ 2 http://www.bothteamsplayedhard.net/2009/09/28/the-nba-logo-ranking-project-8-milwaukee-bucks/ http://www.bothteamsplayedhard.net/2009/09/28/the-nba-logo-ranking-project-8-milwaukee-bucks/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:40:49 +0000 Joey http://www.bothteamsplayedhard.net/?p=5159 Hey, you.

Yeah, you — the guy in the camo gear with the orange vest, the greasy hair, the goatee and those weird yellow-tinted goggles that old people to like to wear. I just wanted to give you a heads up: don’t mess with me. Seriously. Whatever gun you’ve brought with you for this “hunt” that you’re on — don’t use it. Turn around, walk back through the woods, pick up the cans of Beast that you left lying around, get in your pickup and go home.

I’m warning you right now: you don’t want it with me. I’m a motherfucking Milwaukee Buck. You got me? Muh-ther-fuh-cking Mil-wall-key Buck.

Do you not see the muscles bulging out of my neck and shoulders? Do you know how many yokes I had to pull; how many sets of neck ups I had to tear through; how many delt exercises I had to invent; how much DGH went into this fucking bod? My muscles have their own muscles. Look at that picture! There is no Gold’s Gym in the Wisconsin hinterlands. We don’t get a one-time trial session with a deer trainer when we join the local forest.

We just tear shit up.

You sure you can handle it, gunnin’ for me? Don’t just stop at my ripped neck. Look at how my antlers, ever sharp, don’t point out toward you but up and in, back toward themselves. That’s sinister, hombre. You will get torn up if those things catch you where the sun don’t shine. Or in the face. IN THE FACE!

And how about my eyes? Yeah, that’s right — I’m rockin’ demonic zombie eyes. We’d have colored them in with red, but Herb Kohl wants children to leave the arena without the fear of an impending nightmare. But don’t think for a second that I won’t ride out like some heartless S.O.B. Because I will. I make those four horses carrying the harbingers of apocalypse look like My Little Pony.

And the blood. Did you notice the blood? I’m fucking swimming in it over here. A large, looming triangle of bitch-ass blood, drawn through violence from punks like you. At this point, maybe you’re swimming in something else. Have you pissed yourself yet? I wouldn’t be surprised.

So, yeah, walk away, little man.

You don’t want it.

Joey writes about hip hop, politics, sports and life at Straight Bangin’ and waxes poetic on the NBA at FreeDarko. Sometimes, he can be heard on the FreeDarko Presents: The Disciples of Clyde Podcast. Other times, you can find him at the library pursuing higher education and listening to Dilla. You don’t want it with Joey neither.

You don’t want it.

Logistically, it makes sense. There’s more space, so you have a few more characters to work with.

Michael Beasley is the lastest addition to the club and his is particularly interesting in that he paid homage to the Nas’ “God’s Son” belly tat but relocated the words to a trapezius canvas. (via Red’s Army)

Much like Tupac’s “Thug Life” piece (and, later, Nas’ “God Son”) popularized the stomach tat trend, 50′s “South Side” (of Jamaica, Queens) piece probably helped spur this new phenomenon.

LeBron probably has the most famous one (via Slam). Unrelatedly, I saw the theatrical trailer for More Than a Game, the upcoming documentary about his Akron, Ohio, high school basketball team, last night prior to The Hurt Locker (which was excellent). It looks really, really good.

Meanwhile, Bron’s “arch-rival” Deshawn Stevenson got one of his own. (via DC Sports Bog)

This isn’t a real tattoo, but Sideshow Varejao poked some fun at his teammate one day during practice. (via Shaver Sports)

Jameer Nelson has embraced his inner Tupac.

Brendon Jennings is similarly repping a Lil Wayne slogan.

Vince Young isn’t in the NBA, but he does have his name on his back.

Some Chinese Olympic badminton player named Cai Yun is the “Face of Adversity.”

]]> http://www.bothteamsplayedhard.net/2009/08/22/supercool-beas-and-back-tats/feed/ 3 http://www.bothteamsplayedhard.net/2009/06/29/your-apathy-speaks-volumes/ http://www.bothteamsplayedhard.net/2009/06/29/your-apathy-speaks-volumes/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:58:54 +0000 Jared Wade http://www.bothteamsplayedhard.net/?p=4629 Unfortunately, this year’s NBA Draft day video from the Stephen A. Smith Heckling Society is sort of like the Godfather III of the series — we are all obligated to watch it and, ultimately, it’s not even horrible, but the bar had been set so high by its predecessors that you cannot be anything but disappointed.

Aside from the line that became the title of this post and the line about Rubio, there’s not a lot here.

But, much like Godfather III did for Godfathers I & II, this one does at least remind you that you should go back and re-watch the originals. Another silver lining: No Sofia Coppola.

In other post-Draft news, this happened. You gotta love it when Joe Budden comes off as the articulate one. Now, normally, I would be the first one to kid around about this cause there are some pretty funny lines in there, but since most people are obviously going to be in an uproar about this and take it all seriously and talk about how this represents not only why Brandon Jennings himself is a failure at life but why this whole generation of NBA players has sullied the good name that the NBA had back in the days of Larry & Magic even though Larry Bird likely said stuff that was worse than this about other players every day and Magic cheated on his wife constantly, let’s all just pre-emptively calm down and realize that a throwaway conversation between Brandon Jennings and Joe Budden is really not that serious. He was speaking off the cuff in a laid-back setting and just talking junk as people are wont to do. Is it funny? Certainly. Is it major news? Certainly not.

Meanwhile, it looks like Brandon was incorrect in prognosticating that his new team would re-sign Charlie Villanueva, who was not given a qualifying offer by the Bucks today and has already said his goodbyes to his cheese- and beer-loving fans. Looks like Buddens was spot on that “that bum-a** n****” Luke Ridnour will not be backing up Brandon at the PG this year and, instead, the Bucks will be throwing all their available cash at Ramon Sessions to be the starter…further proving my theory that Joe Budden knows more about the NBA than Stuart Scott.

(Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

I knew dude was a freak and all, but wow. Impressive. I guess it just goes to show what can happen when you kick it with the OGs, listen to the oldies and work so hard you think you deserve a trophy.