Dante’s Speak, Installment 18
INSTALLMENT: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
14 | 15 | 16 | 17
HAPPY NEW YEAR! In this installment we'll wave good-bye to 2004. Let's hope that 2005 brings us everything we always wanted.......like.....hopefully the return of Dick Clark, who up until this year had brought in every new year since Jesus' birth. Hurry back!
We bid adieu to the Shaq-Kobe hype and all the meaningless "brick wall" and "corvette" comments. First of all, I am extremely disappointed in Shaq! With 2:15 remaining in regulation and the game tied, Kobe drives down the lane and gets bumped, nudged, tapped, by Shaq and Bryant goes to the line to give the Lakers the lead. THAT'S IT? No hard foul? No clothesline? No high-fiving Jack Nicholson on his way to the locker room? I expected Kobe to sail through the Staples Center floor like Wile E. Coyote on his Acme rocket! I truly felt like I had just sat there and watched Klubber Lang defeat Rocky. Okay......maybe I got a little carried away with the whole thing. Secondly, Shaq would add on to his quote, saying that everybody knows what happens when a corvette collides with a brick wall. YES Shaq, we do! He comes up with some great analogies, but then has to explain himself afterwards. To steal a line from Chandler Bing, "Shaq....we ALWAYS know what you mean!" Lastly, I apologize deeply for using a "Friends" reference.
Also, may 2005 be the end of the fight footage between the Pacers and Pistons. ENOUGH!! Is there ANYONE, aside from the Swiss Family Robinson, that HASN'T seen this fight? At first it was just so unimaginable that you couldn't get enough of it but now we really need to move on. Ron Artest has been suspended for 11 years, but Jermaine O'Neal, who landed the hardest punch since Mike Tyson hit Trevor Berbick (who fell three times from that one blow) is already back playing. Go figure.
I am hoping with all my heart that 2005 will mark the end of expansion to the NBA. Before we add NEW teams shouldn't we go back and fix some of the existing ones? How in good conscience do you add another team to the NBA knowing that the Atlanta Hawks exist? Every summer before the NBA draft, there should be a separate expansion draft just for the Hawks. Each season we should let them pluck players off of other NBA rosters until they finally catch up. I also would allow the same treatment for the Golden State Warriors. Imagine Emeka Okafor, Gerald Wallace, Kareem Rush, Keith Bogans and Primoz Brezec split up amongst the Warriors and Hawks instead of in Charlotte? On second thought, never mind....it's actually BECAUSE of the way they draft that the Hawks and Warriors are in the shape they're in, so this theory wouldn't work.
Now that 2004 is over with, may I never hear another thing out of Vince Carter. I mean it, I don't even want to hear him ask the ballboy for water when he comes to the TD Waterhouse Centre. Vince Carter is the reason they have lollipops at the Bank, and band-aids with ladybugs on them. Notice how healthy he is all of a sudden now that he's been traded. Keep up the good work everyone, since my last posting Grant Hill has made up 60,000 votes on Vince, we're almost halfway there. Keep voting for Grant and tell all your friends to do the same, let's get Grant Hill to start the All-Star game in February.
Lastly, will 2005 be the first complete calendar year that a Portland Trailblazer doesn't commit a felony? Will this be the year the New York Knicks finally catch the New York Yankees in payroll......and still lose? Will the Atlanta Hawks please never again wear their green throwbacks? Will the Hornets even reach the NBA record of 9 wins in a season? And what is the next tattoo Allen Iverson will add to his neck? Seriously though, in 2005 we are going to start seeing the emergence of the old-school, hard-working, blue-collar NBA player. No more what does the game owe ME but what can I do for the GAME. With Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Emeka Okafor, Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudemire, and so on, the face of the NBA is changing and I for one am on board. Grant Hill is back, Ray Allen, Tim Duncan, who never went anywhere, this game is in good hands and 2005 will be the beginning of many great things for this league.
Dante welcomes your comments, questions and alternative opinions. E-mail him here.
Dante’s Speak is solely the opinion of Dante Marchitelli and does not reflect the views of the Orlando Magic or the NBA. Marchitelli has served as radio producer in the Orlando Magic's Broadcast department for six seasons.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! In this installment we'll wave good-bye to 2004. Let's hope that 2005 brings us everything we always wanted.......like.....hopefully the return of Dick Clark, who up until this year had brought in every new year since Jesus' birth. Hurry back!
We bid adieu to the Shaq-Kobe hype and all the meaningless "brick wall" and "corvette" comments. First of all, I am extremely disappointed in Shaq! With 2:15 remaining in regulation and the game tied, Kobe drives down the lane and gets bumped, nudged, tapped, by Shaq and Bryant goes to the line to give the Lakers the lead. THAT'S IT? No hard foul? No clothesline? No high-fiving Jack Nicholson on his way to the locker room? I expected Kobe to sail through the Staples Center floor like Wile E. Coyote on his Acme rocket! I truly felt like I had just sat there and watched Klubber Lang defeat Rocky. Okay......maybe I got a little carried away with the whole thing. Secondly, Shaq would add on to his quote, saying that everybody knows what happens when a corvette collides with a brick wall. YES Shaq, we do! He comes up with some great analogies, but then has to explain himself afterwards. To steal a line from Chandler Bing, "Shaq....we ALWAYS know what you mean!" Lastly, I apologize deeply for using a "Friends" reference.
Also, may 2005 be the end of the fight footage between the Pacers and Pistons. ENOUGH!! Is there ANYONE, aside from the Swiss Family Robinson, that HASN'T seen this fight? At first it was just so unimaginable that you couldn't get enough of it but now we really need to move on. Ron Artest has been suspended for 11 years, but Jermaine O'Neal, who landed the hardest punch since Mike Tyson hit Trevor Berbick (who fell three times from that one blow) is already back playing. Go figure.
I am hoping with all my heart that 2005 will mark the end of expansion to the NBA. Before we add NEW teams shouldn't we go back and fix some of the existing ones? How in good conscience do you add another team to the NBA knowing that the Atlanta Hawks exist? Every summer before the NBA draft, there should be a separate expansion draft just for the Hawks. Each season we should let them pluck players off of other NBA rosters until they finally catch up. I also would allow the same treatment for the Golden State Warriors. Imagine Emeka Okafor, Gerald Wallace, Kareem Rush, Keith Bogans and Primoz Brezec split up amongst the Warriors and Hawks instead of in Charlotte? On second thought, never mind....it's actually BECAUSE of the way they draft that the Hawks and Warriors are in the shape they're in, so this theory wouldn't work.
Now that 2004 is over with, may I never hear another thing out of Vince Carter. I mean it, I don't even want to hear him ask the ballboy for water when he comes to the TD Waterhouse Centre. Vince Carter is the reason they have lollipops at the Bank, and band-aids with ladybugs on them. Notice how healthy he is all of a sudden now that he's been traded. Keep up the good work everyone, since my last posting Grant Hill has made up 60,000 votes on Vince, we're almost halfway there. Keep voting for Grant and tell all your friends to do the same, let's get Grant Hill to start the All-Star game in February.
Lastly, will 2005 be the first complete calendar year that a Portland Trailblazer doesn't commit a felony? Will this be the year the New York Knicks finally catch the New York Yankees in payroll......and still lose? Will the Atlanta Hawks please never again wear their green throwbacks? Will the Hornets even reach the NBA record of 9 wins in a season? And what is the next tattoo Allen Iverson will add to his neck? Seriously though, in 2005 we are going to start seeing the emergence of the old-school, hard-working, blue-collar NBA player. No more what does the game owe ME but what can I do for the GAME. With Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Emeka Okafor, Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudemire, and so on, the face of the NBA is changing and I for one am on board. Grant Hill is back, Ray Allen, Tim Duncan, who never went anywhere, this game is in good hands and 2005 will be the beginning of many great things for this league.
Dante welcomes your comments, questions and alternative opinions. E-mail him here.
Dante’s Speak is solely the opinion of Dante Marchitelli and does not reflect the views of the Orlando Magic or the NBA. Marchitelli has served as radio producer in the Orlando Magic's Broadcast department for six seasons.
