14 posts tagged “new jersey nets”
On the night Jason Kidd awkwardly returned to New Jersey, his counterpart and replacement lit him and the Dallas Mavericks up for 41. I think it's time I get that Devin Harris jersey. Oh yeah, and he's a cool guy too.
So I'm a huge New Jersey Nets fan and while it's fair to say the franchise is in a bit of a transitional period, I thought the team looked pretty bad during an open practice JQ and I went to a few Saturdays ago. Now after seeing this, I'm convinced the Nets will finish in the basement of the Eastern Conference.
Today Rod Thorne and the Nets' front office finally pulled the trigger on a deal shipping away walking triple-double, future NBA Hall of Fame point guard Jason Kidd to where it all began for #3 on the NBA's all-time trouble-double list, Dallas. There's two sides to every deal and this is how I see it.
I'm back! I got a new computer today which is good because I have a lot of stuff to write about. I'll start with last Saturday night (May 12th) and a trip with Bill Quinn down to Wall Township Raceway. I've always wanted to get to this place but never really had a chance. First off, local racing is awesome and this was my first up close glimpse of Saturday night short-track racing. It was good, it's a sensory overload between the sound and the smell of burning rubber. All in all...it was lovely, here's some pictures.
It was cool; stock cars, midgets, throw-backs, and the Whelen Series. Good time.
After the racetrack Schumann and I met up with a bunch of people at DiGiorgio's uptown for Cole's birthday party. It was the most random shit...pizza, beer, karaoke! Here's a choice shot of Sal doing his best Prince...
We ended the night at the Starting Point as usual. Sunday night I had to work but Schumann and I hit up the diner afterward. Monday I went to Jersey Gardens to see "The Ex" with Zach Braff and Amanda Peet. It was good, some parts were eh but some parts were really funny. The movie keeps with the theme that people from the Metropolitan area hate everyone else (and yes, that's true). I got back to my house around 6 and wound up scoring a free ticket from my friend Suzanne to the Nets-Cavs playoff game at the arena. It was the seventh sellout of the season for the Nets and the building was seriously bumpin' out. Unfortunately the Nets lost the game but whatever, it was still a blast.
Tuesday and Wednesday the weather here was unreal and so Wednesday I went down to Sandy Hook. It was windy as hell and sitting on the beach got a little boring so I decided to take a literal hike through the wilderness. There is so much to do on that small peninsula it's unreal.
The first stop was the old Life Saving Station which is now the visitor's center. They have a store and a museum...it's worth checking out if ever around the Highlands.
So a few minutes into my hike my feet were burning from the sand and I was half decently scared of some of the wildlife. I know, I'm a little nancy but whatever...I just have a fear of snakes and I was seriously walking through straight up wilderness. All in all it was peaceful and guess what I found...
Yes that's really cactus and there was a lot of it. I had no idea cacti was indigenous to New Jersey but it is...crazy.
One thing that was creepy was sneaking around the old Nike Air Missle Base. Sandy Hook used to be a stragetic defense point of the New York City Metropolitan Area and the base had hundreds of surface to air missles ready to go at any point. The area is gated off and patrolled by Feds in blacked-out Crown Vics but I still sneaked around for some pictures. These barrack-looking buildings are HUGE and were numbered 1937 and 1938.
Tell me this isn't the sweetest thing...
After leaving Sandy Hook I took a ride down 71 to Asbury Park where a certain truck was sitting in the driveway of a certain house...
I just took a walk around and took some pictures. There's so much construction going on it's insane...I just hope this city doesn't get gentrified. I stood in the Convention Hall and as I looked through doors and down hallways I had memories flashing back at me. I walked in and looked on the ground where I rocked out to the Reunion Show four years ago at Skate & Surf. I looked in to the Paramount Theater and remembered watching the Starting Line...memories of Charlie and I waiting for a ska band to play right before a metal band started. "Give me horns or give me death!" I stared into the hallway before the main stage and remembered the stairways packed with kids and the mens' room filled with girls who couldn't wait on line. Finally I looked past the broken glass in the doorway to the main stage and got nailed with thoughts of Green Day, the Bouncing Souls, Bigwig's huge circle pit, Andrew W.K., I mean I could go on forever here. I really miss going to shows at Convention Hall if you couldn't tell. Especially Skate & Surf, it was a great time every single minute and the bands were amazing. I would give up every memory of every show I've ever played to have the chance to play at Convention Hall just once.
Being that the weather cooled down and it was about to rain I started to drive back up to Bayonne.
The other night Sal and I were hanging out after some baseball and made some home movies on my cell phone. Check it!
I hope you enjoyed them...it was all random as hell. Anyway it is Saturday night and the Nextel Cup All-Star Race is beckoning so I'm going to end it here. Some crazy stories for next time shall include a bitchy ex-girlfriend and a late-night strip club adventure. Holla!!
And last but not least, if you haven't checked out the New Jersey Vox Group then peep it. People put up some amazing photography.
If you ever have a chance to catch Third Eye Blind live, do it. In addition to being possibly the most underrated band in music today they are absolutely amazing live. Tim, Gary, Vinnie Oz and myself went to 3EB last Friday at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville. Before the show we tailgated in the parking lot across Journee Mill Road at the Vets' Hall. $1 beers inside? Absolutely. I'm going to write more in depth (pictures and set list) when I get my computer at my house back up and running. All in all the band had a ton of energy and as usual, Starland was way, way oversold. It was a blast as the four of us hung out at the bar the entire show. More to come! The next day I got to do something I've been wanting to do for a while, one of those "before I die" things. I went to, as a Red Sox fan, the House of Horrors. Yes, last Saturday Sal and I got to sit about nine feet off the field between third base and left field to watch the Red Sox and the Yankees go head to head. It was such a blast and I will eternally be grateful to Sal and his girlfriend Megan (who got us the tickets) for that opportunity. The Yankees won 3-1 behind a great performance in relief from Kei Igawa. Jorge Posada hit the game winning shot and afterwards the Yankee faithful chanted "hip hip, Jorge!". It was fun, here are some of the pictures from both Sal's camera and my phone...
Well, I wrapped up my Creative Writing portfolio on Tuesday about twenty minutes before class. I could have put more work into it if given more time but I had one week to revise thirty pieces of my work. I enjoyed most of my work, especially this piece I wrote which I entitled "My PF Flyers" which I posted here a couple of days ago...check it out. Besides school I've been spending a lot of time enjoying the weather and also checking out some music I hadn't gotten the chance to previously. I am in love with the Gym Class Heroes record, I listened to it the entire day today. I almost completely backcatalogued the Replacements, who were my soundtrack to last night. I spent the last two days in Manhattan, yesterday I went in at about six to go uptown to the NBA Store, not knowing it closed at seven. After that discovery I did a quick lap through the Apple Store on 58th and 5th before taking the 1 downtown to Sheridan Square. I walked over to Washington Square and laid in the fountain for fifteen minutes. I was hoping to catch some of Michael David and friends in the park but they weren't around. I walked down Thompson and Sarah called me from Chicago and we caught up. We hadn't really talked in a couple of weeks. If things don't work out with going on tour with Racing Kites I'm going to go back to Chicago for maybe seven to ten days and party it up mid-west style. I got pizza on Avenue A before walking down Saint Mark's in the rain listening to the Replacements, it was amazingly serene. I got back and got my study on before getting some sleep. I wound up going back to NYC on Wednesday and got my shopping on as well as meeting a very cool lady friend. My two days meandering around Manhattan let me relax and not think about subject matter or thought structure. I've been so grinded from this semester, and I'm really not getting a rest as I'm only going to summer semester one starting May 25th. It's all good, I'm not stressing out over school. I didn't do as good as I wanted to this semester but I know that all I have to do is change the way I act during a semester. I have to have normal sleep hours. I can't be staying up all night watching Say Anything every time it's on Cinemax at 2:30 a.m. Also I need to stop drinking during the week, even though it's only like Thursdays or once every couple of Sundays after work, I need to cut it, even though JQ and I have fun every Thursday night. All in all, this semester was like spring training. I'm going to improve my overall approach to school this summer.
Anyway enough about school. How about the Yankees resigning Roger Clemens? If I was a Yankee fan I would be beyond sick to my stomach. Give me a break, you're supposed to be the most prestigious franchise in sport yet you're showing one man that he is bigger than the entire team. Family clause?! Are you kidding me? What happens if A-Rod wants to stop shaving before games, is that going to be alright? It was a low, desperate move by a desperate team. I guess the highest payroll in sports (by a lot) can't buy confidence in your roster...and oh yeah, it's May.
On the other end of the spectrum we have the Golden State Warriors, who after barely making the playoffs pulled off the greatest upset in the history of the NBA Playoffs. What you don't hear is that the Mavericks this season had the sixth most wins in the history of the NBA's regular season. Baron Davis; you are truly a warrior in every sense of the word. He's the kind of player that you thank God he's not in your division or even your conference because when he is healthy, he is just as good as Nash, Kidd, Billups or Parker.
The Nets did a great job against Toronto and if they could learn to rebound on the defensive glass they will beat the Cavs. But in actuality think about this: Do you think the NBA wants to see Kidd and Carter beat their darling LeBron? No chance, Lance.
So the Rangers and Devils got knocked out this week, I guess that means that about twelve people shall watch Buffalo versus Ottawa.
So Brady Quinn fell to #22 in the NFL Draft. First off, the draft is way too long. Secondly Miami, Minnesota, Baltimore...don't you guys really need a quarterback? It's like last year when the Texans took Mario Williams and then had to trade for a running back by week four. Hmm...do you think that Reggie Bush guy would have helped? Good job Matt Millen of the Lions for picking up yet another wide reciever in the first round, your days as a GM are numbered. The Jets moved heaven and Earth to pick up a star cornerback, good job with no sarcasm.
So I picked up two prescriptions for my asthma the other day and noticed that the FDA is forcing companies to stop using spray inhalers for potential damage to the environment. Why? Is it because you're afraid people might have trouble breathing if the environment is unstable? God knows none of us with asthma would have any idea what that's like.
Dear NBC, if you do not pick up season seven of Scrubs I am going to boycott all of your programming from now until forever. This will include but not be limited to the Office, Today and both late night shows. I realize this is a rather small action however I have read that this season ends with a cliffhanger and if that is how the series ends, I may sell my body for sex in order to pay for production of season seven. In other Zach Braff news, his new movie The Ex comes out this Friday and I would like to go after work. I still need to see Spider Man 3 but I'm going to wait 'til next week as I'm getting my post-semester relax on.
It seems like everyone is in a relationship...I don't know.
And finally, perhaps the most important part of this entry for yours truly is that my mother just got offered a relocation to Naples, Florida from her job. So I guess all I have to say about that is sometime over the next year I might be moving to the Gulf Coast. More to come in the coming days and I promise to have my computer back up and running soon, hopefully before this weekend.
All in all if anyone would like to go to go to A) the Nets/Cavs playoff game this Saturday at Continental Airlines, B) see The Ex and/or Spiderman 3 this weekend holler at me. Hope everyone is enjoying the weather like we're having here on the beautiful East Coast and is doing well. Peace!
It's been an interesting couple of days. Instead of doing some homework I feel the need to get a little freewrite out. I hope you enjoy. Where to start..? Ok, well tonight someone told me that I care more about sports than my family so I guess I'm going to write about sports because after all, it's why I get up in the morning.
First off Charlie Manuel, what the hell are you thinking putting your ace Brett Myers in the bullpen? Not only are you blowing your season right off the bat but you're killing my own fantasy roster. Please place Myers back at the front of the rotation. I look at it as another reason to hate Philadelphia.
Kudos to Jeff Gordon for winning his first career race at Phoenix Saturday night. His win, the seventy-sixth of Gordon's career at NASCAR's top level tied him with the legendary man in black; Dale Earnhardt on the all-time career victories list. Gordon, who is the Nextel Cup points leader is already a four-time champion of the series, Earnhardt had seven.
Big that-a-boys go out to the New Jersey Nets for defeating the Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto this past Saturday afternoon. Although Vince Carter was ice cold in his return to Toronto, Richard Jefferson picked up the slack scoring the basket. Good boys.
This is the first year in a really long time I am 100% confident about the New York Jets front office heading into the NFL Draft. Man-genious!
Congratulations to Martin Broduer and the New Jersey Devils for finding their form and putting the nail in the playoff series against #7 Tampa Bay. Broduer collected what I believe off the top of my head to be his twenty-second career playoff shutout, sorry if I'm wrong. He trails only Patrick Roy who has 27. The Devils shall play the Ottawa Senators in the second round.
The biggest cheers of this past week goes to my beloved Boston Red Sox. Who this weekend completed a three game sweep of the New York Yankees, their first sweep of the Bombers in Fenway since 1997. Big props to Alex Cora who had two game winning hits, along with Dustin Pedroia, Mike Lowell, Hideki Okajima, Jonathon Papelbon and Coco Crisp. These are the guys usually not on the back page who really won this series for the Sox. Good job all around, keep it up and let's win ninety games.
I think I'm done with sports.
Oh, and ofcourse one last thing to mention. I lead Sal in the season series three games to none in street basketball thus far. Tonight was a fun game and I'm sorry I talk so much shit...it's over now.
As for the rest of life I had two classes today but still found time to do nothing but lay in the sun for forty minutes. Thank God for the weather the past couple of days, keep it up Big Man.
If you want to check out something very cool, obtain a copy of the "New York City" EP including Norah Jones among other artists. It was recorded before she broke open into the limelight, and it's just...well cool. Norah has my heart by the way.
I also insist everyone check out The Years Gone By. They're a band from South Jersey I played with a couple of times when I was in Racing Kites. They're really cool, hard working guys and they have a new full length record coming out soon. Check 'em out on either MySpace or PureVolume.
I can't wait for this semester to be over, I feel burned out and just need like a week to recharge. That ofcourse won't happen until probably around Thanksgiving because of my summer which if you're curious, browse a few entries back for the details.
I hope everyone is enjoying the weather. Today I got ate some ice cream after class with Andrea, Jessica and Sal before our basketball game. Then I wound up hanging out with Dan, Paul and Alex Bussey at the pool hall on Broadway for a couple of hours which was fun. I came home and fired up my air conditioner for the first time this year afterwards. Now I'm here...up too late again...listening to New Found Glory. So much on my plate for tomorrow but I seem to think I'm somehow prolonging my bounderies if I don't stop writing. Falsities, I hope everyone is doing really good.
"Remember sitting back in school...I held my tongue until it turned blue, they said I had an attitude". - the Replacements
I know it's been a while, I apologize. I had to get my computer completely...fixed? I love when a computer technician is explaining in depth just exactly he or she is going to have to do to your computer. I listen intently for about six and a half seconds, then for the remaining twelve minutes I think about things that actually matter while nodding my head, seemingly attentive...
"And I'm going to rebuild your ram, then repair damage to the motherboard, fix the power supply, build a raft out of human and small animal bones and sail to the United Kingdom where I shall start a trip across the European continent reading issues of the Silver Surfer and Green Lantern in ninety one different languages. Then I'm going to lead an expedition of the Baltic Seabed while I restore your memory and drive capacity".
I don't know, these past couple of weeks have been weird. I registered for summer and fall last week which is good. This summer I'm taking Biology and the Human Body, pretty much I'll have maybe sixteen days of actual summer in New Jersey between work and school. The semester ends June 25th, then to my knowledge I'm still going on tour with Racing Kites on June 29th until the end of the century.
I guess I can't complain much about school, I'm just counting down the weeks in the semester. It hasn't grinded on me as much...alright that's a bit of a lie. Sometimes my mind just feels maxed...maybe I need to stop doing 94,000 things per second and I'd smoothe out. I went most of this week without spending any time online despite not really putting a dent in any of the work I have due this coming week. The end result of two intense writing courses I guess, never really a problem though...rambling much?
Anyway I feel compelled to mention the Virginia Tech shootings. It's horrid anyone has the thoughts that that one person had and acts on it. It really made me think about the entire butterfly effect idea, how one person could effect thousands, sometimes positively but anything but in this case. It's sickening...I digress.
Sal and I are going to Yankee Stadium while the Red Sox are in town next Saturday. I've never been to Yankee Stadium (the House of Horrors) and so the fact that I'm getting to see my favorite team while they're in New York is an added bonus. The Yankees comeback today against the Indians was unreal, I'm actually going to give you guys some props because that was unreal. I am so sick to my stomach of Yankee fans still talking shit about Alex Rodriguez. He's only having the single best start to a season in the history of the game of baseball. I'm sick of you guys saying "let him do it in October...it's only April". Yes you are correct it is April but you mean to tell me that if this guy was hitting .082 with no home runs and six RBIs that you all wouldn't be killing him? Give me a break you booed him twice in the first inning of the first game. You are spoiled and unappreciative...I can't wait to hear you all crying when A-Rod opts out of his contract and someone like Andy Phelps is playing third base. And no, the Yankees will not resign him to a new contract, just shutup with that jibber-jabber, too. What most people forget is that Texas still pays A-Rod $16 million a year so the Yankees only shoulder the brunt of $9 million for the best player in baseball. Brian Cashman, what a fitting last name for a Yankee general manager, is not going to get into a huge bidding war over A-Rod and if he opts out, he will leave the Bronx for maybe Chicago, Anaheim, Boston, Los Angeles or even Queens. Despite the Mets having a pretty good third basemen in David Wright it seems a lot of you Mets fan still want A-Rod on your team next season.
Props to the New Jersey Nets for coming together late in the season and taking the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Sal, Nora, Jamie, Kim and I went to the game last night against Chicago which the Nets earned a rock solid victory to give them division champ Toronto in the first round. It was a good game even though getting our tickets turned into a competition in itself. That's pretty much it for sports...and for this entry...I'll leave this here with a thought exchange between Sal and myself when I said I should become a sports writer...
"So pretty much you're telling me that I'm going to have no life because I'm going to have to watch games all day and night and have no love-life...where is the difference"?
I'm watching the Nets play pretty flat. They're down 48 - 47 to the lowly Celtics with 2:41 left in the 3rd. It is a beautiful Saturday following a beautiful Friday in New Jersey. This whole week has actually been pretty nice. Tuesday I went to the Arena to watch the Nets beat Gilbert Arenas and the Wizards. They played without Antwan Jamison and couldn't make shots, nor stop the perimeter shooting of House, Nachbar, Kidd and Carter. It was a good game, in the 3rd Kidd was flirting with the all-time NBA record for threes in a single quarter. As for today everyone seems to be off, it's a horrible shooting game, the Celtics are now down by one despite shooting 25% from the floor. The Nets have 19 turnovers...
Well, after class on Wednesday I helped my uncle with some car stuff before we headed to NYC for lunch at Katz's; delicious. I think if I had to choose a last meal, it would be a pastrami sandwich with mustard on rye from Katz's along with steak fries and a chocolate egg cream. Mmm... Anyway after a trip around the island of Manhattan I met up with Jamie Quinn and we went to the Hammerstein Ballroom on 34th Street for the "West Coast Winter", with Jack's Mannequin and Head Automatic..? Aren't they from Long Island? Also playing were We Are The Fury (I think) and the Audition. The Audition might be the worst sounding band I have ever heard in my life. They were horrible. Head Automatica was really good, they suprised me. I like them but they really sounded good. But wow, Jack's Mannequin was amazing. Andrew McMahon really knows how to put it down. There's something about that band and Something Corporate, they are both out of this world live bands. They played their entire "Everything In Transit" album as well as "Punk Rock Princess", "She Paints Me Blue" and a cover of "Message In A Bottle" by the Police. It was an awesome show...
Ugh, the Nets blow another double digit lead in the fourth. Paul Pierce and Delante West hit two clutch threes to tie to game at 83 and send the game to OT.
Thursday I skipped class but went to work at 4. Jamie and I went out afterwards to the BA and watched a middle-aged Hispanic man dance all night to Mark's band. It was fun as always.
Yesterday I got caught up on some homework before going into work early. I got out at 9 and met up with Kim at the Sidehatch at 11. It was a pretty chill night, it was only a mild dance party compared to usual. A lot of people went to Against Me! at Starland, including the Pete and Kate who came out afterwards. Kate and I wound up dancing to some reggae and her and I talked about Pete and Bryan's East Coast bike trip. She is really cool and some people think she's a bitch, but whatever, she is always super cool to me. Pete and I talked about our general hatred of women and I got him to dance with Kate which trust me, was a sight to see. We rocked out to "Everybody Have Fun Tonight". Total blast as usual. Kimmy and I had a chat and I wound up coming back to Bayonne at around 4. Now here I am...
The Nets game just went final, a 96 - 88 overtime loss to the second worst team in the NBA. Awful, seriously awful.
Oh well, tonight shall be a good night. Szymczak is coming back and we might hit up NYC tonight...stoked!
Rod Thorne of the Nets needs to trade Vince Carter to the Orlando Magic for J.J. Reddick, Darko Milicic and a first round pick. Then deal Jason Kidd, Jason Collins, Clifford Robinson and the Nets' second round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers for Jordan Farmar, Andrew Bynum and the Lakers' next two first round picks.
Dear Rob Thorne and all management of the New Jersey Nets,
With Nenad Kristic done for the year this is the time that you absolutely have to make some kind of move to put some energy into this team. If you have a chance to acquire Pau Gasol from Memphis, do it! If you're sweating about giving up a first or second round draft pick, I don't understand. You just had two first round picks and got a steal in Hassan Adams in the second round. There is your future. You can probably get Gasol for Jason Collins and/or Jeff McInnis as well as a first or second round pick, just pull the trigger. You must be on crack if you think the team is going anywhere playing the way they are right now. You already have the future in Marcus Williams, Josh Boone, Antione Wright, Hassan Adams, and Bastjan Nachbar. What bums me out in reality is that with a pretty tough schedule coming up these next two weeks, I wouldn't be shocked to say goodbye to Vince if the going gets rough. The roster isn't getting younger and with no dominant team in the east they can make a push with as little as one roster alteration.
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