Recently I was reading an old article by Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, entitled “More on USA Basketball.” (It could have just as well been called, “Moron USA Basketball.” Just kidding. It is a worthwhile read.)

In this article, Mark Cuban focuses most of his propositions at the NBA — which isn’t surprising since he owns an NBA franchise. However, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail,” (Abraham Maslow).

I’m sorry, Mark, but I would hate to see NBA basketball adopt international rules, and I believe most fans would as well. That is not the answer.

Mr. Cuban is right, though, in that international players do struggle to adapt to the NBA when they get there. But then again, so do college students. The difference is, at some point, the NBA’s international players will get to reuse their former game skills as they represent their countries during the summer in international competitions, whereas former collegiate players will NEVER be called upon to revert to their former NCAA game skills to represent their former schools.

Which begs the question: what on earth is the NCAA doing?

The NBA obviously sees the NCAA its primary labor pool, and judging by the way the NCAA has become a strange brew of high school and NBA basketball, it appears the NCAA regards itself as the NBA farm league as well. For example, the NCAA’s three point line is the same as the high school line, and its court size is the same as the NBA’s. But why? Why does the NCAA have its own private variation of the game of basketball?

The NCAA’s perplexing perspective of its role in basketball has caused it to create a world unto itself, a world that insists on being oblivious to how basketball is played the world over, and is doing no one any favors — particularly USA basketball.

The vast majority of college basketball players will never play in the NBA, therefore the NCAA needs to shift its focus away from being the transition between high school and the NBA, and instead educate college athletes on how the game is played around the world.

Again, the NCAA is doing basketball no favors by insisting on its own private adaptation of the game, and it needs to commit to conforming more closely to international rules.

Once accustomed to a system, returning to it isn’t that difficult. Yao Ming, Leandro Barbosa, Manu Ginobli, Dirk Nowitsky, etc. seem to have no problems moving between both the NBA and FIBA’s international basketball. In fact, they all speak both dialects fluently and are the basketball equivalent of being bilingual.

If the NCAA game were to closely conform to the international game, the 1 to 5 years NBA players will spend in college would effectively help Team USA to be drastically more basketball bilingual as well.

Which reminds me of an old joke. What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks just 1 language? American. Unfortunately, thanks to the NCAA, the same is true of USA basketball.

— Note, this is not complete. I’m tired and am quitting for now, but I’ll come back and do part 2 later. —

He was the best of players; he was the worst of players.

I cannot think of a another player in the NBA that sparks the intensity of debate that Kobe Bryant does. Some (like Charles Barkley) say he is selfish and a disease to a team. Others (including Larry Bird), say he is the best player in the NBA.

The debate is made more complicated by the staggering amount of misinformation actively circulating about Kobe Bryant. In fact, too often Kobe debates aren’t differences of opinion, but factual disputes. What is true? What really happened and what really HYPE-ned?!

So I’ve decided to try to provide a fresh (and painstakingly factual) look at Kobe.

My aim isn’t to persuade you to like or dislike him. Besides, it’s too late for that anyways — most people have their minds made up about Bryant.

(more…)

Technically, a 4-2 series victory isn’t a sweep, but when you consider how close Cleveland came to winning all 6 of the games played, this comes close. In fact, for the first time in 6 games, the outcome of a game didn’t come down to the last shot! Has there ever been another series like it? (more…)

Usually I watch games alone, but last night 7 people came over to watch the Spurs play the Jazz.  Some were Spurs fans, some were Jazz fans, and some I’m sure, were just there for the popcorn and Krispy Kremes. (more…)

I know no one agrees with me, but I really don’t think the Pistons are as much in control as everyone is saying. In fact, by this time next week, I think it is quite possible that the series will be even. Please hear me out. (more…)

I’m sitting here watching the draft lottery wondering why; there isn’t anything that is going to happen that I wouldn’t be able to read about in much less time. I guess I’m just anxious for some basketball.

In an hour, game 2 of the Western Conference Finals tips off, and I’m sitting here wondering, “Are all the pundits right?”
(more…)

Cisco isn’t the only one who should be suing Apple for using the name, “iPhone.” Apple’s own shareholders should be as well. Apple is one of the world’s most famously creative companies; it is just impossible to believe that “iPhone” was the best they could come up with.

Dear Mr. Jobs, (more…)

Someone somewhere sometime said, (and a lot of people have said it since), that

1. The first screen was the movie screen,
2. The second screen was the television screen,
3. The third screen was the computer screen, and
4. The fourth screen belongs to portable digital devices such as telephones, PDAs and cameras.

Consequently, portable electronic devices are sometimes referred to as the “fourth screen.”

That sounded good to me, then I figured out that the emergence of screens might not have been so straight forward.

According to Wikipedia articles, (more…)

On the bright side, at least the brawl between the Nuggets and the Knicks has us talking about something other than where Iverson will end up.

I’m sure you have probably noticed that the NBA has been diseased for awhile now.

The NBA is infected with an increasing number of people whoare so repugnant that most of us would hate to have to deal with their egos and selfishness in our personal, everyday lives, but because we don’t have to, and because their physical gifts help our beloved teams, these goons are instead adored. (more…)

It was one month past our first wedding anniversary and Christmas morning.  As struggling college students, we had spent our year together literally banking on the saying, “Two can live as cheaply as one,” and now that we had a new, one month old baby, we were hoping to stretch that to three.  While I was growing up my mom always used to say, “We’re so poor, we can’t pay attention.” Starting my own little family, we were that poor too.

Most couples had gone home for the holidays, or at least to relatives nearby, but being from Alaska, we made a Christmas for our little family in our apartment.  Having little to give others, we decided to give our Christmas dinner away to the only young couple we knew of who was poorer than we were. However, making this delivery anonymously was going to require planning, luck, and athleticism.  Their apartment was in a building where the front door opened into a long hallway. 

With my wife waiting outside in the getaway car, I carefully set the box of food in front of their door, knocked very loudly, then shot down the hall in a flat out run.  As I reached the stairs at the end of the hall, I heard their door open.  I knew my only chance to not be seen was to leap the entire flight of stairs, so I did a weird jump — crouched over so as to be as low as I could be as I took to the air.

I almost made it.

My right foot hit the last step and I rolled my ankle and crashed in a heap on the landing below the stairs.  I popped up and hopped at hyper speed for the outside door, crossed the icy sidewalk and dove into the car and my wife sped off for home.

I hobbled up the stairs to our apartment thinking to myself, “It is amazing how good you can feel with a severely sprained ankle.”

We could hear the telephone ringing as we unlocked the door.  It was this couple.  “Rats!” I thought.  “He saw me!“

“Merry Christmas, Tom,” he said.

My wife looked at me as if to ask, “Who is it?” I pantomimed that it was this couple.  She gasped.

“Are you enjoying your Christmas dinner?” he asked.

“Why would he ask that?” I thought to myself.

We were so busted, but I tried to play it cool. “Actually, we haven’t had dinner yet,” I said.

“That’s what I thought,” he replied.

My wife whispered to me, “Do they know?” I nodded yes.

“Guess what?” He continued.  “Someone just left a whole Christmas dinner at our door, all cooked up, turkey and everything!”

“Really?” I said, wiping the sweat from my palms.

“Yeah, that’s why we’re calling you.  You guys are the only couple we know of that is poorer than we are, so we were wondering if you wanted to come over and have dinner with us.”

As we entered their apartment bearing the apple pie we held back for ourselves and still unsure if they suspected us, he asked me, “Tom, what happened to your leg?!”

“I cut myself shaving,” I joked.

That was exactly 20 years ago this Christmas.  I don’t remember many of the Christmas gifts I’ve received since then, but I know I will never forget what we gave that Christmas day, and how it felt.

After the Pistons’ loss to Utah, Saunders paraded his ineptitude before the press as he whined about technical fouls.

“My comment is that we might as well play ‘PlayStation’ if we are going to take the emotion out of it,” Saunders said.

Boo hoo. Could someone bring poor Flip a clean diaper?

Anyone who says T-ing up crybabies is taking the passion out of basketball needs to quit embarrassing himself and watch more college basketball — especially in March. Do those teams (whose league doesn’t tolerate whining) seem to lack passion? (more…)

My family and I are brand new to Utah. We moved to Orem from Alaska to be near our daughter at Brigham Young University, and because our younger children all want to go to BYU. We love this school and everything it stands for. As new residents, we barely know a handful of people here in Orem. On the other hand, I have no doubts that two well established, prominent men such as Dr. Ned Hill and Dr. Steve Albrecht have a lot of friends and supporters here, so I’m bracing myself for a negative response to this, nevertheless, I feel like someone has to say it: BYU needs to discipline Ned Hill and Steve Albrecht for their indiscretion. (more…)

It started simply enough.

Pittmans.net was supposed to be our family website, a place for sharing photos, disseminating news and keeping in touch with our loved ones around the world.

Blog907 (.com and .net) was for sharing comments on current events, particularly those of interest to those who live in area code 907: Alaskans.

Then life happened and we found ourselves in area code 801 (Utah) instead!

So, as of today, Blog907.net and Blog907.com have been put out to pasture, and their articles and comments have been migrated to TWO NEW BLOGS.

Blog801 (.com and .net) will continue from this point on and feature commentary on current events of local, national or global interest, including politics, news, sports, music and modern culture.

Journal.Pittmans.net will chronicle the adventures (yeah, I know I’m stretching it there) of the Pittman family.

So this post is the demarcation point. Everything before this post was Blog907; everything after this post is Blog801.

“Maybe there are a lot of snobs in Australia who are embarrassed by Steve Irwin, but I guarantee you, right now there are a lot of feminists the world over who are embarrassed by Germaine Greer. At least I hope so.” (more…)

What would you do if you were walking around in your house and you came face to face with a bear? I can tell you what Nicky would do, because it just happened to her! (more…)

The great philosopher, Anonymous, once said, “Thinking that life should treat you fairly because you are a good person is like thinking a bull shouldn’t charge you because you are a vegetarian.”

Someday I may blog on the lies of liars and the incredible incompetence of those who should have protected our family from them, but probably not. Obviously life is not fair, and apparently it is not even meant to be.

If this life was about fairness, no child would ever be harmed, and all ice cream would be calorie-free. (more…)

I am considering moving my family to Terre Haute, Indiana so I’m doing research. Look what Wikipedia says about Terre Haute, Indiana: (more…)

Saturday, May 6, 2006. Today my eldest daughter became someone else’s girl.  (more…)

Anchorage Daily News reporter, Cinthia Ritchie, challenged us to come up with “Alaskanisms” such as “termination dust” or “bunny boots” in her Sunday article. That sounded fun, so here are some more Alaskanisms:  (more…)

Thanks to Dish Network and NBA League Pass, I get to watch a LOT of basketball. The Suns and the Lakers are two of the teams I’ve tracked all season. Both Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash tend to dominate the ball, with Kobe usually looking to score and Steve usually looking to pass.I like Steve Nash. Not only is Stevie one of my favorite players in the league, but he is one of my favorite people in all professional sports. How I wish more athletes had his character!

But tell me, what is the difference between most of a team’s points coming from one player (like Kobe Bryant), and most of a team’s assists coming from one player … like Steve Nash? (more…)

It’s winter. It’s Alaska. To my frustration, my boss made me work late and we were playing a private dance that night. Although we had set up the night before, I still had to drive home to change clothes before I went to the gig and I was running so late the band was going to kill me. Adding to my aggravation, the road conditions were not good making the drive to my house was so slow I was almost ready to pop out of my skin.When I finally got home, I couldn’t get the car up our road, so I left it at the bottom of the hill and ran up to the house. I quickly changed and being a certifiable idiot, I grabbed my beautiful, perfect, 1977 Fender Jazz Bass by the neck and decided to save a second or two and not bother to put it in its case … and took off down the hill.  (more…)

In Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s latest blog, Some Thoughts on the NBA, he wrote, “I’m a purist. The rules is the rules. I don’t care if you call it on us. “That would be a little easier to believe if we hadn’t watched Cuban’s jubilation at and after the three point contest. Dirk Nowitski should not have even advanced to the second round much less won the three point shootout, had the officials done their job as Mark Cuban claims he wants them to.

Since we haven’t read that he has sent tapes to the league office about it, forgive us for concluding that the only time he wants officiating to be spot on is when it is to his advantage.  (more…)

If you want to see a very thought provoking article on why the Pistons are so good and the Knicks are so bad, check out this aritcle on Thomas vs. Dumars. It takes the teams that former teammates Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars built, and discusses how each of their teams are created in the image of their creator.This article makes me think about the job Jerry West did for the Lakers and how the Grizzlies have done since he went there, and how the former Phoenix Suns GM, Bryan Colangelo, might affect Toronto.

Maybe what Kobe needs most in L.A. is Jerry Krause!

Cheers!

Cuban, unless he wises up, is going to be one of those guys who the whole league loves to see down when he is down.  (more…)

You gotta love all these BOXSCORE BLOGGERS and their “expert” opinions. Analyzing a basketball game from a statistical box score and highlight clips is like saying you know a girl because you’ve read her measurements and saw her dating video. Can you say s-h-a-l-l-o-w?

I’m not saying that box score bloggers shouldn’t write; I’ve spotted things of value from many of their blogs. And I’m certainly not saying that stats and highlights don’t have their value because they do. But too many boxscore bloggers are like cement: all mixed up and permanently set. Don’t let that be you.  (more…)

I don’t know if we are all too young to remember or too old to have reliable memories, but before Kobe was the player we all loved to hate, there was another young player who scored most of his team’s points, didn’t get along with his all-star teammate, dismantled a championship-caliber team, and got his coach dismissed in the process: Shaquille O’Neal.

Shaq didn’t get along with Penny Hardaway in Orlando then went to Los Angeles to not get along with Kobe Bryant. (Can you say, “Common Denominator?”) In so doing, Shaq ditched a team that had just won their division twice in a row, been to the Eastern Conference Finals twice in a row, and had been to the NBA Finals. Why? According to Shaq himself, he bolted for Hollywood to help his rap and movie career. (Can you say, “Ron Artest?”) Soon after, coach Brian Hill was let go and the Magic have never been the same since. (more…)

(From Blog907.net)

The Governor of AncMatSu, Alaskette

The great philosopher, Anonymous, once said, “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.” If we who live in the Municipality of Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough aren’t careful, we could easily harm Alaska overall by thinking only of ourselves. (more…)

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, October 13, 2005. 

(Faxed to Dan Fagan Friday, 07 October 2005 @ 2:41pm)

Dear Dan Fagan,

I enjoyed listening to your show yesterday (Thursday, October 6, 2005). I agree; Paul the intern is a “solid guy.”

I listened with keen interest to the anecdote about the woman who is eligible for health services at the Native hospital but doesn’t take advantage of them because she doesn’t want to be a part of the entitlement mentality. I had my three high school aged children in the car with me as I listened, and I turned up the radio and made them listen as well as you and your guest applauded her for her principles, and thrashed the evils of the entitlement culture. I agree how un-conservative that thinking is. I was glad my children were hearing this.

But then we were all thrown for a loop as we listened to your guest turn around and refer to the Permanent Fund Dividend as “your” dividend check, and then the two of you campaigned for the PFD with indignation. My children literally started laughing as they discussed how can you believe the entitlement mindset is bad, and then hold your hand out and demand “your” PFD check?  (more…)