R.I.P

This Blog Is Dead

This for that

A lot of ink has been spilled in the last few months regarding the Jay Cutler for Kyle Orton trade. The discussions generally hovered around the topic of who will have gotten the better end of the trade in the long run. How could the Broncos trade their all-star QB for draft picks and a perennial also-ran? Allow me to cut through the superfluous analysis, and cut to the chase: the draft picks not withstanding ,one bad quarterback was traded for another bad quarterback. And in all likelihood both will continue to play accordingly.


First, nothing needs be said about Kyle Orton that hasn't already been said. He is not good. Cutler is not good either; he just has a little bit higher expectations and a stronger arm. Cutler also has all the leadership skills as a bowl of gazpacho. It would also seem that his football instincts are tuned to a dull nub. Orton does have one arrow left in his quiver though. He is working within a system. Coach Mc-D just needs Orton to be a cog in a wheel. Orton doesn't need to be the whole show. Cutler is required to shine. If Cutler doesn't go 300 yards with 2 TDs consistently he will start to garner some serious flop/Jeff George press.

I Can See Clearly Now

Summer vacation is over. For the few (read: nobody) that read this blog its back to work. The insufferable summer months devoid of the most basic reasons to get up in the morning (Broncos) are over. In the next few weeks I will be offering comprehensive previews of the coming Broncos and Nuggets season. Including all the news and precious commentary that you enjoy. I will also be throwing the occasional English Premier League morsel out. Carry on.

The Dry Days

The conclusion of the most forgettable NBA Finals of recent memory has brought to a conclusion the viable portion of the American sporting annual. For the next three months we can look forward to a spirited debated regarding A-Rod's jockstrap size and a little redneck-roundy-round (NASCAR). The NBA should look into an outdoor summer tournament or mini-season. The teams could be based on cultural, religious, or body art groupings.

A brief reprieve from the redundancy is the Confederations Cup. Perhaps the most unavailing sporting tournament in the world. I honestly can not figure out why they play this event. But I will watch it, and probably enjoy it. Today, at 2:30 the USA plays Italy in a rematch of the tightly contested match from the 2006 World Cup. The States have been struggling mightily in their recent contests. Including a pathetic outing that resulted in a 3-1 thrashing at the hands of Costa Rica. If Beasely, Donovan, and Dempsey can play with a modicum of dexterity we might be able to pull out a result. Here are Clint Dempsey's (or Deuce) other "talents":



It almost makes it impossible to cheer for any team he is on.

In Memory

David Carradine: 1936-2009

This is how I would like to remember him. Full of life, and a homemade jockstrap bandage.

Spawn of Dirk

There are reports emanating that Dirk Nowitzki's imprisoned ex-fiance, Cristal Taylor, is pregnant. I don't know which angle to attack here. First, can you even imagine what this child will look like? To describe Taylor's appearance as rugged is generous. Second, if the child is male, and he plays basketball; the sensation! How would his back story be explained? The love child between German basketball player and grifting East Texas filly perhaps? Last, doesn't Dirk have handlers that would steer him from such obvious peril?

To think, somewhere in the Beaumont city jail, nestled in the womb of Cristal Taylor, is that demon seed. It just sent shivers down my spine.

Also, for the record, any combination of the words "grifter" and "East Texas" are welcomed on the credentials of any women I am dating or will date.

Methodist Admonition

Here is an intriguing time capsule involving game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Warriors and Bullets in 1975. The halftime brought a report about the resurgence of backgammon around the world. Prince Alexis's discussion about crying in the restroom I found to be the most engrossing.



Golden State won. Rick Barry went for 36.

Right of Refusal

Fascinating development regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers imminent visit to the White House to meet President Obama. It is an annual, honorary meeting between the Super Bowl champions and the president. James Harrison, using his infinite deductive wherewithal, is refusing to join. The adept logician, James Harrison, has said his reason for refusing the honor is because if the Arizona Cardinals won they would have been invited.

"If you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the Super Bowl," he told Pittsburgh's WTAE-TV. "So as far as I'm concerned he would have invited Arizona if they had won."

Fascinating.

Moral Hazards with Malcom Gladwell

I am always intrigued by people who take sports and use them metaphorically to frame and explain larger more universal paradigms. Malcolm Gladwell has an almost preternatural talent for this. He recently wrote an article for The New Yorker, "How David Beats Goliath", that outlines common characteristics of successful underdogs. Using stories like David vs. Goliath, Lawrence of Arabia and the Bedouins vs. the Ottoman Army, and a 1971 basketball game: Fordham vs. Umass, Gladwell illustrates a single underlying trait.

"David can beat Goliath by substituting effort for ability - and substituting effort for ability turns out to be a winning formula for underdogs in all walks of life."

Gladwell's universal example of this is the full-court press in basketball. He theorizes that a press, correctly utilized, gives an underdog the most distinct advantage available to them. It will not guarantee a victory, but it can be the most effective weapon against an over-matched team in terms of talent and ability. So why don't more teams use the press? Gladwell states it is because coaches can not inspire or motivate a team to exert enough effort to execute the maneuver successfully. Rick Pitino, well known for maximizing success with less than premier talent, is a huge advocate of the press. He employed the press in his NCAA championship season and during his NBA tenure. The reason for using the full-court press is because it shifts the paradigm. If you play by David's rules you will lose all the time. If you can change the nature of how the game is played you increase your chances of victory.

Gladwell furthers this discussion with Bill Simmons of ESPN. He extends the discourse of basketball coaches simply refusing to use the press, even though it offers the best possible course for victory, into a wholly American dilemma.

"I wonder if there isn't something particularly American in the preference for "best" over "better" strategies. I might be pushing things here. But both the U.S. health-care system and the U.S. educational system are exclusively "best" strategies: They excel at furthering the opportunities of those at the very top end. But they aren't nearly as interested in moving people from the middle of the pack to somewhere nearer the front."

He then stretches it even farther and suggests that the draft and the "incentive structure" of professional sports is in economical terms a "moral hazard".

"The consistent failure of underdogs in professional sports to even try something new suggests, to me, that there is something fundamentally wrong with the incentive structure of the leagues. I think, for example, that the idea of ranking draft picks in reverse order of finish -- as much as it sounds "fair" -- does untold damage to the game. You simply cannot have a system that rewards anyone, ever, for losing. Economists worry about this all the time, when they talk about "moral hazard." Moral hazard is the idea that if you insure someone against risk, you will make risky behavior more likely. . . No economist in his right mind would ever endorse the football and basketball drafts the way they are structured now. They are a moral hazard in spades. If you give me a lottery pick for being an atrocious GM, where's my incentive not to be an atrocious GM?"

This also brings into question the dubious act of teams dumping games down the stretch to move up in draft position. Though, a profession where men are payed astronomical amounts of money to throw a ball or punch someone can never exactly be ruled by ideas concerning logic and morality. Sports are an odd arena of life that seems to exist without following any sort of cogent methodology, on or off the field. It is an idiosyncratic anomaly that is driven by the bizarre. But there is a tendency to stay in accord with a given praxis. Even if a proven alternative exists that will palliate the opposing team's chance of victory.

Professional sports have never been considered progressive. It is a perpetually backwards looking endeavor. The Hall of Fame and omnipresent statistics are examples of its reverence for the antecedent and nostalgia. Even the relatively simplistic "innovation" of the Wildcat offense in the NFL this year has roots that date back 40+ years. Professional sports habitual adherence to custom and tradition only further estrange themselves from the logical sphere of economics. But is that all bad?


Both articles are excellent and should require a complete review. Mr. Gladwell also has a new book out called, "Outliers".

Mes Que un Club

El Classico was concluded in dominate fashion this past weekend with the Catalans simply out classing Real Madrid. Barca was helmed by the indomitable Lionel Messi. The Argentine is clearly and categorically the most dominant footballer playing today. He posses all the foot and ball magic of the best strikers and at the same time the stoutness to out muscle the largest of defenders. His long, loping runs are reminiscent of an earlier Argentine footballer: El Torito.



Chelsea will have no answer for this tomorrow in the second leg of the home and away Champions League tie.

"I Keep Planets in Orbit"

This is a reissue of an article that appeared several months ago, but whose voice should be echoed. When it is time to award the Pulitzers this damn well should be on the short list. This article appeared in Slate and gave the briefest of glimpses into the genius of Russel Jones, or Ol' Dirty Bastard. He represented the epitome of the troubled artist; drug addled, semi-schizophrenic, struggling for recognition. The platitudinous of his tragic life's trajectory had been mapped countless times before.

"His Rock is His Thing"

The Chicago vs. Boston series is already being discussed in certain circles as the greatest non-championship series in the history of the NBA. There were seven overtimes in 6 games, 65 ties, and 108 lead changes. The passion and determination on both sides were unmatched, and the "greatest ever" talk might very well have some creditability. Rondo and Rose gave glimpses of the future of the point guard position in the NBA. Peirce and Gordon brought their effortless workmanship type game every night. And a guy named Glen Davis stole ODB's nickname, truncated it, and continues to pass it off as his own. It is not disputed that each game every team, every player, toiled with intensity and diligence. But who prevailed?

"There is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor."

Both the Bulls and the Celtics (minus KG) have little more then a glimmer of hope versus the Magic, and even less versus the daunting Cavs. Perhaps the answer is both teams found victory in their masterful series. They both must have been oblivious of the Herculean task set before them. And in this unawareness they found their joy.

In the mythology of Sisyphus he is condemned to roll a massive rock up a mountain. Once Sisyphus and his rock reaches the top the rock rolls back to the bottom and he must repeat the task. Albert Camus contends that Sisyphus is only tragic when he becomes conscious of his task.

"A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself!"

The Bulls in their defeat found hope and victory. Utilizing the sum of their parts and forcing the defending champions to a seventh game was the rank victory. The Bull's, like Sisyphus, next journey lies in the descent of the mountain and resurrection of a new season.

"If the descent is thus performed in sorrow, it can also take place in joy. "

The toil of the Celtics continues, but not in vain. Their eternal hope is present and latent. Their peregrination will continue and then conclude. And again they will roll the rock.

"I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

All quotes: Albert Camus, " The Myth of Sisyphus"

Celebrate Good Times

Who knew that May 1st was international pinko day? What kind of arbitrary contrivance is this? Apparently, every other day of the year its business as usual, but on May 1st it's all about Molotovs and burning buses.


I guess they only have time for revolution one day out of the year.

Demigods to Dust

In Bob Dylan's latest interview with MTV executive, Bill Flanagan, he declares the Rolling Stones "finished".

Flanagan: What do you think of the Stones?

Dylan: What do I think of them? They’re pretty much finished, aren’t they?

Flanagan: They had a gigantic tour last year. You call that finished?

Dylan: Oh yeah, you mean Steel Wheels. I’m not saying they don’t keep going, but they need Bill. Without him they’re a funk band. They’ll be the real Rolling Stones when they get Bill back.

I am not quite sure what Mr. Dylan is trying to say. The term "funk band" is a bit abstruse. It definitely seems to be a disparaging criticism. Though, Dylan is quick to smooth over with a reparative opine regarding the requisite "greatest rock band ever" talk.



What does the retired bass player from the "greatest rock band ever" do in his golden years? Apparently, after years of diddling Mick and Keith's cast offs (Bill's sexual exploits are well documented including his 1989 marriage to eighteen-year-old Mandy Smith whom he had dated since she was thirteen and Maxim magazine rating him 10th in a "Living Sex Legends" list) he has taken to unearthing metal trinkets about his country cottage in Suffolk, England using his signature metal detector.



Here is some nice footage from the boys. Featuring Mr. Wyman, who is clearly thrilled, and some truly fucking inspired drumming from Charlie Watts. Also, check at the end, does Mick say, "Fuck a girl with far away eyes". Watch his lips.

Succored Divinity

Shoefly at his blog, Boxiana, has written the seminal piece on Allen Iverson's intrinsic constitute of character. And he did it all in a single paragraph.

"Personally my feelings about Iverson have never been constrained by any team, or game, or victory paradigm, but more on a moral, religious level. His is a will to overcoming that has long left me with the feeling that, had things been different, he might very well have been the modern day Ray Robinson, all the tools and spirit to be a welter and middleweight destroyer. There is something about what he has done, that, like a great boxer just past his prime, makes one hope he steps away, so that his will can be preserved, perhaps as a gentleman farmer, world traveler, and collector of rare and exotic orchids."

Allen Iverson has always represented some larger intangible virtuosity to me. His reverence and luminous should be preserved as whole and complete as possible.

Where We Fit In

The internet is a vast and expansive place. Often it is hard to make sense of this prodigious collection of information. We are here to explicate this seemingly impenetrable world. Wilder Multinational will act as a lens through which you can better define yourself and understand the greater world that you inhabit. Using Wilder Multinational as your guide you will be introduced to: writers that we admire, interesting commentary, new music and musicians (this drummer kills it), clothes, cultural movements etc.