Initially, people write off the San Antonio Spurs as "boring" and say things like, "how are those ancient geezers still relevant after a full decade with virtually the same team in the Western Conference?" The answer is...well, I don't know, but to say the Spurs as a team are boring is a misrepresentation. Yes, I agree that Tim Duncan is boring. I scoured his extensive 7-page Wikipedia page to find something interesting only to find that his college teammates affectionately called him "Mr.Spock" because of his emotionless demeanor, and he's a video game nerd who plays Dungeons and Dragons until his PC overheats in his free time. If you want to crown Tim Duncan as "the most boring athlete since Greg Maddux", that's fine. Go ahead and crown him. But, the rest of the Spurs team that used a 37-12 3rd quarter run to spur (no pun intended) a 103-94 victory in the city of the Alamo last night are actually rather compelling.
Everything starts with Tony Parker--the 'Parisian Torpedo', the 'Fiery Franchophile' if you will (Scoops Callahan). If you follow Tony close enough, you would remember his mildly talented brother who starred at PG for Northwestern, and also recall his father, Tony Parker Sr., who used his collegiate eligibility at Loyola. How the best of the three has no connections with Chicago? I guess you have to be a resident sports fan of Chicago long enough to figure that one out. If you follow Tony too closely, you may also note the release of his hip-hop single, Top of the Game, under the cleverly ingenious rap name, TP. In fact, the video also starred Spurs teammates Brent Barry, Nazr Mohammed and Tim Duncan, thus labeling it as the worst music video of all time. But through all of that, the facet of his life that led to him being one of the most recognizable French athletes on the planet crumbled at his feet Wednesday when his wife, Eva Longoria, filed for divorce amidst rumors of his infidelity. Still, Parker was able to be productive with 21 pts. and 7 dimes after realizing that he will never sleep with the most attractive 35 year-old women in the world ever again. Considering all of that would make for a pretty interesting storyline wouldn't you say?
To boot, the Spurs have a bizarro (yet better) version of Brian Scalabrine under contract in the omniscient Matthew Bonner. Bonner's ability to do absolutely nothing until you forget about him is uncanny. Then, when the defense trickles in towards the paint, Bonner cans a 3 that makes your heart sink like the end of Mr. Holland's Opus. Dude has made his last 9 triples! 9 shots in a row from 23 feet, 9 inches away. All from a ginger...SNAP!
When talking about the Spurs, it's hard to leave out the league's craftiest, most confrontational Argentine in Manu Ginobili. I have mentioned this before, but if you were a civilian strolling the San Antonio Riverwalk casually on a weeknight and walked past the man that is Manu, you would think he was on a cigarette break from his shift as the local Olive Garden's head chef. Besides the fact that he's 6'6'', Manu is 33, has a pronounced bald spot, and the eccentric attitude to consistently cause problems with the wait staff. I can just envision him being pestered by a smug, slightly overweight waitress about her table's food order and him replying, "Just-give-me-one-hot-minute" all in 3 syllables and with sweat beads cultivating on his nose.
Those are the three players that San Antonio used to stretch a 10-point Bulls advantage at halftime into a 15-point Spurs lead heading into the 4th quarter. Despite Derrick Rose's best effort to pull the Bulls off the canvas in the last frame with 9 straight points, the Bulls were plagued by turnovers and Joakim Noah missed free-throws in the 2nd half that eventually led to their demise Wednesday night in the AT&T Center. We all had assumed it would be a tough game for the Bulls; facing their second straight Western conference opponent on the road in back-to-back nights. But it is hard to swallow when you score 12 points in the 3rd quarter, and Omer Asik and CJ Watson have proven themselves to be the least capable scorers since the ABA and NBA merged in the late 70's. And by the way, for all those Noah fans who want to climb into his ark and defend his presence on the Bulls against Carmello, he missed consecutive free throws and had a traveling turnover with the Bulls down 5 late in the 4th. So there, you have your cake. Go ahead and eat it now.
As for the Pick of the Day, the Pulse Man covered his hockey parlay as both Washington and Minnesota won at home to put some change in the pocket of his cargo sweatpants. For tonight, the Pulse Man likes Loyola Chicago to cover the 10.5 points they're giving his alma mater, Eastern Illinois, tonight in the Gentile Center downtown. He never saw a game live in his 4 years of college, and certainly won't watch this one, but is confident they will lose by double digits.
Pick of the Day: Eastern Illinois @ Loyola Chicago (-10.5)- LOYOLA (-105)
Record:(32-24-0)
Now I'm done. Rack Me
Frost
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