Agent Zero Forever

While I had come to terms with the inivitibility of a Gilbert Arenas trade, that doesn't mean that it's easy to take.

He was probably my favorite Wizard/Bullet ever, and someone who I thought truly understood the meaning of sports. Lots of people hated him for that, and have for years built this myth that has successfully taken the fun out of these games that we know and love.

He's probably the most interesting person the NBA has produced in the last 20 years, and I sincerely hope the move makes him happy again. Watching this video makes me think it will.

Good luck Gil. If you go on to win a title with the Magic, no one would be happier.

Knee surgery Fail

As if the daily bed-wetting and hand-wringing about politics wasn't enough:

For the second straight year, the Washington Wizards will enter a season unsure about the health of three-time all-star guard Gilbert Arenas.

Arenas, who signed a six-year, $111 million contract in July, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee yesterday morning and said he expects to miss training camp, the preseason and at least the first month of the regular season.
...
Arenas recently increased the intensity of his rehabilitation workouts but experienced discomfort in the knee area and the decision was made to have him undergo yesterday's procedure following a meeting with team doctors on Tuesday.

"It really isn't that big of a deal, I was expecting to be out for a few more months anyway," Arenas said. "I just had some floating debris in there that was slowing me down. It was irritating the knee so we decided to go in there and clean it out. This should actually allow me to come back faster."

Well, shit. The debate that ran throughout the off season was whether or not to resign Gil, and at what cost. I was glad that he didn't take the max deal, and I think we all knew what a massive risk Ernie took in resigning him for 7 years. Well, that risk just got even bigger. The question isn't just when he'll come back, the question is whether or not he be the same explosive player that he once was.

And after three surgeries on the same knee, I'm afraid I'm less optimistic than ever that we'll see that Gilbert lighting it up for the wiz. What a crappy situation.

Update: This post is too depressing. Here's a video of Kobe doing the Mutombo finger wave, and then falling over backwards:(Via Basketbawful)

Thoughts on McCain's speech

-I could not have been more disappointed that the craptacular Redskins game didn't preempt his speech.

-The giant screen behind him didn't make much sense, especially when it showed a picture of what appeared to be a mansion. It turns out it wasn't a mansion, it was Walter Reed middle school in California. Why some middle school in California you might ask? Josh Marshall thinks that it was some lazy google image work by someone trying to find a picture of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Whoops.

-The number of POW references was out of control. The movie voice guy repeating how "things change when you see the world from inside a box" 6 or 7 times before he was introduced was kind of creepy.

-The protester had a sign saying "John McCain Votes against vets", is a veteran of the Iraq war and was given a pass by a Ron Paul delegate. An interview with him here.

- When he said that Obama supports giveaways to big oil, that set off alarms bells because I couldn't believe that he'd say something that stupid when they both voted for the 2005 energy bill. Turns out I was wrong, and McCain voted no on that bill. We really need to keep the focus on their plans, and McCain's very real ties to big oil at present, and stay the fuck away from that vote. When looking at people's records its easy to see that McCain is no friend of the environment, and very much a tool of big oil, but it's just annoying that he has a moderately true attack line to parrot all fall. But then again, they don't call him on his countless false attacks, so why should this one matter any more?

-He focused a section of his speech on his dislike for teachers. Not just that, but it sounded like he truly had disdain for them and their work. To great applause, of course.

-Just curious, but for all the bullshitting about Clinton and Obama at our convention... you'd think it would be worth more than a casual mention that the faction of the republican party most accurately described as a movement had a rally of close to 10000 people in the same city.

-I think I'm going to start claiming everything that I do is country first. If movie voice guy can make voting for the Iraq war country first, then I think me watching the Gators play tomorrow is also country first. Country first, the new 35 years of experience.

-You gotta love the McCain "Peace" signs throughout the crowd.

-Unbelievably classless. Anyone surprised? Anyone? Buehler?

-Speaking of classless, Congressman from Georgia calls Barack Obama "uppity". I guess if you hint at it enough, eventually someone says what you actually meant.

-A few lines from his speech:

I fight for Americans. I fight for you. I fight for Bill and Sue Nebe from Farmington Hills, Michigan, who lost their real estate investments in the bad housing market.

Yep, cause with this economic downturn, those who really feel the brunt of it are those who lost their real estate investments. Seriously, how out of touch can you be? I'm just sorry that the Plutocracy 08 movement never caught on. They would have fit right in.

Senator Obama thinks we can achieve energy independence without more drilling and without more nuclear power. But Americans know better than that.

It's just too bad that all those "scientists" and "experts" don't know any better. Idiots.

great things are always within our reach. Fight with me. Fight with me.

Along the lines of what Stoller said: Is that a question, a challenge or a threat?

-Atrios adds:

Death is too good for the person who put "my friends" on the McCain drinking game list.

-And one last note. Big ups to Baron Davis for smacking down our beloved Gilbert Arenas for his post on Obama's tax plan (and his post stating that if you're rich, you need to vote Republican):

(I know he said he's gonna raise the taxes on the top income bracket, Gil, but if he uses that money to improve our schools then you won't have to worry about some kids trying to sell pictures of your pool online cause they couldn't get a better job.) LOL

We love you Gil, but maybe you should have a talk with Sir Charles about where that attitude leads you.

It's Friday, and it's time for Happy hour.

*COUNTRY FIRST*

Friday roundup

-Another loser enters the fold as the Chief of staff to corporate Dem Max Baucus joins the Obama campaign. Baucus is one of the worst democrats on the economy and trade, and going by the reverse meritocracy that occurs in democratic politics, his top aide gets sought after and promoted to a job within Obama's circle. Obama's economic team, it's Fannnnnnnnnnntastic!

-The WNBA's first ever bench clearing brawl!

-David Sirota has a new column out where he interviews a great labor writer Tom Geoghegan. He proposes amending the civil rights act to include the right to organize. That isn't really something that had occurred to me before, but if you think about the UN Human rights declaration, it makes sense.

-Kevin Pritchard of the Trailblazers is easily one of the best GM's in the league. Just look at the list of moves since he took over, and the young talent he has stockpiled by the end of it, locked in for a low price. Truly amazing.

-Gil officially resigns, and for less money. I love gil and I really hope he's healthy next season. Also, based on the summerleague games I saw (3 of 4), Dom Maguire is ready to play a serious role with this team (I thought he was last year, but whatever), and Blatche dominated like a 3rd year summer league player should.

-Effective poster for the Beijing Olympics from Amnesty international:
-United Farm Workers will press charges in the death of a 17 year old worker, UFW President Arturo S. Rodriguez:

"This is a case of manslaughter - there is no difference between a driver killing someone while breaking our traffic laws and a labor contractor breaking the law and killing this beautiful young woman. Anything less than criminal prosecution is a desecration of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez' death."

-Katie Couric is an idiot.

-Obama speaks to giant crowd in Berlin.

-George W. Bush on our current economic situation:

"There's no question about it. Wall Street got drunk ---that's one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras -- it got drunk and now it's got a hangover. The question is how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments."

WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? WALL STREET GOT DRUNK AND NEEDS TO SOBER UP? WHAT FANCY FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS? This is one of those times when even after 8 years, this type of nonsensical rambling still stuns me. It's also probably worth pointing out that if you or I went up to a cop and repeated that sentence, we'd be spending the night in a mental institution.

-Saturday could see a moment of earth shattering importance as DCJonesy, Nick, Jack and I might all be in the same place at once! One for the Train of Thought history books, no doubt.

On to the weekend!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy America Day everybody! A quick one today as I have a day full of beer-drinking to get started.

The best news of the day comes from the Washington Post, who reports that Gilbert Arenas has agreed in principle to a six- year, $111 million dollar deal to stay with the Wizards.

"I looked at like this: There is nothing I can do for my family with $127 million that I can't do with $111 million," said Gilbert Arenas, who was offered the maximum salary allowed to stay with the Wizards. "Adding key pieces leads to championships and that's what we all want."

Hooray for common sense!

On the other side of that spectrum is, unfortunately, is Barack Obama who seems to be caving at every chance he gets. This time, it's on Iraq. I'm about as big of an Obama supporter as there is, but while I've tried to defend his recent shifts to the center as strategy to be elected, it's worrisome how he's become a true centrist on almost every issue once the general election campaign started. I'm no political expert, but isn't this the same sort of thing that republicans called John Kerry a "flip-flopper" for in '04? Just sayin'.

Jesse Helms died at age 86.

In tennis, the Williams sisters face each other in tomorrow's Wimbeldon final. My money's on Venus.

Lastly, BWAHAHAHAHAHA! And good riddance.

Everybody enjoy your apple pie, lite beer and freedom today. Talk to you later