Another NBA Season; Another Jurassic Park Raptors ESPN Commercial. This is one of the strangest NBA traditions.

Having lived through another NBA Play-In Tournament my negative emotions and dislike of the experience has only deepened.

It’s still a Hell. No.

I’m so curious to see/know/understand how Kyrie Irving will impact the Nets.

What does it all mean for Brooklyn’s D?

What does it all mean for Brooklyn?

Will his vaccination status (a choice he freely made!) become an obnoxious distraction? Not being vaccinated is the new kneeling. If the entire team is comfortable with his vaccination status then he has zero obligations to take a “shot” for the team.

While the science is sound as a pound this whole pandemic we’ve over sold the “benefits” of militant social solidarity. This ain’t high school, yo: a trail means you’re just following in somebody else’s footsteps. Yes some people won’t follow the pandemic rules; nobody promised us a fair life. His vaccination status is his issue not mine; I ain’t taking that on.

Why didn’t Kyrie Irving play earlier in the season? Even part-time? That seems silly now.

How long will it take for him to ramp up into game shape?

And with his return and the Chicago Bulls heating up how does this impact the East?! (Here’s my honest truth: I have zero respect for the Bucks. The coach is lousy and frowzy; I wouldn’t trust him in a pie eating content.)

After all the hype and all the talk; I had to see it to believe it but is real. Kyrie Irving really has returned to the NBA.

(Canada and Toronto are taking stupid pills so he will not be playing here. Raptors illogically cannot host fans (again!); starting January 15 Canada will prohibit any athletes who are unvaccinated from entering. Sigh. What’s the data and specific metrics that prompted that decision?)

Here’s his first bucket…welcome back!

Kyrie Irving drops in his first bucket of the season!

Nets, Pacers on League Pass:https://t.co/oz9UCQxdQa pic.twitter.com/Z0CVPHr4Dt

— NBA (@NBA) January 6, 2022

Kyrie Irving’s Final Stats from His First Game This Season…Nets defeated the Pacers 129 to 121. A win is good.

?? 22 PTS,
?? 9/17 FG
?? 3 STL

Kyrie Irving is back. pic.twitter.com/xreIxgko1D

— The Athletic NBA (@TheAthleticNBA) January 6, 2022

So many questions but I guess for now I can go zen and just enjoy the moment. #BallorFall

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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.

Sometimes you know something yet you really don’t know something.

In the NBA the Championship Trophy is called the Larry O’Brien. Right? Common knowledge.

It’s named after commissioner Larry O’Brien who expanded and fortified the NBA from 1975 to 1984: just as Jordan was coming in and David Stern was taking over.

I believe most people know that.

What I just clued in was that’s the same Larry O’Brien who had an office in the Watergate complex: it was broken into on June 17, 1972 which ultimately led to the resignation of President Nixon. Yeah!

The penny finally dropped reading Pete Croatto’s fascinating NBA book: From Hang Time to Prime Time: Business, Entertainment, and the Birth of the Modern-Day NBA.

I dunno why I’ve been pantslessly wandering this earth thinking those were 2 different Larry O’Briens.

Sometimes you know something yet you really don’t know something. And knowing is half the battle.

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Well, that’s that: the NBA Bubble has popped: the bubble has wrapped.

It’s the second Game 7 of the NBA Playoffs!!

How Sweet It Is.

Though as we saw with the first series: Nuggets vs Jazz the ebb and flow/momentum of a playoff series in the Orlando Bubble doesn’t unfold smoothly or traditionally. It partly explains how a team that was .5 away from being up 3 is now facing a Game 7.

And of course, there’s no home court so the psychology of players and how players feed off energy are all gonna be affected. It’s all weird.

Ultimately Celtics vs Raptors will be determined by the Might of the Midgets: whichever deeply undersized guard shows up will be favoured by success.
One Shall Stand; One Shall Fall!

Great way to kick off the weekend. So getting a large meat lovers pizza for this.

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It’s the second Game 7 of the NBA Playoffs!!

Did you watch the Nuggets-Jazz ending? One of wildest finishes for a Game 7; sloppy; some luck and it was all over: Jazz blew a 3-1 lead. That series was lots of fun…zero D it was like it was 7 All-Star Games.

Sammy Younan

Girth Radio Presents…

I never clued in that Rocky wasn’t a gifted fighter.

“Entering the 1997-98 NBA season, the Chicago Bulls had won 5 championships in the previous 7 years. But as they sought their second three-peat, the future of the dynasty was in doubt. As preparations began for the 1997-98 season, Jordan and the Bulls granted unprecedented access to a film crew for the entire year.”

As Jordan was preparing to conclude his time with the Bulls: 3 friends in Toronto were about to graduate from University. This is their story as seen through the ESPN/Netflix docu-series The Last Dance.

My Summer Lair host Sammy Younan hangs out with JT and DC to present Jordan Ain’t No Joke.

Jordan Ain’t No Joke Ep 6 covers Episodes I through X of The Last Dance.

Notable Quotable:
“Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together – mass hysteria.” — Dr. Peter Venkman

A Deep Three:
The Miami Heat retired Michael Jordan’s number 23 in April 2003 to honor Jordan’s achievements and contributions in basketball. The Heat are the only NBA team other than the Chicago Bulls to have retired the number 23 jersey.

1:00:
Introductions: The Ice Breaker
Q: We survived the end of the Bulls dynasty only to face the end of the world with Y2K. Do you have any Y2K memories…were you fearful? Was it media hype?

4:46:
Since we’re talking about the The Last Dance as a whole: where would you like to start:
Q: Was Jordan a bully or did we all just soft?

8:02:
Q: Would you say Jordan was a bully with Isiah Thomas and the Olympics?
Isiah Thomas scores a gold medal for being a jerk.

15:45:
Q: Does Horace Grant have the truth or does he just have tears?
The Last Dance soundtrack includes so much crying.

18:42:
Q: Was the Bulls Horace Grant team better or was the Bulls Rodman team better?
The Bulls are like The Beatles…

39:35:
Q: Can you explain what Jordan’s Love of the Game clause in his contact was?
Jordan wanted to crush fools at the Y.

49:50:
Q: The portrayal or the betrayal of Pippen: was Pippen fairly treated by this doc?
People get so furious so fast with Tyrese.

56:20:
Q: Who gets screwed over by The Last Dance more than anybody else?
Every detective story is focused on: “Who Benefits.”

59:00:
Q: What if Jerry Krause wasn’t as bad as we thought. What are your Jerry Krause emotions?
“Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying.”

1:04:17:
Q: Did Jerry Reinsdorf get off too easy in The Last Dance?
Did he take “ownership” for his decisions?

1:19:32:
Q: Do you think that Jordan’s relationships should have been part of The Last Dance or do you think that was all appropriately off limits?
The Kids!

1:24:00:
Q: The ultimate question really is: what you think of the docuseries as a whole?
Storytelling vs the stories we tell.

1:43:49:
Q: Would it have helped to have some sort of a narrative or narrator?
The Last Dance needed The Wonder Years Narrator especially over the game footage.

1:56:30:
Q: Where do we go from here: can we expect more 90s NBA stories or has Jordan said all he’s going to say?
The Last Dance is The Last Word.

JT’s Recommendations
O.J.: Made In America
Stop At Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story

DC’s Recommendations
30 for 30: Lance

Sammy’s Recommendations
Jason Hehir’s Next Project (which is?!)

Closing Jordan Rap Reference
“Hoop dreamin’, hangin up pictures of my idols/Jordan was like Jesus, SLAM was like the Bible/I used to read it twice and cut the pictures out/Had the Jordan free throw dunk tongue stickin’ out…” J Cole: I Got It

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