Yea, only six things tonight

Gonna try and make this reasonably quick hit.

1 - I need to watch more Henry Fonda flicks. He's like Cary Grant if Cary Grant wasn't constantly acting like he was trying to fuck the starlet on the set.

12 Angry Men was on earlier this evening and having never seen it I gave it a shot. I knew the reputation. If you go to IMDB you'll see that users rank it as the 8th best film of all time.

I won't go that far, but it was awesome. It consistently reminded me of Glengarry Glen Ross, for obvious reasons. Both were based upon plays, both predominantly took place in one room. Both were driven by dialog and emotion from strong male leads.

It was only the second Henry Fonda vehicle I'd seen. The first was Mister Roberts, a favorite of mine I used to watch with my late Grandpa King. I'm gonna make an effort to check out the rest of his works.

2 - My philosophy on the NBA is if you want to compete you need stars. No shit, right? The problem is the NBA, unlike every other sport, is predictable. In August, two months before the season starts, you can pick out the five teams with a chance to contend. Everyone else is tugging it.

It's the same with the draft 90% of the time. If you get a top pick in the draft it's fairly easy to predict future success. When you draft a Yao Ming, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, etc. it's easy to see 50 win seasons and conference championships in the near future.

But what happens when you're one of the five or so teams that doesn't have a top talent but isn't bad enough to draft at the top of round one? Basically, you're fucked. You're going to acquire mediocre talent in the draft and continue to win half your games. Never good enough to contend, never bad enough to land one of those high picks in the draft.

Sooo...this year appears to have seen an exception. More amazingly, my Bucks are the benefactors.

The Bucks were in NBA purgatory last year. Not awful, not good. Because of that they got the 10th pick in last June's draft. Usually this is where teams pick bench players to round out the roster. Maybe they get lucky and get a solid starter.

The Bucks, however, got a 20 year old stud named Brandon Jennings. Nine teams passed on this 20 year old point guard that's currently averaging 20 points, 5 boards and 5 assists. Did I mention how young he is?

2b - The previous few paragraphs were written on Friday night. The next night Brandon Jennings went out and scored 55 points, dropped five dimes and pulled down five boards in a win against the Warriors.

Then the internet blew up.

Brandon Jennings was the top trending topic on Twitter. He was on the front page of every sports site in the US. People were claiming, only a couple weeks into the season, that the Rookie of the Year award was locked up. Not only were people talking All Star (unheard of in a rookie year), but Most Valuable Player.

You know how there are moments in your life you won't ever forget? You remember everything about them? I will never forget how on a Saturday night in the Cities I was sitting on a couch at a party, looking at the box score in my iPhone, seeing Brandon Jennings with 55 points and doing a triple take.

By the way, that 25/5/5 he's currently carrying? Only two players averaged at least that last season: Dwayne Wade and LeBron James.

3 - Speaking of Saturday night, it was great. I don't make it over to the Cities but once or twice a year and I almost always have a good time. Going downtown is usually a blast and it makes the bars I'm used to seem like steaming piles of shit. It's nice to go out and not run into loads of annoying 20 and 21 year olds.

Met Neder for the first time despite having talked with her for almost two years now. Saw 'Liza for the first time in a year. Met their friends, all of them being super cool. They reminded me of the posse I had in Wausau when we were at our best. If nothing else it illustrated what's missing here in EC. I've met a lot of great people in the last two years, but it's different.

Best part of the night were the guys I drank with. Awesome, awesome cats. Talked sports, funny, really good dudes. I personally blame them for my memory getting foggy at the end of the night. They started buying shots so then I had to by a couple rounds and I woke up the next morning hoping I didn't embarrass myself by busting out a couple of my ridiculous pickup lines on some of the lovelies I'd met.

Neder assures me I was normal, so cool.

4 - If nothing else, this weekend made me realize that life needs to be more than work. If that's what's keeping you where you are or keeping you from being happiest, something is wrong. I took a job in Mankato, away from family and friends, because of money. Then I turned around and took another in EC for the same reason. I don't want to make that mistake again. Friends are more important.

5 - So today Allen Iverson was waved by the worst organization in the NBA, the Memphis Grizzlies. It's a polarizing end to what is probably the most polarizing career in NBA history.

For 99% of NBA fans, there have always been two options: either you love Allen Iverson, or you despise him. There has never been much middle room for the little lightning bug that was largely responsible for the NBA's 'thug' image. The tattoos, the cornrows, infamous "We talkin' bout practice" press conference, the street-ball style of play...Iverson was anti-everything David Stern wanted the NBA to represent.

But, like other similarl athletes, he wound up being vehemently loved by the fans he did have. Think Randy Moss. Think pre-dogfight Michael Vick. Iverson was so ridiculously talented and cool that it was easy to see how he could win over fans. It didn't matter if he didn't get himself a ring or might have been a detriment, even at his best, to his team. It was hard not to admire the way he played.

Personally, I loved watching AI play. The guy was maybe 5'10", 160. But he attacked the hoop like someone who was eight inches and 50 lbs bigger. Once he was on the court, nobody could ever accuse him of giving anything less than 100%. He took a massive beating night in and night out and he always got back up. I have nothing but respect for AI, despite his reputation. I'm going to miss watching him play.

6 - First post on the Apple laptop I picked up today. So choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.