Why Our Logo Rocks

As we rapidly approach the NBA season, my attention naturally turns to the defending champs. I saw this on "Forum Blue and Gold" (my new favorite Lakers site) and thought it was worth sharing. Just a little commentary on the Lakers team logo. Enjoy.

"Then the Lakers moved to Los Angeles where their nickname made no sense. Some half-wit designed a logo with streaky lines and a swooping watery ‘R’ and then kicked back to wait for the Jazz to move to Utah so that people would forget how nonsensical the Laker name was by comparison. Objectively, this logo is lame. But the longer they use it, unchanged with only minor alterations, the more vastly superior it becomes.

When I look at the Lakers logo, it says: “This is our logo. We’re the Lakers. What’s that in our logo? It’s a basketball. Why? Because we’re the basketball team from Los Angeles. What’s our mascot? What do you mean? You think we’re concerned that our team name has no obvious personification, and we’re going to have some kind of Steeley McBeam debacle? Please. Our mascot is Kobe Bryant’s middle finger. What’s that? You’ve noticed that some idiot named Bob Short decided that one of our primary colors should be purple? You think that’s kind of (lame)? Let me refer you to our mascot. We’re the Lakers. (Screw) you.”

How Good Is the Giants' Pitching This Year?

My new favorite Giants stat for this year: Their pitching staff is on pace to give up 162 less runs this year--a full run less per game. They'll almost certainly have a winning record and come close to making the playoffs. Their offense however will probably only score a couple more runs than last year's 90-loss team.

The Mamba Turns 31

Can't believe I didn't see this earlier, but here's a great list of Kobe Bryant moments to celebrate the Mamba turning the big 3-1. There's also links to videos showing things like all of Kobe's 81 in 3 minutes. And yes, the Ben Wallace dunk from his rookie year.

Just To Clarify...

So I started to simply reply to one of Grind-Core Boy's comments about his mighty Phil's and their chances against the Giants should they meet in the postseason, but then my thoughts seemed to mutate a little. I'll include the comments here and continue. That being said, in reference to my recent post "Brad Penny: Act One," you'll notice I said "if" we get any clutch hitting. That's a big "if". Heck, some games any hits are hard to come by. More than team since the early Shaq/Kobe Lakers, this Giants team can make you swing from chest-thumping proud to crying shame misery. To quote the great Al Pacino "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

But on a more positive note, the Seahawks were 4-0 in the preseason and looked pretty sharp under new coach Jim Mora Jr. and I can't wait to see what Aaron Curry can do. Okay, I'm psyched about their entire linebacking core and expect relative (division champs and entertaining football) greatness from them this year. Houshmandzadeh should be a very nice pickup and if Hasselbeck stays healthy, they should score a crap-load of points. Who knows? Maybe there's even still life in Edgerrin James' legs. Regardless, I'll be sporting my Lofa Tatupu (is there a funner name to say in all of sports?)jersey and yelling at the TV in no time.

And of course, basketball's just around the corner. There was this little gem from the O.C. Register's Janis Carr:

"All I can say is thank goodness for Ron Artest. He quickly has become the eyes and ears of Lakers fans via Twitter.

He reported Thursday that he arrived at the gym early, early in the morning for a hard workout, but once inside, he discovered he wasn’t alone.

'3rd workout done. Let me tell why I LOVE KOBE “JELLY BEAN”BRYANT! I Get to the gym at 6:45,the Black Mamba gets there at 5:30! Go Lakers!!!'

Apparently Bryant, too, is eager for the season. Aren’t we all?"

I'd say so, and isn't it great to see the reigning Finals MVP continuing to stay hungry for that one-for-the-thumb? I can't wait for this season to start.

Lincecum's Tough Luck

I just want to say how much it sucks that Tim Lincecum has now pitched 7 GAMES in which he has given up 2 or less earned runs and not gotten a win. I love my team's pitching, but the offense has got to step up. Colorado had already lost and there just won't be that many more chances to cash in. If nothing else, maybe the offense will be guilted into scoring runs. In order to preserve a long-term Lincecum Giant tenure, they better do something soon and far more consistently.

Brad Penny: Act One

Brad Penny made his first start for the Giants tonight and it was a good one. After a tough loss to the Phils last night when Hamels was just a bit better than J. Sanchez, Penny picked up his teammates in a huge way. Every game is practically a "must-win" down the stretch for this team, what with Colorado playing great ball, but the Giants' pitching is just so tough. If they do make it to the playoffs and get any kind of clutch hitting at all, they could be so dangerous. It's possible that the opposition could face Lincecum 3 TIMES in a given series. Cain's been great this year too and Sanchez is obviously capable of having no-hit stuff on any given night. Johnson will probably make it back and Penny's been clutch throughout his career. But most encouraging (and pleasantly surprising), Barry Zito has been arguably one of the best pitchers in the NL since the All-Star break. He's definitely been the most dominant Giant--even lowering his ERA by more than a run. However a post-season rotation would go, there wouldn't be a bum in the bunch and the bullpen would be freakishly deep.