The NBA at the Halfway Point

The NBA All-Star game is today. At the halfway point of the year, NBA fans probably feel exactly the same way I do, and it has perhaps been unprecedented. I am extremely excited about how one conference's playoffs are going to look and horrified at how the other conference's bracket will go. The disparity between the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference is obvious, and the points scoring barrage that can happen when two quality West teams face off against each other is only countered by the stinky poo poo entertainment that has been any Chicago Bulls vs. Brooklyn Nets game this year.

Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to the rest of the season and what the playoffs will bring. Let's take a look at the matchups that would happen if the playoffs started today.

Eastern Conference

Indiana (1) vs Charlotte (8)

Charlotte has been impressive only in that they haven't been the complete embarrassment of the league this year. I'd expect the Pacers to make quick work of them. God, why are these best-of-seven series again? Can the NBA really make that much money off Pacers-Bobcats?

Miami (2) vs Brooklyn (7)

This series is only entertaining in that the Nets were expected to actually contend with the Pacers and the Heat this year. But, the combination of Jason Kidd's poor coaching skills and ability to dress more like a model than the team's coach has only complicated an aged roster. The Heat have taken the season easy to get into this position. It will be interesting to watch LeBron bury Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett one final time. But, again, best-of-seven series? Yikes.

Quality coaching.

Toronto (3) vs Washington (6)

This may be the most fun series if only because I am very impressed with the Raptors and I'm happy for the city of Washington that they have a playoff team for the first time since Gilbert Arenas had a pile of guns in the locker room. The Raptors dealt Rudy Gay and only got better. Washington is seeing John Wall step up into the role as the leader at point guard that they wanted him to be. Toronto seemed like they were going to tank after the Gay deal where as the Wizards seemed like they were hitting for the fences with the Gortat deal prior to the season. From a basketball standpoint, it's intriguing. But, remember, there may be no one in the rest of the world other than Toronto and Washington that cares about a Raptors-Wizards battle. Remember, guys, best-of-seven series.

Chicago (4) vs Atlanta (5)

This only really becomes fun if Derrick Rose returns for the playoffs. Atlanta has looked impressive given how underwhelming their roster looked on paper and GM Danny Ferry has set up the team for a bright future. It's unfortunate Al Horford went down for the year, but I like what Jeff Teague and Paul Millsap have managed to do for this team. The Bulls are being the Bulls again. Just a solid team that is well coached by Tom Thibodeaux and finds a way to get into the playoffs and have an impact even without their superstar.

Main point:

We're just waiting on the Heat-Pacers conference final, which is going to be awesome. Until then, we'll suffer through weeks of mediocre basketball in the East.

Western Conference

Oklahoma City (1) vs Golden State (8)

This is such a great 1 vs. 8 series. Kevin Durant has been playing out of his mind, and with the impending return of Russell Westbrook, the Thunder seem poised to take the West. Golden State is one of the most entertaining teams into the league to watch, but their first half of the season was up and down to the point that it is very possible they could not make this year's playoffs, which would be a shame. A series of Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry? My God, I love the best-of-seven series!

San Antonio (2) vs Phoenix (7)

Phoenix is the biggest surprise of this season, and Jeff Hornacek may have already put his name on the Coach of the Year award. This is an intriguing match up for the aging Spurs. Gregg Popovich will always have something up his sleeve, and the team rested, but this is a great first round battle to potentially have the young, upstart team against a package of veteran All-Stars looking at one more chance at a ring.

Houston (3) vs Dallas (6)

It would be a Texas showdown in the first round, and expect the point totals to be high. It would be nice to watch Dwight Howard face off against one of the teams he spurned in free agency. But, while I'll love Dirk Nowitzki, this year's Dallas Mavericks have been kind of non-descript. Could they slip out of playoffs in the second half or take it up a step to put themselves in the conversation as one of the top 4 teams in the West?

L.A. Clippers (4) vs Portland (5)

Another potentially great series. Blake Griffin has come into his own this year, and the Clippers finally seem like a team that has the depth and the organization under Doc Rivers to make a legitimate run at the title. Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Damian Lillard, LaMarcus Aldridge all on the same floor? Best-of-seven series, I love you!

Main point:

The West feels a lot more wide open and will make for some really entertaining games. It still seems like it's the Thunder's conference to lose, but we never know what to expect from the Spurs, and with the return of Chris Paul, the Clippers appear more legitimate than ever. Also, keep an eye out for the Memphis Grizzlies. They are on the outside looking in right now, but they've been playing stifling defense, and have finally gotten healthy to a point that they can make an impact. I expect them to make the playoffs, and unfortunately eliminate one of these other eight fine teams.

Final point:

Between LeBron and Durant, whoever doesn't win the MVP will have a major chip on his shoulders. These guys both want it (and the championship) but there may even be an extra incentive if they don't get this honor. I love what both of them are doing on the court right now, and as much as I'd love to see the Pacers take it to the next level and be in the NBA Finals, a Heat-Thunder collision course in June would be fantastic to watch.

Now, for no reason other than it is All-Star Weekend and my buddy Justin Golak reminded me of it, here's Reggie Miller's hilarious broadcasting moment during a 3-pointcontest.

The Winning Ways of Jimmy Haslam

Jimmy Haslam is a maniac obsessed with winning to a point that he does not know the appropriate approach to go about doing it. Or, Jimmy Haslam is so obsessed with winning that he’ll do anything to make it happen, and just made a genius decision that will pave the way for a winning team in Cleveland. I’m a patient man (clearly unlike Mr. Haslam), so I’m willing to wait before giving a clear verdict, but to most fans, Haslam is looking more like the former than the latter. In a little over a year, Haslam has fired two head coaches and two front offices, a frightening statistic in a league that has proven that consistency wins championships.

At the time, the hiring of Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi didn’t look particularly impressive. Banner had years of experience with the successful Philadelphia Eagles, but his departure from the team came from a reported rift with head coach Andy Reid, which then begs the question of how much Banner was really involved in the team’s success. Lombardi already had an unfavorable history with the Browns, and was a reminder of the unsuccessful Bill Belichick era and subsequent move of the team to Baltimore. Yet, Haslam went with these guys.

From a fan’s perspective, it didn’t seem quite clear who was doing what. Banner appeared to be the face of the front office, who would speak to the media. After his initial press conference, Lombardi simply disappeared, and was presumably doing player evaluation. At times, it was conveyed that Lombardi was making personnel decisions and Banner was presenting them. Then, it seemed that Banner was entirely responsible for personnel decisions, which then led to questions of what Lombardi was even doing and why he wouldn’t appear at press conferences. Even though fans didn’t have an idea as to what was going on, the owner should know, but when taking questions after the firing of Rob Chudzinski, Haslam’s response to Lombardi’s lack of presence was that he hadn’t thought much of it. With yesterday’s firings, Haslam may have been more clueless than we thought.

If the timeline of events seems right, then Haslam simply did not do his homework and took things for granted. He chose Banner perhaps for his experience, but perhaps never truly asked around as to his reputation in the NFL community. He didn’t take into account Lombardi’s reputation among Cleveland fans and previous history in front offices, and relied on Banner’s opinion of him. He fired Pat Shurmur under the presumption they could bring in Chip Kelly, and ultimately settled on Rob Chudzinski. He fired Chudzinski under expectations that he would do better as a first-year coach based off the performance of other first-year coaches even though other first-year coaches didn’t have to work with three different quarterbacks, a non-existent running game, and a front office clearly working on a rebuilding project for the next season. He then took 25 days to have Mike Pettine, clearly not either Banner or Lombardi’s first selection, hired as the head coach. Whatever happened in that coaching search and whatever disagreements arose between Banner, Lombardi, and Haslam clearly led to yesterday morning’s announcement. Haslam has to be embarrassed, and either he’s looking to rid himself of embarrassing actions of a first year in one move or he is the cause of all the embarrassment and will continue to be.

Jimmy Haslam, not at a press conference for a change.

Haslam has decided to keep Alec Scheiner on as President. He has hired Ray Farmer as the General Manager. Both are younger executives who have developed a good reputation in the league. Haslam has defined their roles. It may be a good sign that Farmer was the top choice of the Miami Dolphins for their GM position, but turned it down to remain with the Browns. The Dolphins (dysfunctional in their own way due to the Jonathan Martin scandal this season) were looking to right their ship and gain a better front office perception in the league (particularly after the Davone Bess issue that strangely involved the Browns as well) with Farmer.

The big question marks are still there. Farmer openly stated he played no role in the interview process to hire Pettine. So, will he and Pettine even get along? Farmer also worked as the assistant to Mike Lombardi. Was he just following under Lombardi’s watch or did some of his decisions and advice lead to some of the Browns’ problems? Most importantly, Haslam has said that both Farmer and Scheiner will report to him. It’s not clear what that means. If it means that Haslam would just like to be involved and have knowledge of the football operations (because he clearly had no clue with Banner and Lombardi), then that’s acceptable. If Haslam is looking to start making football decisions and rely on impulse feelings, then Browns fans may be looking at a new GM and coach again next year.

Why Do We Care About Joe Namath?

My Dad has always had an interest in financial investing. As a result of subscribing to a variety of financial magazines, he would also receive junk mail related to them. When I was in elementary school, he once received a VHS tape from a company named S&K. God knows what S&K was doing or trying to sell, but we figured it would be entertaining to watch what they had to say. We watched the instructional video, and I don't remember at all what S&K's angle was, but my Dad told me that it was all a scheme. From that young age, I understood how certain “businesses” look to get money out of innocent individuals. Who was the pitchman in S&K’s video? Joe Namath. 

By that point, I knew that Joe Namath was a famous quarterback. I knew that he made a guarantee to win a Super Bowl as a huge underdog and backed up that guarantee. But, beyond that, what else was there to know? From the S&K video, all I really knew now was that Namath was either a sleazy guy, a retired player desperate to get money one way or the other, or both.

So, when Namath appeared in yesterday’s Super Bowl XLVIII, he was being the oddball “Broadway Joe” that I’ve known for my entire life. He showed up in an insane fur coat. He botched the coin toss. He seemed to half-jokingly stare down the referee after his mistake. He then did the coin toss. Of course, social media erupted ripping into Namath for his coat, his coin toss mistake, and poking fun at his openly admitted battle with alcoholism. But, for me, it led to a bigger question. Why do we care about Joe Namath? Why does the NFL keep putting this guy out in public when he clearly doesn’t belong there anymore?

It seems to come from a history that is more lore and personality than football numbers. I obviously never saw Joe Namath play live, but his colleagues at the time described him as smart and that he transformed the quarterback position. But, even playing in a time that was run heavy, Namath's numbers are unimpressive. He threw 173 touchdowns compared to 220 interceptions with a 50.1 completion percentage. Even during their Super Bowl year, he had 15 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. Namath was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. In what has now become a statistic obsessed culture particularly when determining who gets into the Hall of Fame, Namath would have no shot today.

But, Namath was an icon. He was attractive and had great personality. His guarantee of winning Super Bowl III has become a legendary story. His post-playing days found him acting and doing commercials. He had crossed over into the landscape of pop culture.

As I mentioned though, if you were born in the mid-1980s or later like I was, the obsession with Joe Namath is a little weird to you. With my experience with S&K, Namath didn't exactly come off as the most trustworthy or knowledgeable guy.

Then, of course, there was this moment:

I watched this live, and it was just as awkward as it is to watch it now. In the wake of it, you could laugh at it. Namath was clearly drunk, and the announcers were trying to cover it up in their own hilarious way. But, it actually proved sad when Namath revealed his problem with alcoholism. Additionally, the moment downgraded the abilities of Suzy Kolber from a knowledgeable sideline reporter to just a cute girl worth kissing. It's been over ten years, and Kolber's career is still remembered most for this awkward moment. “Broadway Joe” now just seemed like a creepy old man.

As a result, Namath hasn't truly moved on from it, which was what made the coin toss so awkward again. The number of easy jokes on social media related to Namath's alcoholism were endless. Namath now feels like an old, bumbling fool rather than an icon. To some it's a joke, but to me, it just seems sad. If Namath is having fun doing it, then all power to him, but for some of us (especially Phil Simms below) it feels like Joe has been making us feel uncomfortable for a long time now.

 Phil with a comfortable smile.

Apparently, Phil has dealt with this before.

There's a reason Namath was at The Super Bowl in New York. He's the icon for Jets fans. No one else comes close in their long history. He's immortal to the fans of a team in the biggest market in America (there are similarities to Bernie Kosar and Cleveland on a smaller level). So, it makes sense. But, I think we still have to acknowledge for all the history that Joe Namath brought to football and pop culture for 25 years, he's managed to make it very weird and uncomfortable for the ensuing 25.

Here's apparently Joe's version of S&K for 2013. I'd also like to add that some of my stand-up comedy clips have more views than this. Seriously, what is Joe Namath doing here?