{"id":3420,"date":"2009-08-25T06:09:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-25T06:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/sports\/thies-statements-vin-scully-phil-jackson-ron-artest\/"},"modified":"2009-08-25T06:09:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-25T06:09:00","slug":"thies-statements-vin-scully-phil-jackson-ron-artest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/thies-statements-vin-scully-phil-jackson-ron-artest","title":{"rendered":"Thies&#8217; Statements: Vin Scully, Phil Jackson, Ron Artest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--StartFragment-->  <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size:10pt; \">Things I think\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That I will continue watching a blowout one to two innings longer just because of Vin Scully.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>Given how quickly we lost Chick, and Chicago lost Harry C, and Philly lost Harry K, every inning we get with Vinny needs to be appreciated<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That- and this is hard for me to say- after Vin Scully, the best baseball broadcaster might be Bob Uecker.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>On a related note, why are there no reruns of Mr. Belvedere or Small Wonder?<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>Those shows made early afternoons in the late 80s tolerable.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>They weren\u2019t good enough for me to buy on DVD, but rest assured if they were on TV I\u2019d still have 30 minutes to spare for them. <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That no Lakers fan should think too hard about what\u2019s going to happen post-PJ.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>Given Kobe\u2019s track record with coaches, the post Phil Jackson era is going to be awkward at best and excruciating at worst<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That no Lakers fan is actually happy about the Artest-instead-of-Ariza move, but we all have to pretend to be or we\u2019re going to make it worse<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That every team should have a guy with a Mohawk<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That no matter how excited I am for racing every February, NASCAR always loses my interest by August<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That Shaq Vs would be far more interesting if it were Steve Nash (who had the idea) taking on other athletes.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>It also would have been the perfect vehicle to make Nash a star post-NBA<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That I hate Shaq and wouldn\u2019t like him even if he rescued a box of orphaned kittens from a fire<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That Shaq would never rescue anything without a camera crew there to document it <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That Andy Roddick earned a ton of good will in the Wimbledon final but if he craps out at the US Open it will all be gone<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That Dwayne Wade to Chicago is going to happen; LeBron to NYK is not.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That The Hammer is the best boxing movie you\u2019ve never seen<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That I didn\u2019t pay close enough attention in biology class because I still don\u2019t understand why it takes 7 different kinds of doctors to determine a track star\u2019s gender<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That when I heard that David Ortiz did steroids, and I wasn\u2019t the least bit surprised, I only then realized that I would not have made a good Red Sox fan<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That Derek Rose is not the first, or the last, NCAA star to fake the SATs<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That Memphis\u2019 punishment is further proof that the one-and-done requirement is a terrible idea<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That Floyd Mayweather is avoiding Manny Pacquiao.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That the battle between Mayweather\/Marquez and Pacquiao \/Cotto as to who can get more PPV orders is probably my favorite angle of the upcoming fight season<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That Arturo Gatti\u2019s death is just another suspicious one from a sport that has had a lot of athletes die before their time<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That I will always wonder what would have happened if the Clippers drafted Darko.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>If there ever was a test case for two wrongs making a right, that would have been it.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That I will always wonder what would have happened if anybody besides the Clippers had drafted Blake Griffin.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>RIP Blake Griffin\u2019s career 2007-2009, we hardly knew ye<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That no sport that includes an animal is actually a sport<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That no sport that needs a judge is actually a sport<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That I no longer want to watch a game with a friend in which we cheer for opposing teams.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>Either they win and they gloat and celebrate, or I win and I gloat and celebrate\u2026and then feel like an a-hole<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That the possibility of Tiger choking actually makes me more likely to watch the PGA on a Sunday<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That the last one was a lie, I still won\u2019t watch golf on TV\u2026well maybe if there were hot female caddies but that\u2019s it<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That I like Kareem, and I think he should get a chance to coach, but asking your twitter followers for a groundswell of support is probably not the best way to get a job<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That Women\u2019s Volleyball attracts the most attractive athletes in the world (see: Tom, Logan) <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That there should be a Constitutional Amendment requiring all female athletes to have their hair at least shoulder-length<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That in the last 30 years, only 8 organizations have won an NBA Championship while 21 different MLB ones have.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>I don\u2019t have a joke for that I just thought it was interesting<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That the most exciting race in the Fall to me will be to see if Vlad Guerrero can hit 25 homers.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>He currently is tied with Gehrig for the most consecutive .300 avg\/25 HR seasons.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>Right now, because of injuries, Vlad is batting .309 but has only 11 HR.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>He has hit 7 HRs in the 19 games since coming off the DL, and has 40 games left.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>At this pace, he\u2019ll hit 26 this year.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>This would be a mammoth comeback and a remarkable record.<span style=\"mso-spacerun:yes\">\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That Lou Gehrig actually doesn\u2019t get enough credit.<span style=\"mso-spacerun:yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>I hate Yankees as much as the next guy, but this year Gehrig lost his most-consecutive 150-hit seasons to Derek Jeter, and now with his consecutive .300\/25 record potentially falling, there hasn\u2019t been nearly enough made of his records.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>Yes, Ripken broke his games record, but Cal did it while hitting .276 and hit 431 HRs in 20 years; Lou did it while hitting .340 with 493 HRs in 16 years.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That I\u2019m going to say it again: Lou Gehrig is the most underrated player in baseball history.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That Dan Monson didn\u2019t schedule a difficult path for LBSU MBB this year, he scheduled a criminally insane path.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>At Duke, At Texas, At LMU, At Notre Dame, At Pepperdine, At Green Bay\u2026and that\u2019s just the first 2 months!<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>Really?<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>That seemed like a good idea, really?<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That a Dodgers\/Angels World Series would be the least watched World Series in history<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\">That I don\u2019t care how much it screws Fox, I want a Freeway Series World Series.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">\u00a0 <\/span>Here\u2019s hoping\u2026.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:\" times=\"\" new=\"\" roman\"\"=\"\"><strong>I\u2019ll be back with my Football Season Thies\u2019s Statements on Thursday<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <!--EndFragment--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ryan Thies drops some knowledge on you with the return of Thies&#8217; Statements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-3420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3420"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=3420"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}