Friday, April 07, 2006

Footsteps In The Dark

I got more free Nets tickets from a nice person who donated them to my office, so Chan and I took the Port Authority bus over to Jersey tonight for some Chan-tastic NBA action. We saw what we both believed to be our first live triple-double. (For non-basketball fans, this is when a baseball game breaks out on the court, and someone hits three doubles.)

This brings up an interesting point. In my mind, anyway. In Ice Cube's classic hit "It Was a Good Day," Mr. Cube claims that at some point the previous week, while "fucking around" (implying he didn't even have to try very hard), he scored 10 points, picked up 10 assists, and pulled down 10 boards--at minimum in each category--in a basketball game. This makes no sense to me. First, he's suddenly referring to a day from the week before, when the song's main focus is the current day. Second, how often are stats recorded in a pickup basketball game? Finally, what are the odds of getting a triple-double in a game that traditionally is won when one team reaches 11 or 21 points, where each shot is worth 1? Even in a game to 21, you'd have to score 10 baskets, and assist on ten others. This means you alone contributed to at least 20 of your team's possible 21 points. On top of that, of course, you need to get 10 rebounds. It's nearly impossible. Especially if you're only fucking around.

I guess if it were a 2 on 2 game, it could actually make sense: You score half your team's points, and assist on the rest because the other player on your team can only get the ball from you. You could even do it in a loss. (Hey, but you have to win by 2! So, technically, you can score an unlimited amount of points, provided you stay within 1 of your opponent, making a triple-double very possible.)

Then again, maybe Ice Cube is in a 5 on 5, 48-minute game league, where stats are kept. But this doesn't fit with the "fucked around" theory. If it is that serious a league, I don't think his teammates would appreciate his just showing up and not trying very hard, no matter how well he ends up playing. Or maybe they play it off by saying, "That's just Ice Cube being Ice Cube."

Oh, and rapper Juelz Santana was at the game tonight. I'd never heard of him before. He's no Ice Cube.

I got home to find out that Pedro got into a little tiff in the Mets game. I feel like I may have gone to this game had I not had Nets tickets. And that was without knowing Pedro would be pitching. Maybe BSM went. It would make sense. Watch that space. You should anyway.

Comments:
It is, indeed, nearly impossible to get a triple-double while "fucking around"--unless you're Ice Cube.
 
I can't wait to see Petey pitch at Fenway this year when his Mets come into town. I hope he doesn't duck us. We all know how much he likes the spotlight trained on him, so I would think that a start at Fenway would be to his liking. In fact, I think he'd insist on it.
By the way, the new Mets broadcast network, partially owned by cable giant Comcast, is available in Southern CT., but not on Hartford Comcast. People are pissed. But I'm blissfully NESNed out. On two different channels!
 
I think it's clear that Cube is a ballhog.

Couldn't he have had 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 blocks in a game, which qualifies as a triple double (10 steals would qualify too). That kind of stat line is kind of believable within the context of a 21 point pickup game.

The triple double is kind of ambiguous as to what it is triple double of, unlike say, the baseball triple crown, or hitting for the cycle.
 
I did touch on that, STJ. I'm just pointing out that since you can't assit yourself, you'd have to be directly involved in 20/21sts of your team's scoring, which is harder and harder as the number of players per team increases. Plus, get your 12th point OR 12th assist, and you can't get double-digits in the other category. (Except if the game goes "OT," in other words, if the winner gets more than 21, which is possible in a traditional "gotta win by 2" scenario. And even if you do all that, you still need 10 rebounds--or steals, blocks, etc. Maybe his opponents were children, so he just racked up the blocks and steals, and got 10 points. Is that really something to brag about, though?
 
Probably not. However I don't think it's ironic that Cube had the brew and she had the chronic either.
 
We could also narrow down the exact day the song describes, by seeing which days the Lakers beat the Supersonics in the early nineties.
 

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