Author: Mikeylito

I'm a New York-bred transplanted Californian back on Long Island.
Posted on

2011-12 Los Angeles Clippers Schedule Analysis

NEW YORK (Mikeylito.com) Believe it or not, the Clippers are going through the easiest part of their schedule right now.

Like every other NBA club, the Clippers will play 66 games, 33 of them at Staples Center. The Clippers will play those 66 games in 123 days. That’s a ratio of 1.86 days per game. In other words, the Clippers will play at least three to four games each week. Indeed, there isn’t a single week on the club’s schedule in which they are scheduled less than three games, with the exception of Week 9, leading into the All-Star break when they play two games, Monday and Wednesday.

It is widely accepted that back-to-back games are tortuous on any ball club. This year, however, in order to accommodate the condensed 66-game schedule, the Association scheduled each club, at least, one back-to-back-to-back series of games; rather, three games on three consecutive days.

The Clippers have 20 sets of back-to-back games, of which two sets are back-to-back-to-back. This is where things get interesting. Right now, as the season enters Week 3 Sunday, the Clippers have a relatively light schedule, with three games each week and no back-to-back games.

Their first back-to-back set of games is Tuesday at Portland returning to Staples on Wednesday to play Miami.

Starting with the home game against the Lakers on January 14, the Clippers will play 8 games in 12 days (ratio: 1.63), including the first of the two back-to-back-to-back series against the Nets and Mavericks at Staples Center with a road game at Salt Lake in between. The seventh of those eight games is the “road” game against the Lakers on January 25.

With two days off following that eighth game, the schedule doesn’t let up until the All-Star break. The Clippers play five games in Week 6, four games in Weeks 7 and 8, concluding with the two going into the break. That’s a total of 15 games in 25 days (ratio: 1.67).

[Far be it from me to advise Clipper management and players what to do. If it were me, I wouldn’t want my players to go to Orlando for the NBA’s All-Star Weekend.]

Coming out of the All-Star break, the schedule resumes with a vengeance until nearly two weeks before the end of the regular season. Assuming the Clippers are in playoff position, they’ll need those two weeks to rest the roster going into the first round.

Starting Tuesday following the All-Star break, the Clippers play three games in four days (1.33), seven games in 11 days (1.60), 13 games in 20 days (1.60), 17 games in 26 days (1.53) or 21 games in 33 days (1.60). It all depends on how you want to slice it.

Included in that onerous schedule is the second of the back-to-back-to-back series, which if you haven’t been aware is completely on the road. The Clippers play road games on March 20, 21 and 22 in Indianapolis, Oklahoma City and New Orleans before taking a travel/rest day before playing Memphis at Staples Center on the 24th.

So, writing all this is just my way of saying the following:

Player conditioning is going to be extremely important for the Clippers throughout the season, but especially going into and out of the All-Star break.

And so it goes.

Posted on

Intra-City Blues

NEW YORK (Mikeylito.com) — I’ve spent a good part of the day bouncing around between sports radio in New York and sports radio in Los Angeles listening to the fussing and feuding of sports fans of intra-city rivalries in both cities.

In New York, the dismal performance of both NFL teams have set up a do-or-die NFL contest this coming Saturday, Christmas Eve, at MetLife Stadium. For fans of the New York Jets and the New York Giants, one will get a good Christmas present; the other will get a lump of coal in their Christmas stocking.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the machinations of the National Basketball Association have placed Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups and Caron Butler in the locker room of the Los Angeles Clippers, Lamar Odom in Dallas and the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers in a schizophrenic funk.

It’s just the latest example of how sometimes we take our sports just a little too fanatically.

The most hilarious comments of the day have come out of L.A. where I’ve been listening to Laker fans on ESPN Los Angeles (KSPN 710) going positively hysterical because Clipper fans are boasting that they have the better team in town. LakerNation has been pulling out all the stops talking about 16 years of championships and the championship banners and so on. While all of that is true, the vast majority of the Clippers’ players haven’t been around to witness any of that. In other words, it’s history. As Chris Paul alluded to last Friday, this current brand of Clippers is looking to make its own history.

You have to start somewhere.

In New York, both local football teams were dismal on Sunday and now both are fighting for their playoff lives. The reality, though, is despite whomever wins on Saturday, probably neither team will go very far in the playoffs, if they even qualify.

However, that won’t stop the fans of the Giants or the fans of the Jets warring over which is the better football team this Saturday and beyond. Just like whatever happens in tonight’s preseason contest in Staples Center won’t stop fans of the Lakers or fans of the Clippers from having the same discussion.

To quote a comedian of some note…

…not that there’s anything wrong with that.

And so it goes.

Posted on

Saturday Night At The Movies: Jeffrey / To Wong Foo…

I’m gonna start this way.
Remember in Who Framed Roger Rabbit when Jessica Rabbit told Eddie Valiant : “I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.” Well, both of the following movies had predictable plots. You could see plot turns from a mile away. However, they weren’t bad. They were just written the way they were written. Well, given that proviso, I present my opinions as follows.

Jeffrey
3 stars
(Add a star if you like getting exasperated.)

This movie is a veritable cameo fest, but that’s not what makes it enjoyable. What makes it enjoyable is the wonderful acting of Patrick Stewart, Michael T. Weiss, and Steven Weber in the lead role as Jeffrey. That aside, there is a cornucopia of cameo appearances by a variety of people that you’re sure to recognize.

Jeffrey is an actor/waiter in New York City who’s gone thru, by his own admission, about 5000 prior liaisons. How’s that for hyperbole. Well, maybe it was a bit much, but right away you can see that Jeffrey is not cut out for sex in the 90′s. Especially gay sex.

Unfortunately for Jeffrey, gay sex in the 90′s means AIDS and it’s driving Jeffrey mad. So, all at once, he decides to give up sex. Of course, as soon as he does, he meets Steve (Weiss). Steve obviously has the hots for Jeffrey and makes his feelings known almost instantly. Jeffrey, however, wants to stick to his decision. So, despite Steve’s pursuit, Jeffrey spurns him at nearly every turn. At one point, Steve (with a little help from his friends) gets Jeffrey to agree to go out with him. At the same time, he lets Jeffrey know that he’s HIV-positive. Resistance turns to avoidance as Jeffrey weedles out of his date.

Jeffrey does all of this despite the advice of his good friend, Sterling. Sterling (Stewart) is an interior decorator…er…designer who’s gleefully living with Darius (Brian Batt), an HIV-positive chorus dancer in CATS. Sterling and Darius have a wonderful relationship; yet, despite this, Jeffrey is still afraid of what dating an HIV-positive man.

The balance of the movie becomes Jeffrey’s journey thru life as he balances his obvious fear of getting AIDS with his lust for Steve. Unfortunately, the journey becomes so tortured that at one point you’re looking for The Golden Ticket (from The Last Action Hero) just to jump up on the screen and slap him. What saves your outing are the marvelous performances by Weber, Weiss, Batt, and especially Stewart. Can you say “Best Supporting Actor”? He probably won’t win, but he should as he gives a delightfully camp performance that shows his tremendous range as an actor.

I don’t wanna be too down on Jeffrey. Despite its manipulative scripting and Jeffrey’s insufferable whining, the screenplay does hold a couple of surprises. So, things may not turn out exactly as you expect.

All in all, Jeffrey is an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours at the movies. It’s funny and poignant and there’s a moral as well.

To Wong Foo: Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar
3½ stars
(Add a half-star if you don’t mind being manipulated.)

All during the summer, in seeing previews, I was worried about To Wong Foo… being an American version or rip-off of Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert. Trust me, there are a lot of similarities; however To Wong Foo… stands on its own as an enjoyable movie experience. In the audience I sat in, there was laughter and applause throughout and I found myself laughing and applauding along. (I hadn’t expected to.)

Patrick Swayze is Vida Boheme, a drag queen from Bala Cynwyd, PA living in New York City. Bala Cynwyd is pivotal in his story. So is Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes). Boheme and Jackson are friends competing against Chi Chi Rodriguez (John Leguizamo) and others for “Drag Queen of the Year”. Well, as luck would have it, Boheme and Jackson tie for the honors and both win an all-expense paid trip to Hollywood.

Well, Boheme is a queen with a heart. She can’t stand to see Chi Chi, who lives in the same building, so upset about not winning the crown; so, Vida bullies Noxeema into trading their paid-for airline tickets for a car and, together, the three set off to drive cross-country. Shades of Boys On The Side.

Early on, the trio is stopped in the middle of nowhere by a county sheriff (Chris Penn in a hoot of a role). What happens next brings more remembrances of Boys On The Side.

Eventually, our fun-loving “females” end up in Snydersville, a small hamlet where everyone seems to have a problem and our girls have a solution for every single one of them. Despite this manipulation, To Wong Foo… delights at every turn. It’s laugh-out-loud funny and not at all subtle. Normally, that would be a criticism, but in this case, it turns out to be a refreshing change of pace.

Of course, all of the elements in the story come together for a smaltzy conclusion. But, that’s OK. You’ll get all wrapped up in it anyway, just like I did. (Boy, was I surprised.)

Closing Comments

Between the two, I have to admit that I enjoyed To Wong Foo… better. Going in, I thought that a small film would do much better than a major studio release. However, they’re really different movies and you shouldn’t have to choose between them. So, don’t. Go out and enjoy them both.

Ciao for now!
Mike