Tag: awards

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Deflections: Playoff Race, Game Recap/Preview, Postseason Awards

CREDIT: LARRY KUZNIEWSKI

Quickish hits on a handful of notable Griz topics:

The Grizzlies are still trying to shoot past the Nuggets in the race for the three seed.

  • LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
  • The Grizzlies are still trying to shoot past the Nuggets in the race for the three seed.

The Playoff Race: To the disappointment of Grizzlies fans everywhere, the Denver Nuggets’ near-indestructible homecourt advantage held last night against the Dallas Mavericks, despite the Mavericks leading for most of the fourth quarter. Big defensive plays from Corey Brewer and a game-winning drive with two seconds left from Andre Iguodala secured the win for Denver and denied the Grizzlies a chance to control their destiny in pursuit of the third seed.

Current projections now have a one-game gap between all three teams, with Denver finishing at 56, Memphis at 55, and the Clippers at 54 wins. That would make the Grizzlies technically a fifth seed, but with homecourt advantage over the Clippers in a first-round series. The tough thing for the Grizzlies is they have to be a game better than the Nuggets due to tiebreakers, and are now a half-game back with only seven to go. That’s an increasingly thin margin of error.

Those projections don’t, however, take into account the knee injury to Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari last night. While Nuggets fans worriedly await medical tests today, most assume the injury will sideline Gallinari for the remainder of the season. Any other outcome would be a surprise. Gallinari is the team’s second-leading scorer. They’re already playing without top scorer Ty Lawson, who has a tear in the plantar fascia in his right heel, but is expected to be back for the playoffs, if not before.

The Nuggets are probably deeper and less dependent on individual players than any team in the league, but this double blow is a pretty severe one. Could it knock them off their game enough to allow the Grizzlies to sneak through to the #3?

Here are the remaining schedules for all three teams in the 3-4-5 race:

Grizzlies (51-24):
at Lakers
at Kings
Bobcats
at Rockets
Clippers (b2b)
at Mavericks
Jazz

Clippers (50-26):
Lakers
Wolves
at Hornets
at Grizzlies (b2b)
Blazers
at Kings

Nuggets (52-24):
Rockets
Spurs
at Mavericks
Blazers
at Bucks
Suns

Categories
News News Feature

Predictions for 2008: a Quiz

CREDIT: image: utoledo.edu

A do-it-yourself quiz for Memphis prognosticators and Flyer readers.

1. The current buzz phrase most likely to be forgotten a year from now will be (a) Aerotropolis (b) political consultant (c) Blue Crush (d) monetize.

2. The next big deal for Memphis that will show tangible progress in 2008 will be (a) Biotech zone on the site of old Baptist Hospital downtown (b) makeover of Sears Crosstown (c) Fairgrounds (d) Shelby Farms.

3. The Memphis sports surprise of 2008 will be (a) highly-rated Tiger basketball team falls short of Final Four once again (b) a new hunting and fishing alliance (c) University of Memphis football team wins eight games (d) the Grizzlies playoff run.

4. The Memphis attraction that will suffer the biggest attendance drop in 2008 will be (a) Graceland (b) Tiger football (c) Memphis Redbirds (d) Grizzlies.

5. The 2007 news headliner most likely to be forgotten one year from today will be (a) indicted former commissioner Bruce Thompson (b) “sex-plot” diva Gwendolyn Smith (c) strip club owner Ralph Lunati (d) indicted former MLGW CEO Joseph Lee.

6. Which of the following people is most likely to have another 15 minutes of fame in 2008? (a) Mary Winkler (b) Rickey Peete (c) Roscoe Dixon (d) John Ford.

7. The share price of FedEx, which hit a 52-week low of $94 in December, will be how much a year from now? (a) $85 or less (b) $95 (c) $105 (d) $115 or more.

8. Local governments will make ends meet by (a) raising property taxes (b) implementing a payroll tax on commuters (c) cutting services (d) layoffs.

9. The downtown big deal that will go away in 2008 will be (a) Beale Street Landing boat dock (b) Gene Carlisle’s high-rise hotel and condos (c) Bass Pro in The Pyramid (d) the COGIC convention.

10. The government-by-referendum idea that will pass in 2008 will be (a) term limits for city politicians (b) no property-tax increase without a referendum (c) both (d) neither one.

11. The next superintendent and top leadership of the Memphis City Schools will have a background in (a) education and Teach For America (b) the military (c) big business (d) Memphis or Tennessee politics and government.

12. Facing public loss of confidence and financial pressure, the Memphis City Schools will close or schedule the closing of how many schools in 2008? (a) none (b) five or less (c) five to ten (d) more than ten.

13. A final decision will be made in 2008 to put the football stadium for the University of Memphis (a) on the main campus (b) on the South Campus (c) build a new stadium at fairgrounds (d) renovate the existing stadium at Fairgrounds.

14. The big news out of the federal building in 2008 will be (a) major new indictments of public figures related to political corruption (b) no major new indictments of public figures related to political corruption (c) a courtroom defeat for prosecutors (d) reversal of Judge Bernice Donald’s desegregation order for county schools.

15. The news with the biggest negative impact on ordinary Memphians in 2008 will be (a) sky-high MLGW bills (b) rising violent-crime rate (c) $4-a-gallon gasoline (d) massive foreclosures and falling housing values.

16. Who is most likely to leave their job in 2008 for whatever reason? (a) Tommy West (b) My Harrison (c) John Calipari (d) Willie Herenton.

My answers: 1, b; 2, a; 3, a; 4, d; 5, b; 6, a; 7, d; 8, d; 9, d; 10, d; 11, a; 12, b; 13, d; 14, a and d; 15, c. 16, b.

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

POLITICS: Odds and Ends from 2007

Most Unlikely Sanctification Rite: the ceremony of praise heaped by various legal authorities on Darrell Catron, whose felonious behavior while serving as an aide in the Juvenile Court clerk’s office some years back led to a cascade of further criminal activity and to the wreckage of several careers.

Catron, who got his walking papers at year’s end via an 18-month probation, was credited with having helped the feds haul in a passel of other predators on the public purse and, indeed, with making the entire Tennessee Waltz sting possible.

Catron’s prize: a Golden Stool. (Well, okay, it may look like gold, but it doesn’t smell like it.)

Most Unexpected Appellation: the term “maverick” used as a descriptor for county commissioner Steve Mulroy in a December Commercial Appeal profile.

That was something of an eyebrow-raiser, given Mulroy’s undeviating party-line votes on commission issues and the U of M law professor’s eloquent and detailed rationales on behalf of the Democratic majority, statements which often have the ring of Supreme Court majority opinions.

Can “maverick” also mean “team player”?

The CA‘s prize: a dictionary of antonyms.

Most Unsurprising Outcome: the reelection victory of Mayor Willie Herenton over two major opponents, City Council member Carol Chumney and former MLGW president Herman Morris.

It was elementary mathematics that Herenton’s base was large enough, after 16 years’ service, to withstand such a divided challenge — especially given the obvious imperfections in the campaigns of Chumney, who never managed to transcend the role of fault-finder, and Morris, who could not escape his dignified cocoon long enough to bond with any sector of the electorate.

Herenton’s prize: Well … you know what the prize is.

Most Promising Outcome: the sea change in the composition of the Memphis City Council, via an election which saw nine newbies chosen to serve along with four veterans at a time when almost everybody foresees a necessary change of course — maybe even in the long-deferred direction of consolidation.

Their prize: celebrity, in exchange for the irreversible surrender of their privacy.

Most Unexpected (and Most Overlooked) Passing of the Baton: the withdrawal from the presidential race of Republican congressman Tom Tancredo (whose candidacy almost no one had noticed) and the subsequent claim by Memphis presidential candidate David F. Diamond (whose candidacy even fewer people had noticed) that Coloradan Tancredo’s downfall had begun with his failure at a nationally televised debate to understand a call-in question from Diamond.

The Memphian had asked: “Do you have a plan to solve the shortage of organs donated for transplant?” Tancredo drew a blank, accusing the questioner of being a mad cloner.

Diamond’s prize: the Tancredo body part of his choice.

Second Most Unexpected Passing of the Baton: the failure thus far of University of Memphis grad/ex-Senator/ex-actor Fred Thompson to make a dent in the presidential race despite the biggest advance ballyhoo of any candidate in recent memory, followed by the rapid rise of ex-Arkansas governor/ex-Baptist pastor Mike Huckabee.

As a sort of consolation prize, sometime abortion-rights lawyer Thompson picked up some key endorsements, of the kind longtime pro-lifer Huckabee might have expected, from various right-to-life organizations. Go figure.

Huckabee’s prize: an Academy Award nomination for his current ability to upstage the rigid fundamentalism of his preacherly past.

Most Unanticipated Reversal of Fortune: the decline of former media cynosure Harold Ford Jr. into relative anonymity, despite ex-Senate candidate Ford’s acquisition during the year of the leadership of the Democratic Leadership Council, a post at Merrill Lynch, and various other perches and perks that should have kept him front and center.

Possible reasons for his back-benching: the absence from the airwaves of disgraced radio/TV host Don Imus, a longtime Ford cheerleader; the advent of 9th District congressman Steve Cohen, whose nonstop media presence has put that of predecessor Ford in the shade.

Ford’s consolation prize: Guess what? Imus is back.

Till we meet again, holiday happily!

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Odds and Ends from 2007

Most Unlikely Sanctification Rite: the ceremony of praise heaped by various legal authorities on Darrell Catron, whose felonious behavior while serving as an aide in the Juvenile Court clerk’s office some years back led to a cascade of further criminal activity and to the wreckage of several careers.

Catron, who got his walking papers at year’s end via an 18-month probation, was credited with having helped the feds haul in a passel of other predators on the public purse and, indeed, with making the entire Tennessee Waltz sting possible.

Catron’s prize: a Golden Stool. (Well, okay, it may look like gold, but it doesn’t smell like it.)

Most Unexpected Appellation: the term “maverick” used as a descriptor for county commissioner Steve Mulroy in a December Commercial Appeal profile.

That was something of an eyebrow-raiser, given Mulroy’s undeviating party-line votes on commission issues and the U of M law professor’s eloquent and detailed rationales on behalf of the Democratic majority, statements which often have the ring of Supreme Court majority opinions.

Can “maverick” also mean “team player”?

The CA‘s prize: a dictionary of antonyms.

Most Unsurprising Outcome: the reelection victory of Mayor Willie Herenton over two major opponents, City Council member Carol Chumney and former MLGW president Herman Morris.

It was elementary mathematics that Herenton’s base was large enough, after 16 years’ service, to withstand such a divided challenge — especially given the obvious imperfections in the campaigns of Chumney, who never managed to transcend the role of fault-finder, and Morris, who could not escape his dignified cocoon long enough to bond with any sector of the electorate.

Herenton’s prize: Well … you know what the prize is.

Most Promising Outcome: the sea change in the composition of the Memphis City Council, via an election which saw nine newbies chosen to serve along with four veterans at a time when almost everybody foresees a necessary change of course — maybe even in the long-deferred direction of consolidation.

Their prize: celebrity, in exchange for the irreversible surrender of their privacy.

Most Unexpected (and Most Overlooked) Passing of the Baton: the withdrawal from the presidential race of Republican congressman Tom Tancredo (whose candidacy almost no one had noticed) and the subsequent claim by Memphis presidential candidate David F. Diamond (whose candidacy even fewer people had noticed) that Coloradan Tancredo’s downfall had begun with his failure at a nationally televised debate to understand a call-in question from Diamond.

The Memphian had asked: “Do you have a plan to solve the shortage of organs donated for transplant?” Tancredo drew a blank, accusing the questioner of being a mad cloner.

Diamond’s prize: the Tancredo body part of his choice.

Second Most Unexpected Passing of the Baton: the failure thus far of University of Memphis grad/ex-Senator/ex-actor Fred Thompson to make a dent in the presidential race despite the biggest advance ballyhoo of any candidate in recent memory, followed by the rapid rise of ex-Arkansas governor/ex-Baptist pastor Mike Huckabee.

As a sort of consolation prize, sometime abortion-rights lawyer Thompson picked up some key endorsements, of the kind longtime pro-lifer Huckabee might have expected, from various right-to-life organizations. Go figure.

Huckabee’s prize: an Academy Award nomination for his current ability to upstage the rigid fundamentalism of his preacherly past.

Most Unanticipated Reversal of Fortune: the decline of former media cynosure Harold Ford Jr. into relative anonymity, despite ex-Senate candidate Ford’s acquisition during the year of the leadership of the Democratic Leadership Council, a post at Merrill Lynch, and various other perches and perks that should have kept him front and center.

Possible reasons for his back-benching: the absence from the airwaves of disgraced radio/TV host Don Imus, a longtime Ford cheerleader; the advent of 9th District congressman Steve Cohen, whose nonstop media presence has put that of predecessor Ford in the shade.

Ford’s consolation prize: Guess what? Imus is back.

Till we meet again, holiday happily!