Site news...BJD has moved

The day has finally arrived.

I'll be moving full time to Fanster, the site formerly known as AZ Sports Hub. Matt and Greg have been hard at work putting together a leaner and meaner site, and have done a great job with it.

Here is the direct link to BJD's new home. Please be sure and update your feed, your bookmark, or make a mental note, smartypants.

The season is almost upon us, so expect great things from BJD, Fanster, and hopefully the Suns.

Black Jesus Gabba Gabba

Paul Coro brings us the news this morning that Amare made an appearance on my kids' favorite Nickelodeon show, Yo Gabba Gabba. AZCentral was even good enough to provide video.

EDIT - AZCentral may have video but their players code is written in sanskrit, and as such, will not properly embed. You can view the video by clicking on Coro's link. Sorry for the confusion.

The show airs tomorrow morning at 11:30am on Nick and will feature Mix Master Mike of Beastie Boys fame, Hot Hot Heat, and Mark Mothersbaugh, the creative force behind Devo, doing his “Mark’s Magic Pictures" segment.

As I mentioned, my kids love this show, but I rather enjoy it as well. This is due in part to past musical guests such as The Aquabats (their singer/songwriter actually created the show,) The Aggrolites, and even Alex Desert from Hepcat appearing on the show, but also because it's fun and ridiculous, exactly how a kids show should be.

Glad to see Amare doing something fun for the kids.

Fantasy Camp Fallout

Looks like I've caused a bit of a stir with my post from this morning.

Henry at TrueHoop ran with it, the great Paul Coro at the Arizona Republic noticed, and even Ziller from AOL Fanhouse picked up on it.

So what's all the hubbub, bub?

I had the pleasure of emailing a couple of times with Coro and then speaking with him for a half hour or so this afternoon. Great man, that Paul Coro.

Turns out Mr. Welts had heard about the blog post through the grapevine and gave Paul a friendly denial when he inquired further, that he meant Matt Barnes could start for Grant Hill down the road and not at the beginning of the season. Coro checked in with me to be sure I wasn't completely full of it and that I was certain I heard what I heard.

I'm very certain. I may not have recorded Mr. Welts' speaking, but my mind is like a not yet dull steel trap. I know what was said.

The moral of the story is, well, I'm not sure.

I do feel bad for putting Mr. Welts' in a bit of a tough spot. If Kerr and Co. have been discussing this move for some time as Coro said, I can't imagine Coach Porter is very pleased with the news coming out this way.

Needless to say, it's been a rather interesting day here at BJD. Now all I have to do is continue to tell myself to stay away from the comments on Coro's blog.

Bunch of savages in this town.

The funny thing is, as Stan from Bright Side of the Sun said, everyone is completely missing the point. Giving the Gorilla a two-handed high five is the real story here.

Tired Legs and Phoenix Suns Fantasy Camp

I was fortunate enough to attend a Phoenix Suns fantasy camp earlier this week. The best line I've heard so far about my participation in the event was from my coworker when she asked, "is that for adults?"

Think what you want about these type of things but know this: they're a good time. A really good time.

The day started off with registration and various legal mumbo jumbo. After assuring the corporate sponsor and the Suns that I wouldn't come back to haunt them if my hamstring exploded, a team representative led us downstairs to the visitors locker room.

After burying my desire to firebomb the room the Chicago Bulls celebrated a championship in, I found the locker with my name above it. There was a brand-spanking new, Shaquille O'Neal Suns home jersey in it. While I would surely prefer an Amare or Nash, or even Raja jersey, this was still pretty damn cool.

We head to the main court (did I mention we're in US Airways Center?) and are able to shoot around for a bit. Eventually, Tim Kempton, former Suns benchwarmer and current radio color analyst for Suns broadcasts comes to center court and gathers us around. Tom Leander (Suns play by play announcer for away games,) John Shumate (former Sun and current head scout,) and the great Alvan Adams soon join him. These four gentlemen will be our coaches for the afternoon.

We're broken up in two groups, orange jerseys and white jerseys. We white jerseys follow Shumate and Leander downstairs to the practice court, where we're divided into two more groups. Shumate will run us through defensive drills and Leander will run us through shooting drills.

We visited Leander after Shumate, and his part of the clinic was more casual and relaxed. Layup drills, pick and pop, things like that. Nice and easy.

Shumate, on the other hand, made us work, and had fun doing it. I haven't had to "break it down" since high school. I blame him for my still tired legs but can't hold a grudge. The man is a joy to be around.

Next up was Alvan Adams and some tips on passing and rebounding. Adams is about the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet. He even ably handled a Laker fan in our midst (lets call her CT,) a woman who refused to wear the O'Neal jersey "because she HATES Shaquille O'Neal and LOVES Kobe Bryant."

Once our time was up with Alvan Adams, we moved down to Tim Kempton's side of the court where we worked on our ball-handling. Getting ball-handling tips from a 7-footer was a first for me, but Kempton did a nice job and moves much better than I originally gave him credit for.

The clinic portion of the day complete, we're given a much needed break. While myself and the rest of my fellow out of shape basketball fans are toweling off and attempting Gatorade IVs, Cedric Ceballos strolls to center court, and the Suns Dancers and Gorilla appear in the tunnel.

Turns out that before our full court, four quarter scrimmage, Ced will introduce us one by one, the lights will go out, and the standard Suns intro will play on the scoreboard and the speakers while the dancers gyrate and the Gorilla does his thing.

In the midst of grinning ear to ear and soaking it all in, I hear Ced bellow out my name, my cue to run to center court, give the Gorilla a high five, and pose for a picture with the Suns Dancers, the Gorilla, and our four coaches for the day.

To say this was the highlight of the day to this point would be selling it short.

Unfortunately, we were soon brought down to earth again, because it was scrimmage time. Four ten minute quarters, where despite plenty of substitutions and breaks in the action, my legs would turn to rubber and not one of my three attempted shots would fall.

By the fourth quarter every attendee save for a few with young legs was totally gassed. One of these young'uns broke free for an uncontested layup late in the game but to help keep things close and to probably knock this young man down a peg or two, Alvan Adams casually strolled onto the court, slapped the ball out of the kids' hands on his way up, and cool as a cucumber walked off the court. When you're in the Suns Ring of Honor you're allowed to do those type of things.

Last but not least, after cleaning up from the scrimmage, we were served delicious food and ice cold beer, while Rick Welts, the Suns President and Chief Operation Officer, spoke to us about the direction of the franchise on the business end of things and what to expect from the team this season.

Welts was fantastic.

After listening to him speak and engage us, it's easy to see how the man has been so successful in everything he has done. He's very, very excited for the upcoming All-Star Weekend, and looks forward to the Suns proving the media and their predictions wrong.

Welts explained that earlier in the day all the owners came to the arena to watch the team practice and after discussions with the coaching staff, they agreed the team had ably filled its three biggest holes:

-Robin Lopez is a big body in the paint who will bring energy, toughness, and rebounding, and will be a guy who can easily step in for Shaq if/when the big man goes down.

-Goran Dragic is better than advertised and there's very good reason the Suns' scouts have been drooling over his talent and what he brings to the table.

-in a roundabout way, Matt Barnes adds depth to the team, as he will be starting and Grant Hill will move to the bench this season.

This last point just about floored everyone in attendance, but it sounds like this is what Coach Porter and Hill want to do.

Once again, Welts was fantastic, and I very much enjoyed listening to him. What's more, he took a great number of questions and answered each and every one in great detail.

After he had the chance to knock a few softballs out of the park, I threw him another one and asked if there was any concern for Amare going elsewhere after exercising his early termination option in 2010, despite the fact that the collective bargaining agreement allows the Suns to offer him the most money.

Welts was very direct in answering my question, letting us know that Amare has always been part of the Suns family and always will be. The team will be taking a proactive approach to his next contract and hopes to get something done before the option can even enter the discussion.

Thrilled to have listened to Welts and been a part of a great day, I gingerly walked to my car, Shaquille O'Neal jersey and picture of me with the Suns dancers and those other guys in hand.

An extra special edition of Friday links

In choosing a video for you to enjoy (or intensely hate) I thought a band from New York City was appropriate, yesterday being 9/11 and all. Seven years ago yesterday wasn't a good day in any of our lives. I hated that day. Really hated it.

However, for some reason, I remember it fondly. A lot of love came out of that day. A lot of nonsense came from it as well, but looking on the bright side of things, a lot of love came out of that day.

My FDNY hat is beat to hell and completely unwearable at this point but that says a lot. I was proud to wear it until the sun bleached the hell out of it and the threads were no longer, especially after reading this incredible book from the late, great David Halberstam.

Unlike yesterday, September 12th is any other day. It will always be that way.


The Slackers - "Have the Time"

Onto the links. The last is marked "extra special."

-the great Tom Ziller of FanHouse and Sactown Royalty doesn't see things going quite as smoothly for Shawn Marion now that Steve Nash isn't feeding him the ball. Good luck with that max contract next year, Shawn.

-in the first of many stories on Black Jesus this week, we hear through Jerry Brown that Amare wants to be "the guy the other teams have to fear as a defender.” I love the attitude but I really have a hard time believing Coach D was the sole reason Amare has been a subpar defender his entire career.

-Basketbawful pisses in the Portland punch bowl by questioning Greg Oden's rehab and wondering why it isn't more like Amare's.

-from Paul Coro comes Terry Porter reiterating his stance that Nash needs a lighter workload this year. Coach Porter loves the additions of Dragic, Lopez and Barnes and believes they more than fill the needs of the team.

-this means Bruce Bowen will soon disappear from the face of the Earth, right? HIYO!

-Skeets at Ball Don't Lie gives a nice recap on the Amare stories this week and lets us know Black Jesus is possibly the most fit athlete the NBA has ever seen, taking the title from the one and only Karl Malone, aka the guy who knocks up 12 year olds.

-Paul Forrester of Sports Illustrated outlines the challenges ahead for Coach Porter and the Suns, rating their chances to truly contend as slim.

-one more entry from Paul Coro. Amare apparently believes this is the best team the Suns have had since, well, ever.

I understand being optimistic and talking up the team, but we all know it's a ridiculous thought. Amare may have been wearing his "Standing Tall and Delusional" hat when saying that.

-last of the Amare links, I swear. It didn't end well for those poor dinosaurs.

CATACLYSM'D!

-using the always fun Venn diagram, KnickerBlogger illustrates that Shaq is big and slow. Tell us something we don't know, fellas.

-we've all heard by this point that Shaq will retire once he plays out his contract. Henry Abbott at TrueHoop points out that Shaq's math skills are suspect.

-last but not least, the second installment of Shaq n' Nash.

Stay tuned for more Shaq n' Nash

According to the creator of the Shaq n' Nash video, we'll be seeing more of the hilarious odd couple very soon.

Turns out he's a Warriors fan who hates the Lakers (bonus) but holds no ill will towards the Suns or Nash or Shaq. He simply thought their shenanigans would make for a funny video.

Using MS Paint, Windows Movie Maker and MAGIX Movie Edit Pro, he's been able to treat us to his interesting brand of insanity.

This should help hold us over in the meantime:



"Your atrocious free throw shooting scared them off" is all too true.



thanks to NorthMass for taking a moment to respond to my inquiry

Friday Links

It's been quite some time since I put together a batch of links, but this week gave us more than just a couple that are worth your while. As a new feature of the Friday links, I'm including a music video everyone but myself will probably hate. That's the breaks.


Frank Black - "Headache"

Onto the links!

-be sure and check back frequently with Bright Side of the Sun over the next few weeks (and really, always,) as they'll be putting together quite the season preview for the Suns. It will no doubt be very, very good.

-Dave Berri at the Wages of Wins sees the Suns setting even further this season. Warning: lots of numbers are used.

While I agree Shaq and Grant Hill are certainly on the downsides of their career and aren't the same player they used to be, looking to them as anything more than role players at this point is folly.

Nash continues to prevent the other shoe from dropping, and let's not forget, let's not forget, dude, Black Jesus. Last I checked, he's still suiting up for the team and he's still getting better.

-West Coast Bias lets us know that the Suns Gorilla, aka the greatest mascot ever created, could use a little help.

-Marty Burns at SI does a quick Pacific Division preview and gives the Suns a C for their offseason moves. Porter, Barnes, Dragic: GOOD. No more D'Antoni, old men: BAD. Sounds about right, although I'd give the team a B for their ability to move on quickly after the messy divorce with Coach D.

-I see Amare's ability as constantly growing and have confidence that when it's all said and done, he'll be mentioned in the same breath as guys like LeBron, Wade, Kobe and Duncan when it comes to players you'd want to build a team around. Upside and Motor sees things in a completely different light, comparing the man's career to a game of Jenga.

While 2010 scares the hell out of me, it's not because I think Amare won't live up to his potential and continue to improve, or that he'll go elsewhere for more money, because according to the CBA, he can't. The Suns can offer him the most dough.

Amare isn't going anywhere. 2010 rolls around, this is his team. My fear is he'll be surrounded with mismatched, bit parts in the same way LeBron is, and will be doomed to first or second round playoff exits every year.

-if you don't know who the guy on the left is in this quiz, you should be ashamed of yourself.

-these bloggers, they're the end of the world as we know it. How about checking some facts, idiots? Robert Sarver is Jewish, not Mormon. Jeez! C'mon!