Poem: Aged Burning (Ihsahn)

The poet says to rage against the dying of the light.

But what if the light inside is not dying,

But settling comfortably into a crackling vitality.

The fire inside of a soul doesn’t have to be

A wildfire that consumes everything in its path.

It can resemble a hearthfire.

It burns with a quiet intensity without screaming

“The world must notice my pain and outrage”.

It burns without burning up.

This poet says that age brings temperance.

Sustenance is no longer flashing tremolo,

But a plucked melody in deliberate rhythm.

10/05/2017 Poem: Recalling Winter

I remember winter

I recall the silence and the brightness

The languid movements of half frozen trees

Who have already dropped their leaves,

Leaving only the skeleton branches to clack together.

I remember the only sounds

Being the crunching of snow

And the light whistle of the wind.

The heavy snow crushed sound to nothing,

Making winter sound like nothing.

9/27/17 Poem: A Storied Old Man

A Storied Old Man

His life reads in color on the wrinkles of weathered skin

Papyrus with pigment of times remembered twice.

Vellum scrawls and whorls and whirls

Read as the hieroglyphs of his time.

A lurching library painted with jackets

Of red and black and blue and eventually gray.

His left hand tells a story of his twenties

And his shoulder blades speak of a midlife decision.

The tops of his feet exclaim the power of love

And his chest shows the still hot coals of betrayal.

Read him top to bottom

And you will hear a tale.

Read him front to back

And you will know a story.

Wizards @ Hornets (11/25/15)

101-87 Win! I watched this game on a large television, and in the company of people who I enjoy watching sports with. Here are some thoughts:

• Clifford Extension: Coach Steve Clifford has agreed to terms on a three year extension with the Charlotte Hornets. As he made the local radio show rounds today, he repeatedly said that he was excited about this, and the people in the front office that will be supporting him. It seems to me like he has really learned and improved his ability to coach a team on offense, and his defensive chops will never be in question (hope this current Hornets iteration gets a little better at that). He mentioned that he thinks continuity is a big factor in teams improving year to year, and he definitely will be here to try to prove that point. He is a great coach, and I am glad Coach Clifford will be in the Queen City for the next 3+ seasons.
• Zeller & Kaminksy: The super subs from the Sacramento game were subbed in early for the Hornets in this game. They were a part of the first real “bench” unit that Clifford put on the floor. Their combined impact wasn’t as great as last game, but Cody did put up an impressive individual game, slithering into the open spaces on offense.
• Turnovers: An issue in the first quarter, where they had 5. A continued issue through the rest of the game, as they finished with a higher than average 19. It didn’t cost them the game tonight, but there is definitely a direct correlation between turning the ball over and having a harder time winning games. In the future, you would like to see these bobbled passes turn into catches. Kaminsky, Lamb, Batum, all had buckets slip away because of poor ball control.
• 3rd quarter woes: For a second game in a row, the Hornets were in a close game at halftime, then came out of the locker room and played a terrible third quarter. They were outscored by 11 in the third, and that made the 4th quarter comeback all the more difficult. I spent some time earlier in the post lauding Coach Clifford, but you would like to see him find a way to light a fire under this team to start the 3rd stanza.
• 4th quarter Woahs!!!!: 25-2 run to finish the game. That just about says it all. As hot as the Hornets were, the Wizards were just as cold. They couldn’t buy a bucket, and the Hornets defensive effort made sure that there were no easy shots to be had. A really, really impressive finish to the game.

Moving forward, I think that the Hornets have found their dual identities on offense. They are an inside out team when Al is in the game, and they are a pick and roll team when Zeller or Kaminsky are in the game. They have some playmakers on the floor at all times, which has never happened before. I think the biggest area to improve on is the defensive end, where this team may have a little bit of a glass ceiling because of personnel.

Kings @ Hornets (11/23/15)

This kind of game makes me nervous. The Kings have so much length in their lineup, and they are playing better under George Karl this season. I think the Hornets will really have their hands full. I watched. I had some notices:

• Demarcus Cousins: He is very good. Adding the three point shot to his arsenal, even though he shoots it too much, is a fantastic addition. He remains one of the top 2-3 scoring centers in the game. He got into some foul trouble in the 2nd, but still finished with 30 points in 31 minutes. He did still have a few of those odd Demarcus moments, but he was definitely a huge positive for the team tonight.
• Mental Toughness: Very interesting mood swings for this team tonight. They played together in the first half, had a little sloppiness, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. The third quarter was FUBAR. The Kings absolutely dominated until 2:00 left in the 3rd quarter. At that point, Zeller had a three point play, and then Kaminsky had a dunk, and that seemed to ignite the passionate 4th quarter and overtime. It was a super exciting game, but you would definitely like to see some mental consistency from this team in the future. Of course, the best way for a team to be consistent is to have a tough defense that can keep games close when the offense isn’t clicking.
• New lineup: Zeller and Kaminsky took the court together, for the first time that I can remember this season (I am fallible). Could be a precursor of things to come, seeing if those two can play together. Kaminsky played well out there, taking advantage of some mismatches with the Kings’ switching defense. Those two bigs stayed on the floor for the entirety of the Hornet’s huge comeback in the 4th as well, AND played the entire overtime.
• Kemba Walker: He really plays at his best when he doesn’t have to worry AS MUCH about creating for other players. In the fourth quarter, Walker really got on a roll. When he looks to score first, he becomes ultra aggressive, which also helped him create open shots for Batum and Lin as the quarter went on. He stayed unstoppable the entire 4th quarter, and then the rest of the team helped him out in overtime. He finished the game with a very “#1 option guy” 39 points, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks.

The Hornets are the blood pressure team of the year! A 127-122 win in OT. Good stuff. I was all ready to write up the “Hornets return to .500 post” so I don’t really know what to say now. The Hornets really showed a lot of heart. If they can play consistent, like Kemba said to our main girl, Stephanie Ready, at the end of the game, then they can continue on an upward path towards the playoffs!

Sixers @ Hornets (11/20/15)

We must pull ahead of the median line! To be average is to be ordinary, and we must strive for 1 game above .500!!!! I watched. This is what I saw.

• Starters: New starting lineup tonight. Batum, Walker, Lin, Williams, Jefferson start the game, as Zeller and Hairston were out for tonight. Missing two players obviously dips into the Hornets depth a bit, but they held up just fine, as Brian Roberts played the backup point guard when both Lin and Kemba were out.
• Big Al: He was showing the veteran savvy tonight. He put Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor in the spin cycle, the pump fake cycle, and every other kind of post move cycle in the first quarter. He finished that quarter with 14 points on 8 shots, and ended the game with an efficient 26 points, 10 boards, and 5 blocks.
• Challenge: Could the Hornets put the fallen team down? The Hornets were up big at half, leading 62-41, but could they keep up a decent amount of pressure when the game felt over? The answer was...kind of. Philadelphia closed to 11 in the third, ending up down 15 at the end of that period. They got the lead down around double digits several times in the 4th, but the Sixers just seem incapable of making several smart plays in a row on both ends of the floor. Silly fouls, reckless drives, poor passing...all of these things helped the Hornets keep this game out of reach. This should be a lesson to the team. Playing well for a full 48 minutes is an achievable goal.
• The Process: The 76’ers are dreadful. They are abysmal. I would not question Brett Brown’s commitment to this team, but I would question the passion that his professionally paid players display on the defensive end of the floor. Not every possession was awful, of course. However, the negatives far outweigh the positives for this team right now. I have been on the “tank and rebuild” train, but the organization must be getting impatient.
• Free Throw Shooting: A much different story that the depressing percentages that they had been shooting the last few games. Tonight, the Hornets were 21-22 from the foul line, showing a fantastic level of concentration for the freebies.
• Aaron Harrison made his first appearance for the Hornets this season, and played about 2.5 minutes. If he has a future with the team, it is a year or more removed, but he is getting tons of valuable practice and skill development time with the staff this season.

Going one game above .500 is great, but that means the team is only a single loss away from being a .500 team again! I am not sure how much teams learn from beating terrible teams, but hopefully they do learn that they can dominate certain inferior opponents. Love this team right now, and I hope to see them improve on the 7-6 record.

Nets at Hornets (11/18/15)

I missed the first half of this game (Mother in Law birthday dinner) but was able to enjoy the second half of the succulent contest. Some thoughts:

• Rebounding: We know that rebounding has been an issue in recent games. Somehow, the Hornets solved this trend at least momentarily. Brooklyn only managed 5 offensive rebounds, and the Hornets also won the overall rebounding battle by a margin of 49 to 37. Marvin Williams was a big time contributor with 4 offensive rebounds, and Jeremy Lin contributed 9 rebounds of his own.
• Shifting PF Position: For two games in a row, Cody Zeller has been plagued with foul trouble early in the first quarter, and Frank Kaminsky has been subbed in for long stretches. Yesterday, the Tank was not great on the offensive end, but tonight was a different story as Frank scored 11 points in 23 minutes. It seems to me that Cody has clearly regressed as an offensive player compared to last season, or at least has yet to find an offensive rhythm because of his stunted playing time. He absolutely gives more than Kaminsky in the defensive and rebounding aspects of the game, but the Hornets new offense looked good with Frank in there. I do wonder if this is the beginning of a valuable rookie season for the #9 overall pick.
• Lin: I love his physical style of play. He is excellent at using his body to score in the paint, and he is really the only Hornets player so far in this young season who is consistently scoring in the paint off the dribble. Batum has had some great cuts, but most of Lin’s scores are coming off of his own dribble penetration, either off of the S/R or simply off his own isolation creativity.
• Shooting 3’s: When the Hornets make 7 more threes than their opponent, that is usually going to be a winning formula. Excellent shooting by the home team tonight, using the extra points from distance to discover the equation for victory.

The Hornets keep figuring out a way to keep their overall record at .500, keeping the playoff hunt very much alive an 8th of the way through the season. This team continues to grow and learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and you can see Clifford experimenting with lineups and matchups as well. Allowing a team to learn and evolve while still winning some games is a pretty nice treat!