The Palin-Boozer Nexus
Looking forward to NBA season I, like everyone else, see the Celtics and the Lakers as once again the teams to beat. And then of course there’s Houston where if everything goes well they’ll be extremely good but it seems unlikely that the Yao/T-Mac/Artest troika will really avoid physical and mental breakdowns. Besides those three, I like the Jazz.
Beyond that, I wonder what Carlos Boozer makes of the election. Like John McCain he was born abroad on a military base and like Sarah Palin he’s from Alaska. Indeed, he was probably the most famous Alaskan in the world until Palin’s rise to fame and infamy displaced him. And Palin, of course, was a sports reporter back in the day. And you’ve got to figure that when Boozer was at Juneau-Douglas High School that he was much better at basketball than anyone else in Alaska. Did she take note of her state’s rising athletic star? How does Boozer feel about his home state governor coming close to the pinnacle of national power? I want answers!
39 Responses to “The Palin-Boozer Nexus”
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October 23rd, 2008 at 8:32 am
and back in the day of point guard Barracuda Heath, how would a Boozer-Barracuda one on one have gone?
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:33 am
in “other people who played their high school basketball in alaska, then played at duke and were then drafted by the cleveland cavaliers” news, trajan langdon is keeping tabs on putin for palin. (she can actually see him playing basketball from her house)
http://www.euroleague.net/competition/players/showplayer?clubcode=CSK&pcode=BEB
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:48 am
wouldn’t curt schilling qualify as the most famous alaskan?
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:50 am
Fundrace suggests neither Carlos nor Trajan have given to either candidate, which is odd. Battier has, of course, given the max to Obama.
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:52 am
Yeah, I was also thinking Schilling. He’s an outspoken conservative, too.
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:54 am
Or, for that matter, singer Jewel?
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 am
While I can’t comment on his thoughts about McCain and Palin, I can say that Boozer is a definitely an Obama supporter (http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700263494,00.html).
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 am
My query is whether or not we are at an inflection point where basketball becomes the national sport.
Between Obama’s high school career and Palin’s even more illustrious high school career setting the pace for the future, shouldn’t we see hoops displace football over the next generation?
And in 2012, instead of Obama/Palin debates, can’t we have one on one contests? If we put them on pay-per-view, we’ll be able to reduce the national debt…
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:23 am
I can say that Boozer is a definitely an Obama supporter
He lied to a blind guy. I don’t think you can “definitely” believe anything he’s said.
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:28 am
Given that basketball isn’t even a national sport, I see no way it becomes THE national sport.
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:29 am
“He lied to a blind guy. I don’t think you can “definitely” believe anything he’s said.”
He didn’t exactly lie. He kept winking and making air quotes with his fingers as he “promised” he’d stay. Can we blame Boozer if Gund wasn’t able to pick up on the obvious signs?
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:00 am
So JDHS now has a second claim to fame this decade:
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=000&invol=06-278
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:05 am
I live in Salt Lake, and from what I hear most of the team is pro-Obama. Yes, even the white guys.
What I really want to know is what Andrei Kirilenko thinks of Sarah Palin keeping an eye on him all these years.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:23 am
As someone who’s high school days briefly overlapped with Boozer’s I can attest that he was well known in the state as being the best basketball player on the best high school team. I don’t know if Palin follows high school basketball, but he did usually make the front page of the sports section in the Alaska papers.
The coach erected a shrine containing his jersey, and some trophies in the school gym, and as far as I know, it is still there. When I was there the penalty for hitting the shrine with a kickball or something was 200 crunches.
I was also there for the infamous “bong hits 4 jesus” poster. I think the supreme court came down wrong, because he a) had no classes at the time b) was not in school and c) was not on school grounds and d) Deb Morse was a pretty pompous overbearing reactionary.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:57 am
Shouldn’t we also be demanding proof that Boozer isn’t Palin’s illegitimate child?
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:26 am
“basketball isn’t even a national sport”
Whoa. Where do you live? In what part of the country is basketball not a major sport? If you combine the pro & college numbers, it bounces around between 2nd to 4th most popular in the US (football dominates over baseball, basketball & nascar).
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=719
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
I’d pick the Hornets to come out of the West this year.
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:28 pm
@KP:
Kirilenko probably thought he’d take his free pass for the year.
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I’d pick the Hornets to come out of the West this year.
I’d say it depends a lot on whether Bynum lives up to his hype. If he does and the Lakers start playing better team defense, I’d still say they’re ahead of the Hornets. If not I agree with you.
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:51 pm
If Manu can come back at full strength by the All-Star break, don’t count out the Spurs.
They’ll have a low playoff seed, but it is an odd-numbered year…
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Final Four hero, Kansas alum, Miami Heat rookie, and NBA rookie camp villain Mario Chalmers is from Alaska, no?
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Lakers-Cavs, from with Spurs and Detroit losing in the conference finals.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
“Lakers-Cavs, from with Spurs and Detroit losing in the conference finals.”
I concur on this being a breakthrough year for the Cavs.
(It’s funny, when I typed the above line, I had forgotten the Cavs have already gotten to the Finals once. Why don’t we call off the games and just give the Cavs five out of the next seven titles? It’d save time, effort, and carbon emissions…)
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Also, can we all agree that Boozer is now officially overrated?
Nice player, but still just a poor man’s Elton Brand.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:38 pm
A poor man’s EB, Petey? I think it’s up to Brand to come back strong or he’s a poor man’s Carlos Boozer.
Vegas.com says the Lakers are the favorites to win in 09, at 3-1 followed by the Celtics at 7-2 and the Hornets at 6-1. That’s boring, so I looked down and found the Blazers at 35-1. Now we’re talking. If I made it to Vegas I’m throwing $20 or $30 down on that. I know, it’s at least a year early for Portland to make any real noise, but longshot bets are fun. It’s a helluva lot better than the Suns at 10-1 (seriously, they’re not even 10-1 to make it out of the first round).
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Petey, I’m with you on the Cavs. If I was making a reasonable bet off of those Vegas odds, I’d take Cleveland at 8-1.
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Are you ready for the Maggette era, too many steves?
Like Lisa Simpson, I dig Corey. Hollinger compares him at age to Paul Pierce, and I concur.
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Don’t rub salt in my wounds. I’ve seen Paul Pierce, and Corey Maggette, you are no Paul Pierce.
I guess Maggette’s OK. He’s a nice fit for Nellie’s system. But the Dubs would have had trouble making the playoffs even with Monta playing all year. Now they have no chance. I’m really not looking forward to the kind of season Captain Jack is going to have, with no one resembling a point guard to play alongside him and nobody except Maggette to take any of the pressure off as a scorer. I love Jack way more than the next guy, but he shot like 40 percent from the field last year. I don’t see that getting any better without Baron or Monta.
I still like this team for the long-term and medium-term. Randolph is a stud, Monta is going to be all right, I hope, and Biedrins is still improving.
I still have to get comfortable with rooting for the Clippers. Not that I have anything against them, but I’ve been to a few games (hey, I’m too cheap to see the Lakers), and it’s the worst arena experience ever.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:53 am
“I still have to get comfortable with rooting for the Clippers”
One advantage to being a Clippers fan is that you’ve got the best team blog on the planet to help you follow along.
And those 34 games where both Baron and Camby play will be pretty special.
“and Biedrins is still improving.”
Biedrins has already improved. Nellie just has issues with playing big men. If he’d coached the Spurs over the past decade, Timmy would’ve averaged 17mpg.
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