Bernie and basketball

[wilt the stilt]

When Michelle was first dating Barack and brought him home to meet the family she had her brother Craig take him out to play basketball. it was not to find out if he could play it was to find out his character. Basketball exposes everything about your personality because you go into an unvarnished representation of yourself. The game's intricacies will expose everything about you. how you share, how you sacrifice, how competitive you are and how honest you are.

Pickup basketball is a game of honesty because there are no ref's. You call fouls (my foul) and violations on yourself. There are two things you never do one is use your elbows and the second is too submarine someone. Both are flagrant attempts to injure your opponent. Do it in a game and watch out a fight is brewing.

On defense you talk all the time (switch and slide are for picks, mine for rebounds and I've got him for fastbreaks). offense is quiet. No one really talks because talking alerts defenses to your position. you want to fly under the radar. there are 2 basic plays pick and roll and give and go.

Ask trumad and Joeybee. Over in sports I am the resident basketball guy.

I played thousands of games with some very good competition. Here is one of my regular people I played with.

http://www.belmontbruins.com/information/hall_of_fame/bios/sandra_smallwood

She was rookie of the year in the first woman's basketball league. She shot 80% from 18 ft. and she never called for the ball. Bob Cemak and I walked over to her and asked if she wanted to play in 1983 at the Sporting club on sheridan in Atlanta. We played for years together. she was a better athlete than me.

This brings up Bernie. I saw his video. He is an old fifties player before jumpshots. Jumpshots weren't really a part of basketball until the sixties. two handed set shots before the sixties (look at old tapes)
here is a story on bernie

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/feb/17/from-mid-range-he-could-kill-you-bernie-sanders-basketball-days

“He was crafty.”

“He had good elbows.”

“Give me da bawwwwwwl!”

Two of his quotes. He knew how to move without the ball which is "crafty"

However he used his elbows which is definitely dirty and he called for the ball( look at me).

No one with class uses his elbows and no one really calls for the ball unless it is about me.

Go ask anyone who played ball into their forties what they think about people who use their elbows and call for the ball. You will find a pretty universal condemnation of that player.

I guess to me this tells me everything I need to know about bernie.

[JudyM]

1. Where did you play? People in different neighborhoods play differently...

[wilt the stilt]

5. I played inYonkers

Rochester,Denver, Atlanta. lot's of places. It is pretty universal that you don't throw elbows or submarine people. Go to the ink on Sandra. She was really cool and a heck of a player. 5'8" tall 140 lbs. and a slab of muscle. She is basically the same size as Lindsey Vonn who is 5'10 160. 10lbs per inch which is normal.

[enigmatic]

2. "I'm not supporting Bernie, he throws his elbows when he plays pickup basketball!!!111!!!"

Insanity.

[wilt the stilt]

4. actually it is not

hre is what a friend of mine said (black guy from oakland

It's like, dude we aren't getting paid so relax.

It is really dirty and if you played you would know it.


If you don't believe me go ask people who really play and they will all tell you elbows is a definite know.

[ScreamingMeemie]

3. People in our Sports forum are now labeling themselves as "the resident

'whatever' guy?" Yuck. There's a lot of "resident basketball people" in the sports forum.

That said, basketball has not much to do with character. I will also never judge a candidate to a pickup game of basketball. After all, I bet Hillary is not much on the court. Am I right? I've never heard her say she loves a good game of one-on-one in the driveway.

Disclaimer: I plan on voting for the eventual nominee, so take arguments elsewhere. Thanks.

[wilt the stilt]

6. ask trumad and joeybee

It is exactly the reason why Michelle asked Craig to play ball with Barack. It sure wasn't to know if he could play.

[ScreamingMeemie]

7. I don't need to "ask trumad and joeybee." Outside of the mains, the Sports forum

is where I hang out, and I don't see you as the "resident basketball guy." I'm sorry. That's new to me.

That is one person's story. My family is filled with basketball players, and we don't use pickup games as a character test.

[wilt the stilt]

8. why not? it shows you someone's core.

it exposes you to see if you will cheat to win or play dirty or be selfish. It is actually one of the best ways to see someone unvarnished. If you would do anything to win in a game of basketball then you will do anything to win in life. I have a good friend who was invited to the NFL combine and is part owner of a test that every NFL payer takes at the combine to measure the intangibles of players.

www.therightprofile.com. He himself was a star athlete. He was invited to the nfl combine, is in the top 10 HR hitters in Michigan state history for a single season(17). That is a lot of hr's for a high school season and s the staring PG on his high school team. He can still dunk a ball an he is over 40 which is pretty fucking impressive. he totally agrees with me.

[ScreamingMeemie]

9. Because it's a fun game.

That's it. Not a character test. But bully for Michelle. That's a fun anecdote, but that's all it is. My father used to judge character by whether or not my boyfriends would sit through a Packers game with him. I wouldn't expect either Hillary or Bernie to do that to prove their character.

For the record, my husband never once sat and watched a Packers game with my dad... and my dad still ended up loving him.

[wilt the stilt]

10. so you never really played

It can get really competitive out on the court and people will do all sorts of things. Stepping on your foot so you can't jump ,holding your shorts. it can get pretty vicious out there.

Well my friend Sandra would agree with me. how many men do you know would go ask a woman to play with them in 1983.

I think that is pretty cool. Throwing elbows is incredibly dirty and has no place in pick up basketball.

[ScreamingMeemie]

11. I never really played basketball?

Grew up on it. It's what you do when you're a girl in a family of boys. Four years in high school along with volleyball, and then raised a CYO champion daughter. I'm sorry, but there is no correlation between sports and politics. None.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1204514


Let's keep it on subject. This has nothing to do with you or I but on a comment you made that I disagree with. Basketball play in a schoolyard does not define character.

[wilt the stilt]

13. I am mistaken you did play

then read about Sandra. i was hanging out with her in 1988 and we were watching the olympics and she turned to me and said to me "i could make that team' and i said you sure could. She shot 80% from 18 ft. She was rookie of the year. she could freakin' play.

Politics has nothing to do with my argument. i said you see the core of the person and you do. You see what a person is really about deep down and what they will do to win.

[ScreamingMeemie]

18. And we'll have to disagree because I've met some incredibly gifted athletes who are giving

in their personal lives and nasty on the courts and fields.

[wilt the stilt]

20. A you know

there is absolutely no excuse for throwing an elbow in a pickup game ever.It does show a nasty side of a person if they do it regularly which Bernie did.
You know damn well what i mean that the unvarnished person comes up because everything is stripped away in competition. You might not agree but Bernie is running a nasty campaign after he said he wouldn't. He is attacking Hilary through innuendo. When it got really competitive his true nature came out.

He doesn't mind throwing elbows.

[ScreamingMeemie]

24. Thank you for letting me know that my brothers are nasty, rotten people...

I'm sorry, but let's focus on the issues. There has been a deliberate attempt to tear down Bernie where no reason exists. That's what is dirty tactics. Stick to the issues. For BOTH candidates (on edit). The smears are out of hand.

[wilt the stilt]

29. Hilary's character for all we know

might not be any better than Bernie's. i just know that he is not a nice guy.

[ScreamingMeemie]

43. I dont know him personally, and I suspect you don't

Last edited Tue Apr 5, 2016, 12:25 PM - Edit history (1)

either. Elbows do not the person make. As my fine, upstanding brothers display daily. This has gotten ridiculous.

[wilt the stilt]

45. ok

[JackRiddler]

12. I should not reply but

Jesus H. Christ. This is supposed to be serious? A 74-year-old man running for president on a very clear platform (which is the only thing that should matter, pro or con) and you want us to accept your judgement on the basis of what you heard about his - what, high school sports career?!

And of course you turned the short "he had good elbows" into "he fouled the shit out of everyone he ever played and kicked them when they were down, that crafty crafty... guy!"

[wilt the stilt]

15. didnt say that

I said he was crafty which i equate with moving without the ball which was a staple around NY and what all loved about the knicks. remember, the mecca of basketball was NYC and the NIT was really the champions of college basketball until the mid 50's.

Bernie probably moved very well and was a smart player. He however through elbows and on any court anywhere that is a dirty player. I said it shows what is underneath the man.

[JackRiddler]

19. Right so you just said it again...

The "good elbows" snippet becomes "dirty player." Irretrievably, "on any court!"

So now you've convinced me I should have supported the Iraq war and no longer to want tuition-free public universities or single-payer health care.

Thanks!

[wilt the stilt]

21. it is not about politics

it is about what someone would do to win. There is no such thing as good elbows in basketball. Ask anyone who played regularly into their late 30's.

[JackRiddler]

23. Of course it is about politics.

Distracting from politics is also about politics.

And I can see what certain people will do to win in the daily Brock attack, or in Clinton's slam on young people, or in all the other extreme dirt being thrown at Sanders, without needing to parse snippet quotes about basketball games he played 50+ years ago.

[wilt the stilt]

31. When i read this about him

then i knew he would do anything to win and he is not a nice guy. the same may be said about her.

[JackRiddler]

42. I don't actually care if he is a nice guy.

What I care about is that he's for single payer, no more at least fewer interventionist wars, tuition-free college, prosecuting the Wall Street bums, etc., and that I think he means it. If he plays a bit of hardball to do it, against the awesome cheating opposition to everything he stands for, then that's also within the normal of politics. Clinton plays hardball for nothing - the status quo and her as the top figurehead.

[JudyM]

14. Why do you keep bringing up this Sandra as if knowing her corroborates what you heard?

[wilt the stilt]

16. I think she was really a

great player before woman were accepted in basketball and I thought everyone would like to see a fine player who played professionally and never threw an elbow or called for the ball.

[JudyM]

17. What does gender have to do with it?

[yawnmaster]

22. Seriously? Plenty of elbows and calls for the ball are used all the time in friendly, competitive..

games.
I do suspect it does depend on the neighborhood.

You keep your elbows in constantly while playing??
And never made someone aware that you are open?

[wilt the stilt]

26. Do you swing your

elbows when you bring down a rebound? As my black friend from Oakland said perfectly

It's like, dude we aren't getting paid so relax. and that is Oakland.

I never elbowed anyone and you couldn't find a a more aggressive player than me. I loved paying defense. I loved bodying up against them
Most times offense is silent an of course every once in a while you might but he did it regularly. Most talking happens on defense. I usually played the point but when i didn't i set picks and rebounded. I loved rebounding and position.

[yawnmaster]

30. Did someone say that Bernie swung his elbows during a rebound? eom

[wilt the stilt]

34. if elbows were remebered

then he was swinging them. No one would remember that if he didn't do it. You know when elbows are hitting people enough for them to remember it is deliberate.

[yawnmaster]

39. I see. An assumption. eom

[yawnmaster]

33. BTW "my black friend from Oakland said..." really? eom

[wilt the stilt]

35. yep we talk basketball

almost every day. He is a big Golden state fan. I said to him Draymond was the secret to the small lineup 2 months ago. he concurs. draymond is one big pain in the ass. Too quick for the 6'9 guys but for some odd reason he can guard a 6 '9 guy. he plays 6'8 at 6'5. I have been watching and playing since '63. I even saw the famous havlicek steal live on TV and i copied my best move from chet the jet walker.

[yawnmaster]

38. What does the color of his skin have to do with anything? eom

[wilt the stilt]

44. reasonble point

well taken

[lumberjack_jeff]

25. I'm pretty sure LBJ, JFK and FDR would have thrown a few elbows. n/t

[wilt the stilt]

27. and you know that because?

tough to throw a bow from a wheelchair.

[lumberjack_jeff]

28. .

[elleng]

32. I recall an honored 'friend' of mine saying that then-senator Obama had 'sharp elbows,' fwiw.

[Luminous Animal]

36. I guess you missed this line about the elbows, "“Not intentional, but he would come down hard.”"

[Broward]

37. If only he voted for the Iraq War,

then may be he'd be your kind of guy.

[Vattel]

40. You should read your own link.

Someone says that he never used his elbows intentionally. So much for the dirty player accusation.

[wilt the stilt]

46. someone is being nice

if elbows are remembered then elbows are being used. Elbows are never accidental. the first 40 times they are accidental the 41st not so.

[Vattel]

49. Elbows are definitely sometimes accidental.

I have played basketball all my life. I can't remember hitting people with my elbows, but I have seen people that, because of their clumsiness, often inadvertently landed an elbow.

[riderinthestorm]

41. Actually Obama is known for sharp elbows and aggressive play

From Barack Obama: An American Story

At Harvard, Obama continued his passion of playing pick up basketball. Obama replaced his low key off, court style with sharp elbows and aggressive grabs for the ball.

Snip

[wilt the stilt]

47. and he might have also thrown them.

elbows are never accidental.

[riderinthestorm]

48. So now he's not a nice guy either right?

You know exactly what a bad character he is?

[Vattel]

50. Lol, now you've done it. How will the cognitive dissonance be resolved?

[JackRiddler]

51. Seems to have killed this thread!

Oops!

[choie]

52. I have read all kinds of

screeds against Bernie Sanders on this site, but this one may deserve the most desperate and idiotic award. So we're supposed to take how Bernie plays basketball as a psychoanalytical test of the kind of person he is and hence the kind of president he'll be? Freud you ain't.. And you're certainly no politic analyst.