Why it's good to be a Spurs fan: Reason No. 9-Tony Parker

The Wee Frenchman (another nickname from ptr), who actually isn't that wee at 6'2", has been selected to play in the last two NBA All-Star games, and deservingly so. Tony also won the 2007 Finals MVP award. He was deserving of that, too. Parker is one of the quickest players in the league; no one can dribble down the court faster than he can.

Unfortunately for Tony, he loses a few points on my list because he seems to be the one Spur who cares about the limelight. Maybe I'm blinded by the fact that he has a Hollywood wife, or the fact that he makes ridiculous rap videos where he takes himself too seriously (I love the dancing fool on the right side of the screen of the Tony Parker Freestyle video at the '05 championship celebration), but it seems he cares more than other Spurs about getting recognized. It shows in his comments about being devastated during the years he didn't make the All-Star team. It shows when he pads his point totals late in a game that's pretty much out of reach. It shows...OK, maybe I'm just hatin' at this point.

Tony's had to take some tough love from Reason No. 10 (by the way, it's only coincidence Tony is Reason No. 9 and jersey No. 9), but that discipline has been a big part of his development. Hey everybody makes mistakes, but check out Pop's reaction after this play:

Priceless. For everything else, there's MasterCard.

Why it's good to be a Spurs fan: Reason No. 10-The Coaching Staff

Starting off my countdown of the Top 10 Reasons to be a Spurs Fan, I've got the man who ridiculed me in front of reporters back in 2006: Coach Pop.

No one in major North American sports has come close to the coaching success of Gregg Popovich over the past decade. In that time, his teams have won more than 70% of their regular season games and nearly 65% of their postseason games. And then there's that little matter of the 4 championships.

And, as Stephon Marbury said of Isiah Thomas, "he can see the light."
Even shooting coach Chip Engelland has made a big impact. Before last season I would literally cringe when I would see Tony Parker line up a jump shot. Now I don't think it's such an unreasonable court decision when The French Layup Machine (thank you poundingtherock.com) fires away from 15 feet.

This takes us to number 9 on our Spurs countdown...

Welcome to Provo

I currently reside in the town of Provo, Utah. Provo–especially BYU-has parking shortage problems. This may not be news to those of you who live in the town. You may have paid the $50 boot fee or the $121 fee to have your car unceremoniously dragged for two blocks. Not that I would know about that.

So anywho, on Wednesday night, I came home and my old car had disappeared. Because the car is in bad condition and I had bought a (slightly) newer ride, I hadn't driven the car for several weeks. I thought maybe someone had noticed that and called to tow it, but that would still have been a bit strange considering it was in one of my house's parking spots, which is on a lot that is basically part of a gravel backroad.

I called the towing company that had signs posted nearby and told them what had happened. They told me to call back in 20 minutes. I called back. They said they had the car. I told them it had been parked at my house. Their records said it was parked at an apartment complex nearby. They also said I could call the next morning and talk to Nancy, who handles such and such type of complaint.

The next morning I called and told them what had happened. Their phone answerer said sorry and that she thought they had already brought my car back that morning. I looked outside, and lo and behold, they had brought it back!

To make a long story short, be careful about where you park in the P-Town--even if it's just at your own home. They might tow your car!

Today's video: cool sunglasses trick

Once in a while I'm going to put up a "video of the day." It won't be every day, it won't be every week and it won't even be at any regular interval. This kind of thing needs no structured schedule.

Anyway, today's video is a bit unusual: some guys catch sunglasses with their faces. Not a bad trick.

Making Friends 101

Hey peeps. I decided it wasn't enough to be published in The Tri-City Herald, The Daily Universe, Total Blue Sports and on the Web. So I figured I would get some of my writings in Schooled Magazine, too.

Schooled is aimed at college students, particularly the ones at BYU and Utah Valley State. I just had an article printed in the September issue. Check it out in the PDF version here and look for the article titled "Making Friends 101."