Bramlet's Giblets: April 2, 2006

Here it is, the thing you didn't know that you've been waiting for (but trust me, you have - the bug I planted in your brain tells me so): the first installment of "Bramlet's Giblets," a new series of posts about miscellaneous Spurs and NBA tidbits and other random viscera that I intend to put up when I don't have time to work on something more substantial.

• Here is a page of photoshopped images, many of them hilarious, using Nash's "I just realized how special I am" expression in the photograph that appears in one of my posts below. My favorite? This brilliant piece of work, done by a Slovenian Spurs fan:

• This brief interview with Manu appeared in a recent ESPN the Magazine:

Jock High: With Spurs Guard Manu Ginobili

Class Clown: "Brent Barry. He's a funny dude - the jokes he's got, the way he answers questions. Sometimes we're talking seriously, and he'll just come up with a funny line."

Most Likely to Succeed?: "The two youngest players we have are Tony Parker and Beno Udrih. Tony is already succeeding, so he doesnt count. Beno is going to be a good point guard in this league for years because he's solid and does everything good.

Best Dressed?: "Bruce Bowen is always in a suit and tie. All the rest of us are more relaxed."

Worst Dressed?: "I don't know if it means worst, but the guy who dresses the least elegantly is Tim Duncan. All he ever wears are jeans and sneakers."

Prom King?: "The leader on this team is Pop, Gregg Popovich. We don't have a leader in the locker room who's always talking or trying to show us the way. Sometimes everybody has something to say, but the one with the last word is usually Coach, which is probably as it should be."

Best Looking?: "Tony Parker for sure. He was voted top 50 in looks by People magazine. So it's got to be him."

Bully?: "Bully? You're killing me with these crazy American words! But i asked around, and my teammates tell me it means someone the picks on others. And you know what? That's me!"

Class Nerd?: "Bruce Bowen reads a lot. He's always studying, and now he's trying to learn Spanish. He's real into books."

Mr. Congeniality?: "There are plenty of nice guys on this team. It always seems when my family comes here or my wife's family comes, they all fall in love with these guys. They always say hi and make everyone feel important. It's the whole family thing. That's one of the reasons I'm so glad to be here. Well that and winning."

• If you're reading this blog, you've probably heard about Google Video. But you might not know that the NBA is offering downloads of every NBA game for $3.95 a pop. I recently bought the Spurs-Rockets game that was not broadcast here in the Bay Area because of ABC's damnable "regional coverage," and while the quality isn't great (if it were, the download would be absolutely interminable), it's pretty good for watching on your computer screen. Personally, I'm overjoyed by this development, because it gives me a fail-safe way to keep my archive of Spurs games complete, even when I'm in China for a month and my DVR runs out of space, or when I suddenly find myself in the hospital with a facial abscess caused by an ingrown nosehair and am unable to record a game. I might even consider this as an alternative to keeping literally hundreds of videotapes of Spurs games in my apartment - Mrs. Bramlet is starting to become rather annoyed by the amount of closet space taken up by my treasured collection.*

Another advantage of these videos is that you don't miss any of the game (as you might in the event of an overtime game being broadcast immediately before it, for example). I wonder if they always give you the local broadcast when there's one available, so you don't have to listen to ridiculously homerific and/or ill-informed commentators for some team that's still bitter about not drafting Tim Duncan or Tony Parker?

For those Spurs historians out there, apparently they will be making an archive of every NBA game ever played available to fans. Finally, I can go back and watch that game in which a lineup including (if I remember correctly) Lloyd Daniels, Vinny Del Negro, Larry Smith, and David Wood led the Spurs back from a 21-point deficit against the Sonics! Remember the days when the Spurs actually had rosters made up of scrubs like that? Damn, it's good to be a Spurs fan in 2006.

• Spurs Assistant GM Sam Presti writes an occasional column for spurs.com. His latest blog entry gives a report on three of the future Spurs who are currently playing in Europe. These words from the mouth of the Spurs' master talent evaluator (and capologist extraordinaire) himself give some additional information to go along with SpursDynasty's own report on these players from a few months ago.

Damn it, this ended up taking longer than I'd planned. Guess I'll just have to wait until Sunday night to get some sleep. Gotta get to work, people!

* No, I don't want to use a DVD burner because there are so many issues with them and with using DVDs as a storage medium. Eventually, I'll transfer my videotapes to a format I'm satisfied with. In the meantime, I'll just have to keep throwing out all non-Spurs clothing to make more room in my closet.