Fourth Quarter Gordon

Even though their flagship station is on my cable dial (WGN) I don't watch too many Bulls games. I'm Bucks all the way. But, everytime I do watch them I seem to see the same strange phenomenon take place.

Bulls G Ben Gordon seems to go three quarters playing as just an average, undersized NBA 2 guard. Then, like Clark Kent whipping off his glasses and becoming Superman, he suddenly turns All-World in the fourth quarter. Out of nowhere, the guy cannot be stopped. Cannot be stopped. By anyone. On the drive, on the pull-up, nowhere. And, seeing this, I always wonder if Bulls fans marvel at what he does in the fourth, or are exasperated by the fact that he doesn't churn it up until then (granted, yesterday is a bad example -- he was pretty much sweet all game long with an extra sweet in the fourth and overtime). I guess you can't really get down on a guy who brings it when the game is in the balance -- as he clearly did yesterday in downtown Milwaukee.

Footnote: As with everything else, the general stats don't match my impressions. I just checked 82games.com and it seems Gordon actually has a six percent lower eFG at "clutch" time than he has overall. But, I still stick with my original generalization -- he does seem to undergo a fourth quarter transformation.

The Original Bucks Flag

Here's a personal note. Yesterday my girlfriend scored me a great early birthday gift. The original Bucks pennant. To a certified antlerhead like me, that's like getting your hands on the original Betsy Ross flag.

She won it on the auction site Ebay. Reading the description written by the guy who was selling it, he bought the pennant in the early 70s (Kareem Era!!) at a Cleveland Cavalier game at the old Cleveland Arena, the original, short-lived home of the Cavaliers. I love that. I love those old arenas (why does everything have to be called a "Center" today?), and I love the pennants you used to be able to buy at them. They're sparse and beautiful, unlike these tacky "extreme" pennants the NBA has offered since the 90s. Those things are way too busy and almost gaudy.

Final note. Many think the Bucks original logo was Bango sitting on the "Milwaukee Bucks" script. I have long contended that the original logo sold to the public on merchandise was actually the one I now use for my "Bucks Diary eff48 Boxscores", and the one which is on the Bucks pennant I just got. I call that logo "Bango Leprechaun" because it seems to be an obvious homage to the classic Boston Celtics logo which featured the Celtic Leprechaun spinning a ball on his finger (which, according to chriscreamer.com was designed by Red Auerbach's brother, Zeck).

Anyway, I'm pretty psyched about the whole deal. As soon as I recieve the pennant I'm going to frame it and hang it over my workstation. Hopefully it will inspire me to write something better than the usual drivel I put out on this site.

Go Bucks! Green and growing!

Photo Credit: Associated Press