The End of Linsanity

It was like a shooting star burning bright but destined to fall to earth. The idea of an undrafted American Asian point guard taking the NBA and New York City by storm was more a story made in Hollywood than on the floor of Madison Square Garden. However last February it happened, the name Lin dominated the American media like no other and I was glad I was there to witness it.

Six months and knee surgery later, Jeremy Lin has signed for the Houston Rockets, the Knicks could not matcgh the Rockets financial package. In the complex world of salary caps and luxury tax, keeping Lin would have crippled the Knicks financially, and so in spite of online petitions Lin moves to Texas.

The NBA keeps its most marketable worldwide asset. The Knicks quickly acquire a reliable, experienced point guard in Raymond Felton and the fans in New York are left with the memories of the night that Lin schooled the Lakers, the back to back covers of Sports Illustrated and a mountain of Linsanity T shirts.

From Sports Illustrated:

HOUSTON (AP) - Jeremy Lin is leaving New York and taking Linsanity to Houston.
The New York Knicks announced Tuesday night that they will not match the Houston Rockets' three-year, $25 million offer for Lin, a restricted free-agent.
New York officially had until 11:59 EDT to decide whether to re-sign Lin, who became an international phenomenon in the media glare of the Big Apple.
The Rockets made it tough for the Knicks to sign off on keeping him by backloading their offer sheet with a $15 million salary in the third season. If the Knicks agreed to that deal, they would've faced a hefty luxury tax in 2014-15 because of other big contracts on their books - between $30-40 million.
Lin now returns to Houston, where he spent about two weeks in December during training camp. The Rockets liked what they saw in the undrafted point guard, but had to waive him because they had Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic on the roster.
The New York Times initially reported the Knicks' decision, citing an unidentified person briefed on the situation.
One sports consultant said the adjustment to the offer sheet was a stroke of genius by Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.
"The Rockets deserve a lot of credit for the way they've gone about this,'' said Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based SportsCorp. "It was extremely intelligent - with an assassin's touch.''
The Knicks, though, gave Lin his first shot, picking him up after the Rockets waived him. He was briefly demoted to the developmental league, recalled and finally got his chance when coach Mike D'Antoni put him in with the Knicks floundering at 8-15. Lin scored a career-high 25 points in a 99-92 win over New Jersey Nets and "Linsanity'' was born.
Lin had slept on teammate Landry Fields' couch the night before, still refusing to get his own place as he headed into that week, knowing the Knicks would have to decide whether to cut him or guarantee his contract for the rest of the season.
But Lin proved more than just an overnight sensation - he had 28 and 23 points in his first two NBA starts, and then scored a career-high 38 in a 92-85 victory over Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The stock price for Madison Square Garden Inc. surged on the production and popularity of the team's international star. Lin also made the Sports Illustrated cover in consecutive weeks, only the 12th athlete to hold that distinction since 1990. On Tuesday, Lin had more than 829,000 followers on Twitter.
The more opponents saw Lin, though, the more they seemed to figure him out as the season wore on. He went 1 for 11 with eight turnovers in a humbling, nationally televised loss in Miami and the Knicks dropped their first six games in March.
D'Antoni resigned in mid-March and Lin hurt his left knee less than two weeks later. The Knicks revealed on April 1 that Lin needed surgery to repair a meniscus tear and would miss six weeks.
The Knicks made the playoffs behind surging Carmelo Anthony, but bowed out to Miami in the first round. The Rockets, meanwhile, missed the postseason for the third straight year and have spent the offseason completely rebuilding their roster.
Houston has been trying to put together a package of assets and draft picks to offer Orlando in exchange for disgruntled All-Star center Dwight Howard. In the process, the Rockets lost the unrestricted free agent Dragic to Phoenix, then traded Lowry to Toronto in exchange for a future first-round pick with lottery protection.
With no true point guard left on the roster, the Rockets turned back to Lin. The Knicks may have shown their hand when they brought back Raymond Felton in a sign-and-trade deal with Portland.

Houston, meanwhile, jumped at the chance to reacquire their popularity in China, where Yao Ming became a larger-than-life figure. Many Rockets landed lucrative shoe contracts with Chinese companies on Yao's coattails and Rockets' games drew massive television ratings there.

Walking Away

July 12th and I've accepted an invitation to attend an event to mark the retirement and departure of a number of teachers where I used to work. It's a year since I stood in the same hall and delivered the same sort of speech that I'll hear tonight before bowing out after 20 years working there.

I listen to speeches some mercifully short , others rather long, some eulogies others genuine messages of thanks , I reflect on the past year. In the past twelve months,much has changed around the place. Not in terms of structures, the sports hall is still not complete, but the faces are altering fast. The institution has moved on and I now feel I have.

I think I have now finally detached myself, both from the job I did and education in general. I'm now the first to admit that I didn't realise it would be to leave it all behind. Last July when I stood in the hall I felt I could walk away, but it wasn't that easy.

I've just written a card to someone who I worked closely with congratulating them on retirement, in it I wrote "don't look back", but frankly over the past year it's been hard not to take the occasional glance.

Hard Rock Calling 2012

Last weekend it was music festival time in London and for the first time we attended both Saturday and Sunday. The weather on Saturday didn't look promising, the organisers sent an email advising not to wear sandals or flip flops, not really necessary in my case. However with wellies having become a fashion item in recent times, I may have been in a minority favouring trainers that I accepted would get muddy.

The journey to Hyde Park was made more complicated by TFL deciding to close one line and the nearest station.  Anyway we arrived just as Tom Morello was ending his set, which was a little disappointing, and frankly with hindsight I could have missed Lady Antebullum without too much hardship.

Just before 6pm John Fogerty took the stage; now I remember seeing him as the lead vocalist of Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1969 at the Albert Hall. On a Saturday evening with the rain abating for a while, Fogerty was the perfect warm up act. Much of the material was familiar to a large proportion of the audience, as he delivered a number of CCR's hit from the late 60s. At the end of his set he was joined on stage by Bruce Springsteen to duet on "Rocking all over the World".

By now the park was filled to around its 80,000 capacity, all eagerly awaiting Bruce. This was part of his "Wrecking Ball" tour, he had played the festival two years ago, and is so at home playing outdoor venues. However the last two years have brought a number of changes to the E Street Band, most significantly following the death of Clarence "Big Man" Clemons. Importantly Clarence who in the minds of most long term Springsteen fans was joined at the hip to Bruce (see Born to Run cover), has been "replaced" by his nephew Jake Clemons on saxophone. The E street band now numbers about 15 musicians including a brass section and a group of backing singers.

Bruce starts with "Thunder Road" played with only piano accompaniment from Professor Roy Bittan. He intersperses new tracks from "Wrecking Ball" with tracks from his back catalogue, which after close 40 years recording is vast.
A Spanish fan made a banner asking for an obscure track, he'd followed Bruce across Europe asking for it to be played, tonight Bruce makes his day.

It's the 100th anniversary of Woody Guthrie birth and Bruce invites Tom Morello back on stage to play "Jack of all Trades" and Ghost of Tom Joad, which to me seems the most apt song to celebrate Woody's contribution to American music.

As the concert enters its third hour the rain falls but it doesn't deter Bruce who launches into a run of his more popular songs, Born to Run, Born in the USA, Glory Days and Dancing in the Dark. It's encore time and he is joined by on stage by Paul McCartney. Now Bruce admits that he waited 50 years to play with the Beatle, and in truth my wife has waited as long to see Paul McCartney on stage. They played I saw her standing there and Twist and Shout, before someone pulls the plug.

Bruce is forced to leave the stage, without a goodbye. Clearly the band were not best pleased, and the next morning the decision to cut the power not only made the london media but echoed around the world, my mother in law in Australia was aware of it as it had featured on Australian news. We made our away from Hyde Park, not short changed, but disappointed. It had been an amazing set from Bruce, but the abrupt end, had naturally made most fans lose focus on just what a fine performance it had been.

Less than 24 hours later we were back at the Park. The Sunday bill showed the problem with festivals. We arrived by 5pm to hear Alison Krauss and Union Station, sadly many others were happier to talk, drink and generally ignore the band's set. Frankly I'd listen to Jerry Douglas any night I got the chance, but unfortunately the choice of material, there were a number of slow ballads, lost the crowds attention. Perhaps understandably there only became interested at the more up tempo bluegrass songs, such as Man of Constant Sorrow.

The bulk of the 50,000 were there to see Paul Simon. It's 25 years since he released the then controversial  album Graceland. The use of black South African musicians gave them worldwide exposure, yes it was against the word of the UN boycott, but I doubt against its spirit. ThE UN boycott was designed to prevent established acts going to South Africa and playing to white only audiences during the apartheid era. Simon was doing the reverse and his intention was anything but an act designed to support apartheid.

Paul Simon has a wide back catalogue and he started by playing several familiar tracks before bringing onto stage the musicians, and singers who had helped him put together Graceland. Now sometimes a singer produces a song that raises the bar, Simonwent one step further and in Graceland produced an album of exceptional quality.25 years later, the tracks still sounded fresh and invigorating.

As an encore he came back and played solo the class Sound of Silence before inviting Jerry Douglas to accompany him on a rendition of "The Boxer". It was a night to remember, on a weekend of outstanding music from artists who have perfected their craft over decades.

Looking back at the Green Movement

For the past couple of weeks I've been reading the Silent Spring. Rachel Carson wrote this book in 1962. It therefore celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. It is often cited as the work that kick started the ecology movement.

Carson controversially at the time spoke out about the impact of pesticides upon the wider environment. In short the killing of bad bugs by the use of DDT and other chemicals, killed much more besides. I can only imagine the reaction in the industrial world to her research and the wave of publicity unleashed when her work was serialised in the New Yorker in June '62. Here was a woman challenging the dominant view of science and industry at a time when women were expected to conform and not be heard.

The dominant theme of the Silent Spring is that man can not control nature, she regards the assertion that they can as arrogant and the attempt as futile. In short science is turning deadly weapons not only against insects but upon the earth itself.

Carson explains using applied Darwinism, that nature will fight back. She accurately predicted that insects would become resistant to the very chemicals being sprayed. Nature will always fight back.

Books can change the world, or rather the ideas contained within them can.
Marx, Darwin , it is no exaggeration to put Carson with such company. Tragically Rachel Carson died of cancer shortly after the book's publication. Her legacy however is an international movement with many strands determined to defend the planet and ensure its survival for future generations.

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Another day and another book, and I've turned to the Life and Death of Petra Kelly (by Sara Parkin). Kelly was in many ways the first Green politician I became aware of during the late 1980's.

Ironically today I find myself sitting and writing in a cafe in Surbiton in Surrey. In the 1970s in Britain going green was synominous with the TV programme "The Good Life". The central characters Tom & Barbara Good have abandonned the rat race and materialism and have decided to become self sufficient, converting their garden into a small holding. The setting for this experiment is Surbiton, the epitomy of middle class surburbia, a part of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.. Ironically today this is the parliamentary constituency of Ed Davey,the minister responsible for Climate Change.

In its own way the Good Life poses an interesting question for Greens, to what extent can a person opt out of materialism and the industrial age. What impact do individual acts such as abandonning consumerism help in tackling the environmental problems facing the world.

On a July morning the chance of meeting a Tom Good in Surbiton seemed as likely as meeting Tom Joad in Oklahoma; yet the ghost of Tom Good set my mind wondering over two pots of tea and a piece of flapjack as I passed the morning away.

Laura Marling at RAH

Saturday night and I'm heading to the Albert Hall to watch Laura Marling in concert. The building looks spectacular as I approach it. The facade has been cleaned and it looks every inch a London landmark. On the inside of the building are a number of photos,prints and displays that reveal the history of the building and the variety of events it has staged over the past century or more.

Over the years I've been there for a number of concerts and sporting events. After a bit of memory jogging I remember back to my first visit to see Chicago Transit Authority in concert in 1969 ( still have the album, must play it sometime). I take my place in the stalls which now benefit from swivell chairs. Tonight's concert will be in the round, which allows a fair few people to stand around the stage.

It's the 3rd time that I've seen Laura Marling in the last year. I admit that I really only became familiar with her work following the release of her 3rd album, A Creature I don't know. . Tonight is in many ways both a homecoming and a coming of age. She's toured the world behind the album, that tour is officially ending tonight. As far as the Uk goes, the Albert Hall is a step up in venue status, and reflects her growing popularity and importance.

On stage she rotates ensuring that each quarter of the audience see her from all angles. The sound seems a little astray in the opening numbers, the Albert Hall plays tricks and the acoustics have always been a tricky beast. Any doubts however are soon quashed as she performs a number of tracks from the "Creature" album. Midway through the opening set, the band leave the stage leaving Laura alone. Accompanied by just her acoustic guitar she performs the Cohenesque " Night after Night". It's a flawless performance that confirms just how much she has matured as a performer. The song itself always stuns me, I've constantly wondered how it could have been written by someone now in her early 20's.

At times she seems shy almost reclusive on stage, banter is kept to a minimum, but for two hours the audience are treated to the talents of one of the UK's most talented songwriter-performers. As usual there are no encores, Laura tells the audiance that this is the penultimate song, and if you want an encore treat the song after this as it. If you don't you can leave after this song. At the end the audience rise to offer a standing ovation, yes this was undoubtedly a "step up" and I now await the fourth album.

A week of cricket

I can't remember when since my crickethood I have spent as much time travelling to the Oval to watch cricket. I remember, almost in humour, saying to people at work, that when I retired I planned to become a professional cricket watcher. Well I came close to accomplishing the mission last week .

Through circumstance Surrey found themselves having four home fixtures of T20 cricket in a week. The day before this scheduled commenced, at the Oval England played Australia in a ODI. The chance to see England take on the "old enemy" in any form of the game was not to be missed. Finally two days after the home schedule was complete Surrey travelled to Hove to take on Sussex, and again a trip to the coast was a grand way to complete the T20 calendar.

I concluded with so many games in quick succession it made sense to buy a rail season ticket. I became a "cricket commuter". On Sunday we setr off early for England v Australia. For the second time in three days, England's ODI squad did a thoroughly professional job in defeating the Aussies. The England ODI team, now minus Kevin Pietersen are staggering efficient ( a term usually used to describe German football teams). Alastair Cook and Ian Bell  are not the first names one would think of when talking one day cricket. Both are primarily stroke players rather than hitters, but once bedded in, they are hard to dislodge and both are run gatherers. Similarly at present England are blessed with a quantity of pace bowlers who have speed, accuracy and the ability to swing the ball. Finally in Graeme Swann, England have what was for so long lacking, a top quality spin bowler who not only can take wickets but can bowl ten overs economically in this form of the game.

The weeks T20 games proved to be the bad, ugly and good. The four home games produced no victories, with defeats v Hampshie and Sussex, a capitulation v Kent and finally something of a comeback against Middlesex.

The week was billed as bowlers beware Kevin Pietersen is back. Sadly in the first part of the week KP failed to trouble the bowlers or indeed the scorers. Out 1st bowl against Hampshire.  The Kent game took place the day after the team travelled to Wales for the funeral of TM55. It was I sense expecting too much for a group of young men to perform to the best of their ability the day after experiencing something that most people of their age have never had to deal with, the sudden death of a contemporary.

By Friday the team appeared to be more settled, although the selection policy was at time baffling. A crowd of around 15,000 came to the Oval and were entertained by a close game that the team from North london won on the penultimate ball. At the change of innings, the crowd were entertained by a London mascot race, that featured among others, Haydon the Womble from AFC Wimbledon.

On the Thursday, it was officially announced that Mark Ramprakash was retiring from 1st class cricket. Although not a surprise, the timing and circumstance of the announcement, was perplexing from the outside. It is now apparent that Ramps had been informed that he would no longer be considered for first team selection, and rather than kicking his heels around 2nd eleven grounds, Mark decided to call it a day.

The retirement of Ramps seems to bring down the curtain on an era of cricket. A batsman who has accumulated 114 first class centuries, many achieved after he decided to switch from Middlesex to Surrey. Bizarrely to the wider public Ramps is better known for his exploits on the dance floor rather than his time at the crease. He has been without doubt the outstanding county cricketer of his generation, sadly his reputation is affected by at best a modest teat average. However for years he carried the Surrey batting order.

I remember fondly the expectation as he got closer to 100 centuries and then the excitement of the achievement as he reached the milestone. It is entirely possible that he will be the last batsman to achieve the 100 hundreds. That's not to say there aren't player of sufficient talent, Cook, Pietersen,Gayle, Ponting all great batsmen, but today so much time is taken up with one day and T20 competitions, that the modern batsman simply does get the necessary number of innings.

As Ramps has explained young batsman today do not get the time to build innings, today's cricket culture denies them that. It's hit out or get out. He may be right when he says that the modern player has more than one eye on the IPL, Big Bash League, and T20 where money can be earned, rather than the traditional forms of the game that lead to the development of test match players.

The week ended with the trip to Hove. In the past umpires,players and groundsmen would have abandonned the day; but this is T20 and a near capacity crowd had paid to be entertained. At 3pm after a rain delay, Sussex batted for 9 overs and raced to 104 runs through a mixture of lusty slogs, slashes through the empty slip area and some ill thought out short pitch bowling that was rightly punished. The rain then arrived in tropical proportions, and a prolonged period of mopping up, Surrey were asked courtesy of the Duckworth/Lewis formula to make 62 in 5 overs.

The 5 overs saw two excellent catches and some good ground fielding, perhaps the great advance in the modern game. The game was finally decided by Kevin Pietersen who dispatched three balls for six and reduced what had seemed like a difficult target to a manageable total. When he crashed the 4th ball of the final over into the window of the commentary box, Surrey had won the game. Whether or not the 14 overs in the afternoon represented good value for £25 is reallyt debateable. However in the defence of Sussex CCC , they like all other counties cannot control the weather, and although I'm sure many felt cheated at the end, the rain fell agaib within minutes of the players exiting the field.

My final memory of our day at Hove, the seagull that deposited on me twice, hitting my head, jacket and jeans, however as I was told this is a sign of luck, which Surrey most definately needed.

Cricket - all emotions included

It's been three weeks since I've written. Three weeks that have been busy and amazing, following the birth of my grandson. It's also from a work standpoint been the busiest three weeks of my year, incorporating the exam paper marking period and my delivery of a conference for politics teachers' in London.

However as I took a tea break in London last Monday, I looked at my phone and received a text message from a friend of mine who is also a member of Surrey CCC. I had to read the message twice and then look back again, it told me of the death of Tom Maynard.

It was only later in the day, on my journey home that reading the free newspaper I learned that Tom had died in what could be described as unusual circumstances in the early morning. If I was stunned I wondered how his family and his friends, especially the players at Surrey, were coping. Later in the week it was announced that Tom had died of electricution before being struck by an Underground train.

The next day England played the West Indies at the Oval in a ODI. Before the match the players and the crowd at this stage around 15,000 stood in total silence for "a minute's silence".  At times throughout the day I thought about Tom, a life and a cricketing future cut short. At the Oval the crowd witnessed an innings of brutality from Chris Gayle, who launched five sixes to all parts of the ground, including the roof of the pavilion before being given out lbw to Graeme Swann.
In the afternoon in contrast we witnessed Alastair Cook, for a period not deemed a one day player, construct a match winning century.

The West Indies this summer have been deprived of the services of Gayle, Pollard, and Bravo batsman who could have gone some say to even up the contest between England and the tourists. Of course test cricket in a cold May -June in England can't compete with the rewards of the IPL. For purists like myself, that's yet another tragedy. Gayle's loss to test cricket has tilted the cricket world towards the shoter forms of the game.





But on the day, it was enough to enjoy Gayle's cameo which for a short time, took my mind away from the events in SW19 the morning before.


Some days later , Tom Maynard's Surrey colleague, Matthew Spreigel published a fitting tribute to Tom on the Surrey website, I copy it below:

Surrey all-rounder Matthew Spriegel has paid tribute to the late Tom Maynard, writing a moving tribute for kiaoval.com.

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Having read some of the moving tributes to Tom over the last few days, I feel under huge pressure to make sure I do him justice in the next few paragraphs. Then I thought about it, there is nothing about Tommy I could write that could make him sound other than fantastic, as a player, a teammate, a friend but above all as a bloke.
When I got the awful news, soon after waking up on Monday, I went numb. I couldn’t comprehend the news, if I’m honest I still can’t. Then it hit me, sitting in a café in Clapham, I burst into tears.
My phone had run out of battery so asked them to charge it up, when I got it back, the news was publicly announced and it was going crazy. He had died. For a moment I looked around with blurred vision and couldn’t understand how people were getting on with their life, did they not know?
I can’t even imagine what his family have been through over these past few days. I have never properly been introduced to Matt, Sue or Ceri and I’m not going to claim I know them. However what I do know is how close they were as a family, I only hope they can draw comfort from the unbelievable response of the public. I have read so many messages from friends, fans and people who had never even met him which shows what an impact he had in his 23 years.
When he arrived at Surrey 18 months ago we headed into pre-season as rivals, we were both competing to try and get into the Championship side. I had played against him a few times, but we didn’t know each other that well so it was always going to be an interesting battle.
On the first day of pre-season he pulled me to one side and said: “Listen bud, we are very similar players and I can see myself competing with you for that middle order spot, whatever happens lets work hard together and be happy for each other no matter what happens.”
I was blown away, and of course he went on to play every game for us and have a fantastic year. I will never forget what he said to me that day.
Tommy had an unmistakable presence. Even the first two T20 games this season he missed because of an injury, you could tell he wasn’t there. I can’t bear to think about what it’s going to be like walking into the changing room without him being there.
Despite him being two years younger than me I would always turn to him for advice about anything, he was so approachable. I have to walk past his spot to get to mine and to listen to another one of his stories and hear his infectious laugh was always a great way to start the day.
We will never know how far he could have gone in the game, but what I know is that he had the hunger, desire and commitment to go with his undoubted god given talent to go all the way to the top. I was lucky enough to see him play the sort of innings that would turn games on their head and play shots that I could only dream of.
Surrey are no strangers to tragedy, with Graham Kersey, Ben Hollioake and now Tom being taken away from us. I have to take this opportunity to mention how good both Surrey and the PCA have been in the past week in assisting us in this terrible time.
Saying its going to be an emotional few weeks, months and years is a ridiculous understatement. The guys are hurting, and why wouldn’t they be we have lost our mate, role model and the life and soul of the party! But, its not just us, he has brought the cricketing world to its knees. The guys at Glamorgan will be in the same position as us, as will so many players around the country because of the person he was.
Yesterday I was looking through my phone to see if I had any pictures of us together, nothing. All I found was the video of our team song after winning the CB40 final last year, that’s all I need. He was on the table, conducting the boys, belting out our team song into an empty Champagne bottle whilst throwing out some of his trademark dance moves.
Everyone will have there own memories of Tommy to treasure and I feel so lucky to have so many. You will be sorely missed.
Rest in peace mate x