Location: The Pub at the Creamery, Arcata
Personnel: Me, KT, a barful of strangers
T-shirt: Keep Calm and Curry On

Sometimes I crave the noise and chaos of a sports bar, It calms the nerves somehow.

In years past I watched a lot of big games at the Sidelines on the Arcata Plaza, which was shut down a while back for drug dealing. In all the time I spent there, no one ever once offered me dope; not that I wanted it, but it would have been nice to be asked.

My new spot is the Pub at the Creamery, which has food as well as drink and is much less divey, for better or worse. As I sat in my stool waiting for the game to start, the guy next to me was telling me that he grew up in LA as a Lakers fan but has been a Warriors fan as an adult. So he was conflicted. Not so your humble scribe. I have never like the Lakers nor LeBron James, so I find them easy to root against. Even so LBJ is not the compelling villain that Kobe Bryant was — I lived through what seemed like a century of Kobe torturing hapless Warriors teams.

It causes me some inner conflict that Klay Thompson often cites Kobe as an inspiration. Klay seems like such a nice guy, whereas Kobe… didn’t. Now that he’s been gone a while, I suppose I ought to let go of my Kobe hate. But old habits die hard.

As for Klay, I guess whatever inspires him to do things like this is OK with me:

A few days ago I was looking up Warriors of yore and was reminded of Bimbo Coles, our point guard for three years in the late Nineties. Bimbo (real name: Vernell Eufaye Coles) was a good defender and, for all I know, a warm and wonderful human being. But to watch him shoot the basketball was a painful experience. He quickly earned the nickname “Brickbo” and richly deserved it.

We’ve come a long way since then.

The fact that Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were drafted by the same team is a ridiculous historical anomaly. Occasionally someone will say that they’re the two best shooters in the history of the game, and that may be an exaggeration, but it’s not much of one. Just for instance, in this year’s playoffs, Steph has 43 made threes and Klay has 40. No one else has more than 25.

That the team they were drafted to happened to be the team I lived and suffered with for so long is a blessing that I can hardly say I merit. I try to appreciate it as much as I can. I’m going to go watch last night’s game again in the peace and quiet of my own living room. Game 3 is tomorrow.