It’s the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals

The NBA Finals are set: it will be the New York Knicks vs. the San Antonio Spurs. Wemby and the Spurs vanquished the defending champions Oklahoma City Thunder in an exciting game 7. Also, at the bottom of this post check out the stories I read or watched this week. At the bottom of the page, check out the latest episode of the Torg Stories Podcast.

What happened after Wemby’s big game 1? 

  • Way more physical with him. Holding jersey, shoulders and waist. 
  • Wemby not strong enough to just go inside and post up. It will probably be hard to ever be strong enough to do that. 
  • Hard tags on Wemby’s rolls. Running a high ball screen with a Wemby roll pretty much guaranteed open threes for the rest of the team.

In game 7, Wemby had a stat line that was more like the ones he had when they lost. How did the Spurs still beat OKC in game 7? 

  1. Champagnie went 6-11 from three. Wemby went 3-5. Sometimes Wemby doesn’t hit any. 
  2. De’Aron Fox looked way more explosive on offense, more active on defense and scored 15. He was giving them zero early in the series. 
  3. Caruso, who had been good, was bad on offense going 3-14 from the field and 1-6 from the three point line. 
  4. A lot was made of Chet taking two shots. 
  5. You can often just go to the three point line to see what happened. Both teams shot 45% from the field. Spurs were 17-40 and OKC was 12-35. That’s a 15 point difference. What kind of threes? How many off of offensive rebounds? 
  6. Note: The Spurs really got their turnover numbers down. I think mostly because of De’Aaron Fox playing more and more but also their players adjusted.

Even though I am Pacer fan and the Knicks are a historical rival, here are some reasons the Knicks are a fun finals team for me: 

  1. I worked in NYC for 11 years 
  2. I have been to MSG and “behind the scenes” at least twice. Plus, we went to Billy Joel. 
  3. Timothee Chalamet brought my daughter Izzy to the Knicks. Then she liked Tyler Kolek. Now he doesn’t play. And she’s yelling at the TV. 
  4. Feels fun to see who is at the game. 
  5. KAT has a fascinating personality. 
  6. The Villanova connection and the way those guys act together. 
  7. The Bruson footwork and little guy doing it. 
  8. Mitchell Robinson’s FT struggles, his mental health struggles, and his big truck driving country music listening personality. What happened with his broken finger?!!!

Looking ahead to the NBA Finals Knicks vs. Spurs: 

  1. Wemby’s age and don’t forget about Magic. I am thinking of Magic Johnson being 20 years and 276 days old when he won the title. Wemby is 22 years and 147 days old. We’re in year 3 with Wemby. Magic was finals MVP as a rookie scoring 42 pts, 15 reb, and 7 assists to clinch title. 
  2. Brunson will hunt De’Aaron Fox and that works. Can the Spurs function without Fox? Because if they can, the player Brunson wants to hunt is gone. This isn’t James Harden and Donavan Mitchell on defense. (This sentence alone makes me wonder if the Knicks can win) 
  3. How will Knicks guard Wemby? 
  • Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not OG Anunoby. 
  • If Mitchell can play he can do what Hartenstein did for OKC. 
  • KAT isn’t Holmgren on defense. He won’t rim protect but he is A LOT more physical. 

Why would the Knicks win? 

  • They have a more polished offensive game. They know Brunson is the man in a way that the Spurs don’t have. They know how they work in KAT and Bridges. 
  • The Knicks can play five 3-point shooters. There’s no Hartenstein for Wemby to roam away from. 
  • The Knicks starters have had a nice rest and time to recover. 

Why would the Spurs win? 

  • No weak links on defense with certain line ups. They might be able to switch a lot of ball screens and successfully make Brunson a lot less efficient without much help. 
  • Shooters do their job when Wemby demands a lot of attention. 
  • Wemby just too unique on both sides of the ball. 

Who will win? 

  • I really don’t know. Feels like a toss up series, but I will make a prediction…
  • The Spurs defense will be a dominant force in the series, BUT I think the Knicks will find just enough offense to win in a series where both teams have trouble scoring. 
  • Anne picked Spurs in six. I picked Knicks in seven.

Thanks for checking out this post!

Best and Worst Work Stories and NYC to LA Bagel Testing: Inspired by Thomas Beller’s “Portrait of the Bagel as a Young Man”

What’s the craziest stuff that’s ever happened to you at work? Any weird interview stories?

Anne and I use Thomas Beller’s piece about working at H&H Bagels at 80th and Broadway in NYC to spark our own work-themed conversation. He also inspired us to go out an have local bagels: mine in Boone, NC at the Boone Bagelry and Anne’s at The Bagel Broker in Los Angeles.

Click above to listen to our Work Stories Podcast with Beller’s “Portrait of the Bagel as a Young Man”

🛒 My novel Love on the Big Screen tells the story of a college freshman whose understanding of love is shaped by late-80s romantic comedies.

📚 Read Beller’s essay in the anthology The Contemporary American Essay on Amazon.

🥯 Click here to read “Portrait of the Bagel as a Young Man” on Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood website.

Izzy, Bill, Megan, and Charlotte in Boone, NC

What makes “Portrait of the Bagel as a Young Man” worth reading? How does it work?

  1. Organized from interview to last day on the job. 
  2. Main parts: who works there; what he does with the inventory, the ledger, and the counting; some harder days; being trusted with the money, a big mistake; getting out
  3. Rewards: 
  • It tells the story of an evolving artist (Beller) in a way that the title alludes to about James Joyce. 
  • glimpse into a world I don’t know about
  • the visit to NYC which takes me back kind of like the people who order bagels from all over
  • insights on being alive like being loved on own terms
  • Thinking about my own jobs
  • Inspired me to go get a local bagel 
Everything bagel sandwich, fresh OJ, and a hearty breakfast at Boone Bagelry

Podcast Episode Summary from Zoom software:

  • On this episode of the Torg Stories Podcast, Anne and Torg discussed work stories using Thomas Beller’s essay “Portrait of the Bagel as a Young Man” as their framework. Anne shared her experience visiting bagel shops in Los Angeles, including The Bagel Broker and Sam’s Bagels, while Torg discussed his visit to Boone Bagelry in North Carolina. They analyzed Beller’s narrative about working at H&H Bagels in New York City, discussing themes of job routine, physical labor, and the challenges of working in a factory environment. The conversation included personal work stories from both participants, with Torg sharing numerous past employment experiences ranging from lifeguarding to teaching, while Anne discussed her career path from factory work to tech writing to her current role in architectural design. They explored how work stories can provide insight into different cultures and work environments, and discussed the potential for Anne to share more work-related experiences in future episodes.

A List of Jobs I Remember Having

  1. Lifeguard at Winamac Town Pool 
  2. Stockboy at Russell’s Old Trading Post
  3. Indiana Beach ride operator 
  4. Summer Residence Hall Staff at Olivet Nazarene University 
  5. Numerous men’s and women’s basketball camps including Purdue, Butler, Indiana and the Bloomington YMCA
  6. TIS Book Company in Bloomington
  7. Tree Trimming Assistant in Bloomington
  8. Substitute Teacher in Kankakee IL including parking lot security 
  9. Gap 
  10. North Miami HS in Denver, Indiana
  11. Carroll HS in Fort Wayne, Indiana
  12. Vance HS in Charlotte, NC
  13. Weddington MS in NC
  14. Queens Golf Course 
  15. St. John’s University 
  16. Greenwood HS in IN
  17. Appalachian State University 
Anne went to the Bagel Broker at Fairfax and Beverly in Los Angeles

What work stories do we have?

  1. I have two (kind of three) published: Ye Olde Trading Post based on working at Russell’s, A Golf Course Story based on working in Queens (the cash register, the Twilight rate, and racial tensions) and the novel The Coach’s Wife 
  1. Indiana Beach lying to the insurance adjusters 
  2. Tank not going back to TIS book warehouse after lunch 
  3. Tree trimmer set his chest hair on fire in the tree in Bloomington
  4. R-rated faculty meetings at SJU 

Here’s a bit about the author and the piece: 

  • Looks like Thomas Beller has a website called Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood: New York City Stories. Click here. 
  • This story was first published on the Beller Neighborhood website on March 29, 2004. 
  • I came across it in an anthology titled The Contemporary American Essay published in 2021. Click here to access that anthology on Amazon. 

Seems like Beller is a big basketball fan. He wrote a book called Lost in the Game: A Book About Basketball. Click here to read more about the book. He has an MFA from Columbia. He teaches at Tulane.

Thanks for stopping by the website!

Project Hail Mary Movie Review: Ryan Gosling and Andy Weir

We dive deep into Ryan Gosling’s performance in the film adaptation of Andy Weir’s sci-fi novel, Project Hail Mary. The film stars Ryan Gosling as Dr. Ryland Grace. He’s a molecular biologist who wakes up from a coma on a space ship.

Ryan Gosling in the movie Project Hail Mary Podcast Discussion

What grade do I give the film? Why? 

  1. I give the film a B+. I liked it! I recommend it!
  2. It’s touching. The moments between Dr. Grace and Rocky are touching. It’s amazing that the story got me to care about a rock / crab / spider. 
  3. It’s inspiring. Dr. Grace authentically learns to be a hero. 
  4. It’s funny. With Dr. Grace, Rocky and Carl are very funny. Dr. Grace says he and Rocky are clock bros. 
  5. Excellent structure / use of time. 
  6. Some really suspenseful moments: the delivery of the original message from Rocky, the collecting of the living organism to save the planet, is Rocky going to wake up? 
  7. Beautiful shots of space with colors evocative of a sunset. 
  8. I didn’t know how the film would end. 
  9. Downsides: pacing of beginning. Think length is only critique? Maybe some of the music choices jarred me out of the moment. 

My Expectations Leading Up seeing Project Hail Mary:

  • I remember a hard advertising push to launch. I’m a steady listener to the Bill Simmons podcast and they alluded to it during an episode. I remember Bill asking his son what he thought. So I wanted to see it and as is usually my way, I waited until I could see it at home. 
  • Gosling hosted SNL with Harry Styles in the audience. Styles’ song “Sign of the Times” figures into the plot. I expected more of an Armageddon action film, more like Deep Impact. 

I like that word “project” in a title. I considered The Family Basketball Project. 

The Author, The Screenwriters, and The Directors

  • Author Andy Weir: Dad was a physicist and mom an engineer. He’s your age Anne. He wrote the Martian bit by bit on his website. Sold as a 99 cent kindle. Afraid of flying. 
  • Screenwriter:  Drew Goddard, adapted Martian and this. 
  • Directors: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller directed Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Which Spiderman movies?

Actors who have most pull on me to want to see a new movie when it comes out:

  1. Tom Cruise 
  2. Matt Damon 
  3. Ryan Gosling 
  4. Will Ferrell 
  5. Emily Blunt 
  6. Denzel Washington 
  7. Brad Pitt 
  8. Robert Downey Jr. 
  9. Ryan Reynolds 

List your most interesting and/or best moments of the film: 

  1. The mystery of “what’s going on” when he wakes up on the ship and the other two members of the crew are dead. 
  • On the second watch, to know he was involuntarily put in a coma and to know he had lost his memory hit me harder. 
  1. As Dr. Grace gets his memory back on the ship, we get flashbacks to what happened. The structure is really important to keeping the film interesting. What if it was in linear time? 
  2. The MORE ORIGINAL problem of the astrophage feeding off of the sun and CO2 on Jupiter. 
  3. The interactions between Dr. Grace (Gosling) and Carl, the security officer. Talking through what they are doing. 
  • Writing and thinking floats on a sea of conversation. I see that with Grace and Carl just talking it out. Maybe CO2 is fresh air for the dots. 
  1. Dr. Grace doesn’t have any courage. The events force him to develop it. 
  2. I like that Dr. Grace shows personality. Some basketball players can do that and many don’t. 
  3. Does Eva (the Director of project Mary) have a super dry sense of humor? I think she does. 
  4. When the ship turns off automatically when it reaches its destination and gravity is gone. 
  5. The interactions between “Rocky” the alien and Gosling. “Rocky” picks the voice to be used for him. 
  1. Big: Grace and Rocky save stars. Rocky builds a ball and comes in. He says, “Why room so messy? Question.” 
  2. One of the funniest moments was Rocky’s super hearing. 
  3. AI Mary learns Rocky’s name and they are all talking as they head to get the sample. 
  4. Do you believe in God? It beats the alternative. I thought Dr. Grace and Eva were going to kiss. 
  5. When Sandra Huller who is Eva Stratt sings Styles’ “Sign of the Times.” Click here for the lyrics. 
  • Welcome to the final show. They told me that the end is near. 
  • Have the time of your life. Breaking through the atmosphere. 
  1. Grace: I got to meet you. I got to do all of this amazing stuff. I’m good. I’ve made peace with it. BIG: Rocky couldn’t help his crew. He can help grace. Grace go home. (crying) 
  2. The ship blew up. That’s why Grace had to go. We don’t learn that until less than an hour to go. 
  3. I put the “naut” in astronaut. 
  4. The Beatles song when he sends the probes home. The probes are named after the Beatles and the book is dedicated to them. It’s a “We’re going home” song. 
  5. Eva receives the predator and the videos. 

What movies are keeping company with this one? This movie reminds you of what other movies? 

  1. Castaway – long stretches of no dialogue.
  2. The Martian – Any Weir wrote that book and he wrote this one. Drew Goddard wrote both screenplays. 
  3. Arrival – Amy Adams is a linguist called on to try and communicate with aliens who have landed.
  4. Deep Impact – Hail Mary does have that very suspenseful stretch where they are trying to capture the living organism that is feeding on the astrophage. 

At the end (SPOILER), Gosling’s character Dr. Grace has to decide if we will make the long journey back to earth (10 years?) or stay on Rocky’s planet. What do you think he will decide? What would you advise him to do?

  • Reasons for earth: be with other humans, he saved the world. Is that a reason to go back? Do science. 
  • Reasons to stay: real friend, enjoys teaching, don’t have to spend all that time going back. Who knows how long. 
  • He should go back to earth for the primary reason that he could tell people about his experiences on another planet and share with them what he learned.

Thanks for checking out this episode!

Richard Ford’s story “Rock Springs”

Welcome to the Torg Stories Podcast. On this episode, Anne and I discuss Richard Ford’s short story, “Rock Springs.” Anne, you went to Rock Springs, Wyoming with Earl, Edna, Cheryl, and Little Duke. What did you think? 

Torg Stories Discussion Richard Ford’s story “Rock Springs”

Things could always be worse. You could go to the electric chair tomorrow. -Edna in “Rock Springs”

Plot points: 

  1. Earl tells Enda, Let’s go to Tampa. Where are they? Where are they going? Earl lives with Edna but they aren’t married and don’t have kids together. Earl’s daughter is Cheryl. Edna doesn’t have custody of her kids. Earl’s in trouble for writing bad checks. Cheryl’s ex is coming by her place trying to steal her stuff. Earl suggests they take off for Tampa. I looked it up and it would be a 39 hour drive from Kalispell, Montana to Tampa. 
  1. Steal a Cadillac and drive to Rock Springs. The oil pressure light comes on. 
  2. Hide the car and Earl goes to the trailers. 
  3. Check in to the Ramada Inn. 
  4. Edna decides to leave Earl. 
  1. Earl is checking out stealing another car. 
  2. I like the questions at the end that we can answer together. 

Two Questions Before Golden Lines:

  1. What do you think of this couple? 
  2. What do you make of Earl’s parenting? 

Golden Lines from Richard Ford’s “Rock Springs”:

  1. (observation about love) I don’t know what was between Edna and me, just beached by the same tides when you got down to it. Though love has been built on frailer ground than that, as I well know. P. 2 
  2. (sunset description and point of view) The sunset that day I remember as being the prettiest I’d ever seen. Just as it touched the rim of the horizon, it all at once fired the air into jewels and red sequins the precise likes of which I had never seen before and haven’t seen since. P. 5.  (The POV is interesting; it’s a looking back story) 
  3. (Earl’s reaction to that terrible monkey story) Sometimes that’s all you can do, and you can’t worry about what somebody else thinks. P. 9
  4. Edna about and to Earl: You don’t think right, did you know that, Earl? You think the world’s stupid and you’re smart. 
  5. Also Edna: Things could always be worse. You could go to the electric chair tomorrow.
  6. It got to feeling very Flannery O’Connor “A Good Man is Hard to Find” with the driving, the car broke down by the road, and the unsavoriness. Earl tells us, “The truth is meant to serve you if you’ll let it, and I wanted it to serve me.” 
  7. Good writing about trailers: I’ve lived in trailers, but they were just snailbacks with one room and no toilet, and they always felt cramped and unhappy though I’ve thought maybe it might’ve been me that was unhappy in them.” p. 14
  • Writing taking you to realizations, got me thinking about how what space I’m in seems more important than it used to.
  1. Earl is very negative about Rock Springs: She was good nature’s picture, and I was glad she could be, with her little brain-damaged boy, living in a place where no one in his right mind would want to live a minute.” p. 15
  2. Tough one from the black lady in the trailer: Children bring you grief the same way they bring you joy. P. 16
  3. A philosophy from the black woman in the trailer: Saving people is what we were all put on earth to do. P. 17
  4. Edna on her leaving: I’m thirty-two and I’m going to have to give up on motes. I can’t keep the fantasy going anymore. … And I’ve learned I need to give up on motels before some bad thing happens to me. 

What a terrible story about the death of the monkey. 

  • Probably not fair, but because of what I think I remember about Ford collecting newspaper articles and using them in stories I tend to make a little less of it. 

Other discussion questions: 

  • Edna says they are a couple of fools. If Edna tells you she doesn’t know what to do with her life, what do you tell her? If Earl says he’d like to meet someone to help him take care of Cheryl, what do you tell him? 
  • Holiday Inns and Travelodges are named as nice hotels the police won’t search. What’s a nice hotel to you? Marriott, Westin.   OR, what are you looking for in a hotel? Location, self park…
  • What car trouble stories do you have? Going to Indiana game as kids, car breakdown on the way to Olivet, zero degrees on the Merritt Parkway driving to Queens at 5:30 in the morning, signed our loan documents in our along the side of 421 

What are the rewards for reading this story? 

  1. The look at Earl and Edna and their relationship. 
  2. The bleakness of the terrain, the town, and the character’s lives. 
  3. The narrator’s observations and the lines of dialogue that say something that rings true and thought provoking about life. 
  4. Thought provoking in this way: we are a bad luck event or a few away from really having a much less joyful life. I do believe that there aren’t any guarantees that things work out fine. Edna and Earl aren’t currently increasing their odds in a good way. 

What details make this Rock Springs and not LA, Winamac, or Boone? 

  1. Coal followed by a gold mine. 
  2. The prostitution coming in after the money from the gold mine. 

We get a good look at that trailer. Can you think of a fav and/or least fav place you lived?

  1. My current home for the following reasons: sweeping view of a valley and the mountains beyond. Good office space. Place to workout. Like two creeks running close. 
  2. What we called Ruth’s house in CT: stone walls surrounding the property with a big view of rolling hills and trees
  3. New Cannan in town rental: walk to the library, walk to the park

Click here to read an entry about Rock Springs, Wyoming from a Wyoming history website. 

Thanks for checking out this episode of the Torg Stories Podcast!  

The Art of the Music Playlist: Bill’s for a Mountain Run and Anne’s for a Los Angeles Walk

Welcome to the Torg Stories Podcast. On this episode, Anne and I share the principles that guide us as we make playlists for our respective runs and walks. We also hope to try and bring to life for y’all where it is that we run and walk. Anne, what walk did you choose for this assignment? 

Click above for The Art of the Playlist Podcast

Valle Crucis Community Park 45 Minute Run:  

  1. The park is 7.8 miles west of Boone, North Carolina where App State University is. This is the mountains of North Carolina. 
  2. The park is on the Watauga River. There are often people playing in the river and there are lots of people fishing for trout. 
  3. There are at least two streams feeding into the Watauga River that also run through the park. 
  4. It’s a rare flat valley surrounded by mountains. 
  5. The trail I run four times is over a mile long.
  6. Also discuss: the trail, who is there, it costs $5 sometimes, paved and grass, playgrounds, basketball
  7. Nearby: The Mast Farm Inn, Valle Tavern, Mast Store Annex, Original Mast Store (building constructed in 1882), Pearl’s Kitchen, Valle Crucis Farm, Taylor House Inn. 
  8. The park is 1.8 miles from my house. 

Torg’s 45 Minute Run Playlist 

What are some guiding principles of putting together this playlist? 

  1. I signed up for my first race in a long time on June 14th. I’m running the 4-mile version. There’s a 10 and 14 mile version too. It starts at The Rock, which is App State’s Football Stadium. 
  2. The move from podcasts where I might forget what I’m doing to music. I wanted music because I was trying to tap into the routine that would get my body read to run. 
  3. I’ve even added drive over to the park music: Weird Fishes by Radiohead and Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve. I pick these for the pace of the beat that I think could be my feet hitting the ground in rhythm. So for these, I’m getting ready to run. My body hears these songs and thinks, we’re going running. 
  4. “Theme from Hoosiers” by Jerry Goldsmith. I have a walk from the car to the starting line. I like having the start and finish line the same to help me remember lap times and see how I am doing. 
  5. More instrumentals to get started: 
  • “Gonna Fly Now,” the Rocky theme song by Bill Conti, “Training Montage” also from Rocky by Bill Conti. Imagine the Russion running indoors in Rocky IV while Rocky is out chopping wood in the Russian winter. 
  1. My list is always evolving according to my pace and how the songs are hitting. I just moved “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence and the Machine out. 
  2. Just keep it going songs: Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People, It’s a Sin by Pet Shop Boys, Safe and Sound by Capital Cities, and “I Ran (So Far Away)” by A Flock of Seagulls. 
  3. Now we’re going to get more serious and try and turn it on. I bumped up Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” to kick off this section because it starts slow. If it was later in this section, there’s kind of a lull that breaks the flow. I also have Eminem’s “Till I Collapse” in here and it starts a little slow too and that’s a bit of a problem and I don’t feel like I want those two songs next to each other. 
  4. Cake’s “The Distance” works great in this section. 
  5. I like to finish, and my favorite song to run to, is the Beastie Boys “Sabotage.” I also like this song better on a run than at any other moment in my life. 
  6. If I happen to still be running after “Sabotage,” I have ACDC “Thunderstruck,” and Ozzy Osbourne “Crazy Train” ready to go.

Bill’s Mountain Run Playlist

Anne’s Los Angeles Walk Playlist

Thanks for checking out this episode of the Torg Stories Podcast!