[The Lizard of Oz]

Someone was cool enough to post this very rare footage from 1987 on Youtube. All it is is a 24 year old Michael competing against the two Sheens, Martin and a young Charlie, in a game show of the time called "War of the Stars". They basically play some hoops against each other with modified rules designed to give the Sheens a fighting chance.

It is a mystical video that gave me a lot of thoughts and feelings when I watched it. To say that these three guys are studs and alphas is true, of course, but doesn't really capture what you see. They are just three awesome dudes being themselves, with not a care in the world. I don't believe that any royalty of ancient times -- any kings or emperors of old -- if they chilled together in the royal garden playing a quaint ball game, could be so completely at their ease, so sweetly and utterly in and of the moment, as are these three princes of the American golden age... their time together is pure magic.

Enjoy:

[Truck'n]

few things stick out.

- the greater attention span of the audience. at the moment of release during the free throw shooting contest, every person's focus was on the shot. not like today when the focus of the moment seems to pass by large audiences, and not just at sporting events.

- those gym clothes. no one wanted to sponsor that event? not even nike? if you notice, both the Sheens and Jordan are wearing air Jordans, but the shorts and shirts are no logo.

- how horribly hokey the announcing of Van Patten is.

- how tall Van Patten is

- how suprisingly athletic Charlie is

- how many bad shots Martin takes in the one on two contest

- how little effort Jordan gives in the one on two contest. if you pay close attention, you notice that after Jordan scores his second bucket, he forgets that they are not playing make'em take'em, and starts to take the ball out, but then is reminded by Charlie that the ball changes possession. You can see him kind of snicker and just basically quit trying for a few minutes until he realizes that he is about to lose.

- how much Jordan scored with that midrange jumper. He will always be remembered for the hangtime and body control in the air, but the lion's share of he points were scored with that pop up 8 - 15 foot jumper, qualifying him as a great shooter as well as a great slasher to the basket. Basically why he was so great. And why, even though Kobe modeled his game after Jordan's style, Kobe will never ever close to being as effective as Jordan was. Kobe's only move that could ever rival Jordan's was his fadeaway baseline jumper. But as for everything else, no. And of course, Kobe is a baby and a terrible teammate, while Jordan was a captain and drove his teammates to perform higher. Kobe's teammates wanted to throttle him most of the time and tell him to shut the fuck up.

[Quintus Curtius]

Charlie Sheen's all right. He's one of those very few actors (Robert Downey being another) where you like him no matter what self-destructive craziness he does. He's just a likeable guy...I heard he was even better at baseball.

[Joga Bonito]

Here's another cool video of MJ playing a game called 9 Hoops for a Japanese TV show. The goal of the game is to hit at least 9/12 shots, while the basketball rims are moving both vertically and horizontally, all at different heights.

[Moma]

I saw this video a while back (not at time of inception). But damn, Jordan makes those Sheens look tiny..are they that small?? They seem to only reach his ribcage!

Martin has a nice jay though..his form looks similar to John Stockton