Back in the 80s, glam metal was on the top of the mountain. The big hair, the makeup, the aquanet, the spandex etc… In a nutshell, that was the image before LMFAO carbon copied the image (not sure if they got the zebra spandex pants idea from glam metal, but whatever). In retrospect, glam metal was chart topping rock music with an edge to it, that being the over the top image: men looking like women. That sent the whole transvestite assumption thought into the common person’s head at that time. But women didn’t give a rat’s ass about the image, they just wanted to get a hold of these guys. Groupies were living the high life by going backstage with the bands after the show, as the groupies were having the time of their life by having drunken sexual endeavors with the band members most of the time. In some cases, they even became managers for the bands. Most bands that arrived at the Sunset Strip were flat broke. The Sunset Strip was the norm for all of those wicked activities, as bands thrived from self-promoting themselves, by stapling fliers all around the strip club scene.
Now, the NBA today doesn’t sound like that at all, but the Knicks and the Heat sound like teams that are worthy of being compared to glam metal bands.
Miami Heat: Bon Jovi
The Miami Heat are perhaps the most hyped team in American professional sports. The Heat’s bandwagon from the 2006 NBA Finals win over the Mavericks was pretty hefty. But after LeBron James’s decision in 2010, the bandwagon exploded with people that had little to no interest in basketball to obsessed and frenzied fans that contained an immense amount of basketball fanfare accompanied with several phony cheers. After LeBron’s decision, the second incarnation of “The Big Three” was formed (the other being the big three in Boston). The Big Three supplied glitz and glamour for the Miami area. The following day after “The Decision”, the Heat decided to put on a spectacle at the American Airlines Arena. The newly formed Big Three came running out onto a stage while smoke was flowing everywhere. The unnecessary spectacle was greatly frowned upon by die-hard NBA fans, and even some Heat fans. Every time I look back at that celebration, I laugh constantly, just like if an Eddie Murphy stand-up comedy special was on TV.
Back in 1986, though, Bon Jovi really went the whole nine yards when their third album “Slippery When Wet” was released. That launched them into arena filling stardom. Livin On A Prayer is a song everyone knows by now, whether it’s played at a sporting event, on TV, the radio, or anywhere really, everyone knows it. Same thing with “You Give Love A Bad Name” and “Wanted Dead Or Alive.” The success of their two previous albums, 7800 Degrees Fahrenheit, and their self-titled debut weren’t as successful as Slippery When Wet, but they did pave the way for their new found success when Slippery When Wet was released.
The Heat are now the arena rock equivalent of professional sports, minus the aquanet coiffed hair and the spandex. “The Decision” lured fans into really wanting to see the Heat. Bon Jovi in the 80s was the quintessential hot ticket glam metal act to see in concert at that time. Meanwhile, the Heat really became a merchandising giant. After “The Decision”, LeBron, Wade, and Bosh jerseys were sold out immediately on the internet. The most popular NBA jersey to own was a LeBron Heat jersey. Slippery When Wet catapulted Bon Jovi into stardom, as Bon Jovi merchandising went through the roof, and Bon Jovi were being crowned as rock gods. Getting a hold of a ticket was practically insurmountable, unless you camped out at the venue’s box office. Remember, it was the 80s. There was no such thing as internet ticket companies. Ticketmaster and StubHub were virtually nonexistent, unless there was a nerd like Anthony Michael Hall’s role in Sixteen Candles that knew how to work a computer that can generate Bon Jovi tickets. There was probably zero of those people, but ya never know. Slippery When Wet is certified 12X platinum (12 million copies sold), and Bon Jovi has sold over 120 million albums worldwide to date. Now that’s a lot of albums, folks.
The Heat’s starting lineup if they were Bon Jovi members:
PG: Mario Chalmers: David Bryan.
Essentially, Mario Chalmers is the point guard role player for the Heat. While the Big Three is running the show, Chalmers is that top secret weapon (not literally) that can do an ample amount of damage, (if he’s in his groove) especially when it comes to shooting from three point land. Against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference First Round, Chalmers’ three point shooting pulverized the Knicks. Daggers were thrown into the Knick’s hearts. The daggers came from Chalmers in the witching hour, and at the end of the game. The Heat simply ran away from the Knicks.
David Bryan’s keyboard riff in “Runaway” is a rock keyboard magnum opus. Much like Chalmers, he’s the secret weapon, in this case, for Bon Jovi. People. In some cases, people thought a session musician wrote and composed the riff for “Runaway” when Bryan wrote and performed all keyboard riffs on the self-titled debut. Bryan has performed on all Bon Jovi tours to date and has written 99.9% of Bon Jovi’s keyboard parts. His keyboard solo on the intro of the Slippery When Wet opening track “Let It Rock” is a masterpiece. It builds up to an epic crescendo that makes you wanna break something.
SG: Dwyane Wade: Richie Sambora.
Dwyane Wade’s all-around game is outstanding. His 25.2 career PPG, 5.1 RPG, 6.2 APG, and 1.8 SPG elucidate his all-around play. Wade qualifies for seasoned veteran status, as this season marks his 8th season played with the Heat. Heat fans look to Wade as a basketball god and Bon Jovi fans look to Richie Sambora as a guitar god. The amount of tricks Wade has in his bag are immense, and there’s just as many tricks in Sambora’s bag. Wade’s shooting is to Sambora’s fast pentatonic runs. Wade’s godlike euro-step is to Sambora’s use of the whammy bar. Wade’s contact when drawing a foul is to “Lay Your Hands On Me.” And Wade’s defense and passing is to Sambora’s harmonics/backup vocals.
Sambora’s solos live were quite awesome, like this one from 1985. The sheer power of his live intro solo established a great segway for the catchy “In And Out Of Love.” Witnessing Sambora’s epic guitar playing brings a whole new level of contentment to the fans at the concert as well as Wade’s all-around explosiveness on the court. Besides LeBron James, Wade, to most Heat fans, is the second most loved player on the Heat, as well as Sambora being the second loved member in Bon Jovi to Bon Jovi fans. Although Sambora is beloved by many loyal fans, the title for most adored member in Bon Jovi goes to Jon Bon Jovi, because the amount of groupies foraging for love from Jon back in the 80s were astronomical. And in this exemplification, Wade and Sambora are equal.
SF: LeBron James: Jon Bon Jovi.
LeBron James is indubitably the best player in the NBA. It’s not even a question. Like I said about Dwyane Wade’s all-around play, James’s all-around play is far more superior than Wade’s. His 27.1 PPG, 7.2 RPG, and 6.9 APG this season proves that he is the proclaimed “King James”, thus just recently winning his third MVP award in four years. Other exceptions for best player in the league are Kevin Durant and Kobe, but LeBron’s all-around explosiveness easily diminishes Durant and Kobe’s performance on the court, as the title for best player in the league goes to him. Of course, it’s an opinionated question, but at this point, it’s kind of a dead giveaway that LeBron is on top of the mountain. Heat fans cherish “The Decision”, while deranged Cavalier fans went around burning and desecrating the living shit out of LeBron Cavs jerseys.
Since glam metal was declining due to the grunge takeover in Seattle, Bon Jovi had to go to a more natural hard rock approach. 1992’s Keep The Faith was a decent album in my opinion, but I’m not the biggest fan of it. The greatest hits album “Cross Road” was released in 1994, and after that, “These Days” was released. Although “These Days” thrived in Europe and Japan, it was a commercial disaster in the United States, as hardcore Bon Jovi fans were starting to despise Bon Jovi’s change in musical direction. Most of the loyal Bon Jovi fans of old, particularly from when Bon Jovi was first formed, faded away into obscurity, as the brand new au courant fans started to pour in.
The level of hate for LeBron and Jon Bon Jovi is at an equilibrium. Cleveland and NBA fans still despise LeBron after “The Decision”, and Bon Jovi’s loyal fans think Jon himself is turning into Bono from U2 in that Jon is a philanthropist for donating an abundance of money to efforts in Africa, not that donating money to Africa is a bad thing, but ever since Jon became a philanthropist, most concert reviews from Bon Jovi fans are pretty displeasing. NBA fans still continue to display their animosity and disbelief for LeBron, Cavs fans in particular, almost two years after “The Decision” phenomenon.
At this point, Jon Bon Jovi and LeBron James can’t stand the harsh criticism anymore, so they both decide to plan a therapy session. They have no idea who each other are, despite all the media stories about them, and when they go to their therapist for their appointment, they meet by sitting in the therapist’s lobby, waiting for a group therapy session that would last for an hour. When their therapist is finished with the previous client, they would proceed to enter the therapist’s office and Jon would start off the therapy session with a rhetorical question “why do people hate us so much?” LeBron would then jump like a little kid saying “Yeah, WHY?” The therapist would then reply by saying “well, guys, everyone is not going to like you guys, especially at your rockstar/basketball superstar celebrity status. Expect acrimonious speeches from infuriated fans of yours, now non-fans.” Jon and LeBron then leave the room in anger as the therapist was giving them advice, which they thought the therapist was antagonizing them, as the hate continues for both of them.
PF: Chris Bosh: Tico Torres.
Chris Bosh is perhaps the least popular guy in the Big Three clique, but he still plays a key role regardless of his popularity or not. Bosh’s mid-range jumper is a lethal piece to the Big Three alongside with LeBron and Wade’s open court death trap. His career RPG average is 9.1, grabbed double digit rebounds in three of his eight seasons in the NBA. In essence, Bosh’s rebounding and mid-range game is similar to Pacers forward David West’s game. There are countless outdated internet memes of Bosh being related to a dinosaur, raptor, ostrich, prehistoric animals, really. I still get a kick out of them, but it’s one of those memes that are overused, to a point where you rage at your computer screen going like “ANOTHER CHRIS BOSH DINOSAUR MEME? BLARGH.” Every once in awhile is ok, but seeing them everyday is just asinine.
Drummer Tico Torres had this really stunning mullet in the 80s. In Bon Jovi music videos, and at concerts, Torres’s party in the back was flying everywhere with his delightful smile. They were so mesmerizing. I’m sorry, I just can’t get over his heavenly mullet. Now when people look back at the 80s, they think of mullets being the first-rate hairstyle, and just big hair in general. Mullets are looked at by the common person as a redneck hairstyle.
Bosh’s dinosaur like qualities according to the common NBA fan is pretty demoralizing to Bosh, but I’m sure he doesn’t give a flying fuck. Same with Torres’s epic mullet. He probably doesn’t give a shit either. A booming Torres drum solo would be equal to a Bosh mid-range jumper. That’s about it.
C: Joel Anthony: Alec John Such
Joel Anthony is that guy NBA fans look at as the useless sack of shit and the dead man walking. Bon Jovi bassist Alec John Such, was looked at the same way as Joel Anthony, and still is looked at that way by hardcore Bon Jovi fans. Anthony’s offensive input is abysmal to the 9th degree, but his defensive input is superb at times, kinda like Utah Jazz great Mark Eaton, except, Mark Eaton was actually durable and versatile on both ends of the floor (somewhat on offense), but predominantly on defense.
On the other hand, Alec John Such is a flip-flopper. Most of his bass parts weren’t actually recorded. Renowned session musician, and current Bon Jovi bassist Hugh McDonald recorded most of the bass parts on the earlier albums. Not much to say on this one, but basically, Alec John Such and Joel Anthony could be friends because no one really gives a rat’s ass about them, and that’s what they have lots of things in common.
So yeah, the team to beat in the NBA would definitely be the biggest glam metal band that came out of the 80s with a string of massively successful bestselling albums that still sell hundreds to thousands of copies to this day.
New York Knicks: White Lion
My beloved New York Knicks round off the second team being compared in this post. I’ve been a Knicks fan since 1998, I was a wee little two year old at the time when I watched my first basketball game on TV. I actually remember the game pretty well. The Knicks were playing against the Hornets (while they were still in Charlotte) and former bullyball Knick Anthony Mason was on the Hornets. Scoring machine Glen Rice (way after the Sarah Palin affair) amassed 22.3 PPG that year, and former Rockets starter Vernon Maxwell was coming off the bench for the Hornets. And former Jordan-Pippen Bulls point guard B.J Armstrong had a short little stint as he came off the bench. For the Knicks, enforcer Charles Oakley almost had acquired a triple-double, (12-15-8) but still ended with a double-double and John Starks had 26 points off the bench. That’s all I remember. The rest of the box score is here. Love you, Basketball-Reference.
Anyways, in 2010, the Knicks just recently became relevant again due to the 5 year $99.7 Mil signing of Amare Stoudemire two years ago made by former GM mastermind, Donnie Walsh (Miss you, Donnie). And in February 2011, the Knicks completed a blockbuster three team trade with the Nuggets to acquire Carmelo Anthony, grizzled veterans Chauncey Billups and Anthony Carter, Shelden Williams, and among others. The Nuggets acquired Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, and arguably the piece of the trade that made the trade happen, Timofey Mozgov, shortly after he had a double-double (23-14) against the Pistons. For the Timberwolves? Well, the other details were immaterial, but that fat piece of lard Eddy Curry was FINALLY traded away. The Knicks made the playoffs that year, but got swept by the Celtics in the first round.
Lots of loopholes were to be threaded during the offseason. Going into the NBA draft, the Knicks were presumably going to take 6-8 forward Chris Singleton from Florida State University. Instead, the Knicks drafted Iman Shumpert from Georgia Tech in the 1st round with the 17th pick, which turned out to be an awesome investment. Also, the Knicks had acquired Kentucky center Josh Harrellson from the Hornets for compensation.
But wait, anon the draft, fans started to realize that a lockout was looming over their heads. The draft class wasn’t allowed to attend training camp until the brand new CBA agreement was reached. The lockout lasted six months from July to December, until the agreement was reached on the 8th. Either way, the draft class was screwed with basically two weeks of training camp (not a lot at all) until the inaugural Christmas Day game. In the offseason, though, one of the best if not the best offseason acquisition was the Knicks acquisition of Tyson Chandler in a three team sign-and-trade trade, no bias intended. This season was perhaps his best season, not just from Knick fans, but from NBA writers, bloggers, fans, and the like. The second best acquisition during the offseason was the Heat’s acquisition of lockdown defender and corner three specialist Shane Battier. That signing is not a distant second to Chandler’s four year $58 Mil signing.
In this year’s locked out 66 game season, the Knicks finished 36-30 and lost to the Heat in the Eastern Conference First Round. That season was probably the heftiest turbulent emotional roller coaster Knicks season ever. From Melo’s shooting slump desperately trying to get Mike D’Antoni out as head coach, to Linsanity in February, to D’Antoni resigning to Mike Woodson replacing him as head coach, and so forth. It wasn’t a Magic Carpet Ride as Steppenwolf said in 1969, it was a wild ride. And Knick fans knew it.
In the picture five paragraphs above, White Lion was one of the underrated glam metal bands that came out of the 80s. They didn’t really attract a following until their “Pride” album was released in 1987, which is in my top 5 best glam metal albums of all-time. Their first album “Fight To Survive” was recorded in 1984 under Elektra Records. Elektra thought the final mix of “Fight To Survive” was dreadful and unpleasant, so they dropped White Lion’s Elektra contract. The following year in 1985, White Lion re-recorded “Fight To Survive” under an independent label Grand Slam Records. A few months later after the re-release, Grand Slam Records filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. “Broken Heart” (one of my favorite White Lion songs) was the lone single on the album. If it wasn’t for the band themselves releasing “Broken Heart” as a single, they probably would of disbanded shortly after.
Not until their 1987 breakthrough smash hit album “Pride” was released, White Lion had propelled themselves into MTV stardom. Arguably their most acclaimed single “When The Children Cry” was on that album. The lead single “Wait” is another eminent single released from “Pride.” “Wait” actually didn’t chart until May 1988, when it cracked the top 10 and hit #8 on the Hot 100. Vito Bratta’s leads on “Wait” are magical glam metal guitar standards especially the solo. Bratta fuses neo-classical metal and glam metal guitar in the “Wait” solo. His heavily resembled Eddie Van Halen like tapping and tap harmonics bring you into a whole other world. “When The Children Cry” is perhaps one of the top 5 best power ballads of all-time and top 5 recognized power ballads when you first hear the opening arpeggios. The string bends in the solo bring tears of joy. It’s a simple A Minor Dorian solo, but very captivating, displaying Vito’s melodic abilities. MTV immediately put “When The Children Cry” and “Wait” on heavy rotation six months later after the release of “Wait” in June 1987. Other great songs on “Pride” are “All Join Our Hands”, “Tell Me” (chorus gives me goosebumps in a good way), and “Hungry”, well, I love all of them, but those are just the few good songs huge fans would know.
In 1989, the follow up to “Pride”, “Big Game” was released. Glam metal fans may know the hit “Little Fighter” and it’s well crafted guitar solo. Also, a cover of Golden Earring’s “Radar Love” is contained on “Big Game.” The cover is spectacular, to a point where you have an urge to crank up the radio or your computer speakers of that matter so you can sing along to the chorus. “Big Game” is a great album, but it’s nowhere near Pride’s excellence in my opinion.
Not only are the Knicks homegrown from New York City, White Lion is also from the Big Apple. White Lion’s manager also owned L’Amour East in Brooklyn, a renowned rock club. White Lion played a sold out show at Madison Square Garden. The following day, the Knicks played against the Phoenix Suns and won. Sadly, the Knicks posted a 24-58 record for the season.
The Knicks starting lineup if they were members in White Lion’s “Pride” lineup. Pride, in my opinion, is White Lion’s best album, so I’ll compare the starting lineup to the Pride lineup. There were multiple Knicks starting lineups throughout the locked out season. I’ll just go through a bunch of important guys that were starters.
Jeremy Lin: Vito Bratta
One of the biggest stories, if not the heftiest story in the NBA this year was Jeremy Lin’s resurgence into the NBA. People should know by now that Lin was undrafted out of Harvard in 2010. He was signed by the Warriors. He was later waived by the Warriors after having literally no play time. He was also picked up by the Rockets, but only played in the preseason, was he was waived for a second time.
The Knicks claimed Lin off of waivers in late December because of an injured Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby while Baron Davis had injuries weeks away from even playing a single game. It wasn’t until February of this year that Lin surprisingly took the world by the day when the Knicks beat the Nets by surprise in early February backed by Lin’s 25 points and 7 assists off the bench. That game marked the beginning of the Linsanity phenomenon. Man those were good times. The Knicks never gave up on finding a point guard, as they finally found one in The Lin Dynasty (one of the many Lin puns that came out of the Jeremy Lin experience).
The Knicks began a stretch by winning 7 games in a row under Lin as the point guard savior for the Knicks. Unfortunately, Lin injured his knee at the end of the season, and couldn’t play another game, as the endless amount of Lin puns and Linsanity faded away. Little kids that admire Lin greatly were now crying in the corner, waiting for next season to start. But hey, I still love you dearly, Jeremy.
On the other hand, you have Vito Bratta’s brilliant guitar virtuoso. Probably the most disregarded guitarist of the 80s. The main reason why I play guitar is because of Bratta’s playing. The guy’s dexterity level is insurmountable to reach. Yes, people say he’s a carbon copy of Eddie Van Halen because of his ostentatious tapping skills, but 90% of guitarists that came out of the 80s were essentially carbon copies of EVH (tapping, legato, staccato etc…). Most of them were awesome, though, but some of them were blatantly claiming EVH’s style as their style. But Bratta perfected EVH’s playing to another level and applied his own style of playing by combining glam metal guitar and neo-classical metal guitar. Now, Bratta wasn’t an Yngwie Malmsteen neo-classical kind of guy in that he would shred ascending, descending and assorted diminished runs throughout the song, he had these short petite fills that were mind-blowing. I don’t think any other glam metal guitarist was able to emulate Vito’s playing style, maybe Warren DeMartini from Ratt as an exception, but there are very few.
Lin’s uncanny first step on his drive is to Bratta’s tap harmonics and fills. Check out Lin’s and-one at 2:18. That’s just astonishing. On the “Wait” solo, the first measure is Bratta slide tapping from the 2nd fret to the 21st fret. Words cannot describe what it sounds like. It’s just too epic. The rest of the solo is tapping runs then arpeggios as the final touches. Unfortunately, near the height of the locked out NBA season, Lin injured his knee. He needed to get microfracture knee surgery, which restricted him from playing another game during the season and in the playoffs against the Heat. Vito Bratta had injured his hand while playing classical guitar in 1997. He has been under the radar to White Lion vocalist Mike Tramp, as Tramp has attempted to bargain for a White Lion reunion by asking Bratta.
Sadly, Bratta’s family obligations and wrist injuries have inconceivably kept him out of a White Lion reunion. According to Mike Tramp, Bratta has been sequestered from White Lion for about 8 years. But in a 2007 interview with That Metal Show host and Q 104.3 DJ Eddie Trunk (love him), Bratta’s injury has definitely healed overtime, but his return is still indefinite. It’s been 5 years since that interview occurred and Vito is still nowhere to be found. But I know he’s coming back, eventually (that meaning another 5 years). Same with Mr. Lin. He was going to maybe come back for the Knicks-Heat series if the Knicks were able to compete, but he didn’t because he didn’t want to risk getting injured again.
Landry Fields: James Lomenzo
Last year, Landry Fields was a rookie standout from Stanford. Fields was dominant under the glass, averaging 7.4 RPG. His scoring totals were decent for a rookie, averaging 9.7 PPG. Those are some Wes Unseld-like totals, except Unseld’s rebounding totals amassed his scoring totals for the majority of his career. This year, though, Fields has struggled severely, especially from beyond the arc. He shot an inauspicious .256 from three point land. Fields struggled throughout this season. His rebounding total decreased dramatically to 4.2 RPG, and his scoring total only decreased to 8.8 PPG. Maybe if the season wasn’t shortened, Fields rebounding totals maybe would of been at 6 or maybe 6.5 RPG. In the 62 games he started for the Knicks, he was viewed as the nobody of the starting lineup, mainly because of his dismal shooting, which basically reflected most of his performances throughout the year. Landry had a broken heart. His legendary scholar handshake with Jeremy Lin is still legendary no matter what.
Bassist James Lomenzo was really the guy in White Lion that no one cared about, similar to Alec John Such of Bon Jovi. Although Lomenzo’s stint in White Lion wasn’t so salient, he landed a spot in Megadeth and Zakk Wylde’s band Black Label Society. If I was Lomenzo, I would be going bonkers. Meanwhile, somewhere Dave Mustaine would be going like “it ain’t that big of a deal.” You would think Dave Mustaine would say that after getting kicked out of Metallica.
Landry Fields and James Lomenzo are just those forgotten guys that played somewhat a key role. That’s all.
Carmelo Anthony: Mike Tramp
“HEY! IT’S CARMELO ANTHONY! I LOVE THAT GUY!”- Knick fans after Carmelo Anthony hit a hero-ball three. That is what I call the Carmelo Anthony hero-ball experience. The definition of an emotional roller coaster is the pessimistic Knick fans of old and new every time Carmelo Anthony would have an iso possession in crunch time. At first, I wasn’t a colossal fan of Melo, but throughout this season, I’ve started to become fond of him a little more than I used to. Because of his shooting slump back in February to late March, I had to defend Melo because people were constantly ravaging him with harsh criticism about his strings of shooting blunders. There’s a myriad of quotes, but here are the common ones: “MELO SUCKS!”, “HE CAN’T SHOOT!”, “TRADE HIM!” and many more. But that’s what you expect from fans in the heftiest sports market in the United States. That’s New York for ya. And expect more of that to happen in the future, unfortunately. Despite his multitudinous in-the-red shooting performances, Melo is still one of the most clutch shooters in the NBA today. Shooters shoot. It’s logic.
When you’re the vocalist for a band, you’re the guy that’s expected to get the majority of the ladies backstage after a sweat inducing show. Vocalist Mike Tramp certainly posed like that in White Lion’s music videos by breaking the fourth wall millions of times, but in reality, however, the majority of the ladies thought Mike Tramp was a total ass. Despite Tramp being an ass to most of the ladies backstage, there were some ladies that did like Mike (not intended to be a basketball movie reference, but it is anyways). But the lady that probably adored Mike the most was the pulchritudinouswoman with no name (not that I know of) from the Wait music video. Boy was she hot.
Melo and Tramp are two guys of a similar caliber. Their fans are caged in rage (Pantera reference) when they displease their fans. Melo’s shooting blunders is to Tramp’s exasperated groupies. Melo’s lackadasical defense is to Tramp’s exasperated groupies, and Melo’s failed isos is to…Tramp’s exasperated groupies. Tramp’s pinup good looks on the back of an album Yeah. Nothing else really. Tramp’s exasperated groupies is equal to bad things of anything.
Amare Stoudemire/Tyson Chandler: Greg D’Angelo.
The name is STAT aka Amare Stoudemire. Amare proclaimed “The Knicks Are Back” back when he was signed in the summer of 2010 by brilliant former GM Donnie Walsh (IN DONNIE WE TRUST!). The Knicks were coming off of another dismal season posting a 29-53 record. So, in essence, Amare saved the fans, I guess. That same year, in February, the Melo trade occurred. Now fans were going completely nuts. STAT had a monster year amassing 25.3 PPG, 8.2 RPG, and 1.9 BPG, including a streak of 9 straight games with 30 points. Despite Amare’s epic numbers, the Knicks were swept by the Celtics. In a nutshell, Amare’s sophomore season with the Knicks was flushed down the toilet compared to his first season with the Knicks. His scoring totals plummeted by approximately 8 points. He averaged a somewhat suitable 17.5 PPG, 7.8 RPG, and 1 BPG in 47 games. He missed four games due to the tragic death of his brother, Hazell in a car accident, which was the probable cause of his game being affected. But the most probable cause of his game degrading was his conditioning, to me at least. People don’t have to buy my statement, but when you really think of it, that really was the killer. Anyways, in the Eastern Conference First Round against the Heat, Amare punched glass covering a fire extinguisher. I understood his anger, but something so futile like that leads you to nowhere. And it’s the playoffs too. He did come back, though, despite all of that ballyhoo and won the lone game 4 from the Heat 89-87. A long grueling offseason is ahead of you, Amare.
Shortly anon the lockout, the Knicks acquired former Mavericks center Tyson Chandler. Beforehand, Chandler was coming off of an epic Finals win with the Mavericks against the hyped Miami Heat. Last season, the Knicks were in desperate need of a legitimate center. They finally got one that wasn’t Ronny Turiaf in Tyson Chandler. Chandler’s leadership, on the defensive end in particular, immediately became a colossal fan favorite amongst Knick fans. To Knick fans, and non-Knick fans, this was Tyson Chandler’s best season. He won the DPOY award. Chandler averaged 11.3 PPG, just under 10 RPG (9.9) and 1.4 BPG. Despite winning the DPOY award, he was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team, which lead to vexation to Knick fans and the like. But really, that’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard in sports in awhile. Whatever.
Drummer Greg D’Angelo was a former member of White Lion and essentially the other important White Lion member besides Vito Bratta. He had a brief stint as a drummer in the renowned Big Four thrash band Anthrax before he was later replaced by Charlie Benante. D’Angelo’s 8 year stint in White Lion is his most known stint. D’Angelo first joined White Lion after he replaced former White Lion drummer Nicky Capozzi, shortly after the band’s debut album “Fight To Survive” was released. D’Angelo departed from White Lion in 1992 with bassist James Lomenzo to play with KISS guitarist Ace Frehley’s solo band. That stint didn’t last that long. The D’Angelo-Lomenzo reunited again and played with Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde in a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute entitled “Lynyrd Skynhead.” D’Angelo did other random projects, but they don’t really matter. They’re just crap at this point anyways.
Between Tyson and Greg, they both played for a few other teams or bands. Previously, Chandler played for the Bulls, Hornets, Bobcats, and the Mavericks before he joined forces with the Knicks. The only thing is: D’Angelo played with more projects after his lion’s share with White Lion. For Amare and Greg, Amare played with the Mike D’Antoni run n’ gun Suns teams in the mid-00s, which were more than fun to watch, it was so entertaining. From Steve Nash’s flashy passing to Amare’s ferocious dunks. I can’t forget about Shawn Marion’s epic-but-makes-people-go-blind jump shot that he still dominates with while playing with the Mavericks. A young Joe Johnson was also on those teams, before he was shipped off to Atlanta in 2006. Leandro Barbosa and Boris Diaw rounded out those awesome Suns teams. Although, in 2006, Amare hurt his knee abominably. He was ruled out till mid-February, but his rehab process was elongated, which made him unable to return for another game.
In 2007, Greg D’Angelo was supposed to fill in for Britny Fox (glam metal band) drummer Johnny Dee on Britny Fox’s 2007 tour, but D’Angelo broke his foot when a colossal crash cymbal fell on his foot during a rehearsal. And throughout this season, Tyson Chandler also had a reoccurring wrist injury, but it didn’t majorly affect him.
I think you guys get the picture I’m trying to paint here. The most hyped but unstoppable NBA team could be the biggest bestselling glam metal band of all-time and a homegrown glam metal band could be located in the same place as the mecca of basketball, NYC.
