Okay, so this one's late. We had a SEGABABA going into the weekend so this was moved to avoid distraction, and again to provide an avenue for us to drown our sorrows with each loss.  Still, lots of good links and music, with a special contribution by our resident Fish Man, Hipuks, after the jump.

Mood Music

How about putting something that Tony Parker will be pleased about?  Here's from a French music duo who call themselves Air. This is just all instrumental, don't mind the French-speaking part at the beginning.

Here's one from Tim C, who goes to strange places to find inspiration after last night's loss:

Okay, this isn't music but just in case you missed it on TV.  Christopher Walken is a kuh-raaaazy man.

Last but definitely not the least, this is from Hipuks, who describes it this way:
As you may or may not know, my significant other is studying music history to make music for ads/tv/film etc. Anyway, she had this one assignment in school and she made a one minute trippy song, and I uploaded into youtube and made what could be considered the greatest video of all time.
P.S. I don't really know why it's called Vampires in Space, that was the name of the song.

Peachtree Hoops: Goodbye Sekou Smith, these links and quotes will never be the same
The Hawks lose a great beat writer to the Evil Empire.

CelticsBlog: Flash Forward
Jeff Clark of Celtics Blog already looks ahead to life after the Big 3. I think Rondo becoming the eventual leader of the team worries him. I will, too, if I were him.

Rufus on Fire: Someday, We'll Find Out What the Bobcats Were Thinking
"Rufus on Fire wonders about the theory driving the Bobcats' recent roster decisions." -- caused by some GM dude named Michael Jordan, maybe?

Blog a Bull: Bulls 86, Cavs 85: If winning ugly's the only way to win, I'll take it.
If winning is as ugly as Noah is, then the Bulls will still take it because well, they have no choice.

Mavs Moneyball: Ballin' with Big, Mav's week one
"Big", yes, that's his name, reviews the Mavs' first couple of weeks of basketball.

Motown String Music: Does Dumars Have Something Up His Sleeve Involving Tayshaun Prince and Jason Maxiell?
Dumars not yet done wheeling and dealing, unsurprisingly.

Fear The Sword: Cavaliers sleepwalk to 86-85 loss to Bulls
"Cleveland's lethargy leads to 86-85 loss to the Bulls at The Q."

Denver Stiffs: Meadowlands Massacre in reverse...
Boy, I wonder what the point differential of this Nuggets team is. They are just blowing out everybody SO FAR.

Golden State Of Mind: RUMOR: Charlotte Bobcats (+ Cleveland Cavaliers and Denver Nuggets) Interested in Stephen Jackson- Boris Diaw anyone?
Yet another Stephen Jackson trade rumors merry go 'round.

The Dream Shake: The Sports Guy's phone call to Daryl Morey (the secret recording)
"The secret (read: totally hypothetical) phone conversation between Bill "Sports Guy" Simmons and Daryl "Dork Elvis" Morey."

Silver Screen and Roll: The Lakers Have Signed Kermit Washington 2.0
"This year on NBA TV during a discussion about the Lakers, Brent Barry, a retired Spurs player, was asked about the Lakers signing Artest and his immediate response was, 'Anger is one letter short of danger'."

Clips Nation: Can Chris Kaman be an All Star?
"His numbers are great, but unless the team gets better, forget Dallas." -- The long and short of it? Umm... no.

Straight Outta Vancouver: Overlooking the Abyss: Grizzlies lose to Warriors 113-105
"The Grizzlies lose again to another below average team."

Peninsula is Mightier: Michael Beasley's bench time getting lots of attention
"Show me the game where Beasley is on fire, scoring at will and rebounding well, and I'll show you the game where he's on the floor in the final minutes instead of watching from the bench."

Brew Hoop: Everyone Loves Brandon Jennings
Nah, no... not me. I still think he's a brash little punk.

Canis Hoopus: The Goldman Sachs Approach to the NBA
"I am in no way suggesting that the Wolves lost the game vs. the Celts because of the refs. What I am suggesting is that we got a quick view of what a classless NBA society looked like in the preseason and a small change in the way fouls were called with the old refs back in place re-stratified things and created a big impact on how the Wolves are able to play."

At The Hive: Hornet Lose to Celtics: A Visual Recap
A must read. Too hilarious.

Posting and Toasting: He Who Must Not Be Named
LeBron has now achieved Voldemort status in New York.

Welcome to Loud City: Another Interesting Move by Presti?
"Has Presti made another great move? Latavious Williams is drafted right out of high school by the Tulsa 66ers." -- ZOMG! Is Presti out-RC-ing and out-Pop-ing us?

Third Quarter Collapse: A statistical look at last year's referees
"This isn't a measure of who is a good or bad referee (since the games referees are assigned could skew their numbers), but it can give an idea of who to watch for when referees are announced for a game." -- Mebbe we can use this.

Bright Side Of The Sun: Carlos Powell Goes First in the D-League Draft
First! Oh wait... this is the D-League? Sheesh.

Sactown Royalty: A Young Team With an Aversion to Youth
"Signing Ime Udoka continues a cycle of ignoring all the non-name talent out there... Udoka spent the last two seasons as a Bowen Memorial player off the bench in San Antonio." -- Hey! We sorta loved Fatality's time out here.

Bullets Forever: Wizards lose to Heat: Final wrap, including some questioning of Flip Saunders' in-game strategy
"Recapping the Wizards' loss to Miami last night and wondering what could have changed the outcome from the start."

SLC Dunk: San Antonio @ Utah GameThread
Read about the beatdown from a Jazz fans' perspective, if you're a masochist.

Raptors HQ: Tip-In, Toronto Raptors' Post-Game Report: Back on Track?
"After a solid 110 to 99 win over the Detroit Pistons, Franchise lauds the play of TO's big 3, but worries about Jose Calderon as the team embarks on a tough West-Coast swing..."

Blazersedge: Questions and Answers
Dave of Blazers dge analyzes the difficulties the Portland Trail Blazers have been facing in their slow start.

Ridiculous Upside: 2009 D-League Draft Results and First Impressions
Your 2009 D-League draft results. I think Wayne will give us more information on our new draftees once the games get going and he gets to watch them.

Manu Ginobili and the Bat Fallout

Freetail Brewing Co.: Free Beer if you live in SA
"You gotta love free enterprise. Or in this case freetail enterprise. And no, not that kind of free tail." -- bellasa

MySA.com: Pop to Spurs: Leave bats to the pros
"I think it happened so quickly, Manu didn't think about it," Popovich said. "If he'd had more time, he probably would have thought about it, or one of us would have yelled, "No, don't touch that thing!"

MySA.com: Bat makes Ginobili a Web hit
"By now, the video has flown around the world, which is more than can be said of one of its stars. The bat that Spurs guard Manu Ginobili swatted from midair during Saturday's game at the AT&T Center won't be flying very far anytime soon."

Geeking About Sports: PETA is Insane
Yep, I think they are.

Courtside with the Spurs: Rabies shots for Manu
"Manu Ginobili's Halloween run-in with a bat made for entertaining news fodder for a few days. Ginobili, however, isn't laughing anymore."

TrueHoop: Manu Ginobili and the little things
"When Manu appeared on the screen, Bryant says, with meaning, 'that's a bad boy right there.'"

48 Minutes of Hell: PETA on Manu: ‘No respect for lives humbler than his own’
The guys at 48MoH join in on the PETA-bashing fun.

News Around the League:

Don't forget Bobcats in Stephen Jackson sweepstakes
"...the Bobs have seriously explored the prospect of trading for Jackson, apparently undaunted by the fact that they weren't mentioned when Jackson announced late in the summer that he wanted to be dealt to Cleveland, New York or one of the three Texas teams."

TrueHoop: DeJuan Blair 10 seconds away from being a Cavalier
"On draft night 2009, Cleveland offered Denver $2 million for the 34th pick. Cavs GM Danny Ferry thought it was essentially a done deal and had fingered Blair as the pick."

LA Times: Ron Artest keeps his cool in return to Houston
Ron Artest is still Mr.Crazy Pills with quotes like these: "Artest later acknowledged the desire to wrap his hands around Ariza's throat during the game."

LA Times: Donald Sterling to pay $2.725 million to settle housing discrimination lawsuit
"Los Angeles Clippers owner and real estate mogul Donald T. Sterling has agreed to pay a record $2.725 million to settle allegations that he discriminated against African Americans, Hispanics and families with children at scores of apartment buildings he owns in and around Los Angeles."

The Quest for the Hoagie Grail: Matt Bonner’s Sandwich Hunter
Matty's quest takes him to Potbelly in Chicago: "It all started with a man, a dream, and a sandwich. Now the Potbelly empire has expanded to over 300 shops nationwide, and for good reason."

Kings sign Ime Udoka
You go, Udo.

Slate Magazine: How can DeJuan Blair play without an anterior cruciate ligament in either knee?
"It's possible that Blair, without consciously intending to do so, has found a way to jump and land that's less harsh on his knees. Or that his other ligaments are particularly resilient."

Yahoo! Sports: Paul's frustration grows, even as he hides it
"Beyond the charming smile and gentlemanly disposition, Paul has a tenacious will and a terrific temper. Beyond it all, he’s downright ferocious."

Hardwood Paroxysm: The Night Dirk Went NOVA
"..a reminder that when Nowitzki is in that zone, that level, he can take a game that you feel is on lockdown to absolute disaster. Don’t look away. It’ll hurt more if you don’t see it coming."

Deadspin: Excerpts From The Book The NBA Doesn't Want You To Read
Here are a handful of excerpts from David Stern's favorite book, Blowing the Whistle, by Tim Donaghy.

sonicsgate.org
"Official Site for the Documentary about how Seattle lost its basketball team." -- old, but just in case you haven't seen it yet.

Sam Smith: Will LeBron join Kobe in L.A.?
If this happens, I'm done with basketball.

Big 12 Hoops: The College Brand vs the NBA's
"For my money, I would take a game between student-athletes over a one played by millionaires."

I live without cash – and I manage just fine
I've found Pop's secret to his Castaway lifestyle.

Pink Tentacle: Animated stereoviews of old Japan
These "3D stereoviews depicting life in Meiji-period Japan" are rad. Just because I'm getting tired of using the word awesome. Maybe our photo geniuses here at PtR can find some inspiration.

suckatlife.com
The artist on this site is the exact opposite of his url. His works are cool.

Perception: Something to think about.
Seriously, this is a serious piece that'll make you pause for a bit, then move on with your loser life.

Dwight Schrute as your Halloween Costume
At his young age, this kid already gets the meaning of life.

Monster jam over a monster. Bench this guy, Pop!

A gem of a find by LatinD:

From Lauri, in one of the loser threads. Funny as hell. Popped collars do not rule:

From Tim C.   Told ya it's the BatManu Edition.

This Bat deserves a swatting:

Weekly Award

With our losses to the Jazz and Blazers, no one should be getting an award.  But thanks to Bat-gate that officially cemented his status as a g-o-d, we'll just give it to Manu.

Photos of the Week

from Ball Don't Lie

from Garbage Time All-Stars

Mmm... tuna.
from Ball Don't Lie)

Nooo Manny why did you touch that crazy coot?!

Photos from Tony.psd of Golden State of Mind

Quotes of the Week

Pop after the Utah Jazz loss:

We've got a lot of work to do to become a good defensive team and Utah obviously took advantage of that tonight.

Duncan on Boozer and the Jazz:

They got the momentum going early on and got rewarded for their physical play. We knew it would be that kind of game.

Pop after the Blazers loss:

"From the second quarter on, we competed, we were physical, a lot of guys did a good job for us defensively. We didn't make shots very well, but I'm not that concerned about that. I'm happy with what I saw defensively. It was a step in the right direction.

See you on Monday for the Spurs edition of TWSS.  Hold that head up high.  There's still a lot of basketball left to be played.