IVIV (8): Division Semifinals

[Joseph Tracy]

The brief  scene seems to refrain his meeting with Tarik Khalil,  
another African American who has taken an Islamic name.  Doc clearly  
admires both these guys and holds no animosity for the assertion of  
independence.  6 years after Watts Riot. 3 after Olympic Black Power  
salute and the death of MLK,   many black americans are finding new  
spiritual/cultural roots. LA continues with hardcore religion of  
sex ,drugs, screen dreams, and defense contracts.
On Sep 28, 2009, at 8:41 AM, Dave Monroe wrote:

> "Doc was home watching division semifinals between the 76ers and
> Milwaukee, mainly for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whom Doc had admired since
> he was Lew Alcindor ..." (IV, Ch. 8, p. 113)
>
>
> "division semifinals"
>
> Finally, Pynchon has given a clue that helps to locate the narrative
> in real time, and again it's the NBA playoffs. The Eastern Division
> Semifinals took place on Wednesday, March 25, Friday, March 27,
> Monday, March 30, Wednesday, April 1 and Friday, April 3, 1970. That
> makes this day Monday, March 30. In order for that to be true, the
> "few days" that the Dart is in the shop (p. 180) must be more like a
> few weeks.
>
> Given the regret that Doc felt over a less-than-24-hour delay in the
> first and second days of the narrative, it's difficult that he would
> drop the case for that long. The only logical conclusion is that the
> story is in some kind of Dark Shadows-like parallel time for the first
> half of the book.
>
> http://inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php? 
> title=Chapter_8#Page_113
>
> However ...
>
> The year: unclear until page 113, when we find Doc watching a
> Milwaukee Bucks game on TV, and Bucks star Lew Alcindor has changed
> his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, so it must be 1971.
>
> http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/article-7964-thomas-pynchonrss- 
> lsinherent-vicers-a-must-read.html
>
> Except ...
>
> ... 'cept that it's 1970—see the final playoff game [ . . the Lakers
> would lose Game 7 of the finals to the Knicks: Friday, May 8, 1970.. ]
> Somebody—Pynchon?—either has their dates scrambled, or this is all
> happening in a parallel universe, one not all that different from the
> one I've been in for the last 54 years. Those that can remember the
> early seventies . . .
>
> http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0909&msg=142101
>
> Hm ...
>
> April 3, 1970
> Eastern Division Semifinals
> Milwaukee Bucks 115, Philadelphia 76ers 106
>
> It is a shame that Milwaukee didn't get to fully celebrate the
> franchise's first playoff series victory. It culminated with this
> milestone victory in Madison, where the team played its first-round
> home playoff games in 1970 and '71.
>
> Rookie sensation Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) poured in a
> game-high 46 points to carry the Bucks past the 76ers ...
>
> http://www.nba.com/bucks/features/MB_090519.html
>
> 1969/70: Lew Alcindor would make an immediate impact winning the
> Rookie of the Year 28.8 ppg and 14.5 rebounds per game. The Bucks
> would go on to finish in 2nd place with a solid 56-26 record, a 28
> game improvement over their inaugural season. In the playoffs the
> Bucks would dispatch the Philadelphia 76ers in 5 games to set up a
> match up with New York Knicks in the Eastern Division Finals. However,
> in the East Finals the Bucks would fall in 5 games.
>
> http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/milwaukee/bucks.html
>
> On May 1, 1971, the day after the Bucks won the NBA championship, he
> adopted the Muslim name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, its Arabic translation
> roughly "generous (Kareem), servant of (Abdul) the mighty/stern one
> (Jabbar) [i.e., of Allah]."
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kareem_Abdul-Jabbar#Milwaukee_Bucks
>
> http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0909&msg=142111
>
> Help!  Thanks!