IVIV (8): Division Semifinals

[John Bailey]

I dunno... I'm beginning to think that Doc's groovy multiculturalism
might not run that deep. Our intro to his apartment is full of
ethnically diverse clutter, with the Wilt Chamberlain-autographed ball
happily co-existing next to an 'authentic' English dartboard. It's all
just kitschy trash, though, and Doc never seems to actually have any
personal involvement with any of the politics of non-white America, or
even just the people. His buddies all seem pretty white.

On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 1:47 PM, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
> 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!
>
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