IVIV (8): Division Semifinals

[John Bailey]

Oh yeah, I wasn't at all going to imply that Doc is racist or
anything. Just that he seems to epitomise that artificially generated
sense of togetherness, whereby we can feel in contact with others
through TV or merchandise or whatever without actually knowing anyone
outside of a fairly limited social demographic. Goes with the internet
theme at the end of the book. We might increasingly feel part of a
big, diverse mass, but we're really just barrelling along alone in the
fog in our insulated automobiles.

On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 2:34 PM, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
> I was gonna add a similar thought. that his contact is distant, mostly TV.
> But he does take on the job with Khalil, and knows about the cointelpro
> operation against black nationalists. Apart from Motella, his friends do
> seem pretty white.
> On Sep 29, 2009, at 12:01 AM, John Bailey wrote:
>
>> 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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