How many times in your history of being of a Warriors fan have you seen some mediocre player from the opposing team come out and have a career night against our beloved Dubs?

It's actually happened to us so many times that the term "Warrior Killer" is widely recognized amongst all Arena-goers. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this term is that the Warrior Killer is usually a mid-range player for the opposing team. In short, we seem to have a knack for allowing the mediocre seem invincible.

Unfortunately we haven't chalked up a win yet this season, because if we had, our opponents would probably be wondering who the hell Kelenna Azubuike is. They may even make the mistake of discounting him as a mediocre player who had a lucky night.

It takes a Warrior fan to know that we may have something pretty special brewing here. So this week, here's a little tribute to Kabuki himself.

Remember back in the day when you were playing Street Fighter II at your local Arcade/7-11/Donut Shop? Some random kid would approach the machine and do one of two things.

1) Ask if it was okay to join in on the game. This was a display of proper Street Fighter II etiquette. Ninety-nine percent of the time you would say "Yes" anyways, it was just nice that you were asked.
2) They’d drop a quarter in without asking right before you were about to nail Bison with his final hit in the second round. Horrendous.

On rare occasions, the challenger would head straight for Dhalsim and select him. At that point you knew you were in trouble. (Especially if you had a character who couldn’t throw projectiles.) See if the kid actually knew how to use Dhalsim, he could usually cause a world of damage to you from the safety of the other side of the screen. I mean c’mon; the man could kick and punch the entire length of the screen!

Now in no way am I saying that Dhalsim was the cheesiest character in Street Fighter II. (An honor reserved for Cheese Li herself) I’m merely pointing out that there was a bit of unfairness in Dhalsim’s reach and that I sucked so bad at Street Fighter II that I was unable to find one of the possibly many ways to prevent these cross country long-arm attacks.

At least Lithuania knows how I feel.

Okay okay okay. It’s all meaningless.

But the fact of the matter is it’s all that we have until sweet, delicious GSoM Night (shameless plug) lands. And while the preseason is meaningless in terms of the win/loss column, it is a very small amount of time where coaches can safely test out the capacity of their players without adversely affecting their team record.

These few weeks, Nellie will be subbing in tons of bench players in a number of odd situations to see if any of them can live up to the moment. While it’s not exactly the Playoffs, it’s a scenario with all of the bells and whistles of a real game. Lights, Cheering, Announcing, Cameras, that one drunk guy who keeps cheering at the wrong time; it’s all there.

So maybe the moment below isn’t as meaningless as it seems. As a squad that has exactly established itself as a 4th quarter team, we can use a few more moments like this as the year unfolds.

Your boy Hash is still hard at work, so tonight I'm subbing in for the good man for this edition of GSoM YouTube Tuesday. I thought I'd use my substitute teacher role for this night class to feature some clips of the unintentionally hilarious and good natured Mickael Pietrus. Just last night Pietrus re-upped for the Warriors' restricted free agent one-year tender of $3.47 big ones, which will make him a free agent at the end of the season.

Ain't it pretty when Air France flies to the rim?

[BigPatrys15]

Now this is what hoops is all about!

[hat301]

MP2 has a unique way of improving his footwork in the offseason...

[BIGPAULYFILMS]

Welcome back to the Bay MP-Dos!

Also see:

• 2k6-2k7 REPORT CARD: Mickael Pietrus
• Will the Warriors Fly Air France Anytime Soon?
• Warriors Fill up Camp Roster with an MVP, Blogger, and Dunk Contest Champion!
• Warriors Re-Sign Restricted Free Agent Mickael Pietrus [Warriors.com]

Here’s YouTube Tuesday. Entirely in Haiku. Work is slow today.

Troy Hudson joins us. We’re in need of backup point. Could be what we need.

Focused on B-Ball? I fear this is not the case. Alias: T-Hud.

Why do players rap?! They should focus on progress. In their damn day jobs!

Could be worse I guess. At least he’s not Tony P. (See footage below)

Sorry for format. Not traditional Haiku. HTML sucks.

The excitement is starting to set in. As September starts its downward slide, we are slowly but surely creeping up on the opening of the 2007/2008 season. Add in the fact that all of us will be partying together at GSoM Night for the opening game and we’re starting to enter dance of joy terrain.

I must admit, aside from meeting many of you guys, the one person I am looking forward to seeing the most is the man himself. The Baron.

After season after season plagued with injuries, Baron finally came out and showed the basketball world that he not only a premiere point guard, but also a leader. When push came to shove, Davis stepped up his game to superhuman levels at times carried the team through some very sticky situations.

With JRich gone, we are going to need to Baron to continue this role more than ever. So this week, let’s honor the Baron.

* Bonus point to this video for the foreign rap song.

**Even more bonus point for the fact that the language clearly doesn’t have its own word for "gangster".

What does the 2007/2008 season hold in store for the Warriors? With some bold off-season moves, is it feasible to think that we are going to maintain our newly acquired contender status? Are we simply going to slide back into the realm of mediocrity once again?

On one side of the coin our hopes are infused in a team that seems to be getting younger and younger with every move we make. On the other, we’ve seen the maturation, both mentally and physically, of players like Monta and Biedrins; players who will need to start to lead this team rather than follow.

But behind it all we pin our hopes to the man. The Coach. The man who took the flaws of a poorly organized Warriors team and helped each player recognize their potential. The man that not only took the Warriors to the post-season, but made them a feared name among the NBA elite once they were there.

So this week we dug up a little Nellie piece (shot last season before the playoffs) to remind all of us that behind every talented player, there should be a Nelly Belly.

Cough it up Cohan. He’s worth every penny.

Perhaps today we should pay a little homage to what we hope is going to be a very bright future for the Warriors. I’m talking, of course, about Brandon Wright.

The unfortunate thing about attaining a prospect as promising as Wright is that it came at the loss of one our most prominent leaders. And while the JRich mourning period will never end for some of us, it’s time to look at what’s in our hands amidst the settling dust. What I see is a glimmer of hope.

More specifically, a 6 foot 10 glimmer with a 7 foot wing span. I see a potential defensive monster who has the potential to board (please god let him board) and swat shots effectively. I see a potential offensive threat in an inside man who can finally do some damage in the paint. And yes… I see some big honkin’ ears.

Granted, everything I just mentioned (aside from the last one) is going to take time and development. But take a look at the footage below and see for yourself. The potential is there.