Hello,
Again sorry for the infrequent blogs of late, I've just been very busy. Things should settle down for the next little while though.
I'm a humongous fan of basketball, but not a big fan of NBA basketball. However I'm a sports fan so I'm well aware the NBA playoffs started yesterday. The arrogance of David Stern permeates the league. I hate the superstar calls and there's a lot of false drama. Also many players play like they don't care, they're just there for the ridiculously big contract. Also the NBA playoffs are the worst playoffs in sports, other than college football. Has the NBA switched plyoff series to best-of-9 yet? The two month grind of the NBA playoffs is too long. The NBA is motivated by greed and it's too long playoffs show that. This postseason has been marked by a bunch of blah games and games going as expected. Although today's games have had a few surprises. My designated playoff team, the Thunder, start the playoffs tonight. I might even watch some of that game.
College basketball has the best playoffs, everything is done in 3 weeks. Every game is meaningful and either team can win almost every game. Every game is a win or go home, which means maximum effort by both sides. That also means maximum drama. In the NBA best-of-7 series, a team can lose 3 games and still win the series. Where's the drama in that? Many times even Game 7s in the NBA aren't that exciting.
There have been some entertaining things that have happened in the first two days of the NBA playoffs. In the off season the Bulls made a "big" free agent signing. (I rolled my eyes as I wrote that last sentence.) They signed Carlos Boozer, possibly thinking he would be the final piece to take them to the NBA title. (Whatever!) The Bulls paid $80 million dollars for the stiff. I read that he gave the Jazz the chance to match the deal. They declined, thankfully they declined. At the time I thought it was the right decision and at this time I know it's the right decision. I say that even with how crappy the second half of the Jazz's season was. Carlos Boozer is emblematic of what's wrong with the NBA currently.
He doesn't play hard all the time, he rarely plays defense and even when he does he's not very good at it. He doesn't play with heart. This is his job and he acts like it's a job. He doesn't play as if he's an extremely fortunate individual. No one is ever going to confuse him for Michael Jordan or Scottie Pippen. Hell, I don't think anyone is going to confuse Boozer for Ron Harper. I particularly loved this paragraph, following Chicago's first game victory over the Pacers, from espn.com:
"The Bulls prized free-agent acquisition was bad in his first playoff game as a Bull. He was 4-for-11 from the field for 12 points. He grabbed just six rebounds and committed five fouls and four turnovers. Not to mention that he got lit up repeatedly by Pacers forward Tyler Hansbrough on the defensive end. If the Bulls want to go deep in the postseason, they simply have to get a better performance out of their power forward."
Why is anyone surprised by the above paragraph? He's an over hyped player. He's not a clutch player and he got blitzed by Tyler Hansbrough. Hansbrough, yes the same player that's barely been heard from since his North Carolina playing days a few years ago. I enjoyed reading the comments from fans following this article. More comments were about getting rid of Boozer in the off season, rather than the Bulls actually being in the playoffs. There were a few observant fans though that realized how hard it would be to get rid of Boozer with that albatross of a contract. Good news Chicago, only 4 more years of this player and his contract. Can you see why many Jazz fans weren't upset when he left for Chicago? Not only were many Jazz fans not upset, many of us were ecstatic that he left the Jazz.
The other highlight for me in the first 1.5 days of the NBA playoffs is that New Orleans went into LA and beat the Lakers. A team that many consider having a strong chance to make the NBA Finals. Where was the great Kobe Bryant to save the Lakers? Other than the five turnovers he had a pretty solid game. Although I'm not a big fan of Bryant, he's an ultimate gamer. He's one of those rare players that is a killer. He wants to win and will do whatever he can to win. Boozer can learn a lot from him.
Now do I think that the Hornets are going to win this series? No, are you kidding me? The Hornets have as much of a chance to beat the Lakers as I do of marrying Jennifer Aniston. If the Hornets somehow find a way to win this series, Jennifer consider that my proposal.
As I'm writing this blog the Knicks are opening up their series with the Celtics. I'm hoping for a sweep by the Celtics. I want the Knicks hype train ground to a halt as quickly as possible. Of course once the NBA Finals have come and gone and the labor issues resolved, the Knicks hype will start up again. Carmelo isn't all that. It's not a coincidence the Nuggets finished 18-7 once the unloaded him to the Knicks.
I'll be cheering for the Thunder tonight, although I don't know if I'll be watching it. One thing I'll be watching for sure is episode 4 of "The Killing". The first three episodes have been simply amazing. The story so far has been told very well. The woman, Mireille Enos, that plays the lead detective has simply been a revelation. She plays her character to perfection. It will be interesting to see her relationship with her fiance continue to unravel. She's not going to be moving to California. I'm not sure what's holding her in Seattle, but her fiance isn't enough to pull her away. A true anomaly in modern entertainment, where story trumps shocks and explosions. This show reminds me so much of the excellent "Rubicon". I just hope it doesn't end after one season also.
Quick reviews: Another well told story is the new Robert Redford directed movie "The Conspirator". This movie proves the adage that truth is stranger than fiction. All the many things that happened once Lincoln was assassinated truly are unbelievable. However those things really happened which make for an exciting story.
It's frightening how Edwin Stanton and President Johnson overwhelmed rule of law in order for Mary Surratt to be executed. But don't feel sorry for Surratt, she seems to be as guilty as Stanton thought she was. This situation reminded me of Dick Cheney and all the crap that happened after 9/11. In fact Dick Cheney should have played Edwin Stanton. As with both Johnson and Bush, the President wasn't necessarily the person in charge. It says a lot that we never saw President Johnson in "The Conspirator". It seems that's Redford saying how important he was in this drama. I'm reading a book that's about this exact same topic. Certainly a lesser known story in history, but an amazing story. In Redford's able hands, this story is given the attention it deserves. I'm excited by the news that Stephen Spielberg is making a movie about Lincoln.
Similar to how story trumps all in "The Killing" and "The Conspirator", another story that belongs in that category is "The Kings Speech". What a great movie, Colin Firth plays the future King with so much skill. We really empathize with how humiliating it was for him not to be able to speak as he would have liked. Geoffery Rush was equally brilliant as the speech therapist who helped him get his groove back.
"Rio" is about as you would expect. It's a good kids movie, but nothing an adult would ever want to see more than once. That's the same review I give to "Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs". If it wasn't for kids, there would be no reason to make either one of these movies.
I just barely watched the first "Dirty Harry" movie. I love movies from that era, that was obviously before political correctness. Also they didn't mind showing a lot of flesh, whether there was any relevance to the story or not. I enjoyed watching Clint Eastwood, he's deservedly a legend. I hope for many more excellent movies from him. One thing I noticed about this movie is how he was the only actor I recognized. All the rest of the actors seemed to have faded away making very little lasting impact.
The early 1990's version of "Flipper" was interesting. I had forgotten that Paul Hogan actually had roles after "Crocodile Dundee".
I'm not a big Foo Fighters fan, but their new CD "Wasting Light" has been praised so much that I had to check it out. I listened to it at napster.com. I liked it so much that I bought it and also the Foo Fighters Greatest Hits. Both are good CD's.
This is my favorite song from the new CD, this is called "Back and Forth":
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the one hit wonder known as Nirvana. A very impassioned Nirvana fan voiced his disapproval with my thoughts. His arguments made me reconsider my position about Nirvana again. The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that Nirvana still sucks. I've asked a few other people their opinion and overall the overwhelming opinion is that Nirvana is vastly overrated. A lot of the comments I received started off with "Nirvana sucks". I agree 100%. If Kurt Cobain hadn't killed himself, he would have completely disappeared by now. He would have faded into obscurity as much as MC Hammer has.
I invite people to post comments and disagree with me, but Nirvana is vastly over rated.
themusicaddict
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