Running On the Other Side*

Greetings from the other side of the world!

I am going to make this REALLY quick because I'm paying by the half hour but I had a few thoughts to drop:

1. Is the Miami Heat trying to get kicked down to the D-League? 54 points in a whole game? You're not even trying. Shame on you, Pat Riley. No excuse.

2. Today, the NCAA tournament kicks off. I'm not making any predictions, but I am making a request, and that is that I don't have to see Psycho T tearing down any nets. Please.

3. Right before I left, I heard Bob Knight complain about how some good teams don't make it into the tournament in favor of lesser teams that prevail in their confrence tournaments and how much of a travesty this is. I disagree. That's the beauty of the tournament. Smaller programs would never see the light of day much less get the opportunity to take down the nation's best teams if they did it any other way. We loved the New York Giants, we love Cinderellas. That's why people watch. But while an upset or two is nice, we don't want to see the Cinderella necessarily win the whole thing . . . at least I don't. It's fun for a little while but let's not get too carried away.

4. Andrew Bynum might return to the L.A. Lakers lineup just in time for the Lakers run through the playoffs. Man, this is going to be an interesting Western Conference finals. Over on the East, snooze city. I read an article in Time magazine in which readers got to ask questions of NBA Commissioner David Stern. One reader asked about the sorry state of the NY Knicks and whether he was concerned at all. Stern replied with the usual party line about this being a time to build and they'll be back. Ok, well when he gets over the shock of the poor ratings between East and West, I think he just might change his tune.

5. So top-ranked high school QB recruit Terrelle Pryor went with Ohio State as his college of choice. Michigan must be quite upset, but Pryor went with the possibility of sitting a year over coming in and starting in a program that I must admit is pretty darn good. And yes, it's no Michigan in terms of academics (although not shabby as one of the smartest lawyers - not an oxymoron - I know went there) but somehow I don't think that figured into the equation . . . All the best for a great career there, though, kid. Believe the hype, but not too much of it.

*Ode to an all-time fave by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The song is much darker than I meant the title here to be, but it fit.

MYSM: NBA Beatings

I will be out of the country for the next two weeks, but may have Internet access to post if I'm in the mood and not climbing a mountain or something.

Yes, that means I will miss most of the tournament but I'll be doing more exciting things - if that's possible.

I don't condone fighting, but some of these are funny. Who knew Shawn Bradley was on the First Team All-NBA A**-whooping? Some of them have clearly never been in a fight off the court.

Happy Monday!

P.S. To the Seattle Supersonics: If you're going to come out of the box not defending shots, you should skip the plane ride and just stay home. The Denver Nuggets couldn't have scored more points if they had been alone the entire game. Yikes.

Running with Scissors

1. Greg Oden is practicing for the first time since the Portland Trailblazers lost their money on him. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing him return . . . and to him getting rid of this look. Anytime you can say "Damon Jones had that [haircut, outfit, etc.]," it's not usually a good sign.

2. Some "good" news for Michael Vick. His Virginia trial has been postponed indefinitely. Only a little more than a year and a half to go, Vick. Hang in there.

3. Apparently, I missed this story about Gisele Bundchen and LeBron James being on the cover of Vogue. LeBron joins the ranks of George Clooney and Richard Gere as the only men to make the cover. If I had to pick any three guys, that's definitely who I would have gone with . . .

4. Andy Roddick has decided to forego the Olympics in China to play the Legg Mason tournament in preparation for the U.S. Open. Is Roger Federer skipping the Open this year? Otherwise, go represent your country, Andy.

5. So it looks like I will miss the meat of March Madness but will be back in time for the Final Four. I am definitely trying to watch the games from my overseas location, and if it turns out to be interesting, I may just post something while I'm there. I know I said I would last week but I really mean it this time . . . really.

Continue To Be Outraged

In the last few days, I have been following the story of Jamiel Andre Shaw, II.

If you haven't heard, Shaw was a promising young running back whose life was cut short last week when he didn't respond after being confronted by a gang member right outside his home. His mom was serving over in Iraq, and his dad was inside the house trying to warn his son about the gunshots he heard outside. But those gunshots were the ones that killed his son.

This story got even more attention because Shaw was being recruited by Stanford University and Arizona State University.

The story only got worse after I read Bill Simmons' article on the situation, where Simmons detailed how Shaw's dad had an "18-year plan" for his son. The plan entailed getting his son to his 18th birthday, after which he believed his son would have made it out of the treacherous years of life on the streets of L.A. He almost made it.

Apparently Shaw was not only talented but also a nice kid, which will prompt people to ask why something like this happened to such a good person.

I can't say that I know for sure, but I will say that sometimes we only pay attention to things when it happens to the best and brightest among us. How many more have to die before we really start doing something to make a difference?

It's not much in the scheme of things, but I'm taking my mentee to an NBA game tomorrow. Every little bit counts.

Free Running*

1. We can finally put a fork in Dwyane Wade because this time he's really done. The Miami Heat have been done for much longer. They're actually tough to chew.

2. I knew I was forgetting something from last week. Harvard University, that esteemed Ivy League institution, is being accused of engaging in some NCAA recruiting violations. We knew Tommy Amaker was a winner, and we knew he had one heck of a recruiting class (one that beat Michigan, no less) but now we know why. Nothing like paying the players or any of that stuff, but setting up practices for recruits with guys, and that guy ends up being an assistant coach on your team. And that kid ends up at your program. Come on, Harvard, if you're going to break an NCAA rule, then you gotta come better than this.

3. And now Harvard is giving special gym time to the ladies because of six Muslim women so they don't have to cover up at the gym. The hours are two hour blocks three days a week but they are at peak times (8 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 5 p.m.). If I were the guys, I would probably be a tad pissed by this, which they are. Even the Crimson gave them the biz, saying this shows "a readiness to put minority interests ahead of the entire community." I'm not sure that I like or agree with the implications of that statement (made by a female reporter), but it seems that they could have certainly made a more reasonable accommodation for such a small minority of the school.

4. The New Jersey Nets broke the Houston Rockets winning streak. HA. No, not really. But what did happen that was of interest was pointed out by my friend. Apparently Richard Jefferson took it upon himself to dunk on 52 year old Dikembe Mutumbo and then do Mutumbo's signature finger wag, which merited Jefferson a technical foul from the officials. They say it was for taunting, I say he gets one for just being really, really whack.

5. 74 points in the first half in an Eastern Conference game? That's what the Orlando Magic put on the Atlanta Hawks. And this team, the Hawks, is still going to make the playoffs? Quote of the day, maybe the week: "If you can't stop anybody at any point in the game, you're not going to win," courtesy of Hawks head coach Mike Woodson. Truer words have never been spoken.

* This sport I keep seeing the commercial for but was not familiar . . . until now.

MYSM: Note to Self - Check To See If I Have Goodyear Tires

I'm Baaaaaack

So I thought I might blog last week but I was having too much fun to pull out the laptop. Plus the Internet access at the hotel was only in the lobby or in the "business center" - it's hard to get inspiration in the business center.

But I am back - for the next week, at least - and I hear I missed a few things, like:

1. Brett Favre decided to pack it in. I knew when the website "accidentally" posted that he was retiring that something had to be up. I and everyone else (especially the NFL and its sponsors) will certainly miss him, but I am all for leaving while you're on top. It's all about primacy and recency - people remember what they saw first, and they remember what they saw last. Some people can get away with playing longer than they really should (i.e., Michael Jordan) but it's certainly not recommended. So enjoy the rest of your life, Mr. Fah-vruh. You seemed like a pretty good guy, on and off the field. All the best.


2. What is going on with the Chicago Bulls? First Tyrus Thomas misses practice for no explicable reason, and gets suspended for two games, then Chris Duhon is seen on national TV at the Duke-UNC game in Durham on Saturday night, a game which he did not receive permission to attend. And then he gets suspended a game for missing the morning shootaround because of some alleged issues with his wake-up call. Remember, it's "fall back, spring forward," Chris. Add that to the issues with Joakim Noah chewing out an assistant coach earlier in the season, and you have the personification of man vs. the establishment. This is the NBA, folks, not college. Let's try to do a little better.

3. The Houston Rockets are riding an 18-game winning streak, taking their 6th in a row since Yao Ming went down for the year. In the process, they've gone from 10th place in the Western Conference to 3rd. In a word, impressive. This was a team that was just barely keeping its head about the .500 mark and now they're gunning for the top spot in the conference. Let's try to do a little better. On Monday night the Rockets take on the New Jersey Nets. Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and chalk up #19 for them. I feel that I can say that without much hesitation at all. The Nets are borderline terrible but they still have a shot of making the playoffs. Yes, that does say a lot for the conference. A whole lot.

4. I watched this feature on SportsCenter about this sugar cane plantation of sorts in Florida where at least 48 NFL players have been bred. There are three high schools near this plantation, all of which won high school state football championships in their class. Part of this training involves chasing rabbits, which sounds like a great idea to develop quickness and agility. This feature was going well for me until they profiled one player who had finally caught a cotton tail rabbit - the first man in his family to do so. He seemed to be grabbing the rabbit rather roughly, but I didn't think much of it until ESPN cut to an aerial view of the frying pan where the player was cooking up the fruits of his labor. If I said that this was not how I expected this to end, that would be an understatement. Ugh.

5. If you didn't watch the game, hopefully you caught the clip of Shaquille O'Neal in the San Antonio Spurs/Phoenix Suns game on Sunday. In a solid effort to chase down a ball that was exiting the court, Shaq nearly killed everyone in the 3rd row of the not-so-cheap seats when he literally leapt into the crowd after (I can only assume) he lost his balance. That or he really was trying to kill someone. The fan who was to have died somehow managed to get out of the way (that split second in which Shaq bent his knees and looked at his target probably helped). Shaq weighs entirely too much to leap into a pool much less into other human beings who probably had no idea how close they came to losing their life for some courtside seats. It's just not as fun when you get killed and can't tell your cool story.

Pleats Goes On Vacation

Very Funny - The most amazing bloopers are here

As the title implies (or should), I will be on vacation throughout the rest of this week, during which time I will probably not blog unless something happens that warrants leaving the beach to connect to the Internet. And I'm telling you right now that there really aren't too many things that would warrant such drastic, irrational behavior, but I don't like to say never.

I have provided you with a classic blooper video for Make Ya Smile Monday, but for the rest of the week, in the event that I do not post, please feel free to take the time to catch up on old posts. If you want to search the blog, you may find my Michael Vick, NCAA, and/or Isiah Thomas trial coverage to be of interest.

Happy Monday!