Holy Retirement, Batman!

"That leaves a lot that gets lost between
Number one and number two"
--You've Always Got the Blues, B.B. King

Scottie Pippen announced his retirement yesterday, ending the career of one of the great "Robins" of all time (to MJ's "Batman," of course)...other Robins in recent years? Big-game James, Joe D, Armpit McHale, all Hall of Famers, no doubt. Mike & Mike made the point this morning that Pippen owes his entire legacy not to Jordan, but to Toni Kukoc, for making the buzzer-beating three pointer to defeat the Knicks after Scottie sat out the final 1.8 seconds. Had that trey not gone in, the Bulls would probably have lost the game and Pippen would have been vilified for single-handedly ruining a season. Instead, he learned from his mistake--no harm done--and continued his development into perhaps the best all-around player in the game for several years.
It's a valid point, but I want to make another one. Scottie could have an even greater legacy, if B-Shaw hadn't hit all those threes in game 7 at Staples, bringing the Lakers back to beat the Blazers in 2000. Scottie was the glue for that talented Blazer squad, averaging 12.5 points (3rd on the team), 6.3 rebounds (3rd), 5 assists (2nd) and 1.4 steals (1st), and bringing them within a game of the NBA Finals, where they would have run through the Pacers like the Lakers did. If Scottie had won a ring without Michael, he would have solidified his place as one of the greatest players of all time. Instead, he's a very good player who had the privilege of playing with the greatest, and has six rings to show for it.
That just reminds me how amazing that comeback was and how tenuous that "dynasty" the Lakers had going truly was. The comeback v. Portland, the shot by Horry v. the Queens, the awful Eastern Conference for all those years (until 2004)--it seems to me that they were a very good team that was good at the right time, definitely not one of the best teams of all time. The 90's Bulls, 80's Lakers and 80's Celtics would have destroyed these recent Laker teams because they actually did personify the word "team." The 00's Lakers would win at beach volleyball, doubles tennis, the two-man luge (?) or any other sport that involves just two people. Go beyond Kobe and Shaq, however, and the other teams would dominate.
Started another Madden dynasty last night, this time with Side, and the 2004 Carolina Panthers got themselves off to a rocky start. Luckily we have a shrewd GM, making pre-season deals for Sean Taylor and Kellen Winslow (we had to give up Stephen Davis, Muhsin Muhammad and a couple draft picks, but DeShaun Foster and Keary Colbert are both more than ready to step up in their stead). We lost our first pre-season game to the Redskins, 24-7, including a 10-0 deficit in the first-team matchup. The defense played well for the most part, putting pressure on Mark Brunell (and then Patrick Ramsey), but I couldn't get the offense going at all. Handing off worked much better than any sort of Delhomme passing game, but Winslow did have a few catches and hopefully I'll get used to it soon enough. It's only pre-season, after all.
Okay now to real football, really quick: How about those 2-2 Chargers?! I said throughout the off-season that we didn't need a new quarterback, that Drew Brees would be fine, and that we needed to give him A) a better offensive line and/or B) a better receiving corps. So, drafting No. 1, we trade down and take a stinking quarterback. Who went No. 2 and 3? A tackle and a wide receiver, of course. Think we could have used Larry Fitzgerald, Roy Williams, or even Reggie Williams? Think Robert Gallery would have helped a terrible o-line? Instead we've got Philip Rivers, he of the training camp holdout, wasting away on the sidelines and putting pressure on the organization to play him because of the huge contract. Brees looked great on Sunday, and no, he's not going to be Peyton Manning or Daunte Culpepper, but he doesn't have to be. He has to be able to hand off to LT and get out of the way. Then, when defenses put 15 guys in the box, he has to be able to go downfield and keep them honest. He did that in a big way on Sunday, throwing 3 TD's (including a 58-yarder to Reche Caldwell) and throwing just four incomplete passes. That's unbelievably efficient. LT did his ho-hum, 147-yards-on-17-carries thing and the Bolts rolled to a dominant victory over the Titans. I'm not really thinking the playoffs are a possibility this year, but I am thinking that we'd have a lot more to look forward to with another star in there on offense and not a backup quarterback signalling in plays--we've already got Flutie Flakes for that.
I definitely need to finish up my movie list. Number one on the list, coming like three years after the list started (that's a slight exaggeration)...

1. High Fidelity
Why: Because it's got John Cusack (my favorite actor), a tremendous soundtrack, stellar secondary characters (Jack Black is quite good) and a great overall theme and message. The to-camera Top 5 lists are classic, Catherine Zeta-Jones has a great pseudo-cameo role, the kids in the band he produces are hilarious...there's so much to love. I've recommended it numerous times to people who haven't even heard of it, lent it out to friends, and it always comes back with rave reviews. The combination of music and realistic lessons on love is too much to pass up.
Best scene: Jack Black's introduction to the film, which is the first scene in the record store. He and the other guy (character name Dick, I believe) have a very funny relationship, and the argument in this scene centers on what kind of music is okay to play on a Monday--"Since when did this record shop become a fascist regime?" I love it. I think I need to watch it sometime this weekend.

I'm stoked that I've already blogged twice this week after getting something in just twice since September 12. We'll see if I have the morning time and/or energy to keep making it happen this week. Peace.