Good One

Josh: "What if I can't run that campaign?"
Santos: "Then no one can."
--Opposition Research, The West Wing

Great episode last night, and the above dialogue represents the real chill moment, as Josh and Congressman Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) seem to finally be coming to an understanding of one another. Most of the characters missed this episode--Toby and POTUS making brief appearances--but it was still a great one, and probably sets the stage for the following storyline over the rest of the season: Santos comes out of nowhere (he's toiling in obscurity at the moment, well behind the two vice presidents) to become the Democratic candidate, with Josh firmly in control of the campaign. He'll end up facing Senator Vinick (Alan Alda) in the election, whenever that may be. It'll be quite interesting to see how they get there, and how Will Bailey and Donna handle the inevitable loss by Vice President Russell. Will was unusually acerbic last night, not as nice a guy as I'm accustomed to seeing. He made some comment to Josh like, "You're going to end up working for us anyway; do you want to go on record bashing the next president so we can't hire you?" That's taking a little too much for granted, my friend. I liked him better when he was Jeremy on SportsNight, that's for sure.
An added bonus to watching last night's episode (and attempting to follow the entire season, last week excepted) was that I overheard two co-workers (a line producer and a segment producer, both well above me in the pecking ordr) discussing Santos and Josh when I got to the office this morning. My ears obviously perked up, and I immediately joined the conversation, delighted to find other fans in the workplace. It's always nice to rehash stuff like that the morning after, figuring out why certain things happened the way they did. I'm wondering why Josh burned up the numbers Bartlet gave him: 24 to 6 over 6, reflecting the dropout rate in New Hampshire. Seemed strange that he would turn down the advice, I don't know. I'll bring it up to the group sometime soon.
As little as I watch television (besides its daily creation), I'm entitled to a little rant about the one hour a week in which I do partake, so hopefully that wasn't too awful. If you're not watching West Wing ever, something needs to change about your Wednesday evenings that can make it possible to do so.
Lakers host the Cavs tonight, which should be great to watch. Ira Newble might get some minutes against Kobe, and Caron Butler could guard LeBron a little bit, but for the most part, it's going to be a showdown between the two best guards in the league, bar none. Cases made for Steve Nash (no defense), Ray Allen (not enough rebounding, passing or defense), Allen Iverson (too small) or Dwyane Wade (almost there, probably a solid number three behind these guys) are viable, but it doesn't get any better than this. As I like to do from time to time, let's take a look at the numbers:
Kobe: 28.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 1.4 steals, 1.1 blocks, 41% field goals, 33% 3-pointers, 80% free throws, 4.5 turnovers
LeBron: 24.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 2.3 steals, 0.9 blocks, 49% field goals, 35% 3-pointers, 76% free throws, 3.4 turnovers
I'm biased somewhat, but I can still see that LeBron actually does more than Kobe, and he shoots the ball better as well. There was a great debate in the barbershop the other night (after we stopped rolling the cameras), that involved a comparison between Kobe (who the barbershop guys love above all else), LeBron, Michael and a few others (Magic, Larry and Oscar Robertson were the other names brought up in the course of the conversation). I loved Sports Guy's NBA column the other day, because it ended with unmitigated excitement about getting to watch LeBron now and for the next fifteen years. We don't get much of a chance to watch him play out here, so when he's on ESPN or TNT (as is the case tonight), please take advantage. Kobe love might go out the window when you watch this guy with any sort of consistency. I'm on the verge of passing the crown of best player in the league, frankly. Duncan's still too boring, KG can't figure out how to be the best player on the floor, a good teammate and a winner at the same time, and now Kobe's shooting the ball poorly for a team that's going to be the six- or seven-seed in the West. LeBron is doing EVERYTHING for the first-place team in the Central (and what would be the two-seed in the East if the playoffs started today). Look who else is on that team: Ilgauskas, McInnis, Gooden, Newble, Harris, Traylor...His supporting cast is no worse than Kobe's, is it? Odom's better than Gooden, Butler's better than Newble; McInnis is better than Atkins and Big Z is better than Mihm. So it's a wash, right? And yet they're three full games up on L.A., and ready to go up four tonight, I'm afraid. Good one tonight.
Work. Peace.