Cranial Crisis

"Life moves and I stopped to taste it
I drank it up till it left me wasted
But my rains have bled a softer red
Oh you should see the world inside my head"
--World Inside My Head, Sister Hazel

My head is aching, so the world inside it is a painful one at the moment, and has been since Saturday, when I enjoyed the most theatric fall of my 10-year skiing career. I ended up about 20 feet away from both of my skis, which were about 20 feet apart from each other, therefore rendering a nice equilateral triangle of disarray. Somehow--and I have yet to put all the pieces together to figure out exactly what happened--one of those skis whacked me in the back of my dome, though it was a dull thud (broadside) rather than a sharp slice (edge), so it could have been worse. The day got foggier as it went on, and though I toughed out most of an amazing day on the slopes, the damage had been done.
Part two of the noggin ailments came on Sunday, when the effects of living in close quarters with 12 people manifested themselves in the form of the common cold, thereby adding some sinus aches to the already battered dome. I'm still feeling that part of it, for sure, though it's hopefully on the retreat.
So besides the head stuff, it was a great snow- and friend-filled weekend, getting away from the daily routine and getting to enjoy a vacation for the first time in forever. These little retreats are a very necessary thing, I'm finding, and I see why we used to work those things into our church calendars. Everybody needs an occasional chance to get away and recharge, no matter the relative wear and tear of the regular work (and whatever else) week. Plenty of sports to fill up the weekend too...
1) Saturday: NBA All-Star festivities, including the three-point contest (a head pound to Q-Rich) and the dunk contest, which was the best it's been since Vinsanity, no question. Other than Chris Andersen (and honestly, has there ever been a worse dunk contest performance than his?), the contest was amazing, full of originality and incredible athleticism. Josh Smith was outstanding, looking so smooth in his repertoire of windmills and 360's. Throwing on the 'Nique jersey was a classic touch, though he looked more like MJ with the ensuing Kiss the Rim/windmill flush. His leap over K-Mart brought to mind images of this dude Henry Bekkering kneeing Brian Bosworth in the face on our show while attempting a similar maneuver. Amare was sweet too, benefiting (as he has all season long) from the ingenuity of Steve Nash. Being the soccer fan in the room, I certainly had an appreciation for the Nash header in the semis and the rainbow kick in the finals, both of which were completely original works. Both guys deserved trophies, but at least they were able to resuscitate what had been a dead event for the last few years.
2) Sunday: UCLA-Stanford, Arizona-Oregon State, Daytona 500, Duke-Wake Forest, NBA All-Star Game.
- The Bruins looked like they have all season: capable of good things, but settling all too frequently for bad things. Giving up 37 to Chris Hernandez didn't help, and neither did another disappearing act by Dijon. Mike Fey started strong, but he still misses way too many easy shots, and as a team, we just don't take care of the ball very well. I think we're resigned to an NIT appearance, unless some sort of a miracle can occur at Staples in a couple of weeks. At least we're better off than SC, with whom we face off in Pauley on Thursday (and I'm certainly hoping to be in attendance, crossing my fingers that a hook-up will result in a ducat or two). One of the bright spots for both squads has been the play of the freshman guards, Farmar/Afflalo and Pruitt/Young. Watching SC's exhibition win over Oxy early in the year, I really liked Pruitt, and he's continued to improve a ton, so his matchup with Farmar will be a fun one to watch.
- When CBS took us away from the Bruins and over to Indiana-Michigan for a while, I instead went over to FSN and watched the last five minutes of the 'Zona-Oregon St. first half. Wow. Salim Stoudamire was en fuego, knocking down six threes in the half, including the last two from ridiculous range. I don't like the guy, but he sure can shoot.
- Best NASCAR race I've ever seen, no doubt. I know I can't watch it for all 500 miles, or even half or a third of it, but I was checking on it during UCLA commercials, and then got to watch the last 20 laps or so in their entirety. I was definitely rooting for Dale Jr., who took the lead with five laps to go, only to give it up to Jeff Gor-don (in the black SS with the naviga-tion) just a lap or so later. Junior finished third, which was remarkable considering he had to come from back in the 30's over the last 20 or so laps. Kurt Busch was great too, finishing second and contributing to the fall of Tony Stewart, who led for most of the race and finished seventh. They're at Fontana next weekend, so maybe I'll luck myself into a pass again--I'd approach it a whole lot differently than last year, now knowing that I actually like the sport.
- J.J. Redick might be a better shooter than Stoudamire. Might be. He was sick against Wake, bombing from all over the place and helping the Devils break their two-game losing streak.
- Got to see part of the All-Star game (after pizza from Giovanni's, which is quite possibly the world's greatest--and memories of eating there in years past add to the quality, for sure), and it was rather disappointing. Nobody with 20 points, Kobe and Ray Allen both trying to shoot their way to the MVP, too many turnovers to count. Vince's off-the-backboard dunk was solid (only saw that one on SportsCenter though), T-Mac's was fine, and the alley oop from Kobe to Amare was pretty sick. Otherwise, a sub-par effort; Saturday was better.
Trying to get back to normal this week, but the sick factor might threaten that somewhat. We'll see. Eric Gagne on tonight, looking just as big as last year, unlike the newly-svelte (at least in the head) Barry Bonds, who looked 23 in his press conference today. No way that guy didn't do 'roids. But does it matter? That's rhetorical.