81 & Change

"I don't know if I can hear another tale
Of how amazing you can be
I don't think that I have really ever seen
Just how amazing you can be"
--Sunny Day, Dave Navarro

Since I devoted this space to LeBron last Friday, it's only fair to give therapist equal run after that ridiculousness Sunday night. Two things to discuss in the aftermath of the greatest non-Wilt scoring night in NBA history (of course, there's no video of the 100-point game, so maybe it didn't exist): where does Kobe rank among the all-time greats and why do so many people continue to hate him?
He begged off any and all comparisons to MJ last night after the game, saying it's not fair to MJ and Magic to try to compare today's players to those guys, since they're the all-time greats, and it's not the same game (his words, not mine). Jalen Rose, one of several Raptors torched on the night, has my favorite quote so far: "I've never seen anything like it...from ANYONE! It was like playing NBA Live but on the arcade level...just...BANANAS...WOW!!!" I also read Mike Downey this morning, the erstwhile LA Times columnist now in Chicago, and his view is that this is the start (if not the continuation) of a public re-embracing of Kobe, of his emergence as an MJ-level draw across the league, and of his possible hero status if he can indeed play a role in bringing a World Championship and/or Olympic gold medal back to the US. I can only hope that whatever he's doing and wherever he's going, Laker wins will be coming along. I do believe that we're a year or two away from seriously challenging Phoenix and San Antonio, but being a seven-seed for a few more seasons wouldn't be the worst thing ever. We'll be back. Soon.
And now, some loose change...
- We've essentially replaced Leeann Tweeden with Lisa Dergan as the correspondent on the show, a move I equate roughly to the Dream Team bringing Karl Malone off the bench to replace Charles Barkley (note: the analogy begins and ends with that; I certainly don't equate our show to the Dream Team)...
- Seahawks-Steelers, huh? The last Super Bowl I didn't watch was the Redskins-Bills clash in '92 (didn't much care for Mark Rypien; shooting hoops in my neighbor's yard the whole time), and even though it's pretty much my job to watch things like this, I have a hard time getting excited for this matchup (I honestly wouldn't have watched either of the championship games if I weren't getting paid to do so--literally)...
- It seems like 24 is trying to move faster than it has in previous seasons--a mole is revealed (to the audience) and then discovered (on the show) within the hour, the president's chief advisor (Walt Cummings), shown to us early on to be a traitor, is given up already (it would have been easy to assume that his concealment would last most of the season), and then Audrey and Jack are immediately rekindling the old flame (despite the presence of other chick and her son)...I'm obviously hooked on season five...
- Saw a note on rockham about Karl Dorrell looking to hire DeWayne Walker (former SC guy and current Redskins assistant) as his defensive coordinator, and the operating opinion was that Dorrell is trying to "be like Pete". I take a different view, however, just observing a typical path of upward mobility: USC to the NFL, and then to the apex, UCLA. I can't say this with a straight face, so I type and hide behind the printed word...
- Sven Goran Eriksson is leaving his job as England's head coach after the World Cup this summer...is there anyone who reads this that has ever heard of him before? What country is he from? Where has he coached previously? I know none of you know, since there's nobody I work with that has any idea either. Being a soccer fan is a bit of a lonely existence, frankly...
- Darn you, Mike Gansey...
- Stacy Keibler was on the show last week, and I think I'm still breathless. Without question, the most beautiful girl I've ever been in the presence of. I even had the privilege of standing with her in her dressing room for a second (I had to hold the door for a shot we needed of her; it required me being in the room with her, with the door closed, before she opened it to emerge for the shot)...okay, maybe it was only 30 seconds, but it was 30 glorious seconds...
Long day, peace...

LBJ

"Time alone, oh, time will tell
Think you're in heaven, but ya living in hell"
--Time Will Tell, Bob Marley

Since I have time today, on this dark Friday (and since I've been inspired by a comment that would seem to suggest the fact that people--okay, a person--actually still read(s) this stuff), I'd like to expound the rivalry between LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, something that (unfortunately) only manifests itself twice a season (and, therefore, only six times thus far in their careers). Fortunately, however, a national television audience was privvy to said rivalry, in full bloom, on Wednesday night. Due to a fatherly dinner commitment, I was unable to witness the event live, but that's just one of the many wonderful things about working in sports television: I watched the necessary portions of the game on tape the next morning. A few thoughts on these cats:
- LeBron is unbelievable. He's over 30 points a game as a 21-year old, which is absurd. He's bigger and stronger than every single guy he matches up with (unless, for some reason, Ben Wallace is guarding him on a switch)--did you see the end of the Cavs-Lakers game when he posted up Kobe and just abused him to draw a foul? It's like that all the time. He's also pretty much faster and jumps higher than any of these guys, which, when you combine it with a jumper that's become remarkably consistent, is resulting in an offensive arsenal that will be totally unstoppable in about two years' time.
- 'Melo has rebounded from the whole sophomore slump/Athens debacle of '04-'05 and is putting together an All-Star season of his own. He's as good offensively as anybody after Kobe, AI and LeBron (Dirk, Arenas and Vinsanity probably fall into that group with him), because he can shoot the j and put it on the floor and finish. Fun to watch, for sure.
- The one thing (and it's a big thing) separating LBJ from Kobe at the moment is his inability to take and make the last shot. He's been remarkably unclutch in the last few weeks, including that Laker game (Kobe hit two huge jumpers, and LeBron missed a tying free throw and a possible winning jumper) and this tilt with the Nuggets (after a 'Melo dunk, he had two free throws to tie, and he missed the second). Is it cause to believe that he's not going to figure out and eventually be the guy who takes and makes those shots? No, because remember Kobe's airballs against the Jazz? Granted, he was 18, but still, it takes a little time (and LeBron's team is still terrible, especially with Larry Hughes out).

Other thoughts entering and leaving my head this week, in no particular order:
- The Wedding Crashers commentary is very high-quality. Vaughn and Wilson are hilarious all the time, especially when they seem to forget they're being recorded. They started talking about the Texas-Ohio State game at one point, watching random NFL games, the specifics of the food that was delivered to their booth--and yes, they did talk a lot about the movie and they were quite entertaining in that regard as well.
- The funniest part of 40-Year Old Virgin is the "you know how I know you're gay?" scene, without question. It's been going around the office this week (for once, I'm actually not the butt of gay jokes), and I understand there's an extended version of the scene on the DVD extras--definitely checking that out at some point soon.
- I think I chose the wrong Kings game to go to this week. Had great seats Tuesday night, but watched a lousy effort from our boys and saw them crash to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of your Tampa Bay Lightning (Martin St. Louis is nice), and then I was forced to turn down Joey's tickets Thursday night (working until 7:30, not conducive to picking up tickets in the South Bay and then heading over for a 7:30 start), where I missed 14 goals and a Luc Robitaille hat trick, one of which was Lucky's franchise record-breaking tally. Going with the bros Saturday--hopefully more like 8-6 and less like 1-4.
- Time is a difficult thing to manage, especially when at least 12 hours of it is occupied by the same thing every day. If I add an hour of driving, an hour of working out and another hour of eating/getting ready in the morning, and, say seven hours of sleep (I'd prefer eight, but that's darn near impossible), it leaves me with a whopping two hours of free time every day. Wow. I don't spend much time stepping back and thinking about time commitments and relationships and how much they require, but it seems pretty clear to me why it's so goshdarn difficult to maintain a relationship. I'm sure that if I really wanted to, I could make the time (I can't make excuses for being retarded), but the math makes it pretty apparent how difficult all of that is.
- "24" is so stinking good. I've become very critical of television shows, but there is very little, if anything, I would change about this show, ever. I almost want to go back and watch all the other seasons just to keep the fix going, because once a week is nowhere near enough. It's worse than drugs.

January

"I forgot to remember to forget her
I can't seem to get her off my mind
I thought I'd never miss her, But I found out
Somehow I think about her almost all the time"
--I Forgot to Remember to Forget, Johnny Cash

I may as well start naming these posts after the months in which they appear, since they are appearing monthly, at best (I noticed this morning that I've posted exactly four times since the end of September--aargh). It's already been a good month, 12 days in, so there's plenty to write about, and plenty to look forward to. Let's start with the past:
- The Rose Bowl was the best game I've ever viewed in which I did not have a true rooting interest. I wanted SC to win, of course, but wasn't devastated by the defeat as I may have been in, say, the '04 NBA Finals or the '97 Elite Eight (or the Week 17 Chargers-Broncos debacle in the rain in San Diego--I was there, of course--that saw us fall to 9-7 and lose our quarterback--thank goodness for Shawne Merriman, he's real good).
- Christmas (and its accompanying break) was wonderful (I did see "Walk the Line" last month, leading to the above lyrics and a mini-obsession with Cash's music--Johnny, not Walter). It wasn't just taking a full week off that was so nice, but spending that time with family (mostly just playing video games, but still) and recapturing the ability to sleep in. Waking up at 10 or 11 every morning was so different and so sweet--I really thought I had lost the ability to sleep past 9, but it seems I just need a few days to get used to it.
- Not sure who watches Desperate Housewives, but it's obviously a pretty good portion of America, so it would have no doubt been more exciting for that segment of the population than it was for me to have James Denton (a plumber in the show? maybe a gardener?) hanging out at our editorial meeting yesterday. Cool guy, actually (made a few rather humorous remarks directed at one of our producers), and just another in a rather lengthy list of pretty darn cool things about working in television.
- One of the not so cool things about working in television, however, is the impermanent nature of employment, and we went through another series of "trimming the fat", as it were. Lost a good eight people from the show staff, and we'll be losing several more from the crew (cameras, sound, wardrobe, etc.) in the near future. All part of a concerted effort to keep the show viable and making money (which means it's a good thing for those of us that aren't going anywhere), but it still sucks because there are people involved--people I like.
And the future:
- 24 starts Sunday. 24 starts Sunday. 24 starts Sunday...
- The UCLA basketball team is on the verge of something great. Despite the loss of Josh Shipp for the season (the story of me meeting his brother Joe's girlfriend on a plane is a good one--I'll tell it sometime), we're led by an amazing sophomore backcourt (Farmar and Afflalo) and our top eight guys are still just freshmen and sophomores. I've been to two games thus far (and will hopefully be attending more in the near future, based on my re-connect with assistant coach Kerry Keating), and in the second, we beat up on Stanford without a junior or senior playing a single minute. The old guys suck anyways, so they won't be missed when they graduate.
- From various work sponsorships, I've now obtained a number of new DVD's that need to get viewed at some point: Cinderella Man, The 40-Year Old Virgin, Wedding Crashers, Airplane (already seen) and Office Space (already seen). Saw Wedding Crashers in the theater and seem to recall that the first hour was as funny as any in cinematic history--I'll probably need to revisit that possibility at some point this weekend.
- I think I might be going to England. Just sort of thought about it as I was looking at our upcoming dark week schedule (two full weeks in February for the Olympics and a week in March for conference basketball tournaments), and recalled my desire to see Alan Shearer play once before he retires at the end of this season. I'm going to take in two or three matches in a week's time (one of which will definitely include big Al), which will be more than enough to quench my thirst for live European football. Can't wait...

Looking forward to bible study tonight--first installment of the new year, and always a lovely way to spend a Thursday night. God bless...