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.