Mahalo Daily is ready for some football

Okay, ready or not, here it comes, the video I helped to write, direct, produce, and act in.

If you have trouble seeing it here, you can go to Mahalo's website to watch it there.

"Santa Crief" says "Happy Mahalodays"

So we did our Secret Santa in the office today and, me always needing to be the center of attention, decided to dress up for the part:



Here's a group shot of everyone after the gifts were exchanged. Enjoy!

This Bud Isn't For Us

ITEM ONE: Selig Sucks

So was anyone else surprised at the lack of teeth that The Mitchell Report had? Did anyone get caught off guard by the (lack of) findings in the report? Here's what should have happened if baseball had a real commissioner, and not a defacto Head of the Owners Cartel:

(1) Any player asked by Mitchell to provide testimony or answer questions that didn't do so should have been suspended immediately without pay.
(2) Any player now retired who's name appears in the report and didn't answer to Mitchell's interview request should be denied his baseball pension and placed on the lifetime suspension list.
(3) Any current player should be suspended 30 days just for having his name appear in connection.
(4) The commissioner himself, who was in charge of baseball when all this was going on right under his nose, should be forced to resign.

Ever since Fay Vincent was forced in the early 90's, there has been no one who is acting "...in the best interests of baseball...". The commissioner position was created in the first place to help the sport maintain some dignity, so that the sport didn't resemble professional wrestling. When Bud Selig, an owner who only cares about one thing and one thing above all else (money), took over, the sport descended down a slippery slope that it has never truly pulled out of. It seemed like it did, but thanks to a massive fraud perpetrated by owners and players to deceive the public, the truth can now be told: it's credibility rating is zero.

If this were the NCAA, they would rescind the 2000 world championship won by the Yankees, seeing as how more than 1/3 of their roster for that season was named in the report as using steroids, human growth hormones, or whatever they could shoot in their ass to try and gain an advantage. Certainly the conformation of Clemens on that list explains why he threw a half-broken bat back at Mike Piazza in the 2000 World Series, or why his headhunting in 2003 led to the ALCS brawl in Boston where Don Zimmer was "assaulted". It also verifies that Halle Berry was telling the truth about David Justice.

I could go on and on and on and on about this subject, but you've heard it all before. Except for this:

Bud Selig should resign as commissioner for the good of the game. Nothing he does now, short of flying to Afghanistan and capturing bin Laden himself, will change the fact that he was commissioner of baseball when: the World Series was cancelled in 1994, and when players were taking steroids out (and in) the ass on a regular basis. Nothing he does or says now has any weight because while all of this was going on right under his nose, he and the other owners were increasing their profit margins 400% and more.

When the 94 series was blown up, I walked away from baseball. I stopped watching, stopped following boxscores in the paper, watching highlights on SportsCenter. When McGwire and Sosa went on the home run chase in 1998, I begrudgingly came back. Now, when it was painfully obvious that they were amped up on the juice, I have a defacto management report telling me what I already knew, how is it that Selig gets to keep his job? If these kinds of incidents had happened at any regular business, the CEO would either take the fall himself, or be pushed off the cliff for letting this happen on his watch.

But this won't happen, because Selig is the ultimate used car salesman (his actual former business). He has the owners convinced he's done an excellent job. He's done a horrible job. If baseball wants people to take them seriously moving forward, then it should return to having an independent commissioner. Until it does, it might as well have Vince McMahon running the show.

ITEM TWO: Live blogging - now that was something I'll do again
So this past Saturday, I was at the office to watch the Floyd Mayweather-Ricky Hatton pay-per-view. When our boss indicated he'd pick up half the cost if I live blogged it, I said sure. Then I realized I had no idea what the hell live blogging entailed. So after some brief research, I threw myself into the fray and stationed myself to blog the entire proceedings as they happened. It was quite interesting, especially considering that boxing isn't exactly "in my wheelhouse".

Turns out it went better than I thought. The undercard was unwatchable, but the main event did not disappoint at all. And the page actually generated some traffic on our site that night.

So it looks like I may start to make this a habit for big sporting events in the coming months: the BCS National Championship Game, the NFL Playoffs, Super Bowl 42, the NCAA March Madness Selection Show, and others (Hockey Night in Canada). If you want to see how I did, check out this link:

http://www.mahalo.com/Mayweather_Hatton_Live_Coverage

ITEM THREE: Random thoughts

If you haven't seen Veronica Yanco's guest blog posting on Angry Ken's page, click here: I mean, I have no idea what she's talking about, but it was so brilliantly insightful and humorous (whether intentional or not) that it is a MUST read. For some reason, she doesn't have her own blog, but she should... speaking of plugging other blog posts, Beatle fans should check out the Country Caravn posting about top 10 Beatle songs. I'm waiting for the Top 10 Bananarama list myself... did you see the snow in Boston today? Yet another reason why I moved to Santa Monica, today's high temp 60 degrees... Look at the Devils finally figuring out how to play hockey the last 3 weeks. Nice to see them figuring it out... What the hell is wrong with Omar Minaya? How the hell are you going to bring the Mets to training camp with THAT starting staff? Short of Reyes and Wright, whatever Minnesota wants for Santana, give it to them. Talk about a no-brainer... It looks like this coming Thursday will be the internet debut of my Mahalo Daily directorial debut, How to Watch Football as a Couple. Will post it here when ready.

Seriously, Veronica's post is a must read, check it out...

mayweather-hatton fight live blogging

Hey everybody, I'm making my first attempt at live blogging on Mahalo tonight for the Floyd Mayweather-Ricky Hatton welterweight title fight. Go to this link to watch in real time:

http://www.mahalo.com/Mayweather_Hatton_Live_Coverage

I'll have more on this, and my thoughts on the Heisman, early this week...

Are you ready to NOT SEE some football?

So a brief word or two on the current scrum involving the major cable companies and the NFL. For those not in the know, this Thursday night features a showdown between the 2 best teams in the NFC as Green Bay visit Dallas. Yet this game is televised on the NFL Network. This means if you have the channel, available on all satellite providers, or if you live in the Green Bay/Milwaukee and Dallas/Fort Worth markets, available on over-the-air channels, you have no worries.

But if you are continuing to be a slave to the thugs that run Comcast, Time Warner, and Cablevision, among others, than you need to seek out a local bar or a friend with satellite. Once again, a battle between billionaire cable companies and billionaire sports teams/leagues, ends up in regular fans getting dragged.

Those that know me (or read the previous paragraph) know my feelings about cable companies. The way Cablevision used to suck the life out of Devils fans by not being able to see games 10 miles away that friends in Florida could see was borderline criminal. The only time I ever rooted for the Yankees was not on the field, but when they launched their network and Cablevision refused to carry them in New York because it wanted to treat it like an HBO.

And it's not because James Dolan, otherwise known as the world's oldest toddler, owns Cablevision. It's just so unfair that these giant behemoths couldn't figure out how to make sure people could see these games until now. I mean, most of the games on the NFLN schedule appeared at the beginning of the season to be unwatchable, but I can promise you the bars and restaurants are happy about this, because many will be venturing out to see this showdown.

I have long been someone who has advocated the virtues of satellite television over cable, from the quality of picture and channels to the great customer service they offer, and many other reasons too numerous to mention even in a blog. I emplore you, if you are one of the millions who will get screwed out of watching that game from the comfort of your home because you have cable, go Albert Finney on their asses and tell them that you're not going to take it anymore!

***

By the way, if you have the NFL package (and BTW, how great is the SuperFan feature?), you can see updated listings on Mahalo of where to watch each game and who the broadcasters are. Just click here:

http://www.mahalo.com/nfl_episode_guide

We also have one for college football, which I'll be updating next week to include all the bowl games.

***

Speaking of college football: A few weeks back, I painted a picture of how to throw the BCS system into utter chaos. Well, look at the mess the BCS is now! The regular season would be so much better, especially conference play, if the conference champions advanced to a playoff, and the BCS was used to select 2 at-large teams.

Anyways, here are my picks for this week's conference title tilts:
ACC: Boston College over Virginia Tech - Matt Ryan is in the Hokies collective heads
BIG 12: Oklahoma over Mizzou - I'll be rooting for the Tigers, but I think Stoopes will have something special in store for Chase Daniel.
Conference USA: Central Florida over Tulane - home field advantage for UCF
MAC: Central Michigan over Miami OH - Only because of CMU's nickname, the Chippewas, which always makes me think of Gordon Lightfoot's Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - goofy I know, but that's my methodology here
SEC: LSU over Tennessee - Many think LSU won't show up emotionally because of last week's loss that blew their BCS Title hopes - but I think they wake up and become the angry bear that got poked here and steamroll the Vols.

bricks in the wall

Before...


and after...




This past weekend, Mike Rhoads and I met up with Jason Krute and our foreman, the formidable Elliot Cook, to tear down 5 cubicles at Mahalo World Headquarters. It was quite an effort, but it was also very exhilierating to do some manual labor. Just thought I'd share the photos with you (taken by Mike's iPhone). Special thanks to Juan and A.J. for helping us with waste removal.

Now, onto two other brief but important items:

1. I've started writing about one of my passions, college football, for an up-and-coming website called "Football Gameplan". You see a link to my first article where I break down the Heisman Trophy hopefuls at this link:

http://www.footballgameplan.com/heisman-watch

and be sure to check out all the other great features relating to the great sport of football!

2. Y'all are just going to love this. Our new Mahalo feature is called "Mahalo Daily" a 4 times a week podcast hosted by former C-NET icon Veronica Belmont. The one in question is a mock infomercial for a real travel product called "Dopplr". Watch for special appearances by Lon "Crushed by Inertia" Harris, Travis and Sara from Mahalo, Tyler (in disguise), and....drum roll please...MEEEEEEEEEEEE! See for yourself:

Mahalo Daily featuring me

Enjoy! See you at the Oscars!

What I did last Friday...

I really didn't know what to expect when I made my way into The Orchid this past Friday night in Koreatown portion of downtown LA, anticipating the start of the Mahalo 15,000/17,000/19,000 terms party. I guess I expected to be more nervous than I was.

To reset, I was asked by one of my colleagues here at Mahalo, Nicole, to serve as a "co-host". The party, you see, was karaoke, and so I suppose because I've sang at karaoke bars once or twice, I was a natural fit to lead others through the evening.

But to be fair, all I really did was sing a lot (maybe more than even I'm used to) and punch in the numbers for what the others would sing. Now there was a lot of video shot from the night, and a lot of pictures were snapped away. However, there has been a "website posting embargo" which forbids me from even showcasing any of the action from that night. I'd have an easier time getting Wayne Gretzky to come out of retirement than posting anything from that night.

I would use this space to "dish" on happenings and let loose with some fun (not embarrassing) stories, but all I can do is respect the "What happens at Mahaloke stays at Mahaloke" mantra and list my play list of selections, which for those that know me wasn't exactly my A-List material:
Let Her Cry, Blue Eyes, Sweet Caroline, Bridge over Troubled Water, Enter Sandman, U Can't Touch This, Pretty Woman, Born to Run, Every Breath You Take, You Got It, and Born in the USA. There were also several instances where I joined in on songs, and even one instance where I was the subject of a song (many took to inserting my nickname in a version of TLC's "Creep", which took on quite the double entendre).

Still, a great time was had by all (you'll just have to trust me on that).

On Saturday, the first ever "Mahalo Hoops" outing took place on the campus of UCLA, and featured some athletic play - with me just trying to keep up. Still, those that know me will no doubt understand that I was able to have a few "get me involved" moments.

Today was slightly disappointing, in that some of my fellow co-workers talked up dressing in Halloween costumes for the party, and then when the overwhelming majority wanted a more 'formal' approach to the Friday night dress code, I figured we'd just make up for this today, the actual holiday itself. And I was initially encouraged that I wouldn't be alone when I noticed several commuters on my way in had done the same.

Nevertheless, except for C.K. Sample's dog, I was the only fool willing to actually wear a costume today. So much for team spirit! I am including a photo taken for those to see me as an umpire:



Oh well...

As for this weekend's version of "the Most Important Game in the History of Organized Sports", I am picking the Belichick Gang to win, but rooting for the Colts. Like any big game with an even match-up on paper, count on turnovers and special teams play to be the difference makers.

Cocktails anyone?

ITEM ONE: The World's Smallest Indoor Karaoke with Drinks Party

So the Mahalo company shindig, which will be referred to as "Mahaloke", takes place this evening here in Los Angeles. It is ironic for me to have the chance to witness many of comrades in arms 'throwing back a few' on the eve of one of my favorite sporting events, "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party".

For those not familiar, this would be the Florida-Georgia football game, held every year in Jacksonville, and featuring a great deal of consumption in and around the stadium. In many cases, the drinking will begin today, some 24 hours before kickoff.

In the last couple of years, the two schools have tried to move away from the "Cocktail" moniker in the name of their rivalry, and with good reason. I lived in J-Ville for roughly 2 years, and only attended the 1997 game. And I can tell you that the action outside the stadium was much more intense and dramatic than inside the stadium. Of all those between the ages of 17-24 in the United States that were drunk that day, about 65% of them were concentrated in the Alltel Stadium parking lot.

It was a long standing tradition for many a tailgater (or should I spell it "tail-gator"?) to enjoy drinks with people on both sides of the rivalry, marking a special neighborly rivalry for just one day. But in recent years, civility has given way to intensity, and there were several years where the event was marred by violence and deaths, due to both the violence and the alcohol.

So both schools, the Southeastern Conference, and the NCAA, have been trying to encourage the media and fans to move away from the name of the event. But that won't prevent diehards from still referring to it as it is. And it won't stop alcohol advertisements from appearing in the programs sold at the stadium, or in commercials on TV and radio coverage of the game itself.

It's an issue that every major sports league, pro or college, seems to try to sweep under the rug and place a couch over, hoping the viewer won't notice: how to preach responsibility about drinking while taking bags of cash from alcoholic manufacturers.

As for our party tonight, I know that I'll be too busy acting as co-host to drink a lot, not that I would drink a lot if I were just attending. Hopefully our party tonight, and the football game tomorrow in Jacksonville, goes without incident.

ITEM TWO: "California is, dare I say, en fuego..."

I moved out here in March, and to my delight until this past Sunday, there has been a grand total of 4, count 'em, 4 days of rain here in "SoCal". It seemed unnatural for someone who has lived back East my whole life, and I had been told by many7 locals here to expect for us to pay for it. I just didn't figure the tab would be this high.

It's been unbelievable, and a little bit unnerving, to watch many pockets of this area burn to the ground while others go untouched. It reminds me of when I lived in South Florida back in 1992 and seeing the aftermath of destruction caused by Hurricane Andrew, where one community was completely devastated and the two surrounding it had no impact at all.

I'd also like to nominate the hotels that are price gouging people fleeing their homes for the "Have Tony Sopranos Boys Whack Them" award.

ITEM THREE: Time to take off the Scrubs?

Despite the fact that my esteemed blogging colleague Lon (a.k.a. Crushed by Inertia) is a Zach Braff hater, which I totally understand, I am a big fan of the TV show that Braff into a star big enough to allow people like Lon to hate him in the first place: Scrubs. I watch the show because, in no particular order:
(1) John C. McGinley, who plays Dr. Cox, is very funny
(2) Sarah Chalke is a member of "My Future Ex-Wives Club"
(3) I thought the writing was good

Well, if last night's season premiere is any indication, this last season of theirs maybe a case of sticking around one year too long. It's a delicate balance for most successful television shows, trying to gage whether to stop a show leaving the audience wanting more, or cherry-picking off past success in order to grab one more year's worth of checks.

I can't remember watching a single episode and not having at least one laughing-out-loud-to-the-point-of-cackling moment - until last night. Instead, I was left shaking my head wondering if I'm going to be tuning in to the next episode. I mean, I don't mind the "will JD and Elliot get together or not" saga that figures to drag on right until the end. But I just found myself feeling like I went to a steakhouse and having a salad as my meal - very unsatisfied with stomach churning, wondering where I went wrong in my thought process.

As an aside BTW, for those that know me, I will eat a Caesar Salad occasionally, but when it comes to salads in general, I refer to the Toby Ziegler line from The West Wing when he says that he could, "cover this thing with tons of barbecue sauce and it would still taste like the ground..." (miss that show).

Hopefully Scrubs, will get it together. If not, I may begin to echo Lon's sentiments, but aim the venom at more than just Mr. Braff.

BCS Madness

It's official, college football is having it's wildest, most unpredictable season in history. And fans can't get enough of it. Part of the reason we love it so is because just when we think we know everything and can't be surprised, we get our collective hats handed to us.

With apologies to The Ohio State University (who hasn't played anybody of substance yet), the Top 10 of the first BCS standings is unrecognizable: South Florida? Boston College? South Carolina? Kentucky? Arizona State? It's a bizzaro world where the school bullies are getting punched in the face by the supposed "weaklings".

It's like the top programs are like the celebutants: Michigan is Paris Hilton, getting thrown into D-1 "jail" for losing to Appalachian State; USC is Lindsay Lohan, convinced they have no issues before getting busted for dabbling in cocaine (narrow wins over Washington and Arizona) and drunk driving (losing to Stanford? at home?); Florida is Britney Spears, who just can't stay out of the headlines no matter what; and now both LSU and California, #1 and #2 losing the same day, becoming the Nicole Richie and Kim Kardashian of our little girls club.

As for me, we still have 6 more important losses needed to further my cause that leads to more division amongst college football fans than who's better, Angelina or Anniston, for Brad Pitt - a playoff system.

My thoughts on a college football playoff system haven't changed since 2001, when I wrote this article for AllSports detailing my plans for the right way to institute a playoff system within the current bowl system format. The big arguments against a playoff continue to be that the regular season would have less meaning (as the NFL if it's regular season is cheapened by a playoff system) or that the current system works.

So here are the 6 remaining undefeated teams, and who we need them to lose to. This way, with no undefeated teams and a bunch of 1-loss teams, the "who deserves to be selected" arguments can be so loud that only serves as a way to flip many of those onto the playoff system bandwagon:

OHIO STATE: The Yuck-eyes have played only 1 game against a ranked team so far, and have wins over such powerhouses as Youngstown State, Akron, and Kent State. Now comes the meaty part of their schedule: they have roadies at Penn State next week and at Michigan November 17, with home games against Wisconsin and Illinois. Kepp in mind too that they host Michigan State this week, who broke up their perfect season bid of 1999 with a win in Columbus.

SOUTH FLORIDA: Tampa's college is a great story, and they should be #1 right now with quality wins over West Virginia and at Auburn. Who'd have thought that, except for the Jaguars in J-Ville, USF would be the best team in the state of Florida, college or pro. Still, they are Rutgers tonight, and we'll see how they do being the hunted instead of the hunter. Later in the year, they host a Cincinnati team with just 1 loss.

BOSTON COLLEGE: Not since Doug Flutie's magical heave to Gerald Phelan in the Orange Bowl Stadium with time running out 23 years ago have the Eagles generated this much excitement nationally. They haven't been dominate, but they have been precise. Still they have road games at Virginia Tech next week and in Clemson in November they will need to survive, as well as two visits by former Sunshine State powers Miami and Florida State and the ACC Title game.

ARIZONA STATE: The early season wins over Colorado (who account for Oklahoma's only loss) and Oregon State (who account for Kim Kardashian, I mean, California's only loss) look a little better now. Still, the Sun Devils will see the heat of their schedule intensify the next 2 weeks with games versus Cal next Saturday and at Oregon November 3rd - in addition to a visit by USC Thanksgiving Night and their traditional rivalry game with Arizona December 1.

KANSAS: Here's a team that never has football success, so when it happens, it's easy to scoff at it because of the lightweights on their schedule like: Central Michigan, Southeast Louisiana, Toledo, and Florida International. They don't play the Big 12's Big 3 this year: Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech. Still, not even the most passionate Kansas football fan can expect the Jayhawks to Rock Chalk to wins at Colorado this Saturday and later in the regular season against Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, and Missouri. And if they get through that gauntlet, they will still have to win the Big 12 title game against one of those Big 3 they skip.

HAWAII: This team, in my opinion, actually has the best chance to run the table because the only tough game they have left is against Boise State, but at home. Still, you could easily see them get skipped over by two different one-loss teams.

To further the playoff argument, we also need the following 1-loss teams to lose again, preferably in this fashion: LSU, to Alabama (a loss to Saban, wouldn't that just tweak them to no end) or in SEC title game to Florida; Oklahoma, either to Texas Tech or Oklahoma State, so they play the Big 12 title game with 2 losses; Texas Tech, to Texas or to a 1-loss Kansas team in the Big 12 title game; South Carolina, to either Tennessee, Florida, or Clemson; Kentucky, to either Florida or Tennessee; West Virginia, to Rutgers or Louisville, or even Pittsburgh; USC, to Cal or UCLA, or even Notre Dame, and California, to Stanford.

Oh, and I would invite Appalachian State to play in the playoffs this year... provided they win the D-IAA (I refuse to call it the subdivision) playoffs again.

10/18 UPDATE: South Florida lost to Rutgers! And then there were five...

New sounds from The Boss, and same old sounds from The Boss

Item One: Thank you Cleveland

As I mentioned last week, only one thing could provide me with some solace about the monu-Met-al collapse of my team down the stretch in the baseball season, and that solace came in the form of the Cleveland Indians defeating the Evil Empire, eliminating them from the playoffs in the first round for the third consecutive year.

All that money spent, and all it could purchase the Yankees was 1 playoff victory, which is 1 more than my company's softball team has - and we don't even have a softball team (yet). So now, I could care less who wins the World Series, because at least it won't be the Yankees (again). 7 years, $1.5+ billion in salary (you read that right, billion), and no rings to show for it.

And then Steinbrenner, jackass that he is, says that Torre will go if they don't win? Hey George, there you go, always able to find a scapegoat. How about taking the hit yourself for a change? How about your GM? Or, and this shocks me that he always gets a pass, how about Derek "4 for 17 with 1 RBI and no runs scored" Jeter? The captain is supposed to lead, not let others take the fall for him.

Thank you Cleveland for also preventing us from seeing another "victory lap" from Roger Clemens. Made me feel great seeing him limp off the field Sunday - hey Roger, get a better cell phone connection and stay retired this time. If nothing else, it will save us from having to hear Yankees announcer Susan Waldmyn from climaxing on the radio again.

Typical Steinbrenner, fire the manager. Hey George, maybe Buck Showalter will come back to manage for you, or Clyde King, or Yogi. Hell, knowing you, you'll find a way to exhume Billy Martin's body and have him manage again. Your act is tired - sell the damn team already or have someone else run it - do the one thing you didn't do your entire reign as owner by selling the team and leaving with some class and dignity.


Item Two: Springsteen is still a Magic Man
When I heard that Bruce Springsteen had put the E Street Band back together for another studio album and tour, I winced in hesitation at first. Consider that music has changed (whether for the better or not is another topic), he'll always have any album measured by the classics from early in his career, and the advance info about the songs being "laced with politics" had me concerned. Like any great athlete or entertainer in the latter stages of their career, you hope for the best and expect the worst, hoping they "didn't stay on stage too long". But when I saw them on The Today Show, I just had a feeling of anticipation I hadn't felt about his music since the Live album came out.

I've listened to "Magic" all the way through about 10 times now, and while it doesn't stand on it's own measured against his top work, it still delivers what I want out of music. And unlike The Rising (which I found cathartic after 9/11) and his solo efforts, what makes this album work for me is not just Bruce, but the band as well. It's great to hear Clarence Clemons regain his title as best saxophone player on the planet; it's refreshing to here Roy Bittan's piano provide a strong undertone; Max Weinberg can still bang the drums as well as anyone; and despite the fact that most of us are still a little bit twirked off because of the way The Sopranos ended, you can hear a lot of Silvio, I mean, Steve Van Zandt's influence.

Speaking of influence, I credit my father for cluing me into the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds years ago, and you can hear some of that in "Girls in their Summer Clothes". My favorite track so far is "Long Walk Home".

Throughout the album, you can hear pieces of the old great albums of his (Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and The River - my all-time fave), yet the songs don't sound like leftovers from early albums that were thrown in. Yes, if you listen solely to the lyrics, it does sound like a political ad, with plenty of anti-Bush, anti-war messages. But as was the case in the 80's with Born in the USA, you can enjoy the music for what it is and use the lyrics to spark discussion and reflection about where we've gone wrong as a country. You can clearly hear this if you listen the The Rising album and then Magic back-to-back. Still, the great thing about his music, and the meanings in the lyrics, have always been about the context of the music. Maybe I'm showing my age, but I like somebody who isn't just singing about bouncing in low-riders and pimping their Ho's.

Is the album as great as The River or Born to Run? No, but I'll put it this way. Jack Nicholson was brilliant in The Departed, but that performance wasn't anywhere close to his roles in Five Easy Pieces or Cuckoo's Nest or The Shining. But it still was brilliant for this time period. Magic delivers what true Bruce fans want and need: the great sound of a band in tune with it's leader, cranking out hard charging and thought provoking sounds, providing some well-needed substance in this current "style always wins" era of music. In other words: it sounds like Jersey when I listen to it, complicated, diverse, battle-scarred. Go buy it.


Item Three: Random stuff
So things are going great for Mahalo these days. We're making tremendous inroads within search, we've started to see a turn in opinions from those that initially didn't know or didn't want us to succeed, and it's growing rapidly. Some doubted we'd stay standing long enough to reach 10,000 search results by years end. Well, we're streaking past 15,000 and the group is turning it up another notch. You've gotta check out some of the How-to's we're generating, and the Greenhouse is kicking ass and taking names. Looks like I'll be returning to days after completing a 90-day run on the overnights. While I lament the solitude of the evenings, I'm excited about rejoining my daytime colleagues, and stepping up my game in the process... I've disbanded the Friday Football Forecast website, so I'll occasionally make some selections here going forward from time-to-time... and I'm really glad that hockey is back - but it's obvious my Devils are going to struggle a lot this year...Finally, sounds like a company outing is happening at the end of the month, and rumor has it that it will involve karaoke. For those of you that have seen my act back East, I guess you know what's in store for those that haven't seen it yet here out West, "...wait 'til they get a load of me!" Keep you posted on that...

One more time Yankee fans, "Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead!!!!!"

Yellow tape surrounding Shea Stadium

It could be worse, the Mets could be the only team in baseball history to blow a 3-0 series lead and lose like the 2004 Yankees did to Boston in the ALCS.

This, and another year of re-running the Mookie Wilson Game 6 1986 World Series highlights, is all I can cling to for another year as a Mets fan. Now I know what it must have felt like as a Sox fan to watch Bill Buckner limp off the field after gaffing that infamous little roller up along first.

If you know me and are planning on interacting with me in the next few days, here's a heads-up: a nod of approval, a pat on the back, and a 'let me buy you a drink' suggestion are probably the only things to start and/or finish a conversation with me about this week. Don't suggest anything else in a conversation, because trust me, I will very quickly find a way to turn any such conversation into a rant about how a team can blow a 7 game lead in the NL East with 17 to play. Better to just hand me a piece of paper with a suicide hot line number on it and quickly walk in the other direction.

Give the Phillies credit, by the way: they won games these last 3 weeks that they had to in order to put themselves in position to take advantage of the situation. Now we'll see if these Phils are able to be the Philadelphia sports team that finally rids their town of the dreaded Curse of Billy Penn. For Phillies fans that have seen their franchise become the first in pro sports to lose 10,000 career games, the first pitch of their post-season will at least do one thing: make it so that the memory of Mitch Williams giving up the 1993 World Series ending homer to Joe Carter get removed as the last post-season baseball moment in Cheese Steak Land.

And it wouldn't even be so bad to endure this collapse if the Mets were the only New York team. Not only do I have to endure a post-season without the Metropolitans, but I have to endure it knowing that "The Evil Empire", who were left for dead in July as being out of the playoffs, have once again emerged as one of the post-season participants.

So who's to blame? Well, that's easy enough - ME! Yeah, the first year I live in California for an entire baseball season, the first year I live the entire season in a time zone other than Eastern, the first year I admit to watching more (dare I say it) Dodger games than Mets games (I mean, how do you not want to watch games called by Vin Scully?), and the Mets respond to the first season since 1993 that I don't attend a game at Shea (a.k.a. The House that Mookie Built) by having it drip down the back of their collective legs.

Not that I don't lack for company in the blame department. I agree with GM Omar Minaya that Willie Randolph did a great job managing this team this year. He did, and that's because Minaya gave him a flawed team with which to manage. After all, if you starting pitching staff consists of: Tom Glavine, a 40+ year old lefty who can't go more than 6 innings; Pedro Martinez, a guy there was no guarantee you'd get back at all this year, and who you couldn't count on to pitch deep into games even if he did come back; Roberto Hernandez, a 50+ year old pitcher; and two unproven guys in John Maine and Oliver Perez, who them Mets squeezed every ounce of ability this year; then you better have a bullpen as good or better than last year's pen.

Last year, a late-inning Game 7 homer away from the World Series, the strength of the Mets was their bullpen. This year, it was their weakness, which was never more evident than down the stretch of the monumental collapse. It stands to reason that if you don't go out to acquire starters than can eat up innings, the bully better be able to put out fires. This year's group can only be described as the "Fahrenheit 451 Gang". Not even John Franco choked away games this badly.

Not the regulars are exempt from blame. Reyes, Beltran, Delgado, Wright - they all struggled at times during the year, never seeming to be in sync at all. I'm willing to give Reyes, my favorite player, a pass for hitting just .205 in September, because he and Wright were the reason they played well the first 5 months.

So what to do now? Well the panicky move would be to fire Randolph and/or Minaya. But one of the reasons I have always loathed the Yankees is because of the pant load that owns the team and his penchant for overreacting about everything concerning managers and players. So it would be hypocritical to expect the same of the Turtlenecks, -er, Wilpons.

That said, here's my Mets Advocate Moment: first, rebuild the bullpen - I'd start by seeing if they can pry away Jonathan Broxton from the Dodgers; second, trade Lastings Milledge (who played well when given the chance) and whatever else it takes to get the unhappy Johan Santana from Minnesota; third, get another starting pitcher that can eat up innings by the boat load (maybe Harang from Cincy or God forbid trying to get Kazmir back from Tampa). After all, like location is with real estate, baseball still comes down to pitching, pitching, pitching.

Thank goodness Springsteen's new album comes out Tuesday. I'll need a significant amount of Bruce Juice to wash down the taste of the Mets choke.

remembrances of 9/11

Hey everyone, yesterday is a day that is always tough for me to get through. As someone who lived through that experience in New York, it always reminds me of many emotions I and others went through in that time period:

- knowing many people who died that day, not just victims in the towers but also firemen who raced into the buildings to try and help
- how numb we all were those first few days afterwards
- how powerless I felt
- how grateful I was for those I knew that did survive
- the outpouring of genuine unity, which we have long since abandoned
- and how we slowly started to move forward, knowing we'd never be the same again

As I watched a lot of the television coverage and read some of the print coverage as well, I noticed that 6 years out we are no closer to closing the wound then we were that day. And in all of the rhetoric of who's to blame and whether we should continue to mark the anniversary the way we do, all I know is this:

No one is responsible for the acts of these madmen, and we are all responsible for the acts of these madmen. We should do everything we can to move on from this tragedy with lessons learned and turn the page, but we should also never ever move on and minimize the importance of the lessons we learned from this tragedy.

Jim Valvano, the former basketball coach who died from cancer, said before his death, "If you laugh, if you cry, and if you think, that's a full day." Well coach, I certainly did some thinking, but there was no laughter, just a lot of crying.

In December of 2001, I wrote an on-line article for a website called All Sports. Twice a year, I re-read it because of the subject matter, and apparently I'm not the only one. I had dozens of e-mails and a few cell phone voice mails today from people who re-read it today. Still others were unable to find it, as the site has removed the page. So, for all those that inquired, and those that haven't read it, you may do so below. WE WILL NEVER FORGET - WE SHALL OVERCOME!


Two heroic athletes we should always remember
My Remembrances of Gretchen Dater and Jeremy Glick
December 21, 2001
By: Jonathan Moncrief

Christmas is a season of mixed emotions for me. I, like many people, am grateful and thankful for all the blessings I have in my life. These would include first and foremost the members of my family that care deeply for me, as I do for them. Not to mention all the friendships I have developed over the years, and the other blessings too many to mention.

Sports have also been a blessing in my life. I have taken great pleasure in experiencing, both as a competitor and a fan, many moments of success and achievement.

Yet, I am also reminded at this time of year, especially this year, of all the evil in the world. I am reminded of how powerless I really am, and how mortal I really am.

Sports, and the athletes that participate in them, have always been a coping device for me. I have been a sports fanatic all my life. Love to play sports, love to watch sports, love to talk about sports. In part, I think this is because the people I developed friendships with growing up also had similar levels of interests in sports like me.

That’s why I want to take a moment to recognize two of my friends that I can’t celebrate this season of cheer with. These are two people who I knew in my younger days, and I knew them then, and now, as athletes.

Their names are Gretchen Dater and Jeremy Glick.

Every year on December 21st since 1988, I remember Gretchen Dater, my former classmate at Saddle River Day School. Actually, I think about her often, but the anniversary date of when she and 269 others died as a result of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbee, Scotland, amplifies it. My recollections of her are of a kind and gentle young woman, someone who always wore a smile on her face and enjoyed a good laugh. My recollections of her are of a young woman who was beautiful, at an age when a young man starts to really notice those kinds of things about young women.

My recollections mostly, though, are of a school girl who didn’t buy into the stereotype of most girls back then, which was not to play sports with a passion like boys did. Mind you, this was before the explosion and popularity of women’s sports in this country. This was before women’s tennis and golf tours were popular, before the WNBA, before the WPSL.

Gretchen played sports with a fearlessness you rarely found in girls in those days. Whether it was in physical education class, or the girl’s soccer team, she always played hard. When she played floor hockey (my sport of choice) in “Phys Ed” class, she not only knew how to shoot a puck, she shot it hard. She always had my respect for that. To me, she wasn’t just another pretty girl.

She was an athlete.

Maybe that’s why hearing of her tragic and untimely death was so hard for me to accept when I first heard about it. She had so many positive qualities. Even when I knew her, you could see her artistic talents and abilities. These talents were what led her to become an art student at Syracuse University, and eventually an exchange student in London, from where she was returning home for the holidays when tragedy struck.

It was also hard to accept because it personalized the tragedy. It made acutely aware, in the early stages of adulthood, just how quickly and senselessly it could all come to an end.

Every year on the anniversary, my thoughts and feelings are always ones of anger and sorrow. Her parents were among those who championed the cause to bring those who did this unspeakable act to justice. Two such men were convicted this past January for this crime in the Netherlands, yet the real mastermind of these murders, Muammar Qaddafi and the government of Libya, remains “at large” in my mind.

Yet, tragically, we as a nation did not learn the lessons of December 21st, the lessons of air safety and the safety of our citizens that Pan Am Flight 103 taught us. For the families of the victims of that horrible terrorist attack, they have been left to ponder why it took our government 12 years and the unfortunate events of September 11th to become so enraged at state-sponsored terrorism and so united in purpose to defeat it.

For me, I wonder why I had to lose another friend. I knew Jeremy through his brother, Jonah, whom I was a classmate of for four years at Saddle River Day School. Jonah was a good friend for the years I attended school there. I attended his Bar Mitzvah, and it was through this friendship that I came to know Jeremy, as well as his other siblings.

My father put a basketball hoop and backboard on my driveway so that I could have friends over to play games with. He even put “flood lights” up so I could play at night. Jonah was one of those friends who played ball with us. My recollection is that he liked the idea of playing basketball at home so much, he convinced his father to take a section of their backyard, dig it up and pour in concrete so Jonah and his brothers could have a “home court” advantage.

I can distinctly remember many Sunday afternoons playing basketball with Jonah and Jeremy, and their little brother Jared, as well as other kids. Just like at my house, they had “flood lights” put up so the games could extend into the night hours.

I also remember both Jonah and Jeremy as being extremely skilled in judo and wrestling, as well as soccer. They may not have looked physically imposing, but believe me, they were as strong as anyone I knew back then at my age. I was taller than them growing up, so I used my height advantage in basketball games, but it was never easy matching up against them in any sport they played.

I lost touch with them after I transferred to a different high school. It turns out, from what I’ve read since September 11th, it was a huge loss for me that I lost touch with them.

After all, if you’ve read any of the accounts of the kind of family man, father, friend, brother and hero Jeremy has been portrayed in the stories since the crash of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, wouldn’t you agree he was the kind of person you’d want to have in your life? When I first heard his name in connection with the story, it didn’t register. After all, I assumed it couldn’t be the same person I knew.

Yet, when I read the story with quotes from his older sister, Jennifer, and from his mother, Joan, I cried like my own brother had died. In some ways, for that period of my life, he was my brother.

He was an athlete.

My regrets about Gretchen and Jeremy, other than them not still being alive, is that I didn’t know them more than I did. Yet, I knew them enough to remember the many good things they had to offer. I am proud to say that I knew them both, and the memories I have of them, albeit minor ones, will be memories of passion and athletic determination that I will carry with me forever. Knowing the kind of people they were, and how valiantly they faced the defining moment of their lives, I only hope I have the same kind of courage if put in the same situation.

Sportswriter Mike Lupica said shortly after September 11th that he will never again use phrases such as heroic and courageous to describe athletes again in the games we watch. I couldn’t agree with him more.


A fund has been set-up for Jeremy's daughter, Emmy:
The Emerson Glick Foundation
PO Box 911
Windham, NY 12496.

Broken Down Carr on the side of the road

They are learning quickly in Ann Arbor what they already know in Columbus and Happy Valley and East Lansing and other stops along the national coach's caravan:

When spelling the name of Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr, be sure you start with two "L"'s (as in losses).

To be fair, Carr didn't make (or fail to make) any clutch tackles, blocks, or kicks, but if the buck stops with the head coach, and he makes millions in salary every year, then someone should turn down the temperature on his customized coach's seat. This week, it is scorching hotter than Lindsay Lohan's crotch supposedly does.

Yet, with all the talk about how Carr should be held accountable because he allowed his team to be under prepared enough to face a little a 1-AA school, allowing them to come into "The Big House" and take a big old dump in the middle of the field, to me there's a bigger issue that should be addressed - he, like many other coaches at all levels of football, can't seem to grasp "when to go for 2".

App State had a late 3rd quarter lead of 31-20, when Michigan tailback Mike "Coach, You Gotta Have" Hart scored on a 4-yard touchdown to close the gap to 31-26. With still one quarter left, and being "Mighty Michigan", many like myself figured they would kick the extra point and cut the lead to 4. But Carr decided to go for 2, and when they failed, the deficit remained 5 points.

This may not have seemed like a big play, but it was. Going for a 2-point conversion before the 4th quarter is risky, because it only has at best, statistically speaking, a 50/50 chance for success. And when you fail, you tend to chase after the "lost points" with every/any subsequent score. It reminds me of the story former New England Patriots great Russ Francis likes to tell about Pro Football Hall of Famer Ted Hendricks. One time, Hendricks was drinking so many beers that, as he was finishing his business "liquidating himself" in a locker room bathroom stall, he dropped a $10.00 bill he was holding. After announcing this to anyone within ear shot, and showing Francis the money floating aimlessly, Hendricks produced a $100.00 bill from his pocket, dropped it into the bowl, and reached in to scoop both of them out. Hendricks then stated, "I wasn't going in there for just ten bucks!"

It's the same concept when you go for 2 early in a game and fail - you wind up chasing after it the rest of the game. So when Hart's fourth quarter, 54-yard dash gave the Wolverines a fourth quarter lead of 32-31, Carr was forced to go for 2, to make up for his earlier mistake. Success would have meant a 34-31 lead, but again Michigan failed on the conversion attempt. Had they simply kicked extra points, as I pointed out to those watching the game with me at the time, the lead would be 34-31, and the eventual 24-yard field goal by App State with 26 seconds left would have only evened the score at 34 apiece, forcing overtime.

Instead, the field goal by Julian Rauch meant that Michigan needed a last-second attempt to win on a field goal that was blocked, creating the greatest upset in college football history.

It bothers me to no end to watch coaches, who seem to have 900 assistants nowadays, blow the decision of when/if to go for 2 points. As a Notre Dame fan who watched his own team struggle to gain first downs, much less score points, against Georgia Tech, I can only thank Lloyd Carr for at least providing some cover in the national spotlight for the "Fightless Irish".


BTW: Be sure to check out the premiere of the Friday Football Forecast this week, where we attempt to correctly predict the results of 5 NFL games this weekend.

Fantasy Football for Newbies

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Anyone's Son

I also wrote the narration for this promotional video for the feature film project Anyone's Son.

4CHOSEN: The Documentary

Here it is, the trailer for 4CHOSEN The Documentary, which I helped write and produce, narrated by Montel Williams.

4Chosen - Preview of Interview

A preview of the documentary film "4CHOSEN The Documentary" which I helped to write and provided scratch narration (yes that's my voice 1 minute into this clip) which eventually was narrated by Montel Williams. I'll be posting the trailer for the doc shortly. This is from an interview involving the victims of this brutal crime on a New York cable show that aired in 2006. More to come.

iPhone madness!

Greetings - a tremendous Friday to all of you:

I just woke up after a 4 hour snooze following my 10 hours on-line overnight at the Apple Store in Santa Monica. The company I work for is purchasing several iPhones for marketing purposes, and I was one of the brave soles who volunteered to take turns waiting in line. We broke it up into four 6-hour shifts, and I took a double from 6PM Thursday night to 6AM Friday morning, in anticipation of the 6PM launch of the phones.

My comrades in arms, Nicole, Sara, Lon, and Andy, were great company. Many stories to tell (some not for a blog post) about the experience included:

1. Numerous people stopping and asking "What is this line for?" (My most common response was that I was waiting on line for the iPhone and then to buy the new and much-less publicized "iBra" being launched across the street at Victoria's Secret).

2. The music, which got better during the night until it stopped at midnight, although the quality was still no better than "missing the cut at local talent show" level.

3. Getting heckled by the assistant manager of the nearby adidas store at 1AM as he and his co-workers were locking up for the night. After several back and forths with others of us on-line, I inquired as to why he wasn't working at Foot Locker instead and suggesting it was because they ran out of referee shirts - (I guess anything is funny at 1AM)

4. A group of 5 or 6 guys getting drunk, to the point that one of them tore off his shirt, announced to the freelance photographers and videographers that he was a former backyard wrestler, and then proceeded to impale himself on the concrete for the cameras - twice! This left him no worse for wear, but several large welds getting brighter before the sun came up over Santa Monica Boulevard (you know I was going to use that one).

5. Andy actually being able to sleep for a good portion of his 6-hour shift, which I found very impressive.

and the highlight of the night for me:

6. Our very own fearless leader, C.K. himself, showing up and trying to convince the crowd that his Helio phone had much better features and was less expensive without being locked into AT&T Wireless. He even proceeded to point out the specific functionality of the Helio, like it's
ability to have GPS and to send a text message - hilarious.

All in all, quite a fun all-nighter, and glad to have been part of the Mahalo team. To see a picture for the earlier group on line, which made it's way onto the front page of Yahoo's website today, see here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coneee/653667863/

Special shout out to my buddy Steve who spotted me for the first 2 hours, and to Jonathan H. and Raj for bringing us donuts at 6AM (oooooh, doooonuuuts)

Now for some Sports Takes:
Before getting in line, I watched a lot of the NBA Draft and was shocked at the Knicks trade of Steve Francis and Channing Frye to Portland for Zac Randolph. Shocked, because it was actually a pretty good trade by Isiah Thomas, the Rasputin of NBA General Managers. I don't know how he still pulls a regular paycheck from the Dolans, but he does, and this was actually a decent move. Now we find out if this is the start of Isiah building the Knicks back to a winner, or this trade simply being a good one because "even a broken watch gives the correct time twice a day".

NFL Europa closed it's doors this week, after a 15-year run as a developmental league for the National Football League. I am not surprised by this in the sense that it was never wildly popular in Europe - I think because it was using inferior talent. For much the same reason that soccer fails as a pro league here in the U.S. - the greatest players in the world don't play here, and we don't have a long history of loving the game like we do with American football. But I'm disappointed the league is shutting down because it did offer many players a chance to play and improve to the point that they were able to not only be signed onto NFL teams, but help them win championships. Think about it: if there wasn't this league over the last 15 years for players to improve their skills and showcase their talents, then names like Kurt Warner, Adam Vinatieri, Jake Delhomme, and Jon Kitna, might never have become known to NFL fans. NFL Europa, we hardly knew ya.

Finally, the second grand slam in tennis is underway at the All-England Lawn, Tennis, and Croquet Club (that's Wimbledon to the rest of us commoners). There was a time recently when American players dominated this tournament, which begs the question: Where have you gone Pete Sampras and Chrissy Evert, a nation turns it's lonely eyes to you. Well, Serena and Venus are still trying to get it done on the women's side and overcome nagging injuries - but on the men's side, it's time for Andy Roddick to step up and get it done. He's made the finals of several Grand Slam tourneys in recent years, but can't seem to get past Roger Federer. Sure R-Fed is an all-time great, but so was Sampras, and Andre Agassi was still able to balance relationships with Barbra Streisand, Brooke Shields, and Steffi Graf to win a few times. A big deal was made about the fact that Roddick hired Jimmy Connors as a coach. look, Roddick has game and skills, but unless Connors is able to donate a portion of his heart and courage to his pupil, Roddick will unfortunately continue to play second fiddle. I guess this is appropriate, considering he shares his nickname (A-Rod) with another guy who also always seems to come up short in the clutch.

Next time: A salute to the Big Hurt and CB on milestones, and a lesson in watching the All-Star Game. Happy Birthday USA.

Does a goalie have Hart, and it's good to be King

Item One: Stanley goes Hollywood
First, congrats to the Anaheim Ducks for winning the 2007 Stanley Cup. They played with a lot of physicality and grit, and were truly the best team in these playoffs. I was especially happy to see Scott Niedermayer hand the cup to his brother Rob.

I remember 2003, and the one thing that slightly tempered the New Jersey Devils Stanley Cup celebration was the fact that Scott had won his third cup with the Devils, but at the expense of his brother Rob, who had never won it. Watching them meet in the end-of-series handshake line, you could tell that if it was possible to quickly make a trade, Scott would have done anything to have his brother Rob enjoy the moment fully.

So watching Scott give the Holy Grail to Rob was truly a wonderful moment. I'm sure Ottawa fans were too disappointed to appreciate it, but anyone else that loves hockey, anyone else that loves sports, and anyone else that has a sibling, knows just how touching that moment was. Having briefly had a chance to get to know Scott while writing some hockey articles for several outlets back in 2003 and 2004, I know just how special it was for him to have his brother take the Cup and skate with it.

And this may just be the beginning for the Ducks. Sure they have their share of "gray beards", but they are mostly a young team with the potential to build on this year.

Item Two: NHL Awards Preview
Okay, so now that the Cup has been presented, there's one last bit of business before the amateur draft signals the official start of summer: the NHL Awards. Here's a quick glimpse:

• Calder (Rookie of the year): This is one of those where I think because Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal are teammates, they will cancel each other out and allow Colorado's Paul Stastny to win.
• Selke (Best defensive forward): Hard to argue with Sammy Pahlsson after watching him in the Finals shut down Ottawa's big scoring line.
• Adams (Best coach): It's a regular season award, which is why Randy Carlisle isn't nominated - Lindy Ruff of Buffalo is the choice here.
• Vezina (Best goalie): I'll admit an obvious bias towards Martin Brodeur, and tell you that in other years, he would be a no-brainer. Still, Vancouver needed Roberto Luongo much more than the Devils needed Brodeur, so I say it will go to Luongo.
• Lady Bing (Most gentlemanly): Got a love a bruising, physical sport that is known for violence and yet hands out a sportsmanship award. Joe Sakic is my choice here.
• Norris (Best defenseman): Again, because two of the candidates (Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger) are teammates, I'll take the other nominee, Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit.
• Hart (League MVP): Two of three candidates are goalies (Brodeur and Luongo) and the other is Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby. This is a difficult call, but I think the voters will feel that Crosby will win a lot of these later on, so I say Luongo, even though my hart, er, heart, says Brodeur.
  

Item Three: He's not just another #23, he's the next #23
Picture being a team that has won the NBA Championship 3 times in 7 years. Being a team that plays the game the right way, and has good guys that you can root for. Now imagine being the second billing on the NBA Finals marquee to a team that's never been there before.

That's what it means to be the San Antonio Spurs and enter the 2007 NBA Finals playing second fiddle to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Most people believe that this Knig James' coronation ceremony; that he will now lead the Cavs to the title just like his "numbersake", Michael Jordan did in 1991 with the Bulls. That Chicago team had never been to the finals, and were playing a Los Angeles Lakers team that had been to numerous finals. Yet the Bulls won, and now people are drawing a comparison between MJ and those Bulls, and LBJ and these Cavs.

Except that Lakers team was an aging team, and this Spurs team is still in their prime. These Spurs have the ability to do what a selfish Detroit team couldn't; focus on being a team first in their attempt to shutdown LeBron and the Cavs. I think it'll go the full 7, and that home court will help show the way for San Antonio. As for LeBron, his time will come, but I just don't think it'll be this year.

Random thoughts: Did you hear about Annika Sorenstam calling out Michelle Wie? This is what the LPGA needs - not a bunch of docile, timid, and respectful players, but tough chicks calling each other and smashing each other with 4-irons. Okay, maybe not the last part - still, it is nice to see that players on the LPGA Tour have a pulse. As for Wie, perhaps she's making the right decision going to Stanford full-time this fall. She needs to live life a little bit before settling down into a full-time professional grind. It worked for Tiger, maybe singing "Come Join the Band" (the Stanford fight song) is just what she needs for a while... here's why horse racing will never again dominate the sports landscape - Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, who lost by a nose hair in the Preakness, is not racing in the Belmont Stakes this weekend. No rematch, no trying attain lasting glory. Nope, once you lose a shot at the Triple Crown, you pack it in. That doesn't seem to jive with our sense of competition, does it?... So Billy Donovan had a change of heart and decided to go back to Florida, leaving the Orlando Magic at the door. Well, actually, the analogy would be better stated that he went through with the wedding ceremony, but called Raul Felder just after the reception started. You know what though? Good for Donovan that he knew he didn't want to coach in the NBA and had the guts to try to fix it before he got too far along. Better he not go through the motions and hurt the Orlando franchise. Takes guts to admit that you're wrong publicly and subject yourself to ridicule, but he made the right decision... Oh, and back to the Ducks for a minute - Memo to KNBC's Fred Rogan: Know which Niedermayer brother your talking to, like which one came to the Ducks from New Jersey as a free agent, and which one has been in Anaheim for a while. That was hard to watch...How soon until someone posts a spoof video of Paris Hilton's jail stay in the MasterCard 'Priceless' theme...

Kobe being Kobe and Stanley moving to Disneyland

Item One: "I Kobeius"
Anyone who thinks Kobe Bryant is going anywhere needs to have their head examined. The fact of the matter is: Kobe makes too much money; the Lakers wouldn't receive fair value for him, and to get Kevin Garnett or Tracy McGrady straight up would leave them in the same place they are now (a team with a franchise player and not much else); and Kobe would wind up on a team just as bad as the Lakers are but likely in a smaller market.

Still, at what point does Kobe look in the mirror and determine that maybe the person who is at fault the most for his troubles is himself? He orchestrated Shaq being sent away while they were still winning championships; he's the one who orchestrated Phil Jackson's departure from the Lakers, and signed off on Jackson's second tour of duty; he's the one who's elected to have a big salary which limits the Lakers flexibility to deal for a wingman, his Scottie Pippen if you will. I'd have a lot more respect for his opinions if he would admit to some of his own shortcomings the past few years.

Item Two: Stanley's Disneyland adventure
After 40 years of having professional hockey in the Golden State, it seems the Stanley Cup is finally going to spend the summer in the Hotel California. The Anaheim Ducks have found a way to shut down the Ottawa Senators top scoring line in the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals, and found timely scoring to squeak (or quack) out a 2-0 series lead. How you know it's going well for the Ducks: the game-winning tallies have been scored by Travis Moen and Sammie Pahlsson. Only one team out of 30 has blown a 2-0 lead in the finals. It appears as if the Curse of St. Patrick affects not only the Montreal Canadiens, but all of the teams from Canada, as no team from the country that borders us to the north has won hockey's holy grail since Montreal traded away Patrick Roy (a.k.a. Saint Patrick) in 1995. The last Canadian team to win was Les Habitants in 1993.

Item Three: It's all on George, not Cashman or Torre
While one New York baseball team keeps winning (Let's Go Mets), the other team continues to struggle mightily. The Yankees (a.k.a. The Evil Empire) find new and different ways to lose games, and the death pools for both Brian Cashman and Joe Torre are in full effect in New York. The problem is, neither of them are to blame for the fact that the Yankees have not won a World Series since 2000. The problem is George Steinbrenner. See, he not only wants to win, but he wants to in a dominate fashion. So rather than have a great team, which means having a few great players and a lot of clucth players, he's assembled a team of great players. See the difference? If you don't, just watch a Yankees game and watch how the superstar players can't do the little things to help each other out. Plus, they overspent on so many front line players, that their backline players (bullpen, bench) is bottom of the barrel. This will not change until either Vader Steinbrenner goes back to letting his team be built like it was in the late 1990's, or until George Costanza comes back as assistant to the traveling secretary.

Random thoughts: One of the advantages for me being in California now is that I get to listen to Vin Scully call baseball games. I still am not a Dodgers fan, and probably never will be, but hearing Scully's soothing and professional delivery makes me wish other teams would go back to this kind of play-by-play and get rid of the screamers...Was watching Marshall Faulk on NFL Network analyze which of the 2nd year QB's will have the most success: Matt Leinart, Vince Young, or Jay Cutler. He felt Young would have the least success, "Because of Madden", as in the Madden Video Game Cover Jinx. Interesting the Marshall is a new feature in the game this year, yet here he is perpetuating the Madden Jinx myth...I hear they are working overtime to keep Cameron Diaz and Jessica Biel seperated at the MTV Movie Awards Red Carpet. My question is: Why? I'd tune in just to see if they are fake nice or if they throw down (my money would be on Biel, but it would probably have to go to the judges scorecards)

Next Time: NHL Awards and NBA Finals previews...