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...