Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Trades, trades, trades.....you sho' look good tonight

Celtics going to the playoffs....

If the Celtics would have stayed pat with their trade last month for Ray Allen, I would not have liked the trade because I didn't think that team would have been able to go further than the first round of the playoffs. However, now with this proposed trade for Garnett, the Celtics have the ability to probably go to the NBA Finals. I, as a Knick fan, always took solace in the fact that the Celtics sucked. "Ok, we're not going to the Finals this year or next, but check out the Celtics." Now? This sucks again.

The Celtics and Ainge decided to go for it all these next coming 2 to 3 years. This version of the Celtics is kind of reminiscent of the Rockets team that featured Hakeem, Barkley and Pippen. Except these Celtics are younger. However, those 3 guys will have to play the lions share of minutes throughout the season. I do think that they have a little more depth than I originally thought. Skip Bayless, who I still don't know how he got this job he has, thinks that the Celtics are only the fourth best team in the East. He's an idiot. Looking over their roster I think that they're only really missing depth at the 3. They still have Kendrick Perkins who I thought made some decent strides last year as an inside presence ho ever, I think that they are missing depth at the 3. I like their drafting of Gabe Pruitt, but I don't see him producing soon. I do think that Glen "Big Baby" Davis will produce at the NBA level. He's got great footwork and while he isn't explosive, he is similar to Curry in that he is nimble for his size. I think this puts the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. People will get to see just how good Paul Pierce is again. I think people forgot that this guy is an assassin on the court. he never gives up, scores in bunches and is a clutch scorer. Now you put that together with Garnett in the post and either of them kicking it out to Allen? Pierce was killin' 'em with 'Toine out on the wing, now with Allen? It's going to be a long day for opposing defenses. We will be in for some entertaining basketball next Spring and Summer in the Eastern Conference.

The Mets got better...

Omar Minaya pulled off a nice trade for the Mets' stretch run. Luis Castillo is a very good, professional hitter. While he may not walk a lot or steal as many bases anymore, he gives the Mets another switch hitter at the top of hte lineup. He stole 25 bases last year but he had a lingering quadriceps injury in May that may explain his dip in stolen bases so far this year. While Castillo doesn't draw a lot of walks, he is a consistent .300 hitter who also has a great glove. He broke ryne Sandberg's 123 consecutive games without an error. Castillo has lost a step going to his left, but considering how much range he did have, he still covers a lot of ground. To get Castillo the Mets only had to give up one single A prospect in OF Dustin Martin and one Double A prospect in catcher Drew Butera. Martin has a lot of speed and decent power but strikes out a lot while Butera hit .258 in single A last year, his first in professional baseball, and was hitting .188 this year. Butera does however have a strong game behind the plate. Overall, I think the Mets got over on the Twins which is good considering the Braves just got Mark Texeira....

Here come the Braves...

The Braves finally pulled off the deal for Mark Texeira. I thought they may have given up too much for him, but they definitely got better this season and next. The Braves trail the Mets by 4.5 games and while they could use more pitching help, Teixeira definitely makes them better, especially if this takes some pressure off of Andruw Jones. The Braves had to give up 3 very good prospects along with promising rookie catcher Jarrod Saltamacchia who looks like he's going to be good, productive player for years to come. Thankfully for the Braves, Teixeira is signed through next year so at least they'll be able to hold onto him for that long. Atlanta is taking a big risk but they obviously think the Mets are catchable or else they wouldn't have given up so much to get Teixeira. As long as Smoltz stays healthy, the Mets have finally met a team that has a comparable lineup top the Mets in terms of length and explosiveness, especially now with word that Carlos Beltran will probably going on the disabled list with a strained oblique.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Michael Vick

I'm assuming that you all have been following this case. If the charges against him are true, and it's still an if, he is one royally stupid guy. I hope it's not true. Today he pleaded not guilty and he has hired a defense team to prove so in court.

The Feds are coming....

The Federal authorities announced that Vick has a "Superceding Indictment" filed against him. This basically means that the authorities have the power to keep adding charges in their case against him and, according to at least one legal expert, most likely mens that the authorities have gotten someone to cooperate against Vick in return for dropping the charges brought against them.

In addition to the superceding indictment against Vick, the authorities have an 18 page document filled with the charges against Vick as it stands. According to documents submitted by the authorities, the Feds have been building a case against Vick for 6 years and over 5 states. Now, if Vick is innocent, the Feds have put in an awful amount of work for this to at least seem he's guilty. I mean, the authorities don't usually put in this much work and wait years to arrest someone unless they're preparing to bring down someone who is at the top of a family or something along those lines. It would be hard to believe that he is completely innocent of the charges brought against him.

The court of public opinion...

I want to make something perfectly clear: I personally believe that dog fighting is disgusting. Period. I think it's barbaric and cruel to animals. Psychologists will tell you that serial killers and people sociopaths are usually very cruel to animals growing up. It's not exactly the same as taking a human beings life, but there are some parallels that can be drawn. Among the actions that Vick allegedly took place in are electrocuting, drowning and hanging dogs if they were injured badly during fights and even if the dog was just not, "living up to expectations" as a fighter. Really, really awful stuff.

I also know full well that besides that, this was an illegal gambling ring and all that basically means is that the government can't collect taxes from it. Having said all that, for the court of public opinion - good "old fashioned" Americans - to be appalled by his alleged actions is obscene. As I said in response to Dre and Is the other day, this country is filled with hypocrites. This country's track record has proven that we can't even treat human beings humanely let alone animals. Now by saying that I'm not saying that should be let Vick off the hook, I'm just saying that this country needs to look at itself in the mirror before it starts screaming from the rooftops that Vick is an awful human being or a monster.

Dre attested that he knew someone that was arrested for cock fighting...and then he pulled his pants up. Sorry. Kidding. The federal authorities are going hard after Vick for this and, to me, it just seems unwarranted. I mean, it's dog fighting. DOG fighting. You know, dogs? This wasn't a multi-million dollar ripping off of the American people or the way our government responded to Hurricane Katrina where we showed again how humane we are to other human beings. If Vick did this, he should be found guilty. I just think this is yet another news story to divert us from what's really bad in this country. It's DOG fighting.

Thriller(s)

This first one is the Hindi version. The music doesn't sound like the original much, but you know who they're trying to emulate.



This next one is the Indian version. The music seems closer to the original and the guys outfit is dead on MJ.


And I just had to add this one. This is titled, "Indian Superman". Get a load at the size of the "S" on his chest. Apparently in this alternate comics reality, DC and Marvel team up for the romance of Superman and Spider Woman. Good stuff.




And since I got onto the Superman theme, I had to include this one. It's called, "How Superman SHOULD have ended". I thought it was funny.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

I Have Too Much Time on My Hands...

... But so do these people, and with all this negative energy being emitted by the sports world, I thought it was high time for some comic relief. This is one of those "have to see" videos. Prepare yourselves because someone will be emailing this to you again. 1,500 plus inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in Cebu, Philippines practicing a familiar dance routine. This was completely voluntary, not a punishment in any way.



This next one isn't really funny, its just really cool. I've seen birds swarming in extremely large groups before, but this display is simply dazzling. Keep watching as other flocks join in and make some crazy patterns. Trippy, dude.

Starlings Swarming in Weird Patterns

Add to My Profile | More Videos

You may now go on with your lives.


Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Will David Stern's head explode?

Humble Pie?

I'm sitting here listening to David Stern's press conference for the embarrassment of Tim Donaghy. Wow. He sounds pissed. And contrite. I wouldn't say humble, but humbled. As in, "I can't believe my crap stinks!". He is the most powerful commissioner in sports. Much more so than Baseball and Football. NASCAR is as much a sport as poker and then there's hocket, or hockey. Whatever. It barely exists and I’m not sure can be considered a legitimate professional sport. Anyway, Stern is pissed.

Donaghy was investigated by the NBA prior to this...

Stern outlined in detail Donaghy's history with the NBA. In January of 2005, he had a dispute with a neighbor that resulted in litigation. Donaghy's neighbor sued him over an alleged dispute over what Donaghy allegedly did to his neighbor's lawnmower. Something a little nutty. Maybe Donaghy was cracking under pressure? Only speculation at this point. Stern stated that after this came to light, the NBA started its own investigation over the incident and called Donaghy into the corporate offices and told him that they, "were not happy", with the incident and if behavior/incidents like this continued, he would be dismissed from the NBA. Donaghy moved to another state. Case closed right? Wrong. A little while after this incident, the NBA got a tip that Donaghy was allegedly placing bets on games at the Borgata in Atlantic City. The NBA sent their private investigators and not only asked around the Borgata, but every single casino in Atlantic City over the next month. No one could confirm that Donaghy had placed bets on games. Again, case closed.

During the '05-'06 season, due to the incident that took place with Donaghy's neighbor, he was not allowed to work any games in the second round of playoff games. This was done despite his rating as one of the better officials in the league. There were no more incidents regarding Donaghy's personal behavior after the one with his neighbor and he began the '06-'07 season with a clean slate. Due to his superior grades for refereeing games during the '06-'07 season, he was allowed to work games in the second round of the playoffs that year. Just this past season. He refereed one of the more talked about officiated games of these past playoffs between the Spurs and Suns in San Antonio.

We did everything we could...

Stern outlined the security measures the NBA has in place to investigate suspicious activity internally. If their internal security force finds something that they consider "fishy", they then call in outside, private investigators. The internal security force, as many other corporations do, is comprised of former law enforcement employees. He went on about this for the first 7-10 minutes of the press conference. Really. It was painful.

Was Donaghy the only referee involved?

Stern also made sure to state that, to his knowledge to which he admits is second hand, that Donaghy is the only official that is associated with this scandal. It's curious though that he was among the highest ranked officials in the game. After each game an official is given a copy of the game that they refereed and they must write a report detailing each and every foul call and NOONE saw anything wrong with how he called the games? What is also curious is that Stern did not mention that there is no investigation underway on any players in the NBA. I know if I were commissioner and it were my league that was under scrutiny for a point shaving scandal, I would go out of my way to insure that there would be no questions left hanging in the air. I would definitely state that none of my players were currently being investigated.

139 Reg. Season Games, 8 Playoff Games and 4 Pre-Season Games in question...

Again, Stern as contrite as you will ever hear him, states that Donaghy is the only official that is associated with this investigation. This was what he has been told so far by the FBI and the Justice Department. Stern stated that, as he understands it, Donaghy is charged with:

  1. Betting on games…
  2. Supplying others with information that would benefit them as far as betting on games….
  3. And he may or may not have bet on games that he himself officiated. That much is not certain at this time.

He does not know how many games are in question, although he did add that Donaghy is being investigated for his actions during the '05-'06 and '06-'07 seasons. During that time, he officiated 139 regular season games, 8 playoff games and 4 pre-season games.

Stern also wanted to clear up speculation about what the NBA knew. He stated that the NBA did NOT know that Donaghy may have been betting games or assisting on shaving points this past year. He finished up by stating that the NBA will do more investigating as to what they can do better in the future as far making sure that this type of behavior won't take place again and that this is the worst situation he has ever experienced as not only the commissioner of basketball, but also as a fan of the NBA.

What happens now?

We have to just sit back now and wait to see what the FBI and Justice Department investigation comes up with and pray that no players are involved in this. Again, I can not stress this enough, if I were Stern I would make it as clear as possible that there are no players being investigated. He curiously omitted any statement to insure that fans would not think this a possibility. This could get ugly people. Real ugly. I love the NBA and I would hate to see this put every game into question because of dirty refs and players. If this gets real ugly, the NBA could become “Pro” Wrestling or Boxing. You know that Stern used to snicker at MLB for the whole steroid mess. I think he looks like the type of smug character that would snicker about this behind closed doors because his league is "clean". You better believe that Selig is happy that the NBA can take some of the heat off MLB and steroids. This debacle will now make fans of all sports think twice whenever a referee or umpire in ANY sport makes a questionable call. This embarrassment will taint all of professional sports and you know that Stern has already thought about just that.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Has Harry Potter Lost His Magic?

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I have a question. How does a movie writer and/or director take a story that is already laid out, already a huge hit with readers and fans, already contains all the elements you need for a great movie, and mess it up? I'm still puzzled by this phenomenon. It's happened with a few comic book movies (by a director that doesn't even deserve his name in this post) and now it has happened to the world's favorite young wizard, Harry Potter.

Let me first say that I have not read any of the books. Just haven't gotten around to it yet. Perhaps one day I will. But I'm perfectly content seeing the movies for now. I have seen them all and they have all been quite enjoyable. I was a big fan of magic and wizardry when I was a kid, so I totally understand the allure for both children and adults alike to this franchise. It's what many children dream of... a school where you learn magic instead of science (which if you really think about it is the closest thing to magic in the real world), where you learn to defend yourself against the "dark arts" by learning spells and incantations to fire through your magic wand, where you can fly around on your pimped out broomstick and play a flying brand of basketball/football. I mean, what kid wouldn't want that?

"Order of the Phoenix" is the fifth installment of the Potter series. It's tagline was "When the Revolution Begins...". Its trailer showed a much older Harry training and amassing an army of kid wizards to combat the threat of the evil Lord Voldemort and his band of baddies. Sounds like the makings of a classic summer blockbuster, right?

To quote the recently more popular Murphy brother "EHHHHHH! WRONG! WRONG!"

The trailer LIED TO US! This was by far the biggest let down of the series. I had anticipated the most action packed Potter movie to date. Instead, we were left to sit in the theatre for a good one hundred minutes, while the movie set up the last thirty minutes. It was like someone telling you a story they already told you except adding an extra hour of meaningless details. Things were unexplained, characters were under-developed, and even though the action sequence at the end was entertaining, by the time it happened it felt anti-climatic. Perhaps readers of the book will understand more of what goes on with these characters, but I've heard grumblings in the Potter world that many plot lines of the book were omitted. I'm sure it is very hard to adapt an 870 page masterpiece into a 2.5 hour film, but we need to feel the character's relationships more than they allow you to in this movie. They touch upon a love interest for the Boy Wonder, they touch upon a father figure, they touch upon his connection to the bad guy, but they don't SELL it. As only a reader of the movies, I was left with many more questions than excitement. Are these books out on paperback yet? Perhaps it's time I got the details.

The young actors were pretty good. Although this poor kid that plays Harry (
Daniel Radcliffe) will probably never work another day in his life once the series is over (How hard is it going to be for him to break from this seven movie typecast?), he does the character justice. On the other hand, mark my words, we will be seeing much more of Emma Watson, who plays the headstrong female of the lead trio, Hermione Granger. She has grown up into a beautiful young actress who could take the baton from the likes of Kate Winslet and
Kate Beckinsale as the next of England's sexy imports (Hmmm... will she have to change her name to Kate?) Just give her a few more years (or the last two Potter Movies) to really come into her own. Then there's Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), who provides more of a goofy comedic element to the group. This dude will probably be straight to video with Radcliffe in "Harry Pothead... The Sorcerer's Stoned".

The adult actors are an ensemble cast of veterans who, even as the focus is on the kids, really are the glue that holds these movies together. Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson (are Emma and Kate the only girl names in England?), Helena Bonham Carter, and a slew of other limeys are used quite sparingly, but hold it down as the kids stumble into their little "war".

All in all, "Order of the Phoenix" wasn't horrible. It was just a little slow to develop and lacked some of the charm and magic of the other movies. The final battle scene was visually pleasing, but had a element of "Star Wars" to the idea of Harry indulging in his "dark side". I'm still waiting to see a serious, balls out wizard battle. I'm still waiting to see one of these herbs kick it to Hermione, and I'm still waiting to hear if Harry actually dies in the last book. Here's to reading books.

I give this 2 eyebrows, slightly raised.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

As they say in Japan, "NAKATOMI... I LOVE SUMMER!"

Movie Review: Live Free or Die Hard

When I told my friend there was a new Die Hard movie coming out she laughed and said "What's it called, 'Die Already'?" Although the actual title isn't much better, I still couldn't let the summer go by without catching the latest from the baddest NY cop since, well, JOHN McCLANE!

If you have never watched the Die Hard series, or missed some of the movies, here's a 4 1/2 minute crash course in why we love John McClane.



For those that have a little more time on their hands, this should tickle your fancy.

Here's a tip. Before you go see this movie, you have to not only check your brain at the door, but send it on a Semester at Sea. If you are looking for an award winning storyline, intellectual stimulation, gripping dramatic acting, or apparently an 'R' rating... then go write your own movie. There is not much of that going on in Hollywood nowadays. "Live Free or Die Hard" is a throwback to a time where one-liners and ridiculous, non-computer animated action sequences were the norm. It's an action movie... the old fashioned way. Much like the main character John McClane is the old fashioned hero without a cape and 35 million dollars of CGI to make him fly; The self-proclaimed "Fly in the ointment. The monkey in the wrench. The pain in the ass"; The reluctant savior of men, women, children, the world, and evidently the slumping summer box office.

The story is pretty simple. A maniacal, and of course witty, cyber-terrorist (Timothy Olyphant) wants to shut down the entire digital infrastructure of America with the help of his Kung-fu kicking hottie girlfriend (Maggie Q). McClane, once again played brilliantly by Bruce "bald and beautiful" Willis, has to bring a hacker (Justin Long) to Washington D.C. for questioning. From there it does not take long for the bullets to fly. The cyber-terrorists want the hacker dead... McClane does his thing. It's surely not rocket science.

Yet, there is something more than just 'popcorn action flick' going on in this movie. The story is an interesting battle between not only good and evil, but analog and digital. McClane is a dinosaur (or a "toilet bug", if you ask his old boss) battling against the future. It's Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla, Man vs. Machine, Stuntmen vs. CGI, bloody feet vs. Prada Shoes... and McClane's wise-cracking brand of ass whuppin' prevails in one of the most explosion-heavy movies of the series. There is a highway chase scene that rivals (though doesn't beat) the epic highway scene of "The Matrix: Reloaded" which pits McClane's beat-up, stolen 18-Wheeler versus a high-tech, remote-controlled, F-35 hovering jet fighter. Of course, many of the scenes are of the "yeah, right" variety, but it doesn't matter. Remember, your brain is reading Shakespeare somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean.

Although none of the movies have compared to the original (there are few action movies that can), Director Len Wiseman (Underworld) does his best to keep the movie true to its roots. There is an elevator shaft scene, air-ducts being crawled through, an Agent Johnson (of the Johnson & Johnson's from the original?), a bunch of bungling FBI hi-jinks, Lucy Gennero, er... uh... McClane (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the obligatory indie-cred cameo by Kevin Smith (who's love for Star Wars even warranted a quick fade of the 'm' in his name during the credits), some parkour, and even with the limited potty-mouth that comes with a PG-13 rating, there was at least room for one "Yippie Kai Yay, Mother...." SHUT YO' MOUTH!

I give this movie 4 Eyebrows up!

Favorite Die Hard Line #5:
[McClane tries to call up police]
Supervisor: Attention, whoever you are. This channel is reserved for emergency calls only...
John McClane: No fucking shit, lady. Do I sound like I'm ordering a pizza?



Monday, July 16, 2007

NBA Summer League: Knicks

The Knicks Summer League came to a close yesterday with the Knicks going undefeated at 5-0. Now, I know that the Summer League is just that, Summer League. However, the Knicks looked really good. At least, the young Knicks: Nate Robinson, Renaldo Balkman, Randolph Morris, Demetris Nichols and Wilson Chandler.

Nate decided to play this Summer despite entering his third year in the league and he looked like he's finally starting to get the whole passing the ball concept. He looked like he was playing under control better and setting up his team mates was more than just an idea. Encouraging to say the least since that his been his greatest knock his first two years in the league. It appears that not only Knick fans noticed Nate's development as a PG and player: He was named Summer League MVP today. While there were players who averaged more points and rebounds, he averaged 18.8 points to go with 7 plus assists per game, the way he ran the team and stopped taking bad shots during games apparently turned some heads. If he keeps this up, he won't be chained to the bench anymore due to his out of control play.

You could tell while watching "Taz" that he has worked on his game this past off season. While the results on his jumper were less than enthusiastic, his form looked better. I think this will be the first step for him to improve his greatest weakness. In addition to his improved shooting form, he has improved his ball handling. Along with these improvements, he still brought his usual fervor for defense and rebounding and knack for blocking shots. It's going to be difficult to keep him off the floor this upcoming season. I thought I'd add one of Balkman's more exciting plays from last season below.



One of Isiah's more creative pickups last season, Randolph Morris, is showing that he belongs in the NBA. While he lacks the explosiveness that teams look for when drafting elite PF or Center prospects, he does does show a willingness to bang in the paint, set screens and a pretty decent post game to along with a jumper from 12 feet in. While there will probably be a lot of nights that he doesn't get to see action, it has more to do with the players ahead of him on the roster and not his individual talents because at the end of the day, he's not taking away time from Curry, Randolph, Lee or Jeffries.

Demetris Nichols is looking like one of the steals of the draft after his performance this summer. The Knicks acquired Nichols in a draft day deal with Portland. The Knicks traded next years 2nd round pick for Nichols after being picked 53rd overall. He has great range on his jumper and very nice form and follow through on his jumper. In addition, as opposed to most great shooters, he drives the ball to the basket using his jumper to set up his pump fake and effective drives to the basket. He also displays his athleticism in the transition game and on defense.

Finally, there is Wilson Chandler, the Knicks first round draft pick and 23rd player selected overall. I never got the chance to see him play in college so I didn't know what to expect. He is a very fluid athlete that always seems to play under control. He reminds me a little bit of Trevor Ariza with a jump shot and a better handle. He, along with Balkman, frequently started fastbreaks after they snared the rebound and brought he ball up quickly and went to the middle of the floor immediately displaying good court instincts. I saw what the announcers were saying during the draft when they stated that Chandler's game is suited to the Pro's. He uses his body 6'8", 230 lbs.) well to shield defenders and gets good elevation his shot be it in the post or on the perimeter. In addition to his offensive game, he displayed the ability to play defense with and rebound using his long wing span and definitely looks like he will be the starter at SF one day. Knick veterans are on notice: this kid will be pushing for playing time at the 3.

Overall, it increasingly looks like Isiah's eye for talent cannot be questioned. I hate to harp on this, but, if you look at the roster that Isiah inherited along with the salary cap restrictions he started out with, the amount of talent and youth that he has acquired during his tenure as president of the Knicks is remarkable.

With the talent that Isiah has acquired, practices will be spirited and guys will be competing for playing time which is always a good thing. In addition to that, most of the team came to Vegas to start practicing early and learning the new sets that they'll be running next season with the acquisition of Zach Randolph. If I had to put a number on the amount of wins that they will end up with at the end of the season, I would put it at 47 wins with the caveat that they will become a team that noone will want to play during the post season.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

The Second Half of the Baseball Season and WTF?

This is something you HAVE to watch. This would be the portion of the post labeled, "WTF?" It's only about 2 minutes long and if anything, it makes you want to go catch a minor league game to be able to watch a spectacle like this unfold. It looks like the guy had a Vietnam flashback. Really, really weird.



The All-Star game was pretty good. The AL beat the NL...again. Ten straight years now. A turnaround from the 80's when the NL dominated the AL. The Home-Run Derby (or as Dre coined it, "The Line-Drive Derby") was boring.

The Mets fire Rick Down as their hitting coach and hire...Rickey Henderson? Are you kidding me? Mets management didn't bring him back after he was playing cards in the clubhouse DURING A GAME, he used to talk to his bats and now they want hire him to come on board as a leader of the team? Maybe, MAYBE as the stealing bases coach/Jose Reyes caddy, but this? I can't wait to see Rickey go over the finer points of talking to your bat with Carlos Delgado. Should be fun.

Yankees? Ugh. We'll see. Some good news: They have finally dropped their stance of not negotiating contracts with players during the regular season for A-Rod. Thank goodness. Now we'll see if he actually is willing to stay here. He's nuts if he does. Another good thing is that their second-half schedule is pretty easy. I'll have my fingers crossed.

There aren't any real big trades coming up that can be foreseen with all the bigger names that would have been traded are injured. Or in the case of Mark Buerhle, he's already re-signed with Chicago.

All I have to look forward to now is seeing how Bud Selig manages to slither away from being in attendance when Barry Bonds breaks the all time Home Run record. That should be fun.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

When do NBA games start again?

This sucks. The homerun contest was on last night as part of All-Star weekend and this thing is dreadful. It took like, 3 hours. It's really not that exciting. As bad as the dunk contest was for a while there, it was still more exciting than most HR contests, especially when the thing takes forever. What makes this worse is that the Yankees don't look like they're making the playoffs anymore. They would have to start the second half with something like a 24-6 run. Certainly not impossible, but not probable given the way they have been playing. Abreu still look s like the walking dead out there at times and Kei Igawa is, well, Kei Igawa. This wouldn't be that bad if Phil Hughes hadn't been struck by the, "I hate Yankee pitchers legs" disease and badly sprained his ankle while rehabbing his own pulled hamstring. They were playing better just before the break again but that was preceded by another bad losing streak which just may have buried any dreams of the playoffs.


On the other hand the Mets are playing better and will most certainly make the playoffs. However, I'm not that confident about them going to the Series with their pitching. Mark Buerhle re-signing with the White Sox could not have been good for the Mets. I said the same thing last year and despite injuries to their number 1 and 2 starters, they came within a game of the Series. This year looks like it might be different though. Milwaukee looks really good. They have one of the best young sluggers in the game in Prince Fielder, a slugging shortstop of their own (The rest of his game can't hang with Reyes though) in JJ Hardy. In addition, they have a legitimate ace in Ben Sheets. While Sheets may be having a down year for him (10-4, 3.41 ERA), he can still turn in a dominating performance, which is what you want out of your ace during the playoffs. The top teams in the NL are better this year than last making this year more difficult for the Mets. Even the Padres are better this year. Chris Young (8-3, 2.00 ERA) and Jake Peavy (9-3, 2.19 ERA) make them very dangerous in with their ability to shut down teams during a short series. You put that together with the fact that the inevitable fall to earth was going to have to happen with some of their players. What? You guys really thought that Jose Valentin finally "discovered" himself at 37 and would keep playing at the level he did last year? Meanwhile Carlos Delgado has picked it up during the month of July and is hitting .375 this month, hopefully this is not an aberration. I still don't think that you enter into a season when you want to contend for a Championship with a declining Shawn Green as your everyday right fielder and Moises Alou, who at 41 and with a history of being injury prone was not a good gamble. You can have one or the other, but if you have both as starters, you're playing with fire.

The rest of the season may be really hard to watch for Yankee fans if they don't put together an almost historic comeback. Hopefully, Omar Minaya can find another piece or two for the team. If i'm the Yankees, if I don't come out of the gate playing great, I try and trade A-Rod and see what kind of prospects I get for him. If someone puts together a package that's just too good to overlook, you trade him and get something in return for him. You know that he's opting out at the end of the year and if I was him, the way that this City's fans have treated him and the way the media has covered him, I leave for the West Coast. Less pressure, same huge sums of cash.

NBA Summer League Action! It's Faaaaan-tastic! (Knicks beat up on Seattle last night. Wilson Chandler and Randolph Morris looked pretty good).

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Was Stephon Marbury drunk?

I don't know if anyone has seen this but, this is Stephon Marbury reacting to the trade for Zach Randolph. It's pretty trippy. It's about as bad as Paula Abdul on the Fox morning show, if you haven't caught the clip in her drunken (I hope) state, you have to see this.

Back to Steph. What do you guys think?

Possibly even better is Steph on Mike'D Up. I really like Steph, I think his game progressed last year in terms of being a better point guard, but I can't believe this guy wants to be a talk show host. If he really got a show, we could be looking forward to a little more Magic Johnson talk show history.

Rashard Lewis: Is he worth a "Max" deal?

Rashard Lewis signed a "Max" deal with the Orlando Magic. I'm guessing that the Magic think that this signing puts them near the top of the weak Eastern Conference. It may do that. His skill-set would seem to be perfect for the Magic. He and Dwight Howard should be a very effective inside/outside combo that other teams will have a hard time defending. On the other hand, does it make sense to pay a guy who doesn't do much else but shoot the ball make sense? Knick fans were greatly disappointed in Allan Houston, who was a similar player at times. He had a better handle and when he put his mind to it, could break down defenders with the dribble and get to the rack and either finish or get to the line. However, he didn't play "D" and would disappear at times. He was unselfish to a fault throughout his career and this same trait can be found in Lewis' game. He has a beautiful stroke and again, seems to be a great fit for Howard, but will he disappear too much for this big a deal? Are 5 years at $85M too much for a one dimensional player?

With most teams the answer is yes. This may be one of the handful of teams that it may not be such a bad deal. Lewis will turn 28 this coming August, meaning he will be 33 at the end of this deal and while he missed 20 games last year due to injury, he does not have a history of injury and has shown that he takes care of himself during the off-season. You won't see him appear on Shaq's overweight camp show (one of the funniest new shows on TV. Shaq? Helping people lose weight?) However, this deal is not only about Lewis' pricetag. For the Magic to be able to fit this contract under their salary cap, they also had to renounce their rights to Darko Milicic. This leaves the Magic with only Howard and Tony Battie in their frontcourt. Does this mean that the Pat Garrity era is about to commence in Orlando? Say it ain't so.

What do you guys think?

Movie Reviews: Transformers and Knocked Up

Movie reviews will be a recurring feature on the site. We love movies, although I don't really don't get to go much, and we'll post a review here from time to time. I got to go to the movies this past week, which is good since my wife and I are about to have our first child and we won't be going to the movies much in the future. First, i'll start off with, "Transformers".

Transformers

The DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount Pictures venture, "Transformers", was actually better than I thought it would be. Not by much, but better. First off, I don't think I was alone in the fear that Michael Bay directing this flick (you really can't call this a film) would be the kiss of death. Is this guy formulaic or what? Hollywood gives this guy a LOT of money to make movies. Bad movies. He's produced, or directed, such "classics" as, "The Island", "Pearl Harbor", "Armageddon" and "The Rock" (Which I did kind of like). For all the money this guy gets to use towards making movies, why does he use the SAME music in his flicks? It's THE EXACT SAME MUSIC. Maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine, but it's annoying. Back to the flick.

Maybe the flick was worse than I thought, my opinion might be a little skewed because I grew up loving the cartoon as a kid. Either way, it was cool as hell to see Optimus Prime and Megatron brought to life on the screen. Industrial Lights and Magic has done it again: They put together a special effects masterpiece. Don't pay your money looking for a well developed story in the expectation of really caring about the characters in this flick. It ain't gonna happen. But if you loved "The Transformers", the cartoon, as a kid, I think you'll enjoy this summer flick. If you truly hate Michael Bay's formulaic madness (the love story, the hot chick slo-mo shots, the "rah-rah" team scenes, someone giving their life for another or at least the attempt to do so, etc.) you might get a little annoyed at times, but hopefully you'll be able to
overcome it.

Knocked Up

If you like comedies with "heart", then you'll love this movie. I have to say, I am a fan of the director of this movie, Judd Apatow. He was the co-executive producer of, "The Larry Sanders Show" and executive producer of, "The Ben Stiller Show". He also produced and directed, "The 40 Year Old Virgin". I thought this movie was better than "Virgin". "Knocked Up" never slowed down, I felt "Virgin" did, there was one funny scene after another. A few of them are classics in the making which you already probably saw in the trailers, but trust me, there are more funny scenes in the movie. It's not like other movies where all the funny parts are in the trailers.

Guys, you ever see a couple walking down the street and the woman is just way too good looking for the guy? Well, in this movie that scene gets taken a step further and have a kid together after she gets pregnant, from what she thought, after their one-night-stand. That's the movie in a nutshell. Seth Rogan, also In "Virgin", was great in this movie. He played the guy who got lucky with a woman that was way out of his league. The woman in question being Katherine Heigl of TV's, "Grey's Anatomy". Her sister in the movie is played by, Leslie Mann, the drunk driving woman who drives Steve Carrel home in "Virgin" and throws up on him in her car. Paul Rudd plays Mann's husband and is really funny in this and has a great chemistry with Rogan throughout.

Again, my opinion may be skewed since my wife and I have a child on the way, but judging by all the laughs in the theater, you have to see this movie. I definitely recommend this movie to all people/couples expecting children, some of the jokes in this movie will really hit home with you.

Hope you enjoyed your Fourth.


KudoSurf Me!