Chad Ocho Cinco

Chad Johnson is now officially Chad Ocho Cinco. Apparently he has legally changed his name.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3560377

The NFL fined him when he put “ocho cinco” on the back of a jersey he warmed up with before a game. Seeing this, and knowing that the NFL had fined him for it before, made me wonder about how far the NFL’s jurisdiction would / could go if he went further – to corporate name – think Chad Old Spice …

BCS Correspondents Required

So College Football has started, early, and Yes MSG, who got his start lamenting the epic collapse of his Golden Bears, is excited.  Now, admittedly, too excited.  I already needed two ephedrine injections (think Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction) as my Cal Bears tried to give the game back, twice, to the Spartans of Michigan State.

 (Gratuitous viewing for Page Views)

Anyway, with the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision; FKA Division 1-A) season underway, I realize that I need correspondents for some of the 6 BCS conferences.  The current lineup:

Pac 10 – Yours Truly

Big 12 – Geno

SEC – Chris Fowler

Big 10 – [Needed.  I have friends who went to Michigan, but seem incapable of using email as they live under some kind of EMP cloud.  Conversely, I have passionate Ohio State friends, but they cannot write.  My Illinois friend will be disinterested by game 4 (if not already after the loss to Missouri.

ACC - [Needed.  OK, this conference sucks and is more hoop oriented, but it still counts as a BCS conference, where Wake Forest may be the best on offer.  Fortunately, while Baptists do not allow dancing, they do allow large men running into each other at high speed.]

Big East – [Needed. Anyone went to Louisville?  Rutgers?  West Virginia, who does not use a crayon since they are non-toxic?]

We can see if any non-BCS conferences present a worthy competitor — Utah, BYU — and fortunately, we will be able to ignore Notre Dame, but anyone is allowed to post disparaging remarks about that arrogant and insufferable program and its head coach.

McCain Ties Up Alaska’s 3 Electoral Votes

[Update 2: The facts keep coming in on Veep Candidate Palin. From this article:

"A significant part of Palin's base of support lies among social and Christian conservatives. Her positions on social issues emerged slowly during the campaign: on abortion (should be banned for anything other than saving the life of the mother), stem cell research (opposed), physician-assisted suicide (opposed), creationism (should be discussed in schools), state health benefits for same-sex partners (opposed, and supports a constitutional amendment to bar them)."

So she is against stem cell research and therefore science.  That is OK, we can cede this industry to Korea.  Creationsim: great, let's argue the unprovable faith in school and take time away from math, english and the humanities.  I won't even touch the same-sex partner stuff as it is so silly.

In short, for a Repub VP, she is Perfect!]

[Update 1: We undersold Palin's defense qualifications. She has drawn up aggressive battle plans to take the Chukotskiy Peninsula from the Russians if oil is discovered there]

Well Yes MSG is certainly perplexed.  The choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his VP choice is certainly Bold, but Bold does not equal Bright necessarily.

There are the obvious points:

- She is far less experienced than supposedly unprepared Obama

- She is governor of our version of a Petro-state (with all due respect to the fishing and tourism industries)

- She was mayor of a city with fewer than 10,000 people

- Alaska has <700, 000 inhabitants

But let Yes MSG import the facts discovered by my intrepid South Carolina and Political Correspondent from the “Huffingman Report”

  (Current and as Beauty Queen)

 

·         44 years old, both the youngest and the first woman governor of Alaska

·         Miss Wasilla 1984 and then runner up to Miss Alaska (but she did get Miss Congeniality!).  Her talent was that she played the flute (insert puerile joke here)

·         She has held an executive office since Dec 2006 (Governor)

·         Lifelong member of the NRA – loves to hunt

·         Self proclaimed “Hockey Mom”

·         Anti-abortion, anti gay marriage

·         Apparently anti-contraception as she has 5 children

·         Oldest is 18, youngest is 4 months and has down’s syndrome

·         She has an 80% approval rating.  Getting into office she defeated a republican incumbent in the primary, then a former democratic governor for the election

·         Currently under investigation for allegedly firing (or having fired) her ex-brother in law (State Trooper)

• Her husband is a four time winner of the 2000 mile ‘Iron Dog’ race on the Alaskan North slope. 
• Son going to serve in Iraq in September

If Maverick John wanted to shake it up with a woman, he should have picked Hillary; she would have accepted.  Considering McCain is 72, not sure I want the Governor of Alaska calling the shots internationally.

Schilling Worthy of HoF?

Curt Schilling is the sort of player you love if he’s on your team, and hate if he’s not.  First, he’s very good.  Second, he can be intimidating.  Third, he runs his mouth, more often without thinking or saying something well considered.  As a result and as a Yankees fan, I’m not a fan of Curt Schilling and haven’t been in quite some time.  But as the Bronx Bombers do in fact bomb in ’08, the baseball season itself has become less interesting for me.  Whether we see Schilling in ’09 or not remains uncertain due to age and injury.  When this was floated earlier, there was debate whether he was a Hall of Fame candidate – the debate couldn’t occur on MSG b/c I wasn’t a contributor yet – so this may be late for the loyal readership.  Those that said “yes” pointed to his great playoff performances.  Naysayers pointed to the fact that he barely had 200 wins.

The reality is that the Hall of Fame is all relative.  You can’t ever look at one person’s accomplishments without comparison of the others – because there isn’t an objective measure – such as the LPGA tour which requires minimum numbers of win and major titles.  It’s all relative to the other players, whether you are that much better for enshrinement.  To me, I think the argument pivots on three key areas:

·         Career individual achievements – important for pitchers to consider this relative to their teams and run support.

·         “Greatness” during their time – i.e. Gayle Sayers in the NFL was extraordinary, but had a short career due to injury.  Eddie Murray, in baseball, just stuck around awhile so got 500 homers.  I’d give priority to Sayers.

·         Postseason – something I think can push some players over the top.  But if a player doesn’t have a long postseason resume, not necessarily be a ding – while a player should help his team win, most sports don’t enable someone to do this singlehandedly.

The Case For:

·         Schilling was lights-out in the playoffs.  11-2 with a 2.23 ERA and the bloody sock game.

·         Schilling was on three world series winning teams.

·         While his 216 wins aren’t exceptional by even modern day standards, he played on good but not great teams in terms of run support throughout the early part of his career in Baltimore and Philly.  Although plenty of other guys very deserving – Bert Blyleven, Jim Kaat, Tommy John – often didn’t play on great teams either.

The Case Against:

·         It can be argued that Schilling is not in the top 10 pitchers of his era.  It can easily be argued that Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens (even pre-steroid issue), Nolan Ryan, Mike Mussina, John Smoltz (210 career wins despite four seasons as a closer) all easily surpass Schilling.

·         In terms of sheer dominance, he doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in same voice as Maddux, Johnson, Clemens, or Pedro Martinez.  He never has won a Cy Young – i.e. he’s never been the best pitcher in his league for even a single season.  Martinez in particular – Pedro has an astonishing .689 career winning percentage (Schilling .596).  Pedro had six seasons with an ERA below 2.4, and 11 under 3.0.  Schilling flew south of 2.4 once, and below 3, four times.    Maddux went seven straight years with an ERA under 2.7, including years of 2.18, 1.56, 1.63, 2.21, 2.22.  Imagine, giving up two runs in nine innings and having your ERA go up.

·         Schilling only had three “great” seasons.  He won 20 games each of those seasons, the only three seasons he ever had more than 17 wins.  Even in those “great” seasons, his lowest ERA was 2.98.  Maddux routinely was around or under 2.00.

·         He also had plenty of mediocre to bad seasons – finishing six years with a record of one game above .500 or worse.

·         On wins – he doesn’t even come close to stacking up to his peers or those who are not in the Hall of Fame:

o   Schilling has 72 fewer wins than Tommy John (despite missing time due to the “tommy john” surgery), 71 fewer than Bert Blyleven.  67 fewer than Jim Kaat.  38 fewer than Jack Morris.  5 wins fewer than Joe Niekro.  Despite comparable years of service. None of these guys are in the Hall of Fame.  And each had some big postseason success, although not to the degree Schilling had.  John, Blyleven, Kaat all have a lower ERA than Schilling and more wins.  Hershiser is only .03 higher.

o   He has 137 fewer wins than Greg Maddux.  113 fewer than Steve Carlton.  108 fewer than Don Sutton.  98 fewer than Gaylord Perry.  95 fewer than Tom Seaver.  72 fewer than Randy Johnson.  You get the picture.  These guys are in the HoF or are on their way.

o   Comparing him against his peer set – Andy Pettitte has two fewer wins than Schilling.  Pettitte’s ERA is 3.86 and Schilling’s 3.46.   Kenny Rogers – the Gambler – three more wins than Schilling.  Mussina 50 more wins than Schilling with a very similar ERA and played on Baltimore for years as well.  25 fewer than Jamie Moyer.  16 fewer than David Wells.  10 more wins than Orel Hershiser.  RJ / Maddux, etc. already spoken.

·         On postseason:

o   Schilling was clearly most dominant in postseason – 11-2 and 2.23 ERA, but Hershiser was 8-3 with a 2.59 ERA, Blyleven 5-1 with a 2.47, John 6-3, 2.65 and Morris 7-4 3.80 and arguably the great Game 7 ever thrown against the Braves in ’91.  Pettitte has two more postseason wins than Schilling, but had more chances.

Net / net – I believe Schilling will get the nod broadly because writers have short memories, and their most recent memories will be his post-season dominance, and because he was an interesting personality – outspoken, big talker – which media members favor.  In terms of my opinion, in looking at his entire body of work, including his greatness in the postseason – which I personally weigh heavily – I think it’s close but I don’t think his plaque should sit adjacent to many of the names listed above.  Going back to three criteria – he falls short on regular season stats, his postseasons were outstanding, but in my opinion he wasn’t an elite pitcher relative to his peers – he wasn’t near a Pedro or Maddux.  So I say “no” but admit it’s close, but only because he was great in postseason.

Jimmy Chitwood

Well, tonight is Barack’s big night — show the country, at least the 2% who tune in, your cajones and ability to land the White House in 2+ months.

Biden did his part, and even the Clinton’s muted, muted I said, their desire to be the candidate in 2012.

Now for argument’s sake, let’s say Barry blows it and the next Prez is War Hero, Landlord, Banker (remember the Keating 5), Technologist John McCain.  How big of an upset is this?  Seriously?

The Dems have in their favor a sitting Republican president who is setting records for low poll ratings and the duration of said polls.  An administration for whom it is accepted knowledge was at best ignorant and naive, and at worst, duplicitous in its handling of the Iraq war.  A series of ex-officials who all testify to the fact that W is basically a moron, and that everything is politicized to support the arguments of an out of touch administration.

Should I mention that the Justice Department contravened every hiring regulation by seeking out candidates for whom religious and political views were the deciding factor.  Shhhhhiiiiittttt, most of these lawyers came not from Yale, Harvard, Boalt, Stanford, Michigan, etc, but from the likes of “I believe in Jesus university.” [Now don't go off the deep end, I am fine with believing in Jesus, just not as a litmus test for hiring practices in the realm of law.]

I could return to the oil policies that Cheney wrote with a group of still-unnamed officials, since it probably was his cronies from Haliburton and legendary executive Ken Lay.

Anyway, point made; so if the Dems lose:

• Bigger than Giants over the Pats — sure the Giants were big underdogs, but they were an NFL playoff team that pushed the Pats within 3 points six weeks before
• Stanford over USC — last year when SC was a 41 point favorite.  That is closer, even closer than App State over Michigan, since App State was defending 1-AA champ and would have waxed Stanford
• Villanova over Georgetown — 1985 NCAA Hoop Championship. Another good parallel.  G’Town was loaded, but Villy had some NBA talent and some coke addicts to get them through 40 minutes
• But for my money, it is the Jimmy Chitwood led Milan High victory over Muncie in Hoosiers that is the equivalent.  Sure, poetic license, but no one gave Milan a chance, like McCain a few years ago.

So we will see.

The unfortunate thing is that we would not have had to suffer the last 8 years if McCain had been a hero again in 2000 when he should have been.  Bush cronies in South Carolina (plausibly without the knowledge of the candidate himself since he seems ignorant of most things) let it leak that Senator McCain had a ‘black’ baby.  This is, I guess, true, since in one of the kindest acts known to mankind, Senator McCain adopted a child from Bangladesh.

Yet, instead of standing up for his family, and telling people that, YES, he did have a black child, and if you did not like, go pound sand or vote for W, he did squat, watched W win South Carolina (which for the life of my I cannot understand why it matters) and then “win” the election (thanks to Justice Scalia, Cheney’s hunting buddy).

So now he defends this president and his policies, but not his family, and may still win the election.

Jimmy Chitwood indeed!

Defending McCain

In the interest of being Fair and Balanced, I have posted this comment from loyal reader and contributor Geno, in response to my latest political blog.

OK. As the blog’s correspondent to: Big 12, Flyover country, and Red State pulse….I guess I have to come to the defense of McCain.

While I’ve been enjoying the “buyer’s remorse” convention going on in Denver (you think they wish they had Hillary now?), let’s take the critique of McCain point by point:

a) More Troops (Gee, the Surge is working? Ya think? If we had cops on every corner is South Central, crime would drop too)

While this point is obvious to you, Barack Obama is unable or refuses to see it or acknowledge it. Obama is in a box on this one..He sold out to his left base on the war and now really is in a position of being willing to “lose” in order to win an election…While I honestly don’t think he’d act much differently than McCain (or Bush for that matter) once in office on Iraq, he can’t say that for another few months.

b) Off Shore drilling. Sure, let’s get more oil, which will take years, to cure our ‘addiction’ to oil

People are missing the point on drilling. No, it won’t cut the cost of gasoline, but what it will help stem is the huge wealth transfer that is occuring when prices have gone up so much. We can’t afford to invest in alternative energy if the wealth of the nation is being sent to other countries willing to sell their valuable resources. Good policy when oil is $30 a barrell is bad policy when it’s $130. We should drill. We “saved” what is now a much more valuable asset. It’s time to sell some of it.

c) Silence. McCain admits he is light on economics. Oh, that is ok, as it is not as important a topic as say, Pro Life-Pro Choice, Evolution-Creation, etc.

Thank goodness, since the less the President tries to meddle in economics the better. Obama’s view that people need to be taxed for “fairness” purposes even if it won’t generate more revenue to the Treasury is insane in my view. What I really fear is an even greater division between people paying for governemnt versus those who only take from it. Those who pay nothing but take much have no stake in the country and no incentive to do anything different. I’m a perfect example…Raise my marginal rate over 50 or 60 percent, and give me government provided health care, and early retirement is in my future. It will be more modest than I wished, but he will make anything better impossible. It pisses me off when people who already have their fortunes (like Obama or Clinton) want to take steps to ensure that those of us trying to have even a comfortable after-work life will never be able to get there.

d) Ignorance. So they have this thing called the Internet. Pretty important. Has a great side — communication, democratization of information (Google), and a dark side (check out Al Qaeda’s recruitment sites), but McCain cannot even do email. Look, I know that old folks have trouble with new trends, but that is my grandma sitting in her rocker, not the leader of the free world.

He should understand the modern world…got him there.

Finally, your point about being suspicious of those who belong to racist groups is well taken and applies to Barack himself with regard to Reverend Wright’s church.

If a candidate was a member of say Pat Robertson’s chuch for 20 years, that candidate would (rightly) be brought down and marginalized to the 10% of the vote that he’d deserve….But Obama gets a pass….I honestly don’t understand it.

MLB Managers Not as Important as their Counterparts?

With the season winding down, it’s a little strange to find the Yankees out of playoff contention for first time in approximately 15 years.  The difference clearly wasn’t Joe Torre as injuries to the pitching staff, ARod in early season, and Jorge Posada much of season, and lack of development from Ian Kennedy severely undercut them.  Not to say had those things not happened that they’d be in the playoffs against the much more talented Red Sox and exploding DRays.  But as Torre spurned a one year five million dollar offer from the Yankees and accepted a 3 year $13 MM deal from the Dodgers, it’s worth asking if they are getting their money’s worth.  Last year, the Dodgers finished two games above .500 – a .506 winning percentage.  This year, they are at a .496 winning percentage, albeit they’ve had injury issues as well. 

Drilling down a bit, it now seems silly the Dodgers would pay Torre that kind of money.  If the market makes a statement about how valuable a manager is by how much he is paid, MLB managers are the least important relative to NFL and NBA coaches.  Data on coaches was easy to get for MLB and NFL, only average for NBA.  So knowing their average can inform importance, but comparisons will be specific b/t NFL and MLB.

In 2007:

·         The average NFL coach was paid $3.5 MM, the NBA $3.9 MM and the average MLB manager $1.4 MM.

·         10 NFL coaches made more than $4 MM per year.  One MLB manager did.

·         Two time world Series winner Terry Francona made $1.65 MM.  Six NFL coaches who had never so much as won one Super Bowl made more than $4 MM.  Bobby Petrino, who quit halfway through the year to go back to college was making $4.8 MM.

·         The lowest paid NFL coach, Mike Nolan at $1.6 MM, would be the 9^th highest paid manager.  The second highest paid MLB manager (Lou Pinella at $3.5 MM) would have been tied with Jon Gruden for #12 on the NFL list.

·         There are 16 MLB managers that made under $1 MM.  As stated above, no NFL coach made less than $1.6 MM.

Sadly, it was going to be far too cumbersome to find the pay scale for all 30 NBA coaches, but given their average was $500K higher than NFL, it is extremely likely the trend would be at least the same but likely worse relative to MLB by introducing them into the comparison.

Does this mean MLB managers aren’t as important?  Is it simply march out the same guys every day and let them play, occasionally signaling for a hit-and-run or go down to the bullpen to get a left-handed pitcher to face a left-handed hitter?  I suppose there’s more on the fly, in game adjustments that an NBA or NFL coach would appear to make.  But it’s surprising to see the differential.

Olympics – parting shots

I am very happy the Olympics are over.  I haven’t really watched them since 1984.  I watched selective events since (100 meters in ’88 and 200 in ’96).  Much of my lack of interest in the Olympics sits at the feet of NBC (Nothing But Crap).  Strangely enough, I’ve probably watched more Olympic this year than any other since ’84 – it initially started out because my wife would watch them and I’d just listen in the background.  But then I realized, that also for the first time since 1984, NBC was actually showing sports.  Sadly, the nuthin-but-crap network had moved away from the athletic element of the events, forcing us to watch 3 minutes worth of human interest ‘Paul Hamm grew up swinging from the rafters of his Iowa barn, motivated to achieve greatness after his third grade girlfriend broke up with him …’ followed by about 20 seconds of real sports, and then a commercial break.  This became a vicious, multi-year cycle where the Olympics became largely unwatchable, unless you wanted to see if Bob Costas’ hair style ever changed (it hasn’t).

This year it appears NBC took a different approach – actually showing sports vs. soap operas.  And ratings were up 8% over Athens.  To some degree that can be credited to the ‘Michael Phelps Effect’ and I do not discount that in any way.  But I also think the decision to show more sports was quite pivotal in the ratings increase. NBC, quite a few Olympics ago, made the decision to use the Olympics as a platform to promote their regular evening programming – i.e. promote their Fall season of bad sitcoms.  As a result, they seemed to tune their Olympics coverage to the same audience watching their fall season – which resulted in more Bob Costas-led profiles of high jumpers from Kansas.  They typically would credit the uptick they’d get in fall ratings to the visibility the shows got during the Olympics.  They apparently made enough incremental money to offset losses suffered by broadcasting the Olympics. 

Other personal callouts for Olympics:

·         Most dominant performer:  not Phelps, but Usain.  He demolished his competition.  It is true Phelps “demolished” the competition by winning more golds, but no one was even close to Bolt in the disciplines he competed in – competing against Bolt meant you were going to be embarrassed.

·         Biggest disappointment:  Michael Phelps – but in context of not giving Jason Lezak more credit about his extraordinary 100 meters to overtake Alain Bernard and win gold medal.  Without Lezak’s swim, there are no eight golds, no $1 MM bonus from Speedo.  After the race, he acknowledged Lezak’s great swim and the interviewer steered him towards talking about the eight golds, but he could have and should have redirected the conversation to Lezak and his monster performance – it was Lezak’s moment, his only one of the Olympics – Phelps had plenty more coming.

·         Some sports, despite fact that they don’t really interrupt viewing b/c they are rarely shown, should be cut.  BMX, Mountain Biking, Trampoline, Table Tennis, Equestrian (the NASCAR of the Olympics).  This isn’t to say that people who participate in these sports aren’t gifted athletes, I just don’t consider them “Olympic” sports.  These water down the Olympics – ballroom dancing has petitioned the IOC to be a medal sport (vs. a non medal exhibition) under the title “DanceSport.”  2016 is apparently the earliest this can happen.  I hope it never happens.   It’s not to say that new sports can’t or shouldn’t be added – but some combination of historical significance, worldwide popularity, a subjective measure of “athleticism” should all feed into whether a sport is Olympic or a weekend activity.

Another More Boring Quadrennial Competition

With the Olympics over, it is time to turn our attention to another quadrennial competition.  In fact, it has some similarities to the Olympics — we pay little attention, then focus for two weeks, then focus on something else.  Of course, there are differences too — we cannot stand any of the participants, and usually support least of the worst.  We also recognize that like the Chinese staging of the Olympics, this competition is full of Smoke and Mirrors and any resemblance of the truth is truly coincidental.

The one amazing disconnect with the Olympics though is the TV coverage.  While these events are TOTALLY scripted — like opening and closing ceremonies — yet the Networks show it all live; whereas, the Olympics, which are not fixed (unless Skating and Gymanastic judges are involved) are tape delayed. 

Of course I am talking about the Democratic and Republican Conventions.  In case you did not know, the Democrats actually started yesterday.

Let me summarize the highlights:

1) Ted Kennedy appeared and gave a 7 minute rousing and unifying speech, despite his cancer.  Fortunately, they did not let him drive home, what with the Platte River nearby.

2) Some White Supremists were arrested an accused of potentially plotting to shoot candidate Obama.  This is obviously no laughing matter, but take a look at these guys (here is a link as I could not paste the photo). 

I would like to summarize the article, but you really have to read about these fine upstanding “Einsteins.”  The problem with prosecution is that the authorities have said there was no evidence of an ‘organized’ threat to the candidate.  Therein lies the problem — Organized.  These tools could not organize a pizza order much less an assasination plot.  Can’t we put them away for general stupidity — or get in a time machine and spay their parents?

Yes MSG hates to generalize, but I do as a guideline tend to be suspect of the contributions to greater society offered by persons who belong to explicitly racist / sexist organizations — Neo Nazi’s, Promise Keepers, Augusta National.

Oh, and anyone with the name Adolph, well, you can imagine….

3) The Denver authorities should have taken a page from the Chinese.  The Chinese promised to have protest zones during the Olympics, and they did.  Of course, the Chinese did deny ALL SEVENTY SIX (76) requests to protest, so none actually took place, but at least Hu Jingtao and cronies obeyed the letter of the law.

4) And finally on to Hillary.  I guess her cadre of supporters (who demographically lean toward 50+ females) are incensed with the treatment of her by Obama.  OK, let me explain a fule of competition:

YOU LOST!

Not only that, Hill and Bill were sore losers seeking to undermine Obama all the time.  Despicable but expected from a couple who puts “selves” ahead of the party.  

So if Hillary’s disappointed electorate wants to vote in four more years of W (McCain), then go ahead, but really?  Supposedly,  you all liked Hillary because she espoused positions that you agreed with — Choice being one of them, anti-war being another, etc — but out of spite you would vote in a candidate who does not share your views because you are mad that Obama did not make her Veep or kiss Bill’s feet.

I believe that Hillary appreciates this, thinking that her only shot a being Prez is for McCain to win and she gets to run after the London Olympics in 2012. 

Hillary — let Yes MSG clue you in.  Not gonna happen.  There are only two outcomes:

1) Obama wins, and is again the candidate in 2012 — you wait until 2016 but HIGHLY unlikely.

2) Your supporters scuttle, or are at least blamed for Obama’s loss.  You think this does not come up in 4 years.  Pundits, commentators and bloggers, who will only be stronger in 4, will spare no expense in blaming you for the loss in 2008 just to satisfy your own outsized ego.  You may hold on to the 50+ year old female demographic, but the rest of the Dem voters — Males, People Under 50, Generation teXt — will excoriate you and take pleasure in it.

Hill, you really don’t want to be responsible for the election of a candidate who thinks the answer to evertyhing is:

a) More Troops (Gee, the Surge is working?  Ya think?  If we had cops on every corner is South Central, crime would drop too)

b) Off Shore drilling.  Sure, let’s get more oil, which will take years, to cure our ‘addictio’ to oil

c) Silence.  McCain admits he is light on economics. Oh, that is ok, as it is not as important a topic as say, Pro Life-Pro Choice, Evolution-Creation, etc.

d) Ignorance. So they have this thing called the Internet.  Pretty important.  Has a great side — communication, democratization of information (Google), and a dark side (check out Al Qaeda’s recruitment sites), but McCain cannot even do email.  Look, I know that old folks have trouble with new trends, but that is my grandma sitting in her rocker, not the leader of the free world.

Your choice Hill.

Hoop Gold

Amazingly, NBC did one thing correctly — they actually showed the Men’s Basketball Final live across the USA.  I live on the West Coast, so even the Phelps’ events were delayed 3 hours since they were only live on the East Coast.  Staying ignorant for 3 hours was not so hard, especially when you have been practicing ignorance for over 40 years.  But trying to stay ignorant for 12-15 hours is impossible, unless you don’t talk on the phone, look at the internet, watch TV, see a sports ticker, etc.

So excited was I that the game was live that I promptly fell asleep for the first half.  When I awoke expecting a blowout, I saw that it was only an 8 point game.  Groggily, I watched the 3rd quarter, which remained close.  I was fully awake for the 4th.

What a game!

First of all, it was like a high end pick up game — lots of running, no D at all, and some great shots.  Interestingly, I don’t see why more zone is not played in the NBA (perhaps because most teams have a Kyle Korver) but the Redeem Team seemed perplexed by the Zone.  Either Dwyane (SIC) or Kobe would drive for a floater, and since they are 2 of the top 5 guys in the world, strategy worked.  However, Spain came awfully close to winning.

Kobe did hit a 4-point play, but Jimenez answered with a 3.  D-Wade then hit a three to answer, but Gimenez launched another that would have cut the lead to 3 from 6.  He missed and Kobe hit a 2 — 8 point game.  Game Over!  But it was that close.

Observations on Spain:

• Ricky Rubio is only 17 but he will be sweet in the NBA.
• Pau, where was that fire and physicality in the NBA finals?
• Juan Carlos Navarro has an unstoppable runner.
• Rudy Fernandez is clutch and absolutely posterized Dwight Howard (more on him later).

Observations on the US:

• It is Kobe’s team.  Say what you will about LeBron, but Kobe sets the tone and is the most Jordanesque from a competitive standpoint.  He also hit for 13 in the 4th.  BallGame.
• LeBron is still amazing of course, but D-Wade was the new ‘Microwave’ and should make the Heat more exciting this year when you combine him with The Matrix and Beasley.
• Chris Bosh was more indispensable than you would think.  Great energy and understand’s FIBA rules, like no goaltending on balls in the cylinder.
• The USA needs an inside presence.  Dwithg Howard can rebound and dunk, but cannot play D, and is a liability if fouled — 40% from the line — EGADS!  (Of course, I thought they should bring Tyson Chandler and he would have only compounded the error.)
• J-Kidd is a shadow of his former self, but has never lost in INTL play and is like 56-0 with two Gold medals.

So it was a nice redemptive effort for USA Hoop.  Although I don’t fall into the NBC hype that this ‘IS THE FIRST USA GOLD IN EIGHT YEARS.’ Um, the Olympics are only every four years; that would be like saying this is the “Spurs’ first title in two years.”  Big deal.