Funniest Item of the Day

Who says NBA players aren't talented? Hilarious...

http://cbs4.com/topstories/topstories_story_180174619.html

In case anyone was wondering...

Superman Returns was fantastic. Took me back to the first and second Superman. Brandon Routh was really good and will remind everyone of Christoper Reeve. There are a few suprises in there. Lex Luthor's grand plan was a bit far-fetched but the story was the perfect way to recharge the franchise and still stick to Richard Donner's formula. Kevin Spacey and Parker Posey were great, as exepected. I even thought Kate Bosworth excelled in the Lois Lane role, maybe even better than Margot Kidder (but who the hell wants to look at Margot Kidder anyway?). All in all, great movie and I can't wait to see it at the IMAX.
4 STARS.

JD

Manager of the Year

Arrgh. UNC's star pitcher retired 13 straight batters last night and he's in the zone. Then, the manager comes out to talk with him with one out left in the eighth. From there he gets shellacked and UNC loses. Why would you break up a guys momentum like that? If you're going to pull him then pull him, but I think the UNC manager made a tactical mistake by breaking up the flow of the game and icing his own pitcher like that. Though I give him some props for sending a guy to steal home in the 7th.

Now it's the pitches

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=372669&cc=5739

I'm sick of England coming up with new excuses every day. Now the pitches are too dry and not being watered, so that's the reason they're not playing well. I love how their excuses, the heat, no the pitches, only affects them. Just admit you're overrated.

Klinsmann to U.S.?

I keep hearing rumors about Klinsmann's interest in the U.S. position, should Arena step down. I'm a fan of Arena and think he's done a great job, but, man, would Klinsmann be a huge pickup for the U.S. He already lives in the LA area and has taken a lot of heat for hiring American trainers and physios for the German squad.

Also, as much as I hated Lalas as a player, I like that ESPN has brought back some former national team players as analysts. I think him and Wynalda are full of shit a lot of teams, but they're at least entertaining to watch when they disagree. A few times I thought they were going to come to blows on the air.

Seriously?

Man wins $400K for 10-year implant malfunction

Another celebrity sighting at ATL airport this afternoon. I saw Emmanuel Lewis from Webster. That dude blew up like J-Shartel?? (sic).

My thoughts on the US team

First off, I stand by comments I made earlier regarding the "controversial" red cards and the US outplaying the Italians. The Italians are more talented and skilled man for man and display stellar defense. But on the night the US tied them 1-1 we were the better team and could have pulled off the upset had it not been for some calls. Just one man's opinion.

When will Bruce Arena realize that a 4-5-1 formation does not work for the US, especially when your down 2-1.

U.S. - Ghana

I much preferred the Columbus shot to Times Square.

The PK was definitely questionable. I actually think the ref messed this one up. Oguchi made incidental contact while he played the ball. He didn't push the guy, had his arms up and not on the guy, and was leaning back to play the ball. I may have even called obstruction on the Ghana player for impeding Oguchi when playing the ball because the Ghanan player made no attempt for the ball. He just froze. This was definitely more questionable than any of the Italy calls.

Man the U.S. looked really good for a 5-10 minute span in the 2nd half after Eddie Johnson came in. McBride's header and Oguchi's header were close. Donovan needs to learn how to take free kicks though. That was just unforgivable.

Dempsey's goal was sweet. Eddie Johnson and Dempsey should have started from the very first game. McBride was pretty ineffective up front and could have used another forward in a 4-4-2 setup. Dempsey pushes up a lot gives the U.S. more in the attacking half. Convey looked poor, and while he hustled, he cannot cross the ball for anything.

Reyna has got to go. That first goal was entirely his fault. Never try to beat a man when you're the last defender and you're not a natural defender. Never! He's well past his prime and provided nothing in these 3 games except for 1 good shot on Czech that hit the post. He's not very good at ditributing the ball, and he doesn't play good defense.

It sucks to go out like that, but at least the U.S. played well in the last two games and performed to non-U.S. analysts' expectations in the final two. Take away the Czech game, and they had a good WC performance, given their group. Ghana is a good team (African champs) and should give Brazil a good match. They also may find themselves in FIFA's Top 10 (not that those rankings mean much) when they're updated after the WC.

The U.S. should have a good squad again in four years, with players like Donovan, Beasley, Convey, Dempsey, Oguchi, Johnson, and Howard to build a good base around. Throw in younger players like Adu, and they'll be tough in South Africa. Unlike Costa Rica that loses everybody and only has 2 solid players (Hernandez and Bolanos) to build a team around. Hopefully some other players will develop quickly. This was our "golden" generation, much like Donovan and Beasley etc. will probably be known as the U.S.' "golden" generation when their national team days are over.

RE: Cullen's Italy - US thoughts

Cullen, Italy is a defensive team. They play solid defense, letting opponents into its defensive third (but not letting them get good shots off - see game stats) before countering. That's why Italy rarely scores more than a goal or two per game against decent competition. Italy never controls the midfield. Can you name a significant Italian midfielder since Baggio? People get carried away when they say the U.S. controlled the midfield, and therefore assume they outplayed them. That is not correct, given Italy's style of play. U.S. did "control" the pace of the match, but they did not outplay Italy. The stats show this in terms of ball possession and shots on goal. I don't know what Italians you claim agree with your comment, but I know of none, although the ones I know are dissapointed in the result and admit the U.S played well.

Read non-American newspapers before assuming everyone agrees with ESPN, FoxSports, Lalas, or Wynalda. London Times (England) acknowledged all red cards as legitimate. El Pais (Spain) says this was a great game and U.S. played very well throughout, especially 11 v. 10. La Nacion (Argentina) acknowledges Italy struggled to capitalize when it was 10 v. 9, and the U.S. played stellar defense. Yet none of these say the U.S. "outplayed" Italy and deserved a win. They call out Italy on failing to take advantage when they were a man up and the U.S. for not being able to finish or get shots off, but all agree that this was a great game (possibly the best game of this World Cup, which implies an even game for no one cares about one-sided games). Like I said before, the U.S. played well, but everyone in the U.S. gets carried away saying they outplayed them, deserved to win, and were robbed with the red cards and offside call. Questionable calls yes, but they weren't necessarily bad calls. But the U.S. did play well.

What really sucks is as I'm writing this Ghana went up 1-0.

CONCACAF and WC

will once again have the honor of fielding the worst team in the World Cup as Costa Rica will probably end up in last place this year, an honor earned by the U.S. in 1990 and 1998. Even Trinidad managed a point. But hey, at least our games were high scoring (3+ in every game).

Someone at work mentioned that Bruce Arena looks like Tommy Hilfiger. I never thought about it, but he kind of does.

I was reading online and noticed that the U.S. has only 1 shot on goal in the first two games. I don't think that's accurate, but they may not be counting Beasley's goal that was called back as a shot. Either way, I hope they get more shots tomorrow because it'd be nice to have both Mexico and the U.S. in the 2nd round, even if it means playing Brazil (which actually looks very beatable right now - at least in the first half before they bring in Fred and Robinho off the bench).

It's amazing to me that most of Costa Rica's promising "young" players are 24-26 years old, while Brazil, England, and Argentina's are 18-22 (and already in Europe - except for Tevez but he will be within the year). That just speaks to the talent gap between our region and South America/Europe.

Thierry Henry may be the most overrated player in this decade. If he wasn't in the Premier League, no one would care about him. He has great skill, and may be good in England, but he completely sucks for France. I imagine it would be really hard to be that bad on France's team with Zidane feeding you the ball, but that's just me.

I really feel bad for Michael Owen. He left Madrid because of playing time and wanting a chance at playing in the World Cup. Then he gets hurt midseason and only plays in 10 games. He barely makes the fitness cut for the World Cup and ends up with an ACL tear in the third game. England is already thin up front, and this pretty much ends their World Cup hopes. At least their fans (and their bandwagon fans this side of the Atlantic - thank you Fox/Murdoch) will have an excuse now.

My obersvation on the US vs Italia

The tackle Pablo received a red card for has been going on all World Cup and has warranted only a yellow card from other refs. Pablo should not have made that kind of tackle 80 yards from his own goal but I still believe it was a little harsh. Yellow card definitely, but a red card is very questionable.

Pope should have received a warning from the ref before receiving another yellow card. To give a team 2 red cards in a span of 5 minutes is absolutely proposterous (especially when they are not warranted)! It is creating a situation where the ref is dictating the play/flow of the game and not the players on the field. It seemed the ref was throwing out cards left and right regardless of the serverity of the foul (on both sides). Even Beckenbaur is quoted as saying there have been too many cards given for minor infractions/fouls so far in this World Cup.

This is not the first time this ref has come under fire. He has been reprimanded and placed on probation several times. It is my hope, for all the partcipants in this year's World Cup, that he is permitted from officiating anymore games.

If the US had lost but the officiating was consistent I would not be complaining. The fact is we outplayed the Italians 9vs10 men and tied. I believe we would have won 11vs10 and even 10vs10. Unfortunately, b/c of the two "disputable" red cards, we will never know how the US would have fared against the Italians with an even side or being a man up.

Jav's thoughts

I'm sick of ESPN running highlights of the cards, and Lalas complaining about them. Of course he's going to say Italy's was legitimate and USA's were bogus. Bottom line, if you go in cleats up, it's an automatic yellow (and possibly a red). If you tackle from behind and so much as touch the player, it's an automatic yellow (and possibly a red). If you recklessly tackle a player from behind and lift your cleats or leg up, then don't be surprised if you see red. It was a reckless challenge. As for Pope's, come on Lalas, even someone as bad as you knows the difference between a yellow and a red. Pope's was definitely a yellow card, and that's what the ref called. It was a second yellow, NOT a straight red. ESPN only referring to it as a red is just poor journalism/reporting. All three cards in this game were legitimate.

As for the goal, I'm on the fence on this one. McBride was offside. The shot came towards him. If he doesn't move, it hits him and the offside is called. If he moves, then he might affect the goalie's view of the ball, in which case the play is affected and the offside is called. The question then becomes - if McBride was not standing there, does Buffon make the save? My inclination is yes, because it wasn't that hard a shot. If that's the case, then the offside is legitimate. If the ref believes he wouldn't, then the goal stands. I believe it's just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Honestly, McBride cannot blame the ref for this one, since he was obviously offside. When in doubt, the ref will ALWAYS side with the defense. I copied FIFA's "laws" relating to calling offside or not below...

A player in an offside position is only penalised if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play by:
• interfering with play or
• interfering with an opponent or
• gaining an advantage by being in that position

Decision 2
The definitions of elements of involvement in active play are as follows:
• Interfering with play means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate.
• Interfering with an opponent means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or movements or making a gesture or
movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent.
• Gaining an advantage by being in that position means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a post or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position.


My final note - you can't complain about the refs when you get shelled 3-0 in the first game and your only goal in the 2nd game is an own goal and questionable goal called back on a controversial offside call (when no one is in doubt as to whether he was offside). No doubt the U.S. played better, but if the ref really wanted the U.S. to lose, would he have really ejected a Italian player first? The good news is that the U.S. can still advance by beating Ghana and Italy beating Czech (both possible).

World Cup

Refs - 1
US - 0

The New, Not so Improved Big Ben

Notice he's not wearing a helmet here either!


- Jav

World Cup Observation

The South American teams (Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, and Paraguay) have looked very strong in the early stages of group play. I'm especially impressed by Ecuador.

Best WC Game So Far

Saudi Arabia and Tunsinia. Still going on right now. Tied 1-1, the Saudi scored in the 86th minute. Tunsinia looked stunned. They had maybe 4 shots on goal the rest of the game. As it turns out, one of those shots went in 2 minutes into extra time. Amazing passing and ball control led to the goal. Great game.

Speaking of great games, how about D-Wade last night? I was in California over the weekend so I missed the first 2 games of the Finals (sorry Cullen I was in LA; I'll at least call when I'm back there in Sept). I almost turned the game off when Dallas was up 13 with 5 minutes left. Then Flash took over. He was unstoppable down the stretch, with 5 fouls no less. He scored 19 in the 4th (42 for the game). Took the game-winning rebound away from Stackhouse after the usualy automatic Dirk missed his second FT. Then swatted away the Mavs last second alley oop attempt to Josh Howard. Great game last night.

JD
(no comment re: Big Ben's stupidity)

Links

FIFA methodology for determining Top 8 teams

http://eur.i1.yimg.com/eu.download.yahoo.com/fifa/fu/finaldrawpot1.pdf

Redick being Redick

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2006/news/story?id=2482061

What a classy guy. Nice mugshot here...

Big Ben

Wow, you think after Kellen "I'm a souljah" Winslow Jr and Jason "call me Jay" Williams, athlets would be a little more careful on bikes. And teams would include clauses prohibiting motorcycle riding in contracts. I hate to say it, but Big Ben is an idiot if he really wasn't wearing a helmet.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/football/nfl/06/12/bc.fbn.apnewsalert.ap/index.html?cnn=yes

U.S. = Bad

I hate to say I told you so, but I'd called this since last summer's Gold Cup. The U.S. will disappoint in Europe. They benefited greatly from a neutral-site WC in 2002, and people got big heads.

As for the U.S.'s draw vs. Mexico's, FIFA has a draw for World Cup group seatings, and teams are grouped into 4 buckets of 8. One team from each bucket is put into each group. The U.S., and Costa Rica were in the same bucket, and the U.S's group is just how the draw played out. It doesn't matter that the U.S. finished ahead of Mexico in qualifying, just like it didn't matter that Costa Rica finished 1st in qualifying in 2002. Basically, the top 8 teams are put into the 1st bucket to be the heads of each group based on ranking and previous WC results, and U.S. didn't make that cut (Mexico did based on the last few World Cups and their ranking at time of draw) (Remember U.S. finished dead last in 1990 and 1998). After that, teams are put into buckets based on regions. Remaining teams in Europe and South America went into 2 buckets, and CONCACAF went into a bucket with Asia and Australia (I think this is how they did it but is was 8 months ago). Before the WC started, all teams listed 1st are "heads," all listed 2nd were in 1 bucket, all listed 3rd were in another bucket, and listed 4th were in the last. Then they were drawn at random. U.S. did get a tough draw, but I think it was karma at work. The U.S. shouldn't have talked so much smack about Mexico and CONCACAF in general during qualifying, or about how the rest of the world now feared playing them (laugh!). My question to Donovan is, "who sucks now?!" His career always was a disappointment in Germany, and this World Cup will be no different. Italy and Ghana are just as tough as Czech.

Czech played very well today. The U.S. looked really good until the 2nd goal; then they just looked disjointed. I honestly believe this team underestimated how difficult it is to play European teams in Europe. They were definitely overconfident. The gap in talent and quickness (in terms of touch on the ball) was evident, which is to be expected when your best player plays in MLS. It's a whole different world compared to the leagues in Europe, and Johnson, Donovan, and other young players would do well to make the move to Europe while they're young.

Although I'm pulling for all teams in CONCACAF, including the U.S., I'm much more realistic, and apparently a much better analyst than anybody on CNNSI, Fox Soccer Channel, and ESPN, that predicted the U.S. to win this game and advance to the second round. Some even claimed a quarterfinal or semifinal appearance, which is still possible, although VERY unlikely. I wonder if Fox Soccer Channel spent more time showing games outside the Premier League, then maybe they'd have a much better (and realistic) understanding of other national teams outside England and the U.S.

World Cup Vol. 2

1. T and T vs. Sweden was a great match. The T and T defense was amazing as they stopped a strong Swedish flurry at the end. This was a huge upset.

2. Argentina - Ivory Coast the best match thus far. The Argentines looked strong early but Drogba's late goal made for an exciting climax.

3. England. Ha! Always underachieving. The only time they won the World Cup was when it was in England. This year they are complaining about how hot it is.

4. USA. Down 2-0 to the Czech Republic already. I don't want to complain, but how the hell did we end up in a draw with the Czechs and the Italians? We were the #1 CONCACAF qualifier but Mexico has a much easier draw.

5. Revenge of the Sith: I agree. It's on every night. HBO is getting weak. I'm disappointed that this will be the last full season of Deadwood to be ended with two 2-hour finales. They should have just renewed it for a short fourth season.

6. Cullen Film Review: The Breakup: Vince Vaughn makes the first half of this movie with a number of great comebacks and wisecracks. Jennifer Aniston is around and looks pretty (I guess) but she isn't very funny. I think someone else might have been better in that role. Anyways it's worth checking out but you can leave after the first hour as it degenerated into relationship drama after that. Favreau has a funny part at the end.

7. UNC - College World Series! Sweet!!!! Hurricanes up 2-1 in Stanley Cup. NC repersenting. Don't know if anyoen caught the tobacco industry spoof "Thank You for Smoking" but the main tobacco company billionaire/villain has a mansion in Winston-Salem and the Motherland is mentioned several times.

Random Thoughts from DMickens

1. I am willing to leave the World Cup analysis to people more acquainted with soccer, but to this amateur, the World Cup seems more exciting this year. I hear they intro'd a new ball to try to increase scoring. Mexico looked really freaking good. I was also impressed with Trinidad...they never gave up, even when they were down a man. Is Sweden supposed to be a favorite, Jav? I don't know enough about England to tell, but they do seem like the NC State of the soccer world, clinging desperately to a championship that they got way before most of the current fans were born. On second thought, maybe they are like Clemson football.

2. Man, is it a good time to be a Tar Heel. First, the basball team takes out Bama in Tuscaloosa to advance to the College World Series for the first time I can ever remember. Then, Jerry "the New Microwave" Stackhouse pours it on in Game 2, with 19 points. Even J-Ho is showing Stack some love. And lest you guys think I am just a homer, I will give props to J-Ho also. The state of NC and Winston-Salem is representing hard in the Finals. I am definitely pulling for the Mavs in this one. Hats off to Mark Cuban for spending his money wisely.

3. Did anyone else think it was funny that the official news of al-Zarqawi (sp?) said that he was "assassinated"? I don't know about you guys, but when I hear "assassinated", I think sniper, ninja, poison, etc. Something quiet and deadly. Not TWO 500 pound bombs dropped on a house. I think its a great thing and all, but the headline should have read "Terrorist Blown the Fuck Up", not "assassinated."

4. HBO is beating Revenge of the Sith to death this month. The part where the Emperor makes Anakin his apprentice only gets fruitier every time I see it. I still say its a big plot hole that none of these characters remember each other in the later movies.

Tivo Sucks

So, my 2nd unit didn't work either! What the hell is wrong with that company. It's like they're producing units like Michael Keaton made cars at the end of Gung Ho. So I couldn't record the games this weekend, so I settled for highlights at the hotel (FYI - Dominican Republic - very cool). And of course they claim to have shipped me shipping labels to return the units at their expense. Have yet to see the first one, and I doubt I ever will.

We did pretty well in the opener. 4-2, with Germany's last goal in 82nd (or so) minute, isn't bad at all. Trinidad faired well as well with a tie vs. Sweden. I have severe doubts about the U.S.'s (sic) ability to win a game in this world cup, but at least Czech has a hell of a lot of injuries (as does the always overrated England, who now has only 1 striker at 100% [and he already has a yellow card]). The Western Hemisphere has more than held its own in Europe so far, so we'll see if that continues.

Copa Mundial

Arrrgh! All the games are on at 9am/12noon/3pm which means I'll have to skip a hella lot of work to see any. Looks like the Ticos put up a pretty good fight today vs. Ze Germans. Can't say I really cared much about Poland-Ecuador. Anyone else fall asleep watching last night's Heat-Mavs game? I''m getting sleepy just thinking about it. JC

Random thoughts with Jav

1) Entourage is an awesome show. Now that my On-Demand finally works (Charter is about 5 years behing Comcast in everything), I can finally watch the 2nd season of Entourage with guest stars Mandy Moore and Emmanuelle Chriqui. Seriously, Eliza needs to make an appearance in Season 3. This show is the best show on TV right now, and my look-alike, Jeremy Piven, is the man.

2) Tivo sucks. I finally bought one off their website. Theyw ait a week to ship it. I get it. I spend 6 hours setting it up. It still doesn't work. Tivo doesn't like Voice Over IP. I connect it to my Apple Airport I have for playnig my MP3s through my home theater. Tivo does not support Apple Airport connections. I go buy a wireless adapter. It still doesn't work. Tivo doesn't come preloaded with the software for the wireless adapters. I have to download it, through my phone line. I google Tivo and Vonage and find a message board that shows you how to set up Tivo with Vonage. It still doesn't work. I call Tivo the next morning because they are not open 24 hours so I couldn't call the night before. They explain software updates have to be downloaded before wireless adapters are used. They say I have to call and tell them to put me on a list to download the update, so even if I had tried to download it I couldn't have last night. They also say it's a bad hard-drive. They send me another one. They charge me for another one (I've now paid for two until I return the crap one). They wait another week to ship it. It finally shipped today. I now cannot Tivo the Costa Rica - Germany match. Good thing I kept the TV Tuner video card from my old PC because I'm thinking of making my own DVR with my computer, like the one I had on my older computer if this 2nd box doesn't work. After all this, I no longer wonder why I product everyone hails as "it'll change the way you watch TV" could be going bankrupt. Waiting 1 week to ship product. Backwards way of setting up users with wireless access (sure you connect your Tivo wirelessly to your broadband connection, but first you must download these 2 large software updates through your phone-line -- but call us first or you won't be able to -- better call us between 8AM-10PM because we close up shop early around here). Defective right out of the box. Customer service not open 24 hours. Tivo already sucks, and I haven't even gotten it yet.

3) cool article below on ESPN about Winston

Street renamed posthumously for Gaines
Associated Press

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The street where legendary Winston-Salem State basketball coach Clarence "Big House" Gaines once lived now bears his name.
More than 100 people attended a ceremony Sunday to rename East End Boulevard to Big House Gaines Boulevard.
Gaines was a good neighbor, recalled people who lived near him. One neighbor, Alma Keen, said he stopped by her house when Hurricane Hugo hit the city in 1989 to check on her and her husband even though a tree had smashed through Gaines' roof.
"Yes, he was big in stature, but he was big in heart," said another neighbor, Geneva Brown. "Not only did he coach those boys, he made men out of them. Our young people need those kinds of value systems in their lives."
Gaines, who retired in 1993, coached for 47 years and won 828 games, fifth all-time. He died last year following a stroke.

Geek Alert

Ha...good call on the knives...man, was THAT a bad idea!

The US looked like poop (or so I hear...I couldn't get tix like the rest of the firm evidently to go), but maybe they will surprise me. Nobody thought we would beat Portugal last time either.

As for Superman...the idea that Lex and Supes were high school buddies was created in the 40's/50's (back when Superboy was actually Clark Kent as a boy and not some clone mishmash hibbity dibbity). This was thrown out in the 80s (thanks John Byrne!) and still only exists today on Smallville, not in the comics (I think). Lex and Supes are rivals, but didn't grow up together.

Superman Returns, as it is a sort of replacement for Superman III (i.e. all of the stuff in Superman I & II happened), will not be taking that point of view from what I understand.

However, age complaints are kind of unwarranted, as the similarities are eerie between the original Superman movie and Superman Returns (all dates from IMDB.com):

Superman (1978)

Superman/Clark Kent - Christopher Reeve - b. 9/25/52 age (1978): 26
Lex Luthor - Gene Hackman - b. 1/30/30 age (1978): 48


Superman Returns (2006)

Superman / Clark Kent - Brandon Routh - b. 10/9/1979 age (2006): 27
Lex Luthor - Kevin Spacey - b. 7/26/59 age (2006): 47

So as you can see, history is on the side of the casting directors with this one. Have to remember that the movies and the t.v. show have different mythologies.

And in Dickson's defense, the NBA has been very entertaining for the most part this year. I still think the season is WAY too long (October to June???), but there have been some damn good games. Good thing too, b/c it looks like Wake will struggle at least one more year as the last place team in the ACC loses its three best players. Then again though, all of you naysayers were saying UNC would struggle also and look how that turned out.

And in defense of the US' preeminence in bball, I don't think we will flop like that again for a long time. Now that K is the coach, we will have all of his dark powers at our disposal. I'm sure if anyone looks at him wrong, he will eat their soul or something else equally demonic. Anybody know what the Croatian phrase for "Fuck You" is?

Superman vs. Lois Lane & World Cup mixed in

I would argue that more people in this universe care about the casting of Lois Lane than the NBA Playoffs or Dirk Nowitzki. Does anybody other than Joey Dickson (and only recently since Bandwagon was dissapointed that Wake wasn't good this year) actually watch the NBA Playoffs?

FYI - I never said Superman didn' t look good or that I wasn't excited about it. All I said was the casting sucked and it looks cheesy. Brandon Routh hasn't impressed me in the trailers. He may look the part of Clark Kent, but he looks uncomfortable as Superman (in his defense, who wouldn't?) and speaks in monotone, similarly to Chris O'Donell. Does anybody think he's a good actor? I didn't think so.

And weren't Lex and Clark much closer in age in the comic books than Brandon and Spacey? Is anybody going to believe that they were actually best friends at some point in the past? I'm more apt to believe that Lex is Clark's father with this casting. But I guess that doesn't really bother anybody else, or I don't remember the comics as well as I thought.

And all this banter about the NBA Playoffs is only to keep everyone entertained until the World Cup, where the word "World" actually means something. The U.S. showed why it's called the World Series in MLB at the World Baseball Classic. No one else plays American football (NFL Europe has more Americans than the NHL has foreigners I'd bet). And in the NBA, the World Champions hail from a country that has struggled in Olympic and FIBA championship play this decade.

My prediction - U.S. - 3 and out (maybe a tie if they're lucky - Donovan had about as much success in Germany as Denard had selling knives in high school)
Costa Rica - 3 and out (maybe a goal if we're lucky - we've looked like crap these last 2 months)
Final - Brazil over Argentina as South America continues to be the only continent to win a World Cup outside its own region.

Who's the MVP?

Anyone else want to argue that Dirk shouldn't have been MVP this year? I didn't think so. The Diggler was Jordan/Magic/Bird-esque last night. He refused to let his team lose. But Dirk's been doing it all postseason.

vs Suns
Game 5: 50 pts, 12 rebs, 22 points in the 4th (15 straight)
Game 2 (trailing 0-1): 30 pts, 14 rebs, 6 assists, 14 points in the 4th

vs Spurs
Game 7: 37 pts, 15 rebs, 15-16 FTs, game winning 3 point play trailing by 3 with :12
Game 4: 28 pts 10 rebs, 14-15 FTs

vs Grizzlies
Game 3: 36 pts (of team's 92), 10 rebs

Averaging 27.3 pts and 9.7 rebs in the playoffs.

Two other notes: Josh Howard is another example of a Wake player who had a great college career but disappeared in March, only to have a great NBA career. See Duncan, Tim; Rogers, Rodney; Paul, Chris. Childress gets a pass based on the 1995 ACC tournament.

The NBA is running some pretty cool NBA Finals commercials with video of all the past championship teams/players before games. You know, Jordan, Magic, Bird, Russell, Doc, Duncan. One player that was missing: Vince Carter. Weird.

Super

I'm agreeing with everything D said about Superman Returns (except his opinion that Superman II was the greatest comic adaptation ever; the 1st Superman and Batman Begins were better). This may be the only movie that I'll see at the theater all summer. Have you seen the trailers? Unbelievable. I can't wait to see Superman with all of today's special effects.

No one cares about who's cast as Lois Lane. Did anyone really care for Margot Kidder when she played the role? No. Lois is just the damsel in distress, period. (BTW, Kate proved me wrong in Beyond the Sea which also starred Kevin Spacey; she really can act). The only roles that matter are Clark Kent/Superman and Lex Luthor. It doesn't get any better than Kevin Spacey, though lobbied for Billy Zane's casting. And I have complete confidence in Brandon Routh (rhymes with 'mouth') after seeing the newest trailer. Can't wait to see it on the 28th now that the opening has been moved up.

JD

Thom Yorke...

is set to release his first solo album July 10th. Can't wait!