The Jacksons are Back!

After a LONG layoff, The Jackson's are back. What has been going on with us? Well, we closed on a house (along with all the horror stories of real estate dealings that you have heard from others, so I will bore you with other details). It's a great home already, and that's before we have done any real decorating.

This is a pic of the fridge that almost broke the deal for us. The seller didn't want to part with it. We've found out why - there's an ice and water dispenser!

I secured a low-paying job in the field of education (redundant I know), while enrolling in a night class at UAB (Blaze, Blazers!). My job is at Homewood High School as a "media specialist" which is to say I promote the school in the news outlets.

Dana now has less time in the car, and more room in the house. I don't know how we lived together before the double sink, the regular sized washer-dryer, or the two-car garage.

This is our first month here, and I must say we are really happy to live in Birmingham. There are a few things that you need to take care of to make it your "home town," and I feel like we knocked out two of them this week. First, I went and got a haircut at "Treadwell's Barber Shop," in Mtn Brook. The whole time I was thinking that it would make for a great blog entry to compare and contrast that barber shop with my home base, "The Northport Barber Shop." So that is still to come. The second that happened this week is that we took the recommendation of John and Delaune and went out for Mexican on Friday night (a given back in Tuscaloosa), and I think we've found our place: "Sabor Latino!"

Speaking of John and Delaune, they came over and John (with limited help from me) designed and built a doghouse for Pistol and Grits. It is "aesthetically pleasing" and even has their names on the front...now I just need to teach them to read.

Note the smug look on my face as though I did any REAL work aside from holding things while John cut or nailed them in. I think you can tell who played what role by "the things they carried."

As we'd hoped, Birmingham has been a good move for us. Dana gets to go to lunch and on walks with friends, I get to play pick up basketball and football with some old college friends, as well as have people over to cookout a lot. As Frank Costanza would say, "This is the PLACE to BE!" We're glad we came.

This week, my sister returned home from Oregon to visit for the week. There has been a great number of people who wanted to see her and hang out with her, including my dad, Lanna, and the Bean (aka "little Lanna" although she's growing up so we can't just call her that anymore). We cooked out steaks and talked about Jen's job at the University of Oregon (hence the hat and shirt) and laughed a lot. Dana made some killer corn and tomatoes. When we got the house, these were the days that we'd hoped to have here, entertaining family and friends.

It's been good to see Jennifer after about a ten month gap. We even performed "Midnight Train to Georgia" just like the old days at Jackie's Lounge. Although there was no emcee to call us up to a stage, "And now, Jennifer and the Pip."

And now for the serious stuff:

Football begins this week. That's right! I could not be more excited!!! Exclamations all around!!!!! Top o the Muffin TO YOU!!!!!!!

We scored two tickets to the Alabama - Va Tech game in the Georgia Dome. Somehow we have put aside our memories of the 4th quarter against Florida when Tim Tebow broke our hearts and are picking up the pieces and trying again to be national champions. So, as the season kicks off, I should make my predictions for the dozens of readers we have (probably actually 7 readers).

1. Alabama may lose in conference, but it won't be to Ole Miss. No offense to the Rebel fans, but I just don't think it will happen. There's too many people telling the Ole Miss players they are awesome, and that has a negative effect in a locker room unless the coach can effectively use that hype to keep them hungry. Houston Nutt has never done well with expectations high, and this year will be no different. I'm choosing to ignore the fact that he has actually given Saban fits throughout his SEC career.

2. I am still undecided on Florida. I have typed and deleted a sentence that said they would either win it all or not make it. On the one hand, they shouldn't lose...ever. We saw last year that when Tebow wills it, it is no dream. on the other hand, this is a team full of 19-21 year-olds dealing with unrealistic expectations (no one in the country thinks they will lose a game...in the SEC...or against Texas or whoever they'll play in the Nat'l championship), that is tough to accomplish. Let's not forget that the last team in this position was USC in 2005. Two Heismans in the backfield and a stout defense. They came up a few plays short, and almost lost to Notre Dame that year. The whole season of expectations wore on them, and they played in the freaking Pac-10. If the Gators do it, I would be fine to not only rank them alongside the greatest teams of all time, but go ahead and crown Tebow the greatest college player ever. His resume would be unbeatable. I just realized this is not really a prediction as much as it is an observation...I hope our readership doesn't dip to 5.

3. Outside the SEC, it just won't matter. I almost feel bad for fans of schools like Michigan, Florida State, Georgia Tech, etc. because not only do they not have a shot at getting to the national championship, they don't get to play anyone else that has a chance either. I mean Tennessee is going to have a bad season, but at least they get to measure themselves against Florida and Alabama. Outside the SEC, people that are making the argument that their conference will line up with or overtake us for football supremacy are sorely mistaken. But it will at least sell tickets to the Missouri-Texas Tech game.

"Now men, this is the number of games we'll win this year"

4. Auburn will have a terrible year. I don't want to devote any more time to this. They stink. They're acting like they don't stink. Their coach still has a 5-19 career record, they still have no athletes, they still have no direction. All they did was give me a prediction that I can hang my hat on. If I'm wrong about everything else, at least I got this one right. Auburn stinks.

5. Alabama will go back to Atlanta this year...for a second time. I don't want to become one of those fans that never believes his team will lose. But outside of the LSU and Ole Miss games, Bama ought to be cruising through the year. Of coursse, Dana and I have accepted an invitation to Lexington which immediately puts that game in doubt. But even if UA goes 1-1 against Ole Miss and LSU, I don't think either one of those teams will be able to beat everyone else needed to go to the championship game. They don't call him "Two-loss Les" for nothing and we've covered H.D. Nutt.

Once again, it will be Alabama and Florida in Atlanta in December. I just hope this time I don't feel so bad after the game.

Glad to be back!

One Year Ago

Today, Kent and I are celebrating our first anniversary! I can't believe that our wedding was an entire year ago...time has passed SO quickly, but so much has happened since July 19, 2008 that it almost seems further away. This has been the most wonderful and perfect year in so many ways. Marriage is everything I thought it would be and more, and I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful husband who makes my life so much fun every day. I love you Kent...thanks for the first of many great years to come! Here are some of my favorite shots of us on our wedding day.

For posting's sake

Just because the Michael Jackson tribute has been up for too long now. The reason for no updates or opinions on whatever it is that's on our minds is that Dana and I are engaged in the following exploits:

1. closing on a house (every bit as troublesome as people tell you)

2. moving/packing up our current house

3. trying to find a job (that one's just me)

4. preparing for our 1st anniversary (it's on Sunday)

So, that's what we're into right now. How bout some recommendations?

1. of the online variety:

- http://mrsec.com/

because the SEC is a big place that is hard to keep full track of without help. This guy gives you the pertinent links of the day around the league.

- http://www.last.fm/home

it is the best of the online jukebox things and you can keep up with your friends and what they're listening to without doing the whole "make me a cd of what you're into" thing. I just created an account a little while ago, and have no friends yet. So if you want to see our "music compatibility" sign up and find me.

- http://virtualnes.com/

because sometimes you have to get your old school nintendo fix. Me? I usually only go to play a game of RBI Baseball, but they seem to have almost every game ever made for NES. Go...waste some time.

TV:

- Mad Men season 1 is on demand right now and is about to be followed by season 2 on 7/20. Dana and I enjoyed the first season very much and you will too. Season 3 begins in August. So you see, this is the best time to get into the series that was being ignored for two years, and will soon be on the covers of all the entertainment mags. Don't you want to be a part of that? Plus, Don Draper is one smooth man.

Music:

Artist that you should give a try: Dan Auerbach. His first solo album "Keep it Hid" came out this year and has been a part of my day for the last month. It's good.

Songs I also have on rotation that you would like:

"Magnolia Mountain" Ryan Adams

"White Winter Hymnal" Fleet Foxes

"Halloween" Matt Pond PA

"Exit Music (for a film)" Radiohead

"Glass of Water" Coldplay

The King of Pop

Note: I'll have to put pictures with this later...

I'm writing this for me more than anything else. When I heard Michael Jackson had died yesterday, I have felt strange about it ever since. My name is Michael Jackson, and I always hated being called that because of the laughter that would follow in the classroom. His name during that time was more tied to child molestation charges than anything else. I say this just to point out that Michael Jackson has always occupied a strange place in my brain - on one hand I hated hearing his name, and on the other, I was absolutely mesmerized by him when he would perform. Whenever there is a video of his on tv, I'll stop whatever I'm doing and watch it. If they show that 30-year tribute thing on vh1, I'm hooked for the whole three hours. Even that second rate movie about the Jackson 5 will get me to watch. When it somes to music, there's three levels for me: here and now; transcending genius; and in their own category with no comparison. Michael Jackson is the third one. There is no one as good as he is at performing a song. I can't imagine anyone ever surpassing him.
Because you can read these kinds of things above elsewhere from real writers, I'll just tell some personal stories of Michael Jackson that I think illustrate what he is.

I was a freshman in college and my friends and I had discovered the art of cd making. I was the one in our house who was the best at it, though. I know about how the order you put your compilation in can affect the enjoyment, I have an ear for songs that I'll tire of quickly, etc. Well, we had a pretty opinionated buddy come over and was making an 80's cd. He had all the regulars on there like Bruce Springsteen, Prince, and Poison. He had put Thriller on his cd and was asking for a few more songs to round out the mix. I took a look and said, "How well do you know Michael Jackson?" And he said not really that well. I suggested he put Smooth Criminal on there. He, being opinonated told me that it would probably suck. I then downloaded it off napster and made him listen to it. If you're familiar with the song, you know that it starts strong and then just rises to a level unlike anything else in music right around the first chorus, like a shuttle into orbit, it never comes back down. So the opening beat comes on, and he's snarky and smirking and waiting for this waste of his time to end. Then that part of the song comes, "Annie are you ok? (BOOM) Will you tell us (BOOM) that you're ok?...(BOOM)" I watch his face change. He skips the "this might be alright" and goes right to "Holy Crap, this could be my favorite song of all time!" Keep in mind that this is without watching the video which would have probably left him catatonic it's so good. When the song finished, he asked me to make him a Michael Jackson only cd. And to this day, when I see him (about once a year), he brings this song up to me.

Another one of my favorite MJ stories is from when I was about 13, and the world is all about fitting in and not being discovered by the cool kids as a fraud, I spent an entire weekend in my room listening to Thriller again. I loved it when I was younger, and I just got the urge to hear it like you crave a food or something. Round about Sunday afternoon, my sister comes in my room and wants me to go play basketball with her (that is to say, she wanted someone to beat and knew that I would lose to her...and then probably burst into tears). I said no, I was good. And she said, "Are you still listening to that?" and to convince me to come play ball, she said, "I wonder what your friends at school are going to say about you spending all weekend listening to this." I was flabergasted for a moment and then said, "I don't think I can be friends with anyone who doesn't like this anyway." It's one of the few times at that age that I would've been ok with the "in crowd" being in opposition to one of my tastes. Little did I know that they were opposition with most of my tastes, but not MJ music.

It's not really a story, but my favorite memories of road trips in college with my buddies involve being about a half hour outside of wherever we're trying to get to and just blaring Man in the Mirror and loving it.

There are other stories, but those are the ones that mean something to me. Let's not forget what weird man this was. He was very bizarre. But who made him that way? His abusive father has him rehearsing 14 hours a day, and beats him when he doesn't get it right. His mother is a Jehova's Witness, and all I'm saying about that is that it creates an even wider divide between you and all the rest of the kids in the neighborhood. He was in front of a camera since the age of 5. His father constantly berated him about his nose being too big. I mean, of course he's going to turn into a freak show.
But let me say this, and everyone already kind of knows it: The man had some kind of a switch inside of him that he could flick. Watch an interview with him and you hear a quiet, mild, woman speaking. But when he would walk on a stage and the lights would go up and the beat would start, he turned into an absolute killer. He was so charismatic and dynamic that even the most masculine, hard nosed men would end up sqealing alongside the 12 year old girls.
Do yourself a favor and watch the clip of Michael Jackson walking out of the courthouse in California in 2005. He's almost hobbling to the car. He's drained and getting older. He's a shell of himself now. There's a group of fans there supporting him that start cheering for him as he limps to the car. Then someone (I guess in his entourage) turns on one of his tracks loud so everyone can hear. All of a sudden, he leaps up on top of the car and starts dancing. It was one of the weirdest things I had ever seen, and I thought it was so cool. He'd flipped that switch right before my eyes.
To be honest, I don't even want to know about the private life. He remains the #1 artist I would want to see in concert in their prime. The Beatles, Elvis, Led Z, nope.

Just give me a copy of HIStory and a pair of heaphones. Here's to the king!

Part III - Movies

We're back with the desert island category of movies.  Most everyone can figure this much out about me:  I love mob movies, I love buddy comedies, and I love great movie speeches.  So, I think what we should do here is break it down by genre and then more specific categories that I deem relevant...afterall, maybe 5 people read this thing anyway, so who am I really leaving out by tailoring it to stuff I like.  Away we go:

Westerns:  This is a good place to start because there's not much of a debate going on in my mind.  There's the pick and then everything else.  Admittedly, I am not a scholar in the old school, John Wayne westerns (I've seen maybe 3), and as much as I love Butch and Sundance, I'm going with William Munny on this one.  Eastwood just tears the cover off the ball with this movie.  It's got everything: struggle against self, great dialogue, and most importantly it's got a climactic scene where the guy walks into the bar to kill the man that shot his buddy down.  Just an awesome movie on so many levels.

The pick:  Unforgiven

Indie Film:  Once again, this one wins in a walk.  Garden State didn't age well in my opinion, but I will say that I like that movie a lot.  Great soundtrack, quotable, etc. Reservoir Dogs was an awesome movie, but it doesn't feel as "indie" to me because it had some established stars in it.  Plus, it seems more the rough draft for Tarantino before Pulp Fiction.  When you think about an indie film, a guy making a movie happen from scratch and bringing his friends along for the ride, launching the star into stardom (albeit years later), it's all about this pick.  Quotable, re-watchable, a few iconic moments.  Plus, when Vince Vaughn is on his game, nothing trumps it.

The pick:  Swingers 

Comedy:  Ok, now we have a debate.  I just need to make picks in subcategories first:

-Made me laugh the hardest scene: dinner scene in The Nutty Professor

-Made me laugh the hardest from start to finish the first time I saw it: Wedding Crashers

-Most quotable:  Dumb and Dumber edges Lebowski by an eyelash

-British comedy: Monty Python and the Holy Grail

-Mockumentary:  Best in Show

But the best mix of everything, the one that stays the freshest over the years, the one that immediately makes you friends with someone when you tell them you love it:

The pick: The Big Lebowski 

Sports Movie:  No debate here.  And the reason is that sports movies are all the same now.  I don't understand how there are so many smart people in the world and no one has figured out how to make a good sports movie anymore.  I think it can all be traced back to the fact that there just aren't many actors that are both athletic and good at acting too.  Kevin Costner cornered the market here for years (and that's the best we can do?!).  Note: I don't really consider Rocky a sports movie because there's only one fight and it is only 5 minutes of the movie.  Note II: I just remembered how good The Natural is, but still...

The pick:  Hoosiers

Musicals:  not really, I'm just kidding.

Action Movie:  It's all about what you like here.  Rather than list all the good and bad, I'll get right to it.  All star cast, great story, great acting, re-watchable, one of the all time great scenes near the end.  And yet some people forget about this movie:

The pick:  Heat

High School Movie:

Lots of people like lots of things.  I'll go with the one that I've seen a million times and could see a million more:

The pick:  Dazed and Confused

Courtroom Drama:

With respect to all the ones that came before and after this one, I like great performances, and Edward Norton was off the charts in

The pick:  Primal Fear  

Thriller:  A lot of good ones in this category, but for brevity's sake I'll get right to it.  This one features the most electrifying 16 minute Oscar winning performance ever.  Also, it is the last movie to win Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Actress.  Strong.

The pick:  The Silence of the Lambs

Drama (ok, let's call it what it is for me)

Mafia movie: This will be its own post one day, I don't feel I can devote the right amount of time to this, but here goes.

Let me say this to begin with, I know you're not a mob movie fan if you tell me that your favorite is Scarface.  That's crap.  As far as this genre goes, that one plays like a music video.  I'll tell you what it's like...it's like a Will Ferrell movie is now.  One guy carrying it as far as he can and by the end, he's given out.  You have to have a good team to make a movie and this one had a crappy job on everything except the starring role.

People forget about Donny Brasco, but it is WAY better than this movie, and it has Johnny Depp rocking the Fed role.  

Now...

As good as Goodfellas is, it suffers in these ways for me (for you): 

1.  It doesn't have Marlon Brando or Al Pacino

2. The ending seems a little abrupt to me.  In fact once he sells out, I can turn it off usually.  You shouldn't ever feel that way about a desert island pick, you should be captivated til the last second.

Goodfellas is great, just not the top spot(s).  I actually find Casino to be more re-watchable.  The Departed is not aging as well as I'd hoped, but it's still great.

So the question is, Godfather I or II.  It's tough, but it comes down to this: one has the greatest actor ever, and the other doesn't.  Marlon Brando is simply the best to ever stand in front of a camera.  Al Pacino was better in the second one, but he's still awesome in part I.  If you threw out all these subcategories and just said I could only take one movie, it would be...

the pick:  The Godfather part I

  

I'm drained I can't go any further.  I left out War movie - Saving Private Ryan, Love Story - Jerry Maguire, 80s movie - Top Gun, gotta stop, movie without a category - Fight Club, I've done too many categories...This is my albatross!

Part II - TV

In the last post, we talked about the concept of taking just one of something to the desert island.  In that case, it was music.  Since I alluded to TV series' though, let's go ahead and address that as the next category:

Drama:  This is tough.  We've got The Sopranos with the longest run and the subject matter that I gravitate to the most - the mob.  We've got The Wire that has been so good that I accost people at parties that say they haven't watched it and don't plan to (and I would highly recommend Mad Men Season 1).  But I have to go with the series that I was captivated by from the beginning, and that has still not finished.  From a re-watchability standpoint, it is so deep that it can't be ignored.  It also fits with the Desert Island idea quite nicely.  

The pick:  Lost

Comedy:  Not as tough.  If I was going for nostalgia, it would be The Andy Griffith Show in a walk.  But seeing as how I can remember each of those episodes frame by frame anyway, I'll leave it behind.  I love The Office, but it has had some weak spots and not nearly the re-watchable powerhouse that Seinfeld is.  Also Michael Scott is no George Costanza.

The Pick: Seinfeld (although it should be said that I've not watched much of Arrested Development or 30 Rock yet and people are swearing by it).

Teen Soap:  For me (for you), this category is 90210 vs The OC (this very subject is one of the more memorable mailbags from Bill Simmons).  I don't watch the current stuff that Dana likes (and if we can get her to post, she'll have a more educated opinion on this).  Between those two, I would rather watch The OC - blasphemy I know, but I'm honest if nothing else.

But I'm going to gerrymander (appropriate if you watch the pick in this category) this category to fit my tastes and say...

The Pick: Friday Night Lights (Season 3 finale was strong.  Very strong.  It got a little dusty in the Jackson's den yesterday)

In honor of Conan's debut tonight...

Late Night Talk Show:  This will be a classic case of my personal preference winning out because there is no defense of this pick other than I just like it the best.  To impress people, you'd say that there is no one better than David Letterman (we're too young for Carson), but that you prefer Jon Stewart (I'd take Conan).  The power of 5 questions and Yambo will always bring me back to...

The Pick: Craig Kilborn (cue the bass line of "Play That Funky Music")

Miniseries:  I've actually watched a few really good ones this year in John Adams and Band of Brothers.  To bait Dana into replying to this, I will say that nothing compares to this...not even some Canada-based little girl story.

The Pick:  Lonesome Dove  (and I'd be interested to hear Ashley's take on this one)

Reality TV:  Ugh.  I can't help but watch it because every station has it on.  Right now, I'm really enjoying 4th and Long on SpikeTV.  Also, a random recommendation would be a show called Three Sheets.  But for this category and the obvious help it would give, I'll go with...

The Pick: Man vs. Wild 

If I could only take one...

I lent The Wire Season 1 to a friend this week, and for some reason that got this question bouncing around in my head: If you could take just one ________ to a desert island for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

The Wire has cemented its place in my mind as a series that I feel totally comfortable recommending to people.  If they don't like it, well, that's a poor reflection on them and not the show.  But the question brings in the "re-" concept as in "re-watchability."

I love The Wire, but I've been through the series twice now and unless I was re-watching with a new viewer, it wouldn't be as re-watchable to me as, say Seinfeld is.  One reason would be that it rips your guts out emotionally while Seinfeld just makes you laugh over and over.  

With songs or albums, now you're debating the artist/song's ability to stay fresh in your mind vs. its ability to take you down memory lane.  For me ("for you, for me again"), I'd stick with freshness because there's nothing worse than making a playlist or CD and being sick of it after one week...imagine being stuck with it for the rest of your life.

Movies, it's a combination of the two.  You want the one that stays fresh and re-watchable so that you have familiarity along with being able to spot new things.

So the first category off the top of my head, this will be revisited with new categories or updates as I expand my mental library (right now I'm burying myself in Radiohead and am preparing for them to possibly overtake Coldplay in the desert island rankings...they haven't yet, but the potential is there.)

Music:

Band/Artist's Catalogue:  Have to go with Bob Dylan here.  It's vast, stays fresh, and I haven't even come close to hearing everything yet.  Ryan Adams may overtake him when it's all over though.

Song:  Don't Panic - Coldplay.  Whenever I think about a song that I never get tired of, there you go.  

(sub-category) Sad Song - Between the Bars - Elliot Smith

Happy Song - To Be Young - Ryan Adams (ironic, I know)

Album:  August and Everything After - Counting Crows.  Top to bottom, it's my favorite.  But I've never really been one to digest an entire album.  I skip songs and then make compilations with other stuff, so this is my least comfortable category. 

Another category another time...

 

New Top 5

This has come up a lot lately in conversation for one reason or another, so I got to thinking I should Top 5 it.

Top 5 80s TV theme songs:

1.  Cheers - simply the best

2. Miami Vice -  I used to think this was the coolest show ever and when the music would come on.  And then, my mom would dismiss me from the room because it was "inappropriate,"I would get so upset).  One other thing: when we picked out Easter suits, I wanted a white one and a teal t-shirt under it.

3.  Night Court - I know!  The show wasn't that great, but the theme song was really good.

4.  Growing Pains - this is always the first one anyone sings.  Mention the show to someone, and they will sing "Show me that smile again..." to you every time.

5.  Gummi Bears - nothing brought me more joy as a little kid than when I would hear this intro.  

Side note - in listening to it now, I think about the guy who was singing this in the studio.  He was probably a struggling musician of the 80s, trying to "make it."  Then, he got this "gig" and did the job well.  But I picture him listening to the playback with a room full of Disney execs congratulating themselves on a great kids show they've just made, and he's thinking, "Did I really just cut a song about bouncing bears and the secret of their Gummi Berry Juice?!"

-I'm going to require Dana to put her top 5 when she gets back from Nashville because she's so passionate about theme songs.  

Which songs did I miss? (I know about Family Ties, and the "sha-la la laaaaahh" was iconic, but it just didn't have enough to edge Gummi Bears)

   

Justice

No More Sports...?

"With any luck, the Celtics close out tonight"

-Kent Jackson before Game 6

I appreciate your sympathies, Lynn.  I would like to hear about Ben's magical jinxing power to see if it could trump my own bravado of "closing out tonight..." 

Ugh, what an idiot! 

Meanwhile, the TV in the Jackson household is about to endure a week of The Bachelorette, So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, Gossip Girl, 90210, and countless reruns of Gilmore Girls.  

I'm not asking for your pity.  Really, I'm not.  It's hard to complain when I've subjected Dana to so many sports over the last few months*, but I just don't think I've prepared yet for the monsoon of reality TV (or Gilmore Girls).

*Dana walked into the room the other night and said, "where are the Celtics' regular players?"  I replied, "They're all injured."  She said, "I meant Rondo, where's Rondo?"  I was happy with this as it compared favorably to when she asked, "The Celtics are playing the Magic?  don't they have J.J. Redick?"  How do you respond when your wife - who knows very little basketball - asks about a player like J.J. Redick?  I got all  aloof and called her out on her J.J. fandom...I hate that guy.

Anyway, the Celtics showed a lot of heart this year in the playoffs, but I say they quit in Game 7.  Yes, they were on their last legs and yes they had significant injuries, but I felt like they thought "Hey we have won so many Game 7s over the last two years, they'll just give us this one, right?"  Not so.  

The Magic is a team that I don't really have any feelings one way or the other about, so it's not that bitter a pill to swallow, definitely not as humiliating as the inevitable sweep against Cleveland would be this round.  I just wish they had kept it close to the last 5 minutes and pressured the Magic into collapsing like they've done a couple other times.  I was also hoping for another Rondo-riffic performance, but he played average.  But hopefully - and I said this last year too - he'll take the off season and study some tape and notice how far off of him defenders play, then work on a jump shot.  He would be unguardable.  

Since this is a goodbye to the Celtics, I must say that I knew they wouldn't repeat when Garnett was pronounced "done for the season."  But I was proud of their post-season and the games they won on sheer determination.  I mean, Scalabrine was playing 20 minutes a game?!  Big Baby hitting game winners?!  How am I complaining?!

Having said all that, my main criticism on Kobe is that he can't be Jordan when he allows his team to be eliminated by 20+ points (he's done this numerous times).  Well, no one is calling Pierce "Jordanesque," but he did allow his team to be beaten by 19 at home in a Game 7.  Maybe he was spent, whatever I don't care.  The last five minutes were terrible, luckily I can just watch last years highlights to try and forget it.  It wasn't all on him, but I expected more.  But oh well, good job, Magic! And good luck with LeBron next round...

(and speaking of Kobe, the Lakers going to Game 7 was a joke, Nuggets in 6).

Don't worry about my sports intake...I've still got the slumping Red Sox to watch (lost 2 of 3 to the stinking Mariners last weekend).  Does Friday Night Lights Season 3 count as sports?  

Who am I kidding?  I will still "witness" LeBron play...