- Today is a day when I’d really like an NBA honk to try and convince me that the Association and its playoffs actually are a superior level of basketball to NCAA hoops and especially the NCAA Tournament. If you caught even a few minutes of the clunker that was Game 1 of the NBA Finals, you’re undoubtedly aware of the fact that an ugly, fits and starts 85-76 contest between the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers was every bit as ugly as the score indicates. Furthermore, the teams will now have to wait until Sunday night for a chance to redeem themselves in Game 2, which they will undoubtedly fail at. Only in the NBA do the supposed best teams turn into slow-moving, grind-it-out monoliths on offense when they’re supposed to be at their best. The NCAA Tournament offers us four straight days of noon to midnight insanity on its opening weekend, with offense galore and true March Madness. There are no moronic rules like the defensive three seconds call that still makes no sense in the NBA, nor is there a ban on zone defenses in college hoops. There are no grandstanding referees looking to make themselves bigger than the game either. And oh yeah, did I mention that on the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament and the following two weekends of the tournament as well, that a team plays two games in three days for as long as it remains in the tournament. There’s no dragging things out by having teams wait three days to play another game even though they’re staying in the same city. Most of all, though, the one-and-done nature of March Madness pushes teams to play their best every night instead of hunkering down for a grind-it-out, trench-warfare game played in the 70-80 points range like we see too often in the NBA today. Thanks for nothing, NBA, you continue to show why I’m 100% right when I follow your game from a disinterested distance and put my focus squarely on the college game.
- All you Grey’s Anatomy fans out there (i.e. women ages 16-55) won't have McHomophobe to kick around next season. All right, so McHomophobe isn't technically the nickname that was assigned to Isaiah Washington’s character on the show, but I’ve never given a crap about the show itself to the extent that I watched it to find out the real nickname, so McHomophobe is what I’m sticking with. ABC took the clever route out of the mess Washington created when he twice used an anti-gay slur, electing not to fire him or remove him from the show immediately, but to simply not renew his contract when it ended recently. Washington’s response? He issued a statement through his publicist that read in part: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” Well, ripping off a famous movie quote is probably a safer route for Washington than speaking for himself, assuming that he’s quoting from a movie like Network and not Borat. The producers on Grey’s took the popular tactic of straddling the fence in season-ending episode writing when it came to Washington, leaving his character in a position where leaving or returning were both possible options. The lesson here, as always, is that you can be arrested, you can go to rehab, you can lie, cheat and steal and survive, but if you dare make a racist or bigoted statement in public, you’re screwed. What does this mean for Grey’s Anatomy next season? Well, the show could be better or it might be worse, but either way I still won't give a crap about it or its spin-off series.
- Kudos to the U.S. government for upgrading its stance on global warming and admitting it actually is a threat to, “Hey, we’ll think about it and get back to you when we feel like it.” In response to a proposal from German leaders, representatives from our government have agreed to consider a request to cut our greenhouse emissions in half by the year 2050. I’ll admit, this new approach from our leaders might seem noncommittal and ignorant, but when you consider that their previous approach was to stick their head in the sand, cup their hands over their ears and shout “LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!” over and over until anyone spouting an opposing viewpoint stopped talking, it’s not quite as bad. Of course, it does follow the doomed environmental approach espoused by W. that the world’s largest industrial nations get together and determine on their own what an acceptable level of environmental pollution is. Right, because only those nations and their citizens have to live on this planet and deal with the conditions they create, eh? I’m not sure whether I’m partially or totally disheartened that the German side considers this concession from our government to be substantial progress, but the fact that it’s considered progress at all only further highlights how ignorant and moronic W. and his lackeys have been on environmental policy up to this point. But hey, they’re moronic and ignorant on almost every aspect of government, so why should this be any different? How many months til the next election so we can be rid of these tools?
- Corrupt politicians aren't just for America anymore. Proving that there are liars, embezzlers, scammers and frauds from every nation, race, creed and color, a former United Nations official has been found guilty of corrupt business dealings that included helping a friend secure $100 million in U.N. contracts in exchange for a massive discount on two luxury Manhattan apartments and copious amounts of cash. Sanjaya Bahel (and yes, I do wish he could receive life in solitary confinement simply for having the first name Sanjaya) was chief of Commodity Procurement for the United Nations from 1999 to 2003, and he does seem to have been very good are procuring certain commodities for himself. But after all, what is power and position in the world worth if you don’t use them to benefit your own bottom line? If you can't abuse your position of authority in the world, why even bother being in a position of authority? To better the world around you and the lives of the people in it? Oh……you mean that’s why politicians and government officials are put in place, to benefit the lives of those they govern and represent? Sorry, I’m just not familiar with that concept. Sentencing for Bahel is still to come, but this kind of fraud should land him a few years in some cushy federal prison unless he emulates the example of…………..
- Props to Paris Hilton for the convincing fake panic attack to get out of jail. Again, I hate the over-coverage of this talentless skank, so I’ll leave it at that.
- Bizarre story involving the missing 15-year-old girl in Connecticut who was found this week after being AWOL for more than a year. Her family went from knowing she was missing and fearing she might be dead to discovering that she was actually being held captive in the home of a family acquaintance. Now comes word that Adam Gault, the creep who was holding this poor girl captive, had actually given her a new identity in order to make her a part of his family. Police are also investigating whether this pervert had inappropriate (read here sexual) relationships with her and other girls, charges that would nicely round out the Felon Combo Pack O’ Charges this guy is headed for. Of course, those kinds of things tend to happen when police arrive at your home to serve search warrants for DNA and other evidence and find a missing girl locked in a hidden room of your house. Gault’s common-law wife, Ann Murphy, could also be facing charges in the kidnapping and hostage-taking of the girl. Hard to argue that you didn’t do anything wrong when a missing child is found, pale and frightened, in a tiny room tucked under a stairwell and hidden from view by a large dresser. But hey, I’m sure Gault and Murphy have a grrrrreat explanation for all of this, assuming that by great you mean non-existent and indefensible.
No comments:
Post a Comment