Celtics crush

My interest in the 2012 NBA season essentially ended with the Boston Celtics’ Game 7 loss last night.

I’m not a huge NBA fan, but I’ve really enjoyed watching the Boston Celtics the last five years. In fact, I can’t say I’ve admired a pro basketball team as much as I do the Celtics since my days of following the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls.

What’s not to love about that team? Starting with Paul Pierce, whom I have fond memories of dating back to his Kansas days. Steady and calm Ray Allen. The big man with a big heart Kevin Garnett. Flashy and fierce Rajon Rondo. And they’re led by one of the best active coaches in the NBA in Doc Rivers. I would All five could be hall of famers some day.

I’ll take them over the Miami Heat’s “not one, not two, not three …” arrogant Big Three any day. Although, I’ll admit I did enjoy watching Shane Battier and Mario Chalmers as valuable role players for the Heat throughout the series; I have fond memories of each of their college ball days, too, and how can I not root for Mario after his 2008 miracle.

Talk of the team breaking up during the offseason breaks my heart. Of course, the eternal optimist in me thinks there’s no way the Celtics brass or any one of the players could ruin such a great thing by leaving. I want to see the Big Three retire as Celtics.

I watched almost the entire Celtics-Heat series, taking in many of the games on the comfort of my beloved couch with little Faye in my arms. I kept saying it was too bad she mostly slept through such a great series.

When the Celtics took a riveting Game 4, the conference finals officially became a series. And when they stole Game 5 in Miami, I thought the Celtics had the series for the taking. I particulularly enjoyed the over-the-top cheerleader kid heard across the nation as the Heat headed to the locker room that night.

Then Lebron showed up to play and was unstoppable in Game 6. Game 7 appeared relatively safe in the Celtics hands or most of the game and an eight-point lead in the third quarter.

Then Miami, well, turned up the Heat. Chris Bosh came out of nowhere to start popping three-pointers. And the Celtics seemed to have lost all fight they had left.

Dang. It was fun while it lasted.

I hope Oklahoma City wins the title.

(Updated: 6.11.2012) Good reads ...
a Pierce makes pitch for KG
a Father Time runs out on Celtics in Miami
a James able to deliver from start to finish
a Celtics’ Rondo remains defiant
a Big calls to make on Three
a Work over, but already looking ahead

One player’s missed dunk is another player’s highlight

Not bad ...

Michael Jordan, hall of famer

Congratulations, Michael

I have no words to describe him, either.

Sunday reading

Just said good-bye to the parents, who spent a couple days with us here on the homestead ...

A great weekend. Great food. Great conversation. Great times playing with Phoebe ... And not so great weather. It poured almost endlessly yesterday and today ...

The afternoon is fast turning into a lazy Sunday evening. Kates and I can barely keep our eyes open.

Here's some of the reads that caught my eyes over the last few days ...

Sports ...
a A tragic end for minor leaguer traded for bats
a For Free Throws, 50 Years of Practice Is No Help
a Manny Ramirez has some things to say
a What Yankees Knew About Rodriguez’s Injury, and When They Knew It

Media & the Internet ...
a When Everyone’s a Friend, Is Anything Private?
a 15 Fake and Funny Twitter Accounts
a WIAA files suit against Gannett over broadcasting of postseason games on Internet
a In Denver, Residents Lament the Closing of a Newspaper
a Will Report for Tips
a Small Town News" journalist dissed by Letterman was laid off last week ... I'm posting this mostly because I thought the "Small Town News" segment -- in case you missed it -- was hilarious. I think this reporter's reaction to it is a little over-the-top.
a Copyright Challenge for Sites That Excerpt
a YouTube and Universal Music Are Said to Discuss Deal
a A Google Search of a Distinctly Retro Kind
a How To Save Print ... A good funny

Politics ...
a For Young President, Flecks of Gray

TV ...
a CBS has its eye on Fox's ratings prize

Music ...
a Kelly Clarkson's 'All I Ever Wanted': 3.5 stars
a U2 looks in, branches out

Life & other stuff ...
a Here, all sales are final ... Never made it to any of the local Circuit City sales to check out the big sales (We don't have the money to spend), but this was an amusing read nonetheless.
a This winter, last year's add up to some bragging rights ... I'm throwing it back.

Celtic pride

... I just finished watching the Celtics finish off the Lakers for the NBA title. Though it wasn't so much a finishing-off as it was a flat-out trashing.

131-92. Sheesh.

Great series. So glad to see my Kansas boy Paul Pierce get his title and win the MVP. And Kevin Garnett finally gets his title too ...

So now Boston has the World Champion Red Sox and the World Champion Celtics. If only the Patriots had won the Super Bowl ...

Good reads (Updated 6.19.08) ...
a A championship unlike any other
a Green envy: Celtics polish off Lakers for 17th NBA crown

History in the making

I watched Game One of the NBA Finals last night...

Celtics-Lakers, baby. Amazing. ... It's probably the first NBA game I've watched since Michael Jordan was in a Bulls uniform. I'm totally going to soak this one up and root for the Paul Pierce and the Celtics.

The TV ratings have got to be going through the roof for this series ...

* * *

... Watched Randy Johnson break No. 2 on the all-time strikeout list against the Brewers the other night. That was pretty cool ... Even cooler was seeing the Brewers pitcher get two hits off of him.

... The Cubs are looking -- dare I say it ... Like a good Cubs fans, I've faithfully stayed up late to watch their games on the west coast this week.

Until the Padres finally put 'em down on Wednesday night, the Cubs had won nine in a row -- and eight straight were stellar come-from-behind wins. My favorite of the week: Zambrano's performance on both sides of the ball on Monday night.

And there was this from the Chicago Tribune:

Seldom has a Cubs team been linked to so many of its predecessors as the 2008 edition has been during the first two months of the season.

Every day seems to bring about a new history lesson.Consider that the Cubs on Tuesday night were off to their best start since 1977, even before Geovany Soto, Mark DeRosa and Alfonso Soriano homered in a 9-6 win over the Padres at Petco Park.

They've won nine straight for the first time since 2001, and entered June with the best record in baseball for the first time since 1908. They finished their first 7-0 homestand since 1970, and they've led in 25 consecutive games for the first time since 1935.

* * *

Barack Obama finally clinched the Democratic nomination. Thankfully ... I'm fully in his camp now and hoping the Hillary supporters will do the same for the sake of the party ...

Admittedly, our support was strong for Clinton when she swung through these parts over the winter, but it seemed to go totally down hill from there. And for the last couple months I didn't know what to think about her; watching her hang on to her campaign for dear life was woeful. But then again, I can understand and respect her reasons for not quitting ...

* * *

Speaking of Obama ... We got word this week that Chicago is still in the running for the 2016 Olympics. Sweet!

And how sweet would it be if Obama gets in the White House to give us a little pull?

It's not like we haven't been thinking about it already. We were already dreaming of it last year.

* * *

... I got two more Mountain Dews in one of my trips to the office soda machine this week ... I really should go to Vegas.

Sunday reading

... After my game this morning, Kates and I spent the day on our deck, playing with Phoebe and enjoying the GOR-geous weather ...

And now I'm watching Sunday night baseball.

I can't think of a better way to spend a Sunday.

Here's some of the best stories I read over the last week ...

Sports ...
a Historic season looms for Chicago baseball
a Cursed-to-first Rays, White Sox buoyed by offseason deals
a Hitting .400 isn't last crusade for Atlanta's accomplished Jones
a Embattled McLaren, Randolph, Yost fight on
a In NBA playoffs, less ink means more viewers
a Packers to deliver old locker to Favre

Politics ...
a Ex-press secretary bashes Bush
a Book: Rice kept 'her hands clean'
a Hillary Clinton's 'critical decision'
a Obama Practices Looking-Off-Into-Future Pose ... From The Onion. Ha-larious.

The Internet ...
a Blog posts photos from lost cameras to find owners
a MySpace gets its mojo back by opening door to developers

Life & other stuff ...
a Principal's blunder holds good lessons ... One of the biggest stories around Chicagoland last week. The pincipal eventually was demoted.
a Stonehenge was a royal family's burial site, researchers say
a Lowly pencil still the write tool
a N.Y. Hopes to Ensure Smooth Pedaling for Bike Commuters

Holy news day!

... It was another one of those days again.

... I got a page at about 2:30 this morning for a fire at a popular resturant in town ... Problem was I had the volume turned down on my phone, and it took a voicemail from my editor at 6:45 to get me out of bed and going ... I rushed to the location and by that point, the building had been reduced to a pile of rubble. A crazy day of going back and forth to the scene and talking to neighbors (and beating out television people ... I hate local TV news...) ensued ...

Then, this afternoon, came the news of the big Bulls trade. Ben Wallace, the guy many of us thought would help bring the championship back to Chicago, was done -- traded to the Cavs for four players that included none other than former Jayhawk Drew Gooden! ... Hearing the news, I shouted to my cohorts "Drew Gooden and Kirk Hinrich reunited and it feels so good!" ... Definitely looking forward to watching this one play out!

Then! this evening as I'm home and de-stressing from the day (listening to a little Shawn Colvin), my friend Laura calls ... "Are you watching TV!?" she asks excitedly. I wasn't. "Turn on your TV!" ... The jury in our infamous Mark Jensen trial had reached a verdict that was nearly 10 years in the making: "Guilty! guilty! guilty!" Laura shouted. ... I hung up with her and sat glued to the TV for the next 45 minutes as the local stations carried live coverage of the press conferences with the attorneys and members of the jury ...

And to cap it off, we learned today that the death of Drew Peterson's third wife has been ruled a homicide ...

* * *

Ah, American Idol... I'm beginning to wonder what I would do without you.

It was good to see the Idol kids doing a group performance again. Sure tonight's '60s medley was super full of cheese, but the fun they're having on stage is always contagious ...

And then we began cutting 'em loose ... and oh, the tears started flowing!

First up, Garrett Haley ... After all, his dismissal was the no-brainer of the night, but boy, Ryan Seacrest didn't waste any time getting to the point. It was fun while you were here, thanks for playing and have a nice life kid!

We also said good-bye to Amy Davis and Joanne Borgella, and Colton Berry ... All very good choices. Thank you, America.

* * *

But before tuning into "Lost," Kates and I had perhaps the most fun of our night with a show we didn't even plan to watch ...

"Don't Forget the Lyrics!" baby! ... While fast-forwarding through the commercials during "Idol" (we were watching it on delay with the DVR), I caught a glimpse of Boyz II Men on a stage and singing. Intrigued, I played the commercial and it turned out they were appearing on a celebrity version of "Don't Forget the Lyrics" ... Nice!

So after "Idol," we kept it on Fox and watched the show ...

Talk about great fun!... To see the boys on stage and singing again, and doing songs like the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses," Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely," and "Kung Fu Fighting" -- all impromptu -- was wildly entertaining. Then! as they climbed the money ladder (in case you haven't seen the show, the number of words the singer must get increases with each level ... and the Boyz were playing for charity) their final two categories to beat were Motown and Boyz II Men -- wonderful!

... They brought the house down with Smokey Robinson's "Tracks of My Tears" -- complete with The Miracles dance moves and the harmony. And then they had the couples dancing in the aisles with their own "I'll Make Love To You." And! for a little encore they did "End of the Road."

What a blast from the past! ... Kates and I were beaming as we sang every word. And when it was all over we just looked at each other and laughed ...

"We're so old!" I cried.

Sadly, I think it was the first time I've said that and actually considered it to be true.

* * *

So "Lost" ...

Of the three episodes we've seen now, tonight's was my least favorite ...

But there were a couple good eye-opening moments ...

No. 1, we now can assume when Kate told Jack "I have to get back to him" at the end of last season's finale, that the "him" was her "son" -- who we found out at the end of tonight's episode was Claire's baby Aaron! (To Kates' credit, she predicted it ...)

No. 2, what the heck was Jack talking about when testified in Kate's trial that there were only eight survivors in the plane crash!?

... And this wasn't revealed, but my theory is Miles is the spy Ben was referring to on the freighter ...

What!?

As Suns trade for an aging O'Neal, the rest of the world asks: What are they thinking?

Shaping up

I haven't felt this good in a long time. Physically, I mean.

For the last several weeks, I've been hitting the basketball court at the college. ... The first night out was all about working the rust off, as expected. I probably hadn't shot a basketball in three, four years.

But after last night, I think it's safe to declare my basketball game back on track.

Excuse me while I gloat a bit.

I was hitting my shots in warm-ups and had a feeling I was about to have a good night. I soon got into a pickup game, playing well and hitting a three-pointer in the first game. Our team won, hitting 25 -- by ones -- faster than the opponent.

But I wasn't done.

The team I was playing with next hooked up against a group of stocky black guys who looked as though they'd have a better shot on the football field than the basketball court. Nonetheless, the game got underway and I matched up with a shorter guy, about my height. ... And I realized quickly that I could challenge him under the basket.

Soon, I was driving up against these guys and alternating my shots in the air -- a la Michael Jordan, thank you very much ... I was blocking 'em out, snatching rebounds from 'em, and shooting some swell lead passes to my teammates. … I couldn’t believe how 'on' I was!

Making it even sweeter, my burly opponents began joshing with me. ‘Watch for that little guy, he's strong! He don't look that strong!’ they'd tell each other. …It was HA-larious and I was eating up every minute of it.

I ended up playing for almost two and a half hours, and it felt sooooo good.

But I still wasn't done.

Today was the baseball workout for the upcoming adult men's baseball season.

First up, ground balls. We each got five hit to us and we had to throw from third to first. Other than a bloop fly ball that I couldn’t get back on, and a couple of low throws, I showed up well.

Round two was fly balls. I did pretty good there too, but still let a couple get over my head.

Round three: hitting. If anything I did attracted some eyes today, it was my batting practice. ... I've never been a power hitter. But I am good at making contact, and today was no different. I spread the field with hard ground balls and slapshot line drives. And I walked from the batter's box feeling pretty content.

In the three-hour practice, I competed well with the other 40-some guys who truly have a passion for baseball. And I couldn't be more excited about playing the game again this summer after stumbling through a couple softball stints and having to deal with the ego-maniac, beer-guzzling, clique-y hotheads that permeate the leagues I found.

And on Monday, my company begins its annual corporate challenge -- a month-long challenge and competition of exercising and fitness activities.

I'm pumped.

See ya Mike Sherman …

I’m not so much surprised that it happened as much as I am that it happened so fast …Then again half the coaches in the NFL were fired today -- or so it seems.

I caught the headline on the Internet this morning about as fast as the folks at MSN could post it. Course, I gasped and shouted it to the co-workers sitting around me …

And in grand Wisconsin fashion -- because the Packers for some odd reason transcend LIFE around here -- virtually every news station in the state tonight has made it their top story (never mind the coal mine explosion in West Virginia, an ice rink that collapsed in Germany, a war in Iraq, the monsoon-like weather today and other more pressing issues …) … Ugh. Every station is speculating who the next head coach will be as if the official announcement will come tomorrow, and the local Fox station even has a phone-in poll asking viewers whether Sherman’s firing will affect Brett Favre’s decision to retire. Double ugh.

I hate it when news people jump on stories and over-analyze them like there‘s no tomorrow, when it will take days, even weeks, for the story to develop. … Yes, all these issues are pertinent and questions should be answered. But don’t suffocate me with them.

Here’s what I think: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The Packers need to begin rebuilding and Sherman’s just the start …After learning of Sherman’s firing today, I mentioned to a co-worker that I thought Favre was more of a problem this season than Sherman. She agreed, but added that Sherman didn’t exactly appear to be coaching Favre either, as in encouraging him to take better care of the ball or convincing him he didn’t have to do EVERYTHING. ‘Good point, that’s true,’ I said. …Favre did nothing wrong in a lot of people’s eyes this season, and that’s too bad.

So I continue -- Favre should retire. Never mind all the decimating injuries. Forget about the lack of an offensive line. Despite a decent performance yesterday, Favre plain didn’t get it done this year. He’s 36 years old and there’s no denying he’s lost some steps … But the thing that irked me for most of the season were the repeated soundbites from Favre saying that he needed to be the playmaker and makes things happen. Now I‘m no quarterback, but as far as I know, you can’t make plays by blindly launching the ball into triple coverage every time a 300-pound lineman starts running at you. You can be a playmaker and lead the team by protecting the ball, taking the sack when you have to and then capitalizing when the time is right.

Favre’s had better days than what we saw this season. Let’s savor those memories and hope he doesn’t overwrite more of them by deciding to play again next year.

More reads ...
OnMilwaukee.com: It's time for Packers fans to move on
Mike Celizic: Sherman exit means Favre's gone also

* * *

In better, more exciting news: I watched the Bulls/Bucks game tonight … It’s good to see my boy Kirk Hinrich doing so well with the Bulls …. Too bad Chicago couldn’t pull it out. Ah, but the Bucks are a good team too. Darn good game.

King James as a family man

If you weren't tuned into a football game this afternoon, you probably didn't see 'The LeBrons.'
HA-larious!

For more, go to nikebasketball.com ... Click on 'meet the Lebrons.' Then click on 'view the TV spots,' select 'Glory Days' and enjoy ...

What can't this guy do!?