The Son of the Yankees

Take a close look at the two men above. If you know anything about the Yankees you know that one of them was raised in the organization and represents everything it wants to embody. The other is the owner's son.

I am by no means a Yankee fan but I do love Derek Jeter. He is what's right with sports. He doesn't get in trouble. He always says the right thing. He performs on the field and generally plays everything the right way. He has class and tact, things you often don't find in pro athletes.

Yet somehow, the Yankees have decided to play hardball with him during his new contract negotiations. Did I fall down the steps and hit my head? Did they? What could they possibly be thinking? More than perhaps any other player on the Yankees, Derek Jeter is the Yankees. He is the face of the organization. He has watched as the team has thrown countless millions at other hot ticket players during his tenure. Can we fault him for wanting to get paid for his value? I don't think so.

The problem is defining the term value. For his whole career, Jeter's value was all the things I listed above. The Yankees clearly used his clean cut image, in addition to his statistics, to draw in fans and support. Now all of a sudden it's just business and we are doing what's best for the team. All we keep hearing is "his numbers have dropped", "he's lost range at short stop" and so on. Again, maybe I fell out of bed into an alternate universe where just winning a Gold Glove doesn't count. Clearly the award should dispel the argument that he can't play defense anymore.

This must be even tougher for Jeter to take as he watches the Yankess trot out their best ass kissing unit to go after Cliff Lee, a guy that just beat them in the playoffs and someone that any real Yankee fan, or winner for that matter, shouldn't want on the team.

Speaking of things that Jeter has had to put up with during his time, can he at least get a pat on the back for not strangling A-Rod. To use one of those great sports phrases, here's a guy that just doesn't get it. If A-Rod isn't tanning on the rocks in Central Park and injecting himself with steroids, he's cheating on his wife with Canadian strippers and the corpse of Madonna. Though his numbers say otherwise, his first years with the Yankees were rocky at best. Did you ever hear a word from Jeter? No, and you probably never will.

I think the play that can sum up their careers as Yankees happened back in 2005. It was a late summer game against the Orioles. The Yankees are getting killed 8-2 early. Midway through the game a routine flyball heads towards third and short. It seems to be Jeter's ball but A-Rod is there just in case. A-Rod keeps creeping over till he and the sun cause the ball to fall right between them. Jeter's response pretty much sums up his general response to the A-Rod circus, he put his head down for a second, threw the ball back to the pitcher and got back into his fielding stance. No yelling. No finger pointing. All class and winning.

Derek Jeter has been the face and, moreover, the son of this franchise for years. He has been here to lead them to some of their most successful years. He is the epitome of a champion. A man like this has earned whatever money he wants and should have earned the respect to not even make money an issue. Jeter is part of the Yankee family. The Yankees can say it's just business but as we all know, when it comes to family, it's personal.

OK, so like, I actually watched New Moon and it was totally awful!!

This past weekend I was unlucky enough to watch New Moon, the second movie in the Twilight saga. Though I went into this voluntarily and with EXTREMELY low expectations, I was somehow still surprised. How a movie this bad gets made and even worse, makes large sums of money is a question that may be beyond my ability to answer.

I had seen the first Twilight movie going into this and thought it was fairly terrible. New Moon takes everything that was awful about the first movie and magnifies it about a thousand times. Simply things like acting and decent dialog escape every scene. Everyone involved with this movie appears to have no acting ability to speak of, not a single one. And if they do, you would never know it because they are saddled with some all time bad source material. Can we stop pretending that high sales equals quality. This story sucks. These books are, at best, trashy KMart romance novels, minus the romance.

My real problem with Twilight goes beyond my love of good cinema. This "saga", though meant as entertainment, cannot escape having underlying messages, many of which are shockingly disturbing on many levels. Maybe it speaks to the lowering of society's standards, or perhaps parents just don't care anym

ore but, if I had a daughter there is no way I would let her anywhere near these books and movies.

The main character Isabella Swan, usually just shortened to Bella, is a high

school girl who falls in love with Edward Cullen, a 108 year old vampire masquerading as a 17 year old school mate of Bella's. Though Edward apparently wants to keep his distance from Bella, the two inevitably fall in "love". I put love in quotes because that's the best way to describe the plot but is so far from what is being depicted on screen that it's scary. If you step back from t

he characters and look at the situation in general terms this is what you get, a young vulnerable girl moves to a new town and begins a relationship with a much older man. Though he has reservations about her and their being together, he can't resist her. He is overbearing, saying things like, "I just like watching over you" and seemingly always around, constantly knowing where she is and who she is with. This behavior is depicted as romantic but in reality is a serious issue. Edward may appear to be a 17 year old but he has done over a century of living, despite the irony that he is already dead.

In New Moon, Edward feels that he can no longer be with Bella out of fear that he is putting her in danger. This sounds like the classic, it's not you, it's me. He had his fun with the younger girl and now he is throwing her aside. He disappears and will not return calls or letters. He leaves Bella abandoned and broken. She was already a textbook case of a female with serious self worth and self esteem issues, bordering on clinical depression. After Bella met Edward, she began to equate her self worth with her relationship with Edward. He was the source of all her happiness and when he left he took all of that with him.

Maybe because I'm not a girl I'm missing the point. Are we really trying to teach our young women that they should tie their happiness to a man and have their emotions taken command of by another person? Twilight's answer seems to be yes. I would also be remiss in pointing out that Twilight takes bad parenting to a whole new level.

"Wait, my daughter is in the forest again with a killer on the loose? As long

as she is home before dinner I guess that's fine."

Bella's father seems resigned to his inability to get his daughter to do the right things, he can't even keep her in the house when there are a series of murders in the forest near her house. Maybe you shouldn't be sheriff if you can't get people to follow the rules. Just a thought.

The big addition to New Moon is Jacob and his werewolf alter ego. Though he made an appearance in the first Twilight movie, he and his abs gained a much larger role in New Moon with the addition of some very helpful steroids. It's Jacob that creates the love triangle with Bella and Edward.

I would like to end with a brief comment on something I read in Entertainment Weekly. It was a review for Eclipse, the next chapter in this big steaming pile of a franchise. It ended, what was a very positive and slightly delusional review, with the thought that the reason Twilight is so popular with teenage girls is because, at it's core, it's about a woman wanting to be desired.

Let me get this right, the whole point of the whole Twilight universe is to awaken the selfish longing to be wanted in women of any age. How is this ok? A girl should put herself at considerable risk and danger, not to mention alienate her friends all so she can feel desired. Not only that, but when the source of the desire finally is done, she so needs to be desired that she abuses the trust of one of her close friends so that she won't have to truly deal with the emotional fallout.

Many people call Twilight a romance, and perhaps it needs to be technically classified there but, in reality, it is a thinly veiled fantasy of the author to simply be wanted at all costs. We should recognize it for what it is, a narcissistic fantasy that we should steer all young girls away from.

The Summer of Lebron

I have been meaning to write a new post. There are many things of greater importance that I want to weigh in on, such as the BP oil spill. But, yet again I find myself writing about my favorite target, Lebron James. The Queen himself. As this is a day that will be remembered in sports history, I felt it important to express what I feel about Lebron defecting to Miami.

Let me begin by saying I hated Lebron before he decided to go to Miami. I found him to be, even by NBA and professional athlete standards, to be a pampered, whining, immature man-child. All he has ever heard is "yes, Lebron" from his handlers and the ownership and coaches of the Cavaliers. He has never been accountable. He has always been the portrayed as the good guy, even when things he has done on the court have warranted otherwise, the media has given him a pass. He is, like he is to so many, too valuable to them. After all, he is a self proclaimed global icon and the tv networks stand to make too much off him, as his laughable one hour tv special just demonstrated.

Lebron's move to the Heat seals his fate. He no longer can be discussed in the conversation as a top player of all time. Top players want to dominate. They do not change teams and team up with another alpha dog. Make no mistake, the Heat is Dwyane Wade's team. Lebron is his Scottie Pippen, and even that might be giving him too much credit. Scottie Pippen was a lock down defender and proved himself to be one of the top players of his generation. Lebron has played for 7 years and has nothing to show for it. Let's also be clear, if the Heat manage to win it is much different than Lebron winning. Pau Gasol may have two rings, but Kobe was the franchise player on those Lakers teams. That's not a knock on Gasol, but at the same time no one is putting him in the best player ever discussion.

Another point of the Lebron saga that hasn't been discussed enough is the moves that didn't happen when he was with Cleveland. People want to slam the Cav's for not making moves to give Lebron more talent and it's true Mo Williams and Antawan Jamison, though good players, aren't the top flight players that will get a team the elusive championship. However, the Cav's were in the difficult position of trying to get players with no guaranteed from Lebron that he would be there after free agency. That part has to be on Lebron. He could have signed an extension and begun lobbying for free agents to come to him with the assurance of his being there as well. The next best option would have been for him to go to Chicago where he would go play with a solid team, but would still be the leader of that team. As it stands, Lebron has become one of the guys in Wade's travelling circus.

Finally, the Heat, as they are currently constructed, are not winning a championship. They have no one else to speak of in terms of talent around Wade, Lebron and Bosh. The other shaky position is at coach and anyone that is watching must have the feeling that it is only a matter of time before Pat Riley orchestrates his return to the bench and shamelessly trys to add to his ring count. If he has any class, he will stay off the bench and let the coach that he hired do his job.

This post is the culmination of seven years of arguing that Lebron is an overrated media darling that does not deserve the attention he so badly wants. I feel justified now in saying that Lebron was at best the third best player in the league. Now, he isn't even the best player on his team. I will revel in this as I watch (hopefully) the Heat go down in flames.

The Politics of Racism

I felt compelled to write something on the latest stories involving President Obama. Various news sources are throwing the President under the bus for how he is handling the BP oil spill. Yes, something needs to be done. By all accounts it looks like something is being done. BP is doing what it can at this point. Is that enough? Maybe not. That is something that will be addressed at a later time. Right now all resources need to be put to stopping the oil. I saw a report on ABC news yesterday where they were interviewing people on various issues facing the country and how they feel the President is handling them. All I really got from the story was that everything from the BP oil spill to Memorial Day beach congestion is the President's fault and that he isn't acting, or isn't acting fast enough for the citizen's liking.

Let's just be clear, these people blaming him are flat out racists. There is no other explanation to why they don't believe the President is doing all he can. There is no way you can say President Obama is doing nothing. Let's just compare him to our previous president and how he fared during times of national and environmental crisis. Now to be fair, President Bush wasn't to blame for Katrina. Just as President Obama isn't responsible for the current oil spill. There is one key difference, however. President Obama isn't responsible for the clean up, BP Oil is. He should oversee and push to get it done, but it is their mess and they are the ones who should be handling it. Katrina was different. President Bush was responsible for the clean up of Katrina because the ocean wasn't about to fix the mess it caused.

What makes the Katrina situation even worse than the BP oil spill is, according to reports President Bush and other government agencies were warned about the impending damage of Katrina. This is vastly different from an oil platform blowing up with little warning. From reading the above report it seems that everyone was aware of what was coming and was either lying about the readiness of our emergency response capabilities, or were simply incompetent.

In general, I don't like to point out another person's failing when trying to defend someone but, in this case it needs to happen. I would also like to point out that on September 11, 2001, during one of the most horrific attacks the country has ever endured, President Bush sat in a classroom for 7 MINUTES after he was told the country was under attack. 7 MINUTES. If Obama did that he would be up for impeachment and maybe execution. I just want some consistent standards for how we go about judging our leaders, and skin color is not one of them.

The Show That Wasn't

This is strictly an off the cuff, shoot from the hip reaction. I may regret it in the morning, but i don't think so. The ending of Lost was terrible. This type of terrible show ending is the worst for one very important reason, you can never go back. I can never again watch any of the episodes or seasons of this show without remembering the ending and how it changed everything. A show with so much mystery must have some kind of closure to the long standing questions. Maybe not all the questions, but some of them must be answered.

Season 6 was about the battle for the island and Jacob's and the Smoke Monster's long standing struggle. Then all of a sudden, in true deus ex machina fashion, it was all about Jack again and his God complex and overcoming his demons. Was his defeating the Smoke monster the ultimate act of saving of everyone? I'm sorry but they just tossed out so much of what needed to be addressed and turned it into something else. It was a feel good ending. "Awww they all find each other again because of their time on the island". Cute but terrible. They grafted this feel good ending onto the show to tie everything up and to allow people's hearts to overwhelm their heads. They did not answer any of the important questions. I have seen some responses on the internet to the effect of, "they didn't answer the questions and that's fine because the message was more important". Excuse me, but if I want a message I'll get a t-shirt with a slogan written on it. The message is nice and everything but had little to do with the last six seasons of the show.

It's clear that what happened on the island happened and that they only entered Sideways World/Purgatory after they died. Now I, and many others, recall that the theory of them all being dead and in a kind of Purgatory was thrown out there early on. The writers categorically denied that this was the case. And they were telling the true, until they weren't. It wasn't the case until Season 6 that they were in Purgatory waiting to move on when they introduced the Sideways world. How does this ending in any way connect to what happened on the island? It doesn't. It was as if the writes painted themselves into a corner and simply brushed everything aside in favor of the cute cuddly way out. Not to mention the fact that the writers basically lied to everyone when they denied this.

I will probably analyze this show at some point and look over it again. Many people will declare the ending the best ever and totally worthy of the show that it wraps up. I am not one of them. For a show that showed so much promise and only surrendered it in the final half hour of it's life, I feel it did not get it's just due. I am sad about this.

Maybe I should listen to Lost and believe in an afterlife that is created for me as a better place; one where the ending of Lost didn't suck. See ya in another life brotha.

An Ode to Lebron

"Just look at him. So sleek. So powerful. So... beautiful, like some great golden god made flesh" - Lex Luthor

These words are from the movie Superman: Doomsday. They are the words of Lex Luthor, Superman's arch enemy as he is watching clips of the Man of Steel do the amazing things he does. In a twisted way he admires the object of his hatred, the man he wants nothing more than to destroy. In a way I feel this way about Lebron. He is without question one of the most freakish athletes the world of sport has ever seen. I have never questioned this about him. In a way I need him, just as Luthor needs Superman. One can't exist without the other. Making the case for the greatness of Kobe would never be as intriguing if Lebron was not around.

Now I find Kobe's nemesis hurt and weakened. Not just physically but mentally and, more importantly, openly. He is being blasted in the media for his recent play against the Celtics. The very media machine that has made him what he is - a strutting, posturing prima donna. He has been, since his first day in the league, anointed the greatest player ever to touch as basketball. People have been seduced by his "Godliness". My feelings on this are well documented in other posts. Suffice it to say, he has never won and we have no idea if he will. As we have seen so many times, talent is not an indicator of how much winning a player is capable of. Tim Duncan has the vertical leap of a carrot. Lebron James might as well be able to fly. Which one is a proven winner? Duncan. Why? He possesses something that cannot be quantified with numbers or with measures of athletic ability, the heart of a champion.

The media is now openly questioning this very characteristic and whether their God has it. My only response to this is, "how dare you?" How dare you, you who have spun him and babied him and praised him ad nauseam. Those that have given him free reign. Those that wouldn't dare criticize anything he has done. Not his playoff losses. Not his refusal to shake hands last year when Orlando bounced the Cavaliers out of the playoffs. None of it. We dare not criticize the one we worship lest he shun us from his glory.

"He's worried! You cut him! You hurt him! You see? You see? He's not a machine, he's a man!" -Duke from Rocky IV

I almost feel bad for him. His base, all the Lebron lovers, are pulling the rug out from under him when he needs them to rally around him. Much the same as the Tiger Woods' scandal earlier this year, this is a watershed moment in the history of one of the most high profile athletes of the generation. This moment may very well define what we will remember about Lebron for years to come. So far, Tiger has yet to regain either the form he demonstrated during his best years or the status of media darling he enjoyed for so long. There is one key difference between Tiger and Lebron. Even if Tiger never gets back to what he was, his body of work is without question at this point. He has won more than most could ever dream of. Lebron hasn't. Now he is down, if not yet out. Like the Russian in Rocky IV, he has been stunned. He has been cut and is bleeding for all the world to see. This story can go two ways. Like the Russian, he can keep punching and show fight. Or as another, now famous, Russian said,

"If you could make GOD bleed, people will cease to believe in HIM!" -Ivan Vanko from Iron Man 2

The media's Golden God is bleeding. His armor has been torn into like the above pictured Vanko does to Iron Man. The people supported Iron Man and he fought back with heart. Will Lebron? Who knows? I feel almost sad that this is happening and the flock is deserting its sheppard. Almost.

When I Became a Socialist

The word Socialist seems to be tossed about these days like no other. Quite honestly it's ridiculous for a couple of reasons. One, I don't think half the people that speak about it have any clue about what Socialism is. Two, the other half are saying it because they just hate the President.

To address the first point let us first define Socialism. I will use the definition from the following site: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/socialism.


"Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy."

Now unless I fell into The Land of the Lost or something, we don't have that in this country. What we do have is a bunch of business criminals who are totally unregulated in what they do. We also have the 37th ranked health care system in the world. This in a country that routinely likes to tout it's own superiority.

Calling the desire to regulate illegal activities and provide for citizens, Socialist, shows both ignorance and greed as well as something people rumble about but that no one is willing to say aloud, racism. Those that generally bash President Obama are of the Republican party. This, if you recall the 1980's, was the party that brought us Trickle Down economics. For those of you that aren't familiar with this system, in a vastly simplified world it means that the ultra rich stay ultra rich and if you support their systems like Capitalism you will eventually see some of that wealth trickle down to you, the common man.

A system like Trickle Down economics only works if you believe that you one day will acquire some of that money that is up at the top. Many that attack the President are doing so because they feel that their money and false dream of climbing up the elite ladder are being attacked by his current policies. They feel he has anointed himself a 21st century Robin Hood and is taking their hard swindled...er....earned money and giving it to poor people (read minorities).

People that fall into this category immediately yell, "Socialism!!!" and say that the President must be stopped. So I ask those in the "the President is the Devil" Camp, "you are ok with business men that engage in illegal practices to further their own bank accounts and a country that leaves working citizens without any form of health care?"

We had George W. Bush for 8 years. In that time he managed to do tremendous damage to practically every aspect of the country. People will defend him to the end, but to me just looking at where we are as a country is a testament to his failings. Many will counter that Obama is the problem and in the past Clinton made mistakes as well, totally disregarding the time in between and the events that transpired.

Obama has not even had a full term to implement his policies. Many news outlets show that, despite popular opinion, he seems to be making progress. Yet, groups like the Tea Party continue to rally against the President and his "Socialist" practices.

I am an avid Bill Maher fan and make it point to watch his show each week. Mr. Maher made an excellent point last week on his show. He basically said that if the Tea Party was black they would be locked up as terrorists. I can't really disagree. The group's basic message is if we, as citizens, don't like the way things are going we have to take matters into our own hands. That sounds to me like borderline insurrection. If this group was not made up of rich angry white people they would be thrown in jail in a second.

This brings me back to my second point that people flat out hate Obama. This hate stems directly from race. People will deny it, but Obama has been in office for such a short time that I find it impossible for people to hate him as they do. We don't even know what the end game is to all of his policies as yet.

So considering all that I have just written I think I'll throw my hat in the Socialist ring because

1) I think illegal business practices need to be stopped
2) Citizens should be able to go to the doctor if they have health issues
3) I am not a racist and judge people on their actions

To steal the old cliche, if these things are wrong, I don't want to be right.

We Are All Excuses....er...Witnesses

It's that time of year again. The NBA playoffs are going on. The Cavs have the #1 record and have been procalimed unbeatable. And the excuses for why they just got destroyed by the Celtics and why Lebron played terribly are flying around like his shot's clanging off the backboard.

Here is a recap of the Cav's series so far as the press sees it.

Game 1: the resilient Cavs came back and won a tough game behind Lebron's tremendous play.

Game 2: the Cav's took a tough loss because clearly Lebron's elbow was bothering him and he was too hurt to get it done.

Here is a recap of the Cav's series so far as I see it.

Game 1: the Cav's were down most of the game and it took a Mo Williams sighting (the rest of the time he is stinking it up) to swing the game in the third. All in all a home game the Cav's should have won and almost lost.

Game 2: the Cav's were totally dominated and there were no Mo William's heroics to be had. Lebron might have been off because of the elbow, at least that's what the announcers started saying when they came to the Queen's defense for his, and his team's terrible play. The Celtics walked away with a split and their newly stolen homecourt advantage.

I really can't stand this anymore. Kobe Bryant is playing with a bad knee and ankle, in addition to a broken finger on HIS SHOOTING HAND. All the media wants to talk about is how old he has gotten. Yes, he is a bit older now and maybe age played some factor in his getting injured. Nevertheless, he has played through them. When his team lost the media was not to be found for any such excuses on Kobe's behalf. They threw him under the bus; questioning everything from his leadership to his motives for not shooting enough in a Game 4 loss to the Thunder.

This is why I hate Lebron. He is incapable of truly failing. The media won't allow it. The built in excuses are everywhere. He was hurt. The team didn't get it done for Lebron as usual.

Yes, his numbers are great. A lot of guys have been on good teams with awesome numbers and not won anything though. Besides his great physical advantages, he gets every call and apparently can travel at will as long as we all call it a "crab dribble". The link below will highlight what I am talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm0k2rqEeJQ

The excuses need to stop. When this guy wins MULTPILE titles then we can talk about him as one of the greats. Dirk Nowitzki has amazing numbers and always loses in the playoffs. Everyone questions his ability to lead and win the big one. Why doesn't Lebron get the same treatment? Because he is more athletic? Because we assume he is better than Dirk? Maybe both are true but they both have zero rings and a Finals loss. How are they really that different? You could certainly make a case for Dirk winning the MVP year in and year out.

The Cav's might very well go on to win this series but it seems likes it's going to be a far cry from the cakewalk most analyists predicted.

The Kobe Puzzle

Much has been made of Kobe Bryant's performance, or lack thereof, in game 4 of the series against the Thunder. Kobe says he was managing the game and sticking to strategy. Why do people doubt him when he says this? Yes, he seemed to be passive to a fault. Some have suggested his motivation was to rest himself physically for the stretch run of the series. After all, even if the Lakers lost the game it would only be 2-2.

I have an alternate hypothesis. It is obviously important that Kobe get the rest of his teammates involved and by sticking to the game plan he did that. But, what if by playing such a passive role he was shifting the focus off of the team's questionable play and disappearing bench and squarely onto his shoulders?

He is the one that is paid the huge amount of money to win these types of series. He is one of the few players that is as dominant mentally as he is physically. Perhaps, by playing so hands off he was letting his team build themselves up and band together. This wasn't one of those nights where the headline reads, "Kobe Gives All But Gets Little Help From His Team". It was quite the opposite. Now the rest of those guys in that locker room don't face the criticism that they have been facing. Everyone is wondering what was wrong with Kobe.

I'm not saying that Kobe planned any of this. I'm just saying that it isn't out of the question given the unusual behavior we have seen from Kobe before. He has many times played games withing games and no one really knows what goes on in his head. Maybe this is just another case of the master working. Maybe, we should just let him work.

Avatar

The Great Blue Hype?

Don't get me wrong, I really like Avatar. I am a sci fi fan first and foremost. Avatar has everything I like in a movie. There is a ton of action, your brain is required and the movie has some deeper meanings. Having said all that, how many other people are sci fi fans? I would venture to say not as many as there are people raving about Avatar.

CGI effects are impossible to avoid these days. Every big blockbuster employs them to varying degree. The holy grail of effects is photo realism. Many have claimed that Avatar has reaching this sacred plateau. Sorry to ruin the fun, but it's simply not the case. They are wondrous effects to be sure, but they are not radically better than any other CGI world we have seen in recent history. This is not to say that they shouldn't be talked about, they should. But they have not redefined the movie world as we know it.

Avatar has done one thing to help the ever advancing realm of movie tech. It has significantly upped the bar for motion capture technology. The facial animations for the characters is nothing short of spectacular. As is the audio design. The world lives in the room with you when you turn up the volume on this movie.

With all this though, Avatar is still just a really good movie with really great effects. It is not the cultural and movie going phenomenon many people are making it out to be. And, honestly, many of the people that are all about this movie are not sci fi fans in the first place. They have clearly jumped on the bandwagon of the massive hit. There is nothing wrong with that necessarily. People want to be part of what's in at the moment and that is fine. But let's call it what it is.

James Cameron is a wizard of a director. His movies are of consistently high quality and Avatar is no different. For my money, though, Aliens, The Abyss, and maybe even True Lies are better movies. Aliens certainly shares many similarities with Avatar such as the giant walking robots, the heavy military presence, the detestable corporate weasel and of course Sigourney Weaver. These elements are all good in Avatar. They just happen to be better in Aliens.

In the end, this is purely opinion. I just don't like being told that I am crazy because I think these massively hyped movies are rarely as good as advertised. I have nothing against Avatar but you'll forgive me if I don't call it the best thing ever. Though it has made the most money ever, like so many things, it may have the numbers but that doesn't make it the best.

To Hate or Not to Hate

I've been giving some thought to the word hater. What is a hater? How does one define hater? Since I can't go ask Kanye, I've come up with my own definition. A hater is someone who tells someone a truth they already know but don't want to admit. For example, a friend tells another friend that their sweater is ugly. Friend 1, "Yo man, why did you wear that terrible sweater?". Friend 2, "Stop being such a hater".

Allow me to translate the above example. Friend 1 has just told Friend 2 that his sweater is ugly. Rather than agree with the truth, Friend 2 will attempt to make it seem that Friend 1 is jealous. Hence he calls him a hater when in reality Friend 2 is saying, "yes my sweater is terrible and I shouldn't have worn it out. In fact I should have burned it." But he can't.

Another example is when Friend 2 is engaging in clearly ridiculous behavior that needs to be called out. Friend 1 takes the opportunity to call out Friend 2 for his antics. Friend 2 responds with, "stop hating yo". He knows his behavior is reprehensible but doesn't want to be called out. Then don't do ridiculous things and you won't get called out.

My final point is that there are, of course, real haters out there that hate on everything. Be on the look out for such haters and check them accordingly.

History in the Making

After last night's victory, I think it is safe to say, "We are all witnesses". And I don't mean to Queen James. I am referring to Kobe Bryant's 39 point performance put on last night at the expense of the Oklahoma City Thunder. How many times have we seen Kobe will his team to victory? He consistently demonstrates total mental domination of his opponents. While the next days headlines read things like, "The Old Man Does it Again" I have to shake my head. Kobe Bryant just beat a young team in the first round of the playoffs. A nice feat to be sure, but not something to hang your hat on when you are a 4 time champion. That is why it's all the more glaring when the media proclaims Lebron James 40 point performance the other night against the Bulls to be historic. To quote Mark Jackson, "Are you kidding me?". The media wants to proclaim him the best ever and we are talking about first round playoff victories as historic? I think not.

Let's talk some real history. Michael Jordan is on the top scorers list for the NBA Finals 5 times. He scored 55 on the biggest stage in basketball en route to winning a championship. That's history. Stop putting Lebron James in the discussion until he has some real historical context behind him, like winning a championship.

Though baseball is much more about individual statistics and is a much harder sport to dominate as an individual, some comparisions can be drawn. I hate Alex Rodriguez with as much passion as I hate Lebron. I rountinely bashed him for having not won a championship. He had great numbers. Some of the best ever. We will, for the time being, put aside his admitted steroid use and concentrate on the matter at hand. Last season he won a Championship with the New York Yankees and had the statistics to go along with it. Unlike other seasons where he put up quality numbers his team won the whole thing. He now has a spot in history. He can be mentioned with the other great number guys who won. Until then it wasn't fair to compare them, even in a sport like baseball where numbers are truly an apples to apples comparision.

The same is true for Lebron James. He hasn't won a single title. To make matters worse, Dwayne Wade, a contemporary of James, already has a title and he won it while James was playing in the league at the same time. I don't want to hear about the team Wade had and that Shaq was on it. If you watched that post season you know that Wade was the best player on the team that won it and was the catalyst for their winning over the Dallas Mavericks. Lebron does have a Final appearance on his resume. An appearance that was quickly forgotten as the Spurs rolled to victory and swept the Cavaliers.

I am also tired of hearing how good the Cavaliers are and how much better Lebron makes the players around him. Most of these guys are mediocre at best. In the regular season they look great beating up on the awful eastern teams (everyone on the Nets and Knicks stand up and say hi) and they get praised heaped upon them. Until the playoffs. This is when they get beaten handily and everyone starts making the excuse that his team isn't any good and he did all he could. You can't have it both ways. Either they stink or they don't. In the post season there aren't any cup cake teams anymore. The teams that are there are there for a reason. Maybe this will be the year of Lebron like last year was the year of Arod. But not if Kobe has anything to say about it.

Appearance vs Reality

I can't resist. I am an unabashed Lakers fan. I, as well as many knowledgable basketball fans, believe Kobe to be the best player in the league. Popular media would disagree as they have a vested interested (read it's about money) in pushing Lebron James. It has to stop. I can hate a person and respect them. I hated Tim Duncan while he was playing the Lakers in the earlier part of this decade. But I always respected him because watching I knew that I was watching one of the best players ever. I never feel that when watching Lebron. His teammate Antawan Jamison just described his "taking over" of a game the other day as witnessing history. Really? A first round playoff game? This is history? My question is who really thinks this is history? This is "the greatest player ever's" body of work? He beat a so so Bulls team in a first round playoff game. That's it. Nice win. He scored 40 points. I'm 99% positive that has happened before in the history of the league.

Let us forget Kobe Bryant for a minute. Let's talk about Michael Jordan. He has 6 championships in a far superior era of basketball. SIX. Say it with me SIX. Not one or two. SIX. How many does King James have? None. That's right. Zero. Not a single one. Michael Jordan is the best ever not because of his terrific skill set or athleticism. It's because he used all that skill to win and win a lot. He is responsible for a whole crop of the best players ever not winning championships. The comparisions just have to stop.

Now back to Kobe. Kobe has 4 championships. What was Lebron's number again? Oh yes, zero. And I don't want to hear that Kobe is older and had Shaq and all this other stuff. He had all those advantages and came through. He won when he could have lost. He had 3 of his 4 championships before the age of 23. When his team had the best record they won the championsip. Lebron? They were taken out by Orlando in embarassing fashion. You might remember this as the series where Lebron went sulking off the floor refusing to shake hands. The King can't congratulate his peasants?

The point I'm making is very simple. Just as no one had to tell me Jordan was the best, no one has to tell me Kobe is the best. I can watch and see it. Lebron is a terrific athlete and player but I never get that sense when watching him. No amount of announcer plugging, or bulletin boards or stats are going to change that.

This post isn't really attempting to be humorous. It's more a pondering on the state of the world. I ask those around me that are, shall we say more seasoned, if the way things are now are worse than they were. I know every generation thinks that the latest generation is the worst that has ever come along; constantly pushing the limits and doing things that would never have been acceptable in "their day". Some tell me it is worse, some aren't sure. Most would agree it hasn't gotten better.

Most movies that portray the 21st century show it to be a shiny, pretty, happy place full of wonderous things and a more evolved sensibility. Well the 21st century has arrived and I can't help but feel that we are in those other 21st century movies that display the future as a dark dystopia devoid of any of the grand and glorious advances of its more hopeful counterparts.

I look at the lack of drive by many of the students in school today and I wonder if it was like that ten years ago when I was in high school. I can't help but think that it wasn't. And it isn't just the kids. Society seems to be more superficial than ever. We are constantly caught up on superfluous things that lack little in the way of real value. It seems as though we have stumbled upon a new "Dark Age" when learning and striving for better has gone by the wayside. So few are concerned with doing the right thing simply to do the right thing. I have little in the way of practical answers to solving this. Most people don't want to hear the hard truth anymore and as a result things don't get done. I'm only 25. I feel too young to feel so jaded.

Perhaps the best solution is to have a Renaissance. Let us get back to important things like caring about being better people. Let's get back to a system where working hard will get you somewhere. But let's also strive for happiness that isn't tied to our Facebook accounts. Stay Classy.

My First Official Action

Greetings to the internet. Somehow I have been allowed to freely express myself on the internet via the written word. Surely someone screwed up if this has occured. Nevertheless, I am here and will be sharing the nonsense that wanders about my life. Stay Classy.