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.