I'm not MJ, but my comeback might be illustrious ...Housecleaning issues
Just a quick update: I have a job now, so my posts will be more remnants and random thoughts than 20,000 word diatribes against [insert teams/schools I don't like].
I also no longer cover Pitt sports (or any sports for that matter), so, while I still have plenty of sources inside Pitt hoops and football, I am not at their facilities, press conferences, media ops, games, practices, events, etc. anymore. Nor do I intend on ever getting back to them in a reporting role.
Moving on ...
I do, however, still watch sports.
-- I don't know what happened, but last night was not that great for me. Maybe being in another city, by myself, with work in the morning made the whole championship-winning thing for the Celtics seem sort of ... underwhelming. Call me a traitor. Call me a bad fan. But I just never felt any sense of connection to this team. I like how they played. Of course I love Paul Pierce. And I was certainly happier than I was anything else that they won. But yet, I turned the TV off and went to bed.
I feel little to no connection with Ray Allen, who played for the most hated school in New England. I still think Kevin Garnett plays like someone afraid to be a power forward. And I just really had no passion for the rest of the team.
Of the players on the club--who actually played minutes--only Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Tony Allen, Leon Powe and Kendrick Perkins remained from previous seasons. Everyone else? A transplant (or rookie): Allen, Garnett, Eddie House, Sam Cassell, P.J. Brown, Big Baby Davis, James Posey.
Part of me would have preferred suffering two more years and winning with the old guys.
Trust me, I'm fully aware that no one with whom I'm friends or to whom I'm related--not one of them--with agree with me, but I just never got that excited about these guys. In fact, I said, for the entire season, that they would falter to fourth or fifth place and lose in the second round of the playoffs. Obviously I was wrong. And it shows how pointless and generally incorrect predictions can be. But this has just brought me to a new layer of thinking: Do I think this title was worth sacrificing all of the young talent for two superstars and a slew of over-the-hill veterans who have never been on a regular team in their careers?
--In other news, Euro 2008 is into the quarterfinal phase after Russia's victory against Sweden and Holland's against Greece. This should be a great final eight:
Thursday: Portugal-Germany
Friday: Croatia-Turkey
Saturday: Holland-Russia
Sunday: Spain-Italy
I like Portugal, Turkey in an upset, Holland and Spain to go through. And I like a Portugal-Holland final.
But aside from the remaining good football ahead of us, there is some now behind us. Sweden and France will send many of their aging stars of yesteryear on to new things. Freddie Ljunberg and Henrik Larssen will probably never play for Sweden again. Gregory Coupet, Claude Makelele, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Lilian Thuram have all reached points where they have to wonder if playing for France is something they'll want to do anymore. It looks like it's time for both countries to start fresh with their younger stars.
Tidbits ...
Kung Fu Panda was actually good. Jack Black's hand in the movie makes it hilarious. I know it sounds crazy, but I couldn't be more serious.
Joan Rivers got booted off a British talk show. I guess there's no need for a joke.
I'm reading a book called American Savior by Roland Merullo. It will be out in the fall but I get to read the advance copy (perks of the job). Very good so far, though. Entertaining.
Oh, Canada. Why does this not surprise me? Anywhere else and this is weird.
And my closing thought for today ... Did anyone else notice how ridiculous Kevin Garnett's post-victory interview was last night? Go back and watch it. Dude didn't say one coherent string of words.
Enjoy the day.
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