Notes From the Sports Week

Just some random notes from this week in sports.

1. ARod and the Yankees
Alex Rodriguez is apparently set to sign a 10 year, 275 million dollar contract with the Yankees. So basically, in spite of the fact that they have won NOTHING since aquiring ARod and in spite of the fact that they said straight up they'd never resign him if he opted out of his contract, the Yanks have gone ahead and signed him anyway. And for the second time in 8 years, ARod has signed the biggest contract in the history of American sports. I think I'll do a full blog on this in the future but to make it quick, GOOD. I'm glad Rodriguez signed with the Yankees. They deserve each other. The ultimate "me over the team" baseball player back with the ultimate "chemestry? we don't need no stinking chemestry" baseball team. I respect the heck out of the Yanks for paying whatever they can to add talent but at some point they completely abandoned the value of a TEAM in favor of a bunch of overpaid individuals. I hate the Yanks and I hate Arod and so it makes me pretty happy inside to know that they not only have each other for 10 more years but also that they will win ZERO World Series titles as long as ARod is in pinstripes.

2. Mavs DESTROY Spurs
It's still early so of course, it matters little. BUT, the Mavs played the Spurs tonight and completely destroyed the defending champs. They outplayed the Spurs in almost every facet of the game. Devin Harris made Tony Parker look stupid, Jason Terry (again) hit every important shot, and Dirk Nowitzki had maybe the best defensive game of his career. Since Avery came on as the coach of this team, they've tried to model themselves after the Spurs (minus the whining and flopping). This season it looks like it is working because Dirk is truly taking on the Tim Duncan role. His scoring numbers are down but every night he's putting up a balanced stat line. Tonight was 17 points, 8 boards, 5 assists, 4 blocks, and a steal. This is after the 21 points, 12 boards, 8 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals against Philly. If the Mavs need him to go for 35 he still can but on your average night he's able to contribute in every way instead of just scoring and rebounding. Championship baby!

3. The San Fran Witch Hunt
Look, I'm biased. There's no question. I freaking love Barry Bonds. I think he's the greatest player in the history of Major League Baseball and frankly, I don't care if he was juiced for a couple of years or not. I'm so sick of this WITCH HUNT that MLB and Congress and whoever else have engaged in against Barry. EVERYONE from 1998 to 2003 was juiced. EVERYONE!!! I'm completely beaten with the arrogance of MLB and the ignorance of the national media laying the entire consequence of the Steroid Era at Barry's feet. The way he's been portrayed you'd think that sometime back in 1996 Barry thought "You know what might make this thing awesome? What if I developed some sort of drug, we'll call it a steroid, that makes me stronger and faster! Then I'd go from best player in the league to best player in HISTORY! Better yet I'll let all my opponents in on it so we can ALL be freaking awesome!" then went into his secret laboratory and used his master's in chemestry to develop anabolic steroids, HGH, and whatever other crap these guys used, then passed it around to everyone in baseball, AND somehow got Bud Selig to never make a rule outlawing the use of steroids. Did he cheat? Ya, except for the fact that this wasn't even illegal in the sport. Still, ya he cheated but so did 90% of the people he played with and against, including the pitchers who he was batting against (75% of the those who have tested positive in the last 3 years are pitchets). MLB screwed up by not nipping this crap in the butt when they knew it was happening and now Barry's got 900 fingers pointing at him because he's the one who's actually had the ability to stay in the league after all the other steroid guys have crashed and burned. It's a witch hunt and it makes me sick. Baseball can't EVER get ANYTHING right. Down with Selig!

4. Grant Hill
I love Grant Hill. Ever since his days at Duke he's been one of my favorite players in the NBA. He's as classy as they come, nicest guy in the world, and one of the most talented guys to ever put on the uniform. If not for extreme and unjust injuries, Grant would be included with Michael, Magic, and Larry in the pantheon of all time greats. But since 1999, Grant has been afflicted with an unfair share of injuries. Since 2000, his games played in each season have been: 4, 14, 29, 67, 21, and 65 (out of 82 each year). It's been one surgery after another for Grant and that combined with his wife's life threatening illness, he's nearly been pushed into retirement a number of times. But he decided to make one last attempt this year and signed with the Suns. Tonight was the first time I've gotten to watch the Suns this year and it was GREAT to see Grant out there. He was running well and looking good. He even had a strong, two handed jam off a Nash pass that looked a lot like the type of thing he would have done pre injuries. Grant is a true ambassador of the sport and if anyone deserves a productive and injury free season it's him. I wish my best to Grant and hope he has a great year, though he's going to be watching the Finals from home.

5. Sour Grapes
Every year the members of the 72 Miami Dolphins get together and toast themselves after the last unbeaten NFL team loses. EVERY YEAR. They are the only team in NFL history to go through an entire year undefeated. A great feat to be sure. But in my opinion, it has gotten old now. 35 years of this junk. Now it looks like a team might REALLY make a run at the perfect season. The Patriots are possibly the best team ever and they have a coach that will do anything he can to spit in the face of anyone who opposes him so you know they're going to work hard to get that 16-0. A couple days ago one of the members of the Dolphins went off on a reporter about how he was tired of being questioned about it and talk to me when they're 14-0 not 9-0. Look, there's some truth to that. The media really should just leave it alone until they get close. But realism is not the strength of the media. And more to the point, this guy was all upset about being questioned, like he never even thinks about the unbeaten record. Could it be the fact that you jokers get together every year and make a big deal about drinking champagne and smoking cigars in honor of remaining the only unbeaten team? That probably has something to do with this staying in the public eye. Anyway, after 35 years haven't you had your fill? At some point it's going to come to an end and I think it's pretty sorry to act like a bunch of fools every year. And even more to the point, I hope you enjoyed last year's cigar because this is when it ends. The Pats are going 16-0 and winning the Super Bowl and that's all there is to it. And the 72 Dolphins can fade into history where they belong.

Hicks

There are a few things I strongly dislike in this world. Traffic and the morons that cause traffic is one. Poor officiating is another. Rosie O'donnel. The way British people say "schedule" and "zebra." Nicholas Cage and John Travolta.

Very high on the list of things I strongly dislike, however, and ever gaining ground on Rosie and Travolta is Rangers and Stars owner Tom Hicks.

Somehow this worthless sack of crap got his hands on not one, but two DFW Metroplex sports teams. The Rangers have always had problems and have never been the model of a well run organization. But they've gotten oh so much worse since Hicks came on board. And so as not to appear as playing favorites, he is making every effort to drive the Stars, once a proud hockey franchise, into the ground right along with the Rangers.

It started out really well. Hicks has some freakishly deep pockets. Figuaratively speaking he could put a herd of those blasted longhorns he loves so much in each pocket. The dude has more money than he could ever spend. He purchased the Stars in 95 and for several years put as much money into the team as could be expected for an NHL franchise. Then in 98 he bought the Rangers. At the time sports fans in DFW were excited and thought he'd be like Jerry Jones and put crazy money into the team. The Rangers, as noted, have always been a terrible franchise. Three division titles, no playoff series wins, and no world series appearances in their history. And again, for a few short years, Hicks did in fact put money into the team.

Two problems. First of all, he never did surround himself with real active, knowledgeable baseball guys. He overbid by 50 million dollars to bring in A-Rod and gave Chan Ho Park 15 mil a year and thought that would be enough. Oddly enough, baseball is probably the one sport that one superstar cannot carry a team in. By paying ARod 25 mil a year he couldn't (or wouldn't) pay for any of the other positions. The team floundered in last place and eventually traded A-rod for 50 cents on the dollar. The second problem was, somewhere along the line, Hicks stopped spending money.

Hicks has figured out, both with the Stars and the Rangers, that because this market is so supporting of its teams, he can put next to nothing into the team, blame the lack of expenditure on the fans, and make a crap load of money off this little scam. People will still go to the Ballpark even when the Rangers suck and Hicks, as always, refuses to put any money into the team. Hockey fans in Dallas are FREAKISHLY attached to their team and will continue to fork over 50 bucks a ticket for bad seats to watch a team that hasn't been able to score for 5 years but still hasn't done anything to get scorers.

I've freaking had it with this guy. Dallas is the 5th biggest market on the national sports scene. And yet year after year the Rangers in particular are in the bottom third in payroll. Think about that: fifth biggest market and their payroll is in line with Kansas City, Florida, and Tampa Bay. That's pathetic. And yet year after year Hicks blames the lack of spending on the fans not coming to the ballpark (bull crap) and says he's not making enough profit off the team.

The same thing is going on right now with the Stars. Payroll in the NHL isn't an issue because of the salary cap but figuring out how to spend that money is more important in hockey than in baseball. Every year he raises ticket prices (for both franchises) and then turns around and makes weak, insignificant patch-job signings, like last year's Eric Lindros signing. This team CANNOT SCORE! Go get SOMEONE who can fill the net. Every year Hicks and his team (who I can't blame because they're not getting anything from the owner) lacklusterly poke around at the big fish just so they can say they tried but in the end they never pony up the money they know it will take to sign a real goal scorer. And so each year they bring out the dog and pony show and tell us how they're going to be a defensive team and there wasn't really anyone out there worth signing anyway.

Now Hicks has fired the GM. This is a move that I've expected. Doug Armstrong didn't bring in the scorers needed to take this team back to prominence. But as I've noted, how much can he really do, knowing that his owner isn't going to pay any real money even if he does get one of the big free agents to come to Dallas. The problem isn't the firing of Army. The problem is that he wanted to fire Army in the off season but didn't have the nerve to do it. Now he's done it 15 games into the year and put a complete novice at the head of the team. This season is lost now. If you're going to make a move, do it when the team has a half a chance to get used to that move.

An even bigger issue, though, was the press conference. Hicks comes out and talks about his presidents of operations and how good they've been and how much of a difference they've made. And he talks (like ALWAYS) about revenue. He scolds the Stars fans for not giving up their first born for the Stars and again reminds the lowly serfs/fans that without their money he can't (translation: won't) spend the money necessary to make the Stars or the Rangers relevant again. He speaks to the media and to the fans like he's the chairman of the board speaking to the dang shareholders.

Here's the thing Tommy Boy: WE DON'T FREAKING CARE ABOUT YOUR PROFITS!!! We are shareholders in a sense, but in THE TEAM, not you, not your revenues. If you want to make money off a company then don't get into sports. Sure, there's money to be had but not nearly at the same level that a corporation can bring you. The point of a sports franchise is not to make money but to WIN and then take the money that comes from that. There just aren't many teams in any sport that really rake in money. The Yankees and the Cowboys come to mind, but oh by the way, The Yankees payroll last year was 250 million dollars and oh by the way, Jerry Jones just spent about 500 million of his own money to make that stadium the best in the world. In sports you have to give to get. We're sick and tired of being admonished for not paying the ever increasing ticket prices for teams that are ever decreasing in talent. Put some money into these teams, stay out of the public eye and SHUT YOUR MOUTH! Every time the dude talks it's a speech about lack of revenue and cicle talk concerning the direction of the franchises. How bout this, we'll spend some money when you spend some money and stop running these teams into the ground. If the money really is so bad, then GET OUT and sell the teams to owners who know what it takes to put a winner on the field/ice. Cuban has been trying to get into MLB for years, surely he wouldn't mind taking on the Rangers. Can you imagine what Jerry would do with the Stars?

It's time to put up or shut up Hicks. Spend some money or sell the teams and move on. Don't you have an English soccer team to ruin anyway?

Three New Shows Worth Watching

This season started as one of the best TV years in recent memory. The lag in worthwhile plots, however, has led to a lull in quality programming in the last month or so. I can only guess how much worse the writer's strike will make the upcoming months. (Speaking of which, the word is the networks will fill air time with reality shows should the strike continue for much longer. Ugh. Here's hoping the Mavs are playing seriously meaningful basketball during this strike or my DVD player is going to be carrying more than its fair share of the load.) "Heroes" has been so stagnant even the creator is apologizing to fans. "Grey's Anatomy" has fallen into the trap it had so successfully manuvered around to this point by allowing the romance to completely take over the rest of the show. "The Office" is just about the only returning show that has held up its end of the bargain by not only staying the course but by getting even better in its fourth season.

That said, there are three new shows this season that have not only captured my attention but have retained it thus far. All three deserve more attention than they've gotten thusfar and so here goes my attempt at swaying viewers to at least flip the Tivo on for these shows.

3. Journeyman
First of all, no that's not 80's star Anthony Michael Hall in the lead here. It took me about 4 weeks to be absolutely sure of that but it is in fact Kevin McKidd of "Rome" fame. This show is "simple" enough in its premise - out of nowhere, Dan Vasser, a San Francisco reporter begins to take trips back in time. He soon discovers that each time he goes back there is something he is to accomplish. Usually there is a person he must save or forever change the life of in order to better the future in one way or another. Sometimes the results are direct (a gambling addicted lawyer that is to committ suicide becomes a powerful attorney affecting civil change) while sometimes it's more indirect (a man he saves repeatedly turns out to be a criminal who's son becomes a world renowned scientist). Vasser must balance this new power with the demands of family and job and a jealous brother who each passing week grows closer and closer to sending his brother to prison for the crimes he believes he is committing. It's an entertaining show, if nothing else, and McKidd is a great actor, even if he does seriously resemble Anthony Michael Hall. With every sci-fi show, however, "Journeyman" walks the line between intriguing and ridiculous. Let's hope the shows creators can continue to keep on the right side of the line because it's rare that a sci-fi show can make it on network TV and this is good enough to do so.

2. Chuck
Alright, when I saw the ENDLESS previews for this show that NBC threw out for the months leading up to the premiere, I thought "That looks like the dumbest show ever." I pronounced "3 weeks" to my wife, meaning I would bet the show lasted 3 weeks before cancellation. Still I Tivoed a couple of episodes and I must say this is the most pleasantly surprised I've been with a show in a long time. "Chuck" is really funny. It's well written, well shot, and surprisingly well acted. The show centers around Chuck Bartowski, a geek who works for the "Nerd Herd" (aka Geek Squad) at "Buy More" (aka Best Buy). A real genius, he was kicked out of Stanford for cheating and now has no life and makes no real attempt to get one. His ex-roommate, who coincidentally got him kicked out of Stanford, went on to become a CIA operative and on a rouge mission, he sends Chuck a batch of video encoded government secrets which become imbedded in Chuck's brain. So every once in a while (I would say about once a week and always on a Monday) something jogs his memory and makes him think of a government secret and a mission ensues. He is accompanied by a CIA operative, Sarah, and an NSA operative, John. It's a silly show but that is in fact the greatness of the show. "Chuck" delights in its silliness and never takes itself too seriously. The supporting characters are brilliant: Joshua Gomez's Morgan is a geek cliche but still humorous and Adam Baldwin is finally getting another opportunity to show his brilliance after "Firefly" was so unceremoniously killed. But the show hinges on Chuck, played by Zachary Levi. Levi is an essential unknown and in the previews for the show I really thought he was going to overact the whole thing. But in reality, Levi's deliver is smooth and well timed. His dialouge is witty and he strikes just the right cord of being nerdy without falling into the annoying cliche nerdiness that most of these characters become. It's easy to believe that at one time this character wasn't a complete nerd but has become so due to circumstances. Chuck comes across as a slightly less cool version of Jim Halpert from "The Office." It's a fun show that I look forward to each week and really isn't that about all you can ask from a TV show?

3. Pushing Daisies
ABC gets a spot in my top three with what is really the only new full length show the network came out with this season. While the execs in all their wisdom decided "Cavemen" was a worthwhile program, they also greenlit "Pushing Daisies" so I can't hold too much against them. "Daisies" was created by Barry Sonnenfeld, the same person who gave us "Men In Black" and "Get Shorty" and even the most amatuer of film students can see the simirities in the way these works are shot. Dark is overly dark but light is just as overly light, the plotlines are over the top but in a fantastic way, and the dialouge is just a little different than your average TV show. "Daisies" centers around a pie maker who at an early age discovers that if he touches something that is dead, it will return to life. However, there are several other rules which apply to this ability, including the fact that if he ever touches the reborn again, it will return to death. Therefore he cannot and does not pet his dog and he is unable to touch his girlfriend who was his child hood love and whom he brought back to life while attempting to find out who killed her so he could collect the reward money. Sound a little out there? It is. But as in the case of "Chuck", this show knows it's crazy and celebrates that fact. The way this show is shot is awesome but the true brilliance of the show lies in the actors. Lee Pace plays the lead role perfectly so that the viewer can feel sympathetic to poor Ned but not so much that he becomes a sad figure. Kristen Chenowith is humorous in her role as the assistant pie maker who is head over heels in love with Ned. Anna Friel, the dead girl who's not dead, is amazing and brings a glimmer of sunshine to material that could very easily become dark without her presence. I hope to see more of her in the future. The real find here, however, is the ALWAYS underrated Chi McBride who plays the private investivator Ned partners with to solve crimes and more importantly, collect reward money with. Chi's brand of obvious sarcasm is perfect for the role and I can only hope that this show can vault Chi into more mainstream roles than those he has had to take over the years. It's a fun ride that "Daisies" takes us on and I was extremely pleased to see that ABC has picked the show up for the full season in spite of its lackluster numbers.

Five Songs You Should Download

Every so often I'm fortunate enough to come into possession of an iTunes gift card and spend days looking for the best possible songs I can get with my $15. iTunes is a great thing for two reasons: 1.) you can find music you would never hear otherwise and 2.) you can get the singles of the bands who don't have the decency to make a quality album but occasionally come up with a hit. Here are five songs that I've picked up over the last couple of weeks that are worth a download.

"Thanks I Get" - Wilco
I'm a fan of the folk-rock/independent rock genre and Wilco has been one of the poster bands for this movement. But Wilco has always been a band that intrigued me but ultimately failed to deliver a truly good album (or hit single) in each of its previous attempts. This is the song I've been waiting for. The lyrics are simple yet meaningful and whereas I have felt other Wilco songs have been overly dominated by their guitar work, "Thanks I Get" displays perfect harmony between singer and band. It is also beautifully arranged and is much more catchy than anything Wilco has done before. You've probably heard this song over the last couple of months as Wilco is the official band of Volkswagon. Here's hoping Wilco's follow up album will have more stuff like this.

"Bubbly" - Colbie Caillat
This song gets played about 197 times a day on pop radio. But don't let that scare you off. The debut single of a talented young musician, "Bubbly" is an extremely catchy if simplistic little love song that is a breath of fresh air compared to the overproduced, over sung junk that has taken over the majority of our radio airwaves. It's far from a transcendant piece of work but it's a warm-fuzzy feeling sort of song and Ms. Caillat has a beautiful voice that resides somewhere between Norah Jones and Joss Stone. It's a good song that is sure to make its way into countless spring TV shows but the real find here is Ms. Caillat who has the potential to be a force for good in the fight against synthesizers and Britney Spears. Hope to see more from her in the future.

"I'm So Sick (Acoustic)" - Flyleaf
Flyleaf broke onto the music scene in late 2005 with a unique brand of hard core, heavy, Christian influenced music. The lyrics are screamed and the music is deafeningly loud and clashing. They make Evanescence look like The Osmonds. Yet there's no hiding the fact that each song is filled with Christian themes. It's a scream fest that Jesus himself could rock out to. "I'm So Sick" was the first single, a song that got a lot of play and has become a favorite of mine. The acoustic version, however, is even better. While the original was powerful through its loudness, this version is just as powerful through its quiet. Lacey Mosley's voice is HAUNTING and the lyrics sung at this level with only the light strumming of a guitar to back it bring goosebumps. You can feel the lyricist's suffering pouring out through Ms. Mosley's voice. This is destined to find a spot on my all time favorites list.

"I'm With the Band" - Little Big Town
This is straight up one of the best songs I've heard in a long time. I'm no fan of country music and I found LBT's previous efforts to be cliche and lacking in content. But if the next album is anything like the single, I'm in. "The Band" is an anthem for traveling/gypsy bands everywhere and channels the work of Willie, The Eagles, and Lynard Skynard. The song begins and ends in four part harmony and the music works perfectly with the singing, adding to the voice work rather than overpowering it. This is an incredible piece of work that invoke images of white lines, passing countryside, and, for me, the "Tiny Dancer" scene in "Almost Famous." I can only hope that Nashville can give us more work such as this and less of the unimaginative junk we've been force fed for the last few years.

"Stay (I Missed You)" - New Found Glory
This is a punk-cover of the mid 90's Lisa Loeb song that was a long running hit in the Billboard Top 100. And it's awesome. I'm a fan of the cover song but this is one of the best ones I've heard in a long time. Lisa Loeb provides dual vocals to accompany Jordan Pundik. The seeming clash in style of Pundik's classicly punk voice and Loeb's reserved, soft voice actually works in perfect compliment. NFG provides an edge and some real feelings to a song that I've always found to be lacking in both. While the rest of this album doesn't live up to NFG's previous cover album, this song stands out as an awesome example of how much fun a cover song can be when done right.

The Heat

The Miami Heat are awful. And I don't mean like the normal kind of awful team that resides each year at the cellar of the Eastern Conference. I mean HISTORIC AWFUL. Like "Daddy Day Care" is regular awful and "Daddy Day Camp" is HISTORIC awful. Now at the end of the day, their final record won't be anything close to the 72-73 Philly team that won 9 games or the 92 and 93 Mavs teams that won 11 and 13 games respectively. That won't happen because they still have Shaq who even in his present condition is still worth a lot of wins. And when Wade comes back he'll make them at least a decent team.

But that won't change the fact that this team is AWFUL.

Without Wade, the Heat have not one player that can consistently create for himself and make good decisions. This was the reason Ricky Davis was brought in but the truth is, Ricky is a DECENT creator (for himself and only himself, never a teammate) when he's the second or third option. When he's the first option, he's in over his head. Now you can survive in the NBA without creators if you have two things: defense and good shooters to combine with an inside force. The Heat have neither.

Jason Williams, Ricky Davis, Penny Hardaway, Dorell Wright...all of these guys are streaky shooters at best. There's not one guy on that team that will kill you every time you leave him open. That's what they had in Jason Kapono but they let him walk in free agency. There's no ramifications or negative consequences to keep a team like the Spurs from double and even triple teaming Shaq on every play. Udonis Haslem is the only guy who is even remotely consistent with the jumper and he's a 15 foot shooter. More over, after watching them play tonight you'd think that the Heat don't even know they have Shaq on their team. At times the Heat went literally 6 or 7 straight possessions without Shaq every touching the ball. We've established that no one else on this team is capable of scoring without serious help, right? I know Shaq isn't the same Shaq from 2004 but he's still SHAQ! The Heat played like they had Gary Coleman playing the center spot tonight.

The big thing, though, is their defense. At some point Mark Jones, the broadcaster, said something to the affect of "this team depends on great defense and when that doesn't happen they struggle." Translation: this team would be lucky to score 100 points in TWO games, let alone on a single night, so they better bust their tails on D and hope to goodness that the other team decides to put two farm animals in the starting lineup in place of their two best shooters.

Problem is, this team probably STILL couldn't hold another team under 85 points if they DID play two farm animals. Their perimeter defense is seriously the worst I have EVER seen. Dead serious. I feel that a team of 8th grade girls from a school for the deaf and blind would play better perimeter defense than these guys. Jason Williams has never been even a passable defender but he's gotten worse after the knee surgeries. Smush Parker is a complete idiot in every facet of the game so it's no surprise that he still can't seem to wrap his head around the concept of actually staying IN FRONT of your man. And then there's Ricky Davis. I used to think there was no worse perimeter defender in the league than Antoine Walker. But darnit if Pat Riley didn't go out and prove me wrong and found one who was. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Ricky's man drove tonight it was a free trip to the paint. Granted, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are incredibly tough covers but surely an NBA player should be able to stop them every once in a while. Meanwhile Shaq is aging and not nearly as explosive when it comes to shot blocking as he used to be. But he doesn't stand a chance with that team full of matadors out there waving a red flag and giving opponents clear paths to the basket. I wanted to scream "Ole!" on almost every possession.

This is a really, really bad team. And if they don't get it together soon, no amount of magic that Shaq and Wade can put together is going to save them.

We're Raising a Banner This Year

Ya, it's only 4 games into the year but I'm going to tell you right now: the NBA championship comes to Dallas this season. Put the champagne on ice, print the t-shirts and hats, plan the parade route (okay, not that, since that's what jinxed us in 06), and engrave "2008 Dallas Mavericks" on the trophy. This thing is done.

The Houston Rockets are everyone's "It" team this year. Lots of people are picking San Antonio and Phoenix to win it all but on a lot of "expert" ballots, the Rockets are often picked to finish ahead of the Mavs during the regular season and advance farther than the Mavs in the playoffs. McGrady is supposed to be smarter now. Yao has turned into a superstar. They've added some capable veterans. And they have a new coach, Rick Adelman, who is a great offensive mind and will supposedly allow for Tracy McGrady, Shane Battier, and a host of point guards run wild in ways that would have made Jeff Van Gundy want to punch a baby were he still coach. (Shout out to Dane Cook for the punch a baby line of jokes.)

Truth is, they're an easy pick over the Mavs. The Mavs have completely blown two championship chances in two years and at some point their window of opportunity will close. Houston is exciting and has a traditional base of power, with an inside force (Yao) and an outside scoring freak (McGrady).

But here's the thing: The Mavs just knocked the Rockets out tonight playing at nowhere near full strength. They were missing 2 starters and 2 extremely valuable bench players. 4 very important players missing and yet as the game progressed, the Mavs just wore the Rockets down. Houston stayed close early but the Mavs kept pressuring them from every angle and watched as they cracked. Yao was exhausted and was truly outplayed by Gana Diop, a guy who makes about 10 percent of what he does. Jason Terry was absolutely on fire and seemed like he never missed a shot. Dirk struggled all game long but in true MVP fashion, stepped it up when it counted and made two huge shots. And in true un-MVP fashion, Tracy McGrady was once again taken out of the game when it counted and barely scored in the last 8 minutes.

This team is darn good and will only get better when they have everyone back healthy. They are still the only team that is built to outslug the Spurs, exhaust Yao and the Rockets, and out shoot the Suns. They have what is unquestionably the deepest roster in the league. And more importantly, they are a team that is DRIVEN to make up for the mistakes that they seem to have learned so much for. This thing is done. The National writers should do themselves a favor and write the headline right now. Dallas Mavericks, 2008 NBA Champions.

Disclaimer: Should the Mavs fail to live up to their potential or have yet another historic collapse down the stretch, this author will immediately distance from any championship predictions and this post will mysteriously disappear. In the event that they do win out, I will of course compare myself to Nostradamus. Just fair warning.

Sneaky, Sneaky

On Wednesday and Thursday of last week I decided to fast. I don't exactly know why, I just thought it would be a good idea. I usually don't eat breakfast anyway, so I decided to skip lunch and committed to not eating until supper. It was something I've never done before (more than anything because my metabolism used to work so fast that a 12 ounce steak would leave me hungry again within 20 minutes) but it turned out to be an awesome thing. Depending on God for such a small thing, keeping my stomach from growling all day, really opened my eyes.

One of the things that was brought forth is the sneaky, sneaky ways of Satan. I don't know about you but I don't think I consciously consider the affect Satan is having on me and others during the course of a normal day. Sometimes I feel his presence during the big things but forget the little things he does.

Case and point, no less than 5 times each day did I nearly eat something without thinking about it. The snack that the school provides for my kids on Wednesday was warm chocolate chip cookies (one step under green olives and pizza for my favorite food) and before I even thought about it I stuck my hand in and pulled a cookie out. I barely caught myself and, of course, saved the cookies for later. Another teacher offered me a piece of candy that I took and opened before remembering my commitment. Both days were full of opportunities to eat without thinking.

The point is not that I avoided temptation. I doubt God would judge me for eating the cookie or send me a one way ticket to Hell for eating the offered mint. I don't think it would have been a sin and there certainly was no intent. The point is, that Satan is one sneaky son of a gun. Sin or no, he nearly had me breaking my commitment without even thinking about it. How often does he do that each day with real sins? It's something I don't think about but now that I've seen it first hand, it really makes me consider the impact he has on our lives. I'm reminded of "The Screwtape Letters" in which the elder demon writes fondly of an occasion when he used the stomach to gently push a curious atheist away from a book that might have raised questions. It was simple, it was discreet, it was sneaky, and it was EFFECTIVE.

As much as he most certainly is the Lord of Lies, Satan is just as much the Sultan of Sneak (you know you like the alliteration!). And in the words of John Turturro, "I fear (we) have underestimated the sneakiness."