Playoff Update

Hello again.

We haven't written for a while. The reason was simple:

After the Blazers chances at the playoffs were finally squelched, nothing original could be said about the team anymore. Our opinion about the team is pretty much in line with what everybody else believes at this point. The Blazers had a great season, all things considered. We are salivating at the prospect of adding Oden and Fernandez to the team next year, and the possibility of trading Jarrett Jack to JC Penney for a matching set of Barcaloungers. I'm happy with the direction of the team and I genuinely believe we will win a championship in the next ten years, something that I haven't been able to admit since Bob Whitsitt's reign of terror started in the early '90s.

And so on.

Also, for me at least, I wanted to sit back and try to enjoy the playoffs as much as possible, which would have been hard enough even without worrying about trying to be witty writing for a blog that nobody reads anyways. I have been working damn near 80 hours a week since Spring Break, but that number is deceiving, because half of those hours are spent sitting in a room where I can position myself in front of a glass partition that overlooks a hospital waiting room. In this waiting room is a television, and so I can follow the playoffs at least from a distance, until the overweight middle aged woman waddles over to the television and invariably changes the channel to Everybody Loves Raymond.

Some thoughts on the playoffs thus far:

- It makes me so happy watching San Antonio lose. Just seeing their dejected faces and their heads hung low consistently rejuvenates me, not only as a basketball fan, but as somebody who has faith in the inherent goodness of mankind. Last night's game proved that San Antonio is in serious trouble, which leads me to believe that anybody claiming this Spurs team to be dynastic has an IQ less than sand.

I was talking to this guy at a bar the other day, and we were talking basketball, and we start talking about the Suns/Spurs series and how disappointing it was, and he tells me, with hushed voice, that, "you know, I just really don't like the Spurs." Of course you don't! You don't have to be ashamed! You're a living, breathing human being with a capacity for kindness and understanding! People who support the Spurs are the same people who root for the Nazis in old World War II movies, and the same people who strap explosives to cats for fun.

- Speaking of the Suns/Spurs series, it's just painfully obvious what went wrong: they traded for a washed up 36-year-old Shaq who can't run and can't shoot. That's basically it. They would have had a fighting chance in the series if they won Game 1, but even if they somehow got past the Spurs, there was no way that team was making the Finals. I think it's worth mentioning that now they're saddled with Shaq's terrible contract for a couple more years and there is a growing chasm between management and the coaching staff, Phoenix will be irrevelant for the next five years. And for a Blazers supporter, that's a great thing to hear.

- Cleveland/Washington was a fun series to watch, if only to see how much physical punishment LeBron could take before murdering DeShawn Stevenson with his bare hands. The best part of the whole series for me was in Game 6, late in the game, LeBron drives to the hoop and is essentially tackled by Roger Mason. As he falls to the floor he throws the ball behind his back and it goes in. The refs call the foul and LeBron silently walks to the line, without acknowledging Mason or the referees, and drains the free throw. Then the camera pans to a fan, who happens to be white and fat, with a shirt that says "LEBRON = CRYBABY", who is chanting with everybody else in the arena, "Over-rated!"

The scary thing is that Cleveland is in exactly the same position as last season, with LeBron playing at a level better than maybe anybody ever in history, and the rest of the Cavs playing at a level maybe a bit higher than the Washington Generals. That said, and given Boston and Detroit's relative struggles with their easy first round matchups, Cleveland could repeat as Eastern Conference Champs, which is as unlikely as Pearl Jam putting out a great album... and then putting out another great album the next year.

- Still, we have a chance at the Lakers/Boston Finals matchup every human being with a pulse is praying for. Of course, I guess we also could have Spurs/Pistons, which would just further alienate the viewing public from watching basketball and giving it the respect it deserves. The NBA's reputation hangs in the balance, and no matter how crazy it sounds, it just might take Kobe Bryant and the Lakers to restore the NBA's glory.

All for now. We'll be keeping the site up, although we won't be updating nearly as often as before. Some new projects are on the horizon, so keep your eyes peeled and spread the word.

TJH