Well, after an exhausting hour long announcement from Lebron James, it looks as though Miami Heat games will be the hottest ticket in town. But after seeing video of Cleveland Cavaliers James jerseys being burned in the streets of Ohio, I would suggest King James triple his motorcade and get the hell out of dodge as quickly as possible. And after months of speculation leading to the three most coveted free agents in one year for decades signing with the same team, only one request remains: win a championship next year, and at least three in the next four years.
These, of course, are the mountainous expectations that come with such a dramatic free agent season. It was not long ago that "The Big Three" was a title held for a group playing out of New England. When Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett signed with Boston, along with Paul Pierce hanging on to his ship, similar expectations were held. That team pulled through and won a championship. Some of us might remember Kevin Garnett reminding us that "anything is possible". Now, that big three was not nearly as impressive as the new big three of Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and Lebron James; on paper at least. But what we need to remember is that the supporting cast in Boston played a huge part in their success. Glen Davis came out of nowhere and perhaps the most outstanding player on that team at times was Rajon Rondo. Miami will likely not have enough money to find a similarly able supporting cast, so the "New Big Three" will require some facilitators, if not a few diamonds in the rough. These three, despite being young, are now hardened veterans and anything less than a championship will be a disappointment.
Boston is still intact. The Lakers are still a dominating force. And Orlando, despite poor playoff performances, is a major team to be reckoned with. In all the hooplah over these free agent signings, I think we forget the depth of talent already existent in the NBA. This next season will be far from a rollover for Miami. But something is definitely certain, ticket sales for any game against this team will be through the roof. Season tickets to Heat games are already sold out.
This whole process raises some interesting points regarding basketball. In what other team sport can you have three players that will undoubtedly dominate a game, regardless of the other people on the team? Most of the time, only 8 or 9 guys touch the floor in an NBA game. Compare that with hockey, where at least 18 are on the ice -- and at different times throughout the game -- or soccer, where the field is so big that the stars can become meaningless -- see Rooney, Ronaldo & even Messi in the World Cup. Even in baseball, perhaps the most stable team sport where rosters are involved, a player is an all-star if he hits the ball only one third of the time. Three superstars on a team rarely guarantees success.
While we're on the subject of soccer, I had an interesting discussion with a few friends of mine regarding country rivalries. One friend was German. As a descendant of English heritage, it has been engrained in me to dislike the Germans, especially in soccer. The true English obviously have their historical reasons for disliking the Germans, but I often find it difficult to do so during major soccer tournaments. Even though they knocked out England -- under controversial circumstances, I might add -- I still enjoyed watching the Germans play their other games. I like the country. I've never been, but it seems like a wonderfully progressive place, far from what it looked like 70 years ago. Yet when it comes to sport, such aspects exist. I heard at least two people make reference to the same joke regarding England vs. Germany soccer matches: "The Germans may be able to beat us at our national sport, but we've defeated them in theirs. Twice." Poor taste.
My German friend explained that such disdain for other countries does not exist in Germany, which makes me think that it is sport that likely brings out the historical rivalries, no matter how distasteful. A friend of mine from England was happy that Germany, France and Argentina were knocked out, regardless of England's own success. Take a look through history -- both in soccer and war -- and you will find quite a bit of friction between England and each of those countries. But does such friction still truly exist? Perhaps I am naive, but I don't think so. Sport seems to trigger it as fans are in need of reason to build up a rivalry to make the games more exciting.
I am happy, however, at the outcome of the World Cup final. I like the Dutch. The country intrigues me and I am familiar with past Dutch greats like Dennis Bergkamp, who graced the cover of my only soccer Playstation game. They love to cycle in the Netherlands, and added plus. I simply enjoy watching Spain play and for that reason alone am happy they are in the finals. I couldn't maintain the "boo Germany" mantra I should be taking out of historical lineage, but I'm happy to see a finals in which one historically World Cup choker will finally bring home the cup.
Moving on to non-sports news, several of my friends have sent me emails requesting me to write to my local MPP or MP or join a Facebook group supporting an inquiry into the actions of police officers during the G8/G20 summits. My instinct tells me yes, sure, go for it. But here's the thing: is an inquiry worth it? We all know what the answers will be. "At times, the police acted using excessive force, even for the extenuating circumstances at hand", "those found of using excessive force will be reprimanded internally" and finally "it is recommended that such an important and security-heavy event be held in an area not conducive to significant conflict". We know this already. Holding the G20 in Toronto was stupid. It'll never happen again and holding it in a major city -- Pittsburgh is not quite major enough -- is a mistake. So what will a federal inquiry really accomplish? The cynic in me thinks nothing at all, except spending millions of dollars. The only people that really benefit from these types of inquiries are the lawyers. Can they wait five years until I'm done law school to do this inquiry?
A federal inquiry is an important part of democracy, but it shouldn't be used when it's silly to use it. For the G20 events, I'm on the fence.
Moving on, I spent much of my Monday in Peterborough's Emergency Department with my sister. She was visiting Peterborough from Winnipeg for a week and came down with a severe fever. 7.5 hours later we were told that the tests were negative. In the waiting room she needed a warm blanket, even though it was over 40 with the humidex outside. It's stories like that that would fuel controversies in the US. I have no doubt that the hospital was working as efficiently as possible. The main answer: more doctors.
And a message to HBO. Why the hell did you not show True Blood this past weekend? Dang.
I don't read a ton. So when a book catches my eye and grabs me, it must be good. I'm in the middle of reading The Girl Who Played With Fire, the second part of Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy. I saw the first movie, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in an otherwise empty theatre back around April and thoroughly enjoyed it, enough so to read the book and the following books in anticipation of the films. Reading good books prior to watching the movies is important. Yesterday, I watched the movie Blindness, based off the Nobel Prize Winning book by the late Jose Saramago. I started reading the book in anticipation of the film, and am glad I did. The book was one million fold better. But I only did that because I had watched Atonement a week before starting Blindness. Atonement was a fabulous film, but I was told it was an even better book. The book always seems to be better. So in the future, read the book before you see the movie.
Finally, I would like to extend a "come on man" to the 'kid' on the opposing team of our last ultimate frisbee game of a tournament I recently played in Montreal. The other team was made up of guys in their late teens and very early 20s, only slightly younger than me. I, on the other hand, was playing with a Masters team, meaning everyone on the team, except me, was over 32. When the other team found out we were a Masters team, they couldn't believe it. We told them there was one player on our team who wasn't Masters. After carefully looking at all of our players, one guy identified the alleged culprit. He was sitting two people to my left. I know my hairline is deceiving, but come on, man.
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