Fave 5 - NBA Draft Busts

Just a quick caveat, and then I’ll get right to it: I’m only picking guys from drafts I can actually remember. Sure, I’d love to throw Sam Bowie on here, but I was 4 years old when he was drafted. Ditto Larue Martin. I wasn’t even close to being alive when the Blazers made that horrible pick. And we’re exempting the entire 1986 draft. I was 6. We know it was bad.

5. Kwame Brown, No. 1 overall pick in 2001 by Wizards

I’m not sure what was worse -- Michael Jordan drafting Kwame in the first place, or Michael Jordan destroying Kwame by berating him every day as a teammate for two seasons. Actually, wait, I know what was worse: the Lakers trading Caron Butler for Kwame despite no evidence that Kwame would ever do anything. Any time a guy can destroy two teams, he’s a true draft bust. On a positive note, he’s the only American on this list (and I don’t have anything particular against international players, they just produce much more memorable busts).

4. Vitaly Potapenko, No. 12 overall pick in 1996 by Cavaliers

You know who was picked immediately after Potapenko? Oh, just some high school kid from some crappy school in suburban Pennsylvania. Oh wait, that kid was Kobe Bryant. Holy fuck. Seriously, you ever want to blow someone’s mind, remind them that Vitaly Potapenko (career scoring average: 6.5 PPG) was picked directly before Kobe Bryant. Then, if you want to screw with them some more, remind them that the players picked 7-11 in that draft were Lorenzen Wright, Kerry Kittles, Samaki Walker, Erick Dampier and Todd Fuller. The horror...

3. Nikoloz Tskitishvili, No. 5 overall pick in 2002 by Nuggets

If anyone asks you in the next few weeks how bad could Yi Jianlian possibly be (and just a reminder, he wants his name pronounced “ee” as in “ee-gads this guy is bad), remind them of Skita. The first guy drafted solely on how good he looked in grainy footage and workouts against folding chairs, Skita proved quickly that just because a guy is tall, foreign and white doesn’t mean he’s the next Dirk. In 172 career games, Skita scored a grand total of 507 points, or 2.9 PPG. I’m pretty sure if you threw me in for 10 garbage minutes a game, I could find a way to score 3 points each time out. And I’m short, fat and white.

2. Darko Milicic, No. 2 overall pick in 2003 by Pistons

Don’t give me that crap about how the Pistons won the NBA title that year. Fuck that. How good would they be right now with Melo? Or Wade? Or even Bosh. Here are the players selected immediately after Darko: Melo, Bosh, Wade, Kaman, Hinrich, Ford. I’d take any of those guys over Darko, and Ford missed an entire season due to injury. Amazingly, there are still people trying to sell me on Darko developing into a solid NBA player. “He’s still young” they say. “He still sucks” I respond. He’s the only top 5 pick from that draft that hasn’t made an All-Star team. And he never will. I’ll be at an All-Star game before Darko.

1. Frederic Weis, No. 15 overall pick in 1999 by Knicks

I again say: Holy Fuck! What were the Knicks thinking? Gee, a big french stiff is exactly the guy we need to replace Patrick Ewing. The drafting of captain stiff-a-lot was a dumb idea, compounded by the fact that New York native and future All-Star Ron Artest was selected with THE VERY NEXT PICK. Yeah, cause New York couldn’t have used a guy like Artest. No, they needed Monsieur Raide (that’s French for Mr. Stiff). Oh, and to add to this, Weis never played a game in the NBA. Actually, that’s probably a good thing, considering if he had come to America, then this might have happened more often. At least then, Shawn Bradley wouldn’t be the saddest poster-fodder in NBA history.

(By the way, the funniest thing about that video isn’t Carter destroying Weis’ career. It’s the fact that Vin Baker is on the court. For Team USA. In the Olympics. That probably should have been a sign for USA Basketball that this “Dream Team” concept wasn’t working out so well).

Milk was a bad choice...

Actually, to be accurate, pants were a bad choice. Today was so damn hot, even early in the morning when I had to walk from my hotel to the train station. Later today when I was walking outside in my crazy thick jeans, all I could think was “Milk was a bad choice” (and if you don’t know the reference, I don’t think we can be friends anymore). Seriously, I felt like I was walking through jello or something just walking outside, it was so damn humid.

OK, but enough about my hatred for summer weather in the Northeast. I was in New York all day Tuesday, without access to my iWeb domain file (which still has to be republished in its entirety when I want to make a change) so everything gets pushed back a day this week. DGOW is updated today, and now includes an archive. I’m still trying to track down my old Adam Reisinger Year 25 pages, so I can add the old DGOW archives to the page. For now, it’s just what I’ve done on shiny new iWeb blog.

Fave 5 may come tomorrow, but honestly, I have no idea what I’m going to write about. Given that the NBA Draft is tomorrow, maybe I’ll do my Fave 5 NBA Draft busts. That might be fun.

Oh, and speaking of the NBA, there are all kinds of crazy rumors going on about trades. I have no idea if any of them are true, but if at least one of these blockbusters comes through, that would just be fantastic.

Also speaking of great news, the new Kelly Clarkson came out Tuesday. Amazingly, iTunes actually automatically downloaded it for me (I had pre-ordered it). I’ve already listened to it twice through. I’ll have a full review sometime in the next week or so (I hope).

This Week in “Buffy” History: June 25-July 1

June 27
1974 - Christian Kane born (played Lindsey McDonald on Angel)

June 28
1979 - Felicia Day born (played Vi on Buffy)

June 30
1965 - Saverio Guerra born (played Willy the Snitch on Buffy)

July 1
1971 - Steven W. Bailey born (played Cave Demon in Season 6 of Buffy)

So close to history

I love things like this.

It was about the 4th inning when I was looking at my MLB Gameviewer and noticed that Dustin McGowan was throwing a no hitter. I started looking into his career stats, and sent out the first note about him after the 5th inning (a no-hitter watch doesn’t really begin until a guy has recorded at least 15 outs). The notes started coming more and more after the 6th inning, then 7th. By the 8th inning, the entire department was focused on what had started as a relatively meaningless Blue Jays-Rockies afternoon game.

Obviously, in the end, McGowan didn’t get the no-hitter (giving up a hit to start the ninth, and ending up with a complete-game, 1-hit shutout) but it was still a great thing to watch.

Also, I got something out of it. In the 7th inning, I was checking out Dustin McGowan’s page on baseball-reference.com, and saw that it wasn’t sponsored. And it was available for $10. Mark told me I should buy it as soon as he got the 3rd out in the 9th inning. Well, once the no-hitter was broken up, I scrapped that plan. But when I got home, I decided to buy the page anyway. Hell, it’s a $10 advertisement for my blog, plus a one-year reminder of how special a day this was.

Of course, it has to be mentioned that not everything about today was great. Baseball lost a great man with the passing of Rod Beck, a former closer who died today at the age of just 38. Beck may not have been the best closer ever, but he was pretty damn good in the early to mid ‘90s. Plus, he had that awesome mustache. It’s always sad to see someone go so much before his time, especially someone who, by all reports, was a nice a guy as Rod Beck was. If you want to read more about Beck, check out this article from ESPN.com when he was in Iowa on the comeback trail in 2003.

Friday Night Quick Hits

• Pictured above is my Emma Frost Comiquette from Sideshow. I actually got her a few weeks ago, and she’s been on my dresser, flanking my SoundDock with my Emma Frost statue. I finally got around to taking lots of pictures of her, so feel free to check it out. The sculpting quality on this piece is very impressive.

• On that note, I also took reference pictures of most of my non-Buffy collectibles (lest you think I only collect Buffy stuff). I haven’t gotten around to doing any of my sports stuff yet (autographed balls and hats, action figures, etc.) but that will come eventually. For now, feel free to check out my entertainment stuff.

• The NBA Draft is coming up next week, and my Cavaliers have exactly ZERO picks. Of course, that didn’t stop me from doing my own mock draft. Now, I did this a couple weeks back, so it might not reflect the most up-to-date news, but I really just don’t feel like doing another one. I’m not a draft expert, nor am I a college basketball expert, so a lot of this is blind guessing (that said, I’m 99% certain that Greg Oden is going 1st overall). But it’s still fun.

• If you hadn’t noticed, I added a link to my YouTube videos on the main page of the site. Now, these are just the videos I’ve created, not videos I’ve come across. Interesting to note, my Buffy-Angel video has been viewed more than 6,000 times, while my Buffy-Spike video has only been viewed about 350 times. I think the Buffy-Spike video is actually better, but my guess is because of the title, the Buffy-Angel video comes up in more searches. Once I get some time, I’ll probably add my videos from NYCC’s Slayer Tales to YouTube, since they’ll probably get more views that way than just sitting on my site.

• I really want an iPhone. There, I said it. I’m stuck in my Verizon contract until April ’08, and I don’t have $600 to spare on a phone right now, but damn, I want that iPhone. It’s just too damn sexy.

• The great “24” watching project of 2007 continues. I’m already through the first two seasons, and I’ve watched the first few episodes of Season 3. I’m really enjoying the show so far, and at this pace, I’ll easily be caught up by the time Season 7 starts up next January. That said, I’ll have some gaps in my TV schedule in the fall, with no “Lost” (not returning until 2008) and no “Veronica Mars” (cancelled). Any suggestions on what to watch (aside from “Gray’s Anatomy” which has been recommended to me multiple times, and I’m just not buying it) will be taken into consideration.

The Saga of Kobe-Wan

He wants to be traded. He doesn’t want to be traded. He definitely wants to be traded.

Who knows what Kobe Bryant is thinking at this exact moment (probably something along the lines of “damn, I’m good” or “I wonder what I should buy today with my millions of dollars”) but we can probably take a pretty good guess what Mitch Kupchak is thinking (something along the lines of “fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck me... oh shit I’m so fucked”).

Personally, I think Kobe is going to be traded. I also think Kevin Garnett is going to be traded this summer. In fact, the ESPN.com Trade Machine lets us have lots of fun with these possibilities. For example, check out this trade, that will never happen ever:

LAKERS GET:
Gerald Green
Sebastian Telfair
Tony Allen
Wally Szczerbiak

TIMBERWOLVES GET:
Al Jefferson
Rajon Rondo
Theo Ratliff
Ryan Gomes

CELTICS GET:
Kevin Garnett
Kobe Bryant

Obviously the Celtics would also be sending the No. 5 overall pick this year to one of these teams (probably the Lakers) and a pair of future first rounders to the other team. Not that the new Celtics would need draft picks. With a backcourt of Delonte West and Kobe Bryant, and Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett at the forwards, I could probably play center and we’d still win at least 50 games.

As it is, this crazy trade leaves Boston with the young but raw Kendrick Perkins at center. Sure, the 6th man of this team is either Allan Ray, Brian Scalabrine or Leon Powe, but I’m pretty sure with that core, Boston could convince some guys to sign in Beantown to win a ring.

Realistically, here’s the Kobe Bryant trade I think should happen:

LAKERS GET:
Shawn Marion
Raja Bell
Leandro Barbosa

SUNS GET:
Vladimir Radmanovic
Kobe Bryant

Here’s the kicker -- by throwing in Barbosa, the Suns may be able to convince the Lakers to not ask for the Hawks’ unprotected 1st-round pick in ’08. If LA does want a pick, Phoenix has a pair of 1st rounders this year. Hell, give them both up to make this happen (and, again, keep Atlanta’s likely lottery pick for next season). Imagine Kobe -- the league’s ultimate scorer -- with Steve Nash -- the league’s ultimate distributor. It would be an amazing thing to watch. Unfortunately, the likelihood of the Lakers trading Kobe within the Pacific Division is about the same as the likelihood of this post winning a Pulitzer Prize.

Fave 5 - Potential Vacation Destinations

So I’ve got an 18-day vacation coming up this summer, and I’m not sure where to go. Honestly, I may end up not going anywhere, but if I do, I’d like to pick from this list. I’ve been lots of different places in my lifetime (thanks in large part to my parents, who drove me and my sister around the country almost every year when we were growing up) but I’ve never been to these five places.

5. San Diego, California

I was originally planning on going to SDCC this summer, and spending plenty of time in the city as well, but I didn’t get the week of SDCC off from work, and since I went to NYCC, I’m not really up for going to what is likely to be a very similar convention. Still, I’ve heard great things about San Diego as a vacation destination, and wouldn’t mind getting out there at some point.

4. Berlin, Germany

I’ve actually never been to Europe (or any other continent for that matter) despite multiple chances over the past decade to go to Paris. That said, I would love to go to Germany, the ancestral home of the Reisinger line. Plus, I think at any point, anyone who’s ever been Jewish owes it to himself to go to Germany and learn more about the Holocaust. If you can’t do that, at least visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC (somewhere I’ve been plenty of times in my lifetime).

3. London, England

Yes, another European destination, plus one where I wouldn’t have to learn another language. Plus, it’s the ancestral home of the other side of my family. There’s so much to see and do in London that I could easily spend a week there and not get bored (unlike, say, Cleveland, where a weekend was easily enough). Plus, I’d have to check out the Apple Store, the first one to open in Europe (there are plenty more now, but London’s will always be the first). I’d also have to check out some EPL action.

2. Los Angeles, California

I know this is the second of my fave 5 s in California (specifically, Southern California) but like I said, my parents took me lots of places as a kid, so there are few places left in the U.S. for me to visit. LA is one of them. Honestly, I’m really only interested in doing the touristy things (Hollywood, etc.) and seeing a Lakers game in person at Staples. Of course, I can’t imagine staying there for long, since I hate traffic, and LA is all about gridlock (it’s one of the main reasons I don’t trive to New York anymore).

1. Sydney, Australia

I’ve been talking about going to Sydney for a few years now. It’s something I’m eventually going to do, despite the ridiculous cost (a flight alone is almost $2,000). I mean, just look at that picture. It’s a beautiful scene, something you can’t find here in America anymore. There are at least a few places I’d have to see at Sydney, not the least of which is the Opera House. The Harbor Bridge also cuts a striking image, as does the skyline. Some people would put Bondi Beach high on that list, but I’m not really a beach person (thus the lack of Caribbean destinations on this list) though I would definitely check it out while I was in town. Not sure when I’ll be able to make this happen, but it’s definitely on the radar for 2008.

Back in the CT - And with more Shiny!

“The CT.” Not quite as catchy as “The OC”, but I’ll take what I can get.

My trip back from Cleveland wasn’t bad, but I did end up stuck in Philadelphia for a lot longer than my stopover was scheduled for, due to who knows what. The airline gave 3 different reasons while we were delayed, and none of them really made any sense. Oh well.

If you regularly check out the various sections of my site, you may notice some increased eye candy on the site. I didn’t do too much to it, but I wanted to spruce it up a little, so the main menu page looks a little crisper, and I’ve added some spice to the blog page as well. (And if you don’t get the reference to the picture of the cast of “Serenity”, then everything isn’t shiny, gorramit).

Also, you’ll notice a blog roll now. Some of my colleagues have started their own blogs, so I’m spreading the love.

That said, Nick had a blog post yesterday about his all-time fictional baseball lineup. Mostly good stuff, though I have to strongly disagree with the inclusion of Isuro Tanaka in the lineup. Now I think he should be on the team, but solely in a pinch-running/late-inning defensive replacement role. There’s no reason to put this guy in the starting 9 every day. He can’t hit. There are at least 3 better choices for an everyday leftfielder: Charlie Snow (Richard Pryor in “The Bingo Long Traveling All Stars & Motor Kings”), Kelly Leak (Jackie Earle Haley in “The Bad News Bears”) and Juan Primo (Benicio Del Toro in “The Fan”). I’d go with Primo, only because he’s got versatility (played multiple outfield positions in the movie) and while “The Fan” sucked, it, unlike some of the other movies, tried to portray realistic baseball players. Of course, the fact that Primo dies in the movie probably hurts his chances.

I know I skipped the Fave 5 last week, but I promise I’ll do it this week -- same topic, Fave 5 vacation destinations I’ve yet to visit. And don’t complain about missing the post last week. Including this post, I’ve already posted 13 times in June. By comparison, I posted exactly once in June of ’06.

This Week in “Buffy” History: June 18-24

June 23

1964 - Joss Whedon born (creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”)

Cleveland rocks...

... but seems to close at about 7 p.m.

Man, it was hard to find a place to get food tonight. Not a place to eat -- there are plenty of restaurants open -- but I just wanted to grab some food and get back to my hotel room. Apparently, Cleveland doesn’t let you do that (at least not in the theater district, which I guess shouldn’t be too surprising).

Today went well, save for that angry moment at about 8:15 or so when I realized I should be getting ready for Game 5. I’m not even sure who to blame at this point, but I’m still not blaming LeBron. In fact, I picked up a whole lot of LeBron merchandise at the Tower City Center, including my “Witness” T-shirt (though I’m still not officially a witness).

Despite my lack of witnessing a Cavaliers game, I did get to witness this:

Cleveland dealt with a controversy over this sign, which the U.S. Highway administration declared a billboard that violates the Highway Beautification Act. I say there’s nothing MORE beautiful than this.

I also witnessed both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and another Indians-Braves game (which included Chipper Jones’s 2000th career hit and an Indians win). The HOF was pretty cool, but apparently they don’t let you take pictures inside, which kind of sucks, considering all the cool stuff they have in there. I still had a good time, even though most of the music featured isn’t exactly my favorite (I’m a rap and pop kind of guy). I did take pictures outside, including the one at the top of this post.

Well, that’s it for me from Cleveland. I have a 7:35 a.m. flight back to Connecticut Monday (again, via Philadelphia) then I’ll have a few hours to sleep before I have to be back at work. Good times.

Cleveland isn’t so bad

That above is the view from my seats at this afternoon’s Indians-Braves game (won by the Braves, 6-2). Not bad. The better part? Beaman and his friend Paul came through and I got in for free. I’m also getting in for free at tomorrow’s game (1:05 p.m. start), so the weekend hasn’t been a total wash.

Actually, in the time I’ve been here, I’ve found Cleveland to be a pretty nice city. It’s like a G-rated New York. There isn’t quite as much excitement, which can be both a good and a bad thing. But hey, I’ve been walking pretty much everywhere and people are nice here and the city just comes across very well.

Also, at the Indians game, they played a tribute to the Cavaliers, congratulating them on the best season in franchise history. This actually got the largest ovation from the crowd the entire game. This city loves their Cavs, even if they did get swept.

For tomorrow, the plan is to hit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the morning (it opens at 10:00), then go to the baseball game, then try and get some sleep before my 7:35 flight back to Connecticut (with another stop in Philly). I could use the sleep. I’ve only gotten 8 hours since waking up at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday. That’s a span of 57 hours, during which I’ve been awake for 49. Fun!

Trip getting better

Maybe I spoke (or wrote) too soon with my last post. My trip so far hasn’t been too bad. I am now check into my hotel in Cleveland, and it’s pretty nice. In addition, the seat next to me was empty on both legs of my flight, so I was nice and comfortable while watching “I, Robot.”

Getting from the airport to the hotel wasn’t difficult either. A 20-minute train ride and a 10-block walk and I was there. Only cost me $3.50 too, as compared to $25 for a cab ride.

Also worth noting that my hotel has free wireless internet access and TV with ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews and ESPN Classic, so I’ll be able to stay caught up throughout the weekend.

Still no word on Indians tickets for this weekend from Mr. Beaman, but plenty are still available for purchase, so I’ll do that if I have to.

If anyone has any other suggestions on what to do while I’m in Cleveland, feel free to pass them along, since my days are pretty much free after the baseball games.

Trip already going poorly

Well, my trip to Cleveland is off to a smashing start (that was sarcasm, which doesn’t come across well on a blog).

First off, I decided to pull an all-nighter, rather than get a decent amount of sleep, which was probably just really stupid on my part. I’m not that tired now, but I don’t actually arrive in Cleveland for another 5 hours, so well see how I’m doing then (my hotel has promised me early check-in, so hopefully I can get some sleep before the 3:55 Indians-Braves game).

Oh, speaking of that Indians-Braves game, I don’t yet actually have tickets for it. Beaman is trying to come through via a connection he made when he was working in the minors, but so far no luck. I have faith though.

What I don’t have is my iPod. Being the tired moron that I am, I left it in my car when I arrived at the airport. Honestly, I considered asking the shuttle bus driver to take me back to the lot so I could grab it, but since I did bring a couple movies and my MacBook along with me, I should be good. My flights are only about one-hour stints each, with briefs stopovers in Philadelphia each way.

There’s a bit of irony in me having a stopover in Philadelphia, since the only reason I have this weekend off is I was originally planning on attending Wizard World Philadelphia. Of course, that plan went out the window when the Cavs made the Finals.

Now my plans have changed again, since the Cavs had to go and get swept. At least I’ll get a refund on my ticket purchase through StubHub (though I’m still waiting on that, even though I received a cancellation notice Friday).

And speaking of the sweep, so far I’ve had two related voicemail greetings. The first one went something like this:

“Hi this is Adam. I can’t get to my phone right now. I’ll be in Cleveland this weekend, though thanks to the ineptitude of Mike Brown and Eric Snow, I won’t be attending Game 5. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”

The current one goes like this:

“Hi this is Adam. I’m heading to Cleveland for the weekend. Thanks to the $13-million-dollar man, Larry Hughes (who scored 2 more points in the Finals than I did), I won’t be going to an NBA Finals Game. I’m still hoping to see the Indians, so leave me a message, and I’ll get back to you.”

They’re pretty much going to be like that all weekend, so keep calling and enjoy them. Next up as a target for my wrath: Anderson Varejao (who’ll probably get his due during my stopover in Philadelphia).

Falling behind again

Remember way back to that first week of June, when it seemed like I was posting every day. Yeah, that seems like forever ago.

Well, last week I finally missed a Fave 5. Not a huge deal, since I didn’t really have a topic to write about. I will try to do one tomorrow, on my Fave 5 vacation destinations I’ve yet to visit (with one about to get crossed off the list).

I’m in the middle of a stretch working 9 straight days, so there’s not really much going on in my life. I did finally take the plunge and buy my ticket for Game 5 of the Finals, so now I just need the Cavaliers to come through and win a game so there actually IS a Game 5.

Also, in what little spare time I’ve had, I’ve been playing more “Fight Night” for my 360. My main career that I started when I got the game is almost over. My character is now 40 years old, and my ratings drop by about 5-10% between every fight (which is actually a pretty cool feature of the game. In most games, once you get your character ratings high, they stay high until you stop playing. It makes sense to have your boxer get worse as he gets older). I’ve probably got one good fight left in me before I have to retire. Then it’ll be time to create a new boxer and start all over.

Oh, and for those that are wondering, still no fix to my iWeb issues. I think the size of the blog has gotten a little beyond what iWeb can really handle, which isn’t surprising considering I went back 4 years and added all my old stuff.

Speaking of that old stuff, I was reading through my old blog entries and found this one, my running diary of the 2005 NFL Draft. There’s a lot of stuff that turned out wrong, but this prediction was dead-on:

1:38 - Titans take Pac-Man Jones, who couldn't possibly look more ghetto. It's like they just drafted Lil' Jon. He's wearing some T-shirt with picture of someone on the front (it may actually be him, for all I know) and a bling'd out Pac Man chain. And now he's going to Tennessee. This is going to end poorly for everyone.

This Week in “Buffy” History: June 11-17

June 16
1976 - Tom Lenk born (played Andrew Wells on Buffy)

Cleaning...

Sometimes you don’t really realize how messy your place is until you start cleaning it. A few out-of-place things here, a little dust there, some unwashed plates over there and suddenly your normally-clean condo is a freakin’ sty. Well, no more. I’m in the process of cleaning up, and hopefully by 10 p.m. today, everything will be spotless again (only for me to start making a mess tomorrow morning).

The reason I started cleaning was I wanted to clear out a space to take some pictures of some new Buffy stuff that was supposed to arrive today, but neither piece did. My Ubervamp statue from T&ST was backordered, so all I got in my package from them was my 3 free figures (all of which I already had, so they just add to my duplicates). And then the UPS guy decided to be a moron and not stop when I was waving him down in the parking lot, so that package didn’t get delivered because “it didn’t have an apartment number.” If that address label has an apartment number on it when it arrives tomorrow, I’m going to call UPS and give them a piece of my mind, because honestly, they suck.

Going to Cleveland

Well, I’ve bought my plane ticket and booked my hotel room, so I’m going to Cleveland the weekend of Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

Is it risky booking my trip without having secured a game ticket? Yes. Is it risky booking my trip without knowing if a Game 5 will even be necessary. Also yes. But the Indians are at home that weekend, so worst case, I fly out to Cleveland, see a couple baseball games and then fly back. I’ve never been to Jacobs Field, so it’ll be worth my weekend anyway.

But I’m not going to think those negative thoughts. There will be a Game 5, and I will be in attendance. And if the Cavaliers should happen to win 3 of the first four games played in the series, then happen to win Game 5 with me in attendance, well, all the better then.

For now, I’m just chillin’ and waiting for the Finals to start. I saw “Knocked Up” today with a bunch of guys from work. Very funny movie. I highly recommend it. I normally don’t pay to see comedies in the theater, since they’re not the kind of movies you have to see on the big screen, but this one was totally worth my time and money (and the drive out to Plainville).

Some sad news to report: over the weekend, my cat Sunny suffered a stroke and had to be put down. Obviously, she wasn’t just “my” cat, since she lived at my old home and belonged to the entire family, but I felt like she was mine. She always liked to sleep in my room (the basement) and every time I came over to visit my parents, I could tell she was happy to see me. It’s weird going over there and not seeing her there, but that’s just the reality of it. Now there are no cats in the house, which is just kind of sad. Maybe when I’m more settled in my situation, I’ll get a cat of my own, but she’ll never be the same to me as Sunny was.

This Week in "Buffy" History: June 4-10

June 6
1974 - Danny Strong born (played Jonathan Levinson on “Buffy”)

June 8
1963 - Anthony Cistaro born (played Scourge Commander in Angel Episode 1.09 “Hero”)

June 10
1975 - Nicole Bilderback born (played Cordette #1 in Episode 3.09 “The Wish”)

We are all witnesses

Holy fucking crap.

I’ve been telling Lisa all postseason to “enjoy Cleveland” for the NBA Finals, but I never really expected that this could happen. Even when I posted my prediction of a Cavs-Spurs finals, I was mostly just hopeful. Realistically, I figured an appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals would be a nice step forward, and then we’d lose to the Pistons.

But I guess you can get through Detroit training in a pool.

Now of course comes the real challenge -- getting me to a Finals game (what, you thought I’d say beating the Spurs? Shit, we did that already). The way I see it, based on my schedule, I could go to Game 5 in Cleveland. I’ll have to work some connections to get a ticket to the game, but that should be the easy part (I hope). The way I see it, I could fly out to Cleveland Sunday morning (Game 5 is scheduled for June 17th), go to the Indians-Braves game at 1:05, go eat dinner after the baseball game, then head over to the basketball game at 7:00 for the 9:00 tip. Then I’d have to kill about 7 hours before my Monday morning flight back home. Or, I could fly out Saturday, get a hotel, which would help me get a nap in Sunday morning before my flight.

Of course, this would all be for naught if the Cavs got swept, which would make me very angry (and leave me out about $400).

For now though, I think positive thoughts about the awesomeness of the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James. We are all, indeed, witnesses.

Fuck yeah!

I’m not really sure what I can add to what the blogosphere has already written about last night’s game but let me just say this: at work, late in the fourth quarter, someone asked the question “when was the last time someone other than LeBron scored?” Well, once we found that out, we figured some other Cavs player would have to score eventually. We were very, very wrong.

I’ve never believed that a player can single-handedly win a game, but last night’s game was as close to such a performance as could be expected.

All postseason I’ve been telling Lisa to “Enjoy Cleveland” for the Finals, thinking there was no way in hell it could actually happen. Now the Cavs are one game from the Finals, and I’m trying hard as hell to temper my enthusiasm, but it just can’t be done. I’ve been watching LeBron’s career closely since his sophomore year of high school, and he’s finally living up to his NBA promise.

Make no mistake, for a large portion of the game, game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals wasn’t an instant classic. But LeBron changed all that halfway through the fourth quarter. This is one of those games you’ll be seeing on ESPN Classic years from now, and if you’re a Cavs fan and you tune in just as the fourth quarter is starting, you’ll keep watching and just smile.