Depression

Normally I like to stay away from the mainstream news because there are obviously a lot of better articles to read than my own take, but this picture is just...well, depressing.

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Nothing quite like childlike memories. Some of my favorites were watching the old WWF, with their electrifying moments when the likes of The Rock and Stone Cold would burst onto the scene with 20,000 crazy fans exploding as they would entertain and wrestle. While either the quality of has dimished or I have either grown out of what is a hard interest to keep up, I still try to stay informed with the happenings of the new WWE. Wrestlemania 24 took place at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida today, with big names such as John Legend, Snoop Dogg, Floyd Maywheather, Reggie Bush, Kim Kardashian, and LenDale White making appearances alongside WWE superstars Randy Orton, Big Show, John Cena, Triple H, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and more.

Four Couples

With Wrestlemania 24 this Sunday, Sports Illustrated brought up a very interesting idea asking who would win in an intergender tag team match between four athlete-celebrity couples:

New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush and...uh, actress Kim Kardashian

They would probably win the wrestling match due to their uh, sheer athletic ability. Reggie Bush is freakishly fast and well built. And as for Kardashian...um...well...you know.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo

and singer Jessica Simpson

Although she is from Texas, Dallas sports fans are no longer fans of Simpson, as she showed up to a couple games in which Romo played terrible and the Cowboys lost. When they sat courtside at a Dallas Mavericks game pictured below, they lost a heartbreaker to the Lakers. Talk about a girlfriend curse.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady
and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen

Tom Brady went to New York undefeated to visit Gisele during the week off before the Super Bowl. Then Brady played a relatively lousy game and choked, losing the biggest game of the year. Still though, they do get the award for being the best at their respective careers at this point in time.

San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker
and actress Eva Longoria

Aw, now they are just sweet. Parker is living the dream, coming off an amazing year in which his he led the Spurs to an NBA championship, won the Finals MVP, and married everyone's favorite housewife in Paris. As the longest lasting of these couples and only ones to have already tied the knot, you gotta think they are built to last the longest.

Execute in Crunch Time

Last night I found myself watching the Spurs comeback to beat the Clippers and the Lakers fall to the Bobcats. The Spurs were simply on cruise control and biding their time for most of the game, before flipping on the switch in the fourth quarter and shutting out the Clippers as Ginobli, Duncan, Parker, and Finley took over down the final two minutes. Granted, it was the Clippers. But still, any team that has the ability to execute in crunch time like the Spurs do is a lock to have success during the intense finishes in playoff games.

After the Spurs' comeback, the Lakers were desperately trying to do a similar feat on their own homecourt as well. For a team that is the best built for the playoffs, with the best player in the world who happens to be the best clutch performer, they were anything but. Instead, the Lakers were scrambling on defense, giving up easy penetration and wide open three point shots to a bunch of no-names. Granted, it was the Bobcats and the Lakers were due to put up a dud of a game, especially without Bynum, Gasol, and Ariza.

I will not miss out on the chance to compare the Spurs and Lakers, however. In my mind, these are the two favorites to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. The veteran Spurs are poised and primed and look ready for the playoffs executing in crunch time while the Lakers, in the same type of situation, self-destructed against a lousy team. After watching last night's games, it was no contest as to which team is best suited to win come playoff time.

Instead of taking over the game in the fourth quarter as usual, Kobe Bryant got the second of his two technical fouls and consequently got ejected. Now Kobe has a league leading 15 technical fouls. A player or coach receives an automatic one-game suspension after receiving his 16th technical foul. Every other technical foul beyond 16 (18, 20, 22, etc.) will also result in a one-game suspension without pay. Going into the playoffs, Kobe will now have to significantly cut back on his constant complaining and whining to the officials, or be faced with the possibility of severely hurting his team down the stretch and in a vital playoff game.

8'5", 240

It has come to my attention that people refer to me as Vishal the tall guy.

Apparently, they have not met this guy.

Tatupu's Good Friday

The Seattle Seahawks have locked up their stud middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu through 2015. His extension is worth $42 million, $27 of which will be paid in the first three years.

Tatupu was the leader of the USC championship defenses for two years, and has turned out to be one of the Seahawks' most brilliant draft picks, earning three Pro Bowl selections in his first three years in the NFL, with many more sure to come.

With assistant head coach Jim Mora to take over the Seahawks after the 2008 season, it seems Seattle is more defensive minded than the past Mike Holmgren years, which featured superb offenses supported by weaker defenses.

168, 116

Denver trounces Seattle by 52.

90210

Oh no.

Madness in the OC

The UC Irvine Anteaters upset the #1 seeded UC Santa Barbara Gauchos tonight 55-50, advancing to the finals of the Big West Tournament tomorrow night in Anaheim. The winner of tomorrow's UC Irvine vs CS Fullerton matchup will advance to the field of 65 teams, the Big Dance, the NCAA Tournament.

In order words, UC Irvine is just ONE WIN away from making history, and I have the opportunity to be part of it. Woo! This is Madness!

Madness!?

I have seen thousands of basketball games in my short life, but I think last night I saw the best one of them all that I have ever seen in person. As anticipation mounts for the NCAA basketball tournament, UC Irvine found themselves as the dark horse in their Big West conference tournament. Every year the top 8 teams of the 9 team conference have a tournament to determine who will earn the Big West's coveted slot in the big NCAA tournament. UC Irvine took care of Long Beach State in the first round, and took on the University of Pacific last night.

The Irvine Anteaters (yes, I know) jumped off to a 17 point lead on the Pacific Tigers, igniting half of the Anaheim Convention Center into a huge yellow party. I found myself high fiving and bumping chests with people I have never seen before, while laughing at our witty hecklers and entertaining mascot. Of course, college players lack the versatility and discipline that we are used to seeing in the pros, and cannot adjust well to the opposition's adjustments and close out games, so a switch to press and zone defenses sent Irvine into disarray.

• The second half was filled with close calls and back and forth action, culminating in a costly turnover when Irvine was up by 3. Pacific converted two free throws cutting the lead to 1 with 17 seconds left, and looked for a quick steal or intentional foul on the inbounds.
• After a questionable no-call, Pacific ended up intercepting the pass. Pacific drew up a great play to get their sharp shooter a decent look at the three to win the game and advance.
• The potential go ahead game winner missed, but Pacific got the offensive rebound only to have the last second putback blocked by Irvine's stud athlete Patrick Sanders at the horn. Pacific was understandably looking for a goal tending call while the Irvine fans exploded in celebration. Let us just say that the bus ride back was just as fun.
• Irvine is two wins away from earning a spot in the big dance, and while it still remains a long shot, it is amazingly fun to even come close to thinking of capturing the magic of a small school having a Cinderella run into the NCAA tournament.
• Madness? This isn't just madness, this is MARCH MADNESS!!!

What if...?

Inspired by another fun Simmons' read, here is a serious of questions with a Seattle Sonics theme:

• What if Michael Jordan did not come back in 1996 when the SuperSonics won the West?

• What if the #8 Denver Nuggets did not upset the #1 Seattle Sonics in 1994? What if the #7 Lakers did not upset #2 Seattle Sonics in 1995? The Sonics were 8-0 against the Houston Rockets in their two championship seasons. Of course, those were also the only two years of the decade in which Michael Jordan was out of the league.

• What if Seattle did not trade Scottie Pippen to Chicago for Olden Polynice?

• What if Wally Walker never existed?

• What if he showed Shawn Kemp the money instead of Jim McIlvaine?

• What if George Karl was never fired?

• What if Nate McMillan was never let go?

• What if Bob Weiss and Bob Hill never happened?

• What if Kevin Durant teamed with Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen?

• What if Allen makes that three to force a Game 7 against the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs in 2005?

• What if Seattle did not draft Mo Sene, Johan Petro, and Robert Swift three years in a row? What if Seattle drafted guys who went later, like Paul Millsap, David Lee, and Al Jefferson?

• What if Seattle never traded away Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Dale Ellis, Lenny Wilkens, Jack Sikma, Spencer Haywood, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, Dennis Johnson, Vin Baker, Scottie Pippen, Bobby Jackson, Corey Maggette, Mikki Moore, Desmond Mason, Patrick Ewing, and Detlef Schrempf?

• What if the Sonics were never sold to Howard Schultz or Clay Bennett?

The world will never know.

BMW & the Dollar

This quarter I found myself researching a term paper about the declining value of the American dollar, how it is bigger problem than we think, and what steps need to be taken to correct it before its plummet gets out of hand. I was surprised to learn that some in the Bush administration and Federal Reserve actually wanted a weaker dollar. I will not bore you with the details and analysis, but today I stumbled upon a very interesting small story that has altered my outlook:

• The United States has been suffering from a growing trade deficit as companies move operations to a cheaper and less regulated countries.
• With the now declining value of the American dollar, companies such as BMW are increasing production in the United States, bringing jobs back here and spending more money within the country. This is good for our otherwise slumping economy.

Yay!

I may be jumping the gun on both of these because official announcements are still pending, but...

Friday Night Lights is returning!

and

The City of Seattle is renovating KeyArena, which means the Seattle SuperSonics live on!

Yay!

Long Live Leno

Looks like Tonight Show host Jay Leno may not be done in 2009 after all. As the leader in late night ratings, Leno is a hot comodity as ABC, FOX, and Sony have all made it clear that they will be bidding for the comedian's services come next year. When NBC made the decision to promote Conan O'Brien to replace Leno as the Tonight Show host, they did so thinking that Leno would be losing popularity. Instead, he has gone on to dominate the ratings, even through the recent writers' strike. Other notable tidbits:

The Tonight Show earns an estimated $100 million per year.

Leno is estimated to earn about $25 million per year under his current contract with NBC.

Long Live Leno!

Favre retires

3 consecutive MVP awards

275 consecutive starts

160 wins

61,655 passing yards

5,377 pass completions

8,758 pass attempts

288 interceptions

422 touchdowns

All of them number one on the all-time quarterback record list.

Brett Favre retired today, closing the book after an amazing career. What amazes me is that I remember his Super Bowl runs in 1997, and to think that he kept it up through the decade into this past season. He was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year, and went out strong leading the Green Bay Packers to surprise 13-3 season, a playoff victory against none other than the Seattle Seahawks in the snow at Lambeau, before throwing the game deciding interception in overtime against the eventual Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants; no shame in that. While Peyton Manning may go on to break those ironman records, the fact remains that we have witnessed one of the best athletes of all time.

Closer

Watching basketball all week long, I am in agreement with the all other NBA fans who are in agreement that this is the best basketball we have seen in a long time. The NBA usually does not become interesting until April and May, and even then it has been criticized as being overly predictable. This year, March is already bringing us the most competitive and intriguing basketball, with several teams having legitimate title hopes.

I have had the honor of watching the Lakers throughout the years, and today I must admit that the magic is back in Los Angeles. The reason why the Lakers have shot up to the top of the list of championship contenders is not just because of the acquistion of Pau Gasol, resurgence of the promising Andrew Bynum, and revival of Lamar Odom as a premier do it all player, but also because of Kobe Bryant's leadership and killer instinct. Down at the half against Portland earlier in the week, Kobe fired up his teammates by yelling "this is the playoffs!" in the locker room, explaining that they need to make comebacks in order to win a playoff series. Kobe is by far, the best closer the game has seen since Mike. When the game is on the line, there is no player whose hands you would rather have the ball in than Kobe Bryant. No other team has a player who even comes close to Kobe.

Except for Cleveland. Against the Bulls today, the Cavaliers found themsevles down at home in the fourth quarter. Then King James takes over: Lebron comes off a pick, elevates and dunks. As the crowd exploldes, Lebron follows it up with a steal and pops a three on the other end. Bang, just like that Cavs up by six with two minutes to go and they go on to win.

I am dreaming of an NBA Finals with Kobe and Lebron trading big shots down the stetch for seven games.

Rams sign Brown

Seahawks stud kicker Josh Brown signed with division rival St. Louis this past weekend for $14.2 million over five years. Brown has kicked many game winning field goals for the Seahawks, including a few to beat the Rams. He was a fan favorite because of his strong leg that could boot 50-yarders regularly, ice in his veins to kick consistently in pressure situations, and for tackling Devin Hester on a kickoff! In 2006, Brown's impact was enormous, as he beat the Rams twice in a year which the 8-8 Rams lost the division title to the 9-7 Seahawks. Now the Rams have stole Seattle's key weapon in deciding close games, and could easily come back to haunt the Seahawks as they meet twice a year.