First let's state the facts.

1. The Wiz are down 0-2 to the Cavs right now.
   - The Cavs won both games. We did our part in losing them, but we can't say that Cavs didn't do what was necessary to take the W's.
   



2. Game 2 was about the worst I've seen the Wizards look.
   - The team without Gil and Caron in last year's playoffs put up more of a fight than the team who was on the floor last night that I couldn't even recognize.
   



3. Did the team look bad when Gil was on the floor? Yes.
   - Enough with the bad shots and trying to take over a game. We all know you're good Gil. We know you can light it up. But you're not at 100%. With the new sprained wrist, you're probably more around 65%. 65% Gil is not going to get it done in the playoffs. Don't fool yourself into thinking it will.
   



4. Did the team look bad when Gil wasn't on the floor? Yes.
   - We can blame Gil all we want. We can say he ruins the chemistry. We can say that there is no TEAM if Gil's on the floor. The truth is, game 1 would've looked alot like game 2 if Gil wasn't out there shooting the lights out in the first place. There are definitely times when Gil makes BAD decisions, but lets be honest, the entire team was full of bad decisions last night.
   



5. The NBA is absolutely LOVING what is going on right now.
   - Whether you think there's a conspiracy or not, you have to agree that the NBA and David Stern are head over heels in love with Lebron James. Meaning, they are also in love with the Cleveland Cavaliers. In a league built on stars, there's nothing more planned out than to have your star be a force in the playoffs.

Those are facts. What you are about read below is theory.

1. The Wiz are down 0-2 to the Cavs (and the general public) and the NBA is absolutely LOVING what's going on right now.

Last year is probably remembered by Clevelanders as the first (of hopefully many) year(s) Lebron has taken them to the NBA Finals. It is remembered by the rest of the general population as a fluke run in a weak Eastern Conference. Even if you weren't smart enough to figure it out for yourself that the Cavs were not the best team in the conference, there were enough TV analysts and journalists (both traditional and blog) telling us so. Sure Lebron was good, but seriously, it was a joke. The Spurs proved that kinda easily in the Finals. The Cavs were jokes.

So how does that make the 2nd best player in the league look? If his team looks like a joke, and their run to the finals was a joke, and their finals performance was a joke.. then.. you get the idea. How can a superstar look like a fluke/joke to the paying audience??

Well obviously he can't. Let's look at this from a wrestling perspective. It feels like the NBA is sometimes one ladder jump away from become the scripted spectacle that the WWE is anyways. Let's say that Hulk Hogan just got literally and figuratively embarresed in his first trip to Wrestlemania. How can the WWE make him relevant again while proving he's not a fluke, and all while doing this, maintaining and building upon his popularity?

• Step 1: Let's pit him as the good guy against the thug-malcontent-outlaw-trash talking opponent. And for the NBA, let's do it in the first round of the playoffs. We don't want to do it during the regular season because at the point it'll look a little too obvious. But let's not do it too late into the playoffs though because we can't have them looking like jokes two years in a row, only to make our job harder the next year in trying to undo additional damage. But just to make sure that the Mike Brown and the Cavs don't mess it up for our darling, let's give him home court in that first playoff series.
  
  Step 2: Let's make The Wiz become NBA Public Enemy #1. How dare you say that you are better than the Cavaliers and the almighty Lebron. God forbid. How dare you say you think you can beat them? Deshawn called Lebron (apparently the greatest thing to happen to the NBA) overrated after he played pretty good defense on him for an entire game, and was the one guarding him when he missed the game winning shot. Aren't the superstars supposed to take over the game regardless. Even more so, aren't they supposed to hit the game winning shots if given the opportunity? That's what superstars do. Well... LeBron didnt. He missed. He didn't make the shot that superstars make. So if you're saying he's a superstar, then for that game, he was probably a little overrated.
  
  I know superstars don't always hit the game winning shot, they're not robots, evidenced by LeBron's "I guess I am human" comment in the press con following that game. But if you were busy talking shit back and forth with LBJ the whole game, and you helped in making him miss the shot that effectively gave your team the win, Did DeShawn not earn the right to talk just a little bit of shit after that?
  
  In the meantime, Gilbert was busy chatting up whoever types his blog on the phone talking about a team that has ended his team's season two years in a row. Of course they would want to play them. Add on to the fact that said team made a trade that didn't make alot of sense and didn't make them better? Of course they would want to play them.
  

Gilbert and DeShawn's comments about the Cavs
=
more sense than Cleveland's Midseason trade.

• Finally, we're at my point. Charles Barkley called the Wiz the 'dumbest team in the history of civilization. The rest of the media is all about how big trash talkers the Wiz are. They talk about how rough we're playing. They talk about how arrogant we are. They talk about how LeBron has to 'overcome' the physical play. Brilliant. Everyone loves the underdog, so let's give the Cavs the better seed and still make it seem like he's the one that has to beat the bully. Let's make these Wizards our scapegoat bad guys and add to Lebron's legend.

• Who remembers when Michael Jordan had to get past those tough physical trash talking Pistons? Who remembers how Jordan had to overcome that, then have to deal with those bruising unbelieveable series' with the Knicks? Now listen, I'm not saying the Wiz are the Bad Boy Pistons of the late 80's, the team that won back-to-back championships. Nor am I saying that they are the in-your-face Knicks of the early 90's, the team that would have probably won a couple championships if Jordan wasn't playing against them. What I'm saying is that tt was those crucial series' that transformed Jordan, the young rising star, to Jordan, bonafide great. The NBA might not determine the winners (that'd be WAY too obvious), but you can damn well bet they know who they want to be playing.



• Do you know who the NBA wants in the Finals? Hello?? Celtics-Lakers ring a bell? Both those teams have bonafide superstars, tradition, and also the longest standing rivarly in the NBA. That's ratings GOLD. You think the NBA is going to let a team without a bonafide superstar win the title again? This isn't Detroit. With the Pistons winning in '04 with no superstar in sight, they even went to the point of designating someone one who has no business of being one. Chauncey's good, but he's no individual superstar. Chauncey can't carry a team by himself. But boy would you think he can the way the NBA and their commentators talk about it. Can't they just be a good team? Do we have to single out one player as the reason they won? Nope. Not the NBA. They need a name to associate with the team. Rasheed? Nope, too much trouble, too many techincals. Chauncey, it's gotta be you.



• So with that line of thinking, let's see, last year, no one expected the Cavs to be in the finals. The NBA took alot of shit across the chin for that. What would happen if these slick talking Wizards made it to the Finals? Not on luck, not on whatver, just by beating their opponents? But the league didn't show them on National TV enough this year. Their biggest star, Gilbert, was out for more than 3/4 of the season. And most of all, he cant be on that superstar level yet, especially not after not playing this year. Not will all that talk about whether the Wizards are maybe even better without him. To have the Wiz meet the Celtics in the second round (the only team to have beaten Boston 3 times this year) would be a disaster to the NBA's plans. What if the Wiz actually.... won? How will the NBA contain this potential poison?

Drumroll Please..........

King James. It's perfect.

Let's label the Wiz the bad guys, have our heir apparent 'overcome' the adversity of the tough play, automatically putting him into a situation where he transforms from Lebron, young rising star to Lebron, bonafide great by valiantly fighting (but eventually losing) to the Celtics for a year or two until he is able to finally 'Conquer the Green Monster!' (And that is just the type of wack ass tagline the NBA and the Cavs will use too). I mean, by that time, itll be 2010-2011, and whether he'll be in Cleveland, New York, or NJ( soon to be Brooklyn by then), every one of those teams should have enough cap space cleared up to finally find the help he needs to win a championship.

Mission Successful. The NBA loves it when a plan comes together.

Labels: arenas, basketball, cavs, lebron, nba, wizards

Posted by eva at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments

I know Chris Paul is playing out of his mind right now, but if you really wanna talk about 'out of your mind'....

Labels: basketball, kobe, nba, nike

Posted by eva at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: boxing, marquez, pacquiao

Posted by eva at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments

There's no disputing that it was a close fight. Just when you thought one fighter would start taking control, the other would lash back. Just when one of the fighters thought they might have the other one figured out, the other fighter would confuse them with a variety of shots. Neither of them was able to control it how they planned or wanted, and what followed was a GREAT matchup of fists being eaten and chins being tested.

OK. so we've gotten the fact that it was a close fight out of the way. Their first fight was a close fight that ended in a draw. This fight was a fight that ended in a split decision. WMM, this means, that whatever you did... it was NOT enough. Sure, you showed a couple rounds of dominance in whatever particular rounds you won. that's awesome for you. you can box. bravo. did you win? well...

I've never heard mexican women cry so much. (Wait, team marquez is a bunch of men? Could have fooled me at the post-fight press conference). I haven't heard mexican women crying foul so bad since melanie griffith locked up antonio banderas. Jokes aside, we have seen a post fight whine session more recently... it was after Israel Vasquez beat little brother Rafael Marquez. Notice a pattern? The Marquez brothers have so much blame to shoulder and yet they continue to place it on anybody but themselves. It's childish, disrespectful, and most importantly, is a severe case of bitchassness.

Whine Manuel,

You blamed judges for your 04 draw with Pacman.

No one told you to get your face lit up and fall 3 times in the first round. It was the reason this fight was a draw. If the knockdowns didnt happen, you would've won. The judges arent the reason for the draw, the 3 times your ass hit the canvas is the reason. (The fact that it was a draw becuase a judge incorrectly scored the round 10-7 instead of 10-6 like a 3 knockdown round should be is besides the point here)

You blamed Pacman himself for "running away from you for 4 years" before fighting again this month.

No one told you to think so highly of yourself as to demand so much money for the rematch when it was first offered right after your first fight with Manny. Pacman took less money to fight Erik Morales and start a great trilogy with him, while you went to Indonesia and got your ass whooped by Chris John. Why would Pacquiao fight you again so soon? You weren't on his level.

You're blaming the judges again for your split decision loss to Pacman. You say the public should vote for the winner because they're the "best judge".

The public is the best judges? Of course! Didn't you guys know? How else can you explain Ruben Studdard winnin American Idol and getting dropped by three different labels while his three albums have gone triple wood? The reason people were booing at the arena is becuase they were mexican. Look, if you jus lost your only scooter that you took to sneak into America for the fight because you bet it on your sorry ass, you'd be mad too.

You're about to start blaming Manny for "dodging" you again.

Let's see,
1st fight = draw
2nd fight=L .
Yeah, you know what, your record speaks for itself, you DESERVE another fight! how bout you go WIN a fight before you start angling for a rematch? Remember, it was a looong time between the first Pacman fight and when you actually got a shot at Barrera for the title.

Speaking of, do you remember when people were saying that Barrera actually beat you? No? I don't even like MAB, but he fought both you and Pacman one after the other, and no one, absolutely NO ONE thought the MP-MAB fight was close.

You should be blaming the Mandalay Bay.
For making the ring too big so you couldn't grab the ropes to prevent your knockdown in the 3rd round like you did for what should have been a second knockdown at the end of said round.

You should be blaming your mother.
For making your chin stick out so far that Pacman caught it clean for what turned out to be the difference maker in the fight.

You should be blaming Reyes gloves.
For not making their gloves strong enough so that Manny could take your best shots and not once taste canvas through 24 rounds.

You should blame your own countrymen.
For supporting Morales and Barrera far more than you, that it took both of them losing to Manny a combined 3 times before even thinking that you should get a second shot.

You should blame your promoter, Golden Boy.
For letting Marco Antonio Barrera get his rematch with Manny first. More importantly, fight a very distracted, very toned down version of MP. You signed with Golden Boy to get fights you wanted. Too bad MAB wanted it too, so you were put on the backburner until he got his shot first.

You should blame Murad Muhammed, MP's promoter during their first fight.
For making you look so bad for crying after this second fight, since he hardly put up a whimper after getting a draw in the first fight, even though it was a mathematical error that caused that draw, rather than a difference of opinion.

You should blame HBO.
For not thinking that youre marketable and worthy of elite PPV fights. I guess those 'best judges' dont care enough to spend money on you.

I could really go on forever.

All these reasons why WMM can blame eryone but himself makes me think of another comparison. The math makes sense in my head right now, let's see if I can translate that to paper. Let's talk about a different fight for one second.

Mayweather vs. De La Hoya I

Mayweather won by split decision. Did he knockdown De La Hoya? Nope. Did DLH cry? Nope. Are they gonna fight again? Prolly. When, prolly 1.5 if not 2 years after their first fight. Which segues into more people you can blame.

You should blame your brother Rafael.
For being born second and thus being younger. I know you must be worried that by the time you get another shot against Pacquiao, you might be 36.

Hmm. that's how old De La Hoya will prolly be when he fights Pretty Boy again. These two fighters are four years apart (You and MP are about 4 years apart). People cant wait for this rematch to happen.

but why?

Mayweather won their first one, and even if by a split (where some people also though DLH actually won), I have a pretty good feeling Floyd's gonna be favored again by ALOT the next time they fight. So why even fight again? Cuz they're megastars. They don't fight people that aren't megastars. Could Miguel Cotto beat Floyd? Maybe. But why bother? Cotto beat Sugar Shane and still isnt on the top tier of fighters. Beat someone convincingly, and he might get a shot at Floyd. Not while he keeps fighting lower tier fighters like Alfonso Gomez though.

Beating megastars is how you become one. The people making you a megastar makes you a megastar. Manny Pacquiao is a megastar. Manny fought the likes of Morales and Barrera, while you fought the likes of Jimrex Jaca and Chris John. MP beat them convincingly. You didn't even win all your fights.

As an added note, I haven't heard any whispers of a De La Hoya-Marquez matchup like I have De La Hoya-Pacquiao.

You should STILL be blaming those so-called "best judges" and media who are for the time being on your nuts.

For not respecting you enough ever (past and soon to be future) to think you're good enough to be a megastar. You're boring. Does that make you any less of a fighter? Not really. Does that make people want to see you less and therefore respect you less? prolly.

For Pacquiao, people talk about him moving to lightweight, winning belts there, then moving up to light welterweight for Ricky Hatton (temporary megastar cuz of the Mayweather fight, more on that to come later), and finally the aforementioned fight with DLH.

For you, people talk about you should stay in the super featherweight class and fight people like Guzman, Valero, etc.

You wanna know why people aren't talking about MP staying in super featherweight like they are you? Cuz MP has taken care of business at 130. He's the champ. He's proved time and time again that at 130 there is no better than him. Yes, Whine Manuel, that includes you.

You should blame Ricky Hatton.
For getting a fight with Mayweather that has propelled him into 'temporary megastar' status and taking most of the limited 'temp. megastar" shine. He got his ass worked, but people still talk about him cuz he fought a megastar in Mayweather. You wanna know why you're still relevant right now? Cuz you just fought a megastar in Manny.

But You Can't Blame Manny Pacquiao.
For all the crying I've heard, I haven't heard Whine Manuel once say Manny is the reason for his loss. He actually should be thanking him for the giving all of us the opportunity to know who you are. Sure, you said he 'isn't Superman'. Who is that dissing? Dissing him that he isn't this robot-that-you-jus-cant-beat? Or dissing yourself that it doesnt take a superman to beat you?


Final note to WMM. You lost. It doesn't matter what you think. It doesn't matter what your friends think. You think New England Fans think they lost the Superbowl? You think Germany thinks they lost the World Cup? You think Juan Diaz thinks he got beat by Nate Campbell? It doesn't matter what they think. They lost. You lost. Mexico blames you.

Labels: boxing, marquez, pacquiao

Posted by eva at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments

I apologize but i jus didnt know how each round would be scored! Pacman wins by decision!! New Champ!!!
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Posted by eva at 12:23 AM | Permalink | Comments