Sunday Reflections

Some Sunday Reflections while watching the NBA Finals:

-The Euro 2008 Tournament has been excellent so far. I know that some of you may not be soccer fans, but you have to give this tournament a try. The play has been amazing, especially from the Dutch. Holland is looking scary good right now. Their dismantling of France was a thing of beauty. Spain got incredibly lucky yesterday in their game and I saw the best comeback of the year, maybe ever, when Turkey scored three second-half goals against the Czech Republic. You have to look up the highlights of that game. I picked Portugal to win the title, but I can see Spain, Holland or even Turkey pull it out.

-I’m now a golf fan. I usually don’t like watching golf on TV because I find it boring. Yet, I love soccer, strange. Anyway, I decided to give the U.S. Open a chance this weekend and I was riveted. I watched some of the action on Saturday and the last three pairings on Sunday. Amazing stuff. I was pulling for someone else to win besides Tiger Woods, but that man is a beast. I guess Tiger has had knee surgery and is still recovering, but he manned up and gutted out a tie. He did blow the lead, which isn’t good. I would watch someone like Rocco Mediate or Lee Westwood miss a putt on the 12 or 13th hole and say to myself that they lost the tournament. However, they kept their composure and were in it until the end. That putt that Tiger made on 18 to force the playoff, incredible. I was riveted by the drama. I’m mad that I can’t see the 18-hole playoff on Monday because I will be traveling to South Carolina, however, when the next major comes on TV, I will watch the final day. I can’t commit to watching all four days of coverage of a major and I definitely won’t watch all of the no-name tournaments, but this is a start. Also, wondering out loud, why does Phil Mickelson always finish either terrible for his standards in a major or be in contention to win. I’m not a golf expert, but it seems that he should be a better golfer then he is according to all of the experts that I hear. If someone can give me an explanation, I would appreciate it.

-Kennesaw, Ga. is the same as it ever was. I’ve spent the last few days in Kennesaw with the family and everything looks the same as when I was here a few months ago.

-I love watching the Baseball and Softball College World Series. I should have mentioned this a few weeks ago, but I love the College World Series. I always watched the baseball one, ever since I was a kid. It was the early to mid-1990’s when LSU used to win it almost every year. I always had a soft spot for Cal. State Fullerton and Long Beach State for some reason. I never liked Miami because they seemed cocky and didn’t like Stanford because of the uniforms. Yes, that’s a pathetic reason to not go for a team. I’ve grown up and now have evolved thoughts on the teams. I think UNC will win it all, but unfortunately as a Georgia Tech fan, watch out for Georgia.

Softball is a different deal for me because I didn’t grow up around it. I do respect it and would like to head to Oklahoma City to check it out one day. It looks like a good time and I have grown to like softball from CofC and Belmont now.

-People may think I have a beef with Kobe because I’ve never liked him, but it really isn’t personal. The thing about it is that in our society, especially in sports, we are always trying to compare someone to something. If you hear a song on the radio, people say that sounds like Zeppelin or the Stones. If you watch a TV show, people compare it to Cheers or M.A.S.H or Seinfeld or something. In sports, if there’s a good hockey player, he’s compared to Gretzky. If there’s a good baseball player, they get compared to Willie Mays. Finally, in basketball, if someone shows any skills, they always want to bring up Michael Jordan. I get so tired of the media and fans trying to compare every perimeter player to Jordan. We can go down the list from Harold Miner to Grant Hill to LeBron James to now Kobe Bryant of all the people that get compared to Jordan. Michael was the greatest player ever and they’re will never be another player like him. Just like they’re will never be another Kobe, Magic, Bird, Miner, Hill, LeBron and everything in between. I think I get tired of Kobe because gets stuffed down our throat. If the Lakers win this series, good for them. If the Celtics win, good for them as well. Just leave the comparisons alone, please.

-I’ve watched less and less sports channels and loving it. I made a decision a few weeks ago to not watch so many sports channels like ESPN and just watch the games. I get oversaturated with information and it makes the experience of watching a game less enjoyable. The over analysis of sports has gotten out of hand. I’ll elaborate on this more another time.

-I’m going to meet up with Ms. Smith on Tuesday! Your boy is looking forward to catching up with Alicia. If you need a recap of who she is, check this out: http://pourtoutpancakes.blogspot.com/2008/05/facebook-and-feeling-yes-at-same-time.html Yeah, looking forward to it.

That’s it from me. Have a good week.