softball is back

while the standard shows are the go-to background tv when i want sounds and visuals in the space, the women's college softball world series has begun and that will keep me company for a week or two... it's a much purer game than the nba referee dominated, egocentric, seemingly scripted, pro basketball played by a bunch of way overly entitled spoiled brats (and no pretentious marketing is going to give them the education and experience needed to have class and respect)... i much prefer to play sports than to watch, but when i do watch, i so prefer watching people playing for the love of the game and pride of the team rather than for money and ego-glory... most professional sports are reality-tv, entertainment tv at best...

anyway, watching nebraska play washington, it looks like nebraska has the slightly better team on all three levels (pitching, hitting, and fielding), though i've got to question a couple of the coaching calls on the nebraska side... both team pitchers seem to have a lot of nerves because there have been a lot of walks and hit batters... i don't think either team is going too far in this world series, but both are scrappy... after watching the first five innings, the washington bats need to wake up if they want a chance... nebraska has the edge in fielding for sure... the washington infield plays too deep and does not get the ball to first fast enough, while the nebraska infield is much better at all of the fundamentals... both are upset winners just to be in the world series and are a toss up to win this series... nothing to do with the game, but it is an interesting to see that most of the washington team seems hawaiian... anyway, being home a lot has it's perks... i shall enjoy watching this world series this year...

so much time on my hands - and loving every minute of it :)

nba on tnt

so glad there are other more interesting things on tv during this may madness of nba playoffs... the game is so reflective of the american culture, arrogant overpaid kids with little or no sportsmanship or class trying to show off... not every team, some do have exemplary class (san antonio lead by tim duncan, for one)... might as well watch boxing or hockey... as i've been saying since the beginning of the playoffs (i seldom watch the game before the playoffs), the knicks are a perfect example (as are miami and as were the lakers), egos inflated by their home venue, but they play like selfish punks and thugs who have no clue that basketball is a team sport and at times, appear to have no clue as to what the game of basketball is about... too many teams are like them these days, with one mega-star having amazing individual games now and then, but that does not work against a team playing together in a seven game series... what gives miami an edge (besides the refs who consistently call plays in their favor... lebron, of course, is the best example) is they have two of the best players in the game who've learned to play two on two ball pretty well... it's still not what the five on five basketball game was meant to be and teams that played like teams (like boston from the 60s and the knicks and lakers from the 70s... watch tapes and learn if you are really interested in the game)...

one reason i like charles barkley is, through instinct, intelligence, or naivety, he says what a lot of people are thinking but most if not all are afraid to so... he is not pc... he does not toe along the company line... and many times, he speaks truth no one wants to hear or believe... the scripted nba, for instance... for years people swore wrestling wasn't scripted, foolish fans... the nba is obviously scripted to some extent, maybe a lot... and espn plays right into the soap opera... ridiculous overblown drama on reality tv is the american way these days... what is obvious is the same physical interaction between players can happen a hundred times during a game and a few times it's called a foul, purely at the referee's discretion... and too often those specific foul calls come at points in a game that turn momentum toward one team or another... too often those specific foul calls determine who wins a game or a series... so thank you charles barkley...

"i know the nba wants miami in the final, but come on man" ~ charles barkley

and thank you tnt for putting him on the air... the talking heads on the others stations are so bending over backwards to please the corporate network execs and corporate nba, they take the joy out of the game... sir charles (and shaq and kenny on tnn, were remarking about the ridiculous referee calls between commercial breaks and this particular statement was made supporting shaq and kenny's similar statements during a review of the biased calls by the refs during game the first half of game two of the conference finals... ridiculous technical fouls on indiana, while miami is allowed to argue and provoke much more than indiana does and nothing is called... i am waiting for them to notice how many 3-second violations are called against indiana just as someone is going in for an easy layup... besides the ridiculous disparity in foul calls, 3-second violations taking away point opportunities from indiana and giving more point opportunities to miami is the rule the refs follow...

bad tv

ever see fire from below (it's a movie)... the first ten minutes have to be the worst written movie with the most illogical premise i've ever seen and that is saying a lot... just watching it made me feel stupid and distracted me from whatever i was thinking about writing about after the basketball game, which i grudgingly watched because i like tim duncan and tony parker and therefore i like san antonio... as usual, the refs dominated the game, calling three cheap fouls on duncan in less than a minute which lead to a come back by memphis and as if there was any doubt that the refs were deciding the outcome of games (scripted sports really suck), the flop acting job that game memphis 4 points to tie at the end of regulation should be a fine (as flopping and faking injury is a fine), but the refs bought the acting and called a flagrant foul... to a man every announcers was laughing at how stupid and wrong the ref's call was... but the refs game memphis the overtime chance (while ignoring calls that should have been called all game, like the one on randolph that knocked duncan down in overtime that wasn't called) and memphis got the overtime... great script... san antonio won because duncan would not be denied, but it was still the refs game way too much... all first quarter hard fouls across both arms were ignored, then petty fouls were called almost entirely on san antonio (san antonio went almost the whole 4th quarter without taking a foul shot... tired memphis who are known for aggressive play who were playing poorly suddenly stopped fouling in the last quarter?) in the last quarter, especially the last seven minutes...

meanwhile, just when i though fire from below couldn't get worse there is "bubba" (you knew he was bubba cuz his speech was a stereotype of backwoods english and he wore a baseball cap with "bubba" on it, duh) going to the out house and of course the fire from below sought him out and below the outhouse to smithereens... somehow, the whole intact toilet can crashing down to the ground a hundred feet away (directly in front of the camera) and it was not only intact, but did not smash... must have been dropped there from about ten feet or less... no talent in this movie anywhere, especially not the writers or director...

then you've got the backwoods black guy making out with his girl in the pick up truck who needs to take a leak and of course the fire from below finds his urine stream and boom... then it shots into the back of the pick-up as the stereotype girl drives off (seems it doesn't want her, just the hay in the back of the pick-up) and it ignore the girl and the other girl who pulls her out of the truck down the road...

but the worst part of the film is the scientific premise of the story that there is some sentient isotope of lithium that seeks out people and boats to burn them and blow them up... it, the fire (burning lithium?) is supposed to be seeking water, but comes up out of a lake in a straight line and it flies over a lake chasing a water skier and then a boat... then suddenly, no more fire after it blows up the skier and boat... so much for the premise that the lithium isotope burns when it mixes with water... the most amazing thing about the sentient deliberate people killer lithium isotope that burns when and where it wants to and smells like rotten eggs is it waits for the cameras to be on it to do it's thing... it seems to takes direction better than any of the actors... unless it's the director making the actors look bad, or at least helping...