(The title of the post was either that or “The Heat is On”… I’m not confident I made the right choice…)
The Miami Heat have won the NBA Championship, thrashing the Thunder in an uncharacteristic blowout for what was an otherwise incredibly competitive, incredibly entertaining series. LeBron James finally joins the list of champions, meeting or exceeding any and all expectations that were placed on him (save for those of one Skip Bayless, who might actually be a cyborg Satan).
The Heat were left for a dead a few times this post-season, most notably after losing Game 3 of the Indiana series, Game 5 of the Boston series, and Game 1 of the Thunder series. Yet they prevailed, playing better and better as the stakes were raised.
What’s wrong with the Miami Heat? Absolutely nothing*. Enjoy it, Miami!
* Well, just one thing… My three foolproof gambling locks for the series: Heat to win (+153); Heat to win in 6 (15-2); Lebron to win MVP (3-2). One more game and I’d be rolling in it. Well, if the feds hadn’t shut down sports gambling.
** I may write more later, or may just let thoughts trickle out in the comments. Feel free to use this as an open thread on any and all things NBA related.
I watched part of this game with a neighbor. I’m actually kind of proud of myself.
I am very proud of you, Mary! Socializing with real people! GOOD FOR YOU!
:-p
Curious to hear what you made of it all…
Ha, ha. Actually the socializing kind of got in the way of the game. Who knew men were so chatty when a game is on? I never imagined that I would want to tell a guy to pipe down so we could watch boys on tv run around and put a ball in a hoop. What I got to see was interesting. I would do it again.
Perhaps this young man had his mind on something other than basketball…?
Unfortunately, the season is over for several months. But they’ll be back again next year with a full season to boot! If you are jonesing for a fix in the interim, you can watch me hobble up and down the court with my friends all summer long. I can guarantee we will make you appreciate what you saw tonight infinitely more.
Lol, in sure that would be a sight, Kaz.
For the record, I would not use the term “young man” to describe my neighbor. And I would never outwardly discourage a gentleman from turning his attention away from me. I simply can’t afford to do such a thing.
“And I would never outwardly discourage a gentleman from turning his attention away from me.”
I honestly have no way to parse this sentence… a triple negative?!?!?! If I understood you correctly, that was the most passive-agressive way a girl has ever told me to leave her alone. Kudos!
(Psst! There’s a much better game that’ll be on through October.)
You’re going to need to give me a hint, Mike.
I have never been accused of being passive-agressive, Kaz. I’m too impatient for that crap. Besides, why would I tell you to leave me alone? I need your freakish interest in sports.
Hint: you’ll want to learn all about the infield fly rule.
Dang it, Mike. Kazzy said that was the most difficult one to learn. Can’t I start of with something easy? I think I heard someone talking about soccer the other day. Are they playing right now?
Mary-
I thought this might have been one of those nonexistent times where you weren’t undiscouraging the turning of attention in a direction unforetold to your wishes. Or something.
Also, the LoOG… where an interest in sports makes you the “freakish” one… :-p
Kazzy – Are you saying that your interest is average? I just can’t imagine a great number of people understanding and giving that much of their time and attention to something that doesn’t actually do anything for anyone.
You are making me sound like a crazy girl. Stop.
Soccer is going on right now. And I’m not sure I said baseball was the hardest to learn. Though it probably is.
I was actually thinking about this today, in an odd way, namely which sport (in terms of actual gameplay) is most libertarian, meaning which games imposes the fewest rules or restrictions on the playing of the game. Soccer seems to be the one. There are relatively few things you can’t do. Basically, take this ball and try to get it in the net. Baseball and football seem to be on the other end of the spectrum, as they have a ton of rules and orchestration to the events. Hockey and basketball fall somewhere in the middle, with hockey probably being slightly less restricted than roundball.
So, yes, Mary, there is a major international soccer competition going on in Europe right now. There will be a game at 2:45 (EST) on ESPN or ESPN2 every day between now and Sunday. Soccer on TV is incredibly fan friendly to watch, though many consider it boring for the relative lack of action. Unfortunately, you missed today’s game, which featured a bit of eye candy in Claudio Ronaldo, who matches his devilish play with devilish good lucks (even with a tad too much hair gel).
Amongst my real-life friends, my interest is probably above average, but certainly not freakish. Then again, we’re a bunch of oafs.
AND SPORTS DOES EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE! Do you know what the world would be like without sports? [Pauses… imagines a world functioning remarkably more efficiently and productively than current world…] SHUTUP, STUPIDGIRLMARY!
Perhaps a “Why do we care?” post is in order…
Mmm… hot foreign guys. Yes, soccer sounds thrilling. I think I will try it out.
Yes, you did say that baseball was the hardest. You mentioned four sports and said that baseball was more complicated than hockey, basketball and football. It was when we were talking about baseball and I was getting frustrated. Don’t even try to tell me I’m wrong when I know I’m right.
Soccer seems to be the one. There are relatively few things you can’t do.
Other than be between the goalie and the rest of his team when you don’t have possession of the ball. Or pass the ball back to your goalie under some conditions I don’t understand.
I honestly don’t think baseball is that complicated. The pitcher throws the ball, the batter tries to hit it, and everyone runs around the bases. There’s nothing as arcane as deciding what a foul or a charge is, and no three-second, ten-second, and twenty-four second timers. Nor any need to remember whether an offensive foul counts as one of the six allowed personal fouls and/or one of the fouls that puts your team in the penalty, or which events give you a new 24-second clock (something Westbrook screwed up in game 4.)
Baseball is checkers compared to the chess match that is Cricket.
And Kazzy, shame on you.
It’s CRISTIANO Ronaldo.
For Miss Mary: (It’s a bit dated, as it’s for the 2010 World Cup, but good enough)
http://www.vh1.com/celebrity/2010-06-11/28-sexy-reasons-to-watch-the-world-cup/
Mike-
I agree that baseball isn’t as complicated as it is often made out to be (save for the infield fly rule). However, it is a far more structured game than most other sports. You have to take turns and if you don’t properly take turns, you’re penalized. Your turn might end before you are ready for it to. Four balls, three strikes, three outs, nine innings, etc. Baseball is a far more evolved game than soccer. You could probably teach monkeys to play a reasonable facsimile of soccer, which you couldn’t do for baseball. This isn’t meant as an insult, just an observation about the structures of the game. If Martians who had no concept of any of our sports landed on Earth, you’d probably be able to explain soccer in fewer words than baseball.
Though you could explain cricket in the fewest: Stupid. Nob, you and Blaise can go have your little love affair with a game named after a bug elsewhere. None of that political nonsense here! :-p
Mary, women are only right when men allow them to be. Didn’t they teach you this in school?
Well, helloooo! Thank you, Nob. That was… enlightening.
Feeling sassy this morning, Kazzy? You better watch it. I might just have to twist your other ankle for you 😉
If you’re going to paint me as the silly boy who likes watching other boys chase a ball, I’m going to act like it.
Grunt.
I wouldn’t dream of giving you that label, Kazzy. Or any other label, for that matter; I find the practice irritating. I find your interest in athletics to be quite valuable so my intention is to *not* insult you.
Tangential, but I never understood how men could playfully insult their friends as a reflection of the strength of the relationship. I’ve never see that work in a relationship between adult females.
In American sports, complexity goes:
American Football (NFL)
Baseball
Hockey
Basketball
Soccer
The complexity of the game is proportional to the amount of equipment you need to play it, really.
Do men really find it irritating when women can them cute? Because I find you all adorable. It’s a good thing, I promise. I wouldn’t be here if you weren’t. Perhaps I am more unwelcome than I thought.
I’ve been cute all my life.
Badass just wasn’t in the genetic cards.
Badass is so overrated. There is just no depth. Cute is a nice, innocent blanket statement that can mean something different for each and every person.
Oh, I’m just teasing. Even if you did apply such a label to me, I’d wear it proudly.
To the latter half of your comment, I’d explain it thusly:
I don’t think it is so much that we tease to express the strength of our friendship. I think it is the strength of the friendship that allows us to tease.
I’ve actually read interesting research on the way in which men and women form relationships and how this is demonstrated even in young children. Men tend to bond over common interests; women bond based more on their emotional relationships. They pointed out that men tend to form lines and women circles. Go out on a Friday night and you’ll see this: men lined up along a bar, all of their eyes focused on the game; women are sitting at tables together, eating dinner and enjoying each other’s company. Two different types of relationships that naturally take on very different forms.
And now can people stop saying that LeBron came to Miami to be #2 to Wade? There is no question who The Man is on that team, and it isn’t Dwyane.
Buhbuhbuhbuhbuhbuhbuhbuh MIKEMILLER!
And Shane Battier. The Threeplemint Twins.
I’m really excited to see Skip Bayless’s head explode. There is literally nothing anyone can take away from LeBron James at this point, save for his hairline.
The only reason we see or read anything from Skip Bayless is that sports media companies know that pompous blowhards say stupid things generates exactly the kind of arguing and nontroversies that get lots of eyeballs on sports shows and web pages.
Skip: “Another weak finish for LeBron. He wasn’t even on the floor in the last few crucial minutes.”
Wait… he didn’t REALLY say that, did he?
My favorite Bayless moment was when they were talking about Michael Vick and the fact that black players had a more favorable impression of him than white players (this was after his return to the Eagles). He went on some long rant about Lil’ Wayne because of something-something crazy black people. I imagine it took all of Stephen A. Smith’s self-control to not reach across the table and slap him, uttering something along the lines of, “Bitch, you crazy?”
Of course he did. Are you accusing me of exaggerating for effect?
GO THUNDER!!!! We are all very proud of what the Thunder accomplished this year and just wait till next year.
On a side note Could not find an official Harden, or any other player other than Durant and Westbrook, jersey last week and Now NBA store has every player. WOW did they miss out on a marketing opportunity
I spent about 20 seconds thinking about how you could not decide on the title for this post.
I know what will make me understand your posts about sports. You should write them in a melodrama format and act it out with puppets of the athletes wearing cheesy costumes.
Genius, right?
I thought this is what sports were already, what would Kazzy have to add, then?
You have a point, mr. p.
I’ll just post recaps on the Puppy Bowl… How’s that?
After Googling to figure out what the heck a puppy bowl is, I’ve decided that sporting events may not be the huge waste of time I always thought they were. Seriously, puppy bowl? Where do they come up with this stuff.