Welcome Back

So it will be the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. Despite the fact that Detroit has let me down once again, I am somewhat glad that these two will be squaring off. It is good for the NBA. This match up will bring back all the dads that abandon the NBA once Mike left. I think that is good for the NBA that these two illustrious franchises are prominent. It does not help the NFL when the Cowboys suck nor does it help the MLB when the Sox or Yanks aren't in contention. After reading a book on the Celtics, it was hard to imagine them at the pinnacle of the basketball world for so many years. After all I missed the Bird years so I have never seen the Celtics actually in contention but once a few years back. It will be an interesting Finals. I do not think that Kobe and Pau can take Boston's Big 3. The X-factor is Odom. If he comes to play then Boston will have their hands full. 

Prediction: Boston in 6!

Horrible Discovery

I recently discovered southparkstudios.com and I have to admit that I wish I had not. I have spent the last few days watching the show that I absolutely love. Even though it pokes fun at just about everything, you have to laugh at it, most of the time you can not help it. I love watching the episode in which the boys mistake the Lord of the Rings for Back Door Sluts 9. Also, the little league one is priceless. Check out the site, but I am warning you that it is a addicting. 

The Sh*t Hath Hit the Fan

What is going on at USC? Two incidents at the school within a year. I don't know what can come of it but it's not good. They have to investigate this. Mayo is sitting in hot water. He all but admitted his guilt on OTL the other day. He received vast amounts of money while in high school and at USC. I will hold my opinions on this until something is handed down, either in the form of sanctions or vindication for the program. Either way you look at it, it's gonna get pretty bad.

I also watched Buzz Bissinger on Costas Now. WOW! That was bad. I agree with him in the sense that people do resort to blogs rather than real columnists. Honestly, I read more columns than blogs. Hell the only blog I read on a regular basis in Catsam's blog. I write about sports and like all sports fans I have bias opinions, does not mean that I don't respect these athletes. I do believe that this "hardcore" bloggers such as DeadSpin, often steer from fact and would rather substitute opinion rather than fact. I am actually going to the College World Series with Buzz Bissinger and look forward to talking with him....

Huh, interesting...

The other day I watched a show on t.v. talking about how the Big 12 will be loaded with quarterbacks this semester. I think that they will, starting with returning Offensive P-O-Y Chase Daniel. I think that he is overrated and I personally think that I could out run the 5'10 built the same way as Roethlisberger type QB. I think Todd Reesing of Kansas is better as well as Graham Harrell. I was talking to my friend about this claim and he made an interesting point to be about Daniel. Apparently in high school at Southlake Carroll, he was involved in a steroids scandal. I do not know the particulars of the scandal but, I do remember a friend of mine who went to high school in Dallas telling me the same thing. I wonder why that has never been mentioned? Perhaps because he comes from the football utopia that is Southlake Carroll. I think so....

FYI

Last week's UEFA Champions League semi-final match between Chelsea and Liverpool for the right to play in Final was epic. Chelsea won 3-2 and 4-3 on aggregate. The game aside, I'd like to make one distinct point, the match was viewed by 1.2 BILLION worldwide. 1.2 BILLION! Keep in mind that it was only  a semi-final match. That should be a testament to soccer's significance...

Something Quick

Call it blasphemy but I absolutely do not like Ladainian Tomlinson(I'm not apologizing for misspelling his name). Even though he is the pride of Waco University and TCU but he really needs to shut his mouth. The bane of his existence is the New England Patriots, most especially Bellicheck. He constantly jumps at the opportunity to bash them. It started last year when the Chargers hosted the Pats and he was upset at Ellis Hobbs for mocking Merriman's dance. There is one way to shut them up, WIN! The rules of trash talking are simple: win and you can, lose and you can't. Besides who was the one who couldn't play in the AFC title game? Rivers had a blown knee and he put up one hell of a performance. 

Another item, Kobe wins the MVP. Well deserved but I still have to make the argument for Chris Paul. He single handily brought the Hornets from obscurity to 2-0 up on the Spurs. Only an absolute basketball junkie could name their starting line-up and you would be lying if you said that you even knew who David West was. Hats off to Kobe nonetheless but I think Chris Paul was more worthy this year.

Something Moving...

I recently watched the movie "Catch a Fire" that tells the story of a man  and his journey through 1980's South Africa in the midst of the apartheid regime. I am glad that I saw the movie  now that I have a good understanding of everything that is going on in the movie. I had wanted to see it when it was first released but never got a chance to and I am thankful that I did. My brother watched about half of it and said that it was hard to follow, which I probably would have thought the same thing had I not read and studied quite extensively prior to watching it. I enjoyed seeing everything  that I had read about and heard Catsam talk about come to life. Umkhonto we Sizwe and the ANC came to life before my very eyes. Funny story, when "Friday Night Lights" was released I actually met Derek Luke, the movie's main character, and after I asked him what he had up next, he told me that it was a movie about South Africa. One can only imagine the living conditions that faced the people of South Africa and the horrors and atrocities that came with it. It upsets and disturbs me to see something like that and the fact that it was true and that was not even half of it is also disturbing in and of itself. Many people have no idea what exactly occurred over there for so long. Hopefully people will after watching that movie...

Here we go again...

Once again Liverpool finds itself in yet another Champions League semi-final and once again it is against Chelsea. There is not one team in the world that makes me more mad than Liverpool. They do not care about the Premiership, except finishing 4th, and choose to only focus on Europe. I know Liverpool has an illustrious history, but since I have began watching soccer religiously, thanks to Fox Soccer Channel, Liverpool appears to save their best for Europe and unfortunately my beloved Blues face them tomorrow. It will be a grind it out game like it has been each time the two have met the last two years. Fortunately this may play to our advantage in that Chelsea have been criticized for doing precisely that. I think it will be a nil-nil draw at Anfield and when they go to the Bridge, Chelsea will take it 1-0 and move closer to something has eluded them, a Champions League crown.

It Begins...

For all intensive purposes the playoffs in the NBA have begun, atleast in the west. I am currently watching the Nuggets and Warriors square off with 8th place on the line. It will be a 3-way limbo for the 7 and 8 spots in the west. It is likely that a team that wins 49, or even 50, will miss the playoffs. My take on it is that Dallas will not advance past the first round if they do make it. Denver and Golden State have a legitimate shot at taking down a top seed(just ask Dallas!). Either way you look at, the time that all basketball fans have been yearning for is upon us. Is the NBA back? That is the question that has lingered for years. With the spectacular play in the west and the looming eastern conference finals match up between Boston and Detroit, it should be a playoffs the like of which we have never seen. Not even when 23 was involved.....

The Age Old Question

Is this country ready for an African-American president? We have come a long way since the Civil Rights Movement and nowadays it is somewhat comical to think whites, in general are better than blacks at sports. Sports aside though, Obama just appears to have that swagger that it takes to lead this country. I have admitted that my knowledge on politics is not great but I know a strong personality. I have always been one to never choose a party affiliation and just vote for the better candidate. In '04, I thought Kerry was the better candidate. The point is this, I am getting the sense that the electoral process will not come down to color but merely the question as to who is better suited to run this country. My answer is Obama and all I know is that it will be a "November to Remember."

Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea

So before I start my rant about Chelsea's come from behind victory over Arsenal, I would like to apologize for my week of fun in the sun and thus the reason behind my absence. Chelsea fell down 1-0(nill) to Arsenal with about 30 minutes left to play. Chelsea and Arsenal both had endured each other's best shot early on and it was the Gunners who took the initial lead. Avram Grant then made 2 subs: Anelka and Belletti. Although I would argue that he might should have considered leaving on Ballack as he has been good as of late, I don't mind either of them b/c they were in desperate need of attack. After chanting "Jose Mourninho", the crowd then inserted their foot into their mouths as both substitutes were figures in the game winning goal. Didier Drogba showed that is hands down the best striker in the world and I might argue as one of the best players in the world. His play was none the less spectacular as he scored both Chelsea goals as only a pure finisher would do. My message is this: Give Grant a chance! We are still in contention for the league title and the Champions League. I would gladly take either one, if not, both than the FA and Carling Cups, respectively. Blues, we simply live to fight another day.....   

Don't Hate

I have stated before that I am a soccer fanatic. I hate it when all these sports personalities bash it and say that it is not a "real man's sport," like Mark Schlereth suggested one day while hosting Jim Rome's show. My only comeback to that is the reason you were so good is because you have been praised since you were little on how overweight you were, Congrats by the way!...not to mention being an expert at the cut block. The only problem with this country is that we think that we are better than everyone and rather not embrace the world's game, we berate it. Soccer combines fitness, strength, and raw skill to excel at it. In my bias opinion, it is the ultimate sport in combining the three along with intelligence. America prides themselves in being big. Soccer does not require one to be 6'3, 210 lbs. to be good at it. Honestly how many people can run a 4.4 40 yd. dash, 6'5 and weight 220? Those are few and far between. I hate all these people that say soccer sucks. Those that do have never set foot on a soccer field and probably could not play even if they tried to. You think that anyone outside the United States cares about the upcoming NFL Draft? No! They are talking about the next draw in the Champions League. GO BLUES! Soccer is not only the world's game but rather the game's world!

Tourney Time!

As the NCAA Men's basketball tournament looms ahead in the coming days. Another type of tournament is upon us, conference tournaments. While they do get some hype, I have always enjoyed watching them and will be constantly checking in on the Big East tourney tomorrow. What you have to like about conference tourneys is that it is a chance for redemption for the teams that have slept walk through their regular season. 

I can remember off hand two instances in the past few years alone, both occurring in the Big East tourney. Three years ago, WVU had to have a good run in New York to get into the tourney. They ended up getting all the way to the final. After that run assured them a spot in the tourney, they made their performance stand up by upsetting Wake Forest, actually the Chris Paul led Wake team, in the second round. From what I remember they came pretty close to making the Final Four that year. Another testament to the greatness of the conference tourneys needs only one name: Jerry McNamara. One could not forget the Herculean performance he put up two years ago in the tourney when his team would have not even made the NCAA tourney with out atleast an appearance in the Big East tourney final. Needless to say, McNamara single handily carried the Orange to the title and won MVP honors. In Sports Illustrated that same week, he had been named the most over-rated player in the Big East. I'll never forget him holding up a shirt after claiming MVP honors stating, "OVER-RATED?." thus giving them the proverbial middle finger. 

I can wait 'til selection Sunday and the Big Dance to eventually come b/c I enjoy watching the conference tourneys b/c I like seeing the underachievers in each conference play their guts to get the chance to attend the dance... 

Finally Someone is Speaking the Truth

*want to apologize to Catsam and Bob Ryan but after reading your blogs today, they hit home for me.

I thought that I was alone in this world, really. For the last 4 years I have said that Brett Favre was a good not great quarterback and finally at least two people see it my way: Derek Catsam and Bob Ryan. I have harped it for years that Favre is not among the greats. Despite the fact that he does hold every record possible for a qb to attain, he's still not considered as a great for one reason, and yes that was a pun. The pun in which I refer to is the one SuperBowl that he won. Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson also won one SuperBowl. While a comparison between Favre and the two mentioned would be deemed blasphemous in the football world, it is relevant because it is true. I state my case in the fact that in the games in which Favre, Johnson, and Dilfer won, a non-offensive player was ordained MVP. In Favre's case, a man who's most famous moment was misconstruing the Heisman pose in one Desmond Howard. I'm not saying that one must attain a SuperBowl and win MVP honors to be great but it sure would help his cause. The major knock on Marino is that he never won a SuperBowl but one must keep in mind that during his era, he faced three of the five dynasties in pro football: Steelers, Niners, and Cowboys. For this fact, I can not hold him responsible for this as some will argue that he was in fact the greatest passer. As for his iron man streak, it is and always will be very impressive. I can only debunk that by just saying that he is just very lucky to never have sustained any serious injury plain and simple. Packer fans are similar in that they will be bias when it comes to the discussion as to who is the best qb just as Cowboy fans will be. According to Bob Ryan, he says that Favre isn't even the best qb in his team's history but that's neither here or there. Cheese heads will claim that the man who walks on water and gargles peanut butter(Favre) is. Cowboy fans will also make the assertion that Emmitt Smith is the best running back. Any real football fan would not put him in the top 5 rb's in the history. To any football fan Jim Brown was undoubtedly the best at the position. I find it hard to consider Favre as a top 5 qb. During the years in which he played, I would make the argument that he was not even one of the top 5 qbs, let alone top 3. While the records are great and look good to the naive fan, I, along with others view them as yea but...

The Fear of the Hurricane, Restored!

My heart will always lie with the Miami Hurricanes in the domain of college football. Unfortunately for me they have fallen on hard times as they have had 3 sub-par seasons, tipified by not making a bowl game last year and not being ranked all year. Kyle Wright let me down in his tenure at the U. He would have his moments of brilliance and they he would make decisions that make you want to pull your hair out. You could see it in him but he never believed in himself to do it. I was never sold on Kirby Freeman from the time that I saw him play in high school. I knew that he could never succeed in the pro style offense. It is better for him to be under Art Bryles' offense at Baylor that incorporates a sort of spread option mixed in with pass. This years recruiting class gives all of us hope, #1. The U's season will hinge though on one Robert Marve. Last year's Mr. Football in the state of Florida red-shirted last year and watched Wright and Freeman lead them to a 6-6 record. The second thing they must correct is that o-line. In today's Eye on the U, it tells us that Marve performed very well. Hopefully he can keep this momentum going into the season. My prediction for this year is 10-2 and a BCS birth! Optimistic? Very much so.....

Obsession? I call it that

Entourage. I am an addicted watcher of the show and always find myself watching a re-run when it comes on tv. I am not going to make the statement saying that Entourage is the best show in t.v., but I will make the claim that it is the coolest on television. It's writing incorporating it's character's with modern day Hollywood is almost flawless. On many episodes, some actor will simply show up on the show and play themselves. The show has even sparked the debate as to whether they will actually make a movie based on the Ramones. 

The characters though are what really make the show. With the exception of Ari Gold, played by Jeremy Piven, all the other actors will never be able to escape their characters they play on the show. The only reason Jeremy Piven will be able to shed his Ari Gold skin is b/c he is the most established actor on the show but it was not until Entourage that I would argue that anyone actually knew his real name. Despite that, you will still be able to see Ari in every other character in which Jeremy Piven plays. Adrian Grenier will always be known as Vincent Chase. If you watch the show, you will see Adrian Grenier in a movie from now on say to yourself, "Hey! It's Vince!" Kevin Connlley will always be Eric and have little man syndrome. Jerry Ferrara will always be Turtle no matter how many different roles that he plays. Kevin Dillon will undoubtably always be Johnny Drama. I personally think that Drama is the best character on the show. The many pickles he gets himself into along with trying to land a job, absolutely priceless...

All this leads speculation as to what will happen next season. With Medellion tanking at the Cannes Film Festival so badly that Harvey bought it for $1, what will become of them? Vince put his whole career on the line for this movie and last season ended looking like he will be lucky to land the next Larry the Cable Guy project. Surely Vince will rebound. He does have another project coming up but it's director is Walsh, who directed Medellion. I have a funny feeling that Medellion will get a fantasy Oscar nom but that is just an inclination. All that I know is that I am counting the days and watching every re-run possible until season 5 debuts...

Spring Baseball

As I was finishing up a bibliography earlier, I noticed a very disturbing image on my tv. It was the image of Mike Lowell dancing in the Sox version of Dancing with the Stars. All this begs the question as to the real meaning of Spring Training. Now while I would love to go to Florida or Arizona to watch Spring Training, I ask the question what the overall use for it is. I mean guys are being paid millions to show up in shape and ready to play nine innings that day, or so one would think. They always say that it is to get guys in shape, thats garbage b/c as mentioned before I would expect them to show up ready to play. Now a days it seems as if its just an excuse to get the team together, get some work in for about 2 hours a day followed by a round of golf and drinks later that night. Don't get me wrong, if I could trade places with these guys I'd do it in a heartbeat. For me, Spring Training has always been welcomed by me b/c it gets me in the mood for baseball, there isn't too much on ESPN now but around July, I even get tired of the highlights of baseball games. I understand how there is hype now and rightfully so. Everyone is dying to see how Santana will be in the NL. While many are ready to hand him the Cy Young, I would not be so certain on that. Peavy, Hammels and Webb are all damn good and could easily out pitch him this year. I'll state it now, here are my predictions for the season:

AL MVP: A-Rod

NL MVP: Hanley Ramirez(yes I can name a player from the Marlins and he is on my fantasy team)

AL Cy Young: Josh Beckett

NL Cy Young: Cole Hammels

Surprise Teams: Dodgers in the NL and Twins in the NL

Players to keep an eye on: Fransisco Liriano and Kerry Wood; if they can make a comeback, they will be a force to be reckoned with, especially Liriano!

World Series Matchup: Tigers vs. D-Backs 

Is the NBA to where it was during the Jordan era?

As I sit in the library during my office hours, I would like to discuss the state of the NBA. The game somewhat fallen off since Jordan retired(I consider him retired after he left the Bulls. That stint in a Wizards uniform does not count in my opinion.). I would make the legitamate arguement that only the true basketball fan could have appreciated the NBA from then until now, even now in some instance. There is the reason for the game falling off being that there are no superstars anymore like there were back then. I would let time answer that debate as only time will tell if the players nowadays can be looked back and considered a superstar. Granted that was the era of the dream team but nowadays people yearn for the restoration of the "dynasty." The Celtics, Lakers, and Bulls were all classified as dynastic during the glory years of the NBA. Even in the modern era we have a dynasty known as the San Antonio Spurs yet people do not like them because they are considered "boring." In most cases they are but as mentioned before, only the basketball junkie would appreciate them. They do not cause trouble, they do not sag their shorts, hell their jerseys rarely come untucked. Yet people seem to not like them because they are "boring" and truthfully they are to the extent that only a basketball fan would like them. I do not like the Spurs at all. My heart lies with the Detroit Pistons and Steve Nash as mentioned before. 2 of the last 3 years both of my basketball favs have come face to face with the Spurs and have fallen. One of the highlights of my summer was just 2 days after I was 5 feet from David Beckham, and actually said something to him and he responded with a smile, did I meet Bruce Bowen of the San Antonio Spurs. I had a somewhat intelligent conversation with him in a locker room at a hotel in San Antonio. He was just a down to earth guy. Back to my argument of the alleged lack of superstars in today's game, but I would argue that there are just as many today as there were back then. Granted I am partial to my era, I could the last half of the Jordan era. But I have been witness to the Kobe/Shaq era and the Spurs era. I feel that there are an abundance of good players and that is what makes the league exciting. Steve Nash should have won his third consecutive MVP last year but the powers that be in the NBA sabotaged the vote(or so my conspiracy theorist mind likes to think) and gave it to Dirk because they did not want to put some 6'0 white guy with the likes of Larry and Micheal. The NBA has an abundance of talent now just give it time and actually watch with an open mind out of love for the game and you will soon discover that the NBA does have superstars.

Like to give a shout out to my professor's blog, http://dcatblog.blogspot.com/, this is the quality to which I hope my blog will be at someday. I just have to get caught up with politics and not to mention improve my writing skills and vocabulary to be there. His is a very interesting read. Be back tomorrow...

Clarity, not the song by John Mayer

I do realize that my first blog posting had a few errors. Cut a brother some slack, it was late and one is due for a few mishaps here and there. The title of this posting has a specific meaning behind it. As I pointed out in the first posting, I am a double major in English and History. Writing comes with the  territory as you will know. As a matter of fact, those are the two majors in which writing is a heavy emphasis. I have started blogging to write formally on a regular basis. It is not everyday that I actually have to use proper grammar and punctuation. I text message on a regular basis and I actually do use proper grammar. Honestly I can not ask a question without a question mark. My perception of blogs has been swayed thanks to the phenomena that is myspace. I did have an account for about 2 years but I have recently deleted that, along with my facebook account. I deleted the two accounts because law schools and other important people that you could end up answering to will look for you on those websites and make judgements about you based on what have on your profile. I simply did not want to take that chance. The blogs that I would read on there were quite interesting to say the least. They were always posted in order to vent frustration based on drama that was occurring in that person's life. It was nothing but adding to the drama. I am a curious person so I read them. After reading them, I felt dumber after I read them.  All the reason behind the person posting a blog is to create more drama hoping that people would read it and give their feedback. Get a life!!  I got to the point where I did not care what was going on with others. I could careless if someone did something that made you mad or anything of that matter. This blog is for me to "rant-n-rave" about issues that most people know about. I will voice my opinion and it is my hope that people have a different view than mine on the particular subject and we can engage in an intelligent conversation about the matter. I will reiterate this, I will not share personal information on my blog. I simply like to discuss sports and popular culture ad nausea and I know there are others like me...By the way, I am not buying the hype around the Lakers. Gasol and Kobe are good players, but I am not sold on Bynum and Odom has always let me down. They will not make the western conference finals. See ya tomorrow!

First posting!!

Hello everyone! I am new to this art that they call blogging. I have read my teacher's blog every time that I e-mail him and I finally decided that I should start my own. A little about myself, I am Matthew Garcia and  I am on the verge of graduating from UTPB with a degree in English and History. I aspire to attend law school after graduation. I played 4 years of college soccer at UTPB. I am a sports fanatic to say the least. My knowledge extends to baseball, basketball, football and real football(soccer). My blog will talk about all facets of culture such as movies, television and politics( I am trying to get more acquainted with politics as my familiarity with it is somewhat lacking). I will be ranting and raving about everything from sports to television to movies and will not be revealing any personal information. I created this in hopes of getting my thoughts out concerning the aforementioned topics. I hope to keep up with this blog everyday but more than likely I will miss a few days due to the heavy workload that has been thrown upon me with school and law school applications. I will clarify some of my faves. In college football the one and only team I live and die by is the Miami Hurricanes(#1 recruiting class in the country this year), to all the haters out there, the U will be back!! Ohio State is the one team in this world I will never cheer for, even if they were pitted against the demons from hell I could never root for them. My team in college basketball is the Duke Blue Devils and has been since the 5th grade. Professional basketball is hard because my favorite player is Steve Nash but my favorite team is the Detroit Pistons. Despite Boston's resurgence, I still feel that this is the year Flip gets them to the finals. My favorite MLB team has always been the San Diego Padres, home of the reigning Cy Young winner Jake Peavy and the team that was kept out of the playoffs by a phantom home plate touching in the one game playoff last year, damn the Rockies! Professional football is hard to explain for me. I have favorite players rather than favorite teams. Tom Brady epitomizes everything someone could ever look for in an athlete. My adoptive team is the Pats b/c of him ( I like to think that there was not a a Super Bowl played this year and this is the only time this last Super Bowl will ever be mentioned). My love for the Miami Hurricanes run so deep that I keep up with all of them and root for them to succeed on their respective teams.As far as soccer goes, which is the only love I have ever experienced in life, I am a Blues fan(Chelsea) through and through and still hold a grudge for the departure of the Special One. As far as television goes, Entourage is the best show on television. The show would not be the same without each character. Each different character fulfills the puzzle that is the show and it would not be the same without each character, even Lloyd. I feel that the two best characters on the show are Ari and Drama. Ari speaks for himself and Drama is just Drama to say the least. I like an abundance of movies, my favorite being Training Day. I could not agree more with the Academy this year on their selection of No Country for Old Men as being the best picture winner. It is getting late and I have an 8 AM class in the morning. Hopefully this initial post will give you some insight to my life. Be back tomorrow...