Oops!

Last season I was watching a Lakers game at Staples with my friend Vayacondios. Although I was content with the Lakers progress last season, I couldn’t help but wonder how they could improve next year. VCD and I started talking about free agents that the Lakers could sign and I mentioned Bonzi Wells, who played well towards the end of the season and was great in the first round of the playoffs for the Sacramento Kings.

I thought the Lakers could play him as a shooting guard and move Kobe Bryant to the small forward position. VCD liked the idea but figured the Lakers couldn’t afford him since they could only offer the mid-level exception (about $5 million) and Bonzi would probably be looking for $6-8 million and would probably get it from some other team.

Turns out we were only half right. Wells was looking for more than the mid-level as he turned down an offer from the Kings for five-years for $36 million. But it turns out that the Kings were the only team that was willing to give him that much. So earlier this week, “poor” Bonzi had to settle for a two-year deal from the Houston Rockets for $5 million, with the option to become a free agent next summer.

This has got to be one of the biggest mistakes by a free agent in NBA history. It’s right up there with Michael Olowokandi turning down a seven-year $50 million extension from the Clippers and ending up with a three-year $16 million deal from the Timberwolves the following year. Obviously Bonzi and his agent overvalued Bonzi’s worth and misread the market for a 30 year old shooting guard with a career average of 12.8 points per game.

Nevertheless, another friend of mine, AbogadoDeNegros, maintains that Bonzi didn’t make a mistake and simply chose Houston because he wants to win. ADN doesn’t think there’s much of a difference between $10 M and $36 M since Bonzi has already made a lot of money during his NBA career. He sees Bonzi as playing the Scottie Pippen role to Tracy McGrady’s Jordan. While he admits there are better championship contenders, he thinks that Houston was the best fit for Bonzi.

I’m sure ADN is right. Even though Houston didn’t even make the playoffs last year, I’m sure they’ll win the title in 2007. I’m also sure Bonzi will be able to fit the Pippen role really well even if he’s coming off the bench since Houston traded for their starting small forward Shane Battier earlier this summer. And I’m sure that Bonzi’s firing of his agent earlier this month had nothing to do with there being a huge difference between the $36 M they turned down and the $10 M offer Wells ended up with.

I still wish that Bonzi had somehow ended up on the Lakers, even if it meant giving him the mid-level for five years. But I am hopeful about the Vladimir Radmanovic signing and think it would have been a mistake for the Lakers to wait for Wells. But if it doesn't work out for either the Lakers or the Rockets, there's always next summer and hopefully next time around Bonzi won't make the same mistake.

Please Just Go Away

Dear Mr. Bonds,

Yesterday the Los Angeles Times, quoting your agent Jeff Borris, confirmed that you would return next year to play your 22nd season in Major League Baseball. While I knew that your return was more than probable, I am going to take this opportunity to beseech you to hang up your cleats.

The obvious reason you will be coming back at the ripe old age of 42 is to try to catch Hammerin’ Hank Aaron’s career home record of 755 homeruns. You currently stand at 734. Since you’ve hit 26 this year (with three games left to play), it’s quite conceivable that you could get 22 more next year to pass Aaron.

And I’m sure next season ESPN will be doing everything possible to remind us of your pursuit of the record. Every homerun you hit will be mentioned on their sports ticker constantly taunting me as I watch. Once you get closer to 755, ESPN will cut into their programming to show us everyone of your at-bats live. That’s just going to be so insufferable.

No one outside of San Francisco wants to see you break the record. On the contrary, some people, including myself, would rather see you in jail for allegedly committing perjury to the grand jury that was investigating the BALCO scandal and possible tax evasion.

You’ve made your money, won your MVP awards, gotten the single season homerun record along with a bunch of other records, and surpassed Babe Ruth’s homerun total. Sure you never got your World Series ring but that probably wouldn’t happen next year anyway, unless you went to the New York Yankees. Plus, don’t you want to spend more time with your family?

So please, just go away. Then maybe I can start enjoying baseball again.

Sincerely,
The Pocho

P.S. Please go easy on the Dodgers this weekend. They’re going to need all the help they can get to make the playoffs.

Delayed Karma

The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday 28-20 in Heinz Field in Pennsylvania. While the game was significant because it was an AFC north division match-up and might have playoff ramifications down the road, I saw a different importance to the game. I saw another opportunity for karma to rough up the Steelers after their Super Bowl victory in January.

I was a little torn while watching this year’s Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Both Shaun Alexander, the Seahawks’ running back, and Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers’ quarterback, were on my league winning fantasy football team. As I’ve said before, since LA doesn’t have an NFL team for me to root for, I have to focus on my fantasy team.

Since Alexander played a much bigger role in my fantasy team’s success, I was slightly leaning towards Seattle. But once the game started and the refs started blowing call after call for the Steelers, I stopped rooting for the Steelers all together and stopped enjoying the game. I thought it was a shame that such a big game was being ruined.

Over the summer, when I heard that Roethlisberger was involved in a motorcycle accident, I couldn’t help but think it was some kind of karmic payback. But he made a full recovery and wasn’t expected to miss any part of the regular season. Then, just as the season was about to begin, I learned that the Pittsburgh QB underwent an appendectomy. It really started to look like the football gods were frowning on the Steelers.

Roethlisberger’s recovery from the surgery kept him out of the first game of the season. However, with Charlie Batch at the helm and the Pittsburgh home crowd still riding the Super Bowl high, the Steelers were able to still win. I don’t mean to sound like Earl from the NBC sitcom, but I couldn’t help wondering what karma was up to.

Things only looked brighter for the Steelers as their star quarterback would be returning to the field for week two of the football season against the Jacksonville Jaguars. But then a funny thing happened, the Jaguars dominated the Steelers with a 9-0 shut out win.

This Sunday offered another opportunity for karma to even the scales. The Steelers were able to the get to the Super Bowl last season after Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer suffered a severe knee injury during their playoff match-up. This game offered a little payback although the outcome was far from certain. Cincinnati let at half time but Pittsburgh came back to take the lead in the third quarter. However Roethlisberger and the Steelers made key mistakes in the fourth quarter and the Bengals were able to take a lead that they would not surrender.

So what does this all mean? Will the Steelers continue to lose and fail to make the playoffs? Will the Bengals go undefeated and win the Super Bowl? Probably not. But at least for one weekend, a little karmic balance was restored.

The Closet Sexist

I hate fantasy baseball. While I really enjoy playing fantasy basketball and football and usually do pretty well in those leagues, I generally struggle in baseball leagues. I do have one championship, but that victory is tainted since I got a lot of advice from my friend and even let him run my team for a couple of weeks while I was traveling in Europe.

There are a few reasons I dislike fantasy baseball compared to other fantasy sports. The season is too long, there are too many players that come out of nowhere, and there is a lot inconsistent performance. To this day I’m haunted by memories of drafting Jose Lima the season that the Houston Astros moved into Enron Field in 2000. Needless to say, when I took him in the middle of the draft, I wasn’t expecting a 42+ ERA after two starts.

Despite my aversion to fantasy baseball I decided to join a league one of my college roommates, Cappuccino, was setting up. One of the best parts about playing fantasy sports is that it helps me keep in touch with friends from college and grad school and I figured at the very least the league would let me do that over the summer.

Another reason that I signed up was because we decided to change formats from a rotisserie league, where you get points based on how you do in different categories for the season, to a head-to-head league. I’ve played head-to-head in football for a few years and like a lot of other sports fans, really enjoy it. I had tried it with basketball but that didn’t work out too well because the number of games teams play in a given week can vary too much.

Cappey wanted to get as many teams as possible so he invited a few people that I hadn’t played with before. One of the new team owners was Mel, Cappey’s wife. At first I thought it was a little weird that a woman was going to join the league. I didn’t even know that she was interested in sports. But I thought having a husband and wife in a league might make things interesting.

The league was actually pretty quiet for most of the season. I secretly dreaded facing Mel and losing to her. We faced off against each other twice; we tied 5-5 the first time and I beat her 8-2 in our second meeting. I headed into the last week of the "regular season" in fourth place; the top six teams would make the playoffs. The final week was actually pretty exciting, at least in fantasy sports terms, as there were four teams in contention for the final playoff spot. To make things even a little more interesting, I had a friendly wager with Big Money, my grad school roommate, that he wouldn’t make it. He was in seventh place at the time.

To top it all off, Cappey was in sixth place and facing off against Mel, who was only a few games back. Well things couldn’t have worked out any better. Mel destroyed Cappey 8-2. Big Money won his match-up 6-4, but Mel’s dominating performance catapulted her into the final playoff spot and I won my friendly wager.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out so well for me the following week. As the fourth seed, I faced off against Heavy Hitter, a friend from college and grad school, who was the fifth seed. The first and second seeds got byes. I actually started playing fantasy sports with HH in grad school back in 1999. I don’t know why, but he got the idea to start a basketball league and invited me and four other guys. I won that first league and the following season. I think he was traumatized by those early losses since he’s admitted to me that he sees me as his fantasy nemesis and relishes every time he gets to beat me.

Well he got his opportunity when we met in the baseball quarterfinals this year. He trounced me 7-3. In the other quarterfinal meeting, Mel took out the third seed by the same score. While I wasn’t happy about the result, I really didn’t care that much and was more excited about my first week match-up in my fantasy football league, which I ended up winning thanks to Art Shell’s terrific coaching of Lamont Jordan, who was on my opponent’s team.

I was pretty sure that HH and Mel would lose to the top two seeds in the semi-finals, as those teams had been pretty strong after the all-star break. Of course, I was wrong and both HH and Mel advanced to the finals. So now I was in a bit of a dilemma. Who should I root for? HH took me out of the playoffs and has a better fantasy sports profile rating than I do, 69 to my 60 (there are unconfirmed reports that he pads his numbers by playing in other fantasy leagues with second graders). But Mel is a girl.

I don’t consider myself a sexist. In fact, I think of myself as a feminist in the strictest sense of the word in that I believe there should be equality between men and women. Sure I enjoy the occasional sexual objectification of women, but what red-blooded heterosexual male doesn’t.

I still believe that men and women should be given equal opportunities and the same pay for the same work. If a woman wants to take my place in the military, more power to her. I don’t care if Michelle Wie and Danica Patrick want to compete against men in their respective sports as long as they are able to qualify. But I just can’t stomach the thought of a woman winning a fantasy league that I'm competing in. Does that make me a sexist?

Sure it was funny when Mel beat Cappey. As long as I know him, I’ll never let Cappey live that down. He could win every fantasy league I’m in for the next 10 years and I would still mock him for losing to his wife. But I have to draw the line somewhere and that’s why I’m rooting for HH. So far I’m backing the right horse as he’s up 6-2-2. Hopefully he’ll be able to finish it off and I’ll just have to focus on beating HH in fantasy football, just like I did last year, to close in on his higher rating. I guess that makes me a closet sexist. Sorry Mel.

It's a Shame About Ryan

Yesterday Ryan Howard hit his 57th homerun of the year. It actually would have been his 58th if an umpire had correctly ruled on Saturday that a fan interfered with a ball hit by Howard before it fell into the field of play.

Now you might say, “Pocho, what’s the big deal?” The major league record for homeruns in a season is 73 and there’s no way that Howard is going to hit 17 more in the next two weeks to break that record. And you would be 100% correct. There is absolutely no chance that Howard will hit 74 this season.

So why do I care? I care because if Howard hits five more homeruns between now and October 1st, he will be the first batter to hit 62 homeruns since Major League Baseball began testing for steroids.

Should Howard succeed, he will actually be the fourth player in MLB history to surpass Roger Maris’ previous record of 61, a record that lasted for 37 years. Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001. Mark McGwire hit 70 in 1998 and 65 in 1999 and Sammy Sosa hit 66 in 1998, 63 in 1999, and 64 in 2001. But the accomplishments of all three of them have been shrouded by the cloud of the steroid controversy.

I still remember the race between McGwire and Sosa in 1998. Like a lot of other sports fans, I had been put off by baseball’s labor troubles and was pulled back into the game by the race. I usually have a pretty bad memory, but I can still recall being on the phone talking to my college roommate as McGwire’s homerun blast barely cleared the fence. It was a great moment. I was witnessing history in the making. Something I might never see again. Or so I thought. Who knew then that it would happen five more times in the span of three years.

After the steroid controversy blew open, Congress held its hearings, and I saw McGwire choking back tears, those fond memories were flushed down the toilet. I actually felt betrayed. Since then I’ve mostly stayed away from the game. I barely remember the last time I saw a game at Dodger Stadium.

So that’s why it matters to me. I want to see someone without the taint of steroid scandal hit 62 and put an asterisk on Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa. Unfortunately, even if Howard does it, I doubt I’ll be watching and I know I won’t feel the way I did back in 1998. Despite any evidence, there will be a part of my brain that can’t help but think "I bet Howard just hasn’t gotten caught yet." And that’s the shame about baseball in the post-steroid era.

Social Experiment or Cheap Gimmick?

I decided to watch the season premiere of Survivor last night for the second season in a row. Last season I tuned in to watch a classmate from grad school. Unfortunately he didn’t last very long and I stopped watching as soon as he left. This season I decided to watch after learning that the show’s producers had decided to group the contestants by their ethnicity.

When I first heard about the idea I was somewhat alarmed. There’s enough segregation, voluntary and involuntary, in our society. I didn’t think devoting a show to it would be beneficial. But I was intrigued and figured I should at least check it out.

There are 20 contestants divided into 4 groups: African American, Asian, Caucasian, and Latino. They will be “stranded” for 39 days on the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. One by one they will be voted off each week until there is a winner who will be rewarded with a million dollars.

Yesterday’s show was more entertaining than I expected. The contestants were apparently not aware that they would be separated by ethnicity until the game started. While they seemed to be surprised by it, none of them really seemed to have a problem with the notion and they all seemed to embrace it as a social experiment.

But if it’s really supposed to be an experiment, what exactly are they trying to find out? Which ethnic group is superior? Whether people get along better with members of their own ethnicity? Or are the show’s producers really only concerned with how they can get the highest television ratings possible.

After watching last night’s show, I would probably go with the latter. The show seemed to be focused on trying to make distinctions between the groups. It also couldn’t resist throwing in some stereotypes here and there. One of the African Americans was portrayed as being lazy while one of the Asians was using mystical healing techniques.

That’s not to say I’m condemning the show. I just think that CBS and the show’s producers should be honest about what they’re doing. As I mentioned before, I did find the show entertaining. I enjoyed meeting “Cao Boi,” a colorful Vietnamese nail salon manager. I couldn’t help rooting for the Latino clan in the immunity challenge. I also got a kick out of seeing the African American group send Jonathan, a member of the Caucasian band, to exile island for stealing a chicken from the Asian group.

So while I’m not proud to admit it, I have to say that CBS’ gimmick worked. I plan to tune at least for another week to see what happens. But let’s be honest, this is pure sensationalism. There is no greater humanitarian goal here. It’s not about bringing greater understanding between ethnic groups in the United States. In truth, it’s all about the ratings. But hey, it’s a network television show, what more can you expect.

Open Season

Last season, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer was knocked out of the playoffs after sustaining two torn knee ligaments in the AFC wild card game. Palmer suffered the injury after a low tackle by Kimo von Oelhoffen.

This off season, the NFL made a rule change to better protect quarterbacks in Palmer’s situation. According to the new rule, defenders may not hit quarterbacks below the knee when the quarterback is in the pocket and has at least one foot on the ground. Such a hit will be considered rouging the passer and will result in a 15-yard penalty,

You would think that this rule change was in response to the injury that Palmer suffered, but according to Kevin Goheen of The Cincinnati Post, that is not the case. Goheen quoted referee Ron Winter’s explanation that the issue “came before the competition committee probably a couple of years ago. It takes that long to go through the system.”

Whether or not the rule change was a result of the Bengals misfortune isn’t that important. What matters is that by instituting this new rule, the league was reinforcing its message regarding the importance of protecting the league’s quarterbacks. That message was clouded yesterday when the league stated that it would not fine nor suspend Robert Geathers for his hit on Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Trent Green.

In case you missed it, Geathers clobbered Green during Sunday’s game between the Chiefs and Bengals on a play where Green was scrambling and running towards out of bounds. He began to slide and was almost completely prone when Geathers came in and plowed into Green. As I was watching I immediately yelled, “Where’s the flag!”, as my understanding was that a defender couldn’t hit a sliding quarterback and I didn’t feel Geathers made any attempt to avoid the contact.

Green lay motionless for a few minutes. While I was surprised that a penalty wasn’t called, I was sure that the NFL would at least fine Geathers. You have to protect the quarterbacks don’t you. When they showed the replay, I saw that a KC player made contact with Geathers prior to the hit but it still seemed to me that Green made his slide early enough and Geathers rather than try to cushion the blow, appeared to lower his head. I’m not saying there was malicious intent, but it did appear to be unnecessary roughness.

The NFL didn’t see it my way. The AP reported that the NFL ruled in a statement by Ray Anderson, the league’s senior vice president, that Green initiated a late slide as Geathers was about to tackle him. In addition, as a Chiefs player hit Geathers in the back, he was no longer in control of his body and twisted in order to avoid driving his helmet into Green. My question is, if he wasn’t in control of his body how could he have twisted it in order to avoid a helmet-to-helmet hit?

My other question is “What’s the point of having a slide rule?” It’s not like I’m a Chiefs fan or have any Chiefs players on my fantasy football team. I actually love to see quarterbacks getting sacked. But if you are going to have rules to protect quarterbacks, you have to enforce them consistently. By ruling as it did, the NFL has all but declared open season on quarterbacks and I think the game will suffer as a result.

The Wait Is Over

Yesterday was a momentous day for me. After two and a half years of waiting I finally became a Lakers season ticket holder. I wish I could say that this was a lifetime dream come true because it might sound like a bigger deal. But in reality I’ve only been a Laker fan for about half of my life and never really thought about owning season tickets until four of five years ago.

Part of the reason I never thought about buying tickets is that I never really had the funds to buy them. My father wasn’t a basketball fan and I really wasn’t interest in basketball when I was younger, so he never took me to any games. When I started getting interested in the sport, I was still in high school and didn’t have my own money to buy tickets.

I started working part time jobs in college but I was living in the Boston area during most of the NBA season. I was able to go to the Boston Garden/Fleet Center a couple of times to watch the Lakers play, but that was about it. I went to grad school in the Northern California, so I was able to see the Lakers play (and lose) to the Golden State Warriors a few times as well, but I still never really thought about one day getting Laker season tickets.

I finally finished up school in May 2000 and returned to Los Angeles full time, right as the Lakers won a championship. At work I met a colleague who had season tickets and that’s when I first seriously started thinking about getting tickets. But I figured that since the Lakers were at a peak in their popularity, I wouldn’t be able to get tickets so I didn’t even bother looking into it. Instead I continued to follow them on television. I didn’t really mind given that the team was winning championships.

Then right before the 2003-04 season was about to tip off, my friend VCD (vayacondios) told me about an e-mail he had received. Sven, a season ticket holder, was looking for someone to buy half of his season tickets. This was after Karl Malone and Gary Payton had signed with the Lakers to try to take the championship trophy back from the San Antonio Spurs. Needless to say, I was very interested.

However, there was a catch. Sven wanted a premium, almost a 50% mark up. We would be buying $35 tickets for $50. Given how excited I was about Malone and Payton, I relented and we bought the tickets. It was definitely one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. The 2003-04 season was one hell of a ride -- from Kobe flying back and forth between Los Angeles and Colorado to attend court hearings to Malone getting injured and coming back late in the season to Phil and Shaq’s aborted contract negotiations.

We had made a deal with Sven that we would also split the playoff tickets so I was able to attend the close-out games against Houston, San Antonio, and Minnesota. I was also able to attend the second game of the finals against Detroit when Kobe hit a three pointer to send the game into overtime. Unfortunately it ended up being the last game I saw at Staples Center that season as the Pistons went on to win the series in five games.

I was hooked. After watching so many games in person I knew I had to find a way to become a season ticket holder. So I did some investigation and wrote to the Lakers office in El Segundo. I made a small deposit and was placed on the waiting list. I was number 1347. I did all this as the Lakers were being dismantled. Phil was gone, Shaq asked to be traded, and Karl was contemplating retirement. I was disappointed by these developments, but part of me was also thinking it would make going up on the waiting list a lot quicker.

As the 2004-05 season began, VCD e-mailed Sven to see if we could work out a similar deal. Unfortunately, Sven, who had been a student the previous year, had graduated and started a job and no longer was interested in selling his tickets. So VCD and I went to plan B. We tried to buy as many individual game tickets as possible. VCD was also able to get a bunch of tickets through some American Express program. So we ended up going to about 15 games that season. While it was nice to make it to that many games, I really missed having the same seat for 20 games or so.

This last season VCD found another season ticket holder that was looking to sell half of his tickets. Since Shaq was gone, there wasn’t going to be a premium this time around, even though Phil Jackson was coming back to coach the Lakers. I got a letter from the Lakers inquiring as to whether I wanted my deposit back or wanted to stay on the list after going from 1347 to 970 on the list. Obviously I decided to stay on the list.

This last season wasn’t as great a ride as the 2004 season, but it still had its moments. I was there when Kobe had 62 points against Dallas in three quarters and I was there for game 4 of the Phoenix series when Kobe hit a last second shot to send the game into overtime and another one to win the game in OT. In the middle of the season I contacted the Lakers office to give them my new address and was informed I was 420 on the waiting list. I was also invited to a town hall meeting the team holds for its season ticket holders. Needless to say I was excited and hopeful that I would be able to get season tickets this season.

About two weeks ago I got the notice. I was invited to Staples Center to select my seats. When I first saw the e-mail I wasn’t sure if I was actually getting the tickets. I called VCD to let him know and ask him what he thought the e-mail meant. After calling me an idiot, he pointed out that since the e-mail mentioned an invoice and payment it probably meant we were getting tickets. But he wasn’t completely sure either. When I mentioned that I wanted to write about getting the tickets, he asked me to hold off on it until we had actually gotten them as to not jinx anything.

So I went to Staples yesterday and got to choose my seats. As you might expect, the selection was limited. We got there 15 minutes early so we had to wait until it was our turn. We had expected that most of the available seats would be in the upper level behind one of the baskets. While we were waiting, we got to see that while most of the available seats were in the upper level, there were a few that were in the center sections. When we finally got attended to, we went up to look at some seats in section 334, which were $36 per game. VCD wanted get aisle seats but I saw a couple of seats that were closer to the center. I went to look at some seats in the $26 section and then went back to middle seats in section 334.

I sat in those seats for a while just looking down at the court and imagined watching a game. All the time, VCD was trying to convince me to get the aisle seats. He liked the aisle seats because you can quickly go to the bathroom and back during a timeout. As he was talking I notice a father and daughter walking towards those very same seats. I overheard them and it sounded like they were about to take them. Since I wanted the middle seats I just continued sitting there listening to VCD. I told him I preferred the center seats but he pleaded for us to take the aisle seats. But it was too late. The father and daughter had taken the aisle seats. VCD was annoyed and told me the other new season ticket holders were smarter than me. I just smiled knowing that I got my way. VCD was mad but he was also just about to become a Laker season ticket holder so he got over it. At least I think he did. As were leaving Staples after paying for the tickets, he started plotting how he could get rid of me and assume sole ownership of the tickets. So if I ever stop posting here, you’ll know what happened. But while I’m still around there's a new wait for me. The wait until the start of the NBA season.

Will the Real Dodgers Please Stand Up

About a month ago I proclaimed that I was ready to board the Dodger bandwagon. I was excited by the trades that they made to boost their chances of making the playoffs. Well one month later and I’m still on the wagon, but I’m worried about falling off.

One of the reasons is I’m not sure what team I’m rooting for as the Dodgers keep showing me two different faces. Are they the team that lost 13 out of 14 games after the All-Star break? Or are they the team that won 19 out of 22 after that. Are they the team that got swept by the San Diego Padres? Or are they the team that won 7 in a row after that to open up a four game lead in the National League West division. Unfortunately I’m starting to worry that the real Dodger team is the one that has lost four of the last five games and is only half a game ahead of the Padres as I write this.

It’s hard to say exactly what the problem is. On one hand, the team has been shut out in two of its last three games, against Milwaukee and New York, so the bats aren’t swinging as well as they should. On the other hand, the Brewers and New York combined for 16 runs in those two games so the arms have been a little shaky.

The upcoming schedule doesn’t look very promising for the Dodgers either. 12 of the last 22 games, including tonight’s game against the Mets -- who have been the best team in the National League, are on the road. This season the Dodgers are 30-39 outside of Dodger Stadium. And to make things even better, of the 10 remaining home games, four of them are against the Padres, who as I mentioned are only trailing the Dodgers in the standings by half a game. Those same Padres have owned the Dodgers head-to-head this season having won 11 out of 14 games.

Yes, the situation looks a little bleak. But I’m still hoping that the real Dodgers are the team that won 19 out of 22 in August and they decide to make a stand and go off on a similar tear in these last 22 games of the season. Only time will tell who the real Dodgers are.

The Best Show You've Never Seen

Last night the G4 network, channel 354 on Directv, began airing reruns of Arrested Development, the short-lived, Emmy-winning comedy series that aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006. The show follows the misadventures of Michael Bluth, played by Jason Bateman, and his dysfunctional family.

His family includes his incarcerated father George Sr., his manipulative, alcoholic mother Lucille, his magician brother GOB, his twin sister Lindsay, his aspiring actor brother-in-law Tobias Fünke, his niece Maeby, his helpless brother Buster, and his dependable son George Michael.

Normally I wouldn’t be happy about a sitcom airing on G4. I first discovered the channel about a year ago and quickly became hooked. At the time it was almost completely devoted to video games. I was in heaven.

Unfortunately, my newfound heaven slowly began to change as the network attempted to gain more mass appeal. I guess there weren’t enough gamers to support the station or those gamers preferred to play rather than watch television shows about the games they were playing. The network started airing repeats of Fastlane, The Man Show, and Star Trek. I refused to watch any of these shows as my own personal boycott. To be honest, boycotting Fastlane, an undercover cop drama starring Bill Bellamy, doesn’t take much of an effort. The show’s foulness does most of the work for you.

But when I found out that G4 had bought the cable rights to AD, I knew my boycott would come to an end. Arrested Development was the funniest show on TV for the last three years. The writing and cast were brilliant. The show was critically acclaimed and won the Emmy for best comedy series its first season.

But for some reason nobody wanted to watch it. Last week, Michael Sera, who played George Michael, and Alia Shawkat, who played Maeby, were interviewed on G4’s Attack of the Show and they offered one explanation why the show didn’t register with the general public. Shawkat explained that the series was like one big episode. “That’s why it’s hard if you just tune in to one episode. It’s not like a Will & Grace where you can just get giggles out of it.” It also didn’t help that the show wasn’t really promoted by Fox and its time slot was moved around.

In case you’re interested in watching and missed the pilot episode last night, here’s a quick synopsis so you won’t feel left out of the loop. The pilot episode begins with a retirement party on a yacht for George Sr., who is the head of the family company. After he names his wife as his successor, the Securities and Exchange Commission boards the yacht and George Sr. is placed under arrest.

Upon discovering that his mom would succeed his father as head of the company instead of him, Michael Bluth decides to sever all ties with his family. George Michael is saddened to learn of his father’s plans after seeing his cousin Maeby for the first time in a while and developing a crush on her. Before leaving town, Michael visits his father in prison where he explains that the reason he didn’t name Michael as his successor was so Michael wouldn’t be charged as an accomplice. He wasn’t worried about his wife being charged because he thought that a husband and wife couldn’t be charged for the same crime. Eventually Michael decides to stay and take care of his crazy family.

As ludicrous as that sounded, the actual show is even crazier and truly hilarious. So please, please tune in and watch, weeknights at 11:30 p.m. EST on G4. While the series may have been cancelled, there’s still hope that if enough people tune in, a movie based on the show will be made. And that would truly be a little piece of heaven.

Sayonara FIBA Gold Medal

The 2006 FIBA World Championship final game is set. The surprisingly strong Greece team will face off against the team from Spain, which might be without Pau Gasol after a foot injury in the semi-final game against Argentina. Before I get any further, I want to apologize to anyone who followed my non-advice (I do not advocate gambling of any sort) and put money on Argentina to win it all. As the defending Olympic gold medallists, I really thought they would at least make it to the gold medal game. Guess not. At the same time, those who put money on Spain or didn’t put money on the US don’t have to thank me. Knowing I was right is more than enough satisfaction for me. Yes, I am spinning the truth a little bit but hey, it’s my blog so I’ll do what I want.

I originally planned to write this column about how good the Argentina team was and how difficult it would be for the United States team to win the championship. I was even thinking of starting it before the games were played. It’s funny how plans have a habit of blowing up in your face.

So instead this column will focus on what happened with the US team in their 101-95 loss to Greece. I wish I could say something about the Spain/Argentina game, but after watching the US lose I really didn’t feel like recording the second game, although I expected it would be a good one and it appears it was.

The loss by the US was not a complete surprise. It seemed a lot of people were expecting the team to lose in the tournament, from The Sports Guy to Michael Wilbon to more than a couple of my friends (all of whom e-mailed me this morning to remind me they were right). Even as the game started I felt a little bit of dread that the US would lose.

But it was still a real disappointment for me. Halfway through the game I couldn’t help but be reminded of the NBA finals two years ago between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Detroit Pistons. Like the Lakers, the US appeared to be more talented, but Greece was able to play more cohesively as a team, just like the Pistons.

So what went wrong? Well the most obvious problem was missed free throws. The United States was 20 of 34 from the not-so-charitable stripe. For those mathematically challenged like me, that’s 58.8%. LeBron James was 1 of 4, Dwayne Wade was 6 of 9, and Carmelo Anthony was 6 of 10. In the NBA last season, James shot 73% from the free throw line and Wade and Anthony were around 80%. Granted, the guys were playing in something of a hostile arena. Everywhere the camera turned you saw Greek banners and Greek fans. I can’t remember seeing one American flag during the whole game. But if these guys had made their free throws, the outcome of the game might have been a little different.

The second biggest problem was the US defense. The team started off playing very good defense and held Greece to only 14 points in the first quarter. They were even able to open up a 12-point lead in the second quarter. However that lead did not last long and at half time the US trailed 45-41 after a 22-5 run by Greece. Greece was able to exploit the US team’s inability to defend the high pick and roll. It’s such a basic play but I know from watching the Lakers when Shaq was on the team how difficult it can be to defend. Nonetheless, I really would have thought that the US coaching staff would have done a better job of preparing the team to deal with it.

Another area where the team’s defensive efforts killed them was the perimeter defense. Greece went 8 for 18, 44.4%, from downtown. I mentioned how this was a problem for the US in an earlier column. Unfortunately the coaching staff once again failed to drive home the importance of keeping a hand in the face of the shooters, preferably without fouling them. Although in fairness to the team, some of those three pointers were tough shots that were just able to find a way to the bottom of the basket.

The American team on the other hand made only 9 of 28 of their three-point shots. LeBron was 0-4 and Chris Paul was 0-2 (0-5 from the field overall). Maybe Gilbert Arenas was right when he complained earlier this week that he should have been on the team. Wade was 1-3. It really amazes me that despite how good he is, he’s such a mediocre perimeter shooter.

The third major problem that I saw was the lack of a consistent rotation. Earlier I wrote that I thought that Coach K had decided on a regular starting line-up of Paul, Shane Battier, Anthony, James, and Dwight Howard. Well, only Anthony and James were in the starting line up for this game. They were joined by Kirk Hinrich, Joe Johnson, and Dwight Howard. If the US hopes to do better in China (assuming they qualify next year after the Tournament of the Americas), the coaching staff will have to stop thinking of the team as an all-star team and more like a regular team, with a set starting lineup and a more rigid rotation.

As disappointing as the US defeat was, it’s not a complete disaster, at least not yet. I think the problems mentioned above can be fixed. While a FIBA championship would have been nice, the real focus is still on the Olympics in China two years from now. In fact historically, the United States has never dominated the FIBA championship like they have the Olympics. They won it in 1994, 1986, and 1954; were second in 1982, 1959, and 1950; came in third in 1998, 1990, and 1974; were fourth in 1967 and 1963; were fifth in 1978 and 1970; and of course there was the horrible sixth place finish in 2002. If the US can salvage some pride and beat Argentina for the bronze medal, then this tournament may provide a good stepping stone for the Olympics.

As The Pocho, you might expect me to root for Spain in the final game given that some of my ancestors probably hail from Spain. Truth is, since some of those ancestors probably brutalized my other ancestors when they came to the New World, I tend not to cheer for Spain in any context. (Although, I really did enjoy my trip to Barcelona six years ago.) So I don’t really care who wins the FIBA gold medal. I’ll be more interested in the bronze medal match and hoping that the US team can show me they’ll be able to win gold in China in two years.