The Kids are Alright

Sunday night I was at the Laker’s game with my friend Vayacondios. As often is the case during Sunday games, our talk turned to football. He wanted to know who in our fantasy football league had picked up Tony Romo off of waivers. Then he started telling me about where he was when Romo replaced Drew Bledsoe as the Dallas Cowboys’ starting quarterback. He was at the gym where they were showing the Cowboys/Giants game. When he saw Bledsoe benched, he actually laughed out loud and figured the ploy would blow up in head coach Bill Parcells’ face.

Well right now it looks like Parcells is getting the last laugh. The Cowboys are 7-4 and primed to make the playoffs behind the play of Romo who threw for 5 touchdowns on Thanksgiving Day versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to lead the Cowboys to there third victory in a row.

Not only was Parcells right about Romo, it seems that he has also inspired a couple of other coaches around the league to ditch their veteran quarterbacks. As I looked around Staples Center, I caught the score for the Carolina Panthers/Washington Redskins game, 17-13 Washington. Given that Carolina needed the win to boost their chances to make the playoffs while the Redskins seem to be out of it after losing Clinton Portis for the season, I was more than surprised by the result. I wondered how the Redskins’ new quarterback Jason Campbell had done.

When I got home after the Lakers victory over the New Jersey Nets, I saw that while he only threw for 118 yards, he did throw two touchdowns and most importantly got the win in his second start for the Redskins. While the Redskins at 4-7 are out of the playoff hunt, it still looks like benching Mark Brunell and playing Campbell was the right choice for head coach Joe Gibbs. Meanwhile in Tennessee, rookie Vince Young rallied the Titans past the New York Giants and in Minnesota, rookie Matt Leinart threw for 405 yards in the Arizona Cardinals’ loss to the Vikings.

Then there are the Denver Broncos. I tuned in on Thanksgiving night to watch the NFL Network air its first live broadcast and was surprised to hear Cris Collinsworth say that the game would probably be the last start for Jake Plummer this season. There had been talk all season regarding the possibility of Plummer getting benched for rookie Jay Cutler, but I never thought it would happen. Despite Plummer’s struggles, the Broncos were still playing fairly well going into their game against the Kansas City Chiefs and looked to be a lock for the playoffs.

Plummer didn’t really play badly, but the Broncos still lost to the Chiefs 19-10 and made head coach Mike Shanahan’s decision to go with Cutler seem a little more sensible. But does it really make that much sense? Sure Plummer has thrown five more interceptions this season than he did all last season and his quarterback rating is down almost 20 points from last years 90.2 rating, but the Broncos were still winning with him.

Apparently winning regular season games and possibly making the playoffs isn’t enough for Shanahan. He wants another Super Bowl ring and doesn’t think Plummer can get him one. I can’t really argue with that but I do wonder whether Cutler will give him a better chance. Sure the kid might have looked good in the preseason, but will he really be ready for the next level after playing last year at Vanderbilt, that well-known football powerhouse. Romo has at least been in the league for four years. This is the second season for Campbell. While Leinart and Young are also both rookies, at least they both played in the BCS National Championship Game last year. Plus, neither the Cardinals nor the Titans have a chance to make the playoffs so their struggles won’t keep their teams out of the post-season.

Can’t say the same about the Broncos. If Cutler struggles, the Broncos will probably miss the playoffs for the first time in four years. So I still wonder whether Shanahan has made the right choice. I guess we’ll all find out this Sunday night when the Broncos take on the Seattle Seahawks.

Sitting This One Out

Today is PS3 day; the Sony PlayStation 3 is finally hitting American shores. Nintendo will follow with its new console the Wii on Sunday, November 19. The other big console, Microsoft’s XBox 360, has been out on the market for about a year. As a video game addict you would think I’d be really excited and camped out at my local electronics store to get my hands on one.

But to be honest I can’t say I’m very enthused about the next generation of game consoles and I don’t see myself owning any of them by the end of the year. I’ll try to explain why.

Let’s start with the XBox 360 since it’s been out the longest. There are a couple of reasons why I haven’t given Microsoft my $400 yet. First of all as I’ve mentioned before, I hate Microsoft and I don’t want to contribute to Bill Gates’ plan to rule the world. The second and most important reason, I haven’t been impressed by the games. None of them seem much better than the games released for the last generation of consoles. I think it says a lot that the system has been out a year and only now are 360 owners finally getting what might be a must-have game: Gears of War. I haven’t seen a review for Gears of War yet, but I was thoroughly impressed by the preview in last month’s Electronic Gaming Monthly.

Granted launch titles are usually not very strong, but you can usually count on at least one really great game that is exclusive to the new console. That’s what sold me on the original XBox. If it weren’t for Halo, I probably would never have bought the system. The 360 just didn’t have that. Perfect Dark Zero was supposed to be it, but the game didn’t live up to the hype. Finally, a big feature of the 360 was the expanded on-line service. Since I’m not a big on-line gamer and don’t like the idea of having to pay extra money for stuff that should be in a game to begin with, that wasn’t much of a selling point. So for now, I have no plans to buy a 360. There are a couple of games coming out next year, like Mass Effect, that might change my mind, but for now I’m saving my $400.

Then there’s the PS3. At this time last year, I was a lot more excited about the PS3 than I was about the 360. First of all, the game trailers for the PS3 looked a lot better than the 360 ones, especially for Killzone 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Granted there was some controversy regarding whether the games would actually look as good as they did when you played them, but I was still sold. In addition, the PS2 had much better exclusive titles than the XBox and I figured history would repeat itself and if I were only going to get one system, it would be the PS3.

But then things started going downhill. First of all, and most importantly, it was announced that the system would cost $200 more than the 360. Sure there’s a lower end model that cost’s $500, but if you’re going to spend the money, you might as well get the system with all the bells and whistles. Yes the PS3 would come with a Blu-ray DVD player, but $600 still seems like an obscene amount to pay to play video games. I also started doubting whether the Blu-ray DVD format would be successful. Not only is there the competing HD-DVD format, but there’s also the question whether consumers will be interested in a higher quality media format. Does anyone remember laserdiscs?

Then came out the stories about the lower number of consoles that would be available at launch. Even if I wanted a PS3 it looks like it’ll be impossible to get one unless I sell one of my kidneys and a lung on eBay and use the proceeds to buy the PS3 on the same site. Then I heard about the price drop for systems sold in Japan but not in the United States. The base model there will sell for only $423. Then I found out that of the 22 or so launch titles, only 6 of them would be exclusives. And out of those six, only one of them, Resistance: Fall of Man, looks like it’s going to be any good. So now I’m kind of soured on the PS3 as well. There should be a lot more exclusives available next year and probably a price drop and of course greater supply. Maybe then I’ll get around to buying one. For now, I’m perfectly content to continue playing my PS2, finishing up the exquisite Okami and Final Fantasy XII and patiently waiting for the release of God of War II early next year.

Finally we come to Nintendo’s Wii. I initially thought the console’s name was pretty stupid but it has actually grown on me. Like everyone who’s seen the system’s motion-sensitive controller, I was very intrigued by the new console. Unlike the 360 and PS3, it looked fresh and innovative. I also loved to hear that it would only cost $250 and would focus on gaming rather than try to be some sort of media center like the 360 and PS3. I was all set to buy the Wii early next year (I figured it would be too difficult to get it before Christmas).

But then Nintendo slapped me in the face when I found out that the GameCube version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess would be released about a month later than the Wii version, which would be a launch title. I felt that Nintendo was sending all GameCube owners a big “Ha ha.” Not only will you not be able to find a Wii to play the new Zelda game; we’re not even going to let you play a version of the game on our old system. This is even though there were hardly any good exclusives for the GameCube and Twilight Princess was originally supposed to be released last year for the GameCube. I also took a look at the release dates of their future games and realized it probably wouldn’t be worth owning a Wii until spring of next year at the earliest.

So for now I’m sitting out the next generation of video game consoles. I hope there’s a wave of games next year that convince me to shell out my money. If not, I’m going to have to find a new addiction.

Keeping It Fresh

Tonight marks the season finale of the tenth season of South Park. Has it really been ten seasons? Damn that makes me feel old. I first started watching South Park when I was in grad school and it quickly became one of my favorite shows.

But after ten seasons you have to start to wonder when will enough be enough. Since it’s an animated show where you don’t see the actors age, it could conceivably go on for another ten seasons as long as nothing happens to the show’s creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. But after a while, even though the characters don’t age much (the boys have gone from the third to the fourth grade over the last 10 years), they can get stale.

Just look at The Simpsons. For years it was my favorite show. But as the 18th season was about to begin this year, I just decided that I was tired of the show and had been watching it just out of habit. Sure it was still one of the funniest shows on television, but I had had my fill of Homer and the gang. I had seen them in almost every conceivable scenario and every “new” episode just seemed to echo shows from the past. Since it didn’t appear that the creators had any plans of pulling the plug, I had to take matters into my own hands and launch my personal boycott of the show.

Fortunately South Park is still a ways from season 18 and this season has been a pretty good one. My favorite episode this year was “Make Love, Not Warcraft” in which the kids become obsessed with an on-line computer game. As a video game addict, I identified with the kids and got a good laugh out of all the jokes making fun of folk like me. I don’t play games on-line, but I know enough about it to see what a great job the show did of capturing the culture. Sure, it’s an old stereotype that video game players are fat and have no lives, but the show did more than just focus on that.

I also really identified with the two-part “Cartoon Wars” episode. In the episode, Cartman is obsessed with putting an end to the show The Family Guy, which planned to show an image of Muhammad. Cartman hates The Family Guy because he doesn’t like the show’s humor and all the other boys are surprised. The show resonated with me because my friend Vayacondios was shocked when I told him I didn’t like The Family Guy and told me he thought it was exactly my type of humor. I wouldn’t go so far as to try to take the show off the air, but this was one of those rare times I found myself siding with Cartman.

“Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy” was another hilarious episode this season in which a teacher has a torrid love affair with Kyle’s little brother Ike. I was wondering when the show would finally tackle the topic of female teachers having affairs with young boys and the show didn’t disappoint. “The Return of Chef!” was a bittersweet episode for me. It was a great episode but it also marked the departure of Chef after Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef, asked to leave the show due to the airing of an episode on Scientology the previous season. Finally, I really enjoyed the “Tsst” episode, as detailed in an earlier posting this month.

Of course the season was far from perfect and there were some clunkers. The two biggest culprits for me were “Smug Alert!” and “ManBearPig.” Although in fairness to the show, my dislike for the episodes might have a little to do with my left-wing leanings. “ManBearPig” focused on ridiculing Al Gore and his warnings about global warming. I don’t mind if the show goes after Gore, I just think they could have been funnier about it. “Smug Alert!” dealt with hybrid car owners and their smug attitudes. Since I haven’t run across smug hybrid car owners, the humor rang hollow for me.

But all in all, it’s been another fantastic season. I look forward to tonight’s finale and as long as the show stays fresh, another season next year.

Greed is Good

I got my first contributor. I went to the Pistons debacle on Friday with Vayacondios and we talked about J.D. Drew. I asked him if he wanted to write about it and luckily for us he agreed. As you can see, he had a lot to say:

J.D. Drew: Life Lessons for the New Millenium
By Vayacondios

Last week I was making dinner for myself. I had some frozen taquitos in the oven, a piece of bread in the toaster oven, and a chicken breast on my Foreman Grill. All of a sudden, the oven, toaster oven, and grill stopped working, along with my television. Since my food was already done, and I have another TV, I simply took my food out and watched TV in the other room. Dealing with the core issue was not an option for me – I simply wanted the problem to go away without me having to do anything. Since I’m sitting here 5 days later without my Foreman Grill, this might have served as a lesson about how no problem goes away without you taking action. However, given the saga of J.D. Drew that has played out this week, I’m still holding out hope that inaction equals happiness.

The short recap: Armed with the ability to opt out of the last 3 years of a contract slated to pay him $11 million per season, and aided by Scott Boras, Drew exercised his contractual option and decided to leave town. Never has a single action produced such contradictory reactions.

Reaction #1: Yippee! Let’s be honest – no one who is a Dodger fan thought giving the injury-riddled outfielder a 5 year, $55 million deal was a remotely good idea at the time the contract was signed. Typically, people whose career high in RBIs do not exceed 100 don’t get money like that. Everyone emphasized how J.D. was a “5 Tool Player”. That seems hard to fathom. Drew stole exactly 3 bases as a Dodger. In 2006, one of his best seasons, he hit a home run every 24.7 at bats for a whopping total of 20. A partial list of players who hit more than that includes players you’ve never heard of such as David Ross and Lyle Overbay and others you’d die before giving out $11 million to at this stage of their careers such as Mike Cameron and Moises Alou. Of course, none of those guys are All-Stars like Drew has been. Actually, check that. Cameron and Alou have been All-Stars. Drew? Not so much.

It’s not that Drew’s a bad player, simply that when you have a team that has won 1 playoff game in the last 18 years (such as the Dodgers) with a payroll over $100 million (such as the Dodgers), it’s probably time to try looking for something different. Drew’s a nice player, but can you envision him being the piece that helps put anyone over the top, or the centerpiece of a winning team? Anyone who says yes is either lying or delusional. Drew is probably not part of the problem, but he’s also not part of the solution, and maybe that’s even more damning. The Dodgers didn’t get too far with him, and neither did any other team he’s been on. The Cardinals have been to the Word Series twice since he left. The Braves made the playoffs the year after he left. This is not to suggest that he was somehow a cancer holding those teams back, merely that losing Drew didn’t seem to make much of a difference one way or another.

Therefore, Dodger fans should be thanking their lucky stars that he is gone. This is an opportunity to use the newly freed $11 million, put in a couple of more dollars, and get a true difference maker into the line up. It’s the equivalent of upgrading from the solid but limited Saturn to the do-it-all Lexus for less than you thought it would cost. All this at a point when you were positive you couldn’t even afford a Lexus. Yippee, indeed.

Reaction #2: Wow, what a disloyal jerk. The spin is that after publicly stating for months that he would stay, JuDas immediately put his finger in the wind, tested the market and decided to leave. The weird part about this is that there was never a reason for Drew to announce that he was staying at all. The state of the free agent market is precisely what everyone thought it to be. It seems odd that Scott Boras needed to wait until the end of the season to figure out that this was not a fantastic year for free agents, and realize that Drew might get more money than he was presently making. One assumes Boras should have had a decent handle on the free agent market long before the season ended. In light of that, when asked about his contract situation, Drew could have simply given the old “I’m not thinking about my contract or the offseason at all right now. My focus is on getting this team to the playoffs, and what happens will happen”. Everyone would have been fine with that, so why even say you want to stay at all? It seems a tad disingenuous.

[Side note – I’m not going to challenge the assumption that Drew may get more money on the free agent market, but there’s one thing to consider. NO team overpays and overbids like the Dodgers do. If you don’t believe me, ask Darren Dreifort, Kevin Brown and Rafael Furcal. The point is, without a dummy like the Dodgers in the market overbidding and pushing the price for Drew up, Boras may not be able to get what he thinks he can for his client. On the other hand, Boras’ other clients should all see extra money since the Dodgers will now undoubtedly be out there overbidding for every mediocre free agent they can.]

I’m troubled, though, that I’m judging Drew harshly for this. What did he do wrong? He bargained for this right in the contract, and simply availed himself of the same in a timely manner. That’s called business. It’s strange that fans knock the disloyalty of athletes and how they’ll go anywhere for an extra dollar, while ignoring that (a) they’d do the same thing and (b) their teams of choice do the same thing. First case in point: The Dodgers blew out Eric Gagne’s arm by pitching him way too much in 2004 and recently declined to exercise his $12 million option. No one said a word about it, although one could argue the Dodgers totally mishandled him and really owe him a heck of a lot.

Second case in point: Recently, the Lakers message boards lit up with the news that the Lakers might want to sign Jalen Rose. When some posters pointed out that the Lakers might be loathe to do so since it would require extra money to buy out Aaron McKie and his $2.5 million contract, others (many, many others) seemed to take the myopic position that McKie should accept a buyout of well south of the agreed upon price, since he hadn’t played or produced much as a Laker. Huh? Since when do people give up valuable rights because they feel a little guilty about their good fortune? This should be like one of the Donald-isms from the “Apprentice” – “RIGHTS ARE VALUABLE. DON’T THROW THEM AWAY. MY HAIR IS REAL.” Please! Like any of these people likely at work using company time and resources to post to a Lakers message board will go to their boss at the end of the day and give her back $1 because they took time off to post their lame views on the internet. They wouldn’t, and neither should McKie. Note that the Lakers once actually waived Brian Shaw after he produced 3 championships because they didn’t want to pay him something like $1 million. I was aghast at the time, and really thought the Lakers screwed it up. Luckily, Shaw and his people are smarter than me, since they didn’t seem to hold a grudge either way. Logical people are fun.

Fans are either stupid, or myopic, or both. There’s no loyalty here, nor should there be. Drew clearly decided that the mix of making $11 million and living in Los Angeles would not make him as happy as $13 million and living in some other city. That’s all that happened here. It wasn’t disloyalty by Drew, any more than if the option had been in the Dodgers favor and they declined to exercise it. I’d love to ascribe something more sinister to all this, but I simply cannot.

So, it’s time to sum up what we’ve learned from all of this:

1. Losing J.D. Drew is not the end of the world. In fact, it’s likely for the best.
2. Drew didn’t do anything wrong by leaving.
3. Problems sometimes go away without you having to do anything.
4. Fans are crazy.
5. The electrical wiring in my house has serious problems.

All in all, a good week. Now to close my eyes and hope my oven fixes itself. Hey, given that it can clean itself, is it too much to ask that it also take care of itself?

My Fantasy Stud

Despite the title, this article will not be dedicated to homoerotica. Rather, I’m focusing today on one of the biggest fantasy basketball surprises of this young NBA season: Luke Walton. With his toned, young body and golden locks, oops went down the wrong track.

Earlier this week I picked up Luke from the free agent list for my fantasy basketball team. A month ago, the only way I could have seen having Luke on my team would have been as some sort of joke. To be frank, I didn’t even expect him to play more than fifteen minutes a game after the Lakers acquired Vladimir Radmanovic in the off-season. The Lakers acquired Vlad because they wanted another scoring option, something which for most of his career Luke has never been.

But when training camp started for the Lakers it became apparent that Luke would retain his role in the starting lineup, a role he earned at the end of last season with some good play and lack of better options for the Lakers. Luke beat out Vlad in this year's preseason because he was simply more familiar with the triangle offense. It didn’t help that Vlad injured his shooting hand. Nevertheless I was sure that this was only a temporary arrangement and that sooner or later, Luke would go to the bench where he belonged.

Then the Lakers started the regular season. Luke played well enough in his first couple of games but still wasn’t on my fantasy basketball radar. Then in game three, Luke lit up the box score with 20 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals. He made 7 out of 10 shots, including 2 three pointers. That’s the type of well-rounded play that helps fantasy basketball players win leagues.

He’s continued that strong play and is currently averaging 15.3 points, 5.5 boards, 3.8 dimes, 1.3 steals and almost a block a game. He’s also shooting 58% from the field with a little over 1 three-pointer per game. These numbers have him ranked at number 12 for the season according to Yahoo's fantasy basketball rankings. That’s better than Dirk Nowitzki and Gilbert Arenas who are rated 13 and 14 respectively.

This level of play is a long way away from where he first started. His first couple of seasons I doubted whether he even belonged in the NBA at all. I never doubted his basketball IQ, court vision, and passing, but his shooting and defense were so deficient that I was sure he would be out of the league as soon as his rookie contract expired. But he did show flashes of promise. Like in game 2 of the 2003-04 NBA Finals. Walton helped propel the Lakers to their sole win of the series with 7 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots coming off the bench.

But I still didn’t expect this. Last year I saw that Walton had worked on his shooting and rebounding. His defense was still suspect but even that showed some improvement. He played well in the playoffs against the Suns, but I thought that had more to do with the Suns style of play. Now it’s starting to look like it’s for real.

Can he keep it up? While I think he can remain focused (I believe this is a contract year for him), I’m not sure if he’ll stay healthy. It seems every year he has at least one minor injury and he is his father’s son. Bill Walton might have been one of the top ten centers of all time if he hadn’t been plagued by injuries throughout his NBA career. There’s also the threat from Radmanovic. Unfortunately, I think his hand injury will prevent Vlad from eating into Luke’s minutes. All things considered, I do think Luke will continue his strong play and continuing being my fantasy stud.

Fed Up with RAW

Despite the apparent decline in popularity of World Wrestling Entertainment, I have continued to follow it over the last few years. Even though Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock have left, I still tune in on Monday night to watch RAW. Despite the inferior quality of the wrestlers and the less entertaining story lines, I still consider myself a WWE fan. But now the WWE is pushing me too far. They brought in Kevin Federline.

This is not the first time a celebrity, or pseudo-celebrity, has gotten involved with professional wrestling. Federline is following in the proud footsteps of Andy Kaufman, Pete Rose, Dennis Rodman, Lawrence Taylor, and David Arquette. All those celebrities were either promoting themselves or some project and Federline is no different. Apparently he is still under the delusion that he has some talent other than getting women pregnant and is trying to get a music career off the ground. After listening to a snippet of one of his songs on KROQ’s Kevin and Bean Show, I’m pretty sure it’s going to stay on the ground.

Aside from the obvious ratings ploy, which apparently is succeeding, it’s not quite clear why Vince McMahon has decided to get Federline involved with the WWE. Maybe they’re trying to boost the popularity of John Cena, Federline’s WWE nemesis. Although Cena has been popular with some of the WWE crowd, other segments of the audience despise him. For a while earlier this year, the boos would drown out the cheers during his matches. I thought he was better as a heel, when he would do a dumb rap to insult the home crowd, than as a baby face, but I don’t have much of an opinion of him.

John Cena stars in the most rest WWE movie, The Marine. Perhaps McMahon was thinking that if he paired up Cena with someone everyone hates, it might make Cena more likeable and might sell a few more movie tickets. Not sure if that’s working though since the movie has only made $16.9 million after being out four weeks. Maybe next time the WWE will focus on making a better movie (its Rotten Tomatoes freshness rating is only 21%) rather than on making one of its wrestlers more likable.

Federline’s first appearance on RAW was surprising and mildly amusing, especially thanks to the resounding chorus of boos that was showered on him. But then he came back the following week and embraced the hate. He also took part in last Sunday’s WWE pay per view event and had a hand in John Cena’s defeat. After realizing that he’s actually enjoying himself and after having to put up with the promotion of his “music endeavor,” I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t want to watch RAW this coming Monday because he’ll probably be on again.

Fortunately there is a light at the end of tunnel. He’s scheduled to face off against Cena in the wrestling ring on New Year’s Day. There's nothing I’d rather see than Federline completely thrashed. But I know that won’t happen so I don’t plan to tune in. But hopefully now that Britney Spears has filed for divorce, Federline’s 15 minutes will be running out soon and New Year’s Day will be the last day Federline will be associated with the WWE. Until then I’ll do my part and stay away from RAW.

Don't Turn On the Lights!

Last night was a bit of a landmark for me. It was my first regular season game as a Los Angeles Lakers season ticket holder. I had gone to a couple of preseason games, but those don’t really count. It also happened to be the first home season opener that I ever attended. I’ve been regularly going to Laker games for the last three years but until yesterday, I hadn’t been able to snag tickets for the first game.

Obviously I was very excited about going to the game, but my enthusiasm was dampened by a couple of things. First of all there was uncertainty over Kobe Bryant’s playing status for the game. I was 90% sure Kobe would play but I turned out to be 100% dead wrong. The other issue that had me a little bit less eager to attend the game was the Lakers’ Lights Out promotion.

A couple of weeks ago, I got an e-mail from the Lakers regarding the promotion. I had no idea what the e-mail was about and for the most part I forgot about it. On Monday night I was talking to Vayacondios, the guy I hold the tickets with, and he asked me if I knew anything about the Lights Out promotion. I told him I didn’t. Yesterday morning, I checked my e-mail and discovered that the Lakers had sent me another message about the promotion.

The e-mail requested that fans attending the game wear black and mentioned something about creating a unique atmosphere. Then it suddenly dawned on me. They were going to dim the lights in the arena. I immediately thought it was a horrible idea and it would hamper the experience of attending my first season opener.

You see, three years ago I had the good fortune of attending the NBA All-Star game in Atlanta. My friend AbogadosDeNegros was a Hawks season ticket holder at the time. (yes, he’s a bit of a masochist) and was able to get four tickets to the game. Even though our seats were really high in the arena, I was just glad to be at the game. ADN didn’t see it might way, especially since he had courtside seats at the time and felt completely disrespected. He took no solace in the fact that Brian Jordan, formerly of the Atlanta Braves and one-time Los Angeles Dodger, was only a few seats over from us. In fact, I think ADN eventually cancelled his season tickets because of those all-star seats.

My other friend Heavy Hitter found much amusement in the fact that Jordan was sitting nearby since the guy was making $10 million or so at the time. When HH was coming back from the john, he approached Jordan and asked what kind of year he expected to have as the start of baseball season was only a couple of months away. Of course Jordan said he would have a great year and HH responded that he would draft Jordan for his fantasy baseball team. HH was only pulling Jordan's leg and had no intention to do so since Jordan was a becoming a shell of his former self and ended up only playing 66 games in 2003 thanks in part to injury an in part to age.

Shortly after we got to our seats in Atlanta’s Philips Arena, I realized that the lights were out in the stands and only the court was lit. I thought it was strange but didn’t give it much thought. Then the game started and I started to notice something. The crowd was strangely subdued. I knew it was just an exhibition but I was surprised by how lifeless the crowd was. Then I thought it had to be because the lights were off. It felt like being in a movie theater. I really didn’t see why the NBA was doing this. Part of the reason that people enjoy going to sporting events is because they want to be part of a crowd all rooting for a common goal. When you can’t see the crowd, you just don’t get the same feeling. I still had a good time since the game was a thriller and went into double overtime, but the darkness definitely dulled my enjoyment of the game.

So I was fearful that the same thing would happen Tuesday night. The e-mail the Lakers had sent me had mentioned they would be asking for feedback the next day and I was already planning the venom I would spew as I took my seat. Sure enough as the game began I felt a different vibe than the one I’m accustomed to at Staples and the home team seemed to be affected as well as they fell behind the Suns by 19 points in the first quarter.

I naturally blamed the lights and not the fact that the Lakers were playing without their leading scorer. Then a funny thing happened. The team started coming back. They narrowed the Sun’s lead to only five points by the end of the first half. I was still sure they would lose. VCD made me agree that if the Lakers won, I would have to give positive feedback regarding the Lights Out promotion. I reluctantly agreed and the rest is history.

Lamar Odom was amazing, making me forget about Kobe and getting me thinking that the Lakers got the better end of the Miami trade. Andrew Bynum made me wonder if the Lakers had found their next dominant center. The Lakers got a little bit of revenge after the crushing playoff defeat last spring against the team picked by Sports Illustrated to win the NBA championship. And I found myself embracing the darkness and hoping they keep the lights off for the rest of the season if the Lakers keep playing like they did last night. I don't need to see the crowd as long as I'm watching the Lakers winning.