Why the Lakers beat Orlando

With all the talent in the NBA, it's still amazing that great teams can kick it up a notch come playoff time. As much as it pains me being an LA sports hater since the womb, the Lakers were definitely the best team and wholeheartedly deserved the championship. Here's why:

1. Kobe - the highlight reel looked similar to Jordan in his heyday
2. Kobe - he led his team, getting them all involved using their strengths and sheltering their weaknesses
3. Phil Jackson - yes, he is the best coach because he created the environment where the players could flourish (Mike Brown, coach of Cleveland - take note)
4. The support players - Gasol ran the floor and played great defense like he's never played, Odom played clutch minutes, Ariza was the hidden, unsung goldmine throughout the playoffs and Fisher was just Fisher when they needed him (reminded me of Horry nailing clutch 3's)
5. They played a team that was two-dimensional. While Dwight Howard has amazing talent and they shut down the heavily favored Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Championship, they lived by the 3 and died by the 3. It showed in Game 5.
   
6. And lastly, the Lakers played like a team. Just like Boston last year, the Lakers proved that great team defense is what wins championships.

So in closing this NBA season, even though it's the Lakers winning their 15th championship, it was great to see a TEAM win it all. And much congratulations to Phil Jackson! He has to be a hero and the envy basketball coaches around the world. I personally hope that he comes back for another year - just get rid of Luke Walton (sorry Bill - but he's just too slow and too small).

Why Cleveland lost to Orlando

As good as LeBron James is (and all the comparisons to Michael Jordan can stop until he wins a championship), the Cleveland Cavaliers just didn't have the horses to finish the race. Primarily, they didn't have a big men to support James. Mo Williams and Delonte West did an admirable job, but Varajao was nothing but a big distraction with his flopping, whining, complaining way of playing and Ilgauskas with his feet of stone (nice outside shot for a big man but that was because other's weren't doing their job - Varajao) kept James from having real options for scoring and didn't play good team defense. Read the word TEAM in the last sentence. The bench was also of little help to the best player in the league as well. And where did they get off giving Mike Brown the coach of the year? Van Gundy completely out-coached him in this series!

So I don't blame James for being upset. His team was not capable of playing with him. While they are better than they were last year, they will continue to come up short when you have to rely on the likes of Ben Wallace and Wally Szerbiak to provide a jolt of energy and experience. Again, I don't understand why Brown gets coach of the year. His biggest play was give it to James and see what happens. And I have never seen a team that whines to the refs more than the Cavs (the Lakers are right up there). That all starts with the tone set by the coach.

All that said, James should have congratulated his opponents at the end of the series. His behavior showed bad sportsmanship, bad example for younger kids and a bad taste in my mouth for him as a person going forward. This is just another reason why the NBA changed the rules on taking kids right out of high school. While James proved to be a great guy in his 60 Minutes interview, all I have to say is "grow up". Quit acting like someone took your ball away. Orlando beat you fair and square. Man up and shake their hands no matter what you think.

Here's my advice for next year: dump Varajao for a real shooter in the #3 slot, put James at #4 (with his size - that's where he belongs), learn how to play real team defense (see Boston from last year) and develop some men with the rest of the group (never, never, never guarantee a win in public - how immature was that?). With that, good luck to Orlando - you guys are a better matchup for the Lakers anyway.

Grand Junction Art & Jazz Festival 2009

I had the distinct honor and pleasure of being the emcee at last weekend's Wells Fargo Art & Jazz Festival. A big thank you to Mary Watson and George Rossman for having me. And a big thank you to all the musicians that I had the change to meet and hang out with back stage. You all were fantastic. And to the folks that attended, thank you for coming out for a great weekend! The weather was perfect and we know that you had lots of options of things to do.

Special thanks to Aakash Mittal for the autographed CD - you guys were fantastic.

My personal favorite? Anyone who knows me should not be surprised that I loved the Western Colorado Jazz Orchestra. Best big band on the Western Slope. I hope you guys do more gigs in town soon!

And thanks to the artists that put the art in Art & Jazz!!! And to the Art on the Corner folks - great job again of picking out new sculptures to beautify Main, Colorado and Seventh!!!

Simon Cowell is pathetic!

Mr. Cowell is a coward, plain and simple. The first words out of his mouth after Susan Coyle's amazing performance on HIS show was that he knew they were in for something special. What a bunch of horse hockey! You can obviously see the reaction on his face when she starts to sing that he was shocked. He like all the others in the audience expected the worst because Ms. Coyle is not a supermodel. Then for him to make that kind of comment just shows what a horse's ass he is. See for yourself - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk&feature=PlayList&p=C1013D515FB71D60&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=52

I have never watched "American Idol" because this numbnut thinks he's God's gift to talent searching. I am calling for everyone to stop watching any Simon Cowell productions and not put another penny in this disgusting excuse-for-entertainment's pocket. Remember folks, he makes millions to put people down on national TV. Surely we can think of something more constructive to do with our collective time in this country.

USS Halyburton or USS Haliburton?

When I heard the reports of our navy sending ships to save the captain and crew of the Maersk Alabama off the coast of Somalia, I couldn't believe my ears. NPR said that one of the ships was named the USS Haliburton. I thought, "You've got to be kidding?". Is our military selling naming rights? Are we that hard up for cash? Or is it something more sinister? Is the military-industrial complex becoming an ever-blurring line in the sand of our tax dollars?

Well, leave it to Wikipedia to clear this up. If you do a search on "USS Haliburton", you will not get a match (THANK YOU!!!). But, if you search for "USS Halyburton", you will read a summary of a ship that was named for Pharmacist's Mate Second Class William D. Halyburton, Jr. (1924–1945). Halyburton was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism while serving with the 5th Marines, during the Battle of Okinawa.

Thank you to Wikipedia from keeping me from having a stroke/coronary over the possibility that we had really sold out as a country.

Who's to blame?

I just love the feature in Grand Junction's Daily Sentinel called "You Said It". It gives anyone the opportunity to be anonymous in their personal rant, thank you or rhetorical question. And it gives anyone and everyone an opportunity to see how much or how little education is required to put out an idea, belief or criticism of our neighbors, both locally and globally.

So now some of our beloved community members are trying to make either Obama or Clinton or other Democrats to blame for our current economic woes. I find this laughable (for the record I am an undeclared voter - no party affiliation). If anyone has been paying attention over the past 40 years or so - give or take a decade or two - you would know that each and every president and member of Congress has had responsibility for where we are today, regardless of political party affiliation. All have monkeyed with our economic system in one way or another, by choosing what to tax and what to spend, and how to police it all with government agencies that are supposed to be looking out for ALL of us as citizens. I defy anyone to say that any of the above mention government officials are not responsible.

Yes, Clinton relaxed the rules with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but Mr. Bush II did nothing to avoid the current calamity. Both Reagan and Bush I ran on a platform of reducing taxes and both increased taxes during their terms. Why? Because they realized that they had to in order to support the bloating nature of our government. Why have over 700 miliary bases overseas? Why spend hundreds of billions of our taxpayers money funding useless and outdated military strategies every year (or protecting some corporations overseas interests)? Our representatives in our federal government have made these decisions not for the good of us all, but for the good of a small group on constiuents, political insiders that are personally benefitting. It's been the military-industrial complex as warned by Ike that's been benefitting. It's former congressman that have been at the trough of taxpayer monies during and after their terms. Now it's the bank's turn (count AIG as the worst offender). And this is called "public service". They should be in jail.

I challenge any federal, elected official either currently in office or "retired", to refuse any federal payment for "retirement" going forward. Put meaning back into the term public service. For those in office, become real stewards of this country not heavier burdens. Make those that are getting a handout have to work for it. Make those getting assistance have to give up their ownership but with an opportunity to earn it back. And I mean earn it the old fashioned American way, not with some slick investment scheme that's more designed to confuse than to reflect an honest day's work.

In the end, it's KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid), with heavy emphasis on the Stupid because you've dumbed down our electorate with an education "system" that has failed our country in more ways than one. Why let the facts get in the way of the truth? And who's to blame? Look in the mirror - we all are to blame. And don't forget what's coming down the horizon - baby boomers on Medicare and Social Security, energy sources becoming more scarce or unusable and fresh water demand continuing to be under pressure from our growing populations. So, guess what? It's time to show that history can repeat itself and we can have another "greatest generation".

Is anyone talking about inflation rearing it's head again?

I'm just wondering out loud here - is anyone else is seeing the possibility for inflationary times ahead. Imagine this:

1. increased deficit spending,
   
2. means more treasuries being sold, particularly to overseas investors looking for a safe haven,
3. when their economies start to turn around they pull their investments out of the the US to invest in their own countries
4. creating a wave of selling treasuries
5. pushing prices down and interest rates up
6. the ripple effect of rising interest rates means increased cost of money for businesses,
7. thus putting new pressure on the business sector to raise prices to cover the cost of higher interest rates,
8. and again raising the possibility of another, albeit shorter recession after the economy does a "dead-cat bounce".

Just wondering if anyone else is connecting the dots like this. And what do you invest in during inflationary times? - Gold and land according to friends of mine.