Still Truckin'

I’m not sure where I stand on the Donaghy issue yet.

Ex-NBA referee and admitted felon, Tim Donaghy, recently accused referees of purposely calling fouls on Sacramento Kings players during Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals in 2002 where the Kings watched the Lakers shoot 27 fourth quarter free-throws in a win which would ultimately launch the Lakers in their third straight Finals appearance and of course, their third straight win. As a Lakers fan, I’ll be the first to tell you that the game Donaghy is referring to was probably the worst officiated game of my life time, I will admit that, but I’m not willing to accept Donaghy’s accusations – yet. It is blatantly obvious that the Lakers were getting an inordinate amount of calls that night, and this was the antebellum thought before this notional [David] Stern-Donaghy war – which is why I haven’t bought into his claims. It is clear that Donaghy doesn’t want to spend a decade in prison, and I’m positive that he’ll work with the FBI to do whatever he can to have the shortest sentence possible, even if it means ruining the credibility of the National Basketball Association. Is it possible that everything he’s told agents is true? Very. Is he credible enough to be taken seriously? Absolutely not. It is extremely possible that he is just taking one of the most extreme cases (Game 6 of the 2002 WCF) knowing that pundits would eat it up – and they did. After the story broke, everyone from Los Angeles to Idaho to Alabama to Boston was writing about how the NBA is rigged – which doesn’t help with the way this season played out (with the Celtics and the Lakers in the Finals). If this is all made up, Donaghy is a genius for knowing how to manipulate the media to take the focus off of him and place it on the league he once worked for. If these allegations are true, then we have a whole new set of problems that would undoubtedly move the NBA, as far as league credibility goes, on the same level with the MLB (steroids) and the NLF (cheating) – possibly on a lower level than the other two because the NBA already has image problems.

I can only hope that Donaghy is bullshitting because this would definitely ruin my life. Not because it’s about a terrible officiated Lakers game, but because the integrity of the game I love so much will be compromised beyond repair. Every there is a questionable call for now on, assuming that these allegations are true, will be questioned, analyzed and beaten to death beyond my level of tolerance. I’m not sure if I’ll want to write about the NBA if these kinds of things are really going on. I’m not sure if I’ll even want to be a fan anymore, and that’s really depressing. This is why I didn’t want to write about it, I knew it would end like this… moving on.

Fuck Brighthouse Networks. I’m blowing them up.
Sometimes, people can’t sleep. Sometimes people just like to stay up late writing their blogs. Sometimes people like to watch Sports Center at 3 a.m. Sometimes, I want to blow shit up. Last night I could not sleep at all, it was ridiculous. I moved from my bed to my living room and turned on the television. I decided to watch Sports Center for the first time in a few weeks because I just haven’t been able to handle the Finals coverage (it’s been beyond ridiculous). In the morning, on the right hand side of Sports Center, they’ll let you know what topics they’ll be talking about. When the NBA Finals was up next on the topic list, the damn cable cut out. This lead to me thinking “this can’t be right… did I pay my bill?” I flipped through the channels and found that the cable was working on all the channels past 40 (ESPN was on 26). After Celia finished her blog, she gave me a call back. While we talked, the cable kept switching back and forth between working on the channels before and after 40. It was frustrating to say the least. By the time a new episode of SC got rolling, ESPN was working again. However, it got to the point where the NBA Finals was the next topic up, and again, the fucking cable cut out on all the channels under 40! I couldn’t believe they did it again, right on cue. Because of this, I will do anything in my power to ruin that fucking company.

Unfortunately, this is going to be tough seeing that they have a monopoly on the cable game in this area. When I first moved in to the apartment I looked around for the cheapest cable in Bakersfield. I called Brighthouse first and that shit is $45! Fuck that, right? Wrong! I called Clear View Communications and got the Brighthouse machine. Bought out. HG Communications, maybe? Brighthouse machine. Bough out. Roadrunner? Brighthouse machine again. Bough the fuck out. What’s worse is in the complex live in, we can’t have satellite (you know, if that’s what I wanted – I’m not a big fan, but whatever), so I’m stuck with Brighthouse, a company that’s pretty much raping college students who want to watch ESPN or MTV or god forbid BET (or whatever other cable channels there are, sadly, I pay $45 for ESPN). Either way, if I can’t ruin them legally, I’ll just blow them the fuck up. Seriously. Fuck them for ruining my already ruined night. I hate when I can’t fall asleep.

Today has been terrible.
Earlier today I didn’t want to write anything. It took so much out of me to get this blog started today. This lack of sleep thing is no joke. That is all for the ‘today has been terrible’ section.

He needs to shut his face.
This Spike Lee vs. Clint Eastwood thing is almost as intense as the Jordan Farmar vs. PJ Brown exchange in Game 3 (the spirit of the rivalry renewed!). Lee was mad because Eastwood’s movie didn’t have enough color in it and Eastwood responded with, “he needs to shut his face.” Spike Lee, not taking anything from anyone (not even Reggie Miller) responded with, “he sounds like a grumpy old man.” Damn! Fighting words, indeed. The feud was sparked because Eastwood failed to recognize the contributions of African-Americans in Iwo Jima in his film Flag of our Fathers. Lee is currently working on a film about Iwo Jima called Miracle at St. Anna.

Losing Hurts
I just realized that in my blog titled "Losing Hurts," from June 8th that I said that a title in 2004 would have been the Lakers 4th straight, which it most definitely would not have been. 2003 would have been their 4th straight, but they lost in the WCF to the Spurs that year. So I'm adding the 2003 WCF as a tie to the 2004 Finals loss for the top spot on that list. Or, we can just pretend that the mistake never happened, it's up to you. Please, if you noticed that mistake, make sure you call me out on it the next time I make another one. That is unacceptable, especially as a Lakers fan. I know someone had to have noticed that. Oh well, I'm still truckin', seven blogs in -- even with the mistake, now I just know that I have to revise my shit before submitting it. You live and you learn.

So you think you can dance.
This is by far the ugliest season of So You Think You Can Dance. All of the girls minus Courtney (who kind of has a Mila Kunis look) and Jessica (who looks great from far away, but not so much up close) bother me. I guess Kharington is somewhat cute, but I’m not a fan of blondes at all. The Asian chick, Katee, almost made me throw up my microwaved burrito with her fucking red lipstick and some girl named Comfort (she’s from the south, so I’ll refer to her as SoCo for now on) had to be the most ghetto woman to ever appear on the show. Chelsea’s lips were wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy bigger than mine (which I know are big, let it go), Kourtni looked as weird as her name is spelled, Susie’s name is Susie and Rayven is 40. I’m pretty disappointed since I really have no one to root for (I had Lauren and Sabra – who I initially hated – last year). I guess it’s either Mila Kunis or SoCo, because I just can’t get into any of the other ones. Results show is tonight though, I won’t get to watch it because of the game, but I’m predicting Rayven and Thayne are going home. I’m hoping Kourtni goes home though. That bitch just looks weird.

I’m done for the day, off to watch the game with Davion. I’ll have thoughts on Game 4 and the L-Boogie blog for you guys tomorrow.

Stay Hideous
-PB

(Word count to date: 8,646
94 days and 91,354 words to go)