Upon Doings a' Transpiring

(the title taken from the Lemon Tree episode of the Simpsons)

2006 has proven to be a difficult year for me to get blogging on a regular basis, due mostly to personal laziness. Hopefully I can shake out of it.

The Winter Olympics is chugging right along, and while I have heard criticism regarding American Idol and 24 crushing it in the ratings (I am guilty of Fox watching too), I do see a utility in the Games. Whenever the Olympics are on, it consistently provides something to watch, for a few minutes or a few hours. I can check in and see what events are running, who is leading, and whether the US has a chance to medal. The supposed stars of the US have disappointed (Ohno, Kwan)and others have choked (Bode, Jacobellis). Snowboarding has been a bright-spot other than the crash in women's boarder-x, as the Americans have smashed the competition in the pipe. Men's and women's hockey are not looking sharp, but could still both come away with a medal of some color. The figure skating with the women could be an American gold, and usually draws a crowd on TV. The speedskating rivalry between Davis and Hedrick is on the fast-track to being over-blown into a racial discussion, just wait.

Overall, the Winter Games have been watchable, and thats all I can really ask for as a sports fan.

The NBA All-Star weekend was another good time, mostly because I was able to watch all the events live for the first time. The shooting stars competition was much better than the old 3-ball format, where teams of an NBA player, retired player, and WNBA player from the same city faced of in a 3-on-3 game. This time it was a series of 6 shots, from a post-bankshot to a half-court. San Antonio took this easily, even making the first half-courter.

The skills comp was won by Dwyane Wade, who dribbled around some comes and passed into a bucket better than LeBron, Nash, and Chris Paul. This one I probably could have missed.

The 3-point competition featured a more star-studded than sharp-shooting cast. Arenas, Allen, Terry, Q-Rich, Dirk, and Billups rounded out the field. All these guys can shoot, no question. However, the best performances I have seen in hitting shots were certainly not replicated. Only one shooter broke the 20 plateau. There was no Peja, no Allan Houston, no Steve Kerr. Dirk won the contest, but there were no real runs to speak of. Still, it was good to see a 7 footer win a shooting contest.

In the dunk contest it was Nate Robinson, Andre Igoudala, Hakim Warrick, and defending champ Josh Smith. Warrick has some sick hops, but appeared to be overlooked from the get-go. Josh Smith got people confused with his tape on the court thing, and was out of the running fast. Nate Rob had the court bounce 360 and a sweet alley from Q to advance, and Igodala rocked one of the sickest comp dunks ever. He caught a pass off the back of the glass from AI, ducked under the backboard and threw it reverse. Nate then brought out Spud Webb and dunked over him with a sick bounce-alley. Iggy did the off the glass behind the back dunk which was sick as well. It came down to a dunk-off, and nate took about 12 tries with a half-court behind the back through-the-legs off-the-glass, until he settled for putting it through his lege twice while airborne, and then dunking it off the glass. Igoudala followed with a through the legs where he travelled from one side of the rim to the other. Nate was the overall winner, and the contest gave us two memorable dunks.

The All-Star Game itself was decent as these games go. The player intros were funny with the dance moves, and Shaq was clown-princing it. The West got out large, and the Piston quad brought the game back. LeBron got MVP, and McGrady got 36 in his hometown.

Position players report today in Tampa. Yanks apparently picked up Sheff's option for 2007. I think its a good move to let the moody Sheff know he's wanted, and let him fit in the middle of the pulverizing lineup.

More to come this week.