More NBA Stupidity, Vol. 4439955

Guess what San Antonio Spurs, you are not the Los Angeles Lakers.

Therefore, you shall be punished.

In what will most likely be the stupidest penalty in the NBA since punishing bench players for helping out Steve Nash during the 2007 Western Conference Finals Foul Heard Round the World, the evil commissioner known as David Stern is going to fine and/or suspend Greg Popovich for sending most of his starters home as opposed to using them to play the Heat in a nationally-televised game. While it had been only the Heat’s 2nd game in around a week, the Spurs had been playing a 5-game stretch in around that same period of time.

Never mind that the stupid NBA season is now 82 games as opposed to last seasons’ seemingly-more-exciting 66 games. Never mind that the Spurs are among the oldest teams in all of sports (Tim Duncan’s rookie season occurred when LeBron James was only 13 years old). Never mind that we have not even hit December yet, making this matchup against the Heat rather meaningless. This would be similar to Bud Selig getting mad because the Yankees skipped C.C. Sabathia’s May start against the Red Sox.

Punishing the Spurs for this action is purely a commissioner going too far in his reign. He has no right dictating how a coach runs his team. He has no right telling the coach when the right time to rest all the starters is. And the dumbest part in all this is that Poppa has done this before, several times last season when the games clustered too closely. So why is it an issue now?

Because the Spurs were playing the Miami Heat.

No other reason.


Aside from the Horry Smash, the San Antonio Spurs had always played with humility, dignity, and class. But because the game was televised and it was against the NBA’s new favorite team, they are being looked at as a villain for throwing the bench against them.


David Stern, until your scheduling provides a little more fairness, and until you can cut down on the amount of games per season, older teams are going to have to rest every so often in order to survive playing basketball from October to potentially June---it is that simple. You can punish them for resting, but it is inevitable, they will find a way to rest, regardless of whom they are playing.

P.S. David Stern, would you be upset if they rested their starters against the Charlotte Bobcats?

Skyfall: 8/10

Good action movie that almost feels like a Bond flick. Almost.....


It still barely feels like Bond, but this is still the best of the latest generation bunch and the best since the 1995 gem Goldeneye.

Skyfall borrows from this recurring theme of cinema of taking well-known franchises and adding this dark reboot twist to give it a fresh perspective while also throwing some old-school flavor into it. The technique might be a bit odd, since this already happened in Casino Royale. Behind the camera is indie darling Sam Mendes, an accomplished director, to add some visual flair and technique to a film series that is mysteriously devoid of good directors and cinematographers. And Mendes' direction not only enhances the exotic film locations and exquisite action sequences, but also manages to hide most of the errors and setbacks behind the movie.

The movie immediately takes off from the getgo, revealing the conflict within the first minute, and leading to an extended action/chase sequence that rivals among the best Bond has ever been involved in. And then we get taken by one of the better title sequences in recent memory featuring another strong Adele performance. How on earth was this film going to maintain the momentum of the first twenty minutes? Here's a little hint: it barely does.

Daniel Craig has gotten a lot of criticism from the old-school Bond fans about his portrayal, and his performance here will not dwell the flames. That being said, Craig in his third round as the famed hero displays that he is indeed able to pull the charm, humor, sophistication, and suave of the other Bonds----if the writing staff can ever let him. But the writers and producers are hellbent on making sure that the Connery/Moore James Bond never makes its way back into the big screen.

And this is where the movie mildly stumbles, not in directing or acting, but in the writing department. Composed by a three-person team, the plot never allows for us to get too comfortable with any of the supporting characters; from the Bond girls to not even the main villain—whom doesn't even show up in the first act (Despite it being brilliantly done by Javier Bardem, even if his character becomes extremely uneven towards the end). The final third inexplicably treads into prologue territory, when it could have been used earlier when the agency was in disarray as the conflict elevates when the entire cast of protagonists are under attack. And lastly, they still fail to give the movie the special James Bond touch, that little catalyst that for decades has separated itself from the usual action movie fare.

Skyfall is part of the biggest enigma I face in cinema today: am I willing to accept this new direction of James Bond and his more brutal, dark, but more realistic look? Or should I yearn for the old-school days when it was hapless escapism that can hide any ridiculousness or stupidity with layers of charm, sexiness, and classy adult fun? These recent Bonds have been done with plenty of effort and quality, but what gets sacrificed is the little nitty-gritty sparks that made James Bond an icon in the first place. So I'm torn.

In the meantime, I will accept Skyfall as a good, perfectly-directed action movie that survives a third act flounder and some questionable writing and hangs on as the best Bond since Pierce Brosnan.

The Continuing Douchebag Adventures of Jeffrey Loria

Jeffery Loria, you are a douchebag.


A pure, true-blue no-holds-barred douchebag. And I never dedicate an article to just purely insulting one individual. But this man deserves every ounce of negative press that he could possibly receive.




I don’t think there’s enough time in the world to forgive your actions. You already destroyed the Expos last decade and pretty much ruined baseball in Montreal for eternity (Toronto baseball still surviving is a miracle, pure and simple), just because they would not help you build a stadium. Instead of finding alternate means, you went behind the back of Major League Baseball and moved the entire front office of the Expos to Miami, forcing the league to actually buy the team temporarily while finding a solution.



And now you have not only destroyed the Marlins for the third time in 10 years, but did so in a most disgusting manner....one that seemed planned from the beginning. 


The city of Miami FINANCED your damn stadium. The PUBLIC mostly paid for that beautiful ballpark. You managed to con the entire city to build a stadium for you, only for you to shred the team merely one year after making all the pickups. And there’s no way it’s because you were losing money, because with most of the new changes already paid for and the attendance increasing vividly throughout the 2012 season, I can guarantee you and bet you my entire life he was profiting off of this.

Loria (may have) wanted to win in one season, wanted to win immediately, and like a whiny little runt he engaged in a tantrum when things didn’t go his way. Let’s neglect the fact that we have had 9 different champions this millennium already (including…the Marlins, which got blown up quickly after) and neglect the fact that baseball is the toughest sport to win immediately and win consistently. Let’s also neglect the fact that the Marlins are in a nasty division with the Braves, Phillies, and even Nationals kicking arse in the second half.

He wanted to win as soon as possible.

And when it wasn’t soon enough, he blew up the team again, once again neglecting the city of Miami an opportunity to warm up and get used to the ragtag group of players in the Marlins uniform.

Just like in 2004.




And just like in 2006.



And remember the Marlins already lost a good group quickly after success back in 1998.


Can you imagine the Rays reacting that quickly towards Joe Maddon when he first started? Before Game 162, before winning the AL East in 2010, before the Surprise-Surprise 2008 season, Maddon had a 127-197 record in Tampa. Imagine if they had fired him and destroyed his young team before we had the chance to get to know them. Then NONE, repeat, NONE of the low-budget, subculture success would have occurred. It takes time for a baseball team to mold into a successful commodity. The Giants required years of building before becoming the oddest, yet most successful franchise in baseball currently with two of the last three championships.


And as a seemingly intentional spit at the face on Montreal, his Marlins trade away plenty of great talent to Toronto for pennies. The Marlins got essentially nothing but salary clearance, more savings, and more money for Loria to blow away doing stupid nonsense. So now the question is, with not even giving Marlins fans a full season to test out the lineup, is there a chance he baited the taxpayers with big names, only to send them all over Major League Baseball to save money on spending and cash in what he got from the Marlins Park?


It’s funny because before the season, I questioned the safety of rooting for the Marlins after its history of overreaction and cost-cutting on the oddest and stupidest of moments. And it is happening again. But this time, at the expense of all the locals in the area….which allows for this to sting a bit more….much more in fact.

So this will bear repeating:





Jeffery Loria: You are a douchebag.





Thanks for killing any chance of the Marlins building an eventual fanbase…again.