Leading Off - I really like this topical blog entry style that I’ve stumbled upon. I’m not the type of blogger who posts a lot of small entries, and I’m not the type of blogger who consistently writes long essays on a single topic. This helps me be somewhere in the middle. Expect more of this to come.
The “Eric W. Schwartz” Part of the Program - Congratulations are in order for my longtime friend Eric, who as of this past Saturday is engaged to be married. I have known Eric since I was six years old and going to St. Mark’s Elementary School back in south Florida. He was my closest friend all the way through middle school and remains a man I highly respect and admire. I couldn’t be happier for him.
One of his most redeeming qualities is his sense of humor. Here is an IM I received from him earlier today:
The W’s are taking over the government (well, sort of). W (the President) has appointed W (the artist Michael W. Smith) to be the Vice Chair of the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation. It appears that Smitty and President Bush are good friends, and as we all know, friends are friends forever.
And yes, Eric’s middle name is William, meaning that eventually he will be part of this government takeover. Trust me, it could be worse.
Job Search - I have found a surprising number of new job openings to apply to this week. Those job opening have yet to find me, but I am much more optimistic about the whole situation this week than I was last week. Also, I am beginning to look more seriously at options outside of Tallahassee, though my preference is still to remain there.
NBA Draft - This was so awesomely bad it’s hard to put into words. In fact, I’m going to let ESPN columnist Bill Simmons (who earlier this month became Mark Cuban’s new hero) do most of the work for me, quoting from his amazing Draft Diary X. By the way, outside of the contributions made by Peter Gammons, who is currently incapacitated due to a brain aneurysm, there is nothing on ESPN.com worth reading outside of the work of Bill Simmons. There, I said it.
8:59 – The unequivocal highlight of the draft: Patrick throws it to the podium for Utah’s pick, only Stern hasn’t emerged from his secret lair yet, followed by Patrick filling time with “Where’d he go?” jokes, then Stern emerging, taking a dramatic pause and saying, “Dan, I was sitting in the back listening to your pithy comments.” He actually seems ticked. Dan quickly fires back with an awkward “I like Paul Tagliabue better” joke. I feel like they’re orchestrating this just to liven up my diary. It’s too good to be true.
9:15 – This is awkward: They’re discussing reasons why Marcus Williams slipped (character issues, out of shape, the laptop scandal), and, umm, he’s sitting right there. And he can hear everything. Umm, guys? He’s right there. Guys? Guys?
9:36 – There are those moments in sports when you expect something great, and then it actually happens. And then there are those rare moments in sports when you expect something great, and something even greater happens. This was one of those moments: The Knicks on the clock, the crowd pushing for Marcus Williams, and then …
–Stern: “With the 20th pick, the New York Knicks select … Renaldo Balkman.”
(Crowd explodes in horror.)
–Stern (over the boos): “Renaldo is not here.”
–Patrick (without missing a beat): “And it’s probably a good thing.”
(Shot of a beaten-down Spike Lee laughing hysterically.)
That was fantastic. Everyone kept e-mailing me to write about Isiah and the Knicks last week … what else was there to say? OF COURSE Isiah was meant to coach this team as his final job in the NBA before retiring to a life of greeting people at casinos and doing informercials. If somebody clogs your toilet, you ask him to clean up the mess. That’s just the way life works. I’m telling you, we’re going to remember the Isiah/Knicks Era the same way we remember things like Enron, the Hindenberg and the Bay of Pigs. It’s reached that level. I don’t know what else to say. Honestly. I have Knicks fans e-mailing me every day asking me if it’s OK to root against their own team. What else can you say at this point?
(Wait, I know … Renaldo Balkman!)
10:20 – The Mavs take Maurice Ager at No. 28. … Ager walks up to the stage in a triple-breasted, oversized beige suit, goes to shake hands with Stern and immediately gets whistled for a foul on Dwyane Wade.
I have to admit, I hate watching drafts. I don’t know how I always get sucked into watching them. Especially this year, since the Heat didn’t even have a single draft pick (their first round pick was held by the Lakers from the Shaq trade, their second round pick somehow ended up in Toronto). I think I stayed tuned just so I could see if New York blew it, and it certainly appears as though they did. I have to tell you, after all the years that the Knicks had the last laugh against the Heat it feels great to be able to laugh at the plight of New York basketball.
I’m really not the person to ask when it comes to who did best in the draft, but I will say this. I think Orlando drafting J.J. Redick was a great pick. They have such a young, talented team. I’m going to call it now, the Magic will make the playoffs next year and will be no pushover once there.
The rest - I find it ironic and infuriating that my sister is whining about finding a summer job when she has been looking for two days. If I have to listen to her whine and moan all weekend I’m going to go out of my mind. Hopefully at least one of us will go see Superman Returns this weekend so I’ll have a three-hour respite. Maybe we’ll both go see it at different times and I’ll have six hours of relief. Or maybe one of us will get hired. Yeah, that’s probably the better thing to hope for.
So, I hear the Sacramento Kings are a pretty good team and they’re only about 30 minutes away from me.
They’re one Artest meltdown away from sucking.
shut up. im stealing your sister away from you a few times this weekend.
“I can’t wait for the Knicks’ 29th pick — at the rate we’re going, Isiah could draft Barbaro and we wouldn’t be surprised.”