Yes, in their infinite brilliance, a 5-to-4 majority on the Supreme Court has decided that school administrators have the right to discipline students if they don’t like what the kiddies have to say (incoherent as those thoughts may be). If the right to free speech only applies to popular, non-controversial speech, then why have it?
Incidentally, since I’m guessing not too many people have actually read the Bill of Rights lately — like, perhaps, the Vice President — here’s an online copy.
A one-point loss. So close, yet so far away. The 43-year title drought continues … and we wait to see how the Indians will inevitably break our hearts this fall.
To the fans at the Q tonight: way to be completely silent for three quarters, then boo the postgame trophy presentation like idiots. You stay classy, Cleveland.
I can’t say I’m too disappointed, but I was expecting this team to at least look vaguely competent. The Spurs, however, were a buzzsaw. They’re a great team.
At least we have our JV title and a great series against Detroit to remember. LeBron’s 48-point game and the Game 6 knockout punch were absolutely thrilling.
News story on the front page of the BBC website: FBI tries to fight zombie hordes. As in … zombie computers. Hey, Brits, don’t freak us out like that!
Incidentally, here’s a heads-up: There’s a civil war in the Palestinian territories and the bottom line is that Hamas is going to rule the Gaza Strip. Yikes.
I’ll be in Seattle for the wedding of a friend on Saturday, then sightseeing on Sunday. I won’t have my laptop but y’all can call the cell if you need me …
No matter how close they were through the entire second half, no matter how great Cleveland’s defense was, there was a sense of foreboding that made it clear that a victory just wasn’t gonna happen. They didn’t have the killer instinct and the open jump shots just weren’t falling. The defense was more than good enough to win, containing San Antonio’s star players … but the Spurs were lights out from beyond the arc and the Cavaliers’ offense was absurdly uninspired, even by the incredibly futile standard set by Mike Brown’s incompetent planning (or lack thereof). Never before have I seen a game that went to the final possession where the conclusion was seemingly so thoroughly predestined.
So now professional basketball’s JV champions are one game away from being swept. Memo to GM Danny Ferry: (1) Fire your coach and replace him with … um … anyone who’s ever run an offense in the history of basketball. (2) Trade for someone that can manage the game so LeBron can be a scorer. (And he was FOULED!)
UPDATE (1am): An associate of mine points out that the following quote by Coach Brown that ran on the front cover of the Cleveland Plain Dealer that indicates the level of intellect he possesses: “We, as a group, have to do a better job of starting the games better.” Yikes. It’s close, but Charlie Manuel was still worse.
The NCAA now prohibits reporters from live-blogging events that they are covering. Seriously.
Meanwhile, Seattle centerfielder Ichiro Suzuki had some mildly negative things to say about Cleveland (gee whiz, get in line!) in the wake of another one-day trip to Cleveland tonight to make up the snowed-out games from April: “To tell the truth, I’m not excited to go to Cleveland, but we have to. If I ever saw myself saying I’m excited going to Cleveland, I’d punch myself in the face, because I’m lying.”
Hm. Well, I guess that we don’t have much of a chance to sign him in free agency this winter …
WASHINGTON — Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) said Sunday the United States should consider a military strike against Iran because of Tehran’s involvement in Iraq.
“I think we’ve got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq,” Lieberman said. “And to me, that would include a strike over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers.”
Interesting, no? Granted, the man has a point: Iranian agents probably are killing our troops in Iraq, at the very least indirectly. But could someone explain how a limited bombing campaign is going to make them stop — especially since Ahmadinejad is not exactly what one would call a foreign policy realist? Then again, as I’ve suggested before, it may be better to have all hell break loose before Iran has nukes instead of after.
Today, President Bush was in the — according to the NYT — “tiny, relentlessly pro-American nation” of Albania. They love us for a number of reasons, primarily that Woodrow Wilson kept their country from being partitioned at the Treaty of Versailles, then later for opposition to Communism and the 1999 air war against Serbia to end their ethnic cleansing activities in the province of Kosovo (90% of its citizens are of Albanian extraction). Now, after eight years under the administration of NATO and UN troops, it’s time for Kosovo to be a fully independent state — which Serbia and its main ally, Russia, naturally oppose. This is probably the #1 political issue in Albania right now. Naturally, Bush fucked it up:
On Saturday in Rome, the president agreed there should be a deadline to end the United Nations talks [on Kosovar independence], saying, “In terms of a deadline, there needs to be one, it needs to happen.” But today, less than 24 hours later, Mr. Bush tried to backtrack when asked when that deadline might be.
“First of all, I don’t think I called for a deadline,” Mr. Bush said, during a press appearance with Prime Minister Berisha in the courtyard of a government ministry building. He was reminded that he had. “I did?” he asked, sounding surprised. “What exactly did I say? I said ‘deadline’? Okay, yes, then I meant what I said.”
The scary thing is that I think we could do worse than Bush in 2008.
When I was in London in 2005, it was the same weekend that Olympics officials were touring the city as part of their bid to win the 2012 Games. Consequently, pretty much everything in the entire city was emblazoned with the word “Back the Bid” and one ubiquitous logo splashed everywhere imaginable. I thought it was exceptionally well done. Of course, marketing consultants started talking about “building a brand” and needed something with a little more pizazz. They got $800k to come up with the defining image of the 30th Olympiad. The consultants came up with … well … let’s just put the two logos side-to-side:
That says “2012,” in case you thought that it was a picture of — as some have suggested — a broken swastika, post-cubist fellatio, or REALLY poorly-done graffiti. Um, you could have considered a logo that (and this may sound crazy) actually looks both English and not the worst of futuristic retro. Just a thought. The animated version of the logo has already been taken down from the Games’ website due to its potential to cause seizures. The Brits, not surprisingly, are fucking pissed at the prospect of this being the face of London — to the point where Parliament is begging them to change it. Let’s hope they do, since … this is thoroughly humiliating. The Olympic logos have always been classier than this (though some mascots have been bizarre and the opening/closing ceremonies are always horrid), so here’s hoping they come up with something a bit less dystopian.
As we wade through the wreckage of Game 1, in which Cleveland played far worse than the score would indicate (based on LeBron James disappearing on offense, Daniel Gibson just plain disappearing because Mike Brown refused to play him, and Tony Parker carving up Larry Hughes and the rest of the defense like a turkey), we have this bit placed on The Onion‘s website yesterday. One of their writers must be from Cleveland …
God Wondering If He’s Being Too Cruel In Allowing Cavaliers To Reach NBA Finals
PARADISE—God, the omnipotent and omniscient Creator of the Universe who recently saw fit to allow the Cleveland Cavaliers to advance to the NBA Finals, expressed concern Tuesday that He might be causing the earthly city of Cleveland undue emotional anguish by doing so. “I can’t help feeling that they who dwell in Cleveland and root for the Cavaliers have done nothing to warrant the dashing of their hopes after having them raised to such lofty heights,” said God, who acknowledged that day-to-day life was bitter enough for city residents. “Although I move in mysterious ways, and in doing so often allow bad things to happen to good people, My grand design is usually glorious to behold. But the Cavs in the Finals…I don’t know, maybe that’s just plain mean.” God is said to be particularly sensitive to looming tragedies in Cleveland recently, as the Indians have been playing better than expected, earthquake-level tension began building in a previously undetected geological slip-fault in the bedrock along the shores of Lake Erie, and the Browns drafted quarterback Brady Quinn.
Incidentally … goodness gracious, is anyone watching cable news now? I mean, there’s media overkill, and then I guess there’s Paris Hilton-level media overkill.
From the New York Times sports page today, we have this brief quote: “The Cavaliers are possibly the least talented team the Spurs have faced in the postseason.”
Oh come on now. Yeah, I think the Spurs will win because … well, this is a Cleveland team we’re talking about here, but that’s harsh. We could take Utah or Denver.
That being said, Game 1 is at 9pm ET on ABC. Do you believe in miracles?
