Author: Francisco

AllStar Game 2006

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The AllStar game this year was lacking. For some reason the big name players did not bring their game. Allen Iverson, T-Mac, among others did not impress, and while Vince Carter’s missed dunks were hilarious, the game just dragged on mostly. Last years game was better and seemed more team oriented than this year’s game. It did however signal the changing of the guard from old-time players like A.I., Shaq, and T-Mac to the new stars like Lebron, Wade, and Marion. The East coming out with four Pistons, made up of Chauncey, Rasheed, Richard Hamilton, and Ben Wallace did impact the game and although Chauncey tried a couple of unneeded three-pointers, he did manage to impress and get props for being one of the best guards in today’s league.

It was strange to see Shaq and four Pistons playing together on the same team, but the best combination of front court power was when Lebron and Wallaces played together, they had length, speed, defense, and offense. It was an incredible combination. Surprisingly Lebron showed some defensive skills and his winning of the MVP award was definitely justified. He has a great game and it will only improve with time. Best offensive play goes to Lebron too, but a very close second would have to be Kobe’s fade away three point shot. Say whatever you want about Kobe, he is still one of the top five players in the game right now. I’ll even give Tony Parker some slack for his driving to paint score; he did drive through three defenders and somehow hoisted up the ball for a score. My favorite hustle play though goes to Wade for his tip in in the final minutes to put the East back up. Hey, we’re both from South Chicago, so I have to love Wade’s game, regardless.

As for the West, as usual they never integrated Yao into the game. Timmie was his usual dependable self and managed to get his shots in. Nash tried to integrate everyone, but timings were a little off for the other players, and some great passes became turnovers.

Now as to who I think are definite AllStars this year…. well my pick for number one player is Shawn Marion. I love his energy on the court and his attitude. You always see Marion having an effect on the game on both ends and he doesn’t quit at all. Definitely agree with Barkley that Marion is the most underrated player in the NBA right now. As to the best guards, my vote goes to Chauncey for his strength and Motown moves and to Nash for his incredible passing and vision of the game. For superstar talent, Lebron and Wade are developing each year more and more and they are definitely the face of the new NBA.

But not to leave out the great players that still dominate at the end of games, props would have to go to Jermaine O’Neal who is having a tough year with injuries, Rasheed Wallace who is having his best year ever and who is even better than Timmie, Carmelo Anthony who did not make the AllStar selection but who is flourishing this year, and of course Detroit’s Prince, who is an astute student of the game and the Piston’s best kept secret.

So now that the AllStar break is over, it’s time to get down to playing some real team basketball and hopefully some competitive games.

MovieComment.com Launches

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Another side project that I started last month was MovieComment.com. I kept telling my friends that I was eventually going to start a film review site last year, but I never quite did it. After a couple hours searching for a proper domain name, the deleted domain MovieComment.com came up and I registered it and put up a simple blog based site.

The idea is get other writers on board and contribute, so if you want to write about your favorite movie, go ahead and contact me to see about writing for MovieComment.

Other than that, I saw on the internet that they are making an Ironman movie. I just hope to God, they don’t mess it up and have it be as crappy as Fantastic Four.

Giving Up On The Democrats

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I am sitting in my local school’s gym, and talking to other democrats. It was my first Democratic Caucus and I was excited and there to support Howard Dean. I had even given Dean’s campaign some money a week before. But about a half hour into the caucus I knew something was wrong. I started having feelings of distrust, usually I reserve such feelings for the public education system, but this time I had them about the political process. Clearly the Kerry supporters were in the majority and were courting most everyone in the room. The Dean campaign had failed to really organize; we were mostly made up of twenty-something college kids and optimistic thirty-somethings which had somehow found ourselves in the political process for the first time. We had a lot in common with the Edwards supporters, but we were both up against an organized and seasoned political group that were in favor of John Kerry.

By the time Dean made his now famous rant speech at the University of Iowa Student Union, (just a few miles away), the Dean campaign had failed, but I was still stuck at my local school’s gym, as we were ironing out what our local group would send to the state Democratic Party. As I sat there listening to the few people that stayed, I knew the Democratic Party would no longer matter, but I at least still hoped that we could defeat the Bush ticket. The few of us left discussed the important agendas for the party and what mattered to us: education, healthcare, jobs, and so on. By the time Kerry and Edwards had their convention, none of our concerns ever made it to the national politicians and our voices became irrelevant and drowned out in favor of more dull Kerry slogans. In a sense the Democratic party became ineffective the moment it stopped listening to its local supporters and instead tried to elect a boring and seasoned politician, no matter how well meaning Kerry was, he was still the wrong candidate. Edwards in the end, showed to be the correct choice for most of us, but on a Kerry ticket, Edwards was just a sideshow.

Now in 2006, the Democrats think they can beat Republicans, because of the scandals, because of a hurricane, because Republicans are now seen as too greedy in comparison. I doubt the Democrats can succeed on this alone. They are the inept party, the party of no ideas, in a sense they are everything I hated about politics: the combination of pride and prudence. I am in my thirties, too young yet to claim the wisdom of men in their forties and fifties, too old to cling to my rebellious and naive twenties, stuck in the middle between men who dream of making the world a better place, and those who would have you believe it cannot be done.