Compromise...

Upon arriving to work this morning I checked the news headlines as I always do. I noticed that Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid is working with Republican Senator Bill Frist on arranging a compromise to end this nonsense of ending the filibuster or the "nuclear" option if you will. It's great to see these two men working together to solve a problem, something that's been lacking up in Washington since old Dubya took office. I also noticed that Dubya is enlisting Tom "The Hammer" Delay to help drum up support for his beleaguered Social Security plan. This seems to be another in a long line of missteps by the President in his second term. He wants Americans to trust him on Social Security and he asks for help from one of the most ethically challenged politicians ever? If I were the President, I wouldn't want Tom Delay's face tied to my already crumbling Social Security ideas. I see the politics behind it, Delay will use some of his strong arm tactics to get some of these people up in Washington to march in line behind the plan (if there still is one, we still haven't seen the details of it yet), but publicly this isn't going to exactly convert those who mistrust the President on this issue. By asking for Delay's help at a time when the majority leader is facing many ethical questions, it stinks of desperation by the White House.

Pull the plug...

It's about as official as possible. The timber puppies have taken the last step towards becoming the laughing stock of the league. By losing to Denver and Atlanta, they've accomplished what it seems they've been trying to do all season, which is miss the playoffs and get into the NBA draft lottery. Congratulations MV3. You've become the most ridiculous example of how not to play basketball. No defense and zero pride. Losing to Atlanta proved that you are pretenders and not contenders. You've been passed by Memphis and Denver for the eighth and final playoff spot. How can you explain this? It's not possible to be passed by Denver and Memphis. When was the last time Sacramento or San Antonio was passed by Denver and Memphis. What a joke. This is what you get though for bringing in Cassell and Spreewell. These guys have proven to be difficult wherever they go. No leadership and a ME, ME, ME attitude. Kevin McHale has again proven that he doesn't know what he's doing either as a general manager or as a coach. I can forgive the "coaching" he did this year but he needs to lose his job for the moves he's made since being here. The only thing that should save his job at this point is if he were to get Phil Jackson (or beg and plead Flip to come back) to coach this group of overpaid clowns. If I were Phil or Flip, I'd rather go and coach Colorado Kobe Bryant. From the Western Conference Finals to (maybe) the final lottery pick of the draft. At least we have a draft pick, unless McHale and Taylor secretly signed Michael Olowakandi to an under the table deal. I wouldn't put it past them. How else to explain that he's still on the team? Keving Garnett shouldn't dodge criticism for this either. His lips are shut so tight they're starting to remind me of a frogs backside. A true leader would have stepped up and called some of these guys out in public for their selfishness and lack of pride. For example, I can't count how many times I saw Michael Jordan chew his teammates out for their poor play, he didn't just sit on the bench and pout with a stupid look on his face. I'm probably stepping out on a limb here, but KG will never win a title. He doesn't have the killer instinct or the leadership qualities Michael, Larry, Magic or Isiah had. It's amazing that this team has come full circle. They're now where they used to be at in the old days... The draft lottery. We need a new point guard, is Pooh Richardson available?

Finding Neverland...

Got the chance to catch "Finding Neverland" last night starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. This film was nominated for a couple of Oscars this year and I can definitely see why. This was a great film, well paced and beautifully acted. Johnny Depp was terrific as always, (frankly he's so good it's getting pretty old) and Kate Winslet was good as well. The story revolves around the struggles of J.M. Barrie and what he went through to write and bring "Peter Pan" to the stage. This film could have easily turned into a formulaic retelling of a love story we've heard thousands of times, man struggles with career, meets widow with family who inspires him, falls in love with the family, his marraige falls apart, is run off from new family, etc... It avoids falling into this trap by keeping it's sense of innocence without getting overly sentimental. Most screenwriters would have had the two lead characters fall in love in the first half hour and probably had one of the kids barge in on them in an uncomfortable moment and so on. This type of thing never happens in the movie and the love the two leads share for each other seems to be more of friendship than anything else. This was a terrific movie. Great story and great acting.