iggymcfly

Hey, when I heard the Jindrak at SS rumor, I said no way. Not gonna happen Vince isn't that stupid. Now, I've gotta say the same thing. The fans are not reacting well to the feud, it's not drawing, and it doesn't seem like they planned for it to be anything more than a transitional feud to begin with. Plan A for Summerslam is still Eddie vs. Angle. That's the money match they've been giving a slow build to. Plan B is probably Eddie vs. Taker or Booker or RVD or even Cena. There's no way that someone shitty like JBL or Jindrak main events Summerslam, even if it is just the Smackdown ME.

The thing about the NBA is that it's not a pure team game like football or something. When you get down to crunch time, you need to have a truly great player to take over the game. The Bulls had Jordan, the Rockets had Olajuwon, the Spurs had Duncan, and the Lakers had/have Shaq and Kobe. The Pistons don't have a player like that. What you saw in Game 2 last night was Kobe taking over when it mattered in a way that the Pistons, despite all the great basketball that they've played, just couldn't do. That's why the Lakers won Game 2, that's why they won't get swept in Detroit, and that's why they'll get the win or wins they need back in LA. The Pistons are a very good team, but the Lakers are a great team that's about to become NBA Champions for the fourth time in five years.

I'm from the US, and I was cheering for the Flames, partially because I thought it would be good to see a Canadian team win it with all the difficulties they have trying to keep up with salaries when they're paying in Canadian dollars. I hate seeing all the classic markets, (Winnipeg, Quebec, Hartford) become places like Phoenix, Colorado, and Carolina, (even though the Colorado one actually worked). Of course, even given that I would never have cheered for the Maple Leafs or Canadiens who I still hate with a passion. Also, Calgary's still the closest NHL city to where I live, (Missoula, MT), and the Saddledome's the only NHL arena I've ever been to. Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that there is a vaild reason to cheer for a Canadian team making it, and it's not just us vs. them blind patriotism. Cheering for a Canadian team getting to the Finals is like cheering for a small market team to beat the Yankees in baseball. If your team is Canadian (my two favorites happen to be Ottawa and Vancouver), then you can sympathize with the difficulties they face, including getting on television in the United States. (ESPN only showed two or three games of the Sens/Leafs series.)

Well, that was certainly a good game and a good series. I'm really glad that I recorded Game 7 instead of Raw. I was going for the Flames, but I can appreciate the Lightning winning too. I certainly wasn't happy to see it, but it's not as bad as when the Devils or the Red Wings win. I really think the difference in the game and series was the goaltending. Khabibulin just outplayed Kiprusoff. He should have stopped one of those two shots tonight, just like he should have in Game 6. When you only face 15 shots, you shouldn't let two goals in. I don't want to harp on him and make it sound like he played terrible, but he certainly didn't play as well as Khabibulin did. The Flames got outplayed all around for the first two periods, but they got enough good scoring chances in the third that it all evened out except for the men between the pipes. Anyway, no sour grapes. Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the Stanley Cup win, and congrats to the Flames for making it to the finals with a mediocre goalie and only one bonafide scorer.

Yeah right. Look at what happened when they did finally try to let Luigi carry the ball. Luigi's Mansion completely sunk the Gamecube brand altogether, and allowed the Sony and Microsoft feds to take control of the industry. Whereas Mario's reigns have seen some of the greatest heights in all of Nintendo history, Luigi is completely out of place doing anything except watching his brother's back.

God that's hilarious. I'm sure it would go over most people's heads, but just seeing that the WWE finally had a sense of humor about that stuff would be enough to make me hopeful about the product again. That's my favorite part.

Well, I figured I'd check out the Raw preview to see if there was anything interesting enough to move my TiVo over from ABC to Spike TV for the opening/main event segments, but it doesn't like it. There's no way this crap's gonna preempt Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals for me.

Well, I just finished watching the game (had to work so I TiVoed it), but I have to say, I guess I did underrate the Detroit Pistons. Their offense actually showed up pretty well, and I think that we're in for a competitive series. I'd still be shocked to see Detroit win it, but it looks like it should go six or even seven games. Here are some observations I made during the game: 1. Karl Malone is THE weak link on the Los Angeles Lakers. Payton picked his spots, played good D, and deferred to Shaq and Kobe most of the game, but you got the sense that he could make some shots if he was called upon. Malone, on the other hand was just terrible. That mid-range jumper that he used to hit fading away with a defender in his face was completely gone. Malone wide open from 15 feet away tonight meant an automatic brick. He even missed a couple layups. Malone still plays good defense and rebounds the basketball, but offensively, he's turned into a huge liability, and a caricature of his former self. 2. Ben Wallace is vastly overrated. Sure, he gets a lot of blocks on sloppy drives to the hoop, and he dominates the weak centers in the East defensively, but when it comes to a real challenge like Shaq, he's no better than Nesterovic or Olokowokandi. Shaq scored pretty much at will, and if he'd had any help from his supporting cast, the Lakers would be up 1-0, not the Pistons. 3. The Pistons can score the ball passably. They're never gonna be scoring 90 points a game or shooting over 50%, but they will score enough points to keep the Pistons in the game. Thus, the deciding factor in the series will be whether the Pistons can continue to shut down the Lakers' offense. The Pistons got lucky tonight in that Fisher and Bryant stopped going to Shaq in the second half, but as the series wears on they'll have to do a little btter job of defending him if they're going to win. Likewise, the Lakers need to have some production from outside to complement Shaq even if it's just somebody like Rush or Medvdenko hitting a few open threes. I believe that as the series goes on, the Lakers will pick up better shots from outside, and it will be enough to win, but it's certainly looking to be a much better series than I would have imagined.

Well, as long as Smackdown doesn't have a July PPV (which they don't, right?), then Angle has to be the #1 contender there, since Angle/Eddie is the only Smackdown feud which is high-quality enough to sell a big show like Summerslam. On Raw, it's a little more complicated. For a while, I thought they could really do something with this Kane/Benoit feud, but since they're giving it no build and Kane is losing to frigging Eugene, they might as well just move on to the next guy. I think what they really need to do now to keep the title picture interesting is for HBK or Edge to turn heel and get a quick run with the belt. Since HBK is stale and ready for a heel turn, I'll pick him to get the next run, but either way they have to do something to shake up the title picture soon. If Benoit doesn't have any real threats, he becomes a boring champion.

Running Angle/Cena would cause me to stop watching again almost immediately. But if they somehow see some kind of good in renewing that disaster feud, don't let me stop them. I guess I missed that feud completely when it happened before. I don't get UPN during the school year, and while I followed the main event feuds on the net, I didn't really pay attention to every little thing that happens on the undercard. I do know now though that I find Smackdown largely unwatchable, and Angle is the most accessible main event presence that is strong enough to make the show interesting again. Not to mention that I've been an official Angle mark since No Way Out in 2002.

Uh, by the way, I think there's something wrong with your clock. No matter what time zone you're in, it should be the same number of minutes past the hour which would be 44 when you posted, a good half an hour off from 13 in either direction. IIRC, the Maritimes are a half hour off from EST. He might be from there. I thought Halifax was an hour ahead of New York and such, and then Nefoundland is half an hour ahead of Halifax. Oh, all right. My bad then.

Fuck, there it is. Can't say I'm surprise with the result.

Uh, by the way, I think there's something wrong with your clock. No matter what time zone you're in, it should be the same number of minutes past the hour which would be 44 when you posted, a good half an hour off from 13 in either direction.

This is an excellent game. Just the battling over every puck has been great, and there's been some good offensive hockey too. I really think Kiprusoff should have stopped one of those two goals, but other than it's been an excellent game. I'd love to see the Flames get the cup, but if I was forced to make a prediction right now, I'd say the Lightning are gonna send it back to Tampa. Of course, I've been wrong many times all through these playoffs, so that doesn't really mean much. All you have to do is look back to Game 7 against the Canucks to see a game where it looked like the Flames were definitely gonna lose. Anyway, GO FLAMES!

I have to agree that an Eddie/Angle feud is about the only thing that can get me interested in Smackdown right now. If they could keep up the animosity between Angle and Cena somehow so that Cena would get the next feud with Angle after he wins the title, that would be great, but otherwise the Cena/Angle storyline is completely expendable. They HAVE to go with Angle/Eddie at Summerslam or else the whole show is pretty much screwed.

No, that one year when the Raptors were kind of good, (when Carter showed up late for the game because of his graduation,) he did hit a lot of game winners. He just didn't know that he wouldn't be back to the playoffs anytime soon.

God, the formula's so simple that I can't believe people still haven't picked up on it. If you promote a main event that people want to see, they'll usually stick around and watch the show. Otherwise, not. Of course in the long run, the show needs to be entertaining too, but in the short term, people will sit through one or two shitty shows if they think there's a big main event coming.

The Austin/Regal strap match on Raw was pretty tight, although I have to admit, that's the only one I actually remember seeing..

It is true that there are six serious title contenders in the NBA, but Indiana is NOT one of them. Teams with no offense don't win championships. Dallas, on the other hand is a perfectly feasible championship contender for next year, as all the major parts should still be in place next year and they are certainly still young. If they can get rid of Antoine Walker for a big man who can run the floor and play D, there's no reason the Mavericks can't contend for a title.

To be honest, where soccer loses all credibility with me is the shootouts. At least in the NHL, when it really matters (in the playoffs), they'll keep playing hockey until someone scores a goal and wins the game. But in soccer, it's more like, hey we know it's completely possible that no one will ever be able to score and win the game in the manner in which it was designed to be played. We'll have to just make up a way for them to score. I can't wait until this starts translating into other sports. Pretty soon, in the Eastern Conference finals, the Pistons and Pacers will have to give up on scoring and have a free throw shooting contest. It will be great.

Well, I can't claim to be too knowledgable here, as the only European football covered here is NFL Europe, but I'll make my predictions anyway. England's national team hasn't done shit for years now, and they always do worse in a big tournament. With them being all young to boot, I say they lose to France 3-0, draw both their other matches and don't make it out of their group. As for who will go far, I say Spain, Italy, France, and Germany make up the final four, with Spain knocking off Italy and the French beating the Germans to reach the final. Then, since it is the final, no one will score a goal and Spain will win on penalty kicks 4-3.

As for Detroit's offense, it wasn't just shitty in the Indiana series. It was just as bad against New Jersey too. The only reason they even got through the NJ series is that they had Ben Wallace make a few shots for them. When Ben Wallace hitting 15 footers is the only offense you can muster, you'll be in trouble against a team like the Lakers. And for all this talk about the great defense in the East, I just haven't been seeing it. With the exception of the one Detroit/Indiana game with all the blocked shots, I haven't seen good defense at all. What I've seen is missed open threes, teams not getting into their offense and running the shot clock out, and bad turnovers. As for the Lakers not playing hard, well it's true. As for the person who said not trying hard would be intentionally missing jumpers, well you're a dumbfuck. There's way more to basketball than taking jumpers. There's spreading the ball around. Working for a better shot when you're tired and would rather throw up a three with a hand in your face. Getting back on defense. Expending the energy to play defense on one of the best players in the world instead of saving your energy for the offensive end. These are the kinds of things that the Lakers become lax on when they don't feel any pressure. Obviously, comparing the Lakers being lax in Game 5 against the Wolves to the Panthers being lax in the Super Bowl is completely pointless. In the Super Bowl, one game decides who wons the trophy. If the Lakers were playing the Pistons in a Game 7, I'm sure that none of the things mentioned in the previous paragraph would be an issue. However, even if they lose Game 5 (which they did), they still have two more chances. Furthermore, deep down, they don't believe they can be beat in those two games, and the sense of urgency just isn't there. It's more like a 9-4 team playing in Week 15 than the Super Bowl, if you want to compare it to the NFL. Obviously, this won't be settled for good until the finals are over, but seeing how the Lakers work, I can tell you how the series is gonna go: Game 1: Lakers get annoyed with talk of a classic series. Show Pistons how good they are in 92-69 win. Game 2: Feeling less motivated, but still playing at home, Lakers let Pistons stay in the game before ultimately winning 80-73. Game 3: Lakers start celebrating early and are shocked to be completely shut down by the Pistons. Detroit foils a late comeback to win it 77-74 Game 4: Lakers fear there may be a real series and decide to step it up. Cruise to a victory 85-70. Game 5: Despite the knowledge that the series is wrapped up, LA goes on an offensive showcase and finishes it in the Motor City, 105-81.

I really do wish that the WWE would get rid of all the "cheap heat" gimmicks, that work to pop a live crowd, but look tiresome and embarrassing on TV. This includes Rico, Rikishi, La Resistance, the Hurricane, and the current incarnation of Val Venis. I'm not saying gimmicks are bad per se, as they can be a very effective tool to get a wrestler over. For example, a character such as Eugene that leaves room for emotional depth, and a variety of responses works fine. In much the same way, the original Kane, Undertaker, and Mankind all were effective money-drawing characters. However, when we have "this man's flamboyantly gay, that's just hilarious, laugh at him!" or "this team is flamboyantly French, they're Unamerican, boo them!" or "he just put his ass in someone's face AGAIN, that's hilarious, laugh!", it demeans the audience as a whole, and makes people embarrassed to watch wrestling.

The problem with Raw last week (ratings-wise), wasn't that the HHH/HBK feud was being pushed over the Benoit/Kane feud; it was that neither one was being pushed. The show was centered around nothing. When your ratings drawing feuds are relegated to a 30 second promo leading into a 30 second video package, and a surprise run-in at the end of the show, it's only natural for ratings to drop. You know, back when Raw used to do really good ratings, the show would almost always lead off with a promo that gave an inclination of what the main event match/angle would be so that people would stick around and watch it. When the only thing the show hypes is a non-title match between Randy Orton and the gimmickless babyface main eventer of the month, and a comedy match, they'll either tune out right away, or stick around to watch the boring Orton match, decide that they'd rather watch something else and tune out then. Oh, and Game 6 of the Western conference Finals is a huge draw with the younger male crowd that comprises most of the WWE audience. I'm sure it wasn't the whole cause of the rating, but it probably brought it down 0.2 or so. I know I was flipping back and forth to it (along with the hockey game), most of the night.

I don't know. After this bullshit with Bradshaw, I think Eddie desperately needs to face a REAL main eventer in order to regain a little bit of credibility as the champion. Two feuds in a row against midcarders for life is enough to turn him into the US Champion part deux. In fact, a really hot feud with Angle is about the only thing I can think of that would reenergize Eddie and Smackdown right now.