Condi on Obama

In the eight years we've gotten to know Condoleezza Rice, I can't recall one moment where she seemed more human than today when she spoke about Barack Obama's election victory in yesterday's Presidential race, embedded below.

In this MSNBC clip, she looks, well ... proud. Pretty damn strange since she not only works for the other guys but she unhesitatingly it seems flacked for one of the worst presidents in the history of the United States. Time will reveal more about the inner workings of the Bush White House and why not one member of his inner circle stood up for the People of the United States. A failure that led to the loss of lives, a reality almost too difficult to believe.

Rice has a fascinating history. She grew up in Birmingham, Alabama at a time when it was brutally racially divided and she was friends with one of the four young black girls who were killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. (And the Republicans think William Ayers was a bad guy?) The fact that she became a Conservative seems anathema to this history but then again, it's kind of what's so great about America, ins't it. Like electing a black man to be President of the United States. Damn.

Doesn't make her right for being Bush's 'yes' woman but nonetheless, I appreciate the humanity she shows here, even if it's eight years late and a few billion dollars short.

A Dream Realized

Found this on YouTube today.

The Grant Park Speech

Sounding like the historical brother of Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, President-elect Barack Hussein Obama sounded a siren call for change, unity and civic responsibility in his speech to his supporters last night in Chicago's Grant Park and to the millions listening on radio, TV and on the Internet.

It was a remarkable speech showing Obama's sense of history and perspective and acknowledging the debt he owes to a nation who rose up to support him and also reiterating that there is much work left to do. I've embedded the speech here, followed by the text as published by CNN on its website, because it's one everyone in America should hear.

Just to put it all into perspective, I'm including George W. Bush's acceptance speech from 2004, this was the day before he told reporters that he had earned "political capital" and he was going to spend it.

The fucker sure spent it. At the cost of American lives, the economy and the basic tenets of our Constitution. Even then, his promise of unity seemed empty but now, after four more years of divisive politics and backroom, shadowy governing, they are even more empty.

Without further ado, here are the two speeches so you can judge for yourself.

Hello, Chicago.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day. It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.

A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Sen. McCain.

Sen. McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.

I congratulate him; I congratulate Gov. Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady Michelle Obama.

Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the new White House.

And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.

And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe, the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best -- the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.

To my chief strategist David Axelrod who's been a partner with me every step of the way.

To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.

It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.

It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.

This is your victory.

And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.

You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.

Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.

There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.

There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.

I promise you, we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.

But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.

Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.

In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not

have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes

dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.

(end of Obama's Election-night address).

Bush's Acceptance From Election-night 2004

Thank you all. Thank you all for coming. We had a long night -- and a great night. The voters turned out in record numbers and delivered an historic victory.

Earlier today, Senator Kerry called with his congratulations. We had a really good phone call, he was very gracious. Senator Kerry waged a spirited campaign, and he and his supporters can be proud of their efforts. (Applause.)

Laura and I wish Senator Kerry and Teresa and their whole family all our best wishes.

America has spoken, and I'm humbled by the trust and the confidence

of my fellow citizens.

With that trust comes a duty to serve all Americans, and I will do my best to fulfill that duty every day as your President.

There are many people to thank, and my family comes first. Laura is the love of my life. I'm glad you love her, too. I want to thank our daughters, who joined their dad for his last campaign. I appreciate the hard work of my sister and my brothers. I especially want to thank my parents for their loving support.

I'm grateful to the Vice President and Lynne and their daughters, who have worked so hard and been such a vital part of our team. The Vice President serves America with wisdom and honor, and I'm proud to serve beside him.

I want to thank my superb campaign team. I want to thank you all for your hard work. I was impressed every day by how hard and how skillful our team was. I want to thank Marc -- Chairman Marc Racicot and ---- the Campaign Manager, Ken Mehlman. And the architect, Karl Rove. I want to thank Ed Gillespie for leading our Party so well.

I want to thank the thousands of our supporters across our country. I want to thank you for your hugs on the rope lines; I want to thank you for your prayers on the rope lines; I want to thank you for your kind words on the rope lines. I want to thank you for everything you did to make the calls and to put up the signs, to talk to your neighbors and to get out the vote. And because you did the incredible work, we are celebrating today.

There's an old saying, "Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks." In four historic years, America has been given great tasks, and faced them with strength and courage. Our people have restored the vigor of this economy, and shown resolve and patience in a new kind of war. Our military has brought justice to the enemy, and honor to America. Our nation has defended itself, and served the freedom of all mankind. I'm proud to lead such an amazing country, and I'm proud to lead it forward.

Because we have done the hard work, we are entering a season of hope. We'll continue our economic progress. We'll reform our outdated tax code. We'll strengthen the Social Security for the next generation. We'll make public schools all they can be. And we will uphold our deepest values of family and faith.

We will help the emerging democracies of Iraq and Afghanistan so they can grow in strength and defend their freedom. And then our servicemen and women will come home with the honor they have earned. With good allies at our side, we will fight this war on terror with every resource of our national power so our children can live in freedom and in peace.

Reaching these goals will require the broad support of Americans. So today I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent: To make this nation stronger and better I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust. A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation. We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America.

Let me close with a word to the people of the state of Texas. We have known each other the longest, and you started me on this journey. On the open plains of Texas, I first learned the character of our country: sturdy and honest, and as hopeful as the break of day. I will always be grateful to the good people of my state. And whatever the road that lies ahead, that road will take me home.

The campaign has ended, and the United States of America goes forward with confidence and faith. I see a great day coming for our country and I am eager for the work ahead. God bless you, and may God bless America.

Landslide!

Congratulations to Barack Hussain Obama, the newly elected 44th President of the United States of America. This is the proudest I've ever been of my country.

If there's anyone in this country who doesn't believe in "Yes We Can," then they've been under a rock for the last year. Yes We Can? Yes WE DID!

Just got home from partying with my friends.

Sonoma County went for Obama by more than 70 percent. When I heard the news, I yelled it out to my friends where we were eating dinner. The whole restaurant -- except one guy who gave an adamant thumbs down gesture -- broke out in applause. Someone made a toast. The whole place stopped eating and joined in. it was inspiring.

It was surreal walking through town. People stopped to hug me, cars drove by honking. People were running around screaming "Yes we can!" Someone was playing Bill Withers' "Lovely Day." People stopped to dance with strangers.

We watched the speech on a large-screen TV at a local restaurant. There were tears and hugs. Everybody I met sounded the same theme, that anything is possible. That we've got a chance to shake off the darkness that was the Bush Administration and fine a unity and togetherness, a new hope for our future. There's nothing more inspiring than that. Nothing greater than one man who can bring a whole country together.

Obama is right. It all happened because of what we did. We, every one of us, should be proud of what was accomplished tonight.

After Bush eked out a win four years ago, his message to America was that he had won political capital and he was going to spend it. He said "fuck you" to the millions of Americans who voted for the other guy. President-elect (!!!!) Barack Obama invited every American to join in the process, no matter who they voted for.

Now we know again the beauty of a man who believes in the We The People, not We The Power.

They called him socialist. They said he hung out with terrorists. They said he was a Muslim. They his birth certificate was a lie. The American people heard them and flipped them the biggest bird ever. Good for us.

I guess they wanted them to know that the real America is everywhere. As much as this was a landslide victory for Obama (as I post this, his victory in Indiana put him at 349 electoral votes), it's also a repudiation of the last eight years of George W. Bush and his behind-closed-doors grab for presidential power, an administration that was run by unelected lawyers who operated in the shadows, who didn't trust Americans enough to abide by the important transparency of our government's checks and balances.

We should have thrown the bums out four years ago, but perhaps we were a moment waiting for its champion.

If there's anything clear about Tuesday's historic election, it's that we have found him -- and more important, he has found us.

Obama is the man for our moment and nothing the righties could say or do, none of their lies could change that. It's a great day to be alive. I'm glad I witnessed it. The only thing that would make it sweeter is to be sitting next to Sean Hannity right now. Ah, but gloating would be so un-Obama-like.

Tell you what, though, I'm going to Washington on January 20 to witness history first hand.

In case you're worried you'll wake up tomorrow and discover this whole thing has been a dream, here's tomorrow's New York Times front page.

Congratulations, President Obama. You told us you would change the world and God damn it, if you went and did it.

Wow.

RIP - Tony Snow

This is a tough one for me.

Tony Snow died today. He was 53. For those of you who don't know why he's front-and-center on the NY Times obituary page, read about him here. When Jesse Helms left us on July 4, I knew a bad man was gone and I had no qualms about feeling glad that he could no longer pimp his flaming bigotry. But this one is different.

I knew Tony. He was a mentor and a friend when I was a young journalist at the Washington Times. We sparred about politics and life and religion and sports and he was a good, sweet-hearted man who I came to admire and respect. That doesn't mean knowing him is all that takes for me to be okay with the part he played in the Bush revolution.

I mean when he left to be Bush 1's speechwriter, I wasn't surprised -- he was a Republican, after all. But when he eventually ended up at Fox News, it was a weirder, because when we were debating over lunch in the Times' cafeteria, he seemed closer to the center than the other Conservatives I knew.

I never was able to comfortably reconcile the Tony Snow I knew with the man who was a Fox commentator or later, the mouthpiece for an administration whose policies led to the death and injury of so many young Americans and countless more Iraqis.

And it's even more complicated than that. I was working for the Times when I was diagnosed with lung cancer. I think Tony had left by that time but he somehow found out and contacted me. Believe me, when you're young and you have Cancer, it's not easy for some people and I had many friends who couldn't reach out to me, for whatever reason. I've come to believe it's hard for some people to be forced to consider their own mortality. But Tony knew about Cancer and his words that day were backed up by the authenticity of having gone through the darkness and come out of it. We were connected by it and he knew this long before I did.

So, I can't say Tony was a bad guy. And yes, his support of Bush at a time when it was pretty damn apparent to even the True Believers that the war and everything that came out of it was a royal fuck up, a cost measured in blood and human lives, is going to be part of his legacy. So I can't say he was a great man, either.

That he was there for me, and others, that he loved his family and was good to them, that he was a good and decent friend to folks on both sides of the political aisle, is also part of what he leaves behind, and it's that part I'll choose to remember about him.

NBA Finals - Green is Good

Had to interrupt my sabbatical for a shout out to my favorite current NBA player and his new crew, who are at the moment on the verge of winning an NBA title. Over, I might add, the heavily hyped and pre-series favorites Los Angeles Lakers.

Y'all know by now what I think of Kobe Bryant, possibly the most overhyped superstar in the history of the NBA. Bryant is a frighteningly talented offensive force, a self-made one-man band who is known for his focus and determination, but as I've said here before, his leadership qualities are severely lacking. Kobe wants us all to think he's changed his spots, he's become a leader, a team player, that he's been more involved with off-court team activities. And when he was awarded the league MVP this year, he invited his teammates to stand on the floor with him in a move that sports commentators positively gushed about. Around these parts, there was a lot of gagging.

Kobe, you might remember, was the guy who bitched about his team, his team's management and owner over the summer and begged them to trade him -- or at least trade their young players for someone who could help him. To be fair, Paul Pierce of the Celtics bitched about his team too, asking to be traded in the off season, but Pierce didn't chase away the best center in the NBA, when he apparently still had another title in his large hands.

Kobe knows how to yell at his teammates but he has no idea how to be a true on-the-court leader. Pierce, certainly less of a talent than Kobe, is proving to be the best leader of this series.

Nobody was even sure if Kobe would show up for the season, but he did arrive and wouldn't you know it, those kids weren't half bad and then boom! the NBA gods dropped Pau Gasol into the Lakers lap in exchange for a piece of paper with a date on it. Suddenly, the Lakers are the team to beat. They earned the top spot in the West and then pretty much sailed through the playoffs right into the NBA finals, where they were considered heavy favorites -- 9 out of 10 of espn.com's experts picked the Lakers to win the series, even though they didn't have home court advantage and the Celtics had beaten the Lakers in both meetings during the regular season.

Ooops.

The C's held court in Boston, winning the first two games fairly easily -- though not without drama. It was clear the plan was to stop Kobe from beating them, to put the ball in the hands of his young supporting cast, which hasn't really been up to the big-stage pressure. But then neither has Kobe, really. Four games into the series and he still looks confused.

Except early in Game 4 when the Lakers were building a 24-point lead, have the Lakers looked to be as good a "team" as the Celtics. And even that went all to hell when the C's climbed back by crushing L.A. in the third quarter and then completing the historic comeback in the fourth and putting them on the brink of an NBA title.

If you were watching the entire series, you would see that the Lakers have only been able to solve the Celtics' defense during short bursts, the most important at the end of the game two (that furious comeback that fell short) and then at the end of game three, which they won. Game 4 seemed like a sea change in the series. Whoa, not so fast.

Even as they were building that big lead, I thought the Celtics weren't giving the same defensive effort and they were missing a lot of easy shots, shots they would normally make and have been making. The Lakers won the first quarter 35-14 but the C's took the third 31-15 -- the fourth time in the four games where they've won the third quarter, a quarter the Zen Master has always stressed as being all-important to winning NBA games.

The Lakers only have two true superstars (Kobe + 1/2 Gasol and 1/2 Lamar Odom). While both are excellent players, they are not in the same league as Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. Even more impressive to me is how KG, the heart of all those Minnesota teams he played on, has easily slid into the second/third banana role in Boston. They are superstars playing like role players. I mean Allen played the whole game and had nine boards. Every time they get a defensive start, they fist pump in the way other teams do when they get a three or a dunk.

Defense has been the difference. The C's have cut the Lakers' scoring by 10, 20 points a game off their average (of course, scoring often drops off in the half-court nature of the playoffs but you get my point) and they've neutralized Kobe who hasn't had a decent shooting night against them all season -- he must have nightmares about getting suffocated by green jerseys. I think Doc seems to have taken a page out of Larry Brown’s playbook from the 2004 playoffs, when the Pistons basically keyed on Kobe, hoping to make him have to make more decisions with the ball and therefore, use more of the shot clock.

Kobe has been forced to give up his beloved rock, and he may indeed be bitching to and about his teammates about why they haven't been taking advantage, but Kobe isn't a playmaker in the strict sense of the word. He's a shooting guard who looks to score first, only giving up the ball if he doesn't have a look or a near-look or a sort-of look. Most of the time, when a player like that passes to an open man, it's in the flurry of competition and not often in the best place or way or situation for said role player to get off his best shot. That's asking a lot of your teammates, especially on the sport's biggest stage.

The rap on Gasol all those years in Memphis was that he was soft. I think y'all can see that now, not to mention his defense is pretty ordinary for a 7-footer with a wingspan like that. Odom is a guy who fills up the stat sheet but his impact on the game is not as great as it could be (or is perceived to be). He loses focus, is easily confused and after that tremendous start, disappeared in the second half. Seriously, one minute he was driving to the hoop, making big play after big play, digging the flow and the next, POOF! he was gone, gone, gone.

I think Doc Rivers is out-coaching the Zen Master in this series. Going with the smaller lineup may have been obvious with the C's down by 20 points, but putting in Eddie House was a brave move. Even the ABC commentators were saying Rondo wasn't taking advantage of his open looks -- which was Philip's strategy, to have Kobe roam off of Rondo, to give him those short jumpers, figuring he wouldn't make enough of them to make a difference. Even though his scrappy defense was helping his team, they needed a guy who would take what the Lakers were giving them -- or in civilian terms, to shoot the damn ball. And when House came in, he hit two huge freaking shots, making Doc look like a genius.

Seriously though, I'm beginning to think Phil Jackson is overrated. How is it that he has Sasha grab-and-bitch Vujacic on Allen in the fourth quarter with the entire series in the balance? Anyone can tell by watching Vujacic play that he's a jerk of mammoth proportions and his penchant for playing dirty is hardly good defense.

Goes to show all that extra-curricular nonsense doesn't substitute for moving your feet and staying in front of your man. Remember Vujacic was the guy who earlier in the game, fell to the floor while holding onto Allen and when he didn't get the call, used his legs to hold Allen down directly in front of referee Steve Javie. It's the most obvious foul call of the series (which is saying a lot) and Vujacic looked at Javie like he just asked him on a date.

I'm thinking this game, this series, ought to put to rest now and forever, the comparisons between Kobe and MJ. It's unfair to Kobe anyway -- they aren't the same kind of players and never were. But then nobody will ever be like Jordan, so maybe it's doing him a favor. Still, I don't see MJ blowing a 24-point lead in a crucial game 4 at home.

I think it also puts into sharper focus the idea that Kobe is some bigger-than-life factor at the end of close games. All of these games have been within the Lakers' grasp in the fourth quarter and Kobe, who one of the ABC announcers called the NBA's best closer, has only been a factor in one of them. If it's true, then when is Kobe going to get it done. I mean if he's not doing it (and didn't in his last NBA Finals appearance) when it really counts? If all Kobe needs is teammates who can keep his team close into the waning moments of the game so he can take over and lead them to victory, then the only person Kobe should be bitching at is the guy looking back at him in the mirror each morning.

Because to be fair, the Lakers have been in all of these games and the Closer has been out closed out.

Sure, the Lakers could still make history and win, but I think everyone can see by now, including the participants, who the better team is in this series. I'll give you a hint: they wear green.

See ya soon, sports fans....

A Sabbatical. Duh.

Bummer.
I'm writing, folks. Which is what I do for a living. How the bills get paid. And right now, I'm writing hard, as in working my ass off, as in all-day, all-night, nonstop attack mode, as in I got no time to post here, obviously.

I'm telling you, if they took a sample of my blood right now, it'd be at least 10 percent caffeine.

But I'm not giving up, not on K.G. or the Mets, or this here blog. And even if the Lakers win the NBA title, I still think Kobe is overrated.

Seriously, though, I hardly have had any time to do anything except see Iron Man (awesome) and Indiana Jones (ugh) and catch a tiny bit of the NBA playoffs and the first half of the baseball season (what the fuck is wrong with the Mets?). But work has to come first sometimes so I'm in my writing cave pounding the keyboard. The end is in sight but the closer I get, the less time I have for posting here. So I'm officially taking some time off. I hope to return by the MLB All-Star Game in July. And if all goes as planned, I'll have some very awesome stuff to post here.

Peace to all, or as my friend Robert Crais always says, "write hard, die free."

I hope my peeps will still be here when I return.....