All For a Glimpse of Royalty

LeBron James is my favorite basketball player.

An opportunity presents itself to go see him in person, after I miss out on being able to watch him play? I'm not passing that up. That's what led me to get in the car and make my way to Fort Bonifacio High Street. 

But I missed his Nike event so I wasn't part of the crowd that he tossed giveaway basketballs to. I was still able to see him in person though. He was maybe 20 feet in front of me and I got to see him for a total of what, 15, 20 seconds? My trip yielded just a brief glimpse of the 2013 NBA Finals MVP. Was it worth it?

I'm a big fan of LeBron and LeBron's game. I think he's the greatest basketball player alive. I defended him through all of his low-points and cheered him on during his moments of greatness. His game is part do-it-all destructiveness and win-together efficiency and it is something else to behold. The highlights are numerous, the statistics are incredible and the total package is once-in-a-lifetime. There's not much more we can say about him at this point that we don't already know, except that, that "more" we're expecting/hoping for is going to push him to all-time superlative heights, and then we're going to run out of things to say.

Was it worth it? Of course it was.

Hate

So many people are coming out of the wood work to bash LeBron, now, after he and the Cavs have just been eliminated from the playoffs.

WTF.

You were all singing his praises just a few months ago, what gives?

C'mon let him feel bad and act immature. Let him be a jerk this one time. Wouldn't you feel the same way if you're heavily-favored, 66-win team, the team that helped you win an MVP award, just got eliminated rather easily (the games were close but c'mon, it was clear who had the better squad out there) from contention for the championship many people predicted you'd win?

And now, the guy throws a tantrum and you all bash him for it? Let him be.

Look, I'm not an apologist, I'm a realist. The guy is still arguably the best basketball player on the planet. But this is the first time he's ever acted up. He's never publicly thrown a teammate or coach under the bus. He's a nice guy I think, when all is said and done. Let him be human just this once.

WITNESSES

As in, we are all.

37-14-12

It ain't over yet.

Keep your eyes open.

LeBron James

This is it. This is the moment. This is what we're actually supposed to witness.

Down 3-1 to a very good team. He's doing everything that he possibly can. And they're still losing.

LeBron James simply cannot carry the Cleveland Cavaliers by himself. No one can.

Right?

Along the way, James has rewrote the book on what athletes can and cannot do. This is just another chapter.

Cavs in 7. It's the only thing left to call. But would you really bet against it?

Just make sure you keep your eyes and ears open. There just might be a miracle yet.

Nike = Awesome

I love Nike. Their commercials are the best. Hahahahaha.

Exhibits A, B, C and D.

C'mon Dwight, they're funny as hell. Stop being such a baby.

Hey now, you're an all-star...

East All-Stars:

C - Dwight Howard
F - Kevin Garnett
F - LeBron James
G - Dwyane Wade
G - Allen Iverson

Those are the starters based on the early returns so far. That isn't going to change most likely and I'm actually fine with this 5 so I'm going to pick the seven reserves.

C - Chris Bosh
F - Danny Granger
F - Paul Pierce/G - Ray Allen
G - Devin Harris
G - Rajon Rondo
G - Joe Johnson
F - Vince Carter

If KG is Boston's leader on defense, Rondo guides the team on offense (and he isn't a slacking off on D either as he is second in the league in that category at 2.4 a game). His development is why people are starting to rethink their earlier decision to write off the C's bid for a repeat. Devin Harris (24.4 ppg, 6.7 apg, 47% from the field) has turned into the player everyone in Dallas thought he'd be much to their dismay. Danny's upped his scoring average by 5 points so he's definitely in and because I'm writing this. Joe Johnson has been stellar for the Hawks and has got them in contention in the East. Chris Bosh is in because the dude has been a beast despite the fact his team kinda sucks. Pierce and Allen are in at the same spot because you expect one of them to sit it out come February and because I cannot leave Vince Carter off. Praise Devin Harris all you want (and rightly so) but without VC, New Jersey would kinda suck. Vince is definitely an all-star this year (and admit it, y'all gonna miss him if he's not in it)

I'll have my picks for the West All-Stars tomorrow. Toodles.

Lists

The Top 12 Players in the NBA today (in order and with a little bias)

1. LeBron James - Duh.
2. Dwyane Wade - Y'all saw him in Beijing right?
3. Deron Williams - Mark my words, top 5 in the NBA in 2 years.
4. Dwight Howard - Can you say, 25-15-2?
5. Kobe Bryant - He was awesome in last few games (admittedly, the games that really mattered) but he was absolutely atrocious offensively in the games before that.
6. Kevin Garnett - Still a beast.
7. Tim Duncan - Still rock-solid.
8. Chris Paul - Still don't understand how people can say that he's better than D-Will. CP3 is lightning fast and all but he still hasn't impressed me. Yet.
9. Chris Bosh - I'm sorry for dissing you Mr. Bosh. You were amazing at the Olympics.
10. Allen Iverson - He's won me over these past few years.
11. Dirk Nowitzki - We gotta get him out of Dallas.
12. Danny Granger - 2009 NBA FINALS MVP

Top 4 things I love buying in the caf
1. Yakemeshi from Bento
2. Banana Berry shake from Chillers
3. Chicken Caesar from OBF
4. Adobo from Canan

Top 5 favorite places in the Ateneo
1. 4A Classroom - How I miss thee...
2. The High School Covered Courts
3. The RMT
4. The High School driveway at night
5. The cafeteria

Top 7 Female Celebrity Crushes
1. Sarah Michelle Gellar
2. Keira Knightley
3. Mandy Moore
4. Amy Acker
5. Emma Watson
6. Grace Park
7. Kim Raver

Top 5 Comicbook Movies
1. Spider-Man 2
2. Iron Man
3. Blade
4. X-Men
5. Spider-Man

Top 10 Favorite Foods
1. Pork Sisig from Gerry's Grill
2. Grilled Salmon
3. The Big Classic Triple from Wendy's
4. Baby Back Ribs
5. Steak
6. Chicken McDo
7. The KFC Fries
8. The Vigan Longganisa sandwich from Oliver's
9. The Chicken Ala Victoria from Cusina Victoria
10. Crispy Pata (haha)

Top 10 Favorite Transformers
1. Rodimus Prime/Hot Rod
2. Optimus Prime
3. Springer
4. Megatron
5. Cheetor
6. Superion
7. Devastator
8. Jazz
9. Ironhide
10. Fortress Maximus

Top Crushes
1. Crush Number 2
2. Crush Number 2
3. Crush Number 2
4. Crush Number 2
5. Crush Number 2

Haha. :p

Weekend Update with Jeri Favis

Friday:

Gotta say, cramming is not good FUN! That damn Marketing paper...
Bought my comics that day too. I got like 10 of them and that was great. Here's what I got:

Booster Gold # 1,000,000 - Not part of my list but I like Booster. He's doing his thing and no one knows how heroic and brave he's been. He nearly gave up in this issue but he didn't. That's a real hero. Picked this issue up because it was Geoff Johns' last issue or somethin' on the book and it had that Booster and Bats moment that was great.

Ultimate Spider-Man # 124 - "But if I had to guess I'd say it was 'Fett'" Haha. Great moment there.

Invincible Iron Man # 4 - Solid book. Might not drop it after the first arc.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (forgot the issue number) - Continued the Fray story. Color me interested. The last page reveal, that I did not see.

Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers # 2 - The series has been okay. I like the dynamics between the Runaways. I should really get the first hardcover.

Secret Invasion: Thor # 1 - Liked it. Beta Ray Bill!

Green Lantern Corps # 27 - Liked Luke Ross' art. Patrick Gleason's art isn't really my cup of tea. Can't wait for the next issue.

Captain Britain and MI: 13 # 4 - This series started with a bang and ended with John dying. I like the book, very fresh. "No more speeches," was a great moment.

King-Size Spider-Man Summer Special # 1 - Very long title, very good read. While I bought it because I heard Keith Giffen was contributing, I found his story to be the weakest mainly because it stuck out as the only "dark" story of the bunch. All of the light-hearted, colorful stories were great and just like everybody else, I loved the origin recap.

Secret Invasion # 5 - Bad ass moments from Reed, Agent Brand, Maria Hill, Hawkeye and Captain Marvel. I liked it. The art, I don't think Leinil Yu is suited for a comic with a lot of characters in it because his background drawings aren't all that nice to look at. Can't wait for the conclusion.

Saturday:

Felt the effects of cramming the Marketing paper during class yesterday morning. I couldn't stay awake. Spent some time with Mama and got a free cup of Starbucks to boot!
NU was such a tease racing to that big lead and fooling all of us watching. Damn Edwin Asoro.
Went to mass then went to Rockwell and watched Team USA kick the crap out of Spain. Some notes about the game:

-LeBron. James. Is. UNBELIEVABLE.
-So much for the Gasol brothers...
-Deron Williams and Chris Paul...whoo. I'd take Williams though. Just because I think he is a stone-cold killer. Paul is a superduper point guard too but I like Williams better.
-Tayshaun Prince = scoring option?
-Ricky Rubio! Didn't do much but he looked okay out there.
-Welcome back Dwyane Wade.
-Human Victory Cigar for the game: Michael Redd
-Those Olympic refs are almost as bad as the UAAP refs.
-Kobe when in doberman mode = awesome (defense)
-Kobe when in mamba mode = terrible (offense)
-I think LeBron James will have his best season yet this year. Right now, no one's as good as him (save maybe Wade) and now that he has Mo Williams, the Cavs might just make it back to the finals. I didn't like that they lost Joe Smith though. They need another veteran big and another wing player. Mo and Boobie are great but you can't put them in at the same time because that's a small backcourt.

Sunday:

Had a great lunch in Cafe Juanita. The food was excellent and the dessert was awesome.
The game was great too since we won and Tonino got to score. Makes me wonder talaga if I should've continued playing for Ateneo. Eric Salamat is a machine and Rabeh is playing really well. I don't think they're afraid of anyone at this point. Bring it on.

So that's been my weekend so far. No school tomorrow and Tuesday but I have that couples thing for Fr. Dacanay so that's a bummer. Oh well. Later.

I really hate Wednesdays

I really hate Wednesdays. If there's one day out of all the seven that never fails to make me sad from the moment I open my eyes it's gotta be Wednesday. Middle of the week hell. Wednesday suck the life completely out of me. Argh.

I like Lupe Fiasco. His voice has a good tone to it, (I sound like Paula) he's fresh, smooth, vanilla, (I sound like Randy...I think) and he does have that quality in his rapping that makes you realize that maybe the dude's got it in him to put a whole new spin on the rap game. (I don't sound like Simon.) His songs are mellow but upbeat. For bouncing your head along to. Here's to Lupe.

No one is reading this blog. Haha.

Indiana plays Houston tomorrow. The Rockets are minus Yao but have so far won 3 games without him to extend their winning-streak to 15. That ends tomorrow, Rockets Fans, it most certainly ends tomorrow. (In my dreams.)

Seriously though, I'm liking the direction the team's heading in. The Danger Bros., Danger Granger and Danger Dun are studs that we could build around on. Granger posts up, knocks down treys and defends like a pitbull. Dunleavy surgically cuts up the opponent's D and uses picks to perfection, with or without the rock. The other guys are stepping it up too. Kareem's got a nice offensive game. Jeff is still rock solid down low, rebounding and playing tough low-post defense. Troy's a mismatch for other bigs and Travis, Marquis, Ike and Shawne (Don't talk to murderers please!) are good support players. What does the team lack? A big who can consistently score in the block and a point guard who can get into the heart of the D...which we already have. Damn it. *sigh* I haven't really given up on Jamaal and Jermaine. I'm just hoping that somehow, someway, these negative thoughts I have find their way into our two "stars'" heads and bother the hell outta them. Fellas, you are the leaders of this team! Reggie didn't give up on the franchise so why should you? C'mon! We can still make the playoffs and makes some noise. Get it together! (Or at least get it together enough so we can fool teams into giving us better players in exchange for you....fly my thoughts, fly!)

My thoughts on the MVP race? LeBron of course. (Yes, I hate the Lakers but that's not the point). LeBron James clearly is the most valuable player in the league. Why? Because A) The Cavs are 0-6 without LeBron, 0-7 if you count the the game in which LeBron got injured, against the Pistons. B) In the losses they've suffered with him, he produced big numbers, his teammates didn't. C) The Gasol trade gives the Lakers a legit team even if Kobe doesn't play. If it was Cavs-Lakers and the fives were, Z-Ben Wallace-Wally-Sasha-Boobie and Gasol-Bynum-Odom-Luke-DFish, which five would you go with? To me, MVP is the guy whose absence will affect his team the most. LeBron is that guy. Plus, 30-8-7-2-1. You do the math.

My playoff predictions:
East:

1st Round

(1) Boston vs (8) Indiana

Boston holds on to the top spot, My Pacers are good enough to make it but c'mon, even I know there's no hope here. Boston in 5 (and that's being generous...sorry guys...)

(2) Detroit vs (7) Washington

I say, Gil, Caron and Antawn play together again this season but Gil never really gets his hibachi going and the other guys don't adjust to not shooting..err...playing with Arenas again. Detroit destroys them in game 1. Then game 2. Then game 3. Gil predicts that they can still win the series, Rasheed says otherwise, harsh words are said, more words are said (this time, crazy words) and Gil scores 50 in game 4...on 50 shots. Detroit still wins. Detroit in 4.

(3) Cleveland vs (6) Atlanta

Atlanta figures out that they actually have enough talent to move up in the standings. Joe Johnson scores. Josh Smith dunks. Mike Bibby misses (just playin' Mike). They all bow down to the King who probably opens the playoffs with either a 40-point game or a 35-12-10. All hail the King....Cleveland in 6.

(4) Orlando vs (5) Toronto

The only "real" playoff series in the East. Orlando wins the first 2 at home. Then Toronto gets the next 2. Followed by game 5, Orlando takes games 6 and we have ourselves a game 7. Dwight comes up big in his first big playoff game and the Magic advance to the semis. Orlando in 7.

Semis

(1) Boston vs (4) Orlando

People say Orlando upsets Boston in 7 but KG ain't havin' any of that. "Wait your turn young fella," Garnett says to D-12 after dropping 30-20-10-5 in the deciding game 6. Dwight though shows everyone though who's got next on that best big man tag, averages 27 and 18 for the series. Boston in 6.

(2) Detroit vs (3) Cleveland

Third straight year these two teams will meet, the first 2 times they split. I say LeBron continues his ascension and it's an ex-Piston who comes up big. No, not Ben Wallace. Joe Smith gives Sheed fits because he can actually match-up with him. Cleveland in 6.

East Finals

(1) Boston vs (3) Cleveland

The Big Three vs The King. Boston-Cleveland 2008 turns out to be LeBron's real coming out party. Mark my words, LeBron will redefine the meaning of big-time performer. Get ready to see at least one 50-point game, three triple-doubles (including one 40-15-10) and countless "Yes-LeBron-James-is-the-best-player-in-the-league" montages (deservedly so) AND enough spectacular plays to fill a top 10. BUT, but, I say the Celtics win in 7. Why? Because Kevin Garnett needs to. He realizes that his place in history as the greatest power forward ever hinges on him reaching the finals. Despite LeBron playing god, the Big Three are too much to overcome and KG finally makes it. Boston in 7.

I'll get to the West tomorrow. Toodles.