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Sunday, May 07, 2006

Ezzie's Blog Roundup, 5/7: Spur of the Moment

GO CAVS!!!

Okay, a few links that aren't worth passing up...

Mazel Tov!
Comment This Out & Mom2Many (suddenly) had a baby girl!
Bloggers Meet, VideoCast Napkins
Check out the clip at PsychoToddler. I think Robbie wasn't invited because he wasn't wearing pants.
Israel Saves Abbas' Life
Judeopundit wonders why (woah, kidding). Excerpt:
A HAMAS plot to assassinate Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has been thwarted after he was tipped off by Israeli intelligence.

Hamas’s military wing, the Izza Din Al-Qassem, had planned to kill Abbas at his office in Gaza, intelligence sources said.
Overparenting:
Great article from the NYSun reprinted at BeyondBT. Money quote:
“Never have I seen such coddled, tutored, overprotected, overscheduled children,” a psychologist who practices on the Upper East Side told me. “Parents are investing so much energy into their children today that it begs the question: Is it possible to over invest in your children? And not just emotionally. Financially, as well. I think the answer is yes. I see parents who view the hurdles that their children face as a deviation from this idealized path of supreme happiness. When of course, childhood is really about learning how to cope with the hurdles.
And...
More people commenting on the problems with others' thinking. A great quote from Robert Avrech's post on Moussaoui's sentencing:
Many people are going to die because ZM is alive in our prison system. Americans on vacation in Europe and the Middle East are going to be kidnapped, and the kidnappers will demand that ZM be released. The innocent Americans will then be beheaded when ZM is not set free.

I am afraid that America simply does not understand that we are at war with a genocidal theology. When I hear the phrase, "We must bring these people to justice," I feel ill.

We must make total war on these human monsters.

Until Americans understand this simple fact, we lose.
The Godol Hador is on a different subject, wondering why people believe in craziness. Interesting post.
Check it out, and GO CAVS!!!

20 comments:

  1. Now, we're going to have some fun. Cavs versus Pistons. I'm sure you think you had a nice season, but Lebron can't hold off Rip, Chauncy, and co. all by himself. Sorry. Pistons in 5!!
    -OC

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  2. The problem is the "& co.". My brother put it well last night: Does LeBron have the "Jordan-type" factor that he can truly take on a whole team with support from solid but not great castmates? Or are he (or his teammates) not quite as good, or the Pistons better?

    I'd scoff at the "in 5" remark, but that could be - not because they're "so much better", but because they could win every game by 6 points or so. Every game could be close only to go the same way.

    Nevertheless, if I had to bet, I wouldn't. :)

    GO CAVS!!!!

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  3. No, no. Robbie's not a Doctor. We weren't wearing pants either.

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  4. :P That would explain why you were all the way at the back of the restaurant away from the other customers...

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  5. Well, Ez, right now, the Pistons are winning by more than 20 points at the end of the 3rd. Is this what you call close?!? Awwww... So sad.

    Simple: Lebron might be able to dazzle on his own, but he doesn't have the supporting cast to help carry the load. The Pistons might not a "Jordan Type" of player, but they may be the only team right now where the whole team makes up one big Michael Jordan. Too much for Lebron to handle.

    I'll stick by my Pistons in 5. They're just too much for those Cavs. Sorry.
    -OC

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  6. Well, Ez, right now, the Pistons are winning by more than 20 points at the end of the 3rd. Is this what you call close?!? Awwww... So sad.

    Simple: Lebron might be able to dazzle on his own, but he doesn't have the supporting cast to help carry the load. The Pistons might not a "Jordan Type" of player, but they may be the only team right now where the whole team makes up one big Michael Jordan. Too much for Lebron to handle.

    I'll stick by my Pistons in 5. They're just too much for those Cavs. Sorry.
    -OC

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  7. Well, Ez, right now, the Pistons are winning by more than 20 points at the end of the 3rd. Is this what you call close?!? Awwww... So sad.

    Simple: Lebron might be able to dazzle on his own, but he doesn't have the supporting cast to help carry the load. The Pistons might not a "Jordan Type" of player, but they may be the only team right now where the whole team makes up one big Michael Jordan. Too much for Lebron to handle.

    I'll stick by my Pistons in 5. They're just too much for those Cavs. Sorry.
    -OC

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  8. It's still just one game, after the Cavs had no rest from their previous one (NBA prefers the game be on TV than it actually be close). We'll see...!

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  9. You people and the Cavs.....CRAIG EHLO

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  10. Shh, we don't talk about that. :)

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  11. I will never forget Jordan in the air for five minutes longer...sinking the shot.....

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  12. Hey! (btw, do you know my bro?)

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  13. Ezzie, you can use all the excuses, but they just don't pan out. The Ducks played game 1 against the Avs on Friday on one day's rest after playing a grueling 7 game series against Calgary. The Avs only played 5 and had several days rest. Result. The Ducks wamped on the Avs in game 1 by a score of 5-0. It can work both ways. If you've got it, you got it. And, the Cavs? Well, they just don't got it. Sorry. Better luck next year.
    -OC

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  14. Which is exactly why Hockey is not a legitimate sport. As long as your goalie has a good night or the apposing goalie a bad one it matters not how well the other 10 guys on the ice are playing.

    By the way, you're correct. The Cavs will probably lose in 5 (or 4), and I'm ok w/ that. It reminds of a similiar career arc that a certain other No.23 went through. Let's all hope that this version of the Bad Boys has enough class to congratulate the other team when they knock them out of the playoffs in a few years.

    Go Red Wings.

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  15. What G said. I'd add that playing hockey in that situation is nothing compared to playoff basketball - hockey teams have 3-4 lines and even the first line only plays about 25 minutes a game with large breaks in the middle; even if someone gets hit a lot, it's not the entire game. An OT basketball playoff game means a guy probably played between 35-50 minutes and was getting banged around the entire time, unless it's a Suns game.

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  16. Ez and G, just because basketball and hockey are different doesn't make one more legitimate than the other. Is baseball illegitimate because there can be nights when the pitcher gets on fire and wins the game for his team? It's a completely ridiculous statement.

    Ez, your argument is also completely ridiculous, and it just shows you've actually never played hockey, on ICE. There are no breaks in basketball?!? C'mon! The reason that lines have only 30-45 second shifts is because of the amount of energy they exert in hitting, controlling the puck, positioning, battling, etc. All this while controlling their balance. The average hockey player loses 10-15 lbs of water weight per game, because of the amount of energy they expel. That doesn't include over-time, with no TV time-outs, unlike in basket-ball. Most players need IV fluids to replenish their systems after a playoff game goes into over-time.

    Do you even understand how much energy and punishment the body takes each time its hit? Especially by a 6'4, 250 lb guy coming at you at about 15-20 mph. It may not happen the whole game, but more than half is more than enough. What kind of "banged up" comparison does that have to basketball? You mean, because some player leaps into the stands once in a while to keep a ball in bounce? Or, they some times fall one their ass coming down from a rebound? Please! In playoff time, hockey players play with broken bones, ripped muscles, torn cartiledge, dislocated shoulders, cracked ribs, and god knows what else. Basketball players sit out with bruised thumbs or hamstring pulls.

    Give me a break. You want to compare sports, that's fine. But, one doesn't make the other less legitimate. You can't compare the playing time, and say that makes basketball more legitimate, because that just doesn't fly. You're comparing apples and oranges. You also can't play the hot goalie card, because then you would be a complete hypocrit. A few posts earlier, you agreed with your bro that the Cavs had a chance of winning if:
    "Does LeBron have the "Jordan-type" factor that he can truly take on a whole team with support from solid but not great castmates?"
    That means you agree that it's possible for one star player, like Jordan, to take control of a game and win it on his own. That would be like... a star goalie carrying his team and making the saves if and when his team-mates break down, right?

    None of this takes away from the fact that the Cavs are going down!!
    -OC

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  17. OC, you don't get it. We're from Cleveland. Hockey is simply not a legitimate sport. :)

    You over-minimize the physicality of an NBA playoff game (particularly a Pistons-Cavs game), but okay.

    There's also a far cry between a goalie making 3-4 extra stops than he otherwise would and what I said - I also very clearly emphasized the importance those other players need to make. It's not a 1-on-5, but rather a sum of all parts equation: The Pistons have 5 very good players, valued at 8 8 7 7 and 6 for a total of 36. The Cavs have a 7 7 6 4 besides Lebron, for a total of 24. Can Lebron raise himself up from a 10 to a 12 to do this? Notice I wrote "with support" - without any support, he's just an unselfish Kobe.

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  18. Yes, Ez, and I'm from Detroit. Cleveland isn't even a legitimate city.

    If I'm over-minimizing the physical play in a NBA playoff game, it is only to show how much you are minimizing the physicality in an NHL game. And, it's not really an over minimization. I remember how much press was given to the fact that Jordan played 2 of his playoff games with the flu. If NBA players routinely played with sickness and injury, it wouldn't have been a story. The reason it's not given press for NHL games, because playing with grave injury and sickness is the rule, not the exception in hockey.

    Goalies can stand on their heads to steal a game for their team just like a Kobe or a Jordan can score 40 points in a playoff game, when the rest of their team is playing like crap one game, to steal a game for their team. In any sport, at playoff time, if you can't raise your game the extra level necessary to succeed in the playoffs, then you just don't have it. If Lebron can't raise that extra notch and carry his team and steal a game when the rest of his guys aren't playing up to par, then he's not much of a leader. Jordan was Jordan because he could carry his team and steal a game if necessary. If Lebron can't do the same, then none of his regular season success means anything. A real leader carries his time on his shoulders when necessary and leads by example. We have yet to see if Lebron can do the same. That is the real test of his star-hood.
    -OC

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  19. Yes, Ez, and I'm from Detroit. Cleveland isn't even a legitimate city.

    SNORT

    And Lebron is just 21 years old (Jordan was finishing college) in his 3rd season. Jordan lost to the Bad Boys you may remember from your childhood for a couple of years before finally breaking through; that may be the case here, as well. Winning the first series reflected just how great Lebron already is - but obviously, he has plenty more growth to attain.

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  20. Suddenly? Why, it was 9 months in the making!

    Of course, if the "suddenly" means "was not expected to arrive until two weeks from when she did" then yes, it was sudden. Our previous earliest was 5 days early and the others were either late or unknown (i.e. our last was assumed to be late so was induced and then when she came out the assessment was that she wasn't late).

    Thank you. :)

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