From Today's classifieds . . .

History

The stage was set -- the Boston Celtics had won the NBA Championship two seasons earlier; now the LA Lakers were back in the Finals, looking to repeat from their Championship of the year before. They lost a game at home early in the series, but rebounded to win one on the road and return home down 3-2 for the final two games.

Sound familiar?

That was in 1988. 22 years ago. The reason I bring this up -- as this year's Game 6 is barely underway -- is to remind myself that I was actually pulling for the Lakers that year as they squared off against the Detroit Pistons. There were reasons -- (1) I had a good friend who was a Lakers fan -- (2) They weren't playing the Celtics -- (3) They were playing the Pistons (Bill Laimbeer, Isiah Thomas, enough said) -- (4) The Pistons, in addition to their many other flaws, had just beaten the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals -- (5) And, quite honestly, in addition to being highly talented, that was (in my view) a very likable Lakers team.

Fast-forward to 2010 -- Led by Kobe "Not Guilty" Bryant, Pau "buy a consonant" Gasol and Phil "X-Man" Jackson -- I cannot help but absolutely loathe this crowd. Talented, yes, but over-rated. I guess what bothers me the most is how Phil Jackson is being called the greatest coach of all time -- okay, his ten rings might get him into the top ten, but not any higher. See here for my thoughts on that a year ago. The Lakers showed their true colors as they became unravelled in Game 5, pointing and sniping and blaming each other for their collective incompetence and inferiority, while the Celtics did what all good teams do -- pass, take good shots, stick with what works and don't care who's playing or who gets the credit.

Here's hoping for #18. Good luck catching that, Phil.

Every Moment

Dana Key, 56, passed away on Sunday apparently due to a ruptured blood clot. No longer active in his music ministry apart from occasional appearances, he and his partner Eddie DeGarmo created much of the soundtrack to my late teen years and on into college. You may know them better as "DeGarmo & Key."

When developing my list of the top Christian albums of the 1980's last year (see here and elsewhere), the duo was unable to crack the top ten, as I noted in my honorable mentions. Nonetheless, they were both prolific (ten albums from 1980-1989) and consistent, and thus a constant presence in my cassette deck, car stereo, and in various compilations I developed with the help of my Sharp QT-77. Their evolution in that decade -- from heavy blues, to synth-rock, to hard rock, and back to the blues influence but with an updated sound -- mirrored the decade and reflected, I am sure, their evolution as writers and performers.

There were, of course, some pitfalls, and their final few albums in the 90's seemed to reflect something of an identity crisis. They probably picked the right time to into semi-retirement, but nobody could ever question their sincerity or the commitment. Nor, for that matter, their innovation -- no other artist I know of has ever sold two albums for the price of one so that the second may be given to a friend; they were the first Christian artist to have a video in regular rotation on MTV (when MTV was actually showing music videos), they produced a live album with no studio enhancements, and they were one of the first contemporary artists to openly challenge Jimmy Swaggart, whose preference was that people spend their money on his music instead.

So etched were they in my consciousness, I would often make obscure references to their songs and titles, such as in this political commentary I posted in January. Dana Key is gone but not forgotten; his music and its message -- and the memories -- will live on. RIP.

Back to Lebanon

Jonah Goldberg -- who is a better writer than me and who actually gets paid for expressing his opinion -- articulates his (and my) thoughts on the Helen Thomas fiasco here.

In short -- did it really take a remark as despicable and outrageous (beyond just a "slur" as the great VDH points out) as this to get people to stop coddling Helen Thomas, who has been a left-wing racist anti-semite for her entire career? So painfully obvious to so many of us, yet she was tolerated, accommodated, and even honored, by presidential administrations of both parties, and venerated by her colleagues to the highest seat in the pressroom. There is Something. Wrong. Somewhere.

Greatness

That John Wooden was a great coach and a terrific human being is not open to discussion; to say that anyone is the greatest coach ever of their or any other sport is always an invitation to debate. With Wooden, again, the debate would probably be rather short, as nobody else ever has -- or ever will -- win 10 championships in 12 seasons. But from a purely philosophical perspective, one could allege that the Krzyzewskis, Dean Smiths, Boeheims or Knights of more recent years (not to mention the Summits and Auriemmas), are equal coaching talents who are succeeding consistently in spite of increased parity combined with increased governance, reforms which diminished the natural advantages that helped propel UCLA to unmatched success in the 60's and 70's.

Those other names may or may not deserve to be compared to John Wooden, or even be mentioned in the same paragraph. But the point can be made -- where Wooden is unquestionably in elite company is not necessarily his record as a coach, or even his record as a person, but as an inventor, innovator and developer of a sport. Yes, Dr. Naismith invented basketball, but John Wooden made the college game an entertainment and revenue-generating powerhouse (akin to Red Auerbach in the pro game, as discussed here). Thus, the comparison is not between Wooden, Krzyzewski, and Summit, but between Wooden, Auerbach, Paul Brown, George Halas, Rod Dedeaux, Knute Rockne, Harry Wright, Toe Blake, and Herb Brooks -- all highly successful coaches who took both their teams and their entire sport to a higher level.

In other words (and fewer words), remembering John Wooden as a great coach and great person is only part of the story. Renaming the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in his honor might be a good place to start -- after all, when his team was winning all those banners, it was known unofficially as the "UCLA Invitational."

9 days apart in western Pennsylvania

Memo to Jim Joyce

The first thing they teach you in Umpire School -- all those close plays are OUTS. You get paid by the game, not by the hour.

(The second thing they teach you, by the way, is that every pitch is a STRIKE unless it convinces you that it is a BALL).

cc: D. Denkinger
Commissioner's Office (currently vacant)

Memorial Day (Observed)

A few notable movies (really, in no particular order) that might be worth a few hours of your time over the next month or so as we observe five significant dates that are (in my mind, at least), indivisibly linked -- Memorial Day, D-Day, Flag Day, Father's Day and Independence Day --

1. BATTLEGROUND (1949) -- My personal favorite of the genre. It's not high-tech, but both the acting and directing hits the mark. However, this is somewhat seasonal -- an annual winter ritual in the Salad house.

2. STALAG 17 (1953) -- In the top ten of just about any list of war movies, it is without question #1 in the sub-genre of POW films. And, no, Hogan's Heroes was not based on it.

3. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998) -- Technically, probably the best WWII movie ever made both for its authenticity and overall quality. Worth seeing for the opening sequence alone.

4. THE LONGEST DAY (1962) -- A thorough, star-studded epic depiction of the normandy invasion. A little long and sometimes uneven, but that's what makes it an epic.

5. THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963) -- Steve McQueen. Richard Attenborough. James Garner. Charles Bronson. Donald Pleasance. James Coborn. Enough said.

6. THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN (1969) -- Somewhat obscure, and a favorite for personal reasons, but nonetheless a solid effort that it perhaps more true to history than anything else on this list.

7. INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1989) -- Good father-son fare.

8. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946) -- A good way to remember those who came home.

9. PEARL HARBOR (2001) -- Yes, I've seen TORA TORA TORA and FROM HERE TO ETERNITY -- great pictures, both. And, yes, I know Ben Affleck can't act to save his life. But if you're looking for solid action, good cinematography, reasonably historic accuracy and a satisfying resolution to it all, this is a good place to start.

10. SERGEANT YORK (1941) -- I have to get at least one WWI film in here. Worth seeing not only to witness Gary Cooper in his prime, but to challenge those pacifistic pontifications you may have heard in college.

Memorial Day

May there be many more homecomings like this one.

Shooter 1936-2010

The Greatest Movie Ever Made received two Oscar nominations -- Best Music / Original Score (Jerry Goldsmith), and Best Supporting Actor (Dennis Hopper). Neither won; both were robbed (see the winners here and judge for yourself). But even though he didn't bring home the hardware in 1987, Dennis Hopper saw his career restored -- and possibly his life saved -- with his appearance as the middle-aged former Hickory star clinging to his dreams and burying his disappointments in alcohol. Likely Hopper saw much of himself in Wilbur "Shooter" Flatch and, like his character, HOOSIERS turned his life around. In a movie that featured numerous interwoven themes, it was if nothing else the story of second chances, and a second chance at a career for both Dennis Hopper and Gene Hackman. Yeah, he was in a few other movies, but in the Salad bowl, he'll always be Shooter.

Meanwhile, in Tampa...

Sorry, couldn't resist...

At least we still have baseball...

First Jim Rice, now...

The Boston Globe is reporting that the late Dennis Johnson -- who died in 2007 -- has been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Long overdue.

Slouching Towards Rome

An interesting article on how it was governmental confiscatory practices and not necessarily the Visigoths that brought down the Roman Empire.

The Greatest of All time

Ten years gone and still greatly missed. Thank you, Sparky. You stood for what was honest and wholesome and never compromised, and you beat every one of them.

The Greatest of All Time.

Gorewellian

Jonah Goldberg and I share the same thoughts on Audi's Super Bowl ad (is that an anteater at 0:41?), although he does a better job of articulating them. I honestly couldn't tell if it was making a mockery of the left-wing or the right-wing, but I will admit it caught my attention and made me watch the whole thing, which I guess is the point of any good commercial.

DGW -- 100 Years -- 2/3/1910

Football and Politics...

...usually don't mix, unless it's some pretty good satire.

Lessons Not Learned

Two things are apparent from Wednesday night's SOTU -- (1) The Obama machine doesn't read this blog, or at least doesn't put much stock in the lessons learned by the last Democrat to be in the White House; and (2) They don't seem to care much for the sanctity of the Supreme Court, either. Really. The partisan cheap shot on the Citizens United case is unprecedented and disgraceful. Reasonable people can disagree on a 5-4 judicial decision, but if ever a chief executive took a shot down Pennsylvania Avenue at a constitutionally independent body, let alone from the highest-profile forum available, I am not aware of it.

Embarrassing and unpresidential. And he got his facts wrong, too.

Out of the Danger Zone

(with apologies to DeGarmo & Key; I just happened to be listening to the D&K album yesterday)


Scott Brown's senate victory in Massachusetts is remarkable on several levels, and a clear shot across the bow of the Obama administration. Granted, Martha Coakley was about the worst senate candidate in recent memory, but a Republican winning in Massachusetts by a healthy margin on the issue of health care for the seat held by Mary Jo Kopechne's killer for nearly 50 years is pretty amazing.

Draw whatever conclusions you want, and make whatever prognostications you wish about November 2010 or even 2012. That's part of the fun. I draw the parallel to the first two years of the Clinton Administration -- in November 1993, the Republicans swept all three major races (NYC mayor, VA governor & NJ governor). The Clintonistas didn't take the hint, and plowed ahead not only with HillaryCare, but the Great Gun Grab of 1994. This more than anything sealed the fate of the Democrats not only in the Senate (which may have gone Republican in any event), but also in the House.

Only then did Bill & Company wise up, reposition themselves as centrists, and survive the 1996 election to serve six more years in office. Monica notwithstanding, Clinton learned his lesson from 1994 and left office with some degree of favorability.

Fast-forward to 2009, and, again, the Republicans swept the three major races in November -- NYC Mayor, VA Governor and NJ Governor. In all fairness, it's difficult to read a strong anti-Obama sentiment into these races. However, Scott Brown's victory two months later seals the deal. The only question now is how the Prime Minister and his Chicago Mafia at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and their allies at the other end of the street, will respond --

Should they plow ahead against a clear public sentiment with the elitist attitude that they are wiser than the proletariat they seek to govern, they will face annihalation later this year and beyond.

However, should they take the clear lesson from Brown's victory, follow Clinton's example from fifteen years ago, and inch themselves back towards the center -- not just on healthcare, but on terrorism, taxes, spending and foreign policy -- they and their party may survive 2010 and 2012. In such a case, Brown's victory will -- ironically -- serve as the long-term counterbalance not to the Obama administration, but to Republican prospects in the next few election cycles.

Curt Schilling . . . yankee fan . . . good grief.