I probably should have picked the first round of the NBA playoffs, but I didn't. If I had, here's what I would have said:
CLE over CHI in 4
BOS over MIA in 7
ORL over CHA in 6
ATL over MIL in 5
LA over OKC in 5
DAL over SA in 7
UTH over DEN in 7
PHO over POR in 6
With 3 series (is the plural of series just series?) yet to be decided, I will have either gotten 1 series wrong, or 4. I whiffed on the Mavericks; should have known not to pick against Tim Duncan in the first round.
As it looks now, the Lakers are going to close out the Thunder (which makes me sad, though not surprised) and the Jazz are going to take out Chauncey's Nuggets. The Bucks-Hawks series could still go either way. I still give the Hawks about a 45% chance despite being down 2-3.
Technically I can't make round two predictions until round one officially ends, but it's almost over, and I won't be able to write anything over the weekend, so here goes...
CLE over BOS in 5.
A lot of buzz on the radio and online about the Celtics having a chance against Cleveland. I listened to Colin Cowherd's half-assed rationale for why the Celts will beat the Cavs for an hour today on the radio. To put it briefly, because while the Cavs have the best player in the series, the Celtics have the next 4 best players. There is some validity and good logic to this argument. Also, Boston has more experience.
But the thing is, LeBron isn't just the best player in this series, like Dirk was in the DAL-SA series or Roy was in the PHO-POR series. LeBron is the best player in the world, and nobody can come close to disputing that point right now. What's more, the Celtics don't have a defensive stopper to guard LeBron. They don't have a Bowen or Artest or even a Tayshaun. Their two defensive aces, Rondo and Garnett, would be way out of position against LBJ. No one can stop LeBron, but a guy like Artest can at least slow him down.
Nothing will matter in this series except how badly LeBron wants to go to the NBA Finals, and I think he wants it more than the entire Celtics team combined. Are Mo Williams and Antwan Jamison great sidekicks? Nah. But Varejo and Hickson and West are perfect role players and everyone rallies around LeBron perfectly like a bunch of dorky bench players hanging around the star quarterback in high school. Popularity by association. He's like the cool upperclassmen and they have no self-respect when it comes to gazing at him adoringly during time-outs. Cleveland has the best chemistry in the NBA, because nobody is close to challenging LeBron for alpha dog status, and they all look up to him like a big cool steroid-infested brother.
In mostly every other team, there's a numbskull (usually off the bench) who thinks he's better than he really is, and consequently becomes selfish at the wrong times and gets the team into trouble. The Mavs have a couple - Butler & Terry. The Hawks have at least 3 - Crawford, Evans, and sometimes Josh Smith. The Celtics have a couple too - Rasheed (the KING of numbskulls) and Nate Robinson. The Lakers are pretty neatly trimmed, but they have Artest, a numbskull with a side of psychopathia.
Cleveland is the only contender with no trace of numbskulls. Even Shaq, a numbskull a few years ago, has bought into the "LBJ is King" mantra and humbly accepted his role as a peasant. It's amazing to watch.
My theory, which shall henceforth be known as The Numbskull Theory, contends that the team with less numbskulls will usually win an NBA playoff series, unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Hey, I love Rondo more than just about anybody, and I think Pierce and Allen are still great players. They'll probably be competitive in just about every game against Cleveland. But Garnett is a shell of his former self and highly unathletic right now, and Rasheed is quite honestly the biggest liability in the NBA. You can't afford tantrums and technicals in the playoffs against LeBron. You just can't.
Cleveland is going to win this series, and it's going to be easier than most people realize. CLE in 5.
ORL over MIL in 5, or ORL over ATL in 7
If Atlanta comes back to beat the Bucks and advance, they'll regain some of their swagger and confidence, and push the Magic to 7. If Milwaukee moves on, I'll root for them like crazy (they're my new favorite Eastern Conference team), but the lack of Bogut in the middle will be absolutely devestating against Dwight Howard.
Kurt Thomas, the Buck's new starting center, is 3 inches and 30 pounds smaller than Howard, but that's the least of the Bucks' problems. He's also 13 years older. It could be very, very ugly if the Bucks advance, and Howard could average 30 and 20 to go with his 5 fouls and 7-20 free throw shooting each night.
Seriously, Orlando is the only team in the East with a shot to keep Cleveland from the Finals, and they have been all season. They've got the depth, and the outside shooting, and certainly the superstar in the middle. But, just like the CLE-BOS series, Cleveland-Orlando will be dictated by whether or not LeBron decides to dominate. And he will.
CLE over ORL in 5
You think LeBron won't remember losing to the Magic in last year's ECFs? You think he wants his legacy to be "that guy who couldn't make it past the Magic?" No way, he's gonna put on an absolute show in these playoffs, averaging a 35-10-8, and it just really makes me wish I liked him. Even a little bit. But I don't.
LA over UTH in 7
It'll take the Lakers 14 games to advance to the WCFs, and that's gonna be important ...
Against Utah, the Lakers will look outmatched and slow and very vulnerable, but ultimately Kobe and home-court advantage will make the difference. That, and the refs.
SA over PHO in 6
Polarizing styles, two of the decade's most successful superstars, and both teams have a "this is our last chance" feel. Going to be a great series.
San Antonio must slow down Phoenix to have a chance, and they've got to continue to get production from George Hill, who has emerged to say the least. Phoenix has to get some focus and some rebounds from Amare Stoudemire, who doesn't like tough matchups against guys like Tim Duncan. They've also got to keep making their outside shots.
Ultimately this series comes down to the Numbskull Effect. San Antonio is pretty clean, though Richard Jefferson isn't the smartest fella. But Roger Mason, DeJuan Blair and MiggidyMcDyess are great role players who know their roles. Phoenix has a potential numbskull in Jason Richardson (heightened by the fact that he's coming off a great series and might think he's all of a sudden turned into Larry Bird), no to mention that their second best player (Amare) sometimes struggles from Numbskullitous.
I'll take the Spurs here in 6. And that gives us a classic Western Conference match-up ...
LA over SA in 7
Both teams are frankly happy to have made it this far, but someone's got to to advance to the Finals. The Spurs old legs are weary and Tim Duncan is falling asleep in huddles, while Kobe's injuries keep piling up and Artest has locked Odom in a closet somewhere. This is gonna be a fun but exhausting series to watch. Throw in the two best coaches in the NBA and some superior strategizing, and shoot.
Again, I'll take the Lakers because of home-court and Kobe.
CLE over LA in 4
Yeah, I'm predicting an NBA Finals sweep, that's right.
Why? Because it's gonna take the Lakers 21 games to make the Finals, and Cleveland just 15. Because LeBron will be well-rested and on top of his physical game. Because the Cavs' size will be put to excellent use against Gasol and Bynum. Because LeBron is on performance-enhancing drugs. Because Kobe will be less hungry after winning it all last year. And because once the Lakers fall in a 3-0 hole after game 3, they'll implode and lose game 4 by at least 20 points.
The only unfortunate thing about this scenario ... well, one of the many unfortunate things ... is that if LeBron wins a title in Cleveland, he may be tempted to stay there. And that's bad for entertainment purposes, plus bad for the Pistons. It would take a real douchy douche to win a title, the first for the city of Cleveland in 55 years, and then leave town anyway. But let's not sell LeBron short of that just yet.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Tigers Season, So Far
Because there's a Tigers game just about every day, it's tough to write anything about them. Everything changes so fast ... Just as I was about to say that Verlander has been terrible, he pitches into the ninth inning and allows just one hit against a good Angels line-up. Just as I was about to lament the fact that Austin Jackson was leading the MLB in strike-outs, he goes off for 16 hits in 6 games and now leads the MLB in batting average as well as hits. Did I mention he's a rookie?!
Another valuable hitter off the bench has been rookie outfielder Brennan Boesch, who has 5 doubles in just 30 at-bats and never met a first pitch he didn't want to swing at.
I miss football season.
As of today the Tigers sit at 16-11, just a couple games behind the Twins in the early AL Central race. It's been an up-and-down, back-and-forth season for the Tigers. There are a lot of statistics I could use to recap the season in a nutshell. But one stat seem to be the most telling.
8.14.
That's the average number of runners left on base per game, and it's the highest mark in the MLB. The Tigers have consistently put men on base, and consistently failed to bring them home. Often, with less than two outs.
As far as batting average and on-base percentage, the Tigers are near the top of the MLB. Total hits, extra-base hits, doubles, walks ... the Tigers rank in the top five in each of those categories. But when it comes to scoring runs, the Tigers are just sixth (still good), but they could easily be in first or second. A lot of the losses the Tigers have incurred this season have been close ones, and an extra one or two runs could be the difference between making the playoffs and falling short again.
As far as the WHY so many runners are being left on base, I have two thoughts.
Firstly, we've got a general inability to hit home runs. Cabrera has 5 and Ordonez has 4, but other than that Detroit had only 6 as a team, as of last week.
Of course, that was going to be my point, and then Inge wents nuts and hit 3 homers in 2 days, and then Laird, Sizemore and Boesch all hit their first homer of the season in the same game, and then Damon hit his first of the year a few days ago. So maybe the lack of HRs is not as major a concern as I thought? Or maybe it still is a problem, and this little flurry is just an outlier.
One thing is for sure: there's no lack of power. The Tigers rank first in the Majors with 74 doubles, and they're coming from all over the line-up. Detroit leads everybody with 449 fly balls. We can hit the ball hard and far. We just can't quite get it over the fence.
The main culprits are Damon and Jackson, who've got just 1 HR each. Carlos Guillen (who's injured, AGAIN) also has just one, and should hit a few more when he returns. Inge is doing okay with 3, but since all he does is strike out and hit homers, I hope we can count on another couple from him by the end of May. No one else is a threat, but it'd be nice to have an occasional homer from someone we don't expect.
The second reason why the Tigers aren't bringing runners off base?
To be blunt, because the bottom half of the line-up stinks. It just really honestly flat-out stinks.
Batters 1-4 - Jackson, Damon, Ordonez, and Cabrera - have each been excellent this season, and that's an understatement. Jackson is leading the Majors in batting average, hits, triples, and has more steals than the rest of the Tigers combined. I don't think you can ask for any more than that from a rookie. Damon just finished off a 15-game hit streak. Magglio is hitting about a thousand times better than he was last season. And all Cabrera is doing is leading the Majors in RBIs, as well as ranking in the top ten in both BA and OBP.
It's been a beautiful thing when the top of the order is up.
But batters 5-9 - Inge, Laird, Sizemore, Everett, and sometimes Raburn or Avila or Kelly - have all pretty much sucked. None of them are sniffing .300 or a .350 OBP, and their ability to turn base runners into double plays is unbelievable. The following is a hypothetical scenario, but I'm pretty sure it happens at least once a game ...
Mags walks. Cabrera doubles. Guys on second and third. No outs.
Inge strikes out.
Laird pops out.
Sizemore flies out.
Inning over, no runs.
It's been like that all season, and many of the 140+ hits from our top 4 hitters have gone to waste. What the Tigers need more than anything is some consistent production behind Cabrera. With Guillen hurt maybe it's too soon to rush to conclusions, but shouldn't Leyland at least considering tinkering with the line-up? Maybe make Santiago the lead-off man and let Jackson hit 5th?
When the August trade deadline comes a little bit closer, I think the Tigers will start saying "We're just one bat short," and hopefully make a move for a middle-of-the-order hitter. It'd be nice if they could find that bat soon though. Wait, didn't we send Clete Thomas to the Minors? Hmm...
For more detailed info on why the bottom of the order stinks, consider the following information ...
After going hitless in hit first 17 at-bats, catcher Gerald Laird is currently hitting a putrid .145, and that's actually better than his replacement, Alex Avila.
Promising rookie Scott Sizemore is off to a similarly stinky start, hitting just around .260 with nearly as many strike-outs as hits.
Shortstop Adam Everett has been beyond horrible; his .205 on-base percentage is the worst in the major leagues. The worst. The absolute worst. As in, no one is worse than him.
He also looks like an elf ...
And the one guy who was being counted on to provide consistent hitting off the bench has been brutal, hitting .220 with an amazing 10 hits and 17 strike-outs. I'm talking of course about Ryan Raburn.
The lone bright spot outside of the top 4 batters has been switch-hitting Ramon Santiago. He's been great, and is very close to earning an every-night spot in the line-up.
Another valuable hitter off the bench has been rookie outfielder Brennan Boesch, who has 5 doubles in just 30 at-bats and never met a first pitch he didn't want to swing at.
Why doesn't Leyland start making some aggressive moves to improve this offense? We've got the potential to score more runs than any team in the majors, why not maximize that potential?
Why not move Santiago to starting shortstop, and move Boesch into right field, and let Magglio hit DH? And then let Guillen take over for Sizemore at second. You could even move Inge to catcher to take Laird out of the line-up, and then slide Guillen over to third. You've got flexible fielders who can play a lot of different positions.
Yeah, you might give up a few more runs if you tinker with the fielding. You might have a few more errors. But I'd rather score runs than worry about fielding. Doesn't that just make too much sense. Playing defense and losing 2-4 isn't much fun. Why not score 8 runs a night and dominate? Bah.
So to recap, hitters 1-4 are awesome, while hitters 5-9 are crappy, except for Santiago.
I just realized I haven't even said anything about pitching ...
Verlander is a stud. He's off to a slow start, but he'll be fine. He's throwing about 110 pitches per start (which is high) and doing some freakish stuff like throwing 99 MPH fastballs in the 8th inning, like he did Sunday against the Twins. He's a monster, and while the slow start puts him way back for Cy Young contention, he's still our most important player.
Scherzer has progressively gotten worse since his first start, a 6 inning shutout. On Monday he gave up 10 runs. He's good for about 4 or 5 innings, but not much after that.
Porcello has just been awful, and that's part of the reason why the Tigers are just hovering around .500 all year. You've gotta get solid pitching from your #1 and #2 guys, and Porcello has been anything but solid. Worst ERA on the team, and he's given up 5 runs in every start while not making it past the 6th inning yet. I'm chalking it up to a sophomore slump and some serious nerves. I think he'll be fine.
Dontrelle Willis has been a huge surprise, as he's got the best ERA of any Tigers starter. The biggest reason why is that his control is vastlyimproved. In 2009 he averaged .85 walks per inning, and in 2008 it was a staggering 1.46 walks per inning! This year? Just 12 walks in 24 innings. As much as I was a doubter, I'm happy to see him playing well.
And last but not least, Jeremy Bonderman has been pretty much what I expected. Not great, but not awful. One win, one loss, a 5.7 ERA. He looks like he's finally recovered from the blood clot issue that kept him out of all of 2009. He's a pretty decent 6 out of 10.
And the best part, conveniently saved for last ... the Tigers Bullpen. Believe it or not, they have the best ERA of any bullpen in the MLB. Not only that, but they've pitched the most innings per game. It's uterly phenomenal. The Tigers' biggest weakness has become their biggest strength.
Joel Zumaya is one of the primary reasons. He has been absolutely lethal, giving the Tigers 15 innings and just two earned runs. And NO walks.
The only better ERA than Zumaya has been our closer Jose Valverde, also called the Big Potato to spanish speakers. He's given up 1 run in 13 innings, for an ERA of 0.71. Hmm, I wonder what Fernando Rodney's ERA is these days? (2.84!)
The rest of the bullpen has been highlighted by Phil Coke and Ryan Perry, who routinely give the Tigers one or two innings of shutout, no-hit pitching. Eddie Bonine has been excellent. Even Fu Te Ni has been unhittable, with 15 strike-outs in just 11 innings. The Tigers' bullpen averages an uncanny, unbelievably 1.53 ERA.
So to recap once again, Tigers hitting = good, but not great;
Tigers pitching = decent starters, great bullpen.
Add all that up, and you have a 16-11 record and are a few games behind the Twins. Just ... 135 more games to go ....
*sigh*
I miss football season.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
NFL Power Rankings
Here are the April 30th batch of power rankings.
1. Colts. Better all-around offense gives them the edge over New Orleans.
2. Saints. Best team in the NFC by a mile, but the madden curse could destroy them.
3. Chargers. My AFC super bowl pick.
4. Ravens. No team has a better combination of QB, RB and WR.
5. Patriots. Still got Brady and Belichick.
6. Jets. They will be the 'sexy' pick from now til September.
7. Packers. Expect lots of high scoring games this year.
8. Vikings. Will Favre be back?! Will Favre be back!!? AhhhhHHhhhhHHH!!
9. Eagles. I just buy into what they do year after year and think the nfc east has gotten worse.
10. Steelers. Still have an elite front 7 on D and the best defensive player in the league.
11. Falcons. I think they'll have a nice bounce-back year.
12. Dolphins. The addition of Marshall might make all the difference.
13. Cowboys. Romo has a glut of weapons to work with: 5 good WRs, 3 good RBs and 2 good TEs.
14. Bengals. They'll take a mild step backwards but still have a rock in Palmer.
15. Redskins. Mike Shanahan is one of the few actually really great coaches in the league.
16. Texans. Another brutally average season.
17. Jaguars. Ditto.
18. Giants. They seem to be deteriorating a little, especially on D.
19. 49ers. Could win the division at 7-9.
20. Seahawks. Ditto.
21. Cardinals. Ditto.
22. Titans. Can Chris Johnson carry them to the wildcard this year?
23. Bears. Still hate Cutler, but Peppers will help a lot.
24. Broncos. Let's see how little talent we can try to win with.
25. Panthers. All the makings of 6-10.
26. Browns. The best of the horrible teams, Delhomme at least has experience.
27. Chiefs. Let's see if Jamaal Charles can be a fantasy monster again.
28. Rams. At least they have Steven Jackson.
29. Lions. After this season I think we'll all realize that Calvin Johnson is no longer a stud.
30. Raiders. Welcome to hell Jason Campbell.
31. Bucs. You heard it here first -Gerald McCoy will be a bust.
32. Bills. CJ Spiller can't keep them from moving to Toronto.
1. Colts. Better all-around offense gives them the edge over New Orleans.
2. Saints. Best team in the NFC by a mile, but the madden curse could destroy them.
3. Chargers. My AFC super bowl pick.
4. Ravens. No team has a better combination of QB, RB and WR.
5. Patriots. Still got Brady and Belichick.
6. Jets. They will be the 'sexy' pick from now til September.
7. Packers. Expect lots of high scoring games this year.
8. Vikings. Will Favre be back?! Will Favre be back!!? AhhhhHHhhhhHHH!!
9. Eagles. I just buy into what they do year after year and think the nfc east has gotten worse.
10. Steelers. Still have an elite front 7 on D and the best defensive player in the league.
11. Falcons. I think they'll have a nice bounce-back year.
12. Dolphins. The addition of Marshall might make all the difference.
13. Cowboys. Romo has a glut of weapons to work with: 5 good WRs, 3 good RBs and 2 good TEs.
14. Bengals. They'll take a mild step backwards but still have a rock in Palmer.
15. Redskins. Mike Shanahan is one of the few actually really great coaches in the league.
16. Texans. Another brutally average season.
17. Jaguars. Ditto.
18. Giants. They seem to be deteriorating a little, especially on D.
19. 49ers. Could win the division at 7-9.
20. Seahawks. Ditto.
21. Cardinals. Ditto.
22. Titans. Can Chris Johnson carry them to the wildcard this year?
23. Bears. Still hate Cutler, but Peppers will help a lot.
24. Broncos. Let's see how little talent we can try to win with.
25. Panthers. All the makings of 6-10.
26. Browns. The best of the horrible teams, Delhomme at least has experience.
27. Chiefs. Let's see if Jamaal Charles can be a fantasy monster again.
28. Rams. At least they have Steven Jackson.
29. Lions. After this season I think we'll all realize that Calvin Johnson is no longer a stud.
30. Raiders. Welcome to hell Jason Campbell.
31. Bucs. You heard it here first -Gerald McCoy will be a bust.
32. Bills. CJ Spiller can't keep them from moving to Toronto.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Ndamukong Suh and Jahvid Best, Plus my Thoughts on the NFL Draft and the Lord of the Douche
On Thursday, the Lions spent the #2 overall pick on DT Ndamukong Suh from Nebraska, and then traded up into the late first round to grab RB Jahvid Best from California with the 30th overall pick. Suh was considered a no-brainer; Best is considered high-risk, high-reward. After much research, here is everything you could ever want to know about these two new Lions.
Suh was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. His mother is from Jamaica, and his dad was a semi-pro soccer player for Cameroon. In the Ngema language, Ndamukong means "House of Spears."
Further Thoughts on the Draft
In the third round, the Lions picked a cornerback named Amari Spievey. (pronounced Spih-Vay.) He went to Iowa, and is considered a highly physical CB with good tackling ability. The scouting report says he has "very long arms" and is great at jamming wide receivers at the line; the report also says that his man-to-man coverage skills are "questionable" and that he struggles against smaller, faster receivers. In a division with Percy Harvin, Devin Hester, and Greg Jennings, I'm pretty sure Spievey will be beat for his share of deep touchdowns this year.
He will have a fairly good chance to start from day 1, opposite Chris Houston. He really doesn't have much competition as of yet. How much the Lions like Spievey will determine whether or not they pursue Pacman.
In the fourth round, Detroit finally got a left tackle - Jason Fox from Miami. He's big (6'7'', 303 lbs.) but considered a little skinny to play in the NFL . He's got to bulk up by about 30 pounds without losing any speed. Of course, Fox has a history of knee problems, but do the Lions ever draft anyone who doesn't have knee problems?
Fox has a slim chance of starting this season, but if he does it would probably be at right guard, our weakest position on the line. They (they being the Lions' management) say he is versatile enough to play guard. I feel like they would say that about anyone. Is he good enough to play guard? Probably not. But he's only going to start ahead of Backus if Backus gets hurt. But if Fox progresses this season and bulks up and learns the NFL game, he just might be our starting LT in a season or two. Seems like a 'project pick' to me.
On a totally unrelated note, I have a random rant about the last name 'Fox.' This is something I've thought about before, and it bothers me. There are 3 very famous actors/actresses with the last name Fox: Megan, Michael J, and Jamie. Doesn't that seem like an inproportionally large amount of 'Foxes' in Hollywood? How many actors named Smith or Johnson are there? None? I'm not suggesting that all 3 of these folks changed their names, but I'm pretty sure at least one or two of them did.
In the seventh round, the Lions had 3 picks. One was traded to the Eagles for a 6th rounder in 2011. The other two were defensive end Willie Young from NC State (small but quick) and wide receiver Tim Toone from Weber State (possible special teams player). I wish they would have gone for an outside linebacker or some depth on the O-line, but 7th round picks don't really matter. Onto the biggest story from the NFL draft ...
Tim Tebow. He should have been maybe a 4th or 5th round pick, and instead the Broncos traded UP (so stupid!) to get him with the 25th overall pick, ahead of Clausen and McCoy. They did this for one reason, and one reason only. Because Josh McDaniels (Denver's coach) is the biggest jackass in the NFL. He is absolutely obsessed with himself, and loves to be in the spotlight. He couldn't share the attention with Jay Cutler, so he traded him. He couldn't handle Brandon Marshall's ego, so he traded him. I know those guys are both a pain in the ass, but part of being a coach is putting your ego aside and dealing with a bunch of overpaid babies as long as they have talent on the field. McDaniels is probably the only coach in the NFL with an ego that overshadows any of his players.
Why did he draft Tim Tebow? Because other than the words "Tim Tebow," you know what were the two most commonly said words on ESPN on Thursday night? "Josh" and "McDaniels." He did it so that people would talk about him. Interview him. Ask him "Why did you do it?" So he could babble about Tebow's character and leadership and brag about how he wanted to take a chance on a proven champion. Blah blah blah, he did it for the attention. It was a a horrid pick! Tebow doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of living up to a first-round quarterback in the NFL.
I don't have anything against Tebow. He's a great guy, and in 3 years when he's out of the NFL, I'm sure he'll take his money and make a real positive difference around the world. He's a great guy, and it's not his fault he was drafted four rounds too early. I blame McDaniels, I hate the way he traded down over and over so people would compare him even more to Bill Belichick than they already do (because they both wear sweatshirts) and then he made the ultimate "Look at me" pick. It pissed me off, because Jacksonville wanted Tebow, and they were going to take him in the second round (still too early) because their fans needed something to get excited about and what better than the home-town kid. It would have been a great story in Jacksonville; in Denver, it's just a media circus for the sake of McDaniels' fame. He's got no chance of being a good NFL quarterback. No chance.
If all you want is a nice guy in the lockerroom, why not spend your first overall pick on David Archuletta or Bob Barker or Jerry Seinfeld. I'm sure they would all be great influences! Or if you just want someone with leadership, I think John McCain was still on the board in the first round. You could have picked the Maverick! It's ridiculous! It's utterly absurd. I can't believe I'm saying this, but McDaniels' pick of Tebow in the first round has made Denver my new least favorite team in the NFL, yes ever more detestable than the Pittsburgh Stellers. I know, I can't believe it either. Fortunately, they don't play each other this year, so I can cheer spitefully against both teams in 32 games.
Other thoughts from the draft ... Jimmy Clausen was passed on by Buffalo TWICE (which shocks me a lot) and finally taken by Carolina, where he'll learn the ropes from ... Matt Moore? If Clausen can get on the field, behind one of the NFL's best offensive lines and with two good running backs, he could make a lot of teams regret passing on him.
Colt McCoy goes to Cleveland, where Mike Holmgren says he "will not play in 2010." Uh, okay, then why did you draft him?
Buffalo landed C.J. Spiller, who has to run behind a hideous offensive line. The hundreds of Bills fans that still exist have already begun a "Which game will Spiller get hurt?" contest. My guess, let's go with week 5.
This year's rookie of the year is going to be Ryan Matthews, who San Diego traded up to 12 and took to replace LT as the luckiest running back in the league. Great QB, great O-line, great receivers, great fullback. He'll get 1200 yards and 9 TDs and win ROY while Sproles still racks up 1000 all-purpose yards and 8 TDs. Oh by the way, San Diego is my early pick to win the Super Bowl. Or maybe lose the Super Bowl to Minnesota.
Sam Bradford went #1 overall to the Rams, you may have heard. Apparently their #2 overall pick from last year, Jason Smith, is a flop who can't block anybody. Crazy Keith tells me he didn't even start last season. So that doesn't bode well for Bradford's chances. Neither does the Rams' awful receving corps, or their awful defenses. BUT, they have two great assets: Steven Jackson, and Steve Spagnuolo, plus they play in the worst division in the NFL, so 5 wins is not going to be out of the question. Bradford will start from week 1.
Seattle is considered to have had the best draft, getting Russell Okung and Earl Thomas in the first round, both immediate impact players. They also got Notre Dames' Golden Tate to help the receiving corps, which now gives them 4 good possession receivers and no good big-play receivers. Oh, and they traded for Fat LenDale White and Leon Washington, so their running game just went from an F to a D. Pete Carroll is getting way too much attention for not yet having done anything, except acquite as many Pac-10 guys as humanly possible. However, Seattle's still got a great chance to win the NFC West, where Matt Hasslebeck is the best quarterback. Yikes.
The biggest story of the draft was probably Jason Campbell being traded to Oakland for basically nothing. So now, if McNabb gets hurt (which he probably will), that means guess who is the Redskins quarterback. Yeah, Rex Grossman.
And in Oakland, Campbell will easily win the starting job and be exactly what he was in Washington - a brutally average quarterback. But in Oakland, that's a huge improvement, and they should be able to win 5 or 6 games without too much self-embarassment.
Some old players who used to be really good have been cut this week and are now free agents, including Alan Faneca (still one of the best guards in the league), Adalius Thomas (meh) and John Henderson (DT from Jacksonville). I hope the Lions at least look at Faneca.
Before I end this extremely long football blog, I'd like to offer my abbreviated thoughts on Rapist Roethlisberger, and how his six game suspension alters the NFL more than people realize. By raping some 20 year old girl in Georgia, Ben basically gave the Baltimore Ravens a free pass to the playoffs.
The Steelers will be 3-3, if their lucky, with Charlie Batch at the helm, and even once Ben comes back they're going to have to work for wins considering they still can't run the ball and they still don't have much of a secondary. If Polamalu is back at 100%, and the defense plays as it should, they'll probably finish around 9-7 when all is said and done. Not bad.
But the Ravens are totally retooled with Anquan Boldin, and if Ray Rice plays at 80% of the level he played at last year, Baltimore is a 12 win team. Boldin is the missing piece. No doubt about it. Flacco will be a changed quarterback now that he has a legitimate weapon to work with. Baltimore will win the AFC North unchallenged (Cincinnati will fall back into 6-7 win territory) and the Steelers will have to fight for a wildcard spot.
In my estimation, the single biggest off-season acquisition was Boldin to Baltimore, and the single biggest story of the off-season - Ben's suspension - benefits no team more than Baltimore (who Pittsburgh plays in week 4).
As far as Roethlisberger's punishment, I think it's fair. Any more than 6 games would have been a little harsh considering he wasn't technically convicted. Although based on the fact that he hasn't publicly expressed any outrage over the allegations, I think it's fairly obvious to say that he is guilty. I mean, if I was accused of rape and I really was innocent, I'd be all over the news telling anyone that would listen that I was innocent. If you remember, that's what Kobe did. Ben, clearly, is guilty, and living proof that if you have enough money you are above the law.
If you thought Tiger Woods' apology was phony and contrived, at least he got up in front of the camera and talked. Sure he read from a cue card and showed no emotion; at least he made a fool of himself in front of millions of people and took the crap he deserved. He owned up to his sins. I respect that.
Ben released his 'apology' through a written statement, which I'm 99% sure he didn't write, and 50% sure he didn't even read. He promised to be a better man and a role model and concluded it with the clincher: 'God bless.' Oh give me a damn break! You rape two girls and now you have the audacity to call yourself a role model? Spare me the religious overtones! Spare me the sudden life-change! That's just pure, disgusting entitlement to think you can get away that easy. At least Tiger stood up and said, "Yes I am scum. Look at me. I am disgusting scum." Ben thinks he's beyond that, he thinks all he has to do is pay someone to write a nice fake apology and he'll be good to go. But whether he admits it or not, the entire country already knows what a douche he is. If you aren't convinced, look at this picture and stand in awe ... at the Lord of the Douche.
NDAMUKONG SUH
Suh was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. His mother is from Jamaica, and his dad was a semi-pro soccer player for Cameroon. In the Ngema language, Ndamukong means "House of Spears."Suh was brought up to be a soccer player, like his dad, and developed quick feet and explosiveness to go with his huge body. At 6'4" and 307 pounds, he has no choice but to play football, and was an absolute phenom in high school.
After a knee injury delayed Suh's freshmen season, he was redshirted and went on to play four full years of college ball at Nebraska, and became a star in his junior season, when he totaled 76 tackle (19 for loss), 7 sacks, and two interceptions - both returned for touchdowns. He was even more dominant his senior year, with 82 tackles (23 for loss), 12 sacks, 3 blocked kicks, 1 interceptions and 12 passes broken up. He was the MVP of the Big 12 Championship game (a loss) against Texas, with 12 tackles and 4 sacks, and became a national darling in what has been called "the single most dominant defensive performance in college football history."
Suh was a consensus All-American and won every award he could win: best D-lineman in the country, best defensive player in the country, etc. He finished fourth in Heisman voting, and was voted AP Player of the Year - the only defensive player to ever win that award. In short, Suh is considered one of the best prospects at defensive tackle ever.
And he's not just an amazing athlete. He's also a really smart guy. Ndamukong graduated from Nebraska with a degree in Architectural Engineering in 2009; he recently announced that he will be making a $2.6 million dollar donation to the university to create scholarship opportunities and expand the engineering program. It was the largest gift Nebraska has ever received from a former player.
At the NFL Combine, Suh absolutely astounded scouts with his blend of speed, power and explosiveness. He blew away Gerald McCoy in the bench press and the vertical jump, and they ran nearly identical 40 times. Many scouts said that McCoy displayed a "loosey-goosey attitude" at the Combine and didn't take the drills seriously, while Suh used the opportunity to answer any potential doubts about his ability. Suh's work ethic and constant motor are what Lions' scouts rave about more than anything.
According to former NFL defensive tackle and excellent radio host Mike Golic, what seperates Suh from other DT prospects is the way he uses his hands like a pro. According to Golic, Suh can shed blockers faster than most rookie DTs because he doesn't rely solely on his strength, he relies on superior technique and his knowledge of other player's tendencies. Even though he's usually a stronger and faster athlete, Suh still takes the time to study film and master the art of playing defensive tackle. That's what sets him apart and will make him an immediate impact player as a rookie.
The obvious strengths of Suh's game are his speed and his power, but he also possess great instincts to diagnose plays and locate the ball. The word "disruptive" is very commonly used to describe Suh's ability to get into the backfield and record tackles for loss. He also has unusual versatility for a DT, a trait that the Lions hope to use in different packages. He may even drop into short zone coverages from time to time on passing downs.
As far as weaknesses, there really aren't any. My only concern is how his mental state will hold up when the Lions are 3-12 and he's laying flat on his back watching some running back scamper toward the end zone. Will he be thinking "Maybe I'll fake an injury in a minute," or, will he be thinking, "Dammit, I'm gonna stop him on the next play."
We won't know that until the time comes. Time will tell. Let's hope he displays more mental toughness than Calvin Johnson.
On Detroit, Suh will be plugged into a defensive line-up that will look a whole lot different than the miserable 2008 and 2009 clubs. Ernie Sims is gone, Larry Foote is gone, and all the cornerbacks from a year ago are gone. Louis Delmas is the apparent heir to captainship. And former Titan Kyle VandenBosch is the star.
Julian Peterson remains at outside linebacker, and will be joined by either Jordan Dizon or Zach Follett on the other side. DeAndre Levy will take over the MLB spot in place of Larry Foote.
The secondary will have Delmas at safety and new acquisition Chris Houston (from the Falcons) at one cornerback spot. The other two spots are still wide open. Pacman Jones is a possibility. It could be rookie Amari Spievey. It could be any number of the scrubs currently on the Lions roster. I wouldn't count out Ramzee Robinson.
The defensive line has a chance to be a bright spot for the Lions, with 4 brand new starters. Corey Williams (from the Browns) joins Suh on the inside, and VandenBosch will be paired with either Cliff Avril or Jason Hunter on the other end. The D-line has decent depth as well, with Sammie Lee Hill, Andre Fluellen and Jared DeVries.
Adjusting to life without Sims and Foote won't be easy, but I'm pretty comfortable with Levy stepping into the starting line-up. Dizon I'm not too sure about, but a lot of pressure could be taken off the defense as a whole if Suh lives up to his enormous potential.
A defensive core of VandenBosch, Suh and Delmas makes the Lions a threat to actually be competitive on defense, if all 3 stay healthy. The main concern on defense is a lack of cornerbacks who can be left in single coverage (which is why I can't figure out why we haven't signed Pacman yet), but if the Lions can generate a pass rush from just the front 4, the cornerbacks won't be put in such difficult situations. There will be less need for blitzes. And on blitz packages, we might actually be able to reach the quarterback and force quick throws.
Suh should be able to win most one-on-one matchups and control his gaps, which will benefit the run defense as well as the pass defense. I can't wait to see him on the field.
JAHVID BEST
Drafted 30th overall by the Lions, Jahvid Best will hopefully be a major contributor to the Lions offense in 2010 and beyond. He has great speed and vision, but is not a power back or a great blocker. Scouts compare him to Chris Johnson, a one-cut speed back who isn't afraid to go between the tackles. He's obviously not as fast as Johnson, but he is really fast.
Best was born in California, and played college ball for California despite offers from Ohio State, Florida, Texas, Michigan, and just about every school in the country. In 2008 he led the Pac-Ten in rushing as a sophomore and became a college football star. He entered 2009 with Heisman hopes, and three games into the season he had 410 yards and 8 touchdowns. He was the talk of the NCAA and a Heisman favorite. Then in the 8th game of the season Best suffered a scary concussion that sidelined him for the rest of the year, including the bowl game.
He finished his career with a sickening rushing average of 7.3 yards per carry, and 35 career TDs. He declared for the NFL draft and has appeared 100% healthy since the Combine.
He was the fastest running back at the Combine with a 40 time of 4.35 seconds. In high school he was an All-State sprinter and one of the fastest dudes in the nation in both the 100m and the 200m. The Lions are lucky to have a running back with speed, since that's something we haven't had in at least 12 years.
The difficulty for Best will be having a chance to use that speed. His acceleration isn't great, and unless he can break into the open field, I'm not sure his explosiveness will be seen too often. The blocking is a major concern, as the Lions are stuck in some kind of weird flux where they can't decide if they are a zone-blocking team or not. Cherilus is a zone-blocking right tackle, and Kevin Smith is a zone-blocking RB, but Backus and Raiola are too big to move around, and to be successful in zone-blocking you need receivers who can block, and we don't have that. The new two tight-end set that the Lions plan to use (with Tony Scheffler and Pettigrew) will make the running game even more confusing. But hopefully will put more bodies in front of Best (or whoever is running the ball) and at least give ourselves a chance to move the chains and establish a running game that takes pressure off the quarterback.
Because ultimately, the single most important thing about the 2010 Lions season is making sure that Matt Stafford evolves into a competent quarterback. Protecting him with a franchise left tackle seems like it should be a priority for Lions' management, and I'm a little dissappointed that Backus still hasn't been replaced, but I digress. Bringing in Best, along with Scheffler and Burleson, is the Lions attempt at giving Stafford a chance to win. We are surrounding him with weapons and giving him few excuses if he fails.
That said, I don't think Burleson and Scheffler will have the effect we hope they will. Jim Schwartz says that our two tight-end set will "stretch the defense" and free up Calvin for more single coverage. Essentially, we are saying to opposing defenses: "Fear our slow white tight end, and leave our superstar in single coverage." I don't think they'll fall for it. And I still contend that Burleson (and his huge contract) will be on the injury list within two games.
But I'll try not to be a downer, at least until we're a few games into the season. For now, I'll say that I really think Best was a great pick. Kevin Smith will miss all of training camp, and at least the first few games of the season following reconstructive knee surgery. Personally, I won't miss anything about Smith - his complete lack of speed, his complete lack of power, his overused spin move, and the fact that he hasn't broken a tackle once since joining the Lions.
I like Maurice Morris a decent amount and think he'll be the starting RB on opening day, but I'm sure Best will see the field early and often. When Smith does return, it will most likely be as a third down back; his strength is catching passes out of the backfield. He'll be very unhappy with this role, and won't be on the team in 2011. Smith is a huge ego-maniac and considers himself a lot better than he really is. Best seems like a pretty humble guy from the interviews I've seen, and I think he'll be a much better fit for the Lions than Smith was.
But once again, the pick of Jahvid Best was all about Matthew Stafford and his development. If Best struggles, Stafford will struggle, and the reverse is true. Neither guy will dominate without some help, at least not this early in their careers. But if Stafford can learn to make good quick decisions and throw accurately, then Best will be free to break some big plays open. And if Best shows the explosiveness that the Lions hope he will, Stafford will be able to find Calvin in single coverage on a play-action rollout and that means six points more often than not. How Best fares, Stafford will fare. Their fates are linked.
Further Thoughts on the Draft
In the third round, the Lions picked a cornerback named Amari Spievey. (pronounced Spih-Vay.) He went to Iowa, and is considered a highly physical CB with good tackling ability. The scouting report says he has "very long arms" and is great at jamming wide receivers at the line; the report also says that his man-to-man coverage skills are "questionable" and that he struggles against smaller, faster receivers. In a division with Percy Harvin, Devin Hester, and Greg Jennings, I'm pretty sure Spievey will be beat for his share of deep touchdowns this year.
He will have a fairly good chance to start from day 1, opposite Chris Houston. He really doesn't have much competition as of yet. How much the Lions like Spievey will determine whether or not they pursue Pacman.
In the fourth round, Detroit finally got a left tackle - Jason Fox from Miami. He's big (6'7'', 303 lbs.) but considered a little skinny to play in the NFL . He's got to bulk up by about 30 pounds without losing any speed. Of course, Fox has a history of knee problems, but do the Lions ever draft anyone who doesn't have knee problems?
Fox has a slim chance of starting this season, but if he does it would probably be at right guard, our weakest position on the line. They (they being the Lions' management) say he is versatile enough to play guard. I feel like they would say that about anyone. Is he good enough to play guard? Probably not. But he's only going to start ahead of Backus if Backus gets hurt. But if Fox progresses this season and bulks up and learns the NFL game, he just might be our starting LT in a season or two. Seems like a 'project pick' to me.
On a totally unrelated note, I have a random rant about the last name 'Fox.' This is something I've thought about before, and it bothers me. There are 3 very famous actors/actresses with the last name Fox: Megan, Michael J, and Jamie. Doesn't that seem like an inproportionally large amount of 'Foxes' in Hollywood? How many actors named Smith or Johnson are there? None? I'm not suggesting that all 3 of these folks changed their names, but I'm pretty sure at least one or two of them did.
In the seventh round, the Lions had 3 picks. One was traded to the Eagles for a 6th rounder in 2011. The other two were defensive end Willie Young from NC State (small but quick) and wide receiver Tim Toone from Weber State (possible special teams player). I wish they would have gone for an outside linebacker or some depth on the O-line, but 7th round picks don't really matter. Onto the biggest story from the NFL draft ...
Tim Tebow. He should have been maybe a 4th or 5th round pick, and instead the Broncos traded UP (so stupid!) to get him with the 25th overall pick, ahead of Clausen and McCoy. They did this for one reason, and one reason only. Because Josh McDaniels (Denver's coach) is the biggest jackass in the NFL. He is absolutely obsessed with himself, and loves to be in the spotlight. He couldn't share the attention with Jay Cutler, so he traded him. He couldn't handle Brandon Marshall's ego, so he traded him. I know those guys are both a pain in the ass, but part of being a coach is putting your ego aside and dealing with a bunch of overpaid babies as long as they have talent on the field. McDaniels is probably the only coach in the NFL with an ego that overshadows any of his players.
Why did he draft Tim Tebow? Because other than the words "Tim Tebow," you know what were the two most commonly said words on ESPN on Thursday night? "Josh" and "McDaniels." He did it so that people would talk about him. Interview him. Ask him "Why did you do it?" So he could babble about Tebow's character and leadership and brag about how he wanted to take a chance on a proven champion. Blah blah blah, he did it for the attention. It was a a horrid pick! Tebow doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of living up to a first-round quarterback in the NFL.
I don't have anything against Tebow. He's a great guy, and in 3 years when he's out of the NFL, I'm sure he'll take his money and make a real positive difference around the world. He's a great guy, and it's not his fault he was drafted four rounds too early. I blame McDaniels, I hate the way he traded down over and over so people would compare him even more to Bill Belichick than they already do (because they both wear sweatshirts) and then he made the ultimate "Look at me" pick. It pissed me off, because Jacksonville wanted Tebow, and they were going to take him in the second round (still too early) because their fans needed something to get excited about and what better than the home-town kid. It would have been a great story in Jacksonville; in Denver, it's just a media circus for the sake of McDaniels' fame. He's got no chance of being a good NFL quarterback. No chance.
If all you want is a nice guy in the lockerroom, why not spend your first overall pick on David Archuletta or Bob Barker or Jerry Seinfeld. I'm sure they would all be great influences! Or if you just want someone with leadership, I think John McCain was still on the board in the first round. You could have picked the Maverick! It's ridiculous! It's utterly absurd. I can't believe I'm saying this, but McDaniels' pick of Tebow in the first round has made Denver my new least favorite team in the NFL, yes ever more detestable than the Pittsburgh Stellers. I know, I can't believe it either. Fortunately, they don't play each other this year, so I can cheer spitefully against both teams in 32 games.
Other thoughts from the draft ... Jimmy Clausen was passed on by Buffalo TWICE (which shocks me a lot) and finally taken by Carolina, where he'll learn the ropes from ... Matt Moore? If Clausen can get on the field, behind one of the NFL's best offensive lines and with two good running backs, he could make a lot of teams regret passing on him.
Colt McCoy goes to Cleveland, where Mike Holmgren says he "will not play in 2010." Uh, okay, then why did you draft him?
Buffalo landed C.J. Spiller, who has to run behind a hideous offensive line. The hundreds of Bills fans that still exist have already begun a "Which game will Spiller get hurt?" contest. My guess, let's go with week 5.
This year's rookie of the year is going to be Ryan Matthews, who San Diego traded up to 12 and took to replace LT as the luckiest running back in the league. Great QB, great O-line, great receivers, great fullback. He'll get 1200 yards and 9 TDs and win ROY while Sproles still racks up 1000 all-purpose yards and 8 TDs. Oh by the way, San Diego is my early pick to win the Super Bowl. Or maybe lose the Super Bowl to Minnesota.
Sam Bradford went #1 overall to the Rams, you may have heard. Apparently their #2 overall pick from last year, Jason Smith, is a flop who can't block anybody. Crazy Keith tells me he didn't even start last season. So that doesn't bode well for Bradford's chances. Neither does the Rams' awful receving corps, or their awful defenses. BUT, they have two great assets: Steven Jackson, and Steve Spagnuolo, plus they play in the worst division in the NFL, so 5 wins is not going to be out of the question. Bradford will start from week 1.
Seattle is considered to have had the best draft, getting Russell Okung and Earl Thomas in the first round, both immediate impact players. They also got Notre Dames' Golden Tate to help the receiving corps, which now gives them 4 good possession receivers and no good big-play receivers. Oh, and they traded for Fat LenDale White and Leon Washington, so their running game just went from an F to a D. Pete Carroll is getting way too much attention for not yet having done anything, except acquite as many Pac-10 guys as humanly possible. However, Seattle's still got a great chance to win the NFC West, where Matt Hasslebeck is the best quarterback. Yikes.
The biggest story of the draft was probably Jason Campbell being traded to Oakland for basically nothing. So now, if McNabb gets hurt (which he probably will), that means guess who is the Redskins quarterback. Yeah, Rex Grossman.
And in Oakland, Campbell will easily win the starting job and be exactly what he was in Washington - a brutally average quarterback. But in Oakland, that's a huge improvement, and they should be able to win 5 or 6 games without too much self-embarassment.
Some old players who used to be really good have been cut this week and are now free agents, including Alan Faneca (still one of the best guards in the league), Adalius Thomas (meh) and John Henderson (DT from Jacksonville). I hope the Lions at least look at Faneca.
Before I end this extremely long football blog, I'd like to offer my abbreviated thoughts on Rapist Roethlisberger, and how his six game suspension alters the NFL more than people realize. By raping some 20 year old girl in Georgia, Ben basically gave the Baltimore Ravens a free pass to the playoffs.
The Steelers will be 3-3, if their lucky, with Charlie Batch at the helm, and even once Ben comes back they're going to have to work for wins considering they still can't run the ball and they still don't have much of a secondary. If Polamalu is back at 100%, and the defense plays as it should, they'll probably finish around 9-7 when all is said and done. Not bad.
But the Ravens are totally retooled with Anquan Boldin, and if Ray Rice plays at 80% of the level he played at last year, Baltimore is a 12 win team. Boldin is the missing piece. No doubt about it. Flacco will be a changed quarterback now that he has a legitimate weapon to work with. Baltimore will win the AFC North unchallenged (Cincinnati will fall back into 6-7 win territory) and the Steelers will have to fight for a wildcard spot.
In my estimation, the single biggest off-season acquisition was Boldin to Baltimore, and the single biggest story of the off-season - Ben's suspension - benefits no team more than Baltimore (who Pittsburgh plays in week 4).
As far as Roethlisberger's punishment, I think it's fair. Any more than 6 games would have been a little harsh considering he wasn't technically convicted. Although based on the fact that he hasn't publicly expressed any outrage over the allegations, I think it's fairly obvious to say that he is guilty. I mean, if I was accused of rape and I really was innocent, I'd be all over the news telling anyone that would listen that I was innocent. If you remember, that's what Kobe did. Ben, clearly, is guilty, and living proof that if you have enough money you are above the law.
If you thought Tiger Woods' apology was phony and contrived, at least he got up in front of the camera and talked. Sure he read from a cue card and showed no emotion; at least he made a fool of himself in front of millions of people and took the crap he deserved. He owned up to his sins. I respect that.
Ben released his 'apology' through a written statement, which I'm 99% sure he didn't write, and 50% sure he didn't even read. He promised to be a better man and a role model and concluded it with the clincher: 'God bless.' Oh give me a damn break! You rape two girls and now you have the audacity to call yourself a role model? Spare me the religious overtones! Spare me the sudden life-change! That's just pure, disgusting entitlement to think you can get away that easy. At least Tiger stood up and said, "Yes I am scum. Look at me. I am disgusting scum." Ben thinks he's beyond that, he thinks all he has to do is pay someone to write a nice fake apology and he'll be good to go. But whether he admits it or not, the entire country already knows what a douche he is. If you aren't convinced, look at this picture and stand in awe ... at the Lord of the Douche.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
The Last Recruit
On the surface this episode wasn't overwhelmingly great, but it did advance a lot of plot-lines and help set-up an epic confrontation in the next few weeks.
To recap: Jack-tribe merged with Flocke-tribe, Widmore sent his girl to ask for Desmond back, and Flocke politely refused. Sawyer led all the candidates+frank to the sailboat to sneak over to Hydra island, and idiot Claire tagged along. Jack jumped ship and went back to be with Flocke, then almost died but didn't. Then Jin and Sun were reunited (!!!) but that was short-lived as Widmore's crew became angry for no apparent reason. Then Flocke said to Jack "you're with me now."
Oh, and in the flash-sideways, Jack met Claire thanks to Desmond, Ilana was a layer, Sawyer flirted with Kate and arrested Sayid while Sun and Locke were taken to the hospital, where Sun creepily recognized Locke as "him." (?) Jack started to operate on Locke and may have experienced the beginnings of his "wake-up" experience.
A few thoughts ...
-Too much Claire.
(she is SOOO horrible at acting)
-Too much Kate.
(her character just sucks)
-The ending was serious lacking a decent cliff-hanger
-I liked the way the flash-sideways didn't focus on just one character, but moved all the plots steadily along. I still don't like the flash-sideways, but I have this feeling that when LOST ends, we're all going to want to re-watch the season 6 because then we'll really understand what the flash-sidewayses are. It's got something to do with 'making a deal' with Flocke.
-Did Sayid really kill Desmond? (Duh. Of course he didn't.)
-Jack is "the last recruit." Although, not really, because he only jumped off the boat to stop Flocke.
-Sun and Jin reunited, and you would sure think they would have been slightly more excited to see one another. I'm thinking about how I would react if I couldn't see Alie for 3 years and spent the entire team looking for her, and then saw her, on a beautiful tropical island standing in the water no less ... I'm fairly sure I would do a lot more than run up to her and hug her and say I love you. I'm thinking more like ... scream and jump up and down and cry hysterically and completely hyperventalate and breathe really heavily and run around and scream some more and tackle her to the ground ... and if I were Sawyer, and I spent the past 3 years hanging out with Jin every day and was constantly hearing about how much he missed Sun, I think I would have been a whole lot more excited. I know Sawyer has a heart of stone, but seriously, couldn't he have smiled or gotten a little more involved in the moment.
I don't blame the actors, I blame the writers. This scene should have lasted 10 minutes and involved everybody. A giant group hug. This could have been the single most emotional scene in LOST history, maybe television history, and instead it probably wasn't even the most emotional scene in this episode.
Other than that, really not much to say about this episode. No new stuff was really introduced at all, except that Jack is apparently on Flocke's side now, which I'm sure isn't really the case.
Flocke answered the question about being Christian Shepherd, which is interesting but I was already pretty sure that was the case.
I would describe this as a definite "set-up" episode, which means there's a 98% chance that next week is going to be flipping awesome.
My guesses for next week (entitled The Candidate):
-Widmore dies, and the battle shifts from Widmore vs. Flocke to Losties vs. Flocke
-Claire dies, no one cares
-Frank dies, even less people care
-Sawyer dies, everyone sobs
-Zombie Sayid dies when Flocke realizes Des is still alive
-Sun and/or Jin die(s)
-The plane and/or sub blows up
-Miles, Richard and/or Ben return, at least one of them dies
So yeah, I am anticipating a huge week of action and death. And I think the flash-sideways will be pretty awesome too, with some wake-up moments taking place and possibly Juliet.
NFL Draft is tonight. I better start practicing the spelling of 'Ndamukong.'
To recap: Jack-tribe merged with Flocke-tribe, Widmore sent his girl to ask for Desmond back, and Flocke politely refused. Sawyer led all the candidates+frank to the sailboat to sneak over to Hydra island, and idiot Claire tagged along. Jack jumped ship and went back to be with Flocke, then almost died but didn't. Then Jin and Sun were reunited (!!!) but that was short-lived as Widmore's crew became angry for no apparent reason. Then Flocke said to Jack "you're with me now."
Oh, and in the flash-sideways, Jack met Claire thanks to Desmond, Ilana was a layer, Sawyer flirted with Kate and arrested Sayid while Sun and Locke were taken to the hospital, where Sun creepily recognized Locke as "him." (?) Jack started to operate on Locke and may have experienced the beginnings of his "wake-up" experience.
A few thoughts ...
-Too much Claire.
(she is SOOO horrible at acting)
-Too much Kate.
(her character just sucks)
-The ending was serious lacking a decent cliff-hanger
-I liked the way the flash-sideways didn't focus on just one character, but moved all the plots steadily along. I still don't like the flash-sideways, but I have this feeling that when LOST ends, we're all going to want to re-watch the season 6 because then we'll really understand what the flash-sidewayses are. It's got something to do with 'making a deal' with Flocke.
-Did Sayid really kill Desmond? (Duh. Of course he didn't.)
-Jack is "the last recruit." Although, not really, because he only jumped off the boat to stop Flocke.
-Sun and Jin reunited, and you would sure think they would have been slightly more excited to see one another. I'm thinking about how I would react if I couldn't see Alie for 3 years and spent the entire team looking for her, and then saw her, on a beautiful tropical island standing in the water no less ... I'm fairly sure I would do a lot more than run up to her and hug her and say I love you. I'm thinking more like ... scream and jump up and down and cry hysterically and completely hyperventalate and breathe really heavily and run around and scream some more and tackle her to the ground ... and if I were Sawyer, and I spent the past 3 years hanging out with Jin every day and was constantly hearing about how much he missed Sun, I think I would have been a whole lot more excited. I know Sawyer has a heart of stone, but seriously, couldn't he have smiled or gotten a little more involved in the moment.
I don't blame the actors, I blame the writers. This scene should have lasted 10 minutes and involved everybody. A giant group hug. This could have been the single most emotional scene in LOST history, maybe television history, and instead it probably wasn't even the most emotional scene in this episode.
Other than that, really not much to say about this episode. No new stuff was really introduced at all, except that Jack is apparently on Flocke's side now, which I'm sure isn't really the case.
Flocke answered the question about being Christian Shepherd, which is interesting but I was already pretty sure that was the case.
I would describe this as a definite "set-up" episode, which means there's a 98% chance that next week is going to be flipping awesome.
My guesses for next week (entitled The Candidate):
-Widmore dies, and the battle shifts from Widmore vs. Flocke to Losties vs. Flocke
-Claire dies, no one cares
-Frank dies, even less people care
-Sawyer dies, everyone sobs
-Zombie Sayid dies when Flocke realizes Des is still alive
-Sun and/or Jin die(s)
-The plane and/or sub blows up
-Miles, Richard and/or Ben return, at least one of them dies
So yeah, I am anticipating a huge week of action and death. And I think the flash-sideways will be pretty awesome too, with some wake-up moments taking place and possibly Juliet.
NFL Draft is tonight. I better start practicing the spelling of 'Ndamukong.'
2010 NBA AWARDS
Just because the three most popular awards - MVP, Defensive MVP, and Rookie of the Year - are all completely obvious in 2010, doesn't mean I can't go through the other main awards and talk about a pretty exciting 2010 season and what should be a highly entertaining 2010 playoffs. Firstly though, some thoughts on the most important award ...
MVP
You could say that basketball was "much different" back then, and that LeBron could have averaged a triple-double against white guys in short shorts like Oscar did. Maybe true. But surely basketball hasn't changed that drastically since 1987 when Larry Bird averaged 30-9-6 or 1981 when Magic went for 23-12-6. Never mind Jordan's numerous seasons throughout the 90s, like when he averaged 32-8-8 in 1989 or his 37-5-5 in '87 or 32-7-5 in 93. Oh, and each of those seasons he averaged just about 3 steals. He also had a 35-5-6 and a 33-6-7 and a 31-6-5 and a 30-6-6 and ... well, you get the point.
So even though LeBron has the body of a steroid-infested linebacker and essentially plays point guard every night, his rebounds + assists numbers are only slightly better than MJ, while his scoring numbers don't even come close. Even Kobe's 30-7-6 from '02 or his 35-5-5 in '05 are comparably as great of seasons as the 29-8-7 LeBron just totaled.
If you take a very simple equation of Points+Rebounds+Assists, LeBron's 2010 season would total 45.6. Which is admittedly fantastic.
But Bird topped 46 twice and Jordan did it five times. And Oscar did put up a 53, and Kareem had a 56, and Wilt had a 78 in 1961, if you want to get technical.
More recently, Shaq had a 47.10 in 1999, Kobe had a 45.2 in 2005, and Hakeem went for 41.3 back in 1990 while average 4.5 blocks.
The point is: LeBron's 45.6 is great, but let's not get carried away.
Especially when you consider that the Points+Rebounds+Assists method favors LeBron in a big way, as those are by far his three most dominant stats. Yeah he got 1.5 steals and 1 block and shot 50%, but that's actually not very good when you talking about all-time good. Like I said earlier, Michael averaged almost 3 steals throughout his entire career, and so did Magic. And all Wilt did was average something like 15 blocks a game. And not to mention all those guys shot higher than 50% from the field. Bird shot 91% from the line and 41% from downtown and 52.7% from the field in '87. LeBron isn't close to those percentages, and guess what - he never will be.
To put it bluntly, LeBron's shooting percentage is garbage in comparison to the all-time greats.
Yes, he's the 2010 MVP, and he is so by a mile. But for the love of God, he's no Michael Jordan.
Moving on ...
Defensive MVP - Dwight Howard (by a landslide)
Rounding out the top 5...
2. Gerald Wallace
3. Josh Smith
4. Rajon Rondo
5. Andrew Bogut
Rookie of the Year - Tyreke Evans, Sacramento (by a moderate landslide)
the top 5 ...
2. Stephen Curry
3. Brandon Jennings
4. Marcus Thornton
5. Darren Collison
Coach of the Year
1. Scott Skiles, Milwaukee. He won 46 games with a rookie point guard, a lousy Charlie Bell at the 2 position, an injured Michael Redd, a bunch of cast-offs and random internationals (such as Carlos Delfino and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute) playing integral roles, and a goofy Australian as his 'star' player. If Bogut didn't get hurt, they were on pace for 50 wins and the chance to upset Boston in round one.
2. Nate McMillan, Portland
3. Scott Brooks, Oklahoma City
*Brooks won the award on Wednesday, but I think he's getting too much credit for Durant's emergence
4. Larry Brown, Charlotte
5. Mike Brown, Cleveland
MVP
The unanimous pick is LeBron, and it's not even close. He put up a disgusting 29.7 ppg, 8.6 apg, 7.3 rpg, 1.6 spg, and 1.0 bpg, along with 50.3 FG%, and a league-best 61 wins. He is the 2010 MVP 100 times out of 100 and there can't be any debate. Roubding out the top 10 are, in my opinion:
2. Kevin Durant
3. Dwight Howard
4. Dirk Nowitzki
5. Steve Nash
6. Carmelo Anthony
7. Dwayne Wade
8. Deron Williams
9. Rajon Rondo
10. Chris Bosh
You could say that basketball was "much different" back then, and that LeBron could have averaged a triple-double against white guys in short shorts like Oscar did. Maybe true. But surely basketball hasn't changed that drastically since 1987 when Larry Bird averaged 30-9-6 or 1981 when Magic went for 23-12-6. Never mind Jordan's numerous seasons throughout the 90s, like when he averaged 32-8-8 in 1989 or his 37-5-5 in '87 or 32-7-5 in 93. Oh, and each of those seasons he averaged just about 3 steals. He also had a 35-5-6 and a 33-6-7 and a 31-6-5 and a 30-6-6 and ... well, you get the point.
So even though LeBron has the body of a steroid-infested linebacker and essentially plays point guard every night, his rebounds + assists numbers are only slightly better than MJ, while his scoring numbers don't even come close. Even Kobe's 30-7-6 from '02 or his 35-5-5 in '05 are comparably as great of seasons as the 29-8-7 LeBron just totaled.
If you take a very simple equation of Points+Rebounds+Assists, LeBron's 2010 season would total 45.6. Which is admittedly fantastic.
But Bird topped 46 twice and Jordan did it five times. And Oscar did put up a 53, and Kareem had a 56, and Wilt had a 78 in 1961, if you want to get technical.
More recently, Shaq had a 47.10 in 1999, Kobe had a 45.2 in 2005, and Hakeem went for 41.3 back in 1990 while average 4.5 blocks.
The point is: LeBron's 45.6 is great, but let's not get carried away.
Especially when you consider that the Points+Rebounds+Assists method favors LeBron in a big way, as those are by far his three most dominant stats. Yeah he got 1.5 steals and 1 block and shot 50%, but that's actually not very good when you talking about all-time good. Like I said earlier, Michael averaged almost 3 steals throughout his entire career, and so did Magic. And all Wilt did was average something like 15 blocks a game. And not to mention all those guys shot higher than 50% from the field. Bird shot 91% from the line and 41% from downtown and 52.7% from the field in '87. LeBron isn't close to those percentages, and guess what - he never will be.
To put it bluntly, LeBron's shooting percentage is garbage in comparison to the all-time greats.
Yes, he's the 2010 MVP, and he is so by a mile. But for the love of God, he's no Michael Jordan.
Moving on ...
Defensive MVP - Dwight Howard (by a landslide)
Rounding out the top 5...
2. Gerald Wallace
3. Josh Smith
4. Rajon Rondo
5. Andrew Bogut
Rookie of the Year - Tyreke Evans, Sacramento (by a moderate landslide)
the top 5 ...
2. Stephen Curry
3. Brandon Jennings
4. Marcus Thornton
5. Darren Collison
Coach of the Year
1. Scott Skiles, Milwaukee. He won 46 games with a rookie point guard, a lousy Charlie Bell at the 2 position, an injured Michael Redd, a bunch of cast-offs and random internationals (such as Carlos Delfino and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute) playing integral roles, and a goofy Australian as his 'star' player. If Bogut didn't get hurt, they were on pace for 50 wins and the chance to upset Boston in round one.
2. Nate McMillan, Portland
3. Scott Brooks, Oklahoma City
*Brooks won the award on Wednesday, but I think he's getting too much credit for Durant's emergence
4. Larry Brown, Charlotte
5. Mike Brown, Cleveland
Most Improved Player
Always the most subjective award in sports, because it depends if you're talking about a guy who jumped from no where to good, or a guy who went from good to unbelievable. Under any circumstance, I think the choice has to be Kevin Durant.
He turned the corner from "Best Player on a Horrible Team" to "Star Player on a 50 Win Team," and that's a jump that 90% of alleged superstars aren't able to do in the NBA. He not only did it, he did it unselfishly, playing great defense, shooting high percentages, and winning the scoring title without being a ball-hog. He went from a borderline All Star to a top 5 player in the league. He's probably not going to win Most Improved Player, but he should.
2. Aaron Brooks, Houston
3. Kevin Love, Minnesota
4. David Lee, New York
5. Brook Lopez, Nets
Most Dissappointing Player
A pretty heated battle between Philly's Elton Brand, who was supposed to recover from a major injury and have a comeback season, and the Raptors' Hedo Turkoglu, who was supposed to join Calderon and Bosh and create a playoff team in Toronto. Other applicants would include Rasheed Wallace, Ben Gordon, and Emeka Okafor. But taking top honors is going to be gun-toting Gilbert Arenas, for being the biggest idiot in professional sports in 2010. Oh, and Yao Ming probably deserves consideration too, just for being Yao Ming.
Comeback Player of the Year
Got to be Zach Randolph. He may have actually been a top 15 MVP candidate. A brilliant and wonderful renassaince season for Z-Bo.
All-NBA First Team
Kobe, Wade, Durant, LeBron, and Dwight
Second Team
Nash, Rondo, Carmelo, Dirk, and Gasol
Third Team
Deron Williams, Amare Stoudemire, Gerald Wallace, Chris Bosh and David Lee
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
LOST Thoughts: 5 more episodes
**EDIT** I wrote this yesterday before The Last Recruit aired. ***
With just five episodes remaining, including tonight - The Last Recruit - I thought it seemed an appropriate time to rehash where we are, where we've been, and what to anticipate in the next five weeks. I've tried to dig back and recall every lingering mystery or unanswered question and decide which issues will definitely be addressed in the final five episodes, and which may or may not be left unanswered forever.
Let's start with the issues that will definitely be covered:
-Adam and Eve. Their identities will definitely be resolved. I still guess Bernard and Rose.
-What is the Smoke Monster? Jacob and Smokey's pasts will be revealed, including the mystery of the Man in Black's mother.
-The Rules. What are they, who made them, why do they exist.
-The Flash-Sideways. What the heck is the connection?
-What is the deal with Jack's cut on his neck?
-Where is Christian's body?
-The dead Ajira folks. Who killed them, Smokie or Widmore?
-The canoe shooting from last season. Who was shooting at them?
-Which Kwon is the Candidate, or is it both?
-Aaron. What happens if he is 'raised by another?'
Okay, and here are the list of things which I think could go either way. Maybe resolved, maybe not.
-Walt. Why was he considered special? Chances of an answer - 60%
-Who is the mother of Jack's son? Chances of answer - 75%
-Libby's weird past. Chances of answer - 5%
-Rose and Bernard. Will we ever see them again? Chances of seeing them again - 80%
-Vincent. Will we see him, and will Vincent ever reunite with Walt? 70% and 20%
-Ben summoning the monster in that weird room. Chances of explanation - 35%
-Jacob's Cabin - who was actually in there? Chances of answers - 70%
-Why didn't Sun flash out of Ajira 316 into the past like Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid did? Is it because she isn't a candidate? Chances - 65%
-The Numbers. Will we find out anything more about them? Chances - 40%
-Ben's childhood friend Anna - Chances of revisiting that topic - 1%
-The Hurley Bird. Remember that Bird that said Hurley's name? Chances - less than .001%
Also, LOST co-creator Damon Lindelhof said "there will probably be people who say it’s the worst ending in the history of television." Hmmm ... great.
With just five episodes remaining, including tonight - The Last Recruit - I thought it seemed an appropriate time to rehash where we are, where we've been, and what to anticipate in the next five weeks. I've tried to dig back and recall every lingering mystery or unanswered question and decide which issues will definitely be addressed in the final five episodes, and which may or may not be left unanswered forever.
Let's start with the issues that will definitely be covered:
-Adam and Eve. Their identities will definitely be resolved. I still guess Bernard and Rose.
-What is the Smoke Monster? Jacob and Smokey's pasts will be revealed, including the mystery of the Man in Black's mother.
-The Rules. What are they, who made them, why do they exist.
-The Flash-Sideways. What the heck is the connection?
-What is the deal with Jack's cut on his neck?
-Where is Christian's body?
-The dead Ajira folks. Who killed them, Smokie or Widmore?
-The canoe shooting from last season. Who was shooting at them?
-Which Kwon is the Candidate, or is it both?
-Aaron. What happens if he is 'raised by another?'
Okay, and here are the list of things which I think could go either way. Maybe resolved, maybe not.
-Walt. Why was he considered special? Chances of an answer - 60%
-Who is the mother of Jack's son? Chances of answer - 75%
-Libby's weird past. Chances of answer - 5%
-Rose and Bernard. Will we ever see them again? Chances of seeing them again - 80%
-Vincent. Will we see him, and will Vincent ever reunite with Walt? 70% and 20%
-Ben summoning the monster in that weird room. Chances of explanation - 35%
-Jacob's Cabin - who was actually in there? Chances of answers - 70%
-Why didn't Sun flash out of Ajira 316 into the past like Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid did? Is it because she isn't a candidate? Chances - 65%
-The Numbers. Will we find out anything more about them? Chances - 40%
-Ben's childhood friend Anna - Chances of revisiting that topic - 1%
-The Hurley Bird. Remember that Bird that said Hurley's name? Chances - less than .001%
-Why can the island heal people from paralysis, cancer and infertility? Chances of answer - 40%
(I think most people have stopped thinking about this)
And the clincher that just about everyone has forgotten about, which could still hold the key to the entire show: why did Jack wake up in a thick forest, instead of on the beach, in the opening seconds of season 1, episode 1? Does that make any sense at all?
In addition to questions to answer and mysteries to solve, there are also plot lines that must be moved forward. Here is the comprehensive list of what still needs to happen in LOST, plot-wise.
1. Sun and Jin reunite. We thought it would happen half-way through last season. I thought for sure it would happen in the first episode of season 6. Surely they won't wait too much longer. I think it's either tonight or next week. (EDIT - it happened last night and was a little bit anti-climatic)
2. Some major characters die. It's inevitiable. I think at least 3. And by main characters, I don't mean Claire, Frank or Miles. I mean people who have been integral to the show since at least season 2. Ben, Richard, Sawyer, both Kwons, Sayid and Hurley are all up for grabs. Basically, everyone except Jack is not safe.
3. Resolve the whole 'Candidate' business. This will probably be tied together with Jacob and Smokie's pasts, and the rules, and the general mystery of the Island.
4. Wrap up the Flash-Sideways. And do it quickly.
5. We see Juliet again. She'll meet up with Sawyer in the flash-sideways. That's a guarantee.
6. Happy ending. It would nice if the closing moments of the very last episode could have a happy feeling, and not a sort of time-loopish feeling that nothing was resolved other than saving the world from Smokie. Newsflash to LOST producers: Jack + Kate does not qualify as a happy ending. NO ONE likes Kate. At least someone other than those two has to have a happy ending or else I'm going to feel a little bit miserable when all is said and done.
7. Super awesome surprise. Many of the greatest Holy Crap! Moments in LOST history occured in season finales. Walt being taken off the boat. Explosion of the hatch. Reveal of flash-forwards. The island moves. Locke is dead. We find out Locke is actually Flocke. This season has to end with a shocker of that magnitude. I can't even guess what it will be ...
Well, I guess I can guess.
One theory I've always liked is that Aaron is the Monster.
Or, real Locke comes back to life. (There is no measure to how much this would piss off my mother, who would interpret it as an anit-Christian act of witchcraft and not just something that happened in a TV show).
Another popular theory is the time-loop. The show ends exactly how it began, with Jack waking up in the jungle. I HATE this idea. And I don't think it's going to happen, because it's a little too predictable.
Here's another possible ending: the new generation of Losties (Aaron, Walt, Clementine, Ji Yeon, Desmonds' kid Charlie) arrive at the island and start all over. Sort of like the time-loop idea, but much better.
A couple other thoughts:
Only one cast member of LOST has admitted that he knows how the final moments of LOST will look, and that's Matthew Fox. A possible clue that Jack will be the way the show ends. (Duh, we already knew that anyway).
Also, LOST co-creator Damon Lindelhof said "there will probably be people who say it’s the worst ending in the history of television." Hmmm ... great.
Okay, so here's my totally unpredictable and awesome and potentially infuriating prediction on the final scene of LOST will look:
Jack and Hurley are sitting on the beach, staring out at the ocean. They look at each other, smile and nod. Hurley stands up, says, "Dude, I'm gonna get a beer, you want one?" Jack says, "Sure, thanks Hurley."
THE END.
Monday, April 19, 2010
My Mock Draft
With the NFL Draft just 3 days away, everybody and their brother is conducting a 'mock draft.' Indeed, the mock draft process has become more exciting than the draft itself. Never mind who was picked, who should have been picked is the question. It's madness and inexplicable but I guess I'll play along.
Mock Draft- Picks 1-40
#1 - St. Louis Rams
QB Sam Bradford
I'm 90% sure.
#2 - Detroit Lions
DT Ndamukong Suh
I'm 85% sure. And 100% excited.
#3 - Tampa Bay Bucs
DT Gerald McCoy
When you have as many needs as Tampa does, you have to go best player available.
#4 - Washington Redskins
OT Russell Okung
They got McNabb, now they need to protect him. No brainer.
#5 - Kansas City Chiefs
OT Trent Williams
Which means 3 of the top 5 picks are from Oklahoma.
#6 - Seattle Seahawks
OT Brian Bulaga
Chance of a trade here (Buffalo leapfrogs Cleveland to grab Clausen), otherwise Seahawks desperately need an OT and will take the best one available.
#7 - Cleveland Browns
S Eric Berry
This is Mike Holmgren's pick to make, and I think his ego prevents him from taking Clausen, believing that he can win with Delhomme. Best player available is Berry.
#8 - Oakland Raiders
OT Bruce Campbell
Al Davis is all about the Combine, and Campbell was not only the fastest OT, but also one of the most gigantic. This isn't actually a terrible pick.
#9 - Buffalo Bills
QB Jimmy Clausen
If they pass on him, he'll fall like a rock. My opinion is they either need a QB or an OT and the defense can be left alone; with 4 OTs off the board at this point Clausen is the only choice.
#10 - Jacksonville Jaguars
CB Joe Haden
I think they have to either go DB or WR with this pick; Aaron Kampman addressed a huge need at DE and now their focus should be on stopping Andre Johnson and Reggie Wayne in the AFC South. Haden has the skill-set to be a shut-down corner.
#11 - Denver Broncos
LB Rolando McClain
They'll pass on WR Dez Bryant because Josh McDaniels hates divas. They need to address the linebacker position. McClain is a great pick here.
#12 - Miami Dolphins
DE Jason Pierre Paul
He's really a DE/OLB hybrid and would probably play OLB in the 3-4. He has the versatility and athleticism that Bill Parcells loves. And they addressed their biggest need with Brandon Marshall last week.
#13 - San Francisco 49ers
S Earl Thomas
They want an OT badly, but they pick again at #17. So the question becomes - who will still be there in 4 picks? With Seattle right after them, it depends on whether Seattle got an OT with the 6th pick, because that's Seattle's biggest need too. If they didn't, they'll be picking one at #14, which means San Fran has to jump on the best OT available - Anthony Davis. If Seattle got an OT at pick #6, like they did in this mock, than San Fran can wait a few picks for their OT and will settle for the best player available to this point, which is Thomas.
#14 - Seattle Seahawks
RB C.J. Spiller
A perfect fit for the team with the NFL's worst running game.
#15 - New York Giants
DE Derrick Morgan
Another no-brainer. He's an elite pass rusher, but I think he may fall to #15 because so many teams are in the 3-4 scheme and will pass him up.
#16 - Tennessee Titans
DT Dan Williams
Fills the gap left by Haynesworth and helps them rebuild their defense.
#17 -San Francisco 49ers
OT Anthony Davis
See #13.
#18 - Pittsburgh Steelers
WR Dez Bryant
They love to get skill position guys in the first round, and will be lucky to find Holmes' replacement with the 18th pick. They probably SHOULD get a CB or a OT, but I think they'll nab Bryant if he's still there.
#19 - Atlanta Falcons
DE Brandon Graham
They need to upgrade their pass-rush, and the former Wolverine is the best DE left on the board.
#20 - Houston Texans
CB Kyle Wilson
They'll pass on their glaring RB need and draft a potential shutdown CB to replace Dunta Robinson. Because they, like the rest of the AFC South, need to be able to stop Peyton Manning.
#21 - Cincinnati Bengals
S Taylor Mays
They have needs all over the place, but I think an athletic safety with 4.2 speed might be too hard to pass up. Especially considering the Bengals' track record of drafting USC Trojans.
#22 - New England Patriots
LB Sergio Kindle
Most likely, they'll trade this pick as they always seem to. But if not, Kindle fills the need of a pass-rusher from the 3-4.
#23 - Green Bay Packers
OT Charles Brown
Good grief! The Packers gave up zillions of sacks last year and this draft is extremely deep at left tackle. They can wait to address the secondary until the next round.
#24 - Philadelphia Eagles
G Mike Iupati
Just an hour ago, I learned that the Lions traded Ernie Sims to Philly (for nothing in return.) No clue why, but hopefully they'll do something soon to explain. Sims fills in a big need for Philly and now they'll address the O-line.
#25 - Baltimore Ravens
TE Jermaine Gresham
Gives Flacco another passing option to compliment Boldin. This is no longer a team built on defense.
#26 - Arizona Cardinals
ILB Sean Weatherspoon
Kind of a no-brainer if he falls to them; they need an inside linebacker to replace Dansby and he's the perfect fit. They also need a QB to replace Warner, and I don't think Derek Anderson is the guy.
#27 - Dallas Cowboys
C Maurkice Pouncey
Jerry Jones needs to make as little noise as he can at the draft (in leiu of his recent comments), and Pouncey is the perfect fit for an offensive line that needs some size.
#28 - San Diego Chargers
CB Devin McCourty
They'd like to find a replacement for LT, but it's more imperative to replace the departed Antonio Cromartie in the secondary. McCourty is a bit of a steal at pick 28.
#29 - New York Jets
DE/DT Jared Odrick
Definitely a steal at #29. The Jets need someone who can get after the quarterback, and Odrick is the best player left on the board.
#30 - Minnesota Vikings
QB Colt McCoy
Because the Vikings don't have any other dire needs, and Favre is a grandfather (true story), and McCoy would have at least a year to develop.
#31 - Indianapolis Colts
OT Rodger Saffold
Yet another OT flies off the board, because Indy doesn't have many other needs and protecting Manning has always been priority #1. They could use a DT too.
#32 - New Orleans Saints
DE Carlos Dunlap
A major steal for the Champs if he's still here; he's got top 10 talent, but he's a numbskull.
#33 - St. Louis Rams
DT Terrance Cody
He's huge and can stop the run and win some battles in the trenches, which is one of the many things the Rams need.
#34 - Detroit Lions
RB Jahvid Best
Okay, we've got a few needs here. Running back, cornerback, and offensive line (LT, RG). If Wilson or McCourty falls to #34, I think we'll go CB, but I don't think that will happen, unfortunately. I doubt the Lions will take the 10th offensive lineman off the board when they can take the 2nd running back. Question is, will it be Best or Ryan Matthews from Fresno State, who many expect will be taken in the first round? For sure, at least one of them will be available at #34, maybe both. Matthews is quite a bit bigger, but Best is more of a "home-run threat," which I know the Lions' management is looking for. Plus Matthews has some injuries in his past. We need speed at the RB position. I think the pick is Jahvid Best.
#35 - Tampa Bay Bucs
WR Golden Tate
They need to replace Antonio Bryant at wide receiver. Also, they need someone to throw the ball to him, and 5 guys who can block, and about 10 new starters on defense. But they're set at kicker!
#36 - Kansas City Chiefs
S Nate Allen
They've been trying to repair the defensive line for a few years now, and should spend some money on the secondary this year.
#37 - Philadelphia Eagles
DE Jerry Hughes
Best player available at this point.
#38 - Cleveland Browns
DT Brian Price
I don't know what Shaun Rogers' future is, but it'd be wise for the Browns to start replacing him now.
#39 - Oakland Raiders
DT Linval Joseph
After getting a physical freak on the O-line in the first round, Oakland will get a physical freak on the D-line with this pick. Never mind if he can play or not. Al Davis wants to see height, weight, and speed. Joseph fits the bill at 6'4'', 320 lbs and a 40 under 5 seconds.
#40 - San Diego Chargers
RB Ryan Matthews
They'll be ecstatic to find LT's long-term replacement here at pick #40. If this mock draft holds up, Matthews is my early vote for rookie of the year.
Okay, that's enough for now.
Go Lions.
Mock Draft- Picks 1-40
#1 - St. Louis Rams
QB Sam Bradford
I'm 90% sure.
#2 - Detroit Lions
DT Ndamukong Suh
I'm 85% sure. And 100% excited.
#3 - Tampa Bay Bucs
DT Gerald McCoy
When you have as many needs as Tampa does, you have to go best player available.
#4 - Washington Redskins
OT Russell Okung
They got McNabb, now they need to protect him. No brainer.
#5 - Kansas City Chiefs
OT Trent Williams
Which means 3 of the top 5 picks are from Oklahoma.
#6 - Seattle Seahawks
OT Brian Bulaga
Chance of a trade here (Buffalo leapfrogs Cleveland to grab Clausen), otherwise Seahawks desperately need an OT and will take the best one available.
#7 - Cleveland Browns
S Eric Berry
This is Mike Holmgren's pick to make, and I think his ego prevents him from taking Clausen, believing that he can win with Delhomme. Best player available is Berry.
#8 - Oakland Raiders
OT Bruce Campbell
Al Davis is all about the Combine, and Campbell was not only the fastest OT, but also one of the most gigantic. This isn't actually a terrible pick.
#9 - Buffalo Bills
QB Jimmy Clausen
If they pass on him, he'll fall like a rock. My opinion is they either need a QB or an OT and the defense can be left alone; with 4 OTs off the board at this point Clausen is the only choice.
#10 - Jacksonville Jaguars
CB Joe Haden
I think they have to either go DB or WR with this pick; Aaron Kampman addressed a huge need at DE and now their focus should be on stopping Andre Johnson and Reggie Wayne in the AFC South. Haden has the skill-set to be a shut-down corner.
#11 - Denver Broncos
LB Rolando McClain
They'll pass on WR Dez Bryant because Josh McDaniels hates divas. They need to address the linebacker position. McClain is a great pick here.
#12 - Miami Dolphins
DE Jason Pierre Paul
He's really a DE/OLB hybrid and would probably play OLB in the 3-4. He has the versatility and athleticism that Bill Parcells loves. And they addressed their biggest need with Brandon Marshall last week.
#13 - San Francisco 49ers
S Earl Thomas
They want an OT badly, but they pick again at #17. So the question becomes - who will still be there in 4 picks? With Seattle right after them, it depends on whether Seattle got an OT with the 6th pick, because that's Seattle's biggest need too. If they didn't, they'll be picking one at #14, which means San Fran has to jump on the best OT available - Anthony Davis. If Seattle got an OT at pick #6, like they did in this mock, than San Fran can wait a few picks for their OT and will settle for the best player available to this point, which is Thomas.
#14 - Seattle Seahawks
RB C.J. Spiller
A perfect fit for the team with the NFL's worst running game.
#15 - New York Giants
DE Derrick Morgan
Another no-brainer. He's an elite pass rusher, but I think he may fall to #15 because so many teams are in the 3-4 scheme and will pass him up.
#16 - Tennessee Titans
DT Dan Williams
Fills the gap left by Haynesworth and helps them rebuild their defense.
#17 -San Francisco 49ers
OT Anthony Davis
See #13.
#18 - Pittsburgh Steelers
WR Dez Bryant
They love to get skill position guys in the first round, and will be lucky to find Holmes' replacement with the 18th pick. They probably SHOULD get a CB or a OT, but I think they'll nab Bryant if he's still there.
#19 - Atlanta Falcons
DE Brandon Graham
They need to upgrade their pass-rush, and the former Wolverine is the best DE left on the board.
#20 - Houston Texans
CB Kyle Wilson
They'll pass on their glaring RB need and draft a potential shutdown CB to replace Dunta Robinson. Because they, like the rest of the AFC South, need to be able to stop Peyton Manning.
#21 - Cincinnati Bengals
S Taylor Mays
They have needs all over the place, but I think an athletic safety with 4.2 speed might be too hard to pass up. Especially considering the Bengals' track record of drafting USC Trojans.
#22 - New England Patriots
LB Sergio Kindle
Most likely, they'll trade this pick as they always seem to. But if not, Kindle fills the need of a pass-rusher from the 3-4.
#23 - Green Bay Packers
OT Charles Brown
Good grief! The Packers gave up zillions of sacks last year and this draft is extremely deep at left tackle. They can wait to address the secondary until the next round.
#24 - Philadelphia Eagles
G Mike Iupati
Just an hour ago, I learned that the Lions traded Ernie Sims to Philly (for nothing in return.) No clue why, but hopefully they'll do something soon to explain. Sims fills in a big need for Philly and now they'll address the O-line.
#25 - Baltimore Ravens
TE Jermaine Gresham
Gives Flacco another passing option to compliment Boldin. This is no longer a team built on defense.
#26 - Arizona Cardinals
ILB Sean Weatherspoon
Kind of a no-brainer if he falls to them; they need an inside linebacker to replace Dansby and he's the perfect fit. They also need a QB to replace Warner, and I don't think Derek Anderson is the guy.
#27 - Dallas Cowboys
C Maurkice Pouncey
Jerry Jones needs to make as little noise as he can at the draft (in leiu of his recent comments), and Pouncey is the perfect fit for an offensive line that needs some size.
#28 - San Diego Chargers
CB Devin McCourty
They'd like to find a replacement for LT, but it's more imperative to replace the departed Antonio Cromartie in the secondary. McCourty is a bit of a steal at pick 28.
#29 - New York Jets
DE/DT Jared Odrick
Definitely a steal at #29. The Jets need someone who can get after the quarterback, and Odrick is the best player left on the board.
#30 - Minnesota Vikings
QB Colt McCoy
Because the Vikings don't have any other dire needs, and Favre is a grandfather (true story), and McCoy would have at least a year to develop.
#31 - Indianapolis Colts
OT Rodger Saffold
Yet another OT flies off the board, because Indy doesn't have many other needs and protecting Manning has always been priority #1. They could use a DT too.
#32 - New Orleans Saints
DE Carlos Dunlap
A major steal for the Champs if he's still here; he's got top 10 talent, but he's a numbskull.
#33 - St. Louis Rams
DT Terrance Cody
He's huge and can stop the run and win some battles in the trenches, which is one of the many things the Rams need.
#34 - Detroit Lions
RB Jahvid Best
Okay, we've got a few needs here. Running back, cornerback, and offensive line (LT, RG). If Wilson or McCourty falls to #34, I think we'll go CB, but I don't think that will happen, unfortunately. I doubt the Lions will take the 10th offensive lineman off the board when they can take the 2nd running back. Question is, will it be Best or Ryan Matthews from Fresno State, who many expect will be taken in the first round? For sure, at least one of them will be available at #34, maybe both. Matthews is quite a bit bigger, but Best is more of a "home-run threat," which I know the Lions' management is looking for. Plus Matthews has some injuries in his past. We need speed at the RB position. I think the pick is Jahvid Best.
#35 - Tampa Bay Bucs
WR Golden Tate
They need to replace Antonio Bryant at wide receiver. Also, they need someone to throw the ball to him, and 5 guys who can block, and about 10 new starters on defense. But they're set at kicker!
#36 - Kansas City Chiefs
S Nate Allen
They've been trying to repair the defensive line for a few years now, and should spend some money on the secondary this year.
#37 - Philadelphia Eagles
DE Jerry Hughes
Best player available at this point.
#38 - Cleveland Browns
DT Brian Price
I don't know what Shaun Rogers' future is, but it'd be wise for the Browns to start replacing him now.
#39 - Oakland Raiders
DT Linval Joseph
After getting a physical freak on the O-line in the first round, Oakland will get a physical freak on the D-line with this pick. Never mind if he can play or not. Al Davis wants to see height, weight, and speed. Joseph fits the bill at 6'4'', 320 lbs and a 40 under 5 seconds.
#40 - San Diego Chargers
RB Ryan Matthews
They'll be ecstatic to find LT's long-term replacement here at pick #40. If this mock draft holds up, Matthews is my early vote for rookie of the year.
Okay, that's enough for now.
Go Lions.
Friday, April 16, 2010
2010 Pistons Season Recap
Yesterday, I said to my wife, "Well honey, Pistons season is over. They missed the playoffs..."
Her response?
"Who?"
That's the kind of season it's been.
I bother her day after day with minute information about sports, every signing the Lions make and every run the Tigers score and even golf and hockey sometimes. And every day she pretends to be interested, at least for a little while. But I haven't had a single interesting thing to say about the Pistons since the season tipped off, and she forgot all about them.
Sadly, so did I.
I used to be obsessed with the Pistons. They were my favorite team, or at least tied with the Lions. I talked incessantly about Darvin Ham and Carlos Delfino and how McDyess should be starting over Rasheed. I bemoaned Corliss Williamson and Elden "Marshmellow-Head" Campbell and lamented the loss of Mehmet Okur. I deeply LOVED Chauncey Billups and his smooth, graceful game. I loved the hard-work and never-say-die attitude of undersized Ben Wallace and hated the Nets, Pacers and Cavs with a passion.
Those years seem like a hundred years ago.
This year, I focused more time and energy on my fantasy team than my real team. Led by Kevin Durant and his unlikely scoring title, as well as emergent performances by Rondo, Bogut and Gerald Wallace, I won my fantasy league by a landslide. I drafted the three best rookies - Evans, Curry, and Jennings - and had a brilliant Miles-Austin-esque moment when I picked up Andre Miller the day before he scored 51 points, and then dropped him a few days later. I was a machine. I dominated.
The Pistons, on the other hand, were dominated. By everyone. A home game against the Nets meant we had a decent chance. A road game against Memphis meant we were screwed.
What the hell happened?
----
Well, I'd like to blame Darko, but I think the unraveling really began when Ben Wallace took the extra money and went to Chicago. At that point, the Pistons began to lose their defensive identity, and between Rasheed's laziness and Rip's whinyness, things spiraled out of control.
The Billups-Iverson trade was the nail in the coffin, and Michael Curry was our gravedigger. Losing John Hammond to the Bucks was particularly devestating, because it soon became apparent that Hammond was actually the mastermind behind building the great '03-'06 teams, and Joe D was simply the figurehead. (Don't believe me? Look at what Hammond has done with the Bucks.) Without his right-hand man, Joe D has showed a complete ineptitude in scouting, trading, signing free agents, and hiring coaches. Kuester was even worse than Curry.
With 27 wins, the 2010 Pistons are the worst team since 1993 (Isaiah's last year), and a streak of eight straight playoff appearances comes to a faltering, sputtering, pathetic end.
What's worse, the team is in no shape to improve. We are tied down by HORRIBLE contracts to Gordon and Charlie V, and our 'building blocks' are Stuckey, Daye and Jerebko. Good luck making the playoffs with that team.
Our big men include Maxiell (who is maybe 6'5'') and Ben Wallace (probably about 6'7'') and neither of them have any offensive game whatsoever. We've also got Wilcox and Kwame and neither of them should be on an NBA roster at this point in their lives.
Most of the height on Detroit comes from Prince, Daye and Jerebko, who average maybe 150 lbs. each. Not going to get a lot of rebounds from those guys. And then there's Villanueva, probably the only player in the NBA who is lazier than Rasheed.
So problem #1, our big guys suck.
Then there's the guards. Stuckey is an okay bench player, but not an adequate replacement for Billups like we thought he might be. Not even close. Bynum is cute for a 5'9'' sparkplug but he's exactly the kind of guy who will help you win 27 games. Rip is finished; he's leaving town ASAP. And there's Ben Gordon, who's getting $50 million to come off the bench and jack up ugly 3s and have one or two good games a week while battling injuries with the toughness of an NFL kicker. And then there's Chucky Atkins, who has no business being on the floor, ever.
So problem #2, the guards suck.
Those are two pretty bad problems to have. Compound to that, we have the worst coach in the NBA, a GM who's ego has led him to believe that he can do no wrong even though he's done nothing but wrong for 5 years, a depleted and exhausted fan base, and little to no financial flexibility, not to mention the team is for sale.
And worst of all, we lack the grittiness and chemistry and toughness to grind out tough games and win against bigger and faster opponents. It's part coaching, part old-age, and part apathy. There's no desire to win like there used to be. No hustle; no defensive intensity; no pride.
To sum up the 2010 season in two words: No Heart.
Where do we go from here?
----
Should Kuester be fired after just one year? (Yeah)
Does Dumars deserve to be fired? (Yes)
But neither guy will lose his job, because the team is in a state of stalemate. There is no accountability, no executive decision-making. Dumars can do whatever he wants and he answers to no one. The buck stops no where.
Bill Davidson's wife clearly doesn't want to own the team anymore. There are even rumors that the team could move out of Detroit, but I highly, highly doubt it. Dumars won't lose his job, and he won't fire Kuester because he can't afford to fire another coach. At this point the coach doesn't matter; it's a talent issue. And the fans know that.
What the Pistons need is some luck in the NBA lottery. Landing the #1 or #2 pick would be great, because either John Wall or Evan Turner gives us a potential star and a point guard to build around. But the Pistons will most likely be picking in the 5-8 range, and they can't afford to whiff the pick completely on just a mediocre player.
They'll want to play it safe and get a good-character guy with dependability and a good record of health. But what they need is to also get an explosive talent and a leader to build the team around. I don't have any suggestions because I know squat about college basketball. But I know that in last year's draft, everyone wanted Rubio and Harden when the guys they should have wanted in the top 10 were Jennings and Evans. And I know that big guys are better to acquire through free agency than through the draft, because young centers are slower, less coordinated, more prone to injuries, and take longer to develop (see Griffin, Oden, Thabeet, Darko, Yao, Bogut - all #2 picks or higher who have either got hurt, sucked, or both).
So the draft is huge. We need to either pick in the top 2 or find a steal. We also need a second rounder who can actually play. The days of drafting guys just as a formality and then sending them to the D-League for a few years are over; we need impact guys. Joe D has only drafted two guys - Stuckey and Tayshaun - who have actually become significant parts of the team, in the past 10 years.
He completely wasted picks on Austin Daye, Walter Sharpe, Deron Washington, Sammy Meija, Will Blalock, Rodney White, and even Mateen Cleaves back in 2000 (14th overall, just two picks ahead of Turkoglu).
Scouts in the NBA have no idea what they're doing. Darko went ahead of Carmelo and Wade, but that's not the only example. Seven guards got picked ahead of Rajon Rondo in 2006, and only 1 is still in the league. Paul Milsap fell to 47th in that draft and he should have been picked in the top 5.
Have you ever heard of Nikoloz Tskitishvilli, Marcus Fizer, or Shaun Livingston? All are top 5 picks from the last 6 drafts. Oden was picked #1 instead of Durant; Bargani went #1 and Adam Morrison went #3 while Brandon Roy waited; Marvin Williams went ahead of Deron Williams, and Chris Paul; Fran Vazquez and Yaroslav Korolev were picked ahead of Danny Granger.
They combined for less than 50 points in their illustrious NBA careers, while Granger has scored just about 6,500.
This is all from recent drafts, not ancient history. Joe Dumars isn't the only one who screws up picks, in his defense, but there are certain teams who consistently make great picks, even in the second round.
Utah. Houston. Cleveland.
The point of this long diatribe is that Joe D needs to learn to pick guys to rebuild around, rather than thinking he already has the pieces to build with. Because he doesn't.
And the sooner he learns that, the better we'll all be.
----
For now, I don't want to give any more thought to the stupid Pistons and have just one more thought: their .329 winning percentage this year means all the Lions have to do is win 5 games this year and they'll no longer be the worst team in Detroit.
At least some good came from this ...
Her response?
"Who?"
That's the kind of season it's been.
I bother her day after day with minute information about sports, every signing the Lions make and every run the Tigers score and even golf and hockey sometimes. And every day she pretends to be interested, at least for a little while. But I haven't had a single interesting thing to say about the Pistons since the season tipped off, and she forgot all about them.
Sadly, so did I.
I used to be obsessed with the Pistons. They were my favorite team, or at least tied with the Lions. I talked incessantly about Darvin Ham and Carlos Delfino and how McDyess should be starting over Rasheed. I bemoaned Corliss Williamson and Elden "Marshmellow-Head" Campbell and lamented the loss of Mehmet Okur. I deeply LOVED Chauncey Billups and his smooth, graceful game. I loved the hard-work and never-say-die attitude of undersized Ben Wallace and hated the Nets, Pacers and Cavs with a passion.
Those years seem like a hundred years ago.
This year, I focused more time and energy on my fantasy team than my real team. Led by Kevin Durant and his unlikely scoring title, as well as emergent performances by Rondo, Bogut and Gerald Wallace, I won my fantasy league by a landslide. I drafted the three best rookies - Evans, Curry, and Jennings - and had a brilliant Miles-Austin-esque moment when I picked up Andre Miller the day before he scored 51 points, and then dropped him a few days later. I was a machine. I dominated.
The Pistons, on the other hand, were dominated. By everyone. A home game against the Nets meant we had a decent chance. A road game against Memphis meant we were screwed.
What the hell happened?
----
Well, I'd like to blame Darko, but I think the unraveling really began when Ben Wallace took the extra money and went to Chicago. At that point, the Pistons began to lose their defensive identity, and between Rasheed's laziness and Rip's whinyness, things spiraled out of control.
The Billups-Iverson trade was the nail in the coffin, and Michael Curry was our gravedigger. Losing John Hammond to the Bucks was particularly devestating, because it soon became apparent that Hammond was actually the mastermind behind building the great '03-'06 teams, and Joe D was simply the figurehead. (Don't believe me? Look at what Hammond has done with the Bucks.) Without his right-hand man, Joe D has showed a complete ineptitude in scouting, trading, signing free agents, and hiring coaches. Kuester was even worse than Curry.
With 27 wins, the 2010 Pistons are the worst team since 1993 (Isaiah's last year), and a streak of eight straight playoff appearances comes to a faltering, sputtering, pathetic end.
What's worse, the team is in no shape to improve. We are tied down by HORRIBLE contracts to Gordon and Charlie V, and our 'building blocks' are Stuckey, Daye and Jerebko. Good luck making the playoffs with that team.
Our big men include Maxiell (who is maybe 6'5'') and Ben Wallace (probably about 6'7'') and neither of them have any offensive game whatsoever. We've also got Wilcox and Kwame and neither of them should be on an NBA roster at this point in their lives.
Most of the height on Detroit comes from Prince, Daye and Jerebko, who average maybe 150 lbs. each. Not going to get a lot of rebounds from those guys. And then there's Villanueva, probably the only player in the NBA who is lazier than Rasheed.
So problem #1, our big guys suck.
Then there's the guards. Stuckey is an okay bench player, but not an adequate replacement for Billups like we thought he might be. Not even close. Bynum is cute for a 5'9'' sparkplug but he's exactly the kind of guy who will help you win 27 games. Rip is finished; he's leaving town ASAP. And there's Ben Gordon, who's getting $50 million to come off the bench and jack up ugly 3s and have one or two good games a week while battling injuries with the toughness of an NFL kicker. And then there's Chucky Atkins, who has no business being on the floor, ever.
So problem #2, the guards suck.
Those are two pretty bad problems to have. Compound to that, we have the worst coach in the NBA, a GM who's ego has led him to believe that he can do no wrong even though he's done nothing but wrong for 5 years, a depleted and exhausted fan base, and little to no financial flexibility, not to mention the team is for sale.
And worst of all, we lack the grittiness and chemistry and toughness to grind out tough games and win against bigger and faster opponents. It's part coaching, part old-age, and part apathy. There's no desire to win like there used to be. No hustle; no defensive intensity; no pride.
To sum up the 2010 season in two words: No Heart.
Where do we go from here?
----
Should Kuester be fired after just one year? (Yeah)
Does Dumars deserve to be fired? (Yes)
But neither guy will lose his job, because the team is in a state of stalemate. There is no accountability, no executive decision-making. Dumars can do whatever he wants and he answers to no one. The buck stops no where.
Bill Davidson's wife clearly doesn't want to own the team anymore. There are even rumors that the team could move out of Detroit, but I highly, highly doubt it. Dumars won't lose his job, and he won't fire Kuester because he can't afford to fire another coach. At this point the coach doesn't matter; it's a talent issue. And the fans know that.
What the Pistons need is some luck in the NBA lottery. Landing the #1 or #2 pick would be great, because either John Wall or Evan Turner gives us a potential star and a point guard to build around. But the Pistons will most likely be picking in the 5-8 range, and they can't afford to whiff the pick completely on just a mediocre player.
They'll want to play it safe and get a good-character guy with dependability and a good record of health. But what they need is to also get an explosive talent and a leader to build the team around. I don't have any suggestions because I know squat about college basketball. But I know that in last year's draft, everyone wanted Rubio and Harden when the guys they should have wanted in the top 10 were Jennings and Evans. And I know that big guys are better to acquire through free agency than through the draft, because young centers are slower, less coordinated, more prone to injuries, and take longer to develop (see Griffin, Oden, Thabeet, Darko, Yao, Bogut - all #2 picks or higher who have either got hurt, sucked, or both).
So the draft is huge. We need to either pick in the top 2 or find a steal. We also need a second rounder who can actually play. The days of drafting guys just as a formality and then sending them to the D-League for a few years are over; we need impact guys. Joe D has only drafted two guys - Stuckey and Tayshaun - who have actually become significant parts of the team, in the past 10 years.
He completely wasted picks on Austin Daye, Walter Sharpe, Deron Washington, Sammy Meija, Will Blalock, Rodney White, and even Mateen Cleaves back in 2000 (14th overall, just two picks ahead of Turkoglu).
Scouts in the NBA have no idea what they're doing. Darko went ahead of Carmelo and Wade, but that's not the only example. Seven guards got picked ahead of Rajon Rondo in 2006, and only 1 is still in the league. Paul Milsap fell to 47th in that draft and he should have been picked in the top 5.
Have you ever heard of Nikoloz Tskitishvilli, Marcus Fizer, or Shaun Livingston? All are top 5 picks from the last 6 drafts. Oden was picked #1 instead of Durant; Bargani went #1 and Adam Morrison went #3 while Brandon Roy waited; Marvin Williams went ahead of Deron Williams, and Chris Paul; Fran Vazquez and Yaroslav Korolev were picked ahead of Danny Granger.
They combined for less than 50 points in their illustrious NBA careers, while Granger has scored just about 6,500.
This is all from recent drafts, not ancient history. Joe Dumars isn't the only one who screws up picks, in his defense, but there are certain teams who consistently make great picks, even in the second round.
Utah. Houston. Cleveland.
The point of this long diatribe is that Joe D needs to learn to pick guys to rebuild around, rather than thinking he already has the pieces to build with. Because he doesn't.
And the sooner he learns that, the better we'll all be.
----
For now, I don't want to give any more thought to the stupid Pistons and have just one more thought: their .329 winning percentage this year means all the Lions have to do is win 5 games this year and they'll no longer be the worst team in Detroit.
At least some good came from this ...
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
S6 E12: Everybody Loves Hugo
This episode was a clear reference to the Season 2 episode 'Everybody Hates Hugo,' and did a good job of contrasting the themes of that episode, which seems like 100 years ago. That was the episode where Hurley was responsible for distributing the food from the hatch, and his flashbacks revealed that he struggled with paranoia about everybody hating him. In his flash-sideways, he is beloved by everyone - presumably because he is lucky, and no longer cursed. Thus, Hurley has the thing he wanted most, acceptance; however, just like Desmond's flash-sideways from last week, Hurley realizes there is something he wanted more than the thing he wanted most.
Libby.
The mysterious nut-job enters Hugo's life and he is awe-struck, but decides not to pursue her when he realizes that she's nutty. Then Desmond comes along with the 815 Manifest, and sets things in motion which culminate with the Libby-Hurley picnic that almost never happened. I don't know about you, but I was extremely happy for the big fella. I still don't understand why Libby likes him so much, and I can't help but wonder if she's really just after his $156 million, but in any event, I was happy for Hurley. He finally got to go on his picnic, and when they kissed, he had the 'Aha!' moment that has also been experienced by Charlie, Daniel, and Desmond.
Hurley is the first Candidate to have memories of his 'other' life.
Now I hate to be a downer, but I've been the captain of the "What the Heck is the Deal With Libby!?" team for several years now, and while it was nice to see her in this episode, they made no effort whatsoever to explain the mysteries of her past.
For example, Libby is the only character from 815 that we have no idea why she was in Australia, in either timeline. We have no idea why she was in the nuthouse in the original timeline, and why she was spying on Hurley. And we have NO IDEA whatsoever why she offered to give Desmond a free sailboat so he could race around the world, claiming her late husband would have wanted that, even though that seems like total bull.
The common theory back in Season 2 was that Libby worked for Charles Widmore, and was part of a conspiracy to get Desmond stuck on the island, and she was in the loop and somehow knew to be on 815 so she could crash on the island. It appears the producers didn't want to 'go there,' so they just left all those questions unanswered, and now they'll stay unanswered forever. Libby's story ends in this episode, and while it's a happy ending, it's a frustrating ending for fans like me who want to know why she was wearing a wig and giving Desmond a boat and spying on Hurley. Bah. Oh well.
So in sideways-world, Desmond is driving around with his Manifest, playing Cupid, and waking people up to the truth. Everything is going really fantastically. Who's he going to visit next? Maybe Jack? Or Sayid? Oh neat, it's John Locke. I wonder what nice words of encouragement he'll have for him....
Holy Crap!
More on that in a sec ... but can I just say that this episode had more awesome Holy Crap! Moments than all of season six combined.
First of all, Ilana completely exploded. I did not see that coming.
Then, Hurley blew up the Black Rock. Again, wow.
And then Flocke pushes Desmond in the well. I sort of saw that coming, but still, crazy.
But the biggest HC!M of the season, and possibly one of the best LOST cliffhangers EVER - Desmond totally steamrolled Paralyzed Locke with his car. I'm 99% sure this has something to do with Flocke, and 1% sure that Desmond just hates bald guys in wheelchairs.
Really, the only conclusion is that Island-Desmond and Sideways-Desmond are operating under the same consciousness. (why is that word so hard to spell?) That could explain why Island-Desmond is so placid and agreeable and strange. Maybe his consciousness is split in half. His sideways-self really seems to know what's going on. I mean, did anyone expect him to plow over Locke? I thought for sure he was going to go start a pleasant conversation about destiny or something.
Even though I know Island-Locke is the incarnate of all evil, I still felt a little bit bad for Sideways-Locke. I mean, when your a substitute teacher, wheeling your wheelchair across a parking lot full of bratty kids, life is bad enough. But then a completely unprovoked stranger speeds into you and runs you down like Grand Theft Auto. Dang, That sucks.
So the question is, what does Sideways-Desmond know that we don't? Does killing Sideways-Locke effectively kill Island-Locke? What is the connection between the Timelines and the consciousnesses? Is it like the Matrix, where the body cannot live without the mind? If Paralyzed Locke dies, does Smoke Monster Locke die too!??
It appears Locke survived Desmond's brutal hit-and-run, and now looks like Ben is going to play the hero and accompany Locke to the hospital, where I can only imagaine they'll run into Jack Shepherd, and the Kwons, and probably Juliet. How ironic that Ben, the man who shot Locke in the kidney AND strangled him, is now trying to save his life. Ben Linus is a much better man in Sideways-world, where he wasn't exposed to Dharama, Richard, Jacob, and all that messy leadership stuff.
To sum up sideways-world...
Hurley is 'awake,' for lack of a better word, and so are Faraday and Desmond. (So is Charlie, but I'm not sure he matters anymore.) There is some definite kind of connection between consciousnesses of the two realities; we know this because Desmond attacked Locke, which by the way, was in brilliant contrast to Flocke attacking Desmond. We also know that Desmond has the Manifest and isn't afraid to use it, which means that Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid and the Kwons are about to have their worlds knocked upside-down.
How will Desmond know which 815 passengers are Candidates, and which ones are Frogurt and Arzt and Mr. Eko? I don't know, but somehow, he'll know.
With just four episode before the finale, they won't have much time for each character in sideways-world. Sawyer will see Juliet and that will wake him up, Jack and Kate should make each other wake up, but I don't know what is going to wake up the Kwons or Sayid, especially now that island-Sayid is a zombie. The Kwons already have each other in sideways-world. Maybe Sun being pregnant will make them 'remember' their daughter and that will be the constant they need. I have no idea what's going to happen with Sayid.
I just have one question from the sideways-world. When Pierre Chang gave the 'Everybody Loves Hugo' speech to honor Hurley's philanthropy, why does he look the exact same he looked in 1977? That's weird right? Did the producers miss that? Was it intentional?
Okay, on to island-happenings.
Certainly a lot happened in this episode. Ilana blew up, the Black Rock blew up, and the gang of good guys was split up. Richard, Ben and Miles set off for the Dharma Barracks to obtain some explosives and go destroy Flocke's airplane, while the Candidates+Frank were led by Hurley over to Flocke's camp.
Michael showed up as a ghost to Hurley, which we kind of knew would happen from the promos. Even though we haven't seen him in two years, he still annoys me.
Oh speaking of that, I remembered something. Last LOST recap I gave a quick list of my 10 least favorite characters ever. I forgot the most important, #1 person. Hurley's mom. I absolutely loathe her and the stupid way she talks. I'm so glad we'll never see her again.
So Michael tells Hurley not to listen to Richard, not to blow up the plane, and that if the plane does blow up, 'a lot of people will die.' Hurley usually takes dead people at their word, so he starts trying to convince Ilana to change her plan, and she's all "No, I've prepared for this my entire life and I know what I'm doing so ....."
BOOM!
And Ilana is dead.
Wow, I did not see that coming.
Just because Ilana is dead, her story can't be finished. We need to know a little bit about her history with Jacob, and it would be nice to know why she was in a body cast in a Russian hospital, although it's not imperative. My guess is there will be a Jacob-centric episode near the end of the season, and I think we'll see some Ilana fill-in-the-blanks at that time.
After Ilana's sudden and explosive death, Hurley starts looting through her things and finds Dostoyevsky's Notes From Underground, as well as a small bag which I assume was the bag which held Jacob's ashes. This could be important later, yes?
Hurley agrees to go grab some more dynamite with the crew, but gives Jack a "trust me" as he heads away. On the walk to the Black Rock, Ben makes an interesting remark about Ilana ... now that she is no longer needed by the island to protect the candidates, the island is "done with her."
Makes you wonder who else the island is almost done with. Miles? Frank? Maybe Ben himself?
Ilana's explosion also made me wonder about the original exploding man, Dr. Arzt, who lectured Jack and Kate and Locke and Hurley on the subtelty of handling dynamite, and then went boom. Could it be that, since J, K, L & H were at this time Candidates (each touched by Jacob), they were immune to the dynamite's vulnerability, and effectively, any kind of self-incurred death? Like we saw when Michael tried to kill himself, or when Richard tried to dynamite himself along with Jack. (Although why would Jacob ever want Michael to be a Candidate is beyond me ...) Maybe as soon as Ilana distanced herself from the Candidate crew, the dynamite became a lot more unstable and took her out. Maybe if she had stayed near the gang, she wouldn't have died.
I know Candidates CAN die, we've seen many of them die, including Locke and lots of other names that were scratched off the wall. But were any of those deaths self-inflicted? There was a lot of Losties murdering Others and vice-versa, but no self-caused death that I can think of. Well, except for Charlie, but maybe an exception can be made for someone who is purposefully sacrificing themself for others. Like Michael on the freighter, staying with the bomb and letting Jin leave. Then Christian shows up and says "you can go now." AKA "you can die now." Is sacrifice the key?
Another issue about Candidates involves the Smoke Monster, and the Rules. He can't just blatantly kill Candidates; if he could, he would have killed Sun when he was standing right by her in the garden. The creepy little boy (which I'm 95% sure is young Jacob) reminded him of the "rules' a few episodes ago - "you can't kill him," referring to Sawyer. Then the boy-Jacob showed up again last night to remind Flocke of the rules. He can't kill Candidates.
But who can he kill? We've seen the Monster kill the 815 Pilot, but then spare the lives of Jack, Kate and Charlie in the first episode of season 1. The pilot must not have been a Candidate. We also saw Smokey destroy Mr. Eko - it could be that Eko wasn't a Candidate, but I have a better answer. When the monster, disguised as Eko's brother, asked for a confession, Eko said "I have no confession, I have not sinned" and immediately the monster killed him. Maybe a failure to admit wrongdoing constitutes a breaking of the rules, and allows the Monster to kill. We haven't seen the Monster kill unprovoked in many instances, but when Bram and the other 3 goons fired guns at Flocke, he promptly killed all 4 of them inside the statue.
The Monster also killed the inhabitants of the Black Rock, as well as members of Rousseau's crew, totally unprovoked. It could be that these people were not Candidates, but then why did Jacob 'bring them' to the island, as he admitted to doing in season 5's finale. I have a theory. Remember in season 1 when Rousseau refers to the Black Rock being in "the dark territory?" Could it be that anybody in that area is not protected by the rules, and can be destroyed? On Rousseau's map from season 1, the dark territory is labeled something in French which translates to "the most dangerous place." That's where the monster killed her crew, and where he killed everyone from the Black Rock except Richard, who he only sparred in an effort to have Richard kill Jacob.
The Dark Territory is home to the Temple, which is where we saw Smokie kill several unnamed Others. We also know that the Temple is where Rousseau's team members became "infected."
Could it be that the Monster dragged them into the Temple and dunked them all in the pool, the same pool that Sayid was dunked into? Is that what infected them? Is that what happened with Claire? BUT, when Richard brought Ben into the pool as a kid he presumably dunked him to heal him and make him a 'baptized' follower of Jacob, which I'm pretty sure is the reason why Ben was within the rules, able to kill Jacob.
(This also leads me to believe that maybe the only person who can kill Flocke is someone who was 'baptized' in the dirty pool, which could be Sayid or Claire but I don't see that happening ...)
So a question that still lingers unanswered is, why did the pool become dirty? Was it because Jacob died? If so, how did Claire become infected? Does simply spending time with the Monster make someone infected?
When Flocke is in the statue with Ben he says that the one thing he wants is "to go home." By that, I'm pretty sure he meant the Temple, so that he could kill whichever Others refused to go with him. To do this, he needed Sayid to kill Dogen, who according to Lenin "was the only thing keeping the Monster out of the Temple." Now the question becomes: did Sayid become infected when he was dunked in the dirty pool, or later, when he met Flocke?
Dogen and Lenin did their tests and tried to poisin Sayid when they decided he was infected, before he set off to see Flocke. But they said the infection had not yet reached his heart. So, maybe meeting Flocke and talking to him was what made the "darkness spread?" I'm still confused on how Claire - and Rousseau's friends 16 years earlier - were infected if the pool was not dirty, or in other words, if Jacob was still alive. Maybe I'm being too nit-picky, or maybe this will be explained later.
There is only one other time I can think of that the Monster killed anyone, and that was when it was "summoned" by Ben Linus, and it killed Keamy's guys. Was it allowed to kill because it was called, or because Keamy's guys deserved it after killing Alex. It seems the Monster is allowed to judge (like it did with Eko) and kill people who are deserving, or, people who attack first. Remember all of Keamy's friends tried in vain to shoot at the Monster, thus pissing it off all the more. Plus, none of those morons were Candidates, so the Monster had a field day tossing them into trees without breaking any rules.
Okay, that's enough thoughts on Candidates, Monsters and Rules. Back to the episode ...
As the 3 Candidates+Frank trek to see Flocke, Jack has a heart-to-heart with Hugo, basically revealing that he is no longer a pig-headed jerk and is willing to listen and be led. Took you long enough Jack. I can't believe I'm actually starting to like Jack.
Just then, we hear the whispers for the 500th time in LOST, and apparently the producers decided to answer that question once and for all with the most clear-cut answer in LOST history.
Hurley: "Hey Michael. You are dead. Are you the whispers?"
Michael: "Yes. We are the ones who can't move on."
Okay. Mystery solved.
I, for one, was a little bit dissappointed by this, although it's good to be able to tie that off and never have to think about it. I mean, I kind of always expected that the whispers were the dead on the island trying to communicate, but the explanation could have been a little better than "Yes, we're the ones who can't move on."
In my opinion, the producers introduced the whispers early in the show with no idea where they would go with them, and ultimately they couldn't think of anything better than what they settled on. Early on in the first two seasons, the whispers were synonomous with the Others; later whispers were heard when the Monster was nearby. The common thread seems to be characters who are in danger, and the whispers serve as a sort of warning.
Sound technicians have translated everything the whispers have ever said, and you can check that out here. Some of the best ones include:
"Dying sucks."
"Go to hell. Steadily."
"I have hell to pay."
and my personal favorite, "You better not say a f**cking thing about Desmond."
Usually the whispers are just commenting on what's happening, and it's always voices talking to one another, not to the characters. For example, if Jack and Kate are about to encounted some scary Others, the whispers might have said...
"It's Jack. There's Kate too."
"Watch out."
"I'm over here."
"Kate is hot."
"No she's not."
"It's a matter of opinion."
"Jack is a doctor."
"Whatever."
Basically, that's all the whispers ever did. Random and pointless conversations. It's nice to know that "the ones who can't move on" just walk around the island invisibly and chat at important times. Anyway.... then Michael points Hurley in the right direction, and Hugo leads the way toward Flocke.
Early in the episode, Flocke is whittling a long spear and tells Sawyer and Kate that they are just going to sit and wait for Jack, Hurley and Sun to come to them. Weird plan, but it's exactly what happens.
While waiting, Flocke meets Desmond, who is calmly tied to a tree. Desmonds walks submissively with Flocke and they chat about pushing the button, about hating the island and about the Mets. Then the creepy little boy (Jacob) shows up, and Flocke clearly becomes annoyed, and says "just ignore him."
Flocke leads Desmond to the well where Locke turned the wheel, and then after a brief chat, he pushes Desmond into the well. This whole interaction was extremely weird, because obviously something is wrong with Des. We saw in the promo for next week that apparently Des survived the fall, or so it seemed.
Then Flocke goes back to his camp where Hurley enters moments later. Flocke gives 'his word,' and if you're dumb enough to believe the 'word' of the Smoke Monster, then it's your own fault if you die. Jack and Sun and Frank walk out of the bushes, and Flocke smiles a smug smile.
In summary, this was an excellent, excellent episode, and I can't wait for the rest of the season.
Next week is called 'The Last Recruit." No idea what to expect.
Libby.
The mysterious nut-job enters Hugo's life and he is awe-struck, but decides not to pursue her when he realizes that she's nutty. Then Desmond comes along with the 815 Manifest, and sets things in motion which culminate with the Libby-Hurley picnic that almost never happened. I don't know about you, but I was extremely happy for the big fella. I still don't understand why Libby likes him so much, and I can't help but wonder if she's really just after his $156 million, but in any event, I was happy for Hurley. He finally got to go on his picnic, and when they kissed, he had the 'Aha!' moment that has also been experienced by Charlie, Daniel, and Desmond.
Hurley is the first Candidate to have memories of his 'other' life.
Now I hate to be a downer, but I've been the captain of the "What the Heck is the Deal With Libby!?" team for several years now, and while it was nice to see her in this episode, they made no effort whatsoever to explain the mysteries of her past.
For example, Libby is the only character from 815 that we have no idea why she was in Australia, in either timeline. We have no idea why she was in the nuthouse in the original timeline, and why she was spying on Hurley. And we have NO IDEA whatsoever why she offered to give Desmond a free sailboat so he could race around the world, claiming her late husband would have wanted that, even though that seems like total bull.
The common theory back in Season 2 was that Libby worked for Charles Widmore, and was part of a conspiracy to get Desmond stuck on the island, and she was in the loop and somehow knew to be on 815 so she could crash on the island. It appears the producers didn't want to 'go there,' so they just left all those questions unanswered, and now they'll stay unanswered forever. Libby's story ends in this episode, and while it's a happy ending, it's a frustrating ending for fans like me who want to know why she was wearing a wig and giving Desmond a boat and spying on Hurley. Bah. Oh well.
So in sideways-world, Desmond is driving around with his Manifest, playing Cupid, and waking people up to the truth. Everything is going really fantastically. Who's he going to visit next? Maybe Jack? Or Sayid? Oh neat, it's John Locke. I wonder what nice words of encouragement he'll have for him....
Holy Crap!
More on that in a sec ... but can I just say that this episode had more awesome Holy Crap! Moments than all of season six combined.
First of all, Ilana completely exploded. I did not see that coming.
Then, Hurley blew up the Black Rock. Again, wow.
And then Flocke pushes Desmond in the well. I sort of saw that coming, but still, crazy.
But the biggest HC!M of the season, and possibly one of the best LOST cliffhangers EVER - Desmond totally steamrolled Paralyzed Locke with his car. I'm 99% sure this has something to do with Flocke, and 1% sure that Desmond just hates bald guys in wheelchairs.
Really, the only conclusion is that Island-Desmond and Sideways-Desmond are operating under the same consciousness. (why is that word so hard to spell?) That could explain why Island-Desmond is so placid and agreeable and strange. Maybe his consciousness is split in half. His sideways-self really seems to know what's going on. I mean, did anyone expect him to plow over Locke? I thought for sure he was going to go start a pleasant conversation about destiny or something.
Even though I know Island-Locke is the incarnate of all evil, I still felt a little bit bad for Sideways-Locke. I mean, when your a substitute teacher, wheeling your wheelchair across a parking lot full of bratty kids, life is bad enough. But then a completely unprovoked stranger speeds into you and runs you down like Grand Theft Auto. Dang, That sucks.
So the question is, what does Sideways-Desmond know that we don't? Does killing Sideways-Locke effectively kill Island-Locke? What is the connection between the Timelines and the consciousnesses? Is it like the Matrix, where the body cannot live without the mind? If Paralyzed Locke dies, does Smoke Monster Locke die too!??
It appears Locke survived Desmond's brutal hit-and-run, and now looks like Ben is going to play the hero and accompany Locke to the hospital, where I can only imagaine they'll run into Jack Shepherd, and the Kwons, and probably Juliet. How ironic that Ben, the man who shot Locke in the kidney AND strangled him, is now trying to save his life. Ben Linus is a much better man in Sideways-world, where he wasn't exposed to Dharama, Richard, Jacob, and all that messy leadership stuff.
To sum up sideways-world...
Hurley is 'awake,' for lack of a better word, and so are Faraday and Desmond. (So is Charlie, but I'm not sure he matters anymore.) There is some definite kind of connection between consciousnesses of the two realities; we know this because Desmond attacked Locke, which by the way, was in brilliant contrast to Flocke attacking Desmond. We also know that Desmond has the Manifest and isn't afraid to use it, which means that Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid and the Kwons are about to have their worlds knocked upside-down.
How will Desmond know which 815 passengers are Candidates, and which ones are Frogurt and Arzt and Mr. Eko? I don't know, but somehow, he'll know.
With just four episode before the finale, they won't have much time for each character in sideways-world. Sawyer will see Juliet and that will wake him up, Jack and Kate should make each other wake up, but I don't know what is going to wake up the Kwons or Sayid, especially now that island-Sayid is a zombie. The Kwons already have each other in sideways-world. Maybe Sun being pregnant will make them 'remember' their daughter and that will be the constant they need. I have no idea what's going to happen with Sayid.
I just have one question from the sideways-world. When Pierre Chang gave the 'Everybody Loves Hugo' speech to honor Hurley's philanthropy, why does he look the exact same he looked in 1977? That's weird right? Did the producers miss that? Was it intentional?
Okay, on to island-happenings.
Certainly a lot happened in this episode. Ilana blew up, the Black Rock blew up, and the gang of good guys was split up. Richard, Ben and Miles set off for the Dharma Barracks to obtain some explosives and go destroy Flocke's airplane, while the Candidates+Frank were led by Hurley over to Flocke's camp.
Michael showed up as a ghost to Hurley, which we kind of knew would happen from the promos. Even though we haven't seen him in two years, he still annoys me.
Oh speaking of that, I remembered something. Last LOST recap I gave a quick list of my 10 least favorite characters ever. I forgot the most important, #1 person. Hurley's mom. I absolutely loathe her and the stupid way she talks. I'm so glad we'll never see her again.
So Michael tells Hurley not to listen to Richard, not to blow up the plane, and that if the plane does blow up, 'a lot of people will die.' Hurley usually takes dead people at their word, so he starts trying to convince Ilana to change her plan, and she's all "No, I've prepared for this my entire life and I know what I'm doing so ....."
BOOM!
And Ilana is dead.
Wow, I did not see that coming.
Just because Ilana is dead, her story can't be finished. We need to know a little bit about her history with Jacob, and it would be nice to know why she was in a body cast in a Russian hospital, although it's not imperative. My guess is there will be a Jacob-centric episode near the end of the season, and I think we'll see some Ilana fill-in-the-blanks at that time.
After Ilana's sudden and explosive death, Hurley starts looting through her things and finds Dostoyevsky's Notes From Underground, as well as a small bag which I assume was the bag which held Jacob's ashes. This could be important later, yes?
Hurley agrees to go grab some more dynamite with the crew, but gives Jack a "trust me" as he heads away. On the walk to the Black Rock, Ben makes an interesting remark about Ilana ... now that she is no longer needed by the island to protect the candidates, the island is "done with her."
Makes you wonder who else the island is almost done with. Miles? Frank? Maybe Ben himself?
Ilana's explosion also made me wonder about the original exploding man, Dr. Arzt, who lectured Jack and Kate and Locke and Hurley on the subtelty of handling dynamite, and then went boom. Could it be that, since J, K, L & H were at this time Candidates (each touched by Jacob), they were immune to the dynamite's vulnerability, and effectively, any kind of self-incurred death? Like we saw when Michael tried to kill himself, or when Richard tried to dynamite himself along with Jack. (Although why would Jacob ever want Michael to be a Candidate is beyond me ...) Maybe as soon as Ilana distanced herself from the Candidate crew, the dynamite became a lot more unstable and took her out. Maybe if she had stayed near the gang, she wouldn't have died.
I know Candidates CAN die, we've seen many of them die, including Locke and lots of other names that were scratched off the wall. But were any of those deaths self-inflicted? There was a lot of Losties murdering Others and vice-versa, but no self-caused death that I can think of. Well, except for Charlie, but maybe an exception can be made for someone who is purposefully sacrificing themself for others. Like Michael on the freighter, staying with the bomb and letting Jin leave. Then Christian shows up and says "you can go now." AKA "you can die now." Is sacrifice the key?
Another issue about Candidates involves the Smoke Monster, and the Rules. He can't just blatantly kill Candidates; if he could, he would have killed Sun when he was standing right by her in the garden. The creepy little boy (which I'm 95% sure is young Jacob) reminded him of the "rules' a few episodes ago - "you can't kill him," referring to Sawyer. Then the boy-Jacob showed up again last night to remind Flocke of the rules. He can't kill Candidates.
But who can he kill? We've seen the Monster kill the 815 Pilot, but then spare the lives of Jack, Kate and Charlie in the first episode of season 1. The pilot must not have been a Candidate. We also saw Smokey destroy Mr. Eko - it could be that Eko wasn't a Candidate, but I have a better answer. When the monster, disguised as Eko's brother, asked for a confession, Eko said "I have no confession, I have not sinned" and immediately the monster killed him. Maybe a failure to admit wrongdoing constitutes a breaking of the rules, and allows the Monster to kill. We haven't seen the Monster kill unprovoked in many instances, but when Bram and the other 3 goons fired guns at Flocke, he promptly killed all 4 of them inside the statue.
The Monster also killed the inhabitants of the Black Rock, as well as members of Rousseau's crew, totally unprovoked. It could be that these people were not Candidates, but then why did Jacob 'bring them' to the island, as he admitted to doing in season 5's finale. I have a theory. Remember in season 1 when Rousseau refers to the Black Rock being in "the dark territory?" Could it be that anybody in that area is not protected by the rules, and can be destroyed? On Rousseau's map from season 1, the dark territory is labeled something in French which translates to "the most dangerous place." That's where the monster killed her crew, and where he killed everyone from the Black Rock except Richard, who he only sparred in an effort to have Richard kill Jacob.
The Dark Territory is home to the Temple, which is where we saw Smokie kill several unnamed Others. We also know that the Temple is where Rousseau's team members became "infected."
Could it be that the Monster dragged them into the Temple and dunked them all in the pool, the same pool that Sayid was dunked into? Is that what infected them? Is that what happened with Claire? BUT, when Richard brought Ben into the pool as a kid he presumably dunked him to heal him and make him a 'baptized' follower of Jacob, which I'm pretty sure is the reason why Ben was within the rules, able to kill Jacob.
(This also leads me to believe that maybe the only person who can kill Flocke is someone who was 'baptized' in the dirty pool, which could be Sayid or Claire but I don't see that happening ...)
So a question that still lingers unanswered is, why did the pool become dirty? Was it because Jacob died? If so, how did Claire become infected? Does simply spending time with the Monster make someone infected?
When Flocke is in the statue with Ben he says that the one thing he wants is "to go home." By that, I'm pretty sure he meant the Temple, so that he could kill whichever Others refused to go with him. To do this, he needed Sayid to kill Dogen, who according to Lenin "was the only thing keeping the Monster out of the Temple." Now the question becomes: did Sayid become infected when he was dunked in the dirty pool, or later, when he met Flocke?
Dogen and Lenin did their tests and tried to poisin Sayid when they decided he was infected, before he set off to see Flocke. But they said the infection had not yet reached his heart. So, maybe meeting Flocke and talking to him was what made the "darkness spread?" I'm still confused on how Claire - and Rousseau's friends 16 years earlier - were infected if the pool was not dirty, or in other words, if Jacob was still alive. Maybe I'm being too nit-picky, or maybe this will be explained later.
There is only one other time I can think of that the Monster killed anyone, and that was when it was "summoned" by Ben Linus, and it killed Keamy's guys. Was it allowed to kill because it was called, or because Keamy's guys deserved it after killing Alex. It seems the Monster is allowed to judge (like it did with Eko) and kill people who are deserving, or, people who attack first. Remember all of Keamy's friends tried in vain to shoot at the Monster, thus pissing it off all the more. Plus, none of those morons were Candidates, so the Monster had a field day tossing them into trees without breaking any rules.
Okay, that's enough thoughts on Candidates, Monsters and Rules. Back to the episode ...
As the 3 Candidates+Frank trek to see Flocke, Jack has a heart-to-heart with Hugo, basically revealing that he is no longer a pig-headed jerk and is willing to listen and be led. Took you long enough Jack. I can't believe I'm actually starting to like Jack.
Just then, we hear the whispers for the 500th time in LOST, and apparently the producers decided to answer that question once and for all with the most clear-cut answer in LOST history.
Hurley: "Hey Michael. You are dead. Are you the whispers?"
Michael: "Yes. We are the ones who can't move on."
Okay. Mystery solved.
I, for one, was a little bit dissappointed by this, although it's good to be able to tie that off and never have to think about it. I mean, I kind of always expected that the whispers were the dead on the island trying to communicate, but the explanation could have been a little better than "Yes, we're the ones who can't move on."
In my opinion, the producers introduced the whispers early in the show with no idea where they would go with them, and ultimately they couldn't think of anything better than what they settled on. Early on in the first two seasons, the whispers were synonomous with the Others; later whispers were heard when the Monster was nearby. The common thread seems to be characters who are in danger, and the whispers serve as a sort of warning.
Sound technicians have translated everything the whispers have ever said, and you can check that out here. Some of the best ones include:
"Dying sucks."
"Go to hell. Steadily."
"I have hell to pay."
and my personal favorite, "You better not say a f**cking thing about Desmond."
Usually the whispers are just commenting on what's happening, and it's always voices talking to one another, not to the characters. For example, if Jack and Kate are about to encounted some scary Others, the whispers might have said...
"It's Jack. There's Kate too."
"Watch out."
"I'm over here."
"Kate is hot."
"No she's not."
"It's a matter of opinion."
"Jack is a doctor."
"Whatever."
Basically, that's all the whispers ever did. Random and pointless conversations. It's nice to know that "the ones who can't move on" just walk around the island invisibly and chat at important times. Anyway.... then Michael points Hurley in the right direction, and Hugo leads the way toward Flocke.
Early in the episode, Flocke is whittling a long spear and tells Sawyer and Kate that they are just going to sit and wait for Jack, Hurley and Sun to come to them. Weird plan, but it's exactly what happens.
While waiting, Flocke meets Desmond, who is calmly tied to a tree. Desmonds walks submissively with Flocke and they chat about pushing the button, about hating the island and about the Mets. Then the creepy little boy (Jacob) shows up, and Flocke clearly becomes annoyed, and says "just ignore him."
Flocke leads Desmond to the well where Locke turned the wheel, and then after a brief chat, he pushes Desmond into the well. This whole interaction was extremely weird, because obviously something is wrong with Des. We saw in the promo for next week that apparently Des survived the fall, or so it seemed.
Then Flocke goes back to his camp where Hurley enters moments later. Flocke gives 'his word,' and if you're dumb enough to believe the 'word' of the Smoke Monster, then it's your own fault if you die. Jack and Sun and Frank walk out of the bushes, and Flocke smiles a smug smile.
In summary, this was an excellent, excellent episode, and I can't wait for the rest of the season.
Next week is called 'The Last Recruit." No idea what to expect.