New Years Break

Tweet For those of you wondering when the hell we will write something again, check back after the new year as we at Millennium will take some time off. Get ready for NBA, NFL, and more entertainment once we return

The Millennium NBA preview

Tweet With the NBA serving up an incredible Christmas day slate doubling as the opening day we at Millennium could not be more excited. So without further ado here are some of our thoughts on the upcoming season. I will lead off.

Daki:

The thing I am most glad about is the fact that the NBA will keep the momentum from last year's wonderful season going. Last year was the first time in a long time that both the regular and post seasons truly mattered. We had a star breaking out in Derick Rose, we had a true villain (Lebron and the heat), and we had some major surprises (Pacers, Grizzlies). Best of all, we had a group of guys who all won the ring that had eluded them for their entire careers (Kidd, Peja, Marion, Dirk, Terry, Mark Cuban). This year the only thing we know for sure is that Miami and Lebron are still very much the villains but we have no idea what teams will surprise us, what teams will emerge as contenders, or which player will emerge as the next star. Finding out these unknowns is what excites me the most about this season, along with an exciting Kings roster that should be fun to watch its really all I could ask for. Luka and Igor will cover most of the major story lines so I will explain my picks for MVP, the champion and rookie of the year awards. ROY: Brandon Knight (just a hunch). MVP: Kobe Bryant (I will wait for you to stop laughing). Phil Jackson has said numerous times that Kobe knows how to achieve and embrace being the perfect team mate, but chooses not to due to the pursuit of selfish accolades such as scoring titles. I firmly believe that Kobe is aware of his declining abilities and as much as he wants to pass Kareem on the all-time scoring list, I think he cares about winning just a bit more. This season the Lakers are a really popular pick to be a disaster and the only thing that will prevent that is if Kobe finally chooses to play the right way (making team mates better, passing to open team mates for game winners, rebounding, taking smarter shots). If he does decide to play the right way, look for a slew of stories around February about how Kobe "finally gets it" as well as a few "Kobe may not be the best player anymore, but you can argue he has been the most valuable" (I fully expect someone like Skip Bayless to do this). If Kobe instead chooses to keep doing things the way he always has we can safely assume that he desires to pass Kareem (in points) rather than Jordan (in titles). As for my title pick, I am taking Chicago over Memphis in 6.

MVP: Kobe Bryant
ROY: Brandon Knight
Champion: Bulls (with Rose winning Finals MVP)

Igor:

It doesn’t seem real that the NBA season is actually going to start soon since I pretty much convinced myself that it wasn’t going to happen. There are a few key things that I’m really looking forward to watching this coming season.

In the East the biggest story will be whether the Heat can “redeem” themselves from losing in the finals after everyone (including themselves) considered them the champions before the season started. One year of chemistry building between the big 3 (or 2.5) is crucial and I doubt that they will start the season off 9-8 like last year. The only problem is that they haven’t really added many pieces other than Battier, but he does not fix their lack of a center and point guard. Regardless they are still the favourites to come out on top of the East. The Knicks will be very fun to watch this year and could give the Heat some problems during the season. The additions of Chandler and Davis (once he heals) are important for their improvement from last year. As a Bulls fan, I’m interested in seeing how much Hamilton will help the team out and if Boozer can put together a solid year. Rose should maintain his great performance from his MVP year and with offensive help from Boozer and Hamilton, the Bulls look like a team that will go deep in the playoffs. After giving the Bulls a run for their money in the first round last year, Indiana should be the dark horse of the East especially after the addition of West. As crap as I think the Raptors will be this year, I will be closely watching Casey’s coaching and hoping to see some improvement on defense (already seen some glimpses of it during pre-season). Also keep an eye out for my friend Jan Vesely on the Wizards. Playing with John Wall will only be beneficial to his career.

The West is loaded with great teams and it will get very competitive down the stretch of the season. Here are a few questions to think about this season. Is there a new best team in L.A.? Will Rubio live up to the hype? Can Portland put it together after losing Roy? Will Memphis come out as a top 3 team in the West? Can the Mavs maintain their championship form? Most teams are interesting in the West, but my two favourite teams are the Warriors and the Thunder. Despite the Warriors’ struggles in the past few years, they are my favourite team to watch in all of sports due to their unpredictability and high pace. They can beat the best teams and lose to the worst teams on any given night. This is the year that Mark Jackson steps into the head coaching position and shows the league how to play “hand down man down” defense. Jokes aside I think he will be great for Ellis and Curry (since he was a great point guard during his career) who are probably the most talented backcourt in the NBA. If you’re bored at 10:30 any night you can’t go wrong with watching a Warriors game. With the addition of Perkins, improvement of Ibaka and Harden, and Durant and Westbrook entering their primes, this is the year of the Thunder. They have it all from lockdown defense to great offense and will be at the top of the NBA. Watch for them to storm through the West and win it all.

MVP: Durant                  

ROY: Kemba Walker

Finals: Bulls vs. Thunder

Winner: Thunder in 6 (Durant finals MVP)

Luka:

The NBA will finally make its long-awaited return tomorrow with 5 great games. During the lockout I always thought that the season would be cancelled since both sides seemed like they did not care about losing a season. It made me think that I would not care as much about the upcoming season. And yet, when the season was announced I immediately forgot about the whole lockout, and even stranger was the fact that I did not care. All I wanted to do was watch. It felt as if David Stern and Billy Hunter did their best men in black impression on me and the rest of the NBA's fans. And now with the opening less then 24 hours away there are a countless number of things in my head that I cant wait to see how they will play out.

Here are some of my thoughts/questions/things to look forward to about the upcoming NBA season (some of these are jokes).

The Dallas Mavericks trying to win back-to-back titles without their 2nd and 6th best players from last years run. The Heat being the only great team with seemingly no other teams at their level at this point. Hating the Miami Heat again. Watching Lebron's headband increase in size as the season progresses. People realizing that Shane Battier is old. Vince Carter and Tracy Mcgrady trying to out-suck each other in Dallas and Atlanta respectively (my money is on T-mac because I think he died 2 years ago). The Raptors being absolutely awful. Relictantly watching every Raptors game in the hope that they are not absolutely awful. My grades dropping because each team plays 66 games in 120 days!!! Kobe buying Vanessa a 4-million dollar ring for each women he cheated on her with. Kobe going bankrupt in 3 days. Baron Davis' rejuvination in New York. Brian "the custodian" Cardinal. Wondering how Calderon is making 10 million dollars this year. The Durant/Westbrook relationship. The Phil Jackson to the Knicks rumours that wont stop. Dwight Howard trade talks. The battle for L.A. The Indiana Pacers being a sneaky-good basketball team. Whether or not Memphis will be able to surprise people again (I think yes). Will anyone watch a Bobcats game? (Only if MJ suits up). Shaq recording a "tell me how my ass tastes" remix with Vanessa Bryant, Karl Malone, and Ruben Patterson. The Celtics relying on Keyon Dooling. Gregg Popovich ruining fantasy leagues everywhere by resting Parker, Duncan, and Manu more then people think he will. Lastly, seeing if this season can top last season.

Champion: Heat over Mavs in 6 

MVP: Carmelo Anthony

ROY: Kemba Walker

Throwback Thursdays #6

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In the words of LL Cool J, don't call it a comeback. After a long break (mostly due to exams but also some laziness on our part) since our last throwback thursday post, Jovan and I decided to once more choose 3 songs from the past and write our feelings about them. If you want to read the old ones, they can be found here, here, here, here, and here. Finally the photo is of the cast of Student Bodies, a YTV show that was and still is very entertaining to watch. Full episodes can be found on Youtube (my personal favourite is when the guys get their car stranded on an abandoned "haunted" road). If you have no idea what I'm talking about then I feel bad for your childhood.

Luka:

Bad Meets Evil - Scary Movies

The first single from the Detroit duo that had a hit with this year's Bad Meets Evil: Hell the Sequel. This song has that classic 90's rap feel with both of the Detroit emcees delivering clever and memorable lines. Eminem is at his nasally-best here with lines like "I'm sicker than a Tupac dedication to Biggie". I enjoyed their album that came out this year but one can only wonder how both their careers would have changed if they had remained as a group back in the day.

Craig David - Seven Days

I really like this song for reasons that are unclear to me. It might be the video where Craig decides to retell his story about a girl to his friends at the most stereotypical African-American hangout, the barbershop. Only things missing was some fried chicken and some kool-aid. Regardless of that the video has a cool plot with Craig getting multiple chances to get with the girl he wants (think Groundhog day). Craig's hair in the video is strange to say the least. It's a mix between an afro and spiky hair but the spikes are flat (see I wasn't lying, very confusing). The song itself is easy-listening and catchy with lyrics about what he's going to do with the girl on each day of the week. One more thing, does anyone else think the girl who breaks her high heel in the video is better than the girl Craig wants?

Kobe Bryant ft. Tyra Banks - K.O.B.E.

No you didn't read that wrong. This is a rap song by Kobe Bryant featuring Tyra Banks. I'll let that sink in for a bit. Why did Kobe do this? I'm not sure but it was in the era where every NBA player just assumed he could rap (see Allen Iverson and Shaq). Sadly, Kobe can't rap. Although it's still fun to listen to because even after hearing this song countless times, I am still not sure whether or not it's a joke. I thought this song was suitable for this week because of Kobe's current off-court issues. I'm still waiting on Kobe's press conference where he admits to cheating on his wife with 100+ women but that all of the sex was consensual (too soon?)

Jovan:

Good Charlotte - The Anthem

If you’ve seen American Pie 2, you know this song. The music in the American Pie franchise is amazing and I’m always relating songs from certain bands to those movies. The Anthem is one of few Good Charlotte songs that I actually like (another good song is Last Night, which is played in the trailer for American Reunion) and it always reminds me of American Pie. It’s a good feeling – a nostalgic feeling – and I look forward to hearing some more great songs on the American Reunion soundtrack.

Desire - Under Your Spell

Under Your Spell is a terrific song from the 80s that demonstrates the quality and great style of music in that decade. It’s one of three fantastic songs that are heard in the soundtrack for Drive (the others two are A Real Hero by College, featuring Electric Youth and Nightcall by Kavinsky). There aren’t any current songs that can match the style of this song, and it’s expected as music continues to evolve. But I can tell you that there also aren’t many songs that come even close to having the charm and appeal of the three songs from Drive. I’m glad Nicolas Winding Refn made Drive.I’m glad that I was exposed to such amazing music.

Eminem - Kill You

Even though this song is completely different from the above two I have mentioned, it is one of Eminem’s best songs released during the prime of his rap career. The lyrics are very vulgar (Eminem’s 2001 concert in Toronto was almost cancelled because of this song) and I wouldn’t blame any girl for not liking this Eminem song, but lyrically, it stands as one of his best. The first verse is spectacular and flows very well, with much emotion being shown from Eminem (he yells in his current songs more often than before,but listen to Kill You and tell me he’s not yelling – Dre hasn’t been mixing Eminem’s recent songs which may be a reason as to why he’s seems to be yelling more). Marshall Mathers LP is Eminem’s best album (and it was robbed at the Grammy’s), and Kill You is definitely worth checking out if you have the album on hand.

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Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Review

Tweet The first Mission: Impossible was an excellent film. It had good action, a well put together cast and was an entertaining flick. I haven’t seen the second Mission: Impossible in a long time, but I do remember it not being able to match up to its predecessor. Thankfully, the third installment revived the franchise, with a great performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman as the film’s villain, and great action throughout. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol builds on the action of the third film, has a stronger plot and adds Jeremy Renner to the cast. In the end, it comes out as the best Mission: Impossible film to date.

Tom Cruise returns as the film’s protagonist, but the movie is not as centered on his role and character as the past Mission: Impossible films have been. Ghost Protocol is about the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) team and with the addition of Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and a greater role from Simon Pegg, the team performs admirably both in their individual roles and together, demonstrating great chemistry, especially between Cruise and Renner. Renner has typically played a bad-ass in all of his flims, making his shift to the action genre fairly simple. His performances in The Hurt Locker and The Town were both fantastic and were rewarded with Oscar nominations, and his impact is felt no less in Ghost Protocol than it was in either of those films. As he continues to develop and evolve as an actor, I am hoping Renner will continue getting deserving roles and offering his fans terrific performances. He will no doubt be able to successfully adapt to the Bourne franchise in next year’s The Bourne Legacy.

Tom Cruise is back to his usual self in this installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise, as the action star we all know him to be. His performance is entertaining and Ethan Hunt is his most beloved character (although I really enjoyed him as Roy Miller in Knight and Day, in which he delivered a comedic action-packed performance – he’s the guy). Cruise and Renner have great chemistry and are a joy to watch together on the big screen. As for the other two IMF team members, Paula Patton plays her role very well as an ass-kicking agent and Simon Pegg is excellent as the film’s comic relief. Unlike the jokes in Transformers, the ones in Ghost Protocol don’t go too far and are well balanced.

Brad Bird has done a spectacular job with the film. His only other three directed films are all animated (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille), and he makes the switch to live action commendably with Ghost Protocol. The action sequences are filmed perfectly (by the way, Tom Cruise performed the stunt sequence outside the Burj Khalifa himself) and I hope he stays on as the next film’s director.

Ghost Protocol is also scored very well, and the music is fantastic. From Dean Martin to Michael Giacchino’s orchestrated pieces (Giacchino has been pretty spectacular in recent years), the music and sound in the film adds depth and allows for a greater experience and enjoyment of the film.

You know what you’re going to get when you go watch a Mission: Impossible film. Some scenes are difficult to believe (in the first film, Ethan Hunt gets chased by a helicopter in a tunnel while outside on a moving train), but you shouldn’t be expecting 100% realism with these films. Go and enjoy the ride. It’s an exciting and thrilling film, with excellent action scenes that will leave you on the edge of your seat. I look forward to a continuation in the franchise, with more unbelievably ridiculous stunt sequences from Tom Cruise. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is one of the best films of the year (and it is the best action film of the year), and I urge you to go see it. It’s also a bonus if you’ve been able to catch it in IMAX and witness the opening scene from The Dark Knight Rises.

Score: 8.5/10

The Idiocy of the Football Association of England

Tweet I have to be honest, this will be hastily written. I had no plans to write about this until I saw just how unfair the ruling against Luis Suarez was. First of all for those of you unfamiliar with the situation, Suarez had been charged with racist abuse leveled against Patrice Evra. In English football, racism is a serious offence (which I am fully behind) so both Suarez and Liverpool cooperated fully with the investigation from day one. Day one was 66 days ago! By my count, it is one of the longest times to make a ruling on anything, let alone a fairly simple matter where the referee was said to be a key witness. What did the referee's report detail? From what I read innocence on Suarez's part and guilt on Evras, wait what? Apparently, Suarez used a Uruguayan (and Spanish expression most likely meaning "buddy") That notable Spanish players use on Twitter all the time. In response Evra leveled Suarez in a much more derogatory fashion. Seems like an open and shut case. Evra, being so frustrated by how Suarez was destroying him, decides to accuse him of racism (and Evra had been found to lie about allegations before) to exact a manner of revenge he could never achieve in the field of play. Sir Alex Ferguson should in no way be blamed for this, he took the word of his player and did what any manager would have. Back to the case; once Suarez was handed an 8-game ban earlier today, the club released this powerful statement: See statement here.

Some highlights

We find it extraordinary that Luis can be found guilty on the word of Patrice Evra alone when no-one else on the field of play - including Evra's own Manchester United teammates and all the match officials - heard the alleged conversation between the two players in a crowded Kop goalmouth while a corner kick was about to be taken


So no evidence and only the word of Evra to go on.

It is key to note that Patrice Evra himself in his written statement in this case said 'I don't think that Luis Suarez is racist'.  The FA in their opening remarks accepted that Luis Suarez was not racist.


So 8 games seems fair then?

It appears to us that the FA were determined to bring charges against Luis Suarez, even before interviewing him at the beginning of November. Nothing we have heard in the course of the hearing has changed our view that Luis Suarez is innocent of the charges brought against him and we will provide Luis with whatever support he now needs to clear his name.


 The bomb is dropped. Accusing the FA of gunning after Suarez the whole time, the amazing thing is that John Terry has suffered no consequence for similar charges. What is the difference between Terry and Suarez? Terry is English of course! I find it incredible that an association that prides itself on keeping racism out of football can be so...racist.

We would also like to know when the FA intend to charge Patrice Evra with making abusive remarks to an opponent after he admitted himself in his evidence to insulting Luis Suarez in Spanish in the most objectionable of terms.


Finally, an attack at a questionable (at the very best) accuser, and you know what? I am very interested in seeing how the FA responds to this last statement, a similar ban should be the minimum. Keep racism out of football, unless of course you are not English in which case we will pull no punches in being racist towards you.

Peja Rides Off In To the Sunset

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Pictured in a Dallas uniform only because he won a title in it, and he deserves to go out on top.

I would not be able to call myself a Kings fan if I did not take a chance to pay tribute to the man who was part of the reason for me being a fan of Sacramento in the first place. Back when I was a kid and the NBA was a relatively new concept to me, the Kings were the logical choice as they had two of my countrymen (Peja and Divac) on the squad. Although I grew to love the entire team, Peja and Vlade would always hold a special place in my heart because if it wasn't for them I might not be a fan of basketball today. Although the Kings teams with Peja on it never won the title (to be fair, we all know that game 6 against the Lakers was fixed and cost the Kings a title that year) the memories they brought to me as a fan will stay with me forever. My tribute to Peja is to share those memories with you.

Memory # 1

Peja winning the 3-point shootout in back-to-back years. This really established him as a premier shooter in the league, and he would go on to finish 4th all time in 3 pointers made. Having only played 13 seasons in the league this was pretty solid evidence that the shootout wins were no flukes.

Memory # 2

Holding it down without Webber. When Chris Webber collapsed in a heap against Dallas in 2003 and was ruled out for the series, no one gave the Kings a chance. Even though they did eventually lose to Dallas it was not without a fight. Peja stepped in and had some of his best games ever as Sacramento fought bravely to force seven games (Webber went down in game 2). It took a 141-137 win by the Mavs in game 3 and some ridiculous shooting by Nick Van Exel to finally put the Kings away, but I will never forget how Peja stepped it up.

Should You Watch the Golden Globes?

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The Golden Globes are typically an indicator of how the Oscars will turn out. However, that hasn’t been the case in the last few years. Avatar and Jim Cameron won at the Globes, while The Hurt Locker and Kathryn Bigelow won at the Oscars. The following year, The Social Network and David Fincher won at the Globes, but the Oscars were handed to The King’s Speech and Tom Hooper.

Everyone already disregards the Golden Globes as an important awards show, as the Oscars are more important for movies, while the Emmy’s are more important for TV shows. Based on results in the past few years, it does not matter who wins at the Golden Globes because the Oscars are a completely different show. However, I expect to see the same winner at the Globes (in the Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy category) and the Oscars this time around.

The Golden Globes aren’t far away, but it feels like they shouldn’t even come this time around. It’s expected that every year there are going to be snubs (this includes the Oscars) and fans of those deserving movies, shows and actors will undoubtedly be disappointed. There are also undeserving films that are nominated simply for the pleasure of fans. A few years ago, The Blind Side was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, and even though it is a good movie, it was evident that its nomination was an attempt to attract viewers and increase ratings. The undeserving film that has been nominated for Best Motion Picture this year is The Ides of March. The film is led by strong performances from Ryan Gosling and George Clooney, but it is a typical political film with no major surprises. In the end, The Ides of March is a very average film. I don’t even know why there are six nominations instead of five. The film has no chance of winning and should have been left out of the category. Ryan Gosling’s nomination for Best Actor also comes as a surprise. His performance was solid, but I was expecting Gary Oldman to get nominated for Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy, with all the credit critics have been giving him for his performance. Regardless, I expect George Clooney to win the Golden Globe in this category for his performance in The Descendants.

The Artist leads the Globes with 6 nominations, unsurprisingly, as a black-and-white film without dialogue, set in the 1920s. Critics praise any movie that involves early cinema and moviemaking, and given the apparent quality of The Artist, which I have yet to see, it’s a lock for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, and probably for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Drive received only one nomination – Albert Brooks for his supporting performance as the film’s antagonist. I understand that he hasn’t acted in some time and that he is regarded as a good actor, but his performance in Drive was nothing spectacular, and the voters could have given his nomination to a more deserving actor. I would also replace Drive for The Ides of March in the Best Picture category, but this is not my main complaint. Drive might be the best directed film of the year, yet Nicolas Winding Refn was completely overlooked by the voters and the Globe will go to a less deserving director.

I’m also curious as to how The Muppets doesn’t have a single song nominated at the Globes, yet it has been getting numerous nominations at other award shows (mainly critics’ awards). It’s not a complaint because I haven’t listened to them, but I do not understand why the Globes are trying to be so different.

The obvious snub in the Best Television Series – Drama category is Breaking Bad. It is regarded as one of the best shows on television all across the internet and it is nominated at the Emmy’s every single year, yet the Globes are choosing to nominate Boss and American Horror Story over it. Personally, I hope Game of Thrones wins the category, seeing as it is the only nominated show that I have watched. Adding on to the Breaking Bad snub, it’s disappointing to see that Aaron Paul is not nominated. He won an Emmy for his performance in the show’s third season, but has yet to receive a Golden Globe nomination. At least Bryan Cranston was recognized for his terrific performance.

There are more snubs and underserving nominations, but these are some of the biggest in my opinion. The Golden Globes do not deserve to get good ratings given all of the snubs, but if you are planning on watching the award ceremony (even though there really is no point), at least you can look forward to seeing Ricky Gervais return once again and give an inappropriate and funny performance as the show’s host.

Chris Paul to the Clippers

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With the news that Chris Paul had been traded (no, for real this time) Luka and I had to have an emergency e-mail exchange about the deal and what it means for both the teams and players involved. Below is how the exchange transpired.



Daki:


I have to admit, it's a little funny that this trade was finalized moments after a buddy of mine sent me this link. My initial reaction to the trade was: WOW the Clippers could not have played this any worse. First of all, the NBA and New Orleans had zero leverage in any trades because there were only 3 teams Paul would play for (Knicks, Lakers, Clips). This meant that other franchises were not even calling, and once the Clippers pulled out it looked like New Orleans would get no compensation next summer when Paul decided to leave. Of course, this is the Clippers, and in a situation where they had all the power they decided to fuck it up. Look, the Minnesota pick is probably vastly overvalued, but the loss of Eric Gordon hurts. As Bill Simmons pointed out, Gordon is the best under-30 SG in the NBA right now. Is he really worth trading for a fragile point guard with knee issues? This is beyond ridiculous right now, I have to get my thoughts in order, hopefully I will once I read your response.


Luka: 


First of all I don't think that the Clippers fucked things up too badly. Yes they did give up Gordon who is probably going to become an all-star and have a great career but they had to in order to get the best point guard in the league when healthy. By doing this move they arguably become the bigger story in L.A. for the first time ever which is something that they've always wanted to do. I think the real story here is the NBA and the complete circus it has become with David Stern as its confused and out of place ringleader. How is Kaman (He sucks. I know he's an expiring contract but who cares? No free agent will sign in New Orleans. They never have in the past and I don't see that changing in the future.), Gordon (Future All-Star), Aminu (serviceable player who has potential but not an impact player at this stage in his career) and Minnesota's first round pick (It might not even be that high! The Wolves have Love, Rubio, Beasley, Johnson, Barea and lots of depth with a coach in Rick Adelman who knows how to win in the regular season) better than Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, and Lamar Odom? The answer is that it's not and the NBA will have some explaining to do since the reason why the Lakers deal fell through in the first place was for "basketball reasons". And one more thing, if I'm the Lakers, I'm pulling a Dan Gilbert right now and sending David Stern a bitchy email since he is the reason they had to trade Lamar Odom for nothing. This whole process makes  no sense. I'm excited to watch Paul and Griffin play though. What do you think happens to Chauncey "I get paid 14 million a year but still feel the need to excessively bitch about everything" Billups?

The Sacramento Kings: The NBA's Black Hole

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I am using the term 'black hole' seen in this post's title not to say that the Kings franchise is a black hole, rather the players on the team might be. A black hole in basketball refers to a player whom you pass the ball to and never see it again because said player will shoot it, or turn it over. With a roster consisting of John Salmons, Tyreke Evans, Demarcus Cousins, Marcus Thorton and Jimmer (yes even him, check his College highlights) and only one basketball to share between all of them on offense, I can see where the 'black hole' analogy comes from. This has been such an obvious problem that even head coach Paul Westphal realized that the offense needed to be changed. He claims that the new look offense encourages sharing of the ball, now if Westphal can get the players to buy-in we may have something.

Look, the Sacramento Kings have been my favorite NBA team since I started following the sport way back in early 2000. Unlike most 'fans' I did not hop off the bandwagon as soon as things started going wrong, or certain players (Peja, Divac, Webber) left or got traded. Needless to say that it has been a brutal couple of seasons. The last two seasons however, have brought a sense of optimism I forgot I had. Geoff Petrie (the Kings GM) showed once again that he is able to find talent in one way or another and has built a good, athletic, young (but also immature) roster. Over the last two seasons the team showed flashes, but could never sustain them and was too inconsistent to put together a full season of good basketball. Now that everyone is one year older, with some veterans added (Chuck Hayes was a good signing in this regard, and also he is the anti-black hole) the hope is that the squad can get closer to a winning season. Lottery? 8-Seed? 5-Seed? At this point I have no idea. The team could come together and play an exciting brand of basketball using the athletes at their disposal along with their depth to run older teams into the ground. They could also come out with worse chemistry then the early 2000's Blazers and have death-matches before the game in order to decide who gets to shoot the most. Or they can find some sort of middle ground and channel the athleticism and attitude into a quality team that will have an up-and-down season. My hope is for that last one, because I basically described the 05-06 Kings (my favorite squad next to the 03 one) who were a Brent Barry 3 (that hit every part of the rim twice before dropping), and an OT loss in another game from eliminating the Spurs that year. That squad was tough and athletic and wore teams out with defense, sadly, this probably wont be the case with these guys.

As I type this there are rumors swirling over Sacramento adding either Kirilenko or Jamal Crawford. Given what this team looks like at the moment I am praying that we (Yes, I said "we" I bought Kings merchandise thus contributing to their franchise) sign Kirilenko. Andrei would add another defender to compliment Hayes, as well as an unselfish character guy (I never heard anyone bring him up when talking about chemistry problems), and lastly a proven NBA vet who could get the younger guys in line. In a 66 game season the youth and depth of the Kings should enable them to over-achieve, and as a long time fan I hope they do.

P.s. Please bring back the Black road jerseys from 02'

The Gospel of Tebow: A Running Diary of The Bears-Broncos 4th Quarter and OT

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The Philadelphia Eagles won today making their record a fantastically mediocre 5-8. Not bad for a team that spent a small country's budget on free agent signings this past summer. Since Eagles games are no longer of any competitive importance, I thought I'd watch Tim Tebow and the Broncos attempt to continue their improbable winning ways. What follows are my thoughts while watching the 4th quarter between the Denver Broncos and the Chicago Bears (I had an NBA post I was going to write but David Stern vetoed that).

14:55 - It's 10-0 for the Bears at the start of the fourth quarter, Tebow is 3/16 for 46 yards and a pick. So it's basically playing out like every other Broncos game this season.

13:30 - Broncos offense can't do anything against the Bears D. 4th straight 3 and out. Devin Hester awaiting the punt, I know it's been said but why kick to him? They do, it's a good punt though and Hester is forced to call for a fair catch.

12:41 - Jay Cutler isn't playing this game. Official story is that he's injured but I think we all know what's going on here. Fake an injury or play Tebow on the Lord's day? Not really a tough decision.. (Completely joking btw)

 11:29 - Bears go 3 and out and punt due to a horrible pass by Caleb Hanie. He missed a wide open Marion Barber by 10 yards. Just terrible.

11:03 - Tebow takes a hit from the weakside but stays in there and completes a pass. First completion since the first quarter. Talk about playing dead! What a strategy.

9:58 - Three straight completions for Tebow! The Broncos are driving! I can't stop typing exclamation marks!

9:22 - Tebow takes a sack off a strange play call by John Fox.

8:53 - Oh and Tebow gets sacked and he fumbles the ball. Da Bears recover. Faith in Tebow will be tested this game. I don't see Denver scoring twice on this Bears defense but still plenty of time to go.

8:53 - One thing I don't understand about this whole Tebow thing is why so many people hate him. Is it because he doesn't play the position the way it "should be played"? This makes no sense and is simply an excuse given by those who do hate him. If this was the way athletes should be judged then Shawn Marion would be the most hated NBA player of all time.

7:40 - Big 3rd down and 7 for the Bears right here. They hand the ball off to Barber who gets nothing so Chicago will punt to the Broncos. Strangely conservative play-calling by Lovie Smith there. I'm not saying go for the endzone but if everyone in the stadium and watching at home know that you're going to run the ball then by all likelihood so does the opposing team's defense.

Day 1 of the NBA off-season: A Running Diary

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Two weeks ago before falling asleep at 3 am in the morning (get the irrelevant reference?) I decided to check twitter one more time. The news I read put a huge smile on my face. Why? Because the NBA lockout was over!!! After reading some details about it, I decided to keep a running diary on the events of the first day of the off-season (December 9th). So that brings us to today, but before I begin, I'm going to write some of my thoughts on yesterday's crazy day which involved me spending more time on twitter than actually studying for my exam this morning.

The main story from yesterday was that the Lakers, Hornets, and Rockets had appeared to complete a 3 team trade involving Paul going to the Lakers, Gasol going to the Rockets, and Odom, Scola, Kevin Martin, Dragic, and a pick gong to the Hornets. Everyone had different thoughts on the trade, mostly saying how the Lakers got the best deal. I personally thought that the Lakers got weaker after this deal, unless they were able to get Dwight Howard in a future deal. Even with their struggles last year, the Lakers's main weapon has been their highly skilled big men (Kobe, as great as you are your big men were very important to the titles you won). No team could match their size in previous years. With Paul they get one of the biggest upgrades in a position ever (why does Fisher start on any team?) who can create for himself and others. I could ramble about how have an elite PG is not that significant, but I think I will save that for another article.

Anyways, what happened hours later was shocking to the rest of the league. Stern decided to veto the trade, since it was not for the greater good of the NBA. What the hell does that even mean? Each team got what they wanted, so it seemed to be a fair trade, but Stern wants stars to stay on their respective teams. I agree with this, but next year when Paul leaves (and he will) the Hornets will be left with nothing.... Hopefully, the vetoing doesn't have a large effect on the moves made today, so I will have something to write about.

Today we already got some terribly sad news. Brandon Roy will retire due to career threatening knee problems. Roy was a warrior and one of the best tier B superstars and I feel bad for any hard working athletes who experience career ending injuries, especially ones as young as Roy. On a side note, imagine if Oden and Roy were healthy and the Blazers had a starting lineup of Felton, Roy, Wallace, Aldridge, and Oden....scary.

What to expect today: Terrible contracts handed out that will question why we had a lockout in the first place? (probably just to piss the fans off) Problems with the Hornets making trades, especially involving Paul. 3/6 of the Nuggets best players last year being rumoured to return even though they're stuck in China until March.

Anyways, I will keep up with trades/rumours and signings from now until I go to bed.

2:28 - First official deals, looks like big baby Davis is getting a 4 year $26 million deal from the magic and Grant Hill will resign with the suns for 1 year, $6.5 million.
Random Davis signing, I thought he was going to get traded for Bass, maybe it's a sign and trade? I will share my thoughts when I know exactly what's going on there.
The Hill signing is pretty useless. I think Hill should go to a contender, but maybe he will at the trade deadline or next summer.

2:56 - Chuck Hayes is about to sign a deal with the Kings for 4 years, $21.3 million.
This helps the Kings, since Hayes can do a lot (indicated by his triple double last year) and will give it his all every night. A front court of Cousins, Hickson and Hayes looks like it could be very effective, especially against teams with weaker front courts. I know Daki will be happy about this signing.
They also just re-signed the scoring machine Marcus Thornton to a 4 year, $31 million deal-Edit. Now the Kings look really good and they will be competitive in a few years.

The NBA, Liverpool, and School

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Pictured above: A man who finally decided to stand up to the bullshit Liverpool has faced.

I have to be honest, after a whole day of studying, the notes I am reading are starting to blend and I am beginning to see things. Perfect time to take a break from studying. I could not think of a better way to take a mental break then to post my thoughts about a ridiculous day in the sports world. First of all the NBA, WOW! We all knew that free agency would be crazy, but none of us thought it would be this crazy. Earlier in the week NBA fans were both amazed and horrified at the Lakers proclaiming that they would get both Dwight Howard and Chris Paul. Everyone's thought process probably went from "no way" to "wait a second..." to "Fuck! they might actually do it". The Lakers have missed the playoffs less then 6 times in their Franchise history, they always have stars somehow. The Lakers fan's dreams and the nightmares of all other fans looked to be true when Paul was traded to LA with Bunym still available as a trade piece for Howard. However, the NBA (who owns the Hornets) decided to veto the trade hours later. This does not make sense. By all accounts the Hornets got a really good deal (a solid base on which to re-build), the Rockets and Lakers both got stars. If anything the Lakers were actually worse-off from losing both Odom and Gasol. Basically, if the Lakers failed to get Howard after the trade they would have been the same or worse as before acquiring Paul. Of course if the NBA did this just to make sure the Lakers get Howard and somehow keep Gasol or Odom well then. I wont go much more into this as Igor will have an excellent running-diary of what is sure to be a crazy day tomorrow, so check that when you get a chance.

The other reason I wanted to post something has to do with my history as a sports fan. It is well documented how NBA referees screwed the 02 Kings out of a title so I will resist the urge to write 100,000 words about it. What I am trying to say is that its not fun when the refs treat your team unfairly, and sadly this is now happening to Liverpool. Before you think I am just saying this as a Liverpool homer, please just examine the facts presented and try to look at it objectively. Today Kenny Dalglish did something few managers did at Liverpool before; he stood up for the club. Dalglish made a DVD of all of the 'injustices' that are happening to Liverpool that others are not being punished for. The content of the DVD will only be displayed if the FA proceeds to foolishly charge both Liverpool and Suarez for the incident that occurred Monday against Fulham. Why foolish? because as this and this show, the people attacking Liverpool can not hide from the fact that they are being unfair and uneducated in their attacks. In one link it is pointed out how various players have done what Suarez did and did not even receive a slap on the wrist. The other article (written by a brilliant Liverpool blogger) points out how 18 months after his departure, the English press still refuses to stop talking about Rafa Benitez, and also refuses to check their facts before writing idiocy about Liverpool. Believe me, if I had time I would write more about this and even provide examples, but the blog above will do a better job then I will. Also, if you are a fan of Liverpool and somehow have not ran into the above blogs I highly recommend them. It's not about mistakes (referees are only human after all) but it is about consistency and respect, something Liverpool is not getting at this time.

Millennium S&E now has a twitter feed: @MillenniumSandE

A Cabrock Rant

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The way this season is playing out, I’m not going to have any incentive to write any more articles. Obviously the Saints won another game by a convincing margin and Drew Brees played excellent. If I’m beginning to bore you with my repetitiveness, I apologize, but there really isn’t much else to talk about.

The Saints offence is a well oiled machine and there isn’t a single defence in the league that can shut them down. Brees continues his pace to break some of the leagues prolific passing records and doesn’t even seem phased that the MVP trophy has almost certainly been given to Aaron Rodgers already. The only thing that Brees and the Saints want to win is the Lombardi trophy after taking Superbowl 46. The only part of last week’s game that I want to talk about is how retarded Detroit is.

The Lions are without a doubt the most undisciplined team in sports and look more like a bunch of hoodrats in pads than football players. They claim to be playing with intensity and ferocity, but that team as a unit is an embarrassment to professional athletics. As a pro football player, you’re not only supposed to be competing to win games, but to set an example for the millions of kids that watch the sport and look up to the NFL and it’s players. Suh, Titus Young, Coach Schwartz, and the rest of that sad bunch of human beings all disgust me. One of the first articles ever written for this blog, by Luka, was about how fans shouldn’t be cheering for one team to lose, but rather rooting for their team to win. I would agree with that assessment in most cases, but there are cases where that’s just wrong, and this year’s Detroit Lions are one of those cases. The Detroit Lions don’t deserve to have any fans and I hope they lose every single game they have left this season. Stomping on players, throwing punches, taunting the opposing team, and racking up about 44,000 personal foul penalties in less than a season is an embarrassment, but for Jim Schwartz to not step in and try and straighten out the thugs that play for his team is just sad. The Lions deserve to fall back to their 0-16 ways because they have no respect for their city, the fans, or the game that is paying for their delinquent lifestyles.

Barring a surprisingly close New Orleans game or another huge event in the NFL that I feel I have to rant about, my next few articles will probably focus primarily on college football and the awesome (re: useless) BCS bowl games.

The Patriots Report: Week 13

Tweet Due to being in the middle of exam season there will be no report this week. If any of you were looking forward to reading it I sincerely apologize. The Millennium S&E staff will come harder then ever when the NBA season rolls around, your readership is greatly appreciated.

Saints Report Week 12

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Another week, another win! Like Daki, I’m going to keep this week’s article short and sweet.

The New York Giants visited the New Orleans Saints at the newly named Mercedes-Benz Superdome and came heavily unprepared. The Giants were on a 2 game losing streak and things weren’t looking good. Many fans and analysts will probably talk about this season and say that the Giants were all hype and that they weren’t ever a true playoff contender but the truth is that the Giants might be the most injury-plagued team in the entire NFL. Before this season, there wasn’t a chance you could name ¾ of the players that are currently starting, which is never a good sign for any team. The Giants will likely miss the playoffs this season, but Eli Manning has proven that he is an elite QB and that, if the Giants could stay healthy and play with some passion, they could be a serious threat.

That being said, Drew Brees did his thing throwing for 363 yards and 4TDs and also rushing for another TD. The Saints offense simply outmatched the banged up Giants defence and made it look like they were playing against a Division III college. Jimmy Graham and Lance Moore had huge games, each recording 2 TDs. New week, same story: Brees and the passing attack light shit up and look fantastic doing it. There’s no point in me writing about this aerial show anymore cause I’m starting to sound like a broken record. Instead, I’m going to talk about an interesting article I read on NFL.com today.

I tried to find the link to the article but NFL.com changes every 4 seconds so it’s pretty much long gone at this point. Basically, the point of the article was that the Saints have the power to defeat Green Bay and win their 2nd title in 3 years. The Saints offense is pretty much unstoppable and can throw 30 points on the board whenever. The question will be whether the defence can step it up. Some people (re: mainly Daki) believe that the 49ers are pretty much guaranteed a spot in the NFC championship and that GB is the only team that can stop them from reaching the superbowl. I feel silly even discussing these shenanigans, because the 49ers wouldn’t even be able to challenge the Saints. The Niners have an excellent defence, i’ll give them that, but matched up against the Saints offense, they won’t be able to hold them to less than 25+. That means Alex Smith, the perennial loser, would have to lead his team to outscore New Orleans AND keep the ball out of the hands of Brees and Peyton’s offense....yea right. So what then is the real question? At this point in time, I would not be able to honestly say that the Saints are a better football team than the Packers. It has been years since a team has existed in the NFL with this much talent in every aspect of the game. Their offense is methodical, their defence is ferocious, their special teams can strike at any given moment, and their coaching staff has done an amazing job with their ball club this season. However, the argument isn’t whether New Orleans is the better team; the argument is whether the Saints would beat the Packers, and the answer is yes. Opening game of the season saw the Saints lose to the Packers on a failed goal line rush from the 2 yard line. The ICU at Sick Kids Hospital could have fielded a better defence than the Saints did in the first half of the game and they were absolutely TORCHED by Rodgers and the Pack-attack. However, in the second half of the game, Rodgers didn’t even throw for 100 yards and the defence managed to slow down an offense that has looked unstoppable this year. Since then, the Saints defence has become extremely opportunistic and has shown glimpses of the swagger that they had in 2009 when they won the Superbowl. The Saints still have a long way to go, but if they keep improving and getting better when the playoffs come around, I can promise you that the Saints will redeem their season-opening loss to the Packers and go on to win Superbowl 46.

New Orleans faces a very inconsistent Detroit Lions team this week, but with the Lions needing this win to make a push for the playoffs, hopefully I’ll have a more exciting article to write about.