The NBA: Where Miracles Happen

Tweet The Memphis Grizzlies, opening the playoffs at home for the first time in their history, came out and absolutely sent a statement. They built a lead that was close to thirty points and unlike Miami, they did not need the help of the referees to do so. Memphis looked like a team that knew what had to be done, and were very business-like in dusting the hapless Clippers aside. Conely and Allen were giving Chris Paul fits, Cunningham was posterizing the poster-master, and Marc Gasol was toying with the Clippers big men.

That previous paragraph applies to to roughly 39 out of the 48 minutes of the game, unfortunately, Memphis chose to stop playing after the 39 minute mark, while the Clippers never stopped and never gave up. Vinny Del Negro wanted to pull the starters, but Chris Paul did not let him and we were treated to one of the most improbable and remarkable comebacks in NBA playoff history. From 95-71 to 99-98, a 28 to 3 (3 points in 8 minutes!) run to close out the game... just incredible. Sitting there and watching the team I picked (and wagered on) to make the finals blow this lead was shell-shocking and the worst part is: I can't even try to explain what the hell just happened. Memphis fell asleep and blew it, it really is that simple. Every once in a while, sports gives us a moment like this and we are reminded of why we watch and why we should never turn off the TV until the final buzzer sounds.

So what happens next? The good news for the Grizzlies is that it is only one game, the series is still far from over, and they have two days to get over this before playing again. It will be very difficult to overcome such a collapse, but it is not impossible (see Dallas-Portland from last year), time will still show whether this was a major wake up call for Memphis, or a spring board for the Clippers to make a deep and exciting playoff run. After a mediocre opening day (saved by Durant's heroics and Orlando's improbable run) and a dull second day (obviously saved by the Clippers), suddenly these playoffs seem much more interesting than they were two days ago. Here's hoping that tomorrow brings more of what we witnessed tonight. Cheers

-Follow us Follow @MillenniumSandE

The Millennium NBA playoff preview (part 2)

Tweet After yesterday's post previewed the Saturday games, we move on to today's slate of games. Before I get to them though, some quick thoughts about the opening day of the playoffs.

Kevin Durant gave us the first game-winner of this years playoffs

-Derick Rose. What a tough blow, not just for the Bulls and their title hopes, but also to any fans of the NBA. I guarantee that any team that beats the Bulls (assuming they don't pull off a miracle and win the title, I give them a 7% shot to do this, for the record.) will not feel great about it, this Bill Simmons tweet summed it up best; we will never know how good the 2011-2012 Bulls really were.

-Iman Shumpert. In another cruel occurrence, the Knicks not only got embarrassed in their 8-on-5 match-up against the heat (I included the ref's, their performance really allowed Lebron to do his thing, and completely threw off New York) but they also lost their best perimeter defender for the playoffs. The Knicks have a lot to figure out, or they will be overwhelmed very quickly in this series.

-The Pacers. I mean... I thought we left the choking in last year's playoffs. As you may recall, Indiana lost 4-1 to the Bulls last season, in a series where they led in the 4th quarter four out of the five games. Yesterday, they allowed Orlando to close out the game on an 11-0 run, while missing open jumpers, turning the ball over carelessly (travelling, really?) and just taking bad shots (Collison's long two being the pick of the crop). Indiana will seriously need to re-evaluate things if they lose this series, but we have to wait and see what happens for now.

-Kevin Durant. Dallas and OKC provided us with the best game of the day, with KD hitting the game winner (rarely will we see a shot hit side rim and go in, but that's where Durant's soft touch greatly helped) with 1.5 seconds left. Rick Carlisle made a rare mistake and had no time-outs to use after Durant hit the shot. It turns out that Dallas looks ready to defend their title swinging, and Igor echoed what I think everyone is starting to realize: this will be the best match-up of the first round. On to Sunday.

2012 NBA Playoffs Running Diary: Day 1, Part 1

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I decided to do a running diary of today's NBA Playoff action. My thoughts are below. 


1:00 PM - It's the Playoffs!!! (3 exclamation marks! that's how excited I am). Getting ready to watch the first game of the day with the Philadelphia Sixers visiting the Chicago Bulls. Pretty cool montage being shown right now by TNT. Nothing will beat the one they had at the beginning of the season though which was amazing.

1:06 PM - Before we tip off I might as well make my first round picks. Last year I had the Blazers knocking out the Mavs so that should let you know my success rate with these. Bulls over Sixers in 5. Heat over Knicks in 7. Pacers over Magic in 6. Celtics over Hawks in 6. Spurs over Jazz in 5. Thunder over Mavs in 7. Lakers over Nuggets in 6. Grizzlies over Clippers in 6.

1:09 PM - Still commercials. This game is being broadcast on NBA TV Canada so I'm expecting a couple of awful Raptors commercials each break. This is the worst one of all time (this may be the worst commercial of all time period)

1:11 PM - And we're off! Kevin Harlan (thumbs way up) and Reggie Miller (thumbs down) are the commentators. Holiday hits the opening shot of the playoffs with a 3 followed by a Deng jumpshot. It'll be interesting to see what Sixer team shows up for the playoffs, the one that started off the season on fire or the one who fell off a cliff after the all-star break. For the Bulls, the biggest question is how long it takes Rose to get back to his top form.

1:14 PM - 10-3 Bulls. Timeout from Doug Collins. Not a good start for Philadelphia, Chicago looks way more amped for this game in the early going. Appear quicker to their spots and as a result all of their shots have been wide open.

1:20 PM - Sixers have come back better after the timeout but just as I'm writing this, Rip Hamilton hits a 3, 15-9 Bulls. Hamilton scores again, answered with an Elton Brand Jumper only to have Rip hit one more. Rip with 9 and Brand with 6. These guys think it's 2004. We get a look and listen at the last Sixer huddle. If I was an NBA coach, I would hate "Inside Trax" because they always make coaching seem incredibly easy.

1:24 PM - Oh! Noah just posterized Lavoy Allen off a lovely fake pick and roll handoff with Rose (Think Webber). This was of course followed by his patented celebration of looking up in the air while flexing and screaming simultaneously. I can see why other players hate Noah. 23-16 Bulls.

The Millennium NBA playoff preview

Tweet With the NBA playoffs starting today, how can we not put up an article with some analysis (may contain predictions), but we will do more than that with Luka doing a full on running diary of the day's action that will be posted later. So, without wasting too much of your time, let's preview each series (in the order of the weekend TV schedule).

# 1 Chicago Bulls vs. # 8 Philadelphia 76ers

Or as I like to call this one "integrate Derick Rose into the line-up" series. Chicago could not have asked for a better match-up. The 76ers like to play defense and slow it down, they are offensively challenged, and some would argue that Philly didn't even deserve to make the playoffs with the way they closed out the season. On our podcast (which should be posted fairly soon) Luka made the argument that all teams need a closer, or at least someone who they know is going to be taking all of the big shots late in games, Philly definitely does not have "that guy" and it will probably hurt them in this series. There really isn't much to say about the Bulls, they are a contender, they managed to win 50 games despite Rose missing a significant chunk of time, and they will be ready. Expect a quick series, with few entertaining games.

The prediction: Bulls in 5.

# 2 Miami Heat vs. # 7 New York Knicks

Game of Thrones Season 2 Episode 4 - "Garden of Bones"

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If you plan to watch this episode, do not read the following article until you have watched it. Ok realistically I can’t stop you, but there are SPOILERS below. You have been warned.

Alright what the fuck was that at the end there? First of all how did Melisandre manage to become 9 months pregnant in maybe 1 month (there’s no way 9 months passed, because winter would have come and gone)? Some crazy voodoo witch shit going on over there. More important, what did she give birth to? I knew the show was a fantasy with the dragons and such, but this spirit or whatever it was just brought this fantasy to a whole new level. I can’t imagine what was going through Ser Davos’ mind as he was watching her give birth. It was probably something like.. “ooo Melisandre is getting naked, wait she’s pregnant? Is that even possible? Ok typical preggo screaming… this light is getting brighter and moving toward her, WTFFFFF is that shadow spirit thing?”. Also how did her stomach get so large if she was carrying a shadow? Alright enough about that, but I can’t wait for the next episode to explain wtf was going on there. At least Stannis has a son (I guess) now. Speaking of Stannis, I found it interesting how him and Renly have some serious hatred toward each other. It looks like both of them will be fighting each other as well as fighting against Joffrey.

NBA: Recap of the Week

Tweet In this edition of the 'recap of the week' I will examine the NBA's playoff picture, talk about some of the big games of last week, and of course, some Ron Artest talk. Hit the jump to read more.

Mad Men - 'Signal 30' Review

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Full Spoilers ahead for Season 5, episode 5 of Mad Men (if you haven't seen it there's no reason to read this)

Lane Motherfucking Pryce. If it hadn't been for Tupac making Coachella nothing but a gangsta party later that night (if you're one of the 5 people who haven't seen it, watch it now.), Lane's beatdown of Pete Campbell would have definitely been the most gangster thing to happen last weekend. This Sunday's episode began with Pete in driving school and it set the tone for the rest of the show as this was certainly a Pete-centric hour. Thus far this season we've gotten some hints that Pete isn't happy with his new suburban life with Trudy but this episode really went further in that direction to show just how unhappy Pete is. Throughout the episode we see Pete attempting to court a high school girl from his driving school class even going as far as to ask her out on a date to the botanical gardens in the city.

Pete also seems incapable of living the suburban life as he unsuccessfully fixes the water tap before it eventually breaks at the party that him and Trudy are hosting. Something that causes Don to go "Superman" (Trudy's words) and fix the tap so easily that makes me wonder if there's anything he can't do. This is completely opposite to Pete who can't even find the proper tool in the time it takes Don to fix the tap. Sad episode for him. Speaking of the party it was very interesting to watch the three couples, Don and Megan, Pete and Trudy, Ken and Cynthia (Whose name Don and Megan didn't know up until Ken said it. Funny stuff.) interact with each other. Even Don who at first didn’t want to go to the party seemed like he had a decent time and even brought up his own childhood willingly. Something he rarely if ever does. This might be a cause of the calming, relaxing effect Megan has on Don or the amount of alcohol Don had before and during the party (“I want to hit the doorbell with my chin”). Regardless of the reason, it was fun to see Don relax a bit with people other than Megan.

Game of Thrones Season 2 Episode 3 - 'What is Dead May Never die"

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If you plan to watch this episode, do not read the following article until you have watched it. Ok realistically I can’t stop you, but there are SPOILERS below. You have been warned.

First of all I would like to apologize for not writing a review for episode 2 and for delaying the writing of this one. Episode 2 was good, but it still seemed like an intro episode, similar to the first one and I have been busy with exams. In the future I will get the review up either Monday or Tuesday.

Secondly, Greyjoy is a douche.

Thirdly, I realized my review for episode 1 had to much summary, so I’m going to keep the summarizing the minimum this time around.

I’m going to start this review by saying that this was the best episode of the season so far and I feel as though most of the introductions are completed, so from now on it will only get better. This episode was highlighted by Tyrion’s amazing plan to break apart the council (he also kicked out Janos in episode 2) by identifying who was snitching to Cersei. I though that whole scene was shot perfectly, since each of the three other members of the council (excluding Cersei and Tyrion) were replaced by one another as we saw Tyrion change stories about sending Princess Myrcella to marry a different prince. Tyrion obviously emphasized not to tell Cersei, but the old man Pycelle was the snitch (I still remember how much I hated him in season one when he was yelling TREASON IS TREASON). I thought he was the best bet as the snitch, since at the end of season 1 he was seen with one of the whores from the brothel and he was standing upright normally so his apparent “back problem” looked like it was just for show. I’m rooting for Tyrion to take over the throne since he’s a little man who was hated on by the rest of his family (except maybe his father) and let’s face it..noone likes Joffrey.

NBA: Recap of the Week

Tweet For those of you wondering where our 'mad men' and 'game of thrones' reviews went this week, don't worry, there is a simple explanation. That explanation is: The writers (Luka and Igor) both had a busy exam week, but once they get some free time they will make up for the lost reviews. For now, Lets stick to my weekly look at the NBA.


Briefly, the NBA's MVP race is officially on! With the Heat's continued struggles, Lebron's slight dip in performance, and Kevin Durant's brilliance, I truly have no idea how those lucky members of the media that have a say in these awards will choose their MVP. Hopefully, the decision will be objective and based on the vague MVP criteria, and not based on the anti-Lebron campaign that has been in full force since this.

But enough about that topic, what really amazed me (in a bad way) this past week was the behavior of the owners of my favorite team, the Sacramento Kings. Earlier in the year, I wrote about how happy I was that the city of Sacramento would keep their beloved Kings team. I realize that I do not live there, and where the team plays should not affect me that much as a fan, but I WAS 'there' (at least in spirit) with those people cheering the team on when they were title competitors. It would be brutally unfair to take away the city's only professional sports team. The Kings (believe it or not) are among the NBA's oldest franchises (dating way back to the 50s) and the fact that David Stern seems to care so little about them kind of sucks to be honest. However, to his credit, Stern did at least try to help the Kings stay in Sacramento, but the Maloof's (the owners) are a fucking disgrace. It is so obvious that they want to move the team, that I gag every time I read a story about how "we are a family" and "we want to stay here". Look, whether the team moves or not, I will probably still support them, but (credit to Luka for most of what I am about to say) there is a special place in hell for people who betray an entire city, the Maloof brothers are about to join that place (they have a reserved seat between Roger Clemens and Lebron).

Moving on to some more fun topics, we are officially at the point where we can start looking at potential playoff match-ups. First off, every NBA fan in the world threw a massive party when they heard that Orlando was shutting down Howard for two weeks, why? Because it meant that the Hawks and Magic would not.... hold on, I'm going to go find some wood and knock on it. Anyways, I repeat: no Hawks-Magic travesty series this year. As it stands, it looks like Orlando could even drop to a seven, or eight-seed, something that I guarantee you that the Bulls and Heat do not want. As for the Hawks, its win-win. We either get them and Boston (which is always hotly contested) or Hawks-Pacers (cool jersey color clash, and in my opinion, an intriguing series). Moving West, we currently have the following: OKC-Houston, San Antonio-Denver, Lakers-Mavs, Clips-Grizz. These are not bad at all, the only exception I would make is to somehow get an 'all Los Angeles' series in the first round, but we shouldn't get too greedy.

My updated list of the teams I think can actually win the title: OKC, Spurs, Lakers, Grizzlies, Mavs, Heat, Bulls, Celtics.

See you next week

Follow us on twitter @MillenniumSandE

Throwback Thursdays #9

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This week's intro will be shorter than most weeks because final exams continue to suck. The pic above is of the original American Pie cast and it has relevance because the latest movie in the American Pie series, American Reunion was released this past Friday. I went to go see it and was pleasantly surprised. If you liked any of the real American Pie movies (the straight-to-dvd ones don't count) then you'll enjoy this one. Everyone in the above pic is in the movie with plenty of other favorite characters we all know and love making appearances as well. The movie also gives us a needed reminder of how hilarious Stiffler is. On to this week's songs.

Luka:

Kanye West ft. Twista & Jamie Foxx - Slow Jamz

Since Kanye's been extremely busy lately, first releasing two new songs (Theraflu, Mercy) and then drawing everyone's attention to his relationship with Kim Kardashian (which seems like a great idea..), I decided to pick this standout song from Kanye's debut album (to be fair any of those songs are standouts, that album is amazing) as my first choice. I know what you're saying, this song is from 2004. How is that 'throwback'? 2004 was (sadly) 8 years ago so this somehow counts and makes all of us feel that much older. The song itself is great. Two great verses from Kanye and Twista (this song is also on his album 'Kamikaze') with a smooth Jamie Foxx hook all over a beat that you don't hear that often anymore. I enjoy 2012 Kanye with all of his douchebaggery and braggadocious lyrics and attitude but I can't help hearing some of his old stuff sometimes and miss the Kanye that brought us 'The College Dropout' and 'Late Registration'

Vitamin C - Graduation

I decided to pick this 2000 (seems unbelievable it was released 12 years ago) hit from Vitamin C as my second song because it's the end of the school year for most if not all university students. Everyone knows this song and everyone knows the lyrics. Immediately after hearing the first notes, this song will make you want to stare into space as you remember years past. Even now when it's regarded more as cheesy, I don't know of anyone who listens to this and doesn't reminisce about something. This song can make any slideshow of pictures feel important and sad (seriously try it).

Recapping the week in the NBA

Tweet When I decided to start this weekly segment last week, I had no idea that we, the fans, would be treated to such a great week of NBA basketball. The week had a little bit of everything, from playoff races, to MVP races, to complete collapse, I have you covered.

It is only right that I begin by talking about that amazing game between the Miami Heat and OKC Thunder, The game was so good that it had analysts salivating over a potential finals match-up between the two teams. What I think got lost in all of this, is the fact that the game was actually very sloppy and poorly played, Durant had nine turnovers by himself! What made this game good was the officiating (let a lot of things go), the competitiveness, and the hard fouls. You truly got a sense that these two teams did not like each other and they were playing like it. What made the game even better was the match-up of Lebron vs. Durant, with Lebron basically telling everyone that was trying to build hype for the Durant MVP campaign last week, that the MVP trophy is his to lose. He completely shut down Durant in the final minutes and was the entire Heat offence in the fourth quarter, it was nice to see him step up and separate himself from everyone else on the court. He rose to the occasion and did not shrink from it, of course this means nothing until the playoffs start so stay tuned.

Last week I also named a few teams who had very important weeks coming up that would likely determine their fate in regards to making the playoffs, those teams were Memphis, the Knicks, and the Celtics. The Grizzlies took care of business in a very impressive 4-1 week (with the one loss being to Dallas in the third game in a back-to-back-to-back set, and they avenged that loss by beating Dallas three days later) that has given them some breathing room in the crowded Western conference. Memphis could get as high as a 3-seed if they keep playing this well, and continue to be a scary match-up for anyone. The Knicks actually managed to climb to the 7-seed in the East (because Philly is self-com-busting at this point) and beat a Rose-led Bulls team in OT. They are also winning enough games to keep the streaking Bucks at bay, while waiting for the health statuses of Stoudemire and Lin, a solid week for the Knicks. Lastly, the Celtics stumbled a bit with losses to the Bulls and Spurs (although not many teams would beat those two teams) but recovered to beat Indiana and Philadelphia. Boston is really playing some good ball and at this point there really is not much more to say about the team. They did not fold this year, (when they had every chance to do so) they stuck together, and now worst of all (for every other team) they are starting to believe.

But enough about the teams that are actually taking care of business, on to the teams that are doing the exact opposite. Firstly, OKC is no longer the West's number one overall seed having lost three games in a row and only snapping that skid with a win against the lowly Raptors. For a young team that has yet to win a title like OKC, home-court advantage is a must and they have let it slip away. Another team that is doing its best NOT to make the playoffs are the 76ers. I have no idea what happened to this team, but within the span of two weeks the race for the East's 8-seed went from a two-team to a three-team race, and you know what? I think New York and Milwaukee both make it and Doug Collins' early season COY bid becomes a thing of comedy. I will conclude this segment with the obvious: the Orlando Magic. I am actually amazed that SVG still has a job coaching this team. While I am on his side in this (he did get screwed over by Shaq in Miami) there is no way you can keep him around at this point right? Could any other coach get away with completely throwing his star player under the bus? Needless to say, Orlando is in the middle of a funk that could drop them even lower than the 6-seed they find themselves in right now, they need to decide (and soon) if they want to try and actually accomplish something in the playoffs, or fade into obscurity.

That will do it for this week, I am keeping things short only because exams are breathing right down my neck this week. Hope you enjoyed anyways!

Hit us up on Twitter @MillenniumSandE

Throwback Thursdays #8

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This week's photo pays tribute to the second highest grossing movie of all-time, Titanic, which happens to be in theatres this week but this time in 3-D (so James Cameron can take even more of your money and then use it to explore the Ocean floor or whatever the fuck he's doing these days). Although Titanic has some plot flaws, the major one being that both Rose and Jack (Kate and Leo) could have fit on the wooden board at the end of the movie and yet for some reason didn't even attempt to, the movie is still very enjoyable and one that I can say I like. Even though I earlier made a joke (probably a little true) about Jim, I will still probably end up going to the movies to watch Titanic in 3D to see how it looks with the added dimension (Cameron has really been the only filmmaker to use 3D in enhancing his movies), to hear Celine sing that song again, to relive my first experience watching it and most importantly to sit there and wonder how Billy Zane got a major role in one of the biggest movies of all time. And also because Jim needs money to make Pocahontas Avatar 2 and 3. Enjoy this week's songs!

Jovan:

Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles

Almost every guy has watched White Chicks, and the scene with Terry Crews is singing A Thousand Miles is one of the best scenes in the movie. The song itself is pretty good, and it sounds like a typical American Pie song (all of which are very nostalgic). It may be a song for girls, but A Thousand Miles is still fun to listen to even if you are a guy (who the hells cares, Terry Crews likes it).

John Tesh - 'NBA on NBC' Theme

I know this isn’t a “song”, but when a theme is this good, I can’t pass on writing about it. Anyone who used to watch the NBA back in the early 2000s will definitely remember this theme, before the NBA Finals began being broadcasted on ABC. There hasn’t been an NBA theme that’s come even close to sounding like NBA on NBC, and hopefully we’ll hear it again someday.

Floorball Interview with Juha Mikkola

Tweet Before getting to the actual interview, I would just like to begin by thanking Juha Mikkola of floorballpro.com for the opportunity to interview him and get some insight about the growing sport of floorball. The overall interview was very enjoyable and exceeded all of my expectations. For those of you who do not know what Floorball is, just keep reading as Juha did a very good job of explaining the sport in the interview, he also touched on some other issues related to the sport and his hopes for the future. The interview questions will be in bold, with Juha's responses below them. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed interviewing.

D: Alright, so first of all: introduce both yourself and what it is you do in relation to the sport of Floorball.

JM: Well, my name is Juha Mikkola and what I do in terms of my work is two-fold. My main area of work is 'floorballpro' where we provide equipment for the sport such as: sticks, balls, among other things in over 50 retailers. We also are the main marketers of the sport in Canada, with our main focus being to provide people interested, with an opportunity to play the game. It is also a really good way for kids (in Canada especially) to develop hockey-related skills and get a good level of athletic training in a safe and enjoyable way. The other branch of my work has a lot to do with Floorball Canada, and Floorball at the grassroots level. Essentially, I am trying to bring the sport to Canada and get people playing, we also organize the Canada Cup; which is an open Floorball tournament and we expect about 70 teams this year. I mean, I just love the sport and want it to be popular!

D: So would you say that you are among the leaders in Canada when it comes to Floorball?

JM: Yeah, I would say that I am one of the leaders for it here in Canada, I mean, we were the first to introduce the business here in Canada, and we also started from zero basically. Also, I really wanted to play the game myself, having grown up with it. I will also add that we have come a long way from our beginnings at U of T in 2002, when we actually started. We were given a 9am time-slot, which is probably the most brutal time for any university student to do anything. But, it caught on, it became popular, we had guys coming in tired, hung-over, and they were really loving it, so we just went forward from there.

D: I can attest to that 9am time being very tough on students, but now that you have given us an overview, can you tell us what floorball is exactly? What is unique about it? and how is it played?

JM: Basically, Floorball is very similar to floor-hockey and I would describe it as hockey, in shoes, in a gym. Some of the differences that separate it from the comparisons I listed are the equipment. There is no helmet, no gloves, a very light-open bladed stick which is more aerodynamic then a normal hockey stick, and it really allows players to execute fun skills such as the toe-drag more easily than a traditional stick. We also have a 'free hit' rule similar to the 'free kick' in soccer, where if a foul is committed, the ball is dead and the team has a chance for a hit. The sport is also less contact, there is no slashing of the stick, no raising the stick above the waist, no off-sides or icing, which leads to a very low injury rate in the sport. That's not to say that it is watered-down version of hockey, it is still very competitive, fun to watch and play, even without the contact.

D: Does the fact that its safe to play appeal to parents looking to get their kids into sports? and expanding on that; how affordable is it to play?

JM: It definitely helps, I usually use that as a selling point: it takes a really unique set of circumstances to get seriously injured in this sport. On the topic of costs, it is very affordable for the average Canadian family, we have leagues where the fee is $110.00 and the stick is $30.00, and that is all you really need. So for under $150.00 to be able to play for about three months is a pretty sweet deal.

D: What levels are these leagues at? Pro? Recreational?

JM: They are house leagues, at this point Canada does not really have semi, or professional leagues, but in countries (in Europe) where the sport is popular, they have legitimate clubs and competitions.

D: You mentioned at the U of T sport-business conference that floorball has been recognized by the International Olympic committee. Can you take me through that process and what it means to the sport?
JM: Oh it was really great news, personally, I am only a part of Floorball Canada and I was not involved in the process, but I can tell you some details about it. First of all, it is very difficult to get recognized as an Olympic sport, you need to have 50 members, comply by all rules (including doping regulations), and even then you may never get an organized Olympic tournament. Floorball has met all of the requirements, and the goal is to have a tournament in the 2024 games. The next major step is to get it to be a 'medal sport', golf only just got that far, but the youth Olympics are really the place where the sport can grow. What we are trying to do is get the sport recognized in North America, because that will be the push that it needs to really take off I think.

D: On that note, what do you see as some challenges to floorball and getting it recognized in North America? and what are your strategies to over-come them?

JM: I see a lot actually. Some of them are opportunities as well, like the craze for hockey (particularly in Canada). But we don't  try to market the game during the peak of Hockey season, there is just no point, everyone is so tuned to ice hockey that we have to pick our spots. Another challenge is the lack of interest that is associated with introducing something new into a well-established culture, and trying to get hockey players into floorball is very tough because hockey (even at the house league level) is a big commitment. So what we try to do is complement, and not compete with hockey. This way we might get some help from them, we definitely do not want a rivalry there. The lack of organized rep leagues hurts a lot too. I mean, hopefully we will be able to build up an infrastructure soon with an emphasis on grassroots. The thing is, there are so many options out there for young athletes, and right now floorball is not really all that enticing. Our strategy there is to have floorball be a platform on which some hockey skills can be honed, again we want to complement hockey, it is the best thing to do for us. The fact that some pro's play also helps on the marketing side.

D: Can you expand on the professionals and how they help the marketability of floorball? Have you approached them asking them to endorse floorball?

JM: Oh for sure, I mean, all of the Swedish and Finnish pro hockey players grew up playing floorball but for obvious financial reasons, they pursued hockey. We are able to get some guys to come out to some charity games like Steve Stamkos, and he was just a natural, and some of the stuff he was doing was really great. Again, referring back to the complement vs. competition initiative, we think that hockey will help us out if we support them.

D: What are your hopes for the future? Where do you see Floorball in 10 years?

JM: I think that 10 years is a really good window to judge the progress of a sport, but we have not yet seen the 'explosion' that we want. The big thing for us will be proving ourselves and being acknowledged. My hope is that our link with minor league hockey will show some benefits two, to five years down the road, but what I would really like to see is a year-round league be formed. In the grand scheme of things, our focus is to make the sport grow in schools, to the point where it will be organized, and they will have city championships and other competitions within the school system for it. Just something to show that kids can go somewhere with it, and speaking of kids; our number one goal is to get floorball to be among the top youth-participated sports in Canada. That will really help us in the long run. Soccer is a cool example to compare it with, it is now the #1 participation sport, and is growing rapidly, and we like that floorball compares to it in terms of simplicity (very little needed to play a game). It is inexpensive, you can play anywhere, and all you really need is a stick.

D: Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer these questions, I look forward to tracking the growth of floorball in Canada and wish you the best.

JM: Hey, anytime, I love talking about the sport, its my passion and this was absolutely no problem for me.

That concluded the interview, I honestly wished to carry it on longer, but this is a good overview and also a good place to leave it at. For those of you interested, check out some clips on youtube and check out Juha's website (floorballpro.com) if you want to get some equipment and play. Who knows? sometime down the line we may even get a pro league for floorball here in Canada, regardless, watching the sport grow should be fun on its own. Cheers!

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Floorball Interview Being Posted Soon

Tweet I just completed that surprise interview that I alluded to in Monday's post, and am in the process of transcribing it. If I can not get it posted today, then I will definitely do so tomorrow. For those of you wondering what Floorball is, your question will be answered in-depth in our interview, but for now I will leave you with a link to an actual game so you get a basic idea.

Game of Thrones Season 2 Episode 1 - 'The North Remembers' Review

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As with the Mad Men and Breaking Bad reviews there are SPOILERS below. You have been warned.

Winter is coming!! Well not really since it just passed, but Game of Thrones season 2 is here! As I opened up the new Game of Thrones episode on my computer yesterday (sadly I couldn’t watch it on Sunday due to an exam on Monday) I heard the first few notes of the amazing opening theme song and instantly got goosebumps and flashbacks to the first season (which I finished in about a week, indicating my addiction to the series). This season takes place right after the execution of Eddard Stark and the progress of his son, Robb, southward to show the Lannisters (who are now at the head of the throne) not to mess with the Stark family.

There is no time wasted in delivering some action (the only fight of the episode) as we see Hound brutally destroy another man for the pleasure of Joffrey on his name day. Joffrey acts like a prick to the next contender, making him chug wine, until Sansa tells Joffrey to stop. Tyrion enters the scene and makes fun of his nephew in his usually witty fashion and randomly leaves. So far so good, these are the typical things I was expecting from this season. Next, Tyrion breaks up a council meeting between Cersei the other members of the council, which results in some good dialogue between the siblings, highlighted by Tyrion comically saying “It is your one redeeming quality, that and your cheek bones”. This scene indicates that there seems to be some tension in the Lannister family, especially the indirect tension between grandfather Tywin and grandson Joffrey.

The scene shifts up North and we get our first look at Bran as the temporary King of the North. Nothing really interesting here, but there is a new element added to the series in the following segment which involves a 1^st person (or wolf should I say) view from the eyes of Bran’s wolf. I found this awesome and I can see how it could make for some great scenes in the future. There is also a red streak in the sky which persists for the next few scenes, signifying the birth of dragons.

Speaking of dragons, we finally get to see the beautiful Daenerys and her newly born dragons, except since the death of Khal Drogo, she and her crew seem to have been struggling. Daenerys and Ser Jorah Mormont (he’s got the coolest voice in the show) talk for a bit and Daenerys decides to send 3 of her men in different directions to find out where the group should go. She talks with one of the Dothraki men before he departs and they both mention “blood of my blood”. I’m not sure if this is Khal Drogo’s brother or if all Dothraki are “blood of blood” (I really don’t want to research anything because the internet and the subway for that matter are spoiler infested).

Now we venture beyond the wall as the men of the Night’s Watch have entered a small village owned by a man, Craster, who has sex with his wives, daughters, their daughters and just keeps producing more daughters to bang…really sickening stuff (nerd thought: how many genetic problems must there be in this village?). Jon Snow speaks up while Craster was talking and Craster starts ripping on him for having long hair. He makes it clear to everyone, especially Jon, that noone is allowed to touch his daughters or they will lose a hand. The scene ends with the Lord Commander asking Jon “Do you want to lead one day? Well learn how to follow.” I’m really interested with this group of characters and I’m curious to see how life is deep beyond the Wall. Side note: I guarantee one of the Night’s Watch guys will sleep with one of Craster’s daughters/wives.

We finally get introduced to Robert Baratheon’s brother, Stannis (the rightful bearer of the throne), and a few more new characters. The scene consists of a witch (or something of the sort) named Melisandre leading a ceremony for Stannis to grab a burning sword and Stannis modifying a letter that will be sent to different areas of the kingdom explaining the truth behind the Lannisters and what happened to his brother. The scene ends with Ser Davos Seaworth (looks like a cool character) talking to Stannis about gaining more troops and Melisandre uses some magic to kill The Maester. Barathians vs. Lannisters, Starks vs. Lannisters, this is going to get interesting.

Robb and Jamie begin the next scene by ridiculing each other, until Robb’s dog enters the scene (again using some 1^st person view) and teases Jamie with death, leaving him chained up as he’s been for about 4 episodes now. Tyrion and his whore (or girlfriend?) enjoy their life at King’s landing, while his sister encounters Little Finger and tells him to go search for Aria. Little Finger refuses and reveals to Cersei that he knows about her and Jamie’s little secret (that they are the mother and father of Joffrey) and claims that this is his power. Cersei tells her guards to seize him and cut his throat (at this point I would have been pissed off had they killed of such an important character) but changes her mind and explains to him that this was power, ordering him to find Aria. Meanwhile, Robb explains to a Lannister messenger what his agreements to peace with them will be. The agreements are very demanding and it will surely cause problems within the Lannister house. Greyjoy tells Robb that his father can help him in battle, but Robb's mother disagrees. After convincing her, we can really see the growth of Robb as a leader as he follows the footsteps of his father.

Joffrey tells his mother that he’s heard a rumour that his father is actually Jamie, which leads to Cersei slapping him (seems like a lot of people know about the secret now). Joffrey warns her that this is the last time she has done such a thing, since there will be a consequence next time. Insert random whore house sex scene (loud fake orgasms while my speakers were turned up aren’t a good combo when your family is at home). The episode ends with the killing of all of Robert Baratheon’s bastards (ordered by either Joffrey, or more likely Cersei), where there seem to be at least 50 of them and Aria riding North with another one of Robert’s bastards.

After a long wait, I was really pleased to finally watch a new Game of Thrones episode and this one didn’t disappoint. Overall, I found it very good and I felt that it really helped set up the rest of the season. The one complaint I have is the lack of fight scenes and random scenes that were present in the first season, but I’m sure more of them will come. The next episode should be great, since Robb is coming close to King’s Landing and tensions in the Lannister house are building.

Rating for the episode: 8.6/10

Mad Men - 'Tea Leaves' Review

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 Full Spoilers ahead for Season 5, episode 3 of Mad Men (if you haven't seen it there's no reason to read this)

Don Draper is boring. There's no other way to put it. Through 3 episodes (last week's season premiere was a two-hour show so it counted for two episodes) of this season, the SCDP head ad-man has become what was once thought impossible,  not that entertaining to watch. The Don that we've seen in 1966 hasn't come close to the womanizing, take everything without asking questions Don of the first 3 seasons or even the slightly pathetic drunk Don of last season but rather he is exactly what one would expect a 40-year old man working in an office building to be. Boring. This seems to stem from his marriage to Megan which so far has looked to be the best relationship Don has been in (not counting Anna Draper) and one that gives him a sense of peace in his life. It will be interesting to see where this goes this season but I still believe that we'll end up seeing the old Don sometime in the near future.

Well so much for my prediction that this season we'll be seeing the gradual phasing out of Betty and Henry Francis as this week's episode was basically geared around Betty, her weight gain (more on this later) and her possible serious health scare. Watching this episode on Sunday night had me all kinds of confused after seeing Betty for the first time. I flipped between "she's pregnant" to "she's fat" several times in the first five minutes before finally giving up and letting the show tell me. It turns out that in the last 6 months from the time we last saw her, Betty has been eating everything (seriously if we hadn't seen baby Eugene last week, I would be expecting the worse). The reason that the show writers had to introduce this storyline is because the actress who portrays Betty, January Jones, was actually pregnant over the course of filming the show's fifth season. And while the fat gain due to psychological reasons is a nice touch in trying to explain the real-life weight gain by Jones, I can't lie and say it wasn't weird watching Betty's second and third chins wobble as she walked/spoke.

Through this weight gain is where we get the main conflict of the episode as Betty goes to her doctor for some diet pills but rather hears some unexpected and startling news as the doctor finds a "lump" on her neck. In her panicked state she calls Don to tell him and their relationship seems to be way better than last season's as Don does his best to calm down and comfort Betty. By the end of the episode we find out that nothing is wrong with Betty and that in her words "she's just fat". Before this happens we get a psychic reading Betty's tea leaves and saying how many people depend on her, naturally Betty cries after hearing this and even has a weird dream where she dies (strange looking scene). The uncertainty of her health led to some interesting convos between Don and Megan and Don and Roger about the future if something happened to Betty. The strange thing is that Megan had a way better outlook on it than Roger who basically said that he's done with dealing with real life and death thoughts. This is even more strange considering that Roger has previously suffered a near fatal heart attack but also way less strange when you consider that Roger seemingly doesn't give a shit about anything happening in his life right now.

What was happening at SCDP this week also played a role in the episode as the company got back the Mohawk Airlines account thanks to Pete and Roger although if you asked Pete he'd say it was all him. Roger finally appeared to get back into the business side of things as he became the account man for Mohawk Airlines based on their demand for him. This led to Peggy being told to find a new copywriter for the account as the Mohawk people wanted a man for the job (Roger - "they want someone with a penis", Peggy - "I'll work on that"). Peggy ends up picking Michael Ginsberg, a talented copywriter with a strange personality that Peggy fears Don will hate. However, Michael impresses Don in the interview (mentioned how much he loved Don's "letter" to cigarette companies) and gets the job. I'm liking Michael as a character and with him being Jewish (Roger let us know in his funny racist way) and Don's new receptionist, Dawn (led to some more funny comments by Mr. Sterling) being African-American, the offices of SCDP appear to be moving with the times, something that is sure to provide more racially-charged comments (but funny) by Roger.

The last plot point of the episode involved Don and Harry staking out the backstage of a Rolling Stones concert in hopes that they would do a jingle for their Heinz bean commercial (somehow all true.). I think I would watch an hour-long show of the adventures of Don and Harry. The two are complete opposites and the obvious dislike that Don has for Harry, one that he has no problem with showing off makes the pair great to watch. While backstage the two of them meet two girls who they begin talking to and who offer them weed. I know I wasn't alone in hoping to see Don smoke with the girls then make some sort of slick comment before hooking up with one of them (see Seasons 1-3). Sadly though the Donald Draper of 1966 continued with his boring ways by just smoking his cigarettes and questioning the girl (he did give her his business card so there's still hope in seeing womanizing Draper once more). Not surprisingly the two of them fail to even meet the Rolling Stones as Harry messes up (he talks to another band thinking they're the Stones). The episode ends with Pete undermining Roger in front of the entire SCDP staff by making it seem like Roger is working for him and not as partners. This Pete-Roger duel will probably the focal point of more episodes to come and will be interesting to watch.

Random thoughts: The scene with Don and Harry in the car after the concert was hilarious with Harry clearly affected by "munchies" and not wanting to leave Don's car. Have we ever seen Harry's family? I can't remember. No Cooper, no Ken and very little Lane this episode, the show probably didn't feel like paying them. What was up with the weird interaction between Ginsberg and his dad at the end of the episode? I'm predicting that Don meets up with the girl from the concert and the happy Megan relationship begins to crumble. I'm also sticking with my Betty and Henry will be phased out prediction just because. Overall I thought it was a good episode but weaker than last week's because I never really enjoyed Betty as a character and episodes focused on her are usually less interesting.

Rating : 8.2/10

Luka Milanovic

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A Look at the Week That Was in the NBA

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Which teams are making noise?

With only four weeks to go in the NBA's regular season, now is the time where teams need to make their move and peak at the right time (which everyone seems to agree is right before the playoffs). The team that did that in a resounding way last week were the Thunder of Oklahoma city. OKC is currently riding a 6-game winning streak in which they went 3-0 against other title contenders (The Lakers, Bulls, and Heat) as well as another quality win over a good opponent who isn't quite as good as the other teams (The Clippers). I have to admit that I was genuinely impressed by Oklahoma's performance, especially the chemistry between Westbrook and Durant. Last season Westbrook took a lot of criticism for not deferring to KD, but as Magic said today "we hated on him last year, but now we have to give him his props", the truth is, if both of those guys can sustain this level of performance (and play with each other unselfishly) in and throughout the playoffs, we could see the birth of a very scary dynasty. However, despite their level of play this year, Oklahoma still has work to do to clinch home court advantage throughout the West thanks to the ageless Spurs.

San Antonio did not really impress me as much as the Thunder this week, but this is largely due to the fact that San Antonio's consistency over the last decade, as well as their refusal to die (figuratively of course) does not phase me anymore.  I could type how under-the-radar they have been, or how they have quietly gotten younger and more athletic, and how they have the best coach in the league, but none of that stuff matters because nobody will be interested in hearing it. San Antonio will get their proper respect after the first round of the playoffs (if they get there), until then, you really wont hear as much about them as you will about some of the other contenders. One last team I will mention, before moving on to other topics, is the Boston Celtics. Following the trade deadline, in which Danny Ainge wisely decided to let this crew have one last run (and if you think anyone will knock this team out easily, you are mistaken) Pierce, Rondo, Garnett, Allen, and Rivers will have this team believing, even if no one else believes in them. They have crept up on Orlando for the 3 seed in the East and are in full out business mode. The blowout they laid on the Heat yesterday signals that these guys are locked in, and the Heat and Bulls wont be happy about it and they definitely will not be happy if they have to face a rejuvenated and motivated Celtics team in the playoffs.

How is the MVP race shaking up after last week?

Coming Up This Week

Tweet The reason you have not seen the conclusion of our NBA power rankings is because we are trying to figure out how to do a podcast on it, so just be patient with that as I am sure it will be worth the wait. As for the rest of this week, Luka will continue reviewing 'Mad Men' and Igor will be taking a look at 'Game of Thrones'. Throwback Thursday's (Jovan and Luka's insightful and hilarious look at music from the past) will make an appearance as well, along with some NBA stuff. If I am really up to it, I might even spend a few minutes typing up a funeral for Liverpool FC's horrific season or doing another 'Best Cartoons Growing Up' segment. But what I am really excited for this week is the chance to Interview a person who is trying to get a new sport to explode. More details on that some time this week. Cheers.

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