Swine Flu, Politics,Smartphones, and Bean Pies?

Random thoughts in no particular order of importance for your Sunday morning.

I'm a little bit worried about the H1N1 flu virus because I'm in schools all of the time. Not to mention grocery stores, church, and all kinds of other places where people, and flu viruses, congregate. But I'm not so worried about it (yet) that I'm pushing the panic button. Looking at the news reports, you'd think it was the second coming of the bubonic plague. Maybe it is, but until we start flipping out about the regular flu that kills tens of thousands every year, or car accidents, or gunshot deaths, or..., well you get the idea. We're going to be careful of course, but life still has to go on.

This first round of this year's NBA playoffs have been outstanding so far. Of course I'm beyond thrilled that the Houston Rockets finally made it out of the first round for the first time in 12 years. This after trading away their starting point guard and having their "best player," Tracy McGrady, sidelined for the season. I think the Rockets are going to give the Lakers a tougher time than anyone seems to think right now.

President Obama is doing a good job. No elaboration, I just think he's doing a pretty good job all the way around and I'm looking forward to his first appointment to the Supreme Court.

Arlen Specter? Sometimes you should just lie to people. I mean, you don't want your fate decided in a Republican primary? Come on man, weren't you a Republican for like 45 years? What an insult to the people who voted for you, although I'm sure a lot of them are switching parties right about now too. I remember when Ben Nighthorse Campbell won a Senate seat as a Democrat way back in 1992. I voted for him. Then, I think within a year or so he switched to the Republican side. I know I was hot then and I'm I'll bet a whole bunch of Pennsylvania Repulicans are plenty pissed off right now too. But oh well, that's the way it goes I guess.

Still haven't bought the wife a new smartphone yet. Hey, it's not me. She's resisting. I'm pretty sure I know what phone I'm going to get her. Want a hint? We're on T-Mobile, she uses Google for everything, needs directions or phone numbers all of the time, and can't text on her regular phone keypad to save her life. Based on that, can you figure out the phone she'll be getting?

Speaking of smartphones, I know all of the talk is about iPhones and the App Store, but I've got to give it up to Blackberry and their recently launced App World. Talk about a utility for pretty much everything with more coming online everyday. And a lot of them are free, like Slacker Personal Radio. There's a war going on in my office, half of the people are iPhone fanatics and the rest are just as crazy about their Blackberry's. It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out over the long run, especially when Palm jumps back into the fray.

The pirates are still attacking and capturing ships. How about a central government that works?

Finally, my wife makes a mean bean pie. Now if you're not Black and/or you haven't been around those Nation of Islam brothers at some point in your life, you probably don't know what a bean pie is and more than likely have never tried one. Well we're Black, non-members of the Nation, but we do like bean pies. One of her best friends however is neither; she's of Puerto Rican descent, born and raised in Chicago and has spent the last quite a few years in Texas. No bean pie exposure in other words. Until this past weekend when our families got together for dinner at our place and my wife made a bean pie for dessert. Suffice it to say they loved it! So much so that she's been working all week trying to make them herself. For some reason, the thought of it just brings a smile to my face.

And that's where I'm going to end this post, smiling. Happy Sunday.

Houston - Over and Out

Another first round playoff exit for the Rockets, this time not even making it to a game 7. Utah blew them out of the gym last night, and it wasn't even close.

He gets basically no credit when they win and all of the blame when they lose, but you really can't put this one on T-Mac. He did his part with 40 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. The question is where was everybody else?

Oh well, no point in dwelling on it. I mean without Yao Ming for half the season they did win 55 games, and had a 22 game winning streak in the middle of it. That's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but we all know that sports are about championships.

So like I said when I first started this blog, I'm There... Already with my teams collapsing down the stretch and in the playoffs. Sure enough, just like last year, both of my favorite teams (Cowboys, Rockets) did it again this year.

But the beauty of being a sports fan is that there's always next year. Yao will be back (I hope), and this team has a lot of young talent. They'll make another run. In the meantime, somebody let me know who wins the whole thing because I'm through watching for a while.

Win Or Go Home

Attention Rockets:

This is it. If you lose tonight, it's summer vacation time.

Yeah, yeah, I know - Utah has played a rough series, the refs haven't been exactly helpful, and you've had to work through injuries.

Doesn't matter.

I've tried to be as helpful as I can throughout this playoff series, but apparently y'all haven't been predisposed to listening. So here's my surefire advice on how to not only win tonight, but maybe the series as well.

1. Rebound the ball.

2. Make the easy shots.

3. Convert your free throws, especially in the 4th quarter (that means you T-Mac).

Number three might be the most important. All of these games have been close, and the margin of victory in the losses has been less than the number of missed free throws.

Hello?

Anyway, hope this helps, and well be rooting for you tonight.

UPDATED: Told ya so. Make the free throws, win the game. Now go do it again in Salt Lake City on Friday night.

They're Alive. Alive!

Maybe it was the protesters out front. Or that Rafer Alston was back on the floor after missing the first two games of the series. Perhaps it was Tracy McGrady doing his best superstar impersonation by actually showing up in the 4th quarter. Or that the team actually shot better than 50% from the free throw line. Whatever the reason, the Rockets finally won a game, and now have a reasonable shot to make this series at least interesting.

The Rockets look like a completely different team offensively and defensively with Alston running the point, and Carl Landry needs more playing time. You knew it was on after he had his tooth knocked out. But give Utah credit, he was playing like a man possessed before that, and Carlos Boozer decided to slow him down with a forearm to the grill. Not that it was intentional, but hey, it got him out of the game for a little bit.

The Rockets have a long way to go to actually win this series, but they can take a mighty big step by doing the same thing in Game 4 and bringing this thing back to Houston tied 2-2.

Hope is still alive in Houston.

Just Make The Dang Free Throws

Well, the intensity was better, Tracy McGrady played like a superstar for most of the game, and the team played better overall defense, but still lost to the Jazz to go down 0-2 in the best of 7 series.

In other words things look pretty grim, especially with the next two games coming up in Utah.

What's really killing the Rockets is that they miss so many easy shots right at the rim, and their inability to make free throws (something I forgot to mention in my last post). They lost by 6. They missed 10 free throws, most at crucial times including 4 in the 4th quarter. That's more than the final margin of victory. This lead off paragraph from the Chronicle basically sums it up:

The tough part was done. The Rockets got the shots. They got the stops. They had the game, and new life in another first-round playoff series only just began, back in their hands.

The easy part, however, was beyond their grasp. They missed the shots from the line and at the rim. They did not get the rebound after the stop with the game on the line.

And T-Mac; one point in the 4th quarter? One? That's money time for all of the superstars I've ever seen in the NBA. McGrady is a very notable exception so far in his career.

But take heart Rocket fans, Utah did lose the first two games last year before rallying to win the series in seven, so all is not lost.

Yet.

But it will be, much sooner than we all want, if the Rockets keep doing all of the little things that helps to lose games instead of win them.

Hello, Rockets? The Playoffs HAVE Started.

Attention Houston Rockets!

We know there's been all kinds of talk about how long its been since you've actually made it out of the first round of the NBA playoffs, but y'all don't have to take that so seriously.

Talk about laying an egg. Game 1 was terrible. The only one on the team who seemed like he realized that the regular season is over and that this is the actual playoffs we've been talking about all year long, was Luis Scola.

Luckily, its a best of seven series, so you have a chance at redemption on Monday night. Here's my suggestions towards a better outcome.

1. Make your shots, especially the really, really easy ones.
2. Grab an offensive rebound every now and again. Second chance points are a bonus.
3. Conversely, grab a defensive rebound too. Second, and third, chance points for the opposition are NOT a bonus, for you.
4. Play with some intensity. I mean really, if you lose 3 of your next 6 games, the season is over. At lease act like that means something to you.
5. Make your free throws.

These are just my, a mere fans, opinion. And I hope y'all play a much more competitive game on Monday.