More there there than I thought

Like most of the hundreds of Nationals fans in Washington, I've gotten excited by their recent hot streak.  Though they have a talented roster, I thought that it was merely a hot streak on the backs of surging players such as Michael Morse, Danny Espinosa and pitchers like Jordan Zimmermann rather than proof that this year's squad is a talented and legit team. 

But something in today's Post is making me rethink that position.  Adam Kilgore reports that the Nationals have outscored their opponents 26-6 this year in extra inning games.  And yesterday, as the Nats - the Washington Nationals - played on national TV in the Fox Game of the Week a graphic showed that 11 percent of Nationals games have gone into extra innings, the highest percentage in baseball in almost 50 years. 

Not sure if the extra inning-games percentage means much: it could be that our bullpen is NOT as good as we thought, blowing leads too often; or it could mean than this team never gives up and has a talent for late-inning comebacks. 

Either way, I think outscoring your opponent by 20 runs in extra inning games is impressive. It demonstrates both physical talent - making plays on offense, defense and the base paths AND making pitches - and mental toughness and confidence. 

A young, talented roster AND confidence - and now Davey Johnson?  Go Nats!

A few more notes:

• I love the Davey Johnson hire, in theory.  He's a great baseball man with an impressive track record.  But it has been 10 years since he managed.  But of all the potential managers available it's hard to quibble with a hire like Johnson.
• Also hard NOT to root for Equatorial Guinea in the women's World Cup.
• One potential concern for the U.S. team - not enough Tar Heels (or less there there than usual). Historically fellow alums have made up half the roster, but this year only 3 of the 21 players on the U.S. team are from Carolina: Tobin Heath, Heather O'Reilly, and Lindsay Tarpley.

He's a baby

I couldn't tell what to title this blog, but the more I thought about Jim Riggleman's surprising and selfish resignation, I kept returning to the B word.

Riggleman practically said as much, saying at one point "It's about me. It's about looking in the mirror and feeling like I've got to answer to myself." To me, when an adult says 'It's about me" that equals to "I am a baby."

I imagine it's stressful working under a series of one year contracts - though Walter Alston did it for 30 years - but does Riggleman think he will ever be offered ANY kind of contract after leaving his team mid-season and mid-hot streak?  I can't imagine he will EVER work in baseball again.  Who would trust him?

Isn't a one year deal to be one of the 30 big league managers on the planet, for your hometown team, better than nothing? Or better than burning every single bridge you've ever crossed in baseball?  It would be different if this were Joe Torre or Tony LaRussa, guys who've won a few title, walking away.  Those kinds of guys could walk out on a team and still hope to be rehired in the future.  But not Riggles.

The resignation takes some of the bloom off the Nationals rose. This team is young and fun to watch.  The funnest thing about this team, besides the winning, is that you never know who is going to step up for our hometown team. One night it's Morse, another it's Espinosa - or Ramos or Clippard or Marquis or ZImmermann or ZImmerman or Nix or Bernadina or Pudge or Storen or Livo.  

[One guy who is NOT is Jayson Werth, doing his best to prove that he is not a star without Ryan Howard and the rest of Phillies to protect him.]

One of the great things about that list is the pitching.  Jordan ZImmermann has looked like a potential number 2 starter, with John Lannan the same as a solid number 3.  There is some there there on the mound.  And our bullpen, with Tyler Clippard, Sean Burnett, and Drew Storen is solid, too.

But best of best of all, outside of Pudge, Livo and Marquis, that list of players is young. I don't want to get too excited - all that gets this franchise is Tommy John surgery and managers resigning - about the base of talent in Washington, a base that will grow larger once Stephen Strasburg returns and Bryce Harper is ready for the big leagues - but it's hard not to. 

Excited good, being a baby bad.

The Silver Lining

•  Lost among the Riggleman hubbub was another win, 1-0 today against the Mariners.  The win put the Nats - the Washington Nationals - above .500 at 38-37 in June.  The last time that happened was in 2005.  In addition to creeping above the 500 mark, the Nats are only 4 and half games out of the wild card race.
• The other silver lining today was a very, very good NBA draft for the Wizards.  With their 3 picks Washington drafted: Jan Vesely, a high-flying athlete from the Czech Republic who should thrive running and rolling with John Wall; the very versatile and smart Chris Singleton from FSU to play some D and be the glue guy; and Shelvin Mack from Butler, a tough guy to back up Wall.  Throw Jordan Crawford and JaVale McGee in there and that's a talented rotation of young players. If we could trade Andray Blatche tonight it would be perfect! 
• One final draft note.  Jordan Williams and Kyle Singler were both drafted in the 2nd round.  A first round pick gets a guaranteed, 3-year contract, so slipping a round has some consequences.  Those two players illustrate the need to be smart, not sentimental or emotional, in deciding to go pro or stay in school.  After leading his team to a championship as a junior Singler was a lock to go in the first round.  But he stayed in Durham, had a so-so season, and slipped to the second round.  Williams was just as dumb.  Gary Williams and others told him he needed another year of polish, but Williams told the Post his gut told him he was ready.  Leaving school early only to go in the second round is foolishness.  Singler should have left early, Williams should have stayed.

The winner is . . .

Hamartia! 

LeBron James' post-game comments definitely show that he is tragically flawed, not someone simply prone to preening and boasting a la Dwyane Wade. Thanks for clearing that up, LBJ.

But enough about the Heat.

Congrats to Brendan Haywood and the Mavericks for raising to the occasion.  Easy to forget that basketball is about one thing, making baskets - along with not turning it over, and hitting the glass.  Dallas was better at all three than Miami. 

And the deciding factor was that Nowitzki and Terry - who was underrated this series - were better than James and Wade at making shots.  Terry was especially key in games 4, 5 and 6, complimenting Nowitzki very nicely.  Shawn Marion played the sidekick in games 2 and 3, while guys like Tyson Chandler (in all four wins), Haywood (excellent in game 2), and Jason Kidd in games 2, 5, and 6 took turns as Robin to Dirk's Batman, while J.J. Barea and DeShawn Stephenson were like Terry huge in the last three games.

Kudos too to Rick Carlisle for insert Barea into the starting line up.  He was fantastic in games 5 and 6.

There you have it.  The Mavs won due to a great superstar rising to the occasion, aided by contributions from their entire roster and some nice coaching.

It helped that they were playing against hubris and hamartia, too.

Hubris, part II

Some folks simply REFUSE to learn from the ancient Greeks.  

Last week I talked about Dwyane Wade's hubris, his extended pose after a three-point shot in front of the Mavs bench that lead to a game-winning Dallas rally.

Friend, former roommate, and scholar Chris Harris (proud son of Valdez, North Carolina, since this IS Carolina and Hellenic blue) pointed out that hubris was a great sin, but the Heat may be more guilty of hamartia, which Aristotle defined as 'the fall of a noble man caused by some excess or mistake in behavior."

Wade's posing turned out to be hubris - pride before a fall/game 2 loss.

But we also saw hamartia this week when it was revealed that before game 5 both Wade and LeBron James mocked, albeit playfully, Dirk Nowitzki's cold and 102 degree fever, maladies he overcame to lead his team to a huge win in game 4.  And of course the mockers, members of the Heat, went on to lose game 5.

Not sure if the Greeks had a term for 'stupidity before a fall.'

Obviously, it makes no sense to mock a guy for playing ill, especially when he led his team to victory despite being sick. Nowitzki sucked it and did what superstars are supposed to do: lead. 

Now Wade has played well this series, but we all know James has shrunk rather than risen to the occasion.  For someone like THAT to mock Nowitzki goes beyond hubris to hamartia.  

Some may quibble if James is a noble man - though he plays the game hard and is not a knucklehead - but his failure in big games - and making fun of someone who did not - makes one wonder about his character.

So rather than the 'chosen one,' as is tattooed on his chest in a show of childish hubris, perhaps James will have hamartia tattooed on his reputation if the Mavericks win the the 2011 NBA championship.

Ladies and gentlemen, the NBA . . .

All the blather about LeBron James' performance in Miami's game four loss is an interesting snap shot of the NBA.

If the Heat had won - a game that could have gone either way, with a final margin of one possession -  James would have been lauded for 'getting his teammates involved' or his near triple double.  

But in the modern NBA winning is almost - almost - secondary to an individual players' performance.  The post-game stories have mainly been about James, not simply 'Mavericks win game 4; Series tied at 2 apiece as teams head into critical game 5 showdown.'

The NBA is to blame for this dilemma.  The league, at least since Magic Johnson and Larry Bird made it relevant in the 80s but especially during Jordan's Reign, has always promoted individual players not teams.  The irony of the Magic-Bird rivalry is that it involved the two most celebrated teams in the history of the NBA.

It has generally worked, though most teams lose money and college basketball - where fans root for the school not individual players - is more popular. 

But the NBA has unwittingly under cut it's own brand by de-emphasizing winning, and promoting the players as celebrities rather than as athletes, a fact I loathe.  Athletic accomplishment is about effort and determination; celebrity is the opposite.  Or to quote the North Carolina state motto: to be - Tyler Hansbrough - rather than to seem - fill in the blank: Lindsey Lohan, Justin Beber, etc.  But we live in a celebrity culture, and self-less team play is not as in fashion.

Finally, the Heat may have been hurt by James' lack of offense, OR his rebounding and assists - or simply his presence on the floor - may have been the reason they led for most of the game and were one missed free throw (by Dwyane Wade or Jason Terry) from being up 3-1.

Bottom line: you play to win the game.  All the other stats or facts don't matter, even if we are talking about LeBron James.

A few more takes on the NBA Finals:

•  Interesting take on James' play by Sally Jenkins in today's Post, who points out James should be complimented for not being selfish or forcing the action in game four;
• He's getting a lot of ink lately, but to set the record straight: DeShawn Stephenson is an idiot.  A player with that little talent should NOT tug on LeBron's cape.  Stephenson is most famous for  . . . not feeling his face when he makes a 3?  Calling James overrated?  Yet he keeps poking LeBron with a stick.  If James has a huge game tonight credit Stephenson with an assist for his constant and inane nattering.
• This series has been an impressive coming out party, of sorts since he's a former MVP, for Dirk Nowitzki.  He is really carrying this team, a team that is clearly greater than the sum of it's parts.  The rest of the Mavs roster is not THAT impressive; their third and fourth-best players - Jason Kidd and Shawn Marion - are on the back-side of their careers and their second-best player, Terry, comes off the bench.  It's really 3, Wade, James and Bosh, versus 1 - and Nowitzki is holding his own.

Hubris

The name of this blog is an invitation to talk about Greek things, so today it's hubris.  More to the point, last night it was hubris that did in Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat.

Wade's three pointer from the corner gave Miami a 15 point lead with a little more than 7 minutes left in the game. The shot was fine, but Wade decided to tempt the fates by striking a pose, holding his follow through and thus both arms aloft, for a long, long, long time - right in front of the Mavericks' bench.

I respect Wade as a talent, but one thing that has always bothered me about his game is all the posing, preening, chest thumping, attention-seeking, flopping, etc. He must lead the NBA in 'time spent staring at yourself in the mirror' (or TS-SYM for stat geeks).

Of course, that also describes  most of Miami, especially Heat fans, a city that often prefers style over substance.

Though it may be popular with Miami's front runner fans, it all caught up with Wade and his teammates in the last seven minutes, as the Heat hoisted up bad shot after bad shot expecting them to go in because they were hot. Wade's 3 with a minute left was an especially bad shot, rushed and off balanced but stylish as he faded away.

But we also have give some credit to the Mavericks, who finally stopped turning it over so much.  Down the stretch they got good shots, and Jason Terry finally stepped up. And unlike his fellow superstars, LeBron James and Wade, Dirk Nowitzki was patient and did not rush anything on his way to scoring the last nine points of the game to give Dallas a critical win and a great comeback.

A comeback made possible by Wade's hubris, the greatest sin to the ancient Greeks and a terrible one to commit with a 15 point lead with only seven minutes to play.

One more thing

Last week I blogged that LeBron James would be the difference in the NBA Finals.  But I forgot about Dwyane Wade, who made huge plays down the stretch to practically win game one by his damself.  

I could have blogged about Wade then, or for that matter with the use of a Y in Dwyane I could have included him in my post about LaYnce Nix and JaYson Werth.  The Ys are taking over.

At least the Y did in the fourth quarter against the Mavs.  And that was the difference.  James and Dirk Nowitzki had in effect played to a stand off.  But Wade was much better than any of Nowitzki's supporting teammates.  

That superiority was most vividly on display when Wade blocked Shawn Marion's shot late.  It was the play of the game and sent the Heat off towards their game 1 win.  

Ironically, to that point Marion had played a pretty good game.  But the Jasons - Kidd but especially Terry - did not do their part to support Nowitzki (Carolina's Brendan Haywood actually had some nice runs, with 3 points, 7 boards and 3 blocks).  

There is no way Nowitzki can defeat James-Wade-Chris Bosh on his own.  He needs help, and when Marion tried to provide it Wade was there to counter, and thus went game 1.

NBA Finals

Though there will be no Lakers, Celtics or Spurs on the court the NBA Finals should be pretty compelling basketball.

The star players on both teams, namely Dirk Nowitzki and LeBron James, have been scintillating of late, both doing what star players are supposed to do: make plays when their teams need them.

Like most people in these united States I did not like the way James left and embarrassed his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers.  But the guy has been pretty impressive in the playoffs.  It's hard to know where to begin in talking about a player as talented - and big - as James.  His size and agility allow him to make impressive basketball plays all over the floor. 

Against the Bulls he blocked shots late, hit big threes, made passes to win game 5 down the stretch - after struggling with his shot for three and a half quarters.  He's physically impressive just standing there, but James' determination and will and mental toughness was more impressive - especially down the stretch.  

As you can tell, I was impressed.

Contrast James' play with Derrick Rose, who was panicky in the last 5 minutes instead of confident and fouled Dwayne Wade as he made a three-point shot late.  I expect his performance in this series - where he lacked confidence in his teammates and could not take over a game by himself  - to help his development.

Coincidentally, the same thing happened to Michael Jordan.  He only started to win championships when he figured out the balancing act between taking over a game and trusting his teammates.  Easy to forget that the Bulls won a couple of championships thanks to big shots by John Paxson and Steve Kerr, guys Jordan found open - and trusted to take and make big shots.

Rose seems like the kind of guy who WILL figure it out - and become a real monster when he does.  But he hasn't yet, and that was evident late in every Bulls loss to the Heat. 

Of course, up till now neither James nor Nowitzki has figured it out either, at least neither have won a championship.  But both guys are playing at an extraordinarily high level.  It will be fun to see if both can keep it up and carry their team to a championship, and thus earn a place in the pantheon of truly elite basketball players.

FYI, in my opinion the list of truly elite basketball players - guys who have won championships and are still dominant is: Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, and perhaps Dwayne Wade.

[Interesting to see how aging this list is.  If Nowitzki, James, or Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant, win a championship the torch will have been passed.  Shaq should also be on that list, but he's practically retired.]

Therein lies the key to this series: Wade. The Mavs resemble the Bulls in that they have a dominant player with a nice ensemble that plays tough D.  However, if Jason Kidd (who could join the elite list if the Mavs win the title?), Jason Terry, and others on the deep Dallas roster step up they could win the franchise's first championship. 

But will any of those guys play as well as Wade?  Probably not, so though I want to see Brendan Haywood get a ring, it's hard to pick a one-superstar team beating a team with two.  Nowitzki may get enough help from Kidd, Tyson Chandler and others, but with Wade helping James it's hard to see the Heat failing to win their NBA championship. 

But James is the bottom line.  He is playing at such a high level, both mentally and physically, it's folly to pick against him.   

A few more hoops notes, then it's time to leave the coffee shop for work:

• The playoffs have certainly exposed Duke grad Carlos Boozer as a titanic fraud.  He was at his Dookish 'best' last night both in terms of his foul on James and his complete disappearance in a game his team really needed.  I used to think he had a nice game but he seems to have peaked a few years ago and no longer seems worthy of 35 minutes a game.
• One other Duke note: the NCAA announced a rule change that would no longer allow a player to draw a charge by standing under the basket.  As it is now in the NBA, the NCAA will draw a circle under the basket where a defensive player can not stand to draw a charging foul.  That 'strategy' has long been a staple of Duke's philosophy: 'just stand here like a statue and wait for the ball handler to show up'  (in my opinion an un-American 'reward' for inaction).  So if you're wondering, that sound you just heard was Mike Krzyzewski's heart breaking. 
• One more side note about a Mavs-Heat final.  What would be more insufferable? The Heat winning a championship after staging that goofy and childish dance party/press conference to introduce James and Chris Bosh last summer, or the goofy and childish antics of Mark Cuban if the Mavericks win?  Discuss!

Anarchy

Is it ironic to write about anarchy, especially if you are not using spray paint?

I'm a few days late blogging on this topic, one that bookended the Saturday Washington Post. Of course, Greece was once again on the front page with an article on the rise of the anarchist movement in Europe but especially in the motherland.

Though a punk rocker from way back, at least 1981, I was never into anarchy that much. It might have been okay for the U.K. and the Sex Pistols, but I was too much of a socialist punk rocker, with a soft spot for government programs and public projects funded by progressive taxation (so maybe I was a Keynesian punk rocker) to see the appeal of anarchy as an ideology or world view.

The irony here is that many punks in England, especially the Pistols, hated the welfare state and it's leveling and blandness (even the national health service!).  There were other punks, like The Clash, who were more leftist/Marxists/populists/etc.  and in the U.S. most punks of that era were very left, following the anti-corporate, anti-Reagan, and anti-hippie credo of The Dead Kennedys and others (I may be overgeneralizing here, but that was my experience).

So I liked the state too much to be an anarchist, but also you simply can't trust anarchy, and more importantly the mob mentality that usually accompanies it.  I can't imagine anarchy is the best way to accomplish anything progressive, so it's odd to think it's popularity is on the rise in Europe.

One of the great political paradoxes is 'without order there is no freedom."  Or justice for that matter.  The rule of law, just law, is more important and more liberating than anarchy. 

A vivid example of that truism was also in The Post on Saturday, in my main man Colbert King's column on the Freedom Riders.   King brutally reminded us the cost of anarchy. In the south in the 50s and 60s there was anarchy.  The mob ruled, the police looked the other way, and in the anarchy that followed African-Americans and members of the civil rights movement were terrorized.  

His column is just one, small, snap shot of how the white power structure reacted to the civil rights movement, and took advantage of the lack of the rule of law, of anarchy.  

A year ago anarchists in Greece fire bombed a bank, killing 3 employees including a pregnant woman.  That incident prompted Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to state "protest is one thing, murder is another."

The U.S. has learned a lot from the Greeks.  Greek youth, the most active participants in the 'We won't pay' movement, have plenty of reasons to have little-to-no faith in Greek political structure. But they should learn from the U.S. in this case.  

All the great leftist victories in the U.S., from winning the Civil War to labor to civil rights, have relied on citizens insisting on a just application of the law and our democratic values.  Despite the anarchy, the civil rights movement eventually won (legall; within 10 years legal racism had been defeated).  But it was a disciplined, organized movement. 

The 'We won't pay' movement and others like them should focus on organizing around democratic values, not on promoting anarchy.

Big DC Sports Day

Hard to pick out the bigger story: Jayson Werth hitting a home run - with runners on base no less - or the Wizards changing their jerseys to look more like the old Bullets ones.

Werth was joined by Laynce Nix in hitting a three-run homer in last night's 7-6 win over the Braves in Atlanta.  The two three-run blasts helped Jason Marquis win his 100th career game. 

It may have also marked the first time that two players whose first names both include useless Ys have homered in the same game.  

As for the new Wizards unis, I'm not crazy about them.  On the plus the side, I like the new lower case font and that they kept a DC logo.  The one homage to Bullets that I do like is the hand reaching for or shooting the ball at the top of the lower case 'd.'  I also like the basketball logo with the Washington Monument in it.

Now I like the red, white and blue.  For instance, it looks awesome on a flag, particularly a waving flag with stars and stripes.  

But it looks cheesy on the old Bullets uni, and still looks cheesy now.  I think the main reason it looks so bad is the way the horizontal stripes dominate the top of the jersey.  It just looks bad, especially when it's worn by a player.

Want proof?  Check out the sullen looks on John Wall and Jordan Crawford at yesterday's unveiling.

Another Williams in the ACC

At least another ROY Williams protege as Maryland hired Mark Turgeon to succeed recently retired legend GARY Williams. 

I think Maryland got this one right, and not just because Turgeon is a former Kansas player and assistant to both 'ol Roy and Larry Brown.  He seems to be the kind of hard working young coach who has recruited and won at places - Wichita and College Station - that are challenging locales.  And though he is relatively young, 46, he has a long track record at two biggish schools (Wichita State and Texas A&M) unlike recent ACC hires like Dave Leito, Tony Bennett, or Frank Haith.

In general there seems to have been a nice upgrade in the ACC coaching ranks, with Brad Brownell at Clemson, Brian Gregory at Georgia Tech, and now Turgeon; I'm not as crazy about Wake's coach or Mark Gottfried at State or hiring a 62-year old Jim Larranga at the U).

One last thing.  In today's Post Mike Wise thinks hiring Turgeon is settling on someone not named Jay Wright (one final four though good looking), Jamie Dixon (zero final fours but also good looking) or Sean Miller (no final fours).  His column is another reminder how reading that guy is a waste of time.

The Post sports page is transitioning, with no more Kornheiser or Wilbon but it still - thankfully - has a still excellent Tom Boswell - and The Slouch on Monday!  Jason Reid, a former Dodgers beat writer, has been a great addition but Wise generally stinks while excelling at writing smug and self conscious columns that generally lack insight or wit, and stay with you for as long as it takes to recycle the paper. 

Back to Gary Williams

The retirement of Gary Williams was ALMOST as big a story in DC as was the killing of Osama bin Laden.  In fact, it may have been more bipartisan, since Williams was a fairly well known Republican and is friends with former Republican Maryland governor Bob Ehrlich, and Republicans hated giving the President credit for bringing bin Laden to justice.

Even if he is a Republican, one has to respect Gary Williams' career at Maryland.  It's easy to forget how bad Maryland basketball was when Williams took over his alma mater's basketball program.  Not only did Williams come back to a school that was on probation and was still haunted by the 1984 cocaine death of Len Bias, he gave up a choice job at a big time school, the Ohio State University.  

He loved Maryland enough to leave a school most coaches would dream of retiring from to take over a program in the toilet.  Have to respect that kind of loyalty and - though it's a cliche - school spirit.

And you have to respect - maybe not agree but respect - his stubborn refusal to recruit kids associated with AAU teams, posses, and hangers on.  Instead of pursuing local superstars like Kevin Durant, Rudy Gay and Ty Lawson (just 3 of the great local players who grew up within 20 minutes of College Park) Williams favored 'coaching up' non-blue chip players like Juan Dixon and Lonnie Baxter, guys who won him  and his school a national championship in 2002.  

In retrospect, Williams probably should have recruited more kids like Durant and Lawson, two generally modest kids (unlike Gay, who played for an almost notorious AAU team in high school) instead of relying on developing diamonds in the rough like Dixon.  After all, a reliance on those players resulted in Maryland falling on semi-hard times since 2002, missing the NCAA tournament more times than they made it since winning it all. 

But we're quibbling now.  Williams left a great job to rescue his alma mater's basketball program, and though he didn't turn College Park in the "UCLA of the East" he did win a national championship while doing it his way.  Not a bad summation of any career.

A few more hoops notes

One notable player Williams developed was Drew Nicholas, a reserve on the 2002 team and a second-team All-ACC player his senior year in College Park.  Over the weekend Nicholas helped lead Greek-favorite team Panathinaikos to the 2011 Euroleague championship over Maccabi of Israel.  It was Pana's sixth Euroleague title, signifying the best professional team on the Continent, and third in the last 5 years.

The 'Octopus Man,' Dimitri Diamantidis,  was named both the Euroleague AND Euroleague Final Four most valuable player.  Diamantidis had double-doubles in both of Panathinaikos' final four wins over the weekend.   He's now in his late 20s, but of all the modern Greek basketball players he would have been a good-to-great NBA player.  Diamantidis is a long, athletic player and can run the point and hit some threes, but who would have made his mark in the League as a defender, kind of a Hellenic Stacey Augman or James Posey or Luol Deng.

Nicholas scored 14 points and led an 11-3 run in the third quarter to give the Greens a lead they would not relinquish on their way to the title.   Panathinaikos was lead by Mike Batiste's 17 points; Batiste played at Arizona State and had a cup of coffee with the Memphis Grizzlies before landing in Greece.

Another former Grizzlies player, Antonis Fotsis, had a nice game including a nasty dunk during the Nicholas-led run in the third.  I wish Fotsis had staying in the League more than one year; athletically he could have stuck around but he has thrived in Athens with Panathinaikos - and has won three championships there.

Of course, who currently plays for the Grizzlies?  Greivis Vasquez, a gritty and under-talented high school player who went on to win ACC player of the year, a non-blue chip player currently earning a living hooping it up in the NBA playoffs, developed by Gary Williams.

Gary Williams and Osama bin Laden

Two huge stories in DC this week.  

I don't have much to add to the Osama bin Laden story.  I'm happy we got him, and ecstatic that Obama got him in particular.  It's hard to overstate how significant decapitating Al QaedaOsama was good at putting together such an effective network.   is; I imagine putting together that kind of terrorist network is hard to do (ditto building the Third Reich, or maintaining Jim Crow for 75 years, wiping out Native American culture, etc.), and that for all his venality

We should not expect Al Qaeda to wither and die, but the good news is Osama should be hard to replace.  

And the way Obama and the U.S. pursued Osama - instructing the CIA to reinvigorate the search for Osama once he took office, walking back leads on possible Al Qaeda couriers, putting the house in Pakistan under surveillance starting in August, then pulling the trigger on the mission to get Osama over the weekend - displays the kind of competent  executive leadership this nation often lacks.

Great work, and great news for the country, the planet, and the President.

As big as getting Osama, the Gary Williams retirement is almost as big of news here in Washington.  More on that later.

One more reason

It goes without saying, but baseball is the best sport ever invented. I don't have time to enumerate all the reasons why - the combination of individual skills with team play, it's democratic, there is no clock, it's equal parts mental AND physical, etc. ad infinitum - to name a few.

One other reason was in the Post this morning, namely a quote from DC United's Charlie Davis about a new celebration dance he is planning for the next time he scores.  A sport with celebration dances?  

Two more reasons why baseball is THE best sport ever are: there are no celebration dances; and if a player every DID one, the next time he came to bat he would be drilled in the head by the opposing pitcher - the way it should be. 

Celebration dances for doing what your supposed to do?  Pathetic in any sport, and thankfully not a part of the greatest sport.

When does 2012 start?

As some of you know, Evan has a blog called Waiting for 2012.  It's mainly devoted to Nationals fans as we wait for Steven Strasburg and Bryce Harper to play a full season for our hometown team.

But that notion will have to take a back seat to the 2011-2012 college basketball season.  With today's news that Harrison Barnes is staying in Chapel Hill the Heels look more than stacked for the 2012 season.  

The inevitable comparisons to 2009 have already started for the Tar Heels. That team had to wait until Lawson, Green and Ellington decided to stay in school, then after a few speed bumps proceeded to dominate college basketball on their way to Carolina's 5th NCAA championship.

For me, the real comparison with 2009 is that ol' Roy will have to coach up to expectations - and deal with the pressure of being a heavy favorite. With all five starters returning from an Elite Eight squad, that will certainly be the case in 2012.

But it's a good problem to have. GO HEELS!

A few more notes:

• Great weekend of NBA playoff games. Of course, the only two I watched in their entirety were the ones that featured Tyler Hansbrough and the 'Three-headed Carolina Point Guard Monster" in Denver (aka George Karl, Raymond Felton, and Ty Lawson).
• Tough to see the Pacers lose, but great to see Psycho T running the floor, making buckets, dunking a few times and abusing Duke's Carlos Boozer in the process.  Ironically, Boozer is probably the player that Hansbrough should most emulate in the NBA.  Both played the five spot in the ACC but Boozer has thrived as a power forward thanks to a variety of shots and skills.  However, Hansbrough should NOT emulate Boozer's listless defensive efforts.
• All Heels fans know about the speed of Ty Lawson, but the NBA game also allows him to showcase his strength.  He made a number of tough shots in the paint against the Thunder last night.  And it's fun to watch Lawson and Felton play in the same back court.  Both played more than 30 minutes last night, and each scored in double figures - though Felton missed all four of his three-point shots including a big one with a minute left. 
• Danny Green played 29 . . . seconds in the Spurs' loss to Memphis, and Brendan Haywood had 2 points, 6 boards and 1 blocked shot in the Mavericks' win over Portland.  His dunk ignited a 12 - 4 run that gave the Mavericks the lead at half time. 

Nationals Note

Opened on a Nats note, so will close on a Nats note.  Evan and I had tickets to Saturday's rained out game versus the Brewers.  And just like a rainbow that follows a storm, the rainout turned out great for us.  

We were able to trade-in our Saturday tickets for tickets to Sunday's double header. We had good seats for game one, in Section 221, Row D, then moved down to Section 128 for the second game.  Both were on the first base side (our normal season tickets are near third base).  I don't know if it was the change of scenery, or the spontaneity of our post Palm Sunday-lunch decision, the two free hot dogs someone gave us, or the fact that the Nats swept the Brew Crew, but we had a fantastic time! 

Most it had to do with the Nationals' play - though I did like sitting on the first base side.  Led by Danny Espinosa, who hit a three-run homer in game one and a three-run triple in the night cap, the Nats finally came up with some big hits. 

But more importantly, both starting pitchers - Jason Marquis and Livan Hernandez - pitched well, and Marquis was the first Nationals starter to throw a pitch in the 8th inning this year.

The Nats are 8-7, above ,500 and on a pace for 86 wins.  So maybe we only have to wait for the Tar Heels in 2012?