More than anything else

This time of year it's the anticipation, more than anything else, that drives me and others nuts.  

When, oh when, will the Meineke Car Care Bowl finally get here?

What an incredibly lame name for a bowl game.  Will Carolina add that corporate name - or logo - to the 'ring of honor' at Kenan?  Could anything be more crass?  Great to see amateur athletes shilling for companies like Fed Ex, Meineke, Papajohns.com (for my money, if you're playing in a bowl with .com in it you are officially in the lamest bowl of them all), and other leading lights of American capitalism.

At 46 I'm entitled to sound like a cranky old(ish) man, but I liked it better when there were only four New Year's Day bowl games: Rose, Cotton, Sugar and Orange.  There were other bowls, like the Gator, Liberty, Sun and Peach, but for years that was about it.  You could easily and obviously gauge how your season went: if you played on New Year's Day, you probably won your conference and were among the best teams in the country.  If you played in the Gator Bowl, etc. you had a above average season.  Unlike now, where a 6-5 season gets you a code to redeem at a pizza company's website and a reward for being mediocre.

Christmas Redux

We had our typical Manuel-Merow Christmas yesterday: Alison and the kids stayed in their pjs all day playing games and hanging out. This year that mainly meant playing Mario Kart, Wii Music and Mario and Sonic at the Olympics on the Wii, Ariadne playing brain bowl and a fashion show game on Nintendo DS, and Evan goofing off with all things Star Wars (light sabre, model x-wing fighter, etc.).  The kids had a great day, and were smiling from 8 am to 11 pm when they finally went to bed.  I'm usually a Christmas outlier: I take a shower and usually go for a walk - and go outside! - after lunch.

Another Christmas tradition was watching some NBA basketball.  The Celtics and Lakers played an entertaining game with the Lakers ending the Celtics' win streak. I didn't have much rooting interest in the game, but still can not root for the Celtics.  

The Wizards lost again later that night to the Cavaliers.  Washington, especially Antawn Jamison, played great and had an eight-point lead with two minutes to go until the referees whistled three questionable calls against the Wizards.  Another tradition, home teams led by a superstar getting the calls. 

A few more Christmas Day hoopservations:

• Does anyone look more European than Pau Gasol?  The terrible shaggy haircut, 'I still live with my parents' beard, soccer-ready upper body?
• I think that game featured two NBA players - TWO - without ANY tattoos: Leon Powe and Derrick Fisher. Had to be a record.
• The Wizards need a point-guard.  They had trouble all day getting the ball to their best players: Jamison and Butler.  Mike James scored a lot yesterday, but they need a one who can initiate their office and get those too lots of looks.  They don't have that now.