Part 2

Jon Gruden to the MNF booth, replacing Tony Kornheiser was a great move. I was really excited to hear about that. Chuckie is gonna give us great insight. And for everyone who knows me well, real raw insight about players and the technical X's and O's of football is something I am really interested in. And he'll supply just that. He was part of the NFL Network draft coverage this season. He did a fantastic job. Both him and Mark Mayock were fantastic with player personell evaluation. Had a lot of insight that no one else really had. Talked about different teams' schemes. Great data. The question really is: how much are NFL teams gonna let him know during their weekly preparation? I mean it's one thing to let goofy Tony Kornheiser in the doors, show him your schemes and what you're trying to accomplish that week, it's a much different thing to let Chuckie in the door. Gruden is gonna be back in the league next season. No question. So how are you gonna privy him to any inside info, when he's gonna be back in the NFL making $5 million a year outcoaching you and your organization by this time next year?? It will be interesting to see what kind of access an established team gives him. But he's gonna have great stuff for smart football guy fans, and he'll teach the regular fans a thing or two. Maybe he'll teach us how to get up at 3:17 in the morning to start breaking down film and getting ready for practice that day, which he did like clockwork during his time as an NFL head coach.

CAVS-MAGIC tips tomorrow night ladies and gents. The Eastern Conference Finals. Gonna be a great series. I know all of you are very excited. I cannot frickkin believe that Charles Barkley picked the Magic. That's unbelievable. I realize that he knows a lot better than you and me. I realize that it's kinda his schtick, and he's playing the part a little bit. But that's gonna be pretty tough sledding Chuck. This ain't last year. This is different. It just is. But at the same time, if you're a Cavs fan, you shouldn't be totally comfortable. You should be confident. But like Chuck is defending: the NBA game is all about matchups. And he like the matchups for the Magic. That's fine. But LeBron transcends any matchup deficiency for the Cavs. He's just currently at such an astronomical playing level right now, that it's hard to entertain the thought of anything less than 2-0 heading on a plane to Orlando for game 3. But on the other hand, if MJT (Michael Jordan of Turkey) keeps playing at the level he's been at, they get shooting from Redick, Skip to my Lou, Lee and Pietrus, and D12 has his way on the glass, Cavs might have something to think about. Not to mention max player Rashard Lewis, who has been efficient. What are the matchups, I don't even know. Let's think:

Magic: D12, Turk, Redick, Skip, Lewis
Cavs: Z, Bron, Mo, West, Wallace

Okay, with those lineups, Charles Barkley has a point. Not great matchups for the Cavs. Howard has an advantage, so does Lewis or Turk. And you gotta waste D West, a great defender on Redick. It just seems like bad matchups for the Cavs. I have only been thinking about it for 10 minutes, but it's easy to say. When Andy comes in, who does he defend? I dunno right now. Its becoming a little more clear why we had so much trouble with them in the regular season. We have a hard time matching up defensively, and when they hit 3's they are tough. We're gonna see what they do with these matchups tomorrow. Obviously I don't have a ton on the subject right now. I will have a much better idea tomorrow. But shouldn't be too much of a problem tomorrow, unless they go 13-20 from 3 like they did in game 7 against the Celtics. That might equate to an 0-1 hole. We shall see. LeBron is gonna carry the day though folks. He is the ultimate force. He is gonna play 45 minutes. They have absolutely no one to guard him. He's gonna have a triple double at halftime. He'll have enough juice to carry them. I am interested to see if SVG has something up his sleeve. And I will be anxious to see if COY Mike Brown has stuff as well.


I played hoops at St. Edward's open gym today. And for about the 100th straight time I have tried to play there after I graduated, I left with a tremendous feeling of inadequacy as a basketball player. I don't really know what it is. But every time I play in that setting, with former players and current players alike, I feel like and play like a guy with not much playing ability and a player who doesn't really know what he is doing (cue the, "yea, you feel that way because you suck and always have jokes").

But I think that the St. Eds open gym arena has a food chain that is a little different than other open gyms. There is a weird dichotomy of whose good and whose bad, who shoots and who doesn't, and who wins and who loses. There are guys that are great open gym players, and others who need refs and scoreboard to be motivated to play well. And this is due to a large degree of factors, and all are negotiable of course. Like every open gym, it really just depends on what you're trying to get out of it. And I'm not trying to get a ton out of it. I'm there to see my buddies who coach there, see the guys that coached me when I was there, and talk to my head coach about how things are going. I like to play and guard the guys that are playing there currently to see how good they are, and if they are getting better. So I'm there to get up and down, get some rebounds and make a play if I'm open. I'm not there grinding and taking bad shots. But I just have this level of discomfort when Im playing in games that is weird.

The open gym v. real game argument is one that I have always been fascinated by. Look, I have had a very long and fortunate playing career. It is something I have been truly blessed with, and it's a huge reason why I am married to the game, and am constantly trying to find and gain a better perspective about how the game should be taught and administrated. I have had great experiences in high school as well as college. I have had the privilege of playing with some great players, and great coaches. So I have seen a lot of pick up games, I have played in a lot of pickup games. I have seen and played in a lot of regular games. I have seen tons of guys, who are flat out unstoppable in an open gym flounder in an official setting. But, as a guy who has had some real game success, I find myself envying at times, those guys who are great in pickup games.

But after a 41 point effort in the Lakewood Y league the night before, I wanted a piece the action at St. Eds today. I was gonna play a little harder than I usually do, and try to take a lot of shots and stay on as long as I could. But yet again, I was hamstrung by bad decisions by my teammates. I really wasn't a player of any consequence, and I got hammered every time I touched the ball. Literally got the shit beat out of me every time I set that ball on the floor. It was ridiculous. My right knee is sore. So I left and had to go back to the drawing board of trying to solve the St. Eds open gym riddle. I can feel myself really fading and killing my point of this take so I'm gonna stop. But I will definitely re-visit the open gym debate shortly.