ENTOURAGE, NEVER BACK DOWN

Blake Griffin on his brother: "He can guard the 2, 3, 4 and occasionally the 5 because he's so strong and moves well."

Anthony Morrow: "You start out wanting to be the best on your H.S. team, then the best in the city, the state. You just keep pushing."

“All our acquisitions have been anticipating being a more up-tempo team. We wanted players who could play in transition." -Daryl Morey

"What we did last year wasn't good enough to get it done. You have to do the little things better; that's been our approach." -Matt Ryan


Hey guys. Hope all is well. Sunday night saw the return of Entourage. Great show. Everyone has an opinion on it. Mostly praise. Some negativity. But it always spurs debate because mostly everyone who watches it is a big fan of it. So it's something that guys and girls like to talk about. Many passionately defend it as the best show on TV, others discuss where they would take it if they were in charge, and some just depressingly concede that they are running out of ideas and are cashing in on their last gasps. It is amazing that they show is going into it's 6th season. That's unheard of these days. That's the beauty of HBO though.

I kind of fall between having a strong opinion about where the show should go, and conceding that it isn't as good as it used to be. And I think that's natural. Nothing will ever come close to the those first 10 episodes. Those were the gold standard (pardon my play on words). But those were far and away the best ones. There are certainly exceptions. Season 2 was very strong at points as well. And the last several seasons have had some high points. I feel proud that I was a entourage pioneer. I brought Entourage to my peer group. I was ahead of the curve. So I am naturally a little ahead of the curve in denouncing it as an elite TV show. Entourage for me is one of those weird shows. It's at a point to where I would like to be on the writing team because I think I can take it in good directions. It is also to a point where I am very disappointed every time it is over every week. And I look forward to it all week. I think that's when you know it's a great show. You know it's a great show when you're really disappointed when it's over and you have to wait an entire week to see it again. You know it's a great show when you have problems with what they did in the episode from a plot perspective. And you know it's a great show when you are looking at the clock and say, "o damn, it's 10: 51 already? Only two or three more minutes."

Having said all that, I was happy with the first episode. Strong effort. 27 minutes. Drama as hilarious as ever. Gold with the Mad Men line. Mrs. Ari ass shot. Sloan. It was a good start. But you can see what it's becoming. It's becoming more and more about the internal struggles between the 5 guys. The life decisions that they have to start making as reality continues to set in on them. It's kind of depressing when you think about it. We are all heading there ourselves. But in typical Entourage fashion, I trust that they will do a good job of mixing in fun with the deeper meanings. The star studded list of celebrity cameos (Nash, Phelps, Brady) along with the partying as only they can really do it, will carry the show.

How bad does it suck that E gets the hottest chicks on the show? I hope that bothers a lot of people. Cause it bothers me. And it bothers me that Kevin Connelly runs around LA and gets the same kind of run with girls in real life that E gets on the show. It's absolutely ridiculous. Just more proof that life sucks. I realize that you gotta bring Sloan back in the show cause she is a smoke show, but why do you have to have her fawning for E? F that. Drives me crazy. Kevin Connelly is like 5'5. He's smaller than Earl Boykins. I digress.

We have a free preview of Starz this week. And I stumbled upon a showing of the movie Never Back Down. It stars the black guy from Blood Diamond. The bully from the OC. And some other guy named Sean Faris. Also a smoking hot broad named Amber Heard. For any of you who have seen this, you know it's fantastic. But for those who haven't I would advise that you invest an hour and forty-five minutes on when you have a chance. I don't wanna ruin it for you. I just wanna discuss it with you. And yes, I know that looked like one of the worst films ever made. But it has watchability all over it. Trust me on this.