My predictions haven't been too accurate lately, but I will go out on a limb and state that the second half of Game 3 last night was a turning point in the Lakers playoff run. If anything, the Spurs played even better in the first half than they did in Game 2; in particular, Tony Parker was making the Lakers look old trying to guard him, scoring twenty in the first half, and Duncan was dominant, as always. The Lakers still led at halftime by one. Obviously, the Lakers figured out a way to stop Parker in the second half, since he scored only four points thereafter, and only one basket (perhaps that's the key; just have Rick Fox "guard" your star in the first half, allow him to run up and down the court getting easy lay-ups, and wait until he dies of exhaustion in the second half). They stayed close for awhile, and even led with 7 1/2 minutes left. But 15 for 43 shooting will usually kill a team, unless they're playing in the Eastern Conoference, and the Spurs had no game at all in the final five minutes.

Or then there's this trenchant analysis of the Middle East situation, given to us by a guest on Hardball with Chris Matthews last week:

"I would ask you, looking at the Israeli/Palestinian question and say this, how many Palestinians were on those airplanes on September 9th? None."

---Dan Quayle
~

It comes out in another week, but for those who are interested in obtaining a bootleg copy of the Star Wars sequel, check this out.

In the meantime, I'm getting e-mail (one, that is) concerning my position on Middle East politics. Considering the US of A is in the middle of fighting a war there, against a threat that has already proven it can strike directly at the mainland, and seems to be spoiling now for a fight with Iraq, one would hope that this would be a much more fiercely debated subject. My view on the current Israeli-Palestinian struggle is simple: Israeli occupation and settlements are indefensible, both politically and morally; Gen. Sharon is a fascist war criminal; Arafat is a terrorist; and Palestinian suicide bombings are an abomination, reflecting more a generalized hatred of Jews than a political protest against apartheid. Any policy that doesn't acknowledge those truths will fail. For an even more cogent analysis of the above, check out this broadside.

Looks like Gen. Sharon really took care of that terrorist problem...it doesn't take a PhD to realize that the assorted West Bank raids of the past few weeks had less to do with "defending Isreal" than they did with crushing any semblance of civic life among Palestinians. One way to keep perspective as to what's going on there is that more Palestinians under the age of eighteen have been killed by Sharon's army as Israeli civilians have been murdered by Palestinian wack-jobs in the past twelve months.

Sad to say, as I watch the lads finally sink back into a double-digit deficit against San Antone, that my prediction about the Lakers not repeating is coming true. It looks like Shaq is gone back to his bad habits at the line. Obviously, they are going to have to split in Texas to have a realistic chance.

By the way, check this story out, and remember whose friend is now in the White House the next time you pay an electrical bill.

On another date-related subject, after a day spent working at my old office and watching hockey, I decided to check out a movie at 3rd Street Promenade. On impulse, I decided to spend $8.50 to see The Scorpion King, a worthless piece of drivel that served the positive purpose of keeping me from getting behind the wheel of a car for two hours. I mean, I wasn't expecting an EM Forster-based character study about life in ancient Egypt ("this isn't Forster", to quote the John Hurt character in Love and Death on Long Island), but still, I was hoping to see a movie in which I could have remembered the ending twelve hours after the fact. By the way, M.C., "Memnon" will not be cracking the fifty greatest screen villain list....

As many of you are perhaps too painfully aware, I am single. That means I am obliged, on occasion, to buy dinner, drinks, movie, etc. for members of the fair sex, in the usually forlorn hope that it might lead to free sex (and let's face it, that's all a date is, although I assume others usually have more luck with the getting free sex aspect of it). Well, here is an article that shows how plain wrong that whole convention of guys buying dinner for gals is. The question does come up, though, of how does one know after the check is split that the gal is a feminist, or just doesn't respect you enough to expect you to pay.

For those of you who care, the TV schedule for football is presented. Get your VCR's ready.

Congrats to Bolkcom on winning the first month of the Home Run Pool. So now, if form holds, you should begin your collapse in the next three weeks.

As a follow-up to last weeks post about Thomas Ian Griffith, I thought it appropriate to share this posting:

I was talking with a bar buddy of mine at Joxer Daly's a few weeks ago...discussing movie villains. We were both rattling off several of them and seemed to agree on who were the great ones. Now, because I have utterly no life outside of work, Joxer's and home, I am going to share with you (M.C.)'s Top 40 Movie Villains Of All Time. Bear in mind these are my favorites and you may find yourself disagreeing or feeling that I missed a few. If that is the case then I encourage you to mail back your thoughts. Also, Ron Johnson (the stereo salesman who deflowered Stacy and never called again) and Mr. Hand, both from "Fast times At Ridgemont High", do not constitute villains. They were asses, to be sure, but fall short of downright evil.
1.Hans-"Die Hard"
2.John Silver-"The Karate Kid Part III"
3.John Creese-"The Karate Kid" "The Karate Kid part III"
4.The Inbreeds-"Deliverance"
5.Biff-"Back To The Future" (all three)
6.Neidermeyer-"Animal House"
7.Dean Wormer-"Animal House"
8.Tony Abbott (Farnsworth's confidential secretary)-"Heaven Can Wait"
9.Coach Moorland Smith-"One On One"
10.Warden Hazen-"The Longest Yard"
11.The Scorpio Killer-"Dirty Harry"
12.Victor Maitland-"Beverly Hills Cop"
13.Ganz-"48 Hrs"
14.Calvera-"The Magnificent Seven"
15.Hitler-"The Great Escape" (unseen in movie but influence implied)
16.Porky-"Porky's"
17.Johnny Lawrence-"The Karate Kid"
18.Mr. Joshua-"Lethal Weapon"
19.Rackie-"Youngblood"
20.Dr. Evil-"Austin Powers; International Man Of Mystery"
21.The Killer Tomatoes-"Attack Of the Killer Tomatoes"
22.Satan-"The Exorcist" (unseen in movie but presence implied strongly)
23.Ogie Oglethorpe-"Slap Shot"
24.The Blair Witch-"The Blair Witch Project"
25.Lo Pan-"Big Trouble In Little China"
26.The Car-"The Car"
27.Nurse Ratchet-"One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"
28.Sgt. Barnes-"Platoon"
29.The Iceberg-"Titanic"
30."Those Guys"-"Butch Cassidy And the Sundance Kid"
31.Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andy Goodman-"Mississippi Burning"
32.Ace-"Stand By Me"
33."Bruce" (the shark)-Jaws
34.Brad Wesley-"Roadhouse"
35.Keyser Soze-"The Usual Suspects"
36.The Jap(anese)-"Tora, Tora, Tora!" and "Midway"
37.Gordon Gecko-"Wall Street"
38.Rocket-"Colors"
39.Clubber Lang-"Rocky III"
40.Little Bill-"Unforgiven"
Honorable Mention:
The Fog-"The Fog"
White Squall-"White Squall"
Backdraft-"Backdraft"
Ike Clanton-"Tombstone"
The Pittsburgh Steelers-"Black Sunday"
Have a nice day and don't get any on 'ya.

Are you serious? C'mon, "Niedermeyer" over the Scorpio Killer? "Johnnie Lawrence" (who isn't really a villain) over "Brad Wesley"? And G, C, and S from Mississippi Burning? Was Atticus Finch not available in your memory bank? How about the character played by Morgan Freeman in Glory? Were you unable to remember the names of the freed slaves in Birth of a Nation?

By the way, I don't believe the character Billy Zane played in Titanic was named "Iceburg". And where on your list is "Frank" from Once Upon a Time in the West? "Buffalo Bill" from Silence of the Lambs? "Meg Ryan" from any Nora Ephron movie?

However, "Coach Smith" from One on One is an inspired selection. Glad to know that someone remembers the broad acting range of G.D. Spradlin. At least you can think of 50 movie villains.

There will never be peace as long as Sharon and Arafat have any say. One is an habitual war criminal, who is now trying to cover up an investigation of his army's atrocities in Jenin, and the other is a career terrorist. The President has no idea what to do, and seems to believe that the entire battle is just an inconvenience, halting him from what he believes is more important, which is to come up with some pretext for picking a fight with Iraq.

So without further adieu, here's an idea that makes sense....

Its time to check the mailbag...

Concerning my post last week on a potential future coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, M.C. of West Hollywood writes:

-- Thomas Ian Griffith would be a fine choice if he can teach the Flyers to score. Unfortunately, I suspect the only "scoring" the gentleman has knowledge of would be "scoring" on men. --

When I posted my suggestion, I was focusing only on Mr. Griffith's memorable role in the movie classic, Karate Kid III, where I thought his knowledge of "sweeps", his strategy for dealing with toxic waste, and his ability to respond positively to having a can of paint drop on his head might help that struggling franchise turn things around. But one of the great things about Smythe's World is the community that the blog has created, a place where people of all races, creeds, sexes, occupations, and sexual orientations can gather and share their expertise. As always, thanks for your input.

"Susan" writes:

--So the guy that thought an interactive site to yours brainliness was dumb, was the same, lets say man, that was also the first to respond. Ever wonder who exactly views your web site smithe? it would be much better to view message responses first hand, i'm not sure if your translation is accurate. after all you were the one who was saying 'looser' prior to the laker sweep! clearly accuracy is not your forte.--

Were you drinking when you wrote this? Does your computer not have a spell check? When have I ever said that the Lakers were loose? Thank goodness you play no role whatsoever in the education of our children; what a waste of taxpayer money that would be. Having said that, you are 110% correct on your demand for a responsive website for Smythe's World to gather and comment on my posts. I can promise you that your dream will soon come true !!! And, as always, thanks for your commentary.

If you are like me, you've been trying to find a way to motivate yourself to go to Korea next month for the World Cup. After all, travel and lodging are expensive, this is the world's biggest and most important sporting event, and football fans can be, well, passionate in their adherence to their team.

Well, this story pretty much convinced me that I'm going, screw the cost.

One of the things I promised I would do when I started blogging was to write some content about the Home Run Pool at Joxer Dalys, the sports bar/Irish pub I frequent. The concept is simple: each player drafts, in a pre-set order, the players he thinks will hit the most home runs; the fact that Omar Vizquel was twice the player Dave Kingman was is irrelevant; if he's available, Kong gets picked.

And so finally, without further adieu, some news about the Home Run Pool. As always, Mr. Bolkcom is off to a torrid start, and yours truly is battling for second, but if history is any guide, the participant currently in fifth will take charge about June 1 and leave the rest of us in his dust.

As a follow up, Left Eye was an item with Andre "Bad Moon" Rison, whose house she admitted having torched back in 1994. Thanx for the tip, and remember the new e-mail address, esstheman2@netscape.net

The greatest thing about being a sole practitioner is that you can take off early on Friday. In my case, it has more to do with a paucity of clients, but the impact is the same: more hours to drink myself into a stupor. Anyways, I'm thinking about sponsoring a "book club" on this site, kind of like the one's sponsored by more popular blogs, distinguised only by the fact that I will not be performing fellatio on the author afterward. To get things started, please check the provocative reviews on Amazon by Henry Raddick (with appropriate acknowledgments to C.Parsons).

Wasn't Left Eye involved with some NFL player a few years back? Just curious....needless to say, until he has an air-tight alibi, I'm going to assume that Suge Knight was behind this.

Incidentally, I have no opinion about the websites listed in the "recommended" section. They came with the new graphics. If I were to recommend sites, I would go for something like the Onion or Media Whores, not something like Google, that everyone already has on their favorites.

Can it be that this man is the Flyers' coach? I report...you decide.

The Philadelphia Flyers look awesome right now. Its always a thing to behold when a great team has that post-season swagger going, a feeling that nothing will stop them....

Speaking of which, doesn't the Church's new edict have all the credibility of Sharon claiming that he will clamp down on refugee camp atrocities in the future, or an Arafat promise of zero tolerance on terrorism...