NBC Fall Preview

NBC has their 2007-2008 line up (click the "All Shows" tab) out, and there are some interesting things to take from what's out there.

It seems that they have learned that there can be too much of a good thing. The season will start for the first time in a decade, there will only be one Law and Order show, and they went with the winner of the three: Law and Order: SVU. While the subject matter of the stories is not what you would have dinner table conversation about, the cast is far and away the best. Don't worry. If you think you will be having withdrawal, the other two shows are back at mid-season.

In other news, it looks like Crossing Jordan has come to an end. Not only is the show nowhere to be found in the full schedule, the cast/credits for the new Bionic Woman series, you will see that Miguel Ferrer (formerly Dr. Macy) is listed second below the main character. This may explain why the finale had such a clean ending a couple of weeks ago.

Finally, I saw on Amazon that Season 1 of Heroes will be available on DVD late this summer. I expected these to be pressed and ready to ship after the finale last week, but it looks like the end of August is the date. This won't leave much time for folks to catch up. According to NBC's fall preview, the new season will begin the week of September 24. You will have to be pretty dedicated and average an episode every day or so to catch up.

Until next time...
PH

Hollywood - No More New Ideas?

We spent our afternoon going to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Let's cut to the chase. If you haven't already done so, don't waste your money. This one falls into the category of "movies that didn't need to be made". The movie is long and convoluted, and they leave the door open for more (at least one) sequels to be made. It is clear that the notion of moderation or too much of a good thing are foreign concepts in Hollywood. In addition to this poor offering, we saw previews for not one, not two, but five other sequels that will be out by year's end.

I guess we really only have ourselves to blame. If we didn't repeatedly shell out money for reprocessed drivel, they wouldn't make it. However, I found it interesting that this Pirates movie did not top Spiderman 3's opening weekend gross, nor did it even match Dead Man's Chest from last year. While it still pulled in over $100 million, perhaps it is a signal that this act has grown tiresome. We can only hope.

Until next time...
PH

Fire Update II

A trip to Fry's was all that I needed to put Humpty Dumpty (our computer) back together again. A couple of power cords, a keyboard, a co-ax cable, and an ethernet cable and we were back in business again. State Farm can thank me because I went saved them some money with where I went.

The Fry's in South Arlington can be a rather interesting place to go, and today was no exception. I don't know if they were exceptionally busy because of the holiday or what, but I was there for over an hour to retrieve the above mentioned supplies.

We've relocated the computer downstairs to the bedroom that is nearest the kitchen. We needed a spot for it until after all of the work was done upstairs, and we decided to make the move permanent.

Christy has been a bit out of touch for the last week, but look for her to resume regular e-mail and blogging in the very near future.

That's one piece of the puzzle that is done. We expect the contractor to begin work on all of the repairs upstairs on Tuesday.

Until next time...
PH

Fire Update I

We've had some preliminary discussion on repairs for the damage caused by the fire last week. Our adjuster was out Monday, and since then we've also had a carpet person and a general contractor out. We are looking at having the upstairs and downstairs living rooms painted along with wall and baseboard replacement where the fire was. Then they are going to replace the upstairs carpet. The timing on these things is still somewhat up in the air, but the wheels are turning. Finally, we will have an electrician out to inspect the outlet where we had the computer plugged in.

As for the computer, a couple of the plugs were melted in the fire, and a number of other connecting cables were damaged. I'm going to be going out to get replacements for these before we even know if the computer works or not. That's my big to do for tomorrow.

Other than that, things pretty well back to normal. I'm hopeful that we will have the house back on the market by the middle or end of June.

Until next time...
PH

Review: The Childer of Hurin

Yesterday, I completed the reading of The Children of Hurin by J. R. R. Tolkien (previously mentioned on April 17). Though his primary works have been varied in style and reading level, I have enjoyed all that I have read. This latest tale is no different. To give some context for what this compares to consider Tolkien's other primary works. The Hobbit was written as a children's story. The Lord of the Rings was accessible but written for at least a middle school reader. Finally, the Silmarillion is a work not for the faint of heart. The Children of Hurin is comparable in style to The Lord of the Rings.

However, it differs in many ways from the The Lord of the Rings. While The Lord of the Rings is a classic story of good vs. evil with conquering heroes, The Children of Hurin is more of a tragedy. The brave Hurin squares off with Morgoth (the analogue of Satan in Tolkien's Middle Earth), and Morgoth places a curse on Hurin's family. The tale deals primarily with how this curse plays out in the life of Hurin's son Turin. Though brave and mighty in battle, the curse follows him wherever he goes.

Hurin is also a protagonist with deep flaws. While he is, as mentioned, mighty in battle, he is also filled with pride and rarely listens to good council. In addition, some of his actions make him unfitting as a hero with which most would wish to identify. However, all of this makes for a story that is very different from what we are spoon fed these days.

I also had some reservations about how good the story would be. Tolkien's son Christopher had to do a fair amount of piecing together of this novel as his father left no completed manuscript before he died. Fortunately, that does not detract from the quality of the work in a noticeable way.

In conclusion, I think this is a book well worth reading. It fits well under the umbrella of Tolkien's Middle Earth without seeming like a rehashing of his other well known works. At some point in the future, I plan to read Unfinished Tales which includes an earlier version of this same story along with two others. Look for a comparison of the two coming to a blog near you in the future.

Until next time...
PH

Heroes Season 1

NOTE: There really aren't any updates for today from the fire.

One of the best new shows in quite some time had its season finale on Monday. Series creator Tim Kring gave us something of rare quality (if not truly original) in Heroes. I remember seeing previews for this last summer and wondering if it would be any good or not. Honestly, I wasn't convinced after the first episode, but it took about three episodes to really set the stage. I'm a bit surprised that America's short attention span tolerated this; however, Heroes went on to be NBC's only show to consistently break the top 20 in the weekly ratings.

Season 1 was built around the premise often repeated, "Save the cheerleader. Save the world." If you are new to the series, the only real way to get into it is to start with episode 1 and watch them straight through. Each week builds on the previous week, and sometimes they reach back multiple weeks to connect the dots. We intend to rent the DVDs over the summer to watch it again from start to finish fully expecting to understand things more fully now.

So what is it about this show that is so appealing? At its core, it is about the struggle of good vs. evil. However, it is not a simple sunshine experience where things always go the way of the good guys. You see people struggling to deal with the curve balls that life throws them. Many search for meaning and a purpose beyond their own self gain. Also, they are not perfect. Some make decisions or take action that lead them down a bad path, but you get the satisfaction of seeing them come around and redeem themselves.

Some have compared this show to ABC's hit Lost. I see a significant difference between the two. While Lost can be summarized as a tease and ultimately frustrating, Heroes does not string you along indefinitely. Season 1 (or Volume 1 as it is referenced in the finale) reaches a logical conclusion while giving a glimpse into Volume 2 - Generations. To me this shows that they paid pretty close attention to what people liked and didn't like about Lost.

So take the summer and get caught up. This is one of the few shows out there worth watching.

Until next time...
PH

What a Weekend!!

First for the preliminaries: no one (people or pets) was hurt in any of the events that follow.

How's that for a lead? It was about 4:30 a.m. Saturday (Damon was at his dad's for the weekend), and Christy and I awoke to the sound of an alarm going off. Neither of us had a good sense of what it was for although we both thought it was from someone breaking in. Well, that turned out not to be the case.

I followed the smell of smoke up to our loft and found a small fire near the computer. Luckily, it was still very small, and we were able to dump a small amount of water on it and put it out.

Afterward, I was having a look at the scene, and noticed that some of the power cords to the various components of the computer had melted at the plug, and the cord to the cable modem had burned the most. However, even at this point, we are not sure of the exact cause. Our insurance adjuster came yesterday and collected a couple of pieces to be sent off for investigation. It may be some time before we know the cause if we ever do.

It is now about 5:00 a.m., and the immediate crisis had passed. However, we now had quite the scent going in the main part of the house. There wasn't much that we could do at that point so we tried to lay back down.

After calling around to our agent and talking to other people with State Farm, we had a crew out that evening to treat the air ducts to neutralize the order. It wasn't really clear to us what we signed up for by having them come that evening, but before they got started at about 9:00 p.m., they told us that after they finished, we and our dogs would need to be out of the house for about an hour. Ugh!

So we went ahead and loaded up the dogs and headed out to kill time. Though it seemed like madness, the first place we went was the dog park in Fort Worth. We thought we'd give the dogs a chance to wear themselves out if the park was still open. Much to my surprise, the hours of the dog park were 5:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. So we stayed there for about an hour. There were a couple of other dogs there so Kassie and Rocket got to run and play quite a bit. However, once the dogs showed signs of being tired and the mosquitoes showed signs of being hungry, we decided to pack the dogs up and move on.

Luckily, it is still fairly cool in the evening so we knew the dogs would be OK in the van while we went elsewhere to kill time. So at this point so we headed over to Borders at Hulin and 30. Both dogs crashed by the time we got there, and the slept quietly in the van while we milled about. We got the call about 10:15 p.m. that we could return home in about an hour. This was perfect timing since Borders closed at 11:00 p.m. and it was about 20 minutes from our house.

When we got home, it smelled considerably better, and we went to bed quickly as we don't typically stay up this late as a matter of course anymore. I think we were both tired enough that we slept without much consideration of a repeat incident.

We have temporarily taken our house off the market until we can get the carpet and other damage replaced. At a minimum we have to replace some power cords on the computer at home before we can even check it out to see if it is still in working order. Our e-mail access during that time is going to be fairly sparse in case you are wondering why we are slow to respond. Everything is going to be fine; it's just going to take a bit to restore order again. I'll try to get posts up on a semi-regular basis between now and then.

Until next time...
PH

Dogs Are The Best

I had dogs for the majority of my childhood, and I can remember in college wanting to get out of the dorms because they generally frowned on animals of any sort. It wasn't until a few months after I graduated college (May 2007) that I was able to fulfill my wish. I started visiting animal shelters in August, and it was a fairly lengthy search until I made my way to the Plano Animal Shelter that used to be on 14th Street out east of Shiloh Road.

There on Friday, October 17, 1997 I found a little dog sharing a run with three or four other dogs. She was a Chihuahua mixed with who knows what, and it was clear that she was intimidated by her environment. I took her out on a leash, and she warmed up quite a bit after getting away from the other dogs. I knew that I liked her, but then I got cold feet. I asked if they could hold her until tomorrow, but they said that they did not do that to ensure that as many dogs as possible were adopted.

So I left anyway not quite ready to take the plunge. Although through that evening and early Saturday morning, it gnawed at me that I needed to go back as soon as I could and get her before someone else did. So after practice for the men's choir, I made my way back to the animal shelter. I took her out again and sat on the curb for a few minutes. Finally she gave me the look that said, "What are we waiting for?" After that, I went in a signed the paperwork. We then made a trip to the local vet for shots and headed for Petco to get all the necessary supplies.

Many of you know this dog as Suzy. She was a special dog. After graduation, I did know a lot of people in the Richardson/Plano/Garland area, so I spent most evenings after work hanging out with Suzy. This might have something to do with why she wound up rather spoiled, but that's just a theory.

Suzy and I made many road trips together. If I wasn't flying, she typically went with me when I traveled to visit family. She was a good traveler - typically slept the majority of the time in the car.

Many things changed between 1997 and today, but Suzy was there for it all - until recently. She had become ill within the last 12 months, and there was nothing that the vet could do for her. So in February of this year, I made the difficult decision to put her to sleep. That was a very hard day for Christy and me, but we know that it was the right thing to do. I even consulted my pastor before making the final decision, and he reassured me that it was move loving to end Suzy's misery than to hold on and let her continue to suffer. So on February 10, we took her to the vet for the final time.

While it is sad to think about the end, I would have done things any differently. For 9+ years, she was a part of the family, and we had many good times together. I have a picture of her somewhere with our friend Amy. She was looking up at Amy after Amy had done something amusing - although I won't go into detail here ;-) That was Suzy. She loved to be with people and give them kisses.

While there won't be another Suzy, I knew that we had to find another dog. That is how we came to have Kassie, but Kassie's story is for another day. To Suzy!

Until next time...
PH

Real Ale Full Moon Pale Rye Ale

Sometimes, it is the simple things that bring happiness. Ben Franklin once said, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." I think ol' Ben was on to something. Something truly great has happened recently in this area for folks in the DFW area. Central Market has started carrying beer from a little brewery in the Texas Hill Country called the Real Ale Brewing Company. A trip to the Fort Worth Central Market location yielded a six pack of the Full Moon Pale Rye Ale. This is a unique ale that combines the hop head nectar of the Pale Ale with the traditionally smooth and malty Rye Ale. The result does not disappoint although bottled beer is never quite as good as what you get on tap. I introduced one of my former bosses to the Full Moon Pale Rye Ale at a trip to the Flying Saucer. Now he is accustomed to the ales of Great Britain, but he found this to be quite to his liking. There are few if any beers from Texas that I would recommend ahead of this one. Prost!

Until next time...
PH

Mother's Day

Every day should be Mother's Day, right? In many ways it is, but it is nice to set aside one day out of the year to remind our mothers that we wouldn't be where we are today without them. I actually had to try twice to tell my mother. The first time, she was visiting her own mother - who is almost 97 years old! Finally, I celebrated Mother's Day with Christy and Damon. Christy wanted Mexican food, and she chose Abuelo's. We went in the evening trying to avoid the mad rush after church. That worked out pretty well. Yesterday, I took Damon shopping, and he got Christy a topaz necklace. I pitched in a cookbook that she had been eying at Borders. In the end, there were three generations of mothers celebrating today. That is something special.

Until next time...
PH

Where Have You Gone Scooby Doo?

Forgive me if I am starting to sound like a grumpy old man, but has anyone watched the cartoon offerings that our children have to choose from these days? Perhaps this happens in every generation, but when I compare today's shows to those of my childhood the difference is striking.

Let us consider exhibit A: The Kids Next Door. First, notice that the artwork is poor. I hate to even imply that it has a style to be compared to others in the first place. Then you get to the actual characters and "stories". These kids whine, cry, and have bad attitudes. Why would you sit your children down in front of an example like this? Lest you think this an aberration, consider The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Consider this verse two.

That's not to say there aren't any bright spots at all. Compare either of the previous examples to Jimmy Neutron. Start again with the quality of the artwork. Do you notice the difference? Now I'm not comparing this to the Mona Lisa by any stretch of the imagination, but it is certainly an improvement. Let's not forget the storyline. Here you kids will have as an example a gifted youngster who is an inventor. While it's no substitute for your own teaching of life's lessons, I don't feel like this is something that pulls kids in the opposite direction.

Do you know what your kids are watching?

Until next time...
PH

Referrals Make All the Difference

I mentioned in one of my early posts that I was having difficulties in finding good Java candidates for openings that I am trying to fill. I finally struck gold yesterday after seven months of sifting through resumes, phone interviews, and face to face interviews. The difference? The person we interviewed was a referral from a former employee of our department.

Over the last four and a half years of hiring people, I've found that starting with a known quantity makes a tremendous difference in the quality of candidate that you get. Most people value their reputation enough that they are not going to give you a resume for someone who is a poor performer. Whether it is someone that they know from school or that they have worked with in the past, you start out a significant way toward finding a match.

Having a built in reference check is a plus too. I have done some pretty extensive research on referral candidates with the people who refer them, and it makes a huge difference in your confidence in your hiring decision. I have only had one referral that did not work out long term, and that was when a guy left to join a start up company that formed shortly after he started working on my team.

That's not to say that you can't find good people without referrals. It's just a lot easier to start with a known quantity and go from there.

Until next time...
PH

Is Primetime TV Imploding?

What? You may say that this happened long ago and is no longer in question. I could be persuaded that way without much discussion truth be told. It really started many years ago with an immensely popular "reality" show called Survivor. As I've mentioned previously, shows of this ilk are anything but reality. Some of the later offerings were actually worse. Anyone familiar with Fear Factor? What does it say about people who are willing to go on TV and perform such ridiculous stunts are drinking a rat that has been run through a blender?

Since the idea mill ran dry in Hollywood long ago, there have been many attempts to capture the ratings gold of Survivor. However, "reality" TV is just one part of the equation. Even shows that I have considered good that have been long running fell into this trap. It was two or three springs ago that NBC went to the well one too many times and added their fourth Law and Order series. From the very short run of this show we learned that there really can be too much of a good thing.

The 2006-2007 TV year has been instructive for what is really going on. NBC started with a smart, witty "dramedy" in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. While not the most pure and wholesome show, it was one of a handful of offerings that required a modest amount of intellectual capacity. However, the mental edge of America has been dulled to the point that people just couldn't get it. The ratings for Studio 60 were some of the worst for major network programming, and the show has since been dumped.

In lieu of thinking, it seems that the contrived game show built on a flimsy premise is what NBC thinks the hoi polloi will tune in for. Thus we are pummeled with multiple episodes of Deal or No Deal each week. This was so great that they added 1 vs. 100 and Identity and had all three going at one time. Excuse me while I vomit.

There are a few bright spots in the TV universe. Heroes (while not really an original idea - see X-Men) has had a thoughtful plot and was at least something reasonably different from NBC. Smallville (CW's back-story of Clark Kent's adolescent and early adult life) has managed a longer run that I thought it could sustain. Crossing Jordan is still a nice modern day tribute to Quincy. But that's really it. Oh well, too much TV is bad for you anyway. If you think this is bad, check out the state of what your children have to choose from. That's a whole separate rant.

Until next time...
PH

Slow to Adopt New Technology

After my posting over the weekend about cell phones, this may come as a surprise. However, I am typically not one to rush out and get the latest and greatest offerings from the technology world. I have often fallen into the category of "late adopter".

For example, it was 1994 before I bought my first CD player. Previously I was of the opinion, "What's so great about CDs?"

Even though I worked in the computer industry, I don't have my own computer until 1999 - two years after graduating from college! Further, the only reason I bought a computer then was so that I could work on a resume.

Similar to my CD experience, I did not have a DVD player until 2003, and I would not have owned one then if it had not been a Christmas gift that year.

Finally, I have just entered the world of MP3 players. Again, when iPods became all the rage, I thought, "What's so great about that?" After Christy and I joined a health club in January, I quickly saw one benefit. I was lugging my CD player from machine to machine while everyone else in the gym was "wearing" their MP3 players. That was enough to tip the scales for me, but I only bought a very basic 512 Mb player. It served its purpose, and I use it 1 1/2 to 2 hours a day, 5 days a week now. I also discovered that my PDA had an MP3 player, and I had a 1 Gb memory card for it. I have it about 2/3 of the way full now, and it has about 6 full CDs on it. Then I had the real light bulb moment. Christy found a web site where you can buy legit MP3s for $0.19 a piece. If you want a full CD, it is typically around $2.00! While I may still buy CDs here and there, I will be using the avenue for the vast majority of my purchases. You just can't argue with the price.

Until next time...
PH

Entering the Void

With the NFL draft behind us and the Mavericks having gone out with a whimper in the first round, we have entered the time of year in DFW that could be called the "sports desert". It is that period that begins when the Mavs are done and ends with Cowboys training camp. There just isn't much to be excited about between now and then.

But wait, you say, what about baseball? What about the Rangers? Please. Baseball died locally and nationally long ago. There was a bit of a blip on the radar in the late 90's when the Rangers were going to the playoffs (and doing very little), but things have not been good since then. Let's see... The Rangers have been awful. Ticket prices at the ballpark are inversely proportional to the Rangers' performance. The ballpark is one of the single hottest places in DFW to spend a summer evening. It costs more to park than it used to cost to get in to the games. This is a confluence of events that should result in a nightly attendance of zero for every game in Arlington.

So, we are left with plenty of time to ponder other things. What happened to Dirk and the Mavs? How do you win 67 games and then flame out in six games to the eighth seeded Warriors? Is Tony Romo's head right? Will Wade Phillips be able to take the Cowboys to the next level? Is Anthony Spencer as good as the Cowboys and the draft experts think? Luckily, this is only the beginning of the fodder that will keep the local sports world occupied until late July in San Antonio. Here's another one. What was Jerry thinking? He traded Southern California for the Sewer Walk in San Antonio? Did he not see Mark Cuban's shirt during the playoffs last year?

Until next time...
PH

Cell Phone Rat Race

I love technical gadgets, and I recently got a new phone from lg. My previous phone was also from lg, but much to my dismay, the phone charger has a different connection. Christy and I had made good use of this because in the past both of our lg phones (although different models) used the same charger. In addition, my new phone has a new version of bluetooth (1.2 vs. 1.1), and my headset does not work very well - after having worked flawlessly in the past. I'm sure there are valid reasons for these things, but it seems like the goal is to make you replace everything (headset, charger, car charger, et.c) when you get a new phone. (OK, I know you are going to say, "Quit whining and stick with your perfectly good working phone and its accessories. Point taken.)

I feel better now.

Until next time...
PH

Spiderman 3 Review

As I mentioned yesterday, Christy and I went to see Spiderman 3 last night. Having seen the other two, I would put this one second behind the first one. There is a fair amount of fluff in the movie that could easily be trimmed without losing anything from the story, and this would trim from the 2 h 20 m running time.

Here are some of my thoughts without giving too much away. There are too many villains, and this keeps the movie kind of busy. Thomas Hayden Church is perfect as the Sandman. Topher Grace was an interesting choice for Eddie Brock since the Brock of the cartoon and comic books is a fair amount bigger than Spiderman. He also seemed to be a bit more of a sociopath that what I recall from my comic book days. The soap opera between Peter and Mary Jane is a bit overdone. The appearance and behavior of some characters will seem odd to those familiar with the comic book. Gwen Stacey was killed before Peter and Mary Jane ever got serious. You will also be puzzled by Harry Osborn's behavior as well.

Visually, the movie is great. The effects for the Sandman are top notch, and the "black suit" really takes on a life of its own.

Overall, I give the movie a B-. You will definitely be entertained by it, but you may feel a bit over served by the time you are done. Moderation is a lost art these days.

Until next time...
PH

Five Year Anniversary

Today, Christy and I are celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary. It seems like only yesterday that we were having our rehearsal dinner at Faith Lutheran Church in Plano, TX...

I remember the fine meal that Jan Sloan and Co. prepared for us - it is still one of my favorites of all time!

I remember a very laid back bachelor party at Ben's house afterward.

I remember going and getting dressed at the church and greeting our guests as they arrived.

I remember the ceremony - thanks, Pastor Hill!

I remember getting pelted with bird seed by Martha as we left the reception.

I remember going to Lawry's for dinner that evening.

It is hard to do it justice with words, but it was the most special day of my life.

Many things have happened over the last five years, and we've seen both sides of many of the items from our vows. However, I am as sure today as I was then that I am the luckiest man in the world.

We are not having our "official" celebration until tomorrow. Tonight we are going for dinner and seeing Spiderman 3 - really, it was Christy's idea. Tomorrow we are going for a nice dinner at Al Biernat's in Dallas.

Until next time...
PH

Amazing Longevity

Today is my Grandmother's (on my Dad's side) 94th birthday! (Happy Birthday, Grandma!) My other Grandmother will turn 97 in October. I am amazed that I have been blessed to have both of them with me as long as I have. Both are still in fairly good health too.

We will be having a family get together this evening in Arlington with my Dad, Stepmother, Grandma, my Stepbrother and his family, and Christy and Damon. We have been doing this for a few years now, and it is nice to have everyone together to celebrate. What makes it even more special is that Grandma is still able to come down from her home in Indiana. While she does not do the driving anymore, it speaks to how good her overall condition is that she can make the 12-13 hour car trip.

Here's to you, Grandma!

Until next time...
PH

Mavericks Show Some Life

Well, wasn't that a fun game last night. Who needs Six Flags? From 21 points up in the second quarter to down nine with about three and half minutes to go to winning by six. If that doesn't fit the roller coaster definition, I'm not sure what does.

The good news for the Mavs is that Dirk woke up and realized that he actually need to take and make some shots for his team to win. What we saw over the last three and a half minutes is what it is going to take over the next two games for their playoff run to continue.

We also saw the Warriors meltdown again. In the last minute, two guys fouled out and one got ejected. They are a team of thugs, and it would be very painful to see them advance at all - much less at our expense.

So, what do we know after five games? Not much. Expect the Mavs to come out swinging tomorrow, but fasten your seatbelt. It promises to be a bumpy ride regardless.

Until next time...
PH

Mavericks in a Hole

This could well be it for your Dallas Mavericks this evening. They face Golden State at 8:30 tonight down 3-1. While it was said of the previous game, this is truly a must win. I have to admit, I really don't know what to expect when they take the court. It seems that Don Nelson has a pocket full of Mavericks Kryptonite. It is really hard to believe that the ding dong Warriors are on the verge of bouncing the team that had one of the best regular seasons in NBA history.

The sad thing is that it didn't have to be this way. Back on April 17, the Mavs had the chance to all but eliminate the Warriors from playoff contention. However, we the #1 overall seed wrapped up, Avery Johnson decided to sit his star players and essentially gift wrapped a spot in the playoffs for his mentor in the process. If the real Mavs had shown up to that game, we are probably talking about a sweep of the L.A. Clippers and whether the Mavs would be playing Utah or Houston in round two. No such luck, though. It seems that the Mavs are being paid back from wronging the Clippers.

Perhaps you could say that they really aren't a championship caliber team. If they were really the mighty Mavs, it shouldn't have mattered who their first round opponent was. As Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over 'til it's over." You do have to ask the question: "Is it over?"

Until next time...
PH