The NBA is turning into the WWF...

I mean, let's be honest the story lines are way bigger than the game, everyone is trying to create coalitions, and there are actually no rules enforced at all.  Do I need to continue? 

No, but I will.  David Stern, the NBA commissioner, has done his best to market the individual over the game in an effort to up popularity.  What he got was a more visible game, and a crappier product to people that actually understand the intricacies of basketball.  It's a tragedy that the best players, and the most popular are completely different.  I'm not into name dropping, so I won't but to be specific only two individual "superstars" have won a championship in the last ten years, the real success has been reaped by team playing, defensive minded teams.  With respect to the Lakers and the triangle offense, that team has a system that works and keeps opposing defenses honest.  It is completely fathomable that if Phil Jackson never came back and coached that team, or if they didn't get handed an elite big man for nothing, they wouldn't have two of the past three championships.  It's clear in my eyes the best teams of this past decade, Spurs, Celtics, Pistons, Lakers, Mavericks, Suns play a team style of play that is more effective than a superstar holding the ball.  Jersey sales amongst these teams are probably average or below that.

The daily hype about this player going there, and that player going here is exhausting.  It really is incredible to me how large-market franchises get spoon-fed  marquee players for next to nothing.  It seems, in some circumstances, that these franchises don't care about assembling a winner as long as they have a marketable face in their franchise.  It's funny how a lot of these players can only function properly when they are handed the ball and are allowed to do what they please.  Well, in their defense, the NBA has tried to take away team play and benefit the one-on-one player since the Jordan era.  It won't be long until the NBA mutates into five guys slashing to the rim, no more point guards and centers, just big slashers and small slashers.  In the words of Kevin Mchale, "The post player in the NBA has gone the way of the Buffalo."  Well Kevin, the true point guard is going the way of the Whooping Crane, the perimeter player that can actually move without the ball is going the way of the Komodo Dragon and the concept of team defense and rotation has disappeared like the Velociraptor.

 I guess the game might be better to watch.  Me personally I think a lot of these players are better off on the And-1 mix-tape tour with the other side show acts.  I would rather see the game played the way it should be, the way the teams that win play it.  Let's be honest though, most fans of the NBA are more concerned about what comes out of a player's twitter account, or what tattoo he has, than how the guy defends the pick and roll...

2-6-2011. Where have I been?

As predicted, I completely forgot I even had a blog.  Work, work, reading, gym, poker, TV, all of that has taken precedence over me writing anything.  For starters, this year has started out ok.  I got a new poker backer, and although it's not a dream situation it is getting me started.  Due to my demanding job I now have at Paychex, I don't have a lot of time to grind on the weekdays.  Luckily, I have been able to find a decent amount of success in the Full Tilt Poker 'Rush' tourneys.  These tournaments are great because they are turbo tournaments, so the blinds go up quicker thus making the tournament a lot faster, yet I can see probably 4x as many hands as I would in a regular tournament.  Seeing more hands is significant because it negates the turbo structure and gives you more play, thus increasing my advantage over the less fortunate.  I have done very well in these tournaments in January, and hope to continue this stretch.  Although I've had a lot of success in Rush tourneys, I need to set aside one or two weekdays to playing regular tourneys, although I run the risk of getting very little sleep, I need to make money fast.

Aside from poker, I have been active looking for a new job.  Although I like Paychex a lot, I want to find a job that is more fulfilling for me.  There has been a void left in my life since my time working for Spirituality for Kids ended, luckily I found a great website, Idealist.org, that has a lot of postings for jobs in non-profit organizations.  I have applied for a few jobs in NYC, and will apply for jobs in LA, and Las Vegas soon.  I've came to the conclusion that this year won't be better for me unless I make it.

As you can see it's been business as usual for me so far this year. However, I am open to a lot of things that can change my monotony.  I think I need to stay strong to one of my goals I set for 2011, to learn spanish.  So far I have come across a lot of job listings that stated "bilingual preferred." This seems like such in up hill battle to me at this time, because I don't have the time to take away from poker.  I think it's necessary to try and schedule a few nights a week to rigorous study.  I also need to spend time studying the healing modalities. Alternative, preventative healing has always been an interest of mine.  I need to invest more time studying, practicing, and meditating.  It would be great to one day have a successful healing practice using Reiki, Yoga,  sound nutrition, and any other healing practices I come across.  Healing needs to be more than a hobby, the world needs more healers, it could be my calling.  :)

Hopefully, the best, most balanced version of myself will emerge in 2011.  Off to bed, tomorrow is Monday. Work Work Work...