The Daily Grind

I will admit, I got a little choked up, teared up a little during the Meet the Press special remembering Tim Russert. Seemed like a real solid citizen away from the show. The special was solid, Tom Brokaw did a great job narrating. I would have liked to have seen Chuck Todd included in it. I also thought they handled the Imus issue awkwardly, but I don't know what else they could have done there. Moving on to the sports.

-Marc J. Spears wrote a blurb about the US National basketball team in his notes today. He didn't recant his list of locks, but I have it on record (Kidd, Redd, Prince, Bryant, James, Anthony, and Josh Howard). Amare Stoudemire has apparently been removed from the list because of injury concerns. To fill out the roster, it seems that two forwards from a group of Chris Bosh, Tyson Chandler, and Carlos Boozer will be selected. And three guards from a group of Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Chauncey Billups and Dwayne Wade. I select Chandler, giving the team some semblance of a true center. I am not Jerry Colangelo or Mike Krzyzewski (I will never know how to spell or pronounce this name), I don't profess to know which direction they would prefer. Boozer gives them a pure, bruising, on-the-block PF. They can spread the floor a lot more with Bosh. It will be an interesting decision. On the guard side, Dwayne Wade's name is an interesting inclusion. It seemed when Miami's season ended it was a foregone conclusion that Wade would not be suiting up for the national team. He seems to have convinced Colangelo that he is healthy. I am sure Miami and Pat Riley are not happy about him trying to play, but he might be a big enough star that decision is his, not the teams. I would probably like to have all four of these guards, and not have Jason Kidd at all. But, if forced to eliminate one of them, I guess I eliminate Deron Williams. Not because I believe it's necessarily the right call, but I think its the call they will make.

-It seems that the Bruins will opt to get salary cap relief for Glen Murray. Kevin Paul DuPont outlined a number of option the B's have from buying him out to optioning him to Providence. It's very sad to see, but it seems that the game had passed him by. He looks slow and hobbled all last season, scoring 30 points in 63 games. This will be the stat of the day, courtesy of Dupont: 16 NHL seasons, 20 career POSTSEASON goals (EDIT: totally my mistake, a typo). It's a bad situation, but the money the Bruins free up, maybe it can be used to sign Marian Hossa away from Pittsburgh and reunite him with old friend Zdeno Chara. Here's hoping the Bruins and Murray can break it off gracefully.

-I thought the Astros-Yankees series this weekend would have been one of the stronger interleague matchups. And, with the Yanks up 13-0 in the 8th inning of the rubber match, it's been as one-sided as they come. Houston is 2-8 in their last ten going into today. The offense has some strong names with Berkman, Carlos Lee and Miguel Tejada, but they're 9th in the NL with 311 runs. The 'Stros are tied with the Phillies at 5th in the NL with a team BA of .264. The difference is the Phillies have scored 275 runs. This Houston team does not make the most of their base hits. The pitching also stinks, 12th in the NL with 4.50 ERA. There's a reason why I think the NL Central is a two-team division between the Cardinals and the Cubs.

-I just saw on ESPNews that Ken Griffey Jr. is quietly telling friends he might waive his no-trade clause to play for Tampa Bay. There are worse destinations, worse fits, but this isn't a very good one. For Tampa Bay, it might help them sell more tickets, but it's hard to see him being a significant upgrade over Eric Hinske/Cliff Floyd/Johnny Gomes. For Griffey, it could be a nightmare, his confidence as a hitter isn't very high right now, and that's probably not going to be helped by trying to learn a whole new set of pitchers in the AL.

-The Lakers-Celtics. It's so hard for me to comment on this objectively, so I won't really. The Celtics have thoroughly outplayed the Lakers through the whole series. Leon Powe and James Posey have led a valiant bench that has outscored the Lakers bench 108-82. If the Celtics win tonight, whichever member of the "Big Three" plays best tonight will win Finals MVP. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were probably already in the Hall of Fame before this series, but with a ring, Ray Allen could solidfy his credentials.

Miscellaneous Video of the Day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FghxweP_HYg
Nothing like watching Sasha Vujacic throw a temper tantrum, and then cry. Go Celtics!

Old School Rap Video:
Ice Cube- "Today Was A Good Day"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=c4RY-eJgHHs
An old favorite from the "Are We There Yet?" star.