Basketball Playoffs: First Round Predictions

The basketball playoffs begin this weekend and since it is my favorite sport and my team the Lakers are one of the teams favored to win it all, I am going to make some predictions. With 16 teams in the playoffs, only one team will walk away with the championship.
So, here are my first round predictions to start out with:

The Eastern Conference

Boston Celtics vs. Atlanta Hawks: Celtics sweep and win series 4-0.
Detroit Pistons vs. Philadelphia 76ers: Pistons win series 4-2.
Orlando Magic vs. Toronto Raptors: Magic wins series 4-1.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Washington Wizards: Lebron James will not be enough for the Cavaliers. Wizards win series 4-3.

The Western Conference (the more exciting conference)

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Denver Nuggets: Lakers sweep and win series 4-0.
New Orleans Hornets vs. Dallas Mavericks: The Jason Kidd trade will not be enough and the Mavericks once again will be booted from the first round but they will put up a good fight. Hornets win series 4-3.
San Antonio Spurs vs. Phoenix Suns: The Shaq trade to Phoenix will not be enough either against the defending champions Spurs. Spurs win series 4-2.
Utah Jazz vs. Houston Rockets: Tracy McGrady will not get out of the first round this year either even with home court advantage. Jazz will win series 4-2.

One Sided Columnist

I had to send yet another email to Fox News. If you do not know what I am talking about then go back and read my very first blog entitled You Call This News? This time, however, my email was directed towards a certain entertainment columnist from their website, Roger Friedman. He is a smart ass writer who seems obsessed to write about a certain subject all the time and thinks he knows it all on this subject. His one sidedness is distasteful so I had to send him an email, though it was probably ignored. I did not think about posting this email here but someone suggested I should do so. The following is the email I wrote to him:
“This email is directed to Roger Friedman: I realized that if it weren't for these happenings going on in Michael Jackson's life right now you would be out of a job. It seems that he is one of your favorite subjects to write about. You are just like all the other so called journalists: if there is anything positive happening in his life you choose not to write about it or at least dwell on it. I have only read a couple articles from where you actually had something positive to say...of course you have to throw something negative in there all the time. You don't want the article to be boring right? That is what good journalists do correct?
One of the positive items you wrote regarding Jackson recently was the great debut of Thriller 25. Of course, though, that did not last very long since you had to talk about the fact that it did not sell well the second week without even mentioning the fact that the recording industry is hurting and effecting all artists. Then you bring up Janet and how she released 3 albums in 4 years. Of course you forgot to mention that those albums have been flops compared to her earlier work. I'm sure Michael can do what his kid sister does: release 3 mediocre albums in 4 years. Then he can listen to you babble on how they were all mediocre flops and no Thriller. Guess what...there will never be another Thriller. He's a perfectionist and has never released album after album even when he was at the top of his game in the 80's. If there was one bad aspect about the original Thriller album is that it happened when he was only 24 years old. When you make the biggest selling album then there is no way to go but down right? Expectations were held very high for him after that.
This brings me to my next point. Everything Michael Jackson does he gets criticized by you and the rest of the media. That is probably why he doesn't perform anymore or make public appearances. If I got hounded by negative press all the time I wouldn't either. He knows that everything he does will get scrutinized. Yes, he can perform in London if he wants for money, but will that satisfy you? No. Don't worry, you will always find something negative to write about. I'm sure if he did make that Grammy appearance you would have found something to nitpick about.
You say people ask you what is wrong with Michael Jackson. Why they would ask YOU is beyond me. Well, what is wrong with you? His finances are none of anyone's business.
Now I'm not claiming to be his "best friend." I have never even met him. I call myself a fan though. He is a musical and dancing genius who has accomplished so many things that artist's today wish they could accomplish. He opened the door for so many people like Usher and Chris Brown. He's done it all. Was it worth all the negative publicity though? He actually should retire completely and enjoy this time with his children. His career started so young that he should retire young. He deserves it; he's been working since he was 5 years old. So, why don't you back off a little please.”

On a side note, I found out that Thriller 25 was still number 2 on the charts the second week in a row selling more than current artists. It is odd that Mr. Friedman did not mention that.

Like I mentioned earlier, Mr. Friedman most likely ignored this email since he probably has to go through countless other hate mail. I just hope that one day he understands why people are upset.

Obama Vs. Clinton

The presidential race is heating up as Super Tuesday approaches, but the tension is not between the Democrats and the Republicans. The tension is between the Democratic front runners, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as they verbally attack each other in this very important election. And Clinton’s husband/former President Bill Clinton is right in the middle of it as Obama says he feels that he is running against Bill rather than Hillary. Unfortunately, candidate John Edwards is left to just watch as it is apparent either Obama or Clinton will win the Democratic nomination.
I do not understand why Clinton or Obama feel the need to attack one another the way they have been. I know that they both want the Democratic nomination, but it will help in the end if they were friendlier towards each other. After all, whoever does receive the Democratic nomination, she/he will want the others support and vote on election night in November.
Clinton and Obama need to realize that this is a very important and not to mention historic election. Obama would be the first African American president and Clinton would be the first woman president. They need to realize that the enemies are not each other, but the Republican party and Bush who has destroyed this country in my opinion. Plus, they are essentially fighting for the same things: A better economy, better health care and the end to the war in Iraq. We desperately need a Democratic President this election and the fighting that has gone on between Clinton and Obama may give the party a bad name.
Plus, another reason why they should be friendlier towards each other is my ideal situation in the coming months: If Clinton is the Democratic nomination, then Obama can be her running mate and vice versa. Can you imagine that? A President and a Vice President can make history this election. I am sure if both of them are on the same ticket, then they can easily win and take the White House back.
My support is going towards Hillary. I do not see anything wrong with having another Clinton in the White House especially since her husband was a great president who gave us a prosperous economy. Plus, as a woman I feel like it is time for a woman president and I cannot think of any other woman better for the job than Hillary Clinton.
At this point in time though, my main concern is getting Bush out of office without him doing anymore damage to our country. One more year still seems too long. It has gotten to the point where anyone, in my opinion, no matter what party they belong to will be a better president than Bush. Heck, I can even be a better president than Bush.
So, no matter what happens in this election, it will be a positive change for us because that selfish bastard will be out of office.

Book Review: Conspiracy

I wanted to share a very interesting and often jaw dropping book that I read recently. I am not aware of how many other people read this book since the subject is highly controversial. The book: Michael Jackson: Conspiracy by Aphrodite Jones can make any close minded individual open their eyes. Now, Michael Jackson does not make this book controversial. What made this book controversial was the fact that a journalist admitted that the media forced people to think Michael Jackson was guilty from the very beginning.
Jones, who was one of many journalists to cover the trial, takes the reader right inside the courtroom during Jackson’s child molestation trial and details testimony of important witnesses. Jones writes about important aspects of the case that the media fails to mention or just plain does not want to report. Why? Because it was too positive towards Jackson. The media had him convicted from the start of the trial. As a matter of fact, Jones admitted she was one of those reporters in the beginning to think Jackson was guilty, but then realized he was the victim, not the criminal.
Jones also gives the reader an insight into Jackson’s demeanor everyday during the trial. According to the book, no matter how much physical pain Jackson was in at times, he always made an effort to smile and wave to his fans outside the courthouse.
Here are just some of the major points in the book that point to Jackson’s innocence:
Ø Jackson’s accuser Gavin (will only use the first name) and his brother Star’s testimony contradicts one another. Star claimed he witnessed Jackson touching his brother inappropriately, but what he allegedly saw was different from what Gavin said happened to him. The boys also presented an attitude on the stand and did not seem to gain sympathy from the jury despite the fact that Gavin was a cancer survivor. Also, according to the book, Gavin was very unemotional when describing what Jackson allegedly did to him. An important thing both boys revealed was that they admitted lying under oath in the JC Penny lawsuit brought by their mother years earlier. A pattern of behavior perhaps?
Ø Both boys and even their older sister claimed that Jackson gave them alcohol on several occasions, but staff at his Neverland Ranch said both boys seemed intoxicated without Jackson even being on the property. Not only that, but according to witnesses, both Gavin and Star were trouble makers and out of control at Jackson’s ranch when he was not around. The trouble they caused included defacing property and Gavin driving a van on the property without anyone’s permission. I was shocked to read (certainly did not hear about it during the trial) that Gavin’s brother put a knife to one of Jackson’s housekeepers. Even on plane rides with Jackson and his staff they were rude by throwing food at people while Jackson’s own young children were well-behaved.
Ø Then there was the pornography issue where the boys said Jackson had showed them adult magazines. Many adult magazines (heterosexual magazines) were found at Jackson’s home, but I thought it actually made him look like a normal man for a change. The main issue was the fingerprints where both Jackson’s and Gavin’s fingerprints were on a magazine. However, the prosecution admitted that fingerprints were not tested until after the grand jury proceedings where Gavin testified at, so it was possible that Gavin touched the magazine during his testimony. Talk about sloppy police work. Besides that, Jackson claimed he caught the boys looking at his magazines, and the boys admitted that they found the magazines while going through his belongings.
Ø The accuser and his family went to lawyer Larry Feldman before they went to the police to report the abuse. This was significant because Feldman was the same lawyer who represented Jackson’s 1993 accuser and was able to get the boy a large sum of money from Jackson. Jackson’s lawyer always insisted that Gavin and his family also wanted a large sum of money. If your child was molested, wouldn’t you go the police first instead of a civil lawyer?
Ø Actor and comedian George Lopez testified at the trial. He met Gavin after the young boy was diagnosed with cancer and he wanted to help him. However, he said on the witness stand that he cut all ties with the family when Gavin’s dad kept getting angry and asking Lopez for money. According to the book, after listening to George Lopez’s testimony, Jackson seemed to be thinking about why no one warned him about this family.
Ø Probably the most damaging witness to the prosecution’s case was the accuser’s own mother, Janet. She was the most inappropriate witness on the stand who rudely pointed fingers at the jury and asked them not to judge her. One of the charges against Jackson was conspiracy. The accuser’s family claimed Jackson and his associates held them hostage at Neverland, which seemed so laughable. Why? Well why Miss Janet was being held “captive” she was buying beauty products and getting full body waxes paid for by Jackson. However, she managed to “escape” Neverland 3 times, but kept going back. Oh how tough it is to be a hostage at Neverland ranch! According to this book, the conspiracy charge made prosecutor Tom Sneddon seem desperate to nail Jackson on something. Of all their witnesses, the prosecution could not connect Jackson to the conspiracy charge.
Ø This family seemed to have a pattern of making abuse allegations. Besides the JC Penney case where Gavin’s mother cried abuse against the security guards at the store and got her children to lie under oath for her, I was shocked to learn by reading this book that Gavin made abuse claims towards his own mother in the 1990’s. Plus, Gavin’s sister accused her father of sexual abuse.
Ø Chris Tucker was another famous actor who testified in the trial. He met Jackson through Gavin since they were both helping the young cancer victim. Tucker told the jury that Gavin would ask him for money and ask him to do a lot of things for him because he was not feeling well. He said Gavin would always have a sad look on his face when asking for favors. Tucker said he warned Jackson about the family and told him to be careful.
Ø In my opinion, the biggest aspect that made this case look very weak was the timeline of the alleged molestation. The prosecution tried to make the jury believe that Gavin was molested by Jackson right after the Martin Bashir documentary aired. It’s the same documentary that purposely put Jackson in a negative light, and it featured Gavin and Jackson holding hands while being interviewed. Following the airing of the documentary and the negative reaction it received, especially the part where they were holding hands and talking about sharing a bed with each other, Jackson was once again in the center of controversary. So, then he decided to molest the boy??? This makes no sense at all. The whole world was already talking about Jackson and the boy seen in the documentary and people wanted him investigated for child abuse, so this really does not seem logical to me. Any genius could figure out that this timeline made zero sense.

So, there are just some of the major points of Aphrodite Jones’ book. Everyone knows how the trial ended. I admit I had doubts about Jackson’s innocence during the trial. Here is a man who surrounds himself with children and says during interviews that he does not see a problem with a grown man sharing a bed with a child. I am not saying that is right. However, this book really opened my eyes on how the accuser’s family were gold diggers and took advantage of Jackson’s celebrity. Jones even points out that Jackson may be in fact too nice when it comes to helping others. People just end up taking advantage of his generosity. Plus, it is sickening to think that this family used their son’s illness to meet celebrities and eventually get their money.

I know that the majority of Americans think Jackson is guilty and got away with a crime not once, but twice. However, they are just being close minded without even knowing all the evidence that was presented in the case. After reading Jones’ book, I would agree that the jury was not star struck. They actually made the right decision. The accuser’s family gave the jury no reason to believe their story, and to send a man to prison for 20 years with so many holes in the case would have been wrong.
Here is a link to Aphrodite Jones’ very informative blog: http://michaeljacksonconspiracy.blogspot.com/

Video Killed the Radio Star...Uh, Maybe Not

Yet another boring MTV Video Music Awards took place Sunday night for the first time in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, this award show once filled with excitement and surprises have not been living up to its expectations in the last couple years. I have been watching the show ever since 1992 and I miss how it used to be.
I know that I am not the only one who feels this way because MTV tried something different this year in hopes of boosting their declining ratings. One of the main changes they made was having some of the performers put on a small concert in their hotel suites. The camera would go to these performers throughout the show. Another change was that there were no fans up front right by the main stage; it seems like the only audience members were the artists themselves. Plus, there was no host this year.
Needless to say, I did not particularly like the changes. The way that they had the audience set up (in round tables with drinks) just made it look like a typical award show to me, and the video music awards has never been a typical award show. That is why it used to be so fun to watch. Plus, they did not show some of the music artists’ performances all the way through. Of course, considering that they rarely show complete videos anymore, that change really was not that surprising. The concerts in the suites were weird. What is the point of having the artists perform in different places?
I guess MTV accomplished what they wanted to get done…their ratings increased from last year’s award show. However, I have a feeling that Britney Spears opening the show had something to do with the increase in ratings. People wanted to tune in to see how Britney would make a comeback. It was not exactly a comeback though, more like a career disaster. Spears’ performance was awful. Apparently, she did not rehearse that much because during her performance she forgot her dance steps and how to lip sync. When a singer forgets how to lip sync, then that is a pretty good indication that their career is down in the dumps. The expression on some of the audience member’s faces was priceless. They seemed to be saying, “What in the world is she doing?”
There were a couple of good performances though. Alicia Keys and Chris Brown were the highlights in my opinion. Brown did a Michael Jackson imitation of “Billie Jean” and Keys did a cover of George Michael’s hit song “Freedom.”
In my opinion, the award show just gave me another reason why the network has gone down hill. As I mentioned above, MTV rarely shows complete videos anymore. Even on Total Request Live they only show some of the videos on the countdown. For the majority of the day MTV airs reality shows. I think there are enough reality shows on television today, but to have them shown all day on a network that is geared towards music is ridiculous. In order to watch videos you have to tune into MTV Hits because MTV2 and VH1 do not show that much videos anymore either. Even singer Justin Timberlake mentioned this at the award show the other night by urging MTV to play more videos.
I really do not see that much of a point anymore in music artists making a video because they can have better promotion elsewhere. If I want to see a video that I have not seen in a long time then I will go to You Tube on the internet. An important fact: The first video that was ever aired on MTV back in 1981 was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles. That title was very appropriate back then, but today it would not make much sense. For heavy rotations of their music, artists will have to count on radio for now.

The Bad Girls of Hollywood

Apparently in Hollywood you can make as many mistakes as you want involving drugs and alcohol, including chasing someone at high speed while intoxicated and it will not give you barely anytime behind bars.
Lindsay Lohan agreed to a plea deal and was sentenced to just one day in jail, 10 days community service and a completion of a drug treatment program which if I’m not mistaken she tried completing several times without much success. I think that one day in jail is ridiculous. As mentioned in my previous blog, Lohan needs to spend a lot of time behind bars if she is going to receive a wake up call about turning her life around. One day in jail is not going to accomplish that. Lohan admitted in a statement that she was addicted to alcohol and drugs, which is just as shocking as Siegfried and Roy admitting that they are gay in a new book.
Well, Lohan will end up spending more time in jail than Nicole Richie who was released from jail after just 82 minutes. She was supposed to spend four days in jail for what else….driving under the influence of drugs. I do not know what could have been the problem. It is not like she could have complained about the food since she does not eat. Well, maybe she does now since she has to eat for two.
In other “screwed up out of her mind” celebrity diva news: Britney Spears is being investigated for child abuse of her two children…another shocking news item (rolls eyes). I hear that Spears might open the upcoming MTV Video Music Awards with a performance (I hope that this time she is not making out with Madonna like she did four years ago). I cannot see anything good coming out of this performance unless a miracle occurs. I heard a snippet of a new song by her and I have to say that I thought Spears never had a good singing voice, but this new song sounded horrible. If this is Spears’ idea of a comeback, well I think she will have more success in the courtroom during her custody battle, which is not saying that much.
Yet just another saga of the bad girls of Hollywood.

Lock Her Up and Throw Away the Key

Yet another young celebrity has broken the law and seems to have had a meltdown. Lindsay Lohan was arrested….again for drunken driving and possession of cocaine. And on top of that she was chasing her former personal assistant’s mother in the car. She did all this just a few weeks after completing rehab for alcoholism. It is sad, but I have to say that I do not feel sorry for her. She actually disgusts me.
Lohan does not seem to care about the fact that she has a serious problem and does not care about the dangerous actions that she takes. She also does not seem to be bothered by the fact that she could have killed someone while driving drunk and to make things worse, chasing someone at 100 miles per hour. Lohan is just another celebrity who thinks she can get away with whatever she wants.
Well, I hope that Lindsay Lohan does not get away with this and gets what she deserves. She deserves to do some hard time behind bars similar to Paris Hilton except that Lohan should be locked up much longer.
Putting Lohan behind bars for awhile would not be just a punishment in my opinion, but I think jail would do her some good. If spending some good time in jail does not turn Lohan around, then nothing will. Obviously rehab is not working. Although, I do not think she has ever spent a considerable amount of time in rehab either.
Lohan reminds me of Robert Downey Jr. back when he was arrested several times for his drug problem. Luckily, after several runs ins with the law he was able to kick his nasty habit before it was too late.
Hopefully, Lohan will be able to do the same…because quite frankly I’m tired of hearing about her.