didionville

Tonight during the Celtics-Cavaliers game, LeBron was fouled by Paul Pierce on a fast break. The two players stumbled into the crowd and a little extracurricular activity started. A woman in the crowd got involved and started yelling at Paul Pierce and tangling with Kevin Garnett. LeBron told the woman to, er, stay out of it … That woman was none other than Lebron’s mom!

No one was wrong here: LeBron was right to tell his mom to sit her ass down. After all, this is a professional basketball game, and a playoff game at that. His mom was right because she was just exercising the same response any good mom would have. Period. (Though Leslie admits she needs to view this as a cautionary tale. Leslie has a hard time taking guff from anyone. I shudder to think what will happen the first time anyone tries to push Didion around.)

During NBA season, we enjoy watching the TNT studio team, and we also really like Reggie and Cheryl Miller’s color commentary. But we love watching Charles Barkley before, during and after the basketball games. He tells it like it is, which is so refreshing. (And his Fave 5 commercials with Dwayne Wade are high-larious.) But recently, TNT added Chris Webber to the team. Barkley said to Webber “I don’t believe in role models, but you’re mine,” but watching the broadcasts, it seems like it is the other way around. Webber is as blunt as Barkley. Last night he pointed out that what the coaches say at halftime matters very little — “It doesn’t matter what Flip says” — that the key players set the tone. (You never hear that from network analysts; they are too busy praising the coaches — they largely being out-of-work coaches, themselves — and trying to out-pontificate each other.) And he played along with a jab about his most infamous moment, laughing at a question about how many timeouts are allowed in college basketball. It looks like Webber — with his expertise and magnanimity — is giving us another reason to tune in even when the games are uninteresting.

(Last night’s game was certainly not uninteresting. It was great to see Atlanta, with the enthusiastic support of their fans, beat the super Celtics. Overall, we have been enjoying the playoffs: lots of good games so far.)

so i think i have come to terms with ucla’s loss. number one, i had to. i can’t be wasting any more mental energy on it. number two, the odds are quite high that if kevin love goes pro, he will likely be out here gracing the roster of one our east coast teams … with all the marbles miami is going to have, he may be on the heat, but i would hate to have him suffer under pat riley. (the state of the heat, i SWEAR, is karmic retribution for riley (or shaq) running van gundy outta town …)

better for all of us over here in didionville would be love’s coming to the knicks … if there is any justice in the universe (and we think there is — see previous parenthetical), (1) isiah thomas is out under the leadership of donnie walsh; (2) walsh can keep skeevy james dolan occupied with some vanity projects; and (3) love lands in new york to be a fresh, professional, magnanimous, driven, and talented force coming out of the garden.

of course, walsh will also have to find a coach who can motivate and manage, who knows a few things about labor law, and who can cull talent from the existing roster.

a girl can dream, can’t she?

The Yankees, Mets, and — most devastating — UCLA all lost today. The first two we are dealing with o.k.; there are 150+ baseball games left.

But UCLA’s season is O-V-E-R.

Leslie is not happy.

Adding insult to injury, UCLA did not even put on a good showing. They did not play like a championship team at all, and the results showed it. Porous defense, soft rebounding, and, most inexplicable of all, uncoordinated offense. It was reminiscent of a regular season game Didion and I watched. UCLA is supposed to be very well coached, but that did not show in this game: no ball movement and few passes into the post to take advantage of UCLA’s big advantage — Kevin Love, who, we suspect is going to announce his entry into the NBA draft, effectively giving UCLA the finger and seriously handicapping next season’s squad. Suffice it to say, the (game) loss has cast a pall; Love jumping ship is only going to thicken it.

I am off to hang some black bunting.

Leslie is not a Bobby Abreu fan. He is a bit of a prima donna: Any ball hit close to the wall will drop because he doesn’t want to risk getting hurt; Leslie also complains that he smirks a lot. Well tonight, he made a great catch at the wall, falling into the crowd. Then in the bottom of the inning he had a bloop hit that generated the go ahead (and, eventually, game-winning) run. Further evidence of the Yankee resurgence under Joe Girardi.

Jason Giambi showed up to spring training looking slim and fit. (No steroids and some time in the gym will do a body good.) And his play on opening day tonight further substantiates hard work pays off. Leaping to catch line drives, holding runners at third, performing some smart base running to stay out of a double play. He was 0 for 3 (with one walk), but we are not concerned about his offense at this time. As discussed before, if Giambi can stay in the lineup at first, the Yankees have a lot of very dangerous options and will score a lot of runs.

And speaking of looking good … Leslie is looking HOT with her new haircut. No performance enhancing drugs needed.

so the yanks are postponed until tomorrow night. that’s actually good because daddy will be home from work when the game starts tomorrow.

i think the best way to watch the yankees is with my daddy.

so i checked out with an afternoon nap while mommy did laundry and watched the kansas city/detroit game, and what a terrific surprise when, after that game ended after 11 innings, ESPN cut to the giants/dodgers game already in progress.

woo-hoo! mommy’s hometown!

and she is really excited for the dodgers. she thinks that joe torre is going to bring a lot to the team. they’ve got talent and good will and a strong presence in the community. now all they need are some playoff wins. of course, she also wants to see her boyfriend-numero-uno (nomar) able to leave baseball on a high note … not that he is going to retire; she just wants him — in the sunset of his spectacular career — to be a part of another championship team. (incidentally, A LOT of the good will the dodgers have in los angeles is due to the vocal leadership and charity of nomar. mommy really knows how to pick ‘em.)

oh, and just in case anyone was wondering … it is STILL raining here in new york, while it is nice and sunny in los angeles and florida (for the aforementioned mets meeting with the marlins); though it is quite windy in florida. santana’s uniform is blowing.

go dodgers!

go mets, too, and mommy’s boyfriend-numero-tres, jose reyes … (boyfriend-numero-dos is ichiro, of course!)

total bummer. opening day at yankee stadium … the LAST opening day at said location … and it’s in a rain delay …

um, where in the heck is spring?!

we are dealing with a bunch of pathetic weather … and i’m MAD about it.

they are hoping to start the game after 2:00 p.m. brewers and cubs also starts at 2:00, but i dunno how that is going to happen because it’s raining in chi-town, too. in the meantime, we are watching kansas city at detroit. i’m indifferent about it.

it’s probably just as well that yanks are in a rain delay. i can’t put my yankee suit on right now because today i have been a drooling mess, liberally throwing in some reverse swallowing, barfing bananas and peaches on me and mommy. i’m not in any condition to be wearing pinstripes.

though, mets and marlins starts at 4:00 p.m. if i can get my mucous secretions under control, i can don my mets tee.

at least it’s sunny in florida.

yes, a precipitous decline from thursday night, but certainly the location to which she is more accustomed when it comes to the tournament. incidentally, i am now 26th in the same pool.

the win mommy alluded to that dare not speak its name obviously did NOT happen last night. mommy and i picked stanford over texas and, in fact, had stanford losing to ucla in the final four. was it mommy’s fondness for the pac-10 that encouraged such a bold assertion? certainly. BUT it was ALSO the fact that mommy had texas going to the finals last year, and they TOTALLY let her down early in the tournament … once bitten …

now for a status check of our little family pool going into the elite eight …

g-pa jer … 5 of 8 intact (4 of 4 in the final four) … overall wins to date: 40 of 56 (71%)

me … 5 of 8 intact (3 of 4 in the final four) … overall wins to date: 37 of 56 (66%)

mommy … 6 of 8 intact (3 of 4 in the final four) … overall wins to date: 38 of 56 (68%)

daddy … 4 of 8 intact (3 of 4 in the final four) … overall wins to date: 32 of 56 (57%)

more later … i gotta get back to sucking on my bee rattle and learning how to hold my own bottle.

it’s waaayyyy too late for didion to be posting, so i thought i might sub in and toot my own horn … of course, that begs the question of WHEN i have EVER been hesitant to toot said horn …

anyway … after the first four of eight sweet-16 games … i am doing EXTREMELY well … in fact, for at least 18 hours, i am ranked no. 1 in the pool clan catlett (and g-pa jer) entered … d-man is ranked third …

g-pa jer, unfortunately, is falling fast, and steven … well, let’s just say he isn’t ranked LAST …

of course, d-man and i have a critical win tomorrow that HAS to happen, or else we are in deep sh*t … i won’t name that critical win at this time … just know that it needs to happen, or else …