The Lakers take a beating.

Sometimes I waver with religious my beliefs, however, I think that karma always finds its way in the end. The report of Kobe Bryant exiting the arena after being defeated 104-99 by the worst team in the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers, without saying a single word, really made me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Like, hey, you aren't the best in the world. At least not anymore. And it looks like your downfall is going to make me feel as your uprising did you.

Note: the Celtics are still killing it. Per usual. Damn the Heat, but #2 ain't bad. For now.

Being a Los Angeles native, I am really supposed to idolize this team as any other wildly retarded Angeleno would. Really. I really should. But I look at Kobe Bryant with so much disdain that I want to close my eyes and visualize Brooklyn Decker in a yellow bikini. Don't get me wrong. I don't hate Kobe as some sort of feminist. I don't look at him [every time] and think, that damn rapist. I really don't.

I look at him and think, that cocky mother f-er has to fall off of his pedestal and realize that he is just another human being at some point in time.

Oh, that time is now. Feels good, don't it?

Post-Superbowl blues.

So, football season has come and gone, leaving our Sundays wide open for activities that don't involve staying in pajamas all day, eating greasy food, and drinking beer at 10am. I might get back on the hill and do some canyon hikes, get some sunshine, or maybe I'll just sleep all day. Regardless, I have a few things that take me through basketball season into my favorite time of year: baseball season.

We all saw the atrocity that was the Super Bowl halftime show. Wow. Aside from following some of the greatest acts ever, like Prince, Tom Petty, The Boss, and...Prince, the Black Eyed Peas had their work cut out for them. 150,000 rednecks don't really care about pop songs performed by two black men, a recovering crack addict, and the token asian friend dressed in sparkly space suits. I think Axl Rose cut himself somewhere when Fergie attempted to duplicate his...accent...if you can call it that.

Anyway, let's congratulate the Green Bay Packers on their big win. Supposedly over half of Green Bay went to Lambeau Field to party. Sadly, their stadium can actually fit half of the city. Maybe more than half. Oh, Wisconsin...

Basketball isn't proving to be very exciting this year either. We have Boston leading the Eastern conference (shocker), and the Lakers barely trailing the Spurs in the West. In good news, the Lakers might be on their last leg of championship games knowing that their beloved coach is leaving the team to go swim in his vault of purple and gold coins for all of eternity.

While that is boring me to tears, I find more enjoyment in music. Some of my top songs to get me through the next few weeks are...

1. Everest - Let Go
2. The Decemberists - The Calamity Song
3. We Are Scientists - After Hours
4. Neon Trees - 1983
5. Nicki Minaj - Fly
6. One Republic - All the Right Moves
7. Marina & The Diamonds - Hollywood
8. Adele - Rollin' in the Deep
9. Michael Lowman - In My Own Words
10. LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls
11. The Radio Dept. - Heaven's On Fire
12. Lucy Schwartz - Take a Picture
13. In This Moment - Iron Army
14. Blindside - Pitiful
15. Carina Round - Do You

Let those wet your earholes for a few days. You won't be disappointed.

Loving this...not believing it.

I'm reading through the sports news, the emails, and the cheap cigar adverts in my inbox today, and I come across this headline:

"Celtics looking to slow Bryant in game 2"

You might ask, is this a Craigslist ad?

Is it a joke?

As much as I dislike Kobe Bryant and his Laker lackeys, I find this to be really funny. REALLY funny. So, I click on the headline to read more. Inquiring minds want to know! There is more!

"Celtics scheme ways to overcome Kobe in game 2"

Now we're scheming!! I wonder what we're coming up with in the locker room. I'm imagining Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett heating up a kettle of tar to dump at the doorway into the court. Maybe some banana peels. Koopa shells...I could go on. You get it.

How about instead of trying to slow one man down, you try and up your entire squad's game so that they have a shot at matching this one man and all his greatness. And by that, I mean man the hell up and don't let this one crybaby take you down that easily. At least let the other four in on the fun.

In the mean time, I'm still giggling about this scheming stuff...writers these days.

And, it continues...

Remember that time I had a sports blog?! Oh, right!! Baseball season started, and I seem to have forgotten all of you. I kid, I kid.

I'm alive, and well. New digs, new computer, new boyfriend. Okay, that last part is a lie. But I did get rid of the old one. No offense to him in any way...

Moving on...let's get down to business.

The NBA finals are giving us the showdown that everyone loves and hates to see. It's probably the biggest rivalry in basketball. It's The Boston Celtics versus the Los Angeles Kobe...I mean, Lakers! We all know how I feel about Kobe Bryant and his little cronies, but what you may not know is that my father's side of the family hails from Boston, and that allows me to default my team of choice as such. Done.

In deathmatch #12 (yes, they have battled in 12 series against one another), we can look at overall numbers, or we can look at today's team. I prefer to look at the overall numbers since they make the Lakers look massively inferior. The Celtics have only lost three finals ever. Lakers, 15. Which makes a draw for them, only winning 15 titles ever. Celtics - 17 of those shiny ass rings. Yep.

This series will be fun to watch regardless of who wins. Don't forget to watch for the Kardashian clan in the audience. You know, if you're into that sort of thing. Game one starts tomorrow at 6pm PST.

May the best team -- ahem, Celtics -- win!

MOREbury!

(image via berecruited.com)

The New York Knicks have reportedly bought out guard Stephon Marbury for $400,000. That's a lot of pairs of $15 shoes! I guess five years was a little too much for them. He'll be a free agent after some waivers clear. Rumor has it that the Celtics are interested. I don't buy it.

The most wonderful time of the year.

Honestly, screw Christmas. This is, by far, the most wonderful time of the year. NBA finals are closing in on us, and it's starting to look like we might have a repeat of last year. Kobe Bryant and his Lakers are 8 games up on the competition, with a 4-game winning streak. I'm not a huge Lakers fan, but when they're on a roll...you know. The Celtics are looking at a killer chance to up Cleveland by half a game tonight over Denver. But, at this rate, even if they manage to claw their way back into the finals, I think the end result is already apparent. We'll see what the coming weeks bring the NBA. Boston needs to sharpen up some tools a little bit. Call me crazy, I'd kind of just like to see Kobe eat it a little bit. That ego isn't going to fit in this city if we let it grow any further.

March madness is on it's way, and this is absolutely the best thing since sliced bread for me. I get two solid weeks of white knuckled distractions, lots of reasons to hit up the local brew spot with the guys, and before it's even all said and done, we get baseball. While most polls have their money on Connecticut right now, all four polls I've been keeping my eye on (AP, ESPN, RPI, and our very own Yahoo user's poll) have Oklahoma in second. UNC is taking third across the board, while Pittsburgh (ranked #1 by the Yahoo users), Louisville (go Cards! yes, I'm biased here), and Duke seem to be the three teams we'll be seeing fighting for their spot in the final four. As we know, anything goes at the beginning of this tournament. I'm thrilled to see who takes over my brackets.

With Manny Ramirez screwing with every team in the league, I'm curious to see where he ends up reporting for spring training. Although negotiations have intensified with the Los Angeles Dodgers, it's quite possible that his adamancy for a high ticket salary could leave him watching from the sidelines if he doesn't pick a dugout. Realistically, he'll end up somewhere. The question is where, and moreso, for how much.

The Boston Red Sox are weighing the strength of their team as they start training for their first full season without the powerhouse who managed to average a .396 in 187 at bats during 53 games after coming to the Dodgers mid-season through a three-way trade with Pittsburgh to give Boston left fielder Jason Bay. Although the Boston camp is talking optimisitcally, it will be interesting to see how the team fares without their wacky slugger.

(image via Yahoo! Sports)

Down in Florida, everyone is making a big deal out of a pulled hamstring. According to sources, New York Yankees short stop, Derek Jeter, was complaining about a sore right hamstring Sunday after drills. Jeter told press that "it's no big deal," and will continue training Monday. CC Sabathia, who apparently lost the right to have punctuation in his acronymic first name, also missed out on a day of training due to the flu. However, the left handed pitcher threw 40 pitches to teammates at batting practice the following day. The left-handed pitcher and batter is expected to open the Yankee season on the mound. Let's hope that $345 million infield proves to be worth all of that dough.

There will be much more said as the spring training games start rolling out, and we'll see how well these teams really work together. I'll be making some pretty happy travels out into the desert to check out some of these re-worked rosters as we make our way into the season in April.