What Happened to the NBA?

So I'm sitting here watching Game 2 of the Cavs/Bulls series and I can't help but wish the NBA I was watching right now was the NBA that I vaguely remember watching in the early-to-mid 90's. When I was a kid, and I'm talking from about age 2 to age 11, I watched as many NBA games as I could simply because the Bulls and Michael Jordan were always on national TV when I was little. I was actually talking about this with my dad a few weeks ago over spring break when I was home. I got really nostalgic and a little bit emotional when we were talking about it because watching Jordan, Pippen, and the Bulls was something that he and I did 2-3 times a week during the season. It was the only thing that he and my mom would let me stay up late for on school nights (and I did it every single time the Bulls had a west coast game on TV).

My dad tells me all the time that from the time I was a baby he would watch Jordan's games and have me right there in his lap. I'm wondering if I'll have an NBA player to do that with when I have kids because that's how I got hooked on basketball at such a young age. He also had me watching Browns games as a baby, and considering my first season ended with "The Fumble," I blame my dad for all the pain and suffering I've had to endure in my life as a Browns fan.

Anyway, I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I was completely spoiled as a kid when it came to basketball and I really can't remember it. My earliest Bulls memories are the '93 Finals when John Paxson beat the Suns in Game 6 in Phoenix, so I have a solid 6 years of memories that I am very grateful for when it comes to the NBA.

I really started to get back into the NBA last year and have been following the Cavs pretty close now for the last 2 seasons mainly because I wanted to make it a clean sweep for the Cleveland teams with the Browns and Tribe. LeBron is absolutely amazing, and I think hes the closest thing we've got to MJ right now so it only makes sense that he'd be on the team I'm rooting for now. Who knows, maybe LeBron will do the same for my kids as Jordan did for me.

Thank God for youtube though, becasue at least I'll be able to show them highlights of the greatest of all time...

Take One

Ok, so this is my first ever blog --- I guess I'm just going to put what's going on inside of my head on paper (well, not necessarily paper, but you get my point) and let you be the judge.

First things first --- If no one reads this I would probably be okay with that because I've never done anything like this before. I normally only write when I have to do some sort of paper or project with school, so writing about what's going on in my life and what I'm thinking could end up being a good thing for me.

I am an opinionated person, but I'd like to think that it's not a bad thing. I know the saying, "opinions are like..." but I really feel like that saying is directed toward blow-hards that just run their mouths about everything but couldn't give you any rhyme or reason as to why they believe what they do. When I talk to someone about politics, or religion, or sports (basically the 3 main things people have opinions on) I have no problem giving them my opinions on certain issues or topics, but I always have my reasons for having formulated that opinion, and I will articulate those reasons to you if you ask me to. I guess you can consider that my disclaimer since you'll pretty much be reading nothing but my thoughts and opinions on here...

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This past weekend I was in Cleveland and I went to see the Cavs play the Clippers. I've been to Cavs games in the past and have seen King James do work at the Q on more than one occasion, but what he did in the first quarter Sunday night was Jordan-esque. He had 23 points and had hit 5 threes after ONE QUARTER --- I don't know, I guess when I go to Cleveland to watch the Cavs play I'm bound to see something special. Heck, when I was 3 I went with my dad to watch Jordan and the Bulls play the Cavs and that night he went off for a career high 69 points. Unfortunately I don't remember a thing about the game, but I have the ticket stub and pictures to prove that it did happen.

The other reason I was in Cleveland was to give a presentation (along with my grad school class) to the Cavaliers executives on something that we had been working on since September. I won't bore you with the details, but it was big enough that the Executive VP of the Cavs was in attendance...needless to say, we really did a great job and they were very impressed with our work. The best thing about it was getting to rub elbows and chat with some of the people we presented to while we were having lunch after the presentation...who knows, there could be a job opportunity for me with the Cavs once I graduate in May (and I would be completely fine with that...I'd love to work for one of the Cleveland pro sports franchises).

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I know this was kind of a boring post, but I promise I'll start getting into some of the fun stuff in the future...

Grace and Peace,

jPow