It's Over

The SEVEN
May 23rd, 2011


I. Slam Dunk

Often during the telecasts of the NBA Slam Dunk Competition - held each year during All-Star Weekend - one of the competitors will pull off an unbelievable dunk, after which commentator Kenny "The Jet" Smith will proclaim, "It's over! It's over! Let's go home. It's over!" Soon after the news broke that Osama bin Laden had been killed, I began to think about Kenny Smith's call...and the 2012 presidential campaign. More on that later...but it's over.

II. NBA Power Struggle

I'm not a gambler and don't know anything about placing sports wagers - legal or otherwise. But now I'm led to wonder what kind of odds I could have gotten on, say, April 1st had I proffered a wager that by mid-May...

-the Los Angeles Lakers, two-time defending champions and winners of five titles since 2000, and

-the San Antonio Spurs, Western Conference regular season champs and winners of four titles since 1999, and

-the Boston Celtics, winners in 2008 and finalists in 2010 who came within a couple of plays of winning again

would all be eliminated.

III. Texas Hold "Em?

What has been a most compelling plot throughout these playoffs is the virtual coming-out party of the up-and-coming teams as they attempt to stake claim to the league's upper echelon, while the old guard has frantically tried to hold on...and now are currently only represented by the Dallas Mavericks. This battle has made the 2011 playoffs particularly exciting, all the while bringing a level of anticipation and hope to fans of teams like the Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets, New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers, and Philadelphia 76ers - whose play indicated that their futures are bright.

If anyone involved with the league's labor negotiations has seen either these playoffs or the tremendous p.r. hit the NFL is taking with respect to their lockout, they should be thinking very seriously about sitting down to get a deal done.

IV. It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday

I seem to remember both of my parents receiving a nice send-off when they retired from work in New York City. Unfortunately, there is now a group of New Yorkers whose paths to the ending of their careers is being paved with hot coals.

Those people are the New York Yankees.

Of course this reference is to the situation the previous weekend in which veteran Yankee catcher Jorge Posada, who is currfently batting under .200, shared some pre-game words with manager Joe Girardi in the midst of asking out of the lineup for the evening. You wouldn't have to have been in the room with the two of them to know the frustration the proud Posada is feeling due to his early season slump. You would, however, have to have been there to know some of the details, that he allegedly tossed some F-bombs, etc. - unless management, in the person of general manager Brian Cashman, shared that with the media in order to diss him and virtually portray him as being the devil's cousin. Cashman went on the national TV broadcast during the game to more or less air his side - which might have led me to ask him what it was about a 39-year-old player desiring a day off that was of "breaking news" importance.

One way to keep drama happening in your house - or in this case, clubhouse - is to violate the principle of airing family/team differences outside of the house. As in a Shakespearean drama, this was the climactic third act, the second being when Posada was told he would not catch - and only DH - this season, and the first being Cashman's previous desire not to give Posada this long a contract in the first place (but getting overruled by the Steinbrenner brothers).

Meanwhile Derek Jeter comes to Posada's defense and gets called on the carpet by Cashman and company. Brian's recent history with The Captain includes last winter, when he basically encouraged the Yankee icon to find himself a better deal if he could. And of course we cannot forget the Bernie Williams travesty, in which the still-productive centerfielder was essentially let go. If you play for the Yankees, don't get old.

V. Civil Rights Game

On May 15th the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies played in MLB's annual Civil Rights Game, held this year in Atlanta. Don't get it twisted just because Obama's in the White House (and about to be re-elected next year...which I'm getting ready to address); the fact that many young people do not know why the pioneers would need to be honored in this manner is why my book on the Negro Leagues will be coming out.

VI. Nothing To Run On

During the 2008 campaign then-candidate Hillary Clinton released a campaign ad which implied that Barack Obama did not have enough experience within the foreign policy arena to adequately answer the "3:00 a.m. call." After losing the nomination to Obama, Mrs. Clinton showed that that was all in the heat of the battle, as she campaigned for Obama during the general election and subsequently accepted the position of Secretary of State within the Obama administration. And as the news from Pakistan broke a couple of weeks ago, President Obama showed that he could, in fact, answer that call. When Republicans don't have an edge in the "keeping America safe" debate over the Democrat, their chances are much slimmer than usual. Or putting it this way, if war hero Sen. John McCain couldn't beat Obama, how can someone else after the Obama administration has eliminated the country's greatest enemy of the era and taken national defense off the table?

VII. No You Can't

Part II of that is that the Party of No has no one worthwhile warming up in the bullpen. Two individuals thought of as leading candidates, former Governor Mike Huckabee and Governor Mitch Daniels, are out, while Newt Gingrich is in and Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Gov. Sarah Palin may want to get in. With a field and prospective field like this, it seems to me the only question is whether the Democrats will maintain the Senate and retake the House.

They won't tell you this publicly, but many Republicans are seeing the handwriting on the wall - and one such individual is Donald "Birth Certificate/Great Relationship With Blacks" Trump. He may say he just wants to continue to raise money for charities, but let's not kid ourselves...if a person with that type of ego is certain he can become the President of the United States, he ain't gonna forego that for "Celebrity Apprentice."