brutal NBA Final game 7

On June 18, 2010June 18, 2010 By Rick McIn product complaints, sport - pro1 Comment

Bryant, Artest rally Lakers to 16th championship

… yesterday’s Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the L.A. Lakers and the Boston Celtics produced an astounding 3,085 tweets per second — over 185,000 tweets every minute. …

One of those tweets was mine: “… neither of these teams deserves to win a Championship“.

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Kobe+foul&iid=9142022″ src=”http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9142022/los-angeles-lakers-guard/los-angeles-lakers-guard.jpg?size=500&imageId=9142022″ width=”380″ height=”279″ /]

I agree with John Gruber:

… what struck me the most watching this series, and especially game seven, is what an ugly, ugly game the NBA has devolved into. No beauty and very little strategy offensively from either side. No ball movement, and lots of standing around. Very hard to believe that these are the two best teams in the league. The Lakers shot just 33 percent from the field and yet clearly deserved to win the game. For decades, a game seven in the Finals between the Celtics and Lakers resulted in basketball at its very best. Now, it’s basketball at its worst. Brutal.

Daring Fireball

… on the other hand, it was still far more entertaining that any of the World Cup Soccer Games.

Thompson Rivers University – Kamloops

On June 2, 2010June 2, 2010 By Rick McIn gymnastics, product endorsements, sport - pro, travel1 Comment

Shout out for our accommodation at Thompson Rivers University.

Not only is the best University residence I’ve ever seen, it’s one of the best University hotels.

Amenities

I score it 10 / 10.

Yesterday I rode up the elevator chatting with coach Wally Buono. The B.C. Lions football team has just arrived for Training Camp.

… I’m loving the University, too.

Steve Nash, Los Suns

On May 13, 2010May 13, 2010 By Rick McIn sport - proLeave a comment

What’s happening in Arizona?

Steve Nash is killing in the NBA playoffs.

… kudos to the Phoenix Suns for making the decision to wear their Los Suns jerseys … in protest of Arizona’s new divisive and racist immigration law, which has since been amended but hardly fixed. …

National Post

Rumours of Nash’s demise greatly exaggerated, by the way.

At age-36, his numbers were better this season than the years he won the NBA’s most valuable player award.

Bring on the Lakers!

What If Everybody in Edmonton Flushed At Once?

On March 9, 2010March 9, 2010 By Rick McIn sport - proLeave a comment

Considering how well the (once great) Edmonton Oilers hockey franchise have played this year, I can understand how excited they would be watching some real hockey, the Olympic Final USA vs Canada.

… The water utility in Edmonton, EPCOR, published the most incredible graph of water consumption last week. By now you’ve probably heard that up to 80% of Canadians were watching last Sunday’s gold medal Olympic hockey game. So I guess it stands to reason that they’d all go pee between periods. …

Pat’s Papers – What If Everybody in Canada Flushed At Once?

Thanks Warren.

Iginla Olympic GOLD hero, again

On February 28, 2010March 1, 2010 By Rick McIn sport - proLeave a comment

Shout out to Jarome Iginla.

Jarome had a great Olympics, plenty of shots on goal. And assisted on the Olympics winning goal by Syd the Kid.

Do you recall that Jarome was the gold medal game hero 8 years ago in Salt Lake City? Sydney Crosby does:

… Crosby was 14 in 2002 and said Iginla’s performance has stayed with him.

“I can still remember him from that game, how well he played,” Crosby said.

Iginla scored two goals, became the tournament’s breakout star and made history as Canada ended a 50-year gold medal drought.

Vancouver Sun

Superbowl commercials on YouTube

On February 7, 2010 By Rick McIn humour, sport - proLeave a comment

I couldn’t tell you who’s playing football … but I’d love to see the commercials.

Click PLAY or watch the Snicker’s ad.

YouTube has them all posted online.

Flames PERFECT SEASON over the Oilers

On January 31, 2010January 31, 2010 By Rick McIn sport - proLeave a comment

As I predicted Game 1 of the Battle of Alberta rivalry last Fall, the Calgary Flames just completed a PERFECT SEASON for the first time, sweeping the Edmonton Oilers 6 games this season.

To their credit, I understand Edmonton fans will now throw their support behind Calgary in the fight for an Alberta team to make the playoffs. The Oilers will forfeit the rest of their games, and start training camp for next season. Good idea.

… Never mind this is the first game in 10 won by the Flames. The NHL stats are secondary to pounding Yadmonchuk.

book review – Born to Run

On January 20, 2010January 20, 2010 By Rick McIn books, health & fitness, product endorsements, sport - amateur, sport - pro4 Comments

On the insistence of my Adventure Racing buddy, Dave Adlard, I bought a book.

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

A fantastic read, even for non-runners. The author, Christopher McDougall, (video) is a master story teller. I was gripped by this true life story.

Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong. …

It’s available on Audible.com, as well as in a Kindle edition.

Get it!

I listened to this book immediately after Dan Brown’s entertaining The Lost Symbol (my review).

It was crystal clear that Dan Brown is a hack compared with by Christopher Mcdougall.

Why is that?

I believe Brown is an old school author. Mcdougall an author of the future,

Mcdougall is a journalist, writing primarily magazine articles. This is his first book.

A magazine article must be instantly engaging. Otherwise the reader will flip ahead to the next story.

Christopher Mcdougall reminds me of Jon Krakauer, another magazine scribe turned author.

Bottom line: get Born to Run.

Art Gallery of Alberta

On January 8, 2010 By Rick McIn humour, product endorsements, sport - pro1 Comment

Now that Edmonton no longer has an NHL hockey team … the Oilers were moved to Tuscon, right? … the fans (still talking about the Gretzky days) can get, instead, a season’s ticket at the recently renovated Art Gallery of Alberta.