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Author Archive for varsityoptimism

Fool Proof Summer Kit for SUCCESS!

Published by varsityoptimism on June 24, 2008 in Varsity's Take. 25 Comments

It is currently 112° outside. I’ve had nine Otter Pops in the last two hours and there is not a lick of NBA basketball on.

Yup.

That sounds like summer.

I have long since buried the 2007-08 season in a shallow and easily accessible grave and have been pining for some sort of respite from beach days and staying up all night.

If I may, I would like to humbly submit the Varsityoptimism’s Fool Proof Summer Kit for SUCCESS! These are things you can do to save yourself from Summer sorrow and certain heat exhaustion, use them as necessary and as often as you can…

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TLN’s Finals Preview: Lakers vs. Celtics [Game 5]

Published by varsityoptimism on June 15, 2008 in Varsity Shootaround. 52 Comments

When you see the words “Varsity Shootaround” above a pregame article you have come to expect a certain tone: Light, airy, and irreverent.

I’ll probably make some joke about how Rajon Rondo looks like a kitty cat or how Doc Rivers’ face looks like it is made of a Fruit Roll-Up.

I will most likely write about Kobe and Phil. I’ll express my hope that Lamar Odom decides to play basketball on that given night. I will give you storylines. I’ll offer a silly prize for the winner of the trivia challenge.

I usually have a structure. A formula that I try to follow to provide the Lakers Nation with a pregame primer that may or may not provide some gem of wisdom that has not been spouted off about already. I try to convey hope and optimism to the people (I do not do this as well as Vic the Brick, but hell, I try).

Not tonight.

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Referees for Game 3

Published by varsityoptimism on June 10, 2008 in 2008 Playoffs. 11 Comments

Here they are for the curious… Joey Crawford, Bennett Salvatore, and Mark Wunderlich.

Thoughts?

TLN’s Finals Preview: Lakers vs. Celtics [Game 3]

Published by varsityoptimism on June 9, 2008 in Varsity Shootaround. 72 Comments

I have never been punched in the face.

I would imagine that it feels somewhat similar to this.

I cannot quite breathe correctly; I am having a difficult time seeing straight and the only thing on my mind is revenge.

The Lakers fell down 2-0 in their series with the Boston Celtics Sunday evening after a dizzying rally that included an NBA Finals (written in cursive) record 7 three-pointers in the Fourth Quarter, yet they ultimately fell short, losing 108-102.

Luckily, falling behind 24 points to the Celtics barely fazed these resilient Lakers, whose 41-25 Fourth Quarter brought them to within 2, going into the final minute of play.

Unfortunately, the elements going against the Lakers, namely the Bill Simmons “Aberration Guy” of the century, Leon Powe and an inept officiating crew, prevailed.

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Previewing the ‘08 Finals, by the book

Published by varsityoptimism on June 5, 2008 in 2008 Playoffs. 1 Comment

ESPN: You thought every angle had been covered for this incredible, throwback Lakers-Celtics Finals? Well, here’s a new one: For the first time in NBA history, a team (in this case, the Lakers) might win a championship a few years after its coach (Phil Jackson) wrote a first-person book (”The Last Season”) about a season (2003-04) in which he repeatedly skewered his former and current best player (in this case, Kobe Bryant).

Everyone forgets “The Last Season” because the once-dysfunctional Lakers did a fair share of healing since its 2004 release. The book remains an eye-opening first-person account of a particularly arduous Lakers season that ended with a 2004 Finals collapse and, eventually, both Shaquille O’Neal and Jackson leaving the team. It’s also a damning critique of the player and person Kobe used to be before he started sharing the basketball, buying a few team dinners, handing out monogrammed watches and pretending to laugh at Luke Walton’s jokes. We’re sure Selfish Kobe is gone, right? I mean, we’re positive? We’re sure he’s not going to trickle out during the Finals?

Since it’s such a great book and all, in lieu of handing out pre-Finals awards as a preview, I thought we’d hand out actual passages written by Jackson in “The Last Season” (in bold) to the crucial players, themes, story lines and characters in the 2008 Finals. Without further ado …

1. “Last spring, during a particularly acrimonious team meeting, Rick Fox complained to Kobe and Shaq. ‘The thing that hurts about this season,’ Fox said, ‘is that you have both acted like you’re apart from us, and that we’re not any good.’ … Shaq, clearly affected, began to respond when Kobe cut him off. ‘Quit your crying,’ Kobe said. I then jumped in. ‘Kobe, you’re as much to blame as Shaq is, if not more.’ ”

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TLN’s Finals Preview: Lakers vs. Celtics [Game 1]

Published by varsityoptimism on June 4, 2008 in Varsity Shootaround. 66 Comments

Varstiyoptimism’s Pre-NBA Finals Routine -

Step A: Wake up in a cold sweat screaming and cursing the names of Kevin McHale, John Havlicek and Danny Ainge.

Step B: Pace around bedroom screaming at and punching anything green.

Step C: Marinate in ESPN Classic’s nonstop NBA Finals marathon.

Step D: Repeat Step B.

Step E: Pinch self to see if this Lakers/Celtics matchup is real.

Step F: Look at calendar to see if it is Thursday yet (if calendar is green, repeat steps B and D).

Step G: Fall asleep to the sweet sights of the Lakers in 1985 hoisting up the trophy on that parquet floor.

Now, after nearly one week of that grueling and mentally draining schedule, the Finals (written in cursive) are here!

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A Little Secret Miracle

Published by varsityoptimism on May 31, 2008 in Varsity's Take. 42 Comments

I fancy myself a lover of independent music. You know the type: whiny, literate, geeky dudes with jangly guitars and ill-fitting cardigans. The bittersweet truth of the current state of the ol’ indie rock is that it seems that every so often one of these bands breaks through. The secret gets out and all of the sudden you can buy the new Bright Eyes record at Target right next to Toby Keith and the Eagles Greatest Hits.

My first experience with this situation came in the autumn of 1995. My copy of No Doubt’s now legendary album Tragic Kingdom arrived at the local record shop. Six months later, No Doubt were megastars and I was the jerk trying to say, “I was first” to all my 8-year-old peers who could not get enough of that sublime album. That record was my little second grade secret miracle.

Apply this same scenario to movies, (Juno), comedians (Brian Regan) hot-actresses du jour (I had the BIGGEST crush on Scarlett Johansson when she appeared in Home Alone 3!).

Once the secret is out, it is out. And there is no way to hold onto the days when it was yours.

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TLN’s Playoff Preview: Lakers vs. Spurs [Game 4]

Published by varsityoptimism on May 26, 2008 in Varsity Shootaround. 45 Comments

Watch this clip from Wet Hot American Summer.

It pretty much sums up what happened to the Lakers on Sunday evening. Cruising along these Western Conference Finals. Rumor had it that Jordan Farmar and Coby Karl were singing Kenny Loggins on the team charter. The Lakers were without a worry in the world.

Then they crashed into the defending champion Spurs who, somewhere between LAX and San Antonio, rediscovered the formula that has produced them four NBA titles in the last nine years.

It turns out that those visions of ascendancy were a tad bit premature.

As the Laker Nation wept for Pau’s seeming inability to finish around the basket, Lamar’s shoddy 2-11 performance and Kobe’s sabbatical from the free-throw line, what they forgot was the core tenant of professional sports: the other team has players and coaches too. And boy did their players show up for Game 3.

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