Disrespect

I thought about pulling a Michael Jordan and throwing up a two word post simply stating, "I'm back," but I'm not that vain. OK, maybe I am. But for those that care, I'm back after a short posting leave of absence.

All I know is that I shaved my playoff beard and Cleveland made the NBA Finals for the first time ever. Then I finally get myself a real-person job after a ten-month hiatus (semi-on purpose) and what do the Cavs do? Drop two embarrassing games to the Spurs.

I almost wish we were playing Tottenham Hotspur, the pitch or the court, I don't care. At least there would be the excuse of playing a team from the best league in the world (sure it's soccer, but whatevs). It's pretty hard to argue against the EPL's dominance. The EPL has the best soccer talent in the world, hands down. The Western Conference in the NBA? Pretty debatable in my opinion, unless you're listening to the ESPN talking heads, in which case you probably aren't reading this.

If Cleveland would have been smoked by any other Western Conference team in the playoffs, why did they have one of the best regular season records against the West among Eastern Conference teams?

If the Miami Heat were so great (and we heard that all season), why did they lose to the Bulls in the first round?

If Detroit was so great (as we heard all season), why did Cleveland come from behind and beat them in six?

If the eighth seed in the West was so the balls, why did they get swept by LeBron and Co. in the regular season?

Everyone has been disrespecting the shit out of the Cavaliers after the two losses. Were they bad losses? Absolutely. Did the Cavs play badly against the Suns and Mavs in the regular season? Sure. They don't match up well, just like most teams in the NBA.

Did the Cavs terrible play have something to do with the Spurs D? Clearly.

That said, how often does Tim Duncan go virtually perfect from the stripe? Why are teams daring Tony Parker to shoot the ball? Hint: he's not exactly evoking comparisons to the basketball Jesus (Larry Bird or Ray 'Jesus Shuttlesworth' Allen. LeBron and his staff also have a history of coming from behind in a ton of series when they have already been cast off into oblivion. Z is playing like he has a sleep disorder again and Drew Gooden is unaware he's even playing basketball. And most of you already know my thoughts on Larry Hughes.

No one is giving the Cavs a chance. No one gave peace a chance either. OK, bad comparison. The moral of the story is the Cavs are one of two teams left. League comparisons are basically subjective. You can look at Hollinger's math or Johnny Newspaper writer's opinion and find flaws in both. Someone said the West was better, their record is better, it's now fact. But if you were in the NBA and you got sent to Cali, would you rather smoke some of that Cali weed, that ganja green and hang out with the beautiful women or be stuck inside shooting basketball in a smelly gym like you do in Milwaukee in the dead of winter? Thought so.

While I agree the West was probably the better conference this year, the Cavs are in no way inferior to the top counterparts across the country (or next to the Gulf of Mexico).

Cavs in 6. There, I said it.

Some other quick notes:

-I've obviously been still working on things behind the scenes of the blog, which I'm sure you know is quite extensive (sarcasm alert!). I'd just like to take a quick moment and welcome our new addition to the team. I've never met the kid, I've never responded to his emails to the blog email. I've been about as busy as Paris Hilton's paparazzi the last month. So I've decided to keep up with the non-communication. Hopefully he doesn't take offense, but I'm not going to talk to him for awhile. He'll be like an intern that I have nothing to do with but I act like I'm better than him because I'm a full-time employee. We'll see how that goes. I've always wanted an intern, even though I rarely have enough work to last me more than a couple of hours a day. At least I'd have someone to make phone calls for me. Whatever.

Welcome to Flyers Fieldhouse and I still want to murder the Reds for what they did to C.C. the other day.

-The featured article on Wikipedia's front page is Gwen Stefani's hottest track of the summer of '05, Hollaback Girl. Why wouldn't my professors let me cite Wikipedia in my papers again?

-Sorry if I'm a little blog rusty. I feel like there's a Larry Hughes joke somewhere around but it's just not coming to me. I'll be back in mid-season form in a couple of days, making the requisite fellatio, boob and Stuart Scott eye jokes.

-And yes, I came back like Jordan, wearin' the 4-5. It ain't to play games witchu.