Charles Barkley caused a bit of a hoo-haa by flatly stating (then quickly back-pedalling when Chris Webber freaked out about it) that this current LA Lakers were the best team Kobe's played with. Webber probably still has nightmares about some of those playoff series against the Shaq-Kobe lead teams of 1999-2004, his Sacramento Kings might have made a final or two had the Lakers not been in the way.
But that reminds me how much fun it is to come up with ridiculously biased rankings of things you really shouldn't have an opinion about.
So here you go. 5 lists, at least three will probably make your blood boil.
Top Seven Spielberg Directed Films (that I've bothered seeing)
1) Jaws (still his best work)
2) Raiders of the Lost Ark (I refuse to put Indiana Jones in the title)
3) Schindler's List (by far his best 'serious' work)
4) Empire of the Sun (easily his second best 'serious' work)
5) Catch Me If You Can (Walken, DiCaprio, 60s Jet-Set, sign me up)
6) 1941 (hell yeah, it belongs on this list, that was a funny movie, dammit)
7) The first two-thirds of AI (If it weren't for the last 30 minutes or so, would have been a nearly perfect film)
Bottom Seven Spielberg Directed Films, From Absolute Worst, to Just Plain Bad (that I've bothered seeing)
7) The Terminal (Good lord, so many bad choices, so much schmaltz, such a waste of 2 hours)
6) The Color Purple (I haaaaaaaaate the source material, the film is better than the book, but not by much)
5) All but the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan (Outside of the opening sequence, this is a horrible, predictable, and boring film)
4) Munich (boring, boring, boring, and disgustingly morally relativistic to boot)
3) The Lost World (While the first Jurassic Park wasn't great, it was a good popcorn film, the followup, was just like a big steaming mound of Tyrannosaurus dung)
2) Hook (Seeks to be magical, but mostly it's just a mess, Williams at his most loathesome, and Hoffman at his most actorly, not a good combination for a kiddie picture)
1) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (I'm cheating a bit to put this on the list, given he's just begun shooting, but come on, Borat as Abbie Hoffman?!? You know it's going to be a positive portrayal of those damn dirty yippies (even worse than hippies), so I'm going out on a limb and forming my opinion of this turd before it's even dropped in the pot)
7 Best LA Lakers teams since Magic was a Rookie from 7th to 1st (to build suspense)
7) 2007-08 LA Lakers*** (conditionally, based on the assumption that they will win the championship this year, otherwise insert your favorite Showtime Era team that hasn't made the list in this spot)
6) 1979-80 LA Lakers (Magic's first year, not alot on this team other than Magic and Kareem, but that was enough)
5) 1984-85 LA Lakers (The first LA Lakers team to breakthrough and beat the Celtics, wouldn't be the last though, the rivalry that defined the 80s in the NBA)
4) 1988-89 LA Lakers (Wait, they didn't win the championship, they were even swept in the Finals by Detroit. But there were extenuating circumstances, injuries to Magic and Byron Scott ended what was an impressive undefeated streak in the playoffs, might have had a perfect record in the playoffs that year, but for those injuries, absurd stat from Basketball Reference, EVERY player on this team averaged over ten points per 36 minutes played, that's pretty remarkable)
3) 1999-2000 LA Lakers (The first title season for the Shaq-Kobe teams, not quite playing their best as a team, yet, even though they did compile a 67-15 regular season record, needed a miracle 4th quarter in Portland to make it to the finals)
2) 2000-01 LA Lakers (They were one insanely great performance by Allen Iverson away from having a perfect post season. Had some struggles in the regular season (injuries to Shaq and Kobe), but rolled through the playoffs. Still, you got to love a team that loses only one game in 4 post season series)
1) 1987-88 LA Lakers (A very special team, the last Showtime team to win a championship. Did not dominate in the playoffs, but ironically that's what makes them great. Taken to 7 games by the upstart Jazz (back when Stockton and Malone were young guns) in the 2nd round, again a game seven at home against an excellent Dallas team, and finally, battled a great Detroit Pistons squad in an epic Finals series that should be played on a loop over at ESPN Classics)
Top 5 Reasons to have an HDTV
5) Lost in HD
4) Summer Olympics in HD (mmmmm, Women's Beach Volleyball . . . .)
3) Torchwood in HD
2) NBA in HD
1) NFL in HD
Top 3 Reasons NOT to have an HDTV
3) Simon Cowelll's Erect Nipples in HD (in SD you can't tell his headlights are on through those sweaters, but in HD, it's obvious)
2) All those Damn CSI Shows in HD (seriously, all the pretty montages, are just wankery to make it all look 'cinematic' but it's just boring crap, and it's still boring in high-def)
1) The View in HD ( . . . shudder . . ., seriously at least 60 Minutes has had the sense to not make the switch yet)
22 May 2008
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4 comments:
Nice. I like this kind of post.
I haven't seen some of those flicks in years. Now I'll have to go dig them out.
Best Laker team...1971-72 when you beat my Knicks. Wilt, Jerry West, Jim McMillian, Gail Goodrich, Pat Riley, Happy Hairston...what a great team. I had a lot of respect for that team even though the beat us when Willis was out. That team would have smashed any of the Magic teams...but that's just an old guys opinion....hey get off my lawn you little bastards.
Don't get ESPN Classic, so don't get to see any of those older series, my frame of reference is strictly the teams that I watched personally growing up. I became a fan Magic's first season, and have listened or watched ever since (used to love listening to Chick Hearn).
The old Lakers of Wilt and Jerry West and Gail Goodrich were one of if not the greatest team of all time. They only won one championship but that one year they were great. The team led to a lot of inovations as the coach Bill Sharmen was really ahead of his time. He was one of the first to hire an assitant and he instituted the shoot-around on the day of the game. This was the begining of the pre-game preparation of running through plays and setting the defense. So Sharmen meets with his veteran leaders Jerry West and Gail Goodrich. He tells,"So we meet in the morning and shoot a little and go over the plays and set the defense. Then what should we do."
Gail Goodrich said "Well then we can back to the hotel and wake up Wilt."
You see sports hasn't changed alot in fifty years. It just seems that way if you don't have any historical perspective.
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