Super Thoughts Following Super Days

The Republicans have essentially established their candidate. The Democrats remain locked in what looks like will be a long, drawn out battle. This has been the MOs of both parties in the past few elections and I can’t help but wonder if it will have an impact come November. The Republicans seem to be pragmatic about sending their nominee up to the plate. They decide early and give that person a lot of time to motivate the base. I think this has a lot to do with the nature of Republican politics. Usually you can describe an R using eight words that cover 4 themes: Strong defense, Low taxes, Small Government, Family Values. By the time November rolls around, the candidate has the full support of its party and only has to convince a few Dems/Inds to join the crusade. Meanwhile, the Dem candidates will fight it out to the bitter end, which potentially could be divisive. Because the decision to nominate someone comes so late in the game, I wonder if the supporters of his or her opponent are so disillusioned and bitter that they either fail to show up, vote for a third party candidate or a dreaded Republican. Time will tell if the Democrats are unified. They certainly were in the midterm elections, but the scale was so much smaller.

It looks like Shaq will be traded from the sinking ship that is the Miami Heat to the Phoenix Suns for Shawn Marion and the awful contract of Marcus Banks. At first glance I thought that this was crazy. Why would the Suns, who are chugging along with the best record in the Western Conference, shake up their team? I can’t say for certain that the chemistry issues in the Suns locker room are bad because I have no access. I have read many accounts, however, that speak to that. It seems like chemistry in the NBA is paramount to success. With the addition of Shaq, the Suns also become a more versatile team. I feel as though they can continue to play their uptempo brand of ball when Shaq is on the bench by employing a lineup of Nash, Bell, Hill, Diaw and Amare. Between Hill and Diaw they can match up with the 2s, 3s, and 4s of most teams in the similar fashion to the currently constructed team. They can also go big, which they could not do before, and send out a lineup of Nash, Hill, Diaw, Amare and Shaq. You can throw Barbosa or Bell in there for any of the first three and hardly miss a beat. It seems crazy that Shaq, arguably one of the best players I’ve seen in my lifetime, could be traded twice. For the Heat, the incentive to make the move is obvious. They are going nowhere fast and to get a player of Marion’s caliber would be a coup. They can either retain him or welcome his cap space at the end of the year. Either way, they will be considerably better in the long run without the aging Shaq and his massive contract.

The Super Bowl was fantastic. Usually, if I don’t have a horse in the race I’m not as enthusiastic about the event as most. I see the Super Bowl for what it is: a tourist event. We have two weeks of hype and endless media coverage followed by a gathering of ‘sports fans’ in a room that can’t possibly seat everyone and has people talking during important game action. Not my idea of a good time. This year I couldn’t have cared less about the seating situation. I could have watched this game locked in an airplane lavatory. The action in the game was phenomenal and the two fourth quarter drives were divine. That was an absolute A+ of an event, which is saying something considering I despise the Giants and don’t think much of the Patriots.