Playing Catch-up

I've been in and out the last few weeks on the site and while I wish I could say it was because I was on a luxurious vacation in the south of France, alas I have been drowning in spreadsheets and presentations. But I thought I'd give an update on a few things that have been weighing on my mind lately. -This Lebron thing reminds me of the preseason football polls. Everyone crowns Ohio State or USC or one of the SEC teams as the "pre-season favorite" and as long as said team plays mediocre enough to win, they will inevitably hold on to the top spot for the duration of the season. Crowning a team #1 should mean they are blowing out opponents left and right and beating good teams. But as long as they do enough to win, those teams that are blowing people out hardly ever surpass them. It's ludicrous that doing just enough will keep you on top. I feel the same way about Lebron. He was crowned the King right out of high school, and subsequently has done just enough to keep the throne, while never reaching what he is capable of. If he is to live up to his billing, he should have had titles by now. But instead, he has made the playoffs and produced a decent regular season record while racking up tons of individual accolades. But that "just enough" has kept him on top and has yet to give the media a reason to turn on him. -Since I'm an accountant and generally a black and white person, the first thing I think to do when controversy comes up is to look at the numbers and get some facts to back up opinions. With all the talk about Cousins' attitude, I was looking through the technical foul leaders of this past season. Demarcus is tied for 43rd in number of technicals received, but something else jumped out at me during the process. Illinois (bleh) center Mike Tisdale led the country last year in technicals received, racking up a staggering 26 over the course of the season. The next closest player? A Prairie View A&M player with seven. This kid had almost four times as many technicals as the next highest player! And yet when I search for his name, I see no articles questioning his maturity or attitude. I can think of a number of reasons why Demarcus was given a raw deal by the media, including both the color of skin and the name on his jersey. Nonetheless, I know the big man will prove them all wrong. -I'm boycotting ESPN for the next month because I really don't care about any of the sports being played right now (besides golf, which I watch on the golf channel anyway) and I despise blowhards making predictions about the football season and then never being held accountable when they are completely off base. So instead, I'll be watching Big Brother since it is: (a) the only reality show that I enjoy watching and (b) on nearly every night of the week it seems. -And while we are on the topic of TV, it is a travesty that Timothy Olyphant from Justified wasn't nominated for an Emmy today. The fact that nearly every woman in America sighs every time he comes on the screen should be reason enough.  But since we all know how my last crush turned out, here's hoping that Raylan stears clear of Georgia nightclubs.