Quick Thoughts on a Sunday Morning

The first day of the NBA playoffs showed everyone why the playoffs are a new season.  Three of the four favored teams won but they all got a scare, especially the Bulls and the Heat.  Orlando got more than a scare.  They got beaten by a team that had beaten them three times (out of four) in the regular season.  Lessons learned from Saturday:

• No one is going to just rollover in the playoffs.  If you don't bring your A game you're going to be down a game (Lakers, are you listening?)
• The Bulls can't expect Rose to be half of their offense every night they play.  Expect the Pacers to try harder to get the ball out his hands in game 2.
• The 76'ers are a really well coached team.  Dough Collins is even a better coach than he was a color commentator.  He used to be my second favorite color commentator behind Hubie Brown.  Expect Philly to give Miami a tougher fight in this series than they are expecting and of course the Sixers have nothing to lose.
• The Magic are not going anywhere if they can't some production from someone other than Dwight Howard.  He had almost half their points.
• The Dallas game with Portland was a lot closer than it looked.  If the Mavs are going to get the Trailblazer roadblock out of the Lakers way in Round Two then they better find a better way to get key baskets than to rely on Jason Kidd's shooting.  He was hot last night but he's not nearly that good a shooter

Although I'm a true died in blue Dodger fan I was already expecting this to be a long season but I didn't think it would look so long so soon.  I mean, we're only two weeks into the season and Dodgers have a five game losing streak.  They can't a find a team that fields as badly as the Giants to play every night and they can't hit a lick.  Their pitching isn't so hot either.  On top of that depressing news comes word that Frank McCourt had to personally borrow $30 million from Fox so he could make the Dodger payroll for April.  Earlier the Dodgers had been set to borrow $200 million from Fox with future TV rights as collateral but the League stopped that transaction.  Since this loan is personal Bud Selig (baseball's commissioner) can't stop this one.  If I was a Dodger I'd cash those checks fast.  And if all that wasn't bad enough the image of Dodger Stadium and the Dodgers poor play has led to a drop in attendance of over 8,000 a game.  Long season?  It's already been a long two weeks.  Who thought that when people mentioned Dodger blue they would really be talking about the only group whose attendance is up at the ballpark, the LAPD.