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The O’Brien / Leno Sillyness

letob
Leno never grew a beard during the Strike.

By: Billy Beerslugger

I know this story is a little old but given I took the entire BeerSlugger.com team to Costa Rica for the month of January and we couldn’t get a decent wi-fi signal, this is as good a time as any to weigh in on the subject.

Firstly, I can’t stand Jay Leno, never could, never will. Maybe he’s it’s his writers fault for the crappy, predictable jokes he comes out with nightly. Maybe he’s just too corporate, maybe he’s on the West Coast and I’m on the East Coast, it really doesn’t matter. I have always been a Letterman guy myself and even though he can be annoying at times, the things he can pull off on his show, the comedic risks he takes with asinine skits and recurring preposterousnous more than make up for it.

But I didn’t write this article to tell you about how much I like Letterman, though the Conan /Jay situation did get Dave badmouthing Leno, a subject taboo until recently on the Late Night.  Anyway, Conan is going to be OK, in fact I think he’s going to be more than OK, he gets to do what Letterman did and go to another network and have pretty much full control over HIS product, succeed or fail it really will be on Conan to make it work and I believe he will.

I’ll try not to go into detail about the mess but I won’t try and hate on Jay Leno too much either. I think it’s a case of NBC being very greedy, they signed Conan to take over the Tonight Show in 2005 when Conan could have gone on to another network for more money. However, it’s not Leno’s fault they threw a show at him and a bunch of money to go on right before Conan at 10pm.  It’s Leno’s fault for taking offer but you can’t fault NBC for trying to keep Leno from destroying Conan in the ratings (which he would have if  Leno went to Fox or wherever), in 2005 it’s a win-win.

Fast forward 2010, you have Conan faltering in the ratings, partly because or no substantial lead in audience due to Leno’s show tanking but also because it takes time to build an loyal audience like Leno and Letterman have done over the past couple decades.  So NBC now sees their worst nightmare come to fruition, the Leno or Conan debate again. Still, even after all of this Leno is going to crush Conan in the ratings if he goes to another Network so the easiest thing to do is try to force Conan to quit, which is what they did essentially trying to demote Conan back to Late Night.  Instead Conan did what I hoped he would do, force a paid exit and be allowed to reformulate his show in the near future.

So it kind of worked out for everyone even though it was pretty messy there for a couple weeks. Leno gets the Tonight Show back, Conan will get his “Letterman” opportunity and Letterman is #1 in Late Night.  What will be very interesting to watch is the Late Night talent assembled behind Letterman and Leno as they continue to get closer to retirement. Jimmay Fallon has shown the kind of innovation, risk taking and downright absurdity pioneered by Letterman and continued by CoCo. Not to mention Craig Ferguson is fucking hilarious. Crappy skits aside, when it came down to it, I’ll admit I chose Craig over Conan though partly because I’m loyal to Letterman and don’t like flipping channels that late.

Either way, Letterman and Leno can’t very well be rocking Late Night into their 70’s which puts Fallon and Ferguson in a very good position.  If I had my way, I’d like Conan to take over for Letterman sometime in the near future and I’m sure that’s been talked about by the CBS brass.  It would be fitting to see Letterman hand the job off to Conan, both men being weaseled out of the Tonight Show job by the same person. I think Letterman’s successor is already booked though. Ferguson and O’Brien went head-to-head in terms of ratings late in Conan’s tenure as Late Night host.

The good thing is it’s almost over. Wherever Conan lands will be the ultimate decider of what will happen for the next decade of Late Night television. Only time will tell but it should be pretty interesting and it already has been.


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NBComcast Sportsnet

comcast-nbcBy: Billy Beerslugger

With Comcast Corp’s recent acquisition of NBC are they in a real position to challenge ABC owned ESPN for dominance or at least a much larger share in the Sports Viewership?  Besides my stance against the Country’s largest Cable Provider now owning a network television station I am interested to see and rooting for Comcast to take on ESPN.

If you really think about it, Comcast Sportsnet is available widely all over the country. Areas of California including San Francisco and Oakland, Chicago, New England, New York, Oregon / Washington State area, Houston, Denver, Atlanta and parts of South Eastern US, Washington D.C. area and of course Philadelphia all have access to Comcast Sportsnet or their affiliates that deliver region specific sports news to them.

How much cooperation will there be between NBC and Comcast in terms of Sports coverage going forward or will they seemingly merge coverage just like ABC / ESPN did?  Could big Phillies Games soon be played by NBC 10 in Philadelphia and the pattern repeating in other parts of the country and their NBC affiliate? I guess only time will tell.

I am interested to see someone directly take on the ESPN machine though.  First order of business is to steal away the marketing team that does ESPN’s commercials which are usually absolutely hilarious.  If you can make me laugh I’ll stay on your channel longer.

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Success and Failure in Philadelphia Sports

It's a Love/Hate Thing Here.
It's a Love/Hate Thing Here.

Sports with Bob McFlurry

What a bunch of crybabies Philadelphia sports fans are. Oh, the Eagles have never won a Super Bowl, the Flyers haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1975, the Sixers haven’t gotten it done since 1983 and minus the Phillies breaking a miraculous curse in 2008, their only World Series win was in 1980.  It’s like Philly fans are so masochistic that they love to be hurt, we actually brag about it.

Yes there was 25 years between Championships in Philadelphia but that didn’t mean there weren’t teams to root for.  Yes you can give me the whole, “Of the cities with the four major sports teams, Philadelphia ranks last in Championships” crap but it’s still a whole lot better than being in Cleveland or Kansas City. And of the teams with four major sports teams I think we’ve had it a lot better than Phoenix, Minneapolis and Washington D.C.

If you rank a season Quality by the team making it to either the Championship game or the Conference Finals then the landscape changes a bit.

We’ll start our time line in the year 1980:

1980:

76ers lost to the Lakers in the NBA Finals 4 games to 2.

Flyers lost to the Islanders in the Stanley Cup Finals 4 games to 2

Eagles lost the Raiders in the Super Bowl 27-10

Phillies Win the World Series over the Royals 4 game to 2

1982:

76ers lost the NBA Championship to the Lakers 4 games to 2

1983:

Phillies lost to the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series 4 games to 1

76ers Won the NBA Championship over the Lakers 4-0

1984:

Flyers lost to the Oilers 4-1 in the Stanley Cup Finals

1986:

Flyers lost to the Oilers 4-3 in the Stanley Cup Finals

1988:

Flyers lost to the Canadiens 4 games to 2 in the Wales Conference Finals

1993:

Phillies lost to the Blue Jays in the World Series 4-2

1994:

Flyers lost to the Devils in the Conference Finals

1996:

Flyers lost to the Red Wings 4-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals

2000:

Flyers lost to the Devils in Eastern Conference Finals 4-3

2001:

76ers lost to the Lakers 4 games to 1 in the NBA Finals

Eagles lost to the Rams in the NFC Championship game 29-24

2002:

Eagles lost to the Buccaneers in the NFC Championship 27-10

2003:

Eagles lost to the Buccaneers in the NFC Championship 27-10

2004:

Flyers lost to the Lightning in Eastern Conference Finals to 4-3

Eagles lose to the Patriots in the Super Bowl 24-21

2007:

Flyers lost to the Penguins in the Easter Conference Finals 4 games to 1

2008:

Eagles lost to the Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game 32-25

Phillies Win the World Series over Rays 4 games to 1

2009:

Phillies lost to the Yankees in the World Series 4 games to 2

Totals:

Eagles: 2 Super Bowl appearances and 6 Conference Championship appearances. 16 Playoff appearances.

Phillies: 2 World Series Championships, 5 World Series Appearances and 5 National League Championship appearances. 7 Playoff appearances total.

Flyers: 4 Stanley Cup Finals trips, 8 Conference Championship appearances. 22 Playoff appearances.

Sixers: 1 NBA Championship, 4 Finals appearances, 4 Eastern Conference Championships. 18 Playoff appearances.

You don’t have to label a season a success if the team doesn’t win their respective sports’ championship that year and to a certain degree I get that logic. However, there have been plenty of years either collectively or individually that professional Philadelphia sports franchises got your heart racing during playoff time. That you lived and died by that team, that you and the city pulled for them.

If you ask me the 2002 NFC Championship loss to Tampa Bay was one of the absolute worst feelings I’ve ever had in my life.  I swore off the Eagles and the next year my heart was in it again for another run. I guess my point here is that Philadelphia fans, for all their complaining and whining have it pretty good I think. Lito Sheppard was recently quoted to say that he thought Philly fans were “spoiled” by the decade of success the Eagles had and I’d have to agree with him. It’s not that easy to win a Championship in any sport even when you do have great players. I’ll settle for 3 Championships in 30 years and revel in the the enjoyment the next time one comes around.

Any playoff game is just another reason to get drunk and hang out with your friends so look on the bright side people, at least we’re not in Cleveland.

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Frusciante Fallout

johnguitarBy: Robby Ripchord

Heard some news recently that John Frusciante, the unsung hero of The Red Hot Chili Peppers has left the band to pursue other musical avenues, including his own solo career. This comes to me as sort of bittersweet because as much as I love Frusciante’s solo stuff I had hoped he would continue to at least record one last album with RHCP. I have been waiting since 2006 for the Peppers to come out with another album and with their extended hiatus now about a year old, it looks like John won’t be a major creative and innovative force for RHCP as he has been in the past.

All is not lost though, John has produced 10 solo albums, most of which have seen a heavy rotation in my MP3 player. He’s quietly put together some of the more creatively simplistic songs I’ve heard since Cat Stevens. Some albums in my opinion are better than others, Shadows Collide with People is arguably his best compilation and is closest to his RHCP guitar persona/style. Then John goes through various approaches to albums and concept albums including Curtains,  The Will to Death, To Record Only Water For 10 Days and 2009’s The Empyrean. Getting synthesizers, piano and a host of other instruments involved you pretty much won’t find on a Chili Peppers album.

I can’t say I really blame Frusciante, the pressure and creative limits imposed by a Record Label to produce songs in line with their vision of what your band should sound like doesn’t always jive with what you had in mind. With that respect, John is now free to be performer, mixer, engineer producer and whatever else he wants to be to produce HIS music. Not music bound by a collective group or subject to approval by anyone other than himself. I think everyone desires that kind of control of their art and for that I do applaud him.

However, being that the Chili Peppers are pretty much my favorite group and me having so much admiration for Frusciante in and outside of that group, it’s kind of tough to take knowing I won’t be hearing John on the next Peppers albums. Yes I’ll get to listen to John in his solo projects, maybe he teams up with Flea for a couple of things as he has done in previous projects but it’s not the Chili Peppers. Just as Frusciante came back to the band for 1999’s Californication and made it whole once again, his departure again leaves a gaping hole at guitar. Luckily it seems that Frusciante friend, collaborator and Peppers touring backup guitarist Josh Klinghoffer is ready to step in a fill some rather large shoes. Only time will tell how things turn out but it doesn’t seem like Frusciante will make a miraculous return to the band anytime soon.

From Frusciante’s Myspace:

Clarification

When I quit the band, over a year ago, we were on an indefinite hiatus. There was no drama or anger involved, and the other guys were very understanding. They are supportive of my doing whatever makes me happy and that goes both ways.

To put it simply, my musical interests have led me in a different direction. Upon rejoining, and throughout my time in the band, I was very excited about exploring the musical possibilities inherent in a rock band, and doing so with those people in particular. A couple of years ago, I began to feel that same excitement again, but this time it was about making a different kind of music, alone, and being my own engineer.

I really love the band and what we did. I understand and value that my work with them means a lot to many people, but I have to follow my interests. For me, art has never been something done out of a sense of duty. It is something I do because it is really fun, exciting, and interesting. Over the last 12 years, I have changed, as a person and artist, to such a degree that to do further work along the lines I did with the band would be to go against my own nature. There was no choice involved in this decision. I simply have to be what I am, and have to do what I must do.

Sending love and gratitude to you all.

🙂

I can’t tell you how pissed I am that he used an emoticon.

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There’s a Map for That

atatBy: Billy BeerSlugger

With the recent ad campaign from Verizon showing 3G coverage on the United States map for both AT&T and itself, it’s weird that I am now seeing ads from AT&T with Luke Wilson in them telling me this isn’t true.  I’ve seen this type of competitive advertising this year before with Direct TV and Comcast stating who had more HD Channels or Programming.  What is a consumer to think when two direct competitors are spewing two almost completely different stories and passing them off as gospel to the American Public?

First, let’s read between the lines.  Verizon’s ad displays a map of “3G Broadband” coverage for both itself and AT&T. That being said, the maps are correct.  Verizon’s network is immensely greater in terms of 3G coverage and AT&T can’t really dispute the 3G coverage on their map. The thing that AT&T should dispute is that the ad makes it seem like they do not offer or can’t get service in those areas. While Verizon’s network is far beyond AT&T’s in terms of 3G service, it does not mean AT&T users cannot  make calls in those areas and in most cases can still access the Web (granted not in 3G speed).  Basically, if you can make a phone call you can still check your email though streaming video is probably out of the question.

Chalk one up in the W column for the advertising people at Verizon for stealthily taking one fact about one aspect of their competitors services and having a good portion of the general public associate the 3G coverage map with the entire AT&T wireless network.

Don’t think that this is just an AT&T vs. Verizon matter either. There are two very prominent names attached to these cellular carriers in Google and Apple.  With Google coming out recently with it’s Android OS on every major carrier except AT&T and Apple having an exclusive licensing deal with AT&T for the iPhone, it’s more than just about the carriers. AT&T apparently made 1/3 of it’s 2nd Quarter revenue off of iPhone users and that’s something that Verizon and Google hope to accomplish with their partnership.

Luckily I’m off all this week and could figure all of this out for you. Unfortunately neither Verizon or AT&T subscribers can get 3G coverage in the middle of Lake Huron.

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Vertical Farming

vertical_farmBy: Billy BeerSlugger

As far back as 2007 I have been captivated by the idea of Vertical Farming.  After all, it only makes sense given that no one is making any more land and the population continues to rise exponentially. Just as man has taken urban living and working quarters to the skies so soon will farming. If you take a patch of land using traditional farming methods you can only grow as much product as the land will allow. However, if you take that same land area and farm vertically, you can produce many times that amount. On top of all this you can produce the product all year round instead of just in the weather permitting seasons.

In an ever carbon-footprint, green conscious world, building these structures seems absolutely logical given the amount of fuel it takes to cultivate and transport our current food supply. Instead of lugging produce hundreds of miles by trailer or truck it could be delivered by foot, bike and other more environmentally methods over hundreds of yards instead. Even better you could just purchase the produce from the Vertical Farm itself, cutting out the middle man exchange.

There’s also a wealth of benefits from growing products indoors instead of outdoors. One of the most significant being that it all but eliminates the need for harmful pesticides. Inside you can better control what can come into contact with your produce. Everything produced in the Vertical Farm would be considered “Organic”.

Another significant advantage is the use and reclamation of water. With traditional farming methods, excess water used to hydrate plants either seeps back into the water table below ground or evaporates back into the atmosphere. One of the biggest costs of farming is water and one of the biggest costs of water is water being treated to the point where it is safe enough to drink and use.  Using an indoor, vertical farming system, excess water can be reclaimed and reused over and over again.

Some farms have begun using a Hydrophonic method of producing veggies without soil at all. Produce is grown in nutrient rich water cutting down the need for the process of constantly re-enriching soil. Also, without soil and with water being transparent farmers can make sure there is nothing contaminating the soil, just taking regular water readings to ensure it is not contaminated.

There are a number of other benefits including using local food wastes from restaurants and fast food type places and composting them inside the vertical farm, cutting down on waste/trash which doesn’t have to be hauled away to a dump and also eliminates trash for rats, mice and cockroaches to live on in urban areas.

With the world facing an ever increasing population along with the somewhat antiquated and vulnerable methods of traditional farming it will be interesting to see when the first of these major Vertical Farms will be built and where. It is only a matter of time though in my opinion and is a most logical one at that.

Dickson Despommier is a leader in this movement and you can get more information on his website http://verticalfarm.com/ including more illustrations/designs of what Vertical Farming would look like.

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Sloppy Joe Taquitos

taquitosBy: Billy BeerSlugger

So I came home completely butt fuck wasted from a company Christmas party this week and I was in “Eat Everything in the Fridge” mode when I realized there really wasn’t much in the fridge. A sober person can have the patience to defrost any poultry, meat, pork or fish product in the freezer but a wasted person needs the instant gratification of something/anything edible in the stomach.

Suddenly I spot couple day old Sloppy Joe leftovers in a Tupperware container hiding stealthily behind a gallon milk jug.  Awesome find! However, to my dismay, I open the bread drawer and there’s absolutely zero piece of edible bread. Stale/hard bread, green moldy bread but nothing I could throw my heated up Sloppy Joe sustenance on and demolish in record time.

Enter the next great find of the night, Soft Tortilla Wraps!  Combining the two made complete drunken sense. Sloppy Joe Taquitos is something I had never heard of or seen before but desperate drunken times require desperate measures.  Being a veteran of drunken food runs to 7-11 in my collegiate years at a North Philadelphia University, I knew a Taquito type food delivery device for my Sloppy Joe would satisfy my craving for not only protein but carbohydrates as well. I am not sure I have been more pleasantly surprised by an ad-hoc combination of food while in a severely inebriated state.

Sloppy Joe Taquitos are fucking delicious, plain and simple. Why wouldn’t they be?

The logic is right there. Sloppy Joe’s are delicious by itself even with no bread. Add bread and they get even better.

You can substitute bread in pretty much any sandwich situation with a Tortilla to make it a Wrap without really sacrificing much in terms of taste. In this case, using  properties of mathematics I learned in High School,

If (Sandwich – Bread) + Tortilla = Delicious so does (Sloppy Joe – Bread) + Tortilla = Delicious.

If you’ve got some sloppy joes lying around with no bread but have Tortilla’s, I’d highly combining the two. Though at this point I’d recommend using Tortilla’s as much as I would bread for Sloppy Joes.

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No More Heroes

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Bang the Girls Two at a Time, Tiger. That's the way you do it.

It’s a big surprise when somebody that everyone holds in such high regard becomes engulfed in a scandal like Eldrick “Tiger” Woods has. But it is really that big of a surprise? Did it really let you down? Given Woods’ squeaky clean image you probably didn’t imagine him banging chicks two at a time

I learned earlier in my life that not everything is what it seems. Starting with the revelation as a grade school-er that Santa Claus is alive only in spirit to Guns N Roses breaking up to the trading away or retirement of my childhood heroes of the Sixers, Phillies and Eagles, by now I’m used to being lied to and let down.  You see it not only in the world of Sports but teachers, entertainers, politicians, CEO’s, religious authorities and even a couple Presidents have seen their share of scandals.  People held up on such a pedestal, looked up to, admired and then ultimately their name dragged through the mud for sins which are routinely committed by everyday people who do not get the same treatment.

I understand to certain point about sex scandals involving Politicians. They are in a position of power and got there touting family values, a commitment to truth etc.  I get the outrage about teachers who have sexual relationships with students and I certainly understand when a man of faith strays and molests a kid or embezzles money. The thing I have a problem with is the crazy amount of coverage the media has to spend on Sports Stars and the people who consume this tabloid junk in mass quantities.

You can make any sort of argument you want in favor of Athletes being role models but I’m of the Charles Barkley school of thought and will make my case against it.  You see athletes are famous for being good at sports. For passing the ball, running the ball, kicking the ball, shooting the ball, hitting the ball, catching the ball and tackling the person with the ball. For the most part there is no holier than thou art attitude, there is no religious aspect or preaching from them, they cannot make laws and are not in charge of children except their own.

While Sports figures occasionally will hold political office after retirement and some will also praise a religious God before, during and after a game they are in effect in charge of nothing except their own athletic performance.Yes with a great athlete comes tons of money but just because a person has a lot of money doesn’t mean they are a role model. Just because you’re on T.V doesn’t make you a role model. Yes, athletes who get paid to endorse products like Woods and Jordan are presented by the media as good and upstanding but lets remember that these are commercials the athletes are appearing in. By associating their product with greatness on an athletic level is part of the lure.

So Tiger banged a bunch of girls while married, what baseball player doesn’t do that? I’m not advocating or absolving him of his infidelity but thousands of marriages break up every year due to infidelity. Chances are you know someone who was divorced due to infidelity or are the son or daughter of a marriage ruined due to mom or dad not being faithful.  What is any different in Tiger Woods’ situation from any other marriage in shambles due to someone fooling around?  Money, Fame for being great at Golf?  I don’t think the amount of girls matters because one time/girl is cheating.

What I’m trying to say is that Athletes are people too, they make mistakes and they are human like you and I.  They are not infallible because they are endorsing watches, hot dogs, cars, underwear or whatever product and just because they are great at their respective sport doesn’t make them a great person.

It’s OK to be a fan of a Sports Figure but putting them up on a pedestal, calling them a hero, having them as a role model for your children and generally wanting to be “Like Mike” will ultimately just end up letting you down in one way or another.  I think Charles Barkley was right in saying, “… parents should be Role Models.”.  Considering Michael Jordan and Barkley (who both allegedly cheated on their wives) are friends and role models for Tiger, why is anyone surprised by any of this?

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Is Banging Football Recruits the New School Spirit?

laceybryceBob McFlurry with Sports

Recently it’s been in the news that the Tennessee Volunteers have a program in which they employ “hostesses” to help lure highly touted football recruits to the University.  So I guess my question is why is this news now?  I don’t think it’s any secret that using insanely hot girls to help land big time recruits is a time honored tradition in the ranks of College Football.

There’s a lot of things that go into where a top recruit will play his collegiate ball: proximity to home, family influence, program prestige, the ability to start right away.  When you’re a top 50 recruit in the nation though you can pretty much go anywhere and every school is going to trow as much at you as they can without getting nabbed by the NCAA for violations. Gifting money is kind of out of the question, at least not directly, so what other recourse does a University have but to bombard the recruit with a bevy of the hottest chicks on campus.  Some of which are probably told to “take care” of the recruit.  It’s way easier to pay off or incentivize  some sort of University coed than it is to straight up pay a player to come to the University.

Anyway, I think it’s a little naive for the media and sports fans in general to be shocked by this or consider it news.  There’s buku bucks in College football in Bowl Games and it all starts with what kind of players a team can get.  The better the player, the better the chance of a huge bowl game, the more money brought into the University. Millions of Dollars.

Even way back in 1993 in the movie The Program Halle Berry was given the task of convincing highly touted recruit Danell Jefferson (played by Mekhi Phifer… or was it Omar Epps) to come to fictional University ESU.  Not that Halle Berry banged the guy to get him to go there but she was named Sexiest Woman Alvie by Esquire magazine, you do that Algebra home slice.

Goes something like:

Hot Chicks + Blue Chip Football Recruits = Letters of Intent = BCS Money2

It’s pretty obvious to me what’s going on here and I really don’t have a problem with Football Programs wagging hot chicks in front of recruits faces. Anything that goes on besides that, sexually, is between the recruit and that “Hostess”.  If the “Hostess” decides to use her body as a marketing tool for her University I’m pretty sure she’s allowed to do that. I’m not sure what kind of incentives would be involved if the recruit signed but ultimately I doubt that a University is saying to these “Hostesses”, “have sex with this recruit coming in here this weekend”.  Blow/Hand Jobs maybe but not sex.

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Iverson

iversonsurviveBy: Bones

I am not an NBA fan. But for 3 years or so, I cared immensely about the Sixers, for one reason- Allen Iverson. By himself, he was a force of nature on the court, a one man wrecking crew capable of beat teams through sheer will alone. He elevated a team of bench players to the playoffs, then to the finals. When he left, I stopped caring, and so did the rest of the city. The team has gone downhill since then, and the result was the start of this season with an empty arena and a boring team. Granted, Allen’s got an attitude that rub a lot of people the wrong way, but that never bothered me, and still doesn’t. I’m glad he’s back, even though its obvious he has lost quite a bit, which was inevitable, game shape or not. I don’t care what the reasons are. I just want to see him at his best one more time. I stand by the assertion that when was at his best, a night where he drops 50+ careening like a maniac into the lane, jacking up 3s on the break, that he is the single most exciting player the NBA has ever seen. His style, his size, his fearlessness, and his amazing skills all combined to make some nights almost too much to believe. He’s not gonna do that too many more times, if ever. But i really think he’s got at least one left in him. Sometime between now and April, he’s gonna take it back to 2001 and drop 50 on someone, and it will be nothing short of awesome to watch. For that reason only, I’ll tune into sixers games for the rest of the year…just in case.