Current NBA players just aren't as interesting

From Bill Simmons' e-mail exchange about the NBA playoffs in the New Yorker:

I can’t wait to see what happens to KG, Kobe, T-Mac, Carmelo, Howard and others when they finish with basketball. These guys have been mini-corporations and basketball machines since the age of eighteen. What will they do? What will be important to them? When I was researching my book, one thing that blew me away was how brilliant the guys from the fifties and sixties were. Not as players, as people. Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Bob Cousy, Wilt Chamberlain…these were thoughtful, well-rounded human beings who cared deeply about not just their sport, but about their place in society and (in the case of the black guys) their stature during such a tumultuous time. Everyone knows about Russell’s eleven rings, but did you know about everything he did to advance the cause of African-Americans? Everyone knows about Oscar’s triple doubles, but did you know that he filed the lawsuit that paved the way for a real players union and free agency? These were truly great men and the N.B.A. just wouldn’t be where it is if that wasn’t the case.

Sports and birds just don't mix (Part 3)

We get another example that birds and sports don't mix today. This time, from women's golf:

Ahn Shi-hyun's drive on the ninth hole at the LPGA Championship on Friday hit a a robin, killing the unfortunate bird in a puff of feathers.

"It's a shame," marshal Nina Dawson of Lewisville, Pennsylvania, told Reuters. "The bird was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was instantaneous."

If anyone watched Jimmy Fallon they might be offended

I had a friend tell me to watch Jimmy Fallon for the "New Mexico segment."

The New Mexico segment was a fifteen second "live promo" that Fallon did on air that was supposedly to air during the 10:00 news here in New Mexico.

I don't think that the pueblos here in New Mexico (or Native Americans around the country, really) will be too happy with this depiction of them:

Apparently I can't embed this on the blog. But you can watch it here, a little more than halfway through if I remember correctly.

Though the depictions of stereotypical rednecks in their Knoxville spot was just as bad.

Another big problem that I see with the skit? It just isn't that funny.

Colbert reminds us the troops are still in Iraq

From the Los Angeles Times:

The Comedy Central star gave up a thick head of hair, and shelved his beloved blow-dryer. America won't soon forget the shtick -- Colbert forcibly shorn by the big, bald-headed general on "order" of the commander in chief, who beamed in via satellite TV to Camp Victory in Baghdad.

That scored lots of laughs and something more. It helped sidestep the presumptive war fatigue of the audience back home so Colbert could drive home a few more salient points: This war is not over. These soldiers are not home. Some of the rules (particularly the one prohibiting open homosexuals from serving their country) don't make sense. It won't be over any time soon.