Balance

On January 25th, 3 of my friends and I drove down from Idaho where we go to school, to Salt Lake, UT to go to the Suns vs. Jazz game. The four of us had grown up in Arizona and are all devout Suns fans. With about 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter the Suns were up by 17 points, but true to form they found a way to lose the game. I was the only one of us four who was decked out in my suns gear. So I had to suffer the humiliation of walking out of the stadium listening to the Jazz fans laugh at me. Luckily, I just had to remind myself, at least I am not a Jazz fan.
Last night was our turn for revenge. This time we played down in Phoenix. I was obviously not able to make the trip to Arizona to watch the game, so I invited those same 3 friends over to watch it on the big screen TV at my place. Naturally, I assumed they would all come, but this time, only three of them did. It was the same story as the last game. The Suns lead by 13 points with about 6 minutes to play in the fourth quarter and somehow, just like the Suns always do, they figured out a way to lose the game. It was absolutely horrible. On the bright side, I did not have to drive home for four hours after this loss. But the weird part to me about the game was that when it was over, I was the only one left watching it. Everyone else had left. One of the two guys left in the early part of the second quarter to go and be with his girlfriend, and the other guy left with only 3 minutes left in the forth quarter also to go and be with his girlfriend. First of all, what the heck are they doing? Why would they even be dating girls that take them away from something they love or who can't come over and watch it with us. But that also got me to thinking, is that why I do not have a girlfriend? Am I not willing to sacrifice sports? Well, to some extent, I will need to, but for now, I am satisfied with loving sports!

There is just over a month left in the NBA regular season and the playoff races are starting to heat up. Each team has any where from 15-20 game left to play, so plenty of time to get things figured out. The western conference has 11 teams that could claim one of those 8 playoff spots, while in the east, the top four spots are basically decided and the bottom four are being fought over by 5 teams. The east is an interesting story. It has the best team in the NBA and also the worst. The Cavaliers seem to be figuring out how to play with Jamison and without Shaq. Although the Magic have started to come on strong as of late, I don't think that they have enough speed to be able to keep up with the Cavs in a seven game series. The Cavaliers, to me, are the best team in the NBA and I would be shocked to not see them in the finals. But sadly, I will be even more shocked if they can beat the Lakers. The west is a ton of fun to watch and I love the way the west plays basketball, but when it all comes down to it, we all know which team from the west will be in the finals, the Lakers. Which is sad to think about. But I think all of us are stoked to see a Lebron vs Kobe finals! That would be greater than any that I can think of in recent history.

Click on this link to follow the conference standings...
http://www.nba.com/standings/team_record_comparison/conferenceNew_Std_Cnf.html



These next few months are some of the most exciting in all of sports. In just about 2 weeks, the most exciting thing to happen all year will begin. I may love Christmas, but to me, the greater Holiday is March Madness. There is nothing I love more. I will be writing a ton about that. If there is ever a time of year that I cannot sacrifice sports for girls, it is march. I know what is most important, and I can sacrifice sports for other things, but once a year, I do not go to school, I do not leave the house, I do not even leave the couch except to go # 1 or 2. In March, there is no balance in my life.