Basketball and such

If you're obsessed with Sporcle and geography, this game should be right up your alley. I dare you to beat my score - 17/24 without any outside help, even for spelling.
http://sporcle.com/games/namethatcountry.php
I really like sporcle - I think during exam period, I might have spent more time on sporcle than on any one of my subjects. But I got a 3.67 so I think that's ok. I resolve to one day create my own sporcle game, which really shouldn't be too difficult.

In other news, the weather in Boston has been resolutely gloomy for the last 3 days. After two weeks of more or less glorious "I love Boston in May!" kind of weather, it has been consistently 50 degrees, damp if not raining, with not even the hint of sunshine. I even developed a cold, along with a sinus problem and headaches, which sucks cause I almost never get sick. After 2 weeks of seeing a Chinese doctor in Chinatown, my ankle has progressed to the point where I can do one legged calf raises, but it's still not really ready for ultimate movement. I'm moving out this weekend to New York and I think that's enough of a life update.

These NBA conference finals have been enormously entertaining. It's really revitalized my interest in watching full sports games. I'm not sure what it was, maybe it was a half year away from American sports or a disappointing Georgetown season or just getting older, but I basically never watch full basketball games anymore. Nor baseball for that matter. Both sports are worth tuning in before the end but it really takes a lot of patience to watch the whole thing. However, you can't call yourself a true sports fan if you don't watch the games - I won't pretend I know how one team is beating another just from what it did in the final 12 minutes. You don't see the adjustments, the different runs each team had, the way the Cavs got Dwight Howard into foul trouble. Anyways, I've been watching considerably more of these games and for the most part, they have not disappointed.

That first weekend was especially ridiculous, with the two Orlando-Cleveland games being 1 point dramatic affairs. It's been enjoyable watching some of the individual talent displayed too and while I haven't been as impressed by Howard, Rashard Lewis has really proven to be a terrific second (or even third) option. Mo Williams seemed to be a lot quicker earlier in the season though, now most of his points come off 3's. And then there's LeBron, whom you can't gush enough about. I think about 3 times a game he puts on a move that triggers uncontrollable audible praise - aka I stand up and shout Holy fucking shit. In the other series, I've been really impressed by Kobe and Carmelo. I was talking today about how Carmelo really looks like an average athlete, with his chubby neck and all. There's nothing in his body that suggests explosiveness, much less one of the best scorers in the NBA. It seems like he can score wherever, whenever. He's so much better when paired with a great point guard, and in retrospect, Chauncey Billups seems an obvious and enormous upgrade over Allen Iverson. Anthony can do so much without the ball and sets himself up well for easy layups. If they had an even better point guard, like a younger Jason Kidd, they'd be a championship team. But there's no way they'll be able to upgrade from Billups, who's only getting older, and that's why its hard to win championships. Kobe, who's never won a championship outside of Shaq, seems to have reached a real veteran level. He's so much smarter than he was the first few years after he booted Shaq from the Lakers and now knows how to get teammates involve and read his defender like a book. I think that's a product of being in the league for so long coming straight from high school. However, he also seems to be just pass his physical prime, which is also a product of coming straight from high school, as well as playing tons of playoff and international games. He can't go 100% for 45 minutes a game, like LeBron does, but when he turns it on like he did tonight eliminating the Nuggets, he's golden.

So the Lakers are in the finals. The Cavs-Magic series have defied most predictions and every single ESPN analyst picked the Cavs, most in 5 games. So while I think Cleveland will win tomorrow and force a game 7, I'm far from comfortable with that pick. But when you watch LeBron play at his A+ level, you really do wonder how the hell he can lose. But his support group is a firm B, while the Magic are A-/A all around and it wears the Cavs down. If the Cavs do win and get to the finals, the Lakers will probably be an easier match for them as that series would be more of a mano a mano between Kobe and Lebron. I would definitely like the Cavs in that series, whereas if the Magic make the finals, I'd go with the Lakers.