The criticism has also served as a bonding agent for republicans – “we must defend our own from the liberal media.” I’m not sure if McCain did this on purpose, but if he did – brilliant. This has united the party in a way that the issues just can’t (issue related rallying cries are dicey for McCain because the republican base and “The Maverick’s” longtime supporters don’t see “eye to eye” on the issues). If nothing else, this has kept Obama off the front page for a while now.

McCain may be testing the old adage “any publicity is good publicity.”

According to ESPN.com, officials working the 2005 NBA playoffs received instructions to “enforce the screening rules strictly against that Team 4 (ed. Houston Rockets) player (ed. Yao Ming).” During those playoffs Jeff Van Gundy (Houston’s coach) claimed he was approached by a working ref and told the just that. The league denied any such tampering and promptly fined Van Gundy $100,000.

Another incident took place during the 2002 playoffs when Donaghy alleges that two officials (described as “company men”) conspired to extend a playoff series to 7 games. The the game in question is game 6 of the Western Conference finals between the Lakers and Kings (with the Kings leading 3-2 at the time). According to Donaghy “Personal fouls (resulting in obviously injured players) were ignored … referees called made up fouls on Team 5 (ed. Sacramento Kings) … favoring of Team 6 (ed. L.A. Lakers) led to that team’s victory…” See full document.

Overall, The Lakers did attempt more free throws than the Kings, 40-25 for the game, with an incredible 27 attempts coming in the 4th quarter. The disparity in foul calls even prompted consumer advocate and occasional presidential candidate Ralph Nader write a letter to NBA commissioner David Stern asking for a review of the officiating in that game (USA Today).

While box scores never truly tell the tale of a game, the Kings seem to have had the better night. They made more FGs (38-34), shot better from three (8 of 19 to the Lakers 4 of 15), had more steals (9-3), and fewer turnovers (14-10). The Lakers did shoot a higher percentage (.459 to .413), and out rebounded the Kings (45-44), but the major disparity seems to have come at the line.

These are certainly not the first whispers of wrongdoing by the league. There is the infamous “frozen envelope” that supposedly handed Ewing to the Knicks and Jordan’s “secret suspension” for gambling. Clearly, the league has been down this road before.

These latest allegations, however, put the league in a much more difficult situation. Not to say no one would care if Jordan was secretly told to play baseball for a while to avoid a public gambling suspension, but these claims, if proven, compromise the the very core and integrity of the game. They would impact every single team, player, fan, marketing partner, and investor.

A Canadian ISP, Bell Canada, has been a leader in implementing deep packet scanning to throttle P2P traffic much to the chagrin of their customers (and a few consumer advocacy groups). They claim that traffic throttling is the most logical response to the log jam created by high bandwidth demands among clients. When asked if increasing bandwidth isn’t, in fact, a more logical solution, Bell Canada responded:

“the nature of the growth of Internet traffic is that as network capacity expands, new user applications invariably also grow to utilize that capacity.”

Well, it is clear that no matter how much bandwidth is made available, users will find something to fill that void. The problem I have with the argument is that it seems to stifle progress. It is precisely through the radically increased bandwidth provided by broadband modems that the internet has become the advertising/sales megalith it has become today.

Privacy/copywrite issues aside (a big deal in their own right), the use of deep packet scanning/traffic throttling is troubling because it attacks the very thing the web needs. Progress and innovation require an open area to breathe and grow. So far the web has proven an ideal incubator for any number of software solutions, memes, movements, and friendships. If the web is to continue to grow, and morph into Web 3.0 bandwidth must be cheap and plentiful, provided with out restriction, and safe from the prying eyes of Big Brother.

We’ve already seen exclusive licenses ruin Madden – next on the horizon: Want that cool new gun for the game you just spent $60 on? That’ll be another $2!

Please stop airing horrible, melodramatic human interest stories on SportsCenter. The majority of sports fans despise these soap opera inspired, wife-pleasing, saccharine coated human interest stories – we want SPORTS. I feel badly for these people – coaches and players who experience tragedy, but, frankly, I just don’t care. I turn on SportsCenter for, well, SPORTS! Analysis, highlights, christ, even Berman is better than this stuff.

Just stop. Please.

Somehow Sheed doesn’t have a technical yet despite yapping at the ref’s for 6 or 7 solid minutes, but Perkins picks up a Tech for one comment (even Van Gundy has been on this). The foul on Garnett (if you watched, you know which one I’m talking about) looks as legitimate as the intelligence used to sell the us the Iraq war. PJ Brown has been hit up for ridiculous fouls all series.

OK – LIVE UPDATE! Pierce was just called for an offensive foul for SHOOTING THE BALL while Teyshaun JUMPED INTO HIM! At the very least the NBA owes us an explanation, at best, fire the ref’s – TONIGHT!

I first started watching basketball when I was 2 and have been an avid fan since. I have never missed a Celtic playoff game – there’s a first time for everything, I’m switching over to a movie…

Clarissa Explains It All – The Clothes

Anyone else notice the Pistons employing the ol’ Pat Riley method? Foul hard on every play so the ref’s can’t call everything. Exciting basketball……thanks Pat.

Every year Idol adds in a new wrinkle – here’s my suggestion for next year: Give each judge one ‘wildcard” they can use to either save a contestant from elimination, or bring one back. That would not only have allowed them to bring back Michael Johns, but extends the show by 3 weeks (read more money).

I won’t pretend that “consistancy,” or “follow through” are my strong points, but we’ll make a go at it. The goal is to comment on, well, anything that piques my interest. I’m sure it will be horribly boring, dull and riddled with spelling errors.