Lebron in NYC?

I have been a fan of the NBA since I was a kid.

Back in the 80's while we watched games from betamax tapes from the video rental store near our place in Bel Air, I was cheering for Magic's Showtime Lakers and hated Larry Bird's moustache and the dreaded Boston Celtics. But now, even if Jackie Moon might somehow be based on the Basketball Jesus, I can honestly say that Larry Bird was a more formidable basketball player and a better team player than Magic. And looking back, I wonder if he could be just as good if he was on another team?

In the Nineties, I always rooted for teams against the Bulls just to piss off my brother who worshipped his Airness (I had to be a secret MJ fan for most of the time). So I was rooting for the Pistons (until I saw this) and I did want Barkley to win it in ‘93– but still I think hands down MJ is the greatest basketball player ever. But I always wondered what if he signed with the Knicks?

It’s a totally different scenario for Lebron – he doesn’t get to sign with a Patrick (Ewing or Riley). He won’t have Oak to get his rebounds. He instead gets a zero-defense D’Antoni and a clean slate of a roster. He may get other stars to sign with him and he might become the new King of New York, but unfortunately he also gets Eddie Curry.

If Lebron resigns with the Cavs, his chances of winning the title are very slim. But with NYC, everyone wins. Well, except Ohio. And of course, President Obama might have something to say about it.

But I really think the pros far outweigh the cons. Go Knicks!

The Kung Fu Kid?

I know - the title of this post is too easy. I may have missed out on something on why it was called "The Karate Kid" and not "The Kung Fu Kid", but I still enjoyed the movie. Besides, I had little expectations from the movie, considering it was reinventing the classic Mr. Miyagi franchise and considering it had the son of an uber-celebrity starring along with a very old Jackie Chan. (Whenever I see a child of a celebrity in a movie, I get a fictional scene in my head of Mikey Arroyo asking Mommy President to be in an action movie so he can play out the fantasy of being more invincible than FPJ and Lito Lapid combined + being more irresistible to women than Rene Requestas and Weng Weng combined.)



So just maybe Jaden Smith pitched the idea to Dad Will and Mom Jada on being the new Karate Kid – except he wants the cooler style of Kung-fu Panda and not of a local dojo karate class. If you get over this dilemma of not being aptly titled as quickly as I did, then the movie should be a worthy investment of time and popcorn.



The fight scenes were exceptional, especially the tournament battles. And even if I somewhat subscribed before to Bill Simmon's take on remaking this movie, I want my son to watch it and hopefully be influenced in learning martial arts (so that maybe ten years from now I can fulfill my dream of having a bodyguard free of cost).

Would I watch “The Karate Kid” again? Yes - to both Ralph Macchio and Jaden Smith’s version. I just hope there won’t be another lame-@$$ sequel like Karate Kid 2 or The Next Karate Kid. Although the Peter Cetera song rocked (...just kidding).