Catching Up

Work and other circumstances have conspired to keep me away from the blog for a couple of weeks. As always, it's not my fault.

However, I am several weeks behind on more than one topic. Like, for example:

Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat head coach

I'm sure that many fans in our fair state were a little taken aback by this announcement on April 28th, but I wasn't. For one thing, Pat Riley favors loyalty and 'buy-in' above all else, and Spoelstra has been nothing if not a loyal soldier in the Riley system. More than that, however, Spoelstra had the enthusiastic support of Dwyane Wade, which is much of the battle in today's NBA -- if your star player is on board, you can pretty much fudge the rest.

I covered the Miami Heat during their playoff run in 2004, when Wade was a rookie and Spoelstra was the third assistant on the bench. I noticed Erik Spoelstra then, perhaps because he was so close to my own age, but also because it was obvious that players reacted to him.

Often times, when a third or fourth assistant goes out to the floor early to help a player work out, it's a desultory, bloodless affair: shoot, rebound, pass. Shoot, rebound, pass. With Spoelstra, however, it was different. The young coach -- not much older than most of the players themselves -- looked them in the eye, joked with them, but didn't patronize them or appear overly solicitous or deferential. He engaged them, and they responded. There's an incredibly high value placed on that skill in the NBA, and that's why I'm not surprised about Spoelstra's hire.

In his first season, at his age, there will be moments when he gets outcoached. He'll get overwhelmed at times, even for a short stint. It's going to happen. Happened to Byron Scott, happened to Mike Brown, happened to Doc Rivers back in the day -- like Spoelstra, they all started their NBA head coaching careers while in their late 30's.

And all three have subsequently taken a team to the NBA Finals. As long as the Heat supply Spoelstra with some players, he'll be fine.

Kobe Bryant

For the last few weeks, I've been telling anyone who listens that Kobe Bryant must be the best basketball player on the planet.

Not exactly groundbreaking, I know. But here's my evidence: the Lakers' roster.

Here's what I see: Pau Gasol is a really good player. Lamar Odom, who you all know I love, is a pretty good player. Ronny Turiaf is an intriguing project. Derek Fisher is an inspirational, level-headed veteran.

That's about it.

The rest of these guys are castoffs, injured, unproven, or average. Yet the Lakers beat the defending champion Spurs in five games in the Conference Finals to get to the championship round.

Conclusion? Kobe Bryant must be the best basketball player on the planet. Because beyond that, I have no idea how LA got this far.

The US Open

Even if you understand nothing about professional golf, and care even less, you have to believe me on this one: the USGA's opening-round grouping of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Adam Scott at the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines is a joke.

First of all, Tiger and Phil hate each other. If that's not common knowledge by now, I don't know what qualifies as "common knowledge." I thought that superstars were supposed to get star treatment -- meaning, pairings that make them happy. There's no way either of them are happy about Thursday and Friday.

But more to the point, the USGA has created a logistical nightmare. The largest gallery of the year to date will be following this one group for all of two days. Did anyone consider traffic flow on the golf course? You put Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson out there with any old average Tour player, the gallery is massive. You put Tiger and Phil together -- nobody on the course will be following anyone else. How are they going to get around? And what did Adam Scott do to deserve this? Stupid.

Orlando Sentinel columnist Jerry Greene asked precisely the correct question on a conference call with NBC Sports -- "was this a gift to the fans or just cheap pandering to TV?"

The producer and the talent demurred, but ol' Johnny Miller laid it out there: "I talked to Phil and I can say he sounded like he was not to thrilled about it."

Of course he's not thrilled about it. Who wants to grind through the first two rounds of a US Open with every yokel in a five-state area breathing down your neck? Mickelson would trade Woods for a Tim Herron and a Bart Bryant To Be Named Later in a heartbeat.

And trust me -- there's no possible way that TV didn't have something to do with this. While NBC has only a two-hour window at the '08 Open on Thursday and Friday, mighty ESPN brings you a whopping seven hours of coverage each day.

Woods hasn't played since the Masters in April, meaning he's been absent from ESPN's highlight reels for a full two months. Fourteen hours of major championship coverage of Tiger's return from knee surgery is good TV -- fourteen hours of major championship coverage of Tiger's return from knee surgery while playing next to the 2nd-ranked player in the world, whom Tiger happens to despise?

Pure gold. Which is why I'm positive ESPN had something to do with it. I certainly can't blame them. You watch: the ratings for the first two rounds of this year's US Open will probably be the highest in history.

That is all.