Tough to watch.

More LeBron links:

Ouch.

Front page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (note his right hand)

Simmons: Cleveland mailbag

Posanski: LeBron becomes A-Rod to D-Wade’s Jeter

Brian Windhorst of the CPD blows up the story.

This guy is the best.

1) At this late (early?) hour, all signs are pointing to LeBron James signing with the Miami Heat.  My plan tonight was to write a blog entry about the end of the LeBron saga, but it simply has been moving too fast.  There are so many uncertainties and moving parts that it has been almost impossible to get a full grasp of the story.

LeBron James is the biggest sports free agent of all-time.  I have to admit that over the past few days, I have gone from ignoring this story to becoming completely engrossed in it.  It is completely fascinating to me and tonight’s announcement will shape the NBA over the next 5-6 years.

My feelings about Cleveland have been well documented.  That said, if LeBron James goes on national TV tonight and announces that he is leaving it will be a slap in the face that no sports fanbase deserves.  Don’t get me wrong.  I will celebrate the death of sports and any hopes of a championship in Cleveland if it happens.  However, I will (for a minute at least) feel badly for the Cleveland fans.  Damn you, LeBron!

Stay tuned, I guess.

2) I’ve been really moved (again) by some of the reaction I’ve received to the news that I am moving away.  This time around, a lot of it is concerning how it takes a lot of “balls” to do what I’m doing.  Another person used the word “envious” when describing his thoughts on my situation.  I don’t know if I have a lot of balls or not, nor if I am in a situation worthy of envy.  What I do know is that I believe in myself.  I also know that I love this quote from Red in The Shawshank Redemption:

“Get busy living, or get busy dying.”

3) I’m going to get a little weird here:

As you can imagine, the plan to move 3,135 miles away from home has raised some interesting emotions.  Whenever I get worried, it seems like something always happens to calm my nerves.

On the day the move was completely finalized (6/15), I was driving up to Portland to watch Game 5 of the NBA Finals with my brother.  During the drive, I heard a song on the radio that always seems to play at crossroads in my life.  I could tell you all the times, but you wouldn’t believe it – so just take my word for it.  On that drive to Portland, I heard the song.  Twice in fact.

I guarantee you I will hear it on the radio when I drive away from Boston on 7/25.  I also guarantee that I will tear up upon hearing said song.

Tonight, I went to a bar with some friends and played pub trivia for the first time.  During most of the night, I thought to myself about how much fun I was having and that nights like this (with these people) won’t happen in San Francisco.  The last question of the night totally was an eyebrow raiser for me.  It was about the current “most played” song on my iPhone.

The question was:

“What city is the Journey song Lights about?”

As the quizmaster dude began to read it, I knew exactly where he was going and shouted out, “Come on!” or something to that effect.  It was like the universe was once again reassuring me, letting me know that things are going to work out just fine.

Get busy living or get busy dying indeed.

I just have to mention:

He may be a jerk and his team did beat the Buckeyes in the National Championship game a few years back.  Even still, Joakim Noah has just won a special place in my heart.  This is actually fitting on 4/20.

His comments after his playoff game last night were fantastic.

“You like it? You think Cleveland’s cool? I never heard anybody say I’m going to Cleveland on vacation. What’s so good about Cleveland?”

I’ll be back with a blog entry recapping the weekend sometime tomorrow.

Recently, I’ve been DVRing “Dancing with the Stars.”

I know what you’re thinking, but let me explain.

I’ve never really watched the show before and it never appealed to me.  Looking at the TV ratings, I couldn’t understand why this show did so well.  Out of overall viewers, DWTS was TV’s most watched show last week (American Idol won the 18-49 demographic).  I never would have guessed that in a million years.  People must really love watching celebrities dance.

There is one reason I’ve been watching DWTS this season: Chad Ochocinco.  To me, he is the most dynamic personality in sports.  He’s great on Twitter and I’d probably watch him on any show, including a dancing show.

I’ve found that the best way to watch DWTS is taped.  I can watch a two hour show in about 15 minutes.  All I really watch is Ochocinco, Erin Andrews (come on, I’m a guy!), and the old guy.  Everything else I can fast forward right through.

But, the shark jumping isn’t because I tape DWTS.

Ochocinco didn’t do that great during the first two weeks.  He even did worse the second week than he did during the first week.  However, last week he had his best week.  After he got some good reviews from the judges and his scores, it moved me and I really felt great for the guy.

This is over a dancing show!!!!

Yeah, I’ve totally jumped the shark.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Chris the Grouch thinks the Red Sox are going to win 100 games. He also has a funny podcast which I added to my links (right-hand column).

All week, my big plan was to cap off “West Virginia Week” with a fabulous blog entry about how Duke University is the Devil of college basketball.  It was going to be the culmination of a week dedicated to West Virginia and appease the basketball gods into helping the Mountaineers beat those devilish Blue Devils.

It was going to be great.

So what happened?

Via Twitter, I came across a link on Deadspin (a site I really should be reading more often) written by a Duke student named Ben Cohen.  He writes a compelling argument stating why this year’s Duke team is different than the (annoying) Duke teams of the past.  Upon reflection (along with some Good Friday guilt thrown in), he’s right.  These Devils have not been as annoying as in previous years.  Also, they got me into the final four of a 286 entry NCAA pool by winning last Sunday.

They can’t be all that bad, right?

This weekend is going to be an epic sports weekend.  Not only is it Final Four weekend, but Sunday marks the first day of the baseball season.  I am finally ready to say this:

I’m really excited for baseball season to start.

It literally just hit me right now.  By Sunday, I will have accomplished my goal not to watch one pitch of spring training (not even highlights).  You can have your truck day, your pitchers and catchers reporting day, and spring training.  I can’t stand any of it.  To me, it all is a big tease (especially spring training).  I went to spring training one year (2005) and I’ll never go back.  You go expecting to see real baseball and all you see is practice.

For me, the baseball season is long enough.  Spring training is for the (snow) birds.

Thankfully, it’s over now.

The stars are aligning for a fantastic weekend.  The weather here in Titletown is supposed to be sublime.  It is Easter weekend and I am going to be breaking into the Cadbury Mini Eggs I have been stockpiling like a squirrel.  Saturday, my NCAA-pool-adopted West Virginia Mountaineers play the dreaded (Blue) Devils. Sunday, the Red Sox play the over-spending New York Yankees.  Monday will be filled with home openers all across baseball and hopefully, another game for West Virginia that will “show me the money.”

(On top of all that, Saturday Manchester United has a league deciding game against the over-spending Chelsea Blues and Sunday the Celtics play the dreaded Cleveland Cavaliers!)

The Devils and the Yankees.

I can’t think of two teams I’d rather root against on Easter weekend.

Go Mountaineers. (and Red Sox!)

Have a great Easter weekend, everyone.  Make the most of every day.

West Virginia is a funny place.  Cruising around the interweb, I have found some fun facts about the state.

All of these are true:

- The capital of West Virginia is Charleston.

- It is illegal to sleep on a train in West Virginia.

- West Virginia is considered the southern most northern state and the northern most southern state.

- It is legal for a male to have sex with an animal in West Virginia as long as it does not exceed 40 lbs.

- West Virginia has the oldest population of any state.  The median age is 40.

- If I lived in West Virginia, I would probably drink a lot of 40’s.

- In West Virginia, a person can be placed in jail for up to six months for making fun of someone who does not accept a challenge.

(*cough, Dukies, cough*)

- The New River Gorge Bridge (pictured above) near Fayetteville is the second highest steel bridge in the United States.  The bridge is also the longest steel bridge (1,700 feet) in the world.  Every October on Bridge Day, the road is closed and individuals parachute and bungee cord jump 876 feet off of the bridge.  It is West Virginia’s largest single day event and attracts about 100,000 people each year.

(100,000 people attend this nonsense! 100,000!)

- The first federal prison exclusively for women in the United States was opened in 1926 in West Virginia.

- West Virginia’s nickname is the Mountain State and its motto is “Mountaineers Are Always Free.”

(except the female Mountaineers in federal prison, of course)

- Because of its mountains, West Virginia is sometimes referred to as the “Switzerland of the United States.”

- In Huntington West Virginia, it is legal to beat your wife so long as it is done in public on Sunday, on the courthouse steps.

- For each act of public swearing, a person shall be fined $1 in West Virginia.

- If Duke beats West Virginia on Saturday, I will swear a lot – even if I am out in public.

- In West Virginia, it is legal to take roadkill home for supper.

- Whistling underwater is prohibited in West Virginia.

And my favorite (considering the big game)….

- On January 26, 1960, Danny Heater (a student from Burnsville, West Virginia) scored 135 points in a high school basketball game.  This earned him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Go Mountaineers!

In honor of this awesome NCAA tournament, I hearby declare this week “West Virginia Week” here on Truth About Mike.  As one of the few people north of the Mason-Dixon line that will be rooting for the Mountaineers, I feel like this is something I must do.

*raucous applause*

Why am I rooting for West Virginia University, you ask?

If WVU wins the tournament, I will win my NCAA pool.  I am especially excited because this year has been my favorite tournament ever.  There have been a ton of upsets and almost every game has been exciting.  I am also dedicating this week to WVU in a shameless attempt to appease the basketball gods.  West Virginia will need all the help it can get and any/every bounce that happens to go their way would be greatly appreciated.

And before you even say it….

I realize that in order to declare a week a “week” here on the blog, I’d actually have to write more than once during said week.  I am so enthused about the prospect of winning my pool, that I promise to write multiple blog entries this week.  I am not going to say when the next entry will be up, but I assure you it will be within the next few days.

West Virginia reached the Final Four by defeating Kentucky on Saturday.  The Mountaineers next play Duke (a.k.a. the New York Yankees/Evil Empire of college basketball) next Saturday.  Maybe if you’re lucky, we’ll even manage to sneak in some Duke bashing in by the end of the week.

Lastly, I will get the ball rolling by offering you a picture of a typical vehicle in West Virginia:

Go Mountaineers!

Surprisingly, I wasn’t really excited about the Super Bowl this year.  I thought it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that the Colts were going to win.  I was actually more excited for the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet than the Super Bowl itself.

As the game went on, I found myself loving this game more and more.  It was a great game start to finish and Drew Brees was as brilliant as his coach was gutsy.  As the minutes ticked away, the game and the day got better and better.  The greatness of the day culminated when Tracy Porter intercepted Peyton Manning and “went marching in” to the end zone.  At that moment, Porter virtually handed his teammates the Vince Lombardi trophy which (in my opinion) is the hardest trophy to win in professional sports.

When the Saints smoked the Patriots back on November 30th, I really wasn’t that upset.  It was the day I realized that the Patriots just didn’t have it this year.  Looking at those faces in that Superdome crowd, I was actually happy for those fans.  On that day I also realized that there really isn’t anyone in or anything about the Saints organization that I dislike.  This is such a rarity in this day and age of free agency.  For the first time in as long as I can remember, there is a (”four major”) sports champion that is not one of my teams and is completely likable.

Since February 3rd, 2002 I have always felt a special connection to the city of New Orleans.  It is not only one of America’s greatest cities, but it was the site of best weekend of my life.  February 7th, 2010 was a heck of a day for the Saints fans and for the entire city of New Orleans.  4.5 years ago the city was underwater and the home of the World Champion New Orleans Saints (how cool does that sound?) was being used as an emergency shelter.

Today, they sit atop the football universe and the Lombardi is coming to their town.  Only on a stage as big as the Super Bowl could something as special as this happen.  I couldn’t be happier for the people of New Orleans, the Saints organization, and all of their fans.

I’m never taking Super Bowl Sunday for granted again.  It is always one of the best days of the year and this was one of my favorite Super Bowls ever.

Sometimes, they just write themselves.

From the NY Daily News:

US Weekly reports the Yankees slugger has commissioned paintings of himself – as a centaur.

But wait, it gets better – they’re hanging above the superstar athletes’ bed, according to the magazine.

“He was so vain. He had not one, but two painted portraits of himself as a centaur. You know, the half man, half horse figure,” scoffs an ex-girlfriend to the magazine. “It was ridiculous.”