Carly is gone. She shouldn’t have left. This is the first time this year where I can say that someone who had the talent to win was kicked off too early (I’m talking to you Michael Johns). At times, I really thought she had a chance to win. At other times, not so much. And that’s probably why she’s out. She was inconsistent when you expected her not to be.

The Hot List (based on last week’s performances)

1. David Cook - The two Davids are neck and neck.
1. David Archuleta - But I like the first David better so he’s on top.
3. Syesha Mercado - Slowly but surely, she snuck up on people.
4. Jason Castro’s Dread Locks - Unfortunately, his fan base is keeping him around.
5. Brooke White - Curly or straight tonight?

The Departed

1. Young David Hernandez
2. Young Amanda Overmyer
3. Young Chikezie
4. Young Ramiele Malubay
5. Old Michael Johns
6. Young Kristy Lee Cook
7. Young And Tattooed Carly Smithson

Tonight is Neil Diamond night. I guess American Idol is really going after that grandmotherly demographic. But I say that we make the most of it. The contestants are singing twice tonight, so this show is going to be quick without a lot of jibber jabber. Maybe that’s a good thing.

Joining me tonight as guest judge is my girl Jessica. We haven’t really been on the same page as far as who we’ve liked week to week, so this should be interesting. Jessica also does a great impersonation of the American Idol come back from commercial music. Listen below.

First up tonight is Jason Castro’s Dread Locks performing Forever in Blue Jeans. He’s doing this weird Elvis thing with his lip that’s throwing me off. Let’s just say that I can see how people will think this performance is nice, but I find it terribly boring. Jessica says that Jason is singing this song because he admires Will Ferrell’s gap commercial version. She says she loves Jason (I told you we don’t agree), but that it was kind of forgettable. The judges aren’t going to make their comments until after the second song.

David Cook is up next with I’m Alive. He wasn’t really able to put the Cook touch on it, but he’s having fun with it. It comes off a bit corny considering his gimmick, but he made the most of it. Jessica had a little more to say and I don’t want to summarize her thoughts.

David’s rockin’ it like he gets paid to. He made a good choice singing a song people don’t know, because he’s one contestant with the charisma and resourcefulness to create a performance based on his own ability to sell it, and not the public’s previous affection for the song.

Ya, that’s what I was trying to say too. Ahem.

Jessica And Her Daughter Elliott

Brooke White is third tonight and she’s going with I’m A Believer. She’s curly tonight and she’s wearing fantastic pants. She’s lost her smile though. She’s singing through what looks like a forced smile and she doesn’t seem to be having fun. There was nothing special about the performance and she didn’t really sell me that she was a believer. Jessica thinks she stole some aging rock star’s outfit and says she was weak. I still say those pants are great.

Big Dave Archuleta is looking as manly as ever and is performing Sweet Caroline. His pants aren’t as great as Brooke’s. He does a David Archuleta performance of the song. It’s kind of lifeless as if he’s never been sweet on Caroline in his life. Jessica says that his voice sounded good, but he was disconnected from the lyrics, as if he was an Italian immigrant who had to learn the words to the song phonetically. Hey, she said that, not me.

Syesha Mercado is last with Hello Again. She doesn’t look like Syesha as her hair is straight. I think the performance is nice, but she’s singing so big. Definitely a change of pace from Big Dave as she was into it emotionally. Jessica doesn’t like the hair and hates that she abandoned the curly. But she says it was her favorite performance thus far.

They’re trying to get some of the judges’ opinions before they go to round two. Randall says Jason was just ok, David Cook was very good and in the zone, Brooke was better than last week, Big Dave was the bomb, and Syesha was strong and nice. Paula says something about Jason’s first song and then goes on about how his charm wasn’t in the second song. Um, dear, he hasn’t performed the second song yet. She was probably recounting his rehearsals. Either that, or she’s crazy. She says David Cook was fantastic. Simon says Jason was forgettable, Cook was just above average, Brooke was a nightmare (and she gave a face of surprise when he said it), Big Dave was amateurish and Syesha was old fashioned.

Jason Castro is up again with September Morn. This song suits his voice better, but he and Brooke are just out of their league vocally. Jessica says that the song is good for Jason’s vocals and he’s working hard to appear fully present and in the zone, but nothing is going to help him if he doesn’t start singing stuff he likes. She also put in something about not mentioning his pillowy lips and dreamy eyes for my sake. Don’t worry, I’m not the jealous type. And it’s not like Castro is Brandon Walsh or anything. Randall says it was just ok. Paula says it was too safe. Simon says he’s not recognizable right now.

David Cook is up again with All I Ever Really Need is You. He definitely put the David Cook touches on this one. It was emotional, maybe a bit too over the top, but it definitely worked. Jessica says it reminded her of the Goo Goo Dolls with all that overwrought and raspy emotion, underscored by an overproduced rock arrangement, but considering the material he had to choose from, she’s impressed. Randall is a huge fan and says he rocked the house. Paula says she thinks she’s already looking at the American Idol. Simon says the first song was just ok, but the second song was brilliant.

Brooke White and her great pants are next with I am I Said. She’s behind the piano for this one. She’s only about 100 times more comfortable doing this song, but still doesn’t seem like she’s enjoying it. It’s the much better of her two performances. Again, I’ll quote Jessica rather than try to summarize.

Brooke sings so much better when she’s playing the piano. Maybe she needs to start wearing eyeglasses or mime makeup so she can feel safe and protected when she’s got nothing the mic to hide behind. Her vocals sound way better on this song, and she’s emotionally present. Her piano playing makes all those moments where her voice falters sound vulnerable rather than just like bad singing.

Randall says it was a nice job. Paula says it was vulnerable and she was able to connect with the audience. Simon says this is the Brooke that he, Randall and Paula like. Thankfully it was positive feedback. I feared for her if it wasn’t.

Big Dave Archuleta is performing America next. Somewhere, my cousin Nak just did a Tiger Woods-esque fist pump. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I’m not digging Big Dave tonight. This feels like Teen Star Search or something, rather than American Idol. Jessica says that his vocals are beautiful, but she didn’t dig it and was slightly embarrassed for those involved. Randall says it was good and he was in the zone. Paula says it was perfect and his voice was on point. Simon says it was a smart song choice.

Syesha Mercado wraps it up tonight with Thank The Lord For The Night Time. Ashley from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, I mean Syesha, definitely had the most fun tonight and you could make the argument that she was second best tonight. If Big Dave’s song choice was smart, this song choice was perfect. Jessica says she’s won her love tonight. Randall says she was in the zone. Paula says Syesha has two sides and they both are good. Simon says she’s a good actress/singer. But he thinks she may be in trouble because her second song wasn’t that memorable.

I think Jason Castro’s Dread Locks and Brooke White were the worst tonight by far, but I also think Brooke’s great pants will leave before his dreads. If Syesha does go home as Simon has predicted, it’d be the second week in a row where the wrong person went home. But oh well. That’s how this show works.

Seacrest out!

And Then There Were 12
And Then There Were 11
And Then There Were 10
And Then There Were 9
And Then There Were 8
And Then There Were 7
And Then There Were 6

NBA’s JV League

Well, well, well.  What do we have here?  It seems like the Eastern Conference Playoffs are trying to show that their side of the bracket can be entertaining in the first round.  Series that seemingly were no brainer picks are quickly turning into interesting series.  The only series that was supposed to be somewhat interesting (and the only one I picked the lower seed to win in) was the Wizards and Cavaliers.  One, because of the LeBron James factor, and two, because of Deshawn Stevenson’s big mouth.  Well that series is now at 3-1 with Cleveland in command.

As of last night the biggest surprise of the series has to be the Atlanta Hawks.  Who would have thought after four games this series would have been even?  I thought it would be over in four and the Celtics are wondering what the hell just happened.  Doc Rivers had to tell his team in the locker room that they have to “make it happen” when they get back to Boston.  Make it happen?  This is the number one seed in the East and had an .800 winning percentage.  Make it happen?  I guess Boston thought they were just going to roll on Atlanta because they are The Celtics.  I expect this to be a huge wake up call for K.G. and company and they will close out the series in the next two games (which will take two weeks).  They will not be the Mavericks of this year.

The other big surprise is the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers are even with the playoff hardened Detroit Pistons after four games and they do not look afraid to go toe to toe with this Detroit. And they are doing it with their leading scorer, Andre Iguodala, averaging 10 points. Nine points below his season average. AI 2 is also shooting a measly 22% from the field. Eddy Zucko could go out and shoot 22% blindfolded. Philly has been lead by Andre Miller, Louis Williams, and Samuel Dalembert. They are all averaging double figures and shooting decent to good from the field (led by Miller’s 53%). But Philly is matching Detroit’s defense, holding the Pistons to under 90 points per game. While Detroit is matching this proficiency, Philly is giving themselves a chance late in games, and against a seemingly superior opponent, it gives them confidence that they can beat the Pistons. And they have come through twice. This series may well go 7 and at this point I would not be surprised if the Sixers pull it out. But I think Detroit will win in 7.

As for the other two series, I’ll let Eddy handle the Cleveland side show, and Orlando handled Toronto in 5 (which I predicted) with Dwight Howard asserting his dominance on and overmatched Toronto front line.  As the kids would say “Dwight Howard is a BEAST!”  Howard went for 20 points and 20 rebounds in 3 of the 5 games of the series.  If that is not dominance I don’t know what is.  I would be not want to be Detroit or Philadelphia who have to face Orlando in the second round. 

Damn I wish I could change my East Finals pick.

We’re just under one month away from the race. Are both guys ready? You decide.

Usually, Big Brother is on during the summer, but this year, it showed up in the late winter. Why? Well, remember that thing called the writer’s strike? CBS decided that they could get some easy ratings by supplying us with an early Big Brother. And supposedly, we’ll get a second one later in the summer.

Season 9 was really hard to get into. It started where every member was coupled based on an assessment. According to this assessment, each couple (yes, there was one gay couple, but the second half left the show for personal reasons) was placed together because they were supposedly each other’s soul mates. But there was one real couple in the house and one ex-couple. The ex-couple was of course put together, but the real couple was split up. Also, they had to be head of household and be evicted as a pair. For some reason, they went away from this early on and made it a singles game again. I didn’t understand why they did this, other than to maybe stretch out the game. But early on, this season was an utter failure.

It started to get pretty good around late March. The main problem was the show was littered with unlikable people. The homeless ten speed biker James was likable until the house ganged up on him and he went crazy and vindictive and had a complete breakdown on national television. His “soul mate” Chelsea was likable (plus she was cute and had big knockers) as well until she went crazy and vindictive. Later, Adam, a big goof who calls himself “Big Baller” was all of a sudden someone you could root for. But then, he made some strong decisions, didn’t stand by them, and became more of a follower than a leader. And I’m sure the “Big Baller” moniker was given to him as a joke because he might’ve been big, but he was anything but a baller. Amanda even passed out from low blood sugar and she might’ve been less liked after she woke up. The only thing going for her was a J-Lo’esque backside. There was even a former model in the house. Too bad she was 45, whiny, and mean. She also posed for some porn magazines allegedly back in the day. Sharon was easy to root for, but she’d already been eliminated once and got a free pass to go back in to the game.

Chelsea And Amanda

Ryan (half of the true couple in the house) and Adam are the survivors and you couldn’t ask for less of a climactic final.

• The show starts with all the jury house members complaining about Ryan and Adam and talking about who they think played the better game. Sheila, the 45 year old ex-model thinks that you should be honest in this game. Um, have you ever seen this show?
• Chelsea called Ryan a “hatred” person. There was a scene on the show early on where his girlfriend mentioned that he has racist tendencies. Maybe she meant to call him racist instead of hatred?
• Matty is wearing the shirt, coat and tennis shoes (my least favorite look).
• Sharon either baked in the sun for about 14 hours or is wearing some heavy make-up. She’s also basing her vote on loyalty.
• They are really speeding up this show, trying to get it done in an hour. It’s making the finale feel less than special, but it’s not like they could do anything about that. This season was a complete failure.
• Here are the votes: Matt (Adam), Natalie (Adam), Joshua (Ryan), Sharon (Adam), Sheila (Adam), Chelsea (Adam), James (Adam) - he only needed 4 votes to win.

The Winner of Big Brother Season 9 is Adam

Adam wins $500,000 while Ryan wins $50,000.

America’s favorite juror goes to James and he wins $25,000.

As of tomorrow, I will be finishing up my second week with my new company. That means that for the last two weeks, I’ve been away from Epinions, which had been my home for 6 1/2 years of my near 9 year career. It was a necessary step in the evolution of my career, and one could even argue that it was a belated move. However, I wasn’t going to leave Epinions unless I had the perfect opportunity. There wasn’t any real reason to do so, but when that opportunity came, it wasn’t that hard for me to make the decision.

I’ve been the Community Liaison at Epinions for the last five years. The Epinions community can be rabid, tough, unfair, and nearly impossible to make happy. But on the flip side, they were loving, friendly, passionate, loyal, and everything that you can say is good about community. Basically, it was what strong communities are. And believe me when I say that I enjoyed every bit of it. I have made life lasting friends and simply enjoyed what I did for a living. You really can’t ask for more.

My boy Mike and I in Vegas

With my new position, I’m going to do all of that, but more importantly, at least early on, I will be developing my new community from the ground up. It’s really a skill set that I don’t have and that I need in order to really have a full set of skills for my position. It’s going to be an exciting adventure. I’m working with people who I’ve worked with before, who were all instrumental in what made Epinions my favorite website since even before I worked there. The band is back together.

Epinions isn’t in my rear view mirror though. I’m still going to write reviews, read my favorite writers, and comment on the message board. I imagine some of the regulars will still e-mail me, asking my opinion on things, and I’m all for it. Epinions is a web community in the truest sense of the word and even though I’m now not much more than an active contributor with great historical knowledge, I can help, just on a lesser level.

It’s now time to create and inspire and maintain a new great community.

I wanted to end it with a few lines from Frosty The Snowman, but already used them when Tomiko left.

But he waved goodbye
Saying don’t you cry
I’ll be back again some day

Check out this message board thread which is my goodbye letter to the community.

I was trying to remember who was kicked out last week and I couldn’t until I looked it up. It was Kristy Lee Cook! She’s about as memorable as Wonder Bread.

Tonight, we get the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. I imagine this one will be the hardest show to watch because of the idea that these wannabe pop singers are going to try and sing theatrical songs. It’s not like many people sing music from Phantom Of The Opera at the karaoke bar. But first, the hot list based on last week’s results.

The Hot List (based on last week’s performances)

1. David Cook - I didn’t buy last week’s performance at all, so I have him now tied for first.
1. David Archuleta - He’s signing consistently well every week.
3. Carly Smithson - She’s the third horse in a two horse race.
4. Jason Castro’s Dread Locks - What in the blue hell is he going to sing tonight?
5. Syesha Mercado - I have a feeling she’s going to try to hit some crazy notes tonight.
6. Brooke White - Curly or straight tonight?

The Departed

1. Young David Hernandez
2. Young Amanda Overmyer
3. Young Chikezie
4. Young Ramiele Malubay
5. Old Michael Johns
6. Young Kristy Lee Cook

Tonight, I am joined by my brother from another mother, Mike Heyliger (aka Speeddemon531), writer and editor of Music Help Web and Becky, who I met through Epinions and who is a rock star in the karaoke bars.

There are only six performances tonight which means that we’ll probably get longer introduction packages and lots of judge talking time. Thankfully, I can fast forward through a lot of the filler. Mike thinks Andrew Lloyd Webber looks like he could be the father of Austin Powers. I think he’s going to have some fun tonight. Becky mentioned that she has American Idol parties, but two of her friends couldn’t make it. They thought the Andrew Lloyd Webber show was missable? How dare they?

Becky

Syesha Mercado is first, singing One Rock & Roll Too Many. She starts the performance singing on top of the piano. It’s a very flirty performance and we get to see a little more of her figure than we’ve seen thus far. But I miss the afro puffs. She plays the part and has fun with the song. But it did feel like it went on way long. I had to put Mike’s thoughts in it’s own quote.

Syesha’s performance was cute, but I thought she fell out of tune a couple of times, particularly when she was going for the big notes. She was trying to be theatrical, but it was a little hammy. She didn’t need to give everyone The People’s Eyebrow every 30 seconds.

Becky says that Syesha is her favorite but thinks the performance was a bit forgettable. She thinks she looks gorgeous and I guarantee you that Paula does too. Randall says he thinks she can be a huge Broadway star. Paula says she brought the house down right at the very beginning. Simon says it was sexy and thinks it was one of her strongest performances so far.

Jason Castro’s Dread Locks is next singing Memory. Andrew Lloyd Webber (by the way, can I call him Webber, or do I have to call him Lloyd Webber if I don’t want to type out his entire name?) thinks that this is a mistake. I didn’t have high hopes before this and now I’m dreading this. But I think that when you go in with low expectations, you can be surprised and I was. He didn’t do anything but a very vanilla version of a song that he was supposed to screw up singing. It’s like watching a movie that you expect to be terrible and when it isn’t, you’re pleasantly surprised, even though it still wasn’t good. Mikey no likey. He says that it was the most boring performance he’s ever seen on Idol and it had no passion or personality. Becky thinks it was a pretty performance and she was pleasantly surprised. Randall says it was a little bit of a train wreck. Paula thinks it was wise to do a song that everyone knows and put a different spin on. Simon says it was the longest two minutes of Jason’s life.

Brooke White is singing You Must Love Me. She’s curly and pretty frizzy tonight. Uh oh, she just screwed up her lyrics and they had to start the song over again. She looks uncomfortable. Directly the opposite of how Syesha looked. I know she was trying to show emotion that would be hard to communicate on stage, but it looked like she didn’t want to be there. The performance just seemed fake. Mike says she lost him from when she forgot her lyrics and says he even liked Madonna’s version better. He also noticed Ricky Schroeder in the audience. Becky says she couldn’t hit either the low or high notes and thinks she deserves to go home. Randall says some of it was good, but it wasn’t great. Paula says she can’t start and stop a song. She says Brooke didn’t overact. I disagree. Simon says forgetting the words made it was dramatic, but it threw her and because she was worried about remembering the words, she looked uncomfortable.

Money Mike

Big Dave Archuleta is up next with Think Of Me. Ryno allowed some young girls to come on stage and hug Big Dave and he might’ve been more uncomfortable than Brooke White was after forgetting her lyrics. So far, so good. Though not as entertaining as Syesha, it’s technically a better singing performance. Mike thinks it was the best performance of the night, but doesn’t see much star quality in him. He also wonders why little girls go gaga for over wispy, feminine young boys. Those were his words, not mine. Becky calls him a perfect little robot who hits all his notes, but sings stiffly and you don’t feel much emotion behind his words. Randall says it was the bomb and calls him the one to beat. Paula says it was absolutely perfect. Simon says it was pleasant, but also one of his weakest performances.

Carly Smithson is doing Jesus Christ Superstar after Lloyd Webber (I chose to go with LW) tells her to switch songs. It’s actually a nice change of pace after three ballads. She had fun with it and while she didn’t match Syesha, I found her way more interesting than Brooke or Jason Castro’s Dread Locks. Mike says that while it did get shouty in the middle, he thought it was energetic and had a lot of spirit. Becky thinks she put her heart and soul into it even if she was screaming. Randall says it was definitely good. Paula says it was so unexpected and she loved what she did with the chorus. Simon says it was one of his favorite performances of the night. One of say five?

David Cook is the clean up hitter tonight and he’s singing Music Of The Night. He doesn’t have a guitar or a rock version of a pop song to hide behind tonight. It’s all vocals. And I think he does a really good job. It’s different seeing him singing this big theatrical song, but on this night, it worked. Mike thinks the big notes were too showy and thought his voice was too fake and forced. Becky says she would so do David Cook. Jeez. She also loves the performance and thinks it’s the best of the night. Randall says it was a molten, hot, lava bomb. Paula says he has a beautiful instrument. She thought Corey Clarke did too, except his wasn’t his singing voice. Simon says he made the most of the opportunity but likes him better as a rocker.

There were a couple pretty good performances that saved this from being a train wreck. I liked that they had to change up their style. Brooke looks to be done. I can’t imagine anyone else leaving, but you never know. Mike thought Big Dave Archuletta was the best. Becky went with David Cook. I’d have to agree with Becky, but also say that I was most entertained by Syesha.

Seacrest out!

And Then There Were 12
And Then There Were 11
And Then There Were 10
And Then There Were 9
And Then There Were 8
And Then There Were 7

I don’t even need to say anything. It speaks for itself.

We all witnessed Lebron’s magical run to the NBA Finals last year. Well magical, until he ran into the Spurs. So the question in Cleveland is, can Lebron do it again? His team is supposed to be better, faster, stronger than they were last season. Making the big trade for Big Ben Wallace. Adding Wally Szerbiak and Delonte West for some much needed outside shooting. And getting a former #1 draft pick in Joe Smith as a throw in, in that trade. All they had to give up was the inconsistency of Larry Hughes and the beard of Drew Gooden. So are they better? Well no one has dropped faster from his all star status than Big Ben (expect maybe Zito). And the 3 other guys were all pretty much non factors as Cleveland limped into the playoffs with a record of 45-37. A record that would of kept them out of the playoffs in the west, but good enough for a #4 seed in the east. Sorry Warrior fans.

The playoffs began on Saturday with Cleveland and Washington up first. Lebron and co. playing a Washington team that got to the playoffs without the services of Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler for most of the season. But now both are back and for the first time all season, Washington has it’s full lineup at 100%. Which has most NBA analyst taking Washington to come out of this series. Trouble for Cleveland right? Well bring in Deshawn Stevenson, most famous for being accused for having intercourse with a 14 year old girl when he was 20.  Deshawn did the one thing you don’t do to Lebron, he called him out. He called Lebron overrated. Which Lebron replied back by comparing Deshawn to Soulja Boy. As in he’s a one hit wonder. Which begs the question, “Deshawn had a hit?” Lebron’s not really the Rock when it comes to snappy comebacks. So he let his game speak for himself. To the tune of 32 pts, 6 rebs, 4 ast and a Cleveland win. Things were a little testy in the beginning of the game. A couple technicals were handed out in the first half in a very closely contested game. But second half belonged to Lebron, scoring 20 of those 32 pts, mostly on uncontested layups. Washington kept it close, but in the end it was Cleveland 1, Washington 0. Deshawn by the way was 1 for 9 from the field and had a total of 3 pts. He should really leave the trash talking to people who can back it up.

All of the Basketball Blog contributers sent me their playoff brackets. That is, except The Mystery Cow. He only sent me a message, which I will paste at the bottom.

Western Conference

First Round

(1) LA Lakers
(8) Denver Nuggets
Eddy Zucko - Lakers in 4
ShavedAsian- Lakers in 5
Young Randall - Lakers in 5
GG - Lakers in 4

(4) Utah Jazz
(5) Houston Rockets
Eddy Zucko - Utah in 7
ShavedAsian - Utah in 6
Young Randall - Utah in 7
GG - Utah in 6

(3) San Antonio Spurs
(6) Phoenix Suns
Eddy Zucko - Suns in 7
ShavedAsian - Suns in 7
Young Randall - Suns in 7
GG - Suns in 7

(2) New Orleans Hornets
(7) Dallas Mavericks
Eddy Zucko - Mavs in 6
ShavedAsian - Mavs in 6
Young Randall - Hornets in 6
GG - Hornets in 6

Color - We all agreed on each of the 4 West match-ups, except the last one. Young Randall and I went with Chris Paul and the Hornets, while ShavedAsian and Eddy Zucko are picking the upset. It’s crazy that we all picked the Suns. Aren’t the Spurs the defending champs? Haven’t they won the most titles in recent memory?

Western Conference Semi-finals

Eddy Zucko

Lakers over Jazz in 6
Suns over Mavericks in 7

ShavedAsian

Lakers over Jazz in 6
Suns over Mavericks in 6

Young Randall

Lakers over Jazz in 6
Suns over Hornets in 5

GG

Lakers over Jazz in 6
Suns over Hornets in 6

Color - I think we’re all simply hoping to see Kobe and Shaq all over again. But truly, is that a bad thing to hope for? That would be one of the greatest spectacles in modern sports history and an exciting conference finals.

Western Conference Finals

Eddy Zucko

Lakers over Suns in 7

ShavedAsian

Lakers over Suns in 6

Young Randall

Lakers over Suns in 6

GG

Lakers over Suns in 7

Color - No dark horses here, we’re all taking the Lakers.

Eastern Conference

First Round

(1) Boston Celtics
(8) Atlanta Hawks
Eddy Zucko - Celtics in 4
ShavedAsian- Celtics in 5
Young Randall - Celtics in 4
GG - Celtics in 4

(4) Cleveland Cavaliers
(5) Washington Wizards
Eddy Zucko - Cavaliers in 7
ShavedAsian - Cavliers in 6
Young Randall - Wizards in 6
GG - Wizards in 7

(3) Orlando Magic
(6) Toronto Raptors
Eddy Zucko - Magic in 6
ShavedAsian - Magic in 5
Young Randall - Magic in 5
GG - Magic in 6

(2) Detroit Pistons
(7)Philadelphia 76ers
Eddy Zucko - Pistons in 5
ShavedAsian - Pistons in 4
Young Randall - Pistons in 5
GG - Pistons in 6

Color - The only series any of us disagree on is the Cavs vs. the Wiz. Eddy Zucko and ShavedAsian believe that Lebron and 4 other guys are going to beat the Wizards, who learned how to play without Gilbert Arenas during the year. I think the match-up result is either that Lebron takes his game to another level (and that’s scary) and wills his team to victory, or that the Wizards have too many weapons for Cleveland.

Eastern Conference Semi-finals

Eddy Zucko

Celtics over Cavaliers in 6
Pistons over Magic in 5

ShavedAsian

Celtics over Cavaliers in 5
Pistons over Magic in 6

Young Randall

Celtics over Wizards in 5
Pistons over Magic in 6

GG

Celtics over Wizards in 6
Pistons over Magic in 5

Color - No surprises here. We all think the top two seeds seeds are going to meet in the conference finals.

Eastern Conference Finals

Eddy Zucko

Celtics over Pistons in 7

ShavedAsian

Pistons over Celtics in 6

Young Randall

Celtics over Pistons in 7

GG

Celtics over Pistons in 6

Color - ShavedAsian believes that the Pistons will represent the Eastern Conference in the finals, but everyone else thinks the Celtics are the team.

NBA Finals

Eddy Zucko

Lakers over Celtics in 6

ShavedAsian

Lakers over Pistons in 6

Young Randall

Celtics over Lakers in 6

GG

Celtics over Lakers in 7

Color - We’re split right down the middle. Two of us believe the Lakers will win the title and the other two, the Celtics.

As for the Mystery Cow? Well, here was his quote.

Fo’, Fo’, Fo’.

Don’t matter who we play in the Finals, we’ll beat them in Fo’ too.

What he means for those who don’t follow is that he thinks the Lakers are going to sweep every team in the playoffs.

I did get a late entry from Honey B. Fly and all she said was, “Where’s the love for America’s Next Top Model?”

According to The Hollywood Reporter Jennie Garth was scheduled to be a part of a new CBS comedy, My Best Friend’s Girl, but recently dropped out.

This leads to speculation that she might join the new Beverly Hills, 90210 spin-off that is all the buzz. Well ok, it’s just the buzz for me. According to the article, writer Rob Thomas originally wanted Garth to reprise her role as Kelly Taylor, joining the cast as a fashion design teacher.

Wait, wasn’t Donna Martin the fashion design expert? Didn’t Kelly get into social work? Well, Kelly did help Donna with her clothing store at the end of the run. Oh well.

Here’s to hoping that this time, she’ll pick Brandon.