What better way to spend one of the few nice spring Saturdays we've had, thus far, by staying indoors to watch the Cavs first playoff game since 1998. That was when Z had healthy feet and as Charles Barkley said about himself, when Barkley was skinny. I've already DVR'ed the Byrd-Klitschko fight on HBO at 5:00, mowed the lawn, and made my NASCAR and NBA Playoff fantasy picks, so I'm ready to roll.

First, we have Bloody Marys to make. I always have the Official Sports Vodka on hand, Kamchatka, an American vodka, BTW. We were greeted with the news last summer that Kamchatka, typically referred to as a "budget" vodka, is the number one selling booze in Ohio. And has been at times throughout the last decade. In taste, it rates 70th of 78 vodkas, whoo boy. But we're throwing other stuff in it, so who cares? My Bloodies at home typically include a regular bottled mix like Tabasco, some horseradish, a couple of dashes of some Tabasco or other hot sauce, some dashes of Worcestershire, pepper, and some olives for your garny.

The American Broadcasting Company handles today's broadcast duties. We have HDTV by Sony, the aformentioned Bloody Marys, and in a severe miscalculation of snack items, I'm left with only Red Vines and my world-famous Ritz Bites, which are out-of-control good, but it would be nice to have more of a variety. Methinks an order to the Chinese place around the corner may be in the offing.

First half observations:

The Cavs had a fairly easy first half, because Washington couldn't shoot. Bad foul shooting combined with horrible three-point shooting and no defense makes for a big lead for the opponent.

Tom Petty looks like he's handling the music for the NBA Playoffs this year, kicking it off with "Runnin' Down a Dream". Apparently G.E. Smith was busy.

Hubie Brown has a man crush on Anderson Varejao. But I love the Hubieisms like "painted area" instead of the lane. Now, if he talks about Anderson Varejao's "painted area", we have problems.

There actually was a stoppage in play, as a balloon descended from the heights of Quicken Loans Arena. LeBron handles it.

The Nike Witness t-shirts that some sheep are wearing look stupid.

The guy at the south end in Row 1 with the red cap, the towel waver, is gettin' on my nerves.

LeBron had a big first half. First, he admitted to having butterflies. Then he was praised in a musical tribute by Fatboy Slim. Then he scores 19, pretty much having his way out there.

I like the Wizards coach, Eddie Jordan. He's most famous for saying "It's time to harvest your nuts, man." I know what he meant, I just like the fact it's open to a milion different interpretations.

For the Cavs, Eric Snow had a good half, agressively scoring. Larry Hughes was a non-entity. Donyell Marshall hit two big threes. Z was pretty much Z.

For the Wizards, Gilbert Arenas had a really poor half. Not good with the shot selection.

The NBA Finals start (gulp!) on June 8th.

Second half observations:

LeBron James is pretty good. A triple double in his first playoff game.

The Cavs proved it's not the first pass out of the double team, but the second one that can lead to the wide open shot.

Cavs stretched the lead to 19 points at one time.

I like the hair of Etan Thomas of the Wizards.

One particularly awful call on Varejao at the start of the fourth quarter. I thought David Stern "had made the call" for a second.

Gilbert Arenas spent a lot of time on the bench in the third quarter, but rallied for 26 points.

Damn towel wavers.

The Nike Witnesses commercial was equally as stupid as the t-shirt.

Mike Breen with a good line, "Hubie, there's a man behind us who disagrees with that call. And he's not using nice words."

All in all, a very good tactical game for the Cavs. They actually played a bit of defense, took advantage of a lot of open looks on offense, and reaped the benefit of some lousy shooting by the Wizards. Oh, if they were all this easy. However, it's a long series, and the Wizards may have gotten their bad game out of the way early. We'll see.
















The Cavs take Game One, 97-86.

Now it's off to Byrd-Klitschko. What, it's already over? That's why they make DVRs.

Meal of Links

I am really diggin' the chicken quesadillas from Johnny Mango. Enclosed in a wheat tortilla, man, those are good. Plus, Bohemias at $1.75 during happy hour. Mas fina.

I never listened to David Lee Roth, but he got canned. Looks like O&A move back to 92 in the p.m., not 98 in the a.m., or so I've heard.

59 things a man should never do past 30. As a non-Oreo eater, do people still eat them in stages?

Exercise Yard

Today, it was like the old Wide World of Sports program with Chris Byrd defending his heavyweight title against Wladimir Klitschko at 5:00 Eastern on HBO. Michael Buffer is speakin' German, as we're in Mannheim. Showoff.

I watch the fight. In my opinion, Klitschko threw a shutout, ending it by KOing Byrd in Round 7. Garden variety stuff through 4 rounds. A big time round from Klitschko, "The Steel Hammer", with a knockdown in the fifth, more damage in the sixth and finally the KO early in the seventh.

I love Larry Merchant on HBO, who pretty much summed it up with this line: "If Byrd was hoping to wear Klitschko out with his face and his head by taking all those blows, that was not a good strategy."

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