Over the weekend, I attended the NBA’s first outdoor game, held in Indian Wells, CA just a few miles east of Palm Springs. The game featured an utterly boring preseason match between the Phoenix Suns and the Denver Nuggets. Although it was fun to see Steve Nash and Shaq, basically no one showed up fro the Nuggets mostly due to injuries. No Carmelo Anthony; no Allen Iverson; no Marcus Camby. And on the Phoenix side, Amare Stoudemaire is still recovering. What can I say? Oh, and the temperature plummeted to a brisk 50 degrees, making it feel more like a Pittsburgh Steelers game than an NBA one.

All that being said, something special happened. Before the game, a massive American flag was brought out and held over most of the court. I’m talking about a basketball court-sized flag. That’s big. That’s really big. It’s not uncommon to see these types of flags at professional sporting events, particularly tennis (which was actually the venue for the outdoor stadium). The special thing that happened was that I got chills during the national anthem. I’m entirely sure why. Maybe it was something as obvious as the sheer cold and wind that felt worse while standing up. But I think it was a visceral reminder that patriotism and national pride still exists. Perhaps I was alone in my feelings, but I don’t think this is the case. I bet others out there got chills as well.

These weeks leading up to the election have been filled with lots of smear politics. Whatever. Some folks are saying that the America’s youth have no national pride. I disagree. I think teens and young adults have been given little be proud of. Let’s pretend someone is 19 and voting for the first time. They have vague recollections of Bill Clinton and they were probably in 6th grade when September 11 happened. They have had the misfortune of associating the presidency with GW43. If a young adult only is aware of politics from a macro level, the things that come to mind are a president who is a poor public speaker, a failed war in the Middle East, and inability to catch the mastermind for arguably the worst unprovoked attack in American history, a devastated economy, rising food and gas prices, and total disrespect towards our nation on the international stage. But at least the Redeem Team earned us a Gold in basketball in Beijing. My point is, despite all the macro-level failures of our political leaders this century, I still argue that there is a deep-rooted believe that we can still be the greatest nation in the world. I don’t think we are right now. I think we’re like that 2004 basketball team in Athens that thought  we could dominate anyone and then lost in the first round to Puerto Rico en route to a bronze medal. Americans want America to be great again. There are still chills when we see the flag because it’s like our long forgotten friend. It’s a symbol of struggle and overcoming that struggle. It’s a reminder of the sacrifices people before us have paved so that we could have an easier way of life. It’s a reminder that our best days are still in front of us. And it’s a hope that temporary shortcomings will ultimately just be an irrelevant bleep in our nation’s history.

The desire to want to be more is not something that can be attained by watching political chatter on CNN or FOX News. It’s not even something teachers can impart to impressionable elementary school students. It’s something you pick up along the way in everyday life. As a country, we are tired of what’s been happening. Lots of folks are disagreeing these days on the solutions to the problems, but the consensus seems to be that WE CAN BE BETTER THAN WE ARE, AND WE WILL BE!

Last night, our DUCK friend Gerard got to attend the fantastic charity event put on by world #1 men’s tennis doubles team, Bob and Mike Bryan. The event took place at the exclusive Sherwood Country Club near Thousand Oaks, CA and featured matches by James Blake and legendary retired champion Andre Agassi.

At the end of the gala dinner and silent auction, the attendees were treated to performances by Grammy-winning artists and my former acquaintances from Nashville, Evan & Jaron as well as by singing sensation Brandi Carlisle.

Below is an exclusive video of Brandi’s cover last night of “Hallelujah.” She is extraordinary and a sweetheart! Pics to come as well!

My palms are sweaty, my head is racing, and I feel sick and exhilarated all at the same time.  I’ve spent months training for this very moment, but sitting here now in this spot, I fear that I have forgotten everything.  The mouse from my computer is clinched in my right hand, a cool beverage in my left hand, and my eyes are glued to the screen trying to soak in as much information as possible in the next 10 min before the Big Show starts.

OF COURSE, I’m talking about the Fantasy Football Draft. It’s that time of year again, and I’m very excited.  The draft is where we have to compile ALL of the stats from last year, factor in the rumors and heresy from the off season, and spice it up with the very little information that we have from the inconclusive Preseason games, to put together a team of the best players from every NFL franchise to compete against the teams that our friends and coworkers have constructed.  But there is so much to learn.  The NFL consists of 32 teams each with up to 53 players per team.  That’s 1,696 players in the league to keep track of, learn about their tendencies on and off the field, and try to predict their crazy behavior as professional athletes.  And the preseason research you do could be all for not, because your #1 pick could get crushed on the first play of the year, break something, and then be out all season.  Craziness.

Now that Fantasy Football exists, we no longer have to congregate in our grandmother’s basements, mentally constructing Knights, Elf-men, and She-Warriors to have a little friendly competition with our friends.  NOW the Knights of the Gridiron live out all the randomness of a 12-sided dice, and more.

But, along with knowing the NFL and its athletes, you also have to know the players in league that you will compete against on a weekly basis.  These guys and gals are truly the ones to beat, not the National Football League, its affiliates or subsidiaries.  You have to know if Bill, the IT guy from cubicle 18, tends to play Cincinnati Bengal’s players over Chicago Bears.  OR simply knowing your cousin Sarah’s team has Peyton Manning as her starting Quarterback, and thus picking up Peyton’s receivers, so all his passing touchdowns are offset in points toward your team’s favor.  OR even possibly knowing that the team your playing next week needs a Quarterback, so you go through and Add and Drop every Quarterback on the available free agent list, so the Quarterbacks will be added to the waiver wire and not available to be chosen for another week (this is strictly a professional, and extremely shady,Fantasy Football maneuver and I don’t suggest it).

So, in conclusion, D&D was fun, but it has been replaced.  All I’m saying is get out there, join a Fantasy Football League, and draft a team.  You could start making Fantasy friends (and possibly enemies) just like me.

So far watching the Olympics has been more fun than I expected. But NBC continues to outshine itself in the category of worst coverage possible! Despite the coverage appearing sporadically and tape-delayed quite often (esp. on the West Coast), it would take a true genius to decipher when sporting events are on TV. After attempting to spend some time on www.nbcolympics.com, I’ve decided to raise the white flag. My new Olympic viewing plan is to put the TV on around 9pm and toggle between NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, and USA and hope what i want to watch is actually on. I also discovered a really fancy broadband player on the NBC site listed above. The quality is actually the best live streaming video i have ever seen. It’s a shame it won’t let you watch full-screen, but i guess that have to find a way to make you watch all those ads! (As I type, Baltimoron Michael Phelps is claiming his 3rd gold medal in 2008). Even the broadband player is confusing! You can filter all videos by sport but some of the ones that should be on don’t seem to be available. For example, i had just turned the TV on when an event was ending. I figured i could watch it again on the broadband player, but that wasn’t the case. Alas ,just wave the white flag and tune into Bob Costas red you his propagandistic version of the Olympics. But i’ll mouth-off about US media some other time. Goodnight!

Go Phelps!

If you don’t have plans tonight, you should follow the advice of DUCK’s lovely receptionist, Miss S.S., and flock to UCLA tonight. Andy Roddick will be playing the 7:30 p.m. match at the Countrywide Classic. Tickets are approximately $40. The tournament continues through Sunday and the finals will be broadcast on ESPN2.

www.countrywideclassic.com

This has been a weird weekend of sports. There is no triple crown winner. The Lakers are down to the Celtics thanks to a mysterious and miraculous injury and recovery by Celtic captain Paul Pierce. And least but not least, Roger Federer will try for the third consequtive year to defeat Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, a feat I don’t believe he has any legitimate chance of achieving this year. Maybe there will also be another baseball brawl this weekend? And Mrs. Clinton finally backed down. Yes, politics and political commentary on CNN and Fox News is like a watered down version of SportsCenter. Here’s to gas not costing $5 on Monday!

Have a great weekend everyone!