Cavs dominate the Knicks, Shaq's surgery, LeBron's Jersey and Trivia

Ok - I'm a little "sported" out, so some quick basketball bullets and then a quick write-up about an intellectual sport ~ trivia...

BASKETBALL

• My friend asked me what I thought about his decision to take the Knicks +11 last night. Yeah, you read that right... He wanted to take the Knicks +11 over the Cavs!?!?! Yeah, I couldn't believe it either.  Needless to say, he lost.
• Yesterday, Shaq had surgery yesterday on his hand in Baltimore.  He's out for 6-8 weeks (depending on who you read)... Playoffs begin on April 17.  Enough said. 
• LeBron completed the paperwork to change his jersey number to 6... If you're a Cavs/LeBron fan, get ready to cough up some $$$ to be "current"...  If the league approves the change, look for LeBron to go to #1 in terms of jersey sales.  I'm a Cavs/LeBron fan, but I don't buy jerseys. Personally, I'm not in favor of athletes changing jersey numbers (i.e I realize that #6 is his Olympic number etc.). Why all of a sudden is LeBron abandoning #23? It's not as if it was a surprise that Jordan was #23...   The simple answer is that it "Must be the Money". 
• According to Brian Windhorst, "Players do not directly benefit from merchandise sales, however. It goes into a league-wide pool that is distributed to teams and then players based on seniority."
• I just checked the current collective bargaining agreement to find the exact wording ~ but let's face it, no one who reads this blog really cares about the specific wording...  Anyway...  Back "in the day" I've seen the checks that come out of the "pool", and they're not too shabby (i.e. for us in the "general population").  Further, if I remember correctly, the players received the checks three times a year.  Regardless, at the end of the day, those checks are nominal compared to the salaries these guys are pulling down.  Unless the player is a 2nd round draft pick I doubt he cares strongly about his share of the pool.  Incidentally, I've spoken to a few 2nd rounders and those are the guys that are also saving their per diem...  Lol.

Lessons Learned:

1. Don't bet the Knicks EVER against the Cavs.
2. A jersey number change equals an increase in NBA player "pocket change".

TRIVIA

Yesterday I went to trivia.  Moral of the story.  Go with your gut.  There was a question about the shortest Bible verse and the question was about for "whom Jesus wept".  For some reason, the name "Lazarus" came to mind.  Sure enough, that was the correct answer.  Random.

We went into the fnal round (i.e. 1 point away from the lead) and the category was "Michelangelo".  The only work that came to mind was "La Pieta", since I'd seen the piece while I was at the Vatican in October 2009.

Here's the picture I snapped of La Pieta, when I was at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.

I was joking with my teammate to write it down as the answer, before the question was even read.  Well, the question was something about the only work that Michelango signed ~ and sure enough, the answer WAS "La Pieta".  Unfortunately our team answered the Sistine Chapel...  Oh well...  I could've sworn that no one signs statues.  Do you see Michelangelo's autograph? I don't...

Don't worry team ~ we'll get 'em next time!

Lessons learned:

1. I just might be a little psychic... 
2. Listen to the voice in your head (i.e. unless of course it's telling you to do something harmful to someone else or yourself ~ you didn't really need me to tell you that.... did you?)

Go Cavs!

Don't forget to get your LeBron #23 jersey, while you can :-P



THE WIRK