The Finals

I was trying to figure out how to describe the look on Lebron's face last night when he was completely dominating that game. He was in his own world - a world that very few people can journey to. It's the world that Michael Jordan would go to when he would simply refuse to lose. Lebron was not going to lose last night. It didn't matter what the circumstances were. Bill Simmons said put it really well in the last part of his column from today; last night's game was a defining moment in Lebron's career. There was tons of talk about what the Heat would do in the offseason. Should they break up the big 3? Should Spoelstra go? There would inevitably be another tidal wave of criticism directed at Lebron if Miami lost. He decided he had to just take this game into his own hands. He decided that he was going to make it clear that even if his team did lose, there was no way he could be the one to blame.

Now that last night's game happened, I'm not so sure about picking the Thunder to win the Finals. If Lebron can play like that then there might not be much that OKC can do. This is assuming that Miami beats Boston in game 7 tomorrow night, of course, which I think they will.

Honestly, though, I think I will be rooting for Boston. I think the old Celtics putting it together for one more run at the title is a cooler story. Ever since Chicago's and LA's 3-peats we haven't seen another team do it. I like watching amazing runs like that - dynasties. Lebron was supposed to have given us that at least once by this time in his career, but he hasn't. He still could, but I don't know if he's going to come into game 7 with the same mentality as he had in game 6 and which should be his mentality every time he steps on the court. Every time he steps on the court he should be thinking, I'm the best player on this court and I'm going to prove it. That's what Michael Jordan did. You might hurt some people's feelings, Lebron, but if you want to be on MJ's level you have to bring that game 6 mentality every game. So it will be interesting to see who wins tomorrow night. Lebron can take his team to the Finals if he wants to. Otherwise, Boston will continue their improbable run. It's a win-win situation. My brain says the Heat will win, but my more poetic side hopes Boston pulls it out.

Euro 2012 started today with some awesome games. There were seven goals scored in the two games. Russia dismantled the Czech Republic 4-1 and co-hosts Poland tied Greece 1-1. ESPN is doing some great coverage. Both games were on ESPN today and all of the games can be seen on ESPN 3 as well. I like the crew they've got covering the games. Bob Ley leads a panel with former USA National team member Alexi Lalas and long-time German captain Michael Ballack. It's fun to hear what Ballack has to say from his experiences playing alongside and/or against many of the best players in this tournament. The only thing is that he struggles a little bit with his English. He seems to lack a little bit of confidence with it. It's a little bit awkward and you get a little bit anxious trying to figure out what he's saying. It's kind of like listening to Shaq, only Ballack is somewhat incoherent for more legitimate reasons rather than just being too lazy to open his mouth all the way when he talks.

My beloved Romania didn't make the tournament. *Sigh*. Too bad there are very few Romanians that are proud of their country and want to stay there. They probably lose a lot of young talent because guys go and get dual citizenship and try to play in another country. They can't quite pull a Jurgen Klinsmann and convince foreigners to get dual citizenship to play for their team. Hopefully it starts working out better for the US team than it has so far under Jurgen.

Now that I'm off that tangent I'll go ahead and say that I'll be rooting for Germany. I took German in high school and am currently minoring in German at BYU, so I guess they're the only participant in Euro 2012 that I have any ties to. Hai Germania! (Imi ceri scuze, Romanilor).

Here's to hoping we have some Zinedine Zidane head-butt type of drama in this tournament. Soccer would have more American fans if it became a little bit more like hockey. Why not let them fight a little bit, eh? Just kidding...but seriously.