Larry Walnuts

I don't watch The Sopranos, but I did get pulled into a discussion about Journey this week. Unless you've been too wrapped in NBA Finals madness to pay attention, you probably know the seminal HBO series wrapped up this week. You probably also know the closing scenes were set against Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'."

"Where do you stand on Journey?" was the message behind Matt Thurber's sending this article, which defended the band's creamy goodness. "This guy's an idiot," wrote Matt. I demurred, saying that listening to Journey is like digging into a big bowl of Trix: There's no nutritional value, you'll be hungry again in 30 minutes, but each mouthful brings sunny, deeply satisfying memories of youth.

For the record, "Don't Stop Believin'" this week climbed to number 30 on the iTunes popularity list and number 55 on Amazon.com’s music chart."

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Did anyone stop believin' for one minute the San Antonio Spurs were not going to sweep this year's NBA Finals? David Stern tried to put a positive spin on the fact that professional basketball is becoming a niche sport, more like hockey or boxing than must-see Sunday afternoon fare like NFL football or NASCAR. "It's the Internet!" he said, suggesting that the millions of missing NBA fans were "consuming" the games via the web. Ah, no. They weren't. They were outside mowing the lawn, or watching So You Think You Can Dance?, because your game has become B-O-R-I-N-G.

To remind yourself how far the Finals have falen, check out this article about the 1984 finals that Jim Julian passed along. I don't know what the average age of a St. John's player is any more, but I bet this article will bring back fond memories for most.

Wanting to refresh my memory about just how good Larry Bird was, I watched some old videos on YouTube. Watching Bird now, as an older player, I can see there was a singular principle with which he approached the game that always put him in position to influence the play: Don't stop movin'.



It's not nostalgia, young 'uns. It really was a better game then.

Please let me know if you will or will not be playing hoops at St. John's tomorrow. We tip off at 8:00 a.m., as usual.