The Countdown To Nothing

There is nothing worse than a countdown where nothing happens as the clock reaches zeroes. All day ESPN has been counting down to midnight, because midnight on July 1st is the official start to the NBA free agency period. With lots of big names available, they are touting this as the most important off-season in NBA history; you know, even bigger than last year (though not as big as next year could be). While I get that ESPN dabbles almost exclusively in hyperbole at this point, I still have a problem with the countdown clock because nothing is actually going to happen at midnight. No free agents of consequence are going to sign right away. Everyone is waiting to first see what LeBron James is going to do and then they will react to that. He is the first domino to fall and he has given no indication he is in any hurry to pick his next destination. Because James went straight from high school to the NBA he was never really recruited by colleges and so far it seems as though he wants to make up for lost time. I would be really surprised if he signed within the first week of free agency, which means Wade, Bosh, Stoudemire and the rest of the free agent crop aren't going to sign before that. In the mean time I think ESPN can shelve the countdown clock, because tonight isn't going to be anything like New Year's Eve. (Scratch that: it's all countdown with minimal pay-off... it's just like New Year's Eve.)

-There was one NBA transaction of note today and that was Doc Rivers agreeing to come back to coach the Celtics for one last chance at the Championship. Six weeks ago I never would have seen this coming, so I can only assume that being six and half minutes and one Kendrick Perkins knee injury away from a title convinced him that they have one more run in them. Also (not that I expected him to leave), but I am pretty sure this will lock down a Paul Pierce return as well. If Doc had left I would have assumed Pierce would want to see who the next coach was going to be before signing on the dotted line. With Doc in place I expect Pierce to sign for less money than he would have made this year, but with more money down the line that he would not have been able to get under the new collective bargaining agreement. The question now is what to do with Ray Allen. Personally I would like him to come back, but it's a question of dollars. If he expects to make anywhere close to what he got this year then he is sorely mistaken. Offer him about half of what his last contract paid him and if he can make more than that on the open market than more power to him. In all honesty, I kind of want the Celtics to go after JJ Redick anyway, because he can shoot almost as well as Ray and would cost less. Then they just need to move Rasheed's contract for some big man insurance and they are all set to make another run at this. See, I went from "they're done" to "they should be the East favorites" in a week. I can talk myself into anything.

-So, this afternoon the Starz channel announced it would be cancelling the show Party Down. While I don't particularly care because I don't have that channel, this sent fans of the show into a frenzy, because that is what fans of shows do when shows get cancelled. I'm sure that a Facebook page has already been created in an effort to force Starz into one more season. Here's the thing about Party Down: much like Freaks & Geeks before it, everyone kept telling me how great it was, but I never met anyone who actually watched it. I always got the vibe that since it was one of those supposedly smart, well-written shows that get critical acclaim but terrible ratings, everyone wanted you to think they watched it but in reality they were skipping right over it so they could tune in to the Girls Next Door marathon. This is just like everyone who claims to recycle, but then tosses their pizza boxes into the trash cause they take up too much room. Perhaps rather than creating pages about how awful it is for the show to be cancelled, they should have been putting that energy into promoting the show through good word-of-mouth. Then again, it could be that everyone is just saying they're really sad to see the show get cancelled, but are actually counting down the days to the next episode of So You Think You Can Dance.