Quick Thoughts

Looks like the White Sox are really hurting to get Peavy. They just got blasted by the Twins 20-1. Peavy is looking to get a contract redone for more money before he ships out to the Windy City.

Yanks are on a roll, and it is about time, they are the most expensive lineup ever.

Lakers and Magic look forward to game 2s as they both clawed back for a game 1 win, but Orlando's win way more impresive against the best team in the NBA ... Orlando won't lose at home.

Just a quick mobile post ... Been hearing A LOT of Lakers fans on FSR today, including the hosts (mainly Farnham) talk about the Lakers lackluster performance this series and how he says the Lakers will win by 20 in game 7. However, if the Lakers weren't buckled down before this to beat an under-man'ed team in the Rockets, especially after them coming to LA and beating them in game 1, then its not going to magically come around in game 7. And people are talking nonstop about this series, mainly because FSR is LA based, but the fact that they (Lakers) have not shown up in the last two games in Houston doesn't spell success just because they are in LA. The facts are Houston has played every game, and unfortunately have been bested in three of them, but have also come out on top in three as well. The Lakers have come to play in three of the games they did win, especially the 40 point win in LA, but the Rockets are going to LA with the right mindset already, while the Lakers return hoping being at home will bring that about.

That won't cut it.

NBA Playoff Thoughts

The NBA has been waiting a long time for a playoff year such as this. Their poster child, LeBron James is MVP and part of the best team in the L, Kobe and the Lakers are right there with the Cavs, and there is a slew of young talent and not to mention a very, very intriguing first round, with two of the four first round playoff games going to Game 7s in the East and two others going to Game 6s. The West, however, seems to not have such luck, with only one series going to Game 6, the rest ended in 5.

The East has proved to be as deep as I predicted a few weeks back, and it could be very possible to see a team other than the Cavs in the Finals, although it may seems inevitable for King James to make it back to the Conference Finals, granted the Hawks are young for the most part and not much experience together. The Boston-Orlando series is officially the one to watch. After a monster lead at the beginning of the 3rd quarter, Boston fought back to as little as 3 points back, but Orlando did just enough to finish Boston on their home court. Dwight Howard is unstoppable, and I find it hard to believe that Garnett would have any affect on Howard down low. Howard is much stronger, and maybe not as long, but Garnett would be handled just as easily as Howard is handling Perkins and Davis down low.

The West's Lakers-Rockets series is also intriguing because the Rockets could not get one win against the Lakers, and they travel to L.A. and get a gritty, gutty win, in a game that was close the entire night, they were able to weather the Black Mamba in the 4th quarter and dismantle the rest of the team's offense to win. Yao, however, has to put up 25 plus points along with Artest's good defense and ball control to have a shot, but the Rocket's are defense-minded, which can enable them to either slow Kobe down, or make everyone else non-effective. Denver looks to be in the front seat against Dallas, because there is too much offense from Denver and little defense from Dallas, but expect there to be a lot of close, down-to-the-wire games.

Watching Cleveland on the court now against Atlanta, the Cavs are an extremely good team. LeBron was on the bench while they rattled off 19-9 run after tying the game at 17 with 4:30 left in the first. Atlanta has been scared to defend LeBron, and they allow him to step back and shoot, and he will murder this Hawks team if he is allowed that. Let him drive into help defense, and there are plenty of athletes on the Hawks to make a play on the ball and either force LeBron into a poor shot, or force it back out.

And what do you say some predictions for the 2nd Round:

Cleveland in 5 (3-0 at home, 1-1 on the road)
Orlando in 6 (2-1 at home, 2-1 on the road)

Denver in 5 (3-0 at home, 1-1 on the road)

L.A. in 7 (2-2 at home, 2-1 on the road)

Dwight Howard is the Beast of the East, and looks to knock off the defending champs, the Boston Celtics, in the second round.

Microsoft v. GNU/Linux

I have been using a Linux-based OS now for nearly a year, and I can say that it has made life a tad easier in most aspects. However, there are the few cases where I need to switch back to Windows via dual-booting, and the reasons will only grow larger as trends change.

Microsoft and its Silverlight software is becoming rather large among online video streaming services (e.g. Netflix) and Adobe has also shifted all technologies with Flash Player to Windows (e.g. ABC's Full Episode Player does not support Linux). As more and more companies find that online video services are more than likely where all the big money can come in via sponsorship from advertisements or the fact the Microsoft will pay them to support their platform, Linux distros will have a hard time finding any mainstream attention because there is no breakthrough for the mainstream. Sure, developers and techies love the Linux kernel, and love its flexibility for a workstation, server, you name it, but that is where the spread stops if there is not support from these online media services.

I would love to see Linux grow, and mainly grow to consumers who want entertainment systems that have the ability to watch streaming high-definition via the web, but as long as Microsoft has the money to lead away potientals from supporting open-source, the open-source movement will not reach its heights.