U2’s Warm Up Band

Clearly the NBA does not respect its own product.

At halftime of the first game of the NBA Finals, NBC eschewed analysis and instead cut live to U2 in concert in Boston. So after a riveting first half in which Allen Iverson scored 30 points, viewers were not treated to replays of Iverson’s incredible moves nor Bill Walton’s commentary. Instead they saw and heard “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

Now, just to be clear, the Critic is a U2 fan. In fact, the Critic made it to the Fleet Center the night before to see Bono and the boys. And it was a great show.

But NBC and the NBA are desperate. Here is the crown jewel of their season, yet they feel they need a gimmick to get people to watch the finals. Philadelphia came in as a 12-point dog and Iverson was on fire. There was a veritable plethora of highlights to show the audience at the half. Even Matt Geiger, exiled from Larry Brown’s bench, would have been a compelling subject for the analysts to discuss.

Viewers also might have been wondering why Kobe Bryant was so ineffective. But there were no answers or opinions to be given. Imagine being a Sixer or Laker fan and having to deal with the game being relegated to a sideshow. Rooting for your team the whole year just so the championship can be reduced to a vaudeville act. And it wasn’t as if NBC concentrated on basketball during the game and briefly switched gears at halftime. NBC promoted U2 before and during the game. Who would have believed that during an NBA Finals telecast, Bono would get more hype than Shaq?

One could hear the disgust in Marv Albert’s voice as he read the promos. (Just as an aside, is the Critic the only one who is still weirded out by the toupeed one?)

As if admitting their sheepishness about their actions, NBC ran a crawl with stats during U2’s airtime. Simply pathetic. All that accomplished was to distract from the show. And the production of the concert was poor. The pictures from Boston were so dark it almost looked as though someone had snuck in a camcorder.

There was historic aspect to U2’s inclusion. It was first (and likely only) time the Fleet Center was part of a championship series broadcast.

We all know that the NBA has an inferior product. It was interesting to learn that NBC and David Stern is aware of that reality as well.

The next halftime gimmick will involve Walton and other NBC Sports personalities playing the game The Weakest Link. How sad is that? The idea might be riveting if Dikembe Mutombo were to deliver one of his patented elbows to the show’s hideous and annoying host.

The game itself was fantastic. Iverson was remarkable, as he has no fear about going to the hole or missing shots. After a slow start, he torched Kobe. One wonders if Bryant’s poor offensive showing was caused in part by having to chase Iverson around on the other end of the court. Like Iverson, Shaq was fantastic, as Philly could not stop him, especially when Mutombo was on the bench. In the second half, Shaq treated Geiger like he was Arvydas Sabonis. However O’Neal’s free throw shooting regressed.

Mutombo had a good game. But if you are rooting for Philly, you wince every time he takes a short jump shot.

Kobe comes back with avengeance in Game Two.

Random Musings

Jimy Williams took out Pedro Martinez after 6 innings and 90 pitches against the Yankees on Monday. The Sox’ tired bullpen went on to blow the game. It is one thing to be careful with your star pitcher, especially since Pedro seems to get hurt once a year. But taking him out after only 90 pitches in a one run game against the Yankees is taking to it too far, unless Martinez was hurting. Due to the fact that most of the Sox relievers had pitched multiple time in the preceding four game series against Toronto, Williams relieved Pedro with the struggling but rested Rolando Arrojo, and the results were not pretty.

When Williams pulled Martinez the Yankees must have felt like they went to a Helen Hunt movie only to find out that Halle Berry took over Hunt’s role.

It is smart, but still incredibly lame that Joe Torre is refusing to allow Roger Clemens to pitch in Shea during interleague play. It would be fun to see Clemens get some of his own medicine. Suffice to say, with Piazza behind the plate calling the pitches the Rocket would not see many breaking balls.

If Clemens was as tough as he likes people to think he is, he would insist on taking the mound against the Mets.

In case you missed it, the great Al Davis called Carmen Policy and Dan Rooney “punks” and salary cap cheats. Policy and Rooney had criticized Davis over his recent failed lawsuit against the NFL.

Davis signed the great Jerry Rice. It is too bad that like Joe Montana, the future Hall of Famer will not finish his career in San Francisco. Still, at least he will not have to move his family.

How much fun is it to hear the latest revelations come out each day about which athlete got laid at the Gold Club in Atlanta? Celtic Walter McCarty was one of the latest to get fingered, pardon the pun.

The Critic had always thought McCarty was incapable of scoring.

How long will it take before Michael Irvin and Wade Boggs are named? The testimony at the trial has already revealed that Terrell Davis’ mother should be more concerned with Davis’ other off the field activities than about whether he ate his chunky soup.

Sadly Ray Bourque will never get his name on the Cup.

By: Scott Shuster