Pistons Earn Big Win Over Champion Spurs

The NBA's greatest rivalry intensified on Christmas Day, as the Detroit Pistons got a huge win over last season's NBA champion San Antonio Spurs.

In the Finals the Pistons lost Game 7 in San Antonio and All Star guard Manu Ginobli was a big reason the Spurs were able to get the necessary four wins. This time around Ginobli was out with an injury and the Spurs showed how much they needed his scoring, ball handling and playmaking.

The final score, 85-70, was misleading as the Spurs hung close until the fourth quarter, when the Pistons offense hit high gear and Detroit finished with an easy win.

Detroit is 22-3 heading into tonight's game against the Toronto Raptors.

Eavesdropping Without Court Order Threatens U.S. Constitution

Privacy is paramount to the protection of our freedoms in America. Who could argue with that statement? Well, nobody openly would say that the government should invade our lives. But the controversy over the anti-terrorism methods, the eavesdropping, wiretapping, spying or whatever term is being used in a given story or commentary, makes us really think about the freedoms we often take for granted.

On this Christmas Day 2005, it was reported that former Secretary of State Colin Powell is in favor of the use of eavesdropping...and this comes as somewhat of a shock to this writer.

The Bush Administration appears to be trying to diffuse criticism about the president authorizing wiretaps by bringing a well-respected American, Powell, to his defense. Unfortunately, the main questions remain: Why didn't the president get a court warrant first? And also, were only actual terrorist suspects investigated?

The problem with this sort of anti-terror policy is it at the very least appears unconstitutional. No matter whether this administration's intentions and actions turn out to be legitimate, future presidents will have expanded powers whenever they say we are in a war if eavesdropping without a court order is allowed to stand.

Pistons Accelerate to 20 Wins

The Detroit Pistons won their 20th game on December 20 by beating the Portland Trail Blazers. Detroit is off to it's best start ever. More importantly, the Pistons are battling for the best record and homecourt advantage in the playoffs.

San Antonio had the homecourt edge in the NBA Finals last June and defeated Detroit in Game 7 to win it's third NBA title. Because these two teams match up so well at every position, where they play Game 7 could again be the deciding factor.

Meanwhile, the Spurs lost a nail-biter in overtime to the much-improved Milwaukie Bucks and the Dallas Mavericks, another team capable of the best record, couldn't defend against Kobe Bryant, whose 62 points led the Los Angeles Lakers past the Mavs and kept them from becoming co-leader in the Western Conference.

Detroit Pistons Winning Ways

The Detroit Pistons have played just eight games at home so far…and they are 7-1 in those games, plus 12-2 on the road. Needless to say, at 19-3, the Pistons have the best record in the NBA. It’s very early in the season, but Detroit is on pace to catch the Chicago Bulls, who are the only team in league history to win more than 70 games. Michael Jordan, who this writer feels is clearly the best basketball player of all-time, led the Bulls to 72 wins 10 years ago.

It doesn’t matter where you look on the planet, you won’t find a player anywhere near Jordan’s ability to make game-winning shots and lead his team to championships.

Basketball experts keep saying the Pistons lack a superstar. This writer could not disagree more. It might be that there are two Most Valuable Player Award candidates on this team, with guards Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups deserving attention for the award.

Views Affect The News

What is News? It turns out it's whatever the major news media think is important enough to report on television, the radio, newspaper or on their news websites.

Let's forget about that for a moment. Really the news that matters is what affects the lives of people every day.

Celebrities walking down the street to the corner grocery store with no make up on, looking like they don't own a hairbrush or a home with a shower is news in a very lowercase sense.

Okay, millions of people think it's pretty amusing or they wouldn't be snapping pictures of beautiful actresses suffering through their most human moments.

Views often become news as well. How many people really are personally impacted by the finalized trade of a controversial athlete? Not many. But we all love the controversy and sure enjoy chatting with friends and talk show hosts about the player. What sports fans think is a story in itself. If player and the trade wasn't controversial, fans probably wouldn't care and it wouldn't be a huge story.

And then there are sensationalized news, supposed trials of our lifetime, political scandals and other wild stories with a stranglehold on national coverage, as though reporters don't know how to get off one story and onto another.

We get tired of the sensationalism, but there never seems to be an end to it. That may be why many people are so sick of "the NEWS" and would rather have their own blogs to share their ideas, insights, and what they feel is important with their readers. The rapid growth of this form of communication is one of the big news stories in recent years.

This blog is not an attempt at newswriting, rather it is all about analysis of what is going on around the planet, the news, and it pays particular attention to cultural, political, and social ideas and actions. And let's not forget some fun along the way, which means sports, movies, food, and music when the time permits.