Danse Macabre

- I'm sure everybody knows by now that President Bush's approval ratings are in the high 20's, low 30's. It's mentioned in just about every article I read.

I mentioned to Brian the other day my observation that Congress' approval rating isn't mentioned by the mainstream media; they're lower, by the way, in the low-to-mid 20's.

In a bizarre set of circumstances, I was proven to be wrong. I heard a reporter from MSNBC mention it the other morning. Thursday morning, in fact. At 4:30 a.m.

Nope, not hiding anything.

- The sermon we heard last Sunday was about parenting. The pastor mentioned that he never let video games in the house because he wanted to teach his children that life is valuable, a lesson he doesn't believe the games provide.

In video games, he taught, when the on-screen player suffers death, usually violent, the real-life player simply gets a new man, the end result being a diminished respect for the fragility of mortality. I thought, How unfortunate he couldn't teach his children reality versus fiction.

Because when I play Pac-Man and don't finish the first screen with the same man, I start all over again.

Does that mean my kid is going to grow up to be like Pac-Man Jones or Rae Carruth?

- Speaking of jocularity and life and death, I'm currently listening to Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. The book journals her excursions to various sites involving the assassinations of the three 19th century American presidents, provides background information regarding the assassins, and comments on the commonalities between the Indian wars and the War on Terror - an agreement to exterminate a race but display their pottery in our museums as evidence of that race's greatness.

In a lurid way, it's a really funny book. She brilliantly, but reverently, injects quite a bit of humor into the serious subject matter. For instance, revealing a crush on Booth but blaming him for never carrying cash (particularly 5 dollar bills), likening Guiteau's religious community to the teeny-bopper hit series, The O.C., and revealing Robert Todd Lincoln to be the ultimate political cooler due to his proximity to all three assassinations.

- Robert Horry seems to be suffering from revisionist's history. In case you didn't hear, he said that this year's Spurs would beat any team from the 80's. Any team.

It was quite timely as I watched Game 4 of the 1987 finals last weekend.

Let's consider this for a quick second, because that's all it would take. And I'll confine myself to just those two teams from that one year.

First, this year's Spurs didn't even win their regular season conference. Granted, the regular season doesn't mean much; just ask irk.

The Lakers went 65-17 that year; the Celtics went 59-23. The Spurs are already in third place at 58-24.

Here's some basic line ups I put together, with comments.

Magic v. Bowen - Simply put, Magic would eat him alive. Magic ate everybody alive. Put a 1 or 2 on him, Magic would post up. Put a 3, 4, or 5 on him, Magic would drive right past.

Cooper v. Ginobili - Would Ginobili get to double digits? Coop would D him up something fierce.

Scott v. Parker - This would be a great match-up. I'll give the upper hand to Parker though.

Worthy v. Finley - Two slow guys who don't slash much to the lane. Even match-up though Worthy was better in the open court but Finley plays better without the ball.

Abdul-Jabbar v. Duncan - In a rare moment of compassion, I won't even consider the possibilities.

Even if Oberto got the start and not Ginoboli (like what happened Thursday), I'd put Worthy on Oberto and Cooper on Finley. Either way, Lakers crush.

Now, the Celtics:

Bird v. Bowen - A fairly decent match-up with Bird getting the obvious nod. Though slow in the open court, Bird was very quick in a half-court game. Bowen would spend most of the night on the bench with more fouls than points and rebounds.

McHale v. Giniboli - Ginobili might get past McHale every once in a while. But he wouldn't get many shots over him.

Johnson v. Parker - I have nothing bad to say about Parker. He'd do well in this match-up.

Ainge v. Finley - a mismatch favoring Fin. Both work well off screens to get plenty of open shots, though.

Parish v. Duncan - Not as bad as an Abdul-Jabbar/Duncan match-up, but still ridiculous.

The 2007 Spurs do have a best bench of the three with Barry and Horry as their top reserves. The Lakers, with Green and Thompson, provided good defense but contributed little to the offensive. Same thing with the Celtics (Sichting and Kite).

Putting together a mythical championship series based on regular season standings and using the current 2-3-2 format, I'd give the Lakers a 4 games to 1 victory and the Celtics a 4:2.

I will say this however. In Game 4 alone, there were plenty of fights - Worthy v. Kite, McHale v. Scott. Both teams played tough, physical basketball but were professionals. They would not put up with the junk Bowen and Horry dish out today. And since this is my fictional match-up, we're not playing with the zero tolerance rule regarding altercations.

Reserves, feel free to leave the bench at any time.