Top 50 and much more...

Firstly...
The finals are over, my boy Kobe is the man, sitting high with his new status as NBA Champion. Ring no. 4 couldn't have been sweeter, I loved every minute of it. The past seven years have been hard for him but oh how this must feel sweet. What a player, what a season. Congrats Lakers.

Secondly...
Just bought the new Slam Mag, in it they have released their new NBA top 50 of all time, a rankings that I love but loathe to a certain degree. I love them because as a basketball fan part of the fun is comparing players, who's better?, who's MVP? etc...it's great to see what others think and it's great conversation talk. But for some reason I hate these lists, my problem with them is that I have a hard time seeing a Bill Russell of the 60's being a better player than a LeBron or Kobe of today. Am I wrong in thinking this? I mean the game evolves everyday, players get better and better and I feel to some degree that we do a huge diservice to the games current crop of players in ranking their values due to the "we don't want to disrespect the games past greats" pedigree. I mean take tennis for instance, most have no problem saying that Roger Federer is by far the greatest tennis player ever, even though Pete Sampras technically has better numbers than the great Federer. What I mean by this is that most agree that today's players learn from the past and grow to become better, it's just evolution. When you hear talk of Jordan saying that he learnt his game from Elgin and Dr. J we immediately agree that Jordan took parts of their games to make his better, thus making him better. So then why is it so hard to understand that Kobe and LeBron technically should be pretty damn high on our lists of the greatest ever. How is a player like Russell higher than Shaq?, a player we all know would destroy all competition if he had played 30 years ago. Anywho, here's my list.

1. Jordan - He's the best for now, his numbers and titles speak for themselves.
2. Kobe - The games best now and a Jordan clone.
3. Shaq - The most dominant force ever in the NBA. Could've been no.1 if he'd had more desire.
4. Magic - I still think he'd have been just as dominant now as he was 20 years ago
5. Duncan - Pure dominance, pure fundamentals and the greatest defensive big man ever.
6. Bird - Revolutionary shooter and competitor, could do it all
7. Kareem - Mr. Sky Hook and Mr. Longevity could do it all.
8. Russell - He may have won big, but there were only 9 teams in the league at the time, this spot looks appropriate to me.
9. Wilt - The Big Dipper could do it all, his records prove it.
10. West - I'm picking West over Hakeem because Jerry went to way more finals.

My rankings as you can see are dominated by two things. 1. Players who won. 2. Players that led their teams to titles. If you look back at all the major championships/dynasties in league history, this top 10 has a hand in 47 of them. They were the cornerstones to their teams championships. They're remembered for winning and nothing else. The other 40 are irrelevant, this top 10 are the only ones worth writing about.

later.

The little things that she said

Sitting there, dreaming of yesterday, tomorrow and what may become of your life, one can only wonder upon the highs and lows that come and go. Music pumps it way into your psyche, the phrase "the little things that she said" pounding away over and over again as you stare blankly forward trying not to understand but hoping you will, that one day you might come to realize that what she said might not be what you wanted her to say. She came by and repeated them often, you tried to listen, you tried your best to learn and grow but you always gave in to temptation, you were weak and she knew your weakness could be coddled. Her love for you came from a place you knew and understood but never wanted. You blamed her for your mistakes, she was your conscience and you hated her for it. This was never how it was supposed to be, you made your bed, she should be happy now. But as it stood that was not it, she wanted more from you, she wanted you to grow up, to become a man, to be better and not settle for what she once did. However, her mistakes would end up becoming your downfall, her love gave you strength, a strength you would never use. You would end up killing her to death with your selfishness, you blame yourself for this tragedy, hers is now yours. When you die will you understand? Will you care? Will you awaken to life and realize that what you did will never be forgotten?, that one day this will all be written down, one day you will be made to pay for your transgressions. One day you will die and she will be there.

Wine: What you may not know.

Being the obsessive wine enthusiast that I am, I thought I would share for you all some info I've picked up recently from my first ever wine course. Currently I'm taking my Level 1 of the WSET or Wine Spirit Education Trust here in Vancouver. With the WSET being the most respected course in the world, I've tried my best to sit back and learn from the best.

Here are some interesting points that I've picked up so far.

- So some of you might already have known this so don't laugh at me just yet, but when making Champagne Wine in Champagne France, did you know that they turn the bottles everyday by HAND while the bottle is fermenting so as to help the yeast make its way down the bottle. This method is termed "method champenoise" a method so old in its ways that only a man can turn the bottle, yes only a man! The method itself calls for flat or regular wine to be made, generally from either pinot noir and/or chardonnay grapes. Then this wine is bottled. Yeast and sugar are then added. The bottle is then closed and put on a 45 degree angle. The bottle sits in this position until the yeast has eaten all the sugars while making its way down the bottle. As the yeast eat the sugars, the end result is CO2. This CO2 is what gives the wine its bubbles, thus making it champagne. Cool huh! As you read this you may be going, okay so what? But think about it, all bottles of champagne in the entire world are turned by hand, EACH AND EVERY ONE. That's what a couple million a year. Now that's nuts. Leave it to the french to stick with tradition.

- Wine will never have an alcohol level higher than 15%. Never. As yeast eat sugars found in grape juice during fermentation, the alcohol levels rise thus making the grape juice less sweet. However, yeast cannot live once the alcohol levels reach a certain point, they die off, therefore terminating fermentation. Now if you're ever looking to buy a dry wine, look for a high alcohol content, this generally will provide you with a wine low in sugars.

- The term "Noble grape" in reference to wine is used only for grapes that are grown from the highest quality. These grapes or vines tend to have been around for a long time, usually in France. There are only 6 types of noble grapes, 3 red and 3 white. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir for the reds, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling for the whites.

- Syrah and Shiraz are made from the same grape but are two totally different styles of wine. Syrah wines are made in the old world style, they generally have a more earthy flavor, with higher amounts of oak being present. Shiraz wines tend to be more fruit flavored, with a strong berry "jammy" taste. They also tend to have a good oakyness to them as well. If you enjoy a good Aussie Shiraz and think a Syrah will be the same, you might be shocked at how different they can be.

- This one's for Gronz. Chardonnays most classic food pairing is Oysters. Go bye a good bottle of French Chablis, bring a little hot sauce and enjoy.

- When describing wines to a friend or customer, I find most people use the terms, full bodied, sweet, oaky, tannic, etc... But what I've learnt is that acidity is the one term that best describes a wines style and it's a term that I find is rarely used. Acidity is very important to wine, it's what gives it its refreshing quality. When your mouth waters, that's acidity. Too much acidity and you can have a wine that's too tart and too little and wine will fall flat and flabby.

- The four main components of wine are Acid, Tannin, Body and Sweetness.

- Tannins come only from the skins of grapes. A white wine cannot be tannic since the skins have no contact with the juice. Tannins are what give red wine its puckery taste.

- The optimal storage temperature of wines is 11 degrees Celsius.

- This was one I was surprised to learn, but as white wines age they darken in colour whereas with red wines they lighten in colour. I would have never thought that to be the case.

Okay so that's all I want to share today. I'll give you some more soon.