It's taken me a while to post an entry because I was going through the graduation exit phase. And right after I left Tallahassee, which was literally the day after I walked the stage, I began planning for my vacation trip.
Which brings me to where I am right now: the U.K. I arrived yesterday, and have been fighting jet lag; determined to get off it as soon as possible. But at this very moment, it seems to be serving a good purpose as I am up at 4:36 a.m. (EST) watching the intense playoff game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks. Didn't think I was going to let a little time difference (5 hours) stop me from enjoying the NBA playoffs did you? I also caught the Chicago Bulls-Atlanta Hawks boring match up, which threatened to send me to sleep early with its boring 48 minutes of action.
I am on my second day of a 17-day vacation in Europe where I'll be staying in London and taking short four-day trip to Barcelona, Spain. I am quite aware of how envious my family and friends are, but I think it's well deserved considering my many sleepless nights working on documentaries and news packages.
What I'm really excited about is the great weather London has right now. My first visit to the U.K. was in December 2006, which was quite cold and rainy. By 4 p.m. it was already dark, so I never got to do any of the tourist attractions. This time? Nothing's stopping me. I've already planned a day-long bus tour around London's main attractions and will share some of my pictures and videos with you all.
No I haven't forgotten this is a sports blog. But since some of you want to see more non-sports content here, I want to satisfy all of my audience; as few and loyal as you are. I'm hoping I'll get a chance to tour one or two soccer stadiums, and if the opportunity permits, I'll make a few sports comments like this one, my prediction for the NBA finals.
I never got a chance to say this with all the work I had on my plate. So let me say this now, I'm going with the Miami Heat as the 2011 NBA champions. Yes, there's some bias there as I'm a long-time Heat fan, but I also do think no one can beat this Heat team if everyone's dialed in. The Celtics old and injured legs can't keep up with the athleticism on the Heat's roster and the Bulls, though athletic, have an injured MVP for a leader and not as much experience in big-game moments as the Heat. The Lakers have lost home both home games to the Mavs and win or lose, I can't see the Mavs losing two home games to let the Lakers back in. I'm picking the Oklahoma Thunder over the Memphis Grizzlies even as the latter continue their upset campaign over much better regular season teams. I'm picking the more experienced Dirk Nowitzki-led Mavs over the talented, but younger Thunder team. Russell Westbrook's poor decision-making skills to take the offense into his hands instead of letting Kevin Durant manage it, will cost the team a first NBA finals.
So while I dash back to this feisty game with three minutes left, I make my bold prediction that the Heat would win the franchise's second championship over the Mavs in six games. Now how fitting would it be to get it at the expense of the same team the Heat beat five years ago?
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