More Ron-Ron and Other Stuff Rattling Around in My Head

A bit more on Mr. Artest: As much as I appreciate what Ron Artest can routinely bring to the table in the areas of scoring and playing good defense, I have to admit that what I'm most looking forward to are the matchups with Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Paul Pierce. Never before have the Lakers had a player who can physically match up with these 3 players--or any physical small forward for that matter. Kobe Bryant has routinely taken on the assignment of guarding the other team's best perimeter player, be he a 1, 2, or a 3, and he has occasionally given up 50 pounds and taken a beating in the process. With Artest on the team, that shouldn't happen again. What's more, Artest will now always be given the assignment to guard the other team's best perimeter player--freeing Kobe up to do what he does best, namely score himself or create opportunities for others.

The Lakers/Celtics matchups this year will be epic. Hopefully, we'll get 9 of them (Lakers in 7). With Rasheed (I average 1/2 technical fouls a game) Wallace and Ron-Ron added to the mix, it could get explosive fast. Maybe we'll even see Artest put Pierce in a wheelchair for real. Really, nothing is out of the realm of possibility.

Other random stuff: I love Freddy Sanchez already. Thank you Sabean. Garko please start hitting. Kung Fu Panda. Kung Fu Panda. Kung Fu Panda. Other Giants, please score more for Lincecum and Cain. I'd really like to see Matt Cain win the Cy Young this year so we can have four Cy Young winners (and another guy with a no-no) in our rotation next year (please come back Randy Johnson.)

While I'm thinking about it--
Joe Johnston, please cast Mark Valley as "Captain America" already. He's "Agent John Scott from Fringe and the upcoming Human Target. Dude's ex-military and looks just like Cap himself. Marvel has done a great job casting for most of their movies (Tobey Maguire as Spiderman, Wesley Snipes as Blade, Hugh Jackman--and really the whole cast of the X-Men franchise, and most recently the couldn't-be-anymore-Tony-Stark Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man. Valley should be a slam dunk.

While I'm on the topic of movies, Nolan let's get cracking on Batman 3, somebody get Warner Bros. and Bryan Singer in a room so we can get that followup to Superman Returns. And bring back Brandon Routh and Kevin Spacey. Just also give us somebody else to fight too. But not Zod. Zod will always be Terrence (Come, son of Jor-El...)Stamp. How about Brainiac or Metallo. Doomsday would also be sweet. Do the "Death of Superman" storyline already.

One last thing. Here's hoping Ryan Reynolds in The Green Lantern is as cool as it sounds.

That's all I got for now. War the Giants catching the Dodgers. War Pandoval making C. Manuel pay in the playoffs for the All-Star snub. Have you seen me play now?