Rudy Gay's Slam Dunk Promotion

Rudy Gay is waiting for new ideas. He counts on people to think of new ways, different ways, different DUNKS. On February 16th, he will be competing in the 2008 Slam Dunk contest in the All-Star Weekend, and in a creative and ingenious promotion he has asked for your best dunk. If you want to help him, just upload a video response on the promotion page.

Ok, Rudy. This is my proposal. I don't have any doubts about this dunk. If you can do that, you WIN. Now, say hello to Mr.720.

By the way, Navarro recorded his first career block against Dallas Mavericks.

Navarro in the NBA Daily Top 10

A wonderful lay-up shot and a three-pointer with 10 seconds left from JCN, were included in the NBA Daily Top 10 plays of January 15th, 2008. In fact, they were included in the top five (positions 5th and 3rd, respectively).

The game against Cleveland (January 15th) was the first of three straight games scoring 20 or more points for Navarro.

Dani Pedrosa Injured

Very bad luck for Dani, he broke the second metacarpal bone of his right hand after crashing his Honda RC212V in pre-season testing at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia on Tuesday, 22 of January. This finger is crucial to ride the MotoGP bikes, it's the one that does the throttle and the majority of the braking.

Usually, Dani would need a minimum of six weeks before he could return to action. But, apparently, the docs think that Dani could do it in three weeks. That means, he would return for the MotoGP Official Test in Jerez on February 17th. I HOPE SO.

Good luck Dani. The Force will be with you. Always.

In the Middle of... the Regular Season

Juan Carlos Navarro has played 41 of the 82 NBA regular-season games (by the way, only JCN and Kyle Lowry have played all 41 games!!, eleven of them as starter!!). Maybe, it's a good time to summarize JCN's first NBA half-season.

Right now, he leads the League in Three-Point Field Goals Per 48 Minutes (4.12) , ranks 11th in Three-Point Field Goals Made (85.0) and 16th in Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage (0.419). He averaged 10,9 PPG, 2,2 APG and 2,2 RPG in 24,1 MPG with an efficiency of +9. It sounds good, doesn't it?

Additionally, Navarro ranks 5th in the NBA Rookie Ranking - Week 12, and 8th in the NBA Rookie Class: Top 50 at ESPN. Of course, he will play in the 2008 T-Mobile Rookie Challenge (I guess :-P), an event that pits nine rookies against nine sophomores in the All-Star Weekend.

Finally, what we see below, in the extract, is an interesting example of what Navarro is capable of doing:

" Navarro had four 20-plus point scoring games in a recent eight-day stretch. He made 23-of-38 3s in that span and shot over 50 percent from the field."

(January 23th, 2008 - David Thorpe's Analysis, NBA Rookie Top 50)

Venit, vidit, vicit

Venit, vidit, vicit...That's it. He came, he saw and he conquered. Fernando Alonso made an impressive perfect start to his return to Renault with the fastest time (1:19.503) at the second day of testing in Jerez. Pedro de la Rosa was second on the time sheets (1:19.650) and Kimi Raikkonen was third (1:19.708), both with the 2008 car.

“The result of my first day in the car is encouraging,” said Alonso.

I totally agree with him. The result is really encouraging. I hope, we can see another competitive season with Alonso on top.

Va de Secuelas

Koalillo me propone un segundo enfrentamiento. Me pide, que escoja, que me moje, con las cinco mejores secuelas cinematográficas. No hay problema. Aquí las teneis.

1. The Empire Strikes Back. Sin lugar a dudas, el mejor episodio de Star Wars. La extraordinaria Batalla de Hoth justificaría por si sola su aparición en esta lista. Pero la película contiene más momentos memorables como: el primer encuentro de Luke con Yoda, y su posterior instrucción, o la pelea entre Luke y Darth Vader finalizada con la famosa frase "Yo soy tu padre".
2. Terminator 2. Dejando a un lado a los más que impresionantes efectos especiales, la evolución de los personajes, respecto de la primera parte, es fantástica (incluida la del Terminator).
   
3. The Godfather: Part II. Aunque en mi opinión resulta excesivamente larga, hay que reconocer que se trata de una obra maestra, y que no incluirla en esta lista debe ser pecado. Digo yo.
   
4. Aliens. Representó la consolidación de la teniente Ellen Ripley, elemento INDISPENSABLE (casi más que el bicho) en esta serie.
   
5. Toy Story 2. La mejor película de Pixar (con el permiso de The Incredibles) es una secuela. A la saca.
   

Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, dado que es consecuencia de otras anteriores, podria ser considerada una secuela, pero ante la duda, he decidido no ponerla. También se me escapa, si Kill Bill 2 puede ser considerada una secuela. Por si a caso, tampoco la pongo.

Cinco Películas de Tom Cruise

El pasado viernes, decidimos (Alex y yo) jugar a hacer listas de 5 mejores, como en la película Alta Fidelidad. El juego consiste en plantear el motivo de la lista (por ejemplo, las 5 mejores canciones de todos los tiempos) y hacerla. Así de fácil. En nuestro caso, el motivo son las 5 mejores películas en las que aparece Tom Cruise :-p. Pues bien, aquí está la mía.

1. Magnolia. Sin lugar a dudas su mejor película. Tom no tiene problema en ridiculizar lo que él representa (o representaba en aquel momento, un "guaperas" con éxito, ahora está más cerca de la Cienciología).
   
2. Mission: Impossible. Increíble BSO, solo éso ya justifica este segundo puesto.
   
3. Jerry Maguire. Show me the moneeeeeyy. Inmenso Cuba Gooding Jr.
   
4. Interview with the Vampire. Hasta Antonio Banderas me gusta en está película.
   
5. Cocktail. Digo Cocktail, y podría decir Top Gun, Days of Thunder, o similares. Dejarse una de estas mierdas (lease con cariño), sería como no poner una "peli" de James Bond en una lista de Sean Connery.

Rain Man (compartiendo cartel con el siempre-inmenso Dustin Hoffman), The Color of Money (Fast Paul Newman!!!), Eyes wide shut (clink, clink, clink, ... que ambiente!!), The Firm (Gene Hackman... no hace falta decir más) o Minority Report ("thriller" espectacular, original, con acción, con ritmo), son algunas de las que me gustan, de las que podrían estar en la lista, pero no me parece que sean "tan" Tom Cruise como las que he listado arriba.

Alea iacta est (la suerte esta hechada).

The Importance of Being Fernando Alonso

If you ask me for the F1 World Champion 2008, I will answer: I don't know. However, I think that it's very, very possible that will be one of the Scuderia Ferrari or McLaren-Mercedes drivers, specially Kimi Raikkonen or Lewis Hamilton. Call me silly :-p.

I'm not sure about Felipe Massa and Heikki Kovalainen. Massa is a good driver but he is also too weak, and Heikki... well he is a 26-year-old sophomore, and driving the 4th-best car in the field he only had 4 top 6's in 18 races (Fisico, his teammate, had 5 top 6's with the same car).

In my opinion, Kimi was in the appropriate place at the appropriate moment, driving a Ferrari, of course, and Lewis... Lewis showed that he knows how to lose a F1 World Championship that he had it in his pocket.

And what about Fernando Alonso... well, well, well. We know he is going to drive the 4th-2007-best car, theoretically, a seventh place finish at the 2008 F1 World Championship should be logical. However, I think, Fernando can fight for the fifth place against the BMW Sauber drivers. Fight for the championship is very complicated, he would need more than 120 points, and Heikki last year got only 30 points!! 90 extra-points is too much to recover in only one season.

And the people who know about this, what do they say? I mean... What do the bookmakers say? Well, the bookmakers made Alonso FOURTH favorite to win the drivers championship, just ahead of Kovalainen, and just behind of Massa. The favorite to win the championship is Kimi followed by Lewis, of course.

The average relative probabilities, according to the UK principal bookmakers, are:

• 40% - Kimi Raikonnen
• 35% - Lewis Hamilton
• 17% - Felippe Massa
• 13% - Fernando Alonso
• 11% - Heikki Kovalainen

Terrific 4th Quarter for Navarro

The Memphis Grizzlies (9-23) lost to the 2008 NBA Champions Boston Celtics (28-3), 96 to 100. Navarro scored 20 points (7-9 from the floor, 3-3 from 3-pt range and 3-4 from the free throw line), grabbed two rebounds and dished-out two assists in JUST 17 minutes. The final quarter was terrific for "La Bomba", he scored 13 of 26 Grizzlies fourth-quarter points, and made two assists.

In my opinion, Navarro only needs more minutes and a little bit more confidence to show what he can do, and believe me, it's more than 10 points-per-game and two assists.

By the way, Mike Conley made his first NBA starts in the last two games, replacing Damon Stoudamire (a 13-year veteran who is seeking a trade or contract buy out). Conley's stats look very good, he leads all rookies in assists (4.1 per game in 20 minutes per game) but he hasn't played in enough contests to qualify. His maturity and poise are already impressive attributes to go along with his speed and court vision. We will see.