This is something I wrote back on 27 April 2007 right before game 3 was played.
While many people looking at the series between the Mavericks and Golden State say that this is only game 3, and there is plenty of time if the Mavericks lose this game tonight for them to come back in the series, I believe that the Mavericks must win this game to take control of the series, or they may be looking at a very embarrasing early exit from the 2007 playoffs.
With the series shifting back to Oakland tied 1-1, Golden State has to be happy with the way they are playing, and the results of the games. Sure, they could be up 2-0, but realistically, I think splitting the games in Dallas with the Mavs must make Don Nelson and his staff ecstatic.
The Mavs in the regular season went 36-5 at home, 68-14 overall for the season. They were in a playoff mode from the get-go. Three of those 14 losses came against Golden State, two of them away from home. Golden state has Mavs MVP Dirk Nowitzki, and possibly the NBA MVP playing like an extremely average player.
The Mavericks bench, with the exception of Jerry Stackhouse, who decided to come to play on Wednesday night, has been nearly non existent for the first two games of the season.
The Mavericks need to win, and win quick or else they will run the risk of letting the Warriors think that they can hang with the Mavericks. The longer that Golden State hangs around, the more confidence they are going to get. That is why Mavs fans need to see this series over as soon as possible. The longer Dallas allows the genius coach Don Nelson to scheme up plans to limit the Mavericks weapons, the more they will lose control of the series.
It might be wise to remember that Nellie basically hand crafted this team. He was the coach when they drafted Dirk, Devin Harris, Josh Howard, and besides a few pieces, (i.e. Devin George, Greg Buckner and Austin Croshere), he pretty much built the team, and took the Mavericks from a punch line to playoff contenders. He also had Avery as his assistant coach for a few of those years. So if anyone knows how to stop the Mavericks, its Nelson.
However, history would be on Dallas’ side. only two other eighth seeded teams have beaten a one seed, and very few have not won the NBA title after having a season like the Mavs did.
With that being said, Dallas quit playing meaningful games outside of the Spurs game long before the season was ended. Golden State was fighting their rear ends off just to get into the playoffs. And already two games into this series, it seems like the layoff is hurting Dallas. They aren’t in the kind of control of the games as they once were. They are realistically a Baron Davis temper tantrum away from being down 2-0 at home.
No its not time to panic, There is still time for the Mavericks to revert to the team that won 17 games in a row at one point, which is one more that is necessary for an NBA title, but it is also not the time to start re-planning that Championship Parade though Dallas. If the Mavs don’t get it together quick, they might be looking at the most disappointing off season in their
history.
Jordan Dodson
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Issues In America
We live in America, a place where ideas, dreams, and contrasting opinions are welcomed and applauded. With those freedoms comes the responsibility of the citizens of the United States to voice out concerns of the state of our great land. As an American teenager, I have an important role of voicing concerns for my country. This land will soon be mine, and my peers, to rule, to govern to the best of our abilities, so help us God. I love my country, and I want the very best for it. There are three problems that I believe need to be dealt with in the government, or we will be setting ourselves up for national failure down the road. Those three problems are national debt, the war Iraq, and Illegal Immigration.
The debt problem of America is absolutely ridiculous. I think that it is completely foolish and shows that the american people do not know the first thing about handling money. As of September 6th, 2007, the gross national debt was 8.9 trillion dollars. In the year 2006, 406 billion dollars was spent on just interest payments by the US government. The debt is created when the government spends more money than it gets on income. There needs to be a solution before our nation falls so far into debt, that there literally is no way on earth it can be repaid. There are very few ways to fix this problem however. one, is to increase taxes, which is rarely ever a good idea in the view of the american public. Another, and one that I would recommend would be to put a cap on government spending. Perhaps a 5% cap on all government spending until the debt is gone. Another way would be to stop importing so many foreign goods, and start importing more domestic goods. I am not an expert economist, and I don’t know if my ideas would create chaos, but i do soundly believe something needs to be done about the national debt of our nation. The borrower is servant to the lender, and the US cannot expect to keep borrowing so much money without having to eventually pay some kind of hefty consequences.
I do not think it sends a good message to the rest of the world for the President to be so in favor of a war in Iraq, and, it seems, the rest of the government to be in full disagreement with it. I think that the President and Congress need to get on the same page with timelines, agendas, plans, and they need to stick to them. If that calls for a troop evacuation, then that is what needs to happen. If that is for our troops to stick it out there for another 3 years, then that is fine. I just think that our government needs to get onto the same page, evaluate if us being over there is serving its purpose, if we are doing good, and make an educated decision based on that information, and stand behind it. If all of the government shows a united front of standing together and making a decision, even if that means some people in Congress may not totally agree, or they may need to lay down some rights, or the president may need to take a step back and take a look and what is going on, it will do wonders for giving the people of the United States more confidence in our government.
I live in Texas, a state with almost all of its southern border touching Mexico. I have absolutely no discrimination of Mexicans, and I view them all as equal people in the world, but I think that Congress and the president need to come to some kind of policy on foreign immigration. It is perfectly fine with me if immigrants want to come to america to better their lives and better themselves. I applaud that. But it takes some work, and it is not easy, to get into the country. And it should be that way. It should not be easy to just come into America whenever someone feels like it. Our customs should be efficient, but it should also be difficult to get through. I think that the government really needs to start cracking down on illegal immigration for the safety of its own people. There is absolutely no telling when a terrorist could illegally get into the country with the purpose of doing harm, and there would would be no way of knowing what on earth was going on until, God forbid, it was too late. I think the government needs to take steps to strengthen Homeland Security to protect all of our borders, oceans and checkpoints, just so that we can keep track of what is going on in our immediate area.
In conclusion, these are a few of the problems facing America today. No, they don’t all have easy solutions, some are going to hurt, and some are going to take quite a bit of time before they are no longer issues. To keep putting them off could result in some horrible consequences. I know that right now the lawmakers are doing their best to do right and just by the American people, but sometimes that involves getting out of ourselves, and choosing to think of others, and the American people, more than ourselves. I believe that with teamwork and selfless attitudes we as a nation can rise above the problems that are facing us, come up with solutions that benefit as many as possible, and beat whatever problems may come our way.
The debt problem of America is absolutely ridiculous. I think that it is completely foolish and shows that the american people do not know the first thing about handling money. As of September 6th, 2007, the gross national debt was 8.9 trillion dollars. In the year 2006, 406 billion dollars was spent on just interest payments by the US government. The debt is created when the government spends more money than it gets on income. There needs to be a solution before our nation falls so far into debt, that there literally is no way on earth it can be repaid. There are very few ways to fix this problem however. one, is to increase taxes, which is rarely ever a good idea in the view of the american public. Another, and one that I would recommend would be to put a cap on government spending. Perhaps a 5% cap on all government spending until the debt is gone. Another way would be to stop importing so many foreign goods, and start importing more domestic goods. I am not an expert economist, and I don’t know if my ideas would create chaos, but i do soundly believe something needs to be done about the national debt of our nation. The borrower is servant to the lender, and the US cannot expect to keep borrowing so much money without having to eventually pay some kind of hefty consequences.
I do not think it sends a good message to the rest of the world for the President to be so in favor of a war in Iraq, and, it seems, the rest of the government to be in full disagreement with it. I think that the President and Congress need to get on the same page with timelines, agendas, plans, and they need to stick to them. If that calls for a troop evacuation, then that is what needs to happen. If that is for our troops to stick it out there for another 3 years, then that is fine. I just think that our government needs to get onto the same page, evaluate if us being over there is serving its purpose, if we are doing good, and make an educated decision based on that information, and stand behind it. If all of the government shows a united front of standing together and making a decision, even if that means some people in Congress may not totally agree, or they may need to lay down some rights, or the president may need to take a step back and take a look and what is going on, it will do wonders for giving the people of the United States more confidence in our government.
I live in Texas, a state with almost all of its southern border touching Mexico. I have absolutely no discrimination of Mexicans, and I view them all as equal people in the world, but I think that Congress and the president need to come to some kind of policy on foreign immigration. It is perfectly fine with me if immigrants want to come to america to better their lives and better themselves. I applaud that. But it takes some work, and it is not easy, to get into the country. And it should be that way. It should not be easy to just come into America whenever someone feels like it. Our customs should be efficient, but it should also be difficult to get through. I think that the government really needs to start cracking down on illegal immigration for the safety of its own people. There is absolutely no telling when a terrorist could illegally get into the country with the purpose of doing harm, and there would would be no way of knowing what on earth was going on until, God forbid, it was too late. I think the government needs to take steps to strengthen Homeland Security to protect all of our borders, oceans and checkpoints, just so that we can keep track of what is going on in our immediate area.
In conclusion, these are a few of the problems facing America today. No, they don’t all have easy solutions, some are going to hurt, and some are going to take quite a bit of time before they are no longer issues. To keep putting them off could result in some horrible consequences. I know that right now the lawmakers are doing their best to do right and just by the American people, but sometimes that involves getting out of ourselves, and choosing to think of others, and the American people, more than ourselves. I believe that with teamwork and selfless attitudes we as a nation can rise above the problems that are facing us, come up with solutions that benefit as many as possible, and beat whatever problems may come our way.
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