Okay YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

You do know you aren't supposed to say the A word or its H word equivalent until Easter Sunday, right?

Maybe in your religion, but not in everyone's.

Bo is a self professed Christian and I directed my statement to him very clealry and concisely, unlike YJ's "you're not wanted here" which implied the forum at large.

Wow to bring the YJ venom out of the thread to the whole forum.

I'm curious, why aren't you allowed to say it until Sunday?

During Lent, it is customary to not he celebrating but instead be contemplative and prayerful. The A/H word is a proclamation of joy and is reserved for proclaiming Christ's resurrection on Easter.

If Jesus was alive today would he be supporting the Cardinals?

I thought Bo was jewish.

Well then I guess it's OK, but an atheist should never say it as it literally means "Praise God".

Ah no clue, but people do use it without the intended religious connotations as well.

Atheists say such things as "oh my God" and "God damnit" all the time. It needn't have anything to do with the actual belief in a supreme being.

Hallelujah practically means fuck yea at this point.

Sure and they say all kinds of swear words that refer to the Father or the Son all the time. Makes you wonder if they actually are atheists, why do they keep calling on him?

Because they're common expressions and words are just words. Giving meaning to them that isn't intended and isn't actually interpreted is silly.

But words have meaning. To not recognize that means I could just say "cat cow grass dog eagle marked flailing penises" and have it mean anything. Communication fails when words cease to have meaning.

Sure they have meaning, but meaning changes. Those things mean nothing more than any other exclamation now, and you know that.

Draug, where in the fuck did you get the idea that I was a "self professed Christian?" I bash Christianity all the time and uhh, I'm also not Christian in the slightest.

@bo - Must be confusing you with steepie or comebody else again. Sorry. I thought you were Christian but anti-Catholic or something.

What is your faith anyways Bo.. Jewish like I thought or Atheist?

I was born into Reform Judaism and I consider myself a Jewish Atheist (a misnomer of sorts, but that's what it's called), that meaning that I follow Jewish principle in life but I don't allow Judaic story to impact my daily decisions. In other words, I do some of what Judaism commands because I was raised that way but I don't identify as Jewish and don't believe in Jewish tradition or mythology.

I haven't watched any basketball this year,but just for interest does anyone know why my Lakers are doing so poorly?

Yeah, they suck.

I've heard so many people bitch about the Bulls this year. But hey at least the Blackhawks are doing well.

"Yeah, they suck."
But why is my question. They've taken their division for 5 straight years, and suddenly can barely break .500 with the addition of Nash and Howard.

Too many egos. The Heat play well together because James is good enough to know that he doesn't have to do everything, he just has to make this teammates better. Howard doesn't know this, Kobe doesn't know this, and Nash is too old to make a difference at this point.

A big part of the Lakers woes right now is with the new owner, and the coaching. The Lakers got rocked by the Suns last week on the second night of a Back-to-Back. D'Antoni refused to play any of the bench aside from Jamison and Blake, until the game was already lost in the fourth. Phil Jackson was known for building his bench player's confidence throughout the year by integrating them more. Yes, the Lakers bench isn't amazingly talented, but those younger players will only improve by getting time to play.

Oh, and the extreme hubris going into this season didn't help matters. Metta World Peace talking about them being able to contend for the best record ever before they had even played a minute as a team was just silly.

Nash hasn't mattered. He's not what he used to be.

Dwight Howard has actually been a monster. He's been really good when he's playing healthy, better than Bynum would have been, but overall, the trade has been a complete bust for all sides involved. I don't blame Dwight at all; he's played well when given the chance.

Kobe is Kobe. He's one of the best players in the history of the league and he's also the player that has missed more shots than anyone else in NBA history. When he passes the ball, he's incredible, and I honestly think that he could have been even better if he'd played that way throughout his career, and if he had tried to be, he could have been one of the best point guards in the history of the league (obviously he's one of the best SGs in the history of the league too, but he still takes too many shots that aren't there). Case in point, when he stopped shooting every time he got the ball, the team really improved, and with that the morale went up and the chemistry went up. Despite the recent downturn, I think the Lakers are a threat if they pull off the 8-seed against the Spurs, but I don't think they can beat the Thunder, Clippers, or Grizzlies, even without Rudy Gay.

The worst thing this year has been Gasol. He's been a sad slouch and is no longer even in partial control of his spot on the team, and that's saying something when you consider that he was the star forward of the division a few years back, fighting some guy named Chris Kaman. Now he's a long, long way behind Blake Griffin, who by the way is Dominique Wilkins' long lost cousin or something. Maybe he's just in costume.

D'Antoni has been okay, not great, but not bad. I think it's mostly that the two holes this year are underneath when Dwight is hurt and Gasol continues to suck and some shooting capability on the outside, but that's better since Earl Clark has started shooting relatively consistently and Kobe passes.

The Lakers will be fine if they make the postseason against the Spurs, maybe put up a fight. They'll be fine this offseason and next year for sure. Hopefully Kobe has a few years left; he's fun to watch.

Fair enough, Kobe is probably the player with the biggest ego in the game.

For the record I only like the Lakers because of Nash, I was a Suns fan before now. I though Nash and Kobe would make a great team, but results have proven otherwise.

I could say give it some time and eventually Howard and Kobe will learn, but I really want Nash to get a ring before he retires so hope its sooner rather then later.

But for now it looks like I'm going to be cheering for anyone but Miami for the 3rd straight year.

Kobe has the biggest ego but he also has the hottest fire of anyone in the game and I absolutely love that - and miss that - about players.

The Pacers, Knicks, Spurs, Thunder, and potentially Bulls and Grizzlies are all in it along with the Heat. I think they can be beat, maybe with a little luck, but it happens all the time. I still maintain the Heat had a bit of luck last year against the Pacers anyway, though they probably would have won it in 7 no matter what.

Most missed shots in history. Kobe tries to do everything on his own and I don't like that.

While I'm not a big fan of Kobe, my least favourite player is Lebron, and I was really hoping he wasn't going to get a ring. I didn't see any of the heat-pacers last year, so can't judge if they were lucky, but the Celtics was also close, just Maimi pulled through and dominated in the last 2 games.