Heck no, the Celtics overachieved.  They really never should have gone past the Pacers.  

Also, I should have clarified, those quotes are indeed from the ESPN article.  Which in case it wasn't abundantly clear, I found awful.  

Further clarification.  I hate the Lakers.  But that stems from the old series back in the 80s, Magic versus Bird etc.  This is not to say that the Lakers of then were not remarkably talented.  Magic, Jabbar, Nixon were amongst the best if not the best at what they did.  There was a phenomenal supporting cast at the time too.  Perpetual sixth man awards and Rambis and his glasses.  

The recent version of the loathed Lakers has the best center in the NBA bar none.  Probably the best out and out player in Kobe.  It also has a remarkable coach and a reasonable supporting cast.  

What I cannot abide is a bunch of whining on the part of Lakers fans (no, not you specifically Matt) and media.  Fouls are fouls, they need to be called.  Reffing should be fair and even.  

Just to continue my rant about this article Matt linked, this is about the worst analogy I have ever seen in my life:

But it's not Shaq's fault that Rose is only 6-foot-7, and that his elbow is at the level of Rose's face. And, hey, when a big guy and a smaller guy collide, the big guy is the one who's going to be left standing. Is it fair to tag the big guy with a foul because he's bigger and stronger? Using the same logic, every time a small guy jets past a big guy, the refs should call the small guy for traveling."

Great, so by the same token when Rose is posting up on Shaq, because Shaq's 'private parts' are at the same height as Rose's elbows, he should feel free to crank him in the crackers a couple of times?  I thought the by-line said this guy used to be a coach, not a grade 5 student (with all due respect to more sensible grade 5 students)?  

Elbowing a guy in a face to make space is a foul.  End of story.  Doesn't matter if you elbow him in the face or the nether regions.  So too it doesn't matter if you are 7'6" or 6'7" or 5'4".  It's still a foul.  And if the little guy in the author's pathetic analogy isn't dribbling the ball when he blasts past the big guy, yeah, call him for travelling.  They're called RULES.

Welcome, myself

No, I'm not going to pick on Cory.  

at the bottom of the forum where it lists people currently online, Jango Fettish still appears in the same color font as the regular folks.  

Is it only the mods (yellow - and there is a joke to be had there) and the admin (red - no messing around here) are in different colors.  

Is Cory then staff and not a mod?  Just curious about his status (and being a pain )

I've already gone the way of online.  Being in Canada, it sucks even worse.  Prior to about a month ago, the last new figures we saw were Palpatine and Djas Puhr, shortly after Christmas.  Then, out of six walmarts in our fair city, two cases of the pilot wave showed up.  In April, one case showed up that contained the newer Maul (1st saga version) and anakin tatooine attack.  Wow.  But that's it.  

I have no idea how distribution works in the US, but I can tell you Canadian retailers are pretty much hooped by the system.  In spite of different waves/assortments being available, when a Canadian retailer orders a new shipment of Star Wars action figures, they are sent, by Hasbro Canada, whatever is next in the warehouse to go.  If that happens to be the same wave over and over again, that's what they get.  

During POTJ we repeatedly received case after case that contained Leia, Chewie mechanic and Aurra Sing.  Aurra's cool and all, but not when there are 30 on the pegs beside 60 Leia and 20 chewie's.  During Saga, stores continually restocked with the wave containing Mace Windu, Bespin Luke, Bespin Vader and Orn Taa Free.  That was better than the POTJ stuff because it at least sold, but sheesh.  5 months of the same stuff showing up.  Collectors weren't happy.  Kids probably weren't happy and retailers really weren't happy.  The worst part is it gives retailers the impression the stuff doesn't sell.  And they are right.  I myself must have bought about 8 of the Bespin Vader.  A couple for trades.  One carded, one loose.  A couple more to put away for future trades.  Oy.  

In Canada at least Hasbro must bear the brunt of the responsibility.  I have no idea if it works the same way in the US.  It may well, but given what Newforce seems able to do, maybe not.

I like Scott's point regarding competition.  Spidey, LOTR, Marvel Legends have probably all captured their share of the attention, notably LOTR.  Too few dollars for too many lines.  Of course, this really shouldn't bother retailers.  

Non-movie year?  Well sure, but isn't it a non movie year for Spidey too?  Sure, he has universal appeal, but that much more than a Darth Vader?  I suppose, but I cannot get over the sheer amount of spiderman stuff out there.  And where I am, lots of it is just sitting on the pegs.  I think the spidey folks are suffering from Hasbro-itis - crappy case assortments.  Never find a Hobgoblin, but about 8 billion spideys with that guy webbed to the lamp post (looks like crap, IMO).  

A theory from a guy on another board (Canuckian) is that this is comparable to the slowdown post Episode I.  Product will be hard to find because production has been ramped down considerably owing largely to a change in cardbacks to the Clone Wars line.  Think R2-B1, holo Sidious, TC-14.  Sales poor, glut of older, undesirable product (Tusken with child, Jar Jar).  Almost makes sense.  There may even be hope as POTJ (outside of the hideous continuous shipping of Leia, Chewie and Aurra that Canadians saw) had good case mixes and distribution.  Maybe the same will happen for Clone Wars (quality wise as well).  

I don't think the war had squat to do with it.  China could care less (where product was made) and shipping goes nowhere near the middle east.  The war was of short duration so there is no reason for a slow down.  Besides, the drought started before the war began for many of us.  

Same goes for SARS.  I really don't expect much of an impact.  Maybe someone from Toronto would like to comment but relative to what the media told you, for most places the impact was rather minor.  Toronto being the example.  Certainly China had a much larger number of cases, but I have never seen a reputable report that it ever impacted Hasbro's operations.  People still go to work regardless.  

I never thought of Easter as a hot toy season at all.  Up North (eh?) once March rolls around, swimsuits and swimming toys dominate and the remainder of the toy section is largely ignored, as well as downsized.  The local Zellers cuts its toy aisle space in half.  Most is taken up by "girls toys" and infant toys - non-seasonal type stuff.  "Boys toys" tend to get downsized in favor of sporting equipment.  Please excuse the gender stereotyping.  But I believe stores still do it.  

End of card + slow season + increased demand = poor distribution?  

Just my WAG.

I apologize Chris.  Normally, I either go with my usual username or the replacement name from the space where "I'm a llama" used to be.  Just being goofy last night since everyone else in there was too.

Sincerely,
Peg

still there, may be a temporary hiatus