Monday Night Bites: The Firm and NBA Play-In

No Monday night bites podcast this week, next week we’ll probably begin doing both

Entertainment: The Firm

After much urging from the Old Man, I finally cracked open John Grisham classic The Firm. From page one, I was jealous of the protagonist. With a name like Mitch McDeere, you are destined to be someone worth centering a book around. A name of that caliber either dominates The Undertaker or replaces James Bond. The  concept being McDeere signing onto a shady law firm with the FBI closing in and requesting Mitch’s help, the idea was a Nadia Comaneci score, a concept that would force the main character to take risks and make exciting moves. As a result, there were so many memorable moments as Mitch attempted to help execute a huge sting. Keeping the casting for the film adaptation in the back of my head made for some ironic comedy, where I thought about 5’7’’ Tom Cruise playing a college quarterback once described as 6 feet tall. The ending was nothing to give Once Upon A Time in Hollywood- level hype, but it did keep me on the edge of my seat for the final 100 pages. I can’t wait to read more Grisham, perhaps I’ll read The Pelican Brief this month.

Sports: Play-In

I loved every second of the play-in the way an Indiana hoops fan might enjoy Hoosiers. It was an exciting game, but not one that might make one’s fingernails dwindle. Ja Morant and Co. put up a solid fight, but it was the rare Trail Blazers game where I felt the utmost confidence that Damian Lillard and I wouldn’t Freaky Friday the final two minutes or something weird that could only happen in a Portland Trail Blazers Orlando bubble play-in/seeding game. (Try saying that three times fast!) The best part was two days prior, when retiree, teen, and hooky player hoops fans could enjoy an entire day of the race for the play-in. Going in, four teams could rise to the eighth seed, fall out of the playoffs, or anywhere (the only spot) in between. While the early games were blowouts because teams with their seeding locked rested, the Brooklyn Nets wanted to win badly over the Blazers. I’m choosing between padding their abysmal record or some strange sports rom-com plot, because I’ve never seen a team try that hard in a meaningless game. However, they should get credit for giving a ton of entertainment value, in a thriller that the Blazers prevailed in. The entire hectic atmosphere at the end of the season replaces a sleepy time in the league when few teams have something to play for. This adds some excitement that will be must see TV.


 

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