Greetings from San Antonio!

San Antonio has all but sealed the deal after a stellar performance in Game 2 over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Thanks to yet another high octance performance by Tony Parker (probably wants the series over so he can relax before his wedding), the Spurs had their way with the Cavs Sunday night. The Bleacher Report's Rip Summersby offers commentary on how perhaps the nation has misjudged King James and that maybe the rising superstar isn't all that he is cracked up to be. ESPN's new flawed Player Ratings were released today with some rather strange results. Magglio Ordonez was rated the highest rated player and Josh Beckett was not considered a top five pitcher at this point in the season. Let me make clear that these rating reflect how players have done up to this point in the season and do not take into account prior history. Biggest flaw? Adam "Strikeout King" Dunn is a projected All-Star while Ken Griffey Jr. will be watching from home.

Appearently many Sopranos fans are feeling rather slighted by the way the famed series concluded Sunday evening. Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel offers commentary on how he felt there may not have been enough bang to satisfy fans insatiable thirst for blood.

Ken Griffey Jr.: Home Run King?

Alas, George Kenneth Griffey Jr. has battled (knock on wood) many injuries over the course of his illustrious yet frustrating career. Yet, at the age of 37, he continues to provide his Cincinnati Reds with a plethora of home runs which leads one to imagine how many he would have if he had never gotten hurt. He is quickly approaching Mark McGwire as he hit number 578 out of the yard over the weekend.

A question arose the other day in the office whether or not a certain gift was proper for a male friend who was turning 25 from a female. Clearly, I thought this was a horrific gift for obvious reasons. The females in the office begged to differ.

I viewed Ocean's 13 over the weekend and came away rather pleased with what I saw. Very stylish, fun film that exceeded most expectations and was a vastly superior film to Ocean's 12. My soon-to-be USC film school attending friend agreed with my sentiments regarding the film. As I predicted, the film won the box-office title with nearly 40 million dollars and looks to do fairly well over the course of the summer. Thanks to reader Neil M. from Takoma Park, MD for this fact: Ken Griffey Jr. never struck out a single time over the course of his high school career.

Clemens Off To Steady Start

Roger Clemens has failed to disappoint Yankees fans with a solid start against the extremely mediocre Pittsburgh Pirates. In six innings, Clemens let up three runs but that has been countered by the seven strikeouts he has thrown. Check out ESPN's season predictor to see how Clemens will fare over the course of the rest of the season.

Remember the Briscoe High football commercial by Nike from last fall that taught us that football was everything? The baseball equivalent of that commercial must be Gatorade's latest offering featuring Derek Jeter, John Lackey and Harvey Keitel. I wonder if Lackey appreciates the fact that Keitel refers to him as a "schmendrick."

Silver Springs' documentary film festival entitled "Silverdocs" starts on Tuesday. If you are in the D.C. area, you would be doing yourself a disservice not attending at least one of the days. The festival runs from the 12th through the 17th and is located in downtown Silver Spring at the Silver Theatre.

Yanks Turn Corner?

Yankees manager Joe Torre won his 2,000 game against Chicago Thursday night, but more importantly the Yanks won their second straight series writes Peter Abraham. Yet, there is still work to be done before they can claim they are back in the playoff hunt. Tired of the same old drinking games of beer pong, flip-cup and quarters? Try playing "Skittles", an enjoyable table game that dates back to the 1800s. The premise of the game is get a spinning top to knock over pins that are arranged in different sections of the box. Very underrated and mostly unseen film, The Namesake, is definitely worth a trip to your local independant theater. Starring Kal Penn, best known for his comedic presence in Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, the movie addresses cultural differences and the role of family in one's life.

All Bark...No Bite for Selig

Jason Giambi's impending meeting with former Sen. George Mitchell seems to be rather baseless in the eyes of Fox Sports writer Ken Rosenthal. Even though he has practically admitted to taking steroids and other performance enhancing supplements, Giambi doesn't deserve to be made the scapegoat just so the investigation gains some credibility. Ever find yourself heading to a site like ESPN.com or CNN.com and hope that an Orbitz game ad pops up as well? Well, you can enjoy any game you like offered by Orbitz at any time of the day, not simply when you are lucky enough for it to appear on your screen. Rather curious to see how Oceans 13 fares in theaters this weekend considering how stacked the selection of current films seems to be. With the addition of Al Pacino into the mix, perhaps there will be more substance to balance out the extensive style seen in the previous two films.

Lebron Fails to Deliver

Marc Stein offers commentary on what the Cavs need to do heading into Game 2 on Sunday. Clearly, they will not have much of a chance if they continue to let the Big Three have their way with them. Author of the famed The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho has recently released a new novel entitled The Witch of Portobello. Expect great things from the Brazilian with prevailing themes of philosophy, morality and enlightenment throughout the book. Seemingly everywhere one turns in Washington D.C. there is a Thai restaurant that serves mediocre to decent food. Meet Taw Vigsittaboot who invites you into his home and cooks a surprisingly authentic Thai meal at a reasonable price. Check out Thai-Xing located on Florida Ave in the Shaw District near Howard University.

Simmons sticks it to Cavs

ESPN's Bill Simmons in his latest article fails to give the United States Lebrons any chance at victory entering the Finals vs. the Spurs. He's not predicting a sweep only because of the "shaky referee trick." New Castle, PA, home to the crack addicts and unemployed steel workers also houses one of the most underrated bars on the East Coast. The Crane Room diligently serves underage college students who are home for the summer at a relatively cheap cost. Tell them Chuck Dess sent you; I guarantee the first drink will be on the house. One of the most amazing smoking apparatuses comes from Israel. Dubbed the "Bukket", it almost looks like a Slinky on steroids. Amazingly it has a longer warranty on it than Jason Giambi.