I'm mixed on whether I'm excited or not about "Cinderella Man." On one hand, I think it looks like the type of movie that it's impossible not to love, but on the other hand, it looks like the type of movie that you fully know the conclusion of before the first frame of the film rolls. I mean, this is a movie which has been marketed on the concept of being symbollic of a nation in depression. You don't expect him to lose, do you?

There seem to have been a number of movies recently that have more or less white washed the Great Depression. Part of this is from our incessant need to show that "the Greatest Generation" could do no wrong, whatsoever, and that when the country was down and out, we all pulled together. I know, I know, many people did pull together. But this was also a decade when many people ditched their families, and ate dirt just to get by. It's sad that the best movie about depression era life from the last 5 years was "Oh Brother Where Art Thou." If I'm gonna see a Depression era film, I wanna see dust. DUST DAMNIT! :-)

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I was thinking about Shaq the other day. You know, list after list keeps putting him as one of the greatest centers of all time. Some lists even have him ranked as the number one center of all time. Shaq is a great player, and should easily make the Hall of Fame. But when it has counted, who has he faced that is worth a grain of salt? Shaq is basically getting a free ride for playing in a Center-free era. I mean, anyone can dunk over Eric Dampier and Shawn Bradley, but I would have liked to have seen him play against hall of fame caliber centers. The closest we've seen when it counts (getting swept by Olajuwon in NBA Finals, getting ousted by Robinson and the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals, and nearly getting swept by Ben Wallace and the Detroit Pistons), he hasn't done so well.

But then again, the man does have three rings. The closest he's come to facing a great center in the playoffs is Dikembe Mutombo and Tim Duncan (who's more of a forward, or an Olajuwon type of agile Center), and he's beaten them both. But they've beaten Shaq's teams as well, so it's definitely not a one sided affair.

There's a part of me that says in order to be considered one of the greats, you have to play against and win against other great players. It's a guard's era. So if a guard succeeds in the NBA, they're playing against the best of the best. The closest we come to having a great match-up at center, is Yao Ming vs. Shaq. And even THEN, Shaq still has a hard time. Imagine Shaq going up against Olajuwon one night, Robinson the next, Ewing the day following that, Robert Parrish the next night, Kareem the next, followed by a game against Bill Laimbeer.

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That's all for now. If I think of anything else, I'll post it in my comments section. :-)