Mike O'Connell

This is the birthday post.

Today I turn 35 years old.

Ervin Drake wrote in song many years ago that when he was 35 it was a very good year. Sinatra was pretty convincing with these words as well. (Though in reality Sinatra’s life at age 35 had hit the skids. He did have a decent comeback though.)

I’ll be honest, 34 for me wasn’t the greatest. In fact it was one of my worst years on record… perhaps ever. I mention this to remind me to, well, try better or something in this coming year.

I want to look back some day and say 35 was a good year. If not Sinatra good, then at least maybe Ervin Drake.

Well, if I ever needed an official reason why Kevin Durant chose to go to Golden State last offseason instead of coming home to play for the Washington Wizards I can look to last night’s Game One victory over the so-called mighty Cleveland Cavaliers. Wow.

That was pretty one-sided as far as championship-round games go and makes me wonder what we’ll see the rest of the series. Is Golden State really that much better than the rest of the world? This was a game in which only two of their players scored in double figures, and I wouldn’t even call Cleveland’s play terrible. The Warriors are just that good.

Wow.

Good pick, KD.

On this day in 2007 I devoted the entire episode of Politics After Dark to Kennedy’s memory on what would have been his 90th birthday. I wasn’t exactly complimentary. In fact I spent most of the episode deriding his most famous phrase, the one that begins Ask not what your country… I said then and maintain (as I have borrowed from others) that neither half of that much-adored statement conveys a relationship between a citizen and his government that is worthy of free people living in a free society. Of course we don’t want our government to do for us, but why should our government expect anything from us either? In both conditions the government’s needs are placed above those of its individual citizens. (Milton Friedman explains the whole thing much more eloquently.)

Ninetieth birthdays are for criticism; one hundredth birthdays are for praise only.

I’ve heard it said that if John Kennedy were alive today he’d be a Republican. He’s rich, right? He served his country. He favored tax breaks for gosh sakes. Most of all he liked his country, and honestly I think he’s the most-recent Democratic President about whom I would say that.

Does liking your country make you a Republican? If that’s the criterion I plead guilty. And I think if John F. Kennedy were around today I’d vote for him. A lot of people would. And they’d admit to it.

If Kennedy were alive he’d probably mention something about how it was actually his older brother Joe who should have been President. Joe was a pilot during World War II and was killed in action in August of 1944. On this Memorial Day we should remember those who never got to be President, but made sure that we had a say in choosing one.

No matter how honest we wanted to be about it after the fact.

Order has been restored to the NBA playoffs, as the Cleveland Cavaliers now seem poised to take their rightful place in the Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

And I especially like how the universe (or perhaps the NBA) arranges a day off from games so that I can watch Fargo tonight instead of basketball.

Thanks, TV.

I’m glad to see the NBA playoffs (and really the whole NBA season) are following script. Let’s face it, a Cavaliers-Warriors rematch is what we’ve wanted and expected since three seconds after last season’s final buzzer sounded. Looks as though this dream will come true.

On the other side of things, in the NHL… please, please, please let it be Nashville and Ottawa headed to the Stanley Cup Finals. This would make for an unprecedented (I think) scenario in which you’d have the most-anticipated Finals contest and the least-anticipated Finals contest occurring simultaneously. You’ll have to excuse the giddiness of the NBA executives while you’d be wise to keep the sharp utensils away from the hockey execs. Just sayin’.