NBA Playoffs 2009

 

Darragh O’Donoghue previews the NBA Playoffs 2009 for Yellow Roman Candles. 

Western Conference

The stronger of the two conferences in the last few years, the West’s iron grip on the NBA title has slipped in recent years, with first the Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat and then last year’s Boston Celtics denting their decade-long dominance.

A sporting cult moves into the mainstream

In a break from bickering politicians Darragh O’Donoghue takes a look at the evolution of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Mixed Martial Arts in the last few years as the sport continues its growth in the US and throughout the world.

Of all the titanic battles which have taken place in MMA, the ongoing fight for respect and acceptance among the public has been the toughest. It could finally be nearing an end though, as MMA blossoms from its beginnings as a cult freakshow to its current status as a legitimate and well-respected sport. As it stands, professional events are being hosted in front of enthusiastic crowds all over the world, television networks are beaming events into living rooms free of charge, and fighters are being recognised by mainstream journalists as the dedicated athletes they are.

Ganley won’t continue Lisbon campaign if he fails to win Euro seat

I’m just back from a debate on the Lisbon Treaty between Pat Rabbitte and Declan Ganley where the Libertas leader said two interesting things. First, when asked whether he would continue to lead Libertas’s campaign against the Lisbon Treaty if he failed to win a European Parliament seat in Ireland North-West, Ganley answered with a point blank “no”. (Also: “If I’m defeated, I’ll go plant cabbages.”)

Post-conference revue

I’ll do one as soon as I earn a reprieve from essay-land – hopefully later this week. I believe I was the only blogger to attend all five party conferences this year and I have a few observations to share from my experiences. I also have a few thoughts on the usefulness of having bloggers cover these events. All going well, I should have it up here by Thursday or Friday. Stay tuned.

As good as it gets (for Kenny)

Ahead of tonight’s speech by Enda Kenny, Cian at Irish Election had the most salient analysis of the Fine Gael leader’s task:

Kenny tonight has a huge task to prove he can converse with the ISME voter, the person with whom Fine Gael want to be associated… Kenny is the dealbreaker. His performance tonight is a barometer of whether the party is moving toward power or standing in the midst of a dervish, unmoving while all around them are in flux. If he doesn’t pull it off Lucinda will be the tip of the iceberg.

I think we can safely say that Kenny did as much as he could tonight to seal the deal with voters, particularly small business owners and out-of-work professionals and ABC1s – what Cian termed ‘ISME voters’.

No income tax increases and the abolition of employers’ PSRI for every new job created should play to that section of the electorate. He also reiterated other populist initiatives announced by FG in recent weeks, such as reducing the number of junior ministers from 20 to 12. Of course, he hammered home the ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’ theme – 100,000 to be created by the end of 2013. All that will go down well with the ISMEs.

But his the delivery of the speech is worth a mention. Such things are important – especially for Enda Kenny, who has always appeared wooden on television and in formal addresses. Tonight he performed to his best, which still wouldn’t touch Gilmore and Cowen on their good days but, hey, FG weren’t expecting miracles. For him, this is as good as it gets. Kenny has positioned himself well to look like an alternative leader amid the turbulence of the week ahead.

One final point: the Fine Gael membership were really up for it this weekend. This evening leader’s speech and warm-up acts received a rake of spontaneous rounds of applause and standing ovations – something I didn’t see at any other conference  this season. The TDs sitting behind Kenny were faster than ever in reaching his lapels at the finish. (Election hopeful Pascal Donohue literally ran to his side.) In contrast, Labour seemed serious and subdued last week. As Michael Ring said in his prelude speech that nearly brought the house down: they can “smell power”.

FG in City West: the weekend ahead

Greetings from the Fine Gael Ard Fheis at Chez Mansfield in Saggart. Kenny’s opening speech contained the usual pep about the party’s team of candidates heading into the local and European elections. 75 local candidates are under 35 years of age. Kenny also boasted that one in five candidates are women, which doesn’t seem like something to boast about but such is the low level of participation by women in Irish politics.

But Kenny didn’t spend long bigging up his own party and swiftly moved to attacking Fianna Fáil for its mismanagement of the economy and not forseeing the current turmoil.

However, his main theme this evening was the health service.