It's as good as you've heard, possibly better. I'm not one to hype things beyond any reasonable expectation, I hate when I hear over and over how amazing something is and then show up only to be dissapointed and it drives me nuts when people say something is cool just because it makes them sound cool. So with that on the table, the movie is seriously that good. 

I'm in Cleveland, OH for the second stop of AST Dew Tour. My co-host Kenan Harkin and our co-worker Chad Perry and I went to the midnight show last night. Years ago when the first Batman movie with Christian Bale came out, the same group went to see that film in Denver. Keeping with tradition, we decided to see Dark Knight together except this time Kenan insisted we arrive early... as in 90 minutes early. Obsessive? A little. (At least we had awesome seats.)

Heath Ledger, who left behind one of his finest performances in the most unfortunate and sad way, steals the show. It's so hard to play a villan that in some twisted way manages to have the audience sitting in the palm of his hand but he does. As complex as the Joker is, he makes you laugh, keeps you on your toes and charms you. The show started at 12:01 and finished shortly before 3 am. Sure enough, it's been the discussion of the TV compound throughout the day.

****

Tonight we had the BMX Dirt Finals which will air in less then an hour from now on USA Network. The course was a bit of a challenge for the guys due to the short jumps and curved first two hits. Luke Parslow threw a double backflip and Ryan Guettler threw a 1080 both on the third set. What?! Cameron White FINALLY got a win tonight with an incredible showing. I say finally because he has been so close several times and yet this is only his second win on the Tour.

Congrats to Steven McCann who is the first guy in the history of the Dew Tour to make it into all three BMX Finals. He placed 4th tonight in Dirt and will compete in BMX Vert tomorrow night and BMX Park on Sunday.

My heart goes out to James Foster. He crashed in BMX Park Prelims (he advanced to Finals) and gashed his eyebrow right above his right eye. Then while taking a practice run during Dirt Finals, he crashed again and this time slammed on the left side of his face. He was unable to finish the contest.

Ryan Guettler- back in the game! Kid looks focused, hungry and ready to live up to the high expectations that were placed on him back in '06 after he dominated in '05. He took second place.

Finally, congrats to daddies-to-be Ryan Nyquist and Alistair Whitton. Nyquist and his wife are expecting a little boy and the Whittons will find out in the Fall!

****

Tomorrow if you're by a computer you can catch the live stream competition of SKB Park and RYAN SHECKLER go for his second win this year on NBCSPORTS.COM at 1. Then at 4 pm ET on NBC it is SKB Vert. In Baltimore, Bucky Lasek edged out PLG but the key factor was there was no Shaun White in the mix. White will be competing tomorrow.   

Hello from beautiful Lake Tahoe! Actually let's make that smoky and beautiful. The fires around here have wiped out just about any view we might have had looking across the lake. But who cares, right? It's Tahoe, the land of casinos, boats and 83 of the biggest celebs and athletes.

Yesterday we set up shop in the back of the club house and piggybacked off of the guys doing satellite interviews. At times it was a bit of a battle to grab someone in between random affiliates and ESPN but we made it work.

So check out the video section for...

I sat down with Tony Romo, Carson Palmer and John Elway and got their thoughts on the situation with Brett Favre and Greenbay.

One of the greatest things up right now is the clip of John Elway imitating Charles Barkley's golf swing. Of every person I asked to do it, he was the only one who claimed to be capable of mimicking it. It's great.

Jason Kidd spoke to me about Brandon Jennings and the possibility of him skipping over the mandatory one year in college to instead play a year over in Europe. It was interesting to get Kidd's take because he knows Jennings.

I semi a bit made fun of Ben Roethlisberger for wearing sandals and his golf socks. He fired back asking what was wrong with them. After going back and forth, we called it even when we realized we had a mutual love for Florida State. The very first jersey he ever bought was Warrick Dunn.

CAA

If you Google it, you'll read under the second link down: "Founded in 1975, CAA is one of Hollywood's top talent agencies...".

Back in Phoenix, AZ at the Super Bowl, CAA hosted a private party in Scottsdale at some swanky hotel. Apparently a few people knew about it because we pulled up and the line of cars waiting for valet wrapped around the block. I'd just wrapped up shooting at the Playboy Party and had the night to go out and meet up with friends. After handing off the keys to a kid barely older then 17, I was standing under a massive white tent lit by glaring bright lights and not far from a distant rumble of music. To the right a shall-not-be-named-QB was macking on some girl and to the left was the entrance to the party. Passed the bouncers, across the courtyard and once inside, it was a candy store with every major player (not necessarily just athletes but them plus all the big names in the 480 area code) letting their guard down to have a good time.

No media. No cameras. No questions.

Perfect.

At this point I've interviewed a "little black book" list of famous athletes. Not to down play my job, but it gets to the point where I know I'm there to ask questions and not fawn over having met so-and-so. I leave that duty to all of my friends. For the most part that way of thinking works (To quote the classic Anchorman- "60% of the time it works every time"). Except that night in Scottsdale when I looked across the room and saw him.

No bigger then 5' 9" according to his stats, he barely covered me in height (gotta love those damn high heels.) But he carried an aura that represented what I grew up loving about football; a guy I've rooted for his entire professional career in the NFL. I'd never interviewed this one. I'd never met this one. The following minutes of what happened next played out so storybook typical of fan finally meeting star.

In my replay it goes-

3- number of times FSU has played Miami this season. Today will be the fourth.

1- the number of times FSU has beaten Miami.

While the numbers above don't make FSU's odds for a win today look too good, the situation is perhaps what this team has become used to and where they have learned to play their best. With the fear of losing and being sent home right on the tip of their tongue, freshman Tyler Holt said: "Thats kind of what this team has been built on - fighting back."

The Noles lost the first game of the Regionals to Bucknell. After a moment of "What the hell just happened?" FSU pulled it together and came back to beat Florida, Bucknell and Tulane (twice) to advance. Over those four games the Noles put up 74 runs (the other teams combined came up with 35).  

Advance to the Super Regional they did only to turn around and lose the first game (yet again) creating the same story but with a different team. This time victory belonged to Wichita State after the Noles went down 10-7. And yet it when it mattered most, their backs pushed against the wall, somehow this team managed to do it again and win the next two.

Finally, after eight years, a return to the College World Series. A place Mike Martin has visited 13 times in his career but a title he's never won. A game against Stanford and the story repeats, a first game loss. Not of course without some notable records, the third-longest nine-inning game in CWS history and a tied record by Stanford for most runs scored in an inning (11 in a brutal ninth). Seven other teams share that record. Unless you are a Stanford fan, watching that inning sucked. It went on forever and got worse with each batter (or error).

And so it all starts over again. FSU down, facing elimination, going against not only an in-state rival, but a team they have only been able to beat once this season and a favorite by many to win it all, the No. 1 team in the nation.

And I wonder, can they do it again? Can this team, with the best offense in college baseball, manage to win another one and hold off Miami? Or has luck run its course? Which Florida team will be the last one standing?

I've got my fingers crossed that the numbers above read like this at the end of the day:

4- number of times FSU has played Miami.

2- number of times FSU has beaten Miami.

Here's a scenario for you:

Picture a competitive situation where you are a vet and a few rookies have just joined your team. Now this doesn't necessarily have to pertain to sports. You can think of perhaps the PTA (you are in charge of Teacher Appreciation Week and newbie is in charge of bringing candy), Girl Scouts (Junior to a Brownie), your job (you have a desk and a window, they have a cubicle. It's simple office hierarchy.), even the school lunch room (you obviously sit at the cool table cause you know people, they just sit). Ok, got it? Competitive situation, you're a vet, they're a rookie... and done. Good. Moving on.

Now this rookie, who has done nothing but be selected to join your crew, has a great deal of potential. A real star this young one! However, don't we all know (as former rookies) everyone must pay their dues? Earn our keep in the club, prove we're worthy. Rule "Suck it up and take it" 101.

And yes we all have been in a situation where we realize our genius is superior to the current leader. We take a moment, glance around and think: "You're kidding? This idiot is running things? Pssshhttt... I could do wayyy better." But most of us know better. We politely smile and nod our head while listening to said leader. We volunteer, ask if we can do more, and bury our complaints. When asked: "Who wants to __________ at 6am?" Our hand involuntarily shoots up and offers. We earn our spot one stupid early morning after another to prove we belong. We keep our mouths closed. Hello. The reason a rookie doesn't get to do it is because there are older much grumpier people who've been around way longer and have rightfully earned their position to complain. If there's one thing that puts a target on a rookie's back, it is the act of speaking. Period.

So imagine how the vets of the Indianapolis Colts, the XLI Super Bowl Champions mind you, must have felt after hearing what their prized new little rookie Mike Hart said about them! From Profootballtalk.com 

“Indianapolis is a different organization.  You watch ‘Hard Knocks’ on HBO and you expect to be hazed and a lot of those things, but the Colts are a lot different.  It’s not as bad as I thought — we don’t get taped, we don’t get hazed with the Colts.”

Oh that's nice. Wait, he keeps going.

'Cause we just can't stop making our own NBA commercials.

Set the scene: I'm chillaxin (no I did not make that word up. Rather it was used in all seriousness by a guy on a beach to my friends and I this past weekend. I've since adopted it in all of its ridiculousness) reading my New York Magazine standing in line with other greedy Manhattanites who are all impatiently waiting to get in. Into what you ask? A random building on the West Side where two flights above valuable merchandise is kept, all of which is disgustingly overpriced at major stores except HERE for three brief days, aka a Sample Sale. It's all the pleasure of buying good stuff minus the remorse of having to fork over an entire paycheck for a dumb dress.

The line is long so I entertain myself by reading. At page 11, the first article leaps out. 

'Vogue' Ranger Is a Hardworking Intern
He'll even get coffee, if only someone would ask.

I remember hearing about this...

A week into his Conde Nast career, New York Ranger turned Vogue intern Sean Avery hadn't yet had to fetch a cup of Starbucks. He later says, "Hopefully no one asks, but if they do, I'm definitely there to get the job done."

I hear ya Sean. It IS a job, trust me. I once was responsible for ordering oatmeal every morning for 19 days in the middle of December for the Executive Producer of a show I was working on. You do not screw up these people's orders, especially anything in the breakfast category. They take it seriously.

"Today I went to a Steven Klein shoot for a little bit in the morning, then I had lunch with Michael Bastian, a men's designer (I was wondering who that was?)," he said at the FiFi fragrance awards on May 20.

Now it makes sense. Just a few pages over I'd seen a picture of Avery attending the 36th Annual FiFi Awards. Because I had a brief stint working in the fragrance department of Bloomingdale's (Narciso Rodriguez anyone?), I'm all too familiar with the FiFi's. And I'm also aware that there aren't many male athletes clearing out their social calendars to attend this event. I read on...

The burning question appears: What does a hockey star do on a photo shoot?

"A lot of times it's just helping out wherever. If it's with clothes or lighting or whatever, I'm there just to learn it all and help anywhere I can."

Awww.. He sounds like a true intern! Love it while it lasts, buddy.

 

Now this is interesting...

That story was posted yesterday. The blog where said story was written is no longer up. From LAobserved.com:

Hmm, ESPN.com blogger Laura Lane's blog item where she calls the wife of Kobe Bryant insane — and talks about rumors of an affair — has gone off the air. In fact, her whole personal blog is gone.

Drama.. drama.. drama.

The Today Show.

If VH1 isn't playing music videos, Matt, Meredith and Al are my number one morning background noise of choice. I don't normally pay special attention to the stories because I'm getting ready for work and racing out the door. But today one story unexpectedly made me put the hair dryer down and pay attention. And at 8 something in the morning, that is hard to do. Grab my attention, not stop blowing my hair. 

Here's what I remember:

Ann Curry talking...
Mentions "A young boy... "
Says something about being against all odds...
And that what I'm about to watch will make me feel inspired...

Yup. Heard that one before. Blow dryer goes on full blast and I head back into the bathroom. 30 seconds later I come back out of the bathroom (hard to stay in one spot), yanking my hair with my brush and only able to hear the loud "oooooooowwwwwwoooo" of the blow dryer.

I look back at the TV. It's muted yet the screen is a screaming picture. There's this little boy, with one arm, no legs riding on top of a skateboard. He uses his one arm to push himself as the rest of his body lays belly down. What?

Then an interview, I'm assuming his father. Then a series of shots peaking into his daily life. Him hitting a baseball pitched to him by his mom. He holds the bat with his arm and between his neck and the top of his shoulder. A school musical where he plays the drums. His little body scooting down the stairs one at a time, secure only by the use of his elbow. A kitchen scene where he sits on top of the counter and helps cook with one hand.

An interview with his mom.

I turn off the blow dryer. 

At one point the boy is wearing a Tiki Barber jersey and playing football in the yard. It's football by a completely different definition then you or I know it but it's his version. A few more sound bites. Another shot of him back on that skateboard racing down the street.

The piece ends and Ann Curry is back. I'd forgotten what I'd been doing before. There sitting on a couch on the Today show set is the little boy squeezed in between his mom and dad. He's wearing the Barber jersey. They begin to talk. All I can think is "Tiki better be coming to the show today. They have to introduce him."  

I turn the volume up. Nick is his name and he's happier then most 12 year olds I've ever met. His eyes sparkle and I can't help but think, "I hope that little spirit never gets broken."

As I watch the interview I'm thinking to myself what I would do as a producer. I'd want to be careful that if I brought Tiki onto the set, the football star wouldn't overshadow the tiny boy. The presence of a famous athlete wouldn't take away from the story. Would I have had the two meet before?  No time for an answer...

Ann asks if Nick would like to meet someone special. You can tell Nick is hoping it's who he thinks it is but doesn't want to jinx it. Tiki walks out holding a skateboard. The boy lights up.

As Tiki tells Nick how brave he is and Ann asks how cool this all is Nick tears up. But the tears are a mixture of awe, joy and privilege. There are none of pity. Ann asks: "Do you want to play football with Tiki Barber?" Nick nods, rubs his eyes and then responds with quick wit: "Are you kidding me?" It was a nice way to start the morning.