{"id":2011,"date":"2008-04-20T16:19:20","date_gmt":"2008-04-20T20:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=2011"},"modified":"2008-04-20T16:37:30","modified_gmt":"2008-04-20T20:37:30","slug":"papal-bull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/papal-bull","title":{"rendered":"Papal Bull"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am so pissed off right now.<\/p>\n

Yesterday’s kickoff of the NBA Playoffs featured a great game in the Suns-Spurs double-OT tilt. Nuggets-Lakers looked like the best game on tap for today, with the possibility that Kobe would go for 70 against the no-defense Nugs. So 3:00pm rolls around, and I click over to ABC, only to see:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The pope’s mass at Yankee Stadium. And guess what? It’s being carried on SIX<\/em> local networks, plus uncountable religious and Hispanic channels! And the DirecTV guide says this mass runs from 2 to 6pm!<\/p>\n

ABC’s corporate bitch, ESPN, is meanwhile carrying the “Mexico 200,” a NASCAR event in which drivers do their best to get across the border and back to civilization.<\/p>\n

Now, I’m not biased against Catholics, but I’m going to compare this BS to the 1994 Ford Bronco run that pre-empted the fifth game of the Knicks-Rockets NBA finals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You heard me: I’m comparing the pope to O.J. Simpson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am so pissed off right now. Yesterday’s kickoff of the NBA Playoffs featured a great game in the Suns-Spurs double-OT tilt. Nuggets-Lakers looked like the best game on tap for today, with the possibility that Kobe would go for 70 against the no-defense Nugs. So 3:00pm rolls around, and I click over to ABC, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Papal Bull”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,20,32],"tags":[115,116,114],"class_list":["post-2011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basketball","category-religion","category-sports","tag-lakers","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-pope"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-wr","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":500,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/guest-column","url_meta":{"origin":2011,"position":0},"title":"Guest column","author":"Gil","date":"March 19, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"New VM reader Sam enjoys my basketball writing, so I offered him a chance to post here, following the latest Shaq-Kobe match. Because he's in Canada, this means I now have a foreign correspondent!A buddy invited me over to his place last night to jam a little and watch the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "basketball"","block_context":{"text":"basketball","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/basketball"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":290,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/independence-day","url_meta":{"origin":2011,"position":1},"title":"Independence Day","author":"Gil","date":"July 16, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been an NBA mark for years. I'd watched the league as a kid, but I became a fan when the Knicks took Patrick Ewing with the #1 pick in the 1985 draft. For 11 seasons, I was a devoted Knicks fan. I cheered when Ewing made his first all-star\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "basketball"","block_context":{"text":"basketball","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/basketball"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2013,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-42108","url_meta":{"origin":2011,"position":2},"title":"What It Is: 4\/21\/08","author":"Gil","date":"April 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz, as suggested by David Gates (not the guy from Bread). What I'm watching: NBA Playoffs, except for most of the Nuggets-Lakers game. What I'm listening to: not much. I haven't played a lot of music lately, partly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Gin"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Gin","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-gin"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1594489580","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2051,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-51208","url_meta":{"origin":2011,"position":3},"title":"What it is: 5\/12\/08","author":"Gil","date":"May 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: Lush Life, by Richard Price. What I'm listening to: Rain, by Joe Jackson. I'm 37, and I've been listening to Joe Jackson for 26 years, when Steppin' Out was a single. That's a long time. Anyway, this new record is eschews the big production of his previous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "basketball"","block_context":{"text":"basketball","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/basketball"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0374299250","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":684,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nba-week","url_meta":{"origin":2011,"position":4},"title":"NBA Week","author":"Gil","date":"October 23, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey, dear VM readers! The NBA season kicks off next week, so it's time for the annual VM NBA preview! Official VM buddy Tom Spurgeon & I are spending this week profiling all 30 teams. (We might also get some guest-commentary from readers about their home-town teams.)Let's kick it off\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "basketball"","block_context":{"text":"basketball","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/basketball"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5962,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/olden-times","url_meta":{"origin":2011,"position":5},"title":"Olden Times","author":"Gil","date":"April 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of the Kings' likely departure to Anaheim, I decided to look up their history to see if anyone but Rick Adelman had gotten them to the playoffs in their time in Sacramento. 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