Do you know, it occurred to me why John Kerry likes windsurfing so much. But more than that, why it’s so fitting a pastime for him that it’s become a sort of surrogate for how out of touch he is.

In windsurfing or kitesurfing - or sailing, for that matter - you choose a destination, or a course, that you want to follow. The winds may be blowing in any direction, and can shift at any time. They may even be competing with one another to buffet you about.

The intrepid windsurfer must be adept at flinging his sail about to any direction on the compass, at a moment’s notice and without regret or hesitation, to catch the prevailing wind, and shunt its power toward his goal. The sail at any time may be pointed ahead, behind, left or right, depending on which way the wind blows. But so far as the windsurfer’s concerned, it’s just what you have to do to get where you want to go. The winds don’t mean anything; they and the water are just tools to be deftly manipulated and ridden to achieve your ends.

Now you tell me: is that John Kerry — the politician — or what?

UPDATE: The Bush campaign is now running an ad showing Kerry windsurfing.

“John Kerry,” the ad says, referring to what it calls shifting positions on Iraq, education and health care. “Whichever way the wind blows.”

Heh heh.

Mark Cuban has a blog. I’m excited; I think Mark is a tremendously interesting guy to watch (and I’m a Mavs fan, though I’m crushed that Steve Nash is gone. What was Mark thinking?).

Anyway, he has a terrific entry on how to improve the utterly, inexcusably miserable performance of TeamUSA in the 2004 Olympics. Of course, he’s got an earlier one on why the NBA is screwing up sending its players to the Olympics in the first place. Two things Mark is not short of: 1) ideas, and 2) comments.

So here I am, a rabid MJ fan (back in the day), who naturally hated the Pistons back when they were mercilessly pounding Da Bulls out of the playoffs year after year. And I’m forced to pull for these same Pistons against the Most Evil Lakers, mainly because the Lakers had beaten everybody else (including the Spurs, which is just insane) and the D.P. were all I had left.

And lo and behold, not only do the Pistons pull it off, but they do so in grand style. If you watched the finals, you didn’t just see a victory by one team over another. You saw an utter and complete domination, top-to-bottom, of a an old, slow, washed-up has-been team by a new, fast, young, eager, hungry, athletic, and most of all, fearless team.

The exception to this domination? The one player on the Lakers who actually impressed me? None other than the Diesel, the Big Man, the walking foul factory, Shaq. Now I can’t stand Shaq. Couldn’t stand him in Orlando, and can’t stand him in L.A. I’ve always thought that he’s utterly overrated, lazy, arrogant, fairly stupid, selfish, and generally given an even bigger pass by the refs than Patrick “the Walkin’ Man” Ewing with his 6-step shuffle.

But yet…but yet…in these weird and wacky finals, the ONLY Laker who consistently showed heart, who ACTED like he wanted to win, who passed and assisted and played team ball with abandon was Shaq.

So I’m pulling for the hated Pistons, I’m impressed with the play (and effort, of all things) of Shaquille O’Neal. And what next?

Well, now I’m trying to come to terms with the appalling rumor that my beloved Mavericks, the most fun team in basketball, are actually considering trading half their team for the big, slow, creaky ball-hog Shaq. Granted, it wouldn’t be as bad if it turned out to be not just Shaq, but T-Mac + Shaq, but still…why trade in the fast, fun, furious, uptempo MAVs to hire a wildly overpaid big man that Detroit is going to continue to spank from here until Ben Wallace decides to become a Hare Krishna? WHY, I ask you?

Ah, the NBA…if I could figure it out, maybe I’d be a GM somewhere.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t remember the NBA playoffs being this hotly contested, almost across the board, in years. And it’s about time, too. After MJ left, I lost a good bit of interest in the NBA for a couple of years; there just weren’t many interesting players, and the teams seemed, well, weak.

I despise the Lakers; like the Rockets and Spurs; has anybody else won one since then? Anyway, we’re starting to see some teams with personality emerge again: Detroit with some serious defense, the Nets who never walk when they can run, Dallas who just wants the ball back so they can shoot, the Lakers who are completely disfunctional, but apparently (being L.A.) have no end of souls for sale to ensure yet more undeserved wins, the Kid in Minnesota finally getting some help and learning to move the ball around, and the Heat–man, Dwayne who? No need to ask that any more.

In fact, the only teams that seem to me to be really threatening to fade away are the Spurs (dare I say this? Yes, I dare; this series’ collapse against the Lakers was simply pathetic) and the Pacers (still a good team, but I think their time has passed).

But we’ve already had an amazing collapse/comeback (depending on how you see it), two other teams down 2-0 have pushed their series to a game 7, and things are just getting hotter as we move down the stretch.

I no longer care who wins in the East; I just want somebody to destroy the Lakers and shut UP that whining Kobe and pitifully over-rated Shaq and incredibly annoying Payton and just downright evil Malone. So please, somebody step up.

But in the meantime, I sure am enjoying the basketball.