I had a dream that I was driving on the freeway back in LA and at first I was driving a 4WD, a truck, I think and it had slowed down a bit as it was going up a hill. Then I switched car and was driving a Porsche Carrera 911 and it was really swift and strong. I could hardly feel a decrease in power as I was going up a hill. I think I was suppose to go to somewhere in downtown, possibly the Dodger Stadium but I went to the wrong exit. There was a sign. I was going on the 210 and it suppose to meet 10 but there was this new sign, which I wasn't familiar with which said something about 80 and how something had changed and I can't go on the 10, at least not the same old exit. I ignored it because I passed by quickly and couldn't read it or comprehend it in time. I had that old feeling that things would be okay and I came to this new mall or casino or theme park complex they just constructed and I went around the parking lot. I was trying to get out of the parking lot after entering it. I took a ticket and got right out and the person at the booth said I had to pay like 2000 something. I was shocked. To my relief, 2000 points or something like that which actually cost like a quarter to a dollar. She was nice enough to feel sorry for me and gave me a 50% discount after I explained how I got lost with the new signs and construction and where I was suppose to go.

I went on, and drove on a hilly road that overlooked the Dodger Stadium and saw the most fantastic sight, while the baseball game was going on in the stadium, migrant workers or mostly Latinos were playing on the stadium cover or lid (which must be new or in construction) on top of the stadium and nobody down in the stadium knew about this. It looked dangerous but the Latinos were having a lot of fun. It was a full blown game. I took out my cellphone and took a picture.

With the dominance of the latest USA Basketball Team, aka Dream Team 8, there had been a lot of comparsion with the original Dream Team. Some even say that the this collection of NBA stars is perhaps greater than the original. I disagree. As good as Kobe, Lebron and Co are, they can't match the original Dream Team. The original Dream Team was a much more complete unit. Everyone from 1 to 5 were top-notch if not all legendary (with the exception of Christian Laethner).

Let's expliot the weak point of the current Team USA first, at the 5.

The answer is that the '08 Team USA does not even have a real center. Dwight Howard, as talented and strong as he is, is not a center. He is a big, muscular power forward. Luckily, his superb atheleticsm is enough to compensate against bigger centers. The original Dream Team had David Robinson and Patrick Ewing at their prime. Two major forces of two elite NBA franchises. Robinson was more mobile than Howard, was a better passer, a much better shooter and a much more refined player with better basketball IQ. Ewing was not as atheletic as Robinson or Howard but he was no weakling himself. We might be used to watching the the injury-prone Pat in the late 90s and early 00s that we have forgotten how mobile the great Patrick Ewing was back in the early 90s. Unlike Howard, who was limited to the area 15 feet around the basketball, Ewing was a threat up to the three-point line and had an a range of arsenals Howard could only dream about (as of now). The original Dream Team could put Ewing and Robinson in the paint as twin towers and shut down any penetration (not that it was necessary).