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Just wait until the Lakers come back home ... just you wait.

The Jazz aren't as good on the road. End of story.

On another note, Happy Mother's Day! For Mother's Day we went to a $1 bookstore after the Lakers game (that's how my mom wanted to spend her mother's day. I love it). I bought a ton of books. "You'll never really read them," my brother said. "Well, the plan is to read them," I replied. "Either way, just looking at them on my shelf makes me feel smart. And it gives me inspiration." I really do need to stop buying books until I read all the ones I have. Here's what I bought:

1. Spike Lee Best Seat in the House; a Basketball Memoir, by Spike Lee
2. Return To Glory; Inside Tyrone Willingham's Amazing First Season At Notre Dame, by Alan Gran
3. Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut, by P.J. O'Rourke
4. Sacred Hoops; Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior, by Phil Jackson
5. Hip Hoptionary; the Dictionary of Hip Hop Terminology, by Alonzo Westbrook
6. The Life of Reilly, by Rick Reilly
7. The Best American Sports Writing, edited by Bill Littlefield
8. Guitar Chords, by Mel Bay (I need to start practicing guitar)

I'm back in the OC for the weekend. Next year I'll most likely be in New York so I'm enjoying time with the fam. Last night I stayed up until 4am with my little brother while he played an online poker tournament (he placed 6th) on Full Tilt poker. He wanted my company so I made him watch old school movies with me like How to Marry a Millionaire with Marilyn Monroe and Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn.

Today I watched the Lakers game with the fam. I really thought the Lakers were going to pull it off in the end. Lamar Odom was on a roll and made that awesome 3 to tie the game 106-106. "No, not Lamar!" said my dad. "Anyone but Lamar!" But he made the shot. Just a few seconds later he came through with a tip shot off Kobe's missed layup to push the game into overtime. Nice. Too bad they lost in OT.

After the game I watched Kelly Naqi's Behind The Lines report, which I TiVo'd this morning. She did a story on USC's OJ Mayo and she had emailed me to let me know it was on. She is an incredible investigative reporter. She's like the Barbara Walters of sports (before The View). Shelley Smith and her are amazing women sports reporters because they have talent, intelligence and credibility.

Shelley Smith was one of my first mentors when I started reporting in college at the USC football games. I went up to her one day while I was sideline reporting at the USC v. UCLA game for my college station and told her what an amazing reporter she was. That day she let me tag a long with her after the game to watch her do her report and from then on I would tag along whenever she was at practices and games. Shelley started out in print journalism. She brought me on the ESPN Game Day set when I was in South Bend for the Notre Dame game and I remember saying to myself, "One day. One day..."