Tonight I got a work-sponsored sneak preview of Michael Moore's latest, Sicko (releasing June 29th), which takes on the American health care system.
Moore loves over-the-top stunts to paint a picture, and this movie has plenty, including an attempted trip to the Guantanamo prison hospital with 9/11 heroes to find them better health care than they can find back home.
His canvas shows a completely broken system for the poorest third of our country, in stark contrast to the nationalized systems in Canada, England, France, and yes, Cuba. In France, for instance, the only reason hospitals have cashiers is to reimburse patients' travel costs to get there. Doctors in London are given incentives to implement preventive measures, get their patients to quit smoking, lower their blood pressure levels, or in other ways provide a higher level of patient care. Seems like a no-brainer, but... in America, there are huge financial incentives to turn patients away, prevent necessary procedures, and deny claims. Less care means higher profits for insurance companies, the exact synopsis that convinced Nixon to push for privatized health care in the first place, as old White House tapes reveal (man, were those tapes a mistake). No joke, the exchange basically went like this:
Nixon: I don't know about this. Aide: Trust me, it'll work, because the companies make more money the less care they provide. Nixon: Oh, well I like that.
As usual, Moore effectively relies on the impact of these anecdotes to provocate but fails to include enough details or expert analysis to flesh out his arguments. It makes for good entertainment but not necessarily compelling documentary. Alarming without being convincing. When Moore ignores any specifics on the downsides of nationalized systems (red tape, taxes, long waits, abuse of the system), it gives the impression that he's afraid to address them.
Nonetheless, the guy knows how to heat up an issue's button, and while I'm sure there are plenty of holes to poke, it's impossible to rationalize everything on screen.
Notably, in contrast to past Moore flicks, where his antics and pomposity often overshadowed his message, he's not as dominanting a presence this time around, a welcome change that also makes it harder to attack the movie by attacking him. Though I suppose anything would seem restrained compared to Fahrenheit 9/11.
In light of the Ducks' recent run to the Cup, I got to thinking about where it ranks among my favorite sports seasons ever, dating back to 1986, when I first started following sports seriously with the Broncos and Lakers. With only one champion at the end of any given season, most end in disappointment, so it's not always about winning the title, especially when it comes to Stanford. Although I must say, I've been quite lucky to have rooted for the last team standing as many times as I have (eight), particularly with the Lakers (five), who spoiled me from the beginning and therefore don't crack my top five. As Roger Kahn put it, "You may glory in a team triumphant, but you fall in love with a team in defeat."
Here's my Sweet 16:
16. San Francisco Giants, 2002 - Bonds was in his 'roid-fueled prime, having a historic season that made the Giants must-see television in the Bay Area. The rest of the team was pretty good, too, earning the wild-card, which it parlayed into a World Series berth, where it would lose in seven games to the team I rooted for growing up, the Angels. It was a bittersweet match-up, but it was amazing watching Bonds do his thing, medicated or not. And if the Giants were going to lose to anyone, at least it was to the Angels, though it was tough to see them blow a 5-0 lead in the last two innings of game 6, which would have clinched the championship.
15. Los Angeles Lakers, 2001 - The Lakers finished the regular season behind the Spurs, but one got the sense that they were just biding their time, waiting to flip the switch for the stretch run. They won their last eight games of the regular season, then had the greatest playoff run in NBA history, going 15-1 to clinch back-to-back titles. The one loss came in game 1 of the finals to Allen Iverson and Philadelphia. They swept all of their Western Conference nemeses, Portland, Sacramento, and San Antonio.
14. Los Angeles Kings, 1993 - Back in the days of Gretzky and Robataille, McNall and Melrose, my hockey buddies and I were all Kings fans. We'd play hockey in the street, then come in to watch the Great One. It's no coincidence that we all started playing the sport in '88, the year he was traded to the Kings. In '93, Gretzky missed the first half of the season with back problems, but he came back to lead the team into the finals, where they were on the verge of a 2-0 series lead over Patrick Roy and Montreal before the infamous McSorley stick blade incident changed everything. They ended up losing the series 4-1, with three of the losses in OT. A couple years later, McNall was headed to prison, Gretzky was headed to St. Louis, the Ducks were in Anaheim with the dynamic duo of Kariya and Selanne, and my allegiance had permanently shifted to the OC.
13. Los Angeles Lakers, 2002 - The Lakers were much more dominant in '01, when they came within a game of sweeping the playoffs, but in some ways that made the season anticlimactic. In '02 Sacramento stepped up as a legitimate challenger. The teams would meet in the conference finals, with the winner assured of the title over whoever came out of the East. The Kings actually had home court advantage, and the series would come down to a game 7 at Arco, thanks to Big Shot Rob's ridiculous three pointer earlier in the series to tie it at two games apiece. The Lakers won in OT, then crushed the Nets in a sweep for the threepeat. It was the last title of the Shaqobe Lakers.
12. Anaheim Ducks, 2003 - I didn't get to see much of the regular season that year, but once the playoffs started, I didn't miss a game. Paul Kariya and the Ducks snuck in as a 7 seed, then J.S. Giguere stood on his head for two months and led the team on a totally unexpected run, sweeping 2nd-seeded Detroit, beating top-seeded Dallas 4-2, sweeping Minnesota to win their first ever conference championship, then pushing the finals to game 7 before falling to Scott Niedermayer and the New Jersey Devils. Despite the loss, Jiggy was named playoff MVP over his future captain.
11. Los Angeles Lakers, 1988 - Pat Riley's infamous guaranteed championship season. The Lakers went 62-20 in the regular season, tops in the association, then fought through three epic 7-game series wins over Utah, Dallas, and Detroit for the first back-to-back titles in the NBA since the '60s, fulfilling Riley's promise. It was the last title of the Showtime Lakers.
10. Stanford Football, 1996 - Freshman year. My first ever game on the Farm was also the first overtime game in Stanford history, a victory over Oregon. I was hooked for life. It was one of only two wins through the first seven games, but the team rebounded to win its last four regular-season games, including close wins over UCLA and USC and a 42-21 victory over Cal in Big Game, my first experience in enemy territory (where I had burritos thrown at me). The 6-5 record and third-place finish in the Pac-10 earned them a berth in the Sun Bowl, which they won 38-0 over Nick Saban and Michigan State. These kinds of achievements are unthinkable today.
9. Los Angeles Lakers, 2000 - After a 12-year-long title drought, the Shaqobe Lakers went 67-15 in their first year under Phil Jackson, best in the association. They completed a 15-point, 4th quarter comeback against Portland in game 7 of the conference finals (the largest comeback ever in a seventh game), then beat Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers in the finals for the first of three straight championships.
8. Stanford Men's Basketball, 1997 - Freshman year. Brevin Knight's senior year. I was front row center for every game at Maples, where we went undefeated for the first time in school history (coincidence?). My first ever conference game was the 109-61 Maples Massacre over eventual conference champion UCLA. I was hooked for life. The last regular-season game was a last-second win over Mike Bibby and eventual national champion Arizona, my first time rushing the court (it wouldn't be the last). The Cardinal finished 2nd in the conference, earned a 6 seed in the tourney, and beat Tim Duncan and 3rd-seeded Wake Forest to make the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history. I remember the Kimball lounge being packed for that game, during finals week. As luck would have it, the regional was in San Jose, so I was there for Brevin's three-pointer to complete a 16-point comeback and send the game to OT.
7. Denver Broncos, 1999 - The Broncos won their first 13 games and scared the hell out of the '72 Dolphins. They finished the regular season 14-2, then cruised through the playoffs, culminating in a Super Bowl victory over former coach Dan Reeves and the Atlanta Falcons for back-to-back titles. Elway earned the game's MVP, then retired on top with two rings.
6. Los Angeles Lakers, 1987 - This was the season that started my Laker love affair. I was eight years old and just developing my sports fanaticism. I watched every game I could and listened to all the post-game shows on 570 with Chick n' Stu. The Lakers were loaded with Byron, AC, Big Game James, Kareem, and Magic, who earned the regular season and finals MVP. They went 65-17, tops in the association, then lost only one playoff game before reaching the finals, the last of the epic Lakers/Celtics match-ups, with Magic's famous sky hook in the Garden paving the way to the title. For me, this season will always be the pinnacle of the NBA. The Lakers started five all stars, played Showtime basketball, and beat their most hated rivals to win the title.
5. Stanford Men's Basketball, 2004 - Goes to show how amazing this season was that the Alabama debacle didn't keep it out of my top five. I absolutely loved this team. It started the season an unthinkable 26-0 and finished 30-2, winning the Pac-10 regular-season and tourney titles and remaining unbeaten at Maples. But it wasn't just the wins; it was the amazing way in which those wins came about, including a 19-point comeback at Oregon behind Hernandez and Haryasz, Lotty's buzzer beater at Wazzu, and of course, Nick Robinson's 35-footer in front of Tiger and Dick, easily my favorite in-person sports moment ever. Josh Childress ended up leaving after the season, getting taken 6th overall in the draft after being named conference POY and 1st-Team All-American. Monty also left for the NBA. And Gina left for medical school. I'm not sure which was most responsible for the subsequent downturn in the hoops team's fortunes. Josh and Monty were both very good, but the team simply didn't lose at Maples when Gina was there.
4. Stanford Football, 2000 - Senior year. The team was coming off a 3-8 season and lost its opener to Texas, 69-17! But then it went nuts, scoring 146 points in its next 3 games, including a 42-32 win over UCLA in which Troy Walters hauled in a 98-yard TD on his way to 9 catches for 278 yards and 3 TDs, with backup QB Joe Borchard throwing for 324 yards and 5 TDs. The Cardinal also beat USC 35-31 at the Coliseum, after falling behind 21-0, and we literally broke my futon jumping up and down on it after Tim Smith's clinching interception. The loss to UDub was demoralizing, but UCLA miraculously upset them late in the season, meaning Big Game would be for the Rose Bowl. Casey's 94-yard Run for the Roses ranks right behind Nick Robinson's shot as my favorite in-person sports moment ever. First Rose Bowl berth for the Cardinal in 28 years! They fell to Ron Dayne and Wisconsin, but the whole experience was amazing, especially the spirit throughout the school during the magical run. Hell, even Annaka came to Pasadena!
3. Stanford Men's Basketball, 1998 - Sophomore year. Still front row center for every game, with the sleep-out operation now in full gear and even drawing media attention, with DanFran and I appearing on the front page of the Chronicle's Peninsula section. No more Brevin, so expectations were tempered, but then the Cardinal started the season 18-0, capped by Weems' buzzer beater at UDub. The team would finish second in the conference behind Arizona, earning a 3 seed in the tourney. They reached the regional finals against Rhode Island and looked to be heading home until Art Lee scored 13 points in the last two minutes and forced the turnover that led to Madsen's dunk (AND HE WAS FOULED!). They held on for the win, giving Stanford its first Final Four berth since 1942. The OT loss to eventual national champion Kentucky was heart-breaking (and still hurts to this day), but the Final Four was a monumental achievement in and of itself, and it paved the way for the conference championships and #1 rankings to follow.
2. Anaheim Ducks, 2007 - Thank goodness for the internet TV feed that allowed me to catch most of the Ducks' regular season games, which made me feel much more connected to this team during the playoffs than I did during the '03 Cup run and made the outcome of the season that much more satisfying. From the beginning it was obvious that this team could win it all, or at least it was after Drew told me as much. A perfect mix of youth and veterans, superstars and role players. They always came up big when they had to, with a record 12 of 16 playoff victories coming by a single goal. In the end, it was clear that they were the best team, and there's no reason they can't do it again. The emotion I felt during the celebration, watching Selanne lift the cup, was second only to...
1. Denver Broncos, 1998 - I was only 19 at the time, yet I already felt like a long-suffering fan of the Chicago Cubs variety. Three Super Bowl blowouts, by a combined 136-40! My first sports hero was John Elway, starting back in 1986, and I couldn't stand the thought of his career being remembered for those lopsided Super Bowl losses and the inability to win the big one. Super Bowl XXXII felt like his last chance to shed the label, but the Broncos were huge underdogs, and I feared another blowout. It was deja vu when the Packers scored a TD on their opening drive, but Terrell Davis dominated the rest of the way, overcoming migraines to rush for 150 yards and 3 TDs. Elway did his part, too. His helicopter dive still gives me chills. After Mobley knocked down Favre's fourth-down pass to seal the victory, I hugged all my dormmates who packed my room for the game, then ran down the halls screaming like an idiot.
So that's my top 16. How about you give me your top 1?
Tonight I got a work-sponsored sneak preview of Michael Moore's latest, Sicko (releasing June 29th), which takes on the American health care system.
