Hello, Cleveland!

A congratulations to the Cleveland Cavaliers--this year's surprise Eastern Conference Champions in the NBA. Obviously, NBA games are not on network television in Paris, so my participation is limited to espn.com highlights and Sports Guy columns. But I was especially interested in following this series given LeBron's dramatic improvement. I wrote about LeBron's frequent comparison as "The Next MJ" just over a year ago in this very blog, in fact--is he now in the process of building his legend? We can only hope. Anyways, given Cleveland's sorry sports history, I'm happy to see them advance to the NBA Finals. With that said, however, I'm still picking the San Antonio, with Frenchie Tony Parker as its poing guard and 2nd best player on the team, to bring home the bacon in the Finals.

Battle Topic of the Day: crosswalks. There is a subtle difference in the French traffic light system which takes awhile to get used to: there is a longer delay between the onset of the "Don't Walk" symbol and the "red light" than in the 'States. There are some who may prefer this system--probably slow walkers, who may get "caught" at the beginning of the crosswalk and appreciate the extra time to make it across in peace. However, for those fast walkers amongst us (and it would seem that all three Hellman children have inherited the "fast walker" gene from my Dad) there's no need for it. In fact, sometimes I arrive at an intersection and both signs are flashing "Don't Walk" and I don't know which side to pick--I have to wait an annoying few seconds to figure out which side has the priority. Furthermore, the long delay time I find encourages a very cavalier attitude about pedestrians starting to walk across the street despite their being a "Don't Walk" indication, causing mass confusion. In any case, it's clear that I prefer the U.S. crosswalk system, and that allows my country of citizenship to take its largest lead yet. U.S. 9.5, France 6.5. Please now join me in singing "Born in the USA" by Bruce Springsteen.

French for the Day: the phrase "avaler son chapeau" (to swallow one's hat) is the equivalent to the English expression "to eat one's hat". (e.g., If Cleveland wins the NBA Finals this year I'll eat my hat."