Pistons: Turn up the heat
Tonight will be Game 1 between the top two seeded and two best team in the Eastern Conference. The Detroit Pistons will face the Miami Heat in Miami at 8:00 P.M. This series featured the most dominating player in the league (Shaquille O'Neal), rising stars (Dwyane Wade), and the best starting five in the NBA (Chauncey, Rip, Tayshaun, Rasheed, and Ben).

This series will be competitive and exciting. The Heat have never lost a playoff game this year (8-0). They've swept both their opponents, but they will face their toughest challenged, yet. The Pistons are in a mission to repeat as the world champions and this will be very hard for Miami.

Promise is Fulfilled
Before Game 4, Rasheed Wallace did the same thing last year against the Indiana Pacers. He guarantee that they will come home to Detroit with the series tied at 2-2. On Sunday, Wallace and the Pistons make sure of that. The Pacers got off to a 7-point lead in the first quarter. But after that, the rout was on.
Detroit went on a 19-1 run in the first quarter to second quarter. After the Pacers cut the deficit to six in the third quarter, the Pistons again went on a 16-2 run that pretty much sealed the deal. Billups scored 29-points, 6-assists while Rasheed scored 17- points, 12-rebounds, 5-blocks, and 2-steals.

Pistons-Pacers renew their rivalry
The first-round have past by and all of the top four seed in each conference,except one, made it through the second-round. The Pistons will face the Indiana Pacers in the second-round tonight. It will be Game 1 between these two teams who renew their rival. This will be one heck of a series.
But most are not talking about this series, instead they will be talking about the brawl that happens this past year in Detroit. It seems that both teams have forgotten it but not the media or the fans. Overall, this will be a great series and once again, Pistons will win the series just like last year.

Pistons shows magic touch
There were a little more than six minutes left in Game 4 on Sunday, were staring at a nine-point deficit when they rally to tie it and the game to overtime. Chauncey Billups scored the final ten points in the regulation, including a dramatic 3-pointer with 22.1 seconds left to go ahead by one. Billups fouled Willie Green with 3.1 seconds but only made one free-throw to tie the game.
In overtime, Rasheed Wallace made two huge 3-pointers and Richard Hamilton finishes it off with a floater with 14.5 seconds remaining. The final score was 97-92. Game 5 will be on Tuesday in Auburn Hills. And the Pistons is looking to put the Sixers away.

Tigers Weblog
The weblog talks about the Detroit Tigers. The writers discusses about the injury that happen to one of Tigers' players. They couldn't figure what type of injury it was. And the write also made a remarks about the previously games that the Tigers played.

Pope John Paul II's funeral set for Friday
Pope John Paul II's funeral will be held Friday morning, and his remains will be interred in the grotto of St. Peter's Basilica where pontiffs throughout the ages have been laid to rest, the Vatican siad Monday. Chief spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the announcement after the College of Cardinals held two meetings over the course of 2 1/2 hours in its first gatherings since the pope's death and ahead of a secret vote later this month to elect a successor to John Paul.Navarro -Valls said John Paul would "almost surely" be buried in the tomb where Pope John XXIII lay before he was brought up onto the main floor of the Basilica.

That pope, who died in 1963, was moved after his 2000 beatification because so many pilgrims wanted to visit his tomb, and the grotto is in a cramped underground space. John Paul will be buried immediately after the funeral, he said.

Archbishop Josef Clemens, secretary of the Vatican office for lay people and a former aide to top Vatican cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, said not all the cardinal electors had arrived in Rome in time to attend Monday's first session.
Asked about the atmosphere among the cardinals, he said: "Sad, but hopeful."

Pistons' win 'as ugly as it gets'
The Pistons win last night and it will probably go down as one of the ugliest game in the NBA history. Detroit Pistons didn't make a single shots in the fourth quarter missing all of their 15 shots and managing just six free throws. The two teams combine for 18 points in the fourth quarter, the lowest fourth-quarter total in NBA history and equaling the lowest total for any quarter. The 126 combined points is the lowest ever in Pistons history.

It was the Pistons ninth straight home wins. They beat their former teammate, Mehmet Okur and the Utah Jazz. It was one of those games that nothing seems to go right. But luckily, their defense step up and provided them with a win.

Friday is the Best Day of the Week
Mood:  energetic
Friday is the best day of the week because it's the last day of school for the week. You don't have to wake up early next morning to go to school so you can sleep as long as you want. No homework to do. And you can do anything you want the next day.

It's also the day where you go out with your friends and see a movie or go somewhere else. This is the day where you relax. You can watch t.v. as long as you want. And you can do the same thing the next morning all over again.

Granholm's Proposed Cuts
Republican-led budget committees may vote down Granholm's proposed cuts

By AMY F. BAILEY
Associated Press Writer

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposal to cut state spending by $227.1 million to help balance this year's budget appears to be in trouble.

A spokesman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema of Wyoming said Monday the chamber's Appropriations Committee is leaning toward voting against the Democratic governor's budget-cutting executive order aimed at helping resolve this year's $376 million deficit.

"If I had to place a bet today, I would bet on it not going anywhere," Sikkema spokesman Ari Adler said.

State budget director Mary Lannoye presented Granholm's executive order to the House and Senate Appropriations committees last week when she laid out the governor's spending proposal for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. An executive order must be approved by both appropriations committees within 10 days to take effect.

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Granholm said Monday she is willing to negotiate with lawmakers on proposed spending cuts in the state's $8.8 billion general fund for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

"Let's start talking right now. We have an urgent situation. We need to resolve this year's budget hole," she said during a Monday interview with The Associated Press. "If you reject the executive order before you even begin to negotiate, I think that is fiscally irresponsible."

But Republican lawmakers said negotiations typically happen before an executive order goes to the appropriations committees to speed up the approval process.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Scott Hummel, R-DeWitt, said Monday he is not sure whether the 29-member panel will vote on the order at its Tuesday morning meeting. The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon on the executive order.

"By not being part of the process, we just want to make sure that we're seeing everything in it that we need to see," he said. "I have had a couple of members say they cannot support it as it is."

He noted a proposed $30 million cut in this year's higher education budget for the 15 state universities intended to be offset by $100 million generated by a state bond sale for new buildings and maintenance projects at universities and community colleges.

The executive order also includes a number of funding shifts and cuts. It would save $10 million by holding first-time reimbursement checks to day care providers for two pay periods, or 28 days, said Greg Bird, spokesman for the state budget office.

The Department of Corrections would see its overall $1.79 billion budget drop by about $5.3 million under the executive order. The department would save money by keeping open vacant positions and using other sources of money instead of the general fund, Bird said.

Some Republican lawmakers also are concerned about the way Granholm split spending cuts between an executive order and a supplemental budget, which has to be approved by both the House and Senate, Adler and Hummel said.

"It's a longer and more complicated process," Adler said about a supplemental budget. "It's prone to amendments, which is an opportunity for turning it into a Christmas tree. Let's simplify the process by putting it all in an (executive order)."