The Chat House With Michael Wilbon

Welcome to The Chat House, where Post columnist Michael Wilbon was online Monday, June 15 at 2:15 p.m. ET to take your questions about the NBA playoffs and NBA Draft, the Stanley Cup Finals, the struggling Nationals, baseball, and all the other big news in sports.

A transcript follows

Discussion Archive * Column Archive * Talking Points Videos

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washingtonpost.com: Michael will begin chatting about 2 p.m. ET.

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Cape Coral, Fl.: Hi Mike The US soccer team was praised for defeating Spain, but with a 2-0 lead after the first half,against Brazil, is it far to say the US team choked??

washingtonpost.com: Choke?

Michael Wilbon: Hi everybody...Sorry I'm so incredibly late...and it's going to cause me to rant before I get to any questions...What morons in The District schedule or sign off on the scheduling of road work? I know, I know, I know...it's summer; we're going to suffer for it because road work is in full effect. I get it. BUT, why does The District has to have road work on four, five streets consecutively, with one closed down for a couple of blocks. It's moronic. It kills traffic downtown. Took me more than an hour to get here from Bethesda. That's just speaks to a non-existent traffic flow made impossible by several streets in-a-row (including H and K) having lanes closed for construction or repair or some such. What, the people doing the scheduling don't know this is happening, or just don't care...Talk about road rage; I've got it now...^*$%#@*&%$%#@*&^*&!!! Okay, yeah, it was a choke. I watched the game from the very beginning and at 2-0 I thought the U.S. team had to get through the first 10 minutes of the second half before allowing Brazil a goal, and it didn't happen. The goal came, what, 40-some-seconds into the second half and I just though, 'This is over.' No way, considering the way Brazil was simply controlling the play that they were not going to score, no matter how good Howard was or had been...Yeah, I'm afraid it was a choke...thing is, Brazil is better...just plain better. Boy, it was damn exciting at 2-0 though, wasn't it?

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Burlington, Vt.: How will the Shaq/LeBron experiment play out?

Michael Wilbon: Great question...I think Cleveland nees another swing player, a two-way player. But maybe Mo Williams, as a No. 3 and not a No. 2, will have much greater impact. I can't wait to see this. But remember, it's difficult to incorporate Shaq. LeBron is the guy who is going to have to sacrifice a lot of his game in order to involve Shaq. Can LeBron do that? Of course, he can. But it's not easy and it takes weeks, if not months. Look at Phoenix and how hard it was for the Suns.

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Blessing or Curse?: With all the talk of Rubio staying in Europe, could it be that Wiz got lucky in NOT being able to pick him? I understand he didn't want to come here either.

Michael Wilbon: Europeans in general, athletes in specific, have a whole lot more idea of Washington, D.C. than they do Minneapolis. It's a whole lot nice weather in Minny in the summer, but people in every country in the world have some idea of Washington and how international it is, how there are available support systems because there will be people, countrymen, they can contact and who will reach out to them. Minneapolis? Not so much. I don't believe for a second that if Rubio could come and play with Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison that he'd be balking at it...To what, go to the Clippers? How many better-known markets are there in the U.S. Okay, you've got NY and LA, and two of the three teams in those two markets stink (I'm not even counting New Jersey), and Chicago already has a great young point guard...D.C. might have been a decent fit on the court, and a great fit socially/personally...but I guess the Wizards brass didn't like him enough. And believe me, I understand the concept of getting veteran players now who can help the Wizards be to the 2010 season what Orlando was to the 2009 season.

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Arlington, Va.: What impact on making the Fed Cup final and actually competing has on US soccer as a whole?

washingtonpost.com: Football vs. Football

Michael Wilbon: You mean the Confederations Cup? It'll gain the U.S. soccer movement some additional attention and lift spirits even higher going into the World Cup next summer in South Africa. This was our last big tuneup, in terms of global competition. It'll also raise expectations, which in the past hasn't worked out so well for the U.S. But it also has created some buzz...It's easier to get people who pay little attention (Tony, for example) or mild attention (me, for example) to pay much greater attention. I think there are a whole lot of folks in those boats with us.

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New York, NY: Hey Wilbon, did you get a chance to see the U.S.-Brazil soccer game yesterday? We took it to the best team in the world (forget what they say about Spain) and almost won. I wonder if many people realize this is like a minor league team almost beating a major league all-star team. What do you think it would take for soccer to become a "top tier" sport in the US? BTW, are you gonna be in South Africa next year? It would be great to have you offer you commentary on the biggest sporting event in the world!

washingtonpost.com: Soccer is UnAmerican

Michael Wilbon: Well, I can tell how excited you are...sorry I can't share the same "glass is totally full" feeling you have. It's NOT at all like a minor league team playing a MLB team. The U.S. team is the best we have. It's the top tier here. And we couldn't hold a 2-0 lead against Brazil, which is in the same league, globally. Yes, there can be moral victories. But this wasn't one of them...The soccer movement here isn't 10 years in the making; it's years and years. The whole U.S. soccer community should feel upbeat and very encouraged about being able to compete like this with Spain and Brazil...but there's a ways to go, right. And yes, I'm scheduled to be in South Africa next summer...Real life could overtake the scheduling and occassionally does (like last year, 2008, when I missd my first Summer Olympics in my career) but I hope to be there

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Washington, D.C.: If we assume that Albert Pujols has never taken performance-enhancing drugs, is he the best hitter of this decade (2000-2009)? Is he the best over the last 25 years?

Michael Wilbon: I certainly would have to think so. Ichiro, in a non-slugging way. Joe Maurer is coming on. Justin Morneau has an MVP and hasn't been linked. David Wright...Jeter, of course, though he isn't a prolific stats guy. But yeah, it's Pujols...If you go back 15 years, though, Frank Thomas comes into play. We tend to forget him because his career ended on such a down note, being estranged then traded from the White Sox. But we're talking about a prolific hitter in the 90s...

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Baltimore, Md.: Not a sports question, just wanted to get your thoughts on the passing of Michael Jackson. Were you a fan?

washingtonpost.com: Share Your Michael Jackson Memories

Michael Wilbon: I was more than a fan...I was a close observer, a Michael Jackson watcher. I have all of his music. All of it...and did before i-Tunes...I wasn't one to go this his concerts; my brother Don did that. But I know every song and the know (or knew when I was younger) the words to almost all of his songs. We're the same age; he was born Aug. 29 and I on Nov. 19 of 1958...It's some incredible year for producing music genius...Prince, Madonna, I think also Anita Baker, Sade, Gloria Estefan...they're all right in there...But Jackson was the greatest of them when it came to performing. He was the greatest performer, the greatest showman of my life. He grew up in Gary, Ind., about 30 minutes south of where I grew up on the south side of Chicago...I knew kids who knew him and his siblings. You could (though my family never did) drive out to their house in Gary and just see them...like ring the doorbell and they'd come out or invite people in. We're talking the late 1960s. I remember, clear as day, the Ed Sullivan appearance in what, 1969 or 1970. I think I was 11.

Like a great many people, I came to think of him as the strangest little man imaginable, a tortured soul...and because of that I hope he's in a better place now; the last 20 years of his life were so bizzare. I remember when he was just a physically beautiful kid and teenager. I could never reconcile what he became, the appearance, the strangeness. I hoose to see him, in my mind, as he appeared on the cover of "Off The Wall" which is so underrated as an album. The first strains of the title track, "Off the Wall" if you listen closely are the same sounds he took and expanded on as a theme to create the single "Thriller."

This is probably more than you want to know, but I've been obsessing since he died Thursday afternoon. Last night I downloaded my favorite 30 Michael Jackson songs, and remarkably (to me) about 20 of them were things from the 1990s, like "Leave Me Alone"...stuff from the "History..." album and dangerous. There was old stuff like "A Child's Heart" which to me reflects who he was and what he felt more accurately than anything else...It's a ballad; you have to be 50 years old to even know the song from when it was released...anyway, I didn't grow up On Michael Jackson music; I grew up with his music. I bought the albums or the singles when they were released, bought "Right On" magazine to read about them, resented when the Jacksons left Gary for Cailfornia, came to know waaaaay too much about all of them.

The soundtrack of my life would include most prominently Marvin Gaye, The Jacksons, Luther, Stevie, Prince, Earth Wind & Fire, Streisand, Elton John, The Spinners, Whitney Houston, and a whole lot of Disco from the late 1970s when I was between 18 and 21...But Michael Jackson's voice would be there as much as anybody's...I'm damn sad he's dead, but I cannot say surprised. I thought as we went from our 20s 30s that Michael Jackson might not be around for a long, long ride...He was so, so young and had such genius in him. For me, the early deaths of Marvin, Luther and Michael Jackson...it's just sad. So much talent gone. I'm just glad each left behind such a full body of work. And at the very least we'll celebrate Jackson's life with us unbelievable wand uplifting work.

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Reston, Va.: Yahoo Sports is reporting that Yao could miss all of next season because of his foot, and his career may be over. Looks like Mr Tony was right.

washingtonpost.com: Rockets could lose Yao for season

Michael Wilbon: That, if true, would be a big blow to the NBA and a big blow to Yao's career and Houston's chances.

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River Road: Besides Tiger, are you looking forward to following anyone in particular at Congressional? I haven't seen the pairings yet but I think it's neat to have Glover and Ricky Barnes playing this weekend--based on their showdown/meltdown at Bethpage... maybe Danny Lee?

Michael Wilbon: I just like seeing how the leader board develops and go from there...I don't like to lock in early. Suppose somebody I want to see goes out and shoots 75 the first day? Ooops, don't want to follow him the second day. I'm very excited for the tournament to be here, though. Can't wait.

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Red Sox Fan: Ok, what would you like to discuss:

1. 3 games for the Sox in Nats Park and 3 attendance records.

2. Ozzie Guillen calling Cubs fans stupid and the only reason they go to games is because Wrigley is a bar.

washingtonpost.com: Ozzie Guillen: Cubs Fans Are Stupid

Michael Wilbon: Then why would I need to go to The Cell, where the White Sox play? Look, I grew up five stops from old Comisky/The Cell on the South Side of Chicago, and I know how badly behaved people at those games were. I WAS at those games. I went to Sox games more than Cubs games when my dad was alive because he was a Sox fan and he and my mom took us all the time. Remember, Wrigley Field was never the site of a forfeit because drunken fans blew up disco records, as happend in Old Comisky...But he, this stuff is ancient history, long before Ozzie got to town, and not only and I'm not a White Sox basher, I root for them to win. I'm going to The Cell in a couple of weeks for a high school baseball function and can't wait to get there. Maybe I'll raise a glass of something Ozzie.

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Washington, D.C.: At what point does Ernie Grunfeld declare victory? Second round enough? Has to be conference championship? Has to win the East? Seems to make a big difference on whether the trade was good or we shoulda gambled on a draft pick...

Michael Wilbon: you don't declare victory in pro sports; you earn it. The Wizards need to get to the second round, at the very least, it seems to me.

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CK (New Delhi, India): Hi Mike, I'm writing this question at 12am, so please respond! What do you think of the Wizards going after Orlando's Marcin Gortat with our mid-level exception? He showed some toughness and agility in the post in the finals. A combination of Haywood, Gortat, and McGee will make a tough post presence! I love PTI..keep up the great work!

washingtonpost.com: Trade Update

Michael Wilbon: I LOVE Gortat...Seems there will be competition for him, though, right? Can't say enough how much I think Gortat would be a great acquisition. Has a little jumper from 12, 14 feet. Can throw it down. Seems like he's unafraid to throw an elbow when necessary. Adding Gortat, by the way, would weaken a division rival, Orlando.

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New York, N.Y.: I disagree with your statement that it is not at all like a minor league team almost beating a team of all-stars. MLS, at best, is maybe in the top ten soccer leagues in the world. Most of the players on Brazil's team not only play, but star, in the best leagues in the world in Europe. Anyways, the point of my question was to ask, what would it take for soccer to reach the top tier of American sports. Bringing over top tier stars such as in the Pele/NASL times, a top finish at the World Cup, etc.? Or you don't think it will ever happen?

washingtonpost.com: A Real Sport?

Michael Wilbon: This wasn't an MLS game. At what point do you expect to compete evenly with the country's best. Why keep making excuses. If people did this with basketball the soccer heads would explode. Stop it.

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Washington, D.C.: Does your own celebrity help you to relate to superstar athletes on a personal level? With all the success you've had on TV in recent years, you must be the most recognizable active sports columnist working today.

Michael Wilbon: Not exactly. Mike Lupica, Mitch Albom, Bob Ryan, Rick Reilly, all the guys on Around The Horn...There's a bunch of us. Yes, being recognized helps you get in the door. Your rep is built on what happens after that.

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Washington, D.C.: With the trade to Golden State seemingly falling through, do you think there is any chance the Wizards can get back in on Amare Stoudamire? Maybe trading Jameson and one or two of the young guards?

Michael Wilbon: I would. I'd tell the Suns: "I'm keeping Gilbert Arenas and either Jamison or Butler...You can take the other plus any two players you want..." Seriously, I would. How about a lineup of Gil, Amare, 'Twan, Brendan Haywood, with Foye and Mike Miller in the mix as well? You like that? I do. I'd give up Nick Young, McGee (even though I like him) and Butler (who I like tons and tons. You have to give up to get...I'd take Amare. But I'm not holding my breath...Okay, gotta run to prepare for PTI. Bob Ryan and I are hosting this week, with TK away on vacation...You all might want to tune in Tuesday for a special guest during 5 good mins. Maybe it'll go longer...

Okay, this is it for awhile in terns of chats. I'll be taking vacation on and off the next few weeks...right through August, in fact. Stay tuned. We'll make sure to give plenty of advance notice on my return, probably the second or third week in August as we are into NFL preseason games...

In the meantime, everybody have a great, great summer...The six weeks off will fly by and we'll be in not time to deal with baseball, golf, whatever the Wizards wind up doing, and most importantly, the start of the Redskins season...Take care everybody...mike

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Baltimore, Md.: Iron Mike turns 43(!) tomorrow. Be honest: did you ever think that Mike Tyson would outlive Mike Jackson? Heck, for that matter, did you think he'd even live to see 40?

Michael Wilbon: Well, 50 is more than 43...but I get your point. My over-under would have been right around 45...I hope Mike Tyson has 43 more, at least...

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Somerville, Mass.: What do you know of the rumors that Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy, will co-host a PTI soon? Is it something you would look forward to doing?

washingtonpost.com: Bill Simmons

Michael Wilbon: Haven't heard that...But then again, once we get to the summer break time, lots of people will be co-hosting...Could happen...Don't know...

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