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Fall 2006 in Review
It’s been a long time since
I’ve posted, so a little catching up. So
I will rewind starting with the most recent.
The Sports Update
The Nuggets got taken for a
ride. And for once Billy King (76ers’
GM) looks really smart. I was skeptical
as to what the 76ers could get for Allen Iverson (A.I.), especially after the
76ers got whipped in the Chris Webber deal.
If you haven’t heard, the 76ers got Andre Miller, Joe Smith, and two
first round picks in next years draft (combine that with their high pick due to
their pathetic record), and they got a steal for Iverson who hasn’t played team
ball in three years.
Andre Miller is a solid (and
I repeat solid) pass first point guard who will get everyone involved in Philly
(sadly there isn’t much to get involved right now). He’s not going to turn that franchise around
on his own, but provided Billy King doesn’t screw up the second chance he’s
been given, Andre Miller is a great player to have as your starting point
guard. His only downfall is that he’s
taken about as many threes as I have in the NBA during his career.
Joe Smith is a decent player
(the 76ers traded for his expiring contract anyway). He’s been overrated his entire career (picked
#1 in 1995 over Kevin Garnett. Before
you laugh, put it in context, it was the “draft-savvy” Golden State Warriors
that drafted Joe Smith), but he’s always been adequate. He’s a career 14ppg and 7rpg guy who should
be a good backup for Webber (or starter in the inevitable case that Chris
Webber’s knee actually blows up.)
It’s going to be tough for
Philly in the short term. Willie Green
is overrated, Steven Hunter is overpaid, and Kyle Korver and Andre Igoudala
can’t carry the load yet. Despite that,
the 76ers were the benefit of good timing.
With Carmelo Anthony getting suspended for 15 games, the Nuggets are
desperate to keep their playoff hopes alive (furthermore they’ve been ousted
from the first round of the playoffs three years in a row). If you think that is too extreme a statement
take a look at the 105ppg that the Denver Nuggets allow their opponents to
score, second worst in the NBA. Without
Carmelo Anthony they’d lose 10 games easily during that 15 game stretch. Iverson will step in and do what he does
best, score. That won’t be enough to
make the Nuggets legit contenders in the West though, so it will be for nothing
(except for selling jerseys and probably generating more season ticket revenue,
but I digress).
Where the Nugget's failed is
that they added another player with an ego (that will probably clash with
Carmelo’s), that has a large contract, a bad history, and an injury history (it
will catch up to him sometime). When the
Nuggets have to rebuild their team (not now but eventually after George Karl
screws everything up), it might look worse than the New York Knicks.
Concise Advice
Get sleep. Humans were not meant to live on 9 hours of
sleep in a period of 72 hours. That’s
what I did during finals week, and I’m still catching up a week later.
Snakes on a Plane
I apparently don’t like
movies, and I found it pretty entertaining.
Aside from the basic fact that there were snakes on a plane, it was
nothing close to what I expected.
Casino Royale
I thought it was a pretty
overrated movie. It wasn’t your standard
Bond movie, no gadgets and worst of all, no meaningless sex. I’m not a huge proponent of meaningless sex,
but let’s get something straight: James Bond has meaningless sex. He practically invented it. Instead in Casino Royale they substituted it
with a love story, and that is where the movie went downhill. The old Bond movies paused for sex only to
allow the epileptics time to get out of the theater before the next set of
explosions hit the screen. Way to throw
a heterosexual love story my way, Hollywood. I’m on to your agenda.
Election Cheer
The Democrats took back
congress this past November, and I must say there was a small cheer in my
stomach when I heard the news. I’m a
huge proponent of balance of power (I didn’t like the fact that the Republicans
held all three branches of government.
They could have just had the President write and sign his own bills, of
course, as long as the lobbyists approved.).
Furthermore, it’s proof that America still has a democracy. For years the President’s approval rating (and
by proxy, Republicans in general) has been low, yet the Republicans had still
managed to hold control. Finally, the
results were representative of popular opinion.
Old
It came to my attention this
past October that my dad is 62, which makes him old.
In the beginning…
I can’t remember anything
about the beginning of the semester, add comments to remind me.
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| Week 2 In Review
This week's top-5.
- Brits are some of the most obnoxious people I've ever met. A story. A friend of mine, Charles, and I are at a pub, reminiscing the past week's events. Charles is wearing a jacket, button down shirt, and jeans. As we are talking a random Brit female walks up, attempts to tuck in his shirt, physically pushing his shirt into his pants, lights a cigarrette, and says "You Americans are all messy. All you like to do is blow things up." Charles, being on his third beer, responds by saying "what's wrong with that?" Inciting some anger in this random Brit she switches her cigarrette to the opposite hand, smacks him on the forehead, and walks away.
- July 4th was this week. No fireworks, no parade, nothing. Probably the most anti-climactic 4th i've ever witnessed, and this is coming from a person who played Everquest 2 all day last 4th of July. Then were the random jokes on how they were glad to be "rid of us." First, the joke is 230 years old, it's time they retire that joke. Second, get over it. If you want to go relive your past put it in a museum like everything else. Which leads me to my next point...
- British Museums. This is harsh and I know it, but the Brits are graverobbers. Amidst their conquest of the world, they managed to rob the history and artifacts of their conquest and put it in museums. While this properly economizes the time of the average tourist, it does seem kind of interesting that amidst all the history contained inside the museums, little is paid attention to how the artifacts got there.
- The Ale Trail. I am not much of a drinker, I don't really like beer (I'll take Red Wine or a Jack and Coke), but the Brits have managed to put the fun in it. If you go to five pubs in one night (and obviously buy a beer), you get a free t-shirt at the end. And there are three different trails. This is like putting a toy at the bottom of a cereal box. And by cereal box, I mean one that tastes of urine and causes lack of bodily control. And by toy I mean, the only thing I remember from that night.
- England lost to Portugal in the World Cup Quarterfinals. I was quietly rooting for Portugal, mostly because I dislike England's team. Soft, prissy, and Beckham is dating Posh Spice. It's like being a Yankee's fan. It's cheap, it's easy, you'll probably win, but in the end you'll feel dirty. Anyway, it's one of the few times i've actually feared for my own life, except for getting on an airplane (of which I have a phobia). People were screaming in the streets, and cops were everywhere.
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| Five Observations A Week and a Half Later.
- London girls are ugly. Yeah, sure, real beauty is on
the inside, and sure that is a hasty generalization, but on the
outside, London girls are ugly.
- Panhandlers in London have a poor strategy for getting
money. One guy came up to me telling me he had gone down for
seven counts for possession of marijuana, and asked if he could get
money for a haircut (he was near bald). Now I believe it to be
morally wrong to not give money to people in need, but the key phrase
is, IN NEED.
- American jokes are like "Your Momma" jokes around here.
- Going to Wimbledon is like going to the airport. Arrive
Early, Get in the queue(a line), get herded like sheep for three hours,
go through security, wait in a small area until they open up the courts
for people to go in (kinda like waiting to board your airplane, but
imagine thousands of people standing in an area no larger than a
football field, rediculous), and then wait an hour for the matches to
start.
- Taking pictures of locations where thousands of people were
murdered for pretty much no good reason is eerie. Some people
call that a tourist site, but I think it's kind of sadistic.
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| Picture of the Week
In honor of this, there are
three quick observations:
- This kid has three arms.
- This child only has one kidney.
- Isn’t he adorable?
Now the “evolution-istas”
may say that this is proof of progress in the human evolutionary chain. Well guess what? If human kind is to become a three-armed
one-kidney I have to say that I am at least disappointed. The XMEN movies had me convinced that
evolution of humanity would at least give us superpowers and a pair of tight
leather pants, but sadly at the expense of acting skills.
The Sports Update
The World Cup; if you are American
you probably are not watching. In fact
TV ratings follow suit, as Univision’s Spanish language coverage of the World
Cup has consistently received almost double the ratings over ESPN’s coverage of
the World Cup.
Let me recap for you. The United States has scored one goal,
and they didn’t even score it, an Italian guy scored it for us. Despite this the US
team still has a chance to get into the next round of competition if they can
beat Ghana, and Italy beats the Czech Republic.
If the US gets to the next
round, as improbable as it sounds, they will surely have a test in front of
them.
The Miami Heat won the NBA
championship, and with an unusual cast of players. Sure the expected were there: Shaq and Dwayne
Wade, but guys that the league has nearly forgotten about ‘Zo, Gary Payton (a
trophy whore?), Michael Doleac (not sure he’s notable), Antoine Walker (the
most inefficient scorer I’ve seen in a long time), and Jason Williams (a guy who
was kicked off the Grizzlies last season in the middle of the playoffs). If Riley deserves any credit, it should be for
getting this group to win.
Movie Review
DaVinci Code: I saw The DaVinci Code last week and I have to say that I liked
it. I did not read the book, so I cannot
confirm consistency, but despite that it was a good movie.
Now I will admit there were
some controversial topics involved, but it’s important to remember when
watching a movie like this, that the book it is based on is FICTION and it does not aspire
to claim its points as fact.
The DaVinci Code is really
nothing more than a controversial search for the Holy Grail, with a rather
large wrench thrown in it.
XMen 3: I
don’t particularly like Superhero movies. In my opinion there is nothing worse than
men/women prancing around in tight pants and a goofy mask, trying to save the
world from some unrealistic opponent. The
other thing that generally bothers me is that no matter how powerful
superheroes are, they are defeated by the most mundane things (Kryptonite,
handicapped, etc.), but I digress.
Anyway, XMen 3 was a good
movie. Once again the movie centers
around one question: “What do we do about our differences?” Then once again presents us with three
answers: Embrace our differences, and fight the majority; deny our differences,
and conform to the majority; or peaceful cohabitation, the answer that
eventually prevails in the end.
The movie was less than two
hours long, which is an accomplishment for American cinema, which prides itself
on keeping people in a chair for three hours or more on a regular basis now. It was even shorter than “Cars”, which on top
of its needless length, was a terribly awful movie.
What happened to me this week?
So I post this after my first
summer semester is completed, nothing dramatic, although I did get an A and a B+
(which was 0.81 away, and no the professor would not bump me up). I’m
going to London today, I plan to sleep on the
plane there, because I hate flying, and I plan to wake up before landing,
because I don’t want to contemplate the idea that I could be landing in the Atlantic Ocean for eight hours. | | |
| The Opening Headline
Apparently President Bush
and Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are now pen-pals. A recent report says that Ahmadinejad sent a
letter to the US
President via the Swiss Embassy, stating “new solutions” to the two countries’
bitter differences. While the letters
contents are unknown, let me try to predict the contents of this letter.
Dear President Bush,
I
feel we’ve had a falling out, and I want to make things better again. First, you leave my nuclear ambitions
alone. By doing this the tensions
between our two countries will subside, causing your gas prices to go
down. We can start a “Oil-for-Nukes”
program, which will give you all the oil you need to fuel your stretch Hummers
and SUV’s, in return I’ll get nuclear weapons to fund support my next project. Second, can you just turn a blind eye to Israel for a
second? If you do this, I’ll remove the
problem completely. It will save your
country millions in financial aid to the country, as the need will not exist
anymore. I don’t think this is too much
to ask for.
XOXO,
Mahmoud
As you can see, this is the
start of a budding relationship.
The Picture of the Week
Caption: I’m not exactly
sure what to say about this, other than two quick observations.
1. That is President George W. Bush on the left.
2. There is a guy that looks just like him to his right.
Widely ridiculed for
unpopular policies (I guess “unpopular” is a subjective term, but when you have
a 32% approval rating, what else can you say?), President Bush surprises
everyone with a good act for a change.
Perhaps he will reverse the footsteps from Hollywood to politics (See:
Arnold Swarchenegger and Ronald Reagan), and leave politics and go on to a more
successful career in acting (Bush already has a capable stunt double, so we
better see him in some action flicks, but hopefully not another war
movie).
If you have not seen the
entire performance just click the link below.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1921276117304287501
The Sports Update The
Los Angeles Lakers became the first team since the Orlando Magic (a sad
occurrence I hate to be reminded of…) to blow a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven
series, bringing up the now three year-old question, “why is there a seven-game
series in the first round?”
The
creation of a seven-game series in the first round was made under the pretenses
of increased sponsorship and “media-money.”
Underhandedly, the new policy has been labeled “The Laker Rule”,
referring to the Lakers’ struggles in the first round due to a five-game series
(the rule allegedly gave more assurance that the Lakers would get out of the first
round). Now, irony and all, “The Laker
Rule” is worked against the Lakers, and destroyed one of the few things the NBA
playoffs lacked, parity.
In
all eight first-round series, the team with home-court-advantage won. Had the first-round remained as it used to
be, the Lakers for sure would have made it to the second round, while the fates
of four series (Nets vs. Pacers, Spurs vs. Kings, Heat vs. Bulls, and Cavaliers
vs. Wizards) would have been left up to a win-or-go-home game (which were sure
to draw more ratings than a meaningless game six to finish the series), while
we would have been spared three, fourth-win blowouts by the Mavericks, Pistons,
and Clippers, that would have been unnecessary in a five-game series.
A
seven-game series in the first round is unnecessary. Perhaps now that the Lakers (arguably the
leagues biggest draw), have been turned away from the 2nd round,
David Stern (the NBA’s commissioner, for those of you out of the know) will
change the rules again, which will promote more parity and meaningful
competition.
The Sports Emmys (you missed them too?)
Apparently
the Sports Emmys were happened last week out of the eye of national media
coverage and the fanfare of the real Emmys.
Like the real Emmys, the selection process was made by people who watch
TV for a living, and only after hours of watching show after show, do they
decide who did the best at what.
Now
I am no professional in TV watching business (I really don’t like TV), but I one
problem with their selections.
John Madden
Apparently anyone with a microphone and a decent
hairdo can win this award. No matter
what network he is on or the play-by-play announcer he is with, he still
provides his staple “tell-us-what-we-already-know” commentary and awful
one-liners. Not surprisingly he didn’t
win anything for Best Commercial Personality.
Madden’s (Tough Actin’) Tinactin commercials definitely leave something
to be desired.
While
these career “TV watchers” botched one pick, they did get one right.
James Brown (not the musician)
This award should be given out not necessarily
because of what he did this year, but more for what he endured the past 11
years on Fox (has since moved to CBS). I
have to admit watching football on Fox was hard when he was paired with Terry
Bradshaw (ex-quarterback and certified moron), Howie Long (ex-quarterback and
poor commercial personality), Jimmy Johnson, Chris Collinsworth, and Ronnie
Lott (the latter three provided little to no commentary). Finally he has been recognized.
What happened to me this week…?
Really
nothing that important happened. I can’t
say I saved 10 infants from a burning building, or stopped 9/11 times 100
(which for you non-mathy people that is 91,100…wish I could take credit for
that). I just stayed in (SL)Ocala, and enjoyed doing
absolutely nothing for a week (not that something was an option there). | | |
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