UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

I have a headache. Let’s make this one a quick one.

Quick-hitters:

- So I’m snacking on some of the yogurt snacks I ordered from Amazon.com earlier in the week, and I noticed that the front of the Harmony snack bags stated that their snacks were an “excellent source of calcium.”

I flipped the bag over, looked at the nutrition facts, and nearly gagged. Sure, each serving had 30% of the RDA of Calcium, but each serving also has 7g of saturated fat per serving (35%)!!!

I wonder if Amazon.com will give me a partial refund on the number of bags that I have yet to open

- Don’t look now, but my Dodgers have won five straight, and are finally over .500!

Now if only we could dump Andruw Jones on some team for a penny on the dollar, though I fear that that is still asking too much.

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1700. Current toothpaste-o-meter: still 25, but that will be closer to 35 by the end of the week :P.

- Here are some annoying commercials that have caught my eye lately:

1) That stupid KFC commercial with the guy and girl sitting on stairs, with one of them declaring that he took a buck from his friend’s sofa to buy himself a KFC Snacker. “Give me back my buck.” “Actually, I’m eating it.” LOL!!!!!!! (Not.)

(Tangent: That stupid Pizza Hut commercial with the Tuscani pasta taste test just aired again.)

2) The Wendy’s commercial advertising their new chicken wraps…could the girl not wait two minutes to get to her desk and eat her snack? How do you know a commercial REALLY annoys me? Every time I see the commercial, I cheer for her to trip on the phone cord she steps over.

(I have issues. I am aware of that.)

3) Any and all Domino’s commercials with that annoying guy who’s clearly on speed.

(I might have mentioned this before, but I am convinced that these commercials exist only to hold our television shows hostage; once these companies reach a quota of sales, they will stop releasing these super-annoying commercials. Either that, or they exist solely to get us fat Americans to get off the couch and run towards our cars, screaming “Make these commercials stop!” as we drive off to the Drive-Thru to pick up whatever is advertised. If anyone can come up with a better reason for why these stupid commercials exist, I’m all ears.)

Now, the latest Carl’s Jr commercial with the boyfriend crying because of the Jalapeno Chicken sandwich he’s eating…that’s pure genius!

- Two out of three ain’t bad, right? I was impressed with the Rockets staving off elimination, and I couldn’t believe how poorly Dallas played. I expected Avery Johnson to get canned, but not this quickly. I expect D’Antoni to resign early next week as well, despite reports to the contrary.

Re: Spurs-Suns…it’s awfully tough to win a game when your MVP point guard commits four backbreaking TOs late, and then Boris Diaw contributes with a terrible TO of his own. It’s even tougher when you do it against the defending champs. What a way for the D’Antoni era to end.

In defense of the Suns, though, I offer these two points:

1) They say that a single play, even at the end of a game, doesn’t determine the outcome. Therefore, I offer three questionable fourth quarter plays: the fifth foul on Shaq (Duncan might grazed Shaq’s leg, if there was any contact at all, before he tripped on himself), the fifth foul on Amare (it looked like Amare leaned backwards), and the deflection by Bowen off Nash (I didn’t see the ball go off Nash’s leg at all). If even one play goes in the Suns’ favor, who knows what the end result of Game 5 ends up being?

2) I’ll copy and paste what I said last time regarding Shaq and changing teams:

(As far as Shaq is concerned, note that his teams have never done well in Year One of his stay at each stop. I actually expect the Suns to be pretty damn good next year. Now if they could only avoid SA or LAL next year…)

Then again, he is going to be 36 next year, and Nash isn’t getting any younger. Add to that the fact that Suns will probably be playing in a new system next year, and you can’t 100% love their chances. Then again, their starting lineup is intact—Nash, Bell, Diaw, Amare, Shaq—and if they could get one wing defender and a scoring backup PG (I know, MUCH easier said than done), they’ll be just fine.

As far as Dallas is concerned, they are in huge trouble. A $100 million+ payroll for THAT performance? Well, at least Michael Finley is off their books next year. But seriously, the Jason Kidd experiment is not working, and if the Mavs could move Josh Howard for fifty cents on the dollar, they might want to do so. I don’t see how the Mavs fix things in one year; they might have to consider rebuilding.

Yeah, I realize that R word isn’t in Mark Cuban’s vernacular, but unless he can trade Jason Kidd for, say, Jermaine O’Neal, Dallas isn’t going to do a damn thing next year.

Quickly…

1) Who didn’t see Boston blowing out Atlanta tonight?

2) Who wasn’t shocked that the greatest player in the history of the NBA (LeBron) didn’t get the foul call at the end of the Wizards-Cavs game? I’m surprised David Stern didn’t protect his biggest investment from a trip back to Washington with a foul call there.

(Not that NBA games are fixed, or anything…)

Tags: annoying commercials, avery johnson, carl's jr, dallas, dodgers, kfc, mike d'antoni, shaq, suns, wendys by Peter
2 Comments »

This blog was supposed to be posted last night, but in typical UngsungBlog fashion, I misremembered :P.

(Because of that, I went ahead and added a few thoughts, if that’s OK with my loyal readers.)

Quick-hitters:

- So I got my Columbia sunglasses yesterday from Campmor.com, and after trying them on for a bit, I really like them. I haven’t tried them out in sunlight yet, to see if I could tell the difference between polarized and non-polarized lenses, but I’m most likely going to keep them. They feel a heck of a lot more comfortable than my Oakleys, even though the wire frames bend at a pretty severe angle, no thanks to my big head.

- Boy was it HOT the last two days! Real-Feel temps in the low-100s on Sunday in MPK, followed by a much more bearable mid-90s here in the Valley on Monday. I think I drank about ten gallons of iced tea these last few days alone.

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1900, and that includes the $250 in checks I received since my last update.

- Armed with a $25 Amazon.com GC (courtesy of my Amazon.com VISA), and a half-off coupon on select chocolate snacks (CHAWCLAT), I decided to purchase some snacks.

I think I went a bit overboard with what I bought:

• 8 8oz. tubs of Good Sense Dark Chocolate Pretzels
• 12 8.5oz. bags of Harmony Foods Yogurt Raisins
• 24 3.5oz. bags of Harmony Foods Yogurt Pretzels

I just hope the heat doesn’t ruin my snacks.

Total cost, after the GC: < $10. Now let’s hope I have the willpower to not polish off the entire order in a few days :P.

- After watching the conclusion of the Nuggets-Lakers series last night, one thing was evident to me:  if the two teams played ten times, the Lakers would win nine, and Denver would win the 10th on a couple of bad calls, lucky bounces, and Laker rim-outs.  Anyone watching the game could have sensed that Kobe was going to explode in that fourth quarter, so I wasn’t surprised when he did.  Look at the sequence that ESPN’s John Hollinger so eloquently described:

Not that he can’t do it — the final six minutes Monday were a tour de force at both ends. In that time he scored 14 points, blocked a shot, stole a pass and drew two offensive fouls.

He made a 3-pointer and a driving layup basket to break open a tie game, then hit a jumper over Kenyon Martin when the Nuggets briefly took a one-point lead. He turned his attention to defense and drew the fifth and sixth fouls on Martin by charging out hard and drawing illegal screens, knocking his primary defender out of the game.

Back on offense, he drew the fifth and sixth fouls on his next defender, Carmelo Anthony, by attacking off the dribble to draw blocking fouls — removing the Nuggets’ best scoring threat. His runner in the lane with 40.7 seconds left sucked the air out of Denver’s final charge, and his physical D on J.R. Smith and subsequent steal with 18.2 seconds left sealed it. And just for good measure, he rejected Linas Kleiza’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

Personally, I thought that one or two of those fouls were ticky-tack at best, but you know what they say about superstars and fouls in the playoffs.

So did the Lakers steamroll Denver, or did Denver roll over?  I’m going to cop out and say it’s a little of both.  The Lakers were just playing way too well to lose the series, but Denver had their chances to win Game 4.  At least they didn’t commit any absurd technical fouls.

(Tangent:  Why is it that when one is confronted with a “Is it A or B [that caused something to happen] question, 99.9% of the time, the person will say it’s a little bit of both?)

A couple other quick playoff thoughts:

1) Is it just me, or is Mavs F Josh Howard playing like he’s high?  I was watching parts of Game 5 of the Mavs-Hornets series, and I saw him miss a few jumpers BADLY.

(Note to any player who is going to come out and admit marijuana use:  you might want to play well in the game(s) following the admission.)

2) I expect the rest of the Western Conference first round to end tonight (NO over DAL, SA over PHX, UTA over HOU), and after tonight, we can officially declare the two big “panic” trades in the West—Shaq to PHX; Kidd to DAL—failures, leading to the firing of both coaches.  I do hear Pat Riley is available, though (more on that later).

(As far as Shaq is concerned, note that his teams have never done well in Year One of his stay at each stop.  I actually expect the Suns to be pretty damn good next year.  Now if they could only avoid SA or LAL next year…)

3) Is Boston doing a little looking ahead to Cleveland, or is Atlanta really that talented?  I’ll say a little of both :P.  But seriously, I thought Boston was going to mow over everyone en route to the NBA Finals.  Now, Doc Rivers might not get his team out of the first round.  Joe Johnson looked like freaking Michael Jordan in the fourth quarter of Game 4; why did Rivers not make a defensive switch?

And finally,

4) Is Washington really trying to prove that they are the dumbest team in the history of the world?  First, DeShawn Stevenson ran his mouth, then Arenas, and now Brendan Haywood???  Apparently, Haywood and the rest of the Wizards are sick and tired of LeBron’s whining:

“Awww,” Haywood said, in a whiny, high-pitched voice to mock James. “They are trying to hurt me.”

“I mean, come on, man, this is the playoffs,” Haywood said following yesterday’s practice. “He wears 23, he wants to be Michael Jordan, I can respect that, he’s a great player. You saw what Mike went through. Mike got fouled way worse than this. No one is trying to hurt him, everybody is trying to play basketball, trying to play tough. Play basketball and leave it alone.”

Look, I understand that playoff intensity translates into harder fouls, but that does not give you the right to hammer LeBron with flagrant-2s!  I’m not saying this as a LeBron fan; personally, I turn off the TV when I see him on SportsCenter (I can’t stand the hype for the guy!), but even LeBron doesn’t deserve to be treated as a punching bag.

By the way, Haywood, why don’t you heed your own advice and play basketball?  Last I checked, you guys are trailing 3-1.

- So Pat Riley doesn’t want to coach anymore?  Larry Brown wants to coach again, and so he took a job with Charlotte?

In other news, water is wet.

Riles, I’m pretty sure ANYONE would be tired of coaching after tanking games to earn extra ping-pong balls enduring a 15-67 season.  Then again, should the NBA freeze some envelopes to give Miami the #2 pick (behind New York’s #1, of course) which they would use to draft Derrick Rose, and then somehow trade for an impact big, who would be surprised to see Riley abruptly end his retirement yet again?

I will neither confirm nor deny that I suggested that the NBA has fixed the lottery in the past.

I wonder if Riles would be willing to move to Phoenix; I hear they may need a coach.  And who wouldn’t want to coach a pair of MVPs and one of the most dominant power forwards in the league?

As for Larry Brown…bored again, eh?  I’m about ready to dub Brown the Paris Hilton of coaches.  Is he just trying to coach every team in the league?  Charlotte?  What is so enticing about Charlotte, other than its proximity to Chapel Hill?

If (when?) the Bobcats stink up the joint next year, how much do you want to bet that Brown will take some “recruiting trips” down to Chapel Hill?

Until next time (later tonight?).

Tags: amazon, campmor, chocolate, coaching, columbia, heat, lakers, larry brown, lenses, nba playoffs, nuggets, oakley, pat riley, polarized, pretzels, raisins, rebates, snacks, sunglasses, sweep, yogurt by Peter
2 Comments »

No quick-hitters tonight; I’ll save them for next time.

- While it was fun to see my three-year-old (not four yet, as I said earlier!) nephew this past weekend, I also got a headache from seeing him.

I constantly had to remind myself that he was a three-year-old.  Whining, crying, bitching…and that was just my reactions to his behavior!

It was good to see the kid again, though, even though he is much too smart for his own good.

(Tangent:  I found out, this weekend, that my laptop’s lid could support the weight of a small child!

How did I find out?  Well, my nephew thought it would be fun to crawl over my laptop—it was laying on the carpet, in front of me.  As soon as I heard the lid buckle, I instinctively shoved the kid off my laptop (I might have shoved him a good three feet; I forget how strong I am at times), fired it up, and was relieved to see it boot up.

Who needs a Panasonic toughbook? :P)

- I can’t believe nobody took my bet regarding the XG/MGE fiasco I’ve been dealing with over the past year:

I’ll lay 2-1 odds to anybody who is willing to bet that I will, within the next four weeks, receive the second rebate check.

Anyone who would have taken the bet would be counting his/her money right about now.  On Thursday, I got the second XG/MGE Company check for $19 that was owed to me!

Finally, I can close this dark chapter of my life :P.

- Time Warner keeps advertising on my television that they do not nickel-and-dime like the phone companies do.  I can attest to that!  I don’t think Time Warner has ever nickel-and-dimed me.

Case in point:  my Time Warner bill has gone up from $61, to $65, to $72, in a span of three months!  That’s no nickel-and-diming; that’s a pretty significant rate hike, no?

Kudos, Time Warner, for keeping your word and not nickel-and-diming customers.

By the way, on my most recent bill, there was this gem:

“This statement reflects your new 2008 pricing as previously communicated.  Please see the next page for the new pricing.”

Either Time Warner “communicated” this new pricing scheme via telepathy, or they issued a statement regarding these price increases via television…during the latter part of last week, when my TV signal and internet connection were flaky as hell.  By “flaky,” of course, I mean “works for ten minutes, and then goes out for two hours.”  Of course, there’s also the possibility that Time Warner NEVER SENT ME ANYTHING REGARDING THESE PRICE INCREASES.

All I know for sure is that Road Runner (Time Warner’s HSI) used to cost me $34.99 a month, then it went up to $39.99 a month last month, and now it’s costing me $44.99 a month.  Remember, though:  Time Warner doesn’t nickel-and-dime, and they certainly didn’t do so here!

I’ll update my List soon.

- Finally, I’ve been hearing all NBA season that this year’s playoffs were going to be the most competitive playoffs of all time.  The Eastern Conference first-round didn’t look compelling, save the Washington-Cleveland series, but wasn’t the Western Conference first-round supposed to be all potential seven-game series?  Weren’t we supposed to see at least one “upset” in the making?  Wasn’t Denver’s 1-2 scoring duo of Melo and AI supposed to push the Lakers?  Weren’t the Hornets supposed to be too young to contend against the Mavs?  Weren’t the new-look Suns supposed to push around the suddenly-aging Spurs (save for tonight)?

I see three 3-1 series leads for the favorites, and a series heading for a four game sweep.  Yes, I’m burying the Nuggets right now.  What a horrible performance by the Nuggets’ stars on Saturday!

BTW, Melo, “we” didn’t quit…at least, not all at the same time.  It sure looked like YOU quit first, and then your team followed suit.  I guess coach George Karl better start updating his resume, and either AI or Melo better start packing their bags.  Clearly the Melo/AI experiment is NOT working.

Other random NBA playoff thoughts:

1) What took so long for the Suns to show something against the Spurs?  Could they be working a miracle comeback?

(Nah.)

2) T-Mac, enjoy your vacation.  Maybe you and Gilbert Arenas could go fishing together or something.  They could take coaches Karl, D’Antoni, and Avery Johnson with them!

(Tangent:  Is D’Antoni really on the chopping block if the Suns get eliminated?  Last I checked, he wasn’t the one that traded for Shaq!)

3) Anyone see Al Horford smack-talking the Celtics after Atlanta’s Game 3 victory?  I thought Joakim Noah was the “vocal” one of Florida’s two championship teams of not so long ago.

4) Raise your hand if you didn’t know that Toronto and Orlando were facing each other.

The NHL playoffs couldn’t find the Tor-Orl series on TV.

I’m tired, so that’s all I’ve got for tonight.  No NFL Draft thoughts, by the way, for no reason in particular.

Tags: AI, melo, mge company, nba, nephew, nuggets, playoffs, rate increase, rebate, time warner, western conference, xgbox by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- In an effort to do more family-related things, my aunt wanted all of us to hang out and do something “fun” sometime this upcoming weekend.

When my sister and I got back home on Sunday night, I asked her if we were going to take up our aunt’s offer. She said that we were not going back next weekend under any circumstances.

Today, she found out that our four-year-old nephew will be in town this weekend. I guess we’ll be back in MPK sooner than I thought :P.

- I’ve been told that my blog is awfully negative in nature, so here’s something positive to report. On the way from the parking lot to Dodger Stadium, I grabbed my wallet to pull out my ID and credit card—I ordered tickets for Will Call—and I guess I left a $20 in my pocket, because the bill hung out of the pocket, flapping in the wind.

If it weren’t for the woman and girl who yelled “Sir, you have money coming out of your pocket!” I would probably have lost the bill seconds later, possibly into the hands of the guy who yelled “Why did you tell him? I would have caught it!”

- Quick Lakers thought: raise your hand if you thought Kobe wasn’t going to go off in Game 2.

That’s what I thought.

BTW, reports had it that J.R. Smith was unhappy with the way Kobe was taunting Denver, posing his fingers in the shape of a gun and flashing that to TNT analyst Reggie Miller. Apparently J.R. Smith chewed Kobe out for it, and Kobe responded with ” ‘Better learn not to talk to me. You shake the tree, a leopard’s gonna fall out,’ ” before responding on the court with a drive right at Smith for a layup-and-one.

First of all, why was J.R. Smith the one chewing Kobe out for his taunting? Where were Carmelo or A.I.? Second, if he was going to chew out Kobe, he had to have expected Kobe to destroy him the next time down the court, right? Third, Kobe had been able to drive through the lane all day! Where was another Nugget to help out on Smith, knowing that Kobe was going right down his throat on the next play?

Why do I see this series going only four games?

- So it was my mom’s birthday this past Tuesday, and I thought we were planning a dinner for the weekend of the 26th. That’s when my older sister told me that my mom demanded that we have her birthday dinner on the weekend before her birthday. This demand came on the 17th, giving us three days max to plan something.

Having none of that, my older sister exclaimed “Lunch. Saturday. Golden Gate (?) buffet.” My other sister and I each made a single phone call, expecting the invitations to osmose down to other family members.

(That’s how we roll.)

The guest list gradually increased, even though several people got their unofficial invites an hour before lunch. The food was pretty average, especially for a Chinese buffet. I started out with the sushi, and that was a huge mistake. The wasabi was about as runny as ketchup.

One item that piqued everyone’s interest was a seafood dish called “Assorted Delicacies on Crab Shell.” Calling something a “delicacy” without naming it is bad enough. “Assorted delicacies,” and you’ve gotta be thinking “cat food.” Now, I’ve never tried cat food before, but that stuff tasted like what cat food would taste like.

They also had cream cheese wontons, which tasted super sweet. Absolutely disgusting. The most popular food that we gorged upon was the Korean BBQ spare ribs, and the meat looked like it was boiled, not grilled.

(Actually, I take that back. The ice cream was the best part of the meal, by far.)

(Tangent: If there’s one thing I love about doing stuff with family, it’s the pop culture discussions we have.

BTW, when I say pop culture, I mean The Office.)

- Tonight’s Office episode was, by a mile, a lot better than last week’s episode. While the main storyline, understandably so, involved Michael’s continued search for a girl, we got to see practically every member of the cast contribute to the episode. From Kelly continuing to harbor hard feelings for Ryan, to drunken (drugged, right? Massive nuclear holocaust? Jungle warfare? Sure, Troy has a drug problem. Right…) Ryan partying at the club, to Toby literally running off to Costa Rica after grabbing Pam’s knee (AWK-WARD…), I laughed nearly every minute. I especially loved how Michael became super-protective of Ryan, especially in the scene at the bar.

I loved how another one of Jim’s bright ideas—staying late so that the crew wouldn’t have to come in on Saturday to fix Ryan’s mess—blew up in his face. Between this, the one birthday party for all, and other events that aren’t coming to me at the moment, clearly the Scranton office needs Michael to run things. By the way, I wonder if the writers are going to develop a story based on the tension between Jim and Ryan; are we supposed to believe that Ryan didn’t mean anything when he said “Watch your back, Jim?” Ryan better watch his back; perhaps the stress of the failing Dunder Mifflin Infinity (two-point-0!) project is weighing on him. Is his job at risk? Is corporate already regretting their decision to hire him?

It was hilarious to watch the rest of the office pile on Jim for not notifying the security guard—(paraphrasing) Eddie, Evan, Hank, Edgar, Elliott…is it Elliott? The guy who sits behind the desk…the African-American guy…!—but what did Pam do to get the scorn of the office as well…well, other than doinking a football off Meredith’s face? Speaking of Meredith, what’s next for her? Is she going to get shot next?

Speaking of Pam, poor Toby! Clearly the guy still has feelings for her. I hope this isn’t the end of the Toby character; if it is, giving him more lines than normal is a nice way to go out. “‘Everyone, let’s get your boss laid Saturday’”? . And how sad is it that Andy and Angela are the favorite couple in the office?

By the way, why the hell does Dwight have the keys to the office, and not Michael’s #2 (Jim)? And did anyone notice that the girl Michael was chatting with kinda looked like Jan as well?

So, Michael’s gotta end up with Jan in the future, right? Why else would he constantly be running into people that look like Jan? Maybe the next time they meet up, she’ll have a face lift as well, not that I’m saying Melora Hardin needs a face lift. And when did Dwight become such a playa?

Favorite moments:

• Did anyone think that Dwight used a bit too much peanut butter to get the gum out of Michael’s hair?
• Michael: “Look, men are visual creatures. We crave beauty, like a piece of fine art by any number of renowned artists, or an art-y photograph of Cindy Crawford nude…[the persons Michael have dated] just lack a certain Crawford-ness.” (Does it surprise anyone that he couldn’t name a single artist?)
• Ryan: “Yes. I’m having the Scranton branch come in on one Saturday to re-enter sales that they made on the phone as sales made by the website, which they should have done in the first place…if the website had been working.” (I love Ryan’s character.)
• Ryan: “Yes. The social networking feature of the Dunder-Mifflin Infinity website was infiltrated by sexual predators.” LOL! WTF does a paper company need with a social networking site?
• Michael: “It’s not the horniess, ok? It’s the loneliness.” I might have just found a new subtitle for my blog
• Andy: “I am in SERIOUS need of some bro time! Ol’ ball-and-chain has been a lot more chain than ball lately, if you know what I’m saying.” Right in front of Dwight and Angela, no less!
• Michael: “I am going to get laid. Goodbye!” followed by Dwight: “With sex!” HAHAHAHA!
• Andy: “Show of hands. Who thinks we’re a better couple than Jim and Pam?” The cameras should have panned on a grinning Angela.
• Dwight referring to the basketball team as “Amazons” followed by Dwight’s idea of pairing up two girls to a guy to get in to the club (how did Dwight learn all this stuff while running a beet farm?)
• The collective groan of the office when they receive Michael’s cell phone video of Dwight making out.
• Michael: “I’ve asked a lot of girls to dance, Mom…” WTF?
• Jim: “Cleaning people…Oscar! OK…so all you need to do is explain to them what happened because I think they can help us.” Oscar: “Why are you assuming they only speak Spanish?” followed by the exchange between Oscar and the cleaning ladies, ending with Oscar saying “they happen to speak Spanish.” Way to straddle the line of racism, writers :P.
• Michael’s advice for Ryan’s “friend” with the drug problem. I really need to start watching The Wire…I hear it’s great.

Tags: dinner, Dodger Stadium, gasol, good samaritan, jr smith, kobe, lakers, lost money, mom's birthday, night out, office, review by Peter
1 Comment »

Part 3 of the weekend blog will have to wait a night.

Quick-hitters:

- For you people that play sports—recreationally, or organized, no matter—don’t you love it when you hit “The Zone?” Nothing can go wrong: every shot you make falls, every swing you take is pure, every pass you make is on the money, every catch you make is crisp. Don’t you just love the feeling?

I wish I knew what that feeling was like

My sister and I “played” some tennis earlier today, and I use the term “play” loosely. We sucked. Bad.

I think I’ll stick to Wii Tennis.

- First, let me revisit the hot topic of a few nights ago: the Kirilenko flop (item #7). Most opinions I’ve heard insist that Kirilenko flopped, and that the call was so outrageous, the NBA should consider an “unsportsmanlike conduct” penalty on any player that flops so egregiously.

Rumor has it that Big Wilting Cactus Shaq O’Neal would be in favor of this rule change.

I’ve since seen the replay several times, and yes, Kirilenko absolutely flopped. That does NOT change the fact that Scola’s arm was extended when it made contact with Kirilenko. My point is, if illegal picks are offensive fouls, then Luis Scola committed an offensive foul. If Scola didn’t commit a foul, then what was the purpose of the extension of the arm? I find it hard to believe that Scola did not attempt to gain some advantage by the arm extension.

As far as penalizing flopping is concerned, I don’t see how the NBA could ever do this, unless they add a fourth official to the court. The three officials have enough trouble as it is with calling games (with some exceptions, of course; any time LeBron James is breathed on, that’s a foul, e.g.); how are they going to determine whether or not a player intentionally flopped?

Long story short, Houston should probably have pulled out game 2, and now they are in serious trouble.

- I took advantage of a JetBlue promotion to score LA Dodger tickets for Wednesday night’s game @ $5 each (Lower reserve, AKA one step below nosebleeds) + all of TicketMaster’s bullshit fees (more on this later).

Unfortunately, I didn’t find out until Tuesday that the Denver-Lakers game was scheduled at 7:30PM that Wednesday night. I decided that I wanted to record the game, but because I don’t have TiVo, I decided that I was going to use an ancient technology—one that my parents used!—to record the game.

You young folks may or may not have heard of this technology, but I was forced to use a VCR to record the game. What’s a VCR, you ask? Go look it up yourself

It took me twenty minutes just to set up the damn thing, plus another ten minutes to figure out how to program the VCR to record TNT.

(I’m watching the game right now, and I am crying over the fact that the recording is not in HD…)

The game itself was pretty good—Dodgers won!—but it went seriously downhill after four innings, when I’m guessing that “Couples Night” officially started. Three pairs of loudmouth couples sat in the two rows of seats almost directly in front of us, and when they started boozing up, they got even more obnoxious. They were text messaging, kissing, hugging, cursing, and generally being jerks.

Dodger fans, for the most part, ARE jerks, but it’s one thing to be jerks to the other team, and it’s completely another to be jerks to the patrons around you.

(A bit off topic…midway through the game, the scoreboard flashed the Lakers-Nuggets half time score, and the crowd gave a standing ovation at the sight of 59-49, Lakers. The roars got even louder when the final score was shown.)

- Speaking of the Dodgers, is it OK to cut a player in late April who makes $18 million a year? Seriously, I didn’t expect the Andruw Jones of old to show up when we signed him to that now-ridiculous two-year, $36 million deal. On the other hand, I wasn’t expecting Jones to hit .150, get horribly booed every time he makes an out, and get a sarcastic (or maybe not) standing ovation when he ends a hitless night with a single in his fifth at-bat.

Seriously, $36 million for a guy that should be hitting ninth? $36 million for a guy that can’t hit a fastball, and compensates by chasing pitches out of the strike zone? $36 million for a guy who I expect to make out each time he comes up, to the point where I had to beg him to just not ground into a double play? Why the hell did we sign this guy?

After his second strikeout of the game, it finally came to me: the Dodgers signed Andruw Jones to make Juan Pierre look like a viable everyday player! That HAS to be the reason, right? Sooner or later, Torre’s going to realize that Juan Pierre needs to be out there every night, right? I’d rather have Juan-for-four Pierre with 1 SB playing than Andruw “$19 million a year for a defensive stalwart in CF” Jones, that’s for sure.

Is it too late to write-off Jones’ salary as a charitable contribution from the Dodgers?

Tags: andruw jones, dodgers, flop, jerks, juan pierre, kirilenko, rude fans, tennis, the zone by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- Wanna know how much stuff I have to blog about? My weekend blog will now be split into THREE entries, instead of two!

Too bad I didn’t participate in the IMBC this year :P.

- I nominate this guy for Idiot of the Day honors. Did the moron really expect the person who caught the ball below him to throw the ball back up there?

I bet he’ll hold on to the next foul ball he catches with two hands…assuming he actually catches another foul ball in his life.

- I’ve got a couple stupid-driver stories to share that my sister and I encountered over the past few days:

1) We were ready to make a right turn on to a two-lane street, but the light was red. Oncoming traffic prevented us from making the turn, so we waited for the light to turn green.

That’s when the moron behind us honked for the first time.

When the light finally turned green, a pedestrian started walking from the opposite corner. We decided to let the pedestrian—an older woman, IIRC—reach the other end of the crosswalk before we turned.

One the pedestrian was completely across, we made our turn, and I told my sister, “I bet the guy behind us is going to pass us.” Sure enough, he did, but not before honking at us again right when he got beside our car!

2) Back in MPK, we got off the freeway, and turned on to a residential (one lane) street. That’s when a car, most likely a ricer, began tailgating us.

For five blocks.

When we were about a block from where we needed to turn, we were stuck behind two really slow-moving cars. That’s when the dumbass behind us started flashing his lights at us. Ok…what, exactly, are you trying to accomplish?

When we finally made our turn, I looked back, and saw the idiot pass the two slow-moving cars on the right (remember, we were on a one-lane, two-way street).

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate stupid people?

- Today, I decided to try Pizza Hut’s new Tuscani Pastas (my first mistake?); Pizza Hut is running a promo where you get a free Pizza Mia pizza—terrible stuff, by the way—with the purchase of a Tuscani Pasta dish. I opted for the Creamy Chicken, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was not terrible!

(Tangent: Has anyone seen the commercial for this stuff, where people are taken to a fancy restaurant and are tricked into believing that they are eating some gourmet pasta? And when the ruse was up, one guy declared that he loved the pasta even more?

Does anyone think that the surroundings might have had something to do with the people’s perception of the pasta? Are potatoes au gratin really that much better at a fancy steakhouse than at a place like TGIF, or are they better because you had to pay $7 for the potatoes, in addition to your steak?)

The sauce tasted about as good as the typical jar of Alfredo sauce, and clearly, the dish isn’t worth close to $12 if you make it yourself. However, considering that I was expecting the pasta to taste like $1 frozen entree pasta, I was pleased that the pasta wasn’t all that terrible.

Would I pay $12 for this stuff again? Hell no.

- Finally, some quick (and not so quick) thoughts on the NBA Playoffs to date:

1) Tim Duncan: 40 pts, 15 boards? A game-tying 3 to send the game into double-OT? And that was a game 1? Why the hell was I not watching the game?

Oh yeah…Mom’s birthday lunch. Duh.

2) Does LeBron James play small forward or wide receiver? The last time I saw an NBAer get beat up that much in a game, Doug Christie’s wife was nearby.

And DeShawn Stevenson is an idiot, plain and simple. Would the casual fan even know who he is if he had not mouthed off about LeBron?

3) Has Detroit’s alarm clock gone off yet? How the hell did Detroit lose to Philly?

4) Boston? Yawn.

5) That big fellow in Orlando? Not bad.

6) Experience, shm-experience. Just ask Chris Paul and his Hornets how valuable experience is.

7) I guess Tracy McGrady can start planning a summer fishing trip now. Seriously, is this guy ever going to get out of the first round of the NBA playoffs?

(EDIT: The Rockets are saying that Andrei Kirilenko flopped on the decisive play of the game; Luis Scola appeared to push Kirilenko out of the play, right before T-Mac passed the ball to a wide-open Bobby Jackson for a game-tying triple. Both coach Rick Adelman and T-Mac insisted that “they [the refs] can’t make that call.”

Um, did you guys not see Scola’s arm clearly extended, making contact with Kirilenko? Yeah, I do believe the refs should have made that call.

EDIT #2: Upon further review, yes, Kirilenko flopped. That doesn’t change the fact that Scola extended his arm to make the pick, which is still an illegal play.)

And finally,

either Pau Gasol and the Lakers better send Memphis a huge fruit basket, or at least a Thank You card. I understand that Gasol—36/16/8/3, all team highs, if that’s any good—and the Lakers were playing the enver (yes, typo intentional) Nuggets, but that was still one hell of a performance by the previously winless-in-the-playoffs Gasol.

Throughout the game, I kept preaching to my sister, “Zero footers: good; twenty footers: not so good.” How many dunks did Gasol have in Game 1? A thousand?

I expect Denver to play with a bigger lineup in Game 2—Kobe’s not going to have another crap game, right?—but I’m still not sure if that will make a difference. I just don’t see Denver, even with Carmelo and AI, being able to keep up with the Lakers in scoring, especially inside.

IF (and that’s a huge IF) the Lakers win the NBA championship, Memphis has to get a playoff share of the revenue, right?

Tags: denver, foul ball, lakers, nba, nuggets, pasta, pizza hut, playoffs, stupid drivers by Peter
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I’ll be splitting up today’s blog into two parts. On with part 1!

Quick-hitters:

- I am so mean. On Sunday night, my mom got a call from my 3yo nephew up in Elk Grove, and according to her, the kid wanted to talk to me (”I WANT TO TALK TO PETER!”).

What did I do? I turned him down, because I was playing poker.

Boooooooooooo to me.

(I’m hanging my head in shame as we speak.)

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,910; I added $30 to the -o-meter, but got a $19 rebate check (more on that later). Current toothpaste-o-meter: unchanged (25).

At the rate I’m going, though, I may need to add other -o-meters to this blog (more on that later) :P.

- I’ve owned a pair of Oakley Bottlecap sunglasses for about two years now, and the one thing I regret about the purchase is the fact the lenses are not polarized.

(To be fair, I didn’t really purchase these sunglasses; my sister allowed me to pick out a pair from Sunglass Hut for my birthday two years ago, and I chose not to spend too much of her money.)

No thanks to this thread, and the unnamed individual who showed it to me, I went ahead and purchased a pair of Columbia Tigertooth 3030 Polarized sunglasses (black/gray; link points to Dick’s Sporting Goods because Campmor is out of stock of the Tigertooth). For $26, I figured that I could easily give them away if I don’t like them, if they don’t fit well, or if I’d rather wear my Oakleys.

Hopefully they arrive this week.

- Here’s yet another update to the ongoing XG/MGE fiasco that I’m dealing with: I actually received a check from these guys on Friday!

It was for $19 (half of what I’m owed), but I guess that’s a hell of a lot better than nothing, right?

I’m probably going to fire off another email to these guys tomorrow, and see what the deal is with my other $19 rebate check. I’ll lay 2-1 odds to anybody who is willing to bet that I will, within the next four weeks, receive the second rebate check.

- After hitting up several Ralphs, CVSes, and Rite Aids, with the assistance of my two sisters, I ended up with the following loot:

• ~50 Pure Protein bars for my sister’s full body nutritional makeover; it helped that I bought ~ 30 $1.50 off 2 coupons on eBay. At $1 per bar, 2 bars would cost -$0.50 ($2.00 - $1.50 coupon - $1.00 double). I’d usually buy 4 per transaction, and get all four bars for free ($4.00 - $1.50 coupon - $1.00 double - $1.50 coupon; neither Ralphs nor VONS doubles more than one coupon per transaction).
• ~ 20 ZonePerfect protein bars. I had a ton of $1/1 coupons that I also got from eBay, and I would buy 2 bars at a time, even though buying just one bar would generate a $1 overage per bar ($1 - $1 coupon - $1 double). Unfortunately, I could only use one coupon per transaction.
• Ten Adidas 3 Deodorant sticks, all free after coupon; again, with assistance from eBay, I scored ten free deodorant coupons. I’m actually not sure why I bought these coupons; after all, who pays for deodorant?

(Tangent: There is a deal hunter’s adage that says that one should always target a cashier that appears to be not paid enough to care when attempting to bend the rules of a promotion. In my case, the free deodorant coupons state “only one coupon is redeemable per purchase.” Now, I consider a “purchase” a single item in a transaction; by that definition, buying two deodorants would be considered two “purchases,” which would allow me to use two coupons. In contrast, the ZonePerfect bar coupons specifically state “limit 1 coupon per transaction,” and thus I won’t even try to use two coupons on a single transaction.

Between me and my sisters, we made a total of five transactions, each purchasing two free (after coupon) sticks of deodorant, at two different stores. For four of the five transactions, the cashier was able to scan both coupons without much difficulty. The fifth and final transaction, however, which I paid for, was problematic. The cashier, a stern-looking middle aged woman, immediately took both of my coupons, waved one at me, and said “I can only accept one coupon. Do you want me to void the other purchase?”

I later found out that CVS also carried the deodorant for the same price as Rite Aid, and they had several different flavors! The Rite-Aids, by comparison, only had two different flavors. I should have just gone to my favorite CVS—in Encino—and found my favorite cashier; I know she wouldn’t have given me a problem at all using several of the coupons at once.)

• Three Speed Stick 24/7 deodorants (-$1 a pop after ECBs). I now have over 20 unused sticks of deodorant…again, why the heck did I buy those free Adidas deodorant coupons???

At the rate I’m going, I better start selling some of this stuff to my neighbors

(And in case anyone is wondering, yes, I am trying to find ways to get rid of some of this stuff. I’m sure I’ll find some takers eventually.)

Until next time!

Tags: columbia, cvs, deodorant, mge, oakley, rite aid, sunglasses, tigertooth 3030, xgbox by Peter
3 Comments »

No quick-hitters tonight.

- I got myself a new toy today: a Logitech VX Revolution notebook mouse. My old Microsoft Blue Optical Mouse was getting completely worn out; the sides of the mouse, the three feet that were still stuck on the bottom, and the textured scroll wheel had all seen better days.

I may post a full review of this item later down the line, but for now, here are my quick thoughts on the mouse:

1) The mouse has two scroll wheel (dubbed “MicroGear Precision Scroll Wheel”) options: precision (click-to-click scrolling, which we’re all familiar with), and a free-spin mode, where the wheel will spin continuously for a few seconds with one quick flick of the wheel. The latter is great for scrolling through several pages of a document, but so far, I see no personal use for it.

2) I love the rubberized feel of Logitech mice, and this is no exception. The stow-away receiver is nice, too, though the button used to eject the receiver out of the bottom of the mouse has, at least one, launched the receiver like a cannonball being shot out of a cannon.

3) This is the first notebook mouse I’ve ever used that uses AA batteries (1xAA). It’s also the first notebook mouse I’ve used that has the back/forward buttons.

4) As with every other notebook mouse I’ve ever used…the mouse is just too small for my hands! After about an hour of use today, my right hand started cramping up. I should probably just start using a desktop mouse with my laptop.

- Naturally, one would except the episode immediately following a season premiere to be a let down from the prior week. Since I treated last week’s Office episode as a premiere, I didn’t expect much out of tonight’s episode.

The episode was fairly funny in bits and pieces, but overall, I was right not to expect much from tonight.

(I expect to read a bunch of dissenting opinions on other blogs tonight.)

Personally, I thought the writers should have given more time to the “date” between Michael and Pam’s landlady, as well as the parking lot situation with Kevin and Andy. Michael’s jerk-dom was also pretty over-the-top in the episode, especially with the way he acted in front of the landlady (though I did chuckle at his reaction to seeing her for the first time).

Breaking news! Michael’s single! Where’s Jan staying? Ooooh…I hope she hooks up with Hunter! That would make for an awesome storyline! Also, did anyone notice that the chair model looked a hell of lot like Jan, and Michael’s description of what the model might be like describes Jan to a T? Anyone wanna bet on the over/under on the number of weeks it will take for Michael to get back with Jan? I say three weeks, and I’ll take the under.

Poor Kevin! Oh well…in the immortal words of Michael Scott, “You don’t deserve her.” LOL. Also, I didn’t realize that there were so many ways to ask whether or not someone is fat. I’m surprised Michael didn’t ask if Phyllis’ friend looked more like Pam or Phyllis :P.

Great investigate work by Dwight, by the way. Why the two of them have to go and butcher “American Pie,” though, is anyone’s guess.

The whole scene with Jim joking about a marriage proposal, followed by the talking head where he shows the ring, I thought, was puzzling. Did Jim really want Pam to move in with him ASAP? I thought Jim was joking when he initially said that a proposal was “happening,” and, of course, we found out that this was not the case. He bought the ring a week after they started dating??? I guess that this was the writers’ way to play off Jim’s dorkiness, but I thought the whole scene was awkward. Joking about marriage after what Pam went through with Roy? The fake-proposal scene was fairly unfunny as well, though I love how my sister fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.

(Upon further review, I think the first Jim/Pam scene would have been a heck of a lot better if we were able to see Jim and Pam’s faces during the entire conversation.)

Favorite moments:

• Kevin: “I will quit. As God is my witness, I will quit if this is not fixed.”
• Pam: “I definitely remember your dinner party.”
• Michael: “Hello, Oscar Meyer Wiener…lover,” followed by Michael’s request to look for “liberal girl-type friends who trust [him]” Real subtle there, Michael.
• Michael: “I want to play ball with my kids before I get too old, and before that happens, I need to get laid.” That entire diatribe might have been the highlight of the episode, up until the ultimatum at the end.
• Michael again: “Wish I could, but I can’t. Well, can, but won’t. Should, maybe, but shorn’t (sp?)” At least he’s being honest!
• Jim: “Michael, you didn’t even know her,” followed by Pam shaking her head at him.
• Michael, once again, looking at the date cards: “Wendy…a juicy red-head.” I totally missed that joke the first time around!
• Michael: “You wanna see what I walked out on? This is going to blow your mind…and you can’t see her whole body (pointing)…she had a boob job…” followed by Jan saying “Michael?” Haha!
• Michael: “What do you do?” Dwight: “Wait ’till next year’s chair catalog comes out and find someone that’s still alive.”

Until next time!

Tags: chairmodel, logitech, mouse, office, toy, vx revolution by Peter
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Boy has it been hot here lately!

Quick-hitters:

- I sent XG/MGE this short but sweet email back on the first of the month:

Am I wasting my time by inquiring about the latest status of my rebates?

Should I be surprised that I have yet to receive a reply from these clowns?

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,900 (- $40, but +$200 or so after this past weekend, not counting my Rite Aid/Walgreen’s rebates).

- Today, I am introducing a new “feature” to the UngsungBlog: the “toothpaste-o-meter.” What better way to show my loyal readers how much time I waste going to stores to get money-making toothpaste than with a running total of the number of unused or barely-used tubes of toothpaste?

Current toothpaste-o-meter: 25 (16 unopened—twelve Colgates!—two unused w/o boxes, four used once, and currently three in rotation).

I spotted a preview of May’s CVS Monthly ECB catalog, and noticed that they are going to have Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste free after ECBs all next month, and it’s limit three per customer!

At this rate, I’ll have enough toothpaste to brush each of my teeth individually, twice a day, for the rest of the year

- Damn you, Los Angeles Times newspaper dispenser! My Sunday LA Daily News didn’t contain some coupons that were supposed to be in the inserts, so I grabbed a stack of quarters and ran to the nearest Times dispenser. I shoved in six quarters, pulled the door, and heard my quarters fall right into the change slot. Well, five of them, at least.

Slightly frustrated, I shoved in six quarters again, pulled the door again, and only a single quarter fell through the change slot. And no, I did not get my paper.

Later in the day, I went to Rite Aid, bought an LA Times, and found the coupon I was looking for. Three bucks spent for four bucks worth of coupons…what a deal!

- On Tuesday, my sister handed me a $25 American Express Gift Cheque (yes, I spelt that correctly), saying that I could go ahead and use it if I wanted to.

(Yeah, like I’m going to pass up free money.)

Intrigued—I had never seen an AmEx gift cheque, much less actually used one—I went to AmEx’s web site to research these things, and couldn’t believe what I saw!

A shipping fee will be added to your Order Total based on the shipping method you choose.

There is a $2.50 fee per Gift Cheque, which is subject to change. This amount will be added to your Order Total.

S&H appears to be $5.95 for standard mail. So let me get this straight. If, for whatever reason, I wanted to buy a single $25 gift cheque (tangent: I might flip if I have to type “cheque” one more time), it would cost me $25 + $8.45 in fees???

I know what you’re thinking: these things are probably meant for companies buying several of these gift checks at a time. I suppose that’s a valid point, except

In an effort to protect our customers against unauthorized transactions, Gift Cheques purchases are limited to $1,000 every 14 calendar days.

Forty $25 gift checks, at $2.50 per check, equals $105.95 in fees!

I suppose these checks are better than GCs because of the fact that they could be easily replaced if they were lost or stolen, plus they could be used at multiple stores, but is that “convenience” really worth 10% in fees?

I’m sleepy.

Tags: amex, check, gift cheque, la times, newspaper by Peter
1 Comment »

Quick-hitters:

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,740, though $60 of that almost never reached my bank account (more on that later).

- I see that there are eleven left in the IMBC.

Amy, you might as well give up now…you have no shot of winning!

- It’s time for another installment of UBMe!

It is a beautiful day today, so you decide to get out of the house As you head for the parking lot, you stop by your mailbox—it’s a typical apartment mailbox; small, rectangular, barely large enough to hold a single brick in it. You open it, and find two bubble mailers and the Wall Street Journal that you know your sister no longer reads.

(Background: My sister subscribes to the WSJ, but for some reason, the WSJ delivery guys don’t have a key to get in to our complex. Therefore, they have to deliver the paper with the normal mail, and, according to my sister, we always get the previous day’s paper with the current day’s mail. Since my sister doesn’t bother reading the WSJ, I usually just toss it.)

You grab the folded paper, check between the fold—you know your mail carrier likes to fold the paper around your other mail—find nothing there, and proceed to toss the paper into the nearby trash can. Upon tossing the paper, you see the pages of the folded paper fan open…and a rebate check pokes its head out between two pages!

You grab the paper from the trash can, and find the rest of your mail shoved inside the newspaper: two more rebate checks, a credit card bill, and some junk mail! If you had just blindly tossed the paper into the trash can, all of that mail would have been lost!

I guess my mail carrier missed the fold itself, and accidentally inserted the mail between pages of the paper. It’s a damn good thing I noticed it when I chucked the paper. Now I gotta wonder: have I thrown away other mail in a similar fashion?

- Have you ever watched a baseball game and cringed when a batter fouls a pitch off, and the ball caroms into one of his legs? With the exception of the shot to the package, I’d have a hard time arguing that there is anything more painful in baseball than that.

I mentioned that it was a beautiful day today, so we decided to swing by the local family fun center for some batting practice and, if time permitted, some miniature golf. While watching my sister all but bunt her allotment of slow-pitch softball tosses, she popped one up in her immediate vicinity. Taking cover as if she heard a gunshot, I quipped “Isn’t that what the helmet is for?”

When it was my turn to hit, I decided to start with the slow-pitch cage as a warm-up. If you don’t mind my saying, I was raking pretty well; I made excellent contact with several of the pitches without whiffing on a single pitch.

(I know, I know…bragging about hitting slow-pitch tosses. How impressive!)

The batting cages used to be $2 for a token (20 pitches); it’s now $3 for a token (though now you get 30 pitches, so at least it comes out to the same cost per pitch). I remembered having enough trouble with twenty pitches—I’d tire out at around 15 or so—and I was feeling especially tired near the round of 30. When pitch #29 came, I took a giant swing at it, and knew immediately that I hit the top of the ball.

How did I know? I fouled the pitch RIGHT OFF THE TOP OF MY RIGHT FOOT, right on top of my shoe laces (I hit right-handed, so that was my back foot). YEOW!!!

I let out a painful scream, tried to regain my composure, and could only very weakly swing at the next pitch. I was in so much pain that I couldn’t raise my left foot off the ground! Fortunately, that was also the last pitch of that round.

I limped out of the batting cages, limped towards the bench outside the cage, and immediately began massaging my foot. Fortunately, the foul ball didn’t leave a bruise, although I still feel pain in the foot.

Moral of the story: I can insult my sister, but at serious risk to my own health. Clearly, I still have not learned my lesson.

- Finally, I just have to end today’s blog with a…um…intriguing sight I saw at 99 Ranch today.

(Disclaimer: The following may be offensive to some. You have been warned.)

I was at the butcher’s section of the store, strolling about with my shopping cart, when I noticed a petite Asian woman standing quite oddly. And by “quite oddly,” I mean that she was sticking her chest out about as far as anatomically possible. Strange, I thought…

Robin Williams, in Live on Broadway, once quipped that he saw a woman that had such a bad boob job that, when she turned in a different direction, her boobs stayed in the same direction. Let’s put it this way: it looked like she was wearing a breast plate under her shirt; she turned, and those things didn’t move. I figured they were made out of Kevlar; a bullet wouldn’t have stood a chance! The woman looked soooooooo uncomfortable standing there, and it’s not like she had C or D cups!

Once I found the item I was looking for—chicken breasts, interestingly enough—I went down a couple aisles to where my sister was shopping, and before I could ask her if she saw the girl, she immediately asked me if I noticed her!

Bring on the hate mail!

Tags: baseball, batting cages, injury, supermarket, UBMe by Peter
1 Comment »