UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

- So importing my blog entries from Blogger was quick and simple. Unfortunately, I ran into a couple of problems. First, Wordpress tagged all the Blogger entries with the “Sports” category. Second, the naming convention of each blog entry changed (instead of /yr/mo/xxxxxxx.html, it got changed to /yr/mo/dy/yyyyyyy.html). Of course, that means that people who linked to my Blogger entries will either to fix their links, or, as Krunk suggested, I’ll have to enter a few “redirects” into my .htaccess file.

I thought about doing that, and then I decided to look through my Google Analytics history to see what were the most popular pages on my site all time. The first one isn’t really surprising; apparently lots of people don’t know where the scroll lock key is on their Logitech MX3200 keyboard. The other two were quite interesting:

• Apparently, lots of people were interested in getting information about the Citibank Dividend World Mastercard. I also got quite a few visits, courtesy of mikesmullin.com (the link is now broken, due to the Blogger import, but I added a line to my .htaccess file to point to the correct page).
• Much more amusing, though, was seeing a bunch of keyword hits to my site consisting of some form of “dangers of a laser printer.” Now, don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing amusing about the fact “that some laser printers emit large amounts of tiny particles, which may increase the risk of cancer and heart disease.” What I do find comical is the fact that people who were obviously looking for information regarding article above ended up on my site, reading (hopefully!) about how dangerous refilling a toner cartridge is. Of course, the dangers were exacerbated by the fact that I’m a total klutz.

For now, I’ve since repaired a few links, and re-categorized the last three weeks or so of blog entries. UngsungBlog 2.0beta is still a work in progress, after all.

- Other quick baseball trade thoughts:

• Eric Gagne was traded to Boston for a package including Boston starter Kason Gabbard. I’m not sure why Boston was interested in Gagne, but I can understand why they traded away a starter, with the return of Curt Schilling impending. I’m thinking this was a keep-away deal, because there were rumors that the Yankees were involved.
• The Cleveland Indians reacquired Kenny Lofton from Texas, and I love this deal for Cleveland. They get a veteran OF to play LF, and speed and a veteran bat at the top of the lineup. And all it cost Cleveland was a catching prospect.
• And the winner of worst deal of the trade deadline absolutely has to go to Pittsburgh’s acquisition of pitcher Matt Morris from the Giants. First of all, San Francisco was practically trying to get rid of the guy, apparently offering to pay teams to take him off their hands. Instead, Pittsburgh swooped in, offered to pick up Morris’ entire salary, and threw in two players (one to be named later)! That’s like spotting an ad on Craiglist, seeing a guy trying to sell his car below cost–he’s moving overseas, maybe–and offering him MSRP + $1,000 for his troubles.

As badly as the Dodgers have been playing recently, at least they’re not the Pirates.

by Peter
4 Comments »

- Well, it took a while, but the UngsungBlog switch to Wordpress is nearly complete, and it somehow took me five times longer than it should have to do!

(There’s a 99.9% chance that the delay was caused by a PEBDAC. For those of you that don’t know, PEBDAC stands for Probable Error Between Desk And Chair.)

All I have to do now is find a good template, categorize the rest of my posts imported from Blogger, and restore my Adsense banners.

- Thanks Krunk for telling me about Amazon.com’s Affiliate Program. If I can get just one person to buy through my Affiliate account, signing up will be totally worth it!

- So I’m really happy that Bonds hasn’t homered yet against the Dodgers. Unfortunately, he gets to face Brett Tomko tomorrow.

- I know this was announced a couple of days ago, but here are my thoughts on the Kevin Garnett to Boston trade. For the few NBA fans out there who haven’t yet heard of this deal, here are the particulars:

Boston sent the Minnesota Timberwolves forwards Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes and Gerald Green, guard Sebastian Telfair and center Theo Ratliff, two first-round draft picks [one of which was their own, initially traded away in the Ricky Davis for Wally Szczerbiak and Mark Blount deal] and cash considerations.

I’ll start with the Wolves. It appears that all they’re getting is Al Jefferson, a budding power forward in a conference full of them, cap relief in the form of Theo Ratliff’s contract, the right to no longer have to pay KG, a draft pick that they traded away, and a draft pick in 2009. Talk about getting 30 cents on the dollar. They were willing to take Jefferson, four scrubs, and two picks potentially in the late teens/early twenties, but they wouldn’t take a similar package and the #5 pick from this past draft? That makes zero sense to me. One has to wonder if KG privately pressured Minnesota to make a deal after the NBA draft.

As far as Boston is concerned, they now have three legitimate All-Stars in Pierce, Allen, and now KG. Too bad all of them are probably on the downside of their career. They also are in absolute salary cap hell, owing the three $56 million next year. Still, considering that KG hasn’t played with two guys of the caliber of Pierce and Allen–no, Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell aren’t equivalent to those two, no matter how good that Wolves team really was that year–and considering that the East is as weak as ever, one has to like Boston’s chances of winning the East, right?

Not in this blogger’s opinion. Even if the three stars should make it through the season uninjured, the team is now woefully short at PG, C, and bench.

(I just read over at Hoopshype.com–an excellent site, btw–that the Celtics signed veteran guard Eddie House to a one-year deal. Yawn.)

They have second-year Rajon Rondo (and now House) at PG, and Kendrick Perkins at C. Yeah, they have Tony Allen coming back from injury, and yeah, they have Brian Scalabrine (hahaha), but not much else. It sounds like the Big Three are going to have to play nearly 40 minutes a game each. If that happens, you can forget about any one of the three making it through the entire season without injury.

Boston should be a lot of fun to watch, and I hope I get to see them play several times this year. They have no reason to not make the playoffs, even with a crap surrounding cast, but I can’t put this Boston team above Detroit, Cleveland, or Chicago. It really wouldn’t surprise me if Boston gets a four or five seed, though. I don’t see Boston winning the East this year, though. However, another year of meshing together, with another year of seasoning for Rondo, and who knows what will happen?

By the way, what’s with the sudden about-face by KG about wanting to play in Boston. Not only does he now embrace Boston, he was even willing to sign a “discounted” extension (three years and nearly $60 million). You can’t tell me that the addition of Ray Allen changed KG’s mind that much!

Oh, and has anyone heard from Kobe Bryant yet?

- I am officially addicted to rebates. I did a deal, so complex, that I spent four hours yesterday filing rebates, and that wasn’t enough time to finish!

I am now well over $1,000 in rebates owed

Happy blogging!

by Peter
2 Comments »

- It was nice to not have to blog for nearly 36 straight hours. I gotta thank Hank for allowing me to partake in the IMBC, as well as his kind words about my blog (you really enjoyed reading my Michael Vick rants, eh?)

And Amy, don’t doubt the Ung-hex! Just because I’m on a “cold” streak lately–the Yankees have been hot recently, and the Dodgers have not–that doesn’t mean the Ung-hex is a fluke! Stop doubting the Ung-hex before your negative energies begin to cancel its effects out!

- I said I was going to go into detail about what caused me to be eliminated from the IMBC. That will have to wait.

(I promise it won’t have to wait as long as my poker story, or my thoughts on Tom Donaghy.)

- So in the next few days, I’m probably going to kick Blogger to the curb, and I’m going to start using Wordpress. Let’s hope I don’t royally screw up!

Also, I’m trying to figure out a consistent format for the UngsungBlog. Do I want to make it a pure sports blog, or should I keep it the mishmash of random thoughts and random topics that it currently is?

- One other thing before I get to the big topic at hand: it was very sad to hear, this morning, of the passing of San Francisco 49ers HOF coach Bill Walsh to leukemia. He was 75. Walsh won three Super Bowls with the Niners in only ten seasons, and his name is synonymous with the West Coast Offense. Perhaps his biggest contribution to football is the number of current and former coaches linked to Walsh and his 49ers teams:

Even a short list of Walsh’s adherents is stunning. Seifert, Mike Holmgren, Dennis Green, Sam Wyche, Ray Rhodes and Bruce Coslet all became NFL head coaches after serving on Walsh’s San Francisco staffs, and Tony Dungy played for him. Most of his former assistants passed on Walsh’s structures and strategies to a new generation of coaches, including Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden, Brian Billick, Andy Reid, Pete Carroll, Gary Kubiak, Steve Mariucci and Jeff Fisher.

I was never a 49ers fan; in fact, you could probably go ahead and say that I hated them. However, I could not help but respect the 49ers and what they accomplished during the 80s and early 90s.

- It looks like Baroid Bonds is heading to LA and SD, one home run behind Hank Aaron for the record. Let me be brief by saying this: Grady Little, don’t you dare pitch to this guy! He better not break the record here in LA!

Now, this is not a racial issue. Believe it or not, this is not a steroids thing; even with all the “evidence” we have on the guy–the fact that he got better in his late 30s, the rapid increase in size of his body, the lack of neck, etc.–I’m of the opinion that Bonds is probably guilty in the minds of many, but until he is officially indicted, I will consider him the record holder (once he breaks it, that is). This is about Barry being a member of the San Francisco Giants, and a world-class jerk, who only deserves the record because he’s been a damn good player for a number of years.

If he does break the record here in LA, I would love to see the Dodger fans in attendance turn their backs on him as he rounds the bases. For some, that could be their way of not acknowledging a record that appears to be obtained via cheating. For me, and maybe some others, it will be my way of respect (of which there is none) of a guy who I really don’t want to see break Aaron’s record.

Of course, knowing Dodger fans, they’re going to boo the living hell out of Bonds, and there’s a possibility that some fans might do some really stupid things. I can hope all I want that that does not happen, but I can’t help but expect some fan to do something really idiotic to make the other contingent of Dodger fans (those with some class!) look really bad.

I wouldn’t mind so much if Bonds get a single home run, but please, please, Grady, don’t give him a chance to break the record. I don’t care if it’s the ninth inning of the last game of the series, and we’re up by 10 runs! Do not let Bonds break the record here in LA! Let San Diego deal with the guy.

by Peter
1 Comment »

So apparently my olive branch/three-way-tie plea/cop-out didn’t work

Yes, after three or four near-eliminations, I am finally officially out. And it was totally worth it.

(Details later.)

Now if you’ll excuse me, the food coma is kicking in.

Until then, I’m out (in more ways than one).

BTW, congrats Amy! The Ung-hex ought to kick in sooner or later!

by Peter
1 Comment »

I had an idea for today’s blog entry, but I decided to save it for another day.

Quick-hitters (warning: may contain sports-like substances):

- It’s a good thing that online wagering is illegal here in the states, or I could have lost a ton of money on Miami +4, Lakers +9.5, and Utah straight-up over Houston in Game 2. Not to mention, there were a few baseball games I would have wagered on that would have lost me money as well. Whew!

- I have the itch (again) to upgrade my computer. It’s a good thing I have a wonderful antidote: my empty wallet. I’ve been told that having kids is also a great way to avoid needlessly spending money, but I don’t need that much help.

- I’m having quite a bit of fun with Google Analytics. One of the neat features of Analytics is the Top 5 Keywords section–keywords that web surfers searched for which led them to your site. The most prevalent keyword used to find my site is “MX3200 review” (the Logitech MX3200 keyboard/mouse combination, which I reviewed a couple weeks back). There were also a couple hits from searches related to turkey burgers (mentioned here). Oddly enough, a search for “ungsunghero” was used to find my site once, probably by me

Some of the more peculiar keyword hits:

- food-induced coma <– easily my favorite
- cingular
- Garoid Probation Services (???)
- World record for green bean casserole (WTF?)

By the way, try a Google search for “scroll lock location mx3200.”

- Did you see the story about the four-year old kid getting clipped by a football player during a Colorado State intrasquad game? The video was frightening to watch; the poor kid got hit pretty good. I wonder if the parents will let their kid play pop warner football, and if they will, will the kid start injuring the other players? I can picture the kid playing free safety, obliterating any opposing player that dares to come down the middle of the field. Or maybe the parents will be so afraid of contact sports that they’ll force him to play a musical instrument. By the way, I love how CSU gave the kid a phone call and a signed football as their apology. Come on! At least spring for season tickets for the family! Or at least a signed jersey! Those go for far more on eBay than a signed football!

In all serious, it’s sad that a collision with a helmeted football player likely will be one of the first memories of this kid’s childhood. I’m very glad to hear that the kid did not sustain any serious injuries.

Next time, I’ll be making a “Diet UngsungBlog” (all the taste of regular, zero sports!) entry, as I review another tech product. I also plan, sometime in the near future, a blog entry about the FX Network’s show, The Riches.

by Peter
2 Comments »