UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

I have so much to blog about!

(I hate the fact that I’m a lazy bastard :P)

I could blog about the horrible time I’m currently having with my latest computer build (and the worst part is, this build’s for my sister!).  I could go into a mega-rant about one of my biggest pet peeves in the world.  I could blog about my Dodgers being in first place in the National League Pee-Wee division (aka the West).

Basically, I could go in many directions with tonight’s blog entry.  Instead, I think I’ll continue with my Fourth of July weekend adventures.

And sorry, no quick-hitters:

- So on Saturday, we decided that we were going to go to the beach.

(Can you believe it?  Early July, and I haven’t yet stepped foot on a beach???)

As we were determining what beach we wanted to go to, I got an IM from cousin David.  You see, I had been helping him pick out a digital camera for weeks now, and he was trying to decide between one of the following (warning:  shameless link-spamming ahead):

• A Nikon D40 DSLR (my personal choice!)
• A Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5k
• A Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18k
• A Canon S5 IS (his eventual choice)

Apparently he wanted to go to Camarillo outlet to go clothes shopping, and he bribed us to go with the promise that we could play around with his new camera.  Moi, passing up the chance to play with a new toy?  Are you kidding me?  Not to mention, Camarillo was about 10-15 degrees cooler than it was here!

We didn’t get to the outlet until about 3PM, and because we hadn’t eaten yet, we stopped by the Food Court and grabbed some grilled steak sandwiches.  Pretty greasy, I might say, but what did I expect?  Very non-filling too, I might add, as I grabbed a Wetzel Pretzel about two hours later.  The pretzel was awful!  I ordered a Jalapeno Cheese pretzel, and for some reason, the Jalapenos were sweeter rather than hot.  And don’t even get me started on the substance on the pretzel that resembled cheese.

- Later on in the day, my sister wanted to go to the Coach Factory Store, and apparently they were having a huge sale…which I figured out when we were about ten stores away from Coach.  We went to the NIke store first while my sister went to Coach, and after a few minutes, we attempted to locate her in the Coach store.

That was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Eventually, she finished shopping, and got in the quite empty line.  Seemingly out of nowhere, a cute little saleswoman came up to my sister, grabbed her purchases (she accidentally grabbed my sister’s wallet, which was pretty funny), and scurried over to the register.

I believe this is a good summarization of what the cashier said to us:

“Hi!Isthatallyouwanttoday?CanIinterestyouinawalletforthirtyorfortydollars?Yourtotalcomesoutto[some-odd dollars]oh!Isthatagiftcard?Cool!I’msohappytoday!”

Seriously.  Someone might want to check the coffeemaker in the Coach Factory Store break room.

David had an excellent response to the girl:  he asked her if she wanted my sister’s phone number.

I nearly cried from laughter the second we stepped out of the store.  To this day, I’m still trying to figure out how the girl could have been so hyper.  It was nearing 7PM, and the only reasonable explanation I could come up with was that the girl works a four-hour shift, which started at 6PM.  David, being inappropriate as usual, mentioned that perhaps she was hiding something…

- After a bit of deliberation, we decided to have dinner at My Brother’s BBQ, on Ventura Blvd. between DeSoto and Canoga Blvd.  I had the Tri-Tip, sliced ham, and sliced pork dinner, and boy was the Tri-Tip excellent!  The ham was average, and the slice of pork I had was a bit too fatty.  The cole slaw and baked potato were about as good as you could expect it to be (namely, just OK), but the garlic bread was incredible!  Super garlic-y, and super buttery.  Yum!

My sister and cousin David split two dishes:  broasted and BBQ chicken, and chicken and ribs.  I tasted a bit of the ribs, which were really really dry.  The BBQ chicken was ok, and I forgot to ask how the broasted chicken was.

After dinner, we headed to Gelson’s to get some bakery grub.  We decided on a chocolate truffle (quite good), a canolli (very good!), and a Napoleon (awesome, especially because it wasn’t nearly as sweet as some places make it).  The day ended with us chowing down on dessert, followed by cousin David going crazy on SingStar 90s.  Too bad he deleted the video we made of him singing New Kids on the Block’s “Step By Step;” it was quite awesome.

(And by quite awesome…you know…)

Until next time!

Tags: broasted chicken, canon, coach factory store, garlic bread, gift card, hyper cashier, lumix dmc-fz18k, lumix dmc-tz5k, my brother's bbq, nikon d40, panasonic, ribs, S5 IS, singstar 90s, tri-tip by Peter
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Sorry for not blogging in so long!

Quick-hitters:

- What is it about potato salad that makes it so ridiculously addictive?

(For the record, my potato salad is simple: diced potatoes, sliced olives, chopped hard boiled eggs, finely chopped celery, mayo, vinegar, and pepper to taste.)

If preparing the salad wasn’t such a PITA, I wouldn’t have a problem eating this stuff often.

- Somebody please remind me never again to wait until near the end of the (typical) 30-day postmark deadline to file my rebates!

I was filing four rebates on purchases that, so I thought, were made on 6/11, meaning the claims must be filed by 7/11. Eventually, I realized that 6/11 was the shipping date, not the order date. The actual order date was 6/9!

Whew.

- Speaking of rebates, my current rebate-o-meter reads $1550, and that’s not counting the several orders I made recently.

My toothpaste-o-meter dropped by one, because cousin David was only willing to take one box off of my hands.

- So I missed most of the Nadal v. Federer classic (and I don’t get ESPN Classic, so I couldn’t watch the replay), but if the last few games were any indication of how great the matchup was, I will have to petition NBC to sell the match on iTunes. His streak of five straight Wimbledon titles was gone in a flash, and after dismal showings (dismal by Federer’s standards, that is) in the Aussie and French Opens, Pete Sampras’ Grand Slam titles record of 14 (Federer’s two back) is starting to look somewhat out of reach.

(By the way, I thought it was really compelling to see Federer’s reaction to his loss, when he was interviewed by John McEnroe. His delcaration that the loss “[hurt],” followed by his near breakdown, was almost humanizing, because we’ve never seen Federer in this position: losing a Grand Slam final not on clay.)

More importantly, have we witnessed a changing of the guard? Nadal suddenly has five Grand Slams, and he has proven that he can win on a surface other than clay. Would it be out of the question for him, currently 22, to have ten Grand Slams by 25? Nadal is a ridiculous athlete; did you see how many shots he made that he had no business getting to? There’s no reason why his game can’t translate on to the hard courts? He might be the man to win the season Grand Slam, if anybody.

I can’t wait for the US Open.

- Friday the Fourth was spent at two locales: an annual Fourth of July BBQ (thanks Aaron!), followed by the fireworks show at the Valley Cultural Center in Woodland Hills.

As we headed out to the BBQ, the weather was awful: it was warm and sticky. Fortunately, the sun was shining brightly when we got there, and thank goodness it was a dry heat. It was hot enough, though, for me to go through three sodas, and (by my count) seven bottles of water.

We brought that addictive potato salad, and for lunch, I had a Hebrew National hot dog, a hamburger, half of a giant Hot Link, an Omaha steak hot dog, guac and salsa with tortilla chips, various fruit, and some awesome spinach dip.

Naturally, I regretted eating all that. That didn’t stop me from chasing all that with a hamburger at 2:30, when Aaron fired up the grill a second time.

My sister and I spent most of the day taking up two seats at a table, and people constantly shuffled in and out of the other two seats. Without going in to too much detail about the individuals sitting in other seats, let me just say that older people are awesome to hang around with :P.

We were about to leave at six, when Aaron fired up the grill for a seventh (?) time. I managed to choke down another two burgers, an Omaha Steak hot dog, and about two servings of insanely awesome baked beans.

I had to be carted out of the party.

For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 3.5 hot dogs/sausages, four hamburgers, five or six sides, three sodas, seven bottles of water, and a stomach ache when all was said and done.

(And if you think what I ate was ridiculous, apparently all I downed was par for the course!)

After food, we swung by the Valley Cultural Center to watch the fireworks show. Barnes Park’s fireworks show, that was not. The fireworks show ran along with music played by the Los Angeles Pierce Symphonic Winds, which was pretty awesome. It would have been cooler if we heard much of the music, though; we were too far back to hear more than the booms from the fireworks.

All in all, a good start to the weekend.

Part 2 next time, and maybe a serious rant on my part.

Tags: barbeque, bbq, deadline, fireworks, Food, fourth of july, grand slam, los angeles pierce symphonic winds, postmark, potato salad, rafael nadal, rebate, roger federer, valley cultural center, wimbledon by Peter
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Happy Fourth of July!  Hopefully, I’ll actually get to see some fireworks this year (and no, not of the figurative type!)

- Temperature-wise, it hasn’t been as hot lately as it was a few weeks back, when we were regularly getting temps in the mid-100s during the day, and mid-80s at night.  For some reason, though, I’ve been having a hell of a time getting any sleep!

It almost feels like my room is a good ten degrees warmer this week than it has been in weeks past.  Case in point:  I’ve had no choice but to leave my Honeywell tower fan on all night.  Even with the fan on all night, I usually wake up with my pillow covered in sweat.

(Apologies to anyone that got grossed out by that image.)

I can’t wait for October.

(As far as the title is concerned…hot heat?  As opposed to cold heat, right?  See what the heat does to me? :P)

- The more my wallet tightens up, the more frequently I find incredible TV deals, no thanks to SlickDeals.

Case in point:  a 46″ Samsung 1080P LCD HDTV for $1299?  An Element 42″ 720p LCD HDTV for $699?  An Envision/AOC 42″ 720p LCD HDTV for $849?  Not to mention, according to SlickDeals, J&R through Amazon had a 37″ Sharp for $699!

I’d love to upgrade from my 32″ Sceptre Komodo, but the little fact that I’m broke is keeping me from doing so :P.  I fear, though, that the closer we get to football season, the bigger the urge will be for me to upgrade.

I think I should put my wallet in a giant block of ice.

- I end today’s blog entry with quite possibly the most selfless act in sports history.  Wizards G Gilbert Arenas, figuring out that $127 million was a tad too much money for his services, happily took a pay cut…of $16 million, meaning he’ll get a paltry $111 million over six years.

Something tells me that Arenas was happy for the dollar figure because it’s palindromic, or something like that.  In that case, why didn’t he ask for $111,111,111.11?

I love this quote:

“What can I do for my family with $127 million that I can’t do with $111 million?” he told The Washington Post.

How noble.  Maybe those ridiculously highly-paid CEOs can take a cue from this guy.

Talking about why he offered a hometown discount, Arenas said:

“I’m basically giving back $16 million,” Arenas told the Washington Times. “This is in line with what I’ve been saying the whole time. You see players take max deals and they financially bind their teams. I don’t wanna be one of those players and three years down the road your team is strapped and can’t do anything about it.”

While it’s true that Arenas is giving the team a $16 million “discount,” he’s not exactly freeing the Wizards from the binds of the salary cap.  Here is the Wizards’ current cap situation; factor in Antawn Jamison’s $12.5 million per year contract (assuming he gets $12.5 million next year), and the Wizards are already at ~ $54 million in contracts.

Now, the 2008-09 salary cap figure hasn’t been released yet, but let’s assume it is ~ $57 million (it was ~ $55 million last year).  If Arenas’ new deal starts at $12 million per year, the combined contracts of Jamison and Arenas already put the Wiz way over the salary cap.  So how does this hometown discount help the Wiz in signing another free agent?

About the only thing I could think of is the fact that the discount might lower the Wizards’ luxury tax payments, if they happen to go over the tax threshold (if they use their mid-level exception this year, it appears that they will surely go over the tax threshold).  So in a nutshell, Arenas is, in the most basic sense, saving the team a bit of money.  His contract, though, certainly appears to keep them from improving the team much.

(Now, I don’t pretend to be a cap-ologist, and everything I said above could be completely wrong.  If I am so, I would appreciate any corrections!)

Tags: 1080p, 720p, aoc, element, envision, fireworks, fourth of july, gilbert arenas, hdtv, heat, hometown discount, lcd, new tv, night, samsung, sceptre komodo, sharp, washington wizards by Peter
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My head hurts.

And I hate stupid people.

Quick-hitters:

- Office fans, rejoice! According to Office creator Ricky Gervais, Carell has signed a three-year contract extension to continue making episodes of The Office.

W00h00!!!

- (Thanks, or maybe no thanks, Krunk) Do women REALLY like douche-y a-holes like this clown?

There are guys that think they’re the greatest, and then there’s this guy.

My head is still reeling from listening to the clip…ONCE!

(BTW, if you want to talk “douchebag,” look no further than Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo.)

- I’m surprised that Chase, Citibank, and Discover haven’t called me up lately, inquiring as to why I haven’t bought anything lately.

How will these companies ever stay in business?

- Have you seen a commercial for the “Guitar Idol?”

(Warning: an obnoxious, insipid, and possibly traumatizing commercial, the same one that is shown on TV, appears on that site. You have been warned.)

Basically, these devices are oversized, rubberized (I think) guitar pick-shaped devices with a built-in speaker. Each pick is programmed to play two songs, and apparently you’re supposed to “strum” the pick up and down along with the music, adding your own guitar riffs.

This would be an awesome idea…if Guitar Hero and Rock Band never existed. Well, that, and if air guitar players didn’t look ridiculous.

The best thing about these picks? $19.95 + $8.95 processing and handling!!! I think I would be happier with the money.

- So here are some super-late, and probably already oft-repeated thoughts regarding Thursday’s NBA Draft:

1) It didn’t surprise me that Miami went with Michael Beasley. How he will fit with Wade + Marion, though, is another story. If they click, and Mario Chalmers (great pickup, BTW) relegates Jason Williams to the bench, will Riley mosey (sp?) his way down to the Heat bench next season?

2) I hate the Memphis-Minny swap for both sides. Minny picked up an undersized PF in Kevin Love (don’t they already have one in Al Jefferson?) and traded away a potential superstar in O.J. Mayo in the process. And doesn’t Memphis have enough guards already? And they had to throw in Mike Miller in the deal as well?

What’s next? Is Minny going to trade Al Jefferson back to Boston for cash considerations? Is Memphis going to trade O.J. Mayo to the Lakers for D.J. Mbenga?

3) I am not a fan of the Sonics pick of Russell Westbrook at #4. They could probably have traded down (say, to #7) and still picked up Westbrook. Now, if he learns how to play the point, and develops a reliable jumper, then this is a great pick. As it stands, I thought this was a serious reach (but nothing compared to the Kings’ pick of Jason Thompson at #12.)

If I think of something else to say, I’ll add it later. For now, though, here are my draft winners/losers:

4) Winners: Miami (especially if Chalmers works out), New Jersey (Brook Lopez at #10 was great value, but I don’t particularly like the Ryan Anderson pick), and Portland (Bayless fits the team perfectly, and they now have something like 200 future picks stockpiled). The Clippers are winners if DeAndre Jordan doesn’t flop. And can I put the Lakers in this list for acquiring Pau Gasol for the 28th overall pick, a sack of potatoes, Gasol’s brother, and Javaris Crittendon?

Losers: Sacramento (Jason Thompson? Patrick Ewing, Jr.?), Milwaukee (they love SFs, and sorry, but Joe Alexander has bust written all over him), and honorable mention to Knicks’ pick Danilo Gallinari (was that a brutal crowd or what?).

Final thought: I love the T.J. Ford for Jermaine O’Neal trade for Toronto. They got rid of a redundant player for a high-risk, high-reward player in O’Neal, and the 17th pick (Roy Hibbert) isn’t going to be a game-changer. IF (and that’s a huge IF) O’Neal plays sixty games, and is healthy for the playoffs, look out for Toronto!

As for Indiana, I like T.J. Ford, and Brandon Rush will be a solid pro. But, they had Jerryd Bayless fall to their laps at #11. Why not keep him as an insurance policy for T.J Ford, as well as a guy who can play some shooting guard?

That’s all for tonight.

Tags: commercial, douchebag, guitar idol, indiana pacers, jermaine o'neal, jerryd bayless, kevin love, los angeles clippers, mario chalmers, miami heat, michael beasley, milwaukee bucks, office, oj mayo, portland trail blazers, ricky gervais, russell westbrook, sacramento kings, steve carell, t.j. ford, toronto raptors, voicemail by Peter
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So I cannot believe I just spent the last two hours of my life watching Wipeout and I Survived a Japanese Game Show on ABC. I needed a good laugh, and I was hoping to see some awesome, MXC-like wipeouts.

I want my money back.

John Anderson (aka the SportsCenter anchor) was mildly entertaining, though perhaps the producers should have paired him with Stuart Scott or Scott Van Pelt. The other John (whatever his name is), though, was trying WAY TOO HARD to be funny, and of course, he was not even remotely funny. And don’t get me started on the eye candy interviewer Jill Wagner. Was Jill Arrington not available? Stick to the Mercury commercials, Jill.

(That got me thinking: how many takes does a single Mercury commercial take Jill to complete? Ok, so maybe she doesn’t do well with live action. Couldn’t ESPN have loaned the producers of Wipeout Erin Andrews? THAT I would watch.)

Once the debacle that was Wipeout ended, I started watching I Survived a Japanese Game Show…and WTF? The previews showed nothing but crazy Japanese game show action, and, I got to see a short, pudgy woman scream at a bunch of Road Rules rejects?

Twenty minutes in, and I was ready to shoot myself in the face. About the only thing entertaining about the show was the super-hyper host, who should have done all his commentary in Japanese.

(EDIT: Oh great. I just found out that this show will be Survivor-like, where each week, one player gets eliminated. Don’t worry…I see nine eliminations next week, if you catch my drift.)

(EDIT #2: OK…watching Cathy rickshaw around the sumo wrestler was kinda funny. Fine.)

I’ll consider laying 3:1 odds to anyone willing to bet that both shows will last four weeks.

(I know what you’re thinking. If the shows were so awful, why did you sit through both hours? Honestly, I have no idea; I think I went in and out of a coma several times.)

Tags: i survived a japanese game show, jill wagner, john anderson, not funny, waste of time, wipeout by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- I was expecting the high temps to stick around for another couple of days, but it was a comfortable 85 degree day today.

Hopefully the reduced temperatures will mean more sleep for me (more on that later).

- So I’ve got this stick of SO-DIMM RAM (that’s laptop memory, for you non-computer geeks out there), and I am tempted to put the RAM on my keychain as evidence of my geek-dom.

I’ve been told by at least one individual that, if I do so, I should not be seen with said person in public until I remove the RAM from my keychain. Fine.

(What I’m really worried about, of course, are the pointy edges of the stick of RAM that might chew up my pockets. Yeah, that’s it…I’m not at all worried about getting called a dork.)

- I guess there is at least one person who doesn’t buy Shaq’s “It was all done in fun” argument: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who demanded back Shaq’s special deputy’s badge as a result of his rap about Kobe. I can’t say I blame the sheriff.

Shaq’s not going to miss that badge one bit, methinks. He’s not going to be depressed the same way Dwight Schrute was after resigning from his volunteer position (remember the episode where Michael demanded Dwight’s urine to pass a drug test?), right?

- Chase has treated me pretty well as a customer (their inability to retain my email address, as well as changing due dates notwithstanding).

However, after seeing the latest story regarding Chase over on The Consumerist, part of me has to wonder when they’re going to royally screw me over. Cliffs: a “friendly” teller had siphoned about $300,000 out of $400,000 from the bank account of an elderly woman, who currently needs the money to pay her nursing home bills.

Granted, the actions were that of a rogue employee, and not Chase themselves. However, if what the article says is true—”The bank discovered the theft in August 2007″—what is taking so long for the funds to be returned to her? Also, she had been siphoning funds for four years, and it took a tax preparer (and not the bank itself) to catch on to her scam?

In any case, the teller better get what’s coming to her.

- So as all my loyal readers—all none of you—know, I’ve been lacking sleep lately. The oppressive heat of the last few days are largely to blame, and it doesn’t help that my bedroom window doesn’t have a screen on it. I’d sleep in the living room, but our sliding glass door doesn’t have a screen either. I suppose I could sleep without…um…never mind.

While there is absolutely nothing I could do about the heat (turning on the A/C aside), I wish I could throw stuff at my idiot neighbors, who haven’t helped in my quest for a good night’s sleep.

1) At about 5:30AM on Sunday morning, I was in la-la land, probably dreaming about something I wish I had (Money? An expensive car? A girl? A girl in an expensive car with money in the trunk? Whatever.), when I heard a loud THUD from the second-floor of my condominium complex. Either one of my neighbors tipped over a dresser/bookshelf/desk/etc., or one of my neighbors is a tad overweight.

I don’t think an asteroid crashing into “the Valley” would have made a sound that loud. Needless to say, it took a while for me to get back to sleep.

2) Later that morning, around 7AM, I was awoken to a guy sitting on the stairs outside my condo. For the next hour or so, I had to listen to this idiot explain, in a thousand different ways, how women are evil.

He gave classic lines, like “She’s just jerking around with you!” as well as more contemporary lines, like “Bros before hoes!” I also heard “She’s not worth it,” “She’s a b!tch,” and the usual “You can do better!” I could’ve sworn I also heard a “I’m here for you.”

Kudos to his cell phone for lasting throughout the conversation, though! My two-year-old Sanyo Katana can’t go 24 hours on STANDBY without needing a recharge.

3) On both weekend mornings, I was forced up to one of my neighbor’s dog barking incessantly. What really irritates me about the dog—other than its existence—is the fact that the dog barks the same four-bark, descending-tone melody over and over and over again. My sister insists that the owner leaves the dog outside in the patio on weekdays, forcing the dog to deal with the high temps until, presumably, the owner returns…allowing the dog to stay outside in the patio and annoy the holy hell out of his neighbors some more.

People who walk their dogs at 3PM on a 100+ degree day need to be shot. So does this idiot, if what my sister alleges is true.

Until next…zzzzz…

Tags: chase, cooler temperatures, elderly woman, joe arpaio, keychain, lack of sleep, loud dog, maricopa county, ram, scam, shaq, sheriff, sodimm, special deputy's badge, stupid neighbors, teller by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- Wow. I actually tossed out an empty tube of toothpaste AND a stick of deodorant on the same day!

I think I better go to CVS to restock

- File this under the “It helps to read carefully” department: I got an email in my GMail Spam folder, with the all-too-subtle headline:

Win from benefits of hidden secrets of pornstars!

What I found mildly comical was the sender of the email: hijo.

In my sleepless state, and for a split second, I thought Hank was starting his own Canadian pharmaceutical company or something

- (from Consumerist) I think I ranted about this before, but I can’t seem to find when I did so. Anyway, apparently I am not the only one that has had Chase change around their credit card due dates in an effort to scam customers out of money.

(You tell me what other possible reason there is for doing this.)

The only reason why I caught Chase doing this to me is the fact that I log on to my Chase.com account almost weekly, whether I do it for a check of my credit limit, a check of my due dates (and whether or not the accounts are paid before the due date), or a random check of my purchases. If I wasn’t such a frequent visitor of my Chase.com online account, I’m almost certain that I would have been late on a payment at some point.

(By the way, Chase, why do I still get paper statements in envelopes that say “Sorry, but your email address was rejected, so here’s your statement”? I have changed my email address several times, and for some reason, you guys decide it would be funny to change it right back!

Either that, or maybe…nah.)

- Boy has it been HOT here in recent days! Over the latter three days of the past week, temps have gone well over 100 all three days, and Friday night, it was 83 degrees…at 3AM!!!

How hot has it been? In a span of six days, my sister and I have polished off eight gallons (out of ten) of water from our cooler!

(Thank goodness for Crystal Light.)

So on Saturday, my sister and I decided to soak in all the free air conditioning we could get by swinging by the Northridge Mall. We arrived at the mall at about 3:30 (I didn’t officially get up until 1; the heat had something to do with that), and we spent the first few minutes of the trip at Sears, looking for some cheap clearance stuff (no luck). After visiting a couple other stores, we headed across the mall to Borders.

Over at Borders, I grabbed two books that piqued my interest: Paul Shirley’s Can I Keep My Jersey?: 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond, and Jim Nantz’
Always By My Side: A Father’s Grace and a Sports Journey Unlike Any Other. I heard of Shirley’s book from ESPN’s Bill Simmons, and Nantz’s book intrigued me after his excellent interview on The Jim Rome Show on 5/30/08.

I got through the introduction and a single chapter of Shirley’s book, and now I’m hooked. I love his dry, sarcastic wit, though some of his cracks are a bit borderline offensive. Nantz’s book, on the other hand, grabbed me right at the end of the first chapter (anyone who read the book knows what I mean).

I think I’ll have to order both books.

The rest of the day was spent at Circuit City, where my sister was playing around with a Nikon D40. I was browsing for something to spend my ~ $200 GC on, and I couldn’t find a damn thing.

(We returned to the mall on Sunday, however, to take a look at an LG 32LG30 HDTV. After a AAA 8% off coupon, the TV comes out to about $650, or $450 after my GC. Tempting…)

- Finally, you must have seen by now the freestyle rap about (rip on?) Kobe by one Shaquille O’Neal. Here are my thoughts on the video:

1) When I first saw it, I pretty much asked “WTF are you thinking, you fat idiot?” I thought your so-called “feud” was completely over, and then you go on and do THAT? Like Shaq should be running his mouth; he had Nash and Amare and couldn’t get out of the first round!

(Tangent: When we talk about Shaq’s career, we always talk about the guards he played with: Penny, Kobe, D-Wade, and Nash. Why don’t we ever talk about the two HOF coaches that led him to rings—Phil Jackson and Pat Riley—and compare them to the two that couldn’t do so—Brian Hill and Mike D’Antoni?)

At best, Shaq’s jealous. At worst, he’s an arrogant ass.

2) After listening to Stephen A. Smith talk about freestyle rapping, and how Shaq’s rap is considered pretty mild by rapping standards (as you can expect, I am no expert on this subject), I guess I could give Shaq a bit of leeway. However, to say that his rap was not at all premeditated is ridiculous at best. Does this line

Kobe [expletive], tell me how my [expletive] tastes.

sound anything but premeditated? What about the line that Kobe caused Shaq’s divorce?

(quoted from the MSNBC.com article) I’m a horse, Kobe ratted me out, that’s why I’m getting divorced. He said Shaq gave a (woman) a mil. I don’t do that ’cause my name’s Shaquille. I love ‘em, I don’t leave ‘em. I got a vasectomy, now I can’t breed ‘em.”

How can he rap about something that personal and still try to convince people that his rap was done in jest? Plus, if the feud with Kobe was, indeed, over, why would an attack on Kobe be the first thing on Shaq’s hit list? I don’t buy it one bit.

3) Speaking of attacks on NBAers, what was with the attack on Ewing and Kareem? Sure, Ewing has no rings, but what did he do to deserve getting blasted by Shaq? And Kareem? The top scorer (total points) in NBA history? The guy with six NBA rings and six MVPs?

Nice try.

If Shaq did this to draw interest to the first Suns-Lakers matchup of the 08-09 season, then Mission Accomplished. Personally, yawn…

Until next time!

Tags: always by my side, bookstore, borders, can i keep my jersey, chase, consumerist, credit card, freestyle, gmail, hot, jim nantz, kareem abdul-jabbar, kobe bryant, northridge mall, patrick ewing, paul shirley, rap, shaquille o'neal, spam, statement by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!! Eddie Izzard is going to be at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood from Thursday to Saturday, Aug 7-9!

MUST…GET…TIX!

The new show is called “Stripped,” for the record.

- I made some instant udon noodles for dinner tonight, and the cooking instructions said to boil 19 1/2 fl oz. of water (17.5 fl oz. if I chose to cook the noodles in the microwave).

19.5 fl oz? They couldn’t round it up to 2 1/2 cups? Too bad I don’t have a graduated cylinder. And what’s with directing me to cook the noodles for 5 minutes? Four minutes and 48 seconds would have been perfect.

- I forgot to mention one incident that happened during the Mets-Dodgers game last night. A woman wearing a Mets jersey was leaving the stadium, but not before getting into a mini-argument with a bunch of Dodger fans sitting a few rows in front of us. As soon as that happened, a bunch of Dodger fans started mercilessly booing her.

She turned around, and started speaking what could barely be considered English. I was able to make out something about “you” (Dodger fans, presumably) winning twice in “like a hundred years” while “we” (Mets fans) have won “so many” times.

If memory serves me correctly, the Los Angeles Dodgers have won two championships in their non-Brooklyn existence, and the Mets have won exactly twice as well. Now, if the woman is going to bandwagon and include the Yankees into that discussion, then I guess she has a point. Then again, including Yankees’ championships as a Mets fan is like being a Clipper fan celebrating Lakers’ championships.

I couldn’t help but join in on the heckling, shouting “Remember September of last year?” (in reference to the Mets’ late season collapse last year that cost them the NL East).

- I never did get around to commenting about the disputed shot in the third quarter of Game 2 between Orlando and Detroit, so I’ll let the guys over at Imaginary Hardwood explain why the disputed shot—a terrible mistake by the refs and clock operator, for the record—wasn’t the only reason for Orlando’s 2-0 deficit.

I’ll add this to the discussion, though: why couldn’t the refs start the entire play over again? Reset the clock, and make Detroit bring the ball back up court? What is wrong with that? And I don’t want to hear the nonsense that the refs “knew” that 4.6 seconds (or whatever it was) elapsed from inbounds to shot, thus allowing the basket to stand. Yeah, I’m so sure the refs knew that 4.6, and not 4.5 or 4.7 seconds, ran off the clock. I would have respected their opinion, as wrong as it ended up being, if they had said that five seconds ran off the clock.

ESPN’s TMQ has ranted about tenths of seconds often, and I wholeheartedly agree. Sure, without tenths of seconds, Laker fans might not have Derek Fisher’s “0.4″ shot, but with the proposal I will offer below, he might have had “more” time to take that shot.

I propose that the NBA should get rid of the clock readings of tenths of seconds. If they insist on having fractions of seconds, why not use half-seconds instead?

(Try this exercise: randomly start and stop a stopwatch, and guess how much time elapsed for five trials of varying durations, to the nearest tenth. Now, repeat the trial, and see how many you can get to the nearest half-second. I tried it just right now, and scored 1/5 on the first test; 3/5 on the second test. Of course, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that one is probably going to score better on the second test.)

Wouldn’t identifying “five and a half seconds” make a lot more sense than trying to determine if 5.3 or 5.4 seconds ran off the clock instead?

- Despite getting out to a big double-digit lead early, and keeping it for most of the game, I still saw a lot of chinks in the Lakers’ armor after their Game 2 win over Utah. Deron Williams was an absolute beast in the third quarter, and Paul Millsap might be the key to Utah evening the series in the next two games. I could’ve sworn that every basket Millsap scored was an and-1. If Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko were able to give the Jazz anything decent in the first two games, this series could easily be 1-1 or 2-0, Utah.

Fisher was huge, Gasol was solid—and I think the Lakers need to establish him more often—and Odom was great. Even still, the third-quarter stretch where both teams were scoring on practically every possession has to be worrisome to the Lakers; you better believe that the Jazz will get stops in Utah. I don’t expect the Lakers to shoot 57% in either Games 3 or 4.

I missed most of the bore-fest that was Detroit-Orlando, but hopefully Chauncey Billups is able to play Game 4. If he’s not, Detroit is going to be in for one heck of a series.

Until next time!

Tags: detroit pistons, disputed 3 pointer, dodgers, Game 2, half-seconds, imaginary hardwood, lakers, mets, mets fan, orlando magic, udon, utah by Peter
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Argh! I thought I just had a headache, but I guess I am full-blown sick! Sore throat, runny nose…good thing I still have two bags of cough drops from CVS (free after ECBs, naturally).

- It’s time…for some Dodgers love.

(I swear I’m not a bandwagon-er, even though it may appear that way because this is the first real Dodgers blog entry I’ve made this year.)

Rafael Furcal has to be the early favorite for NL MVP, right? No, I’m not saying this as a homer. I’m not saying this after watching Furcal tattoo a three-run, game-breaking HR against Colorado. And I’m not saying this as a fan of the guy himself. I’m saying this based on his stats YTD:

(as of 5/1/08) .370/.457/.580. 28 R, 44 H, 12 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 18 BB. Second in NL in AVG, fourth in steals (7), top ten in OPS (1.036), and first in runs. Never mind all the SportsCenter-caliber plays he makes at shortstop. Is it no coincidence that his play is a key reason for the Dodgers’ six game winning streak?

Reports say that Furcal is open to offers for a contract extension mid-season. Can you blame the Dodgers for trying to re-sign him? Think he’ll take a three-year extension worth $48 million? Yeah, I know…$16 million for a SS who will be 34 at the end of the contract? I could think of bigger wastes of money.

(Tangent: I actually took a few minutes to decide which player I would associate with the word “wastes” above. It should really only have taken a few seconds; Schmidt has been injured, while Jones couldn’t get a hit if he were swinging a tennis racket.)

(Tangent #2: Did I just Ung-hex the Dodgers? It’s now Dodgers 7, Rockies 6. Whoops!)

- Raise your hand if you had the Atlanta-Boston series going more than five games.

If your hand is raised, you’re a Hawks fan (do those exist?), a damn liar, stoned out of your mind, or you own a time machine, went to the future, and saw Atlanta winning Game Six at home on May 2, 2008.

(Tangent: Why is it that, during the “NBA Cares” mini-commercials that air during the playoffs, do we hardly see the superstar players participating? ESPN just aired one such commercial, and Kyle Korver (!!!) was the guest. Was Deron Williams busy that night? Was Carlos Boozer having dinner with family that day?

I kid, of course. What the NBA has done for New Orleans is, in a word, remarkable.)

As I was watching the fourth quarter of the Celtics-Hawks game, one thought came to mind: “THIS team won only 35 games in the regular season?” People slammed the Hawks for taking Al Horford over Mike Conley, Jr., but Horford’s been real strong in this series. Naturally, I gotta ask: What if the Hawks had drafted Chris Paul? And why did I continue to see Ray Allen on Joe Johnson? Is Doc trying to get himself run out of town?

(Off-topic: Andruw Jones just doubled??? The world is going to end! His batting average probably just increased ten points with that one hit.)

Do the Hawks have a chance in hell of upsetting Boston in Game Seven? Why not? Do I think they’ll win? Of course not.

By the way, T-Mac is having a hell of a first half against Utah—10-16, 28/7/3—and I’d love to see Houston force a Game Seven against Utah. It’s gonna be hard to do so, though, sans Rafer Alston. Had he been healthy for the whole series, would this game be an elimination game for Utah? Also, LeBron went LeBron, manned up, and ousted Washington with a triple-double. I dare the Boston-Atlanta winner to start trashing LeBron.

(OT: It appears that the Ung-hex has been averted, thanks to a bases-clearing double by Matt Kemp. Whew.)

More playoff thoughts next time, but until then, let me wrap up with this:

- So as you loyal UngsungBlog readers—all none of you—know, my sister has karmic powers. Evidently, either I have yet to learn to stop picking on her, or I like letting karma kick me in the ass.

Well, as we were preparing to head back to MPK last Friday, my sister remarked that she was expecting a phone call from someone, but her phone wasn’t not in her possession. Standing right in front of our sofa, I asked where her phone was, and she explained that she had left it in her car.

I jokingly exclaimed that leaving her phone in her car was “foolish,” and immediately turned around to get something. That’s when I discovered that my sister had left my poker chip set besides the sofa, hidden under a blanket which hung over the sofa.

How did I know the poker chip set was there? Well, one nano-mill-second after I insulted my sister and turned around, my right foot Vanderjerked the hidden poker chip set.

(Vanderjerk, v., to kick something hard, either accidentally or not at all straight, named after former Indianapolis Colts idiot kicker Mike Vanderjagt: My nephew spilled his juice all over our carpet, so I disciplined him by Vanderjerking him in the butt.)

I screamed out in pain, bent over, and was immediately half-crying and half-laughing; crying because it hurt like a mother, and laughing because what happened was so ridiculous. My sister got a good laugh for about five minutes, and I thought it was a bit funny for a few seconds. Too bad my foot hurt for a good day or two.

Will I learn my lesson? Maybe when the Clippers win an NBA title.

One last parting thought: what the hell happened in the third quarter? I guess the Lakers better prepare for a Game One on Sunday.

Tags: april, atlanta hawks, boston celtics, houston rockets, karmic powers, lebron james, mvp, nl, rafael furcal, sister by Peter
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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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