Entries Tagged as 'kobe bryant'

Chase Changes Credit Card Due Dates For Fun, Oppressive Heat = Trip to the Mall, And Shaq’s Rap (Rip?) About Kobe

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 :P

- 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 :P

- (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!

Sirius Customer Service Rant (AKA Sprint’s CSRs Have Some Company On The List), And Celtics-Lakers Game Three Thoughts

Quick-hitters:

- How come I never realized how addictive graham crackers can be?

Damn graham crackers. Good thing I don’t have any chocolate and marshmallows lying around…

- Current rebate-o-meter: ~$1,400. Apparently I forgot to enter about $400 in rebates that I almost completely forgot about!

And by “enter” I mean “I completely forgot about these items I ordered, and therefore I’m not even close to thinking about filing these rebates.”

I’m lazy.

- Hey Sprint! Did you loan out some of your CSRs to Sirius?

I was shopping through Sirius’ web site via AAA for a radio and subscription service. The site had a pretty nice deal: $14.99 for the Stratus 4 Dock & Play Kit, plus a free month of service and free activation. After notifying my sister of the deal, she quickly told me to order it for her.

When I got to the checkout, though, I saw the $15.00 activation fee in my shopping cart. I looked back at AAA’s website, and made absolutely sure that everything looked good. Free shipping? Check. Free month of service? Check. One year subscription? Check. So where’s my free activation?

I called the Sirius/AAA hotline, and almost immediately, a guy with a thick accent answered. He asked me for my name, phone number, and address, but I pointed out that I was not yet a subscriber, and just had a question or two about a AAA promotion. I pointed out that AAA members get free activation when ordering online, adding the fact that I did sign up for a one year contract.

The moron asked me to read the serial number off the back of my radio. Strike one.

I reminded him that I was not yet a subscriber, and wanted to sign up for service. I stated again that I was supposed to get free activation as a AAA member.

The moron, matter-of-factly, stated that it was “policy” to charge the $15.00 activation fee. Strike two.

At this point, I was furious, so I decided to speak in my one-word-at-a-time, near-the-top-of-my-voice voice (which will, from now on, be known as the “IVR voice”), pointing out again that I was signing up through AAA’s site, and the site clearly mentions that AAA members get free shipping AND free activation.

The moron told me that he would research it with “somebody,” and he put me on hold. When he came back, he acknowledged an error on the site, and that I should only be charged $10 for activation. Foul tip…

I screamed, “TEN DOLLARS IS NOT FREE!” That’s when the rep dropped this bomb on me: he said that his coworker insisted that the activation charge was correct!!!

(Now I’m assuming “coworker” != “supervisor.” For all I know, maybe he did mean supervisor. For now, though, I am not giving him the benefit of the doubt.)

One final time, I adamantly pointed out that I should be getting free activation. That’s when I heard his “coworker” in the background utter “It’s right! It’s right!”, to which the trained seal stupid rep responded with something to the effect of “There is a $15.00 activation fee, which is policy to charge for new subscriptions.”

*click*

Strike f**king three.

EDIT: Wanting my sister to share my pain, I had her call back and try to get a supervisor on the line. “Jay” answered her call, and while he wouldn’t transfer her to a supervisor, he did append our order for free activation. There were some issues getting the radio she wanted for $14.99, but he eventually fixed the pricing of the kit as well. He was ready to put the order through, and he asked my sister if it was OK to put her on hold.

She did. And, in-freaking-explicably, she “accidentally” hung up on him.

She immediately called back, and tried to find “Jay.” The first rep explained that she couldn’t do so without his extension. The second rep she spoke to wouldn’t put the order through, insisting that the price of the radio was wrong. While being on hold with a third rep, and she inexplicably hung up while on hold a third time!

(Apparently the rep I dealt with cursed us.)

When she called yet again, she again demanded a supervisor. Tired of waiting being placed on hold for so long, she hung up and called again. Finally, she got a rep that spoke English!

This rep instructed my sister to order the service through sirius.com, and once the order was in the system, the rep was going to manually waive the activation fee. How do you suppose that went?

After the order was submitted, the rep put my sister back on hold, and attempted to manually credit her account. When she came back on the phone, naturally, she told us that she could not credit the account. Instead, she told my sister to call back when she receives the radio, and request the credit upon activation.

Hey, stupid rep: if you couldn’t credit the account right now, what makes you think one of your fellow morons reps is going to be able to credit the account when my sister calls in to activate the radio?

Several calls, zero supervisors, two headaches…and we aren’t even customers yet. Awesome.

- Paul Pierce went 2 for 14. Kevin Garnett went 6 for 21. The Lakers held a double digit lead in the first half. Kobe Bryant shot 18 foul shots. Sasha Vujacic scored 20 points.

And after all that, the Lakers still had to fight for a Game Three win? That can’t bode well for the Lakers’ chances in the series. Then again, Lamar Odom was non-existant for three quarters, Pau Gasol got a couple key offensive rebounds, and Derek Fisher had another ineffective game. So did the Lakers really win, or did they just not lose?

Speaking of Sasha, what a great game he had. Killer treys, irritating defense, but not a single shot of him adjusting that thing he had in his head that keeps his hair manageable? And I loved the little tussle between PJ Brown and Jordan Farmar.

If Pierce and Garnett give Boston anything decent in Game Four, and Odom and Gasol rebound as well, who wins Game Four. You have to give the Lakers a slight edge, all things considered, don’t you? Then again, a dominant Pierce might be all Boston needs to win Game Four and end the series in six games at the most.

Note to Phil Jackson: Trevor Ariza does not belong on the court, much less checking Paul Pierce or Ray Allen.

Until next time!

Chili My Soul, And Lakers-Celtics Game Two Reax (AKA Now’s the Time to Vacate the Bandwagon)

No quick-hitters tonight.

- On Friday, my sister had the craving for some chili, and armed with a suggestion from her boss, we swung by Chili My Soul that night.

(Tangent:  I’m not much of a fan of heat, and by that, I mean that I’m a wuss when it comes to peppers.  My tolerance for heat is pretty low, and it wasn’t long ago that my tolerance was even lower than it is now.  My sister, on the other hand, could probably chow down on five-alarm chili.)

After sampling two chilis—the Texas Pride, rated 5/10, and a little bit of the Gunslinger (8/10)—I opted for the Texas Pride.  My sister sampled the Gunslinger and declared it “as hot as ketchup,” sampled the Demon (10/10), loved it, but came to her senses and went with the Gunslinger.

I forgot to take into account the fact that sour cream and cheese can kill a significant amount of heat in something peppery, but I was still quite satisfied with the chili.  Maybe next time I’ll go up to a 6 or a 7.

(My sister was pissed after adding the sour cream to her chili.  She’s definitely getting the Demon next time).

- That sound you hear is the Lakers’ bandwagon derailing and crashing into a ravine.

(Please wait for the bandwagon to come to a COMPLETE stop before exiting.  Thanks and see you next year!  And be sure to put away those stupid flags!)

The NBA might as well etch Paul Pierce’s name onto the MVP trophy right now.  I’m not even sure the series is going to return to Boston (well, unless the refs have something to say about that…it wouldn’t surprise me if Kobe attempts forty FTs in Game Three.)

As much as I would love to give the refs a share of the blame in the Lakers’ loss (seriously, look at the FT disparity, and that second foul on Kobe was absolute garbage), that would be deflecting the blame from where it belongs:  the Celtics’ suffocating defense.  When Kobe Bryant doesn’t get into the paint, the Lakers aren’t going to win any games.  Also, when did the Lakers become a terrible rebounding team?  I mean, they were never elite, but is Boston really destroying the Lakers that badly on the glass because of Boston’s superior rebounding, or the Lakers’ lack of desire?

(Tangent:  Please, ESPN/ABC, enough of Paul Pierce’s “heroics” in Game One.  When is Disney going to release the made for TV movie based on what happened?  Kobe Bryant’s image repair over the last few years is sick of hearing about Pierce’s “heroics.”)

By the way…Leon freaking Powe???  And why is it that Pau Gasol plays well for only one or two quarters per game (Game One v Denver excepted)?

(Note:  I typed everything above after the third quarter, when I finally turned off the TV.  I did not watch the Lakers’ near-comeback.)

More thoughts about this game, once the anger subsides, next time!

Lakers-Spurs Game Four Reax (AKA Yet More Missed Calls)

Sorry for not blogging for a while.

Quick-hitters:

- Argh.  My back has been killing me all day!

I think it’s time to go see somebody :P

- Current rebate-o-meter:  $1,290.  I can’t believe I didn’t buy anything over the weekend!

- What a dogfight that game was. The Lakers got off to a fantastic start (shades of LAL-UTA, Game Six, Western Semis), but you knew that the Spurs were going to get back into the game. I just didn’t expect the Spurs to get back into it THAT quickly. The fourth quarter was filled with great drama—Kobe proved that he deserved the MVP, eh?—but too bad it ended with that terrible missed call.

(Phil Jackson had the quote of the year. When asked what changed in the last few minutes of the quarter, when the Spurs made a push to get back in the game, Jackson said, “You want me to be honest with you? The guys with the whistles.” Unfortunately for the NBA, he was right on the money.)

Even if you argue that fouls that occur during the course of the game aren’t going to be called down the stretch, Fisher clearly bumped Barry. Why Barry didn’t jump directly into Fisher, though, is anyone’s guess. If he does that, then we’re probably looking at a 2-2 series going back to LA. Then again, If the refs had called that foul, Barry should have been awarded two shots and not three. As Reggie Miller said, he shied away from the contact, and only after Fisher hit him did Barry go into a shooting motion.

(EDIT: When the Lakers took their final shot, I wondered why the shot clock didn’t reset. I could’ve sworn that Fisher’s shot hit the rim. TNT just showed a replay, and it sure looked like the ball glanced off the rim. That’s TWO terrible calls down the stretch. For the next few hours, we’re going to hear about how the Fisher non-call was a “make up” call. Ugh.)

(EDIT #2: What a class act that Brent Barry is. He could easily have been screaming, “YES that was a foul!” Instead, he took the high road, admitting that that call probably wasn’t going to be made.)

(EDIT #3: Wow. Even Pop insisted that that was not a foul.)

Back to the fourth quarter: the Spurs were colder than the polar ice caps down the stretch (they reminded me of the Kings in the fourth quarter, Game Seven, 2002 WCF), and it sure looked like the Lakers were going to win the game going away.

And then the last minute happened. And then the missed calls happened.

Are the Spurs dead? Not a chance. Can they recover? They’re champs, are they not? Will they come back to win this series? Sorry, I just don’t see the Lakers losing three straight, with two games at home. Maybe if Joey Crawford referees all three of the remaining games…

Next time:  my Memorial Day weekend recap, and eventually, I’ll finish up my covert ops mission story :P

Lakers-Spurs Game One Thoughts

Quick-hitters:

- Awesome. Time Warner just aired a commercial touting their awesome picture quality.

The commercial (and the channel it aired on) was snowy…when there was actually a picture. In fact, my entire High Definition lineup is now out.

You rule, Time Warner!

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,350. I got some spending cash in the mail today :D.

(I also have $500 in rebates or so that need to be filed by next week. :P)

- During the Dodgers-Reds game earlier tonight, Vin Scully mentioned that STL Cardinals’ 1B Albert Pujols “took out the whole Padres’ battery” tonight.

I thought he meant it figuratively!

- Tim Duncan was nearly unstoppable. Tony Parker played great for three quarters (there’s an APB out on him now; where did he go in the fourth?).

Manu Ginobili? Next question.

As soon as the Spurs got out to their twenty point lead, I couldn’t help but start wondering if the Spurs were just going to sweep the Lakers right out of the playoffs. Duncan was ridiculously efficient (if one can be “ridiculously efficient”), and Tony Parker carved the Lakers up. Most importantly, as TNT analyst Doug Collins pointed out, the Spurs did not have a dry spell in the first half. Really, the Spurs could easily have been up by double figures at the half.

Predictably, thanks to the announcer hex, the Spurs cooled off and the Lakers made their push. Not surprisingly, the push was led by the MVP. Even at the end of the third, when the Spurs still had a seven point lead, I thought the Spurs were in control of the game. Little did I expect the Spurs’ drought to extend into the fourth. Did you see that stat late in the fourth? The Spurs went 5-for-25 with 7 TOs??? The San Antonio Spurs?

As far as the officiating is concerned…next question :P. To say Kobe got away with a few things would be a slight understatement. And didn’t Manu get absolutely mauled on the second to last Spurs’ possession, or are playground scrums perfectly legal now? Speaking of Manu, I’ve never seen so many “What, me?” looks in a single game! Even Michael Finley had that look on one play! Maybe I’m just not watching Spurs’ games closely enough.

Excellent point by Kenny Smith in the postgame show: (paraphrasing) You don’t know how many times you’ll get an exceptional performance by Kobe, but you know the Spurs will bring their game consistently. If we replayed this exact game 100 times, the Spurs probably win 75% of the time.

Did Carlos Boozer Do Something to Piss Off David Stern?

No quick-hitters.  Let’s just get to basketball.

- Raise your hand if you didn’t think that Deron Williams’ last-second shot was good.

Now THAT was a great playoff game.  The Lakers punched Utah in the mouth for three quarters, and the Jazz made their inevitable push by finally draining triples down the stretch.  Leave it to Derek Fisher, an 88% FT shooter, to brick that free throw late, giving the Jazz a shot at the tie.

The story of the game (other than Kobe’s virtual game-clinching 6-0 run, including that dagger trey and the “bank’s open late” and-1), though, had to be the two offensive foul calls on Carlos Boozer.  The one right before halftime was a pretty weak call, and I thought the one in the third quarter was even worse.  Think Utah could have used a not-in-foul-trouble Carlos Boozer down the stretch of the fourth quarter?  I will entertain the argument that Boozer got taken out of four games by foul trouble, and in at least three of them, he drew some pretty weak foul calls.

(That being said, what was Deron Williams complaining about right before halftime, when he obviously fouled Derek Fisher on the left arm?  In fact, I’d argue that he fouled Fisher twice on that shot:  once before the release, and once on the follow-through.)

This begs the question:  did Carlos Boozer do something to deserve the lack of respect he got from the refs?  Did he spill a drink on David Stern at an NBA function?

At least Utah has a bright future ahead of them.  Deron Williams made “The Leap,” and their team will return largely intact next year.

(Like that is supposed to make Jazz fans feel better, I know.)

Speaking of poor officiating, that charge call on Paul Pierce, late in the fourth quarter of Celtics-Cavs, was abysmal.  Instead of Pierce shooting two to potentially trim the Cavs’ lead to three, the Cavs got the ball back.  Matt Harpring getting run over by Pau Gasol in Game Five of Jazz-Lakers thought that call was horrible.

The Ray Allen non-goaltending, on the other hand, was absolutely the correct call.  I always thought that goaltending couldn’t be called if a shot had no chance of going in, and who would argue that a shot hitting the side of the backboard had a chance of going in?  Michael Wilbon insisted that the basket should have counted, but I was happy to hear that I was, indeed, correct.

Anyway, what a pair of Game Sevens we basketball fans have in store in the next few days!

Tomorrow, part 3 of my “covert ops” mission.

Shopping, Shopping, Food, And Food, And Why the Lakers Might Win In Seven

Long post today, so let’s get right to it.

- I decided that it was time to update my wardrobe (read: buy new clothes). On Saturday, armed with a pair of coupons—30% off at Foot Locker and 20% off at Macy’s—my sister and I went to Westfield Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks.

After a quick browse through Macy’s, our first stop was Foot Locker. After about five minutes of browsing, and thirty seconds of trying out one pair of shoes, I decided on the Nike Air Max Tailwind 2008. I just loved how the shoes looked, and the fact that they were comfortable as hell was all the convincing I needed. I wasn’t really looking for a pair of running shoes; I really wanted just a pair of cross-trainers or something similar.

The re-visit to Macy’s was fruitless, so on Sunday, we swung by Ross. Normally, Ross has quite a few sections for me to browse through, so much so that I get sick and tired of looking after several racks’ worth of clothes, and just give up. The Ross I visited, however, had only one small section of athletic shirts, so I was able to finish shopping in a few minutes. I scored a couple Reebok PlayDry shirts, as well as a really ugly (but really nice!) T for $4.

We had to go on a food run, so we went to 99 Ranch, Costco, and JONS Supermarket for a ton of food. I had a hankering for some salsa—it might have been influenced by Cinco de Mayo—so I mixed up a quick tomato salsa (chopped tomatoes, chopped onion, chopped cilantro, chopped roasted Jalapeño peppers, fresh lime juice, and Pico de Gallo seasoning).

While at Costco, I couldn’t resist one of their take-n-bake pizzas; I forget what it’s called, but it has fresh tomato, basil, and globs of mozzarella cheese on it. That was seriously the best take-n-bake pizza I’ve ever had.

Sunday night, I decided to bake some chicken coated with seasoned flour (AP flour, kosher salt, and some Mrs. Dash). After 50 minutes in a 400 degree oven, the chicken came out super-juicy, although the skin was a bit bland. I should probably have coated the chicken in egg first, before applying the flour, but I was lazy :P.

I also bought some frozen Buffalo Wings from Costco; that will probably be my dinner, along with the leftover pizza. Damn…now I’m super hungry again.

- So after watching the MVP do what MVPs do, I gotta say that the Lakers are in serious trouble despite pulling out a Game 1 victory. Certainly the rest helped, coupled with the fact that the Jazz played two tough playoff games in 48 hours, but clearly there was some rust to knock off as well.

At least, Laker fans better hope it was rust, and not a thorough domination by the Jazz on the offensive glass. Twenty-five offensive rebounds??? Plus-seventeen in total rebounds? Was that Memhet Okur or a in-his-prime Dennis Rodman crashing the glass? With Games 3 and 4—and the Jazz’s 37-4 home record—looming, the Lakers better shore up the defensive glass, or the series could easily end in six games.

It’s a good thing that the Lakers have the MVP, who apparently owns an annual pass to the free throw line. I’m actually surprised that Kobe missed two freebies! Anyway, the Lakers better hope for better rebounding, better shot selection, and more solid defense on Utah’s two stars. I have a feeling that Deron Williams will not shoot 5-for-18 in Game 2, and Boozer likely will not commit seven turnovers again.

Something tells me that Utah will pull out Game 2, win Game 3 handily, and lose Game 4 in a nailbiter. If all that happens, I don’t expect a home team to lose again, and the Lakers will win the series in seven games. Then again, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Jazz win in six.

One other NBA thought: the hard foul that Hawks’ F Marvin Williams committed on Celtics’ G Rajon Rondo was an extremely harsh foul, and it did warrant a Flagrant-2. However, I did not think Williams intended on injuring Rondo at all. What Williams did was extremely dangerous, but Jeff Van Gundy hit it right on the head: 1) it looked like Williams tried to grab Rondo, but Rondo was already airborne, and an attempted grab ended up being a near-clothesline; and 2) if Williams really had a play on the ball—one criterion required to deem a foul a flagrant-1 at worst—why didn’t he attempt to go for a block instead? Was the play dirty? Yeah. Was it with intent to injure? I don’t believe so.

Until next time!