Thursday 23 August 2007

I’m awfully excited about this fall, so I feel like running through some of the fun stuff I plan on doing in the coming months. Here we go…

This weekend: Arrive back at school. I’m really excited about this. Not much more to say about that.

First weekend in September: This is still a big time “maybe”, but the Aubrun Cord Duesenberg Festival is a lot of fun, and this is coming from a person who doesn’t even like car shows (If you’ve heard The Moderately Cute Story you know all about this). Part of it is the location, the fact that it’s normally really, really hot that weekend, and the fact that one of my grandpa’s brothers is on the Wall of Fame there make me like it, I think. It might be unlikely that I go, because 1. I don’t have a car at school; 2. There’s a good chance I’ll be something school- or floor-oriented that weekend; 3. I won’t go unless I can drag some folks with me. Brent is probably the most likely victim, due to his enjoyment of cars.

All Fall: Frizolf/Frisbee golf/whatever you want to call it. As often as possible. With as many people as possible. At as many different times of day as possible. And doing everything that goes along with frizolf, The Deuce style.

September 14: My Birthday! And it’s on a Friday, which makes it slightly better. I doubt it can top last year’s birthday: Gap of Dunloe, Muckross House, then the Killarney music-and-pub scene with some of my favorite people. Still, this year I’ll be able to go to the next item on this list…

September 15 & 16: The Johnny Appleseed Festival. I missed it last year due to being in Ireland, but I’ll be glad to be back this year. You’re invited (and invited to invite your friends), it’s a ton of fun, there’s plenty to do, and you probably couldn’t have a better tour guide than yours truly, except maybe Johnny Appleseed himself.

All Fall:  Monitoring baseball’s pennant races and later playoffs.  Especially since the Cubs are involved.

September 21-23: This is Parent’s Weekend, and my parents will be there, along with my brother. That should be a lot of fun.

September 23 & 24: The first Campus Visit Day of the year. If you don’t think the chapel on the 24th is going to be awesome, I don’t know what to tell you. Plus, with Grant and Matt on CREW this year, the potential for unforgettable moments increases greatly. I hope I see one of them leading a tour.

September 26-October 3: Something called “Freshman Irish Studies Program Week.” I’m intrigued, but clueless. Stay tuned.

Throughout the Fall: Intramurals, baby.

Also throughout the Fall: TABS. Should be fun.

October 18: Airband.

October 19-21: Homecoming weekend. I don’t know what to expect.

October 25-28: Fall Break Weekend. No idea what I’ll be up to, I just know it’ll be a good time.

October 31: Halloween. I doubt I’ll be able to top last year’s Harry Caray costume, and I don’t even know if being at school would lend itself to dressing up–I’m getting a little old for that (I can’t remember the last time I dressed up prior to last year).

After that, things get a little hazy…actually, things are a little hazy before that, too, but at least I have some good ideas about what I’ll be doing for fun–I suppose I could just put “frizolf/TABS/intramurals” a lot more, but you don’t want to read that. If you’ve got good ideas that fit into this schedule, let me know.

Also, a couple more notes: Thanks to those who commented on the Ireland entry; I’m glad you liked it. Lastly, I’ve got an idea for a post on how liking music of certain styles and/or bands can be a very subjective thing possibly coming soon (it’s marinating in my brain right now).

Oh, and with moving back to school this weekend and starting class next week, my writing schedule might be slightly screwy, so bear with me, please, and take solace in the fact that you’ll probably be seeing me face to face a lot more often, starting in a couple days.

dk

Filed under: Fall 2007, ISP, Ireland, college, friends

Tuesday 21 August 2007

I think I might make two posts today, as this one will hopefully be pretty short.  Of course, every time I say that, I end up writing a thesis paper, but this time, I’m “Fer Serious.”

(I’m writing this parenthetical expression after having written most of this post, and you should know that 1.  It’s not short; 2.  It’s kind of a random, personal “I remember when…” kind of thing; 3.  You might love it nonetheless–at least I hope so.)

This is going to sound odd, but part of me misses being a scared, naive,  know-nothing freshman.  What made me feel this way, you ask?  Good question.  (Sorry, had to.)

This morning, I stumbled across a facebook group for this fall’s Irish Studies Program.  I’m pretty sure all of you who read this know me, and know that I got to go to Ireland for three months one year ago.  Without getting into too much detail, I think it’s safe to say that my time there was the best three months of my life.  Anyway, back to this year’s group, and being a freshman.  The first thing I noticed about this year’s ISP facebook group is that this year’s freshmen are way, WAY more tuned in to facebook than my group was at this time last year.  That probably says more about the way facebook has grown than about either of our classes.  As an economics major, I find facebook somewhat fascinating, but we’ll save the business of facebook for another post.  Anyway, for the sake of ISP, increased student facebook savvy is probably a good thing.  You see, as kids are just figuring out how to use the school’s email system, facebook might be an easier way to get them information and answer their questions.  Also, they can interact on a largely superficial level with the people in charge of the program, and their fellow students.

At this point, I think you and I can both see this probably won’t be a short post.  Oops.   Oh well.

Enough about facebook’s social impact on freshmen traveling abroad.  My original point was that I sort of miss being a freshman.  I waited all summer, not knowing what to expect, worried that things wouldn’t go well, which turned out to be just about the most unnecessary worry ever.  After the worrying, it was time to pack.  What do you take with you when you visit a country you’ve never been to before for three months?

The kids going on the trip started to exchange emails, basically describing ourselves and our interests.  Some of the emails were funny, others were uninteresting, still others were very intriguing.  Some kids attached pictures of themselves, and I remember checking them to see if the girls on the trip were cute.  One email sounded bitter about missing out on an academic award, which can seem a little haughty, as you could imagine.  Turns out, the kid who wrote it just has that kind of a sense of humor, which doesn’t come across well in emails.  We were roommates, and are still great friends.  That aside, I was nervous.  What if the other kids just weren’t like me?  Think of all the things that could go wrong with international travel!  Will I miss my friends back home?

When I got to campus for the week of preparation before we actually left for Ireland, several moments really put me at ease about the whole trip, and from there, I never looked back.  The first happened shortly after my arrival on campus.  We put my bags in my room (which turned out to be an extremely temporary arrangement), and walked outside–I think we had to take care of some business regarding AP credits, or something along those lines.  I realized I had forgotten something, so I returned to the room.  When I went in, I was greeted by my new and temporary roommate, Matt.  I remember his big smile, I remember that he was wearing that necklace he always wears, I remember that he was wearing a British soccer jersey, and I remember that his dad was there, too, fiddling with his computer.  But most of all, I remember telling my family about it when I went back outside, especially the part where I told my brother that he seemed like a really cool guy.  A year later, Matt is one of my very best friends.

So what were the other things that happened to calm me down?  I remember running into Paul in a stairwell doorway (I liked his shoes–New Balance 574s–because I had a pair myself in brown, although his were navy), and he was as easygoing and goofy as he’s proven to be ever since.  I remember  how intimidating Ben looked during our worship time in the DC atrium, and how quiet he and Zach were near the start.  I remember Eric playing his guitar that first week.  I remember realizing that I could learn a lot from guys like Eric, Adam and Luke about guitar, and from others musically.  I did learn a lot from them, and never said thanks.  Until now.

I remember the ice cream social, when it was finally just kids, no parents.  The table was quiet, although Paul and I were our typical loudmouth selves.  I’m not sure Wiki said much that night.  Maybe because we still called him Alex then.  I remember our “speed dating,” and realizing that I didn’t have to worry about a shortage of cute girls.  I remember Amanda, Brent, and LB laughing while we speed dated.  I remember returning to the dorm, having to move to a different floor, and Daniel trying to tell us that euchre was played with 6-card hands.  I remember that Brent and Matt were awfully friendly, asking them how they knew each other, and getting the “I’m friends with his sister” response.  I remember when my parents left, and worrying that they would think I didn’t miss them, just because my eyes were dry as we said goodbye.

I remember visiting Luke’s grandparents with (most of) the guys; the “Fer Serious World”, repacking, the girls having way too much stuff, the bus ride to Chicago, the plane ride when I couldn’t sleep, the flight attendant who thought Adam and I said “vodka” when we really said “Fanta,”  borrowing a sudoku puzzle from Amy, the “air sickness on my air sickness bag” landing, the dead-tired bus ride to what would become home, sitting in the back of the bus with Eric, calling my parents to say I was there safely, coming over the hill overlooking town and being momentarily breathless, rearranging the Man House, stepping on my beloved aviator sunglasses, and touring the town with Scott.  Playing in our first in-Ireland worship time with Eric, I didn’t do too well, but he said I did fine (I’m sure he knew better, but I needed to hear that).  Then came Riverdance and Glendalough, and I was hooked.  We walked out of the theatre wide eyed, maybe finally grasping the magnitude of what we were undertaking.

Filed under: ISP, Ireland, college, friends, memories

Monday 20 August 2007

To those of you who could care less about sports: I’m sorry. I’ll try to write fewer sports-centric pieces in the near future (and maybe–just maybe–write more, generally speaking).

You might call this “Dauthan on the NBA, part 2: Western Conference Rundown,” or something.

I forgot to mention this in the intro to my last NBA-related post, in which I mentioned that people were focusing too much on the Tim Donaghy story and not enough on the fact that the 07-08 season is shaping up to be a doosy. It isn’t that I don’t care about the Donaghy story, or that it isn’t important. The thing is, do you think any referee or player is going to be dumb enough to gamble on/affect a game for the sake of gambling after this?

Maybe I shouldn’t have asked that. Anyway, The League will be on the lookout, and it would take someone pretty dumb to try to pull a fast one after all this.

Without further ado, some Western Conference, team-by-team ramblings…

Golden State Warriors: Well, in case you haven’t heard, Baron Davis may or may not be dating Teri Hatcher. I’m not kidding; Google their names together. Seems Tony Parker hooked them up. For some reason, I find this quite entertaining. I wonder who the next Western Conference point guard to date a Desperate Housewife will be.

Anyway, about the basketball…I like the Jason Richardson for Brendan Wright trade. Sure, it makes the Bobcats better for now, but J-Rich was making quite a bit o’dough, and Brendan Wright should be an inexpensive contributor for a few years. Also, he’s got a pretty high ceiling as a player. They should make the playoffs again, unless they’re depressed for months about not landing Kevin Garnett.

Los Angeles Lakers: Oh, the Kobe drama. Now it seems like he’ll stay and play, not that you should be surprised by that. They’re really not that interesting of a team, besides having one of the best two or three players in the game. I like Luke Walton, but they gave him too much money, and as nice as Andrew Bynum is progressing, if they really could’ve gotten Jason Kidd for Bynum and Lamar Odom, well, they probably should’ve done it. Letting the Smush Parker Experience walk away to Miami was probably a good idea.

Phoenix Suns: Gotta love ‘em. Well, maybe not their business practices. They’ve basically given away a handful of valuable draft picks over the past few years, including the Luol Deng pick to Chicago, all for financial reasons. The problem is that draft picks are relatively cheap, in the grand scheme of things. Better to use your first round picks than to sign, oh, say, Marcus Banks. Boris Diaw was a nice find, and he’s a good player, but giving him a big money extension never seemed like a good idea–he’s a role player, really. All that said, adding Grant Hill was a good idea, Alando Tucker could contribute, same with Rudy Fernandez (if he plays for them this year, rather than staying overseas…oh wait, no, they sold him to Portland), and they’ll probably be great again. Oh, and if they have to part with one of their stars, I think it ought to be Marion (although Nash is more likely to decline and/or suffer a serious injury because of his age, I’d have to guess).

New Orleans Hornets: Yep, Chris Paul is great. Liked the Julian Wright pick, along with second rounder Adam Haluska. They’re a nice team, maybe a playoff team, but they probably won’t make it out of the first round unless CP3 makes a great leap forward, or Peja stays healthy and plays like Sacramento Peja.

Dallas Mavericks: They should’ve dictated the tempo against Golden State better. They’re still one of the best teams in the league. Liked the Nick Fazekas draft pick, and think picking up Chris Webber would be a good idea. If anyone wants Erick Dampier and his fatty contract, they should give him away. Also, if they could get something interesting, they could afford to part with Jason Terry due to the presence of Devin Harris.

Houston Rockets: This year’s Best Team No One is Talking About. Too bad their in the same division as Dallas and San Antonio. If Yao and T-Mac stay healthy, they might push 60 wins.

San Antonio Spurs: They’ll be title contenders again, of course. Adding Iwe Udoka to play the Bruce Bowen role (but Bruce is still there! – although his contract is up after this year) was a good move. However, remember: Manu’s not young, Duncan isn’t either – but that might not matter, and the Western Conference is absolutely loaded. They’re still the team to beat, though.

Denver Nuggets: If Kenyon Martin’s healthy, they could be quite good. Too bad we say that every year. They thought about trading Marcus Camby, which might have been a good move. Replacing Steve Blake with Chucky Atkins doesn’t really light my fire, but they’re probably a playoff team, provided Carmelo and Iverson continue to get along.

Minnesota Timberwolves: They actually got a decent haul for KG. Not that that means they’ll be good, or anything…

Portland Trailblazers: Greg Oden is hilarious…and he might make an All-Defensive team this year. He’s that good. A lineup of Steve Blake, Brandon Roy, James Jones, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Greg should win some games. They may not make the playoffs this year, but they’ll play good-to-great defense, improve over the course of the year, and could turn into title contenders…by spring 2009 or 2010.

Seattle SuperSonics: Along with Portland, they did all the right things this offseason. Loved the Ray Allen trade – isn’t Wally Szczerbiak somewhere between 80% and 90% of the player Allen is? I say yes, and they got Jeff Green and Delonte West for their troubles. The one negative with Szczerbiak is the contract–except it’s not even that big of a negative for Seattle, because they’ll have cap room coming out their ears in two years when his contract comes off the books, not to mention two great, young players in Durant and Green, not to mention some solid complementary players.

Also, speaking of Kevin Durant, I’ve got a few thoughts…

1. Barring major injury, scandal, or tragedy, he’s going to be an unbelievable scorer for the foreseeable future…and that’s the worst case scenario. Best case scenario, he’s an MVP candidate sometime in the next two or three years, and is unlike any player we’ve ever seen. He should be tremendous.

2. Greg Oden gets all the “he’s funny” pub, but Durant’s actually pretty funny, too. These two guys are one of the reasons the NBA will survive the Donaghy thing and be okay on the other side–they’re great, personable, likable. Plus, they’re in the same division, which makes for some natural rivaly.

3. Is any player better suited to be Robin to Durant’s Batman than Jeff Green? I think not.

4. I’m on board with Bill Simmons’ “Plastic Man” nickname for Durant.

Utah Jazz: Um…I find them a little boring. Sure, they’re good, but are they as good as Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, or even Houston? Probably not. Morris Almond will be a good fit, and an upgrade at 2 guard, if only because Derek Fisher wasn’t really a 2 guard.  That said, they’ll miss Fisher.  I feel like they’re one injury away from being in danger of missing the playoffs.

That’s all for now.  Next time…I don’t know.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Thursday 16 August 2007 Post 2

I intend for this to be brief, as it’s unrelated to my NBA column from earlier, and it’s a sort of rant.  I’ll probably write extensively sometime about Bud Selig, but now I just want to point out one spot (admittedly somewhat minor) where I think he could make a tweak to the business side of baseball for the betterment of the game.

In the MLB Draft, you are not allowed to trade draft picks.  There is not really any good reason for it, it’s just “the way it’s always been done.”  The problem is that baseball doesn’t have a salary cap, and thus teams are unbalanced economically.  The way that many of the “poorer” teams overcome this is by doing the little things better:  they trade players reaching free agency for minor leaguers and/or cheaper players, they scout and draft as well as possible, and other such tactics.  The most economical way to build a team is with players from your own farm system.  You basically control their contracts for their first 6 years in the big leagues, after which they can become free agents.  Because of the economic health of baseball, even average free agents can get 8 figures in the open market (for example, Juan Pierre, who doesn’t walk, hit for power, or play great defense got a 4 year, $44 million deal, if I recall correctly).  Well, in the amateur draft, even the top picks do not get much more than $6-$10 million.  How much they get depends on a few things:  the likelihood that they’ll go to college rather than sign, the negotiating skill of their agent, their actual talent, and the organization with which they are dealing.  Occasionally, though, one of the best talents in the draft falls because no one wants to pay him what he is worth or will demand.  This year, for instance, high school pitcher Rick Porcello was considered one of the top five or ten players in the draft, but lasted until late in the first round because no one on the board until the Detroit Tigers had the, um, intestinal fortitude to take him and try to sign him.  They did eventually sign him as the deadline to do so approached, for just over $7 million over the next four years, by which time he must make the majors, as it is a major league contract (I won’t go into any more details).  Now, let’s assume that Porcello does not make any great strides forward between now and the time when he reaches the majors sometime in the next two to four years.  He’ll probably be a solid 3rd starter, and, if he takes a step up, maybe a 2nd starter, or potentially an ace.  Getting even a 3rd starter for $7 million, even for one year, is a pretty good deal.  For example, the Cubs signed a couple of free agent pitchers this offseason, Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis.  Lilly is in that 2nd-3rd starter range, and he’s making about $40 million over then next four years.  That’s roughly what all free agents of his type get.  Marquis is a 5th starter, I guess, although he’s not a particularly good one (or a bad one, either, to be fair).  Are the Cubs overpaying for Marquis?  Yes, but is that about what pitchers of his caliber get on the open market?  yes again.  So you can see why it’s good business to sign and develop your own player.

Now, let’s say Porcello has a 50/50 chance of making the majors (his chances are actually significantly greater than that, which will even more greatly illustrate my point).  If the Tigers get two shots at drafting a player like Porcello, and do it both times, and both times give the player a little over $7 million, and Player A makes it but Player B doesn’t, they will have spent a little under $15 million over $4 years, plus a little more for the remainder of his arbitration years (the years before a player is a free agent), they will have spent, what, $25 million for a player who is worth $40 million on the open market?  How is that bad business, or bad for the state of the game?!!?  But the MLB front office, according to multiple sources (here’s one, and I recently read an article on baseballprospectus.com that pretty much said that the commissioner’s office gets pretty peeved if you pay more than they recommend for a draft pick, but I can’t find the article now), detests it, says it’s bad for the game, and tries to discourage teams from paying above slot for their draft picks (where “slot” is the amount recommended by MLB for teams to pay based on the point in the draft where the player was drafted, without regard to actual value of the pick, the player, or, well, anything).

It’s not Detroit’s fault that other teams don’t take the same approach they do.  For instance, The Kansas City Royals would do better to throw a few million dollars at a draft pick than, say, a relatively weak hitting first baseman who does not fill a need for now or the future, nor move them any closer to contention, like Doug “Eye Chart” Mientkiewicz.  But Bud Selig wants to keep teams from doing this.  Instead of just making the slot recommendations and getting flustered about Dave Dombrowski for doing what’s best for his team, he actually has valid choices.  One is, as I pointed out earlier, to allow the trading of draft picks.  This would allow the top players to go at the top of the draft.  For example, the Tigers obviously thought Porcello was very good, but Dombrowski, their general manager, said he never thought he’d fall to their pick.  If they could trade draft picks, either the Tigers, or another team willing to pay Porcello (say, for example, the Yankees) could have traded another asset (another draft pick, a minor leaguer, or maybe even cash) to get a top ten pick, and they wouldn’t have had to wait and hope Porcello falls.  In this way, the best players go first, and teams who don’t want to pay big money for draft picks don’t have to just take weaker players–they can trade the pick for a cheap prospect who’s already given everyone an idea of what kind of player he can be based on his minor league performance.

The other options are less exciting:  MLB could do away with the draft altogether, in which case the talent would be even more unbalanced, because all amateurs would be free agents.  Not only would the richest teams be able to pay the most for them, but players would want to play with the most competitive teams.  Would any top prospect sign with the Royals, Nationals, Marlins, or Devil Rays?  Unlikely.  And the final option is to make the slot payment mandatory.  Also a bad idea, as that basically undercuts the amateur players’ earning abilities

So please, MLB, allow the trading of draft picks, and quit getting all worked up about paying over slot.  It’s best for baseball, and you are baseball.

Filed under: MLB, baseball

Thursday 16 August 2007

Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty yesterday to charges centering around him betting on and affecting NBA games in which he reffed.  Yada yada yada.  What he did is wrong, of course.  I’m wasn’t really surprised when the news broke–not because I had some sort of inside scoop, but because it was probably a matter of time considering the state of NBA refs.  It’s just too bad that the Donaghy scandal has overshadowed the fact that the 07-08 NBA season is actually shaping up to be pretty interesting.  I’m going to run through some of the interesting stories and teams (today Eastern Conference, next time Western Conference) in no particular order, so here we go…

Boston Celtics:  Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett.  You’ve heard about them.  Well, don’t forget about Rajon Rondo, who might turn into a legitimately good point guard.  On top of that, they’ve got some decent role players (Tony Allen, Eddie House, Brian Scalabrine!!), a cadre of guys who might fill that 5th starter’s slot (Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Kendrick Perkins, Scot Pollard!!, and Leon Powe).  On top of all that, they should be a pretty attractive option for any disgruntled vets who have their contracts bought out during the season.  They’ve got a decent chance to make some noise in the playoffs, or even reach the Finals, after which anything is possible.  Too bad their coach is Doc Rivers.

New Jersey Nets:  Jason Kidd is still their point guard, plus they’ve still got Richard Jefferson and Vince “Tin Man” Carter.  They replaced Mikki Moore with Jamaal Magloire, probably an upgrade.  Also, Nenad Krstic is back from an injury, at least until he’s hurt again.  They’ll probably start by playing great, tail off once they hit some inevitable injury trouble, and maybe win one playoff series.  Also, they’ve got rookie Sean Williams, who’s going to either be a nice surprise, or get busted on drug charges.  There’s really no middle ground.

New York Knickerbockers:  They’re really only interesting for:  1.  the overweight frontcourt tandem; 2.  the Isaiah Thomas sideshow; 3.  the collection of overpaid, undersized power forwards (Jared Jeffries, Malik Rose, Jerome James, etc.); 4.  The ridiculously odd clubhouse chemistry they’ve got, with all those guys, plus Jamal Crawford, Stephon Marbury, Quentin Richardson, and Nate Robinson.

Toronto Raptors:  They’ve got some interesting young talent, and they also signed Jason Kapono, meaning they actually aren’t trying to eliminate all American born players from their roster.

Chicago Bulls:  They’re going to be good, and I really don’t have anything funny to say here.  No, seriously.

Cleveland Cavs:  Well, they’ve got LeBron, and a couple decent role players (Daniel “Boobie” Gibson; Drew Gooden and his nape-of-the-neck hair patch–unless he’s traded for Mike Bibby, I’d love that; Z Ilgauskus; Larry Hughes; etc.).  Too bad that  1.  They have nothing resembling an offense other than “clear out and let LB got for it,” and, 2.  Hughes, Gooden, Z, Donyell Marshall, Eric Snow, David Wesley, Ira Newble, and Damon Jones make roughly $50 million combined.  Ouch.

Detroit Pistons:  They seem content to let their old guys get too old, but rookie Rodney Stuckey should be interesting.

Indiana Pacers: Um…can we not think about this, please?  My favorite team from the days of my youth seems to have begun to enjoy miring in mediocrity.

Milwaukee Bucks:  I’m just excited for the Yi Jianlian era, especially because it’s taking place in Milwaukee.

Atlanta Hawks:  They might be decent, in a “middle of the Eastern Conference” kinda way, mostly because their decided not to draft someone who played the same position as 8 other players already on his roster.  A lineup of Acie Law IV, Joe Johnson, Josh Childress, Josh Smith, Marvin Williams, and Al Horford (yes, I realize that’s more than 5 players…) might be interesting.

Charlotte Bobcats:   I love to listen to my brother say “I want Kwame Brown” in his Michael Jordan-mimicking voice that sounds nothing like MJ.  Cracks me up everytime.  Anyway, they might actually make the playoffs.  No, really, check out their roster.  If Adam Morrison shoots with his eyes open, they might even be better than people are saying.

Miami Heat:  Penny and Shaq reunited!! Plus Dwayne Wade!  And…a bunch not-that-interesting role players (save Alonzo Mourning, Jason “White Chocolate” Williams, and the Smush Parker Experience).  I hope they bring back Lil Penny.  Hey, remember when Penny was unstoppable, destined for greatness, and Lil Dauthan’s favorite player?  Too bad his knees didn’t hold up; even as a Pacers fan, I loved Penny (and his shoes).

Orlando Magic:  Ready for something ridiculous?  Thinking about the Penny/Shaq reunion, I accidentally typed “Orlando Magic” instead of “Miami Heat.”  I’m not even kidding.  Ready for something imminently more ridiculous?  The Magic gave Rashard Lewis–yes, Rashard Lewis–$126 million.  I mean it.  Dwight Howard is quite strapping, but they won’t possibly get farther than the second round of the playoffs unless he turns into Shaq 2.0.

Washington Wizards:  They’ve still got the Hibachi! and Caron Butler, Antonio Daniels, Antawn Jamison, and some other quality role players (Darius Songalia, DeShawn Stevenson, Etan Thomas, and Brendan Haywood).  Too bad they’re playing roles that are too big for them.  Despite that, if rookie Nick Young is pretty good and they avoid injuries better than last year, they could make some noise.  Not to mention that it’s Gilbert’s contract year, and  they have some tradeable assets they could package if a superstar becomes available.

Next time (probably):  Western Conference, which promises to be much more interesting than the Eastern Conference.  Really.

Filed under: Uncategorized

13 August 2007

Mae’s new album, “Singularity,” comes out tomorrow. I’m hoping not to be disappointed. You would think I’d have higher expectations – the last half of their first album, “Destination: Beautiful” was great, and their second LP, “The Everglow,” was very good. However, I can’t seem to separate three bands when I think about them: Copeland, Anberlin, and Mae. I think it’s because they’re relatively similar, although they’re all quite different. After “Singularity,” comes out, they will all have dropped their third LP within the past year. Hopefully Mae’s is closer to Copeland’s in quality. Let me explain.

Copeland’s first album, “Beneath Medicine Tree,” is quite loved in some circles. I can’t say it’s one of my all time favorites, but it’s very good, better than their second album, “In Motion.” “In Motion” showed the band maturing and growing more complex than “Beneath Medicine Tree,” even though some of the experiments, like “Kite,” have mixed results. Copeland’s third album, “Eat, Sleep Repeat,” was among the best of 2006 according to fans and critics alike, including Relevant magazine. It explored fears, without being wimpy or scary, it was musically adventurous without being cheesy or too self-important, mellow but not boring, and so on. It’s a great album. Hopefully their next one will be as good; they signed with a major label shortly after “Eat, Sleep, Repeat,” dropped. If the label lets them do their thing, they’ll keep making good music. If not…well, I don’t want to think about that.

Anberlin, on the other hand, didn’t make a very good first album. “Blueprints for the Black Market” had often cheesy lyrics, a small handful of good songs, and nothing that set them apart from a lot of other bands. However, their second LP, “Never Take Friendship Personal,” was solid front to back, despite having a title that just doesn’t sound good grammatically. It’s a little on the aggressive side, definitely the loudest album any of these three bands have put out, but not at all too noisy. The lyrics were sometimes still cheesy, but not often enough to bog down the rest of the album. Before their third album, “Cities,” came out, Anberlin acted like they had a masterpiece on their hands – they announced they’d release a special edition of the disc, with three extra songs plus a short DVD “making of” type film. They were fairly tight lipped about it in general, but they did point out that three albums which are often cited among the best of the bast 30 years–The Clash’s “London Calling”, U2’s “War”, and Radiohead’s “OK Computer”–were the third LP by those bands. I–and doubtlessly many others–expected significant growth and a great album. I pre-ordered the special edition, anticipated it’s release, received my copy…and I was promptly disappointed. It just didn’t show improvement over their last album, the lyrics slipped back into slightly more cheesiness, it wasn’t unique…I could go on, but I’ll spare you.

So needless to say, I’m hoping “Singularity” is more like “Eat, Sleep, Repeat” than “Cities,” but I’m not currently very optimistic. Some record company politics have gotten in the way, most disturbingly, at least one song was added after the album was finished a first time because some record company suit thought the album needed another song that sounded like a single (uh-oh). Having heard the song, I can say it does sound like a single, and not in a good way.

I do plan on buying the album tomorrow, so you might expect a review sometime soon.

Filed under: Music, media

The first real post

I just have a brief post about what you might call journalistic integrity.

In case you’ve been under a rock for a week, you probably heard that:

1.  Barry Bonds just broke the all-time home run record, and

2.  Alex Rodriguez just became the youngest player ever to hit 500 home runs.

Neither has ever tested positive for steroids, but Bonds is under constant suspicion for using them, for various reasons.  A-Rod, on the other hand, has generally sailed above that sort of thing.  It makes some sense; Rodriguez hit .358 with a .414 on-base percentage, 36 home runs, a triple, 54 doubles, and Gold Glove-caliber defense in 1996, a year in which he did not turn 21 until the season was more than halfway over.  If you’re unaware of how good that is…well, it’s tremendous, MVP quality.  He was a skinny kid then, he’s a rather skinny/fit man now, and he has not had any unusual home run spikes in his career, which is to say, nothing about him makes anyone think, “wow, I wonder if he got that big by eating his Flintstones vitamins everyday, or if he possibly took illegal pharmaceuticals to help him build muscle.”

Then this week, Braves third baseman Chipper Jones pointed out that in this day and age, being as good as A-Rod is–or even as good as Chipper is, which Chipper even pointed out–makes you susceptible to steroid whispers.  Well, the New York Post, showing the kind of unique, evenhandedness it’s known for (oh wait…no) ran a headline that read, “A’ROID SHOCKER:  Chipper says drug questions will dog Alex.”  The New York Daily News said something similar, and while I was at work, ESPN’s SportsCenter went to commercial with a tease that was very much like those headlines.

The problem was that Chipper didn’t imply that he took steroids, and didn’t imply that A-Rod took steroids.  It’s apparent from hearing or reading his quote.  He was just pointing out that Bud Selig and Major League Baseball turned a blind eye toward a problem until it got out of hand, and now no one is safe from suspicion.

I just want to know who the papers think they’re fooling, or if they know they throw their credibility out the window by silly, sensationalist yellow journalism like this.

(By the way, Chipper Jones was understandably angry about all this.  I also thought it was funny that  ESPN.com ran a story about how Jones was upset about what the papers wrote, even after their flagship program used the same sensationalist, obvious misinterpretation of Jones’ statement.)

For ESPN, this is part of a pattern.  They’re slowly turning into the “Access Hollywood” or “Us Weekly” of sports journalism.  So, media, take note:  just give us the facts, and quit making up stories.  That goes for all of you.

Filed under: journalism, media

Wednesday 8 August 2007

Hello.

If you see this at all, it would be neat of you to comment, or send me an email, or let me know through some channel of communication, as I have no idea what (probably small) number of people will read this at all.

I really do not know what this will turn into – I don’t want to call it a blog, but it’s probably going to operate a lot like one.  I’m not going to make posts on solely one thing, at least that’s the plan right now.  However, the topic I touch on most will probably be baseball, more specifically professional baseball.  There will also be random funstuffs,  like Lance Manly-inspired content (trust me, it’ll be fun, even if it doesn’t make sense), random notes about people, life, music, and so forth.

That’s all for now.

Filed under: Uncategorized