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May 20th, 2008
12:42 pm - Yesterday was a good day in sports
Jon Lester pitches a no-hitter. Not bad for a guy recovering from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Oh, and Jason Varitek sets a baseball record for catching for the fourth no-hitter of his career.
And the Spurs won. Woke up the the Boston sports broadcasters blasting on them, saying how much they hated them and wished they had lost. Oh well. I guess when you're the defending champs, people hate you. It was an ugly win, but it's never pretty when you're trying to win on the road in a Game 7. On to the Lakers.
Quote of the night:
"Manu Ginobili eats game sevens for breakfast." (Henry Abbott)
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April 7th, 2008
09:53 am - Fantasy collapse
Well, both my fantasy teams collapsed in the second round of the playoffs this year, thanks in large part due to Flip Saunders' decision to rest Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace for most of the week (since in the real basketball world, the Pistons have locked up the #2 seed and need to get healthy for the postseason). Also, several players chose this week to underperform: Brad Miller, Manu Ginobili, even Tim Duncan had a quiet week. So, what this means is that now my teams can finish no better than third. Feh.
On to fantasy baseball: I've got a pretty good lineup this year, despite getting a lousy drafting position for the fifth straight time.
For now I've got this lineup -
Pitchers: C.C. Sabathia, Josh Beckett, Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, Jon Lester, Joe Blanton
Relief Pitchers: Kevin Gregg, Troy Percival, Hideki Okajima, B.J. Ryan
Batters: Jason Varitek, Nick Swisher, Howie Kendrick, Adrian Beltre, Derek Jeter, Torii Hunter, Kosuke Fukudome, Josh Hamilton, James Loney, Vernon Wells, Richie Sexson
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March 19th, 2008
08:29 am - Update
OK, I think I'm officially convinced in the Celtics' superiority.
Their defense is simply terrific, and that's all KG. Pierce has always been an underrated defender, but with KG they are simply great. The intensity he brings, and the hunger you can see in every game - he *wants* a championship badly - wow.
I still think the only team equipped to match up is the Spurs, and that if those two teams meet in the Finals, it will come down to fatigue and injuries, but right now the Spurs have some major psychological work to do in order to figure out where their offense goes after the first half of games. Right now, the Celtics look better than anyone else, including the Pistons, and it's taken me till now to really believe that.
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March 17th, 2008
11:20 pm - Grumpy now
Followed the whole damn Spurs-Celtics game tonight, after paying bills and balancing our checkbook. Got all excited about the 22 point lead and the way the Spurs managed to shut the C's down. Then the refs slapped our two best defenders with 3 fouls each and took them out of the game, and the Spurs got soft. Fought their way back to a small lead, only to piss it away again. And now, 4 losses in a row, I am losing faith in my boys.
10 points 8 rebounds from Duncan in a big game like this? And why can't anyone on the team score consistently, other than Manu?
All in all, it's been a shithole of an evening. And as much as having house guests is exhausting, I miss ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ferocious_hog already, and his plane hasn't even landed in Austin yet.
:::depressed:::
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January 30th, 2008
09:29 am - Whine
Sports is supposed to be my escape from politics. It's not supposed to stress me out like this. But I'm really, really worried about the Spurs this year. Tony Parker's injury appears to be more injured than he was telling anybody, and now he's out for a little while. Will Damon Stoudemire be able to come in and rescue the Spurs? How does one recover from a bone spur in their foot? The annual "rodeo road trip" is supposed to be the time when they come together as a team and turn the corner, and they're starting off 0-2, including a loss to the freaking Sonics, who SUCK.
I wish I actually gave a shit about football, 'cause, you know, the Pats are pretty good. But I just can't really follow it. And before you try and explain it to me, my father played football in college, and has tried to explain it to me many, many times. It just doesn't make any sense, and it's too SLOW. Too much stopping and starting for this ADHD girl. By the middle of the first quarter I'm distracted and on the other side of the room.
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October 1st, 2007
07:48 am - Fantasy Success!
My fantasy baseball team won!!! As an interesting sidebar, the team that grabbed the top spot in the playoffs didn't even wind up in the top 3. It was me, the #3 seed, as champ, the #4 seed in second place, and the #2 seed in third.
Onto fantasy basketball: To mix things up, I've got two teams this year - one league larger than last year (20 teams) and one smaller (10 teams), which is also an all-girl league. It's amazing how the jump up in size can mean you wind up with no superstar player, if you wind up with a shitty draft positon. But in the smaller league, there's still tons of good players left - I picked up Richard Jefferson off waivers!
So here are my rosters:
"Popovich": Chauncey Billups, Larry Hughes, Devin Harris, David Lee, Paul Millsap, Luke Walton, Al Jefferson, Tyson Chandler, Juwan Howard*, Tyronn Lue, Stephen Jackson, Juan Carlos Navarro, Steven Hunter, Francisco Garcia (I traded Larry Hughes for him)
* - Note: I'm desperately trying to dump Juwan Howard
"Bruce Bowen's Girl": Chauncey Billups, Manu Ginobili, Devin Harris, Tim Duncan, Richard Jefferson, Al Jefferson, Dwight Howard, Luke Walton, Tyson Chandler, Rasheed Wallace, Rajon Rondo, Stephen Jackson, Antonio McDyess, Michael Finley, Delonte West
You can probably tell which players I ranked higher in my draft rankings - they're the ones who wound up on both rosters - Chauncey Billups was my stud on last year's winning roster, as was Luke Walton. And Tyson Chandler was the reason I consistently won in rebounding. Stephen Jackson is a great fantasy player, although I realized after I drafted he'll be out for the first 7 games, cause he's such a stupid knucklehead.
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September 18th, 2007
09:51 am - My Fantasy Sports World is Better Than My Real Sports World
I'm in the finals in my fantasy league, matched up against the #4 seed. I'm currently up 5-1 in our matchup, and that's with most of the Red Sox on my roster having really lousy games.
Speaking of the Red Sox, what the fuck is going on, guys? Your lead over the Yankees is only down to 3.5 games. Yes, you can get the wild card, but you don't want to go into the playoffs like that. Get your shit together and start winning. Damn it.
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September 11th, 2007
09:14 am - Fantasy Roster Update
My fantasy baseball team is in the playoffs. They wound up with the #3 seed, after being in first place for the first half of the season. They won the first round, but now they're matched up against the #2 seed. We'll see how they do.
As of today, I decided to drop Gary Sheffield and Jeremy Guthrie, since they seem to be done for the season due to injury. I added Garrett Anderson and Adam Wainwright, but these may be subject to change.
My current roster:
C Jason Varitek (Bos - C)
1B David Ortiz (Bos - 1B)
2B Dustin Pedroia (Bos - 2B,SS)
3B Mike Lowell (Bos - 3B)
SS Hanley Ramírez (Fla - SS)
OF Ichiro Suzuki (Sea - OF)
OF Gary Sheffield (Det - 1B,OF)
OF Jacoby Ellsbury (Bos - OF)
Util Chris B. Young (Ari - OF)
BN Chipper Jones (Atl - 3B)
BN Garrett Anderson (LAA - OF)
SP Fausto Carmona (Cle - SP,RP)
SP Brandon Webb (Ari - SP)
RP J.J. Putz (Sea - RP)
RP Rafael Soriano (Atl - RP)
P Javier Vázquez (CWS - SP)
P Jeremy Guthrie (Bal - SP,RP)
P Jon Garland (CWS - SP)
BN Jon Lester (Bos - SP)
BN Rich Hill (ChC - SP)
BN Derek Lowe (LAD - SP)
BN Hideki Okajima (Bos - RP)
BN Adam Wainwright (St L - SP, RP)
You might notice my infield is entirely made up of Red Sox. Well, they do currently have the best record, and I do know them the best, but this really wasn't my intentional strategy. And I'm not sure it didn't hurt me in the long run - because there were a few weeks when the Sox weren't playing great as a team, and then my roster plummeted.
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August 1st, 2007
01:51 pm - Seriously?
Kevin Garnett? In Boston? Are you freaking kidding me?
I'm already fantasizing about a Spur-Celtics Finals match up in 2008. I'm beside myself.
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July 23rd, 2007
09:46 am - NBA scandal
For those of you who don't follow basketball, there's a scandal in the basketball world.
Referee Tim Donaghy has been accused of betting on games, including ones in which he officiated. Apparently he has a gambling problem, and got into trouble with some bookies, and the FBI has been investigating him for a year.
What isn't clear is the extent to which he damaged the integrity of the games already played, because it isn't clear how much he affected the outcome. He bet on the point spread, which means he didn't necessarily bet on who would win or lose, rather how big a differential there would be between the two teams. But in close games, the difference can be enhanced by a few questionable calls that send players to the free throw line, stomping a losing team's chance of comeback.
People are already up in arms on the sports message boards (albeit, they're always up in arms about something over there) about Game 3 of Spurs-Suns series. Never mind that the outcome of that game was more affected by Steve Nash's bloody nose, caused by his own out-of-control careen into Tony Parker, than by anything Donaghy did that game. Never mind that that game only put the Spurs up 2-1, giving the Suns plenty of time to still win the series. But people are questioning, in part because no matter how many times the Spurs win championships, people always question (because they're the most understated and humble team in any professional sport, but that's another discussion).
Just to make things even more interesting, apparently Donaghy was also the same ref who Rasheed Wallace confronted in a parking lot after a game in 2003. (Note: Donaghy is not under investigation for that season, but it does add some interesting melodrama).
It deeply saddens me that one man's fuck up could cause the integrity of a sport I love so much to be questioned.
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June 15th, 2007
07:55 am - Go Spurs go!
Spurs swept the Cavaliers to win their fourth NBA championship in nine years.
This is a milestone for several reasons - the Spurs enter the category that includes the 1980's Celtics and Lakers and the 1990's Bulls to become the only franchises with four or more championships.
In my own family, it is the only championship that my parents and I got to be together to watch them win, which was really, really cool.
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May 17th, 2007
09:54 am - Game recap
A brief summary of last night's Suns-Spurs game:
1st quarter
Spurs: Um, shit. What do we do? If we win, they're going to crucify us. If we lose, we suck. Shit. Plus, how are the refs going to call this game? Should we drive or jack up 3's?
Suns: OK, fine. We've lost our best post player and his back up to suspension. We'll just run, run, run. Oh, and post up Shawn Marion, cause you know, he's pretty good.
2nd quarter
Spurs: Hey, wait, we have Tim Duncan. Maybe we should get him the ball for some layups. Hey, that was easy.
Suns: Shit, it's Tim Duncan. We haven't been able to guard him all season, even at full strength. But, hey, we can run, run, run. Maybe Kurt Thomas can even make a few shots. Hey, look at that.
3rd quarter
Spurs: OK, so, here's what we're going to do. They're double-teaming Tim, so we're just going to keep kicking it out and jacking up 3's. Maybe they'll eventually fall. Maybe? Um...um...
Suns: Gosh, I hope their wide open 3 point shots don't start falling.
4th quarter
Spurs: Hey, look, a couple 3 pointers fell. Suddenly it's a tie game, with two minutes left to go. But damn, game on the line, and we need a clutch 3 pointer. Wish we had Robert Horry. Oh...well, maybe Bruce Bowen will do.
Suns: How did we blow an 11 point lead in the fourth quarter? Wait, isn't that what the Spurs did in the last game?
Spurs win, 88-84. Now, they get to go back home and give Phoenix a chance to beat them at full strength. No excuse for trying to let them win this game, as if they felt guilty for playing. Just close it out Friday night.
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May 15th, 2007
09:26 am - Up too late last night
Spurs gave away Game 4 last night. No, the refs have it away, but the Spurs let them. For 3 quarters, the refs called twice as many fouls on the Spurs than they did on the Suns, and called them for ridiculous offensive fouls while allowing the Suns (marshmallow) to plow through the Spurs, yet the Spurs played through it and maintained a 10 point lead for most of 3 quarters.
Then the fourth quarter came, and they just fell apart. Popovich should have left Duncan in with 5 fouls, and the Spurs should have just kept pressuring the Suns hard. Force the refs to foul people out, if that's they way they're going to call it. Manu missed important layups. And Horry lost it, and clocked Nash. Now, when the gentleman of the basketball world, Robert Horry, loses it, you know the frustration's pretty high. But he was suspended, and several Suns should be suspended for leaving the bench.
The good news is (marshmallow)that reading Tony Parker's postgame quotes, it sounds like the team is fired up, and that usually is good news for the Spurs. I expect them to come out and dominate them in Game 5, and I'm sticking with my initial prediction of closing this out in Game 6.
(Marshmallow - Oh, you noticed that. The former headmaster at the private school I attended (free tuition, as my dad taught there) once wrote "marshmallow" in the margins of his students papers to see if they actually read his comments. Most of the time they didn't notice. Just like I know that most of you reading this blog glaze over when I'm babbling about sports.)
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May 4th, 2007
07:32 am - Wow
The Golden State Warriors, who barely made it into the NBA playoffs, just beat the Dallas Mavericks, who won 67 games in the regular season. Four games to two.
I do believe this is the second greatest upset in all of sports history. Not as mindblowing and unbelievable as the Red Sox coming back and defeating the Yankees in the ninth inning and then winning a series they were down 0-3 (and going on the win the championship) -- but the greatest upset after that.
Can anyone think of a sports upset that compares? Because I can't think of one.
Oh, and it must suck to be Dirk Nowitzki right now.
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April 19th, 2007
07:42 am - Fantasy Roster update
I won the championship! Woo hoo! Too bad there's no money in this league. The only bet I put money down on was with my father, and I lost that one. I bet him $10 the Blazers would be the worst team in the NBA this year. Not even close on that one. I believe that dubious honor goes to my own hometown Celtics. No, even Memphis was worse than they were this year.
Anyway, I had to make some last minute changes that broke my heart. Paul Pierce and Tyson Chandler shut down for the season due to injuries, so I dumped them. Al Jefferson was reportedly shut down for the season, but then came back for the last 3 games. My opponent in the Fantasy Finals picked him up off waivers. Doh. I also dumped Brent Barry and James Posey, and added Sheldon Williams, Francisco Garcia, Derek Anderson, and Mikki Moore.
Up until yesterday I was trailing 5-7, but after last nights' games, I won 6-4. All categories were close. After leading in rebounds all season, I actually lost that category in the Finals. I won FG %, FT %, 3 pointers made, Points scored, Assists, and Blocks. We tied in FGs made and FTs made.
Meanwhile, on to Fantasy Baseball. I'm actually in two of Yahoo's leagues, because I realized the first one wasn't a Head-to-Head, and I like that style better. My roster in the boring league is sucking it up right now, so we'll ignore that one. In the other league, currently my roster is looking pretty good. Right now I've got Brandon Webb, A.J. Burnett, Rich Hill, Derek Lowe, John Garland, Rafael Soriano, and J.J. Putz as my pitchers. I've got Big Papi, Ian Kinsler, Jason Varitek, Chipper Jones, Hanley Ramirez, Ichiro Suzuki, Brad Wilkerson, Ty Wiggington, Nick Swisher, Rafael Furcal, Gary Sheffield, Chad Tracy, and Ray Durham on my roster.
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April 17th, 2007
02:07 pm - NBA suspends a referee
I'm particularly interested in what TeacherRefPoet thinks about this, as he is well, a ref (in addition to being a teacher and a poet) - funny how that works.
The NBA has suspended Joey Crawford "indefinitely." I suspect that means he's out for the postseason. He's been a ref for 30 years, and an NBA ref for as long as I can remember. The NBA has always come down on the side of the refs, especially lately, and has started issuing stiff punishments for players who criticize refs before, during, or after games.
On Sunday, the Spurs played the Mavericks. Tim Duncan got a technical for complaining about a call. OK, no big deal. Fair enough. But moments, later, he's sitting on the bench, laughing with Robert Horry. Crawford slaps him with a technical, ejecting him from the game. Players on both sides said they overheard him saying to Duncan "You want to fight?"
Now, Duncan is the epitome of keeping his cool during and after games. It's a joke - people say it seems like he has no emotions. But even he couldn't keep from speaking out after this one. Looks like he was right. Incidentally, this poor decision-making on Crawford's part affected the Spurs chances of winning the game (they actually still hada chance to win, despite playing without Duncan for the entire 4th quarter, but obviously, their chances were much, much smaller) and made the decision for them about whether they would wind up the #2 seed or the #3 seed in the playoffs, with the loss. So it had an impact. I'm just glad it didn't happen in a playoff game.
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April 10th, 2007
11:25 am - On a lighter note
My fantasy basketball team is in the finals. Woo hoo! However, I'm matched up against the #5 seed, who pulled off the upset against the #1 seed. I dumped Brent Barry since he's been sitting with a strained back. Added Nocioni back, since he's back from his injury.
I'm a little worried about my chances, as Tyson Chandler, Paul Pierce, and Al Jefferson have all missed their last few games with injuries. But they all seem to be day-to-day, so I'm nervous about dumping them and having someone else pick them up. I'll give it another day or so and see how my roster holds up as it is. Currently I'm losing 5-7, but only about a third of my roster has played.
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March 26th, 2007
07:30 am - Fantasy Roster update
So, despite starting off rough, my fantasy roster has come through brilliantly. After losing the first 4 out of 6 matchups, my roster won the next 13 out of 15 matchups, including the last 7 in a row. One of the two I didn't win was a tie with the guy who is in the #1 spot and has been all season.
I made a number of changes throughout the season, including dumping Andrew Bogut last week when he got injured and was declared out for the rest of the season. These are the only players who remained on my roster from when I originally drafted them:
Chauncey Billups (Det - PG)
Rasheed Wallace (Det - PF)
Tyson Chandler (NOK - C)
Paul Pierce (Bos - SG,SF)
Andres Nocioni (Chi - SF,PF)
Matt Harpring (Uta - SG,SF) -- I actually dumped him, then reacquired him.
These are the players I acquired via trade:
Kirk Hinrich (Chi - PG,SG) -- Traded Anthony Parker (Tor, PG) for him.
These are the players I picked up off of waivers:
Brent Barry (SA - PG,SG)
Linas Kleiza (Den - SG,SF,PF) -- Whoever heard of this guy until 2 weeks ago?
Renaldo Balkman (NY - SF,PF) -- My late acquisition to replace Andrew Bogut.
Luke Walton (LAL - SF)
Al Jefferson (Bos - PF,C) --Started off the season with an appendectomy, and then I grabbed him before anyone knew he was better.
Nene Hilario (Den - PF,C)
Corey Maggette (LAC - SG,SF)
James Posey (Mia - SG,SF)
I finished #2 out of 14. Last week, I made a final surge up from the #4 spot, which allows me to get the bye and automatically advance to the next round of the playoffs. I think I'm getting the hang of this thing!
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February 7th, 2007
12:51 pm - John Amaechi comes out
You probably haven't heard of him, if you aren't a basketball fan. But he used to play for the Utah Jazz, among other teams, and it was in Utah where he first came out. He is scheduled to come out publicly the day before Valentine's Day, in conjunction with the release of his book. What is most interesting about this story, to me anyway, is this:
"By the end of my second Utah season, I was practically daring reporters to take the bait and out me," he wrote. "But it never happened. My sexuality, I felt, had become an open secret, which was fine by me. I'd left enough open to interpretation that suspicions were gaining momentum."
In other words, he was out, to himself and others, but the media refused to report this information or confirm or deny the reports that he might be gay, and there was a great deal of speculation (about him, and other players). I remember Tracy McGrady saying he knew definitively of at least one gay NBA player, and he used to play with Amaechi in Orlando.
So much emphasis is put on celebrities "not coming out" and not being open about their sexuality, and the way this contributes to misconceptions and homophobia. But Amaechi's quotes (and read the article, it's the best one I've found on this story) illustrate how much control the media (and by that I mean newspapers, television stations, publicity agents) has in determining not only how something will be reported but also whether it will be reported. How many other pro-athletes are not out because someone has decided sports fans can't handle the juxtaposition of queerness and sports ability? Why does the media think we can't handle this?
It's a little like parents who go to great lengths to protect their children from knowing about things like drugs or sex, when their kids are already aware of these things. I've spent a lot of time on sports message boards, and despite the juvenile sexualized comments, it has become clear to me that the average sports fan, as well as heterosexual professional athlete, is perfectly capable of reconciling a person's gay identity with their athletic ability.
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October 4th, 2006
01:10 pm - Are we done yet?
I think (crossing my fingers now, knocking wood as well) we may be done with the P&S.
Which leaves us exactly two weeks to get to closing. Oy. Apparently title searches can take up to two weeks to complete. However, the addendum to the P&S that our lawyer negotiated, which our realtor referred to as "a beautiful document" and noted several things he wished he'd had in his, includes obtaining a similar mortgage rate if the closing has to be pushed back, among other all sorts of other goodness. We won't be giving notice in our currenty apartment till after closing, which will add an extra month to get this all taken care of, and to do the work we want to do, and to move in.
In other news, my fantasy basketball team is just about all set. I'm pretty pleased. However, I have a terrible record so far in fantasy sports. I have to learn to suspend my interest in superior defense for the purposes of fantasy sports - it doesn't pay off in this venue.
Here's my roster, for those interested. I've been approached for a couple trades, so a few tweakings may occur. The numbers in parentheses are their current ranking for fantasy value.
1. (13) C. Billups PG
2. (16) P. Pierce SG,SF
3. (41) R. Wallace PF
4. (44) A. Nocioni SF
5. (69) T. Chandler C
6. (72) A. Bogut PF,C
7. (97) K. Perkins PF,C
8. (100) D. Stoudamire PG
9. (125) C. Duhon PG
10. (128) Ja. Williams PG
11. (153) M. Harpring SG,SF
12. (156) J. Howard SF,PF
13. (181) J. Jeffries SG,SF
14. (132) D. Wesley, SG
15. (175) L. Wright, C
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