Born A Rambling Man...
By Zach
Since my keyboard's been broken (finally fixed) and the site's been devoid of updates, I figured I'd take a crack at some free-form, nonsensical ramblings
Paul Shirley's blog is the greatest thing I've ever read. Well, maybe not, but it does confirm my long-held suspicion that being the 12th man on an NBA team is the greatest job imaginable. If only I'd been born 7'2" instead of 6'2"...In one of his posts, he says "my version of this year’s [all-ugly]team has two members from Minnesota, one from the Milwaukee Bucks, one from the Warriors and one from the Portland Trail Blazers. In the interest of not getting the [crap] kicked out of me, should I actually play in a game against one of these teams, I will keep the exact identities to myself." The first Timberwolf is clearly Sam Cassell, but the second is tough. The Buck is Calvin Booth, long my pick for both ugliest man in sports and eeriest identical black twin of John Kerry. Adonal Foyle is both the smartest man in the NBA and one of the ugliest, and the final member of the squad is the South Korean Spectacle, Ha Seung-Jin...speaking of the NBA, is anyone else unsure of who this year's champ will be? I mean, the Spurs could be without Duncan for some/all of the playoffs, the Sonics and Suns are unproven, the Mavs don't play D, the Heat only have two players, the Pistons have looked awfully beatable at times, and everyone else is a joke...
Yes, the demise of my beloved Huskies hurt. It hurt bad. In fact, it ranks right up there with some of the worst defeats my favorite teams have suffered: The Sonics losing to the Nuggets in 1994, the Mariners losing to the Indians in 1995 and the Yankees in 2001, the Seahawks retaining Ray Rhodes as defensive co-ordinator, the Chad Sexington Experience pulling a Kevin Dyson in the semifinals this year...this years tournament has been a lot of fun, especially with three overtime Elite Eight games...I still don't understand how Arizona managed to choke that game away, they had the Illini scalped and let them off...plus, Lute Olsen was apparently taking a nap at the end of overtime. Is it really that hard to get the ball to one of your two best players? I mean, sure, Salim was struggling, but how do you end up with such a terrible shot? That's why he's only won one NCAA title despite having tremendous talent to work with...Tubby Smith had the same thing happen to him at the end of the first overtime. Hey, Tubby: you can't win if you don't take a shot. Yeah, I know you want to take the clock down, but how about you tell Rondo to watch the damn shot clock...the only things that could ruin the Final Four are if Nantz and Packer are not abducted and replaced with Lundquist and Raferty, or if Ben doesn't win the pool, throwing him into an even deeper funk, not to mention depriving us of many hours of Marvel v. Capcom 2 and GTA: SA action...if you want even more awesome NCAA analysis you can check me, T-Bone, and our pals on MTV-U's Bracket Breakdown. Yes, we know you don't actually get MTV-U, but we don't care. This is our big break, and we'll be damned if you're going to ruin it for us...
Baseball season is coming, but of course steroids are all anyone can talk about. First, I don't care who did them. I really don't. I know most of them did, but I accept it, just like I accept that Shawn Kemp has more children than I have dollars in my bank account...the Congressional hearings were awful, since Bud Selig is like a retarded 12-year-old in front of anyone who asks him a question, and any elected official becomes utterly unbearable in front of a camera. Still, at least we don't have to worry about Johnny Cochrane representing any of the players...I'm not sure who I like to win the Series, but I will tell you that I used up all my mojo last year rooting for the Sawks, so don't look for any parades down Royal Brougham Way in Seattle this year...speaking of the Sox, I can't tell you how sick I am of the whole Yankees-Red Sox pissing contest. Apparently, if you're a baseball fan, you have to care about them. Hell, I was born in Boston, the Red Sox were my favorite team, and I still don't care. Now that the Yankees have been vanquished, I really can't summon up the same hatred, at least not until I have to go to Yankee Stadium for the first time this year...
I just finished reading Positively Fifth Stree, a tremendous book about, among other things, the 2000 World Series of Poker. As an unrepentant gambler, I love reading about the moves that the decidely amateur author Jim McManus used to parlay $1000 into about $250,000 and a fifth place finish (out of 500+). It's a must read for anyone who either cares about the current poker boom or wonders what the hell everyone else is thinking...speaking of poker, time for a brutal beat story, the worst ever in my life. I'm playing an online tournament (a habit I've long since broke, thankfully) and am heads-up for the tournament. First place pays about $500, second about $250. Clearly, winning is the goal. I'm slightly short stacked, but I'm not to concerned, since I've been seated with this guy for a while, and he's been getting lucky more than he's been making good reads. Plus, now that we're heads-up, he's overvaluing his hands way too much, even for two players. On the button, he quadruples the blinds. I've got KK, so I re-raise him by about 8x, representing about 1/4 my chipstack. He almost immediately pushes, which I call almost as quickly. I figure he's playing high overs, or maybe Big Slick (AK). Turns out he's got 4-4. Fine. Flop comes 5d-10c-Kc. I've got him dead. He's got no draw (both his 4's are red), and only runner-runner 4's can save him. I don't even know what the odds against that are. Of course, the 4s comes on the turn, but I'm still fine, since he's down to his final out. A blank would have been better, but I'm still the huge favorite. Of course, he sucks out the 4c on the river, turning my 99+% favorite status into absolutely nothing but $250...
Paul Shirley's blog is the greatest thing I've ever read. Well, maybe not, but it does confirm my long-held suspicion that being the 12th man on an NBA team is the greatest job imaginable. If only I'd been born 7'2" instead of 6'2"...In one of his posts, he says "my version of this year’s [all-ugly]team has two members from Minnesota, one from the Milwaukee Bucks, one from the Warriors and one from the Portland Trail Blazers. In the interest of not getting the [crap] kicked out of me, should I actually play in a game against one of these teams, I will keep the exact identities to myself." The first Timberwolf is clearly Sam Cassell, but the second is tough. The Buck is Calvin Booth, long my pick for both ugliest man in sports and eeriest identical black twin of John Kerry. Adonal Foyle is both the smartest man in the NBA and one of the ugliest, and the final member of the squad is the South Korean Spectacle, Ha Seung-Jin...speaking of the NBA, is anyone else unsure of who this year's champ will be? I mean, the Spurs could be without Duncan for some/all of the playoffs, the Sonics and Suns are unproven, the Mavs don't play D, the Heat only have two players, the Pistons have looked awfully beatable at times, and everyone else is a joke...
Yes, the demise of my beloved Huskies hurt. It hurt bad. In fact, it ranks right up there with some of the worst defeats my favorite teams have suffered: The Sonics losing to the Nuggets in 1994, the Mariners losing to the Indians in 1995 and the Yankees in 2001, the Seahawks retaining Ray Rhodes as defensive co-ordinator, the Chad Sexington Experience pulling a Kevin Dyson in the semifinals this year...this years tournament has been a lot of fun, especially with three overtime Elite Eight games...I still don't understand how Arizona managed to choke that game away, they had the Illini scalped and let them off...plus, Lute Olsen was apparently taking a nap at the end of overtime. Is it really that hard to get the ball to one of your two best players? I mean, sure, Salim was struggling, but how do you end up with such a terrible shot? That's why he's only won one NCAA title despite having tremendous talent to work with...Tubby Smith had the same thing happen to him at the end of the first overtime. Hey, Tubby: you can't win if you don't take a shot. Yeah, I know you want to take the clock down, but how about you tell Rondo to watch the damn shot clock...the only things that could ruin the Final Four are if Nantz and Packer are not abducted and replaced with Lundquist and Raferty, or if Ben doesn't win the pool, throwing him into an even deeper funk, not to mention depriving us of many hours of Marvel v. Capcom 2 and GTA: SA action...if you want even more awesome NCAA analysis you can check me, T-Bone, and our pals on MTV-U's Bracket Breakdown. Yes, we know you don't actually get MTV-U, but we don't care. This is our big break, and we'll be damned if you're going to ruin it for us...
Baseball season is coming, but of course steroids are all anyone can talk about. First, I don't care who did them. I really don't. I know most of them did, but I accept it, just like I accept that Shawn Kemp has more children than I have dollars in my bank account...the Congressional hearings were awful, since Bud Selig is like a retarded 12-year-old in front of anyone who asks him a question, and any elected official becomes utterly unbearable in front of a camera. Still, at least we don't have to worry about Johnny Cochrane representing any of the players...I'm not sure who I like to win the Series, but I will tell you that I used up all my mojo last year rooting for the Sawks, so don't look for any parades down Royal Brougham Way in Seattle this year...speaking of the Sox, I can't tell you how sick I am of the whole Yankees-Red Sox pissing contest. Apparently, if you're a baseball fan, you have to care about them. Hell, I was born in Boston, the Red Sox were my favorite team, and I still don't care. Now that the Yankees have been vanquished, I really can't summon up the same hatred, at least not until I have to go to Yankee Stadium for the first time this year...
I just finished reading Positively Fifth Stree, a tremendous book about, among other things, the 2000 World Series of Poker. As an unrepentant gambler, I love reading about the moves that the decidely amateur author Jim McManus used to parlay $1000 into about $250,000 and a fifth place finish (out of 500+). It's a must read for anyone who either cares about the current poker boom or wonders what the hell everyone else is thinking...speaking of poker, time for a brutal beat story, the worst ever in my life. I'm playing an online tournament (a habit I've long since broke, thankfully) and am heads-up for the tournament. First place pays about $500, second about $250. Clearly, winning is the goal. I'm slightly short stacked, but I'm not to concerned, since I've been seated with this guy for a while, and he's been getting lucky more than he's been making good reads. Plus, now that we're heads-up, he's overvaluing his hands way too much, even for two players. On the button, he quadruples the blinds. I've got KK, so I re-raise him by about 8x, representing about 1/4 my chipstack. He almost immediately pushes, which I call almost as quickly. I figure he's playing high overs, or maybe Big Slick (AK). Turns out he's got 4-4. Fine. Flop comes 5d-10c-Kc. I've got him dead. He's got no draw (both his 4's are red), and only runner-runner 4's can save him. I don't even know what the odds against that are. Of course, the 4s comes on the turn, but I'm still fine, since he's down to his final out. A blank would have been better, but I'm still the huge favorite. Of course, he sucks out the 4c on the river, turning my 99+% favorite status into absolutely nothing but $250...
posted by Zach at 3:54 PM
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