Shouzer

Kyle was explaning to me yesterday that oftentimes cable companies will broadcast a number of channels in HD for free. Typically this means all the major networks like ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox. As it happens, that’s the case for me with Comcast, and I didn’t even know it. I’ve had my TV for a month now, and I hadn’t watched any HD TV yet.

But late is better than never, I suppose. Right now as I type this, I’m watching the Broncos on Sunday Night Football in glorious HD. It’s really a huge difference compared to standard definition.

Now I just need the Broncos to get their heads out of their asses and finish this game out. So far it looks like they’re trying their best to lose. Two losses in a row is never a good thing, much less four.

Ten minutes ago I came to the conclusion that I seem to have mixed up the order of days in the week. I’m almost 100% certain that yesterday was Friday, and to the best of my knowledge, every Friday night that I’ve ever fallen asleep in life I have awoken to Saturday, be it morning or one late afternoon (ie. “You guys are my friends!”) Well today is not Saturday. It just can’t be. You see, I was looking forward to watching some college football in HD, because this is the first weekend since I’ve had my new Philips 32″ LCD with an ATSC/QAM tuner that receives the four major networks’ hi-definition parallels. So I flipped over to my TiVo guide to check out who was playing the 11:00AM games that I have been with me in the central standard time zone for as long as I can remember. No games. What? No games. Noon? No. One? No. Wouldn’t you, too, start questioning the sun and moon at this point?

So I will be left with ESPN and The Deuce (not in HD. Fsk!) for my football until 2:30, when ABC and CBS decide that their viewing audience will have had enough of cartoons and infomercials. Or maybe the weekend bypassed me this week (it is my first weekend as a 23 yo), and this is actually Monday. That’d be alright because then I would get to see MNF on NBC - d’oh! - ESPN bought that. Can we just skip to Tuesday?

Why yes, Hank Williams Jr, indeed I am ready for some football.  But unfortunately, not just any old football.  No, not like the game that was delivered Thursday night.  Oh, no no no no no.  No, I don’t care for blowouts.  Not one bit.  I particularly don’t care for blowouts by the defending Super Bowl champs.  What fun is that?  No sir, I don’t like it.  I prefer good football.  The Colts took over the game so early in the second half that I turned it off.  It wasn’t even worth watching.

I still can’t really believe that because I now live on the west coast, I’ve gotta be awake at 10am every Sunday to watch the games.  What’s that all about?  Noon was pretty much the perfect time for football.  Not too early, but not too late.  It was a pretty good comfort zone for me.  CST > PST, that’s all I’m saying.  I don’t want to start a fight about it or anything.  I mean, it’s really just a fact.  You can’t argue with facts.

Go Broncos!

Yeah, I would consider paying for this if I was at home:

Link

I probably wouldn’t, but I would consider it. I would love to see Pacman Jones in a wrestling match. Something about that just seems very funny to me.

Everybody that reads this thing knows that I get long-winded about some issue/event in sports occasionally. In addition, since the inception of this blog, I’ve let my love affair with the NBA Draft bleed onto your computer screens. Today, I do both. I’m going to try my hand at a mock draft, and maybe some of you who read a sports article now and then can critique me. I don’t care if you disagree with my team selection, judge my writing.

1. Portland Trailblazers select Greg Oden. Oden has been projected to go here since Clinton’s first term, and it’s still not even the biggest no-brainer of the draft. This is:
2. Seattle Supersonics select Kevin Durant. There is still no hard evidence that Portland is going with Oden; that’s just what everybody believes they will do. It makes no difference to Seattle. This is a two-man draft, so the Sonics just take whomever the Blazers don’t.
3. Atlanta Hawks select Brandan Wright. I don’t think they’re taking Horford, as recent rumors suggest. Even for the Hawks, that’s too much talent duplication. I actually like the idea of passing on Conley here, though. I see the logic that says Brandan Wright + Law/Crittenton is greater than Conley + J. Wright/Thornton. (They’re drafting #11, too).
4. Memphis Grizzlies select Al Horford. Horford compliments Gasol well, and he’s the best available player here.
5. Boston Celtics select Corey Brewer. This is probably the most likely top 10 pick to get traded, but I think if they keep it, they’ll go for Brewer. He’s an upgrade over Wally, and gives them some defense on the perimeter.
6. Milwaukee Bucks select Mike Conley. Their biggest need is SF, but if Conley falls here, I don’t see them passing him up. Jeff Green is a possibility.
7. Minnesota Timberwolves select Jeff Green. A lot of mock drafts have them taking Spencer Hawes, but if Green is still on the board here, I think he’s a steal. A foundation of Randy Foye and Jeff Green isn’t half bad, if they are serious about moving Garnett.
8. Charlotte Bobcats select Yi Jianlian. I’m going out on a limb with this one. I haven’t read of these two being connected at all, but I think it’s a great match. The Bobcats need a center, a scorer, and someone to create some media buzz. I give you Yi.
9. Chicago Bulls select Joakim Noah. This would be a great scenario for Chicago. He can step in and play right now and an immediate upgrade over P.J. Brown. Ty Thomas and Joakim Noah will be busting up weak Eastern Conference front lines for years.
10. Sacramento Kings select Spencer Hawes. I think this is a best case scenario for Sactown, too. He becomes the successor to Brad Miller in the post. Hawes has the most low-post scoring potential of anyone in the draft besides Oden.
11. Atlanta Hawks select Javaris Crittenton. I think they take him over Law because Crittenton plays for Georgia Tech, and they could probably use the home town support. Either way, one of the two goes here.
12. Philadelphia 76ers select Julian Wright. Maybe this is where Al Thornton goes, but my gut says Wright. More upside, and upside means everything on draft night.
13. New Orleans Hornet select Thaddeus Young. Nick Young makes more sense because of the hole at 2-guard, but Thaddeus is a wonderful talent with upside. I’d start him over Peja and lose no sleep.
14. L.A. Clippers select Acie Law. This one should be an easy pick for the Clippers. Cassell is too old to be starting in this league, and Shaun Livingston is rehabbing from one of the worst sports injuries I’ve ever seen.

Well, that’s the lottery. I’m not DraftExpress, Chad Ford, or NBADraft.net, but I think I’ve got some cred.

I was sort of half watching last weekend’s NASCAR race.  I normally keep my distance from this stuff, because it burns.  Megan’s brother was there though, and I figured I could at least pay attention.  It turned out to be a major disappointment.  Rain delay after rain delay eventually caused the officials to call the race.

Watching this, I realized that NASCAR can in no way be considered a sport.  There was some rain on the track, so they quit.  They just quit and gave the win to Jeff Gordon, because he was in front at the time.  I’m sure he was happy about it, but I’m sorry–that’s just plain pitiful.  They’re literally driving around in cars.  Rain is going to stop some cars?  “Ooh, but it’s too dangerous.”  Well then slow the fuck down.  If you’re too stupid to drive 200+ miles per hour in pouring rain, you might deserve to get in an accident.

A football game would never get canceled because of rain.  Quite the opposite, I’m sure.  People enjoy rain and snow games more.  Why?  Because that’s what a sport is.  Baseball falls into the same category as NASCAR, unfortunately.  But at least they makeup the rained out games or play the rest later.

I’ve been reading that the Game 5 performance by Lebron was one of the greatest performances of NBA history. I’ve been reading this, because we still don’t have TV. My parents called DISH Network a while ago, for them to come out and install their satellites (or DISHes, as they must prefer). It was at this point that we were informed it would take about two and half weeks for them to get out here. What’s up with that, honestly?

So, I missed the game. I would have watched the game. I’d been watching a lot of NBA games at the end of school. I wanted to watch the game. But, I missed the game. Damn you, DISH Network!

Geez. There’s really not much more to say. Geez. I caught this article on ESPN, and I have to admit that I’m amazed at the idiocy of what Portis says. For those of you who don’t know, Michael Vick has been linked to dog fighting lately. In particular, a house owned by him was raided a few weeks ago and there were a number of malnourished and untreated dogs found.

As the story has gone on, it’s looked more and more like Vick was directly involved. Frankly, I have no doubt that he’s guilty. Given all the evidence released so far, and the people who have come out and said he was not only cognizant of it but also participated in it… It just doesn’t seem like a tough case for the (future) prosecution to make.

So, getting that little bit of history out of the way, we get to Clinton Portis (henceforth referred to as “Dumbass”). Dumbass apparently thinks that dog fighting isn’t that big of a deal. Dumbass said, “I don’t know if he was fighting dogs or not, but it’s his property, it’s his dog.”

What really strikes me as ironic is Dumbass doesn’t see the analogousness of this statement to what a plantation owner 200 years ago might say about a black slave. Not that long ago, blacks were considered property in many parts of the country. In fact, you could do pretty much whatever you wanted to them, because they were your property. I believe it was legal to kill a slave if you were punishing him, or something like that. Why? Well, he was your property.  In Dumbass’s own words, the slavemaster probably would have said, “I think people should mind their business.”

I think the moral of the story is Dumbass should shut his mouth. The world might be just a little better.

I do not remember ever enjoying an NBA game quite like last night’s game one. Memo was dropping 3’s, AK47 was playing like it was 2005, Deron and Dee were doing their best Flyin’ Illini impressions, and Boozer grabbed enough rebounds to feed a small nation. Heck, even Harpring looked like he had some spring in his step. Golden State was their usual self — shooting 3’s, shooting 3’s, and then if that didn’t work, they shot some more 3’s. It would have worked, but D-Will’s testicular fortitude was put on display as he pounded the ball right at Boom Dizzle for a game deciding 3-point play in the final minute.

If you have ever cared for basketball, or if you have ever cared for sweet, sweet life itself, you need to be watching this series. I cannot stress that to you enough.

Somebody finally stepped up. And his name is Roger Goodell. He’s the commissioner of the National Football League, and recent reports offer evidence of him in having the largest mansack of the any of the commish in the Big 4, er, 3 (sorry NHL). According to recent reports, Adam “Pacman” Jones and Chris Henry will be suspended without pay for the season and half the season, respectively, for their off-field confrontations with the law.

I really wish you could have heard a conversation I had with Jared regarding Jamar Smith. My stance on athlete behavior is pretty much this: You are told from the first day you play for a school (be it grade school, junior high, high school, etc.), that it is a privilege to represent your team, and you should act accordingly. That means your standards are higher because when you wake up in the morning, you represent not only yourself, but a much bigger population (Ex. your fellow students, faculty of the school, fans of the team, citizens of the city, donors to the organization, and many, many other stakeholders). You are told it is a privilege on day one. You are told on day two. You hear it before every home game, every away game, every new season, and ever offseason. By the time an athlete exits his college playing days and ascends to the pros, the word privilege and its definition are ingrained on his (or her) mind.

Because of this, I find it more than difficult to look the other way when an athlete displays poor judgment on or off the field. These men are payed to play a game that they supposedly love. That’s a privilege. So when you bring your ex-con gangbanger posse to the club during All-Star weekend, and someone gets shot, I have no sympathy for you. The same goes for when you have sex with a minor, assault a police officer, get pulled over with a blood alcohol level of twice the legal limit, beat your wife, or any other act that brings shame to the team you play for. If you do one of those things, you just bought yourself a ticket to the unemployment line. Call me old school, conservative, or just an idiot, but all this makes sense to me.

About Jamar Smith, I said I feel for the kid. He’s young, under a lot of pressure, and I hope his situation doesn’t prevent him from getting an education and providing for his future family. Do I think he should be kicked out of school? No. Do I think he should play another game for the Fighting Illini? No. He knew it was a privilege to play for his university when he made the decisions he made that night. He must have been told hundreds, if not thousands, of times in his life. That’s too much to ignore for me.

One day, I am going to teach high school math, and if my dreams come true, I’ll be a basketball coach at that school. The first day of tryouts, every child will be told what an honor it would be to make the team, and how his life should reflect that honor. Any other coach, parent, or role model those kids have will tell them the same thing. If one of my players cheats on a test, gets caught drinking, or performs an act anything less than becoming to his school and team, he will have played his last game. It’s not me trying to be a slave driver or a hardass; it’s nothing more than my belief of how athletes representing a team should behave.

Back to Roger Goodell handing down those thick suspensions, read this quote from the AP via FoxSports:

“It is a privilege to represent the NFL, not a right,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement announcing the suspensions. “These players and all members of our league have to make the right choices and decisions in their conduct on a consistent basis.”

We see eye to eye on this one.

This happened a couple nights ago, and because everybody loved the last one, here’s another injury for you. That’s Jorge Garbajosa of the Toronto Raptors.

An email I sent to Bill Simmons was used in his latest article at ESPN.com. I feel extra special.

Link to the blog entry. I’m “Kyle H., Herrin, IL”.

Spring Break is almost upon us, and I’m certainly looking forward to it.  I wanted this to be an easy semester, but unfortunately this ended up being one of my busiest in a quite a while.  Oh well.

As Kyle said, the NCAA tournament started today, but it hasn’t been what I’d hoped for yet.  There’s only been one real upset thusfar (a 9 over an 8 doesn’t count).  I guess that bodes well for my bracket in general, as I didn’t have as many upsets throughout the tourney as I would have liked.  On the other hand, I just think there’s more polarity between the top and bottom of the tournament this year than recent years.

and I’m feelin’ the madness. Thursday is here. Rejoice.