Random Sports Thoughts....

NBA

• It's very clear now that Isiah Thomas has totally lost it. "Isiah Thomas has said he's in the market for a center and athletic shooting guard such as Golden State free agent Jason Richardson" Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't he already have 3 guards on the roster: Marbury, Houston, and Crawford. He had enough trouble trying to find minutes for those three, how in the world will he fit in Richardson? Move to a 3 guard line-up? He's not going to trade away Marbury or Crawford, and he can't trade Houston - no one would take him.
• Larry Brown is uncertain if he's going to return to the sidelines this season to coach the Pistons. Can't wait to hear all the conspiracy theories. Is he setting himself up to retire due to medical problems, only to land a job coaching the Knicks next season?
• A perfect example of how injuries can decimate a team's performance. Utah Jazz. While they have no superstars on the team, their top two players - Kirilenko and Boozer have only played 25 games together this year. After a suprisingly good season last year, the Jazz were expected to make some noise again this year, however they're in last place in their division at 22-48.
• How was "I ain't no GM. Ask Kobe. He's the GM. It's his team" taken out of context? I can't imagine a scenario where Atkins statement wasn't how he truely felt.

NCAA

• With all the 'upsets' this year, this has got to be the best tournament that I can remember. There have been so many great games so far. Let's hope the final three games continute that trend.
• I haven't followed the regular season that closely this year so I didn't participate in my office pool this year. My brother, sister and myself have been doing a pool the past few years with just the three of us. The winner gets taken out to breakfast by the other two. I always lose. My biggest fault is not using my head. I pick Duke to win it all every year. I'm a big Duke fan from back in the day when they had Grant Hill. I have a shot to win our little pool this year only because Adam didn't participate and it's just me and Jenna. I'm ahead in points right now, but if UNC wins their next game, it's all over for me.

MLB

• Is anyone else happy that Bonds is 'injured'? (conspiracy theories suggest he's not really 'hurt')
• Odds on Ken Griffey Jr. making it through the entire season without being placed on the IL?
• Go Yankees!

Freaky Dragon....

For anyone who's a big fan of optical illusions, print out this picture. Follow the instructions and cut it out and assemble it. It'll take 10-15 minutes to do, but it's well worth it.



Click here for the full size picture to print out.

Click here for a video clip of the illusion at work.

Happy Easter....

Everyone's Heard Of The Easter Bunny.....

How about his rapping cousin, Easter B?

Tsk, Tsk....

If anyone who is reading this was at the toll booth at exit/entrance 15W on the New Jersey Turnpike yesterday at approximately 5:00 pm, yes, that was me making an illegal U-turn at the toll booth.

I was on my way down to Rutgers to go to my night class when Jennie called me to tell me that the school had called to say class was cancelled. I had already been on the road for 1/2 an hour, which on a normal night would have put me around exit 12 or further, and I had just gotten through the toll booth to enter the turnpike. (side note: for those of you not familiar with the turnpike, a little info: before and after every toll plaza, there is about 100 feet between the tolls and the continuous concrete median where orange cones act as the divider. Albeit illegal, it's very easy to make a u-turn at that point - granted there are no cars in the way.) I was literally 10 feet past my opportunity at the toll plaza when I got the call. So I had to wait until the next exit to attempt my daring maneuver. For those of you who know me might find this next statement to be a shock to them. I was disappointed that class was cancelled. I look forward to going every week. So I took the next exit and before paying the toll, I turned the car around and headed back north. So, after sitting in the car for 45 minutes in traffic, it took me 15 minutes to get back to where I started from.

One question:
I entered the turnpike at 18E and exited at 18W. What, if any, charge will show up on my E-ZPass statement?

UPDATE
According to the New Jersey Turnpike toll calculator if you enter at 18E and exit at 18W, it's a charge of $0.00. But according to me EZPass account I was charged $5.45. For that evening. I guess they couldn't charge me zero dollars for using the turnpike so instead they charged me the maximum amount for EZPass during peak hours. Bummer :-(

Groan....

At Heathrow Airport today, an individual, later discovered to be a public school teacher, was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a compass, a protractor, and a graphical calculator. Authorities believe he is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement.

He is being charged with carrying weapons of math instruction!

A Sensitive Subject.....

Anyone who follows the news, whether it be via radio, tv, or the web, has heard about the little 9 year girl who was abducted in Florida three weeks ago. The authorities narrowed down their list of suspects to one man last week and finally caught up to him over the weekend. The little girls body was then found just a few hundred feet from the home.

At Jessica's church on Sunday, the pastor asked for prayers for the Lunsfords.
"Lord, we don't always understand your ways," the Rev. William LaVerle Coats
told 175 grieving people during services at Faith Baptist Church, where many
people saw the girl for the last time on the night she disappeared. "We accept
what has taken place here, and ask that you would give us some peace."

That sums up the root of my strong disbelief of god. How can you possibly 'accept' what god has done there? He allowed this sicko to kidnap a little 9 year old girl, molest her, then kill her. I can't think of anything worse for a parent to go through other than being forced to watch that horrendous act happen.

If god is all powerful and ever-present, how could he allow this to happen? What possible reason would he (or she) have to put her parents through this ordeal?

Just Thought This Was Cool....

A picture of people and their shadows


A picture taken of Central Park after a blizzard in 2003

There's No Way That's Legal.....

Ever seen one of those? Do you know what it is?

It is a signal changer sold by skyoptics.com. I've never heard about this type of device before. It's supposedly used 'only' by emergency personnel, but apparently it's available to anyone who wants to shell out $299.00 for it. I just figured cops, firemen, etc. just blasted their sirens and lights to make it thru red lights. It works by sending a signal from 1500 feet away to the light to change it from red to green in 2 to 3 seconds. I never noticed it before, but now I'll be looking for a receiver attached to every stoplight I pass from now on.


(That's kind of like when my friend Joe posted an entry about the FedEx logo. Between the 'E' and the 'x' is an arrow. Now every time I see a FedEx truck, that's all I see. Kind of like getting a song stuck in your head.)

Baby Names....

It has always intrigued me whenever I see a strange (to me) name listed someplace.

Tnonealyer Powers, SF for the women's basketball team at Alcorn State.
Twiggy McIntyre, G for the women's basketball team at Kansas St.
Cletis Fobbs, G for the mens's basketball team at Louisiana-Lafayette.

Maybe the names have a special meaning to the parents?
Maybe the names mean something else in a different language?

Parents have got to realize that if they give a child a strange name they are opening up that kid to years of ridicule in school. Of course, you could argue that that builds character - learning how to deal with adversity at such a young age will only help them later in life. But at least give your kid a fighting chance.

You can find a compilation of more strange/funny names in Dan Shanoff and Melanie Jackson's list of NCAA All-Name Teams.

Not Sure If This Will Interest Anyone....

This post is mainly for my sister who is in the middle of her road trip and wasn't here for the construction phase of this project and won't be back for another couple of months.

My parents recently have been doing some minor remodelling to their house. They took one of the bedrooms on the second floor (most recently Adam's room) and converted it into their home office. I took part in helping removing the old flourescent light fixture and installing new recessed lighting. My dad refinished the floor and painted the walls and ceiling. I also designed the new desk areas and helped build them. It's basically a countertop that wraps around 3/4 of the room.



Click here for larger versions of those pictures and for more pictures.

Next up for my parents: Taking the room that was most recently my mom's old office and turning it into a playroom for their grandchildren (my kids). They'll also be turning my dad's old office (basement room) into a bedroom. That's more involved because they're going to have the old carpet replaced and put up a wall w/door.

More pictures will follow once those other projects have been completed (again - if anyone's interested. I could just be humoring myself here.)

One Owner....

"An investment firm and a sports advisory company reportedly made a joint proposal to buy all 30 NHL teams for as much as $3.5 billion."

Very interesting.....

The scenario I would like to see:

The investment company buys the NHL and maintains control over all teams and players. All existing player contracts are voided and every player gets a new contract for $1,000,000.00/year. Based on previous years' statistics, a player rating system is employeed and all players are ranked. The players are then split up and teams are made that are 'equal' according to the new player rankings. Players could earn incentives based on performance and team performances. They would also share in merchandise revenues (e.g. Mark Messier would get 5% of all sales of merchandise with his name/picture).

$1,000.000.00/year is a lot of money. Granted, home-town favorites would probably be playing for a different team, but no one can watch their favorites play now anyway. I think it would garner a lot more fan interest than if they were to just restart the season with the existing teams. Maybe not because of the different rosters, but maybe because of the bold moves made. It would almost be like making a fresh start.