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Friday, June 28, 2002
I'm off to California for a family reunion. The dozens and dozens of you reading this will just have to wait until Monday for something new.
posted at 10:59 AM
Just downloaded the newest copy of BearShare and it runs very nicely. They did a nice job in upgrading from previous versions. Of course, there are probably tons of bugs and I'll still be downloading numerous versions over time.
Maybe the Expos are making one last run at a pennant before going to wherever by acquiring Bartolo Colon from the Indians. I guess Cleveland is throwing in the towel for this year. Jim Thome, you're next. Other people think Montreal is trying to dismantle the team now for one last gasp before they go away. Either way, it's nice to see them actually do something for now, instead of later. Or like the Reds, who keep harping on the 2003 date because of their new park. (Ya know, they should've kept their mouth shut on that. Cleveland built up the team over a number of years looking forward to the opening of Jacobs Field. They just weren't that open about it. It's not that refreshing when a team says in 2000 or 2001 that they're playing for 2003.)
You've already seen my draft screed, but here's King Kaufman's take on the festivities. I agree with most of his player analysis, but he's a bit off on the draft proceedings. Yes, the NFL Draft can be a tedious bore at times (and I've spent the last three drafts working with Pat Kirwan analyzing the top picks). But I think fans know more about the players in the football draft than the basketball draft, especially these days with all the high school and international players going early. Also, many of the players taken early these days are projects that will take a couple of years to mature into a major contributor. It's almost an upset to find a seasoned college player ready to contribute now. Plus, the NBA Draft has been in New York the past couple of years, but it's been in Vancouver, Indiana and a handful of other outposts, but it's usually pretty antiseptic and boring. Besides, with the Knicks as bad as they are these days, there's a huge entertainment value to see angry New York fans rip a draft pick. There's got to be a bunch of Jets fans who are also Knicks fans.
posted at 1:48 AM
Wednesday, June 26, 2002
NBA Draft thoughts
I'm sure Bill Simmons will have a great breakdown of the draft, but here are some of my thoughts ...
Yao Ming. Yadda yadda yadda. Who knows what will happen with him. Go with "upside" or whatever, maybe he's Shawn Bradley. I don't know.
I'm more pumped about Jay Williams, although a lot of that comes from the fact that he went to my high school (and we don't produce lots of well-known athletic talent). He'll be a nice fit on the Peja Stojakovic and Pau Gasol have people looking to international players a lot more than before. Who knows if that will be a good thing. It definitely makes the draft a lot less TV friendly since we won't have heard of most of these guys (think the NHL Draft). It makes for some hilarious moments when David Stern has to say the name. Some of the guys on TV made good points that the international players can come in and do more sooner because they're in a more professional environment there, as opposed to the strict rules on the college level. But that still doesn't answer the fact that tons of these guys don't do a whole lot for a while (if that).
Caron Butler is a steal at No. 10 to the Heat, if Pat Riley will actually play him. He could be Paul Pierce (down to the slide to No. 10). Juan Dixon makes for a nice homer pick, although who knows what he'll do, if he can play point, great, but who knows. I guess he's one of those players whose size overwhelms the talent. Curtis Borchardt goes to Utah to replace Greg Ostertag as big goofy white center. He'll play for 10 years because he's big and white.
It's nice to see Casey Jacobsen get drafted reasonably high. It was funnier seeing everyone drool over his girlfriend. Hey Sager, you've got your own trophy blonde.
The Hawks finally did something right by picking up Dan Dickau. This after drafting and trading away Jamaal Tinsley last year.
There was a stretch, starting with Dickau, where I'd actually heard of all of these guys from college. Then the Hawks and Jets fans at the NFL Draft as they ripped into Scott Layden. However, they did OK in getting Antonio McDyess and Frank Williams (a head case but can be very good) for Marcus Camby (always hurt), Mark Jackson (old) and Nene Hilario (nice to see Denver stock up the international guys; they'll get more in the lottery next year).
Denver is holding open tryouts and guaranteeing someone a spot on the roster. Is the team that bad that they have to do that? Why don't they just go to the local Y and point at a couple of folks. Hmm, maybe Juwanna Mann and Lil' Bow Wow will be there.
Charles, Kenny and EJ were all in midseason form (even though EJ is probably beat having to make the trip from Wimbledon) and Hubie Brown is odd but entertaining. Poor Quin Snyder took forever to get into the swing of things. He probably was overwhelmed by the crew, plus the fact that he hardly saw any of these first rounders. He added a little more later on as the draft wore on, but he was very disappointing. Of course, I kept on asking myself "When did Andrew McCarthy change his hairstyle?" (I'd think Alyson would also be disappointed in Quin's effort.)
Craig wondered if the Hornets didn't pick so they wouldn't have to show off whatever they've done with the logo in New Orleans.
It's too bad this is Turner's last year of showing the draft. The question is: Will Mel Kiper Jr. show up on ESPN's coverage next year? Hopefully they won't drag it out like they do the NFL one. This one was pretty time efficient, but then again, the NBA always has been around draft time.
With all of these really young players (not necessarily high schoolers, at least not this year) and international guys coming in, it's getting harder and harder to really enjoy the draft. Being someone who watches his share of college hoops (especially in March), the draft always becomes interesting when figuring out which star players can move his game up to another level and which others get lost in the shuffle for one reason or another (usually size, but other reasons as well). It's also funny to see teams take risks on talented folks who never really hit their stride in college, then eventually fade (Luther Wright, Yinka Dare). It's sad to see who you think were good players stumble in the pros (Bobby Hurley, Bo Kimble). It's also aggravating to see good players slip in the draft mainly because they were good in college and scouts couldn't figure out why. You know they don't watch too much college hoops and have to rely on workouts to improve their status (John Salmons, anyone? I hardly remember him on a decent Miami team last season).
Oh well, it's one hell of a spectacle to say the least, even if it seems to be slipping in relevancy every year.
posted at 11:51 PM
My friend Sean out in Des Moines took a slightly different tact in tackling the football/Title IX issue. One thing he brings up (and I've always wondered) is how NFL teams can get by with 53 active players per week while college teams regularly have 60-70 active players. Granted, NFL teams can cut and replace players a bit easier than colleges, but it's still an interesting question, especially if carrying an extra 10-12 scholarships could mean the difference between keeping or eliminating something like a swimming, wrestling or gymnastics program.
posted at 1:37 AM
Tuesday, June 25, 2002
Are some of us just too plugged in for our own good?
posted at 12:20 PM
Taste? What's that?
I'm a proud owner of the Have a Nice Decade boxed set -- seven CDs of '70s hits from the good people at Rhino Records. While there are some gems in there, there's also a lot of crap that seems destined only for the sick and twisted trivia minds out there (like myself). It doesn't help that they didn't get rights from a lot of top artists (fat Elvis screams out for one) and instead we get our fair share of "Disco Duck."
Anyways, I bring that up because Rhino is coming out with an '80s version of that boxed set and it looks like it will be short on great artists (REM, U2, the Police, Madonna, Beastie Boys) and full of everything else. The folks at Slate debate the merits of the boxed set and '80s music in general and it makes for some interesting reading. I'm a child of the '80s and ate up all of the music and pop culture from the decade, so I don't think I'll be turning up my nose at the collection, but rather get a big chuckle out of it. The question remains if I'll buy it. I probably own a good chunk of it on CD or MP3 already, as well as a fair share on 45 (which was going out of style even back in the early '80s).
On a similar tangent with 45s, it seems like record companies aren't releasing as many singles as they used to be. Instead, they're coming up with intricate systems of payola to get stuff on the radio and then trying to make up some of that difference by forcing people to buy albums, even for just one or two good songs plus lots of crap. And the companies wonder why Napster and the other file-swapping things took off. The crazy sales numbers for the U.S. version of Now That's What I Call Music show how much fans want their top hits in a more attractive way.
posted at 12:12 AM
Monday, June 24, 2002
Figured I'd dive into my little-used Hotmail account after reading a cool Salon piece about open-source spam busting programs. In about a month, I ended up seeing 200 pieces of e-mail in my inbox, even though I haven't given out that address to anyone I know in eons. I think it's still on a CNNSI.com list while testing out some fantasy stuff, but that's it. Oh yeah, 9 messages ended up in the Junk Mail folder thanks to the sophisticated filtering they've got over there. I suppose if I actually used that account, I'd be well beyond 200 spam messages, like it seems with both my home and work accounts.
posted at 11:46 PM
Anna Kournikova may have lost in the first round at Wimbledon (shocking very few), but she didn't leave without providing what will likely be the best photo of the fortnight.
posted at 2:55 PM
Some people complain about not going out on dates. Some blog it. Some people do something about it. This guy is trying to do something about it and blogging it. It's an interesting project to say the least and probably something I'll try to follow. I probably fall in that first category, although I'm not sure what I'm up to these days in that search for a girlfriend (or even a date), so I can't even call it complaining. Just a state of indifference, I guess.
posted at 1:45 AM
Sunday, June 23, 2002
The death of Darryl Kile is obviously a shock to everyone, and it seems to be exacerbated even more by the somewhat mysterious circumstances surrounding it. (I won't get into the sausage factory details of how we got everything packaged together online, though.) It's hard to believe, I guess, that it's the first in-season death (i.e. not spring training) of an active major league player since Thurman Munson back in 1979. Condolences go out to his family, the Cardinals and all of baseball.
Going in another direction, it was amusing seeing Luis Castillo looking forlorn because his hit streak ended with him on deck but the Marlins scoring the winning run. It's Rick Manning-Paul Molitor all over again, except replace Manning with Tim Raines, of all people. I suppose it's good that the Florida fans didn't boo. The Marlins put on one nice comeback in the ninth inning to win the game. Then again, there were only a few thousand there anyways, so there probably weren't enough of the smart-asses around.
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