Well, if no one else is going to save the rap game, Ron Artest will take the responsibility. In this 4 minute ramble, he calls out pretty much everyone in an attempt to defend Greg Oden. My favorite term in there was "Hood Swag." I will start using this immediately. I also enjoy his parenting techniques (So in the past week, I've gotten lessons from Ron Ron and Sheed. I see this ending well.)
http://ballhype.com/video/video_ron_artest_addresses_stat_quo_s_comments_on_greg/
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Yup, I'm Hurt Again
Over the past few weeks, I’ve slowly been climbing out of the alcohol drenched sleepwalk I’ve been doing for months (years possibly) and started to try and get myself back in shape. I’ve started lifting in the mornings and then running after work. I won’t be running any 5 minute miles anytime soon, but I am slowing reminding myself that at one point in my life I was an athlete.
And what I also forgot was that I have an incredible propensity for getting hurt. I didn’t set the school record for time spent in the trainer’s room (And in only 3 years none the less. Imagine if I had been cleared for my senior season?) for nothing. So while it came as a surprise to me, it should not be surprising to you, was that I sprained my ankle on Friday night. I was out for a run and had the brilliant idea of running on a street I’ve never been down. I should have realized this was a bad idea when I thought, “Hmm…there aren’t many street lights here.” But that was quickly disregarded when I heard dogs barking. I think my greatest fear during my track career was not the pain you go through during a race, not losing to Sy fucking osset, but getting attacked by a dog or bear when we used to go on trips to the middle of nowhere. Ask K-Dog, we were in upstate NY and I had no problem running 10 miles a day, banging out hundreds of pushups, or anything else they required. But run anywhere near a place that had a dog, or possibly a bear. Nope coach. You sir, can go fuck yourself. I’ll run quarter mile repeats right here if you don’t mind. The only reassuring thing I had was that I was in better shape than pretty much everyone else in my group, so I only had to outrun them.
Anyway, after that story went absolutely nowhere, I’m on this dark ass road, and what happens next? That’s right, some ass hat decided it would be a good idea to not fill in the pothole after he did some work on his driveway. So bam, there goes my ankle into it. It all came rushing back to me. The “Oh fuck”, followed by the “Ok, calm down, its not that bad, just walk it off.” Then comes the realization, “Yeah, that’s not going to heal overnight.” And finally, acceptance. This was all well and good, but since I normally did this on a basketball court, I had to accept that I was a mile and a half from my house and still needed to get home. So I hobbled home in which was 25 of the best minutes of my life. And by that time, my foot looked like that of a 500 pound person. But on the plus side, if there is one thing I know how to do in this world (besides working with a vicious hangover), it’s how to treat a sprained ankle, and took solace in the fact that at least this time, it was only 1 sprained ankle and not two. Because that was a bitch. So my experiment with being an athlete landed me where it always does, with a lot of ice on my body.
And what I also forgot was that I have an incredible propensity for getting hurt. I didn’t set the school record for time spent in the trainer’s room (And in only 3 years none the less. Imagine if I had been cleared for my senior season?) for nothing. So while it came as a surprise to me, it should not be surprising to you, was that I sprained my ankle on Friday night. I was out for a run and had the brilliant idea of running on a street I’ve never been down. I should have realized this was a bad idea when I thought, “Hmm…there aren’t many street lights here.” But that was quickly disregarded when I heard dogs barking. I think my greatest fear during my track career was not the pain you go through during a race, not losing to Sy fucking osset, but getting attacked by a dog or bear when we used to go on trips to the middle of nowhere. Ask K-Dog, we were in upstate NY and I had no problem running 10 miles a day, banging out hundreds of pushups, or anything else they required. But run anywhere near a place that had a dog, or possibly a bear. Nope coach. You sir, can go fuck yourself. I’ll run quarter mile repeats right here if you don’t mind. The only reassuring thing I had was that I was in better shape than pretty much everyone else in my group, so I only had to outrun them.
Anyway, after that story went absolutely nowhere, I’m on this dark ass road, and what happens next? That’s right, some ass hat decided it would be a good idea to not fill in the pothole after he did some work on his driveway. So bam, there goes my ankle into it. It all came rushing back to me. The “Oh fuck”, followed by the “Ok, calm down, its not that bad, just walk it off.” Then comes the realization, “Yeah, that’s not going to heal overnight.” And finally, acceptance. This was all well and good, but since I normally did this on a basketball court, I had to accept that I was a mile and a half from my house and still needed to get home. So I hobbled home in which was 25 of the best minutes of my life. And by that time, my foot looked like that of a 500 pound person. But on the plus side, if there is one thing I know how to do in this world (besides working with a vicious hangover), it’s how to treat a sprained ankle, and took solace in the fact that at least this time, it was only 1 sprained ankle and not two. Because that was a bitch. So my experiment with being an athlete landed me where it always does, with a lot of ice on my body.
More Gambling
http://www.lvrj.com/sports/34571674.html
I vote that this immediately gets inducted into the Great Moments in Gambling History pantheon. I don't think any one will object.
I vote that this immediately gets inducted into the Great Moments in Gambling History pantheon. I don't think any one will object.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
God Bless Sheed
http://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/My_new_tattoo/376079
Since we are halfway through November, I'd like to say Rasheed Wallace is one of the things I'm thankful for. Funny, this is what I was thinking about doing to honor my daughter. You stole my idea Sheed.
Since we are halfway through November, I'd like to say Rasheed Wallace is one of the things I'm thankful for. Funny, this is what I was thinking about doing to honor my daughter. You stole my idea Sheed.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Random NFL/NBA Thoughts
Since I haven’t said anything about football or an NBA preview I’ll just combine the two into one episode with just random observations.
My favorite part about this NBA season so far has been the whole “The Pistons traded for Iverson, and will have cap room to go after Lebron.” Listen, I know that seems like a good idea, but let me put it this way: I have a better chance of taking a job in Utah than Lebron has of going to Detroit. That might be the only place that is worse than Cleveland (Ok, Milwaukee would be worse). Unless Lebron has dreams of using his salary to bail out GM and Ford and his dreams of being a Global Icon are to be the modern day Henry Ford, he will not be going to Detroit. So let’s just stop talking about how this is anything more than Detroit trying to make a change because their team has gotten stale and needed to be shaken up.
(Seriously, just read this article. Dude is learning Mandarin so he can sell in China. You’re telling me he can do that in Detroit? By the way, this was one of the best article’s I’ve read in awhile.
http://www.esquire.com/features/75-most-influential/lebron-james-1008)
My favorite recent development has been the whole “Dallas might go with Brooks Bollinger as their QB” thing. Because I’ve been on the Brooks Bus, back in 2006, and it’s not fun. In fact, I’d rather have Otto driving me to school than Brooks.
Adrian Peterson is a bad, bad man. In case you didn’t know.
It’s always fun to turn your phone off on Sunday night and wake up to a text message simply saying, “Fuck Herm.” It’s reassuring that others are getting the full Herm Edwards Experience. Just remember, “You play to win the game.”
My favorite part about this NBA season so far has been the whole “The Pistons traded for Iverson, and will have cap room to go after Lebron.” Listen, I know that seems like a good idea, but let me put it this way: I have a better chance of taking a job in Utah than Lebron has of going to Detroit. That might be the only place that is worse than Cleveland (Ok, Milwaukee would be worse). Unless Lebron has dreams of using his salary to bail out GM and Ford and his dreams of being a Global Icon are to be the modern day Henry Ford, he will not be going to Detroit. So let’s just stop talking about how this is anything more than Detroit trying to make a change because their team has gotten stale and needed to be shaken up.
(Seriously, just read this article. Dude is learning Mandarin so he can sell in China. You’re telling me he can do that in Detroit? By the way, this was one of the best article’s I’ve read in awhile.
http://www.esquire.com/features/75-most-influential/lebron-james-1008)
My favorite recent development has been the whole “Dallas might go with Brooks Bollinger as their QB” thing. Because I’ve been on the Brooks Bus, back in 2006, and it’s not fun. In fact, I’d rather have Otto driving me to school than Brooks.
Adrian Peterson is a bad, bad man. In case you didn’t know.
It’s always fun to turn your phone off on Sunday night and wake up to a text message simply saying, “Fuck Herm.” It’s reassuring that others are getting the full Herm Edwards Experience. Just remember, “You play to win the game.”
Gambling Econ 101
So I’m going to go into a conversation that only me and my dad could have. If you haven’t been following local Maryland politics (I can’t think of a reason you aren’t), but slots were legalized this election day. While this doesn’t sound that crazy, on my way home from work on Friday there were talking about the long term ramifications of it on sports radio. It could have a serious impact on Delaware’s slot machine business. They mentioned that a Wall Street analyst downgraded the stock of one of the Delaware tracks because of the competition with Maryland. The analyst also casually mentioned that the only way they could see Delaware overcoming this was…(wait for it)…legalized sports gambling. Luckily I was in bumper to bumper traffic and only going 15 MPH because I might have crashed the car. They also said the Delaware was exempt from the federal ban because it would be grandfathered in because it had a law that predated the federal ban. After I composed myself, I called my dad because this was such important news it couldn’t wait (I’m also the same person who received a call the second Qyntel Woods got activated, so maybe I’m not the best gauge for what constitutes something that needs to be discussed immediately). Here was our discussion:
Mom: Hi Barney, how are you?
Barney: Eh, same as usual. Is dad home?
Mom: (sighs) Yeah, let me get him.
Barney: So I just heard something interesting. Delaware may legalize sports gambling.
Dad: Well, I don’t think it can work. Sports books just can’t compete with the bookies. You figure you have to pay employees, pay taxes, and all of that. A bookie just doesn’t have any overhead.
Barney: That’s true. But first off, if Delaware has it legalized, you know Atlantic City is at least going to try to get it legalized. And if that happens then you can make money because you have the casino working for you. And casinos don’t lose money.
Dad: Yes, I’ll agree that Atlantic City with a sports book would work.
Barney: But for Delaware, I think it could also work. Even if you break even on the betting, you can still make a shit load of money by selling stuff there. Get the people in and then sell them $5 hot dogs while they watch the Sunday football games.
Dad: The big thing that Vegas has is the prop bets. After they figure out the percentages, they probably pad them by as much as 30%.
Barney and Dad, the definite authority on the business prospects of sports gambling in my least favorite state in the union (Yes, it is Delaware. Just for its 20 mile stretch of I-95 that always has traffic, and they charge a $5 toll for the right to sit in traffic. And since they have nothing positive to offset this, Delaware, you get the crown. (“The Simpsons are going to Delaware. I want to go to a screen door factory.”)
Mom: Hi Barney, how are you?
Barney: Eh, same as usual. Is dad home?
Mom: (sighs) Yeah, let me get him.
Barney: So I just heard something interesting. Delaware may legalize sports gambling.
Dad: Well, I don’t think it can work. Sports books just can’t compete with the bookies. You figure you have to pay employees, pay taxes, and all of that. A bookie just doesn’t have any overhead.
Barney: That’s true. But first off, if Delaware has it legalized, you know Atlantic City is at least going to try to get it legalized. And if that happens then you can make money because you have the casino working for you. And casinos don’t lose money.
Dad: Yes, I’ll agree that Atlantic City with a sports book would work.
Barney: But for Delaware, I think it could also work. Even if you break even on the betting, you can still make a shit load of money by selling stuff there. Get the people in and then sell them $5 hot dogs while they watch the Sunday football games.
Dad: The big thing that Vegas has is the prop bets. After they figure out the percentages, they probably pad them by as much as 30%.
Barney and Dad, the definite authority on the business prospects of sports gambling in my least favorite state in the union (Yes, it is Delaware. Just for its 20 mile stretch of I-95 that always has traffic, and they charge a $5 toll for the right to sit in traffic. And since they have nothing positive to offset this, Delaware, you get the crown. (“The Simpsons are going to Delaware. I want to go to a screen door factory.”)
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