Ghosts of Teachers Past

I haven't shaved in weeks and have grown a full beard. This beard has some gray hairs scattered throughout. I'm only 35!

ANYWAY... as we all get older, memories of the past, unfortunately, start to fade - at least from conscious thought. Maybe all of those memories still are in our brains somewhere - like a vast file cabinet whose older papers just continue to get shoved backwards and are sitting there somewhere wrinkled and pressed together, but with the right stimulus, could be retrieved and revisited.

I was sitting here wondering if I remember not only who all of my high school teachers were, but even the classes I took each year in high school. I didn't think about this post ahead of time - I am going to try to type this and remember this information while I do it. I better start from 12th grade and work backwards. Some of this is probably inaccurate.

12th grade:
- SSMCIS (Math) - Dr. Decovsky
- AP Computer Science - Mr. Hanna
- AP English - Mrs. Twombly
- Science - AP Chemistry - Mr. Hali
- Study Hall
- Gym (I remember having Mr. Gardner, Mr. Cardell, and...? Don't remember which year was which. And I only remember Mr. Cardell because he did one-handed pushups once which I found impressive for an older guy.)
- Lunch
- No History or Foreign Language
(There is an open slot, I believe...?)


11th grade:
- SSMCIS (Math) - Mrs. Townsend?
- Computer Science - Mrs. Isaacs (I used to drive her insane)
- Science - Honors Physics - Dr. Arzt (I used to drive him insane also)
- Spanish - Ms. Torres (where I first met the Daffinator, who used to bring crosswords to class and demonstratively do them)
- Lunch
- Gym (see above note about teachers)
- English - Mr. Shanken? (this guy went to the same health club as me my senior year - Bally's in Fort Lee. One time I ran into him in the locker room and he was naked. Talk about awkward.)
- History - Mr. Burroughs. (He was a newer teacher.)


10th grade:
- SSMCIS (Math) - Mr. Elliot
- German - Ms. Mayers
- Spanish - Mrs. Taltavull?
- Science - Chemistry - Mr. Czeterko (future Superintendent of Teaneck schools)
- English - A woman named Mrs. Sumner who was older and apparently tripped over her cat and fell down a flight of stairs, causing her to miss a huge chunk of the year
- History - ?
- Gym
- Lunch
- Theater - Mrs. Johnson


9th grade:
- SSMCIS (Math) - Mrs. Delaplain
- German - Mrs. Mayers
- Science - Biology - Mrs. Jones, a red-haired woman?
- Gym
- Lunch
- History - ?
- English - ?
- Theater - Mrs. Walker


Some notes:

- I'd love to get a high school transcript to not only see my grades, but all my teachers to see how well I did on this list. Additionally, I'd love to see my disciplinary file, which was not replete with infractions but did have a couple of major incidents.

- The difference between honors and non-honors courses is striking. I remember being a kid and seeing a noticeable difference in accomplishments, classmates, classroom environment, etc... between my honors/AP subjects (Math, English, Science, Computer Science) and non-honors (foreign languages, social studies). Having taught everything in my 12 years of teaching from general levels (many, many times) to AP Calculus, I see the same differences now, and there doesn't seem to be much a teacher can do about it.

- Did we only have 8 time slots during the day? I thought we had 9. I believe it was 9.

- At age 25, I probably would have been able to recall this all accurately, fully, and with more detail.

- I think Teaneck's teaching staff was older than other towns - Teaneck was probably an attractive district to teach in the early 90s and teachers probably stayed there for a while. I don't remember too many teachers in their 20s, whereas a couple of the districts I've taught in have plenty of younger teachers.

- Interesting to think of these people as human beings, as well as teachers, now that I am one.

- I am interested to share more anecdotes and hear what other people remember about their high school setup. However, since I'm not sure if anybody reads this blog anymore, I won't go into more detail until somebody responds.

Where did the time go?

It was only a matter of time.

I had *the talk* with Nicholas this past weekend.

I think it went pretty well. I didn't stutter or stammer at all (as I feared I would).

2 more years, then Thomas.

Wow!

I’m usually behind the curve when it comes to new technologies. However, once I come around, I can’t believe that I went so long without it. Here are some over the past few years that I should have been doing from the onset:

1. Online banking. What was I thinking writing checks and keeping track of my balance on paper for so long? I was basically sticking to using an abacus, when a calculator was free and readily available. It’s free, easy to use, and you handle all your bills within seconds, as well as know how much is in your account.
2. GPS. For years I drove around with MapQuest pages, checking the odometer if I went “ .whatever” miles. The GPS is so great; I never even try to figure out where I am or where I need to get to …just listen to the machine.
3. Online food delivery. No more grocery store for only a few bucks, you say. Sold!
4. Smart Phones. I got my first one in 2008 and once you go Smart, you don’t go back. E-mail, Internet, Camera, Recorder, etc... All at your fingertips.
4A. TXT Messaging. How did anybody ever live without this?
5. Social Networking. I passed on Friendster and MySpace, but I compulsively check my news feed on Facebook. Its fun, easy and a great way to keep up with old friends, and link with new ones.
6. Netflix. To think, I used to have to drive to the blockbuster and put up with their late fees and bullshit! I don’t miss those guys at all.

Classic Posts - Family Feud

An old post about Family Feud from my old blog follows. BOTG talked about how ridiculous it was that the "triple" round basically decides the game, and renders the first two or three rounds as useless. Anyway, apparently it is still on TV. My thoughts from years ago follow.

The last time I've seen the show, I believe J. Peterman from Seinfeld was the host.


Why did I watch this show often as a kid, even though the structure of the show was ridiculous? Allow me to explain.


The overall premise wasn't too bad. Each family would have to guess what responses "100 random people" gave to random questions, usually about ordinary aspects of life. Whichever family performed better did the same in a final round with a chance to win money. Family Feud certainly is part of our cultural lexicon and has been a successful show for a long time.
 However, here are the three things that have started to bother me over time, in increasing order of annoyingness:



1) Why do they ask if a family wants to "Play" or "Pass" when they win the toss-up question? Theoretically, you'd see why a family would want to pass, I suppose... but, I'm sure in my lifetime I've watched this show at least 100 times and I've seen a family elect to pass maybe twice. It seems analogous to winning a coin flip in overtime in a sudden-death football game, and electing to "kick" rather than "receive". The best case scenario is that the other team fumbles or has to kick back, resulting in your possession... why not just receive in the first place?



2) It's annoying that sometimes a family gives what seem like "better" answers and they can't win a board because they miss one answer that is ridiculous that nobody would ever guess. I think the show's writers shouldn't use results to surveys if they are counterintuitive.



3) (This is what prompted me to write this post): The scoring structure is dumb. The family that gets to 300 points first wins. The first two rounds are usually worth close to 100 each, as the "top x answers are on the board" - and since 100 people were surveyed, the maximum amount of points each round is worth is usually somewhere between 80 and 100. 

Round 3 is worth 200 points, since scoring values are doubled. So, from time to time, a family will not only sweep each of the first three rounds, but also do so by sweeping the answers, and win after three rounds. However, this is not common. What usually happens is the game goes to a fourth round, where point values are tripled. So, often, the team that wins the triple round winds up winning the entire game, hence making the entire game up until this point almost insiginifcant. It would be kind of like a basketball game entering the 4th quarter and the referee going "Ok, since nobody is up by 30 points yet, let's have every basket for the last quarter count for 8 points each."


"Cold" does not equal "cool"

We all know it's "cool" to be "cool." But it is definitely not "cool" to be "cold." At least, not according the the pre-teen population here in Highland Mills, NY. As the splashing and bickering began to escalate in the pool today between my 8 year old, Thomas, and 10 year old, Nicholas, the following conversation was overheard:

T: (to Nick) "You're colder than me!"
N: "No. You're colder than me!"
T: "Oh yeah? You're always 3 times colder than me!"
N: "Well, you're 5 times colder than me!"
T: "Well, you're pi times colder than me!"
N: "You're infinity times colder than me!. Hah!"
T: "Pi is better because it never ends."
N: "Oh yeah? So is infinity! It never ends also!"

Squirrels

Squirrels, in my opinion, are in the same category of pest as the cockroach, the pigeon in NYC, and rats/mice. They are the rats of the tree world.

If you've ever lived in the suburbs, which almost 100% of us have, you've seen this crafty tough animal scamper around the trees in your yard. And if you've ever had a bird feeder, you know that these squirrels can perform almost impossible, remarkable physical feats to get at the feeders and eat the seed intended for birds.

Objectively, squirrels should be cute and harmless. However, I find them creepy, invasive and annoying. Mrs. Frazier has hung various feeders and the like around our yards in our various apartments, and now in our house. And, despite her best efforts, squirrels are almost impossible to keep away. Many people you'll talk to have "war stories" about keeping squirrels away from places in their yards.


Watch the following video as an illustration of their prowess as a squirrel runs an obstacle course. Amazing.





There are also many videos on YouTube of squirrels getting into bird feeders, such as the following, which for some reason creeps me out. It's like finding a rat in your kitchen pantry.

NBA Lockout

The more I think about the NBA lockout, the more I laugh and then almost cry (not literally, but I’ll be pissed if we miss any of this season). I was reading a couple of different sites, and the request from the owners seems to stem out of their bad decisions. Now, the owners want reform! But, they want to reform themselves. It also appears like the owners are outright bullshitting. So, in order for an NBA season, we have to hope the owners save themselves from … themselves.

From what I read a major problem with the current collective bargaining agreements is bad contracts. The Eddy Curry (or Sandman) example is constantly referenced and for good reason. Eddy had made 31 million over the course of the past three seasons and apparently, only played in 10 games. Also in those ten games, he wasn’t effective. The reasons behind Eddy’s failure to produce are due in part to his physical conditioning. Clearly this was a bad contract. The argument is put forth by the owners that contracts like Eddy’s, or Gilbert Arenas, is that they are stuck paying millions for long term deals for players who do not produce. Now, the funny thing about this “complaint” is that it is the owners who create the contracts they are complaining about! Nobody held a gun to James Dolan’s head and told him to give an overweight, unproven center millions. If Dolan overpaid, let him live with the consequences of being a bad owner and manager. On the other hand, Buss is not complaining about having to pay Kobe millions because he got the return on his investment. It’s called a business and there are no guarantees. If you want to help increase the probability that you make a profit, don’t make bad decisions!

Now, to the underlying issue… the owners are saying that only a few teams are profitable. I call bull shit! Granted I haven’t seen the books, but I’m inclined to believe the players that some of owners are hiding some of their revenue and inflating some of the costs. NBA games sell out on a regular basis, even in small markets, not to mention merchandise, and what TV and Cable Stations pay the NBA to broadcast the games. How many billion is collected in revenue from that? Also, I find it hard to believe that teams have been not making a profit for years. If they weren’t making a profit, did they run the teams out of charity? To entertain us? Bull! To steal a line from Uncle Junior from the Soprano’s this is clearly the case of a woman begging for food while holding a Virginia ham under her arm.

The owners need to be willing to budge, because, unfortunately, I like watching basketball, and they are clearly bullshitting. If the players make some concessions with their salaries, I guess the owners should have to learn to be better decision makers if they want to make a profit.

The King of Comedies

Mrs. Frazier and I were re-watching Talladega Nights the other night ("Why, if it isn't our mangy, transient grandfather"). By the way, I know my brother Beer-on-the-Girl is not a Will Ferrell fan. I do maintain that Talladega Nights is a consistently funny movie, even if its perhaps a bit over the top.

Anyway, afterwards I commented to Mrs. Frazier, "Wow, Will Ferrell's been in a handful of decent comedy movies. I wonder if there's anybody that's been in more than him." She responded, "Oh sure, there must have been. What about Eddie Murphy? How about Bill Murray?"

A good question... "Which actor has been in the most decent comedy movies?"

So we started naming famous actors that have been in a handful of comedy movies and going over their resumes. There is, of course, always some discussion about if particular movies qualify as "decent" or not.

Here are a handful of the first few famous comedy actors we thought of, and what may qualify as their "decent" comedy movies:

Will Ferrell: Austin Powers, Zoolander, Old School, Anchorman, Wedding Crashers, Talladega Nights

Bill Murray: Caddyshack, Stripes, Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors, Scrooged, Groundhog Day

Steve Martin: Three Amigos, The Jerk, Little Shop of Horrors, Parenthood, My Blue Heaven, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Eddie Murphy: Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, Golden Child, Coming to America, Boomerang, The (first) Nutty Professor


Certainly, one could add or subtract comedies from each person's resumes, depending on one's opinion of what a decent movie is or not.

But the point: Two things stood out...

1) All of them have been in plenty of shitburger movies. Check out any of their resumes on IMDB. You will see a handful of movies in each person's resume that will have you saying, "Wow, they must have cashed in when they did that movie."

2) Look at the number of movies in each person's resume. What do you notice? They all only have 6 "decent" comedy movies! Why is there not one comedic actor that has 10 good comedies or more? Maybe many of them seem to have lost their comedic touch after they've been around for a while and aged. Bill Murray started doing serious, artsy films. Eddie Murphy got stuck in the kids movie rut and seemed to forget how to be funny.

So who is the king of comedy movies? Who did we overlook? Who has been in the most decent movies? And, what are the best individual comedic movie performances of all time?

True Blood!

True Blood is back for Season 4!!! My major concern regarding the show is this will be the season when it jumps the shark, but, once committed to a show, I stick with it despite how bad it gets, like I did for the Soprano’s despite the drop off in quality for the 5th season and huge decline in quality for the 6th. The worse show I ever stuck with was Beverly Hills, and that really jumped the shark, but I hung in there for 10 god damn seasons. However, after watching the first two episodes of True Blood I’m optimistic that the Season will remain high quality television.

Season 4 starts with Sookie going to fairy land, which turned out to be filled with goblins. When Sookie first goes to fairyland, she is supposed to eat some glowing fruit, which makes everything in the land seem great. Sookie realizes this is a trap. While in fairyland, Sookie runs into her grandfather who was unaware that he had been in the land for 20 years, and it “felt like only a few weeks.” This storyline was very 1980’s fairies and goblins, and reminded me of a bad take on Labyrinth, with David Bowie. Sookie quickly leaves fairyland and returns home to find she has been gone for a year, despite the fact that she feels like she has only been gone for about 15 minutes, but in fairyland, “time works differently.” This whole storyline sucked and was a huge “Ho yes!” I was concerned that we had just jumped the shark, but it got better.

Upon Sookie’s return we find out Jason has become a cop, sold Sookie’s house, and is helping the hillbilly Ringwood people. But, I’ll return to Jason in a minute. We find out that Bill is now Vampire king of Louisiana. We then find out in the second episode that Bill trapped previous Queen Sophie Ann, with the assistance of Nan Flanagan, the head of the Vampire something-or- another League. Bill lies to Nan and tells her there is nothing special about Sookie.

We find out at the end of Season 4 Episode 1, and the beginning of Episode 2 that Eric bought Sookie’s house. Eric informs Sookie that he could feed off her without her consent but wants her to give herself to him (Eric) and he will protect her, which she will need once other vampires find out she is a fairy. The sexual tension between Eric and Sookie grows and grows, but with no delivery.

Jason, upon trying to help the hillbillies, who are also were-panthers, is trapped by his former potential romance from Season 3 (Crystal) and her new boyfriend, Filton, the one who took her at the end of season 3. Jason is tied to a bed and is informed that he is going to need to mate with Crystal. This was a pretty funny scene, which is hard for me to say because the Jason sub-plots generally have been the worst part of the show, like when Jason became religious in season 2 (yawn) but I digress. So, Jason asks how Filton is okay with her (Crystal) having sex with him (Jason). Jason also wants to know why Filton is removing his pants when Crystal informs him that she wants to make a baby with him. Well, Jason is told that he is going to be converted to a were-panther to ensure “the blood line” and he is selected because Filton can’t make babies. The scene ends with Crystal and Filton turning into panthers and biting Jason.

In the most interesting story line, Lafayette has joined a witch coven, which he initially is skeptical of, but comes to give it try by being convinced by his boyfriend, Jesus. Bill summons Eric to investigate the coven as he learns that this coven is using some witchcraft that can control the dead. Eric busts into the coven, and Lafayette says “oh shit!” Eric tells the head of the witches that she needs to cease practicing witchcraft. Lafayette tells the head witch “do what he (Eric)says; he tends to get what he wants.” Lafayette knows this because he was held captive by Eric in Season 2 for selling vampire blood. Tara, back from New Orleans where she is now in a lesbian relationship and lying about her identity, attempts to stab Eric who grabs her. Lafayette regretfully stands up to Eric to save Tara. The witch is able to presumably cast a spell on Eric, and last we see of him, Eric is wandering shirtless unaware of his identify. Eric is discovered by Sookie who is looking for him to get her house back, which Eric has purchased, but Eric does not recognize her because of his witch induced trance, and wants to know “why she smells so good.”

Now, the boring subplots… Arlene is concerned her baby is evil. In another boring subplot, head sheriff Andy Bellflur is hooked on vampire blood (yawn.) Slightly less boring (and ever so slight) Sam is hanging out with a group of shifters and has a new love interest (Luna).

So, the stories are weaving together nicely, at least the vampires and the witches, and should provide for some good plot twists and drama. There have been some funny parts already. Also, True Blood has stepped up their nudity and sex as each episode has contained several graphic scenes so far. I’m already looking forward to Episode 3!

If I was James Dolan…

I would be a douchebag (HY)! Now seriously, with draft day looming it’s time to start thinking about what the Knicks should do. The Knicks have one more year with D’Antoni. The Knicks are obviously locked into Melo and Amare who account for roughly 40 million under the cap. Unfortunately, they picked up the pricey extension for Chauncey to come back for about 15 million. Aside from these three, they don’t have any big contracts. As far as movable assets, Fields and Douglas cost practically nothing, and are both young decent players which make them attractive in a trade. Also, the Knicks have the 17th pick in the draft. Thus, the idea of a combination of Fields and/or Douglas with their draft pick is being floated in various scenarios.

Of course, the summertime for the NBA is time for the rumor mill to be in full effect. The rumors so far for possible Knicks moves have the possibility of trading one their assets (Fields or Douglas) plus their pick for Minnesota’s point guard (PG) Johnny Flynn. Flynn was a top ten pick two seasons ago, but had a hip injury and a sophomore slump. This move doesn’t make sense to me (aside from the fact that we could have had a number of better PG’s in Jennings, Lawson, and Holiday and passed on all them for Jordan Hill, SMH!). I think Douglas is as good Flynn plus has more size and shooting range. Next, is the idea of trading one of their assets and pick to move up to land BYU’s Jimmer Freddete. Jimmer was the country’s college leading scorer. Concerns about Jimmer (as with every white guy) is his speed and defense. I think the knock on his speed is not well founded; however, his defense does remain a question mark. The big gamble with Jimmer is his ability to make the leap. The upside is his range and desire to be a Knick, which he has said would be his 1st choice (mom is it my choice). In other moves, the idea of trading Chauncey for Steve Nash has been floated. What the Knicks will probably do is draft the best player available with their pick, like a Chris Singleton guy, and stay put on all these moves and make a move next season.

What I would do if I were the Knicks GM is to go after the best big man available. Restricted and unrestricted big men include Tyson Chandler and Marc Gasol. Rumors have the Bucks wanting to trade Bogut. I would also make the Chauncey for Nash trade if I could. I would stay away from Vince Carter and Bonzi Wells, both of whom are available and have been talked about in connection to the Knicks. I think we should go after any of these legit big men, hopefully Chandler, and with a good PG like Nash, plus Melo and Amare, the Knicks are in the mix in the east. I would also use the pick and one of my assets to move up for Jimmer. I believe he is worth the gamble.

Now, if the Knicks are unable to sign a big man or trade Billups I would stay put and look to get Deron Williams or Chris Paul at the end of the season. As an aside, I can’t see Deron signing an extension with the Nets but who knows. I think the Knicks are in decent position moving forward. My major concern is still Melo’s ability to become a leader and bring a championship back to the Garden. Also, after next season I would say goodbye to D’Antonti. Let’s go Knicks!!!

Prayer Answered

Dear God,

Thank you.

Walt Clyde Frazier

A Prayer

Dear God,

If you can hear me... let Dallas beat Miami in the NBA Finals.

Walt Clyde Frazier

My Fiancé

I met her in 2007 when I was supervising at DYFS, in NJ. I always found her pleasant, caring, attractive, and fun to be around. She moved away, closer to her home, and we both went on with our lives. Then, two years ago we went out to dinner and everything changed!

When we went to dinner something happened. I found that I was interested in her, and she found that she was interested too. We clicked, and started to hang out every weekend. I drove down to the shore, or she would drive up to me.

She agreed to move to Boston with me. She decided to go to school, and I took a new job. Every day I spent with her the feelings grew and grew. I knew she was the one…

So, I bought a ring, and waited and waited. I knew I wanted to give to her when the time was right. I waited until a day before her 27th birthday. Then, I asked her to marry me. She said “of course.” I love you baby, more than anything!

Kobe's Attitude

I was so glad to see the Lakers get swept by the Mavericks yesterday. It was even better to see the Lakers sit there in the press conference knowing that Phil is leaving and even better that this current era for the Lakers is coming to close. One of my many problems with the current era of the Lakers is Kobe. He is a smug, pompous, bitch! Now, the surprising thing about the Lakers losing was that my brother Walt was justifying Kobe being an asshole. My position (and also the correct position) is that there is no excuse for Kobe being an asshole!

To explain what I mean, YouTube search Kobe Bryant + press conference. Click on any single one and you will know right away what I’m referring to. I’ve waxed philosophically about the stupid questions and commentary in today’s sports culture, but Kobe responds to the stupid questions like a dick. For example, in 2010 after a Lakers loss to the Celtics a reporter asked in a press conference if Kobe felt confident about being down 3 games to 2, going into game 6. Kobe said “No, I’m not confident; I’m not a confident person.” Then, starred at the reporter, gave a sarcastic smile, and didn’t say anything else. Kobe, dick, the guy is just doing his job!

Walt asserts that somehow Kobe needs to be a dick because he is the best in the world and everyone is trying to knock him off the hill. Walt feels (I think) that Kobe needs to be on edge and brush off commentators and reporters to maintain his status, and at a minimum we should understand Kobe’s plight. My contention is that Kobe is blessed to be one of the most gifted athletes ever, and is in the unique position of being one of the best at his craft and gets more than enough compensation for the work he does. I’m not saying that he should be stating how grateful he is in every interview, but I would like someone to say to Kobe, “Lose the attitude, tough guy.”

Lucy, You Got Some Splainin to Do!

Osama Bin Laden is dead, nothing that we will make run to the streets chanting “USA, USA”, but it is a huge event in history. Out of all the stories and questions being examined the one that fascinates me is, “What did Pakistan know?” In the movie Casino, Robert DeNiro says to an employee who he suspects to have scammed his own Casino out of money “Listen, if you didn't know you're bein' scammed, you're too fuckin' dumb to keep this job. If you did know, you were in on it. Either way, you're out. Get out! Go on. Let's go.” Pakistan, after accepting approximately 20 billion dollars in aid over the past decade, with over 10 billion towards the military, including money for intelligence, claims to have had no knowledge about Bin Laden’s whereabouts. Yet, Bin Laden was found, not in cave or under a rock, but in an affluent suburb, in a house six times the size of most surrounding houses, not far from their “west point” in a town comprised of many military retires. Well Pakistan, as Ricky Ricardo would say “you have some splainin’ to do.”

The more I read about Pakistan’s denial of Obama’s whereabouts, and, as of today, Pakistan’s objection to not having notification of the US invading Osama’s compound, it’s becoming pretty damn clear that, at the very least, something fishy is going on. Let’s try to examine this rationally. Bin Laden had a wall built around his compound, with barbed wire. Let’s pretend that Pakistan did not know who moved into the compound some six years ago. Did nobody in their intelligence community think to look at the person who purchased the biggest house in town, built a wall around it, and then asked for no internet/cable service, and denied garbage pickup? Was the prevailing thought that the new rich neighbor is just some eccentric dude?

And now, Pakistan is saying that they should have been consulted prior to us going in. Brother, please! Forgot about the consultation, I think we need to cut aid to them till we get to the bottom of this, and if gross negligence is found, we need to recoup some of those funds used for their so called “intelligence.”

Getting Off The Highway

Recently I visited Boston to watch our beloved Knicks lose a heartbreaker Game 1 to the Celtics at the TD Garden. It was an awesome trip despite the loss.

Here's the gang getting warmed up for the game:

Moon, Eric, Jay, Walt Clyde, and Beer-on-the-Girl.

But before I digress and complain about the Knicks' lost opportunities, poor coaching, and the like, I wanted to discuss the following issue that arose on the trip.

On our way up, friend-of-the-blog Jay generously offered to drive him and myself from North Jersey to Boston. On our trip, there were a handful of times we had to exit a highway. Each time the exit ramp was filled with a line of cars waiting to leave the highway, Jay would pull the following move: not wanting to wait in this line, he would drive up as far as possible, passing the growing line of cars on his right. Then, at the last possible instant, he would abruptly cut back into the line of cars, "cutting" the line of cars.

Incredulous (and also wanting to bust his balls), I brought it up around the guys in Boston, who all admitted that they do the same thing! Moon even justified it by bringing up the fact that no traffic laws were technically being broken. My stance remained constant: I can't think of many things that are as blatantly rude as this - and maybe I would have done the same as a younger man, but now I can't imagine doing this with such a cavalier attitude and with no guilt.

Is this an egregious act of road rage carried out to the nth degree? Or just something that people do on the rough roads of the Northeast?

D’Antoni’s D’ohs

I don’t hate Mike D’Antoni, he’s just not the guy who will lead you to the promise land. It is clear on championship teams that the coach is the alpha dog, like Phil Jackson or Doc Rivers, and on NY it’s clear that D’Antoni is not. D’Antoni creates a nice offensive system where the ball moves and everyone takes shots, but to win it all it’s going to take someone better. Here is a list of some of what I will call D’Antoni’s D’ohs since arriving in NY:

1. Mishandled the Marbury situation. It was clear that D’Antoni wanted no part of Marbury, and for good reason, and it became clear that management would not buy out his contract on principal (pretty dumb). But, after it became clear that Marbury wasn’t going anywhere, D’Antoni should have found a way to work him in as he was clearly their best player and the team sucked! Instead, Marbury sat on the bench like a cancer, as a constant reminder of Thomas and Dolan’s ineptitude and the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in sports.
2. Got involved in the Melo deal. D’Antoni was very vocal along with Dolan that the Knicks “needed “to get Melo, thus overpaying for him and depleting much of their roster.
3. Could not find a role for Anthony Randolph. It didn’t surprise me that as soon as Randolph got traded he had a 31 and 10 night for the Wolves. Randolph was the perfect guy for the D’Anotni system. Randolph was big, young, and liked to run. How could D’Antoni not find a way to work an 18 year old rookie was tons of talent into the rotation when the Knicks were playing mediocre ball and struggling at times?
4. Of course, doesn’t encourage defense, at all, under any circumstance.
5. I’m going to combine two gripes I have about D’Antoni, and that is he doesn’t make mid-game adjustments, and doesn’t appear to give good direction. This happens all the time but I’ll use the most recent game against the Celtics (Game 2 of the playoffs) as an example. Rondo started the game with a flurry of layups, six of them to be exact within the first six minutes of the game. D’Anotni should have called for time after the third lay up (at the latest) and changed his strategy. Instead, all Knicks fans watched and yelled at the screen for someone to play defense(<-see point 4 above) And, onto point 2, to end game 2, with the Knicks down by 1 with 4.5 seconds to go, out of a timeout, nobody knew who they were guarding or they should foul. This error in judgment has to fall on the coach!

D’Antoni has done some good things, but I think it’s time to move on. Thanks Mike, for all your hard work, now here are your walking papers!

NBA Playoffs Predictions 2011

1st Round East:

(1)Bulls over (8) Pacers- (Sweep)
(2)Heat over (7) Sixers- (Too young vs. too talented. Sweep!)
(6)Knicks over (3) Celtics (Yes I’m biased, but the Celtics are skidding and the Knicks are hot. In six)
(4)Orlando over (5) Atlanta (Howard’s too big. In five)

1st Round West:

(1)Spurs over (8) NO (In five)
(2)Lakers over (7) Memphis (Sweep)
(3)Mavs over (6) Portland (In six)
(4)OKC over (5) Denver (In seven. Too bad, cause I like Denver. Maybe b/c they have the Knicks whole team)

2nd Round East:

(4)Orlando over (1) Bulls (In six. Finally all the hype about the Bulls will be over!)
(2)Heat over (6)Knicks (Sweep. Hate to say it, but it’s true)

2nd Round West:

(4)OKC over (1) spurs (In six.)
(2)Lakers over (3)Mavs (In five.)

Conference Finals

East: Heat over Magic (In five)
West: Lakers over OKC (In five)

Finals: Lakers over Heat (In six. Hate to say it, and I hate both these teams, but Lakers!)

J.F.K = P.I.M.P

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was an all time P.I.M.P! I was reading this old article in Time the other day about the woman JFK was rumored to be with. I don’t think I would be going out too far on a limb to say, assuming the rumors of woman are accurate, that JFK has the greatest all time resume for woman who he had slept with.

First, I do have to admit my bias for actresses of the 1950’s-1960’s. But, my bias aside let’s go over the highlights on his resume. First, Marilyn Monroe! Marilyn, talk about a home run. Allegedly, when JFK was bored, he passed Marilyn off to his brother, which is a very pimp game, plus he ran that game on Marilyn Monroe. Janet Leigh, who is my personal fav ever since watching Psycho at the age of 7. Jayne Mansfield, very good, very good (as Andy would say). Kim Novak, who I recently watched in Vertigo, whoa! Other names thrown out there in the JFK rumors are Angie Dickinson, Tempest Storm, and many others. Just think about that list for a second. Now, think for a moment that if the list is accurate, try to imagine the woman who were not famous, but were probably as physically attractive as the woman on this list who he was with. Rumors have him sleeping with a 1000 woman, plus recent people claim to have pics of him sun bathing with hot naked chicks all around him.

I think it’s also important to consider that Jackie was pretty hot. This is important, in that most presidents’ wives are not attractive. Think back over all the first ladies and I think you would hard pressed to find a woman as attractive as Jackie. I saw this special on the Kennedy’s on the History channel, and it was rumored that when one of his brothers got married, Jack leaned over to him right after his ceremony at the church and said “just cause’ you’re married doesn’t mean you can’t have other woman.” Very sleazy, but goes to validate the resume.

Today’s politicians and stars simply don’t have any list that cool. The most famous comparison is Bill Clinton. Monica Lewinski compared to Marilyn Monroe is laughable. Also, Elliot Spitzer and Ashley Dupre (client number 9), smh! Also, even other celebs who screw up their legacy with questionable woman, like Jesse James cheating on Sandra Bullock with Michelle “Bombshell” McGee. All of these people stepped down in the quality of woman who they were with when the stepped out of their marriage. But not, JFK!

I know there are Hollywood men with impressive resumes, like Ben Affleck, Leonardo Dicaprio, and Jake Gyllenhaal (who, btw, is amassing quite an impressive resume himself). But, when you look at their lists, it pales in comparison to JFK. Assuming this list is accurate, no one can come close to touching this, all the while running the country! The modern day equivalent would be Barack sleeping with Beyonce, Shakira, Scarlett Johansson, and Jennifer Lopez.

I don’t think we will ever find someone with the resume of JFK again, especially in the world of politics. Supposedly, the media back then, would not only not report John’s affairs, but went as far as to cover them up. If someone from the media got a picture of Barack with his hand on Beyonce’s ass it would be on every media outlet from now until you threw up looking at the image. Let’s step back and think about the fact that not only was JFK the president of the country, but the probably the president of high-class poon as well!

Netflix is great!

More specifically, the online streaming through my PS3. This past Friday night, our family was trying to figure out what movie to watch so I decided to sign up for Netflix. I can't think of a better deal out there to watch movies, other than downloading (illegally) the movies. The first month is free, but even the $7.99/month fee after the first month is a tremendous deal. Renting two dvds from my local Blockbuster costs more than that. And especially with the Netflix app for the iphone, you can watch just about any movie you can think of any time, any place.

I was able to put that to use and finally watch The Big Lebowski. What an entertaining movie!

Next on my list of movies to watch late at night while I battle insomnia.....

Buyer’s Remorse

I know this post might be presumptuous. It will be a long time for the jury to deliberate on this, and we still don’t have all the evidence. However, watching last nights Knicks meltdown against the Celtics, I had the feeling of a man who went to the car dealership, traded his dependable car for a flashy new one, with all the bells and whistles, to only have the car make a strange noise when taken out on the highway for the first time. I guess the lesson learned…caveat emptor!

What concerned me last night, was not the Knicks blowing a 10 point 4th quarter lead (although that was bad); it was Carmelo leaving the game with two minutes trailing by four with a tiny cut above his eye, and not returning. By contrast, Ray Allen suffered a far worse cut over his eye, and put a bandage the size of Shaq’s head on and continued playing. When Carmelo collided with Rondo with two minutes left in the game, he laid at center court a la Vince Carter. Then, he grimaced in pain, holding his eye, as if he lost a leg in a war. It was truly a bitch move!

This incident in last night’s game comes right off Melo’s latest comments which already had me questioning his leadership. Melo recently said after a loss to the Bucks “it might take (until) next season.” What kind of bull shit statement is that?! Melo’ your team is the middle of playoff teams in the East, focus on this year! Comments like this made me realize there might be a good reason why this guy was never the leader of the Nuggets despite being by far the most talent player.

Also, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that opponents scoring per game against the Knicks have skyrocketed post the Melo deal. During the Knicks latest losing stretch, opponents were scoring 117 points. Amare’s matador, Dabney-like defense was bad enough, but Melo makes Amare look like Charles Oakley.

Maybe the problem is just learning how to gel with each other, but my big concern is that Amare and Melo’ are too similar. By similar, I not only mean two guys who can score at will and play no defense, but also two guys who score in similar ways. I really hope they can co-exist and bring winning back to NY, but so far, it doesn’t look good. Several weeks ago, prior to the weekend of the Melo deal being finalized I was discussing the move with MMG, Moon, Walt, and Daffy. MMG’s assessment regarding Melo coming to the Knicks was, “Ghetto guys don’t win championships.” I hope he’s not right.

Jeopardy! Math

Alex Trebek, the most pompous of all game-show hosts.


As a Jeopardy! fan, I enjoyed this article from 10+ years ago that presents some interesting scenarios about how one should bet in Final Jeopardy. I wonder if actual players on the show ever think that deeply and mathematically about their final bets. Not that the ideas in the article are super mathematically complicated, but still very interesting. Read on.

(And, the author of the article is named Matt Gaffney!)


Math for Jeopardy! Players
How contestants regularly blow their final bet.
By Matt Gaffney
Posted Thursday, July 20, 2000, at 3:00 AM ET

Why do so many Jeopardy! contestants blow it in the final round? Picture this scene, from the March 21, 2000 show: Going into "Final Jeopardy!" Andrew was in the lead with $8,000, Haley was in second with $5,700, and Dave was back in third with $2,700.

If you're Andrew in this situation, deciding on your bet is simple, assuming for argument's sake that the Final Jeopardy! category is neutral, i.e., one you know neither particularly well nor particularly poorly. Andrew's rational path is to wager the minimum he needs to put himself out of Haley's reach—that is, enough to give him twice her current score, plus $1. That's $3,401 in this case, which is precisely what Andrew wound up betting.

For Haley, betting is more complicated. Before I tell you how she should have bet, consider how she did bet. Like most contestants, she took a deep final-scene-of-Thelma-&-Louise breath, bet $5,600, got the final question wrong, and lost. Andrew got it right, won $11,401, and went back the next day. Dave, if anyone cares, bet the house, got Final Jeopardy! wrong, and wound up with nothing.

Here's what Haley should have bet: $299. Notice that the way she actually bet, the only way she could have won is if she'd gotten Final Jeopardy! right and Andrew had gotten it wrong. Obviously, if Andrew answers correctly, the game's over, no matter what Haley does.
By betting $299, Haley gives herself an extra chance. If Andrew gets it right, he still wins, as before. And, as before, if Haley gets it right and Andrew misses it, Haley wins. Here's the difference: If Haley bets $299 and they both miss Final Jeopardy! Haley wins. Her final total would be $5,401, while Andrew would be down at $4,599.

Why can't Haley bet more than $299? Because she has to guard against Dave, whose maximum score, if he bets everything and gets Final Jeopardy! right, would be $5,400. Note that, with correct wagering, Dave is a non-factor in this Final Jeopardy! equation. Even if he bet it all and got it right, he still wouldn't be able to overcome Haley, even if she answered incorrectly.
All this wouldn't have helped Haley in this case, since Andrew answered Final Jeopardy! correctly. But had he missed it, she would've won.

For the player in second place, this all boils down to betting an amount that still gives you the win if both you and the player in the lead miss Final Jeopardy! A wagering-savvy former Jeopardy! champ has labeled this "The Two-Thirds Rule," because the second-place player needs at least two-thirds of the leading player's score going into Final Jeopardy! to be able to pull this off. (Click here for more on the two-thirds rule.)



If the third player is close enough to worry about, as in the example above, you need to guard as much as possible against him. The following scenario from a recent show is a perfect illustration of this principle. Going into Final Jeopardy!, Melizza was in the lead with $7,500. Second was Miles with $7,300, and third was Judy with $5,800.

Again, the leader's bet is easy to calculate, and Melizza did in fact wager the correct amount: $7,101 (again, that gives Melizza twice Miles' score plus $1 if she gets it right). Miles should bet $4,301, while Judy should bet $2,800.

Why? To answer that, we'll only deal with scenarios in which Melizza gets it wrong — because if she bets correctly and gets the answer right, the game's over no matter what.
Miles' bet of $4,301 puts him out of Judy's striking range should he answer correctly, as he'd finish with $11,601, or two times Judy's score plus a dollar.

Judy's correct bet, $2,800, gives her that extra chance that Haley should have had in the first example. By betting $2,800, she can win if all three players miss the last question. With correct bets and all players missing Final Jeopardy!, Melizza winds up with $399, Miles finishes with $2,999, and we'll see Judy again tomorrow as our returning champion, as she's just finished with $3,000. (Naturally, if Judy gets it right and the others don't, she wins anyway.)

Sound too theoretical? Consider what actually happened: All three players missed the final question. Melizza wound up with $399—which was good enough to win, as her opponents had wagered absurdly. Miles bet the insane sum of $7,000, which left him with $300. Judy bet the house and wound up with nothing. Had Miles bet correctly (or even close to correctly—six grand would still have won it for him), he would have been champ. Or, barring that, Judy could have won it herself.

You may be wondering: If the first person knows that the second-place person is going to have this back door, why doesn't he simply bet just enough to outstrip the second place player's more modest bet? Because there's always the possibility that the second-place person will bet it all. And in practice, the person in first place almost always bets $1 or $100 over what he needs to put himself out of reach. It's this tendency that the second- and third-place players should take advantage of.

There are also a few subtleties we're glossing over — for instance, Haley, Miles, or Judy would get a bigger payday if they bet everything and won. But the safer bet provides the extra chance of simply surviving and coming back the next day. And anyway, the basic premise is clear: If you're in second or third place going into Final Jeopardy!, don't just automatically bet it all. Your better chance may be backing into victory.

Tourney Time

It’s that time of year for me to incorrectly predict the NCAA’s. I don’t even like my picks. Here we go…

East: Ohio State ( Nova) over Kentucky (WVA)
Cuse (X) over NC (Washington)

Winner: Ohio State

West: Duke (Tenn) over Texas (Zona)
Uconn (Miss) over San Diego (Temple)

Winner: Uconn

Southwest: Kansas (Illi.) over Louisville (Richmond)
Purdue (G’Town) over ND (Texas)

Winner: Kansas

Southeast: Pitt (Butler) over Wisc. (Kansas State)
Michigan State (Florida ) over BYU (St. Johns)

Winner: Pitt

Final Four: Ohio State over Uconn
Pitt over Kansas

Winner: Ohio State

My Fear of Flying Rats!

I was in 6th grade when the incident happened. By neighbor, two doors down, was an eccentric character. He approached me while I was playing basketball in my backyard one day and asked me if I wanted to watch his homing pigeons for him for a few days, as he was going on vacation. I quickly declined but when he offered me 75$ for a few days worth of work, my 6th grade head exploded. I thought, 75 bucks, wow! I thought that this was going to be the easiest money that I ever earned, boy oh boy was I wrong.

The neighbor walked me to the pigeon coup and provided me my instructions on a Sunday, the day before his departure. The coup was located in his backyard, which was approximately a 12 x 15 foot shed. Inside the coup, had little wooden open square holes on the wall, approximately 2 x 2 feet where the pigeons primarily sat. The coup housed approximately 50 pigeons. My neighbor had a huge “X” made out of tape which covered the roof of his house. He would let the pigeons out of the coup, wave a flag, at which time the pigeons would fly in patterns and land on the “X.” Then, he would wave his flag again and the pigeons would fly back into the coup. My job was supposed to be simple, on a daily basis, walk into the coup, take out the feeder and water jugs, fill the feeder with food and the jugs with water and place them back into the coup. The feeder was a long rectangular shape, approximately 5 feet with wooden slots slightly wider than the pigeons head, so they could line up and place their heads through the feeder to eat bird seed. I did not have to even let the pigeons out. Okay, it seemed simple enough to me.

Monday morning came around and I went to the coup before school. This was the 1st time I had to walk inside the coup. It was still slightly dark outside and it was at the end of winter so it was also cold. I took one step in and all the pigeons began flying around. All I could here was the sound pigeons make, and the smell was of pigeon shit. Scared, I quickly ran out before I grabbed the feeder and jugs. Shit, I thought, how was I going to do this? I conned my friend “Gamer Z” who I walked to school with for doing it for me. Although scared, “Gamer Z” was able to complete the task. I thought, okay “Gamer Z” will handle this for a few days and my job will be over. But, “Gamer Z” thwarted my plan. “Gamer Z” wised up to my idea and decided to leave earlier for school the next day, thus avoiding me and the situation entirely. So, I woke up my brother Walt, who was a freshman in high school to assist me with the task. Walt walked right into the coup, with birds landing on him with no fear at all. He stayed in the coup and grabbed the feeder and jugs. After filling the feeder and jugs up, my brother placed them in the coup.

Walt helped me out until the next to last day, when I had overslept and he already left for school. With “Gamer Z” and Walt no longer around to assist I would have to handle the job myself. I stood at the doorway of the coup hoping no pigeon would move. With school time starting, and not wanting to be late, I felt the pressure. There was a break in flying inside the coup and I quickly ran in and grabbed the feeder and jugs. After filling them up, I slid the jugs from the doorway back into the coup and picked up the feeder. I took a step inside in the coup, and lost my footing. I feel to the ground, facing up, inside the coup with the seed landing on top of me! Being barely light and looking up from the shit covered ground which, it felt like I was stuck to, the pigeons flocked to the food which was all over me. I could see shadows of pigeons flying all over toward me! The beasts were pecking away at me to eat the seed! I was paralyzed with fear and laid there for several moments, to me, the time felt like it lasted an eternity. I was able to see the doorway from the floor and realized some of pigeons were by the door of the coup which I had left open. Mustering enough strength, I broke free from my paralyzed state to try and close the door. It was too late, one pigeon had flown out!

I got out of the coup, and the stupid bird and flown on top of the coup. I found a net in my neighbor’s garage and tried to lasso in the bird. However, whenever I got close the bird would fly up and then land back right on top of the coup whenever I would take a step back toward the bird. I gave up and went late to school. That night it snowed.

On the last day of the job I went back to the coup. The pigeon that had gotten out, stayed on top of the coup overnight and was frozen like a Creamsicle on top of the coup. Mortified, and wanting to hide the evidence of my misdeed, I climbed on top of the coup and grabbed the dead frozen bird. I transported the dead frozen bird several blocks and threw him down a sewer.

I did not know if my neighbor, upon his return, would realize that I killed one of his beloved birds. I didn’t know if knew exactly how many birds he had, if he could distinguish them, if they were all named. But, when he came home he walked over to my house and paid me for a “job well done.” Two things happened after that day… One, I never watched the pigeons again. And two, as most people who know me are aware; I have a phobia of pigeons!

Where Everybody Knows Your Name- Year 2

I have been living in Boston for over a year! Here are some scattered reflections about the differences between living in Boston versus the suburbs of New Jersey.

-I live taking the train as my primary mode of transportation. When I lived in NJ, I never really took public transportation anywhere. Occasionally, I would take the bus or train train to NYC, but in my travels throughout the State, I would drive everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere! Now, not only do I take the train to work, I take it everywhere I have to go. There are many reasons why I take the train in Boston and never took public transportation in Jersey. I guess it’s more convenient (parking, traffic) to take the train than drive in Boston, plus the train goes basically everywhere. I wonder if NJ had a better public transportation system (quicker, went to more places) would people take public transportation as opposed to driving their own privately owned vehicles? Is driving in NJ somehow ingrained in the culture? I ponder these questions because places I walk to now I would have never walked in NJ due to distance.

-Boston is cool, relative to Jersey because Boston always has a lot of stuff going on. Everyday there’s all types of shit going on in the city. Plays, movies, bars/restaurants, or just a walk to the park or esplanade. It’s nice to be able to walk outside and do something, without having a planned event to go to.

-The downside of living in Boston is that I miss certain people. I have a lot of aquitances in Boston, but no one I would consider a friend. Most of the people I work with are old (relative to me), and I spend my spare time with my girlfriend (which I enjoy, but I could spend time with her if we lived in NJ). There has been nobody I really clicked with up here. I wonder if that’s my nature, or if people don’t have “friends” like they do when they are younger.

- The bagels suck in Boston as does the pizza! Also, nobody has Taylor Ham (or Pork Roll if you’re from South Jersey). It simply doesn’t exist in Boston…very strange.

-This winter has sucked in Boston! I guess it has sucked everywhere, but it has snowed so much up here, and when you walk everywhere it’s really a pain in the ass. It’s like a fucking videogame to get down the street. On that note, I busted my ass walking to the train the other morning on a patch of ice.

-I wonder if I am going to stay living up here, somewhere else, or move back to the NY/NJ metro area one day…

Classic Post: Right, On Queue?

I haven't had much creativity to write about new stuff recently, yet I felt obligated to the readers to post something recently. So, here's a recycled post from my previous job from several years ago.

Question: Let's say you're waiting on line at a drive-thru bank where there are 4 lanes in operation. All the lanes are being used, and 3 of those lanes have an extra car in them - so, on line, there are 2, 2, 1, and 2 cars in each lane. In this case, it's obvious where you'll drive - in the lane with only 1 car.

However, let's say that all of the lanes have 2 cars in them, meaning the one currently being served and one more car behind them. Here are the questions:



A) Do you have to take your chances and pick a lane? Or,

B) Can you just hang back so that whichever lane opens first becomes yours?



I vote for B). I think it's rude when a person comes to the drive-thru, sees me "hanging back", and rather than line up behind me to be filtered into the next-opening lane, swerves around me to arbitrarily pick a lane.



And, as an extension to this question, let's say you are waiting on a long line at a supermarket, and it's late hours so there are only 2 aisles open, both of which have long lines. Let's say that a cashier opens a new aisle and announces "I can take somebody over here". If you are towards the back of the line, are you morally obligated to offer the people in front of you first dibs at the newly opened aisle?

Here were comments from the original post:  

Matt Dabney said...
Scenario A:

 Hopefully the entrance to the drive thru is only wide enough for one car than fans out to accept the 4 lanes. In that case, I would hang back far enough to not allow someone to swerve around you to cut in front.

 Scenario B: 

Who ever moves their cart the fastest to the new open register wins. Hopefully you see the cashier walking with her till box to the closed register getting ready to open it. Then you can get a headstart and head over to the register before it even opens.
 
Joe said...
Switch to Scenario "A" as soon as someone appears behind you. There's no way they can read your mind.

 If people did that at grocery-store checkout lines, or at toll booths, there would be a freaking mess. I mean what's so specail about the drive-through? 

If I saw someone doing Scenario "B", I would tap the horn. And if they still didn't move I'd be pissed.

Luke said...
i think at the drive through you have to pick a lane but at the supermarket it's first person to the new cashier wins - you have no obligation to those in front of you

kimblog said...
I like Joe's comment on scenerio A. We spend too much time thinking that others can read our minds, while the party opposite us is thinking the same thing.

Is It Racist?

In conversing with quite a few people, as well as hearing a fair amount of commentary about the potential NFL lock out for next season, I have some thoughts. The consensus, of what I’ve heard seems to be that the players are selfish, overpaid, and should take less money to have the regular season start on time next year. Am I the only one who sees that this position as driven in a large part by race?

In order to examine this issue we should not ignore the fact that of active NFL players, almost 65% are black. This is widely disproportionate to the general population in which approximately 13% are back. Of the owners of the 32 NFL teams, 100% of them are white. So, we should note in this labor/owner dispute in this situation, it has white dominated owner represenatation, and a predominantly black labor population.

The most common argument I hear is that NFL players are overpaid. While my inclination is to agree with that presumption, shouldn’t the free market dictate the amount of compensation one receives based on their skill level, and desire of that skill in a free market? If we look at NFL salaries from the free market perspective, then perhaps players are not overpaid. I don’t believe NFL players are anymore “overpaid” than a stock trader, or a financial investor who makes a comparable salary. I don’t believe the skill level of some schmuck who works at Goldman Sachs to be more inherently more valuable than the skill set of an NFL player. After all, NFL players are the best at what they do in a highly desired marketplace. As an aside, is there anyone who makes more than a million dollars a year who is not “overpaid?”

If ticket prices, and the general revenue received by the NFL remain constant, I would prefer to see the players get a fair slice of that revenue pie. NFL owners have very little risk and skill in what they do relative to their workforce. There really is no risk of investment for an NFL owner. Think about it, 100 plus million people watched the Super Bowl! If you had the money and owner rights to a team, continuing to invest in a team, seems to be little risk given the immense popularity of the NFL. The players are the ones training, and risking permanent injury to play. By contrast, the owners watch the games from a box, literally. The owner essentially writes a check, and counts the money he makes from the labor of the players.

It seems to me, that the outcry against the player’s salaries may play into an underlying presumption, that a black labor force, where education and advantage is not the driving skill, should not be entitled to make millions of dollars. But, if we as consumers are willing to pay the price we do to watch the games, shouldn’t the people who put in the real work be compensated to an amount comparable to the profit of the league? We pay to see certain players when we watch a professional game, we don’t care who cuts their paychecks. We go to see Umenyiora slam a quarterback, not watch the rich white owner cut his check. So, we should give a decent percentage to Umenyiora.

If you proclaim that players are replaceable, and is you think replacement players would do little to impact the product of the NFL, trying going to a Nets game. Surprisingly people are able to sniff out an inferior product when it comes to sports. If watching a Nets game is not proof enough and you still think players are easily replaceable, watch a MLS game and then watch an English Premier game. It’s almost a totally different sport! And if you don’t think that’s proof enough, have fun watching Arena football. Also, if there is a lockout, think about the popularity of MLB following the lockout season of 1994 or NBA popularity following the 1999 lockout.

It seems to me that the owners should be willing to pay a fair share of their profit, back to the people who made them that money. Players need owners, but owners need players as well, and any old player will not due if the league is to maintain its popularity. Let’s not undervalue the labor that entertains us, even if they primarily have a different skin color than the people who are entertained by them. And, if we are willing to pay a ridiculous price to go see a game, let’s give the labor their fair share of that. If race doesn’t play a part of most people’s inclination to side with management in this labor dispute, than I don’t know what does.

New York Knicks - An Extremely Quick Look Back on Eddy Curry

Eddy Sandman in his glory days.

Where'd my post go comparing the two?

How quickly things change in professional sports. Check out this post from Where's Luke's own ChuckJerry about the Knicks - dated four years ago, and how it's ancient history already. I don't think anybody he refers to is even on the team anymore!

Among the gems in his post about Mr. Curry:

"I do have hope for the Knicks to improve this year and also the next. The reason: Eddy Curry is unstoppable."

"There have been two bright spots for the Knicks this year in an otherwise mediocre to ppor season. First is that David Lee is incredible.... The second bright spot for the Knicks this year is Eddy Curry. To say that he's turned the corner this season would be a huge understatement."

"It might be an overstatement, but I think [Curry]'s the most underrated offensive player in the league. He throws down alley oop passes better than anyone this side of Dwight Howard and is better than anyone I can ever recall with his back to the basket."

... and...

"Quentin Richardson... does everything at an above average level without really being a star."

"Renaldo Balkman is pure energy and no focus at this point. He might be a David Lee Lite type of guy eventually."


Note: this is not to pick on ChuckJerry at all - again, this just illustrates how quickly things change in sports. I've said / written identical things in the past as well. Case in point: my Quad Who point from this past off-season, discussing why the Knicks are god-awful, when infact they have proven to be decent.

BOTG's NBA All Star Team

Here are my picks for this year’s NBA All Star game, starters and reserves.

East:

PG- Rondo
SG- Wade
SF- Bron
PF- Amare
C- Howard

Reserves:

Rose
Ray Allen
Joe Johnson
Paul Pierce
Carlos Boozer
Kevin Garnett
Andrew Bogut

West:

PG- Chris Paul
SG- Kobe
SF- Melo
PF- Kevin Durant
C- Tim Duncan

Reserves:

Deron Williams
Ginobili
Blake Griffin
Dirk
Pau Gasol
Kevin Love
Steve Nash

I think Griffin and Love both deserve a spot. Also, I think Rondo is ahead of Rose, as the Celtics are better than the Bulls and Rondo leads the NBA in assists. BTW, it’s very whack that Yao was voted as a starter for the actual all star game. On that note, it may be time to stop letting the fans vote, if they are going to do things like vote in Yao.

What are your picks?

More on Governor Krispy Kreme

I still loosely follow New Jersey politics since moving to Boston. NJ’s Governor is a man named Chris Christie; however, I call him Governor Krispy Kreme. Governor Kreme has been the Governor of NJ for approximately one year. I truly do hate this fat sack of shit! Here are some of the many reasons why Krispy is a fuckface and just a bad Governor! (Click on links for actual news stories)

1) He failed to secure federal education dollars: The federal government sponsored a “Race to the Top” in which States were able to apply for federal education dollars based on innovative ideas in education. Krispy’s appointed Education Commissioner improperly filled out the form, and poof, 418 million dollars in educational aide from the fed was gone. Krispy blamed “government bureaucracy” because the evaluator of the applications didn’t tell him that NJ forgot to fill out a section of the application. Hey Krispy, it’s called a *competitive* grant, meaning, an evaluator scores your application. If you don’t fill out a section, the evaluator can not give your State an unfair advantage by assisting NJ to get more points on the application. Despite not securing these funds he bitches about teachers salaries every 2 minutes, and that really is every two minutes, no exaggeration.
2) He cancelled a tunnel that would connect NJ to NY: Not only was it bad enough that Krispy cancelled a construction project that would have created many jobs in a bad economy, and would have helped to ease congestion between NJ and NY, he was apparently unaware that he would have to pay back the federal dollars that he took for this project. So, poof, good bye to another 271 million in federal funding for the project.
3) Created a ton of new advisor positions in the Office of the Governor : This is not a big deal in the abstract, but coming from a guy whose whole platform is the government spends too much, adding bull shit positions for your wife’s friends seems to be hippo-critical. (get it, Hippo?)
4) Complains about excessive government spending every two minutes, but stayed illegally at five star hotels when he was a federal prosecutor. Not much to say about this, but his excuse for staying at five star hotels while staying in Boston and D.C is that he was “not familiar with the area.” It’s called Google, Krispy!
5) Bitches about the Union for spending too much but wants tax breaks for corporations: This is a personal hatred, but I hate it when rich fucks complain about spending, and then want tax breaks for themselves.
6) He appointed a woman as Commissioner to the Department of Children and Families who advocated for sex with children: Granted this is an oversimplification, but Christie ousted a Commissioner who had great statistical success with the Department in favor of a new Commissioner, not knowing that some of her research including the impact of adults having sex with children, and finding that the impacts were not that detrimental to children. Not someone who you want having as your Commissioner in a Department charged with protecting abused and neglected children.

I could give more specific examples, but the overall reason I hate this guy is he’s such a blowhard. Tony Soprano had a great line to someone when he described the aggressive nature of someone of the phone as a “telephone tough guy.” To me, this describes Krispy perfectly. An example of this is he rightfully objected to NJ contributing to costs for the Tappen Zee Bridge construction, but then, has to make statements like “I’m telling NY to stop messing with us!” Calm down tough guy. In addition, he’s on TV and in the newspapers everyday talking about superintendent salaries; meanwhile he makes twice as much as most of them. He’s such a grandstander. I would love to get him alone so I could punch him in his fat face!

Old School Nintendo Games

I have a Nintendo Wii, and with it I have several new fancy games that would be inconceivable back in 1986 or so. I have enjoyed these games. Then, I found I could purchase old Nintendo games for the original NES and download them directly to the Wii for $5 each. I purchased several of my old favorites, and they were all fun as well. Two games, however, have proven to be the two that I come back to often, and I don't know why.

One is Bubble Bobble. You are a dragon or something, and you have to go through levels killing enemies by encasing them in a bubble and running into them. The levels get faster, have harder bad guys, and give you less time to complete them.

The other is the original Nintendo Baseball (with came out 27 years ago, amazingly). This is the most primitive of sports home video games, and yet I find it so addictive. I play against the computer, and while I beat it more often than not, I don't feel that I've mastered it to the level I did when I was first playing it.

I've been wondering what it is specifically that is making me so hooked on these two games as opposed to all the other games I have, both old and new.

Governor Chris Christie and the NJEA

Our governor, Chris Christie, gives a good example of politicans "saying one thing and doing another". Pretty remarkable.

Here is a "open letter" that he wrote when he was campaigning against Jon Corzine, obtained from this website.


I am the proud product of our state’s public education system. In fact, my late mother was a dues-paying member of the NJEA. I know firsthand that one of the main reasons many of our schools rank among the best in America is because of our dedicated teachers and educational professionals who work hard every day to give our children the learning experience they deserve.

Like you, I am fully committed to supporting New Jersey’s kids, teachers and parents to make sure our children receive a first-class education so they can pursue limitless opportunities once they graduate. Our state’s teachers are charged with one of the greatest responsibilities one can have, and they deliver each and every day for our kids.

But lately, there has been some misinformation circulated falsely, by supporters of Governor Corzine, suggesting I would attempt to diminish or take away teachers’ pensions and benefits. Let me be clear - nothing could be further from the truth. The claim that any harm would come to your pension should I be elected Governor is absolutely untrue. It is a 100% lie. Your pension will be protected when I am elected Governor.

Right now, the Trenton-based leaders of the teachers' union are literally spending millions of dollars of your union dues to falsely attack me on television and through slick mailers. This is nothing but an attempt to poison me in your eyes so that you will vote for four more years of Jon Corzine and his failed policies. Just so I am clear, what they are saying about my intentions to hurt pensions or lay off teachers is absolutely, 100% untrue.

Here are the facts:
I will be a strong ally for teachers in the classroom. When elected, I will make education funding a top priority and I believe we must ensure those dollars reach our children and the classroom, not the educational bureaucracy. In these tough economic times, we must ensure that the proper resources get to you, the teachers in the classroom. Despite what is said by my opponents, I would accept federal education stimulus dollars to help fund our children's educations. Education is a priority and this money is critical to ensuring we are able to continue giving our children the education they deserve. We must also make sure that education dollars are always a priority and come from stable sources. Too often these grants or stimulus dollars are accepted for programs with no plan on how to pay for them after the money runs dry. It is time for a new era of responsibility in Trenton, and I will work to secure a steady source of funding for all education programs.
I will protect your pensions. Nothing about your pension is going to change when I am governor. In fact, in order to ensure your retirement savings are safe, I believe we must prioritize the protection of pension fund dollars and investigate the cause of Jon Corzine's large investment losses to our pension system. Currently there is a $34 billion deficit in the State's pension fund, which threatens the retirement and lifeline of so many teachers. We must do better for our teachers, future teachers and retirees. As Governor, I will work to close unfunded liabilities and make sure our state lives up to its promises, unlike Jon Corzine. I will not raid your pension fund to cover budgetary shortfalls like previous governors of both parties have done. One of the changes I will bring to Trenton is responsible management, investment, and oversight of state pension dollars.
I will not end collective bargaining and will safeguard protections for ALL public employees, including teachers. Collective bargaining is an important safeguard for public employees and is a part of a long American tradition of self government. We must make sure that the voice of every worker is represented in contract negotiations. I will demand open, honest, and fair deliberations.
It’s true that times are tough. But the truth is that Jon Corzine has handed the NJEA and every student a ticking time bomb in this year's budget. He has funded the new school aid formula with $1 billion in one-shot revenue that will disappear next year. Every school budget and academic, athletic, and extra-curricular program for our kids is at risk because of the Governor’s reckless, short-sighted policy. Governor Corzine has refused to make the tough decisions required to make sure we make education funding a priority for recurring revenue and to avoid the ticking time bomb.

We may disagree on some issues, but I know we agree on what’s most important – delivering the best education we can for our kids. Giving New Jersey's children a quality education is critical to their future and I know we wouldn't be able to do that without the dedication and tireless commitment of teachers like you. I appreciate you allowing me to clear up some of the misinformation being circulated about my plans to support our state's teachers.

Thank you for your service, and best wishes on a great school year.

Toilet Bowl 2010

I don’t think I could ever top the masterpiece written several years ago regarding the magic of the annual Toilet Bowl Game in Teaneck, so I won’t even try. I’ll just provide a summary of this year’s Toilet Bowl 2010 from my perspective…

I arrived at BF North (or is it South?) at around 1:30 pm and a familiar face was waiting in his car, Daffy. Despite the snow beginning to fall and no one else present, I suggested that we make our way over to the field to warm up. Daffy had an arsenal of equipment including: official cones, measuring tape, a football, and a bag with god knows what else.

Then, the ever reliable Chuck Jerry arrived and we began to toss the ball around. Jerry and I were standing on the field, and we saw who we thought was John Strauss approaching the field. No, wait, we pulled an Andy B., as it was the younger Strauss brother, David. After BPG, Hollywood, and Rick arrived we had all the players who would attend this years’ annual Toilet Bowl!

After standing in a circle and drinking beers, we discussed the usual topics of conversation. Anybody who did not come, was of course a bitch for selling out despite their circumstances, everybody playing is out of shape, blah blah blah… play ball! But wait, only Daffy and I were in attendance for non 96ers so we had to make an automatic QB, David, and spilt up teams, Hollywood, Daffy and I vs. Rick, Chuck, and BPG.

The snow began to fall and we played for a good hour or so. Ok, maybe it was only like 20 minutes, but it felt like damn near an hour. We took another break for a beer and Rick wandered off. Speculation occurred as to if Rick was vomiting (which has become a habit for Rick in recent years) but Rick did not vomit, and returned from the trees with a drink, which I think was like a Pellegrino or some sparkling water. We all joked that Rick must have stored the drink in the woods last year and was now retrieving it. Thinking about it… Why did Rick have to go to the woods to get a drink? Also, how did the drink get there? Since when did Pellegrino become a sports drink?

Anyway, we played for about another hour or so and headed to Vinny’s. We drank beers, ate food, and chatted. The real excitement for me at Vinny's was winning a door prize, which consisted of a Yuengling shirt, key chain, and my very own Vinny O’s cup holder. With the snow really coming down, and the Giants getting their asses pounded against Green Bay to all but close their playoff hopes, I left at half time to stay ahead of the weather. It was another great year! The only down side was barely being about to walk for a few days because of soreness, but that’s a small price to pay to be a part of the glory of the annual Toilet Bowl!

Happy New Year! / Evanston Sports Report

Happy New Year to our plethora of readers!

For your viewing pleasure, here is the most recent (and first) episode of "Evanston Sports Report", on which two relatives of yours truly and Beer-on-the-Girl who live in the Chicago area discuss the Bulls and Knicks rivalry. There are references made to the last twenty years or so of said rivalry during which Michael Jordan got the best of our beloved Knicks.

It remains to be seen who will have a more successful decade.

Anyway, enjoy.