Wednesday, November 17, 2004
OOMPH DAY
So I worked a long day at work yesterday (bare stranded copper wire is the devil). After I got off work at 5, I jetted straight for Best Buy as somewhat of a reward to myself and because I knew exactly what I wanted on the new-release rack. I came away with Aqua Teen Hunger Force Volume Three and the first season of Home Movies; both series are stalwarts on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. I immediately watched four of the ATHF episodes: Frat Aliens, The Cubing, The Shaving, and Spirit Journey Formation Anniversary (featuring Zakk Wylde and a hilarious voice-over caricature of Geddy Lee of Rush). The first season of Home Movies features Paula Poundstone as Brendon Small's mother, and of course this is before Poundstone went to the slammer. The gal they got to replace her is great.
But enough about cartoons on DVD, let's see what happened on the day where Vlad Guerrero took the AL MVP award. I really thought David Ortiz would sweep up some sentimental hype and get a lot more votes thanks to all that Red Sox magic and hoopla that bombarded us through the national media. What does he care, though. He's got a ring.
BASEBALL
Looks like someone may have tried to extort Gary Sheffield via "embarrassing sexual videotapes" of his wife and a musician (a past relationship of Sheffield's wife). There's stuff here involving a man threatening to go to the tabloids if he didn't get what he wanted out of the Sheffield camp. It's dicey, no doubt about it.
SEAHAWKS
Looks like the Seahawks have at least one more game with Koren Robinson at wide receiver. Reports from yesterday indicating that the receiver would have been suspended didn't end up panning out. Yes, it's all part of a plan by the NFL to keep the Seahawks out of the playoffs, but I think the Seahawks can blow their playoff chances themselves, and therefore really don't need the NFL's help in doing that. I love how in quite a few of Clare Farnsworth's articles, he'll attach the phrase "depending on your definition of a drop." Here, Koren Robinson has nine to 13 dropped passes, then the preceding quoted phrase is attached.
Whenever Robinson finally gets suspended, he will not be barred from working out at the Kirkland facilities, as per results of an offseason policy change toward players suspended for less than a year, in part to enable suspended players to get support and counseling (etc.) from their respective teams. Mike Holmgren had been burned by the previous policy of no facility use by and no team contact at all with the suspended player (Shawn Springs, Chris Terry).
John Levesque has a little fun with the always-unavailable-to-media Seahawk defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes. Levesque asks all the questions he'd want to ask to a fake Rhodes, and also uses the terms "fabulous" and "asterisk" a lot (explanation in article). Many not-so-veiled shots are taken.
Jerheme Urban is all about hard work. He used to watch tapes of opposing wide receivers when on the practice squad to run routes similar to the Seahawks' opponents. Now, he sometimes sits in on the quarterbacks' meetings to get more of a hold on the offense. At least he's not taking it all for granted. I wish there was a way that Urban and Ryan Hannam could get more catches, but an injury would probably be the only thing that would necessitate that.
I had the television muted and the radio turned up on Sunday, so I didn't get to hear Stockton, Moose, and Goose going off on what they thought was Chike Okeafor tackling with intent to injure Marshall Faulk's ankle. Okeafor denies all reports about having intent to injure, and even (I think this is somewhat bizarre) went through a physical representation (I'll call it an interpretive dance) of what happened on the play. Okeafor also said his neck roll (to aid his sore neck) played a part in what happened on the play, as his head was down.
SONICS
For my take on the game, scroll down or click here.
I've suggested it here before, but if there's one thing different about this particular hot start for the Sonics, it's how they're doing it, namely, their defense. For a stretch of 11:45, they held Philly to four points. Ray Allen suggests that Vlad Rad on a mismatch was a big key to the Sonics' success, and Vlad says the 76ers were biting on the pick-and-roll. Yes, the Sonics went on an insane 29-6 run from the latter part of the third quarter to the first portion of the fourth quarter.
More on the three-point madness. Ray Allen says it best: ""My plan wasn't to get 12 attempts up. But I wasn't going to try to do anything else if that's what they were giving me." Says Rashard Lewis: "They were leaving the wing wide open. You have to take open shots." Daniels added praise to the Radmanovic file: "When he steps in and shoots the ball, he adds a completely different dimension to our game. He's 6-10, so who are you going to put on him? What's crazy is he has no idea the dimension that he adds to this team when he comes to play both ends of the floor." The Sonics' 7-1 start is their best since the 10-0 start in the 1993-94 season, which I do remember, and quite well. I think it might have been the year the Cleveland Cavaliers went to the bright blue lightning streak across their uniforms. Not good times for them.
Fortson, who will have a bullseye on him all year in the officials' eyes, is trying to appeal his one-game suspension which he already served. That might not make sense in itself, but he's trying to get that game check back.
I've heard David Locke on his radio show saying "when does it start being too early?" This of course applies in a totally opposite fashion compared to what happened with the Mariners last April. In this article, Locke says the crazy three-point shooting and the crazy rebounding rate probably won't hold up over the course of a season. What can hold up, however, are the frontcourt depth, the picks they're setting, and the play at point guard from Luke Ridnour and Antonio Daniels. As for whether it's too early or not, I'll have a much better idea to gauge what I think about these Sonics after this six-game road swing is over with.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Seattle at New Jersey
Friday: Seattle at Toronto
Sunday: Seattle at Boston
HOCKEY
Again, there's no junior hockey (at least with the teams I care about) until Wednesday, so tonight I watched the last half of Making the Cut on CBC after I read our webpage and realized it was on and I was missing it (great game by the Black Aces against the elite squad). Four cuts were made off the elite squad after the game, and a cut player by the name of Billy McGillivray wasn't too sad, saying he'd be able to tell everyone he was cut by Mike Keenan.
Until the play starts back up, I'll have to think of various things to put in this spot. Tonight, a couple of WHL headlines before some NHL-related headlines.
The Seattle Thunderbirds are rolling at 14-5-0-0 but are looking to avenge an icky loss to last-place Spokane. The T-Birds are 6-1 at KeyArena and have the second game of their six-game homestand on Friday against the Chiefs. Also, goalie Bryan Bridges is 12-3 and is second in the WHL in save percentage and goals-against average.
There's been a trade. The Everett Silvertips sent Barry Horman (the guy who slashed the finger of Portland's Brandon Dubinsky, who nearly needed to amputate) and Marc Desloges to Swift Current for Kyle Annesley and scorer Alex Leavitt. Everett likes the trade; although Leavitt will have to fit into the defensive scheme, he'll give the 'Tips an established scorer for when the chips are down.
Hall of Famer Jean Beliveau made some remarks saying the NHL players hadn't made enough concessions in the labor dispute, and predictably, he faced immediate rebuttal from union leaders and some players (Martin Brodeur, Vincent Damphousse, and Sheldon Souray are quoted in the article). Nothing unpredictable here. Moving along...
The NHL reported that they lost $224M last year. Forbes estimates something more along the lines of $96M. Can you guess on which sides of the argument the owners and players lie? Owners basically think the Forbes report is bunk, while the players say Forbes is a respected business magazine, so it has to be somewhat right here.
Curtis Brown becomes the second NHLer to join the East Coast Hockey League, suiting up with the San Diego Gulls. Scott Gomez is currently playing for his hometown Alaska (Anchorage) Aces. Many of the west coast teams who are in the ECHL were once part of the West Coast Hockey League, who sported the Tacoma Sabercats as one of its teams.
Mike Danton's agent has been banned by the Central Junior A Hockey League. According to the league, David Frost entered an off-limits arena and harassed an official. Frost comes off as a crooked dude, and I saw a report once where Danton's parents (the Jeffersons) claimed that Frost had brainwashed Danton to basically turn on them. Pretty much everything out of this Danton story is scary and weird.
Screw the luxury tax, says NHL executive VP Bill Daly. The favorite owners' phrase is "cost certainty," which the players basically think is code for "salary cap," no form of which they will accept. You know, the owners are trying to define what in their view is "cost certainty" and not a salary cap. I'm not sure if the players are doing it, but they should try the deception game too. Make a proposal and say it has a salary cap, but if you get someone really slick to design it, maybe there isn't a salary cap in there after all. Or maybe the owners wouldn't know they'd gotten somewhat duped until three years into a new collective bargaining agreement. Who knows?
---
Friends, readers, we have appproached the middle of the work week. So in celebration, take a piece of used paper (or something crumplable), crumple it up into a ball, get a coworker, and play wastebasket H-O-R-S-E. By the way, I wonder if Bill Simmons' campaign to make H-O-R-S-E an NBA All-Star Game event will be successful one day. It should be.
But enough about cartoons on DVD, let's see what happened on the day where Vlad Guerrero took the AL MVP award. I really thought David Ortiz would sweep up some sentimental hype and get a lot more votes thanks to all that Red Sox magic and hoopla that bombarded us through the national media. What does he care, though. He's got a ring.
BASEBALL
Looks like someone may have tried to extort Gary Sheffield via "embarrassing sexual videotapes" of his wife and a musician (a past relationship of Sheffield's wife). There's stuff here involving a man threatening to go to the tabloids if he didn't get what he wanted out of the Sheffield camp. It's dicey, no doubt about it.
SEAHAWKS
Looks like the Seahawks have at least one more game with Koren Robinson at wide receiver. Reports from yesterday indicating that the receiver would have been suspended didn't end up panning out. Yes, it's all part of a plan by the NFL to keep the Seahawks out of the playoffs, but I think the Seahawks can blow their playoff chances themselves, and therefore really don't need the NFL's help in doing that. I love how in quite a few of Clare Farnsworth's articles, he'll attach the phrase "depending on your definition of a drop." Here, Koren Robinson has nine to 13 dropped passes, then the preceding quoted phrase is attached.
Whenever Robinson finally gets suspended, he will not be barred from working out at the Kirkland facilities, as per results of an offseason policy change toward players suspended for less than a year, in part to enable suspended players to get support and counseling (etc.) from their respective teams. Mike Holmgren had been burned by the previous policy of no facility use by and no team contact at all with the suspended player (Shawn Springs, Chris Terry).
John Levesque has a little fun with the always-unavailable-to-media Seahawk defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes. Levesque asks all the questions he'd want to ask to a fake Rhodes, and also uses the terms "fabulous" and "asterisk" a lot (explanation in article). Many not-so-veiled shots are taken.
Jerheme Urban is all about hard work. He used to watch tapes of opposing wide receivers when on the practice squad to run routes similar to the Seahawks' opponents. Now, he sometimes sits in on the quarterbacks' meetings to get more of a hold on the offense. At least he's not taking it all for granted. I wish there was a way that Urban and Ryan Hannam could get more catches, but an injury would probably be the only thing that would necessitate that.
I had the television muted and the radio turned up on Sunday, so I didn't get to hear Stockton, Moose, and Goose going off on what they thought was Chike Okeafor tackling with intent to injure Marshall Faulk's ankle. Okeafor denies all reports about having intent to injure, and even (I think this is somewhat bizarre) went through a physical representation (I'll call it an interpretive dance) of what happened on the play. Okeafor also said his neck roll (to aid his sore neck) played a part in what happened on the play, as his head was down.
SONICS
For my take on the game, scroll down or click here.
I've suggested it here before, but if there's one thing different about this particular hot start for the Sonics, it's how they're doing it, namely, their defense. For a stretch of 11:45, they held Philly to four points. Ray Allen suggests that Vlad Rad on a mismatch was a big key to the Sonics' success, and Vlad says the 76ers were biting on the pick-and-roll. Yes, the Sonics went on an insane 29-6 run from the latter part of the third quarter to the first portion of the fourth quarter.
More on the three-point madness. Ray Allen says it best: ""My plan wasn't to get 12 attempts up. But I wasn't going to try to do anything else if that's what they were giving me." Says Rashard Lewis: "They were leaving the wing wide open. You have to take open shots." Daniels added praise to the Radmanovic file: "When he steps in and shoots the ball, he adds a completely different dimension to our game. He's 6-10, so who are you going to put on him? What's crazy is he has no idea the dimension that he adds to this team when he comes to play both ends of the floor." The Sonics' 7-1 start is their best since the 10-0 start in the 1993-94 season, which I do remember, and quite well. I think it might have been the year the Cleveland Cavaliers went to the bright blue lightning streak across their uniforms. Not good times for them.
Fortson, who will have a bullseye on him all year in the officials' eyes, is trying to appeal his one-game suspension which he already served. That might not make sense in itself, but he's trying to get that game check back.
I've heard David Locke on his radio show saying "when does it start being too early?" This of course applies in a totally opposite fashion compared to what happened with the Mariners last April. In this article, Locke says the crazy three-point shooting and the crazy rebounding rate probably won't hold up over the course of a season. What can hold up, however, are the frontcourt depth, the picks they're setting, and the play at point guard from Luke Ridnour and Antonio Daniels. As for whether it's too early or not, I'll have a much better idea to gauge what I think about these Sonics after this six-game road swing is over with.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Seattle at New Jersey
Friday: Seattle at Toronto
Sunday: Seattle at Boston
HOCKEY
Again, there's no junior hockey (at least with the teams I care about) until Wednesday, so tonight I watched the last half of Making the Cut on CBC after I read our webpage and realized it was on and I was missing it (great game by the Black Aces against the elite squad). Four cuts were made off the elite squad after the game, and a cut player by the name of Billy McGillivray wasn't too sad, saying he'd be able to tell everyone he was cut by Mike Keenan.
Until the play starts back up, I'll have to think of various things to put in this spot. Tonight, a couple of WHL headlines before some NHL-related headlines.
The Seattle Thunderbirds are rolling at 14-5-0-0 but are looking to avenge an icky loss to last-place Spokane. The T-Birds are 6-1 at KeyArena and have the second game of their six-game homestand on Friday against the Chiefs. Also, goalie Bryan Bridges is 12-3 and is second in the WHL in save percentage and goals-against average.
There's been a trade. The Everett Silvertips sent Barry Horman (the guy who slashed the finger of Portland's Brandon Dubinsky, who nearly needed to amputate) and Marc Desloges to Swift Current for Kyle Annesley and scorer Alex Leavitt. Everett likes the trade; although Leavitt will have to fit into the defensive scheme, he'll give the 'Tips an established scorer for when the chips are down.
Hall of Famer Jean Beliveau made some remarks saying the NHL players hadn't made enough concessions in the labor dispute, and predictably, he faced immediate rebuttal from union leaders and some players (Martin Brodeur, Vincent Damphousse, and Sheldon Souray are quoted in the article). Nothing unpredictable here. Moving along...
The NHL reported that they lost $224M last year. Forbes estimates something more along the lines of $96M. Can you guess on which sides of the argument the owners and players lie? Owners basically think the Forbes report is bunk, while the players say Forbes is a respected business magazine, so it has to be somewhat right here.
Curtis Brown becomes the second NHLer to join the East Coast Hockey League, suiting up with the San Diego Gulls. Scott Gomez is currently playing for his hometown Alaska (Anchorage) Aces. Many of the west coast teams who are in the ECHL were once part of the West Coast Hockey League, who sported the Tacoma Sabercats as one of its teams.
Mike Danton's agent has been banned by the Central Junior A Hockey League. According to the league, David Frost entered an off-limits arena and harassed an official. Frost comes off as a crooked dude, and I saw a report once where Danton's parents (the Jeffersons) claimed that Frost had brainwashed Danton to basically turn on them. Pretty much everything out of this Danton story is scary and weird.
Screw the luxury tax, says NHL executive VP Bill Daly. The favorite owners' phrase is "cost certainty," which the players basically think is code for "salary cap," no form of which they will accept. You know, the owners are trying to define what in their view is "cost certainty" and not a salary cap. I'm not sure if the players are doing it, but they should try the deception game too. Make a proposal and say it has a salary cap, but if you get someone really slick to design it, maybe there isn't a salary cap in there after all. Or maybe the owners wouldn't know they'd gotten somewhat duped until three years into a new collective bargaining agreement. Who knows?
---
Friends, readers, we have appproached the middle of the work week. So in celebration, take a piece of used paper (or something crumplable), crumple it up into a ball, get a coworker, and play wastebasket H-O-R-S-E. By the way, I wonder if Bill Simmons' campaign to make H-O-R-S-E an NBA All-Star Game event will be successful one day. It should be.
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