Monday, February 16, 2009

Sticking to my nonpoker theme

Gmello, I thought this was a poker blog too... see the thing is, I haven't felt inspired to write anything poker related these days. So for those of you that check here for poker related content, sorry, but the outlook is bleak in terms of me posting actual solid poker stuff... but I believe that's true for pretty much all "poker blogs." I haven't see any solid strategy posted stuff anywhere... there are things that some may consider strategy but bad advice <> strategy.

Anyways...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!

I love my company. They just informed me that I am getting 2 tickets to the Washington Wizards v Orlando Magic game in DC on 3/13 (Friday)!!!! Dude, it must be all the hyping of Superman I've been doing!!! Dwight Howard baby!!! I actually had a choice between that game and a game against the New Orleans Hornets. Why do I care about New Orleans? Well, Chris Paul is awesome so being able to see him live woulda been cool as shit too. But hey. Dwight Howard, let er RIP!!!!! I can't wait. The Wizards suck too so hopefully I can see some highlight material that night.

Steve, if you still read this blog, I'll give you first dibs... of course, it's March Madness time so I'm guessing you will probably just prefer to stay at home and watch the college games. But, if you're interested in box seats with free food and booze, you are welcome to come. If you don't read this blog, well, then tough shit. Just kidding. I'll email you when the time comes but if you know now that you wanna come, let me know.

What a great Monday!

More Superman!

In my previous post, I mentioned that the dunk contest is about more than just the dunks. I mean the chances are, by now, it's been done before. The dunk from the free throw line, the ball around under your legs jam, the no look Dee Brown jam, etc etc... I mean really, you'd have to do something different and new to really get the crowd going. And that's what Dwight Howard does. I mean it's sh*t like this, from the set up, the use of props, that comedic nature of it all that makes him so fun to watch in the dunk contest. It's kinda like the good days of Ocho Cinco when he did his thing... I know that now, his stock went into the sh*tter but in his prime, he was funny as hell to watch.

Case in point. This is impressive alone but I don't think people go as crazy if the initial build up is not there.



Of course, he will then unleash his sick athleticism with this dunk. I mean this was just sick.



Riggs mentioned in the comments to my previous post that Dwight ruined his chances for his consecutive win by allowing this:



But see, I disagree. Winning the slam dunk contest, once you've done it before, is really not an accomplishment. I mean it's just for fun. And I think that Dwight was willing to be a part of the prop by allowing himself to get dunked over. I actually like the fun loving nature of these dunk contests than the selfish, immature, cocky, I am holier than thou attitude that a lot of the NBAers seemed to have had the past few years. After the Olympic Gold and watching these, I can definitely get back into the NBA... which is saying a lot considering I stopped watching the NBA (aside from the playoffs) from like 1996...

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Superman!!!

Dwight Howard is SICK!!!!

Seriously, is this guy human?

Last year, I watched the dunk contest for the first time in a while... and it's rare that I would get up and yell when there's a spectacular dunk because... well, that's what they do. But man, if you wanna see some pure, sick athleticism, Dwight Howard brings it.

Now, if there are any haters out there, I'd say this. Slam dunk contest is about the dunk, but also about the creativity that goes into it. You know, capture the crowd, get everyone going. Even before his "Superman Dunk" this was like shocking to see:



And of course, there was this:



Of course, I've heard people say "well, that's not a dunk, he threw that in there." Um, ok. Yeah, so that's even sicker. What sick elevation do you have to get to "throw" a ball DOWN into the hoop? This guy is unreal.

And now, we have this year. Unfortunately, no vid available as of yet but my god... The way he captures the crowd is awesome. There's the 12 foot hoop dunk... and then he did it. The sick off-the-side-of-the-backboard slam dunk. That was actually awesome. And yet, Nate Robinson topped it! It was all about the presentation. Nate Robinson's final dunk was the key and Dwight helped him by being a great sport about it. Dwight Howard stood in front of the basket so Nate can dunk over "Superman." Knowing the background, if that didn't get you going, then you need to go get checked out...

On a completely separate note, did Jordan steal this commercial from the NFL Nike commercial? If so, good for him, cuz I love this commercial.



But really, that was clearly a rip of this commercial right?

Monday, February 9, 2009

I <3 this guy

This guy basically spells out my thoughts on the economy and the current government activity perfectly. I can type out a post but what's the point. He did it for me here.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Missing the opportunity?

Maybe my mind is too business oriented. Even though I am involved in a few pro bono work through my company and doing the whole "giving back to the community" thing, I think I always made it clear that that's really not my thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against it. But when I help these organizations and help give back to the community, I don't get that sense of satisfaction that a lot of people talk about. Maybe I'm the devil. Whatever is the case, I don't really get much out of helping the needy.

So, it was interesting to me when I heard that the BBT4 will consist of a few $10 buy-in tourneys (Mookie and Skillz or something?) and maybe another CHEAPER tournament... to me, this is shocking... Don't get me wrong. I am not saying anything bad about the BBT series because I think it's great that Al puts this together, giving bloggers an opportunity to play in the WSOP and other larger buy-in events. But if I were to put my business hat on, only including smaller buy-in tourneys seems like we're missing something here. Again, it might just be that Al is organizing for the bloggers so the idea behind it is that it would encourage more bloggers to play in a $10 tourney than say a $26 (really!? Twenty six fuckin dollars!?) or heaven forbid, a $50+ tourney. Wouldn't fulltilt be better off if these were slightly higher buy-ins, generating more rake AND more importantly, forcing people to redeposit money?

With the BBT, the stakes are much higher. The rewards are awesome and so it's shocking that the buy-in doesn't reflect that. It's also amazing how in an average blogger's poker fund, $26 seems so much more than $10 or whatever considering I'm pretty sure most of you waste $26 on nothing... well, if not, then maybe I'm extremely careless with my money. Let's see, so far today, what did I spend money on. Breakfast because I was too lazy to eat cereal at home (actually, I was in a hurry cuz I was late for bball) was $3.50ish. Lunch was $7.55 (our company cafeteria is NOT cheap). That's already a mookie buy-in! And I haven't gotten through the whole day! I just feel like this would be a great opportunity to get people to deposit more money into the poker client, hence injecting more money into poker. And the more money there is out there in the poker world, the better for us right?

Again, it's not so much I'm complaining about the buyins or anything. I guess I just don't understand and that's all there is to it. I'd still play the BBT if they are $1 because it's not about the actual prize pool in the tournament but rather, what's possible to win as add-ons. But beyond that, the reason I don't really play blogger tourneys anymore is because heaven forbid I get lucky enough to make it deep or win, it's not worth it for me to stay up till 1am or 2am winning $100 and change or whatever the top prize is these days for the Mookie. I gotta get up at 6am to go play ball in the mornings (I don't HAVE TO but I want to/I'd rather) so without the added prizes, there's really no incentive for me. I love you all and it is fun when I actually do end up playing in it but so is basketball...

So the bottom line is this. Why is the buy-in so low when the stakes are so high? Would there really be that much of a drop off in players if the buy-ins were increased?

Monday, February 2, 2009

Why I hate Superbowl Parties

I'm not gonna do a brag post about the Steelers. What's the point? It just gives another opportunity to all the haters/naysayers out there about how the Steelers were "gifted" another Superbowl and quite frankly, I'm tired of it. As of last night, and maybe even this morning, I was giving props to the Cardinals. I liked them, I've mentioned this before, I liked many of the players on that team. As the day goes on and I hear more and more people whining about this call and that, I'm finding myself hating the Cardinals... now I hate myself for wishing a good, close game. I wish it was a blowout so that it would shut all these people up. But whatever. Wish what you want and talk about what coulda, shoulda, or woulda. It's totally NOT like telling a bad beat story.

On to my main post. Leading up to the Superbowl, I've had many people ask me what I was doing for the Superbowl or if I were going to a party or what not. Not growing up in this country, I was fortunate enough to not be subjected to the torture that is the Superbowl Party.

I fuckin hate those things. I think it's different if you can find a party where everyone loves football... and, if you're fortunate to have one of your teams be in the Superbowl, it would also be fine if you're surrounded by (and ONLY by) the people who are rooting for your team AND love football.

But in the past, I've been to Superbowl Parties where the following happened:

- someone has to constantly explain to another person why the players are switching, how many more tries they have to get to the yellow line, why they aren't going for it on 4th down with "only" 5 yds to go at their own 30 yard line, etc etc... that's the equivalent of sitting at a poker table, constantly listening to someone explain to the other what beats what, when they have to bet, etc etc. Sure, a clear sign of donkery but the amount of tilt it would cause for me is just not worth it.

- people tell you to keep quiet during the commercials even though they are yapping away during the game. I, for one, like to pay attention to the game. I get that the companies spend millions of dollars in coming up with funny, creative commercials for the Superbowl but you know what? They are fuckin commercials. If you wanna see them, go to Youtube (in fairness to some, Youtube didn't always exist).

- people are rooting against your team and you can't do anything about it because you don't really know them and you don't want to cause a scene. Like I said, it's one thing if it's just your close friends... but if you are at a Superbowl party, there are bound to be people you've never met before. And you never know who they are rooting for and believe it or not, I am not always looking to start something...

So, those are my top 3 reasons of why I don't like to go to Superbowl parties. Now don't get me wrong... I'm not saying that any of the above are bad. I just don't like it. So, I choose avoid situations like that... and the easiest way to do that is to stay at home and watch it by myself. I did that for for Superbowl XL, was extremely surprised at how much more I enjoyed the game that way and it's been that way ever since.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Live blogging the Superbowl

I was just gonna twitter once in a while... and then I realized I'm commenting on every play (another reason people should be glad I'm not at anyone's Superbowl party) so I decided to just live blog it. I may keep it up, I may not... we'll just see where this takes us. So far in twitter this is what I had:

What else can be said? Go Steelers!!!!!

Amazing... NFC won like 10 coin tosses in the Superbowl in the past 10 years or some thing... oh, 12th consecutive year. Crazy!!

Kurt Warner story was overplayed back in St Louis... and once again, overplayed. I get it, I get it... he bagged groceries before. Yeesh.

Willie Parker giving a big FU to UNC by naming his high school instead.

1st play play action woulda been interesting

ok, 2nd play. either one is good.

hmmm.... what was that with the play clock? On TV, it read zero but no one called anything or said anything about it

BOOM!!! That's our QB!!!

Fuck it, I'm gonna live blog this instead of flooding twitterville

And that brings us to now...

6:43pm Nice challenge by Whiz... at least Tomlin didn't take his crazy chances like he's known to do and instead took the points.

6:46pm Edge is not gonna be able to run against the Steelers... they have a better chance with Hightower (UR represent!)

6:52pm Watching these commercials reminds me why I hate going to Superbowl parties... I'm gonna do a Superbowl rant post here. Man, I must've missed blogging.

6:55pm Dammit Ben!!!! TD if he didn't throw it short!

6:57pm BIG PLAY!!!! Look at Ben dodging and weaving and finding Heath Miller. Big 3rd down conversion!!!

6:58pm WTF was that!? Miami Dolphins offense going no where.

7:01pm End of 1st quarter. Not to jinx it but don't turn the ball over Ben! Let's get a touchdown!

7:02pm Sweet. New Fast and Furious movie? Sweet. I loved that series. Since I prob won't see it in the theater, I can't wait till it comes to TNT in about 2-3 years.

7:08pm BOO YAH!!!! This time it's a TD for real!

7:09pm Holy shit, that Pepsi commercial was painful just watching it...

Youtube is amazing... here's the commercial I was talking about...



7:18pm Rare miss tackle by Polamalu. Sweet cut by Edge but man, Troy just flew right by him...

7:21pm Holy shit... how the hell did Ben Patrick catch that!? Hell of a catch.

7:31pm FUCKIN SHIT!!! Somebody stop this Breaston kid!

7:33pm ABOUT TIME we get a sack!!!!

7:35pm "I can't flex the golden pipes?" LOL I love E*trade commercials.



7:38pm Holy cow, that was a hell of a punt coverage by the Cardinals. Alright, let's do this!

7:41pm SHIT!!! Deflection is deadly...

7:45pm Ike Taylor!? How do you not make that INT dude!!!!

7:46pm Fuckin screen play to Hightower and 3rd down conversion... So ghey.

7:49pm 30 ticks remaining... we need a stop here. Just hold them to a FG please.

7:52pm HOLY SHIT!! oh my god. Holy shit. Harrison INT return 100yds for a TD!!! but there's a flag... please god... give it to us. I don't know what the fuck the call is. Offensive facemask! Holy shit!!!! erhagiorsjfklsdjfageralf;kldfjg;ioergjiopgrehjiohgjaioerjgoriadjgopa'rdjo'pjgopjdfopajg'dj'lrkj!!!!!!!!!!

7:53pm Should be a TD. His knee never hits the ground, I think because his knee lands on Fitz.

7:55pm This is obv so big. Please, we need this TD. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! Play stands!!!!!! 17-7 at half time.

7:56pm That is DEVASTATING for the Cardinals. I believe Whiz should be able to calm this team down and this is prob where it helps to have a guy like Kurt Warner leading the offense so that it doesn't get out of hand for them. But huge momentum change there after the Roethlisberger INT to getting the ball back in the endzone and taking it to the other endzone.

8pm Am I supposed to have some 3D glasses? WTF was that commercial?

8:46pm Hines Ward disappears for most of the game after the 2nd play of the game, Al Michaels talks about him, and poof, here he comes with a 3rd down conversion.

8:47pm Bayne is gonna love this. Roethlisberger avoids the tackle all over the place, eventually gets rid of the ball, Dansby comes in to push him to the ground and they call a roughing the passer. Even as a Steelers fan, I hate that call. That's such a pussy call.

8:48pm Santonio Holmes is having a field day against Rodgers Cromartie... seems like whenever they are lined up 1 on 1, they are dumping a short pass to Holmes and he turns it into a decent gain.

8:50pm Willie finally shows off his speed with a nice run! 1st and goal on the 5. TD here would be huge with 4:40 remaining in the 3rd quarter.

8:53pm This is starting to get one-sided, much to my surprise. Jeff Reed makes the FG and the score is now 20-7. Oh shit!!!! Penalty on Adrian Wilson running over the holder. This gives the Steelers 1st down on the 1yd line!

It's not even the points here that's big. The fact that the Steelers can get 3 more tries and kill the clock even more (I know it's early but every minute counts). Of course, the ball gets batted and almost becomes an INT...

8:56pm Unfortunately, we couldn't make Adrian Wilson pay for his penalty. So, we're back to where we were 3 minutes ago... 20-7.

9:05pm End of 3rd quarter. 1 more quarter until the Steelers have the most Superbowl wins in history. Go Steelers!

9:16pm BOOM! Breaston doesn't call for a fair catch and gets hit immediately at the 13yd line. That was a nice punt. Even better coverage.

9:19pm With 11 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter, Larry Fitzgerald only has one catch for like 11 or 12 yards. Basically the Steelers have taken him out of the game. Of course, he makes another catch but that's only like a 6 yard catch.

9:25pm 8 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter, the Cardinals are getting in rhythm. Warner is like 9 for 9 (maybe more) this drive... and of course, Fitzgerald scores on a fade route. 8 plays for 87 yards. Man, Fitz is a beast... 20-14.

9:30pm Uh oh... Ben just got sacked. 6:30 remaining in the 4th quarter, it's like 3rd and 16... not good...

9:35pm Tempers flaring up. Bolding and Ike Taylor get into it. I actually think the offending party was Ike... and sure enough, that's what the call is. Way to cost us another 15 yards you dipshit.

9:36pm Trey, thanks for the comment. No, I didn't think we can contain Fitz the whole game...as a matter of fact, I'm surprised it took this long for Fitz to get his catches. That guy is def an unbelievable receiver.

9:37pm If the Steelers can hold on to win, Harrison has to be the MVP... aside from the INT return for a TD which alone should be enough, he's wreaking havoc and causing 30 yards in penalty (3 holding calls against Gandy who is supposed to protect Warner from him).

9:38pm Is it just me or what? I used to remember Brenda Warner being like a man or something in his St Louis days... now she's a hot blonde? Has she always been that way?

9:39pm Big defensive stop here. 4th and 20, 3:36 remaining. That was big. But huge punt coverage, the ball is downed at the 2 yard line... but there's a flag on the play... Oh FUCK. Harrison called for a penalty... apparently (fortunately) after the play... holy shit, based on the replay, that was dirty.... wtf is he doing? He should be thrown out. He can expect a fine from Goodell on that one. What an idiot.

9:42pm Wow, Parker barely gets out of the endzone. So close. This game is getting too close for comfort.

9:44pm BIG BIG BIG!!!!! Santonio Holmes with a big catch. OH SHIT!!!! big... Holmes catches a 3rd down conversion pass... but a holding call negates it and instead is called a safety giving the Cardinals 2 points... Huge momentum swing. This is crazy... Steelers D will not really be put to the test. 2:58 remaining in the 4th and the Steelers up 20-16...

9:47pm Please keep pressuring Warner. You're not gonna cover 3 good receivers. And as I type that Fitz breaks Jerry Rice record for the most TDs in the post season, and gives the Cardinals the lead. Man, he's fast... 23-20 Cardinals.

I told all of you that this game was gonna be tougher than everyone made it sound...

9:54pm 2 minutes remaining. Let's see if Ben can make it happen.

9:55pm I don't know how the hell Ben got rid of the ball. Come on... 1 minute remaining. Steelers with one timeout remaining after this one.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! BIG BIG pass and catch with Holmes!!! Holy cow. So it comes down to this. 49 seconds remaining, ball on the 5yd line of the Cardinals. I think our red zone offense is not that good but come on man... one time. I need this.

So close. Holmes almost had a TD catch... went right thru his hands... Fitz woulda caught that... I'm just saying...

OH my god!!!! Holmes!!!! Big playmaker!!!!! Please please please please be in. It looks good. I think. Come on. Please. Right foot looks in. Yes. yes. Come on... please... Holmes, I hate OSU but I love you man!!!! This is legit. It looks legit. Yes. It's definitely in. Come on!!! CONFIRM!!!

Holmes has been such a clutch guy for us this season. That is huge. He is our answer to Fitz. YES!!! And now, it's official. Oh my god, oh my god.

Defense and special team hold please. 35 seconds. Let's stop them. We need good kick coverage and contain that high octane offense.

They need 77 yds in 29 seconds. If anyone can do it, they can with 2 time outs. Please. #1 D in the league. Time to live up to the hype boys!

Another catch by Fitz. 22 seconds left. We still need to apply pressure to Warner I think... 55 yds to go...

They use one more time out... no time outs remaining, 15 seconds remaining... I think the ball is on the Steelers 40 something... Just keep them out of the endzone!!!

The Steelers D comes through!!!!!!! When we need them the most, they come through. Is it officially a fumble? No review? I actually think it might be incomplete pass. It looks like Warner is trying to get it out. I don't know at one point is considered a fumble and what point it's considered a fumble. Al Michaels think it's a fumble. There it is. #6 baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Phew.... such an emotionally exhausting game. In the end, all the stars came out to play. Fitz def did his part, Warner played tough, game was good, Ben stepped up, Holmes made his big play... I'm exhausted.

Trey made a very good comment and no, I didn't think it was a jinx when you mentioned it. I think this shows that the Steelers did what no other NFC team could do in the playoffs... keep the Cardinals' score to less than 30 points. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Real quick thought before the Superbowl

As I sit at home by myself getting ready for the Superbowl, here are some quick thoughts.

No doubt, by now, you know I'm a Steelers fan. I actually looked up tickets to the Superbowl but decided that I just couldn't shell out $1800+ for a ticket... Having said that, as I watch the opening ceremony on NBC, I wish I was there...

I think this game is going to be a lot closer thatn most people think. The Cardinals are hot at the right time and really, that's all that matters. The funny thing is, even down the stretch in the final few weeks of the regular season, they couldn't beat anyone who was actually good. Sure, they beat St Louis and Seattle but who didn't? So, coming in to the playoffs, it didn't look like they had much of a chance... and then next thing you knew, they beat Atlanta, Carolina, and Philadelphia to get here. It's one thing to beat one of them... to be able to beat all of them together is some serious shit.

I also wonder if our lack of a solid running game (as compared to 3 years ago when we won the whole thing) would hurt us. You obv don't want to get into a shoot out with the Cardinals. And Cardinals D is getting no love despite them starting to play well...

I also question Tomlin's decision making sometimes and I wonder how much the coaching could come in to play. Whiz and Grimm are obviously going to want to prove to the Steelers that they are better than Tomlin by winning this game. Don't get me wrong, I love Tomlin... but there were numerous times during the season where I would say "WTF!!! Go for the points!!! What are you doing!?"

Ah, but what the hell. Kick off is coming up in a few minutes so I'm just gonna enjoy this game.

MeCrushSTTs

I don't have a big score or anything but I just kept pwning these STTs in January.



You want advice? It's easy.

Run Good!