The B-Log |
Friday, November 29, 2002
I received several responses for the Question of the Month. Most were pretty good, but man, nothing says it so well as an article from ESPN itself on the matter.
Alright, alright enough Vince bashing. The new Question of the Month should give new food for thought. Thursday, November 28, 2002
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Finally got a counter on the sidebar, near the bottom. I doubt it's very accurate, but good enough for now.
My high school friend, Typhoon, is a pure genius. He recently read my post complaining about Antropov (and other fans in that breed) having S.I.Q. problems and biases. He proceeded to tell me how much he agreed. He also lauded my "Defense of Kobe" post. He then put forth to me all his basketball theories and how to truly measure and judge a player's performance. As I listened, his words and ideas echoed an eerie sense of familiarity in the back of my mind. Before I go further, a brief background for my friend Typhoon. Before any haters out there hate on his theories, let me say he is totally "qualified" in my view to say this shit. He's been playing b-ball all his life and he's been on several school teams before. In one of the numerous Chinese b-ball leagues at U of T last year (sorry Loligo, I don't think it's CESA!) he was voted Defensive Player of the Year. This guy's been watching b-ball forever and he taught me everything I know about the game: how to play it, how to study it, how to improve it. Play this guy 1-on-1 and you'll get skuled. He does have weakpoints in his game but I'm not at liberty to discuss lol. But you get the picture. He's also a com. sci. major so you can't say he's uneducated. If you don't like his views, too bad. Anyways, to keep things "brief" and general, his basic theory goes something like this:
Sabermetrics is essentially the study of baseball by treating it as both a math and a science, developing fundamental laws, mathematical concepts, metrics, and probability models to define the behaviour of the game, and most importantly, to measure the worth and performance of teams and players. Typhoon's theories all sounded very much like sabermetrics. And it only further convinced me of a long-time belief of mine; that all sports are capable of being, and should be being subject to a sabermetrics-type analysis. I asked him if he had ever heard of sabermetrics, and he responded no, which only increased my respect for his thinking. Anyways it seems he's written a 6700-word essay on the matter. I surely will take a look at it sometime. I won't go into his theories in detail, but I'm going to post some hilarious Vinsanity-bashing messages he said to me over ICQ. They're hilarious. But the truly funny thing is, they're all true and the statements are based on substantial evidence. Enjoy.
And before anyone says Typhoon is just another VC hater, notice that he admits to being a Raptor fan, just not a VC fan, so don't blame it on city-bias. He also gives VC his proper due, going so far as to say he is probably the 5th best SG. But I think that effectively settles the Kobe vs. VC debate. Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Sorry folks about the 11/26/2002 post. I didn't realize I had FTP'ed the wrong file. I sent the "question" file instead of the "quote" file so the new quote wasn't up yet. Check again now :)
You may have noticed the slight tweakings on the site. Just making it "normal" enough before I start fooling around with different designs. I'll be fiddling with CSS and Stylesheets, as advised by J-Tron (J for short). J's a really cool dood. Check his site out on my links. Thanks J! For now, you'll have to put up with the plainness (sp?). On a side note, the "Favorites" sections have complete lists now, but it'll be a while before I get to creating the links and explanations for those lists. That's okay though, gives you more time to read my blog. Which is the main attraction. It has the most entertainment value. It's all about manipulating your audience and giving them what they'll like. I might even lie once in a while for effect. Haha just kidding, I won't stoop that low. Cheers.
Yes, one of the "maidens" I was referring to in the quotes section is none other than the Empress Dowager herself. Mwa ha. Darn I need more pictures and links in my posts. Make it more colorful and lively. Oh well pictures = memory space = waste. Yeah I know, I'm cheap hehe. Monday, November 25, 2002
Well motherfuck! My luck's run dry once again in Yahoo! Sports. Man I always get fucked over. I drop Amare Stoudemire today and then what does he do? Yeah just go and get a double-double and a few blocks why don't you. Bastard. Oh it gets worse though. Keith Tkachuk comes off the IL and gets like 20 freaking PIM and I didn't even play him. Ah well. Bitches.
I realize that frames can be extremely annoying, ugly and tacky. So I apologize to everyone for the initial design and setup. When I get most of the "core" content onto the site, I'll spend some time making it more visually pleasing, or at least not so cluttered. I'm not a gifted artist or web designer but I'll try to make it more suitable for viewing. Sunday, November 24, 2002
Antropov is a really nice guy and a good friend. Unfortunately, he's usually a victim of the self-inflated S.I.Q. syndrome (please reference 11/21/2002 post). We debated again over the weekend over the worth and quality of Kobe Bryant as a player. He continually refuses to acknowledge him as good for a team. Granted, he does acknowledge him as a great individual player, but not a team player or a leader. I agree with him to some extent, but to say that the Lakers can win their championships without Kobe is nothing if not ridiculous. It is true that with Shaq and no Kobe, the Lakers still have a chance. And it is also true that with Kobe but no Shaq, they don't have a chance (as evidenced recently). But I still maintain you're better off with both of them than with only one of them. Even when I used Vinsanity and T-Mac as foils for Kobe he would not buy it completely. But I respect his opinion. I do believe however, some of his bias towards Kobe and the Lakers comes from the fact he and Wedge have feuded before. It is no secret that Antropov and Wedge have no love for each other, and Wedge is a long-time Laker fan. To be fair, Wedge has the exact same bias. He often trashes Vinsanity and the Raptors more than they deserve (though at this moment they are deserving of it). Back to the matter at hand. It's actually quite fun to debate with Antropov. Skewed as his views may be, he proves to be a worthy opponent and has decent arguments. I concede then, that I would build a team around Shaq rather than Kobe if I could only choose one. But Kobe is still the best darn shooting guard in the NBA.
How's everyone doing?...Echo echo echo...Well lots to talk about this weekend. I write in spurts, sorry my friends. I'm a very streaky person. I even play sports that way (streaky type of player). Anyways I have a lot of movie talk this week. Might be that bores some folks, so best tune out now. Warning! Movie spoilers in the follow posts! I promised Aneres to post something about H-Potts a.k.a. Harry Potter. Well I saw Potter 2 last week with a couple friends. My good friend (an ardent H-Potts fan) Wedge Vicks was pretty excited and happy about it. I found I really enjoyed the 2nd installment of Mr. Potter, but I have to admit it wasn't as good as the first one. While the magical atmosphere of the movie was not lacking, I think it was simply that the novelty had worn off from the 1st film, added to the fact there is always higher expectations for the sequel. Makes me worry about TTT a little, but nonetheless, Potter 2 was a good movie. On a side note, Hermione (played by Emma Watson) seems on the brink of bursting into serious babehood. Before anyone burns me at the stake for being a pedophile, hear me out. I'm just making the observation that this nice young girl will probably blossom into a really beautiful young woman later on, that's all. Even the BMF and Wedge said the same thing, without having me to prompt them about it in fact hehe. I saw 8 Mile on Friday with The Bun. I was very impressed, both with the film itself and Eminem's performance. Sure, the movie was a straight-shooter. Sure, it's not really hard for Eminem to play, essentially, himself. Yet the movie is surprisingly down-to-earth and hits the right mark in trying to say what it wants to say. And Eminem's performance, no matter how easy it may have come to him, makes us sympathize and root for his character. In the end we come to understand Eminem himself a bit better - the roots of that pent up rage, his inner struggles, and that he does stand for something. I have a lot more respect for him after seeing this film, not just for the aforementioned look into his personality, but just because freestyling is in reality so dang hard! They really spin off some good freestyle rap in the movie. But the thing I like the most about the movie is the ending. Instead of choosing to go the cliche route and have the protagonist go straight from rags-to-riches, it elects to have him simply go from rags to say, donation clothes. It implies that, while he has tasted victory, he still has a long way to go to get to where he wants to be (or rather, where Eminem currently is). And it is a testament to the quality of a good movie. (Oh yeah that theme song is pretty kick ass too yo!) Thursday, November 21, 2002
I have been urged to post more and more often by my comrades. Yes, I know, my journal is hurting for content. Let's bring up a subject that never fails to irk me then. That being the vast majority of ignorant sports fans who, out of an inflated sense of ego, or maybe through a false sense of pride of their sports "knowledge", claim to be or act as if they truly are well-read in sports. And what's worse, they often act as if their S.I.Q. (Sports I.Q. - yeah I made that up so what) is higher than yours. And man I'm not just talking about the wool-headed types Rob Neyer talks about, those blind angry fans, but I'm talking about your very own friends and relatives and acquaintances. Especially friends. Why especially friends? Because when they blather on like some idiot about something they obviously know nothing about (i.e. "OMG OMG Pedro Swann is such a good call-up for the Jays!"), you can't blurt out what a stupid mutton-head they really are. Or that they're a fucking idiot. After all, they are you're friend(s). Sure you can argue your case or try to make them look foolish but sometimes there's nothing I'd like more than to wring their necks and scream out why the can't see the obvious (i.e. Pedro Swann sucks shit). I'll make exceptions for guys who are really blinded by love for their team. But there's some basic S.I.Q. fundamentals a true sports fan needs to have to be respectable. I think Loligo and John Lackey (Lackey for short - hmm play on words, ya think?) know exactly what I'm talking about, and perhaps who I am talking about as well. (On a side note, I just noticed the Jays acquired Cory Lidle. Nice! Of course Fate will probably have it that some dude flames me for my low S.I.Q. for that comment.) These are the kinds of guys who think OBP and OPS mean nothing. The kind that thinks Derek Jeter is a superstar. The type that believes Shea Hillenbrand is the real deal. The ones who feel Uwe Krupp can still be a quality NHL defenseman. The people who think Kobe is a hog and therefore not a true leader or good player (fuck he is a bloody hog but he's won 3 championships - and who are they to say it's only cuz of Shaq; how many championship rings have you won lately?). The masses who would downplay T-Mac's skillz cuz he's a traitor and a punk and looks like a druggie (he truly is all these things but dont' go hating on his skillz; I mean, I hate A.I. but he's a darn good player). These wannabe sports knowledgeables comprise the rot of everything bad about sports fandom. They give S.I.Q. a bad name. I'm not saying they're bad people. Nor bad fans. Just really really misinformed and bloody blind. Yeah ok that was mean. I'm done now lol. But surely some of you out there can relate (Loligo? Lackey? BMF?). I mean, if you don't know enough about something, keep yer mouth shut. Or say only what you know instead of bleating like a bloody sheep. Or ask questions so you do know and become informed. But please, don't herald a cause or a belief - not just sports, but anything in life - just because you heard it on a radio show, or read it in the sports column. Become informed and truly analyze it for yourself before forming an opinion or presenting yourself as someone with a high S.I.Q. Thank you.
I asked Blondie what my first real post should be about. And naturally, she responded, "Me!" So I've decided to comply. For lack of a better topic I guess. A few days ago she's all, "Hey so I figured out what our relationship is like". "Oh like what?" I reply. "Well I figured we're pretty much like Will and Grace, only you're not gay", she answers beamingly. Well gee I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or what. But seriously, come to think of it, we really are like Will and Grace. Insert gay jokes about B here before proceeding. Alrighty proceeding then...Blondie really is my best friend and it's a completely platonic (well...mostly) relationship based on mutual trust and respect. Dude sounds kinda corny. But true. We've never let attraction get in the way (Ha! As if she'd be attracted to me!) nor have we ever really thought of hooking up (Or have we?). It's weird I take her for granted a lot and I feel bad. I totally use her as a punching bag at times or freak out on her but she still stays loyal and never fails to do anything I ask/need. Well aren't I a selfish jerk. She's hilarious too, makes me laugh and she doesn't mind my dorkiness. Damnnnn I known her almost 4 years now too. Okay Blondie don't get your ego too inflated from this. I still hate you and you're ugly. Jokes. She's actually the hottest chick I've ever personally known to be honest. But I won't go posting her pic up anytime soon on pain of death or being roasted alive on a stick (her words not mine). And no, I won't be conveying messages nor offers for her hand in marriage gentlemen. Anyways point is she's great and I love ya Blondie. I hope you're satisfied with the homage I just paid you. It almost befits a queen milady. Probably the most you're likely to ever get from any guy. You know I'm totally kidding. Oh and by the way don't ever call me Will again. Tuesday, November 19, 2002
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