Ramble On...
It has been a little over a month since I have posted anything. I apologize for anyone who actually reads these. But I do have a lot to talk about, the re-hiring of Ken “I Can’t Manage in Big Game Situations” Macha, the Nets, my fantasy football, basketball and hockey teams, Atlantic City, NCAA Tourney (yes, I know it is over 4 months away), Knicks, White Sox and baseball stuff and other things I have on my mind. Off we go…
First, let me get this off my chest. I hate Ken Macha. I loathe him. But I don’t know who I loathe more, him or Art Howe, who are essentially, the same person, the same manager. The A’s rehiring Macha is like how Ben Afflecks character, O’Bannion, gets another chance to play high school football again. The entire incoming freshmen class hates him, the same exact feelings I have towards the man. I know its printed the players love Macha for his easy going persona, which is fine. I’m sure he’s a fine human being, but when he screws with my team’s performance due to his managerial decisions, I get angry. I think I should figure out a way to dump paint on Macha and make him squeal like a pig.
The 2006 NBA season has begun. I went to the Nets opener, and I have to say, I was disappointed by their performance. They were unable to rebound or hit their foul shots, which cost them the game against the Milwaukee Bucks. And the Bucks are a quality team, I don’t care what people say, they have T.J. Ford back, Bobby Simmons coming off his best season in L.A., Michael Redd who can be lights out on any given night, Jamaal Magliore who is one of the better centers in the league, and the #1 overall draft pick, Andrew Bogut, who was very impressive on the opening night. But the Nets have played 3 games since then, and have a record of 2-2. Not too impressive, but I have been impressed with the way they have played. They took care of Toronto pretty easily, but I think the NY Liberty could do the same to the Raptors. But the Nets defeated the Bulls, at home, on a last second shot by RJ, which he was also fouled on and then hit the game winning free throw. (That’s not even mentioning the game winning block shot by VC.) Then the Nets played pretty well (with the exception of their defense, which will be their Achilles all year) and were able to come back from 11 down in the 4th quarter. They have been resilient; Kidd is having fun out there and loving it, and knows they can win. He is playing with emotion once again (as he showed when RJ hit that shot against the Bulls with 1.5…Kidd ran over to RJ, picked him off the floor and looked as if he was going to pull and Aaron Burr on him). The Nets can put points up on the board, but aren’t doing much in the rebounding and defensive department, which is important. If they can trade for a player who’s main responsibility is rebounding and playing def, they will be alright. And they also have to stop allowing Marc Jackson take shots. He’s atrocious.
I watched the Knicks for the first time on Sunday afternoon when they played the Warriors at The Garden. I’ll tell you what, their rookies impressed me. It was sort of like going to a movie, not expecting much, but then being surprised by how good the plot and storyline is, but then the ending being a major disappointment. Larry Brown had a great story line and plot by playing his rookies and his rookies (Nate Robinson, David Lee and Channing Frye) and Trevor Ariza log important minutes. It was nice and inspiring to watch them hustle, dive for balls, grab rebounds, throw their bodies around and play defense. They played unselfishly, they played well, they played like a team. Knicks were losing, and they put them on top. But with less than 5 minutes left a timeout was called by the Warriors and Brown decided to take out the group that gave them back the lead that had a flow going, and maybe even more importantly, had the crowd back in the game and happy about what they were seeing. But Brown, because he stays true to his vets, let me down with his ending. The director decided to switch the young guns of Lee, Robinson, Frye and Ariza, to the vets of Quentin Richardson, Matt Barnes and Jerome James. Brown eventually put Robinson back in the game and Robinson turned the ball over in the final seconds of the game, but don’t blame Robinson. I blame Brown. He disrupted the flow of the game and took the crowd of it out as the Knicks vets squandered the lead and the hard work that the rooks handed off to them.
I would like to say congrats to the Chicago White Sox. I did not think they would make it out of the Division Series, but they proved me wrong, very wrong. I thought their pitching was suspect heading into the playoffs, but they pitched wonderfully. Their starters pitched all of but 2/3 of an inning the ALCS. Granted, the White Sox had a lot of breaks, but what eventual championship team doesn’t get breaks? Even with the other team’s misfortunes, they had to play well enough and pitch well enough to win the games.
I would also like to give my respect to Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio, especially to Biggio. Those two have been with the Houston Astros organization for 16 and 18 years respectfully, and Biggio was a class act after the ‘Stros were swept. He thanked the fans and was so proud of his teammates. Yes, he wanted to win the World Series badly, more than I will ever imagine, or you could ever imagine, but he was happy to be there. Think about everything the team went through during the season. They were 15 under .500 at one point, and everyone threw them under the bridge. But they pulled threw. Yeah, they didn’t hit in the World Series and they were unable to score runs when they had runners in scoring position with less than 2 out, but give them a hand, especially to Craig Biggio. He exemplifies class act.
Speaking of class act, the New York Giants owner, Wellington Mara, passed away 2 weeks ago. I did not know much about the man, but I was able to read many articles and I heard many stories run on television through the local stations and the national stations such as ESPN after he passed away. And just from what I have heard I have to say he must have been the epitome of a true gentleman and a man of integrity. I heard all week long how he believed the NFL was more important than his beloved Giants. He believed in a salary cap and revenue sharing and wanted every team in the NFL to have the same opportunity and chance to win the Super Bowl. He could have easily been the George Steinbrenner of football and made the Giants into the Yankees. Think about it, the Giants are huge, they play in the best market, most profitable market. But he had integrity. How many people can you say that about? I also heard about Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey were the only players on this current roster to be invited to visit Mara before he passed away. Tiki has represented the Giants organization with class and dignity throughout his years, and Mara apparently appreciated that. Shockey on the other hand had some troublesome times, but Mara never gave up on him, and gave him second chances. And Shockey has turned things around. I guess it was due to Mara who they say was a father figure, or grandfather figure to him. I heard stories of how Mara would go to the Giants locker room after every game. If they won, he would congratulate them. If they lost he would pat them on the back, tell them to keep their head up, and would thank them for their effort they displayed. He wouldn’t chastise them. I really wish I had learned more about Wellington Mara. I think we all could have learned something from what seems to me, like a fine human being.
I am not too happy about the way my 3 fantasy football leagues are panning out. 1 league I am on a 7 game losing streak, the other league I split with a buddy of mine and I can’t even begin to tell you how lucky we have been thus far, at 5-4. We won yesterday 100-99. We should be more like 3-6 or 2-8, but get lucky each week. I love it. We were up 9 points heading into last nights Monday night football game. We had Reggie Wayne going and the opposing team had Brady, and we pulled out the 1 point victory. Hopefully that can at least continue. In my other league, I am improved to 5-4 after this weeks win. I hate it because in this league I keep getting extremely unlucky. I have the most points in the league, but am a sub-par .500 team. I get so frustrated with that. I lost two weeks ago because I decided to start Eli over Plummer, who had 4 TDs. I still scored the 3rd most points in the league that week, but was defeated by the team that has scored the 2nd least amount of points in the league, but somehow scored the 2nd most that week. Granted, it was a bad decision by me to start Eli over Plummer, but how unlucky can I get.
I put together a Fantasy Hockey league. That’s not fairing to well with me. I’m in 8th place (out of 12 teams) and I drafted Kevin Weekes, which my buddy Burger wouldn’t let up about even today, 2 weeks after I cut him from my team. I’ll tell you though, Gionta of the Devils is having a good season. I just need to find a Left Winger. Anyone have any suggestions?
I am in 2 Fantasy Basketball leagues. The main b-ball league I had the last pick of the draft (10th overall). My game plan heading into the draft was to Kidd and Shawn Marion. But Kidd went 8th overall, which I was expecting him to drop to me, then I was hoping Dwayne Wade would fall to me, but my buddy Brian drafted him with the 9th pick, which inevitably left me with drafting Shawn Marion and Elton Brand. I hate my guards and I have Chris Kaman starting as my 2nd Center. In this league you start 2 Centers, 4 Forwards and 4 Guards. And this is what my team looks like:
C: Nenad Krstic (NJ)
C: Chris Kaman (LAC)
F: Shawn Marion (PHO)
F: Elton Brand (LAC)
F: Richard Jefferson (NJ)
F: Troy Murphy (GS)
G: Kirk Hinrich (CHI)
G: Stephen Jackson (IND)
G: T.J. Ford (MIL)
G: Deron Williams (UTAH)
Bench:
C: Samuel Dalembert (PHI)
F: Mike Sweetney (CHI)
F: Josh Childress (ATL)
G: Shaun Livingston (LAC)
G: Sebastian Telfair (POR)
G: Derek Fisher (GS)
Note: I drafted Ray Felton and traded his rights for Deron Williams and also drafted Ike Diogu but dropped him due to being injured and picked up Derek Fisher, because I was in need of another guard.
My other fantasy b-ball league is thru Salary Cap Manager on nba.com. I like this league. You started out with $35million, and had to sign 6 players. They price rises and falls depending on the demand of that player. You can make up to 2 transactions a week (but if you make only 1, then you can carry the other over to the following week, and then you can make 3). It is a different format, and I like it, and plus I’m on top right now, but we’ll see how long that lasts for.
Quick note on Atlantic City. I was down there for work 3 weeks ago, and what a blast. Check out the new addition to the Tropicana. They have a great Karaoke Bar, in which I engaged in performing “Road House Blues” and yes, I think I did a good job incorporating the crowd.
And lastly, I am trying to plan my first ever NCAA March Madness Vegas trip. To fly and stay there isn’t that expensive, approximately $620 for airfare and 5 nights. Think about it, wake up around 7:30, go get breakfast, get on the internet to do the last minute research, head off to the Sports Book, place your bets, get your free drinks and sit and watch the games. At night, go party it up, as long as I still have money left. Going to Vegas for the greatest sports weekend is something I want and need to do while I am still young. And I would like to watch UT be crowned champions once and for all. And to watch potentially 7-8 teams from the Big East in the tourney would be phenomenal. UT, Big East, NCAA Tourney, Upsets, Gambling, Vegas...what could be better?
Until next time….
First, let me get this off my chest. I hate Ken Macha. I loathe him. But I don’t know who I loathe more, him or Art Howe, who are essentially, the same person, the same manager. The A’s rehiring Macha is like how Ben Afflecks character, O’Bannion, gets another chance to play high school football again. The entire incoming freshmen class hates him, the same exact feelings I have towards the man. I know its printed the players love Macha for his easy going persona, which is fine. I’m sure he’s a fine human being, but when he screws with my team’s performance due to his managerial decisions, I get angry. I think I should figure out a way to dump paint on Macha and make him squeal like a pig.
The 2006 NBA season has begun. I went to the Nets opener, and I have to say, I was disappointed by their performance. They were unable to rebound or hit their foul shots, which cost them the game against the Milwaukee Bucks. And the Bucks are a quality team, I don’t care what people say, they have T.J. Ford back, Bobby Simmons coming off his best season in L.A., Michael Redd who can be lights out on any given night, Jamaal Magliore who is one of the better centers in the league, and the #1 overall draft pick, Andrew Bogut, who was very impressive on the opening night. But the Nets have played 3 games since then, and have a record of 2-2. Not too impressive, but I have been impressed with the way they have played. They took care of Toronto pretty easily, but I think the NY Liberty could do the same to the Raptors. But the Nets defeated the Bulls, at home, on a last second shot by RJ, which he was also fouled on and then hit the game winning free throw. (That’s not even mentioning the game winning block shot by VC.) Then the Nets played pretty well (with the exception of their defense, which will be their Achilles all year) and were able to come back from 11 down in the 4th quarter. They have been resilient; Kidd is having fun out there and loving it, and knows they can win. He is playing with emotion once again (as he showed when RJ hit that shot against the Bulls with 1.5…Kidd ran over to RJ, picked him off the floor and looked as if he was going to pull and Aaron Burr on him). The Nets can put points up on the board, but aren’t doing much in the rebounding and defensive department, which is important. If they can trade for a player who’s main responsibility is rebounding and playing def, they will be alright. And they also have to stop allowing Marc Jackson take shots. He’s atrocious.
I watched the Knicks for the first time on Sunday afternoon when they played the Warriors at The Garden. I’ll tell you what, their rookies impressed me. It was sort of like going to a movie, not expecting much, but then being surprised by how good the plot and storyline is, but then the ending being a major disappointment. Larry Brown had a great story line and plot by playing his rookies and his rookies (Nate Robinson, David Lee and Channing Frye) and Trevor Ariza log important minutes. It was nice and inspiring to watch them hustle, dive for balls, grab rebounds, throw their bodies around and play defense. They played unselfishly, they played well, they played like a team. Knicks were losing, and they put them on top. But with less than 5 minutes left a timeout was called by the Warriors and Brown decided to take out the group that gave them back the lead that had a flow going, and maybe even more importantly, had the crowd back in the game and happy about what they were seeing. But Brown, because he stays true to his vets, let me down with his ending. The director decided to switch the young guns of Lee, Robinson, Frye and Ariza, to the vets of Quentin Richardson, Matt Barnes and Jerome James. Brown eventually put Robinson back in the game and Robinson turned the ball over in the final seconds of the game, but don’t blame Robinson. I blame Brown. He disrupted the flow of the game and took the crowd of it out as the Knicks vets squandered the lead and the hard work that the rooks handed off to them.
I would like to say congrats to the Chicago White Sox. I did not think they would make it out of the Division Series, but they proved me wrong, very wrong. I thought their pitching was suspect heading into the playoffs, but they pitched wonderfully. Their starters pitched all of but 2/3 of an inning the ALCS. Granted, the White Sox had a lot of breaks, but what eventual championship team doesn’t get breaks? Even with the other team’s misfortunes, they had to play well enough and pitch well enough to win the games.
I would also like to give my respect to Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio, especially to Biggio. Those two have been with the Houston Astros organization for 16 and 18 years respectfully, and Biggio was a class act after the ‘Stros were swept. He thanked the fans and was so proud of his teammates. Yes, he wanted to win the World Series badly, more than I will ever imagine, or you could ever imagine, but he was happy to be there. Think about everything the team went through during the season. They were 15 under .500 at one point, and everyone threw them under the bridge. But they pulled threw. Yeah, they didn’t hit in the World Series and they were unable to score runs when they had runners in scoring position with less than 2 out, but give them a hand, especially to Craig Biggio. He exemplifies class act.
Speaking of class act, the New York Giants owner, Wellington Mara, passed away 2 weeks ago. I did not know much about the man, but I was able to read many articles and I heard many stories run on television through the local stations and the national stations such as ESPN after he passed away. And just from what I have heard I have to say he must have been the epitome of a true gentleman and a man of integrity. I heard all week long how he believed the NFL was more important than his beloved Giants. He believed in a salary cap and revenue sharing and wanted every team in the NFL to have the same opportunity and chance to win the Super Bowl. He could have easily been the George Steinbrenner of football and made the Giants into the Yankees. Think about it, the Giants are huge, they play in the best market, most profitable market. But he had integrity. How many people can you say that about? I also heard about Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey were the only players on this current roster to be invited to visit Mara before he passed away. Tiki has represented the Giants organization with class and dignity throughout his years, and Mara apparently appreciated that. Shockey on the other hand had some troublesome times, but Mara never gave up on him, and gave him second chances. And Shockey has turned things around. I guess it was due to Mara who they say was a father figure, or grandfather figure to him. I heard stories of how Mara would go to the Giants locker room after every game. If they won, he would congratulate them. If they lost he would pat them on the back, tell them to keep their head up, and would thank them for their effort they displayed. He wouldn’t chastise them. I really wish I had learned more about Wellington Mara. I think we all could have learned something from what seems to me, like a fine human being.
I am not too happy about the way my 3 fantasy football leagues are panning out. 1 league I am on a 7 game losing streak, the other league I split with a buddy of mine and I can’t even begin to tell you how lucky we have been thus far, at 5-4. We won yesterday 100-99. We should be more like 3-6 or 2-8, but get lucky each week. I love it. We were up 9 points heading into last nights Monday night football game. We had Reggie Wayne going and the opposing team had Brady, and we pulled out the 1 point victory. Hopefully that can at least continue. In my other league, I am improved to 5-4 after this weeks win. I hate it because in this league I keep getting extremely unlucky. I have the most points in the league, but am a sub-par .500 team. I get so frustrated with that. I lost two weeks ago because I decided to start Eli over Plummer, who had 4 TDs. I still scored the 3rd most points in the league that week, but was defeated by the team that has scored the 2nd least amount of points in the league, but somehow scored the 2nd most that week. Granted, it was a bad decision by me to start Eli over Plummer, but how unlucky can I get.
I put together a Fantasy Hockey league. That’s not fairing to well with me. I’m in 8th place (out of 12 teams) and I drafted Kevin Weekes, which my buddy Burger wouldn’t let up about even today, 2 weeks after I cut him from my team. I’ll tell you though, Gionta of the Devils is having a good season. I just need to find a Left Winger. Anyone have any suggestions?
I am in 2 Fantasy Basketball leagues. The main b-ball league I had the last pick of the draft (10th overall). My game plan heading into the draft was to Kidd and Shawn Marion. But Kidd went 8th overall, which I was expecting him to drop to me, then I was hoping Dwayne Wade would fall to me, but my buddy Brian drafted him with the 9th pick, which inevitably left me with drafting Shawn Marion and Elton Brand. I hate my guards and I have Chris Kaman starting as my 2nd Center. In this league you start 2 Centers, 4 Forwards and 4 Guards. And this is what my team looks like:
C: Nenad Krstic (NJ)
C: Chris Kaman (LAC)
F: Shawn Marion (PHO)
F: Elton Brand (LAC)
F: Richard Jefferson (NJ)
F: Troy Murphy (GS)
G: Kirk Hinrich (CHI)
G: Stephen Jackson (IND)
G: T.J. Ford (MIL)
G: Deron Williams (UTAH)
Bench:
C: Samuel Dalembert (PHI)
F: Mike Sweetney (CHI)
F: Josh Childress (ATL)
G: Shaun Livingston (LAC)
G: Sebastian Telfair (POR)
G: Derek Fisher (GS)
Note: I drafted Ray Felton and traded his rights for Deron Williams and also drafted Ike Diogu but dropped him due to being injured and picked up Derek Fisher, because I was in need of another guard.
My other fantasy b-ball league is thru Salary Cap Manager on nba.com. I like this league. You started out with $35million, and had to sign 6 players. They price rises and falls depending on the demand of that player. You can make up to 2 transactions a week (but if you make only 1, then you can carry the other over to the following week, and then you can make 3). It is a different format, and I like it, and plus I’m on top right now, but we’ll see how long that lasts for.
Quick note on Atlantic City. I was down there for work 3 weeks ago, and what a blast. Check out the new addition to the Tropicana. They have a great Karaoke Bar, in which I engaged in performing “Road House Blues” and yes, I think I did a good job incorporating the crowd.
And lastly, I am trying to plan my first ever NCAA March Madness Vegas trip. To fly and stay there isn’t that expensive, approximately $620 for airfare and 5 nights. Think about it, wake up around 7:30, go get breakfast, get on the internet to do the last minute research, head off to the Sports Book, place your bets, get your free drinks and sit and watch the games. At night, go party it up, as long as I still have money left. Going to Vegas for the greatest sports weekend is something I want and need to do while I am still young. And I would like to watch UT be crowned champions once and for all. And to watch potentially 7-8 teams from the Big East in the tourney would be phenomenal. UT, Big East, NCAA Tourney, Upsets, Gambling, Vegas...what could be better?
Until next time….
posted by Mark D. Miller at 8:43 AM
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