Los Tigres 2009

I dunno, but for some reason I have hope here. I just think they can really pull it together. I cant believe I'm saying it, but I am putting my eggs in the Tiger's basket. Shit was so bad before, it can only get better right...? Right?

I done forgot how to add links so here you go:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove08/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=3728385&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab8pos2

Lame...

The following people suck: Viggy, Brown Guy, Other Guy and Lighter Than Darker Than...

I'm going to blame the amazing weather on the lack of blogging. Also the Western conference race to the playoffs. But now that the series are set, the West is up for grabs and the East will obviously be down to Detroit, Boston/Cavs in the EC finals. Anyways, there's a good chance that we start blogging again, but probably an equally good chance that we don't.

-Swami

Movie News...

So for those of you who aren't fanboys, I thought I'd lay down some new info on movies that are coming out and some that have just been announced. First of all, I wanted to mention that while I love Hollywood movies and ridiculous garbage like Never Back Down, I find much more inspired to make movies when I see a film like Ping Pong (recommended to me by my boy Bill). The point is that while the following news excites me to no end, I don't condone only making terrible remakes and sequels and prequels and adaptations. I seriously can't recall the last good original movie (meaning script and style) that I saw.

Anyways... They just announced plans to remake Short Circuit. For those who don't know, it's one of the greatest 80's movies and substance I still quote to this day. This might be the only movie I'm pissed they are remaking. It doesn't need to be updated. That's crazy. Supposedly it's just Dimension films trying to cash in on the assumed success of Pixar's robot movie, Wall-E (which has all the potential of being the best Pixar film yet, and yes, I remember how good Toy Story was. Also in production that I mentioned a while back on my blog is G.I. Joe. I've been hearing good things about trying to make it more like Batman Begins and less like Fantastic 4 but if you ask me that sort of leaves it around the level of Transformers. Which for me is still something to get excited for (no new news on Transformers 2 as far as story line, but same cast/director/writers so expect around the same thing only it's supposed to have much more and better action so it already sound amazing).











(Early pic of Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe)

They are making a new Muppets movie. Ordinarily I wouldn't really care, I mean I love the Muppets but whatev. But my boy Jason Segal (Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, all that is Apatow and writer/star of the upcoming Forgetting Sarah Marshall) is writing it with his Sarah Marshall director Nick Stoller. It will probably be filled with cameos from my favorite people so it's pretty much guaranteed to be hilarious and family friendly at the same time.

Other things in the works are The Lone Ranger (to be made into a bad ass by Jerry Bruckheimer). The X-Files sequel which will no doubt be amazing. Bruno (Sasha Baron Cohen's other hilarious character) is filming already. Not sure if you can match the hilarity of Borat but it will definitely be hilarious. Sam Raimi is going to make at least 2 movies about a young Jack Ryan (a Tom Clancy character made awesome by Harrison Ford in Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games and then ruined by Ben Affleck in The Sum of All Fears).

The box office has been taking in ridiculous numbers and it's almost like any movie out there is going to make a profit so it's no surprise that there are so many movies being made. The downfall of this is that there are then a litany of awful movies made quickly to try and make some money and then people get disenfranchised with movies and stop going again and then they stop making as many. It's a vicious cycle. There is a lot more news and info online if you are actually interested in any of the above.

Go see something

-Swami

What should have happened

Addendum to my previous entry concerning the Hawks.

How much better would the Hawks and Mavs be if the trades for Mike Bibby and Jason Kidd had been switched?

First the Hawks, I would argue that Bibby isn't right for this team at all. He's not the kind of point guard that creates opportunities for other players. He is a better shooter and ball handler then the Hawks previously had but that isn't what the team needs out of it's point guard. They need someone who can push the ball up the floor, penetrate and dominate the ball which isn't Bibby's game. Enter Jason Kidd. While he doesn't help the Hawks dismal outside shooting he does create easier shots for others, controls the tempo of the game and provides veteran leadership on the floor and in the locker room. He dominates that ball, which is fine as the other Hawks players aren't great passers. In addition, he attracts fans and potential free agents this summer.

Second the Mavs, Kidd isn't really hurting the Mavs, but he also isn't making them any better. Dallas isn't a team that looks to push the tempo of the game and in a half court set defenses sag off of Kidd and dare him to shoot, which makes things harder for the other Mavs players. (Note given the Hawks personnel with Kidd they would be a team that would look to push the ball at every opportunity). The Mavs already had great team ball movement before Kidd and now that he dominates the ball the movement has come to a halt. This doesn't nessesarily kill the Mavs it just makes the game harder for everyone. Enter Mike Bibby a solid ball handler, great shooter and good passer in a team passing game. Bibby could hit the outside shot to take pressure off of both Dirk and Josh Howard and still get the the rim enough to keep defenses on their toes. He wouldn't need to create shots for others, Dirk and Howard can create their own shots. He also could be a part of the team instead of being expected to be a team leader. This is something that isn't working with the Mavs since Dirk is obviously the man, which is something Kidd isn't used to.

The bottom line: We need a do-over. The Hawks need a point guard to push the tempo, create shots for others, dominate the ball and provide leadership. The Mavs need a point guard who can hit the outside shot, handle the ball, and fit into their team passing game.

~Viggy

Why aren't the Atlanta Hawks any good?

The theory put forth has been that Atlanta was a talented team a point guard away from being a contender in the East. They have a fantastic scorer in Joe Johnson, explosive wing players in Marvin Williams and Josh Smith and, in my opinion, the Rookie of the Year in the middle in Al Horford. When they traded for Mike Bibby in February I assumed like everyone else they were a lock for the sixth seed in the East. Instead they've been battling with the Nets and Pacers for the eighth and final seed. I see four big reasons behind the Hawks failure to be any better.

1. They have no bench. Josh Childress isn't bad, but one guy isn't depth. A good team has a rotation of at least seven usually eight. After Childress you are looking at: Acie Law (an inconsistent rookie), Mario West (simply not that good), Solomon Jones (ditto) and Zaza Pachulia (a big white guy who sorta takes up space). No bench means the starters play heavy minutes which wears them out not only during the game, but also over the course of the season.

2. They can't win on the road. The Hawks have won just nine road games all season which ranks 23rd in the league. Hawks coach Mike Woodson had this to say about winning on the road, "You've got to control game tempo when you're on the road and you've got to defend and rebound. You do those three things, you put yourself in position to win." Which brings us to our third point.

3. They are deceptively terrible on defense. All of the Hawks starters are capable of locking down on defense, but the effort isn't there. Josh Smith is second in the NBA in blocked shots and 14th in steals and the Hawks still give up almost 100 points per game. This isn't that bad compared to the rest of the league, but when you only average to score 97 point per game it hurts. For our final point,

4. They can't shoot from behind the arc. The Hawks average 4.4 made 3's per game which is good for 27th in the league. This isn't terribly suprising considering most of their players are strong slashers. Unfortunately it allows opposing teams to sag in the middle of the floor which makes it tough for Horford and Williams to get easy looks.

I suspect the Hawks will sneak into the playoffs as the eighth seed as the Pacer and Nets continue to suck. The Hawks first round pick belongs to the Suns this year so they will have to address these issues in the free agent market. I've heard rumors that some guy who plays in Washington is planning to opt out. . .

~Viggy

- I know very few people care about the Hawks, but I felt like writing about a team that is ignored by most of the sports media . . . for good reason of course.

What I'm listening to this week

This is just an EP, but it's perfect for a Sunday morning while reading the paper. In my case Sunday morning has extended all the way into Tuesday night . . . it's been that kinda week.

~Viggy

Your drop of knowledge for the day:

EP definition from Wikipedia: Extended play (EP) is the name typically given to vinyl records or CDs which contain more music than a single, but are too short to qualify as albums.

R-Kwame...

You think R-Kelly is bad because he likes to pee on people? I say more power to him. Some people like a golden shower. I'm not one to judge, especially someone so talented as Mr. Kelly. Granted he definitely slept with that 14 year old but if he got cleared in court then who am I to say otherwise. But Kwame. Man WTF?

"Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick was charged on Monday with misconduct in office, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and perjury, felonies that could end his political career and send him to prison for as long as 80 years."

80 years?!

I was sure that they would charge him with a few things but when you're mayor and you do so many heinous things that they can lock you up for 80 years, then you f-ed up man. End of story.

I mean dude, skip town. You're in deep.
















But no, Kwame isn't one to run. I guess that's about the only good thing you can say about him. But it's to a fault. The fact is he thinks he is going to be cleared of any wrongdoing and even worse he is not going to give up his reign of pain. Somewhere in that little chicken brain of his he still thinks he can be president one day. Someone needs to punch him in the nose. You know, so his eyes water and he sees things fresh.

Moral of the story: If you don't want someone to see something you write, don't write it down.

Stop texting

-Swami

Quick Tourney Challenge Update

Considering Kyle and I have the most potential points remaining I predict that Mr. Cutri will fall from his first place position.

~Viggy

"Survivorman" versus "Man v. Wild"

So I've seen a couple of episodes of both shows and I can't really decide which is better. For those of you who haven't seen either I'll do a quick breakdown.

Survivorman (SM)-
•Guy goes into the wilderness for 7 days without food or water.
•No camera crew, he films himself.
•Pretty much eats anything, but seems to shy away from the bugs and other gross things.

Man v. Wild (MVW)-
•Guy gets dropped off in the wilderness and has to make it back to civilization.
•He has a camera crew that follows him.
•Eats anything and everything the more disgusting the better.

I think it's kind of lame to have a camera crew with you, I mean how dangerous can that really be? It does make for better TV though, SM can get really slow at times. There is something to be said for watching someone eat disgusting things. SM seems to be lacking in this area, most of his time is spent looking for food which leaves little time for eating disgusting things.

Final Verdict- Man v. Wild, simply because the show is more interesting to watch and I refuse to believe that either of these guys are really "surviving." I don't care if you have a camera crew that follows you or a camera crew five miles away. The bottom line is that if something happens you can easily get help which just seems like cheating.

~Viggy

-It is probably critical to note that both of these guys are white. I'm pretty sure that matters.

Black Wrestlers

The NCAA needs to find other sh*t to focus on (like for example, fining the University of Michigan athletics programs for sucking balls). There's nothing I wish to focus on LESS at this point in my life than the plight of half-naked, African American men, rolling around on the floor, grunting and embracing one another. Black wrestlers folks. Black wrestlers. The NCAA says that on March 20th, that's what's up. I say no; it is in-fact NOT what's up.

Look, I'm reasonably progressive, so this isn't about sexual orientation, despite the overtly ignorant nature of my tone and overall argument. But rather, it's about a nasty sport that literally stinks of bad hygiene and silliness. The only time one should wrestle is out of immediate rage build-up (Lighter Than...you know what I'm talking about). This idea that wrestling is somehow a "sport" is laughable at best, and completely ridiculous in actuality.

NCAA, get real. This is black history that I can do without.

If I offended any of you because you happen to be a former (or current) wrestler, well....sorry....you're a flawed individual and that is frankly not my issue to deal with. It's yours, so you can kiss by grits.

Peace,

~Brown Guy