AMR's Joint: blog? what blog?: March 2005

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

hallelujah

I know I said I wouldn't post again this week, but this news just couldn't wait.

Red Sox trade Kim to Rockies

By Ian Browne / MLB.com

After months of speculation, Sox general manager Theo Epstein officially unloaded Kim on Wednesday, dealing him to the Rockies for catcher Charles Johnson and minor league left-hander Chris Narveson. [story]

"Unloaded" is just the word to describe what happened here. It's about time. I know they had a lot of $ tied up in the guy but I, for one, would not have been sad to see him go last year. The unfortunate thing is that he's gonna get a WS ring, just like everyone else who got out on the field (even once) last year. He sure doesn't deserve it in my book. Good riddance.

4/2 edit: See, I told you he was bad news. Look for the Rockies to continue to be bad in 2005.

amr's brain blurted out at 9:53 PM

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justjared.com (2)

Well, my guest spot at justjared.com is over... I don't know how he manages to post so frequently cause that's hard work! Don't forget to keep checking back there daily as guest week continues!

I basically did no work today so don't expect to hear too much from me again til the weekend. ciao!

On the agenda:
-~~mens/women's tourney updates~~ done (4/3)
-~~villanueva~~ done (4/1)
-~~opening day thoughts~~ done (4/2)
-nyt article (time permitting. after all, i do have my priorities!)

amr's brain blurted out at 12:00 AM

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XOXO.

By j4r3d, at 3/30/2005 2:32 AM

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Tuesday, March 29, 2005

justjared.com

today only, find me in a special guest appearance at justjared.com
thanks for the vote of confidence jared!

amr's brain blurted out at 11:59 PM

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WOOHOO!

By j4r3d, at 3/29/2005 7:25 AM

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uh oh

Red Sox Lefty Allows 5 runs, 8 hits in 5 innings
Associated Press

"I finally threw the pitches where I wanted them. Unfortunately, they hit them," said Wells, who finished the spring with a 7.94 ERA. "It's the best I've felt. I didn't feel I was losing anything. I could've gone longer." full story

(Boston Red Sox pitcher, David Wells)

Explain to me again why we signed an overweight 41 year old to be #2 in the rotation, knowing that the Yanks are lead by RJ and Moose? I mean, that's like something right out of the Mets playbook...

amr's brain blurted out at 4:27 AM

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Thursday, March 24, 2005

it's all about the benjamins, baby

If you were 19, male, and had a chance to earn millions just to sit on the bench and learn from the vets how to better play a game you love, how motivated would you be to "be all you can be" in the classroom you're forced to sit in while you build up your resume?

That's exactly the dilemma that faces college athletes year after year. In a recent AP report:

410 DI Schools Below NCAA Academic Standard

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS -- More than 400 sports teams at the nation's Division I schools could lose scholarships next year under the NCAA's new academic standards, according to a report released Monday.

Most of the scholarship losses, which would be for one year, were expected in football, baseball and men's basketball. ...

The NCAA's new calculation generates a score between 0 and 1,000. The number is determined by a points formula that rewards long-term eligibility and retention of student-athletes. Programs can lose points when athletes transfer, drop out, leave for the pros or become academically ineligible while still at the school. read more

It seems to me that there are more than enough top schools for the top players to find somewhere to play that won't bug them too much about academics. I'm a scientist so I suppose I ought to make some predictions. I predict that the institution of a minimum age requirement in the NBA will lead to an increase in "sports management" majors, and an increase in the enrollment in such classes as the traditional "rocks for jocks." Minimum GPA requirements are a start, but until school athletic officials start caring more about the overall quality of the PEOPLE who play sports, rather than the accolades of the athletes that convince alums to give money nothing's really going to change. Care to disagree?

In related news, VOTE in a fantasy poll for this year's champs if the NBA required 4 years of college prior to entry. Talk about an exciting college game!

amr's brain blurted out at 5:27 AM

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dumb rich kids

HOUSTON (AP) -- Roger Clemens' orange Hummer -- a present from the New York Yankees for his 300th win -- was stolen and found Wednesday after the pitcher's son drove it to school and left it unlocked, police said....

He began letting Koby Clemens drive the orange Hummer to school after he signed a letter of intent last November to play baseball for the University of Texas, whose colors are burnt orange and white. Before that, Koby drove a black Hummer to school. more

How dumb can you be? it's a HUMMER for goodness sake, not the outdated Volvo

many kids in my generation grew up driving (well, not me, i drove an ancient accord ;-)). Is it so hard to lock the door? The best part? the orange hummer is a special treat Koby gets to drive to replace the BLACK hummer he used to drive. sheesh.

i don't get it. looks pretty ugly to me...

In other news, I was reading the school paper, and saw that a Junior was indicted for fake ID sales. My favorite paragraph:

Durham police officers entered an abandoned Belmont apartment leased to Ruth July 19 and found “supplies consistent with the manufacture of counterfeit identification,” according to an affidavit filed by Special Agent Jeffrey Norman of the U.S. Secret Service.

Okay, maybe I'm missing something but maybe it's not the greatest idea to abandon your apartment AND LEAVE ALL YOUR ILLEGAL MATERIALS BEHIND. but maybe i'm wrong. forget all this SAT/ACT crap, we need a college entrance exam that tests common sense. ladies and gentlemen, take a glimpse at our future leaders. maybe it's time to move to Canada afterall!

amr's brain blurted out at 12:51 AM

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Saturday, March 19, 2005

upset city

the field of 65 has now been whittled down to 32, and what a whirlwind couple of days. i'm glad i didn't put any money on my bracket picks, although perhaps if i had i might have done my homework beforehand. i liked #3 kansas for a sweet sixteen schooling by #2 uconn, but that was before i realized that kansas lost their last five and has been struggling with injuries to some key players. in spite of that, few people would have picked #14 bucknell, the team from the league with no first round victories EVER (in 13 attempts) to pull off the upset. props to the little guys out there (as long as they stay away from my acc teams-- well, maybe not unc, lol). another shocker was #13 vermont's ability to crack the orangemen's signature zone D. if only carmelo had stuck around (although he managed to accomplish every college player's dream in a single year so i don't blame him). i was actually debating for awhile whether #1 duke or #4 syracuse would win the bracket and it looks like the biggest obstacle has been removed (no offense to uk fans out there).

other bracket busters: #12 uw-milwaukee over #5 alabama, although apparently the 12-5 victory isn't so uncommon. also, #10 nc state over #7 charlotte (in charlotte, no less) and #11 uab over #6 lsu. nc State seems to have gained some confidence from their acc tourney success. can i say how much i love uab? i first picked up on them during last year's tourney, watching their "40 minutes of hell" routine. what a scrappy group of guys. i picked arizona to win the chicago bracket though, so let's hope that the uab run ends here. sorry!

one last thing and i'm done. promise. while checking the final score for the blue devils' first round matchup, i was quite surprised when i read the recap. oops :-p.

click for full size

amr's brain blurted out at 1:05 PM

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Friday, March 18, 2005

todd & penguin (2)

I know I mentioned this strip awhile back, but David Wright, the creator recently threw me (and many others) for a loop so I had to spotlight it again (for the two of you who come to this site, lol). it's low res for a reason...go check out the original out on the site!

(Todd and Penguin, by David Wright. click the strip for full size!)

amr's brain blurted out at 2:26 AM

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Thursday, March 17, 2005

march madness

well, quite a bit has transpired since my last post here. both #2 wake AND #1 unc suffered upsets in the acc tourney, catapulting #3 duke to its 8th straight conference tourney final and 15th conference championship title over #5 georgia tech (note that numbers indicate conference tourney seeding, not nat'l rank). the best part? the win gave our boys the extra lift they needed to secure a #1 seed in the NCAA tourney. due to the weak bracket they ended up in, I predict they'll go far, in spite of the weak (ie lack of a) bench. As Ping said...who's Nelson?

My picks:

Wake, Duke, UNC and Arizona, who pulls off the stunning upset of Illinois in the regional finals. I'm calling an all ACC championship, with UNC toppling Wake to complete the stunning turnaround from the 2003-2004 19-11 (8-8 ACC) squad. Five of seven ESPN experts couldn't be wrong about the next national champ, right?

As for the women's tourney:
LSU, Minnesota, Rutgers, and Stanford in the final four, with Stanford beating LSU for the ultimate bragging rights.

Side note: this is my first time making predictions so I'm sorry if I seem biased. This is exactly why I put no money on these things ;-).

Quote of the day: "I think that one's going to be 10 guys standing outside shooting 3s. It will make for some really good TV." si.com's Seth Davis, on the W. Virginia-Creighton first round matchup

amr's brain blurted out at 10:43 AM

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Saturday, March 12, 2005

whoops!

Given that the time of update is March 12, 2005 at 1:14am, notice anything funny about this bracket? [credit]

amr's brain blurted out at 9:31 AM

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Wednesday, March 09, 2005

oakland's in

Stories like this piss me off. This is as stupid as the whole BCS fiasco. If you're gonna have automatic bids, at least make them for the regular season champs, rather than the team that happens to win 3-4 games in March. How does a 12-18 team in a mid-major get to the big dance while teams like Notre Dame (17-10, 9-7 Big East) may end up sitting at home? [March 6 Bubble watch]

OAKLAND IN NCAA TOURNAMENT FOR FIRST TIME
Associated Press

TULSA, Okla. -- Pierre Dukes became an unlikely hero for an improbable NCAA Tournament team.

Dukes' only shot of the second half was a 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left and Oakland upset top-seeded Oral Roberts 61-60 Tuesday night to win the Mid-Continent Conference tournament and make the NCAAs with a 12-18 record.

The seventh-seeded Golden Grizzlies are in the tournament for the first time since becoming a Division I program eight seasons ago. It's the fourth straight season a team with a losing record has made the NCAA tournament. more

::Edit::

An interesting read about the selection process. i still don't like the fact that a team with a sub .500 record in an average conference is taking the place of a more deserving team. perhaps the conferences receiving automatic bids should be determined midway through the season (or perhaps even after the end of the season) on an annual basis. That way, if a teams in a traditionally strong conference are having an off year they'll have to work their way in just like everyone else. i said it before but i'll say it again: get rid of the automatic big for TOURNAMENT champs....give it to the regular season winner already. Basketball is a marathon not a sprint!

amr's brain blurted out at 3:30 AM

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Tuesday, March 08, 2005

distraction

i don't quite remember how i stumbled upon this site (probably si.com or espn.com), but Chuck is one of the ridiculously innane games you'll find there. My other favs include Blob Twist and Fruit Salad, although I have admitedly mastered neither. For my fellow students, don't blame me if you fail out!

amr's brain blurted out at 8:30 PM

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I tried using the W3 Counter linked from your xanga, but somehow it doesn't work. What am I supposed to do?

By Albert Wu, at 3/09/2005 3:14 AM

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