Why Andy Reid is a "special" coach

Mark it. 12/22 was the worst day of football in recent memory. Reasons:

1) As an Eagles fan, I am used to bullshit and disappointment. McNabb throwing up, Ronde Barber eating up our offense, Deuce McAllister's career game, etc. But for some reason, yesterday's failure was the worst. And this isn't "what have you failed for me lately?" The Eagles uniquely disappointed thier fans in a sadisitic way no other team could.

Tell me this doesn't sound like a bad sports movie with the wrong ending. The Eagles look awful vs. the Ravens, which may not have entirely been thier fault as the Ravens defense can make any team look awful. Andy Reid figuratively does something completely crazy and benches his franchise QB with the season hanging in the balance because he was losing by three points. Now, this sounds like an "I'll show everybody I'm not crazy because something unanticipated and awesome will come of this" move.  After the game, the media and fans want Reid fired.

 Of course, true to script, that unanticipated, awesome result comes about in the form of a 4 game win streak with McNabb playing incredible ball and a jacked up defense. This would be about hour deep in the movie where the defensive lineman would be saying cool, macho stuff to each other after monster tackles during the win streak. 

After everything was thought lost a few weeks ago, the Bad News Eagles can only get in now if a a good team (TB) improbably loses and the Eagles play a tight, last man standing game against their arch rivals, the Cowboys, withMcNabb's flamboyant archenemy. Of course, the good team (TB) loses a winable game at home to an underdog, and now its on to the death battle???

No. If this was the Giants,   the TB loss would get the nervous, beaten up Giants team a burst of life that would manifest itself in hard rock pounding and vicious-defense against WAS for its upcoming winner take all battle against Dallas. But its the Eagles. 

Instead of pound the rock, Reid called 12 running plays. And 48 pass plays. Remember when the Giants game was really close and the Eagles insisted on running a tough, 5-9 running back against a great D-line and he finally broke a 30 yard TD run? That was two weeks ago. Instead, Reid decided that winning was too stressful and did exactly what caused him to fail in the past; throw to uninspired, 3rd string WRs and TEs who are notoriously unclutch. Had they had even 20% clutch in them, Jackson would have caught that pass with 1:03 left or Avant would have found a way to break the plane.

McNabb played a good game. Andy Reid is 100% to blame for his. And he won't be fired. And when TB beats Oakland by 30 (ironically w/ Jeff Garcia), the Eagles will beat Dallas in relaxed, thank-god-we-don't-have-to-win manner next week. 

My theory is that, from a business perspective, Jeffery Lurie will never get rid of Reid even though Reid A) has a great framework of talent on his roster b) has terrible clock management (what if there was a TO left after the Avant catch?) and c) calls plays like a 12 year old playing Madden 98' . Why not? Lurie doesn't care if we win or lose; as long as there is conflict and extreme brilliance/idiocy, Eagles fans will keep watching/talking/loving/hating. As long as we aren't boring, we're profitable. 

2) Vinnie and I come up with a new way to bet this weekend. Both of us write down out our picks against the spread, compare, cross out shared picks, and then bet $20 a game on whats left. After comparing, the only game out of 16 we didn't agree on was MNF GB(me) @ Chi (-4). FOr the sake of entertainment, we decide to bail on one pick a piece to create more action and pick the other end. Vin goes from PIT(+2) to TEN(-2), I go from ATL(+3) to MIN(-3).  

I've lost 2/3 and am watching CHI defense shit on GB in subzero weather as we speak. $60 gone on a nearly coinflip basis. Speaking of which.....

3) Alyse plays Vinnie in FF. 

Roddy White+Deion Branch+Robert Mathis+Adrian Fucking Peterson=7.5 points. 

Larry Fitgerald on one pass with ARI down 42-0 in the fourth quarter and Kurt Warner inexpicibly playing=14 points

Seriously.

4) The only rewards of the weekend were Farve choking (wahhhhhh) and Baltimore shutting down the Cowboys in awesome style.

My NFL playoff predicitions

WC: Den v Bal, Bal. Mia v Ind, Ind. TB v Ari, TB. Atl v Min, Atl.

Div: Bal v Pit, Pit. Ind v Ten, Ind. NYG v TB, NYG. Atl v Car, Atl.

Champ: Pit v Ind, Ind. Atl v NYG, NYG

SB: Nyg v Ind, Ind

Things I've learned on one-call close selling in the last two months:

1) Do not use a "superior authority" or "talk to my manager" negotiation-close unless absolutely last resort. I've close all my sales myself and have lost sales by confusing people by forcing them to negotiate with the higher authority.

2) Do everything possible to avoid "mud-wrestling", or back-and-forth objection closing at the end. Mud wrestling sucks, creates cancellations, and can make you seem unprofessional. Close objections and resistance unfront by creating a non-confrontational close.

3)"Closing" is just coming to an agreement. Persuading is a unilateral activity. Mutually coming to an agreement by creating benefits to solve problems is a cooperative activity. The latter is much easier, positive, and profitable. 

4) If you get objections, the person either 1) doesn't like you or 2) is just nervous about something. If its the former, you fucked up. If its the latter, then its just a matter of find out the anxiety and quelling because you are just a consultant trying to help. 

5) Be whoever they want you to be. If they go to church, I go to church. If you have a kid, I have one on the way. If you like McCain, I like McCain. If you are Zorostrian, you wouldn't believe it, but so am I. 

Of course, this is based on real small sample of sales; however, the same issues keep coming up and these are principles that just explain issues I've had.

Damn right and picks of the week

From today's NYT following Palin's "you have cooties" speech last night at the DNC:

Three days into the Republican National Convention, it is clear that the G.O.P. has settled on a message: “Washington is not working.” The phrase is included in virtually every speech and every statement in St Paul.

We agree completely that Washington is in desperate need of renewal and reform. We’re not even going to quibble about the fact that Barack Obama said it first. The problem is that American voters have yet to hear — from John McCain or his warm-up acts — any serious ideas on what, exactly, is wrong with Washington, apart from the fact that a Democrat might win the White House, never mind how to truly fix it.

The difficulty for the Republican ticket in talking about change and reform and acting like insurgents is that they have been running Washington — the White House and Congress — for most of the last eight years.

Sarah Palin, the vice presidential nominee, was a combative and witty relief at a torpid convention. But it was bizarre hearing the running mate of a 26-year veteran of Congress, a woman who was picked to placate the right-wing elite, mocking “the permanent political establishment in Washington.”

And we couldn’t imagine what Mitt Romney was thinking when he denounced “liberal Washington” and then, at the convention of the party that brought you unimpeded presidential spying, declared: “It’s time for the party of big ideas, not the party of Big Brother!”

As hard as he tries, Mr. McCain cannot escape the burdensome shadow of President Bush because his policies offer no real change. On the all-important issue of the economy, Mr. McCain has no prescription for ending the mortgage-driven crisis or for fixing the huge fiscal problems Mr. Bush has bequeathed the nation. He wants to make even deeper cuts in corporate taxes, eliminate the alternative minimum income tax and make permanent the Bush tax cuts that vastly favor the wealthy and that he once correctly opposed.

His only idea for balancing the budget seems to be controlling earmarks, which Republicans now denounce with the sort of single-minded fervor they used to reserve for Democratic-appointed judges.

Permanently extending the tax cuts would reduce tax revenue by $1 trillion over four years. If Mr. McCain eliminated every earmark (including money for the gas pipeline that Ms. Palin wants to build in Alaska), the savings would total about $18 billion a year. He hasn’t offered any idea of where he’ll get the rest of the money.

He has not explained how he plans to rein in out-of-control financial firms and avoid a repeat of the mortgage disaster. Mr. Bush’s ideological opposition to sound government regulation is in large measure to blame for the economic crisis, but when Mr. McCain talks about fixing Washington, that subject never comes up.

Mr. McCain also has yet to explain to voters how he intends to go on paying for the war in Iraq — and also fix a dangerously stretched and overburdened military. Mr. McCain talks about energy independence. But his primary solution is not a solution: drilling and more drilling.

Mr. McCain says he is the candidate who will better protect the country from terrorism. But about all he has to offer is his pledge to continue the war in Iraq. We have yet to hear an explanation for how he plans to do that while also salvaging the war in Afghanistan — the real front line in the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Now that everyone agrees that Washington needs fixing, we hope Mr. McCain will offer more than partisan boilerplate when he addresses the convention on Thursday night.

Picks of the week, all of whom are suprisingly favorites:

NYG +4.5 over WAS: Not sold on Jason Campbell or Washington yet. Not until they can show consistancy. And you better believe that Eli and the gang are going to be fired up at the Meadowlands after all the press shit talking about them in the offseason.

Steelers +6.5 over the Texans: I have heard all kinds of reasons why the Texans will cover this spread, counterintuitively. Well, I'm going to use my intuition. The Texans suck. And Pittsburgh is good, especially in the beginning of the season when they aren't all banged up from the physical football they play. I don't see the Texans scoring more than 10 points in this game.

Eagles +7.5 over Rams: See above. Rams suck.

Detroit +3 over Atlanta. See above. Falcons suck.

Jets +3 over Miami. See above. Miami sucks.

Vikings +2.5 on MNF against the Packers. I know its Lambeau and Roger's will be fired up, but until Rodgers shows me anything, there is no reason to believe Minnesota won't just play a "bruise and run" game and control the football the whole time. Almost like a control deck in Magic against a deck predicated on some big, fancy new card thats tough to integrate the first time playing.

I have my phone back btw.

Palin

Have people lost their fucking minds? Beyond all the other reasons to abhor the republicans right now, what happens if McCain dies (72)? Is Ms. Housemom from Alaska going to deal with tough foreign policy issues with Iran, China, and Russia? Could she stare down Putin at the G8? What the fuck are 48 percent of America thinking? Is latent racism really that widespread? I really mean it at this point that if the republicans get elected, I'm getting an MBA in Canada and just moving to Vancouver. No kidding. And I'm staying there. Fuck this bullshit.

FF aftermath and musings

My new ffootball rankings:

1) Mike
2) Alyse
3 and 4) Kaufmann and Brian
5) Rodney
6) Me

I had a good draft but several injuries have made my team much worse on paper than it was. Bobby Engram, my surprise stud WR from last year, is out for 7 weeks. Cleveland's right guard is out for the year, therefore fucking Earnest Graham. Jerry Porter is gametime decision for the first game.

Mike looks really strong. Steven Jackson, Maurice J.D, Steve Smith, Garrard, Wittnen, and Cotchery makes him the team to beat. I give myself about a 30% chance to beat him in week one.

The beach this weekend is going to be nuts. Feel free to come down for a bit and check out the scene.

Congrats to Joe Biden for being our V.P, repping DE. I really didn't think Obama would take that kind of chance, since Biden has a history of running his mouth and his state is irrelevant, but I think it really reinforces Obama's idea campaign of running a principled campaign without political regard. On Bodog, Mitt Romney is a 2-3 favorite to be McCain's running mate; I think there is a good chance it'll be Tom Ridge though, a moderate who will secure PA.

BTW, can anybody explain to me why someone should vote for McCain? I mean that to contrast the popular and most frequently answered question, why not to vote for Obama. When I asked my parents why the would vote for McCain, they said because they don't trust OBama. Whenever McCain campaigns or makes a press release about the campaign, it is a knock on Obama. I haven't heard one argument from a McCain supporter why one should vote for McCain, only why one shouldn't vote for Obama. It seems to me that if that is the popular position, anti-Obama rather pro-McCain, the right thing to do for anti-Obamites is just to not vote unless they have a reasonable belief that McCain's policies and adminstration will affirmatively better for the country. Its quite intellectually and politically irresponsible otherwise.

Time for a little bragging. I took the GMAT last week and got a 710 (92% percentile). The average GMAT at Harvard is a 705. I studied for about 20 hours. It was quite a bit easier than the LSAT, but at the same time, law school conditioned me to take highly analytical, high pressure, three hour tests.

The problem is my character history on paper is poor. In reality, I have absolutely no remorse or guilt for any of the crimes I committed (with the exception of my DUI at 17). All of my transgressions were non-violent intoxicant related crimes against myself. While illegal, I dont believe for a minute that they were immoral. Most western nations other than the U.S would consider my "crimes" acceptable. Alcohol and marijuana use is not only socially acceptable in most western socieities but the real irony is that most of the people judging me are guilty of the same "crimes" but weren't caught.

Regardless (boo fucking hoo), the pros and cons here are:

Pro
Good Gmat score
Hispanic
Good law school grades

Con
Bad character history
Average undergrad grades
Little work experience

Obviously the biggest obstacle is the character thing. If anybody has any clever ideas about the most painless and rewarding way to cure my character issues, or belongs to a volunteer or nonprofit group that needs help, let me know.

Rock Band= Awesome. While the guitar work is not nearly as fun as guitar hero, the group ethic is fucking awesome.

Book recommendation: Scott Turow's "Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty". It is an incredibly insightful look at the complexities of the death penalty. Turow worked on a commission to suggest reforms for the Illinois Death Penalty, and had unlimited resources to create a broad picture of all of the considerations that go into creating a just, predictable, and consistent capital punishment policy. His basic conclusion was that while everybody has heard of crimes that scream for the death penalty, it is so unwieldy as a whole that it should be abolished.

Movie recommendation: The Counterfeiters. A nazi death camp French movie about Jewish counterfeiters who were forced to manufacture American dollars as a way to destro the American economy. Riveting.

Wish you saw it: Gold medal basketball game. A real classic. Spain played out of its mind and way above its means, but the U.S proved too talented. There is no question now that we have the best basketball players in the world (if there ever was one). I also think we have the bess athletes in the world, regardless of the golf medal count. Shooting and ping pong gold medals don't mean shit.

Article of the week:

Bush Told To Sign Birthday Treaty For Someone Named 'Kyoto'

WASHINGTON—Enlisted by members of the House and Senate, presidential aide Rebecca Tandy brought a copy of the international climate-change treaty to President Bush's desk Monday and asked him to sign a birthday document for a Japanese dignitary named "Kyoto Protocol." "Mr. Protocol really likes treaties, so we got him this treaty instead of a card, so if you could just—all the other countries have already signed it," a nervous Tandy reportedly said to Bush, who quickly scrawled his signature on the treaty and told her to tell Kyoto he said "hi." "And now, if you could just initial here, and here, and here, and, oh, you can ignore all that stuff about sulfides. That's just an inside joke." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi later attempted to get Bush to sign a "bar mitzvah stop-use agreement" for the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Clusterbomb.

Olympics, Fantasy Football, and Dewey

Dewey has been quite exhausting recently. The constant ebb and flow of friends coming to the beach is better than being lonely but can take a considerable toll on your body if just from the drinking. The way we describe it, and this not meant to be targeted, is that whenever people come to visit its "their weekend". By that I don't mean that they require being the center of attention or are being selfish in anyway, but I mean that they are full of saved up alcoholic energy which tends to be infectious. After say three groups of people come down over a week or weekend, each with their own agenda, we (and by we I mean the housemates) end up putting in more hours socializing and boozing then we probably should. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing; you only live once, but at the same time, it is very difficult to focus, particularly in a transition period that I and everyone else in the house is facing with various career goals and changes from the previous status quo. Its definitely a signal I've been going too hard if I'm yearning for some kind of productivity.

The summer has so far been a success. We have a good blend of roommates with relatively limited drama. Most of the drama has come from fairly predicatble situations (relationships + off schedules + alcohol). All of our friends who have come down have been generally generous and low maintenance, with a few glaring exceptions. Molly's going away boat was in her words "fucking awesome" and some of the June weekends were memorable.

Random thoughts:

1) The Brett Farve Saga has been absolutely disgusting. Shame on ESPN for perpetuating this bullshit. This whole thing has really left a bad taste in my mouth about following the ESPN "soap opera" wagon.

Last year, when I drove every day to Harrisburg with only FM and AM (Alyse had the Sirius) and I listened to ESPN radio consistently, I realized how incredibly predicatble and formulated the ESPN machine is. Every news program on ESPN is almost perfectly coordinated to have a day-rank of 5 stories and shove them down your throat via every medium possible. Next time you watch Around the Horn, check the first five stories on PTI, the first five links on ESPN.COM, the stories Jim Rome is "burning on", and what is being discussed by Tirico or Mike and Mike on the radio. All the same. Not only are they only the same, but they often pitch the exact same perspective. The Farve thing was the worst example. Its a monopoly of poor commerical sports journalism. The only guy I still respect there is Bill Simmons

2) . .. . which leads into my next point, that the Olympics is really pretty refreshing. Real sports fans can appreciate the pure competitiveness of "off sports" like tennis (See Nadal/Federer Wimeldon), golf (Tiger at the U.S Open), swimming (Phelps), and even stuff like volleyball and MMA. Its so much more interesting than Farve's text messages or Pacman's new name (Adam!).

3) I've gotten into books on tape recently as my Sirius broke and I was bored driving for work. I've gotten through 1984, Don Quixote, The Old Man and the Sea, and My Life (Clinton's autobiography).

1984: Absolute must read, entertaining to read and more intellectually stimulating and political than Atlas Shrugged. Can't believe i was never required to read this in high school.

Don Quixote: Cultural artifact thats amusing if not relevant

The Old Man and the Sea: Beautiful book thats whimisal, non important, but generally pleasant to listen to.

My Life: Fascinating. Must read/hear. Regardless of how you feel about him its a very revealing recap of the most important events of the 90's.

4) Common social wisdom dictates that really hot girls are not nice and uglier, bigger girls are nice and have good personalities out of necessity. I think this is in fact total bullshit.

5) I'm really pretty excited for fantasy football. If your reading this your probably in the league. My preseason playoff 6 picks:

1) Me
2) My brother
3) Brock
4) Ari
5) Rodney or Brian but not both
6) Blayze

7) Republicans really make me fucking sick. Not the identity or political preference but the political campaign inner circle itself (Newt, DeLay, Bush, Rove) . Hearing about some of the travesties during the Clinton era of Republican moral politics in his autobiography and experiencing how the current campaign is being conducted is reprehensible. How can Obama be blamed for going to repair foreign relations in his European tour? The only logical progression would be a video of Obama saving a baby and making a three pointer and then ending with "OBAMA: HE'S BLACK!".

Come visit Labor Day weekend.

MId Summer

So I got a job as a delivery boy last week. Pretty far fall from taking the bar and sitting second chair in October for a capital murder. The other option was to be a bouncer, and I figured I make twice as much this way. Talk about a cush fucking job. No open, no close, no clean up, just me, Howard, my G.P.S, and italian food. BTW Casa DiLeo has slamming food.

The "senior" driver was fired my first day because he couldn't cut it. Seriously. Apparently when he was out on a delivery he called his customer for directions, she started explaining to him where to go, and he flipped out on her. She called the owner saying she didn't want the food and that her husband was about to beat the driver's ass. HA. Poor guy was bipolar though.

Random thoughts:
1) I've never enjoyed a 40 basketball victory more than Game 6, particularly in light of all the Donagy shit and the light shining on Game 6 of the 2002 Kings-Lakers debacle. Everybody knew it was fixed and it has to be particularly vindicating for Sac fans.

2) Who the fuck cares if Obama takes public money?

3) If anybody is interested in September tickets for the Phillies in a divisional game, let me know. I'm sure the Mets or Atlanta will be in Philly and the race will be close.

4) Is it more of an accomplishment to marry a 9 who doesn't speak English or a 7 that does?

Changes

First - Gotta love Boston at -2.5. Boston can will themselves to win this series. Here's how I think it will play out:

Game 1 - 91-84 Boston, Boston plays sick defense at home

Game 2 - 107-94 LA, LA plays liquid offense

Game 3 - 113-107 LA, Tight game with Kobe killing it in the 4th

Game 4 - 92-90 Boston, Ray Allen comes up big and comes from behind in the 4th quarter to win

Game 5 - 95-84 Boston, Big game with momentum going with Boston, sick bench play

Game 6 - 104-82 LA, LA blows them out

Game 7 - ? - 93-91

So if you dont know about my situation, I'll spell it out. I have a fairly substantial criminal history dating from about 1998-2003. When I applied to law school, I didn't disclose my criminal arrests or the fact that I had been suspended from UDel for a year. I basically wanted to get into law school no matter what and I thought I could finagle my way into an expungement. I totally forgot about the lie until March when I requested a copy of my law school application. At that point I not only was prepared to take the Delaware bar but I had a job doing criminal defense contract work and was going to sit second chair at a death penalty trial in November. 

Once I learned of the inconsistency, I called an attorney to figure out what to do. He said disclose. The thought of committing professional suicide was scary. After a while though, I realized that if I had perpetuated the fraud and the Board of Bar Examiners knew I didn't correct it, I was fucked anyway. What good is a J.D without being able to get through character and fitness? I eventually decided to disclose, and I sent the dean of our school a pretty shocking transgression.

I learned approximately a week ago that the school will not issue me a J.D until 2010, and only then after proof of good character and an interest in the legal profession. While this is certainly dissappointing, if I were them, I would have done the same. I'll be 26 when I'm eligible, and the average age of our graduating class was 26. Not a big deal. Anyway, I want to thank everybody who has known about this situation and has been sensitive to it. I plan on being in an MBA program in 2010 and walking with a JD/MBA by 2011. 27 with a JD/MBA and all skeletons exposed should be a good position. 

Anyway, random thoughts:

1) Baracks speech the night he "won" was one of the best speechs I can remember about anything. I think a switch turned on and he went from cool and collected to intense and fiery. 

2) This NBA finals is going to be spectacular. The Lakers are a more polished machine but Boston has more talent per five players. The only way the Celtics can win is with a lot of heart, and "heart" games are the best. See Golden State v Dallas, Boise State v Oklahoma, Giants v New England

3) Juno was pretty average. Its strange that a stripper can come off as a little pretentious and artistically elitist. 

4) I;d like to thank Dave and Jesse for getting me into MMA all of the sudden. I like boxing, but MMA is obviously more entertaining. The real difference is that any boxing match short of a heavyweight bout goes to decision after 30 minutes of jabs and grabbing. Im sorry, Delahoya fights just arent that interesting. Nor is felix trindad. However, MMA undercards have been consistently entertaining. For that matter, the women fight undercard of the Kimbo Slice hight was an incredible fight. Can you say you have seen a women's featherweight boxing undercard you have been interested in short of that one where the girl broke her neck?

5) The college lacrosse finals were actually kind of interesting. I am normally completely disinterested in fast action court games (soccer, hockey, rugby), but lacrosse has an interesting pace. 

6) I dont think I have ever disliked a reality show contestant more than Lisa of Top Chef this season. Her text dissaproval rating tonight was 92%. After that figure came in,  she complained to the two winning contestants that they didn't congradulate her for surviving (even after being on the chopping block for the last three episodes). As Richard put it, Wow, You got the Bronze!! What a cunt. The over under on the disapproval rating for next week should be 96%. 

7) Idea for bar owners: Two drink specials: 1) Barack O'Bomb: 1 can of red bull, 3/4 shot of godiva chocolate liqour, 1/4 godiva white chocolate liquor. 2) Dirty, lying cunt: a bloody mary with a tequilla floater. 

8) Dont ever go to Clifton Liquors in Edgemoor of Marsh Road. I read an article yesterday its been robbed 5 times in the last year, and that previous owner died of a gunshot wound. 

Trap

As I finish up law school in the next week, the best advice I can give you is:
Don't go unless:
1) You get a full ride and you are o.k with going to a school "below" yourself
2) You are super confident you will not only be in the top 10% of the class but you will interview well when the big firms come around for 2L summering (and even then only if you are comfortable with completely devoting your life to writing briefs and drafting memos for a number of years)
3)Somebody is paying your way through
4)You want to go into public interest law (DA, PD)

I only learned about the attractiveness of option 4 today. Apparently, Congress has established a program offering serious, serious loan forgiveness to public interest attorneys. Say you make 40k as a DA somewhere. You pay 15% of your DI a month 120 times, and everything else is forgiven.

To put that in perspective, with interest, a standard repayment plan on $100k in loans will cost you something like 180k over 10 years to pay off. Yup, thats right, 18k a year in loan payments. New program, lets say 15% of your DI is 5k on a year. You pay that for ten years, you save $130k (even though the benefit is taxed)

So in terms of establishing skewed incentives, the best jobs financially to take now are:
1) Entry level salary 120K +, then
2) Public interest 35k-50k, then
3) Private sector 50k-80k

if you are willing to put the ten years in. Strange.

BTW, can the U.S please go ahead and create a national oil company that would not only be OPEC's biggest customer but would also be able leverage foreign policy beneficially to secure lower oil prices? Reponse: Anticompetitive. Paradox since we are paying $3.60 a gallon for gas and obviously have no alternative? Wait, anticompetitive? The current oil fiasco smells a lot like the same consumer price gouging that the deregulation of electricity allowed Enron to profit so keenly on before it went down. Deregulation and free market doesn't mean abuseless in three and four party adhesion markets.

Go Baltimore. I wish the Eagles would grow a pair in a draft sometime and pick out of there comfort zone. Guys like David Tyree don't make big plays when the team philosophy is "be really adequate all around so that nobody can criticize us" rather than "fuck it, lets take a shot".

I'm not a big Boston fan, but at the same time, I think I like Atlanta less than New Orleans at this point in terms of whiny jawing. At least Washington is somewhat tongue in cheek with their bullshit. We'll see what Paul does against a fired up Tony Parker, and better yet, what Tyson Chandler (HA!) does against Duncan. As far as Atlanta goes, Bibby looks ridiculous and J.R smith and Hortford are overrated. Two nice games, but this would be like Igodaula or Andre Miller telling Rip Hamilton he's a pussy after losing game 3. Even if it might be effective on some street ball level I don't understand, you are much more likely to just look like a douchebag.

I have a feeling Utah is going to be a fun game to watch tommorrow night after Game 4, as will Phoenix. The Philly series cements my suspicion that the Sixers could be a legit Eastern threat if they find a big veteran with poise to settle them down in situations just like thier meltdown in Game 4. Please Garnett? Please? Nah, maybe Jermaine O'Neal or Jason Richardson for a draft pick, Thaddeus Young, and Andre Miller.

I'm politically moving to Canada

First, sports:
1) Who would have thought New Orleans was for real? I'm not a Chris Paul fan but damn. Even though I have SA v Dal in the next round, I would really like to see Nash match up (somehow) with NO in the next round
2) Utah looks like they are going to give LA a big run. Def best series of playoffs.
3) Go Sixers? If Philly can win two at home and go up 3-1, there's certainly a good chance they could beat the Pistons in Game 6, although I think they have no way of matching up with Orlando anyway
4) Houston needs to trade for a big man this off season. Like a Dampier or Haywood.
5) Washington? HA!

More importantly:

I have never been too interested in politics. Today is the only day I have ever emotionally reacted to a change in the political landscape in American. I have lived in Bumblefuck, PA for the last two months and have been inundated with the Democratic primary here since it became strangely relevant.
When the democratic primary began, I slightly leaned towards Hillary as an electable alternative to any Republican who would continue this mess of an administration. Today, I can honestly say that I am thoroughly embarrassed to live around people who honestly though Hillary Clinton deserved a nod to be the next president. The level of unethical bullshit that she has pulled, ranging from lies to barely guised racism, is extraordinary.

The only three reasons I can think of why anyone could somehow overlook her incredible negativity and unprofessionalism and support her are:

1) She has more experience than Barack

Experience in what? Lingering around 20 years of Bush-Clinton-Clinton-Bush-Bush-Clinton!!!!. Does anybody honestly think that anything will meaningfully change in this country if she is elected? Same senate, same politics, same negativity, same bullshit reform promises, same cronies. By voting for her you either 1) naively believe that she somehow has the courage to cut ties with old politics and shake things up, 2) think the country is fine the way it is, or 3) realize huge material flaws in American political culture but are too scared of change. Remember, 2o years of experience as a high level executive in a company that is culturally and economically collapsing as a result of adherence to groupthink may not be better than taking a chance on someone with obvious talent and unassailed character.

2) Barack's name is Hussein Obama/He's black/He's a closet muslim/He likes Louis Farrakhan/He doesn't wear flag pins/He has cooties

I think this is the vote that shaped the election today. And this is why I am politically moving to Canada if Hillary is the democratic nominee. If she becomes the democratic nominee on these terms, I am deeply embarrassed for those people who buy into this shit, and I am embarrassed to be any part of a political machine that would allow this type of behavior to be publicized or even in some cases lauded. No more political anything, ever again.

3) Her policies are awesome

HA! Wait, the merits? Instead of exit polls asking people whether a comment in San Francisco affected their opinion of the candidates, I would love to ask some 40 year old trucker from Lancaster what he thinks about Hillary's stance on health care reform is compared to Obama's.


Campaign so far:
H: You embarrassed me by fucking that intern, you better get me elected.
B: How I am I going to get you elected? You're not electable. You're part of the same mess everybody is tired of now, plus you obviously don't have a backbone or you would have divorced me after 6 billion people found out I liked a chubby intern more than your Senatorial self.
H: You owe me motherfucker. Go on some speaking tours, round up some money, and use your connections to get me to the right people
B: I guess if you got elected I would be a first man. I could just hang out in the Presidential Library (chuckle)
H: Yeah plus if we were both president we would have so much networking capital at the end of my term we could do whatever we wanted the rest of our lives
B: Shit girl you're already a Senator, and I was a president, do you need more power?
H: I'll be damned if some brother from Illinois is going to rain on my parade. Round up the troops. Get me some dirt. If you say stuff that I can't but is still effective negativity, and I get some cold blooded staffers to try to stroke the xenophobic, slightly racist core of most of the middle-class, I think I have a shot
B: You know you are like 95% fucked on paper right? You would have to win the next two states 100-0 to catch up?
H: I don't care. Fuck this dude. Shit, if McCain gets elected, at least I'll still have some friends in big places. You think Barack will throw me a dime after the shit I pulled?
B: True. I guess when you lose, you can still write a book about "your struggle", and be some kind of American feminist hero for being so tenacious.
H: Yeah. That would definitely even me out after looking like such a pussy when you cheated on me.

The Mexican Mastrubator

First SB. Took Utah (-4.5) at CHI, IUPUI (+3.5) at ORoberts, ML W Kent and Arizona State. Looks like last one will hit. I'm thinking I'm going to slow down on small games and lean towards big leans into more sure things. Poker is keeping me afloat though.

Few thoughts on Bodog:

Superturbos suck. Its like playing craps. I really think my lifetime covers my rake. I do much better when I can see flops.

"Beginnner" tourneys are kind of cool. Pays 5 places rather then 3, so people are mad tight earlier. Loose play pays.

Speaking of loose play, my hourly take from loose play in NL cash games is much higher than tight play. You make a lot more money over time with 65s then AA in cash games. So many people emulate tourney strategy that they don't realize how little value AA or KK in a loose ring game.

As for the Mexican Mastrubator, I saw a pretty unique trial today. Not so much because a soccer mom got on the stand and said she took " a double take at a Mexican mastrubating in a window", but because the guy was defended by a P.D who didn't look a day over 23. The kid was reeeeaall green. Used notes for opening, close, and even a four question cross. His close was all over the place and he missed huge points. I found out later he was 3L. The curious point was, he was sitting next to a relatively experienced PD. Why would the PD's office let this go?

The answer is kind of interesting. He wasn't playing for anything. Apparently the Mexican was in county leading up to trial. I guess he couldn't get bonded out. If the PD got him off (and he could have if he was more prepared), he would have been let out there. If the Mexican was found guilty (and I am assuming he was, I didn't see the verdict but its likely), no judge would have sentenced him to anything more than his backtime for a small offense like lewdness. So he would have gotten out anyway, the only difference being that if found guilty, he would have a misdemeanor on his record (which wouldn t matter since he couldn't be deported for a misdemeanor). The moral of the story is this is maybe the one rare situation where competent representation is irrelevant.

Mid march update

So Saturday was probably my best day since the Superbowl. I hit USC(+1), CAL(+16.5), Cuse(-1), and UNC(+1), actually with considerable margins. Ill tell you what, USC looks nasty. Stanford is a good team, Lopez is a good big man, but those USC guards can shoot. I would love to see USC v Duke in the tourney and take the USC ML.

I have SAS(+2) against the Suns this afternoon. I lost a huge parlay earlier in the week with the Suns coming up way short against the Nuggets, and have bet against them and won every game since. Hopefully more of the same continues. I might consider an under on DET/CHI tonight but Im not too thrilled about any of the lines.

Maryland (+1.5) is prob a good bet this afternoon as their backs are against the wall like Boheims was yesterday.

Wire predictions:
1) Marlo gets out on bail, Cheese takes a shot at him, fails, and then Michael runs up on him at the end out of coincidence

2) McNulty's shit gets turned over to the Feds and the Feds/Governor come down on Carcetti and McNulty with a fury. Either way McNulty will hang.

3) Templeton gets what he doesn't deserve. No happy ending there

We'll see.

2/28

So last night was unreal

Utah loses 10% game against Minnesota (Ha)
Washington loses by 26 against Yao less Rockets
Miami wins first game in Feb by 20
Clev loses to Milwaukee on the road
Kobe (averaging 39 points against Portland), leads his Lakers to a 16 point first half and misses over by 30

Luckily i hit some poker hands to make up for my losses.

I recovered some what with the under on Duke/GT (163!!) tonight

Poker is frustrating. Two nights in a row now a low stack has checked raised me preflop with AA when I have AK and there is about half of his stack already in the pot. Anything but against AA its a good call.

Hopefully I can hit some hands and get ready for the weekend.

"You know your playing low limit" hand of the night:

UTG +1 raises 3bb, button calls, I call 97h (BB). Flop comes 6h4h5c, i check, UTG bets pot, button calls, I come over top, UTG without hesitating calls with 88. I strike out. First message from UTG +1, "wtf are you stupid?", i and the rest of the table eat him up, flaming continues until he looks it up and realizes he's a 55/45 dog. 79H seems to be a shit hand for me. Last time I straight up stacked off in AC was against my friend in almost the exact same fashion except he had a set.

Oscars

- Could "There Will Be Blood" be the best movie ever, or at least for my generation? I think maybe. Ranked against my top 3:

1) Godfather or (II), both epics, Daniel Day Lewis' performance was on par with Michael Corleone in II, more creative risks in the TWBB than either of the two in terms of adapting a screenplay, both movies perfectly shot, Godfather has more cultish appeal. Verdict: TWBB for being riskier

2) Departed. Nearly perfect movie. Only problem is it was adapted part and parcel from that Hong Kong movie (cop something?). TWBB gets edge since it was original to say the least.

3) Shawshank. Hmm. Totally different movies. Shawshank definitely feels better at the end. Although again, it was adapted almost wholly from Steven Kings book. Low on the creative risk scale. And although Red might be the best supporting actor in history, DDL was on screen for 2 hours straight.

Other thoughts

-Gene Simmons is a douchebag. Seriously. At least Flav knows he is an entertainer.
-Check out Terrell Pryor face fucking some poor white kid while dunking. Snap.
-I will no longer watch Celebrity Rehab Jeff Conway-less. If I had the money, I would be calling him right now to produce "Life with Jeff", where he would be put in a large house with lots of drugs, and then intermittently other people would take his drugs from him and then just generally fuck with him (loud music, knocking him of his wheelchair, flicking his ear, gf would blow me in front of him), that type of thing.

2/26

Only concerned w/ NBA here. Went 4 for 4 tonight. We'll count units and see where it goes. Using bodog. Start w/ 10 unit pool

2/25 - 2 units - Results
1 unit, Parlay: Boston ML over Clips (-500), Dallas ML over CHI (-370), Tor ML over Ind (-160)
Pays (@+125)
Outcome: Win, 2.25 units
1 unit, Det +1 (would have take ML if it was offered, damn Bodog) over Den
Pays (-105)
Outcome: Win, 1.95 units

Total pool: 12.2 units

Picks for 2/26

Wizards +12.5 at Houston, one unit. Wizards have covered the last four out of five against the spread against solid opponents away (Hornets at home last night, lost by 3 with a +10.5 spread), even with an iffy Butler. People forget its the same team that made a fairly emotional and effective run last year in the Eastern Conference playoffs.I don't think they'll win, but they should cover so long as Haywood (another underrated Wizard) can keep Yao down.

Cavs -3 at MLW, one unit. Cavs have covered at least 70% of their Feb starts. I don't think the team changed as dramatically as people talk after the trade. Remember who beat the Pistons last year? It wasn't Larry Hughes. Milwaukee is just playing not to get hurt at this point. A loss to Cleveland is forseeable and essentially forgivable at this point.

Sac -2 at Miami, one unit. Miami sucks.

Utah (-7.5) at Min. two units. I know its another road game, anything can happen, blah blah blah. Utah still won 90% of there last 20 some games, Min is hurting (11-43)(.205). I'd buy points up to +13 if I could.

Possibles:
Orlando (-4.5) at NJ. I see it as maybe a trap game, but who is going to deal with D.H?

Update 4:35, 2/26/08: Yao is out, Was dropped to 10/5, prob will go down to 9 before tip off. Yippee