The 2006 Frenzy was a success. Forget the $2700 we raised for Bell Socialization Services, I got to play quarterback all day! The Bliztkreig/10 Apple Rush merger created a unique role - all QB and no defense, which I gladly accepted. I thought I'd jot down game recaps to preserve some of the day's most memorable twists and turns...

Warriors 13, Blitzkreig 12

Hi: It took no longer than our first drive for "the killer play" to work. Anytime you break out Adobe Illustrator to design a play, you want results. A nice route from Mark and solid protection staked Blitzkreig to an early 6 point lead.

Lo: In a prelude to Eli's boneheaded game-costing non-throwaway 2 days later, my ill-advised downfield shot while needing only to run out the clock cost our team a win they deserved. I'd like to elaborate with an excuse, but there isn't one.

Blitzkreig 44, Little Giants 12

Hi: I'll give a quick nod to TDs via option play, shovel pass and jumbo package, but Charlie's out-stretched sideline snag of a jump-pass may have been most impressive.

Lo: Watching Tucker's Giants march down the field and score on the opening possession caused concern. It was probably the most effectively engineered drive we faced all day.

Wrecking Crew 26, Blitzkreig 12

Hi: No turnovers. Going into the game, Chris told me the Wrecking Crew had blown out their first two opponents by picking off passers with ease. The key for us to stay in the game was to make sure my passes were caught by green jerseys or no jerseys at all. Mission accomplished... no picks and we stayed in the game considering the Crew's final 6 points came on a heave at the final whistle.

Lo: Being down 12-6 at halftime. We were frustrated because we felt like we played well against our nemesis, but were still trailing due to 2 big offensive Wrecking Crew plays.

Playoffs: Warriors 1, Blitzkreig 0

Hi: What a defensive effort. The secondary of Chris, Mark, Dave and Todd just had it working. To hold the eventual champs scoreless throughout regulation despite beginning most drives 20 yards and in was just phenomenal.

Lo: We called a WR screen to try to move the ball off the goal-line. I received the snap and flipped it over to Dave without trying to grip and pass a well-thrown ball. Dave made the catch and turned upfield for a few yards. After the play the Warriors lineman handed me my flag... he had pulled it just after I hot-potatoed the ball. That play best illustrates how quickly the beasts were breaking through. It was ugly.

Consolation: Blitzkreig 40, Little Giants 38

Hi: An old-fashioned shoot-out closed our day. With so many points scored, a few highlights come to mind including Dave's interception returned for a TD, Chris' perfect QB rating, a little high-stepping (not really) and of course... the amoeba!

Lo: You have to give it to the G-men for calling a fade route to their 5'2"-ish dynamo down near the goal line. Also, you have to scratch your head as to why it worked.

---

Congrats to the Warriors for claiming their first Bobblehead. I think the tournament was closely competitive from top to bottom and I think we proved to be a pretty tough out. I've got a year to re-load the wrist coach. Who knows? With some better play-calling and a little more consistency, Blitzkreig might bypass that consolation game next year.

Labels: Frenzy

Labels: Eagles '06

So I'm glued to this series of tubes to get a handle on what type of conditions I might be flag-footballin' in this Friday. Here's the rundown:

I'll gladly discard Mr. PM Magazine's attempt at a weather report and allow myself to joyfully anticipate a nice, warm, sunny November day on Friday. Way too nice to be wasting in a mall for sure!

Labels: Frenzy

Labels: bird seed

Labels: Eagles '06

What an enjoyable night of TV last evening! These are my top 5 highlights:

#5: Ellen's Life Goal
Strange to see a commercial get a network promo as NBC went into a break, but the new American Express ad featuring Ellen Degeneres and her life goal to work with animals was entertaining.

#4: Baron Davis in full effect
The NBC lineup had me temporarily forget about the NBA on TNT, but I remembered in time to tune in for the start of the west-coast game. I stayed awake for the first quarter, long enough to see Papertown Shakes guard Baron Davis dish out 11 assists. He was on pace to shatter a single-game record, but apparently switched gears a bit as the game continued - he finished with 36 points, 18 assists and 8 boards.

#3: 30 Rock
This show had me laughing the most last night. I like the move to Thursdays and think I will watch it regularly. Thanks to NBC for completing and marketing a "no laugh-track" Thursday night lineup. It could only be better if they picked up Everybody Hates Chris and plugged that in My Name Is Earl's (already stale) timeslot.

#2: The Office
The viewing history gives this one the edge over 30 Rock. The cast members merged to create some new funny moments, especially Dwight vs. Ed Helms (I forget his show name). But just when I thought Kevin stole the show again, he really just ended up selling out.

#1: Peace, Love and Gap
This new commercial featuring Common was great. It was visually artsy, and Common's performance was authentic... tough to do when you're rapping for a jean company. Hopefully it helps him expand his audience.

Labels: commercials, fantasy basketball, rank and file, tv

The General

First off, the real "General" is Sherman Douglas. No one ran Jim Boeheim's show quite like Sherm, and Douglas enjoyed a nice little 12-year NBA career. Nevertheless...

Did you see Bobby Knight punch that kid? Look at that balled up fist in the picture! How can this be referred to as "raising a chin", "flipping up a chin" or "a quick lift?" He punched him! But let's not get technical, Bobby was just helping the kid be a more confident player. Hey, I agree the kid is now oozing with something, but it ain't confidence!

The Radio

The honeymoon's over between me and that Warm 103. At 11:00 AM today, they flipped the switch. Contemporary adults no longer want to hear "Unwritten" or "that McPhee song that no one knows the actual title to or artist of" 5 times a work-day, they want to hear Christmas music and Christmas music only. Not only are these songs so 6 months ago, they're so 10:59 AM this morning ago too.

Let's check the math: Today's November 15th and Warm claims they will play these cover-bands non-stop through the season, which is probably January 1st. That totals 48 days, which means I'll be wished a Merry Christmas in so many ways roughly 13% of the year.

Maybe they need some help understanding how inharmonious this proportion is... whose chin needs raised?

Labels: music, rants, the college game

8.01%.

That's the percentage of the Institute's site visitors that viewed our site in November on an 800x600 monitor. I have yet to wipe the cringe off my face. At least the number falls to 6.63% when dated back to the beginning of August, when Analytics was applied to our site.

Screen Resolutions in November

1. 1024x768  66.22%
2. 1024x738   9.41%
3. 800x600    8.01%
4. 1280x1024  5.07%
5. 1280x800   3.57%
6. 1152x864   2.04%
7. 1024x742   1.33%
8. 1440x900   1.11%
...
22. 640x480   0.03%

Labels: web design, work

Labels: Eagles '06

Since moving to a new shared office environment, Warm 103 has become part of my work-day. As usual, my thoughts are random:

Ads in heavy rotation

• The Phil Avillo spot didn't work for the state as much as it worked for me. PA didn't send in a marine.
• The Wawa "wah" pedal thing drives me nuts.
• Sounds like the York Revolution hired the Piston's PA guy to do some voice-work on their ad.

DJ Mix

• West is back in the mornings, Garder takes you from AM to PM and Sten is now on 106.7.
• I think Melanie's playlist is decent - she throws in some good 80's stuff.
• This jury's still out on the afternoon guy.

The Tunes

• It's funny how these Soft Rock stations frequently mix in songs that were on trendier pop stations a year ago... why not just play these kinds of songs when they come out?
• Occasionally they drop a slogan that goes something like "From John Mayer to Phil Collins to Rod Stewart"... thanks for the variety?
• And they're not kidding about Phil Collins - I think I might have to start a spreadsheet on him.
• The Kid Rock/Sheryl Crow duet is still a station fave. Strangely enough, "cocaine" is not edited out. I guess Contemporary Adults won't go crazy if they hear the word.
  
• For some reason, Tracy Chapman is averaging 1.5 spins a work-day.
• Keep that Ambrosia coming!
  

Today's Trivia

• I'm not terribly proud of this, but I nailed the lunchtime trivia question today. The answer? MacDonald Carey.

Labels: music, rants, work

"The public, unless something more is done, is going to go in there monumentally ignorant about this," Madonna said.

He was right. Without details, I had no idea what to think of the Persian Gulf Veterans cash question. So, being forever leary of poly-tricks, I figured by the wording of the question (throwing out that big price tag) that they were steering me to vote "no". So I voted "yes". After checking the YDR article this morning, I don't think I care.

Other than that surprise, voting was pretty uneventful. I enjoyed the smaller non-presidential turnout and modern touch-screen voting machines. With NBA All-Star Ballots going to print any day now (Etan for Eastern C!), this morning was a nice vote rocking warmup.

Of course, things aren't going so smoothly in other locales. Voter intimidation ("Skip This Election!" signs qualify as intimidation?), broken machines, and potential hacking reports could lead to a very annoying next few days.

Labels: politics

• Remember the NBA Beat with Jackie McMullen during Sportscenter in the early/mid 90's?
  
  
• Hey, I got blockquoted on Bullets Fever! I guess I should have sured up my tenses before publishing that comment.
  
  
• Should an Ejections category be added to the String Bean Basketball III fantasy league?
  
  
• Watch out for this Saturday's Wizards/Celtics tilt. There seems to be some bad blood there and Gilbert is looking to bounce back from a poor shooting night.
  
  
• Papertown Shakes' Shawn Marion Lite, Gerald Wallace, opened the season in typical Gerald Wallace fashion: little of this, little of that, left with an injury (a pretty nasty spill actually).
  
  
• My sister hooked me up with some Starbury's and I played in them for the first time last night. They treated me pretty well, but I have to say that I was a little self-conscious wearing them. Stupid Phil Knight... you won't stop the movement!

Labels: fantasy basketball, NBA

Since Flood has no blog to sound off on, I thought I'd take a 20 second timeout from the NBA forecasts and touch on the John Kerry/"White House and them" feud over JK's botched joke.

First off, how about this from Kerry:

“I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed-suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s disease to start lying about me...”

You mean we didn't elect that guy? Anyway, here's the botch:

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq."

All the attention paid to this and the continual White House "responses" are a joke. Of course the AM mushmouths are going to try to run with it, but how is this even on the radar at the nation's capital? Anyone who thinks any politician's intent at a speaking engagement is to disrespect American troops is thinking foolishly, to put it politely.

Then there's this nugget:

“If it was a botched joke, someone show me the punch line.” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Uhhh, the punch line would be the clumsy cartoon character you're spokeswomanning for. You gotta love the irony in Bush supporters reacting to another's "botched" speech. It's akin to Vlade Divac complaining about an opposing center's false flops. I saw a video clip of the botch and the way Kerry lost his train of thought and started hesitating and looking down was painfully similar to the hesitation and discomfort Dubya showed when he was rehashing that ol' Texas saying.

Last word goes to Keith Olbermann:

"Kerry called them stupid, and they were too stupid to know he called them stupid."

Labels: politics

The team had another successful string of wins in the late 80s/early 90s with the high scoring trio of point guard Tim Hardaway, guard Mitch Richmond, and forward Chris Mullin (collectively known as "Run T-M-C" after the rap group Run-D.M.C.). However, with then coach Don Nelson wishing to go with a bigger lineup, he made a trade that broke up the Run T-M-C core by sending Richmond to the Sacramento Kings for draft-day bust Billy Owens while bypassing Dikembe Mutombo, who was selected next by the Denver Nuggets.

- Answers.com

But Nelson saw an opportunity in Golden State big enough to lure him out of a comfortable routine at his home in Hawaii and his sports bar in downtown Dallas. With his unorthodox coaching methods -- and a vow to improve his team's defense, just as he promised every season with the high-scoring Mavericks -- he's ready to fix another moribund club.

"I still have the passion, and I think we have the talent here," Nelson said. "I like this team. There's nobody better at playing small-ball than me. I know how to do that. There's a lot of positives here, and many of them happen to be smaller players."

- Boston.com

So everything has come full-circle for Nellie in Golden State. 12 seasons after breaking up a diminutive, running-and-gunning roster in favor of size and defense, he's returned to the bay promising a smaller, faster, higher-scoring Warriors lineup. Will the new Run T.M.C. fare as well as the originals and make an impact in the Pacific?

Then…

• Tim Hardaway - Couldn't wear jersey number 10 until his second season, after veteran Manute Bol left the team
• Mitch Richmond - 1 of 6 players in NBA history to average at least 21 ppg for his first 10 seasons
• Chris Mullin - Only player to have been named Big East Player of the Year 3 times, thanks to sharing 2 Co-Player of the Year Awards with Patrick Ewing

Now…

• Baron Davis - Straight outta Compton, Baron like chewing Juicy Fruit gum during games
• Jason Richardson - Along with Michael Jordan, 1 of 2 players to have won consecutive NBA Slam Dunk Contests
• Troy Murphy - Funds an AAU team in his New Jersey hometown called the Jersey Shore Warriors

And Always…

• Don Nelson - "I ain't no messiah, that's for sure," Nelson says. "But I am a good coach, and I'll do a good job here. I will get the team headed in the right direction. A lot of good things are going to happen." - USA Today

Pacific Division Forecast

1. LA Lakers
2. Phoenix Suns
3. LA Clippers
4. Golden State Warriors
5. Sacramento Kings

Labels: NBA, rank and file