With the month of July ending we can finally look forward to some 'real sports'. The long drought (for me at least) that is the month and a half from the end of the NBA finals to the first NFL preseason game is coming to an end. The first NFL preseason game is Sunday, and while the games don't mean anything in the big picture of the NFL season they do mean that football is finally upon us. So I thought I would take some time to address some of the big sports stories of the past few weeks.
1. Mike Vick
-If he is guilty I feel that Mike Vick should pretty much be treated as persona non grata by professional sports, but
-If it turns out he is innocent then the NFL should treat him like any other player. Which brings up the Duke Lacrosse team quandary. It would not be right for the NFL to suspend him or treat him any differently until he is actually proven guilty, not just charged.
-But, since one of his 'friends' has already pled guilty and is turning witness, things look very very bad for Vick, which makes it very hard for the NFL to do anything but keep him suspended.
2. NBA Referee
- Once again there is the little matter of innocent until proven guilty... but this looks even worse than the Mike Vick case because it's not what 1 player did off the field, this had a direct affect on the outcome of games.
- I won't condemn the entire NBA yet. But it does bring some events into question the past 2 seasons, and if any other referees are implicated then the whole shebang comes into question.
- The NBA reffing was already questionable as far as quality was concerned, and adding this just makes that look worse. And if I am a player I really start to wonder about the events of every game that referee was in. Because it's not just a matter of what calls were made and not made, it's also when fouls are called, all a referee has to do to throw off some players is call 2 quick fouls, and the rest of the game they are looking over their shoulder.
- Having this come on the heels of a season where the NBA was trying to crack down on how players treat the Referees does make them look a little foolish. Especially when the main referee in question has been involved in some of the biggest controversies in recent years that involved referee judgement (or misjudgement): the Detroit Brawl, the Rasheed Wallace suspension (for threatening this same referee). Who is really going to know how much his gambling issues affected his judgement in those situations?
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Harry Potter, What am I listening to?, new site comments
1. First, an additional comment I have about Harry Potter, taken from another column I read. What is great about this whole thing (and I know my father especially would agree) is that all of this excitement and lines and Internet buzz is about a book! It is just so cool that people from all walks of life and all over the country and world are this excited about a book instead of the latest TV reality show.
2. Replaced my late '80's rock albums with some late '80's Rap. Digital Underground, LL Cool J and Tone Loc. Since I have been listening to mostly Metal for a while now I figured I would change things up a bit. I used to really like listening to Rap my last year or 2 in college, then stopped. But most of the CD's I kept I still enjoy listening to.
3. I realized that this new site does not have the subscribe option that the old one had, so people cannot just subscribe and receive new posts via e-mail. But as a partial solution I would recommend people download a reader application (like Google Reader). Then they can add this site along with other web sites to the Reader. Then when they open that site they see if there are any updates to a variety of sites and choose to visit. I find this to be a real handy tool here at work, especially for my friend's blog, and sports news.
2. Replaced my late '80's rock albums with some late '80's Rap. Digital Underground, LL Cool J and Tone Loc. Since I have been listening to mostly Metal for a while now I figured I would change things up a bit. I used to really like listening to Rap my last year or 2 in college, then stopped. But most of the CD's I kept I still enjoy listening to.
3. I realized that this new site does not have the subscribe option that the old one had, so people cannot just subscribe and receive new posts via e-mail. But as a partial solution I would recommend people download a reader application (like Google Reader). Then they can add this site along with other web sites to the Reader. Then when they open that site they see if there are any updates to a variety of sites and choose to visit. I find this to be a real handy tool here at work, especially for my friend's blog, and sports news.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Family/Weekend Update
1. So the weekend got off to a crazy start on Friday when Daniel woke up with drainage from his left ear again. Prompting a call to the Dr. and a new prescription. Then when Connie gave him his drops at lunch and he screamed for 30 minutes we decided that a Dr. visit was in order. So she brought him and James up here to me at work and I took him to the Dr. The Dr. said that there was nothing new wrong, just that the old drops might have irritated his tubes, and the new drops shouldn't do so. So from there we went to Walgreen's to pick up the prescription, then home, only to get a message that James' glasses were in. So it was back in the car, and back up to my work as the Eye Dr. office is right by my office now. Then finally home. Then after only about a couple of hours, the screw popped out of the glasses frame, and we could not get it back in.
2. Saturday was a relaxing day: James' T-ball game, where he got a hit trying coach pitch, then off to the eye Dr. to get his glasses fixed. Then lunch followed by a trip to the zoo. which was fun. Then over to the Penny arcade in Manitou for a fun couple of hours.
3. Sunday we got a lot of work in the basement done, I patched the hole in the wall, and we got the baby stuff out of the back storage area so we could actually move other stuff in there. So we are actually in a position to get the kids play area organized and cleaned up so they can use it again. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!
4. James did pretty well his first 2 days with his glasses, as long as he doesn't think about them he's fine. He keeps them on and does a pretty good job of keeping track. He has a good test this week with his YMCA Day camp. But I think he can handle it. And I think it will make a difference long term.
2. Saturday was a relaxing day: James' T-ball game, where he got a hit trying coach pitch, then off to the eye Dr. to get his glasses fixed. Then lunch followed by a trip to the zoo. which was fun. Then over to the Penny arcade in Manitou for a fun couple of hours.
3. Sunday we got a lot of work in the basement done, I patched the hole in the wall, and we got the baby stuff out of the back storage area so we could actually move other stuff in there. So we are actually in a position to get the kids play area organized and cleaned up so they can use it again. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!
4. James did pretty well his first 2 days with his glasses, as long as he doesn't think about them he's fine. He keeps them on and does a pretty good job of keeping track. He has a good test this week with his YMCA Day camp. But I think he can handle it. And I think it will make a difference long term.
New Home
Welcome to the new Site.
I got tired of the technical problems with the Old site, plus this one is free so it will become my permanent home. Honestly with everything else available on Google: Gmail, Picasa, Google calendar, it makes sense to migrate over here for pretty much everything.
I will keep the other site open until it expires next year and in some cases double post, but this will be my primary blog site.
Expect to see links to my Picasa site and my public Calendar events here so people can easily keep up to date with me & my family.
I got tired of the technical problems with the Old site, plus this one is free so it will become my permanent home. Honestly with everything else available on Google: Gmail, Picasa, Google calendar, it makes sense to migrate over here for pretty much everything.
I will keep the other site open until it expires next year and in some cases double post, but this will be my primary blog site.
Expect to see links to my Picasa site and my public Calendar events here so people can easily keep up to date with me & my family.
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