Fat Tuesday

I realize that with all the goings on in New Orleans I didn't do much to help out. Didn't send money to victims, didn't adopt homeless pets, I didn't even watch the musical tribute to New Orleans.

I feel very guilty about this so I decided to honor the fallen city by celebrating Fat Tuesday. I will go to Dunkin Donuts and eat donuts and think about Katrina and all that, and how my eating will help overcome all the sadness in that region

NASCAR

I've never watched NASCAR, I usually change channels SportsCenter does highlights from races, but I do have some questions for NASCAR (and other racing leagues) fans. i don't get the draw of watching cars go in circles. But you can't deny that it is everywhere. Big race on the tube yesterday, ans when I flipped on the radio last night they had a whole segment for NASCAR.

How do you choose which racer to root for. Unlike most sports (I'm not saying racing is a sport) there is no geographical loyalty to a team. Is it a bandwagon thing? Whoever is winning at the time you start following the race is the guy you root for?

When there is no race on do you go watch people drive on the highway? Go to a live highway web cam?

Pets

For the longest time Nat has wanted a pet, as long as it isn't a fish, it doesn't seem to matter, just another living thing in the house. First it was a dog, which is fine by mean probably the leading candidate to move into our house. Then she wanted a guinea pig, or a chinchilla. Before we got married she had expressed interest in an iguana, wanted to put a leash on it and go for a walk

Yesterday was something I never expected to hear from her. She was at Petco, and got into a conversation with someone who worked there, and asked her what kind of pet would do good with a toddler in the house.

The girl told her to buy a rat, that's a right a rat, claimed it was housebroken and trainable, and it could sit on your shoulder!!! Well I had to put my foot down and say no rats in the house. I mean if we found a rat odds are Nat would have wanted me to exterminate it so why on earth would I want to actually get one as a pet.

American Idol

What a dumb show. This is the 5th season, and today was the first time I actually watched most an episode. Nat taped last night show, and we watched this afternoon.

Seems like every contestant sings then Randy Jackson says "dog that was awesome you're the greatest. Then Paula says how much she loves them, and how they tug at her heart strings etc.

And then Simon Cowell says just how much they each suck, and what a disaster this competition is.

Finally the singer goes to Ryan Seacrest who makes fum of Simon Cowell.

You would think there would be certain criteria and things that the judges look for, but if that were the case then Cowell wouldn't think that each and every contestant sucks, while Randy and Paula sound like they want to hop into bed with every contestant.

On a different matter, after last season scandal involving Paula and the contestant she allegedly slept with, you would think that she would tone it down a bit, when she tells each and every guy how much she loves them.

hindsight is 20/20

I was surfing the web earlier today and I found a 2003-04 Detroit Pistons Preview. It was pretty funny. They said Darko was the franchise player, signing Rip was the biggest mistake they made - he wasn't worth the money, and the Pistons should trade Ben Wallace for 'Sheed.

save the zoo

I'm really clear about this story, but from what I'm hearing the Detroit City Council, who owns and operates the are voting to shut it down. Does this mean that all the poor animals will be running through the streets?

The state of Michigan had pledged 4 million bucks in aid on the condition that Detroit City Council turns control over to the Detroit Zoological Society. The council didn't like that clause and so they voted no. I've heard some comments on the radio that this is a racial thing, the Zoo is in Royal Oak not Detroit, and that's why they don't want to turn it over. Councilwoman Barbra Rose Collins said "The symbolism is that Detroit is a black city and that we’re unable to govern ourselves. So we need an overseer, the state legislature, or what have you, to step in and tell us what we must do and how to do it."

"That is a racist attitude. I resent it very much. I’m trying not to let it color my judgments, but we’re not a plantation, blacks aren’t owned by white folks anymore," said Collins.

As of now the Zoo will be closed sometime in May, and they will start shipping the animals to other zoos (Which answers my question about the animals roaming the street)

Personally, I'm not a big fan of the zoo, but Nat and Jonah love it. We are members and it is nice place for Jonah to go and hang out for a while. There is a zoo in Toledo, Ohio which is like an hour from my house, not nearly as convenient as the 2 mile drive to the zoo now.

There is a petition circling the web, but i can't seem to find it, if/when I do, I will post it.

All Star game

There is still about 5 minutes left in the All Star game which only recently got good. The game started off lousy, everyone trying to make crazy plays, and the result was basketball the is reminiscent of Tuesday Night ball.

But the end of the third and start of the fourth quarter the 4 Piston All Stars turned on the D, even forcing the West All Stars into a 24 second violation. Then the Pistons scored all 11 points to open the 4th and the Pistons errr East All Stars took the lead. As soon as the Pistons sat the West started to make a come back.

My prediction, if the East win, Chauncey Billups should will win the MVP. He brought the East back from down 20 points and turned it into a 6 point lead beofre he was back on the bench. If the West win McGrday wins, but that's pretty obvious to anyone watching the game

Update - Chauncy didn't win the MVP, LeBron James (29 points) recieved that award.

Crazy

I enjoy blogging, and I'm a big sports fan, but this absolutley blows my mind. Someone is selling the domain names rocketsblog.com and rocketsblog.net on Ebay starting bid is $10,000.00. There is actaully two bids on this item

Oh Mr. Johnny Krebeck

For some reason on Shabbos I was singing songs from my days in Beth Yehuda Day camp and Nat was shocked that these songs taught to us at Camp YBY. Here is one of the funnier ones.


Once there was a Frenchman and his name was Johnny Krebeck
He was a dealer of sausages, sauerkraut and speck.
He was the nicest Frenchman that you'd ever met
Until one day he invented that sausages machine.

(Chorus)
Ohhh Mr Johnny Krebeck how could you be so mean
I told you you' d be sorry for inventing that machine.
Now all the neighbors cats and dogs will never more be seen
They'll all be ground to sausages in Johnny Krebecks machine.

One day a little boy came walking in the store
He bought a pound of sausages and laid them on the floor.
He whistled and whistled and he whistled up a tune
and all the little sausages went dancing round the room

(Chorus)

One day the darn thing broke the darn thing wouldn't go
So Johhny K crawled inside to see what made it so.
His wife was having a nightmare walking in her sleep
She gave the thing a crank and heck of yank
And Johnny Krebeck was MEAT

(Chorus)

Frustrated

I spent most of the day cleaning out my office because I was looking for a few important papers that I couldn't find. . I knew I couldn't have mistakenly thrown out the papers because I don't have a garbage can in the office and I have looked at these papers a week or so ago. I cleaned up everything, tossed out the garbage paper. put random papers in files, finally I got rid of all the crap on my desk, and I still couldn't find the paper. I filled up a trash bag, and some shopping bags of garbage

I had given up, and went to clean out some of the junk in my car, it was filled with empty water bottles dunkin donut bags and other assorted junk. And there on the seat were the papers I had been searching for. I'm not sure why they were in the car. I must have mistakingly grabbed them along with other stuff when I went for a meeting last week.

Goodbye Darko, we hardly knew ye

It's official Darko Milicic is no longer a member of the Pistons. If you check the box scores you might wonder if he has ever been a member of the team, but that's not the point.

Darko, and PG Carlos Arroyo, were traded to the Orlando Magic for basically nothing, Kelvin Cato, an injured big man, who isn't needed and a draft pick in the next two years.

From what I understand this trade was basically about money, they want to resign Ben Wallace and Chauncey, and to have that money they couldn't also sign Darks. So they get Cato whose contract expires at the end of the season, and they have money.

Personally, I don't like this trade, it doesn't help the team win a championship this year. Over the past year I kept hearing on the radio that Darko wasn't a bust, and Joe Dumars, President and GM, was offered quality players for Darko because people thought he had potential. But they didn't get anything for him. Even in Cato isn't injured, he's just an extra big man that isn't needed.

Was it to soon to give up on Darko, will he go on to have a good career in Orlando? He's only 20 years old, must layers are just entering the NBA now, Darko has sat on the bench for 2 years, dubbed the human victory cigar, because he only got in the game when the game wasnt in question.

Did Joe Dumars screw up by drafting him? hindsight would seem to yes, although we don't know how Wade, Bosh or Carmelo would have fared had they joined this team. They most probably would have sat on the bench as much as Darko.

At the time however, everyone had said that he was the number 2 pick in the draft. Denver said if they had the pick, they would have taken him over Carmelo.

Darko was on the cover of ESPN the magazine a few months before the draft, the headline said "He's Number 2" Here are some quotes "Darko is one of a kind, he runs the floor, handles the ball, shoots the three, and can play with back to the basket" "Darko's footwork and speed seperate him from the rest of the 7 foot pack"

And this is what is written in the mock-draft -
"Another no-brianer. Even if Detroit didn't think it already had a Carmelo (Tayshaun Prince) Darko would have been the choice. He won't sell as many tickets as Lebron (James) but he'll be drawing more then his share of attention in teh low post. There is one big issue:Will Larry Brown let him off teh bench (he didn't)

I don't know who ESPN's Chad Ford was watching, but when I see Darko he looks like he's never seen a basketball court, rarely aggressive, out of place, hanging out by the three point line, and looking uninterested.

Ford wasn't only wrong on this - he said that denver would trade the 'melo pick, and Wade would go 9th to th knicks (he was picked 5 by the heat. He had the Heat taking Chris Kaman)

Good luck in Orlando Darko, I hope you get more PT then you did in Detroit

what's more dissapointing...

...The '84 Tigers getting swept by the last place Mariners after their 35-5 start. Or the Pistons going 5-4 after their 35-5 start, including a loss to last place Hawks?

Back to our losing ways

1-3, just typing it stings. We played another lousy game on Sunday morning. we ended the first half with13 points. I had 8 of them, plus we got 3 free throws from AP, and a last second basket by another player. no one else but me had scored a field goal until the last second of the game. And while that worked well for the Miami Heat last night (Dwayne Wade scored his teams final 17 points to lead a comeback over the Pistons) it didn't work for us.

As soon as I sat down at the half my leg cramped up and I couldn't run at full speed the rest of the game which sucked. Our game started at 8:30 in the morning, so forget about stretching, I had barely walked and all the sudden I am running at full speed for 20 minutes. I'm guessing this is why my leg cramped up.

Here are the problems we seem to have:

2 of our 5 starters have missed 3 of 4 games
we have gotten destroyed on rebounds, no one crashes the boards
Bad shot after bad shot
lousy ball movement
not much team chemistry

hopefully we'll iron out these issues, because we have to win a lot of games to get in the playoffs

Greatest analogy

Nat and I were playing with Jonah this afternoon, and Nat asked a hypothetical question, is it possible to love a second a child as much as Jonah?" (She isn't pregnant)

I answered "I know with XBOX, when I get a new game, I don't play with the original one as much"

Nat was speechless

Odds and ends

I heard on the radio (Domenski and Doyle on 97.1)that an Israeli company is offering people a chance to join the Mile High Club - for $200.00 you can get a 45 minute flight from Lod Airport, the plane is equipped with everything you need to join this exclusive club. (Use your imagination)

With the exception of Tayshaun Prince the Pistons starters were voted on by coaches to be reserves for the All Star game. You think Tayshaun (Nat's fave) feels like a loser tonight?

We have decided that regardless of how convenient it is for us, Jonah watches to much TV, and not coincidentally, I watch to much of Jonahs shows, the ones I like are : JoJo's circus, and Little Einsteins, I hate the wiggles and doodlebops. Now we listen to his music, and I prefer his TV shows.

I wonder how effective advertising really is. Budweiser had 10 commercials during the Super Bowl, most of them made me laugh (Except the horse that went to put a yoke by himself, that was dumb) But I still drink Labatts

Wayne Gretzky's wife allegedly bet a half million dollars on sports in the past 40 days. The Great One denied any knowledge of it. I guess it's plausible, she has her own money from her acting career, and as a coach he's away from home a lot. I just watched Gretz deny having anything to do with this gambling ring. Say it ain't say, Wayno

Does anyone care the Winter Olympics are starting this weekend?

Worst. Game. Ever

The YBY gym that we play in on Tuesday night is a terrible gym. I don't know who was on committee when they built it, but it's pretty obvious it's someone who has never played basketball. The floor is tile, not wood, which makes for a very slippery and dusty floor, not very condusive to playing ball. I'm honestly surpised no one has hurt themselves and tried to sue the school, but that isn't my point.

Usually before the game someone sweeps the floor an removes a ton of dust, last night, for some reason, this didn't happen. The games were terrible, it felt like I was running through through quicksand. I don't remember having less fun playing basketball in my life.

Gas prices

On my way home from Kzoo yesterday I stopped to buy some gas. I also wanted chocolate and pop, ya know, driving food. So i opted to pay inside so I could charge it all at once. So I fill up my car, walk inside and I hear the girl behind the counter speaking into the intercom " Sir - if you wait a minute to fill up your gas tank, I'm lowering the price 3 cents a gallon." I sorta signed and said "Oh man" and she just looked at me and was like "I'm sorry" They couldn't give the cheaper price, since when I put it in my tank, it cost 2.29.

Super Bowl

We went to The APs for a super bowl party last night. We had a good time, enjoyed the game, ate food, all the things you'd expect from a Super Bowl Party.

Here a few thoughts I had over the past day or so

You know how when you go to a movie, no one is allowed to talk, you're supposed to watch the movie and enjoy it. (Personally I never liked this rule, because my feeling is if you go with a friend or spouse it's because you want to spend time with them, not just sit next to them in silence. If you don't want to hear other people go to the movie by yourself.)

Why doesn't this same rule apply to watching a football game, there were times throughout the game where there was so much talking it was tough to hear the game. I know the announcers usually are pointless, and I could probably watch the game and enjoy with the volume off, but at times, it's good to know what they are talking about.

Overall it was good game, the team I wanted to win won, the people I like hanging out with were there, and the food was good, can't ask for much more on Super Bowl Sunday. Except maybe one we'll see the Lions in teh big game instead of hosting it.

Victory

Going into Sundays game we knew it was a must win for our team. If we lose, we go to 0-3, all three losses in our division. We lose, odds are we don't make the playoffs.

We jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead, en route to a 51-37 win. The player who was supposed to play the point position finally showed up, which was great for me, because I was able to switch from the PG to a shooting guard. This gave me a lot more offensive freedom, and I played, I think, my best all around game. I scored around 15, it may have been 13 not really sure, had a few assists and some rebounds. I continued to struggle from the free throw line going 1-4, it's a problem, which should be corrected in the coming weeks.

I had Super Bowl Tickets

This is what they look like

At least I picked them up downtown, had them in my possesion for a few hours. Then I DSLed them to Pittsburgh where people were anxiously awaiting their arrival.

This is me acting all excited to have Tickets

NBA on TNT

Does anyone else find it odd that Magic Johnso, who is a co-owner of the LA Lakers, is a part of the pregame show. He can't really be that objective.

During this eveing show, they were interviewing Elton Brand of the LA Clippers, and it must have killed him when he heard one of his cohorts refer to the Clips as LA's best team.

NFL Experience

Last night me Nat and the AP's headed downtown to the NFL Experience, 800,000 sq feet of football. Of course this wasn't without stress. Our friends, wanting to emulate me,
decided not to buy the tickets in advance, and when they finally decided to get them ,Ticketmaster was sold out.

We went down anyways, figuring if we can't tickets for Wednesday night, we'd buy for Thursday night and just hang out and see the other hoopla downtown. To my surprise still were tickets available at the gate, so we did get in.

Mr. AP wanted to throw a football first, he plays QB for my team on Sunday Mornings. We got in that line first, long line, but it moved pretty quickly. We did target practice first. You get three passes, you have to throw the ball through a hoop, which is being guarded by two defenders, and they are swinging. AP completed 5-6 (He took two turns) and I went 2-3. I was shocked that I did that good, because passing was never a strength of mine.

Next it was time for the 4o yard dash. Nat, the AP's and me all lined and raced, I won the race. It was funny to see the girls running and holding their hats at the same time. Since we all raced, I have no pictures of this.

Next was throwing for distance. AP won this event, his long ball was about 45 yards, which beat my 37 yard pass. The girls did OK, each passing for about 15 yards.

After that we walked around and checked out the scene, there was High School Cheer-leading competition, saw an 80" plasma screen TV, that I think would look nice in my living room, Cory Schlesinger was signing autographs (We didn't get one, they closed down the line right before we got in)

We spent about 2 hours at Cobo, where the Experience was, and then walked over to the RenCen, and see if anything was happening there. There wasn't to much happening, Radio Row was pretty much empty, and Sports Center wasn't being taped for a few hours. So we decided not to wait, and head on home.