Must be seen to be believed
The newest Laker--and the newest best name in the NBA--has his own fansite...and no, it's not mine.
- posted by DD @ 9:36 PM

 
Was it even a competition?
Because the definition of competition implies a legitimate challenge...

Seen and heard on Progressively Incomprehensible earlier this summer:

In every race, there must be a winner and a loser. It's sad but it's true. The race we're talking about today isn't the race to build the first army of robot warriors or a race to see who can draw a naked Heidi Klum the fastest. The race is actually a personal one, pitting my blog against Finnish Yole Diner! to see who can survive the doldrums of summer among a short-list of attention-deficit web surfers.
Finnish meatballs started off strong but just couldn't follow through. I'm not usually one to taunt because maybe Double-D has a good reason for not posting anything of interest recently (or ever, as I recall). Maybe he was just too occupied with his new apartment or maybe he just had enough of the upcoming wedding ceremony where he and many others have to wear this.*

*cut to image of ridiculous looking groomsman outfit I will be wearing (Sorry Grant, if you're reading this...but judging by the your seeming aversion to phone calls and emails, I'm not counting on your frequent use of technology)

Well if there were ever a winner and a loser...you can judge for yourself.

- posted by DD @ 1:57 PM

 
Found on the Web (Men's Health edition)
------------
SPORTS
Another reminder of why I like watching football but would never play it.

****
How they're reacting to 0-3 Sidney Ponson in San Francisco.

Heralded arrival...
...but some caution
Jubilation after start #1 .
Questions after #2 .
Will he ever win a game? Ponson loses third.

****

Sticking in San Fran...their reaction to the weird NBA trade of Jamison to the Mavs...and vice versa.
And more may be coming.

-----------
POLITICS
Life imitating art imitating George Stephanopoulos...this is so wacky, I don't know if it amuses me or hurts my head.

****

and still in Cali...the all-important art of the sound bite.

-----------
PERSONAL HYGIENE
I've never learned to shave correctly, apparently. The step by step basics, as it were.
- posted by DD @ 4:07 PM

 
Really quickly (hey, it's Saturday night and I want to go out!) I see that Michael Vick is hurt. Clearly, this is going to spark another round of conversation regarding the importance of preseason football, but more importantly...this is no shock to anyone who's been aware of the Madden curse, which has clearly struck again...as my brothers and I speculated several months ago, once Vick decided to be named cover boy of the Madden football video game, it was only a matter of time before he suffered his own particular slump.

Much like the supposed SI Cover Jinx, though clearly far more effective, the Madden curse has corresponded with major declines in the careers of Eddie George (Madden 2001--has not been the same RB since), Daunte Culpepper (has not been the same all-pro QB since Madden 2002) and Marshall Faulk last year (injured, didn't get 1000 yards, Rams missed playoffs)...see the links above for more details. But if three dumb kids in Baltimore can figure this stuff out, why hasn't one of the numerous posse-members who actually knows these players hit on it yet? Michael Vick is surrounding himself with terrible advisors...this, the whole "Mike Vick" thing. weak.

Since I'm not buying the game because of who's on the box--and I think I speak for the overwhelming majority--everyone would be better off, fans and players included, if say Jeff George was the cover guy next year...
- posted by DD @ 10:02 PM

 
A couple questions kicking around...hey, the two people who look at this site, I'd really like your opinions.

1. Is the Bible sexist? Have heard discussions on this before but never took it seriously. Of course, women do come off pretty badly--Lot's wife , Eve, Delilah to name a few--but was this an intentional effort to discredit women? Have to blame my bookstore reading of The Da Vinci Code for making me think about it.

2. Why are there so many homeless people in DC? Did I just never notice them before? Or is everyone out because it's summer time. Sad.

3. When did it become ok to read non-fiction books? Maybe it's still not ok. But everytime I go to the bookstore, the most appealing books are biographies, political essays, or about business and medicine. Except for The Da Vinci Code. Man, I need to finish that.
- posted by DD @ 9:05 PM

 
More Dumb Sports Writing

Fantasy Football is an enormous waste of time, completely irrelevant, and unfairly unpredictable.

Of course, it's these factors that make it so entertaining.

With Fantasy, watching football takes on a completely different tone...I never had as much fun on Sundays as I did senior year of college, with everyone in the house hanging on the most desperate games and random players...I'll never forget settling in to watch a game on Monday Night Football; as the players took the field, my one roommate nodded at the screen, saying "the only way I can win this week is if he has the game of his life"...three hours later, it was like this kid, a born atheist, had seen the face of God in Shaun Alexander after his 3-touchdown, 260 yard game. It's memories like that that make you wipe a tear from your eye...because dammit, I wish I'd had Shaun Alexander that week.

I've signed up for two leagues this year, both of which I plan to completely ignore if I'm doing badly by week 4. Of course, foreseeing this scheduled ambivalence, the geniuses in one league have added a nominal cash fee for the eight participants, which temptingly adds up to something slightly less than nominal for the eventual winner. So that one I guess I'm in for at least until week 6.

The problem with fielding multiple teams--and forget the multiple roster updates--comes down to what George Orwell ingeniously termed "doublethink" in 1984, or the concept of simultaneously believing in two, completely contradictory ideas . Sure, I'm looking forward to Brad Johnson tearing the Eagles' D apart--my team So What? would vault to the top of the Alpha Q guys--but there's nothing I want more than the Eagles D to shut Johnson down for my Return to Glory squad, to well, Return to Glory. This whole concept would take a troubling turn for the worse if I join a couple more leagues... that kind of commitment sort of reduces you to a quivering, drooling, schizophrenic blob come football season. Or maybe I'll just take the easy cop out and ignore all of them.
- posted by DD @ 12:22 AM