A bunch of grading

This morning I took my brother to LAX at four o'clock. Our dad was working on the siding of their new house last week and went down with the ladder. When he landed his elbow was wrenched with the weight of his fall and tore his rotator cuff. Because of that, and because they're hoping to get the house done by Thanksgiving time, they bought Stephen a ticket and he flew up there today. He'll be there for about a month. After I dropped him off I went to the school, but since I didn't feel very well and had a ton of stuff I needed to get done, I set my room up for the day and called in for a sub. So far today I've finished a lot of what I needed to do, but not all of it. Hopefully in the next hour I can get more done while watching football before Chuck comes on.

I was really sad to see my brother go this morning, for these reasons:

1. Even though he isn't around that much down here, what with not having a job yet to solidify his schedule and his girlfriend and best friends living a decent distance away from us, I'm still going to miss him while he's completelygone for a while.


2. I envy him for getting to go back up to Oregon, even if it is to work on the house.


3. I might have been a little sad just because it was so early in the morning.

---

Tomorrow is opening day in the NBA, and I am really excited about the Blazers-Spurs game. I don't want to let myself get too excited, but I do think that a lot of people will be surprised by the Blazers this year. I can't wait for that.

De-Oderant.

Once again, I don't think that preseason really means much. Tonight Portland played a bad team that didn't have it's best – or at least, most hyped – player. But I still take several things from the game, judging by the box score and the play-by-play.

1. LaMarcus is who we thought he was. This kid is a stud. 31 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, with only one turnover and one foul. He did that on 12-19 shooting from the field, and 7-9 shooting from the line. It doesn't matter that he did it against a terrible team in the preseason, he's been doing it for a while. He's the real deal.


2. Brandon Roy is still rusty, missing half of his free throws. But he showed all of the things that make me compare his intensity and clutch-ness to his airness. This is what Roy did in the last six minutes:
   
   
   1. He made an 8-foot jumper to get the game within four at 92-88.
   2. Then he made a layup to put it at 92-90.
   3. Then he made a layup after a Sonics bucket to put the score at 94-92. After another made shot by Seattle, he hit a 12 footer to make it 96-94.
   4. After the Sonics got one free throw, he made two clutch free throws to bring Portland within one at 97-96.
   5. Then he hit an open Martell Webster to get the assist and tie the game after another Seattle score. That tied the game, and after that happened the Blazers never trailed again.
   6. He got another assist by giving the ball to Aldridge for a dunk, putting Portland ahead 103-101.
   7. He then missed the second of two free throws, missed the shot after Aldridge passed him the ball, rebounded his own miss, and drew another foul. He missed the first one, but made the second. Even when he wasn't clutch, he was still making clutch plays.
   8. He then missed an 11-footer that would have put Portland up by four, got his own rebound, and then passed it out to Webster for another assist as Webster drilled another three.
   9. He then made another layup to keep Portland's lead 110-105. The last point was made by Steve Blake when he made only one free throw.
   
   I love Brandon Roy.


3. Martell Webster is still bringing it. He had 19 points, once again shooting over 50% from the field and from downtown, hitting three of five. He only got two rebounds, which is disappointing, but he did have three steals. I like him as the starter at SF this year.


4. Travis Outlaw did exactly what I want him to do off the bench. He played 25 minutes, had 13 points on only nine shots (which is a much better number than what he usually puts up). He had five rebounds, two steals, two blocks, and no turnovers. If these two guys can man the starter and sixth man roles like this during the season, the team looks good.


5. The worst note from the game is that only one point guard seemed to do well in the game. That one? Sergio Rodriguez. He had five points on two of four shooting (1-1 from three), three rebounds, two assists, and no turnovers. He did that in only twelve minutes. It's still disappointing that JJ and Steve Blake were less than stellar, but I love Sergio and I'm happy he did well.

Again, I know that this was only preseason. It's still nice to see my guys doing this well, though.

(The title of this post was one I came up with before we won the draft lottery, as I was considering the options that weren't Oden or Durant. De-Oderant. I didn't think I would get to use the term again once we won the draft lottery. Too bad I was able to use it because neither of them played in this preseason game, but I'm glad I got to use it anyway.)

With guns put back away...

Today I had a meeting with the math coach and the principal to talk about my professional development goals for the year. It was a really good chance to tell them how I was feeling. Of course, in the midst of that I found out that the gate to the fields would have gotten me into my room after all, so that I could have gotten all that work done on Saturday morning. Yeah, I wasn't too happy to find that out. Even though that's true, the weekend was still really nice, mainly because I didn't feel guilt about not doing any work over the weekend, since I thought it wasn't my fault.

---

I've never been more excited for college football than for the NFL. Ever. Not even during seasons when the Ducks were okay and the Seahawks were terrible. But this year, with the combination of Oregon being amazing and Seattle being not-so-amazing and the absolute craziness of the college season, I've found myself much more interested in the college game. It could have a little to do with how poorly my three fantasy teams are performing as well, but I think the competitiveness in college this year has more to do with it. Oh yeah, and cheering for the best offense in the country. I mean, Oregon rushed for 465 rushing yards and 39 first downs against the Huskies in Seattle on Saturday. They ran the ball 62 times, and 25 of those runs were for first downs. They attempted 30 passes, and completed 14 of those for first downs. They averaged 7.5 yards per rush as a team. Even though Washington is bad, that's just amazing. It reminds me of what the Seahawks did in 2005 when the offensive line made defenses give them the entire field. And that's what's been said about Oregon's performance: the line was unstoppable, which means that it doesn't matter what guy is running behind them. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have one of the best running backs in the country and a sneaky Heisman candidate at quarterback behind them. In fact, if Dixon had four more yards passing, one more yard rushing, and not thrown a Hail Mary interception at the end of the first half, he's looking at a game with 200 yards passing, 100 yards rushing, a better than 60% completion rate, and two total touchdowns – one in the air and one on the ground. Those are great numbers. We have USC and ASU at home in the next two weeks, and if we can keep the offense rolling and get the defense back to where it had been the last few weeks, we should be looking at the final three weeks beginning to think about BCS championship plans. Crazy. Oh yeah, and the Oregon basketball team should be coming back stronger this year than they were last year. It's a good time to be a Duck.

After four pre-season games

As most everyone says, the pre-season means very little. Very little. Of course, that doesn't mean I won't continue to use it to build my ridiculous dreams of what the Blazers might be able to do this season. As much as the pre-season doesn't mean much, there are still quite a few signs of great improvement for the upcoming season.

1. In four games Martell Webster is averaging 19 ppg, 4.25 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1 spg, 0 bpg, and 1 topg in 32.5 mpg. Those are pretty good numbers, especially because one of the knocks on his game is that he's had a hard time just getting into the flow of the game. A lot of the comments abut his performances have said that he's been doing a great job of getting involved whether he has the ball or not.


2. In four games Travis Outlaw is averaging 13.25 ppg, 5.25 rpg, 1.25 apg, 1 spg, 1 bpg, and 1 topg in 29.25 mpg. Those numbers aren't too bad either.


3. Those last two points lead to this one: the SF battle, which was supposed to be a three man battle that many thought would produce no one really good, has turned out to be the best for both young guys. If we can get production even close to that from these two guys in the regular season, things will be fantastic. I mean, between the two, if I adjust for the rigors of the regular season, I suspect that the SF position could give us these numbers: 28 ppg, 8 rpg, 2 apg, 1.5 spg, 0.8 bpg, 2.5 topg. That's pretty good production from our small forward position, and that's with me adjusting things for declining production. But if things work out the way they should, Roy and Aldridge will actually open the offense up so that the small forward can contribute even more in the offense. So that's encouraging.


4. The PG battle has also been more than healthy. In four games Jarrett Jack is averaging 10.25 ppg, 1.25 rpg, 4.25 apg, 0.5 spg, and 2.25 topg in 25.25 mpg during four games. In three games Steve Blake is averaging 7.67 ppg, 3.67 rpg, 3.67 apg, 0.33 spg, and 2.67 topg in 23.67 mpg. In four games Sergio Rodriguez is averaging 4.5 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 4.75 apg, 1.25 spg, and 2 topg in 14.5 mpg. And in four games Taurean Green is averaging 7.75 ppg, 1.75 rpg, 2.5 apg, 0.25 spg, and 1.5 topg in 16 mpg. I didn't factor the field goal percentages into those stats, but regardless, that's a pretty good point guard battle and line up. Also, as Dave at Blazer's Edge pointed out, there are really two sets of point guards there: the duo of "true" point guards, Blake and Rodriguez, and the duo of "shooting" point guards, Jack and Green.


5. The two biggest question marks before Oden went down were PG and SF. Those two battles are going really well. But when the number one had surgery, the bigger question became center. Well, Joel Przybilla seems to be filling that nicely. His numbers, in four games, is averaging 2 ppg, 9.75 rpg, 1 bpg, 2 topg, and 3.25 fouls per game in 22.5 mpg. It would be nice if he were contributing more offense, but that's not too bad. His rebounds are fantastic. His blocks will improve with more minutes, his turnover numbers are pretty good, and his foul numbers are also better than they have been. Channing hasn't done too much to make the center situation seem great, but it's encouraging to see how well Przybilla is doing.

All of those things are great signs to me that the regular season will be better than most people think, especially if LaMarcus continues to do a great job and Roy gets back to form when the season starts. The offense has been firing on all cylinders, something no one really expected from a more up-tempo style with a core of young players. Anyway, that is one of the things keeping me going through the tough school year. Nine dears until the regular season starts.

With guns drawn

That's how the police would have approached me, apparently, had I tried to get into school this morning. The title of this post, I mean. That's what my colleague Mariano told me as I was talking with him in front of the school. I asked a secretary as I was leaving yesterday if I could get in this morning, and she said it would be open from eight until noon. Wrong. After she confirmed that, I left a bunch of things in my classroom that I was going to get done today. But instead they're just going to sit there until Monday morning, which is not good. That means I need to try to get to school even earlier on Monday than I normally would. Boo to that. So instead I took care of some car things this morning, specifically a long-overdue oil change. Now I'm catching up with a TV show that I think I'll like, Dirty Sexy Money. I've only seen part of the premiere, but it sounds pretty good.

Speaking of pretty good, last night I went to see The Darjeeling Limited with my roommate Eric and our friend Beau. A review of it in The District – Long Beach's weekly art/entertainment magazine – thought that it fell apart when the brothers got off the train. I disagree with that strongly. Once again it seemed to me that Wes Anderson does his best work when he is focusing on the most painful of human experiences. The rest of the time the movie was funny, but when the brothers were really confronted with tragedy and forced to look at their own lives and actions the movie got that much better. All the acting was really good, but I was especially pleased with Owen Wilson and Adrian Brody. Wilson was better than normal, and I think Brody showed me that he really is that good. I wasn't as happy when I walked out as I was at the end of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, I didn't think the whole movie was as insightful as The Royal Tenenbaums, probably my favorite Anderson movie, and I didn't think it was as funny as Rushmore or Bottle Rocket. But it might have done the job of combining those things that a fifth movie from an idiosyncratic director should.

Isn't stress fun?

Monthly. That is now the goal for the updates on this blog, although it will probably be a little better since the NBA season is nearly here. I listened to part of the pre-season game last night between the Blazers and Clippers. It was great to see the final lines, and even fun to hear what was happening for a while. I really don't think the game means much, but it was still nice. There are lots of websites with good coverage of the game, and I don't have the energy to try to do any better. Dave at Blazer's Edge has done a great job of listing these articles, so check that out if you want to read the good coverage. The important little comment I have is that we did a good job of punishing a team missing most of their best players, but we did so while missing our best player and another that most of us think will be one of our best players, if he isn't already. So that's important.

---

School is rough. I'm still trying to figure out how to be a "disciplinarian," which is getting in the way of trying to figure out how to be a better teacher. The most pressing issues are probably related to making sure that my students understand what's going on despite difficulties with English, since that seems to be one of the main problems. The other problem that consumes me, but that I haven't done much about yet, is still figuring out how to make my lessons much more engaging so that the students who are disruptive will find less reason to act that way. I'm trying a lesson tomorrow that uses ads to teach logic and reasoning. We'll see how that goes. I didn't go today because of feeling pretty bad and needing to catch up with stuff. That's the second straight Thursday I've missed at school, and I don't like that one bit. Hopefully my body starts healing soon, and then I won't feel the need to miss school.

---

I went in to the doctor last week to get the tingling checked out, and ended up with several x-rays and two different MRIs. Then they called me on Saturday and had me come back in on Monday to take a few more pictures. Since then I haven't heard anything though, so I'm not sure what's going on with my body still. I do need to schedule my physical therapy, which the doctor prescribed before the extra shots were taken on Monday. So that's what's going on right now. More to come in a month probably.

Straight outta Compton

I haven't written anything on this blog in a long time. Wait, let me see that better: I haven't written anything in a long time. I feel like the teaching is taking away some of my mental acumen. I do like my kids, but some of the cultural things are sooo hard to overcome. For instance: it has always been the case, even when teaching, that I need between 33 and 74 apologies per day. I just say things that are wrong or come out wrong or are heard wrong. In many places this is no big deal. But for most of the students I teach, a lot of their identity is wrapped up in not letting anyone say something to them or do something to them to hurt their image. So if they even think that I've done something to insult them, it is really hard to come back. Really hard.

Another thing that seems cultural: understanding what types of questions are appropriate to ask a teacher in class and what types are not. All students everywhere push the boundaries, but a lot of these students haven't learned what those boundaries are supposed to be. Hear me well on this: when I say "cultural" I'm not referring to race or ethnicity, rather the city/street culture that exists in south central LA. As I've said, I really like my students, but being raised in multiple rural towns in Oregon – as much as I don't like to admit that Roseburg is rural – and going to college at Wheaton didn't exactly prepare me to interact daily with kids from Compton.

Because of some of the differences, and because I'm getting walked all over, I'm instituting some new rules and procedures next week. I hate doing it, but it really does have to be done. I also realized that I need to put more effort into my lessons. My professors at Oregon espoused the belief that 99% of class management can be taken care of by having engaging lessons, and I still believe that's true. So it feels a bit like a cop-out to be planning to put in more rules instead of just making sure that my class sessions are engaging for all students. The problem is that so many students are keeping class sessions from happening the way they should that I can't tell yet how engaging my lessons are. And that's why I have to give in and start focusing on classroom management techniques for a little while. I give a hearty "boo" to that, but it's happening nonetheless.

---

One thing that is always enjoyable is answering questions about the Blazers poster/pennant/figurine in my room. A lot of the students think that Portland is just terrible, and they always have been. It's funny for me to hear that perspective, so I've been sharing with them about the 1977 team and the teams from the early '90s with Clyde and the gang. The figurine I have on my desk is actually Drexler, and I won it last year in the Blazer's Edge contest by scoring exactly 22 in my picks for one of the games. (Thanks Dave.) Most of the students don't really care, with just a few mentioning how good Kobe is or something like that. But a girl in my first period class mentioned the other day how excited she was for training camp to start soon. I couldn't even be mad she meant Lakers training camp, because it was so nice to have someone in the room sharing my excitement for the imminent NBA season.

And I really can't wait for the season. I mentioned this to a few friends already, but after overcoming my grief about Oden's surgery, I'm even more excited about what the Blazers might do this year than I was before. On Mike Barrett's blog today he posted the interviews he did with various players and members of the management last night at the organization's annual company picnic. Listening to all the things the various interviewees had to say made me giddy. James Jones said some things about how talented this team is and how unselfish they are as a group. This from a guy who played in Phoenix with Steve Nash for a few years. Jones knows unselfish, and he knows talent. Sure, his opinion is biased toward his new teammates, but he didn't have to say something so glowing. Players put things in less glowing terms quite often. To hear LaMarcus talk was great too. And Przybilla, with his emphasis on how hard he knew he needed to work this off season, was one of my favorite interviews. It's all really good, so if you have the time and want to join me in some excitement about the upcoming NBA season, give them a listen. Barrett is always good about getting stuff like that up for people to check out. I'm still waiting for Casey to put the up the Quick Chat on Oregonlive, since I couldn't listen to it live the other night. That one is usually really insightful too, since Quick is a great beat writer and keeps his pulse on the team really well. I can't wait to get some sort of hook-up that gets me into a Blazer/Laker game this season at the Staple's Center, just so I can be there when Portland surprises the LA – well, faithful isn't the right word – celebrities by showing how good they are without the best pure center to come into the league since that big guy that used to play down here in purple and gold.

---

Last note: I had a chance to go with a colleague of mine to the UCLA-Washington game tomorrow night at the Rose Bowl, but I'm going to my friend Michelle's soccer game instead. I'll have other opportunities for UCLA games, and I wanted to see the soccer game pretty badly. But it still took a little while for me to decide to stick with my original plan, since I haven't been to the Rose Bowl since Oregon's loss to Penn State in 1995. Enough for now. I'm going to go get some ice cream from Cold Stone, maybe, and then head back to the house. Hopefully the quantity of words in this post makes up a little for the lack of posts recently.

By the way, if you were wondering who else other than Ki-Jana Carter played for that Penn State team, let me remind you: Kerry Collins was the starting quarterback, Bobby Engram (yes, that Bobby Engram) was the number one receiver, Kyle Brady was the starting tight end, and I'm sure several good linebackers. By the way, Collins won the Maxwell and Davey O'Brien awards that year, finished fourth in Heisman voting (where Carter finished second to Rashan Salaam), but was not the best quarterback in the game. Danny O'Neil from Oregon was player of the game in a losing effort and set Rose Bowl records with most passes completed (41), most attempts (61), most yardage (465), most plays (74) and total offense (456). I remember how awesome he was live, and that was a big deal for a little kid watching his team face the Nittany Lions in the Granddaddy of them all. Oh yeah, and Joe-Pa won FWAA coach of the year honors that season, but Rich Brooks – yes, that Rich Brooks – won the Bear Bryant award for Oregon in his last season before going to coach the Los Angeles Rams.

A few videos by way of other blogs

This is crazy.


I guess Bargnani is really good. Watch this pass a few times. He's really good. It looks like he might have a little Sabonis to him.

USA basketball is good again, but once they made everyone feel really terrible. Especially a certain Michael Jordan. That guy could play.

A ridiculous comparison

I just read this quote in Mike Barrett's blog. This is the sort of thing that I really love about Brandon Roy.

This weekend the players will start arriving back into town. Greg Oden is expected to get here Sunday, Brandon Roy is already back, and I believe LaMarcus Aldridge is as well. It was Roy who made the request that the team get back into town over a month early, so they could start preparing. It's not likely the entire team will show as early as next week, but it'll be interesting to see who is able to make it. Steve Blake, James Jones, and several others have been here for several weeks.

Reading stuff like that keeps the stupid image in my head of Roy as a player more like Jordan than a lot of others I could name. He worked the entire off season to improve the weakest part of his game, which also improved throughout his injury riddled rookie season. He might have been the guy to push for Zach's trade, not because he didn't like Zach, but because he knew that the team would develop into a better team without him. He took over games during crunch time, which didn't always just mean shooting: he drove, made big shots, and found open teammates for game winners. If his defense continues to improve, and if his outside shooting improves functionally with how much time he's put into it, then my stupid brain will continue to make the connections between him and Jordan. I know he's not the same type of scorer, but so many of the other things about them are similar. And I'm not saying he's "the next" Jordan, just that his intensity and leadership and desire remind me of MJ more than most.

NFL Season Preview, via Arrested Development (Part 1)

It's been a long time since I wrote about a sports topic that wasn't related in some way to the Blazers. So I'm ripping off a gimmick that the Sports Guy uses and doing an NFL season preview. Instead of just writing a normal preview, though, I'll be using characters, episodes, and quotes from Season one of Arrested Development to set up my lame jokes and comments. To do that will take three parts, which means this first part is the only one that'll happen.

Quotes:

---

Gob: So what? Lindsay's been staying at the Four Seasons for like a month, and she's probably charging it to the company!
Michael: Lindsay's been in town for a month?
Gob: ...I don't think so.

This goes to the Oakland raiders and Jamarcus Russel. I mean, the draft was in April. He was the first overall pick. I'm trying to imagine how the conversations have been between Russell and his agent, and between the agent and the Raiders.

Agent: When Brady Quinn signed last week he got more money than we thought he would, so we've...
JR: Brady Quinn signed last week?
Agent: ...I don't think so.

---

Raiders Exec: Well, he should sign soon. I mean, even though he's a veteran, it took Daunte Cullpepper a little while to figure out our offense when he showed up a few months ago...
Agent: You signed Daunte Cullpepper a few months ago?
RE: ...I don't think so.

Gob: You know, I sort of thought my contribution could be a magic show.
Michael: Oh, that's perfect, Gob.
Gob: Thank you.
Michael: Or, wait a minute. I just remembered something — Dad's retiring, not turning six.

This goes to Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. Who didn't like Favre in the '90s? I mean, besides fans of all the other teams in the NFC north? But now it's just sad. Like a grown man having a magic show at his retirement. Speaking of, maybe Gob could convince Favre that his it would be wroth retiring just to see the illusions performed at his retirement party.

George Sr.: I don't have time for your magic tricks.
Gob: Illusions, Dad! You don't have time for my illusions!

This goes to Matt Millen and the Lions. How does he still have a job in Detroit? It's the illusion. Or maybe he's turning tricks. Doing tricks, I meant doing magic tricks.

Michael: Okay, guys, um... they are going to keep Dad in prison at least until this gets all sorted out. Also, the attorney said that they’re going to have to put a halt on the company’s expense account.
[All gasping.]
Michael: Interesting. I would’ve expected that after “They’re keeping Dad in jail.”

This goes to the Falcons. I really wouldn't have expected Vick's teammates to be so quick to embrace Joey Harrington as The Man in Atlanta. Wow, they haven't exactly thrown Vick under the bus, but there hasn't really been much support for him.

Lindsay: You’ve had $80,000 worth of cartography lessons. Get us a channel to the ocean.
Buster: Okay, okay, okay.
(Pauses)
Buster: Obviously this blue part here is the land

This goes to Eli Manning. Let's see:

1. Great bloodline? Check.


2. Successful college career? Check.


3. Cocky attitude that kept him from staying in San Diego? Check.


4. Numerous weapons on offense? Check.

Maybe it's too much to ask him not to buckle under pressure. Or maybe he should be able to tell that the blue part is water, not land.

Lucille: I'd rather be dead in California than alive in Arizona.

I don't think I even need to explain why this one goes to Matt Leinart.

Michael: Hey mom, I was wondering if you knew anything about these....
Lucille: [interrupting] I don't know where they are.
Michael: ...flight records. You know, it's really more believable if you let me finish first.

The first one I'm awarding to Michael Vick.

George Sr.: ...this is my vacation, Michael.
Michael: You're doing time, dad.
George Sr.: I'm doing the time... of my life!

This goes to Pacman Jones. It's too bad the NFL won't let him wrestle. They probably won't let him follow the example set by Joey Galloway in 1999 of playing flag football. We could see Pacman competing in all sorts of reality show events. It really could be the time of his life.

Narrator: Tobias had gotten the directing job by meeting with the school principal.
Tobias: ... and you tell me you've got some P.E. teacher directing? That just makes me want to puke all over your head, sir! [gets on one knee] Give me a chance to tell the bard's tale and I give you my word on humble knee whence you shall not say it wasn't e'r to be.
Principal: ... Jerry, you cool with this?
Jerry/P.E. Teacher: Sure, let the little fruit do it.
Tobias: Huzzah!

This one goes to any team that's just trying to fill holes.

Buster: It's like she gets off by being withholding.
Gob: Look who's got something to say.
Buster: I'm Mom and I want to shoot down everything you say so I can feel good about myself. 'Cause I'm an uptight -- [Incredibly extended BLEEP] -- Buster! -- [Extended BLEEP] -- You old horny slut!
Michael: [pause] Well, no one's gonna top that.

This one goes to the New York Giants and whichever of their players goes crazy this season about how controlling Tom Coughlin is and how much everyone hates him. I'm guessing around week five, depending on if Strahan comes back.

Michael: Listen, after we get that lot cleared, we're going to have enough money for you to neuter thousands of animals. You can make dogs and cats a complete thing of the past. No more dogs and cats.

This one goes to Vick too.

Kitty: Your wife's on line one.
Narrator: Michael's wife had been dead for two years.
Michael: My what?
Narrator: Kitty realized her mistake.
Kitty: I said, "your wife is on line one."
Narrator: But not immediately.

This goes to the Cheifs. Three weeks into the season, after signing Larry Johnson to a huge deal ending his holdout, the Cheifs are going to really wish Priest Holmes' comeback had worked out better when Johnson's knees explode. Running backs can only handle so many carries per year, and I think LJ has fit 8 seasons worth of carries into two and a half seasons.

Gob: Take off your glasses. Oh ... wait, wait. Let down your hair. No, glasses on, hair back up. Let's just get that hair right back up.
Kitty: Let me turn the lights off.
Gob: Yes, yes, please.
Kitty: How's that? Is that better?
Gob: It just seems like there's still light coming in from under the door.

This goes to the Oakland Raiders offense. No matter what you do or how you look at it, this offense is really ugly.

Lindsay: It's all I've ever wanted from you, Daddy - for you to spend money on me.

This goes to Tom Brady. The Patriots finally spent money this off season to help him out, and I think he's going to show his gratitude by playing even better this season than he has so far in his career.

Lucille: It's an idiot on a scooter at night. It's got to be Gob.

To LaVar Arrington. I thought that after Kellen Winslow and Ben Roethlesberger crashed their motorcycles NFL players would be more careful. I thought wrong.

Lindsay: Oh you'll never be able to do it. You're too good. You're the noble one.
Michael: Thank you.
Lindsay: The one who never wins.
Michael: I don't know about that.
Lindsay: The loser. The fool.

I'm going to go ahead and give this to the Bears. They've been pretty good the last few years. They're supposed to be good again this year. And yet, I just don't think they'll be able to even match last year's success.

Michael: Your Uncle Gob seems to think that he saw you down at the docks today. Was that you?
George Michael: No. Maybe it was the other George Michael. You know, the singer-songwriter.
Michael: Yeah, that makes sense.

This one goes to Adrian Peterson, the rookie for Minnesota. When Cedric Benson gets hurt a week and a half into the season, the other Adrian Peterson will take over the running back chores in Chicago, and he'll end up having more touchdowns than his Viking-rookie counterpart.

Reporter: Where's Earl Milford?
Gob: I-I don't know. I put him in a box. I didn't kill him, alright? And don't edit this for your broadcast so it looks like I'm screaming, "I killed Earl Milford!"
[Cut to Fox6 News]
John Beard: Startling confession tonight at 11:00.

This goes to the Cincinnati Bengals. At this point, even when players don't do anything wrong they get a bad rap. Then again, they did bring it upon themselves.

Lindsay: I'll tell you what. I'll take you down to see Nana if you split the money with me 60-40.
Maeby: 55-55.
Lindsay: Deal.
Michael: Sounds like you guys are getting more than you think.
Lindsay: We should go now before your Dad gets back. No need going halfsies with him, too.

This goes to the Houston Texans. I don't know how much they think Matt Schaub is worth, but my guess is that he's not worth as much as they think. Honorable mention on this goes to the Raiders for every QB they have, the Dolphins for Trent Green, and the Buccaneers for Garcia and the still-retired Jake Plummer.

Gob: And now you love the ten commandments. And yet you're the one who so conveniently forgot "Thou shalt protect thy father and honor no one above him unless it be-ith me, thy sweet Lord."
Michael: I'm not sure that one made it down the mountain, Gob.

This goes to everyone who's making up things about how good some bad team will be this year. I guess it's mainly for anyone suggesting that the Cardinals will be good. You're just faking it if you say that.

Tobias: Well, I've always wanted to remake Annie Hall. Except, I wouldn't want to get in bed with a green producer like a Sofia Coppola, though. Oh, but give me an old pro like a Robert Redford. Oh, I'd jump into bed with him in a second. And I wouldn't just lie there, Michael Bluth, if that's what you're thinking.
Michael: Actually, that time, that was what I was thinking.

This goes to the New England Patriots, who just signed "an old pro" to go with Tom Brady. Why would any team need Vinny Testaverde at this point?

Michael: Lindsay, new outfit?
Lindsay: This? No, I've had this for years. I think it's a hand-me-down from Mom.
Michael: You got a price tag. Right there.
Lindsay: Is there? I guess she wanted me to have something new. Sweet old thing.
Michael: Only two of those words describe Mom, so I know you're lying to me.

This goes to the Cleveland Browns, who acquired Jamal Lewis during the off season. I mean, how is that old thing going to help they're running game when he couldn't even run behind a better than average line in Baltimore?

That's everything I have for now. I hope to do the other parts, but we'll see.

Here's another one

Alright, this was on there too. Number six is my favorite, but the one in which he posterizes Rasheed Wallace is pretty unbelievable too. And number one is definitely incredible.

Try this if the video doesn't load.

Not what I expected

I was looking on Peekvid for something to do while I'm not doing anything in my hotel room, and I came across what appeared to be Michael Jordan's "ten greatest plays." It appeared to be that because it was titled as such. It turned out, instead, to be ten great plays against the Blazers. Yeah, fantastic. But it's still pretty amazing, and this goes out to my friend Ek. If the video doesn't load on the page then click on the link below or in the title.Try this if that didn't work.

Old-school Bill Walton at home

I saw this video just a few seconds ago. It's fun to see a young Walton, and I think the similarities between Oden's soft-spoken-ness and Walton's are great. Then again, I'm a little scared to hear about Walton's foot problems, since Roy and Aldridge have both already had their own foot problems. Just coincidence, but still a little scary.

Nice timing

I just cashed my reimbursement check from Compton for the U-Haul. I feel kind of bad about that, since my parents actually paid for the truck and auto transport, but my dad told me that was what I should do. And since I have less than $20 in my bank account right now, the $1000+ reimbursement came when I needed it really badly. Now I just get to look forward to kicking part of my paycheck to my parents for the first couple months of employment. Knowing that I have a little bit of money now allowed me to escape to the beach again. I'm sitting in a little coffee shop called Java Man in Hermosa Beach, and I'm going to walk down to the ocean pretty soon. I just updated my facebook profile for the first time in a while, and all the quotes I chose are from a packet my friend Luke put together for his high school students called A Few Things to Keep You Entertained.... Most of the quotes are not only good, but also timely for me as I'm getting ready to head into the classroom soon.

---

Since this is already pretty newsy, I might as well just include a general update on what's going on for me right now. I found a townhouse in Long Beach that I really like, and that I think Stephen and Eric will both like too. I got a letter today from Compton as proof of the salary I'll be making so I can apply to rent this place. I need to find my social security card too, but I'm fairly certain I know where it is, even if that means going to my storage unit tomorrow morning. I've looked at some other places too, and need to try to go by to see them or call tomorrow. But after looking at what else is out there, this place seems like the tops to me. It doesn't have appliances, so I'd have to go in for that, but there are cheap ones all over craigslist. That leaves me with getting a California driver's license and registering my car here as two of the most pressing things I have left, and I don't plan on doing either of those before I have an actual address. I still need to get in touch with a few of the doctors who have bills I need to pay, but I did set something up with the ambulance company yesterday. I've also worked on a parent letter/syllabus and self-introductory flyer for my students. To top it all off, I actually went for a bit of a run today. So that's it. This post has been pretty lame, but I wanted to make myself feel better about what I've accomplished down here, and that did it.

Mike Bacsik

He threw the pitch. The at-bat was actually pretty good for the pitcher, going up 2-2, throwing a ball after that, Bonds hitting one foul to keep the count full, and then going after him as Barry lifted it to the deepest part of AT&T Park. I just happened to be watching when Barry Bonds broke the record. It was pretty incredible. I think I actually heard the city of of San Francisco cheering through my window, not over the TV. It was way cooler to watch than I would have expected.

Once again it just goes to show: I'm an idiot

One would think that being in a licensure program would insure my ability to do everything needed to get my teaching license in a timely manner. But one might be forgetting that I'm a moron. It turns out that I didn't submit some paperwork--and money--that I was supposed to send in order for my license to be processed. Yup, nice job on that one. I'm on my way to do that now, and it should end up alright. The turnaround time is two weeks. But still, I am ridiculously unorganized.

---

Some happier things are right here: Kevin Garnett likes to wear Blazers stuff. The money quote, from Mark Madsen's blog:

Kevin told us how he had gotten up that morning and tried on the Portland shoes and that they had looked good. So he asked his wife “What do you think? Can I wear these in to practice?”

“Well Kevin, I don’t think so. I mean, the Trailblazers are in your conference and you play against them, right?....” she said.

Kevin decided to wear the shoes in anyway...

I really enjoyed reading that post, and it's a nice tribute from one of KG's teammates.

People might have seen this on TrueHoop, but I had to link to it anyway. The guy who started ProTrade and was part of a group of MIT students who won a lot of money in Vegas, Jeffrey Ma, is a consultant for the Blazers and had this to say about how the Spurs built a champion (three times over) and apparently how the Blazers are trying to do the same thing.

I remember sitting with Kevin Pritchard before he was KP, the GM of the Trail Blazers, and he explained the Spurs' mantra to me: Get three superstars and then fill the roster with guys willing to go through a wall to win.

This is actually just one more reason I wish we could retain Ime Udoka. I think he's one of the guys that will go through a wall to win.

My first experience in a music video

This clip is from the video shoot that I made Jacob, Collin, and Danny go to with me. Jacob is the second face you see walk in, and Collin is after the couple that come in next. I don't know if Danny or I make it in the full version at some point, but it's pretty cool to see my friends there.

Check out this video: Excerpt from Bright and Dirty Lights



Add to My Profile | More Videos

Back from the abyss

I'm blogging from Bend again, since I stopped here to see my friend Mindy on my way to Roseburg. I just got off the phone with U-Haul trying to figure out my move down to California. Compton is covering the cost for my truck with a purchase order, which is good for me since I don't have enough money to do it myself. But that means I have to make sure things will work out with the timing of getting the paperwork through and picking the truck up and beginning the long trek southbound on I-5. All of the stress I'm going through right now as I figure this stuff out is a relief after being in Arlington with my family for a month. I was so happy to leave this morning, and although I'll miss my brother, my excitement level is really high. That level could be related to my imminent move south, but I think it has a lot to do with getting a break from my family too. So that's what is going on right now.

---

What else is going on right now is the Kevin Garnett to Boston trade. If it really happens then things are going crazy. As much as I think Minnesota will be even worse next year without Garnett, it would be a great move to continue the rebuilding process they started with Foye last year and continued in earnest with Corey Brewer in the draft this year. Foye, Brewer, and Jefferson will be three young guys who can grow together in the next few years. Sure, the Wolves would still have some work to do, but this is a step in the right direction, and with two first round picks coming over in the deal they can continue the process in the next two drafts. This would make the third incredibly young--but potentially talented--team in the Northwest division. What an interesting group of teams to watch with Portland, Seattle, Minnesota, and then Utah and Denver. I mean, this is supposed to be the weak division in the west. (I know it still is, but in a couple of years I don't think it will be.)

Also, I'm still holding out slight hope that Ime Udoka won't get a big enough offer from any other teams so that he and his agent come back to Portland and admit their mistake and ask if they can re-sign. At that point, we'd be getting him for the rest of the Mid-Level exception, or we'd be using the full Bi-Annual exception. We would then have 16 guaranteed contracts, which would most likely mean we'd cut Taurean Green and he'd get paid by us to play for someone else this year. Bringing Udoka back would definitely address one of the biggest issues being discussed right now: the lack of depth at shooting guard. It would also do a lot for the attitude of the team, I think. Just one more tough-minded hard-working player who does a great job on defense. I know it's just wishful thinking, but I've been thinking it none the less.

---

I know that I haven't actually mentioned Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on here yet. If you haven't read the book, this could be some kind of spoiler, so don't read any more.

Seriously, if you care at all about little things, then don't read the next part. I'll make it a block within the text so you can just look past it.

I really enjoyed the finale in the Harry Potter series. I thought the way things tied together with Snape was fantastic. He was one of my favorite characters throughout the story. When I say "story" I mean the whole story encompassed by all seven books. I wasn't smart enough to see the Lily Potter love interest coming, but it made a ton of sense because of how much animosity he had for James Potter and his friends. It was also comforting to know that Dumbledore really did know what he was doing. The other things I learned about Dumbledore in this book actually made me appreciate his character more, too, because it was good to see the depth to his character and the complexity that was behind everything we read in the first six books. I wouldn't say that either of these developments were huge surprises, but thy were a bit unexpected. That can't be said about my other favorite development, which was Neville really growing into the hero I hoped he would be. After the sixth book I thought Neville might end up saving the day in the end. It wasn't quite that dramatic, but he was a huge player in the final battle, and I really appreciated that.

My friend Jacob summed up the one problem I had with the book when he said this. Since I can't remember it verbatim I'll paraphrase: it would have been good to put the book down before the epilogue and after the final chapter to just enjoy how the story ended.

I agree with that. The epilogue was pretty schmaltzy. It felt like Rowling was trying to make people happy by having Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny end up as a big group of adults sending their kids off to Hogwarts. Ugh. The names of the kids were pretty ridiculous as well, although I got goosebumps when I read the full name of Harry's second son. I won't write it here, just in case anyone who cares did read this far, but it ties to other parts of the book that I thought were fantastic.

This is the second book I've bought and read this summer, the first being The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon. I'll try to write a little about that one later this week.

Another car-post

The post right under this makes me proud for several reasons:

1. I wrote that entire post while riding in the car on the way to Portland yesterday afternoon. (Actually, you might notice a few things missing, since I didn’t have access to the internet when I wrote it to check a few names and facts about which I was a little unsure. I’ll fix those when I have real access again.)


2. I wrote it in pages, and then I posted it while sitting at a gas station filling up our car on the way to a family reunion. Yeah, I found a wireless connection, got online, and posted in about five minutes.


3. Because I wrote it in pages and then transferred it over, all the html codes I used--not that there were too many, but still--were correct and worked well. This is most evident in my use of lists. Yeah, I’m pretty proud of myself.

Since I wrote that post I read an article in the Oregonian by Jason Quick confirming that Blake has in fact signed with Portland. The deal is for three years, with a team option to terminate the contract after the second year. It is reportedly for about $12 million over the course of the contract. If this is true, and if it gets higher as the deal goes on, that means we have a little over $2 million of the mid-level exception still to re-sign Ime Udoka if he wants to be back. I’m still holding out hope, but we’ll see.

Since reading that article this morning I’ve been thinking more about what Blake can do for this team and what types of things he’ll get to do on this team. In doing so, I couldn’t help but compare him to another point guard who has thrived playing in an up-tempo offense with a bunch of great athletes. I know that comparing Blake to Steve Nash is a stretch, but it’s what my delusional fan mind does. Blake is a better defender than Nash is now, and he is probably a worse free throw shooter than Nash has ever been. Other than that, though, when we look at what Nash did in his first four years and what Blake has done, I think the comparison might be okay. I still don’t think that Nash is one of the greatest point guards ever. I think he is a great floor general who was put in a perfect situation. When he came into the league most scouts thought that he wasn’t fast enough or athletic enough to be a solid NBA player, and that his shot wasn’t good enough. Blake is a better shooter than Nash was at this point in his career, and has already shown himself to do the other things well (as I mentioned in the earlier post). As much as I think Sergio Rodriguez could be a great PG in the future, Steve Blake is actually pretty young still and could turn out to be better than Rodriguez. I don’t expect that Steve Blake will be a two-time MVP. Then again, I don’t think Nash should have won it either of those two years. But I do think that he could end up leading a team the way Nash has led the Suns. Of course, I think that in the end Portland will show themselves to have a more balanced team with a better core of players. Also, San Antonio should eventually lose some of their dominance and Portland should be more like them in their ability to play several different styles instead of just the run-you-to-death Suns style.

I really do expect the Blazers to make another move in the next few days or weeks to move one of their point guards. The move I’d most like to see? Jarrett Jack to shooting guard. He showed last year that he’s a pretty good combo guard, and right now Portland is lacking a little depth at the two. I don’t think he would be really excited about this, but I wonder if he would rather stay part of this team and it’s huge promise by being a back-up for a year before becoming a free agent next summer. Otherwise he should be traded somewhere so he can be an important part of their point guard rotation. If they are unable to sign either of their free agent point guards I see Milwaukee as a good landing point for Jack. I think Atlanta would still be a decent spot for him. Otherwise I’m not too sure. I don’t know what I’d want Portland to get in either of those deals. I think they could do a non-simultaneous trade with Milwaukee that creates another trade exception, or they might be able to trade him to Atlanta for someone like Josh Childress Salim Stoudamire. I don’t remember what Stoudamire’s contract looks like, and can’t check since once again I’m writing this from a car. I don’t think Atlanta has the cap space to create the trade exception like we could with Milwaukee, but I could be wrong. If that’s true, that might make more sense because then it would clear the roster spot to re-sign both Outlaw and Udoka.

Alright, time to put my computer away and just enjoy the rest of my car ride. Writing posts for my blog is one of the best ways I’ve found to make rides go by faster, and that’s pretty fantastic.

Steve Blake is back

Well, Kevin Pritchard made a move I expected but didn’t want: he signed Steve Blake to a new deal. It isn’t official yet, and Pritchard wouldn’t comment on it, but I think it’s basically done. It sounds like the deal will be for two years with a team option on the third. That is the perfect length considering the personnel, roster, and financial considerations we should be taking into account. Everything I’ve read--which hasn’t been too much yet--makes it sound like this deal was for less than the full mid-level exception, which is about the right price, too. I like what Blake brings back to Portland for several reasons.

1. Even though Blake has only been in the league four years (he was drafted out of Maryland by Washington in 2003), his time in college and the pros have shown him to be a serviceable starting point guard who provides leadership and consistency. This is a step up from even the best option the Blazers already had at the point, Jarrett Jack.


2. One of the biggest needs for the Blazers next year will be consistent outside shooting, which is another skill Blake has shown he has. With Roy committing his offseason to improving his own outside shooting--a part of his game many said was weak coming into last season which he improved as the games went on--and the addition of a solid three-point shooting point guard, the Aldridge-Oden focused offense should be even better.


3. It sounds like Ime Udoka will not be back with Portland next year because he might sign somewhere else. It also sounds like Joel Przybilla could be traded in a deal for Hedo Terkoglu (something I might talk about soon). If both of these guys are gone, Portland will really need one more guy at least to bring some intensity and grit to the team. I think Blake does that.


4. There is also talk amongst some Blazer experts (i.e. Jason Quick, Henry Abbot, Dave Deckard, and Casey Holdahl) that Pritchard has been hoping to make Portland into more of a running team than it has been. He and McMillan have “butted heads” about this a little bit, which just means that Nate is unwilling to play a style that he doesn’t think his players can play well. He has said he would love to run, but that he won’t do it until the pieces fit. All the other guys that Portland brought in fit that style. As much as I like Jarrett Jack, which is a lot, he doesn’t run the break very well. Steve Blake does run the break very well. He’s also proven, for a short period of time, that he can play well on a team when he isn’t expected to get his own shot much. On this Blazers team he’ll only be getting his own shot on a few pick and rolls or pick and pops or when it gets kicked out to him from one of the big two down low.


5. This might give Sergio a little more confidence in his place on this team, since it signals that we really do view him as the PG of the future for this team, with Blake being the stop-gap who will help Oden and Aldridge develop while working with Rodriguez in practice to help him develop his NBA chops.

As I’ve said before, I really do trust what Kevin Pritchard does with this team. I still would like to re-sign Udoka, would love to keep Jarrett Jack, and want to continue with the core that was in place before we made our great draft-day additions. But the moves he has made and has been rumored to be making still fit the timeline and address our needs as we try to build a dominant force in this league. Even with this deal we will be about 20 million under the cap for 2009 free agency. I took a look at who might be available then, and there are quite a few big name possibilities. There are plenty of small forwards in that group--right now, I know that they could be taken care of before then--who could be that “closer” Pritchard has talked about. At the same time, by then we should be really confident about how good these players are and are going to be, including the first three guys who we already think are going to be great pros:

1. Greg Oden


2. LaMarcus Aldridge


3. Brandon Roy


4. Channing Frye


5. Travis Outlaw


6. Martell Webseter


7. Sergio Rodriguez


8. James Jones


9. Taurean Green

In addition to them, we should have a good idea--maybe even closer to the confidence about those first guys with a few of them--about how good these players are and are going to be:

1. Rudy Fernández


2. Josh McRoberts


3. Joel Freeland

That only leaves a few guys from the team right now: Joel Przybilla (if he stays), Jarrett Jack (if he stays), Raef LaFrentz, Darius Miles, Petteri Koponen, Steve Blake (if he really is a Blazer again), and Hedo Terkoglu (if the rumors turn out to be true). Of those guys, we basically know what we’re getting from Przybilla, LaFrentz, Blake, and Terkoglu. Each of those guys brings a veteran presence and a defined set of skills that help him fill a role. Petteri Koponen is probably in the second group of players I listed above, but we might not be that sure even then of what his capabilities are. I think we’ll have a good idea, but not as good an idea as we will about those other three guys. Darius Miles is too much of an enigma to categorize. He could be retired by then, he could make a miraculous comeback and be the “closer” Pritchard was talking about, or he could just stay in this weird purgatory in which he’s lived since he first had his blow-out with Mo Cheeks. I would love to see the miraculous comeback, but I think that’s highly unlikely. I can only think of three of those guys who will be locked up for sure past that free agent period in 2009, and those guys are at the top of my first list.

All this is just to put one more reminder out there about how well the Blazers are building a contender. There is certainly a possibility that it won’t work out, but all signs point the other way. Even though I’ll be said if we trade Jack, I like Blake and trust Pritchard to continue making the right moves toward the long-term goal.