The James Huber Blog

Daps or No Daps

2010-12-02T00:57:00.000-08:00

This is a new column that will hopefully be continued in the future. Similar to Sports Illustrated's "Who's Hot, Who's Not" section, but in a style that makes it entirely our own. The "Daps" section will acknowledge people/events/whatever that are worthy of daps and the "No Daps" section will talk about things that are not worthy of daps. Lastly, the "Questionable" section will address controversial issues that some may believe earn daps and some believe are not worthy. So here goes.

Daps:

Kyrie Irving:

Irving is a freshman guard who plays for the Duke basketball team. Highly recruited out of college, Irving has wasted no time making a name for himself. In Wednesday night's game versus the #6 ranked Michigan State Spartans Irving dropped 31 points. He did a little bit of everything to help the defending champion Blue Devils to victory and also added 6 rebounds, 4 assists, two steals and two blocks.

Waka blocka! Irving had a huge pack on this fast break.

Bill Clinton:

You may be surprised to see the ex-President's name up here, but Clinton is serving as the Honorary Chairman of the USA Bid Committee to bring the World Cup back to America in 2022. He is definitely deserving of daps because the World Cup in America would be great for soccer here and would "assist those less fortunate and promote environmental sustainability," according to Clinton. Not to mention, the World Cup would be tight from a spectator's point of view. When the World Cup came to the US in 1994 a game was played at Stanford stadium. I'm getting my chest paint and vuvuzelas ready.

Brian Westbrook:

Westbrook filled in nicely as Frank Gore's injury replacement Monday night against the Cardinals, rushing 23 times for 136 yards and a TD. He should be getting the rock a fair amount this week against the Green Bay Packers if he's healthy.

No Daps:

The Miami Heat:

Cmon, you guys have the Big 3 and everyone expected you to be the best team in the NBA. After off season acquisitions of LeBron James and Chris Bosh the Heat were supposed to be the team. Instead Miami has stumbled out of the gate to an 11-8 start. D Wade has been pretty garb so far, only shooting 25% for 3 point land.

The Heat have looked like the worst possible scenario when you have a bunch of superstars on one team; there's no offense and everyone stands around waiting for James, Wade or Bosh to go 1 on 1. Hmm, sounds like a lot of NBA teams. But that's another for another time.

Boise State's kicker:

I feel bad for the guy. Kyle Brotzman, who is the Broncos all-time leading scorer, missed the game winning field goal against Nevada from 26 yards out late in the 4th quarter and then missed a 29-yarder in OT to secure Boise State's 34-31 loss. Any chances Boise State had of playing in the national championship are now gone. And Brotzman's apparently been receiving rude voice messages and there have been anti-Brotzman facebook groups created, too.

It's ok, at least you're the 8th best WR in fantasy football this year.

Steve Johnson:

WR Steve Johnson of the Buffalo Bills dropped what would have been the game winning TD pass in overtime against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. Johnson's actually been having a breakout season, but it will be marred for some after his bout with butterfingers allowed the Steelers to prevail 19-16.

Questionable:

The fines on James Harrison:

James Harrison, a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers was fined $25,000 for his helmet to chest hit on Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick last Sunday. Harrison has been fined four times this year for a total of $125,000.

There has been a lot in the news recently about concussions and head injuries in football and their crippling effects on ex-NFL players. Rick Reilly for one abhors Harrison's reckless playing style and seeming indifference towards injuring opposing players. Read his article about it here.

Some think that Harrison is being criticized unfairly. "I'm sure if you asked 10 guys in the league, nine of them would say he's not a dirty player. He's a hard player." Harrison said.

Steelers WR Hines Ward defended Harrison while also issuing biting remarks about the hypocrisy of the NFL's player safety policy. "They don't care about the safety of the game. If the league was so concerned about the safety, why are you adding two more games on?"

Time to forgive?

Michael Vick:

Like him or hate him, Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles has been one of the most valuable players in the league this year. He took over the starting job after a combination of injury and ineffectiveness from Kevin Kolb and hasn't looked back since. Vick leads the NFL with a 106.0 passer rating and has only thrown 1 INT. A few weeks ago Vick had 6 total TDs versus the Washington Redskins.

Some have forgiven Vick for his dog fighting and are impressed that the man has come so far. Jason Avant, a WR on the eagles said this of Vick. "We look up to him. As someone who's been to hell and back - and conquered it."

Others think that Vick's crimes were too heinous for him to be forgiven. They think that he is benefitting from the sports world's short memory because of his exploits on the field and that he is not truly sorry for his actions.

Great articles by S.L. Price of Sports Illustrated and Rick Reilly of ESPN about Michael Vick.

Yankees' hard stance towards Jeter:

This is the problem that both the Derek Jeter and the Yankees organization face. Derek Jeter is a very solid shortstop, a leader in the clubhouse, a Yankee icon and one of the most respected athletes in America. The Yankees are treading on unsteady ground here because they would look terrible if they pushed out the door the most famous Yankee since Mickey Mantle.

Some believe the Yankees were smart though for telling Jeter to "test the market" to see if other teams offer him a better contract than what's waiting for him in NY. Jeter met with Yankee execs Tuesday night and supposedly Jeter and his agent, Casey Close, are asking for a 4-6 year deal at around $23 million/year. Honestly, does Jeter really have 5 more good years left in him? Certainly not good enough to be worth $23 million each year in my opinion. And in the end, the Yankees have less to lose than Jeter, their ultimate priority is winning championships, not loyalty.

College Football BCS Bowl Predictions – As of 12/1

2010-12-01T22:50:00.000-08:00

Written by Pete Foster.

Tostitos BCS National Championship - #1 Auburn vs. #2 Oregon

Preview: The National Championship will be a matchup for the ages. Oregon and Auburn both have high scoring offenses, stellar defenses, and more speed than anyone has seen in years. Auburn QB Cam Newton has dazzled every opponent, most recently rival Alabama in Tuscaloosa, with his athleticism in space and rocket arm. Oregon hasn’t seen a dual threat QB since their Rose Bowl loss last season (Terrelle Pryor), and it will be up to defensive veterans Casey Mathews and Kenny Rowe to shut Newton down. The Auburn D also has their hands full with Oregon’s quick-paced spread offense, which has put up 50.5 points a game (1st in FBS). Speedy RB Lamichael James will test Auburn’s secondary when he finds running lanes.

Cam Newton will be the X factor in Auburn's victory.

Verdict: This game is a complete toss-up, but ultimately Cam Newton will be the difference maker. The Heisman front-runner is one of the most gifted athletes I’ve ever watched, and his ability to make plays is unmatched. Oregon should push his team to the brink, but Auburn will somehow outscore the Ducks.

Auburn 35 – Oregon 31

Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO - #3 TCU vs. #5 Wisconsin

Preview: Wisconsin has been playing out of its mind recently, and is arguably the hottest team in college football. Their traditional power I offense, even without bruiser RB John Clay, has put up 201 points in the past 3 weeks! TCU on the other hand is coming off of an undefeated season and hopes to justify its highest-ever ranking with a BCS victory. The Horned Frogs have a solid defense and a big-play threat in WR Jeremy Kerly, but have not been tested by any legitimate teams this season, and even came down to the wire with sub-par opponents (Oregon State, San Diego State). Wisconsin will be by far the best competition they’ve seen in years, and it’s very hard to say whether TCU can keep it close.

Verdict: Wisconsin is a better football team all around, and will prove it on January 1st. RBs John Clay and Montee Ball, behind an unstoppable offensive line, should overpower TCU all game and not let up. TCU’s passing attack could make it close, but I believe Wisconsin runs away with this one without a worry.

Wisconsin 34 – TCU 16

Those black jerseys are pretty sick.

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl - #4 Stanford vs. #9 Oklahoma

Preview: Coming off of a historical 11 – 1 season, Stanford has been playing its best football in, well, ever! QB Andrew Luck is the best true quarterback in the country, and his offense’s balance and complicated formations keep defenses on their heels. In last year’s Sun Bowl, Oklahoma WR Ryan Broyles torched Stanford’s defense for 3 touchdowns. The Cardinal D has drastically improved this season, just allowing 17.8 points against, but will need step up if they are to contain Broyles and elusive RB Demarco Murray. Expect a fantastic coaching battle as well between Jim Harbaugh and Bob Stoops.

Verdict: Stanford will get its revenge from last year’s Sun Bowl and beat OU soundly. Oklahoma’s defense is good, but not great: simply not enough to keep Andrew Luck from having a field day on a mediocre OU secondary. Stanford’s defense is improved enough to keep the Sooner’s passing game in check, and the Cardinal will enjoy a solid victory.

Stanford 38 – Oklahoma 24

Allstate Sugar Bowl - #6 Ohio State vs. #7 Arkansas

Preview: Once again Jim Tressel has led his Ohio State Buckeyes to a BCS bowl, this time with one of his strongest teams. However, they face young and talented Arkansas, led by standout QB Ryan Mallet. The Razorbacks average 338.4 yards per game, and Mallet has dangerous targets in WRs Greg Childs and Joe Adams. OSU has a very experienced offense, led by RB Dan Herron, WR Dane Sanzenbacher, and QB Terrelle Pryor. Pryor possesses the speed, athleticism, and arm strength to rip up a lackluster Arkansas’ defense.

Verdict: OSU is too experienced and too talented to lose this game. Ryan Mallet can be inconsistent at times, and if he is rattled early the Buckeyes will have no problem taking the cake. Watch out for Terrelle Pryor and his play making ability – he was the game changer in last year’s Rose Bowl, and could be just as deadly against the Razorbacks.

Ohio State 42 – Arkansas 27

Swag out the building: Tyrod Taylor.

Discover Orange Bowl - #15 Virginia Tech vs. #24 West Virginia

Preview: After losing to Boise State at the start of the season, Virginia Tech has really slipped out of the nation spotlight. Yes, it was painful to lose to the Broncos, and losing to James Madison brought back memories from Michigan – App. State, but the Hokies are still a good football team. QB Tyrod Taylor is a dynamic playmaker, and they have a first-rate defense. West Virginia should not be much of a challenge, as the Big East is garbage and it’s ridiculous that a team like Michigan State is left out of the BCS picture for a team like WVU. They too have a great defense, but again, that’s playing in the Big East.

Verdict: VA Tech should win in an overall boring and shameful BCS matchup. Watch out for a relatively low scoring affair; both of these talented Ds should hold the other team’s offense in check. VA Tech will only squeak out more points because, aside from WVU RB Noel Devine, they have better athletes on their sideline.

Virginia Tech 24 – West Virginia 13

Scam Newton headlines a tragic college football season

2010-12-01T21:43:00.000-08:00

Not so fast Cam, you're only eligible because of a stupid loophole, according to ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski.

Written by Wade Avery.

The 2010 college football season has provided some of the best football I have ever seen in my life. Future NFL star Andrew Luck and the nation’s top coach Jim Harbaugh have led Stanford in the sickest way possible to a school record 11-1 regular season and are looking to produce the Cardinal’s first BCS bowl berth since the 2000 Rose Bowl. Oregon has probably the most exciting offense to watch in college history and there have been shocking upsets aplenty. To top it all off, the teams that everybody hates (Texas, Florida, USC, Notre Dame) are having awful seasons and receiving the beat downs they deserve.

That being said, there has been enough tragedy, corruption, and adversity to make what seems like another great year of college football a season everyone wants to forget. Here are some of the events and actions that have tainted this season:

Rutgers defensive lineman Eric LeGrand remains paralyzed from a hit against Army
Mississippi State defensive linemen Nick Bell lost his battle with cancer only weeks after playing in what would be his last football game
Three Southern Mississippi players were shot outside of a night club, leaving one with severe voice damage and another in a wheelchair the rest of his life
Agent scandals have tainted the reputations of many elite programs such as Georgia (AJ Green), UNC (everybody), and South Carolina (Wesley Saunders)
Last but CERTAINLY not least SCAM NEWTON

If there is one thing that has made this catastrophe laced college football season devastating for me, it is Auburn QB Cam “Scam” Newton and his painful antics. I’m not going to deny that he is a phenomenal football player. He makes stout SEC defenses look like Menlo College every single week and can beat you any way he pleases. All talent and on field performance aside, I die inside when people talk about him. The first thing he taught me was that I could get kicked out of one college, get caught throwing a stolen computer out of a third floor window, and face felony charges and STILL get into Auburn. Well if Jeremiah Masoli can get into Ole Miss with every drug and theft charge in the book, why not?! But that is not the only reason he ticks me off. He has a hurricane of allegations swirling around him that has made his presence in college football questionable at best.

For starters, Newton apparently had somebody acting as an agent during his recruitment process that tried to sell Cam to schools in return for money. In addition to the agent figure, Newton’s father, Cecil, was apparently offering schools Cam’s commitment for money in what was called a “pay-for-play” plan. It was later reported that Cam and Cecil said in separate phone conversations that the “pay-for-play” plan was their only option and his commitment would be based on how much cash the Newton’s received. How much money did the Newton family want? It is reported that Cecil wanted between $150,000 and $200,000 for Cam’s commitment. But the controversy doesn’t end there. There are also allegations that at Florida, his first school, Cam was caught cheating on three exams and turning in other peoples’ papers with is name on it, which nearly led him to expulsion at Florida.

And what do Cam and Cecil have to say about these allegations? It went from ‘I didn’t do anything’ to ‘no comment’ to not even speaking to the media. Really? You claim you did nothing wrong but at the same time you won’t talk to anyone about anything? It isn’t that hard, he just has to come out and tell us what he did and he needs to stand by that. Obviously he won’t come out and admit he did anything, he’s in the middle of a historic season. Seriously though, who won’t speak to the media because they want to hide their innocence? It’s common knowledge people, if he won’t talk there is something wrong. I will never be able to watch him play the same way I watch LaMichael James play because I don’t know if he should be on the field or not.

Naive Auburn fans can only protect you for so long, Cam.

LaMike was charged with assault, found guilty, accepted his penalty, and got on with his life and is still in the Heisman race. Newton won’t stand up to anything and continues to get defended by naive Auburn fans that would obviously attack him if he played for any other school.

As if seeing him on the field was bad enough, the fact that certain Heisman voters continue to treat him like a god is what really irritates me. Did everybody totally forget about Reggie Bush?! Any one of Newton’s many allegations is just as severe as everything that Bush did and yet people think that every single one of the numerous allegations against Newton is false because anybody can make things up. The reason I didn’t put “Heisman contender” next to Andrew Luck’s name is because Cam Newton pretty much has that award on lock, which is garbage. I can’t stand to see players with squeaky-clean records like Andrew Luck and Kellen Moore take a back seat to somebody who is up to his neck in controversy after one of the best running backs ever lost his Heisman for almost the same reason.

I understand he was just cleared to play by the NCAA because his dad broke the rules and I guess Cam had not even the slightest idea what the man around the most in his life was doing. The other thing that people seem to forget is that Cam acknowledged that his recruitment would be decided based on payment during a phone call that was tragically unable to be recovered. I’d be very willing to bet that in five or so years it is uncovered that Newton lied to the NCAA and knew about the entire thing, but since he is long gone from the college game the only people that will be punished are the ones who had success playing by the rules.

I will totally understand if people disagree with me and back the NCAA and Newton, but I just want to let it known that I do not trust Newton and his family. This isn’t some Michael Oher case where the player is being innocently caught in the crossfire of an investigation, Cam himself had all sorts of direct ties with the case. He just got incredibly lucky that his dad was in on it to take the blame because what dad wouldn’t take the bullet for his son that is probably going to style him with millions of dollars down the line? And if you think that making up allegations is just a new way for people to bring down the top players, why doesn’t every other amazing football player face 20 different rules violations?

When he wins the Heisman, I just hope his portrait ends up next to OJ Simpson’s picture.

Zeitoun

2010-11-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

pronounced "Zay-toon"

I just finished a really good book by Dave Eggers called Zeitoun. In a nutshell, Zeitoun is a nonfiction book that documents firsthand the experiences of suffering through Hurricane Katrina and the difficulties of being a Muslim in post-9/11 America.

Here are two passages from the book showing why you should read Zeitoun:

Later, after kissing Zachary goodnight, Kathy lay down in Nademah’s bed and the girls arranged themselves around her, a mess of overlapping limbs and pillows.

“Who wants to start?” Kathy asked.

Safiya began a story about Pokémon. The stories, which the girls told collaboratively, were often about Pokémon. After Aisha introduced the protagonist, Safiya provided the setting and central conflict, and Nademah took it from there. They continued, taking turns advancing the plot, until Aisha was alseep and Nademah and Safiya were drifting off. Kathy looked up to find Zeitoun in the doorway, leaning against the frame, watching them all. He did this often, just watching, taking it all in. The scene was almost too much, too beautiful. It was enough to burst a man’s heart wide open. (Eggers 49)

This passage brought me back to the night when I slept over with all of my cousins at their house in San Francisco. It honestly couldn’t have been that long ago, maybe five years ago, and after some solid ice cream eating, nerf gun shooting and games of sardines everyone went to bed. It being a cousin sleepover, we all were sleeping in the same room and no one went to bed right away.

My cousins and I played the exact same game as Safiya, Aisha and Nademah did, except we substituted disgusting stories of explosive diarrhea and pee-filled rivers for tales about Pokémon. My uncle and aunt played with us too, until eventually we petered out and everyone fell asleep.

Eggers’s writing in this passage recalled a flood of heart-warming memories and his ability to make me empathize made Abdulrahman Zeitoun’s struggles that much more meaningful. I also really like the writing in the last two sentences of the paragraph; Eggers does a good job of concision.

Next passage:

In the end, Zeitoun spent ten years as a sailor. Aboard a ship called the Star Castor he saw the Persian Gulf, Japan, Australia, and Baltimore. Aboard the Capitan Elias, he saw Holland and Norway. He saw herds of humpbacks, breaching grey whales, schools of dolphins leading the ships to port. He saw the aurora borealis, meteor showers over tumbling black waves, night skies so clear the stars seemed within reach, hung from a ceiling by fishing wire. He served on the Nitsa, the Andromeda, he sailed all the way until 1988, when he landed in Houston and decided to explore inland. That brought him to Baton Rouge, and Baton Rouge brought him to Kathy, and Kathy brought him to Zachary and Nademah and Safiya and Aisha. (146)

This passage is an example of descriptive writing at its finest. Dave Eggers employs repetition, “he saw,” to emphasize the broad scope of his travels and elevates his already amazing nautical adventures to a surreal level.

My favorite phrase is “meteor showers over tumbling black waves.” Eggers’s description in the middle of the passage reminds me of Tobias Wolff’s writing style. Wolff is one of my favorite authors and part of the reason why his writing is exceptional is that his descriptive writing is very “in the moment,” just like Eggers’s.

Eggers again uses repetition in his writing to convey a sense of destiny. His repeated use of the word “and,” in the last sentence, suggests that Zeitoun’s nights on the open sea were not aimless and wandering but that he was on a predestined path towards his wife and beloved kids.

10 Reasons Why Fantasy Football is the Greatest

2010-11-14T21:38:00.000-08:00

The annual draft.

1. The draft

The fantasy football draft is probably the single most fun day in the fantasy season. Everyone gathers at a friend's house before the season starts to draft their team. We all pressure Pete Foster to host the draft, and he reluctantly agrees (Pete, you know you like hosting) to have us all over. There's pizza, sodas, fantasy cheat sheets, ping-pong and touch football aplenty. And if you do an online draft then you're lame, because they suck.

2. Mock drafts

Not really, though. Mock drafts are when you do a pretend draft with other strangers online to prepare yourself for the "real" fantasy draft. That's kind of ironic.

This is the first year I've done mock drafts because before I always thought they were unnecessary and time consuming. And they are. You stare at your computer screen as faceless strangers discuss their various fantasy strategies and imply how they are the next Matthew Berry. But I'll admit that I stayed up until about 12:30 the night before the draft doing three mock drafts.

Arian Foster, the reason why I am still alive in fantasy this year.

3. The sleeper pick that busts out

Anyone can draft Adrian Peterson and watch him put up big week after big week (Wade and Kyle!). It's not difficult to know that Aaron Rodgers was going to be money. It's so satisfactory though to have scouted an under the radar fella, draft him and then have him bust out for you. Arian Foster has been that guy for me this year; I took him in the 5th round and he is the #1 fantasy RB this season.

4. Dominating your friends / Smack talk

I lump these two together because they go hand in hand as the best reasons to play fantasy football. Your friends may be cooler, smarter, better looking or more athletic than you, but if you're fantasy team scrapes that's a legitimate claim to fame. And when you blow them out in your match-up the smack talk the next day at school is so nice. I think fantasy football is similar to ping-pong in this regard. If you take a step back to ponder, you realize that they're kind of stupid, are pointlessly time-consuming and don't prove anything, but to guys, both are very important in the alpha male culture.

5. Sausage fest central

Fantasy football is nice, too, because it is mostly a dudes-only activity. Just a lot of good guys sharing a common interest with bewildered girls puzzling over why we find fantasy football remotely interesting. And that's totally fine with me.

Child please! Chad Ochocinco appeared in the premiere of the second season of The League.

6. The League

To prove that fantasy football is not just a nerdy guy thing, I give you The League. The League is a comedy tv show that is based around guys and their hyper-competitive fantasy football league. It's really funny, very inappropriate, and is on FX on Thursdays at 7:30.

7. Wasted time

The time I waste each week on fantasy football is funny.

Mon: Repeatedly check our league's scoreboard to check on who won and who lost. Watch the Monday night game if players on my team are playing. (10 min.)

Tue: Evaluate last week's performance and scour the internet for this week's pick-ups. Spend way too much time obsessing over pretty scrubby bye week fill-ins like James Jones and Danny Woodhead. Make claims on players on waivers. (30 min.)

Wed: Check to see if I got the players I claimed. Add anyone else that I was interested in. Change roster. (5 min.)

Thu-Sat: While I'm bored and on the Internet, check my fantasy team. Read any "breaking news" on the health of Andre Johnson's ankle. Check out my team's scoring projections and make any last minute roster adjustments (10 min.)

Sun: Game time baby. Every half an hour or so while I take breaks from homework, check my fantasy league's scoreboard and see how my team is doing. Berate Reggie Wayne for not having scored a TD since Week 4 and hope upon hope that this is the week that my scrub tight end Tony Moeaki decides to bust out. Hang out in the family room and watch Red Zone HD. Check fantasy scoring updates that get texted to my phone. Watch the Sunday night football game and continue to fret over my team. Check the fantasy thread on facebook. (2.5 hrs)

Altogether about 3.5 hours each week spent on fantasy football. That's time well spent right there.

8. The cash

Our league's unoffical motto is "We don't f*** around." This is demonstrated by our hefty entrance fee. It's $35/person and multiply that by 12 teams is $420 in the pot. The winner takes home about $300. A man's gotta make his living in this tough economy, and if it's by fantasy football, so be it.

9. Arian Foster, Brandon Lloyd, Peyton Hillis, Kyle Orton and Terrell Owens.

Enough said.

Scrubville central aka Matthew Berry aka The Talented Mr. Roto. Honestly, who gives themself their own nickname?

10. Matthew Berry

Haha, sike! He sucks and thinks he's a huge deal but for some reason I always read his stuff.

Cam Meekins

2010-11-03T20:04:00.000-07:00

Download Cam Meekins Day Off here.

Download Dancing With the Stars here.

I'm obsessed with Cam Meekins right now.

He's this white, teenage rapper who grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts. What I like so much about him is that his music is really smooth and isn't as obnoxious as most hip-hop and rap. I'm more of a smooth music sort of guy and his beats are tight and pretty relaxing. He doesn't sing about typical rap stuff like how much he gets, how rich he is, how high he gets or how he's from the hood. I respect that. And I also like how he seems like just a normal guy, because he kind of is.

Paying my dues to the Will Petit Swagger Blog and Colum Coyne. They knew about him before I did. And check out Super Tracks, too. It's a hella dope music website by Mac Osborne. and Kyle Hutchinson

Here are my favorite songs by Cam Meekins.

"Shoot Your Love" (on the albums Dancing With the Stars and Cam Meekins Day Off): My favorite song by Cam Meekins, hands down. It's really calming, has a sweet beat and a real nice, non-obnoxious cowbell in the song. (on iTunes)

"Just Like You" (Cam Meekins Day Off): I first heard of Cam Meekins when my sister showed me this song. It's more of a chick song since he's singing about his ideal girl but the beat is really smooth. (on iTunes)

"On My Own" (Dancing With the Stars): This song is really growing on me. It's a slow song and is kind of sad but is amazing. Plus it has this real nice jazz sax part at the end of the song.

"Fast Lane" featuring Chris Webby (Cam Meekins Day Off): This song kind of has a Lupe Fiasco feel to it.

"Taken Off" (Cam Meekins Day Off): Singing about his career taking off. (on iTunes)

"Lost" (Dancing With the Stars): Really cool chorus.

"I'm Just Me" (Dancing With the Stars): Same beat as Travie McCoy's (feat. Bruno Mars) song, "Billionaire." Just better, more chill and less annoying. (on iTunes)

Cam Meekins also takes a lot of beats from popular songs to make his own songs. Here are the names of the songs and the original song it's from:

"I'm Just Me": "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars
"Teach Me How to Dougie Remix": "Teach Me How to Dougie" by Cali Swag District
"What I Got Remix": "What I Got" by Sublime
"Make Em Say": "Make Her Say" by Kid Cudi ft. Kanye West and Common
"Still Cam": "Still D.R.E" by Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg

Broin it up.

Game 1 Thoughts

2010-10-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

Uuuuuuribe! God I love that thing he does with his arms after he goes deep.

Things that came to mind while watching Game 1 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers.

Fox announcers blow

I think everyone agrees with me on this one. The TV announcers for Fox, the channel that broadcasted the NLCS and broadcasts the World Series, are the worst. Just a bunch of really boring observations with absolutely no analysis. It's tough having to switch from Kruk and Kuip, arguably the best TV guys in all of baseball, to these scrubs.

Another thing. I'm sick of hearing the Fox announcers repeat the same stuff about the Giants over and over again. I understand that 95% of the nation doesn't know much about the Giants but as a Giants fan, it's just annoying to hear Joe Buck repeat himself. If I hear anything more from the Fox announcers about Aubrey Huff's positive influence on the Giants clubhouse, how Pat the Bat was out of a job after the Rays released him or B Dubs's beard, I may have to shoot myself.

Also, if you're hispanic, Tim McCarver is guaranteed to butcher your name. You don't pronounce it Freddy San-Chehz, with the accent on the second syllable. Either he thinks he's all cultured and believes he's pronouncing the name correctly or else he just speaks the English language weird because most people would pronounce it correctly.

Cliff Lee is hittable

Man, shoot. I don't wanna hear no of this booha about Lee being the best playoff pitcher of all time, how's he's got a 7-0 record in the playoffs, how he never walks anyone blah, blah, blah. Sure, he's been legit, but that doesn't mean anything to the Giants. San Francisco is smackin' his ass around. He just got taken out after only 4 2/3 innings and allowed 7 runs (6 earned). Yeah, that's right, you jog off that mound, I like the hustle bud.

-----

If I hear anything more from the Fox announcers about Aubrey Huff's positive influence on the Giants clubhouse, how Pat the Bat was out of a job after the Rays released him or B Dubs's beard, I may have to shoot myself.

-----

Freddy Sanchez is wet

Shout out to my friend Jackson on this one. Yacks reps Freddy as his favorite player. He's 3 for 3 with 3 doubles, 2 RBI and a run right now.

And Peter Tight thinks I'm Freddy Sanchez, even though he's hispanic and i'm Asian. But whatevs.

Sorry, as of now, he has 3 doubles, a single and 3 RBI.

And, in case you're curious, here's a totally unnecessary stat that is not all that important... Freddy Sanchez is the first player ever to hit 3 doubles in his first 3 World Series at-bats.

And Uribe, too

This one's for Kev Dogg Marren. Kevin hates on Uribe's fielding, saying that he sucks in the field and his hitting doesn't make up for it. I know he likes Uribe deep down, but c'mon, how can you hate on someone who swags as much he does, and who has a sweet Uuuuuuuribe nickname. He just went deep off of Texas's relief pitcher for a 3-run jack to give Big Time Timmy Jim more than enough run support. And he made a really nice play in the field.

Sorry that part of the video is cut off.

Fans, calm down a little

Yes, I know you're pumped up that the Giants may win their first World Series since 1954 but calm down. You guys jump out of your seats every time a Giants player hits a fly ball, mistakenly thinking it's a home run. Or you jump the gun and cheer when you think a Rangers hitter struck out, only to realize he hit a dribbler foul.

No more Directv commercials please

It's the Directv commercial where a scene with Russel Crowe from The Gladiator plays in the background when an assassin dude blow darts a guy and then takes his movies. I've seen that commercial at least 20 times. It's annoying by now. And kinda scary. The first time I saw it the guy with the blow dart was silhouetted in the doorway and was very intimidating. When he missed the guy I thought, oh, he'll be the bumbling hero who somehow avoid death. But no, he gets a blow dart in the neck the second time around and then gets his movie tapes jacked. Scary and surprising. (Pete Foster plagiarized)

Another thing about commercials. Budweiser's "Grab Some Buds" commercial could be my favorite commercial ever. It just makes me love baseball even more, makes me love the camaraderie of watching baseball with your friends and there are a few segments that keep men particularly interested (Peter Tight plagiarized). There are two of these "Grab Some Buds" commercials; the one I posted is actually the non-baseball one, but it's still really good. I couldn't find the one that focuses mostly on baseball.

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Vlady won't have to play RF when the Rangers play at home, but his shoddy defensive play could hamper Texas in the games at AT&T.

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Vlady is struggling

Vladimir Guerrero has made two errors in the bottom of the 8th. They won't matter since the Giants were up by so much anyway, but I can see why he only played about 17 games in the field during the regular season. Vlady won't have to play RF when the Rangers play at home, but his shoddy defensive play could hamper Texas in the games at AT&T.

Even the scrubs are gettin' their reps!

You know the Giants are ahead when both Travis Ishikawa and Nate Schierholtz get in the ballgame. Ishikawa usually is a pinch hitter in big situations and Nate is a defensive replacement for Pat Burrell in left field. And you know the Giants are playing out of their mind when they both get hits. Ishikawa hit an RBI double in the 8th inning and Nate followed it up later with an RBI single. Title idea taken from Kev Dogg.

Brian Wilson conspiracy theory

Is it really necessary for all of these pitching changes made by Bochy? The Giants are winning by a mile, and Bochy decides he needs to take out Sergio after 2/3 of an inning and Ramon Ramirez and Jeremy Affeldt got taken out in the 9th after shaky starts. Even though it's the postseason and managers don't want to take any chances, it's still a stretch to call in Wilson when the Giants were up 11-4. My conspiracy theory is that B Willy just pumps up the fans too much for Bochy not to put him in.

Death by College Tour - Notes and Observations

2010-10-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

Over the 4-day weekend I traveled to New England with my dad to look at colleges. Here are some things I learned on my first college trip.

Tufts

Don’t be “that guy”

Don’t be the annoying know-it-all kid who is way too excited and way too try-hard.

Don’t sit in the front row of the info session unless there are no extra seats.

Don’t wear a really nice leather jacket that pisses me off.

Don’t have a Mom who makes it a point to let everyone in the room know that she is an alum of the school.

Don’t answer questions about the school that the tour guide doesn’t even know the answer to.

Don’t inquire about a random club to show off that you have legit extracurriculars.

And lastly, don’t be really funny-looking and have eyes that are spread so far apart that you look like a fish.

Checkin' out a BC football practice.

Info Session and College Tour Clichés

When talking about financial aid, “We are completely need blind.”

We are a “diverse” community.

“We want to see you do well in the most challenging courses at your school.”

“We send about 50% of our students abroad during their junior year.”

“Our library has over a million volumes, if that means anything to you.”

If the college is out in the middle of nowhere, (Amherst, Williams, Middlebury) “There’s actually a lot to do in the town, I’ve never been bored here.”

Brown

Lack of Dimes at Ivy/NESCAC Schools

I’m not implying anything here but it’s just an observation I made. The small, schools I visited just did not have the abundance of attractive girls that bigger schools have. Even David Lee confirmed this about Williams, saying that there is just a smaller concentration of dimes at his school. On that topic, the girls at Boston College were off the charts. I’m sure Tim Hoag is having fun there.

Amherst

Is Any Tour Guide Just a Regular Guy?

Hi, my name is William and I’m a psychology and economics double major, I’m part of the academic initiative here, sing in an a cappella group and write for the school newspaper

Hi, my name is Susie and I am a senior here. I’m on the varsity lacrosse team, work on organizing the trips that freshman go on in the fall and spring and am a Resident Advisor in my dorm.

Hi, my name is John and I am a senior here. I am currently writing my thesis on agricultural patterns in the Amazon using satellite data and have a minor in geography. I started a community service program, play club rugby and am also a DJ here on campus.

I know that schools want to give off the best possible image by having its top students give tours, but it can be intimidating. I’m sure the parents love it, but most students are not these tour guides. I would rather just get a tour with an average student who isn’t involved in five different things on campus.

Dartmouth

Info Sessions Suck

Every school has it set up the same way. You go to an hour long information session where an admissions officer talks up the school and then you go on a tour around campus. Each info sesh says the same thing: quality of its academics, accessibility of the professors, the opportunities to travel abroad, the “feel” of the school, financial aid program, alumni network, career center, how you can either submit the SAT w/ two SAT 2s or the ACT with writing and on and on. Not to mention the room is really warm and the seat is cozy and you’re sitting in the back so no one would see you fall asleep...

Dunkin’ Donuts Galore!

If you visit schools on the east coast, you will pass by scores of Dunkin’ Donuts. For some reason they’re way bigger on the east coast than on the west coast. Even if you normally scorn fast food places, you have make a stop for Dunkin’ Ds. Apparently it has the best coffee. Besides, where else would you find a teenage girl with a huge stain on her shirt working the counter, a guy behind you singing along to the old song on the radio, a bunch of fat people, more pick-up trucks than sedans outside and a portable french fry car next door?

Thoughts Before the NLDS

2010-10-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

Will Buster Posey or the J-Hey Kid win the NL Rookie of the Year award?

The San Jose Mercury News wrote today about how similar the Giants and Braves are. Both teams feature great starting pitching, shut-down bullpens and average to below average hitting.

The Giants will trot out Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and the Braves counter with their top three of Derek Lowe, Tommy Hanson and Tim Hudson. Lincecum and Lowe both bounced back from poor Augusts to post 5-1 and 5-0 records respectively.

The Giants bullpen had a 0.90 ERA from Sept. 1 through the end of the season, but Atlanta's relievers are equally formidable. They have closer Bill Wagner, (retiring after this season) Jonny Venters, deadly right-handed specialist Peter Moylan and Craig Kimbrel, who averages almost 2 Ks per inning.

The Braves offense may be even worse than the Giants', partly because injuries have hit their team hard. They lost Chipper Jones and all-star second baseman Martin Prado to season ending knee and oblique injuries. Brian McCann, their all-star catcher, led the team with only 77 RBI. The Braves did trade for the power hitting first baseman Derrek Lee though.

Both teams are almost completely identical but I think the Giants' pitching is just a little better. I'd take Lincecum, especially since he has been looking like the Cy Young Timmy of old, over Lowe any day and the Giants have gotten to Wagner a couple of times this year.

Lowe was 5-0 with a 1.17 ERA in September and October.

I've heard all the stuff about how the ESPN analysts and the computers think the Giants will win, but anything can happen in the playoffs, especially in a short 5 game series. There's a difference between being favored to win and actually winning and I don't think the Giants play well when they're the favorites. This can be seen through their 2 losses to the Padres in the final series.

I think the Giants are the better team but I could easily see them losing. They have virtually no post season experience (is Burrell the only Giant who's been to the playoffs?) and I can see Lincecum being erratic and Sanchez throwing walk after walk. The Giants need their starting pitching to be excellent. When their starters pitch well, they win; when they don't, they lose. It's as simple as that.

Zito was one of the notable names left off the Giants NLDS roster.

The Giants announced their NLDS roster today. Barry Zito and Jose Guillen were left off the roster while Aaron Rowand made it.

Manager Bruce Bochy had said on KNBR earlier in the week that Zito wouldn't start but didn't address whether he might pitch out of the bullpen. Zito expressed his disappointment but didn't help his case last Saturday when he walked two batters with the bases loaded against the Padres.

I was initially surprised when I saw that Guillen wasn't on the NLDS roster but apparentluy he is dealing with a neck injury. Guillen's recent hitting also must not have been good enough to offset his lack of mobility in right field.

It was somewhat of a surprise that Rowand made the roster given that he hasn't started over Andres Torres since early in the year. His pinch hit 2-run home run in Friday's game against San Diego probably helped his case.

This NLDS matchup pits the two leading candidates for NL Rookie of the Year against each other: Jason Heyward and Buster Posey.

I think Posey should win because he helped boost a July Giants team that was 2 games over .500 to 22 games over .500 by the end of the year, managed a pitching staff that allowed 3 runs or less over 18 consecutive games, and hit .305.

It seems like Heyward will win though because he played for the entire year. Also, he joins Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Al Kaline and A-Rod as the only players 20 years or younger and with at least 600 plate appearances in their season to have a .390 OBP or higher.

I know the vote for ROY doesn't take into account the post season but I hope the writers are swayed when the Posey-led Giants crush Heyward and the tomahawk-chopping Braves.

Some stats to consider:

The Giants have won 18 of their last 20 games when they score first.

The Giants hit into the most double plays out of any national league team. Tim Hudson led the league (32) and Derek Lowe finished 9th in induced double plays.

The Giants home run dependent offense goes up against a Braves staff that has allowed an NL low 126 homers.

The Giants have allowed 3 runs or fewer in 23 of their last 26 games. The Braves went 5-39 when they scored 2 runs or less.

Open

2010-10-06T21:51:00.000-07:00

Andre Agassi bears all in his surprisingly introspective autobiography.

I just finished reading Open, the autobiography of the retired tennis player Andre Agassi. It was a really good book; it wasn't just good for a sports memoir, it was a good book all around. I don't even follow tennis that closely and I found myself falling in love with the man's internal struggles.

Brief summary of the book:

Andre Agassi grows up in Las Vegas with a tennis racket shoved into his hand by his overbearing father, forced to hit thousands of balls each day. He resents his father and comes to hate tennis with a passion despite his obvious talent.

Agassi is sent against his will to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. He has absolutely no freedom and is forced to play tennis until his arms fall off. Andre is uncomfortable and insecure in his new home and acts out, cutting class, getting his ear pierced, drinking etc. He turns pro (and drops out of school) when he is only 16 years old.

Andre struggles with the challenges of being a professional tennis player and comes close to quitting multiple times. Gil Reyes, his athletic trainer, closest friend and surrogate father helps him through the tough times and Agassi goes on to win a total of 8 grand slams.

Agassi marries actress Brooke Shields but later divorces her and is now married to former tennis player Steffi Graf.

Andre Agassi secretly hated the game that made him millions.

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What made this book so intriguing were Agassi's flaws and how they shaped him as a person. I have never heard of a professional athlete in any sport who achieved his level of success who secretly hated the sport. Agassi emphasized this over and over again throughout the book, it wasn't even a love-hate relationship, tennis was just the only thing he knew how to do well.

Agassi also revealed how the wild mullet he used to rock back in his playing days was fake. He had been going bald since an early age and was too embarrassed to tell anybody.

During a particularly low stretch in Agassi's career he even turned to crystal meth. This was probably the most shocking news in his book.

What makes Agassi so endearing, which in turn makes the book so good, is that his flaws don't make you hate him, they make you understand and empathize. For most of his life Andre Agassi floated along without much meaning or friendship. On the outside he may have been this young tennis prodigy with an outlandish haircut and load of dough but on the inside he was empty. Most people look at pro athletes and place them on this pedestal, thinking that they must all live awesome lives because of how good they are at their sport and because they make a lot of money. But Agassi destroys this stereotype because of his well-detailed internal struggles. Agassi came to peace with himself and found true love in Brooke Shields and managed to overcome all of his flaws. He's inspiring not because he was one of the greatest tennis players of all time, rather, one could argue that serious tennis players or fans of Agassi would be discouraged after realizing their tennis star was not who they thought he was. Open was so intriguing because Agassi was the anti-hero, a guy who hated tennis and didn't seem dedicated at times, but his thoughtfulness and originality is a breath of fresh air and he found his true love and passion at the end of the story: his wife, kids and the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education.

Playoffs!

2010-10-03T22:43:00.000-07:00

Giants players mob closer Brian Wilson after clinching their first playoff berth in seven years.

It definitely was torture, but the Giants got it done.

The San Francisco Giants (92-70) beat the San Diego Padres (90-72) 3-0 to clinch the N.L. West title and advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

After losing the first two games of the three game series to the Padres, Jonathan Sanchez (13-9) slammed the door on San Diego's playoff hopes with five plus innings of no runs, and scored what proved to be the winning run for San Francisco.

Sanchez blasted a triple off Mat Latos to right center and Freddy Sanchez singled him in with a two out single in the third inning. Aubrey Huff followed with a run scoring double to put the Giants up 2-0.

The Giants bullpen got out of two jams in the sixth and seventh innings to protect Sanchez's lead. The bullpen stepped it up big time down the stretch and didn't allow any earned runs over the last six games.

Santiago Casilla induced a rally-killing double play groundout in the sixth inning after Jonathan Sanchez allowed Adrian Gonzalez and Ryan Ludwick to reach base. The next inning was the backbreaker for the Padres. Ramon Ramirez struck out shortstop Miguel Tejada to end the inning and strand runners at first and second base after a ferocious nine pitch battle by Tejada.

Rookie catcher Buster Posey tacked on an insurance run in the eight inning and Brian Wilson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his major league leading 48th save.

Freddy Sanchez celebrates after scoring on Aubrey Huff's double to make it 2-0.

Buster Posey celebrates with battery mate Matt Cain after the win.

Giants players thanking their fans after the victory.

Jonathan Sanchez got the win in the last game of the season, striking out 5 and only allowing 3 hits.

It's fitting that the game that sent the Giants to their first playoff series since the Barry Bonds era was won with pitching. Jonathan Sanchez, Santiago Casilla, Ramon Ramirez, Javier Lopez, Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson combined to shut out the Padres.

The reason why it came down to the 162nd game of the season wasn't because their hitters didn't step it up in the first two games of the series. They averaged three runs a game over the series, which is fine for the Giants if their pitchers are up to par. The problem in the first two games was the starting pitching. Matt Cain got rocked for three jacks and Zito was, well, he was typical Zito.

If the Giants will win in the post season it will be because of their pitching. Look for the Giants to win in the low-scoring games and the Braves to win if Atlanta scores more than 3 runs in a game.

Speaking of the Braves, the Giants will host Atlanta Thursday Oct. 7 for game 1 of the NLDS.

I'm glad Atlanta made the playoffs in Bobby Cox's last year as manager. They almost choked it away in September after giving up their first place lead in the NL East but held on and clinched the wild card berth with an 8-7 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Giants NL West title ended a pretty amazing comeback and an equally amazing choke by the Padres. On July 4 San Francisco was in 4th place in the division, 7.5 games behind San Diego. At the beginning of September the Giants were still 4 games out after a dismal August when their starting pitching got rocked.

The turning point of the season was a pitchers-only meeting manager Bruce Bochy called after an 11-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Aug 28. The vaunted Giants pitching staff had been getting knocked around and two time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum went 0-5 with a 7.82 ERA in August. I don't know what Bochy said, but from September 1 through the last game of the season the Giants only allowed 60 runs, or a shade over 2 runs/game.

Of course, the Giants also got huge help from the San Diego Padres. The Pads lost 10 games in a row from Aug 26-Sept 5, a major league record for a team in first place, and went 14-17 in September and October.

During the season I was so surprised by the Padres' success that I thought it was only a matter of time before they choked and it became a 3-team race between the Giants, Dodgers and Rockies. But San Diego proved me wrong by showing no signs of weakness throughout the entire season and I thought the Giants would have to win the wild card. Sure, the Pads did lose 10 in a row, but the Giants didn't make up that much ground then because of their own struggles. The Padres did choke, but were in the race to the very end, outlasting Colorado (too little to late) and the hapless Dodgers (see divorce scandal). The only reason the Giants didn't win the division by more than they did was because won the season series 12-6.

This team looks completely different from the Giants team in April. To start the season Todd Wellemeyer was the #5 pitcher (eesh), Bengie Molina started at catcher (slowpoke), Aaron Roward was an everyday starter (overpaid scrub), Edgar Renteria was our shortstop (mediocre), Mark DeRosa patrolled left field (injured) and even Travis Ishikawa (need I say more?) saw some at bats. Can you imagine how bad the Giants would have been if we had kept that team? There's no chance the Giants could have made the playoffs with those guys seeing significant playing time.

Credit the front office and our farm system with coming through though.

Wellemeyer was 3-5 with a 5.68 ERA before the Giants released him. Madison Bumbarner, our prized pitching prospect, stepped up big with a 7-6 record and posted a 1.13 ERA in September and October.

Probably the move of the season though was the trade of Bengie Molina to the Texas Rangers. It allowed Buster Posey to be our everyday catcher. Posey was simply amazing. Not only did he show remarkable poise and responsibility by handling the Giants pitching staff, but he was one of the Giants best hitters. He hit .305 and had 18 homers in only 108 games and is a leading candidate for rookie of the year.

Besides Zito, probably the biggest stink bomb for the Giants this year was Aaron Rowand. The only reason why Rowand was getting any playing time was because the Giants have a lot of money invested in him. Journeyman outfielder Andres Torres (43 doubles, 16 home runs, 26 stolen bases) had a career year and made it easier for Bochy to bench Rowand. The signing of Pat Burrell was also huge for the Giants. Burrell was cut by the Tampa Bay Rays earlier in the year until the Giants signed the Bellarmine grad. Pat the Bat slugged 18 home runs in just 95 games, providing a welcome power boost.

Juan Uribe also helped fill the gap at short stop left by Edgar Renteria's nagging injuries and overall poor hitting ability. Uribe set career highs with 24 jacks and 85 RBI.

Lastly, B Dubs tied the San Francisco franchise record shared by Rod Beck with 48 saves.

Bikram Yoga

2010-09-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

Two sandwiches, sesame tofu, pork potstickers and chicken rolls after Bikram Yoga. Hey, it's justified because I had fasted beforehand (didn't want to throw up) and you supposedly burn 900 calories.

What is it with girls dominating me in fitness classes?

Before, it was spin class; now, it's Bikram Yoga.

In case you don't know what Bikram Yoga is, it's "hot yoga." You do a bunch of standing and seated yoga poses in a room that's about 100º F and you sweat more than you've ever sweat in your entire life.

Being my first time doing yoga, I got a quick tutorial on proper breathing techniques from the instructor, Johnny. He took me into a small side room and had me inhale and then exhale loudly. I was horribly self-conscious.

When the class started everyone did the breathing exercises Johnny had showed me. It was kind of scaring hearing everyone exhale so loudly and passionately. It sounded like a sound a creepy dead person would make in a horror movie.

It was interesting observing the people that do yoga. More than 75% of the people were women. Lululemon Athletica definitely dominates the market for female athletic apparel. Those tight black yoga pants were everywhere and my friend only didn't wear her Lululemon headband because she was already wearing Lululemon shorts and shirt.

The few guys that were there, besides me, were in their late 30s or early 40s. They looked like dads trying to stay nimble as opposed to yoga masters. There was one younger guy though who was clearly a yoga regular. He wasn't wearing a shirt and had some sort of black speedo-esque shorts on. The spandex wouldn't have been my first choice of shorts, but they seemed to work for him just fine.

The class wasn't super tiring physically, but the heat got to me in the last half hour of the class. I'm really inflexible and some exercises were physically impossible for me, like the "one leg squat wrap the toes of your opposite foot around your leg exercise."

Parts of the Bikram Yoga class were embarrassing because I felt like Johnny was picking on me. I didn't know how to do a lot of exercises and it seemed like whenever Johnny forcefully repeated the instructions they were directed at me. Not to mention the atmosphere of extreme concentration. You'd think that people would want to talk to distract themselves from the difficulty of the "crouching warrior" pose, but talking was frowned upon. So I was left on my own to endure agonizing stretches and the pools of my own sweat on the yoga mat.

Probably the worst two exercises were the "nut crusher" (my personal name for it) and camel pose. The "nut crusher" was a pretty basic exercise; you lie on your back and hug your knees to your chest. Pretty basic, that is, for girls. I don't see how the other guys in the class do it; my friend hypothesized that Johnny had a testicle removed to improve his flexibility. It didn't help that Johnny was telling me to pull my knees harder toward my chest while I was weighing the options of my future offspring versus doing the exercise properly.

What's worse, the "nut crusher" (apanasana) or camel pose?

The camel pose was equally difficult though. It was at the end of the class that Johnny had us go into camel pose. To do camel pose, arch your back as far as you can, looking towards the wall behind you, and cup the heels of your feet with your hands. You aren't allowed to rest your hands on your feet; they are just supposed to touch lightly while you push your hips out as far as possible. The stretch was a huge contradiction to me; how was I supposed to arch backwards while thrusting my hips forward?

Besides my fatigue at the end of class and the impossibility of the stretch was that Johnny decided it was a good time to help me out. He urged me (against my will) to arch back farther and pushed my hips out for me. I'm pretty sure the grunts I made during camel pose sounded like a dying animal.

By the end of the class there was so much sweat on my yoga mat someone could have made it into a slip-n-slide. I realized that the towels weren't for wiping sweat off your face; you're supposed to put them down on the mat to absorb sweat so your feet don't slide around. I did one exercise on my side and it felt like my ear was underwater. When I changed my shirt it was as wet as if I had jumped into a pool.

Just like spin class though, I felt amazing afterward. Bikram Yoga makes you focus in on the task at hand because of the heat and you leave feeling relaxed. Even better was gaining back all those calories by going to Sprout and eating through their whole kitchen.

Modern Family Season Premiere

2010-09-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

Modern Family airs every Wednesday on ABC from 9-9:30 pm.

Modern Family is back!

Fall means a lot of things: the start of school, the color change in the leaves, baseball playoffs, and also the start of most tv shows. The best comedy on television, Modern Family, is back Wednesday on ABC from 9-9:30.

Last night's episode featured funny bits from all three families.

The Dunphys watched their clunker car roll down a hill after a family picnic. Claire was getting all choked up when Phil was trying to sell the car because it made her realize how quickly her kids are growing up.

Cam tried to keep Phil away from the power tools while they built a castle for their adopted daughter Lily. Phil ends up locking himself inside the castle and his stubborn pride prevents him from asking for help from Cam and his dad, Jay.

Gloria is hilarious acting as the clingy mom when Manny brings a girl over to the house. Gloria feels threatened and jealous of the attention the new girl is getting.

No wonder Gloria scores so well on ABC's polls of 13-25 year old males.

Modern Family is so funny because everyone can relate to at least one of the characters. For me, it's Phil Dunphy, the lovable nerd dad who's married to Claire and has three kids. I have an uncle just like Phil. he's slightly nerdy and tries way too hard to be cool and relate to kids.

Everyone can connect with Modern Family; kids can relate to the annoyances that are your parents and adults can relate to the annoyances that are your kids.

What's so impressive about Modern Family is how it's so funny while being completely family friendly. It seems like every tv show has to have at least a little raunchiness, violence, politically incorrect jokes or sexuality to be popular. Some examples are: Family Guy, Southpark, How I Met Your Mother, Jersey Shore, Entourage and The Office.

And it can be inconvenient having your favorite tv shows have inappropriate parts. If I want to watch Entourage or The League (a comedy based on a fantasy football league) I have to wait until my parents go to bed or watch it on my laptop. They're fine with me watching them but who wants to suffer the awkwardness of being in the same room during a sex scene on the tv show? Or when you're hosting a dinner party and get bored you want to watch some tv. Your family friends have a kid that's only 8 so not even The Office is appropriate.

On a similar note I love how there's a little lesson or moral at the end of every episode. It sounds cheesy, but it makes me appreciate the difficulty of making a comedy that pleases all audiences while still throwing in a feel good moral. The moral of last night's episode was that nobody likes change, but you have to let go at some point.

Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen) is quite an underrated actress on the show.

Lastly, you gotta like the show for Gloria (Colombian mom and Jay's wife), Claire (Jay's daughter and Phil's wife) and Haley (Claire's teenage daughter). 'Nuf said.

Notes From Around the Sports World

2010-09-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

Today could possibly be the best day in sports of the year. Here's why.

1. First Sunday of the NFL season. 'Nuf said.

2. Game four of the Giants vs. Padres series. The Giants are 1 game behind the Padres in the N.L. West. Both teams' #1 pitchers are going at it; Tim Lincecum and Mat Latos.

3. Tennis US Open Men's Final. Nadal vs. Djokovic. Nadal going for the career Grand Slam.

4. FIBA World Championship. USA is going for their first gold medal in the basketball world championships since 1994.

5. Golf's BWM Championship. Tiger Woods must finish in the top-5 to get a birth in the Tour Championship, not that I know what that means or the implications of it.

6. WNBA finals. Game 1 of the WNBA finals. Atlanta Dream at the Seattle Storm.

Ok, just kidding about #6. But this Sunday is a sports fan's paradise.

It was a frustrating day for Mike Singletary and Alex Smith.

The 49ers had a disgusting first half against the Seahawks. After a Nate Clements INT on Matt Hasselbeck's first pass of the game San Francisco was primed to jump out to an early lead. But some solid Seattle defense forced the 9ers to settle for a field goal and a 3-0 lead. Later on Alex Smith directed an 85 yard drive. San Francisco elected to go for it on 4th and goal at the 1-yard line. Smith had fullback Moran Norris wide open for an easy touchdown on a beautiful play action but missed him high. Still 3-0. The 49ers again drove the ball down the field and Mike Singletary again chose to go for the touchdown on fourth down from the 1. But the crowd noise at Qwest Field flustered the 49ers and led to a delay of game penalty. They had to settle for a field goal for the 2nd time and led 6-0.

The 49ers defense didn't let up a first down until late in the 2nd quarter. When they did, however, the Seahawks scored two quick touchdowns. Nate Clements was flagged for a personal foul after arguing with the referee and got burned after he attempted to jump a Mike Williams route. It led to a 35 yard reception and set up a 1-yard TD run by Hasselbeck. On the following 49ers possession an Alex Smith pass bounced off Michael Crabtree's hands for an interception deep in 49er territory. Again a San Francisco defensive back gambled and lost by trying to step in front of a Seattle wide receiver. Hasselbeck had an easy TD pass to Deon Butler to give the Seahawks a 14-6 lead at halftime.

San Francisco hurt themselves the first half. They moved the ball well on offense and dominated the play clock. But they couldn't punch the ball into the end zone. Alex Smith was very efficient in the first half but missed a wide open Norris for a TD. And the 49ers had another opportunity to score from the 1 yard line but had burned all of their timeouts and had to settle for their second field goal. Nate Clements's outburst gave the Seahawks their first first down and ultimately led to their touchdown. Clements and another 49ers cornerback also were impatient on defense and their gambles led to both Seahawks touchdowns.

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The Giants offense impressed, jumping on Padres ace Mat Latos early and often and chased him for five runs. Buster Posey hit an opposite field 2-run home run to give the Giants a 2-0 lead, which would later grow to a 5-0 lead. Even more impressive was the fact that Latos hadn't given up this many runs since late April.

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Arian Foster rewarded astute fantasy football owners who predicted his breakout.

The Houston Texans have been pretty good over the last few years but have had the misfortune of being in the same division as the Indianapolis Colts. They haven't had success because of their inability to beat their division foe.

This year though things might be different.

Texans running back Arian Foster rushed for 231 yards and 3 TDs and Houston took down the Colts 34-24. Peyton Manning threw for 433 yards and 3 TDs in a losing effort.

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Kevin Durant led the way for Team USA.

In the FIBA World Championship Team USA won a gold medal, defeating host country Turkey 81-64. Kevin Durant once again carried the team and scored 28 points. He set the record for the most points by a US player at this tournament. Team USA had been known as the "B Team" because of a lack of star players like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony etc. But the "B Team" did what the stars couldn't do four years ago and took home a gold medal.

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The 49ers started the 2nd half off terribly. Alex Smith threw a pick 6 on the 49ers first possession. The offense isn't getting anything going and has been penalized multiple times. The Seahawks just scored again on a Deion Branch touchdown catch to take a 28-6 lead in the third quarter.

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Frank Gore has had at least 1,000 yards rushing each of the last four seasons. Last year he amassed 13 TDs and had 2 TD runs of 75+ yards versus Seattle last year. Even with the emergence of TE Vernon Davis and 2nd year WR Michael Crabtree, the 49ers offense still revolves around Gore. Alex Smith showed some positives last year but still hasn't proved anything.

NFL analyst Jimmie Johnson said that other teams will learn that that bottling up Frank Gore is the key to beating the 49ers. If Gore can be shut down then all the pressure will be on Alex Smith, who isn't good enough to make the big plays.

It's late in the 3rd quarter right now and Gore has 16 carries for 36 yards.

Alex Smith has 155 passing yards and 2 very costly INTs.

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Aubrey Huff congratulates Buster Posey after Posey's two run home run in the first inning.

The San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres today 6-1, took three out of 4 games in the series and are now in a virtual tie for first place in the NL West.

Tim Lincecum has now had 3 good starts in a row. Today he got the W and improved to 14-9 (3-0 in September) after 7 innings of 9 Ks and only 1 earned run. He even had 2 RBIs off of Mat Latos. His control was great, only allowing 1 walk, and had great command of his fastball. Lincecum tightened up his mechanics, allowing him to locate his pitches and keep his fastball in the low to mid 90s.

The Giants improved to 7-3 over a tough 10 game road trip versus the Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Padres. They won every series and now play 12 of their final 18 games at home.

Most promisingly, the Giants starting pitching rotation dazzled over the road trip. Tim Lincecum has 3 wins in his last 3 starts, Matt Cain continues to be the Giants most reliable pitcher, Jonathan Sanchez also has pitched well his last 3 starts and even though he got the loss yesterday, Madison Bumgarner only gave up 1 run yesterday.

Just a little while ago the vaunted Giants pitching staff was getting knocked around. Lincecum was struggling, Zito was (and still is) struggling and even Matt Cain was having problems. Some people were calling the Giants staff the most overrated in all of baseball

The Giants are a team built around pitching. When San Francisco has floundered it has been because their starters couldn't get the job done. And their recent success can be attributed to their stellar pitching. If the Giants make the play-offs it will be because their starters continue to carry them and their bullpen can be effective.

The offense has been a lot better over the last couple months but can't be counted on to win games for the Giants. Today's win is how the Giants win when they are doing well. Strong starting pitching, solid hitting and a good bullpen.

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It's official, the 49ers lost 31-6 in their season opener vs. the Seattle Seahawks. The 49ers road woes continue; they were 2-6 on the road last year and can look forward to a visit from last year's Super Bowl champs, the New Orleans Saints.

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Tiger Woods's run in the Fedex Cup playoffs ended today. He was 1 under par in the final round and finished 42nd in points. The top 30 advance to play in the Tour Championship. Woods will now prepare for the Ryder Cup which is two weeks from now.

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The US Open Final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic was postponed due to rain.

Spin Class

2010-09-03T00:19:00.000-07:00

I'm sure Office fans remember this scene.

An excerpt of an interview in ESPN the Magazine of NBA basketball player Ron Artest.

How are you keeping in shape this summer?

Ron Artest: My secret weapon is spin class. It's crazy. My first time there, I'm like, "What the hell is this? A bunch of girls and old people on bikes? Easy." So I get on the bike, and within 10 minutes I wanted to quit. But I can't when these girls are hardly sweating. Can't quit. So I kept going. When it's over, I've got a pool of sweat under me. I've never done anything so hard in my life.

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I consider myself to be in really good shape, even for someone my age. I'm kind of a compulsive exerciser and I eat a very healthy diet. I ran a sub 6 min. mile after about a week and a half of running. I only have 3.34% body fat. So yeah, I take a lot of pride in my fitness.

That was why it was so surprising to me when a bunch of middle aged women, people who I normally would scrape in any sort of athletic or fitness test, absolutely put me to shame in a spin class I did this morning.

Even my own Mom was making fun of me in the car ride to school today. My sister and I poke fun at her slow and methodical way of exercising and even she couldn't resist a few jabs.

Dang.

I woke up at 5:20 AM so my mom and I could leave for Vivre by 5:35. We get there and all the clothing racks are chic female workout clothes. I took a peek into the gym part of Vivre and immediately noticed the pale green walls and pink, purple and blue exercise balls. Instant negative points for realizing that this is a chick gym but it boosted my self esteem. This couldn't be so hard could it?

I got set up with a bike in the far corner (all the better situated bikes were "claimed") and people started to file in. I think the first sign I was in for a rough time was when the instructor said I shouldn't feel bad if my butt got too sore or I was too tired and had to get off. But I just popped in my iPod headphones and started to tune people out. I'd just do my thing on the bike , listen to some music and get in a good sweat.

Once the workout started though I had to stop listening to my iPod because I couldn't hear the instructor and she was playing music. They turned off the lights which was cool. It was so early it was still dark out and the only light was a small purple lamp. When I was talking with my nanny later we concluded that this purple light must be what you see when you're dying.

The second ominous sign was when a tiny blonde woman in her mid 40s said that most kids don't last more than one class and that she and the others were "crazy." I wasn't about to let a 5' woman with arms half the size of mine tell me what I could or couldn't do. Are you kidding me? I probably outweighed this little fairy by like 40 pounds. Whatevs.

My legs were motoring to start off the beginning of class and I was feeling good. The instructor kept telling us to ratchet up the resistance and I kept powering through. We did some "climbs" and I got a nice burn going. I glanced over at the guy next to me and saw that I was spinning was faster than him. Sweet, I got this. I was feeling good so when we did the fast intervals, I really pushed myself.

I hit a wall thirty minutes in. The hard thing for me was that I had never cycled before so my body wasn't used to this type of exercise. Also, since I don't cycle I'm not accustomed to biking for more than like 20 minutes. I remember when I was absolutely dying, in an "up and out" extended interval. I looked at the clock and we were halfway done. My thighs were burning, I had a pool of sweat that had dripped onto the floor and about three more of this mini climbs left.

It was so demoralizing seeing that tiny woman in front of me barely sweating. I hunched over in hangdog mode with a scowl on my face, just trying to hang on, and here she was all chipper, pedaling with no hands. And then there was the 70 year old guy in the back, my mom and my friend's mom all doing it too.

There are a few things that make spinning so hard to a beginner like myself. First is that your body just doesn't have the muscles it takes to ride a bike. Even if you're in great shape you still aren't used to this type of exercise. Since you probably on bike when you bike to school or to go over to a friend's house you aren't used to biking for longer than half of an hour.

Reason número dos why spin class is so brutal is the resistance. About every two minutes you turn the knob to make the ride harder. Even when you're climbing and on like your 5th "up and out," the instructor still tells you to turn it up. It never gets easier, its a tough combo when you are getting more and more fatigued and have to keep making it harder.

Third, there's no breaks. This to me is an aspect of spin class that is more difficult than cycling. When you're biking out on the street, or if you're like every parent in the Bay Area, if you're out cycling in Woodside, you probably coast a lot of the time. On flat parts when you're taking a sip of water. When you're descending a mountain. When you're stopped at a light. But in spin class you're pedaling for the entire hour. You're never allowed to stop.

Lastly, the class is just hard. The instructor works you hard and whenever you're out of the saddle it kills your thighs.

But, like any great work out, you feel great afterward. Since I had been up for so long I was completely awake for my morning classes and was just in a good mood in general. Plus, Fraiche is right across the street and I got a large yogurt with three toppings. Mmm.

Eight Things I Learned In China - Part 1

2010-08-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

My personal favorite. I like the contemplative look and how he looks like a monk with a walking stick. Location: Summer Palace, Beijing

He is quite a happy fellow. Location: pet market, Shanghai

Closeup. Location: Unknown

Most of these pictures were me pretending to take pictures of whatever temple we were at while actually snapping belly profiles. This guy caught me though and flashed the classic Asian "peace" sign. Location: market, Shanghai

Resting. Location: Summer Palace, Beijing

This summer my family went to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It was pretty sweet; we went to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, walked along the riverfront at night in Shanghai, did some shopping in a funky art district and ate great dim sum. But you could learn about all that in a tour guide book and, besides, I think what I have to say is more interesting (and hopefully funnier).

Chinese Air Conditioning

It’s a well known fact that it’s hot and humid in China during the summer. It’s in the mid 90s each day in Beijing and the humidity is right around 100%. The air pollution doesn’t do any favors either, not ever being able to see blue sky makes the heat inescapable. Everyone sweats a ton and there were some pretty impressive soaked t-shirts on the Great Wall.

To beat the heat and prevent from tanning, some women tote sun umbrellas. Others go with the more conventional sunglasses and water. I even saw a kid with a sweet hat that had a mini fan attached to it.

But the most common way of staying cool among men is “Chinese Air Conditioning,” or what I like to call the Half Shirt Style. It’s really quite simple. To rock the half shirt style all you have to do is wear a t-shirt that’s a little tight-fitting. Add hot and muggy Beijing summer weather to get some sticky sweat going and then roll up your shirt to about the rib cage.

What I’ve noticed is that most of the guys who roll up their shirt are middle aged and kind of fat. You’d think that younger, trimmer guys would wear the half shirt style but I think they realize it looks really stupid and unappealing. So that just leaves fashion oblivious, pudgy guys to show off their nice guts to everyone.

And if you’re going to all the work to roll up your shirt, how hard is it to just take it off? It would look way less weird to not wear a shirt than to air out your belly button and nipples.

Cavs Go Down, Lebron's Future in Doubt

2010-05-13T22:20:00.000-07:00

Despite putting up a triple double LeBron had 9 turnovers in the Cavs' loss to the Celtics.

The #1 seeded Cleveland Cavaliers failed to reach the Eastern Conference Finals by losing in 6 games to the Boston Celtics. The Cavs lost 94-85. LeBron James had 27 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists and 9 turnovers in the loss.

Noooooooooooooo. LeBron has been my favorite athlete since he broke into the league 7 years ago already given the nickname "The Chosen One." Not just my favorite NBA players but my favorite sports athlete in general. He has the perfect combination of talent, swagger, maturity and affability that won over so many sports fans.

LeBron was always writing himself into the record books with all sorts of new "youngest player to ..." achievements. But the only knock on LeBron, if you can find any criticism for a player still only 25 years old and at his level, is that he has never won a championship. He is constantly compared to Kobe with the "who's the best player in the NBA" argument. Even though LeBron may be able to dominate a game more than Kobe and have better stats Kobe has got 4 NBA championships. LeBron has 0 and won't be sniffing one this year.

This year the big story surrounding LeBron was his expiring contract. His rookie contract he inked with the Cavs runs out this summer and he can decide to be a free agent. Teams like the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls have freed up tons of cap space to woo James and everyone knows LeBron loves the city of New York. It was thought that if the Cavs won a title there was no way he could leave. Or the Cavs would win the championship and the fans would be grateful that LeBron had brought them a title before he left.

Will LeBron leave Cleveland for The Big Apple?

But now nobody knows what's going to happen. Will he stay in Cleveland and try to build his legacy as a Cavalier? Or will he and another superstar like Dwayne Wade or Chris Bosh go to the Knicks?

Get ready for LeBron, LeBron and even more of King James. If you thought the media attention and pressure was big after the game where Cavaliers got blown out by 32 points and James only had 15 points then you are in for a big surprise. There will be an incredible amount of media attention dedicated to LeBron's tenure with the Cavs and speculation on where he will be headed next year.

Personally, I think LeBron will stay in Cleveland. He'll realize that it all boils down to championships and his career would be considered a failure if he never won a title. Can you imagine if one of basketball's greatest players ever never won a title? We're talking about a guy who's nickname is "King" and "The Chosen One." And by starting all over with a new team he has to start from scratch. If he went to the Knicks he'd have to erase all his progress with the Cavs and carry another team on his back. But by staying with the Cavs he remains on the best team (regular season) instead of going to the 10th best in the Eastern Conference.

I heard this from a sports radio show and I completely agree. As amazing as LeBron is, he has too much power in Cleveland. Anyone who has watched Cavs games sees that James goes 1 on 5 all the time. And a lot of the time he makes crazy shots that no one else could make. But the rest of his team just stands around. The entire offense is built around him. And even though the Cavs have or have added a bunch of great pieces to support him, Mo Williams, Shaq, Antawn Jamison, they can't be expected to perform if they never touch the ball. And when they do get the ball they are criticized if they take any shots away from LeBron. And the Cleveland Cavaliers will have a hard time emphasizing the other players because Mike Brown and the organization would face a mountain of critique from their fans. If LeBron for some reason didn't get the ball with the game on the line everyone would be jumping down Brown's throat. It's easy to say that the supporting cast would suck if LeBron wasn't on the team and that Mike Brown isn't a good coach but the truth is that LeBron's power in Cleveland is detrimental to the team. I'm in no way saying get rid of him because the Cavs would be much worse without him. But the Cavs have to find a way to take less responsibility off of James and allow the other players more freedom. That's the reason why the Lakers are so good. They have a superstar in Kobe, but he doesn't have as much weight on his shoulders as LeBron because he lets the other players do their thing. Granted, Kobe's supporting cast is much better but Kobe is better at managing games in that sense. He doesn't feel the need to go 1 on 5 into the teeth of the defense. He's content to get everyone involved in the first 3 quarters then takes over in the 4th.

Mostly though I am just bummed that the Cavs lost. It seems like they've been the best team in the NBA for a few years now but haven't won a championship. Sad that LeBron might go to the Knicks and if he does he won't be sniffing a title for a while and he might not ever get one. But he'll always be great and I'll still support him whatever team he goes to. Even if it means putting up a new Fathead poster of him in a Knicks jersey.

Little Bee and Iron Man 2

2010-05-10T23:11:00.000-07:00

Mickey Rourke playing the villain Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2 and the cover of Little Bee.

This weekend I finished one of the most heart-rending books I have ever read and saw Iron Man 2, the blockbuster action movie whose sole purpose was to entertain.

Little Bee, by Chris Cleave, tells the story of a Nigerian immigrant and an English woman. Sarah was on vacation with her husband in Nigeria when she met Little Bee who was fleeing men that had destroyed her village. A fateful decision was made and the two parted ways, never expecting to see the other again. Two years later, after finally escaping her country and being released from an immigrant detention center Little Bee finds Sarah and the two try to reconcile the past and push ahead to the future.

Little Bee continued my pattern of books with female protagonists. (I had previously read Precious and The Help.) What made the book so special was the shocking plot, dual perspectives and imagery. Chris Cleave purposely doesn't reveal the events that occurred when Little Bee and Sarah met because "the magic is in how the story unfolds." Cleave builds up the story before explaining the pivotal event and then reveals bits and pieces that will surprise the reader. Each chapter alternates between the perspective of Little Bee and Sarah. Both characters are equally important and it wouldn't be possible to completely understand the rationale behind their decision making without getting inside their heads. Little Bee's narrations are thoughtful and ties her imagery to what her life was like before conflict came to her village.

I would highly recommend this book but probably not to anyone in middle school or lower because there are so brutal and traumatic events described in vivid detail.

Iron Man 2, the sequel to the incredibly popular Marvel superhero flick didn't disappoint. Although it was kind of slow in the middle, the final action scene blew me away.

The movie jumps right into the introduction of this movie's bad guy. Mickey Rourke plays Ivan Vanko, a hulking, tattooed Russian physicist whose only wish is to destroy Tony Stark. He is recruited by Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a rival businessman who will do anything to outdo Stark when it comes to weapons technology.

Tony Stark's ego is even bigger this movie and his mouth never stops moving. He seems even more full of himself than the first movie. Rourke's character Ivan is easily a better bad guy than Obadiah Stane, Stark's friend turned nemesis in the first Ironman. His hair is an unkempt white mane, tattoos slink along his muscular frame, his crazy demeanor shows his indifference to death and is almost Stark's equal in smarts. Because Stark is such a jerk I found myself rooting for Vanko and his sweet lightning whips and even when he was defeated he went out with a bang, literally.

Don Cheadle fills in for Terrence Howard as James Rhodes, Stark's friend and fighter pilot. Scarlett Johansson is a hecka hot undercover agent kicking ass in a skintight full body suit and Samuel L. Jackson is the head of the covert organization called SHIELD.

Condoleeza Rice Comes to Menlo

2010-04-19T20:30:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday, April 20, 2010, former security advisor and secretary of state Condoleeza Rice came to Menlo to talk. The talk was conducted by the Coat of Arms, Menlo School's newspaper, and was part of the Coat of Arms Speaker Series, which has also hosted Hewlett Packard CEO Mark Hurd and ex Director of the CIA James Woolsey this year.

After getting introduced Ms. Rice gave a short speech that had three main points. Her first point was to not specialize in a career too early. When Ms. Rice was younger she played piano and her dream was to play in Carnegie Hall. When she went to college, which I later found out was the University of Denver, she was a piano major. After attending a music festival and finding out that kids half her age were playing songs that had taken her a year to master Rice decided to switch majors. It was obviously a good move for her because of her incredibly successful political career and she said a big highlight of her time in the White House was getting to play with the famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

In today's age kids are specializing so early whether it's a particular sport, a musical instrument or a certain subject. Besides the danger of burning out and losing interest you don't expose yourself to all the cool things you could have experienced. And, like the main point Condoleeza Rice made, if you choose your career too early you might not be be in the career that is best for you.

Ms. Rice also emphasized the importance of exploring the world. She learned Russian and began her career as a Soviet specialist. She said there are so many different cultures that people should immerse themselves in and is disappointed that Americans don't actively seek out the corners of the world. Since America is so influential everyone else learns English which only makes people less motivated to learn a foreign language.

Along with learning about the world Condi stressed the importance of learning a language. My parents always talk about how essential Mandarin will be in business in years to come and how I should work super hard and do extra studies. Usually I roll my eyes and quickly agree to get them off my back but hearing such a smart woman of high status say how I should go out and learn a language is more awakening than the parentals.

Condi's last point was to do something that's hard for you. She said it is way more satisfying to have achieved a goal in a class that is challenging. If you are good at math then push yourself to become a good writer. And if you are a good writer but struggle in math then work harder on math.

I appreciate how Condoleeza Rice tailored her talk to us high school students. She could have given a generic speech that she's done many times, but her intro was tailored to young adults. Her advice was useful and, like I said before, much more meaningful coming from her instead of parents.

After her speech the main portion was a Question & Answer with senior Katherine Harris. To make things easier on myself I paraphrased Dr. Rice's responses. This is all off of memory so there is no guarantee of their accuracy.

1. What was the hardest political situation you ever faced?

She said... There were a lot of difficult situations, but any time it's an issue of war and peace and = lives are at stake it is extremely difficult. Probably the most difficult situation though was when Hezbollah was in Lebanon. Lebanon had a government that we liked and Israel decided to bomb Lebanon. Innocent civilians were killed and the carnage was on tv. But our government couldn't tell Israel to stop bombing Lebanon because the terrorist group Hezbollah was there.

I say... I was surprised that she didn't mention the Iraq war or something that was more publicized while she was in office under George W. Bush. The invasion of Iraq was so controversial that I thought her response would address that, but she went with a different conflict in the Middle East. I guess to her any time civilians were getting killed was tough on her.

2. Who was the most difficult person you had to negotiate with?

She said... You know, I never saw negotiating that way because I always enjoyed it, but there were a few people. As you guys are aware, there is a genocide going on in Sudan, and I had to talk to the leader of the Sudanese people (I forgot the ruler's name). This man was allowing a genocide to occur in his own country, and quite frankly he was a goon. The leader of Libya (also don't remember the name) was also pretty weird.

3. What would you consider your lasting political achievement(s) to be?

She said... Seemingly smart political decisions made now can end up looking very stupid in the future and dumb decisions now can turn out to be brilliant in 20 years, so it's very hard to say. But I would say the spreading of democracy to Afghanistan, the Middle East in general and especially to India. India is the world's largest democracy in terms of people, and I think we were very successful in helping out India.

I say... To me, Condoleeza Rice obviously is a huge believer in democracy and that every country in the world should be democratic. This is where her full-fledged support of democracy began to emerge in the talk.

4. What do you consider the biggest threat(s) to America?

She said... I consider the situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran to be especially dangerous. Also, the border between the United States and Mexico is becoming exceedingly hostile because of the escalating violence surrounding the drug trade and the government's inability to do anything about it. However I think that America needs to get back to the values that made this country so great. We are crumbling from the inside. Our public education system needs a lot of help.

I say... I didn't realize that Dr. Rice, who is more well known for her support of the Iraq war, is actually quite concerned about what's going on within the United States. You'd think that with all of her talk about spreading democracy that she wasn't preoccupied with internal affairs but that is her biggest worry.

5. You chaired the board of the Millenium Challenge Corporation, a government agency that works to end poverty through lending money to build up a nation's economy. How did Millenium Challenge determine which countries would receive money, and how much money they would receive?

She said... We're looking for countries whose governments are doing everything they can to help their people, and to put it bluntly, are going to use the money we give them to line their own pockets. If the government isn't corrupt, or is making an effort to eliminate corruption, if the government is working to improve the health of its people, if they are trying to educate children etc. then the US government will give out a lot of money. For example, we gave Tanzani $800 million and little tiny Ghana $400 million.

6. How has being a black woman affected your career?

She said... You know, I try not to think about it. I mean, getting caught up in race and how it affects my work won't help so I don't think about it. There were times though I was younger when my boss said 'why is a nice black girl like yourself studying to become a soviet specialist?'

What I do think are important in people's careers are mentors. Nobody can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and achieve success, we all need a little help. You should choose a mentor with a common interest and a relationship could start. I suggest when you're in college getting a professor who teaches what you're interested in, read some of his or her material beforehand and then mention how you like what they've written. Then they'll take an interest in you.

I say... It's interesting how one of the most successful and prominent female black politician shies away from labeling herself in terms of race. I completely understand it, she doesn't want to be known as the black woman who rose to success, she just wants to be remembered for her political, educational and philanthropic achievements. When our family had some friends over for dinner this weekend we brought up how there's such a lack of African-American leadership in this country, and Condoleeza Rice is a great example, whether she wants to be labeled this way or not.

7. What do you think makes a good leader in today's world?

She said... Everyone likes to be liked and to be popular but I think that the people who are willing to make tough decisions are the best leaders. At the end of the day not everyone's going to be happy, and the leader is going to have to live with that.

I say... Not surprising, considering that Dr. Rice was known for her controversial decisions in war. Because she herself had to make many tough decisions she would naturally favor someone who thought like herself. But this also rings true in an unbiased way, whoever is willing to weather the good and bad times is fit to be a leader.

8. What would you have done differently in Afghanistan?

She said... You know, you have to realize that Hamid Karzai (Afghanistan's president) is no treasure. You have to work with what you have. Back during the Bush administration, there was a scandal because a man who converted to Christianity from Islam and was going to be executed. I called up Karzai and said, 'Mr. Karzai, as much as we'd like to help, your country will not see another penny from the United States if that man is killed.'

He hurriedly agreed, hung up, then called back a few hours later saying, 'I have figured out the solution. He will be allowed to live and will be declared insane.'

What we want the American people to realize is that Afghanistan is going to take time. Afghanistan is the 5th poorest country in the world, the only roads are roads that the United States and other countries have built and there's virtually no electricity except for in the capital, Kabul. Because Afghanistan is so rural it would have been better to have worked from the outside in. The heart of the country is not in Kabul, it is in the villages off of beaten paths in the countryside.

Also, we should have built up a bigger police force. The Afghan police force is about 1/3 the size it needs to be.

I say... I loved the personal story about Hamid Karzai. I think too often the United States focuses on trying to change things that are out of control and with Karzai, like Dr. Rice said, we just have to make the best situation out of what we have. I also didn't realize how poor Afghanistan is. I incorrectly believed that the poorest countries in the world would all be in Africa. She made me more patient with results coming from Afghanistan because not only are the United States fighting off terrorists, but they have to make sure the country is in a position where they have a functioning and sustainable economy for when they leave.

The Q&A moderated by Katherine Harris ended and a lot of people left for lunch. About 1/4 of the people stayed in their seats to hear and ask questions directly to Condi. These were the questions people asked.

1. What advice would you give to current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton?

She said... Well, I would let her do her own job because from my experience it was so difficult to get things down when you had everyone chirping at you. But I would probably say that the spreading of democracy is the most important thing.

I say... I don't remember her answer very clearly.

2. What's your view on wiretapping?

She said... I fully support wiretapping. What people have to know, and what most people don't understand, is that the federal government can't just listen to any phone conversation it wants to. You have to have been flagged for extremely suspicious activities or be a known terrorist for the government to be able to listen to your calls. On September 9, 2001, two days before 9/11 there was a call from Afghanistan to a known terrorist in San Diego. We learned this sometime after the Twin Towers had been destroyed. Do you think it would have been useful to have known what was said? I think so. Instead of hearing this phone call though, our only intelligence was in July of that year we heard someone say "something big is going to happen." I think our country deserved to know more than just that "something big was going to happen."

I say... This was another personal thing she added that you wouldn't know unless Condoleeza Rice came and talked at your school. These personal bits of information were what made this talk so special. Her use of a specific call was very persuasive.

3. How important do you think the elections in Iraq were?

She said... Oh, I think the Iraq elections were hugely important. You have a country that was ruled by Saddam Hussein, a dictator that killed hundreds of thousands of his own people, and a few years later they become the first true Arab democracy? Not only this, but if the elections are successful and Iraq becomes more stable Iran would see Iraq as a model. Iran has always been problematic and if they saw the success that Iraq had with a democracy and liberty for its people hopefully they would take note and follow suit.

I say... She's definitely right, but she is also a little biased. It's kind of the perfect question for her to answer to support the Iraq war.

4. (this was a question posed by myself after everything was finished) What was it like for you growing up in the south during the Civil Rights movement?

She said.... Well, I was pretty young when it was all happening (born in 1954) and I had my family was pretty strong and more wealthy than others, but it was definitely hard.

My history teacher later said how you can see why she has won so many teaching awards at Stanford. The way she speaks is so inspiring and thought provoking it makes you want to challenge yourself and make a name for yourself. Thanks, Menlo, for providing me with the opportunity to hear Condoleeza Rice talk.

Lefty Wins the Green Jacket

2010-04-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

(Clockwise from top left): Phil Mickelson after a birdie at 18 to win the Masters, watching his spectacular shot on the 13th hole, Tiger grinding out a 69, Couples after missing a putt, Kim was all smiles after posting a 65

Phil Mickelson won an emotional third Masters Sunday and finished the tournament at -16. Trailing Englishman Lee Westwood by a stroke heading into the final round, Phil shot -5 and beat Westwood by three strokes. The victory was especially meaningful for Mickelson because his wife Amy, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in May of last year, made it out to the course and watched her husband take home the green jacket.

If there is one defining moment from the 2010 Masters, it will be Phil Mickelson's miraculous shot at the par 5 13th. After hooking his drive into the pine trees, Phil was peering at the green through a gap in the trees only four or five feet wide. His ball rested on a bed of pine straw 207 yards from the green. The smart play would have been to chip his ball out and then allow his short game to take over. But as Phil said after the round, "I was going to have to go through that gap if I laid up or went for the green." He took a 6 iron, laced his shot through the gap and his ball settled about four feet from the hole. He missed the eagle putt, but knocked the next one in for birdie and maintained his two shot lead over Westwood, one he would not give back.

The week started with all the media attention on the return of Tiger Woods, but the world's #1 ranked player never seriously challenged Mickelson on Sunday. He finished tied for fourth place with K.J. Choi at -11. Tiger's tee shots were all over the place, but he still managed to post a -3 for the day. Chalk it up to Woods's grit and relentlessness to be three under par when he bogeyed three of the first five holes, couldn't control anything off of the tee and three putted from eight feet. All the attention was on Tiger at the beginning, but Mickelson was the best player throughout the tournament, and was a very deserving champion.

He had five birdies and no bogeys on the last day, which included some sensational par saves. At the beginning of the round Phil had the "hooks" and his short game saved him many times. But he never wavered and shot a 32 on the back nine to win comfortably. He shared a long embrace with his wife Amy after the round was over.

Anthony Kim shot a ridiculously low score of 65 and finished in third place with a -13. Over a span of four holes on the back nine Kim was five under par and completed his best Masters finish ever.

Fred Couples, who led with a -6 after the first day of action at Augusta, finished at -9. He was in the hunt but a double bogey on the par 3 12th undid him.

This was a Masters to remember that featured the top players in the world duking it out. The first day of the tournament was overshadowed by the return of Tiger Woods to action following a low layoff after a car accident on Thanksgiving morning of last year set off a storm of stories about his infidelity. Woods shot a -4, but 50 year old Fred Couples was all alone in the lead after he shot a -6. Tom Watson, all of 60 years, shot a -5 to be tied for second going into Friday. Two Englishmen stole the show on Friday as Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter moved to -8 and into a tie for first place. Poulter would end up tied for 10th. On Saturday Westwood maintained the lead, but Phil Mickelson tied a Masters record with two consecutive eagles on holes 13 and 14. Mickelson holed out a wedge on 14, and barely missed an eagle putt on 15 for a tap in birdie. But amid all the focus on Phil, Westwood still held a one stroke lead on Lefty with a -4 going into Sunday. And that's when Phil took over.

Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend

2010-04-07T16:55:00.000-07:00

(From top) 1. The book 2. The most famous picture of Mays 3. Mays was an aggressive baserunner 4. A portrait during Spring Training, 1961

Last night I finished James S. Hirsch's biography on the baseball legend Willie Mays. This is a recent book, it came out in February, and is significant because Mays authorized the biography. Throughout his career Willie has been hesitant to trust the media and hasn't collaborated with the other authors who wrote books about him.

Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend is probably the most comprehensive book about Mays ever written. And when I say comprehensive, I mean it. Kirsch, former writer for The New York

Times and The Wall Street Journal banged out 556 pages for this behemoth. The book was amazing, it covered everything from Mays's days in the Negro leagues life as a child growing up

in Fairfield, Alabama, to his final seasons as a New York Met. Kirsch most likely meant to do America's greatest baseball player justice by not leaving anything out, but I can't see the book's

length helping sales. Nobody but an avid baseball fan would buy the book because its length is too intimidating. It's kind of a Catch-22 because everyone should know about the Say Hey Kid,

but it is just as important to get a full scope of Mays's life.

Willie grew up just outside Birmingham, Alabama during the 1940s and was raised by his aunt. At a young age Willie displayed extraordinary athletic prowess and excelled in baseball,

football and basketball. Later in life people recognized his quiet intelligence, but Willie was not cut out for college. He started playing baseball professionally in the Negro Leagues as a

teenager and was on the legendary Birmingham Black Barons. Even though Willie was raw, people recognized he would go on to bigger and better things. Little did they know that Willie

would eventually become one of baseball's biggest stars and a beacon of hope for aspiring black people in all of America.

When Willie Mays was only 19 years old he was signed by the New York Giants and joined one of their minor league teams. He tore through the minors, dazzling with his spectacular

defense, throwing arm and athletic ability and joined the team in 1951. He won the Rookie of the Year award and the Giants won the pennant behind Bobby Thomson's famous "Shot Heard

Round the World" home run to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Mays lost 2 years while serving in the military, but his primary role was to play baseball and entertain. He returned to great fanfare in '54 and blasted 41 home runs, hit .345 and won MVP.

The Giants also won their only World Series with Mays on the team, and is the last World Series the Giants have won. Perhaps the most famous moment of Willie's career was in game 1 of the

World Series against the Cleveland Indians. In the 8th inning with the score 2-2, Vic Wertz hit a blast to the deepest part of the Polo Grounds, the New York Giants ballpark. Mays sprinted

back, caught the ball over his shoulder and all in one motion whirled and made a strong through back to the infield. The runner on second base only advanced to third and the runner on first did

not advance. Many see "The Catch" as the turning point in the Series and the greatest baseball catch of all time.

Willie Mays played 5 full seasons at the Polo Grounds in New York but because of financial reasons the Giants moved out west in 1958 to San Francisco. Willie's success at Candlestick is

seen as testament to his greatness, and a sad reminder of how well he would have done at a less windy ballpark. Willie played 14 seasons at the Stick and played with Willie McCovey, Orlando

Cepeda, Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry. Willie Mays won his last pennant as a Giant in 1962.

The two best parts of Kirsch's book in my opinion are the way he captures Willie Mays's infectious spirit and all the individual moments of baseball brilliance in his career. Willie burst

onto the scene as a happy-go-lucky youngster and his genuine love of the game and carefree attitude spread to the rest of the players in the locker room. Mays described his attitude toward

baseball when he once said, "I'd play for free" and never drank or smoke and got to bed early. He was America's biggest sports star when he played and was a great role model for kids. When

he played for the New York Giants he could be found playing stickball in the Harlem neighborhoods with kids. Mays said that he could trust kids and related to their youthfulness.

He constantly visited hospitals without looking to gain publicity and even gave two of his young fans a ride to a game.

Before I read this book I had always known that Willie Mays was an immensely talented baseball player who hit 660 home runs, was a great fielder, was the "Say Hey Kid" and made

"The Catch." Besides that though, I didn't know any specifics about what made Willie so special. Here are a few specific examples of Willie's amazing feats.

There was, for example, the game on May 7 against the Louisville Colonels, (this is from Mays's stint in the minors) in which a bruising hitter named Taft Wright drove a ball over Mays's head. But Mays, according to game reports, 'literally climbed the rightcenter field wall to pick off Taft Wright's jet drive.' Mays later said it looked as though the ball was going to hit high on the fence, so he had to 'improvise' a way to catch it. (Kirsch 74)

Mays also brought the Negro Leagues' exciting and fast paced style of play to the plodding, home run focused style that was in favor at the time. Fans never before had seen baserunning antics like Mays displayed.

On a typical play in 1961, the Sporting News described what happened when Mays, on first, headed for second

on a single: 'Mays rounded second, feinted an all-out run into third, then feinted back toward second and provoked

a throw to second by Wally Moon. As soon as Moon lifted his arm to make the fatal mistake of throwing behind

Willie, Mays lit out for third and made it sliding.' (219)

After throwing up because of food poisoning the night before "Mays's hitting line was 4-for-5, with four homers, four runs scored, and eight RBIs. He also made the best catch of the

game." (342). Willie Mays tied the major league record with 4 home runs in one game.

I mostly included the baseball aspects of Willie Mays's life, but Kirsch goes into great detail about racial issues and Mays's role in them (he led by example, choosing to avoid controversy).

Leo Durocher, Mays's first manager, played a big role in his life and mentored the budding star. There's a chapter on barnstorming and a lot if written about Willie's extravagant living style and struggle to get out of debt (he did).

Keeping Current with Sports and News

2010-04-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

I was in Chicago for the last few days and my flight back home was during the San Francisco Giants' opener and the men's NCAA basketball championship. I'm kind of bummed that I missed Lincecum's 7 innings of 0 runs and 7 strikeouts and Butler's close loss, but I recorded the games. It seems like there's a flurry of great sports going on right now, so here are some websites to keep informed.

Duke won its 4th basketball title Monday night with a nail biting 61-59 victory over the Butler Bulldogs. NBA prospect Gordon Hayward's half court shot at the buzzer bounced off the rim to cement Coach Krzyzewski's (Shuh-shef-skee) legacy as one of the all-time greats.

Pat Forde's recap.

Butler's amazing run.

Duke's x-factor.

The Giants got off to a good start with a 5-2 victory over the Houston Astros at the Astrodome. Lincecum utilized his new change-up and right fielder John Bowker, who some people had doubts about going into the season, had a nice catch and an RBI when he hit a ball off the fence. Mark DeRosa also hit an opposite field home run.

Highlights, box scores and photos of the Giants victory.

The Masters start this Thursday and on Monday Tiger Woods answered an array of questions from the media after his practice round. Woods said that the warm reception he received from the public "blew me away," this was the first time he played in front of the galleries.

New York Times article

There was also an interesting article on the front page of the NYT about a case of a wife of a former NFL player who's fighting for compensation for her husband's dementia. This case represents an increase in the number of NFL liability cases for retired players with brain problems. If the insurance costs the NFL has to pay out rise dramatically commissioner Roger Goodell might have to make big rules and equipment changes for safety.

Dementia

Giants Play Ball Lunch

2010-04-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

With my favorite Giant, Matt Cain!

A friend invited me to the San Francisco Giants' "Play Ball Lunch," a fundraiser event for the Giants Community Fund and a great opportunity to get autographs and photos from all of the Giants.

On Friday my dad, another friend and myself drove up to the Marriot Marquis hotel in the city. After some wandering around and a terrifying moment when a security guard told me that only people 18 or over were admitted (he was joking) we found the reception. There were hundreds of Giants fans clamoring for autographs, trying to snap pictures, and checking out cool pictures and other game gear for sale. My favorite sports players had never been this accessible before, I'm not an autograph hawk and the closest I've been to players was leaning over the railing last year at the Giants spring training facility in Scottsdale.

I got autographs from closer Brian Wilson, catcher Buster Posey, (#2 catching prospect in all of baseball) outfielder Fred Lewis, starting pitcher Matt Cain, third baseman Juan Uribe and relief pitcher Dan Runzler. Everyone wanted Sandoval and Lincecum's and there were huge lines so I didn't get their signatures.

After the signing period everyone went to their tables and ate lunch. Some of the tables had a Giants player or coach and a Junior Giants. Dan Runzler sat at our table. There was a brief moment of panic because nobody knew who he was, all we knew was that his name was Dan and he was on the team. Luckily though someone looked him up on their iPhone underneath the table. And, to our credit, he's a rookie this year. Dan was really friendly and talkative and not only answered all of our questions, but made an effort to talk to the kids at the table. It's nice to see a pro baseball player be so down to earth and friendly. He could have been a jerk and ignored us while texting on his cellphone, but he was engaging and cool. Thanks, Dan.

After lunch there was a silent auction, speeches from executives and announcers and a Q & A onstage with some of the players.

Thoughts and tidbits from the lunch:

B-Dubs (Brian Wilson) is every bit as cool in real life as he is on tv. He was rocking a blue v-neck with a mohawk and I asked him what the tattoo on his wrist means. I've always wanted to know what it meant, Wilson is heavily tattooed and every time he gets a save you get a glimpse of it when he does his trademark move. He said that it means "All honor to him" in Gaelic. No idea what it means or if he's Gaelic, but that's sick. Also, during the Q & A a Junior Giant asked Jeremy Affeldt which Giant he would want to be for a day, and he said B-Dubs. "Just getting inside that guy's dome for 5 minutes would be awesome!" said Affeldt.

Buster Posey is young, he's only 23, and definitely looks like the baby on the team. I'm excited to see him in a few years, elite catchers are so rare and valuable in baseball these days and besides Baltimore's Matt Wieters, #28 is the best catching prospect in the game.

I felt bad for the lesser known Giants who didn't have many people looking for their autograph during the "Play Ball Lunch." It's partly because people don't know who they are and don't want to embarrass themselves and the player by not knowing the guy's name. In a way though they're lucky that they don't have stacks of fan mail waiting for them each day; these players still get to be professional baseball players while still maintaining some privacy.

As one friend said, "Zito's out here modeling, he's just a model." Barry Zito was sporting a purple sweater and carried himself very classily.

Lincecum is a funky looking dude when he's not in his uniform. If you think he looks undersized and unusual with his long hair, he looked especially different at the lunch. He's thin, pale and small, but nobody can argue with 2 Cy Young awards in only 2 full seasons in the bigs.

Pablo Sandoval looks like a cool guy to hang out with. Even though he doesn't speak much English, during the autograph signing and the Q & A he seemed outgoing and exuberant. Pabs!

You don't want to mess with Juan Uribe. Sandoval was asked who he would least want to wrestle on the team and he said Uribe. I agree. Uribe's 6 feet tall, but 230 pounds and a mean looking dude.

When asked "If you met [rock star] Bon Jovi, what would you ask him?" new left fielder Mark DeRosa responded "How do you feather your hair so perfectly?" Seems like a funny guy.

Dan Runzler is a 6'4" left-handed relief pitcher out of UC Riverside. He was drafted in 2007 and made his debut in September of last season. Runzler pitched in 11 games last year and had a 1.04 ERA. He said that he was pleased with his pitching in spring training and didn't give up any earned runs and struck out 17 in only 10.1 innings.

Runzler talked about reporting early for spring training and the bullpens and endless amount of fielding practice. We asked him if he got to take any BP at all, but he said he only got to bunt. (bummer!) He said he hung out with Wilson a lot and that Lincecum blasts music in the clubhouse. He played in the Cape Cod league out east and in college played against Steven Strasburg, Evan Longoria and Troy Tulowitski. Runzler said that when he flew with the team last year they got bused right up to the plane, no waiting in security, and got sweet food and drink when flying. They have chefs in the clubhouse that whip up omelets in morning and cook the whole day. He said he only lives a few blocks from the park and that most guys live in the city, with a few in Walnut Creek and he walks to the stadium. He's sponsored by Rawlings and receives 5 brand new Rawlings gloves each year. He said that new first baseman Aubrey Huff is a kick in the clubhouse, Huff was wearing plaid purple pants at the lunch. Bobby Evans, VP of baseball operations is guy in the front office he sees the most and Willie Mays is around the clubhouse 3 or 4 times a week. Dan said that when he gets a visit for pitching coach Dave "Rags" Righetti he mostly is just out there to calm him down. Lastly, and this gives me encouragement, Runzler believes the NL West is "legitimately" up for grabs. Don't count the Giants out, they'll contend with the Dodgers and Rockies with their great pitching staff.

It was so cool getting to see these players in person outside of their uniforms, it puts a personality on these players that you don't normally see. I'm pumped for a great year of Giants baseball.

The March Madness Guessing Game

2010-03-21T20:34:00.000-07:00

This blog post was inspired by the Xaviers, Robert Morrises and Woffords of the NCAA tournaments.

March Madness is here again and that means many things. The tournament means brackets, cinderellas, checking scores on your phone in class and, of course, all those obscure teams. Are you ever intrigued that you probably couldn't name what state a team is from or that team's mascot for about a third of the field of 64? Hell, I still don't even know where Davidson is.

To give you a little perspective, the schools I'm talking about fall into one of two categories:

1. The nobody
This basketball squad always hails from a non-BCS conference, (say hello to the MEAC!) probably won an automatic bid, likely has a ridiculous mascot and either is an exciting upset team or a #16 seed waiting to get trounced in the first round.
Example: Murray State Racers

2. The under-the-radar
This team almost always makes the tournament, but isn't in a BCS conference. You know they're solid but when asked, "hey, where are these guys from?" you reply "uhhhh, dude, you didn't know?" to avoid an embarrassing hit of pride on your college hoops fandom.
Example: Xavier Musketeers

Below I've compiled the list of all the teams from this year's tournament I consider to be "obscure," only writing the name of the school as it appears on the bracket.

Lehigh, Murray St, Xavier, Temple, Wofford, Morgan St, AR-Pine Bluff, Siena, ODU, Sam Hou St and Robert Morris.

And those are only the little known schools whose names don't really give away their location. Here are some more schools whose location you know only from their team name.

N Iowa, New Mexicot St, Ohio, Vermont, N Texas, E Tenn St, New Mexico, Montana and Richmond.

The casual fan may be wondering, "Why do we have all these random schools in the tournament?" and the answer is that these tiny schools from no-name conferences are what make March Madness so great. Everyone loves the excitement and randomness of the tournament and these schools provide the miraculous cinderella stories. You may only hear about them once every 5 years or so, but these schools leave a lasting mark on the tournament. Anyone heard of George Mason?

I included a 9 question poll to test your knowledge of the team that made the Big Dance this year. They are in order from easiest to hardest, in my opinion, and the answers are below.

1. a 2. c 3. a 4. a 5. a 6. c 7. c 8 c 9. b

War Epics

2010-03-14T23:17:00.000-07:00

From top down: The Pacific, The Hurt Locker, Black Hawk Down and Green Zone.

There seems to be a slough of awesome war movies/mini tv series that are around right now. The Hurt Locker, a movie set in Iraq in 2004 about a bomb-defuser addicted to the thrills of war just won 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The Pacific debuts tomorrow night on HBO and tells the oft-overlooked story of the war against the Japanese during World War II. Matt Damon also has a new war movie that came out last night called Green Zone where he searches for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but instead stumbles upon a mess of lies and manipulation in the upper ranks of the army. Last night I watched Black Hawk Down, which was about an American mission in Somalia that went horribly awry after a Black Hawk helicopter was shot down.

Freshest in my mind right now is Black Hawk Down. It is probably the most epic war movie I have ever seen. On October 3, 1993, elite US Rangers and Delta Forces went on a mission to capture two senior subordinates of Mohammed Farah Aidid, the violent ruler of Somalia. The mission was supposed to take no longer than an hour, but after a Black Hawk helicopter was shot down chaos ensued as virtually an entire city of crazed militia toting combat guns descended on the surviving pilots. The mission went from a standard procedure that had a schedule precise to the minute to just getting as many Americans out of “The Mog” alive.

There are a seemingly endless number of intense war movies out there, so what exactly makes Black Hawk Down so epic? The combination of non-stop violence and the direness of the American soldiers is what sets this movie apart. The movie briefly describes the situation in Somalia, the famine of biblical proportions, the civil war/genocide that has left 300,000 civilians dead and the violent regime that Mohammed Farah Aidid presides over. Then there are a few scenes of the American forces’ base on the outskirts of the city and their preparation for the seemingly routine mission. That probably takes up 45 minutes of the movie, leaving an hour and a half for the terrifying battle that rages throughout Mogadishu.

In one scene of Black Hawk Down two soldiers volunteer to leave the safety of their helicopter to defend the survivors of the second Black Hawk that crashed. After one guy gets shot, it’s just the pilot with a broken leg and one Ranger to hold off literally hundreds of angry Somalians. I can’t imagine anything scarier than being surrounded by the enemy, with no help on the way. The soldiers realize their perilous situation and remain bravely stoic till the bitter end.

I’m psyched for Monday night’s debut of The Pacific. The new mini-series is from Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, who also produced Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan. (With information from the New York Times television review .) The Pacific supposedly took $200 million to make (recreating battle scenes must be expensive) and follows the lives of three soldiers and their fights in Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Okinawa and Iwo Jima. I have no doubt that the battles in The Pacific will be just as epic as in Band of Brothers, but it will not be the same tv show in a different setting. BOB focused just as much on the friendships forged by the war as the battles, but The Pacific won’t have these sort of moments.

The New York Times articles made a good point about why the Pacific theater is so often boiled down to a few images: Pearl Harbor, the picture of American marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima and the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many Americans were immigrants from European countries and so when the US fought a war against the Nazis most Americans could relate to the places and the people where the war was being fought. But who had ever heard of such tiny islands in the Pacific Ocean like the Solomon Islands, Iwo Jima or Guadalcanal?

I watched The Hurt Locker two weekends ago with a couple of friends. What struck me the most was the stark and unlikely beauty of the war in Iraq, the creative war scenes and interactions of the three main characters off the battlefield.

The scenes of the American military camp and the sniping scene showed the barren beauty of Iraq. Basically, the desert, which normally is such an ugly and deadly landscape, made the landscape cool. The land during the sniping battle between insurgents and William James and Sgt. Sanborn contributed to the tension. It was just a tiny rock outcropping, a jihad hut in the middle of the desert and some goats that separated the Americans from their enemies.

Usually what appeals to me in war movies is the amount of bullets that fly and the massive explosions. I want to be overwhelmed with the awesomeness of the battle and crank up the surround sound system. What was cool though about The Hurt Locker was how much tension was built up when James calmly defused multiple IEDs lurking in the roadside. The sniping scene where James spotted for Sanborn was also sweet. The Hurt Locker proved that you don’t need an enormous budget like a Saving Private Ryan sort of flick to create a great war movie.

The scene where James, Sanborn and Eldridge get wasted after a mission and Sanborn and James go at it is interesting is you’re more interested in how war affects people’s lives. In history class we talked about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and how soldiers returning home are affected. This scene doesn’t show PTSD, but I’m interested in the lives of soldiers off the battlefield, and I thought this scene showed a very plausible scenario. After a successful mission where James defuses a bomb, he, Sanborn and Eldridge get hammered while blasting hard rock music. James and Sanborn settle their differences with free punches to the other’s stomach, and things fly out of control. In a brief moment of rage Sanborn whips out his knife and puts it right up against James’s throat. I could definitely see a soldier getting killed by another fellow soldier like this. I think it’s similar to PTSD in the respect that these men have such stressful and dangerous jobs that they bring that stress back to their barracks. In order to unwind/drown out their harsh experiences they have to abuse alcohol, which could lead to a fatal accident.

I haven’t seen Green Zone, but I’m a big fan of Matt Damon’s movies. Once again Damon will be a kick-ass star in an action movie, but he’s no longer a lethal amnesiac assassin. He’s an officer in the American army in Iraq in roughly the same time period as The Hurt Locker is set in. This movie is supposed to have done a good job in combining realistic war situations while taking a stand on political matters. There are political messages in this movie when Damon finds the complex and mysterious maze that is the upper ranks of the army.

To me, the reason why guys are naturally attracted to war movies/tv shows is because war represents the ultimate badge of masculinity. There is nobody more masculine and heroic than the soldiers portrayed in these movies. We all yearn to exhibit the same type of valor these soldiers have, but at the same time would never endanger our comfortable lives like they do. We want to be the badasses that mow down the enemy with our machine guns and double back to drag a wounded comrade from harm’s way, but at the same time we realize we are so far from being them. These war movies tap into every guy’s wish to be the brave hero.

Westbrook and Tomlinson Released

2010-02-23T21:14:00.001-08:00

What does the future hold for LT and Westbrook?

Two high profile running backs were released within two days of each other because of a combination of age and injuries. Brian Westbrook of the Philadelphia Eagles and LaDainian Tomlinson of the San Diego Chargers were both dropped by their respective teams.

Normally the releasing of NFL players is not a big deal, it happens all the team and the shelf life of pro football players is exceedingly low. But Westbrook and LT aren't just any ol' running backs. They're not even good running backs. These guys were studs. Just a few years ago they would be the first players taken in a fantasy football draft. In 2007 Westbrook led the NFL in total yards from scrimmage with 2,104 and 4 years ago Tomlinson had a record setting 31 TDs.

What is the NFL becoming with LT no longer a Charger and Westbrook no longer an Eagle? More importantly, what will the first and second round of fantasy football drafts look like with these guys either out of the league or in an obviously decreased role? It seems like only a few years ago that the top 3 fantasy RBs were LT, Shaun Alexander and Larry Johnson. Now LT was released by the Chargers, Shaun Alexander is slower than molasses and I don't even know what happened to LJ after that homophobic remark he made in the middle of a terrible season. And even more recently Westbrook was a terror in fantasy if you didn't own him. I vividly remember 2 years ago how every game Brain Westbrook had the potential to score 3 TDs with 100 yards rushing and receiving.

The release of these 2 big name RBs tells us a lot about organizations dealing with aging and oft injured players. Teams aren't worried about parting ties with the face of their franchise if they sense that they're on the decline. But look at the Packers and what happened to Brett Favre, maybe they have a couple more good years left in the tank. Another thing to take away is how brief an NFL career is. In the MLB, a great player will play 15-20 years, in the NBA it seems like 10-15. But the brutality of the NFL leads to more injuries which leads to maybe a 10 year career for great RBs. Quarterbacks are different, they are, for the most part, shielded from the violence of the game and can play longer.

What will next year's fantasy draft look like without LT and Westbrook? Ray Rice, Jamaal Charles and Jonathan Stewart at the top of the draft? The years of LT being the fantasy king are now officially over.

Tiger's Apology

2010-02-22T20:45:00.000-08:00

Tiger Woods apologizes

Tiger Woods made a public statement of apology following news of his infidelity last Friday. It was his first public statement in months since news first broke that he crashed his car late at night during Thanksgiving break.

I initially thought that Tiger's apology was too scripted. It seemed as if he was emphasizing each word and was worried he would offend any grandparents that were watching that might not understand him if he talked too fast. But then I realized that his whole life is scripted and there was no way he would go up there and wing it. Still, it would have been nice to see a more authentic apology from a man who betrayed our view of him as a disciplined, family man. How can I know that what he is saying is truthful if it comes from such a rehearsed speech. Tiger Woods lied to us before by selling an image of a wholesome and well-behaved guy and I need to be guaranteed some version of his real self.

The main question people had going into Woods's speech was when he would return to golf. Tiger left it up in the air of his return date. All he said was that he didn't rule out returning this year. What does that mean? Does he expect to return this year? Will he likely come back in 2011, but might be able to return this year? Everyone knows golf is more interesting when Tiger is in a tournament and people are anxious to see him back. The PGA tour needs him to generate revenue for their tournaments and he already missed a large chunk of time due to his knee problems.

I liked how Tiger specifically said how he felt entitled to sleep with all those women and how since he was a superstar he felt above the normal rules imposed on people. He came right out and said how he was wrong to think that.

Tiger's wife, Elin, was noticeably absent from his press conference. The tv announcers made a big deal out of her absence and instead the camera was occasionally on his mom. Tiger repeated how Elin never abused him (people thought she attacked him with a golf club, causing him to crash the car) and how there had never been any domestic violence in their household.

One little thing I learned about Tiger. He was an active Buddhist until a few years ago, and will continue with his Buddhist spirituality to help get him through all this. Maybe he's not a true Buddhist, but it's cool to see a huger sports star acknowledging a religion that's not mainstream in the United States.

I'm ready to see Tiger back on the course. Many people, especially women, will never like him again, but they can't deny his appeal when he plays. Tour pros are disappointed that he ruined the image of golf as a gentlemanly sport and some were angry that he made the statement the day of a big tournament. I think American sports fans are a very forgiving group and will accept Tiger back (see Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Michael Vick, Ron Artest etc.). The casual golf fan like myself needs to see Tiger in the hunt on a Sunday afternoon to get excited about golf again. Please come back soon Tiger Woods.

Sports Musings

2010-02-11T20:18:00.000-08:00

This is the worst time of year for sports. It's right after the Super Bowl so football has officially ended. March Madness hasn't started yet and baseball is far from starting. Tiger Woods is indefinitely gone from golf so the sport holds zero interest for me. That means the only big pro sport going on is the NBA. Whoopty-do, let's celebrate guys whipping out guns in the locker room and boring games filled with guys trying to go 1 on 5 on offense.

The Winter Olympics are coming up soon. Excitement level so-so. I'm psyched for the snowboard cross and newly added ski cross. They're basically a race between 5 or 6 snowboards or skiers down an icy course filled with jumps. Snowboard cross is sick because normally there's lots of big wipeouts and the idea is so simple.

I've been hearing that the weather has been really warm in Vancouver and it's been giving Olympic officials trouble. Vancouver's had its warmest January ever and snow has been shipped and flew in.

The Warriors won yesterday against the lowly Clippers and rookie Steph Curry was on fire shooting and posted a triple double. But with Monta Ellis out, the future looks bleak. Before last night's win the Warriors had lost 9 straight and I don't see things getting much better after losing their star player for maybe the whole season. But who knows, maybe the Warriors will play more unselfishly and better team basketball as a whole in #8's absence.

Walter the Giant

2010-02-10T21:23:00.000-08:00

Writer, storyteller and beloved librarian Walter "The Giant" Mayes

On Tuesday "Walter the Giant" came to Menlo to talk about his experiences as a storyteller and professional writer. Walter was a big fellow to say the least, 6'7" or 6'8", Walter was built like a mountain man. While he was physically imposing, his personality exuded friendliness and almost childlike silliness. Walter was a great public speaker and the crowd warmed to his gregariousness by the end of his speech.

Not only were Walter the Giant's stories amusing, but he offered many good writing tips:

1. Write every day

All the great writers find a way to devote an hour each day to their writing. That could be waking up at 5 in the morning to write, but constant writing will only make you better and it will help you find your voice.

2. Write for yourself

This piece of advice is hard for high schoolers to apply because it seems as if we only write for our teachers. We tailor our writing style and format to the whims of our teachers in the hopes of a better grade. Walter said that not letting the expectations of others impose on your writing will help your true voice to shine through.

Walter emphasized "finding your voice." His voice was apparent because of his outgoing personality, but he admitted how hard it was for him to translate that voice onto paper.

3. Don't let writing psych you out

Walter used a great example involving his nephew and "a skinny, awkward kid from Baltimore." Walter's nephew was swimming in the Olympic tryouts for the Sydney Olympics and saw a 15-year old Michael Phelps swim so well that he lost his edge.

There are many great writers out there, but don't worry about writing as well as they do when you write.

Also, don't let the loneliness and the weight of expectations prevent you from writing. Sitting down at a computer is intimidating, all you have is a blank screen telling you how your writing isn't good enough.

4. Bring it all back when editing

Walter described the editing process as being incredibly demanding, time consuming and grueling. There basically is no writing, just rewriting.

It is important that when you are editing you think back on what you originally set out to do. It is easy to get caught up in something else, like in his case, the folklore and mythology of giants, but come back to what you are supposed to do and address the changes.

Walter kind of slammed the writing I do at the end of his speech. As a published author of multiple books, Walter expressed a natural disdain for writers who don't edit their work. He talked constantly about how brutal the editing process was and doesn't respect people who don't edit their writing. Specifically, bloggers. He even referenced how his son reads sports websites/sports blogs and how Walter the Giant hates that sort of writing.

Bummer.

That kind of made me think a little bit. It definitely made me realize I need to focus more on editing because editing is so important to the writing process. But a part of me also says that writing a book and writing on a blog are two very different types of writing. Blogging shouldn't be discriminated against just because it's different. Sure, it's easier, but that doesn't make it bad.

But I still should be editing more. Another problem I have with this is the work it requires. I like writing in this blog, but I'm hesitant to increase my writing workload. I'm busy and lazy and don't really want to pound away on 1 entry and put it through multiple drafts. By the time I finally got around to publishing the post, it would be way out of date.

Kind of an unresolved issue. Shit

Who Dat?!

2010-02-08T19:20:00.000-08:00

Brees led New Orleans to its first Super Bowl victory ever and won MVP.

Tracy Porter returns Manning's interception for a touchdown late in the game.

Megan Fox's Motorola phone commercial

Click here to watch!

This year's big game did not disappoint as the New Orleans Saints won their first Super Bowl in franchise history with a 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV. The Saints got a pick-6 off of Peyton Manning in the final minutes to seal the victory.

Let's give some long-deserved cred to New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees. He flat out outplayed Peyton Manning on the NFL's biggest stage. He tied the Super Bowl record with 32 completions, and only had 7 incompletions. He threw for 2 touchdowns and was ruthlessly efficient in the second half, leading the Saints to 25 second half points. (They were down 10-6 at halftime.)

In the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl it had been Peyton this and Manning that. It was all about how great of a quarterback Peyton was and if he should be considered one of the all time greats. All the NFL analysts said the key to a Saints victory would be if they could keep Manning off balance with their confusing blitz packages. And, in a way, the game was won by Tracy Porter's interception return for a touchdown. The Saints brought an all out blitz on Manning's right side, Peyton looked to Reggie Wayne over the middle and Porter jumped the route. But it should not be forgotten that it was Drew Brees who won the game, and not that Peyton Manning lost the game.

Everyone knows the commercials are an integral part to the Super Bowl. And for a bunch of guys who take football very seriously, at the super bowl party we probably paid more attention to the commercials than the game itself. And in the spirit of teenage boys, the collective winner of this year's funniest Super Bowl commercial was the Motorola phone commercial starring Megan Fox in a bathtub. It wasn't just good because it had Megan Fox, the hottest woman alive. It was hilarious to my friends and I because of the implied actions of "Timmy," the boy that locked himself in his room with the picture of Megan Fox in a bathtub that she had distributed using her phone. (about 15 seconds into the commercial) Our humor is incredibly vulgar, but to us there was nothing funnier. We actually rewinded the commercial and watched it 5 times so everyone got the joke.

Now on to the other big entertainment portion of the Super Bowl: the halftime show. This year's Super Bowl continued with the tradition of having geezer rock bands perform at halftime (think Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen) because of the scarring Janet Jackson Justin Timberlake wardrobe malfunction in a past one. The Who performed with Pete Townshend still showing a knack for multiple guitar windmills. The stage set-up and visual effects were awesome and I liked how they didn't waste time in between songs talking to the crowd. But The Who performing during halftime embarrassingly shows the generational gap between them and the average NFL fan. My sister hadn't even heard of The Who before, and my nanny who's a big fan, said they were being made fun of for their possibility of having Alzheimer's. "Whoooooo are we? Who, who? Who, who? I just really wanna know whereeeeeeeee are we?"

Lastly, the Saints tied the Super Bowl record for biggest deficit overcome to win. The Saints trailed 10-0 early in the game.

The onside kick to start the 3rd quarter was the first onside kick in a Super Bowl attempted in a quarter other than the 4th. The successful onside kick by the Saints was a huge momentum boost for them.

And finally, the Super Bowl become the most watched tv program in US history and surpassed the 1983 MASH finale with over 106 million viewers.

Jeremy Lin

2010-01-27T22:33:00.001-08:00

Pictures of Jeremy Lin after winning the high school state championship, blocking projected NBA draft pick Jerome Dyson of UConn, and going up for a shot against Boston College

Check out these awesome videos of Lin's 30 point performance against UConn this year, highlighted by a dunk and a block.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8LLuqpfAhc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Y7xdP6WZQ&feature=related

Article in Sports Illustrated about Lin and Harvard basketball.

Someone's blog devoted to Jeremy Lin

In case you're wondering why I'm taking the time to blog about Jeremy Lin, a senior Asian-American guard on the Harvard Crimson basketball team, consider this; a) 0.4% of men's Division I basketball players are Asian-American and b) Lin could make the NBA

More important than that staggering statistic, Jeremy Lin has increasingly become a role model for me. I remember when I was about 12 or 13 and I think in 6th grade at the time, inviting myself over to my friend Jack Witte's house to watch Jeremy Lin play in the high school state championships. (our tv didn't get the channel) He was the best player on the underdog Paly team that upset nationally ranked power house Mater Dei. Lin played aggressively against such an intimidating opponent and attacked the basket without fear.

I'm bummed that I only saw him play once, but my brief interactions with him made me look up to him even more so than his incredible play on the court. I went to Palo Alto Basketball School, now Diepenbrock basketball school, for a few summers and a lot of the players there helped out and coached the "teams" that all of the campers were divided into. Everyone knew he was really good and all the campers looked up to him and I got to be on his team. He was really friendly and cool, but the best part about that experience was playing well and seeing him get all excited when we would beat the team his friend, and Paly basketball teammate coached. Even though he cared more about his team being better than his friend's, it still made me feel like this great high school basketball player thought that I was really good.

I'll never know if it's true, but his indirect confidence in my game was among the most meaningful votes of confidence I have ever gotten. More so than when your coach compliments you, or your parents because you aren't sure if they really mean it. They have an obligation to compliment you. But when someone who's older, talented and you respect immensely gives you that sort of a compliment it means a lot.

But what about Jeremy Lin sets him apart from other talented high school and college basketball players? There're lots of players that are probably as good or better, but he's so good in a sport where only a tiny tiny portion of the players are Asian-American. I don't have particular ambitions to be in the NBA, sure, it'd be awesome, but let's be realistic here. But it's really cool that someone who's also Asian-American, that I have met a few times, and is a local guy, is succeeding at such a high level of basketball. And when there are some many negative stereotypes about Asians playing basketball, it makes his prowess that much sweeter and inspiring.

Okay, enough gushing, what exactly makes Lin so damn good?

His most impressive stat is that last year Lin was the only player in the entire nation to be in the top-10 in his conference in every major statistical category. Jeremy Lin's averaging 17.1 points, 4.8 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 2.9 steals and 1.3 blocks per game this year. 4.5 rebounds and over a block per game, from a guard? That sort of versatility is ridiculous!

Don't think he can handle big time competition? How about dropping 30 points with 9 rebounds and 2 huge dunks over UConn, who beat then undefeated Texas this year. He also has led the Crimson to upset wins over Boston College the last two years, with a combined 52 points. Lin also hit a game winning 40-foot buzzer beater this year to beat William & Mary in triple overtime.

It has been over ten years since a player from an Ivy league school was a finalist for the Wooden award, given to the nation's most outstanding collegiate basketball player. And this is the first time an Ivy league player has been nominated for the Cousy award for the nation's top point guard.

Not convinced of the talent of 6'3" 200 pound Jeremy Lin? Well make sure to watch SportsCenter this Saturday night for highlights of the Harvard-Cornell game. Harvard is challenging the two time defending Ivy league champions Cornell for its first conference title ever. The 4 pm Pacific time battle is one of the most hyped Ivy league games in a decade, and both teams were projected to make the NCAA tournament.

The Best and Worth Thing Ever, Getting your License

2010-01-21T22:29:00.000-08:00

I have my third and final driving lesson scheduled for tomorrow. I'm excited because this means I'll be eligible to get my license as soon as I can schedule and, hopefully, pass the driver's test.

Excellent driving conditions for my lesson tomorrow as I'll be fighting the late time, 5-7 pm and the "monsoon," as my friend described the current weather condition.

Anyway, why is the process of getting your driver's license the best and worst thing ever? Let's go over the list.

Pros:

1. Freedom

You're getting your license baby! No more relying on Mom and Dad to have to drive you around. Say goodbye to awkward rounds of questions on the ride home from every party!

Not only that, but hunger will no longer be a problem. No free period after lunch? No problem. Just drive on down to Santa Cruz Ave for whatever you'd like (assuming you have a car of course, which is always a rather large dilemma).

Plus lots more freedom on the weekends. Want to hang out with a friend but the parental units aren't willing? No problem. Go to the basketball gym and shoot hoops? No longer and issue.

2. Coolness factor

In a time everyone either has or is in the process of getting their license, being one of the select few with it is cool. In these few years of our lives when driving is still exciting and not just a chore, it doesn't get much cooler than being able to whip out that laminated card.

Cons:

Time factor:

First step, registering for a driving school. Next step, completing the silly online practice tests and skimming through the pages on how the inside of a car works. Scintillating. Third step, getting the slip of completing from your driver's training. Fourth step, setting up your appointment and going into the DMV to take the permit test. Waste oodles of time as they call out every number but yours and observe people angry at life for making them work at the DMV relish in the little power they have over anxious teenagers. Next step, at the minimum, 6 months of driving and 3 driving lessons. Don't let your anger at your Driving School overflow because they a) never ever ever ever pick up the phone and b) seem to be perpetually booked. Lastly, book and hopefully, pass the driver's test. Situations can get tricky because some parents (ahem) don't allow their kids to take their driver's test during school, which seems like literally the only time the DMV has appointments. On average the DMV will have 1, only 1 available appointment time every other day, and those are all during school hours. So you'll be stuck for 3-4 weeks waiting for the next school holiday when you can take the test.

The car issue:

Basically, the only bad part of the license process is the enormous inconvenience and time consumption it poses in your life. However, let's say you went through the bajillion step process and now have your driver's license.

Whoopty-do, watcha gonna do without your own car? Can't drive to school, because your parents will be working or the nanny uses the car all day. Basically the only time you can drive is on weekends, if you've sucked up to your parents with carefully placed flattery.

P.S. And good luck with passing your driver's test the first time. There's always that one infamous person at the local DMV that likes to instill a little humility in confident teenage boys by failing them.

Avatar and Invictus

2010-01-19T22:18:00.000-08:00

The guessing game: which one's Mandela and which one's Freeman? :)

Check out this funny thing on Fail Blog making fun of Avatar's similarity to the movie Pocahontas.

I saw "Avatar" over the 3 day weekend. Hecka good. The 3D was awesome, but I'm not sure it made the movie a ton better. Maybe I'm just saying that though because they didn't make the 3D a gimmick by having stuff just pop out at you. Instead the 3D gave the breathtaking fauna and the avatar world sublte depth. That's probably why it's being called revolutionary for 3D in big screen movies.

There was a lot of colonialism symbolism and Pocahontas similarities in "Avatar." Colonialism was represented through the people's actions toward the avatars. In colonialism a theme is always that the colonizers are more civilized and are bringing their civilization and higher style of life to the natives. The avatars have a valuable resource that the military wants, Unobtainium, (am I spelling that right) and will stop at nothing to get it. Another colonialism theme that popped up was the idea of ok, we'll be nice to you for a little while and hopefully you'll just get up and move and let us reap the benefits of this resource. Let's all hope you do that or else we'll use our superior military to kill you.

My friend's brother came home from "Avatar" saying that the movie was great, but was similar to Disney's old animated movie "Pocahontas." If you didn't already check out the Fail Blog summary of Pocahontas where someone crossed out names and replaced them with "Avatar" characters.

I also saw "Invictus" with my mom on Sunday night. Before it came out it looked like it was going to be the greatest movie. A drama about the politically volatile time period when Nelson Mandela became president? Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman (who practically is Nelson Mandela) and Matt Damon? What could go wrong?

Well, for one, there was too much rugby. I'm a huge sports fan, but nobody in America gives a crap about rugby and nobody understand the rules. All we get, and appreciate, is the fact that it's like a super badass version of football.

All that grunting and the obviousness that the Springboks would win the Rugby World Cup didn't make for a whole lot of mystery.

Morgan Freeman was really good though. I wouldn't be surprised if Morgan Freeman won an Oscar for his performance. I just wish the movie had shown more of what was going on in his country at the time besides rugby. His presidency was such an interesting and crucial part of South Africa's history and all they talked about was rugby? C'mon now.

Reflecting on This Boy's Life, A Memoir

2009-12-20T22:45:00.000-08:00

I can't say for sure what it is that draws me so much to Tobias Wolff. Is it his friendly walrus mustache, the fact that he came and talked at Menlo, his amazing writing or a combination of all three? Probably the combo.

I just finished reading the memoir of his teenage years, which was published in 1989. I had meant to read it months ago having been emailed twice by the Menlo librarian that the book was overdue. Because of the start of basketball or my increased academic workload or my lack or literary commitment I didn't get around to the book until about three weeks ago.

Once I got started though, Toby didn't let me down. This Boy's Life was a raw and poignant memoir that led us through his rough childhood until the end of high school. Tobias, or Jack as he called himself, lived with his mom and an abusive stepfather Dwight for much of the story.

One way I know this book was good that on some nights when my reading time was limited This Boy's Life made the cut over the likes of ESPN The Magazine and Sports Illustrated. That's when you know this book has some pull, it's tough to pull me away from my sports.

While reading I found myself rooting for young Toby. I was actually surprised by his outlaw youth. He spoke at Menlo about not being proud of his youth and I just assumed it to be a product of his poor upbringing. But he was no saint of a child himself. Despite his transgressions as a minor through Wolff's writing style and his own flawed self I fell in love with his character. Even though you knew it all ended up well with him becoming a successful writer you couldn't help but root for Toby to find himself and get accepted into a prestigious east coast boarding school.

Wolff was also really funny without trying too hard to be. He never wrote about any experiences that were designed to make the reader laugh, but would always slip in a witty line at the end of a paragraph. With a nod to my English teacher Ms. Pugliese, Tobias Wolff was adept at having the emphasis be at the end, in this case the funny part, was placed at the end of the paragraph.

My favorite part of the memoir was when Tobias Wolff attempted to right his life trying to get accepted into an elite boarding school on the east coast. When confronted by the fact that he needed multiple letters of recommendation he got his friend Arthur to swipe some official school stationery. Toby wrote fake letters of recommendation from his teachers.

I declined to say I was a football star, but I did invent a swimming team for Concrete High. The coach wrote a fine letter for me, and so did my teachers and the principal. They didn't gush. They wrote plainly about a gifted, upright boy who had already in his own quiet way exhausted the resources of his school and community. They had done what they could for him. Now they hoped that others would carry on the good work.

I wrote without heat or hyperbole, in the words that teachers would have used if they had known me as I knew myself. These were their letters. And on the boy who lived in their letters, the splendid phantom who carried all my hopes, it seemed to me I saw, at last, my own face.

In this section of the book Tobias Wolff momentarily finds himself through his own writing. His whole life he has been struggling to discover his true self through the mask of a tough guy charade and by writing gross exaggerations about his accomplishments he sees a glimmer of his true self. And that's all it is, a glimmer. Wolff does not devote a bulk of the story to this mini-revelation and it's not even a moral turning point for our protagonist. He gets rejected by multiple schools before finally being accepted.

In the story Wolff's "plain" writing style, "without heat or hyperbole" is symbolic of the person he strives to be, and deep down, is inside. His mom can't help Toby find himself, she's constantly busy trying to find a new job to support the two of them, he hates his stepdad Dwight and slowly is growing apart from his friend Arthur. Toby can't even really help himself on his own, but this "splendid phantom" who comes alive when he writes can. It took his own writing that crafted an angelic twin of himself for him to briefly look inside his heart and find that a better person somehow existed beneath his paunchy chest.

The young Wolff's life was also entertaining in enough of itself to make a good book. I was curious about how he went from a troubled teen to a brilliant writer, but an explanation never came. This was a memoir of his boyhood, but it still would have been nice to have had some gaps filled in. The last section "Amen," skipped through some years quickly to fill us in, but it wasn't enough.

Tobias Wolff was also so eloquent at laying his finger on his emotions and why he acted as he did. He summed up beautifully his teenage self's emotions and we really got into his head as a boy. But I also liked how he wasn't afraid of saying when he didn't know why he acted certain ways or had certain thoughts.

Week in Review

2009-12-06T20:02:00.000-08:00

From top: Tiger Woods with his wife, Elin, and daughter at a Stanford football game before news of his affair. Alabama running back Mark Ingram on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Kurt Warner during his game against the Minnesota Vikings.

This is a slightly different type of blog post than I have done before. Instead of focusing on one game or event I took a look back on the week's most important sports stories. And of course, there is a bias towards bay area sports, as always.

NFL:

49ers:

Right when a friend mentioned to me the 49ers have a chance of making the playoffs, (yes, in fact they do) they go out and lose a very winnable game. And the Cardinals win against the Vikings (assuming they don't blow the 17 point lead they currently have).

With a 5-6 record, two games behind the NFC West leading Arizona Cardinals, the 49ers still had a shot at winning the division if they beat the Seahawks, and beat the Cardinals next week and then won out the rest of the season. Very doable, but a tough road game against the Eagles would have been problematic.

Instead the Niners don't even hold up their end of the bargain, falling 20-17 to the Seahawks in a mistake filled game. The Cardinals meanwhile, are dismantling the 10-1 Vikings behind the return of QB Kurt Warner and his 3 TD passes.

It seems as if every year is "the year" for the Niners. Every year they are picked by at least one magazine or called out on a sports tv show as the sleeper team of the year and each time they fall short behind mediocre play.

Rest of the NFL:

The Saints barely squeaked out an overtime win over the Washington Redskins, keeping their perfect season alive. Speaking of unbeaten teams, the Colt defeated the Titans 27-17 to tie the Patriots' regular season record of 21 straight victories.

In Michael Vick's return to his former team, the Atlanta Falcons, the Eagles QB rushed and passed for a TD for the first time since 2006 in a 34-7 romp. When Vick first took the field, he received a mixed welcome, but by the end of the game the crowd was behind him.

The Steelers, last years Super Bowl champions, got upset by the Oakland Raiders on a last second touchdown. This is the fourth straight loss for the Steelers and they are in serious danger of missing the playoffs.

And apologies to the person who I advised to pick the Steelers to win in their dad's office pool of NFL pick'em. He had picked the first 11 games correctly.

All of a sudden 2 stud NFL teams, the Steelers and the Patriots appear suddenly vulnerable. Tom Brady's efforts weren't enough to stave off a 22-21 defeat at the hands of the Miami Dolphins.

College Football:

After a 32-13 win over the then #1 Florida Gators, the Alabama Crimson Tide will be playing in the BCS Championship game on Jan. 7 versus the Texas Longhorns, who beat Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship on a field goal with 1 second left.

Mark Ingram was the best of all the Heisman candidates playing on Saturday and in my opinion won the award with 113 rushing yards and 3 TDs. I still think Toby Gerhart did more for his team this season than Ingram, but Ingram is a worthy candidate. Sports Illustrated wrote a great article on him last issue that is worth checking out.

The Stanford Cardinal will play in the Sun Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners in El Paso, TX on New Year's Eve. Despite the Sooners down season, which can be attributed largely to their quarterback Sam Bradford's shoulder injury, Oklahoma should not be taken lightly. They are a Big 12 powerhouse and snuffed Oklahoma State's BCS dreams with a 27-0 smackdown.

Tiger:

The Tiger Woods affair story became official this week. His wife, Elin, enraged that he was having an affair, smashed the windows of his car with a golf club, causing him to crash. It is sad to see arguably the world's most famous athlete caught in such a quagmire.

But Tiger did not react well to the news and instead continued to deny any "malicious rumors." He should have come out and held a press conference admitting his mistakes and then moved on. Go here to see a parody of Woods's affair done by SNL.

Alex Rodriguez, another incredibly famous athlete was found out to have been using PEDs while he played for the Texas Rangers this spring. He acknowledged his mistakes and apologized and recovered nicely from hip surgery and won the World Series.

It is likely that Tiger will come to terms with his transgressions, but it will be remembered as him vehemently denying that anything was up. Or will the sports world just let it go, as it has done with so many high profile athletes in the past? In my opinion, this is not nearly as bad as taking steroids or dogfighting and he will be able to move on without as much public criticism as other athletes. Tiger, however has the disadvantage of being so famous that people will have a hard time letting this go. His sterling, and almost boring reputation are no more.

Stanford and Gerhart Take Down #8 Oregon

2009-11-07T16:44:00.000-08:00

Toby Gerhart runs over an Oregon defender. Both Stanford players and fans celebrate after the upset. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Go here to watch highlights of the Stanford victory.

Nov. 7, 2009

The Stanford Cardinal pulled of a huge upset Saturday with a 51-42 win over the #8 ranked Oregon Ducks. Toby Gerhart led a rushing attack that overpowered the Ducks defense and set the single game Stanford rushing record with 223 yards and 3 touchdowns. The win pushed Stanford to 6-3 and more importantly made them bowl eligible for the first time in 8 years.

The victory snapped a 7 game losing streak versus Oregon and gave coach Jim Harbaugh and the football program a big boost. This is the program's biggest win since the upset over USC two years ago.

Stanford's less athletic defense managed to slow down the high powered Oregon offense led by the dynamic rushing duo of quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and LaMichael James just enough for the victory.

In the first quarter freshman running back LaMichael James scampered for a 60 yard touchdown run that cut Stanford's lead to 10-7. James rushed for 125 yards and has filled in nicely for the Ducks, who lost last year's star running back LeGarrette Blount to suspension after he punched a Boise St. player following a loss in the first game of the season.

The freshman RB James had rushed for 918 yards and had a career high with 183 against USC last week in a 47-20 drubbing of the Trojans. Oregon hasn't missed a beat with Blount out of the line-up, and despite rumors of his return this week coach Chip Kelly did not reinstate him. Last year Blount ran for 1038 yards and 17 TDs.

Toby Gerhart answered back with the first of his 3 touchdowns with a 4-yard run to improve Stanford's lead to 17-7. With such a great performance in a big game Gerhart puts himself right back into the Heisman race.

After another Stanford score Jeremiah Masoli threw a 29-yard touchdown to keep Oregon within 10. Masoli finished the day 21-37 with 335 yards passing and 4 total touchdowns (1 rushing).

But, in the 3rd quarter Stanford came out firing and Andrew Luck hit receiver Chris Owusu in the end zone for a 31 yard TD to put Stanford up 38-21. Luck had 2 touchdowns on 251 yards passing and Owusu had 3 more receptions for 111 yards.

Toby Gerhart and Chris Owusu are third in the Pac-10 in combined yards/game, trailing brothers Jacquizz and James Rodgers of Oregon State.

Late in the 3rd quarter Toby plowed into the end zone from 17 yards out to give the Cardinal a 45-28 lead and ultimately proved to be the game's winning points.

Oregon scored 2 late touchdowns to close the gap to 6 points, but Stanford recovered an onside kick with 2:38 left in the game and Nate Whitacker nailed a 47 yard field goal to ensure that the Ducks could not tie the game with a TD and a 2-point conversion.

Both teams rushed for over 200 yards and combined for over 500 yards of total offense.

Led by the punishing ground attack of Toby Gerhart, Stanford dominated time of possession and held the ball for 37:43.

As good as tailback LaMichael James has been this year, he dropped 2 potential touchdown passes in the 4th quarter. After the second drop, he slid and appeared to injure his shoulder on the play, but it seemed more like an injury to his pride.

The Stanford Cardinal play at USC next Saturday, November 14 at 12:30 pm.

Citations:

http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=293110024

http://espn.go.com/ncf/preview?gameId=293110024

Yankees win 27th World Series with 7-3 Victory

2009-11-04T21:19:00.000-08:00

(Clockwise from top left): Hideki Matsui watches his two run home run in the 2nd inning, the Yankees celebrating their record 27th championship and Andy Pettitte hurling a pitch in his winning effort. Photos courtesy (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images) and http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0911/mlb.world.series.game6/content.1.html

11/4/09

The New York Yankees won their 27th World Series championship Wednesday night with a 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Yankees were led by Series MVP Hideki Matsui who finished the night 3-4 with 6 RBI, tying the single game WS record, on a home run, double and single. The Yankees have won more championships than any other American sports franchise and their first title in nearly a decade.

The "core 4" of the Yankees, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera, who all debuted in the 1995 season and have been together now for 5 championships, got their first ring since the 2000 season. The Yankees had won 3 championships in a row from '98-00 and 4 in the last 5 years before their 9-year "drought."

Jeter had 3 hits and 2 runs, Posada caught all 9 innings, Pettitte set a new record by being the first pitcher to start and win all 3 clinching games in the playoffs and Mo finished the game.

This championship justified nearly half a billion dollars ($462 million) in the off-season free agent acquisitions of CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett and the extravagant $1.5 billion Yankee stadium got a 'ship in just its first year, too. CC had a great post season and shook off some past struggles in October. He had 3 wins and a 1.98 ERA in 5 starts and frequently pitched on short rest.

Matsui led off the scoring with a 2-run homer in the second, and after a sac fly by Jimmy Rollins, "Godzilla" hit a 2-run single off of Pedro in the 5th inning to make the game 4-1 in favor of the Yanks. 2 innings later Matsui finished the Yankees scoring with a deep double off the wall in right center that scored 2 more runs and gave the Yankees their 7th run. He, Johnny Damon and Jorge Posada all are free agents after this season and the speculation was that the team would retain Posada and Damon and not re-sign Matsui, but after such a big performance it will be hard for the team to part ways with the Japanese slugger.

Alex Rodriguez, a man known for his spectacular regular season stats and choke jobs in the playoffs contributed with a great postseason this year. Despite leaked reports about how he took steroids with the Texas Rangers from 2001-3 and hip surgery that kept A-Rod on the bench until May. A new, wider batting stance and willingness to be just another guy and not so intensely focused on being the best player helped A-Rod to hit .365 with 6 HRs, including a couple of crucial game tying or go-ahead home runs.

On Phillies notes, at least Chase Utley tied Reggie Jackson, Mr. October himself, with a record 5 home runs in a single series. He owned the formidable lefty CC Sabathia and hit 3 jacks off of him.

The Phillies came within 2 games of being the last NL team to win back to back World Series titles since the Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds did it back in 1975 and '76.

Ryan Howard set a new postseason record with 13 Ks in a World Series, but did hit a 2 run homer in the 6th inning. He struggled in the Series against New York's heavily left-handed starters and hit .207 against lefties this year.

Concision Practice in Our Essays

2009-10-28T21:58:00.000-07:00

This assignment made us choose 3 sentences of more than 9 words from our essay and then write that sentence in 9 words, 7 words, 5 words, 3 and 1 while still keeping the main meaning. This helped us with being more concise in our writing while allowing us to write these cool, almost poetic sentences.

Original sentence: I was in second grade at Duveneck Elementary School and our lunchtime activities consisted of basketball, football, hide and go seek tag, four square and handball.

During lunchtime in elementary school I played many games. 9

Duveneck during lunch was basketball and football. 7

Games during lunch at Duveneck. 5

Games at lunch. 3

Play. 1

Original: The steady beat of basketballs reverberates throughout the gym as everybody warms up.

The beat of basketballs in the gym reverberates loudly. 9

The beat of basketballs reverberates during warm-ups. 7

The beat of basketballs reverberates. 5

The basketballs' pulse. 3

Rhythm. 1

OS: It was a great couple of hours with my cousins, aunt and their dog and when she gave me a ride back to the hotel I received two full bags of homemade chocolate chip cookies.

I loved the time with cousins and the cookies. 9

The night with my family was awesome. 7

A night with my cousins. 5

Quality family time. 3

Family. 1

Essay Reflection

2009-10-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

1. What is your essay about? (concept not plot) Be as specific as you can while remaining conceptual.

My essay is about simple, yet important moments in my life that define me and define what I enjoy in life. There were a range of memories and concrete examples that all created the same grounding effect and gave me some inner peace.

2. What was the most challenging aspect of writing and rewriting this essay?

Since I am kind of a perfectionist, it was difficult for me to write such a long rough draft and not worry about making it perfect. Normally I fret too much and it takes me a long time to get my thoughts down because I worry that they have to sound just right.

The hardest part rewriting the essay was being willing to look at my stronger paragraphs in a new light. It was easy to just cut out chunks that even when I wrote them, I knew probably wouldn't make the final draft. But, it was hard to make major edits on the better writing.

It was also hard to develop some of my ideas. I knew what I wanted to say in my head about the concrete idea of pick-up basketball, but it was hard to put it into writing. I spent a lot of time and ended up satisfied with my writing about basketball.

3. If you could go back and make changes or additions, what would you do? Why?

I might just take out the first memory entirely. I only used it because we had to include our initial memory in our essay and it isn't that important to me when I think about it now. I do like the concept about the power of our childhood though that follows up on that memory.

4. What was most unexpected - or unexpectedly fun - about writing this essay?

I was surprised at the end length of essay. I thought it would be hard to make it 4 pages, but at one point it was over 5 before I cut it down a lot. Just editing and expanding on my ideas lengthened my essay without me consciously trying to get more words.

I was also more motivated than I thought with this essay. Because the memories and concrete ideas were important to me, I wanted to take the time and make it good. This is in contrast to another book we may read in English that I might not like; then it will be harder to work as hard on that essay.

Star Wars in Concert

2009-10-15T17:52:00.000-07:00

Yoda and the voice of C-3PO at "Star Wars in Concert" at HP Pavilion

10/15/09

This past Sunday I saw "Star Wars in Concert" at the HP Pavilion. It was an incredible display of possibly the greatest movie soundtrack in history, movie clips and special effects. The Star Wars orchestra played for 2 hours and the voice of C-3PO, Anthony Daniels, narrated between scores.

The passionate swells from the violins, exuberant shouts from the trumpets and flashing green laser beam lights combined for an awesome performance. It was like re-watching all the best scenes from the movies on an enormous 3-story tall screen with a live soundtrack right in front of you.

The orchestra played songs in chronological order with the movies and My personal favorites were the Darth Maul theme song (Darth Maul, what a badass, coolest bad guy by far), the main theme song and Darth Vader's song. Another one of my favorites is the song by the Cantina band. This is from "A New Hope" when Han Solo and Luke go into the sketchy bar. Hecka sick. I'm liking the steel drums in the background.

Just a random comment about Star Wars. How weird is it that Annakin got with Padme? If you remember in the first movie when he meets her, he is about 7 years old and she is 16. He falls in love with her right then and there. In later movies they age a lot and he is about 16. So that makes Padme in her mid 20s, hooking up with a teenager. Weird. And also, he gets pregnant. Not exactly the best role models out here.

Photo URLs:

http://www.mercurynews.com/portlet/article/html/render_gallery.jsp?articleId=13540379&siteId=568&startImage=1

http://www.insidebayarea.com/portlet/article/html/render_gallery.jsp?articleId=13491426&siteId=181&startImage=3

Both Stanford and the Niners Get Pasted

2009-10-13T21:35:00.000-07:00

The Pac-10 Conference Offensive Player of the Week Jacquizz Rodgers rushes for 1 of his 4 TDs and Roddy White outruns 49ers defenders.

10/13/09

The Stanford Cardinal went into Corvallis, Oregon leading the Pac-10 Conference and sporting a 4-1 overall record. The San Francisco 49ers hosted the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday also flying high with a 3-1 record and in 1st place in the NFC West. And both teams also got rude awakenings and realized that they are good, potentially bowl worthy and playoff bound, but are definitely not great teams.

Stanford lost 38-28 to the Oregon State Beavers, but the game was not as close as the score shows

The Rodgers brothers destroyed the Cardinal defense. Diminutive sophomore RB Jacquizz Rodgers tied the school record with 4 TDs, 2 in the 1st quarter and had 189 rushing yards. His older brother James had 71 yards receiving and a score as well.

Stanford got off on the wrong foot and never recovered. WR Chris Owusu dropped a sure TD pass from Andrew Luck on the first play from scrimmage.

Any Heisman buzz Toby Gerhart garnered before the OSU game was quickly lost. He had 96 yards rushing and 2 TDs, but they were both in the 4th quarter, when the game was well out of reach.

A combined 4 TDs by the Rodgers brothers, along with a field goal gave the Beavers an insurmountable 31-7 halftime lead.

If the Stanford game was bad, then the Falcons game was much, much worse. The Atlanta Falcons put up 45 points on the up-and-coming 49ers defense and the offense managed only 10 points on a Glen Coffee TD run.

Roddy White torched the 49ers secondary for 210 yards receiving and 2 TDs and RB Michael Turner pounded in 3 TDs on 97 yards before being taken out early in the 2nd half.

2nd year QB Matt Ryan easily picked apart the 49ers defense by getting rid of the ball in quick, decisive throws. He threw for 329 yards and 2 TDs, and it could have been much more, but when the game was safely in hand Atlanta ran the ball a lot.

The 49ers looked like they would regain some momentum heading into halftime after Coffee's 3 yd. TD run on 3rd and goal off of a pitch. Jerius Norwood fumbled and Michael Lewis recovered the ball at the Atlanta 33. Despite not being able to capitalize on the opportunity, the Niners appeared ready to regain the ball with good field position after an Andy Lee punt pinned the Falcons at their own 4. SF trailed only 14-10 at this time. But Roddy White broke a Nate Clements tackle attempt and raced 90 yards for a touchdown to make the score 21-10. Things quickly got out of hand when Delanie Walker fumbled the kickoff on a controversial call and Turner pounded in a TD and gave the Falcons a 28-10 lead, which stretched to 35-10 at the half.

The SF 49ers game summed up in one play: Early 3rd quarter Dre Bly gets an INT and despite his team being annihilated, showboats. He is caught from behind by a hustling Roddy White who punches the ball out and the Falcons regain possession. They go on to score.

My dad and I went to the game excited that first of all, we were going a Niners game, and second of all that they were playing a good team. We left before the start of the 4th quarter and the only redeeming quality was the good food we brought for lunch.

The 49ers have a bye this week and the Stanford Cardinal travel to Arizona to play the 3-2 Wildcats.

Photo URLs:

http://www.atlantafalcons.com/MediaLounge/Gallery.aspx?q=San+Francisco

http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-footbl/orst-m-footbl-body.html

Photos from the atlanta falcons and oregon state football websites