bjournal::juxtapoz

Chattanooga is actually called “The Scenic City,” but here are four great restaurants:

• The Blue Plate
• Blue Orleans
• Blue Water
• Bluegrass Grill

weird, but good.

Friday-Saturday: Wolverine was alright (but fun) and Bulls/Celtics 7 was alright (but tense). I even managed to get some work done.

Nice article about (women’s) ultimate in the New York Times (registration required), followed up by some foolishness from the Oregon men’s team.

So it goes.

Congresswoman Fox says

“We know that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay… The bill was named for him, the hate-crimes bill was named for him, but it’s really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.”

Her response to the controversy was equally appauling.

Here is a video of the statement and of Matthew’s mother’s comments.

(read Ta-Nehisi Coates)

Also appauling is the notion that

The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists

According to a, admittedly small and incomplete, survey done by CNN.

In spite of the survey’s drawbacks, it, sadly, seems plausible enough.

Oof

… and yet here I am, posting this well before I actually want to be up

Thursday: Lack of sleep made the day drag on, but Bulls/Celtics is incredible. Reading my Computer Theory text again— I know, I’m a nerd.

Wednesday: Lost is perilously close to jumping the shark; hard to tell without knowing what is next. Cookies were satisfactory.

The Royals currently stand at .500 after going 4-6 over their last ten games. There are three reasons why we’re not worried just yet, and one nagging doubt.

1. The AL Central is pathetic. Seriously.
2. They still have a positive run differential, which is pretty decent indicator of performance (granted, +5 over ten games isn’t as impressive as, say, the +40 of the AL East leading New York Yankees Boston Red Sox Tampa Bay Rays Toronto Blue Jays WTF?!), in spite of the fact that their hitting hasn’t really come around yet— their runs per game sits at 3.9, which is lower than last year’s 4.3, and given their young hitters, the average would seem likely to be higher than last years, which means there are a lot of runs to make up.
3. They have the second best team ERA in the American League and third in all of baseball!

but

1. They have the second best team ERA in the American League and third in all of baseball, and according to the logic in #2 above, their ERA could rise a bit.

Rajon Rondo makes the Boston Celtics work.

Sure, Paul Pierce made the big clutch shots at the end of regulation last night and again at the end of overtime, but Rondo is the reason they were even in the game. Rondo takes pressure off of Pierce during the game so that he can do what he does at the end of the game.

In the five post-season games this year, Rajon Rondo is averaging a triple-double (24-10-11). That’s ridiculous. He also happens to be in the top-10 in scoring (8th), rebounding (8th), assists (3rd), steals (2nd, behind my boy Mario Chalmers), minutes played (3rd), assis-to-turnover ratio (8th), and is 16th in FG%. In other words, he’s been incredibly productive and incredibly efficient.

Just to put it in perspective, the only other players in the playoffs with even a double-double average are: Yao Ming (16-11-1), Joakim Noah (11-12-3), Chris Paul (23-6-11), Dwight Howard (24-16-1), LeBron James (32-11-8), Lamar Odom ( 18-11-2), Carlos Boozer (21-13-2), and Deron Williams (20-4-11). That means nobody from the Hawks, Mavs, Nuggets, Pistons, Lakers, Heat (sorry, HEAT), 76ers, Trailblazers, or Spurs is even averaging a double-double. Did I mention the only person on that list that Rondo is taller than is Chris Paul (by a whole, stinking inch). Also, how disturbing is it to see Joakim Noah’s name in that list?

Of course, straight stat-line statistics are a little misleading, since they don’t account for the pace or length of the game (especially since there have been four overtime periods in five of the Bulls/Celtics games and those games are already played at a frenetic pace), but even in a tempo-free stat like Win Shares (found at Basketball Reference) Rondo is impressively in the top-4 with 1.4 Win Shares behind LeBron (1.6), Chauncy (1.5), and Dwight (1.5).

Kid’s on fire.

Tuesday: … right back to it. And it is hot here, which is definitely not welcome. Played ultimate today, and I seem ready for the weekend