bjournal::juxtapoz

Oh look!

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:27:15 -0500

It is my bjournal…

The twitter experiment (140-character daily journal entries) may be over— hard to say.
I got a new camera- a D90 (and am still trying to sell the kit lens— $300 on Amazon)- and I love it.
The XC girls repeated as state champions.
The Ultimate team lost in the finals.
The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy was fun to read and I learned quite a bit about basketball.
The new apartment has some new furniture, and is finally coming around.
I’m happy to be playing winter league (and not captaining).
I’m heading to California in a few days.
The first semester of this school year is nearly over. Wow.

And I have a good post coming soon…

Newton and Leibniz

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:28:33 -0400

Newton and Leibniz:

Sunday, last day at camp: the summer has been good, but it is time to come home. My ear is...

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 22:24:47 -0400

Sunday, last day at camp: the summer has been good, but it is time to come home. My ear is improving.

4005

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:01:00 -0400

Words written for my last set of comments this year. More than last time, and one more comment to write…

I’m done.

Life updates to follow…

Wednesday: last school day of the year. Odd that today is the best I’ve felt, health-wise, in...

Thu, 21 May 2009 00:32:05 -0400

Wednesday: last school day of the year. Odd that today is the best I’ve felt, health-wise, in a few weeks. Getting warm and humid…

Tuesday: starting to feel better, which is a good thing considering the next two weeks are...

Wed, 20 May 2009 21:31:48 -0400

Tuesday: starting to feel better, which is a good thing considering the next two weeks are physically and mentally demanding.

Thursday-Monday: wow. Well, school is winding down. Senior Trip starts Thursday, and returns the...

Mon, 18 May 2009 22:25:22 -0400

Thursday-Monday: wow. Well, school is winding down. Senior Trip starts Thursday, and returns the following Saturday. There will be pics.

Dirk Nowitzki Announces He's Taking a Paycut

Fri, 15 May 2009 22:21:44 -0400

Dirk Nowitzki Announces He's Taking a Paycut:

…from $18 million

Officiating

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:01:26 -0400

Not sure how many of my intermittent visitors (though, I don’t think Google Analytics tracks RSS feeds) are (were) watching the Rockets/Lakers game, but Kobe Bryant was just called for a technical foul (I’ll post a video later). There are a couple of things to comment on:

Whichever Van Gundy is calling this game is an idiot. Artest got bumped in the head and ran off the court. Later, when Kobe and Ron-Ron were talking, the video tape clearly showed a cut on Artest’s tongue, which nobody commented on since Van Gundy was too busy flapping his trap about how Artest “overracted” and “sold the foul.”
The officiating in the NBA, and definitely in the playoffs, is terrible. Awful. Atrocious. Pathetic. As an example, on the play we are talking about, Kobe ran right into Artest, and in addition to the head-butt technical, the result of the play was that Artest got called with a foul. I didn’t mis-type that. Kobe got a technical for head-butting Artest, but Artest got a foul called on him for being in Kobe’s way on the same play. There are a number of reasons for sub-standard officiating:
1. The rules are ill-defined.
2. The way David Stern wants the rules to be enforced is sometimes contrary to the way the rules are written.
3. The refs are human (and may be unethical)
4. The refs and David Stern think the refs’ responsibility is to control the game
Anybody who plays the game knows what a foul is what a foul isn’t.

From my perspective and sensibilities, there is an easy solution to the problem of bad officiating: get rid of officals. The “foul/contest + observer”* mechanic of ultimate will take the place of officials. Many people would be skeptical of such a plan, but I must say that I have never played in an ultimate game where the officials had a significant impact on the outcome of the game (mostly because there aren’t any).

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest arguments against removing officials would be players like Kobe who think that every time they are touched, even if they initiate the contact, that it is a foul. I believe that the reason Kobe, and players of his ilk (which is a lot, by the way, I only chose Kobe because we were already talking about him, and he is being particularly whiney tonight) are sensitve to being fouled is because of officials. In fact, if you look at basic basketball strategy, much of it is centered around getting fouled. That seems wrong to me, and if you think about it, it is wrong. The game is about players.

Officials (observers), would still be necessary, of course, especially during the transition. They would be used to reset the shotclock, rule on twos and threes, call three-second and illegal defense violations, etc. Of course, they would also be there to resolve disputes and to intervene if necessary, and the League would review players’ foul/contest behaviours, and issue penalties if needed.

Think about it. Players controlling the game.

* A player calls a foul, the offending player can say ‘contest’ if they feel there wasn’t wrong doing, and the observer settles disputes, should they arrive. A contested foul results in a “do-over” essentially.

Wednesday: The season finalé of Lost wasn’t the best two hours of TV, but it was close. Been...

Thu, 14 May 2009 08:10:14 -0400

Wednesday: The season finalé of Lost wasn’t the best two hours of TV, but it was close. Been battling a cold, but I’ll be alright.

Tuesday: to be honest, today is Wednesday, and I can’t really remember any thing significant,...

Thu, 14 May 2009 08:10:14 -0400

Tuesday: to be honest, today is Wednesday, and I can’t really remember any thing significant, other than the Celtics game.

CNR

Wed, 13 May 2009 09:38:41 -0400

CNR:

Shared by Oz
In a continuum of funny comics, this one is notable.

Finish

Tue, 12 May 2009 23:05:53 -0400

At 8:50 to play in game 5 of Orlando vs. Boston, Mickael Pietrus cut behind the Celtics defense, leapt in the air, and dunked the ball. This shot put Boston down 77-63 with 8:48 to play. Over the next 4 minutes and 52 seconds, Glen Davis and Stephon Marbuy scored all 16 Boston points (they averaged 10.8 per game combined during the regular season), as compared to 8 from Orlando, and only four from Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu (who averaged 37.4 PPG during the regular season).

And even though Orlando was still up with 3:56 to play, the game was over as Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, and Kendrick Perkins, all of whom were not on the floor since 8:48, came into the game, and Orlando mustered three points for the remainder of the game, all on free throws intentionally given.

It may have been one of the most stunning and masterfully-coached sequences I’ve ever witnessed. Boston knows how to finish, Orlando doesn’t (hint: give the ball to Dwight Howard).

Monday: you can actually tell that summer is nearly here. The students are restless.

Tue, 12 May 2009 16:05:32 -0400

Monday: you can actually tell that summer is nearly here. The students are restless.

Saturday-Sunday: made two excellent breakfasts, watched the Best Picture nominees and the NBA...

Mon, 11 May 2009 21:02:55 -0400

Saturday-Sunday: made two excellent breakfasts, watched the Best Picture nominees and the NBA playoffs, and enjoyed the rainy weekend.

Make sure you stick with it until the bitter end… the part...

Sun, 10 May 2009 15:46:42 -0400

Make sure you stick with it until the bitter end… the part with Mike Tyson (actually Mike Tyson).

Continuation

Sat, 09 May 2009 18:54:12 -0400

I am watching Dallas/Denver, game 3, and Josh Howard just got a technical foul for hitting a ball into the stands after the play was over. I suppose that it goes down as a “delay of game” type penalty, and it isn’t the first time that I’ve seen a player penalized for it. The theory, I think, of throwing a shot like that back— after the play is over— is an assertion of toughness: any time you come in here, we’re planning on turning you away. The Celtics won a championship last year with that sort of mentality, and I think it is a winning one.

I have a huge problem with penalizing a player for it. The way I see it, the offensive player continuing after the whistle has blown is the one delaying the game, though I have definitely never seen a player penalized for it. In fact, right after he got a penalty for it, Chauncy Billups shot the technical free throw, ran up to get the ball, grabbed it out of the net, and put it back in the basket. Delay of Game, Technical Foul? Not a chance.

We like to call that a double standard.

Thursday: Herky-jerky day. That’s about it, really. It is probably obvious by now, but I love...

Sat, 09 May 2009 11:57:39 -0400

Thursday: Herky-jerky day. That’s about it, really. It is probably obvious by now, but I love the NBA playoffs.

Friday: Switching dorms next year, so I went on a tour; Harrison is gorgeous. Watched a bit of Ergo...

Sat, 09 May 2009 11:57:38 -0400

Friday: Switching dorms next year, so I went on a tour; Harrison is gorgeous. Watched a bit of Ergo Proxy, too. Wonderful Friday, all told.

Royals Watch: Update #5

Sat, 09 May 2009 11:06:44 -0400

8-2 over the last 10 games. 18-12 overall. #3 in ESPN’s RPI. 4th-best start in franchise history.

Here are the Top 5 in Run Differential to date:

(+51) LA Dodgers (I suppose that will change over the next 49 games, or so…)
(+43) Toronto Blue Jays
(+31) St. Louis Cardinals
(+30) Boston Red Sox
(+29) Kansas City Royals

Coincidentally, the best five records in baseball belong to the five teams listed above.