Stuck in Utah
I'm in Utah for the week and might not be able to blog so hopefully I'll be back posting about eating crow at the end of this week. GO CELTS!
FYI: Salt Lake City is a very strange city
June 15, 2008
March 06, 2007
Please tell me this is a joke...
Words can't express... just go to the story over at September 17, 2006
The Idiocy of the NCAA
With rumors that Reggie Bush and his family received over $100,000 in "benefits" while he attended USC swirl around, a more troubling story about a player NOT being able to receive money is being overlooked. Malcolm Gladwell looks into the story of Ramon McElrathbey.
Ramon McElrathbey is a cornerback for the Clemson University football team. He is one of seven children. His mother is a crack addict, and his father has a gambling problem and is no where to be found. He grew up bouncing around foster homes. This summer, he decided--with his mother's consent--to take custody of his 11 year old brother. They now live in a cramped off campus apartment, as McElrathbey tries to be a student, athlete, brother and father simultaneously. When a story was published about McElrathbey in alocal paper, he was deluged with donations and gifts and offers to help. But of course Clemson had to step in and say no. Why? Because receiving any kind of outside financial assistance, if you are an amateur college athlete, is against the NCAA's rules. This is, of course, ridiculous. In fact, it is more than ridiculous: it is inhumane. At a certain point, aren't we better off without the NCAA altogether?More from Gladwell at his blog , but this is another reason why I think that the rule banning high schoolers from the NBA is ridiculous. The NCAA doesn't care about these kids and let's be honest, neither does the NBA. While the usual response is "Well, these guys make their money in the pros and shouldn't complain", the fact is that most of players will never see a professional dollar and are being used by a system which lets schools and coaches get fat while the athletes have to play for free. I found this story over at Truehoop.com , one of the best hoops blogs out there.
August 23, 2006
Can Kevin!
Taking a break from hoops, I had the first of my fantasy football drafts, was lucky enough to get the 2nd pick, and promptly blew it. Here's the lessons I learned during this ten team draft.
Lesson 1: Live in the Now. With my first pick, I took L.T. over L.J. because I think the loss of Roaf and Vermeil will mean more than the change from Brees to Rivers. While L.J. seemed more impressive last season, I don't think its a sure thing that he'll repeat his performance. Unfortunately, I forgot about this same lesson in the next two rounds when I opted for old WR's Torry Holt and Terrell Owens over the young bucks taking over fantasy. In hindsight, I would have grabbed Larry Fitzgerald and Roy Williams. I also reached for Mike Vanderjagt for no reason other than I didn't like anyone else on the board at the time.
Lesson 2: Don't Handcuff Yourself: In the 4th and 5th rounds, I grabbed Corey Dillon and Cedric Benson. Decent picks but they also required me to invest two more good picks (7th and 9th rounders) on ensuring that I didn't lose their backups. Making matters worse, these guys might actually just end up splitting carries, in which case I'm completely screwed.
Lesson 3: Be able to Scramble: My feeling is always that you can wait to take QB's in fantasy football. What I didn't expect was for one team to take a QB in three straight rounds. While I thought I could get away with taking my handcuffs and Driver in the middle rounds, I sat around and watched the quality QB's get snatched up. I had to grab Byron Leftwich in he 8th round just to get someone.
Lesson 4: Bye Weeks > Favorites: I was planning on Kellen Winslow as my sleeper pick but also wanted one of my favorite Patriots, Ben Watson. I ended up taking both only to find out that they have the same bye week. I still feel Winslow will surprise so now I have to hope one of them gets some trade value before their time off during Week 6.
Lesson 5: Manage Risk: One reason I ended up with Winslow for my last pick was because I didn't think Vince Young would get taken. I thought that I could grab sleeper receivers Troy Williamson and Roddy White and wait for young. In hindsight, I needed Young more than a needed White and should have risked not getting Roddy instead of Vince.
In the end, my worst pick was jumping the gun and grabbing Ben Watson in the 11th round while my steal was a round earlier, getting potential Denver starter Mike Bell with the 99th pick in the draft.
July 07, 2006
Random Factoid
I have nothing new to report so I thought I'd just mention that the Joe Johnson trade has finally come full circle. We traded Joe to Phoenix who traded him to Atlanta and in that deal Phoenix got the pick with which they selected Rajon Rondo who they then traded to us.
Still Phoenix seems to make out on the deal. The Suns now have gotten Boris Diaw and two picks in the supposedly loaded 2007 draft (the Cleveland first round pick we sent them in the deal along with Atlanta's pick {only top three protected}.
June 22, 2006
New Can Danny Mascot!
Best prospect of the offseason, I'm nominating Lady 254 as the Can Danny Mascot. While I personally prefer brunettes or redheads, 254 seems like the best Celtic affiliated lady to go with right now. OK, I could photoshop a Celtics jersey on a porn star or something but I'm going to change with the times and support the Celtic dancers. Back to the original point, while I'm not sure what to do with our draft pick, if Danny doesn't sign up this young lady to be on our dance squad then I really don't know how he can expect us to compete for #17. The form, the pep, the spirit fingers, she's got it all. Then again, we do need to get a couple of redheads on the team or else it won't really be a true Celtic dance team.
