Monthly Archives: December 2006

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SI.com – Writers – Justin Gimelstob: Happily retired Sampras still has game to topple Federer – Friday December 22, 2006 10:41AM

I am a Federer fan.  Well if you heard me talk about tennis, you’d think I was a Federer hater.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  He is a classy, humble man who is the very best his sport has to offer… CURRENTLY.  I just am annoyed by his being crowned the best ever.  Say he ends up winning a career grand slam.  Say he surpasses Sampras’s total number of slams, I still think he has to be downgraded because he didn’t have the competition.

Sampras dominated in a glory era of men’s tennis.  The argument made is of course the men’s tour is deeper.  So while Federer might not have his great rivals during quarters, semis, finals (save the emergence of Nadal), he has to play better in the earlier rounds, so the argument goes.  And that Sampras had cakewalks til the quarters, semis, finals.  While I think it’s true to a small degree, is there ever really ANY doubt that Federer is going to cakewalk the first few rounds?  Maybe he is slightly more challenged, but his skill level is so much more than his competitors that it’s not like it is a real challenge to him.  So if Sampras and Federer both cakewalked early, and then Sampras had higher level competition and won, shouldn’t we not discount the former “greatest ever” for the newest “greatest ever”?

Basketball thoughts…

Okay, Blogger sucks I can’t figure out how to link to single posts in Blogger blogs. So here is a cut and paste from Dan Shanoff’s Blog re: last night’s basketball.

What could displace Allen Iverson’s Denver debut out of the top story? Gilbert Arenas, who has emerged this season as a sensational, must-see scorer to rival Kobe Bryant.

Agent Zero had 54 in Phoenix*, leading the Wizards past the Suns and — more notably — snapping the Suns’ 15-game winning streak. The Wiz have emerged as one of the hottest teams in the East (not hard), with Arenas making a case for Eastern Conference MVP (if such an award existed).

In a phenomenal sub-plot, Arenas exacted revenge on Mike D’Antoni, one of the USA Basketball coaches who cut him last summer. After the snub, Arenas vowed to rack up 100 points against D’Antoni and Nate McMillan, the other USA Oops assistant. He’s more than halfway there.

Meanwhile, Iverson had 22 points and 10 assists in his Nuggets debut. Based on the “Arenas Standard,” wake me when AI breaks 50.

First, recreating the comment I couldn’t post to his blog since I don’t want to create a Blogger account and the whole use your Google login option didn’t quite work.

The bigger issue for the Wiz is their inability to play in the 4th quarter. They routinely get beat late in games. Last Sunday versus the Lakers. Last night versus the Suns. Even versus the Kings the Kings made a late run. The Wizards aren’t a defensive team. And they aren’t a team that runs a nice half-court set (Eddie Jordan where is the Princeton offense? I can’t remember the last time I saw someone on the Wiz do a backdoor cut.). So they aren’t a closer team. Gil popping off in OT is great, but it can’t last for ever. (By the way, maybe the Wiz should ALWAYS wear the hideous gold alt unis. As superstitious as Gil is, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had spare gold jerseys sewn onto the underside of his white and blue standard jerseys. Of course that would increase his out of pocket jersey costs from tossing them into the stands two fold.)

And second, due respect to Shanoff (and I understand a DC loyalty as I’m a metro resident), AI is a bigger story. 22 and 10 with a shell of a team due to suspensions and injuries! He battled the snowy fury. Postponed his debut (thankfully, hopefully some network will pick up the Nuggets/Suns game when it’s rescheduled). 10 assists. That’s 3 or so (off the top of my head, since I’m not a sports blogger I’m not going to go check specific numbers) more than his average this season. Clearly 22 is down from his normal 30+, but still.

hmm

Okay, so I’m on vacation.  I thought I’d have all sorts of time to blog.  But I’ve been inexplicably busy!  And then I check my daily reading and find nothing of note to blog about.  So I’m telling you now, who knows how much I’ll blog.  And I’m going to spend my time searching for blogging tools into FF or maybe Dashboard.

Dan Shanoff: Questions to Ask Before Marriage? (Maybe This Is Why Brady and Moynihan Broke Up?)

Dan Shanoff: Questions to Ask Before Marriage? (Maybe This Is Why Brady and Moynihan Broke Up?)

via NYTimes

This seems like a fun little game.  Over the holidays (I’ll probably still be posting, probably more since I’ll have nothing to do save entering 3129 numbers on the keypad of my mom’s Lincoln to try to crack the keyless entry) I’ll whip up my own “right” vs. truthful answers to said questions.  Haha, I don’t think anyone who I’d need to have this kind of discussion with is reading my blog.

Slashdot | S Korea & China Mandate Common Chargers, Data Cables

Slashdot | S Korea & China Mandate Common Chargers, Data Cables

clearly via /.

this is great!  Samsung, among others, LOVE to use those proprietary cables.  That’s the one thing Motorola does right, mini-usb to charge/sync.  I’m getting a new celly for someone as a gift, an SE, but it’s another proprietary cable.  BAH I say!

Weak security in our daily lives@Everything2.com

Weak security in our daily lives@Everything2.com

20 minutes + 3129 keypresses = unlocked car door on those car keyless number entry pad things.  My mom has this keypad on her Lincoln (it seems a very American car thing).  I’m definitely going to try it out when I visit for the holidays.  There’s really nothing else to do while I’m home.  (Though I’m going to bust out the Dreamcast and the Sega Bass Fishing I think.)

High Def?

So I just got a 1080p HDTV.  And I got a nice upconverting dvd player for Christmas.  And yet I’m plagued by the thought of a PS3 or an Xbox360 (or xo as i like to call it… get it, x for xbox, o for circle which equals 360 degrees!  I’m so clever idiotic.).  Nevermind my friends who are going crazy over the fact that I got a nice HD set and don’t have an HD movie player.  Listen, it bothers me too.  I LOVE movies.  I’d get a PS3 or xo for HD movies alone, never mind gaming.  (Why not just get a stand alone Bluray or HD-DVD player you ask?  Well I do enjoy gaming as well, so there’s that.).  But it’s a lot of layout for movies of which I’m not positive which format will win out.  There are movies on both that I really love.  Perhaps for Christmas…..