Thursday, March 28, 2013

Dave's Thoughts of the Day: March 28th

Last blog post before the day off and the weekend.  I might write a Friday blog post even with the day off, stay tuned!

I may have put too much cocoa in my coffee this morning.  The cocoa is very good but its pure.  It has no sugar added -- straight from the bean at Peet's.    It's ok though, this is the kind of problem you want to have.

Cocoa is good stuff.

Let's hear it for the Bulls beating the Heat to stop their winning streak at 27.  Who would have thunk it??

Kim Kardashian is preggo?  Just great... that kind of bonehead gene does not need to be spread to progeny.   I feel bad for the kid... perhaps someone else can step in and raise him properly?

I think I will apologize to the Kim Kardashian *fans* for being so harsh, but I stand by my opinion.

For the opening series at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers will give away a Dodgers blue hooded sweatshirt in one of the games.  I've seen all kinds of things given away before but a full hoodie?  That's impressive! I think one of my buddies said he was going to the game and would give me the hoodie.  Do the dance!

Hoodies are big time.   Usually when I go to the store, I find hoodies running around 40 to 50 bones.  Dodger Stadium must be doing this as a serious loss leader.   Getting one for *free*... that's unbelievable.

...Am I a hypocrite for outing Kardashian as a bonehead while displaying my own boneheadedness?  I crossed up a written signature with a message board signature yesterday.  In all honesty, that's not so bad, but I can see hints of idiocy there.

Skooby's sounds like a go for tomorrow.   Good hot dogs and great fries... I'll go light with the breakfast.

Speaking of "loss leaders," it's remarkable how far the Rockies have fallen.  I would gauge that most MLB experts have them finishing last in the NL West this year.  Who would you put below them?  Not the Padres... they have a couple of good players and a great bullpen.   All the others are better teams by a lot.   Six years ago, they made the World Series.  Today, they'll be lucky to win more games than the Cubs.

I saw them the other week at Spring Training, and they rolled out a lot of their AAA guys, so there is a little hope for a future.   Not this year, though.

How did the Bruins miss out on Jerome Iginla?  I saw the report and thought it was a lock.  In fact, I complained about it on Facebook.  Then, this morning, I read he went to the Penguins.

The Kings fans were making a big push for Iginla, but I'm relieved it didn't happen.   To get a guy of his caliber, or, the Flames' best player, they'd have to give up a pretty good chunk of their own team.  Had Rob Scuderi gotten involved, I would be upset.  Scuds is serious with the defense... he's made some great plays to prevent scoring opportunities for the other team.  He really does those "little things" that don't show up in highlights or the box score.

On Saturday, I'm headed to Wonder-Con, a comic book conference in Anaheim.  I may have wanted to think that through.   It turns out it runs the whole day, and that *day* is the same date as the NCAA Elite Eight.   I might miss one or two of those games.  HOWEVER, I have the NCAA app too, so do the dance there.    Seems to me that I'm going to bring my charger on Saturday afternoon so I can keep up to date on the phone.

This is where the smartphone really wins with me.  You don't miss a thing... provided that you're in cell phone reception range.   Back in the day, I would have had to dial this obscure 1-800 number to figure out the score of the game, or sneak out to a sports bar to see what was happening, or call a friend to ask him what the score was.  Today I can see exactly what the score is on ESPN.com, or watch the game itself using the NCAA app.

Following sports on the road is challenging.  The biggest challenge ever was when we were at Yosemite National Park.  Out there we get zero TVs or anything... most people don't even have lodging, but we were fortunate to get a park-assigned Cabin for our stay.   No TV or radio in the cabin. It's an awesome throwback setting.   On the other hand, the Lakers had a big game against the Supersonics one time, this was 1999 -- lockout shortened season, when the Lakers had Dennis Rodman.   We were at the park, and the whole day I was wondering how I'd ever know what happened.   Later on, I scamped over to the local cafe at Yosemite and to my surprise they had a TV in there!  Now Yosemite is really out in the boonies, and surrounded by mountains, but I think the place had Directv and the had the Lakers game on.  The game was an NBC game at the time.

Maybe they didn't have Directv because for some reason I remember the picture being fuzzy.  Anyway, the Lakers were getting pretty feisty with Seattle back at the Forum... and then, geez, Rodman wrestled a ball away from HIS OWN TEAMMATE during the game.    That year will always be one of the worst Lakers seasons of all time.  They had no chemistry at all... I think by season's end, after a sweep by the Spurs, the Laker individuals wanted to slash each others' throats.  One coach was fired, several people were traded.   I can't even remember where Cedric Ceballos was by then.  It was a joke.  I did enjoy Rodman's passion and enthusiasm but he was more bad than good at the end.  Besides, he had no offense!

Anyway, that was a memorable way of keeping up to date with sports.  My Dad found me at the Yosemite cafe and watched the end of the game with me, and we ordered a pizza.  I remember drinking a Sprite too.  Random.

You guys want to know how I followed the iconic Game 6 of the 2002 World Series?   On the radio!   That was where the Angels fell behind by 5 runs to the Giants.   It was a wedding anniversary for my Cousin and her husband somewhere in LA, and I brought my radio to keep tabs on the game.   Noisy affair with the reception but the game was underway, and I listened in on my headphones... it was hopeless.  Giants up 5... I had no feeling for the Angels coming back at all.  Then they did.   And I started to listen more and more, and Rory Markas brought the words and the action to me (R.I.P.).   In those days I really wanted to see someone, anyone, beat the Giants.  It looked like Bonds and co were going to win the World Series.   Then other people saw me listening to the game and asked me what the score was.  The Angels started making the comeback.  Then I went outside, and a crowd of people were huddled around me asking me for updates, so I started to repeat everything I heard on the radio, word for word.  I might have even recited the commercials.     So it was, the Angels had the go-ahead hit and the people around me erupted!   Then, after the Angels won the game, I went over to my cousins to tell them the news, they announced it on the PA in the reception hall and everyone went bananas.   To this day one of my favorite sports moments, and I never saw the game!  but we recorded it on VHS at home so I got to see it later.

Will we see moments like that this weekend in College Basketball?  Time will tell...

That's all from here.  Have a good day you all.

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