82 and 0

Basketball season is about to start and since I've spent the last two months boring you with political blogs, I'll now bore you for the next 6 months with Warriors blogs. Ask Erin, the season goes on forever. Actually, the start of the basketball season always comes at a convenient time. In 2004 the season started the day after the election. It was a good thing too, as it's probably the only reason I didn't fall into a deep depression. In honor of the new season here is a preview of the Warriors 08-09 team.

A few years ago when the Warriors won their season opener against the Spurs I called my friends to celebrate. What I remember most is my buddy Scott Eanes' famous prediction for the rest of the season, 82-0. (For those of you new to the NBA, there are 82 games in a season).

This season, I honestly don't know what to expect. My gut tells me not to be too optimistic though. Don't get me wrong, I'll watch all 82 games, but my expectations aren't high - which is a good thing for Warriors fans. There are a lot of new faces this season (and some notable missing ones) so I thought I'd introduce you to a few of them.

No longer with the team:
Baron Davis, Matt Barnes, Patrick O'Bryant (and probably some others that aren't important enough to remember). It's going to hurt not having Baron. I'm pissed that he opted out of his contract one year early. I would have liked one more year, but I'm glad from a financial stand point that we didn't sign him to a long term contract. Too injury prone, too three point shooting prone. With that said, Baron did a ton for the team and I'll miss him. When he's motivated he's a top player in the league, and it's going to suck watching him dominate the Warriors four times a year (assuming he's healthy).

Kelenna Azubuike

I'm excited to have 'Buke back on the team. He's a poor man's Jason Richardson at 1/3 the price. He can take it strong to the basket and has decent range. Plus he's not such a super star that he skips out on defense. A team of 5 Bukes wouldn't be very good, but you need at least one. Plus, here's an interesting fact, his nickname is "London Gentlemen" from the fragarence in Anchorman (because he's from the UK).

Andris Biedrins (Beans)

If I were to buy a Warriors jersey (which I won't do, because that means the player will get injured or traded) I would probably buy a Beans jersey. I try to model my basketball game after him. On the team I play with I'm the tall one, I'm not asked to shoot and as long as I play good defense, rebound, and get shots for the little guys on the team everyone is happy. And it doesn't hurt when I get some points cleaning up boards and on the fastbreak. The good news for the Warriors is that I expect Bean's offensive game to open up even more now that Baron Davis's 20 shots per game are missing. I'm excited to watch the big Latvian play.

Corey Maggette

When the Clippers signed our best player (Baron Davis) we panicked and signed their best remaining player, Corey Maggette. I'm a little conflicted about Mags. On the plus side, he is a very efficient scorer, makes his free throws, and looks like Xzibit. On the negative side, he's never played for a good team, is injury prone, and I'm not sold on him sacrificing in any way to make the team better. I hope I am wrong, but I just don't see the Warriors being succesful if he's our first or second best player. I bet he scores a ton, doesn't do anything bad off the court, and yet leads us nowhere near the playoffs. (Optimism, it's what a new season is all about). At least between him and Buke we'll have the most ripped players.

DeMarcus Nelson

Let me introduce you to our starting point guard. We've gone from Baron to someone I have barely heard of. I know just a little more about him than I did about Sarah Palin when she was named VP. At least she's second string, this guy starts. DeMarcus is a rookie and he went to Duke, that's all I know. I'm not even sure the picture I posted is really him. However, from the preseason reports, it sounds like he's a monster on defense and that would be a first for a Warriors gaurd. Also, I don't think he shoots a lot of threes which is a nice change. It's possible the Warriors will have great ball movement and a smooth offense with this guy. It's also possible that the complete lack a point gaurd will doom us and we win 18 games. I'm praying it's option 1.

Anthony Randolph

AR is part of the reason I have hope for the future. We picked him at #14 in the draft this year, and I don't know how he fell so low. He's tall, athletic and seems to have the mindset to a be a superstar. I guarantee at least 10 teams will be kicking themselves that they didn't pick him. There are two reasons to be cautious in his rookie year. First, he's almost 7' tall and barely weighs 200 pounds. He's going to get pushed around a lot. The saving grace is that because he's so athletic he can play smaller players instead of banging around with the power forwards and centers. The other problem is that coach Don Nelson never plays rookies. Let's hope Nellie gives him time to develop because let's be honest, we aren't winning the championship this year. If he does get time to play, he'll be exciting to watch.

Ronny Turiaf

In a surprise move, the Warriors have signed The Predator to be their backup center/power forward. Oh just kidding, it's Ronny Turiaf (who played for the Lakers last year). I actaully love the signing. Turiaf is one of those players that you hated when he was on the other team (especially when that team is the Lakers), but he's gonna be a fan favorite in Oakland. He brings a ton of energy and the size/strength to match up with the other big players who usually dominate us. He's not a superstar, but he's a great guy to have on your team.

Monta Ellis

Have you noticed that I haven't written about a superstar on the Warriors yet. Well, the closest thing we have to one is Monta. Unfortunately, that was before his tragic moped acident this summer that destroyed his leg. I can't get over this, it's not possible. I genuinely think I could have talked myself into the Warriors have a good season if Monta had been healthy. It's much more difficult now. He's out for at least three months, and possibly the whole season. All we can do is hope that next year he comes back with the same explosiveness that made him one of my favorite players to watch.

Al Harrington

I'd write something about Al, but he's going to be traded so why bother. I will say that he looks like a ninja turtle, though.

Don Nelson

As long as the Warriors have Nellie at the helm I'll be excited. When the Warriors signed him a couple of years ago I remember thinking that there wasn't another player they could have signed that would have made me more excited. Nellie is best when he has to experiment and tinker with a squad that on paper won't cut it. Well, he has that squad and if anyone can make them exciting to watch, and maybe even a playoff team it's him. Another reason I like Nellie, he once owned a pig as a pet - I've always wanted a pet pig.


Well, I'm not going to promise that team will win a championship, or even make the playoffs. However, I hope I've helped you find someone on the team you can take an interest in. When you watch the team for 82 games you get to know them pretty well and I looked forward to having an addition 15 guys in my extended family for the next 6 months. Erin on the other, not quite as excited.

Throwing Darts

I want to blog but I have no specific subject to write about. Instead, as I've been catching up on stuff tonight I've been writing down random thoughts with the intention of just throwing it all on the page at once. My sports writing hero, Bill Simmons, would call this the "Ramblings". I think I'll call it "Throwing Darts".

I'm listening to a band called The Silent Comedy right now. I heard them for the first time on 94.9's local band show on Sunday night. At least check out their songs Gasoline and '49. They are another great local SD band, following in the footsteps of Reeve Oliver, Sayvinyl and Grand Ole Party. I can't recommend all of them enough - listen to them now!

Keeping with the music theme, Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who is definitely my 2008 election theme song right now. Here are the lyrics. I'd like to give a special shot out to Rock Band for introducing me to this song.

So I got married last weekend (go me and Erin!). If you are friends with me on Facebook you can check out the pics I posted. If you aren't friends with me, how did you find yourself reading this blog. You must be a glutton for punishment if you've made it this far

Our neighbors downstairs are really nice and have the two cutest bull dogs. They also burn some serious incense. I actually like it because it reminds me of Telegraph Ave in Berkeley. Smells are funny like that. I heard once that smell is the only scent that can recall memories, or something like that. It's one of my favorite things in life.

I'm always amused by the ads on Facebook - and usually annoyed too. A few months ago I changed my status to "Engaged". From then on all the ads were related to buying weddings rings and hiring wedding photographers. That got old really quickly. Now that I've changed my status to "Married" I'm seeing a bunch of ads for shaving my face. I'm not sure where that connection was made, but the truth is that I haven't shaved since the wedding. Weird.

Speaking of Facebook, I haven't used it that much. I might go on once or twice a week. However, as a software developer I am very jealous of their photo sharing system. It's pretty clean and easy to use and the facial recognition and tagging of people in the pictures are pretty phenomenal. I wish InstantEncore was worth 20 billion dollars and hired an army of programmers. Actually, I just want it to be worth 20 billion dollars, I can do without the bloat of too many programmers. I will say though, I'm sure facebook doesn't know jack about classical music.

"The hot lady and the Tiger Woods guy."
- Will Ferrel as G.W. Bush on SNL describing the election. Watch for yourself:


I lied earlier, Bill Simmons isn't my sports writing hero. Ray Yocke is. However, Ray needs to actually write something. Perhaps about the upcoming Warriors season? C'mon Ray, the world needs you now more than ever.

Want to know more about the Candidates?

I learned a lot about both candidates from watching the Frontline show on them a couple of nights ago. Lo and behold, thanks to the power of the internet, if you missed it you can still watch it.

Frontline: The Choice 2008

It doesn't take a stance either way. It's more of a documentary on who the candidates are and how they got to this point. There is some fascinating footage of a young Obama (his mannerisms are the same today) and of McCain being interviewed while a POW.

A great way to learn more if you care. Maybe we should send it to Joe the Plumber too. Here is the original video of Joe the Plumber meeting Obama. Like the answer or not, I was impressed that a candidate took five minutes to answer a question in a handshaking line.

ITIJTUIMM - 10/18/2008

In case you are wondering, ITIJTUIMM is the acronym for I Think I Just Threw Up In My Mouth. I will use this acronym anytime I see something online that makes me do this. Today's cause of my need for some toothpaste:

Some guy named his daughter Sarah McCain Palin

He's just trying to get the word out - in case no one knew that they were running for prez and vp. hey, buddy, everyone knows they're running, they just aren't voting for them.

What can a fan do?

I find myself watching Chargers games. I don't know what to make of this. Clearly I'm not a Chargers fan. My definition of fan is that you get one team per sport. My team is the 49ers. I may root for the Chargers, I may watch the Chargers, but they are not my team. For instance, I was actually rooting for the Patriots to score during the game so that it would be closer (and I hate Boston teams).

But, the fact that I watch Chargers games is giving me a bit of fan identity crisis. How is it that I've watched parts of all the Chargers games and not one 49ers game? The obvious reason is that they aren't on TV. The NFL has an exclusive contract with DirectTV so I can't pay to watch games like I do with the NBA. And, the local stations aren't going to waste the few NFL games they can show with a pathetic team like the 49ers. The funny thing is, I don't even know how pathetic they are - again, I can't watch them.

However, I do know know a thing or two about crappy teams (remember, I love the Warriors). And there is a distinct similarity. The owners of both teams are turrible (as Charles Barkley would say). One of the things that I've noticed in both business and sports is that the best teams have smart people running the organizations.

If you are a fan of team, what you may not realize is that it's not best to have the greatest player of all time on your team (the niners had that with Montana, Rice, Young). It's not best to have the greatest coach (again, the niners had Bill Walsh). And it's not best to have the top General manager. No, the best thing is to have a great owner. Everything will flow from him/her. The owner doesn't have to know how to play the game or coach the game - but he does have to have a vision for his team, hire people who understand that vision and set the tone for the whole organization. If you have a great owner who can do that they you're team can have success for decades. With the best player your success is only temporary.

Getting back to my point - the Niners and Warriors owners have been horendous. Starting with the Niners, ever since John York took over the team has floundered. It's gone through many coaches and GM's and at no point has demonstrated any type of consistency that would make me confident in them year in and year out.

As for the Warriors - despite the good feelings of their playoff victory over the Mavericks they just can't figure it out. A great anecdote of their feebleness in the front office can be seen in how they treat their season ticket holders. Every year before the season starts the Warriors send their Season Ticket Holders (STH) a gift. For instance, when I was a STH I received a nice jewlery-type box that was made out of basketball leather. There might have been something nice inside of it too. I don't remember exactly, but I was excited when it came. So what have Warriors done this year. They gave all their STH's a gift certificate to a time share... where they get to be pitched to buy some crappy timeshare property. That's not a gift, that's advertising. And to add insult to injury, they also gave the time share all your personal info so that they can continue to pester you. Only a team so incompetent that it misses the playoffs for over a decade straight could piss off their most important investors this way.

So for all those niners and warriors fans who are reading this. Don't hope that we get the first pick in the draft or sign a great free agent. Hope that John York and Chris Cohan sell the team. If only it was a democarcy - we could just vote them out. Well, at least we can do that with the president.

The VP Debate

My original plan was to blog live about the debates. However, instead I went running and had a nice dinner with Erin in Hillcrest, with the intention of coming home to dvr/live blog about the debate. However, I found writing while watching to be distracting, and to be honest, there isn't that much to say about the debate. If you watched it yourself and read or watched some commentary afterward then you probably know everything I would have to say.

However, I feel a responsibility to satisfy the Left Schu fan's insatiable need for more commentary from pro-Obama bloggers. So, I've decided to open a Coke Zero, get the caffeine flowing and do some writing. Instead of a complete recap and thoughtful analysis, I'll share my general thoughts and then a few interesting notes that I jotted down while watching.

Overall, the debate didn't change my opinion at all. I have to admit that I was disappointed that Palin didn't do something so stupid that it would immediately end the McCain/Palin ticket. With that said, just because she managed to stick to her talking points isn't going to turn the tide of this election. I think the Obama campaign has effectively shown that they have better plans for the economy, foreign affairs and energy and that will win the voters over (and it already has).

As for Biden, I like him. In fact, I can't think of anyone right now I'd rather have be the VP. He seems smart (I thought he handily won the debate if you judged on substance), I agree with his policies, and he doesn't outwardly show the sleazy side of most politicians. Want an amazing Joe Biden fact? His net worth is only $150,000 (link). That is tiny compared to most senators. Considering I know he's smart and he probably has had chances to cash out, I find something refreshing about this. In some ways I think it shows he walks the walk when it comes to trying to keep his pulse on America - or he's done a great job fooling me.

Other interesting things from the debate...

• Watched on PBS. I've heard that CNN has some gimmicks with meters of undecided voters giving you constant feedback. Is that really necessary? Shouldn't the point of a debate be to watch for yourself and decide. It's fine to look at it later when you analyze, but what a distraction during the debate.
  
• On the other hand, I do have an incredible idea for PBS. Since the candidates never answer the question immediately I always forget what was asked in the first place. How about having a graphic with the actual question at the bottom of the screen. I think this would do for debate watching what the First Down Line did for football.
• When Palin came on Erin said "She must be nervous." I replied, "C'mon, she was mayor of Wasilla, I'm sure she'll be fine."
• Everytime Palin would say something that I disagreed with I would say outloud why she was wrong. And then Biden would respond to her with the same thing I said. I'm not sure if this means that great minds think alike, or if I've been brainwashed with Democratic talking points. I pray it's the first option.
• The format sucked. I wish the candidates could have engaged each other more like in the first presidential debate. And this totally favored Palin. So far she has not had a press conference with the media. This is PATHETIC. If you can't see through that then you need to open your eyes.
  
• I kept track, it was 7 minutes into the debate when I first flipped out at how much Palin drove me crazy. One other person does that to me - George W Bush. Not a good sign.
• The best example of why Palin drives me nuts is her answer on whether global warming is a problem. She said it was, but it doesn't matter why it's happening (i.e. she doesn't want to blame humans for it). First this is ignorant. Secondly, how can the cause of global warning not matter! How can the problem be solved if we don't know what is wrong!!!! OK, I'm too fired up, I need to pause for a minute.
• Whenever one of the candidates attacks the other voting X times for issue Y, I never know what to make of it. There are too many weird voting rules in the house and senate to put much stake in it. It's hard to accurately define someone's voting history in one sentence like that.
• I wish Obama/Biden supported gay marriage. In 50 years people will look back on America as being wrong about that issue.
• The debates should probably only be an hour long (not 90 minutes). In fact, I just came up with a new theory. Everything that is longer that one hour would probably be better if it was cut down to fit in 60 minutes. We'll call it the "Evan hates long meetings" theory. I'm totally serious about this.
  
• I'm pretty sure Sarah Palin winked at me during the debate. If I was twenty years older or she was twenty years younger I'd still never date her.
• One of the best parts of the debates was the question about the powers of the VP. I totally agree with Biden that how Cheney has defined the Vice Presidency is an abomination. And of course, Palin supported Cheney's view.

Well, that is way more than I thought I'd write. And I only had half a Coke!

To summarize my night, it was definitely a good idea to go running and have dinner out with Erin rather than just watch the debate and blog.

Sarah Palin should read my blog

If Sarah Palin read my last blog, then she would have been able to answer this very difficult posed by Katie Couric.

Also, I'm thinking about blogging on the Vice-Presidential debate tomorrow night (maybe even a live blog) so keep your eye out for that.