Check In

This is just a check in post, but I am going to do something new with my check-in posts as of now. Since I don't have a lot of time to sit down and type my ideas on these days, what I'll do instead is post a few links, or embed some videos or something. If I can't provide my own thoughts, the least I can to is provide someone else's to hold you over. So I'll post a few things I found interesting, and maybe leave a brief statement of my thoughts about them. Let's give it a try.
- check out my Doug Bailey's MLB Predictions for this year at his blog. The Sports Geek
- Asher Roth's new mixtape has released. I haven't heard it yet, but expect good things. Trust me, the download is safe, I got it off his facebook fanpage, and no one seems to complain about it Seared Foie Gras with Quince and Cranberry
- Actor Danny Glover was in town to bring attention to the boycott of Hugo Boss attire. People in the Cleveland area may lose their jobs as the formal wear supplier wants to outsource. It was a really classy move my him to come into town. Actor in Town to Help Save Jobs
- Speaking of Danny Glover, the new movie he's in, Death at a Funeral, looks hilarious.


That's what I got. Have a good night, y'all.

-Hype

Big Ups To Two Ohio Congressman

I just wanted to show a little respect tonight for a couple of US Congressman from Ohio that stepped up and have decided to do the right thing. Both within this week, House of Representatives members Dennis Kucinich (10th district) and John Boccieri (16th district) decided to change their minds and have stated that they are now in favor of, and will vote as such when the Obama Healthcare bill comes to a vote on the floor of the House in US Congress, some time in the near future. As I understand it, Speaker of the House Pelosi is waiting to call the vote until she is entirely certain the bill will have enough pledged votes to ensure passing. Kucinich and Boccieri have brought such a date 2 steps closer.
Kucinich and Boccieri's choices are interesting, considering they come from opposite sides of the spectrum in a sense. Kucinich originally was not going to vote in favor of the bill because it didn't include one of his own plans with in it, a pretty sorry excuse for voting nay if you ask me. If a Congressman only voted for things he personally had a major hand in, all the time, I doubt much legislation would ever get passed. His change of heart has been taken with some disappointment for some though. Many people feel that Kucinich caved to the pressures of the Obama administration. I doubt this is the truth. This is Dennis Kucinich we're talking about. This is the man who pushed for Dick Cheney to be tried as a traitor, a very liberal and established Democrat known for standing by his own radical antics. He's not the type to let someone else pressure him into anything. In fact, to take the less popular stance and go in favor of this bill, and change sides as he has, is probably right in line with what I'd consider classic Kucinich, he's going against the grain.
As for Boccieri, I know less about him. He's not been around as long, but has still made a name for himself. His original stance was much more in line with a typical disagreement with the bill, that the bill was simply too cost oriented, essentially, too expensive. I'd be more expectant that the pressure of Obama may have gotten to Boccieri, but wouldn't say it for sure. He may have realized this is the best America is going to do as far as a health care solution goes for now, or he may have simply had a change of heart in regards to the bill. I wasn't fortunate enough to actually see his explanation, so I can't tell you for sure.
What I can tell you is that I'm proud of these Congressman for doing the right thing, and representing their districts properly (there is a large movement for the bill in these parts of Ohio, with lots of urban and blue collar people). That's what matters, and of course the fact that they are helping bring health care aid to those that need it so desperately. They are doing it despite the politics that have ridden this saga that the health care debate has become, and despite the possible unpopularity or political ramifications that could come from it. Although I'm sure my politics clearly shine through in this post, I think we can all agree that as long as the above ideals are fulfilled, then the right thing has been done.
Perhaps I'll talk in the coming days about what the health care bill is exactly about, what benefits it contains and such. Too few are informed in these kinds of things. It would be good to get them out. Otherwise, its just nice to see some progress from Congress.

-Hype

Its All About the Madness

March Madness of course. My bracket is all set, and I'm doing surprisingly well so far, granted we're not even through the first night of the first round yet. This is an epic time of year though if you ask me. Its the NCAA Basketball Tournament, its the biggest crap shoot that there is. Capable of making a complete novice look like an expert and vice versa. College basketball is the one sport where I actually am more novice than expert, at least in the major national sports. I only care about it if its March or later, but now I certainly care about it. My bracket is done, but I'm not playing for money in a pool, just pride. Its about to be an excite month of basketball though, hopefully full of upsets and quality games. There's already been a couple of overtime thrillers today to get things started, and an upset in Murray St.'s victory. Hopefully its a sign of things to come. But for now, here are a few notable things about the bracket I filled out:
Winner: Villanova, its all about Scottie Reynolds
Runner-up: Ohio St., Turner almost outduels Reynolds
Final 4: OSU, Syracuse, Kentucky, Nova
Surprising Elite 8 teams: Maryland (defeat Houston, MSU, and Kansas) Xavier (defeat Minnesota, Pitt, and Kansas St.), and Purdue (defeat Siena, Tex A&M, and Cal)
Surprising Sweet 16 teams: San Diego St. (defeat Tennessee and Ohio), Murray St. (defeat Vandy and Butler), Xavier, Temple (defeat Cornell and Wiscansin), California (defeat Louisville and Duke), Purdue, and Notre Dame (defeat Old Dominion and Baylor)
biggest upset: #14 Ohio over #3 Georgetown, don't underestimate the power of a team getting hot at the right time.
Admittedly, I went more with my heart than my head this year. I played favorites, and made Ohio teams go deeper than they should, but this is the NCAA tournament. Its about hopes and dreams, and its about making bold predictions and either looking like a genius or idiot afterward. I'm going for genius this year. I was a genius in 2004 when I correctly predicted a Connecticut vs Georgia Tech championship game, only to pick GT over UConn and ultimately lose. I haven't gotten close to being that close to right since, but this is my year. After all, it is the tournament of hopes and dreams.
I'll be sure to recap as the tournament goes on.

Reason for No Post Yesterday

Stupid Daylight Savings time... with the spring forward. I had to go to bed early yesterday, because I'd prefer not to go to bed at 3 AM, and then I ended up sleeping late because of the time change. I just consider this a minor inconvenience though. Daylight Savings Time has its merits. For one, it was still light out at like 7:30 when I was out. In fact, that basically is the merit of the time change, its darker later, which in my opinion trumps the fact its dark later in the morning, because that will change within a few weeks. I like the fact its still light out at like 9 PM at some points in the summer it makes it all worth it to me. So, its a minor inconvenience for an eventual positive situation. Plus, the time change means summer is approaching and I can't wait for that at all.
Which leads me to one other semi-related point I'd like to make. Tonight, with spring break ending, I go back to school tomorrow. It sounds like a lame scenario, but I'm trying to focus on the silver lining. There are only 8 more weeks until summer starts, and I don't have class then for like 3 months. Its brilliant, and I'm finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. The only problem with this is, summer approaching means I need to find a job. Like I need to find a job, desperately, I haven't had stable, formal work/income before, just odd jobs helping people and stuff. I need something, for my own good in so many ways. Maybe that's a post for another day. At any rate, if you know anybody looking for a well spoken young man that needs work, let me know, haha. Another small inconvenience lies here I guess, but I won't let it detract me from what's more important, and can make me happy. So, I'm glad you are here, Daylight Savings Time.
As for other stuff going on, I watched a couple really good (but older) movies that were on television today. Time permitting, I'd like to talk about them tomorrow, then I got a couple other things planned for this week as well. I'm slightly disappointed in myself for not posting last night or this morning. Its a missed opportunity. But such is life.

- Hype

The Weirdest 9 and a Half Minutes of My Life

WARNING: BAD LANGUAGE AND ALL-AROUND WEIRDNESS, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED


So a friend of mine just dropped this as a link on my facebook page. Its the video for Lady Gaga and Beyonce's song "Telephone", a decent song at least, but its taken a very awkward turn. So I clicked the link, and began to watch the 9 and a half minutes that ensued. I have to say I feel like a completely different person now that I've seen what I've seen, and the biggest feeling I have right now is that of having no freaking idea what just happened. I knew Lady Gaga was peculiar, but this takes the cake. I'm seriously baffled. I don't know if I should call what I just saw a brilliant piece of art or one of the most convolutedly stupid things I've ever seen. I'm leaning towards the latter though.
Pardon me if my thoughts are bouncing around a little bit in this post, my mind is jumbled from what I just saw. I think I may just ramble on for a while. Maybe its just context, but I have no idea what's going on in the video or how it pertains to the song. How does now wanting people to call you because you're in the club have anything to do with poisoning Tyrese Gibson, among others, and then driving off in a truck that's name I don't even want to mention? What the hell is going on here? Seriously... why is Beyonce signing off on this kind of thing, and what's with the little pseudo-lesbian thing she's got going on in this (I was at least feeling that vibe)? There were very few parts of this video that I enjoyed truly. The only that come to mind were the early bit where Gaga slights the people who said she may have "male parts". I found it funny. That and when Beyonce actually says the f word, because its so out of place and unexpected that it becomes amusing.
Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe there is some metaphor, or reference that I'm just not getting. Maybe something in all of this is "all the rage" and I'm just not hip to it. If someone knows something I don't here, please, please inform me, so I can know better and move on (it really means that much to me, ha). Seriously though, maybe there is some artistic or intellectual basis that I just don't know about to all of this.
The only thing that really comes to mind in all of this though, is that Gaga is trying to become a Michael Jackson, or Madonna, or Prince. I'd advise her to stop trying so hard, she's coming off as a wannabe. I mean, think about it. She's making basically, a 9.5 minute small movie out of like a 3 minute song. Furthermore, its one of the most mentally deranged short movies I've ever seen. She's trying to be shocking and artsy and at the very least, I'm seeing through it. Its nothing truly original. She's recycling an old idea; wear really strange things and act "dangerous" while singing very pop friendly songs. Its all been done before, and with only a couple small exceptions, I'm not very amused with her effort. I'm more frightened and perplexed if anything. And seriously Beyonce... what happened? Does Sean (Jay-Z) approve? I thought you were at least normal.
I think I might have nightmares tonight.

- Hype

What's With This Weather?

Today's story... the crazy scenery of the Cleveland, Ohio area. Allow me to elaborate. It reached somewhere around 70 degrees today, it was sunny, and quite pleasant out. I'll be entirely honest, it really was a beautiful day, I spent some time outside playing basketball, and had it not gotten dark so early, I probably would have gone and sat out and enjoyed it more after dinner. Luckily, the whole getting dark early thing won't be a problem after Saturday, Daylight Savings Time change day. Anyway, what's strange about this? Well, nothing within itself, other than its quite a bit warmer than normal for March in Cleveland, but that's not all that strange. What was strange though was the fact there was snow still on the ground. As of tomorrow, it won't have snowed for 2 weeks. We had so much snow then though, that it still hasn't all melted. Maybe Forbes is right about us after all (I doubt it). If nothing else, I'm filing it as more proof that something goofy is going on with the weather patterns right now. Its just so bizarre. I mean, my dad remarked tonight how strange it was to take the dog out for their nightly walk, in short sleeves, in the warmth, while there was still snow out there on the ground And of course, the ground is saturated in all the water, and the rain expected tomorrow may lead to some flooding, but hopefully nothing too serious.. I guess I'm not really complaining though, I'm just sharing an interesting and rare scenario, and its probably a pretty common scenario right now around the northern parts of the country, come to think of it. I'm sure we're not the only area still with snow on the ground and warmth in the air. Its still just so mind boggling though. I don't think I had seen this before.
Unfortunately, that's all she wrote for tonight. Be good y'all.

What is Our Duty as Privileged?

This post stems from something I heard someone say (they will remain nameless) recently. It was in regard to the Haitian earthquake, and the like. My acquaintance was showing disdain for the fact that because this tragic and traumatic earthquake had hit the unfortunate, and often under-privileged people of Haiti, said people would need outside help and efforts from our own US Government would be used. This person was disappointed that time, and effort, and money would be used, by our government, in order to help the people of Haiti. He was disappointed that a people that don't care for government, or our style of life, or the type of civilization we live in, would now come crawling to us in their moment of need. That its their own dang fault for not reinforcing their buildings and homes properly in the first place. And now, the US government, already immersed in trillions of dollars of debt, and with military forces stretched thin all over the world, would now have to come in and help.
How incredibly ignorant is all this? I feel like it is, but at the same time, in a slight way, it isn't. My acquaintance at least makes a valid point, we have absolutely no obligation to help the Haitian people, it is technically not our problem. I don't think his anger or disdain is so much directed at the Haitian people, they are merely the individuals unfortunately planted into this situation. His frustration more comes with the situation and the expectation that the US Government needs to act, especially when we have our own, although relatively smaller, problems.
So I guess what I'm trying to get at is... as a privileged society, what is our duty to aid the rest of the less fortunate of the world? Obviously, first we have our own less fortunate, what about them? Where do they factor in? How do we help with natural disasters? What about other issues? The Bush administration was clearly more than willing to get us more involved in the rest of the world. What about Obama? There are so many questions, and so few concrete answers. I'm just naming a few.
The fact remains though. There are people out there that need the help of someone who can afford to help. Shouldn't we give it a try if we are capable? I'd say so, unless it greatly conflicts with our best interests. I think its fair to say helping repair after these natural disasters doesn't create a major issue in a conflict of interest. So we should do it. Not to spread the merits of democracy, not because we will expect something in return, not because its a way to show our influence over the world. We should do it because its right, and we are a good people typically, and our government is meant to be a representation of us. So they should mimic us. No? Any thoughts?

DA Ripped Cleveland on Way Out

I apologize in advance, this probably won't be my last posting about the Derek Anderson saga, but I felt like mentioning it. Anderson's exactly words to the News Herald yesterday were that Cleveland fans are "ruthless" and "don't deserve a winner". He also brought up how it was cheered as he layed upon the turf of Cleveland Browns Stadium, injured. I hate to say it, but he's right in a way. Cleveland fans are so fickle, its ridiculous. They love you one day and hate you the next. This is a pro bowler that won 11 games in a season, and you CHEER HIS INJURY? What kinds of crap is that? He has every right to speak his mind on that situation, now that he has the opportunity.
He later went on to say that he hopes he starts wherever he goes next, and he hopes they beat down the Browns. Well, that would be his job now, and that comes with the territory of the Browns cutting him. That should be his mindset now if you ask me.
Finally, Anderson was also honest about it. He said he knew he didn't always play really well, but its clear he gave it all he had. I still give him best wishes regardless of what he's said, and especially now that I'm reading this morning that he backtracked and apologized for his comments. He doesn't even need to, but it was nice that he did.
Good luck DA.
- Hype

Good-bye, DA, I Will Miss You

I doubt I can say the same about the rest of Cleveland though. This may not be very big news anywhere else, but the Cleveland Browns cut former starting QB Derek Anderson today, a day after signing Seneca Wallace from the Seattle Seahawks. This was done obviously because, who needs a 6 foot 6 brute of a QB with a laser arm that led your team to 11 wins 2 years ago, when you can have Seneca Wallace, whose best asset is his speed and lack of ability to pass. Now, I realize Wallace is a decent backup and has been brought in because he's familiar with the Mike Holmgren system. That's fair. And truth is, things weren't probably gonna work out with Anderson here anyway. He had the one good year, never got the respected he deserved and never played as well again. I think at some point, he lost some confidence, plus never had and entirely solid offensive line. Perhaps the change of scenery will do him good, perhaps it won't. As one of the few Anderson supporters in the city, I think it will and have devised a plan as to what will happen next. Expect DA to be signed by Minnesota, and back up Brett Favre. Under Favre's tutelage, the tutelage of a fellow gun-slinger type QB, Anderson will learn immensely. Then, when Favre retires, and then unretires after next season and ends up back with the Packers (don't know what's going to happen to Aaron Rodgers yet, I haven't figured that part out) DA will flourish in Minnesota and become a very solid QB. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if that all happened.
The point is though, that it probably was for the best that DA not return, as much as I like him. Like I said, he probably needs the change of scenery. It doesn't help that he got cheered for being injured here at one point (some fans are just brutal), and I'm afraid he just doesn't work in the system being built. This doesn't mean I'm on the Brady Quinn bandwagon though. I feel like Kevin Kolb is our guy, we just have to find a way to get him out of Philly first.
Anyway, I'll miss you DA. Best wishes.

Auto Show Photos References

Just some car photos to references I made in my past auto show post (see below). Upon further review. Some photos get cut off by my blog page limitations. To see full photos in their entirety, just click on them.


The Chevy Camaro. Stylish, inexpensive and powerful.


The Cobalt. Compact, yet pleasant and effective.


The Chevy Volt concept. The latest in new technology.


The Buick Lucerne. A smaller Buick with all the style of the classic big ones.


The Buick LaCrosse. More classic Buick, this photo seems to be a base model, but you get the gist.


The Hyundai Genesis. A stylish yet strong, pleasant surprise.


The Hyundai Sonata. Clean, sleek, and a worthy opponent.

One website... theautochannel.com, uses the same photo for the Honda Accord for 2006-2010. Just shows the kind of change the car has had.





Chrysler Town & Country. Ugly box, perfect for old people who want an SUV.


Quirky, ugly Chrysler PT Cruiser. But its the best bet with the PT because the normal ones haven't changed at all.


Chrysler 300. A poor man's Bentley. But that's still saying much. But...


Hardly and differnce between that and this concept, this is only a little fancier.


The Dodge Challenger. Don't like the paint scheme. Find the Camaro superior.


The Dodge Caliber. Kinda ugly. Wannabe crossover.


The Dodge Avenger. Kinda generic. Wannabe generic Asian car.

My winner the Camaro, as is the Chrysler 300. Rounding out my top 3, and this photo gallery is the Ford Taurus.


Y'all be good.

- Hype

Two Relevant Hip-Hop Premieres

I think its fair to say, with my past complainings about being shirked at the Grammy Awards, and recognition of an artist like Kid Cudi, that I'm very much an enthusiast when it comes to the hip-hop music. Well, the last few days have brought a couple of very important and noteworthy premieres to the music world, at least in my opinion. They are, the "Drop the World" music video from Lil Wayne and Eminem and TI's return to the music industry after incarceration, the appropriately named, "I'm Back". Below are videos of the two premieres, and a little blurb with my thoughts.


"I'm Back" isn't TI's best work. The good news is, that it doesn't have to be. He's on some pretty good stuff though, and I'm really looking forward to his more large scale return. He doesn't disappoint here, he just doesn't blow me away, like he did on most of Paper Trail. This sounds more like Trap Muzik TI, which is about when he music made a turn into being of very solid quality and progressively got better. I can't wait for more, but feel like the chorus here just summarizes the point.


First of all, there's a good chance this video will get pulled off. Its currently a leak, and not supposed to be released until Friday. However, I have it up, and only because I think its really cool. I love the concept of the video, the chaos and whatnot is interesting. Wayne and Em are raging and its apparent in the people of the video. They are the masterminds, the overseers of this rage and craziness, much like their music creates opinions and actions in the people that enjoy it ("music can alter moods and talk to you" -Eminem in "Sing for the Moment"). They are great influencers. It helps that I think the song is dope. Its literally the only Lil Wayne song I really like (not a fan), but he actually brings it well here. I think Em (huge fan) definitely brought the best out in him. Regardless, both of their presences are huge and its worked out well as the share the face time. Great song, really cool video, I like it, and will probably watch it over and over again.
Last but not least, I'll keep an ear out for any news on any more TI music or Eminem music, especially for that Relapse II coming from Eminem.

Cleveland Auto Show Reaction

Today was the last day of the Cleveland International Auto Show, where all the major automobile companies brought their products to the show room floor of Cleveland's IX center. As a little bit of an automobile enthusiast (hardly as much as my dad though), it was pretty much a no-brainer to go, and it was quite an enjoyable show. Basically, every thinkable make of automobile was in the building, and all of the models were there, as were potential future cars, or as they call them, "concept cars". It was quite a show, and quite worth the $12 admission cost to go walking around, looking, and sitting in any automobile that one would like, granted, my dad and I went in the late afternoon, before dinner, so the crowds weren't too large. We basically got to maneuver and walk as we wished. With all this in mind, I'd like to share some thoughts on the specifics of the show. And to get started, I think I need to share some of my automotive biases. For one, I am a stringent supporter of the American automobile. It is typically my personal opinion that the American car tends to be the most stylish yet durable piece of automotive machinery one can buy. This is a broad generalization I make, but the point is my personal preference resides in American cars. With this in mind, it basically means, most of my time at the show was essentially focused on the American automotive companies, I did look over most of the Asian cars as well. However, I basically passed on the European imports. My reasoning as to why is that it is my opinion the European imports, are expensive for one, and this diminishes the appeal of them, especially when most of them are only expensive because the ARE imports. Secondly, their style tends to not change very often. For instance, my friend's BMW from the 80s hardly looks any different than some of the BMWs you see now. Stylistically, their variety lacks, and I'm a very stylistically motivated automotive mind. One other bias I have to mention is an affinity for liking cars, not trucks or SUVs. I feel like the latter lack a certain offering of style and economic friendliness in how they burn gas. With this said, I'd like to talk about some of the things I liked, and didn't like that were presented at the show.
I felt the biggest winner at the show as far as showing a good body of cars and impressing in what they have was General Motors. They may have met bankruptcy in recent times, but they are innovating and improving and clearly trying to turn themselves around. I was particularly impressed with Chevrolet, they've put out a very nice fleet of cars. I was especially pleasantly surprised with their Camaro, which is incredibly stylish for more of a performance vehicle, and just as economically friendly. Its actually less expensive than the new-look Ford Taurus, which should be a step down. For being a little puddle jumper, the Cobalt is still nice, I'd definitely take it over the Ford Focus (sorry to pick on Ford here). The Malibu has been considered one of the most underrated cars in America for a while now too. Their Chevy Volt electric car is a very intriguing concept as well, and they had a model chassis on the scene. The only misstep in their fleet in my opinion is the HHR SUV, which should have been discontinued years ago. Its an odd crossover type vehicle that I just find ugly and deplorable. Other GMs that impressed were Buicks mostly. The Lucerne is a nice car, as is the larger LaCrosse, which I've liked for years. It competes very admirably against Chrysler's 300.
Another, foreign automotive company caught my eye as well. And I need to apologize because I've given them a lot of flack over the years. They are Hyundai. Hyundai's put together some very impressive, yet purchasable cars. The first that come to mind are the Sonata and the Genesis. I was entirely surprised with the Genesis, its style is very nice and its performance is more than one would expect. Looks are deceiving here and I like this car. The Sonata is sleek and equally impressive, it kind of reminds me of some of the Buicks, but with some different accents to the body and interior. Their SUVs are some of the most bearable in my opinion too. They aren't overblown, and they tend to be efficient and reasonably stylish. My beef with Hyundai, if there is one, is how generic some of their compacts come off as. The Accent and Azera come off as very generic and boring to me, basically like most automobiles in the mid 90s. If Hyundai could apply some of their creativity to these vehicles they'd be in great shape.
Now for things I didn't like. For one, I wasn't impressed with essentially ANY of the other foreign makes. I've made my opinion clear on the Euros already. As for the other Asian type cars, the Hondas come off as generic, boring, and lacking any creativity or change over the past 5 years. Look at a 2005 Accord, then look at a 2010 Accord, its basically the exact same thing. I was kind of afraid I'd get run over my a Toyota too. But in all seriousness, I wasn't wholly impressed with them either. They weren't terrible, but nothing that astounded me either. My biggest gripe though was the lack of change from a base model to the more luxurious Asian models. I don't see anything that different in a Lexus or an Acura. The frames and interiors appear essentially the same, just color schemed a little differently, and perhaps a little more chromed up or better fabric, but nothing all that substantial.
My other disappointment comes from the Mopar realm (Chrysler/Dodge). I've been a pretty ardent Mopar supporter in recent history, but I was essentially disappointed. Chrysler was showcasing their Town & Country SUV, which in my opinion is worthless. Its the largest, boxiest, most generic, gas-guzzling gross thing they have in their product line, but that was their showcase. In fact, the best part of said showcase, was that the (relatively) young woman upon the stage talking about the Town & Country was BAD (in the good way). In my opinion the novelty of the PT Cruiser has worn off, and some of the things they are trying to do to make it fresh are just kind of bizarre. What really should have been the showcase was the 300, easily Chrysler's best car. Its beautiful, sleek and stylish, a favorite of mine, essentially the middle-class man's Bentley. Unfortunately, they put some extra chrome and rims on it and had it also as their concept car. Good to know that's the extent of Chrysler's R & D Department. As for Dodge, I held them in pretty high regard coming into my visit, now, not so much. The Dodge Charger was a favorite of mine, until I found its interior is essentially the now extinct Dodge Magnum's interior from 4 years ago. The Challenger just disappoints me, it is easily steps behind the Camaro and Ford's Mustang, especially in style, even if it does harken back to the old school Challengers of the late 60s. Furthermore, the Caliber and Avenger look too similar to me, and kind of fall into the Honda tendency of being generic.
I guess I'll end this with some final thoughts... or something. I realize I've thrown a lot of names out there and stuff. Tomorrow morning I think I might throw up a post with some pictures of the mentioned vehicles, just to give a better visual to those that would like to know better. This was really just my personal thoughts and experience with the products at this year's auto show. I'll conclude by giving my top 3 favorite cars that I saw presented. I'd love to hear and comments or responses anyone may have in return for what I've said. Feel free to get at me.
Top 3:
3. Ford Taurus (starts at $25,000)
2. Chrysler 300 (starts at $28,000)
1. Chevrolet Camaro (starts at $23,000)

honorable mention: Hyundai Genesis (starts at $33,000)

- Hype

Spring Break '10

It began today, well, really last night, but regardless... the point is, Spring Break has commenced. I'm quite happy about this, its been a very trying eight weeks. I have had family issues, lots of classwork, volunteering and observation for my major, and other things going on as well. I'm definitely looking forward to the coming week and the little break at least from the school section of life. As far as excitement though, this spring break probably won't have it, but that is just okay with me. I'm not traveling anywhere for the next week, just bumming around at home. Nor am I going to see a lot of old friends either probably. Some have break on different weeks. Some are staying at their schools they live at for their break. Some are going on trips. Once again, this is all okay. I'm a very low key, laid-back type person usually. I don't need a lot of in-the-face excitement or intensity to keep me interested. A nice, calm, pleasant week at home is just fine with me, even if I do commute to school and this scenario creates very little variety for me. So I'm doing my best to look at things the best way possible. I do definitely plan on enjoying myself as best as I can in the next week plus. Also, the extra time I'm allotted could potentially mean spending more time hearing typing away to you fine people. Its a definite possibility and leads to a chance for a plethora of coming posts. But lastly, and most importantly, anyone else out there taking a vacation, or having spring break, now or in the near future, I wish you a pleasant and safe time. Y'all be good.

The Reason I Didn't Post Last Night

Fantasy Basketball Trade Deadline Edition...
Well, really there were a couple of reasons. Both of them will be talked about eventually here at this site. They are the fact I was at the Cleveland Auto Show yesterday, and also the fact I was deep in negotiations on some fantasy basketball trades during what would usually be my posting time. There will be time for talking about the auto show later, preferably when its not so late at night and my brain wants to function more properly. For now, you'll have to just settle for hearing about how I am a master negotiator. NBA fans, be prepared. Per game stats will be provided in parenthesis in order to provide reference throughout the post.
First, I set the backdrop. Yesterday was the last day in my fantasy basketball league, for the season, for trades to be agreed upon. At 12 AM Friday morning, the deadline passed and trades became void. I'm currently in 6th place, out of 10. 6 teams conveniently get into the playoffs and there are less than 3 weeks left in the regular season, and I'm looking to solidify myself as a worthy opponent in the playoffs, let alone make the playoffs. I needed something to stem the tide, I had been as high as 2nd place at one point this season, but hadn't distanced myself well from the other teams in the standings and eventually my team fell back to reality.
The pressure is on to get my changes right. So I looked at my team needs. I have one stark, glaring need that needed to be addressed in stat categories. That statistical category was assists. You see, my team shot itself in the foot, almost literally. I drafted Gilbert Arenas (32 games) as my premiere point guard in the 4th round of our draft, and didn't bother with many PGs outside of him. I did have Mario Chalmers (7.4 PPG 3.5 APG 1.2 SPG), but that didn't work out so well. When Arenas got charged, and later plead guilty to gun charges, I was put into an awfully precarious position of trying to achieve the assist stat. This was one of my goals in trading. Another goal was to add rebounds, something else I struggled with, all though not as easily explained why. Finally, I wanted to add to my theme. My team is a notorious 3 point shooting, highly skilled, athletic team. I wanted to add to that style of play with any changes. I feel I accomplished all 3 of these goals at some rate.
So my goals were set, but how to accomplish them. I was in contact with other teams the whole week really, trying to work on deals, find where interest was, who would be willing to give up who and for what. My main piece I was trying to shop around for talent was Ray Allen (16.3 PPG 2.7 APG 1.7 3PG). He's a really good player, but most of his best stats were in stats I'm really good at, with or without him, so he was expendable. I was specifically shopping him around for a PG, but to no avail. At one point I didn't think I would get any deals done at all. It was deadline night, all my offers had been declined, most of my interest was in Andre Miller (13.5 PPG 5.5 APG 1 SPG) or Jarrett Jack (11.1 PPG 4.9 APG 1 3PG). Little did I know I was about to fall into something much better. I logged onto facebook to see if any fellow team owners were on (my friends), and I really happened to luck out. In the following hour and a half, 4 team owners appeared on facebook, and I talked to every one of them about deals.
In the end, what I felt like was a marque deal for me was something I hadn't seen coming at all. I hadn't talked trade with the guy in months, but he happened to be on, and I thought I would inquire about his PGs. Jonny Flynn (13.7 PPG 2.5 RPG 4.4 APG) was first, but he wanted Danilo Gallinari (13.8 PPG 5.1 RGP 1.6 APG) in return, a little high of a price for me, Gallinari has had a breakout season for the Knicks, he shoots and rebounds the ball very well. I moved my thoughts to potential rookie of the year, Stephen Curry (15.6 PPG 4.2 RPG 5.3 APG). I was incredibly surprised to find the owner was willing to deal him, either for Gallinari or Allen. Since Allen was the guy I felt I could lose, I sent him away, straight up, for Curry. I like Curry a lot. He can score, shoot the 3, create assists, and even get some steals. He has a turnover problem, but my team doesn't do that a lot so I can afford it, and his 3s and assists were major points of interest.
With this deal done, I proceeded with other potential deals. I felt 1 wasn't enough, 2 would be just fine though. I talked to someone about Luis Scola (14.7 PPG 8.5 RPG 1.9 APG), but they wanted way too much for him. He also wanted too much for Kevin Martin 20.3 PPG 1.7 3PG 26 games), who is way too injury prone to put too much stake into anyway. So I had to say thanks but no thanks. I wasn't willing to give Marc Gasol (14.9 PPG 9.4 RPG 1.6 BPG) for Luis Scola, there's just no way with the incredible breakout numbers Gasol has put up for me this year.
Speaking about Gasols, I also talked to an owner about Pau (17.1 PPG 11.1 RPG 3.4 APG). He is a topic we had visited earlier in the season. I had this crazy notion at one point that I wanted to trade Marc for Pau, and looking back at it, I'm glad the other owner refused, I feel like I got the better half of that. I offered Stephen Jackson (20.8 PPG 5 RPG 3.9 APG) for Pau, but he still wouldn't budge. I could get him for Gerald Wallace (18.5 PPG 10.5 RPG 2.1 APG), but that was the only way, and I was hardly willing to do it. You could argue Wallace has been MVP-esque this year, he's probably my second best player behind Dirk Nowitzki (25.2 PPG 7.7 RPG 2.6 APG). It was apparent that my search for more rebounds wouldn't come easily. I had sent my best offers for both Luis Scola and Pau Gasol, and been met with nothing but a dead end. Derrick Rose (20.3 PPG 5.6 APG) was another talking point with this owner, but he made it painfully apparent he wasn't willing to deal him easily either, and I don't blame the guy. There's a reason why he's currently in first place.
I got lucky though. Another team owner just happened to log on, and he had control of another player the two of us had just happened to have been talking about for a while. That player was Jamal Crawford (17.3 PPG 2.9 APG 1.9 3PG). I've liked Crawford all season, he's been a great sixth man all season for the Hawks. He's a great scorer and shooter, and at times passes the ball well and creates assists (albeit inconsistently). This owner didn't have many rebounders I liked so I settled for a few more and even more solid outside shooting in Mehmet Okur (12.5 PPG 6.8 RPG 1.1 BPG). I've had Okur before, and like his game. Those were the guys I wanted. At first, I was afraid I was going to have to give Marc Gasol, he was a major talking point of past talks about Crawford, he didn't really come up though. Stephen Jackson did, however, and I made it painfully obvious he wouldn't be an option in all of this. Maybe if I was getting a Pau Gasol caliber (really, either Gasol caliber) of rebounder I'd give Jackson, otherwise, he was staying put. Al Jefferson (17.1 PPG 9.3 RPG 49.1 FG%) was movable though. I have Gasol, and Paul Millsap (11.4 PPG 6.2 RPG 56.7 FG%), and Rasheed Wallace (9.8 PPG 4.1 RPG 1.2 APG), and others, lots of talented big men, I could afford to expend Jefferson in order to bring in Crawford and Okur, but I still needed to sweeten the deal a little. And admittedly, I almost got a steal. I almost only also had to deal Derek Fisher (7.5 PPG 2.5 APG 1.1 SPG) and JJ Redick (9.4 PPG 1.8 APG 1.4 3PG), 2 capable, but awfully mediocre PGs that would be blown away in talent by Crawford. I felt like their combined talents were enough to eqaute a fair deal, but my counterpart didn't see it that way. He wanted Beno Udrih (12.1 PPG 3.7 APG 1 3PG) (after another attempt at Steve Jack). I was willing to give Udrih, he was essentially a poor man's Crawford to me, except less of a shooter. I asked for Wesley Matthews (8.4 PPG 2 RPG 1.2 APG) also, just to add to the little bit of assist boost I could get, trading Udrih made Crawford's extra assists kind of irrelevant, so I needed to add a little. With that, we both agreed and the deal was done. An hour and a half later my goals were accomplished. I got my assists in Curry, Crawford and Matthews (but mostly Curry). I get rebounds from Okur, and they are more versatile rebounds than the solely low post scoring I would get from Jefferson. Finally, I added a lot of athleticism and 3 ability, with Crawford, Curry, and Okur. In this aspect, I think I flourished the best.
Just to conclude, my team is going from:
G JJ Redick
SF Stephen Jackson
G Beno Udrih
F Gerald Wallace
C Rasheed Wallace
PF Dirk Nowitzki
C Marc Gasol
C Matt Bonner
SG Ray Allen
SF Danilo Gallinari
PG Derek Fisher
F Paul Millsap
C Al Jefferson
SF Shane Battier
SF Ronnie Brewer

and now will be:
G JJ Redick
SF Stephen Jackson
G Stephen Curry
F Gerald Wallace
C Rasheed Wallace
PF Dirk Nowitzki
C Marc Gasol
G Wesley Matthews
C Mehmet Okur
SF Danilo Gallinari
PG Derek Fisher
F Paul Millsap
G Jamal Crawford
SF Shane Battier
SF Ronnie Brewer

basketball and fantasy enthusiasts, let me know what you think.

-Hype

Why All the Hate?

I'm sick and tired of people hating on my city and the area around it. During the news today, they did a story on a video making the rounds on youtube, with a song corresponding to it that was played on local radio, 100.7 WMMS, to be exact. The video? A song, a parody, "Parma State of Mind". The idea? Disrespect the city of Parma, Ohio, a decent suburb of Cleveland, that never hurt anybody. Half of the negative stuff they mention about Parma, doesn't even exist in Parma, it just comes off as ignorant. It all just makes me flashback to the Cleveland Tourism videos on youtube, another rude and distasteful expression of what Cleveland is, but to a much stronger extent.
People will call this stuff funny, they'll say I need to lighten up, that a video like this isn't to be taken too seriously. Those people are right to an extent, but it just drives me insane, with all the negative stuff Cleveland's been in the news for lately (most miserable list, bad weather list, Imperial Ave. murders, etc.). You would think Cleveland's own wouldn't shoot themselves in the foot like this either. I admit, it would be completely different in the area was in a better position than it is right now. In that case, jokes are acceptable, but I mean, come on people... we're the laughing stock of the country right now, a country down on its luck, too. Furthermore, WMMS has been a staple of Cleveland radio for years upon years, you would think they would respect their city when it needs it most, when its down. Its not a very classy act from them if you ask me.
Speaking of which, as I watched the video on youtube, I could have sworn I recognized the girl singing what would be the Alicia Keys parts of "Empire State of Mind". Considering I'm from the area, was it somebody I knew? Well, no it wasn't actually. I recognize her because she's on the current season of The Real World on MTV (perhaps a different post for a different day will by why I'm watching The Real World), which is a really odd association to make, but it gets better. Not only does she have no guilty conscience for her participation because she's originally from Chicago, a quick google of her name, Erika Lauren, leads to the discovery of the fact she faked the fact that she had cancer. Really classy people we're talking about here, huh?
Well, I'm just rambling, and its because I'm upset, but I'll end with this. If you're from Cleveland, and you happen to read this, feel free to give your take. Let me know how much you think I am overreacting, or if I really am. If you're not from Cleveland, I implore you to take the time, do the research, find out about our wonderful city (the Rock Hall, the sports teams, the museums, the orchestra, Playhouse Square, the Metroparks, etc.), then if you still want to take heed to jokes about us, do so, but at least then you'll realize they need to be taken with a grain of salt.
-Hype

Agony of Defeat

As previously mentioned on this blog, the Skins, my team in my college's intramural basketball league, had their first playoff game on Monday night. Unfortunately, it will also be our last of the season. We lost a agonizing defensive struggle, 30-28. We lost by 2 lousy points, after leading most of the game, I think by 9 at the most. Our opponent never had a lead until the final few minutes and was able to stick it out and hold on when it mattered most. Down 2, a last second opportunity on a alley oop/tip pass fell short and the fate was sealed, but admittedly, in a game that saw us score only 28 points, there were plenty of other missed opportunities. It can't all be contributed to the final play.
In the game, I finally ended my 3 game scoreless streak (that spanned the course of weeks). I had 5 points on 2 of 5 shooting, and no other stats really to mention. I end the season with not very impressive numbers, 3 points a game, 1.67 rebounds, and 1 assist per game. Not my best effort, but on a team that probably scored around 40 a game, its understandable. The important thing is, as corny as it sounds, we had some fun along the way, while winning a few games, and being all-around competitive. We went 3-7, but weren't really blown out of any games, so at least we were close and had chances. Its a lot more fun to compete than it is to have no chance and get blown out. So, I'm happy with my experience in that sense. It was a lot of fun though, I really enjoyed playing with the guys I did, and would love to lace them up again next year. We shall see.

Intramural Basketball Playoffs: Its On

I'm posting a little early tonight because in less than 2 hours the Skins of my college's intramural basketball league take their next step towards dominance... the first round of the playoffs. We come into the playoffs as a 6 seed in a 4 bracket, 32 team scenario. We were 3-6 in the regular season, but luckily every team makes the playoffs. We take on a 3 seed tonight in what I've been told is a very winnable game. Hopefully, an upset is on the horizon. I could use a good game. After a 4 game absence, I've been scoreless in my last 3. I've struggled from rust I think and my production is way down from the beginning of the season. Let's hope for a breakout game, shall we. And lets hope for a victory. I think we have a definite chance. We just have to execute on offense and play a full game. We have times where we get into lulls and get lackadaisical. We also struggle on the offensive end at times. We need an all-out effort tonight to compliment our defense. Its plausible. I don't really know much about who we are playing so I can't really say more, otherwise I would. I will be sure to keep y'all posted on how the Skins and I do though. Wish us luck.

-Hype

Congrats Canada Hockey

Ok, admittedly, I didn't watch as much Winter Olympics as I would have liked. However, today I did watch the gold medal men's hockey game between the United States and Canada. It was a dandy. The game was great. I have nothing but rave reviews for it, and I'm not really a hockey fan, at all. Since I'm not really a hockey fan, I can't really get into the technicalities of the game, I wouldn't know them, I don't follow the sport well enough. What I do know though is that this was one heck of a game. I know sports, and this was a good exhibition of sport if I've ever seen one. The heart and effort in this game, which was played not for the money, but for the pride of country (this is after all, the Olympics, even if played with professional players), was absolutely incredible. The honor exhibited on that rink, was spectacular. Players were dashing to the puck, selling out and diving to block shots, and all-around just leaving it all on the rink. The US fought hard to stay in the game. I feel like the US was a little outplayed and out talented in regulation, even if they did win the first meeting between the 2 teams. But the US hustled and scrapped and hit hard and scored a game tying goal with less than a minute left in regulation. US goalie Ryan Miller was absolutely astonishing in his effort. He stopped so many shots and pulled out so many saves in scenarios that gave the look that doom was eminent. In fact, Miller got a standing ovation as he received MVP honors for the tournament. It was a standing ovation that came from a Canadian crowd that had been hostile toward Team USA for the vast majority of the tournament, booing their successes. Miller earned their respect though, and he certainly earned mine as well.
In the end though, it wasn't enough. Canada was a talented team, probably the most talented in the world, maybe the most talented ever. Sidney Crosby, arguably the best player in the world, scored the winning goal in sudden death overtime. In an overtime that left one on the edge of his or her seat at every glide of the puck. In the end, the Canadians deserve this gold medal. Its their sport, and they certainly earned it in a hard fought win. My hat goes off to them.
However, my hat doesn't go off to all the people I've seen, mainly on facebook, bitter about the Canadian victory. People are being rude about who the Canadians are or how they live, or just stupid things because their great America didn't win. Now I'm very patriotic, I love America, but that doesn't mean I put down others or deny good work when I see it. I appreciate good work when I see it, whoever it comes from. The Canadians did great work. And to see people being bitter during a series of games meant to promote the good will and mutual respect between countries, makes me a little disappointed in my countrymen. I'm probably taking this too seriously, but that's how I feel. Its just a little ignorant if you ask me.
But regardless, congratulations Team Canada. They deserve the gold.

More Scary Weather

http://hype26.blogspot.com/2010/01/2012-global-warming.html
Adding more fuel to the fire of one of my previous posts is the weather of late around the world. This earthquake in Chile today has really got me questioning things. I mean, another major earthquake not that far off in location or time from the Haitian earthquakes is an awfully strange coincidence. Not to mention the ensuing tsunamis that could wreak havoc upon Hawaii, Japan and the like, this is all a dangerous and awe-inspiring situation, and another humbling experience for the human race at the hands of mother nature. Its not the only odd idiosyncrasy in the weather of late though. Case in point, it rained in Las Vegas today, which isn't all that odd, even if it is a desert, but still, its not very likely. Also, we're talking about a time when the Winter Olympics have been held in conditions that have basically been anything but snowy. There in Vancouver, Canada for crying out loud, you would think they'd get snow. Its been too warm though, its rained instead for precipitation for the most part. At the same time Mobile, Alabama has gotten snow, in fact, more snow during the duration of the Olympics than Vancouver has.
It all just makes me question more and more. What's really going on here? Is this just a bunch of strange coincidences? Is it a global warming/climate change deal? Is it god's reaction to not being happy with us as a people? Is it a combination of things? I don't really know, but I do know this is clearly not normal. I don't recall ever having all these odd weather situations occur in my lifetime before, even if I haven't really lived that long, it should still come off as bizarre. But to conclude, it just leaves me scratching my head a little. But more urgently, I wish all the best to anyone involved in today's earthquake and ensuing tsunamis. May god bless.

Cleveland... Worst Weather City?

A lot is being made in the city of Cleveland about how Forbes magazine has been wailing on us lately. Among the negative headlines the city has received from the magazine are things such as the city with the "most miserable people", and the "worst winter weather". There are others too, but those are the first 2 that come to mind, and I got to say, I don't know what Forbes's problem is. Its really not as bad here as people make it out to be. And well, I'm here tonight to debunk one of these ratings that Cleveland's been given. That is, the dishonor of being called the "worst winter weather city".
First of all, the basis for the ratings is just plain foolish. Forbes took 3 things into account when making their list of the top 10 worst weather cities. They are: average annual temperature, average precipitation, and average snowfall. All 3 of these have their problems. First, average annual temperature is misleading. The study is supposed to be about WINTER weather. Why are they using temperature values from all year around? Why didn't Forbes take average temperatures from say... December-March? Wouldn't that make more sense. Not to mention, averages tend to be misleading anyway due to outliers that could spike averages. A city with really hot summers yet still cold winters would have an unfair and irrelevant advantage over other cities. Average precipitation and snowfall confuse me in this study as well. Snowfall IS precipitation. However, many cities, Cleveland included, are marked as having MORE snowfall than precipitation. It makes no sense. Precipitation is rain, snow, sleet, and hail. How can one have more inches of just snow, than snow, rain, sleet, and hail combined? So did Forbes mean rain specifically as precipitation? It would be nice if they explained. And if they did mean rain, how is that relevant to winter? If anything I would take rain in the winter, but most winter weather cities have SNOW, not rain. That's the beef I have with those statistics.
Furthermore, it looks like Forbes just kinda put a bunch of cities in random order to come up with their final list. I mean, nothing in Cleveland's numbers, except the highest snowfall total (which I really doubt compared to Minneapolis) were that bad, and Boston which was # 2, in my opinion had much better numbers than New York at # 3. It just didn't make much sense to me.
Upon a little further review I found that Forbes really did allow other parts of the year, outside of winter, to account for its list. That's why Minneapolis isn't in the top 5, because they have a dry, warm summer. So even though they have the coldest average winter and 3rd most snow (supposedly), they aren't in the top 5 for worst WINTER weather, because of their summer weather. That makes a lot of sense (sarcasm).
I have one last beef with the list. Where the heck is Buffalo, New York? Maybe its not one of the 50 biggest cities that Forbes studied, but if it is, there is no reason it wouldn't be in the top 3 easily. They get more lake effect snow than Cleveland does (its got to do with the wind patterns and stuff), and have it just as cold. They're constantly buried in snow. Their absence is incredibly conspicuous, and perhaps hard to explain.
So take it or leave it, whether it be my gripes or the actual list. I've said all I can. I wouldn't take that much stake into these lists Forbes makes anymore. I'm finding their ways quite unreliable, and I mean, how many people actually read Forbes magazine nowadays anyway? I couldn't tell you.

The Best Song I've Heard Since "Yah!"

"Blah Blah Blah" by Kesha
Easily. And of course I'm joking when I say I think either this song or "Yah" by Soulja Boy is actually good. They're both actually embarrassingly bad, I can't believe people actually consider this stuff music.
"Stop ta-ta-talking that
Blah blah blah
Think you'll be getting this?
Nah nah nah
Not in the back of my
Ca-a-ar
If you keep talking that
Blah blah blah blah blah"
The scary thing is though... people like this. It just leads me to a moment that makes me wonder, what the heck is the matter with people? I mean seriously. I can't believe people consider this girl, Kesha to be talented or have any redeeming quality to her music whatsoever. She's just any annoying party girl that is pretending to sing into a microphone. Problem is, she can't even really sing. The autotune is so ridiculously apparent that it is disgusting. And this song isn't her lone monstrocity. Somehow, this girl had an album reach number 1, with songs like "Blah Blah Blah" and her big hit "Tik Tok". I mean, I can completely understand why they're such big songs. She's talking about things no one's ever talked about before, like getting drunk and behaving incredibly immaturely, and acting like a complete and total slut (there, I said it). Oh wait, I think we've heard this all before, haven't we? Yeah, I have to say, this crap got old when Britney Spears tried to do it years ago. News flash, it was cool when Madonna tried to be risque 25 years ago because no one else had really done it like her before. This is all old and played out now, and its just gotten more immature and classless. This isn't art at all. At least someone like Lady Gaga, who is clearly risque and takes liberties in being a polarizing figure in music, actually has some talent, she has musical knowledge and a capability to sing. Kesha... not so much. It just frustrates me so, because for every Kesha out there, there's multiple qualified and talented people that unlike Kesha, have the spine, the talent, and the not-trashy look, that gets them looked over and unchosen. Its sad really. But the unfortunate fact remains, as long as there are immature girls and woman in this world that find this music cool, or the beats awesome to dance their butts off too, and there's equally immature guys out there willing to exploit this fact and play along as if they enjoy the music, then there will always been a nitch for this kind of crap in the music industry. Makes me wanna throw up.
- Hype

About: Absense and Return

I want to take this time to formally say that I'm returning to the blogosphere. This is my little re-introductory post back to this domain. I apologize for being gone so long, but I really had some pressing matters to tend to, and a lot of school work. I'm now finally feeling willing to start posting again, after having a serious situation in morning my grandmother's death. She was very important to me, she used to watch me when I was little instead of a babysitter. She only lived like 15 minutes away. We were both literally and figuratively close. She'll be greatly missed, and I hope you all take a short moment to recognize her. I thank you in advance.
The other related thing going on in all of this is that since my grandmother is the first person close to me that I've lost, the whole situation has lended itself to me going through quite a bit of soul searching. I've been dealing and thinking about a lot, and its left me a little overwhelmed and more clear on myself at the same time. Maybe some of that stuff will get touched on with this blog, but a lot of it is too personal for me to want to share so openly here. I know y'all will understand.
But, with my return certain now, and me feeling comfortable coming back and writing you can expect a lot more new and different features from me. New posts should be coming just about every day, all on similar topics to what I've done so far. I aim to please and hope I can do so. With all this in mind, its good to be back. I hope others are glad to see me return, and I hope to put out an actual opinion or statement type post that I usually make tomorrow. Thanks all.

-Hype

Just a Check In

I'm just checking in to say I haven't forgotten about posting here. I know I planned to return on Friday, but have been using time lately to recuperate. I'm sure y'all understand, I did lose a family member. I would like to post tomorrow. We shall see. That is all for now.

Short Post

This is just a short post because I'm going to be busy the next 2 days due to funeral ceremonies. I plan to be back Friday. Y'all be good.
-Hype

Closure

This is the long awaited end to my journey through the past weekend of sports viewing, and it ended very nicely. Unfortunately, some serious family problems slowed the appearance of this post but couldn't prevent it, and though I'm late, I'd like to share some thoughts.
First, Daytona... it would have been an awesome race if not for the stupid delays for potholes. How the heck does that happen? I realize the drivers like the track surface a lot and don't want to see it repaved, but its clearly necessary now. It was kind of ridiculous to have 2 delays of the race to have to fix the track, but I find it strange the track lasted so long in the 2 weeks of basically constant use and finally crumbled for the 500. I wonder why then. The race itself was great though. I was wrong in predicting Mark Martin would win, he finished in the top 15. Jaime McMurray was johnny on the spot as he fought his way to the win in the ultimate green-white-checkered scenario of the night. He's deserving, although I don't know if I like the whole unlimited green-white-checkered rule that's been instituted this year. I like the trying to get a green flag finish in general. However, its too early to tell, but it could get mad annoying and subjective. Dale Earnhardt Jr. came out of nowhere to finish 2nd. He covered 8 spots in 2 laps to finish there. It was a definitely an impressive performance for someone who's been criticised so much in the past year for his performances, but he always runs well at Daytona. We'll have to see if he can sustain it now. It was a really entertaining race though, even if the delays meant I didn't have a chance to view any Olympics.
The All-Star Game for the NBA capped off the weekend, and it was clearly the best event of the entire All-Star weekend. The East won, as predicted here, 141-139. LeBron didn't win the MVP, Dwayne Wade did, but he was truly deserving, with 28 points and 11 assists. LeBron impressed though, in fact, to be honest, him and Wade put on the best show together throughout the night. LeBron had 25, and they both had a wide array of dunks, many of the alley oop variety to each other, some would say they were the best dunks of the weekend, including the contest the day before. I probably would too. It was a fun game to watch though, even if all the extra entertainment was too long and delayed the game too much, the game itself was great, and the best part of the weekend. Kudos to the city of Dallas for putting on a good show, even if Jerry Jones was one of the people in charge.
Just to conclude, I had fun viewing all the stuff this weekend, and completely ignoring the fact Sunday was Valentine's Day (y'all thought I forgot I bet). I can afford to do that kind of thing right now if you know what I mean, but it was a great weekend if you're a sports fan, and that's my point. They don't make them like that all that often, so it was good while it lasted.

-Hype

Sunday Morning Update

So I was able to sequester some clips of the happenings of last nights NBA All-Star contests. I must say, I feel like DeMar DeRozan (of the Toronto Raptors) got a little robbed in the dunk contest. I feel like his first dunk of the 2nd round was the dunk of the night, and more was made of Robinson's dunks than should have been. Granted, Nate Robinson is only 5 foot 9, which makes his dunks an even greater feat, but still DeRozan brought it. My only fear is that people knowing Nate Robinson's name better than DeRozan's factored into the final vote. For some reason, the NBA thought it was a good idea to give the fans a text vote to decide the winner of the final round, rather than use the judges. Why switch methods of judgment midway through the contest? I don't know, but its not that big of a deal. I'd still call it a close call between DeRozan and Robinson, it could really go either way. Both put on a really decent show though, even if the creativity WAS a little lacking this year.
Paul Pierce's win in the 3 point shootout was pretty cut and dry, he came out and shot the basketball well in both rounds. I thought Stephen Curry might catch him in the finals, but couldn't quite do it. It was a pretty impressive winning performance, but truly not anything seriously mind-blowing. Chauncey Billups was the other finalist with Curry and Pierce. Channing Frye probably shouldn't have been in the contest, and left the big man shooting to Dirk Nowitzki (should've participated). Congrats to Pierce though.
The other clips I got to watch were the skills competition. Steve Nash won the contest pretty handily. The final round between him and Deron Williams was a landslide, mostly because Nash ran the obstacle course flawlessly and Williams screwed up on one of the passing drills. Granted, I feel like there's a little chance to their obstacle course, sometimes how the ball bounces into a circle on a pass is just as important as the skills the guy throwing the pass has. With that said, its all in good fun, and Steve Nash is clearly a skilled enough player to win something like this. My only other gripe is that I'd love to see a big man try this competition. I realize they wouldn't win because they are slower, but why not anyway? It sounds right up Hedo Turkolgu's alley, he's pretty skilled with the ball. Anyway, Nash had a lot of fun in reaching the trophy and subsequently hoisting it up, so its all good.
Since I have this chance I'd like to make a couple predictions for today. As I have mentioned, today is the Daytona 500, and the NBA All-Star Game is tonight. I'd like to touch on these, and who I got to win. In Daytona, I finally feel like its Mark Martin's year. He's been racing effectively in NASCAR since before I was born, but has never won a Daytona 500. He came a very close 2nd in 2007. In the mid 2000s, he contemplated retirement. He wasn't being as successful as in the past, but he took part of a year off, came back with a new racing team, and rejuvenated his career. He's once again very competitive, finishing with a chance in the playoff system last year. This is his chance to win the Great American Race; he starts in the 2nd position. As for the All-Star Game, I like the East. I'm going to be a bit of a homer with this pick, but hey, its an All-Star Game, it doesn't mean much more. The West has been hit by the injury bug before the game even started. 3 of their chosen players aren't playing, including Kobe Bryant. The East is only going to miss Allen Iverson, who only would be playing anyway because the fans voted him in. I like the East's athleticism to defeat the West's size. The All-Star game is a lot of running and athletic manuvering, and the Eastern team is built for it. LeBron will become the 3-time All-Star Game MVP, showing off his variety of skills with a cast around him he could only dream of.
We'll just have to see how right I am.

Big 'Ol Weekend O' Sports: Saturday night update

It was another nice day to take in some of the athletic competitions going on throughout the weekend. The cold and snow outside made it easier to stay in and watch some things. Unfortunately, distractions kept me from some of the things I wanted to watch. I can't really report on those right now because of this, but hope to find clips online in the coming days and will be able to share more.
I did get to see the Nationwide Series debut of Danica Patrick. I have to say, it somewhat disappointed. I believe she finished 35th (of 43) and wrecked in the process. The crash wasn't her fault, she was caught up in a cloud of cars at the wrong time, but its still a little discouraging. Just as discouraging was the seeming lack of comfort she had in the car. Stock cars are quite a bit different than the open wheel machines she's used to. There's a lot more physical proximity of cars in NASCAR, and its definitely something she'll have to get used to. So is the handle of the different car. She did improve as the race progressed, and I think part of that is because the car got worked on and improved in pit stops as well. After all, a better car means a better performance. As for the race itself, it was quite entertaining. Tony Stewart won in a close finish that almost saw a youngster in Justin Allgaier come through late and win. He was in 2nd as late as the final lap, and really on Stewart's tail. He took a gamble to win going wide on Stewart, and ended up paying the price. He finished 4th. Carl Edwards was 2nd. Overall, the race didn't disappoint. I usually watch for the late action and it was really good with the surprise of Allgaier knocking on the door of victory. There were a few cautions that kinda messed with the tempo of the race, but nothing too ridiculous, considering there were 2 big wrecks with 10+ cars.
Unfortunately, I missed tonight's part of NBA All-Star weekend. I need to go back and see it, and hopefully nba.com or youtube will put all the dunks up, or at least the really good ones. I'd also like to see the 3 point competition, but that's probably too much to ask. From what I understand, Nate Robinson became a 3rd time champion of the dunks (should be LeBron), and Paul Pierce won the 3 point shootout. Steve Nash came off his fantastic night last night lighting the Olympic torch in Vancouver to win the skills competition in Dallas tonight. Kevin Durant remains the only HORSE champion in NBA history, as well as a 2 time winner. I'd like to provide more info as I see more clips. At the least, I'm most definitely watching the game tomorrow.
I also saw a LITTLE Olympics today. I saw some speed skating, which is cool to me. I guess it was preliminaries for the later competition, so beating the clock was all that counts. I didn't see enough to talk much about it, other than that the one French guy I saw just dominated.
Hopefully I can be a little more concrete tomorrow.

Big 'Ol Weekend O' Sports: Friday night recap

So, in relation to the post I made earlier today, I'd like to talk a little about the things that transpired tonight. The night's 2 major happenings were the beginning of NBA All-Star weekend, and the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Personally, I watched some of both. I watched all of the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game, a little of the Rookie-Sophomore Challenge and then part of the opening ceremonies.
The Celebrity All-Star Game was fun as usual. The entertainment factor alone in watching people that shouldn't play basketball actually play the game is amazing. It makes me feel better about how I play the game. I mean, who DOESN'T want to see Mark Cuban try to back down Chris Tucker, or Dr. Oz of Oprah fame try to shoot a wide-open 15 foot jump shot. I mean this was a game where at halftime 1 team was shooting 20% from the field, and the other had 15 turnovers. At the same time, you find out a few of these guys have some game actually. Rapper/actor Common impressed me a little, he can really handle the ball well. He had like 8 points. Actor Joel Moore, best known for being in Avatar and Dodgeball, also impressed, which is funny because he looks like a dorky guy, but he had a nose for the ball and some good moves to the basket. I only have a couple complaints from the event. The use of Harlem Globetrotters as players is stupid. They're actual basketball players, they shouldn't be allowed in. I realize they're there to keep the game interesting and make sure at least a few points are consistently scored, but still. Also, Michael Rappaport didn't deserve the MVP award, he had 4 points, and supposedly "shut down Terrell Owens". TO just didn't try in the 2nd half. It probably should've gone to Special K from the Globetrotters, he had like 17, but they refused to give it to anyone but a celebrity. Its a fun little event they do though, and I enjoyed it. Oh, and the West (Special K, Cuban, Common, & co.) defeated the East 41-37.
I only watched a little of the Rookie-Sophomore game, so I can't speak much to that. I know the Rookies actually beat the Sophomores for once, and were led by Tyreke Evans of the Kings. Russell Westbrook of the Thunder dropped 40 points. The Rookies won 140-128. The only other thing that stood out to me was that Rookie DeJuan Blair had 23 REBOUNDS (he was a steal for the Spurs). It may not have been close, but I'm sure the high scoring lent itself to a lot of action.
Then there was the opening ceremonies. I missed most of the introductions due to other distractions, but watched quite a bit of the presentation. From what I understand the Americans were received quite well by the crowd. It was a solemn but good moment to acknowledge the Georgian luger that lost his life earlier today in competition, as well. It was very classy to give him the attention that they did, and it was great to hear the crowd gave a lot of respect to the other Georgians. The presentation was incredible. The use of the projectors upon the stage floor was beyond impressive. The images and grace of the performance were fantastic. It was thoroughly enjoyable, even if the ensuing speeches by the Vancouver Event President and IOC President were a little bit dull. Still, the performance was an incredible depiction of the different areas of Canada and their natural essence. The homage to the land and the natives as well as normal society was very cool. Then the last action of the night was the lighting of the torch, which had a little hitch in it. It was meant to be joint lit by 4 people, but only 3 torches rose from the stage, which obviously causes a problem. They took it in stride though. Excellent choices were made for the lighting of the torches. Wayne Gretzky is a no-brainer, as was Rick Hansen, a Canadian paralympian. It was cool to see the Canadians pay respect to Steve Nash, I never really though of him as someone who linked himself to his Canadian roots. Overall, it was an very splendid ceremony. I'm ecstatic now for the games to begin.
More to come as things develop in the next couple days.

-Hype

Weekend Full of Big Time Sports

Anyone who has grown tired of my posts about sports being so prevalent recently, I'm sorry, but its not going to change this weekend. I'm looking at the goings on for the weekend and I've noticed, there's quite a few athletic events to take notice of. Needless to say, I think I know what I'm doing this weekend, and I'm afraid its not going to be anything productive. At the same time though, the weather's nasty, its warm inside, and at least I won't be stuck in a winter funk of boredom. As for specifics on what's going on...
It all started last night actually. Cavaliers vs Magic at Quicken Loans Arena in The Land. In fact, that's part of "the reason I didn't post last night". Cavs won 115-106, LeBron James was marvelous, as was JJ Hickson, who's game has stepped up ever since I called him out here on this blog (coincidence? I think not). Its the Cavaliers 13th straight win as they cruised to the All-Star break, more on that in a moment.
Tonight is the beginning of two things. One is the winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. I'm very much looking forward more to the actual events starting than the opening ceremonies, those really don't do much for me, but regardless, I'll probably tune in at some point. I'm definitely looking forward to the diversity and intrigue that comes with the winter Olympics though, with all the different events. Some of the favorites I have are hockey, bobsled, curling, skiing of all sorts, snowboard, and figure skating. Last time the winter Olympics came, I got really into the curling. Admittedly, it looks really lame, guys throwing a stone down a sheet of ice and sweeping with brooms, but its actually cool. There's a lot of strategy involved, and accuracy within the competition, so I find it interesting. I wonder if something else will jump up on me this year that I didn't know about.
The other event tonight is the beginning of All-Star weekend for the NBA. Tonight is the dunk-off to see who the final player in tomorrow's dunk competition will be. The real treat of the night though is the Celebrity All-Star game. For whatever reason I also find it interesting. I don't know if its because its a glorified pick up game or because you get to see television people do something that makes them seem more human or what, but its cool to me. I'll probably tune in to that. There's a lot of humor involved along the way too.
Saturday is Danica Patrick's first NASCAR Series (like the AAA minor leagues of NASCAR) race at Daytona. I'm pulling for her in that. I've grown somewhat disillusioned with NASCAR over the last few years. I used to love it but some of the rule changes have left me frustrated. Danica's appearance is definitely bringing me back a little though. I want to see what she has to offer on such a large stage.
Also Saturday is all the All-Star weekend competitions. That includes the skills competition, 3 point shootout and dunk competition. I'll get more in depth on those later but the dunk competition is always a favorite to me, even if LeBron's never been in it like he should. People say the competition's fallen off in recent years but I tend to disagree. The originality and fun that goes into some of the dunkers performances is still great. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing some cool stuff on Saturday night there.
Then, Sunday is the Daytona 500. I may be a little ticked at NASCAR, but I never miss the Great American Race. Its a classic and an exciting race, steeped in tradition, and I'm all for tradition. I'll be watching this one closely as the NASCAR Cup Series gets kicked off with this event. I can't wait for the roar of the engines and the scrambling of the cars.
Finally, Sunday night brings the NBA All-Star game. Another fun event, and a great way for the leagues best to show off and put on a great show for the fans. Its probably the best of the major sport's All-Star games in my opinion. I love how no one tries until the final 6 minutes of the game, then its all about competition again, and that's the way it should be in an exhibition like this. Its more for show, but still competitive. It'll be a very solid end to a very sports packed weekend, and I can't wait to see LeBron, and company do their thing.
In a nutshell, that's this weekend. The weekend of posts I put up will probably be devoted to more specific things about all these events. I'll probably be giving picks and things to watch out for throughout the weekend. I at least know for certain though, I will enjoy myself. Hope you do too.

Fantasy Sports

They're like crack to a sport management major with General Manager aspirations, and that would pretty much describe me. Its become apparent to me, I'm hooked. For those don't know, fantasy sports are an online game where you take all the players in a given team sport, usually baseball, football, or basketball and place them in a draft. Team owners (people like me) then choose which players they want, and make additions and deletions throughout the season to create their team. The players accumulate real life stats, like home runs in baseball, or rebounds in basketball, among others, and those are considered the scoring in order to depict the success or failure of one's team. Its fun as a major sports fan and someone that wants to have a sports related career to try to manage and put together the team that will win your league's championship when pitted against your peers. It allows for many strategic decisions of what stats your team may need along the way, and what players are available, through adding or trading to give you the boost you need. It also allows for a lot of trash talk, something I really tend to enjoy. My friends and I get into it, and that's what makes it fun. We're all at least fairly knowledgeable, so its competitive and a fun way to apply our sports fandom. Being in tune with your players and what you're doing helps give a greater appreciation of players and teams that may not be around you as well. For instance, I may live in Cleveland, but since I have Gerald Wallace, I have a major interest in him, and in turn, the Charlotte Bobcats. So there are some goofy bonuses to this practice of fantasy sports, but they're bonuses nonetheless. So this is just basically my ode to fantasy sports. I play the 3 major sports including a souped up version of baseball that I just got in to, which is kind of the inspiration for this post. Perhaps a more specific post about that league will come some other time, but for now, I just wanted to introduce the wide world of fantasy sports, and why I, and many other fans have grown to love them. I'm sure I'm forgetting some of the merits right now, but that's all that's coming to mind right now. Feel free to add anything you can think of out there.

-Hype

Super Bowl Part 2: The Entertainment Side

I realize I'm a couple days late, but I'm going to do this anyway. I'm the kind of guy that watches the Super Bowl for the actual game usually, but I would like to highlight a few of the commercials I found particularly amusing, and a couple I just found to be stupid. Videos to the specific commercials will be provided, and superbowlads.fanhouse.com has all of the commercials from Sunday's game on demand at their site.


Betty White takes time to poke fun of herself and her old age. Funny premise, well executed by Snickers. I've liked them ever since their "Patrick Chewing" schtick.


Leno, Letterman, and Oprah make fun of the recent ridiculousness of the late night drama. Its funny to see them together, and just an odd pairing with Oprah there, but its all good. I guess Conah was contacted to partake, but declined. Letterman mocking Leno is funny.


It probably has something to do with my odd obsession with Brett Favre, but this might have been my favorite. A reoccurring theme of the ones I've listed is the famous people in them making fun of themselves, and Favre does it great here. The funniest thing is though, I really wouldn't be surprised if he really wins the NFL MVP in 2020 at 50 years old. He's crazy enough to do it. That's why it works.


This is just funny, and almost all guys get the motivation for it. I literally laughed out loud when I heard the dude say "How about lavender?". Jim Nantz delivers it all well too. Funny stuff.


Charles Barkley does his best Dr. Suess impression, and I love it. I find most things Barkley does funny, so this isn't a stretch. The guy with dreadlocks is funny too.

Now, as for some of the ads, I didn't like... I won't post them, because that would defeat the purpose of not liking them. I mean, I'm not gonna show you the commercials I don't like. That's dumb.

I think its ridiculous how Danica Patrick decides to dumb herself down for those godaddy commercials. I understand she is a pretty lady, but she doesn't need to sell it so hard. She should do more respectful commercials for herself, she's talented enough at what she does that it should be enough.

The Budweiser body bridge commercial was dumb. Having all those people create a human bridge for the Budweiser truck... really? How desperate can you get? I didn't really find it funny.

And then there's Megan Fox. The commercial (for Motorola) would work if Megan Fox was actually that attractive, and if the commercial didn't get vulgar with the mother beating on the door (I figured out where that was going). Overrated Megan Fox and overrated Motorola make for a deadly combination, and its one that I'm not particularly fond of.

I also wanted to talk about the halftime show, since its entertainment related. I'll be completely honest. I didn't watch the halftime show. I know who The Who are, and know a few of their songs but would hardly consider myself a fan. I have a small problem with the NFL using them as the halftime show, most of it lying in the fact no one under the age of 30 really finds The Who very relevant, and that they're a British band, playing at the largest American sporting event there is. I don't mean to disrespect them, but do they really understand the weight of the Super Bowl, here in America? I kind of doubt it. It would be nice for the NFL to pick a halftime show made for someone under the age of 40 some time in the near future, but I doubt its gonna happen. Timberlake and Janet Jackson screwed us over on that one. Until then, I'll probably just continue to ignore the halftime show, its not really where any of the true action lies anyway. My favorite take on the whole scenario comes from Jim Rome and his radio show though, yesterday he said people under the age of 25 were all saying "Who are these 60 year old guys with guitars? And why are they playing the CSI song?" I found that humorous.
Any thoughts on anything touched on are welcome. For now, I'm out.

-Hype

Congrats New Orleans Saints!

I wanted to provide my congratulations to the Saints for winning the Super Bowl last night, 31-17. As a doubter of them, I can say it was a well earned win in my eyes and a very entertaining game to watch as a fan. I must say, I'm happy the Saints won, its great for a city that has been down and out all too often. Not to mention, its the first Super Bowl victory ever for the city of New Orleans so its a major feat in that regard as well. As a citizen of the Cleveland area, I can certainly relate to that. It was really great to see how that team has rallied around the city, especially in the Sean Payton era, and for them to bring a trophy home is just awesome. With all this said, I'd like to take some time to play analyst and mentioned some of the things I found interesting throughout the game:
- Drew Brees was masterful. He had 32 completions (tied for a Super Bowl record), almost 300 yards, and played literally flawlessly. He spread the ball around so well and adjusted when noticing that the Colts came prepared to cover the deep pass. He took advantage with short and intermediate passes instead.
- Reggie Bush was conspicuously absent from most of the game. He had only 5 carries and 4 catches. He did have a pretty productive 63 offensive yards, but really didn't get as many touches as one would expect. He wasn't really heard from in the playoffs outside of the Divisional game against the Cardinals. Pierre Thomas played a pretty significant role instead with 9 catches, he really carried the load as far as RBs went for New Orleans.
- Passing was kind of the law of the land in this game. This shouldn't be much of a surprise really considering the teams and personnel involved, but still, usually defense and running the ball lead to championships. These 2 teams threw the ball a total of 84 times. They only ran it about 20. What makes this a little baffling is that Joseph Addai ran the ball pretty well in the first half for the Colts, but then they got away from him. I don't know if the Saints made adjustments to discourage the run or if Peyton Manning just decided to put the game on his own shoulders, but Addai seemed to disappear mostly in the second half. He did carry is 13 times for 77 yards, for a healthy average of almost 6 yards a carry.
- Peyton Manning returned to his old flaw. If Manning is challenged in the playoffs, he will falter. Think about it. All those years he never could get over the hump of facing the Patriots. The one year he gets to the Super Bowl in '06 he faced the clearly inferior Chicago Bears, hence the championship ring. Otherwise, he never gets it done in the playoffs because he can't handle the challenge. Peyton Manning is a great quarterback on most days, but when its all on the line, and he's facing a worthy opponent, I somewhat question him.
- Dwight Freeney played his heart out. The Colts defensive end played really well in the first half, and the Colts kind of went as he went yesterday. He wasn't the same player in the second half as the guy that one-arm body slammed Brees in the first. The Colts weren't the same team either. He admitted the extended halftime aided to the stiffening and discomfort in his ankle. I think that's a fair assessment, and definitely a shame if true. There's no reason a bunch of 60 year old guys with guitars should have an effect on the outcome of the Super Bowl. That's how the ball bounced though.
- Gregg Williams did it again. He came with a very well prepared plan for the Colts, it was brilliant really. He noticed how Peyton Manning figured out the Jets scheme by the middle of the 2nd quarter in the AFC Championship game, and figured he'd come with 3 different schemes. 1 for the first half, 1 for the 3rd quarter, and 1 for the 4th. He kept Manning on his toes and let his players execute. Plus, he let his players do what they do best, apply pressure and create turnovers, that's what sealed the game with Tracy Porter's pick 6.
- Tracy Porter for playoffs MVP. The last 2 games of the season he virtually sealed wins by picking off 2 future hall of famers.
- Sean Payton was excellent. A lot is being made of going for it in the 2nd quarter at the 1 yard line. I don't care so much about that, they got the 3 points after all. The onside kick to start the 2nd half was hella gutsy though. It was a great call and something they must've picked up on in the Colts special teams. It was a great move to keep the ball out of Peyton Manning's hands. That's what Payton executed best on all game, keeping it out of 18's hands.
So yeah, congrats to the Saints. I'm sure they'll celebrate this one down there. It was an excellent end to the NFL season.