i loved nemo's posted-tuesday, likely-written-tuesday, but dated-to-look-like-it-was-posted-saturday story regarding fighting the urge to watch e! true hollywood story: full house during the illini's incredible comeback on saturday night.

i had similar "watch great hoops, or bad tv?" problems during what was probably the most exciting weekend of college basketball of my life. my temptation: the ashlee simpson show. because, i'll be honest, she is this world's greatest living train wreck. she's obviouslee talentless, she's obviouslee a fraud (a true punk grrl, i'm sure), and she's obviouslee done none of the work that should theoreticallee be required to earn some sort of stardom. and, of course, when she appears in front of her largest audiences (notablee, saturday night live and the orange bowl), she tends to flop horriblee.

so, anyway, the digital cable told me that this particular featured "ashlee performs at the orange bowl." i had previouslee seen snippets that indicated they had dived full steam ahead into the lip-syncing (she said, at one point in an episode i saw bits of today, "lip singing," it should be noted) by taking her to the doctor to deal with acid reflux, so i was interested to see how they would address "pop star gets booed by the entire audience after her performance." interestinglee, the show breezed over this, not even playing any crowd noise or showing a sad ashlee

sadlee, i was watching this - at least parts - as deron williams was hitting another three and happy jack was draining a long deuce and things like that. i saw the decisive points, but i did not see all of the comeback points. and commercials build tension; i was watching ashlee, and missed out on this tension.

- - - -

i'm not a bad person, and i believe in equal rights and equal opportunity and things like that. however, after being on the phone for 90 minutes, largely not understanding my service technician ('ello. my name is ahn-drew. 'ow may i help?), i would like to say that customer service phone positions should not be outsourced to south asia. i love indians, at least two of them anyway, but i do not love indian phone service people.

every time he gave me an instruction or asked a question, i had to ask for him to repeat it. and then again. and then i said "i'm sorry...what was that?" and then, the fourth time was generally a charm. again, i'm a good person, but these people and companies have got to be stopped.

a note: my computer, which has a not-really-functional ac adaptor/back panel combination, needs a new back panel. i received a case number yesterday, but was then accidentally disconnected. frustrated by being on hold when i called back, i hung up. i did like yesterday's phone person, "trixie." today, i called back, held, and was told that i was being "transferred to dispatch management" (the people in charge of home maintenance people). five minutes later: "bla bla bla" "huh??" "it'll be only five more minutes. i understand you've been waiting a long time." and then that happened about 12 more times, and then he gave up and sent an email that said "reply to our message and tell us when the best time for us to contact you is."

- - - -
penelope cruz is on letterman. she is beyond smoking hot. chris rock introduced her and salma hayek as "my favorite four presenters" during the oscars, which was fairly offensive and yet fairly funny. dave said, "you must have been beautiful as a ballerina." she said, "i was four." it was pretty funny.

- - - -
i've gotten lots of work done lately. only the cover (certainly a not-insignificant portion) of the program remains. i was there until 9 tonight, but i'll be able to come straight home tomorrow (although i'll likely be on the phone with dell customer service.)

so yesterday i referred to the 'gargle' and 'throat spray' that i had purchased owing to my virus-affected throat. i guess i was anticipating liquid halls (i like halls, actually) or something, but i clearly misunderstood what the medical professional told me.

because, it turns out, i've received an ultra-dense (think the consistency of honey) and ultra-bitter clear goo. what this means is that i absolutely am incapable of actually gargling this stuff. i've attempted four times. i've been driven to tears each time. (cough-induced tears...not sadness-induced tears.) so, the net affect of this gargle has been absolutely nil.

i was warned that my 'throat will be a bit numb' after using the gargle, and that 'it's okay if you happen to swallow some...you'll just feel a little odd in your stomach...a bit numb.' you see, with this gargle, numbness is the watchword.

here's what i've experienced four our of four attempts:
squeeze the liquid (yes, it required a squeeze bottle; it doesn't actually pour) into a small spoon. tilt my head back. open up. stick my tongue out. hold the spoon perpendicular to the ground. wait. wait. wait. feel liquid touching my tongue. gag one. feel more liquid get on the tongue. gag two. glance at the spoon. bang spoon against my tongue to get the remainder of the goo off of the spoon. (at this point, i'm gagging, still.) attempt to gargle. don't actually get it all the way to my throat, as the bitterness is causing the gag reflex. close my mouth. lean forward. wait. recover. tilt head back. gargle again. begin to gargle-cough. lean all the way forward, spit out goo, wipe off tears.

my other problem: the goo tells me to gargle "15 mL" every three hours or as needed. the question then becomes, what the hell does 15 mL look like? the answer: i'm not sure.

i'll correct myself: the net effect is not nil. the net effect is that the front part of my tongue is numb, owing to the rest period.

if i'm a 25-year-old heterosexual male, and i watch american idol (to the point that i even use that antique, the vcr, so as to not miss it), is there something wrong with me? yes, yes there is. i want nadia to win, although i'm told she was in the bottom three last week, and is probably gone. after her, my choice is anwar. then i don't know.

i will likely not be watching american idol once the season starts. fact is, i'm already going to have to tape 24 and survivor, and i think a three-show load is probably too much to handle.

i alluded to my sore throat in yesterday's entry. and i woke up this morning and, after a day of improvement, it was worse. considering that i use my voice for a living, i was quite scared. scared enough that, at 7:15 in the morning, i called a co-worker (like me, an 8:20 or so riser) to see if he could cover my (last) school visit this morning. thankfully, for both of us, his phone was off.

so i fought through it. lots of dryness. lots of near-coughs. a fair amount of pain. but i made it through the assembly. when i got home, i dug out my insurance information and began finding out who i could go to in the region. i called the ear/nose/throat specialist (probably should see a general practitioner first, but i'm getting nervous and desperate...by the way, this one was 35 miles away) and, alas, he was gone for the week. so i called another one and he was booked until the middle of april (this one was 40 miles away). so i called the first general practitioner on my list (i'm on a ppo...hence the 35-mile drive for a throat doctor), a doctor at what i thought to be a clinic. "we book three weeks out." crap.

so i go to the extended-hour non-emergency-medical-service-for-the-uninsured-or-poor-planners place. i get there at 10:25 a.m. i'm called in at 10:45. i do a throat culture. i answer basic questions. i return to the waiting room at 10:49. i finish the entire jesus issue of newsweek. (i didn't bring along a current spin or espn, and i'm done with the sports illustrated - having a limited social life has benefits!) i watch hunter on tv land. (what waiting room has tv land!?! not nickelodeon. or cnn. or fox news. or a local network affiliate?! TV LAND!?) i nod off briefly. i stare at the people who come and decide to leave. i make no small talk with my fellow waiters. at 12:25, i get called in. at 12:31, i've left the building.

what's worse than spending two hours in a waiting room and receiving exactly nine minutes of medical care? hearing that "it's not strep, it's some sort of virus... oh, yeah, your throat is red... yeah, here's a perscription for a gargle. it'll ease the pain. call us if it's not better in a week." (or perhaps, the bill i get from the insurance company in three or four weeks. that'll be fairly bad, too, i guess.) so i've gotten my throat spray, although i've not used it yet. we'll gargle before bed.

i finished a fascinating book last night, dave eggers' you shall know our velocity. very on the road in that it's a travelogue - but a travelogue rife with symbolism and metaphor. (note: i don't read much, so my analysis sucks.) anyway, eggers is a fascinating writer, and his stream-of-consciousness stuff makes a very breezy read.

anyway, a heartbreaking work of staggering genius had its "notes to your enjoyment of this book" section. this one's story began on the cover. alas, my cover was faded, so i didn't realize that the book was ultimately leading to the narrator's death shortly after the conclusion of the narrative.

it is a neat read, though, and i think it's worth your time. i covered the last 200 (of 350) over the last two nights. i've had many reading binges in my day, covering da vinci code (shut up, snobs.) in two-hour bursts, but none as long as a pre-great america binge on the firm in about seventh grade.

i gots to say, i'm pretty excited for the baseball season. i'm watching baseball tonight in about 20 minutes, and i plan to watch uninterrupted. no dishes. no magazines. just (i hope) karl and harold and a bit of gammons and some mindless pedro gomezness and some brantley ("all the cubs got to do is take care of things at home"...note: of course they couldn't last september) and, if i have to, some senseless john kruk. i love ravy though.

an incredibly quick fantasy baseball draft tonight, which is always a good thing. 12-team league, 18 players/team. myself and two others online, nine in a basement in the north 'burbs.

early in the process, i adopted the 'best player available' technique. in a non-traditional 4X6 league that counts pitchers for W, Sv, K/BB, and ERA, and batters for AVG, TB, RBI, R, SB, HR, pitchers are generally undervalued. that is, a good pitching staff can only get you four of the ten points in a week.

so, the 'best player available' theory got me johan santana with the eighth overall pick. and then we snaked back, and the 'best player available' was randy johnson. then a dropoff. so i went with the unit. did i err? i don't think you can when you nab two of the top two pitchers.

when we came back around, with the 32nd-overall pick, i got miguel cabrera. above average power, great avg potential. on the way back, i couldn't pass up juan pierre.

so now i'm officially a strong-average, good wheels kind of team. fifth round, i lose the 'strong average' component, as i go for the 30-30 potential of corey patterson. so now my three outfielders are drafted (we've got the util spot as well, of course). when i was compiling my 'stay away from' list, several names were on it, including pedro (uncomfortable with him), piazza, griffey, and jeff kent (l.a.=hitters death). well, kent was still there in the sixth round, and this seems to be relatively low for him, and giles was already gone, so i went with kent. this gained me some power, relative to most second basemen, i think.

and then we're coming back, now the seventh round. and i'm a bit confused. so into my yahoo chat, i type "schilling's still available?" and amazingly, he is. and so i scanned the internet to make sure he hadn't died or anything, and i pulled the trigger on it. and so my three starting pitchers are also the game's top three pitchers (certainly three of the top five, anyway).

at this point, i was looking to grab one of the corner spots. debating between two youngsters who i think will have huge years, i grabbed morneau, about the ninth first baseman selected. i figured that i'd wait on david wright at third until the next round. but, alas, the mets fan in the league grabbed wright four picks after i got morneau.

and then i tried to draft infielders with power potential, and i think i did a good job of it. actually, i grabbed the injured but back soon lance berkman, then went to find some middle infield pop. and that was my easter.

here's how the destroyers look:

SP: santana, unit, schilling (weaver on the bench)
CL: isringhausen
C: barrett/ramon hernandez
1B: morneau (pedro feliz, michael cuddyer)
2B: kent (uribe, cuddyer)
3B: uribe (mcpherson and his 40-homer potential, i hope, cuddyer)
SS: feliz (uribe)
OF: cabrera
OF: patterson
OF: pierre
UTIL: berkman

i've got to say, there's not much in the way of big names or exciting players (outside of the pitching staff, of course), but i think this team is going to fare pretty well. 20-25 HR power at each of the three infield positions, 35-40 HR potential at first, and two relatively consistent options behind the plate.

plus, i'll win ERA and K/BB every week, and i should win the W category every week, and i'll always be competitive in saves.

i don't think i'll write about fantasy baseball again, or not until playoff time, at least.

in other news, i woke up with a wicked sore throat saturday morning. i went into the office a bit today. we've only got 11 days until the season starts. woof!

and now, to my prerecorded arrested development.

so i'm watching hoops and getting ready for my fantasy baseball draft (nerd!), and i came across this fascinating competition the san francisco giants are running with yahoo. it's an absolutely silly contest, involving five trivia questions (which i aced) and 150-word essay about which two mlb teams (outside of the giants) made the best offseason moves. my answer: tampa (by doing nothing, they've made great strides) and st. louis (take the bull by the horns and go for it, ergo mulder).

so then they do the judging, and the top 12 entrants (based on five correct trivia questions and a good essay), enter in a yahoo fantasy baseball league that starts sometime in early october. and then the winner gets the title of Special Assistant, Baseball Operations for a one-year term in the San Francisco organization.

i'm not going to say i'm qualified, but i'm probably more qualified (or, at least, have more quality experience) than the average entrant. i haven't, however, determined if i'm eligible.

i can't imagine i'll win, what with my half-assed answer, but it was fun to enter. and now i've got to get ready for my draft. i like pujols. he's good.

gary smith wrote probably the best account of the summer of 1998, when he went to watch all three of the home run record chasers play in one weekend. if i'm not mistaken, he saw all three go yard. as a bonus, he saw dark horse candidate greg vaughn (remember him?) do the same.

in this week's sports illustrated, gary smith has written an account of last weekend's congressional steroids hearings that probably best exemplifies my feelings after seeing what small part i watched: numbness, mostly numbness. how does a baseball fan react to mcgwire's...shirking? his shrinking?

for smith, he spoke to people who might have an opinion worth hearing. the fans who gave back baseball number 60 and 61. hank aaron's son. (hank wouldn't talk about it.) the father of a budding 13-year-old power-hitting phenom. that 13-year-old power-hitting phenom. todd mcfarlane, the comic book guy who purchased all of mac's crucial home run balls. wally eckstein, father of david eckstein, baseball's resident twerp.

and the reactions, taken as a whole, were of absolute confusion. the phenom's dad...well, i'd still celebrate number 756, because it's still a damn hard thing to do. eckstein's dad: if he came into our house on steroids, we'd know, and we'd never want to see him again. a law professor who teaches a class called, roughly, baseball and the meaning of life: we should forever call all of barry's home runs asterisks. a guy who was the middle man on these sales: well, it doesn't diminish the positive benefits of that summer (i.e. familial bonding and the 'recovery from monicagate' and the like).

but i think the general feeling is sadness, and gary smith did a fairly good job.

wilco's "she's a jar" has that beautiful and subtle lyrical shift. in the opening stanza, the lyric goes "with feelings hid / she begs me not to miss her." the song's closing lyric: "with feelings hid / she begs me not to hit her."

gary smith does the same thing in this week's story.

in the opening paragraph, he echoes his open from 1998: I was there, that June at Wrigley, when the fever caught Sammy. See, that's me and the three kids in the bleachers that weekend he rocked five out of the cathedral and the great home run chase was on.

in the close: I was there, that June at Wrigley, when the great fraud began. See, that's me and the three other dupes in the bleachers that weekend when . . .

now, in general, i and most baseball fans (i believe) feel betrayed as this stuff comes out. however, i don't believe that i was stupid, or ignoring something, or anything like that. to me, it was (and is) absolutely unfathomable that, were steroids to be pervasive, baseball would do nothing about it. but apparently, that's what happened. sigh.

- - - - -

i'm not trying to hex anything, although i've sort of tried since uwm and utah won on saturday, but i'm now officially confident in my bigflax.com pool possibilities. i officially love salim stoudamire, who looks like the guy (and may be the guy) that doesn't care if the potential game-winner falls in or out, and so he's never *really* the guy who you want to take the big shot. but today, he hits it, and my espn magazine-fueled salim love proves to help me out. (damn, i'm perfect in the 'chicago' region. is that worth flax bonus points?)

so, the way i see it, if utah wins tomorrow but not sunday (or even if they lose tomorrow), and if north carolina wins tomorrow, i'm probably victorious in the pool. (well, probably not. an illinois-over-carolina guy has louisville in the final four. me, i'm out of points except for illinois' hopeful two wins, carolina's win tomorrow, and utah's win tomorrow. after that, point potential=gone.) however, i'm sure flax will have the full update in the next three minutes. (still not there.)

billy idol is performing a new song live on leno, complete with steve stevens on guitar. this is embarrassing. "climb up my lemon tree," he says.

postscript to sunday's 'it's 8:30 and i'm absolutely beat' story: i've got to take the bull by the horns and get to sleep when that situation occurs. because, as it happened, i got into bed at 9:06, and read for 45 minutes. and then i wasn't tired anymore, so i read a few magazines. then it was 1045, and i still wasn't tired, so i watched my tape of the weekend's saturday night live. then i went to sleep, and it was 1215. sigh.

double postscript: for two straight nights, i've fallen asleep while drooling on the current newsweek. perhaps that's because the magazine's cover story 'the falling dollar,' or perhaps it's because i was dead tired. it's been a long time since i've done that, and it concerns me.

this morning, it should be noted, was the second straight time i woke up way after i was planning to. i try to get up at 820. the last two mornings have seen me get up at 842. five minutes late to work, but i've made it up on the back end.

i don't read as much novel-type stuff as i should, but i'm utterly fascinated by you shall know our velocity. dave eggers is, i think, a young intellectual hipster touchstone, and i can see why. it's pretty neat writing. (i think i'm about 3 years late on this one, but i think that's okay. he was just in spin, and i think he's a regular there.)

i have two-fold technology concerns, and i'd like those of you 'in the know' to tell me what to do. the bloc party's record, silent alarm, is a fine fine product. however, being that my home cd player is basically busted, i need to rip to my computer, then load to the ipod. anyway, this record's got anti-piracy warnings, although i don't know if there's anti-encryption software. i loaded the record at work without a problem, but i have had problems at home. like, i tried to load it to my computer, and then my computer started beeping, and then it went dark on me. like shut off.

...

and the computer has worked fine with other discs. the kings of leon record, which has bigger anti-piracy warnings, loaded without a problem. as did the replacements, and the decemberists. no problems.

here's the interesting thing: i'm getting that 'safely remove hardware' icon on my taskbar on the lower part of the page. the one you get when you're, say, detaching a digital camera or something like that. but when i click on it, it's suggesting that i remove my phillips cdrw/dvd drive. i'm hesitant to do this.

point is, the thing operates 100 percent fine - except when the bloc party cd is in there. i don't really know what i'm writing about.

two weeks to opening day, and i'm feeling good about my relative preparation.

uber-productive three days so far this week, and i'm looking forward to comign home early and watching some hoops thursday night. my bigflax.com pool got a big boost earlier this week when it was announced that nova's curtis sumpter was done for the tournament. i'm cheering for washington, illinois, west virginia and arizona tomorrow. certainly, zona over okst would go great lengths to help me in the pool, and would likely put me at 14-for-14 in the chicago regional. i think that's pretty impressive.

i haven't commented on the steroid hearings really, but i did want to say something about bonds. with yesterday's announcement that he'll not be back until at least midseason, it is my belief that he'll push back his playing date in about mid june, and then will announce his retirement at the end of the season. and then he'll do what barry sanders has done, and will do his best to disappear completely from the public eye.

i am incredibly tired, and it's 8:30. i'll be off to bed soon, although i can't explain why i'm at the point i'm at.

very productive, in its own way, day. first call came at 11:30. parents got me about 1. both brothers in the 2 vicinity. sumo (from london) and dan (speaking with sumo at the time) in or around 345. jenny at 530. i hope that's it, because i need to sleep.

most interesting thing learned: in london, when you go to subway (sandwich, not tube), they ask you which 'salads' you'd like. this means vegetables. also, sumo is beginning work on his thesis, but he will be using american (rumors, realize, mom) rather than british (rumours, realise, mum) english. color me disappointed.

in a bit of a rut today because i had hoped to get things done this weekend. work-related things. but after roland hemond's phone call on thursday morning, i've done nothing. this is bad because it's crunch time. i'm anticipating an until-8 (time for 24) night tomorrow, and perhaps later the following two days. i'd like to be home for games thursday and friday, and will likely head there for some time this weekend.

i locked myself out of my apartment as i was going out last night. i was walking down the stairs, did my customary and generally pointless 'pocket slap' to check for them, and cursed loudly. went upstairs, the door was locked. so rather than sleeping at home, i slept at ben the intern's. returned home today at noon, to find the office (and therefore, my get in the door policy), unoccupied. hours are 10 to 2, but he had left for a few minutes. i got in at 12:30.

in doing the math, if things fall right, i could win the bigflax.com pool. this despite the fact that i've hit only five of my elite eight, at this point. but the uwm pick especially helped me, and i wish i had followed the sec sucks theory rather than the go with jay bilas theory on florida. still, i've got a perfect chicago bracket, which is neat. the biggest games for me next weekend are arizona-okie state (i need salim to come through, and it's fun to cheer for him) and nc-villanova (nova going down would take the current leader's champ out). washington to the final four sure would be nice, although wva's tremendous play has 'that feeling' about it.

what a great surge in games beginning with the fourth session of the tourney. the performances of bucknell and vermont are the reason it's such a great event. ronny turiaf's choke job (3-10 FT) continues to move gonzaga from the ranks of 'entertaining' to the category of 'annoying and disappointing.' and bogut, for my money, is the best player in the country. he's so skillful and nifty, and i can't imagine how good he'll be when he's not triple-teamed any time somebody looks at him. finally, wva-ga tech was a great, great game. the best i've watched in years. and i love julius hodge a lot.

- - - -

i saw a kings of leon video on friday night during commercials, and being that i have a gift card, i called borders to have them hold one. (i do that...i'm a geek.) then i asked if they'd be getting the bloc party record, and they said they would. so i asked for them to hold one come tuesday. and then i went to buy the kings of leon record on saturday, and i asked if they'd be getting the new decemberists record when it came out. 'yes. it's out tuesday.' so i asked if they'd hold one of those. then i said "is that 'buy three get the fourth free'" policy (advertised on all of their merchandising displays) in effect on tuesday? "yes."

so i'm in need of figuring out what my fourth'll be. my brother discourages devandra barnhart. based on this, the early favorite might be joanna newsom. maybe pop bands i've missed - soundtrack of our lives, or perhaps the mendoza line or rilo kiley - are the decision. or maybe someone i know limited things about - sage francis - is a candidate. or perhaps a classic band that i've never heard enough of, like husker du or the replacements. i'll probably find out which is the must-get husker album, and go that way. if not, it'll be let it be. but i'm accepting applications.

an update on things:

- incredibly quick trip from the port to the burbs and back. departed the qca about 5:20, stopped at the grandparents for dinner, arrived in glenview at 10:26. picked up the boy at the airport (he was in lovely arizona) at about 11:15, asleep by 1.

- got my hair cut at 10 on thursday. talked to the incredible roland hemond at 11. watched hoops when they started at 11:15, although my mom home for lunch distracted me a bit. got lunch at the glenview chipotle during halftime of the uwm (they're in my sweet 16 in 2 of 3 pools) game. watched more hoops.

- at about 5, went to costco with my mom. i committed the unforgivable sin of accepting her gift of a one gallon jug of frank's red hot sauce. also purchased fine meats and a bin of mini bell peppers.

- ate dinner at home from about 6:30 to 7. i probably would have preferred to watch hoops, although my dad insisted on keeping c-span on. baseball looked pretty bad. (this was about all i saw of the hearings. the congressmen were relentless, i thought. that's a good thing.)

- watched the second half of the nightcap with high school friends. illinois was unimpressive, and the incredible reign of kevin pitsnogle continues.

- departed glenview at 9 this morning, unshowered. the tv was hooked up, and the groceries were refridgerated by 12:40 this afternoon.

it was a productive trip, i'd say. on thursday night, i was asked by my mom, "why would you come back for such a short trip!?" i gestured to the groceries, and perhaps said, "duh." i also got a tv out of it, which is a first-time benefit.

my brackets sure do look good, although i'm sure most do. i lost none of my sweet sixteen in my priority pool, the bigflax.com experience. i lost alabama (i think bc sucks) and dark horse utep as sweet 16 picks in the high school pool, and sweet 16 pick pitt in the office pool.

i'm highly confident in my utah and uwm to the sweet 16 picks.

i understand the benefits of the pod system, but it really screwed over the charlotte fans. this is because they're essentially guaranteed that two of today's four games will be absolutely uninteresting and that, in all likelihood, both of sunday's will be relatively boring. in the old system, two sites per regional with no unbundling, you either got a 1-16, 8-9, 4-13, 5-12 group or a 2-15, 7-10, 3-14, 6-11 group. it's a lot better to get that than a 1-16, 8-9, 1-16, 8-9 day, methinks. but it happens, i guess.

ugly bulls game tonight. poor shooting, slow, sloppy play, and ben couldn't become the hero. i sure hope deng gets healthy soon.

three pools, three different sheets. is this a good method or bad method?

they're all generally boring pools, which perhaps reflects the fact that i'm tired of dropping 27 bucks (5 to flax, 10 to the office, 10 to high school friends, 2 to dad) with no return.

so the lowest-cost, but highest-publicity flax pool...i went with my gut. illinois-washington-cuse-uconn in the final four, illinois over uconn in the final. the biggest surprise is utah into the round of eight (although i'm fearful of UTEP) and UWM into the sweet 16.

high school friends pool was the one in which i tried to look over matchups (and emphasize senior-ness and experience and depth above all, it seems). okie state-gonzaga-kansas-duke in the four, with okie state over duke in the final. i've got florida knocking off unc, and i've got michigan state getting cuse, and utep getting into the sweet 16. i guess i don't like oklahoma much, for whatever reason.

the office pool has an illinois-wake-cuse-carolina final four, with illinois toppling unc in the final. i've put villanova and nc state to the round of 16, and utah to the round of eight (i guess i don't like oklahoma). i've also got uwm into the 16 (i guess i like mccants) and pitt knocking off washington before falling to ga tech. i've got to imagine this is the most far-fetched...sigh.

nothing else going on.

i'm headed home after work tomorrow, with a birthday-related stop at my grandparents. i'm probably going to watch a day's worth of games and then leave early on friday morning. perhaps a haircut on the parents is in the offing as well. and they've got an old tv that i'm stealing. sigh, again.

i've only recently (one year ago) begun doing actual investing, starting with contributing for two year's worth to a roth ira last year. so that's essentially the last i heard until sometime last week when my advisor guy called to attempt to set up an appointment. mind you, this is a new investment guy, as my first investment guy went to some other company shortly after i signed up.

let me tell you, there is nothing more uncomfortable than seeing relatively large (to me anyway) numbers on the paper and to know that those numbers belong to me and to know that, while this guy is theoretically telling me what he thinks is best for me, he's basically just a salesman. however, he's a salesman dealing in far larger numbers than say somebody who sells me a shirt or something, and it's a bit scary. so he's mentioning things like 'diversifying' and moving percentages of my money into 'growth funds' and then he's showing me these highly-fascinating and yet ultra-confusing charts that show how my money is spread and where, according to his 'investment pyramid, it should be. so then he's talking about moving it around and he's talking about when my next contribution is coming and i'm saying things like 'is it normal for an investor to nod a lot and have no real idea what's going on?' and he says, slickly, 'i drive a car everyday, but i couldn't tell you how it works.' which is completely reassuring, or not.

so i talk to my dad tonight, and his statement is 'MAKE SURE THESE ARE NO FEE FUNDS.' and, of course, i don't know whether these are no-fee funds. but my instinct is they're probably not. so i'll call in the morning and i'll hope that, between 330 this afternoon (when he left) and 9 am tuesday (when i get to the office and call his office), none of my money's been stolen. hmmm.

- - - - - - -

i've never done it, but i'm going to try to do one bracket in which i read team capsules, surmise the matchups, and do in-depth analysis. this will be for the annual horwitz pool. for the flax pool, i'll follow my gut, which is generally good enough to finish slightly out of the money. for the office pool, i don't know what the method will be. (the weighted 'pull out of a hat' method was a miserable failure a few years ago.)

for most of the season, i've sort of liked what doug gottlieb added to espn studio shows. he's pretty eloquent, and he generally has things to say.

his recent spat with the big ten, regarding northern iowa athletic director rick (rich?) hartzell officiating an indiana basketball game, blowing a call in favor of wisconsin, and costing the hoosiers a win (i didn't see the game or the call, so i don't know how egregious the mistake was), was fascinating to read about. mostly because he revealed something that most people (myself included) didn't know, and that seems slightly odd: that a d-1 athletic director was also an official. he didn't accuse hartzell of cheating, and he didn't say that the big ten was crooked, but he did say that 'there could be the appearance of a conflict of interest,' or something to that effect. (was he right? uni got in...indiana didn't) i thought that was great reporting and insightful analysis.

however, i should have been wary of him in early february, when he enraged cheeseheads worldwide by (correctly) saying, "brian butch is the most disappointing (overrated?) player in the big ten."

anyway, i caught a bit of espn's bracketology (pronounced, according to voiceover guy, 'BRACKet-ology,' and not 'brack-i-TOL-ogy,' which is how i read it) today, and they cut to gliebs and resident twerp mike hall, and doug got to rant for a solid minute or two about teams that didn't get in or whatever they rant about. that's his job. but he also said 'quite frankly' two or three times during his rant. that's stephen a. smith's line. that concerns me.

i know that the ncaa tournament is one of the biggest three sports events of the year in the united states (i'd say super bowl, recent world series, then the tourney, right?), and i know there's lots of air time to fill, but i think a lot of the air time is spent on such trivialities. (of course, it's really all trivial.) the thing i hate most is the on-air hand-wringing over seedings. in most cases, a three seed is pretty close to a four seed, which means that the long-term advantage one gets from being the one seed (washington) or the two seed (kentucky) is basically negligible. the great thing about the ncaa tournament is that all you really need to do is win, and it all works out from there.

generally, i find all of this coverage (but for the 'live look-ins') to be overkill. thursday's fun, and i'm looking forward to usa today's team-by-team capsules (is that monday, wednesday, or thursday?), and i'm looking forward to a uconn-syracuse-illinois-washington final four and another syracuse title and many many many more camera angles on jim boehim's ultra-hot wife. (boehim completely outkicked his coverage...she's hotter than the levitra woman.)

i'm also looking forward to a duke collapse somewhere along the line (more satisfying, langdon blowing it in 1999, or redick doing it this year?), and a nice run from the utes. and i'm also looking forward to the "oh how great it would be for roy williams to finally get his title this year" speeches, especially after his hyper-talented group of matt doherty's recruits blows it again, largely because their coach can't do it in march. and i can't figure out which double-digit seed i want to see in the sweet sixteen, although ucla's one i'm looking at. (i'm crazy, i know, but i think they still have that 6-7 point with the afro puff.)

more nonsensical analysis coming soon, probably.

last night's bar discussion? good jewish baby names. not many, it turns out.

if you watch nothing else during the week, devote a half-hour to arrested development. it's completely off-the-wall and it moves about 100 miles an hour and it's okay if you miss jokes because something funny will happen 4 seconds later. it's pretty close to perfect tv. thank me later.

jenny has written a manifesto (roughly) about the pointlessness of blogging. her thesis seems to be "if i don't want to share my innermost thoughts, what is there to write about anyway?" the answer is, of course, "write about absolutely nothing, and do it frequently." personally, i hope she continues writing. that being said, i should probably also call her at some point.

i had my most productive day at work in months on friday, leaving the office at about 6:30 with tangible evidence of having done something, which is nice, and also doesn't happen so much. but i'm certainly farther along on our program than i was at this point last year (i hadn't started, although we did have two extra weeks), and i've got what seems to be a competent intern handling our media guide (which is what i was doing last year). so i've put everything on paper and i've laid out one page and i've set the template for all of the player pages, which is one of the longest and most annoying tasks. i'm comfortable where i am on that.

for the first time in a while, i really watched a fair amount of college hoops today. actually, the two big ten games, the finishes to the pac-10, a-10, and mac games, and the big east game is on now. that's a lot, i'd say.

i'm no dave nemo, but i'd like to comment on four teams:

1) illinois: is today's performance encouraging, or discouraging? i say the former, personally. they blew a lead a bit, but had enough to stick it out. this isn't a team that's played a great game against a good team in a long time (perhaps the first michigan state game). they held on against a very good wisconsin team at home, and they lost an interesting one against a very good buckeyes team last week. their signature blowouts - gonzaga, wake, and cincinnati - all happened in 2004. but they took a fighting-for-their-lives gophers club and held them off, despite not having their best stuff. i think it's a positive omen.

2) syracuse: hakim warrick's is one of the most exciting players in hoops. duh. mcnamara's a stud. forth and pace played for a championship winner. and they blew out uconn (though they let them sort of back in it) friday. they're in the best conference in the country. and they're probably looking at a two or three seed if their big lead over wva holds. i like them to go deep.

3) pittsburgh: i know they bowed out early, but i've loved this program since their big east finals run in 2001, when gurs introduced me to julius page and that one guard (brandin knight?) and that big euro monster. and i've loved chevon troutman for a fair amount of time, and i love mini-thug carl krauser. i've picked them to go to the final four in each of the last two years, and i'll probably lose because i'll make the same pick this season.

4) washington: nate robinson got a great sports illustrated writeup probably two months ago. i had heard about but not seen anything last year, when they made their unlikely run to make the ncaa tourney. i saw an espn.com nba draft ranking that listed him as the number 9 shooting guard in the draft, and i realized that, at 5-9, he's an off guard. this made me more intrigued.

so i watched him today, only over the last six minutes or so, and he was pretty much nonexistent. but with a minute left and the huskies up by one, u-dub isolated for him. top of the key, 40 feet from the basket. screen left, he doesn't use it. drives right past his man. leaps for a layin from the right block. channing frye, 16 inches bigger than robinson, goes up for the block. robinson hangs. frye goes to the ground. robinson banks it in. stoudamire blows an opportunity on the other end, and that's it.

point is, i like washington a lot. robinson's my favorite player in the tourney (although sammy mejia's up there, as is warrick, as is stoudamire.) the rpi system says the pac ten's better than you think. and the conference's unique thursday-saturday schedule prepares teams for the tourney. i like washington to go far.

- - - - -

don't tell flax, but if these teams are in different brackets, they're my final four. i'd think illinois is a one seed, 'cuse and washington are threes, and pitt's a four. i'll never win, but i'll enjoy watching my teams flame out early.

- - - - - - -

watched all of the cats yesterday afternoon, and it was sort of an empty feeling. of course, we sort of expected that. i've written this before, but i'll write again that i'm pretty excited about next year's club. this year, this crew had to adjust to life without jitim. next year, they'll be used to it. mo turned the corner to be the team's leader late in the season, and i think he'll carry it over for 30 games next year. or at least 22 or so. enough, that is. they lose davor, but research has indicated that cote is 6-8, 230. whether he'll fit in, we'll see. being that he played with mo in high school, i think he'll be able to.

they'll have a full season of the new vince scott. they'll have the (allegedly) talented redshirts active. (aside: treem says it's a bad sign that they weren't used this year. the more i think about it, the more i've decided i disagree. they offense is intricate, and a year of practicing and learning is probably pretty helpful. i look forward especially to sterling williams, only because i've always liked his chicago-based high school's nickname, the dolphins. perhaps they're close to the shedd aquarium, i'm not sure.) as i said, a greater amount of mo. presumably improved t.j. nice depth. tougher conference, but i think they'll rank better than eighth. i'm an idiot.

- - - - - -

while doing laundry today, i listened to ugly casanova's sharpen your teeth today. "hotcha girls" is a classic, and "barnacles" and "parasites" are tremendous. and "things i don't remember" is a ramshackle mess of an experimento-twang-skronk pop song. i like it a lot.

fair enough win for the cats today. because i'm an idiot and a masochist, i'm looking forward to tomorrow. mohamed played another strong game, making up for vu's foul trouble-induced lack of production. is there a more lovable player in hoops than michael jenkins, who put up an 8-point, 3-board, 7-assist, 5-steal performance and was the floor leader all game long.

i don't understand why the cats don't press all the time.

is it too much trouble for brent musberger to do a bit of research? like, say, learn how to pronounce a starter's name? all game long, mr. duvancic was called dav-vor (rather than dah-vor) do-waan-ick (rather than do-wahn-chich). it's a small thing, but i think it's really his responsibility as a pro.

it must be an odd little thing to be on the air during an 11:00 a.m. game. nobody's in attendance, the teams are uninspiring, and either one is scheduled for slaughter the next day. still, is it too much to be a little excited by the contest?

highlight of the game: post-game interview. after finishing the interview, coach carmody pulls erin andrews just a bit closer for a short little moment. yeah, coach, we were watching. reach for the stars.

update: i've been feeling better most of the day, sans jack. lots and lots of tea. some steam after work. cough mostly gone, voice mostly better. but mega-coughing bouts have been experienced, and i'm still far from well.

i'm fearing that my streak of unnecessarily frequent and generally uninteresting streak posting will soon be up, as i've now realized that we're getting pretty freakin' close to the season. i've got a pretty sharp intern who's taking over most of our media guide, but the program, my area, is greatly lacking at this point. last season, i spent the last three weekends of march at the office, and i don't anticipate that this season will be particularly different.

however, some different circumstances:
last year, my deadline was mid-april. this year, i should really have everything ultra done by the end of the month.

last year, i wasn't forced to use vacation time. this year, i have been, and i'll use it for the first two days of the ncaa tournament. the plan includes a trip home wednesday night, a tv exchange, catching the first day of games on thursday, and a trip home friday morning in time for the afternoon games.

i figure i'll be in for most of the saturday the 19th. i don't know about the 20th...i'd like to take that one off.

---

anybody got ideas on upcoming interesting records? the bloc party's record is supposed to be pretty great, and i believe it comes out on tuesday the 22nd. beck's guero has to be out soon, and i generally think he's worth following.

the last two years have seen fine fine records come out the first tuesday of april: the white stripes elephant in 2003, and modest mouse's good news for people who love bad news. i know this because, each of the last two years, i've gone to the record store immediately after our meet the team dinner. i'm a geek.

we were teased this weekend, in a big way. sunday saw temperatures in the 60's. today was bitterly cold. tomorrow's 'wake-up weather' calls for 19 degrees at 7 a.m., and a high of 34. sigh.

i mentioned my sore throat of last week, and it's getting worse. i was struggling to the point this morning that i actually left work at 10:28, and planned to stay that way for the day. however, i had a pre-scheduled afternoon appointment with an elderly woman and, when i called to cancel, she was positively angry. so i agreed to go over there.

she's been following the team since she was a child and, as a 13-year-old (or 15-year-old, she and her husband couldn't quite figure it out), she went to the first ever game played at our ballpark in 1931. she has the team photo - signed by every player - from that season. and from 1932. and from 1933. and from 1934 ('those were tough times,' she said, pointing out that the photo was on cheaper and smaller paper than the earlier ones.) she worked for the ballclub for a three-year stint beginning in 1963, and she and her husband would have players over every saturday afternoon before night games. they're incredible pictures...1960's young men in their ties enjoying a steak on the house. she's also been keeping scrapbooks since 1960, and has what she believes to be every newspaper article written about the team (save a four-year gap, when she had more important things to do) since.

i'm going to do an article on her for our program and, in four years, this was the first time i've ever actually met her. (she's confined to a wheelchair, and the old ballpark wasn't particularly accessible. she made it to many games this past summer, and has season tickets for the first time this year.) i'm planning to stop by and return some stuff and probably spend some more time there later this month. it's really a neat time.

the home remedies i've tried today:
1) lots and lots of chicken broth. i've only recently started buying bullion cubes. a tasty, if ineffective, remedy.

2) lots and lots of tea. raspberry tea. green tea. pungent black ginger tea. lemon zinger tea. i've been avoiding sugar lately, and this includes honey, and i think it's considerably less effective without honey. if we don't shake it by the end of the week, we'll start using honey again.

3) close the bathroom door. turn on the shower to its highest temperature. head into bathroom ten minutes later. exist in the steam for about 25 minutes. net result: my voice was back...for a solid ten minutes. but, after wiping off the sweat, i did feel pretty neat. cleared pores, y'know?

4) don't freakin' talk. i tried to do this, cancelling a pre-scheduled (garsh i'm a dork) call with didi. sadly, i find myself talking, only to myself.

up next: jack daniels. lots and lots of jack daniels.

and, of course, the obvious solution is to sleep a bit more. but i'm incapable of that, i'll try to do it tonight, hoping to turn off the lights by midnight (about 1:30 is the usual...i won't accomplish my goal, i'm fairly sure.)

i don't really spend much time following the nfl draft, but my stolen espn insider account gives me the inclination to do so. not having studied these guys, i'd think that nfl scouts would have durability concerns about the two auburn backs who split time for three straight years. or, perhaps, they consider them 'fresh.' if mel's right, the bears will go for cedric benson, which is what i'd prefer. (although a part of me would prefer mike williams, because i think he's outstanding. i don't feel this way about muhammed, although i hope i'm proven wrong.) erasmus james' stock has fallen because of a subpar 40 time. have you ever seen a d-end run 40-yards in a straight line in a game? me neither.

becoming nerdier by the hour, rud

busy-ish weekend, i'm proud to report. that's at least two in a row, perhaps three.

nothing of note friday. much of note saturday. the boy came in town, and we did it up just fine, thank you. watched the bulls at a local establishment. a tough loss, but conversation was fairly strong and the grub was quite good. the highlight would be the mega-pitcher, a 96-ouncer (i believe) complete with an internal slot for an ice pack and, most importantly, an actual tap. making the dinner better was the fact that it was on dad's tab.

we then wandered over to blue cat to meet up with ben the intern and greg the former intern, although only ben sat down. again, strong conversation, followed by a 1ish turn-in.

today marked my grandma's 80th birthday party, the reason for the boy's early arrival in the qca. neither older bro nor sister were able to make it in, nor could one of the top cousins. however, the clear youngest member of the afternoon - the 5-year-old son-of-a-cousin - was present and in fine form. the highlight would be the conclusion of a brief football game, which resulted in three older bullies (myself included) shoving the nerf football in the 5-year-old's pants. it started as a standard off-color joke around a kid, but became increasingly hilarious as the youngster couldn't get the ball out of his pants. a solid ten minutes. reaching down his backside. unsuccessfully. reaching further. pushing the ball down further. saying 'can someone help me get the football out of my pants?' eventually dropping his pants completely.

we would do it four more times, and only on the third try did he really get the hang of getting the ball out. he then asked us to play duck hunt. we declined, because it was incredibly nice outside.

yes, this qualifies as fun. don't judge, dude.

i guess that's really it.

oh, hey, arrested development is officially the finest television program in the history of the world. of course, i've not watched much tv, so i'm not entirely qualified to make that judgment. however, tonight's all-new full hour was some of the snappiest, funniest television i've ever seen. if you haven't watched, i'd highly recommend. it's an odd premise, but it's not that tough to get a handle of what's going on.

i'm on the mega-xtc kick. up to six of their full-lengths, with at least four or five to go. great, great pop songs.

my tv's busted. no sound. snow on the screen. non-functional. can't use the vcr or dvd player connected. just snow. and no sound. can't use the cable. only snow. no sound.

tv went out on tuesday night. my cable had been performing oddly, so i chalked it up to that. i was particularly comfortable blaming the cable because the customer service lines were busy all night; clearly, it was a problem of many people with many outages.

so i got on the phone with customer service wednesday night, and set up a service appointment. but i also experimented. i ran the cable from my bedroom (where a small tv and my modem are split on the same line, and both working) into the living room, where the big tv is. plugged it into the back of the tv...same thing, and i was nervous.

cable guy came this afternoon. he did about five minutes of tests, then said, "it's your tv dude." couldn't find the tv's instruction manual. i do have the tv's box, unfolded, in the back of my closet. there's an 800 number on the tv box, so i call that number. after lost connections and time on hold and more lost connections and more time on hold, i finally get to talk to a guy. and, alas, "your tv's warranty was one year [it was a gift christmas 02], so there's nothing i can do to help you."

frustrated, i made one call to a place listed under television service and repair in the yellow pages. they didn't pick up, so i'll try somebody else tomorrow. sigh.

the tv's a 27-incher, so it'll be a trial to get it downstairs, into the car, and to the shop. but we'll give it a try if we get the chance.

other news: i got a great early birthday gift from the sister (who, it should be noted, is leaving the country in ten days, so won't be around for the real day) this afternoon. she's a fine slc gryphon, a bastion of leftist thought and rampant homosexuality and, i'm sure, a fine learning environment. last month, david berman, well-reviewed poet and the force behind the silver jews rock band, had a poetry reading there. last month, my sister got him to sign a show flyer: "hi drew - i love you - david berman." the writing is pretty much illegible, but it's a great gift. and she tossed in a dvd of the reading as well. woof.

i discovered the joy of the broiler in the oven tonight. first time i've sued it, and i used it for some mesquite marinated pork chops. delicious, although i don't know if it was because of the preparation style (five minutes one side, seven minutes the other), or the marinade (bathing in it for well over two hours). but it was outstanding.

three sports commentaries today (and, as i finsh, three very long ones, it should be noted):

1) i'm vaguely proud of the cats performance tonight, although i wish i had been at a bar with a better angle on the tv (the hawkeyes weren't on locally tonight, for the first time in ages, so the bar was packed. i got a corner-bar spot and a tv on the opposite. from my angle, it was difficult to distinguish between big white guys [and timmy doyle], although i could tell apart mo and tj and jenkins based on their running styles). sure, i wish they had shot free throws better, but it still seemed like they were legitimately in the game at the end.

(an early aside. maurice ager and his clutch shooting - he ruined a trip to etown last year with his six first-half threes - have officially become my most hated player in the big ten. for the record, it's a brief list, replicated year-by-year here:
1999 big ten season: quincy lewis, gophers - ruined a late-season home game with hight 20's or low 30's and absolutely incredible shooting
2000-2002: cory bradford, because he got progressively worse and that streak was an annoyance, although mostly because he ruined esch's senior day with a slashing/gunning performance at welsh-ryan in early march of 99
2003: bracey wright, mostly for his awful nose. he was absolved when he stunk up the joint last year, and became a favorite because he's a certified loser
2004-05: ager, who's ruined quite a bit in only two years)

i love mo because of his energy and his athleticism and his willingness to attempt a 1-on-4 break with his team down eight with two minutes left (well, i could get by without the third part, but i still like his aggressiveness). it's a shame this attitude wasn't here a few weeks ago, or they certainly would have beaten ohio state and penn state (sigh) and ... maybe the illini at home [no].

i just with the cats had shot a bit better, both from the line and from the arc. i believe the final numbers were 3-of-16, but i remember at least three airballs from downtown. still, an effort to be vaguely proud of, but one that also leaves them in a large hole: beat indiana and then michigan/purdue/penn state in the tourney, or lose to indiana and somehow reel off three straight in the conference tourney. alas, it looks like davor won't ever have a postseason, although i'll be yelping for it a sports fans at 3:30 on saturday afternoon.

have you ever read the diary of anne frank? clearly, the best part is when this 12-year-old writes, "despite all this, i still believe that people are basically good" or something like that. well, despite the disappointment of this season, i'm still looking ahead to next year with great anticipation. i'm thinking (hoping) jenkins'll return. i'm hoping (and it seems likely) vu will return. and a mj-tj-vu-doyle-thompson starting five with a big mo-vince [five more dimes and a trey or two]-cote-blee [if still around]-tolic-glee or sterling or someone else bench group seems like it'll be pretty alright.

consider that illinois (head, deron, powell, smith gone) and michigan state (ditto anderson/hill/torbert) and perhaps wisconsin (wilkinson out...butch better...tucker healthy) and possibly the bucks (dials, fuss cheatam ? gone) will be worse. consider that indiana (older) and michigan (healthy) and probably minnesota and likely iowa (alford canned) will be better. i think the cats can find themselves in the first division, and if they don't screw up, perhaps the real postseason is not out of reach.

still, and most importantly, what the carmody era has done of late is bring basketball worth watching to evanston. and he's lucked out with vukusic and davor and jenkins and big mo, but he's still found ways to win. and it seems like, in tj and vince (not vince!? yes vince!) and doyle he's also found somewhat legit and widely known players and gotten them here.

dammit. i've been writing for a half-hour and i'm only one-third done. you're a champ if you're still reading.

2) ron santo didn't get into the hall of fame today, and i'm not sure where i stand on it. (my dad's probably disavowed me based on that comment alone.)

why he should be in:
a) he was the best NL third baseman for a solid 5-year period, at least
b) third baseman are vastly underrepresented in the hall of fame
c) he was certainly a better player than aparicio and nellie foxx and joe tinker and johnny evers and countless other hall of famers. he was a better hitter than third baseman like eddie collins.
d) better hitter, separate category: his percentage-based offensive numbers (.277/.364/.464: AVG/OBP/SLG) are significantly better those of brooks robinson (.267/.322/.401). despite the fact that robinson played 600 more career games, santo outpaced him in homers (342-268), and was right there in RBI (1331-1357).
e) 'yes, but robinson's in there because of his glove,' you say. 'hello! ronny got five of his own,' i say.
f) longevity: he's eighth all-time in games played at third base (rob neyer's stat)
g) using the 'overall contribution to the game' clause: he's certainly remained a positive influence, what with his contribution to jdrf and things like that
h) he was a pioneer, in that he played with diabetes when that was a deadly disease

why he shouldn't:
a) the late-60's/early-70's cubs already have three all-stars, and they weren't that good
b) he never did anything in the clutch - never got his team to the postseason, never did anything important on a national stage
c) according to the 'similarity scores,' stat, the most similar players are not hall of fame caliber. dale murphy (875 similarity out of 1000), is most similar, and is a fringe hall of famer who won't ever get in. the rest of the top ten - ken boyer (875), gary gaetti (875), bobby bonilla (868), brian downing (866), graig nettles (861), chili davis (856), robin ventura (854), ron cey (853), ruben sierra (849) - includes nobody who will get serious hof consideration. (i love - love - baseballreference.com)

the pros beat the cons here, so, if i had the chance, i would reluctantly cast my ballot for him. the 'four hof'ers from a team that accomplished nothing in an era where it had just gotten easier to make the playoffs is just too much' argument is a good one. but i guess the positives (particularly b and d, as well as g and h) are too much to ignore.

he's the consensus 'best player not in,' and i'm hoping that changes when the veterans committee votes in two more years. i'm also very very hopeful that he's not dead by then, because he'd appreciate it more than anyone, and he'd give a heartfelt - albeit nonsensical - acceptance speech.

(one hall of fame-related aside that i didn't get to in january: it's extremely interesting, and a bit satisfying, to see what little respect closers have gotten. jeff reardon - currently fifth on the all-time saves list, and higher when he retired - dropped off the ballot after getting only 24 votes in 2000, his first eligible year. lee smith, the all-time leader, faces an uphill battle. personally, i don't think most of that 'three-out save' generation should get in. i think rivera should and will, without a problem. personally, i do think that the original era of closers deserves recognition. sutter should be in, as much for the introduction of the splitter as for the domination in the 70's. gossage should be in, although i only remember him as over the hill and awful. i wish a case could be made for mike marshall, who worked 106 games and more than 200 innings - all out of the pen - while winning the cy young in 1974. sadly, it's a bad case.)

3) finally, on that age limit thing in the nba. apparently 670 the score is the only place to have picked up the story, because it's not on espn. if others had corroborated, i'd think that it'd be larger news. but, perhaps, with no agreement even close, nobody's found out or bothered to report it. however, the score's reporter said that both the union and the owners had agreed on it, which means that it'll be a non-factor when real negotiations start in june.

for starters, i feel bad for the current crop of high school seniors if it gets done and renders them ineligible for the draft, because i'm pretty sure that guys who are considering the nba haven't taken the sat or anything. they'd be ncaa ineligible as well, and stuck in purgatory for three years.

the case against the age limit is pretty simple to make: lebron, 'melo, jermaine o'neal, kobe bryant, garnett, marbury, to an extent guys like al harrington, jonathan bender, eddy curry, tyson chandler, luol deng...all current (or future) stars or at least contributors that wouldn't have been eligible. in the past, magic never would have played center in the 1980 finals, because he would have been at michigan state still.

of course, the case in favor of the age limit is also an easy one: ndubi ebi (who?), korleone young (who?), leon smith (who?), dontonio wingfield (who?), desagana diop (who?), others like that.

the thing i hate about the current nba is the preponderance of players in the league who flat-out shouldn't be playing at the world's highest level. four years ago, curry was stealing a roster spot from a guy like mark bryant or andrew lang or people like that, roster fillers who could have been legitimately valuable to a team, but were squeezed out by the high schoolers in the league. there is far too much 'rawness' in the nba today, and far too many guys who don't know the fundamentals. the quality of play has suffered, it can be accurately argued.

for this reason, these young guys don't belong in the nba. because those guys don't belong in the nba, the age limit makes a whole lot of sense.

however, most of these young guys also don't belong in college, and they shouldn't be forced to go. the fact is, sebastian telfair and kevin garnett and lebron james never had any desire to play at the collegiate level (garnett did, but was too test-dumb, of course). send those guys to college, and the quality of college basketball certainly improves. at the same time, the concept of the 'student-athlete' suffers greatly. a major university's duty is, for starters, to promote the value of an education. forcing these kids to play major college basketball is a farce and a disservice to this concept.

'well, mr. halos,' you're saying, 'it sounds like your both in favor of and against the age limit.'

i guess i am, but i also have a solution. and a simple one: make the freakin' nba actually pay for its own development of players, dammit.

as an employee of an affiliated minor league team, i see firsthand how successful the multi-tiered farm system is. the solution, and i've stated it before: every high school player is draft-eligible. every college player is draft-eligible. (i've never understood mlb's freshman, junior, senior draft system) if drafted, they can sign for any size signing bonus, or they can return/go to college. if signing, they can be assigned to either the nba club, or the minor league (an expanded - to 15 teams, 1 per each 2 nba team - national basketball developmental league) team. nbdl players get paid some sort of relatively small amount...perhaps 2k/month. this number increases based on experience in the league (not a feature of the minor league baseball system). players that got 'em live off their bonus. players that didn't still do fine. promoted players get the prorated nba minimum. nba rosters will be expanded to only 13...one spot on the injury list, for legitimate injuries, and the rest taxi between the nba and the nbdl team.

this reduces the amount of not-ready players in the nba, while also maintaining some level of integrity in the collegiate game. the goal of the nba is not to help the college game be more aesthetically pleasing. the goal of the nba, rather, is to create the best possible professional level of play.

now, the nba has proven time and time again that it is not committed to a true developmental system, because they don't want to deal with the costs. however, the minor league system - independent ownership, only minimal player costs - is extremely cost-effective. however, this obvious solution is quite unlikely.

finally (finally!), if the age limit is imminent, i think the nba has set it at the wrong level. in the nfl, the three years out rule makes a lot of sense, because the game requires much more pure size. in the nba, where players that consider the jump are much closer to having the proper build already (you don't grow from 6-5 to 6-9 in college), two years would suffice. (and think, if the two year limit would be in effect, lebron would be stuck in college somewhere and the nba would be robbed of its top talent.)

the biggest loser in this is probably craig oden, the high school junior from indiana who will be the number one pick in the 2006 draft but, if this passes, now won't be eligible until 2009.

there may be holes in my logic - college basketball has never been about serving the purpose of higher education - but i think that the pure developmental system would be far better for the nba. college basketball will always be interesting and exciting, regardless of the talent level.

i'm sorry for this. time to sleep.

well, the trip to the eye doctor (opthamologist) was mostly uneventful. i left work at about 120, then headed home for some lunch, then headed towards the doctor's office. appointment at 230, i planned to get there at about 210, and i was armed with my current book as well as my medical insurance information.

so i pulled into the parking lot at about 210, and then, of course, realized that the complex was huge. and then realized that i had forgotten the specific information on where my doctor's office was located (suite 124...medical building 2). so, i inevitably walked into the wrong building, but i asked an employee-looking lady where building 2 was (not where i was), and she directed me there (down the hall, take a right, take a left, down the elevator...turns out that building 1, building 2, and the young building are all one building...)

so i found the office suite at about 220, and i was all set to go. book in hand, info sheet pre-filled out. "do you have your insurance papers?" "oh, man...they're in the car." so i went to get my insurance papers (down the hall, hang a right, up the elevator, right out of the elevator, right at the end, left to the parking lot.) so i returned with my insurance papers, she made the copy, and i sat down in the waiting room.

noticing, of course, that i had managed to leave the book in the car.

thankfully, i only had about 8 minutes with time magazine (and the entire waiting room collection was incredibly current). i read an interview with moby, who's got a restaurant he's proud of and an album for which he wrote 250 songs (most of them weren't very good, he said), and now he's got a book coming out ("i can't really describe it," he said. "it's drawings and recipes and sketches, and basically you can open it anywhere and be entertained." translated: "i'm already loaded, but my fans are mega-suckers. ha! but now i'm donating my money to vegan causes...or, my cribs-worthy apartment, anyway.")

in my first eye exam since march 02, my eyes had gotten significantly worse, although my keratoconus (woof!) of the right eye is about the same. meanwhile, he's diagnosed me with a mild case of kc (that's what those of us in the know call it) in the left eye. this means hard lenses in both eyes. he also wants me to get new glasses, but i probably won't. i've been living with these glasses for three years, and the previous pair lasted more than six.

most interesting thing i learned: those with keratoconus are called...

...

...

keratoconics !!


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cats-spartans tomorrow. senior day. i think it's a bar-worthy game, although i've determined that michigan state is the impossible journey for a northwestern team. (of course, we beat the richardson-less sparty in 2000, so anything's possible.) i hate maurice ager.

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the score in chicago reported that the next collective bargaining agreement in the nba will have the same eligibility rules for young players as the nfl. that rule, which was challenged and upheld last spring, dictates that a player is not eligible to be drafted until three years after his high school class graduates. i'll have thoughts on this later.