Quick Thoughts - Week 15
Thoughts while wondering how many times the elusive “player to be named later” has been traded in Major League Baseball…
· Billy Beane is either an idiot or the second or third best GM in the game of baseball (behind John Schuerholz and maybe Theo Epstein). What he’s done with his rotation could be called anything from downright stupid to a move that only a true mastermind of the game could pull off. He shopped Tim Hudson - the second best starter he had available - to see what was available. When he found out that St. Louis wouldn’t give up their top prospects for Hudson, he moved Tim to Atlanta (much like I said he would). Then he returned to the Cardinals and asked Walt Jocketty if those prospects would be available for Mark Mulder – the best starter the A’s had made available. The answer, well, I think we all know how that worked out.
· I don’t like the Matt Clement signing. It was a reaction rather than an action. This off-season, the Red Sox have enough good will and free reign built up in and around Boston that the could have fielded a team comprised of little more than the Pawtucket Red Sox and the fans still would have been happy. To give a guy whose stuff is suspect $25.5 Million guaranteed over three years is bad. To give it to a guy who has never pitched in the American League is worse. Don’t get me wrong – I was glad they signed Clement. I just don’t think he was worth what they gave him.
· Pedro Martinez’ “They will be the best bad team in baseball” comment is laughable, only because he just signed with the Mets. He Petey – you’re PLAYING for the best bad team in baseball buddy…
· To be honest, The Mets now have the second best rotation… in the NL East. Not that that is saying much, but they might be able to contend past the All-Star break this year. Hell, they might even be buyers come July 31st once again. And Vinny, if you thought I hated your team before, well, you ain’t seen NOTHIN’ yet…
OK, onto my quick-hit football thoughts from the past couple of days…
· Joey Harrington’s whole “I’m getting tired of being ‘that close’” routine during yesterday’s post game interview was just totally, utterly ridiculous. Way to throw your teammates under the bus there chief. Because we all know you would be having an MVP caliber season, if only your receivers would stand where you threw the ball, instead of where the play dictated they should be…
· Did ANYONE watch the Skins/Niners game Saturday? Yeah, didn’t think so…
· Ravens/Colts – great game. Long game, but great game. And I was right when I said that Indy wouldn’t hit 21 points – I just expected Baltimore to keep it closer than that… Ooooh, good gambling moment involving this game. Late 4th quarter, game’s all but done, but Baltimore is driving down 10. They’re in field goal range, and they need a figgie and a TD to tie. All Kyle Boller has to do is protect the ball to give them the FG and give gamblers worldwide a cover (BAL +7.5). So naturally, he throws an INT. Sometimes you gotta take one for the greater good Kyle…
· Panthers/Falcons – Better game (Longer game, but better game). Michael Vick is going to be a force in the playoffs, once again. They’ve got the 2-seed locked up, meaning that TJ Duckett can get healthy for a few more weeks. That is going to be huge when they get to play a home playoff game in, well, in a long time…
· Is it me, or does it seem rather absurd that the Saints still have a legit shot at the #6 spot in the playoffs? And should I be cheering for them to make it, only so that we would all get the chance to wager everything we own AGAINST Aaron Brooks and Jim Haslett coming up big in a do-or-die game?
· I have to admit, it was good to finally see Eli Manning break out of his little (HUGE) rookie funk. Now, if only he could figure out how to win a game… (Hey Eli – try throwing a TD pass to a Wide Receiver… 15 weeks and counting!) Jeremy Shockey is the only person on the Giants with more than one receiving TD. That’s pretty scary.
· The Packers/Jags game yesterday afternoon was a great example of how football should be played (minus one devastating cheap shot by Donovan Darius). Two teams beating the hell out of each other on hallowed NFL ground in sub-zero temperatures. Two warrior QB’s throwing BB’s to wide receivers who blocked the ball with their chest more than they caught it. Yet another late game comeback attempt by Brett Favre that fell short only because of an ill-advised pass in the end zone and a failure to recover a loose onside kick. Very good TV…
· On the other hand, the hit be Donovan Darius, well, that was just plain ugly. Expect a big fine (think $25-30k range) and possibly a one game suspension, since he did leave his feet to level Robert Ferguson. The fact that Ferguson is OK with nothing more than a sprained neck should be secondary – the fact remains that the man lost feeling in his limbs for almost twenty minutes and could easily have been paralyzed for life. I like hard hits as much as the next guy, but lets keep them legal hits too…
· Tonight’s game – Pats (-9.5) v. Dolphins in Miami… I’m sticking with my pick of New England to win and cover. If they do, I go 9-6-1 for Week 15, and get up to 36 games over .500. Otherwise, well, let’s not think about “otherwise”…
And the last section of the day, my wild, wacky, fun poker experiences…
So, I’ve been regaling you with my tales of big wins and bad beats since I started playing online at PartyPoker for real. At one point, I had turned my initial deposit into about $400, winning just about every one-table tournament I entered.
Well, unfortunately, I got greedy last week. I decided to move up in rank from the $10 “one-table Sit-N-Go” tourneys to the $30 ones. Not a bad move, considering that a win would add $150 to my account, and even a 3rd place finish in the money would give me $60.
Four tournaments later, I had finished 4th, 4th, 4th, and 4th, one spot out of the money each time. No, I’m not kidding. I had taken a strategy of playing conservative and building a sizeable chip stack until the first 5 of 10 players were eliminated, then just going all-in on any hand that was worthwhile.
I’ve noticed that players on PartyPoker play much more conservatively than other sites. “All-in” carries much more meaning to them. This strategy has served me well in the past. I either fold or go all-in, no in-between (unless I’m setting a BIG trap). After awhile, people get the idea that I’m not just trying to steal the blinds, which then allows me to steal the blinds a few times. Circle of (poker) Life.
Anyway, back to the tourneys. I was busted out with a high pocket pair each time. Aces twice, Kings once, and a Set of Jacks once. The Jacks lost to 4 of a kind on the river, the Kings were up against Aces, and both Aces fizzled out to a set on either the turn or the river. Ridiculous.
So after a horrific day of loses, I decided to move back down in class to the $10 tourneys, where I once again dominated the competition. My strategy is much more useful there, as those players are usually newbies who either can’t afford to lose their $10 buy-in or who have only seen poker on TV and won’t go all-in with anything less than pocket 10’s. Makes for easy pickings.
So, overall, I’m about even. I lost my money on a couple of sites, but I’ve made it back on PartyPoker. Everything evens out in the end.
A little poker humor for you, before I get into the quotes. Playing at a $0.50/$1 NL table last night, a couple of guys were having quite the argument. Since I had just had one hell of a war of words between myself and the guy to my right who was from Brockton MA (we argued over Taunton vs. Brockton, much to the horror and amusement of the others at the table – “Just because you put ‘City of Champions’ on your water tower doesn’t make it true” – my line of the night), I decided to stay out of this one.
After four straight hands in which one of the guys had flopped a King-high flush, a set of Queens, a 10-high straight, and a Full house, the other player involved in the argument typed, in all caps,
“IS THERE ANYTHING YOU DON’T FLOP?!?”
To which, the other player simply responded: “Yeah, my wife.”
Dunno, seemed funny at the time…
Finally, the Quotes of the Week(end):
Two this weekend (busy weekend), both from this past Friday night. I was in Boston celebrating a friend’s birthday at Vox Populi (good story about the bar later this week). We decided to leave and go to another bar, The Last Drop (I think that’s what it was called) over on Mass Ave.
Along the way, we passed a few homeless men on Newbury Street. Most of them were bundled up and sleeping in alcoves or the bus shelters. But one man was dancing around, singing, doing anything short of dropping his pants to get some money out of us. Finally, as we walked by, he came out with this gem:
“It’s the Christmas season people, and you all know what the best Nation in the world is at Christmas time, right? It’s a DONATION!”
I almost gave him five bucks just for giving me material, but then I decided to spend the money more wisely (ahem, beer for me - not you, cough).
Later at the bar, my friend Tex was telling me about his flight home for the holidays. He was relatively drunk, and was worrying about flying out in today’s weather (snow, wind, freezing rain, absolutely hellish travel conditions). Sitting at the bar, trying to focus his eyes at me, he mumbled something unintelligible. When I asked him to repeat it, he looked up and said:
“Dude, just make me a promise… If, God-forbid, anything terrible happens, and my plane goes down in a ball of flames, just make sure they do one thing. Try to have them bury me next to a hot chick…”
Only Tex would say something like that. And only I would reprint the drunken statements of a close friend for the entire world to enjoy…
Until next time, lata.
posted by Big D @ 9:13 AM
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