11/27/2015

I made the decision when I came home for the holidays to only bring my phone and just type these posts up and upload them that way. However, it does lead to me having to type a lot on a much smaller screen with only my thumbs. I am not sure if I am secretly better with this keyboard though. Maybe I should somehow have tech guys at work hook me up with an iPhone style keyboard for work- it would possibly make me more effective. 

I am somewhat amazed that Google has created really effective tools for being able do these from the cloud. I have been typing all my posts first on google docs. Even though I do have Microsoft Word on my laptop- it's much harder to move between devices. I guess I could potentially use Dropbox to transfer my documents, however, I don't know if I could get Word on my phone for free. I think perhaps the latest version of Office 360 works similar to how the Google docs and sheets work- but I don't have a subscription to that. 

I know Microsoft has been working hard to reinvent their applications in order to compete with free solutions that people now have access to. In fact, I hope that whoever ends up with the Quicken software is able to follow a similar path. Currently the latest version of Quicken (2016) was released last week, but,  back in August, Intuit announced they would be selling their Quicken product. It makes sense- as Quicken is basically a desktop application with a very limited mobile presence. There is an app to reach your information, and you can enter some basic transactions from your phone, but it needs to be routinely accessed on a real computer several times a week in order to actually work. 

Intuit already has a similar personal finance cloud based product in place called Mint, so it call sell it lower revenue product Quicken, and no longer have to deal with supporting the product that users seem to love and hate all at the same time. My hope is the new owner can replicate what Microsoft has done for its Office product- making the Quicken product a more subscription based tool that automatically updates. Clearly the ideal would be for Quicken to be somehow like these Google applications which are available for use for free, but I don't see a company purchasing Quicken only to turn around and make it available only so it can sell ads in the margins. 

The greatest thing about Quicken currently is that you can keep 100% of your financial information offline if you would like. It can function on a computer that never connects to Internet and function. In addition, your information is kept by you, which clearly has its pros  and cons. I have no idea if using the internet based personal finance tools like Mint and Personal Capital mean you actually own your own financial information. I realize that may sound a bit preposterous, but if it can be ruled that you do not own your email if it is held on third party servers, can the same be said for finance information held in a similar manner? I guess the important technicality here is hopefully the software only accesses bank information, but does not host it. With Quicken, you keep your information on your computer, and back it up to hopefully some other location you also own. 

All that being said- since maintaining your financial information is important, and the best product available to accomplish it is currently in a state of flux- I would suggest getting the 2016 variant while it's still is maintained by its original company. Then we can cross our fingers and hope Google buys it and makes it as easy to use across multiple devices as this blog is. 

11/26/2015

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving, and were able enjoy your time with turkey, friends and family. I have been thinking of fully embracing the throwback Thursday concept- and relate a story of the Army I can gleen from my memories, journal and green book. So here’s a quick one for the holidays. 

I don't have to many specific Thanksgiving memories - but one I do remember is spending a Thanksgiving outside of FOB McHenry in Iraq. The mission for the day was not an actual real mission, but instead my platoon sat just outside the FOB to ensure that the insurgents didn't mortar the thanksgiving dinner the brigade commander was having while he deigned to “visit the troops down range” - or whatever the hell he thought he was doing. It was a super fun time knowing I wasn't accomplishing jack shit but letting Bastogne 6 dine in peace. A solid use of assets. Instead of winning the hearts and minds of the population- we sat 300 meters from the FOB and stared at it. Happy Thanksgiving Warpigs!

11/25/2015

The Olympics are next year- and USA Basketball is looking pretty good after watching Paul George go off last night. Due to his injury last year during the World Cup (I think that is what they are calling that FIBA tournament) he is actually the only player guaranteed a roster spot so far. There was a camp over the summer and I believe most of the players invited fulfilled their obligation to in order to be considered for next year's Olympic team. Projecting next summer’s team is probably even more a fool’s errand that yesterday's forecasting of the NBA’s finalists, but let's talk about how Team USA should walk to a gold medal. 

With Paul George being in, and Lebron probably being pressured by the public to most likely play, those are two great starts. Carmelo should get one more run and has really played his best basketball as a Team USA member. Last summer both of the Splash Brothers were in the team, and I see no reason why they shouldn't be brought back. Clearly there will be a log jam at certain positions and Klay might seem like a stretch. But his defense on the perimeter is really helpful in the international game. The biggest logjam is most likely at point guard. Chris Paul has won a gold medal, and John Wall has not- both may not make the trip in 2016. Kyrie Irving may have been the best player in last year's tournament- I think he won the MVP. I think the final point guard goes to Westbrook, but I think I would prefer Wall. 

That's seven guys (of twelve)- and we haven't really talked Durant, Anthony Davis, or bigs. The question for Durant is health. If he makes it through this season (he has already sat a few games for a quad or hamstring injury) I think he will want to play in Rio. The bigs also get a bit logjamie. Last summer Boogie really dominated against some international teams, just playing volleyball at the rim (so did Kenneth Faried, but I don't think he's a real consideration this time around). The issue is wings are more valuable in the international game - so you don't carry too many bigs. I think a three man rotation of Anthony Davis, Boogie, and Andre Drummond makes Team USA. 

In the past, Andre Iguodala has played a key role as the lock down defender on the team. I don't think it him this time around, and although Paul George could fill this role, I think it why you take Kawhi Leonard. On teams like this - you can have a guy who doesn't need to contribute on offense- yeah I am saying this about a guy who is scoring over twenty points a game for an 11-3 team, but bear with me- and Kawhi will make every shaky ball handler look befuddled and will generate easy transition buckets. 

That's your twelve- the three point guards, three bigs and six wings. I am generally certain that the any combination of the twelve guys mentioned above (or toss in a few others that I didn't mention like say James Harden) - and any Team USA utilizing pace and space will walk to a good medal. 

11/24/2015

Apparently no one has really taken notice- but the Spurs, a preseason favorite to win the championship, are 11-3. That's a really good record (duh) but it is especially good for a team that is trying to integrate a new player who doesn’t exactly do what the Spurs have become known for over the past couple years. Basically, lost in the hoopla of the Warriors going undefeated to start the season with a small ball lineup they roll out out at the end of games, the Spurs are trying to go a bit more “traditional” and so far are being successful.

Currently, these two teams seem to be on a collision course to meet in the Western Conference finals next spring- although I think the Spurs are more likely to lose if they get the draw with Clippers as opposed to the Warriors. The two early season matchups between the Warriors and the Clippers would lead you to believe the Warriors would that be able to handle the Clippers in a seven game series, whereas the Spurs may struggle with the same matchup. Actually the past couple sentences may just be a whole lot of recency bias, but, I think, if the Spurs are trying to play the traditional two big lineup like the Clippers, the younger more athletic team should have the advantage. However, since the rest of Western Conference appears to have taken a step back, or seems to be on a lower tier than the Spurs and Warriors, let's predict in November that these are the teams that will meet to play Cleveland in the final. Granted, there are 60 some odd games remaining plus the playoffs before we get to that point, but I feel pretty comfortable that two of those three teams will be in the finals. I assume people in OKC just got really mad, but no one from there reads me, so I'm unconcerned about it.

I am going to assume that the Warriors beat the Lakers tonight (Note: yep, that happened) and therefore now have the best record to start a season. In addition, they had a historically great regular season last year as well, which they obviously followed up with a championship. I can’t believe that the rest of the league spent summer and fall pissing and moaning about how “lucky” the Warriors got- it was really just an exercise in poking the bear that so far has only paid dividends for one team - Golden State. Maybe it's the baby face that Curry has that lulls the rest of the league into thinking they can talk shit and he wouldn’t get all annoyed and come back better; or maybe it is because we have never seen this type of player before that the rest of the league wasn't sure how a player like him could actually improve off last year’s performance- that the rest of the league expected regression (he did hit the most 3’s in history last year) as opposed to improvement; or maybe the league unexpected this young-ish team to not handle success and party down all summer- so the league tried to take a gigantic dump on the Warriors championship in August and September. I have loved how this has worked out- a team that is basically missing it's coach is unleashing jump shot hell on every team they've come across, and the rest of us are the winners for it.

At the other end of the spectrum- I am thinking of going to see the opposite of Warriors - Spurs on Tuesday- the Lakers and the Sixers. Currently, StubHub has seats for like $25. Which is actually high for the Sixers, last week the Pacers were in town and tickets were going for $6 a pop. The Sixers - apparently pun intended- rewarded their fans by trying to put six men on the court at the same time, one for dollar they hypothetically spent. I guess that means the Lakers are still a bit of a draw, despite big in the cellar of the Western Conference, much like the Sixers are in the Eastern Conference. I assume that that everyone Lower Merion wants to get their last look at Kobe, thus driving the tickets to such ridiculously high prices.

(“Editor’s” Note: I realized yesterday that it is better to write at night, then sleep on it for a night, and do some proofreading in the morning, hopefully that will help improve the quality of the product.)

11/22/2015

Sundays are usually the day I get all the crap I haven’t done all week finally done. The trip to the grocery store, laundry, and the cleaning I have noted that needs to be done - all finally gets crammed into one day so I can don’t have to do it during the week after work.  

I think Sundays for this space will be similar - there will be stuff here but it will be of even lower quality than the during the week stuff, which, let’s be honest, hasn’t set the highest bar so far. But It think it will be a good place to throw out some interesting things.

Since I am officially a “cord cutter”, I typically only watch whatever free football comes in on my antenna. Slight problem with that is that I can’t seem to get Fox or ABC on the ten buck antenna.  am, for now, assuming it is because the antenna is not near a window, however,  anyone with suggestions beyond that- please feel free to leave a comment in you have experience using good ‘ol free TV. Further complicating matters, CBS gets blacked out for football when the Eagles are on due to being located in the “home territory” or whatever. So no football was on in the man cave during the 1:00 game slot today.

Why am telling you this long story? It is to justify why football wasn’t on today and I can make a slightly off the farm recommendation if you are looking to binge watch something. I spent yesterday and today rewatching some Red vs Blue. If you haven’t heard about the show, it is based on the video game Halo. Have no fear if you have never played it, neither have I. And I guess I shouldn’t say “based on” - the creators of the show literally filmed the game to make the show and added voice overs. I think it is a pretty great concept - and the show is pretty hilarious.

In addition to the webpage above, the is a YouTube Channel now for the show, and most of the seasons have been edited together and put on Hulu- which is what I was watching today instead of football.

Ok folks, lets hope we are ready for the week.

11/21/2015

Today we are going to try out an old Bill Simmons staple- the running diary. Hey, he isn’t writing anymore, I figure all his old things are up for grabs. And he hasn’t used this particular gag in years, first moving to the “retro diary” before completely forgetting it. In theory, twitter has replaced this particular type of writing, but let’s bring it back for PSU - Michigan, a matchup that sounds better than maybe it actually will be.

Most likely Michigan is too talented and experienced for this particular Penn State team. Penn State is coming off a bye, and it is Senior day - these things matter in college ball. So let’s see what happens…

12:07 - PSU gets the ball first, so we can probably go three and out right off the bat.

12:08 - Remember the name Chris Godwin, he will be a good possession receiver in the NFL. He makes tough yards, and in a better scheme, he would be open more often. And Michigan gifts PSU a first

12:10 - BOOOM- there goes Barkley all the way to the ten yard line, need to cash this in for the a TD immediately. So of course, PSU goes to the wildcat, and goes nowhere, ugh. (I would have liked it if it worked better)

12:12 - UGHhhh - three straight running plays into the teeth of the defense. And PSU only gets a field goal after an absolutely huge run. 3-0 PSU, decent start.

12:16 - Thankfully Julius is back to doing kickoffs, and in an absolutely amazing shocker- a holding call is made on the kickoff. I’m shocked. Also, Jim Harbaugh is still super annoying. I am sure we will see him four thousand times this game.

12:20  - It is still amazing how open receivers are against PSU’s defense and how covered PSU receivers are against every other defense. Michigan just got a first down to a guy wide open between zones.

12:22 - third and 9 - PSU gives up 39, awesome. Also, sack leader Carl Nassib wasn’t in for that play, which makes zero sense. And by sack leader - I mean the guy who leads the nation in sacks, not just the team. Yeah, let’s leave him out of the game an obvious pass play. (he may no longer lead the nation after the bye week, but he was a couple weeks ago)

12:26 - TD Michigan, the soft zone looks like garbage so far. Still no Nassib and no pass rush at all for the second string D-ends. Technically Sickels is a starter, but given who he plays next to, he is terrible. 7-3 Michigan

12:31 - First down throw to no one. Two receivers run crossing routes, somehow the throw is behind both of them.

12:32 - And there's a sack - the protection had Brent Wilkerson one on one with a defensive end, that's a tight end, not a tackle. Fuck me. then motion on the o-line, and Kyle carter can’t catch a pass so we punt. Kyle Carter needs to go away. He can’t do anything on a football field that can be construed as a positive for Penn State.  So the tight ends gave up a sack and then dropped a ball on that series.

12:36- Oh - Torrrence Brown just killed the QB. yikes that was a big hit. (Still no NAssib)

12:37 - And a pick for Brandon Bell with a tough run back after the catch. The Qb never saw him.

12:37 - Weird trick play, a wildcat reverse to have Hack throw it. Nice try for the big play after the turnover. But then a third down run, goes nowhere and PSU is three and out again. This offense is such a pile of garbage. Defense back on the field so quickly.

12:49 - Defense finally gets a third down stop to start the second quarter. Apparently NAssib isn’t going to play- ABC has no inclination to let us know what is going on there. Apparently they don’t care

12:51 - Brent Wilkerson with his second catch- Kyle Carter should take notes. Meanwhile, Hack has gotten Michigan to jump three times this game- interesting wrinkle to his game.

12:52 - Hamilton runs a terrible route for a deep ball. He was running towards the middle on a go route for some reason.

12:55 - Hack takes a terrible sack after Michigan gifts PSU a first down. He needs to throw the ball away more. UGH. Followed by a run up the middle. More garbage offense- 3 and 19 now.

12:57 - Wow, the punters are so bad for Penn State- they routinely have punts that go twenty yards, but when we only want a twenty yard punt, they boot that shit into the end zone. How’s that college education working out out?

1:00 - That sack took PSU out of field goal range, put the defense back on the field and PSU is still losing. The is fucking awesome.

1:08 - Michigan gifts PSU a third down stop with a drop on the conversion. Meaning we get more Hack time. So far, we are 0-2 on downfield throws. Hopefully we keep taking shots- those are the best shot to loosen up the defense.

1:12 - What the fuck- another third down run on a third and five or longer…. And its for a loss of yardage. Give me more garbage offense!!

1:16 - Michigan fumbles a snap for a three yard gain, haha. Even a screw up gains yardage. - John Donovan will have Hack run that play in the second half.

1:18 - Best series for the defense so far, getting a three out and the only three yards gained... AND A BLOCKED PUNT!! -LET’S GO!!

1:23 - TOUCHDOWN to Blacknall…. the d-back had no idea where the ball was on an underthrown pass. Nce 10-7 PSU

1:26 - Defense need to not give up points since Michigan gets the ball to start the second half.

1:27 - On third and long, PSU calls timeout while the clock was stopped. I have no idea why, but I am sure the terrible clock management is to blame.

1:29 - Of course Michigan converts. On a safety blitz, they go over the top. Seems to be a theme you get Shoop’s defense on. And a couple screen passes with some terrible tackling has Michigan almost guaranteed points.

1:32 - Now more soft zone and Michigan is in the red zone. God dammit.

1:32 - And touchdown Michigan because Penn State can’t sustain success at all. I think that PSU time out was straight fucking stupid for Franklin to call. There was no reason to let them call plays from the sideline on huge third down.. 14-10 Michigan

1:35 - And the garbage offense won’t try to score in the final fifty seconds. Fuck this. You should go coach soccer if you are scoring averse.  You basically gifted your opponent a second possession in a row AND then let them off hook from having to play defense. In a one possession game- you can’t give them away. Hopefully he learns that is a bullshit approach.

2:00 - Defense starts the second half where it left off, giving up easy completions and not tackling. Good thing we didn’t try and score.

2:03 - Michigan just grinding down the field, short completions and easy runs eating up chunks of yardage. Back D-line in the game, which won’t help the pass rush that isn’t getting home consistently.

2:05 - Captain Khaki thinks PSU should be penalized more as the defense finally holds after gving up field position. PSU will start at their own five. This has happened so often- i can predict what will happen. PSU is going to either go three and out, or only get one first down, then punt. Since the punting is so weak, Michigan will get the ball, at worst, at their own forty.

2:14 -Michigan ball at their own 33, after a penalty on the punt. Of course, Anthony Zettel gives it all back on a roughing the passer penalty and jumped into the QB. This is going to get him ejected. Incredibly stupid to do. That’s his last play in Beaver Stadium. Oh- he gets to stay, I honestly think he should have been ejected by the letter of the law. Anyway - Michigan now at the 50.

2:20 - Michigan punts to a shaky handed returner and gets the ball at the ten. Fuck. I hate those pays. You don’t even have to touch the ball and we get to keep it. Instead a freshman drops an unreturnable kick. SO dumb.

2:22 - TD michigan running it right at PSU’s defense, which can’t get a break from the field due to terrible offensive players. 21-10 Michigan.

2:23 - This lead feels insurmountable. PSU under Franklin has not come back from a double digit deficit that I can remember. Thankfully there isn’t a sure handed returner that can we can use on kicks where we would prefer to not let them down us inside the five. Instead its a freshman who doesn’t catch the ball consistently.

2:26- Oh, good, more Penn State offense. Let’s see what garbage offense we can dial up. ABC can’t seem to figure out how a microphone works, they’ve twice thrown it to the sideline reporter so we can have uncomfortable silence. Good stuff.

2:28 - Captain Khaki still not a fan of the officials. Back to back penalties have gotten PSU thirty yards. and now out to midfield.

2:31 - Hack gets whacked and is out of the game for a 3-20 . Trace McSorley throws a ball to the bench. garbage offense doing work. Hack took off his helmet, he knew there was no way they were converting. Ball game.

2:34 - ABC finally lets us know Nassib isn’t playing. Meanwhile, the soft zone is getting ate up again. Michigan is on the move to really salt this game away. Unless the defense gets a turnover, I don’t see the offense going 80 yards for points anytime soon…. AND they forced the fumble!! Brandon Bell again- strip and recover.

2:39 - PSU goes three plays for no yards, and can’t signal in a play for fourth down. Hack was flipping through his wristband in confusion before calling timeout.

2:40 - But they convert on a seam route that Hack stuck on Chris Godwin, who then did some big boy football shit to wrestle the ball all the way down to the five. Trust-  Chris Godwin will do something in the NFL. He isn’t Allen Robinson, but he can be Wes Welker.

2:46 - And PSU goes backwards to open the fourth quarter, and kicks another field goal. Barkley is playing like a freshman when the hole isn’t there, trying to do crap in the backfield rather than get up field. Of course, that’s just frustration speaking - the offensive line actively gets out of the way of defenders to let them into the backfield. We have so many pulling guards that open the holes for the defenders to pour through - its ridiculous. So it's an 8 point game, but maybe the defense got a breather after that fumble recovery.  21-13 Michigan.

2:52 - Captain Khaki, still displeased with the officials.

2:55 - Three and out for Michigan. And now Greg Garrity is back to receive, hmm. PSU with ok field position. Let’s do this. Probably need two scores still in order to win.

3:03 - Hack has run for the last two first downs… the offense has come to this. Ugh… LET’S GO!

3:09 - PSU inside the ten again. Need a TD here. Come on Lions!

3:11 - And incomplete pass from the 2… And settle for a field goal, not our best play…. Somehow the ball gets just high enough to clear the crossbar. 21-16 Michigan.

3:14 - PSU has had first and goal three times, resulting in 9 points. And piss poor tackling on the kick return gives Michigan great field position. PSU can’t sustain success.

3:16 - Immediately Michigan in the red zone after the special teams and young players play shitty football. Awesome. Now without a turnover, michigan gets the three points back

3:18 - ABC with more awkward silence from the sideline reporter. The best part is they apparently think it's working.

3:20 - Michigan is going to score, it's a no brainer, Shoop just lined up with no one to the wide side of the field, but somehow just gave up a run up the middle. That formation was designed to fail. Michigan on the one

3:21 - There it is - Michigan winning this game in the red zone. 28 - 16 Michigan.Fuck

3:27 - Yeah it’s over, this Hack is done. On first down he throws to a receiver who decides looking for the ball is beneath him. Hamilton is not very good at route running, catching, or generally doing anything to get open.

3:31 - Michigan is going to take a knee and ball game - 28 - 16 Michigan. Mother shit.

Deep breath - well PSU has lost twice in a row to ranked opponents. which is probably about right for this team. They are young and really struggle to execute on a play to play basis. They have hung tough with ranked opponents. The hard thing to look at is the step the back we will take at QB next year after Hack leaves.  Next week will be another loss probably, and we will do this again.

11/20/2015

I almost kept myself too busy and forgot to post something tonight. However, I did actually forget a key piece of wood on my trip to Lowe’s this evening for my new project, so I guess I can take the time to talk about my recently completed project.

To provide a little back story: when I moved into my apartment, I didn’t have much in the way of furniture to furnish the whole thing. I had enough to get by, a couch, a desk to put my TV on, and a bookshelf. I decided that instead of running to Ikea or some other place to get some quick furniture, I decided instead to construct my own furniture. I have limited carpentry skills, but I have just enough tools to be effective.

The really good news, is that there are many free plans available on the internet. The first order of business was the construction of a TV stand- for which I modified a set of plans I found. I constructed a pretty good TV stand, although it has it's flaws that I will be keeping to myself for the current time. In addition, it also left me a nice pile of leftover wood. So prior to beginning the next part of what I calling Phase One of construction (a TV stand, coffee table, and a pub style table), I wanted to try my hand at designing my own project and hopefully expanding my carpentry repertoire.

A couple things I wanted to work on was using a mitre saw to make angles and also making a tabletop out of different pieces to make a sort of design. So I designed the top to be a collection of pieces of 1”x2” on a piece of plywood surrounded by 2”x2” pieces with 45 degree angle cuts at the edges.  As I tested out the results, here is what it looked like:

In theory, the rest of the table should have been easy, just slap on four legs and it should be good to go. However, I wanted to put a shelf near the bottom and have it attach rather seamlessly to the legs. It took me a lot longer to figure out how to do that so that the look would be something I would like. In the end, I decided to get a bit more practice with the mitre saw and cut angles in more pieces of 1”x2” trim to surround a shelf. Then I cut notches into the legs of 2”x2” wood. I didn’t really measure my notches, so my legs are not that snug to the shelf that “surrounds” it.

Then it was just a matter of assembling the pieces into my end table.  I actually decided to stain the table prior to putting the pieces of the top into their final position. That way I wouldn’t have to worry too much about trying to get the stain into the cracks between the pieces.

I think I should I have left the table go with one coat of stain. However the pieces I had used for the legs were not of the best quality and the I didn’t like the way they were looking. So the table ended up being perhaps a bit darker than I wanted. I then applied applied two coats of the clear coat to protect the finish.  Now I just need some sort of plant to put on the bottom as a decoration or something.

11/19/2015

So I was thinking about this as a mental exercise this morning, as it came up on a couple different podcasts- who would win between the current iteration of the Golden State Warriors and the 72 win Chicago Bulls. I think the consensus has somewhat held that the triangle offense has no place in the modern NBA (which is what the Bulls ran) and the 90’s style post game centric offenses definitely have  no place in the pace and space modern game. Therefore, it would stand to reason that the most chameleon, pace and space, small ball loving team of the modern age going against the anachronism of a different generation would be a rout from the opening tip. I believe in this case, the anachronism wins.

I would love to do this Zach Lowe style with all the cool .gifs to highlight the point, but I not that good nor am I going to hunt down old clips of the Bulls doing the things we know they can do. So you’ll just have to be happy with a very word based case as we take a plunge down this hypothetical rabbit hole.

The Warriors are currently winning by having Steph Curry dominate, killing teams with small ball, and playing a suffocating defense. It is super helpful that Steph can shoot from where defenses typically don’t defend. Another fun thing they do is play their super small lineup of Draymond Green at the five just to play your big man off the floor. Their defense is also first rate, with only really Steph being not a really an above average defender.

Unfortunately, I think the Bulls would be able to the combat exactly what the Warriors love to do to teams.  As great as Iguodala played against Lebron last Finals, I have serious doubts about his ability to do the same to Jordan. Lebron was hampered by not being used to taking over games with his scoring. Michael Jordan had no such reservations. In addition, every time the Warriors would try to go super small and “switch everything” - it would be open season on the rim for Jordan and Pippen.

On the defensive end, the real issue the Warriors face is that the Bulls defensively loved to shut down point guards. It is one of the tenets of the triangle offense - since there really isn’t a “primary” ball handler, the Bulls didn’t have a focus point as soon as they crossed half court. The Bulls most likely pick up Curry almost immediately, and mark him with Jordan. I am sure the Warriors would move Curry off the ball and try him run him through every screen action you can dream of. But the true advantage of Curry is what he creates off the dribble, not turning him into just another two guard.

I don’t want to distill the argument solely down just saying Jordan, but he and Pippen are the crux of the argument. What they could do at both ends of the floor was amazing, and surrounding them with Kerr, Rodman, Kukoc, and whoever else allowed them to whatever they wanted on the basketball court.

There are tons of little hypotheticals you could dream up from this matchup- like do the Bulls break out their own super small lineup with Rodman at the five- assuming that the he could still get rebounds at the defensive end? Who does Klay guard? Can Coach Steve Kerr and sharpshooter Steve Kerr occupy the same area without the world coming to an end?

I am sure ever aging champ feels their team was the best ever, like Ron Harper clearly does. But I think those Bulls teams still stand up even in the modern era of the NBA. They played how they played to win in their era, but I fairly certain that they would have had the flexibility to win in any era.

11/18/2015

I have a pretty straight view on immigration to the US. If you can get here, you can live here. I can’t honestly sit here and think that just because my ancestors chose to come here at some point in the past doesn’t really grant me the right to deny the same opportunity simply because their persecution happens in 2015 as opposed to being a potato famine in 1849.  Yes, I am aware that perhaps that sounds needlessly idealistic, but you can’t be an idealist without being idealistic, they sort of go hand in hand.

As everyone gets up in arms about the which states will or won’t accept Syrian refugees, I will offer that my opinion is that if they can get here, they should be allowed seek the freedom from whatever it they are running from (most likely certain death from people who are trying build a caliphate). I find hard to believe that we have become so entitled that we feel we get to keep this all to ourselves solely based on being born here.

The main concern of the selfish is that within the thousands of people who are seeking and yearning to be free there are those few who secretly harbor the will  to do random people harm. In the midst of the security hysteria, we lose sight of our greatest asset. My idealism lends me to believe that the very nature of what can be accomplished does more to deter potential threats to our nation than any isolationist security measures would provide.

I really don’t see how we can claim to have all this freedom, and yet seek to deny the very same things to those born beyond oceans.  

11/17/2015

Tonight soccer (USMNT Vs. Trinidad & Tobago) is the discussion. The first issue tonight- it's not really on TV. So this requires trying sync a stream from NBC Universo with a Rabble TV audio feed since I don’t speak Spanish. Turns out you can’t delay the feed on Rabble TV, so it is impossible to sync the audio with the video if the video is what is behind.  By halftime, I had given up on the notion of watching the video feed through the desktop since I would already know what had happened from the audio feed, and the stream was not, umm, fluid. Fortunately, it enabled me to put a clear coat on my end table while listening to the second half.

Now that we have gotten past my adventures in cord cutting, we can now begin to annoy the true soccer fans. I am literally that guy that only really watches the national teams. Last week’s game gave some reason for optimism as the men’s team poured in six goals after falling behind by a goal early. So, spoiler alert, the US came away tonight with a, ahem, nil nil draw. In regular person talk, it means that nobody scored at all.  Ironically, not scoring, means the US earns a point in the group leaving them a top the group by virtue of the six goals they scored in their first game.

I will admit I have the unpopular opinion that  like US coach Jurgen Klinsmann. He has made no bones about his focus being on the 2018 World Cup. After last summer’s good showing at the World Cup,  am pretty fine with the US having a down cycle this past summer. I don’t think a team can play at a consistently high level for four years while going through a transition. Jurgen chose to leave Landon Donovan off last summer’s squad, since he would not be able to play on Russia in 2018. I think he believes that by that time, Clint Dempsey will be a super sub for late in games. Which leaves the team looking for the next American goal scorer. To have any chance, the USMNT needs a finisher in the final third. I have no idea if Bobby Wood can actually be that guy, but I was disappointed to not see him get the start this evening after he had played so well in his first start last week. Instead, he was reverted back to his former role of being a goal scorer off the bench.  

Klinsmann will take some criticism tomorrow for not getting a result tonight (Yeah- more soccer terms) and some it will most likely have to do with Wood not getting another start. However, given how leaky the defense has been recently, getting a shutout on the road is actually fairly impressive (welcome back secretary of defense, Tim Howard). So the consistent pairing of Besler and Cameron in the center back positions has maybe started to pay off. So in a very “the results are the only thing that matter” analysis, the US finally was able to hold up the back end for a full game.

The next game is not until March (I bet Dempsey returns to the roster for those games) so we unfortunately will not get to see any more action that counts to further the analysis. However, I will continue hope we can find the next American goal scorer to combine with a hopefully continuing to be stout defense in the meantime.