Last week, Andrew Stanley joshed me that I had lost the race. ?!?!? I responded, puzzled by the suggestion by anybody that I would be in a race. Turns out, Andrew had been heroically checking Mug Shots regularly, along with another blog by somebody else he was acquainted with, to see which of us would end a near year-long embargo on posting. I lost. The other guy blogged about ten days ago.
Never one to be goaded into doing something he didn't want to do, I did NOT immediately check in here to see how long it has been. But I got caught tonight with nothing immediately calling for my attention and I peeked. It's been 348 days. Almost 50 weeks. But it seems like forever.
This year has not been a good year health-wise. And, in between visits to the medicos, I've actually carried three fairly active projects, programming-wise. But the big time killer has been my novel. It was in decent shape quarter of the way through the year before I had to part ways with my co-author and completely throw out her contributions to the book. Took a while to recover from the trauma and the fact that the laziest man on earth (c'est moi), was faced with coming up with a new approach to the basic plot, new characters to replace the co-created characters and all new dialog and setups. It's been wearing. And darn it, I liked the meeting scenes between the former two main characters.
Another issue was my lack of enthusiasm for the new TV season. Nothing jumped out and demanded I yell good or bad in some public forum. I liked some new stuff (Chuck, Pushing Daisies and later, Samantha Who?), but was disappointed in lots of things I think I was supposed to like: Bionic Woman, the pilot for The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Cane. Some returning shows slumped: Heroes, Grey's Anatomy and Friday Night Lights. Others continued to make watching TV worthwhile: 30 Rock and Numbers. But everything else seemed to flit between blah and slightly not blah. I've watched LOTS of sports.
So, that's why you've heard little from me in the 50 weeks less two days since I last took up space on Google's file servers. Won't make any promises about how soon it will happen again. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe November 28, 2008.
Probably somewhere in between.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
BOOKS: Fowl's found a girlfriend
A very pleasing Christmas book haul lies stacked neatly underneath the framed hockey cards in my living room. The reading stack has grown by 18 books to a height of nearly four feet. It makes a reader feel contented to see so many anticipated tomes just sitting there to be opened and read.
Still, I found myself busy with other things and only managed to get one book done in time for the turn of the year. Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony is the fifth book in the series starring the delinquent genius by British author Eoin Colfer.
I've said it before and it bears repeating. This Young Adult series rises to the levels of the second-best of the Harry Potter books and has never dipped in quality. The book is slightly longer than its predecessors and does introduce Minerva as a future love interest for Artemis, but it's pretty well written and deserves the length.
More or less, it's actually the kick-off to adding Minerva AND No. 1 as new characters to the enchanted world inhabited by Holly Short, ex-captain of the LEPrecon Patrol and her detective partner, Mulch Diggums, the perennial on-the-run burglar. No. 1 is an imp awaiting transformation into a demon. He doesn't get along with his mates at all. And when a chance to get back to Earth comes, he jumps at it. Literally. That's where he intersects with Artemis and a stranded Holly, caught upside, when Commander Sool cuts off contact with the Mud People. Minerva inserts herself into the process and the hormones and hilarities kick in, while a true sense of adventure moves the pace along quite nicely. Familiar folk die for the second book in a row, and the books ends with people older, much older, and maybe not any wiser.
Recommended for teen and adult alike, as long as said adult still has a kid inside of their heart.
Still, I found myself busy with other things and only managed to get one book done in time for the turn of the year. Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony is the fifth book in the series starring the delinquent genius by British author Eoin Colfer.
I've said it before and it bears repeating. This Young Adult series rises to the levels of the second-best of the Harry Potter books and has never dipped in quality. The book is slightly longer than its predecessors and does introduce Minerva as a future love interest for Artemis, but it's pretty well written and deserves the length.
More or less, it's actually the kick-off to adding Minerva AND No. 1 as new characters to the enchanted world inhabited by Holly Short, ex-captain of the LEPrecon Patrol and her detective partner, Mulch Diggums, the perennial on-the-run burglar. No. 1 is an imp awaiting transformation into a demon. He doesn't get along with his mates at all. And when a chance to get back to Earth comes, he jumps at it. Literally. That's where he intersects with Artemis and a stranded Holly, caught upside, when Commander Sool cuts off contact with the Mud People. Minerva inserts herself into the process and the hormones and hilarities kick in, while a true sense of adventure moves the pace along quite nicely. Familiar folk die for the second book in a row, and the books ends with people older, much older, and maybe not any wiser.
Recommended for teen and adult alike, as long as said adult still has a kid inside of their heart.
MOVIES: Eragon not so much of a disaster
The call came after a particularly crappy day of work. "Let's go see Eragon," said Patrick, left at home with A.J. and a friend, Stephen, while Dawna and Angela were in Toronto at a play. As invitations go, this wasn't high on my want list. I'd read the reviews and I knew the movie to be a disappointment to the legion of Christopher Paolini fans and movie critics alike.
"Sure," I said. It was a moment of weakness based on a need to get out of the house and away from the phone tether to my various clients. Not looking at a computer for a few hours had a certain charm. Just how bad could the movie really be, when compared to the alternative?
Turns out, not so bad. Is the movie derivative of Lord of the Rings and any number of dragon stories, not the least of which was Dinotopia from a few years back? Slavishly so. Is it a remake of the book? Decidedly not so, said Patrick and A.J., both of whom had consumed Eragon and it's sequel in the last year, Patrick by listening to the audio version, A.J. by reading it. I have the two books on the stack to be read this year, but I had little trouble anticipating each step along the way, even to the point of figuring out where the movie had cut book material.
So, the movie was predictable, yet wasn't a page-for-page remake of the book. In other words, the movie had no chance of pleasing anyone. BUT, and this is an important but, it IS NOT THAT BAD! Youngsters of a certain age, who haven't had the chance to immerse themselves on Eragon's ancestors will enjoy the movie. And those who haven't seen superior dragon fare (and Dinotopia really WAS pretty good, if short-lived) in movies such as Dragonheart, don't have any measuring stick for the dragon-effects. They'll lap it up.
As a result, should Eragon be hoisted on its own petard for being late? I prefer to think it was a well-done rerun. As such, didn't regret the time spent in the theatre at all. Won't recommend the movie if you are persnickety about these things. You've been warned. It's up to you to see it.
"Sure," I said. It was a moment of weakness based on a need to get out of the house and away from the phone tether to my various clients. Not looking at a computer for a few hours had a certain charm. Just how bad could the movie really be, when compared to the alternative?
Turns out, not so bad. Is the movie derivative of Lord of the Rings and any number of dragon stories, not the least of which was Dinotopia from a few years back? Slavishly so. Is it a remake of the book? Decidedly not so, said Patrick and A.J., both of whom had consumed Eragon and it's sequel in the last year, Patrick by listening to the audio version, A.J. by reading it. I have the two books on the stack to be read this year, but I had little trouble anticipating each step along the way, even to the point of figuring out where the movie had cut book material.
So, the movie was predictable, yet wasn't a page-for-page remake of the book. In other words, the movie had no chance of pleasing anyone. BUT, and this is an important but, it IS NOT THAT BAD! Youngsters of a certain age, who haven't had the chance to immerse themselves on Eragon's ancestors will enjoy the movie. And those who haven't seen superior dragon fare (and Dinotopia really WAS pretty good, if short-lived) in movies such as Dragonheart, don't have any measuring stick for the dragon-effects. They'll lap it up.
As a result, should Eragon be hoisted on its own petard for being late? I prefer to think it was a well-done rerun. As such, didn't regret the time spent in the theatre at all. Won't recommend the movie if you are persnickety about these things. You've been warned. It's up to you to see it.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
COMPUTERS: Firefox 2.0 is good, really, REALLY GOOD!
Flush with victory over getting that extra third of an inch of depth in my Firefox browser window, I decided to tempt fate and upgrade to Firefox 2.0 on the main machines. I had been running on the test machine Ollie and, a few quirks aside, I was okay with it.
The upgrade process was quick, but not painless. It left my old Firefox installation alive and kicking in a sub-folder called Firefox 1.5. That caused some confusion. And it took a few starts and restarts before the old extensions got themselves worked out. (as an aside, the person responsible for changing the name extension to add-in must be the son of the keyboard designer for the original IBM keyboard, the one that was NOT based on the top-selling keyboard of the time, the IBM Selectric Typewriter. Change for change's sake is dumb).
My first reaction was to panic over some of the extensions I had lost. All-in-One Sidebar was working a little wonky, but the only one of my must-have list missing was Copy Image. That seemed replaced by a built-in version. So, no harm there. Bookmark Backup was also missing in action and that concerned me. As was Diggler. ColourfulTabs and WellRounded made me wistful for my old version. But the REAL problem, interface-wise, was the missing close tab button on the far right of the tab header row. I could live with the tab headers scrolling rather than showing a gazillion mini headers. But I needed that button back. Sure, each tab had it's own close button, but I used middle-click for that when I was in the vicinity. But when I just wanted to scan through a bunch of sites quickly, I needed the one-stop action of the right-hand-side close button.
I went looking for new “add-ins” and found some delightful ones. More of that later. What I didn't find was an add-in that would give me back the close tab button. Off to google for “firefox restore close button” and found instructions to do this.
Into the url field, type in About:config and hit enter. That takes you to the arcane Firefox configuration file. Scroll down until you find: browser.tabs.closeButtons and right click. Choose to modify and change the value from 0 or 1 to 3. Voila! You and I are happy again. If you want to get a more complete explanation, go to http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.tabs.closeButtons.
Diggler's ability to go back up a site tree has been replaced by ParentFolder. Not quite as all-knowing as Diggler, but it'll do. I also miss the left-hand-side NewFolder on the tab header bar, but I simply customized the menu to put it on the top row where I have the word menu plus the navigation toolbar.
Now for the new goodies. The ColorfulTabs are now a thing of the past. Replaced with AgingTabs. After loading this one, I changed the custom tab colour to Bright yellow with an aging target of dull yellow. The Highlight slected tab became light lime green and I told it to age every 60 seconds. I slid the aging amount slider to the middle. Perfect!
The other REALLY NEAT thing was TabsOpenRelative. This one meant any links I clicked on would open RIGHT after the tab I was currently on, rather than the far right. THIS, is a wonderful thing. Remember, I have folders of links I open with a single middle click. That gets my sports links, entertainment links and computer links up there already loaded as I go through them site by site. It was not unusual to be going through the sports stuff, see a link I wanted to load and do so. But it would load AFTER all of my other already-loaded links. So I was faced with the decision to read all of sports, then entertainment, then computers and finally go back to the sports link, or pop to the end and then come back. TabsOpenRelative solves that utterly and completely.
Firefox 2.0 is now VERY friendly with the wheel on your mouse or trackball. In the tab header area, the scroller will move the tab headers right and left. On a page, it scrolls as you expect and if you hold the control key down while using it, it moves the size of type up and down. Very nifty. And when you add the return of being able to use the space bar to page down, which I suspect TabBrowserPreferences ate a year ago, I can unequivocally say, UPGRADE!
Some goodies you MIGHT want to investigate include the GmailSpace and Check4Change add-ins which I have loaded but haven't used. BookmarkDuplicateDetector does what it says. PDFDownload and SourgeforgeDirectDownload help me with saving files to my drive in a quicker, smarter, less error-prone manner. And UndoClosedTabsButton will come in handy eventually. Probably.
Yep, the upgrade is the smart thing to do.
The upgrade process was quick, but not painless. It left my old Firefox installation alive and kicking in a sub-folder called Firefox 1.5. That caused some confusion. And it took a few starts and restarts before the old extensions got themselves worked out. (as an aside, the person responsible for changing the name extension to add-in must be the son of the keyboard designer for the original IBM keyboard, the one that was NOT based on the top-selling keyboard of the time, the IBM Selectric Typewriter. Change for change's sake is dumb).
My first reaction was to panic over some of the extensions I had lost. All-in-One Sidebar was working a little wonky, but the only one of my must-have list missing was Copy Image. That seemed replaced by a built-in version. So, no harm there. Bookmark Backup was also missing in action and that concerned me. As was Diggler. ColourfulTabs and WellRounded made me wistful for my old version. But the REAL problem, interface-wise, was the missing close tab button on the far right of the tab header row. I could live with the tab headers scrolling rather than showing a gazillion mini headers. But I needed that button back. Sure, each tab had it's own close button, but I used middle-click for that when I was in the vicinity. But when I just wanted to scan through a bunch of sites quickly, I needed the one-stop action of the right-hand-side close button.
I went looking for new “add-ins” and found some delightful ones. More of that later. What I didn't find was an add-in that would give me back the close tab button. Off to google for “firefox restore close button” and found instructions to do this.
Into the url field, type in About:config and hit enter. That takes you to the arcane Firefox configuration file. Scroll down until you find: browser.tabs.closeButtons and right click. Choose to modify and change the value from 0 or 1 to 3. Voila! You and I are happy again. If you want to get a more complete explanation, go to http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.tabs.closeButtons.
Diggler's ability to go back up a site tree has been replaced by ParentFolder. Not quite as all-knowing as Diggler, but it'll do. I also miss the left-hand-side NewFolder on the tab header bar, but I simply customized the menu to put it on the top row where I have the word menu plus the navigation toolbar.
Now for the new goodies. The ColorfulTabs are now a thing of the past. Replaced with AgingTabs. After loading this one, I changed the custom tab colour to Bright yellow with an aging target of dull yellow. The Highlight slected tab became light lime green and I told it to age every 60 seconds. I slid the aging amount slider to the middle. Perfect!
The other REALLY NEAT thing was TabsOpenRelative. This one meant any links I clicked on would open RIGHT after the tab I was currently on, rather than the far right. THIS, is a wonderful thing. Remember, I have folders of links I open with a single middle click. That gets my sports links, entertainment links and computer links up there already loaded as I go through them site by site. It was not unusual to be going through the sports stuff, see a link I wanted to load and do so. But it would load AFTER all of my other already-loaded links. So I was faced with the decision to read all of sports, then entertainment, then computers and finally go back to the sports link, or pop to the end and then come back. TabsOpenRelative solves that utterly and completely.
Firefox 2.0 is now VERY friendly with the wheel on your mouse or trackball. In the tab header area, the scroller will move the tab headers right and left. On a page, it scrolls as you expect and if you hold the control key down while using it, it moves the size of type up and down. Very nifty. And when you add the return of being able to use the space bar to page down, which I suspect TabBrowserPreferences ate a year ago, I can unequivocally say, UPGRADE!
Some goodies you MIGHT want to investigate include the GmailSpace and Check4Change add-ins which I have loaded but haven't used. BookmarkDuplicateDetector does what it says. PDFDownload and SourgeforgeDirectDownload help me with saving files to my drive in a quicker, smarter, less error-prone manner. And UndoClosedTabsButton will come in handy eventually. Probably.
Yep, the upgrade is the smart thing to do.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
NATURE: Even Hippos can be cute
I love the zoo. I've come to that conclusion late in life, but I look forward to the (usually) yearly visit to the Toronto Zoo. In fact, I like it enough to actually drive myself and bring the movie mob with me, rather than wait until I can hitch a ride with one of the mob's actual parents.
When I was a wee heffer in the making, I had a bad experience somewhere that made me leary of zoos. Can't remember it all that well, but it involved a cow barn, lots of excrement and a weak stomach. Took me almost 30 years and getting old enough to forget the childhood experience to go back.
Hardly the odiferous place I feared, it was a place of delights. I can watch the gorillas and lesser apes for hours. The otters and the meerkats are watchable for just as long. Polar bears have their moments and so do the warthogs. Giraffes are the ultimate in languid grace and elephants are fascinating in size alone. In groups, all the better.
And, now, I have found a site that will let you see behind-the-scenes stuff from the zoo. Not MY favourite zoo, but a good one nonetheless. The San Francisco Zoo is a pretty good one and they have a bi-weekly video blog (known as a podcast) available at www.sfzoo.org/podcasts/#archive . Worth taking a look. The first of the two penguin broadcasts was best. The koala episode was first rate. The hippo show for Stomp and Chomp wasn't as good as others I have seen, but not bad. Check out the jowls on that hippo.
At any rate, I wonder what a fall visit to the Zoo would be like?
When I was a wee heffer in the making, I had a bad experience somewhere that made me leary of zoos. Can't remember it all that well, but it involved a cow barn, lots of excrement and a weak stomach. Took me almost 30 years and getting old enough to forget the childhood experience to go back.
Hardly the odiferous place I feared, it was a place of delights. I can watch the gorillas and lesser apes for hours. The otters and the meerkats are watchable for just as long. Polar bears have their moments and so do the warthogs. Giraffes are the ultimate in languid grace and elephants are fascinating in size alone. In groups, all the better.
And, now, I have found a site that will let you see behind-the-scenes stuff from the zoo. Not MY favourite zoo, but a good one nonetheless. The San Francisco Zoo is a pretty good one and they have a bi-weekly video blog (known as a podcast) available at www.sfzoo.org/podcasts/#archive . Worth taking a look. The first of the two penguin broadcasts was best. The koala episode was first rate. The hippo show for Stomp and Chomp wasn't as good as others I have seen, but not bad. Check out the jowls on that hippo.
At any rate, I wonder what a fall visit to the Zoo would be like?
COMPUTERS: Neat Firefox Stuff
I have a BIGGGG monitor (several, in fact). But the main point is that even with the big monitor, I find myself JUSTTHISCLOSE to having enough depth to see the Next buttons when doing a google search. I get the ten default items and you can usually see a bit of the google travel buttons at the bottom. So, I have to scroll down and then click. Oh, Bother! as Winnie the Pooh would say.
I read about a neat extension at Shell Extension City, one of my daily blog stops, called Compact. It was meant to make the word menu, you know, the File-Edit-View menu bar, collapse into a button on the button bar, the one with the back and forward buttons. EXACTLY what I needed.
Didn't work. Had to uninstall it.
But it got me thinking. I tried the effect of pushing the buttons up to the right-hand side of the word menu bar. And you know, it works!!!! I then made the button bar non-viewed and I have EXACTLY the space now to see the google buttons without having to scroll. It's a small thing, but it turns a crappy day into a semi-victory.
So, let's walk through the steps into getting that much appreciated extra depth. First, right click on your button bar. You SHOULD get a menu to checkmark on or off your various toolbars. Select the customize option. Up will come a window that will allow you to drag buttons TO the bar or buttons OFF the bar. Anddddd, unbeknownst to me until today, you can drag buttons FROM bar TO bar. Drag ALL of your buttons from the toolbar and plop them down at the end of the menu bar. Even the URL type-in field. When completed and the button bar is empty of icons, click DONE in the customize toolbar window. The final step? Right click on the menu bar and turn off the navigation toolbar (That's the REAL name of the button bar).
Bob's your uncle.
Extensions I have known and loved
Speaking of extensions, I'm REALLY happy with my current set of extensions. Here's a run-down of what I am using.
Adblock Plus with the Adblock Filterset.G Updater keeps most of the annoying ads at bay and lets me kick others out of sight on an as-encountered basis. All-In-One sidebar is a godsend for allowing easy viewing/switching between bookmarks, download manager and the extension manager. Bookmark backup does what it says it does. BugMeNot was huge at one time, but with the NY Times having caught up, not as good anymore. BMN is there more out of tradition than use. Clear Cache Button gives me a quick way to clear the cache before and after visiting a site I will be giving personal info too. Colorful Tabs is nice, cuz it helps separate the see of grey into more discreet tabs. Context Highlight lets me decide to highlight a word or group of words. Think Find All at Once. Copy Image lets me right-click on a picture and save it to disk. And copy plain text lets me hightlight and copy, without bringing formatting info along for the ride.
Dictionary Search is handy for those words I don't know. Not a frequent need, but it does happen. Diggler lets me back up the url tree to someplace higher on the chain. DownThemAll! lets me get all the links (usually pictures) on a page all at once. A great saver. Fasterfox measures how fast pages take to load and optimizes things a little but. Saves microseconds, if that. Flashblock makes all flash animations require a click (or two) from me to play. Sites can be given cartblanche to show animations. Otherwise, all you web-design morons who use flash are getting nothing from me, in terms of attention. Scorn maybe, but attention, no! GMail Manager, lets me quickly check my GMail account. And Grease Monkey is a programming environment for Firefox. I am still new to it, but already, I have a page or two of usually microscopic text starting up at the right size.
Image Zoom allows me to right click and enlarge or make smaller images on the page. InFormEnter is a program that attaches blue arrows to the end of input fields and lets me select from a bunch of previously entered in answers. NoScript stops click-by web infections by javascript dead cold. You have to allow or allow permanently a web-site to execute scripts on your computer. And you can mix and match. Let Sportsnet run ITS scripts, but disallow the adsense links to do so. NukeAnythingEnhanced lets me get rid of objects on the page, usually before printing the page. And PrintPreview gives me a button to do that job quickly. SaveImageInFolder lets me save selected graphics, TV/Movie Posters or Cast shots, for example, into a separate folder (called unoriginally Posters). TabBrowser Preferences is the king of tab extensions, allowing you to middle click to add and delete, amongst other goodies. VideoDownloader speeds up the task of saving YouTube videos to the hard drive as flash animations. I know, I know! I ragged on flash just a paragraph ago. The difference here is choosing to save and watch, rather than having the decision made for me by an attention-deficit affected designer. And finally, for cosmetic reasons, I like my URL field to have rounded corners, and WellRounded does that for me.
Which of the above would make the absolute MUST HAVE list? NoScript, Tabbrowser Preferences, All-in-One Sidebar, Adblock Plus, Clear Cache Button, Image Zoom, Copy Image and InFormEnter, nmaybe in that order. Nuke Anthing Enhanced and VideoDownloader are the other two that get used a lot. The rest are either cosmetic or once in a blue moon tools.
I read about a neat extension at Shell Extension City, one of my daily blog stops, called Compact. It was meant to make the word menu, you know, the File-Edit-View menu bar, collapse into a button on the button bar, the one with the back and forward buttons. EXACTLY what I needed.
Didn't work. Had to uninstall it.
But it got me thinking. I tried the effect of pushing the buttons up to the right-hand side of the word menu bar. And you know, it works!!!! I then made the button bar non-viewed and I have EXACTLY the space now to see the google buttons without having to scroll. It's a small thing, but it turns a crappy day into a semi-victory.
So, let's walk through the steps into getting that much appreciated extra depth. First, right click on your button bar. You SHOULD get a menu to checkmark on or off your various toolbars. Select the customize option. Up will come a window that will allow you to drag buttons TO the bar or buttons OFF the bar. Anddddd, unbeknownst to me until today, you can drag buttons FROM bar TO bar. Drag ALL of your buttons from the toolbar and plop them down at the end of the menu bar. Even the URL type-in field. When completed and the button bar is empty of icons, click DONE in the customize toolbar window. The final step? Right click on the menu bar and turn off the navigation toolbar (That's the REAL name of the button bar).
Bob's your uncle.
Extensions I have known and loved
Speaking of extensions, I'm REALLY happy with my current set of extensions. Here's a run-down of what I am using.
Adblock Plus with the Adblock Filterset.G Updater keeps most of the annoying ads at bay and lets me kick others out of sight on an as-encountered basis. All-In-One sidebar is a godsend for allowing easy viewing/switching between bookmarks, download manager and the extension manager. Bookmark backup does what it says it does. BugMeNot was huge at one time, but with the NY Times having caught up, not as good anymore. BMN is there more out of tradition than use. Clear Cache Button gives me a quick way to clear the cache before and after visiting a site I will be giving personal info too. Colorful Tabs is nice, cuz it helps separate the see of grey into more discreet tabs. Context Highlight lets me decide to highlight a word or group of words. Think Find All at Once. Copy Image lets me right-click on a picture and save it to disk. And copy plain text lets me hightlight and copy, without bringing formatting info along for the ride.
Dictionary Search is handy for those words I don't know. Not a frequent need, but it does happen. Diggler lets me back up the url tree to someplace higher on the chain. DownThemAll! lets me get all the links (usually pictures) on a page all at once. A great saver. Fasterfox measures how fast pages take to load and optimizes things a little but. Saves microseconds, if that. Flashblock makes all flash animations require a click (or two) from me to play. Sites can be given cartblanche to show animations. Otherwise, all you web-design morons who use flash are getting nothing from me, in terms of attention. Scorn maybe, but attention, no! GMail Manager, lets me quickly check my GMail account. And Grease Monkey is a programming environment for Firefox. I am still new to it, but already, I have a page or two of usually microscopic text starting up at the right size.
Image Zoom allows me to right click and enlarge or make smaller images on the page. InFormEnter is a program that attaches blue arrows to the end of input fields and lets me select from a bunch of previously entered in answers. NoScript stops click-by web infections by javascript dead cold. You have to allow or allow permanently a web-site to execute scripts on your computer. And you can mix and match. Let Sportsnet run ITS scripts, but disallow the adsense links to do so. NukeAnythingEnhanced lets me get rid of objects on the page, usually before printing the page. And PrintPreview gives me a button to do that job quickly. SaveImageInFolder lets me save selected graphics, TV/Movie Posters or Cast shots, for example, into a separate folder (called unoriginally Posters). TabBrowser Preferences is the king of tab extensions, allowing you to middle click to add and delete, amongst other goodies. VideoDownloader speeds up the task of saving YouTube videos to the hard drive as flash animations. I know, I know! I ragged on flash just a paragraph ago. The difference here is choosing to save and watch, rather than having the decision made for me by an attention-deficit affected designer. And finally, for cosmetic reasons, I like my URL field to have rounded corners, and WellRounded does that for me.
Which of the above would make the absolute MUST HAVE list? NoScript, Tabbrowser Preferences, All-in-One Sidebar, Adblock Plus, Clear Cache Button, Image Zoom, Copy Image and InFormEnter, nmaybe in that order. Nuke Anthing Enhanced and VideoDownloader are the other two that get used a lot. The rest are either cosmetic or once in a blue moon tools.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
EDUCATION: Kill all the Shakespeareans
Not a day doesn't go by that I don't have to stop and repeat something I've said, usually in plainer, less accurate terms, because some high-school educated person I'm talking to doesn't get what I am saying.
I'm hardly William F. Buckley, but for comparative purposes, my level of language is akin to Elizabethan English to too many 'educated' youngsters and young adults. It makes me wonder WHAT we are teaching in English class in high school today. I hear lots of Shakespeare and I shudder.
Shakespeare wrote in a dialect of English that no longer exists. It bears only a passing resemblance to what is spoken today and is taught as a sop to the teachers that educated our teachers. It's almost like an initiation process. "I had to put up with Shakespeare and for the one of You in this class that will become an English major and eventually a teacher, You are going to have to go through this too". Better they be stripped naked and be forced to run a gauntlet of their peers with tomahawks. Less florid speeches that turn off most students and more attention to getting all students to communicate effectively in today's workplace would be a giant first step in repairing education.
Before you scholars take to your keyboards in righteous anger, let me point out that I have NO problem with teaching Shakespeare in history. I think it would be boring there too, but it has a place there. It's relatively entertaining prose from a language that became that, that we speak today. The EVOLUTION of language is a historical subject. And it should make up a section in some year's historical curriculum. ONE SECTION. Not a semester's worth in each of three or four years.
Was ol' Will a wonderful wordsmith? Leaving aside the slight chance that his authorship was a fraud, I'd say yes. Some of the tropes we are ALL too familiar with today in our entertainment, seem to trace back to Shakespeare. But then again, there really are only seven different stories, and choice of language and/or dialect doesn't change that. Our educational system's devotion to Shakespeare has blinded the educators to the fact that student's don't read it, if unforced. Save for the one future English teacher in the student body.
Contemporary literature might be a minefield of mediocrity and modern magazines and newspapers a monument to short attention spans, but it IS the reading material students WILL be buying and consuming. Teaching good from bad, literate from eubonic pablum, honest from deceitful ... wouldn't THAT be a more effective use of the time we USED to call Language Arts?
I'm hardly William F. Buckley, but for comparative purposes, my level of language is akin to Elizabethan English to too many 'educated' youngsters and young adults. It makes me wonder WHAT we are teaching in English class in high school today. I hear lots of Shakespeare and I shudder.
Shakespeare wrote in a dialect of English that no longer exists. It bears only a passing resemblance to what is spoken today and is taught as a sop to the teachers that educated our teachers. It's almost like an initiation process. "I had to put up with Shakespeare and for the one of You in this class that will become an English major and eventually a teacher, You are going to have to go through this too". Better they be stripped naked and be forced to run a gauntlet of their peers with tomahawks. Less florid speeches that turn off most students and more attention to getting all students to communicate effectively in today's workplace would be a giant first step in repairing education.
Before you scholars take to your keyboards in righteous anger, let me point out that I have NO problem with teaching Shakespeare in history. I think it would be boring there too, but it has a place there. It's relatively entertaining prose from a language that became that, that we speak today. The EVOLUTION of language is a historical subject. And it should make up a section in some year's historical curriculum. ONE SECTION. Not a semester's worth in each of three or four years.
Was ol' Will a wonderful wordsmith? Leaving aside the slight chance that his authorship was a fraud, I'd say yes. Some of the tropes we are ALL too familiar with today in our entertainment, seem to trace back to Shakespeare. But then again, there really are only seven different stories, and choice of language and/or dialect doesn't change that. Our educational system's devotion to Shakespeare has blinded the educators to the fact that student's don't read it, if unforced. Save for the one future English teacher in the student body.
Contemporary literature might be a minefield of mediocrity and modern magazines and newspapers a monument to short attention spans, but it IS the reading material students WILL be buying and consuming. Teaching good from bad, literate from eubonic pablum, honest from deceitful ... wouldn't THAT be a more effective use of the time we USED to call Language Arts?
TV: The New Tuesday - Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!!
Nope! Not a mistake. Tuesday night is Football night redux, at least as far as the new TV shows this fall go. I might have been looking forward to CBS's Smith, but I stayed for NBC's Friday Night Lights, the small-screen version of the movie of the same name.
Bluntly, it's the only new show Tuesdays will continue to bring into the house. Even if I have to tape it to watch House and NCIS. It's like The OC with a purpose and a Texas twang. Forget the football, it's a teen soap opera with believable parents (faves Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton). Too many people see the SF label and bypass Battlestar Galactica. This one's stuck with the pigskin outline on its rear. Get over your dislike for sports shows that ain't for real. This is one for the VCR while you watch your REAL Tuesday at 8 favourite.
One of the VERY BEST SHOWS ON TV ANYWHERE (have I got your attention?) is Hustle, the British caper show, shown on this side of the Atlantic in hacked apart one-hour shows (it needs 90 minutes to show the full British episode). It's through three (regrettably short) seasons and coming back for more. Just about every other theft-inspired show over 'ere seems to die part way through the first season. Well, at least since It Takes a Thief. I had high hopes for Smith. Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, a moody movie approach, some appealing secondary characters given life by Amy Smart, Simon Baker and Frankie G. And it plopped. Big Time. No chemistry between the intense Liotta and the expressionless Madsen. Smart's character wasn't very smart. And it wasn't the little things that set the authorities onto the caper crew, it was a spot-on ID by a child-hood friend that Smart's character neglected to mention to the rest of her high-end team. It was the first casualty of the year, although I watched it to the bitter end (okay, it WAS only three shows).
What should have been the first casualty was the show I could only watch a half of. ABC deserves a bad chastising for releasing Ted Danson's dreadful Help Me, Help You on to an unsuspecting viewership. When the clean freak he's treating reaches into the garbage can for a partially eaten something or other as part of her aversion therapy, I reached for the remote. Just horrible. Won't subject myself to it again.
I sort of liked Standoff's first show. Even liked the second. Started hoping they'd start losing hostages by the third show. A show about hostage negotiators needs a LOT of time away from the job to have any legs. Otherwise, it becomes like a Superman comic where you KNOW nobody's in real jeopardy. Super Clark will always arrive in time to save Lois Lane. Takes the dramatic kick completely out of the show. But this is a work-place show. And losing hostages isn't really part of the romantic comedy the two negotiators have set up by becoming lovers as well as partners. It's like corn chips. Easy to overdose on, and slow to come back too. Ron Livingston's fine as one half of the team, can't say I'm much impressed with Rosemarie DeWitt as the distaff partner. But even Billy Connelly and Charlize Theron couldn't make this work.
Bluntly, it's the only new show Tuesdays will continue to bring into the house. Even if I have to tape it to watch House and NCIS. It's like The OC with a purpose and a Texas twang. Forget the football, it's a teen soap opera with believable parents (faves Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton). Too many people see the SF label and bypass Battlestar Galactica. This one's stuck with the pigskin outline on its rear. Get over your dislike for sports shows that ain't for real. This is one for the VCR while you watch your REAL Tuesday at 8 favourite.
One of the VERY BEST SHOWS ON TV ANYWHERE (have I got your attention?) is Hustle, the British caper show, shown on this side of the Atlantic in hacked apart one-hour shows (it needs 90 minutes to show the full British episode). It's through three (regrettably short) seasons and coming back for more. Just about every other theft-inspired show over 'ere seems to die part way through the first season. Well, at least since It Takes a Thief. I had high hopes for Smith. Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, a moody movie approach, some appealing secondary characters given life by Amy Smart, Simon Baker and Frankie G. And it plopped. Big Time. No chemistry between the intense Liotta and the expressionless Madsen. Smart's character wasn't very smart. And it wasn't the little things that set the authorities onto the caper crew, it was a spot-on ID by a child-hood friend that Smart's character neglected to mention to the rest of her high-end team. It was the first casualty of the year, although I watched it to the bitter end (okay, it WAS only three shows).
What should have been the first casualty was the show I could only watch a half of. ABC deserves a bad chastising for releasing Ted Danson's dreadful Help Me, Help You on to an unsuspecting viewership. When the clean freak he's treating reaches into the garbage can for a partially eaten something or other as part of her aversion therapy, I reached for the remote. Just horrible. Won't subject myself to it again.
I sort of liked Standoff's first show. Even liked the second. Started hoping they'd start losing hostages by the third show. A show about hostage negotiators needs a LOT of time away from the job to have any legs. Otherwise, it becomes like a Superman comic where you KNOW nobody's in real jeopardy. Super Clark will always arrive in time to save Lois Lane. Takes the dramatic kick completely out of the show. But this is a work-place show. And losing hostages isn't really part of the romantic comedy the two negotiators have set up by becoming lovers as well as partners. It's like corn chips. Easy to overdose on, and slow to come back too. Ron Livingston's fine as one half of the team, can't say I'm much impressed with Rosemarie DeWitt as the distaff partner. But even Billy Connelly and Charlize Theron couldn't make this work.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
TV: The New Monday ... I Need a Hero
Let's face it, I watch Monday Night Football and tape whatever else I'm going to watch. That said, Monday night does house the best of the new shows this season and not the worst of the rest. In other words, an okay grade.
The best show is NBC's Heroes, a show that appeals to the comic book reader (hey, I've got close to ten thousand of them in the vault and downstairs. I AM A COMIC BOOK READER). But like other fantastical shows, this has cross-over appeal and a shot to compete in its time slot. The pilot was incomplete and the addition of Greg Grunberg, ex of Alias, in the second episode is a good sign this will be a good show.
Heroes is followed to the screen by Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, one of the more disappointing shows thus far. It's okay, but more was expected from Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford, playing riffs on their characters from Cheers and West Wing respectively. Not surprising, since West Wing came from the same fertile minds of Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme. Unfortunately, there is a truth in show biz. Viewers at home couldn't care less about writers, whether they be newspapermen, crusading magazine stars or TV Shows. Murder She Wrote was a detective show. And The Mary Tyler Moore Show was set in a newsroom about as often as Mary enjoyed long-lasting relationships with men. In Studio 60, we get more of Sorkin, and maybe you CAN get too much of Sorkin. Still, I will watch the show if only for the pairing of Jack & Jill survivors Amanda Peet and Sarah Paulson.
Fox's Vanished is one of the two kidnapping shows this year (NBC cutting right to the chase by calling their show, Kidnapping). Lots to like about the show, which is the DaVinci Code tossed into the blender with 24. BUT, and it's a BIG but, the behaviour of daughter Marcy, played by Margarita Levieva, is preposterious. Marcy has to act impossibly stupidly in key sequences to further the plot. And everybody has to ignore her while she's making the bad decisions. Levieva IS quite cute, but I can't get around that.
The new network CW, runs Runaway against Vanished. It's a Canuck-content extravaganza. Competent, but blah. As a serial, it asks too much to get interested in the Rader family on the run, sort of The Fugitive on steroids. Would be surprised if it lasted til Christmas. I said the same thing about a comedy from ABC last year and it went the whole season. So it got a whole half-season more than I projected. My revenge is that I can't remember its name.
Which brings me to Class, the best of a woeful lot of comedies I've seen this year. Class gets a failing grade, and it's STILL the funniest of the new comedies. It depends on faux gay humour to a great degree, brings in suicide as an ON-GOING plot device, repeats the same punch line ad nauseum “Your party,” and features a philandering wife. I did laugh three or four times in two episodes. Time well spent? Not anymore.
It's time for some FOOTBALL!!
The best show is NBC's Heroes, a show that appeals to the comic book reader (hey, I've got close to ten thousand of them in the vault and downstairs. I AM A COMIC BOOK READER). But like other fantastical shows, this has cross-over appeal and a shot to compete in its time slot. The pilot was incomplete and the addition of Greg Grunberg, ex of Alias, in the second episode is a good sign this will be a good show.
Heroes is followed to the screen by Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, one of the more disappointing shows thus far. It's okay, but more was expected from Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford, playing riffs on their characters from Cheers and West Wing respectively. Not surprising, since West Wing came from the same fertile minds of Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme. Unfortunately, there is a truth in show biz. Viewers at home couldn't care less about writers, whether they be newspapermen, crusading magazine stars or TV Shows. Murder She Wrote was a detective show. And The Mary Tyler Moore Show was set in a newsroom about as often as Mary enjoyed long-lasting relationships with men. In Studio 60, we get more of Sorkin, and maybe you CAN get too much of Sorkin. Still, I will watch the show if only for the pairing of Jack & Jill survivors Amanda Peet and Sarah Paulson.
Fox's Vanished is one of the two kidnapping shows this year (NBC cutting right to the chase by calling their show, Kidnapping). Lots to like about the show, which is the DaVinci Code tossed into the blender with 24. BUT, and it's a BIG but, the behaviour of daughter Marcy, played by Margarita Levieva, is preposterious. Marcy has to act impossibly stupidly in key sequences to further the plot. And everybody has to ignore her while she's making the bad decisions. Levieva IS quite cute, but I can't get around that.
The new network CW, runs Runaway against Vanished. It's a Canuck-content extravaganza. Competent, but blah. As a serial, it asks too much to get interested in the Rader family on the run, sort of The Fugitive on steroids. Would be surprised if it lasted til Christmas. I said the same thing about a comedy from ABC last year and it went the whole season. So it got a whole half-season more than I projected. My revenge is that I can't remember its name.
Which brings me to Class, the best of a woeful lot of comedies I've seen this year. Class gets a failing grade, and it's STILL the funniest of the new comedies. It depends on faux gay humour to a great degree, brings in suicide as an ON-GOING plot device, repeats the same punch line ad nauseum “Your party,” and features a philandering wife. I did laugh three or four times in two episodes. Time well spent? Not anymore.
It's time for some FOOTBALL!!
Monday, October 02, 2006
I'm BAAAAAACK!
Having not discovered a way to pawn off my work and still get paid for it (like my current external facilities manager, GRRRRRRR!), I haven't had time to do this thing.
But I will over the next few days. The BBL season came to an end with the usual result, the Mug Shots are Brampton Beisbol League roto champs again. The OOPS (the hockey roto) draft is tomorrow night with the Mug Shots and Pool Division cousing Bugaboos as defending champs. And even though the Mug Shots won the SNAFU (football roto) title last year, I decided to skip pigskin operations this year. That will leave me with some spare time to fit more work in ... or work here.
I hope.
But I will over the next few days. The BBL season came to an end with the usual result, the Mug Shots are Brampton Beisbol League roto champs again. The OOPS (the hockey roto) draft is tomorrow night with the Mug Shots and Pool Division cousing Bugaboos as defending champs. And even though the Mug Shots won the SNAFU (football roto) title last year, I decided to skip pigskin operations this year. That will leave me with some spare time to fit more work in ... or work here.
I hope.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
SPORTS: Boston and the Black athlete
The Boston Red Sox were legendarily the last major league baseball team to integrate, when infielder Pumpsie Green joined them in the late 50's ... AFTER I was born. As a kid, my Pumpsie Green card was one of my favourties. Nothing about Pumpsie being black, just loved the name.
Later, as a I grew older and became a little more aware of the importance of Green's presence ON that card, I formed an opinion of Boston as a hard place for black athletes. Sure, the Celtics were a tribute to Bill Russell, the Jones boys and Satch Sanders, but I just got the impression that Boston was as provincial as a Northern states city could get. Even when Russell got the head coaching job after Red Auerbach retired to the cigar-smoking section in the stands, I held fast to my notion.
Yesterday, talking to a New Englander, the subject came up. "Hmmmmmm," said my Bridge-playing friend. "Didn't Boston have the first black NHL player? Fellow by the name of O'Ree. Willie O'Ree I think. And you know Chuck Cooper broke the colour barrier in the NBA. You know, you can't paint us all with a tarbrush, when it was just the Red Sox management that was slow on the uptake."
And he was right. Sorry, Boston.
Later, as a I grew older and became a little more aware of the importance of Green's presence ON that card, I formed an opinion of Boston as a hard place for black athletes. Sure, the Celtics were a tribute to Bill Russell, the Jones boys and Satch Sanders, but I just got the impression that Boston was as provincial as a Northern states city could get. Even when Russell got the head coaching job after Red Auerbach retired to the cigar-smoking section in the stands, I held fast to my notion.
Yesterday, talking to a New Englander, the subject came up. "Hmmmmmm," said my Bridge-playing friend. "Didn't Boston have the first black NHL player? Fellow by the name of O'Ree. Willie O'Ree I think. And you know Chuck Cooper broke the colour barrier in the NBA. You know, you can't paint us all with a tarbrush, when it was just the Red Sox management that was slow on the uptake."
And he was right. Sorry, Boston.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
SPORTS: It's not as good as it USED to be, but ...
I love lacrosse.
Played it when I was a kid one year, when I disagreed with the direction of the local softball team (I was a second-baseman, not a third-baseman). Wasn't any good. Actually, I was pretty bad. But at least I got to see some good goaltending by Jim Ward and the modern bulldozer of a player that was Billy Gardhouse. Once saw Gardhouse destroy his sneakers by jabbing a step so hard into the tar-top of the local box that the sole stayed there while Billy's foot and the top of the shoe went the other way.
Now, I know lacrosse is violent. Doesn't jibe with my dislike for boxing, does it? But properly played, lacrosse is an art.
Just now, I finished watching the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League beat the Edmonton Rush in an entertaining game. But as entertaining as many Rock games are, the lacrosse I see today pales in comparison to what I was covering as a sports reporter 25 years ago.
I'm not a fan of the rule changes in the NLL version of the boxla game I love. Back in the day, you couldn't go into the crease with the ball, regardless if the last step you took was outside the goaltender's barrier. It made Bill Coghill and Paul Suggate interesting players as they explored how well the refs could detect their encroaching as they dived around, and more than occasionally, into the crease.
I don't like the large centre zone. It makes chasing penalty-killing teams impossible and eliminates the role of the human rag doll played by the likes of Joe Madeiros. Joe would get the ball in the offensive zone while on the penalty kill and the other team would send two, and then three, men to try and extract the ball. He would be battered about (yeah, I know I'm glorifying violence) for the whole two minutes, as often as not. That's right, the penalty killers didn't have a shot clock. It was great entertainment to see just how much punishment Joe and his ilk could take.
Joe was a specialist. Today, EVERY player is a specialist. There are no lines, just offensive and defensive units. About half of each 30-second possession is spent changing from one to the other. That is NOT entertaining. Lacrosse IS the fastest game on two feet, as Jim Hinkson was fond of saying. But not when the players are trotting to the bench or to the floor to get ready for 15 seconds of frenetic play. About the only advantage I can see to this system is that it allows under-sized offensive prodigies like Josh Sanderson to play the game. Mind you, Josh isn't much taller than Chuck Li was and Li and the Oshawa Green Gaels were dominant with him on the floor. Okay, so Gaylord Powless' presence might have had something to do with that.
The plastic sticks they use today with either hand don't permit some of the ball-handling wizardry that was a hall-mark of the teams of the past. Sure, Josh Sanderson, John Grant and the recently retired Gait boys, Gary and Paul, can still handle the stick like there's no tomorrow. But even Grant would agree he can't handle the stick as well as his dad, Big John. And even Big John wasn't the best handler on his squad. He played with (and for) Bobby Allan. The best of the handlers in Bobby's day could fake a pass left, fake a pass right, over the shoulder and then fire an underhand pass to a wide-open creaseman for a goal, all in a blink of an eye.
I miss the days when goalie Barry Maruk, Dennis' probably more-athletic brother, would regularly join the offence up the floor. He'd average a goal a week, about three assists a game, and would throw his body around the goal area with reckless abandon. Bob Watson, a smallish man, despite the humungous goalie costume he inhabits, shows many a Maruk-like move while tending goal. But I've never seen him venture up to the offensive area, let alone become a scoring threat.
John McCauley, Gus to his friends, and I counted myself amongst them, coached the Brampton Excelsiors in those summers between NHL seasons. Gus was possible the smartest man I knew in sports. There was a day when he started acting up on the bench, hurling accusations of blindness and assorted other failings at the referees. He was given a game misconduct and kicked out of the game. Surprised at how this NHL referee could go crazy at the lacrosse zebras, I asked Gus why he'd pulled the stunt, was it to get his players going? "Mugs," he replied with a smile that bordered on a knowing smirk, "Did you notice how many players we had on the floor at the time?" Assuring him I hadn't, he continued, "Well I did, and it was one too many." In order to save his team a penalty call, he'd gotten himself a misconduct that would cost him $25 out of his pocket. And that's why his Excelsiors were national champions. Everybody talks about the tragic loss the NHL suffered when he passed away, way too early. It was worse for lacrosse.
Maybe he'd be able to talk the purveyors of lacrosse to get rid of the music during game-play. Hell, I'd deep six it completely, just so the PA guys (and I was one, and an offender) could dial it back a hundred notches and not scream at everybody, just to be heard over the soundtrack. That alone makes it hard for me to get up off the couch, with it's access to a remote control to lower the volume, and head off to the headache-inducing environs of the Air Canada Centre.
So, it seems I have a lot to complain about lacrosse. Yep. But here's the kicker. Even with all of the changes not for the better, lacrosse is two hours of usually thrilling entertainment. It's got the violence, but it's got defence and offence. It's got individual thrills and great team plays. It's frequently tight to the finish, and you don't break ties with penalty shots or ever-lasting overtime. You get your money when you pay for a lacrosse game.
I love lacrosse.
Played it when I was a kid one year, when I disagreed with the direction of the local softball team (I was a second-baseman, not a third-baseman). Wasn't any good. Actually, I was pretty bad. But at least I got to see some good goaltending by Jim Ward and the modern bulldozer of a player that was Billy Gardhouse. Once saw Gardhouse destroy his sneakers by jabbing a step so hard into the tar-top of the local box that the sole stayed there while Billy's foot and the top of the shoe went the other way.
Now, I know lacrosse is violent. Doesn't jibe with my dislike for boxing, does it? But properly played, lacrosse is an art.
Just now, I finished watching the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League beat the Edmonton Rush in an entertaining game. But as entertaining as many Rock games are, the lacrosse I see today pales in comparison to what I was covering as a sports reporter 25 years ago.
I'm not a fan of the rule changes in the NLL version of the boxla game I love. Back in the day, you couldn't go into the crease with the ball, regardless if the last step you took was outside the goaltender's barrier. It made Bill Coghill and Paul Suggate interesting players as they explored how well the refs could detect their encroaching as they dived around, and more than occasionally, into the crease.
I don't like the large centre zone. It makes chasing penalty-killing teams impossible and eliminates the role of the human rag doll played by the likes of Joe Madeiros. Joe would get the ball in the offensive zone while on the penalty kill and the other team would send two, and then three, men to try and extract the ball. He would be battered about (yeah, I know I'm glorifying violence) for the whole two minutes, as often as not. That's right, the penalty killers didn't have a shot clock. It was great entertainment to see just how much punishment Joe and his ilk could take.
Joe was a specialist. Today, EVERY player is a specialist. There are no lines, just offensive and defensive units. About half of each 30-second possession is spent changing from one to the other. That is NOT entertaining. Lacrosse IS the fastest game on two feet, as Jim Hinkson was fond of saying. But not when the players are trotting to the bench or to the floor to get ready for 15 seconds of frenetic play. About the only advantage I can see to this system is that it allows under-sized offensive prodigies like Josh Sanderson to play the game. Mind you, Josh isn't much taller than Chuck Li was and Li and the Oshawa Green Gaels were dominant with him on the floor. Okay, so Gaylord Powless' presence might have had something to do with that.
The plastic sticks they use today with either hand don't permit some of the ball-handling wizardry that was a hall-mark of the teams of the past. Sure, Josh Sanderson, John Grant and the recently retired Gait boys, Gary and Paul, can still handle the stick like there's no tomorrow. But even Grant would agree he can't handle the stick as well as his dad, Big John. And even Big John wasn't the best handler on his squad. He played with (and for) Bobby Allan. The best of the handlers in Bobby's day could fake a pass left, fake a pass right, over the shoulder and then fire an underhand pass to a wide-open creaseman for a goal, all in a blink of an eye.
I miss the days when goalie Barry Maruk, Dennis' probably more-athletic brother, would regularly join the offence up the floor. He'd average a goal a week, about three assists a game, and would throw his body around the goal area with reckless abandon. Bob Watson, a smallish man, despite the humungous goalie costume he inhabits, shows many a Maruk-like move while tending goal. But I've never seen him venture up to the offensive area, let alone become a scoring threat.
John McCauley, Gus to his friends, and I counted myself amongst them, coached the Brampton Excelsiors in those summers between NHL seasons. Gus was possible the smartest man I knew in sports. There was a day when he started acting up on the bench, hurling accusations of blindness and assorted other failings at the referees. He was given a game misconduct and kicked out of the game. Surprised at how this NHL referee could go crazy at the lacrosse zebras, I asked Gus why he'd pulled the stunt, was it to get his players going? "Mugs," he replied with a smile that bordered on a knowing smirk, "Did you notice how many players we had on the floor at the time?" Assuring him I hadn't, he continued, "Well I did, and it was one too many." In order to save his team a penalty call, he'd gotten himself a misconduct that would cost him $25 out of his pocket. And that's why his Excelsiors were national champions. Everybody talks about the tragic loss the NHL suffered when he passed away, way too early. It was worse for lacrosse.
Maybe he'd be able to talk the purveyors of lacrosse to get rid of the music during game-play. Hell, I'd deep six it completely, just so the PA guys (and I was one, and an offender) could dial it back a hundred notches and not scream at everybody, just to be heard over the soundtrack. That alone makes it hard for me to get up off the couch, with it's access to a remote control to lower the volume, and head off to the headache-inducing environs of the Air Canada Centre.
So, it seems I have a lot to complain about lacrosse. Yep. But here's the kicker. Even with all of the changes not for the better, lacrosse is two hours of usually thrilling entertainment. It's got the violence, but it's got defence and offence. It's got individual thrills and great team plays. It's frequently tight to the finish, and you don't break ties with penalty shots or ever-lasting overtime. You get your money when you pay for a lacrosse game.
I love lacrosse.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
TV: No VCR Sunday
This week (hopefully) I’m going through my TV viewing habits and listing what I’d watch if I didn’t have a VCR to view everything weeks later when I finally have the time. The only exception is I get to use the time-shifting capabilities of my digital box to add an extra viewing hour between 11 and midnight to my TV night.
Here's the Sunday schedule.
The 7-8pm hour belongs to CBS's 60 Minutes. I got hooked on 60 Minutes late in my teens on a Thursday evening. No, I didn't have a VCR to do my own time-shifting. Back then, 60 Minutes was still a struggling newsmagazine and summer reruns were being shown on weeknights to try and drum up interest for the show. The segment that caught me was a story about Bill Stevenson and the Enigma Machine. Thirty some-odd years later, I'm still a faithful viewer and would be, even if forced to eat a meal while watching the show. I miss the ambush interviews that Mike Wallace specialized in for years. And I really miss the every-man approach Harry Reasoner was famous for. But the true joy is watching Morley Safer turn whimsy into entertaining fact, and that Lesley Stahl seems a spiritual successor to Safer. Football might intrude, but 60 Minutes always has been worth an accommodation and will continue to be.
There's not much competition in the 8-9pm hour either, as the only thing worth watching is West Wing. This show has veered from great to adequate and back to above-average during its run on NBC. I think the show is touching its zenith again this season. Watching Jimmmy Smits and Alan Alda eat up scenes has been entertaining since it got going last year. Brad Whitford's Josh Lyman continues to be the entry point for the viewer, who either agrees with Lyman's politics or thinks Lyman is a typical liberal political screw-up. The characters surrounding Lyman are not as compelling as the past-cast, but Janeane Garofalo is giving it a try. And I’ve lusted after Mary McCormack forever. NBC, hardly on a run, could do a LOT worse than bringing back this show next year. And, despite a difference in politics, I think I'd actually prefer seeing Alda's character in the White House for that season.
Okay, there's some debate about what to watch in the 9-10pm hour. The world watches Desperate Housewives on ABC. Here, I also have a choice of CBS comedies that show on Monday nights or NBC's Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It's hard to deny the compelling viewing that is Terri Hatcher and Eva Longoria. But watching LOCI is usually entertaining for the full 60 minutes. The best part about LOCI this year is the splitting of the show into two concurrent series. Both have the same office setting with the captain played by Jamey Sheridan. But Mike Noth and the scrumptious Annabella Sciorra now get half the episodes while long-time stars Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe get two weeks to turn out their convoluted shows. This is almost a rebirth of the old NBC Mystery Wheel, which featured some of the best mystery shows ever shown. (Columbo and McCloud being the obvious ones). D'Onofrio is the modern-day Sherlock Holmes, who's guilty frequently of playing the character as an over-acting know-it-all. Some find the act grating, I enjoy the insights. Noth is the smart, but temper-challenged cop to Sciorra's steam valve of a partner. The different approach makes a perfect counterpoint. Frankly, LOCI's never been better, because they are getting two weeks to make each story, and that's a wise investment in time. Wonder when Olivia D'Abo's coming back as Sherlock, errrrr D'Onofrio's arch enemy?
The 10-11pm hour really comes down to ABC's Grey's Anatomy and NBC's Crossing Jordan. Jill Hennessy is very fine, and a Canuck to boot. But the women of Grey's Anatomy are all interesting and very pleasant on the eyes. Ellen Pompeo plays the lead, tortured resident Meredith Grey. She has a sexily squeeky voice and a lop-sided grin, which makes a good fit with the always good Patrick Dempsey as Dr. "Dreamy" Shepherd, one of Grey's bosses. And her off-on-off-on-off (I think that's current) paramour. Landlord Grey lives with renting residents played by Sandra Oh, sexy Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight. Like Grey, Oh's Christina Yang can't keep a boss out of her scrubs, but with much more tragic circumstances. And then there's the parents. Grey's mother, a legendary surgeon slash harridan, spent time hanging around the hospital, her Alzheimer's Disease making her a time bomb to scramble any plot at any time. And recently, we discovered Yang's mother is a disapproving PITA. So far, the medical cases have been within the understanding realm of the average medical drama watcher (see House, for the reverse). This is a good show. P.S. I love the opening notes of the show's opening credits. Not the whole song, but the I love those first few notes.
And now the cheat show. Crossing Jordan or Desperate Housewives? The reality is that I'd prefer seeing Hex, a BBC show, but that's what the internet is for. Nope, I have to decide between Hennessy and Hatcher/Longoria. Counter-intuitive, I know, but the supporting characters in Crossing Jordan are so good, I'll stick with the Canuck ex-pat. Miguel Ferrer has rarely been as good as he is in Crossing Jordan. Hennessy's co-horts under Ferrer's boss, are enough off-kilter, but still earnest, that you come to like and admire them. Jerry O'Connell is trying to Dirty Harry up his image as Detective Woody Hoyt this year, but you know My Greatest Hero's heart still beats in his chest. The show will end the day Hoyt and Hennessy's Jordan Cavannaugh kiss for real, which might be this spring. But I wouldn't mind seeing another year of this fine show.
Well, it's bedtime and time to turn in. See ya' tomorrow night.
Here's the Sunday schedule.
The 7-8pm hour belongs to CBS's 60 Minutes. I got hooked on 60 Minutes late in my teens on a Thursday evening. No, I didn't have a VCR to do my own time-shifting. Back then, 60 Minutes was still a struggling newsmagazine and summer reruns were being shown on weeknights to try and drum up interest for the show. The segment that caught me was a story about Bill Stevenson and the Enigma Machine. Thirty some-odd years later, I'm still a faithful viewer and would be, even if forced to eat a meal while watching the show. I miss the ambush interviews that Mike Wallace specialized in for years. And I really miss the every-man approach Harry Reasoner was famous for. But the true joy is watching Morley Safer turn whimsy into entertaining fact, and that Lesley Stahl seems a spiritual successor to Safer. Football might intrude, but 60 Minutes always has been worth an accommodation and will continue to be.
There's not much competition in the 8-9pm hour either, as the only thing worth watching is West Wing. This show has veered from great to adequate and back to above-average during its run on NBC. I think the show is touching its zenith again this season. Watching Jimmmy Smits and Alan Alda eat up scenes has been entertaining since it got going last year. Brad Whitford's Josh Lyman continues to be the entry point for the viewer, who either agrees with Lyman's politics or thinks Lyman is a typical liberal political screw-up. The characters surrounding Lyman are not as compelling as the past-cast, but Janeane Garofalo is giving it a try. And I’ve lusted after Mary McCormack forever. NBC, hardly on a run, could do a LOT worse than bringing back this show next year. And, despite a difference in politics, I think I'd actually prefer seeing Alda's character in the White House for that season.
Okay, there's some debate about what to watch in the 9-10pm hour. The world watches Desperate Housewives on ABC. Here, I also have a choice of CBS comedies that show on Monday nights or NBC's Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It's hard to deny the compelling viewing that is Terri Hatcher and Eva Longoria. But watching LOCI is usually entertaining for the full 60 minutes. The best part about LOCI this year is the splitting of the show into two concurrent series. Both have the same office setting with the captain played by Jamey Sheridan. But Mike Noth and the scrumptious Annabella Sciorra now get half the episodes while long-time stars Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe get two weeks to turn out their convoluted shows. This is almost a rebirth of the old NBC Mystery Wheel, which featured some of the best mystery shows ever shown. (Columbo and McCloud being the obvious ones). D'Onofrio is the modern-day Sherlock Holmes, who's guilty frequently of playing the character as an over-acting know-it-all. Some find the act grating, I enjoy the insights. Noth is the smart, but temper-challenged cop to Sciorra's steam valve of a partner. The different approach makes a perfect counterpoint. Frankly, LOCI's never been better, because they are getting two weeks to make each story, and that's a wise investment in time. Wonder when Olivia D'Abo's coming back as Sherlock, errrrr D'Onofrio's arch enemy?
The 10-11pm hour really comes down to ABC's Grey's Anatomy and NBC's Crossing Jordan. Jill Hennessy is very fine, and a Canuck to boot. But the women of Grey's Anatomy are all interesting and very pleasant on the eyes. Ellen Pompeo plays the lead, tortured resident Meredith Grey. She has a sexily squeeky voice and a lop-sided grin, which makes a good fit with the always good Patrick Dempsey as Dr. "Dreamy" Shepherd, one of Grey's bosses. And her off-on-off-on-off (I think that's current) paramour. Landlord Grey lives with renting residents played by Sandra Oh, sexy Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight. Like Grey, Oh's Christina Yang can't keep a boss out of her scrubs, but with much more tragic circumstances. And then there's the parents. Grey's mother, a legendary surgeon slash harridan, spent time hanging around the hospital, her Alzheimer's Disease making her a time bomb to scramble any plot at any time. And recently, we discovered Yang's mother is a disapproving PITA. So far, the medical cases have been within the understanding realm of the average medical drama watcher (see House, for the reverse). This is a good show. P.S. I love the opening notes of the show's opening credits. Not the whole song, but the I love those first few notes.
And now the cheat show. Crossing Jordan or Desperate Housewives? The reality is that I'd prefer seeing Hex, a BBC show, but that's what the internet is for. Nope, I have to decide between Hennessy and Hatcher/Longoria. Counter-intuitive, I know, but the supporting characters in Crossing Jordan are so good, I'll stick with the Canuck ex-pat. Miguel Ferrer has rarely been as good as he is in Crossing Jordan. Hennessy's co-horts under Ferrer's boss, are enough off-kilter, but still earnest, that you come to like and admire them. Jerry O'Connell is trying to Dirty Harry up his image as Detective Woody Hoyt this year, but you know My Greatest Hero's heart still beats in his chest. The show will end the day Hoyt and Hennessy's Jordan Cavannaugh kiss for real, which might be this spring. But I wouldn't mind seeing another year of this fine show.
Well, it's bedtime and time to turn in. See ya' tomorrow night.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
SPORTS: Please, no Aldridge
I've been wrong before. I absolutely thought Channing Frye might be the biggest bomb of this year's draft. Maybe not. But hey, Zeke signed Jerome James and traded for Eddy Curry. So I wasn't exactly lonesome in my feelings about Frye. Still think he's a stiff, but I'll need time to wash out his good early stats.
But enough Frye and self-recrimination. It's time to start banging the drums to stop the Toronto Raptors from drafting LaMarcus Aldridge, the center/forward who will probably declare early out of Texas next spring. If he truly was another Bosh/Villanueva clone, I'd say do it. I think the Raptors could do quite well with a power trio consisting of power forwards. But Aldridge is all flash and potential. He has no back-to-the-basket game and he's easily pushed out from the boards. The Raptors have players like that already. Watching Aldridge get pushed around by Shelden Williams today makes me nervous about the pick, the most important pick since Vince Carter, in Raptor history.
If the Raptors, who will draft from first to sixth, get the first pick, then they have an easy choice in Rudy Gay, the small forward out of UConn. The problems come with picks in the next three. I really, REALLY dislike the idea of Aldridge. Unfortunately, the only other bigs projected atop the draft at this point, is the Italian Andrea Bargnani. His draft card reads like a slimmer Aldridge. He gets pushed around. Same problem with the Brazilian Tiago Splitter (can Babcock really draft another Brazilian?) and Nick Fazekas, the reed-thin Nevada star.
Behind Gay is Larry Bird play-a-like Adam Morrison of Gonzaga. Actually, the description I heard today was a modern-day John Havlicek. That's pretty good praise for the 6-8 SF. Now, here's the problem. Can the smooth-stroking, hard-working Morrison continue to have success against the typical great athlete small forwards he will see in the NBA? I have problems with that. So let me throw one more comparison into the mix. Wally Szczerbiak. Nothing wrong with that. Wally's hit a hot streak of late, averaging about 25 ppg. he works hard, but he's just not athletic enough to sustain those kinds of stats game in, game out. I think Morrison's more Wally than Larry. And I think Joey Graham offers enough not to want a Wally.
Soooo, the Raptors have to take a long look at three players. They all played today against each other. Texas PG Daniel Gibson was outshone by Duke PF Shelden Williams and especially by Duke SG JJ Reddick. Gibson has great measurables. He'd be a perfect running partner for Jose Calderon. That would free the Raptors up to package Mike James and/or the rights to Roko Ukic in trades to help out elsewhere. In fact, if Gibson could get a little better from long-range, the Raptors could pair Calderon and Gibson at times. Williams is too small to play NBA centre. But he does have a down-low game and he is a ferocious rebounder. He's getting smarter as he gets older. Would it be possible to play him with Bosh and Villanueva offensively? Yes. Defensively? Just as resounding a no! He's the least likely of the three to wear Raptor togs come next fall.
Which brings me to Reddick. If I knew Ukic was coming to North America in a year or two, Reddick would be the pick here. No second thoughts about Gibson at all. Reddick is undersized to be an NBA shooting guard. He's not as athletic as you would like. But he's smart. And he's an unconscious shooter, from NBA distance to boot. He creates a weapon that any NBA team with a half-decent drive and dish guard (Calderon) can turn into a killer. He doesn't create his own shot much. But give him a bit of an opening to spot up and you can, "Ring it up!!!" as Chuck Swirsky says at least once a game.
Will Reddick be a Rick Mount or a Jerry West? The worries are there, but gawd does he shoot the ball. If I was picking and only had the probable choices available in this draft, I'd rank Gay, Reddick, Gibson, Fazekas, Morrison and Williams in that order. Wanna bet the Raptors end up with the seventh pick?
Having Denver's first-round pick and an early second-rounder, could the Raptors end up with Reddick, Darius Washington, the PG out of Memphis and Michigan St. centre Paul Davis? If so, the tradeways of James, Eric Williams and eventually Jalen Rose would result in a young and talented Raptor team two years hence.
PG: Calederon, Washington
SG: Reddick, Peterson
SF: Graham, Bonner
PF: Villanueva, Sow
C: Bosh, Davis
Obviously, the money freed up with the trades above could go towards a true centre and Graham would be a better backup than starter at SF. Take the same group, substitute Magloire for Bonner or Sow and ask yourself if it can compete. The answer is an unequivocal YES!
But enough Frye and self-recrimination. It's time to start banging the drums to stop the Toronto Raptors from drafting LaMarcus Aldridge, the center/forward who will probably declare early out of Texas next spring. If he truly was another Bosh/Villanueva clone, I'd say do it. I think the Raptors could do quite well with a power trio consisting of power forwards. But Aldridge is all flash and potential. He has no back-to-the-basket game and he's easily pushed out from the boards. The Raptors have players like that already. Watching Aldridge get pushed around by Shelden Williams today makes me nervous about the pick, the most important pick since Vince Carter, in Raptor history.
If the Raptors, who will draft from first to sixth, get the first pick, then they have an easy choice in Rudy Gay, the small forward out of UConn. The problems come with picks in the next three. I really, REALLY dislike the idea of Aldridge. Unfortunately, the only other bigs projected atop the draft at this point, is the Italian Andrea Bargnani. His draft card reads like a slimmer Aldridge. He gets pushed around. Same problem with the Brazilian Tiago Splitter (can Babcock really draft another Brazilian?) and Nick Fazekas, the reed-thin Nevada star.
Behind Gay is Larry Bird play-a-like Adam Morrison of Gonzaga. Actually, the description I heard today was a modern-day John Havlicek. That's pretty good praise for the 6-8 SF. Now, here's the problem. Can the smooth-stroking, hard-working Morrison continue to have success against the typical great athlete small forwards he will see in the NBA? I have problems with that. So let me throw one more comparison into the mix. Wally Szczerbiak. Nothing wrong with that. Wally's hit a hot streak of late, averaging about 25 ppg. he works hard, but he's just not athletic enough to sustain those kinds of stats game in, game out. I think Morrison's more Wally than Larry. And I think Joey Graham offers enough not to want a Wally.
Soooo, the Raptors have to take a long look at three players. They all played today against each other. Texas PG Daniel Gibson was outshone by Duke PF Shelden Williams and especially by Duke SG JJ Reddick. Gibson has great measurables. He'd be a perfect running partner for Jose Calderon. That would free the Raptors up to package Mike James and/or the rights to Roko Ukic in trades to help out elsewhere. In fact, if Gibson could get a little better from long-range, the Raptors could pair Calderon and Gibson at times. Williams is too small to play NBA centre. But he does have a down-low game and he is a ferocious rebounder. He's getting smarter as he gets older. Would it be possible to play him with Bosh and Villanueva offensively? Yes. Defensively? Just as resounding a no! He's the least likely of the three to wear Raptor togs come next fall.
Which brings me to Reddick. If I knew Ukic was coming to North America in a year or two, Reddick would be the pick here. No second thoughts about Gibson at all. Reddick is undersized to be an NBA shooting guard. He's not as athletic as you would like. But he's smart. And he's an unconscious shooter, from NBA distance to boot. He creates a weapon that any NBA team with a half-decent drive and dish guard (Calderon) can turn into a killer. He doesn't create his own shot much. But give him a bit of an opening to spot up and you can, "Ring it up!!!" as Chuck Swirsky says at least once a game.
Will Reddick be a Rick Mount or a Jerry West? The worries are there, but gawd does he shoot the ball. If I was picking and only had the probable choices available in this draft, I'd rank Gay, Reddick, Gibson, Fazekas, Morrison and Williams in that order. Wanna bet the Raptors end up with the seventh pick?
Having Denver's first-round pick and an early second-rounder, could the Raptors end up with Reddick, Darius Washington, the PG out of Memphis and Michigan St. centre Paul Davis? If so, the tradeways of James, Eric Williams and eventually Jalen Rose would result in a young and talented Raptor team two years hence.
PG: Calederon, Washington
SG: Reddick, Peterson
SF: Graham, Bonner
PF: Villanueva, Sow
C: Bosh, Davis
Obviously, the money freed up with the trades above could go towards a true centre and Graham would be a better backup than starter at SF. Take the same group, substitute Magloire for Bonner or Sow and ask yourself if it can compete. The answer is an unequivocal YES!
SPORTS: Babcock no Knight-mare
Fans here in the Toronto area love to express their opinion that Mike Babcock, the Toronto Raptor GM is either an idiot or the devilspawn. Methinks he looks nothing like Adam Sandler, but I'm definitely in the minority here in T.O. That said, he's no Billy Knight.
Now, Knight happens to be a good guy. I've talked to him a couple of times and he's a good guy. A pretty good player in his time. But he's the nadir of NBA GMs, without a doubt. In fact, unless Steve A Smith gets a GM job, Knight might be the worst GM of all time. One caveat, he's often made decisions forced on him by management, but there's a limit any GM should do just to keep collecting a paycheck. I mean, even Elgin Baylor has managed to keep getting talent before sending it away at the behest of The Dentist.
The worst moment will come next summer when somebody from the Atlanta organization passes a card to Commish Stern that announces the Hawks have traded the number one pick in the draft to ... well, it doesn't matter at this point. Why is that going to happen? Because the consensus pick come warm weather will be Rudy Gay, a wing from UConn. And wings, the Hawks have. Point guards and tall rebounding types, not so much.
And it could have been really different down in the deep South. The Hawks had their chance this past summer. A team with a plethora of young and athletic wing players had the second spot in the draft. In that draft slot sat Chris Paul, an almost local product that had played one state over in Carolina at Wake Forest. A ready-to-start NBA point guard. Not necessarily an all-star in the making, but Steve Nash wasn't all-star ready out of the college mould either. Paul was the obvious choice to get the ball to those wings.
But the pretty girl at this baller's ball was Marvin Williams. The SIXTH man of the NCAA champeen Tar Heels of North Carolina. Couldn't start for NC, would have to be one of a half-dozen good athletic and young wings in Atlanta, but possessing the most pure talent in the draft. The spectre of Michael Jordan being passed over for needs in his draft year scared Knight into making the nightmare pick. He passed over Paul and took Williams. And he sealed Atlanta's fate for the rest of this decade.
Naturally, having screwed up that deal, he went out and gave max money to ANOTHER wing, Joe Johnson because, as we Toronto fans know too well, he finally found a player that WANTED to come to his town. He never found out if that desire would have existed at half-the-price, he just doled out the max dollars and fought with the lone bright light in management to keep that precious "Wants to be a Hawk" player. Muttered something about playing Johnson at the point.
Now we know. Paul's going to be an all-star some day. Johnson's a great complimentary player that can't lead and can't play the point more than 10 minutes a game. Williams plays the kind of minutes Rafael Araujo plays here in Toronto. Josh Childress, the real victim of all this, has regressed mightily. And Al Harrington crosses off the days until his trade out of purgatory in the New Year. Dunk champ Josh Smith should be playing big minutes, but isn't. And there are other wings who could play too, but don't.
Harrington's not the only one who should be outward bound in a trade. The smart money would have Childress and Smith going elsewhere too. But it will be a buyer's market and the return will hardly be all-star calibre points like Chris Paul. Bottom line, the Hawks have to divest themselves of at least two and maybe three of these players in order to rebuild their roster. And the Hawks certainly can't add Rudy Gay to the mix this summer. That's why the trade, hopefully for the pick a few back of theirs to take Texas guard Daniel Gibson, will be a requirement. After that, the Hawks will owe Phoenix draft picks from that ill-fated Johnson acquisition. That means the Hawks won't be able to get the other two studs they need to compete until 2008 or thereabouts. That's how bad of a job Billy Knight has done.
Makes me appreciate Mike Babcock a lot more.
Now, Knight happens to be a good guy. I've talked to him a couple of times and he's a good guy. A pretty good player in his time. But he's the nadir of NBA GMs, without a doubt. In fact, unless Steve A Smith gets a GM job, Knight might be the worst GM of all time. One caveat, he's often made decisions forced on him by management, but there's a limit any GM should do just to keep collecting a paycheck. I mean, even Elgin Baylor has managed to keep getting talent before sending it away at the behest of The Dentist.
The worst moment will come next summer when somebody from the Atlanta organization passes a card to Commish Stern that announces the Hawks have traded the number one pick in the draft to ... well, it doesn't matter at this point. Why is that going to happen? Because the consensus pick come warm weather will be Rudy Gay, a wing from UConn. And wings, the Hawks have. Point guards and tall rebounding types, not so much.
And it could have been really different down in the deep South. The Hawks had their chance this past summer. A team with a plethora of young and athletic wing players had the second spot in the draft. In that draft slot sat Chris Paul, an almost local product that had played one state over in Carolina at Wake Forest. A ready-to-start NBA point guard. Not necessarily an all-star in the making, but Steve Nash wasn't all-star ready out of the college mould either. Paul was the obvious choice to get the ball to those wings.
But the pretty girl at this baller's ball was Marvin Williams. The SIXTH man of the NCAA champeen Tar Heels of North Carolina. Couldn't start for NC, would have to be one of a half-dozen good athletic and young wings in Atlanta, but possessing the most pure talent in the draft. The spectre of Michael Jordan being passed over for needs in his draft year scared Knight into making the nightmare pick. He passed over Paul and took Williams. And he sealed Atlanta's fate for the rest of this decade.
Naturally, having screwed up that deal, he went out and gave max money to ANOTHER wing, Joe Johnson because, as we Toronto fans know too well, he finally found a player that WANTED to come to his town. He never found out if that desire would have existed at half-the-price, he just doled out the max dollars and fought with the lone bright light in management to keep that precious "Wants to be a Hawk" player. Muttered something about playing Johnson at the point.
Now we know. Paul's going to be an all-star some day. Johnson's a great complimentary player that can't lead and can't play the point more than 10 minutes a game. Williams plays the kind of minutes Rafael Araujo plays here in Toronto. Josh Childress, the real victim of all this, has regressed mightily. And Al Harrington crosses off the days until his trade out of purgatory in the New Year. Dunk champ Josh Smith should be playing big minutes, but isn't. And there are other wings who could play too, but don't.
Harrington's not the only one who should be outward bound in a trade. The smart money would have Childress and Smith going elsewhere too. But it will be a buyer's market and the return will hardly be all-star calibre points like Chris Paul. Bottom line, the Hawks have to divest themselves of at least two and maybe three of these players in order to rebuild their roster. And the Hawks certainly can't add Rudy Gay to the mix this summer. That's why the trade, hopefully for the pick a few back of theirs to take Texas guard Daniel Gibson, will be a requirement. After that, the Hawks will owe Phoenix draft picks from that ill-fated Johnson acquisition. That means the Hawks won't be able to get the other two studs they need to compete until 2008 or thereabouts. That's how bad of a job Billy Knight has done.
Makes me appreciate Mike Babcock a lot more.
TV: No VCR Saturday
The projects are coming to a close. I'm getting the itch to play Bridge (stop cheering Danny) and I've got a LOT of taped TV to catch up on. I have a lot of VCRs and I watch sports and that's about it for watching it live. To be honest, I'm not above turning the TV off, taping the Toronto Raptors game while I twiddle away at the keyboard. And THEN watch the game on tape later that night/morning. Can't make it last longer than a night, but I've been known to do it.
Soooo, one of the things I wanted to do was a series of nightly articles on what I'd watch if I didn't have any VCR's to timeshift. My one conceit is I will take advantage of having a digital TV set that allows me to timeshift and watch some other show between 11 and midnight. Thus, the nightly evaluations will allow for four hours of TV, not three.
Here's the Saturday schedule I'd adhere to:
Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. End of discussion. It's the only new TV, but I'd watch it the same. I look forward to Don Cherry bellowing at me between periods in the first game. And the second-period Hot Stove Lounge has been a favourite for fourty years. The hockey's good these days, too ... unless it's those boring Florida Panthers playing. Mike Keenan is demonstrating that an anachronism in today's hockey has zero chances of winning unless Roberto Luongo and Jamie McLellan stand on their head in goal. Good on his thug-loving backside.
Well, that starts the series. Let's see if I can keep it up through the next several days to get at least a week's worth of postings here at Mug Shots.
Soooo, one of the things I wanted to do was a series of nightly articles on what I'd watch if I didn't have any VCR's to timeshift. My one conceit is I will take advantage of having a digital TV set that allows me to timeshift and watch some other show between 11 and midnight. Thus, the nightly evaluations will allow for four hours of TV, not three.
Here's the Saturday schedule I'd adhere to:
Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. End of discussion. It's the only new TV, but I'd watch it the same. I look forward to Don Cherry bellowing at me between periods in the first game. And the second-period Hot Stove Lounge has been a favourite for fourty years. The hockey's good these days, too ... unless it's those boring Florida Panthers playing. Mike Keenan is demonstrating that an anachronism in today's hockey has zero chances of winning unless Roberto Luongo and Jamie McLellan stand on their head in goal. Good on his thug-loving backside.
Well, that starts the series. Let's see if I can keep it up through the next several days to get at least a week's worth of postings here at Mug Shots.
SPORTS: Is there a GIGANTIC big step still to go?
J.P. Ricciardi has been spending money and making moves. Not the moves I suggested back in August () But some interesting moves anyway.
Instead of Pat Burrell, the Blue Jays finished the winter meetings by acquiring Lyle Overbay. Cheaper, more consistent, less powerful. But with the chance to bang a few more homers as he matures. Plus, he's actually a first baseman, meaning he'll be better defensively. Earlier, the Jays signed the needed pitcher. I'm still not sure Kevin Millwood wouldn't be a more consistent better second man in the rotation than A.J. Burnett. But, Burnett does have the chance to be a whole lot better.
I wrote my piece in August, prior to Miguel Batista's meltdown. Getting B.J. Ryan was far more a necessity than many people think. His teammates had lost confidence in Batista, and big league sports is all about the 3 C's, Capability, Concentration and Confidence. Batista was more fire starter than stopper. And he had to be replaced. Money availability made Ryan, not Billy Wagner, my preference for a new closer. Good for J.P. to grab him.
Sooooo, what to do about my suggestion at getting Ken Griffey to make the power upgrade complete and finish off the major acquisition budget? Obviously, with the Reds ditching Sean Casey this week, the pressure to bounce one of Cincy's outfielders has lessened greatly. Would an offer of Alex Rios, Brandon League and farmhand John Haddig get Griffey? No. Would throwing in Batista? Still no, but a lot closer. Ultimately, no cigar for either Griffey or Adam Dunn. And I'm not so sure Rios by himself isn't better than Austin Kearns.
Sooooo, what to do? I'm nothing if not ambitious and able to change points of view. How's this to float the Blue Jay boat of good hope? Batista, Eric Hinske, Russ Adams and Brandon League to the Baltimore Orioles for Miguel Tejada.
Now, before you jump up and down and say I'm foolish, let me point out Tejada's request to bail, issued to the press this week. When a team leader type like Tejada explodes than it might be very difficult to bring him back on board. The Orioles face a couple of years of rebuilding and paying Tejada 12 mill per year to help them finish fourth might not be prudent. Batista gives them a year to school Chris Ray, the closer of the future. He'll be tradeable at the deadline with his modest 4M stipend. Adams becomes the long term replacement for Tejada. Hinske joins the DH/1B team with Javy Lopez. League gives the Oriole another bullpen option. The quartet's bill comes in at around 8M, a savings immediately of four million a year. Within a year, the savings are at 6M a year. That's money that can be spent on a power-hitting OF when the time to contend comes again.
Can the Jays live with Tejada? The salary hit is $4M, but it does clear power and playing time problems off the to-do list. All it creates anew is a lead-off issue.
How about RF-Rios, LF-Catalanotto/Johnson, CF-Wells, SS-Tejada, 1B-Overbay, DH-Hillenbrand, 3B-Koskie, C-Zaun, 2B-Hudson. There's 35-homer capability in Wells and Tejada. Overbay, Hillenbrand and Koskie can pass 20. And Hudson is the only one of the others (assuming the LF platoon is one player in effect) that won't hit double figures. There's plenty of speed in the top four and Hudson. Aaron Hill leads a slim bench. Maybe John-Ford Griffin, the backup catcher and another spare IF. Hudson's not indelicate.
This group can be decent offensively and pretty good defensively. Left field would be the only clearly sub-par defensive position, and that's only when Catalanotto is out there. Add in the definitely better pitching and the Blue Jays feel like a 92-98 win team.
That means a trade at the deadline will be needed. A go-for-it trade in August to bring in a replacement for a corner outfielder isn't far-fetched. Rios, Hillenbrand and a kiddie pitcher for a ticket might be the route to 100 wins and the playoffs. That would allow Catalanotto to DH, Reed Johnson to play one corner and the new guy to go to the other field.
But that's just me daydreaming about a GIGANTIC step forward. Realistically, Hinske to Baltimore for a minor prospect, Batista and Hillenbrand to Pittsburgh for Craig Wilson and a reliever, and the signing of Reggie Sanders and Mark Bellhorn sounds a lot like the finish to the Blue Jay off-season.
Instead of Pat Burrell, the Blue Jays finished the winter meetings by acquiring Lyle Overbay. Cheaper, more consistent, less powerful. But with the chance to bang a few more homers as he matures. Plus, he's actually a first baseman, meaning he'll be better defensively. Earlier, the Jays signed the needed pitcher. I'm still not sure Kevin Millwood wouldn't be a more consistent better second man in the rotation than A.J. Burnett. But, Burnett does have the chance to be a whole lot better.
I wrote my piece in August, prior to Miguel Batista's meltdown. Getting B.J. Ryan was far more a necessity than many people think. His teammates had lost confidence in Batista, and big league sports is all about the 3 C's, Capability, Concentration and Confidence. Batista was more fire starter than stopper. And he had to be replaced. Money availability made Ryan, not Billy Wagner, my preference for a new closer. Good for J.P. to grab him.
Sooooo, what to do about my suggestion at getting Ken Griffey to make the power upgrade complete and finish off the major acquisition budget? Obviously, with the Reds ditching Sean Casey this week, the pressure to bounce one of Cincy's outfielders has lessened greatly. Would an offer of Alex Rios, Brandon League and farmhand John Haddig get Griffey? No. Would throwing in Batista? Still no, but a lot closer. Ultimately, no cigar for either Griffey or Adam Dunn. And I'm not so sure Rios by himself isn't better than Austin Kearns.
Sooooo, what to do? I'm nothing if not ambitious and able to change points of view. How's this to float the Blue Jay boat of good hope? Batista, Eric Hinske, Russ Adams and Brandon League to the Baltimore Orioles for Miguel Tejada.
Now, before you jump up and down and say I'm foolish, let me point out Tejada's request to bail, issued to the press this week. When a team leader type like Tejada explodes than it might be very difficult to bring him back on board. The Orioles face a couple of years of rebuilding and paying Tejada 12 mill per year to help them finish fourth might not be prudent. Batista gives them a year to school Chris Ray, the closer of the future. He'll be tradeable at the deadline with his modest 4M stipend. Adams becomes the long term replacement for Tejada. Hinske joins the DH/1B team with Javy Lopez. League gives the Oriole another bullpen option. The quartet's bill comes in at around 8M, a savings immediately of four million a year. Within a year, the savings are at 6M a year. That's money that can be spent on a power-hitting OF when the time to contend comes again.
Can the Jays live with Tejada? The salary hit is $4M, but it does clear power and playing time problems off the to-do list. All it creates anew is a lead-off issue.
How about RF-Rios, LF-Catalanotto/Johnson, CF-Wells, SS-Tejada, 1B-Overbay, DH-Hillenbrand, 3B-Koskie, C-Zaun, 2B-Hudson. There's 35-homer capability in Wells and Tejada. Overbay, Hillenbrand and Koskie can pass 20. And Hudson is the only one of the others (assuming the LF platoon is one player in effect) that won't hit double figures. There's plenty of speed in the top four and Hudson. Aaron Hill leads a slim bench. Maybe John-Ford Griffin, the backup catcher and another spare IF. Hudson's not indelicate.
This group can be decent offensively and pretty good defensively. Left field would be the only clearly sub-par defensive position, and that's only when Catalanotto is out there. Add in the definitely better pitching and the Blue Jays feel like a 92-98 win team.
That means a trade at the deadline will be needed. A go-for-it trade in August to bring in a replacement for a corner outfielder isn't far-fetched. Rios, Hillenbrand and a kiddie pitcher for a ticket might be the route to 100 wins and the playoffs. That would allow Catalanotto to DH, Reed Johnson to play one corner and the new guy to go to the other field.
But that's just me daydreaming about a GIGANTIC step forward. Realistically, Hinske to Baltimore for a minor prospect, Batista and Hillenbrand to Pittsburgh for Craig Wilson and a reliever, and the signing of Reggie Sanders and Mark Bellhorn sounds a lot like the finish to the Blue Jay off-season.
Monday, October 10, 2005
SPORTS: R.I.P. Tom Cheek, you touched us all!
"Touch 'em all, Joe!"
It's the line that made Tom Cheek famous in Canada to many, many baseball fans. Most Americans never heard it. Otherwise, Tom would be in the Baseball Hall of Fame today, having given what would surely have been an emotional and funny acceptance speech in Cooperstown. He would have wondered if skipping a Toronto Blue Jays game that day was right, given his attendance record.
Tom Cheek showed up for work. Every day. 4,306 games in a row. And a bunch more post-season games. And he worked in what "I" would call his off-season, what he would call his summer job. His summer love. And there wasn't a day that the voice of the Blue Jays, of baseball in Canada, wouldn't end up talking about a game he loved to anybody who'd draw up a chair and listen. Whether it was on the radio or in a hotel lobby, Tom Cheek loved talking baseball.
Passion is always interesting. Passion with a sense of humour and without much of an ego is a delicate treasure. Tom Cheek was anything by delicate, being a tall, imposing figure. But he had passion. He had a sense of humour and he could listen as well as talk. He was that rarity amongst folks these days, a universally loved man.
Tom Cheek passed away yesterday from brain cancer. I heard the knews while driving to a birthday thing for my sister-in-law. It made it tough to laugh and joke around when I got there. Still, I knew that the ending was in many ways a blessing. However, there is a void today.
Tom, you touched us all. Rest in Peace.
It's the line that made Tom Cheek famous in Canada to many, many baseball fans. Most Americans never heard it. Otherwise, Tom would be in the Baseball Hall of Fame today, having given what would surely have been an emotional and funny acceptance speech in Cooperstown. He would have wondered if skipping a Toronto Blue Jays game that day was right, given his attendance record.
Tom Cheek showed up for work. Every day. 4,306 games in a row. And a bunch more post-season games. And he worked in what "I" would call his off-season, what he would call his summer job. His summer love. And there wasn't a day that the voice of the Blue Jays, of baseball in Canada, wouldn't end up talking about a game he loved to anybody who'd draw up a chair and listen. Whether it was on the radio or in a hotel lobby, Tom Cheek loved talking baseball.
Passion is always interesting. Passion with a sense of humour and without much of an ego is a delicate treasure. Tom Cheek was anything by delicate, being a tall, imposing figure. But he had passion. He had a sense of humour and he could listen as well as talk. He was that rarity amongst folks these days, a universally loved man.
Tom Cheek passed away yesterday from brain cancer. I heard the knews while driving to a birthday thing for my sister-in-law. It made it tough to laugh and joke around when I got there. Still, I knew that the ending was in many ways a blessing. However, there is a void today.
Tom, you touched us all. Rest in Peace.
COMPUTERS: Mouse droppings
I initially came here to write about the passing of Tom Cheek (see item above) but on the way to doing a good thing, I ended up cursing my trackball. I actually love trackballs. Every computer I own has a trackball, rather than a mouse. Trackballs take up less space than mice and tend to not pick up as much crud and require less frequent cleaning. But there's a HUGE difference between less cleaning and no cleaning.
The trackball was SOOOO flighty that I broke down and unscrewed the bottom screw of the Logitech Trackman and popped out the big red ball. (I have Trackman marbles and even a Microsoft trackball in the house, but I vastly prefer the big ball type from Logitech.) I looked inside and wasn't completely surprised to find each of the pins that hold the ball in place were covered with a mat of lint. The window for reading the dots on the trackball was relatively clean, but the rotating pins were just buried. In all, I pulled enough lint out to form a good sized pea. THAT is gross!
I reassembled the trackball and faith and begora, the mouse started jumping to my commands like it always should.
Once more, trackballs require less frequent, BUT SOME, cleaning.
The trackball was SOOOO flighty that I broke down and unscrewed the bottom screw of the Logitech Trackman and popped out the big red ball. (I have Trackman marbles and even a Microsoft trackball in the house, but I vastly prefer the big ball type from Logitech.) I looked inside and wasn't completely surprised to find each of the pins that hold the ball in place were covered with a mat of lint. The window for reading the dots on the trackball was relatively clean, but the rotating pins were just buried. In all, I pulled enough lint out to form a good sized pea. THAT is gross!
I reassembled the trackball and faith and begora, the mouse started jumping to my commands like it always should.
Once more, trackballs require less frequent, BUT SOME, cleaning.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
TV: Late to the Reunion
I want to like Reunion, an early debut from FOX, but I can't. I defy anybody to really like any of the characters at the core of this "friends forever" series that will showcase a year in the life, each week.
Three boys and three girls. In some social circles, that would be three couples. In others, it would be two couples (see Friends) and two singles. In this show, everybody likes somebody else and there's only one official couple, which teams up a cheater and a creep.
That's the problem. The characters are either floor mats or uber-twits. Chyler Leigh, who demonstrated some personality in the otherwise drab That 80's Show and in a guest spot of the doomed North Shore last year, is the primary floor mat. She likes the male floor mat, but arrives just as he enjoys momentary bliss with HIS ideal, the slut played by Amanda Righetti. I'm on record as admiring Righetti, but putting her in Madonna fashion circa 1986 is cruel. The third lady is Alexa Davalos, who dates the alpha creep and beds his best friend.
The boys are rich, poor and artistic. I can't remember any of their names, not even the Tom Cruise wannabe, straight out of Risky Business. I'll probably watch one more show, to see if the older, bitchy Chyler Leigh's right. Will 1987 be a helluva year, starting off with a bang? If not, there'll be no more Reunion for me.
Three boys and three girls. In some social circles, that would be three couples. In others, it would be two couples (see Friends) and two singles. In this show, everybody likes somebody else and there's only one official couple, which teams up a cheater and a creep.
That's the problem. The characters are either floor mats or uber-twits. Chyler Leigh, who demonstrated some personality in the otherwise drab That 80's Show and in a guest spot of the doomed North Shore last year, is the primary floor mat. She likes the male floor mat, but arrives just as he enjoys momentary bliss with HIS ideal, the slut played by Amanda Righetti. I'm on record as admiring Righetti, but putting her in Madonna fashion circa 1986 is cruel. The third lady is Alexa Davalos, who dates the alpha creep and beds his best friend.
The boys are rich, poor and artistic. I can't remember any of their names, not even the Tom Cruise wannabe, straight out of Risky Business. I'll probably watch one more show, to see if the older, bitchy Chyler Leigh's right. Will 1987 be a helluva year, starting off with a bang? If not, there'll be no more Reunion for me.
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