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 Shampoo Julytober 31, 2004 The other cool thing is while working with homepages, I assumed no one would bother to look at mine. You know, cause I don't advertise it, I just make them for myself. But out of curiosity, I did a google search on crazy madness... and lo and behold, it's right there on the first page, the 4th link! I guess because the site is over a few years old now, so the search engines come across it frequently. It's cool anyway, so there's a quick way to find my page, if you don't have the address. Just type 'crazy madness' into a google search, and bam! Here I am. Anyway, out of curiosity I checked other search engines and here's the results. On Yahoo my site is also 4th, on Lycos my site is 5th, and on AltaVista my site is 3rd! And the search becomes even more accurate when you put "Don B - Crazy Madness" but I like the fact that "Crazy Madness" is such a simple way of finding my this place. So just remember the magic words! And last of note, I forgot to mention, that I am now a die-hard Dodgers fan. I've always been one, and a casual one at that. So this is kind of like when I went crazy for Lions football last year. Good timing too, since they are one of the hottest teams in baseball this year. Of course I'm a bit disappointed about the trade that happened today. Paul Lo Duca, Mota and Juan Encarnacion were all awesome. I wouldn't have minded as much if they got Randy Johnson, but no, he's staying in Arizona... loser. lol. The only solace is that we now have a real starting pitcher, and that our new first basemen is Korean... cool! So in addition to all the hispanics, we've got two Japanese guys and a Korean. It'd be awesome if they could acquire Ichiro next year. I'm really pissed about Lo Duca being gone now, especially since they didn't get the catcher they wanted. Paul was the heart of this team. Now a bunch of other guys are gone, and it's like a crapshoot gambling on whether team chemistry is going to stick. Why? No trades needed to be made, we had the hottest team in baseball, and had the third best record in the MLB. Only time will tell how this pans out. Julytober 14, 2004 Oly crapper... has it
really been over a year? Ah well, I will write about the big thing that
happened today. Today, Shaq has been traded to the Miami Heat for Caron
Butler, Lamar Odom, Brian Grant, and a first round draft pick. Now all
the pundits and experts like to hear themselves say how stupid the
Lakers are for what they've done. Eric Neel, The sports guy, blah blah
blah, the Lakers have repeated history and are doomed to failure. Now if Kobe ends up staying, is acquitted, so on and so forth, then obviously the Lakers will be in the Championship hunt again... sans Shaq fu. This is where I wholeheartedly disagree with those that say choosing Kobe over Shaq is a mistake. Not so. Kobe is how old again? Shaq is how old again? The arguments about who the best basketball player in the present day league, ends with a matchup between Kobe Bryant and Tracey McGrady. And who is the winner? Um... a resounding Kobe. Shaq has become a limited commodity. Dominant he still is, but not quite at the high level when he first got to LA. And it's wrong, trading Shaq away, does not mean the team is left with role-players. It means that Kobe is running the show and they are surrounding him with talent. Of course someone else will have to step up and play second fiddle, without clashing for the lead role. That is all the reason why Shaq had to go. He wasn't going to do the Kareem thing, and yield to Kobe the way Kareem yielded to Magic. Who will get the second fiddle? Ummm there are many great candidates. For the time being it could be Gary Payton. No more triangle and running the floor with Kobe should be able to wear defenses thin. A healthy Karl Malone, who you now know, is the ultimate team-mate. He could run a one-two punch with pick and rolls with either Kobe or Gary. And when these two move on, it could be the next borderline star, Lamar Odom. He's maturing, and if Kobe demands the ball, he'll give it up. Caron Butler is another long-shot, but he reminds me of Lamar, in that he will be a late bloomer. This is a kid that has the talent, but needs to cultivate the hunger. Either way, there shouldn't be as many egomaniacal battles... I don't think there'll ever be as much fireworks as when Shaq and Kobe were together. Because they moved the biggest ego in the sports world to Miami. Now let's consider the blueprints and formulas for what both L.A. and Miami are trying to accomplish. And I would have to say I like what L.A. has done better... hands down. Of course it's incomplete, pending the re-signing of Kobe, and the acquittal from all charges, but going with Kobe was the right thing to do. They had to do it. No way were they going to succeed with an unhappy, unhealthy, unnerving Shaquille O'Neal. No possible way. So it's either rebuild with Kobe, or rebuild from the ground up. Now why is what L.A. doing better than what Miami is doing? Well, Miami is basically following the plan that L.A. had done for the past 5 years. Have a star guard, the most dominating Big Man on the planet, and a scarce supporting cast. It sure worked when the cast was a little younger, and even more so when Shaq wasn't over-weight, unmotivated, and over-the-hill. Now look at the supporting cast. It's even worse than L.A.'s which consisted of two future hall-of-famers. And now Miami wants to do it with a lesser guard in Dwayne Wade, whose game I happened to love, and with a supporting cast with more holes than Swiss cheese? They've basically sent the competent supporting cast to L.A. And while L.A. got to the finals on sheer talent alone, there's a team in the eastern conference which exposed the lack of depth and lack of team-work L.A. didn't have, which happens to be in the same conference as Miami. Um. I can hear Marvin singin' Mercy Mercy Miami up in motown. Shaq will dominate every now and then. Disappear some. Explode some. Dwayne Wade will take over a token few games. But he's not going to steal spotlight from Shaq. He is no Kobe. I would venture that he will never reach that stratosphere. As much as I love the guys game. Sorry. Even he stands to irritate Shaq as he gets better and demands the ball more. So anyway, they're guaranteed to go to the playoffs... but. A resounding but... this team does not have the gas to go all the way. Conference finals if they're lucky. Shaq, Dwayne Wade, and an over-the-hill Eddie Jones. Who else is on this team? Lamar Odom? Brian Grant? Caron Butler? Oh that's right they went to L.A. Hollywood, where they are doing the right thing. At first I wanted a really big name. Jermaine O'Neal, Tracey McGrady, Dirk Nowitzki... whatever. I mean you're trading Shaq for crying out loud. But you need value in return. Thing is, it's like I mentioned earlier. The blueprint for two superstars is exactly what the Lakers want to get away from. Or more precisely - two guys fighting over who's team it is. The more I thought about it. I wanted a quantity of quality players, instead of a single star with a bunch of roster fodder. And each of the names coming from Miami are quality players. They are the type of guys that could fit around and support Kobe. They, along with the current crop, and maybe a signed free agent or two will make this no longer a team with 2 superstars, some really talented but weary veterans, and a bunch of filler, to a team with quality players and depth. Obviously, the center position is a question mark, but remember, this is no longer an era of dominant centers. It's about dominant Forwards. That is how to get through the west... by shutting down the big forwards: Chris Webber, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. Assuming he'll be back, Karl Malone won't have to do it alone anymore. There will be help bringing in Brian Grant at the power spot, and Caron Butler at the small spot, and Lamar Odom will be able to play both. Also, this team will look more like the Jordan led bulls. That is obviously the formula that the Lakers are trying to duplicate with Kobe. This will be a faster team. A team that will can run and gun, or run a half court set through pick and rolls. The type of team that Detroit had trouble with, was a team that ran. LA no longer will be forced into half court sets every time down the court. So look at this team. At point guard you got one of the best all time in Gary Payton. We shall see if Derek Fisher comes home to where he belongs to back him up. At shooting guard you have the best player in the league in Kobe Bryant. Hopefully he becomes the greatest all time. No excuses. He has to come through. Kobe can also move to the small forward position. Backing up Kobe is Kareem Rush. Not the greatest, but who cares... Kobe is going to be on the court at least 40 minutes a game. It's hard to flourish when you are playing in the shadow of the best player in the NBA at the moment. At small forward Lamar Odom should start. Devean George and Caron Butler provide excellent depth to this position. If Kobe is momentarily moved here, Odom can play power forward. At power forward, Karl Malone is the man if he comes back. If not, looks like Brian Grant gets the nod, leaving a question mark at center. Otherwise, they could make do with Grant at center if Malone comes back. Barring a free agent signing, I think Grant gets the start. Seeing how more defense is needed than offense, Medvedenko comes off the bench if they need more offense. So for review if Karl Malone is
healthy and returns then the lineup looks like this: No Mailman? Of course I think it's
imperative they look for depth at center. But you can already see the
versatility of the lineup. If D-Fish comes back you could go small and
fast: So the new blueprint is actually a cross between the Jordan led bulls, and the deep solid all around Detroit Pistons. It has the depth all around that the Pistons have, and it has the centerpiece shooting guard the Bulls had. It's new. It hasn't been defended yet, it's going to work. How? Well the man who's going to make Jerry Buss look like a genius, (no Kupchak still looks dopey any way you look at him), is going to be Rudy Tomjanovich. Like Phil Jackson, he's an orchestrator of prima donna players, but unlike Phil, he's a guy who won't force one system on his players. (GP can breathe a sigh of relief). Rudy's going to make it work by creating an offense and defense to fit the personnel. That's what got the Bulls to 6 championships. It was team chemistry, no matter the type of scrubs they surrounded Jordan with. Of course, this means the actual means to success lies in one persons hands: Kobe Bryant. He needs to become the guy who's unstoppable, the guy that makes his team mates better, the guy who rallies as a leader. Which is why an easy going Tomjanovich is the right guy to prod Kobe along. Actually with or without Kobe, the Lakers will be contenders. The Lakers are champions. It's like something the old coach who went against all odds said, "Never underestimate the heart of a champion." Julytober 09, 2003 So much to talk about so here I go. Yesterday, I went to an unsupervised UH Warriors Football Practice to get autographs on a team ball for my friend in Italy. The players are all cool as whoever I asked obliged. Speaking of Italy, Next week I will be on my way to Europe to see Britain, France, Spain, and revisit Italy. Grrr, now I need my own ball! I will be going back on tomorrow to try to catch Tim Chang, Jeremiah Cockheran, Isaac Sopoaga, and Kelvin Millhouse, since I have a feeling these guys will be playing football in the NFL. The big sig I got so far is Travis Laboy's, following Chad Owens and Hyrum Peters. I'm so excited for football this year I'm going crazy. Warrior football and Lions football. I expect both to have awesome seasons. I'm gonna buy a nice TV when I get back. The Lakers, oh my goodness the Lakers will win the championship next year. Everyone else should just forfeit and give the Lakers their rings already. I'm in shock with the Kobe Bryant fiasco, but the recent news is nice. Gary Payton is joining Shaq and Kobe, and Karl Malone might be joining the trio as well. Is that not fair or what? And they're getting both Gary and Karl for under 6.5 mill! What a deal! Well whether they get Karl or not, doesn't matter, it's already not fair. I'm not buying the Lebron James hype. He wowed everyone playing kids in high school, and now he wowed everyone playing wannabe NBA players in a summer league and his team mates were Darius Miles, Dajuan Wagner, and Ricky Davis. And who were they playing again? I'm not sold yet. Carmelo Anthony still has more brownie points because I don't remember the last time a Freshmen led his team to the NCAA finals. Baseball, can I say how much I'm irritated with the Yankees? Anime, can I say enough about Last EXILE and Gad Guard? I haven't been so pleased with my anime situation in quite some time. Also on my good side is Gundam SEED. I love the soap opera twists and cliff-hangers. Oh yes, Happy Lesson ADVANCE has been released. I'm about to watch it after this update. I'm so stoked. I got a Bit-Torrent download high of 196 KB/s! I got a 173 MB file in about 15 minutes! What an awesome day! Speaking of soap opera-esque situations, I've been keenly following Michelle Wie, golf phenom, her papa, and Amacappane the witchy heiffer. Don't sweat anything Michelle, Hawaii loves you, and so does the rest of the golf world. I finally fixed my computer back to normal mode and cleaned up most of my main hard drive so I should be able to record some audio for the songs I've been writing. I realized songs around the early 100 range were spectacular. So I need get back to the work ethic I put into those songs with the ones I'm working on now. Nice thing is I've been out of the song writing loop for so long that there isn't a mental bloc in sight. Sad thing is while I'll be on my trip I won't work on music. But hey, does that mean I should give up going to Europe? Crazy! Do you know how pretty the Spanish sisters are? Espana, here I come! I guest lastly I'll talk about my strenuous efforts to get back in shape. It consists of running at 2 in the morning, running on a beach, swimming, playing basketball, teaching youngsters how to play football, and weightlifting. Speaking of weightlifting, I hope to have my own bench sometime this year. Then everyone can see how buff I'll be. First things first however, I need to lose this gut. Avanti! Julytober 2003 Yay for me! I finally got my Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis in Electro-Physics. Okay I think I'm ready to share the in session stuff. So check out in session - do not disturb Funny stuff. I promise. =) db |
