thursday 3.31.05

joel is in town.

the mcdonald's all american game was last night. duke has some players coming in. the theme of the night was white guys dunking. they didn't read the white men can't jump memo... that josh mcroberts is a player. rebounds, has good baby hops, can throw a reverse dunk, will be a duke freshman... and his mother is a MILF.

eben forwarded me an article from ESPN, what if no player went pro early. besides the whole "denying a person the ability to earn a livelihood" argument which was the original rationale, there are reasons for players to go pro early that benefit both the players, the NBA, and the college game. if, of course, they really are going to be picked high in the draft, preferably in the lottery.

- if and when they go back to school, they won't be wasting their time sleeping in and getting tutors to do their work.

- the coaching is probably more developmental in college; but players are undervalued when they come out, costing them a whole lot of money while said players are wiping double cheeseburger grease off their lips, getting sycophants to bring them women and homework, and playing low-level teammate competition who ask for autographs after getting dunked on.

- the college game, especially the march tournament, is better for not having lebron and carmelo, et cetera-- we would expect the same teams to win. and those teams would win more easily-- the way north carolina has been dominant all year. who did they lose to? santa clara with their point guard out, duke who just out-coached them. if no one went pro early, UNC would likely find themselves with even more top-line players; and would likely have a team so dominant they would challenge UCLA's string of 88 straight wins. college basketball is tougher and more unpredictable.

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a take on bill james' words of wisdom from soxaholix.

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also, take a quiz. which yankee are you?

i'm mariano rivera. so... i'm old?

You scored as Mariano Rivera. You are MARIANO RIVERA! You're the one that people look to end things, save the day, etc. You're also probably the best at what you do... but in small doses of course. You're only human and can only do so much, but regardless you're awesome and OVERALL can perform well under pressure. Derek Jeter 67% Mariano Rivera 67% Tino Martinez 63% Bernie Williams 54% Jorge Posada 50% Alex Rodriguez 33% Which NY Yankee are you? created with QuizFarm.