DOUBLE DUECE!!!

Okay, so today I turn 22. Happy birthday to me.

The girlfriend hooked it up with the Logitech Harmony 360 and Mario Party for Wii.

The Harmony really is that easy to use as everyone says. Hitting “Play Xbox” and having all the right inputs and such turn on is nice. This will be handy as hell, plus watching DVD’s and controlling them with a controller is kind of lame.

Mario Party is fun, as long as you play with someone. Otherwise it’s okay at best. She was going to get two games but her feet hurt, so she still owes me one. Any ideas? I have a Wii and an Xbox 360. I was thinking of getting something that I knew I would enjoy, like The Bigs or Call of Duty 3. But, I think I might be able to stretch this free game out until All Pro Football 2K8, that way I don’t have to buy it and NCAA 08 on my on money. Jesus, I’m buying 3 football games this year. Football could be a genre of game eh?

Moment of zen, XXII version…

NBA Draft Live Blog

7:38 – Well that’s the first 10, blog on your own for the rest, I’m going to sit and wait to see what the Spurs do.  I would almost put $100 on them going international.  They do it all the time, and then three years from now in the 2011 Finals some guy named Rafalonso will be playing for the Spurs and people will be like “They drafted him in 2007?!”

7:35 – Kings take Hawes. Hawes looks like he is ready to be the next Ostertag. But, the NBA has so few 7 foot true Centers that he could be valuable.

7:31 – I find it so funny EA Sports puts all their sports games all over so early and 2K Sports does nothing. It was recently revealed that is because they know EA would steal any new ideas they had, which isn’t very surprising. It’s funny though. NBA Live has blown for at least 7 years.

7:29 – Chicago, who have one of the best defensive centers in Wallace, drafted a guy who isn’t ready to score in the NBA. Draft grade F.

7:25 – The Bulls take Noah. Noah decided “lets keep people thinking I’m a moron and I’ll dress like Matlock.” Noah seems like a complete idiot, he always acts childish and has trouble speaking clearly.

7:18 – The Bobcats take Wright. Looks like a talented kid. Needs to put some pounds on though.

7:15 – I’m SICK of all the Tony Parker comparisons. Corey Brewer is 23. Tony Parker was the starting point guard in the NBA Finals at age 23 and won them. We will see if any of these guys are Finals MVP in two years. Could you imagine if Parker played in American college?

7:14 – Brewer to the T-Wolves. I’m ready for the KG stuff to end. All of America is. So is Noah the “worst” of these Gators? I thought he was the heart and soul and all that bullshit. Bobcats take him and they will have Noah and Morrison. Long Strange Trip.

7:10 – Yi plays in Milwaukee. Yi just said he loves LA. KoYi Bryant?

7:05 – The Bucks take Yi Jianlian! 1,300,000,000 new Bucks fans! Starting center for the East in the All Star game is Yi! “Yi is 50 Cent!” ESPN should feel blessed that CNNSI gave up and that Fox Sports Network is 2413 separate stations and that TNT didn’t get the Draft.

7:02 – Tim Duncan is my favorite basketball player, but he doesn’t need to be in any ads. Way too out of place.

7:00 – Why do the draft picks have notebooks at their tables? These guys are 20 years old, right now all they know is MySpace and Facebook.

6:57 – Jeff Green to Boston then to Seattle. Too bad, a guy named Jeff Green could have fit in with the Celtics. Now Green puts on a Boston hat and does the whole charade of “I can’t wait to be a black guy in Boston!” Only to get a Seattle hat a couple minutes later.

6:53 – Memphis takes Conley Jr. Is West still running them because this is a great pick. They needed a point guard so they drafted one. Memphis is one great three point shooter away from being a contender… in the East.

6:49 – Horford to Atlanta. The Hawks draft another forward, making this their 5th in a row. Atlanta has new uniforms that have blue in them and have an Arizona Cardinals logo on them. What the hell is that? Wilbon on PTI said, “Bring back the unis with the pac-man on them!” Huh? Well I’m sure Al will enjoy playing for the Atlanta Cardinals… er Hawks.

6:46 – And with those two picks, the Eastern Conference just lost at least 3 or 4 more years to the West!

6:43 – Durant to Seattle. And let’s interview his mother! I still don’t get why ESPN feels the needs to do this. It’s just unneeded. We know what his mom is thinking, why ruin her moment? Durant still scares me with the benchpress stuff. Can’t lift 185? I don’t know a lot of guys who can’t do that. I think he is still 3 years from being grown enough to be good, let alone great.

6:41 – TRADE! Ray Allen to Boston for #5 pick and junk. Boston just got…. I don’t even know at this point if they are better or worse.

6:36 – Oden to Portland. Why did all the guys in the Portland draft room wait until Oden was drafted to put their hats on? It’s not like they got drafted. I’ve never seen anyone play like he does. Oh and, “You can’t teach 7 feet!”

6:34 – Blazers draft team looked happy. Wait… we get Steven A. Smith for the whole night?! I thought he was the lead in guy who would come back for round two!

6:30 – OK intro movie done. All American Rejects? Let’s pick a band that doesn’t fit in at all here!

6:17 – Draft starts at 6:30, I’m going to eat something.

6:13 – Greg Oden looks old and that will help him. People who look old young have an advantage in that when they are old they look the same. So it looks like they have not aged as much as people who look younger than they are and when they age everyone notices.

6:10 – Yi said if the Bucks draft him he does not want to play there. The Bucks just said if he is there we are taking him. I’ll call it already; Bucks draft grade = F-

6:06 – Steven Smith just said 2 franchise players makes for a deep draft.

6:03 – Do we really need a picture of the Blazers draft room? If they don’t know by now then they are screwed.

6:01 – Welcome to the Live Blog! This draft will feature two players then a ton of “Who?” guys. When the 3rd pick is expected to be a “solid role player” you know this is going to be a bad draft.

600 is the new 500

755 is the number in baseball. 755 Home Runs. That’s the landmark milestone. The one every fan knows, or at least knows who holds it. Hammerin’ Hank Aaron. So it’s not surprising to hear all the talk about Barry Bonds come closer every home run to taking over the crown as Home Run King.

600. It’s a club. An exclusive club of only 5 people. 600 Home Runs. Just a decade ago it was 3 men. Aaron, Ruth, and Mays. That was it. That list has at least one person who every kid on the block dreamed about being, about playing the game the way that they did. In the past 5 years Bonds and Sammy Sosa have joined the club. Later this season, if he keeps this pace, Ken Griffey Jr. will join the club, making it 6 with two in one year joining for the first time. We had better get used to it.

500. It was a lock. A mortal lock that you would retire and then have a plaque in Cooperstown at the Hall of Fame. Even today there are only 20 players with over 500 home runs. In the next 2 seasons there could be as many as 5 more players with over 500 home runs.

In fact using the logic that a guy can play until 40 now with out slowing down too much, averaging at least 25 home runs per season, or more depending on current production, there will be a slew of players joining the 500 club in the next 13 years. I actually made a list (go figure right?). In order of most to least…

1. A. Rod 881

2. B. Bonds 793 (Supposing he plays next season)

3. A. Pujols 786

4. A. Dunn 738

5. R. Howard 735

6. K. Griffey Jr. 680

7. S. Sosa 640

8. M. Ramirez 631

9. V. Guerrero 630

10. A. Ramirez 630

11. A. Jones 623

12. M. Teixeira 607

13. D. Ortiz 604

14. J. Thome 601

15. P. Fielder 576 (720)

16. C. Delgado 574

17. H. Matsui 558*

18. R. Sexson 557

19. M. Cabrera 549 (649)

20. P. Konerko 545

21. E. Chavez 543

22. J. Morneau 541 (575)

23. A. Soriano 536

24. F. Thomas 530

25. C. Jones 519

26. L. Berkman 513

27. A. Beltre 500

*Includes numbers from Japan

Guys with parenthesis means that is their total over their career, the listed number is where they will be in 13 years.

Okay, so in the next 13 years 25 guys are going to join the 20 members of the 500 home run club and 12 guys are joining the 5 members of the 600 club.  The rare air of 700 will have company as it will move from 3 people to 7.

The new 755 will be 881 by Alex Rodriguez.  He will hit 881 sometime around September of 2016.  He will hit 800 in 2013 towards September.  He would pass Bonds’ predicted number of 793 about a month before.  He will hit 700 in August of 2011 and 600 in July of 2009.

Either we have a ton of Hall of Famers coming, including Richie Sexson and Lance Berkman, or the standard is moving to 600… quickly.

Moment of zen,  this guy has 583 and is right now number 9 all time… he started this season number 7…

Major League

We won yesterday. If we win today, that’s two-in-a-row. If we win tomorrow, that’s called a winning streak; it has happened before.

Well The Rangers did it! They are not the worst team in the league anymore! Kansas City is off the list! And a bonus… The Reds are passed too! Who’s next?

25. Washington (31-42)
26. Chicago Sox (29-40)
27. San Francisco (30-42)
28. Texas (29-44)
29. Cincinnati (29-45)
30. Kansas City (29-45)

Now I am a Giants fan, but let’s face it, the pitchers are too young and hitters are too old on that team. So… GO RANGERS… SAN FRANCISCO YOU’RE ON NOTICE.

All Star Update… Let’s face it, Texas doesn’t exactly have anyone having a breakout season. Plus, two of the three more popular Rangers of recent years are injured and will miss the All Star Game even if picked. So who will be the Rangers All Star?

Sosa? He is having an All Star season and might be the choice. On pace for over 30 home runs and almost 140 RBI. Throw in the fact he hit his 600th this season and he just might have the star power left to get him in. How about this, this All Star Game might have Bonds, Sosa, Griffey Jr. and Cecil Prince Fielder! Now that’s a midsummer classic!

Ian Kinsler? Ian got off to a hot start and for quite a while was on a great home run pace. He has since cooled off and his batting average has slumped to under .250. He still is the team leader in home runs, but I doubt anyone knows who he is outside of the metroplex.

Michael Young? Maybe. Young got off to the worst start of his career. His April batting average was .215, but he has turned that around and is up to .291. For the month of June he is hitting .382 and has hit in every game but three. He is going to have over 100 hits by the break and should get 200 hits for the 5th season in a row. Young is also one of the best fielding shortstops in the league. Additionally, Young has been there before which always seems to help and last year he was the All Star Game’s MVP.

Kenny Lofton? Outside chance. Kenny at age 40 might steal as many bases and he is old as he is on pace for 40. That would be his most stolen bases since 1998 when he was still in Cleveland. Batting .280 Lofton has been a solid lead off hitter and plays quite well in the field.

Or could it be a real surprise…

Eric Gagne?! Why not. Gagne was signed as a “maybe this is work” player, as the Rangers had Aki ready to be the closer this season. But, Gagne has been brilliant in the small about of work he has had to do. The Rangers do not give him a ton of chances but when he gets them, watch out. In almost 20 innings Eric has given up 9 hits, 1 run, struck out 19, and has an ERA of .47 with 7 saves and 2 wins. If the Rangers could stay hot until the break he might crack 10 saves. Far from the league lead, but in the games he gets into, he’s been a shutdown closer.

Quickies

1. Gears of War continues to impress me.  I finally tried the online and I did in fact suck.  But it was fun.

2. The Rangers won today, that makes two in a row.  A win tomorrow means they are on a winning streak.  Maybe they can hit .500 by season’s end.  If the hitting comes around then they might.  I mean they are only one win from being out of the cellar.  Maybe they can make it to the top, KANSAS CITY YOU’RE NEXT FIRST!

3. Greg Oden continues to impress me, he comes out of his work out with the Blazers and it went bad and he said he sucked and was sorry because of it.  Rare in the NBA.

Sunday Night Blips

1. I still can’t get over the fact the Spurs won. I mean I know in today’s sports world it is very old news, but as a fan it’s a great feeling that cheering your team on was actually worth it in the end. Like I said that’s old news as…

2. Can you believe Tiger Woods lost again in a major? I wouldn’t be so damned critical if it wasn’t to guys from farm towns and other countries that I’ve never even heard of once. This could be a huge ruse though, where he goes on a tear and gets a grand slam in 2008 when everyone doubts he still has it at age 32.

3. I had a guy come into the electronics store I work at today and he asked me what was a good computer. I point out a Sony I absolutely love and he pretty much says, “OK I’ll take it.” Quite surprising as it was a middle eastern man, and those dudes usually go for the “deal of the week.” So we get to the register and he tells me he owns the Conoco gas station next to Home Depot. He then tells me at that gas station there is a taco stand and a barber. And here is the bomb he drops on me, “If you give me, under the table, half off the computer I will give you free gas for one month!” Only in America.

4. I picked up Gears of War (finally) for the old 360. I rarely buy games for it, as I always scare myself every time I turn it on. I’m on the 5th one right now and it’s running alright besides the fact it scratched FIFA, Madden, and NCAA Football. Bitch destroyed my three best games, and games like those only come around every… um… year.

5. Anyways, Gears of War is bad ass. I’m only doing the single player right now, as I know that the online part will be 75% of people who play this game like they are getting paid to, and will kill me in 2 seconds. The other 25% think they are part of the other 75% and bitch and moan about how good they are and they are just screwing around and so on. Outside of that, the duck and run is the best thing I’ve done in a game since Metal Gear Solid on PlayStation.

6. Yahoo! is letting you start your Fantasy Football league already. Irving Premier League 2007-08 is up, want in? Email me and let me know, it’s a live draft so you better live in Dallas area.

7. Have you seen the pictures of the new Honda Accord? Simply amazing, especially the coupe.

8 . The Rangers are now 17 and a half games out of first in the American League West. I used to always wonder how people in Kansas City felt about their baseball and now I know, they feel pretty shitty. Also of note, Sosa is going to be swinging for 600 in Chicago at Wrigley Field. Someone call ESPN for a countdown timer… quickly!

9. Oh it’s already being used, PORTLAND IS NOW ON THE CLOCK!!! After the way the Playoffs went with the Spurs winning, the Suns suspensions, the East playing like ass, and the Dallas vs. San Antonio or Phoenix match up not happening, David Stern should have said, “Remember that lotto we had? Well we didn’t actually have that. ESPN used some of Disney’s computers and made a fake lotto. In the real one Boston and New York are picking one and two. Followed by Detroit, Washington, Charlotte, Atlanta, Atlanta, Atlanta, Chicago, Milwaukee, Toronto, and after that point it’s a crap shoot anyways so we’ll just wing it on draft night. Oh, and we moved Los Angeles to the Eastern Conference… they are so far West it actually is the far East.”

10. I bought an iPod Shuffle at work for $39 yesterday. It was an open item, so I checked to make sure it worked and snagged it. Too bad it’s the blue one, I really like the orange. Oh well beats carrying the 30GB when I run, which is getting more and more rare as my sneakers need replacing. (I do have a birthday coming…)

Moment of zen… (Sammy Sosa has a drinking problem)

Safe to Talk

I haven’t blogged of late. Hell, I have not done much of anything of late. I will admit it, I was scared to death that I might jinx the Spurs run. I’m feeling rather safe now up 3-0, as there are only 3 instances in all of sports when 3-0 did not mean finished. I’m not really having an in depth idea right now but I have a ton of small thoughts…

The Spurs are a dynasty, so far this will be the 6th dynasty in NBA history and only the 4th team to be considered a dynasty. The other five? Lakers (50’s), Celtics, Lakers (80’s), Bulls, and Lakers(00’s). Rare company indeed.

LeBron James is not a legend. Let’s not go crazy for this guy until he does something. I think we forgot, already, just how amazing Jordan was and so we compare the two of them and would like to think that LeBron is on that level. Look at that list of dynasties and think of those teams and what they all had except Jordan. Mikan, Russell, Kareem, and Shaq. They all had dominating centers except the Jordan lead Bulls of the 1990’s. Jordan did all that with 3 role players and Scottie. Against the Issiah lead Pistons, Bird’s Celtics, Magic’s Lakers, Barkley’s Suns, Malone’s Jazz, and Ewing’s Knicks. Lebron beat who to get to the Finals? Jamison’s Wizards? Kidd’s Nets? Billups’ Pistons?