The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[udosuk]

Oops, sorry for being ambiguous... Streetball is a form of basketball that are played on the street courts... The most common format is 3-on-3 half court that my generation have been playing while we're growing up... "Skip 2 My Lou" is the nickname given to the player Rafer Alston when he was a legend on the streetball courts... It originated from an incredible move he performed once - see this link for a brief introduction... I shouldn't elaborate on his rape charge anymore...

The Suns really lost the next 2 games as you were talking... The game against the Spurs was a great opportunity missed (Raja Bell made an incredible 3 and then missed the FT to win the game - figures ), and then they became the first victim of the Mavs this season... If this losing streak continues I wonder how long it will be till people start questioning Nash's big off-season move (cutting his locks)? Perhaps his long hair is more a luck charm than the Samson-source-of-power thing...

The Rockets scrapped past the Bucks last night (almost blowing a 20+ pt lead) with a big game from T-Mac... I'm looking forward to their performance once Shane Battier & Bonzi Wells play up to their potentials...

I wonder how the Americans react to the Democrats winning the midterm elections... (Sorry for initiating another political chat, but just a little of those won't hurt... )

[Hud]

Well, the Suns finally won another game and must have played a little defense along the way. I read that they put in the bench players and gave up a 20-0 run. The first team had to come back in and hold off the Griz. The Suns had an alltime low of points in a quarter with 7. It will take some time to get the guys used to playing together. The Rockets seem to be rolling now and are 4-2.

I have no problem mentioning politics now and then. I actually voted Democrat in all the elections in Arizona except for governor where we have the best governor in years in office. During the Clintonian years, I always maintained that things were great because no one party could get anything major done. Too bad it was all spoiled by scandal. Nancy Pelosi the new house majority leader was the daughter of the mayor of Baltimore when I was young. I never forgave him for standing us up when I was in elementary school (k-6). He was supposed to attend some kind of ceremony at school and never showed up.

3 on 3 basketball is pretty popular in the inner cities, and was featured in White Men Can't Jump with Woody Harrelson some years ago.

[udosuk]

The Rockets just beat the Heat by 22 with another great game from Yao (34 pts, 14 rebs). I think Yao has officially dethroned Shaq as the #1 center of the world... I'm glad T-Mac has gracefully accepted his new role as an assists-provider and his defensive effort on Wade in that game was a huge factor...

The Suns beat the Griz behind a big game from Amare... They almost blew a 34-point lead but held on... But it's obvious Amare needs to play more and play better for them to win...

I can't believe you still remember being stood up in elementary school... I envy your good memory... But regarding the Clinton scandal issue, he did serve 8 full years of presidency and it's arguable his successor Al Gore lost to GW Bush because of Clinton's indecent affair...

I watched White Men Can't Jump many years ago... It seems most basketball movies (especially Hollywood ones) are mostly crap, compared to baseball or other sports...

[Hud]

Yao is definitely playing great basketball so far this season. I'll never understand how a team can play so well in playoffs (Suns and Heat), and start a season so poorly.

I know you're not a big fan of golf, but I'm surprised that you didn't mention Yang Yongeun beating Tiger Woods in a tournament in Shanghai last weekend.

[udosuk]

The impressive thing about the Rockets' run so far, is that Yao is the only player who's in genuine good (offensive) form right now... When T-Mac, Bonzi Wells, Shane Battier all play well, how good will they become? However, let's see how they play against the Spurs, Bulls and Pistons this week after losing their starting PF Chuck Hayes who crashed into Shaq...

I really didn't pay much attention to that Shanghai golf tournament... It seems a big deal was made about a Korean guy beating Tiger to end his 6-tournament winning streak... But I think in golf it's not that certain a great player will win every tournament he plays, unlike tennis, where Roger Federer is a big favourite in the Masters Cup in Shanghai... The other day I thought he was gone after the 1st set against Nalbandian, but he came back impressively...

[Hud]

There was an interesting article in this morning's paper here. There's a young (26 years old) pitcher in Japan named Daisuke Matsuzaka, who is tearing up the Japan League. Apparently, he can go to whatever team in the US that pays his parent team the highest posting fee and they come to an agreement with him and his agent, Scott Boros. Several years ago, Ichiro Suzuki (the paper simply referred to him as Ichiro so spelling is suspect) commanded a $13.1 million posting fee from the Seattle Mariners. Matsuzaka is expected to command a much higher posting fee and salary. I suspect the Yankees will end up with him, but the Mets, BoSox, Cubs and Rangers are in the running. The guy sounds phenomenal.

I just read an unconfirmed report that the BoSox have made the highest bid for Daisuke. I've heard anywhere from $42 to $50 million just for the rights to negotiate with him and his agent. The confirmation is supposed to come out at 5pm Pacific Time today. It must be nice to have that much cash to throw around.

[udosuk]

BoSox might get Daisuke as a rookie, but it won't be long before Steinbrenner nick him from them...

Congrats for Brandon Webb winning the NL Cy Young award...
Like you said Hoffman came 2nd and Carpenter only came 3rd...

Added later:
Crap, I totally jinxed Yao and the Rockets and they blew a 19-point 3rd quarter lead to the Spurs... Yao scored 20 pts, but only 6 lousy rebounds (Duncan got 15 rebounds and even Elson, the Spurs backup center, got 7)... Way too early to call him the "#1 center of the world"... T-Mac had a great start but faded hopelessly in the last quarter...

Meanwhile Stojakovic had a heck of a game for the Hornets, scoring the first 20 pts for the whole team (with 7/7 FGs incl. 4 3s and 4/4 FTs) and got 22 pts in the 1st quarter alone, and then added another 11 pts in the last 5 mins to finish with 42...

Added even later:
The Spurs, after beating the Rockets, managed to lose to the Bobcats, at home... The Rockets today almost blew a lead of 21 points, but held on to win by 1 at the end... This doesn't look healthy at all... Bonzi Wells looks more and more like a trade disaster...

[Hud]

It looks like both the Rockets and Suns are starting to hit their strides. From the boxscores. it looks like Yao is carrying the Rockets. Amare is finally keeping his mouth shut and playing ball again. Wednesday's game between the two should be a good one. I'm wondering if the Suns will still be able to quiet Yao as they did late last season? Yao may not have been 100% then though.
The Suns are also having trouble incorporating all the parts of their team. Maybe Bonzi will fit in better when the period of adjustment is over? For awhile, Boris Diaw would have a bad game when Amare had a good one and vice versa. Last night it appears both played well which is a very good sign.
Cec appears to have gotten through his procedure with minimum trouble. I was glad to see that.

I forgot to remark about the AL MVP going to Morneau (I think that's how it's spelled?). I confess that I've never heard of him, so maybe that's why in years past, guys from small markets haven't gotten their share of the recognition. Now, some reporters are claiming an "Anti-New York" bias since Jeter came in 2d.

[udosuk]

Would like to say the Rockets are in good form but the fact is the teams they're beating are all mediocre teams... So far they've lost 4 games to the Hornets, Jazz (who both had big winning streaks at the start) and Spurs, Pistons (who're in hot winning streaks right now). The only 2 teams they beat with high calibre were the Mavs and the Heat, but they were both not at peak form when the games were played... So the Rockets (and Yao) haven't really proved themselves yet... I mean, if Yao (7'6") could be blocked by a 5'9" guy, I can't imagine what would happen if he faces blokes like Dwight Howard... And they're still not playing the 4th quarter well enough...

It seems Bonzi Wells and Jeff Van Gundy are in the middle of some dispute about fitness or work ethics etc, and JVG is not eager to play Wells any time soon... It will remain to see if Wells could help the team when they're up against powerhouses such as the Suns... I keep thinking the Rockets should use the formula of the 2000-2002 Lakers and the Heat last year, where Yao should play the role of Shaq and dominate the first 3 quarters and T-Mac should play Kobe/Wade and takes over in clutch time...

It seems the Suns have completely recovered from the slump at the start, with Amare/Marion/Diaw in the front court and Nash/Bell/Barbosa in the back court it's a formidable lineup and I wonder the Rockets can match them on Wednesday... It's amazing to see how the Mavs and Suns both recovered so well...

They say Justin Morneau and Ryan Howard (both playing 1B) have a combined salary of less than $1M, combined to the multi-gazillions salaries of A-Rod and Pujols last season... I'm not commenting whether they deserve to be MVPs, but it's surely nice to see some blue-collar guys getting recognized ahead of the "superstars"...

[udosuk]

Doh... T-Mac got hurt big time against the Wolves, and probably will miss tonight's game against the Suns... I won't be surprised if the Rockets got trounced by Nash, Amare & co...

If I'm JVG, I'd try using Bonzi as a secret weapon right in this game... But I know he won't and it's really sad...

Elsewhere, they're making a big deal about Ben Wallace's headband... If the Bulls could accept Dennis Rodman's hair colours and behaviours I don't understand what's the issue here...

If you're an NY-sports-team-hater you must have been glad about the Giants' 21-pt 4th quarter blown lead against the Titans...

[Hud]

I was wondering if the Ben Wallace Headband flap made your news. I assume you got it online? Scott Skiles was coach of the Suns some time back and had to be let go because the players revolted against him. He's know as a disciplinarian much like Buck Showalter of MLB. Theres a saying that when a $1 million coach butts heads with a $15 million player, the coach usually loses. I would hope they could work out a compromise behind closed doors? Buck compromised when Randy Johnson came to Phoenix with the facial hair (which was a no-no to Buck).

They made a very big deal about the NY Giant's collapse last Sunday. They said the only thing comparable was the Arizona Cardinals collapse against the Bears, but nobody really cares about the Cardinals.

There's also a report that the BoSox are lowballing Daisuke. They even speculate that the $51 million was a ploy to keep him away from the Yankees. I suspect that they'll up the ante for him and get him signed. I'll give him $12 million a year. I can throw that kind of $ around when I never made that much total in my life except in the stock market 7 years ago (then promptly lost 2/3ds of it lol.

The game tonight should be interesting, but I won't watch it as usual. I tried to send a mental message to my daughter to get us tickets to the game where she works.

[udosuk]

Well, the Suns blew a 22-pt lead, but still won by 11 at the end... Not a game suitable for your heart to watch Hud...

T-Mac did play, but had a crappy shooting night before finding a little bit of touch in the 4th, but their defense totally let them down after climbing back out of the hole... Yao had a good first 3 quarters but faded hopelessly in the 4th... I did say T-Mac should take over in the clutch, but not like this...

Yao got only 6 rebounds, compared to 15 by Amare, 12 by Marion and 11 by Kurt Thomas, and the Rockets were outrebounded 36-55 as a team... Whenever Yao plays dominant PFs (Duncan, Rasheed, Amare) he's totally muscled out on the boards... If only he could treat every other big men in the league like Shaq (whom he outrebounded 14-10 last time round)...

Were you really serious when you said you've won $12M in the stock market 7 years ago (and then lost $8M)? Didn't know you were that big time (but I think in USA it's just small potato business)...

[Hud]

Oops, sorry about the gross mistake about the $. I meant $1 million. Believe it or not, I didn't sell since taxes would have killed me. In retrospect I should have sold. Worst case would have been to sell and incur the big tax liability and buying back and losing it in the downturn. Many investors did just that and got killed. OK, now that that's cleared up...

I hate it when the Suns blow big leads, and they seem to do it every game. I would never be able to stand watching that kind of play. The game was on a station that I don't receive for some reason or another. JVG had kind words to say about the Sun's style of play and Steve Nash in particular. The Rockets seem to be a classy organisation. I never see anything about Bonzi Well's problem in print here. Years ago, the Suns had Robert Horry and Sam Cassell and neither seemed to fit in but later found good homes in other orgs. There was talk on a radio show the other day about the Suns' great starts, and miserable 4th quarters. They are near the top in the 1st and nearly last in the 4th. At least last night they got the malaise over with in the 3d lol.

I see where the Yankees won the bidding war for another Japanese Pitcher. The D-backs had also bidded for him, but it's hard to outbid the Yankees. It would be funny if he outpitched Daisuke in the majors.

[udosuk]

It seems T-Mac can't stop getting injured nowadays... Today, he got knocked out (accidentally) by his teammate, the old biggy Dikembe Mutombo... Interestingly, this incident seemed to affect more on the opposing team, Lebron James' Cavs, as they shot ~28% on FGs... And the Rockets won by 18 pts...

Just about 3 weeks ago, the Suns, Mavs, Nuggets were all struggling miserably, and the Hornets and 76ers were leading the league... Now look what happened to them...

Before the season I did mention besides Rockets I'm also supporting the Pistons and the Magic, and both of them are flying high right now... I'm particularly happy for Grant Hill that he finally found somebody to rely on (Dwight Howard)...

The pitcher the Yankess bid (Kei Igawa) isn't of the same class as Daisuke, but now that you mentioned it, I think BoSox is really trying to prevent Daisuke from joining the Yanks, and probably won't sign him (thus avoiding to pay the $51,111,111 posting fee to his Japanese team)... However, if it turns out like that, Daisuke might join the Yankees next season as a free agent and we'll get another player after Babe Ruth holding a lot of grudges towards BoSox...

[Hud]

I'm continually amazed by your knowledge of sports in the US. Babe Ruth was born and raised in Baltimore but not in my old neighborhood. I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when news came that he had died. I believe it was in 1948 or thereabouts.

I feel the Rockets are actually playing better than my Suns right now even though the Suns won the last game between them here in Phoenix. The Suns really enjoy trying to outrun and outscore their opponents. Did you see the points the Bucks' Guards put up against the Suns the other night? Redd (I believe is his name) got 37 and Marion had to stop him on a couple possessions late in the game. At least Amare seems to have gotten back on track, but now Diaw is at sea. I'm confident that he'll come around. I don't think he has a very aggressive personality, but that's ok for now. His buddy, Tony Parker is marrying that ugly Eva Longoria. I would think he could do better lol.

I'm still thinking the BoSox will sign Daisuke. If not, there should be a mechanism to allow the second place bidder the chance to sign him. If the BoSox sign Barry Bonds I might have to root for the Yankees when they play each other.