The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[udosuk]

Yes, but the part that sticks more in my mind about that tour was Shane Warne dropping Kevin Petierson (I'm still unsure about this spelling) before he had even scored but then proceeded to blast 158 runs giving England the "Ashes".

The player's name is Kevin Pietersen (his middle name is Peter as a matter of fact)...

Drop catches happen frequently and you can argue a lot whether it could change the outcome of a match... Like in the 2nd test this time Ponting was dropped by Ashley before scoring 142 and saving the Aussies' first innings... But who knows if he got out early would another batsman not making up the runs... But in Kasprowicz's case replays showed the ball brushed through his forearm instead of his bat/glove so he was wrongly given out with the Aussies a mere 3 runs from a 282-record-run-chase which ultimately decided the result of the series...

Speaking of which, a popular folklore is that in the 1999 World Cup, when Steve Waugh was dropped early by Herschelle Gibbs, Waugh told Gibbs, "Thanks mate, you've just dropped the World Cup", and then proceeded to score 120 runs and utimately guided the Aussies to win the tournament... Although many people don't believe it actually happened it must be a cool experience to say something to someone in a situation like that...

The weather is very cool and cloudy in Sydney these couple days, with some occasional drizzles... Wish we could share some of that to your state...

[Cec]

"...The player's name is Kevin Pietersen (his middle name is Peter as a matter of fact)..."

Thanks udosuk for correct spelling. I tried the Wikipedia search engine but not knowing the correct way to spell his name it didn't help me after I typed in my incorrect version.

You're right about not being able to predict what might have been if a batsman gets a "let-off" from a dropped catch or gets a "poor" decision by an umpire. Who knows, if Kasprowicz had been given "not out" he could then have been cleaned bowled next ball and the next batsman also cleaned bowled. Yes it is all speculation.

We certainly need rain which seems the only way the Victorian bushfires can be put out.

Cec

[Hud]

I kinda thought the Suns would play well last night in Orlando (Magic). Orlando is Amare Stoudemire's home town, and he was highly motivated to play well in front of his friends. That's the kind of game I would like the Suns to continue to play. A little defense, and not so many 3s. Right now, our Suns and Rockets have identical records, and are very near the top in their divisions. A lot will be determined when the Suns play their main rivals in the West.

The return to the leather ball is making big news here. All of a sudden, many players are liking the old ball. The whole thing wasn't handled very well by league management.

[udosuk]

The Rockets, without T-Mac, got totally manhandled by Kobe & the Lakers in the first 3 quarter tonight, and was trailing by 27 pts with 9 minutes remaining... Then, with Yao Ming on the bench, their reserves outplayed the Lakers' starters with a 26-1 run, and trailed by just 2 with 1 minute to go (and they were 2/8 from FT during the run, otherwise they would have been leading by 4)... And then Yao Ming came back out and the Lakers finished with an 8-2 run to win by 8 pts at the end... I think Van Gundy is to blame here... He should have stuck to the reserves...

So right now the Suns have the better record... If they can win the game in Miami tomorrow, I don't see them losing another game until they visit Dallas on Dec 28th, by the time their winning streak would be standing at 18...

So far the Rockets haven't shown any ability to beat the elite teams of the league, and until both T-Mac and Bonzi get to 100% health I don't see they can get far in the playoffs...

Regarding the leather/synthetic ball issue, they say David Stern only decided to convert back to the old balls when there are reports of many players having their fingers cut by the new balls... In other words, the change have nothing to do with the players feeling the new balls being sticky/hard to control...

[Hud]

I was watching a sports show on ESPN during commercials of the shows I normally watch last night. The Rockets were getting creamed and all of a sudden they were down 4 (at the time). I didn't see them cut the lead to 2, but it had to be exciting. I think losing Lamar Odom for a month or so will hurt the Lakers, especially when they play the Suns. The Suns/Heat game should also be a good one, but some sports guys are looking past the Heat. The Heat is favored by 2 points. I suppose it's the homecourt advantage. I still can't figure out the Utah Jazz. Jerry Sloan must be a terrific coach to always have his teams near the top each year. Most players don't like playing in Salt Lake City due to lifestyle and lack of night life there. On one of ESPN's shows, Greg Anthony was belittling the Suns as far as going far in the playoffs. He claims that teams can adjust easily to the Suns' style of play. I believe if they could adjust that easily, they would do it during the regular season. I never have like Greg Anthony but he's articulate, and that seems to give him credibility. He was involved in one of the only brawls involving the Suns years ago. He was quite brave in that he sucker punched Kevin Johnson from behind during that. I suppose he's still suckerpunching lol. Charles Barkley also said the same thing last season, and he was proved wrong. Anthony gushed about how great the Lakers are and how far they'll go in the playoffs. Maybe he's playing to a larger viewer base. Sorry to ramble.

I have a couple additions: Daisuke is reported to be ready to sign with the BoSox. I heard $11million bandied, but I'll stick with my $12million prediction. Wade is supposed to miss tonight's game due to having 2 wisdom teeth removed. I still have all mine for some reason lol. I hope the Suns don't kick back and let this game get away.

[udosuk]

The Suns are playing incredible free-flowing basketball with an almost 100% healthy lineup against a bunch of non-elite teams, some of them with their major stars injured or absent... Which makes it hard to justify that they're the best team in the NBA merely from their current winning streak... They will have plenty of opportunities to shut up the critics when they hit the tougher part of their schedule early next year... And I think ultimately they need to win at least a Western Conference Championship to prove their style works in the playoffs...

I don't think Daisuke should sign with BoSox with anything less than $12M...

[Hud]

I was just marveling that the Suns are 100% healthy and that's unusual for the NBA. Kobe got a scare last night against the Mavs when he fell on his arm in the last quarter. I haven't heard whether it stiffened up on him overnight. I sensed that the Suns would let down against a handicapped team and it happened. According to the paper, it was mostly when D'Antoni tried to get more playing time out of the bench, notably Banks and Rose. Banks seems to be a disappointment thus far, but maybe he's having a hard time adjusting? I also look forward to the Suns playing the elite teams in the west. I figure they'll beat em at home and lose away. I saw some replays last night that would have impressed you. The Suns spaced themselves around the court and made passes that went to all 5 players. They eventually hit the "open man" for a dunk without ever letting the ball hit the floor.

The Rockets/ Lakers game should be a good one. The Lakers record sans Odom is pretty dismal. It's something like 3 wins/18 losses.

I was very surprised to see that Daisuke reportedly signed for well under the $12 million we figured. Maybe the contract contains performance related incentives. I think the $51m fee took a chunk out of what the BoSox wanted to pay him, but I don't know.

[udosuk]

Hud,

More heartbreak for the Rockets... Yao got 38 pts and 17 rebs and had a 4-pt lead with 30 secs left... Then Battier commited a silly foul and gave the Warriors player (forgot his name) a 3-pt play and after a close miss by Yao, Baron Davis hit a long three to win it... I think there is a curse that whenever T-Mac doesn't play they won't win, same as the Laker's situation with Odom... It'd be interesting when the Rockets play the Lakers a few days later...

In Daisuke's case (the BoSox fans are already giving him nicknames, such as D-Mat/Dice-K), he got a 6-year contract worth almost $60M, I think it's fair enough... Originally I thought he was signed only for 3 years or so, in which case he should have gotten more on average... But there's absolutely no guarantee that his arm would last for 6 years...

BTW, I just learned that he married a sportcaster 5 years older than him... Who is famous in Japan with her um, figures and has a nickname called "Rockets" ... If there is ever a Hollywood remake of this relationship I think Matt Damon will play Daisuke and Pamela Anderson will play his wife...


Cec,

Hope you're enjoying the 3rd test... The Aussies ran through the English batsmen before Steve Harmison and Monty Panesar (10th & 11th) torched Warnie & co. for 40 runs... And then Justin Langer, playing in front of his home crowd, got bowled first ball... What a match...

I think if the English selectors had been smart enough to pick Monty from the start the situation would have been completely different from now...

[Cec]

Udosuk, I agree with you that the English selectors erred by omitting Monty Panesar from the first two Tests - he bowled well today and his batting with Steve Harmison for the last wicket partnership of 40 runs was also excellent.

I'm amazed that Wayne's verbal sledging of batsmen at the crease, particularly when he was clearly trying to annoy Collingwood, is not pulled up by the umpires. I don't not what the rules are about sledging but it hardly seems to be in the spirit of sportsmanship.

Andrew Strauss, who was batting quite well, received a poor caught behind decision from the umpire as replays showed his bat made no contact with the ball. 40 degree heat (104C) is forcast for Sunday.

Cec

[Hud]

The Suns held off the Warriors tonight and it was reportedly a very good game. I wouldn't have watched it, but it also was on a station I don't have access to. The Rockets are on now, and I'm impressed with the way they play. Their defense is very good but Kobe still gets his points. Yao looks 100% better than the last time I saw him. He's much more aggressive around the hoop, but still has the nice soft shot from around 10 or 12 feet out. Bonzi is also getting more in tune with the Rockets and the announcers said that if he ever gets totally acclimated, the Rockets will be the class of the west.

Bro-in-law going bad very fast. I don't know if we'll go east for a service or not. I'd drive since I don't fancy flying and hate renting cars. What do I have a four wheel drive truck for anyway?

[udosuk]

Hud,
Sad to know about your brother-in-law... Hope his family can get past the winter through the sorrow...

The Rockets have lost 3 in a row with T-Mac out (if he had played I wonder if Kobe would have gotten 53 pts, but then again Odom wasn't there)... I hope they can deal with this slump as a period to develop the rest of the lineup (for their 3-pt shooters to get more responsibilities, for Bonzi to mix with the team better, and for Yao to get more experience as the dominant big man)... I have no problem with them getting the #8 seed in the West, but getting a 100% healthy lineup featuring T-Mac, Bonzi, Battier & Yao against whoever finishes as the #1 seed...

The Suns visit the Kings tonight... Could be another interesting game, but I expect the Suns to roll on...

PS: A brawl in Madison Square Garden tonight... Some unexpected exciting actions in the game when the Nuggets were leading the Knicks by 20 with a minute left...

Cec,
I hope you watched the Aussie's magnificent batting display yesterday... A pity Gilly missed out on the world record for the fastest century by 1 ball...

[Hud]

The Suns are looking like the Lakers looked last night. The Lakers had the homecourt fans to help them snap out of it. We'll see if the Suns show up in the 2d half.

Too bad about the Rockets last night. I didn't know who had won and it wasn't in my early morning paper this AM.

Right now Nash is the #3 guard in allstar game voting behind Kobe and Tmac. Marion is #7 at forward. If he keeps trying to shoot 3s he'll slip to 13th.

I wonder how AI and Melo would coexist?

[udosuk]

The Suns did roll on... And the next big challenge was to be in Denver on Wednesday, but now with most of the Nuggets starters sure to be suspended it should be another easy cake for them... What luck!

Melo is in big big trouble right now... In addition to the certain 5+ games suspension he'll serve, it could affect his chances of being voted in the All-Star game in Las Vegas (hard to believe but he has never been an All-Star so far)... Also, it could affect Iverson's willingness to sign with the Nuggets... All these for a stupid sucker-punch...

And they said George Karl left all his starters in the game with a 20-pt lead was because of his grudges toward Isiah Thomas's treatment of Larry Brown last season... But from the fans' prospective I suppose we would like to see the stars play more, even in the "garbage time"... And they said Isiah specifically ordered his players to foul hard on the Nuggets whenever they went to the paint... I really don't want to believe he is such a coach...

[udosuk]

NBA:
Finally, the Rockets won without T-Mac... But only just...

On the other hand, Gilbert Arenas ripped out 60 pts and upstaged Kobe's 45 pts in LA... It seems these days every team except the Rockets can beat the Lakers...

Cricket:
The Aussies finally regain the Ashes, hope the Poms enjoyed the 15 months while it was theirs... Cec, although the series is not alive anymore, hopefully you'll still be able to witness Shane Warne's 700th wicket in the MCG...

[Cec]

".....Cec,
I hope you watched the Aussie's magnificent batting display yesterday... A pity Gilly missed out on the world record for the fastest century by 1 ball...

Unfortunately, other matters prevented me watching Gilchrist's innings live but I watched the highlights next day and it certainly was awesome. Opposition cricket countries are unanimous in saying when "Gily" gets in this mood it is virtually impossible to bowl to him. Yes, he did just miss out on Viv Richards fastest century but I'm wondering whether Gily's last fifty runs from only 17 balls isn't the fastest half-century in Test cricket history.

It's disappointing the Ashes Series has already been decided though the Melbourne and Sydney Tests will give England the chance to try to even up the series somewhat.

Cec