The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Cec]

Cec, I can understand your system, which is also used in the Australian women's basketball and netball leagues, plus in the Olympics softball... I wonder why it seems only women sports pick up that system?

Perhaps the women also recognize it is a better system... I forgot to mention that the former Victorian Football League (VFL) also used this same finals system when only twelve teams were competing.

Cec

[Hud]

I guess the speculators were wrong about D'Antoni resting the starters a little. It was a hard fought game and the players said it was fun. The most telling stat was the second chance points that the Rockets got. Nice to see Yao have a strong game against the Suns. Tmac always seems to do ok vs us. I think the Suns will play hard against the Clippers just to try to get the 62 wins and also to go into the playoffs on a positive note. It's funny that some teams are finished and others have 2 games remaining.

All the news here is about the shootings at Virginia Tech. I think when humans got their super intelligence, they weren't totally ready to use it. There seem to be more glitches in us than in the rest of the animal world. At least we're the only animals who play team sports for fun lol.

[udosuk]

It's funny that some teams are finished and others have 2 games remaining.

According to the schedule I read 28 teams will play on the last day (tomorrow). The remaining 2 teams will play their last regular season games on the day before (that's today). Well I suppose when these 2 teams finish their regular season a few other teams would not have completed their 2nd last games. But the results of these 2 teams won't have any effect on any potential playoffs spots contested right now, so I guess it's alright.

I was going to talk about the VT shootings, but I wonder would it be too disturbing. But as you've brought it up... According to the reports the shooter was a 23-year-old student and the motive could be relationship problems. It's just scary how a student can acquire that much firearm power and hide it in his dorm room. Apparently it's planned weeks ahead. Some media have made a big deal about the shooter's Korean descent, but I just don't see too much relevance there...

Also, they said after the 1st shooting (of two deaths) early in the morning in the dormitory (about 7am), the school didn't cancel the classes right away, which could have avoided the massacre in the classrooms 2 hours later. I suppose the victims' family must be furious about that decision?

[Hud]

I don't think anyone here feels that Cho? being Korean has any bearing on this. He was a loner and had written such disturbing essays that he was referred to counseling at the university. I don't think the university should have been closed down when the incident appeared to be over. There will be too much second guessing here and in our culture, it's always nice to blame (or sue) someone for everything. Sorry to digress, but in this case I suppose it's ok.

I think the home court gives a distinct advantage in the Rockets/Jazz series.

I just heard that Joey Crawford has been suspended for the remainder of the season. Sounds like a good move to me. I don't think referees should ever be recognizable by name.

[udosuk]

About the VT shootings, from the news stories I read 3 issues stemmed from it:

1. The potential confrontation/discrimination issue between the Korean community and other communities in America, which I think is totally unwarranted, and hopefully will not come up.

2. Whether it's an appropriate action for educational institutes to immediately shut down when there is a murder case inside the campus, especially when the suspected killer is at large.

3. Whether civilians should be banned from obtaining guns privately.

Apparently you don't think (1) is possible, and disagree on (2). And I suspect you'd disagree on (3) also. So that'd put us on totally opposite sides on all 3 issues (I think (1) is defintely possible, but would be glad to be wrong).

Okay, enough about depressing events. As for Joey Crawford, read a bit about him on wiki. Apparently he is (was?) one of the best referee in the league, and has ruled more NBA Finals games than anyone else. Well, looks like he has blown his last whistle in the NBA...

The Suns once again played their best guys, and once again they lost to a determined Clippers team. (It was their final regular season game too.) The Mavs really gave the game to the Warriors. Perhaps Avery wants to crush the Warriors in the 1st round so as to prove to everybody that he's not afraid of any team...

With 1 day to go in the regular season, the 2,5,6,7,8 seeds in the East and the 7,8 seeds in the West still haven't been decided. The Bulls will win the #2 seed if they beat the Nets, which can be a potential 1st round matchup. There're 2 other 1st round previews tomorrow too, Nuggets vs Spurs and you-know-who vs you-know-who...

[Hud]

I hated to see the Suns lose the game last night for several reasons: I wanted to enter the playoffs with a positive attitude and I wanted to see the Warriors play the Mavs in round 1. I suppose there's still a good chance of that happening.

I think the Suns/Hawks draft pick situation is after the lottery, if the pick isn't in the top 3, the Suns will get it. The ideal scenario obviously is for the pick to end up #4.

The ball game last night was quite an experience. The seats were about 11 rows up from the field between the third base dugout and the backstop. The seats were valued at $110 each and beers were $10 each. In line with my newfound "you only go around once" philosophy, I bought 2 each for my daughter and myself. My wife is a "cheap date" and brought her own bottled water and peanuts. Our starting pitcher, Owings, had a shaky start, but seemed to settle down. He seemed very shaky with runners on base and the Dodgers have plenty team speed. Owings drove in the first run with a sac fly and later hit a very hard line drive single. He pulled a thigh muscle or hammie while going from first to third on a single, and had to leave the game. The D-backs looked terrific on defense, but made on baserunning error imo. Their leadoff batter, Quentin (I think), hit a leadoff double and the next batter,Jackson, hit a double down the right field line. I couldn't believe it when Quentin was on third base when the play was over. I suppose he had perched on second base intending to tag up if the ball was caught. My daughter introduced us to the CFO of the D-backs whom she started out working with at Arthur Anderson about 25 years ago. We were right behind the owners of the team, and my daughter spotted Alice Cooper (man) the old rock star who lives here now. Sorry to bore you with all this, but I don't get out much lol.

You have me pegged re: gun ownership, but I think assault weapons should be banned. The NRA refuses to give an inch on this and caused them and me to part ways long ago. I'm just thankful that the shootings weren't terrorist related or committed by a Muslim. I think the country fells similarly. I see absolutely no backlash toward the Korean or Asian Communities.

[udosuk]

Thanks for the baseball game recap... It's not boring at all, and I'm sure you've enjoy every bit of it (except the result )...

I'm checking the NBA scoreboard right now... The Bulls-Nets game is really critical on the East seedings... I'm sure Lebron is watching on TV right now, rooting like crazy for the Nets...

(Edited: the Nets did upset the Bulls, and are propelled to #6 to face the Raptors... And the Bulls are down to #5, will face the Heat in a tough series... I think we'll get to see the FT battle between Big Ben & Shaq again... And btw, we got our wish: Mavs-Warriors & Suns-Lakers... )

The news report said that Cho Seung-Hui, the VT shooter sent a pack of video/photos to a TV network. I'm sure that must be pretty stirring to watch...

[Hud]

At last, the matchups are complete:
Mavs-------------------------------Pistons
Warriors---------------------------Magic

Jazz--------------------------------Heat
Houston---------------------------Bulls

Suns-------------------------------Cavs
LALa-------------------------------Wizards

Spurs------------------------------Raptors
Nuggets---------------------------Nets

I like: Mavs, Rockets, Suns,Spurs
Pistons, Bulls, Cavs, Raptors

I heard an interesting interview on radio awhile ago. It was with Carrol Dawson (it sounded like that) who is GM of the Rockets. It was on "The Jim Rome Show" and it's probably on the net? He said that when he went to China to talk with Yao, Yao was practicing and doing very well. When the practice was over, Dawson asked permission to speak with Yao and it was granted. He took an interpretor down onto the court and before he could say anything Yao greeted him by name and never did need an interpretor. Dawson said that Yao spoke better English than he did since he was from Texas. Yao told him that he learned most of his moves by watching Alagowan (sorry). Dawson is retiring at the end of the season.

I really wish the Cho manifesto hadn't ever been aired. I know it will inspire some wacko to try to top him. I really wish the authorities could keep perpetrators completely anonymous but realize that can't be done.

[udosuk]

Let's digress to the MLB a bit...

I can't believe Rivera blew it twice in a row... This time got torched by the BoSox for 5 runs with a 4-run lead in the 8th... I said the Yanks prefer these losses early in the regular season rather than in the postseason but if they miss out on a playoff spot by 1 or 2 games then they'd surely be looking back to these 2 games...

And we never get to talk about the no-hitter pitched by Mark Buehrle (?) of the ChiSox... The impressive thing is he only allowed one walk (to Sammy Sosa, whom he picked off on 1st base) and retired the other 26 batters, so it's almost a perfect game... And they said it's the only no-hitter in the history that another player (Jermaine Dye) hit a grand slam and a 3rd player (Jim Thome) hit 2 or more homers. And the pattern they hit those homers is quite nice too: Thome hit a solo shot in the 3rd, then Dye hit the slam in the 5th (with Thome on 2nd base), and Thome hit another solo shot in the 7th, resulting in a 6-0 win... And Sosa was walked with 1 out in the 5th, exactly halfway of the game (so Buehrle retired the first 13 batters, gave up a walk, picked off the runner, and then retired the next 13 batters to finish off)... Very nice symmetry there...

It seems the D-backs have cooled off a little bit after that hot start... But I'm sure they'd be a contender this season, when they have RJ back to join Brandon Webb & Livan Hernandez in the rotation...

A bit about the NBA, it seems many "experts" predict the Nets to upset the Raptors, but I guess poetic justice would have the other way around for what Vince Carter did to Toronto fans... Also, it'd be nice to see Grant Hill & Darko Milicic play well against Detroit, but unless something drastic happens, it'll be a short series...

[Cec]

For cricket enthusiasts I happened to come across the following batting phenomenon which I found interesting.

Cec

[udosuk]

Thanks Cec, interesting story... It's amazing the record remained unbroken for over 100 years... Perhaps with a limit of days most team will declare when the score is out of reach for the other team, but still I recalled reading about some Sri Lankans or Indians first class team batted for 1000 runs, and that school team only totalled 836 runs in the innings...

A bit more about cricket... It's a shame Brian Lara, another person who had scored 500+ runs in an innings, went out cheaply in his last match from a running gaffe with his partner, Marlon Samuels... It's an exciting contest, though, and should give the disappointed England fans something to cheer about...

[Hud]

OK, most of the first round, first games are finished and the only surprise (to me) so far was the Raptors getting beaten by the Nets. I was surprised that most of the games were closer than I thought they'd be. We had company over for youngest grandson's birthday today and I ended up watching all of the Suns game. I got a bit worked up but they took care of business at the end. Early on, I was getting a little upset. I can't believe how fast Barbosa is and he even hit some 3s. I don't recall Bell or Jones making any 3s. The Wiz hung in there for quite awhile against the Cavs, but faded near the end.

The D-backs are fading and I suppose this will be a developing year for the young players. They are a little bit fun to watch, but I wish they had a little more power.

[Cec]

"Thanks Cec, interesting story... but still I recalled reading about some Sri Lankans or Indians first class team batted for 1000 runs, and that school team only totalled 836 runs in the innings..."

Thanks udosuk for replying. I too can recall the 1000 runs (or thereabouts) you mention and I think this was the highest Test innings total. I can also recall a higher first class innings (I think 1107 runs) by a State team but I don't know how to confirm this... perhaps you may know a way?

Yes, Brian Lara's early dismissal in his last match was a pity as you say for such a great batsman but this seems to happen, probably because of the emotional state of knowing the're playing their last innings...Bradman made his famous "duck" in his last Test innings when needing only four runs to achieve the magical Test batting average of exactly 100 runs.

Here's hoping Australia can carry its good form into the "cut-throat" finals where, as I have said before, one bad day can put you out of the contest. South Africa will be a difficult opponent as will New Zealand and Sri Lanka depending which team wins that semi-final. Pity these games are on so late at night.

Cec

[udosuk]

I too can recall the 1000 runs (or thereabouts) you mention and I think this was the highest Test innings total. I can also recall a higher first class innings (I think 1107 runs) by a State team but I don't know how to confirm this... perhaps you may know a way?

Cec, here are 2 links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Test_cricket_records#Most_runs_in_an_innings

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_first-class_cricket_records#Highest_totals

I think these figures are correct but http://www.cricinfo.com is probably a more reliable source...

Hud,
Both 6th seeds upset the 3rd seeds, and at the moment of my typing the Warriors have the upper hand on the Mavs... I think both #2 seeds (Cavs & Suns) are in the easiest positions in the 1st round... The Suns potentially don't need to face the Spurs or the Mavs en route to the Final...

[Hud]

Wow, what a bad day for Texas. I almost picked the Nuggets and thought the Warriors would play the Mavs tough. The Warriors played a VERY physical game and made the Mavs pay when they tried to go to the bucket. Mark Cuban looked like he got stabbed near the end of the game. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy lol. I didn't realize that Don Nelson's son is still in the Mavs Organization.

I forgot to mention that it was good seeing Yao without the leg brace.