overeducated and underemployed

holla back, clipper nation

I know you're out there.

Honestly, it's just a matter of time before the nation is swept up by Clipper spirit. Kobe who?

breaking news from clipper country

I hate to mention it, because basketball has been going so poorly for me lately, but the Clippers are looking good. And if this article from The Sports Guy doesn't get you psyched for their first trip to the playoffs in ten years, you're a coldhearted bastard. Or a Lakers fan. Read and understand:

See, it's the little things with Sam. We always hear the whole "This guy's a winner, he's teaching them to win" refrain with sports, but I watched it actually happen with Sam and the Clippers -- little by little, game by game, week by week, month by month. Baby steps. Almost like watching my little daughter. From the first game in Seattle, Sam made this team his own, scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter, including a couple of dagger threes, followed by Sam skipping around the court doing his "I have giant testicles!" dance, then screaming in the postgame interview, "I told you! I told you this was a different team! This ain't the same old Clippers anymore!"

You've got to believe Sam on this one. Clearly, he's from another, more enlightened planet.

yes, there's still more college basketball

And I venture to say it'll be far more interesting than last night's blowout led by the amazing but eminently despisable Joakim Noah. Truly, never has one person offered the public so many different ways to hate them. Not even my favorite poet, JJ Redick. But I digress...

Tonight? Duke vs. Maryland in an all-ACC title? A possible first championship for Coach G and the Duke women's program? Girls even taller than Tyra's top models? I'm there. And unless you're a horrible sexist, you will be too. Just kidding. Mostly.

first the heels, now the huskies?

I think these guys are my heroes.

this sixteen ain't so sweet

Really Duke? Again? Like that? Really?

it's like christmas morning

Happy March Madness, everyone! Here's hoping that the combination tv/radio/lantern/truly horrible sounding alarm that CAA gave out for christmas a few years back can tune in CBS at my office...

watch your back, mike smith

There's a new ridiculous announcer in town, and his name is Dick Buttons. As an NBC Olympic skating announcer, Buttons is so full of inane remarks and overemotional diatribes, he's made even ice-dancing watchable. You see, he wants to see the relationship between the skaters. He wants them to ooze romance and latin flavor. If they can't be technically sound, he's happy with them being pleasing. Indeed, he finds a lot of things pleasing, some things exceedingly so. He likes old-fashioned split jumps, and finds them elegant. He dislikes new-fangled positions that earn points but are "ugly". He's tired of girls lifting their skate blades to their heads. I have a sneaking suspicion he wants to pat Kimmie Meissner on the head and take her out for ice cream, because she's got so much darned pluck.

Please, do yourselves a favor and watch the women's long program on Thursday. It'll be good for a few spills, and of course the crowning of a new gold medalist, but mostly, for the mindless ruminations of Dick Buttons.

i'd be remiss if i didn't...

Go to hell Carolina, go to hell!

it isn't the refs, it's you

Is anyone else tired of every sporting event ending with cries of foul play? As far as I can tell, the only really egregious call in yesterday's Super Bowl game was the Hasselbeck tackle on the interception return. The rest were entirely debatable and subjective. And actually, let me rephrase that to apply universally to sports... At least 50% of all calls in all games are debatable and subjective, giving every team that loses a bevy of excuses for it. But whatever happened to accountability? It should come as no surprise to these coaches and athletes that officials are human, that they will make mistakes, and that they are, at times, a necessary evil in the game. Shouldn't they then play well enough to win regardless? Maybe don't throw an 8 yard pass in the middle of the field with a minute left when you're down 2 scores? Try not to get picked off, or drop catch after catch? 

Instant replay, the ability to overturn bad calls...these should be things that make the game better, cleaner. Instead, they're making us a nation of whiners, and I call shenanigans. Suck it up, America.

[ed. note: and, yes, I confess to being a Duke fan. And I am sure many will therefore find this hilariously ironic.ha, ha.]

my thoughts on "the game" from an entirely non-sporting perspective

So...USC v. Texas. Heard anything about it? (ha!)

- I don't love USC, but I really dislike UCLA. Rah Trojans!

- And yet, everyone here is just handing them the victory, making the Longhorns underdogs. Yay for underdogs!

- I love California. Blue state vs. red state, I'm going to have to go with SC.

- Though they have already won 2. Do they really need more? Why not let someone else have some fun?

- When people tell me not to mess with Texas, it makes me want to. Mess with Texas.

- Though honestly, how funny will the meltdown-prone LA Times sports section be if the Trojans lose...

It's a stalemate. I guess I am going to lamely cheer for good play all around unless someone can convince me otherwise. On similarly compelling grounds as the ones above, please.