Money Well Spent

Long time readers know that I don't really "do" political here very often, mostly because I like writing about other stuff, and there are a ton of people who do the political thing much better than I do. But I just read the text of Governor Jindal's response to President Obama's speech, and a few things stood out, both from this paragraph:

But Democratic leaders in Congress rejected this approach. Instead of trusting us to make wise decisions with our own money, they passed the largest government spending bill in history - with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest. While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a ‘magnetic levitation’ line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called ‘volcano monitoring.’ Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, DC.

First, high speed rail is actually a really good idea. About five years ago, I worked on a project around Des Moines, and drove back and forth once a week for five straight weeks. I did that because flying was kind of a pain. Driving took five hours, door to door. Flying took nearly as long, and I only live a half hour from O'Hare. But I had to leave about two hours before my flight, the flight was around an hour, and it took a half hour to get to the hotel, which was near the city center. A high speed rail line going from Chicago to Des Moines would have actually gotten me there quicker, all things considered, and been a heck of a lot cheaper. I'll freely admit that the car provided other advantages, like being on my own schedule, not needing to rent in Des Moines, and being able to stop in Cedar Rapids to catch the Kernels. But a network that linked Des Moines, Chicago, St. Louis, Springfield, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, and parts east would be really useful. And I'm not sure why they demagogue Vegas to LA. Maybe the Republicans in congress don't know this, but there are a lot of people in LA. I mean a whole lot. And a lot of them like to go to Vegas. There's a very large segment of the population that a line between those two cities would serve.  

Second, seeing as how governments need cars for all sorts of reasons, and seeing as how most government units tend to buy their cars in fleets from American auto companies, companies who are in a bit of trouble if you haven't heard, that actually seems like a good thing to spend money on. 

Finally, Volcano monitoring? Are they serious? The western United States kinda has a lot of Volcanoes. There's a whole range of them called the Cascades. One of them is pretty close to Seattle, a metro area of about 3.25 million people. Another has been in the news a lot lately, near Anchorage, a metro area of about 275,000 people. That's about three and a half million people potentially in the path of Volcanoes.  This is the result of some quick googling via wikipedia:

Mount Rainier is an ACTIVE^[7] stratovolcano

 According to Geoff Clayton, a geologist with RH2, a repeat of the Osceola mudflow would destroy Enumclaw, Kent, Auburn, and most or all of Renton.^[13] Such a mudflow might also reach down the Duwamish estuary and destroy parts of downtown Seattle, and cause tsunamis in Puget Sound and Lake Washington. According to USGS, about 150,000 people live on top of old lahar deposits of Rainier.^[7] Rainier is also capable of producing pyroclastic flows as well as lava.

That seems like kind of a big deal.  A quick back of the envelope calculation tells me that's well over 800 times the number of soldiers we've lost in Iraq, and over 1,000 times the number of people we lost on 9/11. The stimulus bill contains $140 million dollars to monitor and study those volcanoes. Considering we've spent about $600 billion on "Iraq monitoring" a country that hadn't killed any Americans before we invaded, $140 million seems like a small price to pay to monitor volcanoes that potentially threaten 3.5 million people. Honestly, if those are the three most "pork laden" proposals they could find in the bill, it's probably a bill that doesn't contain much pork. 

And what's with the "something called Volcano monitoring" crap? Umm, yeah, that's what it's called. Do these guys go around talking about "something called neurosurgery" or "something called the auto industry". I mean, it's not like it's some sort of Orwellian doublespeak for a project they're trying to keep secret. It's "something called" volcano monitoring because it consists of monitoring volcanoes. It's not to hard to understand.

I can only conclude that Republicans are either really, really stupid, or they think you are really, really stupid.

UCLA regroups and beats Washington

I missed the first half of this one. I was on a plane heading to L.A. for part, and was waiting for In-N-Out on the way home for part. But I was mostly impressed with the Bruins in the second half, despite some minor brain cramps.

The Bruins have, at times this year, shown either an inability or an unwillingness to fight through tough times. Twice in the second half they let Washington make runs to either tie the game, or come very close. Both times they regrouped, got baskets, and extended their lead. They haven't responded to a test like that in a while, alternating frustrating losses with blowout wins. They needed a game like this.

All five starters finished in double figures. But special recognition has to go to Alfred Aboya, who scored 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 1 hole in his arm for an IV after the game. He was apparently still suffering from the flu, but played like a warrior. His big 17 foot jumper down the stretch was a huge basket that helped seal the victory. Josh Shipp added 20 points, giving him 45 in two games against the Huskies. Jrue Holliday showed signs of breaking out of his slump with 10 points. The Bruins stayed hot from long range, making 8-17 three pointers.

Nice win for the Bruins that should lead them into Saturday's tilt with WSU. I'll have to record that one, since I'll be riding in a car in the Temple City Camellia parade (my mom is in charge of it this year).

New Concept in UCLA Blogging

I'm going to put as much effort into writing about yesterday's game against Arizona as UCLA put into playing it.

Post over.

Why even show up?

Once again, the Pac 10 officials embarrass themselves. If I was as incompetent as the pricks who called the UCLA-ASU game tonight and still cashed a paycheck, I'd be arrested for stealing. Why not just give James Harden a whistle and let him call the game?

First half, Harden gets the ball in the lane, makes a move passes the ball to the wing, stays in the lane...

and stays there...

and stays there...

and stays there...

Five seconds later (confirmed via replay) he gets the ball back and scores. Apparently three seconds isn't a rule for the home team in Tempe.

In the second half, Harden gets the ball at the top of the key, throws down Jrue Holliday, barrels over Alfred Aboya, who was set and motionless for at least a half second. No foul up top, no charge, and the Devils get an easy basket after Harden dishes off, primarily because the guy who would have defended the shot was laying on the ground after having been run over.

And the play at the end was so awful that it almost defies description. In the first half, Aboya was called for an offensive foul on a screen when he leaned about five inches to pick Harden, and a Michael Roll 3-pointer was called off. At the end of the game, Darren Collison drove, laid the ball up as he ran into Jeff Pendergraph, who leaned about a foot and a half into Collison's path. Offensive foul. No basket. A five point swing, and that was the game.

Makes you wish they had just stayed home. Why risk the injury? Why risk Collison's health coming off the flu? Maybe the Pac 10 can just let everyone know when they've decided a game's outcome beforehand and save us all a lot of time. I could have spent the evening watching Illinois' thrilling comeback and last second victory over Northwestern (nice job, Trent and McCamey!).

Pac 10 refs have, for the last five or six years at least, been a complete embarrassment to the game, the conference, and themselves. They ought to be ashamed.

Good Weekend

In the span of about 30 hours, give or take:

• UCLA destroyed Notre Dame 89-63
• UC Riverside held home court on UC Davis 58-53, getting back to .500 in conference
• Illinois manhandled Purdue (albeit without Robbie Hummel) 66-48
• The Kings went on a 10 minute blitz that took care of the New Jersey Devils, 3-1
• And the Lakers went into Cleveland and showed the Cavs that the best are in the West with a 101-91 victory

UCLA

UCLA has been absolutely rolling since dropping a tough road game in Seattle (which I didn't see, for various reasons).  Since that game they've beat Berkeley, Stanford, U$C, and Notre Dame by an average of over 20 points per game, and none by fewer than 16 points.  In that stretch, seven different players have scored in double figures, and all but Jerime Anderson have done it multiple times.  That's what you call offensive depth.  They made over 50% of their shots in three of those games (over 60% against Stanford), and have made almost 50% of their three pointers (27/55).  Suddenly there are a lot fewer people complaining that Ben Howland can't coach offense.

This really looks like the Best offensive team the Bruins have had in the Howland era.  They have four starters who can shoot from long range with well above average efficiency.  They can't just make threes, they're legitimate three point threats every time down the floor.  The fifth, Alfred Aboya, has developed a mid-range game seemingly out of nowhere, and now he's a guy that opposing defenses really need to pay attention to.  He dropped 19 on ND, making 9 of his 12 shots.  

The best thing about the blowouts is that the freshmen have been able to get a lot of game minutes.  The trio of Malcolm Lee, Anderson, and Drew Gordon averaged about 12 minutes per game each over that stretch, and looked good doing it.  That sort of experience will be important in March.  If you go back to November, the conventional wisdom was that this team would not hit its stride until about this time, having dealt with the loss of three NBAers and integrating five freshmen into the rotation.  That's happening now, and the Bruins look as good as they've ever looked.  They have a go to player in Collison, but the best part about the way this team is playing now is that any player should be able to hit a shot in crunch time.  They didn't show that against ASU, but the team that's played the last two weeks in no way resembles the team that couldn't find the basket with a map and compass a few weeks ago.  

Illinois

Up and down lately.  Home and road.  Jekyll and Hyde.  But today against Purdue, they led wire to wire against a pretty good team and completed the season sweep.  During their rough spots on the road, the Illini have really had trouble executing their offense.  This is a team that gets a ton of baskets directly by way of the assist.  At last check they led the nation in percentage of baskets on which they were credited with assists.  But against Minnesota, they just didn't move the ball at all.  The Wisconsin game was better, but they couldn't make shots.

Today they moved the ball very well, and they made their shots.  The Illini recorded 21 assists on 25 field goals, and led from wire to wire.  Purdue threatened a few times, but the Illini never let the lead get below four, and they put the Boilermakers away with a 23-9 run midway through the second quarter.  The best sight today was Trent Meacham making three of five from long range.  He's struggled lately, and they need him to produce if they're going to be successful.  They're already playing one limited threat guard, and they can't afford to play two.

Speaking of Chester Frazier, he did a marvelous job on E'Twaun Moore.  The sophomore averages 14 points per game, and Frazier held him to six points on 2/9 shooting.  On the offensive end, Mike Davis had a great game, dropping in 14 for the Illini, and Mike Tisdale's ability to hit the mid-range jumper consistently really made the Boilers pay for hedging on screens up high.  

The Illini start three sophomores, and they look like they'll be able to absorb the losses of Frazier and Meacham next season.  They're ahead of where we thought they'd be, and the future really looks bright.

Kings

Speaking of bright futures, the Kings have now won six of their last seven games.  They had only won 17 of their first 44 games, but they've gotten themselves back into the playoff hunt in the crowded Western Conference.  

You build from the net out, and the Kings had stocked the farm with goalie and defense prospects, but couldn't keep the puck out of their own net last year.  This year, the kids are paying dividends.  Jonathan Quick has been outstanding with a 2.38 GAA, and a .920 save percentage.  He's grabbed the number one job, and he doesn't look like he's going anywhere.  That's great news for Kings fans waiting on Jonathan Bernier, because if Bernier's going to get the job, he's going to have to be really outstanding.  The question is who will still be in the organization next year.  Quick's performance has started to make Bernier and Jeff Zatkoff look like very attractive trade bait.

On the defensive end, Drew Doughty has been their best blueliner all year.  But the emergence of Kyle Quincy, the tough play of Matt Greene, and the return of Jack Johnson means the Kings have two thirds of their defense of the future playing and winning right now.  

It took a while to get them going, but the offense is finally chipping in, and that's why the Kings are winning right now.  The Kings average about 2.41 goals per game over their first 44.  They've averaged four goals per game over their last seven, and have scored three or more times in all but one of those games.  The game in which they scored less than three was a 1-0 win over Ottawa.  They're young, they're fun to watch, and they're starting to win again.  This is just the beginning for the Kings.

I'm not going to write about the Lakers or UCR, but rest assured, I'm very happy with those wins.  

Finally, the inspiration for the title of this post:

The Halosphere

First, I want to thank the Rev for the kind words he threw my way on Jeff Biggs' radio show last night.  It was a nice moment for me, and a heck of a leap forward for the Halosphere in general (his whole appearance, I mean), which has really grown over the past few years.  

The community at HH has really expanded, and that's a credit not only to Mat, but to the SportsNation brand, which has created go-to communities for tons of teams, both college and pro.  Halos Heaven has become the watering hole the Angels community much the way Bruins Nation has done the same for the UCLA community.  And the great thing is that they've filled voids without disrupting other great communities.  Inside Illini is still the place for Illini fans (or the Illiniboard, depending upon what side of that divide you're on).  GoAZCats still seems to be the place to discuss Arizona Basketball.  I can't ever see a Los Angeles Kings community that will outdo LetsGoKings.com.  But Sportsnation has created a place on the web for fans of teams that didn't have that community before.  

When I jumped into the Halosphere, there weren't too many of us.  The Rev had his live journal blog.  The various Sean Smiths were doing their thing(s).  The crew at Pearly Gates were active, and Purgatory Online was still around (read his history of the Halosphere right here).  Rob was covering Angels and Dodgers, while the Chronicler was chiming in occasionally.  Every so often Matt would pitch in with an Angels post.  Everyone kind of had their own schtick, and there was a lot of cross-participation, at least via comment.  

Now the sphere has expanded, with a couple of notable retractions.  My Angels stuff is less frequent (alright, my everything is less frequent).  The Chronicler doesn't post too much anymore.  Purgatory and Pearly Gates are gone.   But Rob is still at it.  The guys at 3 Days of Cryin' update as many times in a week as I do in six months.  Both of those sites are great for up the minute news and links, with some great commentary.  Gilbert moved his stuff to Bugs and Cranks.  Chone Smith is updating frequently, as well as doing some great stuff at the Hardball Times.  The list goes on.

In some ways, I think the overall expansion of the community, especially Halos Heaven, has probably led me to dial it back a bit.  Don't get me wrong, a lot of it's due to my own laziness.  But when I was posting game recaps religiously, I used to try to look for some insight.  What could I see a game that didn't get talked about in the local papers?  A good example of this is John Lackey and his propensity for turning 0-2 counts into 3-2 counts.  It was something that always bugged me, and when a friend of mine, Nate Silver, wrote a post at Baseball Prospectus about how underrated Lackey was, it started a conversation that led to a subsequent post, showing that Lackey has nasty habit of starting guys 0-2, then walking them more often than most other pitchers.  I thought it was an interesting discussion, and it was cool to be a part of it.

The thing now is that the community is so large, there's always someone else who's seen the same thing, and probably written about it.  I don't sense I provide the same value anymore (if I ever did).  It's a great thing overall, because the larger the community gets, the more interesting the discussions can become.  More viewpoints, so long as they're valid, is never a bad thing.  And I think the Rev deserves a ton of credit for building the site up and making it a real home for Angels fans.  

Anyway, this whole post is mostly just a thought piece on where we are as a community, and my place in that community.  If you don't see as much from me, it's not because I don't have an opinion, it's probably because some has already expressed it, and judging by my traffic, the people coming here for Angels commentary have probably already read it (or will read it).  Trust me, my loss (such as it is) is definitely your gain.  I'd much prefer to chime in occasionally as I've done the last year or so than be beholden to a nightly recap, though I may still do a couple days a week at SoCal Sports Hub if asked again.  And everything I've said above holds mostly true for my UCLA stuff as well, which has definitely become less frequent.  

So I'm not announcing a major shift or anything.  This blog will remain essentially what it's been for the last year or so going forward.  No one is turning out the lights.  I'm just having more fun over at other people's sites.  

Classics

Rob already posted this, but a bunch of us got this press release from Fox Sports today.  Anyone want to burn these to DVD for me, since I live in a city that doesn't get FSN West?  Also, Chuck from Angels win noted that it's not actually 2008 anymore.

-----------

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                            

Wednesday, January 21, 2008                                                                                                                                                          

 

MONDAY NIGHT IS ANGELS NIGHT ON FOX SPORTS WEST

 

Angels “Red Monday” Classic Games Prep Angels Fans for the 2009 Season

 

 

LOS ANGELES – Beginning Tuesday, February 2, Fox Sports WEST prepares Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim fans for the upcoming 2009 MLB season with “Red Monday”. Throughout February and March, the destination for the most comprehensive local Angels coverage in Southern California invites Halo fans to tune-in Monday nights for three full hours of an Angels classic game.

 

Five classic games make up “Red Mondays” and will celebrate notable moments in Angels franchise history. The first classic game on Fox Sports WEST begins Monday, February 2 at 7PM and features the 2002 Angels in their first playoff series victory.

 

“Red Monday” programming line-up on Fox Sports WEST is as follows:

 

DATE                TIME     CLASSIC GAME                                                CLASSIC DESCRIPTION                       

Mon., Feb. 2      7PM     10/5/02 – ALDS, Gm. 4: Angels at Yankees         The Angels’ first playoff series win

                                                                                                                                                             

Mon., Feb. 9      7PM     10/13/02- ALCS, Gm. 5: Twins at Angels             The Angels score 10 runs in the 7th inning and win their first AL Pennant. Adam Kennedy hits 3 HRs to become the 5th player in postseason history to hit 3 HR’s in a single game.

                                                                                   

Mon., Feb. 23    7PM     10/26/02- World Series, Gm. 6: Giants at Angels  Facing elimination and down 5-0 in the 7th, the Angels storm back to score 3 runs in each the 7th and 8th innings to win the game and force Game 7.

 

Mon., Mar. 2      7PM     10/27/02- World Series, Gm. 7: Giants at Angels The Angels win their first MLB Championship ever. Rookie John Lackey pitches a strong game and Troy Glaus is selected World Series MVP.        

 

Mon., Mar. 30    7PM     10/10/05-ALDS, Gm. 5: Angels at Yankees         The Angels win the ALDS 3 games to 2

 

           

About Fox Sports WEST

            In addition to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Fox Sports WEST is the telecast destination for the most comprehensive coverage of the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Kings and Los Angeles Galaxy.  Together, Fox Sports WEST and sister network PRIME TICKET present more live, local sports programming than any other network or broadcast system in Southern California, Nevada and Hawaii.  For complete national and regional sports news, provocative opinions, telecast schedules and updated statistics, log-on to www.foxsports.com.  

 

-- Fox Sports WEST --

Heck of a day

It's 85 degrees outside here in L.A.  The Kings score a week's worth of goals.  The Illini run roughshod over Ohio State.  And the nation's biggest d-bag gets on a plane back to Texas, this time for good.  

It was a good day.

How do you define pathetic?

One field goal in 13 minutes is a pretty good start.  Failing to get a shot off on the final possession might do it as well.

Complete and utter meltdown.  I think we're seeing why the final four run ends this year.  No leadership in crunch time.  No one willing to take over the offense.  Three seniors on the floor, and all of them played afraid.  More about this later if I get around to caring.  

Michigan 51; Illinois 66

A week ago, the Illini had Michigan down for much of the game in Ann Arbor, but couldn't hold on in the last five minutes, and they let the Wolverines pull away.  Tonight the Illini let the Wolverines hang around for much of the evening, but used a 17-4 run in a ten minute second half stretch to blow the game open, taking the 24th ranked Michigan down for the 12th straight time in Champaign.  

He looks like he'll blow over in a strong wind, and his 7,000 calorie per day diet doesn't appear to be working just yet, but Mike Tisdale is a skilled big man, and he used an excellent shooting touch to score 24 points.  He scored the Illini's first nine points of the second half, turning a 31-30 halftime deficit into a 39-34 Illini advantage, and the Illini never trailed again.  He made 10 of his 12 shots from the field, and finished with more blocks (3) than rebounds (2).  He let Mike Davis take care of the rebounding.  Davis finished with seven boards, though only two points.

Demetri McCamey showed a bit of a 'too cool' attitude in much of the first half, but still found a way to score 15 first half points on his way to 17 for the game, to go along with 5 assists and 3 boards.  Trent Meacham once again struggled from the field against Michigan, making only 2 of 9 shots, but finished as the third Illini in double figures with 11 points.

Michigan can be a very good team, but they showed tonight that they still have some work to do.  Unlike in Ann Arbor, they didn't shoot the ball well, and made only 27% of their three pointers.  I said last week that if they shoot 40% from long range, they win, and if they shoot 30% they lose.  They made me look smart tonight.  Still, they're a tough team to play.  They take so many threes that they end up with a lot of offensive boards on long rebounds, and those can be deflating after 25-30 seconds of tough defense.  Both of these teams figure to be resting on the first day of the Big Ten tournament, and are young enough that they still have time to make big strides.

Next up for the Illini is Michigan State in East Lansing.  The Spartans didn't look great tonight against Penn State, but that was in State College, and I expect them to be ready to roll on Saturday, which is too bad, because a loss this weekend probably means another failure to break into the top 25, even though the Illini have been deserving for weeks.  Then again, an upset would really put the Illini into good position in the conference race, having already beat Purdue at Mackey.  I have a feeling that Mike Tisdale is going to get a little beat up, though.  Michigan doesn't play the physical style that the Spartans bring, and that could mean a much tougher evening for the thin big man than he saw tonight.  The Illini will have to counter with tough on-ball defense, and the athleticism of Mike Davis.  If they're going to win, I think the Illini will need a big contribution from Calvin Brock.  He's the best athlete on the team, and if he can come out and score 8-10 first half points, he could give Illinios a big lift.

Still, a 3-1 conferece start is something to be excited about, and pretty much every Illinois fan should be very encouraged by the 15 wins the Illini have put up so far.  

UCLA 64; U$C 60

U$C may play their home games there, but for now, the Galen Center is UCLA's gym.  The Bruins won there for the third time, and they have yet to drop a game in that building.  But it wasn't for lack of trying.

I thought UCLA did a poor job supporting the ball carrier.  U$C played very good defense around the basket.  UCLA penetrated the lane a number of times only to find themselves among several defenders.  That's gonna happen, and it's not the end of the world, but you need your teammates to get into position to help out in that situation, and I think the Bruins did a very good job of that tonight.  

The defense was a little hit or miss.  They allowed the Trojans to shoot almost 50% from the field.  But the Bruins really turned up the intensity down the stretch.  They held U$C to nine points over the last 10+ minutes of the game, and that was the difference.  

In the battle of top freshman, Demar Derozan scored 15 points and added 6 rebounds, compared to Jrue Holliday's 13 points.  Both shot the ball well.  Derozan made six of his eight shots, while Holliday made 5 of 9, including 3 of 4 from long range.  UCLA continues to be unaffected by the deeper three this year.  They shot 40% from the arc in tonight's game.  U$C did an excellent job containing Mike Roll.  He missed both of his three point attempts.  But Nikola Dragovic was a weapon for UCLA tonight.  He scored a career high 14 points and grabbed four rebounds.  He was only 3 for 9 from three, but he just seems to look more relaxed and confident on the floor this year, and he looks more prepared to shoot when he gets the ball.  Darren Collison was, as expected, UCLA's best player.  He finished with 18 points on 6 for 9 shooting, and added 7 assists.  

This wasn't UCLA's best effort, but the bottom line is that UCLA is now 3-0 in the Pac 10, and they have yet to play a home game.  They're in a good position to go something like 14-4, which should be good enough to once again win the conference championship.  

Indiana 46; Illinois 75

There's really not a lot to write about.  This was the true definition of a slaughter.  The Illini led by 19 points less than seven minutes into the game.  They made shot after shot after shot, and....well, let's face it folks.  Indiana is about as godawful as any team in America.  And you know what?  They deserve it.  They sold their soul to the Devil for one year of Eric Gordon.  They hired the scummiest coach since the demise of Clem Haskins, and in exchange, they got a disappointing tournament run, and probation.  

HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

Honestly, I feel kinda bad for some of the kids on the team.  It's not their fault.  But the only way that this game could have been better is if it had been played in the other Assembly Hall.  It's very nice watching Indiana totally suck this year.  

Anyway, this was never really a contest.  The Illini scored early and often.  Trent Meacham, who struggled against Michigan, lit up the Hoosiers from outside, converting seven of his nine three point attempts and finished with 21 points.  Dominique Keller, not noted as a long range gunner, made three of four three pointers and finished with 15 points of his own (which I assume is career best).  The Illini shot 51% from the field, 52% from long range, while holding Indiana below 40% shooting.

Four Illini finished the game in double figures, with Demetri McCamey and Mike Davis adding 12 point performances to the 21 and 15 poured in by Keller and Meacham.  The Illini knocked down 26 shots, and recorded assists on 17 of them.  For the season, Illinois is assisting on almost 75% of its field goals (301/415).  For reference, UCLA, with one of the country's best backcourst, is averaging an assist on just more than 50% of its field goals (220/403).  North Carolina is around 60% (308/513).  That's an impressive statistic for the Illini, and it tells me that after the last couple years of a stagnant offense, often due to the black whole that was Shawn Pruitt, the Illini are back to executing Bruce Weber's offense the way it's supposed to be executed.  Excellent ball movement.  Dribble penetration when available.  Kick it back out if you don't have a good look.  If there's a reason to be excited about Illinois basketball season this year, that's it.

The road gets tougher from here.  Michigan is in Champaign on Wednesday night.  Michigan State is up after that, followed by Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.  That's a tough stretch.  If they can win three of those games, it will be a VERY successful stretch, and will give the Illini some good early buzz, which goes a long way toward making the tournament.  

The Kings Get Interesting

It's taken a couple of years, but the Los Angeles Kings are finally putting a team on the ice that can compete every night.  What's even better is that you can see the flashes of excellence that should make them a playoff contender next year, and with luck, a cup contender in two or three years.  

The Kings largest problem since their inception as a franchise has been the inability to develop a first class goaltender.  They've had good goalies in the past, but not too many game stealers, and none of them came from the Kings' scouting and development.  Kelly Hrudey led them to a Cup final.  Rogie Vachon has his jersey retired.  Felix Potvin played arguably better than any other Kings goalie had ever played, but it was for a short period of time, and his star faded rather quickly.  They thought they had a franchise goalie in Jamie Storr, but he never fulfilled his potential.  They let future hall of famer Billy Smith get away in the expansion draft in 1972.  All he did was win four Stanley Cups on Long Island.  

And it wasn't for lack of trying.  The regime that let Smith get away was long gone, but determined to keep it from happening again, the Kings traded away future all-star defenseman Kimmo Timonen to Nashville.  In exchange, Nashville agreed to refrain from selecting Gary Galley, which allowed the Kings to protect such luminaries as Stephane Fiset, the aforementioned Jamie Storr, and Freddi Chabot.  Guess who won that deal?

But finally, it appears that the Kings have some direction in net.  A sign of competent management, they actually traded their worst goaltender to Vancouver when they dealt Jason Labarbera, who suffered through some bad luck, but never really put it together in L.A.  By the end of his run at Staples, he was average on a good night, and before he was dealt, he looked like he'd never stop another shoot-out attempt.  That has left the Kings with Erik Ersberg and rookie Jonathan Quick, who has been a revelation.  Quick's only played seven games this season, but his 1.59 goals against and .943 save percentage would easily lead the league if he qualified.  It's something to be excited about, even if that enthusiam has to be tempered by the small sample size.  He's given up ten goals in those seven games (six starts), and five came in one game against arguably the league's best team, the Detroit Red Wings.  Ersberg has been solid as well.  Through 18 games he sports a 2.38 GAA and .903 save percentage.  He plays a quiet style that instills confidence in his teammates, and he's excellent at controlling rebounds.  

The best news is that is that neither may be the Kings' real goaltender of the future.  First round draft pick Jonathan Bernier has been on fire in Manchester, where he's being backed up one of last year's top college keepers, Jeff Zatkoff, who also happens to be an ECHL all-star selection.  He put up 2.31 GAA and .931 save percentage in Ontario (the one in California).  

After this year's draft, I talked about how Dean Lombardi wants to build from the net out.  Well, there are eight defensemen in the mix for the foreseeable future (Jack Johnson, Drew Doughty, Matt Green, Kyle Quincey, Alec Martinez, Colton Tuebert, Thomas Hickey, and Slava Voinov), and four goalies (Quick, Ersberg, Bernier, and Zatkoff).  That kind of depth gives them the opportunity to trade for scoring, and to draft offense going forward.  They may only be hovering around .500 this year, but this team is building a true foundation, and it's nice to be able to watch it happen.

A New Power is Rising in the West

Well, maybe that's a little presumptuous. Don't look now, but the UC Riverside Highlanders are 2-0 and atop the Big West conference (along with Long Beach State). Not only that, but they actually have the best record in the conference when you combine conference and non-conference play, so this may not be a total fluke.

Last night they beat UC Santa Barbara 71-69, overcoming a twelve point deficit in the second half. UCSB was picked second in the conference by the media before the season started. Better yet, they've won their two conference games with diverging styles. In the conference opener, they scored 91 points against Cal Poly SLO, while last night they held UCSB to only four second half baskets. A few two many fouls led to lots of Gauchos on the free throw line, and the Highlanders survived a last second would-be game winning three pointer that came a hair too late. But 2-0 is 2-0, and hopefully a good start (they're 9-4 overall) will create a buzz on campus that brings people out to the Student Rec Center.

When I was at UCR, we were Division II, and there was virtually no interest in athletics from the general student body. I knew a few guys on the baseball team, one of whom was all over the record books by the time we graduated, but otherwise, I would have barely known that we had a baseball team. In 1995, there was finally some excitement when the basketball team rolled through the D2 tournament to reach the nationally televised championship game. I actually remember bars around campus playing that game on the radio, and people actually going to bars to listen to it. The excitement died when the Highlanders couldn't hang onto a 20+ point lead, and lost to Satan (bruce pearl) and Southern Indiana. But the University is twice the size it was when I was a student, and a positive start could help fill the place up a bit.

It's nice to have my three favorite teams playing interesting basketball this season, as opposed to one for the last couple seasons.

UCLA Wins, Illinois Loses

Illinois 64; Michigan 74

The Illini gave it a good effort, but they appeared to wear down a little bit in the end, failing to execute their offense, failing to keep Michigan from executing theirs. The overtime victory at Purdue may have taken a little too much out of them. But they got a split in their first two conference teams, both on the road against teams that will end up the Big Ten's top half. That's a tough row to hoe, but the road victory at Mackey gives them a nice leg up early.

Michigan is clearly much improved, but I thought the Illini attacked their 1-3-1 pretty well. Much better than UCLA did when they played Michigan earlier in the season. The problem came on the defensive end. Give Michigan credit for creating a lot of confusion on the Illini defensive end. That led to a lot of open looks, and Michigan knocked them down, connecting on over 40% of their three pointers. That's Beilein's offense. Michigan will win when they shoot 40% or better from three. They'll lose when they shoot 30% or worse. And they will have nights like that.

Calvin Brock was the Illini's best player, in my opinion. He's very active. He's their most athletic player. And if he shoots the ball like he did today, he can be real impact player. Tisdale and Davis were solid offensively, but Tisdale really needs to learn to defend. Despite being a perimeter oriented team, Michigan got too many easy baskets when they took the ball to the rim.

Four of their next six games are against ranked opponents, including a rematch with Michigan at the Assembly Hall in 10 days. The good news is that four of those six games are at home.

UCLA 83; Oregon 74

This one was closer than it should have been, but Oregon was fired up after a terrible performance against U$C on Friday. The crowd really gave Oregon a lift, and decent shooting kept the Bruins from pulling away and making it easy. The Bruins led the game wire to wire, but it was never comfortable.

The Bruins built their lead on impressive shooting, going 8-10 from long range in the first half. They finished a blazing 13-22, thanks mostly to Josh Shipp's unconcious 5-6. In fact, the only Bruin who shot less than 50% from the arc was Michael Roll, one of the nation's best long range gunners (he was 1-3). Nikola Dragovic took advantage of open looks to make four deep balls, and scored a career high 12 points. Darren Collison led the Bruins with 22, but did most of his damage from inside the arc and from the free throw line, where he was 9-9. He's shooting better than 97% from the line, and has made something like 40 in a row. But it was really Shipp who made the difference. He made four threes in the second half, all with under 15 to play. Two followed Oregon baskets, squelching their momentum. They all came with the game within six or fewer points. He was clutch tonight. He raised his three point percentage from 21.6% to just over 30%. If he's regained his touch, then this becomes an outstanding long range team, and that means fewer zone defenses, or more open shots.

The Bruins defense was not up to its usual standards. Part of that was due to the way the game was officiated. In the first half, the game was called very tight on the Bruins defensive end, and that may have contributed to some tentative play in the second half. The Ducks got too many good looks, and had too many easy baskets in the lane.

Still, the only player who really disappointed tonight for the Bruins was Jrue Holliday. Turnover numbers aren't on ESPN's box score yet, but he seemed to struggle for much of the game, and showed occasionaly happy feet that led to traveling calls.

We'll see what the future holds for Oregon, but something tells me they're closer to the team that played Friday than the team that played tonight. But UCLA has won the conference three straight years, and they can expect this kind of shot when they go on the road. The bottom line is that there are 16 Pac 10 games left, and more than half will be at Pauley Pavilion. For the 2-0 Bruins, that's a nice position to be in.

Happy New Year

Have a great one, folks.  Sorry about the light posting, even by my standards, but one of my resolutions is to pick this back up again.  With two college basketball teams worth watching (and how is Illinois not in the top 25?), and a hockey team that's finally interesting again, I should have a lot to write about.  

See you in 2009.

Stuff like this makes me almost want to like the Blackhawks

Blackhawks 2009 All-Star Game campaign commercials.

Angels Make Big Offer to Big Teix

8/160.  Not quite the 7/160 that was rumored yesterday, but still pretty damn big.  Honestly, I hope this gets it done.  He's 28, and he's very good.  I think this is a fair deal, and most importantly, it's not my money.  

I just hope that if he signs, they commit to Kendry Morales in the outfield.  I think he'll be a nice replacement in left, and that lets them shore up the defense with Matthews in right, assuming they can't cut him loose.  And I agree with Rob's commenters.  He's nuts if he thinks this is a bad deal.

Bruin Hoops - Starting to come together

It's becoming increasingly clear that Ben Howland is going to rotate about eight or nine guys once conference season rolls around.  He's got his starting five, then Roll, Dragovic, a freshman guard, and a freshman front court player.  The minutes are there for someone to step up, but Lee, Anderson, Gordon, and Morgan will have to earn them, and the team will be better because of it.

Today's game was a nice tune up for next month.  DePaul is not very good.  Their coach sucks.  Their best scorer has a serious attitude problem.  They are simply not major players for the best recruits in Chicago (who are now heading south to Champaign, as nature intended).  And it's kind of too bad, because I live about 200 feet from their campus (though 25 minutes or so from All-State Arena).  But there is no buzz whatsoever in this town about DePaul basketball.

One thing I've finally realized about Ben Howland basketball is that UCLA is almost always going to look bad against a zone defense for the first 10 minutes of the game.  That used to frustrate me, but I've finally come to the realization that it's really a feeling out period for the Bruin offense, and they're taking the first ten minutes to figure out what they're going to do over the last 30 minutes.  Roughly ten minutes into this game, the Bruins led by five points.  With roughly 11 or 12 minutes to go, they were up by 20.  The Bruins are patient on the offensive end, and as a fan, you need to patient watching them.

One player who had a nice game for the Bruins on the offensive end was Nikola Dragovic.  He was 5-7 for the game, but 5-5 inside the arc.  He seems to be adding another dimension to his offensive game, no longer content to just wait on the perimeter for jump shots.  That's a big addition for a team that needs interior scoring.  He still needs to step it up on the defensive end, though.  I also noticed a concerted effort by Darren Collison to take more jump shots.  On the negative side, Josh Shipp missed all of his three point attempts.

Tonight's game was not a test for the Bruins.  It was a high profile scrimmage, and I think Ben Howland knew as much.  Things are progressing for this young team, though, and they'll be ready for conference season next month.  Special appreciation goes to Coach Howland for getting Tyler Trapani into the game.  It had to be special for both him, and his great grandfather, to play in the Wooden Classic.  The man is a national treasure, and I'm thankful for the opportunitiy to have seen him speak last summer.

A few more cupcakes await before conference season.  Plenty of time to keep moving forward.

Ted Leo @ AV-Aerie - 12/10/08 - Updated with link to photos

This is the third time I've seen Ted Leo live, but the first time I've seen him with no Pharmacists*.  It was kind of an interesting aesthetic, really.  I've seen singer/songwriters before.  I've even seen singer/songwriters who were part of a band play without the band (Grant Lee Phillips doing his Buffalo material, for example).  But I've never seen a singer/songwriter play something pretty close to the same arrangements he plays in the band setting without the band behind him.  

In other words, usually when guys play a solo set like this, they have an acoustic set up.  The acoustic guitar almost allows the artist to add a little of his or her own percussion to a given song.  Ted Leo basically just played lead guitar for the entire night.  Picture him playing a typical TL/Rx show, but without anyone behind him.  It was really cool to see once.  I'm not sure I'd be particularly jazzed about seeing it again (I would go, of course), and it's really made me want to listen to the studio versions of all the stuff he played.  

Speaking of the stuff he played, he sample a little from just about every album, and played a bunch of covers including songs by Lungfish, the Waco Brothers, Blondie, and set ending rendition of Bruce Springsteen's 'Dancing in the Dark'.  From his own songs, he played a bunch of stuff that was unfamiliar, but also played:

• Timorous Me (which had some improvised handclaps)
• Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone.
• The High Party
• Ballad of the Sin Eater
• Me and Mia
• Bleeding Powers
• Colleen
• Bottle of Buckie

He played for about an hour and a half, only stopping occasionally to tune and joke around with the crowd.  He was entertaining even when he wasn't playing.  

As for the venue, it was the third floor of a semi-industrial building converted for music in an industrial part of town just northwest of the United Center.  I imagine, per their website, that this was one of the "fund raising arts and cultural events whose revenue will go to local socially and/or environmentally focused initiatives in partnerships chosen on a bi-annual schedule."  It had a really high ceiling, but you wouldn't know, because the whole performance space was covered by a large parachute draped from above to make it feel much more intimate.  The house lights never went down, which almost gave it the feel of a casual evening with a friend, assuming your friends invite Thax Douglas over to read strange poems.  Even beer was cheap.  $2 bucks for a can of High Life, and that was a "suggested donation".   *UPDATE* - Photos of the night at this link.  Pretty good look at the venue.  

So a really cool show, in a very different type of setting than I'm used to.  I look forward to seeing who else they'll book there.  Enjoy some Ted. Two versions of Rude Boys to choose from, and two great live songs back to back.

*There may have been actual pharmacists in the audience.  I didn't poll everyone's occupation.

Rude Boys solo live


Rude Boys studio recording (you'll have to turn it up a bit)


Timorous Me/Walking To Do

Bruins Get Slaughtered

No surprises here.  Although, for a moment there, when the Bruins took a roughing the kicker penalty on fourth and 17, I thought I was watching an Illinois game.  Those types of penalties pretty much killed the Illini season this year.

The UCLA season basically comes down to the offensive line.  I don't care how good your skill players are.  If you can't block anyone, you're not going to be successful.  The Bruins could have had John Elway, Jerry Rice, and Eric Dickerson in their prime, and it wouldn't have made a difference.  They simply could not block anyone all season.  That's an issue that will take maybe another season or two before it's really top notch, though I expect the line to be better next season.  Still, it's disappointing.  UCLA is not going to be competitive week to week until they have a decent offensive line.  We all knew that was an issue going into the season, and we can't be surprised with the way thing turned out.

Speaking of the Illini, they kicked the living crap out of Georgia today at the UC (which I watched at a bar, but didn't see in person for reasons I won't go into here). They finished the game on a 22-0 run.  This U of I basketball team actually may be fun to watch this year. It's looking more and more like Sean Pruitt and Brian Randle were more trouble than they were worth.  Demtri McCamey is playing well most of the time.  Mike Tisdale and Mike Davis are really helping with the scoring inside, as is Dominique Keller.  And Alex Legion is available in a couple weeks.  These guys could actually make the tournament.  It's fun to be an Illini fan again!

Hall of Fame

I really don't care all that much about the baseball hall of fame, but if I had a vote, my ballot this year would list:

• Bert Blyleven
  
• Rickey Henderson
• Alan Trammel
• Tim Raines

That's it.  I'd give a lot of though to McGwire, Lee Smith, and Andre Dawson.  But those four would probably be it.  

Did you know I still write about sports?

Me neither. Another bout of laziness. Anyway, I got a not from one of my most loyal readers, Anonymous, about the upcoming slaughter at the Rose Bowl. Specifically, he asks about this item about Pete Carroll deciding to go with U$C's red jerseys this weekend, an NCAA no-no.

I doubt I have to explain it, but the short version is that when both teams played at the Coliseum, UCLA and U$C used to wear their colors (home uniforms), since they were really both at their home stadium. Sometime thereafter, the NCAA passed a rule that says one team must wear white under penalty of one timeout per half.

Over the years, the idea of having both UCLA and U$C wear their home jerseys has been discussed, but nobody ever wanted to go through with it. There was talk of the actual home team burning a timeout per half to even things up, but it never came to pass.

But the era of two teams in home jerseys is back. Carroll will bring the trojans out in their red unis. The NCAA has since caved (a bit), and will now penalize the visiting team only one time out. Rick Neuheisel has announced that he'll use a timeout early in the first half to level the playing field. And

Really, they could probably take away all of U$C's time-outs and give UCLA about 15 per half and it wouldn't make a difference. As long as your offense scores 28 points for the other team, it probably doesn't matter how many time-outs you have, or how many your opponent doesn't have. I know the game from a few years ago should give me hope, but I just can't see the Bruins being competitive on Saturday (and no, the basketball team doesn't play on Saturday). And is this case of Pete Carroll saying "we don't need time-outs to beat UCLA"? Sure it is. But he's kind of a dick, so it's not surprising. That doesn't mean that he isn't right.

Personally, I think it's dumb rule. Who cares if one team is wearing white? Sure, it's a problem if two teams have similar colors, but just make a rule that says a team has to wear an alternate color when they share a primary color with the home team. There's really nothing holding this rule in place aside from the NCAA not wanting to spend time granting schools waivers. A couple years ago, Illinois wore their orange basketball jerseys at the Hall against Wisconsin, and with the small, not so great T.V.s at the Parkway (R.I.P. - man, that was a great bar) it was hard to tell the teams apart. So just don't let them do that when the colors are similar. Problem solved.

I think under different circumstances, it would be fun. Unfortunately, I don't this game will be very fun.

I Cherish With Fondness the Day That I Met Them

The latest band I can't stop listening to is Los Campesinos! I wasn't really excited when I wrote that. The exclamation point is actually part of the name, and the name of each of their members, who are Aleksandra Campesinos!, Ellen Campesinos!, Gareth Campesinos!, and so on.

This is another band from Wales, which produced probably my favorite currently existing band, the Super Furry Animals. They are very poppy, and very energetic, and infectuous. I will be seeing them live in February when they come to the Logan Square Auditorium. Also, new Song of the Day from your truly, which is a good place to start. If you like the music I like, you'll be hooked about 15 seconds into the first song embedded below. Enjoy:

Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats


You, Me, Dancing


My Year in Lists

More Spiritualized

I'm trying to think of the best way to describe J. Spaceman and the various incarnations of Spiritualized since the dissolution of Spacemen 3 about 2o years ago or so, and I think the best description came from either Greg Kot or Jim DeRogatis in the episode of Sound Opinions where they reviewed "Songs in A&E".  Spiritualized basically has three styles:  Straightforward rockers, ethereal/ambient ballads, and, well, spirituals - real gospel type stuff.  

Occasionally they overlap a bit.  You can hear hear tinges of gospel stuff in their rock songs.  Of course, a quicker, pithier explanation is from Pinko Punko, in which he termed Spiritualized 'drug boy singing about drugs'.  I can't honestly dispute that.  The endless allusions to drug use and the effects thereof are unavoidable.  But hey, music's gotta be about something.  So here are the three phases of Spiritualized:

Ambient:

Rock:

Spiritual:

And that, in a nutshell, is Jason Pierce and his professional output. And it's pretty amazing live.

Well, at least it's still early - Updated

He's seen it year after year after year, and Ben Howland still hasn't figured out how to prepare a team for a 1-3-1 zone.  The Bruins dropped an early season game to an inferior opponent primarily because they simply can't beat John Beilein.  On a neutral floor, with even teams, Beilein will win every time.  UCLA only wins when they have far superior players, like last year.

*Update* - When I originally wrote this, I figured Howland teams had played Beilein teams quite often when they were in the Big East, but I was too lazy to look it up.  As it turns out, they've faced off more since Howland left.  While at Pitt, Howland faced Beilein only twice, and won both matchups, albeit with a top 10 team against a coach in his first year at West Virginia.  I don't think it changes the analysis (such as it is) very much.  

Part of it is a testament to Howland's stubbornness, which is a reason he's successful.  It's the second week of the season, and he's got a fairly young team, and there's no reason to spend a week preparing for a defense you won't see the rest of the year.  That's why I'm not overly disappointed.  In fact, it's a sign that he knows what's important is not what you do in November, but what you do in March.  

But what this game did show us is that UCLA is in, well, I won't say a long season.  The Pac 10 sucks this year, so the Bruins should have a very successful regular season.  But the post-season will be short by UCLA standards.  Unless one of their freshmen big men really figure out how to play, or unless James Keefe takes the next step, they will be forced to play on the perimeter all year.  They have absolutely no interior offense.  They have no one they can give the ball to when they absolutely need a basket.  Or more accurately, they have no one on the inside who can keep the defense honest, allowing them to get the ball to Collison for a needed basket.  And with the extension of the three point line, it will be much harder to win on the perimeter this year.  

In a way this might be a good thing.  If they can't beat Michigan, they would have been slaughtered by Duke.  I'm not sure they'll beat SIU quite frankly, and it doesn't help that the guy who sits in the office next to me is an SIU grad.  And we saw why college basketball is occasionally a joke.  A Michigan player throws the ball away about three seconds before running into Aboya, and Al is called for a block.  Josh Shipp barely makes contact with an elbow, which causes his defender to leap backwards about five seconds after it happens, and the official completey across the floor decides to make the call.  College basketball is consistently the worst officiated sport that still maintains a large following.  But that's not why the Bruins lost.  

But it's a long season.  They have a lot of time to grow.  Hopefully this is a learning experience.

Two things that keep me from celebrating

1) A majority of people in my home state decided that simply being bigots wasn't enough.  They decided to write it into the state constitution.  Fuck the initiative process, and fuck the LDS "church".

2) My brother's current home state took the title of 'laughing-stock' away from Florida by electing a convicted felon to the Senate.  

And I'm also pretty disappointed that pieces of shit like Norm Coleman and Gordon Smith won.  

Who's the Happiest Man In America?

My guess?  It's Levi "fuckin' redneck" Johnston, who may now be able to avoid that shotgun wedding.  Good luck, brotha.  

Checking back in

Couple of things I'd figured I'd post.

UCLA

I know I've been light on the UCLA stuff of late, primarily due to my laziness, and also due to the fact that they just haven't been much fun to watch on the football field this year. But Basketball season starts tonight (unofficially), and after reading the updates from Brian Dohn, and this piece on Ben Howland in the Times, I'm pretty pumped for hoops season. For UCLA the last few years, this has been one of the more fun parts of the season. They've been pulling in such excellent talent that it makes the first five games or so, when we all get introduced to the new recruits, very exciting. And with the nation's top class taking the floor, this year is no exception.

Illinois

Not sure what the basketball season will hold this year, but early reports are mixed on the optimistic side. Supposedly the atmosphere around the team is much better, with some seniors who maybe weren't the best teammates having moved on. They add a little talent when Alex Legion returns next month. Both Jamar Smith and Brian Carlwell have left, so hopefully the distractions from that incident are gone from the Assembly Hall for good. The real talent influx starts with next year's recruiting class.

Speaking of the Hall, I spent some time in its parking lot this weekend as I was down in Champaign for the Illinois-Iowa football game. Interestingly enough, before Saturday, I'd been to two Illinois football games since graduating, and both were played at the Rose Bowl. This was the first time I'd been in Memorial Stadium since the upgrade, and it's pretty nice. They need an extra video screen, and they need to be a little larger, but generally the facility looks pretty decent, and it's always nice to be back down on campus. Better yet, I saw the Illini win, something they failed to do in the previous two post-graduation games I'd seen. They made it more exciting than they should have, and Ron Zook showed the country that he's not quite sure how to handle time outs, but a win is a win, and fortunately it pissed off the douchebag Iowa fan that was sitting in front of us.

Spiritualized

Just an update to my Spiritualized post from a few days ago, you can listen to a full set from their last tour at this link. It doesn't quite capture how amazing it was in person, but even if you don't want to listen to the whole thing, the first two songs are worth 10 minutes. They're the best back to back openers I've ever seen at a live show.

Happy Halloween

So Remember When I Used to Blog Here?

Man, it's been a while, huh? Nice long break. Anyway, with basketball season ramping up, I'll probably have UCLA stuff to post about soon. And we should be moving into some good off-season stories for the Angels, so activity should pick up again soon.

In the meantime, here's some Spiritualized. These two songs, in this order, led off the their Pitchfork Festival set, which I wrote about here. This isn't a perfect facsimile, as this version of 'You Lie You Cheat' doesn't descend into the three minute maelstrom at the end like at P4k, which then led into the gorgeous opening of 'Shine a Light'. And this version of 'Shine a Light' cuts out the first verse. But this is arguably the best back to back opening of a concert I've ever seen. It was even better when they they played the Metro a couple months later.

'Shine a Light' was really pretty perfect. It's a song with an album track that must be incredibly difficult to duplicate live, so they don't bother trying. The lyrics are given some relief in the life version, whereas they flatten into background noise on the album (Lazer Guided Melodies). The guitar/sax becomes simply guitar, and is amped up. And it's a really powerful moment at about 3:25 when the backing vocals kick back in. Enjoy.

What to Do - Vlad

Another in the series I've shamelessly stolen.

There's a club option for 2009 for $15MM. They can also buy him out for $3MM and make him a free agent.

Again, I think picking up the option is a no brainer. Vlad had the worst season of his career since his rookie year, and was still the best hitter on the team. Napoli and Teixeira both were better in terms of OPS+, but both did them in shorter Anaheim seasons. Still, going into next year, even assuming they re-signed Teixeira, Vlad would enter the season as the team's best hitter.

Going forward, I'd love to see them re-up Vlad for another term. Three or four years would be great, but probably won't get it done. I think it will take at least five, and that's a deal I'd be willing to make for something close to his current deal. He's still an elite hitter, but he should be thought of as an 80%-90% DH from this point forward. Next year the Angels will have Hunter in center, hopefully Morales at a corner outfield position (if they can re-sign Teixeira), and either Mattews or Juan Rivera at the other corner, again, subject to certain signings.

Believe it or not, the DH spot has actually been a real problem for the Angels over the last decade or so. Picking up guys who are clear cut hitters and clear cut non-fielders isn't as easy as it sounds. Any time you can lock up a position, even one with as little scarcity as DH, I think it's a good idea.

On the emotional side, five years will take Vlad to the end of his career. He's likely to be around 500 homers by that point (he'd need to average about 22 per year), 1,700 RBIs, and a career average over .300, and right around 200 stolen bases. That's almost guaranteed hall of fame territory, and there's never been a hint of steroid speculation around him. Unless someone beats him to it (and right now, I can't think of a candidate), he'd probably be the first player to enter the Hall of Fame with an Angels cap, and as far as I'm concerned, that counts for something.

So I say exercise the option, negotiate an extension, and hand him the everyday DH role through 2014.

What To Do - John Lackey

Another in the series I'm stealing from the Rev.

So, Lackey. As big a no brainer as we'll find. He has an option for 2009. Pick it up and extend him for as long as you can. All pitchers are injury risks. Lackey's injury in 2008 was his first. He's a critical piece of the Angels' future, and he needs a long term deal. I'm thinking five to seven years.

Look, this is Chuck Finley we're talking about. An Angels lifer for this generation. He needs to be wearing the haloed A as long he can be effective. I can't imagine him leaving anytime soon.

What to Do - Mark Teixeira

Third in the ongoing theft of idea's from the Rev.

So, what to do with Teixeira?

Sign him. Next question.

In all seriousness, I say something around 7-8 years, up to roughly 22 million per, depending on how crazy the market gets. Remember that the idea behind not spending too much is that you can use that money on, say, two good players. But if the market goes nuts and the two guys you could get for $11MM each now cost $15MM each, then you have to go higher for the premium players like Teixeira. If the Yankees just blow everyone out of the water, which seems to be the indication, then there's not much you can do except try to bid them up and make them pay more than the want to.

I can't see him signing in the exclusivity window. There's just too much market uncertainty to sign at a comparable number from last year. I think he's got to test the market and see how it shakes out. I'd put the odds on him coming back to Anaheim around 6-1. I'm not optimistic.

What To Do - Jon Garland

Part two in the series I'm shamelessly stealing from the Rev.

Another toughie, in that there's no obvious replacement in the organization. There are candidates, but none are particularly trustworthy in a fifth starter role. I'm not Steve Green is ready for a regular rotation spot. I'm more sure that Nick Adenhart isn't ready. I'm not sure Dustin Moseley will ever be ready. All three are potential sixth starters, but none jump out at me as rotation regulars at this point. Escobar looks like a mid-season bullpen guy at this point.

Not having a capable replacement in line presents a problem for a pitcher like Garland. I'm not sure the market knows what he worth, though I suspect it's not the $12MM he earned last year. So let's say they re-sign him at $7MM per, maybe $8MM. That takes them out of the market for C.C. Sabathia, unless they're willing to sign both and deal with it later. But there's no guarantee they end up with C.C. or even a solid middle rotation starter in free agency. If you wait to see what you can get on the market, you may end up waiting too long, at which point even Garland is gone.

I think the prudent thing to do is offer him arbitration (to preserve the compensation). Then they make a run at a front line starter. If they land one, they don't re-sign Garland and hope he doesn't accept arbitration. If they don't, they re-up with Garland for a short term deal. If they fail to land a good starter AND Garland leaves, they go after a Garland comparable, or try to land one via trade.

Key point about arbitration, awards are for one year contracts. Worse case scenario, they sign a guy like Sabathia, and Garland accept arbitration. In that case, the Garland deal is only one year, and the Angels go into spring with six starters. Someone's likely to get hurt (remember when Santana and Saunders were battling for one rotation spot?), or you deal Weaver or Saunders for a big bat. I don't want to see either of those guys traded, but I'd do it for the right return.

New Feature!!! I'm Stealing the "What To Do" Series From Mat

The Rev's new deal at Halos Heaven, at least for a little while, is "What To Do With..." I love concept, but I don't like the idea of answering in a simple comment, so I'm going to leave my responses, trackbacks if you will, right here on my own blog.

So, Mat starts with.......Garret Anderson!

Can't say he's making it too easy right out of the gate. There's a lot of emotion involved in this one. G.A. is the last link to the 1995 collapse. He's a world champ. He's a lifer. And unfortunately, I think he's done.

So here's the layout. He has an option for 2009 at $14MM. The Angels can also buy him out for $3MM and make him a free agent. I think step 1 is to exercise the buy out. Even if they re-sign him, they save some money.

They need to be straight with Garret. The Angels have a full time DH in Vladimir Guerrero. They have a center fielder in Torii Hunter. And right now, I'm going to say they (ugh) keep Gary Matthews and re-sign Juan Rivera to give them three outfielders. Another thing to keep in mind (but we have yet to cross that bridge...) both Chone Figgins and Sean Rodriguez can play in outfield. Wood at third, and an outfield of Rivera, Hunter, and Figgins would work for me. That requires re-signing Rivera and Figgins, of course.

But ultimately, I think they need to be straight with Garret and let him know that they'd like to have him around, but not at his current salary. Let him test the market. If someone wants to make him an everyday player, then let him go that route. If he can't find a taker, then they go the Salmon route. Invite him to Spring Training. Let him earn a job. If he deserves it, he's back with incentives. If other guys outplay him, release him and let him sign with someone who will give him at bats.

I love G.A. I love everything he did for this franchise. He drove in the runs that provided the Angels with their only World Series. And it won't be easy to see him playing for another team, though it will be easy to root for him. It's a tough decision, and a brutal way to start this series, but I think they need to buy him out and let the chips fall where they may.

Teixeira and the post-season.

Alright, let's deal with this. In a comment to a previous post, Rob writes:

And why the kid gloves with Teixeira, anyway? No extra-base hits from him in the postseason. Sure, he was on base a ton, but so what? He's supposed to be in the hitting-the-ball-hard part of the lineup, and to say he disappointed was an understatement.

Teixeira came to the plate 20 times in the post-season, and made only 9 outs. He finished the series with a line of 467/550/467. It's completely fair to point out that he didn't deliver an extra base hit. But the fact is that he still put up a 1.017 OPS for the series, by far the best on the team. In addition, he played stellar defense at first base.

In short, he was the Angels' best player in the series. Calling him a disappointment is not only inaccurate, it's unfair. It would be like criticizing a starting pitcher for holding the other team scoreless in his starts, but not pitching deep enough into games. Yes, you want the innings, but more importantly you don't want the other team to score. Do I want want doubles and homers from Teixeira? Absolutely, but first and foremost, I want him to not make outs. And if a guy doesn't make many outs in a four game series, I'm not going to get on him for failing to hit homers and doubles.

But what jumps out at me is the "blame the best player" mentality. There are a number of reasons the Angels failed again in this post-season. Blaming it on the guy who was one of your top two position players, if not number one, seems like a poor read of the situation. In close games, you can blame every player who didn't hit a homer every time up if you really want to. If anything, complain about the timing of the singles. None of them came with runners in scoring position (five plate appearances), and his lone RBI was a sac fly. But again, the Angels have highly paid players who failed more often in those situations. His defense, in my opinion, easily made up for his minor offensive shortcomings.

I'm not optimistic about his return the Angels. I haven't been since the trade. I hope he comes back. But based on the way his teammates seem to react to post-season baseball, I can't blame him if he heads for what he sees as greener pastures.

On the Bright Side

The Kings' season starts this weekend, and I KNOW that they won't disappoint me in the playoffs.

Another Failure

It's getting pretty old. Everyone who wears Angels red for these games thinks they can win, with the exception of the 25 guys wearing it on the field. They play afraid. They play like they think they don't deserve to be there. They are truly not ready for prime time. And they've done it for four consecutive post-seasons. It really makes 2002 that much more unbelievable.

Clearly Howie Kendrick will go down as the goat, and it was such an otherwordly awful post-season for him that I really have no idea how he'll react. Almost everything he did hurt the team. John Lackey was as good as he could have possibly been, but the offense just cashed it in. Almost no timely hits in the whole series. No power, with the exception of Mike Napoli in game three. And I'm talking extra base power, not just home runs. They played like they didn't believe they could win, and they deserved to lose.

Right now I don't really care about 2009. This team is absolutely deflating to root for. I really like Mark Teixeira, but I hope for his sake he goes to a team that can compete in October, because he didn't finish the season with one. So long, Frankie. Thanks for all you did you for the Angels, and good luck wherever you land. That goes for you too, Garret. For so many years I lamented the Angels' inability to make the playoffs. I'm finding that repeated failure in which they don't even put forth a professional effort is even worse.

Go Phillies, and Go Rays. I hope they take down the two piece of shit franchises remaining

Game 3 notes

It's over. For the first time since I was 13, the Angels have beaten the Red Sox in a playoff game. And it just dawned on me while typing this that I was at the game. Game 4 in 1986, my friend and I were sitting in Jim Fregosi's season seats. In his non-baseball life, he owned a food brokerage and did business with my day. My parents were sitting two rows from the top of the enclosed Big A in dead center field. Here's a few thoughts on tonight.

• The umpiring in this series has been atrocious. I say that objectively, as it's been awful for both teams. Ed Rapuano has had a horrible series, blowing check swings in games 1 and 3, tonight to the Angels brief benefit, and Wednesday to their detriment. He blew the call on the pickoff at second in game two. Kerwin Danley's strike zone tonight was just awful. I'm pretty sure he had no idea where it was. And the Angels caught a huge break when Danley called an inside fastball to Napoli a ball. That same pitch was strike three to left handed hitting Jacoby Ellsbury just minutes before. Napoli followed with a single, and scored the winning run.
• Speaking of catchers and 1986, the last time the Angels beat the Red Sox in the playoffs, a catcher scored the winning run in extra innings. Jerry Narron scored on Bobby Grich's single to left field to give the Angels a 3-1 series lead.
• I've been pretty hard on Kendrick and Figgins, but both had good games tonight. They were a combined 4-12, and Kendrick put down a nice sac bunt to set up the winning run. Figgins made some great plays at third base late in the game. He snagged sharply hit balls by Dustin Pedroia and Alex Cora to preserve the win. Speaking of Howie...
• I don't blame the play in short center entirely on him. He should have caught the ball, but Torii Hunter has to call that ball one way or another. He either has to take charge, or he has to let Howie know that it's Howie's ball. Still, what's done is done, and the play won't matter in the grand scheme of things.
• Hunter deserves more blame for his ill-advised attempt to go for the double on his leadoff hit in the ninth. Slightly mitigating his decision is that the ball took what looked like a weird bounce off the wall. Fenway regulars may tell me I'm wrong, but it seems like balls over there usually hit that wall where it curves and bouce into short left, or hug that wall down toward the corner. If either of those things happen, Hunter probably makes it. But it took a very friendly bounce for Jason Bay. Still, that play was entirely ahead of Hunter, and he should have seen that he was toast.
• That play also may have hurt the Angels defense. If Hunter had stayed at first, Reggie Willits would have remained in the game to sacrifice him to second. With no one on and one out, Kendry Morales was called in to hit before Gary Matthews took over in right field. He ended up making a couple of nice plays, but after what happened in game one, it was a risk.
• Because of the late drama from Frankie Rodriguez and Jered Weaver, it might be forgotten that the middle of the Angels bullpen was lights out. Jose Arrendondo, Darren Oliver, and Scot Shields threw 4.1 innings of hitless ball, walking two and striking out six. Shields looked as dominant as he's ever looked, especially for a guy who works the corners with his two seamer, working to an umpire with an inconsistent strike zone. Arredondo was fantastic as well.
• I hesitate to write this, but maybe the tide is turning. Everything was lined up for the Angels to lose this game. A bad ump, a closer who walks a lot of guys, Jered Weaver pitching in relief against a team that has hit him pretty hard, a tough task pitching to David Ortiz who has killed him... The list goes on. But they got a big break when Ellsbury overslid second base. They got a break on the strikeout of Ellsbury in the 11th. They broke an 11 game losing streak against the Sox in th playoffs. They broke a nine game post-season losing streaking, going back to 2005.
  
• John Lester is a great pitcher, but the Angels have the man they want on the mound. Lackey is their horse, and you might as well go down with your best. They seem to be waking up a bit at the plate. There's certainly no reason to think they can't win tomorrow night. Aybar got a hit. Kendrick started to hit. Now we just need Teixeira to deliver an extra base hit.
  
• Napoli looked bad against Lester's breaking ball in game one, but hit a curve ball out tonight. Lester's comes from the other side, but he looks like he's locking in.
  
• Which player sees a fastball first tomorrow night, Napoli, or Jason Bay? I wouldn't be surprised if neither saw a fastball all night.
• If it comes down to it tomorrow, bullpen usuage should interesting. The Red Sox probably have an advantage, as both Okijima and Masterson threw fewer than 20 pitches. Arredondo and Shields both threw 28. Both closers threw over 30, that Papelbon did it over two innings.
• This game lasted five hours and 19 minutes. Last month I sat through 12 innings of an Angels v. White Sox game that took only three hours. The game lasted 15 innings (I just left after 12) and still only took four hours. One reason people hate the Red Sox? Their games last for goddamn ever.
  

I'm not going to pick a winner, but needless to say, if it's a repeat of tonight's game, I'll be substantially more nervous. Having essentially given up after game one, I was relatively calm tonight, which is to say I was a nervous wreck who could still watch the game. Should be fun.

Reason #973 that Red Sox fans are the biggest douchebags in sports fandom

They boo a Mike Napoli trip to the mound. Apprently only Jason Varitek is allowed to make 359 trips to the mound per game.

Major Leaguers

165 games, and they don't know how to catch a pop up.