UCLA 68; Michigan 61

College basketball is a guard dominated sport, and UCLA did nothing to disprove that notion today, with Farmar, Afflalo, Bozeman, and Collison combing for 54 of UCLA's 68 points. It was a game of runs, with Michigan jumping out to an early 8-0 lead before Afflalo found his stroke and shot the Bruins into the lead. The teams see-sawed until the Bruins pulled away in the middle of the second half, opening an insurmountable 14 point lead. Michigan put a late scare into the Bruins, but a big steal by Afflalo, followed by a dish to Luc Richard Mbah a Moute who dunked it home put the game away. Ryan Wright added the exclamation point with a breakaway dunk at the end.

There's certainly reason for optimism. This team is almost all youth, with Ced Bozeman being the only upperclassmen getting measureable minutes, and those may be cut a bit as Josh Shipp gets healthy (although Howland will probably find ways to take minutes away from the less effective post players). Speaking of the post, Ryan Wright was solid, if unspectacular. At the very least, he shows promise, which is more than we can say for Fey or Hollins, the latter of whom showed, yet again, that he simply cannot catch entry passes. Mbah a Moute is a warrior on the boards, and I really like the potential he's showing, not to mention the game that he already has.

At the end of the game, the Bruins had 2 sophomores and 3 freshmen on the floor. With that, they beat a good Michigan team on the road. The future looks pretty good.

**UPDATE -- Now with the link that I meant to put in yesterday, the lack of which made this section below somewhat confusing.**

Hello to all the visitors from Bruin Hoop Scoop. Thanks to Jeremy for the link. FYI - I try to do game recaps and the like after all games that I can get on TV. Keep in mind that I'm coming to you from Chicago (well, usally anyway - right now I'm in Temple City, but most of the time I'm in Chicago), and we can't get every game there. I'm a UC Riverside grad who grew up a Bruins fan, then went to the University of Illinois for law school (so I'm a big Illini fan, too). Occasionally, when the spirit moves me, I'll do a more general post like this one, which is now looking foolish thanks the 11-0 (and likely to be at least 14-0) Illini. So feel free to look around, and don't be a stranger. During the baseball season, this is pretty much an Angels site. During this time of year, it's UCLA, Illinois, and LA Kings site. And pretty much throughout the year, it's an indie rock site from time to time.

Kings 4; Sucks 3 (F-Shootout)

The Kings were fantastic for the first 18 minutes. Then they figured that this was a game where they would play well, and they figured that would carry them through. They were not good for the last 42 minutes, but they had Mathieu Garon behind them, who was absolutely outstanding. And that's without taking the shootout into account. He made big save after big save in the second and third periods and kept them in the game long enough for Peter Kanko to bank in the tying goal in the third period. Congrats to Kanko on his first NHL goal in his first NHL game, and congrats to Giuliano on his first NHL point. Youth was served, as Dustin Brown added a power play goal.

Things that concern me: First of all, there's almost no puck support by the Kings. If one guy has the puck roll off of his stick, of battles to a draw on the boards, there's always an opponent on the puck, and never a King. When you aren't getting the bounces, and for the most part, the Kings aren't, that's a killer. They relied far too much on Garon all night. And has anyone seen Frolov, Demitra, and Conroy? I keep hearing their names, but I can't seem to find them on the ice.

Garon was incredible, and the shootout was just the icing on the cake. He got a bit of a break when Selanne lost control of the puck on his chance, but Scott Niedermayer made a great move, and Garon absolutely stoned him. From the TV angle, I could have sworn he scored, but man, what an awesome save.

When you win without playing your best, you take what you get, because you figure that sooner or later, you're going to start playing well again. Well, sooner is gone, and later is on its way out of the building. It would be nice to see the Kings start playing decent hockey again. But I'll gladly take the two points.

Disgusting

There were so many things wrong with the way the Kings played tonight, and really, they're pretty much all things that have been happening for the last couple of weeks, that to take the time to write about all of them would be a big waste of time.

They're being outhit. They're being outskated. They're being outworked. Not just by the good teams, but by every team they play. Even Florida looked good enough to beat them the other day.

By the end of the season, they'll be luck to sneak into the seventh or eighth spot. They're still living off of that good start, but that can only last so long. 13 straight games coming up against Western Conference teams, nine of them intra-division. Fewer than 16 points in that stretch, and they're in huge trouble.

Time to sit Frolov down for a game or two. There was a lot of Frolov and Ovechkin talk before this game, but Ovechkin was so much better than Frolov tonight that you couldn't even really make a comparison. And someone give Mathieu Garon some orange juice, because LaBarbera was, well, he wasn't good.

Good God. They just lost to fucking Washington.

New Music

And I mean really new. This is gonna be a short one, but two things I rarely do are a) get to like a band before they've released an album, and 2) get to like bands that repeat, or spell, their own name in their debut single over and over again. But thanks to 120 minutes, which I watched for like the first time in forever this week, I caught the video for this band called...wait for it....Morningwood. Seriously. But dammit if the song ain't catchy. Give it a listen. It's on their myspace site along with the video (just click the link and it should start playing automatically in a few seconds). It sounds like something I'm gonna listen to about 10 times, then probably never again. I have no idea what any of their other stuff sounds like, but hey, take it for what it's worth.

Catching up from yesterday

Kings 3; Panthers 1

I think it's safe to say that this was exactly what the Kings needed. They're still stuggling a bit on offense, but they got two goals out of the slumping Pavol Demitra, a goal out of the yet-to-break-out Michael Cammalleri, they were perfect on the PK for the first time in just about forever, and they got one on the power play (with another coming just as a PP ended). This was a game in which they weren't fantastic, but there was some improvement in every area, and a much needed two points.

Once again, Demitra converted on a shorthanded chance. Maybe one of the problems with the penalty kill has been a willingness to take too many chances for shorthanded breakaways. But when it works, it's pretty, and it can be a real back breaker sometimes. Demitra showed that he's one of the most skilled players in the league when he faked Roberto Luongo out of his pads for the Kings second goal.

Mathieu Garon is starting to take command of the starting job. It's no fault of Jason LaBarbera that Garon started his run of solid play when LaBarbera was out for personal reasons, but the Kings have needed someone to rise to the occasion, and Garon is starting to look like that guy.

The next three games are pretty critical. One against an Eastern team that they really should win, and two against divisional opponents as they start another stretch against Western Conference teams. This improvement couldn't have come at a more important time.

(11) Illinois 89; Oregon 59

This was by far the finest performance of the year for the 10-0 Illini (I'm starting to get used to these undefeated starts), and the catalyst was definitely the man they're counting on, Dee Brown. He did everything on offense. He made a beautiful no look pass to Augie, one of his seven assists against two turnovers. He stepped out and hit threes, and he took the ball strong to the basket against the somewhat undersized Ducks. This was definitely not the Georgetown team they played earlier in the week, with a 7'2" eraser under the basket, and the big guys took advantage. With Brown, Jamar Smith, and Rich McBride, this is a perimiter oriented offense, yet the big men combined for 34 points, the most surprising being the 11 points (and 8 rebounds) they got out of Marcus Arnold. The Illini dominated the glass, outrebounding Oregon 44-28.

By the way, Bruce Weber is now a pedestrian 73-9 in his time at Illinois. That's not too bad.

(16) UCLA 67; (17) Nevada 56

This one wasn't on TV here thanks to the geniuses at the Wooden Classic who signed a TV contract with KCAL. Thanks a lot, assholes.

Anyway, much needed solid victory against a good team. This was not Albany or Coppin State. Nevada can play. They beat Kansas in Kansas. They were a capable tournament team last year until they ran into the Illinois buzz-saw, where James Augustine showed Nick Fazekas how to play. This was a confidence boost, as a well as message to the national press that, yes, they are as good as their early rankings, despite the UCLA trademark crappy early season games against even crappier opponents.

JC is an Angel

Link is in the title.

JC Romero for Alex Casilla. He had a very good part of the year this season, and at times was really considered a break out candidate, although the Chronicler will be able to tell you more than I could. Here are his numbers from last season. Pretty good at Cedar Rapids, with, predictably, less success at the higher levels. He's 21, so those numbers at Cedar Rapids aren't at super prospect levels, but that's not too bad.

Romero helps the bullpen, provides solid lefty relief, and didn't cost a whole lot to get. Let's face, theh Angels are swimming in middle infielders. Looks like a good deal to me.

SSSSSLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW

Wow. I know it's only 2-0 after one period, but I feel comfortable saying that this one is pretty much on the way to being over. This Kings team is S-L-O-W. They're being outplayed in every facet of the game for the sixth straight game, only one of which they've won thanks to Mathieu Garon. They're being outskated, outpassed, outhit, outshot, and just plain outclassed. Their special teams are special in that 'short-bus' sort of way. What's really amazing is that their opponents seem to know everything Kings players are going to do as soon as the Kings get the puck, which is really surprising, because I don't think the Kings have any clue what they're going to do when they get the puck.

It's too bad it's a Thursday, because if this game were tomorrow night, I could be drinking heavily. It looks like I'll be sick either way.

The snow falling outside is at least a nice diversion.

**UPDATE**

Better second half of the second period, and much better third period, but not enough, and the Kings lose their fifth in six games, and the sixth in eight games. Frolov = nothing. Conroy = nothing. Demitra = less than nothing. The Kings will not win, ever, if their top line can't produce.

Inside the wacky mind of Bill Stoneman

Bill Stoneman in today's LA Times on the decision to not offer arbitration to Bengie Molina:

"We were leaning toward arbitration with Bengie, but with the emergence of Mathis and right behind him, Mike Napoli, I didn't want to throw up a roadblock that would impede them,"

Bill Stoneman, last week: Offers Paul Konerko a five year contract which would have effectively blocked Casey Kotchman and/or Kendry Morales.

Bill Stoneman last year: Signs Orlando Cabrera to a four year deal, at last one year of which (if not two) will block Brandon Wood, Erick Aybar, or Alberto Callaspo, and hell, we'll throw in Howie Kendrick too, since he's another middle infielder.

Honestly, I don't get this deal. Mathis had a decent year, but it wasn't like he was really busting out and creating a big problem for the Angels. Another half year or so of seasoning in AAA couldn't hurt, although he's probably ready to be on a major league roster. Plus, the Molina boys haven't exactly been unbreakable. One, if not both, will break down a bit at some point this season. Worst case scenario with Bengie would have been a one year deal. My objection to retaining Bengie going into the off-season was the likelihood of it taking a multi-year deal to bring him back. With that prospect out of the way, I honestly don't see why this decision was made. It's a poor decision.

In other news, Wash is done for good, as we've known. I can see his point, though. He seems to have not been treated well by the top brass for whatever reason, but then again, he's the only one talking, so we're only hearing one side of the story. Good luck in Milwaukee, Jarrod. I'll never forget the gem against Minnesota in the 2002 ALCS, nor will I forget his first win, a fight marred evening in KC when Felix Hernandez Martinez sucker punched Frank Bolick and sent the entire Angels squad into rabid dog mode.

The Angels are working on a deal to send Josh Paul to Tampa Bay. Honestly, I can't imagine what it would bring in return. But if it brings anything of value, it's a good deal. He has a cool wife, though, one that isn't afraid to make jokes denigrating her husband's star status on the air.

About Ready to Quit

I haven't put a lot of stock in any of the rumors floated by the LA Times this off-season, but if the reported negotiations for Mike Sweeney are true, Stoneman deserves to fired, then beaten to a bloody pulp on the rocks on the rocks in the outfield. According to the latest rumors, Kansas City asked for Kotchman AND Brandon Wood, which the Angels said was too steep. That's the good news. The bad news is that the Angels are said to have told KC that if they'd settle on a lesser prospect than Wood, a deal could get done.

Let's be honest. Kotchman for Sweeney straight up is a bad, horrible, awful, indefensible move by the Angels. Casey Kotchman will provide similar production to Sweeney over the next two seasons, and he'll do it for about $20MM less, and when those two years are up, the Angels will still have him for a few more years before he hits free agency, eliminating the need to make another insanely stupid trade in two years. And that doesn't even take into account the fact that they'd be giving up ANOTHER prospect in this deal. And the really bad news is that if this is what they're considering for Sweeney, if you want Manny Ramirez, say goodbye to Kotchman, Wood, and Ervin Santana or Howie Kendrick, because it's gonna take more to get Manny than it will to get Sweeney. According to the Times, they're kicking around the idea of including Cabrera in a deal to Boston, who would trade Renteria to Atlanta to replace Furcal. This is something I could get behind. I like Cabrera, but I'm not wed to him. Let's just say that any trade that involves shedding their top prospects is going to send me over the edge.

I'll say again, if the Angels make the Sweeney move, I quit. I'll root for the Padres or something. But I can't continue to support a team this stupid.

Kings 2; Leafs 1

Earlier this year I wrote about how the Kings goalies were doing their jobs by keeping the Kings in games and giving them a chance to win, but that they weren't winning games by themselves. Last night, Garon won this game by himself. He was tremendous, stopping 35 shots while allowing only one, which was good, because the Kings only got two.

Dustin Brown, who hadn't made much noise on the offensive end in a while, got a few extra whacks at one in the first period, giving the Kings a 1-0 lead. He poked home the trickling rebound of a Matty Norstrom shot in the second (set up by a pretty pass from Belanger) on the power play in the second to make the score 2-0. Toronto got one back on a 5 on 3 after Craig Conroy, who without a stick killed two+ minutes of a double minor to Frolov, and had to be absolutely exhauste, closed his hand on the puck in an attempt to clear. From that point on, the Kings withstood the deluge, clearly outplayed for much of the rest of the game, but they hung on to win.

They were fighting Kerry Fraser in this one as well. Late in the first period, Mats Sundin took the puck in behind the net. Weaver was absolutely leveled while chasing him in one of the most blatant examples of interference I've ever seen. No penalty was called, and 10 seconds later, Norstrom was off the box for tripping. Earlier in that period, Alexander Frolov had been taken down in the Toronto zone. Frolov was called for tripping as a Leaf skated over his leg. Toward the end of the third period, A King was flagrantly tripped by a Leaf skating out of the zone, which resulted in no penalty. But, that's Kerry Fraser for you, who's always been a prick of a referee ever since he cost the Nordiques a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1985.

Back home now for some more Eastern teams. Finding a way to break the losing streak was a positive step. The Kings need to build on that and string a few wins together.

And if someone can find Frolov, Demitra, and Conroy, let them know they have a game on Thursday. They've missed the last few.

The High Dials w/ Le Concorde and Charlemagne @ Schuba's - 12/4/05

You may remember that I mentioned this band in my review of the Brian Jonestown Massacre show a few months ago. The High Dials opened for BJM that night (as did Richard Swift), but I missed pretty much all of the opening stuff, and got there in time for probably their last two songs. They sounded good, so I searched out some of their stuff, and I really like it. So a good band at a great venue for only $8? Couldn't pass it up.

The combination of the brutal cold and the fact that it was a Sunday meant that the crowd was pretty small. There couldn't have been more than 25 or 30 people for Le Concorde, about twice that for Charlemagne, and about 80-90 for the High Dials. While it would have been nice for the bands to have more people there, my selfish gene was just fine with the small crowd.

Le Concorde opened the night, and they were pretty good. Nothing earth shattering, but a nice way to pass the time. Charlemagne struck me more or less the same way. Finally at about 11:00, the High Dials took the stage. My very incomplete and very out of order setlist (more or less some stuff I remember them playing):

• Regeneration
• Fields of Glass
• TV Mystic (maybe)
• Holy Ground
• Soul in Lust
• Our Time is Coming Soon
• Strandhill Sands
• Sick With the Old Fire
• Things are Getting Better

Plus a few more. Honestly, the titles of most of their stuff aren't quite burned into my head enough to really remember all of it. And I've been listening to both A New Devotion and War of the Wakening Phantoms so much lately that it's hard to remember if I heard the songs last night or at some other time (like today at work for example). They closed with the last one on that list, and it's really an impressive number in person. Rishi, the bass player and backing vocalist, is of Indian descent (I think). He busts out the sitar for that one, and it's about a 15 minute instrumental jam around a melody from the sitar.

These guys have been touring since something like March, so I'm sure they're ready to take a break and head back to Montreal. But even after a late show on a Sunday night (they took the stage at about 11:15), they were nice enough to hang around and chat afterward. The downside was that they were pretty much out of a lot of their merch, so although I've been listening to New Devotion on Rhapsody, I couldn't buy it last night, and I'll have to get it from their website or Amazon or something.

Chatted with Thax Douglas a little bit too last night. If you've spent any time going to small venue shows in Chicago, primarily at either Schuba's or the Metro, you've probably seen Thax. He's the heavy set guy with the big beard who reads really odd poems that are supposed to somehow relate to the band that's performing. I don't get him, really, but he's a nice enough guy, good to talk to, and it's some local color, so that was kind of cool.

Honestly, I can't reccomend these guys highly enough. If you have a soft spot for jangly psychelic-style pop/rock, they're right up your alley. The new album is a little less on the psychedelic side, but the first three tracks are really a tour de force and not to be missed. So go buy their new album. You won't be disappointed.

Make that four straight

It's panic time. I missed this one because of a friend's birthday, but the Kings lose again, the "big" line doesn't do shit. It's looking like an ofer road trip. It's a long season, but it's time to start worrying. Maybe all of the pre-season predictions were accurate.

Senators 5: Kings 1; Brian "Crying Bitch" Murray -$10,000

While the puck was in play, what happened tonight didn't really surprise anyone. The Senators are very good, and the Kings are kind of OK, and playing some of their worst hockey of the season right now, so the fact that they got their ass kicked isn't exactly a surprise. Other things that aren't a surprise:

1. Brian Murray is a punk-ass little bitch, and he has been since he was in Anaheim;
2. Zdeno Chara is a bitch as well, for instigating a fight with a non-fighter who is about 10 inches smaller than he is
3. Dominik Hasek continues to be the biggest bitch in goalie gear, waiting to confront Sean Avery until he had a phalanx of teammates around him, and Avery still threw a punch
4. Chris Neil ought to sit down for about 10 games. If anyone has access to the video, watch the way he tools around center ice for a few seconds, lines Dustin Brown up, then hammers him with no provocation. It was cheap, it was dirty, and it can't be condoned by the NHL.

Right now, the Kings are not a good hockey team. Their special teams are as atrocious as they've ever been. They're completely leaving their goaltenders out to dry (memo to Matty, you need to actually go after the puck when it's behind your net). It seems like every night they hit the ice, they're playing a top goaltender, and even whent they get a rookie, they don't test him.

The good news is that they get to try to put it behind them tomorrow night against the Habs. I'll be recording it, as a friend is turning 30, and that's a great excuse to drink. Also, I hope to be celebrating the Bruins upset over U$C, and the Illini win over Xavier. But tomorrow night is the most important game in this young season for the Kings. They need to start turning things around, or things could get real ugly real fast.

Hector Cafuckingrrasco

The Angels have inked him to a two year deal worth roughly six million big ones. Not the end of the world, certainly, but not something the Angels needed to do, nor should have done. He's 36, which makes it much more likely that last year was a fluke, not a breakout, especially when you consider that he pitched in one of baseball's best pitchers parks. But why am I so down on this deal? Two words. Mark Petfuckingkovsek.

You remember Mark Petkovsek. Nice guy. Reliever. Pitched for the Angels. Came over in a trade for essentially nothing back in 1998. Pitched two years in Anaheim, one pretty good, one pretty OK. While not really a scrapheap guy, he was acquired for nothing, didn't make a ton of money (Carrasco will make slightly less from the Angels in his two years than Petkovsek made in his career). But he got the job done, then found a sucker team to sign him to a big deal, from which he was cut before his first season in Texas was over. In the meantime, the Angels got solid season from previous no-names like Brendan Donnelly, Al Levine, Lou Pote, Ben Weber, and Scot Shields. The moral of the story? Signing middle relievers to big deals is for dipshits, because they're volatile from year to year, unreliable, and no guarantee to outperform whatever journeymen flotsam and jetsam you may have in your minor leagues, or who may be available for free. That is a lesson that EVERY team should have learned from watching the Angels over the last five years. I guess it's too much to ask that for the Angels to figure it out for themselves.

Multi-year deals for middle relievers with shaky track records are foolish. It's the type of move that makes me lose a lot of faith (or least what's left of my faith) in Stoneman.

On the plus side, I'm going to take this opportunity to be the first member of the Halosphere to start calling him Pipo! I suggest the rest of you do the same.

**UPDATE**

Then again, maybe he won't be relieving. The OC Register reports the worst news of the off-season. The Angels are officially out of the Paul Byrd chase. They have withdrawn their offer. This would not be particular bad news if not for the word that Carrasco could be taking his starting role. He's started all of six games in his career. Hell, why not take the Konerko money and go after AJ Burnett if that's the case. I officially call this whole thing "stupid".

Embarrassing

Or at least, it would have been if anyone actually went to Blackhawks game. There was hardly anybody there. Walked up and paid $10 for my ticket (less than I paid for parking) and met up with an old CSHA nemesis to take in the game.

Wow, this team can really be awful at times. No life, no jump, a complete inability to string passes together, a non-existent power play, a horribly developed penalty kill (sag back, let them set it up, and hope they somehow miss just doesn't really cut it). As bad as they were against the Wings, they were worse tonight. At least the Wings are good. The Blackhawks flat out suck.

I question the logic behind playing Tambellini on the point on the power play. I realize that might be a role he fits into down the road, and I realize that they need to do something to shake up the power play, but asking a forward to take a defensive role in his first ever NHL game is a bit much. It almost burned them tonight.

The Kings have lost two games in a row for the first time this season, and it just gets tougher from here. Three more road games against three very good teams. This could be a very ugly road trip.

Konerk-No

Thank the good lord that the Angels didn't go nuts and try to top the White Sox offer. From the way it sounds, the Sox let Konerko set the market with some other teams, with an agreement in place that the Sox would then match years and dollars to an extent. Now, let's cross our fingers and hope the Angels don't do something stupid like trading Kotchman for Sweeney.

It's real simple. The Angels could improve at three positions by making none, zero, nada roster moves. Kotchman to first, Erstad to center, Rivera to left, Anderson to DH, with Figgins shuttling around the diamond to give days off here and there. This would a marked improvement offensively and defensively over what the Angels were throwing out there last season. And let me make this clear: if it takes a trade or signing to move Erstad away from first and into center, that doesn't make it a good deal. This is a move that should be patently obvious, and if the Angels brass is too stupid to realize it, that doesn't mean that we should hope for a deal to be made that forces it to happen.

Illinois 68; UNC 64 and UCLA 73; Albany 65

First of all, Nike, what the fuck. Those are the stupidest goddamn uniforms I've ever seen. I'm really getting sick of this crap where individual teams give up part of their individuality so that they can wear some stupid-ass jersey that Nike designs to look like every other Nike school. The guy from uni-watch said it best (regarding those lamed assed mismatching sleeves that some football teams wore):

The problem with all this -- aside from, y'know, its looking really, really stupid -- is that it creates an aesthetic connection between the mismatched-sleeve schools, so they all look as though they're playing for Team Nike instead of for themselves (just like all the teams that wear the wraparound rear bib, another Nike "innovation"). This not only waters down and cheapens the individual schools' visual identities but also perpetuates Nike's patently bogus notion that its own brand is more important than the teams' brands. Memo to Phil Knight: The swoosh draws its legitimacy from the teams that wear it, not the other way around.

Now that I have that off my chest, it's about seven months too late, but the Illini finally beat North Carolina. This is really the first game I've seen this year, so here are my impressions of the 2005-2006 Illini:

• Sean Pruitt is a big dude. He really looks like he's bulked up since last season. Also, he gives them versatility by allowing them to move Augie to PF and Randle to small forward if they want to go big.
• Randle is indeed a freak. Terrific athletic ability, but he can also shoot. He hit two big threes in the second half, and if he can step out and stroke it, they can field a small lineup of Brown, Jamar Smith, McBride, and Randle, giving them four shooter on the floor. Damn, I wish we'd had him last season.
  
• Marcus Arnold didn't get a lot of time, but I think he looked pretty good in the first half. More front court depth. That's going to be very important at some point this season. Mark my words, at some point, a couple of Pruitt, Augie, and Randall will foul out, and Arnold will make a big shot to win a game.
  
• Once again, it looks like the guy that everyone is touting as the best player will be overshadowed. Last year it was Dee who was outplayed by Deron. This year it looks like Augie is going to rise above Dee's hype, which is fine by me. They need his rebounding and scoring inside, and so far he's providing it.
• McBride looks a lot more active this season, and he shot the ball pretty well tonight. I'm not really worried about him, but he needs to play a big role this season.

This was a pretty sloppy game. I think the freshmen were a little awed by the bright lights of national television. They'd better get used to it. Frazier didn't really handle the ball well at all tonight. Smith missed a big free throw, although the Illini came away with a clutch rebound. In his defense, he had just come back into the game and wasn't really in rythm. This Carolina team is going to be very good in a couple of years, and they'll be pretty solid this year despite all of the player losses. Still, the Illini did lead by 14 at one point, and if this game had been in Champaign or on a neutral floor, I think the final margin would have been a little closer to that.

Still, it's weird not having the same level of intensity watching this team compared to last year. Even when we weren't #1 last year, every game was so important. I remember living and dying with every possession in the Wake Forest game last year knowing that a #1 ranking could be on the line, and that stayed around all season. We're ranked fairly high this year, but no one in their right mind believes the Illini can do anything close to what they did last season. I'm able to sit back, relax, and enjoy the game. That, of course, will all change once conference season begins.
__________________________________________________________

In Westwood, I fortunately changed the channel and watched some of the Simpsons (the episode where Homer goes to space) instead of watching the last few minutes of the first half. Albany went on a 14 point run in that span to tighten the game at the end of the half, and UCLA never pulled away until a lucky possession ended in a Luc Richard Mbah-A Mute offensive rebound and basket that more or less sealed the game. Just another in a long line of lackluster non-conference performances by the Bruins against weak opponents.

The big news, of course, is that Jordan Farmar could miss up to six weeks with a stress fracture. Darren Collison will get big minutes in his absence, which ultimately will be a good thing. It can only help his development. But this will be a very different team at the end of the year, as Farmar, Josh Shipp, and Alfred Aboya return to full health.

Speaking of full health, I've been impressed, yet not surprised, with what Ced Bozeman has given the Bruins this season. Over the first three years, the guy couldn't shoot. That's a problem when you're the point guard, because teams don't have to defend you on the perimeter. Also, he couldn't shoot free throws, which means putting the ball in his hands at the end of the game was a questionable strategy. The only way to improve one's shooting is through volume. You just have to get in the gym and shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. If there's one thing you can do while recovering from a knee injury, it's shoot. It looks like he worked very hard on it over the course of his recovery. In addition to his excellent ballhandling and athletic ability, he's become an outside threat, and a solid performer at the line. This is a major addition to the Bruins' versatility, and by the end of the season, he may be the most valuable, if not necessarily the best, player on the team.

The bad news is that we'll have to wait until February to really see this team at full strength. The good news is that they could very well be at top form for March.

Wings a bunch; Kings not so much

God Damn this team really pisses me off sometimes. Like tonight for instance.

And I like the new rules and all, but I must have missed the part where they outlawed checking.

Kings 6: Blues 3

If I've said once before. I've said it a thousand times. It's bad news for the NHL when Mick "Mr. Magoo" McGeough referees games played on ice that has been re-made following a visit by a circus.

This was a pretty ugly game. One penalty was called when Derek Armstrong pretty much just checked one of the Blues. Jeremy Roenick was called for a penalty when Doug Weight grabbed on to his stick, then threw himself to the ice. There were whistles, whistles, and more whistles. And the bad ice really kept the game from ever finding a good flow. But once again, the Kings offense stepped to the fore, and in the end, the big guns were behind the damage yet again.

Joe Corvo got it started with his first of two goals, finishing a cross-ice pass from Pavol Demitra for his second goal of the season. After the Blues tied it up, Corvo added his third goal of the season, and shortly thereafter, Belanger tipped home a Demitra shot for a two goal lead. It was short lived, as St. Louis took advantage of some lucky bounces to tie it up before the second period ended.

In the third period, the Kings finally put the game away. Michael Cammalleri picked up a power play goal, Jeremy Roenick added another right after coming out of the box, and Frolov ended the scoring with an empty netter (the Kings first of the year if my memory is correct).

Right now, the Kings are making me look like a freaking genius. Prior to the season, I drafted Frolov, Demitra, and Visnovski, who have all been fanstastic. Roenick hasn't been as good, but he picked up a valuable PP goal for me tonight, and Avery, a mid-season pickup, garnered me a few more penalty minutes.

I said the other day that I'd be happy with 8 points in the next five games. Two down, six to go. 15-6-1, nine games over .500 just 22 games into the season. I thought the Kings would exceed everyone's low expectations, but I didn't think they'd be this good. They're entertaining, and they're solid. Two years ago the Kings led the division for much of the season, but with the lack of depth and the injuries, the brave faces concealed deep fears that it was all a mirage, and the bottom fell out late in the year. This team is different. This team is playing well, and they're good. I don't think they've reached their potential yet. This is gonna be a fun season.

Super Furry Animals w/ Caribou @ the Metro - November 20, 2005

I'll get Caribou out of the way quickly. I thought they were really good. I'll probably listen to some of their stuff on Rhapsody if it's available. All I knew about them going in was that their very popular among the Pitchfork crowd, and they used to be called Manitoba until, hell I don't know, the province made them change their name or something. Anyway, very untraditional, very good set. Check them out.

Now for the headliners. This is the fourth time I've seen SFA, and every show has been absolutely fantastic. This one started off OK. SFA are at the point where they have so many albums (seven, plus a collection of B-sides) that you're almost never going to hear them play everything you want to hear them play. That's a given. And when you like a band's back catalog as much as I like theirs, it's almost impossible to not walk out slightly disappointed. But this show was special. This show will go down among the 60-75 shows I've seen as the one with the greatest encore of all time.

SFA generally open their show with some theatrics, but they upped the bar tonight. SFA always play with a big screen showing videos or just images or colors in the background. Tonight they opened with a video of someone in a golf cart wearing a jumpsuit with green lights all over it. This was set to the music from Rocky (not the 'Gonna Fly Now' one, but the one with the horns). The golf cart drove around to various locations and picked up four other guys in matching jumpsuits. At some point, the music switched to the A-Team theme, then back to Rocky. Don't know why. So the cart pulls into what is supposed to be backstage, and moments later, out come Gruff, Huw, Guto, Cian, and Daffyd all in matching green-lit jumpsuits. Pretty cool, really. So with that, let's get to the Incomplete and Out of Order Setlist® (although I think this one is pretty complete):

• International Language of Screaming
• Zoom
• Run, Christian, Run
• Golden Retriever
• Hello Sunshine
• The Horn
• Ohio Heat
• Cloudberries
• Atomik Lust
• Receptacle for the Respectable
• Ice Hockey Hair
  

At this point, they left the stage. This opening set took about an hour or so. So right about now, I'm feeling slightly disappointed, as I figure the encore can't be more than three or four songs, and there's still a lot I want to hear, although Gruff did break out the celery for "Receptacle....", so that was cool. But that's when the first few bars of 'Slow Life' started up, and the band re-took the stage for an amazing 35 more minutes of music.

• Slow Life
• Juxtaposed With You
• Lazer Beam
• Rings Around the World
• Do or Die
• Calimero
• The Man Don't Give a Fuck

It was flat out awesome. Every song I was hoping they'd still play, they played. Honestly, after hearing Ice Hockey Hair (which I never thought I'd hear live), I wasn't going to leave too upset. But this encore was simply incredible. By far the best I've seen. The 'Juxtaposed/Lazer Beam' back to back was, well, just try to listen to those songs live and not feel the need to move to the beat. It was like they were sandbagging. Just patiently setting up a terrific encore.

In true SFA style, the closed the set with "The Man Don't Give a Fuck" set to the video montage of Stalin, Moussilini, and for the first time I can remember, Duh-bya. It was a crowd favorite. After leaving the stage, the video concluded with closing credits, identifying the band members and crew (although something happened with the video and we missed the introductions of Gruff, Cian, and Daffyd). Anyway, probably the best show of the year so far, definitely in the top three.

For the non-Fanboy version of this review, go here.