Listening to the bumblebee song, made popular by DDR, i guess.......never really played that game, perhaps part of the reason i've never really known how to dance.
I AM very interested, however, with things happening in China.......I watch a bunch of contemporary TV series with my parents whenever they get them, and I try to catch up on my mandarin by speaking at home as well as watching these shows. I could see myself one day going back there if only for a vacation or for business, maybe even staying there for awhile to establish myself. That wouldn't be so bad.
Lol, well, my leisure days of the summer have officially wrapped up, as I officially start work tommorrow at the summer day camp i counselor at........Sunny skies day camp, baby! I am looking forward to all the crazy days at camp, but know that I will be exhausted upon returning home and busy as a bee on many occasions, with very little free time. Speaking of which, i'll have to get started on reviewing the camp songs.........
The NBA finals, the NBA playoffs, and NBA season all wrapped up on thursday when the spurs won Game 4 against the Cleveland Cavaliers and completed the sweep of them. What was noticeable in these playoffs was for me the number of suprises in the beginning series, what with golden state dominating the defending champ mavs and later cleveland beating detroit..........that REALLY surprised me, people were writing off cleveland after a 2-0 deficit. I was absolutely right, however, when I said at the beginning of the playoff run that the spurs would win the whole thing. When they lost game 1 to the Nuggets, I posted on the blog, i told my basketball teacher, i put in my NBA playoff bracket on nba.com, i told everybody, " the spurs will be fine. They lost to the same team in 2005 when they won the whole thing." And sure enough, they did it again this season. Sure, many will argue that they benefited from david stern suspending amare and diaw in game 5 against the suns, or that they didn't have to face the mavs, but the fact is they won, and did it convincingly. The spurs are truly a dynasty of this era and cannot be overlooked among the best teams of all time.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
midseason draft
So.........got that LSAT outta the way, and I'm pleased to say, I'm 95% sure that's the last time I'm ever gonna take it. I spent so much energy studying for the test prior to it ( pretty much took the whole month, may 11- june 10, right after the semester ended for me); I felt pretty good during the test, confident in my answers, didn't get cut off because of time ( maybe like half a question i didn't get a good look at all the answer choices), and the one section that I struggled w/ the most was, from what I've heard, the experiment, a.k.a. unscored section. Life is good. Unless I got less than 169 on that test, then I'd be pretty upset. Actually, I'm expecting around a 172, I don't want to be overly optimistic but that's really how I felt about that test.
Anyway, slow day in baseball for my fantasy teams. REAL slow day. I didn't start oliver perez, who threw 7 innings of no-run ball and the win AT Yankee Stadium. I didn't start shane victorino, who had a fantasy dream day w/ 2-5, 2R's, 2 RBI's, HR, and SB. Instead i started carl crawford, eric byrnes, and jason bay, who went a combined 2-13 w/ 2 R's. Go figure. Damn it.
The only good thing was I got a cheap win from Rafael Soriano, just like last night when alan embree got a 2-inning win. Soriano actually came into a tie game, gave up a home run, came out, and the braves scored 2 the following inning to give him the win he didn't deserve. Go figure.
I did a midseason draft on tuesday, and I dunno whose fault it was, whether it was my computer, my internet connection, yahoo, java script, my own idiocy, but i "entered live draft" and had the screen pulled up, but when my first selection came it just autopicked it. So instead of guaranteeing great pitching performances w/ johann santana ( the strategy that worked for me last year in the 2nd-half league,) I got carlos beltran, who's not bad but not doing great this year........ahh. Then hanley ramirez in 2nd round was also auto-picked, i don't feel terrible about that pick. Might have gotten matt holliday instead. Hopefully it's one of those, "O, well, that worked out in the end" kind of deals.
I'm expecting a lot of guys to step up their games in the 2nd half of the season. And they should. Miguel Tejada, Garret Atkins, the aforementioned Beltran, manny ramirez, and carlos zambrano are all guys who have had bad first halves compared w/ expectations. Albert Pujols was gonna be on that list as of 2 weeks ago, but he's stepped it up recently and mashed his way into a 120-RBI, 40-HR pace.
Guys I expect to come back to earth: Prince Fielder ( although I was wrong about ryan howard normalizing last year, and these two have a lot in common), Dan Haren ( He CANNOT sustain a 1.00- something ERA), magglio ordonez, james shields, rich hill, torii hunter, eric byrnes, francisco cordero, jose valverde. Notice that a bunch of these guys are pitchers because it only takes a few bad outings for your ERA and WHIP to get jacked way high, especially if you're at a low number now...................that thing can inflate like the pre-WWII German economy. Sorry.
But yea, be watching out for those things. And if you don't know about guys streaking and coming back down to earth or doing better after a long dry spell, it's called FANTASY BASEBALL.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Anyway, slow day in baseball for my fantasy teams. REAL slow day. I didn't start oliver perez, who threw 7 innings of no-run ball and the win AT Yankee Stadium. I didn't start shane victorino, who had a fantasy dream day w/ 2-5, 2R's, 2 RBI's, HR, and SB. Instead i started carl crawford, eric byrnes, and jason bay, who went a combined 2-13 w/ 2 R's. Go figure. Damn it.
The only good thing was I got a cheap win from Rafael Soriano, just like last night when alan embree got a 2-inning win. Soriano actually came into a tie game, gave up a home run, came out, and the braves scored 2 the following inning to give him the win he didn't deserve. Go figure.
I did a midseason draft on tuesday, and I dunno whose fault it was, whether it was my computer, my internet connection, yahoo, java script, my own idiocy, but i "entered live draft" and had the screen pulled up, but when my first selection came it just autopicked it. So instead of guaranteeing great pitching performances w/ johann santana ( the strategy that worked for me last year in the 2nd-half league,) I got carlos beltran, who's not bad but not doing great this year........ahh. Then hanley ramirez in 2nd round was also auto-picked, i don't feel terrible about that pick. Might have gotten matt holliday instead. Hopefully it's one of those, "O, well, that worked out in the end" kind of deals.
I'm expecting a lot of guys to step up their games in the 2nd half of the season. And they should. Miguel Tejada, Garret Atkins, the aforementioned Beltran, manny ramirez, and carlos zambrano are all guys who have had bad first halves compared w/ expectations. Albert Pujols was gonna be on that list as of 2 weeks ago, but he's stepped it up recently and mashed his way into a 120-RBI, 40-HR pace.
Guys I expect to come back to earth: Prince Fielder ( although I was wrong about ryan howard normalizing last year, and these two have a lot in common), Dan Haren ( He CANNOT sustain a 1.00- something ERA), magglio ordonez, james shields, rich hill, torii hunter, eric byrnes, francisco cordero, jose valverde. Notice that a bunch of these guys are pitchers because it only takes a few bad outings for your ERA and WHIP to get jacked way high, especially if you're at a low number now...................that thing can inflate like the pre-WWII German economy. Sorry.
But yea, be watching out for those things. And if you don't know about guys streaking and coming back down to earth or doing better after a long dry spell, it's called FANTASY BASEBALL.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Thursday, June 7, 2007
closing the deal
Halfway around the word, you can't stop me from loving you......................
Lol, a little ateens to get me pumped up for the LSAT.
Anyway, today's discussion focuses on closers. The prevailing evidence seems to be nowadays to "not pay for saves," that you can find them on the waiver wire, new ones come out of nowhere, set-up men get promoted, people get trades, etc. For example, just this year joakim soria, antonio alfonseca, kevin gregg, and al reyes all have 4 or more saves. Before this year i would have responded about these players, " WHO?"
But what really makes saves such an interesting art is the demotion/ promotion of closers and the mindset of different managers, whether they're willing to pull the trigger and put the better guy in the 9th instead of giving veterans more "respect." Case in point, Todd Jones. He has a bunch of saves to start the season, but just like last year, he's not holding up and has a ballooning ERA. This guy's good for about 2 months before his arm tires and you need to put a different, live arm back in. Right now i have rafael soriano, the flamethrower, and am getting frustrated by bobby cox refusing to take down bob wickman. Although, bob wickman hasn't really done anything too terrible yet. Another one: Joe Borowski.
Then there's the case of the Houston astros. Brad Lidge has been a tier-1 closer in previous seasons with great K/9 ratios, but he started the year slow, and phil garner replaced him w/ dan wheeler, who's no slouch himself. But now the roles are REVERSED and lidge is gonna replace wheeler. It's so interesting, really like a soap opera when all these different individual cases come up. Much like WWE where there's different angles and storylines involving different wrestlers/ feuds, different teams all have their unusual closer situations.
Except the following teams, of course: LA Angels, San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins, NY Mets. Barring just a freak injury, none of K-rod, Hoffman, or Big Country Joe Nathan is coming out of the closer spot. Other closers all have their questions, even mariano rivera, isringhausen, and other guys you might think are safe are not.
Brian Fuentes is not gonna be on the Colorado Rockies by the end of the year. They'll have a new closer. Jonathan Broxton got shelled tonight as the temporary closer for takashi saito. I thought he might be able to even step into the role and take over permanently, but that possibility seems to have gone awry for him.
And san antonio starts their run to another championship. Only a matter of time now. Might be one of the most one-sided NBA finals in league history.
Lol, a little ateens to get me pumped up for the LSAT.
Anyway, today's discussion focuses on closers. The prevailing evidence seems to be nowadays to "not pay for saves," that you can find them on the waiver wire, new ones come out of nowhere, set-up men get promoted, people get trades, etc. For example, just this year joakim soria, antonio alfonseca, kevin gregg, and al reyes all have 4 or more saves. Before this year i would have responded about these players, " WHO?"
But what really makes saves such an interesting art is the demotion/ promotion of closers and the mindset of different managers, whether they're willing to pull the trigger and put the better guy in the 9th instead of giving veterans more "respect." Case in point, Todd Jones. He has a bunch of saves to start the season, but just like last year, he's not holding up and has a ballooning ERA. This guy's good for about 2 months before his arm tires and you need to put a different, live arm back in. Right now i have rafael soriano, the flamethrower, and am getting frustrated by bobby cox refusing to take down bob wickman. Although, bob wickman hasn't really done anything too terrible yet. Another one: Joe Borowski.
Then there's the case of the Houston astros. Brad Lidge has been a tier-1 closer in previous seasons with great K/9 ratios, but he started the year slow, and phil garner replaced him w/ dan wheeler, who's no slouch himself. But now the roles are REVERSED and lidge is gonna replace wheeler. It's so interesting, really like a soap opera when all these different individual cases come up. Much like WWE where there's different angles and storylines involving different wrestlers/ feuds, different teams all have their unusual closer situations.
Except the following teams, of course: LA Angels, San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins, NY Mets. Barring just a freak injury, none of K-rod, Hoffman, or Big Country Joe Nathan is coming out of the closer spot. Other closers all have their questions, even mariano rivera, isringhausen, and other guys you might think are safe are not.
Brian Fuentes is not gonna be on the Colorado Rockies by the end of the year. They'll have a new closer. Jonathan Broxton got shelled tonight as the temporary closer for takashi saito. I thought he might be able to even step into the role and take over permanently, but that possibility seems to have gone awry for him.
And san antonio starts their run to another championship. Only a matter of time now. Might be one of the most one-sided NBA finals in league history.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
rich harden
Is rich harden the new kerry wood/ mark prior? As much as i love the guy, and i kno many others in fantasy land do, I do think he is very injury prone. In 2005 I had a man-crush on this guy despite some injuries, but when he was on, he was just a stud. But now? I dunno, man, i dunno. I hope the best for this guy, but he needs to put a healthy year together before i trust him.
Speaking of which, until Mark Prior puts together a healthy year, do you know what you do? You don't draft him, you don't trade for him, you don't give him any value. Cuz that's just fantasy baseball folks. The guy has not been healthy since 2003...........and that was a long time ago. I was taking the SAT's in 2003. Now I'm taking the LSAT's.
My asian brother chien ming wang threw a complete game win vs. the white sox tonight in chicago............do you kno that he finished 2nd in the AL CY Young voting last year? He had NINETEEN wins last year. I'm impressed. Anyway, he's never gonna put up great K numbers and his WHIP won't be too low, but he can be counted on for ERA and W's. As long as he plays for the Yankees. And yes he is the ace of the Yankees for now, i think MAYBE not when roger comes back but it won't be for awhile.
I still say the yankees can make the playoffs this year. Will they? Tough to say. Will they be over .500 by end of the year? Oh yes.
Who's a young, emerging arm? Ian Snell of the Pittsburgh Pirates. If only that guy were on a contending team. He has awesome stuff.
Man crush this year prototype #1: Eric Byrnes. Boy o boy I LOVE this guy! I drafted him in late rounds and has he produced! Right now he's like a 5-cat contributer, a fantasy stud. 11 SB's, 10 HR's? Where have these numbers come from? I guess in oakland he just didn't get enough opportunity, and really last year was a pretty good season. But has he EVER broken out this year. I expeted him to slump a bit after a hot april, but he is still going strong. I expect him to bat below .300, but otherwise all the other numbers should stay at their current pace.
-Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Speaking of which, until Mark Prior puts together a healthy year, do you know what you do? You don't draft him, you don't trade for him, you don't give him any value. Cuz that's just fantasy baseball folks. The guy has not been healthy since 2003...........and that was a long time ago. I was taking the SAT's in 2003. Now I'm taking the LSAT's.
My asian brother chien ming wang threw a complete game win vs. the white sox tonight in chicago............do you kno that he finished 2nd in the AL CY Young voting last year? He had NINETEEN wins last year. I'm impressed. Anyway, he's never gonna put up great K numbers and his WHIP won't be too low, but he can be counted on for ERA and W's. As long as he plays for the Yankees. And yes he is the ace of the Yankees for now, i think MAYBE not when roger comes back but it won't be for awhile.
I still say the yankees can make the playoffs this year. Will they? Tough to say. Will they be over .500 by end of the year? Oh yes.
Who's a young, emerging arm? Ian Snell of the Pittsburgh Pirates. If only that guy were on a contending team. He has awesome stuff.
Man crush this year prototype #1: Eric Byrnes. Boy o boy I LOVE this guy! I drafted him in late rounds and has he produced! Right now he's like a 5-cat contributer, a fantasy stud. 11 SB's, 10 HR's? Where have these numbers come from? I guess in oakland he just didn't get enough opportunity, and really last year was a pretty good season. But has he EVER broken out this year. I expeted him to slump a bit after a hot april, but he is still going strong. I expect him to bat below .300, but otherwise all the other numbers should stay at their current pace.
-Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
baseball
Ahh, baseball.
The good old summer days of baseball. We're in the midst of 'em, and i'm happy to report that i'm doing reasonably well in all my leagues.......................4th in my yahoo winners league but in a tight pack at the top, should be fine w/ a-rod, konerko, crawford, jason bay, eric byrnes ( suprisingly very good this year,) jeff kent, and my new favorite baseball name to say, shane victorino!
Fantasy baseball is like this, y'all: It has the most skill attached to it. It's that simple. Especially rotisseries cuz all the stats compound. You really have to play the averages and go on a very long journey to the top of the league. Sure the draft is important, but u gotta fill all these positions, both hitting and pitching, and things happen so quickly DAILY, from guys getting hurt, going on the DL, to new closers stepping in, to guys going on hot streaks, to good matchups for starting pitchers, all these things to consider, it really tests ur ability as a fantasy owner as compared to say, football, where every week each player plays ONE game, u need to set the lineup for ONE game. Baseball is the classic fantasy sport of numbers, averages, and stats. I'm drunk with enthusiasm just talking about it.
Anyway, i got the LSAT on the 11th. Somewhat nervous, shooting for a 170, it'll be a bonus if i get anything higher. But it shouldn't be any lower than, say, like a 168. I'd say that coupled with my grades should get me into UCLA law, my ideal law school right now. Not that I'm DEFINITELY going to law school.
To the stuff happening around baseball. Bengie molina quietly as 33 RBI as a catcher and is batting something ridiculous like .325. I've had the pleasure of owning him for many of those RBI and he's basicaly like the 2nd or 3rd best batter in that SF lineup.
Ryan Braun, mm, mm. If you haven't picked him up, your missing out. The Brew Crew sure like this guy, as he's got the regular 3rd base job AS WELL as the 3 spot in the order of a 1st place team that's probably going to the playoffs. That's a major upgrade, like getting a Justin Morneau.
Homer Bailey starting on Friday. My league hasn't picked him up yet. I'm itching to do it, but I always have problems with keeping players around, running out of patience, and i dunno if i'd have a roster spot for him if he struggles. So I think I'll wait. I just don't want him to become this year's liriano or jered weaver. Last year I HAD weaver for his first 2 starts, then DROPPED him! DOH! I dunno, u never kno with these young pitchers. I DID Have cole hamels, though, at the end of last year. I suspect one of these prospects being called up, whether it's Gallardo, Bailey, Kevin Slowey, Matt Garza, Phil Hughes, is gonna be a stud by next season. Who's it gonna be though?
A-Rod now has 21 homers. 50 HR+ is not a stretch, i predicted 55 HR's at the beginning of season, albeit a little high of an expectation, but it's definitely doable.
People have got to love James Shields right now. He's so consistent! Hot Carl just went 4 for 6, 4 R's, 3 RBI's, 1 HR, 1 SB. That's like a week of production in a day. Niiiiiiiiice. I need it from Carl.
Johann Santana is about to go into one of his "zones," in my estimation, where he rattles off 6 or 7 starts with below 2 ERA and miniscule WHIP. If you can, GET HIM cuz his ERA's still in the 3.00's.
Looks like jimmy rollins and adam dunn have finally started to cool off. However, the players i got back in exchange for them, one of 'em's not carrying his WEIGHT. ( that would be you, z-man.)
-Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
The good old summer days of baseball. We're in the midst of 'em, and i'm happy to report that i'm doing reasonably well in all my leagues.......................4th in my yahoo winners league but in a tight pack at the top, should be fine w/ a-rod, konerko, crawford, jason bay, eric byrnes ( suprisingly very good this year,) jeff kent, and my new favorite baseball name to say, shane victorino!
Fantasy baseball is like this, y'all: It has the most skill attached to it. It's that simple. Especially rotisseries cuz all the stats compound. You really have to play the averages and go on a very long journey to the top of the league. Sure the draft is important, but u gotta fill all these positions, both hitting and pitching, and things happen so quickly DAILY, from guys getting hurt, going on the DL, to new closers stepping in, to guys going on hot streaks, to good matchups for starting pitchers, all these things to consider, it really tests ur ability as a fantasy owner as compared to say, football, where every week each player plays ONE game, u need to set the lineup for ONE game. Baseball is the classic fantasy sport of numbers, averages, and stats. I'm drunk with enthusiasm just talking about it.
Anyway, i got the LSAT on the 11th. Somewhat nervous, shooting for a 170, it'll be a bonus if i get anything higher. But it shouldn't be any lower than, say, like a 168. I'd say that coupled with my grades should get me into UCLA law, my ideal law school right now. Not that I'm DEFINITELY going to law school.
To the stuff happening around baseball. Bengie molina quietly as 33 RBI as a catcher and is batting something ridiculous like .325. I've had the pleasure of owning him for many of those RBI and he's basicaly like the 2nd or 3rd best batter in that SF lineup.
Ryan Braun, mm, mm. If you haven't picked him up, your missing out. The Brew Crew sure like this guy, as he's got the regular 3rd base job AS WELL as the 3 spot in the order of a 1st place team that's probably going to the playoffs. That's a major upgrade, like getting a Justin Morneau.
Homer Bailey starting on Friday. My league hasn't picked him up yet. I'm itching to do it, but I always have problems with keeping players around, running out of patience, and i dunno if i'd have a roster spot for him if he struggles. So I think I'll wait. I just don't want him to become this year's liriano or jered weaver. Last year I HAD weaver for his first 2 starts, then DROPPED him! DOH! I dunno, u never kno with these young pitchers. I DID Have cole hamels, though, at the end of last year. I suspect one of these prospects being called up, whether it's Gallardo, Bailey, Kevin Slowey, Matt Garza, Phil Hughes, is gonna be a stud by next season. Who's it gonna be though?
A-Rod now has 21 homers. 50 HR+ is not a stretch, i predicted 55 HR's at the beginning of season, albeit a little high of an expectation, but it's definitely doable.
People have got to love James Shields right now. He's so consistent! Hot Carl just went 4 for 6, 4 R's, 3 RBI's, 1 HR, 1 SB. That's like a week of production in a day. Niiiiiiiiice. I need it from Carl.
Johann Santana is about to go into one of his "zones," in my estimation, where he rattles off 6 or 7 starts with below 2 ERA and miniscule WHIP. If you can, GET HIM cuz his ERA's still in the 3.00's.
Looks like jimmy rollins and adam dunn have finally started to cool off. However, the players i got back in exchange for them, one of 'em's not carrying his WEIGHT. ( that would be you, z-man.)
-Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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