First off, I wanna say that I have not read any spoilers on who the mole was, nor will I succumb to that particular temptation before the show wraps up. However, I am just absolutely convinced, with all the conviction that can exist in my 175-pound body, that Alex is the mole. And I love it.
Alex has been on my radar for a while, and I gotta say, he's done a great job being the mole. Very tricky, very tricky. As I mused about in a previous column, he did subtle sabotage in the first episode by going first and losing, attributing it to being the first one to go, and then was absolutely piss poor playing soccer. Well, we'll done w/ 4 episodes now and here are the additions: Alex sabotaged the luge game by putting up 2 apples and getting only 1 fruit correct, but blaming it smoothly on Nicole as she was the one who slipped up.
So many little things throughout have pointed to Alex, without the producers throwing a big sign on the screen that screams, "Alex is the mole!" I just don't get why people are still suspecting the other players, to be frank. Obviously, I could be wrong and just look like an idiot at the end of this, but seriously, and for that reason I've entertained ideas about it being someone else, but the signs just point to alex. If you look at it from a producer's point of view, alex in episode 1 supposedly suspected marcie in order to first establish a prime suspect, and indeed marcie was the prime supsect of the majority of the players, as voted on, until she left. Then, alex supposedly suspects nicole, the next primary suspect, and teams up with her in different challenges ( luge, piggy game) so that he can blame stuff on her. Alex never has to try too hard to sabotage missions, and many times he uses his producer-selected assets ( speaking Spanish to the natives) as a cover for his sabotage ( he gets back quickly w/ the piggies but then drops a bunch of them on the ground in an erroneous attempt to use the slingshot, which the producers probably told him to just absolutely bungle).
I'm soothed by the fact that victoria was eliminated cuz the episode before that it seemed like most boards speculated that she was the mole. Nada. My suspicions are being confirmed every week. Which leaves me to guess on a winner. I'm guessing paul is eliminated as some point cuz he trusts alex too much and is his friend, nicole might finally stop guessing wrong mole candidates like bobby and victoria, but clay and mark seem like the coalition that actually knows what it's doing. I'll go with the sentimental pick of mark, but i'd hate to see kristen win, just cuz she goes to UCLA ( haha, not really) but also cuz she seems like she's done nothing in this whole season. Honestly, very little. And people still think she's the mole? Puh-leez.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Why aren't more people watching the mole?
Yea that's the question on my mind right now. Jeez, louise, people, you're missing out on a great show! Get a move on! Yea guess i'm just disappointed in the low ratings for the mole, which are somewhat explained by its out-of-the way 10/9 c time slot.
Man, when I wrote a few posts back that I was a lil disappointed about the first episode of the mole, I didn't expect it to have such an impact! Haha, seriously, watch the mole, give it a chance, it's a quality show. Someone on another blog made a point that the mole is superior to other reality TV shows like survivor or bachelor in that viewers actually have a lot of interaction with the show; they follow along with every move of every player and decide for themselves their own list of the suspects, and the quiz that all the players are take are available online. Trying to guess at the mole is the main premise of the show. And it should be the main premise of your monday night TV viewing habits. C'mon, people!
For what it's worth, after 2 episodes I've changed my pick of mole from Clay as orignially guessed to Alex. Clay has done nothing to indicate whatsoever that he's the mole, which doesn't necessarily mean he isn't, but..........Alex has been craftily making his way through the first 4 tasks. I can easily see how the producers set it up so the first task he goes first off the waterfall ( due to alphabetical order) and misses the bag w/ the built-in excuse of being the first to fall, then does terrible in the soccer game ( seriously, i dunno what soccer league he played in, but when does a soccer player dribble around with the ball on a penalty kick?), and then subtlely messing up the flying piggies game. If I were a contestant in the season, I wouldn't put all my eggs on him, obviously, this early in the game, but the writing's on the wall. It's not a full wall yet, but there's some scribbles.
Anyway, fantasy baseball. I've had plenty of distractions this season from my favoritest game, but now i'm back and more pumped forever. But just to encourage those who've fallen off a bit from the game, I can relate. Sometimes you feel through the long, long season that it doesn't really matter whether Ichiro went 0 for 4 last night, or your top reliever ( say, Heath Bell) got rocked for 2 runs and 4 hits last night. It's such a long season that it all balances out in the end, or you feel that it's just not very significant. They didn't really have that big an impact on the game! O, and you're leading in HR's anyway, so who cares if Justin Morneau got robbed at the wall?
Well, ladies and gentlemen, lemme just tell you a lil' story: Last year, I played in a winners league that I was very passionate about, all the players in the league were active participants, things were tense. I really wanted to win. And there were a few days I felt exactly what I'd just described, a feeling of triviality, that it doesn't really matter, or I'd seen it all before. I even got bored sometimes with Carlos Beltran: I mean, the guy isn't very exciting. Well, last season I lost by 0.5 points in the Yahoo! rotisserie league after making a furious comeback the last day to gain 3.5 pts but still lose by an eyelash. What was more upsetting was the # of categories I could have gained in. Two more runs and I would have gotten another half point. 1 More home run. Couple more points in batting average. That means on any given night, I could have just made another wise move or two, guessed right on somebody getting hot or facing a familiar pitcher and taking him/ her deep. I was sure I could have squeezed another one of those situations out, but I didn't. It hurt. Therefore, fantasy players, I urge you, don't let the season's length take its toll on your participation level. It'll cost ya.
O, and don't forget to watch the mole this monday 10/9 c. It'd make my day.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Man, when I wrote a few posts back that I was a lil disappointed about the first episode of the mole, I didn't expect it to have such an impact! Haha, seriously, watch the mole, give it a chance, it's a quality show. Someone on another blog made a point that the mole is superior to other reality TV shows like survivor or bachelor in that viewers actually have a lot of interaction with the show; they follow along with every move of every player and decide for themselves their own list of the suspects, and the quiz that all the players are take are available online. Trying to guess at the mole is the main premise of the show. And it should be the main premise of your monday night TV viewing habits. C'mon, people!
For what it's worth, after 2 episodes I've changed my pick of mole from Clay as orignially guessed to Alex. Clay has done nothing to indicate whatsoever that he's the mole, which doesn't necessarily mean he isn't, but..........Alex has been craftily making his way through the first 4 tasks. I can easily see how the producers set it up so the first task he goes first off the waterfall ( due to alphabetical order) and misses the bag w/ the built-in excuse of being the first to fall, then does terrible in the soccer game ( seriously, i dunno what soccer league he played in, but when does a soccer player dribble around with the ball on a penalty kick?), and then subtlely messing up the flying piggies game. If I were a contestant in the season, I wouldn't put all my eggs on him, obviously, this early in the game, but the writing's on the wall. It's not a full wall yet, but there's some scribbles.
Anyway, fantasy baseball. I've had plenty of distractions this season from my favoritest game, but now i'm back and more pumped forever. But just to encourage those who've fallen off a bit from the game, I can relate. Sometimes you feel through the long, long season that it doesn't really matter whether Ichiro went 0 for 4 last night, or your top reliever ( say, Heath Bell) got rocked for 2 runs and 4 hits last night. It's such a long season that it all balances out in the end, or you feel that it's just not very significant. They didn't really have that big an impact on the game! O, and you're leading in HR's anyway, so who cares if Justin Morneau got robbed at the wall?
Well, ladies and gentlemen, lemme just tell you a lil' story: Last year, I played in a winners league that I was very passionate about, all the players in the league were active participants, things were tense. I really wanted to win. And there were a few days I felt exactly what I'd just described, a feeling of triviality, that it doesn't really matter, or I'd seen it all before. I even got bored sometimes with Carlos Beltran: I mean, the guy isn't very exciting. Well, last season I lost by 0.5 points in the Yahoo! rotisserie league after making a furious comeback the last day to gain 3.5 pts but still lose by an eyelash. What was more upsetting was the # of categories I could have gained in. Two more runs and I would have gotten another half point. 1 More home run. Couple more points in batting average. That means on any given night, I could have just made another wise move or two, guessed right on somebody getting hot or facing a familiar pitcher and taking him/ her deep. I was sure I could have squeezed another one of those situations out, but I didn't. It hurt. Therefore, fantasy players, I urge you, don't let the season's length take its toll on your participation level. It'll cost ya.
O, and don't forget to watch the mole this monday 10/9 c. It'd make my day.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Cubs-Dodgers
Eh. Super. So went to the Sunday Night baseball game at dodgers stadium, not much to report. Cubs win, take a split in Los Angeles, but the game was pretty boring, IMO. Got off to a fun start w/ DeRosa homering immediately and then the Blue Crew answering in the bottom, but it was pretty much downhill from there. Marquis actually had a good outing tonight? Wow. He is the one guy u can rely on to allow 3 ER's or more, and he gives up a measly unearned run tonight. Go figure.
Anyway, the real value was teaching my 11-year-old sister about baseball, a subject in which she actually seemed interested, asked genuine questions, it was a good time. It's definitely a step up from me trying to explain finance to someone; while explaining baseball i don't have to worry about retracting something i said 5 minutes ago after I get asked a rebuking question.
The rundown tonight: ( one piece of fantasy tidbit per game):
1.) NYY beat KC 6-3: People forget how good Jason Giambi once was. He fell off a bit the last few years w/ injuries and such, but in 2006 he hit 37 homers and 110 RBI's in just 484 AB's. He has a lotta opportunity for production.
2.) Det beat Cle 5-2: Maybe the reason both struggle is that neither leadoff hitter is really a leadoff hitter: they hit more home runs than they should, could probably put them in 3 hole or elsewhere ( granderson and sizemore)
3.) Tor beat Bal 5-4: Roy Halladay has to pitch more innings than anyone. Ever.
4.) Fla beat Cin 9-2: Corey Patterson still on that team? He got a pinch-hit HR today, apparently. The man-child HanRam racking up 2.
5.) Pitt def. Ariz 6-4: The Max Scherzer experiment officially over for me. Not starting anymore and not dominating batters enough.
6.) San Fran beat Wash 6-3: Lastings Millege watch: HR ( ding). Brian Wilson impressively w/ 17 saves, on pace for close to 50.
7.) Philly 6-3 over atl: Add Ryan Howard to that list of peeps u need to buy low on. NOW! Before it's too late.
8.) Bos 2-1 over sea: Told u about JD Drew yesterday. Justin Masterson is a good-looking young arm, but again, don't be too enamoured by the good starts so far. It'll normalize.
9.) Two pitchers to look at in St. Louis 5-4 over Houston: Wandy Rodriguez the starter for Houston, Ryan Franklin closer for STL taking over maybe permanently.
10.) CHW over Min 12-2: Joe Crede has a magnet in his bat. Check his bat! Check his bat! He's hitting everything.
11.) MIL 3-2 over Col. I looked at this box score and saw NOTHING really notable. If I had to take anyone in that depleted rockies lineup i'd get atkins.
12.) Oakland 7-3 over angels, on a walkoff grandslam by mark ellis, i believe.
That's one guy who's a great baseball player, not so great fantasy wise. Ervin Santana might make me regret trading him for carlos guillen by the end of the season.
13.) San Diego over NYM 8-6: There goes Jose Reyes on the basepaths. But there might go Willie Randolph's job after a sweep in San Diego.
14.) Texas over Tampa 6-3: Milton Bradley: Wild thing! You make my heart sing!
That's it. It's over. It's all over.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Anyway, the real value was teaching my 11-year-old sister about baseball, a subject in which she actually seemed interested, asked genuine questions, it was a good time. It's definitely a step up from me trying to explain finance to someone; while explaining baseball i don't have to worry about retracting something i said 5 minutes ago after I get asked a rebuking question.
The rundown tonight: ( one piece of fantasy tidbit per game):
1.) NYY beat KC 6-3: People forget how good Jason Giambi once was. He fell off a bit the last few years w/ injuries and such, but in 2006 he hit 37 homers and 110 RBI's in just 484 AB's. He has a lotta opportunity for production.
2.) Det beat Cle 5-2: Maybe the reason both struggle is that neither leadoff hitter is really a leadoff hitter: they hit more home runs than they should, could probably put them in 3 hole or elsewhere ( granderson and sizemore)
3.) Tor beat Bal 5-4: Roy Halladay has to pitch more innings than anyone. Ever.
4.) Fla beat Cin 9-2: Corey Patterson still on that team? He got a pinch-hit HR today, apparently. The man-child HanRam racking up 2.
5.) Pitt def. Ariz 6-4: The Max Scherzer experiment officially over for me. Not starting anymore and not dominating batters enough.
6.) San Fran beat Wash 6-3: Lastings Millege watch: HR ( ding). Brian Wilson impressively w/ 17 saves, on pace for close to 50.
7.) Philly 6-3 over atl: Add Ryan Howard to that list of peeps u need to buy low on. NOW! Before it's too late.
8.) Bos 2-1 over sea: Told u about JD Drew yesterday. Justin Masterson is a good-looking young arm, but again, don't be too enamoured by the good starts so far. It'll normalize.
9.) Two pitchers to look at in St. Louis 5-4 over Houston: Wandy Rodriguez the starter for Houston, Ryan Franklin closer for STL taking over maybe permanently.
10.) CHW over Min 12-2: Joe Crede has a magnet in his bat. Check his bat! Check his bat! He's hitting everything.
11.) MIL 3-2 over Col. I looked at this box score and saw NOTHING really notable. If I had to take anyone in that depleted rockies lineup i'd get atkins.
12.) Oakland 7-3 over angels, on a walkoff grandslam by mark ellis, i believe.
That's one guy who's a great baseball player, not so great fantasy wise. Ervin Santana might make me regret trading him for carlos guillen by the end of the season.
13.) San Diego over NYM 8-6: There goes Jose Reyes on the basepaths. But there might go Willie Randolph's job after a sweep in San Diego.
14.) Texas over Tampa 6-3: Milton Bradley: Wild thing! You make my heart sing!
That's it. It's over. It's all over.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Josephine Kao
More than a week after the 2008 National Spelling Bee, I have some lingering thoughts about it, especially to a certain "sphendone"-ousted speller.
But first, just wanted all to know I will be at the Chicago Cubs- LA Dodgers game tomorrow. I'm expecting a cubbies win after consecutive losses to the Blue Crew to split the series, but it's Jason Marquis pitching, haven't been too impressed with him all year.
Btw, right now is a great time to be talking about that "buy low" stuff in fantasy baseball. So many great opportunities present themselves, and chances are you have a dude on your team right now who's done quite well that will go into a slump soon that you find saying, "what am i still doing with this guy?"
Anyway, guys I'd target nowadays are Carlos Beltran ( those homers have gotta start coming), Alex Rodriguez ( uh, he's was a monster last year, guys), Jose Reyes ( should be super-thief in 2nd half), Matt Holliday ( while injured), and Jake Peavy on the pitching front ( again, while injured).
Btw, JD Drew is a solid pickup as he will try to be the new David Ortiz of the Boston lineup, which he won't do but he'll have the same number of run-scoring chances.
Okay, so after reading some news on the National Spelling Bee that came across an article that described Josephine Kao as being devastated after being eliminated in the 7th round at the NSB and "having to process all of it" before deciding whether to compete in next year's bee ( She was a 7th grader this year and has one more year of eligibility left). I apologize if these statements were taken out of context by a reporter, Josephine, but here's my message to you if the above was true:
Do the spelling bee next year. I don't purport to know what it feels like to study for the national spelling bee year after year like you have, nor what the pressure is in washington D.C. during competition. However, I do know a little bit about missed opportunities. I would sacrifice a lot to go back in time and be able to compete in the NSB. I, unfortunately, never had a chance to be in the NSB. If this is something that you truly love, that you want to compete, the opportunity won't come again. Never again will you be able to compete in the National Spelling Bee, and if you quit now all your life you'll wonder, if I studied that last year for it, would I have won? It might not seem like a big thing to bypass now at age 13, but being a national spelling champ will carry with you throughout your life, something you can look back on and say, "I achieved that, I succeeded." And that's a mighty thing to be able to say you did. I personally can look back and say, " I achieved straight A's or I won individual awards in state chess," but nothing compares to the prestige of being the ONLY WINNER of THAT YEAR in the COUNTRY. You will truly be, quoting a winning word of a spelling bee, "nonpareil."
Your motivation doesn't even need to be just winning. You've gone 3 times, finished in a better position every time, and ending your spelling career w/ a top 10 finish will be nothing to scoff at, coupled with your 4-year resume of work: A 47th, a 16th, a 13th.
But if winning is your main motivation, you got a good chance. Look at the spelling bees from 2005 on. Every time, the favorite didn't win, but a repeater who was had substantial experience did win. In 2006 and 2007, Samir Patel was the favorite, but got out, and long-time repeaters Kerry Close and Evan Dorney took it home. In 2008 a trio of favorites ( Thomas, Evans, Shivashankar) all fell, but a 4-timer Mishra won. In 2009, Kavya Shivashankar will be the ESPN favorite, the crowd favorite, the odds-on candidate, whatever, but she will get all the attention, and you can quietly operate under all that pressure, knowing full well you're probably just as prepared as she is even though she placed slightly higher the last few years.
Truly, there's a reason why every winning speller in the last decade had at least some experience in the previous years. It takes a lot of time and energy just to GET to bee-ready level, going through the Consolidated Words List of 23,000 gnarly words, as well as learning essential Greek and Latin roots. However, for returners, especially FOUR-TIMERS, you've already done all that. All you have to do is review those words, make sure you don't forget them, then focus on your weaknesses, or new words in the addendums, or anything you want, building on your skill level. It's truly a great advantage, and next year you'll be one of few to have it.
Therefore, don't be afraid of pulling a samir patel or matthew evans and placing worse than you did the year before. That happens very rarely, as the first 5 rounds are jam packed with CWL words, or at least words you can figure out using roots. It'd take something very serious to knock you out, and there's probably one in a thousand words in the first few rounds that can. After that it's all on your own, with a little luck involved. Hey, luck worked against you this year when you got a tough one w/ sphendone while others got some fat pitches to hit. All you need is a little recompensatory luck in 2009.
Why am I saying all this, you might ask. Well, as a recently-turned 21-year-old, I should be worried about a lot of other things. However, when I see a competition like the NSB bring out the best in spellers, allow their intelligence, skill, and spelling savvy to shine through, I feel a sense of pride and yearning for each of you to do well. Selfishly, I also like the storylines of "who's coming back next year," who's determined this year, basically the journey of one's experience leading him/her to one of the most prestigious awards they can ever receive. O and I'd like a fellow Californian to win it ( and fellow Asian/oriental at that, haha). So, Josephine Kao, I encourage you to pursue your dream of becoming the national spelling bee champion for one more year. You'll have at least one ardent fan here.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
But first, just wanted all to know I will be at the Chicago Cubs- LA Dodgers game tomorrow. I'm expecting a cubbies win after consecutive losses to the Blue Crew to split the series, but it's Jason Marquis pitching, haven't been too impressed with him all year.
Btw, right now is a great time to be talking about that "buy low" stuff in fantasy baseball. So many great opportunities present themselves, and chances are you have a dude on your team right now who's done quite well that will go into a slump soon that you find saying, "what am i still doing with this guy?"
Anyway, guys I'd target nowadays are Carlos Beltran ( those homers have gotta start coming), Alex Rodriguez ( uh, he's was a monster last year, guys), Jose Reyes ( should be super-thief in 2nd half), Matt Holliday ( while injured), and Jake Peavy on the pitching front ( again, while injured).
Btw, JD Drew is a solid pickup as he will try to be the new David Ortiz of the Boston lineup, which he won't do but he'll have the same number of run-scoring chances.
Okay, so after reading some news on the National Spelling Bee that came across an article that described Josephine Kao as being devastated after being eliminated in the 7th round at the NSB and "having to process all of it" before deciding whether to compete in next year's bee ( She was a 7th grader this year and has one more year of eligibility left). I apologize if these statements were taken out of context by a reporter, Josephine, but here's my message to you if the above was true:
Do the spelling bee next year. I don't purport to know what it feels like to study for the national spelling bee year after year like you have, nor what the pressure is in washington D.C. during competition. However, I do know a little bit about missed opportunities. I would sacrifice a lot to go back in time and be able to compete in the NSB. I, unfortunately, never had a chance to be in the NSB. If this is something that you truly love, that you want to compete, the opportunity won't come again. Never again will you be able to compete in the National Spelling Bee, and if you quit now all your life you'll wonder, if I studied that last year for it, would I have won? It might not seem like a big thing to bypass now at age 13, but being a national spelling champ will carry with you throughout your life, something you can look back on and say, "I achieved that, I succeeded." And that's a mighty thing to be able to say you did. I personally can look back and say, " I achieved straight A's or I won individual awards in state chess," but nothing compares to the prestige of being the ONLY WINNER of THAT YEAR in the COUNTRY. You will truly be, quoting a winning word of a spelling bee, "nonpareil."
Your motivation doesn't even need to be just winning. You've gone 3 times, finished in a better position every time, and ending your spelling career w/ a top 10 finish will be nothing to scoff at, coupled with your 4-year resume of work: A 47th, a 16th, a 13th.
But if winning is your main motivation, you got a good chance. Look at the spelling bees from 2005 on. Every time, the favorite didn't win, but a repeater who was had substantial experience did win. In 2006 and 2007, Samir Patel was the favorite, but got out, and long-time repeaters Kerry Close and Evan Dorney took it home. In 2008 a trio of favorites ( Thomas, Evans, Shivashankar) all fell, but a 4-timer Mishra won. In 2009, Kavya Shivashankar will be the ESPN favorite, the crowd favorite, the odds-on candidate, whatever, but she will get all the attention, and you can quietly operate under all that pressure, knowing full well you're probably just as prepared as she is even though she placed slightly higher the last few years.
Truly, there's a reason why every winning speller in the last decade had at least some experience in the previous years. It takes a lot of time and energy just to GET to bee-ready level, going through the Consolidated Words List of 23,000 gnarly words, as well as learning essential Greek and Latin roots. However, for returners, especially FOUR-TIMERS, you've already done all that. All you have to do is review those words, make sure you don't forget them, then focus on your weaknesses, or new words in the addendums, or anything you want, building on your skill level. It's truly a great advantage, and next year you'll be one of few to have it.
Therefore, don't be afraid of pulling a samir patel or matthew evans and placing worse than you did the year before. That happens very rarely, as the first 5 rounds are jam packed with CWL words, or at least words you can figure out using roots. It'd take something very serious to knock you out, and there's probably one in a thousand words in the first few rounds that can. After that it's all on your own, with a little luck involved. Hey, luck worked against you this year when you got a tough one w/ sphendone while others got some fat pitches to hit. All you need is a little recompensatory luck in 2009.
Why am I saying all this, you might ask. Well, as a recently-turned 21-year-old, I should be worried about a lot of other things. However, when I see a competition like the NSB bring out the best in spellers, allow their intelligence, skill, and spelling savvy to shine through, I feel a sense of pride and yearning for each of you to do well. Selfishly, I also like the storylines of "who's coming back next year," who's determined this year, basically the journey of one's experience leading him/her to one of the most prestigious awards they can ever receive. O and I'd like a fellow Californian to win it ( and fellow Asian/oriental at that, haha). So, Josephine Kao, I encourage you to pursue your dream of becoming the national spelling bee champion for one more year. You'll have at least one ardent fan here.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Beast Wars
Back in the late 1990's, when i was just getting through middle school, there was a nice little animated TV series on UPN that aired for three seasons in the morning during school time, and I loved it. It was called Beast Wars, a spin-off of the popular transformers series.
I still love it. The entire series is posted on YouTube by some magnanimous soul, and I applaude him/her. Anyway, it's a great watch even for a cartoon, as there's great battling, good story lines, funny voices, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, even a love story ( better than the soaps, eh?), and popular media references. In 3 different scenes, Dinobot quotes Hamlet. Ex: when dying, Dinobot quotes, " The rest is silence." Found courtesy of Ali Godil. Check it out if you're like me and have a bit of free time in the summer.
Chien- Ming Wang is like the spark of the Yankees rotation: Can't live without him ( The Beast wars bots had sparks as hearts). Anyway, the guy is just so steady especially for a team that always has problems with pitching, injuries, and so forth. 19 wins the last 2 seasons, ERA under 4, pitches in one of the most stressful sports markets in America, gotta love'em. Again, i think i mentioned it before, he was 2nd in voting for AL Cy Young a couple years ago. And he's only 28. He's got a bright future. He's Taiwanese, btw, not Chinese, altho some would argue that those are the same nationality.
Mike Mussina and Greg Maddux might be on the verge of bounceback years, while John Smoltz on the verge of retiring. Sad about Smoltz, as he's had an illustrious career but might end it on a BS, blown save. Maddux's peripherals are so far really awesome, while Mussina's 8 wins lead the AL, i think.
Whatever happened to Alex Rios? I just looked at his stats and he'd be like a 4th outfielder in fantasy leagues. 3 hr's? .266? Not gonna get the job done, man.
Jorge Posada back in the Yankees lineup today, or as my friend Justin calls him, George Posada. He woulda had 20 Hr's in a full season, I'll say 15 as a rough estimate for this year. Still real good for a catcher.
Ryan Howard 2006 NL MVP, Jimmy Rollins 2007 NL MVP, Chase Utley 2008 NL MVP?? Sure looks like it. After his big tear in april, thought he'd regress a little bit, but he's still hammering homers all over the ballpark, to the tune of a major-league leading 21. We're in early June.
May be the last time i ever talk about a washington national: I think Lastings Milleage is in the right place. Go out to a low-market team, no pressure to succeed, get your game developed, bat in the prime hitting spots in the lineup, live up to 1st round draft pick hype, become future star. Or be a bust. Either way.
Milleage could follow in the prototype of Adrian Gonzalez, former overall #1 pick: Sweet swing, man.
As I write this Milleage gets picked off of first. Great!
My friend Arsalaan and I applied for the Amazing Race 14, long shot if any but the only sure thing is if you DON't apply you have ZERO shot of making it, so we did under a "Harold and Kumar" theme. Btw, if you haven't seen H+K 2, i'd still recommend it although people didn't think it was as good as the first one? Where'd they get that idea?
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
I still love it. The entire series is posted on YouTube by some magnanimous soul, and I applaude him/her. Anyway, it's a great watch even for a cartoon, as there's great battling, good story lines, funny voices, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, even a love story ( better than the soaps, eh?), and popular media references. In 3 different scenes, Dinobot quotes Hamlet. Ex: when dying, Dinobot quotes, " The rest is silence." Found courtesy of Ali Godil. Check it out if you're like me and have a bit of free time in the summer.
Chien- Ming Wang is like the spark of the Yankees rotation: Can't live without him ( The Beast wars bots had sparks as hearts). Anyway, the guy is just so steady especially for a team that always has problems with pitching, injuries, and so forth. 19 wins the last 2 seasons, ERA under 4, pitches in one of the most stressful sports markets in America, gotta love'em. Again, i think i mentioned it before, he was 2nd in voting for AL Cy Young a couple years ago. And he's only 28. He's got a bright future. He's Taiwanese, btw, not Chinese, altho some would argue that those are the same nationality.
Mike Mussina and Greg Maddux might be on the verge of bounceback years, while John Smoltz on the verge of retiring. Sad about Smoltz, as he's had an illustrious career but might end it on a BS, blown save. Maddux's peripherals are so far really awesome, while Mussina's 8 wins lead the AL, i think.
Whatever happened to Alex Rios? I just looked at his stats and he'd be like a 4th outfielder in fantasy leagues. 3 hr's? .266? Not gonna get the job done, man.
Jorge Posada back in the Yankees lineup today, or as my friend Justin calls him, George Posada. He woulda had 20 Hr's in a full season, I'll say 15 as a rough estimate for this year. Still real good for a catcher.
Ryan Howard 2006 NL MVP, Jimmy Rollins 2007 NL MVP, Chase Utley 2008 NL MVP?? Sure looks like it. After his big tear in april, thought he'd regress a little bit, but he's still hammering homers all over the ballpark, to the tune of a major-league leading 21. We're in early June.
May be the last time i ever talk about a washington national: I think Lastings Milleage is in the right place. Go out to a low-market team, no pressure to succeed, get your game developed, bat in the prime hitting spots in the lineup, live up to 1st round draft pick hype, become future star. Or be a bust. Either way.
Milleage could follow in the prototype of Adrian Gonzalez, former overall #1 pick: Sweet swing, man.
As I write this Milleage gets picked off of first. Great!
My friend Arsalaan and I applied for the Amazing Race 14, long shot if any but the only sure thing is if you DON't apply you have ZERO shot of making it, so we did under a "Harold and Kumar" theme. Btw, if you haven't seen H+K 2, i'd still recommend it although people didn't think it was as good as the first one? Where'd they get that idea?
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Just another day in June
For this blog's 100th post ever, I thought I'd get back to the basics: straight fantasy baseball. Classic time in fantasy baseball too: Midseason approaching, all the teams gelling, contenders separated from pretenders, fantasy studs and fantasy duds proving themselves as such.
Zack Greinke: Fantasy dud, pretty much. Got off to a great start, but he's more of a control pitcher, doesn't miss a lot of bats, and plays on a terrible team. That means little K's, little W's to compensate, so if his ERA and WHIP ( peripherals) aren't great he's worthless. He's starting to become worthless after he gave up 8 ER.
Brandon Webb: Fantasy stud. Man o man, has he turned into a fantasy powerhouse. Never really gets injured cuz he's a groundball pitcher, posts elite numbers every year, should be even better in W's this year on the D'backs. And he shares the fantasy guru ( yours truly)'s birthday, May 9th.
Josh Hamilton: Wow, where has this guy been all my life? Homered for the 4th straight game today, anchors the best offense in the game, period. Look at his stats and let your jaw drop. And he's not a one hit wonder. We're watching the blossoming of a fantasy force for the next 10 years.
On the same team, Ian Kinsler's success pretty much tied to JHam's, he gets the runs and SB's while Joshy gets the mashing done behind him. He has 16 stolen bases in 16 attempts, so u figure he has the green light 50% of the time, all the time. ( actually, really just all the time).
David Ortiz out for at least a month, maybe for the season? Ouch. Honestly, though, you could somewhat see that coming. He's had some wear and tear the last few seasons, and chronic problems that's lowered his power production
The Bruce, the bruce, the bruce was on fire! Reds superprospect Jay Bruce finally cooled down and ONLY hit 1 for 3 today. The kid is ridiculous and has jumped out of the gate, but he wasn't good enuff for me not to trade him and randy johnson for adam dunn. All signs point to rookies struggling in their first years, but tell that to ryan braun last year.
Law school as a home? PRE-posterous! Ha ha, listening to 2007 speech by Ronald Garet at USC Law. Going there this fall, as far as i know, and am excited. Incidentally, I have a Illinois vs. USC 2008 rose bowl shirt that pretty much symbolizes my transition from undergrad to law school. Awesome. Now move on to more fantasy, you say. Will do.
Saw major league and major league 2 in the last few weeks about the cleveland indians and "wild thing," winning the division and going to the world series. And lemme tell ya, the 2008 version ain't it. Just for proof, look at the offense. This is not just a fantasy-inept lineup but just inept lineup. Victor Martinez has ZERO home runs yet? Travis Hafner's on the DL, David Delluci routinely hits in the 3-hole ( today it was Ben Francisco, of all people), Garko and Casey Blake doing virtually nothing, and Sizemore not really being a leadoff hitter that they need ( he's still alright fantasy-wise, though, i admit). Dump these guys and any cleveland pitching u might have. ( That includes cliff lee, whose robust start is built mainly on pixie dust).
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Zack Greinke: Fantasy dud, pretty much. Got off to a great start, but he's more of a control pitcher, doesn't miss a lot of bats, and plays on a terrible team. That means little K's, little W's to compensate, so if his ERA and WHIP ( peripherals) aren't great he's worthless. He's starting to become worthless after he gave up 8 ER.
Brandon Webb: Fantasy stud. Man o man, has he turned into a fantasy powerhouse. Never really gets injured cuz he's a groundball pitcher, posts elite numbers every year, should be even better in W's this year on the D'backs. And he shares the fantasy guru ( yours truly)'s birthday, May 9th.
Josh Hamilton: Wow, where has this guy been all my life? Homered for the 4th straight game today, anchors the best offense in the game, period. Look at his stats and let your jaw drop. And he's not a one hit wonder. We're watching the blossoming of a fantasy force for the next 10 years.
On the same team, Ian Kinsler's success pretty much tied to JHam's, he gets the runs and SB's while Joshy gets the mashing done behind him. He has 16 stolen bases in 16 attempts, so u figure he has the green light 50% of the time, all the time. ( actually, really just all the time).
David Ortiz out for at least a month, maybe for the season? Ouch. Honestly, though, you could somewhat see that coming. He's had some wear and tear the last few seasons, and chronic problems that's lowered his power production
The Bruce, the bruce, the bruce was on fire! Reds superprospect Jay Bruce finally cooled down and ONLY hit 1 for 3 today. The kid is ridiculous and has jumped out of the gate, but he wasn't good enuff for me not to trade him and randy johnson for adam dunn. All signs point to rookies struggling in their first years, but tell that to ryan braun last year.
Law school as a home? PRE-posterous! Ha ha, listening to 2007 speech by Ronald Garet at USC Law. Going there this fall, as far as i know, and am excited. Incidentally, I have a Illinois vs. USC 2008 rose bowl shirt that pretty much symbolizes my transition from undergrad to law school. Awesome. Now move on to more fantasy, you say. Will do.
Saw major league and major league 2 in the last few weeks about the cleveland indians and "wild thing," winning the division and going to the world series. And lemme tell ya, the 2008 version ain't it. Just for proof, look at the offense. This is not just a fantasy-inept lineup but just inept lineup. Victor Martinez has ZERO home runs yet? Travis Hafner's on the DL, David Delluci routinely hits in the 3-hole ( today it was Ben Francisco, of all people), Garko and Casey Blake doing virtually nothing, and Sizemore not really being a leadoff hitter that they need ( he's still alright fantasy-wise, though, i admit). Dump these guys and any cleveland pitching u might have. ( That includes cliff lee, whose robust start is built mainly on pixie dust).
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Monday, June 2, 2008
The Return of the Mole
Tonight was the return from a lengthy hiatus of The Mole, one of my absolutely endeared shows... and as excited as I was about it coming back to TV, I gotta say, I was a little disappointed. Now, granted, I know for sure already that this season's gonna be better than the 2 celebrity seasons that really killed the series the first time around, but not as good so far as Mole 2, which I guess is why I'm a little disappointed.
Really, what I wanted from the mole was not too big of a difference from Mole 2 next betrayal, which to me is THE best season of television ever ( no joke, don't try and talk me out of it, y'all.) I wanted them to stay w/ the concept, cast interesting/ intelligent people instead of some of the ratings-hogs on some of the other networks. The 2 big things that stand out for me after watching the first episode this year is that a.) the difference in host is noticeable. b.) the musical score is noticeable.
Now a), i think everyone'd agree w/ me that anderson cooper was just a terrific host of mole and mole 2, really kept the show going, was as funny as he was professional and participated fully in the show. So far, i don't get that same feeling from jon kelley, the new guy. Obviously, he has time to grow on me. So too does the music. It's a little biased coming from me who owns the mole soundtrack from the first 2 seasons, but i thought the music this season got newer but not better. The elimination music especially in mole 2 is one of the most suspenseful things I've ever witnessed, and this one doesn't do it for me yet.
As for the actual show, i'll plant a seed of doubt for those who think they already know who el mole is: the mole historian ( a.k.a. yours truly) says that The first 2 moles, there was no sign of mole behavior from the actual mole in the first episode. In mole 1, kathryn actually helped SAVE a task in the first episode and didn't look suspicious at all. In mole 2, Bill was the assigner of tasks and didn't really seem like he did anything to influence the decision, doing the logical thing of leaving the swing for life ( by far the scariest task ) w/ no money.
So this time, in mole 3 ( or mole 5, whatever number shall be assigned) there's a difference between what the producers want me to see and what I want to believe. I say that chances are good that any of the peeps mentioned as potential suspects that did suspicious behavior aren't the mole and that he/ she's lying in the weeds so far. And he/ she really didn't need that much help, there was so much bungling it was ridiculous. Paul is trying so hard to look like the mole ( putrid effort on both tasks) that he can't be the mole, bobby playing the dorothy card not being athletically fit at all, mark the history teacher not getting the robinson crusoe items correct, craig being the guy w/ the easy excuse not to be the mole, all those guys i don't suspect. Obviously i don't know definitely who the mole IS, though, definitely, so I'll just throw it out there and say that Clay is the mole. Time for a minority to get a crack, and he had absolutely no suspicious activity this first ep. So if he is indeed it, you heard it here, first, y'all.
And in baseball news, Adrian Gonzalez hit his 17th homer of the season. This after i traded him in both of the leagues i had him thinking his hot start would cool down because of his team's deficiencies. Yippee.
Jay bruce homered again. Yippee of the non-sarcastic fashion.
Mark Prior out for another season. Anyone wanna bet his career's over?
O and one more thing about the mole. Please watch this season. All the grumbling I had about the mole earlier pale in comparison to how much i actually adore this show, particulary the entire concept of building up money with a traitor in the midst, with the real challenge the social game instead of the monetary part. So please watch this season, as solid viewership will greatly enhance its likelihood of getting picked up again, and let's hope that it will instead of such roaring successes like " the next great inventor" or "the nine."
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Really, what I wanted from the mole was not too big of a difference from Mole 2 next betrayal, which to me is THE best season of television ever ( no joke, don't try and talk me out of it, y'all.) I wanted them to stay w/ the concept, cast interesting/ intelligent people instead of some of the ratings-hogs on some of the other networks. The 2 big things that stand out for me after watching the first episode this year is that a.) the difference in host is noticeable. b.) the musical score is noticeable.
Now a), i think everyone'd agree w/ me that anderson cooper was just a terrific host of mole and mole 2, really kept the show going, was as funny as he was professional and participated fully in the show. So far, i don't get that same feeling from jon kelley, the new guy. Obviously, he has time to grow on me. So too does the music. It's a little biased coming from me who owns the mole soundtrack from the first 2 seasons, but i thought the music this season got newer but not better. The elimination music especially in mole 2 is one of the most suspenseful things I've ever witnessed, and this one doesn't do it for me yet.
As for the actual show, i'll plant a seed of doubt for those who think they already know who el mole is: the mole historian ( a.k.a. yours truly) says that The first 2 moles, there was no sign of mole behavior from the actual mole in the first episode. In mole 1, kathryn actually helped SAVE a task in the first episode and didn't look suspicious at all. In mole 2, Bill was the assigner of tasks and didn't really seem like he did anything to influence the decision, doing the logical thing of leaving the swing for life ( by far the scariest task ) w/ no money.
So this time, in mole 3 ( or mole 5, whatever number shall be assigned) there's a difference between what the producers want me to see and what I want to believe. I say that chances are good that any of the peeps mentioned as potential suspects that did suspicious behavior aren't the mole and that he/ she's lying in the weeds so far. And he/ she really didn't need that much help, there was so much bungling it was ridiculous. Paul is trying so hard to look like the mole ( putrid effort on both tasks) that he can't be the mole, bobby playing the dorothy card not being athletically fit at all, mark the history teacher not getting the robinson crusoe items correct, craig being the guy w/ the easy excuse not to be the mole, all those guys i don't suspect. Obviously i don't know definitely who the mole IS, though, definitely, so I'll just throw it out there and say that Clay is the mole. Time for a minority to get a crack, and he had absolutely no suspicious activity this first ep. So if he is indeed it, you heard it here, first, y'all.
And in baseball news, Adrian Gonzalez hit his 17th homer of the season. This after i traded him in both of the leagues i had him thinking his hot start would cool down because of his team's deficiencies. Yippee.
Jay bruce homered again. Yippee of the non-sarcastic fashion.
Mark Prior out for another season. Anyone wanna bet his career's over?
O and one more thing about the mole. Please watch this season. All the grumbling I had about the mole earlier pale in comparison to how much i actually adore this show, particulary the entire concept of building up money with a traitor in the midst, with the real challenge the social game instead of the monetary part. So please watch this season, as solid viewership will greatly enhance its likelihood of getting picked up again, and let's hope that it will instead of such roaring successes like " the next great inventor" or "the nine."
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Sunday, June 1, 2008
The 81st annual Scripps National Spelling Bee
Hey guys- a little late, but I shoulda updated this blog while watching the national spelling bee thursday- friday:
Wow. What an experience. I really stumbled upon the spelling bee in november, when i read James Maguire's book "The American Bee" and just became fascinated with the concept of this national spelling bee testing the wits of young students across America ( and other English parts of the world), and watching the documentary Spellbound really cemented that interest. I was hooked.
Over the course of the first part of the year, i studied a big chunk of the spelling bee Consolidated Words List ( CWL). By big chunk i mean just 1/3 of what they had given out, and whew, i gotta tell ya, there are a lot of obscure words in the english language, and it really gave me an appreciation of what these kids go through.
Anyway, then led to the national spelling bee aired on thursday-friday. Thursday was the quaterfinals, a.k.a. round 3 + 4, which weren't too bad but there were a lot of kids, and it really served to separate the pretenders from the contenders, narrowing the field from 90 to about 45, i think? No favs went out ( each year there are favorites in the field of the spelling bee, usually kids who have been to the spelling bee multiple years in a row and have shown success previously). This year i'd say the major favorites going in were Tia thomas and matt evans ( both five-time national contenders) and Kavya Shivashankar, the ESPN favorite, back for her 3rd year. ( Later we would find, of course, neither of these favs would win, which happens too, but like EVERY other year the winner was a multiple-year competitor, in this case a fourth year.)
Beginning of round 5 and friday's rounds gave us some shocks, as all the remaining canadian spellers went down like ducks in a row, even one of the favorites anqi dong ( when you get an ESPN video about yourself, you're usually considered a favorite too, at least one of the top 10). Then in round 6, biggest shocker of the day matthew evans struggled with "secernent" and spelled it "secernant." Common mistake if you don't know a word, and secernent's one of those words that's just weird enough to trip up a speller but easy to hide in a sea of words because of its relatively simple structure. No one would think to spend too much time on it, instead moving on to similar tougher words like "eleemosynary" or "triskaidekaphobia," so secernent lies in the weeds. I think that's what happened to matt: he'd probably seen the word before, but didn't give much thought to it. It's unfortunate. That's a lot of time and effort in practicing 5 years for a bee, and then this last year he does all that and finishes worse than he did last year. Probably one of the worst feelings, not that i'd know.
Anyway, so round 6 ended with 16 spellers, then i thought they'd break it up to make it the "finals," but instead they did another round to try to cut it to 12, and they really did, thanks to a pretty easy round. However, one of my personal favorites that'll probably do really well next year, got out on "sphendone." I can understand whey she got it wrong: It's not on dictionary.com, it's not in answers.com, it's a weird word that was somehow in there, and she made a great guess just missing the "y" at the end, probably a 50-50 that she lost. Truly unfortunate, she was probably a top 5 speller in terms of preparedness this year, i really think so. Should be strong next year.
Anyway, so 12 got to the finals, with 2 of my favs from the home state Illinois representing, especially Kyle Mou of peoria. Lol, really reminded me of myself when i was in 7th grade, really. Good kid though, got out later in round 10 , but should be back. Also Rose Sloan from Riverside, IL, which i think is where Brookfield zoo is in Chicagoland suburbs, about 15 minutes from my old house. She did really well, and apparently from throwingthings.blogspot.com, a real crowd favorite ( or viewer favorite, whatever). Tied for 4th, really solid. That's a lotta, lotta studying. Man, 4th best speller in the country, that has a nice ring to it. And it really might be the 4th best spller in the country, cuz excluding all the former spelling bee contestants who've went on to high school, ( like anurag kashyap, samir patel, kerry close), the spelling bee seems to get harder and harder every year, kids really study more and more to get to the top, the words they spell are just ridiculous.
The 2 other favorites, Tia Thomas and Shivashankar, got 3rd and 4th respectively, really respectable showing for Tia, she has to be really proud, improved her placing every year, very consistent, and her performance every year is almost enough to compensate for not winning, although she probably doesn't feel that way. Honestly, she might've been the best speller there, and if you did a test of 10,000 words and just determined a winner based on the least number wrong, she probably would have won this year. However, the bee doesn't work like that. Get an obscure, difficult-to-figure word like opificer, get forced into choosing from 3 different choices that first "uh" sound, and anybody'd be likely to be out. I think it's telling that evans, thomas, and shivashankar all got out on relatively simple-looking words ( secernent, opificer, and ecrase). All future favorites should learn from this trend, seeing samir patel the overwhelming fave get out last year on "clevis" in 2007 too.
Anyway, i think it's a little unfortunate this year that the winner had already missed a word in a "round"--- not to take away from what sameer mishra did, i just think it takes away from the sanctity of the bee that a winner didn't need to be perfect to win.... i guess "round 2" is not really a round because it's part of an overall point system that adds a bonus, but still, what's to say that word wasn't in round 3 or round 4 where he coulda been eliminated really early. Another way that luck plays a role in the bee, too. For the record, watching from round 4-6 i didn't think sameer had any chance of winning cuz he took the longest time on words that weren't that hard, but he really picked it up towards the end and really nailed some tough words.
The guy who really impressed me the most was the runner-up, the 1st-timer, sidharth, who woulda proved me and my experience theory all wrong by winning, but settled for 2nd. This guy just came out of nowhere ( and seeing that he lives in michigan, it might as well be nowhere, lol). But no, seriously, he nailed some doozers, and i think if he would have just settled down on his last word, took about 10 more seconds to spell, scribbled a lil more on his number placard, he woulda gotten it, the end sounded just like the end of "onomatopoeia." Urg.
So my first time watching the whole of a spelling bee. Pretty exciting, u get attached to the kids, and are heartbroken when some of them leave. But some of them do get next year, and here's my early faves for the 82nd annual scripps national spelling bee:
1.) Kavya Shivanshenkar ( ESPN will be all over her and her little sister, and i hope she doesn't become another sameer, but she was really solid this year, scary to think what another year will allow her to do).
2.) Sidharth Chand ( Only way to improve next year is a win).
3.) Josephine Kao ( gonna be her 4th year back next year with T-16th and T-13th places in back to back years, impressive this year in handling of eremophyte on the roots).
4.) Kyle Mou ( The little asian that could, a T-7th finish this year was no joke).
Alright. Long post. Hope you enjoyed.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Wow. What an experience. I really stumbled upon the spelling bee in november, when i read James Maguire's book "The American Bee" and just became fascinated with the concept of this national spelling bee testing the wits of young students across America ( and other English parts of the world), and watching the documentary Spellbound really cemented that interest. I was hooked.
Over the course of the first part of the year, i studied a big chunk of the spelling bee Consolidated Words List ( CWL). By big chunk i mean just 1/3 of what they had given out, and whew, i gotta tell ya, there are a lot of obscure words in the english language, and it really gave me an appreciation of what these kids go through.
Anyway, then led to the national spelling bee aired on thursday-friday. Thursday was the quaterfinals, a.k.a. round 3 + 4, which weren't too bad but there were a lot of kids, and it really served to separate the pretenders from the contenders, narrowing the field from 90 to about 45, i think? No favs went out ( each year there are favorites in the field of the spelling bee, usually kids who have been to the spelling bee multiple years in a row and have shown success previously). This year i'd say the major favorites going in were Tia thomas and matt evans ( both five-time national contenders) and Kavya Shivashankar, the ESPN favorite, back for her 3rd year. ( Later we would find, of course, neither of these favs would win, which happens too, but like EVERY other year the winner was a multiple-year competitor, in this case a fourth year.)
Beginning of round 5 and friday's rounds gave us some shocks, as all the remaining canadian spellers went down like ducks in a row, even one of the favorites anqi dong ( when you get an ESPN video about yourself, you're usually considered a favorite too, at least one of the top 10). Then in round 6, biggest shocker of the day matthew evans struggled with "secernent" and spelled it "secernant." Common mistake if you don't know a word, and secernent's one of those words that's just weird enough to trip up a speller but easy to hide in a sea of words because of its relatively simple structure. No one would think to spend too much time on it, instead moving on to similar tougher words like "eleemosynary" or "triskaidekaphobia," so secernent lies in the weeds. I think that's what happened to matt: he'd probably seen the word before, but didn't give much thought to it. It's unfortunate. That's a lot of time and effort in practicing 5 years for a bee, and then this last year he does all that and finishes worse than he did last year. Probably one of the worst feelings, not that i'd know.
Anyway, so round 6 ended with 16 spellers, then i thought they'd break it up to make it the "finals," but instead they did another round to try to cut it to 12, and they really did, thanks to a pretty easy round. However, one of my personal favorites that'll probably do really well next year, got out on "sphendone." I can understand whey she got it wrong: It's not on dictionary.com, it's not in answers.com, it's a weird word that was somehow in there, and she made a great guess just missing the "y" at the end, probably a 50-50 that she lost. Truly unfortunate, she was probably a top 5 speller in terms of preparedness this year, i really think so. Should be strong next year.
Anyway, so 12 got to the finals, with 2 of my favs from the home state Illinois representing, especially Kyle Mou of peoria. Lol, really reminded me of myself when i was in 7th grade, really. Good kid though, got out later in round 10 , but should be back. Also Rose Sloan from Riverside, IL, which i think is where Brookfield zoo is in Chicagoland suburbs, about 15 minutes from my old house. She did really well, and apparently from throwingthings.blogspot.com, a real crowd favorite ( or viewer favorite, whatever). Tied for 4th, really solid. That's a lotta, lotta studying. Man, 4th best speller in the country, that has a nice ring to it. And it really might be the 4th best spller in the country, cuz excluding all the former spelling bee contestants who've went on to high school, ( like anurag kashyap, samir patel, kerry close), the spelling bee seems to get harder and harder every year, kids really study more and more to get to the top, the words they spell are just ridiculous.
The 2 other favorites, Tia Thomas and Shivashankar, got 3rd and 4th respectively, really respectable showing for Tia, she has to be really proud, improved her placing every year, very consistent, and her performance every year is almost enough to compensate for not winning, although she probably doesn't feel that way. Honestly, she might've been the best speller there, and if you did a test of 10,000 words and just determined a winner based on the least number wrong, she probably would have won this year. However, the bee doesn't work like that. Get an obscure, difficult-to-figure word like opificer, get forced into choosing from 3 different choices that first "uh" sound, and anybody'd be likely to be out. I think it's telling that evans, thomas, and shivashankar all got out on relatively simple-looking words ( secernent, opificer, and ecrase). All future favorites should learn from this trend, seeing samir patel the overwhelming fave get out last year on "clevis" in 2007 too.
Anyway, i think it's a little unfortunate this year that the winner had already missed a word in a "round"--- not to take away from what sameer mishra did, i just think it takes away from the sanctity of the bee that a winner didn't need to be perfect to win.... i guess "round 2" is not really a round because it's part of an overall point system that adds a bonus, but still, what's to say that word wasn't in round 3 or round 4 where he coulda been eliminated really early. Another way that luck plays a role in the bee, too. For the record, watching from round 4-6 i didn't think sameer had any chance of winning cuz he took the longest time on words that weren't that hard, but he really picked it up towards the end and really nailed some tough words.
The guy who really impressed me the most was the runner-up, the 1st-timer, sidharth, who woulda proved me and my experience theory all wrong by winning, but settled for 2nd. This guy just came out of nowhere ( and seeing that he lives in michigan, it might as well be nowhere, lol). But no, seriously, he nailed some doozers, and i think if he would have just settled down on his last word, took about 10 more seconds to spell, scribbled a lil more on his number placard, he woulda gotten it, the end sounded just like the end of "onomatopoeia." Urg.
So my first time watching the whole of a spelling bee. Pretty exciting, u get attached to the kids, and are heartbroken when some of them leave. But some of them do get next year, and here's my early faves for the 82nd annual scripps national spelling bee:
1.) Kavya Shivanshenkar ( ESPN will be all over her and her little sister, and i hope she doesn't become another sameer, but she was really solid this year, scary to think what another year will allow her to do).
2.) Sidharth Chand ( Only way to improve next year is a win).
3.) Josephine Kao ( gonna be her 4th year back next year with T-16th and T-13th places in back to back years, impressive this year in handling of eremophyte on the roots).
4.) Kyle Mou ( The little asian that could, a T-7th finish this year was no joke).
Alright. Long post. Hope you enjoyed.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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