Anyone else intrigued about this ongoing story about a college grad going across the country to work a different job in each of the 50 states? http://www.ksnt.com/home/ticker/36673669.html I find it fascinating, and it made me wonder:
1.) Where does this guy sleep? He sleep in his car/ find an apartment for just one week, and then move on? Or does he do the "rely on the kindness of others" bit?
2.) Really, he's 26 and he couldn't find one job w/ an econ degree from USC? That's scary?
3.) How many bad jokes did he try to pull on employers when he got rejected from 40+ interviews? Man, that's devastating.
4.) Would a non-white person be able to do this? Never mind getting on CNN w/ an Asian face like mine, but most of the jobs he does (Morman church boy, rodeo announcer, wedding director) are pretty stereotypically white jobs, and I just wonder if the employers would hire a non-white person to do it. Not to be racist, but that's just the reality: If I applied for a job as a pallbearer at a Catholic church in a pre-dominantly white neighborhood, I'm not sure they'd hire me under any circumstances.
5.) #4 aside, Why didn't I do something like before him? Urg, I love doing odd jobs and volunteering and such, this would have been awesome to get some publicity, be America's hero, and at least find a job.
Urg. Anyway, inspired by this dude, I'm now appreciative of NBA players who do more than just one job: play defense, be a good teammate, show up in an NBA cares commercial, be a good father. But on the fantasy side, here's some lesser-known players (we all know about wade, lebron, chris paul) who do more than just one job on the cats, a little of everything:
1.) Rasheed Wallace: is just a pure athlete but playing center most of the time, opening him up for the usual cats of rebounds and blks, but he plays on the perimeter so he averages more than 1 three a game and picks up loose steals as well, with some assists peppered in as well. His most important job, though, in my opinion, is to keep those turnovers down (just 1.1 TO's per game), which really makes him valuable cuz he gets all his #'s with only half the tradeoff.
2.) Jason Kidd: he's done it for a long time, but worth mentioning cuz even though he's no longer an elite NBA player, his fantasy stats are rejuvenated this year w/ his usual triple-double #'s (pts, rebs, asts) but a very-high steals total this year as well. On the trey department, Kidd is like the veteran waiter at your favorite local restaurant, he just keeps serving'em up.
3.) Vince Carter: What T-Mac was and is supposed to be today, VC still revs up those roto numbers, and I'm always fascinated by how he averages four and a half dimes a season, even when Kidd was in New Jersey too, but then I realize how much he hogs the ball, as long as he makes one pass to someone open he gets one. But 1.9 three's and 20+ pts every season, that's already good enough, but 80%+ FT shooting and about 1.0 stl's are also tasty goodies.
Alrighty then, Monday law school starts up again and I'll be in a funk. However, I have a feeling this NBA season will get even more interesting, and I'll have no choice but to post.
See ya.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Friday, January 9, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
My fascination w/ Scott Turow
Scott Turow is my newest A.T.I.E.W, or Author that I'm enamored with. This guy knows how to write, and he's a lawyer. My kind of fella. Not
Turow's style is very engaging, told in a story format but also with enough sophistication and background about the legal system so as to give an informative twist to the story. In "Presumed Innocent," he assumes a first-person point of view masterfully, and it's as if we go through the long train of memory by the main character, Rusty Sabich, image by image. Not like comic-book style image by image w/ Spiderman flying through the New York sky to battle Dr. Octopus, but very real, very human emotions filled within the pages. (Instead of the peanut butter or cookie crumbs that usually somehow get into my books).
Here's a masterful passage:
"We were not, I realized later, lovers who fulfilled each other's needs. For all her pretense to sophistication, I found that she could border on the gross. She liked to talk dirty..........." Ok, sorry, wrong passage.
"I wonder at first if he is talking about the eulogy he is going to deliver. He has just looked over his notes again and is returning two index cards to the breast pocket of his blue beige suit." Very detailed, very indicative of what the main character is thinking, I love it.
O, for you law school nerds out there, put down the glannon civil procedure book, look up for your outlining, and put a brake on chasing ambulances to read "One L," a non-fiction about Turow's own passage through one-L year. Man it's scary, but it shows true bravery. Most non-lawyers would say the rite of passage to becoming a lawyer shows as much courage as taking out the garbage, but 1L year is hard, lemme tell ya.
Anyway, get on that like Latrell Sprewell's former wives get on Latrell Sprewell for child support. ("It's hard feeding your kids when you're an NBA player" )
Anyone ever see Andre Miller shoot? It's not a pretty site. It's like he's almost embarrassed to be tossing up the shot, he already knows beforehand it's not going in. Well, I just acquired him for ron artest.
Best moment for me of ron artest: Fight at Auburn Hills. Gots the crazed look in his eye like he's about to gut a chicken and splash the blood on somebody's face. We also get a nice pic of his armpit hair as he's lying on the scorer's table, as well as what's left of the one dude's face who's stupid enough to get in the way. That's like waving a red flag at a crazed bull, man. There will be consequences.
Predictions for the rest of the NBA season:
1.) Tony "I found myself the hottest woman in the world and made her my wife" Parker will finish with the best numbers of his career, at least scoring wise, as the Spurs' 3rd option, Ginobili, is hobbled, Tim Duncan cuts half a point off his scoring average each year he gets older, and the rest of the Spurs team couldn't hit Santa Clause's torso w/ a snowball (unlike Fred Claus, who did so repeatedly in the 2007 movie).
2.) Yao "he's my homeboy so I got nothing bad to say about him" Ming is gonna finish the year w/o a significant injury. Yay! And now that I said it he'll probably blow his ACL the next game. Seriously, though, he might have purchased an invisible circle of protection over the off-season cuz he's actually as healthy as salads this year.
3.) John "don't mistake me for trout cuz I'm actually" Salmons will become the #1 scoring option for the Kings this year. They got a lot of young offensive talent on that team but not enough D, and Kev-Mart will let go of that role and be Robin to Salmons's batman.
4.) Jarret "I'm definitely not a white cracker" jack will replace T.J. "does anyone know what the T and J stand for" Ford as the starting point guard for Indiana, either through consistent injuries or ford or just by merit.
5.) D.J. "I was actually born in November" Augustin will be Larry Brown's favorite, and cause Raymond "I reached down into my pants and" Felton to be jettisoned from north carolina for the first time in his life.
6.) Nene "don't be tellin' me I'm not funny" Hilario will be injured at some point in the season and be out. Seriously, this guy is the livin Frankenstein with 2 reconstructed knees, a new elbow, dented shoulder caps, and high cholestrol. If I were the nuggs, I'd check his eyes to make sure they weren't pulled out of someone else's sockets.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Turow's style is very engaging, told in a story format but also with enough sophistication and background about the legal system so as to give an informative twist to the story. In "Presumed Innocent," he assumes a first-person point of view masterfully, and it's as if we go through the long train of memory by the main character, Rusty Sabich, image by image. Not like comic-book style image by image w/ Spiderman flying through the New York sky to battle Dr. Octopus, but very real, very human emotions filled within the pages. (Instead of the peanut butter or cookie crumbs that usually somehow get into my books).
Here's a masterful passage:
"We were not, I realized later, lovers who fulfilled each other's needs. For all her pretense to sophistication, I found that she could border on the gross. She liked to talk dirty..........." Ok, sorry, wrong passage.
"I wonder at first if he is talking about the eulogy he is going to deliver. He has just looked over his notes again and is returning two index cards to the breast pocket of his blue beige suit." Very detailed, very indicative of what the main character is thinking, I love it.
O, for you law school nerds out there, put down the glannon civil procedure book, look up for your outlining, and put a brake on chasing ambulances to read "One L," a non-fiction about Turow's own passage through one-L year. Man it's scary, but it shows true bravery. Most non-lawyers would say the rite of passage to becoming a lawyer shows as much courage as taking out the garbage, but 1L year is hard, lemme tell ya.
Anyway, get on that like Latrell Sprewell's former wives get on Latrell Sprewell for child support. ("It's hard feeding your kids when you're an NBA player" )
Anyone ever see Andre Miller shoot? It's not a pretty site. It's like he's almost embarrassed to be tossing up the shot, he already knows beforehand it's not going in. Well, I just acquired him for ron artest.
Best moment for me of ron artest: Fight at Auburn Hills. Gots the crazed look in his eye like he's about to gut a chicken and splash the blood on somebody's face. We also get a nice pic of his armpit hair as he's lying on the scorer's table, as well as what's left of the one dude's face who's stupid enough to get in the way. That's like waving a red flag at a crazed bull, man. There will be consequences.
Predictions for the rest of the NBA season:
1.) Tony "I found myself the hottest woman in the world and made her my wife" Parker will finish with the best numbers of his career, at least scoring wise, as the Spurs' 3rd option, Ginobili, is hobbled, Tim Duncan cuts half a point off his scoring average each year he gets older, and the rest of the Spurs team couldn't hit Santa Clause's torso w/ a snowball (unlike Fred Claus, who did so repeatedly in the 2007 movie).
2.) Yao "he's my homeboy so I got nothing bad to say about him" Ming is gonna finish the year w/o a significant injury. Yay! And now that I said it he'll probably blow his ACL the next game. Seriously, though, he might have purchased an invisible circle of protection over the off-season cuz he's actually as healthy as salads this year.
3.) John "don't mistake me for trout cuz I'm actually" Salmons will become the #1 scoring option for the Kings this year. They got a lot of young offensive talent on that team but not enough D, and Kev-Mart will let go of that role and be Robin to Salmons's batman.
4.) Jarret "I'm definitely not a white cracker" jack will replace T.J. "does anyone know what the T and J stand for" Ford as the starting point guard for Indiana, either through consistent injuries or ford or just by merit.
5.) D.J. "I was actually born in November" Augustin will be Larry Brown's favorite, and cause Raymond "I reached down into my pants and" Felton to be jettisoned from north carolina for the first time in his life.
6.) Nene "don't be tellin' me I'm not funny" Hilario will be injured at some point in the season and be out. Seriously, this guy is the livin Frankenstein with 2 reconstructed knees, a new elbow, dented shoulder caps, and high cholestrol. If I were the nuggs, I'd check his eyes to make sure they weren't pulled out of someone else's sockets.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Thursday, January 1, 2009
New Year's Day
What up my loyal readership-
Happy 2009, and a moment of silence for the just-passed 2008: It wasn't a great year, but for me a lot of stuff went on. It was a year of 4-dollar gas, political scandals involving governors/ senators w/ their pants down (some literally), the Olympic Games, "giant" upsets in sports, a presidential Democratic primary/ election that will go down as one of the most important in history, and so much more.
But I wanted to talk about my recent trip first. Nice little vacation, me and the fam went down to Arizona to spend a little time away from home, hit up University of Arizona in Tucson, nice place, actually designed a lot like University of Illinois, I dunno what it is about state universities but it was like the same restaurants, same bus system, same quad structure. Eerie.
I saw Joshua Tree on Entourage, but didn't know what it is. Now i know, and it's pretty cool. The only beef I have w/ it is it takes forever to get from the Hwy to the actual scenic places w/in the park, but maybe I was just really anxious or something that day ( It happens).
Also went through snow, which was significant cuz had been the first winter I've ever had in America w/o any snow, and living in Los Angeles, that distinction will probably be achieved at some point (perhaps in winter 2009/10), but this winter was not to be, as even in Arizona there was snow ( near Flagstaff)
Fantasy resolutions
1.) Never again draft slow-moving, over-the-hill running backs- Drafting Shaun Alexander in 2004? Excellent decision. Drafting Shaun Alexander in 2005 and 2006? Very, very poor decisions. I'm still suffering from those, as I second-guess all those draft picks. Priest Holmes, Edgerrin James, Eddie George, all (very old and ailing) ghosts from muy fantasy past. Ick.
2.) Stick to my strategy of drafting hitters in the early rounds.
That's worked out beautifully in the last few years, as I realized if i drafted starters they woulda been guys like Carlos Zambrano, Mike Mussina, Jake Peavy (the year he was injured) whereas the Cy Young candidates the last few years have come from like the 9th round (Josh Beckett, Tim Lincecum come to mind).
3.) Never draft players who are detrimental in 2+ roto categories.
One category is doable because a lotta guys like Wade (4 TO's per) have those deficiences, and they're still good because it's a 8:1 good vs. bad ratio. But when it gets dicey, you only get like 7 good v. 2 bad, you help w/ only 5 cats, the math just doesn't work out. Plus, you have to punt in one category if it's really bad. Baron Davis = main prototype, Tracy McGrady, Ron Artest, guys come to mind. You're done with these guys, it's over, officially broken up, put a restraining order on 'em, don't need'em in fantasy hoops.
4.) Always go into a fantasy season prepared to go through the whole season. A couple times I've just completely thrown in the towel on a season, counted myself out, fell into last place and felt my players all betrayed me (which, I swear, does happen from time to time, I draft these players who just hate me, like "He hate me" jerseys and don't perform). Anyway, in essentially quitting these leagues I sell myself short because overall, I consider myself to be a very good fantasy manager in all sports, and if I dedicate myself to a season, I always get good results, no matter how far I'm down. The bad breaks usually balance out, and if I quit before the good breaks show up, I'm not giving myself enough opportunity. Plus, the Yahoo! profile takes a hit when I have an 8 of 12 finish.
5.) Spend a lil less time on fantasy sports. Don't obsess over it. It's not a life-or-death thing. If Matt Cain gets lit up for 9 ER in 3.1 innings w/ 6 walks, don't blow a fuse. It'll be ok. Spend more time w/ the family. Spend more time w/ the law school books. Don't give up on a day just cuz Rasheed Wallace shot 1 for 11 w/ 4 TO's. Life goes on. And you're still a great fantasy player.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Happy 2009, and a moment of silence for the just-passed 2008: It wasn't a great year, but for me a lot of stuff went on. It was a year of 4-dollar gas, political scandals involving governors/ senators w/ their pants down (some literally), the Olympic Games, "giant" upsets in sports, a presidential Democratic primary/ election that will go down as one of the most important in history, and so much more.
But I wanted to talk about my recent trip first. Nice little vacation, me and the fam went down to Arizona to spend a little time away from home, hit up University of Arizona in Tucson, nice place, actually designed a lot like University of Illinois, I dunno what it is about state universities but it was like the same restaurants, same bus system, same quad structure. Eerie.
I saw Joshua Tree on Entourage, but didn't know what it is. Now i know, and it's pretty cool. The only beef I have w/ it is it takes forever to get from the Hwy to the actual scenic places w/in the park, but maybe I was just really anxious or something that day ( It happens).
Also went through snow, which was significant cuz had been the first winter I've ever had in America w/o any snow, and living in Los Angeles, that distinction will probably be achieved at some point (perhaps in winter 2009/10), but this winter was not to be, as even in Arizona there was snow ( near Flagstaff)
Fantasy resolutions
1.) Never again draft slow-moving, over-the-hill running backs- Drafting Shaun Alexander in 2004? Excellent decision. Drafting Shaun Alexander in 2005 and 2006? Very, very poor decisions. I'm still suffering from those, as I second-guess all those draft picks. Priest Holmes, Edgerrin James, Eddie George, all (very old and ailing) ghosts from muy fantasy past. Ick.
2.) Stick to my strategy of drafting hitters in the early rounds.
That's worked out beautifully in the last few years, as I realized if i drafted starters they woulda been guys like Carlos Zambrano, Mike Mussina, Jake Peavy (the year he was injured) whereas the Cy Young candidates the last few years have come from like the 9th round (Josh Beckett, Tim Lincecum come to mind).
3.) Never draft players who are detrimental in 2+ roto categories.
One category is doable because a lotta guys like Wade (4 TO's per) have those deficiences, and they're still good because it's a 8:1 good vs. bad ratio. But when it gets dicey, you only get like 7 good v. 2 bad, you help w/ only 5 cats, the math just doesn't work out. Plus, you have to punt in one category if it's really bad. Baron Davis = main prototype, Tracy McGrady, Ron Artest, guys come to mind. You're done with these guys, it's over, officially broken up, put a restraining order on 'em, don't need'em in fantasy hoops.
4.) Always go into a fantasy season prepared to go through the whole season. A couple times I've just completely thrown in the towel on a season, counted myself out, fell into last place and felt my players all betrayed me (which, I swear, does happen from time to time, I draft these players who just hate me, like "He hate me" jerseys and don't perform). Anyway, in essentially quitting these leagues I sell myself short because overall, I consider myself to be a very good fantasy manager in all sports, and if I dedicate myself to a season, I always get good results, no matter how far I'm down. The bad breaks usually balance out, and if I quit before the good breaks show up, I'm not giving myself enough opportunity. Plus, the Yahoo! profile takes a hit when I have an 8 of 12 finish.
5.) Spend a lil less time on fantasy sports. Don't obsess over it. It's not a life-or-death thing. If Matt Cain gets lit up for 9 ER in 3.1 innings w/ 6 walks, don't blow a fuse. It'll be ok. Spend more time w/ the family. Spend more time w/ the law school books. Don't give up on a day just cuz Rasheed Wallace shot 1 for 11 w/ 4 TO's. Life goes on. And you're still a great fantasy player.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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