A few days have passed since NSB 2009, so I've had a few days to digest what happened. I actually got caught up in work starting wednesday, so I didn't so any of the preliminary rounds or real rounds live, but was able to get caught up thanks to DVR and ESPN360. (Thanks, guys).
First off, a big shout-out to Josephine Kao. Good job again this year. Obviously, it's easy to be disappointed by getting out in Round 5 this year, but I think the Bee did you wrong this year (not to make excuses), (see below for my complaint against Round 5), and 17th is again such a great standing. You were able to make the semifinals in all 4 of one of the toughest stretches in spelling bee history (2006-2009) and was in the top 20 spellers of the last 3 years. doing a little math, top 20 out of 11 million possible spellers is.........the top .00018% of the spellers of your time, each of the last 3 years. Even within the NSB participants, the 290 or so competitors, you were in the top 7% of the contestants. Every year, consistently. Great job, and model competitor: If I ever were to compete in the NSB, I would want to spell like you: professional, with all the roots in mind, as well prepared as you could be.
Plus, getting to the semifinals meant a more strenuous process with a stricter selection process (top 41), so no shame in exiting early. You should be proud of yourself, and it's only the beginning. And no more studying spelling! Yay!
Now, what was the problem with Round 5? It makes me wonder about the purity of the NSB. Essentially, the NSB states that it makes its rounds get progressively harder as you go along, so round 4 should be harder than round 3, and so forth. However, what I saw in Round 5 was THE hardest round from rounds 1-10. Some of the most professional and experienced spellers were getting mowed down to fit a sort of agenda by the bee to get down to a certain number. Of course, there's no official statement by the bee, so this is just speculation, but it makes me think the bee made the words easy in Round4 (when almost everyone spelled correctly) to make the spellers look good), at the expense of a fairer round in Round5, replacing it with a killer round so ESPN telecast could end faster and trim down to the final 12. The problem with such a killer round in one round is, it harkens to luck a lot more than the average round. In an average round, the words aren't so hard as to knock everyone out, it gets some of the pretenders out and keeps the contenders in. In a killer round, it so depends on the individual word and whether a speller has seen it before; there's no room for skill to take a factor. That's why you saw a bunch of 4-timers (Vaibhav, Keiko, and Josephine) all go out while some newbies stayed in: it may be partially due to skill, but partially due to luck in having seen those words before. Urg. I'm a little upset by that. As a spectator, I want to see the BEST spellers advance to the top and duel it out in the ABC finals rounds, but I'm not sure that was the case this year. To be fair, the ones who stayed were pretty good spellers.
Ultimately, I was satisifed with the winner of the bee, Kavya Shivashankar. The tone of my previous posts might have indicated I was against Kavya winning, but no, I appreciate her dedication, and it was really her story coming full circle, finishing 10th, 7th, 4th, and then, finally, 1st, and 10 years after her hero Nupur Lala won it, she takes home the title. What I've learned about the bee is that there's a luck involved based on tough words, random draw, but the sole winner of the bee is NEVER an accident. The winner has always studied very hard, usually accumulated quite a lot of experience, and over the course of the 12 + or so rounds has spelled so many words that it could not be simply based on luck, he or she HAD to know enough words to get there. That's why the prestige of being the National Spelling Bee champion is so sought after and means so much, it means that that year, you were THE best speller in the country, you conquered all others in the national spelling bee and (usually) made no mistakes to get there. I tip my hat to Kavya, she definitely has a bright future ahead of her.
ESPN/ ABC definitely got what it wanted in having their "favorite" finally win...either that or Kennyi Aouad, who got surprisingly far into the finals and was the subject of many camera shots.
Tom Bergeron is extraneous. He adds almost no value to the show, I like Robin Roberts better.
Erin Andrews is really good with interviews, she brings a less scripted tone to the interview, and that's why ESPN uses her, I guess.
I was cheering for Kyle Mou, and he looked REAL good, but a 4th place finish is no joke. He was the Theodore Yuan of this cycle. Nice 3-year run.
The sentences were funny for a while, but towards the end I was just like, "c'mon, let's just get to it." Sometimes Dr. Bailley would just use the sentence without even being prompted, which was a little uncalled for, IMO.
Early preview for 2009: I realized there are no clear favorites for next year. In 2005 -2008, there was at least one returning 5-year speller every year. Didn't happen in 2009, but there WERE four 4-timers. In 2010, unless I'm mistaken, there will only be ONE returning four-timer, neetu chandak, who got to the finals this year, and then the rest will be returnin 3-timers. What happened to the perennials? I'm not sure.......the bee might be at a break in the action, where the old guard is passing down to the young guard......next year might be the best chance for a first-timer to win it in a long time. No Kerry Closes, no samir patels, no kavya shivashankars, no matthew evans, none of those guys who are automatically favorites when they come back.
Next post, I will get back to fantasy baseball. Trust me.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Do you hear the buzz?
The internet is literally buzzing right now with chatter about who's gonna win this year's NSB, and I can't imagine it's been any different in the HYATT hotel the last couple days, with past experience dictating that behind all the pleasantries and the niceties, one underlining question usually surfaces: "Who's gonna win this year?"
The internet has been buzzing mostly about Kavya Shivashankar for 3 years now: In 2007, Darren Rovel (from CNBC) had her as the number TWO speller behind Samir Patel, and EVERYBODY had her as the dead-eye favorite last year (lemme correct myself on the last post, last year going into the finals Paul Loeffler dead-pinned Kavya Shivashankar as THE favorite, not one of the favorites, "part of a group of frontrunners," THE favorite.
This is supposed to be the year. It's gotten to the point where people have even had a backlash against picking her (Darren Rovell didn't shy away), ranking her #1. One online blogger says, "I STILL have a soft-spot for Kavya Shivashankar." What? STILL? As in, you've been thinking she's the favorite all along and finally now are considering other alternatives but are still clinging to her?
I think Kavya is the easy pick here, and obviously many of the prognosticators don't have her as a LOCK to win, it's more like among many to choose from, she's the one that people feel most secure about picking.
What I'm a little miffed about is Darren Rovell (and I mean, this guy's not a legendary handicapper of spelling bees or anything, I just like him because he writes nice in-depth posts and has annual predictions, like clockwork) not including Josephone Kao in his top 4 (he has Kavya, Vabhilav, Sidharth, and surprisingly, Kyle Mou). In fact, nobody I've seen online has even mentioned Josephine in their favorites yet. What's going on here? Have they not been reading my blog? Do they not know the brilliance of Josephine, the Spelling Queen?
Haha, I actually think this is good for Josephine to stay under the radar, not be expected to win, but have the skill set to do so. ( like I suspected would happen when I posted after the 2008 bee). Not that she needs more motivation, but this could be more of a chip on a soldier, that as one of the few 4-year spellers in the field she doesn't get more cred and recognition.
So, on Thursday night, after a long day of troublesome words, narrow escapes, making Dr. Bailley repeat words that are way too long, words that are not nearly as funny as "numnah(numbnut)," after round after round of disappointment mixed with euphoria, after the parents expressing way more emotion than the spellers, after second-guessing, re-analyzing, sweating, pondering, biting lips, staying calm, holding one's breath, clapping for others, getting tired, refreshing oneself, conquering through spelling, after years and years of dedication to the craft of spelling, at the end of the day after the dust clears, there will be one declaration made by Mary Brooks, the head announcer, "Josephine Kao, since you are the only speller left in Round __, you will have one word in this round. If you spell this word correctly, you will be the champion." And the rest, is victory.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
(Good luck!)
The internet has been buzzing mostly about Kavya Shivashankar for 3 years now: In 2007, Darren Rovel (from CNBC) had her as the number TWO speller behind Samir Patel, and EVERYBODY had her as the dead-eye favorite last year (lemme correct myself on the last post, last year going into the finals Paul Loeffler dead-pinned Kavya Shivashankar as THE favorite, not one of the favorites, "part of a group of frontrunners," THE favorite.
This is supposed to be the year. It's gotten to the point where people have even had a backlash against picking her (Darren Rovell didn't shy away), ranking her #1. One online blogger says, "I STILL have a soft-spot for Kavya Shivashankar." What? STILL? As in, you've been thinking she's the favorite all along and finally now are considering other alternatives but are still clinging to her?
I think Kavya is the easy pick here, and obviously many of the prognosticators don't have her as a LOCK to win, it's more like among many to choose from, she's the one that people feel most secure about picking.
What I'm a little miffed about is Darren Rovell (and I mean, this guy's not a legendary handicapper of spelling bees or anything, I just like him because he writes nice in-depth posts and has annual predictions, like clockwork) not including Josephone Kao in his top 4 (he has Kavya, Vabhilav, Sidharth, and surprisingly, Kyle Mou). In fact, nobody I've seen online has even mentioned Josephine in their favorites yet. What's going on here? Have they not been reading my blog? Do they not know the brilliance of Josephine, the Spelling Queen?
Haha, I actually think this is good for Josephine to stay under the radar, not be expected to win, but have the skill set to do so. ( like I suspected would happen when I posted after the 2008 bee). Not that she needs more motivation, but this could be more of a chip on a soldier, that as one of the few 4-year spellers in the field she doesn't get more cred and recognition.
So, on Thursday night, after a long day of troublesome words, narrow escapes, making Dr. Bailley repeat words that are way too long, words that are not nearly as funny as "numnah(numbnut)," after round after round of disappointment mixed with euphoria, after the parents expressing way more emotion than the spellers, after second-guessing, re-analyzing, sweating, pondering, biting lips, staying calm, holding one's breath, clapping for others, getting tired, refreshing oneself, conquering through spelling, after years and years of dedication to the craft of spelling, at the end of the day after the dust clears, there will be one declaration made by Mary Brooks, the head announcer, "Josephine Kao, since you are the only speller left in Round __, you will have one word in this round. If you spell this word correctly, you will be the champion." And the rest, is victory.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
(Good luck!)
Monday, May 25, 2009
Revisiting the 2008 National Spelling Bee
Good job ESPN- on the heels of beginning the 2009 competition, ESPN aired NSB 2008. Nice little preview for what's gonna happen wednesday/thursday.
Here's notes:
Paul Loeffler has a .......very unique style. Right after Kavya Shivashankar went out on "ecrase," Paul proclaims her to be the frontrunner for 2009. Already, Paul, really? I guess it was put in there to make Kavya feel better, hype up the intensity of the bee, whatever, but it just highlighted the whole "Shivashankar or bust" campaign for this year. She and her sister are the new Samir Patel for ESPN.
Paul also emphasized that "the 5-year experience that Tia Thomas had was a great advantage.....that's what I've been saying all along, Paul!"
Paul's timing is somewhat.....off. Many times he would start a thought about someone, (or just glancing down at contestant notes and rambling off a fun fact), and he'd get cut off by the speller asking for a definition or something, and it's just like, c'mon now.
"Kulturkampf."- Sidharth had it, he started smiling when he said it, he gave a little Samir-Patel-like move, asking "Is it German?" all signs indicating he had it down pat, but the Spelling bee just HAD to make him say it like 15 times.....Even Sidharth was up there going, "uh, I got the word, can I just spell it now?" Sheesh.
Prospopopoiea- I remember thinking this last year- did Sidharth know the word but just forget the "iea?" The word itself sound remarkably like onomatopoiea.......i wonder what would have happened.
Watching the bee reminds me (again) that the favorites aren't guaranteed to win......The hype last year was either Matthew Evans or Tia Thomas, pick one.........and maybe Kavya Shivashankar as the wild card. Result: none of those. This year, the prevailing trend seems to be Shivashankar, then Chand, and then a number of contenders........hhhmmmmmm..............
Here's notes:
Paul Loeffler has a .......very unique style. Right after Kavya Shivashankar went out on "ecrase," Paul proclaims her to be the frontrunner for 2009. Already, Paul, really? I guess it was put in there to make Kavya feel better, hype up the intensity of the bee, whatever, but it just highlighted the whole "Shivashankar or bust" campaign for this year. She and her sister are the new Samir Patel for ESPN.
Paul also emphasized that "the 5-year experience that Tia Thomas had was a great advantage.....that's what I've been saying all along, Paul!"
Paul's timing is somewhat.....off. Many times he would start a thought about someone, (or just glancing down at contestant notes and rambling off a fun fact), and he'd get cut off by the speller asking for a definition or something, and it's just like, c'mon now.
"Kulturkampf."- Sidharth had it, he started smiling when he said it, he gave a little Samir-Patel-like move, asking "Is it German?" all signs indicating he had it down pat, but the Spelling bee just HAD to make him say it like 15 times.....Even Sidharth was up there going, "uh, I got the word, can I just spell it now?" Sheesh.
Prospopopoiea- I remember thinking this last year- did Sidharth know the word but just forget the "iea?" The word itself sound remarkably like onomatopoiea.......i wonder what would have happened.
Watching the bee reminds me (again) that the favorites aren't guaranteed to win......The hype last year was either Matthew Evans or Tia Thomas, pick one.........and maybe Kavya Shivashankar as the wild card. Result: none of those. This year, the prevailing trend seems to be Shivashankar, then Chand, and then a number of contenders........hhhmmmmmm..............
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Doldrums
I've hit a rut. I didn't know it was possible to get writer's block in a write-off competition for law school, but alas it has happened. And what's this bluebooking business? Never heard of it...
My one fantasy team hit a combined 1 for 27 today for a .037 BA. Suffice it to say, not good. If I were the general manager for them in an actual team i'd give them all zero dollars on their checks for the day. Seriously, a bunch of the guys on my team (Alfonso Soriano, Rafael Furcal) make probably about $1,000 per at-bat, and they can't do anything but strike out. I can go up there and once in a while coax a walk or HBP, 'fons!
When I'm in the doldrums, sometimes I go for a run, sometimes I go for a swim, work out, play basketball. Alternatively, I listen to "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter. Alternatively, I nap it off for a few hours, or vegetate in front of the TV. Never have I gotten out of the doldrums by chugging along on a write-off competition.
I don't know what to do with Garrett Atkins anymore. I'm sure most of you dropped him by now, but he's literally a guy who is the BEST CANDIDATE for a buy-low cuz he's at like negative value, yet the baseball gods pretty much dictate he's gonna turn it around and once he hits he won't stop. Problem is, he just absolutely can not do ANYTHING. Sometimes when a key guy is in a rut you point at the little things that are encouraging like hitting line shots right at somebody, getting a stolen base here and there, picking up bunt singles, Atkins is literally doing NOTHING. It's almost inconceivable that this guy's even a baseball player. Who is this guy?
Number of HR's Carlos Pena's gonna hit this year? Probably around the 38-40 range, right in between the total for the last 2 seasons.
Ryan Howard? Still will flirt w/ 50, definitely 45+. You just wait.
Be patient for Han-Ram's 30-30 (30 HR's, 30SB's.) He eventually gets there. However, I still woulda taken Pujols first overall as the Marlins just aren't scoring runs anymore after that 11-1 start, and that team overall strikes out WAY too much for HanRam to get the meat-and-potatoes numbers (R's and RBI's).
Unfortunately, Saturday night is a sign of things to come for Randy Wolf. Gets hit hard, gives up the big home run. At 32 going on 33, he ain't improving on that.
I dropped Randy Johnson even tho he was OK at seattle. I've had about enough, and he plays for SF, so wins are far and few between.
Joe Mauer might be the best hitter in MLB right now.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
(Happy Memorial Day, everybody- you know what big event comes right after!- that you need to watch!)
My one fantasy team hit a combined 1 for 27 today for a .037 BA. Suffice it to say, not good. If I were the general manager for them in an actual team i'd give them all zero dollars on their checks for the day. Seriously, a bunch of the guys on my team (Alfonso Soriano, Rafael Furcal) make probably about $1,000 per at-bat, and they can't do anything but strike out. I can go up there and once in a while coax a walk or HBP, 'fons!
When I'm in the doldrums, sometimes I go for a run, sometimes I go for a swim, work out, play basketball. Alternatively, I listen to "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter. Alternatively, I nap it off for a few hours, or vegetate in front of the TV. Never have I gotten out of the doldrums by chugging along on a write-off competition.
I don't know what to do with Garrett Atkins anymore. I'm sure most of you dropped him by now, but he's literally a guy who is the BEST CANDIDATE for a buy-low cuz he's at like negative value, yet the baseball gods pretty much dictate he's gonna turn it around and once he hits he won't stop. Problem is, he just absolutely can not do ANYTHING. Sometimes when a key guy is in a rut you point at the little things that are encouraging like hitting line shots right at somebody, getting a stolen base here and there, picking up bunt singles, Atkins is literally doing NOTHING. It's almost inconceivable that this guy's even a baseball player. Who is this guy?
Number of HR's Carlos Pena's gonna hit this year? Probably around the 38-40 range, right in between the total for the last 2 seasons.
Ryan Howard? Still will flirt w/ 50, definitely 45+. You just wait.
Be patient for Han-Ram's 30-30 (30 HR's, 30SB's.) He eventually gets there. However, I still woulda taken Pujols first overall as the Marlins just aren't scoring runs anymore after that 11-1 start, and that team overall strikes out WAY too much for HanRam to get the meat-and-potatoes numbers (R's and RBI's).
Unfortunately, Saturday night is a sign of things to come for Randy Wolf. Gets hit hard, gives up the big home run. At 32 going on 33, he ain't improving on that.
I dropped Randy Johnson even tho he was OK at seattle. I've had about enough, and he plays for SF, so wins are far and few between.
Joe Mauer might be the best hitter in MLB right now.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
(Happy Memorial Day, everybody- you know what big event comes right after!- that you need to watch!)
Saturday, May 23, 2009
In the spirit of the Dark Horse
Ever since I've started writing about the national spelling bee, there's one thing I've preached: Experience, experience, experience. I've always said repeating spellers have an inherent advantage, especially 3-year, 4-year, and even 5-year repeaters. (If you've gone to the bee 5 straight years, you're doing something right). The stats back me up: Most of the NSB champions in the past 15 years have had at least some experience.
However, there's something enthralling about the dark horse candidate: the contestant that waits quietly in the weeds, unnoticed, who lets all the other more flamboyant people rush out ahead and pile expectations on themselves, then when the bell rings just tears through the competition, and before anybody can even breathe, they're standing in the winner's circle (or the winner's mike position) and are hoisting the trophy. THAT's a darkhorse, and it's one of the most thrilling things (for the dark horse him/herself, I imagine, but also for the people watching the dark horse operate. Everytime they do something good, we yell, "Who is this guy/girl???!!!!!? But in the back of our minds, we root for them, for them to continue going, for them to do the unthinkable.
On Wednesday/Thursday at the national spelling bee, it's quite possible there will be such a contestant who rises from obscurity to national prominence and captures the imagination of the American audience. In fact, it's actually likely that an unlikely person steps up and just blows everyone away: at the NSB especially a strong run through like Round 8 is not out of the realm of possiblity, you just gotta get 8 words that you know or at least can work through and you're in the top 10 or so.
It happened last year, Sidharth Chand almost took it. This year, I will be looking for that Dark Horse candidate throughout the bee, with the thought that that speller probably won't win, but there's always that little bit of hope and anticipation for that person......yet another reason to watch the National Spelling Bee this year.
Fantasy Baseball Darkhorses:
Jason Bartlett? WTFF???? Where did this guy come from? He pulled himself out of the black hole that is the bottom of the Tampa lineup and has just forced himself into the spotlight.......chances are slim he keeps this up, but wow what a start.
Nelson Cruz: Hit homers #10 and 11 today, one of the legaue leaders in the AL in dingers. Not to be ignored, this man.
One of my fav's: Mark Reynolds, w/ 12 HR's and 10 SB's already, due in large part to one particular day w/ a doubleheader in florida last week where he hit 2 HR's and stole FIVE bases, but still......
Zack Greinke.......C'mon, really? You really thought he was gonna have a sub-1.00 ERA a this point in the season? If you really predicted this (like ESPN analysts always hints that they somehow do, give yourself a pat on the back and sell high IMMEDIATELY- it's fiscally irresponsbile of you not to for your team's sake. )
Raul Ibanez......Huh? I'm confused.....Didn't he retire at some point? He almost faded into obscurity, making him a true dark horse as nobody saw him hiding in the shadows biding his time to strike.
Orlando Hudson: MVP of the national league behind Ibanez right now.
-Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
However, there's something enthralling about the dark horse candidate: the contestant that waits quietly in the weeds, unnoticed, who lets all the other more flamboyant people rush out ahead and pile expectations on themselves, then when the bell rings just tears through the competition, and before anybody can even breathe, they're standing in the winner's circle (or the winner's mike position) and are hoisting the trophy. THAT's a darkhorse, and it's one of the most thrilling things (for the dark horse him/herself, I imagine, but also for the people watching the dark horse operate. Everytime they do something good, we yell, "Who is this guy/girl???!!!!!? But in the back of our minds, we root for them, for them to continue going, for them to do the unthinkable.
On Wednesday/Thursday at the national spelling bee, it's quite possible there will be such a contestant who rises from obscurity to national prominence and captures the imagination of the American audience. In fact, it's actually likely that an unlikely person steps up and just blows everyone away: at the NSB especially a strong run through like Round 8 is not out of the realm of possiblity, you just gotta get 8 words that you know or at least can work through and you're in the top 10 or so.
It happened last year, Sidharth Chand almost took it. This year, I will be looking for that Dark Horse candidate throughout the bee, with the thought that that speller probably won't win, but there's always that little bit of hope and anticipation for that person......yet another reason to watch the National Spelling Bee this year.
Fantasy Baseball Darkhorses:
Jason Bartlett? WTFF???? Where did this guy come from? He pulled himself out of the black hole that is the bottom of the Tampa lineup and has just forced himself into the spotlight.......chances are slim he keeps this up, but wow what a start.
Nelson Cruz: Hit homers #10 and 11 today, one of the legaue leaders in the AL in dingers. Not to be ignored, this man.
One of my fav's: Mark Reynolds, w/ 12 HR's and 10 SB's already, due in large part to one particular day w/ a doubleheader in florida last week where he hit 2 HR's and stole FIVE bases, but still......
Zack Greinke.......C'mon, really? You really thought he was gonna have a sub-1.00 ERA a this point in the season? If you really predicted this (like ESPN analysts always hints that they somehow do, give yourself a pat on the back and sell high IMMEDIATELY- it's fiscally irresponsbile of you not to for your team's sake. )
Raul Ibanez......Huh? I'm confused.....Didn't he retire at some point? He almost faded into obscurity, making him a true dark horse as nobody saw him hiding in the shadows biding his time to strike.
Orlando Hudson: MVP of the national league behind Ibanez right now.
-Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Friday, May 22, 2009
O James, Where have you gone?
Today I wonder why James Maguire, who wrote so brilliantly about the 2004 and 2005 national spelling bees with wonderful chronicles about the trouvails of the young spellers leading up to the bee, has henceforth sworn off writing the bee.
I guess, for lack of being able to read his mind, James is busy doing other stuff. (http://www.maguireonline.com/). And plus, maybe 2 years of covering the bee (that's like 1600 re-donk-ulously hard words) just wore him out. It happens. He now covers current events and all kinds of other topics, just not the bee. O how I would savor someone doing another "Spellbound" documentary or Maguire-like book about the bee. O well, guess I'll have to settle for national TV coverage.
What I have found is that this year's spelling bee is different, which might be old news for some other NSB aficionados but somewhat puzzling to me. In contrast w/ previous years' Round 1 and Round 2 combining to aggregate a score to narrow down to about 90 spellers, this year there's an oral round (Round 1) and then TWO oral rounds which are non-eliminatiton rounds, after which you get the 47 or so semifinalists for ESPN Day 2 that they traditionally get. Essentially, after that everything's the same, but i guess it's more emphasis on the spelling test. It also on its face is favored towards the "frontrunners" because they have less chance of getting out on a bloop word as it's non-elimination the first 2 oral rounds (which came up big for Sameer Mishra last year, who mispelled early), and you don't really get to the nerve-wracking stuff until it's narrowed to 47.
O wow, just realize that the wednesday coverage is gonna be LONG- 293 spellers doing 2 rounds. Wow. I pity kids like #1 or #293, who have to sit there through the whole field w/ no activity. Actually, I pity everybody there. That's a lot of spelling that you're NOT doing but still have to be there.
Are they applying the spelling bee polo shirt dress code again? That seems like it's been abandoned since 2005, but who knows.
Jacques Bailley will still be the pronouncer, which is like saying summer is still gonna be a season this year.
Refreshingly, Erin Andrews will be there again. O Erin, please do many interviews........
After last year's bee I ranked my top 4 spellers going into 2009, and a quick review shows that I stand by my picks, primarily because I haven't seen any of these kids spell really since then. I still stand by the fact that Kavya is probably the best pure speller there, but Josephine was a top 5 speller last year that got unlucky and finished 13th. Those 2, I feel, have the best chance of winning this year (so I'm switching Josephine's spot with Sidharth at #2- I still respect the guy tremendously but for the reasons highlighted in last post I don't see him winning). I will be back with my official pick for the NSB tuesday/wednesday, whichever day I get done w/ my write-on competition, but if you've been paying attention (and reading between the lines) I think you know who I will be putting my money on (if you COULD bet money on NSB results, which I think is not available and morally I'd feel queasy about putting money on something so pure and integrity-filled as the NSB).
Last bit: I do think the gender tide will shift back to the girls again this year at the bee. After a long run from 2000-2008 in which all winners were boys besides Kerry Close in 2006, we're due for some girl power.
(Insert Transition here)
The title (O james) also applies to James Loney, formerly of the LA Dodgers. He no longer plays for the LA Dodgers. In fact, I never see him anymore. What I see at 1B for the Dodgers is some guy who looks like James, bats left-handed like him, talks the usual chatter to the media like James, but is not him. After being a savior for the Dodgers offense in late 2007 by slugging .538 with 15 HR's in just 344 AB's, loney's power has dramatically decreased, his BA is not as good as it used to be, and he's fallen behind other young guns matt kemp and andre ethier. He's the guy that the dodgers need to be the mainstay of their lineup, and he hasn't produced yet.
I'm giving Randy Johnson an ultimatum tonight @ Seattle: pitch well or you're cut. He's single-handledly sabotaged both of my teams's ERA and WHIP, and there was even a game he recorded nary a strikeout. I know you're better than that, unit. I wanna see it.
I feel like I'm getting lured in like a bug into a spider web by Brian Fuentes, but I can't help it, I'm crushing on him. On an angels team that scores little but gives up little, he has many save opps coming his way. I say opps because I'm still nervous about conversions. But he's working himself into the circle of trust.
Joe Mauer wishes May would go on forever. Yes, Joe, I should have drafted you this year despite your early injury. My mistake, Joe. Never again, Joe. I promise, Joe.
Jake Peavy refused to be a good little boy and go to Chicago. Actually, I'm not surprised, for a good ol' boy from Alabama to go from the tempurate summers and warm Pacific winds of San Diego to the unpredictably windy Chicago where Cellular Field is a homer-box that will raise your ERA one point besides the one point you get for moving to AL, that's asking a lot. What this means, though, is he will have like 10 or 11 wins for the season. His loss.
If Raffy Furcal could start stealing the 30+ bases he's supposed to be stealing, that'd be nice.
Add Kevin Youkilis to the list of players who will NOT bat .400 for the season but is giving it his all in an attempt. He and V-Mart battling for the AL batting title would have been laughed at by Joe Morgan if I said that last year, as would any suggestion that his brand of baseball is not the only brand of baseball.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
I guess, for lack of being able to read his mind, James is busy doing other stuff. (http://www.maguireonline.com/). And plus, maybe 2 years of covering the bee (that's like 1600 re-donk-ulously hard words) just wore him out. It happens. He now covers current events and all kinds of other topics, just not the bee. O how I would savor someone doing another "Spellbound" documentary or Maguire-like book about the bee. O well, guess I'll have to settle for national TV coverage.
What I have found is that this year's spelling bee is different, which might be old news for some other NSB aficionados but somewhat puzzling to me. In contrast w/ previous years' Round 1 and Round 2 combining to aggregate a score to narrow down to about 90 spellers, this year there's an oral round (Round 1) and then TWO oral rounds which are non-eliminatiton rounds, after which you get the 47 or so semifinalists for ESPN Day 2 that they traditionally get. Essentially, after that everything's the same, but i guess it's more emphasis on the spelling test. It also on its face is favored towards the "frontrunners" because they have less chance of getting out on a bloop word as it's non-elimination the first 2 oral rounds (which came up big for Sameer Mishra last year, who mispelled early), and you don't really get to the nerve-wracking stuff until it's narrowed to 47.
O wow, just realize that the wednesday coverage is gonna be LONG- 293 spellers doing 2 rounds. Wow. I pity kids like #1 or #293, who have to sit there through the whole field w/ no activity. Actually, I pity everybody there. That's a lot of spelling that you're NOT doing but still have to be there.
Are they applying the spelling bee polo shirt dress code again? That seems like it's been abandoned since 2005, but who knows.
Jacques Bailley will still be the pronouncer, which is like saying summer is still gonna be a season this year.
Refreshingly, Erin Andrews will be there again. O Erin, please do many interviews........
After last year's bee I ranked my top 4 spellers going into 2009, and a quick review shows that I stand by my picks, primarily because I haven't seen any of these kids spell really since then. I still stand by the fact that Kavya is probably the best pure speller there, but Josephine was a top 5 speller last year that got unlucky and finished 13th. Those 2, I feel, have the best chance of winning this year (so I'm switching Josephine's spot with Sidharth at #2- I still respect the guy tremendously but for the reasons highlighted in last post I don't see him winning). I will be back with my official pick for the NSB tuesday/wednesday, whichever day I get done w/ my write-on competition, but if you've been paying attention (and reading between the lines) I think you know who I will be putting my money on (if you COULD bet money on NSB results, which I think is not available and morally I'd feel queasy about putting money on something so pure and integrity-filled as the NSB).
Last bit: I do think the gender tide will shift back to the girls again this year at the bee. After a long run from 2000-2008 in which all winners were boys besides Kerry Close in 2006, we're due for some girl power.
(Insert Transition here)
The title (O james) also applies to James Loney, formerly of the LA Dodgers. He no longer plays for the LA Dodgers. In fact, I never see him anymore. What I see at 1B for the Dodgers is some guy who looks like James, bats left-handed like him, talks the usual chatter to the media like James, but is not him. After being a savior for the Dodgers offense in late 2007 by slugging .538 with 15 HR's in just 344 AB's, loney's power has dramatically decreased, his BA is not as good as it used to be, and he's fallen behind other young guns matt kemp and andre ethier. He's the guy that the dodgers need to be the mainstay of their lineup, and he hasn't produced yet.
I'm giving Randy Johnson an ultimatum tonight @ Seattle: pitch well or you're cut. He's single-handledly sabotaged both of my teams's ERA and WHIP, and there was even a game he recorded nary a strikeout. I know you're better than that, unit. I wanna see it.
I feel like I'm getting lured in like a bug into a spider web by Brian Fuentes, but I can't help it, I'm crushing on him. On an angels team that scores little but gives up little, he has many save opps coming his way. I say opps because I'm still nervous about conversions. But he's working himself into the circle of trust.
Joe Mauer wishes May would go on forever. Yes, Joe, I should have drafted you this year despite your early injury. My mistake, Joe. Never again, Joe. I promise, Joe.
Jake Peavy refused to be a good little boy and go to Chicago. Actually, I'm not surprised, for a good ol' boy from Alabama to go from the tempurate summers and warm Pacific winds of San Diego to the unpredictably windy Chicago where Cellular Field is a homer-box that will raise your ERA one point besides the one point you get for moving to AL, that's asking a lot. What this means, though, is he will have like 10 or 11 wins for the season. His loss.
If Raffy Furcal could start stealing the 30+ bases he's supposed to be stealing, that'd be nice.
Add Kevin Youkilis to the list of players who will NOT bat .400 for the season but is giving it his all in an attempt. He and V-Mart battling for the AL batting title would have been laughed at by Joe Morgan if I said that last year, as would any suggestion that his brand of baseball is not the only brand of baseball.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Why _______ won't happen: Warning, this is a negative post.
I'm actually not in a bad mood, I just feel like I should set up my happy posts by yielding some depressing ones.
Why the the Cleveland Cavaliers will not win the NBA Finals this year:
Not enough talent. Wait, hold on, before you forever swear off reading my blog, lemme explain: their team is just not that good without lebron.
Exhibit A: tonight, Lebron scores a whopping 49 points tonight on 20-of-30 shooting, which is sick, but his teammates let him down. He just doesn't have a robin to his batman on that team. Zydrunas Ilgauskas? Uh-uh. Delonte West? Catwoman at best. Andersen "Carlito" Varejao? Like his hair....Wally "Where's Waldo?" Szczerbiak (they should spell THAT name at the spelling bee, like Szcerbiakian, or something) ? Don't make me laugh. Mo Williams is the closet thing to another threat, but man was 6-19 tonight with only 17 points, and let's face it, he doesn't complement lebron like a scottie to michael, like a tony to tim, even a pierce/allen to garnett. Lebron's just on an island by himself, and he won't get it done w/o flying in some reinforcements.
Exhibit B: The lakers. Destined to win this year's championship. Written in the stars, no matter how much you dislike Kobe, the logorrheaic Lamar, or the Machine.
Why Sidharth Chand won't win the 2009 National Spelling Bee: I hate putting down any kids, but in this case it's not anything personal: it's just a sort of hex over contestants like him, almost like a "Madden Curse," if you will. Traditionally, the runner-up at the NSB never comes back the following year and wins it (does the only thing that can be considered improvement). This could simply be because from year to year there are so many contestants and really well-prepared ones at that that the one person in the place of 2nd place has a long shot anyway, but i think there's something to it. It's almost as if by gettin to 2nd place, as a speller you've used up all your luck in not getting the one word you didn't know: you've navigated through the lower rounds and wound up in the last few, which takes a lot of skill but a suprisingly big chunk of luck, Sidharth got that last year, traversing through the field and funneling through the maze, primarily through his own orthographic prowess, but also with a tinge of the fairy dust, and that dust does not side with him this year.
The "Runner-up" curse has plagued many spellers in recent years: 2005, Samir Patel, tied for 2nd as a sixth-grader, was an all-star speller, but was never the same again: went out early in 2006 and even earlier in 2007. Prem Travedi in 1997, as documented by James Maguire.
Why "Pushing Daisies" will not rise from the dead: Because the major TV networks like ABC refuse to keep great shows that happen to struggle w/ ratings on the air. Shame.
Why Victor Martinez will not bat .400 this year: No one will ever bat .400 ever again......baseball is dictated by the law of averages, and eventually with the at-bats adding up, you just can't keep up hitting like that: you line out to guys, you don't get lucky breaks, your deep fly balls turn into outs instead of home runs.
Why I will never trust Ian De La Rosa again: After 10K and 11k performacnes in his last 2 outings, he prodded me into starin him with confidence tonight only to not have any command and give up this line: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 5 BB's, 7 ER's, 1 measly K. Couldn't even strike out the pitcher. Urg.
Why I will never watch another "sisterhood of the traveling pants": because I'm not sure why I even saw one of them in the first place.
Why I will not make law review at my law school: this writing competition is hard, and I'm having trouble sitting down and doing it. Alas, it hurts.
That's it, folks: hope that dampened your mood enough so that the next post will seem like winning the lottery. And then you'll be hooked on my blog forever.........
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Why the the Cleveland Cavaliers will not win the NBA Finals this year:
Not enough talent. Wait, hold on, before you forever swear off reading my blog, lemme explain: their team is just not that good without lebron.
Exhibit A: tonight, Lebron scores a whopping 49 points tonight on 20-of-30 shooting, which is sick, but his teammates let him down. He just doesn't have a robin to his batman on that team. Zydrunas Ilgauskas? Uh-uh. Delonte West? Catwoman at best. Andersen "Carlito" Varejao? Like his hair....Wally "Where's Waldo?" Szczerbiak (they should spell THAT name at the spelling bee, like Szcerbiakian, or something) ? Don't make me laugh. Mo Williams is the closet thing to another threat, but man was 6-19 tonight with only 17 points, and let's face it, he doesn't complement lebron like a scottie to michael, like a tony to tim, even a pierce/allen to garnett. Lebron's just on an island by himself, and he won't get it done w/o flying in some reinforcements.
Exhibit B: The lakers. Destined to win this year's championship. Written in the stars, no matter how much you dislike Kobe, the logorrheaic Lamar, or the Machine.
Why Sidharth Chand won't win the 2009 National Spelling Bee: I hate putting down any kids, but in this case it's not anything personal: it's just a sort of hex over contestants like him, almost like a "Madden Curse," if you will. Traditionally, the runner-up at the NSB never comes back the following year and wins it (does the only thing that can be considered improvement). This could simply be because from year to year there are so many contestants and really well-prepared ones at that that the one person in the place of 2nd place has a long shot anyway, but i think there's something to it. It's almost as if by gettin to 2nd place, as a speller you've used up all your luck in not getting the one word you didn't know: you've navigated through the lower rounds and wound up in the last few, which takes a lot of skill but a suprisingly big chunk of luck, Sidharth got that last year, traversing through the field and funneling through the maze, primarily through his own orthographic prowess, but also with a tinge of the fairy dust, and that dust does not side with him this year.
The "Runner-up" curse has plagued many spellers in recent years: 2005, Samir Patel, tied for 2nd as a sixth-grader, was an all-star speller, but was never the same again: went out early in 2006 and even earlier in 2007. Prem Travedi in 1997, as documented by James Maguire.
Why "Pushing Daisies" will not rise from the dead: Because the major TV networks like ABC refuse to keep great shows that happen to struggle w/ ratings on the air. Shame.
Why Victor Martinez will not bat .400 this year: No one will ever bat .400 ever again......baseball is dictated by the law of averages, and eventually with the at-bats adding up, you just can't keep up hitting like that: you line out to guys, you don't get lucky breaks, your deep fly balls turn into outs instead of home runs.
Why I will never trust Ian De La Rosa again: After 10K and 11k performacnes in his last 2 outings, he prodded me into starin him with confidence tonight only to not have any command and give up this line: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 5 BB's, 7 ER's, 1 measly K. Couldn't even strike out the pitcher. Urg.
Why I will never watch another "sisterhood of the traveling pants": because I'm not sure why I even saw one of them in the first place.
Why I will not make law review at my law school: this writing competition is hard, and I'm having trouble sitting down and doing it. Alas, it hurts.
That's it, folks: hope that dampened your mood enough so that the next post will seem like winning the lottery. And then you'll be hooked on my blog forever.........
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Early-season Lost awards, Fantasy Baseball style
I'm a big fan of Lost, the TV series. To pass the time while we wait til January for the next (gasp, final season), I composed a lit of Dharma awards for the outstanding fantasy players that live on the island that is the fantasy baseball universe
Kate Austen award (for hottest player on the island):
Raul Ibanez.....never will win a Sexiest Man Alive contest, but he's been tearing it up w/ the bat at 37, including #1 overall in Y! leagues this past week. Fantasy advise: If you want a long-term relationship, cash in your steamy-hot relationship for the longer-term Juliette (do as Sawyer did)
Hugo Reyes award (for unluckiest player on the island): Johann Santana. Instead of the episode "Everybody Hates Hugo," it should be "everybody hates Johann, because his teammates fail to give him run support and decide to take naps every time he takes the mound. With a 1.36 ERA and 1.04 WHIP, this man should be winning all of his starts, ESPECIALLY with the mets lineup and a revamped bullpen. 5 W's is not enough, this man should have 30 W's.
Charlie Pace award ( used to be a prominent character, but is long gone now): Mike Hampton. The 22-W season seems like 10 years ago. Wait, it was 10 years ago. Runner-up: Francisco Liriano. Left for dead.
Sayid Farrah award (SPOILER ALERT- still alive, but fading fast): After getting a bullet by a Dharma member in the belly, Sayid's on his last legs. After having an 0-for-7 game less than a week ago, David Ortiz's career is dwindling down, and there's no island there to heal him.
Jacob award (could be good, could be bad, like a Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde): Hanley Ramirez: good for 2 weeks, bad for 1....cycle may continue. will he destroy everybody vengefully or fall and get burned in his own fire pit?
John Locke award (the chosen one, back to claim what's his): A-Rod. In this case, he's back to claim Home Run supremacy.
Sawyer/LaFleur award( best nickname): Jorge "The Aztec Warrior" DeLaRosa. Love it
The Submarine award(sends them from the island back home, to the bench): Justin Verlander, leads the majors w/ 69K's.
Rudzinski award (most annoying to have around): Garrett Atkins. Man never hits anymore.
Jack Shephard award (natural leader): Dustin Pedroia/ Kevin Youkilis joint award. Red Sox need both back healthy, as do many fantasy teams around the country.
Benjamin Lionus award (used to be in charge, now just a lowly peasant): Bartolo Colon. O, Bartolo.
Sun Kwon award (most likely to have a long-term relationship with): Adrian Beltre: gives you just enough to keep him in the lineup with, and nobody really wants to trade for him because his #'s are so bland. If you got him, you're stuck w/him.
Miles Straume award (Asian guy w/ an attitude): Kenshin Kawakami- 35 K's in 37 IP says he's got a nasty side to him.
Richard Alpert award (ageless one): Randy Johnson, still looking for W #300, maybe that's what's keeping him going.
Enjoy. For the record, I think Lost is finally clearing up, and the Lost producers gave us a glimpse of what the "real big picture" behind the Lost island is w/ the season finale, but I don't think they can answer some questions: like why were they so obsessed w/ the kids? Why'd the smoke monster target the people it did first? Unfortunately, due to the necessity of explaining some big themes, some storylines/themes/weird stuff that needs explaining will be given no or unsatisfactory endings. O well. Still the premiere show of our time, not just another crime drama.
-Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Kate Austen award (for hottest player on the island):
Raul Ibanez.....never will win a Sexiest Man Alive contest, but he's been tearing it up w/ the bat at 37, including #1 overall in Y! leagues this past week. Fantasy advise: If you want a long-term relationship, cash in your steamy-hot relationship for the longer-term Juliette (do as Sawyer did)
Hugo Reyes award (for unluckiest player on the island): Johann Santana. Instead of the episode "Everybody Hates Hugo," it should be "everybody hates Johann, because his teammates fail to give him run support and decide to take naps every time he takes the mound. With a 1.36 ERA and 1.04 WHIP, this man should be winning all of his starts, ESPECIALLY with the mets lineup and a revamped bullpen. 5 W's is not enough, this man should have 30 W's.
Charlie Pace award ( used to be a prominent character, but is long gone now): Mike Hampton. The 22-W season seems like 10 years ago. Wait, it was 10 years ago. Runner-up: Francisco Liriano. Left for dead.
Sayid Farrah award (SPOILER ALERT- still alive, but fading fast): After getting a bullet by a Dharma member in the belly, Sayid's on his last legs. After having an 0-for-7 game less than a week ago, David Ortiz's career is dwindling down, and there's no island there to heal him.
Jacob award (could be good, could be bad, like a Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde): Hanley Ramirez: good for 2 weeks, bad for 1....cycle may continue. will he destroy everybody vengefully or fall and get burned in his own fire pit?
John Locke award (the chosen one, back to claim what's his): A-Rod. In this case, he's back to claim Home Run supremacy.
Sawyer/LaFleur award( best nickname): Jorge "The Aztec Warrior" DeLaRosa. Love it
The Submarine award(sends them from the island back home, to the bench): Justin Verlander, leads the majors w/ 69K's.
Rudzinski award (most annoying to have around): Garrett Atkins. Man never hits anymore.
Jack Shephard award (natural leader): Dustin Pedroia/ Kevin Youkilis joint award. Red Sox need both back healthy, as do many fantasy teams around the country.
Benjamin Lionus award (used to be in charge, now just a lowly peasant): Bartolo Colon. O, Bartolo.
Sun Kwon award (most likely to have a long-term relationship with): Adrian Beltre: gives you just enough to keep him in the lineup with, and nobody really wants to trade for him because his #'s are so bland. If you got him, you're stuck w/him.
Miles Straume award (Asian guy w/ an attitude): Kenshin Kawakami- 35 K's in 37 IP says he's got a nasty side to him.
Richard Alpert award (ageless one): Randy Johnson, still looking for W #300, maybe that's what's keeping him going.
Enjoy. For the record, I think Lost is finally clearing up, and the Lost producers gave us a glimpse of what the "real big picture" behind the Lost island is w/ the season finale, but I don't think they can answer some questions: like why were they so obsessed w/ the kids? Why'd the smoke monster target the people it did first? Unfortunately, due to the necessity of explaining some big themes, some storylines/themes/weird stuff that needs explaining will be given no or unsatisfactory endings. O well. Still the premiere show of our time, not just another crime drama.
-Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Law School: The Aftermath
Only 8 short days til the National Spelling Bee! Ahhhhh! (10 days to the ESPN/ ABC national TV coverage). Gotta agree with the commenter in my last post about guys I forgot about, or "slept" on, if you will:
Zachary Zagorski, from New York, 17th place last year, and an eighth grader. And a Boy Scout (did I mention I used to be a Cub Scout, Pack 197? No joke, I especially liked the handmade-car races at the end of the year).
Shari-Jo Miller: Jamaica always produces a good candidate from their talent system, last year was no exception: they always make it into the quarterfinal/semifinal rounds, and once in a while they produce a winner, as evidenced by Jodi-Anne Maxwell in '98. Good catch.
Other sleepers:
Vincent Medina from FL, tied for 17th place last year.
Kennyi Auoad from Indiana, of Youtube fame for hilariously spelling "sardoodledum" in 2007 (and helping the spelling bee become a ratings boon), it's his 3rd year at the joke and he might be a contender this year, all joking aside.
I keep thinking this will be another year a Canadian makes it very interesting (as happened in 2006 and 2007, when a Canadian was the runner-up), and I've already mentioned some, but another name came up: Jonathan Schut, from Prince Edwards Island, helps on his parents' blueberry farm and umpires baseball games. Sounds like a good ol' boy, until u see this is his 3rd-year at the bee. Also could be ready for those tough agricultural words.
Kun Jacki Chiao, from China. Just wanted to mention him cuz it's the first time China's ever had a NSB contestant, proving how prevalent English is in the (once) Forbidden Kingdom.
Now that law school's over (for now), I have a bit of time, and I've wasted none of it by finishing the final book in the Percy Jackson series (the Last Olympian).....I would say that this was a nice finish, but it felt a little rushed, and I hate to be critical of the series, because I loved what Rick Riordan did in the wake of Harry Potter, but this ending was not as good as the 3rd and 4th, which is actually in line w/ what I felt about HP: the 3rd and 4th books (Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire) were at the peak of the series because Rowling had mastered her characters and had enough fresh ideas to make them very cohesive, thus producing a wondrous product, but after that things became just a tad stale, which was solved partially by Riordan by limiting the Percy Jackson's to only five, and in true series form the Titans' Curse and Battle of the Labyrinth were easily the best books in the series, and the Last Olympian wrapped up but did not go out with a bang, as I'd hoped.
However, apparently there's another series of Camp Halfbloods coming out? Prolly about someone other than Percy, but hope of Percy making guest appearances will make me continue to buy, as well as other avid readers in this country. Keep pluggin', Rick!
Also, I've gotten a chance to pick up James Maguire's "American Bee," easily the best and most entertaining book about the spelling bee out there, as well as most comprehensive. For you novice NSB followers out there, before each spelling bee (or anytime in ur life, for that matter), pick up "American Bee" the book or "Spellbound" the DVD documentary, and each will capture your heart and your imagination. Seriously, not to be cheesy. Do it.
Just completed a trade of Miguel Cabrera for Alex Rodriguez in my one league, which is very speculative of me: I don't add anything in terms of depth or position flexibility or have injury capital or anything like that, it was just a straight-up trade: one of the best pure hitters in the league right now who is blossoming before our eyes in Miggy, or one of THE best hitters in the history of baseball, with a little Straying problem and Juicing problem to go with it, and age might be catching up. But not this year. I predict from this point forward, with like about 77% of the season to go, A-Rod will produce ridiculous mashing #'s, get 30HR's, 100RBI's, 100R's, and 15 SB's. That's legit, and in a Yankees lineup that is again armed to the teeth with Murder's-row like guys, especially with Robinson Cano actually hitting this year. I love it.
Victor Martinez will NOT bat .400 this season, although it's been a nice ride this year, hasn't it? Would be even better if that lineup was at 2003 or 2007 levels, but even getting Travis Hafner back will be a nice addition to the R's and RBI totals for V-Mart.
Buy low on Jimmy Rollins. Believe.
Don't quit on Garrett Atkins. I've seen this before. Believe.
Don't believe that Scott Kazmir is not hurt. Expect a DL stint any day now.
Don't think Aramis Ramirez will be back this season, unfortunately. "The worst injury in his career" sounds anything but promising.
Brandon Webb NEEDS to return for one of my teams or else i'm doomed. Thanks in no part to Randy Johnson ballooning my ERA to preposterous levels.
Picked up Justin Verlander from WAIVERS a few weeks ago. Grave, grave mistake. Never give up on high-strikeout guys unless they're hurt. Justin's the one doing the hurting now.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Zachary Zagorski, from New York, 17th place last year, and an eighth grader. And a Boy Scout (did I mention I used to be a Cub Scout, Pack 197? No joke, I especially liked the handmade-car races at the end of the year).
Shari-Jo Miller: Jamaica always produces a good candidate from their talent system, last year was no exception: they always make it into the quarterfinal/semifinal rounds, and once in a while they produce a winner, as evidenced by Jodi-Anne Maxwell in '98. Good catch.
Other sleepers:
Vincent Medina from FL, tied for 17th place last year.
Kennyi Auoad from Indiana, of Youtube fame for hilariously spelling "sardoodledum" in 2007 (and helping the spelling bee become a ratings boon), it's his 3rd year at the joke and he might be a contender this year, all joking aside.
I keep thinking this will be another year a Canadian makes it very interesting (as happened in 2006 and 2007, when a Canadian was the runner-up), and I've already mentioned some, but another name came up: Jonathan Schut, from Prince Edwards Island, helps on his parents' blueberry farm and umpires baseball games. Sounds like a good ol' boy, until u see this is his 3rd-year at the bee. Also could be ready for those tough agricultural words.
Kun Jacki Chiao, from China. Just wanted to mention him cuz it's the first time China's ever had a NSB contestant, proving how prevalent English is in the (once) Forbidden Kingdom.
Now that law school's over (for now), I have a bit of time, and I've wasted none of it by finishing the final book in the Percy Jackson series (the Last Olympian).....I would say that this was a nice finish, but it felt a little rushed, and I hate to be critical of the series, because I loved what Rick Riordan did in the wake of Harry Potter, but this ending was not as good as the 3rd and 4th, which is actually in line w/ what I felt about HP: the 3rd and 4th books (Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire) were at the peak of the series because Rowling had mastered her characters and had enough fresh ideas to make them very cohesive, thus producing a wondrous product, but after that things became just a tad stale, which was solved partially by Riordan by limiting the Percy Jackson's to only five, and in true series form the Titans' Curse and Battle of the Labyrinth were easily the best books in the series, and the Last Olympian wrapped up but did not go out with a bang, as I'd hoped.
However, apparently there's another series of Camp Halfbloods coming out? Prolly about someone other than Percy, but hope of Percy making guest appearances will make me continue to buy, as well as other avid readers in this country. Keep pluggin', Rick!
Also, I've gotten a chance to pick up James Maguire's "American Bee," easily the best and most entertaining book about the spelling bee out there, as well as most comprehensive. For you novice NSB followers out there, before each spelling bee (or anytime in ur life, for that matter), pick up "American Bee" the book or "Spellbound" the DVD documentary, and each will capture your heart and your imagination. Seriously, not to be cheesy. Do it.
Just completed a trade of Miguel Cabrera for Alex Rodriguez in my one league, which is very speculative of me: I don't add anything in terms of depth or position flexibility or have injury capital or anything like that, it was just a straight-up trade: one of the best pure hitters in the league right now who is blossoming before our eyes in Miggy, or one of THE best hitters in the history of baseball, with a little Straying problem and Juicing problem to go with it, and age might be catching up. But not this year. I predict from this point forward, with like about 77% of the season to go, A-Rod will produce ridiculous mashing #'s, get 30HR's, 100RBI's, 100R's, and 15 SB's. That's legit, and in a Yankees lineup that is again armed to the teeth with Murder's-row like guys, especially with Robinson Cano actually hitting this year. I love it.
Victor Martinez will NOT bat .400 this season, although it's been a nice ride this year, hasn't it? Would be even better if that lineup was at 2003 or 2007 levels, but even getting Travis Hafner back will be a nice addition to the R's and RBI totals for V-Mart.
Buy low on Jimmy Rollins. Believe.
Don't quit on Garrett Atkins. I've seen this before. Believe.
Don't believe that Scott Kazmir is not hurt. Expect a DL stint any day now.
Don't think Aramis Ramirez will be back this season, unfortunately. "The worst injury in his career" sounds anything but promising.
Brandon Webb NEEDS to return for one of my teams or else i'm doomed. Thanks in no part to Randy Johnson ballooning my ERA to preposterous levels.
Picked up Justin Verlander from WAIVERS a few weeks ago. Grave, grave mistake. Never give up on high-strikeout guys unless they're hurt. Justin's the one doing the hurting now.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Saturday, May 2, 2009
May Days
Lotsa stuff's gonna happen this month, peeps......I'm about to engage in a 10-day whirlwind of law school finals, the Honors Write-on right after that, Mother's Day, Memoria Day, weather getting nicer (at least for those of you suckers not in SoCal- it's already real nice here), "summer" movie blockbusters, THE SPELLING BEE 2009, AND.............Your's truly's birthday. They say there's no good birthdays after 21, but I say phooey. I'm looking forward to it.
Watching 4th quarter of Bulls-Celts Game 7. I've STARTED watching in the 4th qurater of all these games, and it's STILL taken me like 2 hours every game, cuz of the overtimes. Imaine those who sit through the whole game: I'd say even money that this game goes to AT LEAST overtime.
The spelling bee page has some new features and got even more user-friendly last week sometime, and it's real nice. Check it out at (you guessed it) www.spellingbee.com What i like is the countdown feature they have......saves me some guesswork. So....yea, 23 + days till the spelling bee, folks. Heard it hear 2nd.
So 293spellers this year, i think maybe 3 or 4 (or 5?) additional added on from last year? 289 of some of the country's finest middle schoo/elemntary students.
Some observations about the field:
15 spellers from California. Cali kids tend to do well and represent......witness Evan O'Dorney in 2007.
23(!) spellers from Canada, including Anna Newcombe, Canada's rising star (see 2 posts ago), # 37.
Kyle Mou w/ the lucky 88, which must make all Chinese fortune cookies jealous. 88 in Mandarin literally menas, "luck, luck." So double luck. Probably an auspicious start.
Other returning spellers who have an outside shot at winning: Vaibhav S. Vavilala from Indiana, 4-time returnee, 17th in 2008. Matching Vaibhav's credentials is Keiko Bridwell from S. Carolina....so watch out for those two. Expereince also counts at the bee, as well as lots and lots of words under one's belt, which these returnees have.
The death knell may have sounded for the Bulls. Down 8 w/ 2:10 left. Don't turn off the TV yet though.
$30,000 in cash prizes from Scripps for the winner...........very nice. A.k.a., one semester's tuition at Yale. Still, that's a nice little scholarship that will have higher net present value after being invested for 6 or so years.
If anything, if Boston wins, people can look forward to seeing more of Brian Scalabrine and his awkward antics. He's sticks out like a sore thumb and knows it, but he plays basketball, and that's what counts.
Thursday, May 28 is when the semifinals will air on ESPN, then later in the evening is the championship rounds. Before that, on may 27, one can tune into excellent coverage (with hopefully Erin Andrews on hand) at ESPN360.com.........and that's how many days away? O yes, 23+
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
Watching 4th quarter of Bulls-Celts Game 7. I've STARTED watching in the 4th qurater of all these games, and it's STILL taken me like 2 hours every game, cuz of the overtimes. Imaine those who sit through the whole game: I'd say even money that this game goes to AT LEAST overtime.
The spelling bee page has some new features and got even more user-friendly last week sometime, and it's real nice. Check it out at (you guessed it) www.spellingbee.com What i like is the countdown feature they have......saves me some guesswork. So....yea, 23 + days till the spelling bee, folks. Heard it hear 2nd.
So 293spellers this year, i think maybe 3 or 4 (or 5?) additional added on from last year? 289 of some of the country's finest middle schoo/elemntary students.
Some observations about the field:
15 spellers from California. Cali kids tend to do well and represent......witness Evan O'Dorney in 2007.
23(!) spellers from Canada, including Anna Newcombe, Canada's rising star (see 2 posts ago), # 37.
Kyle Mou w/ the lucky 88, which must make all Chinese fortune cookies jealous. 88 in Mandarin literally menas, "luck, luck." So double luck. Probably an auspicious start.
Other returning spellers who have an outside shot at winning: Vaibhav S. Vavilala from Indiana, 4-time returnee, 17th in 2008. Matching Vaibhav's credentials is Keiko Bridwell from S. Carolina....so watch out for those two. Expereince also counts at the bee, as well as lots and lots of words under one's belt, which these returnees have.
The death knell may have sounded for the Bulls. Down 8 w/ 2:10 left. Don't turn off the TV yet though.
$30,000 in cash prizes from Scripps for the winner...........very nice. A.k.a., one semester's tuition at Yale. Still, that's a nice little scholarship that will have higher net present value after being invested for 6 or so years.
If anything, if Boston wins, people can look forward to seeing more of Brian Scalabrine and his awkward antics. He's sticks out like a sore thumb and knows it, but he plays basketball, and that's what counts.
Thursday, May 28 is when the semifinals will air on ESPN, then later in the evening is the championship rounds. Before that, on may 27, one can tune into excellent coverage (with hopefully Erin Andrews on hand) at ESPN360.com.........and that's how many days away? O yes, 23+
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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