Official Random Thoughts Thread - Part 3

[Wes_Tiny_Abe_]

Back in US/DC for a few days on business. Was happy to see while the city is certainly chock full of early 20 somethings wishing DC was New York, it's still chock full of random violent bums.

I actually flew up without needed homestuff for the condo I rented, so I expected to see 5000 CVSes everywhere. Surprisingly, I am just north of the Verizon Center and walked a good 8 blocks west with no CVS in sight!

It is pretty sad the amount of franchises though. 90% of places in the city seem to be horrible mall franchises.

Last note, will be attending the Raptors game tomorrow for old times sake.

There are CVS stores literally everywhere now.
I stopped keeping count a long time ago.
As far as the horrible mall franchises you speak of...
THEY ARE ALL SH*T!
The city has turned into sh*t!

I cant believe they have the nerve to charge people higher rents for all of this sh*t!

I can go to the gulf coast right now and buy a 2 bedroom condo for around 40-50k and have all of those same exact mall stores less than a 1 mile drive away from me plus have year round nice weather for boating, fishing, jet skiing and surfing.

I think I just might do that too. Sooner rather than later.

[fishercob]

Back in US/DC for a few days on business. Was happy to see while the city is certainly chock full of early 20 somethings wishing DC was New York, it's still chock full of random violent bums.

I actually flew up without needed homestuff for the condo I rented, so I expected to see 5000 CVSes everywhere. Surprisingly, I am just north of the Verizon Center and walked a good 8 blocks west with no CVS in sight!

It is pretty sad the amount of franchises though. 90% of places in the city seem to be horrible mall franchises.

Last note, will be attending the Raptors game tomorrow for old times sake.

This is funny coming from a religious capitalist such as yourself, Indu.

When businesses do well, they grow. In doing so, some scale and become "chains." So grow faster by franchising. People buy franchises every day as a means to be in business for themselves while also buying into a proven system. It's a way of minimizing risk.

If people didn't shop at CVS, they wouldn't grow. If people don't like CVS, they shouldn't buy stuff there. There would be less of them.

But there are tons of new and emerging areas of the city eat great food and buy great stuff if you are so inclined. Go to Chinito's Burrito's on Florida Ave, across from Gallaudet. Go to H Street, NE, to 8th & Penn, SE, to 14th St, to U Street, etc. Go to Georgia Ave in Brightwood. Check out Union Market for heaven's sake. Go to the art galleries in trinidad and near H Street. Yeah, F Street now has J Crew and Anthro, but several cool little Euro shops as well.

City is big and diverse enough that if you dont like an area go somewhere else.

[Wes_Tiny_Abe_]

Back in US/DC for a few days on business. Was happy to see while the city is certainly chock full of early 20 somethings wishing DC was New York, it's still chock full of random violent bums.

I actually flew up without needed homestuff for the condo I rented, so I expected to see 5000 CVSes everywhere. Surprisingly, I am just north of the Verizon Center and walked a good 8 blocks west with no CVS in sight!

It is pretty sad the amount of franchises though. 90% of places in the city seem to be horrible mall franchises.

Last note, will be attending the Raptors game tomorrow for old times sake.

If people didn't shop at CVS, they wouldn't grow. If people don't like CVS, they shouldn't buy stuff there. There would be less of them.

City is big and diverse enough that if you dont like an area go somewhere else.

Its funny you mentioned diversity because very soon there will be no diversity left in DC.

I know your comments were not directed at me.
I never shop at CVS but they still keep adding stores.
I am seriously considering going somewhere else.

While all the recent arrival, attention seeking, inflated rent paying, kickball playing idiots are snowball fighting and wearing no pants in freezing temperatures I will be on a beach somewhere (with my Capital Centre cred and my native DC cred) enjoying 80+ degree temperatures in January.

[montestewart]

I think the yuppie scum in DC are behind the recent proliferation of double, triple, and quadruple posts on the Wizards board.

[Ruzious]

Just wondering what peoples's random thoughts were on the Mike Montgomery shove of Allan Crabbe. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the ... ncaab.html

If a player did that to a coach, would/should the penalty (or actually non-penalty) have been the same?

[verbal8]

I think the coach should get discipline of some type. A verbal warning may be sufficient, given the lack of history. This isn't the same as two players getting physical in practice. Coaches due to their stature should be held to a higher standard of restraint.

[pancakes3]

http://gizmodo.com/5985509/this-map-of- ... each-state

[dobrojim]

I have 2 FRONT Row seats to tonights Chicago City Limits (comedy) at the Barns (Wolf Trap).
Can't go since Jacqui's SLHS team has a regional semi-final game tonight at Robinson.

Looking to sell the Barns tickets for face value (only $24/ticket).

call/txt me if interested
703-581-2193

[Illuminaire]

Well.

I made my commitment. One of us had to go - it was Ernie or me. EG is still here doing whatever the hell it is that keeps him hired... so it's time for me to make this breakup official.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Former Team,

Washington Wizards, you were fun for a while. We had some really good years. I mean, I always suspected that you weren't as into us as I was... I was always looking to make a long term commitment, and you were always trying to shave salary or trade away our best young players. Still, I will always remember how you looked when Gilbert was draining threes and making swag an everyday word. Those were special times.

Part of me will always love you. I know that. But I also know that you're just no good for me anymore. You don't care about me the way I used to care about you, and you don't want to change. You're happy being the laughingstock of the NBA... and I'm not.

I can do better than you, Wizards. I always could. I stuck by you when I thought you could change, when I thought you could BE the team I wanted you to be. But I know better now. You're no good for me, and I'm done with that.

We'll still be friends. I'll watch Beal and Wall. Hell, I'll finally be able to enjoy it when the team wins games it shouldn't, pushing them away from a draft pick they desperately need to actually be relevant. I'll be able to appreciate what's good about you when I don't have to care about the bad.

One last thing - thank you. Without the torment of living with such a screwed up team, I never would have found such an amazing community of people to share my pain with. I'm going to keep on with them. In a very real way, they've become more important to me than the team that brought us together in the first place.

See you later, Wizards. I'm sure you'll find some other fan to fill my place. As for me, I'll be playing the field. I have a date with the Spurs tonight, and maybe the Rockets later in the week... I've always wanted to spend time with a smart franchise... not that you would know anything about that, right?

- Sincerely,
Aaron

[dobrojim]

South Lakes won their regional semi-final game last night vs defending State champ
Oakton thus qualifying for a trip to the State Final round. Jacqui didn't sniff the floor
but it's great for her to get the exposure of a nice post-season run as a member
of the team.

[Higga]

South Lakes won their regional semi-final game last night vs defending State champ
Oakton thus qualifying for a trip to the State Final round. Jacqui didn't sniff the floor
but it's great for her to get the exposure of a nice post-season run as a member
of the team.

Go Seahawks!

[dobrojim]

deepest post-season run for the SLHS girls since Christy Scott was a player and
they won the State title with an undefeated season (1986?).

We'll see what happens Sat night (6 pm @ Robinson) vs higher ranked Edison.
Either way, they're going 'down the road' to Richmond.

ps - they've already had several upsets against higher ranked teams this year.
CH Flowers, Mt Vernon, Centreville...Christy has these girls playing some ball.
And they're only losing 2 seniors so they should have a reasonably strong team next year.

[dobrojim]

Mods, curious why the what to watch, Wiz or Bayou doc thread got locked...
Considering the range of things we talk about, not sure I see the justification.
But I'm not a mod...I do have lots of (foggy) memories from shows
at the Bayou, notably Renaissance and Sea Level and my guitar mentor
Glen Kuykendall who got a warm up gig in front of Robin Trower.
Also saw Dave Mason and JJ Cale there among others...

SLHS lost on Saturday night to Edison. But I was surprised last night
to be informed they are still playing another round at Robinson in/near
Fairfax. So they won't be going 'down the road' without another W.
SLHS plays Stonewall Jackson on Friday night. So I'll be selling my
Knicks tickets.

[miller31time]

Mods, curious why the what to watch, Wiz or Bayou doc thread got locked...
Considering the range of things we talk about, not sure I see the justification.

I locked it because WTA can't start a thread every time he gets a bout of nostalgia. It was more a random thought than anything.

[Higga]

Today is supposedly going to be the worst day of winter in terms of rain/overall nastiness.

Spring is right around the corner. Can't get here fast enough...

[dobrojim]

South Lakes HS in the State quarterfinal at Robinson Sec school near Fairfax
at 6:45 tonight.

Go Seahawks.

[Higga]

Massive snowstorm on Wednesday...really? This close to spring? Come on, I am so sick of winter!

[Nivek]

Been updating old spreadsheets with the revised, updated and improved PPA I've been using this season. Remember that trade the Bullets made that brought them Ike Austin. Here's how it looks using PPA (average = 100; higher is better; 45 = replacement level):

Bullets trade
- Ben Wallace -- 148
- Terry Davis -- 93
- Jeff McInnis -- 44
- Tim Legler -- 28

Bullets receive
- Ike Austin -- 60

Wallace would go on to post multiple seasons in the 200+ range (All-NBA territory) and win a championship in Detroit.

Oops.

[Severn Hoos]

I remember exactly where I was when I heard about that trade - at a beach house in Bethany - and I felt ill immediately. It was as bad as the day I heard about the Schilling-Finley-Harnisch for Glen (don't call me Big baby) Davis trade. Same trade, different sports. And the Orioles are only now recovering from that one.

I saw Ben Wallace's first game on the Bullets, I hadn't even realized he had checked into the game when all of a sudden this hand came out of nowhere and reached above everyone else to grab a rebound. I seriously think the ball was above the top of the backboard. And I thought "Man, Webber really got up for that one." Except it wasn't Webber. I knew right then that Ben would be special. And I was devastated when they sent him packing. In many ways, that was even worse than the Webber for Richmond trade. Really.

[dobrojim]

the ironic thing was that ORL, having gotten Big Ben, proceeded to deal him
to DET for Grant Hill. Should have been a good trade for ORL except that
Hill went on to be injured for pretty much the duration of the contract.
The only consolation ORL got outta that was being bad enough to draft
Dwight Howard.