Official Not So Random Thoughts Thread Version 2.2

[Rafael122]

Yo, so make sure to check out the Redskins board. We could use the participation ya know.

Set up a thread discussing the games for the 2010-2011 season.

viewforum.php?f=182

[nate33]

A new guy showed up for the other team in our Y-League game Monday. He was about 6-5 with a fro that made him look a lot like Rasheed Wallace. I've never played against somebody so good in my entire life. He was just pulling up at half court (pro 3-point range) and just nailing off-balance jumpers with a hand in his face at will. He must have made 20 out of 22 or so 3-pointers during the game. He was also a monster on the boards and on defense though it looked like he was taking it easy against us.

His father also plays on that team (his father is 48 and ridiculously good for his age) and he said that his son was going to play in the D-League this year. It just makes you realize how insanely good NBA players are when guys this talented can barely make a D-League roster.

[dobrojim]

^ exactly

the same thing would probably be true for most decent Div 1 NCAA talent.

but the best 300-450 basketball players in the US (or world) is WAY better
than even pretty good 'local talent'.

but my random thought was actually that it is going to be nice to
have something more than armchair speculation to talk about in
the not so distance future.

one of the perks this year for planholders was a complimentary
group night which means 8 free upper level tix to one of a number
of different low interest weeknight games. I asked for the MIL game
on 3/8 as my first choice, 6ers 11/23 2nd, and Bobcats 12/20 3rd choice.

depending on interest on CL, some of them could end up being free-bees
to RealGM WizBoard folks.

[montestewart]

^ exactly

the same thing would probably be true for most decent Div 1 NCAA talent.

but the best 300-450 basketball players in the US (or world) is WAY better
than even pretty good 'local talent'.

but my random thought was actually that it is going to be nice to
have something more than armchair speculation to talk about in
the not so distance future.

one of the perks this year for planholders was a complimentary
group night which means 8 free upper level tix to one of a number
of different low interest weeknight games. I asked for the MIL game
on 3/8 as my first choice, 6ers 11/23 2nd, and Bobcats 12/20 3rd choice.

depending on interest on CL, some of them could end up being free-bees
to RealGM WizBoard folks.

Was that for full season plan only? I don't recall seeing that, but that's a lot to give for a partial plan.

[Rafael122]

They probably figure a lot of people won't be coming to games this year.

[JWizmentality]

I'm contemplating buying a gun. I've thought about it for some time over the years, and it kinda resurfaced last week when a friend of friend was robbed at gunpoint....in his home. Never been a big fan of firearms. I remember my Dad used to have a huge ass Smith & Wesson Revolver, but I grew up in early 90's, politically unstable Jamaica. I only ever saw him use it once when I was really young and I remember that it was just really loud. Any gun owners here with advice?

[dobrojim]

^ exactly

the same thing would probably be true for most decent Div 1 NCAA talent.

but the best 300-450 basketball players in the US (or world) is WAY better
than even pretty good 'local talent'.

but my random thought was actually that it is going to be nice to
have something more than armchair speculation to talk about in
the not so distance future.

one of the perks this year for planholders was a complimentary
group night which means 8 free upper level tix to one of a number
of different low interest weeknight games. I asked for the MIL gameon 3/8 as my first choice, 6ers 11/23 2nd, and Bobcats 12/20 3rd choice.

depending on interest on CL, some of them could end up being free-bees
to RealGM WizBoard folks.

Was that for full season plan only? I don't recall seeing that, but that's a lot to give for a partial plan.

Must have been for full plans only. FWIW, the 4 'big' perks they offered
me are:

1. comp tickets (1 per seat on your plan) to 2 games during the year.
This seems kinda strange in a way since full plan holders already have
tix to all games. I think the offer may in fact be a seat, upgrade for a lot of
folks esp upper lvl holders. The choice of games isn't that impressive but
the tix are completely free.

2. one group comp tickets - 8 uppers to one game - again, the choice of games
is mostly not that great. Again, though totally free.

3. chance to buy tickets to premium games at full price before
sales to the gen public; chance to buy discounted tickets to all
other games, before sales to the gen public.

4. chance to rent a suite for 15 hundred bucks - limited choice of games;
the suite rental includes a large block of tickets (15-20 tickets?)

[dobrojim]

who would have thought Bechtel (multi-BILLION dollar company)
is actually a 'small' business? Go figure.

[dobrojim]

dang, I got my no thanks email from the wizards on being
on the fan advisory board. Anybody from RealGM make the
cut?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

A new guy showed up for the other team in our Y-League game Monday. He was about 6-5 with a fro that made him look a lot like Rasheed Wallace. I've never played against somebody so good in my entire life. He was just pulling up at half court (pro 3-point range) and just nailing off-balance jumpers with a hand in his face at will. He must have made 20 out of 22 or so 3-pointers during the game. He was also a monster on the boards and on defense though it looked like he was taking it easy against us.

His father also plays on that team (his father is 48 and ridiculously good for his age) and he said that his son was going to play in the D-League this year. It just makes you realize how insanely good NBA players are when guys this talented can barely make a D-League roster.

Some of the best ballers are not in the NBA. Even making it to the D-League is tough.

I remember watching Tim Legler play for the (now defunct) Omaha Racers. He was good there, but who knew he'd be shooting three pointers on All Star weekend? I've known of guys like Paul Graham to get cut from CBA teams but bounce around long enough to stick with an NBA team--and turn out to be pretty good NBA players!

So, the dude you played with, IMO nate, could probably run games at Kenner or fare well practicing with or against Wizard players.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I'm contemplating buying a gun. I've thought about it for some time over the years, and it kinda resurfaced last week when a friend of friend was robbed at gunpoint....in his home. Never been a big fan of firearms. I remember my Dad used to have a huge ass Smith & Wesson Revolver, but I grew up in early 90's, politically unstable Jamaica. I only ever saw him use it once when I was really young and I remember that it was just really loud. Any gun owners here with advice?

Unsolicited (I'm not a gun owner) ...

Most of the times guns are used in domestic violence or suicide. I don't know how often they've been successful in preventing robbery or home invasion.

I know of one case where a man killed a guy who was robbing his store at gun point--he beat him to the draw, so to speak. Later, however, the same man was shot and seriously wounded by another intruder. He ended up closing down his store and moving.

Gun owners, care to give an opposing view?

[Wizards2Lottery]

I'm contemplating buying a gun. I've thought about it for some time over the years, and it kinda resurfaced last week when a friend of friend was robbed at gunpoint....in his home. Never been a big fan of firearms. I remember my Dad used to have a huge ass Smith & Wesson Revolver, but I grew up in early 90's, politically unstable Jamaica. I only ever saw him use it once when I was really young and I remember that it was just really loud. Any gun owners here with advice?

I'll most likely be buying a gun some time in the near future as well. NoVA/DC are just way too unsafe. Two years ago, intruders broke into one of my friends houses. He lives in a quiet peaceful community but it's surrounded by a pretty dangerous area (Culmore). Luckily the intruders just stole their TV, home theater equipment etc. and didn't come in and kill anyone. But they weren't confronted so how knows what would have happened if they woke someone up and they came to check on what's going on?

Better safe than sorry.

[nate33]

I'm contemplating buying a gun. I've thought about it for some time over the years, and it kinda resurfaced last week when a friend of friend was robbed at gunpoint....in his home. Never been a big fan of firearms. I remember my Dad used to have a huge ass Smith & Wesson Revolver, but I grew up in early 90's, politically unstable Jamaica. I only ever saw him use it once when I was really young and I remember that it was just really loud. Any gun owners here with advice?

Unsolicited (I'm not a gun owner) ...

Most of the times guns are used in domestic violence or suicide. I don't know how often they've been successful in preventing robbery or home invasion.

I know of one case where a man killed a guy who was robbing his store at gun point but beating him to the draw, so to speak. Later, however, the same man was shot and seriously wounded by another intruder. He ended up closing down his store and moving.

Gun owners, care to give an opposing view?

From a Wikipedia article on John Lott:

Concealed weapons and crime rate
In an article written with David B. Mustard[10] and Lott's subsequent books More Guns, Less Crime and The Bias Against Guns, Lott presents a statistical argument for the claim that allowing adults to carry concealed weapons significantly reduces crime in America. He supports this position by an exhaustive tabulation of various social and economic data from census and other population surveys of individual United States counties in different years, which he fits into a large multifactorial mathematical model of crime rate. His published results generally show a reduction in violent crime associated with the adoption by states of laws allowing the general adult population to freely carry concealed weapons.

The work was immediately controversial, drawing large amounts of support and opposition. Numerous academics praised Lott's methodology, including Florida State University economist Bruce Benson,[11] Cardozo School of Law professor John O. McGinnis,[12] and University of Mississippi professor William F. Shughart.[13] The book also received favorable reviews from academics Gary Kleck, Milton Friedman, and Thomas Sowell.[14]

Other reviews claimed that there were problems with Lott's model. In the New England Journal of Medicine, David Hemenway argued that Lott failed to account for several key variables, including drug consumption, and that therefore the model was flawed;[15] however, Lott's book did account for other variables such as cocaine prices.[16] Others agreed, and some researchers, including Ian Ayres and John J. Donohue, claimed that the model contained significant coding errors and systemic bias.[17] Gary Kleck considered it unlikely that such a large decrease in violent crime could be explained by a relatively modest increase in concealed carry,[18] and others claimed that removing portions of the data set caused the results to only still show statistically significant drops in aggravated assaults and robbery when all counties with fewer than 100,000 people and Florida's counties were both simultaneously dropped from the sample.[19]

In 2004, the National Academy of Sciences conducted a review of current research and data on firearms and violent crime, including Lott's work, and found that "there is no credible evidence that 'right-to-carry' laws, which allow qualified adults to carry concealed handguns, either decrease or increase violent crime." James Q. Wilson dissented from that opinion, and while accepting the committee's findings on violent crime in general, he argued that all of the Committee's own estimates confirmed Lott's finding that right-to-carry laws had an effect on murder rate.[20]

Referring to the research done on the topic, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that while most researchers support Lott's findings that right-to-carry laws reduce violent crime, some researchers doubt that concealed carry laws have any impact on violent crime, saying however that "Mr. Lott's research has convinced his peers of at least one point: No scholars now claim that legalizing concealed weapons causes a major increase in crime."[21] As Lott critics Ian Ayres and John J. Donohue III pointed out: "We conclude that Lott and Mustard have made an important scholarly contribution in establishing that these laws have not led to the massive bloodbath of death and injury that some of their opponents feared. On the other hand, we find that the statistical evidence that these laws have reduced crime is limited, sporadic, and extraordinarily fragile."[22]

In a nutshell, the general consensus is that permitting adults to carry concealed weapons decreases violent crime. Some dissenters disagree, but they cede that, at the very least, concealed carry laws fail to increase violent crime.

[Ruzious]

I'm contemplating buying a gun. I've thought about it for some time over the years, and it kinda resurfaced last week when a friend of friend was robbed at gunpoint....in his home. Never been a big fan of firearms. I remember my Dad used to have a huge ass Smith & Wesson Revolver, but I grew up in early 90's, politically unstable Jamaica. I only ever saw him use it once when I was really young and I remember that it was just really loud. Any gun owners here with advice?

I'm not a gun owner. My first advice is to take the best gun safety class you can... before buying one. I'm guessing that most "accidents" could be avoided if the owners took precautions that should be taught in gun safety classes. My second advice is to learn the gun laws of the state you live in and any state you plan to bring the gun in. In spite of Nate's article, I think carrying a concealed or unconcealed gun around with you in the city or suburbs is generally an extraordinarily stupid idea.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

JWiz, here's CCJ's latest advice:

She's 34-years old and a single mom. Jamaican girl living in NYC. Been a prison guard (girl's got spunk and toughnes--you know she's strong in bed). I can give you $54 million reasons to find her very attractive.

http://newyorkpost.com/p/news/local/bro ... hoto_num=6

Move to NY, JWiz, and become that source of strength and inspiration she needs.

She'll be moving to a real nice neighborhood soon. One with lots of security, too. Let them (or her) carry the weapons.

On a serious tip, I hope after struggling so hard in life that this girl doesn't really encounter problems now that she's richer than she can even fathom.

Thirty mil lump sum and she doesn't want to resign?

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/broo ... MGZHedBeYO

[go'stags]

If someone breaks into my apartment, they can have my TV, bed,money, whatever. But they won't be able to shoot me while I'm going for a gun-because I won't have one.

My possessions are not worth my, or even the intruder's, life, so I won't risk going for a gun. Even if I win the draw, I won't feel good about it. I'm not involved with anything that could lead people to break into my house looking for blood, so I have no use for a gun. I can get a new TV.

This of course is just my opinion, and I don't mean to sound holier-than-thou or anything at all like that. Just my 2 cents.

[JWizmentality]

JWiz, here's CCJ's latest advice:

She's 34-years old and a single mom. Jamaican girl living in NYC. Been a prison guard (girl's got spunk and toughnes--you know she's strong in bed). I can give you $54 million reasons to find her very attractive.

http://newyorkpost.com/p/news/local/bro ... hoto_num=6

Move to NY, JWiz, and become that source of strength and inspiration she needs.

She'll be moving to a real nice neighborhood soon. One with lots of security, too. Let them (or her) carry the weapons.

On a serious tip, I hope after struggling so hard in life that this girl doesn't really encounter problems now that she's richer than she can even fathom.

Thirty mil lump sum and she doesn't want to resign?

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/broo ... MGZHedBeYO

lol, yeah I saw that today. Good for her. You go girl! She's 10 years my senior. I've never been into "mature" women though.

[Cramer]

If someone breaks into my apartment, they can have my TV, bed,money, whatever. But they won't be able to shoot me while I'm going for a gun-because I won't have one.

My possessions are not worth my, or even the intruder's, life, so I won't risk going for a gun. Even if I win the draw, I won't feel good about it. I'm not involved with anything that could lead people to break into my house looking for blood, so I have no use for a gun. I can get a new TV.

This of course is just my opinion, and I don't mean to sound holier-than-thou or anything at all like that. Just my 2 cents.

Anyone breaks into my house they can grab what they want, but they won't be leaving. I'll be damned if someone is going to be raping (or worse) my wife and daughters while I'm sitting there helpless. If some one breaks into my house and I'm there, I'll kill the **** over the pennies in my change jar. And won't lose a moments sleep.

[willbcocks]

The rape my wife and daughters thing always seemed like a graphic strawman to me--how often does this exact scenario happen? The vast majority of rape is committed by family/acquaintances. Violent rapes seem to mainly be committed in public places, after a woman lets a man into her house, or a man sneaks into a house and waits (there were a number of these at UVA when I was there), all of make the husband's possession of a gun immaterial. If that were truly the worry, pepper spray or a gun for the wife would make more sense...

[Cramer]

What? While the stats might point to you be correct about family/aquaintances, what do the stats say about what someone willing to break into a house with people in it and their intentions? Probably not just interested in my TV, and I'm not interested in letting the **** walk with it either. If someone comes into my house he had better be willing to die, because I will be to defend it and what's in it.