Official Random Thoughts Thread - Part 3

[Severn Hoos]

So I took my son to Mark Price's Summer Basketball Camp yesterday. Very cool. Last year, he went to camp with the local HS coach, a 28-year old kid who seems like a good guy but.... wasn't a 5-time NBA All-Star, 3-point champion, and record holder for shooting percentage.

Anyway, a couple of the other kids were coming in with NBA jerseys on, mostly from kids who, shall we say, did not look the part of an NBA player, if you know what I mean? (Kobe's jersey seemed to be the favorite.) And there, for the first time, I saw a kid in a Fareid replica jersey. And it was quite a sight - a somewhat nerdy-looking kid, red hair (sorry nate), glasses, the whole look - probably could not have been stylistically any different from the guy whose jersey he was wearing. And it was a great thing to see. (Plus, it meant Fareid has really "made it" - after all, I didn't see any kids rocking the Singleton jersey...)

[dobrojim]

Jacqui goes to camp on July 2nd for 4 days. She went to PGC (Point Guard College)
last year and really liked it tremendously. This year they have a class up in
Westminster MD. Last year it was Harrisonburg. Anyway, she's gotten good PT
on the SLHS summer league team. Last night they played a Catholic league team,
Bishop Ireton and managed just barely to beat them. I thought it would be tough
but when I saw BI warm up, they didn't look very good at all. BI played decently
and South Lakes played worse than the previous games turning the ball over at
a very high frequency. SL was playing with some girls who will only be 8th graders
next year as well as girls that played on the freshman team this year. Jacqui got
absolutely run over by a pretty big girl on BI and got no love from the stripes.
Dad in the stands was not happy with that no-call.

[nate33]

And there, for the first time, I saw a kid in a Fareid replica jersey. And it was quite a sight - a somewhat nerdy-looking kid, red hair (sorry nate), glasses, the whole look - probably could not have been stylistically any different from the guy whose jersey he was wearing. And it was a great thing to see.

I was waiting for the part where you say that the nerdy redhead kid proceeded to destroy everyone at the basketball camp with his mad skills.

[Severn Hoos]

And there, for the first time, I saw a kid in a Fareid replica jersey. And it was quite a sight - a somewhat nerdy-looking kid, red hair (sorry nate), glasses, the whole look - probably could not have been stylistically any different from the guy whose jersey he was wearing. And it was a great thing to see.

I was waiting for the part where you say that the nerdy redhead kid proceeded to destroy everyone at the basketball camp with his mad skills.

Well, I was only there through the warmups / shootaround, so didn't get the full scouting report. But I will let you know that he appeared much smoother and more skilled than I anticipated. If only he had dreads...

[Nivek]

Man there are a lot of good restaurants in Atlanta. Everywhere we eat, it's like we find a new "best" something. There's a cupcake place on Highland that blows away Georgetown Cupcake.

[fishercob]

It would suck for Gilbert if Roy -- with zero knees -- gets a job before Gil, who has one. Whatever happened to JoJo?

[dobrojim]

Man there are a lot of good restaurants in Atlanta. Everywhere we eat, it's like we find a new "best" something. There's a cupcake place on Highland that blows away Georgetown Cupcake.

I had an extended work assignment in ATL way back around 1980. Lived on North Street
overlooking the side of the Fox theatre. I concur. Loved the food down there. There
was one place on Ponce De Leon just a couple blocks off Peachtree that was like
a cafeteria that I really liked. Also LOVED the BBQ at the Hickory House. Don't know
if those places are still around. Also a fancy burger/steak place called Oh Henry's IIRC.
I think that is when I started to get heavy.

[Severn Hoos]

Man there are a lot of good restaurants in Atlanta. Everywhere we eat, it's like we find a new "best" something. There's a cupcake place on Highland that blows away Georgetown Cupcake.

Kev - Welcome! How long are you in town?

I had an extended work assignment in ATL way back around 1980. Lived on North Street overlooking the side of the Fox theatre. I concur. Loved the food down there. There
was one place on Ponce De Leon just a couple blocks off Peachtree that was like
a cafeteria that I really liked. Also LOVED the BBQ at the Hickory House. Don't know
if those places are still around. Also a fancy burger/steak place called Oh Henry's IIRC.
I think that is when I started to get heavy.

jim - was that Hickory House on Northlake or LaVista, by any chance? There's one there now, looks like a total hole in the wall, but the BBQ is pretty good. Don't actually know if it's a chain, b/c that's the only one I've seen. It's a quarter mile from my old office, maybe I'll head back there in your honor for old times' sake.

[Higga]

Damn it's hot as hell today. I'm in an air conditioned office and I'm still sweating in my back and armpits. Can't wait to get off work and jump in the pool.

[dobrojim]

I think Hickory House was a small chain with maybe 3-5 locations
around the ATL area. The one we went to would have been a couple
miles north of Ponce on one of the main streets that parallels and is just east
of Peachtree. Not a big place but bigger than what I might consider a
hole in the wall. I would rate their BBQ as pretty good, perhaps not
great depending on your preference in how BBQ should be done.
Sweet and spicey tomato based sauce. Meat was good though.

[Nivek]

I'm in ATL through Saturday. Haven't seen a Hickory House. Did have some ferociously good ribs from Fat Matt's. Great Spanish/Cuban/Mexican from La Fonda Latina. Highland Bakery was great.

My son's favorite: Krispy Kreme. When the hot sign was lit.

[dobrojim]

from the okafor trade thread

CCJ, I don't think we had the 18th pick the yr of the Miller/Foye trade. I believe Lawson pulled out of the draft that yr and re-entered the following yr. The 18th pick was used on Javale.

Yeah it was more like a situation now with the 10th pick. People thought
EG didn't bargain hard enough.

Correct. Maybe I should start running to improve my memory, jim. You're right that we thought EG should have bargained harder. A recurring theme.

FWIW, I have senior moments all the time. I usually try to say my intention
is to appear like an absent minded scientist type. Running might or might not help.

funny/bizarre true story

back in May, I arrived at the start finish area of a 100 mile race near to
the 63 mile point in the race where I would begin to pace another runner
for the last 40 miles. I was there in plenty of time and wandered around
the mostly deserted area for a few minutes. At a distance, I saw a guy who
I thought I recognized having just met him about a month previously. I called
out to him...Hey Bob (his name). The guy looked over and recognized me.
We walked towards each other and began to converse. Here's the weird thing.

The guy's name was Bob but it wasn't the Bob I thought it was. But is was another
Bob who knew and remembered me from running the VT100 the summer of 2011.
We had run for a somewhat extended period of time in that race and Bob was describing for
me a number of the things we had talked about. The best I could do was claim
a vague recollection of the earlier conversation. This only proves to a level of
near absolute certainty that running doesn't improve your memory.

[Higga]

Laron Profit is an NBA Insider on ESPN 980 and he's damn good. He also knows other sports too not just hoops.

[montestewart]

To me, the craziest part of that whole story is dobrojim casually mentioning running one hundred miles. Multiple times.

I was going to rant about language or something, but that'll do for now.

[closg00]

For Wes-Tiny-Abe
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/opini ... d=fb-share

[barelyawake]

Sorry New York, New Orleans, Austin, Seattle, St Louis, Detriot, Chicago, etc...

Pound for pound the greatest musicians are on Beale Street, Memphis... And it ain't a close race either. Google Fuzzy Jeffries. Jesus that man can play the gi'tar.

[montestewart]

Didn't see this anywhere else. Pretty funny.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball- ... --nba.html

[miller31time]

Didn't see this anywhere else. Pretty funny.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball- ... --nba.html

I'll say this about Skip -- in this particular instance, I don't think he deserves all the flack he got from Cuban. LeBron, almost undeniably, was a different person in these Finals than he was last year. While Cuban is correct that there were different schemes used, LeBron is such a transcendent talent that defensive schemes don't really play too much of a part in his success or failure. Skip was right when he said LeBron can slice through any defense when he wants to.

However, Cuban's main point is correct -- Skip Bayless and the rest of the sensationalist journalists out there (and there's a lot of them) are a big problem and really affect public perception. I can't tell you how many people I work with think Bayless is sincere in what he says. It's staggering. Here I am thinking the average person is smart enough to know a troll when they see one but people actually give this guy credence.

Kudos to Skip, I guess. He's perfected the art of trolling. He's a household name and a brand now. It's just sad that this is what passes for entertainment and debate.

[Wes_Tiny_Abe_]

For Wes-Tiny-Abe
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/opini ... d=fb-share

For the ten thousandth time, I am NOT black.
As an individual group, the Blacks still outnumber the other individual groups in DC.

[closg00]

For Wes-Tiny-Abe
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/opini ... d=fb-share

For the ten thousandth time, I am NOT black.
As an individual group, the Blacks still outnumber the other individual groups in DC.

Who cares about your skin-color, didn't u post some anti-gentrification stuff? That was my point anyway.