The day after the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is undoubtedly the worst sports day of the year. It’s the only day on the calendar that no major American sport is in regulation play. No football, no basketball (save the Thunder-less Las Vegas summer league), no baseball, no nothing.
What the hell are we supposed to do with ourselves?
Perhaps the best answer is to capitalize on the lack of live, televised sporting events by enjoying all the things you say you wish you’d do more of. Or at least figure out another way of wasting time.
So allow me to propose a humble list of things to do on the worst sports day of the year. In no particular order:
Go to Red Box.
Seriously, have you tried Red Box? You can rent movies for a dollar! It’s definitely a way to kill time during an evening after work.
You see, one of two things will happen if you go to a Red Box. Sometimes you’ll rent a movie, watch it and maybe even enjoy it. But more likely, you’ll take the movie home and discover someone scratched the heck out of the DVD. Let their dog play with it or dragged it behind their car on the way to return it even. Definitely not in tip top shape, that’s for sure.
So then you’ll spend a good 20 minutes trying to clean and buff it, get the first few scenes going and keep your fingers crossed that it will keep going. When it stops in the middle of a key moment or shower scene or something like that, you’ll try to clean it again in vain and give up. If it’s still early enough to squeeze in a movie, you can run back to Red Box and begin the process anew. If not, you can get in a bad mood, pick a (hopefully small) fight with your insignificant other and go to bed in a huff.
Go outside and play one of the sports you watch but never play anymore.
Nevermind. It’s WAY too hot outside this week. Turn the air conditioner down, turn the lights off and hide.
Mow my lawn.
Again, WAY too hot. For me, but maybe not for you.
Balance your checkbook.
Be honest. When was the last time your balanced your checkbook? When your mom made you the day she helped you get your first bank account after you landed your first job? Not even then?
The most amazing aspect of this so-called Great Recession has been that banks have collapsed. Really? Just between me and the people I know, we’ve contributed the equivalent of the yearly GDP of Nicaragua to various American banks in the form of overdraft fees in the last decade or so. I’ve probably paid out a college tuition payment or so in fees just on occasions when I overdrafted my account by less than a dollar.
Math sucks, but overdraft fees suck worse. Today’s the first day of the rest of your life!
Visit Prague!
No, not Prague, Czech Republic, the golden city. Prague, Oklahoma. It rhymes with “pray.”
Sure, Europe’s far and expensive. Not everyone has the time or the money. But you’ve got to show something for the summer. A day trip to Lake Stanley Draper won’t do.
So why not a day trip to Prague, just an hour east of Oklahoma City? Plenty of farm and scrub land to see on the way. And no one can tell the difference in, say, a Facebook status update or tweet. People will think you’re all cultured.
Study up on the candidates for the upcoming local primary elections.
You can make a bigger difference voting locally than voting for president. And you can meet your local octogenarians at the polling station when you have to spell your name three times to get a ballot!
And perhaps the two most productive ways to spend the lamest day of the year:
Bombard Nick Collison with fan mail demanding the absolute value ‘stache.
We’re closing in on a year since Collison teased us about the absolute value ‘stache. He didn’t exactly promise to grow it, but he was the one who brought it up. It’s pretty much like he promised.
Accountability is important in the Thunder franchise, and it’s up to all of us to remind Collison that the people want the ‘stache. Time could be running out for him to debut the ‘stache in Oklahoma City. So short of forcing Cole Aldrich to grow one as part of rookie hazing, the time for the ‘stache has come. There’s only one year left on his deal, and even though he’s a fan favorite, there’s no guarantee he’ll be back for the 2011-12 season — if there is one.
Which reminds me.
Write a check to the NBA for at least a few bucks.
A lockout?! Season after next!? Are you telling me that millionaires squabbling over slices of the pie we pay for could cost us part or all of a season of Kevin Durant in the Ford Center?
Clearly, we need to do whatever we can to save the NBA. Buying tickets, concessions, jerseys, shirts, hats, cable TV packages and all the rest is not enough to support the system. I mean, it’s not like the owners are handing out ridiculous contracts anymore and overpaying for mediocrity. We need to help them out, and those poor souls among the players who would have trouble paying bills next year after making millions this year.
Bail out the NBA! Keep Kevin playing!
Hahahah.... Lebron puppet harassed about "The Decision"
http://www.slamonline.com/online/media/slam-tv/2010/07/video-lil-dez-talks-south-beach-with-lebron/
Utah went to great lengths to get under the tax during the season last year so I doubt they keep their payroll this high all season.
MartzMimic :If you missed the conversation last night between Chris Webber and David Kahn, Kahn tried to compare Darko to Vlade and C-Webb.
http://tumblr.com/xecdgwkis
This is great.
If you missed the conversation last night between Chris Webber and David Kahn, Kahn tried to compare Darko to Vlade and C-Webb.
http://tumblr.com/xecdgwkis
@Cpt. C-Note
Fab Melo is quite a name and being 7 foot ain't bad either.
@fetch
Thanks for the shout out for Jimmer. Adding a combo guard... they might go that way.
@Keith
Utah is a smart franchise. Paying tax for one year is prolly worth it to them. Keep Williams happy and have a shot at the playoffs instead of losing basically everything and not really have a solid shot at anything save the lottery.
They'll be fine next year w/ Kirilenko coming off.
@Crow
Jimmer! Actually I don't think he has an NBA game but as a college fan I love watching him.
I am interesting why not Utar try to trade Ak47 to Nets.I think new ownner of Nets want him and he is better than anyone they sign this summer.They can resign him as decent price next season but they must afford oulwaw and farmar long years
Utah willing to pay the tax for that team? They must expect to unload Okur, otherwise the will be some 4 million into the luxury tax. That doesn't seem prudent for a team that doesn't look any better than the second round sweep from last year.
@shiki=4 seasons
Agree. But Jazz will be better than Clips until at least 2012 :-)
@shiki=4 seasons
Bell's had some injury trouble the past couple years, but assuming he's over it I like Bell more than Matthews taking contracts into consideration.
@Gavin
They are not better,AJ< boozer and Bell< Matthews.
But they are not worse than this season and save little money.
raja bell to jazz
allow me to reintroduce myself...
My Grandmother lives in Prague. Its a sleepy little farm-town like so many in Oklahoma. They do have a redneck bar on the strip that has dirt floors w/ sawdust, an old hound-dog, and 3 Jay-Z songs for us "city-folk". I ordered a beer and wanted to start a tab and the bartender got pissed and said they wouldn't let out-of-towners run a tab cause they didn't know us. I handed her my debit card and explained how we do it in EVERY other bar I've been to.
That's my report on Prague, OK.
PS Playing Jay-Z really made the locals hate us even more ;)
Clippers pursue McGrady.
Overdraft fees suck. What sucks worse is having a check or check-card payment rejected because you don't have the money in your account. So consider overdraft fees as the lesser of two sucks.
Jim Thorpe was born near Prague. Oklahoma, not the Czech Republic. Although they do have a Czech festival every year in the Oklahoma version. It's actually a nice little community.
If [Player X] was injured I'd feel [fairly comfortable or not] with a) his replacement and b) his replacement's replacement:
Westbrook Yes No
Thabo Yes Yes
KD No No
Green Yes Yes
Krstic Yes Yes
Slam Online article about Thunder and super team:
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2010/07/team-building-activities/
Vegas has been really entertaining, the coverage has been great. It's too bad the Thunder didn't participate.
BTW, Sonny Weems and DeRozan think they have a shot to be like the OKC thunder. I think they grow some mighty fine weed in Canada that causes people to think all crazy.
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=16792
"We (DeRozan and Weems) want to be the face of the Toronto Raptors," explained Weems. "With me and him on the wing, (the) Toronto Raptors are going to be a good team. If everybody clicks, we get Jarrett Jack back as our point guard, (and) Ed Davis contributes; we can be just like that team (the Oklahoma City Thunder)."
BTW, I do think DeRozan's got some top flight talent - but there's now way the Raptors win more than 30 games this coming year now that Bosh and Hedo are out.
@Crow
These cats seem interesting:
My pick at 17...
http://www.nbadraft.net/players/jan-vesely
and maybe...
http://www.nbadraft.net/players/kyle-singler.
more size? and a cool name.
http://www.nbadraft.net/players/fab-melo
It looks like I'll be watching some Vegas Summer League ball and working on my music in the studio/man-cave ;) Life is good in The OKC! GO THUNDER!
You can also kill time watching Serge Ibaka highlight clips on Youtube.
With the [17th to 22nd] pick of the 2011 NBA draft the Oklahoma City Thunder select...
we should all start controversial threads.
Rose v Westbrook
Thunder v Bulls
Nets v Cavaliers.
its what i do when im bored and all i can do is use the internet lol
If you prefer to address these technical questions elsewhere you can PM me at APBRmetrics.
And maybe I am not. Could you please clarify the right interpretation of "Production" and "Starter Value"?
But maybe I understand this part now- is the variance in Contrib and VORP at game level and due to each player's minutes or % of game?
If I am reading it right.
@DSMok1
Is VORP calibrated in points and why does it vary from player to player?
For general interest-
Based on the starter valuations determined by this model Durant is worth the max (but not wildly above it), Westbrook is worth $10 million now and Green is worth $6.6 million as a starter.
@DSMok1
And I see a lot (hundreds) of rows filled with "#NAME?". It that an issue with my view of the file or the file?
@DSMok1
Is it correct that the APMs in your model are weighted for each player based on the SDs and that the APM itself is not weighted as a set?
Did you look at position-adjusting the rebound terms?
play ncaa football
holdmymartin and jeff allen share a birthday
well its my bday so drink a beer for me
Jai alai season never ends.
KC, Missouri resident here, mid twenties. I work in real estate.
Just bought 11 tickets to the Thunder vs Heat game up here in KC in October. It's a Friday night game, and it's going to be crazy.
@Greg
Exactly. Does anyone know where to get a Serge swingmanj ersey? I'd LOVE to buy one. Thank you all. PS - Where do you all see Post Offense/Scoring coming from? In the future I think Pleiss/Aldrich is promising at the 5, with Serge starting at the 4 & maybe Green coming off the bench at the 4. But where's Collison? He's a FA next year, correct? I'd like to bring him back in a reduced role for the Vet minimum if possible. And where is the inside scoop on Green's extension? He's a large piece to Presti's puzzle in that he could be overpaid, as some of you have said earlier.
Vega :Guillen and DeJesus should both both gone at the deadline, freeing up spots for Ka’aihue and Gordon.
You have no idea how much I want this to happen. Free Kila!
Todays my birthday and I'm spending it cutting down a tree. I guess ill just in on this too.(even though I'm not a regular poster.) I just got out of the army in January but I'm still in the guard and work on my familys farm.
The Shock lost their two best players during the transition. One was a free agent, the other refused to play for after the move to Tulsa.
Not sure how good a team can be that features Marion Jones either..
Today is the perfect day to catch up on the Old Spice guy. He's been on a tear the last 24 hours, doing individual short youtube videos to people commenting about him on twitter. It's hilarious and addicting.
@DWest
How would a team that is moved from Detroit, the 11th sized market, according to Wikipedia, to my lovely town of Tulsa, the 53rd market, succeed? I never understood this. But if it helps in my pipe dream of having a time share on the Thunder for home games, then so be it. But I will NEVER go to a Shock game, unless they pay me.
On this boring day, you could check out my new NBA player rating system, just published at the APBRmetrics forum: http://sonicscentral.com/apbrmetrics/viewtopic.php?t=2603
:-)
@Anonymous
say something in dagbani then
@f5alcon
Thanks for that...I enjoyed the laugh on this slow work day.
Anonymous :
whats the wnba?
this http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0247444/
@Grolgar
but yeah ill play, im 26, live on the northside of okc, but am from ny. I work in IT, i am a gamer
@Grolgar
hahaha about the don.
could be for justin, he does live in miami and ny, the mob maybe.
Guillen and DeJesus should both both gone at the deadline, freeing up spots for Ka'aihue and Gordon.