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Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Notes
- I picked up a TiVo this weekend. I have to say that the automatic recording, the easy-to-use guide (the main reason I had thought of getting digital cable), and the ability to easily fast forward and rewind are awesome. The best part of this is that I can watch sporting events I don't care that much about so much faster. Especially football, where the 30 second skip feature allows you to jump from when the whistle blows to the hike almost every time until the end of the game (when teams are in hurry up offense mode).
- I watched the Laker game tonight (largely on fast forward...I reached the live game with 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter). I have to say, they were gift-wrapped this game. They had no interior defense (there were about 10 alley oops against them and should have been about 10 more), their free throw shooting stinks, and they only appeared to have three guys that can put up a shot: Kobe, Devean George, and some guy named Smush Parker. Smush has a great name and made a great Laker debut. Hopefully he can keep it up. As far as the Nuggets are concerned, they were up a point with 30 seconds left and were called for traveling before they called a timeout (allowing the Lakers to tie with a free throw) and then Anthony threw up a shot with 9 seconds left in the game, the shot clock off, and the score tied, practically guaranteeing another Laker opportunity. Of course, Kwame Brown of the Lakers did the same thing near the end of OT when he took the shot with 12 seconds left, but was able to get the rebound and give it to Kobe, who drained a shot for the win. Oh, and basketball officiating is still atrocious (they should offer Doug Eddings a job), although it was good to see them call traveling a number of times (missing a few obvious ones, still).
- Bill Walton is without a doubt the worst announcer in the history of sport. Part of the joy of having TiVo is that I can now fast forward through his inanity. It's like he collects the brain farts of every single person in the arena and turns them into words that may or may not even resemble logical sentences. In the midst of Lamar Odom going 2-13, Walton constantly said "That's his game; that's his shot" while Odom threw up miss after miss. It was meant as a compliment, not a statement of irony. On the other side, Andre Miller was 3-11, but also had 11 assists, and Walton couldn't keep himself from saying that Miller's play was horrible (11 assists is horrible?). Also, any time someone was playing badly, Walton said that the player must be injured, otherwise they wouldn't be playing this badly. He has already declared a routine dunk by Kenyon Martin and the routine drawing of a charge by Marcus Camby as the Offensive and Defensive Plays of the Year. When a Laker stole the ball out of Camby's hands once, Camby stuck his leg out and tripped that player...upon seeing the replay Walton said that the Laker "tripped over a stationary leg, I can't believe they would call a foul on a guy standing stationary" when it was obvious the guy had stuck his leg out. Also, a couple of seconds before Kobe attempted the game winning shot at the end of regulation (which he missed), Kobe was hit in the eye. Upon seeing the replay, it was obvious that after the hand raked his face, Kobe grimaced and blinked hard a few times before making his move and taking his shot, and then Walton said, "Kobe had no reaction until after he missed the shot." Seriously, Walton could be a Major League playoff umpire.
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