The Rangers Keep Rolling...

Could you ask for anything more as a fan? 8 in a row rolling into Detroit tonight at 6 P.M.? As far as I'm concerned, 'the gambler' Rogers is the MVP of this team, Soriano a close second followed by 'The Ho', who has completely turned it around this year. The Rangers lead the league in homeruns hit and fielding %, last in homeruns allowed. If you buy into anything or anyone who says that their pitching farmsystem is strong you better watch out for this team for years to come. Chen from CNNSI feels the same way:

• Rangers -- "Fourth best starting rotation in AL: The prevailing thought was that Texas took a step back this offseason when it didn't add a top pitcher to a questionable rotation. Chan Ho Park's resurrection is one of the biggest surprises in the American League, Chris Young hasn't allowed more than two earned runs in a start since mid-April, and Kenny Rogers, like a bottle of Cankaya, is getting better with age. The offense is scary, but that's not news."

Those 7 games against the Lobos of Los Angeles at the end of June will decide the division champs...

Disturbed after partying...

Go out with this intent, the following results. Let's get this Memorial Weekend off on the right foot!!! (BTW, is this a pic of Wayne???) Sponsored by W&C, L.L.P.

Louder is Better???

You don't have to get into the technicalities of the article below to understand the importance of the issue. It is the air of the music industry today (AND IT'S UNFORTUNATE).

Volume Wars

Funny that the article mentions Rush's 'Vapor Trails'. That album, along with The Smashing Pumpkins 'Machina' are the 2 records that immediately come to mind when someone mentions 'dynamics squashing', and they happened to be mastered by the same engineer...pity. At least folks like Rob Eaton, who produced The Pat Metheny Group's 'The Way Up', buck the trend of loudness and reach for subtlety, not the L2, pictured above. Eaton's not afraid to let instruments clip at times for the sake of texture.

2 weekends straight at the Moon

Ah yes, the goodness of Horses and Sorta will be rockin' at The Moon tomorrow night (Fri. 27th). Might have to have another chat with Danny Paul if he's in the house...

Rangers have share of first, Props to TexasGigs

5 straight wins and a share of first with the Los Anaheim Angels. Uh-oh, Vlad Guerrero is out for a while, Rangers are playing good ball...
Last night's recap


Thanks to Cindy @ TexasGigs for posting a link to my blog where I wrote about last Saturday's Goodwin show. Y'all should really check out her site. She busts her ass to put up a concert calendar each week for DFW and beyond...TexasGigs

If you're out of town you can even stream local music from TexasGigs Radio to your computer! Cindy, come out to Funkytown for the next show, I'll buy you a shot or vino.

Rangers tussle, Poker article per CNNSI

So apparently catcher Ron Barajas and Ryan Drese got into a little confrontation yesterday against the Royals because Barajas was unhappy with Drese's pitch selection. You can read about it on Adam's excellent site here.


An interesting poker read can be found here. If I had to rank myself as a poker player (in general, most are usually better at different games than others), I'd say I'm not quite lower-upper range of play but I can usually make average players go back to their wallets, which doesn't say much, if you care about this subject at all. The math of the game usually comes easy to me and I rely on it pretty heavily, I'm a bad feel player. I will put players to a decision early in the hand, but it's likely I have a nice pocket pair or suited connectors I especially favor. Thing is at this point in my game I'm afraid of the flop and its 2 siblings. A lot of the time I'd rather take my chances and think to myself that you don't have a higher pocket pair than I do and hope you don't run into an A or K but that's flawed logic. I love going to war, I guess that's the gist.

I rather enjoy the crops of poker groups or crews popping up lately. You might as well only start one of these with the best players you know, no exceptions. Poker is a selfish game and the name of the game is power, found in # of chips. You can only play for yourself and if you're no good your crew suffers because your not reliable enough to get in your wins so each member can get a piece of the cut. Sure, if you're playing at the same table it could turn into a Rounders situation: "Like the Nature Channel, you don't see pirahnas eating each other", but that's a movie, though not as bad as Tilt, which really sucked...

Peter King: Cowboys Bias in Hall of Fame?

King from CNNSI says he hasn't seen intentional Cowboy bias in the NFL Hall of Fame:

"But I've said this many times: Never, ever, have I heard any Hall voter, in or out of the meeting, say, "Screw the Cowboys. They were overrated.'' Obviously they weren't. I think the Super Bowl record doesn't help marginal candidates like (Rayfield) Wright and (Cliff) Harris. Why is it not acceptable to say, "Seven's the right number for that team?'' Why does there have to be a bias? I can't tell you what's in the hearts and minds of the other voters, but I can tell you I don't see it. Never have. "

I think there is a bias Peter and we'll see more of it when the 90's Boys come to bat...

Goodwin Show, Huge Sports Weekend...

and about the only 2 bright spots are Kenny Perry winning the Bank of America Colonial and the Rangers sweeping the struggling Astros in Arlington. Perry simply dominated, finishing 19 under. I went Friday, got kicked out of the Summit Bank tent, had a good time.

The Rangers will enter their next series tomorrow against the Royals 4 games over .500, their highest-mark of the season. Cordero still gives me crazypants with every attempted save but Chan Ho Park looked solid for 7 yesterday, Kenny Rogers is dominating opposing batters and the bats exploded Saturday for 8 homeruns by 7 different players. Impressive.

Yesterday the Spurs defeated the Suns in game 1 of the conference finals which means we can now talk about the Mavs woes and what happened in game 6 and the series against the Suns. I listened to an interesting statistic on the radio this morning: Dirk had a worse shooting and 3-point % than Michael Finley in the playoffs and Finley sucked pretty bad. He would show up for 1 game in each series but basically he gave the Mavs team an "Iverson Factor": lots of shots but few drop.

Does Finley need to go? Is a decent/serviceable backup center for Dampier the strong move? Did the coaching change affect player mentality/focus? I don't see how Cuban could possibly add another big name to this lineup and for sure there are chemistry issues. Errr...

Music: Went and saw a friend's boyfriend's band on Saturday night called Sunday Drive. All in all a pretty good show but I was (and continue to be) impressed by Goodwin. Note: I've got no problem with The Moon, but these guys should be playing bigger venues. These guys have the skills to blow up and their music is smart, a compliment coming from me, a musical elitist with no credentials to be elite.

On TV Sundays: Do yourself a favor and watch what I do Sunday nights: Intervention on A&E at 9 followed by one of the best, if not best, shows on tv, Rescue Me on FX at 10. The DVD of season 1 comes out early June and season 2 starts June 21st. Greatness.

Colonial underway, Mavs lose

The Bank of America Colonial is underway with Patrick Sheehan off to an 8 under lead. I'll be out there tomorrow, holla back bitches...read

The Mavs really let game 5 slip away, no clutch shots when we needed them. Jimmy J. busts 21 on us, oh no...who was the 3rd J, oh wait, that was Mashburn. He's good.

Wow, nappytime after the big hoohaw last night, ugly and I have the scars to prove it. What the hell did I do to my left arm? Sars???

7-6 Rangers Win, Interview with Kathy Liebert

Kevin Mench comes through with 2 jacks, 3 in his last 2 games to give the Rangers the win. Co Co Cordero still doesn't look as dominating as he once was... recap



Kathy Liebert, one of the best female poker players in the world and winner of the Battle of the Sexes, has an interview here. Last night I watched as Carlos Mortensen sucked out a straight on the river to leave Kathy in second place...ouch

Birthday Banter

Right after I titled this little entry I noticed that it doesn't really describe the way I feel when most birthdays come up. Come Wednesday, the 'ol 27 hits me. I guess it doesn't particularly sound worse than 26 and it for sure it won't come close to what 30 will sound like when it arrives. A bag of bricks...

No, I neither feel depressed, particularly exuberated or indifferent over my new age. I don't think 27 will make me get into first day of the rest of your life mode either and I won't try and analyze where I'm at in an omni-sense. All in all I can't complain where I'm at now. I don't have to worry about getting shot at in Iraq, I live in the greatest nation in the world and I've lived this long which are blessings in and of themselves.

Sure, I'd love to still be playing the club scene, ideally with a superb jazz band. I will be able to record at home for demo purposes which is good. Ideas are good even if they happen to be bad ideas. Gettin' philosophical on you...

Positive Thinking...

On to Game 5 Wednesday

Mavs 119
Suns 109

Nash with 48 but one-dimensional team play by the Suns. Much improved basketball by the Mavs in game 4, especially Howard with 29. Game 5 Wednesday @ 8:00...

Know your beverages!

Here's how my test went:

Bourbon

Congratulations! You're 120 proof, with specific scores in beer (100) , wine (83), and liquor (69).
Screw all that namby-pamby chick stuff, you're going straight for the bottle and a shot glass! It'll take more than a few shots of Wild Turkey or 99 Bananas before you start seeing pink elephants. You know how to handle your alcohol, and yourself at parties.

The test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:


You scored higher than 30% on proof
You scored higher than 90% on beer index
You scored higher than 87% on wine index
You scored higher than 80% on liquor index


The Alcohol Knowledge Test

I'm so proud of myself....riiiiight

Kitos Corner (5/13-5/15): Game 2, The End of Bagwell?

"Another sign indicating that Soccer is one of the world's greatest sports, MLB and the MLBPA have announced plans for a 16 country baseball world cup to be played in March. Should be interesting to see how each country's teams will be made up of and what percentage of MLB players will be on each team.

Read about it here


Big win for the Mav's. They played that game a lot like they played in
Game 7 vs Houston. Avery is starting to get the hang of coaching in the playoffs - a tough task since only being the head coach for the last month of the season and going up against a well coached #5 team and the current COTY and league MVP. They've got to have some confidence going in to the weekend knowing they are currently in control of the series and will be at home for the next two. IF they can leave Dallas up 3-1, then they should advance to their toughest challenge for the remainder of the playoffs. Finley was great but the real story was Dallas going "small" and Dampier making a huge presence in the paint. The loss of Johnson for PHX will hurt them more than most will think.


End of an era? Jeff Bagwell has been placed on the DL and he may not return - ever. He's had a remarkable career in Houston and many think he's a definite HOF'er. He'll probably get in, but maybe not first ballot. His image has been tarnished for his declining production the last few seasons and also his lack of post-season production. He's had a bum shoulder for 3 years and had some success last year in the playoffs - if he hangs em up soon, everybody will simply remember his red-hot numbers from the mid to late 90's that put Houston back on the map with several divisional titles. Seeing Bagwell go will be hard, but the Astros will be better off since they can promote from within and not have some fan-favorite liability on the field blocking a premier position." - Kitos

Thanks Kitos! Soccer what???

Mavs Win Game 2

Dirk hits a clutch jumper with 6 seconds left, Finley with 31, Damp shows up, more after I get some sleep...

Mavs 108
Suns 106

Amazing Race....Golf Stuff

So the team I picked from the start wins it. Last season the team I picked from the beginning gets 2nd. I need to bust me some Vegas action on Amazing Race 8, and, is it gay for me to watch that show???

(note to self: Should have bet Dave, Al and Adam on this last race but they screwed me out of $30 last time. Next race is on...)


So Tiger and Vijay will be playing the Byron Nelson this weekend but no Colonial the weekend after. Is this any surprise? Dee Finley and Garsek better get on the ball next year and get the big names in...

Also, Cooder Graw and Gary Nunn playing after Friday and Saturday's action at the Colonial? Please. I guess EVERYONE there will be wearing their spurs and cowboy hats. Perhaps having Pimpadelic play might weed out typical Texas sentiments???

Ouch, but somewhat predictable

I'm not going to lie to you and say that I watched the whole Mavs game last night cause I only watched most of the first half...those Phoenix games starting at 9:30 are brutal, something must be done and I'm not going to quit my job.

The game, however, was kind of like an old Nightmare on Elm Street movie where you know the movie is supposed to be scary but there are moments of humor and...it had both. No, I'm not going to assume the role of Nostradamus after that one, frankly anyone could see the possibility of last night's debacle.

As much as I hate to bag on the Mavs squad certain things have become apparent:

-Show no drive, win no game

-Keep throwing up 18 foot jumpers and you lose

-No transition game, lose

-Twelve freakin' freethrows???

Amare Stoudmire is gonna get his. That train will not stop. Nash will continue to play excellent transition basketball. It's the Marion's and Johnson's that worry me scoring 48 combined. That cannot continue to happen if the Mavs want this series.

Oh, no panic will come from me just yet, I predicted Mavs in 7...hehe

Analysis of Game 7, Suns Matchup

I did not predict a 40 point blowout. I didn't think this game would be over that soon. McGrady will continue to be a scary player. The Rockets will only be better next season. They're not as deep as the Mavs roster. No, these aren't sentence fragments.

From a Mavs fan perspective, I couldn't ask for anything more, other than for Dirk to be on his 'A' game, which he wasn't, again. This team wins when either: 1) Dirk is unstoppable, 2) Jason Terry and Michael Finley step up and/or 3) their D stops the easy inside bucket.

I think they won Saturday with a #2-3 combination.

On to Phoenix:

Dallas can't afford to have a bad shooting night against this team, it's that simple. A while Nash poses a threat everytime he has the ball, I'm confident in our guard play to step it up. The Mavs match up better with Phoenix than Houston IMO.

I will be torn, cause Nash is still my boy and deserved the MVP.

A little statistic going against the Mavs: #1 seeds are undefeated against #4's in the semifinals(18-0)

And so they want a game 7

Folks, there was hardly any momentum lost last night, our mavvies are coming to play 7. To say the shots were off would be a huge understatement. I really don't understand how Stackhouse (the killer) doesn't play more minutes. 4th in the 6th man voting??? Hardly.

Every dog has its day, hmm McGrady???

Presto anyone? Annie Duke interview

Howard Lederer's little sister, Annie Duke, has a new interview at PokerLizard. Not only is she The Professor's sis, she's probably the best female poker player along with Jennifer Harman. Read here

Cinco de Mayo, 5/5/05, anyone think presto's (5 5) a money hand today???

Austin City Limits Festival lineup out:

Sheesh,

Widespread Panic, Coldplay, Keane, Gov't Mule, Robert Randolph...

I have no excuse for not making it the first 2 years, this year I'm there. Can you say caravan???

ACL Festival

Holla !

Mavs game tonight...

Don't have much time today but the Mavs play against Houston at home tonight at 7:00 on TNT/Channel 21.

Are the Rangers beginning to slide deep in the AL West standings??? It looks like they'll be in a hole soon enough if they can't get run support for pitchers allowing 4 or fewer runs...

Setlist for the Panic show last Saturday coming. (must confess I probably didn't recall half of the tunes they played but it was excellent nonetheless)