College rivalries

One of today's NCAA Final Four games features two teams that, based on my allegiances, I must root against: Florida & UCLA. I've been a Tennessee fan since junior high and am now a USC student, which theoretically means I'm anti-Florida and anti-UCLA.

Who do I root for? Where are my ties strongest?

I never attended UT, have only been to one UT football game, and have set foot on the UT campus at most a handful of times. On the other hand, I'm currently at USC, went to most of the home football games this fall, and am on campus several times a week. I basically live at USC.

So, who do I root for? The answer is simple... UCLA.

People seem to take rivalries more seriously when they grow up with them. I lived the UT-Florida in high school, even though I moved away for college. That means I'm anti-Florida (other than rare cases) and anti-Spurrier (even now that he's at South Carolina).

I've just started to live the USC-UCLA rivalry and as a grad student, I just don't have much of a reason to get involved with it. Don't get me wrong, I'm 100% rooting for USC. I'm just more or less indifferent to UCLA... I don't typically feel any compelling reason to root for or against them.

And that brings me back to today's game. UCLA indifference beats anti-Florida. Therefore, go Bruins... beat the Gators!

And go Georgetown (indifferent)... beat the Buckeyes (random anti-OSU feelings)!

Read more!

Where there's smoke

There's a fire burning in the Hollywood Hills not far from the famous Hollywood sign.

The LA Times has some great photos of the smoke, including the one below.



I tried to get a shot of the smoke from near where I live. It's tough to see in the photo, but there's a layer of smoke that's obscuring the mountains. The Hollywood sign is near the right edge of the picture and it's normally more visible than it appears today. You might just think it's regular LA smog, but this is a lot thicker than smog.

Read more!

Clemson would've spelled its name right

Read more!

Casey moving to England?

In a small town north of London, a man named Tony Alleyne remodeled his studio apartment into a replica of the interior of Star Trek: Voyager. Apparently, after his wife left him in 1994, he decided he needed a new hobby and got to work.

Well, now his swingin' bachelor pad is for sale. It should be up on ebay in the next few days for the starting price of $200,000.

Read more!

The battle to be called #66

Adora's mighty Clemson Tigers advanced to the finals of the NIT tournament to face West Virginia on Thursday night. I've kidded about this tourney before since it's the tournament to determine who's the best team that wasn't one of the original 65 best picked for the NCAA tourney.

Even so, the NIT semifinals apparently had some exciting games, with both games determined by one point each. West Virginia hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Mississippi State and Clemson held off Air Force. Hopefully the final will be just as exciting. Unfortunately, I'll be in class during the game.

But as Adora said, root for Clemson since she'll be in New York for the game with her $60 courtside seats...

Read more!

Student dentists

Today I had an appointment at the USC Dental School to get my teeth checked out. (Don't worry, nothing's wrong... it's just been a little over a year since I've seen a dentist.) Before I get into the description, let me state that I didn't mind the experience and almost enjoyed it.

It's a little different going to a dental school vs a regular dentist. I didn't think the differences would be noticeable, but they are huge. First off, they didn't really do anything today. I had a third year dental student look in my mouth and make sure everything was good, but the exam was mostly looking at my gums and mouth to make sure there were no weird growths or anything. Then a faculty member came and re-did the exam to make sure the student didn't miss anything. Good news: I have no weird growths.

My favorite part was the fact that when the faculty guy was there, there were four students hovering around watching - the third year and three first years. I kind of felt like a patient on Grey's Anatomy, but not nearly as cool. The students watched as the dentist showed them how to look around the mouth and pointed out various salivary ducts and things like that. The down side was that in order to show all these various things, the dentist was tugging on my lips, toungue, and cheeks a little more than usual. That made me feel like a guinea pig, but not nearly as cool. Strangely enough, I found show-and-tell part funny. I was fighting the urge to laugh the entire time! The third year told me she noticed I wanted to laugh and that I did a good job at restraint. I'm just glad they were past the "this is a molar" lesson.

Anyway, like I said, they didn't do much today, which is typical for the dental school. I've got to go back next week when they'll spend an hour and a half taking x-rays of my mouth. Then, in about a month or so, I'll be able to go in again to actually get the cleaning done by a "team" of students that will be assigned to me. The "team" will consist of one each of a fourth, third, and second year student with a faculty member to supervise. From what I remember, the second year will mostly be involved with the cleaning, the third year will do the more mundane stuff like fillings, and the fourth year will do the more exciting bridges and root canals. Here's hoping the fourth year is bored...

Read more!

Bracket busted

As far as I'm concerned, the tournament ended last night. As good as last weekend was, this one was just as bad. All three of my teams (UT, USC, UNLV) went down - the UT and USC losses were especially heartbreaking given the way they both took big leads in their games.

On top of that, my bracket is shot. I had Kansas beating Memphis in the championship. Both lost this afternoon. Going into today's games I had fallen to 108th place. I can only drop. Even worse is the fact that there's no way I can possibly catch Casey, who was sitting pretty in 9th place going into today, since the only team I have left is Oregon and I only have them winning one more game.

Bring on baseball!

Read more!

Repko playing recklessly?

I've always liked the Dodgers' Jason Repko. He graduated from the same high school as my sister and I've been rooting for him ever since he got drafted.

He's a decent center-fielder, but by no means a star. His best assets are his speed and the fact that he always goes all out. But those are also what cause him his problems. Because he's fast, he thinks he can get to any ball hit his direction. Because he always goes all out, he always tries to get any ball hit his direction.

Last year, he missed a significant chunk of the season (a couple months or so) because he sprained his ankle trying to scale the outfield wall at Dodger Stadium. During spring training this year he's already injured his groin and yesterday, in his first game back, his hamstring trying to run down a ball in the third inning. The toughest thing to stomach was the fact that he and Rafael Furcal collided in the first inning and Furcal ended up with a moderate sprain of his ankle after his foot was pinned under Repko's.

I have no problem with going the proverbial 110%, but this is spring training! Take it easy. There's absolutely no reason why two major league players should be colliding during spring training (although minor leaguers fighting for a roster spot are a different story).

And during the regular season, maybe Repko should learn his limitations (and to stretch better between innings to keep loose). I'm not saying to not play hard, just not in a high-risk way that leads to strains and sprains.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, Repko is out for the season since he tore two of the three hamstring tendons off the pelvic bone. To take his place, the Dodgers traded relief pitcher Elmer Dessens to the Brewers for Brady Clark.

Read more!

Spring training on TV

Today's Dodger game against the Mets was broadcast on KCAL this afternoon and I was excited that I'd be able to see the Dodgers for the first time this year.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed... and it had nothing to do with the 6-2 loss.

I know it's spring training, but there were only two Dodger regulars in the starting lineup. I thought by this point that there would be more than two. The Mets had four regulars.

Brad Penny was supposed to start, but he skipped the start because of a stiff shoulder. That meant Hong-Chih Kuo, fighting for the fifth spot in the rotation, but most likely going back to AAA, got the start. Other players in the game included legends such as Harold Eckert, Marshall McDougall, and Xavier Paul.

Hopefully there will be more recognizable names in the starting lineup for the next telecast on Sunday.

Read more!

A great NCAA day

In case you hadn't figured it out, today went about as good as it could have for my teams... Tennessee beat Virginia 77-74, USC crushed Texas 87-68, and my adoptive hometown Runnin' Rebels are the talk of the tournament after beating Wisconsin 74-68.

Things went so well, I got a message from a friend at USC saying Rochester would've blown out UNC today if only they were given the chance. Instead, I'll just have to settle for USC doing that on Friday.

The only thing that would've made this day better was if Florida had lost...

Go Vols!
Go Trojans!
Go Rebs!

Read more!

'Jeopardy!' tie

On Friday, Jeopardy! had a first... a three way tie!



It sounds impressive. The guy who posted the video said, "It had to happen some time." That would be right, if all three started contestants ended Double Jeopardy in a three way tie.

These guys didn't. The two challengers had $8,000 each and doubled their money to $16,000 with their correct answers. The champion started with $13,400 and bet only $2,600. Who bets enough to end up in a tie??? He should have wagered $2,601! The contestants always bet enough to win by $1!!!

Was the tie staged somehow? Did the champion do it on his own because he thought it would be cool? Something seems fishy to me.

UPDATE: Apparently I was right. On Monday's show, Alex Trebek mentioned that a boy asked him if there had ever been a three way tie on Jeopardy! The leader overheard the question and bet enough to make a three way tie possible if they all got the question right.

Read more!

March Madness begins

We're now two days into the 2007 NCAA tournament and at this point I'm tied for second place with 140 points in the pool I entered. Looking at my bracket, I've been let down by George Washington, Texas Tech, BYU, and the Gonzaga Bulldogs (who also ruined my $5 parlay... I would've won $50 if they hadn't gotten crushed). Hopefully my good fortune will continue into the next rounds.

But right now, I've got bragging rights, handily beating both Casey (125 pts) and Brendan (110)! Now if only I can catch up with the leader, Casey's Mom (145).

UPDATE: Going into the Sweet 16, I've got a slim one point lead over Casey. His mom is still in first. Unfortunately, I only have a 4% chance of winning (good for ninth place), while Casey and his crazy bracket have the best chance of winning with 9.6%.

Read more!

Barbary Coast Bill's Gamblin' Hall

Amid all the excitement of the demolition of the Stardust to make way for the new Echelon Place, I completely missed a related story... the Barbary Coast is now Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon.

Last fall, two major casino companies swapped land. Harrah's received the Barbary Coast, which covers about four acres, but now gives the company property on three of the four corners at the intersection of Flamingo and the Strip, including six casinos in a row on the east side of the Strip stretching from Paris all the way up to Harrah's. Boyd Gaming, on the other hand, received a twenty-four acre chunk way up by Circus Circus which they will be able to add to the aforementioned Echelon Place.

Anyway, a little over a week ago, Harrah's received the Barbary Coast and renamed the casino, ditching the Coast brand name. You can check out the Las Vegas R-J for the whole story.

What I find interesting is that the new casino will be run by the management of the Imperial Palace (where I used to work). It seems like part of some sort of plan to distance Harrah's from the "lesser" casinos it owns. Take a look at the Harrah's web site. It's tough to find any mention of either the Imperial Palace or Bill's Gamblin' Hall. The IP and the old Barbary Coast may not be the fanciest places in town, but they're fun places to hang out. Strangely enough, Harrah's site does give links to O'Sheas Casino, which isn't exactly a mega-resort.

Read more!

Old peanut butter

In case you missed it, the FDA expanded its recall on Peter Pan peanut butter to cover any jar produced since October 2004.

October 2004?

Which of course means that if you bought your Peter Pan back in September 2004, you're ok. Who has peanut butter that old? I don't have a jar handy, but doesn't peanut butter expire before 2 1/2 years passes?

Read more!

I'm back (again)

It's been just about a month since I've actually posted anything. I've written messages like this before, but this time I hopefully mean it. My goal is to write about something I find interesting once or twice a day. I'll try to find stuff to talk about that isn't the top of the news or something from my life. There may be a lot of sports involved, but that's what I find interesting!

First thing is what I did last night. It's spring break, so I'm in Vegas for the week, just in time to see the Stardust Casino imploded. The casino was torn down to make way for a new $4.4 billion resort called Echelon Place that will be opening in 2010.

The implosion started at 2:30 in the morning last night. There were a few minutes of fireworks followed by a countdown and then the implosion itself.

Below is a video I took of the implosion last night at 2:30 am. It's taken from my front yard about 15 miles away from the strip. You can't really see the building go down... it's more of a "now you see it, now you don't" kind of thing. If you're interested, on youtube there are a bunch of up close videos of the implosion. I like this one from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Read more!