Knicks Got Hustled

Note: The title was taken from a Facebook status made by someone whom I highly respected. In a perfect world, it should be him writing this and not me.

On the blog I wrote on Friday, I said the two worst people to be around Carmelo Anthony were his wife and agent. I will not blame Anthony or his party responsible for him being a New York Knick about five months earlier than expected. Instead, I blame James Dolan the owner of the New York Knicks for making this HORRIBLE trade, yes I capitalize horrible and that is how bad this trade is. Anyone with cognitive abilities of an eight year old knows when you have leverage in the negotiation process you wait until the person you are negotiating gives in to your demands. In this example, everyone knows Anthony wanted go to the Knicks this gave New York all the advantages in making a trade with Denver; the deal the Knicks made in October was not towards Denver's liking. With that said, the Knicks could easily pass on making any trades for Anthony and wait for free agency. Assuming that a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is made, and players are getting less money than they are now, the Knicks could gotten him for less money and without get rid of a talented point guard and size on the post needed for a playoff run.

I do agree with the status, the Knicks got hustled.

What have we learned?

We have learn many things during the first half of the NBA season. While the lessons learn are both good and bad, one thing we should know; outside of a miracle these are some of the last basketball games we will see in a while.

Blake Griffin is really good and best bet Rookie of the Year. Yes Rookie of the Year, although he was drafted in 2009, his season-ending injury prevented him from playing a minute of his actually rookie season.  His dunks have been nothing but Youtube sensations, and made the Los Angeles Clippers into a NBA attraction. I said that is a MVP effort, but unfortunately the Clippers are 21-35 as of today and nowhere near a playoff spot.

Both Lala Vazquez and Carmelo Anthony’s agent are the two worst people to be around Anthony.  Those who think man’s wife have no say in his business affairs have not been either married or been near women ever in their lives. As Lala and Carmelo want to start their marriage in New York City, his agent have been a war path with Anthony’s current team, the Denver Nuggets that he will not sign a contract extension with the Nuggets only with the Knicks. This move has not only handcuffed the Nuggets on where they can move him, but also Anthony. Since there might be a chance that Anthony could bring less money if he opts-out and seeks a new contract on the open market. Although things can change especially if he okay this deal to the New Jersey Nets and their move to Brooklyn in two years and signs an extension.

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The Lakers are tired, and their run is close to be over. The two-time defending champions are going through a tough stretch losing their last three games before the All Star Break. Sadly this video explains everything what is wrong with the Lakers lately.      

Hopefully everything will be settle by the season end.

Match 2 Recap: The Coronation

To see the recap of the first match of the IBM Jeopardy Challenge click here.
Tonight was both Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter looked at ease when they took on Watson the Super Computer who just dominated them on the first match of the challenge. The Jeopardy round in this match was the same as the first, but the computer was in second with 4,800 points behind Jennings' 8,600 points effort and Rutter in third with 2,400 points. Like the first match, Watson dominated the Double Jeopardy round, with a strong comeback. At the end of the Double Jeopardy round, Watson was leading by 5,240 points over Jennings; who during the first match look completely out-match, but made a comeback with 18,200 points before the Final Jeopardy round. As for the Final Jeopardy round and the IBM Challenge went, this video says it all.

Match One Recap

Yesterday and Monday was match one of an interesting challenge on Jeopardy call the IBM Challenge. The challenge consists of two of the greatest Jeopardy champions of all time, in Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Against a computer name Watson, a super computer, which IBM created to expand the capabilities of a computer being close to a human mind as it, can get. IBM thought it was best to test Watson out on Jeopardy where language is use and too complex for simple computers to be use. As to a note, Watson is not hook up to the World Wide Web, so it is impossible to look up any random trivia Alex Trebek, the game show host claimed.

During the Jeopardy, round (round one) Watson had a bit of a hard time determining what the clues are mean in human language. At the end of the Jeopardy Watson and Brad were tied at 5,000 points apiece with Ken at 2,000 points. Then things started to take off during the Double Jeopardy round (round two) Watson build up a massive lead over 33,000 points more than 20,000 more than Brad who was the close competitor. At times during the round Trebek seems to be annoyed at Watson for answering every question right, the funniest moment of round when Watson made a ridiculous bid on the daily double question; but it got the question right. Best moment of the Match for us humans, was during Final Jeopardy where Watson guess 'What is Toronto?' for a U.S city. I guess that is best news for computers not being human.

Recap of Match 2 will on tomorrow so stay tune, and watch the conclusion of the Challenge tonight on your local television stations.   

Black History Month

The best thing President Barack Obama did for United States and most historians out there is making Black History Month less forceful to the public than ever.  Do you recall the times before Barack Obama became president; every channel you turn to or everywhere you go in the month of February, it was Black History Month this, Black History Month that. As a former history student, I can tell you that learning one aspect of history is near impossible to master in 28 days. There are too many things going to understand what has happen, and that is why it takes years to master. Also, every conspiracy nut will tell you there is a back story to every event in history, and why it hard to understand things in only a few days. I get the need for Black History Month, as it have been under value for decades; but let’s face it most people do not care about history in general. Go ahead ask your friends and family members do they care about any subject of history. It is nice to have Black History Month, long as it is not forceful to the point people will tune it out. 

Season of the Burnout

This year Michigan State Spartans Men's Basketball team is bad. The reasons they are bad are:
1.) Tom Izzo and his indecision to stay in East Lansing or move to Cleveland. This indecision causes players to be complacent and wonder if they are good enough to play Division 1 basketball.
2.) Having a brutal schedule, one thing people love about Tom Izzo and the Spartans is the anytime, anywhere mentality, which is good if only they can win games. With that said, having a tough non-conference schedule and a top of a tough Big Ten schedule and the complacency among with players and coaches are not good for the Spartans.
3.) Massive player burnout from college. If you look at the senior players, they have played every game imaginable in the college level. From playing in preseason tournaments to playing in championship games, they did it all. And the reason why they are still playing the college basketball is because senior Kalin Lucas injures his Achilles tendon in last year NCAA tournament, and if it was not for that, he will be playing professional basketball somewhere. Also with Durrell Summers and former Spartan Korie Lucious, will be in the pros if it was not for the injury suffer by Lucas.

One way to fix the Spartans is having them play in Jenison Fieldhouse. It is not far from the Breslin Center and this time of year it is use less often between Wrestling and Gymnastics and it is only for four home games for the rest of the basketball season plus any NIT games will be play. I hope that is not the case.   

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Super Sunday is finally over, until next year. Here is the recap of Sunday's events.

THE GOOD: The good here on this day, was Super Bowl XLV. Both the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers played a good that is right GOOD game. The game at times was slow and the Steelers did not show up in the first half, but came back to life in the second. Congratulation Green Bay Packers on your fourth title.

THE BAD: Chelsea FC v. Liverpool FC, with both teams changed over night, there will be some bad play. Even with the home field and close to a full squad, Chelsea could not score at all and losing 1-0.
NOTE: I did not watch the halftime show, but what I am hearing so far; it was bad. Well next year show (if there is a next year, it will be back to old people doing the show.)

THE UGLY: It's a tie between Michigan State Men's Basketball team and yours truly.  As for the Spartans, they went to Wisconsin where they and most teams do not have fun playing. The Spartans lost their second straight by 20 points. The game was not fun to watch and these guys just don't care about this season at all. As for yours truly, I made a prediction on both Facebook and Twitter in which Green Bay would win by six. At the last minute, I changed to Pittsburgh by three, unfortunately Green Bay won by 6. Lesson is never change your mind on anything.

Reasons to Watch the Super Bowl

Let's face it there way more people in the world who are not Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, or football fans in general than those fans combine. This does not prevent it from being the biggest deal during the calendar year outside the traditional holidays. It is a reason for people to get together, and effectively kill off any declarations left to lose weight at the start of the new year. The game will be great and will produce high ratings, but it still does not give non-football fans reason to watch the game. Here are a few to help you guys out a little.

1.) Commercials: Companies will spend more than a million dollars to advertise their products or services on this day to make money in the long run. Also, it will provide a great intellectual challenge to figure out what companies who are advertising are trying to sell.

2.) The Halftime Show: For the first time since the whole Janet-Justin situation, there will be a musical act people under the age of 35 can relate and does not feel force. I will not be watching it because I hate the group who doing the show.

3.) It's better than the Re-Runs: Any network executive who thinks any new episode of a hit show can beat the Super Bowl in the rating games; will be applying for a job to McDonalds on Monday. Showing a new episode is one of those no-no's in television, so why would anyone would watch baseless episodes of the Jersey Shore or watch a movie that has been seen hundreds of times.

4.) The sub-plots of the game: There are two sub-plots to the game. One is a match-up between Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers. One who was accused of sexual assault multiple times faces the one who had to deal with ungrateful quarterback who was ahead of him. The second sub-plot is for the ladies and fellas who are in to hair. And this link will explain it all.

5.) AND LASTLY: This could be the last professional football game where people care about will be played for a while. With the a pending lockout looming, people will watch as if it will be the last thing to appear on television. So resistance is pointless so join the club.