Opening Day

I love the opening day of the baseball season, and I have long felt that it's one of a few sports days that should be a national holiday. So, in honor of that, here are a few random thoughts on the upcoming baseball season.

I can't believe how sick I am of Barry Bonds and any story about him. We all know he cheated, and eventually he'll go down for something. ESPN's continued Bonds hype is getting sickening. I realize that they have a "reality show" called Bonds on Bonds or some such thing that they need to hype, which is despicable enough. But to give him his own color-coded updates on the ticker scroll with "CHASING RUTH" even when he does nothing, like tonight, is downright shameful. It's appalling, and frankly, I expect more from the self-proclaimed worldwide leader in sports...I don't think that Jimmy Rollins' hitting streak should continue this year. I like him, he's a solid player, and I even drafted him for one of my fantasy teams, but I just don't think that a hitting streak should continue from one season into the next. At the very least, if he does match or break DiMaggio's record, Rollins' mark should stand alone and separately as "longest hitting streak over multiple seasons."...Speaking of fantasy leagues, I have both A-Rod and Johnny Damon on one team and it makes me sick. I named that team "Slappy & The Traitor," but it still pains me to take any kind of joy from their success...I have no idea if the tougher steroid penalties will have a big effect on the game or not, but I hope so...watching baseball in HD is just incredible. Compared to the crappy regular feed it's night and day...I think the Red Sox will be a lot better than a lot of people do. Their defense is greatly improved and they have one of the deepest rotations in baseball--six guys that could potentially win 15 games as starters if needed. Keith Foulke is still a question mark in the bullpen but even if he falters, there are fallback options in Timlin and Papelbon. In fact, every spot on the roster with any kind of a question mark has a contingency plan in place. I think they'll win around 95-100 games and probably the AL East title. How experts continue to blindly pick the Yankees is beyond me, given the state of their pitching staff. They are one injury away (Randy Johnson? Mariano Rivera?) from a potential third place finish...Joe Morgan continues to be one of the most self-aggrandizing and annoying national baseball broadcasters in the business. I've always said that you can at least make watching one of his games enjoyable for yourself by making it a drinking game: take a sip anytime he mentions himself and two any time he references a former teammate on the Big Red Machine. Case in point: I flip on the White Sox-Indians opener on Sunday night for a little bit and Eduardo Perez crushes a home run to left. Now, I don't have a drink in front of me, but I can just feel the first Morganism of the season coming. And he delivers: "I saw a lot of homers just like that one playing with his father, Tony Perez." Absoutely irrelevant to the game at hand, and vintage Joe Morgan.

Our new house

We bought our first house! It's been in the works for most of the month and we closed yesterday...on our fourth wedding anniversary. Pretty cool!

I root for the laundry

I know that as a fan of teams that have delivered me four World Championships since 2002 I have no room to complain about anything, but that doesn't change the fact that typing this list below kind of makes me sick.

Adam Vinatieri, Indianapolis Colts
Pedro Martinez, New York Mets
Johnny Damon, New York Motherf***ing Yankees
Willie McGinest, Cleveland Browns
David Givens, Tennessee Titans
Ty Law, wherever
Bronson Arroyo, Cincinnatti Reds

I could go on and on. Sure, it's the nature of the game, and everyone on that list brought me so much happiness that I could never thank them enough. But now I can't really root for them. Sure, there are degrees...I still pull for Pedro almost every time out. But Johnny Damon is now deader to me than Fredo Corleone to his brother, and the mere notion of having to openly yell "miss it, Vinatieri, MISS IT!" just turns my stomach.

I don't have a point. I just needed to vent, I guess. It's a sad day for me.

Quick poker session

I haven't posted about poker lately simply because there hasn't been much to report. I have been taking meticulous records of each session I play (an actual New Year's resolution that I have stuck to) and that has helped because I always know exactly how I'm doing for the day/week/year. I'm up for 2006, but not by a ton...just trying to keep grinding that bankroll up before the WSOP. A quick little session today certainly helped.

It's a little after 4 PM and I've got some time to kill until the NCAA tourney selection show, so I log onto Poker Fantasy for a little bit. No SNGs are about to start so I sit down with $25 for some .25-.50 NLHE. With JQ suited in the big blind I make the 2nd nut flush on the turn, get it all in, and get paid off...I now have $49. A little bit later I get pocket kings in late position with a few limpers ahead of me so I raise up to $2. Small blind calls, and the big blind goes all in for $6 and change. Trying to shut out the first limper, I push all in. The guy I am trying to force out calls me with $38 and change or so and turns over pockets 9s. The short stack has A-9. No help for either of them and I drag a huge pot, and I now have $93.53 in front of me. I cannot wait to just walk away with my winnings for the session but I decide to wait until before my blinds...and get dealt pocket aces. Raise to $2, one caller. Flop comes three unders with a couple of face cards and two spades (I have the Ace of spades), so I bet $5, trying to take it down right there, he calls. Turn is a brick, check-check. River brings a possible straight so we check it down (I may have been playing too cautiously here) and he shows Ace-king for TPTK, so I drag that one and bail because it was the last hand before my blinds. Sat with $25, and twenty minutes later I left with $102.24. Definitely the craziest and fastest NL rush I have ever had on that site.

Oscar picks

I usually try to see several of the big Oscar contenders before the awards but this year I just really didn't want to. I haven't seen many of them, in fact, so instead, here are my own choices for who would win if I was the sole voter in the academy (obviously this only includes movies that I've seen, so...sorry, Brokeback, Capote, etc.)

Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line
Best Actress: Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
Best Supporting Actor: Ian McDiarmid, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Best Supporting Actress: Rachel McAdams, Wedding Crashers
Best Original Screenplay: Steve Carell & Judd Apatow, The 40 Year Old Virgin
Best Adapted Screenplay: Steve Kloves, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Best Director: George Lucas, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Best Picture: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

And other categories that could be awards, but aren't:

Best faithful adaptation of a comic book or graphic novel: Sin City
Best performance under so much makeup you can't even tell who it is: Mickey Rouke, Sin City
Best ending to a movie because it happened in real life: Fever Pitch
Best comedic ensemble: The 40 Year Old Virgin
Best reinvigoration of a seemingly dead franchise: Batman Begins
The Caddyshack 2/Rocky 5 Memorial Award for Worst Sequel: Be Cool
Weirdest performance: Johnny Depp, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Best DVD rental with no expectations that turned out to be pretty good: Red Eye
Worst DVD rental that could have been great but wasn't: Two for the Money
Biggest letdown: Serenity (just because it wasn't as good as the great TV show)
Best...umm..."performance" in very tight or skimpy costumes: Jessica Alba, Sin City, Fantasic Four, Into the Blue.

Iced in

We were stuck in the house all weekend due to a wintry storm that left the entire city pretty much covered in ice. It's a new phenomenon for me--I've seen hurricanes, blizzards, and such, but this "ice storm" deal is a little different. There was a little bit of snow, but then some rain and the whole result gets frozen over. Saturday seemed to get the worst of it, as the streets outside the house were very quiet, although we did get one run from a sand/salt truck. Things are thawing a little bit today and it looks like everything should be back to normal in a couple of days.

Olympics

That Super Bowl sure was terrible, wasn't it? No point in even discussing it at this point, although I do have to point out that I had very little rooting interest at all and I think it was some of the worst officiating I've ever seen in a big game. Just terrible.

So, apparently the Olympics start tonight. I can't rememeber less hype for this event...ever. I do have a question, though...when did "Turin" become "Torino," exactly? Is it just because the second one sounds cooler? Have we ever done this before? I don't think so. Nobody in America talked about the "Moskva" games in 1980, or the "Roma" games, or the recent bid by "Paree." Just weird. Other random Olympic thoughts: I don't think I could name ten US Olympians for these games, and that includes the hockey team...they say there's no such thing as bad publicity and I guess Bode Miller might exemplify that. He's been getting crushed in the press for one thing or another but at least I know who the guy is now, and even what sport he does...what exactly is the Skeleton? I'm guessing it involves some sort of a sled or a luge but honestly, I don't know...yeah, that's all I've got. I'll probably watch some stuff, simply because there's not much else on until spring training. But my interest isn't exactly huge.

Super Bowl Eve

Man, am I sick of the hype. Hey, where's Jerome Bettis from, anyway? And Joey Porter...give it a rest. I won't go into a lengthy analysis of everything because there are much better places to find such information. I'll just say that I think it will be a pretty tight and entertaining game and that I think most people are underrating the Seahawks quite a bit. So...on to the wagers.

Seahawks money line: +285 - one unit - this was my future bet made before the conference championship game. I thought the line seemed way too high then, so clearly I love it now.

Seahawks +4 - two units - my book had it at 3.5 all week until today, when it finally went up to four. That's when I jumped on it. I may press it up before kickoff.

PROP BETS

There were lots of goofy ones as always, but here are the only two I have taken so far:

Shaun Alexander's combined rushing and receiving yardage: 96.5 yards - OVER - one unit
Shaun Alexander's longest run of the game: 19.5 yards - OVER - one unit

The first number seems right about where it should be. Before any line was posted I said I'd take the over on anything around 100, so I did. As for the second one, the line seems a little low to me. Plus I always love having one bet that I can win instantly during the game, so here it is. Shaun could rip off a 30 yard jaunt on his first carry of the game and I'll have that one booked. Anyway, I really like his chances to break at least one 20 yard gainer.

Some that I did not take included parlaying the winner of the game with the gender of the eventual American Idol winner, Josh Brown's kicking points compared to Tiger Woods' number of holes better than birdie tomorrow, the game being tied at halftime and Jake Gyllenhall to win the Oscar for best supporting actor (20-1), or, in perhaps my favorite prop bet on the board, Joey Porter and Jerramy Stevens both to be ejected from the game (80-1)...on second thought, maybe I should throw a couple of bucks on that last one after all!

Happy Super Sunday, everyone.

Studio 7 on the Sunset Strip

Aaron Sorkin is one of my favorite writers, period. He's one of the best dialgoue writers in any medium and he has a brilliant touch with artfully depicting conflict on levels big and small. I loved SportsNight and I basically gave up on The West Wing after he left. This fall, he'll be making a triumphant return to network television with a dramatic series based on the behind-the-scenes workings of a Saturday Night Live-type sketch comedy show called Studio 7 on the Sunset Strip. I was excited enough about this just hearing that it's a Sorkin show...and then I read some of the pilot. Someone was lucky enough to get their hands on several of the audition sides, cobbling together what they could and posting it on line. It's not even the entire episode and it's brilliant. Kudos to NBC for A) giving Sorkin a second chance after showing him the door based on his cost overruns and missed deadlines for West Wing and B) Picking up a show that clearly and openly skewers SNL. Rumor is that Matthew Perry has signed on for a lead role and he'll be perfect for this. It's amazing how Sorkin can write characters so vivid and well-defined that I care about them after just a few pages...but he's done it. I'm dying. I can't wait to see this show.

Recent reads

Here are the books I've read since around Christmas time:

Phil Gordon's Little Green Hold 'Em Book - I got this one for Christmas and really enjoyed it. Gordon is a very smart guy and I actually think he may be a little underrated as a tournament player simply because he's so often in the limelight for other things, like TV shows. But this book is very informative. He presents bite-sized nuggets of Hold 'Em information, ranging from overall play and strategy to incredibly specific tips for particular situations. Case in point: Gordon goes out of his way to write an integral section on the importance of stealing blinds as the cash bubble nears in a tourney. Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson both made the same point when they spoke at my Full Tilt luncheon at the WSOP last summer. But Gordon takes his theory a step farther--he finds that the absolute best time to steal a quick pot is right before a dinner break...and he's got a point. Huge overhead displays on the tourney floor count down the time remaining in a level, and more often than not, players want to head for that door as soon as possible...thus, they aren't looking to get involved in a big pot right before the meal break. Brilliant little insights like this typify Gordon's book. I loved it, and I know I'll read it again. Grade: A-

School Days by Robert B. Parker - I love Parker and I've read every novel he's ever written. This one is the latest in the ongoing series about Spenser, the wisecracking Boston P.I. This one deviates a little bit from recent offerings in that Spenser's trusty, badass sidekick Hawk is nowhere to be seen...and neither is Susan Silverman, his often annoying better half. In this book, she's out of town essentially for the duration, and thank god for that, because the biggest knock on Parker's recent works has been his instance on having Spenser moon over Susan time and time again. We get it already. This time, Spenser runs a solo job when hired by the grandmother of a boy involved in a bloody school shooting. It's typical Parker, with taught, well-paced storytelling, and the ending isn't exactly predictable, but fulfilling enough. Not a classic Spenser book, but hardly a bad one. Grade: B.

A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal by Anthony Bourdain - Bourdain's first book, Kitchen Confidential, was brilliant, and it made him a star. Please don't judge him or his work on that Fox sitcom that's already been axed--although I even thought that show had potential. Bourdain is a talented chef and a passionate foodie and in this one, he cruises around the world, eating every exotic menu item he can find, with the entrees ranging from a whole slaughtered hog that died at his hand as the guest of honor to...wait for it...the still beating heart of a cobra. Yum! The highlights are engaging enough--like the laundry list of over a dozen faux pas one might unwillingly commit at a traditional Japanese haute cuisine meal-- but the book seems to wander aimlessly, meandering from one locale to another without any discernable reason. It's a decent read but not as good as his other book. Grade: B-.

Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman - I adored Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs and I practically lived some parts of Fargo Rock City, so I eagerly looked forward to this book, which Klosterman advertises as "85% of a true story" that sees him loading up a rental car and driving thousand of miles around America to visit the sites where famous (and not so famous) rockers died. It's an interesting enough premise, and Klosterman scored points with me right away by nicknaming his rented Taurus "The Ford Tauntaun," but instead of offering up a look at rock immortality or examining the dichotomy of life and death, the book instead veers into Nick Hornby-esque "looking back at past failed relationships through a musical filter" territory. Klosterman even openly acknowledges this. It's not bad, so to speak, just not what I expected or hoped for. It's still vintage Klosterman--he decides that 600 CDs is just the right amount to pack for his trip, he goes on for several pages comparing past girlfriends to various members of KISS based on their personalities, etc. But the incessant rambling about the pros and cons of each of his life's loves grew a little tiresome. I liked it, but I could have loved it. Grade: when not talking about past loves: A-. When writing fictionalized conversations between three different old flames at once: C-. Overall: B. (note: I just read that Klosterman is writing a Super Bowl blog for ESPN. This could be good--if it is, I'll link to it)

Other reads coming soon: Mary Mary by James Patterson and Cell by Stephen King.

Second draft

The second draft of the screenplay is in and things continue to go well. We received a list of short, specific notes from our producer and it won't be too tough to put the changes in. He also asked that the scenes be numbered in the next draft--a sure sign of a subsequent production draft down the road. The word around the producer's office is that we are "a go picture" and that the association with the group I referred to earlier is "a slam dunk." I'm still taking a wait-and-see approach, but it's all very encouraging news.

The NFL conference championship games went just as I expected they would, which is nice since I had bets on both games. Before last week's action, I also placed a future bet on the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl, so now I have them as a no-spread money line bet in the big game at nearly 3-to-1 odds. I believe that the opening line has Pittsburgh favored by 3.5, which is right about where everyone thought it would be. They have played great and they should be the favorites, although it's a little odd to see the #6 seed in the AFC giving points to the #1 team in the NFC. Just goes to show how great the conference really is. Right now I like Seattle plus the points, although I think the line may get even higher before kick-off. I always love the goofy prop bets that come out for every Super Bowl so I'll make some bets and post those before the game. Some people think they are sucker bets but I've always managed to find great value plays there.

Patriots Post Mortem

That was a sickening way to go out for the Pats on Saturday night, but honestly I have no right to be too upset about it. The best analogy I could come up with was feeling like a guy cashing out after losing a couple of big hands at the end of a great run at the blackjack tables--sure, it would have been nice to keep winning, but I'm definitely still "up."

The Patriots won the Super Bowl three times. Occasionally I need to remind myself of this.

And just to get it out of my system once and for all: that pass interference call on Asante Samuel was an absolute joke and the Ben Watson play on Champ Bailey was definitely a touchback, meaning the Patriots would have retained the ball at their own 20. It's almost mind-boggling that despite five turnovers it still took two atrocious calls toknock us off. But it's over. I think Seattle has the best shot to win it all now but I really don't have much enthusiasm for any of the remaining potential match ups the rest of the way. Wagering on games will clearly help me in that area.

So where do the Patriots go from here next season? In my eyes, right back to being dominant like they have been. Aside from the sickening defeat, I'm highly optomistic about the off-season and beyond. Young defensive coordinator Eric Mangini just left to take the head job with the Jets, and that departure hurts, especially since it means we're looking at our third defensive coordinator in as many seasons in 2006. But this is Bill Belichick's defense and I don't expect a lot to change there. He'll name a replacement and keep running the show himself.

The Pats have a lot of personnell decisions to make, with a few high profile free agents, including Adam Vinatieri, David Givens, Troy Brown, Stephen Neal, and Tom Ashworth. Other veterans such as Willie McGinest are looking at being cut or having their deals restructured due to big forthcoming salary cap hits. I think they'll get something done with Vinatieri--we paid him a lot last season as our franchise player and I think that they'll work out an extension reasonable for both parties. I could see Troy Brown return in a role similar to the one he had this year at the right price. Givens might be a tougher signing--some teams desperate for a wide receiver might throw some bucks at him and I could see him as a guy that could be labeled as expendable within the Patriots system, although we'd need to replace him with a comparable player. As for Neal and Ashworth, I'm not sure what will happen there. Neal has really improved over the last two years and I'd love to keep him. As for Ashworth, he is a versatile lineman who will be really attractive on the free agent market. I'd welcome both of them back but the price will need to be right.

One benefit to not winning the Super Bowl is the overlooked fact that our off-season preparations start immediately. Belichick admitted that playing until February the last couple of seasons has made things tougher in the off-season, as we're behind most of the league. This way, we have plenty of time to evaluate the roster and the market. We also have a much higher draft pick than usual thanks to our regular season record: the #21 pick in the first round. This looks like a very strong draft to me and there is no doubt we'll get an impact player if we stay at that spot. I've already seen one mock draft that has us selecting USC running back LenDale White, and that intrigues me. Corey Dillon appeared to have lost a step and White is the kind of tough, between-the-tackles runner that could step right in and fill those shoes. We certainly have other needs, but we've got extra picks too (an extra selection each in the 3rd and 4th rounds from previous trades). So with six picks in the first four rounds, I expect some combination of: running back, corner back, safety, linebacker, offensive line, and wide receiver. The Pats love to wheel and deal and this year nothing would surprise me--moving up, moving down for value, or standing pat and just filling the few holes that we have.

The Patriots will be back in a big way in 2006.

The script is alive and well

Johnny and I have been working hard on our screenplay this week. Before the holidays we got a round of solid, positive feedback from our producer and we've been doing our best to incorporate most or all of his notes. The script is definitely running long (currently 135 pages) but we've decided it's not our place to cut anything until they ask us to. We're turning in our second draft next week.

We got some great news about it this week, although it's hush-hush and unofficial at this point...but one of the guys that works at the production company called to let us know that our producer has already tabbed him to direct our movie. This is fantastic news for two reasons: one, Johnny is friends with the guy, so working with him will be much easier than dealing with some director we've never met, who might just immediately brush us off to the side. But this guy in question has already confirmed that he wants to work with us when the time comes. Secondly, and more importantly,the naming of a director clearly means that the producer is seriously looking ahead to production, which means we'd get a nice check as well as actually see the movie get produced. All of that is wonderful news, but there's another potential rumor that would be really great as well. Unfortunately, I probably shouldn't say what it is, but it has to do with a certain organization/group getting involved with the movie. Can't add much more than that, I'm afraid, but it would be super-cool if it ever comes to pass.

Steve, I'll give you my Super Bowl picks when the time is right, but if you need them now (blatant homer alert), I'll say Patriots-Seahawks. The Pats should handle the Jags Saturday night, and then the toughest test will come the week after that, whether it's a trip to Denver or Indy. As for the NFC, I just think Seattle will be too tough to beat at home, and their offense is clearly the class of the conference. A Pats-Bears 20th anniversary Super Bowl match would be pretty interesting too.

Post Christmas

We had a great time celebrating Christmas twice. Our visit to Germantown felt very quick, heightened by the fact that we decided to return home on Friday night rather than Saturday morning, but that ended up being a good call on our part. We had finished all of the festivities at the McCandless house and everyone there was exhausted so Beth and I got on the road around midnight. It was great to be able to sleep in our own beds and wake up at home on Christmas Eve as opposed to getting on the road that morning.

I've seen two good movies recently...Walk the Line and Munich. I really enjoyed the Johnny Cash movie despite the fact that I'm certainly not a diehard fan of his music. One of the most amazing things about the film for me was that Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon both did all of their own singing and did a fantastic job. This certainly helps keep you in the story of the film, as opposed to taking you out of it thinking "that's not really him." Good movie, well paced, with great performances. Witherspoon was really impressive.

We caught Munich yesterday and it was about what I expected. In fact, I'm not even sure exactly what I think of it yet, but that's probably the intended nature of the film. One thing Spielberg does consistently well is establish a clear, visual tone for his films and this one is no exception. I'm not a huge student of early 70s movies but this one flat-out looks like one. Eric Bana is very good in the lead role, and I was also intrigued by Daniel Craig, an actor that I've heard of but never seen before. I believe that he has been tabbed to be the next James Bond and it is an interesting, unconventional choice. The string of Pierce Brosnan Bond movies were completely underwhelming for me--I haven't even seen all of them and the ones that I did catch blandly run together in my mind. And this is coming from a huge Bond fan, so I hope that picking Craig means that the producers plan to reinvigorate the series. Craig kind of has a young Steve McQueen air to him. Give him the license to kill and get it started!

ASU won their bowl game last night and unfortunately we were subjected to the ever-inane Brent Musberger in the booth. He clearly did no preparation at all because he had no idea what he was talking about the entire time, and the only thread he was able to latch onto was the fact that just being there was a huge accomplishment for Rutgers because they have never won a bowl game before, essentially completely ignoring the rather compelling angle of ASU's freshman quarterback Rudy Carpenter throwing for over 400 yards and leading an offense that nearly tallied 700 yards of total offense in the victory. No, all that Brent and his cohort Gary Danielson could do was go on and on, slurping Rutgers for their huge moral victory. I understand that the Insight Bowl is a janky third-tier game but feel free to pay attention to the game as it develops if you're being paid to sit in the booth.

I'm saving some poker and Red Sox thoughts for later blogs but I've got some stuff to say about both.

Holidays

We're headed up to Germantown for a few days and returning to Little Rock on Christmas Eve. I hope that everyone is having a great holiday season. Hopefully I'll have more reasons to post somewhat entertaining or exciting stuff during the new year.

Go Pats!

Busy few days

On Thursday we got the first batch of notes on our script and I was really happy with what we heard. My expectations were pretty low, based on how many changes our producer wanted from our original treatment, plus the fact that we threw a ton of stuff into the first draft and worked on it very quickly. Well, it turns out that he really likes it. He didn't ask us to cut anything and he only asked for a few small changes here and there, some of which were things Johnny and I had already discussed. So we're very excited about the positive feedback and we're looking forward to quickly implementing the producer's suggestions into the second draft. Oh, and this is pretty funny: apparently the producer's next movie he's making is a zombie movie...and he wants me to be in it. Johnny the professional actor found this very humorous: "Nice that you're getting acting gigs out of this," he told me in an e-mail. I certainly won't hold my breath waiting for it to happen, but who knows. If I do end up in "Fist Full of Blood"--yes, that is the working title--I'll certainly write about it here!

On Friday night Beth's division at work had a group meeting in a luxury box at Alltel Arena (fittingly) for an Arkansas Rimrockers game. They are a minor league hoops team in the NBA's developmental league. Looking over the rosters I only recognized three or four names but it was still an entertaining game to watch. Not Memphis Grizzlies--blasting G'N'R entertaining, but still fun. And if you are headed out to an NBDL game anytime soon, it seems that there will be plenty of good seats available. The announced attendance was three thousand and change but it looked like about half that. And the luxury box is definitely the way to go for a game that you really don't care about--free food and free beer, enough said.

On Saturday we went to watch the Jermain Taylor fight at the house of one of Beth's co-workers. Now, I don't want to say that this friend lives out in the middle of nowhere but the directions included things like "turn after you pass the three trailers on your right" and "if you see a toothless guy with a banjo you went too far." Truly it was only 20-30 minutes away but it felt like more. But it was fun to get to watch the fight, although we won't be seeing this bout on ESPN Classic...well, ever. But hey, the hometown hero of Little Rock got the job done and retained the title. I bet he'll end up facing Winky Wright sometime next year.

Nice win for the Pats on Sunday. Sure, it was pretty ugly again and the Jets truly suck but I'll take them any way I can get them right now. My theory is that Coach Belichick is playing a little bit of rope-a-dope, knowing full well that we're going to win the division easily and we don't need to do anything tricky or exotic to get there, and then when the playoffs roll around, anything can happen. And if we can keep Cory Dillon and Kevin Faulk healthy, well, then we might actually have some semblance of a running game for the rest of the season.

Thanksgiving wrap-up

We went up to Memphis on Wednesday and stayed through Sunday, and it was great to have an extended visit with the family. My niece Kate is now a little over two years old so it's fun to see her communicating more clearly...at least more clearly to me. My nephew Logan is almost two months old and I can't believe how much he has grown since the last time I saw him, which wasn't that long ago! Thanksgiving day was great. I fried a turkey since most of my family had never had it that way, plus Mom roasted one so there was plenty of bird to go around all day and all weekend for leftovers. Beth and I went to the Memphis Grizzlies-Houston Rockets game on Friday night--Dad bought a ten game pack of tickets and this is the first time we've gotten to go. Now, the following will make me sound like a bitter, old man but the NBA certainly wasn't like this when I was a kid. For me, the most jarring thing was the music that they blast during every single play. I knew that it would be a "show," rather than a game, but the tunes while playing caught me off-guard. Granted, I'm used to the Boston Garden in the '80s, with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, and company, where nothing but the finest basketball team in history was needed to keep the crowd's attention. And I'm all for blasting music--I even got into it a few times when they played good stuff. But it was the presence of the pre-loaded 24 second snippets that they played every single time that really threw me off. But the FedEx Forum is a great arena and the experience was definitely fun. On Saturday, Casey and I headed down to a casino in Tunica for a few hours. I had never been there before but it was about what I expected. I played $3-$6 limit Hold 'Em for a couple of hours and although I didn't catch any cards and lost a little bit of money I was amazed at how bad the players were. At a table full of ten people, there were maybe three that seemed like they knew what they were doing, and the rest were just awful--calling down to the river with second or third pair, no kicker, etc. The twenty five cent-fifty cent games on Full Tilt have much better players, no joke. Anyway, I can't wait to go back with a nice roll and sit in for an extended session, because I have faith that I could destroy that game. The Pats game on Sunday was pretty bad, but they are so banged up that I really can't even be disappointed...we just don't have a healthy enough team this year. Case in point, we have six defensive backs alone out for the season. Six. I can't complain, or at least I won't, given how much success we've had the last few years. We should still win the division, so we'll see how things go, but I'm certainly not expecting an automatic Super Bowl win like I have the last couple of years.

Goblet of Fire

We caught Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on opening night and it was really good--right now I think it's my favorite one of the movies thus far. It was my favorite book in the series so my expectations were high, but I also knew that they would have to trim a ton of material, but they did a good job with it. Several scenes were exactly like I pictured them, which is great. I won't give anything away in case people haven't seen it yet, but if you dig the books or the movies, check it out and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I cashed in another tournament on Friday evening and although I didn't win much it felt like quite an accomplishment. Early on, I had AQ and raised it up and got a caller, only to see the flop come A-Q-J. Needless to say, he hadK-10 and I lost a bundle. I didn't have any kind of a read on him at that point so I couldn't lay down top two but I was a little surprised that he'd see a pre-flop raise that big with just K-10 off-suit...but really, nothing should surprise me in the world of on-line poker anymore. So that loss dropped me below 300 chips (started with 1500) and I battled all the way back, doubling up a couple of times when I needed to, and I ended up cashing in 25th place out of 211 players. I was very satisfied with my effort and being able to stay focused with such a short stack early on. But I need to break through and win one of these suckers. The last tourney I actually won (aside from SNGs) was the Full Tilt freeroll that sent me to Vegas. I've cashed and made final tables since then, but in these rinky-dink $5 and $10 tournaments I play there's no decent money to be made unless you're in the top 3-4. Unfortunately my final table appearances have seen me going out earlier. I think it could be that I'm too concerned with making the money, as opposed to flat-out playing to win during the early stages, and that's something that I plan to address in the future. I also want to re-read both of Dan Harrington's books, just to brush up.

The script / a final table

We turned in the first draft of Eden's Bluff on Tuesday. We had to scramble a little bit to meet the deadline (not shocking to anyone that knows me), but that is due in part to the fact that our filthy little nudist colony comedy clocked in at a robust 121 pages. Yes, that's long for a comedy script, but our mindset was simply that we wouldn't throw anything out of the first draft--instead, we'll let the producer make those decisions for us. There's definitely too much in there for the rumored budget number that we have heard but, again, we can deal with that later. We really just wanted to make it as funny and as good as possible for this draft and we really feel that we succeeded. There are parts that still make each of us laugh out loud when we read it, and that's a great sign.

I made the final table of a $5 tournament on Full Tilt the other night (265 players) and it's my first strong showing in a while. I was actually the chip leader a couple of hours into the tourney after winning a huge pot like this: I had pocket queens and raised three times the big blind before the flop and got two callers. Flop came down with two clubs, including a queen. All the money ended up going in the middle right there for all three of us--I had the top set, the guy to my left had a set of 8s, and the third player had A-Q of clubs for top pair and the nut flush draw. The turn and river were bricks and bingo, my stack was gigantic. Quite a hand. Then I went card dead for the last hour and got knocked out in 8th place.

No such luck last night. Experts say that all you can do in poker is make correct decisions, but that is little solace when you do it and it still doesn't work--especially twice in half an hour. Case in point: I'm in the same $5 tourney last night, looking for back-to-back cashes. I've got pocket jacks, only to see my raise re-raised and re-raised again. I know that one of them has me beat so I lay it down. I was right--one of them had pocket kings...but the flop would have given me a set of jacks and a monster pot. Later, with a somewhat dwindling stack, I was faced with a big decision on the turn--I had top two pair and I knew my hand was winning at that point in the heads-up pot. I just knew it. There was a flush draw on the board, so I pushed it all in...and the guy called me with a K-8 off suit, and only the 8 to the flush draw! Naturally, he caught it on the river and I was out before the first break. Two correct decisions...and neither one helped me at all. That's poker.

WSOP Final Table

The World Series of Poker final table coverage is tonight on ESPN. And so far, the episodes have been really entertaining. I used to think Mike Matusow was just a total jackass but he has been hilarious to watch throughout the WSOP. And even though I know how it ends up, it will be fun to watch Tex Barch at the final table. He was a really nice guy during the little bit that I played with him, so big congrats to him for all his success.

$7.5 million for first place is just mind-boggling. And Harrah's is clearly expecting that to go even higher next year judging by the 2006 schedule they released--four day ones and two day twos...that could accomodate almost 10,000 players if it comes to that. I need to go back!