creatures that i have actually seen fairly up-close @davis:
squirrel(tree and ground)
western scrub-jay(bluejay)
mallard duck(plus, you'll see the atypical domestic duck; y'kno, the totally white+orange beak type; that's from accidently breeding w/a domestic duck)
bushtit
yellow-billed magpie
canada geese
black-tailed jackrabbit- RARE, but saw once, at night
peacock - RARE, but saw once in broad daylight(beautiful i might add; wished i had a digital camera... i think i'll never forget it)
yes, i know we have cows, esp gesticulated(is that the right term?) cows too, but i have not personally been up close w/one and petted it... would be nice to do though.
but not during spring, cause anybody living in davis knows well enough that that's when the nice "spring aroma" comes around...
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Friday, April 22, 2005
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
ok, since summer is around the corner, i'd thought i'd eventually start posting about improving usa bball; the post was due about a year ago, but yea... this'll prob span the whole week in tiny little fragments, cause i don't want to waste too much time today; i've got more classes, a free breathing workshop i would like to attend(could help meditation practice, who knows), and then a midterm i desperately need to study for. plus, i gotta buy phil a gift today(i'll explain why i'm buying it directly on his bday and not earler, later)
what was the main problem with us bball last year? why did we win bronze instead of the coveted gold? there were, in the eyes of many, 3 main culprits; the players, the time slot, and the coaches. i'll elaborate on what i think is the MAIN culprit.
to those who thought larry brown was at fault: no... don't even go there. (i'll admit i might be slightly biased as a pistons fan, but hear me out) of COURSE amare and lebron and wade have all improved. so in RETROSPECT it was stupid to let those guys sit on the bench for extended periods of time. lebron has become an incredible shooter, and amare an incredible post player. wade has help from shaq, but don't let that cloud your eyes about how good of a slasher he's become. but let's think for a moment; could those guys shoot back then? no. i will say lb was at fault to bench lebron when he came off the bench on one of those games and gave a great effort, but most of the players couldn't shoot. duncan was more important than amare and all-around better, hence his more playing time. ai shot better than lebron during the olympics, if i'm not mistaken. and wade, being a pure slasher, just can't shoot. however, lb played wade the most out of all the rookies/sophomores. why? his defense. at the beginning of the olympics, wade just didn't seem to fit in. then i watched the lithuania game. wade was all over the place on d. now, of course he couldn't shoot, so lb had to balance his time with marbury's. but he seems to admire wade the most. there's other details, but i think aside from lb whining about how they should've given him more players or time, he did a great job; remember; it wasn't lb failing to make gold; if it weren't for the brilliant coaching of larry brown and greg pop, i think the usa wouldn't even get a medal.
players: yes, that's arguable. in fact, rightly so. but they weren't t3h suck either. since i'm trying to say this is not the reason why they lost, the main one, i'll list the pros of the players. wade was a great defender, despite not being able to shoot. duncan is arguably the best nba player in the league; despite the difficulties he suffered in playing international ball, we could make the argument that this team would not have gotten bronze were it not for him. let's not forget about ai either; on this team, he was surrounded with talent; so his shooting % went up. rj is a decent all-around player. lamar odom is also a very good all-around player.
so you're probably thinking, ok genius, what's the main problem? TIME. there, i said it. i don't care if you don't have kg duncan and shaq lining your 3's to your 5's. you can win with decent players; the detroit pistons showed it last year. so the key element is time. the more time you have to practice with your players, the better they gel together, know their strengths and weaknesses, and how to integrate into this team. for sure, the pistons chemistry wasn't formed overnight. neither were the spurs. and neither should the usa bball team be. a suggestion of mine is to form the usa team about 2 years, maybe 3 in advance. then, they have to get together to practice maybe once every 3 months. aside from summer; they have to spend summer almost together.
and let's not forget that nba atheletes are just paid too much. that has clouded the priorities of many. they forget what an honor it is to represent your country. because it seems too easy to win gold, that's why many just push the notion aside. go ahead and have some beef about why these then sub-par american ballers represented the us, but remember that they also had notions of marriage and winning a ring crap out of the way; they know what it's really about, and they were honored to join.
that said, it's not like we can't improve upon player selection. so next post, i'll put down what i think should be the players on the usa team. however, i want to emphasize the element of teamwork over stardom, so i'm gonna exclude all-stars, well, the TOP TIER DO-ALL ALL STARS like duncan, shaq, kg, lebron, etc. this area's kinda shady, cause i realize a lotta good atheletes are all-around or all-stars, but let's just say, we exlude those REALLY, REALLY GOOD ones. ones which are around the area of ray allen are fine. rookies are fine, etc. also, because pistons have no all-star and yet play together so well, i'm gonna have to exclude all of the detroit pistons(cause it's really tempting to just name their starting lineup as usa's starting lineup). and because we're talking about usa bball, no international players.
but just to give you a hint of what's to come, here's an impartial list of who i think would be good for team usa:
kirk hindrich, mike bibby, ray allen, larry hughes, andre iglodala, dwight howard, antoine walker, tyson chandeler, erick dampier, luke walton, alonzo mourning, brian skinner.
mull on that for a while... i'll post again thursday or friday on specifics.
what was the main problem with us bball last year? why did we win bronze instead of the coveted gold? there were, in the eyes of many, 3 main culprits; the players, the time slot, and the coaches. i'll elaborate on what i think is the MAIN culprit.
to those who thought larry brown was at fault: no... don't even go there. (i'll admit i might be slightly biased as a pistons fan, but hear me out) of COURSE amare and lebron and wade have all improved. so in RETROSPECT it was stupid to let those guys sit on the bench for extended periods of time. lebron has become an incredible shooter, and amare an incredible post player. wade has help from shaq, but don't let that cloud your eyes about how good of a slasher he's become. but let's think for a moment; could those guys shoot back then? no. i will say lb was at fault to bench lebron when he came off the bench on one of those games and gave a great effort, but most of the players couldn't shoot. duncan was more important than amare and all-around better, hence his more playing time. ai shot better than lebron during the olympics, if i'm not mistaken. and wade, being a pure slasher, just can't shoot. however, lb played wade the most out of all the rookies/sophomores. why? his defense. at the beginning of the olympics, wade just didn't seem to fit in. then i watched the lithuania game. wade was all over the place on d. now, of course he couldn't shoot, so lb had to balance his time with marbury's. but he seems to admire wade the most. there's other details, but i think aside from lb whining about how they should've given him more players or time, he did a great job; remember; it wasn't lb failing to make gold; if it weren't for the brilliant coaching of larry brown and greg pop, i think the usa wouldn't even get a medal.
players: yes, that's arguable. in fact, rightly so. but they weren't t3h suck either. since i'm trying to say this is not the reason why they lost, the main one, i'll list the pros of the players. wade was a great defender, despite not being able to shoot. duncan is arguably the best nba player in the league; despite the difficulties he suffered in playing international ball, we could make the argument that this team would not have gotten bronze were it not for him. let's not forget about ai either; on this team, he was surrounded with talent; so his shooting % went up. rj is a decent all-around player. lamar odom is also a very good all-around player.
so you're probably thinking, ok genius, what's the main problem? TIME. there, i said it. i don't care if you don't have kg duncan and shaq lining your 3's to your 5's. you can win with decent players; the detroit pistons showed it last year. so the key element is time. the more time you have to practice with your players, the better they gel together, know their strengths and weaknesses, and how to integrate into this team. for sure, the pistons chemistry wasn't formed overnight. neither were the spurs. and neither should the usa bball team be. a suggestion of mine is to form the usa team about 2 years, maybe 3 in advance. then, they have to get together to practice maybe once every 3 months. aside from summer; they have to spend summer almost together.
and let's not forget that nba atheletes are just paid too much. that has clouded the priorities of many. they forget what an honor it is to represent your country. because it seems too easy to win gold, that's why many just push the notion aside. go ahead and have some beef about why these then sub-par american ballers represented the us, but remember that they also had notions of marriage and winning a ring crap out of the way; they know what it's really about, and they were honored to join.
that said, it's not like we can't improve upon player selection. so next post, i'll put down what i think should be the players on the usa team. however, i want to emphasize the element of teamwork over stardom, so i'm gonna exclude all-stars, well, the TOP TIER DO-ALL ALL STARS like duncan, shaq, kg, lebron, etc. this area's kinda shady, cause i realize a lotta good atheletes are all-around or all-stars, but let's just say, we exlude those REALLY, REALLY GOOD ones. ones which are around the area of ray allen are fine. rookies are fine, etc. also, because pistons have no all-star and yet play together so well, i'm gonna have to exclude all of the detroit pistons(cause it's really tempting to just name their starting lineup as usa's starting lineup). and because we're talking about usa bball, no international players.
but just to give you a hint of what's to come, here's an impartial list of who i think would be good for team usa:
kirk hindrich, mike bibby, ray allen, larry hughes, andre iglodala, dwight howard, antoine walker, tyson chandeler, erick dampier, luke walton, alonzo mourning, brian skinner.
mull on that for a while... i'll post again thursday or friday on specifics.
Monday, April 18, 2005
did i mention i try to learn how to play basketball the most from watching tayshawn prince? maybe that's why i like him so much, cause i would believe that i have about the same type of build, and given who i usually play against, i have a slight advantage in height and wingspan, but disadvantage in weight. and he's left-handed :D
plus, he never really tries to do anything flashy(unless if you're counting the time vs twolves that he went behind the back to cross up troy or latrell before driving for the 1-handed jam, or if you counted yesterday's massive play against lbj which i am still getting shivers about *yea sure, keep telling them prince goes middle, and then watch what happens*), he just tries to do what's needed to go for the win, or what's effective. he doesn't even look to score first; he looks to defend his man as much as possible, then whatever else comes, comes. not a stat-sheet filler, but you know his abilities are strong all over; sometimes when i'm watching pistons play, i don't even watch where the ball is and i just watch how tayshawn guards his man off the ball. or what he does on the offense w/o the ball. it's like larry brown said on sunday, "a lotta rookies come into this league thinking about scoring... tayshawn thinks about winning." plus, it's kinda nice how he plays mostly low-post when he has the ball, as i tried to play that way even before i really started to like him... nothing fancy, just back them in, if you see an outlet, throw the ball there, otherwise go for the left mini-hook. i need to get my left floaters and hook shots down...
i'm hoping that if pistons get to the finals again and they win it, that tayshawn gets the mvp... would send a great message to everyone who plays bball.
i'm starting to think that i should pull the kjv vs niv research back til summer... i am really swamped with classes this quarter, and they're not easy classes either... they're all upper div science classes. obviously, finding out if the modern bible is loaded with fallicies is very important, but i can't risk it at the expense of my grades... i already have a kjv, use it as my only bible now, and summer is a load of freetime for researching purposes.
btw, uc davis is amongst the uc's where most students don't finish in 4... that's depressing...
tentative verse of the week: Isaiah 55:8-9
plus, he never really tries to do anything flashy(unless if you're counting the time vs twolves that he went behind the back to cross up troy or latrell before driving for the 1-handed jam, or if you counted yesterday's massive play against lbj which i am still getting shivers about *yea sure, keep telling them prince goes middle, and then watch what happens*), he just tries to do what's needed to go for the win, or what's effective. he doesn't even look to score first; he looks to defend his man as much as possible, then whatever else comes, comes. not a stat-sheet filler, but you know his abilities are strong all over; sometimes when i'm watching pistons play, i don't even watch where the ball is and i just watch how tayshawn guards his man off the ball. or what he does on the offense w/o the ball. it's like larry brown said on sunday, "a lotta rookies come into this league thinking about scoring... tayshawn thinks about winning." plus, it's kinda nice how he plays mostly low-post when he has the ball, as i tried to play that way even before i really started to like him... nothing fancy, just back them in, if you see an outlet, throw the ball there, otherwise go for the left mini-hook. i need to get my left floaters and hook shots down...
i'm hoping that if pistons get to the finals again and they win it, that tayshawn gets the mvp... would send a great message to everyone who plays bball.
i'm starting to think that i should pull the kjv vs niv research back til summer... i am really swamped with classes this quarter, and they're not easy classes either... they're all upper div science classes. obviously, finding out if the modern bible is loaded with fallicies is very important, but i can't risk it at the expense of my grades... i already have a kjv, use it as my only bible now, and summer is a load of freetime for researching purposes.
btw, uc davis is amongst the uc's where most students don't finish in 4... that's depressing...
tentative verse of the week: Isaiah 55:8-9
Sunday, April 17, 2005
that spin move that prince put on lbj just before he 1-handed it down deserves to be on sportscenter top ten tonight... heck, it deserves to be on courtside countdown this week... i have not seen james shook that badly ever before.
i wonder if darko is EVER going to be of any use to the pistons... larry brown tried to get all his bench players involved to get ready for playoffs today, and yet, darko was the only one who did not get any play.
mvp: nash(yes, that's right, i'm picking nash, even though shaq's a more complete player)
most improved: tayshawn
defensive player: larry hughes(i would've wanted to make big ben the nominee, but if we're going for people who recently came outta nowhere to make a stand, hughes is a really good choice, with monstrous steals almost every game)
rookie: emeka ofakur
coach: rick carlisle
6th man: gordon
i'll only elaborate on my picks if you want me to.
what i'm predicting is going to be the matchup for nba finals: spurs and heat
what i WANT to see for nba finals: spurs and pistons(i would've wanted suns and pistons, but only if i knew for certain that that meant suns would get rocked by the pistons)
guitar center and bereans can wait til next week.
i wonder if darko is EVER going to be of any use to the pistons... larry brown tried to get all his bench players involved to get ready for playoffs today, and yet, darko was the only one who did not get any play.
mvp: nash(yes, that's right, i'm picking nash, even though shaq's a more complete player)
most improved: tayshawn
defensive player: larry hughes(i would've wanted to make big ben the nominee, but if we're going for people who recently came outta nowhere to make a stand, hughes is a really good choice, with monstrous steals almost every game)
rookie: emeka ofakur
coach: rick carlisle
6th man: gordon
i'll only elaborate on my picks if you want me to.
what i'm predicting is going to be the matchup for nba finals: spurs and heat
what i WANT to see for nba finals: spurs and pistons(i would've wanted suns and pistons, but only if i knew for certain that that meant suns would get rocked by the pistons)
guitar center and bereans can wait til next week.
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