Monday, March 26, 2007

Mad Money

I know nothing about stocks, but I love CNBC's Mad Money. This is the best one man show on television.

Buy! Buy! Buy! Sell! Sell! Sell!

Love it.

If you're not watching Mad Money, you should be.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

AL East

Here it is, your first installment in Spaulding's predictions for the 2007 baseball season. Very little (if any) actual "research" has gone into these predictions -- instead they are gut-level guesses which will almost certainly make this author look like an idiot (probably before the All-Star break). Presented for your entertainment purposes only, are a few (probably misguided) picks.

AL EAST

The teams:
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Toronto Blue Jays

The outlook:
The AL East is where the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox fight their yearly war of attrition. The East is also the only division the national media pay any attention to -- assuming you're a Red Sox or Yankee. If not, you're practically in the witness protection program. Roy Halladay anyone?

For 2007, expect more of the same. The Red Sox and Yankees buy all the good names, and that's good enough to get you to the post season (but not necessarily win it -- see: A-Rod, Randy Johnson, Jason Giambi)

Spaulding prognostication:
AL East Champion -- New York Yankees

Note: Don't be surprised if the Red Sox get the AL Wild Card, but with so many good teams in the AL Central, Spaulding has to give the pre-season Wild Card prediction to that division.

Up next: The AL Central

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

A.I.

29.4 million people watched last night's episode of American Idol.

Unless my math is incorrect, I believe this statistic verifies what I've always suspected -- I am the only American not watching this show.

Monday, March 19, 2007

14 Days

Two weeks until opening day of the 2007 baseball season. Check back soon for Spaulding's predictions for the division and wild card winners.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Anybody Wanna Play Defense? Anybody?

Watching the NCAA Tournament it is unbelievable how time and time again the the teams allow their opponents to dribble down the floor and hit a big shot to tie the game or close the gap. (Worse yet, it is amazing how many of those game tying plays have come on layups).

Defense, kids. It is the other half of the game.

Seems like the only reason many of these "great games" have been interesting is because the teams don't know how to close it out.

People like to rip on the NBA for what they perceive to be a lack of defense, but watch those games in the final minutes and tell me how many easy buckets you see.

I guess we'll see if the Sweet 16 can identify any kids who know how to do more than play matador defense when it really matters.

Yep, Looks Like a Roof

Aerial coverage of indoor events is lame. Unless you're playing somewhere like New York or Chicago it all looks the same.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Xavier vs. OSU

You just knew that once Ohio State got it to overtime they weren't even going to allow Xavier to have a chance. How deflating.

When Divas Attack

I had the displeasure of catching an episode of MTV's My Super Sweet 16 today.

For the uninitiated, the series follows around a bunch of spoiled 16 year-olds as they plan their ultimate sweet sixteen birthday party. And no, they don't just rent out the local pool. These are red carpet-style affairs where the parents drop more money on a party for a bunch of hormonally frustrated teenagers than most of us will make in our entire lives. It is absolutely disgusting display of excess and bad parenting. If you want your daughter to grow up to be despicable, I recommend you start TiVo-ing this show.

Hey, MTV, here's an idea -- why don't you rename this show to what it should be: So I'm Raising a Spoiled B^%$#.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Bo Doesn't Know

The big news in Badgerland today is that injured McDonald's All-American Brian Butch practiced with the team. Best part of all of this? Coach Bo Ryan really doesn't know much about it.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel NewsWatch blog:

The 6-foot-11 junior has been sidelined since he suffered a dislocated right elbow and associated fracture against Ohio State on Feb. 25. He still is not cleared to play, Badgers coach Bo Ryan said. Wednesday Ryan said Butch "was on the floor going up and down with the guys."

Did he shoot the ball? "I wouldn't go that far," Ryan said at the team's hotel. "I don't know how many times he shot the ball."

Fans will be able to judge for themselves this afternoon. The Badgers have a public practice from 2:15 p.m.-2:55 p.m. at the United Center and Ryan said Butch will participate.

Butch was given a timetable of 4 to 6 weeks for recovery. It has been 2 weeks since the injury and Ryan gave no indication of whether Butch's recovery is going quicker than expected.

"I have no idea of the time schedule that way," he said.

Butch was not available for comment.
Guy with a busted arm who could help your team in the tournament? -- yeah, you wouldn't keep track of his ability to shoot or handle the basketball.

Anybody else think Bo has been watching a lot of Hogan's Heroes on DVD lately? "I see nothing..."

The Dukies!

There will be a lot of explanations for why Duke didn't win, but let me break it down to something basic: they lost because they didn't stay true to who they are.

Duke's true colors are blue and white, yet the uniforms they wore in their losing effort had black in the piping and lettering. The use of black with Duke is forced and it looks awful.

Unnatural addition of black to your uniforms = suckiness. See, New York Knicks.

B-Ball Bloggin'

Rick Majerus is writing an entertaining March Madness blog for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Check it out here.

For those of you Wisconsinites scoring at home, that's two references to Culver's, one to Usinger's, one to Miller and one to Lipitor in the Majerus blog by my count.

Live Blog: What Is This an NBA All-Star Game?

Duke is out.

Now people are going to go on and on about that -- specifically what a great finish it was. That is bull!

NEITHER one of those teams played defense in their final offensive possession. Duke sprints down and gets an easy layup to tie (anyone care to put up a hand, kids?) and then the Dukies let VCU hit the game winning shot practically uncontested at the top of the key.

That's how these teams play it out?!? Don't believe the hype -- that was not a great finish, it was a pathetic one.

Live Blog: Wait...Don't Cut

CBS just cut away from the very close Duke game to go back to MSU-MU because there was an injury in the Duke game. The last thing I could hear the announcer say was "...he's bleeding from the eye," right before they cut back to garbage time in the Marquette-Michigan State game.

Bleeding from the eye?!? Isn't that the type of thing that they zoom in on and then show you replays from 27 different directions?

Live Blog: Time Running Out

The MSU-MU game has been slogging along with MSU holding a 13 point or so lead for pretty much the entire second half. There are just over two minutes left in the game.

Duke and VCU are currently tied. Let's see if CBS sicks with MSU-MU or switches away before the buzzer.

Live Blog: Just Don't Do It

Marquette is wearing predominantly yellow (or should I say "gold?") shoes. It's not a great look.

Live Blog: No 2's

At the half it is MSU 30, Marquette 18.

Marquette did not have a single two-point field goal the entire first half.

If your Izzo, shouldn't you be asking yourself why you aren't up by more? No points allowed for almost 10 minutes...no 2-pointers...

Live Blog: MSU vs. MU

Marquette just scored their first points of the game. A full :19 before the midway point of the first half. Yeah, that did take awhile (9 minutes and 41 seconds).

Welcome to the Big Ten, Marquette.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Fore!

I'm not a "gamer" but I do want a Wii.

I realize that not everyone understands my need for, and occasional obsession with the Nintendo Wii (a video game system that I do not yet own). The interest gravitates around my belief that playing a sports video game by acting out the sport can only make the game about a billion times better.

The game that I've wanted to see on the Wii from the beginning was Tiger Woods golf.

Until recently I could only imagine what playing Tiger Woods on the Wii would look like, but now (thanks to the power of YouTube) you can see how to play.



EA Sports
has even started running TV ads of the actual Tiger swinging the Wiimote, as if I needed anything else to stir up my excitement about this game and its March release date. In fact, I don't think I've been this excited about a video game since the original World Series Baseball game came out.

I Wii-ly want to play.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Another Sign You're Aging

You can tell you're getting older when you realize how much you enjoy the low key, upbeat news stories of CBS News Sunday Morning. This is to say nothing of the fact that you can tell you're older because you're actually awake for CBS Sunday Morning.

Oh, and can you think of a more relaxing way to start the day than the nature scenery they leave you with every week? Ah...

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Time to Come In

I'm no outdoorsman, but let me just say this: when there are puddles on top of the ice, it is time to stop ice fishing.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Without Wii

Twice I have now been at a Target store where they had at least one PlayStation 3 available for purchase, but at both of those locations (and all the other stores I've visited) there was not a single Nintendo Wii available.

Lame.

How am I going to use Tiger Woods 07 to get ready for the golf season if I can't get my hands on a Wiimote?

Friday, March 02, 2007

737 With a Urinal

Another post-Cancun update:

We had a great trip and a good flight considering the weather. There was, however, one unique feature on the plane...

During the traditional here-is-how-you-fasten-your-seat-belt, secure-your-mask-before-securing-your-child's briefing the flight attendant explained that the plane was equipped with three restrooms -- one in the front, two in the back. She then proceeded to rather awkwardly explain that the restroom in the front was missing a toilet seat, and suggested that as a result the restroom in the front might best be used only by the men on board. This suggestion made it the only plane I've ever been on that was equipped with a urinal.

According to the flight attendant, the seat was stolen during the flight back to the U.S. from Mexico.

One can only assume the seat was stolen by a passenger who clearly didn't realize he was no longer on a booze cruise.

As for finding the guy who stole that seat...I'd recommend checking emergency rooms to see if they've treated anyone with any sort of odd, unexplained rash.

Merry Christmas!

Just took a trip to Cancun. It was lovely, but the travel portion of the trip seemed a little out of sync with the calendar.

The in-flight movie? Deck the Halls with Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito. Deck the Halls?!? It's practically St. Patrick's Day! Very odd selection -- they must have gotten a heck of a cheap price for the rights to show that one at 30,000 feet. But hey, you've got to give the Deck the Halls folks credit for getting their film in front of as many people as possible -- more people probably saw that movie in one plane trip than the entire time it was in theaters.

Then, once we landed, it was like Valentine's Day because -- according to signs posted all over the airport-- "Love Is In The Air at the Airport Gift Shop." Hmmm...heart shaped signs. At least this holiday-related event was closer to the calendar page.

Oddly, I did not encounter any belated Groundhog Day events during the trip.

Letterman's Great Moments in Presidential Speeches: UN Resolution

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Little Known Fact

When appearing on Family Feud, no matter how bad your family member's answer is you must allow half a beat for the stupidity of that answer to sink in, and then shout, "GOOD ANSWER! GOOD ANSWER!" while clapping your hands.

This saves the family member from the embarrassment of giving a crappy answer without any emotional support, and allows the television audience to speculate that stupidity does run in the family.