Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...

Originally posted by BookerT:
you're childhood friends with chris draft?

I am. We lived about 3 blocks apart and were on the same soccer team and little league team for years. His older brother was actually my age, and Chris was in the grade behind me. They were both the best athletes in the neighborhood - Chris just got big while his brother stayed skinny.

Smackette is super happy that he's a Ram now, as that is her favorite team.

Originally posted by Hoya Paranoia:
on a somewhat similar note, have you ever seen a rational explanation in the form of a column like this for the value placed on NFL draft picks in trades for active players?

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.


Just look at the redskins first round draft picks from the late '90s - Heath Shuler - Michael Westbrook - Andre Johnson - Kenard Lang.

Keyshawn may be a total douchebag, but at least he proved himself in the NFL for a few years. Draft picks are a crapshoot.

For Fico, NKOTB and anybody else who will admit to watching The Hills (courtesy of the Sport Guy):

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2007/10/25/reality-victims-unit-meet-gavin-my-friend-who-went-on-a-date-with-lc-from-the-hills/

I am shocked and appalled that the producers are making calls that are making the show less than real. I mean, Justin-Bobby is not like that in the real world?

"I guess people should just try to remember that this is all entertainment, and just as Iâ??m not the boring dork they made me out to be, Lauren and the other people on the show are sometimes capable of being nice, decent, funny people. Except for Spencer, I hear heâ??s really like that"

hahahahah

was last nights worth watching?

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:

was last nights worth watching?

Justin-Bobby was in rare form last night, but Spencers sister is an apple that didn't fall too far from the tree. Amazing, that one. We haven't seen the last of her for sure.

Google will release a version of Google Desktop for the Mac tomorrow that lets users install gadgets â?? something previous versions didnâ??t support.

Why would Mac users need a sidebar when they already have their dashboard? Well, it turns out there is no sidebar, and gadgets are installed into the dashboard.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=821&tag=nl.e589

I'm addicted to Google Dashboard Gadgets.

dashboard is pretty sweet. my epl news one stopped working though :(

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
dashboard is pretty sweet. my epl news one stopped working though :(

I deleted that one as it kept ruining games I was recording to watch later in the day. Same with the Champs League and UEFA gadgets.

i like it during the transfer window

Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy, did a marathon chat today for the Jimmy V Foundation (over 7 hours!)

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/special/billsimmons?event_id=18257

If you're like me and can't stand the white type on a dark background (I practically go into seziures), I've made a PDF of the chat wrap:

http://www.mediafire.com/?bwymvbhmwic

Makes for nice bathroom reading.

Originally posted by vansmack:
If you're like me and can't stand the white type on a dark background (I practically go into seziures)

things sweetcell thinks you ought to know:

when putting together a PowerPoint presentation that is meant to be projected, white/light letters on a dark background looks better and is easier to read.

Originally posted by sweetcell:
things sweetcell thinks you ought to know:

when putting together a PowerPoint presentation that is meant to be projected, white/light letters on a dark background looks better and is easier to read.

Only if you can control the lighting in the room. If you can't, you're destined for disaster.

Remember when I said:

Originally posted by vansmack:
I'll espouse a crazy theory on you like the one where one GM knew Bonds would be indicted. Anaheim knows that Matthews is in trouble in the Mitchell report and will face a long suspension - that's why they signed Hunter.

Well now I feel a little better about that:

Moreno on Mitchell report: 'There's going to be names'
ESPN.com news services

Updated: November 29, 2007, 12:03 PM ET

It remains to be seen if the players contacted by George Mitchell's investigators are actually named in the report, which is due for release sometime before Christmas.

But Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno raised the bar Wednesday when he said the report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball will include names of players.

"The names of players will come out that people will be mad about," Moreno, quoted by The Los Angeles Times in Thursday's editions, said. "Some of my information is second hand, but I know there's going to be names."

More...

Originally posted by vansmack:
Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy, did a marathon chat today for the Jimmy V Foundation

Ugh! You like Bill Simmons?!?! He's AWFUL. The prototype jock-sniffing blogger who's obsessed with TV and video games and has nothing unique or intelligent to say. He's even worse that Chuck Klosterman. Both are the sound of one hand clapping and the other hand down their pants.

Plus, could someone explain to me the entire "Jimmy V" cult? He died of cancer? So did millions of people. What's so special about him? Does he have an inspiring story? Did he make a real difference? Alex's Lemonade is a great story. Jimmy Valvano is saint because he gave some ESPN speech about how you're supposed to "laugh every day, cry every day and think every day?" Thanks, Mr. Rogers!

Maybe Klosterman and Simmons never had fathers who could teach them how to throw a football. They're the sad, pathetic kind of bloggers I was referring to the other day.

I mean just LOOK at those pictures:

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e6/ChuckK.JPG/200px-ChuckK.JPG" alt=" - " />

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Bill_Simmons_by_David_Shankbone.jpg/180px-Bill_Simmons_by_David_Shankbone.jpg" alt=" - " />

Brian

what if i told you he liked fall out boy

Originally posted by vansmack:

Originally posted by sweetcell:
things sweetcell thinks you ought to know:

when putting together a PowerPoint presentation that is meant to be projected, white/light letters on a dark background looks better and is easier to read.

Only if you can control the lighting in the room. If you can't, you're destined for disaster.

not in my experience with PPT (which is quite a bit). oh no - are going to have to chalk this one up to "YMMV"?!?

Originally posted by sweetcell:
not in my experience with PPT (which is quite a bit). oh no - are going to have to chalk this one up to "YMMV"?!?

Well, it's never happened to me, but I can think of at least three times where I've been in the audience where somebody tried to have the lights turned off to give a powerpoint presentation and the room was too dark for people to take notes, so they tried to turn off only half the lights, which wasn't possible.

So the choice was no notes for your audience, or no one could read what was on the screen. Once, they ended up doing a B&W version with the lights on, but of course, all the writing on the graphics wasn't visible (the graphics remain in color).

Originally posted by Brian Wallace:
Plus, could someone explain to me the entire "Jimmy V" cult? He died of cancer? So did millions of people. What's so special about him? Does he have an inspiring story? Did he make a real difference? Alex's Lemonade is a great story. Jimmy Valvano is saint because he gave some ESPN speech about how you're supposed to "laugh every day, cry every day and think every day?" Thanks, Mr. Rogers!

i also hate the Jimmy V shit that ESPN shoves down our throats … i was trying to watch 'cuse get their asses whupped last night by a mediocre A10 team and i'm subjected to call-in interview after call-in interview about Jimmy V … WHO THE FUCK CARES??

this is the real problem: the sports culture is full of barely-sentient athletes who lack any sense of irony or skepticism … they act like hard-asses 95% of the time, then turn into an oprah episode when they decide to show any emotional range … there is ZERO in-between ground … any type of emotion is channeled into the schlockiest "chicken soup for the soul" type of hokum with retarded high school children shooting 3-point shots and dying fathers getting liver transplants from ex-teammates

i think the main difference between "sports bloggers" like deadspin and the like is really just a healthy dose of skepticism and a refusal to cave into the emotional crap that the mainstream sports media forces on us

There's really never going to be much progress in the Islamic World until there can be better understanding of Shar'ia Law and it's inability to adapt to modern basic freedoms:

British Teacher Sentenced to 15 Days in Sudan Prison

Saudi's Sentence Gang Rape Victim to 200 lashes, 6 months in Jail

ESPN is having a contest for the greatest Sportscenter Commercial of all time.

I'm boycotting the vote because they left out some of the best commercials of all time, even outside of Sportscenter:

Be a Big Buddy
Can I have the Country of Origin please?
American Cheese
That's Weird


And my personal favorites:

The New Kid
The Nogahyde
Shue for Steiner
And Y2K