Factual Claim??

I read an interesting article today about Chiropractors and I question the conclusion that they reach. Knowing Dr. Buhler(in some degree) and having seen him work on Malone and Stockton I don't doubt that his work is extremely benefitial. However, to say that there is a direct correlation between chiropractics and basketball injuries is one step too far. All one needs to do is examine the injuries that have occurred since Dr. Buhler left the Jazz to know that while the hypothesis may be correct, the application to the current injuries that the Jazz have faced is simply incorrect.

Kirilenko's numerous injuries have basically been the result of freak accidents, ankle sprains, broken wrist, etc. Looking at Boozer's injuries as well as Gordan's health problems I don't think that the chiropractor would have solved this problem.

The article can be found at: Don't Know if It is True.

The School of the Prophets

People often refer to BYU as being the Lord's University, yet they seem to have run into a hard time beating the Utes the last several years. I think that it might have something to do with the fact that the entire 1st presidency are Ute Alumni. While they aren't as outspoken of their love of all things Ute related as I would want them to be one member of the quorom of the 12 is, Joseph B. Wirthlin.

I saw Elder Wirthlin at the Fiesta Bowl and I thought it was one of the coolest things of all time. Here is a little article about how the U decided to honor this great beacon of Ute Football:The Coolest Blog Ever Pertaining Solely to Seeing the Brethren!

So apparently I haven't learned to have the link function actually work, but here is the url, I don't knwo where the original article is to actually verify it but I assume it is true. http://ldsapostlesighting.blogspot.com/2006/03/elder-joseph-b-wirthlin.html

Live Action and Ricky Gervais

Tonights Simpsons was interesting for numerous reasons. First of all it was the first time that Matt Groening has allowed live action characters to impersonate the Simpsons. In the opening credits we finally saw what Homer would look like as a human. I have to say that Lisa was about as ugly as she could possibly be. Secondly, the Simpsons did an excellent lampooning of "Wife Swap" and "Trading Spouses". Poor Homer got stuck with a real British hag, but what made the episode even more entertaining was its reference to The Office(the british version).

Ricky Gervais turned out to be the new husband for Marge. He was doing a dead on impression of David Brent, what with the tie tugging with the pinkie finger extended and the constant back tracking on the jokes. The episode was a classic. Also another bit of good news is that the simpsons has signed on for another 2 years. So the longest running show on TV will continue.

The BUZZ

No, Peter is not going into the army. No, we do not have a lice problem at our house. And no, he's not getting ready for a big Quidditch match. (i.e. his Harry Potter shirt) Believe it or not, I am somewhat indirectly responsible for his new do.

Before Peter dropped me off for work yesterday, I suggested that he get a hair cut. When he came to pick me up later in the day, you can see what I was greeted with. I personally don't have a problem with the buzzed look, it was just a shock. In nearly 5 years of marriage I have NEVER seen Peter with a buzz, nor any old photos of him ever having a buzz, (although he claims that he had one in 8th grade.)

Apparently, he stopped by Great Clips yesterday morning to discover that the only person available to cut his hair was a large, flamboyant, pink-haired man. Peter asked him to cut his hair and leave an inch on the top, at which point he got out the electric razer and shaved Peter's head straight down the middle. I guess the pretense of listening to your client wasn't important to this particular stylist. I think the lesson learned is that unless you live in Beverly Hills, a good stylist is hard to find.

A good buzz always reminds me of the summer time, so hopefully this buzz will bring us some nice sunny weather up here in Oregon. Until then, we are off to California for Spring Break!

HeartBreaking Loss

At this point of the tournament I am not even following my bracket because it is so screwed up. However, watching the Gonzaga game tonight I don't think that I have ever felt worse after a loss for a team that I have absolutely no connection to. Gonzaga was ahead the whole game and was up 9 with 3 minutes to go, only to choke away the lead and make several bone headed mistakes. Specifically JP Batista(the Brazilian obviously didn't drink his Guarana')taking a shot after pulling down an offensive rebound instead of backing it out and taking more time off the clock, and then giving up that awful turnover that resulted in the winning basket. But the reason that I felt terrible wasn't because of the loss in particular but because of the way Adam Morrison reacted. Morrison plays harder than anybody out there, and it is so cool to see this strange looking, lanky white guy just dominate against guys that he has no business dominating. After seeing his reaction I then realized that I will never see him play another College game, which is sad. The guy just has so much charisma that he makes the game compelling. What made the experience even more real was that Tia was watching the game with me and said something along the lines of, "Oh, look at him. He is crying. That is so sad." So to Adam Morrison, props to you. You have made the world of college basketball a much better place!!

On another note, could the end of the West Virginia v. Texas game have been any crazier. WV is trailing by 3 goes down and with like 7 seconds left hits a contested 3 to tie it up. Texas takes the ball out of bounds and without calling a timeout races up the court and Paulino launches an awkward 3 basically at the buzzer to seal the deal. No wonder they call it March Madness.

What the USA is Missing

So as I look outside the window on yet another groggy, grey, miserable pacific northwest day, I started thinking about how much America misses out on some cool things. Granted, America rocks and I am grateful that I live here. But at the same time, numerous latin american and european countries have some cool things that we need to incorporate into our way of living.

As has already been commented in the past, the lack of good bread. Why are bread shops not a mainstay of our society. Tia and I would go and pick up a good loaf on a daily basis, if there was such a place to get a good loaf. Secondly, why don't we have an enormous supply of foreign beverages? Everyone else in the world drinks Coke, yet I rarely see a can/bottle of Guarana available at the Safeway. Or even better, I have NEVER seen a bottle of Kinnie available in the states. For those of you who don't know what Kinnie is I suggest that you check it out at: http://www.kinnie.com/

Lastly I don't understand why we don't have any Piazza's. Basically, life we be a whole lot more enjoyable if in every city there was a giagantic square with a couple of fancy fountains, and some nice stores surrounding it(like a gelato shop) where people could congregate and enjoy each others company. When will we learn?

I Meet A Man With My Dream Job and a Rough Tourney Start

So the Law Review put on a symposium last week on one of my favorite subjects, Sports Law. Needless to say I was more than excited when I found out that one of my idols would be the key note speaker. I have been reading and agreeing with Chad Ford on ESPNinsider for the last 5 years. Not only do I agree with his opinions but I also have found his insight into the happenings of the NBA to be right on.

Not only did I have the privilege of listening to Chad address the symposium, but I was extra lucky when Shane(having heard about my love of all things Chad), arranged for me to drive him to the airport. During this hour drive I was able to pick Chad's brain about virtually any NBA topic that I wanted to know about. I have to say that after meeting Mr. Ford I can declare that he is the real deal. For any of you that are interested in reading what Chad has to say, you can sign up on ESPN.com. His service costs money but not only do you get access to insider but you also get a free subscription to ESPN the magazine. All in all I think that it is a pretty good deal.

As for the tourney I got 67% of my picks right. Unfortunately I had some hope that USU would be able to pull off the upset. Basically the chances of picking the tourney right are about the same as winning the power ball. Who would have predicted that Bradley, and George Mason would have made it into the Sweet 16. You've got to wonder when the Missouri Valley Conference has as many teams left as the SEC. I guess that all these upsets are what makes the tourney truly March Madness!

March Madness Kicking Off

My official favorite time of the year is kicking off in just a couple of days. What am I going to do when I actually have to show up to work on the third Thursday and Friday of March. I truly dread the day that happens.

To demonstrate my hoops prowess I am going to say right now that UConn will take the title. They are too deep for anyone to handle. They don't depend on any particular guy to have to score big to win, ala Duke, Gonzaga, or Memphis. Not that following NCAA hoops has any bearing on someones ability to properly pick a bracket. This phenomenon was demonstrated by my brother as he won last years bracket without having watched one game all year, including the tourney games.

I hope that the Zag's are able to go deep into the tourney. Mainly because there are few things as COOL as Adam Morrison's sweet 'stache. It puts the Shane 'stache, the Ned 'stache and even the dreaded Beard 'stache to shame. Play on Mexi-stache, play on!!

Is it Possible to Be a Better Pro Athlete at 40 than 30??

I listened all week to the sportstalk radio debate in regards to Barry Bonds, and I scanned this weeks edition of SI(which has like a 10 page excerpt from the new book). Basically only one conclusion can be drawn from the new info not only Bonds take steriods, but the guy was like a walking, talking Walgreens. Bonds had so many different pharamceuticals running through his body that I am surprised he could keep track of what he was taking.

The question thus becomes is Bonds a hall of famer. According to the new information Bonds didn't start taking steriods until after the '98 season(which was prompted by his jealousy of McGwire). Through the '98 season Bonds already had 400 homers, 3 MVP's and was widely considered to be the best player of his generation. However, in my opinion a cheat is a cheat is a cheat. Even if Bonds had hall of fame numbers before he started juicing he doesn't belong in the hall for the same reason Pete Rose doesn't. Bonds and the other juicers have made all baseball fans question the integrity of the game. Can we look at any power hitter without wondering if that guy is shooting himself full of cow hormones, combiined with insulin and human-growth hormone to create some super human.

There are people who will say that even if he took steriods it doesn't change anything because you still have to hit the ball and that roids don't make a bad player a good one. My retort to that is if they don't help why would someone take them? Bonds hit 37 homers in '98 which was his 3rd highest total(up to that point in time), 3 years later Barry hit 73 homers and was 37 years old. Guys don't put on 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason by not juicing.

Worst Coach in the NBA

I haven't posted in a while partially because we made a little trip back to Utah. While we were on this trip I was able to witness a master at work. Normally claiming that someone was a master at his profession would be a complement. However, in this case it is anything but a complement. Jerry Sloan who has now been the coach of the Jazz longer than anyone cares to remember is a master at making sure that the Jazz lose games that they have no business losing.
Take for instance the game that I had a chance to attend against the New Orleans Hornets. The Jazz trailed for the vast majority of the game, and only really had one player pumping in the points, forward Memo Okur. Okur had 26 points at the end of the 3rd quarter. Normally a coach would want to make sure that their best player is on the floor during the 4th quarter. But that is not Coach Sloan's MO. He prefers to let his best offensive option waste away on the bench and then put him in the game with only 2 minutes left. Sloan further proved his ineptitude with the Jazz trailing by 2 points with around 20 seconds left in the game. He calls a timeout, and draws up a play. What this play was intended to achieve is anyones guess because as far as I could tell the jist of the play was to basically have someone stand 30 feet from the hoop just pointlessly dribbling the clock away. I know for a fact that I am not the only one who notices Sloan's completely moronic behavior. The key point is that Larry Miller for some odd reason hasn't picked up on the notion that he is paying someone $5 million dollars a year who is doing a subpar job. I am all for continuity but it is about time to cut this joker loose.