2008 NBA Draft

My draft prediction coming soon...

1. Chicago Bulls
Team Needs:
2. Miami Heat
3. Minnesota Timberwolves
4. Seattle Supersonics
5. Memphis Grizzlies
6. New York Knicks
7. L.A. Clippers
8. Milwaukee Bucks
9. Charlotte Bobcats
10. New Jersey Nets
11. Indiana Pacers
12. Sacramento Kings
13. Portland Trail Blazers
14. Golden State Warriors

Notable 2008 FREE AGENTS AND OPTIONS (AKA Trade Bait)
Charlotte
Emeka Okafor Restricted FA
Chicago
Luol Deng Restricted FA
Chris Duhon Unrestricted FA
Ben Gordon Restricted FA
Denver
Allen Iverson Early Term. Option
JR Smith Restricted FA
Golden State
Kelenna Azubuike Player Option
Matt Barnes Unrestricted FA
Baron Davis Early Term. Option
Monta Ellis Restricted FA
Mickael Pietrus Unrestricted FA
Houston
Steve Francis Player Option
Carl Landry Restricted FA
Dikembe Mutombo Unrestricted FA
Indiana
Jermaine O'Neal Early Term. Option
L.A. Clippers
Elton Brand Early Term. Option
Shaun Livingston Restricted FA
Corey Maggette Early Term. Option
Quinton Ross Unrestricted FA
L.A. Lakers
Trevor Ariza Player Option
Ronny Turiaf Restricted FA
Sasha Vujacic Restricted FA
Miami
Ricky Davis Unrestricted FA
Shawn Marion Early Term. Option
Alonzo Mourning Unrestricted FA
Jason Williams Unrestricted FA
Dorell Wright Restricted FA
Minnesota
Ryan Gomes Restricted FA
Sebastian Telfair Restricted FA
New Jersey
DeSagana Diop Unrestricted FA
Nenad Krstic Restricted FA
Bostjan Nachbar Unrestricted FA
Stromile Swift Player Option
New Orleans
Jannero Pargo Player Option
Bonzi Wells Unrestricted FA
New York
Stephon Marbury Early Term. Option
Orlando
Carlos Arroyo Unrestricted FA
Keyon Dooling Unrestricted FA
Maurice Evans Unrestricted FA
Philadelphia
Andre Iguodala Restricted FA
Phoenix
Grant Hill Player Option
Portland
Sacramento
Ron Artest Early Term. Option
Beno Udrih Unrestricted FA
San Antonio
Brent Barry Unrestricted FA
Michael Finley Unrestricted FA
Robert Horry Unrestricted FA
Toronto
Jose Calderon Restricted FA
Carlos Delfino Restricted FA
Utah
CJ Miles Restricted FA
Paul Millsap Team Option
Washington
Gilbert Arenas Early Term. Option
Antawn Jamison Unrestricted FA

Youtube of the Day

Who's Your Mayer?

Not a typo...but John Mayer. He has been tied to a nice handful of women. Here's my fave fav from the John Mayer Collection.

1. Rhona Mitra
2. Jennifer Aniston
3. Penelope Cruz
4. Jennifer Love Hewitt
5. Cameron Diaz

Top 15 Places Every Kid Should See

According to Yahoo Travel: (no particular order)
Get out and explore. Exposure is the name of the game. With that being said, some of these places I have either been to or opted not to go to.

Ellis Island Museum, New York City (boring)
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. (boring)
Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Va. (boring)
USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (sounds boring)
Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz. (boring)
National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis (on the list to do)
Redwood National Park, Calif. (on the list to do)
Monticello, Va. (sounds boring)
Gettysburg, Pa. (boring)
The Alamo, San Antonio, Texas (on the list to do)
Ground Zero, New York City (on the list to do)
Niagara Falls, N.Y. (on the list to do)
Freedom Trail, Boston (sounds boring)
Independence Hall, Philadelphia (boring)
Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (on the list to do)

Just think when I was a kid my list looked like this:
Forest Park
Six Flags
California (anywhere would be fine)
The Beach (could have been the Ozarks for all I cared.)
Cousin house - They have Sega and Nintendo

Well you get the point.

$3.79 9/10 for the cheap stuff

Has the price of gas caused you to start making life decisions at the gas pump? I remember when gas was 89cents. Yeah that long ago. Could fill up for $20. You could actually put $3 in the tank and take a trip to somebody house. Now, I am almost to the point of cementing my back yard to circumvent having to cut the gas which might cost me $5/pop this summer. No such thing as breaking out the gas trimmer. Oh no. That has now carried over to the way a number of businesses are starting to operate.
Examples:
Some Police stations are requiring more foot patrol to cut down.
With no surprise, Ford cuts profit projections and production on those $110/tank fill ups called F150's. Built Ford tough (fill in the blank here).
American Airlines not only cuts jobs and flights, but also are charging a premium per bag now. $15 for your first checked bad and $25 for the second. Did you catch the part that this is each way?

TV Shows Cancelled for Fall 2008

"Men in Trees" ran for two seasons on ABC.
"October Road" ran for two seasons on ABC.
"Notes from the Underbelly" ran for two seasons on ABC.
"Just For Laughs" ran for two seasons on ABC.
"Women's Murder Club" ran for one season on ABC.
"Oprah's Big Give" ran for one season on ABC.
"Cavemen" aired just eight episodes on ABC.
"Big Shots" ran just one season on ABC.
"Miss Guided" aired just seven episodes on ABC.
"Carpoolers" ran just one season on ABC.
"Cashmere Mafia" aired just seven episodes on ABC.
"Here Come the Newlyweds" aired just six episodes on ABC.
"Jericho" ran for two seasons on CBS.
"Shark" ran for two seasons on CBS.
"Moonlight" ran just one season on CBS.
"Kid Nation" ran just one season on CBS.
"Cane" ran just one season on CBS.
"Welcome to the Captain" aired just six episodes on CBS.
"Viva Laughlin" aired just two episodes on CBS.
"Back to You" ran just one season on FOX.
"K-Ville" ran just one season on FOX.
"New Amsterdam" aired just eight episodes on FOX.
"Canterbury's Law" aired just eight episodes on FOX.

I guess they had to make room for CSI Chicago, Flavor of Love 9, American Karaoke and Tyler Perry.

Car Search - Best of Best

The Best of the best and Worst of the worst are based on our larger lists of Reliable used cars and Used cars to avoid (both available to subscribers). These comprehensive lists give you a rundown of all the models that were found, from our data, to be above or below average in reliability. Owners reported on any serious problems they had had with their cars, minivans, SUVs, and pickup trucks in the previous year.

Best of the best

These are models that have performed well in CR road tests over the years, and have proved to have several or more years of better-than-average reliability. Listed alphabetically.

Acura - Integra, MDX, RL, RSX, TL, TSX
BMW M3
Buick LaCrosse
Honda - Accord, Civic, Civic Hybrid, CR-V, Element, Odyssey, Pilot, S2000
Infiniti - FX, G20, G35, I30, I35, QX4,
Lexus - ES, GS (RWD), GX, IS, LS, RX, SC
Lincoln - Continental, Town Car
Mazda - Millenia, MX-5 Miata, Protegé, Mazda3
Mitsubishi - Endeavor, Outlander
Nissan - Altima, Maxima, Murano
Pontiac Vibe
Porsche 911 (except '03)
Scion - tC, xB
Subaru - Baja, Forester, Impreza, Legacy, Outback
Toyota - 4Runner, Avalon, Camry (except '07 V6), Camry Solara, Celica, Corolla, Echo, Highlander, Land Cruiser, Matrix, Prius, RAV4, Sequoia, Sienna, Tundra (except '07 V8 4WD)
Volvo S60

Worst of the worst

These models have multiple years of much worse than Used Car Verdicts in the 1998 to 2007 models. Listed alphabetically.

Buick - Rendezvous (AWD), Buick Terraza
Chevrolet - Astro, Blazer, Colorado (4WD), S-10 Pickup (4WD), Uplander, Venture
Chrysler Town & Country (AWD)
Dodge Grand Caravan (AWD)
GMC - Canyon (4WD), Jimmy, S-15 Sonoma (4WD), Safari
Jeep Grand Cherokee
Kia Sedona
Land Rover Discovery, LR3
Lincoln Aviator
Mercedes-Benz SL
Nissan - Armada (4WD), Titan (4WD)
Oldsmobile - Bravada, Silhouette
Pontiac - Aztek, G6, Montana, Trans Sport, Montana SV6
Saturn Relay
Volkswagen - Cabriolet, Jetta Sedan (turbo), Jetta Sedan (V6), Touareg

People's Exhibit A

The prosecutors played the "alledged" sex tape for the jury today. Wow. What would have been like to be on jury duty that week? That might have been the only one people wouldn't have minded doing.
Interesting note - The defense is saying that Kellz isn't the man in the tape because Kelly has a "significant" mole in the middle of his lower back that has been there since childhood, Adam said, even displaying a photo of Kelly's back and the dime-sized mole on courtroom monitors. Adam said jurors wouldn't find the mole on the back of the man in the videotape. "There is no mole on his back," Adam said. "Robert isn't that man on the tape."

Jury selection finished last week with prosecutors and defense attorneys accusing each other of trying to stack the panel along racial lines. Eight of the seated jurors were white and four were black, and that remained the jury's racial makeup after a white female juror was replaced Tuesday morning by one of four alternates, a white male.

My Car Situation

I will be giving an acceptable amount of cash for my car as well as all expenses rendered through medical visits.

Now I need your help. I need a freakin car. I don't want to pay more than $350/month and I do not want any headaches. Preferably, I would like to be in the $250-300 range but that is probably not going to happen. I had my Honda for 8 years.
Top choices
1. Acura TL 3.2 - Great car. Sexy and everything. Example 1. Example 2.
2. Nissan Maxima (2004+) - Spacious and nice. Step below the Acura to me. Example 1. Example 2.
3. Dodge Charger - I really didn't like this car. But I can find one for a good price. Example 1. Example 2.

Unless I can find a hookup like this. Is this real?

Wake Up ... Tuesday, May 20, 2008

OBAMA....Yes We Can.
Expected to split today, Obama should round out his victory lap today with the Oregon win. Look at this crowd.

On the flip side...Huckabee takes a 'shot' at Obama. Bad move if he wants to run for VP on a losing ticket. What's next, a diss record.

Another disaster.
40,000 dead in China, 5 million homeless after Earthquake.
Rescuers freed a 60-year-old woman Tuesday who was trapped for more than 195 hours after last week's earthquake and had survived by drinking rainwater, while the confirmed death toll rose to more than 40,000.
Survive by any means necessary.

Spurs outlast youthful Hornets, win Game 7 to advance to conference finals
Thoughts on the game:
1. When did Jannero Pargo become the closer? He took practically every shot in the 4the 4th quarter. David West took maybe 1 shot in the last five minutes.
2. What does it take to bench a player nowadays? Peja couldn't hit a marble in th Gulf last night and was still on te floor. Why not go with Julian Wright, MoPete, the waterboy for that reason?
3. The Spurs are who we thought they were.....We let 'em off the hook.

Playoff Predictions
Detroit in 6 over Boston.
Boston is vulnerable. I think vulnerable is another word for lucky. Lucky is another way to say overrated. Ray Allen is old, KG is no Timmyyy. Detroit, without Chauncey can beat Boston in 7. Prince neutralizes Pierce. Rip runs Ray Allen around all day and drops 20 ppg. Sheed and KG will go at it. That leaves Rondo to lead the team vs Billups/Stuckey. Boston better look to sign one more wiley veteran. I hear Sprewell is on the market.
Lakers in 7 over Spurs.
If the Lakers had Bynum, this would be an easier series. But odds are Kobe will come out on top vs Timmy. No one can guard Kobe for Spurs (Udoka??? Finley???) No one can guard Tony Parker either. But Parker doesn't go for 40 a game like the Mamba.
Detroit over Lakers.
Let my other predictions come true first and then I will write about this.

NFL opts out of labor deal.
Three reasons for the early termination: High labor costs, problems with the rookie pool and the league's inability, through the interpretation of the courts, to recoup bonuses of players who subsequently breach their contract or refuse to perform.
"The current labor agreement does not adequately recognize the cost of generating the revenues of which the players receive the largest shares; nor does the agreement recognize that those costs have increased substantially -- and at an ever increasing rate -- in recent years during a difficult economic climate in our country," the NFL said.
Hope they know what they are doing, a potential strike could cripple the NFL the way it did to Baseball in the early 90's and NBA for the post Jordan late 90's.