Old and In the Way

With the exciting Spurs-Suns rematch starting this weekend, bud Chris asked me if I would kindly run over Steve Nash if I saw him here in Phx. I told him I can't do that because Steve is actually a cool guy, an at-least-pseudo-intellectual in the grand realm of superstar athletes. Chris conceded the point and changed the request to Shaquille O'Neal, and also provided a sweet article on Steve Nash and some of his charity work in China. I'll see what I can do on the Big Saguaro - an excellent nickname, btw, Shaq, second in current nicknames only to Ryan "The Riot" Theriot, which is the best.nickname.ever. My dad, coincidentally, hates Shaquille O'Neal with a passion for something that traces back to the David Robinson era, calling him all sorts of mean nasty ugly names, like mother-raper, father-stabber, father-raper! Says he lacks fundamental skills and cheats and commits 3-second violations, offensive fouls or genocidal atrocities on every offensive possession - offensive indeed! Now while there might be a trace of hyperbole in there, Shaq is a bit of a brute, but he's an old brute. Nash is an old psuedo-intellectual type. But Timmay, too, is getting up in years:

(The best part of the article Chris sent me is that it notes that Tim Duncan's Chinese nickname is "Stone Buddha." Hell. Yes).

So the series should be great, first for the match-up of savvy vets, a sort of who will cry "Matlock!" first, and second because it allows us to revisit the craziness of last year's battle. People in SUnny Azz have already gotten their bitching megaphones ready for the first whistle that doesn't go there way (as, to be fair, I imagine the folks in SA do as well). Here's hoping for a Spurs win but a good series, one sans body checks and gashed Nashes.

Speaking of Old and In the Way: Me!!! I am hobbling around this morning, having tweaked my hammy during Wednesday night's wind-fest. Oddly, it didn't bother me at all Wednesday while playing - I actually hurt it while throwing (you have to essentially do lunges to throw low forehands, so I felt that uncomfortable pop while lunging, not running), and it wasn't even too bad yesterday. But today, man - the dogs want to run around, and I just can't. I tried jogging with them a little bit on our morning double-u, but no go. Perhaps I will retreat to some kind of beach location to let this heal. Anyways, I wanted to reflect on the fact that I am a fragile guy. I break easily, and have for some time now. I don't think this is my fault, other than increased risk due to aggressive and all-out play a la Jim Edmonds. I always arrive early to warm-up, do my stretches, etc., but I'm just prone to these little nicks and bag-ups it seems. I will press on, fear not.

T-minus two days til we leave for SC; nice. Tutoring today and tomorrow and then early early on Sunday for some fun; can't wait. Here's some links and videos in the meantime:

Check out Chris's post on Barack's recent hip-hop allusion. That's awesome.
The 50 greatest comedy sketches. Obviously wrong because they didn't include My Pen:

Today's Sign O' The Times: a children's book on plastic surgery.
LOLcats explain racial inequities.
Professors using performance enhancing drugs.
Nice South Park episode lampooning the Writer's Strike.
Another award-winning Dino-comic.
The Monty Hall Problem attacks some classic psychology experiments.
Name that film - using photo stills from cinema.
A collection of sites featuring avant garde work that would have engendered more than one ohhhhkkkkkaaaayyy a couple of nights ago.
Two videos of high speed video slowed down:

And a little something to induce nausea!!! Have a great day!!!