NBA
I haven't seriously watched an NBA game in its entirety in a long time. I'd say at least 4 or 5 years, maybe more. The league just doesn't really interest me these days.
The thing is, I used to be the biggest basketball fan. Well, of course, growing up in Chicago, I don't know anybody around here who wasn't crazy about the Bulls, back during their heyday. I had the obligatory Jordan posters that every kid my age had, every championship T-shirt, Bulls stickers on everything, and I even got good at drawing Bulls logos on all my notebooks and stuff.
But I also would get fanatic about the whole league, not just the Bulls. The biggest highlight of every week for me was to come home from church on Sunday and watch the NBA on NBC with Marv Albert and Mike Fratello/Matt Guokas. I think I knew the starting lineups for every single team back then. My favorite video game was NBA Jam on Super Nintendo, and I spent most of my free time collecting and organizing my basketball cards. Off the top of my head, I can still name most of the first round players drafted the year Shaq came out (Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner, Jim Jackson, Clarence Weatherspoon, LaPhonso Ellis, Harold Minor) because I can picture how I arranged their basketball cards in my album.
Meanwhile, I made all these colored drawings of the guys on the Dream Team and stuck them around my room. I'd get into heated arguments with friends about whether John Stockton would break Magic Johnson's all-time assists record (the number 9,921 still sticks in my head), and pretend to be Spud Webb when I played ball in my driveway, dunking on a 7 foot hoop.
But anyways, somewhere along the way I stopped caring about NBA basketball, almost entirely. It was around the time the Bulls dynasty finally broke up, when we went from Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, Phil Jackson, etc., to Tim Floyd and a rotating group of scrubs. That in itself is probably part of the reason why I stopped liking the NBA. But I don't think I'm one of those fairweather fans who's only interested in the game when your team wins. Yeah, it's tough to watch games when you know your team has no chance of being competitive at all. But I really think the league as a whole just started to deteriorate around that time.
Here are the main reasons I can think of as to why I don't like the NBA that much anymore:
- Too much "building for the future". Yeah, guys like Tracy McGrady and Kevin Garnett are good now. But now, every team is drafting guys that they know won't be good for at least a few years, if ever. The Bulls got Elton Brand and Ron Artest to rebuild after Jordan and Pippen left. Then they let both of those guys go when they started to get good, and started over with guys like Eddie Curry and Tyson Chandler. How can you expect fans to stay interested for years, when your team sucks, and everyone knows it's gonna suck for years until your prospects develop? And what if they never develop?
- Too many guys I hate watching. I'm sick of watching Shaq play basketball. First of all, his free throw shooting is uglier than Sam Cassell. It's always been bad, but somehow it got even worse throughout the years. Second of all, knocking over defenders by bumping your ass into them and then dunking the ball hardly counts as a sport. The worst part, though, is seeing how defenders have resorted to constantly flopping as their only answer to Shaq. It gets annoying when half the game becomes guys falling down every time they get breathed on, and then spending all of their energy complaining to the refs for a call, instead of just being a man and playing hard defense. Speaking of which, there is no reason why Vlade Divac should still be in this league. Now, I don't have time to list everyone I dislike in the NBA, but lets just say that 90% of the rest of them fall into one or more of the following categories:
a) Overpaid kid who should've gone to college
b) Some sort of criminal
c) Ballhog who doesn't care about winning and can't play defense, just looking to make a flashy play that will get them on Sportscenter
d) Ugly European or Chinese guy
- Something shady about the league. For a long time now, I've had this feeling in the back of my head that the NBA playoffs are rigged. People say that it would be too hard to pull off something like that, but you know what, when there's so much money at stake, people would do anything to get as much as they can. I don't know, but think about it - notice that the league is super protective of its refs from being criticized. And in the few big games I've seen lately, there's been more than a few cases where the officiating was pretty lopsided. I'm not saying that all the games are fixed, but I just can't shake the feeling that there's some behind the scenes action going on either.
There's other reasons I don't like the NBA, but I guess what ignited this rant was watching the end of regulation for Tuesday's Lakers-Pistons game. Like about 95% of the people I know, I don't like the Lakers and I'd rather see them lose. Shaq, I talked about him before. I've always thought Kobe was cocky and annoying and disliked him even before the whole rape thing. Never liked Karl Malone or Gary Payton either, back when they were pestering the Bulls, and now even less because they decided to take the easy route to get a championship ring which will be meaningless.
Not that I love the Pistons either. Actually, they fit almost all the negatives I listed above. Think about this past offseason - coming off a pretty good playoff run, they have the #2 pick in the draft with the choice of getting someone who can help them right away (Carmelo Anthony) or getting an unproven, Ugly European Guy who clearly will have nothing to offer the team for at least a couple years (Darko Milicic). They go with the second choice. Maybe someday, Darko will be worth more than Carmelo, but come on - you know your team is so close to possibly winning a championship, and yet you still draft as if you're in a rebuilding mode. In a game like the one on Tuesday, don't tell me that having a guy like Carmelo wouldn't have made at least a few points difference over a guy sitting on the bench the whole game looking stupid. That could have meant the difference between winning and losing that game, which could mean the difference between winning and losing the series and the championship. If the Pistons go on to lose the series, they have no one else to blame but themselves.
About the game, I still can't believe how bad the Pistons played at the end, with a 6 point lead and under a minute to go. They don't foul Shaq when he's holding the ball outside the 3-point line, they wait until he gets the ball 2 inches away from the hoop, and his dunk is already halfway down, so he can have a 3 point play. Basically, they could've taken their chances with giving him 2 free throws (of which he's probably only going to make one) to try to cut the lead to 4 at best (still 2 posessions), but instead they gave him the sure 2 points and a free throw to cut it to 1 possession.
Then on the last shot, every single person watching the game knew Kobe was gonna shoot, yet Rip Hamilton still gave him plenty of space and barely even jumped to challenge the shot. Not that it would have neccessarily mattered - I mean, by the time I saw Kobe get the inbounds pass, I knew he was gonna tie the game. The Lakers just seem to make those plays happen 100% of the time, like Robert Horry's 3 against the Kings. But still, the fact is that the Pistons threw away that game, plain and simple. I didn't even watch the rest of the game in overtime, because at that point I already knew who was going to win. And why lose valuable sleep time just to confirm what you already know?
Oh well.
Larry Bird says he used to feel insulted when an opposing coach sent a white player to guard him. My question is, I wonder if Yao Ming feels the same way when opposing coaches send a yellow player to guard him? And is Wang Zhi-Zhi still in the league?
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Monday, June 07, 2004
Miskellaneous
I haven't had much time to write lately. Especially at work, things have been a lot busier. Still, I feel the need to write. So I shall write a blog at home.
Some things that have happened in the past few days:
- Got a speeding ticket. Caught going 81 on 355. Haven't had a ticket in about 3 years, so I guess I was due. Cop looked like he was about 16 years old.
- Went to the DMV to get a State ID. I think they really designed that place to piss people off as much as possible. First, they give you a number and make you wait for this computerized voice to call your number and tell you where to go. Except, it's not just a number, it's actually a letter and a number. I was C248. Then they call the numbers in no particular order. It started at C244 when I sat down, followed by B196, I113, D49, A307, B197, B198, E73, B199, A308, B200, I114, D50, C245, ..... and about half an hour later, finally I got my turn. Then I got to talk to a guy, who then sent me to the cashier, who sent me to another lady, who sent me to the picture taking station. Overall though, I was expecting worse. Only one out of the 4 people I had to deal with was rude and/or incompetent. I'll take that. And it only cost 4 bucks to get a state ID, which isn't bad at all.
- Got White Castle for lunch. I love White Castle. By the way, for those who don't know, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle on July 30th. Featuring "the Asian guy from American Pie" and "the Indian guy from Van Wilder", I don't know whether this movie should offend me or appeal to me, as an Asian guy from Darien who loves White Castle. But another important thing to note is that it is being directed by the guy who directed Dude Where's My Car. So I think I am gonna have to see this movie.
- Watched U Got Served on DVD. Actually, only watched the dance scenes, which apparently are the only parts of the movie that are worth watching. Also watched Van Wilder and the first 20 mins of 2 Fast 2 Furious.
- Went to Dave & Busters and played some shuffleboard. Saw a friend I haven't seen in at least 2 years, and seriously, the first thing he said to me after "Long time no see" was "but it's ok, because I read your blog all the time and that makes me feel like I've been a part of your life". See, it's moments like those that make all the time I've spent on writing worth it. Well actually, I'd write no matter what, but to me that moment was still priceless. But the weird thing is, this kind of thing has happened more than a few times in the past couple years. I'll see an old friend who I haven't talked to in months, and the first thing they mention is something about what I wrote in my blog.
Another good "blog" moment was at the poker table yesterday, someone actually said something like "according to Dudo's blog, A-K was a 70% favorite..." haha, that cracks me up.
- Mowed the lawn and did some trimming with my brand new edger.
- As I write, there is an awesome game on the TV next to me. Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, Tampa Bay up 2-1 over Calgary late in the 3rd. Thus, I must cut this blog short so that I can watch the end of this thing. Might be the last NHL game to be played in a long time.
- Before I go, check out this site: http://www.poe-news.com/features.php?feat=31845. I thought it was funny.
I haven't had much time to write lately. Especially at work, things have been a lot busier. Still, I feel the need to write. So I shall write a blog at home.
Some things that have happened in the past few days:
- Got a speeding ticket. Caught going 81 on 355. Haven't had a ticket in about 3 years, so I guess I was due. Cop looked like he was about 16 years old.
- Went to the DMV to get a State ID. I think they really designed that place to piss people off as much as possible. First, they give you a number and make you wait for this computerized voice to call your number and tell you where to go. Except, it's not just a number, it's actually a letter and a number. I was C248. Then they call the numbers in no particular order. It started at C244 when I sat down, followed by B196, I113, D49, A307, B197, B198, E73, B199, A308, B200, I114, D50, C245, ..... and about half an hour later, finally I got my turn. Then I got to talk to a guy, who then sent me to the cashier, who sent me to another lady, who sent me to the picture taking station. Overall though, I was expecting worse. Only one out of the 4 people I had to deal with was rude and/or incompetent. I'll take that. And it only cost 4 bucks to get a state ID, which isn't bad at all.
- Got White Castle for lunch. I love White Castle. By the way, for those who don't know, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle on July 30th. Featuring "the Asian guy from American Pie" and "the Indian guy from Van Wilder", I don't know whether this movie should offend me or appeal to me, as an Asian guy from Darien who loves White Castle. But another important thing to note is that it is being directed by the guy who directed Dude Where's My Car. So I think I am gonna have to see this movie.
- Watched U Got Served on DVD. Actually, only watched the dance scenes, which apparently are the only parts of the movie that are worth watching. Also watched Van Wilder and the first 20 mins of 2 Fast 2 Furious.
- Went to Dave & Busters and played some shuffleboard. Saw a friend I haven't seen in at least 2 years, and seriously, the first thing he said to me after "Long time no see" was "but it's ok, because I read your blog all the time and that makes me feel like I've been a part of your life". See, it's moments like those that make all the time I've spent on writing worth it. Well actually, I'd write no matter what, but to me that moment was still priceless. But the weird thing is, this kind of thing has happened more than a few times in the past couple years. I'll see an old friend who I haven't talked to in months, and the first thing they mention is something about what I wrote in my blog.
Another good "blog" moment was at the poker table yesterday, someone actually said something like "according to Dudo's blog, A-K was a 70% favorite..." haha, that cracks me up.
- Mowed the lawn and did some trimming with my brand new edger.
- As I write, there is an awesome game on the TV next to me. Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, Tampa Bay up 2-1 over Calgary late in the 3rd. Thus, I must cut this blog short so that I can watch the end of this thing. Might be the last NHL game to be played in a long time.
- Before I go, check out this site: http://www.poe-news.com/features.php?feat=31845. I thought it was funny.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Poker Talk
Last week was the annual World Series of Poker "Big One" in Las Vegas, and while the tournament won't be shown on ESPN until later this year, a lot internet sites have been reporting some or all of the action that's taken place.
I happened to read about one hand which really blew my mind:
Two guys have about the same amount of chips, one has pocket 5's and the other pocket 9's. On the flop comes two 5's and another low card, giving the one guy 4-of-a-kind, and the other guy an overpair with his 9's. So they both go all in (I don't know in what order, but it doesn't really matter), and you gotta think, the guy with the four-of-a-kind pretty much has the hand locked up, going against a measly one-pair with his four-of-a-kind and only 2 cards to go. Nope, the turn and river were both 9's, which gave the second guy four 9's to beat four 5's.
All of us who play poker have plenty of bad beat stories to tell, but it really doesn't get any worse than that. Literally, it's the worst bad beat possible if you do the math. It's one thing for a guy to hit running cards against you (like hitting a running straight or flush), cause even then, you have a bunch of possible combinations out there. But with 2 cards left to flip in that hand, the guy needed those two exact cards in the deck to win, and he got them. Something like 0.05% probability. So the next time anyone feels like complaining about bad luck in our $10 home games, think about the guy who flopped four-of-a-kind against one pair, and still ended up losing, in what was probably the biggest tournament of his life.
I was thinking about the math of no-limit tournaments and decided to do some calculations, just for kicks and giggles. Let's say that you only go all in pre-flop with the best possible starting hands (A-A, K-K, A-K, Q-Q). Usually, your winning percentage if you play these hands out is gonna come out to somewhere between 70-80% on average. For the sake of my math, I just estimated that you will win 75% of the time with these hands if you go all-in pre-flop.
By the way, 75% is pretty damn good odds. Consider for example:
- A-A is at best about 90% against certain hands (including 2-7 offsuit, the worst possible hand), and about 80% against any underpair
- K-K is also about 80% against underpairs and then about 70% against any hand with an Ace (except pocket Aces of course)
- Q-Q is pretty much the same as K-K, except you are only around 55% against A-K.
- A-K is about a 70% winner against any hand except pocket pairs and A-K. Believe it or not, whether you're up against A-Q suited or 2-7 offsuit, you are never much more than a 70% favorite.
These are all assuming that you're not going against another top hand (which is usually the case if you are called on an all-in bet). So even if you are the tightest player ever, or even if you make all the right reads, the best you can realistically hope for is to average 75% pre-flop odds for all the times you go all-in.
Anyways, in a tournament like the WSOP, say you decide to go all-in for all your chips, only in those situations where you have the top hands I listed. If you have A-Q, J-J, 10-10, A-J, etc., you fold if someone bets you for all your chips. Using the 75% number, if you risk all in:
3 times - You'll survive the tournament 42% of the time (0.75^3)
5 times - You have a 24% survival rate (0.75^5)
10 times - You have a 5% chance of staying in the tournament (0.75^10)
Think about that: even if you get your money in with the best odds every single time for only 3 times throughout the entire tournament, the numbers are still against you winning in the end (you have a 58% probability of losing at least one of those 3 times and getting eliminated). True, this is also assuming the other guy has more chips than you all 3 times, but if you've been playing that tight, you'll definitely be going against larger stacks more often than not. And if you ask me, 3 times is a very low estimate for that situation to come up in a tournament (I think even 5 or 10 would be a conservative number).
Moral of the story: it's better to be lucky than good in a poker game.
Of course, that doesn't mean that skill is worthless - pros will still win more money in the same game than amateurs in the long run. But these calculations tell us that if you want to win a tournament, you definitely can't win it on skill alone.
* If any of you are interested in how I got the numbers for those odds, www.cardplayer.com has an applet that lets you calculate odds in Hold'em. The rest of the calculations are high school math.
Last week was the annual World Series of Poker "Big One" in Las Vegas, and while the tournament won't be shown on ESPN until later this year, a lot internet sites have been reporting some or all of the action that's taken place.
I happened to read about one hand which really blew my mind:
Two guys have about the same amount of chips, one has pocket 5's and the other pocket 9's. On the flop comes two 5's and another low card, giving the one guy 4-of-a-kind, and the other guy an overpair with his 9's. So they both go all in (I don't know in what order, but it doesn't really matter), and you gotta think, the guy with the four-of-a-kind pretty much has the hand locked up, going against a measly one-pair with his four-of-a-kind and only 2 cards to go. Nope, the turn and river were both 9's, which gave the second guy four 9's to beat four 5's.
All of us who play poker have plenty of bad beat stories to tell, but it really doesn't get any worse than that. Literally, it's the worst bad beat possible if you do the math. It's one thing for a guy to hit running cards against you (like hitting a running straight or flush), cause even then, you have a bunch of possible combinations out there. But with 2 cards left to flip in that hand, the guy needed those two exact cards in the deck to win, and he got them. Something like 0.05% probability. So the next time anyone feels like complaining about bad luck in our $10 home games, think about the guy who flopped four-of-a-kind against one pair, and still ended up losing, in what was probably the biggest tournament of his life.
I was thinking about the math of no-limit tournaments and decided to do some calculations, just for kicks and giggles. Let's say that you only go all in pre-flop with the best possible starting hands (A-A, K-K, A-K, Q-Q). Usually, your winning percentage if you play these hands out is gonna come out to somewhere between 70-80% on average. For the sake of my math, I just estimated that you will win 75% of the time with these hands if you go all-in pre-flop.
By the way, 75% is pretty damn good odds. Consider for example:
- A-A is at best about 90% against certain hands (including 2-7 offsuit, the worst possible hand), and about 80% against any underpair
- K-K is also about 80% against underpairs and then about 70% against any hand with an Ace (except pocket Aces of course)
- Q-Q is pretty much the same as K-K, except you are only around 55% against A-K.
- A-K is about a 70% winner against any hand except pocket pairs and A-K. Believe it or not, whether you're up against A-Q suited or 2-7 offsuit, you are never much more than a 70% favorite.
These are all assuming that you're not going against another top hand (which is usually the case if you are called on an all-in bet). So even if you are the tightest player ever, or even if you make all the right reads, the best you can realistically hope for is to average 75% pre-flop odds for all the times you go all-in.
Anyways, in a tournament like the WSOP, say you decide to go all-in for all your chips, only in those situations where you have the top hands I listed. If you have A-Q, J-J, 10-10, A-J, etc., you fold if someone bets you for all your chips. Using the 75% number, if you risk all in:
3 times - You'll survive the tournament 42% of the time (0.75^3)
5 times - You have a 24% survival rate (0.75^5)
10 times - You have a 5% chance of staying in the tournament (0.75^10)
Think about that: even if you get your money in with the best odds every single time for only 3 times throughout the entire tournament, the numbers are still against you winning in the end (you have a 58% probability of losing at least one of those 3 times and getting eliminated). True, this is also assuming the other guy has more chips than you all 3 times, but if you've been playing that tight, you'll definitely be going against larger stacks more often than not. And if you ask me, 3 times is a very low estimate for that situation to come up in a tournament (I think even 5 or 10 would be a conservative number).
Moral of the story: it's better to be lucky than good in a poker game.
Of course, that doesn't mean that skill is worthless - pros will still win more money in the same game than amateurs in the long run. But these calculations tell us that if you want to win a tournament, you definitely can't win it on skill alone.
* If any of you are interested in how I got the numbers for those odds, www.cardplayer.com has an applet that lets you calculate odds in Hold'em. The rest of the calculations are high school math.
Monday, May 24, 2004
Old Pics
I was looking through pictures a few days ago and thought I'd post some here. (Warning: lots of pictures, may load very slowly)
*Mom and Dad*
My dad's graduation picture
Dad and his homies when he was about my age
My mom in high school.
Mom when she was about my age
Mom and Dad on Engagement Day
*****
*Me*
Me in diapers
Me in a girly outfit in a stroller
Studio picture - check out those rolls
*****
*Me and my sis*
Just chillin
Man was she one ugly baby
Doing math - notice me looking all cocky, I was born to multiply baby
I love this picture, cracks me up every time
Brother and sister picture in the studio
*****
*Modern Day*
Dad in his current office
Family minus me last Christmas
Me and Sis in college
9/12ths of the Dudo League in college (if you count "Rod")
Me and my favorite P_ongbunkors in college
I was looking through pictures a few days ago and thought I'd post some here. (Warning: lots of pictures, may load very slowly)
*Mom and Dad*
My dad's graduation picture
Dad and his homies when he was about my age
My mom in high school.
Mom when she was about my age
Mom and Dad on Engagement Day
*****
*Me*
Me in diapers
Me in a girly outfit in a stroller
Studio picture - check out those rolls
*****
*Me and my sis*
Just chillin
Man was she one ugly baby
Doing math - notice me looking all cocky, I was born to multiply baby
I love this picture, cracks me up every time
Brother and sister picture in the studio
*****
*Modern Day*
Dad in his current office
Family minus me last Christmas
Me and Sis in college
9/12ths of the Dudo League in college (if you count "Rod")
Me and my favorite P_ongbunkors in college
Friday, May 21, 2004
Happy birthday to my sister. I can't believe my little sis is all grown up now - graduating college, turning 22, and soon to become a career woman.
Congrats to everyone else who graduated recently. Welcome to post-college life, it's awesome.
Happy anniversary to Olivia (actually a few days ago). It really feels like 3 years went by in the blink of an eye.
I think I am the guy in the School Spirit track (14) on Kanye West's CD:
"When a lady walks up to me and says 'hey, you know what's sexy?' I say 'No I don't know what it is, but I bet I can add up all the change in your purse, very fast.'"
When I heard that, I was like hey, that's me! Might as well be me talking right there. Yeah, you all wonder how someone can grow up in this country without ever seeing a single one of the movies I listed, but you know what the reason for that is? A four-letter word: Math.
Yes, while everyone else was watching all those movies, I was doing math. Parties in high school? I was doing math. Lose Yourself video? I was doing math.
That's ok, I'm not bitter or anything. Math is cool. It's just a part of what I like to call "growing up Chinese".
Here's some more movies to add to my list:
- National Lampoon's (anything)
- Sixth Sense
- Friday (except scattered parts of it)
- Police Academy (any of them)
- Beverly Hills Cop
- Reservoir Dogs
- Green Mile
- L.A. Confidential
- Goonies
- Men In Black
The NBA playoffs suck, except maybe for Kevin Garnett.
What would you rather have pre-flop: Q-Q or A-K suited?
As I signed on to post this, Blogger invited me to try Gmail because I am an "active user" of Blogger. I don't know how it works, I remember a few weeks ago I got the same invite, but I figured I'd just do it later. Then it disappeared, and then I heard that the invite was some exclusive thing and people were actually selling it on eBay for money. So I was pissed for missing my chance. Anyways, I guess all is good now that I got invited again and I finally got my Gmail account. I don't think they're giving me the opportunity to invite other people now though, so I can't be making any cash off it on eBay. Oh well.
Congrats to everyone else who graduated recently. Welcome to post-college life, it's awesome.
Happy anniversary to Olivia (actually a few days ago). It really feels like 3 years went by in the blink of an eye.
I think I am the guy in the School Spirit track (14) on Kanye West's CD:
"When a lady walks up to me and says 'hey, you know what's sexy?' I say 'No I don't know what it is, but I bet I can add up all the change in your purse, very fast.'"
When I heard that, I was like hey, that's me! Might as well be me talking right there. Yeah, you all wonder how someone can grow up in this country without ever seeing a single one of the movies I listed, but you know what the reason for that is? A four-letter word: Math.
Yes, while everyone else was watching all those movies, I was doing math. Parties in high school? I was doing math. Lose Yourself video? I was doing math.
That's ok, I'm not bitter or anything. Math is cool. It's just a part of what I like to call "growing up Chinese".
Here's some more movies to add to my list:
- National Lampoon's (anything)
- Sixth Sense
- Friday (except scattered parts of it)
- Police Academy (any of them)
- Beverly Hills Cop
- Reservoir Dogs
- Green Mile
- L.A. Confidential
- Goonies
- Men In Black
The NBA playoffs suck, except maybe for Kevin Garnett.
What would you rather have pre-flop: Q-Q or A-K suited?
As I signed on to post this, Blogger invited me to try Gmail because I am an "active user" of Blogger. I don't know how it works, I remember a few weeks ago I got the same invite, but I figured I'd just do it later. Then it disappeared, and then I heard that the invite was some exclusive thing and people were actually selling it on eBay for money. So I was pissed for missing my chance. Anyways, I guess all is good now that I got invited again and I finally got my Gmail account. I don't think they're giving me the opportunity to invite other people now though, so I can't be making any cash off it on eBay. Oh well.
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