Cup of Coffee — Turkey Day
Posted by SBG on Thursday, November 23rd, 2006 at 8:32 am
- Since the NBA began keeping track of steals and blocked shots in 1973, a player has reached 100 steals and blocks in the same season 51 times. KG has done it 8 times, third behind Hakeem Olajuwon and Julis Erving, with 12 each. KG's not a premier shot blocker and I think that's an indication that he doesn't have fantastic leaping ability.
- Patrick Reusse hands out his annual turkey of the year award. "The Turkeys are what we thought they were! Now, if you want to crown Koren's keister, then crown it. But the Turkeys ARE what we thought they were!" ScruFi is a nominee for the Twins flop in the post season (I'd have done it for making us watch the Cubinistas for 50 games). The winner is a good choice, I suppose, but not where I would have gone. I would have gone after Kevin McHale, but this choice is deserving as well.
- A while back, ubelmann did a little digging into the home court advantage in the NBA. I posited at the time that it was officiating that gave home teams an advantage. NBC Sports.COM has an article on the home court advantage in the NBA. While they don't discount the refs completely, they note that home teams perform better across the board.
Team FG % eFG % Ast'd Blk'd FTA FT% OReb DReb Home .460 .496 27.0% 5.5% 27.0 .746 30.6% 71.5% Away .447 .484 25.2% 6.4% 25.6 .744 28.5% 69.4%
Home cooking? Tired road team? More aggressive because the refs have made a more favorable environment? It's the fans? It's something. What was surprising to me was that the NHL has an even bigger home ice advantage.
- Lucy and I are heading to the van Pelts for Thanksgiving. Lucy's mother isn't feeling well, so we are cooking. I made some cranberry sauce last night that is pretty good. I don't like the tin can shaped cranberries, but I can go for this.
- Last night's lineup for the Knicks represented a change in the starting lineup. Isiah Thomas benched Steve Francis and started Jamal Crawford instead. The Post's headline? "Chump Change". The Daily News offers us this: "The numbers for the Knicks were deceptive, as Crawford (19 points), Francis (19) and Marbury (18) all scored in double figures. All but nine of those 56 points, though, came in garbage time - the second through fourth quarters." Ouch. It's nice to be on the right side of a laugher once in a while.
- I've talked a little about the glory days of Bison football when I was there and how good the 1986 team was. The Fargo Forum had a writeup about the 2006 team and its place in NDSU history. Any talk of Bison football history centers on that 13-0 1986 National Title team. I found this little tidbit to be indicative of the type of team that was.
The 1986 team ran the veer option offense, a risky ball-handling scheme usually accomplished in the midst of defensive traffic.
Yet, that team fumbled only once all year and recovered it to boot.
“The question with the 1986 team wasn’t if they’d win but how much they’d win by,” said WDAY news anchor Dana Mogck, a former sports director who covered NDSU in the ’80s and ’90s. “The big argument that year was whether NDSU could beat the Gophers. Everyone wanted to see that Gopher matchup.”
That's true. Back then, I was pretty convinced the Bison could have handled the Gophers.
- Gary Matthews, Jr. just signed a 5 year, $50 million contract coming off a season where he hit .313, 50 points higher than the year before. According to Elias, that's the second highest increase among players that qualified for the batting title in both seasons. Guess who was number one? I'll give you a hint. His 82 point jump saw him go from a replacement level player to an MVP.
- The Wolves travel to Oklahoma City on Friday to take on the Hornets. I checked ticket availability for the game and found that a club level seat on the corner of the court was available for $60 plus another $13 in fees. An upper level seat at about mid court was available for $25 and a $4.85 "convenience fee". Ticketmaster, the bane of our existence.
- Reading the OKC Hornet blog, I got this tidbit: "One lady in the OKC airport had a monkey. That's right, a monkey. I can't take my toothpaste on the plane, but this lady can take a monkey?"
Turns out the monkey was a trained monkey (was it Kevin McHale?) who helped her perform tasks around the house (she was infirm). Reminds me of our flight to North Carolina. On the way through security, Lucy had to declare her lip gloss. Security then put it in a ziploc bag and Lucy carried it on the plane. On the way back, she declared it again. This time, they confiscated it (damn, they are tough in Raleigh). When security took it, they informed us that had she had it in a ziploc bag (where did she put that damned bag she got the first time?), she could have kept it. Yeah, because once it's in the bag, you can't possibly take it out mid flight if you had evil intentions. Good gravy. - Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I have a lot to be thankful for this year. Of course, the most important thing is my wife and our as yet unborn little girl. But, I'm also thankful for all the enjoyment each of you have given me for participating in my little hobby. It has been a lot of fun this year. Have a good Thanksgiving, wherever you are.
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Happy Thanksgiving, SBG. Just remember: turkey needs to be fully-baked. Half-baked just ain't gonna cut it.
LOL +10 for that.
Same for the punkin' pie.
Moss loves cranberries, and the canned variety is sacrilege. Moss can get you a great recipe, if you like.
Oh, and you're welcome -- we've been great.
NBC Sports.COM has an article on the home court advantage in the NBA.
That's some good stuff. The writer is a writer from 82games.com, which seems like a pretty great place for NBA stats. Between this article, and the AG hire, I kind of wonder if NBCsports.com is really trying to reach out to stat-geek types like myself.
This time, they confiscated it (damn, they are tough in Raleigh).
I saw an interesting tidbit on PBS last night about how TSA is having trouble consistently enforcing the rules. It does make one wonder how necessary the rules are if they aren't going to be enforced regularly.
But, I’m also thankful for all the enjoyment each of you have given me for participating in my little hobby.
And I'm thankful for being able to hang out here. Happy turkey day!
I thought the same thing as you on the NBC hires. AG provides a very unique perspective from other people writing at that level. In addition, 82games.com is of the same vein. I think it's interesting that they have essentially chose to go in that direction (or at least so it appears). The content there is still a little scant, but I'll be checking it out especially to read AG's stuff.
Check out this blog at The Daily Lancer (linked at baseballmusings.com):
http://dailylancer.blogspot.com/2006/11/case-for-trading-mark-teahen.html
Could Teahen be worth pursuing as a long-term answer at 3B? His OBP and power numbers are pretty darn good. What should the Twins be willing to offer if Teahen is indeed available?
Teahen could very well be the Royals' best player right now. I don't see them moving him at all.
That's probably true, but with Alex Gordon coming up at 3B (as one of the most highly touted prospects in baseball), and with the Royals in desperate (is there a stronger word than desperate?) need of starting pitching, it seems like at least a reasonable possibility. Would it be worth giving up one of the Twins' top 5 SP prospects for a guy who has as high a ceiling as Teahen seems to have?
I don't think there's any way that Terry Ryan does that. He knows that he simply can't plan to build his rotation through free agency. That means holding on to nearly every prospect who has a shot at even being a 4th or 5th starter in the rotation.
Thanks for the link, adambparker. This summer over at AG, I suggested Teahen as a Twins' trade target for the same reasons you cite: Gordon's coming up next season, the Twins need a long-term solution at 3B, and the Royals need some pitchers with a pulse. But, in addition to ubelmann's reasons, it might be tough to trade Teahen for PR reasons: He was the Royals' return in the Beltran trade.
Stick: Mrs. NBB has a fab cran recipe (I think from the Doyenne of Domesticity (O.J., cognac, brwn sug., red pepper flakes, and secret hooch bag). I will get and post to the WGOM.
Do that, please.
God meant for there to be cranberry sauce made fresh from real cranberries on Thanksgiving. That's why He puts the recipe on the bag. Cranberries, sugar and water (plus orange juice & peel if your wife will let you). It couldn't be easier.
This year, I vouch for the "free range" bird. And mesquite, on the weber. Mmmm.
I made the cranberries just like that. I hate the cranberries from the can, but the sugar water ones were very good (and easy).
Ooooh. baseball-reference.com now has splits! cool. I'm thankful for that.
re: Teahen. I like him. But ubelmann, didn't you have something not-so-positive to say about his defense? (I haven't seen him play).
I am a David DeJesus fan. He's not superstar, but he's a solid player. And Esteban German had a nice season as a utility player. They should move Grudzielanek and plug German in at 2b.
Teahen is a good hitter, but yeah, I'm not convinced about his defensive abilities. From what I remember, he had an iron glove over there, and the fan's scouting report on him paints a pretty grim picture. Pinto's PMR didn't have him very high in 2005, either. (2006 not available yet.)
I was probably a bit too harsh before, Gordon is coming up for the Royals, so they do have some depth there. But I just don't see why the Royals would trade someone like Teahen unless someone knocked their socks off. They need to be trading off aging veterans and getting value out of their younger players, not trading off young players in an effort to win three or four years from now.
On the same note, I don't see why they'd be trading away DeJesus, but he's certainly interesting. I think he plays defense pretty well, and he's been a league average hitter so far.
I think the Twins would probably do best to match up with someone who needs bullpen help, and I don't think the Royals are really going to be looking for that right now.