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More Clocks and a “Tough Loss”

SBG December 4, 2008, at 7:38 am 17 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , ,

I never imagined when I started this little website that I'd be talking about babies and toddlers, but now that BabySBG is running the show, well, what else is there to talk about? So, here's a sleep report. BabySBG goes to bed every night at 8PM. The routine is as follows: about 6:30, I tell her that bedtime is about 1:30 away. Then, periodically until 8PM, I give her a status update (35 minutes, 10 minutes, etc.). I think this is wholly unnecessary now, but it's a vestige of the nighttime training that I put in place around her first birthday. When eight rolls around, I inform her that it's bedtime. She goes over to her mother, gives her a hug, and we head up stairs. Sometimes, she walks up to her room on her own, sometimes I carry her. Then, I take her to her rocking chair, sing her one song and then put her in her crib, put a blanket on her, say good night, and hopefully, I don't see her again until I get home from work the next night.

Well, as I pointed out yesterday, it doesn't always work that way. And last night was one of those nights. At 9PM, she started crying. I usually let her cry, but after a while, I will go in and settle her down. Well, I went in last night and -- of course -- she said "Clock!" when she saw me. I picked her up, held her for a minute and she was sound asleep. I didn't hear another sound the rest of the night.

I consider her to be a pretty good sleeper, but there was a time when she fought this a little bit (or more than a little bit). I had to work with her, learn what I could do to calm her down, apply my tricks as needed, etc. We had a fairly lengthy routine, but I slowly chipped away at it until we got to the point where the current routine is more of a few minutes for Dad to enjoy BabySBG before she goes to bed. Interestingly, she absolutely will not behave for my wife when she tries to put her to bed. Will NOT. I'm not sure why she is an absolute angel for me and some sort of terror for her mother. I'd like to think it's because I'm father of the year or something, but in actuality, I'd like to figure out a way to get her to respond to her mother better. Any thoughts?

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I watched a little bit of the Wolves game last night and it seemed like the Wolves were maybe going to hang in there, but while I was away for about a minute, the Magic went a very quick run and put the game away in the third quarter. I didn't see what happened, but I can about imagine -- the Magic pounded it in to Howard, who had his way with whoever was guarding him. The Wolves didn't protect the perimeter, leaving guys wide open. A quick look at the box score suggests that might be what happened. In 1:19 of game time, the Magic went on a 9-2 run. Two threes and a traditional three point play by Howard and the game was blown open. By the end of the third quarter, it was a 20 point game. The Wolves scored 39 points in the fourth to make it look relatively close, but this was a blowout. It's not that terribly surprising or disappointing -- this Orlando club is one of the better clubs in the league. They have better talent than the Wolves, they were at home, and after allowing the Wolves to hang in there for a while, they stuck it to the Wolves in the second half and turned it into a laugher.

I turned back to the broadcast after the game and heard possibly the worst play-by-play guy in the league, Tom "Battle Back" Hanneman, tell me it was a "tough loss" for the Wolves. Tough loss? They were never in the game at any point over the last 18 or 19 minutes. The outcome wasn't decided on a back breaker at the buzzer, it was decided midway through the third quarter. This was a game that everyone expected the Wolves to lose, and they did. Convincingly. Not only do the Wolves have a crappy product on the floor, they have a television crew, anchored by Hanneman, who are totally divorced from reality. It's hard enough to watch this club lose and lose and lose, but at least in the old days we had Kevin "No Regard for Human Life!" Harlan. I miss those days.

2008-09 Game 17: T-Wolves @ Magic

SBG December 3, 2008, at 5:00 pm 6 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , ,

<SBG>Fresh off of a thumping at the hands of Michael Jordan's club (boy, that doesn't mean what it used to mean), the Wolves move from the frying pan into the fire and take on the Orlando Magic. The Magic got the stuffing kicked out of them by the World Champions the other night, but make no mistake, this is a good team. They've won 9 of 11 and sport a shiny 13-5 record overall.

The Magic are lead by Dwight Howard, a monstrous 22 year old who is clearly one of the best young players in the game. Howard's been an effective scorer and rebounder throughout his career and his potential is off the charts. Not only that, but he's the WWL's leading candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. Hollinger:

At worst, he'll rival Amare Stoudemire and Yao Ming for the title of the league's best center.

The only question, then, is how much of his mountainous potential he can achieve. If he improves from the stripe and cuts the turnovers, he's an MVP candidate. If not, he's merely a perennial All-Star.

Howard is almost a year younger than BAJ and he's better. Plus, the Magic have (a ridiculously overpaid) Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu on their front line. I'm thinking that's better than what the Wolves have to offer (BAJ, Collins, Gomes). Look for the Magic to assert themselves on the front line -- although, maybe not in the paint, aside from Howard.

Then again, the Wolves have won four of their last five in Orlando. I'm expecting that a pissed off Magic team will break that spell tonight.

Apropos of nothing else in this writeup, take a look at the Wolves depth chart: it must suck to be Brian Cardinal. He's listed as a fifth string power forward -- behind Mark Madsen! Oy. He'll have to console himself with the $6 million a year he's getting to side behind Mad Dog.

</SBG>

<GreekHouse>Speaking of Brian Cardinal, I've only got one real thing to say here. What the holy hell was Cardinal doing playing 9 minutes in the second half of a winnable game???

I realize that Brewer was basically the cornerstone of this franchise, but I didn't realize that he was so essential that the Wolves would have to resort to giving Cardinal meaningful minutes in a close game (Yes, I realize that makes no logical sense when you think about it). When asked about it after the game, Wittman said it was because the young players didn't understand the defensive scheme and they needed him for some reason. I'm paraphrasing a bit here, but the non-paraphrased version didn't make any sense either. My only hope was that this was a one time deal and that he only did it because Brewer's absence from the game was fairly short notice. The only reason getting Cardinal was good for this team was because his contract expires a year before Marko's. Putting him in the game does no good for anyone.</GreekHouse>