The World Junior in Good Ole Saskatchewan

I've never been a big fan of hockey, even though I'm Canadian. However, one thing I always enjoyed was the World Juniors. Would have been fun to celebrate New Year's this way don't you think!

A Decade's Worth of Highlights

Enjoyed this, still think the best highlight was the dunk over top of that guy when playing for Team USA

White Men Can't Jump?

Anyone that knows me, knows that I'm a big basketball fan. Saw this video on someone else's blog and thought it was interesting, thought provoking and made me go hmmm? Why do you think there isn't many white guys in the L?

Amazing Dunk.

Only a little while to basketball season resumes. Can't wait. In the meantime, saw this dunk on yahoo. Thought it was really cool. I always just wanted to touch the rim. Could never imagine what it would feel like to do this!

Shoe Letdown

At the beginning of the new year, a new family started attending our church. They have a couple teenage boys who like to play basketball and so I started playing basketball again, even though it had been a few years since I played. Because I hadn't played in a few years, I didn't really have any basketball shoes to use and so one of my goals when I went back to North America was to find a cool pair of shoes to play basketball, a pair that no one else in Thailand had.

When we were in Indiana, Nike just released a new pair of Lebron's and so I purchased them. Last night I played basketball for the first time and was excited to show off my new shoes. The guys from the church thought that they were pretty cool. When I made it to the gym, the first Thai person I met had the exact same shoes as me, just in a different color. So much for my flashy shoes. I guess I have to rely on my skills to set me apart, not just my shoes! ;)

Madness around the Corner

Sycracuse over Conneticut in 6 overtimes!!! The tournament isn't even here yet but the madness has started! Wish I could be there to partake.

A Great Christmas Sports Story

Thanks to Wayne Drehs and ESPN.com for writing this story about Kurt Warner (just click on the red print to access). This is a story that we don't see or hear about often in today's media, but one that needs to be told.

New Look Pacers got my approval!

Although the trade isn't official until later this week, I am happy with the changes that the Pacers have made. Although I like Jermaine O'Neal a lot (happy he is going to the Raptors, another team I like), I am glad that he is moving on because I don't think he was a great fit to the new uptempo Pacers. Getting Ford in exchange along with a couple players and a draft pick was a great move by the Legend, Larry Bird. On top of that, they drafted 2 quality players. Since the brawl in Detroit, things haven't looked good for the Pacers but I think the past week was a good step in the right direction. Now if we can only get some team to take Jamaal Tinsley.

Hoop Dreams

The NBA playoffs are almost finished (thankfully because 3 of my 4 most hated teams still remain) but the real hoop dreams will be happening here in Thailand. Tomorrow a team of 6 from the States will be coming to do some basketball camps. Although Thailand is near to China, I am not expecting any Yao Ming's to emerge. We will be having a camp in Chiang Dao (Friday 30-Sunday 1) with many of the students we've been teaching English to. Then we will head to Jom Tong, where we will start doing ministry for the first time (Tuesday 3-Friday 6). On Saturday 7, we will have a banquet at the church and every one that attended the camp is invited. Sunday is church and Monday the team leaves. We are excited and nervous as we are doing something we've never tried before. Pray that contacts would be made, friendships strengthened and most importantly, people would come to know Christ as Savior.

Tourney

March-April is always a time I miss being in North America, who doesn't love watching March Madness. I filled out a bracket again this year. Since I haven't lived in North America for about 5 years, my college basketball information is 5 years old. So far I'm doing pretty good. I have two whole regionals correct. I have 12 of the final 16 teams correct. The only problem is, the team I picked to make it to the final got ousted... At least I didn't pick them to win it all.
Here's my final four.
UCLA
Memphis
Georgetown
North Carolina

Memphis over UCLA
Georgetown over Carolina

Memphis over Georgetown.

Speechless

When your favorite team kinda stinks (Indiana Pacers), you need to have a trusty back-up. You can't pick a better 2nd favorite team than the Suns. Free-flowin', fast paced and the superb Steve Nash (everything gets better when a Canadian is running the show no?)

The only way to destroy the Suns is to trade a key component (Marion) for a slow, unable to run, over the hill, injury prone player. No one fits the bill better than SHAQ.

Trading Shaq for Marion will immediately make the Suns go from title contenders to a team in the middle of the pack. If the Suns do make this trade, I'll have to find a new 2nd favorite team (yes I'm a die hard Pacers fan no matter how ugly it gets). I don't understand how the Suns could even think about trading Marion for Shaq.

If the trade rumors become a reality, I'm open to suggestions for a new 2nd favorite team.

Yeah! I am Happy

For the most part, I can't stand dynasties (unless the current Boston Red Sox become one). Don't like the Spurs. Couldn't stand the Bulls, the Showtime Lakers or what I could remember of Bird and his Celtics. Don't like the Yankees. Don't like the Cowboys and I am especially glad that the Patriots didn't go perfect this season. Why is it that all the teams I like are just average? Why can't I cheer for a dynasty? I guess that is just the rebel in me.

Need to Reload??

Although the Pacers are doing better than what most experts predicited, they still aren't wowing anyone, most notably me. They are now about 7 games under .500 and unbelievably are still holding onto 8th place in the Eastern Conference (shows how bad the East is). They lost to Miami today, who hadn't won a game this year. I don't think Indiana is going to scare anyone even if they make the playoffs. Maybe it might be time to start thinking of positioning themselves for the draft instead of being mediocre at best for the next few years.

Never Too Early to Start

Although the Pacers are having a better season than most people expected, they still aren't doin' much to gain fans. Ever since the Rumble at the Palace, it seems like the Pacers been on a slippery slide downhill. As a result, in order to build true Pacer fans, I guess we need to start early. I've been teaching Owen the names of the Pacer players, hoping that one day he and I can enjoy sitting in front of the computer watching the scoreboard. Maybe by the time he is old enough to really understand, the Pacers will actually be good.

A Tough Loss

Well, my fantasy football team had a disappointing end to the season. Pretty much my whole team had an off day and we got blown out.

I am also hoping that a couple of other teams have a disappointing end to their seasons, namely the Patriots and Cowboys. However with my luck, they will probably meet in the Superbowl. It will be like the mid 90's when my two most hated teams seemed to meet in the finals, the Jazz and da Bulls. It was always rough trying to decide which team to cheer for.

Here's my dream Superbowl match up Colts vs. Bucs or Steelers vs. Bucs. I know that neither is likely to happen, but hey, one can dream no?

Headin' to the Bowl!

Being a Bucs fan (ever since the ugly orange days), I have never liked the Minnesota Vikings. However this year, I wisely drafted Adrian Peterson and he is turning me into a Vikings fan too, although if they meet in the playoffs, I'd still have to cheer for the Bucs. Anyways, thanks to his outstanding season, my Fantasy Football team is heading to the Superbowl. My team finished third with a 9-5 record and upset #2 in last week's semi-final. Last year after finishing 4th I won the big game, we will see if I can do it as a #3 this year.
Here's my team:
QB - Carson Palmer
WR - Larry Fitzgerald
WR - Donald Driver
WR - Calvin Johnson
RB - Adrian Peterson
RB - Clinton Portis
TE - Donald Lee
K - Shayne Graham
DEF- Tennessee

Can you say Repeat!!

Dream Season is Ending

My hopes of an undefeated season are gone. Not only that, the Pacers are now looking like the team of old. Whatever happens, you're still my team.

Make that 3 and 0 :)

Pacers 2 and 0!!!

nuf said...

Couple days ago you might've thought I was crazy, but look who is laughing now!

Holding on to hope

Some people think the Pacers should rebuild. In almost all the NBA season expert predictions, the Pacers have been picked to finish last in their division and in the bottom 2 or 3 in their conference. I must say that I disagree. Call me a die-hard Pacers fan if you will blinded by visions of grandeur. Last year the Pacers were doing fine before they ended the season with a horrible losing streak to miss the playoffs. I think the players have had time to mesh some more and the addition of a new coach that allows the team to run and play more freely will definitely help the Pacers rather than the half court offense they ran last year.
Do I think the Pacers will win the Chip? No. I'm hoping that the Suns do this year. (Go Captain Canada!!!)
Do I think the Pacers will surprise a lot of people (in a good way)? Yes
Do I think the Pacers make the playoffs? Yes, but only because they are in the eastern conference.
No matter what, I am excited about the start of the NBA season.