Random Musings

There's been so much going on lately, but with the whole Vegas trip things at work and in life have been even more hectic than usual. While I have some time today I wanted to post some thoughts on a number of issues.

1. The Lebron James saga took an interesting turn this weekend in my mind, with word came down that even as of Monday morning, Tom Izzo has "not been able to get in touch with" Lebron James regarding Izzo's decision about whether or not to take the Cleveland Cavaliers coaching job. Not been able to get in touch with him? After all this public exposure now, for days on end? I'll tell you what: if you're a Cavs fan right about now, the fact that Bron-bron hasn't even taken a single call from Tom Izzo all this weekend is just about the worst possible news you could hear, and I think it speaks volumes about James' motivation and what he is thinking at this moment about his future. I mean, James could have at least spoken to Izzo (cuz how the hell can Izzo possibly make this decision without knowing knowing if it includes or excludes Lebron?) and could easily have given him some kind of comfort that the two could go together to Cleveland in 2010, that he would need one more big star on the team first, something, anything if James was feeling all lovey dovey towards the city of Cleveland right now. But clearly he is not. Izzo is now in a ridiculous position, because on the one hand he can't leave his school and his players hanging for weeks on end here, but on the other hand, if he takes the job and Lebron comes back, Izzo has a championship-ready team immediately on his hands and that's what his expectations are going to be. But if Izzo takes over the Cavs and Lebron decides to go elsewhere, well then what Izzo is taking on is a 100% completely different job in every way, one where he will be lucky to even make the playoffs and where his success will be measure perhaps in games won over successive years but not at all by championships or even post-season performance at all. So Izzo of course has desperately been trying to reach Lebron now for what, four days on end, and so far, nothing. Lebron's head is elsewhere right now, it's as easy as that, and as I said that is the worst sign yet I've seen for Cavaliers fans.

2. I finally saw on espn.com sometime on Sunday night that the U.S. managed to come back and tie England in the World Cup on Saturday. Not that I personally care, but that late U.S. goal has got to be the best thing that ever happened for espn or whoever is making money off of the popularity of the World Cup telecasts in the United States. I still don't know who that is because lord knows I'm not watching those matches. Nobody needs to wonder why soccer has never made it in this country when all these matches so far cumulatively have totalled about 8 goals scored. But in any event, I don't know who our next opponent is or when we will play them, but I'm sure I will hear about it via the various media outlets I am bombarded with on a daily basis because we managed to tie that first match against England. After giving up a goal to the Brits just four minutes in to the match, we could very easily have given up hope and then I can assure you, nobody in America who is not a first- or second-generation immigrant would have given two craps about that game or any other soccer matchup left this year. Instead though, we Americans can continue our every-four-years delusion that this time maybe we have caught up and will finally get to hoist the World Cup trophy in 2010. Dream on.

3. The Philadelphia Phillies have flat-out lost the eye of the tiger, it's as clear as a bell and you could see it after about two weeks into this season. It's like they came out this year, started winning a few games, and then decided that they were already in the World Series for a third straight year so they just needed to coast until they got there. You need to hear proof that this team is grossly under-performing on offense right now? The Phillies are dead last in the National League East with just 272 runs scored in 61 games this season. This team that led the National League in runs scored each of the past two seasons -- and didn't really lose anybody of note in the offseason (if anything, we replaced the defensive-minded Pedro Feliz with the far superior offensively Placido Polanco) -- now has scored seven fewer runs than the Nationals, 11 fewer than the Mets, 24 less than the Marlins and 40 runs fewer than the division-leading Braves. The Phillies deserve every inch of the deep, deep hole they have dug for themselves this year, and it's a shame too because Roy Halladay has been just about as good as advertised with an ERA under of 1.96 and a stellar 1.02 WHIP (plus a perfect game) through now 13 starts as a Phillie, and Cole Hamels looks to be bouncing bad pretty decently from a crappy 2009 as well. J. Happ's been on the injured list all season and is looking to get healthy soon as well, so from a defensive perspective the team is faring ok. But on offense it's like this juggernaut with Rollins (albeit injured much of this year so far), Victorino, Utley, Howard, Werth, Ibanez, Polanco et all is simply a different team entirely. And I can't help but notice the correlation between our offense really sucking and our team allegedly getting caught stealing those signs from the bullpen in the outfield a few weeks ago. I still think it sounds silly to suggest we would possibly sit a guy in the bullpen with bino's if we wanted to steal signs, but I've never been one to deny the facts either, and the timing of the stealing signs thing obviously matches up more or less exactly with now this month-long streak of offensive ineptitude for the Phils.

4. Hey, are there any bloggers out there cashing yet in the 2010 WSOP? I certainly did not pull my own weight in this regard in 2010, that's for sure, only playing the one event and never putting up much of a fight. I know Columbo was in my event as well and fared far better than me, but I believe busted also short of the money, and I think I heard as well that Garth, LJ, Blood and a few others have fallen short of the money as well. It feels like just a few short years ago that we had like 5 or 6 bloggers making it decently into the money in WSOP tournaments. Maybe that's happening again this year and I just don't know it, I don't know. But otherwise, are we getting worse as poker players the longer we blog and play poker together?

5. With Las Vegas 2010 now just a fading memory, it is already just a few weeks until the Hammer Family's annual July 4 beach trip. And with how things have been at work lately, that shizznit cannot come fast enough. With the July 4 holiday coming on a Sunday this year, we are now in the last year before a several-year jag where the placement of the holiday will make travel and work plans very annoying. But this year, Sunday is perfect, my office is closed on Monday so it will definitely make the travel and traffic planning much easier on everyone this year. But enjoy it while you can. July 4 will be on a Monday next year (not the end of the world), but then a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the three years after that, which can always kind of suck for those of us working stiffs.