In 1993 and 2004 my birthday fell on Easters. According to this site. It won’t happen again until…I don’t know when. I skipped through to the year 2065 and I didn’t see another occurrence.
In the year 2018 Easter will be on April 1st.

What do you know, pagans and Christians will be brought together celebrating a common day. I just hope that’s not the day the AC sets up that temple thing.

Hip Hip Horray, the evil witch is dead. The witch being UNC of course. I was a little bit worried today because there was no way to check the scores while I was out (subliminal messages-my birthday is soon and the ESPN phone is pretty handy) and I was telling Cons how sad it would be if Georgetown lost…because then that would be the end of my NCAA updates.
BUT…Georgetown is on to the Final Four. Now I’m picking them to go all the way.

Yep siree, past Ohio St., past UCLA, and past Florida. Well that’s my plan for them anyways.
The Mavs won. Suns lost. Now the Mavs are 6 games ahead of the Suns, and depending on the outcome of today they’ll be either 9 or 10 games ahead of the Spurs.

Of course the regular season doesn’t mean much during the Finals…but it could be a sign of strength and power…and hopefully endurance and accuracy.

And the black man, Cullen Jones, won a gold medal…along with Michael Phelps of course. 4×100m relay down, 7 more races to go.

So I’m sitting at my desk answering e-mails (work e-mails mind you) and my dad pops me a chat, Sorry about Duke. or something similar. So I quickly open my web browser and type in espn.com and what’s on the front page. “Missed Free Throws knock number 1 Duke out.”

How do you miss two free throws? Your team just needs 1 so you can tie the game and go to over time…but no she misses it plus the one that could possible win the game. Argh.

But you know this isn’t the first time. Jason Williams did a similar thing a couple of years ago to the Duke Men.
There’s something about free throws and Duke. They just can’t make them when it’s IMPORTANT!

I found this book snippet rather entertaining. But I think there are enough UNC accounts of the Duke/UNC rivalry. I think it’s about time that a Dukie takes a turn at it.
Memphis is out. I would feel very odd if they were to have actually made it to the Final Four or…choke…the Championship. There’s just to much chemistry between me and Memphis to admit that they could perhaps have gone all the way. But then again I don’t have to, because they’re gone.

Tomorrow starts the FINA World Championships…aka Swimming in Australia. Big stuff, competitive and all. I hope Michael Phelps breaks some world records, wins some golds, and umm…doesn’t get injured or anything.

And Duke lacrosse won.

This morning I was quite surprised when nobody got my rather intelligent and wonderfully humorous joke about the “Animal Farm” in our back yard.

Besides the coyotes, crows, mice, rats, peacocks, and rabbits that I told you all about a few posts ago, yesterday I saw 2 ducks in our pool. Yes, Ducks. It’s rather creepy.

During our round of prayer request for the day, I sarcastically asked for prayer against the animal farm that is happening in our back yard lest the rise up and overtake us. I looked around to see if anyone got my joke…and well only Boo did.

I found it disappointing because I always counted Speck to be my right hand man when it came to Classic Literature, and come to find out he’s never read Animal Farm or 1984 by George Orwell. Now I don’t think I could ever count what he’s says as credible as I used to. I will always think and know that I have the upper hand now in when we have discussions. (well I sorta always have thought that.)
In fact to make up for their lack of knowledge on the topic, someone stated “Well we were born in the Family” haha. jk.

Right…

Only thing is that if you read many of Dad’s (aka Grandpa’s) letters about Russia and Communism written before 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell and “Communism Ended”, he references to that book a lot.

And 1984 is like the book that every prophecy and just about every article from the End quotes after words or draws comparisons from. “Big Brother is watching” yeah, it was coined from that book.

All that to say…Am I dorky for knowing about these books, Or am I just dorky for making dorky jokes?

****

Georgetown is still in the tourney. UNC knocked out USC…sorry Simon and Andre.

There’s always next year. ooh…How misery loves company.

I’m going to stake my claims now, and as much as this pains me. And it really does pain me, I think UNC is going to win it all this year, and I’ve been saying it for a while.

Reason being it would be so perfect. You know, Duke’s down and out, had a horrible season, lost in the first round, so what better time is there for the Sports God’s to work their predictable magic and have UNC win, the arch rivalry of Duke.

But I’m still pulling for Georgetown.

And what’s possessing Kobe? 50 plus points 4 nights in a row? I think he was getting jealous with all the attention going with Shaq’s productions since Wade’s been out doubled with the league “picking on him”. But the Lakers still won’t go far.

Dirk for MVP!

This is a version of a story that will be repeated many times over. So I’m staking claims on this version now known as mine.

This story begins on “one cold blistery morning in the Hundred Acre Woods” (Winnie the Pooh check.)

Actually one very warm Friday afternoon I got a belated chat and e-mail from Cons about a Teen something or another happening down in TJ, Mexico. The JT Board forgot about sending me the message. (Puddle number 1 check.) Cons offered a ride down. So soon afterwards I sent a little happy e-mail to my home members asking if I could possibly attend. They all enthusiastically replied yes.

(Enthusiastically was bolded for emphasis. If you were ever “hip*” enough to see one of my home members e-mail boxes you would find that all home correspondence is enthusiastically for or against the intended topic. There are no neutrals.)
(P.S. Hips Don’t Lie)

Well a turn of events happened and Cons wasn’t able to go. (Puddle number 2. Check.) So I harbored vocalized thoughts of dropping out as well. I mean, I didn’t want to be the only negro going. But umm…my home wouldn’t take my wavering for an answer. They replied Hell NO! You are not staying home! And they were right, cuz I didn’t, And off I went with half an hour to split between packing and driving over to the other home to catch my ride.

And well I made it and we, we being these people, drove down to TJ, Mexico, who were hosting the event. If any of you read this thanks guys.
(Nifty little links like every other blogger. Check.)

To make a long story short, the next day everyone arrived. We had a very interesting Word Class on Witnessing. We were all challenged to give out 2 tracts during the days activities. Truthfully I only gave out one. (1 failed mission. Check.)

For lunch we went to a taco place. I got ripped off. Everyone was ordering 2 or 3 tacos which cost roughly a dollar each. So I was looking around on their little menu and I saw Quesadilla con Carne for roughly 2 dollars, and the Quesadilla’s down in Rosarito are big and huge and yummy. Well at this place they were the size of a tiny corn tortilla and looked like a dog had thrown up on it. Yeah…so much for my smart move. (Puddle number 3. Check)

After that we went roller skating at this pretty nifty rink. Kinda techno like…with TV screens all around showing Hercules the movie. Nice stuff…men in short tunics. Classic. Somehow or another someone talked the DJ into playing some Salt of Earth. Yeah…we like to promote!…and Vas too. After skating we went and watched Music and Lyrics. An okay movie. Not really my type. But not so bad I suppose.

In between those events we got lost in Tijuana country, with real pony heads on the freeway and all. Not such a smart thing to do, but we made it out alive in the end so it’s all good.

After skating we went back to the house and ate pizza, communed (prayer?), and fellowshipped (Mafia?) until we went to bed…separately of course.

Woke up the next morning, or rather this morning, packed, had a short devotions and inspiration time, ate breakfast, helped with JJT, because we’re cool like that, and headed out the door with the usually goodbyes, god bless yous, see you soons, and I love yous. Repeated multiple times…just because it feels so good. Or something.

Also while down there I met the famous baby sister of Luca. – Kathy. (One famous person linked and met. Check.)

Yeah…it pretty much was like pretty sweet. Word.

Well I’m actually rather close. In second thought, Close but still so far would be the better cliche.

I’m currently down in Mexico for a teen event thingie. Be back in a few days.

I’ll leave you all with Fantasy Dancing with the Stars. ABC really has thought this one out pretty well.
Against her will she bids me to dinner….there must be a double meaning in that.

Or so we suppose.

The Cuban Debate 

Is Mark Cuban a spotlight hog, or is he legitimately needed?

I got into a discussion today about the importance of Mark Cuban’s role as the owner of the Dallas Mavericks.  The person I was talking to believes that Cuban steals the spotlight from his team, which is where it should be. I’ve heard many people say a similar line, but is it really the case?

Looking at the lineup of the Mavs we have Dirk Nowitzki, Devin Harris, Josh Howard, Jason Terry, and Eric Dampier. All five happen to be low key, minimal media guys. Who sure on occasion can give a quotable line or put up high stats, but on a regular basis are pretty run of the mill players. Together, with their bench, they create a well balanced, deep, basketball team who can score and play some defense, but are definitely not known to be flashy, big, or fast like the Lakers, Spurs, or Suns.

Avery Johnson, the Dallas Coach, is one of the younger coaches in the NBA. He was known to be “a quiet show it on the court kind of player”, and he has carried that reputation into his coaching career.

Because of the obvious lack of driving motivation to make headlines, the Mavs need something to give them a little media attention and some headlines. Sure they are having a very good season, and are top in the standings, but the average sports fan wouldn’t have heard anything about it if Marc Cuban wasn’t the outspoken, quotable guy that he is.

Cuban has a dynamic personality that you either like or hate. And any team that is going for a championship has one or two along for the ride. For instance the Spurs have Ginobili. Some people question his sincerity in fouling as well as his ablity to be an awesome faker and whiner.  The Lakers have Kobe, who has the whiny, sulky, and questionable rape story. The Suns have Nash’s two in a row MVP trophies. UNC has Tyler Hansborough’s toughness…which I like to dub J.J. Reddick syndrome, except that he plays for UNC which everyone likes, but if he played for Duke the media would not be as kind.

Cuban has to fill in the void that his players and coaches don’t do. Sure some of the things he says is a bit controversial and over the top, but take a look at the music and movie industries, their top sellers are because of controversy, or have stemmed the controversies that we have today.

He’s not stealing the spotlight from his team, but is trying to garner media attention for them.

Gosh…I can’t believe I just defended Marc Cuban’s motives.

VCU is out. Yep, those little tough guys who beat the almighty Duke on Thursday just lost to Pittsburgh. I’m glad Pitt was the one to beat them to. My dad used to work for Pitt’s Food Service Department. He was a Manager of some sort. Anyways that college was nice to me for 3 years. They gave me yummy food and cookies after school and on the weekends. And the students always thought I was super cute. ahh…those were cool days.

One of my dad’s jobs was being their special occasions production manager, and one St. Patricks Day he made this huge shabang. It was rather awesome. Beer kegs and all.

Anyways…all that to say is I’m happy that they’re still in. And in fact so is Georgetown who beat Boston College.

But there was a very tragic lost today. A most tragic lost indeed…for some people at least. Maryland lost to Butler.

Heh, misery does love company.

Another upside, Duke lacrosse beat UNC today. If they can’t beat them in basketball might as well try in another sport. And well that philosphy worked.