Upon things I have neglected this week

So this has been a week where allergies have knocked me on my ass, and I have not done a daily update as I should.

So much for Spain's undefeated run in Olympic basketball. Apparently, after an extensive mix-up at the airport, Team USA's jumpers finally arrived. Stephon Marbury's had been lost since the exhibition games prior to the Greece games. Starbury was 10-15 from the field, 6-9 from 3-point land, and overshadowed a huge 29 and 6 from Spanish stand-out Pau Gasol. Steph has been much maligned throughout the tournament, and at times rightfully so. His shot has been off, he has not been dishing as he has during his entire NBA career (leading the league with 8.9 assists-per-game last year). Today he showed that, while perhaps not the ideal point guard for this team(more a problem of team construction than Steph's fault), he is still an explosive talent who can hang a 30-spot on any competition. In fact, his 31 points today was the highest point total by a US men's player, eclipsing the 30 points of Charles Barkley('92) and Adrian Dantley ('78?). The Big Fundamental was saddled with foul-troubles, and sat for much of the first half, but still managed to contribute on the defensive end. However, I am mostly speaking on Marbury from today's game. I personally feel some of the Brooklyn came out in him today. "I can't shoot?" "Im garbage at the point?" "Here's 31, raining threes all over this undefeated squad, can't none of y'all check me!" Watch the sports writers change their tune, the same guys who have been dogging Marbury all week.

Up next is the winner of Greece- Argentina. Unless home cooking prevails, look for Ginobli and the Argentines to advance through. We'll see if the US can continue to hit from the outside, and defend the crisp passing of Argentina. Also, can someone tell Larry Brown that Lebron and Carmello are pretty good ball players?


The Yankees hit the skids a bit, and it happened to coincide with the Red Sox playing some of their best ball of the season. A series win in Cleveland was a nice turn around from losing 2 of 3 in Minnesota, and getting lumped on by the smoking hot Angels (throwing up 21 runs on KC last night). The once hefty 10.5 game lead in the AL east has dwindled to 5.5 after last night's loss to Minnesota (on a goddamned drag bunt single by Coco Crisp!), and Curt Schilling's 16th win of the season. However, I liked Torre's comment this week about "fouls to give". As I like to say, this is why you build a lead. All it takes is a one game advantage to win your division, the rest of the games simply determine how much you can rest down the stretch. The Yankees have the easiest schedule of any playoff team coming down the stretch, playing only two teams who are above .500 at this point. If things stay to form between Yanks and Sox, we should have good success the next series we play against them, as we usually play pretty even in the season series. Duque still pitched pretty well, and only a weary Tom Gordon kept him from being undefeated in his starts since returning. Look for Mussina to continue to improve, Brown lost a close game against Anaheim and pitched well, and Vasquez should be fine.

The Loaiza trade still annoys me, as we now are looking at him for the bullpen. Giambi may not be back this season, which is a disappointment as well. A-rod is still a waste with RISP, and this is not a healthy trend come playoff time. However, I get the feeling a nice 4-game set with our neighbors to the North should right the ship even further. The Red Sox essentially have to remain as hot as they are to entertain the hope of playoffs, and the team who still holds the second best record in baseball only needs to play as they are capable.


I am going to see "HERO" this weekend, it is a Jet-Li movie, and its going to be awesome.


Flonase is an awesome allergy reliever, and has abated one of the worst attacks I can remember this week.

The summer is vanishing, I am about to be 23, and I cant believe how time flies. If anyone out there happens to browse this page, give me a comment and let me know you are out there.