I love Thanksgiving. I l-o, l-o, l-o-v-e it. No "ifs," "ands," or "buts" about it (except that I have grown to accept the fact that my "butt" is likely to grow a little over the course of the next month...damn you mom's cooking). For starters, Thanksgiving marks the start of the holiday season (well, in normal person world anyway...if we lived in shopping mall world, the holiday season would be kicked off somewhere in mid-October, which, to me, makes absolutely no sense). More importantly, however, Thanksgiving and the holiday season carry with them many traditions that have been, and always will be, some of my favorite times, year-in and year-out.
Several of my friends, whom have been avid readers of mine since my amateur days on Myspace (and for which I am greatly appreciative), indicated that they appreciated BAP's various "Top __" lists that I used to post on my page. So, I figured I would take this opportunity to post the first "Top __" list on GameTime, TBD©. Without further ado, I present BAP's "Top 5 Thanksgiving/Holiday Traditions."
5. Wednesday Night at BJ's: This tradition started about 4 years ago, and, though it likely won't happen this year, quickly became one of my favorites. The Wednesday night before Thanksgiving Day, all of my high school friends who were in town would meet up at BJ's Brewhouse (the sad part is that BJ's is the best watering hole in "The Bubble"). It is a chance for all of us to catch up on the past year and reminisce about the good times we have shared (I should also note that the first year we started this tradition was during the courting process of My Better Half. After we had consumed about 15 pitchers of Jeremiah Red, I must have called My Better Half about 20 times...surprisingly enough, she still fell for me...and you still wonder why I call her My Better Half?). I do not know many people who get to spend this much time with their old high school friends. It is time I will always cherish.
4. Decorating the House: The day after Thanksgiving (more below), my Mom begins redecorating the house for Christmas (well, she doesn't start decorating so much as my Dad and I carry in all of the decorations). It will be the third complete redecoration of my parent's house in roughly 40 days (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas). My Mom treats my parent's home like a cast from Law & Order (the original series, obviously...Law & Order: SVU is making a valiant push to be the best Law & Order series, but, right now, the original remains the best). Seriously though, around this time of year I recognize my parent's home about as well as I recognize the current cast of Law & Order. It changes so quickly and so dramatically. How am I to keep up?
3. Guy's Day Out: The day after Thanksgiving my Mom and Sister partake in what can only be described as a marathon of shopping (it's uncanny...gone before sunrise and lucky to be back before midnight...their dedication is something to be desired...for example, my Sister will be spending this Thanksgiving with her in-laws in San Jose; Friday morning she's catching the first flight out of San Jose to John Wayne in Orange County...my Mom will be meeting her there around 8:00 a.m. so they can still enjoy their rich and full day of shopping...bravo ladies). This, of course, means that my Dad and I get to spend an entire day together on our own. I value few things in this world more than the opportunity to spend a day with my Dad. It starts with me hanging up Christmas lights on the house while my Dad does yard work (about 8 years ago my Dad made me switch from multi-colored Christmas lights to all-white Christmas lights...thankfully, he did not make me hang icicles...I still miss the multi-colored lights...they were pretty...my therapist says just a few more sessions). Afterwards, we go to a movie (when possible, ALWAYS the new 007 movie...in years where there isn't a new 007 movie it's a crapshoot...getting my Dad to sit still for 2 hours is about as easy as getting Zach Morris to not hit on the new girl in school). We end the day with a nice steak dinner from Outback (Bloomin' Onion sold separately). I value the time I get to spend with my Dad, especially because he worked so hard when I was younger to provide for his family. This is, by far, one of my favorite days of the year. (BAP Guilty Pleasure Confession: The day after Thanksgiving is also the first day I feel comfortable listening to Christmas music...and I love Christmas music.)
2. Thanksgiving Day Meal: A few years ago (three to be exact) my Dad floated the idea of having ham for our Thanksgiving Day dinner...HAM...oh the humanity! Apparently, the fact that we would not be having the usual large group for Thanksgiving meant it was okay to throw out all tradition without a second thought. I was on the edge...and, he was actually serious (I take my Dad seriously about as often as I take a movie written by, directed by, and starring Emilio Estevez [read: Bobby] seriously...Emilio, I've been waiting for Mighty Ducks 4 for ten years now; I'm pretty sure those kids are ready to win the Stanley Cup by now). Everyone knows that turkey is the only meat that may be served on Thanksgiving Day. Mix that with some stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie (plus an extra pie baked just for me...it pays to be Mom's favorite) and you are introducing yourself to 5 new pounds, minimum.
1. The Detriot Lions: A-ha, you did not actually think I would get through an entire post without discussing sports with you...did you? Silly you.
Being a Detroit Lions fan in Southern California is tough. Unless you have a brother-in-law who works for DirecTV, the only Lions game you will get to see in Southern California on television is their annual Thanksgiving Day game...err, more like their annual Thanksgiving Day loss. What is it about the sports teams I love?
With the media's love for unlucky/long suffering franchises, it's hard to believe that the Lions do not have more street cred. Since 2001 (including this season), the Lions have won exactly 23 games; between last season and this present season, the Indianapolis Colts have already won 23 games. From 2003 to 2005, the Lions had three top ten picks and selected wide receivers with each of them; only one started this season on the active roster. Here's a brain-teaser for you: there have been 40 Super Bowls in NFL history; can you name a team that has been in the league for 40 or more years and has not even appeared in a Super Bowl?
Well, let's see, there are the Browns, the Cardinals, the Saints, and...drum roll please...that's right, the Lions. This is a team that plays in the NFC North, a division known as the "Black and Blue" division. This is the team of Night Train Lane, Billy Sims, Lem Barney, and Barry Sanders...BARRY SANDERS, arguably the greatest running back in NFL history. And of those players, only Sanders has a playoff victory, the single playoff victory in franchise history (which, ironically enough, means Fred Flinstone...err...I mean Wayne Fontes coached the Liones to their lone playoff victory). Forty-eight years of football and one playoff victory (for those interested, and still reading this post, it was a 38-6 drubbing of the Dallas Comboys in 1991).
How bad is it you ask? Take the 1995 Lions for example. They started the season 3-6 before rattling off 7 straight wins to secure a playoff spot. That season the Lions had a 4,000 yard passer (Scott Mitchell), a 1,500 yard rusher (Barry Sanders), and three...yes THREE...1,000 yard receivers (Herman Moore, Brett Perriman, and Johnny Morton). The Lions were so impressive, they were favored on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles. The result? A 58-37 loss at the hands of Rodney Peete...a Lions' cast-off. Ugh!
If this isn't sports purgatory, I don't know what is. But this Thanksgiving Day, I'll be in front of my television at 9:30 a.m. Maybe, just maybe, I'll actually have something to be thankful for this year...where's that extra pumpkin pie?
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
You Don't Know What You've Got 'Til It's Gone
I apologize to all my dedicated readers/fans (read: my family and loved ones) who have been holding their breath in anticipation of my next post. You can finally come up for air; it has arrived. I have been preoccupied lately with work, planning a trip for a friend's wedding, and the pending release of results for the July 2006 California Bar Exam (which, as I'm sure you're all dying to know, will be released in exactly 73 hours and 26 minutes...er...25 minutes...er...I could really spend an entire post just counting down the remaining time, and, as entertaining as that might be, I won't). Well, all this actually has nothing to do with this post...so let's move on.
I had the oppurtunity to hang out with my good friend Agman this past weekend at the UCLA/OSU game. He was out from Chicago for a brief weekend visit with his family and the game. There was quite a group of us for the tailgate: Agman, his parents, his sister, my friend Stavy, my friend Reina, my friend Bal-Sac's parents, his sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law, friends of Agman's parents, and several of Agman's UCLA friends. As with all events Agman plans, it was a great time (see, e.g., Bal-Sac's bachelor party in Austin...Austin, Massachusetts?). We ended up seeing roughly 30 minutes of the UCLA game live because (1) we did not expect it to be that good of a game and, well, (2) because we were holding an epic flip-cup tournament that could not be interrupted (you haven't lived until you've played flip-cup with the Bal-Sac family...living proof that flip-cup skills are genetic...I kid you not).
My group of high school friends is, to this day, amazing. Most of us are still in touch on a regular basis. I attribute this to Agman. He was the one who was always making the plans. What are we doing on Friday night after the football game (besides watching Friday Football Focus)? I do not know, call Agman. BAP's parents are out of town again, are we having a small soiree? I do not know, call Agman. He made sure everyone was in the know and everyone was having a good time.
When I went away to college, I realized just how important it was to have a friend like Agman. Not that I had trouble finding fun things to do or ways to get myself into "trouble," but I became the "Agman" of my group of college friends because someone had to coordinate everything. I never realized how much work it took to make sure everyone was having a good time. I did not know what kind of friend I had in Agman until he was not around everyday. The same thing happened when Dylan McKay left the 90210 zip code early in the 6th season (and millions of teenage girls were left heartbroken...with BAP there to pick up the pieces). For the next three years the show ambled on meaninglessly forcing the writers to have two to three episodes each season playing the "will he, won't he return" card. Inevitably, Dylon had to return in the 9th season, but it was too late, the damage had been done. I'm convinved the show would still be going today had he not left. The producers just never realized what they had. (My favorite sports writer, Bill Simmons, who's articles can be found here, recently noted that the first pick in last June's NBA draft has the same name as the girl who had the crush on Brandon while they were working on the Beverly Blaze together...crazy...how did I not see this first?...but I digress.)
This also goes for the defending NFL Champion Seattle Sea...er...my bad...Pittsburgh Steelers (way to go ref). At 3-6, the Steelers are starting to realize just how important Jerome Bettis was; so much so, that the commentators even mentioned it while the Steelers were struggling to put away the New Orleans Saints this past Sunday. The Steelers could always climb on board "the Bus" when it mattered most and enjoy the smooth ride to victory. As much as I hate the Steelers, it's hard to deny the ability of Bettis to put a game away late in the 4th.
Where am I going with this train of thought you ask? Simple: I think the Los Angeles Kings are now starting realize what they lost when they let one of their coaches go. No, I am not talking about my main man Andy Murray; that post will come when he is hired by another team. I am talking about former assistant coach, now head coach of the Dallas Stars, Dave Tippett. Tippett served as a Kings' assistant coach from 1999-2002. The Kings made the playoffs in each of his three seasons, after making it only once in the previous six. Since arriving in Dallas, the Stars have gone 140-71-33 (going 0-1-1 while he recovered from surgery), have won two division titles, and have made the playoffs each season. The Kings, on the other hand, have failed to make the playoffs, going 103-101-42 during that stretch.
The Kings power play never ranked outside the top ten while Tippett led the special teams as an assistant; they finished 10th during his first season, 7th during his second, and led the league in 2001-2002 at 20.7%. Since his departure, the Kings power play has not opperated at higher than 14.6% (2002-2003 season), never ranking higher than 20th (2002-2003 season), and finishing tied for 28th out of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League last season. This season appears to be much the same as the Kings power play is opperating at 14.6%, good for 21st in the league (though, it has gotten better as of late, including a 2-3 performance last night against the Sharks...and the Stars are only opperating at 14.4%...told you Marc Crawford was going to turn this ship around).
It is hard to admit it, but I don't think the Kings realized what they had until it went and turned a division rival into Stanley Cup contenders (and they'll feel the same way when Murray does the same).
Oh yeah...fyi...71 hours and 9...er...I mean 8 minutes.
I had the oppurtunity to hang out with my good friend Agman this past weekend at the UCLA/OSU game. He was out from Chicago for a brief weekend visit with his family and the game. There was quite a group of us for the tailgate: Agman, his parents, his sister, my friend Stavy, my friend Reina, my friend Bal-Sac's parents, his sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law, friends of Agman's parents, and several of Agman's UCLA friends. As with all events Agman plans, it was a great time (see, e.g., Bal-Sac's bachelor party in Austin...Austin, Massachusetts?). We ended up seeing roughly 30 minutes of the UCLA game live because (1) we did not expect it to be that good of a game and, well, (2) because we were holding an epic flip-cup tournament that could not be interrupted (you haven't lived until you've played flip-cup with the Bal-Sac family...living proof that flip-cup skills are genetic...I kid you not).
My group of high school friends is, to this day, amazing. Most of us are still in touch on a regular basis. I attribute this to Agman. He was the one who was always making the plans. What are we doing on Friday night after the football game (besides watching Friday Football Focus)? I do not know, call Agman. BAP's parents are out of town again, are we having a small soiree? I do not know, call Agman. He made sure everyone was in the know and everyone was having a good time.
When I went away to college, I realized just how important it was to have a friend like Agman. Not that I had trouble finding fun things to do or ways to get myself into "trouble," but I became the "Agman" of my group of college friends because someone had to coordinate everything. I never realized how much work it took to make sure everyone was having a good time. I did not know what kind of friend I had in Agman until he was not around everyday. The same thing happened when Dylan McKay left the 90210 zip code early in the 6th season (and millions of teenage girls were left heartbroken...with BAP there to pick up the pieces). For the next three years the show ambled on meaninglessly forcing the writers to have two to three episodes each season playing the "will he, won't he return" card. Inevitably, Dylon had to return in the 9th season, but it was too late, the damage had been done. I'm convinved the show would still be going today had he not left. The producers just never realized what they had. (My favorite sports writer, Bill Simmons, who's articles can be found here, recently noted that the first pick in last June's NBA draft has the same name as the girl who had the crush on Brandon while they were working on the Beverly Blaze together...crazy...how did I not see this first?...but I digress.)
This also goes for the defending NFL Champion Seattle Sea...er...my bad...Pittsburgh Steelers (way to go ref). At 3-6, the Steelers are starting to realize just how important Jerome Bettis was; so much so, that the commentators even mentioned it while the Steelers were struggling to put away the New Orleans Saints this past Sunday. The Steelers could always climb on board "the Bus" when it mattered most and enjoy the smooth ride to victory. As much as I hate the Steelers, it's hard to deny the ability of Bettis to put a game away late in the 4th.
Where am I going with this train of thought you ask? Simple: I think the Los Angeles Kings are now starting realize what they lost when they let one of their coaches go. No, I am not talking about my main man Andy Murray; that post will come when he is hired by another team. I am talking about former assistant coach, now head coach of the Dallas Stars, Dave Tippett. Tippett served as a Kings' assistant coach from 1999-2002. The Kings made the playoffs in each of his three seasons, after making it only once in the previous six. Since arriving in Dallas, the Stars have gone 140-71-33 (going 0-1-1 while he recovered from surgery), have won two division titles, and have made the playoffs each season. The Kings, on the other hand, have failed to make the playoffs, going 103-101-42 during that stretch.
The Kings power play never ranked outside the top ten while Tippett led the special teams as an assistant; they finished 10th during his first season, 7th during his second, and led the league in 2001-2002 at 20.7%. Since his departure, the Kings power play has not opperated at higher than 14.6% (2002-2003 season), never ranking higher than 20th (2002-2003 season), and finishing tied for 28th out of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League last season. This season appears to be much the same as the Kings power play is opperating at 14.6%, good for 21st in the league (though, it has gotten better as of late, including a 2-3 performance last night against the Sharks...and the Stars are only opperating at 14.4%...told you Marc Crawford was going to turn this ship around).
It is hard to admit it, but I don't think the Kings realized what they had until it went and turned a division rival into Stanley Cup contenders (and they'll feel the same way when Murray does the same).
Oh yeah...fyi...71 hours and 9...er...I mean 8 minutes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)