I've literally been reading about a hundred pages a day (and then I have to read some over again to actually understand them). I just found out that we have this paper on Marx and Weber due in a month and it's supposed to be the hardest paper to do. Apart from this, at about the same time, I'm going to have my Plato paper due. Oh yeah, and I have to work on my Machiavelli report really soon. I don't even want to know when my English introduction is due.
On the bright side, I found my POL 200 class really interesting today. My professor is pretty cool. I was just telling myself how much Socrates sounds so sarcastic and arrogant in the works of Plato. Anyway, I was telling myself that it was just because I was sore that I had to read it (although I did find it interesting). When I got to class awhile ago, though, he was pretty much making fun of Socrates as well. And Plato (slash Socrates I guess since he was the one supposed to be speaking even if Plato wrote it) asked a very apt question. Is it worth it to act justly if there are no benefits and people still persecute you or they deem you unjust when someone who is acting unjustly is getting rewarded? I mean, I know it seems like a pretty closed answer. Of course you should. But really, would I? Or would it be all blurred as to what is the just thing? Heck, justice is hard enough to define as it is.
Anyway, I'm planning to do some heavy studying tomorrow. Really. I promise myself even. I'm gonna head out to a coffee place and bring all my study materials....
I'm feeling sleepy right now but tomorrow, I'm going to be feeling very intellectual. :)
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Rant (Please don't read if you worship Anne Donovan)
I've been so busy lately I haven't updated this in awhile. It takes a dumb loss by the US Women's Team to get me out of this and get me back to blogging.
I'd like to start by saying that, up to this point (the semifinals), the US has been winning, and winning pretty easily. It would be unfair for me to go on this rant and not mention this. They weren't exactly crisp wins. In fact, they played sloppy sometimes, but they'd win by twenty points or so. In other words, the US got the job done.
Ah, here they are, in the semifinals now. The Aussies made it past Brazil and my dreams of Lauren and Sue going up against each other in the finals has just gotten so much brighter. I mean, surely, the US can beat Russia right?
They come out and Russia is shooting the lights out. I'm getting a little nervous but I think that we can still pull the win out. I mean, sooner or later, the US will have to realize that they have to play better to win this and they'll step it up. Damn, end of the first quarter, we're down 25-13. Hell, they'll wake up. What on earth, people like Tina Thompson are missing shots, and she's bound to make them in the second quarter.
The second quarter starts and the US struggles but manages to outscore Russia 19-12. So at the end of the half, the US is only down by five points. Wait a sec! I just screamed, at the end of the first quarter, that if the US gets it down to five by the end of the half, we can still win this. Woohoo!!! I feel the good stuff coming on now.
So despite, you know, a dismal performance really, one where the US looked a little out of synch, I still believed that there was a chance.
Okay, start of the third quarter. This is the ridiculous part. As a Storm fan, I fear the third quarter. But while cheering for the Americans, I never really did. They were too talented to let things slip. They used to just keep pounding and pounding until the lead swelled. But, oh my God!!! We're not scoring!! Holy cow, Russia is scoring from everywhere. They were hitting their shots taken as far as Russia, for crying out loud. Then the US went on bad possession after bad possession. At the end of the third quarter? We were down by 20 points. 20 f***ing points! Here's the weird part about all of this, okay? And this is where I'm really going to get on my rant a little bit. The US Coaches (yes, I'm going to criticize Anne Donovan here and mainly rant about her which was something I never thought I'd ever do) did nothing to stop the bleeding. Nothing. No opportune time outs, no big substitutions to kind of turn the game around. Nothing. I guess you could say that, hell, these ladies can play. Any combination on the floor would have been able to go off at any time. True, but they were frustrated. They weren't hitting anything. They weren't getting any defensive stops. We only scored six points in the quarter. ANYTHING would have been better than just staying with the status quo who obviously had a hard time at that point. Some huge Russian play would happen and they'd focus the camera on AD. And here I am saying, okay Anne, make your move. She didn't.
Fourth quarter. Things are looking pretty desperate. I notice, to my surprise, that I haven't seen Sue in awhile. Okay, here's where it gets interesting for me. I'm a huge Sue Bird fan. I'm not doubting that. To me, she can walk on water. When I was beginning to get frustrated that Sue wasn't coming in, I first tried telling myself that it was just because I was biased. I was like, okay, calm down. Maybe it's just because you want her in the game at all times.
So here I am expecting her to at least start the fourth quarter. I mean, down by twenty, 10 minutes left. I don't care how many shots you've missed or whatever. You have to start your starting point guard. Damn this, she was your only true point guard. Newsflash to Anne and maybe Gail Goestenkors who might have had a hand in having Beard play so many minutes: She's not a point guard. She's not even remotely good at the point.
And Sue doesn't start. No. Sue is on the bench. Diana was getting really really good looks and was hitting her shots. the US comeback begins. Oh, hang on, Anne Donovan decides to PULL Diana Taurasi out of the game!!!! Huh??? Isn't she like, the only player hitting her shots? Isn't she the only player actually getting a remotely good percentage of free throws in? Isn't she the only player, at that point, making things happen? Alana Beard is still in. Haha. Turnover, bad possession, name it. I frankly don't care about Beard's stats. I don't care if it turns out she had a pretty good game after all. The fact is, I'm not comfortable when she's on the floor. Things just don't flow right and isn't that what a point guard is supposed to take care of?
FINALLY, with about three and a half minutes left in the damn game, Anne finally lets Sue back in. Sue quickly scores about eight points. She cuts the deficit to five (I believe, or something close to that number). Which leads me to the question....why on earth do you wait until that time to bring her in??? Um, hello? She's your starting point guard? She also gets a lot of flak but, come on, Sue Bird has hit so many big time shots and won so many big time games. You MUST realize this, especially since, you know, you kind of coach her in Seattle as well?
And then they foul a player and she misses her shots. They're down five. They bring the ball up the floor. Oh, and finally Taurasi is in the game. Yes, so is Katie Smith. Good, good, they can hit the three. By the way, this is with a few seconds left in the game. So it needs to be a three at this point. What??? Why do they keep passing the ball? Hello, the clock is running out. Darn, that's three three-point attempts not taken. And by very good shooters as well. They PASS IT TO THE MIDDLE??? Whaaaat????
Game over. Candace Parker didn't make the shot but it wouldnt have mattered anyway. I don't even know if it was the coaching staff that told them, pass it to the middle to try an easy 2 (If it was, it was boneheaded because Russia is taller than the US and they've basically shut them down the whole game except for some very difficult shots the US made). Maybe it was the players being tentative to take such a big shot (But this shouldn't be the case because all these girls are superstars. On their WNBA teams, they're always the ones taking those shots).
I could go on and on about everything. Abysmal play in the third quarter. The US didn't really play well at all the whole game. However, things like this will happen. What bugs me about this, and this is the rant, is that good coaching could have netted them this win. They caught up in the late stages of the fourth quarter when the coaching staff decided to finally make some changes. My question is, you've been outplayed by Russia from the start. When the team got down by a large margin in the third quarter, why weren't more changes or adjustments made? There was a point when the team on the floor just couldn't do anything anymore. I think they were tired and frustrated. At any point during that long stretch of time, Anne could have done something. I'm not saying that it would have definitely worked. But she could have tried. Instead, she sits on the sideline looking all frustrated, but she's seated and she's not making a move to change anything. In fact, she's not even talking to her assistants to show that she's trying to do something. Was she just expecting the players to wake up on their own?
The US team boasts a deep team. It's a team full of All-Stars and high-caliber players. Yet at the point where it mattered the most, the depth was not utilized. Why? Because the same set of players stayed on the floor as the lead grew...and grew...and grew. Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the players at all. I think they all tried their best and they clearly weren't playing their best tonight. That much was obvious. It happens. But when it happens, I fully expect the coaches, the supposed geniuses of the sideline, to compromise. They have all the skill at their disposal on that bench. Yet they just watched. Was it a waiting game? When do you finally decide to stop waiting and to fire something into your players on the court? Maybe it isn't when you're getting beat by twenty plus. Maybe you only do that when you're down thirty, I don't know.
Okay, I'm a huge Anne Donovan believer. Really, I am. It may not sound like it here, but I'm currently very emotional. I don't want her to quit coaching my team (the Storm) or anything. I'm just UPSET about how she handled this game. More importantly, I'm stunned. People have said in the past during Storm games that Anne was outcoached by so and so, blah blah blah. And I've always defended her. Always. Now, I have to say it. Anne Donovan was outcoached. In fact, seeing how she coached this game with all the talent she had, I am now even willing to say that she may have been outcoached at various points during the Storm season. Including those losses against LA. It's worrisome to say the least for me to admit this. Why? Because I've always held on to the fact that AD is one of the greatest coaches out there. Yet she's being outcoached by a lot more than one other coach it seems.
Also, I wish people wouldn't use the youth excuse with this team because it's just not valid. If youth was such a detriment, Candace Parker would be a nonfactor. Yet she was incredible in practically every game she has played. No, this team is talented enough and was talented enough to win. I've got my opinions as to why they lost and I guess everyone has their own.
The good news, the only thing that's cheering me up right now is that Lauren Jackson is going for the gold. I'm behind the Aussies 100% now. GO LAUREN! GO AUSTRALIA! BEAT THOSE RUSSIANS!!!
Oh yeah, once I clear my head and talk to some level-headed, sane Storm fan (Kilcher most probably), I'll probably do a recant of everything I just said. I mean, my emotions are high right now. Haha
I'd like to start by saying that, up to this point (the semifinals), the US has been winning, and winning pretty easily. It would be unfair for me to go on this rant and not mention this. They weren't exactly crisp wins. In fact, they played sloppy sometimes, but they'd win by twenty points or so. In other words, the US got the job done.
Ah, here they are, in the semifinals now. The Aussies made it past Brazil and my dreams of Lauren and Sue going up against each other in the finals has just gotten so much brighter. I mean, surely, the US can beat Russia right?
They come out and Russia is shooting the lights out. I'm getting a little nervous but I think that we can still pull the win out. I mean, sooner or later, the US will have to realize that they have to play better to win this and they'll step it up. Damn, end of the first quarter, we're down 25-13. Hell, they'll wake up. What on earth, people like Tina Thompson are missing shots, and she's bound to make them in the second quarter.
The second quarter starts and the US struggles but manages to outscore Russia 19-12. So at the end of the half, the US is only down by five points. Wait a sec! I just screamed, at the end of the first quarter, that if the US gets it down to five by the end of the half, we can still win this. Woohoo!!! I feel the good stuff coming on now.
So despite, you know, a dismal performance really, one where the US looked a little out of synch, I still believed that there was a chance.
Okay, start of the third quarter. This is the ridiculous part. As a Storm fan, I fear the third quarter. But while cheering for the Americans, I never really did. They were too talented to let things slip. They used to just keep pounding and pounding until the lead swelled. But, oh my God!!! We're not scoring!! Holy cow, Russia is scoring from everywhere. They were hitting their shots taken as far as Russia, for crying out loud. Then the US went on bad possession after bad possession. At the end of the third quarter? We were down by 20 points. 20 f***ing points! Here's the weird part about all of this, okay? And this is where I'm really going to get on my rant a little bit. The US Coaches (yes, I'm going to criticize Anne Donovan here and mainly rant about her which was something I never thought I'd ever do) did nothing to stop the bleeding. Nothing. No opportune time outs, no big substitutions to kind of turn the game around. Nothing. I guess you could say that, hell, these ladies can play. Any combination on the floor would have been able to go off at any time. True, but they were frustrated. They weren't hitting anything. They weren't getting any defensive stops. We only scored six points in the quarter. ANYTHING would have been better than just staying with the status quo who obviously had a hard time at that point. Some huge Russian play would happen and they'd focus the camera on AD. And here I am saying, okay Anne, make your move. She didn't.
Fourth quarter. Things are looking pretty desperate. I notice, to my surprise, that I haven't seen Sue in awhile. Okay, here's where it gets interesting for me. I'm a huge Sue Bird fan. I'm not doubting that. To me, she can walk on water. When I was beginning to get frustrated that Sue wasn't coming in, I first tried telling myself that it was just because I was biased. I was like, okay, calm down. Maybe it's just because you want her in the game at all times.
So here I am expecting her to at least start the fourth quarter. I mean, down by twenty, 10 minutes left. I don't care how many shots you've missed or whatever. You have to start your starting point guard. Damn this, she was your only true point guard. Newsflash to Anne and maybe Gail Goestenkors who might have had a hand in having Beard play so many minutes: She's not a point guard. She's not even remotely good at the point.
And Sue doesn't start. No. Sue is on the bench. Diana was getting really really good looks and was hitting her shots. the US comeback begins. Oh, hang on, Anne Donovan decides to PULL Diana Taurasi out of the game!!!! Huh??? Isn't she like, the only player hitting her shots? Isn't she the only player actually getting a remotely good percentage of free throws in? Isn't she the only player, at that point, making things happen? Alana Beard is still in. Haha. Turnover, bad possession, name it. I frankly don't care about Beard's stats. I don't care if it turns out she had a pretty good game after all. The fact is, I'm not comfortable when she's on the floor. Things just don't flow right and isn't that what a point guard is supposed to take care of?
FINALLY, with about three and a half minutes left in the damn game, Anne finally lets Sue back in. Sue quickly scores about eight points. She cuts the deficit to five (I believe, or something close to that number). Which leads me to the question....why on earth do you wait until that time to bring her in??? Um, hello? She's your starting point guard? She also gets a lot of flak but, come on, Sue Bird has hit so many big time shots and won so many big time games. You MUST realize this, especially since, you know, you kind of coach her in Seattle as well?
And then they foul a player and she misses her shots. They're down five. They bring the ball up the floor. Oh, and finally Taurasi is in the game. Yes, so is Katie Smith. Good, good, they can hit the three. By the way, this is with a few seconds left in the game. So it needs to be a three at this point. What??? Why do they keep passing the ball? Hello, the clock is running out. Darn, that's three three-point attempts not taken. And by very good shooters as well. They PASS IT TO THE MIDDLE??? Whaaaat????
Game over. Candace Parker didn't make the shot but it wouldnt have mattered anyway. I don't even know if it was the coaching staff that told them, pass it to the middle to try an easy 2 (If it was, it was boneheaded because Russia is taller than the US and they've basically shut them down the whole game except for some very difficult shots the US made). Maybe it was the players being tentative to take such a big shot (But this shouldn't be the case because all these girls are superstars. On their WNBA teams, they're always the ones taking those shots).
I could go on and on about everything. Abysmal play in the third quarter. The US didn't really play well at all the whole game. However, things like this will happen. What bugs me about this, and this is the rant, is that good coaching could have netted them this win. They caught up in the late stages of the fourth quarter when the coaching staff decided to finally make some changes. My question is, you've been outplayed by Russia from the start. When the team got down by a large margin in the third quarter, why weren't more changes or adjustments made? There was a point when the team on the floor just couldn't do anything anymore. I think they were tired and frustrated. At any point during that long stretch of time, Anne could have done something. I'm not saying that it would have definitely worked. But she could have tried. Instead, she sits on the sideline looking all frustrated, but she's seated and she's not making a move to change anything. In fact, she's not even talking to her assistants to show that she's trying to do something. Was she just expecting the players to wake up on their own?
The US team boasts a deep team. It's a team full of All-Stars and high-caliber players. Yet at the point where it mattered the most, the depth was not utilized. Why? Because the same set of players stayed on the floor as the lead grew...and grew...and grew. Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the players at all. I think they all tried their best and they clearly weren't playing their best tonight. That much was obvious. It happens. But when it happens, I fully expect the coaches, the supposed geniuses of the sideline, to compromise. They have all the skill at their disposal on that bench. Yet they just watched. Was it a waiting game? When do you finally decide to stop waiting and to fire something into your players on the court? Maybe it isn't when you're getting beat by twenty plus. Maybe you only do that when you're down thirty, I don't know.
Okay, I'm a huge Anne Donovan believer. Really, I am. It may not sound like it here, but I'm currently very emotional. I don't want her to quit coaching my team (the Storm) or anything. I'm just UPSET about how she handled this game. More importantly, I'm stunned. People have said in the past during Storm games that Anne was outcoached by so and so, blah blah blah. And I've always defended her. Always. Now, I have to say it. Anne Donovan was outcoached. In fact, seeing how she coached this game with all the talent she had, I am now even willing to say that she may have been outcoached at various points during the Storm season. Including those losses against LA. It's worrisome to say the least for me to admit this. Why? Because I've always held on to the fact that AD is one of the greatest coaches out there. Yet she's being outcoached by a lot more than one other coach it seems.
Also, I wish people wouldn't use the youth excuse with this team because it's just not valid. If youth was such a detriment, Candace Parker would be a nonfactor. Yet she was incredible in practically every game she has played. No, this team is talented enough and was talented enough to win. I've got my opinions as to why they lost and I guess everyone has their own.
The good news, the only thing that's cheering me up right now is that Lauren Jackson is going for the gold. I'm behind the Aussies 100% now. GO LAUREN! GO AUSTRALIA! BEAT THOSE RUSSIANS!!!
Oh yeah, once I clear my head and talk to some level-headed, sane Storm fan (Kilcher most probably), I'll probably do a recant of everything I just said. I mean, my emotions are high right now. Haha
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Finally in school
I just had my first two classes. The first one, which was my 199 seminar course, had about 22 students. It was a quiet little setting. I looked at what we're going to be talking about and its pretty interesting. I think that we're going to be looking at all different aspects of Machiavelli's thoughts. The professor was nice and she seems like someone who won't bore me, which is awesome. I actually spent the entire hour of lecture listening intently. Now THAT's something. My second class, which ended an hour ago, was this huge 100 level class with about 400 students. We were seated in this theatre with soft, comfortable chairs. It was a little hard to concentrate because there was this really tall girl seated in front of me so I couldn't see over her head for bits of it. It was a little intimidating, actually, because he asked a question and these people gave these answers I don't think I could have thought about ever.
Oh yeah, and FINALLY my internet's working. YEAH!!!
Oh yeah, and FINALLY my internet's working. YEAH!!!
Friday, September 01, 2006
Storm Withdrawal Symptoms
Ever since the Storm got knocked out of the playoffs, I've been suffering from Storm withdrawal symptoms. I can't seem to stay off the internet to get any new information on them, etc. This is going to be a looong ten months or so. There are, of course, the finals to pay attention to, but I am too lazy to post anything about them except maybe for the final result of the entire series. I should be worrying about moving into my residence this Sunday but I can't really get my mind off Storm basketball. This is bad, folks.
Anyway, some little Storm tidbits.
* Lauren Jackson was inducted into the Australian Institute of Sports' Hall of Fame. This is great news. Congrats to her.
* LJ also made it to the WNBA First Team. Go LJ! Sue didn't make it. :( At least next year she won't have too much pressure on her. I'm gonna look for her to completely bust out and make those voters believers again.
* I read the new issue of the Women's Basketball magazine and there is a Sue Bird article in it. It's a great article about her running the point this year for the US team. There's this great AD comment on Sue:
"She is who you would want your daughter to be. She looks like the All-American kid who is easy going and doesn't have a care in the world, but she wants to win every drill in practice. She's very friendly and a great teammate, but you don't see the edginess and competitiveness."
Great quote. :)
Anyway, some little Storm tidbits.
* Lauren Jackson was inducted into the Australian Institute of Sports' Hall of Fame. This is great news. Congrats to her.
* LJ also made it to the WNBA First Team. Go LJ! Sue didn't make it. :( At least next year she won't have too much pressure on her. I'm gonna look for her to completely bust out and make those voters believers again.
* I read the new issue of the Women's Basketball magazine and there is a Sue Bird article in it. It's a great article about her running the point this year for the US team. There's this great AD comment on Sue:
"She is who you would want your daughter to be. She looks like the All-American kid who is easy going and doesn't have a care in the world, but she wants to win every drill in practice. She's very friendly and a great teammate, but you don't see the edginess and competitiveness."
Great quote. :)
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