DJ Danny Diggz - Jockin Jay Z x Wonderwall (2dopeboyz.com)
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Olympics
Michael Phelps is obviously the greatest Olympian of all time. So let's put his 8 golds and 7 world records to rest. He deserves all the credit in the world for dominating his sport like none other, but I am honestly getting sick of hearing his name. Phelps came into Beijing expecting to win 8 golds--anything less would have been a failure. Well, maybe not a failure but had he won only 6 or 7 golds, he would be remembered as the guy that came up short. The truth is, Phelps is not just a freak in the pool, he is a great face for swimming. In many ways he represents the modern American athlete: he listens to Eminem and Jay-Z, eats more for breakfast than a family, and works out for about 5 hours a day. More importantly, Phelps is remarkably humble for someone as talented as him. Imagine if T.O. or A.I. had won 8 golds. In the end however, swimming is still swimming. Its not widely followed in the States and I'm sure Phelps' celebrity status will fade away as soon as Favre takes his first snap from Jets' center Nick Mangold on September 7th.
For me, the defining moment of these games happened about 60m into the 100m final, when Jamaican Usain Bolt broke away from the pack and cruised to the finish line with an eye popping world record of 9.69 seconds. The 100m was hyped as the marquee event of these Olympics, pitting the current world record holder Usain Bolt against former world record holder Asafa Powell and American track star Tyson Gay. Simply put, Bolt stole the show as Gay failed to qualify and Asafa Powell failed to medal, finishing 5th.
While both track and swimming attract the premier athletes to the Olympics, baseball is one of the sports where elite athletes still have few incentives to participate. August and September are arguably the most two important months in professional baseball as teams prepare for the final stretch and the playoffs. Sadly, due to this inability to attract the world's best, these Olympics will be the last to feature baseball as a sport. The international baseball community is working hard to reinstate baseball sometime in the future, but it is still unclear when and how. While Olympic baseball may not mean much for most major leaguers, it remains the pinnacle of baseball competition for many other countries such as Cuba, Japan, and Chinese Taipei. Real baseball fans will note that the Olympics give Americans a rare glimpse into the world of international baseball and stars such as Pedro Luis Lazo (seen below closing out a 5-4 win vs. Team USA), arguably the best pitcher in Olympic history. Hopefully the World Baseball Classic can do for baseball and it's fans what the FIFA World Cup does for soccer and it's fans while simultaneously uniting the world.
After Phelps' 8 golds and Bolt's world record, the 3rd biggest story of these Olympics will be the 400m final showdown of Jeremy Wariner (seen below) and newcomer LaShawn Merritt. Wariner took home the gold in Athens, blowing by the competition with a time of 44.0 seconds. However, Merritt beat Wariner at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon running 44.0 while Wariner came in second at 44.2. Both have a shot at the Michael Johnson's current world record of 43.18.
For me, the defining moment of these games happened about 60m into the 100m final, when Jamaican Usain Bolt broke away from the pack and cruised to the finish line with an eye popping world record of 9.69 seconds. The 100m was hyped as the marquee event of these Olympics, pitting the current world record holder Usain Bolt against former world record holder Asafa Powell and American track star Tyson Gay. Simply put, Bolt stole the show as Gay failed to qualify and Asafa Powell failed to medal, finishing 5th.
While both track and swimming attract the premier athletes to the Olympics, baseball is one of the sports where elite athletes still have few incentives to participate. August and September are arguably the most two important months in professional baseball as teams prepare for the final stretch and the playoffs. Sadly, due to this inability to attract the world's best, these Olympics will be the last to feature baseball as a sport. The international baseball community is working hard to reinstate baseball sometime in the future, but it is still unclear when and how. While Olympic baseball may not mean much for most major leaguers, it remains the pinnacle of baseball competition for many other countries such as Cuba, Japan, and Chinese Taipei. Real baseball fans will note that the Olympics give Americans a rare glimpse into the world of international baseball and stars such as Pedro Luis Lazo (seen below closing out a 5-4 win vs. Team USA), arguably the best pitcher in Olympic history. Hopefully the World Baseball Classic can do for baseball and it's fans what the FIFA World Cup does for soccer and it's fans while simultaneously uniting the world.
After Phelps' 8 golds and Bolt's world record, the 3rd biggest story of these Olympics will be the 400m final showdown of Jeremy Wariner (seen below) and newcomer LaShawn Merritt. Wariner took home the gold in Athens, blowing by the competition with a time of 44.0 seconds. However, Merritt beat Wariner at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon running 44.0 while Wariner came in second at 44.2. Both have a shot at the Michael Johnson's current world record of 43.18.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Weak Dollar
Good news for everyone worried about our troublesome current-account balance and outsourcing. The weak US Dollar has had a positive impact on exports, which in turn has had a positive effect on our current-account balance.
Graph courtesy of http://research.stlouisfed.org
Graph courtesy of http://research.stlouisfed.org
Yankees in 2008
Yankee pitchers have posted a team ERA of 5.27 in August, going 5-9 in the process.
Yankee pitchers have struggled against the current division and wild card leaders, posting ERAs of 7.01 against the Angels, 5.47 against the White Sox, 4.67 against the Red Sox, and 3.67 against the Rays.
With Pudge behind the plate, opposing hitters have posted an OPS (OBP% + SLG%) of .901 in 293 plate appearances. With Jose Molina behind the dish, opposing hitters have posted an OPS of .687 in 2,495 plate appearances. It seems that Molina's defense more than makes up for his pathetic offense (.227, 1, 12 in 220 ABs).
With the Yankees this year, Jose Molina has thrown out 44% of base stealers (28 of 63) while Pudge has only thrown out 25% (3 of 12).
The Yankees as a team are hitting .258 with RISP (runners in scoring position). The Minnesota Twins lead the AL in batting average with RISP (.314).
A-Rod is batting .239 with RISP, although he hasn't seen too many pitches to hit, posting a .396 OBP. Maybe the Yanks lineup isn't as deep as some think.
Jason Giambi is batting .209 with RISP, posting an OPS of .654, well below his respective career averages of .297 and 1.000.
Before being demoted, Melky Cabrera posted an OWP (offensive winning percentage) of .328. That means given a team of Melkys batting 1-9 and league average pitching and defense, the team would go 53-109 in a 162 game season. A-Rod's career OWP is .707, roughly 114-48.
The Captain has posted an OPS of .750 , well below his career average of .845.
Mos Def & Jean-Paul Sartré
“Memories don’t live like people do / baby don’t forget me / I’m a traveling man moving through place and space and time / got a lot of things I got to do, but God willing I’m coming back to you / baby boo”
--Mos Def, Travellin’ Man
“My memories are like coins in the devil’s purse: when you open it you find only dead leaves.”
--Antoine Roquetin, Nausea (Jean-Paul Sartré)
Memories, along with dreams, are probably one of the more fascinating aspects of humanity. We all have certain moments we cherish in our minds, yet these moments are often appear more as an impressionistic painting than a photograph. We choose to pick out certain aspects of a moment and essentially forget the rest. Our memories simply aren’t capable of remembering every detail of life. Both Mos and Sartré are lamenting this exact quality of memory but in slightly different ways. One interpretion of Mos Def’s chorus is that there is a clear difference between how people and moments live in our memories. People are defined by a set of qualities (i.e. personality) that we can more readily remember. Sartre’s analysis is a little more pessimistic, implying that our memories lure us in and as we search for more details, they vanish. Although I don’t fully agree, I have to agree that many of our sweetest memories are shrouded in a bitter fog of uncertainty that spoils our memories. We can often recall our sentiments but ultimately we end up deceiving ourselves simply because we’ll never again feel that moment again.
--Mos Def, Travellin’ Man
“My memories are like coins in the devil’s purse: when you open it you find only dead leaves.”
--Antoine Roquetin, Nausea (Jean-Paul Sartré)
Memories, along with dreams, are probably one of the more fascinating aspects of humanity. We all have certain moments we cherish in our minds, yet these moments are often appear more as an impressionistic painting than a photograph. We choose to pick out certain aspects of a moment and essentially forget the rest. Our memories simply aren’t capable of remembering every detail of life. Both Mos and Sartré are lamenting this exact quality of memory but in slightly different ways. One interpretion of Mos Def’s chorus is that there is a clear difference between how people and moments live in our memories. People are defined by a set of qualities (i.e. personality) that we can more readily remember. Sartre’s analysis is a little more pessimistic, implying that our memories lure us in and as we search for more details, they vanish. Although I don’t fully agree, I have to agree that many of our sweetest memories are shrouded in a bitter fog of uncertainty that spoils our memories. We can often recall our sentiments but ultimately we end up deceiving ourselves simply because we’ll never again feel that moment again.
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