IP Autographs

Since about December Jill and I started to do quite a bit of in person autographing at various signings and sporting events. I've always collected sports memorabilia, but a lot of my collection was from purchases on eBay, at card shows, and a few things from signings. Once I started getting more autographs in person, it kind of became an obsession. Over the last few months I've gone to many Warriors games, a few Kings games, a Tim Lincecum signing, a CC Sabathia signing, and an event preceding Giants fan fest in San Jose where about half of the Giants team was there.

For me, I don't really get the autographs because of what they're worth (although it's nice to know that if I ever need money I have things of value). It's fun for me not only because I get to meet and sometimes shake hands with some of my favorite athletes, but it's the challenge of getting the autographs. If every player's autograph was obtainable all the time at any time, I don't think getting autographs would be as enjoyable. There are plenty of disappointments when players blow you off or when players lie to you (Andray Blatche), but when players take the time to sign your item and maybe even have a short conversation with you, it makes it all worthwhile. For every moment like when Danny Granger looked at my 8x10 and ignored it there is the excitement of when I got J-Rich to sign my 16x20 or when I got to shake Dwight Howard's hand. It doesn't matter if I get blown off or have an unexpected success, there are stories and memories from each experience, and doing it with Jill just makes it that much better.

Some of the notable autographs I have gotten include: Tim Lincecum, CC Sabathia, Brian Wilson, Barry Zito, Dwight Howard, Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green, Brandon Roy, Kevin Durant, Amare Stoudemire, Kevin Martin, pretty much the entire Warriors team, and my boy J-Rich.


(Tim Lincecum signing at Lefty's Sports Cards)

(Tim Lincecum at Britannia Arms)

(CC Sabathia at Vallejo Toyota - check out the beer belly behind CC)


Junior Griffey

The latest news about Ken Griffey Jr. is that a deal is imminent. It has been reported that he is going to sign a contract in the next day or so, but whether it is with the Seattle Mariners or Atlanta Braves is still unknown.

Here is my take on it. Griffey has been on 3 teams, and worn 4 different numbers. If he were to sign with the Braves then that would be 4 different teams and a possibility of a 5th number. For one of the best players of this generation, possibly THE best after the A-Fraud news, he has already been on enough teams. People respect guys like Cal Ripken Jr (even though I think he's overrated) and Tony Gwynn because they played for one team their entire career. By going from team to team to close out a career, it dilutes his accomplishments and in my opinion, ruins his legacy.

If he were to sign with Seattle it would be a great way to close out his Hall of Fame career. If he were to sign with Atlanta, he'll be like Patrick Ewing or any other athlete that didn't retire with the team in which they were great. He should retire with the team that he was drafted by, where he became one of the league's top players, where he became a part of pop culture, where he won an MVP, 10 Gold Gloves, and was named to the All-Century Team. Go out wearing the 2-4, Junior.

7 Months

I just realized that it's been about 7 months since my last entry. I don't really know why it has been such a long time since I last wrote because I used to have a lot of fun doing this once in a while. Maybe it's because the Warriors have been horrible and I haven't had anything to say. I don't know. I've just been reading other people's blogs and it made me feel like writing something again.

According to the page hit counter on this, there have been about 15,000 hits, which is crazy to me. I guess it helps a lot when you Google something like "Monta Ellis signing" this is the first thing that comes up.

Anyways, if I get on a roll, maybe I'll start punching (word to Chris Brown) these entries out like I used to.

Warriors Offseason

People have been asking me what I thought about the latest Warriors moves so I'll go through them one by one.

Corey Maggette
Of all the moves, I like this one the least. After Baron opted out and eventually left, it seemed like the Warriors went into panic mode and just started throwing major cash at Gilbert Arenas and Elton Brand. As much as I like Arenas, there is no way he is worth 100 million, knee surgery or not. After Arenas resigned with Washington and Brand decided to pull a Boozer and go to Philly, the Warriors acted quickly and reached an agreement with Maggette. I don't mind the acquisition of Maggette per se, it's just that I don't think he is worth 10 million per year over the next 5 years. He is a good player, but not a 10 mill player. To me it looked like the front office was trying to save face and do SOMETHING to appease the fan base, even if it meant overpaying. Warriors fans were in a state of shock after the Baron situation and needed some hope to hold onto. The front office hoped Maggette was the answer.

When the signing first went down I was completely against it, but after reading other fans' thoughts my feelings have changed a bit. If someone asked me if I would trade Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes (3.5M and 3.0M, respectively) for Maggette (~8 million in the first year of the contract if it is structured with the standard 10% increase per year), I would've done the trade without hesitation.

Ronny Turiaf
The general consensus among Warriors fans are that they overpaid for Turiaf. Of course they overpaid a little bit; it was absolutely necessary that they did. Because Turiaf was a restricted free agent, the Warriors had to pay a little bit more than the Lakers were willing to pay. If the contract was for say 3 million/year the Lakers might be able to afford that, match, and then he's back on the Lakers.

Many people also think Turiaf is annoying. Personally, I find his antics entertaining. If you don't know what I am talking about then here are a couple videos.



The bottom line is that Turiaf is what the Warriors needed. He is a solid rebounder/shot blocker that will bring a ton of energy off the bench.

Marcus Williams
I loved him in college. He was hyped up as the best point guard in the draft, but fell to the 22nd pick for whatever reason. He's never really gotten a real shot or even consistent playing time in New Jersey playing behind Jason Kidd and Devin Harris, but the games he started last year he averaged 11.1 pts, 6.3 assists, and 4 rebounds. He did turn the ball over 3 times per game, but he is a 22 year old pass first point guard with potential. The pick that the Warriors traded doesn't affect them for a few seasons so hopefully by then they will be a perennial playoff team. Also, if this year's draft was any indication, it doesn't take too much to obtain a late first round pick. (I believe the Hornets and Nuggets traded their first rounders for cash) Overall I see it as a low risk/high reward deal for the Warriors.

Kelenna Azubuike
I wanted the Warriors to match, but I wasn't devastated when there were reports saying the Warriors reached an agreement with Maurice Evans, virtually ending any chance the Azubuike offer sheet would be matched. However, when Evans backed out and wanted more money, I'm glad Mullin just decided to match Azubuike's offer sheet. Azubuike and Evans are similar players, but Azubuike is 5 years younger and has bigger guns. Haha.

Monta Ellis
I expected the Warriors to sign Monta for at least Kevin Martin money 5/55, so I was happy when I heard the agreement was for 6/67. Now that he got paid, don't expect to see any more posts about me meeting Monta at an autograph signing. I can pretty much guarantee he doesn't do any signings this year.

In an earlier interview Nelson said something like "Monta fell in love with the tattoo lady" over the summer and got like 10 new tattoos. Here are some pictures.



All I can say is Wow.

Speaking of Monta, I really dislike Ralph Barbieri. He keeps saying things like, "It's Monta's team now. I've been driving the Monta Ellis bandwagon for the past two years! I've been saying it's going to be Monta's team, but nooooooooooo people scoffed." Ralph, shut up. Seriously. He acts like he was the only person that knew Monta was going to be good. Whatever. He shows his lack of knowledge about sports, especially basketball on a daily basis. Last week he showed he didn't know the difference between the mid level exception and the trade exemption. He said that Ray Ratto was wrong in his column today because Ratto wrote about how Monta had no other offers. It never crossed his mind to think about salary situations and the fact that he's a restricted free agent. Teams, other than Memphis who have Mayo, don't have the cap room to offer Monta a lucrative offer, and teams that are over the cap aren't going to offer Monta their mid level exception because firstly Monta wouldn't sign it, and secondly, the Warriors would match without hesitation. I want to call KNBR and tell Ralph how I feel, but he'd just get mad and call me a jerk off like he usually does to critical callers.

Hopefully Biedrins resigns soon. There are reports that a Euro team is interested in him. I'm hoping that Biedrins' camp is just using that as leverage to get more money from the Warriors. That's what I thought Josh Childress was doing, but I was way off on that one so who knows.

The eBay scam

I've been in the market for a new laptop since my 17" monster is impractical because of transportation reasons and the insufficient battery life. I've been watching a lot of auctions on eBay looking around for the best deal.

A few days ago I came across what I felt was a great deal. The specs of the laptop were everything I wanted, plus more (Blu ray, 250 GB HD, etc.) In the auction information there was a notice informing potential bidders to email the address given in the listing before bidding for a low "buy it now" offer. Interested, I sent the email. I received a prompt reply telling me that the price was $900 and told me to email me back if I was still interested. The email also said that we should go through Paypal so that both the seller and I were protected from any sort of fraud. Everything pointed to a legit transaction.

I then went to the Sony website and built the laptop I was interested in with the same specs and upgrades. The total came out to $1800+ before tax and shipping. This is when I began to get skeptical. Why would someone sell a $2,000 laptop for $900? Was it stolen? A scam? Or just a really great deal? I wanted to do more research.

I placed a bid on the computer, a small bid, so that I could access the seller's information (Name, location, etc.) I learned that his name was Tyler Bauman from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Tyler Bauman, eh? The name linked to the emails I had been receiving was from a Sarah Parker. I decided that I was not going to go through with the transaction, but wanted to go along with what the seller wanted me to do just out of curiosity.

I was told to give my name and shipping address so that he or she (I don't even know) can inform eBay of our transaction and that I would be receiving an invoice from eBay shortly. I did receive an email that did resemble an invoice that was sent from eBay's Standard Purchase Protection Program. I looked this program up since I never heard of it and found that this program was ended by eBay in January 2007. The directions were for me to pay for the laptop through Western Union Money Transfer when the auction listing says "Paypal Preferred." Paypal offers protection to buyers for up to $2,000. Going through Western Union Money Transfer would void my protection. Also attached to this email was a NEW name, Diane Preston with an address in London!

So I have three different names with addresses in two different countries. I informed the seller that I would not be paying for this item and to his/her dismay, threatened to leave me a negative feedback. I then responded saying that the threat is ridiculous since I never officially won an auction according to eBay so there is no way of leaving feedback, plus eBay just instituted a new policy in which sellers are no longer able to leave buyers negative feedback.

The result: No response from the seller and I am still in the market for a new laptop. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a good deal comes my way!



Face Guarding

I can't stand playing against people that don't know the rules. I'm not one to call three seconds or hand checks or anything like that, but there was this one guy who was face guarding me. I told him that you can't face guard, and of course him being an ignorant basketball fan told me that you can do whatever you want as long as you don't touch the person. We argued, he thought he was right, I KNEW I was right, so I ended the game with two quick 3's and left the gym somewhat laughing at his ignorance, but glad I was able to stick a couple 20 footers in his face to end the game.


In the slightest chance that that dude is reading:

Face guarding has been illegal in all levels of basketball since 1913. In the rule books, face guarding is found under “Unsportsmanlike Acts,” and a technical foul is supposed to be assessed for it. Face guarding is explicitly mentioned in the high school rule book, the NCAA rule book, the FIBA rule book, and the NBA rule book. Face guarding is and always has been illegal in all levels of basketball, from high school, to college to the pros.

I guess your ignorance is acceptable since the highest level of organized basketball you probably played was Boys and Girls Club on those 7 foot hoops where the only burn you ever got was because the rules stated that all players must play.

Yes, I'm mad. Lol.


24

I'm going to playing in a basketball tournament this weekend in Santa Barbara with the Original Six (Steven, Steven, Scott, Grant, and Mick. It's the first time I've played with them since 8th grade because of high school basketball so it should be fun.

We had to get uniforms to play in so we got to choose our number. I chose number 24 after my favorite athlete, Ken Griffey Jr. Jill then reminded me that Kobe is number 24. God, that's all bad. It gets even worse. Most of my basketball shoes are Kobe's so I can't wear Kobe shoes with Kobe's number because it will look like I'm an adultery supporter or something. Now, I'm in the market for some new basketball shoes as well.


I have a hater...

Here is a comment I received since my last entry:

"just because somebody writes differently doesnt mean that they werent educated! thats kinda a bitch thing to say! monta ellis could have gone to college and probably would have made some money someplace else but hes got some skill. your just jealous of him. get over yourself wanna be basketball player. dont diss monta just cause he has more money than you. just because hes a second round pick doesnt mean shit! he could have been sixth or even eigth if thats even possible. look at him now!!!! hes a BEAST!!!! hes going to be the next MICHAEL JORDAN!!!! LOOK OUT CUZ MONTA ELLIS IS COMING!!"

I don't even know what to say to this. It gave me a pretty good laugh.


Aggie Baseball

The Aggies are in the playoffs this weekend at Sunken Diamond. I wish I could go. Look out for my boy Ty Kelly. He's doing big things.

I'm exhausted. Last night I read a book called An Unquiet Mind (I don't see an underline tool, oh well) for my abnormal psychology class. 219 pages! Yeah I know, that isn't that many pages considering some of you crazy people pick up the new Harry Potter book at midnight and finish it before the sun rises. This is the first time in a long time, if ever, I've read a book cover to cover. It's sad, but Spark Notes really did get me through IB English.

I woke up this morning with no classes to go to. Thursdays are usually my stress-free, kick back and watch some NBA on TNT days, but today was an exception. I decided to wake up early and get some studying done. I set up a schedule of things I have accomplish each day to be ready for my midterm next week, so I had to wake up early and get things done especially since I'm going to the Warriors game tomorrow and might not be able to finish studying what I have planned tomorrow. Here I was at 9am staring at my abnormal psychology text book. My eyes were going crazy on me with some of the letters popping off the page and the paper shining as if I was looking straight at the sun. My eyes were probably still tired from all the reading last night. I guess it's like playing a day game after a night game. Oh well, I'll just pop a couple of greenies, take a shot of B12 and Lidocaine and I should be good to go. But then again, I might misremember everything for my midterm...

CP3
Before the season started i wrote an entry about Chris Paul and the odds that sportsbook.com gave him to win MVP. If I recall, the odds were 25:1. This only caught my attention because the odds for Baron to win MVP was 60:1 and thought it was ridiculous that oddsmakers thought CP3 had a over a 2x greater chance of winning MVP than Baron. I even went on to say that I think that Chris Paul is starting to be overrated. Boy was I wrong. In my opinion, he is the best point guard in the league. Yes, even better than Nash and Baron.

This got me thinking, who are some of the most overrated players in the NBA?

The List

Jason Kidd
I know my boys Scott Neishi and Kyle Smith aren't going to like this, but he is no longer a top 5 point guard in this league. I know he almost averages a triple double, but still...he is not that good. He is a good passer, he is a good rebounder, pretty good defender, but his 11.3 ppg on 36.8% shooting just doesn't cut it. You can't be considered one of the top point guards in the league with a shooting percentage like that and to anybody that says his passing makes up for it, it doesn't. How can somebody that handles the ball that much and shoots a percentage that low not be a detriment to the team?

The trade: I understand them trying to shake up their roster because they were not going to win a title with what they had, but it's how much they gave up for him that is shocking to me. They gave up Devin Harris, and if you guys know me then you know I'm the biggest Devin Harris hater there is, but he was still pretty solid and young. He could keep up with the guards of the West like Tony Parker, Leandro Barbosa, and, and Monta Ellis, albeit my flopping, but i guess it's better to get in the way rather than have them blowing by you. Diop, they're backup center. Ager, their first round pick two years ago, and then two additional first round picks. All of that for an aging point guard that I don't think makes them any better than other teams in the West.

Rashard Lewis
Yes, he benefited from being the best player in a thin free agent market, but still, 118 million over 6 years for a 6'10" 3-point shooter that averages 18.3 pointts and 5.1 rebounds/game? In the least three years of his contract he will be making 20.5, 22.1, and 23.8 million dollars, respectively. I don't know if he is the most overrated player by NBA fans, but definitely by the Orlando Magic front office.

Shawn Marion
When you watch a Miami Heat game, just watch him. It makes me laugh when I watch him play and think that he wanted more respect and recognition. Watch him on the perimeter, he'll dribble a couple times, maybe even go through the legs acting as if he is going to take it to the hole, just to pass it back out. Can he dunk? Yes. Is he a good defender? Yes. Can he create his own shot? Nope. Was he the MVP of the Suns while Nash was the MVP of the league like he said in his ESPN article? Give me a break.

Other players: Vince Carter, Ben Gordon (turning down that 60 million is going to bite him in the ass), Michael Redd

Other thoughts
- Trade deadline: Mullin, please don't mortgage the future, especially Brandan Wright
- Verizon signings: I saw Biedrins and Azubuike and got their autographs on a team ball that I'm working on. Verizon signings are garbage because they don't allow pictures with players. I would post the pictures that I did take, but it's not even worth it.
- How do you lose to Indiana, Minnesota, and the Bulls without Deng, Gordon, and Hinrich at home and then go out and beat the Celtics without Stack Jack? Booooom baby!
- Warriors/Hawks tomorrow. My two favorite teams going at it, with the Hawks being a DISTANT second favorite. I should hate them though because whenever I bet on them, they screw me, and whenever I bet against them, they screw me.

Man, that was a long one...

Booooooooooo!

Well wasn't last night's game just the epitome of the Warriors season thus far? An incredibly slow beginning to come roaring back led by the blur that is known as Monta Ellis. Is there any doubt he's the fastest player in the league? Leandro Barbosa? Ha! Give me a break!

This guy is amazing. I can't believe there are so many people out there that are willing to give this guy up any time a big name appears in the Rumor Mill The latest example being Michael Redd. Michael Redd? Are you kidding? Yeah, he can shoot, but what else can he do? He isn't above average in any other facet of his game. Throw in their age difference and the fact that Redd is due 51+ million over the next 3 years, I think I'll pass.

Back to the game...if you were at the game, would you have booed Dunleavy? I guess I'm in the minority here after watching the game, but I wouldn't have. He was terrible with the Warriors. There's no doubt about that, but what are the reasons we hated the guy so much?

1. "Underachiever" He was drafted 3rd overall and was slated to be the second coming of Larry Bird. There lies problem number one. Unrealistic expectations. He was just never good enough to warrant the 3rd pick in the draft, but is that his fault? Dunleavy didn't choose to be drafted that high, the Warriors did. Therefore, it's Garry St. Jean who we should all boo, correct?

2. Contract. His production did not warrant his huge contract. Dunleavy had a couple of games that made all Warriors fans ponder the thought, "Why can't this guy do this every night?" Mullin saw the potential and thought 5 years/44 million was his fair market value in comparison to the 5 year/47 million dollar contract Tayshaun Prince signed just a few hours prior. Again, is it Dunleavy's fault that Mullin probably had a setback in his battle against alcoholism when he offered Dunleavy the contract? (Mullin must've right? Who in their right mind would give this guy 44 million?) Mullin should be booed.

Why boo Dunleavy? Because he was bad? Latrell Sprewell should get booed. Chris Webber should get booed. A player should get booed if he did something wrong like Sprewell or if the player doesn't give it his all, but because they suck? Hell if that were the case Warriors fans would be booing all season long every time an ex-Warrior makes an appearance. When Larry Hughes comes back to Oakland, how come people don't boo him? In many ways he was like Dunleavy. High expectations, with flashes of excellence just to be let down once again. See www.heylarryhughespleasestoptakingsomanybadshots.com

Who knows. Maybe I just have a little less hatred towards Dunleavy than I used to because of how the trade worked out. If the Warriors were sitting 8 games under .500 and didn't make the playoffs last year then throw out everything i just said, I'd probably be right with you. Let the Boo Birds fly!