Spoke Too Soon

Typical Warriors last night...had my hopes up of sweeping the week and finishing the homestand strong. It looked good -- so good -- for most of the game. We dominated the shooting percentage, blocked 15 shots and played moderatley well -- certainly well enough to win. But a couple botched plays at the end really shifted the momentum -- the refs missed a crucial goaltending call and two 3 point daggers were sunk by Harrington and Jackson....we failed to secure a rebound at the end and that was the game ..... Terrible. Heartbreaking and crushing.

Warriors

The Warriors are a surprising 9-6 and have two Eastern Conference teams coming in before playing 10 out of their next 16 games on the road. Ouch. I'm approaching the season with guarded optimism, but things look OK so far...The emergence of Andris Biedrins and Monta Ellis has me excited -- so much so that I traded Carmelo Anthony for them in my fantasy league. I know, probably a stupid trade but at least it ups my interest in Warriors games.

I need to try and post more...

Maui Invitational

I'm pretty excited because I leave for Maui on Friday for 6 days -- the primary purpose is to go watch my UCLA Bruins in the Maui Invitational, but it will also be nice to relax and enjoy the sunshine for a few days. I've been watching the Maui Invitational for as long as I can remember and I can't even describe how excited I am to be going -- its another great field this year featuring UCLA, Memphis, Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, DePaul, Purdue and the host school Chaminade. It's played at the Lahaina Civic Center which is basically a high school gym so our seats will be amazing -- frankly, I can't wait.

Oh yeah, I'll be missing a couple classes and will need to do some work on the plane, but it'll be all good (I figure I should write something about school since people come here to read about Haas). I'll also find out the results of my class bidding today -- I am hoping to take Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Financial Management, Entrepreneurship and Business Model Innovation in New Ventures. We'll see what I end up with once the dust settles...

Golden State Warriors Update

Well, a 1-2 rod trip doesn't sound ideal but there were some promising things to take from the losses against Utah and New Orleans and the win against Dallas.

1.) Mike Dunleavy's time is being drastically cut
2.) Monta and Biedrins emergence -- Monta's turnovers notwithstanding
3.) A tightened rotation
4.) Ike playing well until rolling his ankle in the NO game

I am still concerned about JR -- he is nowhere near the player he was last year and its clear he struggles on defense and creating his own shot (even more so before knee surgery)...

Good Times at Henry's

As predicted, UCLA got smoked by Cal -- interestingly enough, we kept it close in the first half but 2 brutal interceptions and a great punt return by DeSean Jackson sealed our fate. When does basketball season start again? Oh yeah, it starts soon as I am headed to Maui to watch my Bruins kick off the season in college basketball's premier pre-season tournament. Should be sweet.

The bright side to Saturday was the pre-party at Henry's. Always the best place to be before a UCLA-Cal game, I saw tons of people I hadn't seen in years, drank too much beer and had one too many shots. All this was probably a good thing because it definitely dulled the pain of the game...

Same Crap Product, Different Year

Ok, maybe I am having a knee jerk reaction to one bad game, but last night's opening night loss for the Warriors to a Lakers team without Kobe ranks with one of the most frustrating I have ever had to deal with when it comes to the Warriors franchise. I have had season tickets for a long time now and last night was BAD. Seriously, I hate this team. Ok, I don't hate them -- I love the Warriors, but man, this cycle needs to stop. So much was made of bringing in Don Nelson, an uptempo style of play, better free throw shooting, more team play -- and what did we get? We got last year's team -- except maybe worse if you can believe that.

I am going to try not to single out any players here because they were all pathetic -- does it count if I name players with the caveat that anyone left out still sucked as well? That seems fair -- it is my blog after all. Baron Davis had dribble diarrhea all night. Dunleavy couldn't do anything. Murphy airballed a friggin' layup and he must be the worst defender in the league. Monta Ellis turns it over every other time. JR looked about 70% healthy. Roberson looked WAY out of his league. Did I mention that Dunleavy absolutely SUCKED? As I posted before, if Nellie could transform him from a WNBA player to a decent NBA player, it would be akin to turning water into wine. Looks like Nellie is no Jesus.

Holy crap, I am so pissed. I don't know if I can watch another game all year -- they absolutely kill me.

Sports Fans

I have to rant about this. As you all know, I go to Haas -- Berkeley's business school. That means there are tons of students who go to the football games -- it seems like everyone is a Cal Bear fan. Why does this bother me? I really have no idea. It makes sense that the alleged "Cal fans" who went to schools with D-I football teams would be maddening to me -- after all, your loyalty is to your undergrad. Beyond that, you can't have 2 flippin' teams!! In any sport -- it's like having two wives. You have one team. One. Period.

What perplexes me is that I even get agitated at the fans who now claim Cal as their team -- after all, if they went to a small Podunk school, it makes sense that they'd cheer for Cal. But it still bothers me. Basically, I have discovered that people who mindlessly cheer on teams without knowing anything about them irritate me tremendously.

I'm probably just pissed b.c UCLA plays Cal this week and they'll likely wax us. At least we'll beat their ass in hoops -- of course, then those "die-hard Cal" fans won't be found anywhere.

There, that is my diatribe for the day.