We have a lot to talk about

So let's start with the most obvious question. Why are humans so incapable of minimizing a bottleneck in traffic situations? The intelligence of the human race really comes to fruition when faced with such a daunting task of merging into one lane from two freeway lanes. There is the obvious sign something along the lines of "left lane closed 1/2 mile" or the obvious merge sign. While most patient humans sit in the lane that is actually open, thousands of rude humans with no idea how to act continue to symbolically say "F&$# you" to the rest of us. Even when there appears to be no cars in the lane, idiot humans either say "I'm going to cut because someone will let me in" or "durrrrr look at that lane there are no cars in it, I must be a genius because I'm the only one noticing." Sorry sir or madam, but you are helping no one but yourself and ruining thousands of people's days. Luckily for everyone who reads this blog, I have come up with a solution to this problem and a way that we can all make everyone's life easier. I have a few solutions to this problem and both take courage and leadership, but I can assure you that we will break this as a human race. We will siphon out the greed whenever presented with this situation and we will say "F&$% you" right back. Now, if you are a person who tries to get to the last possible point and cut over thus increasing the bottleneck, I have nothing to say for you except enjoy the fires of hell. Only a terrible, inconsiderate person would do such a thing (exceptions do include an expecting mother or dying passenger).

I have come up with 2 main strategies to minimize this bottleneck.

1. As soon as you recognize what lane is closed immediately merge to that lane and then continue to follow the pace of the car to your right. Make sure the car to your right knows that you are helping him or her by clogging the bottleneck. Hand signals, a good thumbs up or a smile will let them know perfectly well that you are on their team. Now, every single car behind you is going to be super pissed now. I mean why are you blocking their God given right to cut every other patient person off. You have to hold your ground. Honking and swearing and even the occasional swerve around cannot unnerve you. You do, however, have to do your best to block the traffic from passing because as soon as one greedy, incompetent human gets an idea, everyone behind him is likely to follow. Remember that this is truly for the benefit of every single person. Traffic is slow because people have to stop and go and wait for last second merges. If people merge prior to the bottleneck, the bottleneck will increase and time will be cut in half.

2. The only other strategy to combat this and I don't believe it is possible is to never let anyone into the line after the lane closed sign. This can only be done by universal discipline by every driver. Unfortunately, I think this will lead to bad results in terms of crashes and road rage deaths. Strategy 1 is possible, but if it does not work, it is perfectly fine to not let a single person in and stare that them with disdain as you don't let them in.


Moving on, I'm not sure how I feel about the election results from yesterday. Congratulations to John McCain are certainly in order, but I don't know who to believe is the actual winner of the Democratic primaries and caucuses. If Obama maintains a large enough lead, it's almost mathematically impossible to beat him in delegates with as close of a race as it is, yet superdelegates are going to rally around a winner. Hillary has won every single big state. I just don't think you can ignore that. While she is completely unelectable, she apparently has a passionate following in the big states. Now California and New York really don't matter that much because despite what the Governator does with California, in a close national race, it will never go Republican. If California goes Republican, it will likely be a landslide. What I don't know how to process is Obama's success in the deep South. Are these states even winnable for Democrats ever? I can only imagine if these states went Democratic what it would do to the landscape of America. Either way, the Democrats are probably gaining a lot of excitement from voters on each side and I think a long race has pros and cons like everything. You can't just say the longer they stay away from McCain the more it will hurt them because the more interested people are in a part race, the stronger the party base will be when one candidate finally emerges.

Cleveland Browns

Let's get down the to real business. Cleveland has a QB controversy for another 3 years guaranteed, we just gave a lazy D lineman a 6 year huge contract and we traded our best cornerback. I suppose that is a negative way to look at things. I want to address all the big moves.

Derek Anderson: I think it was a win-win situation, but I do believe that one side was better. It is nice to have a proven average starter though when you are developing a possible star. It's also nice to have a guy that knows the system. The money we paid for him is steep, but I don't think the Browns care. A consistent playoff football team in Cleveland would be the best thing in sports in Cleveland since probably the '48 World Series.

D Line moves: Pro: We have two starters that we can plug in right away. Cons: We paid a steep price for them. We lost 2nd and 3rd round picks this year. With the ability of Savage to draft, I like my chances in the draft that we gain a large amount of talent. Leigh Bodden is also our best cornerback at a position with no depth. If we can't put together another free agent acquisition here, we have a big glaring hole in our defense. Can Wright and McDonald fill this gap? I don't know the answer to that. I do think that on average our cornerbacks don't have to be as good because we will theoretically be getting more pressure on the quarterback.

Nick Sorenson: Who?

Donte Stallworth: I love this move. In my opinion, Stallworth will thrive here for the next 6 years. Joey J. will likely be retiring at the end of this season leaving a glaring hole in our receiver core. We don't have a good third receiver. We don't even have an average third receiver. Josh Cribbs will never be a receiver in the NFL. He will always be an explosive return guy. Tim Carter stinks. Travis Wilson never developed into anything, and you can't count Winslow because he's a tight end (although he should play receiver and can't block). This secures another quality receiver in an offense that has come to be explosive.

Kellen Winslow: He will be a problem this offseason. The audacity of this guy astounds me. After further proving that nothing good comes from "the U" by destroying his knee in a motorcycle accident, his contract should have never been honored. Cleveland showed a ton of good will and faith in this guy and he has played well, but don't you think you need more than one good season to prove you have arrived in Cleveland? I have never trusted this guy, but I've always loved his heart on the field. Let's just hope he really cares about the Browns and not just about using his high profile agent to start a war with the front office.


Poker

I just finished my second article in the 2 part series for Pocketfives. It should be up in the next couple of weeks. I'm still upset at how close I was to winning the Pokerstars Nightly the other night. 21k between 1st and 3rd is a big difference, but I can't complain too much. I'm a very emotional player. It's something I've come to terms with, but something that can absolutely not affect your play. At times, I really let it effect me, especially on large losing streaks. I can think of several times in the last 2 weeks where I was in multiple tournaments and with one tournament left, I just simply gave up and made a dumb move. At the same time, I'm struggling with always having a short stack. I want to do more things to give myself a better chance from dodging my tournament life. When you are losing races, having a short stack ensures your demise. I'm really not sure where to take this blog on a poker level. Any suggestions or questions would be great to know because I feel like to make a great poker blog you have to do much more than complain about bad beats and say how well you play. I pretty much never stick with a poker blog because it's always the same. I want to avoid that with my blog.