Roger Clemens, Obama, A little Cavs, Questions, Pro Bowl

It's been a while since my last blog, and I don't have any excuses. I'm heading to Chicago and Cleveland for Valentine's Day and to see my new niece at home.

The big thing in the sports news is Roger Clemens testimony to Congress regarding allegations of use his of HGH. I'm sick and tired of hearing about this garbage every single day on the sports news. The game of baseball is forever tarnished in so many ways because of the media attention given to the steroids scandal. Truthfully, I blame just about everyone in this, the trainers, the players, the teams, the managers, and the league executives. Now everything is coming back to haunt the league with two of it's most prominent players likely lying under oath. Why would Andy Pettitte lie in a sworn affidavit after admitting his use of HGH? It seems like whenever steroid allegations have come out, it's gone through the same cycle. There are really only two lines in this:

1. Tell the truth and why (Pettitte, Paul Byrd)

2. Lie, go through some investigative situation, get caught in your lie, ruin your reputation and ruin the sport further (Bonds, Palmerio, McGwire, Sosa)

Clemens likely falls into number 2 here. I can't imagine Pettitte who is telling the truth about his use of HGH, an honest, classy player despite his few uses of HGH would go on lying about Clemens. Did he sell out a friend? Probably, but if jail time was the other option by lying about it to federal authorities, I'd tell the truth. Pettitte to me likely knows the truth here and because he is telling the truth he wants the truth to come out about other people that are trying to lie their way out of it.

My favorite line of the testimony comes from Rep. Westmoreland. "If we called everyone who was accused of using steroids before this committee, we'd have to shut this place down." Westmoreland is dead on here because the NFL has probably hundreds of players using HGH. Why does it get any different attention than Roger Clemens? Is it because baseball players keep feeling the need to lie when they are accused and football players take their 4 week suspension?

Clemens is guilty, and he's going to be in deep trouble. Maybe they will give him a cell next to Barry Bonds and they can have home run derby in the prison yard. I sure hope Michael Scofield is in the same prison.

Gaining Momentum

How about the shift in the momentum of the Presidential race to Barack Obama's favor? I attribute this to a few things.

1. Obama has more support from the American people and from individual states. He has won more states because when given time to campaign in a state, he has a clear advantage over Hillary. He has a clear stance that differs from Republicans on the War in Iraq and idealism that every American wants the President to have.

2. With the race narrowed down to Obama and Clinton, I think many Democrats are starting to realize that Hillary is a polarizer. Not many Republicans would cross party lines to vote for Hillary Clinton.

I don't like the whole nomination process with superdelegates. Essentially, the candidate is going to be decided by the superdelegates in this race. These are some 800 party leaders consisting of a wide variety of people, but mostly every prominent Democrat. They don't need to make their vote or endorsement public and I hope it's for a few reasons. I think that these people need to decide who to vote for after all of the primaries are complete. The candidate they should support should be the won that led the primaries. With the race so close, I really wonder what is going to happen. Ohio is now extremely important in this race. A big win for Obama in Ohio to me would make it very difficult to beat him.

40?

Of course I'm talking about Larry Hughes erupting for 40 points against Orlando leading the Cavs to victory. Blind squirrels find nuts every once in a while. Please take note GM's around the league at this tremendous performance by Hughes. If he keeps up this rate, $15 million would be cheap for any team to take on Hughes. That being said, don't expect any moves from Danny Fairy. That's not a spelling mistake. I don't understand how a team that is 0-5 without Lebron and would likely be 5-77 without him is acceptable for our city. Even the Bulls without Jordan would have won about 30 games with the supporting cast in tact.

Pro Bowl

Did you guys see Joe Thomas block? It's a beautiful thing. Did you guys see Derek Anderson? Not such a beautiful thing. How the Browns handle this Derek Anderson situation will make or break this franchise for the next 5 years.

Oh yeah and the Pro Bowl sucks. If you skip it in Madden, it's not worth it in the real world.

Questions

Mike Z. the number one questioner in my blog asked, "Have you seen the new show on Fox, "Moment of Truth"? Its a show where contestants are hooked up to lie detectors and then asked tough questions, such as "Have you ever cheated on your wife" and forced to tell the truth in order to move on and win more money. What do you think about this show? Would you go on it and let America know all your secrets? Whats up with this show?

I have seen this show Mike and one contestant. Then I really determined it to be the dumbest thing in the entire world. First off, why would you lie if you were going to embarrass and possibly ruin your relationship with anybody in your life and not get money for it? If you are on the show to win money at the expense of your relationships, there would never be any reason to lie. Further, I just think the premise of the show is stupid. The show is just not dramatic to me. I would never go on it. Money would never be worth the shame and embarrassment. I scoff at the TV audience in our country that watches and enjoys this show. Then again, I've stuck with Prison Break this long, so I have no one to blame. This show is just a product of the Writer's Strike which is now over. TV has gone completely downhill and when I've watched it, it's either been Friday Night Lights, Prison Break, or LOST. If not those, I usually just turn on HBO On Demand and watch a miniseries like Sopranos or Rome.

Stingerkling AKA Chris P. posing at stingerkling asked:
What advice would you give to an up and coming pro, such as myself, regarding bankroll management? More specifically, how many buy-ins do you suggest having when playing a cash game?

The advice I give anyone to bankroll management is that it's the most important thing in the entire success of a professional in poker. Having the discipline to keep track of and record your winnings at a specific game is important. As far as how many buy-ins I suggest having when playing a cash games. I really think it depends. I think your entire bankroll should never be put at risk past 1-2%. If your bankroll is 100,000, then 1000-2000 should be your maximum buy in. No one really adheres to these rules, but I've found much success lately in playing 2/4 and 1/2 NL. Being comfortable in playing these games knowing I can put 5 buy ins (1000-2000) into these games easily without straining myself is good to know and allows you to take more chances. I do think though that taking shots at the next level is crucial to the progression of a poker player. Taking shots is most certainly going to cost you in the short run, but will give you valuable information in the long run. In cash games, taking shots at higher stakes should never be done after a losing session. The mindset of a player heading to higher stakes needs to be that of a winner. As far as tournaments go, there are many ways to take shots at higher stakes. Satellites to bigger tournaments are something I still utilize as a way to comfortably head up to higher stakes. I believe Chris Ferguson has a great theory as far as tournament buy ins. Never put more than 2% of your bankroll into one tournament.

Tyler in Philly asks one of the best questions in history of my blog.

What is the best party you ever went to at any of Dave's houses??

To clarify for those readers that don't know Dave or our high school/college years in Mentor, Dave's house is the spot and has been the spot since 8th grade for me and even earlier for some others. I probably spent more time at Dave's house on the weekends in high school than all other houses combined. There were some memorable ones at Dave's that I really remember and 4 really jumped out right away. The top 3 are really just undeniable in everyone's mind.

5. New Years 2003. I know we started this one up with a Dave power hour and we had a great crew at this one. To be honest, only 4 stick out in my mind. This sneaks into 5 although the honorable mentions were also very close to this one.

4. First day of Summer after 9th grade graduation. The birth of the WAM club, Keith narrating a national geographic book for me, Tyler's old house getting ran over by the TP monster, and this was all after all the girls had left. Life was in our hands and we had conquered Memorial Junior High and were ready to take on the world and Mentor High School. With a fire outside, this is one of the memories that will never leave me for the rest of my life. The camaraderie I experienced with friends this night on top of a pretty decent sized party that night ranks it up there. On top of that we stayed up all night until the sunset came up and the surreal feeling of the outdoors was something to really describe as first light came up.

3. Dave's graduation party. Coming back from college after our first year, we had finally learned how to party like college. With Dave's class being a year younger, they were in their fun summer and we had KEGS!!!! The mistake of the night was Budweiser in the 3 kegs. The first two kegs were flowing, but by number 3, everyone had really given up. Highlights of the night:
-Mr. Williams trying to bong a beer but taking maybe .8 ounces down before quitting and Dave cleaning up the mess.
-A father-son beer pong battle continued late into the night.
-kegstands
-everyone in the world dancing in the Dave's basement

2. July 10, 2001. How do I remember to date to this one? I just got my license this day, so for me their was reason to celebrate. I believe this party was supervised by Dave's Aunt and Uncle (bad idea). All in all, my estimation would be that there would approximately 400 different people ranging from Freshmen to Seniors oh and even a few adults from the neighborhood. Namely, I woke up on Dave's deck looking over the lake at around 3am when I looked around and didn't see anyone anywhere. In my state of stupor and confusion at what just happened that night, I went upstairs to find Mike Z. and Dave the only two left coming down for some excellent Mrs. Williams lemonade when we all looked at each other like we have just seen a ghost. Noticing that I just randomly showed up in the house at 3am left everything to the imagination and the eruption of laughter that ensued was beyond belief. I still see Z's face in that classic laughter eruption basically saying "Where the $&$* did you come from?" I decided that a wooden porch was my best place to be sleeping that night. On top of that someone was trying to get into their car or something and breaking shit up and I don't know I was on the porch.

1. Fairport House Toga Party-This is the best part that I remember from my entire high school experience. We just graduated from high school and the summer before college was outstanding. Although I made it out of this one by the skin of my teeth and other's unfortunately did not, everyone has their own special memory in this one. Mine was probably 50 people doing "Get Low" TO THE WINDOW TO THE WALL!!!!!!!!! in Togas in the basement. On top of that I believe it was all import beers that night, so none of that light beer. Tons of good pool stories and if it doesn't get broken up by the cops, it can't be number 1. This may be the greatest party in the history of my life.

Honorable Mentions:
Tiff Beer Pong--The only reason this didn't make the top 5 was I think I was a late arrival at this one and didn't get to experience the whole thing even though I went deep in the tournament.

College New Years--Everyone dressed up and we were finally sophisticated and legal to drink. There were nine million people at this one and lots of good friends reuniting.


I might write over the next 6 days, but I'm not sure.