Sunday, May 30, 2010

Hedo Turkoglu Giving "Eff You" to Toronto... Kevin Pritchard Dodges Another Bullet...

It's been a while since I've had a good long piece of writing/rant probably because of me being lazy and that I usually summarize my stuff just on Twiiter, but I thought this deserved my two cents...

Blazer fans (and Kevin Pritchard) have to be ecstatic that they don't have to worry about Hedo Turkoglu and his shenanigans for the remaining 4 year contract with the Toronto Raptors. "Turkeysoup" as I have previously nicknamed him, is quoted with these remarks from ESPN, "When the circumstances turned against me, I lost my enthusiasm for this city. My lawyers have talked to the front office recently. Honestly, I do not want to go back to Toronto. My lawyers talked to Mr. [Bryan] Colangelo and I hope that they will come up with a solution soon." The larger than life turkey must be delusional if he hasn't thought the Raptors haven't made any pitches to Turkeysoup. Who wants an aging, soft, declining big man that has already given up on his team, had his best season 2 years ago, and is due $43.8 million in four years?! Not even Chris Wallace of the Griz is that moronic to take that on...

Video of that assclown Hedo Turkoglu being an asshole to once of the Raptor's play-by-play commentators:

Hedo quote continued, "I promised him that whether he starts me or not, I will do my best on the court. However, if I had a more temperamental personality, I would have left the team. Yet, I did exactly the opposite. I did my best. I told him that I have no problems with him. I am not a young player, so it's not a big deal for me to come off the bench." Of course you don't care if you come off the bench or not... You've given up!! Get the big contract and then take a dinosaur size turkey dump...

Blazer fan's lost in this debacle of course was Kevin Pritchard offering this jackass a 5 years and $55 million contract before Turkoglu HIMSELF bolted last minute to the Raptors thankfully. Blazer fans don't seem to get why Pritchard's head is on the chopping block but I don't blame management for making KP sweat...

First of his downfall was that he drafted Oden over Durant, but I guess he gets a pass for that because "everyone" would have done that except me and Bill Simmons.

Second, he overpaid soft forward, I LaMarcus Aldridge 5 years for $65 million!! With the salary cap coming down after this season, there is a chance that Aldridge could make more money than franchise player Brandon Roy!! WTF?! You don't pay your second best player more than your best player AND you don't pay somebody that much money for being such a soft player. Look at the Orlando Magic... They won't win a championship because they paid a max contract to their 4th best player in Rashad Lewis (#1 Howard, who is still somewhat soft, #2 Nelson #3 Carter), and he is the definition of soft!!

Third, he retained Coach McMillan and probably will after this bizarre season of injuries which alone will save his job. McMuffin is just like Coach Brown... great talent on team that can win tons of game but held back in reality because of the coach... When will Blazer management realize this??

And finally, and luckily for KP, this Turkeysoup curve ball. Technically, the saying is "three strikes and your out..." This is #4... Don't be surprised if Kevin Pritchard gets the boot. I liked what he did at the beginning getting rid of Zach Randolph, trading for Roy and Aldridge in the 2006 draft, and trading for Rudy Fernandez (until this year... dammit Rudy!!)... Your only good as your last impressions and so far, the only thing Pritchard has nailed these last 2 seasons was the Camby trade... Thank you KP!! It was fun while it lasted...

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

5 Things I Learned or that were Reinforced from Gambling

The next time you go to Vegas to blow your money at the casinos, here are some things that I learned or things that were reinforced that I was taught before:

1) Never sit at a table that has an (uptight) Asian dealer. I'm not a racist and I am saying a lot here because I am Chinese. This was the case for my dad and I on numerous occassions at either Blackjack tables or Pai Gow Poker tables. Somebody that just deals the cards and doesn't mutter a word for the entire session is a serious downer and for some reason, it rubs on you and the cards you get as well. Pay close attention to this next time. If you stay too long, there will be a hole in your wallet. This also applies to the fat bitch that probably is stuck up because she has been on shift too long and hasn't eaten in 3 hours...

2) In handicapping a sports game, when in doubt, take the points. I avoided the Ravens/Pats Wildcard game because I was "in doubt". The Patriots were undefeated at home in the reg. season and hadn't lost a home playoff game in over 30 yrs, but w/Wes Welker out, would that be their downfall... For the Ravens, they had previously lost a game @ New England in the reg. season and shot themselves in the foot in numerous games this season (i.e. missed FG vs. Vikings, the 2 Bengals game, the game vs. the Steelers to name some). So I figured the best thing was to stay away even though after weighing all these decisions out, I thought the Ravens would have been the best bet...

3) If a line moves too much before a game, you should bet the other way. I knew this and put this to use on the Packers/Cards game. The original line for this game was Cards (-3). By game time, the line was Cards (+2.5) and was as high as (+3). Although this game almost gave me an ulcer as it looked like the Cards would choke this game away, the rule of going the other way by the Vegas gods played out and Vegas and I raked in the money.

4) A team with a major injury in the NBA or NFL that plays their next game without their superstar always covers or wins as an underdog its next game. I learned this about a couple years ago when I stumbled upon the then new South Point Casino. I happened to see this juicy line between the Sacramento Kings (then one of the worst teams in the league) hosting a pretty good Orlando Magic team. The line started out at Magic (-4) in the early morning. I did my homework and found out that not only would their best player Kevin Martin would be sitting out of this game after playing the previous, but so was Fransisco Garcia (arguably their 2nd best player at the time). I jumped on the Magic in a nanosecond when I heard about this and was lucky enough (or so I thought) to get the Magic at -4. As for the Tip 3 above, the line moved too much as by game time, it was Magic -8. Easy money right... The Kings grab an almost 30 point lead in the 1st half and although the Magic come back, they fall short. Everybody was pissed off but I noticed one young kid that looked no older than me celebrating with glee. I approached him and asked him, "So you got the points right" and he said, "No are you crazy, I had the Moneyline!!" Holy shit!! I thought he was plain retarded or drunk and got lucky so to make sure he wasn't, I asked for his logic on making this bet and ever since I heard this, I've paid attention to this advice and you know what, it's probably the best way to make easy money. This year alone, I can recall the Mavs beating the Cavs after Dirk got his teeth knocked out in the game before; Brandon Roy missing a game and then the Blazers playing as a (+13) dog @ San Antonio and winning at a place that they rarely win at; Carmelo missing a game vs. the Cavs as well and the Nuggets pulling it out to name a few.

I also found a pro handicapper this time when I was at the Venetian and told him this very intriguing fact that I heard and he justified it. Teams play hard after a superstar gets injured. Other teams think they can walk over them and don't play hard. People get the misconception that oh, Team A has no shot without all-star against good Team B so the public jumps on Team B's bandwagon making the line jump for Team B, when in essence, this is an easy bet on Team A. I spent the longest typing about this one. What does that tell you? Try it next time your in Vegas!

5) Bill Simmons makes his weekly football picks, but for some reason, he not very accurate with them until the Championship rounds. Just look at his picks this week: Bengals win, Cowboys win BUT Eagles cover, Patriots, and Packers... 0 for 4!!

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