Hard to be patient with a team that gives up leads so easily

Not just San Jose State's football team, which gave up yet another opportunity to win last Saturday in Logan, losing to Utah State 34-33 and thus losing bowl eligibility (I'd rather there be a playoff system in college football a la the NCAA basketball tournament, but I'll save that for another blog).

In the meantime, SJSU basketball came off a very close 51-50 win in its home opener v UC Irvine. The win resulted from the referees deciding that a UC Irvine player didn't get a successful shot off his hands before the buzzer. A similar thing happened in SJSU's 75-74 WAC tournament win last season v Hawaii, as seen in this fan-created video (starting at the 1:25 mark)



Tonight, SJSU lost at the War Memorial Arena to San Francisco 83-81 in overtime. The Spartans rallied from a 20-8 deficit early in the 1st quarter to lead 37-35 at halftime. Then the Spartans had led as many as 8 for the majority of the 2nd half (similar to the previous game v UCI) before San Francisco rallied to force OT, tied 71 both. USF began OT with a 7-2 run. Finally, SJSU had the chance to tie or win with a three after USF's Cody Doolin missed both free throws. There were 7 seconds left. James Kinney (a transfer from the Mid-American Conference Ohio and then the jr. college Eastern Utah) tried a desperation half-court shot when he really could've gotten within reasonable range for a buzzer beater. No good. Although SJSU had a good defensive effort and Keith Shamburger once again showed his offensive talents--he even opened the 2nd half with two consecutive three-pointers--the team just found yet another way to give the game away in the last minute. A similar OT loss happened in Feb. 2011 v Nevada, except the loss was by 8.

San Jose State has yet to win on the road but has another opportunity Saturday night when the Spartans face cross-town rival Santa Clara. Unlike the past two games in which SJSU made less than 30% of field goals, tonight the Spartans made 48.5%. Because it's so early in the season, average statistics are not reliably predictable, as Santa Clara has a 39.1% FG average based on two lopsided games: 44.8% v the D-III UC Merced and 32.8% v the defending Big West champions UC Santa Barbara. SJSU's average, in contrast, so far is a measly 28%. The past two of SJSU's games were within close margins, while SJSU's opening game was a 79-52 loss to Cal Poly. On the individual player level, it appears that Santa Clara has the offensive advantage in its leading scorer. A comparison:

• Keith Shamburger (SJSU) averages: 35 mins, 12.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3 assists, 30% field goals made, 73.3% free throws, 22.2% 3-pointers. Committed 7 turnovers. Grabbed 5 rebounds, all defensive.
  
• Kevin Foster (SCU): 21 mins, 14.5 points, 2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 33.3% field goals, 71.4% free throws, 28.6% 3-pointers. Committed 2 turnovers. Of 4 rebounds, 2 each in offense and defense.

But again, keep in mind that these statistics could be skewed in favor of SCU because the team played a D-III opponent for its first game. It's interesting to note that SJSU had better field goal and 3 point percentages in losing to USF than UCSB had winning over SCU:

• Field goals: SJSU 48.5% v USF, UCSB 47.5% v SCU
• 3 pointers: SJSU 35.7% v USF, UCBS 30.0% v SCU

San Jose State will have a truly competitive game against Santa Clara on Saturday night if the team improves on offense, most of all, and enforces the defense against the Broncos.

So what next for SJSU?

San Jose State, the #8 team in the Western Athletic Conference, has lost in the WAC Tournament semifinals to #1 Utah State, 58-54. Utah State led for most of the game, but San Jose State fought back despite many turnovers and missed shots. I was listening to the game on KSJS-FM and kept thinking that the Spartans were falling apart as the clock ran down. Worst of all, Adrian Oliver, the leading WAC scorer, missed a potentially game-winning three-pointer with 7 seconds left and SJSU trailing 56-54. That could have been such a shocking upset right there had SJSU kept up its defense and prevented Utah State from scoring next that SportsCenter would replay that three-pointer over and over and put SJSU in the national spotlight. But instead, this season will just be George Nessman's best season in his six seasons with the Spartans (17-15 overall including 5-11 WAC regular season games) and the first season that SJSU basketball had 17 wins since 1979-1980 (when SJSU was in the Big West Conference). Also, this is SJSU's first foray into the WAC semifinals since joining the WAC in 1996 after a Big West championship season and NCAA tournament berth. (In the first round of the 1996 NCAA tournament, SJSU lost to eventual champion Kentucky 110-72 on March 14.)

Meanwhile, I just watched the Florida State/Virginia Tech Atlantic Coast Conference tournament game on ESPN3.com. While Florida State was trailing 52-51, Derwin Kitchen made a jumper at the buzzer, but an official review found that when the buzzer sounded Kitchen still had the ball on his fingertips; thus the basket didn't count. Must've been really disappointing for the FSU fans and players with that temporary moment of excitement.

Adrian Oliver and Derwin Kitchen both missed potentially shocking shots. Worst of all, Oliver got the ball off a Utah State miss, scored a basket to make the score 56-54, was fouled, missed the free throw, and missed a three-point shot that he got after USU's Tai Wesley missed BOTH free throws!!!

Spartan fans should root for either Boise State or New Mexico State, whoever will challenge Utah State in the WAC championship final this Saturday 6PM Pacific time on ESPN2. And for Oliver, he is considering entering the draft this year. On the post-game show on KSJS-FM, SJSU athletic director Tom Bowen speculated that SJSU might have a seed in the College Basketball Invitational or CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

Which brings up the next topic: How have losers of the WAC semifinals fared over the years?

• 2008: Semifinal losers were #1 Utah State and #2 Nevada. Utah State went to the NIT and lost in the first round. Ditto for Nevada albeit in the CBI.
• 2009: #3 Idaho lost the quarterfinals of the WAC tournament then advanced two rounds in the CIT. #5 New Mexico State lost the semis, that was it (wow...71-70 to Utah State!). Louisiana Tech, the sixth-ranked team that beat Idaho in the conference tournament only to lose in the semifinals, didn't make any postseason national tournament either.
• 2010: #4 Louisiana Tech (another victim of Utah State and sadly sank to a non-tournament ninth this season) lost the semifinals to Utah State and survived CIT all the way to round 2. #2 Nevada made the NIT.
  

This year, the WAC tournament has a different format than from years past. It used to be just a 3-day tournament with quarterfinals (1 v 8, 4-5, 3-6, 2-7), semifinals (1 v 8 winner vs 4 v 5 winner, 3-6 winner vs. 2-7 winner), and a final. This year, it stretched to four days because of a first round with a 5 vs. 8 and 4 vs. 7 game. The 5 vs. 8 winner faces #4, the winner of that game faces #1 in semifinal; the 4 vs. 7 winner faces #3, the winner of that faces #2 in semifinal. The losers of this year's WAC semis were SJSU and may be either #2 Boise State or #3 New Mexico State.

So it seems that in years past making a postseason national tournament depended on conference ranking not how far a team goes in the conference tournament. However, Utah State was the regular season WAC champion in 2008 but only made the NIT due to losing the semifinals. In 2009, Idaho lost the quarterfinals and made the CBI, but the team that beat Idaho for another WAC round didn't make it anywhere. Still, from Bowen's statement, I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for an encore or two from the Spartans and opportunity in the national tournament scene.

OUCH! San Jose State basketball loses by 1 point after..FOUR overtime periods!

I was quite surprised to learn that last night's Boise State at San Jose State basketball game actually made it to overtime given that at one point i checked SJSU was trailing BSU by around 10 or so points during the 2nd half. The final score ended up being Boise 102, San Jose 101 in 4 OT's. The last SJSU game that made it to 4 OT's was the January 10, 1985 home game vs. Cal State Fullerton, where SJSU won 97-92 (box score stats not available; I just heard that on radio and looked it up online, that's my best guess). Listening to the game on KSJS-FM 90.5, the SJSU student-run radio station, was a big thrill as SJSU Spartans continued fighting back against Boise State Broncos' non-stop offense with last-possession three-pointers from guard Calvin Douglas (a bencher, not starter). SJSU got lucky at the end of the third overtime, as a replay review found that Boise State guard La'Shard Anderson committed a shot-clock violation by shooting a three-pointer (that went in) after the shot clock buzzer went off (with the shot clock trailing the game clock by 0.9 seconds). By the end of the third OT, the score was a 98-98 tie. Yes, the fourth OT score was BSU 4, SJSU 3, as although SJSU played for the final possession, in the final seconds BSU stole the ball to seal the game. This is SJSU's first overtime loss since the January 28, 2006 home game vs. New Mexico State, an 81-75 loss.

According to the ESPN.com boxscore, the Broncos outscored the Spartans in: field goals made (Boise 43.1% vs. San Jose 37.6%), three-pointers made (37.5% vs. 31.3%), and especially offensive rebounds (18 vs. 9) and steals (10 vs. 3). In overall rebounds though, SJSU had 50 vs. Boise's 40 and made 77.1% of their free throws compared to Boise making 68.9%. With these statistics, it's no wonder how SJSU's shot-clock stalling in the fourth overtime failed them as they couldn't manage to return offensive results from defensive plays (something that happened throughout the game as they kept allowing Boise to make three-point shots while missing their own shots).

The blog Spartan Hoops has a fuller recap of yesterday's heartbreaking game; as announcer Mike Chisholm said on KSJS, given how long the game was running either team would be very disappointed if losing. Spartan Hoops previews Saturday's SJSU home game vs. the University of Idaho Vandals better than I can do.

As of today, the SJSU Spartans are 8-6 overall and 0-3 in Western Athletic Conference play. A sign of doom? Depends on whether the team can get their act together and make a huge comeback this season. And how do the first three games predict the rest of the season?

• Boise State (9-7, 0-3 WAC start): 15-17 overall with 5-11 in WAC play...one fewer conference win yet one more overall win than SJSU had last year.
  
• Fresno State (10-7, 3-0): 10-7 overall at this time, the Bulldogs ended 15-17 of all regular season games and 7-9 in the WAC.
• Hawaii (8-8, 1-2): 10-20 (3-13), the worst of the WAC 2009-2010.
• Idaho (8-6, 1-2): a similar start to ours, Idaho ended up 15-16 and 6-10.
  
• Louisiana Tech (15-2, 3-0): 23-10 (9-7); 2nd round of the CollegeInsider.com tournament.
  
• Nevada (10-6, 2-1): Finished the season 20-12 (11-5 WAC); made the 2nd round of the National Invitational Tournament.
• New Mexico State (9-7, 2-1): 22-11 (11-5); WAC champions; 1st round of the NCAA tournament
  
• Utah State (11-6, 1-2): That first win began a 14-game winning streak that helped the Aggies make the WAC tournament final and secure a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Appears to be a mixed bag: Fresno State and Nevada had similar records by the third WAC game yet their paths diverged as the season progressed. SJSU's current record nearly mirrors those of Boise State and Idaho by their third WAC games of 2009-2010, and all three teams finished the season with nearly similar records. And although both Lousiana Tech and Fresno State had 3-0 WAC starts, Louisiana Tech had a stronger pre-conference record than Fresno's that helped them make the postseason.

Adrian Oliver, the star senior SJSU guard who transferred from the University of Washington, has said that his goal this year is to take SJSU to the NCAA tournament. By the way, in yesterday's game, Oliver fouled out before overtime began. It's gonna be a long way to go, realistically:

• The last time SJSU made the NCAA tournament was in 1996 (at the time SJSU were Big West Conference champions but got eliminated in the first round by eventual national champions Kentucky, 110-76).
• The last time SJSU finished a season above .500 was 2000-2001.
• The last time SJSU made it to the second round of their conference tournament (having been WAC members since the '96-'97 season) was in 2008 (a much-improved season from last, at 13-19 overall, 4-12 WAC, compared to the 2006-2007 lowly 5-25 and 4-12 WAC).

Last season, even at home Boise State and Idaho were tough: SJSU beat both teams albeit both times 3 or fewer points: vs. Idaho 78-75 on January 4, 2010 and vs. Boise State 76-74 on January 14, 2010. To even make the CollegeInvitational.com (or CBI), SJSU would at least need to be 9-4 in the rest of WAC play (which would lead to an 18-10 season finish, including a non-conference game vs. Montana State on February 15) and make at least the second round of WAC tournament (which would lead to...20 wins!). I predict that SJSU could win over Idaho if the Spartans play hard enough.

The rest of the month's schedule: SJSU visits Louisiana Tech on the 13th...and gosh, Louisiana Tech is off to a bad start right now (9-8 and 0-3, including a home loss yesterday to Fresno State). Saturday the 15th, SJSU visits defending champion New Mexico State; last January 23, SJSU made a comeback victory over NMSU at home, 93-84. Man! What happened to those Aggies? As of today NMSU is 7-9 overall and 1-1 in WAC (including a road loss in Boise State 81-78 on New Year's Eve). The Spartans get 8 days off before visiting Hawaii, which finished disgracefully bad last year and doesn't look so good right now (9-5 and 0-2). SJSU faces WAC runner-up Utah State once again in San Jose on the 27th...having lost to the Aggies in Utah 80-71 on New Year's Eve. The following Saturday, state rival Fresno State comes to San Jose.

Sure, Spartan seniors Adrian Oliver and Justin Graham are great scorers, as are Will Carter, freshman Keith Shamburger, and even rising benchers Calvin Douglas and Chris Jones. But given their shaky WAC start it's time for SJSU to start strategizing on defense: better guarding, maybe some steals now and then, and offensive rebounds too, to get second chances on missed shots. Otherwise, Oliver's dream won't come true, and it'll be yet another disappointing mediocre season for sixth-year coach George Nessman.

Summer so far

So far, summer has been relaxing, but the relaxation will slowly wear away as I proceed to do the following activities this summer, among others:
1. From now until 7/27 I take summer math classes at Evergreen Valley College- Precalculus and Trigonometry - to advance to AP Calculus AB in my junior year. Passing those courses means another AP exam to study for in junior year.
2. For AP English Literature class, I will have to do analyses on selections from the Chrisitian Holy Bible and Aristotle's Poetics, as well as the novels Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and East of Eden by John Steinbeck. This will take up the majority of my summer work. All those works look pretty darn hard to me.
3. On Monday, July 2, I will go to the school bookroom to pick up my AP United States History textbook. I don't see why we didn't get to pick it up before the last day of school. That will be also the day I'll start U.S. History notings.
4. Other things to do in summer include piano, basketball, fitness, voluntterring, SAT, college research, and other stuff to enhance my college transcript.

The last week of school was a blast. I got a lot of signatures in my yearbook, especially from the class of 2007, Ruby, and Tina. Also, I had photos taken with Ruby and Tina! Now, lately I've been asking around for those photos, and I'm not gonna be so cynical as to think they've been destroyed. Oh well, there's always next year & the dances & junior prom. But schoolwork & my brain come first.

In addition, I'm enjoying summer math classes so far, but I predict they'll get harder every day. But I had gotten A's in both semester of Algebra II last year, so I predict I will not "bomb" the class, but I'll at least get grades acceptable enough to advance to APCAB in September if I study hard enough and pay attention. So far, I've been paying attention and taking notes everyday. My clases take place Monday-Thursday, with the Trigonometry course from 8:15-10:15AM and Precalculus 10:25AM-12:25PM - those two classes combined equal one year of Math Analysis @ EVHS, so I advance to AP Calculus AB passing those two classes.

I've almost finished my weekend math assignments. In the meantime, today, I had piano lessons, then came home for math, the computer, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, West Side Story, Mobb Deep, and Depeche Mode.

Tomorrow: Finish math assignments, study math, practice piano, watch Steamboy, analyse the Bible for AP English, and more.

The last two weeks of school and beyond

So as I speak, the Cleveland Cavaliers are leading the Detroit Pistons by 10 points in game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals held in Cleveland tonight. If Cleveland wins the East, I will watch the NBA Finals this year, otherwise i wouldn't becuase Detroit vs. San Antonio in NBA Finals this year would mean a repeat of the 2005 finals. In the meantime, I am continuing to study Algebra II, Chemistry, and Spanish for my actual finals while I watch the Cavs on a pirated stream of CCTV-5, the Chinese state-run TV station that carries the NBA in China, since I don't get cable at home. Grr! Why do all the NBA playoff games that don't air on Sunday have to be on ESPN/TNT? Just because I'm among the minority of TV viewers these days who doesn't have cable!

On the Monday following the last day of school, June 18, I will begin summer math analysis classes at Evergreen Valley College. However, I still have that class through Friday, July 20, meaning I can't go to Ozzfest this year (Ozzfest stops near San Jose in Mountain View on Thursday, July 19) At least not for the "free" promise that promoter Ozzy Osbourne has promised - as if I were really to go after summer school ended, I'd have to pay for round-trip tickets to other areas that get Ozzfest after my summer school ends, e.g. Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix (ugh not 100+ degree weather!), Detroit (haven't been there since '96), or New York! Grr! I hope some good ppl will post Ozzfest highlights on Youtube or somewhere. But if I'm good at school and in the summer, I can at least go to the San Francisco hip-hop concert Rock the Bells, which will feature Rage Against the Machine, Wu-Tang Clan, the Roots, Nas, Talib Kweli, and more. That concert will basically want Wild 94.9 fans to cry uncle.

As far as grades go, all I gotta say is that if I work hard, I'll get straight A's this semester.

Remaining school & Summer Plans

With Memorial Day weekend approaching, many of you may be thinking of summer now, as there are only 14 days of school remaining. Indeed, I have a lot of cool stuff to do over the summer. They include:

1. I will take Math Analysis at Evergreen Valley College this summer, a combination of their courses "Math 21" (Precalculus) and "Math 22" (Trigonometry). If I get at least a B in both these courses, then I can take AP Calculus AB in my junior year.

2. The summer will also introduce at least two concert tours coming locally in the SF Bay Area. (Screw you, Jokin' Timberfake.) The concerts that I am especially looking forward to include, as I know right now: On Thursday 7/19 in the Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View will be the FREE OzzFest 2007, the 12th annual installment of the heavy metal music tour founded by lead singer of founding heavy metal band Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne. Hopefully, I can keep my grades up this year and in summer school so I can go there. However, this will technically be considered a "school night" given that summer school will end on 7/27, so I hope maybe a delay might let me go there. If I can't go to Ozzfest, then I can attend the Rock the Bells hip-hop concert, headlined by reunited rap-metal band Rage Against the Machine and hardcore rap group Wu-Tang Clan. It will be held in the parking lot at McCovey Cove on Saturday 8/18 at noon. The focus of the concert will be on hip-hop, as most of the other headliners are alternative hip-hop acts, and the headliners are hip-hop in some way. The guests include Immortal Technique, The Roots, Cypress Hill, Public Enemy, Nas, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and many other true MC's who you might've never heard of from Wild 94.9, BET, or MTV. (106 KMEL does play mostly mainstream hip-hop, but dedicates weekend evenings to the obscure but juicier stuff) That is at least gonna keep me happy this summer if I can't go to ozzfest.

3. I should start going out more often, including for working/community service. I'm considering working for the Lunardi's at Evergreen Village Squre, and volunteering at the Evergreen Library and other places.

4. I recently read in the San Francisco Chronicle about the 40th anniversary of the "Summer of Love" of 1967 being celebrated by the "hippies" there. Thus, maybe I wanna create my own "Summer of Love", maybe i should find a girl before the end of the year and do all sortsa crazy stuff with her in the summer of 2007, 40 years after masses of young people in SF and elsewhere began freedom of social lives.


But remember, I did say there were 14 days of school left, so I need to work on my AP World History presentation where I act as Harry Truman giving a "farewell" speech to American tv viewers, and study for finals for Chemistry, Algebra 2, and Spanish. Indeed, I'm not sure if Mr West will give us an English final exam, but I will expect a final project

3.67

Yep that's my gpa...

2nd period - Physics (Mr. Miller) = B+ (89.5%)

3rd period - Health (Mr. Cheadle) = A-

4th period - P.E. (Mr. Quinet) = A

5th period - English 1 Accelerated (Mrs. Knoop-Troullier) = B

6th period - Geometry (Mr. Advincula) = A

7th period - Spanish 1 (Ms. Landeza) = A-

so my dream of getting 4.0 GPA all in HS life is shattered. I coudlve got a B in English but a C in the final got me down to 85gain. In the meantime, Yahoo Sports just reported that the fan who got accused of harrasing NY Knicks forward Antonio Davis "will drop threats of a lawsuit if the couple says it's sorry". Davis is suspended the next five games after he went in the stands during a game against the Chicago Bulls Thursday evening to confront 22-year-old Michael Axelrod, who he thout was harassing his wife Kendra. Davis and wife refuse to apologize to Axlerod. You know what the best solution is? Both parties should apologize to each other, and then just shurg it off. What morons. Gosh, when has the NBA enterted such a culture of violence and immoralism? I remember last year when Ron Artest was suspended for the season for the "Basketbrawl" incident with Ben Wallace. Earlier in 2002 Kobe Bryant got in a fight with a guy in the Chicago Bulls. What in the NBA bothers me the most? Shaquille O'Neal and his "ching-chong" joke to Yao Ming. That offendes me the most because I'm Chinese, and that joke defames a Chinese-American player who has proven that no matter what your race in the NBA you can always be a good ballplayer.

Meanwhile, I am seeking to beef up this Myspace a bit. Once I master HTML, I'll add the live stream of a radio station i listen to - possibly 107.7 the bone or wild 94.9, in order to promote those stations to more people, including those outside it's listennign area. And, I wanna post some pics here. So watch for more beef and stuff on my myspace.

End of First Semester, Freshman Yr

Today I'm free! Until 8:15 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, January 18, I'm gonna be hyphy all this four-day weekend! Just 8 hours ago I was working hard on Spanish finals and now I'm just partying all night with myself. Destpite the day being Friday the 13th I breezed through the finals - in English 1/Accelerated and Spanish 1 - harly with any problems. But I know FO SHO dat I got a few questions wrong on my English finals. So after school I decided to have fun in the first time in a week. To open my hyphy weekend...I decided to do a little music critique.

Eventually, I decided to see if those Creed-haters out there were right. I've heard alot of bad comments about the rock band Creed, some people stating that they are a ripoff of good grunge like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. So last saturday i was at the library and i picked up Creed's "Greatest Hits" and Pearl Jam's "No Code" to do a little comparison. First, I insterted Creed in my computer. On Wendesday afternoon I watched the DVD of the album, saw the "With Arms Wide Open" video and it sucked. I listened to a few more tracks on Creed's GH and found out...yeah...CREED SUCKS MY D**K!!!! Then insterted Pearl Jam....Ah yeahh, just what Kurt Cobain would love! You see you b***hes who shop at Hot Topic...it's not the mainstream poser grunge like Nickelback, 3 Doors Down, or Hoobastank...FOREVER NIRVANA AND PEARL JAM!

And it's been said that this Tuesday some 7 weeks after Crips co-founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams was executed now another guy to be exectued...75-going-on-76 Clarence Ray Allen. He is accused of killing his son's girlfriend in 1974, sentenced to life in prison. Today, the Governator known as Arnold Schwarzenegger denied him clemency, just as he did on Dec. 12 to Tookie. It's been said that people don't want Allen to die because of his mental disabilities and old age. The Supreme Court says that it's curel and unusual to execute a mentally disabled becuase he/she doesn't know why the heck execution. Personally, because he cannot see and is nearly deaf, acording to the Yahoo news article, then I really think he should die. I mean, what's the point of living when 76, unable to see or hear, having been accused of murder, and being mentally disabled? Treatment is near impossible for this guy. Plus, the crime he comitted involved death to an innocent citizen; so he the accused and guilty should be given a taste of his own medicine. Oh yeah, this was also the reason to jusitify the execution of Tookie.

Hmm, what do i wanna do this 2006? 2005 was a hip year, graduating from middle school, becoming old enough to use myspace , loving a girl for the first time, mastering the complicated world of the internet, getting English 1 Accelerated. Hmm, What am I looking forward to in 2006? Let me see...

- Taking my one and only hot chick to a school dance for the first time. If i wanna first date, it better be 2006! Why be 15 without a date darnedit?

- I want Windows Vista, which according to the Wikipedia will come out July 23!

- I want a 4.0 GPA in both semesters of my feshman year, probably better in sophormore.

- This summer i wanna take Algebra II so I can take AP Calculus next year

- After a successful year in English 1A why not Englihs 2A next year...or better yet AP Englihs LIterature???

- Last year the 49ers and Raiders got the top picks in the NFL draft, yet they still sucked last year! Hopefuly the Raiders can get people who can actually play ball - Randy Moss and the new guy weren't enough it seems. Could've been way better - and f*k the 49ers, they'll never be as good as the 1990s (anyone remember Jerry Rice or Joe Montana?)

- For the first time since 1994, the Golden State Warriors will actually make the playoffs! They've been edging closer and closer since 2002-03, and now let's see if they can actually make it!