CAPS

i think i can recognize 97% of the NBA if they walked by me on the street. probably 12% of the NFL, and roughly 16% of baseball players. just a side note, if i walk around the World Series Main Event, i think i would recognize about 18% of the players (this is legitimately sad, the amount of useless knowledge in my head is unbelievable, i would pay to have the useless knowledge removed and replaced with simple stuff, like knowing all the US presidents, wait, the 4th president was who again? umm..who won the world series of poker in 2007? jerry yang, next question)

i've seen basketball players in public before. i get stupidly star struck. i remember i saw andris biedrins walking through the lobby of the Wynn in Vegas. i remember being in a deep state of star struckedness, i half yelled/mumbled ANDRIS, i can't quite remember but i think he at least looked my way. i followed him til he got into an elevator. 

=one time, i was in downtown santa barbara, and kyle korver walks past me. he was with some girl. i stopped walking and turned, and saw that he was pretty tall, and i was only 70% sure it was him, but then i thought why would an NBA player be in SB during the season. so i brushed it off, then i read online that he was rehabbing in santa barbara. cool story grant, iknowiknow

=and once at marine world, we saw mitch ritchmond. all i remember is steve asking him "are you mitch ritchmond?"

but anyway, i wonder how many professional football and baseball players i've seen in my life that i didn't recognize. there's gotta be a handful. i wish there was a way to look up stats on this. like if there was a site starreference.com, i can look up how many athletes that i passed by in 2006, 2007, and 2008. like, in 2005, i didn't recognize 3 football players and baseball player. BUT IN 06, for whatever reason, i didn't recognize 13! football players, 5 baseball players, and 2 basketball players! just crazyy.  and if i upgrade to the premium site, i can see specific examples. like, in 2009, i walked by two thirds of the royals starting lineup! wait...huh?

the flizzy

some netflix finds.

2 months 2 million= a reality show about 4 online poker players that spend a summer in vegas and have a goal to make 2 mirrion dollars in 2 months. this show is soooooo good if you have at least a 10% interest in gambling/poker

the street stops here= documentary about a high school basketball team from new jersey. bobby hurley sr. is the coach (if you have HBOgo, one of the best documentaries i've seen in the past 8 months is "prayer for a perfect season" which follows another high school basketball team from new jersey, it was michael kidd-gilcrhist's senior year)

ROUNDERS- i watch this movie every 9 months

monkey trouble- who remembers the movie with the girl who takes care of the monkey who steals everything????

saved by the bell - the season where they are working at the beach. best season and it's not close

backstage- documentary about jay-z's 1999 hark knock life tour. pretty interesting. 

here it is

just an idea i had. based on no stats, no history, and no examples.

THE COFFEE SHOP TEST

you're dating a girl. 2-6 months. it's going decently well, you like each other blah blah barf barf. you're pretty sure you want to take the next step. exclusive boyfriend girlfriend blah blah barf barf. you need to make sure she passes the test. this is for guys only. the girl can know exactly NOTHING about the coffee shop test. okay. random weekend. you both have no plans for the day. you take the girl into a random nice coffee shop. in order for the girl to pass the test, you must be able to stay inside the coffee shop and enjoy each other's company for 3 hours.

you guys don't have to talk the whole time (but you can), you just have to be OKAY with doing nothing, must be OKAY with the silence. she has to be able to entertain herself for a little. must be able to enjoy the 3 hours. maybe some combination of eating/drinking coffee and a muffin, debate about which Disney Channel Original Movie was better (alley cats strike or Brink ((alley cats strike is better imo, and it's very very close)), look for a newspaper, check each other's instagram, call her mom, check her emails, talk about where you guys want to eat dinner that night, help choose a birthday gift for someone, PEOPLE-WATCH and pick out couples that walk by and guess the relationship (friends? dating? co-workers? he likes her but she's not feeling it.), order another drink to share, last 15 minutes talk about how fun it was and how you guys should do it more often. 3 hours done. 

if she gets bored and says something similar to "i'm bored, can we go yet?" ==== it's not going to work

if spending 3 hours is a struggle === it's not going to work

this is not a do-or-die, if she doesn't pass the test, she can re-take the test in 2 weeks. if she fails 3 times === it's not going to work

there are flaws i know, gotta tweak. more tests to come. blog every other day

the perfect storm

bill simmons is my favorite sports writer. it's sort of gross how i agree 100% with whatever he writes. i'll read his columns and laugh out loud to myself. i'll listen to his podcasts and laugh out loud. he hates the lakers, he understands that lebron is better than kobe, he understands that it's better to be a top 4 team or a bottom 4 team (and nothing in the middle), he understands that westbrook is nasty. he understands how much fun is it to attend the national sports cards and collectibles show. and he started a site called grantland.com

i dont know why i had to say all of that.

but any way. no one has been asking, so i thought i should answer on my blog. i follow a bunch of people on twitter, BUT there are only 3 people who i get mobile notifications for (their texts get sent directly to my phone like a text message)

@sportsguy33 - bill simmons,  the man. 

@haralabob - haralabos voulgaris. he is a poker player, but is recognized by most as a legit nba sports bettor. he once did a cribs-type video for cardplayer (below), showing off his sick house. his gf isn't bad looking either. his tweets consist of a bunch of nba analysis, gambling trends, the occasional pick, and some poker

@wojyahoonba - adrian wojnarowski, covers the nba for yahoo, he is usually the first to report big news. fun during nba draft and nba trade deadline.

maybe i posted this already

grantland just had a podcast with haralabob as a guest, sooo good. grantland.com