phaithful

We've been invited again to play at the Hollywood Dodgers Basketball Invitational in Las Vegas. So this past weekend I went out to Las Vegas to meet up with some of my old college buddies to play a little bit of basketball.

Round Robin: Best of 3

So the basic format of this tournament is pretty simple. There are 4 teams in the bracket, and each team plays the other once. The team with the most wins is the overall winner. In case of a tie, the victory goes to the team that allowed the least amount of total points.

The First Game was pretty close. It started off pretty slow with both teams scoring very little (probably because the game started at 9 AM and we were in Vegas...). By half time we were down 6 and 9 minutes into the second half we were down by more than 15. However, we surged back and went on 16 point run. We led 37 to 36 with 2 minutes left to go. Several fouls and free throws later, we ended up winning 39 to 36.

Our next game wasn't until 2 PM, so we pounded down some chinese food and took a short siesta.

The Second Game we was good but they couldn't stand up to our 2 big men down low. When you have a 6' 4" center and a 6' 2" power forward in an mostly Asian tournament, you're going to do pretty good. We ended up winning by a 20 points.

I unfortunately re-sprained my right ankle in this game which I had just badly sprained 10 days earlier. Needless to say it really sucked.... I was out of commission for the rest of the tournament.

In the end the Salt Dawgs faced the No Ka Oi for the championship game with me riding the bench. We won convincingly by 15 pts and walked away with the coveted 'Black T-Shirts'

You Win What?

I think the interesting part of this story happened the Friday before the tournament when I told my co-workers about what I was going to do in Vegas

It sort of went like this:

• Co-workers: So what are you doing this weekend?
• Me: I'm going to Vegas for a basketball invitational tournament
• Co-workers: Do you have to pay to play?
• Me: Yeah, it $525 a team
• Co-workers: Oh? What do you get if you win? (perhaps money? a trophy?)
• Me: Oh, you win a black t-shirt *smiles*
• Co-workers: Uh, a t-shirt? *perplexed*
• Me: Yeah... that what you usually get if you win a tournament. A black t-shirt. All the other participants get a white t-shirt
• Co-workers: *still perplexed* And you really value these t-shirts?
• Me: Yeah... sort of... I only really wear them when I go to tournaments because those are the only people who really understand what they mean.
• Co-workers: Oh... *Moves on to next conversation*

Championship T-Shirts for 2007 & 2005

Haha, I found that rather amusing. Yup, I drove all the way out to Vegas, woke up at 8 AM each morning and drove 30 minutes to Henderson... on the weekend to play basketball and paid $525, just so I could win a black t-shirt. It was well worth it too!!! Nothing beats playing basketball with good friends!

This past Tuesday I played basketball with a few of the QE Earthlinkers. Although we didn't have enough to run 5 on 5, we did get a few good games of 3 on 3 and even 3 on 4 ... heh heh. It was just some good ole fun basketball... none of that BS arguing on every single play down. None of those stupid touch foul calls. Just loving the game, and playing the game.

Great Basketball Videos

As usual, the daily life inspires more videos. So here's my round up of some great basketball videos from around the web, mostly buzzer beaters and fights... ending it with the greats!

Amazing Circus Shot

Never Give Up

Toronto Raptors vs Washington Wizards.... never ever give up

2005 Espy Winner - Blake Hoffarber

That's a horse shot if I've ever seen one.

Buzzer Beater Even the Great One Can't Deny

NCAA Top 10 Buzzer Beaters

Uh... Fighting the Referee?

I've played with some really nasty guys before, but I'm glad I don't play in this league.

Top 10 NBA Fights

More Fisticuffs... too bad it's missing the Artest / Jackson Pacers highlights.

Top 10 NBA Fights - Awesome video clips hereFight Videos - Sexy Videos

Kobe's 81

Nuff said...just SiC

I Want to Be Like Mike

Of course I've got to end it with the Greatest of All Time. Top 40 Jordan Highlights.

I'm not much of a football guy, but after work last night I went out to play a little two-touch football with some of my fellow Earthlinkers at Victory Park. It was a lot of fun...

Finding the Field

It took us a bit of time to find a place to play even though Victory Park is really big. There are 4 full sized baseball fields, 3 large patches of open grass, and a full size track complete with regulation football field in the center with 2 goal posts.

I guess the patch of grass that the QE guys normally play on was being occupied by the summertime soccer players. Also, the field between the 4 baseball outfields was occupied by little league. And the nice football field inside the middle of the track is off limits since the local HS practices there. We ended up finding a nice large patch of somewhat level grass to play 5 on 5.

The Big Game

We split up into two teams of 5 (4 guys and 1 girl). I was on the same team as Farshid and man! does that playa have a crazy arm. He pretty much threw from one end zone to the other, not to mention he's got a few good juke moves.

The Rules

The rules were fairly simple. 5 downs and no first downs. Two hand touch. No blizting, no QB run, no Rushing (we had 1 extra person to start so Glen was always on offense 6 v 5).

The teams came out to pretty even. I think I was the leading receiver for our team and Tanya was the leading receiver for her team. I believe Tanya had the highest reception ratio out of anyone and had quite a few rushing yards to boot. I think I also heard a few chants of "Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!"

In the end, our team won 5 TDs to 3 but it was fairly close competition throughout. All in all it was a good outing and it was a lot of fun just to play some sports with fellow Earthlinkers.

Some Football Vidz

Since I was so inspired of our football play, I thought I'd round up a few of the best football videos I've seen on YouTube. Enjoy!

Plano East vs John Tyler - 1994

Awesome comeback from a highschool team. Down 41-17 with 3 minutes left to go... a story book ending.

Sam I Am has got some Hops

Hmm... should I juke left then go right? spin move? ... nope... let's just jump over this dude and run it in for a touchdown.

Cal vs Stanford 1982

Probably one of the most famous college football plays ever. Hahaha... I always feel so bad for that band member at the end

Since taking up golf, I've been watching a lot more of it. I never thought I'd find golf so interesting, but after getting onto the course and experiencing how tough it really is... Tiger Woods amazes me even more.

Here's an amazing clip of him at The Masters in Augusta in 2005 on Hole 16... simply amazing!!!