Tuesday Morning Starting Five: April 14, 2009
Mark “The Bird” Fidrych passes away at 54. Anyone remember his rookie year? (Freep)
Yao leads Rockets over Hornets. (Houston Chronicle)
The Bull Wonder leads Chicago past Detroit. (Chicago Sun TImes)
Orlando Hudson goes for cycle in Dodgers home opener. (CBSsports.com)
Zeke might land at Florida International. (NY Daily News)
Why supplanting the dollar would be good for America. (Time.com)
Finally? Minnesota court confirms Al Franken winner in Senate race. (NY Daily News)
I’ll have a report from the Sixers/Celtics game tonight posted on SLAM tomorrow. The Sixers really need this win to avoid the Celtics in the first round. Be Peace my people and have a great day.
…”Franken actually gained more votes from the election challenge than Coleman, who brought the legal action in the first place… Coleman immediately announced plans to appeal. His petition could further delay the seating of Minnesota’s second senator for weeks.”
I wish Al Gore was this persistent in 2000…LOL
I hope Franken is eventually seated–soon. The Republicans are looking really desperate right now.
Quote of the night from Denver Nuggets’ guard J.R. Smith
“The way I was feeling… yeah,” Smith responded with a smile. “I could’ve bounced it off the floor and it would’ve went in.”
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=12257
On the court, J.R. Smith is a great scorer, but off the court apparently he is a poor driver, a careless driver.
Even though this is somewhat old news, Smith was on the verge of being kicked out of the NBA two years ago for his reckless behavior and if I recall he had been traded when had philosophical differences with Bryon Scott of the New Orleans Hornets.
>>In October 2008, a grand jury in Monmouth County, New Jersey declined to indict Smith on a vehicular manslaughter charge stemming from the accident. However, Smith is due in court in early January to face summonses stemming from the crash.
>>>Smith’s driving record included five suspensions in eight months, but was “in good standing” at the time of the crash in New Jersey. He was required to pay restoration fees and fines. Smith totaled 27 points against his record from April 2005 to January 2006, including eight violations on seven different days. Five citations were for speeding.[14] Since the accident, he has received two more speeding tickets and three license suspensions in New Jersey.>>>>
WTF — why in the hell is that guy allowed to drive?
Mizzo:
It’s too bad that the TIME magazine article on the role of the dollar makes no mention of the process by which the US switched the backing for the dollar from GOLD to OIL. The fundamentals of the economy are not sound — and haven’t been since the Treasury was fleeced in 1913. Countries don’t hold dollars, principally, because of its intrinsic value. They hold dollars because its relative value is propped up by other nations compelled to keep reserves for the purchase of oil.
Way back when, the US was able to create a security-for-oil deal with the Saudis in which ANY NATION buying oil from Saudi Arabia had to do so in dollar-denominated currency. That’s the “secret” behind the enormous purchases of T-bills by Japan and China. That’s just one reason why Iraq and Iran are so important. If the energy needs of large Asian nations can be met through euros or yen or another currency, they will dramatically reduce their holdings of US securities.
The result would be some pain on their side (in the short run) and some pain on this side (short term and long term). If this arrangement didn’t exist, this economic crisis would be infinitely worse. As it stands, the POTUS can put an optimistic face on it.
I hate to indulge in nostalgia, but I moved to Detroit in the early summer of 1976 (I’ve done more inexplicable things than I care to remember under the influence of various girlfriends). I’ve never seen anything like the energy Mark Fidrych infused into the city of Detroit. Several books, none of which I’ve read, have been written about that magical summer, but I don’t think anyone could exaggerate the excitement the Bird generated. It was the one thing I’ve ever experienced as a sports fan that was in reality even bigger and more exciting than the media hype surrounding it. If only injuries hadn’t ended his career far too early, and an apparent accident hadn’t ended his life in a similar way. Thanks, Mark.
NFL schedule released…..what is the method to their madness? Gotta be for ratings…right? That explains those intriguing Cowboys with 5 primetime games! LOL!!
Damn Sixers…Celts put that half-court on ‘em and that was all she wrote and where the hell was Lou Williams in the second half? Bad coaching DiLeo.