Yelp Review: The Odyssey

I've scribbled a brief review of The Odyssey restaurant over at Yelp. Enjoy.

NFL Draft Review: Day One

I should start off by saying that making predictions about who is or isn't an impact draft pick the day after the draft is a losing proposition. How can anyone possibly know how these guys will play out in the NFL? Nevertheless, the NFL draft has become an event in and of itself, essentially marking the beginning of a new NFL season. Before I give my thoughts about the Packers' 2007 draft class, I should take a moment to say last year, I was not enthused about their draft picks. Fast-forward one year later, and they've got themselves two very good linebackers (A.J. Hawk, Abdul Hodge), put two key pieces on the offensive line in place (Justin Coston, Daryn Colledge), and found a good wide receiver in the second round (Greg Jennings). So take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

Round 1 - Justin Harrell, Tennessee (DT)
Run defense has been a problem for this team, but I'm not sure we didn't have more pressing needs. This team really could use impact players at RB and WR, but instead they elected to get a big body for the defense. Admittedly, their defense was in the bottom 10 last year, so maybe this is the unsexy, smart pick. From what I've read, this guy doesn't offer much of a pass-rush, so he's going to be in there mostly to take up space and slow down the other team's running game. With Adrian Peterson going to the Vikings, maybe they thought they needed to upgrade their run defense to combat him and Kevin Jones in the division (Cedric Benson doesn't scare anybody). I suppose they addressed a position of need, just maybe not the one I would have addressed first.

Round 2 - Brandon Jackson, Nebraska (RB)
I know my brother was hoping for a RB here, but he wanted Michael Bush. Strangely, after three rounds, Bush is still on the board, but it could be his injury history that's scaring teams away. I guess this is another need-addressing pick, but this guy's only 5'9'', 210. I'm worried that he may be too small to use in short-yardage situations, and it doesn't sound like he has the Maurice Drew/Tiki Barber/Tatum Bell type breakaway speed to make up for it in the open field. Maybe they only want to use him in 3rd down or passing situations, but it seems to me a guy that small is also going to be a liability blocking in the backfield.

Round 3 - James Jones, San Jose State (WR)
Again, I know we needed a wide receiver, but who is this guy? Everything I've read makes it sound like he's a possession receiver, good for going across the middle and fighting for jump balls, but isn't going to stretch the field or do much after the catch. I guess we could use that, and their wide receiver plans probably went awry went Dwayne Jarrett was drafted a few picks ahead of them in the second round, but why not move up to get a proven big-game winner? Maybe in the salary cap age, quantity is worth more than quality. Then again, they surprised last year with Jennings who also didn't go to a traditional football powerhouse (Western Michigan).

Round 3 - Aaron Rouse, Virginia Tech (S)
Well, we could definitely use a safety to pair with Nick Collins, but from what I've read, this guy's not much more than a converted outside linebacker. That means he's a stud in run support, and possibly a liability in coverage against slot receivers or tight ends up the seams. My best hope for this guy is that he punishes the other teams receivers enough with his hits to make up for his deficiencies in coverage.

Lakers vs. Suns: Game 3 Review

A gentleman named Nate Jones writes for The Fanhouse, and I thought his top-ten explanation of game three was right on.

Top Ten Reasons The Lakers Beat the Suns
10) Hustle and Desire: After going down by seventeen points in the first quarter, it would have been easy for the Lakers to stop playing and to get run off on their home floor by the Suns. I mean that's what most people expected to happen in the first place. For the first time in a long time the Lakers actually played hard on both ends of the floor. They ran after every loose ball, contested every shot, and played a physical brand of ball. Last night, guys like Smush Parker left their egos at the door, and just went out and played hard. That's all Lakers fans have ever wanted. If you play hard and lose, fans can live with it. It's when you lose without giving it your all that fans start to get upset.

9) Lamar Odom: No one ever wants to give this guy any credit, but he's the reason they almost won game 1 and definitely a big reason why they won game 3. No, he's not ever going to be a 20ppg scorer. But he is going to score around 15-16 points, get at least 10 boards, and then play great all around defense. I wish people would stop trying to make him into something he's not. He's never going to be a 20 ppg scorer, but he is always going to be someone that fills up the box score in an invaluable way. The most impressive part about Lamar Odom at this point is that he's playing like this despite all of the adversity he has had to overcome this season. Right now he's playing with a bad shoulder and a bad knee. As well, he still has a heavy heart from the death of his infant son. Yet he's still out there giving it his all. You have to respect that.

8) They Ran Their Offense: When most people talk about the Lakers problems they focus on the defensive end. But a lot of the Lakers problems on the defensive end stem from their problems on the offensive side of the ball. When they run their offense correctly, and shoot good shots, it makes it more difficult for teams to run on them. Over the last month or so, it's been hand the ball off to Kobe and watch him go to work. This game they decided to get everyone involved, which helped them on both sides of the ball.

7) Kwame Brown: Did Kwame Brown have the game of his life or what? I've never seen the guy be as aggressive in a game before. Kwame's never really had a problem getting to the rim. His problem has always been finishing around the rim. With is small hands, Kwame is usually the king of air balling open lay ups (Before Kwame, I didn't even know it was possible to do that). Last night, he finally figured out that if he goes up with two hands and dunks the ball, it's pretty difficult for teams to stop him. As well, he actually didn't wuss out after twisting his ankle. And people say it was better for the Lakers to miss the playoffs. Even if they do lose the series (which they probably will), I still think they are better off for making the playoffs. The experience that young players like Brown get playing from playing in the playoffs is too invaluable to pass up.

6) They Controlled the Paint and the Boards: The Lakers have been talking about pounding it inside all series long, and last night they finally did it. On the offensive side of the ball, the Lakers finally decided to exploit match ups. In the post, the Lakers cause many match up problems for the smallish Suns. If the Suns exploit the lack of foot speed, it's up to the Lakers to come back and exploit the Suns lack of size. I mean, the Suns start a 6'7" power forward and a 6'9" center, so they are not very intimidating inside. Pounding the ball inside also gives the Lakers an advantage because the Lakers also have an advantage in offensive rebounding. If the Lakers pound the ball inside and attack the rim, even if they miss, one of their bigs is likely to clean it up. As well, pounding the ball inside increases the likelihood that they will get fouled and have an opportunity to shoot free throws. Look at the Lakers free throw advantage last night. It wasn't because of some conspiracy to help the Lakers win. It was mostly because the Lakers controlled the paint and were aggressive in attacking the rim.

5) They Covered the Three Point Shooters at All Costs: The Lakers tried to contest every single three point shot last night. In this game they were aware of the three point shooters, and chased them off of the three point line. Other than Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire (when his jumper is on), the Suns are a terrible mid range shooting team. Those guys either want to shoot three pointers or get lay ups. So it's almost better to contest a three point shot and then give up a mid-range shot than it is to contest a mid range shot and then give up a three. Especially with how deadly the Suns shooters are from long range.

4) Kobe Bryant: Kobe Bryant had a bounce in his step last night that I haven't seen in a long time. Instead of settling for jump shots, he attacked the rim like he did in his younger days. For a second, I thought we were back in 2003, where Bryant attacked the rim the way Dwyane Wade does today. People talk about Kobe not being a leader, but last night you could see that he has truly evolved into one. He was encouraging players, setting up teammates, and directing the offense. As Sam Cassell said last night: "He might not be Michael Jordan, but he ain't no Harold Miner either. He's the best we've got today." Hating on Kobe Bryant is soooo 2004.

3) They Attacked Amare Stoudemire: Everyone keeps saying that the Lakers can't pound the ball inside against the Suns this season because Amare Stoudemire is back in the line up. As Phil Jackson stated before last nights game, that is definitely an incorrect way of thinking. Amare Stoudemire is a good help defender, but a terrible one on one defender. Amare is the kind of guy that is more worried about staying the game so he can dunk on cats than playing aggressive one on one defense that might cause him to pick up fouls. Plus he's only 6'9". A big guy with long arms and a wide body is always going to be difficult for him to guard one on one. Last night the Lakers exploited Amare's lack of size with Kwame Brown and took advantage of his tendency to roam on defense by finding his man for open dunks every single time he came to help on a shot.

2) They Contained Steve Nash and Leandro Barbosa: Barbosa and Nash KILLED the Suns in the first two games. In game 3 it was obvious that the Lakers had game planned well for Barbosa and Nash. First they covered Barbosa with the quicker Shammond Williams. Unlike Smush Parker, Williams doesn't have a tendency to gamble. Gambling for steals on a guy like Barbosa (as proved in the first two games) can be deadly. That's why a more conservative defender like Williams worked out better for the Lakers in this game. As for Nash, their game plan of switch and trapping on high screen and rolls totally threw him off of his game. Usually defenders are always back peddling when they play Nash. In this game, the Lakers were attacking him before he could make a move. Nash's is goal is to get in the lane and cause havoc, but in this game, I can't really recall him getting into the lane more than a few times.

1) They Controlled the Tempo: Outside of containing Nash and Barbosa, the Lakers number one concern should always be controlling the tempo. And last night the Lakers did a great job of it. It's very difficult for the Suns to win games when they are held under 100 points. I mean, if the Lakers hadn't gone completely cold in the fourth quarter of game one, they probably would have defeated the Suns in that game too. Why? Because the Suns are vulnerable when they aren't scoring at a fast pace. Continuing to continuing to shoot intelligent shots, while controlling the boards, and the paint will help the Lakers keep the tempo in their favor.

If they can repeat enough of this in game four, we could be looking at a 2-2 series tie. In a remaining best of three games series...I don't know. Maybe I am starting to believe.

But if they Lakers come out, lay an egg, and go down 3-1...I'm calling them dead in the water.

L.A. Sports Update

First, the bad news. The Dodgers were swept at home for the first time in five years by the hated Giants. I guess it's a good thing I didn't go to the game tonight, as there are probably some seriously bent Dodger fans in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium looking for someone to shoot. Overall, the Dodger outlook is still looking good, but they're going to need Rafael Furcal to start hitting soon. I know he's notoriously bad in April and that he's coming off an injury, but they need his offense.

On the bright side, the Lakers got off the mat in their playoff series with the Suns. They are still serious underdogs to win in this series, and if they lose their next game at home and go down 3-1, the series is all but over. Then again, if they win the next one and tie it up and 2-2, it becomes a best of three series... and I suppose anything could happen.

The Suns are really freaking good, though. There's really no reason they should need to let this series go to 7 games, outside of a serious injury to one of their big 6. Any casual basketball fan should be following this series closely as it has the most entertaining, uptempo offense in the NBA (the Suns) against the most talented player in the NBA (Kobe Bryant).

35 Before 25: Teach Parents to Use the Internet

For Christmas 2006, I made my dad a pretty rocking computer. It's about the size of a small toaster oven, and it's capable of more than my parents will ever use it for. When building it, I decided it was time to get my parents onto the internet superhighway. Here's why

1) Unless if his NBA career skyrockets in the next 18 months, my brother will be moving away for his freshman year of college at the end of Summer 2008. This means my parents will be left at home with an overgrown three year old german shepherd, a menagerie of obnoxious birds, my mom's youngest sister and her four year old son. My mom's going to need someone to mother. As is, my brother's basically been renting a room in my parent's house for the last year or two, only appearing to microwave mini-pizzas and to ask for money to go to the movies. You'd think that they wouldn't miss him much.

I think the reality is my mom's going to lose a screw. The empty nest syndrome will hit her hard, and she may start crocheting sweaters for our dog before long. My mom will test the limits of unlimited mobile-to-mobile minutes as she looks to her eldest son for consolation. My hope is to lay the foundation that EMAIL is a viable way of communicating with me. Maybe that's callous, but I just don't think my clients will respect an attorney who has to keep interrupting meetings to take calls from his mom.

2) Even as their inexplicable non-sequiturs grow, I'm convinced my parents are actually intelligent people. Anything I've taken the time to explain more than once, they've learned quickly. In this case, they do want to learn. My goals are modest. Get them to use email, google for information, and maybe set them up so they can manage their bank accounts and bills online. Sounds easy enough, just have to put the time in. They bought me my first computer long before it was financially reasonable to own a personal computer. It's the least I can do to repay them.

35 Before 25: See Snow in Person

This one was completed accidentally. Two weeks ago, I was in Oklahoma visiting with family. It's a nice place to visit if you really like any of the following: church, college football, Wal-mart, or oversized American trucks. Overall, I was nonplussed. That said, I did feel a redeeming moment when I was walking around on my aunt's backyard acreage and it snow flurries started to fall from the sky. In April. I'm sure there's nothing enchanting about snow for people who have to shovel their driveways on a yearly basis, but for a guy from L.A. whose concept of snow is limited to the slushy, 1/2 manmade slopes of the local snow resorts, this was a cool moment. You just don't get moments of newness and wonder that often after about age 12. And maybe, it was just enough to get me back to Mammoth next winter, even if it means Josh gets carted down the mountain on his back by the ski patrol again.

This Is How You Know It's Finals Time

I'm finding new and creative ways to give myself a heart arrhythmia. Tastes pretty good, actually.

Dodger Update

Jon Weisman, my favorite Dodger scribe, posted his thoughts about the Dodgers' red hot start. I feel like I'm mirroring his cautious optimism.

You'll forgive some folks in Los Angeles if they're still a little gunshy about the Dodgers, the winningest team in the National League so far at 13-6. Two years ago, their team, just like this one, was 13-6 and leading the National League West, only to finish the year in disastrous 71-91, Jim Tracy- and Paul DePodesta-firing fashion.

The common assumption is that the 2007 Dodgers can suffer no similar collapse because they are deeper. Luis Gonzalez and Nomar Garciaparra have been producing, but many fans root for players like Matt Kemp and James Loney to rise from understudy status (see below). Meanwhile, strong Aprils by Mark Hendrickson and Brett Tomko have shown that the Dodgers can handle an injury to a starting pitcher (Jason Schmidt) before even asking promising youngsters like Chad Billingsley and the rehabilitating Hong-Chih Kuo to move into the rotation.

When Russell Martin hit a walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning Saturday, an inning after the Dodgers scored the tying run on a walk, wild pitch, error and passed ball, you sensed that the opening scene of the "How They Reached October" highlights package was in the can.

But when Juan Pierre dropped a fly ball to center field Sunday, allowing the Pittsburgh Pirates to score their third run on their way to a 7-3 victory in Los Angeles, the rewrite team had its say. ...

I have no desire to get into a DePodesta argument today, but my feeling is that although the Dodgers are deeper this year thanks to the maturing farm system, this year's team could be in just as much trouble if the same number of injuries again hit the most critical personnel.

So much crashed down upon the Dodgers at once in 2005, it made the overall roster look worse than it was at the season's outset. After all, plenty of people, DePodesta fans or not, predicted that team to do well.

When you look at the '07 team, even with Mike Lieberthal as a backup, Martin appears almost indispensible - instrumental to the team's success. And no one truly knows what Kemp, Kuo, Billingsley, Loney or Andy LaRoche would do over a full season if forced to carry the load.

Are the Dodgers significantly better off at third base in 2007 than they were in 2005? Significantly better off in the outfield? I think these are fair questions.

Perhaps the pitcher's mound is the one place that this year's team seems in significantly better shape. But pitching is inherently unstable - the area most vulnerable to capricious injuries.

Personally, I'm optimistic about the 2007 Dodgers - but then again, I was optimistic in '05. Given that the 2006 team followed a midsummer 3-15 tailspin with a 17-1 reboot, all I know is this: One stretch of 18 or 19 games only sets the stage for the next.

Quick Update

Just wanted to remind myself that I wasn't dead; I'm just really busy in the end-of-the-year school crunch. Here are the things I'd rather be doing this week instead of trying to memorize all of the state bar's Rules for Professional Conduct:
- Watch "Planet Earth" in HD at Amy's
- Playing either Guitar Hero II or Pokemon Diamond
- Getting back into the gym.
Every semester I have an internal fight with myself, where I have to hold back the armies of apathy. It's so much easier for me to not care what happens in my finals, take Cs and call it a semester. In high school it's called "senioritis." In law school, I guess it's called being burned out. I need a vacation.

Remembering Simba

Well, it’s Friday, and I’m reporting to you live from the Sooner state. I’ve been trying to shake some serious lethargy since Monday, but it just isn’t happening. Here are a few thoughts from the last bastion of people who still wear overalls to the supermarket.

It seems trivial to be sad about the loss of a dog, but I can’t seem to shake it. After 10 days of decreased mobility, she was almost entirely paralyzed Wednesday and didn’t have enough strength in her legs to stand on her own. She wasn’t in any pain and was still lucid, but just couldn’t stand or walk on her own. My parents were out of town, so my brother, Amy and I had to take her down to the vet, and ultimately made the decision to euthanize her.

She was my dog when I picked her out of a cardboard box in front of Target when I was twelve, but she quickly became a family mainstay. She slept on top of tables in the backyard, slept on a tempur-pedic remnant in my brother’s room inside. We didn't spent much time with obedience training, but she was a patient giant with the little cousins. On the way home from the vet, my brother kept saying "it's like she wasn't a dog; she was a little person." I don't think he meant it in the way people anthropomorphize the dog they carry in their handbag. She just didn't seem to know she was a dog. She preferred to loaf around in the house with us indoors than run outside with our other dog. She was equal parts companion, peacekeeper, house alarm, vacuum, comedian, roommate, and (for me) therapist. Who I liked in the 8th grade, teenage angst in high school, listening to me hammer out the verses from my short-lived musical career, to asking if I should stay in law school... all of my worries and insecurities went to sleep Wednesday with the perfect secret-keeper.

It’s not rational to eulogize a pet, but she felt like more than a pet to us. My mom wept with us over the phone as I explained to her the euthanasia process. My father was uncharacteristically emotional when I asked him how he thought we should proceed. It felt unfair that I was the one that had to make this decision, but it was my "old yeller" moment. One of the pathetic, sad rites of passage every boy must endure, like having to pay for your own cable or learning to tie your own tie. So tonight, pour out a forty for one of my best, most unheralded friends. Simba, you will be heart-rendingly missed and fondly remembered. I hope you're sleeping happily on a big patio table in the sky.