I'm not a big Halloween fan, never really was even as a child. Sure, I was like any other cavity-ridden child and loved hauling in free candy. I just wasn't into the dressing up and begging part. Now as an adult, I work so hard year round trying to dignify myself only to have it come crashing down in one day. More accurately, one night.
With all the Christmas decorations that are already set up before Halloween, it's not that out of place for me to say. Bah, Humbug!
Professional athletes have a growing reputation of being idiots. For the most part, NBA players are top of the class. I equate them with being rebellious children. In 1998, Latrell Sprewell choked then-head coach P. J. Carlisimo when they were both with the Golden State Warriors. Then last year, there was a fight between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons players, which ended up with several Pacers players jumping into the stands to beat up some fans.
It's not a huge surprise that the NBA commish wants to clean up the image of their players, so he instituted a dress code for players and coaches before games, in the locker room, and at press conferences afterwards. These situations put players in the public eye nearly as much as being on the court. Most of the players are in an uproar over it. I want to tell them to start sucking on their pacifiers and shut the hell up. The NBA is not the first profession to institute a dress code, nor will they be the last. They are highly paid individuals and role models to many. Perhaps they should realize that maybe, just maybe, it's a small price to pay for their fame.
The announcement of the impending dress code prompted some players to speak out. The most notable one comes from the center for the Denver Nuggets, Marcus Camby. He said, "I don't see it happening unless every NBA player is given a stipend to buy clothes." That ranks right up there with the comments Latrell Sprewell made last year. On October 31, 2004, after Minnesota Timberwolves offered Sprewell a $21 million, 3 year contract extension, he declared, "I've got my family to feed." In response to Camby's comments, I took the time to research league minimum salaries. This is what I found for rookies broken down by the year set by the collective bargaining agreement. Veteran minimums are higher determined by the length of time spent in the league.
Years in NBA 2005-06 - $398,762 2006-07 - $412,718 2007-08 - $427,163 2008-09 - $442,114 2009-10 - $457,588 2010-11 - $473,604
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income for 2004 is $44,389. So a rookie in the NBA that was signed as a free agent would make nearly 10 times more than the average american household.
To me, if these NBA players like Iverson, Sprewell, and Camby don't shut their pie holes, then why don't we move them down to Ward 9 in New Orleans and give them a lesson in appreciation.
Since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit Louisiana, I've caught some news reports. Reporters kept on talking about Cameron Parish and Jefferson Parish, etc. As I guessed, they are just a fancy pants way of referring to counties. This is what I found in Wikipedia.
There are still remnants of its former status as a possession of France, including: the use of a civil law legal system, based on the Louisiana Civil Code, which is similar to (and often confused with) the Napoleonic Code (like France, and unlike the rest of the United States, which uses a common law legal system derived from England), the term "parishes" being used to describe the state's sub-divisions as opposed to "counties", etc.
I verify my guess and learn some more trivia. I love wikipedia.
Made the most of the fading summer season. First on Friday night, I took Yan to the Coldplay concert at Nissan Pavilion. The weather was great for an outdoor concert, albeit a little chilly for me. It was fun just lying on the lawn and staring up at all the stars while the opening band was playing. Overall, I have to say the concert itself was pretty good. They played most of their big hits, and only a disappointingly few of their great songs that never made it to the radio. That was one of the many drawbacks of the show, which was enough to make very sour to concerts at Nissan Pavilion and make me think twice about going to another Coldplay concert. Here come the gripes. First of all, it took more than 3 hours to get from my house to Nissan Pavilion. I understand there was some rush hour traffic, but it was simply chaotic. Once there, Coldplay didn't come on until 9:20pm or so. But they only played for slightly more than an hour. That was probably the most disappointing part. We heard about 3-5 songs per album and most of the stuff that they play on the radio. Let's see if I can remember correctly (not in this order):
Talk White Shadows Speed of Sound Til Kingdom Come Politik The Scientist Clocks God Put a Smile on Your Face Green Eyes? Yellow Trouble Everything's not Lost And a Johnny Cash Song
The encore was short. With them only playing: In My Place and Fix You. We tried to beat the crowd and split before most people, but we got stuck nonetheless. It took us another 2.5 hours to get home anyway. At least I didn't let the young whippersnapper cut in front of me in the parking lot. BOOYAH!
On Saturday, Yan and I met up with lindot for a dim sum lunch at Oriental East. It was good seeing him and his sarcastic ways again. He seems to be doing ok, but I think he'd do better if Jackie were down here with him, if anything, to keep him from starving and stepping on crap on the floor of the elevator.
Afterwards, Yan took me on Part II of my birthday present, a chauffered tour of Virginia wine country. I was very pleasantly surprised by the number and quality of the wineries. I guess I always imagined it to be 2 or 3 wineries down a dusty road. Instead it's quite spread out in Loudoun county along with the rest of Virginia. We only had time and the energy to hit up four vineyards, and for the most part they were very good. We picked a up a few bottles here and there and chatted briefly with Tracy, one of Yan's friends that works at a vineyard part-time. What a great way to spend a Saturday with the one I love.
Dang it, now the pressure's on me to one up her again.
