LeBron James put up a 32 point, 11 rebound, 10 assist line on the Knicks a couple of nights ago. That got me thinking – who’s had the most games with a triple-double and 30 or more points?
My initial thought was “Bird”, reasoning that Magic didn’t score enough to be #1.
Oscar Robertson was the last player to average a triple-double over the course of a season. In his career he had more 30 point triple-doubles than the next five guys combined.
The UConn women’s basketball team defeated Ohio State today, 81-50. The win gives UConn their 88 straight win, tying them with the 1971-1974 UCLA Bruins.
Some may say women’s basketball doesn’t compare to men’s basketball.
It does — it compares to men’s basketball — of 40 years ago.
I have been thoroughly confused by the moves that his Holiness, Jack Z has made over the last few weeks – not as confused as I am with the moves that Wunderkind Theo Epstein has made, but that is for another post. Z’s moves over the last couple of years have really made me wonder if he is the guy we want running this team.
I was ready to write a nice post praising Z for the signing of Jack Cust and trading Jose Lopez. I really like Cust – yes, he strikes out a ton and yes, he is a butcher in the OF (hey he is no worse than Raul Ibanez ever was), but the guy is a LH power bat who has posted decent numbers in Safeco over his career. More importantly, Cust has great plate discipline and walks a ton, a direction this team really needs to start heading in to be successful. Getting rid of Lopez is addition by subtraction – he can’t hit, he hasn’t met a pitch he didn’t like and he was generally not good defensively. The fact they got a warm body for him was an added bonus. My only question is – does signing Cust mean that Saunders is not going to get regular playing time in LF?
Then Z goes and makes some moves that just are mind blowing.
1) He signs Miguel Olivo for 2 (!) years. Olivo is basically Jose Lopez but a catcher – he swings at everything, hits for occasional power and really is not considered a good fielder. The Mariners moved him a few years ago when he was younger because he couldn’t hit and the pitchers hated throwing to him. I am pretty sure nothing has changed. And before you point out his decent production over the last few seasons – I would like to point out that 3 of those 5 seasons came in the NL, he posted an OPS+ greater than 100 only once and his walk totals in those 5 season were 9, 14, 7, 19 and 27 – every one of those seasons he racked up at least 360 plate appearances.
2) He trades for Brendan Ryan. Ryan is a spare part – a Josh Wilson kind of guy who can play 3 IF positions, none extraordinarily well, but well enough and can hit a little, but you are probably asking for trouble if you give him north of 300 plate appearances. I fundamentally have no problem with getting Ryan, they gave up a guy who probably will never make the majors for him; it is what they are planning to do with Ryan that makes no sense – make him a starter. How many Jack Wilson/Josh Wilson/Matt Tuisasosopo guys do you need on your roster – they are all interchangeable parts and carrying 3 or 4 of them will really limit your team – how does it benefit you if you have 3 guys who all can do the same thing with the same basic abilities.
3) Releasing Rob Johnson. I have no love for Johnson – he can’t handle the pitchers very well, he has trouble with keeping the ball in front of him (as evidenced by the 9 PB in 61 games last year), hasn’t shown that he can hit MLB pitching and really shouldn’t be a starter. He is 28 and probably primed for his best career season, is making close to league minimum and has shown that he can hit in the minors. You are telling me that you had to DFA him instead of finding someone that would be willing to take him for a warm body? They needed to clear a roster spot for Jack Cust, but I don’t understand dumping a catcher. Someone will end up signing him.
The Mariners are going to have to make another move when Olivo officially signs. I can only hope that they guy they get rid of is one of the Jack Wilson/Josh Wilson/Matt Tuisasosopo three headed monster.
I’ve tried making Potatoes Au Gratin using the Joy of Cooking recipe many times. I’ve never been able to get it to come out “right” — it always comes out too “soupy” for my taste.
The picture above shows my latest go at it, using the Joy recipe as a jumping off point. (The dish tightened up quite a bit after a few minutes of cooling — the finished product had almost no “liquid.”)
Here are the two ingredient lists, side by side:
Joy of Cooking
Coltrane’s Alternate
1 Clove Garlic
1 Clove Garlic
1 TBP Butter
1 TBP Butter
2.5 lbs baking potatoes, peeled
2 lbs “Red Skin Golden” potatoes, unpeeled
3 cups milk or half-and-half
2 cups half-and-half
1 tsp salt
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp pepper
pinch nutmeg
pinch nutmeg
Cheese, bread crumbs, and dots of butter to cover.
1/2 cup shredded cheese
The potatoes in the Alternate are Jolly Green Giant “Red Skin Golden Potatoes.” I think they’re just new red potatoes. I also left the skins on, because I didn’t feel like peeling smallish nubby potatoes. (Read: Didn’t feel like the extra work or throwing away nutrients.) It turns out that when the potatoes are sliced super thin the skins don’t have any substance left; peeling the potatoes isn’t really necessary. Besides, if anyone asks then the dish was intended to be “rustic.”
The recipe:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Halve garlic clove and rub on interior of baking dish. Rub the butter in the baking dish.
3. Combine potatoes, milk, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and milk or half-and-half in saucepan. Bring to simmer. Simmer until liquid reduces slightly, about 5 minutes.
4a. Joy recipe: Pour mixture into the baking dish, top with the cheese, butter, and/or breadcrumbs. (The butter and cheese are “optional.”) Bake until the top is golden and the potatoes are tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
4b. Alternate recipe: Pour half the mixture into the baking dish. Top with half of the cheese. Pour remaining mixture into the baking dish. Top with the remaining cheese. (This keeps the cheese from all sitting on top, as the Joy recipe calls for.) Bake until the potatoes are tender, 1 hour.
The cheese can be a combination of chedder, gruyere, and/or anything else that shreds well.
This is another recipe that the thin slicing disk on the kitchenaid is the Best. Thing. Evar. Total prep time was maybe 5 minutes, plus another 5 minutes of simmering the potatoes on the stove.
I’m guessing reintroducing the knobs of butter wouldn’t hurt the Alternate..
LaDainian Tomlinson will join the NFL Hall of Fame after he retires, and his retirement is probably coming up soon.
Here are Tomlinson’s Career Yards Per Carry, season by season:
Tomlinson’s Yards Per Carry declined steadily after his age 27 season — four years ago he averaged 5.2 yards per carry. Since then his average carry dropped to 4.7 yards, then to 3.8, bottoming out at 3.3.
At that point the Chargers had seen enough, and they released him … Running backs don’t stay employed for long while averaging under about 4.0 yards per carry.
The Jets decided he could still play and signed him to a two-year deal.
Tomlinson started this season going gangbusters for the Jets. Television analysts were saying things like “He hasn’t run this well in years!” or “He looks like the LT of old again!”
That lasted four or five games:
Yards Per Carry, 2010
Note the helpful “trend line.”
Fortunately for Tomlinson, he started well enough that his season average sits at 4.3 yards per carry — even after a six-game stretch of fewer than 4 yards per attempt. I’ll be interested to see if Tomlinson plays next year, and if so, how much the team lets him handle the ball. My suspicion is that he’s basically a 3rd down back at this point in his career, and the Jets have tried to use him as an every-down back — a role he can’t capably fill anymore.
Great career though. He’s 6th all-time in career rushing yards, 2nd in rushing touchdowns, and 7th all-time in total yards from scrimmage.
I was in the grocery store today and it occurred to me that I don’t really know what’s “In Season” during December. It also occurred to me that I could be eating for less money if I had a better idea of what to buy.
The table below is adapted from this website. (Though there are many sites that seem to have the same list, or something remarkably similar.) I consolidated their information and removed the stuff I’m unlikely ever to purchase (“Ollalieberries”??) — I wanted the table to be small enough to print and keep in a coat pocket:
Some impressions of two games I watched on Saturday:
UNC-Kentucky: Kentucky entered the game ranked 10th. UNC entered the game unranked due to three (close) early season losses. I don’t really see a dimes worth of difference between them. Both teams feature young players that will be playing in the NBA soon — at times there were as many as about seven NBA guys on the court at once. UNC has more overall depth, especially in the frontcourt. Kentucky has the better guardplay, and their guards should improve between now and the NCAA tournament. (This can’t be said of UNC’s guards — they’re both combo guards who are miscast when playing the point. Neither has good court vision, and neither is very good at creating for other players. I don’t think UNC’s guards will experience any real improvement between now and tournament time.)
Two Players Who Caught My Attention: Kentucky freshman guard Doron Lamb and UNC’s 6’10” sophmore forward John Henson. UNC’s freshman Harrison Barnes was a preseason AP All-American. As of right now he’s shooting 33.8% for the season, and you can see why — too many forced shots. If he gets it together, look out, but I don’t see it yet.
Demetri McCamey
Gonzaga-Illinios at the Key:
Many thanks to the veteran usher who took mercy on us at the Battle in Seattle. The Gonzaga-Illinios game was (predictably) a blowout. We were sitting in relatively inexpensive seats, and our row contained three infants on the laps of parents. (I’m not making that up!) Naturally, this turned into a Chinese Fire Drill of people getting up to use the “facilities.” We vacated our seats to sit somewhere further back, and the young parents didn’t hesitate to wave over a female friend of theirs, who was carrying a fourth(!) infant. (She had a baby in one hand and was texting with the other — I didn’t see a lot of basketball watching happening from any of the parents.) Here’s a tip folks: Next time, hire a sitter.
In any event, kudos to the usher who moved us away from the bedlam and into good seats where we could actually *watch* the game. He took what had been a crappy situation and turned it into a positive experience.
As for the game, Illinios had the two best players on the floor in senior point guard Demetri McCamey and senior center Mike Tisdale. They look like an Elite Eight team to me. (You could argue that Illinois had something like 5 or 6 of the best 7 players in the building.) Gonzaga doesn’t have their usual Big White Scorer (Boldin, Dickau, Morrison, etc) this year. Elias Harris will be an NBA guy, but the rest of the team lacks the ability to consistently get and execute good shots.
Illinois entered the game ranked 21st. Gonzaga was ranked 24th. The final score was 73-61 Illinios, and for most of the second half it wasn’t that close.
Predictions on end-of-season ranks and tournament performance:
Kentucky: 9th. (Sweet 16, due to lack of depth.)
UNC: 11th. (Elite 8.)
Illinois: 15th. (Elite 8. In March, I’m going to like Illinois more than everyone else does, unless everyone likes them by then.)
Gonzaga: 24th-30th. A couple of league losses would knock Gonzaga out of the top 25, and it’s possible they’ll miss the NCAA tournament. Best case is that they make the tournament and survive a round or two.
Back in July, I made this post about Three True Outcomes. Well, now that the season is over, we can crown this year’s champion. The winner – Mark Reynolds of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Not only did Reynolds win the award, he blew away the second place finisher, Adam Dunn, and Reynolds also won in spectacular fashion by striking out 211 times, having the second lowest batting average for guys who qualified for the batting title, going 5 for 64 in September for an .078 BA (and still managing to post a .231 OBP) and essentially getting benched for the last 8 games of the year.
Here is the 2010 leaderboard:
Mark Reynolds - your 2010 TTO Champion!
TM
PA
HR
BB
SO
OPS+
TTO%
Mark Reynolds
ARI
582
32
83
211
98
.56014
Adam Dunn
WAS
635
38
77
199
138
.49449
Carlos Pena
TB
571
28
87
158
102
.47811
Colby Rasmus
STL
527
23
63
148
132
.44402
David Ortiz
BOS
600
32
82
145
137
.43167
Drew Stubbs
CIN
569
22
55
168
108
.43058
Justin Upton
ARI
559
17
64
152
111
.41682
BJ Upton
TB
603
18
67
164
105
.41293
Prince Fielder
MIL
692
32
114
138
137
.41040
With that incredibly ugly season by Reynolds, I believe the all-time leader board now looks like this:
TM
PA
HR
BB
SO
OPS+
TTO%
Jack Cust
OAK
2311
102
400
732
122
.53397
Mark Reynolds
ARI
2285
121
260
767
108
.50241
Adam Dunn
TB
6065
354
990
1632
133
.49068
Cust is still #1 for his career (he had a .48941 TTO% in 2010, but only had 425 PA, so he didn’t qualify for the first list), but the lead is shrinking and Adam Dunn has now passed Rob Deer for #3 all-time.
Congratulations, I guess, to Mark Reynolds, who will probably be rewarded by the Diamondbacks not renewing his contract and letting him become a free agent.
Sandy Barbour, California Director of Athletics was interviewed during the 2nd quarter of the Cal Bears – Washington Huskies football game on November 27. Cal has begun building a new stadium, here’s part of the reason why:
“…one of the priorities was very clear, that we needed to renovate Memorial Stadium, for safety reasons with the Heyward Fault running right down the middle of the stadium…”
FlatbreadGarden 