I'm not sure why, but a lot of things have seemed particularly stupid to me lately. They've really made me question the level of intelligence out there in the world.

First, there was the whole fallout from Belichick going for it on fourth and down. Miller and I were watching NFL countdown, and they did this whole feature on how Fishman's econ professor idol David Romer wrote this paper back in 2003 that made the seemingly unexceptional proposition that football teams should go for it on fourth down more often. The logic is fairly straightforward and intuitive, even though there is obviously some intimidating econometric analysis involved. So anyway, the feature made the argument as simply as possible, and then Romer made the statement I try to live my life by.

You can make the right decision and still have a bad result. Just because it turned out bad doesn't mean you made the wrong call.

Then the show turned to the "analysts" (Ditka, Keyshawn, Cris Carter, and TJ). I'm sure you can predict what happened if you didn't see it.

It wasn't so much disagreement, but almost mocking. And the "rationale" for why it was wrong? Ditka summed it up best - I don't care if you make the right decision and it turns out WRONG.

How he thinks people get to "results" is beyond the scope of my understanding.

There also are the awful AT&T commercials featuring Luke Wilson. Everyone in NYC knows that AT&T coverage is pretty awful and is to be avoided if at all possible. Its probably that way nationwide. So what is their ad campaign? To have Luke Wilson throw postcards around a gigantic map.

Which would sort of make sense if you had Wilson tossing around postcards from hodunk towns with funny names that people have never heard of. Instead... he names major cities across America. San Francisco! Chicago! New York! AT&T has coverage there!

OBVIOUSLY! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A FRIGGIN NATIONAL WIRELESS PROVIDER! The only conclusion one could draw from the commercial is "We're AT&T. We claim to serve major cities."

Then there was the coverage of Allen Iverson "retiring." This might have been the thing that set me totally over the edge. "Analyst" Jamal Mashburn was talking about how great Iverson is / was, and admitted that no NBA teams wanted him. He actually said that the phone wasn't ringing. So what was his conclusion?

Allen Iverson was retiring on his own terms.

HOW ON EARTH IS THAT THE CONCLUSION?

Nobody wants you, so you "decide" to stop playing? That's like saying someone who applied for multiple jobs, only to find no job offers, has set his own terms to not work. Just complete and utter nonsense.

So how have these things made me question intelligence generally? Because... its becoming easier and easier for me to envision people agreeing with these analysts. I am having extreme difficulty even reading Bill Simmons anymore after his godawful analysis of the Belichick call (to drive the point home, Gregg Easterbrook vehemently defended it). I can picture people watching Luke Wilson toss around postcards and thinking that awesome service is a selling point for the iPhone. I believe some people will echo the moronic idea that Allen Iverson has retired on his own terms.

I'm sure there have been other equally stupid things I've seen and heard recently. I'm just glad my brain has repressed those memories.

Also, strangely saw this on my fantasy football page tonight. The game is of course played tomorrow. Let's see how this prediction goes...

A bunch of us went to the Duke / Arizona State game at MSG tonight, and because there was no alcohol being served, we tried to come up with some bets to keep it interesting. The best two had to do with Brian Zoubek, the comically ineffective center for Duke.

At the start of the second half we bet

Over/Under on Zoubek points for the half: 2.5

The line almost certainly should have been 2. But Fishman choked on setting the line, and I instantly took the under. Zoubek did actually get a put-back basket to get to 2, but he never got anything else (obviously).

I also tried to get Fishman to give me some action on Zoubek fouls v. Zoubek points. He wanted none of it. The second half tallies would have been 4 fouls v. 2 points, and for the game he had 5 points and 5 fouls.

This will be an awesome bet for the future.

As part of Kim's 30th birthday party pregame, we hosted our first annual survivor flip cup tournament. In case you aren't familiar with the game, its flip cup, but after each round, the losing team must vote off one of its players. That leaves the same amount of cups for fewer players, which can get somewhat spicy when a team is down to one player.

Four teams gave it their all for glory and prizes. They were:

BOOBS! - Kim, Tina, and Sarah
The Voldemorts - Kate, V, and Hayes
Suck it Trebek! - Evan, Miller, and Gibbs
Asian Persuasion - Cousin Kim, Ly, and Linda

BOOBS! met The Voledmorts in the first semifinal matchup.





Best as I can recall, here is what happened:

Round 1 - Voldemorts, Tina voted off (Kim and Sarah remaining)
Round 2 - BOOBS!, Hayes voted off (Kate and V remaining)
Round 3 - Voldemorts, Kim voted off (Sarah remaining)
Round 4 - Voldemorts, BOOBS! defeated

Suck it Trebek met Asian Persuasion in the other semifinal matchup:

Round 1 - Asian Persuasion, Miller voted off (Evan and Gibbs remaining)
Round 2 - Suck it Trebek!, Ly voted off (Cousin Kim and Linda remaining)
Round 3 - Asian Persuasion, Gibbs voted off (Evan remaining)
Round 4 - Suck it Trebek!, Linda voted off (Cousin Kim remaining)
Round 5 - Suck it Trebek!, Asian Persuasion defeated

And the finals of The Voldemorts v. Suck it Trebek!:

Round 1 - The Voldemorts, Gibbs voted off (Miller and Evan remaining)
Round 2 - Suck it Trebek!, V voted off (Kate and Hayes remaining)
Round 3 - The Voldemorts, Miller voted off (Evan remaining)
Round 4 - Suck it Trebek!, Kate voted off (Hayes remaining)

So it came down to me v. Hayes in the final. Three cups. No mercy.

We both hit our first flips. But when it came to the second, I missed my first shot. Hayes did not. So while I hit the second cup on my second flip, Hayes had a shot at victory. She drank, she flipped. No good! I pounded the last cup and flipped. As my cup was in the air, Hayes quickly readied her second try. My cup landed. VICTORY!

Round 5 - Suck it Trebek!, The Voldemorts defeated



Not to toot my own horn here, but I had to do FOUR rounds as the sole member of my team, and we won all of them. I was in bad shape, to say the least.

Not as bad as Gibbs though, who is currently hospitalized. Probably because of the events of last night.

VICTORY AT ANY COST!!!!

My lip hasn't gotten a ton better - it is no longer a bluish hue on the inside, but now for the most part a deeper red. It is still pretty swollen, but eating isn't too much of an issue. I also have an awesome bruise on my right knee - it looks worse than it feels, but it looks pretty bad. I was going to put a picture of it up but Kim dissuaded me from doing that.

On the plus side, I have slept pretty well the last couple nights.

I do find myself a bit more nervous crossing the street. Before I move, I now take at least a slight glance at the wrong way, just to make sure. I don't really want to do it, but I just do it. That wastes precious milliseconds as I go about my day. It adds up!

For the last year or so, I've predicted to Kim one thing that I'm sure is going to happen to me. I'm going to be crossing a street in NYC. Since almost all roads are one way, I'm going to look the direction the cars should be coming from. Seeing no cars coming, I will proceed to cross the road. Out of nowhere, I will be hit by someone going the wrong way down the road.

Today my prediction sort of came true. It wasn't a car, it was a bicycle.

I was walking across 47th street to my office, lunch in hand. I looked to my left and saw no cars coming. I stepped into the street to cross. And KABLAMMO. Next thing I knew, I was down on the street wondering what on earth happened. A couple people were asking me if I was okay. I glanced to my right and saw a bicycle and a woman also on the ground. She was asking if I was okay too. I was dazed and couldn't see that well (my glasses had been knocked off from the impact).

Someone asked if an ambulance was needed and that didn't seem like an attractive option. Nothing felt broken or sprained. At some point, a police officer walked over, but she didn't do too much. The bicycle woman rode away some time later; I probably should have gotten her information. I wasn't really thinking straight at the time though.

This one guy wearing a Starbucks dress shirt helped me out a lot. He got me to my feet, asked me what I needed, whether I was okay, if he could get me some water or a drink, etc. I was kind of out of it, and just wanted to get off the street, so I basically refused everything. I had a few bumps and bruises, but nothing appeared serious. And while my mouth was bleeding a bit, my teeth were all where they should be. So I went back to work. My lip did fatten up a bit, which I guess would have given me the chance to use the "you should see the other guy" line if anyone asked, but nobody did.

8 hours later, my legs are a bit sore, and a weird black and blue thing has developed on the inside of my lip. But I suppose things could be much worse right now.

As Kim appropriately just put it, "you shouldn't have been standing there."

Predictably, everyone is jumping all over Belichick's decision to go for it on 4th and 2 from his own territory against the Colts. My gut was that it was the correct call.

Hooray for math!

James, V, Kim, and I played a little poker last weekend. And we came up with one of the greatest poker innovations since the invention of the hole card cam.

It started off as an accident of sorts. We didn't have enough chips for four people (I only have some cheap plastic chips that we use for 1 on 1 craps). I divied up the chips and every person had around 1100. That probably wouldn't be enough, so I found some dice. Each die, I declared, would be worth 500. With blinds at 25/50, that should be enough.

But then, someone had an idea. What if, each die was not worth 500. Rather, it was worth whatever you rolled x 100. So if you rolled a 4, the die was worth 400. However, the die would only be rolled when you bet it, and its value would reset to "?" after it was taken back from the pot at the conclusion of the hand.

It spiced things up a ton. James got beat up a bit early on, and was left with like 600 chips and a die. He moved all in preflop - the first use of the die. He rolled. It came up 1! So his bet was 700. I was very tempted by the die. Surely there was some extra value for me to take this marginal hand (K/10 or something) and go after that die. So I called, he turned over A/something, and I got lucky and took it down. I now had two dice, which intimidated everyone at the table.

I also was able to use a die strategically to sucker someone in. I had a sick hand of 7c / 3c on a board of 4c / 5h / kd / 6c. I declared that my bet on the turn was a die, and I hoped it would come up low. It came up like 3 or something, and it induced some all-in action. I suddenly had 3 dice!

The game went on, and the dice made their way back and forth. Kim became a bit too enamoured with the dice, eventually throwing away her second die in a vain attempt to save her first one, although she had no hope of winning a hand. In the end, I ended up with all the dice (and the chips) and we vowed to always include the dice in our future games.

When we get a craving for cheap chinese food, we usually go to Mee Noodle Shop, which is conveniently located a half block away from us. It is inexpensive, the food tastes pretty good, and there usually aren't any "problems" that develop an hour or two later. We used to go so often that they began to recognize us. But there was a six month span where we didn't go at all, so that passed I suppose.

Last night we discussed Chinese food places in our area. Kim brought up this place called Our Evergreen Shanghai. It is located across the street from Mee Noodle Shop, and Kim said she always saw these weird buses and vans pulling up to that restaurant. Tons of Asian people would pile out of these into the restaurant. Of course, for real good food, you go to where the people who would know best, go. So we decided to give this place a try.

As we got there, we noticed that EVERYONE there was Asian. It was very odd, considering this restaurant is not in Chinatown, but in midtown east. There were also some buses and vans that were around the entrance, and a continuous stream of them pulled up while we were eating. Each one dropped off a bunch of Asians.



In fact, it got so crowded that people began surrounding our table. They kind of had to because there was just no room for them. The doorway got jammed full of people trying to get in. It was sort of insane.



Where were these people coming from? What set of circumstances causes large groups of Asian people to get into a bus and then go to friggin midtown to eat Chinese food? Were they ironically coming from Chinatown? We were dumbfounded. Kim created some elaborate theories involving the restaurant being an Asian mafia hangout or these people coming directly from China.

The food was GREAT. We got soup dumplings (which are dumplings filled with soup and other goodness), and also some crispy duck that tasted like fried duck. Obviously that was AWESOME. The extreme tastiness of the food also ties in well with the mafia theory, as it is well known that mafia types demand good food.

Its too bad it has taken us over 2 years to discover this place.

Bah.

Devastating.

Devastating is simply the perfect word to describe the way I felt last night after watching Brad Lidge implode last night in the top of the ninth inning.

Part of it was because of the unlikey nature of how we rallied. Yet ANOTHER Utley homer off of Sabathia. And then a full count, two-out home run by Pedro Feliz (after Ibanez, who has struck out 9 times in 16 World Series ABs, my least favorite Phillie) of all people to tie it up. The home run basically screamed to me: the Phillies are winning this game.

I was (and remain) beyond convinced that the Phillies would win the game in the bottom of the ninth if Lidge could just get through the top of the inning unscathed. There was no way Girardi would use Rivera unless (1) the Yankees had the lead; or (2) He had no other arms left in the bullpen. The Phillies would take advantage of this, push across a run against someone like Phil Coke, and delirium would ensue. It felt like the Phillies already had a lead, and all Lidge needed to do was close the door.

The first two outs only served to tease. He struck out Jeter on a full count slider that made me remember the good Brad Lidge from last year. He got two strikes on Damon, although they were foul balls that he hit pulled sharply. And then... well I don't want to get into it again. But I think everyone in America knew the game was over after even the Rodriguez double. Coming back against Broxton or Street is one thing. Coming back against Rivera is another. And coming back against Rivera after you've scraped and clawed and hit one of the more unlikely home runs to tie it in the bottom of the eighth, well the players are only human. It would have been easier on me if Lidge had just given up back-to-back home runs to Matsui and Jeter.

Baseball Prospectus has the Phillies at having a 7.7% chance of winning this thing. That's about what I'd expect.

You know what would be great tonight though? If Burnett drilled Utley in the top of the first after Rollins and Victorino both ground out. A-Rod already stared down his own dugout after being hit a third time. Let's add some spice to the series. It might be our best hope.

Yesterday, we participated in an adventure / scavenger hunt called Undead Invasion. It was AWESOME. Basically, each team (me, Kim, James, and V) was given 9 clues / puzzles and a map. The adventure area was a section of the financial district that encompassed battery park and some other streets, and solving some of the clues involved interactions with zombie actors. There was also a zombie wandering around the streets who could "tag" you if he caught you, so you had to look over your shoulder constantly.

Some of the puzzles were relatively straightforward - one involved simply approaching a zombie at a particular location, asking about brains, acquiring a blacklight to use from him to see a clue on a map, and then hunting through an adjoining graveyard to find the answer to the clue. Others were more difficult. One involved finding letters from a poem on a monument, then converting those letters into a numerical value, adding letter values from a different clue to those particular letter values, and coming up with a new word out of the result.





In the end, we got them all. And while a lot of teams finished ahead of us, we declared ourselves the ultimate winners.





I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone who likes running around, using your brain, and having fun.