Predictions for 2012

Politics:

* Mitt Romney wins the GOP Nomination.  He finishes in the top 3 in Iowa, which neither Gingrich nor Perry can do.  After Super Tuesday, he has such a large lead (and his opponents split among too many candidates) that it will be impossible to stop him.

* He picks Tim Pawtenly as his VP nominee, though rumors abound that he considers Condaleeza Rice

* President Obama retains Joe Biden as his VP, despite rumors of a swap with Hilary Clinton

* In November, the Romney/Pawtenly ticket wins the Presidency.  The House flips to the Democrats, while the Senate flips to the GOP, continuing a gridlocked government.

Sports:

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVI.

* The Miami Heat win the NBA title over the Memphis Grizzlies, and about 19,000,000 stories will be written about LeBron James 'overcoming his personal demons' to win.

* The LA Angels, having spent enough money on Albert Pujols to buy the salaries for the Boston Red Sox AND the Texas Rangers for next year, still won't make the playoffs. 

* The New York Yankees will beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series

Games and Entertainment:

* Despite having no good reason to continue, the United States ban on online poker will remain

* At Wrestlemania 28, John Cena will defeat the Rock, while CM Punk will retain the WWE title against a heel Daniel Bryan

* 'Avengers' will be good but not great.  'The Dark Knight Rises' will be lacking compared to the first two movies.

Other:

* The world will not end on December 21st.  Mayan experts will be quoted as saying, "Oops."

* I will go through a two month period without posting anything, then post six times within a two week period.  Both of the people who read this blog will appreciate it.

May everyone have a great, safe and happy 2012!

Mighty Bastard's 2011 wrapup!

It's been an interesting year, as it always is.  And my last full year in the 30's.

Household- Katie remains a wonderful wife.  We added a new cat to the household.  The new cat (Pippin) is great- friendly and outgoing.  The old cat (Smokey) is not amused by the interloper.  I'm grateful both have had their front claws removed.

House- both a new water heater, about 2.3 seconds before the old one was going to flood the basement.  Finished work on the kitchen- took out the old floor, added a new oven, looks 1000 times better.  House is still standing. 

Health- Lost one kidney (actually, I know exactly where it's at.  But it's not in me anymore).  Also lost some weight, getting under 210 at one point.  I've bounced back to 219 or so, but the goal of 190 remains. 

Plays- finished our run of "Personals Uncut".  Had a fantastic time, and enjoyed working with everyone.  Haven't had time to try out for anything since then.  Hoping to try again in 2012.

Games- thanks to "Black Friday", the government has protected me from losing $60 in online poker.  Thanks, guys.  I really appreciate it.  We all know what a danger that would be.  And I'm so glad that you've taken care of every other problem in the entire world to make this your biggest issue.  Also saw my first live WWE PPV (Night of Champions, 2011).  Had a great time with Katie, Mike, and Steve. 

Politics- President Obama kept showing in 2011 that he was such a weak President that it was took a group of morons to lose to him.  The GOP kept showing that they could be that exact group of morons.  The GOP voters kept flirting with all sorts of candidates, from Michele Bachmann to Rick Perry to Herman Cain, and even went on a nostalgia run with Newt Gingrich, in an effort to find someone, anyone, besides the one guy who has all of the credentials in the world but can't sell himself to the voters- Mitt Romney.  Next year should be a fascinating race.  Note that "Fascinating" is not the same thing as "Enjoyable".

Sports- my own cynicism for sports reached new heights, and I reveled in the glory of schadenfreude  as the Dallas Mavericks beat Dwayne Wade and his Sidekicks in the NBA finals.  Meanwhile, Major League Baseball realized that everyone won if you just let the big spending teams spend big, as long as you didn't count fans of small market teams.  The NFL avoided a strike at the last minute.  The NBA didn't avoid a strike, lost two months out of the year, and few people noticed.  I continue my  streak as a sports curse, adding the NHL to leagues that "When I root for your team, expect doom".  You're welcome, Colorado Avalanche.  This also extends to my fantasy team, as the "Michael Vick + Darren McFadden" 1-2 punch didn't work as intended.

Here's hoping that everyone has a fantastic holiday season.  Predictions for 2012 coming up in the next week.

The CP3 Debacle

When I heard that the Lakers had acquired Chris Paul, the point guard from the Hornets, my first thought was "Well, they did it again."  The Lakers made out like bandits on a trade.  They always make out like bandits.  I swear, 90% of the history of the NBA is the story of smart franchises (usually either the Lakers or Celtics) swindling the dumb teams.

It wasn't so much the talent exchange- New Orleans came out pretty well with the proposed trade.  Lamar Odom only had a year to go, but Houston was giving up some nice players for Pau Gasol.

What bothered me was that the Gasol had three years at $19 million on his contract.  He's a good player, but he's past his prime, and the last year of the contract he will probably be overpaid.  Which hurts the franchise that has him.  And the Lakers got out of paying the bad year- in exchange, they get a younger, better player who has publicly stated that he didn't want to play for New Orleans, but did want to play for the Lakers.

It's an ugly trend- the best ballplayers only want to play for select markets- usually major media markets and/or cities with great weather.  The same day the trade was announce, Albert Pujols signed a contract and left the St. Louis Cardinals for the Anaheim Angels.  Again, a great player going from a medium market that loved him to a major market.

Which sucks if you root for the small market teams.   I can accept that the larger markets have advantages.  But at some point, the advantages become so overwhelming that rooting for the other teams seem like a lost cause.

So... yeah.  I wasn't happy with the trade.  Then David Stern cancelled the trade.  And, to be honest, it's not fair.  But having gone through the Decision, having seen two Cy Young Award winners traded because the Indians couldn't afford them while the major markets could... it was good to see the unfairness go against a team that traditionally was on the favored side.

Besides, if New Orleans was really losing Paul, they needed to rebuild.  The trade with the Lakers were a nice way to get them on a treadmill- a perpetual contender for the #8 seed but no chance to really improve. 

So Stern voided the trade, and the Lakers stopped trying to get Chris Paul.  Instead, a deal materialized between the Clippers and the Hornets.  The Clippers are also in LA, but they've never been considered an 'elite' team.  And they were offering some great, talented and young players for Paul- especially a top draft pick in next year's draft. 

But now the story is that Stern demanded too much for Paul.  They wanted Bledsoe & Gordon & the #1 pick- really, 2 out of 3 was enough for Chris Paul.  If I was a Hornet's fan, I would have loved that deal. 

So now I don't know.  I don't get what the plan is.  But I don't see any way the players won't stop demanding to go to the major markets.  And I'm not sure what can be done to save the small amrkets from continuing to be the Washington Generals to the superteams.