NFL Rookie Contracts

The Detroit Lions came to an agreement with Georgia quarterback Matt Stafford. The deal is a reported six-year, $72 million. The deal can actually be worth up to $78 million if he achieves all his incentives.

Now those that read this blog know that I do not really care what athletes get paid. I am all for people making as much money as possible. Nobody is forcing the Detroit Lions, or any other NFL team, to give athletes this money. I think it is stupid to do, but at the end of the day the free markets should dictate how much money athletes can make and how much money teams should keep for themselves.

What is of particular interest to me is how on earth the NFL got to a place where NFL rookies are paid such crazy contracts. In the other major sports, rookies have to "make good". That is, the big contract does not actually come until a few years after they have been in the league and have proven that they are worth the money.

This is not the case in the NFL. The big contracts are usually given right out of college, before any of these athletes play one down on an NFL field. This seems a little odd to me and I am not sure how this sport got here. As an owner, I would be hesitant to throw this kind of money on an unproven athlete. Worse yet, these contracts use a significant portion of a team's salary cap. More than any other sport, Football is ruled by its salary cap. A team's success is very much correlated by how well they are able to manage their cap. Yet teams are willing to throw that out the window on unproven rookies.

Further, I am not sure how the NFL veterans let this happen. Do they really have so little bargaining power? Why would they allow rookies to get these types of contracts when it directly affects how much they themselves can receive. You would expect it to be like other unions. Those who are already part of the union receive the better benefits and higher salaries. They are the ones who are voting on the rules of the contract and labor agreements. You would think they would create rules that favor those already part of the union rather than those that are coming in.

How would you feel if you are a NFL player making $3 million per year. You are busting your ass and doing great. You may even be on the cusp of a pro bowl selection. Your next contract might net you $4 million if you are lucky. And then you see a player like Matt Stafford, who by his own admission admits he may be a crap shot, get something like $12 million/year. Would you not think this is a little bit unfair?

I Know I Am Old

because it is strange to me that there are people born in the 90's who are now in college.

Asian Names Are Hard to Pronounce

I've written in the past how it can suck to be asian. Now, government official Betty Brown from Texas gives yet another reason why it sucks to be asian. Our names our hard to pronounce.

No wonder we have it so tough. People are having a hard time pronouncing our names. I mean, just look at the name of the man she was directing her comments to. His last name was "Ko" Damn those two letters, what the hell can they mean? Other common names like, "Lee", "Yao", "Sun" can be extremely confusing. Not at all like nice easy "American" names like "Jake Gyllenhaal", "Shia Labeouf" or our Governor "Arnold Schwarzenegger".

I guess Asian people will never be able to be successful in this company or be able to fit in so long as we have these strange foreign names that people just can't figure out how to spell.

What the Heck Happened to Scrubs?

I was excited when I learned that Scrubs was coming back for one last season. It had been one of my favorite shows in the last several years and it really bugged me that they did not finish the series off right because of the writer's strike. So when I heard the series was back on, I eagerly awaited some fresh new episodes and what I hoped to be a satisfying conclusion to the series.

But seriously, WTF? The season has been quite a disappointment. The shows just are not as funny as they used to be. I think it is mostly because they seem not to have too much of the regular cast on (J.D. has not been in at least two episodes this season and only Elliot and Turk were in this last one) and are focusing a lot on some newer characters. Perhaps they are getting the viewers ready for a whole new cast, which is just a bad idea, but it really disappoints me to see the series like this.

The new shows have their moments, but it just isn't like the Scrubs of old which at times was just completely off beat but always funny. I would have rather had the show just end last season in a half-complete state then for it to just kind of limp to the finish line like this.

31

Every year I post something on my birthday, so this year should be no different.

Yesterday, I turned 31. I blew right past 30 and have now landed at 31. What a year. I barely remember most of it. I would like to say it was not a very exciting year. It certainly started off that way.

I am getting to the point where it seems like the days, weeks, months and years kind of blend into each other. When I have conversation with old friends the talks are brief even though we may not have talked for several months. Not much changes in my life. Work is work and life is life.

However, this year a few big things have changed. The biggest event of the year is that I got engaged. I will admit, I never thought I would get here. I never thought I would meet someone who fits me so well like my fiancee does but here I am six months away from my wedding. By the time I write this post next year I will be a married man.

Work has definitely changed from last year. At this time a year ago, work had gone from something new and exciting to something kind of mundane. I was not thrilled with my position, something that would get worse in the months that followed my post last year. But things at work turned the corner. We had several layoffs and reorganizations. My role is quite different in the company now and for me it is a much better opportunity. This is exactly the type of growth and opportunity I wanted for myself when I quit my last job so I am very happy that at least this part of that risk ended up paying off.

There are still some challenges in front of me, things are not perfect, but work rarely if ever is. I actually was able to convince a good friend and an old co-worker to come work for me, so it kind of feels like old times and that makes it kind of nice.

There have been lots of little changes. The kitty is still great. He has become more needy as he gets older and now has a very annoying habit of meowing constantly at the most inconvenient of times. Nevertheless, we still love him and I think he is mostly content with his life. I definitely do not play as much basketball as I used to. Too bad really. I do no think I've played a game of basketball this calendar year, something that would have been unheard of just a year or two ago. Most of it is lack of time, some of it is lack of motivation. However, I do plan to eventually run in a marathon. It is something I will have to pick up in the coming months if I want to be in shape for it next year.

It is hard to imagine that 31 will be as good as 30 but I certainly hope it is. The wedding is going to be lots of fun and work is on the uptrend. While I think most of my focus will be on wedding planning and the new responsibilities at work, I am also thinking hard about what I am going to do not in the next year, but in the subsequent following years. By this time next year, I hope to have an idea about long term prospects that today I just do not have a plan around.

Why I liked Field Trips

Yesterday, as I walked past a group of kids on a field trip, I had a flashback to my childhood. I suddenly recalled a major reason I liked field trips when I was growing up and it makes so little sense to me now in retrospect.

When I was growing up, my elementary school did not allow us to bring sodas in our lunch. This was particularly frustrating for me since I was a sugar fiend and they were easy for me to get since my father had mountains of soda for his restaurant.

However, this rule did not apply to us when we went of field trips. For whatever reason, we were allowed to bring cans of soda in our lunch when we were not going to school and were instead going on a field trip. Why on earth would my school make this distinction. I can understand why they would not want kids drinking soda. Besides the health issues, you get hyperactive kids if they are drinking a ton of soda.

But why would they allow it on field trips? Was it ok that I was rowdy on the bus? Did they not care if I was all hyped up in public since I was not as much their problem?

The Lobster Dribble

A few months ago, there was tremendous controversy about Lebron James and his "crab dribble". See the video below.



Believe me when I say this. I've played a lot of basketball in my life, and you can call it whatever you want, but Lebron James traveled. It was blatant and I applaud the referee for giving the proper call despite the fact that it might have changed the game. A travel is a travel no matter what the clock says.

But I had to laugh when I saw this video of Corey Maggette against the Atlanta Hawks.



The guy literally travels about six times in a six second period of time. For those who are not familiar with the rules, you can not pick up you feet as soon as you catch the ball or you come to a complete stop after dribbling. Since this is an even more blatant disregard for the rules, I decided to call it the "Lobster Dribble" since it is an even better version of traveling.

This is seriously one of the craziest things I have ever seen in a game. What makes it even worse is that the referee is standing right there. What the hell? And, to top it off, Maggette COMPLAINS about the non-call after he turns the ball over. No wonder so many people are disillusioned with the NBA

What to do with Power Adapters

I decided to clean out my closet today. There is a lot of junk there. Most of it, I have lugged around from place to place with me across the country.

One thing I noticed I had quite a lot of were various power adapters. You know, the thing that comes with every electronic device and has the big ugly wall wart on it? They come in all shapes and sizes, and they differ in the plugs they use at the end of them.

The thing is, I'm sure for some of these plugs, I no longer have the device it was meant for. I just keep the plugs around because I'm not sure. I keep these around for the one time I have a device with no plug, and I need one. I just go through all of them until I find the right one, and I'm good to go.

But really, shouldn't I just throw out these plugs? I don't often go back and use devices I haven't used in a while. It is just that one time I really need it, and therefore I really need the plug.

Is this just me, or do other people have lots of plugs which they don't know what they are used for or if they even still have the device.

Pro Sports Are Not Fixed

The Tampa Bay Ray defeated the Boston Redsox last night sending the Rays to the World Series. There they will join the Philadelphia Phillies in what looks to be the worse matchup in recent memory.

There is at least one thing we learned from this Baseball Playoffs. Pro Sports are definitely not fixed. When the playoffs started, there were plenty of intriguing matchups. We could have seen an all Chicago or all Los Angeles World Series with both the teams from those cities making the playoffs.

It would have been a very interesting series if the Dodgers would have met the Red Sox with all the drama that would have happened with Manny Ramirez returning to the city who gave him up. But instead, we have the worse possible matchup for Major League Baseball. Who outside of Tampa Bay and Philadelphia is going to watch the series? With all the great possible matchups, how the heck did we end up with this? Only one explanation, the two teams definitely earned their spots.

Women's Store and Chairs

How is it that not all Women's Clothing stores have chairs for people to sit on. I recently went shopping at an outlet mall and had to go into several stores with my girlfriend. Yet very few of the stores had any chairs. How is that possible?

Think about it, many of these women go shopping with their husbands or boyfriends. Most of them are bored out of their mind as their wife or girlfriend shops. These men could probably bear it if there was at least a chair to sit on. I know when stores do have chairs, all the men inevitably migrate toward them.

There have been many a time I hurry my girlfriend from the store simply because I can't bear to just stand there anymore. She probably could have shopped twice as long in the store if there was just a place for me to sit.

Now I'm not asking for a luxurious chair. A piece of wood on top of two cinder blocks would work just fine for me. All a store has to do is buy a few inexpensive chairs and this would probably increase the time their clientele spends in the store and in turn increase the amount of money they spend.

Smart Phones - Not So Smart

I am a big fan of my smart phone. I use it a lot and I'm quite happy with it. But today I found one big problem with my phone. The Blackjack 2 has a QWERTY keyboard. This is fantastic when I have to compose an e-mail or a text message. However, it isn't so great when I have to call a phone number which is given to me in letters.

Imagine you have to call 1-800-1NUMBER on one of these phones. How the heck are you supposed to know which key corresponds to the letter 'n'. You can't unless you just happen to know it. I had to do this today, and I had to borrow my girlfriend's phone just so I could look at the number pad. Now what if I didn't have another phone to look at. How the heck would I have known what numbers to push?

OJ Simpson Found Guilty

The number 13 is not a very lucky for OJ Simpson as it took the Jury 13 hours to find him guilty of robbery and kidnapping 13 years after he was found not guilty of double homicide.

Really? I mean how stupid do you have to be if you are OJ Simpson to go and rob someone at gunpoint to go get some lousy sports memorabilia? He got away with murder. After you do that, you should really try and stay low don't you think? I mean do you really want to tempt fate twice? Don't you think that if you get in front of another jury, they are going to be predisposed to try and balance the scales of justice no matter what they are instructed to do? People are human. There is almost zero chance that they are going to be able to separate what they know about you from the facts.

So seriously, if you get away with murder, try not to think you are superman here. You don't have some superpower where you can do whatever you want and get away with it. If you do get in front of a jury again, you better believe that you are going to be found guilty.

Dodgers Lose - And Celebrate with Champagne

The Dodgers lost their game against the Padres tonight 6-4, and celebrated it by popping bottles of champagne.

Of course they won their division tonight and thus are heading to the post season thanks to a loss earlier in the day by the Arizona Diamondbacks. So the Dodgers did have reason to celebrate. Still, it seems odd to see a team in such a happy mood after a loss. Maybe its just me, but I always hate losing, it just puts me in a bad mood. I would find it difficult to celebrate after a loss, even if the loss didn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things.

No Chinese Noodles in the Chinese Market

I wanted to buy some fried chow mein noodles recently. I only really like them on my salads; they add a nice salty crunch that I really like. Unfortunately, the variety that they sell in the normal market really suck. I remember the noodles I like from the days when my father owned his restaurant, and that was the variety I wanted to get.

So I went to the Asian market in search of these noodles, and I came up totally empty handed. How the heck can I not find Chinese noodles in a Chinese market. I get that these noodles may be a little bit "americanized" but even then, I would have expected to find them there.

Now where do I look ...

Disadvantage of Designer Jeans

Those who follow my blog know I love my designer jeans. However, there is one huge drawback in buying them. When you buy jeans from Seven, you can only buy them in one length. They make the jean the longest that any normal person would ever want. I'm sure they do this in order to make their inventory simpler to maintain and to keep their cost low since they do not have less variety to control for.

However, this tends to be a pain in my ass because I'm lazy. I have to go find a tailor to alter my jeans and hem the cuff. Since I'm lazy, this can take me several weeks to do. So I go and spend $200 on a pair of jeans, and I don't get any use of them for several weeks after that.

Still think it is worth it, but I really wish I didn't have to go through the additional hassle of getting them hemmed. Luckily, if you buy them from Nordstrom, they usually have a tailor on site who will do it for free. But when I don't buy them from Nordstrom, I have to wait to enjoy my purchase.

Gymastics and Diving are not Sports

After watching the Olympics the last few days, I can say without hesitation that neither Gymnastics or Diving are sports. They are great and entertaining competitions, but neither of them are sports. How can I say this.

I define a sport to be the following

• There must a a physical activity involved which requires strength, speed, or endurance and which would quickly lead to exhaustion
  
• There must be a competition between two or more individuals or teams
• There must be a clear and OBJECTIVE winner

The last part is what dooms Gymastics and Diving as not a sport. It just is not objective enough. I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt this Olympics. I tried to believe that the judges used objective measures in order to deduct points from each of these events, but it simply is not true.

I watched as China's Fei Cheng landed on her knees and yet somehow ends up with a bronze medal. I don't know a lot about Gymnastics, but I know you shouldn't be able to land on your knees and still be considered one of the three best in the world.

I watched diving and saw one dive which recieved a 4.5 from one judge and a 8.0 from another. How objective can an event be when two people, supposedly looking at the exact same thing, come up with such radically different results?

To be fair, other sports have their subjective elements. Baseball has an umpire call balls and strikes, and basketball has refs who blow calls all the time (whether for money or just being plain blind). But this is not the main focus of the game. You winning or losing is not, in general, dependent on someone else's subjective call.

So sorry fans of Gymastics and Diving. I know you love your competition. I agree, it can be fun to watch. But it just isn't a sport.

Phelps Phan

The story of the Olympics thus far has to be Michael Phelps. The guy just won eight gold medals and in the process set seven world records. It's a feat I'm sure won't be surpassed in at least a generation if not longer.

I could go on and on about how awesome he is as an athlete, but others could do a better job than I. This is especially true given the fact that I can barely swim as is. I blame my Asian genes for not being able to swim, I didn't see that many Asian people in the water. It is most likely due to just how my body is. I try to explain to people how my feet just sink in the water. I tell people this and they try to give me tips on how to float. I tell them, "I just sink, you don't understand", but people who can float just don't understand how someone who doesn't float can't.

Interesting enough, following Michael Phelps throughout the game, they had a piece on why Michael Phelps was born to swim. They described how he had short legs but a long torso. I probably have the exact opposite problem. My legs are long for my body and my torso is short. As almost everybody's legs naturally sink, and you use your torso as a buoy to float the rest of your body, this very much explains why I have more trouble swimming than the average person. Guess I won't be winning any gold medals in swimming any time soon.

But how awesome would it be to have "Greatest Olympic Athlete" on your resume? I mean, what employer isn't going to want to talk about that? What employer isn't going to at least grant you an interview? The hardest part of getting any job is just getting in the door to get an interview but having something like this would just be crazy. it probably would be of bigger benefit outside the swimming world than in it.

2008 Opening Ceremonies - The Chinese Rock!

Wow!!!!!!!

That about sums up what I thought of the 2008 Opening Ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics. The amount of creativity, artistry, and imagination was off the charts. This seriously might have been some of the best blending of art and technology that the world has ever seen. The ceremony itself was just beautiful. The costumes, the performances, and the props were all outstanding. The highlight, for me, was most definitely the movable type performance where they simulated blocks of Chinese characters making up a movable type system. I thought it was amazing before I saw the ending, and then when it was shown that it was all human driven, it drove the whole thing off the charts.

But in reality, I'm not at all surprised that this was easily the best Opening Ceremonies of all time and probably will be for quite some time. Being Asian, and Chinese specifically, I learned one indelible truth growing up, face is everything.

"Face" in Asian culture is quite difficult to understand unless you grew up in it. While Western civilization also takes how others perceive you to be important, the Asian culture takes it to a whole other level. It is often why certain stereotypes exist for Asian people. You have your children do well in school because it is a reflection of what a good parent you are. It is why being a hospitable host is so crucial to the culture.

So the Chinese, with the rest of the world watching, went over the top. They made sure that others would look at these games, and remember it as the best ever. They spent $300 million on the opening ceremonies alone. They practiced it for years and every detail was thought of. They wanted to be sure that everyone else in the world knew what an amazing country China was, is, and will someday become. Boy did they deliver.

Staying Out of the Friend Zone

I've actually had this conversation twice in the last few days, so I thought it would be a good idea to most my thoughts on the subject.

Growing up, I was very "popular" with the ladies. My problem was that this popularity did not translate into dates, it translated into me having lots of female friends. For some reason, I get getting stuck in the "Friend Zone". Much like the Phantom Zone, once in the Friend Zone it pretty much is impossible to get out. I actually was able to do it twice, no small feat, but admittedly I was never great friends with the two girls to begin with.

However, the trick should be never to get into the Friend Zone. It should be avoided at all cost. You know what I'm talking about. You meet a great girl. You go out a few times. You think things are great. But when the subject comes up of you in a romantic relationship, she looks at you incredulously and says, "Oh, I don't think of you that way. I thought we were just friends"

It took me a while to finally get the hang of this, but now I can tell you for sure how to never ever be put in the Friend Zone unless you want to be there. Here is what you need to do.

• Go into the relationship with the full intention of NOT being friends with this girl. Accept the fact that if you aren't going to be dating the girl, you will have no relationship whatsoever. You have enough friends already. It's OK if you don't make a new one. There is no need to be the "nice guy".
  
• Not sure how interested she is in you? Simple test during your first date. Plan your first date earlier in the day. Make sure it is short. Make sure you have a plan which can extend the date but do not tell your date about it. Say you go out to play mini-golf on your first date. After you play, suggest going out for drinks or a bite to eat. If she agrees, you are good to go. Girls will end the date if they are not interested. They will find a way to extend the date if they are interested.
• Make sure during the course of conversation, you bring up the fact that you are on a date. Call it what it is. Just talk about how you are having a good time on the DATE. Maybe share a horror story of another first DATE that you had. Mention what you think would make a great second DATE.
  
• Get the kiss. Nothing says you are not friends like kissing her. Seriously, get the kiss on the first night. If she pulls away from the kiss, you pretty much have your answer. No need to attack her with your tongue hanging out, but make sure you get a kiss on the lips from her. This will ensure you are not put in the friend zone.
  

Simple as that. Follow these simple rules, and you will stay out of the Friend Zone, and hopefully find yourself a new girlfriend. Do you have any tips for people on how they can avoid falling into this dreaded trap?

The Problem with Hyped Movies

I went to see the Dark Knight today. Don't worry, I'm not about to give any spoilers away, it is not at all what this post is about. Despite my recent comments about the local second run movie theater, I went to see the movie at the local multi-plex. I did so because I wanted to see the movie sooner than later for a couple of reasons.

• Everyone was saying how great it was
• Everyone was talking about it, and I wanted to stop people from ruining the movie for me

So I walked down to the cinema to watch it. The conclusion? It was OK. Not bad, not great. I think I seriously would have enjoyed it more if I just had heard nothing about it. So many people were saying how great the movie was that my expectations were quite high. I even tried to temper my expectations to avoid this exact problem, but alas I think I failed.

Not much I could have done about this one though. There was almost no way to avoid the constant talking by everyone about this movie.