While enjoying a crazy come from behind win during the NBA Finals game last night and trying to name the college that seemingly every NBA player went to, the 1993 NBA Draft somehow game up when we got stuck on Lindsey Hunter. The 7th pick of that draft was one, Bobby Hurley.

We reminisced about how squirrelly he was at Duke and how it was amazing that it was Mike Peplowski of all people that literally helped save his life.

Side note: a cousin of my childhood best friend that went to MSU at the same time as Peplowski – confused? – said people used to pay Peplowski money to spit beer into their mouth’s at MSU bars. Weird. Citation needed.

Anyway, you may wonder (as we did), whatever happened to Bobby Hurley post accident? The following:

• Returned to the basketball court on October 14, 1994 for a preseason game against the Los Angeles Lakers. He went on to play 68 games for the Kings after returning from injuries.
• Appeared in the 1994 feature film Blue Chips, where he played for the Indiana Team under Bobby Knight.
• Traded from the Sacramento Kings to the Vancouver Grizzlies in 1998.
• Retired from the NBA in 1999.
• Named one of his daughters Cameron after Duke University’s famed Cameron Stadium.
• Plunged into horse racing after he was introduced to it by a friend in Jersey City. He pored over books, studied bloodlines and became an obsessive watcher of videotapes.
• Named his stable Devil Eleven after his college days.

Moreover, he decided to file a lawsuit or two. Good work, Bobby!

A month or so ago – before my back got all weird (I’m finally sort of better) – I made the decision that I was going to buy a bike and start riding to work because…

a) I need the excercise

b) Paying $4 a day to ride a packed CTA train or bus while somebody yaps on their cellphone is becoming old

c) Something about it being better for the environment

Anywho, I scouted out my path via a City of Chicago website that lists “bike friendly” paths throughout the city. I mentioned to my wife and mother in law – she was in town that weekend – I would simply take Lake Shore seeing that I live right off of it for the majority of the trip and then take one of the aforementioned “bike friendly” streets a half a mile or so to work. No issue.

As I “proudly” stated, “the worst thing that could happen is that somebody opens a car door and I have to either collide with it and ruin the bike/my body or collide with it and go head of handle bars but still land in/near the bike lane.” Even then, I thought I would (somehow) be alert enough to recognize how each person in the driver’s seat of vehicles were about to react and could avoid such an accident.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/998873,CST-NWS-bike11.article

Normally, I’m not too taken back by death. It sucks but everybody does it. But, the above is downright creepy seeing that it’s two blocks from where I work.

Worthless Note: The section of La Salle that he was on isn’t listed as a “bike friendly” route.

Note: UPDATES AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POSTING!

As previously mentioned, I’m truly not a billionaire hater – but, Rupert Murdoch’s $580 million purchase of MySpace was stupid. That is, unless the deal has already somehow paid itself off in 3 years. If that’s the case, I stand corrected.

Reasons it was a stupid investment being a) facebook (I’ve embarrassingly joined recently but I’m glad I graduated from MySpace) kicks MySpace’s a$$ hands down and b) social networking is dead or in the process of dying.

Why is facebook better than MySpace will ever be? It’s built by geeks. Note: I love geeks. Anywho, the reportedly cocky CEO (Mark Zuckerberg) seems like a dork. A very, very wealthy dork. But, he knows how the build things people want – a clean interface (for the most part) without too many annoying customizations, a kick a$$ mobile platform for those that have the capability to access sites via blackberries/smart phones/i phones, and text message alerts allowing you to actually manage some features of your account via a simple text message.

I messed around with MySpace mobile a little bit last night. It was worthless. MySpace will undoubtedly try to implement some of facebook’s technology – if they haven’t already via beta – but, needless to say, they’re behind the times and can’t catch up. Imagine the current day Google vs. Yahoo search engine “battle.”

For what it’s worth, the problem with social networking sites is that none of the sites really offer any value to the user other than the ability to keep up/reconnect with your friends. They’re addictive for a week and then become boring.

Both MySpace and facebook can be compared to Yahoo in the 90’s and Classmates.com in the early 2000’s. Yahoo is in the process of failing as a search engine turned into a search engine/social portal because they didn’t realize the value and money to be made off paid search and not social networking. Classmates.com failed (or isn’t worth as much as it used to be) because it was bland/useless and charged user fees when incepted.

So, congrats to MySpace for ripping off Rupert. Dollars currently spent by advertisers on either website is money worthlessly spent. Let’s see if facebook can start offering users the ability to do more than join some networks, create a witty status message, easily chat with friends currently online (sort of cool), post some picture albums, write on a wall or two, and “rekindle” previous relationships.

If not, we’ll all be laughing in 10 years when everyone jokes, “Remember when MySpace and facebook were popular?”

Update from 6/2008:

https://bcclist.com/2008/06/23/facebook-more-uniques-than-myspace/

Update from 8/2008:

https://bcclist.com/2008/08/15/facebook-takes-over-the-world/

The following quote was getting some air time on a prime time political cable tv show last night…

Rupert Murdoch:

“The greatest thing to come of this to the world economy, if you could put it that way, would be $20 a barrel for oil,” he told The Bulletin, an Australian magazine, in a February 12, 2003, interview.

Alternatively, a really expensive war that turns the value of our dollar into garbage and causes inflation and prices of oil, food, etc. to go out of control. Thankfully, Rupert “redeemed” himself by nailing his general election prediction.

Thanks to Digg, here’s mccain going senile again with another YouTube gaffe…

The United States is called the melting pot for one reason or another, you crazy old fck.

This is a fun/creepy way to find out your friend’s, neighbor’s, family’s, political donations and to what candidate and/or party.

http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php

A few months ago I scouted out all the weird Ron Paul supporters in the neighborhood and took the dog on the walk so that we can see which areas to avoid going forward…

The donations update every quarter and only include those that have donated over $250. Have fun!

Tax and Spend (Democrats) or Spend and Spend (Republicans).

The image below is blurry.  Left click on it once.  A page will load.  Left click on it again and it will become clear.

I guess the 2008 choice is pretty evident…

A sad/interesting look at suicide locations on the golden gate bridge…

http://el-oso.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/mn_suicide30_loc_tt.gif

On that note, The Bridge is an “awesome” documentary. The following trailer (video volume seems to be low on my computer) includes nothing graphic though it doesn’t fully highlight how well done the movie is…

If you’d rather not buy The Bridge from the movie’s webpage, you can watch it on google video though nobody watches 1.5 hour movies with only sub par screen quality on their computer.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4636757064676695790&hl=en

Lame and unnecessary disclaimer: If you have a problem, go visit a doctor/get some help. The movie doesn’t glamorize/romanticize suicide but it’s one of the better documentaries that I’ve seen in awhile.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jun/03/november-sit-out-threats-worry-gop/

Yeah, the above link is “old.” It was on Drudge earlier this week. But, it would have made the original Bcc:List eventually.

“Republican voters increasingly say they have lost faith in the party and might not vote this year, compounding headaches for party leaders struggling to avert a November massacre at the polls.

“The Republican Party doesn’t represent me anymore,” longtime Republican voter Joseph E. Ayers, 57, said recently…

“We were betrayed by Bush in a lot of ways,” he said, adding that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona lacks the conservative mettle needed to repair the damage.

“I won’t vote for McCain,” he said. “I might not even vote at all. That’s the way it looks now.”

“It is a clear sign Republicans have not yet come to grips with how big a hole they have dug for themselves and how much work it will take to get out,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who spearheaded the 1994 Republican win of the majority in Congress that ended four decades of Democratic control.”

I used to hate bush and was so confused how any person could have voted for him in both 2000/2004. But, now I think it’s sort of funny watching him close things out and it seems like a blessing in disguise. Maybe the GOP can rebound by 2032. Naw.

That said…

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com

Historically – no joke – I don’t think Obama has ever started off leading any political race he’s entered. But, the above link is encouraging since he’s “leading” while…

a) he’s been taking it in the a$$ from the democrat’s favorite last name over the last 12 months

b) he hasn’t got the chance to share the same stage with the old man and

c) he hasn’t picked a VP candidate that will deliver the southern and appalachian states.

This general election massacre (54%+ of the popular vote – 290+ electoral college vote) is going to be awesome!

Per the recent flooding in Bloomington, I guess this is the main stretch of bars at IU. Needless to say, if you look close enough, it seems that Kilroy’s never closes…

And, this kid didn’t attend the lecture on newspapers not saving you from possible downed active power lines and flood water.

Burchie – you dirt ball – thank you.

By now, I assume everybody has seen this video…

But, Chief Daryl Roberts of the Hartford Police Department definitely wins the “Overreaction of the Month” award when he publicly/ridiculously said…

“We no longer have a moral compass. We have no regard for each other.”

Hey Daryl, heads up – Everyone is taught (or should be taught) that you NEVER touch an injured victim. What were they supposed to do, drag him aside and possibly injure him more? Traffic was stopped – it’s not like cars were continually running over the old man. As you notice within the clip, people eventually go over to the victim within 30 seconds or so. But, rightfully so, they didn’t move him. I’m sure 911 calls were made. I’m sure everyone was in shock and didn’t move quick enough. But, Daryl, congrats – you win the award. Nice work!

P.S. I saw this story yesterday and caught (in the background as I was getting ready for work) the NBC Today Show anchors talking about the incident. But, I didn’t hear their commentary. If they (or anyone else) made the same point I made above, excuse the repetitiveness.

Along with the aforementioned…

https://bcclist.com/2008/05/30/tales-from-the-racquetball-court/

I’ve also recently (last night) learned…

a) Haruska’s recent purchase of the $49 Elite Stainless Steel Buffet Server Warmer from Costco is the best investment any single person has ever made outside of those that purchased the Logitech Ipod Audio Station for $29*. As he mentioned, this buffet warmer is worth its weight in gold – he’d pay up to $200 for it as need be. I will definitely be picking one up soon.

b) Don’t eat from the buffet all night long as you will literally gain 6.5 pounds from your weight the morning before. Chicken strips, meatballs, and cheese sticks. Lord. But, the options for this thing are unlimited. Pulled pork, italian beef, sloppy joe, meatball sandwiches, nacho cheese etc.

c) Don’t ever take the challenge of trying to consume a tablespoon of cinnamon. It can’t be done – at least the way I tried it. Since I knew no other technique, mine was to simply throw it back in my mouth as far as possible and hope for the best.

It immediately turns into a concrete type substance, a cloud of cinnamon smoke comes out of your mouth/nose, and you begin choking horribly. Yes, Amy, choking more than the kid that I “beat” in the muffin eating contest though he nearly died. Running to the faucet and consuming mass amounts of water luckily loosens up this “concrete” and you can live to blog another story. I think gargling the cup or so of Half & Half helped too.

Cupples claims to have completed the mission at hand but you have to work up a good amount of saliva before and chew the concrete like cinnamon substance that forms. Of course, this was not mentioned until after I tried the straight shot. Nor, was there any time limit set. Regardless, I guarantee you that nobody can do the straight shot of 1 tablespoon of cinnamon. Make sure they have water nearby and don’t mind a cinnamon “drip” for the next three hours.

d) The Stanley Cup always goes to whichever finalist team’s fan base subscribed most to the NHL Hockey TV package – aka NHL Center Ice. This is a fail safe way to know which team is going to win. Conor: 1 subscriber. All other Pittsburgh Penguin fans combined: 0 subscribers. Hence, The Red Wings win the Stanley Cup.

e) No room full of guys want to look at blogs during commercials/intermissions of a Stanley Cup Final game. I won’t mention which blog I’m referencing.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080602/SPORTS05/806020336/1053/SPORTS05

Guy lives in Cleveland, goes all the way to Royal Oak, MI (?) to get an Octopus, visits Cedar Point (while always a good time, unnecessary point brought up during the video), takes way too many measures to get the Octopus past “security,” launches it onto the ice, gets kicked out, changes into his Red Wings jersey outside of the stadium, and then uses a spare $300 ticket to get back into the game.

a) this kid’s parents are way too rich

b) his carbon footprint is exponentially larger after that around the Midwest tour. dude’s like a deer in the headlights version of Ferdinand Magellan

c) the hair is worse than Trump’s

Ryan and Conor, thank you.

Let’s Go Red Wings!