DG Update on 06/29

After a week for the Cubs that was kind of a downer, I didn't feel like posting much.  However, there were two important items this week that were worth checking in on.  First of all, the NBA Draft went down on Thursday night from the WaMu Theater in New York's Madison Square Garden.  In that draft, the Bulls selected Memphis' Freshman PG Derrick Rose with the very first pick.  Rose is expected to be a special player who can lead the franchise to success, just like Deron Williams (Jazz) and Chris Paul (Hornets) have done with their teams in recent years.  As expected, Michael Beasley went second to the Miami Heat, followed by a flurry of other NCAA and International stars.  In some of the more notable picks, SoCal freshman stars O.J. Mayo and Kevin Love swapped spots at #3 and #5 ending up in Memphis and Minnesota, respectively.  Portland also landed top PG talent Jerryd Bayless to lead their young nucleus of Roy, Aldridge, and Oden.  On the Bulls front, Rose is expected to be the starting PG (in spite of GM John Paxson's comments that he'll have to earn his spot), meaning that Kirk Hinrich is expendable.  He could be traded for another big-man up front.  Denver has been mentioned as a possibility (Nene? Camby?).

In other news, Indy Racing was under the lights Saturday in Richmond, where Tony Kanaan ran away with the checkered flag.  Helio Castroneves finished a distant second, as Marco Andretti finished ninth.  After the race, Kanaan commented about his first win this season, how they're charging up the standings, and how "I feel bad about Marco.  I think he has as strong a car as I had."  Said Helio about finishing second: "I wasnt' the fastest, but second is pretty darned good."  Andretti Green Racing had a good race, as winner Tony Kanaan led 166 of the 300 laps, Marco led 90 laps, Danica finished sixth, and Hideki Mutoh was competetive until DNF'ing on lap 220.  The drivers will be back at it next Sunday from Watkins Glen at 2:30 PM CT on ABC.

Celtics Win 17th Banner in 2nd Biggest News Item of Day

Late last night, the Boston Celtics pounded the Los Angeles Lakers with their signature defense and teamwork, and won their 17th NBA Finals Championship by almost 40 points.  The regulars sat out for most of the 4th quarter, as everyone got their shot to contribute in stellar fashion.  After the clock wound down to 0.0 seconds, the new Boston Garden erupted as the Big 3 (along with the rest of the team) finally got what they coveted not only after a long and memorable season, but long careers without a ring.  As if nothing could top an emotional and huge night from Boston, MA, the world awoke this morning to the shocking news that Tiger Woods will miss the remainder of the 2008 PGA Tour Season, including the last two majors (British Open and PGA Championship).  Tiger Woods revealed that he did not want to trump the efforts of the USGA's US Open, but their was some news he now needed to reveal.  Apparently, after last year's British Open, Tiger ruptured his left ACL while running at his home in Florida, but continued to play the rest of that season and this season while obliterating his competition.  Playing through pain through most of this year (including his runner-up finish at the 2008 Masters) he decided that he needed arthroscopic surgery in his left knee to clear up the cartilage damage caused by the ACL injury.  Still in pain, he had planned to return in this year's Memorial Tournament, but a double-stress fracture in his left knee was also found.  Determined to play through the pain, Tiger finally made his return in this past weekend's US Open at Torrey Pines.  Looking back on the injuries now makes his accomplishments both this past weekend, as well as over the past year, all the more amazing.  However, after the pain he experienced and the condition of his knee, he announced today that he needs to undergo reconstructive knee surgery on his left ACL, which will cause him to miss the remainder of the year.  Tiger said in a statement: 

"While I am obviously disappointed to have to miss the remainder of the season, I have to do the right thing for my long-term health and look forward to returning to competitive golf when my doctors agree that my knee is sufficiently healthy. My doctors assure me with the proper rehabilitation and training, the knee will be strong and there will be no long-term effects."

Woods also said that he'd "like to thank his fans and partners for thier continual support and can assure everyone that I will be as dedicated to rehabilitating my knee as I am in all other aspects of my career."  Best of luck to Tiger's surgery and recovery, and we'll will probably see him back on the golf course competing in next year's PGA Tour tournaments.  Tiger's dramatic win at Torrey Pines gave him his 65th PGA Tour victory, and his 14th career major victory, just four behind all time leader Jack Nicklaus.  You can read all about Tiger's injury at this ESPN.com article, or on Tiger's official website, tigerwoods.com.

DG Video: Tiger Outlasts Rocco

After 91 holes of golf over five days, Tiger Woods outlasted Rocco Mediate to win the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines for his 14th career major victory.  It was a back-and-forth battle all day, as each player had the lead moments of time.  Tiger made some great putts early in the day to hold Rocco back, eventually gaining a three-shot lead with about half of the course to play.  Then, things took a big swing as Rocco regained the lead and took a one-stroke advantage to the 18th hole.  At that 18th hole, Tiger was making all of his shots, as Rocco struggled around the bunkers and fairway.  Even then, it came down to Tiger making his birdie and Rocco missing his, and the tournament went to a 91st hole in sudden death.  On that sudden death, Rocco missed his par putt to extend the championship, as Tiger Woods took home the hardware in what he called his "best [championship] ever."  It was an amazing five days, filled with Tiger memories, as he continues to prove why he is the best player in the world, and going to be (if not already) the best ever.  He made putt after putt, eagled three times, amazed himself, long drives, great iron shots, stellar chips, and remain driven and focused---all on one healthy knee.  Rightfully so, Tiger said that he will take some more time off now to give his knee time to fully recuperate to get back to the 100% Tiger we all know.  With his 14th major victory under his belt, he is now four behind Jack Nicklaus on the career major victories list; and the British Open and PGA Championship still remain this year.  For all the ESPN highlights of today's playoff and Tiger's victory, see the link to the video below.

US Open Playoff Highlights

DG Video: Tiger Not Done Yet

As if Saturday's 3rd round performance wasn't amazing enough, Tiger followed it up with another eventful day at Torrey Pines.  Through the first two holes, he relinquished his one stroke lead and dropped three shots on the day, falling back to even while showing some pain in his surgically-repaired left knee.  However, going through the day and picking up some adrenaline and competitive fire, he kept pace with the top of the field.  Culminating numerous par-saves and smart decisions on adjusting his game to complement his knee's strength, Tiger arrived at the 18th hole.  With Rocco Mediate in the clubhouse as the leader at -1 after a solid outing, Tiger had to birdie to tie him for the lead, as did Lee Westwood (the other member in Tiger's pair).  After both golfers drives landed in fairway bunkers, and proceeded to layup before the green, they both made it on the green with chances for birdie, playoff-clinching putts.  Westwood didn't quite strike his putt hard enough, and thus fell out of playoff contention.  Tiger, however, seemed to muster up all of the concentration and energy left from a surely physically demanding four days, and sunk the putt followed by an eruption of energy (both by Tiger, Stevie, and the entire gallery).  Tiger will now face Rocco in an 18-hole playoff tomorrow at Torrey Pines, beginning at 10:30 am on ESPN for the first nine holes, and concluding on NBC for the final nine.  Below is a link to ESPN SportsCenter's highlights of the day.  Be sure to check ESPN.com and SportsCenter for continuing coverage from Scott Van Pelt and Andy North in La Jolla, CA.  Good luck to Tiger in tomorrow's finale, and hoping for major number 14!

Rd.4 Highlights

DG Video: Tiger's Amazing Saturday

Tiger had yet another amazing day on Saturday at Torrey Pines.  He was multiple shots back at some points, but his last four holes ended in Tiger mastery.  Playing on one knee (and in visible, limping pain after some shots), Tiger roared back with 2 eagles and a hole-out from the sand to charge atop the leaderboard at -3 entering Sunday's final day of competition.  HIs shots were met with thunderous crowd responses louder than almost anything heard before, according to ESPN's Rick Reilly.  His final eagle putt on #18 was executed with such precision that it shows us how great of an athlete we are witnessing.  It reminded me of a David Feherty comment after one of Tiger's past, signature shots:  "That is just wrong on so many levels."  Even Tiger can be seen visibly amazed at some of the things he does.  The following are two great videos recapping the day in La Jolla.  The first is a link to ESPN Video of SportsCenter's highlights, while the second video is Rick Reilly's reaction to the day's events.

SportsCenter at US Open: 3rd Round Highlights

DG Entertainment: Gob's Tricks Gone Wrong

This is a great scene from Arrested Development, portraying some of Gob's many blunders in "Office Magic."  In other notes from Hulu.com, not only do they have all three seasons of Arrested Development, as well as shows like 30 Rock and The Office, but they have recently added full episodes and clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

Congrats Junior on 600th HR!

Future HOF-er Ken Griffey Jr. hit the 600th home run of his career in the first inning of Monday's Reds-Marlins game, becoming only the sixth member of the exclusive club, along with Sosa (609), Mays (660), Ruth (714), Aaron (755), and Bonds (762).  Junior has always been one of the best players in the game, having a flair for having fun and actually "playing" the game.  He invented the backward hat (seen above), and will always be among the games greatest players.

DG Tech: WWDC '08 brings iPhone 3G + AppStore & MobileMe

Today, Apple kicked-off the 2008 World Wide Developers Conference with the usual Steve Jobs keynote to introduce some new, exciting products.  It was much of what was expected leading up to the event, some of which were updates to what we already knew.  The first thing they showed was an update on the three new features to the iPhone: 1)Enterprise features 2)SDK (Software Development Kit) and 3)iPhone Software 2.0.  The Enterprise features included support for Microsoft Exchange (with push email,contacts, calendar), and showed a video of numerous executives praising the iPhones usefulness in corporate America.  Then, the iPhone SDK was updated, with many developers demoing new apps that they will be releasing with the AppStore (which will launch in early July).  SEGA made a game called SuperMonkey Ball, in which you tilt the iPhone to roll a monkey in a ball around numerous levels of an obstacle course.  Pangea ported their game CroMag Rally to iPhone, in which you "steer" the iPhone to race cavemen through numerous entertaining courses.  Then came some more useful apps, as medical companies designed apps in which you can diagram the human body, or even view patient X-Rays and PET/MRI/CT scans on the go.  Perhaps the most exciting new app to me, as well as most readers of this blog I presume, was MLB's new iPhone app.  Through this app, you can keep track of all the day's games through GameDay like interfaces.  In addition, within minutes after big plays happen on the field, you can view a video highlight right on your iPhone, no matter where you are.

Next up, Apple demoed a new service to keep your life in sync, across every platform you utilize.  The new service, labeled MobileMe, will replace .Mac.  Through this service, you can access your Mail, Contacts, Calendar, and Photos no matter where you are--all delivered in desktop-class, Web 2.0 applications on www.me.com.  Perhaps the most useful feature, however, is that all of these features will be synced to all of your devices via "push" technology wirelessly.  If you get an email, it will automaticall be pushed to your computer and iPhone from the MobileMe "cloud."  If you update a contact on your iPhone, it will automatically show up on Me.com and your computer's Address Book app.  This service will be automatically available in early July, as well.

Then came what everyone was waiting for, and expecting, for today...the iPhone 3G.  Jobs returned to the stage revealing the new product to much applause.  He detailed all of the requested improvements for the iPhone, and proceeded to show how these were reached.  First of course, this iPhone is at 3G speeds.  3G is must faster than the current 2G (or EDGE) speeds of the first generation iPhone.  In fact, demos showed that the National Geographic website loads in 59 seconds over EDGE, while 3G loads it in just 21 seconds (which is approaching the 17 seconds WiFi speeds).  Thus, the new iPhone is more than twice as fast as the old iPhone.  Along with 3G capability, Jobs revealed that this iPhone will also incorporate GPS technology.  The Maps app will know exactly where you are, and will be able to guide you anywhere you please...you'll never be lost again if you have an iPhone.  Next, Jobs addressed the issues of Enterprise and third party applications, which had already been taken care of earlier in the keynote.  Both Enterprise support (with Exchange support and Cisco-powered security), as well as third party apps (created by the SDK and distributed in the AppStore) will be fully functional and available out of the box upon the release of iPhone 3G.  The next issue tackled was for iPhone to be available in more countries, and that was addressed with Jobs saying that their goal of 25 countries by fall/winter will be exceeded as in the coming months, over 70 countries will have the iPhone.  This was accompanied by countries lighting up one-by-one on a world map to the song "It's a Small World" (did you know that Jobs is Disney's majority shareholder?).  The last issue was, of course, for the iPhone to be more affordable.  That was addressed with booming approval by the crowd, as Jobs announced that the new 8GB model will be sold for just $199 in a black, plastic casing, while the 16GB model will sell for $299 and come in black or white.  It goes on sale...July 11!  Also, some of the features will be available as a free iPhone Update 2.0 to current iPhone owners, and a $9.95 update to iPod touch owners.

Now obviously, these are some exciting  new products and features here today.  However, today's event was very developer focused with the iPhone SDK, and an early, secret preview of Mac OSX 10.6 "Snow Leopard," (which will concentrate on stability, performance, and security).  In addtion, the iPhone 3G provides a fast, affordable way for the iPhone to become more widespread around the world.  But today seemed to be missing the fun and innovation as seen from Jobs' keynotes in the past.  Maybe we'll see some of those products in the coming months, or within the year.  Some things that I was hoping for were:

-updates to the family of notebooks (MacBook,MacBook Pro)

-a Mac tablet.  There were many rumors for these leading up to WWDC.  Rumors of patents for tablet technology, video conferencing on an iPhone-like device, etc.  This has been a long-rumored product that will hopefully see light within the year...perhaps at Macworld 2009?

-a little more enthusiasm/fun/creativity from Jobs like usual...however, this was a very developer-aimed keynote that saw many other Apple executives give talks with a lot of technical information, so this is understandable.  A lot of business and technical information was discussed, but this was the World Wide Developers Conference, so maybe we'll see some fun stuff at Macworld 2009

So that wraps it up from an informative day of Apple news.  We now wait for the July 11 launch of iPhone 3G, and most likely the App Store and MobileMe.  Here are some links to the important products/information of the day:

MacRumorsLive keynote coverage

MacRumorsLive keynote photos

WWDC keynote Quicktime video

iPhone 3G

MobileMe

iPhone Ad

Apple.com

DG '08: McCain-Clinton (Real Change to Believe In)

This past Tuesday, as the primary season came to a close, Senator Obama has won enough delegates to make him the presumptive Democrat nominee for President.  Now, we begin the general election season as Senator McCain will take on Obama for the presidency.  The first order of business that is usually taken care of is the selection of each candidate's running mate.  Many names have been thrown out there on each side, most notably Condoleeza Rice and Rudy Giuliani with McCain and Hillary Clinton with Obama.  However, with the seemingly different crowds attached to Senators Obama and Clinton, there have been some doubts as to whether that relationship would work between them.  When looking at the primary figures, however, we can see that both candidates received rougly around 18 million votes (some say Senator Clinton received more).  With this information, there had been an interesting proposition that I had been thinking about.  It struck me as far from possible, however I saw it brought up in a Daily Show interview with John McCain, and most recently in this Wired.com article.  The idea was for John McCain to offer his V.P. position to none other than Senator Clinton.  I think that this is a brilliant idea, actually.  John McCain is already known for being a maverick in the Republican Party, and taking some not-so-typical-conservative stances on things.  He has pushed for both parties working together, and has actually disagreed with many of his GOP colleagues on numerous important issues.  HIllary Clinton could help give McCain not only the Republican voters, but maybe a majority of her 18 million Democrat votes.  In the presidency, they would be a dynamite ticket.  Barack Obama has been criticized for his lack of national security experience, and how he would handle the responsibilities of being President, after being in Washington for such a short period of time.  With a McCain/Clinton ticket, you have a huge amount of experience.  McCain is well-versed in politics, national security, and many of the major issues.  Hillary, meanwhile, could bring some of her experiences as First Lady with her (along with the expertise of her husband, Former President Bill Clinton), and can also contribute on some of her stronger issues.  Together they could form a very strong tandem that could be tackle numerous issues, and bring both parties in Congress together to make sure things get done.  According to sources cited in the above linked Wired article, if Hillary accepted this proposal then it would be beneficial for all the reason previously disscussed; if she said no, then "McCain will look like the guy who really works across party lines," something that Obama has tried to preach.  I, for one, believe that this would be an amazing situation if both McCain and Clinton could accept the "maverick-ness" of it, and come to see how brilliant it would be.  Senator McCain is the "straight-talk express" who has a plethora of experience in both Washington and national security, and would know how to get the job done and tell the American people the truth.  Senator Clinton, meanwhile, could play a great balance with him, and help him with many other "new" issues like scientific breakthroughs, women's issues, and climate change.  Together, both Senators McCain and Clinton (along with Bill Clinton), would truly make a "dream ticket" that could actually be a big "change" Americans could believe in.