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BBender716 said:
Iran should have strong sanctions against it or else it'll prove what many people already believe: that the U.N. is all talk.

"Yes. A public denunciation of Iran will stop them! Ah hah!"

:uhno:
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Not sure how much sanctions is gonna do tho. It appears that Israel is pretty determined to not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons, and it appears that Iran is pretty determined to have it. Conflict in the future might be inevitable, and unlike the Cuban missile crisis, these two countries might not feel like they have much to lose.

oaklandguy said:
Iran doesn't have the support of the Arabs... but understanding the middle east is a tough task for the U.S. media. There are many Arabs who are sympathetic for the Palestinians being persecuted by Israel. It is almost safe to say that there are Arab countries waiting to pounce on Israel. Iran is also a Shi'ite country and the Shi'ite leaders of Iran have a lot of pull in the middle east. Also Syria would be one of the first to have Iran's back, I'm surprised I didn't mention them.
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Saudi is def not supporting Iran, at least not officially, as they have offered China cheaper oil to replace whatever they might lose through a war against Iran in exchange for their support for stronger sanctions. The anti-Israel "rogue" states might support them, but they don't really have the power to do anything substantial.

metallica81788 said:
I can name all the countries and capitals in the middle east. That's all I can contribute to this conversation.
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Might come in handy reading the news in a few months!
 
dingyibvs said:
Saudi is def not supporting Iran, at least not officially, as they have offered China cheaper oil to replace whatever they might lose through a war against Iran in exchange for their support for stronger sanctions. The anti-Israel "rogue" states might support them, but they don't really have the power to do anything substantial.
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Saudi is in it's own crisis, the king is going to get overthrown soon. The general view of the people is hatred towards Israel, but the government tries to be Diplomatic in order to continue it's revenue to be able to support itself. There's like 600 princes in Saudi Arabia who essentially get free-money from the government (king). There is a national uproar against the King now too and it has been going for quite a while. The people want "Change" believe it or not. Not to mention people hate Israel there with a passion. But there's some pretty crazy movements going on, and while the Saudi Army might not help out Iran, the religious groups will definitely be supporting monetarily and maybe even with militia.
 
metallica81788 said:
Sounds good to me. The East playoffs aren't worth watching until the second round (depending on where the Bucks fall).

The West should be nuts. I have a feeling that Phoenix, Utah and Denver could have issues early on. As much as I hate to say it, the Spurs have been on fire lately. I would love to see Spurs-Lakers as the 8-1 matchup.
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Honestly, I feel like a Cavs-Magic ECF is almost a foregone conclusion at this point. The only thing that could change my mind is if Boston claws their way up to third, as they present some matchup problems for the Magic.

Denver is very vulnerable right now, and I feel like Phoenix is not as good as their record. Utah always looks good going into the playoffs; this could finally be their year. You can't really ignore Dallas as the trade has made them better. I want to say the Spurs are right in the thick of it, but they continue to be injured; a lot is going to depend on health and matchups; in my heart of hearts, it's hard to imagine Ginobili being THIS good over a 7 game series where an opposing team has some time to figure out how to play him better.

oaklandguy said:
I still think the Lakers are way too good to not come out of the West
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On the one hand, 1-5 (Kobe, Gasol, Bynum, Odom, Artest) you're absolutely right, they're astronomically better on paper than any other team. But they have no depth; when Kobe and Gasol come out for the likes of Vujacic or Powell, there's just a huge dropoff in talent and opponents have a chance to rally. Fisher is mostly just a motivational speaker at this point, Kobe is clearly hurt, and Artest seems to think he's an elite offensive player and takes a bunch of bad shots. So they SHOULD win the West... but while about a month ago I would have thought it was a sure bet, suddenly it looks like a team could get hot at the right time and upset them.
 
GoSpursGo said:
Honestly, I feel like a Cavs-Magic ECF is almost a foregone conclusion at this point. The only thing that could change my mind is if Boston claws their way up to third, as they present some matchup problems for the Magic.

Denver is very vulnerable right now, and I feel like Phoenix is not as good as their record. Utah always looks good going into the playoffs; this could finally be their year. You can't really ignore Dallas as the trade has made them better. I want to say the Spurs are right in the thick of it, but they continue to be injured; a lot is going to depend on health and matchups; in my heart of hearts, it's hard to imagine Ginobili being THIS good over a 7 game series where an opposing team has some time to figure out how to play him better.


On the one hand, 1-5 (Kobe, Gasol, Bynum, Odom, Artest) you're absolutely right, they're astronomically better on paper than any other team. But they have no depth; when Kobe and Gasol come out for the likes of Vujacic or Powell, there's just a huge dropoff in talent and opponents have a chance to rally. Fisher is mostly just a motivational speaker at this point, Kobe is clearly hurt, and Artest seems to think he's an elite offensive player and takes a bunch of bad shots. So they SHOULD win the West... but while about a month ago I would have thought it was a sure bet, suddenly it looks like a team could get hot at the right time and upset them.
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You make a great point. In the playoffs though, the depth doesn't play as big of a role as it does in the wear and tear of the regular season.

LA has great intangibles too, like having Kobe and then the experience of winning multiple championships including last year. Those all can play X-factors. Shannon Brown can step it up too on the bench, I wouldn't say their bench is pitiful, but they don't have the best bench in the West. You are right though, it's the NBA and anything could happen, but the NBA gets more rigged every year, and it seems like they want Lebron vs. Kobe and they want Lebron to win it this year.
 
metallica81788 said:
I really hope the Cavs can just win it all this year and get it over with. :laugh:
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*sigh* I keep telling people, this needs to not happen. As soon as LeBron wins one, it's over for the next decade.
oaklandguy said:
Yeah, they'll definitely get the whistle on their side. Similarly to Duke and Butler :scared:
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Do people still seriously believe that?

I mean, I know the reffing isn't always the best, but even without looking at my Spurs' 4 titles, if they were fixing the games we would definitely have had the LeBrons in the finals last year.
 
oaklandguy said:
In the playoffs though, the depth doesn't play as big of a role as it does in the wear and tear of the regular season.
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Your point about the depth is exactly why the Lakers are still the odds-on favorites in the West 🙂 Still, if you'd have given me the option of betting on Lakers or The Field in the West right before the All-Star break, I'd have taken the Lakers in about a kajilisecond. I'd take The Field about that quickly today.
 
GoSpursGo said:
*sigh* I keep telling people, this needs to not happen. As soon as LeBron wins one, it's over for the next decade.

Do people still seriously believe that?

I mean, I know the reffing isn't always the best, but even without looking at my Spurs' 4 titles, if they were fixing the games we would definitely have had the LeBrons in the finals last year.
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LA is a bigger market than Cleveland, it only makes sense. Kobe became marketable again, while Lebron is marketable whether he wins or not.

And I'm not sure if you saw the Butler state game, but there was a huge foul at the end of that game. The Detroit Free Press's front cover was a still frame of the foul and Draymond Green's entire hand was being hit by Hayward. I'm not saying State deserved to win that game, but that is a foul 10/10 times. I've reffed before and believe me, that call is made every single time, especially with how many fouls were called earlier. If that game wasn't played 6 miles away from Butler, there's a solid chance State would've won. Whats funny is that Detroit radio station hosts predicted that the whistle would end up beating state and that if it was a close game Butler would win because of the whistle and it turns out true. It's a damn shame.
 
GoSpursGo said:
Your point about the depth is exactly why the Lakers are still the odds-on favorites in the West 🙂 Still, if you'd have given me the option of betting on Lakers or The Field in the West right before the All-Star break, I'd have taken the Lakers in about a kajilisecond. I'd take The Field about that quickly today.
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I can't blame you at all. These teams need to just step it up, I don't know why the Nuggets always choke in the playoffs, they have had the same core for a while now and they have 2 superstars in Melo and Billups. Mavs are getting closer each time. The Suns are a horrible franchise and have made some of the worst moves I've ever seen, that being said they still always have a team that is in the running every year.
 
GoSpursGo said:
Your point about the depth is exactly why the Lakers are still the odds-on favorites in the West 🙂 Still, if you'd have given me the option of betting on Lakers or The Field in the West right before the All-Star break, I'd have taken the Lakers in about a kajilisecond. I'd take The Field about that quickly today.
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It's like you said earlier, the teams at the top just aren't playing as well as the bottom teams right now. Especially the Lakers.
 
metallica81788 said:
It's like you said earlier, the teams at the top just aren't playing as well as the bottom teams right now. Especially the Lakers.
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I agree, but some teams are able to take it to a new level come playoff time. The Lakers are known for that as well, and they have the best clutch shooter in the game.

It's like the Redwings, they didn't have a great year this year, but they are getting hot now when it matters and no one wants to play them in the playoffs. I feel that is how the Lakers will be too. Granted sometimes it's better to get hot than to be good and that may be the case for a team like the Suns or the Mavs or even the Spurs.
 
oaklandguy said:
LA is a bigger market than Cleveland, it only makes sense. Kobe became marketable again, while Lebron is marketable whether he wins or not.

And I'm not sure if you saw the Butler state game, but there was a huge foul at the end of that game. The Detroit Free Press's front cover was a still frame of the foul and Draymond Green's entire hand was being hit by Hayward. I'm not saying State deserved to win that game, but that is a foul 10/10 times. I've reffed before and believe me, that call is made every single time, especially with how many fouls were called earlier. If that game wasn't played 6 miles away from Butler, there's a solid chance State would've won. Whats funny is that Detroit radio station hosts predicted that the whistle would end up beating state and that if it was a close game Butler would win because of the whistle and it turns out true. It's a damn shame.
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Too bad Draymond Green played horrible last night and probably would have missed both free throws. He sucked and took waaay too many shots he had no business shooting. He didn't even rebound, his only job. You need your big players to step up, and he didn't.

oaklandguy said:
I can't blame you at all. These teams need to just step it up, I don't know why the Nuggets always choke in the playoffs, they have had the same core for a while now and they have 2 superstars in Melo and Billups. Mavs are getting closer each time. The Suns are a horrible franchise and have made some of the worst moves I've ever seen, that being said they still always have a team that is in the running every year.
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I know! Weird, huh?
 
oaklandguy said:
LA is a bigger market than Cleveland, it only makes sense. Kobe became marketable again, while Lebron is marketable whether he wins or not.
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That's all well and good. But they spent all this money on those (stupid) LeBron-Kobe puppet commercials, and then they didn't play in the finals. Why didn't LeBron at least make it past the Magic if it was rigged? You don't think they'd have made a killing off those ratings, even if they decided to "fix it" so that Kobe would win at that point.

And BTW, if you watched the Olympics, Kobe is plenty marketable already; he's arguably bigger than Yao in China.

I get it, basketball reffing can be crappy sometimes. Even good refs are going to make a terrible mistake every so often. But there are so many examples of something happening that's against what the NBA would seemingly "want" to happen that it's hard for me to seriously believe that there's someone pulling the strings; you don't need some higher explanation for why bad calls are made, IMO.
 
oaklandguy said:
I can't blame you at all. These teams need to just step it up, I don't know why the Nuggets always choke in the playoffs, they have had the same core for a while now and they have 2 superstars in Melo and Billups. Mavs are getting closer each time. The Suns are a horrible franchise and have made some of the worst moves I've ever seen, that being said they still always have a team that is in the running every year.
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Can you imagine if the Nuggets hadn't traded Marcus Camby to the Clippers for a 2nd round pick?

And I will always believe the Suns would have won at least 2 titles if their owner wasn't the most pathetically cheap bastard on the face of the planet. Refusing to pay Joe Johnson, selling all of their picks (that could have been the likes of Josh Howard or Rajon Rondo), giving away solid role players like Kurt Thomas and Quentin Richardson... every year they were about one player short, and it was their own fault. D'Antoni's system gets a bad rap because he could never beat the Spurs, but the system is fine if ownership will support you.
metallica81788 said:
It's like you said earlier, the teams at the top just aren't playing as well as the bottom teams right now. Especially the Lakers.
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The only thing is... I feel like the Magic and Cavs>>anyone in the West, right now. And the Lakers might be the only team with enough talent to close the gap.
 
metallica81788 said:
Too bad Draymond Green played horrible last night and probably would have missed both free throws. He sucked and took waaay too many shots he had no business shooting. He didn't even rebound, his only job. You need your big players to step up, and he didn't.



I know! Weird, huh?
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Draymond definitely was a let down. They didn't deserve to win last night. He's only a sophomore though. I'm just worried about Lucas, the Achilles is never a good injury.

GoSpursGo said:
That's all well and good. But they spent all this money on those (stupid) LeBron-Kobe puppet commercials, and then they didn't play in the finals. Why didn't LeBron at least make it past the Magic if it was rigged? You don't think they'd have made a killing off those ratings, even if they decided to "fix it" so that Kobe would win at that point.

And BTW, if you watched the Olympics, Kobe is plenty marketable already; he's arguably bigger than Yao in China.

I get it, basketball reffing can be crappy sometimes. Even good refs are going to make a terrible mistake every so often. But there are so many examples of something happening that's against what the NBA would seemingly "want" to happen that it's hard for me to seriously believe that there's someone pulling the strings; you don't need some higher explanation for why bad calls are made, IMO.
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Kobe lost marketability in the U.S. due to the whole rape incident. I feel like him winning the title got rid of that whole controversy (not giving total credit to that, but I feel like that was the final burial of the incident). It may not be as fixed as I view it, but Tim Donaghy got caught rigging games and said there were a bunch of other refs doing it as well. Yet, no action has been made. It only leaves you to wonder. When the Celtics won the Finals that year, they had to go through Detroit. One game there were 55 fouls called against Detroit and 18 called against Boston. Detroit had won it all 2 years before hand, do you really think they would commit 37 more fouls than Boston? One mistake is understandable, but at times (and I'm not the only one to think this), the games can seem rigged.

[youtube]n-J4mZOcdDE[/youtube]
 
Thunder would be nice to see do well. Same with Charlotte, I like Larry Brown. My thing is neither of those teams have the Superstardom like Cleveland or LA and that will end up hurting them in the end. It's a Superstar league, get on the bus or pick in the lottery every year.
 
oaklandguy said:
Thunder would be nice to see do well. Same with Charlotte, I like Larry Brown. My thing is neither of those teams have the Superstardom like Cleveland or LA and that will end up hurting them in the end. It's a Superstar league, get on the bus or pick in the lottery every year.
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If Charlotte finishes 8th, they could give the Cavs some matchup issues kind of like Atlanta did with Boston 2 years ago.
 
oaklandguy said:
I feel like him winning the title got rid of that whole controversy (not giving total credit to that, but I feel like that was the final burial of the incident). It may not be as fixed as I view it, but Tim Donaghy got caught rigging games and said there were a bunch of other refs doing it as well. Yet, no action has been made. It only leaves you to wonder. When the Celtics won the Finals that year, they had to go through Detroit. One game there were 55 fouls called against Detroit and 18 called against Boston. Detroit had won it all 2 years before hand, do you really think they would commit 37 more fouls than Boston? One mistake is understandable, but at times (and I'm not the only one to think this), the games can seem rigged.

[YOUTUBE]n-J4mZOcdDE[/YOUTUBE]
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I'll agree, there are sometimes where it sure seems shady. On the whole, though, I think the end results (4 Spurs titles, no Kobe-LeBron finals, and other things) suggest more likely that the games aren't rigged, at least not by the league. I do agree that the NBA's response to the Donaghey scandal was not nearly enough, though, and I sure hope nobody else out there is playing ball for the mob or anyone like that.
metallica81788 said:
I would like the Thunder to make some noise, but their youth could hurt them - all the other teams minus Portland are very playoff-seasoned.
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Yeah, unfortunately the young team like the Thunder never make it out of the first round I feel like unless they're just clearly more talented than the more experienced team. Durant will have his day, though.
 
GoSpursGo said:
I'll agree, there are sometimes where it sure seems shady. On the whole, though, I think the end results (4 Spurs titles, no Kobe-LeBron finals, and other things) suggest more likely that the games aren't rigged, at least not by the league. I do agree that the NBA's response to the Donaghey scandal was not nearly enough, though, and I sure hope nobody else out there is playing ball for the mob or anyone like that.

Yeah, unfortunately the young team like the Thunder never make it out of the first round I feel like unless they're just clearly more talented than the more experienced team. Durant will have his day, though.
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I'm not a hoops freak, so it's easy for me to pass judgment, but I would love it if the superstars didn't get the treatment they do from the refs. I think it's gotten out of hands a little bit. Same with the NFL and quarterbacks, there's no point to have a D-line rush the QB anymore because they can't hit them high and they can't hit them low. Where can they hit them without getting a flag thrown lol? The NBA has taken a huge hit this year though; hopefully they are able to use this to realize why they are not appealing so much anymore and to hopefully make the game more watchable.
 
oaklandguy said:
I'm not a hoops freak, so it's easy for me to pass judgment, but I would love it if the superstars didn't get the treatment they do from the refs.
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That's also true. While I'm not sure that anyone is actually trying to fix the games, I don't think you can really question that, consciously or unconsciously, superstars get special treatment.

OK guys, it's definitely time for me to pack it in and go to bed. 🙂
 
yeah, i'm calling it for the night as well. 3 a.m. = sleepy time fo sho. G' nite you guys, hope you all have a good week.

Good morning to the morning peeps!!
 
metallica81788 said:
Sounds good to me. The East playoffs aren't worth watching until the second round (depending on where the Bucks fall).

The West should be nuts. I have a feeling that Phoenix, Utah and Denver could have issues early on. As much as I hate to say it, the Spurs have been on fire lately. I would love to see Spurs-Lakers as the 8-1 matchup.
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Same here.

As far as the east, I still think Cleveland will have similar match up issues with Orlando to those they had last year.
 
Beckett killed my ERA so far. I wonder if it actually calculates the main ERA based on innings pitched or just averages the ERAs of all the pitchers. Because if it does the latter, relievers who pitch one inning and hold the score might be really valuable.
 
JJMrK said:
Beckett killed my ERA so far. I wonder if it actually calculates the main ERA based on innings pitched or just averages the ERAs of all the pitchers. Because if it does the latter, relievers who pitch one inning and hold the score might be really valuable.
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innings pitched
 
haha my little boy is sprinting frantically back and forth across the back yard:

me: "what are you doing ian??"

him: "learning how to be a superhero!"


haha ok then, carry on😛
 
jackson1 said:
haha my little boy is sprinting frantically back and forth across the back yard:

me: "what are you doing ian??"

him: "learning how to be a superhero!"


haha ok then, carry on😛
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man. your job rocks
 
Pedie Packs said:
:hello:

What's up
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Not too much. Just sitting at work. Not much is going on here though, so I'm editing personal statements instead 🙂. I am behind on getting these done!

What's up in the life of Pedie today?
 
lstone13 said:
Not too much. Just sitting at work. Not much is going on here though, so I'm editing personal statements instead 🙂. I am behind on getting these done!

What's up in the life of Pedie today?
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I'm sick 🙁

Worked through the weekend sick bc I felt bad calling off on Easter... blahhhh

But today I don't have to go into work, and contemplating going into my lab....

You're editing PS for next year you mean? I really hope you don't have to use it :xf:

edit: nvm, you're one of the readers on SDN right? so you are editing other ppl's PS?
 
Pedie Packs said:
I'm sick 🙁

Worked through the weekend sick bc I felt bad calling off on Easter... blahhhh

But today I don't have to go into work, and contemplating going into my lab....

You're editing PS for next year you mean? I really hope you don't have to use it :xf:

edit: nvm, you're one of the readers on SDN right? so you are editing other ppl's PS?
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Oh no Pedie!! I hope you feel better!!

Yeah, the statements are for other people. I have a ton that I'm going to try to finish up today. I got a little behind last week because work was pretty busy.

Pedie Packs said:
On a sidenote we are facing each other in fantasy baseball :meanie:
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Which means... I'm gonna win!! Muahahaha... You had better watch out!
 
lstone13 said:
Not too much. Just sitting at work. Not much is going on here though, so I'm editing personal statements instead 🙂. I am behind on getting these done!
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so nice of you.
 
I'll be having a salad for lunch today with grilled chicken on top. Yummy!
 
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