Jimmer and the NBA Draft

Here's the deal. Last August, when everyone was on tenterhooks waiting to see if BYU was actually going to go independent in football, I started scouring the interwebs for any news I could find on the subject. It was the first time I had actively gone and looked up sports articles (shocking, I know, what with my love of sports and all). Then there was all the hype about BYU basketball before the season and how good they could be. Then the Jazz had their stint of however many straight double-digit comeback wins (you know, before Sloan resigned, Deron was traded, and they sucked it up). Then Jimmermania exploded and I spent ridiculous amounts of time reading articles about it.

Suffice it to say, I am hooked on sports articles. A vast majority of the people I follow on Twitter are sports analysts (both professional and amateur), and I frequently scroll down my feed and click open half a dozen articles that people have posted. Twitter is pretty much my main source for sports news. I find myself reading all sorts of articles that I never would have cared about before. I've even read articles about soccer. Crazy, I know.

So what does this mean for me? Well, it means that I know more about sports than I probably need to know. I can't rattle off crazy stats or anything, but I can make informed opinions about sports. Especially pertaining to the teams that I really care about (which basically boils down to the Jazz, BYU basketball, and BYU football).

If you don't care about sports and don't care about Jimmer and don't care about what I think of where Jimmer should land in the NBA and why, stop reading. This post will just bore you. But it's my blog, so I'll write about what I want, whether it bores you or not.

Everybody knows I'm obsessed with Jimmer Fredette. That's not exactly a secret. Which obviously means that I've been paying much, much more attention to NBA draft talk this year than I ever have before. Jimmer is a huge question mark in everyone's minds. Will his ridiculous college game translate to the pros? Will he develop some defense so he doesn't get eaten alive on the floor every night? Does he have the right size to actually play point guard, or will he have to be some kind of combo guard? Does he have the ability to truly run an offense as a PG, or will he simply be instant offense off the bench? Is he athletic enough to create shots against the athleticism of NBA players?

Then there's the question of the system that Jimmer should play in. Most people seem to agree that it doesn't really matter how high Jimmer gets drafted—it's more a matter of the team that drafts him. He needs to get in the right system to get a chance to succeed.

Which leads me to my reasons for why the Jazz need to draft Jimmer at number 12. (Come on, you knew this was coming, right?)

1. The kid can shoot. (I like that I say "kid" when he's only a year and a half younger than I am.) Have you seen the Jazz's outside shooting lately? It sucks. Like a lot. The best shooters they've got are probably CJ Miles and Raja Bell. (Blech, did I just write that? Yeah, yeah I did.) Criticize Jimmer's game all you want—you can't argue that he would bring some desperately needed help to the Jazz's shooting plight. Jimmer would be a threat as soon as he crossed half court, meaning that defenders wouldn't be able to ignore him. That opens up the floor for the rest of the players.

2. Jimmer dishes the ball. People argue this point all over the place, but Jimmer isn't a ball hog. I can't count how many times I watched him create plays for his teammates while he was at BYU. Let's look at the top three point guards in the draft: Kemba Walker averaged 4.5 assists per game. Kyrie Irivng averaged 5.1 APG. Brandon Knight averaged 4.2 APG. And Jimmer? He averaged 4.2 APG. Not too shabby, comparatively. Oh yeah, and he also scored 5–10 more points a game than those guys. I think Jimmer distributes just fine.

3. He's more athletic than he looks. Jimmer's a white guy. A white Mormon guy, no less. We all know it, and we all know that people look at him and automatically think he can't really play. But he can. Did you see what he did against double and triple teams all season long? He found a way to get the ball in the basket regardless of who was guarding him, and he played some long, athletic guys. And if he didn't get the ball in the hoop, he drew three guys with him then kicked it out to a teammate. I'm willing to bet that Jimmer won't see double teams as soon as he inbounds the ball in the NBA.

4. Jimmer can create for himself. Jimmer isn't just a shooter; he's a scorer. As Coach Rose always said, Jimmer's a relentless scorer. He knows what he has to do to get a shot off, and he does it over and over, regardless of the defense. He became a master at reading defenses and figuring out what he needed to do in individual situations, whether it be score points himself or draw off the defense and let his teammates get the points. More often than not, Jimmer wouldn't start putting points on the board until a good ten minutes into the first half, after he had figured out what the defense was going to give him. He's also got enough bulk that he can play through contact. And have you seen those off balance jump shots he takes? All he needs is to get his shoulders square, and he can let that ball fly. Remember this picture?

5. The Jazz need a face to the franchise. Stockton and Malone have been gone for years now, and with Deron Williams getting shipped off to the Nets and Sloan retiring, the Jazz have no face. They have no one person that identifies who the team is and how they play. People would argue with Jimmer being the face of a franchise, but what better person could there be for the Jazz? Jimmer's lived in Utah for four years. He likes it here, and he likes the Jazz. The Jazz are known as a classy, well-behaved team, and Jimmer is a classy, well-behaved guy. He's humble and likable. What else could you want as your franchise's front-man?

6. Jimmer's Jazz jerseys would fly off the shelves and his game would put butts in the seats. The Jazz were absolutely abysmal last season. I know everything was falling apart and there was a lot of turmoil and change, but that doesn't change the fact that they sucked, and people stopped coming to games. I know this shouldn't be the main reason the Jazz draft Jimmer—regardless of who's on the team, if they're winning, the seats will be filled. But having Jimmer merch for sale would give a little cushion until the team figures things out and starts winning games again. Jimmer has a ridiculous fan base in Utah, and if he's available and the Jazz think everything else fits, they might as well take advantage.

7. I really just want a chance to take a sign that says "The Lakers got Jimmered" to a game at the ESA. And I'd love to see if the "You Got Jimmered" chant survives into the pros. I feel like it has major potential to break out beyond college students. Everybody was chanting it by the end of last season—I don't see why it couldn't make it in the pros too.

Wow, this post is a lot longer than I expected. If you actually read it all, kudos. I may be rambling and people may think my opinions are crap, but I can't help but think that Jimmer would fit with the Jazz. The Jazz have a history of good guards, and I am so on board with Jimmer being part of that history. Sure, this might be because I'm obsessed and I just want him to stay on my team in my state, but regardless, I think these are some valid points. If Jimmer's there at number 12, I say there's no reason for the Jazz not to roll the dice on him. If given the chance, I think he could do some amazing things as a pro.

Give up the world, give up your life, cuz you cannot fight the television!

I have to stop getting addicted to TV shows! Especially when they're old shows that are already completed so I can spend as much time as I want watching episode after episode. After episode.

The current culprit is Alias. I never watched it when it aired, and when I started working at KLAS, I started hearing about it. Two years later, Karly, Angie, and Jenifer have successfully convinced me to start watching it, which was made easier when Karly handed me all five seasons. (Yes, five. Yes, that is definitely a bad thing.)

I started watching mostly out of curiosity, and I wasn't super sucked in. I watched a couple of episodes here and there, and it was entertaining enough that I kept watching, but I wasn't dying to know what happened next. Until Will Tippin got more involved, and then I was hooked, because Will was pretty much my favorite character. Because he's a stud, and Bradley Cooper is hot. (Nerdy hot, no less. How they managed that is beyond me.)

And then I finished season one and moved on to season two, and I was a goner. Irina Derevko working with the CIA? Double Francie? Will knows all about Sydney? Sark everywhere? Sloane being more manipulative than ever? Vaughn and Sydney (finally)? And then, of course, there was the whole Hong Kong ending and that damn ring on Vaughn's finger. (Don't even get me started on Lauren. Ugh. And no, that paragraph isn't supposed to make sense. Unless you've seen Alias. Then you'll completely understand.) Season two basically did it for me, and now I'm stuck.

Here's yet one other reason I keep watching:

*drool*

To quote Karly, Michael Vartan could be my handler any day.

And is it weird that I kind of really like Sark? I know he's a terrible awful person (especially with that whole Lauren fling, yuck), but he's kind of endearing. As much as I like him, I'm waiting to see when he'll finally get shot in the face. I don't know how he's avoided it so far.

And then there's always the comedic relief. Weiss is freaking awesome. "This is why people at the CIA and NSC don't get married. You don't poop where you sleep." I love him.

Remember that time I wondered how long I could last without an obsession? Well, now I know. It's about a month.

My life is officially mine again.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have a tendency to get really into things (hence the section in the sidebar for my current obsession). These things generally take over my brain and occupy 80 percent of my thoughts. Sometimes I honestly wonder if I have a little OCD, which is what causes me to think about things so much.

In addition to my five month long BYU basketball obsession, the past few weeks I got seriously addicted to "Veronica Mars." It's a stupid (yet ridiculously awesome) TV show from a few years ago, featuring Kristen Bell as a teenage, amateur private eye. It's awesome, and I loved every second of it. I spent three weeks straight watching as many episodes as my free time would allow. I finished the third and final season in three days. (In my defense, there were only 20 episodes. But that's not really much of a defense.)

Well, on Tuesday night, I stayed up way too late and finished the incredibly unsatisfying third season. The series was canceled for who knows why, so it ends on a cliffhanger and Logan and Veronica don't get back together. Lame. And yesterday, the Cougars ended this insanely awesome season with a disappointing loss to Florida in the Sweet Sixteen.

And now my life is mine again. I currently have no obsessions, and it feels a little strange, I must admit. We'll see how long it lasts.

This is why I can't find new TV shows

A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for a free month trial of Netflix so I could try out the instant streaming on my blu-ray player, which probably wasn't the wisest decision. Now that I have experienced the wonders of instant streaming, I'm not going to be able to say goodbye to it. I'm stuck paying that monthly fee now. Crap.

The other problem with instant streaming is that I have become completely addicted to another TV show. I guess it's not a terrible thing, since my last major obsession ended last year. There is no more "Lost" to fill my TV needs. But much to my joy, the first four seasons of "Bones" were on instant play on Netflix! I had watched a few episodes and I liked the show, but I hadn't allowed myself to get addicted. Until now.

Cora and I routinely watch at least two episodes a night. Our current record is seven episodes in a day. (Which, by the way, included going to church, taking naps, going to ward prayer, and playing games with a group of friends. That, my friends, is pretty impressive.) The show is ridiculously addicting. It's got a great mix of drama and comedy. They manage to crack jokes while looking at a mangled skeleton. I'm not sure how the writers pull it off, but they definitely succeed.

And besides the fact that the show is really funny (and also kind of creepy at times...pathological killers freak me out), Seeley Booth is friggin' hot. I don't care if this makes me sound like a teenager. I mean, look at him:

That's all the evidence needed. Plus, his character is fantastically attractive. And wears good jeans. Booth has fast become my favorite male TV character.

Basically, I'm completely addicted. I'm super excited for the new season to start next week. All I have to say is that if Booth and Bones don't get together in the first freaking episode, I'm going to be angry. They've dragged it out long enough. In the meantime, though, I'll satisfy my cravings by continuing to make my way through the first five seasons. Netflix instant streaming is pretty much the best/worst thing ever.

Let the Craziness Begin

What craziness, you ask? Well, in about 24 hours, I will be sitting in my seat at LaVell Edwards Stadium watching BYU kick off the 2010 season. And I turn into crazy Lindy during the football season.

I am so weird. I freaking love sports. I know I've posted about this before, but I'm posting about it again. Because hey, it's my blog, and I can write about whatever I want. And football is on my mind right now. I'm literally squirming in my seat right now because I'm so excited about the prospect of watching BYU play Washington tomorrow. It has been nine long months since the last Cougar football game, and it's about freaking time for another season.

The beginning of a new football season is always exciting. I seriously get chills just thinking about sitting in the stadium and watching my Cougars run onto the field. Is that weird? Yeah, probably, but I don't care.

For me, Cougar football is a family affair. I've been watching BYU play for as long as I can remember. I've been dealing with the BYU/Utah rivalry ever since I started elementary school. Let me tell you, growing up in Salt Lake as a BYU fan isn't the easiest thing to do. Not that anything awful ever happened to me, but I have endured some verbal abuse. Much like the Ute fans down here in Provo get, I'm sure.

Even going to football games is a family thing. The games have never been a social thing for me—even when I was going to BYU, I would get an all-sports pass with my brother and sit with him and about seven of his married guy friends. But it didn't matter, because I was there to watch the game, not to chat. I got to listen to some interesting sports talk from those guys, which was really fun.

And now that I'm all graduated and have moved on from the student section (sadly enough), I buy my own season tickets and go to games with my dad and my two brothers. And I love it. I love talking sports with them and soaking in everything that they know. They know way more than I do, so I learn a lot from them. Especially my father, who really needs to be a sportscaster somewhere. He'd be so awesome at that job.

BYU's recent announcement that they are going independent with an eight-year contract with ESPN has only increased my excitement for Cougar football. I know, I know, the change won't happen until the 2011 season, but this could mean big things for BYU. Sure, it could also blow up in everyone's faces, but I'm looking at the bright side here. And I think there are a lot of very positive things that could come from this. I think it's about time BYU did something different.

I'm not going to give any kind of predictions for this year's team. BYU lost a lot of starters last year, so there are a lot of newbies coming on the field this season. It could be very interesting. I'm just hoping the young guys step up and surprise us with a great season. I definitely wouldn't mind BYU winning the conference championship their last season in the MWC. I'm not expecting it, but it'd definitely be sweet.

The bottom line is that I bleed Cougar blue through and through. And that won't change any time soon. Go Cougs!

Going Strong

Last year, I wrote this blog post about my newfound love of instrumental music. I'm here to say that my love is still going strong. I've actually been on kind of an instrumental kick lately—it's about all I want to listen to. Instrumental is now the biggest playlist on my iPod—I never thought that would happen.

Here are some new acquisitions:

I'm especially loving Danny Elfman right now. He's pretty dang awesome. I'm planning on tracking down the soundtrack from The Corpse Bride sometime soon. I also really want to get the Sherlock Holmes soundtrack—it's by Hans Zimmer, who is also awesome.

Just for the heck of it, here are a few old soundtracks that I have recently come to love:

Hmmm...is anyone else seeing a Johnny Depp theme here?

Heck to the Yes

So, I recently found out that a band that I quite enjoy just might be heading back Utah way next month.

 

This time, I'm totally getting my QU shirt signed. Concert #5 here I come!

I just might have an aneurysm

from how incredibly excited I am that LOST is starting again tonight. Does this make me a nerd? Yes. Will I annoy people throughout the course of the sixth and final season? Yes. Will this stop me from geeking out about it? No.

(This picture intrigues me, since it's a representation of da Vinci's The Last Supper. Though I must admit that the fact that John Locke is in Jesus' position kind of freaks me out.)

Finally!

Anyone who really knows me knows that I'm obsessed with LOST. It's pretty much the most addicting TV show I have ever watched. I absolutely love it. It's one of those shows that I think about and talk about the entire week after a new episode, because there is so much to look for and so much to pay attention to. I've watched the first four seasons twice now (and will watch season five again once the package arrives), and I still miss things. It is just that intricate. And the final season, season six, starts on February 2nd. Only 33 days away, after over 8 months of waiting. What happened after Juliet detonated the bomb? Will they still be on the island? Will they reset everything that happened after the crash? Will someone finally learn sense and shoot Ben in the face? What the crap is up with the four-toed statue? What exactly do 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 have to do with the island? Where is Claire? And why is Christian Shephard all buddy buddy with Jacob when he's supposed to be dead? So many questions! And only 33 more days until they start getting answered. Finally. I can't wait.

Thanks Day Three

I'm thankful that I'm passionate about things. I'm thankful that I really get into things, like bands and actors and TV shows. It means that I care about things (though admittedly sometimes too much), and without caring about things like that life would be boring. Caring about things drives me to action, so I do things that I love with people I love, which makes for great experiences and awesome memories.

Here are a few things I'm passionate about:

 

 

Sherwood Update

I now have QU, Sherwood's latest album. It is everything I have hoped for and more. Seriously, this album is bloody brilliant. I love it, and have already listened to it about ten times. It's currently on amazon.com for $2.99, so go get it while the sale lasts! Woot!

Yes, More Sherwood Videos

I am fully aware that I am obsessed with Sherwood. And I am not ashamed. Their music is awesome, and I'm super excited for their new album next week. Plus, they are really talented. Nate's voice is seriously really cool. His straight tone lends something different to Sherwood's music, and the notes he can hit are crazy. You should have heard him at the Provo concert when he was sick. He was hacking up a lung, but he still nailed all of his notes. It was crazy cool. Couldn't even tell he was sick.

Qu Video Sneak Peek Video #3 - Maybe This Time


Qu Video Sneak Peek Video #1 - Not Gonna Love

This Is a Test

To see if I can make it so my cousin can view this video. She has to use BYU's internet, which blocks myspace, so she can't watch any of the cool videos that Sherwood is posting this week until their new album comes out. It probably won't work because it's still linked to myspace, but I'm gonna try, dangit. Plus, it's an awesome song so everyone else should listen to it, too.

Qu Video Sneak Peek Video #2 - Make It Through

Yay!

I was just going about my day today, as normal. And then suddenly I remembered that Sherwood's new album is coming out a week from today.

And I got really happy.

That is all.

401K

Sherwood is bloody brilliant. And here's the video they filmed in Salt Lake City. You probably can't see me, but I'm totally in that crowd jumping like crazy and yelling "401K." Pretty freaking sweet.

Public Enemies

Today I saw the movie Public Enemies. To put it shortly, I loved it. I thought the acting was stellar and the story was fascinating. Part of the reason that I was so gung-ho to see it was because I recently found out that my great-great uncle Jay C. Newman was one of the G-men who helped hunt down John Dillinger and his gang. He was actually shot by Baby Face Nelson. The bullet grazed his forehead and left a scar there for the rest of his life.

I really think that's why I found this movie so completely fascinating. I have some personal interest in the story.

Throughout the movie, I felt conflicting sympathies. I sympathized with John Dillinger and with Melvin Purvis, who was the lead agent who was after Dillinger and his gang. I can't believe how inadequate the police force was in 1933. The police force either didn't have the ability, the knowledge, or the manpower to get these criminals, or they were taking bribes from the criminals so they could stay out of the prisons. It was incredibly difficult for the regular police officers to understand what they needed to do in order to apprehend these criminals.

The acting in this movie was absolutely superb. I love, love, love Johnny Depp. He's amazing and did a tremendous job as John Dillinger. I especially loved seeing him in a role that wasn't a kind of caricature, not that he doesn't perform those roles brilliantly as well. But seeing him as a real person, as opposed to as Edward Scissorhands or Jack Sparrow or Willy Wonka, just proves to me what a talented actor he truly is. I feel a slight Johnny Depp kick coming on after watching this movie . . . I think my slight obsessive tendencies are making themselves known.

Christian Bale also did a fabulous job as Melvin Purvis. He played not only a hard-working government agent, but also a decent and honest man. I loved his character about as much as I loved Johnny Depp's. Christian Bale is also a brilliant actor. (But it's too late for a Christian Bale kick . . . I've been on one my whole life. I've loved him since I was five.)

I think the most fascinating thing about this movie and this story was how the public viewed John Dillinger and his gang. They were celebrities. They took hostages and forced them to ride on their cars as they got away from their bank robberies. Yet the public loved them. At one point in the film, Dillinger refuses to aid in a kidnapping because the public doesn't like kidnapping. He gave the people in the banks their money back before taking off with the bank's money. He was seen as a decent criminal, it seems. He hid among the public who loved him so much. I tell myself that I can't believe people would love such hardened criminals so much, that people would line up just to see John Dillinger at his court appearances, but then I look at our current world and at the celebrities we gawk at. Some of them are horrible people who have done horrible things, yet the public still lines up to see them, sometimes even at their court appearances.

I'm planning on scoping out some books about the 1930s crime wave. I'm completely intrigued by the whole story and I want to know how things really went down.

Public Enemies is rated R for violence. (There are a lot of Tommy guns.)