Congratulations, Pat Summitt

Category: Sports

As some of you know that I'm pretty much a rabid or serious fan of NCAA Women's Basketball for more than 15 years. And some of you already knew that I am a loyal fan of Virginia Cavaliers and Debbie Ryan. Whom do I hated, berated, cursed, condemned, bashed, firebombed, nuked and smashed the team most of all?

Tennessee Lady Volunteers. Why? They posted 11 victories over Virginia, some of the losses were devastating for me, psychologically and spiritually. Virginia only posted a win over Pat Summitt and Tennessee Lady Volunteers in '90.

Pat Summitt versus Virginia
But do I have the respect and admiration for Pat Summitt? Yes, I do. In 31 years of being the Coach of Tennessee Lady Volunteers, she amassed 6 National Championships and 15 Final Four appearances. Today, after Tennessee's win over Purdue in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament, Pat Summitt now has 880 wins against 171 losses, becoming the nation's most winningest coach, surpassing Dean Smith of North Carolina's Men Basketball team who amassed 879 wins in 36 years. Evidently, Pat is the fastest one in 31 years, already beating Dean and she could go for 1,000 in 4 years.

She recruited very well, coached very well. During the '94 NAD Conference in Knoxville, I sneaked to Thompson-Bolling Arena and met Pat and Mickie DeMoss, they showed me around the locker room. They were very nice. They asked me if I'm fan of UT? I said, "Never will. I'm UVa fan." They smiled and teased me to get out of the locker room.

Another admiration of her is when UT got Tamika Catchings to play for Pat, her hearing was declining and she was missing the calls, conversations and all important stuff during the practices. Pat had her to be tested with an audiologist who confirmed that she is gradually losing the hearing. Pat told her to get the hearing aids, Tamika refused. Tamika cited that people will make fun of her because of this odd thing on her ears.

Tamika mentioned in the papers that Coach Summitt bluntly informed her, "I wear glasses! I wear the braces! So you use it or you won't play." Tamika got the message and wore the hearing aids. Tamika ended up being First Teal All-American for two seasons. Basically, I admired Pat because she was being honest.

Congratulations, Pat.

R-

The Proof That X-ians and Conservatives ...

There is an evidence that Terri Schiavo's brain will *never* be active, ever again but as usual, the Xians and Conservatives does not want you to see this. AS you can see on DowntownLad's blog, her brain is dissolving into "liquid" and as you can compare her current brain with the younger Terri's brain, you can see the decrease in size of her brain -- she is finished. Let her go.

It is about religion against the science. Faith against common sense. Terri will be free, cast herself into the great void of the universe. Let her go.

R-

They Are Coming!

IN two weeks, Silas and Keith are coming to New York.

Silas, himself from Arkansas, now lives in Riverside, California is chalking a vacation of his own by travelling to New York to visit me. Keith of Charlotte, North Carolina is heading up at the same time.

The question begs: Will the Helmuth Boy come as well?

If so, it may as well as the best weekend of my time in New York and the worst times for New York residents. They are funny, smart and easy to crack jokes about anything else. Silas, Keith, Mark, Rico and I could just sit and mingle with hearies, then snicker and make fun of 'em while they do not understand us. We were very subtle but so hilarious -- too bad not many people can recognize what we often implied. We always put on our best faces and signaled to each other in very subtle but so hilarious manner.

I look forward to host my good friends in two weeks and wreck Chelsea, East Village and West Village. I plan to take them to ... Nowhere Bar, Beauty Bar, Townhouse, XL, The Park, The Cock, The Hole, The Urge ... yeah, Therapy, too.

Can't wait to have you guys here. Convince Mark to come so that the cycle may be completed, Keith!

R-

Guess Who?

Today, I went to the grocery store on Broadway and 150 Street. When I am done with shopping for the week and half, I strolled up the hill to turn right on 152 Street (that's where I live).

I was carrying two plastic bags filled with not-so-fancy food, I saw the familiar face as this figure was with his girlfriend, he was shorter than I am. At first, he looked so familiar that I was bit startled by him. Perhaps he thought I recognized him at first, he laughed and winked at me. The way he laughed, I recognized him immediately but I did not gawk nor stop, we just walked past each other as if we are nobody else. It was funny. He was holding a girl's hand. This girl is obviously not the one we saw on MTV's Real World in Chicago.

I always thought he was dumb lovestruck. But it was interesting that he lives or visited someone else nearby my palace.

Not bad, not bad.

Virginia-Minnesota: On another note, I'm going to be very depressed for a long time. I have to deal with Sonny Wasilowski's rantings that Minnesota beat Virginia in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. Virginia was dumb enough not to capitalize the game when Janel McCarville was benched with foul trouble. When Janel went to the bench, Virginia went to bed. The result is that Minnesota woke up and totally dominated Virginia.

Bad, bad, bad.

What Is So Special About Glenn Reynolds? He is the political blogger from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. He may be the popular figure in the blogosphere and he is an icon for American terrorists, Republicans, Conservatives, X-ians and so on. Well, that's it. He is just a blogger. I did read his blog once in a while. It is interesting but it is still a blog. Yeah, I heard that he got hundreds of thousands hits per day. Which is more than what I get on mine, but guess what? That does not mean that he's special. He is still a blogger. Just like me or DowntownLad. But I am bit appalled at some readers and bloggers who get "excited" when Glenn Reynolds mentioned their blogs. It is like Benny Hinn trying to touch a woman and make her go timber on the floor. It is ridiculous. Glenn is typical pig in the American system.

ACC Basketball Blog: I was alarmed that several readers came to my blog from the ACC Basketball Blog -- they mentioned my blog. That's great. I was raised in the ACC Country, we are not that perfect but the ACC is full of soap opera that simply obliterated Days of Our Lives anyday. Since I discovered their blog, I just added it for my own benefits.

Now I'm gonna watch Utes play Cardinal on the tube. It's going to be very sad night for me. Oh, I also learned that Stanford University is one of few schools that was founded and financed by a corporation, not religious order or government. Very interesting.

Now back to pound my thoughts about the loss.

R-

Dreams of Laurent Hits NY Times

Sarah alerted that there is an article in New York Times about Marvin Miller's dreams to build a town for sign language users.

If Laurent manages to get off the papers into reality, John Flournoy will smile for the first time in 150 years.

I'd like to refute Todd Houston's comment ... well, he is the Executive Director of Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Look at the keyword: for

That is the whole purpose of this so-called organization ... doing things FOR us, doing things that they think is in BEST INTERESTS for us, they did not bother to ask us what we wanted, needed or desired. They think they are doing the noble things for us. They wanted to force us to speak their language, they wanted us to integrate into that world over there and be nobody else (not that it is bad, though), they wanted us to imitate as hearies.

Alexander Graham Bell founded the organization on a purpose to eradicate the deaf people who rejected the spoken language in favor of sign language. They attempted to impose the ban on American Sign Language, they attempted to pressure Congress to ban deaf people from marrying each other, they attempted to discourage deaf people from driving the automobiles.

Hey, the organization has no right to say anything. Many Deaf people, including myself, can vouch that AGB hasn't done a positive thing for the Deaf communities across the nation. Maybe they did for people who barked with their voices, but they did not reach out to us. Nothing at all. So in other words, Todd should shut up.

Update: I sent the message to Marvin Miller, the guy who is working with his mother-in-law to build a town, Laurent. I asked him if the town would allow a bar that is tolerant of anyone else. Here is his response:

I'm committed to influencing the town's values to be tolerant and respectful to everyone, and this goes for religion as well.

The town WILL have a very beautiful and vibrant town center (downtown core) that will be highly walkable. As you check our web site this week, you will see some of the images showing what Laurent may look like. The town planners will begin to produce some of the first sketches of the town by Tuesday, and by Friday, we will have some high quality renderings.

That sounds good to me. Of course, I make fun of religous folks but if they want to enter the pub, they can. I'd love to set up a pub in that town. Of course, the pub won't be sleazy at all. Good luck, Marvin!

R-

What Is Wrong With ABC?!

Desperate Housewives is very popular in the United States, United Kingdom and even, Australia! Why are the ABC keeping on doing the fucking reruns and put many different shows on it such as the Academy Awards and others -- I am losing patience with this show.

Now I was looking forward to see the new episode of Desperate Housewives because I was curious to see the aftermath of shocking revelation with Bree's son. But today, they ran the old show. Me so disappointed. What were they THINKING -- trying to turn the viewers off? They probably did.

Wojnar asked me what I thought of this -- I could not react because I was not aware of this until he mentioned it. Now I'm curious to see how she fits in Wisteria Lane. According to her website, she will be in Desperate Housewives on April 3. Who is she? She is the one that many Deaf people loved to bash, hate, love and protect her. Like it or not, she is the Diva of Deaf Community as much as we deny it.

I met her once in the bookstore at Gallaudet, she was bit abrasive ... perhaps because she was annoyed by gawkers. Using the derogatory sign name to identify her in front of her. I knew of a friend who banged on the window to tell me that I am standing behind her (at that time, I did not know it was her), she turned to look at me and said, "He was talking about me. Satisfied?"

My reaction was, "Oh, ok."

I wish that idiot did not use that derogatory sign name in front of her.

But few years later in Los Angeles, I got to meet her again right before the captioned film at a local theater. She was very nice, funny, animated and tough chick. I actually liked her.

So naturally, I look forward to see her on April 3.

Who Is This Woman?

I gotta confess something.

I lied about something. I did not throw the book in the garbage can. I'm still reading Ann Coulter's "TREASON". It is such a struggle to read her bizarre accusations on this, that and there. If you speak out against the American government, you are anti-American, you are Communist, you are Liberal, you are Muslim ... I'm on page 54. It is such a torture!

Since I'm on the subject of Ann Coulter ... did you know that she is in 40s? She lives in Manhattan? She is still single? She is conservative, full of hate for Liberals -- will blame Liberals if you burped after drinking Coca-Cola, "See? Liberals did this, I bet."

If she is in 40s, single and conservative -- living in New York is definitely wrong place to live unless you are desperate for attention, then New York is the perfect place to grab attention.

I stumbled upon a conspiracy theory on a blog recently that questioned Ann's ... gender. Apparently, some claimed that Ann was Jeremy and that he used to be a drag queen in Key West, Florida ... and that Jeremy was in love with a Muslim who spurned him off for someone else. Since then, Jeremy ... let's say ... goes nuts ever since. I do not know if it is supposed to be funny but it has to be one of the most bizarre theory I ever had heard -- somebody please grab her groin and tell us?

Ok, I'm done with Ann.

There are anti-war protests in New York over the weekend. I didn't go, did not feel like going out. Some people said that why is that we protested against the wars beginning with Vietnam, Korean, Gulf War, Iraqi War and now the War on Terrorism? They claimed that during the World War II, World War I and the wars before that, the Americans were very supportive of our military and government during the darkest days.

Not true.

Did you know that there was a law called Sedition Act in 1918 that forbade the citizens from protesting against the government. It gave the government to prosecute the Americans of disloyalty, fined the Americans $10,000 (in 1918, that's pretty hefty fine) and actively harassed against the left-wing organizations. It also allowed the mail carriers not to give the dissenters their letters, it also permitted the government to spy on the organizations.

It was repealed in 1921, but during that time, can you imagine the idea that our own government sent our soldiers to fight in Europe in the name of "freedom" while our own government denied us of our rights to protest?! But that happened.

Some people thought it was good of Bush Administration to change the French Fries to Freedom Fries after the French Government disagreed with the United States Government on the invasion of Iraq. Well, I learned that in early 1900s, our government actually changed "German Measles" to "Liberty Measles" when we fought against the Germans. Our government encouraged the citizens to harass the German Americans who spoke German. In fact, our religious leaders claimed that God spoke only English!

As you can see, the folks here from day one always overreacted under the guise of "patriotism, liberty and freedom". One word to describe them? Lunatics.

So little has changed ever since.

R-