Looking At The Second Round of the NBA Playoffs

#1 Chicago Bulls vs. #5 Atlanta Hawks
This will be the least interesting series of the second round, though it is not without its storylines. Kirk Hinrich, if he's healthy, will get a chance to take a shot at the team he spent 7 years on. But the Bulls are 20 years removed since the first championship of the Jordan era. The key for the Bulls is Carlos Boozer. The Bulls were fortunate that they won the previous series against the Pacers considering how poorly their prized free agent played. He will have to up his game against another long team in the Hawks. The key for the Hawks is Kirk Hinrich. They will need him to be healthy because I doubt that back-up Jeff Teague can cover Derrick Rose. Hinrich is a premier defensive point guard who can give Derrick Rose fits all series long. The key match-up will be Luol Deng/Keith Bogans/Ronnie Brewer vs. Joe Johnson/Jamal Crawford. Johnson and Crawford are elite shooters, but they will be going against very good perimeter defenders. Expect Bogans to cover Crawford and Deng and Brewer to split time against Johnson. Bulls win in 5.

#2 Miami Heat vs. #3 Boston Celtics
This is hands-down the most interesting series in the playoffs. This series may not determine the NBA champion, but it matches two very interesting teams. Will LeBron James finally conquer the Boston curse? Is Boston too old to win another championship? These questions and more will be answered in this series. The key for Miami is post scoring. If Shaq does not play, the Celtics will once again be vulnerable in the post. With Pierce on James and Rondo likely on Wade, expect a tight game on the perimeter. It will be up to Chris Bosh to attack inside against another great defender in Kevin Garnett. The key for Boston is Rajon Rondo. The Miami Heat seem to have an answer for everybody. The Celtics bring Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett. The Heat bring Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh. But the Celtics have All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo, one of the best facilitators in the game. If he gets going early, the Celtics could take control of the series. The key matchup is LeBron James vs. Paul Pierce. I would like to cite Game 7 of the 2008 playoffs. It was watching two superstars trade blows. These are the game changers for each respective team. This will be a very tight series, but I say Celtics win in 7.

#8 Memphis Grizzlies vs. #4 Oklahoma City Thunder
I hate to say that the Grizzlies win against the Spurs was a fluke, but I don't see this going well for the Grizzlies. The Thunder seem to be firing on all cylinders and Kevin Durant is reminding everyone why we all had him as the pre-season MVP. The key for the Grizzlies is Zach Randolph. Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins are better younger defenders than Antonio McDyess and Tim Duncan, so Z-Bo won't have the same success. But the game for the Grizzlies must go through the post if they have any chance of upsetting the Thunder. The key for the Thunder is Russell Westbrook. Kevin Durant is a superstar and he will get his shots. But Durant cannot win the series on his own. Westbrook needs to be a good second option for the Thunder, especially because Shane Battier can lock down on Durant. The key match-up is Kendrick Perkins/Serge Ibaka/Nazr Mohammed/Nick Collison vs. Zach Randolph. Zach Randolph is the MVP of the San Antonio and Memphis series, so in order for the Thunder to win, they will have to stop Randolph. I predict that the Thunder win in 6.

#2 Los Angeles Lakers vs. #3 Dallas Mavericks
This is another interesting matchup. Both teams are very good and well matched. The size up front for the Mavericks can match Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, two intimidating 7 footers. But how do you deal with the Black Mamba? The key for the Lakers is Pau Gasol. Gasol is likely to be matched against Dirk Nowitzki, so it is crucial that he not only keeps Nowitzki from taking over the game, but that he does not get pushed around on offense. The key for the Mavericks is Jason Terry and Jason Kidd. Jason Kidd is one of the best playmakers in the game, so he will have to get his top guns in the game. Jason Terry has to be a big contributor off the bench. The Lakers have Lamar Odom, and in order to lessen the blow of his production, Terry has to play well. The key match-up is whomever guards Bryant (likely Shawn Marion) vs. Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant is at his best in the playoffs. In order to have any chance of thinking about winning the series, Bryant has to be limited. The Mavericks have to play him physically. But Kobe Bryant has to trust his teammates, especially Andrew Bynum, who can overpower Tyson Chandler. I predict Lakers in 7.

Glee Review: Born This Way

So mega-sized Glee episode last night! It was a very good episode, especially compared with last weeks. So the storylines. Prom is coming up and that means prom king and queen battles are everywhere. You had the favorites Finn and Quinn, but Lauren Zizes and Santana both want to wrestle the crown from Quinn's grasp. Santana wanted to team with Karofsky (as each other's beards) and bring Kurt back to McKinley. Because nothing says prom king and queen than bringing back Kurt. Lauren, and her pageant past, wants to win also, and seems to have the vote of the average Joe/Joette. But then you have true evil and deceivery. Apparently the beautiful Quinn was once Lucy Caboosey, and Lauren let everybody know. Then you have Kurt's return to McKinley, which was inevitable. Finally a sighting of Burt Hummel, pumping up the anger vibes. We all know that Karofsky is not a changed man, but sure acted that way didn't he? After Finn hits Rachel in the nose while dancing (which in my opinion was also an inevitablity), Rachel realizes that she wants a nose job, which prompts the acceptance theme for the week. But Rachel asks Quinn to be her nose model, which is surprising considering Quinn's nose job. She is eventually persuaded by flash mob not to get a nose job. P.S. to Glee: No more flash mobs. It was great with Artie, but now it was just weird. Speaking about acceptance, Emma is still dealing with her cleanybug neat freak OCD, but Will somehow gets her to seek help with uncleaned fruit. Yay strawberries blueberries! Then she proceeds to spend 48 minutes to clean a chair. And Kathleen Quinlan killed as the therapist. Best song is "Somewhere Only We Know". It seems that the Warblers are the best group on Glee. Do you see a spinoff? Best line goes to Santana. She turned up the "bitch" factor this episode. "Legend has it after I was born, I called the nurse fat." Points for Mr. Schuester for using the board for actual intellectually correct words. No more math fiascoes for Glee. Also Glee, next time you steal a joke from Mean Girls, make it a more popular one. Loved the Lebanese reference because it totally sounds and looks like lesbian.

Is It Just Me or Is Joakim Noah's Grandfather Oddly Familiar?

I was watching the Bulls game (which we won, go Bulls!), and my friends and I could not forget a very memorable face. Joakim Noah's grandfather.

 I thought that he looked like George Clinton minus the freaky hair and the beard.

My friend Rob thought he looked like a black Mickey Rourke.

So who's right? You decide.

Mean Girls and Math

So you all know about Mean Girls. Cady Heron is a new girl at school and joins the Plastics and essentially wreaks havoc in her new high school. But at heart, she is a math nerd, like me. So before she heads to the dance, she is at a math competition. Before I complain that none of the math competitions were anything like the one in Mean Girls, I would like to complain that the final question was not that difficult.

So they have to find out the limit as x approaches 0 of the natural logarithm of (1-x) minus sine of x divided by sine of x quantity squared or 1 minus cosine of x quantity squared.This is not an easy problem, but for a math team, this should be child's play. It does require l'Hopital's Rule because the first limit is indeterminate (0 divided by 0, infinity divided by infinity). What I am shocked at is that the other person guessed -1. I haven't looked that much into it, but I did use WolframAlpha to look at the plot.

It does not approach -1 whatsoever. Maybe 1 or -5, but -1? Really Tina Fey? I guess I'm just nitpicking at math in movies, because I do love math and movies. But I was shocked at complete lack of thought put into that scene. I also would like to know how Cady Heron somehow managed to get the right answer. My first problem is that there was only one instance of them learning limits. I've taken calculus and for one semester, the bulk of the learning was covering limits. Next problem is that how did she know that the limit was an infinite limit? I guess that she could intuit it, but considering that she answered after Ms. Kraft (granted she was a tad distracted through her monologue) should say something about what she knew. So note to future movie writers, get your math right or else.

Glee Review: A Night Of Neglect

So Glee is back! But I'll be honest. It seemed to have underachieved. I was very excited for this episode because it was the return of many new faces (Sunshine! Dustin Goolsby!) and a couple of older ones (Sandy! Terri!), and Holly Holliday was back for yet another episode. But today was just a bad episode. First off, the Academic Team side-story was interesting as a fellow nerd, and their handshake was simply hilarious. But the story was another non sequitur in the season, which did not make sense. I never took Artie as smart, and the fact that Brittany was on the team, shows some real luck to even be considering nationals. Then you have the storyline of Mercedes as a diva, which was played out so badly, it essentially turned into a caricature of divas like J-Lo, Mariah Carey, and others. Though the concept was horrible, the emotional pull between the two Glee divas (Rachel and Mercedes) was amazing, and it actually gave Mercedes a real storyline. There was also the Legion/League of Evil that consists of Dustin Goolsby, Terri, Sandy, and Sue. Though the nicknames were nice (my personal favorite was the Pink Dagger, and the gusto to which Sandy accepted his nickname), Sue used to be a great character. Now she is just annoying. Then you have the entire idea of a Night of Neglect. How do you determine a neglected artist? It gave some great numbers like Mike Chang's dance-only number, but the episode was pretty devoid of superb performances. The best performance was Mercedes' rendition of "Ain't No Way", which further helps the concept that Mercedes is one of the best vocal performers in Glee. The best line goes to Will Schuester, who can't multiply. "5000 x .25 = 20000." For an episode that revolved around an academic competition, this horrible miscalculation has to be the most ironic quote in Glee. Ever. And no Beiste sightings. And Will and Emma are back on. And Will and Holly are done. I just don't understand what Glee is doing right now.

Yet Another Yahoo Contribution

So this is an interesting story of how I got to be where I am today, which is the University of Chicago. Read my story here.

A Great Pick Up Line For (Mac) Nerds

Why don't you act like Windows and crash at my place?

Have a good laugh!