New year, same as the old year.

So far. Maybe I should give it more time.

The video card I bought in November, I remember I had some concerns about my power supply being adequate. I inherited my current computer and was unable to conveniently figure out the wattage of the power supply, so I decided I'd just install the vid card and see what happened. Well, it worked all right, for two or three weeks. Then I started getting odd errors (HD cache write errors or something) and random locking up and restarting. Finally the computer wouldn't turn on at all, so I backed up my HD, unhooked it and borrowed another computer over the holidays and finally got my computer fixed just the other day. I figured it was the power supply and sure enough, it was. My power supply was outputting 500 watts, it turns out. Not nearly enough. Anyway I looked online and found some decent 750W+ power supplies for around $150 and up, but I figured I'd make use of my computer's free service warranty and just take it down to its vendor and have them install a new one right then and there. I expected the price to be around the same, maybe $30 or $40 more than the $150-ish I'd found online. Nope, try $100 more. I thought about it, and decided having it installed by guys who do that for a living (like I used to, haha) and having it done right then instead of waiting a week or so more was worth $100, so I paid up. Never thought I'd pay $250 for a power supply. Cost like $80 more than the video card did. Fascinating story.

My school, the University of Utah, just went to the Sugar Bowl, busting the BCS for the 2nd time in 4 years. Maybe 5. Whatever. Either way, I predicted a major loss, and instead they kicked the crap out of the mighty SEC's runner up, Alabama. It was gorgeous. Now, I say that, but I'm actually not a native fan of the team. I grew up on another, nearby, in-state team and my loyalties to that team will never die, but I am extremely proud of what Utah accomplished and have nothing but well-wishings for the program. However, I still want my team to beat them next year.

My Jazz are doing about as well as can be expected, considering the ridiculous amount of injuries they've been dealing with. Deron is looking more and more like his old self. 25 and 15 last night in 36 minutes, started 8-8. Crazy man. Boozer will be back in the lineup approximately never, and when never comes, he'll suck for 2 months while getting back into playing form and then IF the Jazz get into the playoffs he'll accidentally not play defense as usual en route to another disappointing 2nd round exit courtesy of the Lakers, or the Spurs. Meanwhile contract years for two more of the Jazz's biggest other players spell all around messiness in keeping this team together. This was supposed to be the year, man. Boozer and his elusiveness/duplicity is beginning to bother me, and if he manages to sabatoge my team during his quest to "get a raise" I will finally join the ranks of moron Jazz fans who unconditionally boo every former player regardless of the way they left/were booted from the team. At least when he's in town.

Nuggets need not apply.

Jason Whitlock thinks that one of the reasons the NBA is enjoying significantly higher ratings this year over last year is in part because the current participants of the playoffs (now down to Lakers, Celtics, Pistons) don't all look like "prison-ready brutes," and he refers specifically to the excessive tattooing undergone by a large number of NBA players. I have to agree, but only to a point. Last year's Finals teams didn't look like brutes, but ratings were in the toilet because the matchup was regarded as boring. Which, honestly, it was.

But the problem David Stern has is not just with "boring" teams. The Spurs are regarded as boring because they aren't young, fast, and don't run a lot. But the perception of teams who run a lot of half-court sets, picks-and-rolls and other basketball fundamentals is largely a product of who the NBA and media outlets market. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. These organizations market the teams and players they think and assume people want to see, and as a result they condition people to expect that, and then when people turn on the TV and don't see Kobe waltzing into the lane to dunk over some 7-foot center every 30 seconds, they decide it's boring and they change the channel.

Jordan's gone, guys. Stop marketing individuals, stop marketing dunks and buzzer-beater treys. Start marketing the game for what it is 95% of the time. If people can't accept basketball for what it actually is (that is, not a bunch of highlights of breakaway dunks strung together), then at this point you're only delaying the inevitable and the league is going under. But we all know that won't happen. We all know basketball is here to stay. So start educating people on the game. Help them to understand how the game works on a deeper level, and help them to appreciate fundamental offense and good, solid defense. Why do people around the world love soccer? There's a reason. People still watch baseball in droves, and that's one of the slowest sports on earth. And guess what, hockey is a very fast-paced game and how many people are watching that these days?

No, David Stern's problem is not because of teams like the Spurs, Jazz and Pistons. It's because he doesn't know how to properly promote his league, and while he and his colleagues run around trying to push the "new" MJs on us, fans drop by the wayside one by one. Couple that with the inconsistent reffing and the image problem Whitlock refers to, an image problem reflected in numerous polls conducted pitting the league against other major sports, and he's going to have a real problem on his hands real soon.

Vlade is just glad he got out early.

Apparently the NBA is going to start imposing fines on players who clearly flop. The fines will be assessed after games, following a review by some committee of "observers." The details are all a little fuzzy right now. All I can say is that while I'm glad something is being done to cut down on the serious flopping going on in the NBA these days, I don't know if it'll be enough. These men make enough money that a $10,000 fine is pocket change to them. Even to players making "only" around a million a year. Especially if they risk a flop, get the call, and their team wins a game as a result. A little fine isn't going to stop that, is it?

This'll only work if the fines are significant and repeat offenders are punished harshly. The main problem with this is that I doubt it'll be strictly enforced. What we'll see is a lot of flip-flopping (no pun intended) by the league and this committee of observers as to whether or not there was a flop. Most of the chronic floppers are not obvious about it, which is why they do it--because they can and because oftentimes they get the call. A repeat viewing is not necessarily going to make this and open-shut issue. They'll continue to do it, and a review of the action after the game is going to end up as a "we can't tell if it was a flop or not" kind of verdict and life will go on. The only flops that will be regularly fined are the really, really obvious ones while the more irritating, subversive ones that go on all the time will continue.

MLS has been doing better this year in no-calling or yellow-carding a player who obviously flops. In my opinion, flop-calling needs to be a foul-like judgment call by the ref as it happens, and while that may put more of a burden on the refs to make a subjective game even more subjective, it may in the end cut down on flopping because players would be less willing to risk it if it's a heat-of-the-moment call rather than an after-the-fact call. We'll see.