Merry Christmas

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1550731028

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1565241567

Elf Yourself
Merry Christmas

The Formal Picture

My mom is crazy with the camera,

Basketball vs. Hebron

ACT

I am scheduled to take the ACT on Sat. the 8th of Dec. I will have to miss a basketball game to take it..

Sweet Cardinal

Captain and Blocked Point After Kick

I am 68, my lil Bro is 62

First Game

Crazy Little Bro

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Restaurant Recommendations

Does anyone have any recommendations for (inexpensive) restaurants in the Atlanta area? For my birthday, we get to pick a restaurant to go to (even though my birthday isn't coming up for a while).

Trade Deadline

The trade deadline was yesterday and some important trades went down. The Braves officially received Teixeira and Mahay, plus they got Octavio Dotel for Kyle Davies. The Red Sox got Eric Gagne for 3 prospects. The Braves and the Red Sox were the big winners at the deadline. This has changed a lot of things. The Braves are now more favored to win the NL East and get to the World Series. Now they have improved their hitting and pitching. When you have Brian McCann, Jeff Francouer, and Kelly Johnson hitting 6,7,and 8, a trio that could hit 3rd, 4th, and 5th, you know you have a really good offense. They also expanded their pitching so that the starters don't have to go as long into the game. The Red Sox are now a good favorite to win the World Series. They now can have different people in relief and they can rest their relief pitchers more. Those were the winners of the deadline. Some big names that were rumored to be moving that didn't move were Jermaine Dye, Mike Piazza, Adam Dunn, and Ken Griffey Jr. All in all, not very many big name trades were moved.

Underrated Part of the Game

Defense is the most underrated aspect in the game of baseball. Most people just care about the home runs and era. To them it's all about the batting average and the wins. People just don't understand how valuable defense is to a team. Without good defense, pitchers wouldn't throw no hitters and perfect games. Without good defense, teams wouldn't win many ballgames. Take the last few world series winners. They all had 2 to 3 good defensive players and the most of the rest were solid. The Cardinals had Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds, and Albert Pujols, all superb defensive (and offensive) players. The White Sox had Iguchi and Joe Crede. The Red Sox had Orlando Cabrera, Jason Varitek, and Doug Mien. Obviously, defense is important to win in World Series. Good defense saves a ton of runs. Another example of defense being overlooked is Luis Castillo. He set the 2b errorless games in a row with 143 games in a row. That was between last year and this year, yet most people didn't hear about it or pay much attention to it. Just playing a month without having an error is extremely difficult, almost a whole season is a whole lot harder. People were paying more attention to Vladimir Guerrero and Alex Rodriguez ( I was). I myself find defense the most exciting part of the game. I guess because I just love being in the dirt. Actually it's because it is so underrated. I also like to save runs by making great plays (Especially when your team goes 3-17 in their season). Pitching and hitting are great, but good defense is just as good as good offense and pitching.

Mark Teixeira

Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay have been traded to the Braves from the Rangers for Jarrod Saltalamacchia and 3 other prospects. What exactly are the Braves getting in Mark Teixeira, or "Tex"? He has a lifetime batting average of .283 and has hit 153 homers in his 4 1/2 career. The 1st baseman has the versatility of the playing third base or the outfield. He has a .995 fielding percentage. He is a two time gold glove winner and a two time silver slugger. He also has been an all star. He played at Georgia Tech so he is familiar with the city. He could push the Braves into the playoffs and maybe even the World Series. And all we had to give up was Jarrod Saltalamachia and a few prospects.
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070730&content_id=2118481&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl

Craig Biggio

Craig Biggio is going to retire with class. Right after he announced that he was going to retire after the end of the 2007 season, he hits a grand slam to win the game for his Astros. Craig Biggio has set an example for all of baseball. He was always willing to change positions for the team even if it meant that he wouldn't get as much glory. He played 2nd base, catcher, and center field. In order to be able to have a mindset that he could play any position on any given day, you have to be mentally and physically tough. He also has 3,000 hits which almost ensures a trip to Cooperstown. He would be the last guy I would think that would have taken steroids (you never know though). He is a family man, too He has been married to his wife for close to 15 years, and he has 2 sons and a daughter. All his teammates say that he is a Hall of Famer not just for his accomplishments, but because of his leadership. Truly, Craig Biggio is a great man, on the field, and off. http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070724&content_id=2107470&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou

NBA Problem

I can't believe that analysts are even trying to decide which sports commissioner has the worst problem on their hands. It's obviously the NBA's David Stern. How can you even compare behavior to games that could have influenced championships. Take some of the teams that barely missed out on the playoffs. The games that would have gotten them into the playoffs could have been lost because of Tim Donaghy and maybe some others. After we saw Golden State defeat Dallas in the first round, it is quite possible that the games that were fixed could have caused a different champion had their not been betting on the games. That's not all though. There may be some players that bet on the games and could have thrown some of the games. Imagine how the playoffs had been had their not been any betting on the game. Of course, gambling is an age old problem and could have been going for decades. I sort of feel sorry for Mr. Donaghy because he wasn't the first to throw games (nor will he be the last), he was just the first to get caught.

Atlanta Braves

Atlanta is my favorite team of all sports. They have the best GM, John Scheurholtz, and manager, Bobby Cox. They have some really good players in Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Edgar Renteria, and pretty much the rest of the team. They are doing really good this year except for the occasional bad start. The bullpen has been terrible of late. They have lost quite a few games because of the relievers. Rafael Soriano has been absolutely horrible of late. The most consistent reliever has been Bob Wickman. I think the the Braves should trade some of their young talent for some veteren pitching help. A trade that would be totally crazy and impossible and has nothing to do with pitching would be to trade Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones for Alex Rodriguez (if there was enough money in the entire world). :-)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Just finished reading the 7th Harry Potter book after reading for about 6-7 hours. It was by far J.K. Rowling's best book so far. There are quite a few surprises in the book. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just leave it at that. I will say that the 7th movie will probably be the best movie even after the producers cut out 3/4s of the book.

Screaming Little Brother

I have a 4 year old brother that really gets on my nerves. If he doesn't get his way, then he will scream your ears off. He is also the baby of the family. Being the baby and being a 4 year old is not a good mix. The four year old is a pain in the neck, but sometimes he is nice. He is really interested in sports and is very dedicated to baseball and basketball. This leads back to the same problem. If my dad and I are playing basketball, he will tell us to take turns with him and to lower the goal from 10 ft to 7 1/2 ft even though we have another basketball that fits his size perfectly. When I'm practicing baseball with my dad or brother, he will want us to throw him the ball every other time. Let's just say I don't get in as much practice time as I would like. Even though he is a potty mouth, a bad sport, and an annoying little brat, he is family and I do love him (sometimes).

My Favorites

Hi this is my first post on my blog. I am in the 7th grade I enjoy playing baseball and basketball. I am also involved in Boy Scouts. This next school year will be my first year playing football, and I will play for my school. I was born in the suburbs of Seattle. I moved to Boise for a few years (so of course I like Boise State) and then I moved to Atlanta. My favorite baseball teams are Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners, and the Colorado Rockies. My favorite NBA are the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, and the Seattle Supersonics. My favorite NFL teams are the Denver Broncos, the San Diego Chargers, Seattle Seahawks, and the San Francisco 49ers.