Drug Month: While You Were Electing a New Pope

Yesterday, we brought you a business lesson from an unorthodox source. Today, we continue the theme, and extend our examination of America's evolving relationship with marijuana at least one more day. At this point, we're basically killing time until the 12th Day of Gheorghemas magically appears, like the Phoenix rising from the ashes from a deep, healthy bong hit.

The advent of legalized recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington has brought with it rapid growth in demand for a broad range of products and services. Obviously weed growers have found markets for their heretofore illicit crops, but the ancillary products and services springing up around the industry are creating significant legitimate investment opportunity.

While conservative money largely waits on the sidelines, as tension between state legalization and continuing Federal prohibition creates a real risk to pot entrepreneurs, there are those stepping into the breach to stake out early positions in the kush rush.

According to Fast Company,

"The poster boy for the above-ground weed entrepreneur movement is Justin Hartfield, the CEO of marijuana review and discussion site WeedMaps. Hartfield makes big money from WeedMaps--the company generates over $25 million per year. He's continuing to expand his empire, co-founding marijuana technology venture capital firm Ghost Group in 2012 (brands include WeedMaps, MMJMenu.com, Marijuana.com, and marketing company Bonfire), and more recently, launching marijuana VC investment fund Emerald Ocean Capital."

Hartfield, in a nod to the risks mentioned above, doesn't invest directly in the production of marijuana. Rather, "He's more interested in software companies that dance around the edges of the marijuana economy, like WeedMaps."

Let's stop to think for a moment. There are Gheorghies involved in the investment and venture capital space. We know attorneys, tax experts, and marketing professionals. Allegedly, we also know people who are familiar with the weed market and its secondary financial opportunities. These three groups (who might overlap) go together like bong hits and Fritos.

I think you see where I'm going here.

Resume Builder: Instant MBA

This is not Eminem

James Altucher is a writer, trader, investor, and entrepreneur. He's founded more than 20 companies, written 11 books, runs a hedge fund and a venture capital firm, and blogs relentlessly and fearlessly about his failures, his successes, and his opinions about work, money, and life, which are many.

He's also offering a free MBA. Courtesy of Eminem.

More specifically, Altucher believes that the climactic scene in '8 Mile' is a masters course in sales and marketing. In fact, he says, "Eminem is a genius at sales and competition and he shows it in one scene in the movie."

Altucher proceeds to offer 12 lessons on sales and marketing from the movie's final rap battle. For example:

8) Basic Direct Marketing: List The Objections Up Front

Any direct marketer or salesperson knows the next technique Eminem uses.

When you are selling a product, or yourself, or even going on a debate or convincing your kids to clean up their room, the person or group you are selling to is going to have easy objections.
They know those objections and you know those objections. If you don’t bring them up and they don’t bring them up then they will not buy your product.

If they bring it up before you, then it looks like you were hiding something and you just wasted a little of their time by forcing them to bring it up. So a great sales technique is to address all of the objections in advance.

Eminem’s next set of lines does this brilliantly.

He says, “I know everything he’s got to say against me.”

And then he just lists them one by one:

“I am white”
“I am a fuckin bum”
“I do live in a trailer with my mom”
“My boy, Future, is an Uncle Tom”
“I do have a dumb friend named Cheddar Bob who shot himself with his own gun”.
“I did get jumped by all six of you chumps”
And so on. He lists several more.

But at the end of the list, there’s no more criticism you can make of him. He’s addressed everything and dismissed them. In a rap battle, (or a sales pitch), if you address everything your opponent can say, he’s left with nothing to say.

When he has nothing to say, the audience, or the sales prospect, your date, your kids, whoever, will buy from you or listen to what you have to say.

Look at direct marketing letters you get in email. They all spend pages and pages addressing your concerns. This is one of the most important techniques in direct marketing.

Check out the scene below, and then go read the text from Altucher. Just think of G:TB when you get that richly deserved promotion.

Another Reason to Root for the Seahawks

As a general rule, the team with the most Bills loses the Super Bowl. For example, the Bills lost every Super Bowl in which they appeared. Gale Gilbert rode the pine in four Buffalo Super Bowls, then lost a fifth consecutive SB with the Chargers (and the Niners team that beat them had no former Bills). Former Bill Don Beebe won a SB with the Packers, but the Patriots team he beat had former Bill Monty Brown and three future Bills: Drew Bledsoe, Lawyer Milloy, and Sam Gash.

Former Bill Marshawn Lynch seeks to buck this trend this weekend. Here's what he had to say at Media Day:



You have to love and appreciate a guy who refers to himself in the third person, stating "Beast Mode luh an' appreciate that" upon learning that Marshall Faulk respects his game. Throwing in a "Yez lawd!" at the end only makes him that much more lovable and appreciable. As does stuff like this.

This Week in Wrenball: In Which the Basketball Gods Smote the Weather Gods

We follow sports for lots of reasons. We do it for a sense of community, for tribal affiliation (pun only intended after the fact). We do it for camaraderie, for bonding with friends across time and distance. And we do it on the off chance that we might get to witness the moment, the holy shit cathartic yawping joy that happens when preparation meets opportunity meets sublime skill and the best of luck.

We just can't quit you, Wawa.

Yesterday in Philadelphia, the Teej and I were blessed by the fates, and got to see a pair of the best basketball games we could've imagined, capped by one of the top five individual performances either of us have ever seen from a William & Mary player. We also spent two hours driving through a snowstorm, visited the same rural Maryland Wawa twice, raged impotently at Philly's snow removal efforts (mostly, the lack thereof), solved a young man's life problems, connected with old friends in the CAA hoops community and met some new ones, drank beer with an Irishman, and blew up on Twitter. To borrow from the noted bard Ice Cube, it was a good day.

A view from the Uecker seats at La Salle.

Despite encountering an unexpected (mostly because we hadn't bothered to check the weather forecast) snowstorm, we arrived at La Salle's Tom Gola Arena ten minutes before the noon tip between the Explorers and VCU. In another nod to our lack of preparation, we nearly missed out on getting seats to the sold out contest, lucking into a pair that VCU had returned. Bob Uecker would've called our seats bad, but in the 3,400-seat old school field house, no seats were truly awful.

At various points in the game, each team appeared ready to run their opponent off the floor. VCU led by 11 midway through the first half, but a combination of poor free throw shooting and indifferent halfcourt offense (note to those filling out an NCAA Tournament bracket - if the Rams face a team that protects the basketball and can defend a bit in the halfcourt, they might be in trouble, though FOGTB @VCULitos disagrees) allowed La Salle to creep back to within four at the half.

The roles were reversed in the second frame, as the Explorers took a 10-point lead with 5:15 to play to the raucous delight of the Gola faithful. But Treveon Graham (34 points, 12 boards) and Juvonte Reddic (27 and 15) took over for VCU, scoring all of their team's final 14 points in regulation (and all seven of VCU's points in the first overtime) to keep the Rams alive.

I'm pretty sure La Salle's mascot is modeled after Father Guido Sarducci.

With 2:39 to go in the second bonus stanza and the score tied at 82, VCU sharpshooter Rob Brandenberg (who'd been quiet for most of the game) finally gave Graham and Reddic a rest, draining a huge triple. He followed it up with another longball after a La Salle turnover, giving the Rams a six-point lead they'd never relinquish, and sending the visiting fans (of whom there were a considerable number) home with a thrill. For us, the buzz of the game was nearly equaled by the excitement of watching Briante Weber play basketball. He's like a turbocharged octopus on defense - as I said to my traveling companion, if you have the ball and you don't know where Weber is, you're going to lose it. He finished with 5 steals.

Famished, the Teej and I scored a pair of dry, semi-stale Philly 'soft' pretzels on the way out of the gym and stepped out into a heavy snow and a slushy mess. On our way back to the car, we passed ESPN's John Saunders (who'd called the game with Dan Dakich on ESPN2) standing by himself on the sidewalk with a bag in each hand, looking for all the world like he'd been forgotten by his ride. A combination of gullets crammed with pretzel and surprise conspired to rob us of our opportunity to kibitz with Saunders. But I'm sure our repartee would've been witty.

Worst. Pretzel. Ever.

La Salle's campus is about eight minutes away from Drexel's. On a normal day. Yesterday was not a normal day. After saying a few Hail Marys and a couple of curse words, we managed to creep up the icy, snowy hills that lead from La Salle back to the highway. At which point we cruised at a crisp 25 miles per hour. For a putatively Northern city, Philly's snow removal brigades sure did a great Washington, DC impression.

"Survive and advance", said TJ, and we did, arriving at the John A. Daskalakis Athletic Center on Drexel's urban campus eight minutes before the W&M/Drexel tip. The DAC, as its known, seats 2,500, many of whom are within five feet of the playing surface. It's got a really cool, almost menacing vibe. As W&M coach Tony Shaver said after the game, it's a very tough place for road teams to play. We scored much better seats for the second game of our twinbill, winding up four rows behind the W&M bench - close enough to see the bristles of Shaver's mustache. (And, as it turns out, catch his demeanor in the late-game huddle that preceded the stunning end.)

We splurged for seats with backs to them at the DAC. Was money very well spent.

BEASTHOVEN

Drexel's Chris Fouch and the Tribe's Marcus Thornton did their best 'Nique/Bird impression in the first half, as Fouch dropped 19 on W&M while Thornton tallied 13. The Dragons closed the half on an 11-4 run that seemed for all the world a harbinger of their inexorable push to victory. As Shaver noted in the postgame presser, W&M went to the locker room a beaten team, the atmosphere that of a 'morgue'.

But W&M young assistant coaches did a terrific job of pumping up a team that had been on the road for five days and got "their fannies kicked" (per Shaver) at Hofstra on Wednesday. Lesser W&M squads (read: most previous W&M squads) would've packed it in and been run out of the gym. The partisan DAC crowd certainly expected that outcome.

When Kyle Gaillard and Thornton sandwiched three-pointers around a trio of Tim Rusthoven (15 points, 5 boards, 4 assists) buckets, though, the Tribe had run off the first 10 points of the second half to take the lead, and the game was on.

Drexel fought back to take a seven-point lead on a Freddie Wilson jumper at the 9:45 mark. The offensively-challenged Wilson's made shot (TJ and I took to exhorting him to shoot every time he touched the ball) caused Shaver to raise his hands in the air in exasperation.

Perhaps the saddest display of fan chest painting I've ever seen.

Once again, however, given a chance to fold, the Tribe battled back. As I told TJ, this was as hard-nosed a performance as I've ever seen by a W&M team. Despite being overmatched physically (Drexel's big men are strong, and in the case of freshman Rodney Williams, incredibly bouncy.) and playing in a loud, tightly-packed gym, the Tribe gave as good as they got. W&M scored 11 straight to take a four-point lead with 5:07 to play. Rusthoven again keyed the run, scoring seven of the 11, and converting Thornton's pretty no-look dime to give W&M a 58-57 edge.

Thornton's pass made freshman Daniel Dixon smile as he headed back on defense, but the youngster gave his coach and W&M fans reasons of their own to feel good. Though he didn't do much on offense, Dixon was critical in slowing Fouch down in the second half. While the Drexel sixth-year senior finished with a career-high 31 points, he only made two of seven shots after Dixon got the defensive assignment on him.

This kid was absolutely my fan of the game. Just an amazing display of fashion.

One of the game's great little moments came during a timeout with 3:12 to play. Dixon had missed an open three-pointer, making him 0-4 on the evening. His disappointment was visible in the huddle, as he dwelled on his miss. Senior Brandon Britt (who scored 9 efficient points) rubbed Dixon's head and whispered encouragement. Not much to see in the box score there, but terrific leadership by Britt, and a sign of a team playing as one.

Frantz Massenat hit a vital three for Drexel to draw the Dragons within a pair with two minutes to play, and then Fouch scored on consecutive drives to put Drexel on top. The last of his 31 points came on a tough floater with Dixon all over him, giving the home team a 66-65 advantage with 8.1 seconds left.

Shaver called timeout, and addressed his team in the huddle. He got down to his knees, and damned if he wasn't smiling. Amidst the maelstrom, he radiated calm and while we couldn't hear him, it sure looked like he was telling the Tribe how much fun the whole thing was. TJ noticed it right away, saying, "Look at Shaver! He's smiling!" 

At that moment, I turned to TJ and said, "We've got Marcus". Meanwhile, he was tweeting, #InMarcusWeTrust. If we knew where the ball was going, it sure seemed to be news to Bruiser Flint. The Drexel coach only applied token pressure on the inbound pass, and didn't attempt in any way to deny Thornton the ball. The junior guard dribbled the ball upcourt against Major Canady, with the imposing Dartaye Ruffin (who makes Greg Oden look cherubic) lurking to deny a drive to the basket.

Allegedly, W&M had five players on the court, but there was nobody in the gym that expected four of them to see the ball. Thornton weaved his way into the frontcourt, drove hard towards the right, then froze Canady on a crossover before stepping back, elevating, and shooting.


You know what happened next, as do millions of Americans, thanks to yesterday's SportsCenter Top 10. The last three of Thornton's 26 points snapped through the twine, a few dozen W&M boosters went bonkers, the Tribe bench erupted, and 2,000 Drexel fans went dead silent.

Which was good, because it meant we could hear Flint's expletive-laden assault on the officials. The Drexel coach's demeanor contrasted sharply with Shaver's grace under pressure, and while Flint may have had a point (W&M was only called for five second half fouls, an undeniably favorable whistle for a road team.), he came off for all the world like a deranged lunatic.

I'll take our guy, thanks.

Thanks to a gracious recommendation by FOGTB and Drexel fan Dan Crain (@metsox1, and the proprietor of the well-written Dragons Speak blog), TJ and I made our way to The New Deck Tavern for postgame recovery drinks and the first real meal we'd had all day.

TJ had the presence of mind to record a Vine of the Thornton shot, which blew up all over social media in the hours after the game. He kept exclaiming with amazement as first a trickle, then a flood of people retweeted and passed the video around. Even a couple of national outlets got into the act. (We got to see which of them were willing to steal a video from a hard-working blogger without attribution, too. Not naming names, but let's just say one of them is a national sports outlet that starts with N and ends with BCSN.) We got back to DC around 10:00, fairly well convinced that we'd witnessed as good a day of basketball as we're likely to see anytime soon. At least until the CAA Tournament in Baltimore.

It was a terrific day of hoops. But the chance to hang out with my man TJ might've been even better.

Sports, my friends. They're awesome.

#gtbhoopsroadie was a rousing success. See you all in Baltimore for Part Deux.

Gheorghe: The Tease

As we work diligently on the recap of yesterday's blessed hoops road trip, here's a little Tony Shaver and Marcus Thornton to tide you over. If you look very closely from 0:20 to 0:22, you'll see a seated guy wearing green and an over-excited guy in a brown and white sweater (just to the left of Tim Rusthoven's elbow). You might recognize them.

Gheorghe: The Roadtrip

In what would actually be the makings of a mediocre buddy comedy, the Teej and Rob are braving a snowy I-95 to take in the Tribe's afternoon tilt against the Drexel Dragons in the City of Brotherly Love. Apparently, "City of Douchebags With Inferiority Complexes" was already taken. 

Our intrepid correspondents will be venturing into the hallowed confines of the Drexel Athletic Center whose denizens refer to themselves as the "DAC Pack". 

As you can see from the photo, this is not a cool bunch. Any interfan violence will clearly be nerd on nerd crime. 

Drexel is a 4.5 point favorite. I would take the Tribe in this one, but as always wait for Rob to make his pick and then "Costanza" it. 

Drug Week: Where Are They Now?

Lay off the pipe, Man

We interrupt this rob-fueled Drug Week to sprinkle in some fun and tomfillery. 20 years ago, PCU was released, and three characters in particular from that film enjoyed Drug Week every week. G:TB is here to help you catch up with some old friends...

Gutter:
Amazingly, Gutter, as he was so affectionately known to his friends, became the most successful of the THC Trio pictured above. After leaving campus, he briefly gave it a go as a clown, until he almost died in a building fire because some neurotic bald man pushed him out of the way escaping. Depressed, he tried his luck in Vegas after some prodding from a friend. He gave MMA a shot, and was rumored to be dancing in the dark with Courtney Cox. Reportedly traveled a bunch to the North Pole filming a documentary on a worked in the Kringle Factory. Eventually became a pudgy body guard for a multibillionaire genius super hero egomaniac. Who's the big winner now?

Mersh:
Not to be outdone by Gutter's antics, Mersh saw fit to try to destroy a space time continuum portal for "religious" reasons, hung out with a McNasty midget, and then, in his greatest adventure, almost died of heatstroke fighting alien bugs.

During the filming of Starship Troopers (1997), Mersh suffered heatstroke after working all day in 120* desert sun. This stopped production for a week. When he recovered, several large holes were cut into his uniform so he could cool off. Many other cast member's suits had this modification as well in order to prevent further cases. On average there were 25 people per day being treated for heatstroke During the filming of Starship troopers.

Kosmo:
Yeesh. Kosmo is the black sheep of this group, settling for a museum guard job that's only highlight was seeing a talking dog and his ragtag group of friends attempt to solve some silly crime.

I can't even...this guy is turrible...

Wonder if Nats fans hate this guy as much as his brother Pete?

Drug Week: Public Service Announcement

"Get ripped off in a drug deal, and there's not a whole lot you can do. It's not like you can complain to the Better Business Bureau or leave your dealer a lousy review on Yelp. As one dealer puts it, "I mean, what you gonna do? What, you gonna go up to the police and say, 'Hey man, he skeeted me out of an ounce'? Hell no."

First, Yelp for drug dealers sounds like a brilliant idea. Who's in charge of app development around here?

More importantly, though, as we continue with our drug week coverage, until our call for legalization is heeded across the nation, you'll want to make sure you check out the sublimely and coincidentally perfectly named The Week's guide to safely purchasing your recreational meds.

While some of the recommendations are fairly obvious - 'do not be an addict' seems particularly intuitive, for example - what strikes me even more is that nearly all of the guidelines apply to commercial transactions of all types. Repeat customers are more likely to get better treatment, for example. My dry cleaner, a lovely Asian woman (it's not a stereotype; it's true), with an unfortunate habit of telling one of my daughters that's she's prettier than the other, charges me a discounted rate every time I bring my things to her. I've been going to her store for nearly 10 years. I'm a good customer, and I get treated as such.

As for The Week's advice to 'not offend the seller', again, this would seem to be self-evident. Common sense, even.

In the interest of public safety, then, here's the entire list of things to do to protect your interests in a drug deal, as compiled by criminologists Scott  Jacques, Andrea Allen, and Richard Wright (who seem to have gone to significant lengths to justify buying a bunch of weed):

(1) Portray yourself to the seller as likely to make further purchases if satisfied.
(2) Buy from the same seller on a regular basis.
(3) Become acquainted with the seller to the greatest degree possible.
(4) Bring the dollar amount specified by the seller.
(5) Be informed about the going market rate: price per unit of a particular grade.
(6) Do not offend the seller.
(7) Present yourself as willing to take your business elsewhere, complain, or retaliate.
(8) Do not be an addict.

Drug Week: Cocaine Has a Stupid Profit Margin

Many of us use pseudonyms on G:TB, and for various reasons. Me, I do it to protect my professional reputation (I'm a pretty big deal. For a dipshit.) Others change their names for whimsical reasons (Why else would you choose to go by 'T.J.'?). But one in our number aspires someday to elective office*, and as such, would prefer not to be directly associated with William & Mary basketball.

(* Or if not necessarily aspires, really enjoys the idea of it.)

That unnamed dreamer has been slowly and steadily building a constituency in his hometown, starting with taverns and public houses, and moving on from there. He's positioning himself as a pragmatic m
an of the people, which is good, because he's a pretty pragmatic man of the people. They say that George W. Bush connected with regular voters who felt like he'd enjoy sitting down for a beer with them. By that standard, our guy is a shoo-in, despite his political differences with the 43rd President.

But as we near the time of reckoning, his constituents will want to know more about how this man intends to govern their city. If recent events are any indications, the good people of Norfolk are in safe hands, indeed.

He'll never tell you this, but the future Mayor of Norfolk played a critical role in last week's seizure of 732 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $100 million (and wholesale value of $12(!) million) at that city's busy port. First, the official version of events as relayed by the Virginian Pilot,

"This was a cold hit. There was no specific intelligence," (Customs and Border Protection Area Port Director Mark J.) Laria said. He spoke next to a table covered in bags and boxes of cocaine as more than a dozen armed guards secured the building. The cocaine was found inside a shipping container that originated from Trinidad and Tobago off the coast of Venezuela, Laria said. It was destined for New York.Officers targeted the container because of some recent, unspecified smuggling trends. Laria said they started out using large-scale X-ray machines, transitioned to some smaller devices and eventually pulled out the can openers."

Our sources within CBP swore us to secrecy, but the real story is a humdinger. I can't get into the details, but let's just say that it's unlikely that Steve Tasker, Jimmy Buffett, and Stephen Hawking will ever be in the same room together. And while our guy will never take credit for it, the people of Norfolk are in very good hands. Or at least they will be.

Drug Week: A Very Special GTB Report

Welcome to Drug Week at G:TB, a nuanced and deeply researched* look into our nation's evolving and conflicted approach to the enforcement, legalization, and use of mind-altering substances. 

(* - It will be neither of those things. Hell, it's unlikely that we'll make it more than two days before collapsing in a weed and booze-addled lazy haze.)

Yesterday, @BadNewsHughes pointed out an amusing coincidence on Twitter, noting that both NFL conference championship games were played in states that have legalized recreational marijuana use. The Broncos were obviously the more relaxed team in their matchup with New England, and it's not hard to understand the reason. Seattle, interestingly, pressed throughout the first half against San Francisco, clear evidence of the long-standing irony of caffeine's widespread acceptance as a legal stimulant juxtaposed against pot's status as mellower non grata. The Emerald City's deep-rooted addiction to coffee-based kickstarts overcame Washington's recent legalization of marijuana until Pete Carroll passed a bowl around the Seahawks' locker room at halftime. Some habits die hard. Because they're subsidized and protected by governments.

More noteworthy this week (though somehow not really mentioned by the press at large), were President Barack Obama's comments on marijuana. While the President didn't come out for Federal legalization of recreational use, he did say something that I found at the same time controversial and true. In an interview with The New Yorker, Obama said, ""I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I don't think it is more dangerous than alcohol." (Emphasis ours.)

When I was in high school, long before I ever smoked pot (which I did just one time, and didn't like it, as far as my parents will ever know), I began a long-running argument with my father about the merits of marijuana legalization. I didn't have the benefit of the numerous studies comparing alcohol use and abuse to marijuana's negative societal impacts at my disposal. Instead, I had a kid's natural inclination to rebel against his parents and a teenager's highly refined bullshit/hypocrisy sensor. Meanwhile, Dad, who was a military officer and later a high school principal, argued from authority. And even today, I don't disagree with his points about negative influence on military and educational discipline - I just don't think pot's impact on those things is materially different than alcohol's.

Dad and I never settled anything, as you might guess, but it strikes me that the President's words today are meaningful in changing the terms of the debate. The Commander in Chief smoked pot as a young man (as did each of his last two predecessors). He's not advocating cannabis for all (pot in every pot, as it were) - in fact, he takes pains to classify weed as a bad thing - he's merely articulating an argument for equivalence with America's most widely accepted vice. Alcohol fucks us up immeasurably more than does marijuana, and it's propped up by a billion-dollar industry that spends more than $15 million a year (which actually seems low) on lobbying just the U.S. Congress - in no small part to ensure that marijuana doesn't get a Federal stamp of approval.

The President said something else that matters in changing the conversation about marijuana when he addressed the depressing and borderline criminal disparities in the enforcement of our current laws.  "Middle-class kids don't get locked up for smoking pot, and poor kids do," he said. "And African-American kids and Latino kids are more likely to be poor and less likely to have the resources and the support to avoid unduly harsh penalties."

According to the (clearly pro-legalization) Drug Policy Alliance, the quote-unquote War on Drugs costs us $51 billion/year. Legalization would yield an estimated $46.7 billion in tax revenues, assuming weed was taxed at comparable rates to alcohol and tobacco. That's a net benefit to the economy of nearly $97 billion, with immeasurable positive impacts in terms of lives no longer ruined by mandatory drug sentences, and a reduction in crime related to marijuana trafficking. 

But above all the economic and enforcement arguments, none strikes me as more compelling as the same one I made as a kid. It remains the height of hypocrisy to insist on public policy that treats alcohol as America's magical social lubricant while demonizing the use of cannabis. And I thank the President for agreeing with 16 year-old me. Somewhere, likely in a glorious hookah room in Heaven, my father probably grudgingly agrees. Even he could eventually be swayed by logic.

This Week in Wrenball: Scorcher

Three games into the conference schedule, and that number sure looks like it'll be determinative this season.

In wins over James Madison and Drexel, the Wrens shot a combined 15 for 27 (55.6%) from behind the arc to roll to huge halftime advantages and coast to easy wins. And in a loss to CAA-leading Delaware, W&M went 9 for 26 from deep, losing a tight roadie by five points. Though it's early, the Tribe leads the CAA in shooting percentage and trails only the College of Charleston in three-point accuracy.

It's a simple game for W&M this year: you shoot the ball, a lot from outside, and when they go in, you win. When they don't, you don't. You won't be turning opponents over a great deal, and you won't be playing much shutdown defense. (And I don't expect you to maintain a +6 rebounding margin, though it'd be fantastic if you did.) So let's hope the jumpshots travel.

Yesterday's 78-56 win over JMU was W&M's first twenty-point drubbing of the Dukes since February 2005. It was basically over after the Tribe shot 71.8% from the field in the first half on the way to a 42-24 lead. Marcus Thornton paced the victors with 20, with Tim Rusthoven adding 17 points and 7 boards. Though he only scored four points, Terry Tarpey played another complete game for W&M, grabbing nine rebounds and dropping five dimes.

For all the accolades Thornton, Rusthoven, and freshman Omar Prewitt deservedly receive, it's the sophomore Tarpey who's rapidly becoming one of the keys to the Tribe's success. Though only 6'5", Tarpey paces W&M with 6.8 rebounds a game (good for 10th in the CAA), swipes 1.6 steals per contest (4th in the league), and rounds out a full stat sheet with 5.9 points and 2.0 assists. He's upped his game in CAA play, recording a double-double in the loss at Delaware, and averaging 9.7 boards in league games. He's the kind of hard-nosed, rugged player that's vital to a team of skilled but not always physical athletes. To steal from ourselves, he may be the redass we've been seeking.

This week takes the Tribe on the road for a pair of critical early-season contests. W&M travels to Long Island to take on Hofstra on Wednesday. The Pride are 2-1 in league play after a disappointing 4-10 out of conference start. One of the few bright spots for Hofstra during last year's dismal campaign was a 70-59 home win over the Wrens, who returned the favor in Williamsburg. If W&M is who we think they might be, they need to show us with a win over an improving but not terribly good Hofstra squad.

On Saturday, the Teej and I will travel with the Tribe to Philadelphia as the Green and Gold plays Drexel. Though the Tribe handled the Dragons fairly easily in the conference opener, Drexel boasts a win over Alabama this season, and led #1 Arizona by 19 before falling in early-season action. Bruiser Flint's team was extremely banged up in the two teams' first matchup, and if they're healthy, pose a very difficult road test for W&M.

Team G:TB's road trip to Philly will also include a stop at LaSalle to see the Explorers host VCU. It's a veritable hoopstravanganza for the good guys. If you're in the area, stop by and say hello. We'll be the tall, pale, balding dude and the short, bespectacled handsome fella - and we'll both be wearing tri-cornered hats and no pants.

Patience Is A Virtue/Saturday College Basketball Open Thread

While we all eagerly await Day 12 of Gheorghemas, I thought I would post this video I found of Rob.  I'm not sure if he is trying to have sex with this cat or just playing.  Enjoy...



In totally unrelated news, it should be noted that the NY Football Jets had quite a day.  As was pointed out in the comments yesterday, Kellen Winslow was charged with possession of synthetic marijuana after a witness reported that he was in his Caddy treating his body like an amusement park.  From the gumshoe squad at the NY Post:

According to the report, when cops approached Winslow, he said he was looking for a Boston Market, but couldn’t find it. When police approached Winslow went from “slouched in his seat and moving around” to an upright position. His genitals were not exposed, but officers saw “two open containers of Vaseline on his center console.”

Sounds perfectly innocent to me.  Who doesn't need to get their nads all lubed up before enjoying some fast food rotisserie chicken and creamed spinach?

Not to be outdone by his semi-aroused, quasi-stoned, poultry loving tight end, Jets quarterback Geno Smith apparently went the full Alec Baldwin and got himself kicked off a Virgin America flight for refusing to turn off his cell phone after (maybe) fighting with ticket agents about getting his seat assignment.  

Anybody think Rex Ryan may regret taking that contract extension?

Finally, the Tribal cagers take on the slobbering hell hounds of Jimmy Madison U around 4 PM at the Tribedome in Williamsburg.  W&M is favored by 7.5.  As always bet against Rob's selection.

Fashion is Dumb, But Smells Nice

I'm a sucker for a Lichtenstein homage.

Naked and Famous Jeans are made in Canada from denim sourced in Japan. According to their website ("We love rare and unique fabric!"), they mix kevlar, cashmere, silk, wool, linen, and any number of other fabrics with their denim to create their collections. As they note, "So much culture and history is poured into the fabric so that it can be appreciated by the denim purist." We'll ignore for the moment the idea that such a thing as a 'denim purist' exists.

Because now, Naked and Famous offers scratch and sniff denim. In both wintergreen and raspberry scents. While founder and chief designer Brandon Svarc says, "If you want to get rid of your body odor, you should definitely wear deodorant," those of us that go 10-12 wears between washes know the score.

Watch This Speech by Sam Berns

Sam Berns died on Friday. You may remember him from the HBO documentary about his life. If you haven't seen it, you should.

At one point the documentary describes the discovery of the protein responsible for his medical condition, and Sam explains how this "takes the burden off of me because I don't have to think of progeria as ... an entity." Sam was a remarkably bright and eloquent kid and I remember watching this scene and thinking about how it crystalized what is undoubtedly a complicated and painful set of emotions into a completely relatable concept. It made me cry.

Sam was also a remarkably happy kid despite the challenges he faced and the unescapable truth that his lifespan would be much shorter than it should have been. Here's how Sam achieved such happiness, in his own words.

For her birthday, Shlara gave GTB (well, me) a present

If you didn't wish Shlara a happy birthday over the weekend, you are a callous, hateful person. Or something. Anyway, I am 90% recovered from Winter Death Cold '14, and we are severely lacking in content around here, so as we await Day 12 of Gheorghemas, a gift, from the birthday girl herself:

Rex Chapman, Cal Cheaney AND Gheorghe? Blessed.

Yep, seems Shlara was cleaning out her parents place and found some retro Bullets swag, and I am more than giddy to frame these bad boys and place them in basement viewing room of Casa de Teej. Right next to the O.J. rookie cards and Nene/Strasburg bobbleheads.

Curious to hear what sort of stuff folks have displayed in their respective homes along these lines? I'm thinking Marls has a used Mackey Sasser jock on display, and perhaps rob a God Shammgod childrens small jersey on the wall?

Diesel and Dusted Off

I was rooting around in my basement yesterday, making space for the detritus of another stuff-centric Christmas, when I came across several boxes of old CDs. While it pales in comparison to Clarence's library - hell, Alexandria's fabled stacks are a quaint little compilation compared to Clarence's - I once had a decent little collection of tunes.

Flipping through offerings from bands I hadn't thought about in years (The Sidewinders! Urge Overkill! Arrested Development! The Housemartins!), I paused when I came to a pair of Midnight Oil discs. I loved that band in its heyday. Whether it was frontman Peter Garrett's frenetic charisma, or the Oils' naked liberalism (which appealed to my uber-idealistic teen self), or simply the fact that the band kicked ass, I wore out Diesel and Dust (1987) and Blue Sky Mining (1990). 1992's Scream in Blue (Live) is one of the great concert records I've ever heard.

So in another recurring feature destined not to recur, here's a little musical memory lane:

NFL Open Thread: Nightmare Fuel

Courtesy of Wired.com, a compendium of some of the most graphic, fascinating, and creepy images of insect-on-insect violence you'll ever want to see.

Below, an interpretation of what I expect the Seahawks to do to the Saints this afternoon:

Flu Friday Filler

Zman has been beaten down by the flu since last year and even managed to infect Zson (Kemba...he'll always be Kemba to me). And now it seems his radio partner The Teej is laid up to. Bad times here at GTB HQ. As always, we'll soldier on and provide minimal effort to fulfill the tiny dictator's POSTCOUNT(!) mandate.

Since our last pic of Saint Ronny was such a hit, here's another classic.

Somebody go check on The Teej and bring him some chicken soup. While you're there stop by and check on Geoff too. I think that picture might be too much for his delicate sensibilities.

As it turns out, the Gipper was a fashion trendsetter. Betabrand's line of dress sweatpants and hoodies is the logical heir to Reagan's style. As always, we live in Ronnie's world.

A request for assistance

Received in my inbox this a.m. Seems our diminutive dictator has not yet recovered from his inaugural trip to Vegas.

I'm gonna be useless on the GTB machine this week, so I'm calling on you to ride to the rescue. Do it for America.

Well, I ain't got shit of consequence for us (what else is knew), but in honor of this old man returning to school this week, let's cue up a clip.

And for no reason at all:

rob checks in from Vegas