Happy Halloween everyone. I'm glad that we were able to break out the 30 reply email chain over the past two days. Nothing like the talk of candy corn and dirty diapers to remind you of a fun childhood...

I want to try a new tradition with trick-or-treaters. I want to exchange candy. I will give them four pieces if they give me two. They're still coming out ahead and I'm not stuck handing out the same kind candy all night (i.e. I'm not stuck EATING the same kind of candy all night.)

Here's the candy I'd like to get tonight: Snickers, Rolo, Bottle Caps, Runts, Chewy Spree, Kit Kat, and last but not least... Pez, because nothing says yummy like the regurgitated contents of Spider-Man's disembodied head.

And so the NBA season begins... the Cavs should be good this year (read: better than last year), but I'm not convinced that their record will be any better. The teams in the Central have improved quite a bit while the Cavs have basically relied on people getting healthy and coming back from down years. I think that's a fair move, but there's still definite issues to be worked on. First and foremost is the non-existant team defense. Secondly is the pathetic point guard play. Eric Snow is a good defender but is a complete liability on the offensive side of the floor. LeBron is a good play maker, but he can't run the offense. The whole team just stands still and waits for him to break down someone one on one.

I think the Cavs need to run more this year and take advantage of the athletes on the team. When Z is on the floor and they go big, they need to work on the half court set. The half court wins in the playoffs. Pick and roll. Screen and post. Do something other than stand and wait until 2 seconds are on the clock and then hoist up a desperation jumper.

My hope is that Larry Hughes can come back and create things defensively while also opening up the lanes on the offensive side.

Here's a couple of lineups that would create a lot of matchup problems for other teams:

BIG
PG: LeBron James
SG: Larry Hughes
SF: Drew Gooden
PF: Donyell Marshall
C: Zydrunas Ilgauskus

SMALL
PG: Eric Snow
SG: Larry Hughes
SF: LeBron James
PF: Anderson Varejao
C: Drew Gooden

I think 50 wins is possible, and actually should be the floor for this team. I don't know how to read the other teams improvements yet though, so I guess we'll see.

I do not see a trip to the finals this year, but eastern conference finals are reachable.

Here's a picture of a hot chick and some dude.



For those of you whom I haven't talked to in a while, I'd like to introduce Lindsay (she's the hot chick on the right) and I would hope you recognize myself (the devastatingly handsome dude on the left.)

Is it just me, or does IU no longer look like a pushover?

I only saw a little of the Penn State game, but my lasting memory is the Purdue 37 yard field goal attempt that was right on target and looked great and then all of a sudden died like it was shot out of the sky. It hit a gust of wind and just fell to the earth. I think I watched it about 5 times on TiVo just to see what actually happened to it.

I was going back through some old comments and came across one that I thought was really funny.

I was talking about my anti-winnings in Las Vegas and Eric said "Slots? Why don't you just throw coins at ugly people. You'd get a better return on your investment."

Well said!

Purdue's season hangs in the balance of this weekend. If they beat Penn State they can still go to a good bowl game with 9 wins (though I'd have to say - this would be among the worst 9 win teams I can recall). If they don't, I think they're looking at a possible 7-6 season with losses to Penn State, Michigan State, and Hawaii. I'm not saying those will happen, just that if they lose to Penn State, then 2 more losses are more likely.

I need an easy plan to lose 1 pound per week through February. It is definitely possible, and within reason also. My goal is to get down to 185. With the holidays coming up, I generally seem to pack on at least 5 - 10 pounds. I would like to do the opposite this year. With no exercise, I might add. I don't have my gym membership anymore and I don't feel like pulling a Rocky 4 type routine in the snow. I basically just need to cut out 500 calories per day. I've done more than that before, so I just need to do it again. Maybe it's time to bust out the calorie counter again.

Ideally though, I would like the weight loss fairy to come visit me in the night and syphon off pounds while I sleep. Does anyone have their number?

There's just nothing better than a nice October snow storm to remind you that you live in Ohio.

There is a daily assault on my house by the forces of the arachnids. It's like I'm living on one giant spider sack. The more I kill, the more they attack. If I open my door they come from everywhere trying to run in. If I check my mail, there's a ninja spider just hanging there trying to be inconspicuous. If I see one walking around and I look at it, they stop... like I won't know they're there. As soon as I turn around to get a paper towel to kill it, they take off and then I can't find them.

I don't like spiders. I've tried to have a truce with them in the past. I've tried ceding an area to them, but they're power hungry. They just want more and more concessions. Well, I've had enough.

It's go time.

Mandelbaum, Mandelbaum, Mandelbaum!

I just got back from surgery and I feel pretty good. There was a little bit of pressure for a while, but now that I'm still all drugged up, I'm okay.

We'll see how I feel in a hour or so. That may be when the codeine becomes my friend.