Ivan Maisel Can't Admit the Real Problem

Ivan Maisel decides to blame the ACC for a problem that ESPN created

3. College football may be more successful and popular than it’s ever been. But the empty seats at the Sugar Bowl on Tuesday night and the vast swatches of unfilled real estate at the Orange Bowl on Wednesday night -- a friend texted me to ask if that was Clemson-West Virginia or a Marlins game -- indicate that the BCS has work to do. If I ran the Orange Bowl, I would suggest that ACC champion move to at-large status in the next BCS contract so that I could pick both sides of my matchup.

Look Ivan, I like your writing. I really do. But to suggest that the reason the Orange Bowl was half-empty was because of the conferences is stupid. Clemson and WV have HUGE followings. But those HUGE followings all have kids that went back to school this week. They all have jobs where Christmas vacations wrapped up on Sunday and Monday. They have a life that does NOT include traveling to south Florida on a Wednesday freakin' night after the holidays are over.

Your problem is NOT the ACC. Your problem is the BCS that wants every game to get their own prime-time viewing slot, and aren't willing to start *before* New Year's Day. When you stretch New Year's Day bowl games into midweek after New Year's you get crappy attendance because everyone has to go back to work/school/real life.

Get the bowl games back on New Year's Day where they are supposed to be. And if you can't squeeze them all in on that day, then play them *before* and not after so that the fans can actually travel while on vacation. Don't blame the ACC for a problem that *your* corporate overseers created in their quest for a monopoly on viewer eyeballs.

Brant Crashes Yahoo's Mailbag

Yep, I got my letter picked for Yahoo's mailbag:
College football mailbag: Sequels sometimes tough - College Football - Rivals.com

Double standard
In the discussion of comparing one-loss teams, everyone seems to obsess over the team that inflicted the loss. Why don’t fans ever discuss the other side of the ledger - who did you beat? By any objective measure, Oklahoma State played a more meaningful schedule and beat better teams than Alabama, but Alabama lost to the No. 1 team in the country. Isn’t the point to win games? Shouldn’t we be talking about opponents a team beat to get where they are? Why aren’t we comparing the scores in game won instead of games lost?
Brant
Raleigh

A lot of folks in Stillwater are asking the same question.

One-loss Alabama will play LSU in a rematch for the national championship, and one-loss Oklahoma State and one-loss Stanford meet in the Fiesta Bowl.

Oklahoma State and Stanford have more notable victories than Alabama, whose most impressive victories were over Penn State and Arkansas.

Oklahoma State beat four teams in the final BCS standings. Stanford beat USC, which I think is one of the premier teams in the nation.

What’s ironic is that for years, unbeaten teams such as Utah, Boise State and TCU were denied shots at the national championship because their schedules were deemed inferior to those of teams in “Big Six” conferences.

Now, we see teams with identical records that may have played a stronger schedule than Alabama, but the “inferior schedule” argument conveniently doesn’t apply.

That’s why I was kind of hoping Houston would’ve joined LSU as the only unbeaten teams. Based on records, Houston would’ve deserved to play for the national title. But people everywhere, especially in Alabama, would have contended that Houston’s schedule wasn’t strong enough to deserve a place in the national championship game.

So, then you would have had the argument that strength of schedule mattered in one case but not in another.

Alas, Houston didn’t finish unbeaten, so that chaotic scene was avoided … for now.

Frankly, I can see the understand both sides of the national championship issue – the arguments in favor of Alabama and those in favor of Oklahoma State or Stanford.

All they do is reaffirm that no matter what kind of lies or propaganda that the BCS folks keep trying to spread, the system used in college football is hopelessly idiotic.

Some sort of a playoff is needed, but in college football, fairness and logic are sacrificed so an entitled few can exercise power and accumulate more wealth. And they can because despite all the outrage and complaints, fans gather by the tens of thousands and pay hundreds of dollars to see their teams play in bowl games.

You notice he never actually answered the question, right?

College Football Wins & Losses

Sent to Stewart Mandel at SI.com

Stewart –
I hope this isn’t too long for your mailbag, but I want to take a second to lay out my point with my question. In the discussion of comparing 1-loss teams, everyone seems to obsess over the team that inflicted the loss. Why don’t fans ever discuss the other side of the ledger – who did you beat?
You illustrated the point quite well earlier in your comparison of Alabama and Oklahoma State. By any objective measure, OKSt has played, and beaten, a more meaningful schedule, but their loss is to a crappy team. Alabama has played an easier schedule (this is where LSU’s non-conference schedule really shines) but lost to the best team in the country. Everyone talks about the losses; no one talks about the wins.
We saw this the last time the Tigers were in the national title discussion in ’07, when we were parsing through 2-loss teams. LSU had lost to Kentucky, OU had lost to Mizzou, etc, etc. No one pointed to LSU’s demolition of Virginia Tech by 40 points. No other contender that year had anywhere close to comparable win.
In ’06, when the voters bumped Florida ahead of Michigan, despite each only having 1 loss, they might’ve actually gotten right (even if for the wrong reasons). Michigan’s signature win that year was against then-#2 Notre Dame, but other than the Ohio State game, their schedule was a dud. Florida went on the road to beat #13, and beat #25 and #8 on neutral fields.
In ’08, when the Big 12 South had their three-headed tie going on, everyone talked about which loss was better/worse. No one talked about OU hanging 60 points on 3 consecutive ranked opponents (2 on the road), or that that played (and beat) 2 more ranked teams than either Texas Tech or Texas. 2001, Colorado smokes Nebraska and wins the Big 12 title, but beats no one else of consequence (lost to Texas and didn’t have Oklahoma on the schedule). Nebraska, meanwhile, beats #17 ND and #2 OU.
How did we get so fixated on losses? Isn’t the point to win games? Shouldn’t we be talking about who a team *beat* to get where they are? Why aren’t we comparing the scores in games they won, instead of lost?

Good, Fast, Cheap

Driver who pissed me off

White BMW, tag: NC YZW-7447
Gunning engine to switch lanes from Lead Mine intersection to the back light @ Crabtree Valley Mall, then tore out of that light and plowed 70mph up Blue Ridge Rd


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What I sent to Yahoo tonight about their email "upgrade"

Bottom line: I hate the new interface.
1. Contacts below the custom folders, means I have to collapse my folders to see my contacts when logged into messenger, and I am on the messenger web client all day at the office
2. No custom status in web client for messenger means that I can't tell people at work where I am when they might go looking for me - VERY frustrating for everyone involved.
3. "Choose your favorite way to communicate"? WTF does *that* mean?! I'm going to start with email, b/c it's a damn email program. When I want to send and IM, I'll go to my contacts list... buried wherever the hell you've moved it most recently.
4. The preview pane is not as easily manipulated as it was in the most recent version, where it was easier to switch btw preview and tabbed viewing of the message
5. The keyboard shortcuts do not consistently work. At least half the time I start typing an IM, the mail app starts executing the keyboard commands instead of typing the message

These are not frivolous complaints, nor are they the whinings of some luddite. I work in IT as a business analyst, and design interfaces and user paths through systems for a living. These changes - foisted on me with no consultation - are seriously detrimental to the way I work. If Yahoo can't accommodate my business needs, I'll go look into MSN or GMail as options.

I've been with Yahoo a loooooong time - most of it as a paying customer shelling out $10-12/month for my mail/web hosting services. I've already asked to switch back once, and was switched. Now, I've been forced to change to a substandard product a second time. If I am forced to use something I don't want, I will stop paying for it and find a different way to get my work done, from a provider who values me as a customer and does things *for* me, not *to* me.

I know you don't want to have to respond to everyone's individual issues. Fine. Just fix mine without ever bothering to email me, and I'll be happy. But don't muck with my email again, or some other service will gain the customer you will lose. And given your recent company trends in performance, you really can't afford to lose too many of us.

A Wonder-Strike

Holy balls...

Cable News Ratings

Cable News Ratings: Top 30 Programs For May 2011 (PHOTOS)

So the Fox News shows dominate the top of the listings here. However, I'm curious about their audience: how much of the audience is tuning in for that specific show, and how much of it is turning on Fox News and never changing the channel? I know a lot of people that reflexively recoil from anything on one of the "liberal networks" regardless of the type of show - news, entertainment, music, etc - and instead just put it on Fox News and leave it on.

Personally, I'm dismayed that Morning Joe is as low as it is, because it's a great show. I know it's on MSNBC, but anyone who can watch that and say "it's all liberal bias because it's on MSNBC" is full of crap.

Testing, testing

Testing, testing

More Bad Geography

I'm watching the CEO of the South Africa 2010 World Cup talking on Morning Joe right now, and he's talking about how for a long time after reunification, Germany still felt like 2 countries, and it wasn't until the 2006 World Cup that they all felt like one country. He says that for a long time after reunification, you didn't see the "new" German flag (really the West German flag) in the East.

And then he says that in 2006 when he "walked through Nürnberg and the other East German [cities] and you saw every draping themselves in the German flag."

Someone might want to point out that Nürnberg was never a part of East Germany, and that the only East German venue in 2006 was Leipzig.

AP Undercutting Themselves

Look, I don't mind the AP editorializing. I mind when they pass it off as news. I know some people will day "the media has always been biased!" but rarely do you see biases this obvious.


100 years after Triangle fire, horror resonates - Yahoo! News

It was a warm spring Saturday when dozens of immigrant girls and women leapt to their deaths — some with their clothes on fire, some holding hands — as horrified onlookers watched the Triangle Shirtwaist factory burn.
The March 25, 1911, fire that killed 146 workers became a touchstone for the organized labor movement, spurred laws that required fire drills and shed light on the lives of young immigrant workers near the turn of the century.
The 100th anniversary comes as public workers in Wisconsin, Ohio and elsewhere protest efforts to limit collective bargaining rights in response to state budget woes. Labor leaders and others say one need only look to the Triangle fire to see why unions are crucial.
"This is a story that needs to be told and retold," said Cecilia Rubino, the writer-director of "From the Fire," an oratorio inspired by the Triangle fire. "We don't have that many moments in our history where you see so clearly the gears of history shift."

Universities Don't Do Irony

Let's see... student makes video "mocking" a minority group... student targeted by illegal actions... student decides she need to leave school because the university is not offering her any protections for her behavior... turns out the students ethnic group is actually a minority at the school... turns out that her free speech is apparently less privileged than free speech threatening her life... turns out her right to be a jerk is somehow less important than someone else's right to harass her...

Great lesson UCLA. Really great. Especially from a public university supposed to reflect the population of California (make sure you check out the breakdowns of the student population below). Let's try not to favor particular minorities/behaviors too much if we can help it, eh?

A student who posted an Internet video of her tirade against the Asian population at the University of California, Los Angeles, said Friday night that she is leaving the school, despite the university's decision not to discipline her.
In a statement to the Daily Bruin campus newspaper, Alexandra Wallace said she has chosen to no longer attend classes at UCLA because of what she called "the harassment of my family, the publishing of my personal information, death threats and being ostracized from an entire community" in the wake of the three-minute video.
"In an attempt to produce a humorous YouTube video, I have offended the UCLA community and the entire Asian culture," Wallace said in the statement, her second apology of the week. "Especially in the wake of the ongoing disaster in Japan, I would do anything to take back my insensitive words. I could write apology letters all day and night, but I know they wouldn't erase the video from your memory, nor would they act to reverse my inappropriate action."
Earlier Friday, university officials said they would not discipline Wallace because her video was an exercise of free speech, not hate speech, and it didn't violate the student code of conduct.
UCLA's vice chancellor for student affairs, Janina Montero, said in a statement that campus officials were "appalled and offended by the sentiments expressed in the video," but it did not seek to harm or threaten a specific person or group.
In the video, Wallace said her complaints aren't directed at any individual and people shouldn't take offense, but "the problem is these hordes of Asian people that UCLA accepts into our school every single year."
She says the numbers would be fine if Asian students would "use American manners" and goes on to complain about Asians frequently talking on their mobile phones while she tries to study. At one point she mocks them with gibberish.
Wallace suggests in the video that people calling to check on the fate of Japan's tsunami victims go outside so they won't freak people out if they get bad news.
Wallace took down the rant shortly after posting it Sunday, but it had already gone viral and sparked a strong reaction at UCLA, where at least 37 percent of the school's 26,000 undergraduates are Asian, 32 percent are white, 16 percent are Hispanic and 4 percent are black.
Wallace could not be reached for further comment.

The Love is Ill-Deserved

Yahoo News notes that a productive Congress gets no respect from voters.

Congress passed an $814 billion economic stimulus package soon after President Barack Obama took office, tapping a staggering sum of money to avoid a full-blown depression. Democrats have trumpeted the gains from that effort, but know it's not enough for restive voters. "Americans still see themselves in a ditch," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

The two other landmark acts of this session were the health care overhaul, a giant step toward universal coverage that had eluded presidents back to Franklin Roosevelt if not Teddy Roosevelt, and the Wall Street accountability act.
Obama has also signed into law at least a dozen other pieces of legislation of significance. They include:
_Making college loans more affordable.
_The Cash for Clunkers program that helped rejuvenate the auto industry.
_New consumer protections for credit card users.
_Making it easier for women to challenge pay discrimination.
_Increasing federal regulation of tobacco products.
_Cracking down on waste in Pentagon weapons acquisition.
_Making attacks based on sexual orientation a federal hate crime.
_Giving businesses tax incentives to hire unemployed workers.
_Tax credits for first-time homeowners.
So where is the love?

Wasps are notoriously productive in the way they build nests in the corners of your front porch, and there's not a lot of love for them, either.
Let's not confuse "productive" with "useful" when things like Cash-for-Clunkers did nothing but add to the federal debt with little - if any - real economic payoff. And "making attacks based on sexual orientation a federal hate crime"? Really? Why do we have hate crime laws anyway? Aren't all crimes still crimes?
And you don't want to even start talking about the hate crime on the basic structures of American life (personal choice & responsibility) that is the health care law...

English Football Humour

If you've got a second to hear some really funny stuff on a podcast, you should check out this episode of Football Weekly from The Guardian and pick it up about the 15:45 mark or so...
The background: after the Milan-Tottenham game, one of the Milan players headbutted one of the Tottenham coaches on the sideline and everyone is upset about this. The "Joe Jordan" they reference is the coach from Tottenham.

CNN Talking Non-Partisan Sense

The left is freaking out over Wisconsin - CNN.com

The newly elected executive began implementing his campaign platform in a tough economic environment.

The minority party in the legislature responded with a collective freak-out. Massive populist protests were held, drawing national press attention. A few signs in the crowd compared the newly elected executive to Hitler. Partisan cable TV opinion anchors doubled their duty, drumming up the crowds and then offering "analysis" on air. The language of apocalypse was invoked, the battle lines were drawn -- and domestic politics started to feel a little like a war.

No, this isn't a recap of Washington 2009 after Barack Obama's election, but Wisconsin 2011 after Gov. Scott Walker's election. And if you were offended by one, but cheering the other, you're part of the problem -- an atmosphere of hyperpartisanship in which extremes on both sides of the political spectrum act like wingnuts crying wolf.

Rage Against, what exactly?

Wis. rallies renew history of political activism - Yahoo! News

Political activism to me implies that you are actively promoting a particular solution. These guys are promoting an anti-solution. They have no solution. They want a continuation of the endless dinner buffet that they've been pillaging for years, and now that the buffet is out of food, somehow it's the buffet's fault, and their solution is "keeping giving us food" without bothering to realize there's no food to give. I guess that's activism. But it's fucking dumb activism.

A birthplace of the progressive movement is crackling with a fervor not seen in decades, as students from the famously liberal University of Wisconsin team up with unionized state workers for demonstrations against collective bargaining rights pushed by the state's new Republican governor. The biggest rally yet is expected Saturday, along with an influx of conservative counter-protesters.
As many as 40,000 people swarmed the Capitol on Friday, raising the noise in its rotunda to earsplitting levels as they rallied to block Republican Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to ease Wisconsin's budget woes by cutting many government workers' pay, benefits and bargaining rights.
No stranger to political unrest, Madison has seen activists take to the streets to protest the Vietnam war, support civil rights and oppose cuts in social services. Riots ensued 15 years ago when police clamped down on an annual block party that began as an anti-war protest in 1969.

RIP Gary Moore

The Official Gary Moore Website

It is with deep sorrow and regret, that we have to announce that Gary Moore passed away while on holiday in Spain last night.


Our thoughts are with his children, family and friends at this sad time.

Gary Moore, RIP

1952-2011

Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore dead at 58 - Yahoo! News

Bandmates say rock guitarist Gary Moore, a former member of influential Irish band Thin Lizzy, has died. He was 58.
Manager Adam Parsons told the BBC that Moore was found dead Sunday at a hotel on Spain's Costa del Sol, where he was on holiday. The cause of death was not immediately known.
Thin Lizzy drummer Brian Downey said Moore's death was a "total shock," and guitarist Scott Gorham said he was "a great player and a great guy."
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1952, Moore was a member of Dublin band Skid Row before joining Thin Lizzy in 1973, playing on tracks for the "Nightlife" album. He left after four months, but rejoined four years later and played on the band's "Black Rose" album before going solo once again.
He had a successful solo career, and his accomplished, bluesy playing won plaudits from other musicians.

A Dominion-sized Beatdown

click to enlarge

Amusing posters

Saving these for future use :)

It's "Gripe About College Football Season" Again

Plus-one only sensible way to anoint BCS champion from 2010 season - Stewart Mandel - SI.com

A year ago this week I unveiled the Mandel Plan, the only college football postseason model that achieves more clarity without overhauling the bowl system, devaluing the regular season, intruding on December finals or otherwise jeopardizing the status quo that BCS honchos work so hard to defend. College football doesn't need an eight- or 16-team playoff, because there aren't eight or 16 deserving teams in a season. But there are usually four.

The Mandel Plan sure sounds like a great idea - as long as the football gods cooperate and you end up with 4 unbeaten teams. What would you have done in 2004 with Auburn, USC, and OU? Invited Utah? I'm sure Texas and Cal and Louisville and undefeated Boise St would've *loved* your plan then.

What about 1993, when FSU beat Nebraska for their title, and the Golden Domers griped that they were left out of the title game, conveniently ignoring an unbeaten WV team that should've been in the game against Nebraska?

The BCS was created because we kept arguing over who was #1. Now we argue over who's #1 and #2. If we expand the argument to #1, 2, 3, and 4 or - eesh! - all the way out to #16, are we *really* going to cut down on the arguments?
Under your plan, the 2008 'playoff' would've been 2 SEC teams and 2 Big XII teams. Utah (the final #2) never gets in.

Expand 2008 to 8 teams, and now you're leaving out an unbeaten Boise St, as well as the Pac 10, ACC, and Big East champs.

Expand to 8 teams, and now you're telling me that a 9-2 Notre Dame gets in but a 9-2 Auburn or 10-2 VaTech gets left out?
You don't even want to know who gets to play for the title if you expand to 16 teams... (but for laughs, in 2007 you get Tennessee at 9-4, in '04, '08 and '09 you get 3 teams each with 3 losses)

So how about we just stick to the same BCS formula for about 5 years, instead of tinkering with it every year and encouraging the screaming masses who insist that their good idea be implemented every year, without bothering to look at second- and third-order effects over the course of 6 or 8 seasons.

if you're ever curious why you're circling the drain, maybe you should look around at the actions you're taking and quit blaming the drain

buckle up!

No, Mr Ken Brown of #5 Greenbrier Lane in Pinehurst, NC, on flight 844 from RDU-ORL on 9/12, you are not important enough to possess a seat-belt exemption card for commercial air travel. When the captain of the plane says 'sit down and buckle up' it applies to you, too.