Another Reason to Hate the BCS

Leave a reply

I'm going to keep this simple: I hate big-tim college football's BCS.  There are many reasons for my hatred, not the least of which is that because of the BCS the national "champion" in football is determined in the same fashion that figure skaters and diving champions are crowned in the Olympics.  If you need more reasons than that to hate the BCS then all you need to do is read this Sports Illustrated article.  Here's a highlight for you academics out there:

Of the 120 athletic departments that play I-A football, 106 lost money in 2009, according to an NCAA report. Budget shortfalls forced the University of California in September to cut five sports. Virginia hit up students for $11.9 million in fees for the 2008–09 school year to offset athletic department operating expenses. Cincinnati reached two consecutive BCS bowls and still found itself $24 million in debt. All over the country, schools are turning to student fees, academic funds and taxpayer support to balance the athletic department's books, which helps explain the uptick in so-called pay games (Hey, LSU, good luck this Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe!), conference realignments and expansion of the men's basketball tournament.

Really, you need to read the article to see how bad this really is.

Personal aside: when I was at George Mason U back in the 80s the school was considering adding an intercollegiate football program, but eventually decided on building a Fine Arts Center.  Many students were aghast because we wanted a football team.  I mean, seriously, homecoming basketball games just don't do the trick.  If memory serves the school's president argued that the expense just wasn't worth it, though we students suspected that he'd used some inflated numbers since everyone knew he preferred the Fine Arts Center.  In retrospect I think he may have been right if they were looking at adding a D-1 program, but I'm still not convinced that a 1-AA program wouldn't have worked. Well, I'm proud to say that students at my alma mater didn't wait for the school's administration to put a team together.  In 1993 they started a club football team and it seems to be going pretty strong in the Seaboard Conference.  I have a lot of admiration for students who will go to that level of effort to play a game they truly love; to me they're true student-athletes.

Forget Atkins, Go for the Hostess Diet

3 Replies

This is my kind of diet:

For 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate one of these sugary cakelets every three hours, instead of meals. To add variety in his steady stream of Hostess and Little Debbie snacks, Haub munched on Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos, too.

His premise: That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most — not the nutritional value of the food…

For a class project, Haub limited himself to less than 1,800 calories a day. A man of Haub's pre-dieting size usually consumes about 2,600 calories daily. So he followed a basic principle of weight loss: He consumed significantly fewer calories than he burned.

His body mass index went from 28.8, considered overweight, to 24.9, which is normal. He now weighs 174 pounds.

But you might expect other indicators of health would have suffered. Not so.

Haub's "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent.

 

 

Making the Case for Your Opponent, King Flag Version

2 Replies

You’ve likely heard about the controversy surrounding the flying of a Christian flag at a public veterans memorial in King, NC. It’s been going on for a few months, but the headlines really started when the King City Council voted to stop flying the flag for fear of violating the law over the whole separation of church and state thing. After the decision lots of pro-flag folks started protesting, marching, etc.

The council reconvened and revisited the matter, eventually deciding to pursue a compromise which would have them rotating the Christian flag with other sectarian flags recognized by the military. That decision has ticked off some of the Christian flag folks. Now keep in mind that at least some of them have been saying that they were arguing for the ability to fly any religious flag, not just the Christian flag. Also keep in mind that the folks opposed to the flag were saying all along that they were opposed to any government endorsement of religion because there are Americans who are unaffiliated with any religion and they shouldn’t be made to feel uncomfortable at a public memorial.

All that sets the stage for a story today about a pro-Christian flag group threatening to sue if they don’t like King’s policy. A quote from a group member makes a perfect argument in favor of the flag opponents’ position:

“Now the group, known as “The King Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Foundation,” said it plans to see exactly how the City Council’s new plan will work.

“The question we’re raising now is the possibility of having say, the Wiccan flag flown or the Satanic flag flown, which are recognized by the U.S. military — or a Muslim flag flown over a U.S. veterans memorial,” group leader Stephen James said.”

Seriously, can he not see that he’s making the perfect argument for those who are opposed to any sectarian flag flying at a government owned facility? Folks if it’s okay to fly a Christian flag then it also has to be okay to fly a Wiccan, Atheist or Muslim flag.

I have to ask Mr. James one question: If those symbols are good enough for the US military because people with those beliefs have fought and died for our country, why are they not good enough for you and your fellow members of the The King Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Foundation?

Here’s a link to the story.

http://www.wxii12.com/news/25682293/detail.html

Fed Speak Translated to English

Leave a reply

Cone pointed to this earlier and I think it's brilliant.  It's a site that translates the Federal Reserve's recent announcement (something to do with $600 billion) into plain English.  Example:

This: "Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in September confirms that the pace of recovery in output and employment continues to be slow."

becomes this: "The economy still sucks."

 

Ish Getting Some Minutes

1 Reply

I stumbled on this article about one of my favorite Wake Forest alums, Ish Smith, who wound up his college career last spring.  He went undrafted, was picked up as a free agent by the Rockets, was third on the depth chart at his position, and now thanks to injuries to the guys in front of him is playing some real significant minutes and handling himself well so far.  That's great news for a guy who proved himself to be a class act during his time at Wake. 

Let Me Tell You How America Works

1 Reply

Found at the ever interesting local blog The Seventh Sense is this quote from the Washington Post's election coverage:

"Let me tell you how America works," says Foley, who wears a plaid shirt, a mallard-print tie and a woodpecker feather in his fedora. "You have Democrats voting for Democrats and Republicans voting for Republicans and then you have these people down the middle who are — " he lowers his voice " – undereducated, and are trying to make a living and do the best for their children, but they're so busy that they realize two weeks before an election that, 'Gee, I better start watching TV to get some news,' and by then the richest [expletives] in America have shoved their [expletiving] money into attack ads and that's what this middle group of people sees, and they vote accordingly and they're the ones who steer the country."

Losing Steps

1 Reply

I've played basketball my whole life, and like anyone else over the age of 30 I've lost a step.  To be honest now that I'm midway through my 40s I've lost more than one step, but that doesn't stop me from dragging my old carcass out of bed a couple of times a week to play pre-dawn hoops – something I swore I'd never do before I aged into bladder-induced early morning awakenings.  Of course my mother is aware of this, and like my wife she finds my love of a young man's game rather foolish, which is why she emailed me this poem from Stephen Dunn:

Losing Steps

It's probably a Sunday morning
in a pickup game, and it's clear
you've begun to leave
fewer people behind.

Your fakes are as good as ever,
but when you move
you're like the Southern Pacific
the first time a car kept up with it,

your opponent at your hip,
with you all the way
to the rim. Five years earlier
he'd have been part of the air

that stayed behind you
in your ascendance.
On the sidelines they're saying,
He's lost a step.

You can read the rest here. Truth be told I didn't have much of a step to begin with; one of the advantages of being naturally slow of foot and without the ability to jump over a phone book is that my game has always been predicated on overcoming my lack of athleticism.  Still, getting even slower is no fun.