Monthly Archives: October 2008

My College Football Postseason Amicus Brief

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Its that time of year when analysts and amateurs alike start in with the complaints and conspiracy theories about the BCS and argue over whether D-1A college football should go to a playoff system as opposed to playing bowl games.  I enjoy the argument as much as the next guy, and in an effort to throw out yet another opinion on the matter I submit this brief to the court of public opinion.

The BCS was originally conceived because the national champion was normally declared based on the USA Today Coaches Poll and the AP Poll.  The problem came when those two polls didn’t agree who should be number one and teams had to share the national title.  Without a doubt the biggest complaint about the BCS continues to be that there is never a clear cut #1 and #2 to play in the championship game.  As ESPN’s Pat Forde clearly explains, chaos remains king in the BCS.

The BCS was set up to be more thorough, and conclusive incorporating, those two polls, a number of computer ranking systems that existed and a few other numbers thrown in to make it as accurate as possible.  In my opinion, the major flaw is the same in both systems.  The human element hasn’t gone away.  Let me repeat that so it can sink in.  The human element (the polls) still remain.  As long as the human element remains its always going to be screwed up and someone is going to be unhappy, particularly since everything starts from rankings that are established when no one has played a game.  (preseason polls are dumb, but fun)

The most popular proposal I’ve heard is to institute a playoff system in 1-A like they have in 1-AA.  I can’t say that I’m in favor of this and I honestly don’t think its going to solve anything.  All instituting the playoff system will do is shift the argument from the top three or four teams to the teams ranked eight through ten, as the most common suggestion is for an eight team playoff.  Let’s imagine the regular season ended today and look at the BCS standings as they are right now and you see a perfect example of the argument I’m anticipating.

1. Texas 8-0
2. Alabama 8-0
3. Penn State 9-0
4. Oklahoma 7-1
5. USC 6-1
6. Georgia 7-1
7. Texas Tech 8-0
8. Florida 6-1
9. Oklahoma State 7-1
10. Utah 8-0

Ranks one through four look fine to me.  All have played pretty tough schedules and have come through unscathed except for Oklahoma who lost to the best team in the country.  Then you hit USC at five who lost to an unranked, 4-3 Oregon St team.  I think Georgia’s loss to Alabam is much more respectable than that loss and should be ranked higher than USC.  For that matter.  Undefeated Texas Tech has a completely legitimate argument for being ranked higher than USC, as does OK State since their only loss is to Texas as well.  But none of that really matters since most of the sports writers are hoping to get a proposal from USC any day now so they can live happily ever after together.

While we’re mentioning OK St., since they would be the ones left out of a playoff at this stage, they could also argue that they should be in instead of Florida since Florida lost to an unranked Ole Miss team, which is laughable in comparison to losing to Texas by four.  Utah also has an argument being undefeated, though I’ll admit my personal bias against teams in non-major conferences b/c they don’t play as strong competition as consistently, in my opinion.

My basic point is that a playoff isn’t going to accomplish anything in determining 100% the best team in the country.  What if you had a situation where one of the teams that makes the playoff wins the whole thing, but got beat by the number nine ranked team during the regular season?  Should we really consider them the best team in the country if they can’t beat the number nine ranked team in the country?  Or worse, what if USC won the whole thing?  They couldn’t even beat Oregon St.

When it comes down to it, I like the bowls.  I’m a little bit of a traditionalist and enjoy all the hoopla surrounding bowl season.  If I couldn’t have New Years day with a bunch of bowl games I might get depressed.  The worst thing that’s happening to bowls right now is that there are too many of them and its too easy to get bowl eligible now.  Leave the bowls alone and stop clamoring for a system that isn’t really going to improve things.  If you’re going to make a big change, wait till you have something that is actually going to be worthwhile.

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Der Spiegel Interview of a McCain Advisor

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I don’t really know anything about this guys except that he’s a neoconservative, a former Bush adviser, and a current McCain adviser.  Nonetheless, I found this article fascinating.  I think its mostly because I find that European reporters have an interviewing style that is impatient when dealing with political song and dancing.  They’re not afraid to really confront the people they’re interviewing when they think they’re getting BS.  Hope you enjoy it as well.

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College Football Weekend Review

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Cris and I weren’t around the house last weekend so there wasn’t any CFB weekend review, but I was back in the college football saddle this weekend and it turned out to be a very good one.

I’ll go ahead and get this out of the way.  We only had one missed game between Cris and I this weekend in College Pick’Em.  Of course it would be me that would miss the game.  Cris continues her hot streak and I’m not sure there is any chance of me catching up to her for the season.  She’s sitting around the 93rd percentile and I’m ten points back in the 87th.

Florida State played alright this weekend against what quickly became a beat up Va Tech team.  Their starting quarterback and one of my biggest concerns for the game, Tyrod Taylor, went down in the first play with a pretty tweaked up ankle.  Then later in the game their backup, Sean Glennon, who started at the beginning of the season went down with a messed up ankle as well.  Hats off to the third stringer, who hadn’t really played quarter back…well, ever at Va Tech came in and did a pretty respectable job considering the situation.

Florida State’s defense was pretty stout, but I don’t think our offense was very consistent or impressive.  Our O-line struggled a bit more this game than we have the last couple of weeks.  We weren’t really able to get our running game going and our pass protection didn’t survive Va. Tech’s defensive line very well.  Just looking at the statistics.  Offensively, for both teams this was a pretty mundane performance.

In the end we came out of it with a “W” and that’s the critical element.  We’ve now put ourselves in the driver’s seat to win the Atlantic Division of the ACC, as Wake Forest lost this weekend.

HUGE, HUGE win for UGA this weekend over LSU.  I didn’t get to watch this game as closely as I’d like since FSU was playing at the same time, but man there were some huge plays.  I’ll use this game to start out my copying of ESPN in handing out helmet stickers.  Each week ESPN analysts and bloggers hand out theoretical helmet stickers for a good performance, like many schools actually do for their players.  Thinking through the weekend, this seemed like a good idea so here goes.

First one goes out to Darryl Gamble who opened and finished the scoring for Georgia with interceptions returned for touchdowns.  He also had 13 tackles on the game while filling in for the injured starting MLB.

This one is painful but I have to give credit where credit is due.  Second sticker goes to Florida’s kick coverage teams for 2 blocked punts and a blocked field goal Saturday.  Some teams don’t block three kicks in a season and they did it in one game.  I hope they suck next week. GO DAWGS!

An finally, we have one going to Duke for their win in the IQ bowl.  Duke played Vanderbilt in a game where I’m betting the average IQ for the players on the field was probably rivaling that of an Ivy league game.  They’re also getting this sticker for matching their win total for the last four seasons on Saturday.  Let’s hope they can get a couple of more and actually get to a bowl game this year.

Florida State has Georgia Tech next week, which should make for an interesting game.  Ga Tech’s new coach, Paul Johnson, brought the option from Navy this year, but they’ve been successfully passing much more than anyone anticipated so far this season.  It will be very interesting to see how our defense matches up with their offense.

UGA’s game is one of the biggest in college football.  Both teams are ranked in the top ten, and after last year’s game, there is no doubt UF is going to be pumped for the game.  I don’t think there is any doubt that UGA will be up for the game as well.  I just hope that we’re able to take momentum from Baton Rouge to Jacksonville and that there isn’t a letdown for this game.  We go in with anything less than our best and they’ll kill us.

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Election in a Battleground State

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For the first time in my life I’m living in a battleground state during an election and I have to say that I’m kind of enjoying it. You think there’s something wrong with me don’t you?

You’re probably right.  I’m picking up the phone when the caller ID says “unknown,” hoping that its someone doing a poll on the election.  I was actually disappointed when we got a call and the ID said something about polling in it and the phone disconnected when I picked it up.  Yes, I know the poli. sci. geek is rearing its head big time, but its actually kind of nice being in a state where my vote is actually going to matter.

Growing up in the south, my vote didn’t really matter.  I did my civic duty and cast my vote anyway, but almost every time it really didn’t matter.  The winner was usually known long before election day, particularly when it came to the president.

This year, Virginia has become one of the most hotly contested states in the election putting me smack dab in the middle of a virtual tidal wave of political advertising, calls, and activists coming around talking up their candidates and getting out the vote.

The ads haven’t bothered me yet.  Thank you wannabe TiVo (cable company DVR).  I skip through pretty much all of the adds, though I do see them while eating breakfast in the morning and some of them are kind of funny.  They’re not trying to be, but they are.  One I recently saw is a good example.  Just a guy talking to the camera, saying that he won’t vote for Obama b/c he’s a small business owner and Obama wants to raise his taxes and doesn’t know what its like to run a small business.  This is funny to me b/c all the non-partisan stuff I’ve seen is that Obama’s tax plan will lower taxes for most people.  Also, logic would follow that this guy is going to vote for McCain b/c he feels like McCain knows what its like to run a small business…except that he doesn’t as far as I know so maybe this guy is going to vote for Joe the Plumber.  For full disclosure, this was a third party add and wasn’t related to McCain at all.

The other fun thing is the calls.  I should tell you guys that Michelle Obama is hoping that her and Barack can be BFFs with Cris and I.  She called and left a really long message saying something about voting for her husband, but I’m sure she knew that Cris and I are East Coasters with advanced degrees that like to listen to NPR and she’s hoping that we’ll invite the two of them over for some cheese and wine.  I used to wonder who actually listened to the entirety of robo calls, and then realized dorks like me do.

So I guess we’re about two weeks out and the election hasn’t driven me completely crazy yet.  I have definitely gotten to the point a couple of times where I was getting burnt out, but it just seems like this is a really, really big election.  I saw one commenter say it always feels like the current election is the biggest at the time, but I really think this one is going to be remembered for a while.  The next couple of weeks should be interesting.

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Monticello Visit and Photo

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This past weekend my cousin was playing in a golf tournament in Charlottesville, VA.  Since he lives in the Denver area and I rarely get to see him, Cris and I drove down to have lunch with him on Saturday.  We had talked a lot about going to Monticello, but had never gone so we decided to make our way over there and check it out while we were down there.

The house was pretty cool, though I prefer the Mt. Vernon house tour over Monticello, because you’re able to go through more of the house at Mt. Vernon.  Despite the somewhat limited tour, Jefferson had some really cool stuff in his house.  I had always heard that he incorporated some of his inventions into the house, but he had some stuff in there that I never expected to see.  One of the cooler ones was an early version of double paned windows he had in his dining room to help keep it warm.  Another cool thing that I never knew about were the sky lights in a couple of the rooms.  Just not something you really see in houses from that era.

While I like the house tour of Mt. Vernon more, I think I like the grounds and views at Monticello better.  Monticello is actually Italian for little mountain, which the house sits on, and the view is incredible, particularly when the leaves are getting a little color in them.  The estate is nestled next to mountains on one side with rolling hills stretching out the other direction.  It is pretty incredible.  Jefferson was also an accomplished botanist which resulted in a great variety of flowers and trees on the grounds.

Finally, I tried to take advantage of the scenery to test out my new, big memory card for my camera to shoot in RAW.  RAW is a format that maintains all of the color and lighting information of the digital negative and, in turn, gives you more options to refine your image on the computer when you’re trying to prepare it for presentation.  Below is my first attempt at shooting in this format and trying to edit the photo afterwards.  Not sure how successful I was.  I like the picture, but I’m not sure how much credit I get, or how much should go to the setting.  Hope you like it.  I hope to post a few more pictures from the day soon.  Only problem with RAW is that it takes more time to edit the photos.

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A Journalist’s Day in Baghdad

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I don’t even remember how I came across this NY Times blog post in my Internets meandering today, but I had to share.  Its an account of a day as a journalist in Baghdad and some of the weirdness of being in a combat zone.  Very impactful and profound piece, but I have to warn that it can be a little graphic at times.  I really implore you to take the time to read it.

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Rep. Tim Mahoney is an Idiot

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Things like this are the reason that I don’t expect to be any happier with my government when the next election comes around.  We expect our politicians to be pretty much full of crap, but when you have one that takes it to the next level of audacity, you have to stand up and take notice.

The article that I linked to is a little old now and more information has surfaced that doesn’t help Mahoney’s cause, but the gist of it is there.  Basically, Rep. Mahoney had an affair with a woman on his staff and then paid her $121,000 to keep her quiet after he fired her.  That alone is bad enough, but

“Mahoney himself was elected in 2006 after a sex scandal involving inappropriate communications between underage congressional pages and former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.). Mahoney ran on a campaign to restore moral dignity to the office.”

Seriously?  You’re going to bring moral dignity back to the office by having, what you admit to be, multiple affairs.  Anyone that has ever discussed fidelity with me knows without a doubt that cheating is something I can’t stand.  Even when I watch movies or TV shows, I actually get angry and agitated.  So the cheating is bad enough, but then you’re going to be a colossal, hypocritical ass and claim that you have some kind of moral authority to bring respect back to an office.  That’s just insulting.

Then there’s this great quote from Politico via CBS:

“I would have come forward earlier but making sure my family is ok is far more important than any political career,” Mahoney said. ”I have not violated my oath of office, nor have I violated any laws, and I consider this to be a private matter.”

First, he wouldn’t have come forward at all if he could have gotten away with it.  Then, I’m insulted again that he claims that his family is priority number one.  If it really was, he wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.  He lied about his family values before to gain political advantage, why should anyone believe him now?  Then on top of that, he almost qualifies his guilt by arguing that he didn’t violate his oath of office or any laws so its really not that big a deal or of public concern.  Again, if he hadn’t made his moral compass a central plank of his platform, it wouldn’t be as much of a public issue, but he did and so it is.

The silver lining of this whole thing is that he was found out for what he really is and that he won’t be adding his shovel of dirt to politics on any significant scale any more.  In the mixed feelings category, I’m truly sorry for his wife and what she’s having to endure by having the breaking of her marriage play out in front of the country, but I’m glad that a political wife that got cheated on isn’t hesitating to get a divorce.  I just hope that she can get through this quickly and move on with her life.

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Powell and the Obama Endorsement

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock or completely don’t care about the election you know that Colin Powell just endorsed Barack Obama for president.  This announcement is a pretty big deal.  Powell is a prominent republican who is admired by people on both sides of the aisle, and is likely to make some voters who were still questioning Obama’s credibility as a president, particularly as it pertains to the commander in chief role, a bit more comfortable with the idea of voting for him.  I’m far from saying that its going to cause a tidal wave of Republicans to vote for him, but this endorsement could definitely sway some undecideds or independents.

Beyond the macro ramifications of this thing, the endorsement and some of the coverage struck me on a personal level.  My decision in terms of this election has been made for a little while now.  What struck me while watching CNN and eating my Frosted Mini-Wheats this morning was how impressive Colin Powell continues to be to me.

I was watching a clip of him answering questions after he made the announcement on Meet the Press and I was reminded how intelligent he is and how easily he seems to be able to communicate his thoughts in a very easy to understand way.  Chris Rock makes fun of how the only compliment you ever hear people say about Colin Powell is that he’s so well spoken.  Its not that that is the only good quality he has, but its a very accessible window into a much deeper person beyond his voice.

Watching him field questions, he was able to express himself in a very clear and concise manner, he was totally comfortable with it, and he didn’t seem to be doing any kind of “dancing” that public figures are so apt to do.  He had thoughts in his head and he shared them in a very matter of fact way, and I just had this sense that the gears in his head work faster than most people’s.

In a strange sort of way, I feel bad for Powell because of his service in the State Department for Bush (though it is his fault for taking the job) and the part he played in making the case to go into Iraq to find WMD that wasn’t there.  When Obama was asked about a possible role for Powell in an Obama administration, he said Powell would advise him, but whether it would be in a official or unofficial role would be something they would have to discuss.

I would actually be interested to see him as Secretary of State again, though I’m not sure that would be possible given his first stint at State and Obama’s bludgeoning of the Bush administration during the campaign.  I’m a firm, true believer in speaking quietly, but carrying a huge stick.  I absolutely believe that before any kind of military action can take place you need to exhaust any and all diplomatic avenues, even beyond what you think is going to make you crazy.  I’m also realistic enough to know that military action can’t always be avoided and when the time comes, then you undertake that military action with the absolute best equipment and manpower you can.  I truly believe that Powell has the measured intellect to determine when you’ve reached the point of diminishing returns when it comes to diplomatic efforts and military action is required.

If Obama does win the presidency, I hope that he’s smart enough to really seek out the advice of Powell and others across the aisle like Powell to help him when making complicated, tough decisions.

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WC Qualifying: USA 1-2 Trinidad & Tobago

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Disjointed and disappointing; my view of the US’s performance in a nutshell.

At the most basic level, the result of this game didn’t really matter because the US had already qualified for the next round of qualifying.  Despite this fact, you always hope to play your best, get a good result, and you want to come away encouraged by the performance no matter the final score.  Unfortunately, I’m not all that encouraged by the display last night, though I’m not as discouraged as one might think.

The greatest impression I take from this game is that we fielded a team full of players that rarely play with each other, and have no history of playing with each other.  Typically, the team we put together has a couple of days at a time with each other, but the big difference is that most of them have been playing with each other for at least a couple of years which has given them a fair level of familiarity.  The team we put out there yesterday was very green individually in addition to not having hardly any time together as a squad.

Essentially what the coaches did last night was to throw a whole bunch of guys that probably aren’t completely comfortable out there to see what would happened, and they got a result that I think they should have expected.  Realistically, if the young guys get introduced into the team, its going to be paired with a squad that is going to be more comfortable and confident with the pace and tone of an international match.  Throwing all the young guys on the field together isn’t really going to do anyone any favors.  You won’t be able to get an honest assessment of how they would fit in to your team and they really won’t have the opportunity to get a good feel for playing for the US national team.  My fear is that a player who would play well and fit in with the full squad won’t get a fair shake because of how they perform in a game where they weren’t really set up to succeed, in my opinion.

All that being said, there were a couple of places that weren’t so dependent on team mechanics that I thought were lacking.  For all of the talk about Altidore’s speed and size, I’d like to see him impose them a little more on defenders.  I didn’t think he played that strongly with his back to goal and expect to see more out of him in that regard.  Also, the PK he gave up is enough to make me pull my hair out.

Last night also showed how far ahead the pairing of Bocanegra and Onyewu are in relation to other central defenders.  This is a perfect example where it would have been nice to play one of the two of them with a less experienced center back to help keep the new guy from feeling like he’s drowning.  I also don’t think Heath Pearce did himself any favors last night.  There were several clearance attempts that were a little scary and he just seemed a little frenetic and unsettled in general.

Brad Guzan didn’t display the kind of confidence and polish that we’ve come to expect from our goalkeepers over the years.  There’s really nothing he could have done on the goals and he was very unlucky on the first one, but he didn’t do a very good job of collecting the shots he did stop and his clearance attempt in the first half that almost resulted in T&T’s first goal needs to get up and out.

Finally, as a team we should have numerous training sessions devoted only to crossing the ball into the box.  We did a fairly good job of getting ourselves into position to send the ball in from the wings and came up sorely wanting numerous times.  I am pleased that we made progress to getting in the crossing position, but it does no good if the final step in the process comes up short.

The US has several weeks off before their next match against Guatemala in Colorado on Nov. 19th.  I expect we’ll see a lot of the less experienced players again, but I hope that Bradley decides to bring in a few more of the seasoned veterans to provide some balance to the sqaud.

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