Scenes from a Hat

What could be better for a cold, winter-ish November evening...

2010-11-15T18:19:00.001-08:00

Mmmm... Yazoo SUE Smoked Porter... A little slice o' Silver Medal winning heaven for a cold evening at home...

Washington Times has an interesting double standard

2008-09-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

In their latest attempt to justify the attacks on Sarah Palin, the Washington Times has an interesting take:

Huh? The Republican message about the Palin offspring comes across as contradictory: Hey, media, leave those kids alone _ so we can use them as we see fit.

and...

Either the children are out of bounds, and you don't put them in the photo ops, or you don't complain when somebody wants to talk about them. You can't have it both ways," said John Matviko

Wow... Did the Clinton's have a child? I'm not sure... I never saw her. Oh, wait... We did see Chelsea all the frickin' time! And she was certainly off-limits. Amy Carter? Ditto. How about the Obama kids? We see them in celebrity magazines, on stage at the convention, on Access Hollywood and other celebrity television shows, etc. Or have I just imagined that?!?

So, WTF? Why are the Palin children fair game, but these other children have historically not been? And why the blatant double-standard masquerading as a justification?

Oh, right... Republican... Got it...

Campbell Brown's 'us'

2008-09-03T06:02:00.000-07:00

So, watching some of the news coverage of the election for the last week, I came across this video featuring Campbell Brown questioning Tucker Bounds regarding Palin's experience leading the Alaska National Guard. Given the media circus of this week, I actually think this is one of the fairest and most legitimate questions I have seen regarding Palin, though the facial expressions and obvious attitude behind her comments could be a little less pronounced. Actually, it would be nice to see that kind of scrutiny regarding the issues and experience of all of the candidates, if you know what I mean.

Well, the news here is that McCain cancelled his Larry King appearance due to this interview. Again, since this line of questioning is not totally out of line, I'm not sure I agree with this if I am looking at this interview in a vacuum. But, in talking about the interview, here is a telling quote from Ms. Brown:

"The interview was totally fair," Brown said. "I was trying to get an answer. I was persistent, but I was respectful. That's my job. Experience is a legitimate issue when John McCain raises it about Obama, and it's also legitimate for us to raise it about Palin." [source: WashPo]

Hmm... So, since McCain raises the topic of experience, it's fair for us to as well. Wait... what? Who is 'us?' Was this a mislabeled quote from one of Obama's spokesmen?

Update (12:26p): Glad to see that RedState picked up on this as well...

We're all Hokies today...

2007-04-20T02:56:00.000-07:00

WeSupportVT.com

I Saw the Sign...

2006-12-19T06:41:00.000-08:00

Funny MAC-related item on the Opie and Anthony show this morning and over the last few weeks. The boys had a "Mac Book Karaoke" contest, where contestants could send audio of them singing in the hopes of winning one of five Mac Books.

One of the winners has become rather infamous on the show. Pamela Hartman, college student and music director of the University of Buffalo college radio station, submitted this gem, her rendition of Ace of Base's "I Saw the Sign." The boys got so fixated on it that they played it coming in and out of breaks over the last several weeks and eventually reached Hartman to convince her to come into the studio and perform live on the air. This morning, she did just that. I will link the new audio when it is posted, but needless to say it measured up to the original recording.

Yargh...

2006-09-19T06:17:00.000-07:00

Ahoy, mateys... Tis International Talk Like a Pirate Day today...

Links:

International Talk Like a Pirate home page
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Mail
Pirate Name Generator (mine is Smilin' Laszlo Dregg)
How to Talk Like a Pirate video
English-to-Pirate Translator
Yargh.com (new TLAPD video on YouTube)

Yargh...

Frank Miller: That Old Piece of Cloth

2006-09-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

Well worth a read. Miller, of Batman and Sin City fame, waxes poetic about patriotism, the flag, and 9/11.

I was ready to believe that our flag was just an old piece of cloth and that patriotism was just some quaint relic, best left behind us.

It was all about the ideas. I schooled myself in the writings of Madison and Franklin and Adams and Jefferson. I came to love those noble, indestructible ideas. They were ideas, to my young mind, of rebellion and independence, not of idolatry.

But not that piece of old cloth. To me, that stood for unthinking patriotism. It meant about as much to me as that insipid peace sign that was everywhere I looked: just another symbol of a generation's sentimentality, of its narcissistic worship of its own past glories.

Then came that sunny September morning when airplanes crashed into towers a very few miles from my home and thousands of my neighbors were ruthlessly incinerated -- reduced to ash. Now, I draw and write comic books. One thing my job involves is making up bad guys. Imagining human villainy in all its forms. Now the real thing had shown up. The real thing murdered my neighbors. In my city. In my country. Breathing in that awful, chalky crap that filled up the lungs of every New Yorker, then coughing it right out, not knowing what I was coughing up.

For the first time in my life, I know how it feels to face an existential menace. They want us to die. All of a sudden I realize what my parents were talking about all those years.

Go read the rest of it...

Save Charlie!

2006-09-12T05:34:00.000-07:00

Knee deep in a lot of work related distractions, so posting is very light (again), but there is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Our beloved "Classic" Charlie Cardinal has gone missing. My speculation is that he's been kidnapped and replaced by a goofy looking cheap imitator. They pictured us as rubes and thought that we'd be unaware of their deception, but no... this cannot stand. Photographic evidence discloses the deception...

Charlie "Classic":

(photo credit: BSU.edu website)

"New Coke" Charlie:

(photo credit: macreportonline.com website)

Am I the only one that sees the difference? This is like when Bugs Bunny dresses as Pete Puma's relative. He looks kinda like a puma, but something is just off.

This is a travesty! Charlie "Classic" has been an institution at ol' Ball U. To think he can be slid out the door for the demented "New Coke" Charlie without our indignation is appalling.

We should seek, nay... demand justice for our fallen comrade. Much like the "New Coke" bungle made by the Coca-Cola corporation, this decision needs to be overturned. Rise with me to demand our "Classic" Charlie be restored to his rightful place at the sidelines of the next Cardinal game!!!

Sign the iPetition and fight for our beloved "Classic" Charlie!!!

Update (09/12/2006 9:15 PM CT): Since our little petition is picking up steam, I have set the petition to send to President Gora and Coach Richards of the BSU Cheerleading squad. It is currently set to send on October 1st, but can be adjusted. Any thoughts on others who should be included?

Otis needs a Manzier

2006-08-14T05:50:00.000-07:00

So, we went to see Barnyard this weekend. Being an Disney animation geek, I am always willing to give a new animation project a chance, but I have a pretty low tolerance for poorly executed animation. Like, you know, easy research items that seem to escape the people making the movie. Below you see Otis, the Kevin James-voiced lead character. See anything screwy about this "cow?"
Would it have been that hard for someone to figure out that cows are female, and male bulls have no udders?!? I was distracted from moment one by this, and couldn't really get past it. Even my seven-year old picked up on it. Much like I said in my diatribe on the script shortcoming of the new Star Wars trilogy, couldn't they have hired someone to read through the script and check the character models for accuracy? You know, like maybe a real farmer or something? Do you think that maybe mid-way through production they realized their error, but decided that people wouldn't notice and/or it would cost too much to fix?

Beyond this unbelievable lack of knowledge of the anatomy of cows/bulls that apparently hundreds of people possessed, the movie was just a not-well-executed clone of the Lion King. [Warning: Spoilers] Simb... err... Otis, the young lio... ehh... cow who is heir to the throne as king of the jung... ahh.. barnyard would rather sing and play with friends. When Mufa... umm... Ben is killed by the evil lion and hye... ohh... coyotes, Simb... err... Otis is thrown into the position of authority that he is not ready for and decides to run away. Words from the wise old Rafik... ohh... Miles convince Simb... err... Otis to come back and defend the jung... ahh.. barnyard against the evil lion and hye... ohh... coyotes. Simb... err... Otis then gets the girl, Nal... oohh... Daisy, they have a child and they all live happily ever after.

You would think that this was a Disney Cheapquel Mad-Lib...

OK... so we have anatomically incorrect cows and a recycled plot line, so at least the animation is good, correct? Think rubber... Squishy rubber animals... Kinda like rubber duckies. No... not so good.

I know it's just an animated comedy geared to kids, and the kids enjoyed the movie, so I guess that's what they were going for. But the sudden glut in computer animated films on the market is going to make people tired of this medium, much like it tired of the glut of traditionally animated films.

photo via IMDB

It's almost Football Time in err... Indiana...

2006-08-14T05:03:00.000-07:00

OK... so there's not as much tradition as "Football Time in Tennessee..." So, sue me. It looks like the Cards will have a good team this year, leading to a better team next year. And the basketball team may be on the upswing. Bonus!

A very winnable game against IU, a favorable conference slate, and three total Big1Ten games (including a trip to the Big House) highlight the schedule. Can't wait until 8/31 (although to be quite honest, I really can't wait until 11/11)...

The Zebras get new stripes

2006-08-14T04:55:00.000-07:00

When watching the Titans this weekend, I couldn't help but notice the new uniforms for the officials. According to NFL News, they were going for "a more modern, updated, distinctly NFL look." I hate to tell them, but they will never get a cool looking referee outfit. And to be quite honest, I don't think anyone watching the game really cares what the official looks like anyway... Sorry guys, but a big yawn from me...

Aargh!

2006-08-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

The ever-funny pirate is back with YouTube - Things that make ye say "ARGH".... Message in a Bottle 05. Be sure to watch through to the end (although it may make you say 'Aargh').

Check out the first four episodes, or submit a question at Yargh.com. The goofy things that people YouTube...

Update: Guess I should point out that this guy is a Nashville guy. He also plays a mean Batman...

Green Helmet Guy's blog

2006-08-11T18:14:00.000-07:00

Green Helmet Guy has a blog. So does White T-Shirt Guy. These guys are getting to be as famous as Baghdad Bob. Funny stuff... If only is wasn't so morbid...

No wonder I couldn't ever get any Fire sauce...

2006-08-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

The Star Press reports on an odd story that includes masked men, 400 lbs. of sauce packets, and chalupas. Intrigued?

When a group of 10 to 15 people wearing masks enter a fast-food joint in the late evening, the first thing many people would think is that a holdup was about to begin.

But at about 10:46 p.m. Tuesday, when such a group entered a local Taco Bell, they weren't there to take - they were there to return.

The masked men were toting six 40-gallon trash bags filled with individual packets of taco sauce - about 25,000 in all, police guess.

A note left with the sauce - which likely weighed more than 400 pounds, based on data available on Taco Bell's Web site - said the group had been accumulating them for the past three years, storing them in the trunk of a car. They'd thought about using them for a practical joke or selling them on eBay, but conscience dictated their return to the 3244 S. Western Ave. store.

25,000 packets... 400 lbs of sauce. That could top a lot of chalupas...

Oh, Ms. Carroll? Green Helmet will see you now...

2006-08-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

Again, the quote from Kathleen Carroll, AP's senior vice president and executive editor on August 1st, referred to in a previous post...

"It's hard to imagine how someone sitting in an air-conditioned office or broadcast studio many thousands of miles from the scene can decide what occurred on the ground with any degree of accuracy"

Carroll said in addition to personally speaking with photo editors, "I also know from 30 years of experience in this business that you can't get competitive journalists to participate in the kind of (staging) experience that is being described."

Hmm... any response from Ms. Carroll?

The strangest thing I have seen in my life... (part 2)

2006-08-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

double uhh...

The strangest thing I have seen in my life... (part 1)

2006-08-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

Uhhh....

AlGore and friends on the environment: Do as I say, not as I do...

2006-08-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

Al Gore: An Inconvenient Story

This is kinda old, but I find it amusing nonetheless. It amazes me when the people preaching how we should change our lives and "go green" or "carbon-neutral" or whatever the current buzzword is totally go against what they are preaching to spread the word for their cau... err... to get their faces on TV.

Other fun links on the subject here, here, here, here, here, here... Plenty more, but you get the idea...

That's quite a large mistake there fellas...

2006-08-07T10:43:00.000-07:00

via breitbart.com:

The Lebanese prime minister says only one person died in an Israeli air raid on the southern village of Houla, lowering the death toll from 40.

Please believe me that I don't take lightly the death of one or forty persons, but wow... Originally reported as forty deaths, but it was actually one?!? I can understand being off one or two, but off by 39? And the actual number is one?!? Even my 3-year old can count to one!

Photoshop and 1984

2006-08-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

On August 1st...

"It's hard to imagine how someone sitting in an air-conditioned office or broadcast studio many thousands of miles from the scene can decide what occurred on the ground with any degree of accuracy," said Kathleen Carroll, AP's senior vice president and executive editor.

Carroll said in addition to personally speaking with photo editors, "I also know from 30 years of experience in this business that you can't get competitive journalists to participate in the kind of (staging) experience that is being described."

Six days later...

Reuters has withdrawn a second photograph and admitted that the image was doctored, following the emergence of new suspicions against images provided by the news organization. On Sunday, Reuters admitted that one of its photographers, Adnan Hajj, used software to distort an image of smoke billowing from buildings in Beirut in order to create the effect of more smoke and damage.

Hmm... wonder if Ms. Carroll has made any new comments on the veracity of their photographers and photo editors after the events that unfolded this weekend?

It's scary how easy it is to manipulate the photos that document the news and events these days. For instance, I can easily Photoshop anything I don't like in my family vacation photos. In fact, I've gotten very good at it. Don't like that pimple on your face in the last family photo? Erase it. Fat, smoking guy hanging out in the background of the photo of the kids riding a ride? Wham... Gone. It's so commonplace to do this now that the word "Photoshop" has gone the way of Kleenex, Google, or Coke and has transcended it's use as a brand name and has become a part of the common vernacular.

I watched the movie 1984 recently... Instead of the paper chutes and furnaces in that Orwell masterpiece, we have computer screens, mice, and digital cameras. Or, in the case of the Rather documents, Microsoft Word and fax machines. Same stuff though.

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
...

Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia.
...

This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound-tracks, cartoons, photographs -- to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance. Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct, nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary. In no case would it have been possible, once the deed was done, to prove that any falsification had taken place.

Oh, wait... maybe we aren't living in the world of 1984. In both of these cases, the falsifications were proven. Then again, that's only two cases. How many of these "alterations" have slipped by unnoticed?

Honest John

2006-07-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

Wizbang (and many others) have spoken about John F. Kerry's comments regarding the Middle East crisis. I must say that this comment:

If I was president, this wouldn't have happened

strikes me as particularly laughable. Really? How do you know? Just because you think you may have handled things differently doesn't make the end result necessarily different. These people have been attacking each other forever! How the f&^% does the all-seeing, all-knowing John F. Kerry know how things would have played out? It's pretty egotistic to think you and you alone can stop centuries-old conflicts on a whim. Such power...

OK... let me try...

If I was on the Cardinals basketball team, they would have made the Final Four

or...

If I had been selected as Disney's CEO, Pirates would have made twice as much

or, maybe...

If I was running Exxon, gas would be $0.99 per gallon

Disprove those... I dare ya. Give some facts to back up your stance as well. Are these comments based on any more hard facts than Kerry's? It's very easy to play "woulda, coulda" when there is no real way to prove or disprove the claim. It appears to me that it's just an attempt to set themselves up to continue BDS for another several years after Bush leaves office...

Something like...

But if Bush hadn't let them fight in the Middle East, this wouldn't be happening during my presidency...

The funniest thing about the article? He was speaking at "Honest John's Bar and Grill." Wonder if that was on purpose...

I'll be back...

2006-05-26T06:19:00.000-07:00

Since I've received a few e-mails related to whether I'm ever going to post again, I figured I'd drop a quick note. I intend to get back to a regular posting pattern sometime soon, but have had a lot on my plate that has cut into my time lately. Plus, I wasn't feeling particularly motivated by any topics for a while. But, I think I'm finally ready to get back into the swing of things, so look for semi-regular posting to commence shortly...

6'10 - 260 Micah Rollin Signs With Ball State

2006-04-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

Micah Rollin Signs With Ball State Men's Basketball according to BallStateSports.com.

Apparently this big guy was 350ish in high school and has been only playing organized basketball for a year. But at 6'10" - 260, he may be worth the risk. It appears that his recruitment was spurred by the hiring of assistant coach Steve Flint, who also came from the successful College of Southern Idaho merely a week ago. Apparently he impressed onlookers with his game while he was in town this past weekend, showing a nice shooting touch and good big guy moves. This was enough to lead to the quick signing only a few days later. He was recruited by Fresno State (but maybe scared off by their pending NCAA investigation) and Ohio State (even though they have the catch of the year in Indiana high school superstar center Greg Oden).

With the departure of Maurice Acker and the rumors circulating about Pat Nelson and Landon Adler, it's nice to see a quick pick-up. And with that kind of bulk, I must say that I am cautiously optimistic...

Patriots!!!

2006-03-27T08:10:00.000-08:00

Color changes on the header in honor of the George Mason Patriots and their rise to the Final 4. Take that Billy Packer!!!

Packer and Nantz eat crow... sort of

2006-03-21T10:53:00.000-08:00

SI.com has a short interview with our good buddies Jim and Bill, giving them the opportunity to apologize or at least admit they were wrong. They prettty much did (at least Nantz did)...

Nantz: Best tournament ever. And obviously, the Missouri Valley has proven us wrong, so good for them, good for [MVC commissioner] Doug Elgin. As I said on the air, this has validated what they had been crowing about all season long, and now I see why they should have their chests stuck out so proudly.

But they proceeded to try to reframe their comments from the selection show to be not challenging the selection committee for their picks of mid-majors, but to actually challenging the RPI...

Nantz: This is what the tournament is about. One thing -- I know you want to get it right and I know this will get edited, but our question had to do with the RPI, not with the committee. That's what got lost. It came across like we were challenging Craig Littlepage and the committee. We were saying, 'Wait a minute, the Big Ten this year beat one team out of conference that was a top 10 team, and yet they're rated the No. 1 conference, how can that be? How can teams like Hofstra be ranked 31st in the country and their best nonconference win was St. John's?' We were just confused by all of that.

Right... That's exactly what they said...

Nantz: Criticize the mid-majors? Not me...

2006-03-19T16:43:00.000-08:00

A more complete post on this great weekend of action to come, but "champion of the mid-majors" Jim Nantz made me alternate from laughing to wanting to throw my remote through the TV during his commentary today. While Billy Packer noticibly avoided the subject of the MVC and the CAA's successes, Jim Nantz noted that "some" criticized the selection and that "some" were very vocal in their thought that major conference teams should have made it in over the MVC teams. An apology? An acknowlegement that "some" included (actually, was headed by) him and Billy? Nah... It was everyone else... Because, of course,

[Nantz is] all for the little guy

Umm... sure...

BSU Press Conference regarding coaching change

2006-03-15T13:34:00.000-08:00

From BallStateSports.com:

QUOTES FROM BSU ATHLETICS PRESS CONFERENCE:
Opening Statement:
Good afternoon. Thanks for coming on short notice. As you know from the release, we're going to go ahead and make a change in the leadership of the men's basketball program here at Ball State University. I do want to take a minute to thank Tim and his staff because they've represented Ball State University with dignity and class in everything they've done. This is a tough day, but we'll get through it. I just felt today was the day that we needed to make the change and move on.

How did you come to this decision?

I listened to a lot of people inside the program and outside the program. I did a lot of searching myself and what I thought, where we could be, where we should be, and just felt we needed to make this change at this point in time.

Did you take the team's injuries into account?

I think you look at that in whole. You look at it when you're looking at everything else. That's part of what goes into the equation. I still felt it was time to make a change.

What didn't happen that could or should have?

I don't know that there's any one particular thing. It's just a gut feeling I had, where the program was at and where we want it to be, and I just felt like I needed to make the leadership change to make that happen.

Where should the program be?

I would think that Ball State University would want to position itself at the top of the MAC. I think we should be competing for that MAC Championship every year.

How difficult was it to reassign Coach Buckley?

It's a very difficult decision. I mean, you're dealing with people's livelihoods. And they have families, and I have empathy for that. It's very difficult. It's one that I didn't come to just all of a sudden. I've been talking to people. I've been listening to the people. I've been going to the games. I've been observing. So I took a lot of those things into account.

How did you evaluate this program week-to-week since you came here to arrive at this decision?

I listened to a lot of people, staff people and people outside the department. A lot of people sent me e-mails, both pro and con. I talked to people that I trust in the basketball industry. I tried to go through all those things and in my mind figure out where the program is at and where we need to go and if that required a change in leadership. And I got to the end, and I felt it required a change in leadership.

What kind of input did you receive?

I had all kinds of input. Everybody had their own opinions.

What qualities are you looking for in the new coach?

Be a great leader, a great teacher, good at X's and O's, a recruiter, someone who can fit in to the Ball State University family, someone who understands a little bit of the Midwest and the recruiting processes here in Indiana, a good organizer, able to hire a good staff to complement what he might not be best at.

Will you use a search firm?

We'll probably direct it ourselves. We probably will not use a search firm. We'll probably direct it ourselves, get some of the staff involved and go through a thoughtful process to make sure we've got a good pool of candidates.

Do you have a short list yet?

I do not. I meet with the President on Friday. That will probably be the first time we'll discuss how we're going to go about the process. It's a search. It's not going to be a rush. We need to find the best person that can help lead Ball State University.

Who will direct the recruiting efforts?

We probably won't do any recruiting in the short run here. Michael Bennett will remain with the program, and the players will check in with Michael. We want to make sure that the kids who are here do what they need to do, and then we'll keep them involved in the process here.

What was Coach Buckley's reaction?

Tim's a professional. Tim has acted professionally the whole way, and I appreciate that from him. I know it's a difficult day for Tim and for his family.

When was the decision made, and when did you tell Coach Buckley?

He was informed this morning. I met with Tim at 10 a.m., and I probably made the decision on Monday.

What would you like the new coach to do better?

Compete in the MAC for a championship. Being able to compete every year for a MAC title and get to postseason play, preferably the NCAA.

Buckley out as BSU coach

2006-03-15T09:49:00.000-08:00

Days after CMU decided to retain Jay Smith, BSU decided to not do the same with Tim Buckley. Buckley "has been reassigned to [the] University Development" department. This is the same tactic used when Bill Lynch was removed as football coach... reassign and hope they take another job instead of buying out the contract.

I say "It's about time... ." I always liked Tim, and he faced a lot of injury-related challenges here, but the multiple years of futility needs to end and a fresh outlook is needed. Here's the statement from AD Tom Collins (courtesy bsufans.com).

WISH-TV and the StarPress have the story as well. DN story confirms the press conference.

I'll have updates after the 3pm (ET) press conference (if there is anything new to add)...

ESPN Bracket Challenge

2006-03-14T06:43:00.000-08:00

I've posted a group in the ESPN Men's Tournament Challenge for those interested in a little friendly competition. Winners will get the respect and awe of me and the other participants, recognition on the website, and nothing more (hey... betting is illegal! ;)).

Scenes From a Hat Tournament Challenge Group

NCAA mid- and low-major analysis

2006-03-14T06:33:00.000-08:00

Tim over at HoopsJunkie.net is putting together some very nice capsules on the mid- and low-major teams that are dancing this year. Another article details how to pick the upsets.

Also, he is going out on a limb to predict an Oral Roberts upset of Memphis! I'd love to see that, but I don't think I'll be so daring...

His blog is definitely worth a read this time of year...

Statler and Waldorf on the NCAA Selection Show

2006-03-13T11:24:00.000-08:00

I watched one of the most humorous of Muppet episodes last night. The one about the two crumudgeonly fellows sitting around being all sour and talking about how awful things are and all the wrongs in the world. You know... Inequities in society and stuff like that (or maybe just how bad Fozzie's last joke was). Last night they were cranking about the evil MVC. That young upstart that's trying to butt into established society. Crashing parties and being generally disrespectful of their proper place and their rightful betters. And also about the evil leadership that was allowing, no... enabling, it to happen. What? That wasn't some kinda silly comedy act? Those guys were actually "objective journalists" and legitimately commenting on the NCAA selections? They actually belittled the head of the selection committee and cut him off? Oh, come on... no one can be that sour-pussed because of a 9th place Big East squad or a 7th place team from the Big Can't Count didn't get into the NCAA tournament, can they?!?

Apparently so. From the beginning, every cut-away to Billy Packer and Jim Nantz looked like Statler and Waldorf. Grumpy and not enthused about the show they were witnessing.

(Note: vcthree at Cultured State has a full transcript of the on-air portion of this rant, while other quotes were pulled from press conferences afterwards)

Nantz:

Something has gone haywire with this computer system . . . I mean, the ACC and the Big 12 generated the same number of bids (four) as the Missouri Valley? I don't buy it.

Packer:

Do you think for one second that a Louisville or a Notre Dame, two teams that obviously got no consideration whatsoever, wouldn't be favored against the likes of the teams from the Missouri Valley or the Colonial Athletic (Association)?

Nantz:

"It's gone way too far now. The fact that Hofstra merited even any discussion on our air or ESPN's air all weekend long completely baffles me."

Packer:

I'm really not an expert on the Missouri Valley, but . . . it doesn't make any sense to me. You put Florida State and Maryland into their league, I'd like to know where they'd end up. Do you see any of those four teams taking Duke to overtime, at Duke and beating them on their home court?

Nantz:

The media has perpetrated the myth all season long about how great certain conferences are and how weak other conferences are.

Packer:

One of the things you can not overlook is the strength of what leagues do year in and year out . . . The Colonial and Missouri Valley end up with six representatives in the tourney and the ACC and the Big 12 end up with eight - you've got to be kidding.

And on, and on, and on... I mean, these guys wouldn't shut up.

Packer made a point to say that 58 of the 80 teams that played their way into the Sweet 16 in the past five tournaments were from the BCS conferences. Well, anyone with an ounce of sense would also note that the majority of the participants are from BCS conferences, and the vast majority of the BCS teams start with a high seed, while the vast majority of the mid-major teams start with a low seed. I would love to see the average seed that each of these groups faced in the first round. Maybe I'll do the research and update this post, but my guess is that the average BCS school faces an 11 to 14 seed at highest in the first round, while the average mid-major faces a 3 to 6 at lowest. Do you think that could maybe, possibly have something to do with the disparity of the advancement? Hmm?!?

Also, I would love to see a comparison of records for teams of similar seedings. That would pit top level mid-majors with mid-level BCS teams, which is a much fairer comparison. Again, I haven't done this research and will add it if I have time. Regardless, to compare Duke's success against 15 and 16 seeds to Kent's success against 5 seeds is ludicrous and borderline dishonest.

Craig Littlepage, the head of the selection committee and representative of the ACC's University of Virginia, after receiving a tongue-lashing from the dynamic duo over the fact that Billy's conference of choice (the ACC) was demeaned by having the same amount of bids as the lowly MVC, tried to explain that conference affiliation was not considered. After whines of schedule strength of the mid-majors, Littleton pointed out that scheduling is basically a two-way street... patsy schedules by the BCS teams of course leads to less strength in the middies schedules. Since Littlepage's arguments made too much logical sense, he was summarily cut off and dispensed with, not even receiving the customary 'atta-boy' for all of the work behind seeding the tournament.

Of course, I'm sure Billy and Jimmy would prefer that all mid-majors play road games exclusively at the BCS schools and never get a shot at them at their home court... or, better yet, they probably would prefer that they play only amongst their own type. Maybe they can lobby for a 1-AA designation like football?!?

Good for Doug Elgin, the head of the MVC, for calling out these jokers:

I'm disappointed in both Jim Nantz and Billy Packer and their behavior. Their comments were inappropriate and wrong. They need to do some research before they make statements like that.

You can take a year in which the Big Ten went 1-6 in the tournament and that doesn't impact the Big Ten's ability to place teams in the field next year. You can win a lot of arguments by taking a selective cut of information and that's what these guys did.

In his statement, Elgin pointed out that the MVC had reached the NCAA Sweet 16 twice in the last seven seasons and had beaten BCS teams such as Florida, Louisville, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Texas Tech and Oklahoma to do it. Why wasn't this mentioned by Jim and Bill? Elgin has a supposition:

Billy didn't have that information at his disposal

Oh, he didn't say that, did he? He-he...

I'm a MAC guy, so I am biased. I have seen my Cardinals walk into a Sweet 16 game and give the future national champions their only test for the entire tournament. I have seen Kent and Miami and other MAC schools achieve a great deal with the one bid the conference seems destined to always receive. So, naturally, I am loving this attention (but wishing it was the MAC and not the MVC). I admit my preferences and offer no illusion of balance in my reporting. But, then again, Jimmy is perfectly balanced, or so he says:

I'm all for the little guy

Heh...

My favorite part of the show? Seeing Packer give away the Minneapolis 8-9 seeds before they were announced while talking about the Washington seedings. Classic... broadcasting at it's finest...

Update (3/13/06 9:45pm):
Craig Littlepage strikes back. Good for him. I'm sure ABC/Disney/ESPN will be glad to cover the tournament if CBS isn't interested anymore...

Update (3/14/06 8:52am):
I'm reading that Billy has defended and expanded his comments on Imus. I'll see if I can snag a transcript. I also read that Billy said Louisville would cakewalk Hofstra's schedule. Hmm... let's see... It appears that Hofstra also cakewalked their schedule, losing only to ND at Joyce in their OOC. Let's pop on over to Louisville for a second... Wow... two road games and one neutral. Outside of travelling to their traditional rival UK, there ain't much difference (except for the freqency of playing at their homecourt).

Billy: "I'm really not an expert on the Missouri Valley, but... ." Really? Well, you certainly seem to have a strong opinion on why they shouldn't qualify for the tournament! If you are not an expert, and likely have not seen them (or CAA, or MAC, etc...) play, how can you know that they don't deserve to be in?!?

My new favorite Disney blog...

2006-02-27T13:34:00.000-08:00

Re-Imagineering

A forum for Pixar and Disney professionals passionate about the Disney Theme Parks to catalog past Imagineering missteps and offer up tenable practical solutions in hopes that a new wave of creative management at Imagineering can once again bring back the wonder and magic that's been missing from the parks for decades.

Go give it a look... They are spot on (in my view) on much of what has gone awry in the parks in the last decade or so...

Update (2/27/06 4:25p): It appears that Jim Hill has a nice write-up on this website...

Another BSU player dismissed from team

2006-02-24T11:06:00.000-08:00

Further complicating things for the struggling Ball State basketball team, the Ball State Daily News is reporting that senior center Tom Howland has been dismissed from the team for his participation in an early morning bar scuffle Tuesday, according to Howland's father. The report notes that Howland wasn't the aggressor, didn't hit anyone, and wasn't charged, and that the sum of his participation seems to be the fact that he was at the wrong end of a tire iron swung by the son of a University official (which might end up being an interesting story in itself). One would surmise that the fact he was out at 4am and drinking his fifth cool, frosty adult beverage on the day before a game may have caused the dismissal, but details are sketchy at this point. The Muncie StarPress is yet to post a report, so details shall remain sketchy for a while (unless the DN offers an update)...

This is not the first player lost by the floundering Cardinals. Earlier this season, junior shooting guard Darren Yates was dismissed for "continued conduct detrimental to the team." Of course, all of this occurred after junior point guard Peyton Stovall was lost for the season due to a torn ACL.

So... now there are three veteran players gone from the team... [sigh...]

Update: Guess I should point out, Howland had a pretty good line in his last action as a Cardinal, especially considering the late night and five drinks the day before, and the tire iron upside the head. In just 10 minutes, Big Tom had 6 points on 3-5 shooting, along with a block and 4 boards (2 offensive). That was the best line of the night for any of the Cardinal big men, considering Bass only played 2 minutes before injury, Nelson shot 1-5, and Kent earned his 10th consecutive DNP.

Tom had just gotten to the point where he was a solid, consistent contributer over the last few weeks. Of course, after several knee surgeries he played limited minutes, but he was really making the most of those minutes and bringing some much needed spark. Sad to see this happen, especially right before the tournament...

Update: Tom Howland was just interviewed on WCRD. Basically, Howland says that Buckley called him in to his office after the game, said he obviously had other priorities above the team, and gave him the boot. He said he didn't tell the coaches about the incident because he felt fine, he was essentially an innocent bystander who got into the line of fire, and he thought that bringing it up would cause an unneeded and unnecessary distraction for a team that already had it's share of them.

By all accounts, Howland was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's hard to imagine that this is worth more than a one-game suspension or something. When asked if he would try to appeal to get back on the team, Tom said he doesn't want to play for someone that doesn't want him on the team.

Update (2/24): Tim Buckley had his normal Thursday press conference last night. In it, he stated that the drinking, the hour that the incident occured, and previous incidents led to the quick trigger finger. Howland denies that he has had any previous disciplinary issues, and backing up his claim is the fact that in his four years he has never been suspended from playing in a game. Here's the Buckley quote in the new StarPress article that struck me:

"Being out at 3:20 a.m. the morning before a basketball game and being involved in the situation Tom was involved in was not conducive to success off the court or on the court. Therefore, that's why the decision was made."
Buckley said there was no curfew in place the night of the fracas, but he said players have been warned that "not many good things happen after 10 o'clock at night." He also said the team has no rule prohibiting drinking by players who are of age, but they are encouraged to keep it at a minimum to promote peak performance.

(Note: BSUDN has a new article as well)

OK...

There was no curfew, yet the fact that he was out at 4am is a factor in the dismissal. Check

There is no rule against drinking, yet the fact that he was drinking led to the dismissal.Check

There is no rule against getting beaned by a crowbar, yet the fact that he got beaned by a crowbar led to the dismissal. Check

He has never been suspended in his four years, but past incidents led to the dismissal. Check

It makes no sense. And this is totally ignoring the allegation made by Howland's father that someone in the athletic training staff said Buckley knew before the game that he had been whacked in the noggin with a tire iron only the day before, and chose to dismiss him only after having him play in Wednesday's game. Take this as rumour and allegation, as Buckley denies it.

I don't get it...

Lazy Muncie

2006-02-15T20:02:00.000-08:00

"If you don't like it here, move ya ass to Fort Wayne!" - Chris and Kirby, "Lazy Muncie"

You've seen the great SNL "Lazy Sunday" skit, and the follow-up west coast version. Here's the midwest response, straight outta my hometown (in fact, America's Hometown -- Muncie, IN) and home of my university, good ol' BSU. I'm sure it's funnier to me, with all of the local references (my parents eat at that Bob's nearly every day, for instance), but stick with it, as there is a very funny cameo 2/3 of the way through.

Source: Break.com

You can get more info on the story behind the production from the Ball State Daily News. Also, find Chris and Kirby's website here.

Note: Apologies to Firefox users (myself included). It seems the Firefox doesn't recognize the autoplay="FALSE" setting in the EMBED statement. Thus, this thing plays automagically whenever the page is loaded in Firefox. IE seems to work OK (which is a miracle in itself). If I had the time (or the motivation), I'd do some research to figure this out. But I don't, so...

Update (3/20/06 8:25am): Commenter Alexandru delivered the solution to the Firefox issue:

To stop autoplay in firefox:
https://addons.mozilla.org/extens...firefox&id=1765

works. i used it!!! stops anything now.

tell me if it works for you.
Alexandru BAuer

Thanks!

Uh, oh...

2006-02-15T11:25:00.000-08:00

GOP Asks Cities to Bid for '08 Convention

More than two dozen cities have been invited to submit bids to explain why they would be the best choice for the 2008 Republican National Convention.

...

Cities that received requests for convention proposals are: Anaheim, Calif.; Atlanta; Boston; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Denver; Detroit; Houston; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Kansas City, Mo.; Memphis, Tenn.; Miami; Minneapolis; Nashville, Tenn.; New Orleans; New York; Orlando, Fla.; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Pittsburgh; Portland, Ore.; Sacramento, Calif.; San Antonio; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; St. Louis, Mo.; and Tampa.

I do not want to be in town the week a national political convention rolls into town. I guess there is only about a 3% chance that Nashville will get this at this point, and I'm sure it would be great for the downtown economy, but I just can't even imagine the traffic and logistics problems that this would cause. And don't even get me started on the influx of left-wing hippie types for their protest-du jour...

Guess I'll start the panic (and start planning a vacation) if Nashville becomes a finalist in late summer...

Olympic Opening Ceremonies live blogging: What were they thinking?

2006-02-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

Well... not live, exactly... but live in respect to the time it is shown here in the US. Love watching the opening ceremonies in pure digital goodness...

The question of the night for the people on hand in this living room... Bad '80's pop music for the Parade of Nations? Who's bad idea was that? Video Killed the Radio Star?!? They even threw in a Michael Jackson tune. If they break out some Culture Club, the night will be complete.

The giant skiier guy was the hit of our household. Very nicely done.

I'm ready for some Skeleton. And some Snowboarding. Even some Curling will be fun...

Week 10 Power Rankings: On to division play

2006-01-22T10:21:00.000-08:00

[note: still guest blogging on Hoops Junkie...]

Likely my last post during Tim's hiatus, I provide my cut at the Power Rankings for the week. As we head into the heart of the in-division schedule, some surprising West over East games shake things up at the top. With the MAC powers lining up this week for some interesting games, things may shake up even further in the coming week.

Tim may or may not update this to his liking if he thinks I'm a darn fool. It's been fun hanging out here for the week, and feel free to check out my views on the MAC, as well as politics and a little bit of everything else at Scenes from a Hat.

As usual, you are encouraged to make a visit to Vandelay Sports for their Power Rankings. Compare... contrast... talk amongst yourselves...

1. Akron (13-3, 6-0) (2) - 3 wins for the week and solidly on the top of the rankings at this point.

2. Kent State (12-5, 6-0) (4) - Also undefeated for the week and solidly up top, with solid wins against NIU and Western.

3. Ohio (11-3, 5-1) (2) – A loss to NIU moves the Bobcats down a tick, but still look like a team to beat in the East.

4. Miami (9-6, 6-1) (3) – A split week as well, with a win against UT and a loss at Western.

5. Northern Illinois (9-6, 4-3) (5) – Still the class of the West, splitting with East leaders Ohio and Kent.

6. Bowling Green (7-9, 3-3) (7) – A pretty good week on the road, besting Eastern and losing a one-point decision in Muncie

7. Buffalo (13-4, 3-3) (6) – A stunning home loss against CMU keeps the Bulls surprisingly in the MAC East cellar.

8. Western Michigan (5-11, 2-4) (9) – A big win against Miami keeps the Broncos in 2nd place in the West.

9. Ball State (5-9, 1-5) (10) – A close loss at Buffalo and a close win against BG put BSU into 3rd place in the West.

10. Toledo (8-7, 1-6) (8) – The tumble continues for UT, as they lose two this week and five of the last six.

11. Central Michigan (3-12, 1-6) (12) - A surprising road victory against Buffalo makes the season outlook a little brighter for the Chips.

12. Eastern Michigan (3-11, 0-6) (11) –Now the only winless MAC squad after losses against BG and Akron.

MAC Nightcap: Where this reporter is glad his internet connection was down this morning...

2006-01-22T00:26:00.000-08:00

[note: still guest-blogging on Hoops Junkie...]

Well, it was certainly an interesting last day of cross-division matchups... I had a nice little "MAC Today" written to post today, detailing how I figured Buffalo, Miami, and Akron had cruise-control match-ups to wrap up their tour through the West, how I thought West leader NIU would likely defend homecourt against Kent, and how I feared that Ball State would continue their suffering against BGSU. Sometimes a downed internet connection can be a blessing. That way you guys will never know about this unbelievably inaccurate set of predictions... oh, wait... I guess I just told you about them... Anyway...

On a day of Top-25 upsets (ND St. over Wisky, the Johnnies over Pitt, the hated UT over the Gators, and, of course, the Dukies falling to the Hoyas), I guess it's natural that the MAC followed suit. A couple of big upsets lead off the MAC Tonight:

Central Michigan 71, Buffalo 61 - Central Michigan picked up their first road win of the season after nine tries, breaking Buffalo's streak of 14 straight home victories along the way. In a surprising course of events, the Bulls found themselves down by 22 points in the second half against the 3-12 Chips, but were able to close within three before finally succumbing to the determined CMU squad. A bad shooting night (39% FG, 35% 3FG, 58%FT) certainly contributed to the defeat. Giordan Watson led the way for the Chips with 25 points, along with a double-double from Sefton Barrett (20 pts, 14 boards). Calvin Cage led Buffalo with 25 points.

Where things stand: Buffalo remains in the MAC East cellar with a 3-3 record, while CMU is tied for fourth in the MAC West with a 1-6 mark.

Up next: Buffalo travels to BGSU, while CMU travels to Ball State

Western Michigan 59, Miami 50 - Another Directional also had a good day at the expense of a MAC East leader... In similar fashion to CMU, WMU built a 13 point lead going into halftime by outscoring the Redhawks 18-2, and then was able to hold on during a second half challenge. Miami was able to cut the lead to one point, but never could take an advantage in the second half. Joe Reitz led the Broncos with 19 points, and William Hatcher also scored 19 points for Miami. Nathan Peavy was held to 4 points on 1-3 shooting, but did manage a game-high 10 rebounds.

Where things stand: Miami falls into 3rd place, 1/2 game off the pace of the leaders in the MAC East, while Western remains in second place in the West, 1 1/2 games behind NIU.

Up next: Western travels to Eastern, while Miami hosts Kent

Akron 79, East. Michigan 61 - Akron broke up the Michigan party, breaking open a close game with a 12-4 run to cruise to a victory against Eastern. The Zips had a balanced attack with four players in double figures, led by Dru Joyce (16 pts, 5 ast) and Romeo Travis (15 pts, 8 rb). EMU was led in scoring by (guess who?) John Bowler with (16 pts, 9 rb), but he committed 8 turnovers. The Eagles shot 52% from the field, but 24 turnovers contributed to their demise.

Where things stand: Akron stays atop the MAC East, while EMU remains in the MAC West cellar.

Up next: EMU host WMU, while Akron travels to Ohio

Ball St. 62, Bowling Green 61 - Yeah!!! (oh, sorry... not supposed to let biases show...) Ball State recovered from a 9 point deficit on the homecourt, finishing with a 26-16 run to finally secure their first MAC victory of the year. In a game that was closely contested throughout, the Cards dove deep into their bench (10 players with 9 minutes or more) and played many minutes with 5 freshmen on the court as Tim Buckley looked for a combination that worked. The result was an ugly victory gained on 37% shooting, but with big shots when they were needed. Maurice Acker (19 pts, 6 ast) and Skip Mills (14 pts, 9 rb) again led the way for the Cards, while BG was led by Steven Wright (who made two late 3-pointers to keep it close) with 16 points, and Martin Samarco with 15.

Where things stand: BG still resides in the MAC East cellar with a 3-3 mark, while BSU climbs into third place in the West with a 1-5 record.

Next up: BSU hosts CMU, while BG hosts Buffalo

Ohio 71, Toledo 68 - Ohio gained their first win at Savage Hall in a decade by defeating the Toledo Rockets in an ugly affair. The Bobcats shot 57% from the field (67% in the first half), but made 24 turnovers and shot a miserable percentage from the line, leading to a close game against the Rockets. Whitney Davis led the Bobcats with 18 points, while Leon Williams contributed 13. Jeremy Fears had 14 points, but rode the pine for the last 16 minutes or so. Justin Ingram led the Rockets with 20 points.

Where things stand: Ohio is in fourth place in the East, one game behind the leaders, while UT is in fourth place in the West, three games off of the pace.

Next up: Ohio hosts Akron, while UT travels to NIU

Kent St. 72, Northern Illinois 61 - In what on paper looked like the game of the day but didn't really play out that way, Kent won the battle of division leaders, besting Northern on their homecourt by 11. NIU buried themselves in the first half with a dismal 29% shooting output to dig an 11-point halftime hole that they could never climb out of. Jay Youngblood was on fire for the Flashes, scoring 27 points on 10 of 16 shooting, and also grabbing six boards. Omni Smith continued his impressive efforts off the Kent bench, scoring 14 points in 29 minutes of action. NIU was led by James Hughes (15 pts) and Anthony Maestranzi (14 pts).

Where things stand: Kent has quietly stayed in a tie for first in the East with an undefeated conference record, while NIU remains firmly atop the West division with a 2-win advantage over the nearest challenger.

Up next: Kent travels to Miami, while NIU hosts Toledo

MAC Nightcap: Yawn...

2006-01-19T02:00:00.000-08:00

[Guest blogging at Hoops Junkie for the rest of the week... Go check 'em out]

Predictable results again... East 4, West 0 on the night.

Akron 76, Central Michigan 69 (OT) - The biggest surprise had to be the impressive 2nd half comeback staged by Central Michigan, cutting a 2nd half 21 point deficit to force an overtime against East division leader Akron (well... one of the three leaders anyway...). Giordan Watson tied the score with 17 ticks left to force the OT. Akron controlled the overtime, however, and came away with the road victory. Romeo scored 22 in the victory, leading the Zips to their 7th straight victory. The Chips were led in their 7th straight loss by a combination of freshman Aaron Richie (16 pts), Sefton Barrett (15 pts, 9 rb, 3 blk), and Eddie Spencer (14 pts, 8 rbs).

Next up: Akron hosts EMU, while CMU travels to Buffalo.

Bowling Green 79, Eastern Michigan 72 - Ypsilanti native Martin Samarco enjoyed his homecoming, scoring 35 points (including 5-of-7 from three) to pace BG to a road victory over Eastern. John Bowler, of course, led the Eagles with an 18 point, 7 rebound effort, but a 23 turnover night killed any hopes of gaining their first conference victory.

Next up: The Eagles travel to Akron, while BG travels to Ball State.

Buffalo 75, Ball State 64 - A typical Ball State game... As they have in four of their five conference losses, Ball State squandered a 2nd half lead (6 points with 8:45 to play), scoring only twice from the field the rest of the way and allowing Buffalo to score on 13 of its final 14 possessions on their way to a Bulls victory. The short-handed Bulls again played without Parnell Smith, who missed his third consecutive game due to injury, but were also without Greg Gamble, who set out for academic reasons. Buffalo was led by Yassin Idbihi (23 pts, 12 rbs) and Calvin Cage (21 pts). BSU got 20 points from Skip Mills, and 15 from Maurice Acker and D'andre Peyton.

Next up: BSU hosts BG, while Buffalo hosts CMU.

Miami 58, Toledo 49 - Nathan Peavy (19 pts, 15 rbs) had his sixth double-double of the season to lead Miami to a low scoring grinder against Toledo. It was a hotly contested battle, with lead changes throughout the first half and many slim leads for Miami in the 2nd half until a 9-0 run over the last minute or so of the game put the Rockets away. Toledo was led by Jerrah Young and Justin Ingram, who scored 10 points apiece. William Hatcher also scored 18 for the RedHawks.

Next up: Miami travels to Western, while Toledo hosts Ohio

MAC Tonight: The Quick Version

2006-01-18T13:58:00.000-08:00

[Guest blogging at Hoops Junkie for the rest of the week... Go check 'em out]

I got totally swamped over the last 24 hours, so I apologize for the late (and very short) post:

Last night:

On tap tonight:

Ball St. (4-8, 0-4) @ Buffalo (12-3, 2-2) , Alumni Arena (Buffalo, NY) at 7:00pm ET

Akron (11-3, 4-0) @ CMU (2-11, 0-5), Rose Center (Mt. Pleasant, MI) at 7:00pm ET

Toledo (8-5, 1-4) @ Miami (8-5, 5-0), Millett Hall (Miami, OH) at 7:00pm ET

Bowling Green (6-8, 2-2) @ EMU (3-9, 0-4), Convocation Center (Ypsilanti, MI) at 7:00pm

MAC Today: Recapping one game and setting up tonight's action

2006-01-17T10:28:00.000-08:00

[Guest blogging at Hoops Junkie for the rest of the week... Go check 'em out]

First, a quick mention of the non-league action for Akron last night. Led by Dru Joyce (12 points, 8 boards), Romeo Travis (12 points) and Nate Linhart (also 12 points), the Zips secured their 6th straight victory and their 12th for the season on the road against Horizon League opponent Cleveland State. After leading by 16 points midway through the half, Akron let the Vikings within 8 with 6 to go before the Zips took control back and finished out. Akron resumes MAC action on Wednesday at CMU.

On to tonight's action:

Western Michigan (4-10, 1-3) @ Kent State (10-5, 4-0)

Kent State will attempt to keep pace with the rest of the MAC East leaders tonight as they host Western Michigan. All signs point to a victory for the Flashes, who are 5-0 in MAC play this year, matching their best start in their history in the MAC. Western Michigan is coming off of a streak of five losses in the last six games. To further compound the Broncos' predicament, Kent has won six in a row against WMU at the M.A.C Center. Sophomore Joe Reitz leads the Broncos (14.1ppg, 7.4rpg), while Kent is led by Jay Youngblood (14.9ppg), Deandre Haynes (9.3ppg, 3.9apg), and a resurgent Kevin Warzynski (9.3ppg, 5.8rpg). Omni Smith has been fantastic recently as well for the Flashes, earning a MAC East Player of the Week designation after his 18ppg average last week.

Las Vegas says: KENT STATE 11½ over Western Michigan

Audio: Kent or WMU, and follow live stats at Kent's webpage
Gametime: 7 p.m. (ET)

Ohio (10-2, 4-0) at Northern Illinois (8-5, 3-2)

The game I'll be listening to is the OU/NIU clash. Ohio has coasted through a schedule filled with the bottom-feeders of the West, but today they will face what may be their first serious in-conference challenge when they travel to DeKalb. The Bobcats have won four straight matchups and are still undefeated in MAC play in their best start since 1941, while Northern Illinois leads the West division with a 3-2 mark. It should be an interesting game in that Bobcats lead the MAC in opponent scoring (60.7), while the Huskies lead the MAC in field goal percentage (49.3%). Ohio is still depending on their balanced scoring, with six players averaging between 7 and 12 points, led by Leon Williams (12.2ppg, 7.8rpg) , Mychal Green (11.9ppg), and (Jeremy Fears (10.4ppg, 4.8apg). NIU is very balanced as well, with five players averaging between 8 and 11 points, led by Todd Peterson (10.9ppg, 5.3rpg) and Mike McKinney (10.5ppg). Northern is 5-1 in DeKalb this year, while Ohio is 3-2 on the road.

Las Vegas says: Pick 'em

Audio: Ohio or NIU, as well as the little doggy company, channel 117. (It appears that Sirius is picking up a MAC game of the week now. XM only carries ACC, PAC-10 and Big1Ten. Is it enough to make me want to switch from my beloved XM? Nah... I can't stand Stern. And the way they're paying him and others, they'll be bankrupt soon. And XM's equipment is so much better... I think I'll wait until they go under and XM picks up the contract... Oh... what was I talking about? Basketball... right...)
Gametime: 8 p.m. (ET)

"A tripleheader, donkey-style"

2006-01-17T08:45:00.000-08:00

My former hometown is just bursting with quality entertainment options...

From the Muncie StarPress:

Donkey basketball comes to Fieldhouse

MUNCIE -- A tripleheader, donkey-style, will take place tonight at Muncie Fieldhouse.
A donkey basketball fundraiser will pit the Central boys' basketball team against the Central girls' basketball team, followed by a second game between the Central coaches and the Central faculty. A championship game will include local celebrities.

"A tripleheader, donkey-style?" Hmm... That doesn't sound like something to take the family to. I'm thinking that there may have been a better way to phrase that...

Week 9 Power Rankings: Where it's hard to rank teams that are all undefeated...

2006-01-16T13:18:00.000-08:00

[Guest blogging at Hoops Junkie this week...]

Another good week of MAC play behind us, with the East taking it to the West on almost every turn. The East is now 21-4 in league play, while the West lingers at a 5-22 mark. It's kind of arbitrary who you select at the top of the heap when there are four undefeated teams to choose from. Akron scored the best victory of the week on paper by beating NIU, but all of the four teams made impressive showings for the week. One more week before things get interesting and some separation can start to occur...

As usual, you are encouraged to make a visit to Vandelay Sports for their Power Rankings. Compare... contrast... talk amongst yourselves...

1. Akron (10-3, 4-0) (2) - A solid win over NIU rounded out the week for the Zips, keeping their 5-game win streak intact. A busy, but very favorable, slate awaits, with games against Eastern and Central after an out-of-conference matchup with Cleveland St. this evening.

2. Ohio (10-2, 4-0) (1) – Ohio has done everything it needs to do at this point, racking up wins against cellar-dweller West teams. Things will get a little more interesting this week, with road trips to Toledo and NIU.

3. Miami (8-5, 5-0) (3) – The Redhawks keep delivering low scoring, hard fought, close call victories. Time will tell if they will be able to continue this way against East foes. UT and a road trip to WMU up next before joining in-division play.

4. Kent State (10-5, 4-0) (6) - Kent hasn't been spectacular, but have certainly been solid while building a 4 game win streak. BSU coach Buckley says they are "the best team we’ve played so far" (over Ohio and Akron). Upcoming: an interesting road contest at NIU.

5. Northern Illinois (8-5, 3-2) (5) – The only West team that's been respectable against the East opponents. The Huskies are firmly in the driver's seat as the in-division contests heat up in a week. Tough upcoming schedule (Ohio, Kent, Toledo) is helped by all of the games being at home.

6. Buffalo (12-3, 2-2) (4) – A disappointing loss to Toledo has put the Bulls in a 2 game hole in the MAC East race. Should come out of this week with a 4-2 mark against BSU and CMU, but likely still 2 games off of the pace.

7. Bowling Green (6-8, 2-2) (11) – Seem to be somewhat catching their stride after a pretty solid week, with a heartbreaking one-point defeat at NIU followed by a big win over UT. A favorable schedule this week could lead the Falcons to a 4-2 conference mark heading into their East schedule.

8. Toledo (8-5, 1-4) (10) – A 50/50 week for the Rockets, with a big win against the Bulls followed by a disappointing defeat at BG. Need a good showing against Ohio and Miami this week to catch up with NIU.

9. Western Michigan (4-10, 1-3) (8) – Not a good week, with 2 losses to upper tier East teams. Still holding onto a tie for 2nd due to their win against BG, and thus holding a higher spot in this ranking than the rest of the MAC West cellar.

10. Ball State (4-8, 0-4) (7) – Until the Cards prove that they can win a game, no amount of close calls and measured improvement will get them anywhere in the standings or the tournament seedings. Tough road trip to Buffalo upcoming.

11. Eastern Michigan (3-9, 0-4) (9) – Ditto for Eastern. They haven't been blown out in conference play, but no points granted here for staying close to the East leaders. Best opportunity in a month awaits: a home game against BGSU.

12. Central Michigan (2-11, 0-5) (12) - The same can't be said for the Chips. Blowout after blowout against the East division, culminating in a 2 FG effort in the first half of their blowout at OU. Not any easier this week, with Akron and Buffalo on tap.

MAC Nightcap: BGSU is showing signs of life

2006-01-15T21:23:00.000-08:00

[More guest blogging at Hoops Junkie. I'll be back with some non-hoops related posting soon...]

Despite a 33% shooting night and a 3-21 performance by leading scorer Martin Samarco, Bowling Green held the homecourt against rival Toledo in the only MAC action of the day and kept themselves in a tie with Buffalo (but 2 wins behind the frontrunners) early in the MAC East race. Toledo shot a similarly frigid 39%, but the biggest difference came from the foul line, with the Falcons shooting 20-of-24 compared to Toledo's lackluster 11 of 19 effort. With the loss, Toledo has thrown itself into the mix with 5 other teams trying to jockey for position behind division leading NIU. The standings are as follows:

East

Miami (Oh.) 5 - 0 (8 - 5) W4 -
Ohio 4 - 0 (10 - 2) W4 ½
Akron 4 - 0 (10 - 3) W5 ½
Kent State 4 - 0 (10 - 5) W4 ½
Buffalo 2 - 2 (12 - 3) W1 2½
Bowling Green 2 - 2 (6 - 8 ) W1 2½

West

Northern Illinois 3 - 2 (8 - 5) L1 -
Western Michigan 1 - 3 (4 - 10) L2 1½
Toledo 1 - 4 (8 - 5) L1 2
Ball State 0 - 4 (4 - 8 ) L6 2½
Eastern Michigan 0 - 4 (3 - 9) L5 2½
Central Michigan 0 - 5 (2 - 11) L6 3

Even though it seems way too early to think about conference tournament seedings, and even though the in-division games have yet to begin, a few teams in the West are getting to a point where they may be digging themselves into a very deep hole. Ball State, Eastern, and Central are all 3 losses down to division leading NIU. The fact that both Toledo and Western lost (as did every other team in the division, for that matter) puts this pack into a little more favorable position, especially considering the 2nd place bye to Cleveland that each division will have this year. Unless some of these teams start winning, they may get factored out of the bye picture before the in-division games even begin. Of course, the way things are going, it may be that the status-quo is maintained all through the inter-division games by all of the teams losing all of their games in the next week...

Over on the East side of things, BGSU's win is very important for them to not get shuffled out early as well. The West teams may head into in-division play with nothing decided in the top four if things continue like they are. In this scenerio, Buffalo and BG will be in a position to have to make up ground. This could make for a very interesting start to things in a week or so when d-day hits... In the first mid-week stretch, Kent travels to Miami, Akron travels to Ohio, Ohio travels to Buffalo, and Miami travels to Akron. This should be fun and frivality for all...

Oh... I mentioned the 2 byes per division... In case you haven't heard, the tournament structure has changed with the departure of Marshall. On MACReportOnline recently, it was mentioned that the new tournament layout will have four byes to Cleveland, resulting in the 1st and 2nd place teams in each division bypassing the campus site games. Also, each division will seed separately (1-6), which probably means that the tournament will be similar in structure to the SEC. Something like:

Opening Round (at campus sites)
West 6 at East 3
West 5 at East 4
East 5 at West 4
East 6 at West 3

2nd Round (in Cleveland)
West 1 vs. West 5/East 4 winner
East 2 vs. East 6/West 3 winner
East 1 vs. East 5/West 4 winner
West 2 vs. West 6/East 3 winner

(props to MACReportOnline, and also to MikeSpicer at BSUFans for pointing me in the direction and laying out the example schedule)

Thus, the West and East's #2 spots will be a much coveted position and may give a ray of hope to a struggling West squad or two. I haven't seen anything official out of the MAC offices (at least nothing that I've seen), so confirmation and more details as they come out...

MAC Today: Quick Sunday Edition

2006-01-15T07:08:00.000-08:00

[note: Still guest-blogging the MAC coverage at Hoops Junkie]

Why one game on Sunday? Just to annoy me, I think. I can't quite figure out the schedule makers sometimes. Anyhoo...

Toledo (8-4, 1-3) @ BGSU (5-8, 1-2)

A nice rivalry game for your Sunday viewing enjoyment, and an important game for both teams. Toledo can certainly use a victory to close within a game of West division-leading NIU, while Bowling Green needs to play catch-up in the win-heavy East division. Both teams are coming off of close games against leading teams in the opposite divisions, with Toledo looking to build on a win over Buffalo and BG trying to regroup after a one point loss against NIU. This matchup is usually a close affair, with five of the last seven games decided in the last minute. The Falcons are led by junior Martin Samarco with a 18.1 points scoring average, while Justin Ingram leads Toledo's balanced attack with a 14.6 average.

Las Vegas says: (not yet posted)

Audio: BG or UT
Television: BCSN
Gametime: 1pm (ET)

MAC Nightcap: As Expected...

2006-01-14T21:36:00.000-08:00

[note: Still guest-blogging the MAC coverage at Hoops Junkie]

I've been writing this column for less than a week, and I'm already tired of writing about the East division dominance over the West. Of course, tonight was no exception:

Kent State 74 Eastern Michigan 64 - For only the second time in school history, Kent is 4-0 in MAC play. Kent was challenged late in this game, with Eastern cutting the lead to one with 3:45 remaining until Nate Gerwig ran off six straight points to secure the victory. Kent was led by Jay Youngblood's 23 points. John Bowler scored yet another double-double with a 23 point, 14 rebound effort.

Akron 86, Northern Illinois 73 - Akron capitalized on a 12-0 second half run to counter a one-point NIU lead and gain a 13 point home victory. In a balanced attack, the Zips had 5 players in double figures to stretch their winning streak to 5 and keep themselves in the undefeated mix in the MAC East. Northern still maintained their 2 win lead on the MAC West pack pending the results of Sunday's Toledo-BGSU game.

Ohio 76, Central Michigan 44 - Central Michigan scored only two field goals and made 12 turnovers in the first half, leading to an insurmountable 35-7 halftime deficit and eventually a 32 point road loss to the Ohio Bobcats. The Chips missed 15 consecutive shots and were held scoreless while Ohio scored 24 points during a 13 1/2 minute stretch in the first half.

Buffalo 73, Western Michigan 62 - Buffalo got back in the win column, using 9 three-point shots to gain an 11 point home victory over Western Michigan. The Bulls used a 19-4 run at the end of the first half to overcome an early lead by the Broncos. Calvin Cage and Yassin Idbihi led the Bulls with 17 points each.

Miami 59, Ball State 55 - In a game where neither team led by more than 5 points, Miami won their second straight victory at Worthen Arena in Muncie. The game was close throughout and was knotted at 51 with 2:36 to go in the game. From that point, Miami took advantage of good foul shooting and key defensive stops to gain a four point victory. The Redhawks remained undefeated in conference play, while the Cards remained winless.

MAC Today: The Weekend They Televised All of the Games

2006-01-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

[note: Still guest-blogging the MAC coverage at Hoops Junkie]

A good weekend for MAC basketball on television, as four of the six games are televised in some fashion. Again this Saturday, the East looks to continue dominance, with Las Vegas listing the East team as favorite in every single game. Nevertheless, there may be a few good games mixed in with the blowouts. Here's the lineup for the five games on tap today:

Northern Illinois (8-4, 3-1) @ Akron (9-3, 3-0)

The most interesting game of the day may be the NIU/Akron tilt. Northern Illinois has seemed to play to the level of their competition, with their last 7 games decided by 5 or less points. Even still, a win in this game will give the Huskies their best MAC start since 1996 and will cement them firmly into first place in the West division, where they already are two wins up on the nearest competitor. Akron, on the other hand, is looking to extend their four-game winning streak and preserve their best start since 2000. The Zips own a 9-1 record at Rhodes arena against the Huskies, meaning that it may be a tough win for NIU on the road.

Las Vegas says: Akron 8 pt favorites over NIU

Audio: Akron or NIU
Television: ONN
Gametime: 7 p.m. (ET)

CMU (2-10, 0-4) @ Ohio (9-2, 3-0)

Per the norm with the undefeated East squads, Ohio is also building on it's best season since forever (1986, actually) when they host the CMU Chippewas. The Chips have not won at Ohio since 1990, so the task of taking out the MAC leader on the road is that much tougher. The Bobcats have had a great bench presence and unbelievable balance, with six players averaging between 7 and 13 ppg. The Chips will likely attempt to keep the score low, much like they did in their close 66-60 loss to Kent. CMU has held their last 7 opponents under 70 points, and will need to continue this trend to stay in the game today. Giordan Watson, who leads the team with a 13.8ppg average, has been on fire the last two games, averaging 23.5 points in those games.

Las Vegas says: Ohio 20 pt favorites over CMU

Audio: Ohio or CMU
Television: ONN
Gametime: 2 p.m. (ET)

Miami (7-5, 4-0) @ BSU (4-7, 0-3)

Broken record time... Miami is off to it's best MAC start since 1999 as they travel to Muncie to take on the winless-in-the-MAC Ball State Cardinals. This series was hotly contested last season, with Miami taking an overtime victory at Millett and a controversial 2-point victory at the Johnny (the winning shot was made after the buzzer but counted nonetheless). Miami, who also has been playing close to it's competition with two come from behind victories in their last three games, has been relying heavily on William Hatcher (14.2ppg, 4.7apg, 37mpg) with balanced support from Tim Pollitz (12ppg, 5.4rpg) and Nathan Peavy (10.6ppg, 7.3rpg, 2.3spg). Ball State is still led by Skip Mills' MAC-leading 19.8 average (6.7rpg, 35mpg) with Maurice Acker stepping up to support (12ppg in last 5 games), but the Cards are getting very little consistent support from their inside players. Persistent foul trouble (8 foul-outs in 3 MAC games) and long scoring droughts (one 7 min drought per game in 3 MAC games) have hampered BSU's efforts in MAC play, contributing to their 5 game losing streak and 1-7 D1 record since Peyton Stovall's injury.

Las Vegas says: Miami 1.5 pt favorites at BSU

Audio: Miami or BSU (WCRD or WLBC)
Television: BSSN (Satellite Coordinates: SBS 6, Transponder 9)
Gametime: 4 p.m. (ET)

WMU (4-9, 1-2) @ Buffalo (11-3, 1-2)

Buffalo looks to bounce back from their 2-game road losing streak as they start a 3 game homestand against Western Michigan. The Broncos have won the last three games at Alumni Arena, but WMU is below .500 in the MAC for the first time under Steve Hawkins and have lost four of the last five games entering this two-game road trip. Sophomore Joe Reitz is leading the team with 13.9ppg and 7.6rpg, with support from Brian Snider (11.9ppg, 5.8apg). Buffalo is attempting to recover from two straight close road losses against West foes, returning to the friendly confines where they carry a 11 game winning streak. The Bulls need to improve their ball handling after a 27 turnover performance in the loss to Toledo. The Bulls have five players averaging double figures, led by Calvin Cage's (17.8ppg, 3.2apg) and
Yassin Idbihi (14.2ppg, 7.2rpg).

Las Vegas says: Buffalo 10.5 pt favorites over WMU

Audio: UB or WMU
Gametime: 7 p.m (ET)

Kent (9-5, 3-0) @ EMU (3-8, 0-3)

Guess what? Like much of the Eastern division, Kent State is also looking to build an undefeated conference start and start 4-0 in the MAC, matching their all-time best conference start in 2004, as they travel to Eastern. Kent has won every game in the series since 1999, winning nine straight matchups. Jay Youngblood leads the Flashes with a 14.4 average, while DeAndre Haynes averages 11.8. Omni Smith and Kevin Warzynski have stepped up in recent games helping to build this win streak. EMU is looking to stop a four game slide and is in the middle game of a three game home set. John Bowler leads EMU with a MAC-leading 19.8 average to go along with 9.4rpg, providing the Eagles' most consistent offense. Bowler is backed up by three other players that are averaging around 8ppg.

Las Vegas says: Kent 7.5 pt favorites at EMU

Audio: Kent or EMU
Gametime: 7:30 p.m. (ET)

MAC Nightcap: Proving again the East is the Best (and that this writer needs some sleep)

2006-01-12T07:02:00.000-08:00

[note: Still guest-blogging the MAC coverage at Hoops Junkie]

At the beginning of the season, I wasn't ready to buy into the "East is dominant" storyline. Sure, Buffalo and Ohio looked great on paper (and on the court at the end of last season), but surely BSU, NIU and Toledo were going to be up to the challenge. Parity usually rules the MAC, and there never seems to be such an imbalance of power, right? Obviously things have played out much like the pundits predicted, and very much not in the way that I had thought they might. Outside of BGSU and (surprisingly) Buffalo, the East teams have continued their undefeated sweep through the Western division. Tonight, the results were no different:

Ohio scored a 75-63 victory over Eastern in their first MAC road action. Sonny Troutman rung up 19 points, Leon Williams chipped in 14, and Mychal Green added 11 for the Bobcats. Reminiscent of the BSU game, Ohio held the Eagles scoreless for 6:05 leading to a 17-1 run that provided all the cushion needed. John Bowler scored another double-double in the losing cause, racking up 16 points and 11 rebounds. Ohio added to their perfect conference record with the victory, while Eastern is left still searching for their first MAC victory.

Miami used a 20-0 run at the start the second half to coast to a 66-49 over Central. The Chips failed to score until the 10:53 mark of the 2nd half, a 9:07 drought. The Redhawks were led by William Hatcher's 19 points and six assists. Giordon Watson led the Chips with 17 points. Miami remains undefeated in MAC play heading into their road trip to Ball State, while CMU remains winless in conference play.

In what proved to be the game of the night, Mike McKinney tipped in a errant shot with 4 ticks left to secure a 75-74 victory for NIU over Bowling Green. The Huskies, in their quest to win or lose every game in the last 5 seconds, came back from a 15 point first half deficit to gain the win. Northern was led by reserve players Craig Reichel and Todd Peterson, who scored 20 and 12 respectively. The Falcons Martin Samarco continued to be their leading scorer, contributing 25 points in the losing cause. NIU now holds a comfortable 1 1/2 game lead in the East standings, while BGSU is stuck in the cellar of the powerful East division with a 1-2 record.

Kent State held home court and maintained their perfect MAC mark with a 84-71 decision over Ball State. The Cardinals changed up their usual pattern of having a 6-7 minute scoring drought in the second half, instead choosing to have the drought midway through the first half. BSU led 15-12 at the 12:46 mark, but then went scoreless for the next 7½ minutes leading to a 36-15 deficit. Kent let the lead slip no further than a 12 point margin for the rest of the game. Omni Smith was outstanding for the Flashes, ringing up 24 points including a 4 of 6 tally from the 3-point line. Kevin Warzynski added 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Isaac Knight added 16 points and 7 rebounds. Ball State's freshman PG Maurice Acker continues to impress in place of Peyton Stovall, scoring 23 points including 5 of 7 from the 3-point line. Skip Mills added 18 points in a losing cause. Kent joins 3 other teams with perfect MAC records, while Ball State remains stuck winless with 3 other teams in the MAC West cellar.

MAC Today: Where the East continues dominance

2006-01-11T13:19:00.000-08:00

[note: more b-ball news on Hoops Junkie]

Tonight's MAC schedule offers more West v. East action, where the East appears to be in the driver's seat in all but one of the clashes:

Ohio (8-2, 2-0) @ Eastern Michigan (3-7, 0-2)
Ohio looks to continue their perfect MAC record as they travel to Ypsilanti to face the Eastern Michigan Eagles. The Bobcats, who are enjoying their best conference start since 2002, are hitting the road to face a MAC opponent for the first time this season. With a nicely balanced scoring attack (six players averaging over 7.7ppg), the Bobcats are being led by Leon Williams (12.1ppg, 7.7rpg), Mychal Green (12.7ppg, 3.6rpg), and Jeremy Fears (11.1ppg, 4.6apg), but really anyone can step up for this team in any given game. EMU, on the other hand, has lost three games in a row, including a loss to NCAA bottom-dweller Northern Colorado and a heartbreaking overtime loss at Miami. This will be the first conference game in the friendly confines, though, where they have a 3-1 record this year, including wins over California and Tulsa, and a close loss to Detroit. The Eagles are being led by 6'8" senior John Bowler, who scored 31 in the loss to Miami to become the conference's leading scorer (20.2ppg, 9.2rpg).

Audio: EMU or Ohio

CMU (2-9, 0-3 MAC) @ Miami (6-5, 3-0)
Central Michigan has the uneviable task of pursuing its first conference win when they travel to Millett Hall for their second meeting of the year with the Miami Redhawks. The RedHawks won the previous tilt, with a 75-62 victory in Mt. Pleasant. Miami was led in that game by junior forward Nathan Peavy (22pts, 10rb, 3blk, 2stl). Miami, ending their 4 game skid against top 60 RPI teams with two MAC wins last week, sits at 3-0 in conference and is enjoying their best MAC start since 1999, but they have done it in nail-biting fashion, with two come-from-behind victories: an overtime win against EMU and a 2-point victory at NIU. CMU, on the other hand, continues on a four game slide after narrowly losing to Kent last week. Things aren't looking any easier for the Chips, as they embark on a tortuous conference schedule over the next two weeks (@Miami, @Ohio, Akron, @Buffalo). Sefton Barrett (13.9ppg, 5.2rpg) has led the Chips, with support from Giordan Watson (13.5ppg, 3.6apg).

Audio: Miami or CMU

Ball State (4-6, 0-2) @ Kent State (8-5, 2-0)
Ball State continues their search for a first D1 victory in over a month as they travel to the M.A.C. Center to face a Kent team that is undefeated in MAC play. Since All-MAC guard Peyton Stovall's injury, the Cards are 1-6 against D1 squads, with four of the six losses coming after holding comfortable leads for a good portion of the game. The Cardinals are looking for consistent help for Skip Mills, who leads the team with 19.4ppg and 6.8rpg. Freshman PG Maurice Acker (9.3ppg, 4.3apg in last 4 games) and Juco transfer PF D'andre Peyton (12ppg, 5rpg in last 3 games) have stepped up, but more consistent help is needed. Kent seems to have pulled things together in spite of the injury to Nate Gerwig. Senior guard Jay Youngblood has been the rock for the team, leading scoring with a 14.6ppg average, while senior guard DeAndre Haynes has recovered from very spotty OOC performances to average 12.5ppg. Solid contributions from front-liner Kevin Warzynski (8.5ppg, 5.6rpg) and freshman Issac Knight (5.9ppg, 4.9rpg) have helped to fill the void left by Gerwig's knee injury, which has led him to score only 3 points in very limited action in the last 5 games.

Audio: BSU or Kent, and track live stats via Kent's page

NIU (7-4, 2-1) @ BGSU (5-7, 1-1)
Northern Illinois travels to their game at Bowling Green fresh off of an exciting overtime win over Buffalo. The win earned them a mention in the AP polls (3 votes for a 39th ranking), even after suffering back-to-back last second losses in the two games before. The Huskies have landed themselves in the driver's seat in the East, and have done so due to excellent scoring balance, with four players (Sims, Hughes, McKinney and Peterson... sounds like a law firm) all averaging around 10ppg. Although BGSU has won 9 of the last 11 games against the Huskies, they are coming off of a 22 point pummeling at Western Michigan. Bowling Green is led by Martin Samarco (17.5ppg, 5.5rpg), with support from Wright, Marschall, and Floyd (another law firm...) all in the 9ish ppg range.

Audio: NIU or BG

MAC Night (err… Morning)cap: The Night of Miscues, Upsets and Injuries

2006-01-11T08:07:00.000-08:00

[note: another simulcast of my posts at Hoops Junkie. Be sure to head over there for more roundball talk.]

Certainly an interesting night in the MAC and beyond. The MAC West takes another shot at the East's big dogs, while mild upsets permeated the major conferences. Unfortunately, a few injuries have hit some major players for major teams in the last few days as well, which could make things interesting as conference season gets into full force. Take a look:

52 turnovers. Wait... 52 turnovers?!? That can't be right! But it's what the Toledo-Buffalo boxscore reads. Toledo held homecourt by starting the game with a 27-6 advantage and then holding on through a game that featured the Rockets shooting 58%, but committing 25 turnovers. All of you math majors can figure out that the Bulls, only shooting 43%, committed the other 27 miscues, but still managed to cut the early 20+ point deficit down to 3 with 14 ticks left. I'm sure the Mighty Maniac will provide more complete coverage shortly.

Also in the MAC, Akron beat Western Michigan for the first time since February 2000. In a night where Romeo Travis only scored 6 points, the Zips (9-3, 3-0 MAC) looked to four other double-digit scorers to secure their fourth straight victory and their best start since 2000.

Upset City, Baby. In a game that became eerily reminiscent to the Ohio-UK, OU-BSU, and Akron-BSU games from the last few weeks, Vanderbilt jumped to a 14 point second half lead but let Kentucky stage a late comeback to take a 1-point lead. Vandy quickly regained the lead, though, and never looked back, gaining their first win at UK in 31 years (dating back to the Nixon administration) and their first win ever at Rupp. Also on the upset slate, Oklahoma took a rare home loss, losing to Mizzo in the final seconds 71-69, and NC State, in a mild upset, scored a lopsided 79-60 victory against BC in Boston.

The injury bug strikes again. Days after IU lost D.J. White to a season-ending foot injury (his second of the year), Cincinnati forward Armein Kirkland tore an ACL in yesterday's game against UConn, UCLA starting forward Josh Shipp succumbed to season long hip pain, and Alabama forward Chuck Davis blew his ACL and MCL, effectively ending the season for all of these players. Being an expert at seeing star players fall to season ending injury at Ball State, and witnessing our own All-MAC player end his season with an ACL tear and what it has done to that team's season, it will be interesting to see how these teams recover from losing key players.

MAC Today: The guest host edition

2006-01-10T08:57:00.000-08:00

[note: Tim over at Hoops Junkie asked me to do a guest shot on MAC basketball coverage for the next week or so. Figured I'd simulcast over here. Should start posting some non-hoops related posts soon.]

I’ll start my fill-in for Tim with a split schedule this mid-week, with a couple games tonight and the other match-ups in the traditional Wednesday slot. It looks to be an interesting evening, with both games offering a 3 ½ line (for entertainment purposes only!), with Toledo and Akron drawing the favor of Las Vegas. Likely they won’t be that close (but it is the MAC…), and in one case I would question the favorite (at least based on recent performance). Here’s what’s on tap:

Akron (8-3, 2-0) @ Western Michigan (4-8, 1-1)

One would have to imagine that this would be a road lock for the ‘Roo. Akron's rolls into University Arena with an 8-3 start, their best in the 2000’s (what do you call this decade? The ’80’s or ‘90’s worked so well, but I got nothin’ for this decade), and they are rolling with a three-game win streak after a come from behind win at Ball State and a thumping of Toledo last week. Romeo Travis (15 ppg, 5.6 rpg) was “The Man” again last week, averaging 19 points and six rebounds in the two victories. The young Broncos have a 22 point pounding of a not-so-impressive BGSU squad to build off of, and will be looking for their first back-to-back victories of the season. Joe Reitz leads a balanced scoring attack for Steve Hawkins’ squad (13.9 ppg, 8.0 rpg), but it will likely not be enough against the talented Zips.

Audio: Akron (pay) or WMU (also pay), or keep up with the live stats via WMU’s website

Buffalo (11-2, 1-1) @ Toledo (7-4, 0-3)

Buffalo continues their 2-game road swing and looks to get back on track with a contest at Toledo’s Savage Hall, a venue that is very friendly to the home team (28-3 over the last 3 seasons, 6-1 this year) and very unfriendly to the Bulls. Buffalo has never won at Savage, but comes in facing a Toledo team that looked very lackluster in double-digit losses at Akron and Kent last week. Toledo is still looking for its first conference victory, but will likely find problems in facing a Bulls team that is likely energized after dropping an 84-82 overtime decision at Northern Illinois, only their second loss of the season. Junior Justin Ingram (14.5 ppg) leads three Rockets averaging double digits, while the Bulls offer an outstanding 44.7 3pt FG% and an impressive five players in double digits, lead by Calvin Cage (17.8) and Yassin Idbihi (14.5).

Audio: Toledo (pay) or Buffalo (also pay)

Apologies for the lack of posts...

2005-12-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

Family medical concerns have trumped any posting in the last week or so. I hope to be back to a semi-regular schedule shortly...

Stovall out for the year

2005-12-01T13:09:00.000-08:00

A lot of highs and lows on this one. First Peyton looked like he had reinjured the ACL when he collapsed during the Wright State game. Then it was reported that it was instead a sprain and that he was day-to-day. Now:

MEN'S BASKETBALL UPDATE: Guard will miss rest of season
Stovall tears ACL for second time in career

Sean Stevenson Chief Reporter
December 01, 2005

The men’s basketball team’s top guard will miss the remainder of the season after suffering an ACL tear in his left knee. After further evaluation this week, another MRI determined that junior Peyton Stovall had suffered an ACL tear and he's expected to have surgery on his left knee by the end of the month.

Stovall is expected to seek a redshirt this season so he can return for two full season after he's recovered..

Stovall was diagnosed with a left knee sprain in an MRI on Monday and was expected to be day-to-day for Saturday’s game against Butler.

Stovall, however, will now have to go through his second ACL injury in his Ball State career. He suffered the first ACL tear in last year’s Mid-American Conference Tournament game and spent the off-season rehabilitating the knee.

Coach Tim Buckley said on Monday that without Stovall the Cardinals would turn to true freshman Maurice Acker to run the point for the team.

Stovall averaged 15 points per game through the first two contests this season while shooting 34.8 percent from the field and going 4-for-13 from beyond the arc.

(source: Ball State Daily News)

I am very sad for Peyton. I assume he'll be granted his red-shirt, and hopefully he'll have two solid years in a Cardinal uniform to come. I know how hard it is to recover from a surgery of this magnitude, but to have to do it two times...

In looking at Acker's ascension to the starting point guard spot, I am concerned with two things. 1)Obviously, his youth and lack of collegiate experience, and 2)the lack of a backup. I imagine that Buckley will implement a rotation of guards to cover the backup situation with a combination of Mills, Yates, and a few others. And, of course, I remind myself that every point guard we've had in recent memory (Jackson, McCollom, and Stovall), and a few from the past (Spicer and that McCollum guy) either started or played significant minutes their freshman year, so I shouldn't underestimate Maurice's prospect for success only based upon his youth.

Guess we'll see how things go against Butler. I am optimistic, but I also am reminded of a few years back when another star player went down with a knee injury right before the Butler game and what the result was then...

Breastfeeding at the Williamson Rec Center

2005-12-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

As a father of breastfed children, I've been somewhat taken aback by the stories about the Williamson Rec Center's issue with the breastfeeding mother (11/29/05 - "Lawyer: Rec center OK to ask mother to move"; 11/27/05 - "Bathroom place for breast-feeding, rec center officials say") and the subsequent discussions related to it. The story states that "Tennessee has no law that would prohibit or permit public breast-feeding," yet the lawyers feel that "officials at the Williamson County Recreation Center in Franklin were within the law"? What law? As pointed out in the article, "federal law states that women may breast-feed at any location in a federally-owned building or on federal property as long as the woman and her child are authorized to be there." The state has no law prohibiting breastfeeding in public places, so it can't be that. As Ms. Lilly points out in the Tennessean article, "if there is not a law that clarifies the issue, it is generally accepted that a woman has a right to breast-feed a child where she is."

Here's the facts as I know them. The AAP says:

"Human milk is the preferred feeding for all infants"
"Newborns should be nursed whenever they show signs of hunger, such as increased alertness or activity, mouthing, or rooting. Crying is a late indicator of hunger."
"Newborns should be nursed approximately 8 to 12 times every 24 hours until satiety"
"Pacifiers should be avoided whenever possible and, if used at all, only after breastfeeding is well established." (note that artificial nipples on bottles are very similar to pacifiers)
Pediatricians should "promote breastfeeding as a normal part of daily life, and encourage family and societal support for breastfeeding."
"Although economic, cultural, and political pressures often confound decisions about infant feeding, the AAP firmly adheres to the position that breastfeeding ensures the best possible health as well as the best developmental and psychosocial outcomes for the infant. Enthusiastic support and involvement of pediatricians in the promotion and practice of breastfeeding is essential to the achievement of optimal infant and child health, growth, and development."

(Source: AAP website)

So, this natural function that the AAP says "ensures the best possible health ... developmental and psychosocial outcomes" for children is still shunned in society (at least by some).

I'm reading on Franklin Circus that this woman was a "spoiled kid" who is rude, inconsiderate, and only thinking about herself. That she should either schedule the baby on a four hour schedule and only go out in those time periods, or she should stay at home all day. That her rights are much less important than everyone else's right to not see her nurse and, in fact, by using the rec facility with her child in tow, she is demanding that "the rest of the world should bow to her." That what she was doing can be equated to smoking, indecent exposure, public sex acts, and "crack" exposure. That she should sit on a toilet or a wooden bench in a locker room to nurse. That she should not nurse her baby in a NURSERY of all places!

I have yet to see anyone dispute this woman's claim that she was nursing the infant "tastefully" or that she was being "modest": i.e., she certainly wasn't running around the rec-center topless screaming "LOOK AT ME!", and likely she never exposed herself at all. I'd venture to guess that this woman was less exposed than a woman in a swimsuit in the pool or in a sports bra on the treadmill. Having been around a great many breast-feeding women, I can tell you that the vast majority of these women are modest and would prefer not to expose themselves, and thus take precautions to avoid that from happening. In fact, I'll bet that the majority of the time, people don't even realize that a woman is breastfeeding. I know that this is the case with my wife.

This reaction is similar to the woman who recently had the same experience at the Huntsville Earlyworks children's museum, and I have to say that it is rather disappointing. Children should have a right to eat. Women should have a right to go out in public, and also have the right nurse the baby on demand when the situation presents itself. People complain when an infant is crying in a public place, yet they don't want the mother to pacify the child's needs.

Astounding...

Update (12/5/05): Letters to the Editor in the Tennessean mostly back up my stance on this, with (of course) the random inconsiderate, "rude", and "offensive" commentaries, along with one that compared breastfeeding to "defecation" (geesh!). People really need to grow up...

It's Our Party...

2005-11-29T13:02:00.000-08:00

Dick Armey, former House Majority Leader, lays it on the line. In an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal, Armey calls out the President and the congressional leaders, pointing out the "widening credibility gap between their political rhetoric and their public policies."

These things, and not the war, are the source of my ire at the current administration and congressional majority:

the largest expansion of government since LBJ's Great Society

the growth rate of discretionary spending adjusted for inflation is at a 40-year high

President Bush has yet to veto a single spending bill.

"there is simply no fat left to cut..."

Umm... guys... you won the election. In fact, you've won every election in recent memory. You get to set the agenda. Where is the party of fiscal constraint? You don't need to be Democrat wannabees. Armey says it best: "When we act like us, we win. When we act like them, we lose." Pretty soon, when the conservative base is fed up, they are going to lose, and lose hard...

Afternoon with Belle at the Boiler Room

2005-11-20T20:10:00.000-08:00

Seeing that I am a noted crazy Disney-phile, and that I have a young Disney Princess-fixated daughter, I thought that a visit to the Boiler Room Theatre's performance of Disney's Beauty and the Beast would be a good idea. After seeing the Broadway version of this play, as well as upteen-million viewings of the Best Picture-nominated feature film, I figured this would be a nice diversion, albeit lower scale than the two mentioned productions. A small skimpy production, probably with a small budget, in a small (120 seat) theatre. Boy, was I wrong.

If you hadn't already heard, Disney is licensing out rights to produce Disney-fied versions of Beauty and the Beast to local and regional theatres. Boiler Room in Franklin is the second theatre in Tennessee to adapt the Broadway show to a small stage.

First, the production... Very detailed sets permiate this show. From the beautifully rendered village buildings used for "Belle" among other numbers; to the interiors of the castle that rotate from the village set and break down to sets for the library, bedroom, dungeon and west wing; and the nooks that represent Gaston and Belle's hangouts, I wonder how they made this all happen on what had to be a tight budget. They really took advantage of every open space on their tiny stage to bring this production home. After seeing the outstanding work that the national folks did with their large amount of real estate, I think I came away even more impressed with what this group did with much, much less. Very nicely done.

The costumes were also very well conceived. Over 125 original costumes were developed for this production, with many faithfully rendered as real-life counterparts to the ones in the movie. The Beast and the other Enchanted Objects were obviously the biggest challenges, and they really came off with nary a hitch. Beast's face work was very well conceived, yet gave a lot of room for the actor to emote. Lumiere and Cogsworth were very detailed and looked very nice, with Lumiere's lighting wicks and Cogsworth's pendulum nicely executed. Chip was set to as good a scale as could be expected, with the child's head encased with a cup headdress and his body hidden in a rolling tea cart. Belle's gowns and Gaston's outfit were both faithfully rendered as well.

Enough of the technical details... on with the acting! Laura Thomas carried the role of Belle with a beautiful and powerful voice. Dan Whorton played the Beast with a great deal of human emotion under the mask. Both carried their lead roles with professionalism and strength.

In my opinion, though, Erik Garcia and Joseph Beuerlein stole the show with their portrayals of Gaston and Lumiere respectively. Gaston came off with all of the smarmy cockiness that the role needs, and Garcia more than held his own in singing my two favorite numbers, "Gaston" and "Me." Lumiere's character over-delivers the suave to great effect and, of course, heads up the "Be Our Guest" number that is present in all of the Disney versions.

The dance numbers deliver a great deal of excitement in the show. The cup-clanging dance number in "Gaston" makes a lively appearance direct from the Broadway show. "Be Our Guest" is the most scaled back from the other productions, as they obviously cannot muster the special effects that the movie or big budget production can deliver. The "Beauty and the Beast" dance sequence also gets some scaling back due to stage space, but is still very effective in delivering us to Belle and Beast's growing attachment and eventual separation. Kudos to coreographer Lauri Bright for delivering in these and other numbers.

The songs were also well played here. From the initial "Belle" to the "Mob Song," all of the favorites are there. The stage production adds several new songs that are very effectively weaved into the plot. Those watching the "Special Edition" DVD will recognize "Human Again," while Maurice even gets a song with "No Matter What." The additions with the biggest impact, though, are the Beast's "If I Can't Love Her" and Belle's "Home." These two songs become the new main songs for me, relaying the feelings of the main characters in a way not done in the original feature.

If you've only seen the movie and not the theatrical production, you have missed out on the new twists that Linda Woolverton added to the story. The characters have been given more depth: this Beast seems at the same time more menacing and more fragile; Belle here is very headstrong about her desire to escape, finds that her confinement leads to a contentment with what she has at home; and the Enchanted Objects are no longer statically enchanted, but instead are gradually becoming these things, leading to their portrayal as desperate people driven to desperate measures to keep themselves from fully transforming (as the kitchen wall, among others, has already done). It's a great added touch that adds so much more to this story. Also added is a separate sub-story about Beast's lack of education, which becomes key to the growing closeness of the main characters, as Belle takes it upon herself to open the Beast's eyes to what he has missed related to letting books transport him outside of his tortured existance.

I'm not a theatrical reviewer (and don't play one on TV), so I don't expect this review to capture the technical nuance that a trained professional may pen. But, I am an experienced Disney addict and have long called "Beauty and the Beast" one of my favorites (Sleeping Beauty, Little Mermaid, and Fantasia are my others, for those keeping score). I came into this production not expecting a lot, other than to give my daughter a nice afternoon out. What I came out with, though, was an appreciation for a thoroughly entertaining production. I've seen the Broadway show, and this one held it's own quite nicely, albeit at a much smaller scale.

Plus... my daughter may have gotten inspired to give acting a go, and she got a hug from Belle... What more could you ask for?

Update (11/29/05 1:30pm): The Tennessean has posted a nice slideshow of Dan Whorton's transformation to the Beast. Whorton goes through one hour of makeup application prior to every performance. (Photo credit: Steven S. Harman of the Tennessean)

The sky is falling at WDFA...

2005-11-20T19:50:00.000-08:00

Currently 33% at RottenTomatoes. That's in Valiant and Shark Tale territory, folks. Lowered expectations from within the Mouse House about the box office this weekend are all the buzz as well.

This article at Jim Hill hits the high points as to what this may mean to any Pixar deal. If the movie performs as (now) expected, Pixar is in the driver's seat and can pretty much ask for whatever they please (bigger cut, sequel rights, etc.). If the pundits are wrong, Disney will have a little more leverage, seeing that they've proven they can deliver non-Pixar pixelated fun. A lot is riding on this little chicks shoulders, and advance word is that he didn't carry the weight.

More interesting stuff from Jim here. Cartoon Brew, NYTimes, and Disney Blog have more.

Of course, I particularly miffed that they chose to deliver the movie in 3d in every major city in Tennessee except Nashville. Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Memphis will all host the Digital-3D version, which according to some is a feature that saves the movie. Grr...

Updated (11/20 09:50pm): Glad to see that I got it all wrong on this one (everyone else did, too, so that makes me feel better!). Even though the reviews haven't improved, two weeks at number one at the box office have cemented this little film as a blockbuster, with $100 million in three weeks. Who'da thunk it? I still haven't seen it, but hope to make it out sometime over the holiday season. I keep holding out to see if the Nashville IMAX is going to get the 3D version...

It's Official! kinda... maybe... probably...

2005-11-03T10:48:00.000-08:00

According to the Birdcage Liner, it's a done deal. Nissan is coming to Cool Springs. Nissan is playing their cards close to the vest, though...

Nissan spokesman Fred Standish said he could neither confirm nor deny that information.

"There has been a study going on, and we expect a decision by mid-November," he said last night. "When we have made a decision, we will announce it."

The L.A. Times also is running an article which I found to be a little more informative. Of particular note is that "Mr. K" is against the move, thinking the company will lose "its sensitivity to the [U.S.] car business" by moving out of Cali, since nearly all of the Asian manufacturers work out of there. If you don't know, "Mr. K" is "Yutaka Katayama, renowned as the father of the Nissan 'Z' sports car. Katayama, 96, is called 'Mr. K' by legions of Nissan enthusiasts and was head of the U.S. operation from its inception in 1958 until 1978."

Some local reaction:

Bob Krumm agrees with me that the people yelling for more taxes should take note that every article about this move notes the favorable tax structure here as a deciding factor.
Franklin Circus expresses valid concerns about infrastructure.

Developing...

Psst... Hey buddy!!! Wanna buy a blog?!?

2005-11-01T13:37:00.000-08:00

Well, my lame-o little blog ain't worth much. Hobbs is up in the $400,000 range, and here I am at:

My blog is worth $1,693.62.
How much is your blog worth?

It's enough to make a grown man cry. I'd still sell for that, if anyone's interested though... Any takers? ;)

Nissan considers coming to Nashville... what do you think the reasons are?

2005-11-01T04:28:00.000-08:00

According to the Tennessean, Nissan is as little as a week away in deciding whether to move its North American headquarters from Los Angeles to Cool Springs. What could be the reasons for this move?

Relocation specialists point out that the cost of doing business in Nashville is significantly less than the cost of doing business in the Los Angeles area, where the company's North American operations have been based since 1960.
Tennessee has lower business tax rates, no personal income tax and significantly lower real estate and utility costs than Southern California...

"If you look at any of the West Coast markets, the housing prices, the tax rates are all high,"

Gee... sure glad we didn't put in that state income tax, aren't you? It's amazing that all we heard at the time was that we needed the income tax and it wouldn't affect our attracting businesses here, but every single time a business looks to move here, the lack of a state income tax is one of the primary reasons.

Update (2:09PM): Just found a posting on this topic from a few weeks ago over at the ever-excellent Right Minded that's worth a read...

Only the best in trick-or-treating in our neighborhood...

2005-10-31T17:45:00.000-08:00

Just got back from taking the kids on the rounds this evening. They scored full plastic pumpkins, but I scored even better. Some industrious young go-getter gave out the following:

This guy's my new hero...

Watch out for trial lawyers and other creepy characters this Halloween

2005-10-31T07:55:00.000-08:00

Have those kiddos sign a Halloween Liability and Indemnification Agreement.

his indemnification includes an agreement not to haul treat-dispensers into court on the basis of:

Failure to provide nutritional information;
Failure to warn of potential for overeating because candy tastes too good and is provided at no cost;
Failure to offer healthier alternatives including, but not limited to, soy-based or sugar-free treats;
Failure to provide information about other venues serving alternative, healthier, Halloween treats; and
Failure to warn that eating may lead to obesity.

Direct link to the printable form (PDF)

Classic... but not too far-fetched, unfortunately...

The Center for Consumer Freedom has a lot of great information related to frivilous lawsuits and the like. I particularily like the Girl Scout commercial and the games page. Worth a look, IMHO

Is it a lie, or simply a mistake? Depends on who the quote is by...

2005-10-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

Stephen Spruiell at the NRO Media Blog reports on something I caught on TV that almost caused me to spittake my nice frosty Yazoo Onward Stout. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, trying to pitch impeachment related to the WMDs in Iraq, states that the President lied in his speech that was quoted by Sean Hannity. Only problem... the speech quoted by Hannity was by John F. Kerry. Back pedalling insued, with the quote conveyed by Hinchey as a "mistake" instead of a "lie" once it was Kerry's quote instead of Bush's. Hannity is the king of this set-up, but it makes me laugh every time.

"There will never be a picture that will be able to tell this story"

2005-10-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

The devastation in Bay St. Louis is hard to articulate. I look back at the photos posted here, the others I have developed, and the hundreds of others online from our little relief group, and they are meaningless: out of context, too small, too limited in scope, too tidy. Take the picture of the house foundation from the previous posts. Now make 100 copies of it and set them side-by-side. Then you may get close to getting the picture.

That was a month ago. It's still like this now:

We drove thru debri laden roads and looked at what was left. It wasn't much of anything. Whole towns. Just gone. Blocks of NOTHING but boards and bizarre piles of mismatched items. Two months later.

...

Empty lots with perfect white picket fences still surrounding them. Flowers still in the flower beds. But, NO HOUSE. Bizarre. Just completely bizarre.

I realized that there will never be a picture that will be able to show this.
There will never be a picture that will be able to tell this story.

*I* will never be able to tell this story.

Read the rest of the post. Ali Greggs wrote a good piece here.

Scene from Picayune

2005-10-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

The scene in Picayune (our home base) was a lot less total destruction and flooding, and a lot more massive trees to remove from the tops of houses and cars. here is a tree that we got off of the roof (where the blue tarp is) and had to have one worker climb and cut out so that it wouldn't swing back and hit the house. Note the people on the bottom left... the chainsaw operator is being held by rope by this group of people.

This massive tree rested on top of a retired New Orleans firefighter's home. It took our team an entire day to clear this tree and several others that had fallen on his cars in the back yard. Fortunately for us, a Bobcat operator happened by and helped us finish, or we would have been there for another 1/2 day. Surprisingly, the house only suffered very minor roof damage, even with this enormous tree resting on it.

Here's one of our chainsaw operators working high above to clear some large limbs that were threatening to come down on the home. We had several skilled operators, some skilled Bobcat operators (but no Bobcats for much of the weekend... they're hard to come by down there), and many manual laborers (like me!) clearing the limbs and debris, tarping, talking with the homeowners, etc.

Here's another look at the massive tree from this jobsite. Note the large root structure just totally ripped out of the earth. This was a common site over the weekend.

For our living accomodations, we set up at the First Presbyterian Church in Picayune. The men slept in the pews in the sanctuary, while the women slept in the Sunday school classrooms (with no A/C for much of the weekend). Many people set up tents outside. We had a makeshift shower running from the garden hose set up on a tarped-over swingset in back (90+ people, 3 showers each for men and women...). But even still, we had a great time...

More later...

(thanks to Aaron and Mary Beth for a few of the photos)

Scene from Bay St. Louis (continued)

2005-10-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a another one we took along the shorefront. All of the houses along the stretch we drove were completely destroyed, leaving only foundations.

Many people left messages on their property, assuring that the city would rebuild. One said "Thank God and State Farm," while another stated "Pardon our dust while we remodel." How hard must it be to keep a sense of humor in these circumstances...

Scene from Bay St. Louis

2005-10-21T07:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the homes that we saw in Bay St. Louis last month on our relief trip. These are actually some that were in better shape, as many (in fact, all of the houses along the coast) were totally destroyed.

Saved Disney?

2005-09-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

(Bumped from September 12. Note correction in green and new update at bottom):

The ever-astute Matt from over at Defying Gravity points out that a new website is seeking to fill the void in the wake of the July's closing of Roy Disney's Save Disney website. Saved Disney has been created by Tom Hignite, a ~~Minneapolis~~ Wisconsin (sorry, Tom) home builder with a passion for Disney and 2-D animation. A passion so strong that, after a year of research, led Hignite to start his own animation studio. This summer, Hignite started Miracle Studios, a Wisconsin-based 2-D animation house. Thus far, the studio has created commercials, brochures, and ads for Hignite's home building business, but it appears that they have far loftier goals. The studio has an animated feature in the works, slated for release in 4 or 5 years hopefully to the big screen, but otherwise to the DVD shelves.

Sounds like a flash in the pan, right? Oh, and did I mention that he hired several Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida vets? Hignite has employed nine animators so far, mostly from WDFAF, with a few having experience at other major shops (Hanna-Barbara, DisneyToon, WB, etc.). It appears that he's serious about this thing. My interest is definitely peaked, especially seeing names like Troy Gustafson, Kathy Schoeppner, Grant Hiestand and Dan Daly on the list, who have worked on the likes of Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, Brother Bear, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Rescuers Down Under, Aladdin, Hercules, Tarzan, Fantasia 2000, Atlantis, and Treasure Planet . Heck, Michael Lowery and Greg Peters worked on my all-time favorite, Pinky and the Brain, so they're all right in my book as well!

The only concern I see here is that Disney is looking into whether to sue over the look of the main character in their proposed movie, and the star of the commercials, Miracle Mouse. I've gotta say that I can't blame them at first glance, as the character bears a passing resemblance to our favorite rodent. Sure, the ears are at a different angle, but Disney may have cause here.

As for the SavedDisney website, it will certainly fill a void for me. Even when frustrated by the sudden change of heart by Roy, I found that I really missed the concise Disney news summary that SaveDisney provided. This site mimicks the format to a T. In fact, you would almost fear that they would get sued by Shamrock as well, since the site layout, design, and look-and-feel imitates the SaveDisney site almost exactly.

Oh, well. I'm interested and will monitor these ventures. I hope for success for the site and the studio, but time will surely tell...

Update (9/20/05 11:20CT): I recently received a kind note from the aforementioned Mr. Tom Hignite related to this article. He pointed out the correction in green above (Wisconsin... Minnesota... they're pretty much interchangable, aren't they?!? ;) ) and also passed along the following:

If you are interested in an exclusive "news-flash" we will be traveling with-in the next 2 months to the soon-to-be-closed last true Disney animation studio in Austrailia. We intend to interview potential candidates to bring to our studio.

Best of luck to Tom and the Miracle Studios on this venture. The Australian studio put out some nice product in the last several years and should provide some great talent for this new studio to mine. I hope for success for them and will look forward to monitoring their progress, but even if they ultimitely don't succeed, maybe they will serve to shake the Disney studio up a touch and get them back on track, much like Bluth did in the 80's IMHO.

Back from MS...

2005-09-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

Got back from my trip yesterday evening. Hope to post a detailed log of what I saw and experienced in the next day or so. To summarize, though... devastating and heartbreaking. Pictures and newsvideo just don't capture it...

Off the face of the earth, part deux

2005-09-15T04:25:00.000-07:00

I will be out and off-line until Monday (9/19). I'm off to Picayune, MS on a relief trip...

Ewwwww....

2005-09-13T11:27:00.000-07:00

Town to turn stinking hog manure into power

Indiana State Ag Department's Deborah Abbott: "The goal is to create a new use for the manure that's surrounding the town -- as a biofuel."

Reynolds, Indiana Town President Charlie Van Voorst: "The hog farms are all around us. We're used to that smell -- something we live with. And they're talking about using our own (human) waste as a renewable resource."

So, on one hand, they are exploring alternative fuel sources. Kudos to them. But on the other hand, they're using MANURE. That's just plain nasty...

Party of Fiscal Restraint?!?

2005-09-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

GOPBloggers correctly makes the case that I have on many occasions... The GOP is looking to lose their fiscal conservative base with their out of control spending habits. If the Dems had ANY candidate who looked solid, presidential, and was even a fiscal moderate, they would win the White House. Same goes for many Senate/House seats. Lucky for us, they are just as bungling as the GOP at this point...

The cited post quotes a John Fund article that details things such as:

$24.2 billion towards 6,373 "earmarks" (i.e. pork projects) "stuffed like a turkey" into the highway bill
White House Budget Director Josh Bolten stating he "didn't have time" to worry about budget restrictions in the wake of Katrina spending
"The president could exercise leadership by insisting that we set priorities and offset the cost of Katrina relief by making changes elsewhere," says [Sen. Tom] Coburn. "Sadly, we don't have that leadership."

The biggest disappointment I have with the national GOP is not the war, handling of natural disasters, or anything in that realm. It is simply that they talk conservative, but when the budget hits the books, they spend every bit as much as the Dems.

"The volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented"

2005-09-12T06:37:00.000-07:00

Post-Gazette.com had an enlightening article up this weekend. To sum:

"The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne."
"[Journalists] libel as a "national disgrace" the most monumental and successful disaster relief operation in world history."
"We do not yet have teleporter or replicator technology like you saw on 'Star Trek' in college between hookah hits and waiting to pick up your worthless communications degree while the grown-ups actually engaged in the recovery effort were studying engineering." Ouch...
"The United States military can wipe out the Taliban and the Iraqi Republican Guard far more swiftly than they can bring 3 million Swanson dinners to an underwater city through an area the size of Great Britain which has no power, no working ports or airports, and a devastated and impassable road network."
"The levee broke Tuesday morning. Buses had to be rounded up and driven from Houston to New Orleans across debris-strewn roads. The first ones arrived Wednesday evening. That seems pretty fast to me."

I could go on, but read the article for yourself. Very interesting take on things. Again, I'm sure there are things that could have gone better on the local, state, and federal level. Letting Brown go from FEMA was a good political move and probably needed to be done with all of the bad press. But, as stated in the article, the relief effort has been "unprecedented."

Rathergate: a year later...

2005-09-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

Back in the good ol' days before devastating natural disasters, we were dealing with a network trying to sway an election with clearly fabricated documents. Charles over at Little Green Footballs re-posts the damning document for the one year anniversary in all of it's seizure-inducing glory. Fellow newsbreaker PowerLine joins in the fun. Here's the infamous Free Republic post #47 and the PowerLine thread that started it all.

Kudos to these sites. I hoist a cool, frosty Yazoo Dos Perros in your honor. I wonder what Dan Rather is doing to celebrate?!?

(sorry to say that I don't know the original origin of ol' Clippy here. If anyone knows, I'll be glad to source it)

Scenes from New Orleans

2005-09-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

Great photo essay of the New Orleans damage and relief efforts on Bill Hobbs' site...

Also, Google Maps has added stunning new satellite images of New Orleans from last week.

On with the finger pointing

2005-09-09T09:52:00.000-07:00

Today's "Day-by-Day" speaks volumes for me...

I've really tried to stay out of this mix of finger pointing and blame game silliness. IMHO, there will be a time after the relief efforts are complete to assess what went right and what went wrong. But it appears that the libs and the media don't see it that way. They have built this perception that the evil racist Bush cut funding for levy building in an evil plot to fund the war, ordered the army to blow the levy, and then held out federal troops and FEMA for several days and is solely and completely responsible for the conditions, the looting, the deaths, and the damage of Hurricane Katrina. He may even control the weather. It's gotten to a point of silliness.

I started debating the points on my former universities newspages (here and here). Debating simple things with the columnists (and sadly, a university professor in one case) about the proper chain of command in these efforts. Here's from the actual first-responder's Emergency Preparedness webpage:

Multiple sites shall be identified and geographically positioned to serve the impacted populations without placing burdens upon those who may have lost their private transportation resources as a result of the disaster. Regional Transit Authority may be called upon to provide free transit to recovery centers located along existing bus routes.

Hmmm... the NOLA government is responsible for bussing people out? Every criticism I'm reading says Bush should have personally coordinated that... Funny how the NOLA government thought differently, yet they left all of those busses to flood...

How about this...

Following a disaster of such magnitude that far exceeds the City's and State's ability to meet the needs of the community and results in the requesting and granting of a Presidential Disaster Declaration, the Office of Emergency Preparedness shall, as previously described, at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency or Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness, establish Disaster Relief Centers for individuals seeking recovery assistance.

Wait... you mean that the city and/or state has to request the federal government's assistance? I thought the feds were supposed to just swoop in and take over the moment the hurricane hit?!?

Let's see what the Red Cross has to say...

Hurricane Katrina: Why is the Red Cross not in New Orleans?

Acess to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

Well... the Guard (under the governor's command) and the local authorities. Buuuttt.... I thought that the evil Bush held everyone out?!? How can this be?!?

On to the funding issue. There are many sources for data related to this, but I think the Washington Post sums it up nicely...

"Louisiana has received far more money for Corps civil works projects than any other state, about $1.9 billion; California was a distant second with less than $1.4 billion, even though its population is more than seven times as large."

"the Bush administration's funding requests for the key New Orleans flood-control projects for the past five years were slightly higher than the Clinton administration's for its past five years."

"Louisiana not only leads the nation in overall Corps funding, it places second in new construction"

"Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the chief of the Corps, has said that in any event, more money would not have prevented the drowning of the city, since its levees were designed to protect against a Category 3 storm, and the levees that failed were already completed projects."

"The Corps had been studying the possibility of upgrading the New Orleans levees for a higher level of protection before Katrina hit, but Woodley said that study would not have been finished for years."

"hundreds of millions of dollars have gone to unrelated water projects demanded by the state's congressional delegation and approved by the Corps, often after economic analyses that turned out to be inaccurate. Despite a series of independent investigations criticizing Army Corps construction projects as wasteful pork-barrel spending"

For example, hundreds of millions of dollars were spent to dredge waterways and building a new canal lock (instead of fixing the existing one) for barge traffic that has rapidly diminished over the years.

"more than any other federal agency, the Corps is controlled by Congress; its $4.7 billion civil works budget consists almost entirely of "earmarks" inserted by individual legislators."

But, silly wabbit, it's all W's fault. Forget that the local government didn't follow their evacuation plan and left those infamous busses sitting, the state government didn't request aid in an appropriate and/or timely manner, the Congress over the years has wasted $$ on pork instead of important projects in the area, the Army Corps chief says that they were fully funded on the levy projects and that the projects were complete, etc., George didn't give an eloquent enough speech and he was on vacation (ignoring the fact that it was a working vacation at the ranch that the Congress made it back to Washington after Bush did, yet they criticize him...). Sure, there's probably things that didn't go right on the federal level, but everything that went wrong was by no means at the federal level, no matter what the political spinmeisters want you to think.

Be sure to read great commentaries on this topic from Tony Snow and Michelle Malkin, among many others.

I won't even get into comments by Kayne, Dean, Jackson, Brosnan, Celine, etc. I'm done with this for now.

Back to the stuff that's really important. I'm off to give some blood at the Red Cross. You should too. Then I'm leaving for Biloxi mid-next week with a relief group, so I'll be offline next weekend. I may post before then (I may find some different topics altogether -- maybe some football or something -- since I'm a little frustrated with this topic), and I will certainly post after then and try to put some photos up.

O&A Auction for Katrina relief

2005-09-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

XMRadio's morning talk hosts Opie and Anthony stated this morning that they plan to auction some signed memoribilia, with the proceeds going to Katrina relief efforts. If you are fans of O&A or Jim Norton, one would assume that you should keep an eye on their website for further details.

Update (9/2/05 13:18CT): Here's a link to the eBay auction for these items.

Update (9/9/05 14:36CT): This auction appears to be quite a success. They are doing the auction for the entire month, but in the first week they are at $24,984.93 (and steadily rising), with the first wave of auctions closing Monday. As well as the aforementioned O&A signed merchandise, they are offering items signed by Samuel L. Jackson, Dick Cavett, George Foreman, Travis Tritt, Jay Mohr, Jennifer Tilly, various WWE wrestlers, and various comedians, as well as other movie, sports, and music memoribilia. They have stated that they will be putting up baseballs signed by Cal Ripken and Rob Dibble among other items soon.

Like 'em or hate 'em, they're doing a good thing here...

TN Valley Red Cross in need of donors

2005-09-02T12:06:00.000-07:00

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, TN Valley Red Cross is listing a need for the following blood types: O+ (2-4 days supply left); O-, A- and B- (1 or less days left of each); and any other blood types (2-4 days supply left). Cash donations are also very much needed (link over there ---->).

Donate Directly to the Red Cross Katrina relief efforts...

2005-09-01T18:38:00.000-07:00

Note the image link over there ----->

This is a direct link to the donation site for the American Red Cross. They need all the help that they can get during this rescue/relief effort. We've all seen the troubling images on the newscasts over the last few days. A lot of us either know people affected by this tragedy or have friends who have loved ones impacted. It's time for us to do what we can. This dontation effort as well as the Avon effort described below will be of great impact to the people of the affected efforts, much as they were during the tsunami and 9/11 events.

Please give what you can... even if it is a few dollars.

Katrina Disaster Relief Package - Avon partners with Gifts in Kind

2005-09-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

From a friendly neighborhood Avon lady in Frankin, TN. Avon has successfully done this type of donation effort for the tsunami victims and the troops stationed in Iraq in the past as well:

Avon has teamed up with Gifts in Kind—the world's leading charity in product philanthropy—to send disaster relief kits to people across the U.S. whose lives have been disrupted by disasters, both natural and man-made. Disaster can strike at any time. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans become the victims of disasters, such as floods, hurricanes and fires.

Each disaster relief kit costs only $10. They are sent directly to the victims of the disaster. The kits include five indispensable toiletries:

On Duty 24 Roll-On Deodorant

Moisture Therapy Hand Cream

Moisture Therapy Lip Balm

Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard Plus

Skin-So-Soft Shower Gel

All proceeds go to the purchase of these products and Avon will send $4 per kit sold to Gifts in Kind for continuing disaster relief.

These can be ordered from anywhere, not just by local Franklin folks. If you would like to purchase one or more kits, please e-mail me (avonbykris-at-gmail-dot-com). Payments can be made by check, credit card or PayPal.

Vanderbilt offers Visiting Student status for displaced students

2005-09-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

Vanderbilt University in Nashville is offering middle-Tennessee students who currently attend universities affected by the hurricane the chance to apply as "Visiting Students" for the semester while their home universities are being restored. Seems like a great opportunity for students to continue their education in the midst of this tragedy. Students would have to start class by September 7, so time is of the essence. If you know someone in this circumstance, please direct them to the above link.

Nashville Blood/Money/Goods Drive today for Katrina relief

2005-09-01T06:34:00.000-07:00

SuperTalk 99.7 WTN Teams Up With the American Red Cross to Help With Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief

JOIN SUPERTALK 99.7 ON LOCATION AT THE AMERICAN RED CROSS DONATION CENTER ON CHARLOTTE AVE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST FROM 9am-12 noon. WE WILL BE ACCEPTING BLOOD, MONETARY DONATIONS AND SUPPLIES.

THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ARE NEEDED:

FIRST AID KIT
BOTTLED WATER
BLANKETS
BATTERIES
CANNED FOOD
BABY FOOD
DIAPERS
TOOTHPASTE/TOOTHBRUSH
SHAMPOO/CONDITIONER

DUE TO THE LOCAL INCLIMATE WEATHER, THE AMERICAN RED CROSS WILL BE BEHIND BY 1400 PINTS OF BLOOD AND 7 DAYS OF FOOD AND SUPPLIES. YOUR HELP IS NEEDED NOW MORE THAN EVER! WHEN A DISASTER HITS, COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IS THE ONLY WAY TO GET THROUGH SUCH A CRISIS. SO COME AND JOIN US, THIS THURSDAY, AND SUPPORT THE HURRICANE RELIEF EFFORTS.

Katrina Donation opportunities

2005-09-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Truth Laid Bear has stepped up to create a landing page for blogs covering the relief efforts. Hop on over to his main page and find a long list of blogs covering the tragedy, as well as links to many donation opportunities.

The KatrinaHelp Wiki portal is another great site for finding donation opportunities.

Off the face of the earth...

2005-08-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

Light posting for the next week or so. Work and home concerns have trumped anything meaningful for the last couple of weeks. In the meantime, may I direct you to some nice reading:

Franklin Kool-Aid is tackling the growth, road, and battlefield issues for here in Franklin, as well as the upcoming election cycle. Good stuff posted (and commented) daily.
Bill Hobbs has some TennCare talk. Guess Bredesen is not as good a manager as advertised...
Jim Hill has a look at the new prototype Disney Store and Narnia talk, which interests me greatly. Disney appears to be getting their ducks in a row, with some good films and talk of negotiations with Pixar.
Football! Football! Football!!! FanBlogs has a round-up of college football blogs. Very nicely done.
Ready for Election '08? Didn't think so. Patrick Ruffini is hosting a straw poll if you're interested, though.
There's plenty of good politics at Michelle's, GOPBloggers, WizBang, PowerLine, and LGF (to name a few).

Maybe by the time you're done at those sites, I'll be posting again!!!

Ball State game DVD update

2005-08-17T18:12:00.000-07:00

I've spent a fair amount of my free time (sacrificing regular posting here) working on cutting old 1989 and 1990 BSU games to MPEG for the purpose of cutting them to DVD. Since I had a person or two drop an e-mail asking about the progress, I figured I'd drop a little note here.

I have watched and MPEG'd the entire 1989 series (sans the Purdue and Kent St. conference championship games), and all of the 1990 games. I also discovered the final 7 minutes or so of the home Miami game from 1989 on the end of one of the tapes (the Illinois game had been taped over this game). Suprisingly, the game films were of pretty decent quality. A minor cutaway here, and a minor tape flaw there, but otherwise OK. My hopes are up that these may archive OK. I'm still having single-channel problems with the audio, but I may have to just live with that.

It's been a fun ride re-watching these games for the first time in many years and remembering just how good that team was. They were frustrating at the same time, though. How many times can you hear an announcer say "Ball State has not scored in the last 6 minutes" and see a 10 point lead turn into a deficit? That team sure had it's dead spots on offense! Along with realizing how important Kidd and McCurdy were, it was interesting to remember just how important some of the others were (Parrish, Miller, Stalling, etc.). I've been getting much to little sleep from watching these games!

I figure I'll work on formatting them to disc in the next few weeks and see how they turn out. Don't know if I'll post here again (I'm sure it's boring for some), but e-mail me if you are interested in the progress...

Day by Day

2005-08-12T11:39:00.000-07:00

Day by Day is a great comic that I have been reading for some time. Most of the current crop of comics are lame-o, but this one is really funny and covers a wide range of political and social topics. I recently discovered that I can add the current comic to my blog, so be sure to scroll down to the bottom daily to catch the latest...

I hate it when I'm right...

2005-08-12T06:46:00.000-07:00

More info on the mascot saga:

Back on 8/5, I commented:

Anybody with some cow, pig, or chicken nicknames? Maybe PETA can decide that, say, Gamecocks are abused in cock-fighting, can they petition to be included in this "hostile or abusive" group. How about the Bisons? We eat those suckers, don't we? Razorbacks?

Ask an ye shall receive:

PETA weighs in: The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Brand on Wednesday asking the NCAA to stop South Carolina and Jacksonville (Ala.) State from using the nickname Gamecocks.
The letter, a copy of which was given to USA TODAY by PETA, says Gamecocks "are named after the birds used in cockfighting, a hideous 'blood sport' that, like spousal abuse, bank robbery and driving while intoxicated, is illegal in both South Carolina and Alabama."

I'm glad to see some of the schools are standing up for their team names. Utah, Central Michigan, and Florida State are all mulling appeals to the ruling. Utah athletics director Chris Hill:

We're still a little surprised at how this all came out and how the NCAA described what we do (in using the Ute as a symbol). We know we have the support of the Ute Nation, and we anticipate that we will appeal.

Which falls back to my main point. Shouldn't the offended parties be bringing this up if it is offensive? If the Utes, Seminoles, or whoever aren't offended, why should the NCAA and the lefties be? I can certainly see offensive in the cartoonish characterizations of "Chief Nok-a-homa" or "Chief Wahoo." I can see valid concerns with the names "Redskins" or "Savages." But, if done correctly and with tact, these team names can be used to honor the Native American tribes they name, as evidenced by the tribes who support them.

Update (8/12 11:16CT): Happy to hear USC come out against the PETA proposal. University spokesman Russ McKinney:

The University has rejected PETA's call to change the mascot repeatedly. We just don't think there's any interest among the Carolina family at all in making any change. There are no plans to change it.

Just can't imagine going to a game without the chicken call. I lived in Columbia for a good number of years and love the atmosphere of the Gamecock football games and continue to be a big fan of the program. I miss that game-time feeling every time I go to a college football game here or in Muncie. The crowing chicken (along with 'Also Sprach Zarathustra') are a big part of that great atmosphere. And what about poor Cocky, the 2003 Mascot of the Year? Doesn't he represent the chicken population well enough? When the offended chickens stand up to ask for the 'Cocks to change their name, then I'll maybe reconsider... ;)

In seriousness, though... Talking about offending human beings in the Indian mascots is one thing, and I can see that there can be opinions different than mine on that front. Here we're talking about an animal. Does everyone need to take vegetable or mineral names now? Guess we could offend some botanist or mineralologist that way. Maybe we should eliminate mascots all together... Yeah, just go by the college name... Oh, guess that won't work either... I'm sure some of those schools or towns are named after offended parties as well... A quandry, indeed...

Update (8/12 11:57CT): More mascot talk. It appears that the NCAA is conceding that they may have gone too far on the Native American mascot debate. Apparently, the person who they conferred with about the Seminole tribe's view of the Florida State mascot wasn't speaking for the tribe as he implied. David Narcomey is a member of the General Council of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and had sent letters on the tribes behalf condemning the mascot. But...

In fact, Narcomey pushed for a tribal resolution condemning the use of American Indian mascots and imagery, specifically at FSU. It was defeated last month by an 18-2 vote

Heh... The NCAA says they were working from incomplete information and plan to reconsider their view on the FSU mascot. No word on Utah, Central Michigan, Illinois, or the 14 other schools affected by this ruling.

Rapunzel Updated

2005-08-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

Jim Hill has some nice info and pictures related to "Rapunzel Unbraided" over at JimHillMedia.com. With my track record for hating the direction that Disney Animation is headed, I didn't expect to be too excited to read this article when I saw the title. But, the tagline "a film of astonishing beauty" intrigued me, and after reading the article, I'm suprised to say that I came away from it excited for the prospect of this picture. I have long lamented the fact that Disney has left 1) traditional animation and 2) fairy tales. When originally reading that this would be a Shrek-like modern take on the story done in CGI, it certainly didn't play well for me. Well... I'll be happy to be wrong about this, as I certainly want to see the product succeed. Pop over to check out the article and see the photos. The animation looks very nicely done and very "Disney." It doesn't really state the direction of the storyline, so I'm still holding out for that, but I like what I see thus far.

I'm willing to give them a go at this, although I wish they'd do traditional as well as computer animation. I'll see "Chicken Little." I will probably see "Valiant," although I know this one wasn't done in-house and is getting luke-warm press. If these three movies and others in production (Wilbur Robinson, American Dog) do well, I'll be man enough to admit that they made the right decision. But it still seems like their following the DreamWorks/Pixar pack instead of being the trend-setters that they used to be...

Weekend of Basketball Bliss

2005-08-08T14:55:00.000-07:00

I finally was able to get my grubby mitts on videos of the Ball State NCAA basketball runs from my days at the University in the early '90's. I spent the weekend cutting them to mpeg for the purposes of making a more permanent DVD archive and, better still, reliving some great memories. Butts lighting up CMU during the '90 conference championship. Chandler's huge easy-lift rim-rattler in front of a doubting Billy Packer against UNLV. Paris' great dunk over Lurch from Louisville. Greg Miller and Shawn Parrish providing all the right spark at all the right times. The tenacious defense. Holding Louisville to season low scoring and shooting percentage at the half. The crush of defeat and feeling of "almost" at the end of the UNLV game. Wow... Watched part of the Purdue game from '88 as well. Loved hearing how poor the officiating was every time BSU pulled out in front (Purdue announcers...). I have the following games in my hands now:

1988-9: Purdue
1988-9: KSU (conf championship)
1988-9: Pitt (NCAA)
1988-9: Illinois (NCAA)
1989-90: CMU (conf championship)
1989-90: Oregon State (NCAA)
1989-90: Louisville (NCAA)
1989-90: UNLV (NCAA)
1994-5: EMU (conf championship)
some Muncie Central championships (1954, 1963, 1978, 1979, 1988 [semis and finals on all but '54 and '63])

Pure basketball goodness for me...

Good news, bad news... The person who cut the tapes for me back in the day who shall remain nameless (I was at most of these games and relied on other people to tape them... stupid me) had this awful habit related to his taping of games/shows/etc:

Use the lowest quality tape. The more used the better.
Dub to another low quality tape to edit commercials out. Be sure to not quite hit the marks in and out of breaks causing content to be missing. Also, be sure to cut out halftime commentary, replays, etc.

As a result, the quality of these game tapes are mixed. The CMU game looks suprisingly good for a 15 year old tape (it was not commercial-edited and thus appears to be 1st generation). The UNLV and most of the Louisville games were 2nd generation, but don't look that bad (minus some bad edits). The Purdue game, though... whoo-hoo... Looks like about a 5th generation cut. Same for most of the high school ones. Well, at least I have a copy though. I haven't looked at the others yet, so I'm hoping they look more like the CMU game and less like the Purdue one.

I am cutting these at SVCD quality in my first go (assuming that VCD is VHS quality). I seem to be only getting sound from one speaker (may be the tapes or the equipment... not sure yet), but otherwise they look pretty good so far. If any Card fans have better copies, please e-mail and I'll cut a copy from yours and send you one for your archive...

Favorite Gitmo Story Yet...

2005-08-08T14:05:00.000-07:00

Top requested book at Gitmo? Harry Potter... Think they're fans of Voldemort?

More on the Mascots

2005-08-08T06:29:00.000-07:00

To extend upon this PC silliness, here's a good case-in-point from the not so distant past... Marquette used to be the Warriors. The same scenario played out there as could potentially be playing out at Utah, Illinois, Central Michigan, Florida State and others in the near future, and the nickname was changed to the Golden Eagles (a name most everyone there hated). Then later to the Gold, which was abandoned after one week of protest. During the course of this, 80% of the people surveyed just wanted it to be the Warriors again. Two Marquette trustees even offered to give the school $1-million each if it returned the nickname to Warriors. They are even willing to drop the potentially offensive Native American mascot, since the word Warrior could be used for non-Indian connotations. Seems reasonable... but the university decreed that no votes for the Warriors name will be counted in the selection of the new mascot. Now, since the popular selection is out of the mix, they are again the Golden Eagles by a 54% vote. A majority vote received even thought the respondents surveyed said the following:

Additionally, ten years after its introduction, the survey indicates that the Golden Eagles nickname, logo and mascot have not generated a strong sense of pride or sense of identity with the Marquette community. In fact, the words most often used to describe the Golden Eagles nickname are boring (57%), weak (55%) and common (52%).

Inspiring, no? As Adam points out in the comments, there are some truly offensive mascot names (Savages is a good case-in-point), but to blanket all of the Native American themed team names as "hostile or abusive" is a bit extreme. In saying all of this, I don't think we'll ever see team names as established as the Seminoles or the Illini change, just like the professional names haven't changed (Braves, Indians, Redskins, Chiefs, etc.). Too much money and customer loyalty are tied to them. And really... what's offensive about Illini? Ute? Chippewa? Seminole? Aren't they honoring the tribes they name? I may very well be wrong on this one... I'm not Native American and I may be missing the point. But I just don't get it...

PC Police in the NCAA offices

2005-08-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

NCAA limits Indian mascots

Starting in February, a team in the postseason with an "offensive" Native American logo or nickname will not be able to have a mascot present or wear uniforms with said logo and/or nickname during the tournament. Also, if said team hosts a postseason event, they will have to cover "offensive logos." In '08, cheerleader and bands will be included in the ban. No word yet on when they ban the fans from wearing t-shirts with the nicknames.

So, if Florida State or Illinois hosts a post-season game, do they have to run around campus and cover every Seminole or Illini reference? Or is this just on the field of play? I can just picture the folks in these towns sweeping the campus for every road sign, statue and poster before gametime...

Guidelines were not immediately available on which logos and nicknames would be considered "hostile or abusive."

Hmm... that's kinda open-ended. Think that can be extended outside of the Native American context? Anybody with some cow, pig, or chicken nicknames? Maybe PETA can decide that, say, Gamecocks are abused in cock-fighting, can they petition to be included in this "hostile or abusive" group. How about the Bisons? We eat those suckers, don't we? Razorbacks?

Look... I'm not for outwardly offending anybody. But this is just silly. Many years ago, Miami University in Ohio were named the Redskins. I remember reading back when this was a controversy that the Chief of the Miami tribe had a treaty with the university about the use of the nickname, and that he, in fact, saw the name of the school and the use of the nickname as an honor and approved. Of course, fast forward to today and the Miami RedHawks. Guess how that happened?!?

Update (8/5/05 12:27CT): I see that there is a chain of comments on this on the MAC fan site. Apparently my memory was correct about the Miami situation. I'll have to look and see if I can find some posts on a Florida State or Illinois site...

I guess it's on...

2005-08-04T14:39:00.000-07:00

Back from a hiatus with one for the locals...

Congress OKs money for I-65, Mack Hatcher

Now more fights about which of the 14 or so proposed routes for the Mack Hatcher extension. I guess I haven't read close enough on this, but will this extension be four lanes? Can they please make it so? And while they're at it, widen the stretch from Columbia toMurfreesboro?!?

It appears that there has been discussion while I was out about whether it makes more sense to widen Columbia, Main, and Hillsboro or to extend Mack Hatcher. Some are saying that these roads are backed up during rush hour and would benefit from the widening far more than the benefit of the extension. But I must pose a question: Wouldn't the extension take a fair amount of this traffic off of these roads? I know that I won't be turning onto Hillsboro or Columbia from Mack Hatcher once this is complete. From experience, it appears to me that a large portion of the Hillsboro backup turns right onto 96W. This is the exact group of people that would instead use the extension, no?

More Trouble for Dreamworks

2005-07-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks after announcing a loss for the 2nd quarter and an SEC probe, Dreamworks is now looking to sell of their live-action division, maybe to GE's NBC/Universal. So, the three pronged attack of SKG (Spielberg, Katzenberg, and Geffen) is down to just K's part, as the Geffen end (the record company) was sold to Universal last year, and their stock is tumbling due to lower than expected DVD sales. They were expecting $0.07-0.09/share profit, and instead got $0.07/share loss. Ouch.

I'm a big Katzenberg fan dating back to his Disney days. IMHO, the loss of Jeffrey and Frank Wells are key to the floundering at the end of the "Disney Decade" and the eventual undoing of Eisner in our present day. Just reading "Keys to the Kingdom" and some similar books, it becomes apparent that this trio worked well together, filled each other's weaknesses, and contributed in building a great era for Disney, just as it becomes apparent that when the one guy was in charge, the bottom fell out. I hate to see this fall apart for Jeffrey, but it appears to be the future trend, as Pixar's DVD sales are down as well.

DisneyToon Australia closes up shop

2005-07-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

As much as I hate the cheapquels, it saddens me to see the Sydney animation studio following the path of the Orlando studio. Jim Hill (and others) are reporting that the animators were given notice that they would be closing up shop after the productions of the "Brother Bear" sequel and "Cindy III" wrap [shudder... cringe... bad memories of "Cindy II" flooding in... ok, all better now]. Given the constraints of having to put out low budget direct-to-dvd sequels based on mediocre scripts, this studio did produce some decent quality animation over the years. Among their projects were series work ("Winnie the Pooh", "Dark Wing Duck", "Goof Troop", "Aladdin", "Timon and Pumbaa"), both "Aladdin" sequels, "Lion King II", "Return to Neverland", "Tarzan 2", "Lilo and Stitch 2", "Bambi 2", "An Extremely Goofy Movie" and "Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure" among others. Up until recently, DisneyToon said "virtually all" of the company's hand-drawn animation was being produced in the Sydney studio.

Apparently costs have been rising there, and there are plenty of low cost animation farms in Asia to shift the business to, so we won't be missing out on the highly anticipated "Aristocats 6" or "Fox and the Hound 5" (sorry fellow cheapquel-haters)...

Sources: Jim Hill, NineMSN

Goalpost maker not responsible for Ball State student's paralysis

2005-07-22T12:17:00.000-07:00

Sanity prevails in the courts today. In October 2001, Ball State students tore down a goalpost while celebrating a victory over Toledo. Tragically, a student was paralyzed when the goalpost fell on him. Ball State paid a settlement of $300,000 to compensate the student for his injuries due to their negligence in letting the students on the field. Seems like a fair settlement, as this was the most that they could pay by law, and that BSU does have a responsibility to keep people off the field of play (even though this student was also improperly on the field and holds responsibility as well, IMHO, but I digress).

The victim of this injury, though, decided to sue the goalpost maker, claiming negligence of the company for not manufacturing the goalposts to hold the weight of these students hanging on/sitting on/trying to tear down the goalposts. Ignoring the fact that goalposts are not necessarily designed to be hung on/sat on/tear-down resistant, since that is not part of the game and thus not part of their purpose.

The courts saw it this way as well. Judge David Hamilton states in his opinion that this student "and any other reasonable observer knew the mob of students was trying to pull the structure down. The risk was obvious, and the goal post was therefore not unreasonably dangerous under Indiana law". Bravo to him. The attorney for the goalpost manufacturer states that "the real issue in this has to do with letting fans on the field in the first place to tear down goal posts," and hence the BSU settlement.

As much as I feel for this kid and his family, he knew what the risks were. He may or may not have been trying to tear down the goalpost himself. He put himself in the position to be injured regardless. To say that the person who builds this piece of equipment is responsible for injuries related to its improper use makes about as much sense as saying a baseball bat manufacturer is responsible if someone hits you over the head with the bat. The people doing the act (as well as, indirectly, Ball State in this instance) are responsible, not the maker of the equipment.

Ball State, in the meantime, has installed newer, sturdier goal posts to stop this from happening again. The lack of wins also helps...

Galactica 2.0

2005-07-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

I've never really watched anything on Sci-Fi, but I have found myself hooked on the new version of Battlestar Galactica that has been running since last year. I happened to catch a marathon of season one and the preceding miniseries a few months ago, and thus I have finally found a current TV series to obsess over. Having childhood memories of the original series (and bad memories of Galactica 1980), I had somehow pretty much missed that this series even existed and found myself intrigued by the new concept and immediately sucked in, all the while fearing for the worst based on the cheesy remakes we've been inundated with this year. I quickly found my fears to be unfounded.

The best parts of the new series include what I would call a somewhat realistic military feel to the show. The combat, technical aspects, and jargon feel very real. Gone are the lasers... real guns with realistic wounds prevail in this show. It seems like these people are reacting very much in the way real people would if they were in this situation and it really feels very modern-day (ignoring the fact that they're on a starship). The people have been recast in a much less sci-fi-ish mode as compared to the original, with the outlandish names (Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer, etc.) used as call-signs and the players given real names. This further adds to the realistic aspects of the new show.

The other new angle in this series is that the Cylons (the red-eyed robots from the original) have evolved into cyborgs that "look like us." From what I've heard from a few locations, this was partly a cost-cutting measure (CGI robots are expensive), but it is also a nice little plot twist, as they can now infiltrate the human ships and have led to the paranoia running rampant. But this also leads to a little of my initial confusion in watching this show... is it a re-boot or a sequel? It is a re-boot, but the implication is that the Cylons existed in their robotic state as they did in the original series and had wars with the humans prior to the new series. I initially thought that the original series constituted these original run-ins, but obviously not.

Episode two of the 2nd season kicks off tonight (9pm CT). Good sites for research are the Sci-Fi site and Alan Light's podcast. The producers also offer a podcast version of a running director's commentary (ala any proper DVD presentation) on iTunes. Good stuff...

Deferred Success?

2005-07-22T05:42:00.000-07:00

Reuters is reporting that, in order to avoid labeling and demoralizing pupils, teachers in Great Britian are considering banning the use of the word "fail" in the classroom, opting instead for the softer term "deferred success." So, along with banning red ink in favor of a happier purple and not keeping score in soccer, we are continuing to tell our kids that success is not desirable. That we need to somehow shelter our children from potential failure, fearing that it will injure their psyche instead of allowing them to grow from their failures and strive for success. I have been trying to teach my 7-year old that you fail, you fail, you fail, and then eventually you succeed. If we don't build on the "try and try again" mentality, the kids will grow to feel that failur... er... deferred success is acceptable and will never strive for success, IMHO.

Political correctness gone amuck...

Studies say that studies are wrong...

2005-07-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

The journal of the AMA has released a study showing that 1/3 of all medical studies are wrong. But... what if this study is one of the 1/3 that are wrong?!? I'm so confused...

No Property Tax? Tennessean Aghast!!!

2005-07-20T04:20:00.000-07:00

I was very amused to read an article in the Tennessean this morning regarding Spring Hill attempting to do away with their city's property tax. The tone brought back fond memories as it was so in line with their reporting on the state income tax. I can just hear the sputtering in their voice as they state:

"Residents fret about services"
"Spring Hill... stunned its residents"
"Most Midstate cities have local property taxes because they need every source of revenue they can get their hands on"
"some Spring Hill residents already are wondering whether the tax cut would hurt those services"
"what's going to happen in eight to 10 years when stuff starts closing down? If you cut all the taxes out, what are you going to do then?"

Not until halfway through the article do we get to the points that other cities have no property tax (Mt. Juliet's city manager: "The truth of the matter is, counties live on property tax and cities live on sales tax.") and as to how they are intending to fund the services. You see, Spring Hill is one of the fastest growing areas out in these here parts. They rake in plenty from impact fees and commercial development. They still envision a budget of $545,000 after this tax goes away.

Mayor Danny Leverette sounds very much to my liking:

It's unfortunate that people cannot envision stepping outside the box, and that's what we do here in Spring Hill. You're always going to have your nay-sayers and your hindsight's-20/20ers and everybody that has a better way of doing something.

Maybe they can start a trend...