Quotes of the Year

ESPN Page 2's quotes of the year are pretty good. My favorite so far:

"It's not good when you light up two Marlboros at the same time at 3 a.m., washing it down with a glass of chocolate milk. You know you have a lot on your mind when you do that."
-Tigers manager Jim Leyland

Suspended

You've probably already heard that Texas Tech coach Mike Leach was suspended after allegations that he was keeping a player (the son of ESPN analyst Craig James) with a concussion in an electrical closet. A couple thoughts:

-By pure numbers, MSU is still leading the suspension game 14-1. How many players does one coach equal?

-Did ESPN run this story first? It sure seems like they should have, given the people involved.

-If this is true, Leach is done. And you'd think it is fairly accurate, because if it's not Craig James is risking his job at ESPN. It goes without saying Adam James won't stay with the team.

-This gives MSU a better chance in the bowl game, but I still don't think it's enough.

FF Top Scorers '09

Here are the top scorers from the fantasy football league. This will be updated weekly. * denotes current record holder for the year. All-time is based on '04 on, which I have records for. The scoring was changed for the '05 season to include points for receptions, and then in '07 to reduce points per yard for the QB. The highest team score in '04 was The Living Legend (Bader) with 206.95 pts. The highest team score from '05-'06 was Battletoads (Stack, '06) with 232.40 pts. See the '05 data here, the '06 data here, the '07 data here, and the '08 data here.

Week 1
Top Player: Drew Brees, 51.90 pts
Top Team: Step Your Game Up!, 124.20 pts

Week 2
Top Player: Chris Johnson, 48.20 pts
Top Team: Step Your Game Up!, 154.15 pts*

Week 3
Top Player: Peyton Manning, 40.85 pts
Top Team: Watered down scorein, 125.25 pts

Week 4
Top Player: David Garrard, 35.95 pts
Top Team: Monkies Unleashed, 118.95 pts

Week 5
Top Player: Miles Austin, 39.00 pts
Top Team: Life Is Good, 127.75 pts

Week 6
Top Player: Tom Brady, 55.00 pts*
Top Team: Holy Cow!, 146.00 pts

Week 7
Top Player: Carson Palmer, 41.65 pts
Top Team: Fightin' Limbaughs, 140.70 pts

Week 8
Top Player: Aaron Rodgers, 37.55 pts
Top Team: Holy Cow!, 135.55 pts

Week 9
Top Player: Kurt Warner, 43.35 pts
Top Team: Holy Cow!, 145.90 pts

Week 10
Top Player: Chris Johnson, 37.00 pts
Top Team: Watered down scorein, 133.10 pts

Week 11
Top Player: Matthew Stafford, 47.80 pts
Top Team: Use a Holster Please, 121.00 pts

Week 12
Top Player: Drew Brees, 48.45 pts
Top Team: Holy Cow!, 133.90 pts

Week 13
Top Player: Tony Romo, 37.60 pts
Top Team: tailback terror, 119.10 pts

Playoffs
Week 14
Top Player: Chris Johnson, 37.20 pts
Top Team: tailback terror, 145.65 pts

Week 15
Top Player: Jerome Harrison, 48.20 pts
Top Team: Step Your Game Up!, 123.20 pts

Week 16
Top Player: Tom Brady, 37.75 pts
Top Team: Fightin' Limbaughs, 123.60 pts

All-Time
Top Player: Peyton Manning, 75.20 pts ('04)
Top Team: Battletoads (Stack, '06), 232.40 pts

The Band

This was the only appropriate video I could post using our new Christmas present.

Freakin' Gender Equality

This story appeared in the Lansing State Journal and the latest "Benchmarks" publication by the MHSAA, Winter 2009-10, Vol. 1, No. 2.

If the Lansing State Journal wants to fine me for reproduction laws, go for it.


In response to a complaint filed this summer with the state's Department of Civil Rights, the Capital Area Activities Conference will begin rotating its Friday night basketball schedules starting with the 2010-11 season.

Currently, both boys and girls varsity teams play doubleheaders, girls first followed by the boys. That will remain the same this winter, but flip after that, with boys first and girls second. They will then alternate yearly which plays first.

The complaint was filed by the Michigan Women's Commission and alleged that the CAAC discriminated against girls by scheduling them first during Friday doubleheaders, while giving the boys games the "primetime" slot.

"We were concerned about the negative impact femaile athletes could suffer. Do college recruiters and scouts see them at those times? (Ummm...is there a reason they can't?) Do the girls' programs have equal visibility with the boys' programs? These were some of the questions of the Women's Commission based our civil rights complaint on."

Grand Ledge athletic director Gary Boyce said the league didn't fight the complaint because it felt doing so might lead to further action and "this wasn't going to go away." (No kidding, look at what the pervious women-led group accomplished...girls and boys basketball during the same season.)

At that time, based on the opinion of its girls basketball coaches, the CAAC scheduled their games first on Fridays. The coaches reaffirmed that desire again before last season.


Hmmm...maybe the coaches choose Friday because...wait for it...THEY MIGHT HAVE ASKED THEIR FEMALE PLAYERS WHEN THEY WANTED TO PLAY. Maybe the girls chose the early game. Anyone ever think of that? Just speculating. Why would a coach make that decision without asking the girls?

The Right Perspective

I'm not sure what I'm more amazed by, that a rich person would say this or that ESPN would write/publish this story by Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy.

"But it's going to happen, so why try to fight it?" - Celtic coach Doc Rivers.

Hey "Doc," if we did everything in this world by that philosophy, we'd get run over by anyone/anything bigger than us. Thanks wimp.

Does it apply for this? (Fill in the blank for any societial issue you deem necessary.) Here is what I'll apply to your wonderful life motto:

Gay marriage..."is going to happen, so why try to fight it?"

Divorce..."is going to happen, so why try to fight it?"

Abortion..."is going to happen, so why try to fight it?"

Parity in the NFL?

My dad found this article in the print edition of the USA Today. Pretty interesting stuff.

Party Like It's 2010

"Party at Haag's." Bring a hot tub.

Everyone is welcome. That goes for Mr. and Mrs. Andy S., and Mr. and Mrs. Jason B.

Thursday, December 31, 2009 after 7pm.

Still Got It

I decided to break out Mario Bros. for the Nintendo last week. How does the saying go? "Just like riding a bike"? I thought I would time myself to see how quick I could save the Princess. My first shot took me 26 minutes. The next time I tried, I mustered it down to a sweet 00:15:30. Not too shabby.

Authors Note: This was all down without "life support" (Game Genie).

Bonus Note: I couldn't bring back the magic however of the 1-Up trick on level 3-1 where at the end of the level you can bounce on the turtles and after a few consecutive jumps start earning free lives. Back in the day I was decent at it.

UPDATE: Conquered in 00:10:07. Man, now I have to see if I can make it under 10 minutes. Hmmm...

UPDATE #2: While trying to break the 10 minute mark, I ended up doing it under 9 minutes. That has to be worthy of the Hall of Fame. 00:08:59.37 to be exact. I'm a loser.

Breezy

The wind in the Maaco Bowl is awesome. The Oregon State punter just had a 6-yd punt where you could actually see the ball catch the wind and turn back. I don't know that I've seen a game this windy. The Weather Channel says it's blowing at 35 mph and gusting up to 43 mph.

Start Stanton

As much as it pains me to write this, I completely agree with Terry Foster.

RE: Kung Fu Death Monkeys

I think I'm going to quit my job, buy a group of monkeys, teach them kung fu, and take them on tour around the US. I don't see how this could fail to be wildly successful. And even if it wasn't, I'd still have a gang of kung fu monkeys to commit crimes with.

Carol of the Bells

Evergreen

Sleigh Ride

If it ain't broke...

Not a fan of ESPN's new scoreboard that is being used in the New Mexico Bowl. They need to go back to the one they've used all season. Right away, like for the second half of this game.

ESPY Awards

It begins...

Courtesy of ESPN, here's the 2009-10 bowl schedule. The first game, the New Mexico Bowl, is at 4:30 pm ET and features Fresno State vs. Wyoming.

Sci-Fi Physics

One more post: The physics of space battles. Don't bother reading if words like antimatter rocket, mass driver, or Space Marines sound boring to you.

High Jump

The owners of a house in the UK thought roof damage to their house was being caused by burglars. Turns out a cow decided to jump up there. It was only six feet, but that's pretty good for a bovine.

Salami vs. Parmesan

Some people are really serious about getting a shopping cart. Being Germans, I would have expected some more authentic German sausage to be involved.

Kung Fu Death Monkeys

Since Ump's concerned about it, I'm going to push the post count up, thanks to Jonah Goldberg at The Corner. First up, possibly the coolest story ever. Kung fu monkeys attack their trainer. A quote:

At one point the monkey trainer grabbed a staff to hit the monkeys, only to find himself facing a stick-brandishing monkey that cracked him over the head.

Awesome.

?

Is it wrong that after all this business with Tiger Woods that I snickered to myself when Yahoo! sent me a reminder that fantasy golf is starting soon?

Clash of the Titans

I'm not sure that this will be any good, but it could be a lot of fun:

Iron Man 2 Trailer

Stop Whining

Wojo is dead-on in his column today. I'll comment more later.

UPDATE: Not as into this as I was this morning, so bullet points:

-Having so many bowls is awesome. That means we get "Bowl Week" on ESPN. People who complain about this need to shut up and go find some NBA game to watch.

-As Wojo says, and as I've said before, a playoff will only push the controversy down a level. You'll never be able to make people happy.

-Government needs to stay out of football. Idiots.

-MSU will be toasted by Texas Tech. I seriously think it will be something like 48-21.

Enabled

In an article in the Detroit News today, Marney Rich Keenan writes:

Now almost two weeks into the razor-sharp decline of the golfer's once-stellar reputation and along with it, his commercial endorsements, the irony is how many of us enabled Tiger Woods to get away with the infidelities for as long as he did.

If she's casting blame on the media, fine, I get that. Not sure I agree totally, but that's a reasonable opinion. If she's talking about the rest of us, poppycock. I've only been interested in Tiger to the extent that he's a phenomenal golfer. If there were signs that Tiger wasn't all that he seemed, I certainly don't feel bad for not digging them up.

Robin Hood

Force Unleashed II

12 Again

The Detroit News has a story about expanding the Big Ten today. No new information, unless you count a list of teams that have been mentioned previously: Rutgers, Syracuse, Pitt, Missouri, and Notre Dame. They also break down the divisions as follows:

WEST
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Northwestern
Purdue
Wisconsin

EAST
Indiana
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
New team (Pitt, Rutgers or Syracuse)

So I was more or less correct with my guesses.

RE: 12?

(This was going to be a comment, but ran long.) Setting up the divisions was another problem that had occurred to me too. East and West would make the most sense geographically speaking. Assuming a new team was in the West, the divisions would be:

EAST
PSU
OSU
UM
MSU
Indiana
Purdue

WEST
Illinois
Iowa
NU
Wisconsin
Minnesota
New Team

Assuming I have my geography right (which I might not), the East would be a heck of a division, having all three of the historical powerhouses in the conference. But you absolutely need to keep UM vs MSU and OSU vs UM. I know something similar happens in the Big 12 with Texas and Oklahoma in the same division, but it seems less than ideal to me.

RE: Top Coaching Jobs

I've thought about it a bit, so I'll try an answer. Note: These are what I think would be generally thought of as the top coaching jobs, not the jobs I'd want most as a coach. Obviously my personal list would begin and end with MSU.

Basketball
1. UNC
2. Duke
3. Kentucky
4. MSU
5. Kansas

It's tough for me to evaluate MSU because it's difficult to imagine Izzo leaving. I think it will be a highly desirable job, almost as much as the top two, when he steps down (hopefully after many more years). I think the other jobs Ump listed could easily make it to #5, but Kansas has an edge in my mind.

Football
1. USC
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Michigan
5. Notre Dame

I'm really not sure about these. In college football things change pretty fast. Should 'Bama be back on top because they're playing for a national championship? Is Miami still a desirable job? What about FSU (Seminoles, not Bulldogs)?

Jingle Bells

Seems it's that time of year:

Arkham Asylum 2

12?

Barry Alvarez says that the Big Ten is seriously looking to add a twelfth team. I'm sure I've mentioned before that I'm generally not a fan of the idea or of adding divisions and a championship game. I'm more interested in a different question here though, namely, who would the Big Ten target? Some thoughts:

ND: Notre Dame still makes more money being an independent, and having just hired a new coach it would be at least three years before things might change enough to make joining a conference realistic.

Cincinnati: Cincy is pretty high-profile right now and would make sense geographically. But do they meet the academic standards?

Directional Michigan: I saw this brought up, but I can't really see it happening. both Central and Western have had some success in recent years, but it doesn't seem like enough to move up to Big Ten status (I guess this pretty much goes for all the MAC teams). Plus, like Cincy, you've got the academic question. Also, would UM and MSU be for or against?

Pitt: I don't see them leaving the Big East, but they do seem like they'd be a good fit in general.

I don't really see any other I-AA (yeah, I'm still using that designation) that would seem even a little likely. Thoughts?

Shatner and Palin

Top Coaching Jobs

Give your top 5 most desired coaching jobs in College Football and Basketball (not necessarily in particular order):

Basketball:

1. North Carolina
2. Duke
3. Kentucky
4. Kansas
5. UCLA, Indiana, UCONN, MSU, or Syracuse


Football:

1. ND
2. Michigan
3. Florida
4. Alabama
5. Texas, Oklahoma, or Nebraska

Captain Planet with cats!

After reading John Nolte's review of Avatar, I have to post this video, which came out months ago when the first Avatar trailer hit. WARNING: Language. And Nazis. But mostly language.

Transformers: War for Cybertron

This might be cool:

Bad Moves?

I'm no baseball expert, but it seems to me if the Tigers want to get worse, this would be the way to start. Am I wrong?

UPDATE: I think Lynn Henning got one thing right in this article: Tiger fans are going to be pretty unhappy about trading Granderson, even if a reasonable case can be made for doing it. Following a disappointing season by trading away your most popular player isn't a recipe for enthusiasm.

UPDATE 2: Sports radio in Detroit is going to be epic tomorrow. Someone needs to fill me in on what they hear.

Remember the Alamo... Bowl

The Spartans are headed to the Alamo Bowl, where they will likely be massacred, with the Red Raiders of Texas Tech playing the role of Santa Anna and his army. While it's a relief to be playing a team that doesn't have a future first-round NFL QB at the helm (the last two years MSU has faced Matthew Stafford and Matt Ryan), facing a team that averages 380.7 passing yards per game (per NCAA stats) isn't much of a consolation. But rather than dwell on the negatives, I'll try to be inspiring, so, in the words of William B. Travis, "VICTORY OR DEATH!"

Uprising

House Humor

Seeing the Steelers on TV made me remember that I wanted to post this:

Fraternizing

Apparently the guy those Spartan football players went to Rather to beat up was a frat boy. So, instead of suspending the players, I think we should give them some kind of award. Maybe a medal?

College Football

Got your back, Ump:

What do we have this weekend? #1 v #2...Florida v Alabama. (In this entire scenario, please assume a 3 point loss or an OT game). Winner advances to championship game of BCS. Fine. Loser...more than likely out of a chance for a championship rematch. That's what bothers me.

Wasn't there a championship rematch in the 90's? Florida v FSU? FSU won the regular season game, then the "Ole Ball Coach" got Florida back in the championship with Danny Wrueful (sp?) complained about the cheap shots on the QB and Florida beats FSU in the National Championship.

If Florida v Alabama plays 10 times, is it split 50-50? Does each win 5 times?

Here's my problems: Who is supposed to win the game Saturday? Florida. Why? Because they are the #1 team. If they weren't supposed to win, then they shouldn't be ranked #1. If Alabama is supposed to win, then they shouldn't be ranked #2. So, if the game is close or ends in OT (on a neutral field) why does the #2 team get penalized? Why are they going to be dropped in the BCS rankings? THEY WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO WIN!!!

Think about it. The SECOND BEST TEAM in the country loses by 3 points or less or loses in OT. Why aren't they still considered the second best team out there? By dropping them in the rankings, what you are saying is another team could have done better or should have been ranked #2. If that is the case, how can you do much better than a 3 point loss or an OT loss? The only way you can do better is if you WIN! In that case, Florida shouldn't be the #1 team!

If you think #2 Alabama is better than #3 Texas, then it shouldn't matter if Alabama loses to #1 Florida (as long as the game is close). Alabama should still be considered better than Texas even if they lose.

Either way, the system is what it is. If Florida loses in the National Championship to Texas, Texas is the National Champion. But are they really the best team? For one game they beat Florida.

If a team wins the National Championship, they should be #1. But in the regular season, you don't become the #1 ranked team just because you beat them. Appalachian State didn't become #3 in the country just because they beat Michigan. Michigan also didn't become unranked just because they lost to an unranked team.

It is what it is. Even a playoff doesn't change things because what if Texas loses to TCU but TCU loses to Florida, but Texas (if they would have played) could have beat Florida. You can't possibly play everyone.

Once again, we've been down this road before and I don't have an answer. Just like the NCAA tournament...it's only a TOURNAMENT! It's about who can survive for 6 games.

The only solution I have is to take the six BCS conferences and rank each team individually in each conference. Completely get rid of the AP, BCS and Coaches Poll rankings. Then, at the end of the year, take the #1 ranked team from each BCS conference and then pick two "At-Large" teams from the rest of the country. Now you have 8 teams for a playoff.

If you rank each team in each BCS conference, that's pretty simple because for the most part, everybody plays everybody. Obviously Michigan doesn't play Northwestern every year, but you can easily rank based on conference records.

The only argument to this is Florida, Alabama, and LSU might all be better than Ohio State, but only Florida might make the cut.

If college football ever got around to doing some "Big Ten/ACC" challenge like basketball (which would be a great idea by the way), you could have a way each year of saying who the better conferences are. Then, if you needed to pick an "At-Large" team that did not win their conference, a second SEC team could be picked ahead of the second best Big Ten team.

Thoughts? Comments?

Tiger, Tiger Turning Right

I thought this poem, from a reader of The Corner, was pretty funny:

Tiger Tiger turning right
In the driveway late at night
Your immortal hand and eye
Couldn't make the car comply?

Of whose waiting shapely thighs
Did you dream with bolted eyes
Instigating you to crash
Into the stately water ash?

Was it worth a rendezvous
With some star-struck ingenue
Just to verify you could
Withstand a sliced Norwegian wood?

Tiger Tiger turning right
In the driveway late at night
What covert obsession made
You climb into the Escalade?

Too soon?

Suspended

Looks like Mark Dantonio is going to have to put that trademark frown to good use and lay down the law in the football program, because this kind of thing can absolutely not be tolerated.

You know, Rather Hall wasn't nearly so exciting when I lived there. I don't think there was ever a fight with more than 2 people involved.