There...I Said It!

Jimmer

2011-04-20T23:05:00.001-07:00

BREAKING NEWS - Johnny you might be interested

2010-01-14T17:33:00.000-08:00

So hopefully none of you have forgotten about that post written back in August, about this AMAZING basketball player who BYU missed on. And BYU deserves to lose because we didn't recruit this kid.

The kid's name was missing from the post and I really wanted to know who it was to see how much of the story checked out. I'm not sure if the author didn't know the name of the kid or if he knew but didn't want there to be any follow up; regardless, I happened to figure it out.

The kids name is Christian Parker, son of former NBA star Sonny Parker. He went to BYU-Hawaii for a year, and then served a mission in ATL. He redshirted his first year at BYU-Hawaii and after his mission, he decided that he wanted to play D-1 so he transfered from BYU-Hawaii and enrolled at CSI, the one and only College of Southern Idaho.

The entire story checks out, including the part about having a kid brother, who happens to be Jabarri Parker, http://illinois.scout.com/a.z?s=169&p=8&c=1&nid=4451328 The kid already has some legit D-1 offers from Kansas and Illinois. He's still only a freshman. However, the main theme of the post was how stupid Coach Rose was for not picking this kid up (the older brother Christian). So let me fill in the story with some facts, and you be the judge of whether or not this guy has a place on BYU's team, who is currently 17-1, and ranked #17 in the country.

Currently at CSI Parker has played in 5 of the 15 games, averaged 3.8 minutes per game. He's averaging .8 (less than 1) points per game, scoring a whole 4 points on the season. He has played the least amount of minutes of anyone on the team, hence scoring less than anyone else on the team. The games he did play in, the team won by an average of 40 points. Do I need to say where his minutes came from? I'm not so sure that's the type of player that's going to help BYU win many games in March.

I have nothing against the kid. I wish him the best, and hopes he becomes an amazing basketball player, and if he does I hope BYU can pick him up. With that said, let's be realistic for a second, not every kid is going to be a great player. And I think in this case, the BYU coaches just might have made a good decision by recruiting Tyler Haws, who has started 16 games for yours truly, averaging 12 points, and 5 rebounds, shooting 54% from the field; and Brandon Davies, who has played in all 18 games, averaging 14 minutes, scoring on average 6 points, shooting 59%.

I think somebody owes the BYU coaches an apology. If I recall correctly, the "kid had a desire to go to BYU" (I don't blame him), but the coaches were "incompetent." So yes in this case the BYU coaches rightfully recruited "a kid from Utah County than get an athletic kid from Chicago." (Both Haws and Davies are from Utah County)

One other detail that I didn't realize until now was the claim that the younger brother would never go to BYU unless his brother was there. If my math is correct, the younger brother is in the class of 2013, so his first season at college will be 2014. The older brother is a redshirt-freshman now, so he will graduate college in 2013, making it impossible for the 2 to play together. I don't think the argument holds much weight that we should have recruited the older brother to get the younger brother. BYU may not get the younger brother, but I don't think it has anything to do with his older brother not getting an offer to BYU. If the younger brother only goes where his older brother had offers, it looks like he'll either go to BYU-Hawaii or CSI . . . hmm tough choice.

Go Cougars!!!

We'll Bounce Back

2009-09-20T06:51:00.000-07:00

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/7710/byu-handling-losses-better-than-a-year-ago

And why does no one mention in their recaps the hold that Greg Reid pulled on Andrew George to slingshot his way into a pick six? I know that didn't "lose" the game for us, but that's some dagger when we were having a good drive to open the half.

I think we still have a shot at a BCS bowl, albeit a long one (for one thing, Boise State would likely have to lose in the mighty WAC) - If 2-loss LSU (even if both losses were close) can win a national title, then a 1-loss MWC team should be able to crash the BCS party with a decisive run through the conference.

Welcome to the College Football Season

2009-09-04T17:54:00.000-07:00

Oregon and Boise State were less than impressive to start off the season. The above was the only highlight worth showing of the whole game. Oregon is a lot worse than anyone thought they were. Way overrated for sure.

Decades Old Tradition is Now New?

2009-09-04T15:56:00.000-07:00

I know not everyone subscribes to Josh's Google Reader, but when he shared this I knew I had to correct it before I even read the article:

http://deadspin.com/5352770/bullfighting-minus-the-blood-or-swishy-uniforms

I have been to one of those and they're called an encierro. So anyone that read that article can realize the original author had very limited insight into Spanish culture. A running of the bulls is followed by an encierro (at least where I ran in Torrejon de Ardoz). And once you get in the ring (free admission if you make it there before the bulls, which is why you are running from the bulls), anyone can get down and run around with these younger bulls. I did it one time, but didn't care to be the dumb American that got gored so I didn't get too close like the kids in some of the shots.

And then after they let anyone down there, they bring out some young kids like 16 or so who do it professionally (not a big money maker though like a real bull fighter, more like your high school break dancing crews kind of cash flow).

So this has nothing to do with making bull fighting less bloody or being a new alternative. Its something they've done for quite some time. Oh and a bull fight follows it up in the evening. This is like the appetizer before the meal.

Retaliation in Baseball

2009-08-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

From MLB.com after a recent Yanks-Rays game. The Rays felt that Jaba (sp?) had gone after Longoria on purpose, so Rays' pitcher Garza plunked Teixera:

Garza said that he had grown tired of teams brushing back Longoria, who was also hit on Monday by New York reliever Jonathan Albaladejo.

"I hate to be that guy, but someone had to take a stand and say, 'You know, we're tired of it,'" Garza told reporters. "'You can go after our best guy. We'll make some noise, too.' And that's what happened."

I'm still not the biggest baseball fan, but sticking up for your own...I can get behind that. Good for Garza. And I like that he came out and said it. Retaliation is an unwritten rule of baseball, but Garza explicitly stating his intentions, and why he had those intentions, gets a thumbs up in my book.

Conflict of Interests

2009-08-04T02:31:00.000-07:00

I am battling a little insomnia tonight and a great inner conflict began to manifest. I've always been a Rudy fan so I turned on the movie to help me fall asleep. Well Rudy was in awe of the players locker room. And my only thoughts we're that I despise Notre Dame. In some ways even more than Utah. I can't stand their preferential treatment with the BCS and who likes Charlie Weis? So how do I solve this moral dilemma? Anyone else face this? Do I have to sacrifice my favorite movie?

Why BYU Hoops Is Never Going Anywhere With Its Current Staff

2009-08-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

OK Boys, for my inaugural post to this blog, I'm going to tell you a story, a very frustrating story about the state of the BYU basketball program. This probably would've been timed better if I had posted it when everyone was still fired up over losing in the first round again, so let me bring everybody back to this March just to make sure this story has full effect. Simply put, BYU finishes off another season with a disappointing loss to a less-than-stellar team because they have a serious lack of athleticism. They're able to do well enough in conference play to make the tournament but then they can't step it up when the time comes. I'm avoiding dropping names, so it might get a little difficult to keep track of who's who, but it's all 100% true. It actually worked out well that I waited to post the story because it only got better (i.e., worse).

OK, now imagine for a second that there's a guy from the south side of Chicago, half Black and half Tongan (isn't that already a positive sign?), 6'1" with hops, athleticism, handles, and a jump shot, and a father who played in the NBA who has trained him up well. Now imagine the guy is LDS, a returned missionary who seriously WANTS to play basketball at BYU. Well, this guy isn't imaginary. He's the real deal. He was ranked as one of the top PG's in the country his Sophomore year of High School, and was recruited by all the top schools in the country. But as a Junior he started to develop a large cyst in his right knee, which in turn hampered his play throughout his Junior and Senior year. He had to have surgery to correct the injury, in so doing he didn't get much love before his mission - which is good for BYU. See, in getting ready for his mission, he wanted to prepare in a good environment, so he went to BYU-Hawaii right out of high school. He goes on his mission and returns in better shape than ever, with a knee that's fully healed, rested, and ready to go. Here he is fresh off his mission and can still do a put-back dunk off 2 feet no problem, and he's a PG?! The kid is strong and has serious game, and with a desire to go play for BYU so he can be in a good church environment, and no major suitors to woo him away (see above), sounds like a slam dunk, right?! Nope, because our beloved cougar coaching staff is pretty incompetent.

He enlists the help of a close friend of the family to contact BYU because his friend knew the coaching staff and could help get the foot in the door. After talking with the coaching staff from BYU they said they would look into it, but the friend couldn't believe what he was hearing - they are not trying to recruit the best Mormon kids anymore, and now they are refusing to get the best Mormon kids who want to go to their school. You are telling me you would rather recruit a kid from Utah County than get an athletic kid from Chicago who wants to be at your school and who is a great kid.

Another important note that you must keep in mind - throughout this process the friend was trying to make sure that they knew about the guy's younger brother, who is now 6'6" and only 14 years old. He is the youngest player to ever be invited to the NBA Top 100 High School Camp (which he attended this year). After the camp he received scholarship offers from Kansas, UCLA, Illinois and Ohio State. He is a Point Guard, but can play almost anywhere. He will be a Freshman this year, and will start Varsity for Simeon High School (the same H.S. that Derrick Rose went to). The BYU coaching staff didn't understand that the only way the younger brother would even consider playing for BYU, was if his brother was there (which he tried to explain to the coaching staff, but they were "happy with who they have").

This summer one of the BYU Coaches went out to Chicago to meet with the guy and his family (way too late for that now), and the coach put our guy through a workout at the Church. After working him out, he told him that they weren't interested at this time - which I don't understand. They made mention of not having any available scholarships, to which the guy's friend says - you need to get rid of a few players anyway so take their scholarship and give it to him. Since that time, our guy has signed with one of the top Junior Colleges in the country close to where his friend now lives. And get this! After he signed with them all of a sudden BYU is interested (because I don't know if you know this but BYU does more blind recruiting - which means they will recruit people without even seeing them play but because someone else is interested in them - than any other program in the country). Meanwhile, BYU went out to Chicago again last week to see the younger brother (they finally got the memo that he is the best Freshman in the country) and the family. The friend spoke with the family and they were laughing because they said it was funny how BYU didn't even realize they have already ruined their chances.

Before this friend opened my eyes, I thought doing well in the Mountain West and making the NCAA Tournament every year was good. But, after learning about this, we may have already reached the top of the mountain. We might get to the 2nd round with this M.O., but nothing more. By the way, the friend also knew a member of the Utah coaching staff, and Utah has plans to actively recruit this guy, and I think they have a good shot at landing him for the 2010-2011 season. If he goes there, I'm telling you right now that I will cheer for him to drop 50 on the cougars and for the cougars to get absolutely smashed, so to rub it all in the face of the coaches.

If you are wondering how I know all of this, the "friend" in the story is actually my cousin, who is really good friends with our guy and his family and lived in the same ward as them in Chicago. He has since moved out of the state, but still even had our guy over to his house a couple weekends ago. Their dad played in the NBA, as I said before, and now runs basketball clinics for all the inner-city kids in Chicago, and my cousin had the chance to run his high school clinics at Washington Park every Saturday when he lived there.

Don't everybody cry all at once. I'll still cheer for the cougars and partially hope they do well, but really a part of me wants it to all fall apart so we get a new staff, that is unless they can shape up their act. But, if they and the rest of the Provo bubble remain satisfied with the yearly 1st or 2nd round exit from the tourney, then I'm afraid things will not change for a long time. There... I said it!

Going Pro in Europe

2009-06-17T05:05:00.000-07:00

From the NY Times. I guess she wants to go from not being watched in America to not being watched in Europe. Sweet!

Rutgers Basketball Star to Turn Pro in Europe

By GREG BISHOP

Epiphanny Prince, a third-team all-American guard for Rutgers who once scored 113 points in a high school game, plans to skip her senior season and play basketball professionally in Europe before entering the 2010 W.N.B.A. draft.

Prince, 21, is among the first American women to decide on such a path. She has yet to sign with an agent or a team, although possible destinations include Poland, Turkey, Russia and Spain.

“I’m not really concerned with being the first person to do this,” she said in an interview. “This is the right decision for me and my family.”

Prince’s move is part of an emerging — and, until now, exclusively male — trend.

Men are ineligible for the N.B.A. draft until one year after their high school class graduates. Instead of using a season of college basketball as a springboard to the pros, some have chosen alternate routes. Brandon Jennings spent the past year honing his game in Italy before submitting his name for the coming N.B.A. draft. Jeremy Tyler recently announced he would leave San Diego High School a year early, rescind his commitment to attend Louisville and play two seasons in Europe before declaring for the 2011 draft.

“The world is changing,” said Sonny Vaccaro, a former sneaker company executive who has advised Jennings and Tyler. “This is where we’re at today. This is 2009. Here’s a young lady who made a landmark decision.”

Women hoping to follow Prince’s lead face more stringent draft rules than men do. The W.N.B.A. requires players to be at least 22, to have completed their college eligibility, to have graduated from a four-year college or to be four years removed from high school. Prince turns 22 in January and she plans to graduate from Rutgers before the draft.

Prince will likely earn more money in Europe than she would be covered for under a program that allows “exceptional” N.C.A.A. athletes to buy insurance to protect themselves in the event of catastrophic injury or illness during their college careers.

The program, which is endorsed by the N.C.A.A., determines the amount of coverage based on a player’s draft status and potential earnings. While the maximum coverage for a men’s basketball player is $4.4 million, the policy for a women’s player like Prince is capped at $250,000 — a factor that also served as a catalyst for her decision.

Women’s professional players can receive lucrative contracts abroad, and Prince is expected to land a six-figure deal.

“Girls have always been behind the boys,” said Apache Paschall, the coach of the New York-based Amateur Athletic Union team that Prince once starred for. “This will open the door. It’s always going to be harder with a girl because society is going to see it as, that’s my baby leaving. By her doing this, it will start to change that view.”

Prince would not be the first woman to go on to the W.N.B.A. with eligibility remaining. Candace Parker, the Los Angeles forward, spent four years at Tennessee and earned a degree, but she did not play her freshman season because of a knee injury. Parker chose to forgo her final year of eligibility to enter the 2008 draft. Britany Miller left Florida State for academic reasons and played in the Czech Republic for a year before being drafted by Detroit in April.

Louisiana State Coach Van Chancellor, who led Houston to four W.N.B.A. titles, said he hoped Prince was not a trendsetter.

“I really hate to see any college kid leave college before their eligibility is up,” he said. “I’ve been a pro coach. I’ve been a college coach. I’ve seen every side of this deal. And the equation is such that it’s hard enough in the women’s game to make enough money for a lifetime. You’re going to have to have a college education.”

The 5-foot-9 Prince, who played three seasons for Rutgers, made her decision after consulting with her mentors and her family. Some initially reacted with concern, but Prince eased their worries with a thorough plan. She promised her mother, Kathy Williams-Prince, that she would graduate from Rutgers. Prince said that she was 10 units from earning her degree, a double major in criminal justice and African-American studies, and that she planned to start summer school in July.

Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer declined an interview request. A statement released by Rutgers said Stringer was informed of Prince’s decision on Tuesday afternoon.

“Epiphanny is a phenomenal basketball player and an even more special young woman,” Stringer said in the statement. “I thank Piph for her contributions to Rutgers women’s basketball over the past three years and wish her the best in the future as she pursues a career in basketball.”

Williams-Prince, 40, said her daughter was always ahead of the pack. As the only girl on her junior high team, Epiphanny Prince won most valuable player honors. She set a national single-game scoring record with her 113-point effort while at Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan.

“I have to release her to the world,” Williams-Prince said. “I’m not a dream-buster. Epiphanny is a trendsetter, a trailblazer, in all that she does. I’ve known that since birth. She has always been doing something that’s never been done.”

Prince averaged 12.2 points a game in the 2006-7 season as the Scarlet Knights went on a surprising run to the national title game. She ranks in the top 10 at Rutgers in total points, steals, free-throw percentage and 3-point field-goal percentage.

Paschall, 32, groomed Prince’s offensive game for years. He said he noticed improvements in other parts of her game at Rutgers.

He watched Stringer turn Prince into a lockdown defender and an all-around player who ranked third last season in the Big East in steals (2.6) and scoring (19.5). Prince credited Stringer with “molding me into the player I am today,” and she noted how several of her teammates had achieved W.N.B.A. success.

Prince said the physical style of play overseas would further prepare her for the W.N.B.A. For now, Prince is working out with a trainer in New York and finishing plans for where she will play next season. Her mother worried when she left Brooklyn for New Jersey, but the family plans to have someone accompany her when she moves overseas.

With her earnings, Prince said, she plans to buy her mother a house and support an A.A.U. team in Brooklyn.

Vaccaro noted that Jennings made millions in endorsements last year, and he said Prince could increase her endorsement value while playing overseas.

“Her payoff will come if she’s successful over there and good in the W.N.B.A.,” Vaccaro said. “If that happens, there are no negatives to this.”

2009-04-04T06:47:00.000-07:00

Case pointed out that BYU Rugby is slaughtering teams -- this is not out of the ordinary, but the scores with which they've been doing it by this year are ridiculous.

Looks like ESPNU is broadcasting their game against Utah on 7 April, 9PM Eastern.

Here's a little for you all to enjoy:

Tomahawk Dunk FAIL

2009-03-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

Anybody see this beauty from Hansborough on Sunday v. Oklahoma? He must not have depth perception or something

More important injury than Lawson's

2009-03-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/03/23/cycling.armstrong/index.html

Ahh crap. I really wanted to see him whoop up on some frenchies. This is sad for America.

PS In my professional opinion, I bet Lawson couldn't even walk on it today.

Thank you, Memphis...

2009-03-19T11:25:00.000-07:00

for nearly putting me in an early grave. CS-Northridge?! Unbelievable. I should have known after you gave away that lead against Kansas in the Finals last year that you might pull another Sprewell-on-PJ-Carlissimo choke job again. At least you pulled through.

(Sorry about the poor analogy...it was first famous choking I could think of off-the-cuff)

The REAL Bracket

2009-03-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

http://nameoftheyear.blogspot.com/

Stumbling, Bumbling Sled Dog: 'Sorry, This Is My First Iditarod'

2009-03-17T06:02:00.001-07:00

From "The Onion". The visual of a husky giving an interview just killed me.

PUNTILLA LAKE, AK—After running directly into the grandstands during the Iditarod's ceremonial start and veering 55 miles off course late Tuesday to chase a marmot, Siberian husky and rookie sled dog Melvin apologized to his musher and fellow canines Wednesday for making a complete fool of himself in the early stages of the annual 1,150-mile race.

"First Iditarod jitters, I guess," the visibly contrite Melvin told reporters Wednesday at the Rainy Pass checkpoint. "I feel like such a moron. Here I am in the last great race on earth and I'm blowing it. I mean, 100 times out of 100, when my musher yells, 'Gee,' I turn right. But yesterday I go left down an icy slope into a bunch of evergreens and nearly break everyone's neck."

"I have to pull it together," added the dog, making a point of directly addressing his musher, two-time Iditarod champion Lance Mackey. "I'm sorry, Lance. I'm acting like an idiot out there."

Melvin has gotten his squad into several embarrassing scrapes thus far, one of which occurred at Willow Lake when, in an effort to find a place to nap, he twirled around three times while still in full harness, fouling his lines and entangling his team in multiple snarls. In addition, as the team was on route to Skwentna, a child spectator threw an imaginary stick over the team, and Melvin chased it 300 miles back to the first checkpoint at Yentna Station.

Melvin's most humiliating experience, sources said, was a 20-minute period during which Mackey repeatedly ordered him to mush and the husky merely stood motionless, staring at Finger Lake.

"You look around and you realize that you are going up against your idols—Larry, Bronte, Salem, Handsome, Blue—and then it hits you: This is the fucking Iditarod," Melvin said. "It's not the Jack Pine 30 or the American Dog Derby. Out here, if you playfully root through your musher's sled basket and destroy his heavy parka and extra-warm sleeping bag, well, that's a mistake that could haunt you the rest of your career. Unfortunately, I'm learning that the hard way."

Melvin later admitted that he was overwhelmed by the pressure of participating in his first Iditarod and consequently had psyched himself out. Bouts of anxiety reportedly led to a stress dream Monday night in which he found himself standing on a calm, ice-covered pond for several tranquil minutes before the ice suddenly cracked beneath him.

"Instantly, I was treading in freezing water, and the more I struggled to get back on land, the faster I sank," Melvin said.

As he dreamt, the husky unconsciously gnawed through his team's snub line. Consequently, two point dogs and one wheel dog are still missing, and the sled can no longer go around corners.

Just five days into the race, the group is a projected seven days behind the rest of the pack.

"I'm too 'in my head' right now, you know? I have to remember my training from when I was a pup and just be natural," said the dog, adding that despite his most recent failures, he believes he was born for this. "No more stopping in the middle of a run to find a private place to go to the bathroom. Why would I even do that? I know I'm running in the Iditarod, for crying out loud. And I'm certainly not going to sprint into my teammates ever again, because that means I'm destroying our neck and tug lines, and I'm going completely the wrong way."

"I need to stay focused," Melvin continued. "Also, I think I'm going to go chase that big moose over there."

Despite the husky's shortcomings, musher Lance Mackey has stated that Melvin will remain in the lead dog position, mainly because Melvin bit the leg of fellow lead dog Sarah. Melvin was quick to point out, however, that at the time of the incident, he was suffering a panic-related delusion in which Sarah had transformed into his father, an Alaskan malamute who always told his son he would never amount to anything.

"It's a saying amongst us mushers that the dogs never make mistakes," Mackey said. "But it's not my fault that Melvin stops every 45 minutes to furiously dig in the snow. That dog's a wreck."

Mackey then sighed and added, "This is a terrible Iditarod."

Only in Cricket...

2009-03-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

...would you get a headline like I just saw:

"Three wickets excite England before tea"

One of my longest-running self-debates is over whether or not I want to try and understand cricket someday. Jury's still out. Anybody made up their minds yet?

Greatest Bromances, According to Simmons

2009-03-10T07:14:00.000-07:00

So Sports Guy finally did a mailbag...and hit the topic of bromances. I died laughing at his impressive list:

Q: Do you think the relationship between Rocky and Apollo could be considered the original bromance?
-- Kevin McB, Oakland, N.J.

"Seinfeld" was fueled by the funniest bromance of all time.

SG: No way. The original bromance was Lewis and Clark. I'd break down the others like this: Costanza and Seinfeld (funniest); Norm and Cliff (second funniest); Diggler and Rothchild (third funniest); Borat and Azamat (grossest); O.J. and A.C. (most controversial); the Rat Pack (most influential); Kimmel and Carolla (drunkest); Puffy and Biggie after Biggie died (most shameless); Flintstone and Rubble (best animated); Mike and the Mad Dog (most tragic); Kurt Warner and Jesus (most inspirational); Jules and Vincent Vega (most violently entertaining); McEnroe and Fleming (most one-sided); Kobe and Shaq (most destructive); Lincoln and Derickson (most suspicious); Damon and Affleck (wealthiest); Tom and Jerry (most psychotic); Cagney and Lacey (just kidding); Michael Jackson and Emmanuel Lewis (openly creepiest); Bob Crane and John Carpenter (secretly creepiest); Spade and Farley (best one-time chemistry that couldn't be recreated, even by them); King and Favre (most gushing); Lennon and McCartney (most successful); Parker and Stone (most creative); A-Rod and Jeter (most contrived); Clapton and Harrison (biggest backstab); Chuck D and Flava Flav (most unlikely); Siegfried and Roy (best romance bromance); McConaughey and Armstrong (most appearances without a shirt); Bauer and Almeida (most exciting); Wilbon and Kornheiser (most reliable); De Niro and Pesci (best mafia); Redford and Newman (coolest); Simon and Garfunkel, Malone and Stockton, Madden and Summerall (tie for "best fit"); Scottie and Michael (most titles); Hanks and Scolari (biggest disparity of talent); Rocky and Apollo, Daniel-San and Miyagi, Buck and Aikman (tie for "most uncomfortable"); Clooney and Pitt (most overrated); Kirk and Spock, Tango and Cash (tie for "most unintentional comedy"); McNulty and Bunk, Big Papi and Manny (tie for "most underrated"); T-Mac and Vince (least likable); Felix and Oscar (best contrast); and Red and Andy (the greatest bromance ever), with Red and Andy's beach hug in Mexico doubling as the single greatest bromance moment. Thank you and please drive through.

Nartker did this once, I think

2009-03-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

As one of my friends here would say: "That was dirty stinky."

Funny Prank at U of Maryland

2009-03-04T15:32:00.000-08:00

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/03/04/video-the-maryland-rigged-halfcourt-shot-prank/

The video is like 6 minutes long, but very funny.

A guy rigs a blindfolded half court shot contest, so that his friend is chosen, and he has all the fans at the game cheer once he shoots to trick the guy into thinking he won. The guy goes crazy, but then his friend deliveres the check and he realizes it's a prank. Too funny.

MWC proposal to BCS

2009-03-04T13:12:00.000-08:00

http://graphics.fansonly.com/schools/mwc/graphics/pdfs/mwc-09-proposal.pdf

This is the proposal that the MWC submitted to the BCS committee on how the BCS bowl games and national championship should be decided. I was very impressed with their ideas. I found them to be very logical and fair.

Take a look, and if nothing else, look at the numbers on the last page (page 4). It shows each conferences record against other BCS conferences. I'd never thought of it before, but what a great method of determining the strength of a conference.

Essentially, the MWC proposes a method similar to what international soccer uses, where if you can reach a certain winning percentage against the current BCS conferences, then you are a BCS conference.

Take a look at the numbers and tell me you're not impressed with the MWC, and it really shows how weak the really is.

Josh please expound

2009-02-25T22:09:00.000-08:00

The picture is from Reuters.

Also for an interesting write up on the economics of the Olympics:

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/02/14-year-commercial-real-estate-supply.html

Someone sent out a slide show a while ago, but basically the Olympics weren't financially profitable until 1980 in LA (if I remember correctly). But since they did it in LA the rest of the games have been profitable. But I don't know if it'll prove true for China this round. And I don't know if you heard the Bama is pulling for Chicago to win the bid for 2016. Anyone on the odds? What's more likely that or NCAA football playoff? :)

Oh and Chris I'm still waiting for the first post... :)

Operation Scheyer Face

2009-02-25T20:26:00.000-08:00

I was browsing washingtonpost.com and just happened to see this on the home page, with accompaning caption:

(Photo: Toni L. Sandys/Post)
CAPTION: Maryland fans taunt Duke player Jon Scheyer as part of Operation Scheyerface during the game at the Comcast Center.

I don't know much about Duke's squad this year; nor about Maryland's. I don't really follow College BBall until March. But I want to know more about Operation Scheyerface.

Couldn't Have Imagined a More Bizarre Matchup

2009-02-21T23:32:00.000-08:00

Could someone please explain this to me?

Copied and pasted (in part) from here:

"Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz (you know, as opposed to Sacremento-based performance artist Lou Holtz) is fielding a team of Notre Dame alumni to play against the Japanese national team in football. That’s American football, not this futbol shit that some emo soccer player feels obligated to explain every time he hears a conversation not about the World Cup."

...But really. I have no words on how to explain this.

Stats & Sports

2009-02-18T02:52:00.000-08:00

If you have some time on your hands, this article written by Michael Lewis ("Money Ball," "The Blind Side" [the book I recommended a couple months back]) for NY Times magazine is very interesting. Sports will never be completely predicted by stats, but the new statistics that are being applied to sports I care about (see www.footballoutsiders.com/info/methods and their explanation of DVOA; to a lesser extent, basketball) are making the role of statistics in determining the "value" of players and the possible contributions they can make to a team absolutely fascinating (to me, at least).

I acknowledge that boiling sports down to pure numbers takes away from much of the human factors that make it great -- passion, drive, will, discipline, inspiration etc -- so I'm not saying stats are the end-all, say-all. But they provide some nice insight.

Anybody have thoughts on this? Are stats taking over too much of how sports / players are judged? Do they need to be more of a factor?

Keep Those Dispensers Well-Stocked

2009-02-16T21:44:00.000-08:00

PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Jeff Reed is in trouble with the police over some towels, but not the Terrible kind waved by his fans. Pennsylvania state police say Reed threw a temper tantrum at a Sheetz convenience store in New Alexandria, a tiny borough about 35 miles east of Pittsburgh, because its restroom didn't have any towels.

Reed has been cited for disorderly conduct and criminal mischief, offenses similar to traffic tickets that carry a maximum fine of $300 and 90 days in jail each. Police said he broke the towel dispenser then used profane language to an employee and also outside the store.

"Reed caused damage to a towel dispenser as he was infuriated at the fact that there were no towels in it," according to a news release by Trooper Shawn Askins, who issued the citations. The incident occurred Saturday about 2:50 a.m.

A message left on an answering machine at Reed's home was not immediately returned.

Steelers spokesman Dave Lockett said the team wouldn't have any immediate comment.

"We're still gathering information right now," Lockett said Saturday.

Reed made 27 of 31 field goals and 36 of 37 PATs for 117 points in his seventh season with the Steelers, which was capped by Pittsburgh's 27-23 win over the Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl.

Reed has made nearly 83 percent of his field goals (162 of 196) and scored 733 points for the Steelers in his career.

A Different Take on the A-Rod Scandal

2009-02-12T11:51:00.000-08:00

With the media beating this dead horse, I love how "The Onion" provides satire. Headline from their website:

"Kobe Bryant Shouts 'I Have Been Taking Steroids' As Sports Media Gallops Past Him"

Mt. Rushmore of Sports

2009-02-06T17:17:00.000-08:00

ESPN started an interesting little contest, having fans pick their state's "Mt. Rushmore" of sports icons.

"Can I Have the Country of Origin, Please?"

2009-02-06T13:38:00.001-08:00

I'm really sorry. I just can't get enough.

Big Ben

2009-02-05T10:17:00.000-08:00

Absolutely love this commercial.

As an up and coming fan of the NFL, wanted to see what everyone else thinks after Roethlisberger's performance in the playoffs/Super Bowl. Where does he rank among the modern era of quarterbacks? Brady? Manning? Brees? I understand the myriad of factors that you need to take into account with QBs, but the guy knows how to win.

Thoughts?

Ouch

2009-02-03T13:39:00.001-08:00

Found this at the Washington Post. That looks painful.

Quadruple-Double?

2009-01-29T23:13:00.000-08:00

...Chris Paul may have punched Julius Hodge in the man-area back in college, but he seems like a pretty good guy. Please feel free to correct me if I am mistaken or you have evidence indicating otherwise.

Not to mention he recently edged close to a quadruple-double against the 76ers: 27 points, 15 assists, 10 rebounds and seven steals. Ridiculous stat line. I guess with West and Chandler out, he's had to pick up the slack. Watching him pick apart Dallas in the playoffs last year was enjoyable -- the kid's got talent.

He also has a great sense of humor, if you want to listen to an interview with him, scroll down to the Chris Paul interview. It's worth the time.

Girls Basketball Follow up

2009-01-27T18:47:00.000-08:00

The girls basketball coach that beat a school 100 - 0 was fired and this was his statement:

"We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity."

Does that make sense to anyone? I'm trying to figure out if 100 - 0 isn't running up the score, then what is? Someone please help me with this.

This question is Shaqtastic

2009-01-27T15:28:00.000-08:00

Tue Jan 27, 2009 2:12 pm EST

The search for stupid questions

By MJD

I just finished up watching the NFL Network's wire-to-wire coverage of Super Bowl media day, and if anything too crazy happened, it was never presented on the NFL airwaves.

Some guys did a little bit of dancing, and Deion Sanders got to show over and over again how cool he is, but there was nothing too out of the ordinary. The fellow in drag (pictured below, courtesy of Nick Friedell) never made the air. At least, I didn't see (s)him.

So to find a truly absurd question, we've got to go back to Monday. Pro Football Talk relays that during Kurt Warner's media session, someone asked him how it felt to "be older than both head coaches in the Super Bowl and ... how it is to play for a head coach younger than him."

And that might have been a reasonable question, if, you know, Kurt Warner wasn't 37 years old and Ken Whisenhunt wasn't 46. Warner was born in June of 1971, and Whisenhunt was born in February of 1962. I'm not a doctor or anything, but I'm pretty sure that makes Whisenhunt older.

You can judge for yourself if Warner looks even in the slightest bit like he might be Ken Whisenhunt's age. I don't see it. Whoever asked the question remains unidentified, which I think is a good thing, because I'd rather not judge a guy on his lowest moment. At least, I'd hope that was one of his lower moments.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/The-search-for-stupid-questions;_ylt=AsgAny_.d0op1w_QYTEYFQA5nYcB?urn=nfl,137087

Shaq Commercial

2009-01-25T01:27:00.000-08:00

"How'd you get so many Q's?"
"Don't worry about it."

I love ESPN commercials.

Beyond Heartless -- Girls playing basketball

2009-01-23T15:13:00.000-08:00

So when I saw the headline that a girls basketball team beat their opponent 100 - 0 I was NOT that surprised. It's not the first time I've seen this type of thing; and in all honesty, girls basketball is plain pathetic. I feel confident that five of me could beat most girls D-1 basketball teams by a margin greater than 100 - 0. Anyway, as I browsed a few more articles I started wondering how exactly this makes it to the news?

Like most girls basketball games, including WNBA games, there is no cameraman there or a journalists present to report the outcome, so someone had to alert the media. Does the winning coach call the local newspaper to report their great victory, or perhaps a proud parent? Then I thought well maybe it was someone from the losing team that wanted to report the abuse they just suffered. So I opened the article, trying to find a quote from the losing coach to see his/her reaction to the game. I didn't find one, but I found some facts that were much more interesting/disturbing.

The losing team has 20 girls in the entire school, and 8 of them are on the team
They have been winless over the last 4 seasons
"An assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points"
The winning coach "told the coach of the losing team how much [he] admired their girls for continuing to compete against all odds"
The played full-court press and were shooting 3's in the fourth quarter.

And most disturbing of all:

The losing school "specializes in teaching students struggling with learning differences".

Now when there are only 20 girls in the entire school and the school is for "special people", can you not somewhat conclude that the girls playing ball were a step behind in more than just athletics. And to imagine a coach " wildly" cheering on this beatdown.

People think I'm heartless but I could never pull this off.

JD's BIG DAY

2009-01-22T14:28:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JD.

Not sure how old you are but who the hell cares. Have a great day.

More Knocking the Jocking of Tebow

2009-01-20T03:29:00.000-08:00

Bigger Stronger Faster

2009-01-18T00:20:00.000-08:00

No this post isn't about Casey. So this is a documentary about steroids (movie title is same as the blog post title). One thing I realize about documentaries is that they all have an angle and should hardly be considered a "documentary." I'm talking about Michael Moore or Mr. "I destroy the planet as much as anyone, but make big profits off of telling people to go green" (aka. Al Gore). I'm very skeptical that they tell both sides in a very fair view. So this movie is similar that he has an angle, but he's very out in the open about it. I guess its more that he wants you to think. I'm already talking too much. But I streamed it over Netflix so if you know someone with an account (aka me) you can watch it for free. But you must be warned, I got a stern warning from the wiff for a few select words that start with "F." But its really only the guy that has biceps bigger than my head. So if you are worried about needing to talk to your bishop Josh, you can mute those five minutes. On IMDB, its rated a decent 7.8.

WARNING: You'll get biceps like this if you watch this movie.

Pathetic MWC Officials

2009-01-11T14:56:00.000-08:00

So during the Utah v SDSU basketball game on Saturday afternoon. Utah's headcoach, Jim Boylen, is kneeling on the court, in bounds when SDSU steals the ball and is going on a fastbreak when Boylen reaches out and stops the ball. Keep in mind, he is in bounds. So what do the MWC officials do? They call it out of bounds on SDSU because the guy dribbled the ball into the Utah coach, who was in bounds.

No technical foul, no free throws, not even the ball back. But Utah got rewarded for their coach touching a very live ball. Simply unbelievable.

Here is a video. Let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJhuh7t7sg

Book Recommendation - "The Blind Side"

2009-01-11T07:54:00.000-08:00

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game

If you love football, you will really enjoy this book. Lewis alternates his narrative between the story of Michael Oher -- a poor kid who gets taken in by a rich family, and eventually becomes a top NFL prospect -- and how the game of football evolved in such a way that allowed Oher to be a top NFL prospect as one of those unsung heroes on the offensive line.

Even if you don't love football, you will still enjoy this book. It is a quick, engrossing read.

NFL Playoffs 10 Jan 2009

2009-01-10T20:33:00.000-08:00

I would just like to point out a few things.

I called the Ravens winning by three points, as they did against the Titans today. This was a great game. Hard-nosed, physical football, fighting for field position. Ray Lewis laid a hit on a Titans' TE that knocked his helmet off. I'm pretty sure the ref checked inside it to see if the guy's head was still inside.

Second, I think I want to diagnose Jake Delhomme with MHS (Max Hall Syndrome) for his turnover-happy performance (6...read that SIX PICKS! That means that there were a lot of college frat boys out there who got super hammered because they agreed to play drinking games based on Delhomme's performance). The only problem with diagnosing MHS in this situation is that after the game Delhomme will probably take most of the blame for the way he played. That's definitely NOT part of the Syndrome.

Tebow Skips Senior Seaon, Ascends Directly to Heaven

2009-01-09T15:35:00.000-08:00

Here is another article that I'm going to plagiarize. It mocks all the announcers who love to showcase what a superior human being Tim Tebow. Tebow took two whole weeks out of his summer to go to Africa and do missoinary/humanitarian work with his church last summer. He left football behind and gave up his cushy life in the USA to rough it in Africa for 14 days. Now I don't know about you, but I can't imagine any 19-20 year old kid willing to take 1 weekend, let alone 2 whole weeks, out of his summer to do something selfless. We're not talking just the weekdays, but two complete weeks! Simply unbelievable.

MIAMI (SP) -- Shortly after leading the Florida Gators to a national
championship with a 24-14 win over Oklahoma, junior quarterback Tim
Tebow announced that he would skip his senior season and ascend
directly into heaven.

Tebow entered the press room to wild applause. A reporter for a 24-
hour cable sports network burst into tears when the 2007 Heisman
winner entered the room. Another threw a pair of boxer shorts on the
podium. Tebow smiled at the gesture and several sports reporters
fainted.

"Sorry I'm late," Tebow began. "There was a six-year-old boy with
cancer in row 54 and I had to make my way through the crowd to heal
him."

"I want to start by saying that playing quarterback for the University
of Florida, winning two national championships, has been a great
honor. There has been some speculation about my future and I want to
clear that up right now," he continued.

"Don't go, Tim!" a reporter shouted from the back of the room.

"After much consideration, I have decided to skip my senior season at
the University of Florida and ascend directly into Heaven," Tebow
announced. Upon making the announcement, Tebow was bathed in a
blinding white light and vanished.

In response to the news, ESPN announced they will have a month-long
tribute to Tebow. ESPN2 will now be known as ESPN-TEBOW and will
feature Tebow highlights (including home videos of Tebow's childhood),
re-airings of past interviews, Tebow-centric analysis by ESPN air
personalities, a Tebow quiz show and a reality show to find the "most
Tebow-like" person in America.

"He wasn't just the greatest player in college football history," said
a college football writer at the press conference, tears streaming
down his face. "He might have been the greatest person to ever walk on
earth."

"Don't Bring Donuts"

2009-01-08T06:33:00.000-08:00

Sac-town Kings veterans punk their own rookie

College Football Blog

2009-01-04T08:07:00.000-08:00

Found a new one:

http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com

and a hilarious post...make sure to read the entire entry:

http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2009/01/02/you-know-what-i-like-about-being-a-football-player-at-utah/#more-8398

NCAA Postseason Thoughts

2009-01-01T17:03:00.000-08:00

First let me just intro with how stupid these announcers are as I'm watching the Rose Bowl. They are trying to say of course USC can't play in the national championship because they always slip up and lose one. I'm not on the USC bandwagon, but didn't Florida lose to Mississippi? Are they saying that is a way better team than Oregon State? What about a two loss LSU team last season? The whole thing doesn't make sense.

So more to the point of why I decided to type up some thoughts....what's wrong with the playoff system with home games at the higher seeded teams stadium? Bowl games are really only about money and hence why so many teams already have "home" bowl games. I can't name all of the ones like this, but USC has played in the Rose Bowl how many times in the last decade? Boise State has had the Humanitarian Bowl with the exception of this year and the year they went to the BCS Bowl (maybe one other). Hawaii has the Hawaii Bowl that they've played in more than any other team (don't double check me I'm doing this without checking official stats). Georgia and Georgia Tech (not as much) have the Georgia Bowl. How much do you want to bet the New Mexico Bowl hopes New Mexico and New Mexico State end up there... Cal went to the Emerald Bowl over the "better" Las Vegas Bowl since it would essentially be a home game. Its not at all about matchups no matter how much the media tries to spin it. Its all about money as has been said a million times. And all I'm saying is the home game system is practically in place (or as Darwin would say its evolving there).

Inside the Playbook - NY Times

2008-12-31T08:02:00.000-08:00

Found this interesting page on NY Times. It talks about the matchups for the playoffs coming up, some simple animations about how plays shake-out, etc. This is the kind of stuff I find interesting.

This graphic's fro m the NY Times website

No Punting

2008-12-30T09:36:00.000-08:00

This is a good read about a successful HS team that refuses to punt, and they became the Arkansas 5A state champs.

Here is the link, . . . and the entire article:

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=892888

Kevin Kelley decided to flip football convention on its head after Pulaski (Ark.) Academy's second game of the 2007 season.

Never a fan of taking his offense off the field, the coach became miffed when his Bruins punted away to Pine Bluff (Ark.) Dollarway High only to see Pulaski allow an 80-yard touchdown on the return.


Associated Press

The "never punt" philosophy paid off as Pulaski celebrated a state title

"That was stupid," Kelley said. "We should've gone for it."

As a result, his 2008 team did not punt during 14 games. Such an unorthodox strategy may seem like lunacy, but it was successful: Pulaski won the 5A state title on Dec. 6.

Kelley's team only punted twice in 2007 − once as an act of sportsmanship to prevent running up the score − and never after that Dollarway game.

Kelley has reasons to go for it.

Keeping the offense on the field on fourth down allows for more creative play-calling. Third-and-long does not have to be a passing down. The Little Rock school can run the ball, throw a screen pass or use any number of formations. Defenses do not know whether to use a nickel or dime defense. And Pulaski's offense has less pressure on third down.

"We don't really worry too much about it," quarterback Spencer Keith said. "We just get as many yards as we can. We don't have to go for the first down."

If Pulaski converts on fourth down, it creates a momentum change similar to a turnover. Other high school coaches have told Kelley they would rather see his team punt.

The Bruins even avoid punting when the defense has stopped them inside their own 10-yard line.

"You can just tell people are in the stands thinking, 'You're an idiot,' " Kelley said.

Kelley supports this rationale with numbers analysis.

If Pulaski has a fourth-and-8 at its own 5-yard line, Kelley said his explosive offense likely will convert a first down at least 50 percent of the time. If it fails to convert, statistical data from the college level shows that an opponent acquiring the ball inside the 10-yard line scores a touchdown 90 percent of the time. If Pulaski punts away (i.e., a 40-yard punt with a 10-yard return) the other team will start with the ball on the 38-yard line and score a touchdown 77 percent of the time. The difference is only 13 percent.

An innovative and statistics-minded coach, Kelley had tinkered with eschewing the punting game since winning his first state championship in 2003. He became further emboldened after reading several studies, including "Do Firms Maximize? Evidence from Pro Football," by University of California-Berkeley economics professor David Romer. Kelley also examined ZEUS, a computer program developed by Chuck Bower, who has a doctorate in astrophysics, and Frank Frigo, a game theory expert, to model and predict football outcomes.

The Pulaski coach has adopted an unusual approach to kickoffs as well. About 75 percent of the time, he uses an onside kick instead of a standard kickoff. To illustrate why, Kelley again relies on numbers.

If his team does not recover the onside kick, the opponent likely will field the kick around its own 47-yard line. On a typical kickoff, the other team usually starts around the 33-yard line.

"You're only giving up 14 yards," Kelley said. "And you get a chance to get the ball."

Pulaski features seven different kinds of onside kicks, including bunching eight players on one side of the field and three on the other; faking the kick with one kicker while another player shifts over to kick to a vacated spot in coverage; clustering all 11 players before spreading out just as the ball is kicked; bouncing a hard kick off the turf for a jump ball and launching a "helicopter kick" by kicking a ball placed on the ground against the tee. The latter strategy causes the ball to spin like a helicopter's propeller and move like a curveball.

"Much like the punting situation, [the onside kick] becomes something the other team has to work on a lot during the week," Kelley said. "That's taking time from their preparation against your offense or defense. So it all works towards the common goal."

For Kelley's objective of winning games with a risky but aggressive offense, Pulaski had the perfect quarterback. Keith, who has received major interest from Louisiana Tech, Arkansas State and several Ivy League schools, could make defenses pay for not stopping the Bruins on fourth down. And if the other team scores off a short field because of a missed fourth-down opportunity, the unflappable passer could compensate by scoring points in a hurry.

Kelley called him the most athletic quarterback he has ever coached, and Keith set the state record with 5,308 passing yards this season. He also possesses the requisite accuracy for an offense that threw on about 45 of its 75 plays a game and averaged 570 total yards.

You can just tell people are in the stands thinking, 'You're an idiot.'

— Kevin Kelley, coach of Pulaski Academy

"It's a really fun offense," Keith said. "I wouldn't change it for anything."

A possible pre-med or pre-engineering student who scored a 30 on the ACT, Keith has the intelligence to master an intricate scheme, which features pre- and post-snap reads with receivers making adjustments based on coverage.

With Keith and several other impact players returning from his 2007 team, Kelley said he knew his team had the potential for a state title this year. When the media asked for his pick of the No. 1 team in Arkansas before the season, Kelley chose Pulaski and consequently received some heat.

"It was just confidence in my guys," he said. "I thought this might be one of the better teams we've ever had."

His prediction proved to be on the mark. Although Pulaski lost its first game of the season, 46-29, to West Helena, it reeled off 13 consecutive wins and avenged that Week 1 defeat with a 35-32 state title victory against the Cougars.

During the offseason Kelley will begin investigating different football strategies. He also plans to further study the punting game by analyzing specific instances where punting may prove statistically superior.

After Kelley searches through data, Pulaski may tweak its approach next year. His 2009 team could punt on occasion, or he may develop a new tactic that defies the norms of football but gives his team an edge.

"Just because something's always been done that way," Kelley said, "doesn't mean it should continue to be done that way."

Max Hall is Horrible

2008-12-21T16:32:00.000-08:00

...and I apologize if I ever praised him at any point.

He'd better drastically improve during the off-season, get healthy, or something. Because this "most competitive person I've ever met" description about him we always hear needs to be qualified with "most competitive person I've ever met against teams that are no good."

There...I said it.

Oldest Guy To Play College B-Ball

2008-12-10T17:52:00.000-08:00

A 73-Year-Old Gives Basketball a Second Shot

from the NY Times

BCS decides outcome of WWII

2008-12-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

I'm going to take credit for this humerous article since I can't find the rightful owner. Finders keepers right?

BCS DECLARES GERMANY WINNER OF WORLD WAR II... US Finishes Ranked 4th

After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II.

"Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark,Belgium and the Netherlands. Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work--including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule--our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking."

Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated "The US only had two major victories--Japan and Germany. The computer models, unlike humans, aren't influenced by head-to-head contests--they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event."

German Chancellor Adolph Hitler said "Yes, we lost to the US; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks." Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn 'style points' to enhance Germany's rankings. Hitler protested "Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional
forces."

The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented "France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking they only fell to #2."

Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines.

Fans We Don't Want

2008-12-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

Casey's seen, and the guy copied a guy who did it for Hitler as a Cowboys' fan, but still amusing

Genetic Test to Determine Sports Predisposition?

2008-11-30T06:31:00.000-08:00

from: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/29/sports/30genetics.php

By Juliet Macur

Saturday, November 29, 2008

BOULDER, Colorado: When Donna Campiglia learned recently that a genetic test might be able to determine which sports suit the talents of her 2 ½-year-old son, Noah, she instantly said, Where can I get it and how much does it cost?

"I could see how some people might think the test would pigeonhole your child into doing fewer sports or being exposed to fewer things, but I still think it's good to match them with the right activity," Campiglia, 36, said as she watched a toddler class at Boulder Indoor Soccer in which Noah struggled to take direction from the coach between juice and potty breaks.

"I think it would prevent a lot of parental frustration," she said.

In health-conscious, sports-oriented Boulder, Atlas Sports Genetics is playing into the obsessions of parents by offering a $149 test that aims to predict a child's natural athletic strengths. The process is simple. Swab inside the child's cheek and along the gums to collect DNA and return it to a lab for analysis of ACTN3, one gene among more than 20,000 in the human genome.

The test's goal is to determine whether a person would be best at speed and power sports like sprinting or football, or endurance sports like distance running, or a combination of the two. A 2003 study discovered the link between ACTN3 and those athletic abilities.

In this era of genetic testing, DNA is being analyzed to determine predispositions to disease, but experts raise serious questions about marketing it as a first step in finding a child's sports niche, which some parents consider the road to a college scholarship or a career as a professional athlete.

Atlas executives acknowledge that their test has limitations but say that it could provide guidelines for placing youngsters in sports. The company is focused on testing children from infancy to about 8 years old because physical tests to gauge future sports performance at that age are, at best, unreliable.

Some experts say ACTN3 testing in its infancy and virtually useless. Dr. Theodore Friedmann, the director of the University of California-San Diego Medical Center's interdepartmental gene therapy program, called it "an opportunity to sell new versions of snake oil."

"This may or may not be quite that venal, but I would like to see a lot more research done before it is offered to the general public," he said. "I don't deny that these genes have a role in athletic success, but it's not that black and white."

Dr. Stephen Roth, director of the functional genomics laboratory at the University of Maryland's School of Public Health who has studied ACTN3, said he thought the test would become popular. But he had reservations.

"The idea that it will be one or two genes that are contributing to the Michael Phelpses or the Usain Bolts of the world I think is shortsighted because it's much more complex than that," he said, adding that athletic performance has been found to be affected by at least 200 genes.

Roth called ACTN3 "one of the most exciting and eyebrow-raising genes out there in the sports-performance arena," but he said that any test for the gene would be best used only on top athletes looking to tailor workouts to their body types.

"It seems to be important at very elite levels of competition," Roth said. "But is it going to affect little Johnny when he participates in soccer, or Suzy's ability to perform sixth grade track and field? There's very little evidence to suggest that."

The study that identified the connection between ACTN3 and elite athletic performance was published in 2003 by researchers primarily based in Australia.

Those scientists looked at the gene's combinations, one copy provided by each parent. The R variant of ACTN3 instructs the body to produce a protein, alpha-actinin-3, found specifically in fast-twitch muscles. Those muscles are capable of the forceful, quick contractions necessary in speed and power sports. The X variant prevents production of the protein.

The ACTN3 study looked at 429 elite white athletes, including 50 Olympians, and found that 50 percent of the 107 sprint athletes had two copies of the R variant. Even more telling, no female elite sprinter had two copies of the X variant. All male Olympians in power sports had at least one copy of the R variant.

Conversely, nearly 25 percent of the elite endurance athletes had two copies of the X variant only slightly higher than the control group at 18 percent. That means people with two X copies are more likely to be suited for endurance sports.

Still, some athletes prove science, and seemingly their genetics, wrong. Research on an Olympic long jumper from Spain showed that he had no copies of the R variant, indicating that athletic success is probably affected by a combination of genes as well as factors like environment, training, nutrition and luck.

"Just think if that Spanish kid's parents had done the test and said, 'No, your genes show that you are going to be a bad long jumper, so we are going to make you a golfer,' " said Carl Foster, a co-author of the study, who is the director of the human performance laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. "Now look at him. He's the springiest guy in Spain. He's Tigger. We don't yet understand what combination of genes creates that kind of explosiveness."

Foster suggested another way to determine if a child will be good at sprint and power sports. "Just line them up with their classmates for a race and see which ones are the fastest," he said.

Kevin Reilly, the president of Atlas Sports Genetics and a former weight-lifting coach, expected the test to be controversial. He said some people were concerned that it would cause "a rebirth of eugenics, similar to what Hitler did in trying to create this race of perfect athletes."

Reilly said he feared what he called misuse by parents who go overboard with the results and specialize their children too quickly and fervently.

"I'm nervous about people who get back results that don't match their expectations," he said. "What will they do if their son would not be good at football? How will they mentally and emotionally deal with that?"

Reilly insisted that the test is one tool of many that can help children realize their athletic potential. It may even keep an overzealous father from pushing his son to be a quarterback if his genes indicate otherwise, Reilly said.

If ACTN3 suggests a child may be a great athlete, he said, parents should take a step back and nurture that potential Olympian or NFL star with careful nutrition, coaching and planning. He also said they should hold off on placing a child in a competitive environment until about the age of 8 to avoid burnout.

"Based on the test of a 5-year-old or a newborn, you are not going to see if you have the next Michael Johnson; that's just not going to happen," Reilly said. "But if you wait until high school or college to find out if you have a good athlete on your hands, by then it will be too late. We need to identify these kids from 1 and up, so we can give the parents some guidelines on where to go from there."

Boyd Epley, a former strength and conditioning coach at the University of Nebraska, said the next step would be a physical test he devised. Atlas plans to direct children to Epic Athletic Performance, a talent identification company that uses Epley's index. He founded the company; Reilly is its president.

China and Russia, Epley said, identify talent in the very young and whittle the pool of athletes until only the best remain for the national teams.

"This is how we could stay competitive with the rest of the world," Epley said of genetic and physical testing. "It could, at the very least, provide you with realistic goals for you and your children."

The ACTN3 test has been available through the Australian company Genetic Technologies since 2004. The company has marketed the test in Australia, Europe and Japan, but is now entering the United States through Atlas. The testing kit was scheduled to be available starting Monday through the Web site atlasgene.com.

The analysis takes two to three weeks, and the results arrive in the form of a certificate announcing Your Genetic Advantage, whether it is in sprint, power and strength sports; endurance sports; or activity sports (for those with one copy of each variant, and perhaps a combination of strengths). A packet of educational information suggests sports that are most appropriate and what paths to follow so the child reaches his or her potential.

"I find it worrisome because I don't think parents will be very clear-minded about this," said William Morgan, an expert on the philosophy of ethics and sport and author of "Why Sports Morally Matter." "This just contributes to the madness about sports because there are some parents who will just go nuts over the results.

"The problem here is that the kids are not old enough to make rational autonomous decisions about their own life," he said.

Some parents will steer clear of the test for that reason.

Dr. Ray Howe, a general practitioner in Denver, said he would rather see his 2-year-old, Joseph, find his own way in life and discover what sports he likes the best. Howe, a former professional cyclist, likened ACTN3 testing to gene testing for breast cancer or other diseases.

"You might be able to find those things out, but do you really want to know?" he said.

Others, like Lori Lacy, 36, said genetic testing would be inevitable. Lacy, who lives in Broomfield, Colorado, has three children ranging in age from 2 months to 5 years.

"Parents will start to say, 'I know one mom who's doing the test on her son, so maybe we should do the test too,' " she said.

"Peer pressure and curiosity would send people over the edge. What if my son could be a pro football player and I don't know it?"

Win Win!

2008-11-22T19:39:00.000-08:00

Tonight was a win-win.

If we had won, we would have won and ruined Utah's season. Satisfying.

Since we lost, we still win since we get some conference BCS money--500,000 I think. Hey, I'm not proud, I'll take it.

Good luck Utah in your BCS bowl game. I feel sick. I was going to travel to that BCS bowel game no matter where it was and tell my grandkids about it. That was supposed to be our bowl game. I feel sick.

5 turnovers?!?!

BYU Basketball Online in High Def (Is there HD for internet streaming? If not BYU TV looks pretty darn close to HD)

2008-11-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

For all your cougar fans out there, just wanted to let you know that BYU TV is showing some of the men's basketball games on the channel, and if you don't get the channel then you can watch it online at www.byu.tv or http://www.byutv.org/streaming/ (if you go to the latter link, just click on "BYU TELEVISION Tune In Now" right in the middle of the screen). The online quality is awesome (and no I'm not being sarcastic). I know BYU plays two more basketball games tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday, and both games will be online or on the channel. Enjoy.

Also, here is a link to BYU's schedule: http://www.byucougars.com/Schedule.jsp?SP=111 The schedule shows which games are broadcast on BYU TV.

And one final plug for BYU TV. They also have archives of True Blue (If you've never seen it you should definitely watch an episode) and highlights of recent football and basketball games.

Obamarama

2008-11-17T00:29:00.000-08:00

I'll be outright and open on this: I'm not a fan of Obama. But this is the first major policy initiative of his that I can stand behind. What do you guys think? Do you dislike him throwing his influence around to change sports? Quiz Show helped shape some thoughts. But in general, I think the NCAA is a corrupt money-driven organization. You can say the same about our politicians. So do I really mind that the next President wants to improve (IMO) a horribly run NCAA? Not at all. This is the only thing I hope he can pull off in the next four years. My only fear though is if he does, it will significantly boost his possibility of reelection...

From an ESPN article:
Obama said he will use his influence to create such a [playoff] system.

"If you've got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there's no clear decisive winner. We should be creating a playoff system," he told reporter Steve Kroft.

According to Obama's proposed system, eight teams would play over three rounds to settle the national champion.

"It would add three extra weeks to the season," he said at the conclusion of a wide-ranging interview. "You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So, I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do."

How do you get an ACC team to lose?

2008-11-15T23:35:00.001-08:00

So Casey can vouch for me, but I called this about three or four weeks ago. So how do you guarantee an ACC team will lose? Rank them in the top 25 (as always this also shows what a farce the ranking system is).

Week 12 (I've placed the rank team to the left not necessarily the home team):
#16 NC vs Maryland 15 - 17 LOSS
#19 Florida State vs BC 17 - 27 LOSS
#24 Wake vs NC State 17 - 21 LOSS

Week 11
*GT and NC were both ranked so don't count
#21 Florida State vs Clemson 41 - 27 WIN
#23 Maryland vs Virginia Tech 13 - 23 LOSS

Week 10
#15 Florida State vs GT 28 - 31 LOSS

Week 9
#18 GT vs Virginia 17 - 24 LOSS
#25 Florida State vs VTech 30 - 20 WIN

Week 8
#17 VTech vs BC 23 - 28 LOSS
#18 NC vs Virginia 13 - 16 LOSS
#21 Wake Forest vs Maryland 0 - 26 LOSS

Week 7
#21 Wake vs Clemson 12 - 7 WIN
#22 NC vs Notre Lame 29 - 24 WIN

Week 6
#20 VTech vs Western Kentucky 27 - 13 WIN
#24 UConn vs NC 12 - 38 LOSS

Week 5
#20 Clemson vs Maryland 17 - 20 LOSS
#16 Wake vs Navy 17 - 24 LOSS

Week 4
#23 Clemson vs South Carolina State 54 - 0 win but we are not counting DII schools
*both Wake and Florida State ranked

Week 3
No ACC Teams ranked with a game (this trend should have continued, but they kept throwing someone back in the rankings)

Week 2
#20 Wake vs Mississippi 30 - 28 WIN

Week 1
#9 Clemson vs #24 Alabama 10 - 24 LOSS
#17 VTech vs E Carolina 22 - 27 LOSS
#23 Wake vs Baylor 41 - 13 WIN

7 WINS and 14 LOSSES OVERALL
3 WINS and 11 LOSSES in ACC play
So the iron is particularly hot when you have a conference game and you are ranked...

And to evaluate those non ACC wins: Baylor (4-7), Mississippi (6-4), Western Kentucky (2-9 I thought they were DII, but they are independent), and Notre Lame (6-4).

But it begs the question (that was for Ben), why do the teams keep getting ranked? Is it because the team that gets ranked is really dominant and deserves to be ranked or because the ACC is a BCS conference and should have a team ranked so they keep throwing votes at the problem?

Invention

2008-11-10T19:19:00.000-08:00

This may not revolutionize football, but I'm saying if someone has time, we could make some money. We need to invent a mouthpiece holder on football helmets. Half of football nowadays is seemingly style (see thin arm bands placed above elbows, etc), and the mouthpieces that connect to the facemask seem out of style; the detached ones seem in, and everyone spends half the time cramming there mouthpieces into their facemask.

MWC dominates the BCS

2008-11-08T16:50:00.000-08:00

This has got to be a telling stat. The Mountain West Conference is 9 -4 against BCS conference teams this season.

The wins came against: Washington, Stanford, UCLA, Oregon State, Tennessee, Iowa State, Arizona State, Michigan, Arizona

The losses came from: Cal, Okalahoma, Texas A&M, Colorado

Now I'll admit that none of the wins came against any of the premier BCS teams; however, just to think that UNLV, who is 2-0 versus the BCS and 0-5 versus MWC teams, would have a better season playing in the Big XII or the Pac 10 is interesting. Also note that many of these wins were from the bottom dwellers of the MWC, which tells me that the MWC is definitely more balanced than many of the BCS conferences, and this year is superior to several of the conferences.

Of the Pac 10, ACC, and Big East there is only ONE team, one team from those 3 power conferences that has a team ranked higher than the top THREE MWC teams. Simply put, of the 30 teams that make up the Pac 10, ACC, and Big East; USC is the only team ranked ahead of BYU which is the THIRD highest ranked MWC team.

If the MWC doesn't deserve an automatic bid in the BCS when they have 3 teams ranked in the top 15 of the BCS, while ONLY the Big XII has more teams ranked in the top 15 than the MWC; then the BCS is an absolute joke. Okay, that's a foregone conclusion. But seriously, with statistics like this, how does the media conveniently and constantly forget about this conference?

Top 10 Fringe World Titles

2008-10-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

As I am still in a funk from the BYU-TCU game, I figured I would post something that is the furthest you can get from football.

Greatest Sports Video Compilation Ever

2008-10-16T23:39:00.000-07:00

I think we've all seen this, but it needs to be up on the blog for inspirational purposes.

BoSox

2008-10-16T23:29:00.000-07:00

As I sit here and seethe over The-Game-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, I want to write about something sports, just not what just happened to our beloved Cougs.

What do we think? Are the Red Sox of recent history the greatest postseason comeback sports team we know? I know they have a long ways to go to win this series, but let's look at things since 2004:

2004 ALCS - Come back from the "impossible" 3-0 to the Yanks and go on to win the World Series.
2007 ALCS - Come back from 3-1 to the Indians to go on and win the World Series.
2008 ALCS - Pull off the second largest postseason deficit in MLB history (7-0 in the 7th) to win the game.

Based on how the Rays are playing, I doubt the Sox will advance, but still...

Unrelated question: Why does Kevin Youkilis grip the bat the way he does?

BYU and the Kings

2008-10-15T21:24:00.001-07:00

The Sacramento Kings old basketball coach apparently is a huge fan of Bronco Mendenhall and BYU. Eric Musselman has a blog and he has posted about the Bronco several times. Check it out: http://emuss.blogspot.com/

I doubt Phil Jackson or Jerry Sloan are BYU fans.

Go Cougs!!!

Someone at ESPN said what?

2008-10-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

After I saw a sportscenter highlight a while back, that featured BYU, that was introduced with a montage of the Washington State game weeks after it was played, I was completly sure of the big network bias. I think they're just pissed that the MWC chose to have their own network for sports rather than sign with ESPN, but that's for another time. . .

I was very suprised that someone from ESPN actually gave the cougars a chance at the BCS National Championship game. (See the last section of the link)

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/notebook?page=iform0808&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

"Hell?. . . is that you? Why is it cold in here?"

Poor Cubs Fans

2008-10-08T07:38:00.000-07:00

Just saw this on eBay...a Cubbies fan auctioning his loyalty to the team!

Looks like it was removed. Good catch, Casey.

I was listening to Sportscenter while taking care of stuff around the condo today, and apparently this Cubs fan was "selling" his loyalty to the Cubs on eBay. I guess he was going to produce a video of him burning all of his cubs apparel, posters, etc and of him buying all new jerseys, etc for his "new" team of choice.

I guess when I think about it, the winner of that auction should get all of the guy's Cubs stuff, but I suppose it's his choice...

Worst Sportscaster Ever

2008-10-06T00:02:00.000-07:00

This has been on the internet for a while, but a friend recently reintroduced it to me... absolutely hilarious. In a make-you-awkward-like-watching-the-Office sort of way.

Moving Mountain West into BCS title picture

2008-10-01T15:28:00.001-07:00

Great article depicting how the BCS isn't letting the best teams play...

read more | digg story

'Witchcraft' claim sparked deadly soccer riot

2008-09-28T08:43:00.001-07:00

from CNN.com:

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) -- Accusations that a soccer player was using witchcraft during a match in eastern Congo sparked a riot that killed 13 people, a U.N.-funded radio station reported Monday.

Most of the victims were between the ages of 11 and 16, Radio Okapi said. They were suffocated as panicked crowds ran for the exits during the mayhem Sunday in Butembo in eastern Congo's North Kivu province.

Radio Okapi said police tried to control the violence at Matokeo stadium by firing into the air to protect their commander, who was hit in the head and wounded by fans.

The two local clubs involved were Socozaki and Nyuki System, the radio said.

Dozens of teenagers marched through Butembo's dirt streets Monday in protest, and the regional governor, Julien Mpaluku, paid a visit to the hospital.

Mpaluku said the government was investigating.

He made no mention of witchcraft, but confirmed that soldiers had fired into the air to calm angry crowds. The shooting prompted panic instead, which became fatal "when the crowds all tried to leave at the same time."

"Most of the dead were children, only two or three were adults," Mpaluku said.

North Kivu has been the epicenter of violence between Congo's army and rebels over the last year which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

Monson: RM debate only crops up when BYU wins

2008-09-24T13:01:00.001-07:00

Interesting take on the debate over whether being returned missionaries is an unfair advantage for BYU football players.

read more | digg story

Another One

2008-09-16T07:58:00.001-07:00

http://www.cougarfan.com/article.asp?ArtID=48813&URL=http://bleacherreport.com/articles/57903-bringham-young-and-the-mountain-west-conference-deserve-national-attention

BYU and MWC

2008-09-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

Podcast about BYU and the MWC

Conference Rankings

2008-09-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

http://realtimerpi.com/football/ncaaf_conf_Men.html

This website's stats backup my earlier post.

Kirk Hops on the Bandwagon...Sort of

2008-09-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

MWC > PAC10

2008-09-13T23:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a huge weekend for the MWC. At least it should have been, but of course all the ESPN losers will completely overlook this interesting fact.

The MWC played 4 games against the Pac 10, and guess what, the MWC won all 4 games. And on the entire season, the MWC has played 5 games against the Pac 10 and won all 5 games.

Washington, Stanford, UCLA, Arizona State, and Arizona were the victims. They may not be the powerhouse of the Pac 10, but neither are UNLV and New Mexico.

Later in the season a MWC team will also play Oregon State. But regardless, by my count the MWC dominated play against the Pac 10.

The BCS is weak, and this proves it. So someone again try and tell me either how the WAC is better than the MWC, when our conference won more games against BCS opponents this weekend than the WAC did in all of last year, or that the MWC is an inferrior conference to the Pac 10.

Holy Crap.

2008-09-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

That was as close to a perfect game as these eyes will ever see.

BYU Defense

2008-09-12T14:11:00.001-07:00

I'm sure I'm not in the minority thinking that BYU's defense is horrible; however, I came across an interesting statistic. The numbers don't change my mind that our secondary is terrible, but it does give me slightly more hope for the season.

BYU allowed Locker the fifth lowest number of yards (62), the third lowest yards per carry (3.4) and the second shortest long run (17) even though he had his second highest number of carries of his career (18).

And here's an important number left out of the article, Locker has started 15 games. So what do you make of these numbers?

ps. I got these stats from Dick Harmon.

Hockey Eh?

2008-09-09T23:57:00.000-07:00

Read Here

This cracks me up. Bulgaria's women's hockey team lost a match 82-0. The part that kills me is they don't want to recogize the goalies amazing 57 saves. So funny because I just picture this fat girl sitting in as goalie and all 57 saves are the times she was actually hit by the puck. I bet she cringes remembering all 57 of those. So funny...

Armstrong to Compete in '09 Tour?

2008-09-09T15:18:00.001-07:00

I was reading this article on ESPN.com (admittedly I haven't read the full thing), about Armstrong coming back for the 2009 Tour de France.

I don't know enough about the cycling landscape to know how this is being viewed. With the plummeting reputation of cycling (the result of disqualifications of famous riders due to doping charges, etc), the return of a star this big would probably help, but is it enough to help bolster cycling back to where it was? What if Lance competes and does horrible? How does he go about finding a team? Are there tryouts?

Ben? Nartker?

The Art & Science of Wheelchair B-Ball

2008-09-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

I'll just make this easier and post a link to the NY Times story.

Game Changing Performance

2008-09-08T17:06:00.001-07:00

http://promo.espn.go.com/espn/contests/pontiacgcp/

Vote for the Cougars for the Game Changing Performance of the Week.

30 feet = "High"

2008-09-08T10:17:00.000-07:00

Let's be honest with ourselves here. BYU outplayed UW all day. Our defense looked bad, but our offense was unstoppable. If Harvey doesn't uncharacteristically fumble (considering he fumbled once last year) into the endzone then we win easy.

As far as "the penatly" goes, Locker broke a rule, which is not a new rule. It may be a dumb rule, but the rule was enforced. Which makes me wonder, if Locker would have been called on this in the 1st quarter would it have mattered? Of course not. Now suddenly college football is suppose to pick and choose when to call penalties like the NBA does? Last I checked 3 steps in the first quarter and 3 steps with 5 seconds left is still traveling and should be a turnover.

On top of that, all the ESPN losers that say he "flipped the ball over his shoulder" prove that they either didn't watch the game at all, so they should shut their faces; they are completely biased toward the BCS; or most likely, they are completely retarded.

And since when did a 30 yard field goal from straight on become a big deal? I wish UW would take some responsibility and realized that UW special teams lost the game not Jake Locker for throwing the ball.

Game 1 Thoughts

2008-09-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

Just off the top of my head.

Second-half Fumbles A Good Thing

Despite the anxiety that a 27-17 lead against Northern Iowa caused me (I believe I blacked out at one point and had to be revived with an oxygen tank), I think the reason that it was closer than it should have been (our mistakes: fumbles) will serve us well for the rest of the season because they served as a reminder. I think if we had continued with the momentum we had in the first half and annihilated NIU, we would have gone into UW almost too confident. The fumbles reminded us that "yeah, we're good, and yeah, we have an extremely high-powered offense, BUT we still need to protect the ball no matter who the opponent is." I think it was good.

Pitta Better Than Harline?

This may have already been a point of discussion last year, and too early in this season to tell already, but Pitta was an absolute beast. Harline will forever be etched in BYU fans' minds because of the catch, and he was undoubtedly a beast at tight end, but I think Pitta will put up some crazy stats.

Other input? Thoughts?

Tomato

2008-08-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

Not exactly a sport, but a good reason to visit Spain

Photos here

Too Good to Play?

2008-08-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

Has anybody heard of this 9-year old baseball player?

Seeing as most kids that play little league baseball aren't going to make the pros, I'm guessing that at least part of what they should get out of playing little league is effort, perseverance, etc. Is banning this kid that "throws too hard" the solution? What does that teach the other kids? I'm assuming that he isn't intentionally aiming for kids; and, if he is this good, I'm guessing he's also accurate.

Or, could they just move him up to an older age group?

LPGA has Balls

2008-08-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

How ironic is it that the league with the largest amount of "testicular fortitude" is lacking in the literal possesion of said physcial trait?

I applaud the LPGA Tour for coming out recently with plans for a new policy requiring all memebers with at least 2 years seniority on Tour to be able to speak enough English to conduct post tournament interviews, interact with playing partners at Pro-Am tours, etc. It's an American based tour and they have a right to set a standard of performance to be able to participate.

It's not politically correct from many angles. . . and it's really about money. If the sponsors hadn't complained about the lack of communication ability from players this would never be an issue. Money talks. . and in this case it speaks English. . . or enough to answer a few questions from Bob Costas and the golf channel. The lack of PC'ness, if you will, is one reason I like the move so much. I wish the gates leading into California echoed the same sentiment as past Presidents of the United States when they talked about integrating into American society and learning the language.

Three cheers for the LPGA for setting a policy they think will be good for their league without bowing to outside pressures. . . for now.

Agreed?

Further Proof

2008-08-27T16:48:00.000-07:00

This chart is courtesy of Freakanomics. This chart shows how many golds per million inhabitants for the different countries. Not that this is definitively the way to say who "won" the Olympics. But I was wondering does any country appear a little suspicious? Any country standing out? Especially considering Bahrais Olympian says he is a Moroccan (I dont' know if Morocco can't compete or something that he competed for Bahrain).

Sex Symbols

2008-08-25T22:17:00.000-07:00

The use of sex to sell sports is obvious (being a sports blog I had to bring sports in somehow), but now it is spreading to education... Just shameless...

Max Hall in NY Times

2008-08-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

Feisty Quarterback Could Help B.Y.U. Crash the B.C.S.

Jamaican Juice

2008-08-18T18:22:00.000-07:00

Someone had to say it. There is no way. Things don't happen like that for a whole country without it being a little too coincidental.

So first piece of evidence...no one from Jamaica has ever won the 100m. They win the mens by a landslide (we'll get to that) and the women sweep. Suspicious?

Second, the woman who won took second at world championships and that was it. No prior accomplishments in the women's 100.

Third, no country has ever swept the 100 since 1912 (back then only like five countries competed anyways).

Fourth, Bolt jogged the last twenty meters or so and could have posted a much faster time. As it stands he broke the record by 5 hundredths of a second. Since 1990 the most anyone had broken the record by was five hundredths of a second. And they gave it their all. None of this, "oh I'm winning by a full second I better slow it down" type garbage.

Fifth, Bolt has been running the 100 for a year.

So as much as I want to be amazed by Bolts greatness, common sense prevents me from giving any congratulations. This is about as obvious as Bonds blasting homers as he turned 40. In a similar fashion, I can't congratulate China on their women's team medal with the girls fresh out of diapers (although mad props for the men, they were amazing).

I'm not saying Bolt (or rather the country of Jamaica) will get caught, but this is definitely Balco ... on steroids.

Dolphin Kick Gives Swimmers Edge

2008-08-15T05:00:00.001-07:00

Found this on www.npr.org. Interesting stuff about the "dolphin kick" that Olympic swimmers use.

Some Olympians Dissatisfied With Religious Center

2008-08-14T04:54:00.000-07:00

I won't fully post because it's a bit long, but if you're interested:

Some Olympians Dissatisfied With Religious Center

They interviewed an LDS guy; at least for a bit.

Cougars, Utes expect to compete for MWC title, BCS berth

2008-08-13T15:20:00.000-07:00

My only question is: How are the Utes in this discussion?
______________
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview08/news/story?id=3529952

Few football rivalries around the country combine the fierceness of the gridiron with the passion of religion like BYU and Utah, and this year their rivalry could have an impact of national proportions. No Mountain West team has accomplished an undefeated, BCS bowl season since Utah in 2004, but the Cougars and Utes have the rosters and the schedules to be the conference's hope in the BCS standings.

The schools have battled on the football field for 86 years -- or 112 if you go by Utah's records -- but few outside know the depth of the rivalry and the contempt each team has for the other. That could change this season as the finale on Nov. 22 could mean the difference between an undefeated record and BCS berth.

"In the state, [the rivalry] is one of the most fierce things I've ever witnessed of any of the places that I've coached," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "There isn't a gray area here. No in-between. You're either a BYU fan or a Utah fan."

During the early part of the season, Utah has a chance to make a name for itself with games against Michigan and Oregon State, while BYU will face Pac-10 foes Washington and UCLA. Those are important stepping-stones toward gaining momentum and prestige heading into a Mountain West Conference that BYU has swept each of the last two seasons, including dramatic wins over Utah during the final games of the season.

But as great as BYU has been over the last two seasons -- 11 wins in 2006 and 2007 -- the Cougars have never generated as much buzz as they have this preseason. As luck would have it and in true rivalry fashion, Utah, which won eight of its last nine to finish 9-4 last season, returns almost all of its starters and is attempting to wrestle the spotlight away from its neighbors to the South.

It's easy to dismiss this rivalry because it doesn't have the immediate pizzazz of an Alabama-Auburn or a Florida State-Miami, but it's as rich in tradition and as heated as any rivalry in the country.

The game is often referred to as the "Holy War" because of BYU's affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and because Utah is owned by the state, the whole week leading up to the contest tends to take on a church vs. State undertone.

"I think one of the reasons that makes the rivalry so fierce is both teams are having success, No. 1, but the second thing is any time you have religion or faith into any topic, it would be similar to politics, the emotions that it brings out in people are just unreal," Mendenhall said.

During the opening contest between Utah and Brigham Young Academy in 1896 there was a full-scale brawl in the stands. BYU actually dropped football from its program for the next 26 years.

In the 1990s there were more brawls -- some between fans, some between players and some between players and fans. In 1998, BYU linebacker Derik Stevenson attacked a fan in the crowd who was harassing his father. A year later in Provo, a Cougar fan jumped out of the stands and attacked a Utah male cheerleader who was running around the field with a Utah flag after a Utah touchdown. The cheerleader proceeded to beat the fan until police separated the two.

The violence moved from the stands to the message boards and every year each campus braces for the defacing of property by the opposing school's fans. Even Utah coach Kyle Whittingham endures scrutiny because he graduated from BYU, which only adds to the intense nature of this rivalry.

"I don't think there's anything friendly about it," Mendenhall said. "[Utah] Coach Whittingham and I, I think, have a professional relationship and one of respect. But that's the extent of it.

"Both of us have to be careful how we describe [the rivalry] because no matter what we say it will end up with someone taking it out of context. You really can't make the rivalry bigger than it already is."

These teams are 9-9 in the last two decades and 10 of the last 11 games have been decided by a touchdown or less.

In last year's game, BYU quarterback Max Hall found receiver Austin Collie for a 49-yard gain on fourth and 18 with 1:34 remaining in the fourth quarter. Harvey Unga rushed for an 11-yard touchdown with 38 seconds remaining to give BYU a 17-10 win.

BYU returns almost all of its offense from a year ago and is ranked No. 17 in the preseason coaches' poll. BYU also holds the nation's longest winning streak at 10 games.

Whittingham said this year's offense is the deepest he's had in his four seasons with the program. The Utes were decimated by injuries last season, but all of those players are back and the young players who stepped in now provide depth.

If these schools are as good as most predict, the game on Nov. 22 could be one that has fans and non-fans alike glued to their televisions, giving the Mountain West a much-needed boost in prestige both by BCS schools and within the non-BCS.

"In a perfect situation, that's the ideal scenario, to have that game come down to the championship every year," Whittingham said. "That's what college football's all about. When you have the opportunity to decide a conference championship against your No. 1 rival, I don't think it gets any better than that."

2 in 1

2008-08-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

To begin, let me just say I LOVE Jonathan Horton. I can’t get enough of this guy, as Jenna observed, I have a serious man crush. Not only is this guy a sick gymnast (he stuck everything yesterday), he’s proud as hell to be an American. This guy was trying to single handedly bring down communism in the gym. Every time the camera is on him he’s yelling “Go USA!” He’s like a GI Joe, minus 9 inches. I’m all about the team/school/country spirit and I’ve never seen anyone who had more of it than this dude.

Next, and completely irrelevant, is China dominating the shooting events. They’ve won 5 medals out of 7 events. First off, I hardly consider shooting to be a sport. It requires no endurance, speed, nor strength. All you need is accuracy. But doesn’t darts and pool only require the same attribute, accuracy? So shooting shouldn’t be an Olympic sport just like darts and pool aren’t. Second of all, how are we not dominating shooting? Are there not more killings with guns in the USA than in any other 1st world county? And how many gun totting hillbillies do we have running around West Virginia, capable of shooting a bee in flight from 100yards? Not only is the USA gun crazy but China is completely opposite. Guns are outlawed in China! No public citizen is allowed to have a gun. So where on earth are they learning to use these things? I don’t care how embarrassing it might be to have a shooting team comprised of Pacman Jones and Larry the Cable Guy, let’s put the right to bear arms to use.

GO USA!

NY Times: "Let the Games Be Doped"

2008-08-12T06:10:00.000-07:00

From The NY Times. Nartker wrote on a different angle of doping or PEDs or whatever. No "blueberries in their shorts" analogies. Unfortunate:
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/science/12tier.html?8dpc

Let the Games Be Doped

By JOHN TIERNEY
August 11, 2008

Once upon a time, the lords of the Olympic Games believed that the only true champion was an amateur, a gentleman hobbyist untainted by commerce. Today they enforce a different ideal. The winners of the gold medals are supposed to be natural athletes, untainted by technology. After enough “scandals,” the amateur myth eventually died of its own absurdity. The natural myth is still alive in Beijing, but it’s becoming so far-fetched — and potentially dangerous — that some scientists and ethicists would like to abandon it, too.

What if we let athletes do whatever they wanted to excel?

Before you dismiss this notion, consider what we’re stuck with today. The system is ostensibly designed to create a level playing field, protect athletes’ health and set an example for children, but it fails on all counts.

The journal Nature, in an editorial in the current issue, complains that “antidoping authorities have fostered a sporting culture of suspicion, secrecy and fear” by relying on unscientifically calibrated tests, like the unreliable test for synthetic testosterone that cost Floyd Landis his 2006 Tour de France victory. Even if the authorities manage to correct their tests, they can’t possibly keep up with the accelerating advances in biology. Some athletes are already considering new drugs like Aicar and GW1516, which made news recently when researchers at the Salk Institute used them to quickly turn couch-potato mice into treadmill champions with new, strong muscles.

“There’s a possibility that athletes in this Olympics will be using these drugs,” said Ronald Evans, the leader of the team at Salk, who has been fending off inquiries from athletes about these drugs. He has advised the antidoping authorities on how to detect these drugs, but whether they’ll be able do it competently this Olympics is far from clear.

The authorities will have even less of a chance of catching athletes who move beyond drugs and hormones to “gene doping” — inserting genes in their DNA that could increase strength and endurance without leaving telltale chemicals in the bloodstream.

There’s no proof that this would work, but that won’t stop competitors. As Science News reported, a track coach in Germany was caught looking for Repoxygen, an experimental virus used to insert a gene into DNA.

So what we have now is not a level playing field. The system punishes some innocent athletes and rewards others with the savvy and the connections not to get caught. The more that the authorities crack down on known forms of enhancement, the more incentive athletes have to experiment with new ones — and to get their advice from black-market dealers instead of doctors.

If athletes didn’t have to cheat to win, they and society would be better off, says Bengt Kayser, the director of a sports medicine institute at the University of Geneva. In a 2005 article in The Lancet, he and two bioethicists argued that legalizing doping would “encourage more sensible, informed use of drugs in amateur sport, leading to an overall decline in the rate of health problems associated with doping.”

In the British Medical Journal last month, more than 30 scholars signed a statement supporting an article co-authored by Dr. Kayser calling the current system a failure that needs to be changed. The article also criticized the medical authorities for undermining their credibility with “prophylactic lies” that exaggerate the dangers of drugs like anabolic steroids based “on scant evidence tainted by a misguided moralistic motivation to protect sports.”

No one denies that there are risks in taking drugs like anabolic steroids, and there is wide agreement that minors shouldn’t be allowed to take them (or other performance drugs). But the popular fear of steroid use by adults is based in large part on a few sensationalized cases, like the news articles blaming steroids for the fatal brain tumor of Lyle Alzado, the former football player.

“You’d be on firmer scientific ground blaming his brain cancer on beer drinking,” said Norman Fost, a professor of pediatrics and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin. “The claims of the common fatal or irreversible harms of anabolic steroids are without any medical foundation. There’s no reason to think the risk of injury or death is as high as the risk from simply playing sports like football or baseball.”

It’s possible, of course, that gene doping or other techniques could turn out to be much riskier. But is that a reason to ban them? Society has always allowed explorers and adventurers to take risks in exchange for glory. The climbers who died on K2 this month ascended it knowing that one climber dies for every four who scale it.

If elite adult athletes were allowed to push the limits of human performance in return for glory, they might point the way for lesser mortals to coax more out of their bodies. If a 50-year-old sprinter could figure out how to run as fast as her 25-year-old self, that could be useful to aging weekend warriors — or any aging couch potato.

I’d like to see what would happen if someone started a new anything-goes competition for athletes over 25. If you have any ideas for how to run it or what to call it — MaxMatch? UltraSports? Mutant Games? — submit them at nytimes.com/tierneylab. Maybe fans would object to these “unnatural” athletes. But maybe not. The fans, after all, include people with laser-corrected eyes, chemically whitened teeth and surgically enhanced anatomies. Not to mention the pharmacopeia coursing through our veins.

We all know the body can be improved. We all know Olympic athletes have the highest-functioning bodies in the world. They can call themselves natural, just as they used to call themselves amateurs, but at some point that claim may seem the most unnatural thing of all.

UCLA's Olsen Hurt -- Again

2008-08-12T05:52:00.000-07:00

I swear, this guy is more brittle than Samuel L. Jackson's character in Unbreakable.

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http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3528767

LOS ANGELES -- UCLA quarterback Ben Olson will have surgery on his broken right foot, an injury that's expected to keep him out for at least two months.

The decision was announced Monday -- a day after the left-handed senior learned he had fractured the fifth metatarsal in his foot for the second time in four months. The surgery will be performed Tuesday, when Olson will have a screw placed in his foot to assist in the healing.

Olson is expected to miss at least five games. Kevin Craft, a transfer from Mt. San Antonio College, and redshirt freshman Chris Forcier are expected to compete for the Bruins' starting quarterback job.

UCLA opens its season at home against Tennessee on Sept. 1. First-year coach Rick Neuheisel said the Bruins will need to have a starter in place at least a week before facing the Volunteers.

Olson was injured when he faked a handoff Saturday before taking a misstep. It was just the latest in a long time of injuries.

"I knew something was wrong," he said in a teleconference call. "I was hoping I only tweaked it a little bit. It's definitely been tough. You're not able to accomplish the goals you set. It's very frustrating because it seems every year that my progression as a quarterback has been halted by injury. But whining and complaining about things and asking 'Why did this happen to me?' does no good. You have to push forward."

Olson said he expects to return to action this season.

"It's a crushing blow to the young man," Neuheisel said. "He put so much time and effort into the program, it's just unfortunate. Sometimes you have a hard time understanding why things happen."

Patrick Cowan, who took over when Olson was sidelined by injury last season and was expected to be the No. 1 quarterback, had surgery after injuring his knee in spring practice and will miss the season.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

Future of Cycling

2008-08-10T08:14:00.001-07:00

Since there has been a dearth of posts about endurance sports here, I thought I would comment about a great story from the recent Tour de France.

As you may or may not but should know, Floyd Landis won the 06 Tour de France, was found to have synthetic Testosterone in his blood (after an important stage win), and was stripped of his title. A while ago, Floyd Landis lost his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for sports. Now, Landis has maintained his innocence throughout the process meaning that he is a liar, or that he is the victim of foulplay. Interestingly, the Court of Arbitration has 3 judges, and the 1 dissenting judge noted:

"as this case demonstrates, even when an athlete proves there are serious errors in a laboratory’s document package that refute an adverse analytical finding, it will be extremely difficult for an athlete to prevail in these types of proceedings. Therefore, it is imperative that WADA Accredited Laboratories abide by the highest scientific standards." and "Given the plethora of laboratory errors in this case, there was certainly no reliable scientific evidence introduced to find that Mr. Landis committed a doping offence."

I would not discount the possibility of foulplay given that the French hate americans for dominating their sport, and that the anti-doping police are run by the French and target Americans 25-40% more than anyone else (I just made up that statistic arbitrarily, but it would be hard to disprove! See http://byudalton.blogspot.com/ for more arbitrary statistics). Cycling is holy and beloved to the French. It would be like a French football team beating our superbowl champs each year.

I'm not going to talk about Landis' case. I want to talk about a new American cycling team Slipstream. They were organized and committed to competing cleanly. Most pro teams are tested 10x a year--team Slipstream is tested about once a week. They are tested not only for illict drugs, but their hematocrit and hormone levels are also tracked to make sure there are no abnormalities.
They have been racing around the US and doing very well for years. This year they were invited to compete in the Tour de France, one of only 3 non-ProTour teams to get in. And even more amazingly led by an awesome cyclist Christian Vandevelde, they placed 5th overall, the top American team at the tour.
They are now sponsored by Garmin and Chipotle, and they are a team to watch. They could respresent the future of cycling and endurance sports, which is as much about changing the culture as it is about not doping.

This is a great article from Outside magazine about the team. Take a read:

http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200807/cycling-doping-slipstream-1.html

Artificial Exercise?

2008-08-10T07:56:00.000-07:00

I know this is a long clip to listen to, but I found it super interesting. Here's the description, at the very least:

Could popping a pill turn you into a long-distance runner? Researchers report that they have identified two signaling pathways that are turned on in response to exercise — and that artificially turning those pathways on in mice produced rodents with much greater endurance.

Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93158262

Team Hoyt

2008-08-04T05:56:00.000-07:00

I'm not into the marathon/ironman stuff, but this is one of the best stories I've seen in a while.

Let the Games Begin

2008-08-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

Let me be clear and upfront with my bias; I don't really care for professional sports. There are some amazingly talented individuals and historic moments in professional sports. But the "love of money" spurns me away from the pros. I don't care to fully define the term now, but let Donaghee, Notre Lame (yes its even in college football but not nearly as much), NY Yankees, Latrell Sprewell, Balco etc. serve as examples of different aspects of it. But again this is not where I'm headed...

For me the summer months are void of sports. Not only are summer sports lame (cue Casey to pipe in about baseball being the purest, most holy form of sport), but summer television is horrible (America's Got Talent is the #1 program..are we kidding?). My bunny ears only get five channels and I try to limit TV time so I'm really not complaining too much. But when the wife is trying to cue up another session of Oprah its nice to have a game to challenge with.

So my sports season runs from the first game of college football to the end of March Madness. But thanks to the Olympics, the sport season starts some three weeks early. And given Chinas handling of things, more drama than a steamy soap opera may be in store... Let the Games Begin!

(photo courtesy of AFP, but I grabbed it from the economist, which begs the question, when is the blog going to send me onsite for photography?)

Senior NFL

2008-07-31T23:11:00.000-07:00

Jenna took me to lunch today at a pizza joint, and since I no longer have ESPN I was sort of pumped to watch some sports during my break, except the only sport that rivals the WNBA in worthlessness was on - the Senior PGA.

Now I'm not a big golf fan but I still respect the sport. But why does this league exist? When you're broken down and you can't swing the wrenches with the best of 'em, join a rec league or do charity events, but become a Senior Professional? What is that anyway?

I can't think of any other sport that has a Senior league. There's no Senior MLB or NBA, but maybe that's what we need. What could possible be more exciting than a group of 65 year old terds throwing around the pigskin with one Ray Lewis in the group, ie Jack Nicklaus. One man who somehow preserved his youth and just enjoys lighting up the geezers even though he could still hang in the NFL.

But seriously, since that will never happen why not atleast make the sport somewhat relevant and have the Senior PGA strictly play against the LPGA. Wouldn't that be cute, Michelle Wie paired up with the Golden Bear? And she probably still couldn't make the cut.

Casey wanted a gruesome photo...enjoy

2008-07-29T12:01:00.001-07:00