Length statistic

X Prize for Health Care: Right Idea, Wrong Method
[Insurance] (NewAmerica.net Blog Posts)
What’s the most effective way to predict which patients will be hospitalized in the coming year? The Heritage Provider Network, a managed care group in California, hopes to answer this question through its sponsorship of the Heritage Health Prize, a $3 million X Prize-like competition for health care. The contest invites participants to develop a prediction algorithm to identify patients who will spend time in the hospital in the following year and check their methods against three years of He ...

[details] [close] received 283 days ago published 284 days ago lang: en
What’s the most effective way to predict which patients will be hospitalized in the coming year? The Heritage Provider Network, a managed care group in California, hopes to answer this question through its sponsorship of the Heritage Health Prize, a $3 million X Prize-like competition for health care. The contest invites participants to develop a prediction algorithm to identify patients who will spend time in the hospital in the following year and check their methods against three years of Heritage’s own claims data. S/he who most accurately predicts hospitalizations takes the prize.

Heritage Network will benefit directly from the results, as will other insurers facing skyrocketing medical costs. Unnecessary hospitalizations account for billions in excess health care spending, so there is a tangible financial incentive to predict who is likely to be hospitalized, and for how long. Identifying patients most at risk for hospitalization, and preventing or reducing the length of these hospitalizations, will allow providers to “develop new care plans and strategies to reach patients before emergencies occur,” according to the contest’s official description.

The goals of this contest are admirable, and could lead to important improvements in America’s health care delivery system; however, the dataset is missing critical information about the single biggest driver of health care spending: geography. The data include information on patients’ age, sex, diagnosis codes, and previous length(s) of stay, but excludes the name and the location of the hospitals where patients received care. According to a forum on the Heritage Prize website, geographic data were withheld to protect patient privacy, but by doing so contest organizers ignore the unavoidable, albeit unpalatable, fact that both quality and practice habits in U.S. health care vary widely from region to region and hospital to hospital.

Research by the Dartmouth Atlas Project has repeatedly demonstrated that there is significant variation between hospitals when it comes to length of hospitalization and the intensity of physician services provided to medically and demographically similar patients. Dartmouth researchers have even quantified this variation in a statistic known as the Hospital Care Intensity (HCI) index, which allows for a comparison of intensity levels among hospitals across the country. Growing acceptance of the geographic underpinning of variation in health care delivery has led to many regionally specific quality improvement efforts across the country. A recent Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Alliance for Health Reform event highlighted some of the best of these projects, which seek to connect multiple stakeholders in a community in an effort to tailor best practices of the delivery system to a region’s specific needs and characteristics.

These strategies could resemble the approach taken by Dr. Jeffrey Brenner and the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers to target the “super-utilizers” of emergency services, as described in Atul Gawande’s article in the January 24, 2011 issue of The New Yorker. According to Gawande, one percent of the patient population in Camden is responsible for nearly one-third of all medical costs. An algorithm to accurately identify potential “super-utilizers” would be a valuable asset to the Camden Coalition, Heritage Health Network, or any other insurer, and could lead to significant cost savings. The application of such an algorithm across the entire population has the potential to address the nationwide problem of skyrocketing health care costs.

Given the existence of variation in the intensity of medical care, knowledge of which hospital a patient is treated at could greatly improve any algorithm’s ability to predict the frequency and duration of hospitalization. The organizers of the Heritage Health Prize would do well to release geographic data to contest participants to allow for the development of a more powerful predictive tool that accurately reflects the reality of variation in American health care delivery. That would be a product truly worth a $3 million investment.

In a sort of X Prize for health care, the Heritage Provider Network is sponsoring a contest to see who can best predict future hospitalization. Wikimedia Commons
- Health Policy Program
PGA Tour introduces new putting statistic
[Washington, D.C.] (Examiner RSS)
DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. Dean Wilson always believed he was a good putter, whether he was in Japan or on the PGA Tour. The trick was finding proof of that in the statistics. He finished no higher than 31st in putts per round over the last five years, but Wilson never put much stock in that because it doesn' ...

[details] [close] received 284 days ago published 284 days ago lang: en

DOUG FERGUSON

AP Golf Writer

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

Dean Wilson always believed he was a good putter, whether he was in Japan or on the PGA Tour. The trick was finding proof of that in the statistics.

He finished no higher than 31st in putts per round over the last five years, but Wilson never put much stock in that because it doesn't account for how often a player is putting for birdie or getting up-and-down from just off the green. He once was 13th in average putts per greens in regulation, although that didn't account for proximity to the hole.

So the 41-year-old from Hawaii was not surprised when told about a new PGA Tour statistic that became official Monday, one that uses Shotlink data over an entire year to measure how well a player putts compared with the field.

The statistic officially is called "Strokes Gained-Putting," and it's the first time in 15 years that the PGA Tour has introduced a new core statistic. Wilson would have been among the top 11 putters in four of the last five years.

"I always felt like I'm a good putter," Wilson said. "I'm confident in my technique and the theories I use. I just don't know what the correct way would be to measure it. They're all skewed one way or another. I could never think there was another way to do it."

That's where Mark Broadie comes in.

Broadie, who plays off a 4 handicap when he's not working as a Columbia Business School professor, has been crunching Shotlink numbers for the better part of a decade as he tries to find the most meaningful measure of a tour player's game.

"A good putting stat should provide a pure measure of putting skill," said Broadie, who developed the stat and then honed it with a team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His philosophy is simple — the quality of every shot should be based on where it started and where it finished.

The math is a little more complicated.

It starts with determining how many average putts it takes a PGA Tour player from each distance. Broadie discovered that at just under 8 feet, players have a 50 percent chance of making the putt — in other words, the average stroke for that length is 1.5. The average gets higher for the longer putts.

So if Nick Watney makes an 8-foot putt, he will have gained 0.5 strokes on the field. If he takes two putts from that distance, he will have lost 0.5 strokes to the field. The average for a 20-foot putt is about 1.9. If he makes the putt, he gains 0.9 on the field, whereas if he misses the putt, he loses only 0.1 strokes.

Add these up at the end of each round and you have "Putts Gained."

Watney is used as an example because he is the current tour leader at 1.215. All that number means is that Watney gains an average of about 1.2 strokes on the field through his putting.

The numbers might not make a lot of sense, but the names do. Luke Donald would have led the tour in this statistic the last two years. Ben Crane would have led the tour twice. Tiger Woods for years was regarded one of golf's best putters. With this statistic, he ranked among the top 3 in three of the last five years he was eligible.

Others who were around the top 10 just about every year were players whom their peers consider good putters — Woods, Steve Stricker, Donald, Crane, Brian Gay, Aaron Baddeley — and yes, even Dean Wilson.

The tour awards a medal to each player who leads a major statistical category, just as driving distance and greens in regulation. Starting this year, "putts gained" will determine who wins the putting category.

It's not a perfect system, although it's designed to take out the bias from the previous putting stats.
Auntie Em! Auntie Em! Again?
[Genealogy] (footnoteMaven)
The Dance Of The Tornado This man is crazy. Get out of there, take cover! Don't confront the tornado! Little sister Biblio lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. I watched weather reports Saturday as the storm clouds gathered over her home. I waited to call knowing she might have to run for it and I didn't want to distract her. When I called and she answered I asked, "Are you in the storm cellar?" No storm cellars in her neck of the woods she laughed. As all tornado veterans do, she had been watchi ...

[details] [close] received 297 days ago published 298 days ago lang: en

The Dance Of The Tornado
This man is crazy.
Get out of there, take cover!
Don't confront the tornado!

Little sister Biblio lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. I watched weather reports Saturday as the storm clouds gathered over her home. I waited to call knowing she might have to run for it and I didn't want to distract her. When I called and she answered I asked, "Are you in the storm cellar?" No storm cellars in her neck of the woods she laughed.

As all tornado veterans do, she had been watching the skies. Jack, the cat, had just been placed in his carrier when her husband yelled for her. They stood under the shelter of their garage and watched it rain building materials up and down her street. Insulation, shingles, tiles, even putty. It was so disturbing for her to stand and watch the remnants of people's homes and lives drop from the sky. She felt a measure of guilt that she was safe and untouched.

As it always does, this led us to relive that time when we were young and confronted the demon tornado. I'll relive it for you here.

"Black Tuesday"

May 21, 1957
Shortly After 4pm
St. Francois County, Missouri

I was born and raised in St. Francois County, Missouri. St. Francois County's tornado activity is 58.16% higher than the United States average. I really don't need the statistic; it's here for you, I lived it.

By the time I was ten, I had been taught to read the clouds. Reading the clouds could save your life. When the storm clouds gathered in southeastern Missouri you would find everyone in their yards, their eyes fixed on the heavens. You had to know when to take cover. There were no sirens or tornado alert systems in 1957. That tornado intuition Missourians are born with was all we had to depend on to save our lives; and sometimes even that didn't save us.

It was Tuesday afternoon, May 21, 1957, shortly after three o'clock. I was riding the school bus home with my little sister, Biblio. Mrs. Hill, my fourth grade teacher, had been eyeing the clouds most of the afternoon. She was on edge. We all were. When the final bell rang, she escorted each of us to our waiting bus. Usually she said good-bye to us in the classroom. That day, she didn't.

Our bus driver was Troy Mills, he lived just down the road from us. He was a local dairy farmer for the better part of the day, hard-nosed school bus driver for an hour in the morning and in the early afternoon. He drove a no nonsense school bus. He didn’t talk, nor did we. During the ride home he cricked his neck to look out the window at the very dark clouds forming. When the bus stopped in front of our driveway he instructed Biblio and me to go straight into the house. My sister and I ran sensing the urgency. When I turned to look back Mr. Mills was still standing there in the road, making certain. He had never done that before.

Biblio and I ran. In the kitchen dinner was on the stove, but both my parents and my brothers were out back on the deck. Mom and Dad were looking at the ominous clouds off toward Cantwell and Desloge. My Grandmother, two uncles and an aunt lived in those towns. It was now about 3.50pm.

Dad's Tornado Emergency Disaster Plan was "run for it." He predicated that plan on what I consider to be flawed logic. 1) Our home was on the top of one of Missouri’s rolling hills. We had an almost 360 degree unobstructed view. We could see tornadoes coming and could jump in the car and run for it. This does not take into consideration the dark of night. Tornadoes can’t tell time. 2) Tornadoes do not travel uphill and we lived on a hill. We would always have time to run. This does not take into consideration a tornado forming on the top of a hill and traveling downward, even if the first part were true. He did have a plan, though, and as children we believed in him and were reassured.

I will remember always what I saw and how frightened I was as I stood on the deck. Off toward Desloge the huge outline of a tornado had formed. It swung side to side and was punctuated by what looked like lightning bolts, but were in fact transformers and electric lines exploding. It was shortly after 4.00pm.

F3 Tornado Deslodge 1957

Dad's Tornado Emergency Disaster Plan was implemented. I ran to my room to grab my jewelry box; my girlish childhood treasure. I didn't stop to think that the pop beads Aunt Ella had won in the Bingo games in Florida would be of little comfort to me if we lost our home. Biblio wanted the kittens that had been born a few days earlier. All of them. She wanted her big sister to save them. I handed her the jewelry box and pointed her and the boys toward the car.

My father was yelling, "Get in the Car!" Mother was arguing. Ah, my Mother the fatalist. "If I'm going to die in a tornado, I'm going to die in a tornado. I'm not leaving my home."

I thought I'd have time. I ran out the back door and crawled under the house to grab the kittens and their mother. Just above me, Dad had thrown my Mother over his shoulder, shut off the stove, and deposited her in the car; only to find his oldest daughter was missing.

I couldn't reach the kittens. I stretched and called to the Mother cat, but she wouldn't cooperate. The next thing I knew Dad was dragging me out by my feet. "Animals know how to save themselves in a tornado," he reassured me. Another flawed supposition that saw the light of truth when the neighbor's cow was found the next day pinned to a tree by a two by four.

We were now on the road traveling parallel to the tornado and in a head-on course. It was enormous and an eerily strange greenish color. The tornado did not change its course and we passed it headed in the opposite direction. The direction where moments before it had caused eight deaths, 75 injuries, and millions of dollars in damages. We headed straight to Cantwell and my Grandmother's house.

What we saw when we headed into town will remain with me always. Familiar homes and businesses were nothing more than piles of bricks, in some cases only bare ground. People I knew were wandering around what remained of their homes obviously stunned. What of my grandmother? The tornado had selected a house here, another there, in some cases leaving a house intact next to the rubble that had just moments before been a neighbor's home. There was debris everywhere. A roof, furniture, clothes, the streets were difficult to navigate.

Cantwell After The Tornado

I was hanging onto the back of the front seat staring out the windshield when I saw her. My grandmother! She was standing in the street in front of her home. Yes, she and her home were still standing. She was out checking on the well-being of her neighbors. Most of the homes at the end of her street, which backed-up to a chat dump, were untouched. She ran up to the car urging my father to get to my Aunt's four blocks away to make sure she and her family we unharmed.

I remember the gasps from my mother as we traveled the four blocks. Blocks that in some cases were no longer there. We drove up to my Aunt's house. The house was there, "Thank God," my mother said. As we got closer, we saw my eight-year old Cousin tangled in the chain link fence out front screaming hysterically. My aunt was trying to calm her and open the fists she had made a part of the fence. She would not turn loose.

They had taken refuge in the bathtub in the interior first floor bathroom of their two story home. They had no basement. It was the sound, my aunt old us. It had sounded like a freight train. That was followed by the whine of the neighbors homes as they gave up and succumbed to the tornado. Then, dead quiet. It had been more than an eight-year old mind could comprehend. Mother, a nurse, looked at her and determined their was no physical damage.

We moved on to check on my Uncle and his family, a few more blocks away. My Uncle described his experience to the local newspaper:

Otis Campbell said he was eating supper when it began to look very bad. He told his wife he was going out and feed the dog before it got too bad. When he went out, he looked up and spotted the tornado forming. He called for his wife and she came out to look. When they saw it was headed in their direction they ran to a neighbor's basement. Mr. Campbell said that when it was all over, it was very calm, but then he began to hear people scream. Mrs. Campbell said that hanging on their cherry tree in their back yard was a shirt freshly ironed and still on a hanger. Also, their dog and dog house were gone. They found the dog house, with the dog inside, one block away. The dog was unhurt.

I remember that shirt. My Aunt took us out back to marvel; not a spot, not a wrinkle. Freshly ironed, the shirt hung on its coat hanger, on a tree branch, as if it had been hung there intentionally. We didn't stay long enough to see the dog reunited with his family. No, we had left our home and my mother wanted to return, to be certain we still had one. When last we had seen the tornado it was headed our direction.

We took one of the back roads to avoid the downed lines and emergency vehicles. When we topped a small hill we saw what remained of a familiar home and men digging furiously trying to save the people inside. Dad parked the car at the side of the road, on an incline, and jumped out to help. He left the car running in case Mother needed to move it. She stayed with us. Soon Dad yelled for my Mother saying they needed a nurse. She turned off the car and warned us to stay put.

The four of us were watching out the window as my mother was lowered into the rubble. What a frightening image for four small children. As we watched, I realized something was not quite right. The car was moving. We were rolling down the hill. I jumped into the front seat, gripped the steering wheel, and pumped the brake. I could not stop the car. Biblio opened one of the suicide doors and jumped. I yelled at my brothers to stay put. Biblio was now outside in the road screaming. A man standing in the yard saw the danger we were in and chased the car. He opened the door, jumped in, and set the emergency brake. He turned to me and asked where my parents were; crying and unable to talk I pointed at the house. He put Biblio back in the car and left to find my parents. I moved back into the driver's seat and kept my foot on the brake.

My Mother and Father soon returned to the car visibly shaken. They had tried to save the woman in the house, but she was dead. As I remember, so was her husband and perhaps others. Then a stranger told my parents their four children had been passengers in a runaway car and had to be saved themselves.

My Mother could take no more. All she wanted was to know if she still had a home. It wasn't far, just down the road. As we passed the Black Walnut on the fence line above our house we caught a glimpse of it. Home! Still standing, undamaged. We had survived. We had all survived.

The house still stands today never having been the victim of a tornado. Perhaps my father's logic wasn't flawed after all.

Washington state is not known for its tornadoes, yet when storm clouds gather you will find me in the yard, my eyes fixed on the heavens. Old fears are hard to break!

~~~

Note: Here is the list of tornadoes that hit southeast Missouri, May 21, 1957:

The F#, location, time of day, path length, deaths

F3 E of Doss Dent , 2100 10.2 miles(16.3 km)
F2 S of Squires Taney, Douglas, 2115 14.5 miles (23.2 km)
F1 NE of Mill Spring Wayne, 2130, 13 miles (20.8 km)
F1 S of Centerville Reynolds, 2145, 0.2 miles (0.32 km)
F3 SW of Sunlight to Desloge Washington, St. Francois, 2145, 22.2 miles (35.5 km), 8 deaths
F4 NE of Fremont Carter, 2153, 9.1 miles (14.6 km), 7 deaths
F2 N of Burfordville Cape Girardeau, 2300, 5.1 miles (8.2 km)
F2 E of Lewistown Lewis, 2330, 7.4 miles (11.8 km)
F1 E of Cardwell to N of Deering Dunklin, Pemiscot, 0545, 23.7 miles (37.9 km)
F2 W of Kennett Dunklin, 0545, 0.1 miles(0.16 km)

The stories of this storm are amazing. More accounts and photographs can be found here.

Photographs:

F3 Tornado. Unknown. Digital Image. 1957. St. Francois County MoGenWeb. (accessed July 2009.)

Cantwell. Unknown. Digital Image. 1957. St. Francois County MoGenWeb. (accessed July 2009.)

Z-Line Designs Racing: Kyle Busch NNS Talladega Advance

[Nascar] (The Frontstretch)

Adding One More to the List HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (April 13, 2011) – There are 23 tracks throughout North America that will host a NASCAR Nationwide Series race during the 2011 season, and Kyle Busch has won at all but seven of them. Like any good statistic, one must look deeper than just the numbers, and Busch’s Nationwide success is no different. Busch has never competed at one of the seven tracks – Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. – and is not scheduled to do so this ...

[details] received 304 days ago published 304 days ago lang: en

Adding One More to the List

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (April 13, 2011) – There are 23 tracks throughout North America that will host a NASCAR Nationwide Series race during the 2011 season, and Kyle Busch has won at all but seven of them.

Like any good statistic, one must look deeper than just the numbers, and Busch’s Nationwide success is no different.

Busch has never competed at one of the seven tracks – Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. – and is not scheduled to do so this season. And he only ran the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course in Montreal once, in 2009, when he finished 10^th. That leaves Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, the road course at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway as circuits he has competed at more than once yet not scored a Nationwide Series victory.

He can shrink that list this weekend as he pilots the No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) in Saturday’s Aaron’s 312 Nationwide Series event at Talladega.

In seven starts at the 2.66-mile oval, Busch has two top-10 finishes – a third in 2006 and a fourth in 2007. He has led laps in four races, but also was involved in accidents in four races.

Busch and the No. 18 Z-Line Designs team have been dominant at just about every type of track – except restrictor-plate races. They’ve never won together at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway or Talladega, the two restrictor-plate tracks on the Nationwide Series schedule. Busch’s only Nationwide Series victory at a restrictor-plate track came at Daytona in 2007, when he was driving for Hendrick Motorsports.

To add Talladega to his list, Busch will need some help as this week’s race will most certainly look like the season-opening race at Daytona, where drivers had to align themselves in two-car drafts to make any headway toward the front of the field. It created a dicey game of bumper cars that sometimes led to drivers involuntarily spinning out their drafting partner.

And in those two-car drafts, the drivers had to work together, for the second car couldn’t run behind the lead car for more than a few laps, otherwise its engine would overheat. That meant the two drivers had to coordinate a 200 mph swap, with the lead car drifting high or low to allow his partner to scoot past, whereupon the former leader of the two-car draft assumed the role of pusher.

The racing is complicated and unlike anything seen before, but Busch knows if he wants to cross another track off his Nationwide Series win list, he must, as they say, “play the game.”

Kyle Busch, Driver of the No. 18 Z-Line Designs NASCAR Nationwide Series Toyota Camry:

Last year, JGR struggled a little bit with the new-style Nationwide Series car. This year seems to be going much better. What changed?

“I’m not sure that a lot changed. We’ve just had a little more time with this car and had it on the pull-down rig and the seven-post machine and all the devices that everyone else has used. We didn’t spend a lot of time researching and developing this car early on, but the guys have really worked hard over the winter and we’ve gotten to where the car is a lot better today.”

Describe racing in pairs like we saw at Daytona and will most likely see again at Talladega.

“It was pretty interesting. You have to find a partner who you can work with to push each other around the racetrack. Having a teammate is easier because you can talk to them and you’re a little more familiar with them.”

Who did you have on your radio for the Nationwide Series race at Daytona?

“For the Nationwide Series race we just had Joey (Logano) and Brian (Scott), my teammates. We decided that would be the best option. I had about 10 guys on my radio for the Daytona 500 – Joey and Denny (Hamlin), plus about seven or eight others. We’ll see if we add some guys for the Nationwide Series race at Talladega. It’s just going to depend on what we see in practice on Thursday.”

Jason Ratcliff, Crew Chief of the No. 18 Z-Line Designs NASCAR Nationwide Series Toyota Camry:

Will the same two-car drafting type of racing take place this week at Talladega, like we saw in the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series races in February at Daytona?

“I’m anticipating it being the same. The rules package for us and for them is the same thing we had at Daytona. I think Daytona, now, is very similar to what Talladega has been the last few years, so I don’t know why it would be any different. Unless NASCAR gets in there and changes something that we’re not aware of at the moment, I anticipate we’ll see the same race we saw at Daytona. Especially for us with this new car, it seems like you get a couple of guys who get together and know what they’re doing. We’ve seen it for a couple of years on the Cup side. Occasionally two guys will get synced up and just drive away for a lap or a lap-and-a-half.”

Knowing that type of racing is going to happen, what is the strategy for the Z-Line Designs team heading into this weekend?

“Initially, your plan is to go out and work with your teammates, be it the 20 (Joey Logano) or the 11 (Brian Scott). But, a lot of times, it just doesn’t work out for whatever reason. You just can’t get together. In the end, that would be our hope – that we’d hook up with Joey or Brian –but sometimes you just try to pick the best guy who’s around you and you go with him. At Daytona, it worked out that Kyle and Joey were able to get together early in the race and because they did, they were able to stay up front for most of the event. You want to get together with someone you can learn with in the early stages of the race. You want to learn which car pushes better, how many laps the two cars stay together without getting too hot, stuff like that. So, you want to pick one or two guys and, hopefully, you get familiar with how the cars work together so you can use that information later in the race.”

Will you have the 20 and 11 cars tied into the 18 radio, as well as other cars?

“Our cars are set up every week so that our guys can switch over and talk to each other. At Daytona, Joey didn’t switch over so much, but Kyle would switch over to his channel a lot. We decided not to have any other cars on our radio at Daytona, but if we see a guy in practice who we work well with, we might plug his frequency in there. I’m sure once practice is over, we’ll discuss that and see if we might program in another Toyota team or somebody else who we work well with and is willing to work with us.”

Talladega is one of only seven tracks on this year’s schedule where Kyle has not won in the Nationwide Series. Is this the toughest track to check off the list because it’s such a crapshoot?

“For us, the results at Talladega have not been that good for us. I don’t know why. And the end, it seems like nobody wants to go with us and you have to have that if you’re going to win that race. That’s why a lot of times, I think, at Talladega you’ll see some guys win, not all the time, but sometimes, and you’ll say ‘Wow, I can’t believe he won.’ Or, how many times have we seen a guy get his first win and maybe his only win? More times than not, if you’re going to partner up with a guy, you’re going to have two options, ‘I’m going to go with Kyle Busch, or I’m going to go with this guy over here who is running pretty well and has never won a race.’ I think a lot of guys go with the second option because they think, ‘OK, at the end, I’m going to outsmart him and pass him. If I go with Kyle, I’m just going to end up pushing him to the end because I’m not going to have a chance to beat him at the end.’ I think that’s why they do what they do and that would be my thought process in the car. I think our chance of winning at Talladega is actually better because of what we saw at Daytona, where you can get two cars linked together and they can actually run faster than three. Three guys just can’t seem to stay in sync like two cars can. Whether it be Joey or Brian or another Toyota driver, I think someone will hook up with us at the end and our opportunity will be better than it has been. We’ve had great cars in the past and led laps but, man, we either end up on the rollback (truck) or outside the top-10.”

Meet the No. 18 Z-Line Designs / Joe Gibbs Racing Team

Primary Team Members:

Driver: Kyle Busch

Crew Chief: Jason Ratcliff

Car Chief: Charlie Brock

Engine Builder: Mark Cronquist

Engine Tuner: Kevin Grubb

Spotter: Eddie D’Hondt

Over-The-Wall Crew Members:

Front Tire Changer: Nick Odell	Gas Man: Scott Wood
Front Tire Carrier: Brad Donaghy	Windshield: Dennis Valverde (also serves as truck driver)
Rear Tire Changer: Jake Seminara	Jack Man: Kenneth Percell
Rear Tire Carrier: Kenny Barber

Road Crew Members:

Mechanic: Todd Brewer

Tire Specialist: Matt Sauer

Mechanic: Jason Clements

Engineer: Matt Lucas

Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry

Chassis No. 18-102: Busch drove this car in the season-opening event at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, where he started eighth and led 17 laps en route to a seventh-place finish.

Kyle Busch’s Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway Nationwide Series Box Score

Year		Event	Start	Finish	Status/Laps	Laps Led	Earnings
2010	4/25	×Aaron’s 312	11	34	Accident, 111/120	16	$19,425
2009	4/25	×Aaron’s 312	9	10	Running, 120/120	31	$21,975
2008	4/26	Aaron’s 312	8	16	Running, 114/117	0	$20,400
2007	4/28	Aaron’s 312	12	39	Accident, 26/120	0	$17,900
2006	4/30	Aaron’s 312	9	3	Running 117/117	25	$33,950
2005	4/30	×Aaron’s 312	8	40	Accident, 16/120	0	$16,540
2004	4/24	Aaron’s 312	13	4	Running, 117/117	2	$40,685

× Race length extended due to green-white-checkered finish.

About Z-Line Designs

Based in San Ramon, Calif., Z-Line Designs is an award winning design manufacturer and leading import manufacturer of home office, home entertainment, seating, garage storage systems and home décor ready to assemble (RTA) furniture. In addition, the company also specializes in consumer electronic accessories, flat panel television wall furniture and mounts. Each product is manufactured to the highest industry standards and uses a range of materials from solid American oak, birch and maple to mixed media combinations of wood, metal and glass. Their products can be found at Staples, OfficeMax, Target, Sears, Walmart, Fry’s Electronics, Conn’s and other national retailers. Z-Line has had the honor to receive over 40 design awards and numerous distinguished industry awards. Z-Line Designs is a two-time 2008 and one-time 2007 CES Innovation Award Winner, a two-time winner of the Staples “Best Category Development” Award (2003 & 2005), a two-time winner of the Staples “Vendor of the Year” (2004 & 2009), a seven-time ADEX Award winner (1999, 2003-2007, 2009), a two-time Pinnacle Award winner (2002 & 2005) and a Houseware Design Award winner (2010).

Salomon Kalou: It's hard playing and not thinking about people dying
[Guardian] (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Chelsea striker tells Stuart James he has more than football on his mind – his father is caught up in the conflict in the Ivory CoastSalomon Kalou has a huge weight on his mind and it has nothing to do with Chelsea's Champions League defeat against Manchester United in midweek. The prospect of finishing the season at Stamford Bridge without a trophy is hard to contemplate but it pales into insignificance compared with the heartache Kalou feels when he turns his thoughts to his family and frien ...

[details] [close] received 309 days ago published 309 days ago lang: en-gb
Chelsea striker tells Stuart James he has more than football on his mind – his father is caught up in the conflict in the Ivory Coast

Salomon Kalou has a huge weight on his mind and it has nothing to do with Chelsea's Champions League defeat against Manchester United in midweek. The prospect of finishing the season at Stamford Bridge without a trophy is hard to contemplate but it pales into insignificance compared with the heartache Kalou feels when he turns his thoughts to his family and friends caught up in the conflict in the Ivory Coast.

The bitter and bloody fallout from last November's presidential elections has plunged the country where Kalou spent the first 17 years of his life back into civil war. Thousands have been killed and the harrowing images of the street battles in Abidjan, where his father, Antoine, and other members of his extended family live, together with the stories of food and water shortages in what was once West Africa's most prosperous country, plague Kalou's conscience.

"It's very hard to go on to the pitch and say I'm not thinking about people dying every day, I'm not thinking about my friends not eating, my dad not getting help," Kalou says. "To be honest, I worry every day. I am thinking more about that than anything else. Any chance I have to go on the phone or to go on the news and check I do, because that's my main priority. I need to make sure my family are safe.

"I got my mum and five sisters out four days before it started. When we played against Benin in Ghana last month with Ivory Coast [in an African Cup of Nations qualifier moved to a neutral venue because of the violence], I got them to come and watch the game and from there they went to Togo. They can stay there until the end of the situation. My dad was going to come as well but the war started on the day he was going to come."

Kalou acknowledges he is in a fortunate position to be able to afford sanctuary for his mother and sisters in Togo for as long as they need it, but he feels "helpless" in relation to his father's predicament. The problems in Abidjan mean that, at the time of this interview, which takes place at his home in Surrey on Thursday evening, Kalou has gone three days without speaking to his father. He is desperate to hear news of a peaceful resolution.

"I don't want to take any sides and I don't want to get involved in the politics of the Ivory Coast because politics is for politicians, but it hurts me to see my friends, my brothers, killing each other," he says. "Some of my best friends are from the north, I'm from the west, I have friends from the south – I have a lot of Ivorian friends. Ivorians don't have problems with Ivorians. Politics are dividing people. But is that a reason for people to kill? Why not stop that now and talk.

People from outside should help to bring peace. Bring food and water to people. That's what I call worrying about the civilians. Then I can have respect for that and say those people really care. If your priority is to say one side loses and one side wins, then you are not stopping anything. They will keep fighting and, in the end, when everyone is gone, what is left for those people? Those kids who have seen the war and people dying, how many years is it going to take for them to get over it?"

Although Kalou admits it is impossible to erase those questions from his mind, the football pitch at least provides a place to try to escape. His only wish is that he spent much more time immersing himself in playing, rather than watching from the substitutes' bench, which was again the case on Wednesday night, when Chelsea lost 1-0 to United and Kalou was forced to endure the familiar sight of the strikers picked ahead of him fluffing their lines.

It is a frustrating situation, especially as this season Kalou has by far the best goals-to-minutes ratio in the Premier League of the four Chelsea forwards and is second only to Nicolas Anelka in all competitions. "That speaks for itself," Kalou says as he runs his eyes over the figures. "I think a player can be great if you have the opportunity to play every week and show what you can do. If you take a player like [Lionel] Messi and you don't play him, you won't see how good he is.

"All along my time at Chelsea there is always a big name playing and that makes it difficult for the manager to put me in the team. And I understand that, because coming in as a young player in a big club, you have to fight your way through. But I have been here for five years, scored over 50 goals for the club and there are some big players who have been here who haven't done that. But I think the fans appreciate my record."

Kalou reels off the names of Hernán Crespo, Andriy Shevchenko, Mateja Kezman and Claudio Pizarro to illustrate his point. It is tempting to wonder whether the much-maligned Fernando Torres will be next on the list, although Kalou insists he is pleased the Spaniard signed. "The arrival of Torres is a benefit to me because now I get to play my real position, behind the striker – that's where I was playing before I joined Chelsea. I played with Torres against Manchester City and I thought it was really good. We had very good movement and created chances."

Chelsea triumphed 2-0 that day, although it was the only match Kalou has started in the last seven, raising the obvious question about what he can do to change things. "I think I can talk to the club and see what my position is because it's frustrating to not get involved knowing that you're playing better than others," the former Feyenoord striker says. "I did speak to Carlo Ancelotti. He is an understanding man. He knows what I feel as a player because he played before."

Will it get to the stage where he thinks he has to go to a club where he will be the main forward? "Of course. I think about it all the time," Kalou says. "That's what my goal is [to be the first choice]. If you look at those statistics, if I play double the games, I'm sure I can do better than that. I think people know and I think the club know – they never let me go or try to sell me. I believe that my time is coming at Chelsea, and if it's not at Chelsea it will be at another team."

Yet Kalou is such an affable, laid-back character that it is difficult to imagine him making demands or creating a scene when overlooked. "If I'm not happy I'm not playing, I don't really show my emotions," the 25-year-old admits. "Sometimes, maybe I should show more because it's good for the manager to know that the player is pissed off not to play. I'm relaxed and easy-going and people think that whatever he gets to play he will be happy. But that's not the case sometimes."

For Kalou, though, it is about "showing respect" for his team-mates when he is left out and supporting them, which helps to explain why he is so well liked at Chelsea at all levels. He smiles knowingly when it is suggested he is popular with Roman Abramovich, the club's owner, and the rest of the board.

"They know that I never complain, never make trouble and never try to bring the club's image down. They have the belief that most of the players who will complain will be doing crazy stuff in training and not training well and that's not the case with me, so I think they respect that and they also have respect for the fact that, even though I am not playing, I can have better statistics than the player who does."

One statistic Kalou would prefer not to have to his name, however, is the club record he broke last Saturday at Stoke, when he made his 94th substitute appearance for Chelsea. "It's like getting a plastic medal. It's kind of like, you've done good to be a sub. That's not what I want," he says, shaking his head. "I want to have a real impact as an important player for Chelsea because I know I have the ability to do that.

"The only thing is to be playing regularly and have the confidence and rhythm of those games. Then you can show what you can do. If you can play 20 minutes and change a game, you can change a game in 90 minutes."

The evidence of one of his more recent contributions from the bench can be found in his lounge, where the man-of-the-match champagne from the Blackpool game last month, when he replaced Didier Drogba to create two Chelsea goals in a 3-1 victory, sits next to the signed ball he took home after scoring a hat-trick against Stoke City 12 months ago. One of Usain Bolt's running shoes, a picture of Diego Maradona in his prime and a signed Muhammad Ali boxing glove complete the sporting backdrop.

Kalou gives a guided tour of the rest of the house, which is decorated with shirts from some of the world's greatest players, as an interview that lasts the length of time he would like to spend on the pitch against Wigan on Saturday draws to a close. One conversation, though, is difficult to leave behind. "We need to stop the war," he says. "What I worry about is my family to not get hurt and my country to not get destroyed. My concern is not who is going to govern. My main concern is peace."
- Chelsea
- Ivory Coast
Stuart James

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NCAA Women's Bracket 2011: Stanford's Defense, Versatility Suffocates Gonzaga's Final Four Dreams
[Sports] (Women Talk Sports | Latest News and Blog Posts)
When the Stanford Cardinal went to a zone in the second half of their 83-60 win against the Gonzaga Bulldogs last night in the Elite Eight, it immediately reminded me of what the Notre Dame Fighting Irish did to Gonzaga defensively during their 70-61 win in the State Farm Holiday Hoops Classic back in December. At one point, I even wondered if Stanford had used Notre Dame's defensive strategy as a blueprint - in both cases, Gonzaga moved the ball looking for scoring opportunities, but struggl ...

[details] [close] received 318 days ago published 319 days ago lang: en

When the Stanford Cardinal went to a zone in the second half of their 83-60 win against the Gonzaga Bulldogs last night in the Elite Eight, it immediately reminded me of what the Notre Dame Fighting Irish did to Gonzaga defensively during their 70-61 win in the State Farm Holiday Hoops Classic back in December. At one point, I even wondered if Stanford had used Notre Dame's defensive strategy as a blueprint - in both cases, Gonzaga moved the ball looking for scoring opportunities, but struggled to respond against a zone defense that simply didn't show up in their scouting. "We're one of the best shooting teams in the country and if you look at those four losses, we're shooting either 35 or 36 percent shooting in those losses," Graves said while also noting that Notre Dame's defense deserved credit. "I thought when they went to the 1-3-1, we haven't seen that this year. At least in the tapes we got...they hadn't shown that. I thought that knocked us a little out of kilter." That Notre Dame game would ultimately stand as Gonzaga's last loss before reeling off 21 consecutive wins - including three NCAA tournament games - before last night's meeting with the Cardinal in Spokane. While Graves has attributed that Notre Dame loss to playing some players too many minutes both during his post-game interview and during a NCAA Tournament sub-regional media session, the game did reveal at least one thing about this finesse Bulldogs team that relies heavily on jumpshooting to score: if an opponent can play an effective zone that prevents penetration from Courtney Vandersloot and those jumpers stop falling, the Bulldogs can suddenly go from one of the most efficient offenses in the nation to one that looks at a loss for answers. Stanford accomplished that to a level of defensive precision last night that Notre Dame simply doesn't have the personnel to accomplish to end the Bulldogs's magical tournament run on a sour note. Key statistic: Stanford's zone held Gonzaga to 23.5% shooting from the field in the second half Similar to what Gonzaga might have scouted against Notre Dame, Stanford is not necessarily a zone team, but they deployed it at the right time against the right opponent and it worked to great effect: Gonzaga's trademark tournament synergy simply wasn't there against Stanford falling to 0.78 in the second half from 1.03 in the first. The biggest difference between Notre Dame's 1-3-1 zone and any zone scheme that Stanford uses is length - with Chiney and Nneka Ogwumike as well as Kayla Pedersen sitting in a zone for Stanford, driving and passing lanes can be hard to come by. Whereas Notre Dame's defensive rotations as a unit can be outstanding, Stanford's combination of athleticism, discipline, and length can be absolutely suffocating to opponents. That begins to explain what happened to the Bulldogs in the second half. "With that zone we just didn't have as many driving lanes and if you're not knocking down shots, you saw the shots that we were getting, those are makeable baskets and we're going into the game the leading field goal percentage team in the nation and we just didn't make shots," Graves said after the game. "With a zone, you try to pick it and those kind of things the best you can, but it's difficult to get a point guard to be able to get inside of it and try to penetrate. So it just kind of all snowballed together and a lot of it too was we couldn't make any stops at the other end and when we're not out in transition, you take a bit away from us. That's what happened. So I give them credit, they did a great job in that zone." After surviving Stanford's hot 62.5% shooting in the first half to go into halftime only down 9 points, Gonzaga's frustration with the zone caused them to retreat to the perimeter in the second half to the the tune of 3-for-13 three point shooting. Although they are generally a finesse jump shooting team, that their already low 18.2% free throw rate fell to an even lower 11.8% in the second half is evidence of decreased aggression in getting anything going near or toward the rim. "At halftime we talked about playing the screen differently and we spent a lot of halftime doing it and then in talking withcoaches, Amy and Kate and Bobbi, they just said, we can zone them," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "And so I said, all right, well, let's look at it. It was their ball the first possession, I said, we'll stay in it as long as they're not bombing us out of it. And we were able to stay in it the whole second half." With an effective field goal percentage of only 27.94% in the second half, Gonzaga never forced Stanford out of that zone. Meanwhile, they had an effective field goal percentage of 56.52% in the second half, which created a differential (nearly 30%) that increased from the first half (about 20%) despite not being quite as hot. A major reason for their shooting efficiency throughout the game was the play of the Ogwumike sisters. Stanford statistical MVP: Chiney Ogwumike's leads the way with 9-for-11 shooting in the post With her shooting from the field in addition to a game-high free throw rate of 63.63%, Ogwumike finished with a true shooting percentage of 81.67% and a team-high 23 points. Part of her efficiency inside was certainly Stanford's guards hitting shots and opening up space inside - Cardinal guard Jeannette Pohlen shook a bit of a shooting slump to score 17 points with a game-high 85% true shooting percentage. But an even larger part of it was that if Stanford players did miss, they cleaned up the offensive boards for second chance points. For a Gonzaga team that is typically a finesse team, it was just overwhelming. "The Ogwumike sisters, they're very good basketball players," said Gonzaga guard Katelan Redmon. "They're really tough down there, they rebound extremely well, and they're extremely strong. So it's very hard to defend them in the first place. And then we let them get too many offensive rebounds and second chance points." Chiney had a solid outing on the offensive boards grabbing four, which was 15.7% of those available to her, and a total of 11 rebounds. That helped Stanford to a substantial 54%-16% offensive rebounding differential in the second half, which was something else that was critical to their success on defense. "Well I think that our rebounding and quite honestly the fact that we didn't let them do -- we didn't let them get layups, transition baskets," VanDerveer said. "And we made a decision to send three people back. And I think that wasreally key. And the fact that they didn't get going and they didn't get their crowd going. We needed to really keep theircrowd out." In controlling the boards on both ends, Stanford neither allowed Gonzaga to run off defensive rebounds nor find second chance opportunities off offensive rebounds. While Chiney was a key to that, it was the combination of the two sisters that overwhelmed Gonzaga as Redmon alluded to. "Obviously Chiney is my other half and so we're like fire and ice, she was definitely on fire today," said Nneka. "And it actually got to a point when we were telling her to calm down, because she was a little bit out of control at some points. But it's okay, because she's making aggressive moves. But I'm just really proud of her." And if Chiney's scoring was fire, Nneka's rebounding was ice. Key player: Nneka Ogwumike dominates the boards on both ends Nneka also finished with a double-double with 18 points and a team-high 15 boards, but her rebounding stood out: she had a remarkable team-high offensive rebounding percentage of 41.21% and tied for a team-high defensive rebounding percentage of 29.15% with Kayla Pedersen (who had 12 defensive rebounds in more minutes). With the exception of one offensive rebound, it was all the Ogwumike sisters attacking the boards. "They're just a unique combination of strength, obviously skill, but the quickness with which they attack the ball on the boards is just phenomenal," said Graves. "We just, honestly, we just, we're not there yet to be able to matchup with these kind of teams that just have that kind of strength and athleticism inside." But what stood out as most impressive - as always with Stanford - was just how well they executed their game plan. Tara VanDerveer showed why she's WBCA Coach of the Year After getting roughed up on the boards on both ends and failing to hit shots in the second half, it might seem reasonable to suggest that Gonzaga simply lost their confidence. "Oh, it's a funny game, this game," said Graves. "And a lot of it is confidence. If you're not seeing the basketball go through, then sometimes you tighten up. It just happens. I'm not saying that they did, just as coach you look at that you know wonder, because typically we are a good shooting basketball team. We're not a 3 point shooting team, but we're a good shooting team and they just didn't go." Whether or not Gonzaga did lose their shooter's confidence, Stanford's ability to make those halftime adjustments that systematically exploit weaknesses and minimize strengths was the key to this game. The combination of athleticism and skill in the post was an obvious advantage for the Cardinal that they exploited. And although Vandersloot accounted for a heroic 70.56% of Gonzaga's total statistical production in her final game in Spokane, Stanford held her to 4 points on 1-for-7 shooting which was a large part of Gonzaga's poor second half effort. Stanford didn't really even play their best game - during that second half they committed turnovers on nearly 30% of their possessions while Gonzaga only committed one, a differential that is uncommonly negative for the Cardinal. All that shows is that this isn't a team that merely overwhelms opponents with talent - they are among the best prepared teams in the nation and that allows the players to implement the adjustments their coaching staff identifies as worthy of making in the moment. "We did go over kind of our zone assignments in practice and in fact today at practice the time ran out, with 60minutes and I just said, all right, we're going to walk through that and be prepared for it," said VanDerveer. "So we walked through it without a ball and I just said, you know, we got to be ready for it. And we have been working on ourzone a little bit I think especially coming into the NCAA tournament knowing maybe not being as familiar with players and being able to spend as much time scouting, so it worked out really well." But the game also shows how dangerous an athletic, skilled, and versatile roster can be in the hands of a coach who is arguably one of the best basketball minds our nation has seen. Even after Stanford beat UConn, they weren't granted the privilege of being #1 in the nation. But games like last night's game show what makes them so tough - this is a disciplined team that is not nearly as methodical and far more versatile than Stanford teams of years past, in large part because of the addition of Chiney but also because they have VanDerveer on the bench constantly making sure that they're not only striving to play their best, but also making their opponent look their worst.
The Siren Song of High Winning Percentage
[Small Business] (Business Insider)
I compile statistics on my traders. My best trader makes money only 63 percent of the time. Most traders make money only in the 50 to 55 percent range. That means you’re going to be wrong a lot. If that’s the case, you better be sure your losses are as small as they can be, and that your winners are bigger. - Steve Cohen of SAC Capital, via Stock Market Wizards Winning percentage, or ratio of winning trades to losing trades, is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for new traders. This probl ...

[details] [close] received 318 days ago published 319 days ago lang: en
I compile statistics on my traders. My best trader makes money only 63 percent of the time. Most traders make money only in the 50 to 55 percent range. That means you’re going to be wrong a lot. If that’s the case, you better be sure your losses are as small as they can be, and that your winners are bigger.

- Steve Cohen of SAC Capital, via Stock Market Wizards

Winning percentage, or ratio of winning trades to losing trades, is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for new traders.

This problem stems from inexperience and human psychology. Namely, a lack of experience attunes the new trader’s ear to what sounds good at first blush, rather than what actually works or makes sense

Many “too good to be true” type trading systems are thus sold on the basis of incredibly high winning percentages, or “hit rates” – often 80% or better, backtested over some carefully selected time period. Because the human psyche is naturally tilted towards loss aversion, this is the kind of thing that appeals.

Neither the ego nor the pocketbook like being wrong. So, the beginner’s logic goes, the best way to get rich as a trader is to be right (i.e. to book winners) as often as humanly possible.

Unfortunately, this way of thinking is a trick and a trap – an expensive indulgence of our primal wiring.

Side note: If you are running a high frequency trading (HFT) operation executed by a row of liquid-cooled supercomputers six blocks from the exchange, the above may not apply to you. But HFT is incredibly hardware and R&D-intensive — almost more of an arms race than a trading methodology – and thus a separate kettle of fish.

The reality is that win percentage, good or bad, tells very little about the year a discretionary trader may have had – especially in relation to varying levels of conviction and position size.

Here are two opposing examples:
- A cautious discretionary trader fights his way through choppy, low conviction conditions for nine months, trading small and light the whole time – then loads the boat with large, high-conviction positions in the final twelve weeks of the year. He finishes with a subpar total win percentage (compared to his long-term average), but an excellent net annual return.
- A naked options seller employs his aggressive premium collection strategy to great success, making money every week for months on end. After batting a thousand for 40 weeks in a row, one of his bread and butter stocks – that of a large, liquid corporation – is blown to smithereens on news of an earnings restatement. The unhedged put options the trader sold short, a good-sized position, suddenly skyrocket in value. With a hit rate (win percentage) still well above 90%, the trader’s year has gone down to the toilet.
To further reflect on this topic, the below Q&A is adapted from a recent Elite Trader message board discussion, held between yours truly and some other traders, as to the benefits of high winning percentage versus lower winning percentage strategies.

The starting point was an assertion made in Peter Brandt’s book that, other things being equal, knowledgeable traders would prefer a methodology with a win ratio of 30%, over a similarly performing strategy with a win ratio of 70%. Novice traders go the opposite way, focusing on the appeal of being right.

The questions in bold are condensed versions of message board inquiries. My edited answers are in plain text.

Q. Assuming comparable returns, why would professional traders prefer a methodology with a 30% success rate over a 70% one?

I would characterize the argument a little differently. It is more that the methodology with the 30% hit ratio will be more robust. It will be more armored against losses, since routine losses and aggressive risk control in respect to extended loss periods are already part of the program.

This 30% preference is also based on a rule of thumb awareness of how profits and hit ratios are typically distributed. In Stock Market Wizards, Steve Cohen is on record saying his best trader was only right something like 63% of the time. In other words, 63% is given as the high-end outlier among the sharpest group of short-term traders in the world.

Given the above, and given that markets have a historical tendency to distribute profits in a very “lumpy” fashion — often rewarding a trader in a handful of great periods a year — the lower win ratio also has a higher likelihood of robusticity in terms of conceptually fitting the profile of how gains are distributed.

To further back up the distribution argument, Kenneth Grant, author of “Trading Risk,” was a risk manager for many of the top dog managers at one point — Jones, Cohen, Bacon and so on. In his book Grant remarks offhandedly that the vast majority of great traders he worked with had a 90/10 profit distribution, meaning 90% of their bottom line profits come from 10% of their trades.

This in turn suggests a profile of boxing and counterpunching for very small amounts in play, then “pouring it on” in those isolated instances when all the stars align. And once again this is a 30% profile, not a 70%…

But to some degree the even more straightforward observation, which I agree with, is that newbies are routinely bamboozled by the notion of a high winning percentage statistic. It’s not relevant to long run success and may even be detrimental if undue emphasis or leverage is placed upon it.

Q. Doesn’t a lower success rate leave less room for error? Wouldn’t the greater accuracy of a higher winning percentage confer valuable long-term benefits?

I would argue the cost of greater accuracy is a diminished opportunity set (relative to catching meaningful moves in deep and liquid markets with a meaningful amount of capital in play). This is because the biggest and most powerful trends are most often born in periods of high uncertainty.

How do you catch a monster move born in uncertainty? You take multiple shots with small controlled risk and lever up opportunistically as conditions dictate. The real world manifestation of this is a series of small, low-risk probe type opportunities coupled with the profits from major outlier moves.

I think one challenge for many new traders (not speaking to anyone in particular) is that they don’t give a lot of thought to how profits are distributed, or what a “loss” really means. By many professional traders’ estimation, a small controlled loss is not necessarily a failure or a setback so much as an investment.

Q. Doesn’t a lower success rate imply greater dependence on not missing a trade?

Yes and no. The question of dependence is debatable based on signal frequency.

For example, if you know from statistical records that you take 120 trades a year on average, you will certainly have a large enough opportunity set for the law of large numbers to work in your favor.

Where N equals number of trades, lower average hit rate increases the odds of a dry spell for shorter periods of N, but as N extends, probability closes the gap.

Q. Isn’t it logical to assume traders with higher win percentages will have consistently stronger profitability, just as a company with a more diversified client base is more likely to have stable financial performance?

The Bear Stearns High Grade Structured Credit Opportunities Fund had positive returns for 40 months in a row. Then it blew up. Vic Niederhoffer has had more than his fair share of long stretches of net positive return months — followed by repeated blowups. Merger arb guys are known for “eating like birds and shitting like elephants” or otherwise “taking their volatility all at once.”

In other words, the flip side of the argument is that artificially high stability tends to sacrifice robusticity. There is the danger of the relied-upon mechanism that produces that stability suddenly going poof. The real world instances of this are legion.

I would further argue the client diversity argument is misapplied. Simply put, lumpy is more lifelike. The trader with the “steady eddie” methodology that distributes gains with preternatural smoothness is often relying on one specialized approach, or one market, or one prevailing set of market conditions. He is the one more exposed to potentially disturbing change.

Strategies with lower hit rates and higher R multiples, in contrast, almost by definition tend to work across a wider number of markets and a far more diverse set of market conditions. Being able to exploit opportunities in, say, 30 different markets is thus akin to having 30 different clients. Very different than the guy who makes all his money in merger arb, or scalping the DAX, or some other very narrow strategy as high hit rate approaches tend to be.

Q. In addition to the “more dependent on winners” problem, won’t the lower winning percentage trader have a harder time determining when his strategy has gone off the rails? If extended periods of adversity are nothing out of the ordinary, how will he know?

The “single winning trade” argument is invalidated by a sufficiently large sample size of N. It may be true that a certain strategy has higher odds of a losing month, for example, but that does NOT automatically translate to higher odds of a losing year, because 12 months is a sufficiently expanded length of time for N to fully express historical averages.

The 70% winning strategy, in contrast, almost always requires significant sacrifices to maintain — usually in the form of lower R / higher leverage / reduced profits per trade. That is why high hit ratio strategies tend to be the province of day trading, merger arb, options selling, and so on, all of which present their own special challenges — not least capacity constraints and “flash crash” risk (as greater amounts of starting leverage typically have to be employed to make the light worth the candle).

Re, going off the rails, the short answer is this is a non-issue for discretionary traders who are not reliant on mechanical signals or heavily optimized system parameters. For a slightly longer answer, this also goes back to robusticity and diversity of opportunity — the more markets a strategy can trade, and the wider opportunity set of conditions it can handle, the lower the odds of permanent degradation (regardless of whether the strategy is discretionary or mechanical).

Again too, based on simple empirical observation of successful traders running meaningful amounts of capital ($10MM plus) across the market landscape, the strategies that seem to have the most diversity, longevity and ubiquity over time tend to trend towards a focus on higher R in concentrated profit periods, a minimized or ignored focus on winning % as a key statistic, and acceptable levels of daily and monthly volatility deliberately incorporated into the program.

Q. Are you saying lower winning percentage is a prerequisite for success?

No, I’m not arguing lower winning percentage is a necessary condition for success — more so that it’s a very regular and routine occurrence. One could certainly still have a high hit rate for an extended period of time, and one of the large global macro traders in “Invisible Hands” says his long term hit rate is 50%.

The abstract logic goes back to 1) near term uncertainty, 2) probing bets, and 3) the lumpy manner in which profits are distributed.

If you use a tighter risk point, you can establish a position with larger size. But doing that increases the likely number of times you will have to test and probe before catching a meaningful move. Outlier profits then come on moves that are extra large, or offer high quality pyramiding opportunities, or otherwise provide the perfect moment to go full throttle with tightly defined risk.

Q. What would you say is the maximum R, or reward-to-risk expectation on a trade, for a strategy that is profitable 63% of the time (the Cohen example) versus one that is profitable 30 or 35%?

Well, that’s the beauty of being a discretionary trader — there really is no “maximum” to speak of, any more than there are maximum earnings for an entrepreneur.

Let’s say a (very good) trader is able to maintain a 63% hit ratio through extreme precision and tight risk control, but is also very, very good at spotting those rare outlier moments when all the stars align for a huge trend.

Then say that same trader establishes a huge position in Ford Motor Co. (F:NYSE) at $2 per share in early 2009 and, thanks to a cushion of accumulated profits, decides to open up his risk envelope, riding it all the way to $13 per share. Given a gain of $11, what would his R be if he originally risked 20 or 30 cents on the trade?

There are also other ways to structure trades as such that, in certain circumstances, an outlier R can approach 50 to 1 or some such (or even a lot more). So it doesn’t really make sense to talk about a cap or a max, assuming the versatility is there.

Of course, I am talking about discretionary methods here rather than mechanical (or discretionary implementation with mechanical augmentation). But this also helps explain why the most profitable traders in the world are discretionary.

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Objects in the rearview mirror may be closer than they appear.

Cowboys @ Giants: When The Stats Don't Make A Lot Of Sense

[Dallas Cowboys] (Blogging The Boys)

More photos » Bill Kostroun - AP Objects in the rearview mirror may be closer than they appear. Buy Photo » Browse more photos » If you look at some of the game stats, the Giants game appears to have been a lot closer than the 33-20 score would suggest. In fact, ...

[details] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

More photos » Bill Kostroun - AP

Objects in the rearview mirror may be closer than they appear.

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If you look at some of the game stats, the Giants game appears to have been a lot closer than the 33-20 score would suggest. In fact, if you look at detailed team stats for the game, you could get the impression that the Giants actually won the game. Here are a couple of statistical categories in which the Giants dominated the Cowboys:

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Stat	Giants	Cowboys
Time of Possession	37:51	22:09
Total 1st downs	25	15
Third down conversion	6-15	3-11
Total Yards	480	427
Sacks	1	0

In his press conference on Monday, Coach Garret said: "I’m not a big statistical guy. I don’t really care too much about statistics."

So what does this mean? Does our coach think stats are overrated? The numbers from the Giants game sure do suggest that they are. Or is this just a clever ploy by Garret, meant to confuse the press and opponents alike?

Just because you like what Garrett is saying and you like his demeanor while saying it, do not automatically believe everything this head coach tells you. He’d have you believe he went to the Doofus School of Head Coaching, and he’d tell it to you with a straight face and a sincere smile.

At the very least, Garrett is being purposefully vague and non-committal on many of his answers, if not outright misleading. Ever notice that sly smile right after he finishes answering a question? That ought to tell you something right there. When he said "I'm not a big statistical guy", I wouldn't be the least surprised if what he was thinking was "Well, I'm only 6-2, 200 pounds, so I'm not outright lying when I say I'm not a big statistical guy".

Another give-away is that he talks at length about turnovers right after saying he doesn't really care about statistics. Here' the full quote from the press conference:

I’m not a big statistical guy. I don’t really care too much about statistics. But the overwhelming statistic in the NFL last year, last ten, last twenty, last thirty, last fifty is turnovers.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s about who has more points. But the one statistic that factors into who has more points – more than anything else – are turnovers. You have to take care of the football. So we make that emphasis in meetings, in walk-throughs, on the practice field. We keep putting that in front of them.

But that still leaves the question of why the Cowboys won the game when the Giants won many of the statistical battles. Part of the answer are obviously the big plays the Cowboys had throughout the game, none bigger than McCann's goal-line interception for what was arguably a 14 point swing in the game.

The other part is that of the answer is that we are looking at raw volume stats which don't have a high correlation with winning in the NFL. Just last year, Patriots coach Bill Belichick joined a long line of coaches before him (and after him) who have all said that stats are overrated:

"Stats are for losers," he said. "The final score is for winners."

Yesterday, Belichick spoke with the Boston Herald and clarified what exactly he meant with that quote:

"Well," he said, pondering the issue. "I think they all have meaning. It’s just the priority of the stats."

"Wins is number one," Belichick said. "Points is number two, because that correlates to winning. And then you get to the things that correlate to scoring, which (are) red area, big plays, and third down becomes a part of that because of being able to sustain drives and that type of things. But if you make big plays, then third down becomes less important. You can offset any good numbers with bad numbers. You can offset bad numbers with good numbers, but in the end, it’s about getting points on the board and keeping them off. You always want to improve on the things that you’re doing in all areas of the game. You want to run for more yardage, run for more consistent yardage, pass for more consistent yardage, defend it, all those things - get more negative plays, turnovers, on and on. You’re always striving to improve in every one of those areas."

"I'm not saying (stats are) not significant, they are," Belichick clarified, "but the ones that correlate the highest to winning, you still have to consider them as the most important."

What Belichick is basically trying to say is that only the wrong stats are for losers. So let's look at some of the 'right stats' and see how the Cowboys fared versus the Giants:

Stat	Giants	Cowboys
TO differential	-2	+2
Field Position	318	420
ANPY/A	6.7	14.7
DVOA	-56.1%	61.2%
Passer Rating	88.3	124.1

Note on the stats: ANPY/A is explained in detail here, DVOA is Football Outsiders proprietary stat and you can read up on it here.

The Cowboys walked away with a victory on the winning stats, or the stats that count, and while many would argue that passer rating should not be included here, at the end of the day, it is correlated to winning.

Traditional, volume-based football stats are pretty useless outside of fantasy football and are usually not a great help in explaining how a game ended. But a good, efficiency-based stat can go a long way towards explaining what happened on the field, and perhaps even why. Only a loser would think otherwise.

Spending cuts – the fightback begins
[Guardian] (Politics: David Cameron | guardian.co.uk)
Can this week's violent protests in Westminster simply be dismissed as the hijacking of an orderly demonstration by a 'small minory' of anarchists. Or are they a sign of things to come for an 'out-of-touch' government with 18 millionaires in its cabinet?On and on it went: aerial shots of the heaving crowd, rolling commentary, bursts of stuff shot on mobile phones, and the usual parade of talking heads. While what the BBC was calling a "mini-riot" happened both inside and outside the Millbank t ...

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Can this week's violent protests in Westminster simply be dismissed as the hijacking of an orderly demonstration by a 'small minory' of anarchists. Or are they a sign of things to come for an 'out-of-touch' government with 18 millionaires in its cabinet?

On and on it went: aerial shots of the heaving crowd, rolling commentary, bursts of stuff shot on mobile phones, and the usual parade of talking heads. While what the BBC was calling a "mini-riot" happened both inside and outside the Millbank tower, the people in charge of its news channel were presumably ecstatic: this kind of stuff, after all, is what rolling news was invented for.

Over there: a fire! Suddenly, on the roof: more protesters! On the phones: frantic office workers, taken aback by the disruption of their day! And in the midst of it all: that delicate and ever-shifting line of police, anxiously trying to do whatever they could, knowing full well that the people they were up against had already – if you'll excuse the pun – stolen a march on them.

Meanwhile, the president of the National Union of Students did the media rounds. Aaron Porter is 25; he stood for the office as an independent, but is a member of the Labour party, whose dress code – the Nick Robinson-esque glasses are a good example – rather suggests that he's destined for a career in mainstream politics. Certainly, if you fancy being a high-ranking Labour MP, clambering to the top of the NUS isn't a bad move at all. His predecessors have included Jack Straw, Charles Clarke, the current shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy, and Phil Woolas, the MP last week suspended from office for making misleading claims in the course of the last election campaign – all of which highlights the fact that NUS presidents are not exactly renowned for being what the French call enragés.

And so it proved. "Let me be clear," he told yet another camera. "I absolutely condemn the actions of a small minority who have used violent means to hijack the protest . . . if some people think it's appropriate to use violence, it's a total disgrace, and they have completely hijacked this opportunity to make a serious point." In his own way, he was endorsing the view that was subsequently splashed over the front page of yesterday's Daily Mail: "Anarchists spark violence as 50,000 take to streets over student fees – HIJACKING OF A VERY MIDDLE CLASS PROTEST".

On the BBC, there was a particularly priceless moment. When Porter once again talked about "hijacking", the coverage cut to the mass of people outside Tory HQ, the presenter made the point that this was not what "a small minority" would look like – and Porter seemed momentarily lost for words. You had only to look at the crowd to know that the vast majority of them were not anarchists, but reasonably regular twentysomethings. As if to illustrate the point, when one of the people on the roof made the stupid decision to hurl down a fire extinguisher">stupid decision to hurl down a fire extinguisher, they were met with an outraged chant of "Don't throw shit! Don't throw shit!"

Long after the fires had burned out, and the riot police had belatedly arrived, I spoke to a Guardian colleague who had spent most of Wednesday at the scene. Talk of cynical provocateurs, he said, was "nonsense": the crowd was made up of "ordinary students who were viscerally angry", but also mindful of what was ill-advised, or plain daft. When one of their number had prised up a cobblestone and moved to lob it at the police, he had been roundly told to "stop being an idiot"; moreover, the attempted occupation of Millbank had seemingly started on a whim, when a handful of people had walked into the foyer, not quite believing they had been allowed to do so, and decided to stay put. He was also unimpressed by talk of an assembly of self-indulgent, bourgeois moaners: time and again, he said, he had bumped into people from such northern towns as Bradford and Wakefield, who were students at FE colleges, angered to the point of fury by the government's axing of the educational maintenance allowance – the means-tested benefit that has enabled so many people to take up post-16 education without being a drain on the family budget.

His basic point – and mine – is simple enough. What happened on Wednesday afternoon was not some meaningless rent-a-mob flare-up, nor an easily-ignored howl of indignation from some of society's more privileged citizens. It was an early sign of people growing anxious and restless, and what a government pledged to such drastic plans should increasingly expect.

If you hadn't noticed already, these are strange, tumultuous times. We are still in the midst of the uneasy period of phoney war before the cuts actually bite, but we now know what's coming: the deepest and quickest reductions in public spending since the 1920s – which, according to an under-reported quote from David Cameron, will not be reversed, even when our economic circumstances improve (2 August, at an event in Birmingham: "Should we cut things now and go back later and try and restore them later? I think we should be trying to avoid that approach").

The welfare state is in for an unprecedented reinvention, as ministers get dangerously close to reviving the nasty old trope of the undeserving poor; yesterday, as if to try to neutralise recent fretful noises from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Iain Duncan Smith talked about supposedly self-imposed worklessness as a "sin". Changes to housing benefit look likely to drastically change the social makeup of our cities, and London in particular; even Boris Johnson has talked about the danger of "social cleansing".

Meanwhile, just about every area of our lives will soon feel the pinch: travel anywhere in the country, pick up the local paper, and it's all there – the imminent hacking back of youth centres, social care, school buildings, libraries, parks . . . you name it. Everyone will be affected: as ever, the most vulnerable will take the biggest hit, though it is no accident that the idea of the "squeezed middle" is being talked about as never before.

Of late, my mind has returned time and again to a celebrated article from 1999 by the Oxford academic Ross McKibbin, and one passage in particular: "The middle classes make more use of the NHS, public transport, public libraries, local swimming pools, public parks and their right to state welfare than anyone else."

Underneath the coalition's plans, there is an obvious enough agenda: not just the brutal cutting of public spending, but a decisive rolling-out of the market-obsessed, "choice"-fixated ideas that took root while Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, were revived and retooled once Tony Blair decided he had to define himself against the Labour party – and now look set to be taken to their logical conclusion by the Tories, and the like-minded Lib Dems who took their party into the coalition. Here lies another reason why Wednesday's events were so significant – for within the government's plans for higher education lie not just the hiking-up of fees, but an entire reinvention of the very ethos of our universities, whereby the idea of education as a public good takes yet another kicking, and everything comes down to "choice", and whatever is meant to be good for business.

A recent issue of the London Review of Books featured an inspired demolition of the Browne review, the report into higher education by the former chief executive of BP that was hailed by the government as setting its "strategic direction", and thereby opened the way for the lifting of the cap on fees, and much more besides. The LRB piece was written by a Cambridge don named Stefan Collini, and it quickly got to the heart of the problem: "Overwhelmingly, the general statements announce, with startling confidence, the real point of higher education: 'Higher education matters because it drives innovation and economic transformation. Higher education helps to produce economic growth, which in turn contributes to national prosperity.' . . . This report displays no real interest in universities as places of education; they are conceived of simply as engines of economic prosperity and as agencies for equipping future employees to earn higher salaries."

Meanwhile, where are the public? When it comes to tuition fees, do not believe the voices who tell us that the average Briton thinks students are a pampered lot who should get with the government's plans and count themselves lucky. A recent YouGov survey commissioned by the Sun found that the public opposed the Browne proposals by 45% to 37%; an ICM poll from around the same time offered the choice between raised fees and the far fairer option of a graduate tax, and found that people favoured the latter over the former by 61% to 29%.

More generally, presumably to the delight of the government, a cliche has long since oozed into the reporting of what they are up to: that people accept the need for drastic austerity, and are meekly preparing for the necessary dose of fiscal medicine. Browse the requisite opinion polls, and you could be forgiven for assuming the worst: late last month, for example, Ipsos Mori found that 59% of people agreed that there was "a need to cut public spending on public services" – the kind of statistic cited almost daily by those newspapers who habitually encourage the government to go further, and faster.

In fact, things aren't as simple as that. According to the same poll, the share of people who think the government has made either the right or wrong calls on public spending is evenly split: 41% and 38% respectively, while one in five simply don't know; 40% of people disagree with the idea that the coalition's approach will improve the state of the economy; while 49% reject the idea that, as the coalition insists, public services will somehow improve in the long run; 47% oppose cutting back the number of people who work in the public sector. Public opinion, it seems, is as contorted and contradictory as ever – and for the government, there is much less comfort than you might imagine.

While the coalition comes over all Churchillian, endlessly talking about the "national interest" and the spurious idea that we are "all in this together", there is also a low hubbub of noise about their shortage of a mandate. On Wednesday, the ire of the marchers was focused on all those Lib Dems who blithely signed the NUS's anti-fees pledge ("I pledge to vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament and to pressure the government to introduce a fairer alternative" – yesterday, Nick Clegg limply said that he "should have been more careful" than to put his name to it). But there are also serious questions about the Tories – not just that they are pushing what Cameron recently called a "revolution" with the support of around one in five of the electorate, but also when it comes to the pronouncements they made during the election campaign.

Consider, for example, a now-infamous quote from the PM, issued on the Andrew Marr show on 2 May: "What I can tell you is any cabinet minister, if I win the election, who comes to me and says: 'Here are my plans' and they involve frontline reductions – they'll be sent straight back to their department to go away and think again." And really: they wonder why some people are increasingly angry.

And so to the wider context, and things that most of the media very rarely mentions. Political debate in Britain is endlessly distorted by the way that London so dominates the national conversation, and assumptions that run wide and deep in some of Britain's more desirable postcodes are assumed to blur into the national mood. In Islington, Notting Hill, and the more upmarket corners of the home counties, austerity will doubtless be taken in a lot of people's stride: if you have opted out of large swaths of the public sector and earn a six-figure salary, the prospect of the cuts will inevitably cause you relatively little worry. Self-evidently, this will not be the case in Bolton, Merthyr Tydfil, or Hastings; but neither will it hold true in Basildon, Crawley, or Harrogate.

At the top of government, what might be called the "experience gap" grows even wider. There are at least 18 millionaires in the cabinet: Cameron is said to be worth around £3.4m; Nick Clegg's wealth is put at a mere £1.8m. Of late, even commentators on the right have been talking about the distance between some ministers and the people at the sharp end of their policies, not least when it comes to the middle class. Last month, for example, the Daily Telegraph's Peter Oborne bemoaned their "devastating" fate, in a piece worth quoting at reasonable length, if only to prove that the idea of an out-of-touch elite blithely wreaking havoc is not the preserve of hard-bitten lefties.

Among Oborne's most telling passages was this one: "Doubtless both David Cameron and George Osborne think of themselves, quite genuinely, as middle class. Indeed, a few weeks ago, David Cameron referred to himself as a member of the "sharp-elbowed middle class", and the political intention of this remark was clear: he was claiming associate membership of the club of hard-working people who pay their taxes, do their best to rear their children and find it desperately hard to make ends meet. Few would challenge the Camerons' fundamental decency. But the middle-class people David and Samantha Cameron know socially tend to be on quarter of a million a year and upwards. Life for them may indeed be tough, but only in the sense of whether they can afford a skiing holiday or a spring break in the Caribbean."

In last week's news that Cameron had put his personal photographer on the public payroll, there was a slight touch of the Marie Antoinettes, and a tension that may yet cause the government no end of trouble. It boils down to this: if you are secure in such an exclusive social bracket, it will inevitably distort your view of things. Around £27,000 for a university degree may well seem like the acme of both affordability and common sense; lost child benefit may seem like money dropped down the back of the couch; people on welfare will inevitably look like the residents of a completely different planet.

Meanwhile, some longstanding assumptions seem to be changing at speed. Wednesday gave the lie to the idea that our young people are thoroughly post-ideological creatures, with no fight in them; if even the most fusty newspapers are worried about the chasm that separates the government from the so-called squeezed middle, you can bet that the politics of class may yet make an unexpected comeback.

Oh, and one other thing. Though few people seemed to notice, on 3 November, a Treasury minister named Lord Sassoon served notice that the coalition's work on City bonuses was done: "The government has taken action to tackle unacceptable bonuses in the banking sector," he said, and that seemed to be that. Six days later, Barclays announced that its latest bonus pot would total £1.6bn – which is about a third of what the government currently spends each year on university teaching. The annual season of big executive payouts is about to commence once again; at this rate, do not be surprised if the seditious spirit of Millbank spreads – and fast.
George Osborne

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Your Videos Are Losing 20% Of Their Audience Within 10 Seconds
[Small Business] (Smallbiztechnology.com)
From David Strom of Strom.com We live in a world where short attention spans rule, as I wrote in a column more than two years ago. But nowhere is this more evident lately than when it comes to watching Internet video clips. The research outfit Visible Measures found that after the first ten seconds, videos lose about 20 percent of their audiences. Ten seconds? That is a lot of itchy mouse fingers, barely enough time to even think about whether to continue watching. No wonder so many new networ ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

From David Strom of Strom.com

We live in a world where short attention spans rule, as I wrote in a column more than two years ago. But nowhere is this more evident lately than when it comes to watching Internet video clips. The research outfit Visible Measures found that after the first ten
seconds, videos lose about 20 percent of their audiences. Ten seconds? That is a lot of itchy mouse fingers, barely enough time to even think about whether to continue watching. No wonder so many new network TV shows have already been canceled.

I wanted to see how my own series of screencast videos stacked up to that statistic. For the past two years, I have been producing more than 50 of these over on Webinformant.tv as well as posting them across more than a dozen different video sharing Web sites. For some of the videos I use a service from Wistia.com where I can track exactly how many people have watched them all the way through, who has
abandoned watching mid-way, and who rewinds to see something a second or third time. I purposely speak at a rate that is faster than normal for my narrations, mainly to cram more information into the video and also to make sure that my viewer continues to pay attention. When I first began doing these videos, my goal was to produce something
around five minutes in length: now I try for closer to three minutes. Some of my clients have even wanted two minutes or less for their videos. People just don't have the time and attention spans are dropping.
Miami Dolphins Report Card Through Week 5
[New England Patriots, Sports, Fantasy Football] (Bleacher Report - Front Page)
Featured on MIASPORTSGUY.COM With four games in the books and a 2-2 record to show for it, the Miami Dolphins have disappointed thus far. The two teams they beat, the Bills (0-4) and Vikings (1-3), both look like bottom dwellers and the two teams they lost to, the Jets (3-1) and Patriots (3-1), place them in a AFC East hole. Take into account both losses came at home with games at New York and New England coming in December. No bueno. Let’s break down the team through week five. Week 1: @B ...

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Featured on MIASPORTSGUY.COM

With four games in the books and a 2-2 record to show for it, the Miami Dolphins have disappointed thus far.

The two teams they beat, the Bills (0-4) and Vikings (1-3), both look like bottom dwellers and the two teams they lost to, the Jets (3-1) and Patriots (3-1), place them in a AFC East hole.

Take into account both losses came at home with games at New York and New England coming in December. No bueno. Let’s break down the team through week five.

Week 1: @Buffalo – Won 15-10

Week 2: @Minnesota – Won 14-10

Week 3: New York Jets – Lost 31-23

Week 4: New England – Lost 41-17

Week 5: Bye

Week 6: @ Green Bay, 1:00 PM EST

Offense C-

Although the Dolphins offense ranks 13th in average yards a game, they rank 28th in average points (16.5 Points). That latter statistic must improve. Unless the defense plays lights-out every week, the team will not win by routinely putting up 16 points.

Chad Henne‘s leash now has a length similar to that of a newborn puppy. After four interceptions at home within the division the last two weeks, many are calling for his head.

Not so fast. If you yank him, that’s it. His confidence would be completely shot and you will have to ride it out with either Chad Pennington or Tyler Thigpen. I say ride Henne through the season and pray he learns to finally start looking off his receivers. He has shown glimpses, he just needs more consistency and a supportive rushing attack.

Pennington has a bum shoulder and is absolutely not the long term answer while Thigpen can still be looked at in the future. Why not give Henne a full legitimate shot?

Running backs Ricky Williams (4.7 YPC) and Ronnie Brown (4.1) have respectable numbers on the ground out of standard sets. However, from the Wildcat they have struggled. The offense could use a speedster out of the backfield to provide a change of pace from their bruising styles.

Brandon Marshall (27 REC, 340 YDS) and Davone Bess (21 REC, 245 YDS) have been the top two targets in the passing game this year and both have played exceptional. Still, Miami could use a deep threat with no current receiver on the roster averaging more than 12.7 yards per catch.

The offensive line has been steady in pass protection and okay in the running game. They don’t blow the defensive line off the line of scrimmage like they did so frequently last year. This group is more finesse and the play-calling needs to adapt to that. That means more pulling sweeps, draws, and counters.

The return of rookie guard John Jerry will help.

Defense C+

The defense needs to improve in two areas. They rank 21st in rushing yards per game (117.8) so the run defense clearly has to get better. Outside of Karlos Dansby, no linebacker is playing consistent in that area. Channing Crowder has returned to practice and hopes to give this unit a boost.

They also give up too many big plays via the air. Jason Allen, after dominating the Vikings in week two, has regressed ever since and has been picked on by every opposing quarterback. Vontae Davis has been a bright spot in the secondary and is already one of the league’s best corners.

Cameron Wake has put pressure on the quarterback often (3.0 Sacks), which is no surprise. He needs to get better against the run, but has shown the ability to be a star.

The defensive ends need to do a better job at filling holes and containing the running game at the point of attack. Randy Starks has been the only standout from that unit thus far. The good news is rookie end Jared Odrick is close to 100%.

Special Teams F

It’s not often you can blame one unit for blowing an entire football game. However, that accurately was the case with the Dolphins special teams in week four against the Patriots. Their miscues (They gave up a blocked punt, blocked FG for a touchdown, and a kickoff return for a touchdown) put Miami ten feet under and blew any chance of Miami making a game out of it.

Let’s see if firing the coach can even make a difference. Don’t be shocked to see regular starters playing in special teams situations. The kicking and punting game has been solid as expected.

Coaching C

The offensive play-calling needs to get better. The Wildcat might be on its way out. They can’t just pound the ball up the middle and expect consistent success with the current line’s makeup. This line doesn’t have the look of a smash-mouth group anymore.

Defensively, they look great at times and sour at others. Containing the run would be a nice start.

Overall C

Expectations rose in the offseason with the acquisition of Marshall and Dansby. Until Henne takes his game to the next level, this team will be no better than average. With a hurting Packers team up next the Dolphins desperately need a win with the Steelers and Ravens coming soon.
Related Posts:
Browns Head Coach Eric Mangini Press Conference Ahead of Battle With Steelers
[Cleveland, Cleveland, OH] (Cleveland Leader)
(Opening statement)- “Good afternoon everybody. Talking to the team this morning one of the things I didn’t really talk to them after the game and I really should have was how much I appreciated some of the real gutsy efforts that were out there yesterday. There were a lot of guys that were either dinged up prior to the game or things happened during the game, they really fought through those situations and contributed in a lot of different ways. Offensively, they felt like we should have r ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

(Opening statement)- “Good afternoon everybody. Talking to the team this morning one of the things I didn’t really talk to them after the game and I really should have was how much I appreciated some of the real gutsy efforts that were out there yesterday. There were a lot of guys that were either dinged up prior to the game or things happened during the game, they really fought through those situations and contributed in a lot of different ways. Offensively, they felt like we should have run the ball more effectively than we did and it’s really important that we do that and do that on a consistent basis. You don’t want to be in a situation where you are one dimensional and we should have been much better in that area. I thought that Seneca (Wallace) did a nice job in the time that he was in spreading the ball around. That was important. He was able to get the receivers involved, the tight ends involved, the backs involved and now that forced the defense to defend the width and length of the field. Did a pretty good job on third down, did a pretty good job in terms of not having many three and outs, but when you get to that big statistic of turnovers it’s huge. It’s huge and it was big again yesterday. Whether it was a turnover for a touchdown, or a turnover on the opening drive, or the turnover there at the end of the game where we either kick a field goal or we score a touchdown and now we’re kicking an onside kick to see if we can be in a position to tie the game.

read more
Avoiding Truck Accidents in California
[Law] (Lawyers.com Blog)
According to the Federal Highway Administration, there are 19,919,068 automobiles in California. Sharing the roadways of California are over 13 million trucks. It seems that automobiles outnumber tractor trailers, but unfortunately, automobiles are no match for tractor trailers on the highway. The average combination tractor trailer is formidable:Weighs 80,000 poundsIs 53 feet longTakes 40 percent longer to stop than a car doesEven at the speed limit of 55 miles per hour, it is not safe to be ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en
According to the Federal Highway Administration, there are 19,919,068 automobiles in California. Sharing the roadways of California are over 13 million trucks. It seems that automobiles outnumber tractor trailers, but unfortunately, automobiles are no match for tractor trailers on the highway. The average combination tractor trailer is formidable:
- Weighs 80,000 pounds
- Is 53 feet long
- Takes 40 percent longer to stop than a car does
Even at the speed limit of 55 miles per hour, it is not safe to be in a car in the path of a semi-truck when something goes wrong. The results can be devastating. In 2009, there were 263 fatal truck accidents and 7,390 non-fatal crashes with 3,660 injuries involving large trucks in California. Many of these injured victims went on to acquire an experienced truck accident attorney in California to help them recover any compensation they may be owed as a result of their accident.

Avoid becoming a statistic in a California trucking accident

When there are tractor-trailers on the road, here are some recommended precautions:

Distance—Be sure there is enough distance between you and a tractor-trailer. Consider that it takes a truck 100 yards to come to a stop—the length of an entire football field. It is wise to keep a safe distance from trucks on the road.. Often drivers will cut in front of trucks, but if someone in front of you comes to a quick stop, you are the one in between. A safe distance to travel behind any tractor-trailer is 150 feet.

Tailgating—When you are directly behind a tractor-trailer, the truck driver cannot see your car. If you cannot see the truck’s side mirrors, he cannot see you. If you are distracted by phone, music, or scenery, and the truck driver puts on his brakes quickly, you may rear end the truck, which can be fatal.

Tire blowouts—It is not recommended to drive continually next to a semi. As evidenced by the large pieces of rubber that litter our highways, tire blowouts are frequent on large trucks, often due to the weight they carry, weather conditions, and wearing over the long time trucks spend on the road. Commercial truck tires are six feet long and twelve inches wide with metal threads. When a truck tire blows out, the large, forceful, speeding object could come crashing through your windshield, involving you in a disastrous trucking accident.

Turns—Large tractor-trailers have a “wide right turn” sign on the rear of the trailer. This is for your protection. The length of a tractor-trailer is typically 80 feet, creating a large blind spot for the truck driver. If you pull forward as a truck is turning, your car may be hit because the trucker cannot see you are there.

The large numbers of cars and large trucks on the roadways in the state make it particularly important to use these safety precautions and avoid a truck accident in California.

If you are a victim in a truck accident in California, for immediate assistance, or to schedule an initial consultation or case evaluation with an experienced California trucking accident lawyer, please contact Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman.

Continue reading "Avoiding Truck Accidents in California"
Can the White Sox can salvage Scott Linebrink?
[Green] (ChicagoNow)
But they sure as hell are going to try. Surprisingly, despite losing the trust of Ozzie Guillen as early as ever this season, Scott Linebrink has set his White Sox career-high for innings pitched with 56.1. But this is of course misleading. Linebrink has been in less high-leverage appearances this season than Brent Lillibridge, and as much as I hate to use the completely absurd "holds" statistic, Linebrink had 19 in 2008, 7 in '09, and is down to 4 this season. I could go at length about th ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

But they sure as hell are going to try. Surprisingly, despite losing the trust of Ozzie Guillen as early as ever this season, Scott Linebrink has set his White Sox career-high for innings pitched with 56.1. But this is of course misleading. Linebrink has been in less high-leverage appearances this season than Brent Lillibridge, and as much as I hate to use the completely absurd "holds" statistic, Linebrink had 19 in 2008, 7 in '09, and is down to 4 this season. I could go at length about this in no way assesses the quality of a reliever, but it does show that Linebrink hasn't been trusted to be used in protecting leads. Three of the holds have come in the past 5 weeks, and the other one came in the 4th game in the season. Between that was a vast desert of garbage time.
Golden State of Mind: Are the New-Look Warriors Prepared To Shine?
[New England Patriots, Sports, Fantasy Football] (Bleacher Report - Front Page)
The 2007 season was the last time the Golden State Warriors managed to qualify for the NBA playoffs, but to the legions of fiercely loyal Warriors fans, those three years seem like an eternity. It's a good thing that postseason included a historic first-round upset of the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks. At least it gives weary fans a positive memory to help erase some of the anguish from the more recent past. Warriors fans have endured an incompetent owner, poor management, a coach with no defensiv ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

The 2007 season was the last time the Golden State Warriors managed to qualify for the NBA playoffs, but to the legions of fiercely loyal Warriors fans, those three years seem like an eternity.

It's a good thing that postseason included a historic first-round upset of the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks. At least it gives weary fans a positive memory to help erase some of the anguish from the more recent past.

Warriors fans have endured an incompetent owner, poor management, a coach with no defensive philosophy, and a team with no type of real interior presence.

Through it all, the fans have remained loyal and supportive of their team, and next season they may finally begin to see their patience rewarded.

Chris Cohan is out as owner, and the new proprietors of the team have promised that coach Don Nelson will follow him no later than the conclusion of the 2010-11 NBA season.

Those developments are promising enough in the opinion of many fans, but the Warriors also managed to upgrade their team in the offseason and address some glaring holes in their roster.

Enter former New York Knicks forward David Lee, whose 20 points and 10 rebounds per game should provide immediate help to a Golden State team that ranked near the bottom of the NBA in rebounding.

Lee's energy and athleticism are a great fit for the up-tempo Warriors, and his ability to score in the paint should alleviate some of the pressure from the perimeter players.

The Warriors were also able to sign former Miami Heat forward Dorrell Wright, whose length and defensive reputation could help institute a change from the Warriors' defenseless ways.

Golden State may miss the potential of Anthony Randolph and the perimeter scoring of Anthony Morrow, but Lee more than compensates for Randolph, and the same can probably be said for Reggie Williams as well.

Williams will see his playing time increase greatly due to the departure of Morrow to the New Jersey Nets, and although Williams' long range game is not as impressive as Morrow's, he is more of a complete scorer.

And make no mistake. Williams is a decent three-point shooter; but where Morrow's offensive game was limited to long-distance bombs, Williams is able to score his points in a variety of ways.

The return of Brandan Wright from injury should also help bolster the Warriors' front line, which could be one of the Western Conference's most athletic when you include Andris Biedrins.

The Warriors' starting backcourt of Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry should be even better after a full season of sharing the same space, and Curry gained valuable experience competing with Team USA during the FIBA World Championships.

Curry, who finished second in last season's NBA Rookie of the Year voting, didn't garner much playing time this summer, but he was able to learn from the more experienced guards in front of him.

Hopefully some of Chauncey Billups' leadership abilities will rub off on Curry, and maybe he can get doses of Russell Westbrook's on-ball defense and Derrick Rose's aptitude for penetration as well.

Curry's willingness to learn and his feel for the game should help him progress nicely during his sophomore campaign, and when all else fails, Curry still has that beautiful jump shot to fall back on.

There was some speculation on whether or not the Warriors would attempt to trade Ellis during the offseason, but his immediate future on the roster appears to be safe.

Ellis and Curry formed one of the NBA's most exciting and high-scoring backcourt tandems, and Ellis's 25 points per game ranked among the league's top 10.

Scoring has never been a problem for the Warriors, as they ranked near the top of the league in offense, but if the team is really dedicated to progress it will begin on the other side of the ball.

Golden State led the NBA in steals last season, but that statistic is more a result of their frantic style than any real commitment on the defensive end.

Some observers feel the Warriors will never improve on defense unless someone other than Nelson is coaching the team, but in order to have any shot of reaching the postseason, they must at least show some effort.

The inability to get stops will always overshadow the Warriors' ability to score points in bundles, and to be honest, it's not like they have to become a great defensive team overnight.

A change of culture is needed in order to attain a defensive mentality, and for it to happen, Nelson must be willing to pay a little attention to that end of the court.

If the Warriors can show some improvement on defense, the other pieces may be in place to have fans thinking playoffs next May instead of the usual thoughts of NBA draft prospects.

The long-suffering followers of the franchise definitely deserve to root for a team they can believe in, and maybe next season, they will have a chance to do just that.
Shopping for Autism Research
[Autism] (Look Me In The Eye)
I have been privileged to see many fascinating and insightful proposals for autism research in the context of my service on the NIH and Autism Speaks review boards. In the proposals scientists share their ideas and to some extent, their hopes and dreams for future autism study. When these proposals come in, I consider it an honor to advocate on behalf of the ones I believe have the best chance of benefiting today’s autistic population. I’ve discussed and spoken up for al kinds of resea ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

I have been privileged to see many fascinating and insightful proposals for autism research in the context of my service on the NIH and Autism Speaks review boards. In the proposals scientists share their ideas and to some extent, their hopes and dreams for future autism study.

When these proposals come in, I consider it an honor to advocate on behalf of the ones I believe have the best chance of benefiting today’s autistic population. I’ve discussed and spoken up for al kinds of research on behalf of many scientists and institutions. Yet there are some proposals I think about . . . but I have not seen.

You might say I am dreaming of research. Things I wish people would propose. Projects I’d like to see. Here are two:

1 Studying Geek Success

There is an awful lot of talk about “Almost Asperger Geniuses.” People banter names like Bill Gates, and they say things like, “One third of the science faculty at my university has Asperger’s.” It’s clear that there is a popular perception that many successful geeks are either on the spectrum or close to it. Yet those people are not disabled; far from it. Instead, they are exceptionally successful.

Why?

There are a number of screening tools that pick up Asperger/Autism personality traits that fall short of an ASD diagnosis. One good example would be Simon Baron Cohen’s AQ, EQ, and SQ tests. You can explore those tests yourself at www.cambridgepsychology.com

Why doesn’t some intrepid grad student gather a bunch of successful geeks who score high on something like the AQ, yet are successful in life, and look at the reasons for their success. Ideally, those people might be compared to a diagnosed Asperger group who has similar AQ scores yet have an official diagnosis and a disability.

If the scores are similar, what sets one group apart from the other? Why is one person with a high AQ score earning seven figures while someone else with the same score is on social security disability? Are there insights that could transfer from the more successful group to the less successful one?

Is the less successful group missing a particular set of traits? Do they have “extra” traits that make them less successful?

We talk at great length about the great things these exceptional people have brought society. Yet I am not aware of any comprehensive study that examined how this might have come to pass.

This spring, Autism Speaks funded a 25-year follow up study of people with more sever autism. The goal of that study is similar to what I describe here, but for a different population. The folks in that study are much more disabled as many had DSM III autism diagnoses. If the people at the very top of the spectrum are so successful, why don’t we try to learn how they do it and transfer that knowledge to others?

Can it be done?

I think that would be a fascinating piece of work.

2 Attacking the Environmental part of the puzzle

At the profoundly disabled end of the autism spectrum, we look at genetic defects or mutations that result in very severe autistim. In the latest studies, scientists are finding a significant number of de novo, or new, mutations.

That means the parents do not have a particular genetic problem, yet the child does.

Intuition tells us that some of these de novo mutations are caused by a complex inheritance mechanism we just don’t understand. Yet the same intuition tells us a good number of the mutations are the result of some kind of environmental trigger. Probably many environmental triggers.

I would like to see some well thought through studies to explore those possible environmental triggers for some of these newfound mutations.

This is a really hard question to attack. But it must be done.

You can look at genetic data from a disabled person’s blood, and compare his genome to that of a someone else who’s not autistic. The differences put us on the trail of genes that are implicated in the autism puzzle.

I say that as if it’s easy . . . it’s not! It’s very hard work. But we have a plan to attack the problem, and it’s being attacked on many fronts right now. That’s why we are moving faster on the genetic side than the environmental side . . .we know how to attack the problem and get results.

Yet that’s only part of the puzzle. We’re finding mutations, but it’s much, much harder to figure out how they came to be. Where do you start?

You can subject developing cells to bombardment from chemicals, light, noise, magnetism, radiation . . . there’s no limit to the environmental contaminants we can assault cells with. The problem is knowing which bombardments are happening to real people, and which cause damage?

How do we know what’s really happening out there in the world?

We’ve implicated some chemicals in recent years, and ruled out others. We are nowhere close to answering this fundamental question.

I think the environmental question needs to be attacked on the public health/statistical analysis front first. Where are the “pockets of autism?” I hear about school districts, counties, parts of Silicon Valley, and other places in the news. What’s real? What does the statistic data suggest in terms of exposures or agents?

I don’t know how these environmental studies should be structured. But Hesh on the Sopranos had it right when he said, “I don’t know how to write the songs, but I know a hit when I hear it.”

I feel the same way. Bring me a hit for environmental research.

(c) 2007-2010 John Elder Robison
Purdue Football: 10 Things We Learned at Notre Dame in Week 1
[New England Patriots, Sports, Fantasy Football] (Bleacher Report - Front Page)
The Purdue Boilermakers came out on the short end of a 23-12 score in their 2010 season opener at Notre Dame, continuing the program's recent struggles in South Bend (16 losses in the last 17 visits). Danny Hope's team obviously still has some work to do, but the schedule does them a bit of a favor with three straight winnable home games to close the month of September (against Western Illinois, Ball State, and Toledo, respectively). Here are ten things we learned about the Boilers from Saturday ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

The Purdue Boilermakers came out on the short end of a 23-12 score in their 2010 season opener at Notre Dame, continuing the program's recent struggles in South Bend (16 losses in the last 17 visits).

Danny Hope's team obviously still has some work to do, but the schedule does them a bit of a favor with three straight winnable home games to close the month of September (against Western Illinois, Ball State, and Toledo, respectively).

Here are ten things we learned about the Boilers from Saturday's season debut.

1. The offensive line is a work in progress.

The Boilermakers introduced three new starters up front at Notre Dame Stadium, and although Hope was happy with their overall performance ("I'm pleased with the development of our offensive line", he told reporters today), there is much room for improvement.

Purdue yielded four sacks against the Irish, including three in the opening five minutes of the second half alone, and quarterback Robert Marve seemed to be running for his life from the opening play.

If Purdue is going to establish the run in 2010 (like Hope has preached since the day he took over in West Lafayette), the offensive line has a ways to go in consistently dominating the line of scrimmage before the Boilermaker offense can reach its full potential.

2. Purdue desperately needs a short-yardage offense.

This category could also be called "How much Purdue misses star running back Ralph Bolden", but with Bolden's services doubtful for much or all of the season, the Boilermakers need answers in the backfield quickly.

Four-star running back Al-Terek McBurse was held to negative-two yards on four carries, while co-starter Dan Dierking (although he at least contributed 56 yards on the ground) doesn't appear physical enough to convert the 3rd-and-2s, 4th-and-1s, etc.

The Boilers showed an over-dependence on the play-action pass in those situations, which would be fine as long as they could pick up the short yardage needed by actually running the ball every now and again.

Most costly was a Marve interception on 4th-and-1 that wasted an impressive 90-yard second-half drive. Trailing 20-3 and having marched from their own 5-yard line to the Notre Dame 5, the Purdue coaching staff didn't trust their backs to pick up the young season's most important yard to date, and the Irish defense took away all of Marve's aerial targets (due to an utter disrespect of the Boilermakers' rushing attack).

3. Keith Smith and Ryan Kerrigan are bona fide stars.

Purdue's best offensive and defensive players in the season opener were their senior All-American candidates at wide receiver and defensive end. Keith Smith and Ryan Kerrigan lived up to their offseason hype and then some, with Smith grabbing 12 passes for 80 yards (while adding punt returner to his list of duties) and Kerrigan piling up 7 tackles (2.5 tackles for loss) and a fumble recovery.

Smith had four catches on one second-quarter drive to help the Boilermakers' offense finally get on the board. His back-to-back receptions started the drive, which Carson Wiggs ultimately finished with a 25-yard field goal.

Kerrigan's most impressive play was a stop in the end zone against Notre Dame running back Armando Allen. Kerrigan and cornerback Charlton Williams teamed up to break through the Irish offensive line and throw Allen for a three-yard loss and a safety (nearly doubling Purdue's scoring output to that point). The momentum-turning stop pulled the Boilers within 20-5 and sparked a small fourth-quarter comeback.

For Purdue to reach a bowl game in 2010, their best players will have to step up big. The performances of Smith and Kerrigan on Saturday were good signs for the Old Gold and Black.

4. Tackling is still a concern.

With as much defensive talent as Purdue has returning in their front seven, a repeat of last season's consistently poor tackling is simply unacceptable. Against Notre Dame, unfortunately, the Boilers were gashed early and often, as running backs Armando Allen and Cierre Wood combined to roll up 151 yards on 25 carries.

Hope likes to talk about all of the youth and inexperience on his team, but with both a veteran linebacker corps (upperclassmen Jason Werner, Joe Holland, and Chris Carlino have been around the block) and talented ends like Kerrigan and Gerald Gooden, the defense should (and will) be expected to perform better during the next 11 games.

5. Rob Henry and Antavian Edison could contribute in the Purdue backfield.

Offensive coordinator Gary Nord threw a wrinkle at the Irish in the second quarter when he inserted backup quarterback Rob Henry for four straight plays. Henry didn't throw a pass while he was on the field, but picked up an average of 5.3 yards per carry on three rushes and helped the Boilers convert an important 3rd-and-8 out of a timeout.

According to Hope, Henry will have a role this season, and not just on the ground. "He's a very good runner with the ball- one of our better runners with the football," said Hope. "But his role as our number two quarterback is to execute the same offensive plan.

"We want to get him involved in the passing game."

Another surprising personnel move in Saturday's loss featured sophomore wide receiver Antavian Edison getting four carries at running back. Purdue has struggled with depth at tailback during fall camp, losing McBurse to a leg injury for a few days and projected backup Keith Carlos to a stress fracture ("I haven't seen him do anything football-wise since last spring", Hope said of Carlos's slower-than-expected recovery), so the decision was made to give Edison a few backfield snaps.

"We felt like, coming out of camp, that he was one of our better playmakers on the offensive side of the ball," Hope said. "[Edison] was running hard with the football, was very sure-handed catching the ball, was making people miss, finishing runs, and was very detailed with his assignments.

"We got lean at the running back spot, so he got some reps at practice, and got a few in the game. We want to manufacture ways to get Antavian the ball, so it’s a good thing."

Edison finished with 17 rushing yards to go along with two catches against Notre Dame.

6. Turnover margin is crucial to Purdue's success.

Boilermakers fans remember last year's dismal 1-5 start, which can be directly attributed to Purdue's 20 costly turnovers in that six-game span. For Purdue to come out on the winning side of things more often in 2010, they'll have to cut down on the giveaways.

Hope is always reminding his players that "the ball is the program" (i.e. they're carrying the fate of Purdue football when they lug the pigskin on a given play), so it was discouraging to see the "program" be thrown Notre Dame's way a couple of times in Saturday's opener.

On the bright side, the Boilers did force a turnover themselves, stripping Michael Floyd of the football inside the Purdue 5-yard line to keep Notre Dame from blowing the game wide open and extending a 20-3 lead.

Turnover margin is a key for any team, but it's proven to be especially important for Purdue under Hope.

"If we had done a better job of taking care of the football from a ball security standpoint [in 2009], we probably would have been one of the great success stories in college football," he told writers before the season began.

Keep an eye on this statistic as the season goes on, since Purdue needs to find a way to start winning the turnover margin on a consistent basis.

7. The Boilermakers have to convert on big plays.

With Purdue suddenly only down one score (20-12) and less than nine minutes to go, Marve rolled out in his own end zone and heaved the ball 50 yards downfield to wideout Justin Siller on a 3rd-and-19 bomb.

Marve's pass hit a single-covered Siller in the hands before falling harmlessly to the ground, and while the catch was not easy by any stretch of the imagination (Siller was twisted around and going down fast), it needed to be made.

Pull the ball in, and the Boilermakers have more momentum, better field position, and 80,000 Golden Domers get more nervous in a hurry.

Instead, Purdue punted from their own end zone, Notre Dame took over at their own 41, and the home team promptly marched downfield to add three points to their lead and put the game out of reach.

The Boilers will have more chances to make big plays through the air, thanks to their quarterback's rocket arm, but they need to start converting the opportunities.

8. Carson Wiggs' leg changes the dynamics of a two-minute drill.

Almost every team in the country would play conservatively with the ball at their own 22-yard line, 40 seconds on the first-half clock, and only having scored three points in the first 29+ minutes of the game.

But no other team in the country has Carson Wiggs.

Purdue hasn't made a secret of wanting to give Wiggs a chance to set the NCAA record for field goal length (currently 67 yards), and knowing your kicker has a realistic shot from 70 completely changes how Hope, Nord, and the coaching staff attack different situations.

The problem is when that ace in the hole causes an over-aggressive approach, as it did in South Bend.

I don't mind seeing Hope defy the odds by letting Marve and company air it out in the final minute before intermission, but they need to make sure the execution is there. Against Notre Dame, two Marve incompletions and an offensive penalty forced the Boilers to punt with 13 seconds left.

Sure, it's nice to know you can try a field goal if the offense can crack midfield, but when your offense has been sputtering and mis-firing all half, handing the ball back to an opponent after only 27 seconds is a recipe for disaster.

Wiggs will win a few games for Purdue before the year's done, but Hope needs to make sure he doesn't give up extra possessions to show off his star's booming leg.

9. The secondary may just be all right.

Two new cornerbacks. Two new safeties.

A true freshman and two JUCO additions in the defensive backfield two-deep.

Forgive Boilermaker fans if they spent half of Saturday's game flipping back and forth through the roster just trying to learn names and numbers: that's a ton of new faces.

But despite breaking in four novice starters, the Purdue secondary may not be as much of a liability as most onlookers had feared.

Freshman Ricardo Allen has the makings of a star, Mike Eargle and Max Charlot look like Big Ten players already (thanks to their junior-college experience), and more-familiar names like Charlton Williams, Josh Johnson, Albert Evans, and Logan Link have improved every year in the program.

It's the new guys' time to shine, and holding Notre Dame and Brian Kelly's vaunted no-huddle attack to 205 passing yards in their 2010 debut is an encouraging start.

10. Robert Marve still has some growing up to do.

Marve was assessed a personal foul penalty on the lone Boilermaker touchdown, thanks to a showboat dive into the end zone to celebrate a huge 4th-and-1 conversion for points. With new NCAA rules that can actually take touchdowns away for excessive celebration likely going into effect next year, a stupid play like Marve's could have cost his team the score they had worked so hard for.

The good news is that Marve's matured since his troubles as a Miami Hurricane; the better news is that the Boilermakers are holding him to a high standard as his career resumes. Purdue's captains and coaches got in the young quarterback's ear as soon as the play had finished, and it's safe to say Marve's celebrations will be a bit toned down in the future.

Purdue fans just hope their talented signal-caller has a lot more scoring plays to celebrate as the 2010 season continues.

For more Purdue football coverage from Bleacher Report writer Tim Cary, follow him on Twitter at @TimCary.
The long road home for Chicago's young veterans
[Chicago Now, ChicagoNow, Chicago Tribune] (ChicagoNow)
Katherine West, a veteran who lives in South Shore, was discharged from the Army last year. She went on active duty in 2003. Brent Lewis/RedEye When Katherine West returned home to Chicago last year, she expected to resume the life she had before she went on active duty in the Army in 2003. Before she spent 18 months in Korea and 15 in Iraq. But that didn't happen. "I didn't realize how much I had changed until I got home," said West, 28, a veteran who lives in South Shore and was disch ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Katherine West, a veteran who lives in South Shore, was discharged from the Army last year. She went on active duty in 2003. Brent Lewis/RedEye

When Katherine West returned home to Chicago last year, she expected to resume the life she had before she went on active duty in the Army in 2003. Before she spent 18 months in Korea and 15 in Iraq. But that didn't happen.

"I didn't realize how much I had changed until I got home," said West, 28, a veteran who lives in South Shore and was discharged last year.

For many of the country's enlisted, including West, coming home from war in Iraq and Afghanistan is stressful, challenging and overwhelming--particularly after having put their lives on hold as friends in their 20s and 30s moved on. Some find it difficult to relate to others and rebuild relationships they left behind because their war experiences changed them. Many feel behind the curve as they start pursuing degrees after friends already have graduated from college.

Their stories are in the spotlight this week as President Obama is set to deliver a speech on America's wars Tuesday, the deadline he set to cease combat operations in Iraq. The U.S. now has fewer than 50,000 troops in the country; they are focused on training Iraqi troops. Earlier this month, the majority of combat troops withdrew ahead of the deadline.

What lies ahead for those troops leaving Iraq varies depending on the status of their military assignments and the length of their enlistment periods. Troops can be discharged, deactivated or transferred. They can re-enlist or even be redeployed.

For those returning home after months of fighting in combat, making the transition to civilian life can be a challenge. They must deal with the effect their tours of duty had on their relationships with friends, family and significant others. It can take years to readjust, veterans said.

West thought her transition would be smooth. "I wasn't going to have any issues because I had all my paperwork in order and I was going back to school," said West, a veterans' liaison at DePaul University's Office of Veteran Affairs.

"But what I noticed was when things started slowing down and you're out of that fast-paced military life, that's when reality hits and you really start having to deal with all your emotions you pushed down for so long," she said. Her symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder began to intensify once she returned home. She was hyper-alert and anxious.

Families of troops should be aware readjustment takes time and patience, said Judith Broder, founder of the nonprofit group The Soldiers Project, in which licensed mental health professionals offer free counseling to military service members and their families.

Not all veterans have problems, of course. But for some the transition into civilian life can be difficult.

"Many of them know it's not going to be the same," said Hans Buwalda, a Logan Square therapist who provides counseling services to veterans. "But I know many do not realize how difficult it's going to be."

Friends grow apart

As much as they might have hoped things at home wouldn't change while they were gone, some veterans said they drifted away from friends and, upon returning, felt left behind.

"When you're in the military, time seems to kind of stand still for you," said Paul Loretto, now a discharged Marine Corps staff sergeant. Loretto was in Iraq from August 2004-April 2005 and again from February-September 2008.

"I'm 29 years old, trying to get my associate's [degree]. A lot of my friends are married, have a kid. I don't even have a girlfriend," said Loretto, who lives in Uptown. "You're playing catch-up, or at least you feel like you are."

His closest friends have celebrated his return, helped him find an apartment and pushed him to go back to school. Still, Loretto found meeting new people and building relationships to be challenging--with the exception of befriending fellow veterans at Truman College, where he is majoring in history. Many of his classmates who are not war veterans are younger 20-somethings, and it can be hard to find things in common with them, he said.

Weston Polaski, discharged as a lance corporal in the Marines in 2009, returned home to find the world had gone on without him. "When I left, everyone was still in college and when I got back everyone graduated and moved on with their lives," said Polaski, 27, who lives in Rogers Park and is attending Northeastern Illinois University.

Friends can grow apart, he said. "They'll never understand what it was about, why we did it, the whole experience in general," said Polaski, who was in Iraq from March-October 2007.

Family ties

While it can be hard for veterans to cope with being home, supportive families can make the reintegration back to their so-called normal lives much easier.

"My family and I grew closer because of it. There was a lot more respect," Loretto said. He credits his mother with helping him feel comfortable when he returned. "She was always the one to say, 'Do you need something? Do you want something?' and never to the point where it became irritating."

Still, there are some relatives who don't quite grasp what veterans experience overseas.

West said some relatives didn't believe she had PTSD despite being diagnosed. She had anxiety attacks, nightmares, trouble sleeping. She watched the doors at places such as restaurants because she was jumpy, and she avoided crowds and clubs.

"Not being able to really express what's going on with me--the flashbacks, why I can't deal with fireworks on the Fourth of July, mood swings--not really understanding how they can cope with it and help me cope with it was a little difficult," West said.

In spite of some difficulties, West said, some family members were supportive and encouraged her to get help. She's been in therapy for two years and is pursuing a degree in human services at DePaul University.

Relationship obstacles

War experiences can put a strain on marriages and relationships with significant others. Some relationships don't survive for reasons including isolation on the part of veterans and a failure to communicate with their partners. Other couples work to strengthen their bond.

Glen Johnson suffered from depression and PTSD after returning from deployment to Afghanistan from 2001-2002. He went back to the Middle East and spent 13 months in Iraq in 2005 as a Navy Corpsman providing medical attention. When he returned, he refused to get treatment for PTSD.

"With most veterans that come back from over there, we're pretty much in denial," said Johnson, 49, who lives in Hyde Park. "We believe we're OK even though we know there's a problem. There's the thing of feeling embarrassed about it all. We feel like we can handle it on our own, but in reality there's no such thing."

When his outbursts started affecting his relationship with his fianceé, he decided to seek counseling at her urging. He said he doesn't want to lose her.

Army Staff Sgts. Allissa and Mark Barnhorst are determined to avoid becoming a military divorce statistic. That's why the couple from Fort Wayne, Ind., who met in the same unit and were in Iraq at the same time, participate in the Army's Strong Bonds program.

Strong Bonds, a chaplain-led program that works on strengthening marriages and improving communication, hosted a three-day marriage enrichment retreat this month at a downtown hotel.

"It's really nice to get a weekend alone without work, or friends, or any family, or anything else going on, just to spend time with the two of us," said Allissa, 23, now a reservist. The Barnhorsts have been married for three years.

The program isn't just for couples with rocky marriages. Mark Barnhorst, 25, said the program is beneficial for couples with a tie to the military "pretty much to reconnect." For example, at the retreat, couples do exercises to get to know each other better, toast their spouses and express what they appreciate about their spouses and have a designated date night.

"We don't even have kids and it's still so important," Allissa said.

lvivanco@tribune.com

Spotlight: Troops run with Chicagoland

On Sept. 10, four Chicagoland troops stationed in Afghanistan will run a 5K race on their base two days before the 14th annual Chicago Half Marathon and 5K: Master Sgt. Jack Wilbanks of Chicago, Lt. Col. Kevin Yandura of Joliet and Capt. Rob Leese of North Chicago--all in the Air Force--and Army Lt. Col. Jeff Poisson of Glen Ellyn.
The favourite for miss of the season?
[Soccer, Guardian] (Football news, match reports and fixtures | guardian.co.uk)
Agile Habsi, time-wasting Tevez, Blackpool make vital point, Barton hounded by Wolves, Blake's right-footed retribution1) Ali al-Habsi deserves a run in the first-teamWhen you mention football and the Gulf in the same sentence it usually conjures up images of a 37-year-old Brazilian international tootling off for one last payday in the sun. So it's nice to see an export from the region making his name in England.With Chris Kirkland carrying an injury and the haunted look of a man who has shipped ...

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Agile Habsi, time-wasting Tevez, Blackpool make vital point, Barton hounded by Wolves, Blake's right-footed retribution

1) Ali al-Habsi deserves a run in the first-team

When you mention football and the Gulf in the same sentence it usually conjures up images of a 37-year-old Brazilian international tootling off for one last payday in the sun. So it's nice to see an export from the region making his name in England.

With Chris Kirkland carrying an injury and the haunted look of a man who has shipped a grotesque amount of goals in his last few league games, Roberto Martínez called on the Oman goalkeeper Habsi for Wigan's Carling Cup tie with Hartlepool. Habsi kept a clean sheet but few would have fancied his chances of repeating the feat for the trip to Tottenham, a fixture that Wigan lost 9-1 last season. He did though, pulling off several brilliant saves as his side won 1-0 (Spurs' defensive frailties and some incisive Wigan attacks also contributed to the result).

Anyone who has seen Habsi play for Bolton before – he's currently on a season-long loan from the Reebok – wouldn't have been too surprised: his performance against Bayern Munich back in 2007 looked like a outtake from the Matrix. Habsi is by no means perfect: when he missed a cross against Spurs, Younes Kaboul nearly equalised and there's a suspicion that he's sometimes forced into spectacular saves because his positioning is off. But after Saturday's performance Habsi deserves a chance to prove that these are flaws he can overcome.

2) We have an early contender for miss of the season

Fifteen minutes into Manchester City's visit to Sunderland, Yaya Touré sprinted half the length of the pitch and presented Carlos Tevez with a goal as wide and open as the Argentinian pampas. Tevez scooped it over. Every player misses once in a while – even those as brilliant as Tevez – but what made this one so special was the time Tevez had given himself. We're all familiar with the panicked slash that screws wide or the airkick as a defender bears down on his opponent. But yesterday Tevez paused, collected himself and still missed. If he had scored it may well have been the end of the game: City were beginning to dominate and Sunderland were low on confidence after a poor start to the season. As it was Sunderland came back in the second-half and won the game. If City are to challenge for the title this season, they need to become more ruthless. After all, nice tries don't finish first.

3) Blackpool's draw with Fulham was their best result of the season

Blackpool, the side managed by the human curveball that is Ian Holloway, have had a predictably unpredictable start to the season. A romping opening day victory, a scalping by Arsenal and an extra-time defeat to MK Dons in the Carling Cup. But the weekend's game against Fulham was the real marker of whether they can stay up this season: it was hard to tell how good they were when they beat Wigan because Martínez's side were so bad that day, while no one expected a newly-promoted team to get a result at the Emirates. But Fulham are exactly the type of middle-ranking side they must stand toe to toe with and on Saturday they nearly beat them. Holloway's squad is still pitifully thin and the real tests will come when injuries kick in and the euphoria of promotion wears off, but for now though they look like they have a fighting chance.

4) For once Joey Barton was more sinned against than sinning

Over the last few years, Barton has been on the receiving end of blows from all kinds of interesting and varied parts of society: the press, opposition fans, FA disciplinary panels. At the weekend those attacks came from a more welcome source: the opposing team. Four separate Wolves players were booked for challenges on Barton, a sign that they saw him as a threat. Barton has now turned so many corners that he may just be where he started from: a hugely-talented player with no excess baggage. Another statistic from Saturday bears that out: he was fouled seven times but only committed a foul twice.

5) Heaven is at the end of Robbie Blake's right foot

Last season Blake dished up this zinger for Burnley when they shocked Manchester United. He scored another early-season beauty for Bolton against Birmingham yesterday (Ben Foster was slightly off-balance but we'll give Blake the benefit of the doubt). Five years ago, Blake's shot at playing Premier League football looked like it was over when he was sold before having much of a chance to prove himself. That club was Birmingham. Revenge is sweet.
- Premier League
Tom Lutz

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The Times by Dango Mkandawire
[Africa] (Afrigator)
Thursday. Only twenty-four hours away. Who shall be next? Which direction will the lightning strike? If there was ever a time to be a nobody, this is the perfect epoch. Some wish they could simply change colour and blend into the dull shades of some of the dilapidated buildings on the outskirts of Mponela but alas their pigmentation is not as magical as the chameleons. Anyone who is conspicuous in any way could have the arrow of gossip pierce his neck.Its all this western influence I tell you. I ...

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Thursday. Only twenty-four hours away. Who shall be next? Which direction will the lightning strike? If there was ever a time to be a nobody, this is the perfect epoch. Some wish they could simply change colour and blend into the dull shades of some of the dilapidated buildings on the outskirts of Mponela but alas their pigmentation is not as magical as the chameleons. Anyone who is conspicuous in any way could have the arrow of gossip pierce his neck.Its all this western influence I tell you. It is destroying us. The General Manager of Mponela Water Board blurts out as his plump hands engulf the receiver of his telephone with the sweat of his podgy cheeks moistening it.Beston on the other end listens silently as the GM perfects a tirade in slander on western influence. He cannot help but smile at the contradiction, knowing full well that the GM himself, a few years ago left Mponela for the UK but returned frustrated and even has a son who has been there since he finished his O level exams when he was fifteen. If this western influence is so bad, why the affinity to Europe he wonders. He obviously could never speak his mind. In this company, the sycophants shall inherit the earth.I agree, Beston responds pretending to be concerned. He is using a mental technique he has perfected over the years when having what he considers irrational arguments with his wife: the art of sounding attentive and interested when your mind is elsewhere, such as organising your budget or thinking about the first FIFA world cup on African soil. In between strings of several sentences, he makes a sound as if acknowledging what he is hearing.Mr. Patterson reaches the end of what was really a monologue and in a grand crescendo to his complaint, he unashamedly announces, the editor deserves to be shot at point blank range!Beston feels homicide a rather harsh response but he shall not rally to the defence of the editor. Saviours are known by the name of Christ. He is known by the name of Beston Banda. The GM hangs up and Beston, the operations manager, gladly returns his attention to his desk. Its amazing how this new newspaper only a few months old has become so popular. How could anyone miss it? Blazoned in bright red font is the headline screaming,'PASTOR AND CHOIR LEADER IN RAUNCHY SEX TAPE!!'*What do you mean its your child?" He looks down at the baby lying motionless in its crib. Youre a virgin. Were virgins. Eighteen years old, just finished his high school examinations and awaiting University selection, Simon imagines either he has not heard correctly or Hallelujah! A second virgin birth. Janet, sixteen, had gone off to school twelve months earlier and Simon had faithfully waited for her, carrying a picture of her in his pocket wherever he went. He would stare at it for hours at night and when in the presence of her friends, he wasnt ashamed to shed tears of endearment. Janet and I are different. We are made for each other and we will get married one day, he would confidently declare. Now he is staring at the product of an act he has only seen in movies and heard of in biology class. They had said that they would save each other for marriage because that was the right thing to do. Janet is sad, but doesnt seem distraught. She tells him she is sorry but she is in love with the babys father. When Simon heard the word love his self worth shattered collapsing into pieces from his heart and forming a pile at his feet. He feels nauseas. He learns that she wasnt even in school but was sent to her aunts home in another city for the duration of the pregnancy.He thought she was doing her Junior Certificate Examinations, the ones he took three years ago, and he would use all of his pocket money, the little he had, to buy Zain telephone units to call her every day. He had arrived there with flowers and chocolates after taking the local minibuses, looking awkward carrying delicate gifts in the rusty and decrepit minibuses Ndirande is notoriously known for. The men ridiculed him for his gentleness while the women cheered him for his sensitivity and the journey became a grand battle of the sexes with he and his Cadbury delights in the centre. When he indicated to the driver where he was stopping off, one of the men in the bus broke out in elated laughter and exclaimed, you bring flowers and gifts to girls who live here!?Some of the women who were initially supportive of him recoiled into a subdued silence, as though sudden amnesia had erased the memory of their previous excitement. Simon didnt care. It didnt matter to him if Janet was not rich. Neither was he, though his family fared better than hers. He was relieved when he disembarked, not because he felt shy, nothing in the world could make him uneasy about Janet, but the door on his left seemed to be unhinged and the conductor was keeping it in place with his arm and a thick rope. This is Ndirande. Nothing new there. Except the child.He had planned to surprise her but instead was taken unawares by the black Toyota Land Cruiser parked outside the small government-subsidised building. In the distance, for a moment, it looked bigger than the house itself. If there is a status symbol in Mponela it has to be the GX Land Cruiser. Mercedez Benz makes comfortable and luxurious cars but truthfully, 'Stieglitz' and his engineering team did not build it to careen in places like Mponela. In the jungle size matters. There is even a relatively widespread remark about the GX among those whose station in life has offered them few luxuries and are thus conditioned and prone to view all objects only for functionality. You could fit a few goats in it. This is not to say Mponela is a place where one could trip on a vine into the jaws of a python, but it just takes a rugged car to meander through areas like Ndirande where at times the road morphs into a plain of dusty road, pothole clad, and reappears as tar.He had imagined that an uncle had come to visit and he thought he was right when he saw her in the front seat wrapped around the soft interior of this mechanical leviathan. When she saw him she asked her 'uncle' politely if she could talk to him and that is when she pulled him inside and here is now. He is still carrying the flowers. The candy, Janet gave to her younger sister, when she asked for it.I dont want you to ever call me again or come here, was the last thing she said to him. Against a gargantuan effort not to he started crying on the spot, not loudly but with quiet sobs inwardly reaching out to her but she just told him to use the back entrance and go home and forget about her. His tears reminded her of why she had left him. He was still a boy. She wanted a man. She turned her back to him and returned to the car outside.He stood there for a moment to compose himself, reminding himself that he is a man and mustnt cry. Boys just dont do that. The woman in charge of taking care of the child, a few years older than Janet, sitting at the other end of the room fixes her gaze on him.The two had been talking in English, a language Janet doesnt speak as she only did two years of schooling; in Mponela if you dont formally learn English for the first seven years of your life, you will never capture it. However, just by observation, she knows the meaning of everything that she saw. She can tell that Simon is still at that age before he has gained kaleidoscopic vision where he can see different colours. He probably doesnt know that this area of Ndirande is inhabited by the bulk of Mponelas prostitutes for the simple reason being that he doesnt know how to identify a prostitute. Flowers and chocolates are not necessary here. Simon is embarrassed that she saw him like that but decides that he needs to see Janet one more time and he walks outside towards her and with one step into the open, he now understands who is the father of the child. He gives him a quick glance, looking upwards at the high vehicle and in that brief exchange of eye contact he knew his place in the world. Simon you are no one and you shall never be anyone, he thinks to himself walking on, clutching the flowers tightly and he takes one last look at the scene behind him. GX Toyota Land Cruiser number plate WATERBOARD 9. The image is forever printed in his mind. *Orton is lying in his bed with his wife breathing gently against his chest. He arrived home late again that evening with his eyes red and the collar of his white Polo shirt pointed upwards not to imitate some famous sports star but merely because he was so engaged in his work he hadnt noticed. Annie is worried and she is clinging on to him as if to trap him in that moment forever. Every time he steps out of the house in the early hours of the morning, she has this morbid fear that something terrible will happen. She wishes she could somehow protect him but she cannot. She wants to bring up the matter again and Orton with his right arm around the length of both her shoulders holding her tightly knows exactly what she is thinking.Nothing will happen. Orton tries to reassure her that they arent getting involved in anything perilous, but Annie once again is concerned.Orton must we get involved in the private lives of Managers, CEOS and pastors? These are esteemed men in Mponela and is it wise to paint them in unfavourable light?Several months have passed since their first issue and week after week, prominent individuals have been exposed to the general public in embarrassing scandals. Orton has been merciless and everyone he feels worth mentioning has been featured in bold and bright letters.Never has he seen so much money pour into his bank account. Last week he went to First Merchant Bank and as it was month end, he found a line outside so long it had broken shape and meandered at the back. He stood in the back of this amorphous shape and from past experience he had calculated that he was going to miss lunch and he would have to wait for at least forty-five minutes to an hour. To his pleasant surprise, an attractive young lady walked up to him and directed him to a backroom where she took care of his banking needs. Apparently he no longer has to wait in queues at First Merchant Bank. All he has to do is call them and they will be ready for him when he arrives and if he does arrive without notice, someone will notice him and attend to him. In this instance it was a beautiful young lady of about twenty four. It felt good.On Fridays, The Weekend Times outsells both The Daily Nation and The Daily Times combined. These are the two oldest and authoritative papers in Mponela. Orton has been the engine behind the unprecedented rise from obscurity of this new newspaper.The problem with Africa is not that we do not have much, but that we disregard to treasure little.He can be heard reciting this litany in his office as he admonishes his team whenever he feels that they are slacking. Orton ultimately believes that he is the newspaper and its success depends solely on him. Wanting to absorb himself totally into the production, Orton had his personal cell phone number put into the paper so that anyone could contact him at anytime. He is beginning to re-evaluate that decision. He receives calls from all over Mponela by all kinds of people of all ages with their own story to tell. It is beginning to overwhelm him.That afternoon, Annie had gone to Black and Lovely a popular salon in Mponela and as soon as she walked into the door there were a few moments of silence before conversation sprang up again. She could tell that they were talking about her. Years of experience around Agness, Annie's older sister, have taught Annie to discern the gossips in every gathering of women. Whenever there are a group of women sitting in a congregation, Annie simply 'looks' for Agness, that is to say her mannerisms and expressions. Agness has proven to be a good template. She is known in Mponela as the 'village radio' and even though Annie is reclusive, her close friendship with her sister has meant that she has been vilified by association in many verbal scuffles. In the salon was the wife of a politician who had recently been humiliated in the paper. He has been rumoured to be a homosexual and one of his boyfriends had come into the open. Annie sat there uneasily the whole afternoon.Orton there is some resentment aimed towards me for your portrayal of the husbands of some women in Mponela. In the long run, this cannot be good for us, Annie had complained to Orton in bed that night. She has seen the money flow in and the aroma of fresh bills from the banks permeate the air but she hasnt been overly excited by them. She was never avaricious. It was her sensitivity and thoughtfulness that made Orton decide to wed her. Just before he reassures her yet again his phone rings and he instinctively pushes her away, gently, and reaches for it. Annie wishes she could smash it into pieces and she turns in the other direction. Every ring is a constant reminder that her husband is not her own but is shared with a vast unidentified multitude.Thou shalt not commit adultery. What a licentious man you are Orton! he thinks before he answers it. The phone is a Samsung but it reads Sam ung from his frequent caresses. On the other end is Gozwa, their security guard, telling him that there is a young man at the gate who wishes to speak to him. Since the opening up of Mponela to Chinese goods, cell phones have become ridiculously cheap compared to previously and most people can afford one. Orton had bought one for every member of his household. Orton tells the guard to put him on the line and once he realised that it was yet another person with yet another story. He told him to go home and go to the office tomorrow. Orton hangs up but as soon as he does this he realises that the boy was sniffing while he had been talking to him. Was he crying? Orton asks himself. He quickly calls Gozwa and asks him to put him on the line again. Orton was right. He had been crying.*Friday morning. The offices at Mponela Waterboard are rustling like leaves with excitement. The staff of 137 has three designated messengers who go around the offices distributing the newspapers. On a normal day, employees pool money together and one newspaper is normally shared by at least eight people. On Friday however, one newspaper is shared by about only three; as many want their own copy so that they can read it with greater freedom in the confines of their homes. Upstairs, the General Manager is seated in his spacious office with a 'Kasparovic' glance towards nowhere, waiting for fates opening gambit. He isnt going to do any work today. The only reason he has shown up is to minimise the ridicule from people. He can hear them already, That fool even ditched work to try and avoid embarrassment, he will not give them total satisfaction. He will take it like a man. George Patterson has already heard from whispers in the street that his name is on the front page. He tried all he could to change this but it seems The Weekend Times is printed on stone and cannot be edited. All the usual means of persuasion failed him.Orton wouldnt you like a nice holiday package with your wife and children at the Sunbird Nkopola Lodge during the Christmas season?The Sunbird Nkopola is a premium resort by Lake Mponela that attracts vast numbers of tourists from all over the world. With picturesque beaches and an overall pristine environment, it is a very pleasant place to be. Built in a place far from the poverty in other parts of Mponela and an airport close by, some delegates have been known to fly in from the four corners of the world for conferences and return with the illusion that Mponela, as a whole, is prosperous. Accommodation is very expensive and rooms are fully booked for at least four months in advance. Fully booked for people other than George Patterson, of course.No thank you, I am far too busy this year for a holiday, was Ortons calm response.George Patterson had even asked him in Chichewa, but George hardly ever speaks it. He understands it fluently but since he was a boy he had noticed that many mixed race people in Mponela didnt converse in it. They only did so with servants and other riff-raff as they saw them, and there was no choice. Since his adolescence he has considered it barbaric and rarely will he be heard speaking that language. He associates it with poverty and George Patterson will have nothing to do with poverty. After all he is half-white and there are no poor white people in Africa. Orton Chirwa has decided he will control The Weekend Times and its content regardless of intimidation. Once he makes up his mind about something, he rarely changes it. The moment he decides he is going to print a story, if you lack 20-20 vision you might as well put on your reading glasses. Orton asked George Patterson that if he decided not to print his story, how would it be fair to the pastor of the large evangelical church who was the main attraction of last weeks edition? Following circulation, he has lost half his flock as his congregation has splintered due to the newspapers expose on his hypocritical lifestyle.With the pastor, we had to consider the social impact of having a major religious figure being disgraced but we still printed. People with God as their employers, could not effect a moratorium on our activities. What reason would stop us from printing your story?With that, Orton hang up the phone and George Patterson was left with the receiver glued to his cheeks. He couldnt believe he had been rejected so quickly... and with such wit! That was two days ago. From that moment he knew that he must brace himself and prepare for the worst. If God wouldnt save Pastor Nkwande, what hope did sinners like him have? George looks at his kangaroo leather wallet by his desk and immediately he thinks about his money. This scandal may very well be what tips the scales and Angela will leave him. Whatever they have left, whatever anyone can call it is a mockery of marriage. He can already see her in immaculate dress as she is always in, shaking her head as she reads the paper before tossing it violently into the bin. Divorce is on the horizon. Mponela had very few divorce cases in its past. Women would rather be bruised and battered within a marriage, than step out of their houses, or rather legally speaking, their husbands houses, as a divorcee. Times are changing. Its all this western influence. George Patterson mutters to himself.Orton Chirwa had been working for many years at The Daily Nation and had reached a point where he began to wonder why he got up in the morning and drove to the office. The media was blatantly state supervised and he could barely call his profession Journalism any more. A mans writing is his mirror and portrait. Every time he wrote something that was edited so extensively that he could not see himself in the script any longer; he would translate himself into the lecture halls of Mponela Institute of Jounalism (MIJ) and hear the echo of Mr Hastings Sangala his lecturer, Every journalist has only his credibility and his reputation to rely on. He would hear the echo every time he read a paragraph with a strange voice that was not his, but had his name on the heading. At least if he could have been rising up the ranks of this faade of media integrity, his frustration of not living up to the ideals of his vocation might have been placated by that goblin of greed within us whose arm is ever reaching forward for everything. Alas! Even the goblin was aggravated as an elaborate glass ceiling was close above him. He was not Sekswaba (one of the ethnic groups) and the ruling party favourites. They got jobs without interviews and sped past the rest.Elections were held and the new administration adopted different policies. There were cheers reverberating from housetops to crevices for the previous government was deemed a failure and anyone but them would surely be better. Orton kept his peace and distanced himself from the elation. By this time he was a changed man. He had abandoned his dream of being a bona fide journalist, the kind that MIJ used to describe in its textbooks. The new administration didnt interfere much with the media and Orton perfunctorily reported on what he now considered as incessant bickering from politicians and trivia. His life turned around when a curious incident caught his attention.Pornography in all forms is illegal in Mponela. However, 'unsavoury' pictures of a very prominent citizen were leaked on the internet. The poor man, being of another generation not understanding the workings of a personal computer in terms of privacy, sent his laptop for repairs and had forgotten to delete his more than prurient photos. If only there were more women in the field of engineering and technical application, maybe things would have turned out different. The technician who found them just happened to be a virile young man of twenty-seven accustomed to private viewings of images of nudity. From experience, he discovered that any personal computer that comes in for repairs that is owned by a man will most likely have pornography of some sort stored somewhere. He always knew where and how to look and once again his hypothesis proved true. Without reservation, he promptly shared the pictures with his friends and they did likewise until in a matter of days it seemed everyone had heard of them and was seeking them out. Orton Chirwa himself had seen them and was rather amused at the less than nubile bodies that were on display. What had caught his attention however was the way everyone seemed hypnotised by the idea of these photos and the great lengths people would go to obtain them. One man even attempted to learn how to use the internet and search for the photos himself because he was too embarrassed to just ask for them directly. He kept pestering Orton with questions like how do I find news about Mponela and how can I read about the most famous citizens for inspiration until Orton just asked him directly, Would you like to see the sex photos? I have them.The other man shook his head in disgust and walked away wishing he could have just said yes. That is when Orton had realised that the public was obviously not ready for pornographic material, publicly anyway, but would be more than willing for a tabloid. The difference would be that they wouldnt be movie stars being featured, there are no names in Mponela in the entertainment industry big enough to warrant a loyal following week in and week out as the Beckhams in Europe are more than capable of doing. He would feature politicians and bosses. If politics in Mponela is a joke as some have said, then let us die of laughter! He would be relentless. He would include their phone numbers, their addresses, the names of their mistresses, the colour of their briefs - everything. Shallow? Trivial? Not necessarily.Ortons motivations were mixed. Apart from a possible monetary return that the hazy spirit of capitalism would have smiled upon, there was something about what Mponela was becoming that alarmed him. Some of the more wealthy had become despots and exploited their juniors. Bastards were rampart. Employees were exploited shamelessly and brazenly. Last week a prominent businessman locked his employees inside his bakery because they had refused to work overtime due to sheer exhaustion and he told them that if they didnt work, he would deny them the very bread they were making for dinner. A group of muscular guards were at the door to provide a visual threat. He locked them all in and went home. No one knows what caused it but the building caught fire. Everyone died, except one, who told the story but it was suppressed. Orton would not wait for hell-fire for these men but decided to create his own furnace on earth. They would be roasted in the inferno that was eventually called, The Weekend Times. He would punish them all by abject humiliation for abusing their privileges. If Japanese Samurai would spill their guts due to shame, maybe these kinds of things would be avoided if people were more open to public ridicule. He would report on their private lives in the hope that it would cause them to be more responsible in all other parts of their lives regarding the less fortunate. The sword of judgement would swing once a week and decapitate who ever dared to raise his head arrogantly... and he would make money off it. The Weekend Times is the only newspaper printed in both English and Chichewa to make sure that everyone in the 65% literate statistic can read it and marvel. In an innovative manoeuvre to accentuate anticipation, The Weekend Times is released into circulation only at noon on Fridays. He pays his distributors a fee not to release it earlier and if he hears that any of them have breached this, they waiver their fee.*Friday afternoon. Beston Banda parks his car in his reserved parking spot. On the ground written in bright yellow is the caption WATERBOARD 7- OPERATIONS MANAGER. He is returning from home where he had lunch with his wife Sheila. After many years of being passed by, his promotion came after a change in the ruling party. For Mponela Waterboard, elections and promotions are complementary. Merit sometimes counts, but only sometimes. As is customary, he is dressed in a grey suit and white shirt. He has never had an affinity for bright colours and his entire wardrobe consists only of dual shades in grey and black. He notices that the gardeners are staring at him and he walks over to them to ask them if they need anything. Maybe they need new tools and no one is listening to them. Administration can be very bad at Mponela Waterboard. Unlike the other bosses he takes genuine interest in them and they appreciate him for that. They shake their heads and simply smile back. He makes his way to his office and turns his attention to the reports submitted by the junior staff on his desk.Upstairs, two floors above Beston, the exceedingly homophobic General Manager, sharing the sentiments of Mponela as a whole, has never been happier to see a picture of two gays holding hands. For the first time in Mponelas history, a homosexual couple went public and there is uproar among the people. Initially when he had read the story in the mainstream newspapers, George himself was outraged but now that The Weekend Times has assimilated the headline, he hopes this frenzy will last forever. Apparently they are going to reveal some of the men in Mponela who they would have liaisons with in the past.'GAY COUPLE CLAIM THEY WERE HAVING SEX WITH INFLUENTIAL OFFICIALS'George is ecstatic, optimistically predicting that something of this magnitude should last a few months. Amnesty International is demanding their release, the BBC has aired a documentary on homosexuality in Africa, the Ugandans have called for a public beheading of all lesbians and gays etcetera etcetera. Come on Elton John say something, get involved! Make them forget about printing George Pattersons story. Has he escaped the knife? Even if he has, this cannot possibly be a clean getaway. He will be shifted into next weeks batch. He is hoping that in the interim someone else can behave worse than him and keep pushing his day of judgement forward indefinitely until he is forgotten. As he holds the newspaper with his left hand, the one that should have a wedding ring on it but hasnt for the last four weeks, he is thinking about all the bad boys of Mponela that can be counted on to behave shoddily and possibly overshadow him so he can be forgotten. There is Goodson Dumba of TDM telecommunications. Managing Director, numerous affairs, only man he has ever known to start a fight with a Catholic priest. Where is he when you need him? Theres always Cosma Chikhosi, Financial controller of LGT bank. Alcoholic. Full blown. Anything can happen once he starts drinking as when does he actually 'start' he never really stops. While on the job he drinks out of a hip flask just to get warmed up but as soon as he leaves the office, he breaks the safety valve and throws himself with complete abandon into the arms of inebriation. Damn it Cosma! Have another whiskey and do something! The police never arrest him for drunken driving. Last week an officer found him parked in the middle of the road completely intoxicated. They are used to him. The officer simply pushed him to the passenger side and drove him home.A lot of the current Mponela big wigs secured their places in high society years ago during the first two decades after independence when there were scholarships galore giving opportunity to the more eager and ambitious. They went abroad, got their degrees and came back crowned as princes among a throng of illiterates. Combined with good networking, there is an oligarchy who can truthfully say that they run Mponela. George is hoping that one of his peers can steal the spotlight from him and he never has to be exposed. Wait a minute, he is mistaken, there is a headline concerning him on page two. Damn it! No, wait again, it isnt him. He gives off a laugh of nervous relief. An innocent man has been caught in a snare intended for other prey. In a column on the second page where they also advertise next weeks stories is the heading,'MPONELA WATERBOARD BOSS, DRIVING GX LANDCRUISER NUMBER PLATE, WATERBOARD 7, SEEN CONSORTING WITH TEENAGE LOVER IN SLUMS OF NDIRANDE. AREA ALSO KNOWN AS A PROSTITUTE HAVEN'*Sheila is in tears. She has already started packing her clothes. She has seen this kind of thing before. As a girl growing up she had seen her father beat her mother and what happens when a woman stays in an abusive household for too long. She looks at the picture of Chisomo, her daughter on her bedside, she was that age when her father would bring prostitutes into their home in full view of her mother and her siblings. Her mother would be in the living room and sleep on the couch while her father would have these wayward women in his marriage bed. When she would plead with him all he would blurt out was, This is my house! Know your place woman!All these memories have erupted like a volcano and all she wants to do is get out of the house. Its not in her name. She is going to her sisters place and from there she will reorganise herself. She doesnt know what she will say or do but she knows with her sister there she will be better. She will talk to the children later. How could he? When they were getting married Sheila told him about how fragile she was because of the things she had seen in her household and though she trusted him completely, she confessed that that trust was held by tight strings and she could easily recoil. Those strings have snapped and like a stretched rubber band they have flung her away. Goodness sake Beston, a prostitute! The highest risk group. Am I infected? She thinks to herself. She feels dirty all over as she broods over the matter. As she flees she is surprisingly hesitant. A part of her feels like staying, something she never thought she could feel in a situation like this. With a renewed gush of determination she slams her suitcase shut and storms out. She swore not to be a copy of her mother. *Simon walks into the offices of The Weekend Times with a copy of the latest edition underneath his armpit. He is furious. He had hoped that the front page would be littered with pictures of Janet and her lover. He wanted her to be humiliated as the whole world would know that she was a home wrecker and a gold digger. What has amplified his cocktail of emotions; hopeless, anger, regret, even a bizarre hope that they may still be together forever, is he has now realised that Janet was a prostitute, and he had to read The Weekend Times headline to find out. He recalls that Janet always had money, he now knows why. It is making him sick but he has regained some composure since that day he was at her house and then at Orton Chirwas residence.He asks the receptionist if he could see the editor and she allows him to proceed into his office. Orton has a protocol with all contributors to the magazine where they can see him without appointment once after they have submitted their story. He walks into the room and Orton greets him and bids him to sit down and Simon asks why his story was not on the front page. Orton is irritated by the query and reminds him that he merely submits the story and they have the right to do whatever the hell they want with it. Orton can tell that the boy is still in disarray from his experience with this Janet as it is not customary in Mponela for someone his age to be so upfront with his concerns when addressing elders. He tells him that it will appear in next weeks issue but definitely not the front page. Simon is disappointed that it wont be on the cover but at least it will be told. 'Waterboard boss impregnates teenage prostitute'. It is the liturgy of his tragic vengeance. As he steps out of the office he suddenly turns around. By the way I almost forgot. You made a small mistake in the headline.* 7,000,000 is very different to 9,000,000. By two million actually. But two million what? Dollars? Lives? What? The difference between a nine and a seven can be immense. When bank clerks are trained in cash departments, one of the first things that they are schooled is to pay special attention when they encounter any of these two numbers on vouchers and slips. One can easily morph into the other.In this case, when Simon was asked to write down what had happened, somewhere within his narration, he wrote down a number plate. The only problem is, Simons nines tend to look like sevens. His teachers have always told him this and he has lost marks in some of his maths classes as a result. This instance, the difference between a seven and a nine was George Patterson, General Manager and Beston Banda, Operations Manager. One an overall happily married man and the other, a man on the brink of divorce and flirting with its splendid sisters, alimony and settlement.Beston is holding the newspaper in his hand. Motionless and mummified in that moment, he doesnt change posture. Rigor-mortis seems to have set in and with a stiff glare, he is trying to understand what is going on. He now understands the peculiar looks and why Sheila didnt pick up his calls earlier. Knowing her, she must be hysterical by now. Or maybe not. She has talked to him about how deep his betrayal, if it were to ever occur would cut her, and he cannot predict how she could react. He immediately storms out of the office amidst the half hidden glares of the staff. He ascends the steps into the General Managers office where he finds George drinking a Coca Cola. He holds the newspaper up before he even says anything pointing at the headline.I have to leave the office for a while George. I have to sort this rubbish out.George Patterson feigns surprise, imagining how ridiculous he must look with raised eyebrows. Beston, Beston, Beston. You too. I told you this newspaper was no good.Beston tries to deny everything as George gives him another mawkish sympathetic glance. He bids him good luck and tells him that his job will not be jeopardised by this sudden revelation. Beston retorts that he didnt do anything, but George just shakes his head and reminds him that he had better go and 'correct' the situation. Beston walks out with George staring at the open door. He has decided to deny everything. Absolutely everything and use Beston as the scapegoat. He doesnt know how far it will get him but its his only lifeline.*Orton Chirwa is contemplating whether or not to include the few lines of an apology into next weeks newspaper. He has written his nonchalant and terse draft:The Weekend Times would like to apologise for a discrepancy in last weeks edition dated 4 February 2010. The number plate on the vehicle of the GX Landcruiser in our headline was erroneously printed as Waterboard 7 instead of Waterboard 9. We sincerely apologisHe doesnt finish spelling the word 'apologise'. Why should he apologise? Journalistic integrity is something he tried to uphold at the Daily Nation for years and time after time he would be snuffed by an editor refusing to have the public know what was happening in their own country and the players involved. The same people he is now freely mentioning on a weekly basis concerning their private lives, are the very same individuals who just two years ago he could not mention concerning their public lives. Ministers pocketing funds for AIDS projects, grant's for road construction siphoned into offshore account. Why should he apologise for mistaking one boss for another. They are all the same. Crooked. He will not include the apology. Apologising may also dampen his sales.Although the main purpose of the newspaper is gossip and entertainment, this amusement must be masqueraded in a deceptive mask of accuracy. People must be persuaded and led to believe that the stories are authentic even though they may be exaggerated. There may be some people that vacillate between buying and not buying and an admission of wrongness by the newspaper may very well be the deciding factor. After all the idea of what in other countries may be called a 'tabloid' is new in Mponela and he doesnt want to do anything that may dampen its success. Like Moses with prophetic authority, Orton Chirwa holds up the pages as though they were the original stone tablets, immutable. The Weekend Times shall never be wrong. Besides, the stories themselves are not printed without investigation.Investigation is a matter of degree. Theirs is not thorough but it is existent. In Ndirande there was confirmation of the sighting of a GX by several eye witnesses and the family of the teenage mother have confirmed that the father of the child works at Waterboard. The extended family system, which has sometimes put strain on some with good jobs as they have whole legions dependent on them tugging at the hem of their garments, has meant that there is always a rich vein of news and gossip that feeds into The Weekend Times. If a scandal occurs involving person 'A', person 'B' who maybe a relative or 'friend' will tell person 'C'. Have fifty-one relatives and you can imagine who knows what. That is how they get their stories. That is the culture of Mponela. Secrecy is reserved for the Freemasons. If one day he has to blatantly lie to tell a good story, Orton is willing to do it. From his harsh experiences at the Daily Nation, to him Libel is merely an acronym meaning: 'Life Is Better Enjoyed Lying'. In Mponela, Orton hasnt imagined the law to have reached a stage where he will be punished as long as he doesnt go too far and surely mistaken number plates is trivial. Just to be sure he decides to make a call to one of his lawyer friends.*On his way to Chibisa House where the Weekend Times has its offices, Beston has been persistently trying to call Sheila. With his right hand on the steering wheel and his left navigating across the keypad, his eyes have been darting from phone to road. He suddenly swerves as he had leaned too much onto his left and had turned the wheel by mistake narrowly missing a pedestrian on the sidewalk as he regains control. He now understands why there is such a hefty fine if a policeman finds you driving while attending to your mobile. WATERBOARD 7. He wishes he could somehow erase the plates on his car just for today. He stops at a traffic light and just there in the middle of the road is a man selling newspapers between the cars in different lanes. The woman in the car to his left looks across her dashboard and shakes her head. Beston puts down his electric windows and desperately exclaims, its a mistake!Too late. She had already put her foot on the accelerator and hadnt heard him. Even if she had she wouldnt have believed it. She is an acquaintance of Shielas. Beston doesnt know her name but he has seen her somewhere.Arriving at the offices, Beston Banda walks with the newspaper stretched outwards in front of his chest like he was aiming a rifle. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS! he demands as he circles the reception area while the secretary tries to calm him down. The Weekend Times is on the first floor and people from those offices rush to the reception to see what is causing the commotion. Orton is in his office and he doesnt have to be told what is happening. Bestons headline is circled in a red marker and as soon as Orton Chirwa walks into the reception he invites the hysterical man into his office. Closing the door behind him, Orton offers the man a seat but he declines it demanding that the newspaper offer not only an apology in the next issue but also one on Television Mponela for their defamation. Orton gives him a blank expression and tells him that they simply print the stories that the people report. Beston cannot believe it.But I have never even been to Ndirande? he angrily retorts to this unreasonable man. Does he know that his marriage is now in disarray because of all this?Orton tells him that he is in the wrong place and would have to confront the people who said that his GX Landcruiser was parked in their township. He, like George Patterson has decided to not take any sort of responsibility for the matter. Beston asks him whether he is aware of the damage that he has caused to his family and overall reputation. I guess we will have to take this to the lawyers. You will hear from them soon. With that Beston storms away slamming the door behind him.He is on his way home hoping Sheila has somehow not seen the paper or heard what has happened. Orton looks at the paper in front of him and sighs. He had expected this sort of thing to happen at some point. He just hadnt anticipated this soon. Edward, his lawyer, said that in Mponela the laws of libel, defamation et. have murky waters and he shouldnt worry too much about it. There will be verbal threats etc. but nothing will happen. He will wait and see. He is hoping the law in Mponela is as fragile as the journalism.The Times was written by Dango Mkandawire.Copyright Dango Mkandawire 2010. Dango Mkandawire
Matt J. Carlson: GenCon Day 2
[Board Games] (Boardgame News - The world of boardgames)
GenCon Day 2 GenCon Round 2 While you were reading my last post, I was busy wandering the floor of GenCon getting ready for this one! Saturdays are always the busiest day of the convention, but I was able to navigate the crowd and take a look at quite a few things I had missed on my first day there. But before I start, I wanted to send out a few thumbs-up to a couple companies that went out of their way to make the convention even better for board game fans. <Training ...

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GenCon Day 2

GenCon Round 2

While you were reading my last post, I was busy wandering the floor of GenCon getting ready for this one! Saturdays are always the busiest day of the convention, but I was able to navigate the crowd and take a look at quite a few things I had missed on my first day there. But before I start, I wanted to send out a few thumbs-up to a couple companies that went out of their way to make the convention even better for board game fans.

<Training Ground (Thanks!)>

Wander anywhere near the back of the hall and you’ll soon stumble upon the sprawling area that makes up Mayfair Games’ contribution to the convention. One of the largest sections includes the Training Grounds. This is a somewhat fenced off section designed just for kids. It is loaded down with all sorts of things to do including boardgames, dancing video games, a couple life-sized games, etc… The boardgame selection looked pretty good, targeted of course at the younger set, but it was by no means just a bunch of Mayfair kids’ games. This sort of support for families is making GenCon more and more family-friendly every year. (I suppose now they need to create some stroller-only lanes to help with the traffic flow on busy days… ) The other company I wanted to thank was Rio Grande Games. For several years now they’ve taken over a large room and filled it with their games for anyone to play. Not only are the boardgames free to play, there are Rio Grande helpers circulating to help explain rules, and from time to time real food (actual free food, not just snacks) is even brought into the room for those gamers who just can’t bear to leave. This year, Rio Grande was even sponsoring free Wi-Fi within the convention center. While I have to admit the reception was spotty (probably due to the concentration of people using all those Wi-Fi devices) it did come in handy several times during my trip. Kudos to both Mayfair for sponsoring the great kid play area and to Rio Grande for their Wi-Fi, open gaming, and food.

At the start of the day I revisited Asmodee to get a peek of the upcoming 7 Wonders. It has been described before here on BGN, and I didn’t get to play an entire game, so I won’t do into too much detail. However, put me in with all the other people looking forward to this game. A 30 minute civilization building themed game that is playable by 3 to 7 players all using a card draft and simultaneous action mechanics looks pretty good to me. I’m sure I’ll lean heavily on the technology path to victory, although there are many ways to score points. Building some buildings allows a player to build a second generation one for free (think Attica), but since there are only one (or two in larger games) of each building, players have to work within the limits of the card draft. The displayed game was still a prototype but the art was the richly colored style I’ve grown accustomed to from Asmodee. It remains to be seen if there are issues arising in larger games from only interacting with one’s neighbors, but 7 Wonders reminded me a lot of Glory to Rome in how the cards interact and move around, which is a good thing. If it also manages to be a bit more streamlined and easier to grasp for first time players, it would be icing on the cake.

<Defenders of the Realm>

Next up was Eagle Games to ogle their new cooperative game (there seem to be a lot of those about, aren’t there) Defenders of the Realm. I was given a brief description of the game and have since managed to get in a game with the local club. Four monster leaders start at the edge of the board and work their way inwards to the home city of the players. Players wander the game board, preventing the monsters’ minions from tainting the land and completing quests. When players feel powerful enough (have collected enough colored cards) they can challenge one of the leaders to (hopefully) defeat them. Players win by defeating all four leaders but lose if too many lands are tainted (by having more than 4 minions on a location), too many of any one color minion appearing on the board, too many minions in the home city, or having a leader enter the home city. When compared to the now classic cooperative game, Pandemic, the game has a much stronger theme and story arc. Players in Defender of the Realm initially focus on “gearing up” for the later game by performing quests and gaining abilities before tackling the leaders and the game goes into an overdrive endgame. I think the game will appeal to those who like a bit more story in their game and those who like rolling a few dice (nearly all combat and most quests involve the luck of the dice). The possible downsides of the game include its length (our first learning game came in at nearly 2 hours) and the luck of the dice and cards. While enough dice are rolled for luck to even out in the course of a game, having some bad rolls at critical junctures (such as a leader battle) can have a big effect on a party’s success. The game is supposed to be fairly difficult, if so, our group of three players got lucky on our first time out and managed to eek out a win.

<Microsoft Game Table>

Right next to Mayfair’s central game area was an example of a Microsoft Surface showing off a game of Settlers of Catan. It was a nice piece of geek hardware that always surrounded by a small crowd. The touch sensitive surface was a great way to interact with the game board. A clear cube was used to roll as a die and little clear plastic stands (like you’d find in Scrabble) were used to reveal a player’s cards. The die and stands had clear stickers printed in infra red ink which was recognized by the board so that player’s cards were only revealed when the stand was placed on top. The rest of the stand prevented other players from seeing what was revealed underneath. The board managed to do a good job keeping track of multiple touches and gestures at the same time. Each player could fiddle with their resource area while the active player took their turn. I’m fairly certain the price point is well out of my range, but my inner nerd enjoyed seeing the technology put to such a “good” use.

<Settlers of America>

Just a few steps away, people were playing Settlers of America. Using a very large map showing the US, players begin the game on the east coast and slowly build wagon trains westward to settle in the west. Moving west was important as many of the resource numbers in the east were to eventually be stolen and moved west as cities were set up there. There are no victory points in the game for building cities (there are no “settlements”), instead players attempt to deliver goods to other player’s cities. Moving goods is nearly free on one’s own track, but you need to pay cash to other players if you’re going to move a good across their track. There are no ports in the game, but gold (money) can be used to obtain resources that other players are unwilling to trade. It looks to have many similar mechanics as standard Settlers of Catan, but recombined with enough differences to make it a completely different game experience. The kind of thing one could use to expose a rabid Settlers fan to a new area/style of boardgaming.

<Lord$ of Vega$>

The other game that caught my eye in the Mayfair area was Lord$ of Vega$. As a high school boardgame club sponsor, I keep my eye out for good dice-oriented games that still keep strong options for strategy to win out. Lord$ of Vega$ is an area control game where players are building and manning casinos along the strip. Players get cards that show where they can build, and once a location is built it is claimed by rolling and placing a die inside the building. Adjoining buildings of the same color are considered part of the same structure and thus have better returns. When multiple buildings are joined, the die with the highest face value is considered the “boss” of that casino. (Each player has their own color dice to identify them.) The boss of a casino grants special powers (more money, the ability to “sprawl” out into open areas) but that only lasts until all the dice in the building are rerolled (which happens occasionally) and a new boss might be formed. Players in dire straights can even gamble their meager savings by betting on other player’s results. The odds are against them so they’re more likely to just help out someone else, but it keeps everyone in the game until its conclusion. I didn’t get to play a game, but I’m intrigued enough to want to give it a whirl. I think if it manages to play quickly enough (I think players were getting through it in under an hour) it could be a decent hit at our club.

<Pirates vs Pirates>

Just down the aisle from Mayfair was the ever-busy Out of the Box booth. I say always busy because they have such a strong line of games that are quite easy for nearly anyone to just pick up and play. I got to watch (and briefly try my hand at) the new Pirates vs Pirates. Three players start in a triangular grid and roll two rectangular dice to see how far they move. Land exactly on another player’s pirate and it’s out of the game. The goal is to make it to the center, land exactly on a silver or gold coin to pick it up, and then race back to your home base with it. Of course, you better not get pegged while holding the coin or it is simply helping your opponent. The game also has a two player version where players have to race up to the apex of the triangle and back again. I think three players will be a better sweet spot to maximize the chaos and struggle in the middle of the board. I’m thinking it will make a fair starter game as long as no one player overlabors what to do on any given die roll. Out of the Box was also kind enough to give me a review copy of 10 Days in the Americas. It has been out for awhile, but I was also given a printout of rules for “10 Days in the World”! This is a mega-version of the standard 10 Days game where you combine all four of the basic games (minus the USA board) in a huge 10 Days game. The decks of cards are kept separate from each other so players have the option for which continent they want to use to focus on at any one time. I haven’t had the chance to even lay the whole thing out and look at it but I look forward to taking it for a test drive sometime soon. As long as it doesn’t simply outlast its stay (i.e. take too long to play) I could see it as a fun change of pace for a lighter weight game.

<FFG Civ>

As always, the crowds around Fantasy Flight’s gaming tables were almost as thick as the plastic pieces on the tables. The big news just before the convention was of 2-4 player upcoming deck building game based on the Blood Bowl franchise. Blood Bowl: Team Manager has players drafting players over time and playing through an entire season during the course of the game. It is still pretty early on this one so further information was scarce. The other big game at the convention (for me) was the new Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game. This was designed by Kevin Wilson and is yet another attempt to get this great computer game, derived from a boardgame, back into a boardgame. This is not a short game, playable in 2 to 3 hours, but it is attempting to remain playable in a single evening. Players explore land tiles, build up a military and/or an economy and can achieve victory through military, cultural, economic, or technological efforts. I’m always drawn to the customization of technology so I was glad to see each player has the same deck of technology options. Technology is built in a pyramid style, with two level 1’s required before level 2 can be built. So, to get to the game-ending level 5 technology, a player has to build five 1’s, four 2’s, three 3’s, and two 4’s. Since there are far more than 16 technology cards in the deck, each player can customize how their “tech pyramid” turns out. I’ve been impressed with several of Kevin Wilson’s titles so am hoping that this one will at least due justice to the never-ending Holy Grail quest of a Civ-like boardgame.

<WotC – Ravenloft (essentials, Gamma World)>

I was able to arrange for a brief interview with the folks at Wizards of the Coast to get a look at the new Castle Ravenloft: The Boardgame. I wasn’t able to do much more than talk about the game in general and take a gander at the spiffy components. There are five characters to choose from (fighter, rogue, ranger, cleric, and wizard) in a game but each character is further customized by choosing a few powers from a set deck of cards for that class. The players must work together to accomplish the goals in a specific scenario. Exploration is done by flipping over tiles. The players fight monsters (most with just one hit point) by rolling dice for combat and earn group experience when the monsters are defeated. Roll a natural 20 on a 20-sided die and you can spend some experience to improve your character up to level 2. The players lose by failing their objective or if they take too much damage (i.e. suffer too many character “deaths” and run out of healing “surges” to come back.) I just received a review copy in the mail yesterday so will try to get it to the table and get back on my thoughts soon. However, those who already have the game should be sure to download the free bonus scenarios on the Wizards web site.

We also chatted about the upcoming Dungeons and Dragons role-playing revamp in the “Essentials” line. It takes all the new 4^th edition rules and presents them to be as new-player friendly as possible. The basic rules come in an old-school red box format that is a much less expensive way for new gamers to test drive the system. The next upcoming product that might hold boardgamers’ interest is a new version of the Gamma World RPG. This post-apocalyptic setting reuses much of the D&D style rules but has extremely fast (and slightly random) character generation. This leads me to believe the game, which sounds rather deadly and humorous at times, might make for a fun evening of play rather than some long, involved, ongoing play requirement.

<Pictionary Card Game>

The mainstream game makers were also out and about, in a modestly understated booth, the Mattel folks were out showing off their newest remakes of older games, like Pictionary! There was a card game version of Pictionary where the drawing was completely removed from the game! Instead, players use a set of red and blue cards with symbols on them to make gestures and try to convey the answer. While this does make for a different game, it makes it easier to play with a younger (or less artistically inclined – although I argue that makes for more fun) crowd. They’ve also done away with the game board which makes the game exceptionally portable and cheaper to boot.

<Pictionary Man>

It whiter than a snowball, smaller than a barking Chihuahua, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s Pictionary Man. Yes, it’s the new boardgame superhero – coming soon to a Board to Pieces near you! (Probably not.) In any case, it is yet another new way to play Pictionary. The little white man contains a built-in timer and LCD clue giver in it’s foot. Players draw directly on it’s tummy and on several blank white “props” to get their team to guess the answer. I like the idea of using electronics to eliminate cards and a timer to make the game more portable, but somehow including gestures and props brings the game into a strange sort of Charades and is no longer Pictionary. I guess Charades Man doesn’t have the same ring to it.

<Mattel – Loopz>

Mattel continues to work at incorporating strange bits of technology to make games, last year’s Mindflex was out in force (where you move a ball up and down on a column of air just using your mind) but a strong showing was also had by Loopz. This is also a multi-purpose game with several modes. The player places their hands inside the loops on the device in order to break the infrared beam located there. Several games are available such as memory (like the old game Simon) or a Whack-a-Mole style game where you put your hands in any hole that lights up. Higher levels challenge you by lighting up two holes at once that both need to be targeted. It was fun to play and even gave a slight bit of a workout once things got rolling at higher challenge levels. It may have some slight problems staying upright if you get too overenthusiastic and smack the Loopz itself rather than putting your hands inside it, but I’m sure something nearby to brace it might help things out.

<Conflict of Heroes>

Hidden with the Mayfair Games’ booth was Uwe Eickert demonstrating his newest expansion to the Conflict of Heroes line: Price of Honor – Poland 1939. Sporting a nice new box cover – covering the entire front of the box, wow! This latest installment includes cavalry charges, biplanes, and even armored trains! The trains sit on the edge of the board bursting with weaponry and can slide back and forth to wreck some serious damage on the unwary. In addition to the sped up rules between the 1^st and 2^nd game, this new expansion streamlines the airplane rules a bit (which include elevation rules). Since this is a true expansion (most of the scenarios included can be run with either of the first two games) the rulebook in this expansion has also been changed around to make it more of a reference based rulebook rather than a learning rulebook. It should be welcome for experienced players who want a reference to look up the occasional rule but don’t need much handholding for the basic concepts anymore.

<Castle Panic>

A small self-published game getting a lot of press lately was Fireside Games and their new Castle Panic boardgame. While the design was started well before the recent rash of cooperative games reared their heads, it has taken awhile for the game to complete development and production. Now it is releasing among a rather large crowd of cooperative games. Despite his initial reservations, the designer has bowed to the pressure of many gamer comments and managed to live with the label of a tower-defense style boardgame. Players cooperate to defend a castle in the middle of the board while monsters approach it from various sides. The castle has six sides and monsters march steadily inward towards a specific side. They begin on an outer ring and move forward to an middle, and then an inner ring before finally assaulting the castle. Players must play specific matching cards to eliminate a monster in a given location. However, monsters must be “worn down” from several attacks before they’re completely eliminated. To add to your problems, the game isn’t a true cooperative game in that it ends with a clear winner – whoever eliminates the most monsters. Thus, you would like to eliminate monsters and not just wear them down so the other players steal your kills. A few special cards can be used to save everyone’s bacon in certain circumstances, so save those for when you need them. On the whole, it looked to be a fairly engaging game and I have to admit the production values were among the best I’ve seen for such a new, small publisher. Sure, there the monsters are just solid cardboard chits (which rotate as they take damage) and the walls are cardboard up on stands, but the whole presentation was still nicely done.

<Irondie>

OK, I’m a sucker for cool bits and there weren’t any cooler bits at the show than the new collectible metal (yes I said metal) dice over at the Irondie booth. There’s a fairly complicated game underneath these cool color-tinted solid metal dice but I was just drooling over these six-sided sculptures. They had such a nice “heft” to them that I was a little saddened that the actual game seemed to be a bit too involved for my taste. There was attacking, defending, healing, and several variants of each action. Each die shape indicated a different use and then the colors represented additional specialties, but only when being used against other specific colors. I think I’ll have to wait and see how well this import from Italy catches on before I any more involved.

<The Hunger Games: Training Days>

My final stop in the hall was a spur of the moment surprise. I had a few minutes before the hall closed an I was suckered into a demo of The Hunger Games: Training Days. Wizkids, best known for their collectible little plastic superhero games, is branching out into boardgames again and this is the first of the batch. In the popular post-apocalyptic teen novel setting of The Hunger Games, small nations are forced to send children into the deadly Hunger Games in order to win food for their homelands. (Yes, it is for young teens – the books are even part of some school’s curriculum, dark settings are in I suppose.) In this game, you play as one of these children in training for the actual Hunger Games. Players begin as a specific character (one of many) and then try to win victory points by bidding on cards placed in a tableau. Players typically have a base value to win a card based off of a primary statistic. This can then be modified by placing a face-down bidding card on the tableau to modify their bonus. Players take turn placing bids until all bids are placed. The bids are revealed and each player rolls a die to add to their overall score (so a win is not always guaranteed.) Win the card and you gain anything from victory points, to special powers such as additional bids, or even the assistance of another character card (who gives a slight bonus to one of your skills). The last round is triggered by the appearance of a fourth scoring card, keeping the ending uncertain. It seemed to work OK as a two player game, although I was thrown by the dark theme for most of the game. One can play a shorter version by playing until a second or third scoring card appears but I suspect the luck of the dice will have a greater affect over the outcome of a shorter game. I wouldn’t mind trying the game out with more players as it may have some interesting bluffing and interaction during the bidding phase.

<Star Trek>

The other game by Wizkids being shown at GenCon was a prototype of an upcoming cooperative game based around the recently rebooted Star Trek license (new Enterprise movie). As this is Wizkids, there will be some nice little spaceship figures included in the game. The players represent the Federation who have arrived at a planet they are trying to convince to join. At the same time, Kingons are stirring up trouble above the planet (harrying the poor Enterprise) and on the planet itself (trying to start a civil war.) Players must keep the Enterprise safe, staff off civil war, and help the population recover from their devastating self-inflicted ecological disasters. The game provides various missions to accomplish and the successful completion of one mission opens up the opportunity to perform new ones. If a mission is a big success, it may open up avenues that wouldn’t otherwise be available. Each goal (fix the ecology, stop the civil war, get the planet to join the Federation) is tracked separately so players can get an effective score at the end of the game and succeed well or just scrape by. Time itself is a resource in the game that must be carefully guarded. A large Klingon fleet is on its way and if things aren’t resolved by the time they arrive, it’s game over for the poor Enterprise crew. As a fan of cooperative games and all things on the geeky side, I’m easily up for giving this game a spin when it comes out. It looks to have a number of good things going for it, so we’ll have to see how they all come together.

And once again we come to the happy conclusion of another GenCon. It is the one convention I attend regularly, so if you head there next year, keep an eye out for me. Perhaps we can get together for a game or two. For those of you also interested the role-playing side of things, I wrote up my thoughts on a few things I saw at the show <a href=”http://www.gamingwithchildren.com/2010/08/16/gencon-2010-the-rpg-report/”>over at " title="www.GamingWithChildren.com" rel="nofollow">www.GamingWithChildren.com</a>.
Law Firm Marketing: Internet Marketing for Rainmakers, Part 2 of 3
[Law] (The Rainmaker Blog)
Here is the second in a series of three posts this week outlining the best practices in becoming a rainmaker on the Internet.   To read the first in the series, go here. I’ll list the first three from yesterday to refresh memories and then continue with the next three strategies for driving targeted traffic to your website through good SEO practices: 1. Know the keywords people use to search for your services. 2. Use keywords in your domain name. 3. Create compelling copy. ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en
Here is the second in a series of three posts this week outlining the best practices in becoming a rainmaker on the Internet.  

To read the first in the series, go here. I’ll list the first three from yesterday to refresh memories and then continue with the next three strategies for driving targeted traffic to your website through good SEO practices:

1. Know the keywords people use to search for your services.
2. Use keywords in your domain name.
3. Create compelling copy.

4. Add fresh content regularly. Perhaps the top strategy used by high-ranking lawyers today is to add new, relevant content to their websites on a consistent basis. This is one of the major reasons for the explosion in blogs in recent years. Although some law firms are selecting blogs instead of websites, I believe there is a place for each in online legal marketing. If, for economic reasons, you are forced to select between one or the other, I recommend starting out with a blog. Why? Because they are very low cost (or free) as compared to websites and, if done properly, will help you rank faster than a traditional website.

Anyone can start a blog at no cost using sites such as www.wordpress.com and www.blogger.com. For any serious traffic, you need to be updating three to five times per week. Lawyers who want to be at the top of the search engines update their blog three to five times per day. The more relevant content your blog gives Google, the more it will love your blog by ranking it higher.  

Key Action Steps:  
- The more fresh, relevant content you post on your website or blog, the higher you will rank on the search engines.  
- Blogs are a great place to get started, but in order to be effective they must be updated frequently. Update your blog at least three to five times per week.
5. Use video to keep visitors’ attention. Now here’s a truly depressing statistic: On average, 85 percent of your website’s visitors will stay for less than 30 seconds and will never return. Seriously? Yes. If you don’t believe me, check for yourself. Look at your website’s statistics log and see how many unique visitors you have and how long they stay on average. (Virtually every website has at least a basic statistics package; just ask your website tech or hosting company how to access it. If you are not already using Google Analytics, have your tech install it. It’s much better than most. And it’s free.)

The bottom line is that you literally have less than 30 seconds to impress your website visitors. I believe all of us would agree that the longer visitors stay on your website, the more likely they are to connect with you.

One of the best ways to increase the length of time a visitor stays is by using videos. Anecdotally, our clients have seen a four- to fivefold increase in length of stay after implementing videos on their websites. These videos should be one to three minutes long and focus on educating prospects and website visitors about who you are, who you help, and why you are different. These videos do not need to be professionally produced, but you may want to have someone add a short introduction including your website and phone number. Once you have your video ready, upload it to your website—and to www.youtube.com for additional exposure. Visitors are more concerned with content than production quality. If allowed in your jurisdiction, use video testimonials from your clients as well.  

Key Action Steps: 
- The longer someone stays on your website, the greater likelihood they will connect with you. Use videos to quickly capture their attention.  
- Your videos should educate prospects about who you are, who you help, and why you are different.
6. Develop educational tools and promote them on your website. Education-based marketing is one of the most powerful tools at the disposal of lawyers. There is a great amount of basic information you know about your practice area that prospects want and need to know. Think about some of the questions your clients have about child custody and divorce or how to avoid getting sued by employees or ways to protect their intellectual property. Identify their frequently asked questions or biggest challenges and put together a short report (three to six pages long), a PowerPoint presentation, or even an audio CD, and offer a free copy to website visitors who give you their contact information.

Remember, if you cannot get visitors to call you directly, the second-best alternative is to persuade them to give you their contact information with permission to contact them. Give your education material a creative title such as “7 Questions You Must Ask before You Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer,” or “The 10 Deadly Mistakes People Make with Their Estate Plan,” or even “5 Strategies Inventors Can Use to Protect and Monetize Their Inventions.”

This kind of free educational information is a great tool to start building relationships with many people who need your help but aren’t ready to walk in your door. It is not enough simply to offer people a free consultation. Almost every lawyer does that. Take it one step further and give them some great information that will help them think through the issues and challenges they are facing. Once you have created these educational tools, find every way you can to give them away to as many people as possible.  

Key Action Steps:  
- Use an educational report, white paper, or audio CD to inform prospects, clients, and referral sources.  
- Every prospect has questions and challenges. Identify them and give them some information that indicates you can resolve their challenges and answer their questions.
********************************************************************
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This event will be presented live via phone with an Internet connection available for those who want to view the presentation on their computers as well. Internet access is not required for phone-only participants. A copy of the presentation and downloadable materials will be provided after the event.

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The Exclusion Of Ken Stabler From The Hall Of Fame Is a Travesty
[New England Patriots, Sports, Fantasy Football] (Bleacher Report - Front Page)
(This article is intended for Raider fans, but also Patriot fans that have been angered because I have ripped the perception of Tom Brady). As a Raider fan, it irritates me that Ken Stabler has not been inducted into the Hall of Fame. As such, I have aggressively questioned the legitimacy of other quarterbacks currently in the Hall of Fame, or expected to be inducted some day. Based on precedents set by the Hall – there is no reason that Stabler should continue to be excluded. Considerin ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

(This article is intended for Raider fans, but also Patriot fans that have been angered because I have ripped the perception of Tom Brady).

As a Raider fan, it irritates me that Ken Stabler has not been inducted into the Hall of Fame. As such, I have aggressively questioned the legitimacy of other quarterbacks currently in the Hall of Fame, or expected to be inducted some day.

Based on precedents set by the Hall – there is no reason that Stabler should continue to be excluded. Considering that the Hall has inducted Bob Griese, Roger Staubach, Dan Fouts, Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Joe Namath, and Dan Marino – there is ZERO reason to exclude Stabler.

It angers me, and for good reason. Stabler belongs in the Hall. The primary arguments against him have been the length of his career and that Jim Plunkett won twice with basically the same team.

Yet, the same people give Fouts the benefit of the doubt – that Fouts would have won the Super Bowl if not for this and if not for that.

Don’t get me wrong, because I don’t have a personal grievance with Fouts, but so long as Stabler continues to be excluded, I must rip Fouts' career with the facts.

We could use the same apologetics for Stabler as is used for the other quarterbacks. Stabler would have won three Super Bowls (or more) had he remained with the Raiders.

People also say that Stabler was a product of Al Davis. Yet, why weren’t Griese and Marino products of Don Shula? Why wasn’t Young a product of Bill Walsh? Why wasn’t Fouts a product of Don Coryell? Why wasn't Kelly a product of Marv Levy?

Until Fouts had Coryell, Fouts was mediocre at best. Before Walsh rescued Young from Tampa Bay, Young was a bust of JaMarcus Russell like-proportions and that is not hyperbole.

The remaining argument against Stabler is that his career was too short. Yet, he played in and won more games than each of the aforementioned quarterbacks except Marino and Kelly and both of them played primarily when the NFL lengthened the schedule to 16 games per season.

For the purposes of sophistry, I will stipulate that the current quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame are great. By comparison, Stabler is as good or better than the quarterbacks that I named. Thus, Stabler belongs in the Hall of Fame.

What does this have to do with Tom Brady?

Simple, I refuse to acknowledge the “greatness” of a quarterback that I think is a B+ talent. Until Stabler is in the Hall and officially great, I refuse to accept the legitimacy of the Hall of Fame as an arbiter of greatness.

You can’t judge a QB purely from statistics, except whether the team won or lost, and what that quarterback meant to the team. Passing yards, touchdowns and the like, all fluctuate over the years due to changing philosophies and league rules. The only constant is whether the team wins.

In the 1970s, 3500 yards by a QB was a great year. Today, 3500 yards is chump change.

In football, I disagree with the idea of having magic numbers to determine the greatness of a player, as is the case with the Baseball and Basketball Halls of Fame, because football is the truest team sport, because the stats are all inter-related – such as, a passing touchdown is related to a receiving touchdown. You can't have one without the other.

Ironically, the most independent stat in football is the field goal. And, at one time in history, FGs were worth more points than touchdowns

The Hall of Fame perplexes me. Much of it doesn’t make sense, because of its contradictions and shifting standards for greatness.

One contradiction has been for football writers to award MVP trophies, mostly to quarterbacks, under the guise of the award being a "team" award, and then evaluate a quarterback on individual statistics.

In football, there really are no individual statistics, especially on offense, but rushing yards and field goals come close.

I prefer to keep my articles straight-forward and informal rather than overwhelm the reader with my research, but I guarantee like Joe Namath that if you do mathematical tests for independence, you will find that NO passing statistic is mathematically independent.

The only knock that anyone could (or should) have on Ken Stabler is that he threw too many picks. At the same time, Stabler was the original Brett Favre. Moreover, many of Stabler’s picks came later in his career when his physical ability had eroded.

Nowadays, strength and conditioning (and PEDs) have changed the game. Athletes can play at high level until their later 30s and sometimes beyond.

For the Hall to continue to exclude Stabler is a travesty to the history of the game. And then they wonder why Raider fans act like they have a chip on their shoulder. The only crime the Raiders have ever committed is to be unconventional and win, rather than be conventional and lose.
DeJesus Rumors Elicit End Of Ellsbury Era In Boston?
[Baseball] (Over the Monster)
More photos » Elsa - Getty Images BOSTON - David DeJesus of the Kansas City Royals hits an RBI double in the sixth inning as Jason Varitek of the Boston Red Sox watches on May 27, 2010 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) Browse more photos » Jacoby Ellsbury has found himself immersed in Red Sox-related headlines more than you ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

More photos » Elsa - Getty Images

BOSTON - David DeJesus of the Kansas City Royals hits an RBI double in the sixth inning as Jason Varitek of the Boston Red Sox watches on May 27, 2010 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Browse more photos »

Jacoby Ellsbury has found himself immersed in Red Sox-related headlines more than you’d expect regarding your typical disabled list constituent. Ellsbury’s current situation has evoked a wide range of opinions and emotions -- from scrutiny to sympathy -- in relation to multiple topics. From Jacoby’s injured ribs and the amount of time he has required for rehab to, perhaps subsequently, trade rumors educing the end of the ‘Ellsbury Era’ in Boston.

Deliberation regarding Ellsbury has not been confined to the media -- partially because they wouldn’t allow it. In fact, it was his very own teammate Kevin Youkilis’ sentiments that may have summed the situation up best.

"I don’t know what’s going on with Jacoby. I don’t think any of us really know." Youkilis was then asked whether he questioned the length of time Ellsbury required away from the team and on the disabled list, replying, "Don’t go down that road. One thing I can say is there’s a lot of guys here that are hurt and supporting the team. We wish Jacoby was here supporting us, too."

Adhering to the adage suggesting that when it rains, it pours, the Red Sox are now reportedly in semi-substantive discussions with the Kansas City Royals concerning the availability of outfielder David DeJesus.

Could the potential addition of DeJesus, along with the rest of the aforementioned, serve as a foreshadower for Ellsbury’s exit from Boston?

Initially, news appertaining to Ellsbury seemed to focalize on his injured ribs -- what the correct diagnosis and prognosis were in particular. Those ribs, labeled as bruised directly following a collision with third baseman Adrian Beltre, have since been formally escalated to the fractured variety.

Explaining how and when that happened, however, is heavily dependent on who you’re asking.

While Ellsbury maintains that he secured the fractures at the time of his encounter with Beltre’s knee [April 11^th], the medical staff of the Boston Red Sox -- namely its director, Dr. Thomas Gill -- attest that the actual fracturing of the ribs resulted from a diving catch that Ellsbury made just three days removed from his initial disabled list stint against Philadelphia [May 23^rd].

Upon his return to the team in Toronto last week, Jacoby met an onslaught of questioning from the reporters that encompassed his dressing area fully prepared and in defense mode; enter said rift.

Reading from pages of presumably self-scribed notes, Ellsbury claimed to have experienced pain on both the front and back of his rib cage as a direct result of the April collision and that he asked for -- but was denied -- MRI exams by club personnel. Jacoby’s adamant -- and all-too-verbal -- accusations of misdiagnosis directly contradicted claims made by Dr. Gill (that the fractures were sustained after diving for a ball in late-May, over a month after the original injury).

Regardless of who is ultimately correct in the matter of when the actual fracturing occurred, Ellsbury’s toughness and resiliency have already been brought into question as a result of his prolonged absence -- and not just by Kevin Youkilis.

Instead of being praised for even attempting a comeback in May, Ellsbury has since been ridiculed for his inability to ‘tough it out’ per se -- something that he vehemently dispels.

"I didn't do this to myself. I didn't tweak something and sit out. I got hurt going all-out, 100 percent for a ball. I tried to come back when I knew I wasn't 100 percent. That's all I can say. Everybody knows how I play. Everyone knows I want to be out there. You can't control everybody and what they think. My teammates know. The fans have been great. That's all that matters."

Despite the majority of the initial backlash receding into generally empathetic inclinations -- specifically from the fans’ perspective -- that hasn’t successfully ceased the circulation of Ellsbury’s name within the context of media speculation.

According to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, the Red Sox first made contact with the Royals regarding outfielder David DeJesus sometime around July 4^th. While nothing notably significant appeared to have stemmed from that particular meeting, the two clubs left with a mutual opinion that there was enough interest from both parties to warrant continued communication.

A continuation of those discussions is exactly what happened during Major League Baseball’s All-Star weekend festivities.

MLB sources claim that Kansas City is -- and has been -- actively scouting the ranks of Boston’s minor-league system; although at this point no names have been exchanged.

The Red Sox have used bubblegum and band aids to hold the outfield together all season long. To put it in perspective: J.D. Drew -- not typically known for his durability -- leads all Boston outfielders in games played with 78. Behind him? Darnell McDonald [68], Bill Hall [60], Eric Patterson [54] and Jeremy Hermida [45]. Not exactly what anyone had in mind entering the season.

Right now, Ellsbury’s return date remains tentative; he’ll likely be gone until at least mid-August. Mike Cameron -- despite participating at the moment -- missed the majority of May with an abdominal strain and has yet to truly reestablish form. The thought of McDonald, Hall and Patterson patching up an outfield anchored by a 34 year-old J.D. Drew does little to reaffirm fans’ optimism in the midst of a tight A.L. playoff race.

David DeJesus may aid in alleviating such concerns, but would it increase the likelihood that Ellsbury be shopped?

The 30 year-old former fourth round draft pick has played in 85 of the Royals’ 88 game this season and has seen time at all three outfield positions. DeJesus’ .326 batting average and .395 on-base percentage rank 7^th in the American League and his 107 hits is tied with the Red Sox‘s leading hitter, Adrian Beltre, for sixth in the A.L. If he continues at his current pace at the plate in 2010, David will set career-highs in nearly every major offensive statistic including BA, OBP, SLG [.460], OPS [.855] and OPS+ [133] -- all while playing in a lineup that offers less-than comparable protection when side-by-side with Boston’s.

Even if Ellsbury and Cameron are both healthy and back in the lineup by the end of August as most reports suggest -- and Drew can continue to stave off the injury bug -- would production like DeJesus’ not represent an upgrade at least somewhere out there? Perhaps shifting Ellsbury back to centerfield and placing DeJesus in left for the remainder of 2010 would be the most ideal scenario. You wouldn’t lose too much at either position defensively and DeJesus’ ability to get one base and put the ball in play would certainly be a welcomed change from Cameron’s heavy strikeout totals.

The question isn’t whether or not DeJesus would be a nice addition to the Red Sox; obviously he would. Instead, the real question is whether Boston has the type of package that could pry DeJesus from Kansas City (it’s been said that the Royals are looking to be considered clear-cut winners in any trade involving David), and in turn, how willing the Red Sox are to meet the Royals’ requirements.

Unlike most teams that find themselves out of the playoff race and looking to make some deals at the midway point of the season, the Royals aren’t necessarily in dire need of procuring younger talents in an effort to rebuild.

Backing an already respectable core of young starting pitchers at the major league level, Kansas City’s minor league system features six pitchers in the organization’s ten top-rated prospects [according to Baseball America’s annual rankings]. At the corner infield spots, Billy Butler, Alberto Callaspo and Alex Gordon -- all 27 years of age or younger -- will soon be joined by highly-touted prospects Mike Moustakas (3B, 21 y.o.), and Eric Hosmer (1B, 20 y.o.).

However, where the Royals could potentially stand to get more youthful is at catcher and, ironically enough, in the outfield.

While Wil Myers, a catcher drafted by K.C. in 2009 having not yet turned the age of twenty, offers some futuristic hope of replacing current starting catcher -- 36 year-old Jason Kendall -- catching prospects remain one of the toughest of all positions to develop; you can never have too many, and unfortunately for the Royals, Myers may be all that they have.

As far as outfielders go, the Royals’ current roster boasts exactly zero under the age of 28 -- the obvious exception being DeJesus -- and if there’s one thing that Boston holds in surplus, it’s tradable outfield prospects.

Could a package centered around a couple players such as Josh Reddick and Ryan Lavarnway -- possibly including someone like Che-Hsuan Lin -- be enough to snag DeJesus?

Reddick has already shown flashes of his true potential at the major league level, and the 23 year-old represents a ready-to-contribute, but still young enough to suggest further development, outfield option.

Lavarnway, a 22 year-old catcher, has been climbing the ranks of Boston’s minor leagues. He, similarly to Reddick, is a still-young -- but potentially ready to contribute on the major league level -- prospect-type player at a position of need for K.C. In 2009, Lavarnway was named SoxProspects.com’s Offensive Player of the Year as well as MLB.com’s Red Sox Organization Player of the Year; not to mention the fact that he’s riding into the trade deadline on the back of Player of the Month Awards for both April and June.

Lin is an interesting addition because of his abnormally high upside. He’s the type of 21 year-old prospect that no team would hesitate taking a risk on. The Red Sox, however, can afford to move someone like Lin because by the time he is fully-developed, other similarly-aged and more polished outfield prospects -- Ryan Kalish and Reymond Fuentes in particular -- will likely already have begun contributing at the big league level.

Would the Red Sox be willing to offer this type of package for a player of DeJesus’ caliber, and in turn, would the Royals accept such an offer? Neither may ultimately be considered probable, however with Cameron, Drew and DeJesus under club control in 2011, grabbing DeJesus (who comes with a relatively cheap $6 million option) could actually make the latter of the two the more feasible.

For one, the Red Sox could then afford to pass on Cameron‘s option, replacing him with DeJesus for very little difference in salary -- DeJesus would likely shift to LF in this scenario. Boston could then turn around to use some of the money saved by any of the other plethora of potential departures following this season [David Ortiz, Victor Martinez, Jonathan Papelbon] to sign a free agent such as Jayson Werth -- or less-likely -- someone like Carl Crawford.

This is where trading Ellsbury becomes arguably most sensible -- this off season.

Assuming the Red Sox would make a move on someone like Werth after acquiring DeJesus and exercising Drew’s option to fill out the outfield this winter, they would still likely be left with a glaring need at one of the ‘glamour’ positions such as catcher or third base. A player like Ellsbury is the type of trade bait that can land the ideal impact player that the Red Sox would desire when attempting to replace the likes of either Victor Martinez or Adrian Beltre.

The again, given enough time, anyone might be able to conjure up a sequence of events justifying almost any random trade rumor.

The fact of the matter is, when it’s all said and done it’s difficult to imagine the Red Sox actively pursuing the subtraction of Jacoby Ellsbury from their lineup -- even in the event that they land DeJesus. Ellsbury represents a still-developing, not yet in the prime of his career, monetarily affordable game-changer at the leadoff position. His impossible-to-ignore element of speed discreetly packaged in a lineup underwhelmed with base running threats is invaluable -- especially for those hitting directly behind him.

Make no mistake about it, the acquisition of David DeJesus is still a very distinct possibility and something that the Red Sox are surely exploring. However, like most trade rumors lacking any semblance of tangible evidence -- especially in Boston -- this one probably won’t evolve into anything.
Blog Post: Network Interface – Output Queue Length values extremely high?
[Windows] (Site Home)
Applies to: Windows Server 2003 RTM Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 R2 Service Pack 1 Windows Server 2003 R2 Service Pack 2 Problem description: In Perfmon, Network Interface object, Output Queue Length counter shows high. What is Network Output Queue Length? “Output Queue Length is the length of the output packet queue (in packets). If this is longer than two, there are delays and the bottleneck should be found and elim ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: Unknown
Applies to:

Windows Server 2003 RTM

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2

Windows Server 2003 R2 Service Pack 1

Windows Server 2003 R2 Service Pack 2

Problem description:

In Perfmon, Network Interface object, Output Queue Length counter shows high.

What is Network Output Queue Length?

“Output Queue Length is the length of the output packet queue (in packets). If this is longer than two, there are delays and the bottleneck should be found and eliminated, if possible. Since the requests are queued by the Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) in this implementation, this will always be 0.”

What are valid values?

0-5

What are invalid values?

Large values negative or greater than 1000 are bogus, ignore.

Cause:

1. If the number is abnormally high on a consistent basis.

2. You should look for a problem with a network card or some other piece of network hardware.

3. Outdated (there are small instances corrupt) network card driver, though such a problem normally manifests itself in other ways than just an increased output queue length statistic.

4. Receive Side Scaling (RSS) is disabled, if you went to Windows Update, the likely hood that you had RSS disabled is 100%.

             948496 Make sure that you have the following updates:An update to turn off default SNP features is available for Windows Server 2003-based and Small Business Server 2003-based computers

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948496

If you have this disabled, you will run into:

892100 The processor load is not distributed across multiple processors on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Server, or Windows NT 4.0

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892100

5.   Update the network stack for Windows Server 2003.

6. There is too much load on the server.

Resolution:

In order of importance from our experience:

1. Ignore if the value is over 1000.

2.   Upgrade the NIC driver and firmware

      Upgrade the NIC teaming software (or Break the NIC teaming)

3. Re-enable RSS
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
- Right-click EnableRSS, and then click Modify.
- In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
Note: it requires a reboot for the change to occur

4. Update the following files:
- tcpip.sys
950224 A Scalable Networking Pack (SNP) hotfix rollup package is available for Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=950224

In http://www.bing.com, use the following keywords:

hotfix "Server 2003" tcpip.sys site:support.microsoft.com/kb/
- afd.sys
951162 After you enable the dynamic backlog settings on a Windows Server 2003-based computer, the System Handle count and the nonpaged pool usage may increase significantly

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951162

In http://www.bing.com, use the following keywords:

hotfix "Server 2003" afd.sys site:support.microsoft.com/kb/
- ndis.sys
972071 Applications that use the UDP protocol may encounter poor performance on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972071

In http://www.bing.com, use the following keywords:

hotfix "Server 2003" afd.sys site:support.microsoft.com/kb/
- tdi.sys, no updates as of 7/6/2010
- wshtcpip.dll, no updates as of 7/6/2010.
5. If NIC is does not support the maximum bandwidth of your network, upgrade the NIC to support a faster bandwidth.

An application or multiple applications are causing sudden elevated network usage patterns.

Reduce the load on the server. You can do this by moving the load to a server that is utilized less. If it is required, add an additional server to your environment.

More information:

-------------------

These are the other Network Interface counters that you should be analyzing in conjuction:

•Network Interface: Bytes Received/sec
•Network Interface: Bytes Sent/sec
•Network Interface: Bytes Total/sec
•Network Interface: Current Bandwidth
Baby Doll Reinvented for the 21st Century
[Dads] (Dad of Divas)
About the Doll Gone are the tired pastel pink and blue outfits with antiquated ruffles and bows. Baby GoGoTM, a gender-neutral baby doll for today’s children, is now available at local specialty toy stores and online at www.babygogodoll.com. “We believe this is the most significant change in baby dolls in at least 30 years,” says Little Sib company founder Margaret Winchester. “I strongly believe that children will more readily attach to a doll that reminds them of their own spe ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

About the Doll

Gone are the tired pastel pink and blue outfits with antiquated ruffles and bows. Baby GoGo^TM, a gender-neutral baby doll for today’s children, is now available at local specialty toy stores and online at www.babygogodoll.com.

“We believe this is the most significant change in baby dolls in at least 30 years,” says Little Sib company founder Margaret Winchester. “I strongly believe that children will more readily attach to a doll that reminds them of their own special world.

Baby GoGo^TM features a medium skin tone and is clothed in exciting contemporary colors so that it appeals to all boys and girls and encourages them to learn to nurture. The Baby GoGo^TM Goes Home Doll Set, priced at $39.99, comes with the 13-inch doll dressed in soft, cozy pajamas and a hat and accompanied by a beautifully detailed “blankie,” and a full-color “Baby GoGo^TM Goes Home” storybook, which follows the baby’s homecoming after birth and getting to know siblings and family. Baby GoGo^TM is appropriate for children ages three and older.

Also available is a line of accessories, starting with a diaper bag, a child-sized bag made of 100 percent cotton canvas that includes a cotton diaper and has plenty of room for children to add their own essentials. It is priced at $24.99. The Moses Bed, priced at $29.99 and available this summer, is also made of 100 percent cotton material, and is the perfect place for children to put Baby GoGo^TM down for a nap. Straps are just the right length to allow children to easily carry the bed around the house and to play dates.

About Little Sib, LLC

Little Sib provides children with toys that nurture and inspire them to be healthy, loving men and women through imaginative play. The company’s first product , Baby GoGo^TM, reinvents the classic baby doll. It’s fun, colorful, safe, environmentally friendly and the answer to the outdated, traditional baby doll that is limited in its versatility for children of all races and genders. Visit the web site at www.babygogodoll.com.
My Take on the DollAs a father of two girls, dolls are a way of life. For this doll however, it is nice that it was gender neutral (in my perspective) as it allows the child to simply be that, a child, using his or her imagination to create the world around the, Also, when we gave this doll and the diaper bag to our youngest Diva-PJ, her eyes lit up with excitement.

Very quickly Diva-PJ took her doll to her room and started playing with it. Next thing we knew she was taking her baby on a stroller ride around the living room and she wanted to take it in the car with us as well. Thus, I can say that this doll was a BIG hit, and if your child likes dolls, this may be a great hit with your own children as well!

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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Head to Head: Chris Bosh vs Dirk Nowitzki
[New England Patriots, Sports, Fantasy Football] (Bleacher Report - Front Page)
Today's head to head match-up features two free-agents in the upcoming 2010 NBA free agency. These two superstars who play for Toronto and Dallas respectively are two of the best power-forwards in the game today. It's Toronto's Chris Bosh vs Mavericks' legend Dirk Nowitzki. A long time ago, this would never have been a match-up. Only 4-5 years ago, Dirk would have dominated Bosh in every aspect. Now? Bosh has quickly climbed the ladder, becoming a dominant power-forward, and one that is currentl ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en
Today's head to head match-up features two free-agents in the upcoming 2010 NBA free agency. These two superstars who play for Toronto and Dallas respectively are two of the best power-forwards in the game today. It's Toronto's Chris Bosh vs Mavericks' legend Dirk Nowitzki.

A long time ago, this would never have been a match-up. Only 4-5 years ago, Dirk would have dominated Bosh in every aspect. Now? Bosh has quickly climbed the ladder, becoming a dominant power-forward, and one that is currently valued more highly than Nowitzki.

Listed below are the seven components I'll use in order to critically compare the two players. The winner of the most categories (four or more) will be deemed the better player.
- 1. Scoring
- 2. Mid-range shooting, three-point shooting, and post play
- 3. Rebounding
- 4. Defense
- 5. Strength
- 6. Speed and agility
- 7. Clutch
Scoring

Chris Bosh is a high-scoring power forward. He's as good as they come in that department. He can shoot the ball anywhere on the court efficiently up to about 20 feet. Despite being a big man, Bosh is more of a face-up player, where he can hit the jumper, or use his speed to destroy a defender. Nevertheless, Bosh has a frustrating tendency to force up jump shots when he should be driving to the hoop.

For the regular season, Bosh averaged exactly 24 PPG. He's continued to improve on past seasons in terms of scoring, so he can only get better. Bosh could attempt to get a better post-game, in order to get a few more points.

Dirk Nowitzki has and will always be a big-time scoring machine. Dirk gets the majority of his points from mid-range jump shots or three-pointers. Despite having the size and length to cause problems, Dirk resorts to throwing up the most difficult fade-away jumpers and off balance shots. Yet, he makes them with ease.

For the regular season, Nowitzki averaged 25 PPG, one more than Bosh. With Dirk, you can count on consistent high-scoring; and while Bosh is gaining in consistency, there are times when he can be ineffective.

Winner: Dirk Nowitzki

Mid-range shooting, three-point shooting and post play

Bosh is a very versatile player when it comes to scoring. He's improved in the post, but still has work to do in that aspect. He's a great mid-range shooter, and a fairly decent, although not very potent, shooter from beyond the arc.

Bosh shot an impressive 52 percent from the field, but only 36 percent from three-point range. Bosh started the season making his first six three-pointers. He ended the season 8-22 from distance.

Nowitzki can play face-up or back-to-basket. He's more inclined to play face-up, where he can use his length and quick release to punish defenders. Due to the number of jump shots he takes, Nowitzki finds himself shooting at 48 percent from the field. Considering he plays almost as a shooting-guard (which he was during the 2010 All-Star game), that FG perentage is very impressive.

Nowitzki is a deadly three-point shooter, able to spread the floor and stretch out defenses. He was 42 percent from the great beyond.

Winner: Dirk Nowitzki

Rebounding

Bosh has always been a great rebounder. This season, he averaged 10.8 RPG, therefore finishing the season as a 20-10 guy for the second season running.

Bosh picked up a shade under eight defensive rebounds a game. Furthermore, Bosh used his added bulk that he gained prior to last season in order to battle with the best on the boards, collecting almost three offensive rebounds a game. In fact, Bosh averaged the most combined points and rebounds in the league.

Nowitzki on the other hand has never been a huge contributor to rebounding, averaging just 8.5 RPG for his career. Getting older hasn't helped, as he only picked up 7.7 RPG this past season,

His poor 7.7 RPG is even less than Bosh's total defensive rebounding statistic (7.9). Dirk seldom attacks the basket, where a lot of that is to do with the fact that he plays further away from the basket than most power-forwards.

Winner: Chris Bosh

Defense

If Chris Bosh was to ever win a category called 'defense' you would surely think there was a problem. Bosh is the leader of one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA. Bosh himself however has improved defensively, although it's nothing to shout about quite yet.

He has decent lateral quickness, but is sometimes beaten to the hoop too easily. He has long arms which are useful for shot blocking, but he somewhat underachieved in that aspect last season, averaging only 1 BPG, and an even lower 0.6 SPG. Chris is rarely in foul trouble, averaging just 2.4 FPG.

However Bosh is in defending, Nowitzki is worse. It might be the 'Euro' disease that Nowitzki suffers from, where it appears as if European players in the NBA just can't defend or hustle for one reason or another.

Nowitzki is a slow player, and is often exposed for that reason. He averaged 1 BPG, and 0.9 SPG, which from that standpoint, is superior to Bosh's overall blocks and steals number. However, although he picks up only 2.6 FPG, it isn't evenly distributed. Some games, he's Mr. Perfect. Other games, he finds himself easy frustrated and drowned in foul trouble, largely due to his defensive deficiencies.

Winner: Chris Bosh

Strength

Chris Bosh added 20 lbs in the past season so that he wouldn't be abused in the post by the bigger and stronger big men in the league. Now weighing 250 lbs, it has made some difference.

Bosh has not only improved defensively, but he's used that added strength to greater effect on the offensive end. Bosh's post-game needs polishing, but it has augmented. A combination of the ability to back players down and use his length to finish has become a substantial part of his game.

In addition, Bosh has used his strength to improve his rebounding.

Nowitzki is a solid figure to say the least. However, he uses little of that strength in his game. As mentioned earlier, he plays as a very big shooting-guard. He could easily use that strength for more points in the paint, although he is still a good post-player.

Furthermore, Nowitzki's play far from the basket means that he can't battle for rebounds. He's too much of a finesse player to be regarded as a powerful specimen.

Winner: Chris Bosh

Speed and agility

Chris Bosh is one of the quickest big men you will find currently in the NBA. As a face-up player, Bosh is able to use his speed and cleverness to drive past defenders. If the result isn't an easy lay-up or two-handed flush, expect him to be heading to the line for two free-throw attempts. Bosh's speed is a big reason why he's fouled so often.

Although Bosh doesn't play stellar defense, some existence of lateral quickness allows him to defend some smaller and quicker players better than other big men can. Bosh can also run the floor with the best of big men, giving his team another option on the break.

Nowitzki isn't a player that you'll find leading a fast-break opportunity. He's a very slow player, and that's highlighted in his play. Instead of trying to speed past his opponents, Nowitzki relies on clever moves, a series of fakes, and a deadly fade-away jumper to trouble his defenders.

Adding a year to Nowitzki doesn't help in the slightest, so it is unlikely that he can work on becoming a quick player. As important as speed may be in the NBA, Nowitzki has adapted his game to an extent that he doesn't require it as much as others.

Winner: Chris Bosh

Clutch

If Bosh wants to be the centrepiece of a team, and not an addition, he has to improve in this area. Bosh hit two game winners this season, against Atlanta and Philadelphia. However, as many people point out, he's only a second option. He's a great back-up to the likes of LeBron James or Dwyane Wade.

The fact that the ball isn't even always in his hands in late-game situations for Toronto strengthens the argument that Bosh doesn't quite have the assassin-like instinct.

Dirk Nowitzki is as clutch as they come. He's hit a ton of game winners in his career. Dirk has hit 12 shots that have turned out to be game-winners, when there is 24 seconds or less on the shot clock. He was born to perform on the biggest stage.

Even in a stacked Dallas Mavericks' team, the ball will only fall in the hands of one person when time is running out: Dirk. Just for good measure, Nowitzki has hit a game winner against Toronto in the 2005-2006 season.

Winner: Dirk Nowitzki

FINAL SCORE

Chris Bosh 4-3 Dirk Nowitzki

Chris Bosh has been on the up since he first entered the NBA in 2003. He is slowly developing into the best current power-forward in the game. If he wants to be considered an elite player, he must work on his defense, and his ability to knock down the big shots.

When you lead your team to just two play-off berths in seven years, you're argument for wanting to be the best is pretty futile.

That isn't to detract from what Bosh really is. He is phenomenally equipped with the skills to be one of the best; and based on last season, he may be the best power-forward in the game at the moment.

Dirk Nowitzki is a potential future Hall-of-Famer. The man will never be forgotten in Dallas. He's won the MVP award once, and he was no-doubt the best big man in the league at one stage.

Dirk still has deficiencies in his game like Bosh, but he can hit the big shots and is still a slightly greater offensive threat.

However, these head to head match-ups are based on performances in this past season. Nowitzki may have made the playoffs with his Mavericks' team, but this is a team game. We all know Dallas are better than the Raptors, but I know that at this moment in time, Bosh is better than Dirk.
[ Mathematics ] Open Question : if the null hypothesis is tested using an alpha level equal to 0.10, which of the following is true?
[Q & A] (Yahoo! Answers: Latest Questions)
A concern of Major League Baseball is that games last too long. Some executives in the league's headquarters believe that the mean length of games this past year exceeded 3 hours (180 minutes). _ To test this, the league selected a random sample of 80 games and found the following results:x = 193 minutes and s = 16 minutes. Based on these results, if the null ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

A concern of Major League Baseball is that games last too long. Some executives in the league's headquarters believe that the mean length of games this past year exceeded 3 hours (180 minutes). _ To test this, the league selected a random sample of 80 games and found the following results:x = 193 minutes and s = 16 minutes. Based on these results, if the null hypothesis is tested using an alpha level equal to 0.10, which of the following is true? a. The null hypothesis should be rejected if > 182.31. b. The test statistic is t = 1.2924. c. Based on the sample data, the null hypothesis cannot be rejected. d. It is possible that when the hypothesis test is completed that a Type II statistical error has been made.
Paint By Numbers: Are the Liberty a jump shooting team or just settling for jumpers?
[Sports] (Women Talk Sports | Latest News and Blog Posts)
View full size photo » At the bottom of the final box score given out to the media, there is a list of key statistics for the game. The very first statistic on that list is Points in the Paint. That’s not to say that this is the most important statistic by any means, but it sure is a big one. Last night, when the New York Liberty hosted the Atlanta Dream, that statistic showed a glaring discrepancy between the two teams. Atlanta scored 50 points in the paint, shooting 25 of 42, while New Y ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

View full size photo » At the bottom of the final box score given out to the media, there is a list of key statistics for the game. The very first statistic on that list is Points in the Paint. That’s not to say that this is the most important statistic by any means, but it sure is a big one. Last night, when the New York Liberty hosted the Atlanta Dream, that statistic showed a glaring discrepancy between the two teams. Atlanta scored 50 points in the paint, shooting 25 of 42, while New York scored a measly 18 points on 9 of 21. Interestingly enough, despite scoring one third as many points in the paint, the last-place-in-the-East Liberty managed to pull out a convincing win over the top-ranked Dream, defeating them 91-79. You might be asking yourself how that’s possible, since generally the team that drives to the basket also gets to the line more, thus having even more opportunities to score. You would probably be right most of the time, except that Atlanta only took two more free throws than New York, and shot a miserable 52.4% from the line. In addition, the Liberty got hot from beyond the arc in the second half, and their 9 three-pointers provided that boost that kept the Dream at bay. All those issue aside, the real question as the Liberty moves forward becomes whether they are a jump-shooting team, or whether they are simply settling for what they can get. Prior to the game, Coach Donovan mentioned that the Liberty "seem to be more perimeter oriented right now than we are into the post…that’s an area I want to do better at." She didn’t mention whether she was intending for the team to be taking outside shots or if they were doing so as a result of being unable to penetrate. Either way, she recognized the pattern and addressed a desire to improve upon it. Part of the reason for the Liberty being outscored in the paint is that Atlanta has a strong post presence: their starting center, Erika de Souza, is 6’5" of strength. Alison Bales and Yelena Leuchanka, their centers off of the bench, are 6’7" and 6’5" respectively. Taj McWilliams-Franklin, the Liberty’s veteran center, is a mere 6’2", and her back-up, Kia Vaughn, is just 6’4". New York was clearly out-sized in this contest, and it showed on the defensive end. Conversely, the Liberty's points in the paint were of a different kind. On the offensive end, the scores for the Liberty often resulted from quarterback passes down the length of the court for easy lay-ups. In fact, I was impressed multiple times by the arm strength of tiny little Leilani Mitchell. The few times that the Liberty players penetrated to the basket, their scores came off of beautiful passes threaded through the defense under the hoop. There were really very few hard drives to the bucket, and most of them ended with the missed basket and two free throws. That speaks both to New York’s need for improvement in finishing under the basket, and Atlanta’s powerful inside presence. Both Coach Donovan and McWilliams-Franklin mentioned that Atlanta’s zone defense forced the Liberty to take outside shots more than they may have intended. Another factor in their low paint production could be that early in the second quarter, one of the Liberty’s strong inside players, post Janel McCarville, had to be helped off the court after what she described as knee-on-knee contact while she was setting a screen. She left the court to have it looked at, and returned later in the game with a deep bruise. She wasn’t as much of a presence after her return to the game, and when I asked if she felt tentative, she responded, "I think I was more in pain than anything. I wasn’t so much tentative as… it hurt." She scored just two points in the third quarter and two points in the fourth, and said she might have been a step slow as a result of the pain. Although the injury may have accounted for some of the lacking defensive presence, it still doesn't explain the rest of the team not taking the ball to the hoop. Taj McWilliams-Franklin also had a quiet night offensively, with 10 points and a glaring goose egg in the offensive rebound column. As a matter of fact, there weren’t many New York players crashing the offensive boards. The Liberty had 5 offensive rebounds to Atlanta’s 14. This lead to 15 second-chance points for the Dream and just 8 for New York. Nevertheless, as much as Donovan and I alike would appreciate the Liberty going hard to the basket, I do believe a win is a win, and this was a good one. That's neither because it was the first game of a back-to-back, nor because it was against an Atlanta team that came into Madison Square Garden 5-1 on the road. What made this game good is that the guards were able to showcase their talents in this game, and boy, are they talented. For the second game in a row, Cappie Pondexter came up huge. She had 25 points and 7 assists on the night. When she went scoreless in the 4th quarter, Leilani Mitchell (who confessed that she had been "struggling a little" from outside) hit two big three-pointers, which she said were "good for [her] confidence". Both rookie Kalana Greene and Sidney Spencer hit buzzer beaters that sent the arena into a frenzy. With Greene contributing 9 points of her own, the back court of the New York Liberty showed a lot of promise for this season. That being said, everyone recognized that the inside game needs work. After the game, Coach Donovan told us, "Our goal is to have more than 30 points in the paint, and obviously we had half that tonight. So we’re looking not just to get buckets in the paint but to get to the free throw line… to have more balance in our offense." Thankfully, the poised and optimistic McWilliams-Franklin remains confident in her team. She told me, "We’ll get into the paint. We have opportunities in the paint, we just have to complete them."
Here's Why Why Many US Housing Markets Are Continuing To Weaken
[Real Estate] (Business Insider)
In the first quarter of this year, the Case-Schiller U.S. National Price Index was 2% higher than in the same quarter a year earlier. Many housing market analysts concluded from this statistic that the housing market was stabilizing. Let's see whether the really significant numbers support such a conclusion. Home Sales Are Now Tanking Each week, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) releases a "seasonally-adjusted" index of mortgage loan applications. Five weeks after the April 30 expi ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

In the first quarter of this year, the Case-Schiller U.S. National Price Index was 2% higher than in the same quarter a year earlier. Many housing market analysts concluded from this statistic that the housing market was stabilizing.

Let's see whether the really significant numbers support such a conclusion.

Home Sales Are Now Tanking

Each week, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) releases a "seasonally-adjusted" index of mortgage loan applications. Five weeks after the April 30 expiration of the first-time buyer tax credit, the unadjusted figure for purchase loan applications was down 49%. The figure for the first week in June was 44% lower than the year earlier number. In fact, the unadjusted index has been lower than the year earlier figure throughout 2010. It appears certain that the tax credit has indeed pulled home sales from the future.

Until the tax credit expired, analysts had been claiming that the market was strengthening. After all, the Case-Schiller 20-city home price index had finally turned positive on a year-over-year basis. Core Logic's Home Price Index (HPI) had shown the same result for February and March.

Even cautious data providers such as MDA DataQuick were pointing out that in April, the median sale price for homes sold in the nine-county San Francisco Bay area was up 22% from a year earlier. Median prices had actually been higher on a year over year basis for the previous six months as well. In San Francisco, the median price had risen from $628,000 in April 2009 to $692,000 a year later.

Sounds like a strengthening market in the Bay area, doesn't it? Take the 94132 zip code in San Francisco. The median sale price was $720,000 in April, 75% higher than April 2009.

When you look at the details, however, the picture is quite different. A review of this zip code on trulia.com shows that 87 of the 120 listings on June 9 were foreclosures. Although we cannot tell how many of these April sales were foreclosures, MDA DataQuick reported that 30% of all sales in the Bay area were foreclosures and Radar Logic found that 31% of all San Francisco sales in February were foreclosed homes. Clearly, a majority of the sales in this zip code were either foreclosures or short sales and that is also the case for the rest of San Francisco.

With such a high percentage of "distressed sales" in San Francisco, you might be surprised that the median sales price has been rising over the last year. Here is why. As early as July 2009, an important study from zillow.com had reported that 30% of all foreclosure sales nationwide in the previous month were houses in the top third tier of home values in their local market, up from only 16% three years earlier. Foreclosures had steadily moved up from lower priced homes to expensive ones. If you take a look at San Francisco foreclosed properties on realtytrac.com, you will see that this is certainly the case with San Francisco foreclosures. The website is littered with homes that have mortgages of $500,000 and more.

The Percentage of Homes Sold for a Loss Hits a New High

Among its many real estate market reports, zillow.com issues a report on homes that are sold for a loss. The latest report for April is based on 159,000 actual sales of homes that had been listed on zillow. The website takes the selling price of a house and then compares it to the price for which it had sold in the previous property transfer. Thus the figure has nothing to do with median prices which nearly everyone now focuses on.

What the report reveals is that the percentage of houses which were sold at a loss by homeowners was only 7% at the beginning of 2007. This percentage dipped briefly in the first half of 2009, but has risen steadily since then to a new nationwide high of 30% at the end of March. The April figure dropped only slightly to 28%. This figure does not include foreclosed homes which were sold (or any non-arms length transactions).

The percentage of home sold for a loss is substantially higher than reported figures for short sales. That's mainly because some home sellers who had provided a substantial down payment at the time of purchase may have had an outstanding mortgage balance which was less than the sale price. Thus they would not have needed to do a short sale even though their selling price was less than what they had paid for it

Nearly 49% of all homes sold in Atlanta in April were sold at a loss. The figure is 47% for Miami, 40% for Las Vegas, 35% for San Diego, and 30% for Chicago. For those of you who think the housing collapse was confined mainly to the four states of California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, the figure is 35% for Toledo, 36% for Minneapolis, 24% for St. Louis, and 21% for Seattle.

The number is a surprisingly low 18% for the New York metro area. But that is due to the collapse of sales volume throughout the entire New York metro area in the past six months largely because sellers have refused to drop their asking price.

Most Sellers Are Reluctant to Lower Their Asking Price

Trulia.com was the first website to track what percentage of home sellers had dropped their listing price since posting the house on their site. In April 2009, trulia reported that 27% of all listings had lowered their asking price. A year later, that figure had declined to 20%. The CEO of Trulia described the change in this way: "We're beginning to see early signs of stabilization in the housing market." Is that really what it indicates?

A mid-April Gallup Poll published in the Washington Business Journal announced that 34% of respondents thought that home prices would rise in the next year. Only 23% of them believed that prices would fall. For respondents on both the east and west coasts, 39% thought that prices would climb.

This poll seemed to show that optimism about the housing market was returning to a growing number of Americans. A great influence in this change was the many real estate analysts who had confidently been announcing over the past six months that housing was "bottoming." If home prices were likely to be higher a year from now, why would a seller drop the listing price?

The May report issued by trulia revealed that the number of listings on their website with price reductions through the end of April had increased to 22%.

Twelve of the fifty cities studied showed more than 30% of their listings with price cuts including Minneapolis, Dallas, Jacksonville, Boston and Nashville.

Regardless of whether the percentage of homes with price cuts is 27% or 22%, the one clear conclusion to draw is that the great majority of home sellers have been very reluctant to lower their asking price.

Most sellers have probably not seen a less-widely reported study by the online brokerage firm ziprealty.com. On May 17, the Wall Street Journal posted this revealing report online which showed the percentage of sellers listing with ziprealty in 27 major metros who had lowered their asking price in the past 18 months. For all 27 metros, the average percentage of home sellers who had dropped their listing price was more than 41%. This means that more than 40% of the homes listed on ziprealty in these major metros had not sold as of April 30 in spite of dropping their listing price at least once in the past 18 months.

Soaring House Rental Listings Offer an Enticing Alternative to Buying

A continuing problem for home sellers throughout the country is the attractiveness of renting a house for potential buyers.

As early as 2005, apartment landlords were facing heavy competition for renters from investors and speculators who had purchased houses during the bubble years. An article in an August 2005 issue of the Wall Street Journal entitled "Speculators Push Rents Down" pointed out that a glut of investor-owned properties was dragging rents down and creating a "shadow supply of rental units that doesn't show up in traditional rental market measures." This was a key factor that caused the vacancy rate for all rental properties to climb to record levels of more than 10%.

Even before the subprime market collapsed in the spring of 2007, the Census Bureau reported that the number of vacant homes for sale had soared to a record 2.1 million. The chart below, published by the widely-followed blog, Calculated Risk, in February 2010, puts this growth in rental vacancies in a long-term perspective.

By early 2008, metros which had experienced a severe speculative bubble faced a worsening glut of rental houses. Take Phoenix, for example. A February 2008 article in the Arizona Republic observed that nearly 13% of Phoenix area single-family homes had been registered as rentals. Local real agents suspected that the actual figure was much higher because many landlords did not register in order to obtain the homestead tax breaks available to owner-occupied houses.

A local real estate investment professional noted that because the rent for most houses in Phoenix was only half the cost of owning that same home, apartment dwellers found it very attractive to move into a rental house. This was a very ominous sign for the housing market.

Another key factor which has added to the glut of vacant houses for rent is the soaring number of multi-generational households stemming from the severe recession and loss of millions of jobs.

In March of this year, the Pew Research Center published a study which reported that roughly 49 million people were living in households with two or more adult generations from the same family at the end of 2008. This number had risen by 3.6 million individuals since the beginning of 2006. In 1980, that figure was a mere 28 million.

Karl Case, co-creator of the Case-Schiller home price index, explained in an interview for a USA Today article published in May 2010 that "It's not just that people are not buying homes. They're not renting either, a sign that more people are squeezing into one unit."

A Wall Street Journal article published in December 2009 aptly illustrates the problem faced by current home sellers. Entitled "American Dream 2: Default Then Rent," it describes the plight of those who bought during the bubble years in the town of Palmdale, California.

The author pointed out that many of these underwater homeowners are leaving behind their homes and huge mortgages and renting a nearby house. One couple bought a nice home in Palmdale in 2004 with a readily-available no-down-payment loan. They were paying $3,700 a month on their $430,000 mortgage as they watched the house's value plunge to less than $200,000 by 2009.

After trying to modify their mortgage, the couple was faced with a quandary like millions of underwater homeowners around the country. They had found a larger house than theirs just up the street whose rent was only $2,195. Because California was a non-recourse state, the lender could not go after them for the shortfall if they decided to default. But their credit would be hurt for years and they feared that their friends and neighbors might "ostracize" them.

The couple finally decided to stop paying on their mortgage and move into the rental house. A few months later, they sold their home in a short sale for $195,000 which the bank decided to accept to settle the mortgage debt.

A neighbor of theirs made a similar move, going from a $4,800 mortgage payment to a monthly rent of only $2,200. Countless other underwater owners are now opting to make the same change. By switching to a rental home, the reduction in housing cost is proving too great to resist.

With potential home buyers now fleeing the market in droves, sellers extremely reluctant to reduce their asking price, and renting a house still a cheaper alternative to buying in just about every major metro area, the outlook for home prices is pretty grim.

This is a guest post by economist Keith Jurow from Real Estate Channel >

Join the conversation about this story »
MLB's 10 Best Left-Handed Starting Pitchers of All Time
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There have been hundreds of left-handed starting pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball. The question is, who is the best ever? Rating is both hard and easy. What statistical categories do you look at? Which are important and which aren’t? How much weight do you put on each category? Is adjusted career more important than peak career? Length of career is of importance. How much do I adjust for the decade they played in? All of these things, and many more, have to be seriously ...

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There have been hundreds of left-handed starting pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball.

The question is, who is the best ever?

Rating is both hard and easy.

What statistical categories do you look at? Which are important and which aren’t?

How much weight do you put on each category?

Is adjusted career more important than peak career?

Length of career is of importance.

How much do I adjust for the decade they played in?

All of these things, and many more, have to be seriously considered when rating a player.

As most great historians do, this is a mathematical approach to the rating of every left-handed starting pitcher in the history of MLB, and these are the top 10.

I’m a great mathematician, and most good historians that I’ve run across are also, but many of them simply put the wrong weights on the above mentioned areas.

With all of the above things in mind, this is what my mathematical formula tells me.

A purely scientific approach.

When this list presented itself from my formula, it also made sense as a fan of the game.

There is an interesting thing about rating left-handed relief pitchers compared to any other position in the history of MLB.

It is the fact that almost every historian ever will rate the same 10 left-handed pitchers.

You just don’t see this with any other position.

For example, you might see five or six of the same players on a top 10 all time second base list, third base list, or centerfield list.

But not the exact same 10 on any of those lists.

This makes rating left-handed relief pitchers very unique.

However, they are rarely in the same order.

No argument here. I have the same 10 names, but in my own order.

In my opinion, if we polled the 100 most respected baseball historians in North America, here’s what the top 10 left-handed starting pitcher list would look like:

1.Lefty Grove (1930s)

2. Sandy Koufax (1960s)

3. Warren Spahn (1950s)

4. Randy Johnson (2000s)

5. Carl Hubbell (1930s)

6. Steve Carlton (1970s)

7. Whitey Ford (1950s)

8. Eddie Plank (1900s)

9. Hal Newhouser (1940s)

10. Rube Waddell (1900s)

That’s more or less what the list would look like. No way anyone would move more than two spots from where they are shown above, I can almost guarantee you.

Now my list is close, and the same 10 names, as most would have these 10.

I have Spahn down in the eight spot, down five spots from where we’re used to seeing him.

Why?

Here’s the simplified answer: When I compare Warren Spahn’s numbers to his peer from the 1950s, Whitey Ford, I find that Ford has better numbers.

For example, if I look at ERA, ERA+, W%+, H/9, SHO/40, and K/BB, I find that Spahn isn’t better than Ford in any of those categories.

Those are six statistical categories that most historians agree are extremely important stats for a starting pitcher, and Spahn isn’t better than Ford in any of them.

My point is, Ford was a higher caliber starting pitcher than Spahn.

Of course, caliber is only part of the equation and at the end of the day, I have Spahn rated higher than Ford.

This is mainly because Spahn had a longer career than Ford and it puts Spahn ahead of Ford by the time the rating is finalized, as it should.

It’s why I don’t think Spahn should be as high as we usually see him on these lists. But it’s obviously hard to argue he was better. He just happened to play longer.

Put enough weight on the length of career and you could call him the best left-handed relief pitcher ever. I put enough weight on length of career to call him better than Whitey Ford.

Now, one that I have overrated compared to most historians is Eddie Plank. Plank will usually show up around the eight spot on historians' lists and I have him in the four spot.

I think the main reason for the underrating by most historians is the fact that they over-adjust for the fact that he pitched in the pitcher friendly decade of the 1900s.

Of course, they might say that I don’t adjust enough.

I just wanted to bring up the two that I’m the most far off on when compared to most historians. Again, the same 10 are almost always rated and I rate the same 10 in a different order.

Here is the order they should be in, according to my mathematical and scientific formula.

An Explanation of the Stats

The statistics used will be Games Pitched, Games Started, Innings Pitched, ERA, ERA+, W, W%+, H/9 (OBA), WHIP (OOB%), SHO, SHO/40 (per 40 games started), Ks, and K/BB (ratio). I will also letter-grade their length of career adjusted per their decade.

First, I will include their raw career numbers.

Second, I will include their adjusted career numbers, if they had a long career (which most have).

Adjusted career is this: Let’s take Randy Johnson, for example. Johnson has had a long career. So in order to find his real numbers, I have to exclude some late seasons during his career to find the numbers that he really carried during his career, since he’s pitched past his prime.

With Johnson, I’d exclude his 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009 seasons. That is his adjusted career. If I don’t list an adjusted career under a player’s raw career numbers, then it means they didn’t play long enough to adjust or it means they didn’t have any bad seasons late in their career.

Third, I will include peak career numbers. Many like short peaks, not me. I include the best seasons equaling at least 200 games for a peak. It takes away the possibility of a pitcher having one or two lucky seasons. The 200-game peak will let us know how good the pitcher was at his best.

Note: W%+ is a statistic that I have invented. It takes the team's W% into account. It is very complicated as different weights are applied to seasons depending on how many games and innings a pitcher accumulated during a single season. Having said that, here’s the simple version.

If a starting pitcher has a career .500 W% during the 2000s and that pitcher pitched for the Yankees, .500 is not good. But, if that pitcher pitched for the Royals, then .500 is good. This is the reasoning behind W%+. It is to W% what ERA is to ERA+. It’s not foolproof, but neither is ERA+, just another piece of the puzzle and far, far more important than raw W%.

By the way, my invented W%+ uses a linear equation, not a power equation. I’m not trying to over inflate the numbers, like ERA+, which uses a power equation. OPS+ uses a linear equation, like my W%+ does. Like OPS+ and ERA+, 100 is the normal. Anything over 100 is good and anything under 100 is bad, like OPS+ and ERA

The Top 10

10. Whitey Ford (1950s)

Career Length Grade: B

Raw Career: 498 G, 438 GS, 3,170.1 IP, 2.75 ERA, 133 ERA+, 236 W, 115 W%+, 7.9 H/9, 1.22 WHIP, 45 SHO, 4.1 SHO/40, 1,956 K, and 1.8 K/BB

Adjusted Career: 461 G, 402 GS, 2,926 IP, 2.70 ERA, 135 ERA+, 220 W, 115 W%+, 7.8 H/9, 1.22 WHIP, 43 SHO, 4.3 SHO/40, 1,794 K, and 1.7 K/BB (exclude his 1965 season)

Peak Career: 212 G, 173 GS, 1,301.2 IP, 2.37 ERA, 156 ERA+, 92 W, 116 W%+, 7.5 H/9, 1.18 WHIP, 25 SHO, 5.8 SHO/40, 802 K, and 1.8 K/BB (include his 1950, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1964, 1966, and 1967 seasons)

He’s a Hall of Fame starting pitcher that picked up the Cy Young Award during the 1961 season.

His career 133 ERA+ still remains as the 17th best ERA+ in the history of Major League Baseball for a starting pitcher.

He led the league in ERA twice during his career and by the time he was through, he posted a 2.75 career ERA, which is the best from the decade. In fact, of the four HOF starting pitchers from the 1950s, each of them has higher than a 3.05 career ERA.

He also led the League in wins three times during his career and recorded over 235 by the time he was through.

He was just a winner, plain and simple. He led the league in W% three times during his career and he had over a .550 W% during each of his 14 seasons in the league. That’s incredible. His career .690 W% still remains as the second best W% in the history of MLB for a starting pitcher.

Ford was his name, winning was his game. He helped his Yankees teams to the World Series during 11 of his first 13 seasons with them.

They won the World Series championship during six of those 11 seasons. He posted good World Series numbers, too. In the combined 11 World Series, Ford recorded a 2.71 ERA; just a tick better than his career regular season ERA.

He certainly had plenty of moments of dominance during his career, leading the league in SHO twice and posting 45 SHO by the time he was through.

What a career; what a starting pitcher.

9. Hal Newhouser (1940s)

Career Length Grade: A-

Raw Career: 488 G, 374 GS, 2,993 IP, 3.06 ERA, 130 ERA+, 8.0 H/9, 1.31 WHIP, 207 W, 107 W%+, 33 SHO, 3.5 SHO/40, 1,796 K, and 1.4 K/BB

Adjusted Career: 439 G, 337 GS, 2,718.2 IP, 2.96 ERA, 134 ERA+, 7.9 H/9, 1.31 WHIP, 192 W, 105 W%+, 32 SHO, 3.8 SHO/40, 1,695 K, and 1.5 K/BB (exclude his 1951, 1952, 1953, and 1955 seasons)

Peak Career: 227 G, 163 GS, 1,421 IP, 2.26 ERA, 167 ERA+, 7.2 H/9, 1.18 WHIP, 116 W, 118 W%+, 23 SHO, 5.6 SHO/40, 945 K, and 1.8 K/BB (include his 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1948, and 1954 seasons)

He started his Hall of Fame Major League Baseball career as an 18-year-old during the 1939 season.

Though he was young, he was good right out of the gate, but it did take him two or three seasons to turn into the dominant Hal Newhouser that we have come to know and love.

Once he really got started, he was unstoppable.

He led the league in wins during four of the five seasons from 1944-1948, winning over 20 games during those four seasons. By the time his career was through, he recorded almost 210 wins.

He led the league in H/9 during three of the five seasons from 1942-1946 and had under 7.0 H/9 during each of those three season and in ERA and ERA+ during two consecutive seasons in 1945 and 1946. He had less than a 1.95 ERA and more than a 185 ERA+ during those seasons.

He also led the league in Ks during two consecutive seasons in 1944 and 1945.

As you can see from his above league leading stats and facts, he was a dominant starting pitcher.

8. Warren Spahn (1950s)

Career Length Grade: A+

Raw Career: 750 G, 665 GS, 5,243.2 IP, 3.09 ERA, 118 ERA+, 363 W, 110 W%+, 8.3 H/9, 1.20 WHIP, 63 SHO, 3.8 SHO/40, 2,583 K, and 1.8 K/BB

Adjusted Career: 636 G, 577 GS, 4,604.2 IP, 2.94 ERA, 125 ERA+, 329 W, 112 W%+, 8.1 H/9, 1.18 WHIP, 58 SHO, 4.0 SHO/40, 2,261 K, and 1.8 K/BB (exclude his 1960, 1964, and 1965 seasons)

Peak Career: 220 G, 204 GS, 1,636.2 IP, 2.59 ERA, 140 ERA+, 126 W, 119 W%+, 7.9 H/9, 1.11 WHIP, 26 SHO, 5.1 SHO/40, 730 K, and 1.9 K/BB (include his 1947, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1962, and 1963 seasons)

He’s in the Hall of Fame and picked up the Cy Young Award during the 1957 season.

He was a dominant starting pitcher that led the league in wins seven times during his career, posting over 20 wins all seven times.

He recorded at least 20 wins during 13 of the 17 seasons from 1947-1963. He posted over 360 wins by the time his career was through.

Here are some other impressive league leading stats and facts:

He led the league in SHO four times during his career and posted over 60 by the time he was through, led in Ks during four consecutive seasons from 1949-1952 and recorded almost 2,600 Ks by the time his career was through, and led in WHIP four times during his career, in ERA three times, and in ERA+ twice during his career.

He easily has the most impressive league leading stats of any starting pitcher from the 1950s.

7. Rube Waddell (1900s)

Career Length Grade: C-

Raw Career: 407 G, 340 GS, 2,961.1 IP, 2.16 ERA, 135 ERA+, 193 W, 110 W%+, 7.5 H/9, 1.10 WHIP, 5.9 SHO/40, and 2.9 K/BB

Adjusted Career: 397 G, 338 GS, 2,928.1 IP, 2.15 ERA, 136 ERA+, 190 W, 105 W%+, 7.5 H/9, 1.10 WHIP, 5.9 SHO/40, and 2.9 K/BB (exclude his last season)

Peak Career: 238 G, 204 GS, 1,820.1 IP, 1.95 ERA, 152 ERA+, 124 W, 106 W%+, 7.2 H/9, 1.06 WHIP, 5.7 SHO/40, and 3.2 K/BB (exclude his 1899, 1901, 1906, 1907, 1909, and 1910 seasons)

His 2.16 ERA still ranks as the seventh best ERA in the history of Major League Baseball for a starting pitcher. Furthermore, his 1.10 WHIP still ranks as the 13th best WHIP in history and his 135 ERA+ still ranks as the 13th best ERA+ in history.

Also, his 7.5 H/9 still ranks as the 20th best H/9 in the history of Major League Baseball for a starting pitcher.

As you can see, that puts Waddell in the top 20 all time in four of the most important starting pitcher stats in history.

It’s why he’s in the HOF and belongs on this list, even with a slightly below average length of career.

He led the league in Ks for six consecutive seasons from 1902-1907; and by the time his career was through, he had also led the League in ERA+ three times, ERA twice, and H/9 twice.

He was dominant. I’ll let this legendary Tommy Leach quote help explain it.

“Waddell was an overgrown boy. It was a riot. I remember one time he called the outfield in and pitched an inning without any outfielders…somebody in the stands threw an egg at him and hit him right on top of the head. You couldn’t faze that guy, though…So he showed them how good he was by calling in the outfield and striking out the side. I used to stand there at third base and watch him throw. I wasn’t playing, I was watching! “How can a man throw that hard?” I used to wonder to myself. He had a terrific curveball, too, and great control."

I’m not saying he’s better than Roger Clemens from the 1990s, but I bet Clemens never called the outfield in and struck out the side. Gee, that would make the highlights on the MLB network, huh?

6. Steve Carlton (1970s)

Career Length Grade: A

Raw Career: 741 G, 709 GS, 5,217.1 IP, 3.22 ERA, 115 ERA+, 329 W, 109 W%+, 8.1 H/9, 1.25 WHIP, 55 SHO, 3.1 SHO/40, and 2.3 K/BB

Adjusted Career: 640 G, 622 GS, 4,650.1 IP, 3.02 ERA, 122 ERA+, 301 W, 111 W%+, 7.9 H/9, 1.22 WHIP, 55 SHO, 3.5 SHO/40, and 2.4 K/BB (exclude his 1984, 1986, 1987, and 1988 seasons)

Peak Career: 219 G, 206 GS, 1,631.3 IP, 2.38 ERA, 158 ERA+, 120 W, 128 W%+, 7.3 H/9, 1.11 WHIP, 19 SHO, 3.7 SHO/40, and 2.9 K/BB (include his 1965, 1969, 1972, 1977, 1978, 1980, and 1981 seasons)

He ended his career with over 4,135 Ks and that still ranks fourth all time in the history of Major League Baseball. He led the league in Ks five times by the time his career was through.

While collecting four Cy Young awards during his career, he also led the league in wins four times, ERA+ twice, and K/BB twice. He recorded 55 SHO and almost 330 wins during his career.

He was an easy pick for the Hall of Fame.

There are eight HOF starting pitchers from the 1970s, but Carlton, Palmer, and Seaver really separate themselves from the other five HOFers from the decade.

It’s why I’m keeping this Carlton write-up short and sweet. He was the real deal and we all know it.

5. Carl Hubbell (1930s)

Career Length Grade: B

Raw Career: 535 G, 431 GS, 3,590.1 IP, 2.98 ERA, 130 ERA+, 8.7 H/9, 1.17 WHIP, 253 W, 114 W%+, 36 SHO, 3.3 SHO/40, 1,677 K, and 2.3 K/BB

Adjusted Career: 442 G, 351 GS, 2,988.2 IP, 2.80 ERA, 139 ERA+, 8.5 H/9, 1.13 WHIP, 216 W, 112 W%+, 33 SHO, 3.8 SHO/40, 1,424 K, and 2.6 K/BB (exclude his last four seasons)

Peak Career: 205 G, 151 GS, 1,363.2 IP, 2.25 ERA, 164 ERA+, 8.0 H/9, 1.04 WHIP, 99 W, 119 W%+, 18 SHO, 4.7 SHO/40, 596 K, and 2.9 K/BB (include his 1932, 1933, 1934, 1936, and 1939 seasons)

He was a very nice man that arguably ended up having the best screwball the game has ever seen. He also had unbelievable control.

He’s in the Hall of Fame and here’s one of those HOF type of stories. It happened during the 1934 All-Star game.

He struck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Joe Cronin. He struck all five of them out consecutively. Ruth, Gehrig, and Foxx are arguably the three best hitters that the game has ever seen, period. I suppose that was a HOF moment there.

Hubbell led the league in a lot of areas during his career and I want to cover some of those areas.

He led the League in WHIP during six of the eight seasons from 1931-1938, in K/BB during five of the seven seasons from 1932-1938, in wins during three of the five seasons from 1933-1937 and he won over 20 games during all five of those consecutive seasons. He also led the league in ERA during three of the four seasons from 1933-1936.

He helped his teams to the World Series three times during his career and his team won the World Series during the 1933 season. In the combined three World Series, Hubbell posted a 1.79 ERA.

He led the League in ERA+ during three of the four seasons from 1933-1936, in H/9 three times during his career, in W% during two consecutive seasons in 1936 and 1937 and posted over a .730 W% each of those two seasons. In fact, he recorded over a .535 W% during each of his first 12 seasons in MLB and he posted over a .535 W% during 14 of the 16 seasons during his career.

4. Eddie Plank (1900s)

Career Length Grade: A

Raw Career: 623 G, 529 GS, 4,495.2 IP, 2.35 ERA, 122 ERA+, 326 W, 109 W%+, 7.9 H/9, 1.12 WHIP, 5.2 SHO/40, and 2.1 K/BB

Adjusted Career: 548 G, 477 GS, 4,067.2 IP, 2.31 ERA, 125 ERA+, 293 W, 110 W%+, 7.9 H/9, 1.12 WHIP, 4.9 SHO/40, and 2.0 K/BB (exclude his 1913 and 1914 seasons)

Peak Career: 216 G, 178 GS, 1,517 IP, 2.09 ERA, 141 ERA+, 117 W, 120 W%+, 7.8 H/9, 1.12 WHIP, 5.3 SHO/40, and 2.0 K/BB (include his 1903, 1909, 1911, 1912, 1915, and 1917)

His 2.35 ERA still remains as the 15th best ERA in the history of Major League Baseball for a starting pitcher.

He had over a .565 W% during each of his first seven seasons and led the league in SHO twice.

He won over 325 games and recorded almost 70 SHO by the time his career was through.

He’s in the Hall of Fame and he still arguably remains one of the 20 best starting pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball, righty or lefty.

Plank gets this spot over Hubbell because Plank had a longer career.

Plank was great, don’t get me wrong. He is a superb starting pitcher compared to most. But let’s not act like he was a higher caliber starting pitcher than Hubbell.

3. Sandy Koufax (1960s)

Career Length Grade: C

Raw Career: 397 G, 314 GS, 2,324.1 IP, 2.76 ERA, 131 ERA+, 165 W, 115 W%+, 6.8 H/9, 1.11 WHIP, 40 SHO, 5.1 SHO/40, 2,396 K, and 2.9 K/BB

Peak Career: 235 G, 216 GS, 1,674.1 IP, 2.21 ERA, 155 ERA+, 131 W, 124 W%+, 6.5 H/9, 0.98 WHIP, 37 SHO, 6.9 SHO/40, 1,743 K, and 4.0 K/BB (exclude his 1956-1960 seasons)

He started pitching in Major League Baseball as a teenager during the 1955 season. He stopped pitching at the age of 30 because arthritis made his arm feel like it was going to fall right off of his body after each start.

The difference between Koufax and his peers from the 1960s, Bob Gibson and Juan Marichal, is purely academic. In my mind, Koufax was actually a slightly higher caliber pitcher, but Gibson and Marichal are rated better because of their longer careers. It’s just the way it works out.

Koufax is in the Hall of Fame, of course. He won the Cy Young award during three of the last four seasons of his career. It’s why people couldn’t believe he stopped pitching when he did because it seemed he was getting better and better every year.

His career 6.8 H/9 still remains as the second best H/9 in the history of MLB for a starting pitcher. In fact, he led the league in H/9 for five consecutive seasons from 1961-1965.

His career 1.11 WHIP still remains as the 16th best WHIP in the history of MLB for a starting pitcher, and he led the league in WHIP for four consecutive seasons from 1962-1965.

He led the league in ERA during each of his last five seasons, in Ks during four of his last six seasons, and in wins during three of his last four seasons. In fact, he recorded at least 25 wins during each of those three seasons that he led the league.

He led the league in K/BB during three of the five seasons from 1961-1965, in SHO during three of his last four seasons in, and in W% twice during his career. He also led the league in ERA+ during two of his last three seasons.

Koufax helped lead his teams to the World Series four times, winning the championship three times. During those four seasons, he ended up with a 0.95 ERA, 5.7 H/9, 0.83 WHIP, and 5.6 K/BB.

2. Lefty Grove (1930s)

Career Length Grade: A

Raw Career: 616 G, 457 GS, 3,940.2 IP, 3.06 ERA, 148 ERA+, 8.8 H/9, 1.28 WHIP, 300 W, 118 W%+, 35 SHO, 3.1 SHO/40, 2,266 K, and 1.9 K/BB

Adjusted Career: 551 G, 403 GS, 3,544 IP, 2.86 ERA, 158 ERA+, 8.6 H/9, 1.26 WHIP, 278 W, 119 W%+, 34 SHO, 3.4 SHO/40, 2,107 K, and 2.0 K/BB (exclude his 1934, 1940, and 1941 seasons)

Peak Career: 229 G, 178 GS, 1,555 IP, 2.52 ERA, 186 ERA+, 8.3 H/9, 1.19 WHIP, 124 W, 122 W%+, 17 SHO, 3.8 SHO/40, 910 K. and 2.2 K/BB (include his 1926, 1930, 1931, 1935, 1936, and 1939 seasons)

His career 148 ERA+ still remains as the second best ERA+ in the history of Major League Baseball for a starting pitcher. He led the league in ERA+ nine times during his Hall of Fame career.

He also led the league in ERA nine times during his career and helped his Philadelphia A’s to the World Series three times, capturing the World Series championship twice. During those combined three World Series, he posted a 1.75 ERA.

He led the league in K/BB eight times during his career, in Ks during each of his first seven seasons in MLB, and in WHIP during five of the first seven seasons of the 1930s, from 1930-1936.

He led the league in four seasons from 1928-1933, winning over 20 games during each of those four seasons. In fact, he recorded at least 20 wins during eight seasons from 1927-1935 and finished his career with 300 wins.

He led the league in W% five times during his career and posted a .680 career W%. It is the highest career W% in the history of MLB of any pitcher that has won at least 300 games.

He also led the league in SHO three times during his career and recorded 35 SHO by the time he was through.

As you can see from his above league leading stats, he was just a dominant pitcher during his era.

1. Randy Johnson (2000s)

Career Length Grade: A (so far)

Raw Career: 618 G, 603 GS, 4,135.1 IP, 3.29 ERA, 136 ERA+, 124 W%+, 7.3 H/9, 1.17 WHIP, 2.5 SHO/40, and 3.3 K/BB

Adjusted Career: 481 G, 471 GS, 3,309.5 IP, 3.04 ERA, 147 ERA+, 130 W%+, 6.9 H/9, 1.16 WHIP, 3.1 SHO/40, and 3.3 K/BB (exclude his 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009 seasons)

Peak Career: 200 G, 198 GS, 1,457.1 IP, 2.45 ERA, 190 ERA+, 137 W%+, 6.8 H/9, 1.04 WHIP, 3.2 SHO/40 and 4.7 K/BB (include his 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 seasons)

His peak career is off the charts, just look at it again. Wow.

I'll admit that I've never been a Johnson fan.

I never got over that Yankee/reporter fiasco when he signed in New York. I'm probably being unfairly hard on the guy. Funny, the things that stick with you.

Like him or not, he's the best lefty of all time.

His 136 ERA+ is 12th all time in the history of Major League Baseball for a starting pitcher. The fact that he has put up these numbers during the single worst era in the history of Major League Baseball for starting pitcher numbers makes it even all the more impressive.

He hasn't pitched well during his last couple of seasons and he has made it clear that he is retired and will not pitch in 2010. We’ll see.

The Honorable Mentions

Here are the ten left-handed starting pitchers that just missed the top 10 for various reasons. I will list them in order from oldest to newest:

Wilbur Cooper (1910s)

Hippo Vaughn (1910s)

Eppa Rixey (1920s)

Billy Pierce (1950s)

Vida Blue (1970s)

Jerry Koosman (1970s)

Tommy John (1980s)

Frank Tanana (1980s)

Tom Glavine (1990s)

Johan Santana (2000s)

The 10 Highest Caliber Left-Handed Starting Pitchers of All Time

I consider this to be the Smoky Joe Wood section. Who’s the best left-handed pitcher, putting some other things aside that affect a starting pitchers overall rating? So, these aren’t the best careers, but the best pitchers.

Like Smoky Joe Wood in the 1910s, he was a starting pitcher that many historians feel is one of the 10 highest caliber starting pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball. But with his short overall career, he’s never rated that high when you see historians rate starting pitchers because they are almost always rating the best careers.

Don’t get me wrong, caliber is part of historians formula too, it’s just a smaller part of the overall equation; and smaller than it should be, if you ask me, but that’s another article.

Smoky Joe Wood’s overall rating and career value is lower because of his short career and some other factors. But if a highest caliber list were made, Smoky Joe Wood would appear on many historians all time top 10 lists.

I hope that makes sense. This is basically what I’m doing here with this list.

This list is the highest caliber left-handed starting pitchers. Here it is.

10. Hal Newhouser (1940s)

9. Steve Carlton (1970s)

8. Eddie Plank (1900s)

7. Whitey Ford (1950s)

6. Carl Hubbell (1930s)

5. Lefty Grove (1930s)

4. Rube Waddell (1900s)

3. Johan Santana (2000s)

2. Sandy Koufax (1960s)

1. Randy Johnson (2000s)

The Caliber Honorable Mentions (listed in order from oldest to newest):

Ed Morris (1880s)

Noodles Hahn (1900s)

Nap Rucker (1910s)

Reb Russell (1910s)

Hippo Vaughn (1910s)

Harry Brecheen (1940s)

Warren Spahn (1950s)

Vida Blue (1970s)

Ron Guidry (1980s)

John Tudor (1980s)

There you go, the best left-handed starting pitchers of all time, the 10 best careers, and the 10 highest caliber left-handed starting pitchers.
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Progressive Canada is slipping away | Colin Horgan
[Guardian] (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk)
Canada has decided to make maternal health in developing nations a priority – but why is abortion funding not included?An interesting statistic was released last week in Canada: According to the Sex Information and Education Council, the nation's teenage birth and abortion rate fell 36.9% between 1996 and 2006. The lead researcher of the report, Alexander McKay, told the Globe and Mail that the decline reflected Canada's attitude toward the issue – that the more societies have an "accepting ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en-gb
Canada has decided to make maternal health in developing nations a priority – but why is abortion funding not included?

An interesting statistic was released last week in Canada: According to the Sex Information and Education Council, the nation's teenage birth and abortion rate fell 36.9% between 1996 and 2006. The lead researcher of the report, Alexander McKay, told the Globe and Mail that the decline reflected Canada's attitude toward the issue – that the more societies have an "accepting attitude" to teenage pregnancy, the less of it one finds. As for abortion, McKay said: "It's not that young women are viewing abortion as a form of birth control. Rather they do view it as an acceptable – although regrettable – way of dealing with an unwanted pregnancy when it occurs."

As the host government for the upcoming G8 and G20 meetings near the end of June in Ontario, Stephen Harper's Conservative party has planned to make funding for maternal health in developing nations a priority topic. However, that discussion will take place with the knowledge that Canada's financial contribution to family planning programmes will not include funding for abortions. That is to say, the Tories are not about to allow women from developing nations the same kind choice that women in Canada have. Why not?

In late April, when he was asked how the federal Liberal party might try to shake itself from its current stagnant position in the polls, Ekos Research pollster Frank Graves made some interesting remarks to Lawrence Martin of the Globe and Mail. Graves said that he'd told the Liberals to:

"Invoke a culture war. Cosmopolitanism versus parochialism, secularism versus moralism, Obama versus Palin, tolerance versus racism and homophobia, democracy versus autocracy. If the cranky old men in Alberta don't like it, too bad. Go south and vote for Palin."

The cranky (not so old) men didn't like it. Graves appeared on the CBC's Power & Politics to explain his quote and debated with former Tory spokesman Kory Teneycke, who called his comments "offensive". A brief national media debate followed, centered on the notion of a Canadian "culture war" – one that might pit Canuck versus Canuck on the nation's ideological battleground – as if it were an unheard-of possibility.

The thing is, Graves's comments, while somewhat incendiary, trampled upon a silent rift in Canadian society – one that Harper is currently exploiting: the rise of social conservatism in a nation that has historically viewed itself as socially progressive.

Harper's life is no stranger to the influence of faith-based social conservatism and the perceived threat of moral relativism. After all, his political career began under the watch of the "Calgary School" as an early adviser to the now-defunct Reform party that was born in the University of Calgary's political science department. His direct mentor in those early years was Preston Manning, founder of the Reform party and son of former Alberta premier and evangelical radio host (simultaneously), Ernest Manning.

In 2003, when Harper was still the leader of the Canadian Alliance party (a successor to the Reform party), he gave a speech to British thinktank Civitas. He said:

"Rebalancing the conservative agenda will require careful political judgment. First, the issues must be chosen carefully. For example, the social conservative issues we choose should not be denominational, but should unite social conservatives of different denominations and even different faiths."

For the most part, Harper's successive minority governments have followed this train of thought. Some have alleged that Harper, who "found" religion while in Calgary, is at the heart of a national cabal of evangelicals pushing to reinstate Canada as a Christian nation that must fulfill its destiny as laid out in its national motto ("He shall have dominion also from sea to sea," from Psalm 72:8-9) before the End Times. But the fact is that he is probably much more cerebral, critical, and calculating than that.

To that effect, many of Harper's more contentious social policy moves have been designed to evoke conservative morality rather than religiosity. Whether it has been the party's stance on youth crime, raising the age of sexual consent, or its persistent attempts to close Vancouver's safe drug injection programme, Insite, the Harper government has a record of presenting Canadians not with specifically faith-based policy, but moral wedge issues.

What this means for the average Canadian is that, slowly but surely, the Conservative party is changing the framework of the national debate. Harper's Tories are picking their issues carefully, and appealing to those centre-right voters who have historically sided with the Liberals. The culture war that Graves alluded to is effectively already under way: the progressive Canada that dominated the latter half of the 20th century – the one that legalised the pill, sodomy, abortion, and gay marriage – is changing, buried incrementally by calculated socially conservative policies.

While the press debated Graves's comments, the question on maternal health funding was playing out in parliament. The opposition Liberals half-heartedly pressed the Tories on the abortion funding, but so lax was their willingness to debate the issue, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff's motion on the topic died thanks to the absence of 13 of his own party members. This was partly due to party disorganisation, but it implies an unwillingness to engage in the debate.

Since his government's decision not to fund legal abortions overseas, Harper has been adamant that he had no desire to re-open the debate on abortions in Canada, saying he would "oppose" such a move. In doing so, Harper has steered clear of a faith-based domestic political landmine, relegating it to the realm of foreign policy, and effectively out of the minds of most Canadians. At the same time, he has given the suggestion of landing on the righteous side of a religiously charged debate, while keeping himself at arm's length. This way, Harper doesn't alienate himself from the average Canadian – particularly the centre-right voters. It is a repeated, adept, but not at all secretive, pattern of finding and exploiting those secular issues that strike at the heart of a silently religious nation.

It all means that the decision not to allow funding for safe abortions in developing nations most likely has very little to do with the security and health of the approximately 70,000 women who die annually during unsafe ones. Instead, it has everything to do with the Conservative party's own domestic political gains, and pandering to a lucrative – and growing – conservative base. It's decidedly cynical, but it seems to have worked. A recent poll found that, though 58% of Canadians said they were against the government's decision, it was those in favour of the move who held the biggest ever pro-life rally on Parliament Hill to celebrate it.
- Canada
- Abortion
- Women
Colin Horgan

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

The future (and past) of one Earl Clark

[NBA Basketball] (Bright Side Of The Sun)

via www.nba.com My father and I were talking on Sunday after the Suns season ended, musing on the past season and the future ahead of our favorite team. While neither of us regretted anything from this past season, we both concurred that it would be interesting to see the makeup of the team next year. Would we still have Amar'e? Would we be able to make it any farther with essentially the same team? Accounting for growth and the development of our bench, we said that yes, we would be able to m ...

[details] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

via www.nba.com

My father and I were talking on Sunday after the Suns season ended, musing on the past season and the future ahead of our favorite team. While neither of us regretted anything from this past season, we both concurred that it would be interesting to see the makeup of the team next year. Would we still have Amar'e? Would we be able to make it any farther with essentially the same team? Accounting for growth and the development of our bench, we said that yes, we would be able to make it farther. Dragic is amazing and will continue to be (more) astounding each season. Lopez can certainly keep developing his consistency and touch, and hopefully be healthy and rolling at the end of the season. The rest of the bench will do their thing. But then we got onto the subject of Earl Clark. We want to see Clark make a massive jump like Dragic and Lopez did in their second season, especially if Amar'e ends up leaving for ‘greener' pastures. But what do we know, need and want out of Earl Clark?

Earl Clark pre-Suns: (this is real long, so if you want to skip this and the recap of last season and go straight to my opinion of the future, feel free)

Earl Clark had your prototypical top prospect high school career. A four year starter, Clark managed to rack up 1,245 career points at Rahway High School in Rahway New Jersey, averaging 25.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, and 5 assists his senior year. Under his leadership the school was able to achieve its first championship in 10 years and it's first ever Mountain Valley Conference Title - the team was an impressive 47-19 while Clark started. The accolades naturally poured in for Clark, first a 2006 McDonald's All-American selection, Star-Ledger Senior of the Year in New Jersey, an all-state selection, and the honor of being the top ranked New Jersey recruit as well as no. 15 in the nation. Eventually, the hot prospect with the world at his fingertips chose to attend the University of Louisville and learn from legendary coach Rick Pitino, passing up Villanova among others.

Coming out of high school, scouts and coaches were drooling about Earl Clark's skill set and his size. He was touted as being an incredible ball handler, passer, and defender for a player of his size, only lacking the ability to bring all of his considerable talents and athletic ability to bear at the same time. Add to this the fact that Clark was and is built perfectly for his foreseen role as a potential versatile 3 position player - 6'9, maybe 6'10, long arms, sturdy frame, room to and muscle but still the agility to play with guards and defend multiple positions. Even Clark began to buy into his seemingly irrefutable versatilityDespite the optimistic love being thrown his way, Clark did not answer his fans with strong play immediately. In an interview with Draft Express, Clark talked about what his role might be in college:

DraftExpress: At 6'9, 6'10 and with the skill package that you have, you will have the opportunity to play three or four positions in college. What position do you think they'll stick you at next year at Louisville?

Clark: Mostly the two and the three. Coach P runs three guards, so I'll be running the break. I'm going to be energized out there.

DraftExpress: Is there any one position in particular that you'd prefer to play?

Clark: Nah, I like floating around. I like playing every position, running down the court playing this position and that position. It's fun for me, so it really don't matter.

DraftExpress: Being your height, most coaches would immediately put you under the basket as a post player. How did you develop such guard skills while being the size of a post player?

Clark: I always liked to dribble. There were some days when I would go to the park and I wouldn't even shoot. I would just dribble around and try to cross people up in the park. It was just something that I always did.

Despite the seeming irrefutable nature of his versatility and skill and potential, Clark did not show immediate returns on his tremendous future. In games such as the McDonald's All-Americans, the Roundball classic, and eventually the first half of his freshman season, Clark did not have a good showing - flashes of his advertised guard-like skills and versatility were seen, but he never seemed to put it together. Eventually, however Clark seemed to understand that his role was not to be the reincarnation of Magic Johnson, but instead it was to use his be consistent with his game and utilize his incredible athleticism to contribute on the break, the boards, and on defense. While in the beginning an uncomfortable Clark would attempt to make something happen every time he touched the ball, at the end of the season, especially the last 4 games when he moved into the starting lineup, Clark seemed to be able to use his gifts to better fit into a team system. The length allowed him to reach near double digit boards consistently, and he learned to score his baskets around the rim, taking only the rare open 3, leading to a general increase in his efficiency. This new incarnation of Clark still needed polish - ball handling, decision making, shooting mechanics - everything that he is still developing. In the tournament, he began well, providing energy and the spark that led to a blowout of Stanford, though he would follow it up with a 1 of 5 performance in the next game. Clark ended the year as a prospect mostly made of potential - he could shoot as long as he was set and unpressured, otherwise he would tend to fade away and lose consistency, he had no post game to speak of, he boarded well, needed more control when dribbling, and though his defense was good and aggressive it needed more attentiveness and intelligence with regards to fakes, he still showed he ability to be a monster on the defensive end.

Clark's sophomore season began much smoother, as Clark carried his newfound confidence and role into a starting role his sophomore year. He showed a marked improvement in post play on both ends of the ball, a newfound strength that allowed him to rebound and defend with new tenacity, as well as be more effective on the offensive boards and his little turnaround jumper. He showcased a physique ready for the NBA, and Coach Pitino had definitely helped him understand how to use his athleticism to improve in all assets of the game. Although Clark's game slumped through most of March, he was still able to average an improved 11.1 ppg, and an impressive 8.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks, good for 7th and 4th in Big East ranks. The holes in Clark's game seemed to be patching themselves up, as Clark increased in experience on the defensive end, and his proficiency at finishing in the open court and off of the drives that Clark was able to generate off his tremendous first step.

Clark's Junior year saw a mixed bag of improvement. On one hand, his 3 point shooting saw a marginal increase (although they were not outstanding by any measure) and assists rose, but every other statistic and measure decreased in efficiency. Clark's athleticism and ball handling remained, although he still suffered from some Barbosa-eque lack of control on drives. This was the year that issues and doubts arose regarding Clark's motivation, focus, and toughness. Some scouts believed and still believe that Clark is lacking in the necessary focus and drive to truly live up to his massive potential. A great deal of this doubt comes from the fact that he was unable to offset his lack of offensive efficiency with an ability to get fouled - Clark shot 5.3 jump shots a game, but was only fouled 9.3% of possessions, and was far below the average FG% in almost every type of shot. Clark consistently elevated his play however in each NCAA tournament, as can be seen here:

Clark's basic statistics for the season are as follows:

Season Averages
SEASON	TEAM	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	TO	A/T	STL	BLK	PF	FG%	FT%	3P%	PPS
2006-2007	LOU	16.0	5.9	3.8	.4	.8	.50	.7	.4	1.2	.480	.597	.370	1.28
2007-2008	LOU	28.5	11.1	8.1	1.4	2.3	.60	1.0	1.7	1.8	.476	.654	.227	1.27
2008-2009	LOU	34.3	14.2	8.7	3.2	3.2	1.00	1.0	1.4	1.9	.457	.647	.326	1.19

Two things stand out to me. First is the fact that Clark needs to lower the turnover levels when he gets into the NBA, as his assist to TO ratio was extremely poor in college. Clark also had good totals across the board, but one can see that as his usage increased (not only his minutes, but his role in the Louisville offense), his FG% and 3pt% dropped significantly. Clark is obviously not ready to be the focal point of an offense yet, as his game is still developing and we do not want to force him into a situation ala Trevor Ariza in which his role outweighs his ability.

When the Phoenix Suns decided to draft Earl Clark with the 14th pick of the 2009 draft, reaction was mixed. Some wanted the Suns to draft a point guard, even Terrence Williams, Clarks Louisville teammate (We know how that worked out, thankfully). Other players, ones that received more playing time this year were also in contention, such as DeJuan Blair or James Johnson. However, the Suns coveted Earl’s incredible athleticism and potential to be a defensive monster and offensively versatile player, Marion 2.0 or our version of Lamar Odom (hopefully more consistent however). Indeed, if Clark could reach Odom level it would have to be considered a success, although I believe defensively he has a larger upside. From here we have to move on to Earl Clark’s fledgling career with the Phoenix Suns.

Rookie Year

Basic averages:

Season	Team	G	GS	FG	FGA	FG%	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
09-10	PHX	51	0	5.3	14.2	0.371	.2	.5	0.400	2.4	3.4	0.722	1.7	4.1	5.8	2.0	.7	1.2	2.2	2.3	13.2

Per 36 min:

Season	Team	G	GS	MPG	FG	FGA	FG%	3PA	3PM	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
09-10	PHX	51	0	7.5	1.1	3.0	0.371	.0	.1	0.400	.5	.7	0.722	0.4	0.9	1.2	0.4	0.1	0.2	0.4	0.5	2.7

Some assorted advanced stats:

True shooting: 42%, eFG%: 37.7%, ORB%: 5.6, DRB%: 12.3, TOV%: 12.1, USG%: 21.9, ORtg: 89, DRtg: 111 (for comparison, Louis Amundson, who is one of the players that Clark will be competing for time against and is a one of our better rebounders has an TS% of .562, eFG% of .551, ORB% and DRB% of 13.1 and 19.9, respectively, and a ORtg and DRtg of 113 and 107)

Statistically, Earl was not good. .4 assists to .4 turnovers is terrible. 3 points on 3 shots is equally bad. The shooting percentages, both normal and advanced were very very low. He did have marginal rebounding and fairly good steal/block/defense numbers, but overall Clark had a tough season. We could all probably have guessed these numbers based on just what we saw and felt about Clark during the regular season – inefficient offensively and only flashes of the oh-so-valuable defense. However, the fact of the matter is that he only got seven and a half minutes a game, and they were very inconsistent minutes at that. Spotty minutes and use primarily in garbage time hampered his use and probably contributed to the fact that he never really got going. The thing that struck me about his time on the court with the Suns that it was rarely meaningful, and when Clark got on the court he seemed to revert to the mode that he was in during his freshman year at Louisville – forcing things to try to make things happen and impress coaches enough to get playing time. He has said it himself - Clark in one November interview:

But, you know, with rookies its one or two mistakes and you’re out of the game

In one sense, he was the anti-Dragic, when pressured and uncomfortable Clark would try to take over a game, as opposed to taking himself out of it. Neither approach is effective, but I am optimistic due to the fact that our coaching staff is adept at getting the best out of players such as Lopez and Dragic and hopefully Clark, and considering that Clark has already been through this process and worked himself out of it in Louisville. There were moments in Clark's campaign that showed us what he could do - a 6-6 FG game against Minnesota, good defense in a 4th quarter against Dirk Nowitzki, etc. However, I think that we cannot really look at Clark's rookie year playing time with the Suns for true meaning. Instead we must look to his Coaches, practice, and work ethic, and for the most part all of these things have been positive.

From every report that I have been able to find, Clark has been working extremely hard in practice, putting in extra work and working at improving his game and competing with his more established counterparts. He seems to realize that he needs to work and get better, and even that any playing time that he might earn will be earned on the back of hardnosed hustle, defense, and rebounding: In an interview with reporters asking him about his progress through the season and in practice:

Q. What is going to get you on the court?

Clark: Defense and Rebounding

Q. Do you feel that you will be able to pride yourself on defense and playing as a hybrid forward?

Clark: If that’s what I need to do to get out there, that’s what I’ll do.

Clark obviously is hungry to play and frustrated that he is not playing, however he is turning that frustration into hard work and motivation to do better and get better (also from the interview quoted above). All of his coaches are encouraged with his progress to date. Gentry is happy to see a young player practicing hard, wanting more time but still able to learn from his all-star and more experienced teammates. To use another of SP's quotes, Gentry has stated that:

He's just got to get a feel for the pro game. He's still a young kid. He works really hard and he's doing a good job. We've got to decide where we can play him. Is he going to be a three (small forward) or is he going to try and be a four (power forward). And there's just playing time. Everybody looks at Goran (Dragic) now but last year Goran struggled when he got to get out there some. We've got to try and find minutes for Earl to stick him out there some and I think he'll be fine.

Even Igor Kokoskov (who as I understand it is one of the coaches with more responsibility to work with youngsters such as Dragic and Clark) was optimistic about Clark’s role on the team and in practice, saying that he was focused and putting in the extra work, but just learning to adjust to the new burden of an NBA season and the pressure, fame, and responsibility that comes with it. The impact of practice and being part of an NBA team, working with them all day cannot be underestimated, and by all accounts Clark is contributing and working hard so that when the coach call his name he will be ready. As our own Phx Stan said about Clark and practice:

The key guys I think for Earl are going to be Lou and Jared. He will playing with and against those guys a lot in practice. Each brings a lot more effort and heart than Clark might be used to but neither has his talent or potential. He certainly stands to learn a lot from being around those guys.

Finally, there were also two other times in which we could have witnessed Clark playing - summer league and his 3 game stint in the D League. In the Summer League, Clark dominated the first game, before having a relatively mediocre showing in all areas, though his rebounding was strong. Mark Lisboa had a good take on the inconclusive summer league:

For me, the jury is way out on Clark... Aside from his first game, when Clark posted a double-double, he didn't do much to distinguish himself. To be honest, I don't read too much into this... He did however demonstrate why the Suns took him in the first round. He's capable of: hitting from outside, driving to the basket, bringing the ball up, getting his fair share of rebounds, defending multiple positions. He has a lot going for him.

Midseason, Clark was also sent to the D League in order to expose him to some more consistent playing time, as the main option. While in Iowa, Earl shot fifty percent and managed 20.7 points, 9 rebounds, and 1 block in about 34 minutes, include 2 double-doubles. All of the Suns staff was optimistic about the showing and made it known that it was by no means a knock upon Clark that he was ‘sent down', merely that this was a chance to get Earl some more minutes of competitive ball. Both Summer League and D League have mostly shown us what we already know about Clark - he rebounds and can defend well, but needs more polish in him composure and on the offensive end.

The future Earl Clark:

I know that all Suns fans worth their salt of course want Clark to make a sophomore jump akin to the ones that Robin and Goran had, however, I think that we can look at a few certain things that he needs to improve. The first and most glaring thing for him to improve is his mental approach to the game. We do not need Earl to leave the bench attempting to beat the world, we need a consistent, athletic defensive and rebounding presence from the 3/4 spot. To this end, I think that he needs to stabilize his shooting and shot selection, and focus on using his athleticism, quick second and third jumps to rebound, and his size, speed, and lateral quickness in order to defend. On offense, I feel that he should focus on his drives and making consistent use of his agility, body control, and size to go to the rim. This should earn him consistent minutes with the second team, as the added defense, especially on switches and the pick and roll should help the already burgeoning Bench D, while another penetrator to go with all of the shooters could not got amiss.

The key to his play in the future, I think lies in him getting consistent minutes. This will allow him to relax and play his game, contributing to the team agenda and goal, while keeping him engaged if any lingering motivational issues remain. However, this need for playing time begs the question of who on the bench is the odd man out to give Earl his minutes? Earl is not ready to start, in any scenario. Additionally, in my thinking, Dragic and Dudley's minutes are off-limits as far as stealing forms them for Clark. This leaves Amundson, Frye, and Barbosa. If Frye is opts out and does not resign with the Suns, (I believe that his salary at the moment is more or less suitable for his level of pay, perhaps plus a few million - I do not know the exactitudes of our salary and what is fair). However, if he resigns, then the Suns are faced with a dilemma - all three of the players in question are good enough players to deserve minutes, but the future of the suns lies with Clark. How much do you give him? I personally think that there are two choices. Choice A, Barbosa's minutes are completely cut out, Dudley slides over to the 2, and Earl is inserted into the bench as a 3. I prefer this plan, because, as much as I love Barbosa, he still remains a player with which the ball stops, and his pseudo-pointguard role is no longer as needed with the emergence of Dragic. The other choice is to cut minutes from either all 3 or just from Amundson and Frye, and play Clark on a situational basis when more versatility is needed. I fear however that this would compromise the platoon strategy of bench play that the Suns utilize, and for rebounding/defensive purposes I would much rather have Amundson, Clark, or even Frye play, rather than Barbosa at this point.

I firmly believe that Clark that can and will be an effective player next season and for many seasons in the future. I hope that this has been an informative, if long explanation of Clark and his basketball career, past, and potential future. Thank you to all of the BSOTS writers whom I hijacked quotes or information from, the Louisville website, Draft Express, YouTube, and anyone else I forgot to mention

[ Mathematics ] Open Question : i need a help with a problem in statistics please?
[Q & A] (Yahoo! Answers: Latest Questions)
a manufacturer produces steel rods which average 40 cm in length and claims that the lengths of the steel rods have a standard deviation smaller than .25 cm. A random sample of 30 steel rods resulted in lengths with a standard deviation of .21 cm. In a hypothesis test of the manufactorer's claim, what is the value of the appropiate test statistic? A) X2=24.360 B)X2= 635.040 C)X2=41.100 D) X2=20.462 ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

a manufacturer produces steel rods which average 40 cm in length and claims that the lengths of the steel rods have a standard deviation smaller than .25 cm. A random sample of 30 steel rods resulted in lengths with a standard deviation of .21 cm. In a hypothesis test of the manufactorer's claim, what is the value of the appropiate test statistic? A) X2=24.360 B)X2= 635.040 C)X2=41.100 D) X2=20.462
Jose Mourinho's Move To Real Madrid Analyzed
[New England Patriots, Sports, Fantasy Football] (Bleacher Report - Front Page)
With Manuel Pellegrini's sacking, Real Madrid have moved one step closer to appointing Jose Mourinho as manager. In a press conference last night, Florentino Perez announced that Madrid had decided to terminate their working relationship with Pellegrini, but fell short of the much-anticipated unveiling of Mourinho as Los Blancos' newest manager. "We have dedicated the last few weeks to analysing and reflecting upon the past season. And we have decided to bring to an end Manuel Pellegrini's tim ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

With Manuel Pellegrini's sacking, Real Madrid have moved one step closer to appointing Jose Mourinho as manager.

In a press conference last night, Florentino Perez announced that Madrid had decided to terminate their working relationship with Pellegrini, but fell short of the much-anticipated unveiling of Mourinho as Los Blancos' newest manager.

"We have dedicated the last few weeks to analysing and reflecting upon the past season. And we have decided to bring to an end Manuel Pellegrini's time at the club," said Perez.

"We want to thank him and his team for their hard work, professionalism and conduct.

"The board also agreed to contract Jose Mourinho as the new coach of Real Madrid once his contractual relationship with Inter Milan has been resolved."

Pellegrini paid the price for a poor relationship with Spanish papers Marca and AS who, quite viciously, criticised the Chilean for his defensive outlook and tactics, firmly laying the blame for Madrid's exit in the Champions League to Lyon in the Last-16 at his door.

Not once did the Madrid-biased media draw attention to the fact that Madrid have exited the Champions League at the same stage for the last six years or that "defensive Madrid" managed to score 102 goals in 38 games and conceding just 35 on their way to a 96 point haul that would have won them the league on any other season.

But as ever with Madrid, if Barcelona are doing better than they are, then it is not just another season.

Since Florentino Perez returned to the club, their spending has once again gone through the roof and the Galactico Mark-2 Project is stalling just as the last Galactico project did too. Hence the move to bring in Mourinho.

This is a huge departure for Real Madrid and Perez, and is an open admittance that the Galactico model does not work.

Perez said, “I am ready to admit to some mistakes, but the hiring of Mourinho, one of the world’s best coaches, is an opportunity that this Real Madrid, which always fights for excellence, could not afford to miss. We are absolutely convinced that we need a fresh impulse and that a coach like Mourinho can be the person to take charge of the squad for the next few years."

The only real obstacle to the completion deal/transfer concerns the buy-out clause in Mourinho’s £8 million-a-year contract at San Siro. It is rumoured that Inter Milan are holding out for £16million if Madrid want to secure Mourinho's services.

Anyone who knows anything about football knows that Mourinho's teams are not flamboyant, they're not extravagant, and they're hardly the most pleasing on the eye, but they are, above all, efficient, and winners at that.

Will Jose be able to impose his tactics and philosophy upon a Madrid team designed to attack?

Like any good manager, Mourinho will begin imprinting his vision of football on the defence and will concentrate on getting that area of the pitch "fixed."

With the 47-year-old's admittance that he wants to bring Maicon and Ashley Cole to the club, one would have to worry about the futures of Sergio Ramos, Marcelo Vieira, and Alvaro Arbeloa.

It is also slightly surprising that he chose not to mention a commanding centre half. He is a huge admirer of Ricardo Carvalho at Chelsea, originally bringing him to the club, and he tried to bring him to the San Siro too only for Inter's Sporting Director, Branca, to veto the deal and recommend Lucio instead.

Chelsea have told Carvalho that he is free to move in the summer, so it would not be beyond the realms of imagination to see the two Portuguese link up again.

The rest of Madrid's spine is quite strong.

Iker Casillas is arguably the best 'keeper in the world. Xabi Alonso is one of the best central midfielders around, as Rafael Benitez found out to his detriment, and Gonzalo Higuain is a forward with plenty of potential, not to mention the forgotten men at Madrid, Karim Benzema, and Kaka.

With Mourinho's open praise for Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, many newspapers rushed to say that Kaka was surplus to the new plans at Real Madrid.

However, that should be pretty far from the mark.

Mourinho is a huge fan of Kaka and even tried to sign the Brazilian play-maker three times while he was at Chelsea. Now that he has finally got one of the players he admires most in the world at his club he is hardly likely to let him go.

The fact that Kaka just endured his worst season in years only strengthens the case for him to be kept at the Bernabeu, for a couple of reasons.

The first being that he was one of Perez's key signings, and whatever about the Madrid President coming out and changing his outlook on managers, he will not allow one of the most expensive signings in the club's history to be shipped out for reduced fee after just 12 months. It would be tantamount to signing his own death warrant with Madrid's fans.

Another reason for keeping Kaka at the club is that Jose Mourinho is one of the greatest man-managers of all time and one aspect of his job that he is brilliant at is his psychological management of players. He knows that if he gets the Brazilian firing on all cylinders again he will have made his own position at the club more powerful.

Kaka has also been signalled out for some rather harsh treatment by the Madrid based press who wrongfully thought they were signing a midfield general instead of the player who makes things work in the final third of the pitch.

That Kaka was the player to make the team tick, when in reality he is the player who makes the final pass of finishes the move.

With the players that Mourinho has signalled intent for, and with the players he will have at the club, it would seem that he may deviate back to the 4-2-3-1 formation that served him so well at Chelsea and leave his loose 4-3-3 in Italy.

Meaning that the four positions Mourinho has most worries about are the two full-back berths, central midfield, and the left attacking midfield position.

He has moved to distance himself from the rumours linking Angel De Maria's move to Madrid from Benfica, citing that the fee would be just too high for a player who has yet to prove himself at the highest level, although that may change after the World Cup.

Can Jose Mourinho get on with Cristiano Ronaldo?

Perhaps one of the biggest questions awaiting Mourinho at Real Madrid is can both he and Ronaldo get along?

The simple answer is yes.

Both are born winners and if anything, Ronaldo's game has moved on a gear from when he was at Manchester United.

Not that Madrid have brought him along or anything but tactically, technically, and physically, the former World Player of the Year has simply matured as a player.

The two Portuguese nationals had a spat some years ago when Mourinho accused Ronaldo of being self-centered on the football pitch forcing the then-Manchester United player to hit back with comments of his own.

Since then they have reconciled and recognise that each is a winner on different terms, but they do have a healthy respect for each other. Ronaldo will be a key component for Jose and his game should move on another level again.

Will Real Madrid under Jose Mourinho Play "Attractive" Football?

Winning managers before him have paid the price for what the Madristas deemed as defensive football, namely Vicente Del Bosque and Fabio Capello.

Del Bosque oversaw Madrid's most successful period since their great team of the '50s and in just four seasons in charge he won the Champions League twice, 2000 and 2002, La Liga in 2001 and 2003, a Spanish Super Cup in 2001, and both the UEFA Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup in 2002, on top of making the Semi-Finals of the Champions League every year.

Madrid sacked him only two days after winning the title in 2003 for playing unattractive football...

Capello was with Madrid twice as a manager. The first time was for a single season in 1996/97 where he won La Liga before making a strange return to AC Milan who he had left to take over at the Bernabeu.

He then returned in 2006 to a Madrid team that were going through one of the longest spells without a trophy in the clubs history. Nothing had gone right for Los Blancos since Del Bosque's sacking in 2003 and Capello was seen as the right man to right the flagging ship.

He duly delivered on that promise on the final day of the season to secure Madrid their 30th La Liga title, but was sacked in mid June...The reason being his defensive style of play.

Anyone who has watched Jose Mourinho's teams over his 10-year management career knows that his teams are efficient rather than attractive.

His time at Porto saw the Poruguese giants play a rather defensive game on their way to the Champions League title in 2004.

In fairness to Mourinho and Porto, they did not have the same resources as some of the teams they knocked out, namely Manchester United, Lyon, Deportivo La Coruna, and Monaco in the Final.

However, the same excuse could not be used while he was manager of Chelsea.

In his first summer in charge (2004/05) of the Pensioners, Mourinho spent some £80million, on top of the £125 million the sacked Claudio Ranieri had spent the year before.

The following year (2005/06) he spent a further £93 million although it must be said that £30 million of that was on Andrei Shevchenko, who Roman Abrahmovich insisted on signing.

This signing caused a huge wedge between owner and manager and the writing was on the wall for Jose when Abrahmovich only gave him £7 million to spend the following season.

Between 2004 and 2007 Chelsea were one of the highest spending teams in the world and they enjoyed great success, but they never played the most attractive football.

They played efficient, tactical, winning football that kept the Blues fans and players extremely happy, but questions were raised about Mourinho's philosophy on the game.

When he moved to Inter Milan in 2008, it seemed a match made in heaven. A seemingly defensive coach and an Italian team...

Inter had just won three Scudetto's under Roberto Mancini and he was sacked by the club to make room for Jose. In his two years in charge he brough another two Serie A titles and the UEFA Champions League, the club's first since 1965.

Mourinho was also joining a select group of Ernst Happel and Ottmar Hitzfeld as the only three managers to win the Champions League with two different clubs.

This was also achieved using withdrawn tactics. On the way to the Final, Inter Milan set a new record as the first team to win the coveted trophy with a negative possession rate of just 43 percent. Meaning that for the vast majority of the Nerrazzurri's route to the final they did their best work without the ball.

One amazing statistic is that as of May 9, 2010, Jose Mourinho is on a run of 136 home league matches unbeaten: 38 (W36–D2) with Porto, 60 (W46–D14) with Chelsea and 38 (W29–D9) with Internazionale.

His last and only home league defeat came when Porto were defeated 3–2 by Beira Mar on 23 February 2002.

Can the leopard change his spots and play the expansive football craved by the Madristas?

Looking at his record and his early comments, it would seem that Jose teams will still be centered on team-work and cohesion above all else.

"It will be a balanced team. We will have our own identity, we won't imitate anyone." He said before adding, "a team is a team. It's very difficult to be better than your opponents for the whole 90 minutes, so there's always a moment where you have to be a team and make sacrifices."

Real Madrid is well known for it's political games, will Jose be up to that task?

The hardest lesson learnt by Jose Mourinho in his management career has been his sacking by Chelsea.

He became involved in background politics with Roman Abrahmovich after Andrei Shevchenko's signing. Thinking that he had all the power, he chose to vent his anger in public, but only enraged the Russian owner more.

In the end, he would admit that, he handled the situation badly and it is still one that stings him to the core. As an older, wiser, and more mature man he is walking into the bear-pit that is the Santiago Bernabeu with eyes wide open.

For the past couple of weeks his agent, Jorge Mendez, has been negotiating on his behalf and one of the major sticking points has been the future role that Jorge Valdano will play.

The current Real Madrid sporting director is quoted as comparing Mourinho and his Chelsea team to being the equivalent of "shit on a stick."

It is a soundbyte that will not be lost on Mourinho as he talks to Perez on his future with the club and on Valdano's future role with the club.

There will be many points given and conceded over the negotiations but one of the major ones will be a lack of interference from Valdano. He may not be sacked from the club but Mourinho will ensure that he will be at arms length from his team.

One other area that Mourinho will have to deal with delicately is the Spanish media, or more precisely the Real Madrid media, Marca and AS.

Both are very influential and will turn on a manager or player given half the chance, especially if they deem them unworthy of being Madristas.

Looking back at Mourinho's other sabre battles with the press one would expect this particular relationship to be a rocky one.

While at Inter he regularly employed the tactic that he is wanted in England and that is where he wants to end up, expect the same ploy to be used again as he looks to control their actions with mild threats of resignation.

The very fact that he has already come out and said he wants to "return to England after Madrid" is a sure sign that the first of many volleys has been fired.

His Transfer Targets

After touching upon them earlier on we return to Mourinho's transfer targets.

Maicon, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, and Steven Gerrard are already known. Mourinho has made these four clear while also distancing himself from Diego Milito, Daniele De Rossi, Angel De Maria, and Fabio Coentrao.

De Rossi is available due to a contract stipulation and Roma's well known financial troubles which could force them to sell their prized asset, but Mourinho has already stated that he feels De Rossi is the future of Roma and that thet won't part with the powerful midfielder.

Javi Martinez of Atletic Bilbao has also been linked with a move to Madrid. The 21-year-old central midfielder has a growing reputation and is seen by many as the future of the Spanish national side. The youth is constantly being linked with moves to bigger clubs and has a proven track record in La Liga, even being named in Vicente Del Bosque's 23-man squad for the World Cup.

He has also said that "Barcelona have signed well and are going to be stronger than this year" so he knows who his main threat is and where Pep Guardiola is coming from.

He also knows who Guardiola's main target for the rest of the summer is, Cesc Fabregas.

He also plays in a position that Madrid need filling straight away...

It would be no surprise to see Jose bid for Fabregas to a) sign a brilliant player and fix a problem area and b) weaken Barcelona's chances of winning a third consecutive Primera League title as well as c) endearing himself to Madrid's fans while upsetting his old employer.

Fernando Torres is also a player who should be watched closely. He has moved to distance himself from his agents comments saying he committed to Liverpool and has instead said that he would see how things are in two months. Leaving the door ajar for any team that could afford him.

It could even be that Real Madrid may not sign another Galactico, as they will have already brought in the biggest Galactico of all, Jose Mourinho.

"I want to win the league because no coach has ever won the English, Italian and Spanish leagues.

"I want to be the first to do it and the first to lift the Champions League with three different clubs.

"But I can't arrive and say we're going to win the league taking into account such a great team we're facing, like Barca is.

"Only a top team can win the treble. If Real Madrid become a top team, then it can win the treble."

The psychology has already begun...Bring on the Special One.
Gregg: "We're not Europe," let the unemployed suffer
[Politics] (Daily Kos)
Smart Dems are going to start running against this Republican attitude. From the Wonk Room: Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), appeared on CNBC this morning to say that Congress should stop extending benefits “right now” because “at some point you’ve got to acknowledge that we’re not Europe”: Q: Senator Gregg, is there a point, you think, when the government has to sort of end these ever-continuing claims? Gregg: Yeah, right now. This week, however, we’re goin ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Smart Dems are going to start running against this Republican attitude. From the Wonk Room:

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), appeared on CNBC this morning to say that Congress should stop extending benefits “right now” because “at some point you’ve got to acknowledge that we’re not Europe”:

Q: Senator Gregg, is there a point, you think, when the government has to sort of end these ever-continuing claims?

Gregg: Yeah, right now. This week, however, we’re going to extend it again. And this has become counterproductive. We’re basically undermining the cyclical event. Because you’re out of the recession, you’re starting to see growth and you’re clearly going to dampen the capacity of that growth if you basically keep an economy that encourages people to, rather than go out and look for work, to stay on unemployment. Yes, it’s important to do that up to a certain level, but at some point you’ve got to acknowledge that we’re not Europe.

...Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com, was fortunately on with Gregg, and rebuked the senator. “The senator is right except that, in this environment, the job market is so bad, I think it’s still premature to give up on those emergency benefits,” Zandi said. “I mean, just a statistic, for every one job opening there’s five people that are looking for work. That is incredibly unusual, so therefore its premature to give up on those emergency benefits.”

Not only that, but in March 2010, 6.5 million people had been looking for a job for 27 weeks or more. According to the Center for American Progress’ Christian Weller, “The average length of unemployment that month was 31.2 weeks, and 44.1 percent of the unemployed were out of a job for 27 weeks or more. This is a new record for long-term unemployment.” But Gregg — like so many Republicans in recent months — is willing to kneecap them just as the labor market is starting to turn the corner.

We're not out of recession when it comes to employment. This is a clear, defining issue for Dems--the callous Republican attitude toward the real economic catastrophe millions of Americans are facing on a daily basis.
Pacers 2009-10 Player Review: Dahntay Jones
[NBA Basketball] (Indy Cornrows)
More photos » Sue Ogrocki - AP Dahntay Jones had a career year for the Pacers in 2009-10. Let's see how he moves forward! Browse more photos » Dahntay Jones #1 / Guard / Indiana Pacers After the 2008-09 season, the Indiana Pacers had a few necessary issues to address. One of the key issues was that of defense. Meanwhile, Dahntay Jones was gaining a lot of st ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

More photos » Sue Ogrocki - AP

Dahntay Jones had a career year for the Pacers in 2009-10. Let's see how he moves forward!

Browse more photos »

Dahntay Jones

#1 / Guard / Indiana Pacers

After the 2008-09 season, the Indiana Pacers had a few necessary issues to address. One of the key issues was that of defense. Meanwhile, Dahntay Jones was gaining a lot of steam as a defensive specialist for the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Playoffs (hey, that word…it seems I know it…). Generally, the marriage made sense from a black and white perspective.

Eventually, the relationship was confirmed, as the Pacers signed Jones early in July to help them get the ship righted defensively. He was signed to a lengthy, but modest contract, giving the team a long term veteran, regardless of whether he’s a veteran in a veteran’s sense (apologies for redundancy). The move was panned by John Hollinger, citing Jones’s poor performance in his PER statistic. And well, that’s true if you look at that number. After all, Jones was coming off a season where he started almost all of his games for Denver, but made very limited statistical contribution. That’s not going to bode well in a statistic based rating, since what Jones was "capable of" wasn’t a statistic.

Regardless, George Karl liked what he offered enough to make him a starter (despite getting only 18 minutes a game), and who are we or Hollinger to doubt one of the game’s more important coaches? What we weren’t really prepared for was Jones showing us something none of us expected: an offensive game. Yeah, he was an accomplished in-game dunker, but averaging 5.4 points in Denver, but he’d never really played anywhere that required him to help much offensively (he did average 24.4 PPG in the D-League, but find me an NBA quality player who can’t).

Jones got to work early in the season, scoring in double figures in 14 of the team’s first 16 games, taking on heavy minutes as the team awaited the return of Mike Dunleavy and while Brandon Rush enjoyed his extended mental vacation. In the early stretches of the season, where the team struggled heavily on the offensive end, Jones did exactly what the team needed him to do in order to stay in (albeit still lose a lot of) games: score points.

Through the first sixteen games, D.Jones emerged as the frontrunner for Most Improved Player, averaging 16.6 PPG and 3.8 rebounds. As Danny Granger exited with his knee injury, Jones was less the catalyst the team needed him to be, notching up a lot of offensive inconsistencies. It’s no surprise then with the return of Dunleavy and having Rush actually being healthy, Jones slowly fell out of favor in the rotation, notching up a handful of DNP-CDs from Jim O’Brien.

Jones remained a consummate professional throughout the trying season, however, stepping in when needed, and performing when asked to perform. In addition to offensive inconsistencies, Jones displayed a series of defensive inconsistencies as well. A noticeable upgrade from the previous season, Jones’s defensive style created its own detractors, including Pacers radio legends Mark Boyle and Slick Leonard. Jones also fell out of favor for his lack of ability as a three point shooter. Yes? Can I help you? "Let me answer it this way: I like to space the court." Oh! Thanks for dropping by, Coach!

What it ultimately summed up to was a disjointed season for the 29-year-old guard. Expectations were left a bit short, in both founded and unfounded scenarios. What becomes of Jones’s value as a Pacer remains to be seen, though, his role can still be useful.

So how did D.Jones impress?

Who knew Jones was capable of an offensive flurry? Not only did he blow out of the gates with a huge scoring touch early in the season, but managed to come up with big games despite his increasingly erratic playing time. Speaking of which, there’s something to be said for his professionalism. Jones, who left a Western Conference Finals Nuggets team to join a We-swear-this-year-we’re-making-the-playoffs Pacers team, wasn’t completely given the opportunities he was promised throughout the season. I assume such promises existed, you know, that he would get his minutes and his contract security, which was a big factor in him even coming East, but never mind that…on a team with Brandon Rush scratching his head for four months and T.J. Ford laughing it up in blowout losses, Jones’s professionalism deserves some applause. Hopefully he continues to bring that next season. Oh yeah, and those dunks he can throw down, they aren’t overrated. If not for Josh McThunderjams, he could’ve provided the most exciting dunks of the season. A big upgrade from last year, where there were no dunks.

And how did D.Jones disappoint?

Mark Boyle and/or Slick Leonard made note of the defensive specialties of Dahntay Jones pretty efficiently in the second half of the season, but at the risk of butching their words, I’ll sum it up as such: We’re all a little confused where this reputation came from. Are you? In a sense, we expected Bruce Bowen and got a guy who could score some points and make some stops. Generally, looking back to last season’s Western Conference Finals, I wasn’t engaged by Jones’s defensive efforts as a "Kobe Killer" in that series. In fact, I don’t recall Jones stepping in as a specialist to any notable degree in that series. I could’ve been enamored by the fact Trevor Ariza was really a fun player to watch and all of that, but that reputation remains a bit fishy.

Also, despite showing an offensive game, the game he showed was wildly inconsistent. Jones doesn’t appear to have the ability to create his own shot, and if the shots are coming to him, he’s about as useless as Brandon Rush on the offensive end. Oh, and Obie wanted me to point out his three point numbers. Jones finished the year 4-32 from deep, but I’d rather point out that he quit taking the long ball shot as the season progressed. I liked that, even though someone didn’t. What’s that? "Let me answer it this way: I like to space the court." Right, right. Tell us something new, Coach!

Well, what’s next for D.Jones?

By the way, the "D" in D.Jones can also stand for "Defensive." As in "I’d be getting pretty defensive if I were Dahntay Jones and looking at a very similar second year in terms of floor time and philosophy." Unless he magically finds a deep shot (which, I mean, he doesn’t have to, does he?), expect to see Jones notch up a couple of 30 minute games here and there, and then enjoy a DNP-CD from time to time, and ultimately back up Brandon Rush’s confusing enigma of an enigma for Jim O’Brien’s enigma of a rotation. And as Gene Hackman once put it, "Now, that’s just not right, dammit."

Dahntay Jones is a solid rotation player. But you have to play him as a rotation player. And it’s a shame his positives are being wasted for all the confusing floor time and expectations being given to him. Denver had it right. Get him in to start the game, set the tone defensively, and then blindside the opponent with a spark plug. Indiana doesn’t have a spark plug like J.R. Smith, so starting Jones and then going to…who? Brandon Rush? Well, that’s not going to do much if Brandon takes one shot in 30 minutes of action, but the idea is what’s important. It’s all about the usage of Dahntay Jones. Unfortunately, his usage was mismanaged last season, and there’s little to suggest it won’t be mismanaged again in 2010-11. I suppose all we can really hope for is more of the same professionalism as we try and sort it all out.

Also important is going to be the expectations of his defensive game. Do we know if we can expect more of him defensively? Is there a direct relation to his offensive outputs and his defensive consistency? The price is nice on Jones as a player, and given his contract length, we'll likely see him for quite a while to answer those questions. But to get a player in a career year on the cheap? I'm not against it, and I look forward to seeing what he puts forth as a Pacer.
Book Review - Unbound
[Dads] (Dad of Divas)
Adventurer tells story of the 30 women who survived Mao Zedong’s 4,000 Mile Long March In 1934, following threats by the Chinese Nationalists to destroy their village in remote southeastern China, 30 women fled with Mao Zedong’s Red Army. In what became known as the Long March, the army and the women trekked 4,000 miles in one year to forge resistance to Chiang Kai-shek’s repressive regime and to find new lives for themselves. Fewer than 10,000 of the original 86,000 soldiers survived. ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Adventurer tells story of the 30 women who survived Mao Zedong’s 4,000 Mile Long March

In 1934, following threats by the Chinese Nationalists to destroy their village in remote southeastern China, 30 women fled with Mao Zedong’s Red Army. In what became known as the Long March, the army and the women trekked 4,000 miles in one year to forge resistance to Chiang Kai-shek’s repressive regime and to find new lives for themselves.

Fewer than 10,000 of the original 86,000 soldiers survived. Incredibly, all 30 of the women completed the 4,000-mile journey, with one dying shortly afterwards. This is their story.

In UNBOUND: A True Story of War, Love, and Survival, bestselling author and adventurer Dean King brings to light the little-known story of 30 courageous women, who endured unbelievable suffering during the Long March.

They survived ambushes and bombings while grappling with severe hunger and thirst. They fought lice, fleas, dysentery, typhoid fever and malaria. They crossed frigid 15,000-foot mountains in cotton clothes and straw sandals. They watched in horror as friends were sucked into inky marshes. Some lost their husbands in battles en route, and some gave birth to babies that had to be abandoned along the trails.

The women not only formed a lasting bond but, after the eventual defeat of the Nationalists, rose to positions of power and prominence in government, industry, the military, education, social welfare, and the arts. Several of them became leaders in the All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF), the nation’s most influential voice for women’s rights.

UNBOUND

A True Story of War, Love, and Survival

Dean King

List $25.99

Hardcover 432 pages

ISBN: 978-0-316-16708-6

Pub date: March 24, 2010

Publisher Little Brown

King spent five years retracing their trek and interviewing survivors and historians to offer a very human account of an event that has loomed large in Chinese history.

Maps and photographs enhance the chronicling of this extraordinary story.

Dean King with 94 year old survivor of The Long March.

Four minute video about the book Unbound and The Long March is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DajDNsF9lOU or

Dean King’s website is www.deanhking.com

About the Author

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Dean King is an award-winning author of nonfiction books. A former contributing editor to Men’s Journal, King has written for National Geographic Adventure, Outside, Esquire, Travel + Leisure, New York, and the New York Times, among other publications. His books include the bestselling Skeletons on the Zahara, which was the basis of a two-hour History Channel special documentary and is currently being developed as a feature film by Independent Films (London), and the highly acclaimed Patrick O’Brian companion books A Sea of Words (1995), Harbors and High Seas (1996), and Every Man Will Do His Duty (1997). His biography Patrick O’Brian: A Life Revealed (2000) was a Daily Telegraph book of the year.

What People are Saying

"A terrific feminist story and a significant document of this incredible human feat."

Kirkus Reviews

"Fascinating....King, the best-selling author of Skeletons on the Zahara, has done brilliant work bringing the march to life with a plethora of vivid, well-researched details...Unbound is an authoritative account of the Long March, but its evocations of the marchers' experiences will linger long after the historical details slip from readers' memories."

Doug Childers, The Richmond Times-Dispatch

"King gets to the heart of one of history's greatest adventures. He captures the blood, guts and occasional glory of the Chinese Revolution. This is a remarkable tale, by turns thrilling, inspiring and heartbreaking."

Ed Jocelyn, co-author of The Long March

“King spent five years traveling the length of the Long March, interviewing those women still alive to tell their tales. Theirs are stories of courage, remarkable not only because of the physical and psychological rigors of their journey, but also because of their determination... China has always been a mysterious and secretive empire, but Unbound peels back the curtain to reveal a story of strength and survival."

My Take on the Book
While I did not know much on the history behind the Long March, I found the book to be a fascinating and heart-wrenching tale that was hard to to put down. There were parts that seemed to be hard to read, but overall, I was entranced by the story and the amazing journey that these people were on. The author did a good job researching the story to bring forth the story of these amazing women and their story of endurance through hardship.

For those of you who are not knowledgeable in Chinese culture, the author was kind enough to provide a pronunciation key and definitions which for me became a huge help in understanding the concepts that were being raised.

If this book sounds like something you would like in your own library you can find it on Amazon!

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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Sleek c'est Chic?
[Fashion] (Fashion Albedo Blog)
I've been thinking a lot about hair lately and how, according to some random statistic from some even more random source, the majority of people base their first impressions on others' hair. Traditionally, attention has been paid to volume, length and shine, with those bearing thicker, longer and shinier locks presumed to be more successful or at least have an easier road to success. This ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

I've been thinking a lot about hair lately and how, according to some random statistic from some even more random source, the majority of people base their first impressions on others' hair. Traditionally, attention has been paid to volume, length and shine, with those bearing thicker, longer and shinier locks presumed to be more successful or at least have an easier road to success. This
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Helluva Good 200 Fantasy Preview
[New England Patriots, Sports, Fantasy Football] (Bleacher Report - Front Page)
Track Stats Name: Dover International Speedway Race Date: May 14, 2010 Location: Dover, DE Length: one mile Banking in turns: 24degrees Banking on the straightaways: nine degrees Grandstand Seats: 140,000 Tickets/track info: http://www.doverspeedway.com/ or (800) 441-7223 Last Year’s Top 10 1. Brad Keselowski 2. Joey Logano 3. Clint Bowyer 4. Brian Vickers 5. Carl Edwards 6. Paul Menard 7. Scott Speed 8. Jason Leftler 9. Jason Keller 10. Justin Allgaier September Winner : Clint Bowy ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Track Stats

Name: Dover International Speedway

Race Date: May 14, 2010

Location: Dover, DE

Length: one mile

Banking in turns: 24degrees

Banking on the straightaways: nine degrees

Grandstand Seats: 140,000

Tickets/track info: http://www.doverspeedway.com/ or

(800) 441-7223

Last Year’s Top 10

1. Brad Keselowski

2. Joey Logano

3. Clint Bowyer

4. Brian Vickers

5. Carl Edwards

6. Paul Menard

7. Scott Speed

8. Jason Leftler

9. Jason Keller

10. Justin Allgaier

September Winner : Clint Bowyer

Interesting Stats

In the last five races, Keselowski has tamed Miles the Monster the best as he’s gained the most points (817) followed by Edwards (795) and Mike Bliss (740).

Good Picks

Brad Keselowski

Keselowski has been the concrete king of the Nationwide Series. In the past two years on the three concrete tracks (Bristol, Dover, Nashville), he has been a threat for the win. So far this year he has a second place finish at Bristol and a fifth place finish at Nashville.

He looks to continue his streak this year and, according to the statistic above and by his average finish, Dover is his best track of the three. In six races at Dover, he has one win, three top fives, five top 10s, and an average finish of 7.5.

So far this year, Keselowski is off to a stellar start in the Nationwide Series as he leads the standings by 55 points and two wins, eight top fives, and nine top 10s.

Carl Edwards

If Keselowski is the concrete king, then Edwards is the concrete prince. Like Keselowski, Edwards has also scored good finishes at the concrete tracks so far with a fourth place finish at Bristol and a sixth at Nashville.

He looks to continue this at Dover where in ten races he has one win, six top fives, eight top 10s, and an average finish of 9.2.

So far this year, Edwards is off to a good start as he sits fourth in points, 199 behind Keselowski.

Edwards will be looking to use Dover as a place to get his first win on the year.

Clint Bowyer

While Keselowski and Edwards have established themselves as good drivers on all the concrete tracks, Bowyer is the one who rises to the top at Dover. In eight races there he has two wins, five top fives, seven top 10s, and the highest average finish of everybody with an impressive 6.1.

Since taking over the No. 21 car, Bowyer only has one top 10, which came at Talladega.

Bowyer looks to use Dover to rebound from his recent back-to-back bad finishes and get his first top five of the year.

Mike Bliss

If you’re looking to cheer for a non-Cup Series driver, then look no further. Bliss has Cup experience so he knows what to expect and has driven well at Dover in the past. In 10 starts there, he has four top fives, six top 10s, and an average finish of 10th.

In nine Nationwide Series starts this year, Bliss only has one top 10 (at Bristol) and looks to use Dover to get his first top five of the year.

Reed Sorenson

Reed is another driver who has Cup experience and excells at Dover. In seven races at Dover, he has three top fives, six top 10s and an average finish of 8.7.

He’s also with Braun Racing—a Nationwide team that has had success in the past so it’d be no surprise if he finishes in the top 10.

Driver to Watch

Justin Allgaier

In two starts at Dover last year, Allgaier finished 10th and 25th.

This year, however, he has been the top non-Cup Series driver as he sits fifth in points with one win, three top fives and five top 10s. He has also proven that he can run well on concrete tracks as he won at Bristol and finished fourth at Nashville this year.

Allgaier looks to come out of Dover with a top five finish and gain the ground that he’s lost in points so far this year.
Review and Giveaway - Hey Dude Skin Care Introduces the Ultimate Skin Care Solution For Men
[Dads] (Dad of Divas)
How To Go From Dud to DudeHey Dude Skin Care Introduces the Ultimate Skin Care Solution For Men http://www.heydudeskincare.com/ About the Product Behind every successful man is…an effective skin care routine? Yes, in fact – every health and image conscious man would agree that the skin care industry is no longer solely for women. Today, most men are turning to grooming companies that go beyond the bare essentials of soap and shampoo, as they incorporate a detailed daily regimen into their ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en
How To Go From Dud to Dude

Hey Dude Skin Care Introduces the Ultimate Skin Care Solution For Men

http://www.heydudeskincare.com/

About the Product
Behind every successful man is…an effective skin care routine? Yes, in fact – every health and image conscious man would agree that the skin care industry is no longer solely for women. Today, most men are turning to grooming companies that go beyond the bare essentials of soap and shampoo, as they incorporate a detailed daily regimen into their skin care routine. According to a recent study by Diagonal Reports, despite the economic climate, the male grooming business continues to make waves as it has increased at a double digit growth rate over the last decade.

Supplying today’s men with the products they need to look and feel great is new male grooming company, Hey Dude Skin Care. The company offers a premium line of products that are designed to give the modern man the essential tools to combat the natural effects of aging and external conditions affecting his skin. Made from high quality organic ingredients like hyaluronic acid and essential nutrients, Hey Dude Skin Care products perform the most vital of functions to help a man protect, repair, and maintain his skin.

“Women have always been conscious of their appearance and, fortunately, we’ve always had a market to supply us with our beauty needs,” says Susan Berner, CEO and Founder of Hey Dude Skin Care. “Until recently, men really had no choice but to rely on the skin care products that were formulated for female skin. The combination of men becoming more educated about their skin’s needs with the male grooming industry reaching an all time high has made it the cultural norm for the typical ‘macho man’ to add moisturizer and eye cream to his daily routine,” says Susan.

Hey Dude Skin Care: Grooming for the “Every Man!”
Hey Dude Skin Care consists of revolutionary products for a wide variety of male skin types. These functional products are broken into four main categories to cleanse and moisturize deeply into the cellular level of a man’s skin. Below is a full list of products initially offered from Hey Dude Skin Care.

Cleanse: For the Slacker Dude
- Clean Skin: A gentle but powerful cleansing gel, enriched with a variety of natural ingredients like olive oil castile that cleanse and refine the skin’s texture. Clean Skin also eliminates impurities, leaving the skin feeling fresh and energized. Clean skin is ideal for preparing the skin for shaving. Price: $ 18 (4 oz.)
- Dude Wash: A thorough face cleanser containing 10% glycolic acid, a quality ingredient that improves the skin’s tone and texture. Dude Wash visibly lifts dirt, oil and dead skin cells to reveal smoother, healthier and brighter looking skin. With daily use, it helps to reduce age spots, acne breakouts, excess oil and fine lines. Price: $ 23 (4 oz.)
Shave: For the Not-So-Smooth Dude
- Nary Hairy: A product with scientifically proven ingredients to decrease hair length and density that offers the finishing touch for a complete shaving experience. Studies have shown that Nary Hairy can decrease hair length, reduce hair density, and slow facial hair growth. What better way to combat tough beard than a product that inhibits hair growth all day, while simultaneously moisturizing and protecting the skin underlying that beard? Nary Hairy is the perfect way to have a Five O’clock shadow show up late! Price: $ 49 (4 oz. cream)
- Aftershave: A post-shave liquid containing seaweed extracts that combine with the proteins of the outer layer of the skin and the hair to form protective moisturizing complexes. Efficient hydration enhances the skin’s natural ability to repair itself. Seaweed extracts decrease the irritation caused by shaving and depilation. Aftershave calms and moisturizes, as well as reduces skin redness and razor burn. Price: $ 25 (4 oz.)
Anti-Aging: For the Forever Young Dude
- 4 Your Eyes Only: A unique eye cream that boasts a powerful combination of active ingredients designed to both moisturize and repair/protect the sensitive skin around the eyes. The eye area lacks the natural oils that appear elsewhere on the face. With continued use, 4 Your Eyes Only reduces dark circles and puffiness under the eyes, all while strengthening capillary walls. Price: $ 29 (.5 oz.)
- Young Dude 4 Ever: A premium, clear moisturizing gel containing 100% pure hyaluronic acid, one of the best humectant agents for the skin. Hyaluronic acid has the capacity to retain 1,000 times its weight in water, with the ability to draw moisture directly from the air into the skin. Users benefit from greater smoothness and softening of the face, as well as prevention of early wrinkles. Pure hyaluronic acid provides the skin with unsurpassed hydration and protection. This superb moisturizer is ideal for all skin types. Price: $ 69 (2 oz.)
- Moisturize: A premium, clear nutrient-rich and oil-free gel boasting quality ingredients including seaweed extracts and hyaluronic acid. Seaweed extracts promote the skin’s hydration, as well as improve its texture with anti-inflammatory capabilities. Hyaluronic acid is an outstanding moisturizing ingredient that draws moisture directly from the air. With daily use, this product stimulates new cell growth, while promoting a natural protective barrier on the face. Price: $ 45 (2 oz)
Protect: For the Rugged Dude
- Pale Face with SPF 29: The solution to the harmful effects of the sun’s UVB/UVA rays. Used daily, Pale Face is an advanced, lightweight SPF 29 sun block spray containing ingredients including titanium dioxide. As part of the daily skin care regimen from Hey Dude Skin Care, Pale Face is a non-greasy formula that absorbs quickly to provide outstanding protection from the long term aging effects of the sun. Price: $ 25 (2 oz.)
- Perfect Mineral Bronzing Brush: A carefully crafted product to make skin appear even and smooth, helping to conceal imperfections, while also providing a shine-resistant barrier that lasts for hours. Premium ingredients offer further protection from environmental factors including UVA rays and wind. Price: $28 (1/6 oz)
With women working so hard on looking good, men don't want to be left behind. Fathers, husbands and boyfriends will soon be filling up their shelves with Hey Dude Skin Care cleansers, moisturizers and aftershave products to transform themselves from duds to dudes!

About Hey Dude Skin Care
Hey Dude Skin Care has over 30 years of experience in both Europe and the U.S., dealing with the complexities and nuances of all skin types and shades. With premium, non-toxic ingredients, Hey Dude Skin Care products are at the forefront of today's revolution in men's skin care and grooming needs. Hey Dude Skin Care products contain only natural, organic and tested ingredients that blend to form high quality products addressing a broad cross section of male skin needs. These products are never tested on animals, and aim to deliver value well in excess. Based in Miami Beach, we've tested our products across a broad array of men with various skin types, and in numerous spas. For more information, please visit: www.HeyDudeSkinCare.com

Susan Berner, Founder and CEO
Susan is the Founder of Hey Dude Skin Care. She has been actively involved with the introduction, management and delivery of premium skincare products for more than 30 years. As the head of Cleopatra's Secrets, a holding company operating day spas and managing product lines, Susan has long been actively involved with a wide variety of demanding clientele. Susan's European heritage and education also gives her an advantage in understanding and delivering premium products and services to clients who seek and expect superior quality. She leads Hey Dude Skin Care by working with a team of chemists and other skincare experts to bring customers the finest quality product selection for men today.

Nick Berner, Vice President, Marketing and Sales
Nick Berner leads the marketing and sales efforts for the Hey Dude Skin Care line. By working closely with both brick and mortar and online resources, Nick and his team have been able to generate a great deal of momentum for the line. A serial entrepreneur, Nick has worked for and created a number of his own startup companies during his career. Before engaging in premium men's skincare delivery, Nick held senior roles in companies involving real estate investment and development, information services consulting, Web development and wireless content delivery. A native of New York City, Nick earned his MBA at Michigan, and a BA with Distinction at Cornell.

My Take on the Product
I was given the chance to try out the Hey Dude Aftershave. I didn't know what to expect from this product. I use aftershave regularly due to trying to sooth my face after shaving. The only reason I don't like some aftershave is that thy at times can burn my face,

One thing that was amazed at with this aftershave was the fact that it truly does moisturize yor face, but des not burn at all. It actually has no scent either, so you feel that you are using a more natural product, which is nice, especiay with the fact that in others I have tried, you do not fee this way at all because of the burn itself (not natural!).

Anywat, I would recommend this as though it may be a small botte, you will notice that you do not need much to make your face feel great.

Giveaway

How would you like to win a Hey Dude Aftershave for yourself? I will be giving away one bottle of Hey Dude Aftershave to lucky readers! All you need to do is let me know why you would have an interest in this book to be considered and your favorite wine thus far. The contest will run for one week and will end on May 12, 2010.

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All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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How to Avoid Common Home Renovation Mistakes
[Marketing] (Latest Articles)
Even the most experienced homeowners might make a mistake during his or her renovation project. Sometimes, the mistakes are harmless and easily avoidable. At other times, they could be costly and even lethal. Without understanding the common pitfalls of home renovation, you might find yourself in a bit of a pinch. Listed below are some friendly reminders of what to watch out for in your home renovation projects. - Falling from ladders A startling statistic is that over 150,000 Americans end up ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Even the most experienced homeowners might make a mistake during his or her renovation project. Sometimes, the mistakes are harmless and easily avoidable. At other times, they could be costly and even lethal. Without understanding the common pitfalls of home renovation, you might find yourself in a bit of a pinch. Listed below are some friendly reminders of what to watch out for in your home renovation projects.

- Falling from ladders A startling statistic is that over 150,000 Americans end up in the emergency room every year due to some variation of accidents involving ladders. Therefore, it is always important to use a ladder of the correct length, thus ensuring maximum stability and security. Also make sure there are no hazardous objects in the environment. In the case that you do fall from the ladder, at least you will not land on anything potentially dangerous.

- Incorrect measurements Accuracy is a key component to home improvement. That is why you should always make sure the measurement unit is the correct one, as well as counting every last inch.

- Damaging water pipes and electrical wiring The pipes are wiring are among the most fundamental aspects of your household.Before you start implementing nails and screw into your walls or floors, make sure your water pipes are completely protected. Otherwise, you may see yourself calling an emergency plumber just for hanging a new bathroom mirror in the wrong place.

To identify where your wiring and piping components are, you can use a wire and pipe detector that is available at most plumbing hardware stores. The detector is not completely foolproof though, so you should also use insulated handles and power tools with a circuit breaker. When in doubt, contracting a plumber for professional and high-quality services is your best bet.

- Permits Most renovation and remodeling projects require a government permit. Always do research first before partaking any project, because you might be breaking the law! These permits are convenient and easily accessible. Their purpose is to inform the government of your activities so that the proper safety measures can take place.

- Falling fixtures You must be extremely cautious when installing wall-mounted items, such as shelves, mirrors, and cabinets. They could fall down and injure someone, or break other valuable ornaments in the household. To prevent these accidents from happening, you should always use the correct length of screw, bolts, and fittings. Minimize the possibility of accidents for as much as possible.

- Uneven shelves When planning a do-it-yourself project that requires a level surface, do not solely trust your eye judgment, which may give you some unsatisfactory results. Use a level if you want to hang shelves or pictures on the wall. This will ensure that your wall-mounted items are even and levelled.

While these home renovation tips are useful, the best way to avoid common home improvement mistakes is simply plan ahead and do lots of preparations beforehand. If you are cautious, your renovation project will most likely go without many errors. Just remember that it is always better to be safe than sorry.
Another Ten Partly Baked Ideas
[Psychology] (Blogs)
Another Ten Partly Baked IdeasWhat are partly baked ideas? They're off-beat, off-the-wall, partly-formed, embryonic snippets of ideas, that might even be off-limits to your everyday thinking. Think of them as "ideapetizers." They're often weird - they make you stop and think for a second, and then all kinds of crazy connections start coming up in your mind.Here are ten more PBIs that are peculiar enough to appeal to me. I didn't invent all of them. By the way, if you have partly baked ideas to c ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en-US

Another Ten Partly Baked Ideas

What are partly baked ideas? They're off-beat, off-the-wall, partly-formed, embryonic snippets of ideas, that might even be off-limits to your everyday thinking. Think of them as "ideapetizers." They're often weird - they make you stop and think for a second, and then all kinds of crazy connections start coming up in your mind.

Here are ten more PBIs that are peculiar enough to appeal to me. I didn't invent all of them. By the way, if you have partly baked ideas to contribute, I'd be happy to share them.

PBI #1. Who owns our politicians?

Voters and taxpayers often lament that elected officials are bought by special interest groups, who expect political favors in return for their campaign contributions. Usually, the politicians and their contributors avoid publicizing their relationships, so it's very difficult to know who's sponsoring a particular office holder.

While it might not be easy to prevent political officials from selling their services, there's an easy way to know who has sold what to whom.

Let's take a page from the sports industry, particularly auto racing. The race car drivers, their cars, and their pit crews all display logo patches that advertise their sponsors. It's worth a lot of money to have your company logo on the winner's jacket when the TV cameras roll.

The obvious application to politics: let's require that every elected office holder, at every level - even up to presidents and prime ministers - wear a logo jacket while on duty, with patches denoting the corporations and special interest groups that have put them into office. The bigger the contribution, the bigger the patch.

While we're at it, let's include lobbyists as well. Anyone entering or leaving the office of a member of Congress or Parliament - and let's not forget the Defense Department - would have to wear the patches of the special interests they're lobbying for.

But let's not stop there. Each contributor would have to pay for the advertising space on the jackets. In addition to the campaign contributions, they would pay advertising fees, which would go into the public treasury. The money could be used to pay lobbyists to push the interests of all those people and groups who can't afford to hire them.

Would this work?

PBI #2. More government, less government, better government?

Maybe Will Rogers had it right: "You should be glad you're not getting all the government you're paying for."

Or, maybe we are?

I'm often thankful that government organizations are so ineffective. It's terrifying to think of what they could do if they were really good at it.

PBI #3. Honk if you have something to say

The electronic age has promoted the personalization of almost everything. Each of us has his or her individual signature, screen name, email handle, avatar, or web page. We've become a nation of cyber-narcissists.

We even have to have distinctive ringing sounds in our cell phones.

But there's one electronic aspect of our lives that's been holding out - one important part of our identities that hasn't been personalized yet. It's the automobile horn.

Most car horns only make one sound. It's hard to communicate much meaning when you can only control the number of beeps and the duration of each beep.

We seem to use our horns mostly for one of two purposes: to warn and to punish. A horn greeting could easily be misunderstood: if you honk at your friend who's crossing the street at the corner, the driver ahead of you might very well assume that you're nagging him or her to get moving. If someone cuts you off in traffic, that one long blast is the only way you have of punishing them for their misdeed.

It seems to me we're long overdue for personalized, customized, individualized car horn sounds. Technologically it would be a snap. And consider the possibilities: sound effects (applause, barking dogs, screeching brakes, police sirens), musical tones, your voice, celebrity voices - pick what you like.

If you see your friend on the street, you can offer him or her a ride. You can politely remind the driver ahead of you that the light has changed. You can flirt with that attractive person who catches your fancy.

Now, I realize the pessimists who read this will immediately think of uses that might cause problems. The sound of gunfire, for example, might not be a wise signal in many situations. Offers to street-race might become a problem. Verbal insults could become contagious. Commercial advertising could add to noise pollution. Flirtation could progress to sexual harassment. Then we might have to have car horn obscenity laws...

Oh, well - as they say, every technological advance has its dark side.

PBI #4. Maybe molecules have minds?

Do molecules have minds? How far "down" does intelligence go? Organisms? Organs? Cells? Molecules?

Scientists have shown that stem cells can be "pluripotent," meaning that they can become virtually any kind of cells in the body.

What they haven't figured out so far is: what tells a new cell what kind of cell it's supposed to be? All cells contain exactly the same DNA, and nothing in the DNA codes for any particular kind of cell.

When a new cell develops in the liver, how does it "know" that it's supposed to become a liver cell and not, say, a skin cell? So far, no blueprint mechanism for cell identify has been found.

Some researches posit the existence of a "morphogenic field," which is a hypothetical field of information that permeates all living structures. Supposedly this information field provides the formative data for the development of all new cells and organs. That might explain how a salamander can grow a brand new tail, identical to the original one that was chopped off.

So, where does the cell's knowledge reside?

PBI #5. Do we really want free will?

Maybe we're allowed to think that we have free will, even though we don't?

PBI #6. Is your grandma wearing a bomb?

Airport security screening procedures are as illogical and ineffective as they are inconvenient. Why scan and search hundreds of thousands of innocent people every day, just to identify a very small handful of potential bombers?

There's a simpler way. Turn each security gate into a bomb detection chamber. After being properly warned, each person would step into the chamber and push a button. If he or she were wearing or carrying explosives, or had ingested them, pushing the button would detonate them. No explosives, no explosion - please proceed to the boarding gate.

There would be the obvious issues of disposal, recycling the chamber and getting it ready for the next test, and all that, but nothing technologically difficult. It could even be linked into the airline's seat assignment system. Standby passengers would automatically move up one notch on the waiting list.

Ideologically, it might be less than satisfying for the bomber, but that's not a legitimate security concern. It might even have a deterrent effect: does the bomber still get the 72 virgins when he gets to heaven, even if he hasn't killed anybody else? Or maybe he just gets a dozen. If he's been paid, does his family have to give the money back? Who gets the refund on his ticket?

All solutions have their little details to be worked out, of course.

PBI #7. Smarter kids, or dumber ones?

We're being sold the idea, these days, that our kids are smarter than we are.

The evidence offered for this is that they "multi-task." When your teen-ager has the TV on while listening to her MP3 player, talking with her friend on the cell phone, updating her social-network Web page, surfing the Internet on her laptop, and spilling cookie crumbs on her algebra book, she's said to be multi-tasking. And that's taken as a sign of some kind of high competence. "Tech-savvy," she is.

Bad news: the human brain is incapable of multi-tasking. She's not multi-tasking - she's "time-slicing," which means that her attention hops around from one task to another, but she can only attend to one thing at a time. Each of the "n" tasks gets only one-nth of the attention - minus a deduction for the time spent switching and re-orienting.

Here's a simple test to prove that you and your kids can only do one thing at a time with your conscious minds. Lift your right foot from the floor and begin moving it clockwise, in a circling motion. After about five seconds, continue moving it like that, and at the same time start moving your right hand in a counter-clockwise circling movement. Can't do it, can you? Whichever action you concentrate on forces the brain to run all other actions on "autopilot."

Multi-tasking, in its highly praised form as seen in teen-agers, may actually be a pathological inability to concentrate on one thing for any significant length of time. By the time we fully understand this phenomenon, we may have a whole generation of adults who have the attention span of a gnat.

And the tech-savvy part? Note that all of the consumer electronic gadgets that are so popular today have been dumbed down by the technological wizards to the point where they can be operated by a monkey. Very few kids could explain how a cell phone is made or how it works. Ditto for the PC, the iPod, iPad, and the Internet. They're enthusiastic consumers of electronic gadgets. But tech-savvy? Unfortunately, no. That's one reason the US is steadily losing its lead in almost all aspects of science and technology.

So, are our kids really smarter than we are? Let's hope so, but ...

PBI #8. Dangerous creatures

There is probably no creature on Earth more dangerous than a journalist armed with a statistic.

PBI #9. The wheel? No big deal

We often hear people refer to the wheel as one of the important inventions of all time. But think about it: what good is a wheel? What can one do with it? Stand on top of it and try to roll it along?

Actually, the truly significant invention was not the wheel, but rather the axle - or more accurately, the concept of the wheel and axle as a system.

This must have been a profound realization for the early humans. The wheel and axle system was probably discovered - or invented - simultaneously by many humans, but for each of them the experience of perceiving a systematic relationship between two completely different objects may have been hugely exhilarating.

They could immediately make grinding wheels, wagons and carts, waterwheels, windmills, pulleys, pottery wheels - a vast number of energy-transducing systems. But the wheel all by itself? No big deal.

PBI #10. Death penalty or death prize?

Apart from the humanitarian issues, or questions of compassion, the death penalty seems to be one of our crazier cultural institutions. So much about it is illogical and unreal.

For example, when they administer a lethal injection, do they still swab the guy's arm with alcohol to make sure it doesn't get infected? What if the inmate had a heart attack on the way to the execution chamber? Would they resuscitate him, or just let the heart attack do the job? If they resuscitate him, how long would they allow him to convalesce until he's ready to be killed?

Just before an inmate is scheduled to be executed, they usually place him on "suicide watch," to make sure he doesn't try to kill himself. What's the point? If he requested to be allowed to commit suicide, would it be permitted?

Actually, that suicide option might make a lot of sense - at least economically. In the US, it takes anywhere from 12 to 20 years after sentencing to execute a person for a capital crime. The cost of keeping someone in prison, at maximum security, for that long is well over a million dollars.

Suppose the death-row inmate were offered a "buy-out" option - sort of like buying out a contract or paying a worker to retire early? Let's say the offer is $100,000, payable in cash, in exchange for an agreement to commit suicide within a year. The inmate could walk out of prison - with a tracking chip installed in his or her body - and have a grand spree spending the "termination bonus." When the "deadline" arrives, he would check in again for execution, or if he tried to flee, the job could be done remotely by electronic signal.

As a matter of fact, maybe a lot of inmates serving life sentences might be interested in that kind of an offer.

Just trying to save the taxpayers some money...

Dr. Karl Albrecht is an executive management consultant, futurist, lecturer, and author of more than 20 books on business strategy, organizational performance, and professional achievement. He is also a leading authority on cognitive styles and the development of advanced thinking skills. His book Practical Intelligence: the Art & Science of Common Sense, and his Mindex Thinking Style Profile are widely used in business and education. Originally a physicist, and having served as a military intelligence officer and business executive, he now consults, lectures, and writes about whatever he thinks would be fun. Visit him at http://www.KarlAlbrecht.com.

What a fantastic idea. We should address the worst position on our team. Now, which position was that again?

Why the Bucs should go Defensive Tackle with the #3 pick

[Tampa Bay, FL] (Buc 'Em)

More photos » Reinhold Matay - AP What a fantastic idea. We should address the worst position on our team. Now, which position was that again? Browse more photos » Over the last few months, we've all been discussing who the Bucs should take with the third overall pick. We've seen analysis from Craig T on the non-quarterback players expected to go in the top 5 ...

[details] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

More photos » Reinhold Matay - AP

What a fantastic idea. We should address the worst position on our team. Now, which position was that again?

Browse more photos »

Over the last few months, we've all been discussing who the Bucs should take with the third overall pick. We've seen analysis from Craig T on the non-quarterback players expected to go in the top 5, we've discussed wide receivers, tackles (both offensive and defensive), and even looked at a safety who looks like he was born to play in the Tampa 2. We've all shared our thoughts and it seems that we've settled on two players, Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy. Sure, we might debate the merits of one over the other, but it seems that as a whole, Buc 'Em readers, if not all Bucs fans agree that we have to shore up the defensive line.

The reason we all seem to settle on the defensive line is pretty simple. Our line was terrible in 2009. In fact, I'm not sure that terrible even begins to describe just how bad they were. I don't want to hate for the sake of it, but we spent much of the year complaining about getting run over, with no better example than the 4th quarter for the home game against Carolina.

And while remembering that game may be punishment enough, I want to lay out some numbers for you to show just how bad the line was in all regards. My hope is that while we will see the 2009 numbers, with the potential addition of a solid defensive tackle, we should be able to improve on these numbers.

For those of you that hate advanced statistics, I'll start with the regular, commonly accepted stats. This will provide an easy starting point and allow us to compare the line to other teams. First up we'll start with rushing yards against, as this would be where the defensive line would make the most impact. Not a perfect measure, but a starting point. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished dead last in rushing yards against, allowing a whopping 158.2 yards per game on the ground. Think about that number. 158.2. We were all but guaranteeing every starting running back a 100 yard day, and allowing the backup to have a pretty nice day also.

We were 4th in terms of average running plays against, coming in at 33.1 rushing attempts per game. If you figure approximately 65 plays per game, teams were pretty balanced against us. The Bucs also came in dead last in yards per attempt at 4.8 YPC. If a team ran it on first and second down, on average they would be less than a half yard short of a first down. It begs the question "Why would any team throw against us?" I don't have the answer to that, but it's obvious we suffered pretty badly against the run. Lastly, in terms of sacks, the Bucs totaled 28 sacks, which was good for 26th in the league, tied with Seattle and Atlanta.

No doubt you've probably attempted to put your head through a wall at this point. But save that anger for just a few minutes. It's on to the advanced stats portion. And as we jump in, remember that all of these stats don't tell the whole story, but rather give us a better look and quantifiable responses to the questions we have about the team. For those who may be just joining us, I'll provide the definition of each stat directly from FootballOutsiders, which is where these numbers are housed.

The first two stats up are Adjusted Line Yards (ALY) andRunning Backs Yards. The running back yards is standard yards per carry that we all grew up on. If you aren't familiar with how that is calculated, we'll run through a quick example. If a running back has 20 carries for 80 yards, you would divide 80 (yards) by 20 (carries), and this gives you the yards per carry (YPC) of 4.0.

Adjusted Line Yards (ALY) is a bit more complex, but not out of our grasp. To help explain it, we'll turn to FootballOutsiders.

Teams are ranked according to Adjusted Line Yards. Based on regression analysis, the Adjusted Line Yards formula takes all running back carries and assigns responsibility to the offensive line based on the following percentages:

Losses: 120% value

0-4 Yards: 100% value

5-10 Yards: 50% value

11+ Yards: 0% value

These numbers are then adjusted based on down, distance, situation, opponent, and the difference in rushing average between shotgun compared to standard formations. Finally, we normalize the numbers so that the league average for Adjusted Line Yards per carry is the same as the league average for RB yards per carry. Defensive line stats (more accurately, defensive front seven stats) represent the performance of offensive lines against each defense, adjusted for the quality of offensive opponents

In essence, this takes each running play, looks at the down, distance and situation as well as opponent and determines what portion of each run should be credited to the respective line. If a running back gains 4 yards, 100% of that value is credited to the line. The most obvious logic I can present is that the thinking is a run of 0-4 yards is due to the offensive line's ability to win or at least remain neutral in the trenches. As you get further from the line of scrimmage, it stands to reason that the running back has more say in the length of the run based on broken tackles or other moves.

We've seen where the Bucs ranked in YPC (last at 4.8), now lets see how our ALY numbers compare.For reference, the bottom figures will be the NFL average.

Rank	Team	ALY	RB Yds
28	TB	4.44	4.86
x	NFL	x	4.29

28th is better than 32nd, but doesn't exactly have me running around celebrating. In YPC we allow more than a half yard more than the league average, with the league's best run defense allowing only 3.40 YPC. That's a yard and a half of difference. Looking at ALY, we rank near the bottom of the league and a full yard worse than the best team against the run (Jets, 3.42 ALY).

Next, we turn to the short yardage situations. These are called Power Success and Stuffed percentage. We'll again turn to FO to lay our the logic and explanation of these terms.

Power Success: Percentage of runs on third or fourth down, two yards or less to go, that achieved a first down or touchdown. Also includes runs on first-and-goal or second-and-goal from the two-yard line or closer. This is the only statistic on this page that includes quarterbacks. Teams are ranked from lowest power success percentage allowed (#1) to highest power success percentage allowed (#32).

Basically, in short yardage situations, which they define, how successful are you, or in this case, how successful are teams against you. I think this is pretty easy to understand the concept. On 3rd and 2 or less, does our defensive line stop them and "defeat" the opposing offensive line.

Stuffed: Percentage of runs where the running back is tackled at or behind the line of scrimmage. Ranked from most stuffs (#1) to fewest stuffs (#32).

Again, this is that should seem somewhat transparent to all of us. If a team as a defense hits a running back and tackles him in the backfield (or at the line of scrimmage), this is termed being "stuffed".

Definitions are done, lets get to the numbers. Bucs ranking is on top, with the NFL average below.

Power	Rank	Stuffed	Rank
80%	31	14%	30
64%	x	19%	x

Oh boy. Teams are successful 4 out of 5 times against our defensive line. This should take any guesswork out of what most teams want to do against us in those short yardage situations. Couple this stat (power success) with the ALY stat from earlier andteams can just poundus on the ground on every play. You also see we fall way below average here. The NFL average comes in at 64%, which isn;t even visible from our standpoint at 80%. Washington led the league at 42%, pretty amazing.

Stuffed percentage isn't much better, though we are ranked one spot higher at 30th. 14% of running plays end at or behind the line of scrimmage. Again, well below the league average and nowhere near the 25% league leading Green Bay Packers.

Up next are the sack numbers, which will be the last set we analyze. The number of sacks is the same number all know and love. The adjusted sack rate can be explained as follows.

Teams are ranked according to adjusted sack rate, which gives sacks (plus intentional grounding penalties) per pass attempt adjusted for down, distance, and opponent.

Sacks	Rank	Sack Rate
24	28	5.80%
x	x	6.40%

Bottom of the league, here we are (again). Nothing to say other than we don't get to the quarterback enough in either quantity or frequency. This not only hurts our team, it kills the secondary as they are now asked to cover receivers for longer durations of time.

Now you can feel free to hit yourself with a heavy object. I know the numbers aren't pretty and there wasn't any reason for optimism in this post, but I think this outlines what we already know; we desperately need help on the defensive line. Without a solid front four, our linebackers and safeties will suffer. We have to upgrade the line, and we are in a perfect position to do so in the draft. Now, if I can only get this article forwarded to Dominik and company in time for Thursday's pick.

BREAKING: Jimmy Clausen, as Good as Mark Sanchez; Throws Better than Brady Quinn
[Cleveland, Cleveland, OH] (Cleveland Frowns)
Another Draft expert SAYS the Browns might want to do something, another piece of front page news. Today it's Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen, and while the NFL Network's Mike Mayock gave us more detail than Mel Kiper did on Dez Bryant in last week's stop-the-presses pronouncement, I'm not sure Mayock said a whole lot at all. Via Mary Kay Cabot in today's PD: I do think [Clausen] has the physical skill-set to be a top 10 pick the draft, similar to [Jets rookie] Mark Sanchez," Mayock s ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

Another Draft expert SAYS the Browns might want to do something, another piece of front page news. Today it's Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen, and while the NFL Network's Mike Mayock gave us more detail than Mel Kiper did on Dez Bryant in last week's stop-the-presses pronouncement, I'm not sure Mayock said a whole lot at all.

Via Mary Kay Cabot in today's PD:

I do think [Clausen] has the physical skill-set to be a top 10 pick the draft, similar to [Jets rookie] Mark Sanchez," Mayock said on a conference call Wednesday. "The question is what kind of kid is he? If you buy into him, work ethic, toughness and leadership, there's no reason not to take him. He's every bit as talented as Sanchez."
Read again: "There's no reason not to take him, IF you buy into him." Tricky.

And every bit as talented as Sanchez. Why not? Why couldn't Jimmy be good for at least a 53% completion percentage, a 63 rating and 12 touchdowns against 20 picks? He might even be able to do that on the Raiders. Clausen did after all do a lot more in college than lob the odd rainbow to wide open pass catchers in a series of 45-10 PAC-10 steamrollings, didn't he? Matt McGuire of Walter Football is worth quoting at length again here:

Clausen just amassed one of the most impressive junior seasons among pro-style quarterbacks in the past 10-20 years.

Let's remember that Clausen had a very bad offensive line this year for Notre Dame. Sure, he had good weapons, but the running game was poor and receivers Michael Floyd and Kyle Rudolph missed significant action (eight games missed total between them). . . .

Numerous times, Clausen played through pain this season. He led his team in games in crunch time, and was without a doubt the most clutch quarterback in the nation this year. . .

One statistic that can't be discussed enough is Clausen's 7:1 touchdown-interception ratio, which is absolutely unheard of among junior quarterbacks in pro-style offenses. . . .

Over the next 10 years, I fear that nearly all snaps are going to be taken out of shotgun and NFL front offices are going to be throwing darts and evaluating prospects based on physical tools only since the schemes are so easy to execute.

Clausen isn't executing an easy scheme - he is executing the toughest scheme on the national stage. Every week the camera is on him, and every week he delivered. If Notre Dame's defense was just above average, this team would have won 10 games.
It sounds impressive, more impressive than what Sanchez did in college for sure, but as McGuire admits, statistical comparison can be a tricky thing too. Execution in a pro-style offense is a plus, and Notre Dame certainly played in a lot of close games, but let's not let Notre Dame's poor defense distract us from the fact that the Irish played a pathetically weak schedule, and especially by measure of the quality of defenses faced.

McGuire compares Clausen's junior season stats to those of Peyton Manning, his brother Eli, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, Matt Stafford and Matt Ryan, to conclude that "Clausen simply blows everyone out of the water." But none of these quarterbacks played against such a series of overmatched defenses like that torn up by Clausen. And since we're talking about the big boy's league here, it's worth noting that all of these quarterbacks but Stafford are taller than the 6'3 Clausen, with Eli measuring up at 6'4, and the rest at 6'5.

But back to Mayock and what else he tells us about Clausen.

He said the major difference between Clausen and former Browns quarterback Brady Quinn -- who also learned the pro-style offense under then Irish coach Charlie Weis -- is throwing ability.

I always felt like Brady Quinn had trouble throwing the football,'" he said. "He pushed it. Brady Quinn was a big strong guy that was not a natural thrower of the ball.
So, now you know. Clausen throws better than Brady Quinn.

And since that's all we get from Mayock, let's go back to McGuire; this time in his most recent mock draft.

Holmgren has never spent a first-round pick on a quarterback. There's a reason for this. Like Bill Walsh, Holmgren firmly believes that he can take "inferior" quarterbacks and make them into really proficient passers. These "inferior" signal-callers don't have to possess a great or even a very good arm; they just need to make quick decisions, and be accurate in the short and the intermediate passing game. Clausen could absolutely thrive in Holmgren's offense, but I don't think Holmgren would be willing to spend the No. 7 overall pick on the Notre Dame product - even if he is the top quarterback prospect in this class.

While Holmgren has never used a first-round pick on a quarterback, he has spent several opening-round selections on defensive backs. If Eric Berry is available, I think we can add him to the list.
On a team with such critical holes in the secondary, Berry's addition would be hard to oppose. If the Browns decide that Clausen is the quarterback of the future, it would be hard to get worked up about that too. We need one of those here as well. But if Clausen is the choice, let's hope it won't be because he's as good as Mark Sanchez.

Another front-page news story about what a "draft expert" says about a potential first round pick of a team with so many needs, another reminder that it really is the best time of year to say, "In Holmgren (and Mangini, and Heckert) we trust."

Back with much more today, Tribe and Cavs and picks. Hope everyone's Thursday is off to a good start.
The Good-News Home Opener
[St. Louis, MO] (Viva El Birdos)
More photos » Dilip Vishwanat - Getty Images about 17 hours ago: ST. LOUIS, MO - APRIL 12: Matt Holliday #7 of the St. Louis Cardinals greets his teammates during pre-game introductions prior to playing against the Houston Astros in the home opener at Busch Stadium on April 12, 2010 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) Bro ...

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More photos » Dilip Vishwanat - Getty Images

about 17 hours ago: ST. LOUIS, MO - APRIL 12: Matt Holliday #7 of the St. Louis Cardinals greets his teammates during pre-game introductions prior to playing against the Houston Astros in the home opener at Busch Stadium on April 12, 2010 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

Browse more photos »

The perfect home opener: continued excellence from the big names, who everybody's there to see, anyway; a home run, a great play in the outfield, some flawless pitching, and a game that was brisk and never really in doubt without being a Washington Generals-style walkover. (I'm sure the weather didn't hurt, either.)

Wainwright didn't show any of the problems that tracked him through the first weeks of last season, when he walked 12 in his first three games and struggled to throw even half of his pitches for strikes; this time he came in just under 70% strikes, to go with 65% in his season debut. Through two the best part of his breakout season, that much higher strikeout rate, remains intact, as well. Wainwright's pitching was discussed at length in the game thread—this comment by indakind is definitely worth a look—but the most striking thing about the MLB video highlights is the very different curveball Wainwright was using to cut the Berkman-less Astros ribbons.

The perception one gets from watching it on TV—borne out by PitchF/X, for this one sample—is of a "tighter" curveball, but if it's a different pitch the gains aren't being paid out in velocity; it hangs around his usual curveball range. If he's throwing it as a way of maximizing his command, more power to him. (I was also impressed by the way he used his slider, increasingly the fastball in his fastball-light repertoire, as a strikeout pitch; if he's got two breaking balls that hitters can't make contact with he'll have no problem maintaining his new K/9 rate.)

As for the player that everyone comes to the home opener to see, the amazing thing is that even now, with a slugging percentage of .963, with a home run in a fifth of his at-bats, Albert Pujols is just barely ahead of the pace of the best month of his career. I can't fault him if he never exceeds that extraordinary April of 2006, where he hit .346/.509/.914, won every other game single-handedly, and gave that withering team exactly the momentum it needed to reach the postseason (and not a bit more), like a guy pushing 162 dominoes over by blowing on the first one. But it's been a great seven games so far, even as far as his great games go.

ESPN projection watch: 116 home runs, 324 RBI. (Though he'll never get the 13 doubles he needs to reach 400 at this rate.)

There are a lot of Amazing Things about Albert Pujols, but as a blogger that's my favorite—you can cut his numbers up a million ways, and ninety percent of those splits are themselves Amazing Things. As I mentioned recently in a comment thread, if he began every at-bat with a 1-2 count his career line, at current rates, would still be .278/.327/.475.

Even yesterday he was busy righting small sample size wrongs—the 31 AB Pujols had against Wandy Rodriguez were, until today, the most at-bats he'd ever gone without homering against an individual pitcher. Now it's 26, versus the sadly unreachable Roger Clemens. Of the pitchers who've gone at least 30 plate appearances against Albert Pujols, Rodriguez is the only one with an OPS-against below .837; 18 of the 30 have an OPS-against over 1.000, culminating with that classic Odalis Perez line of .609/.719/1.391, which does not look at all like a baseball statistic.

This is the burden of being Albert Pujols, and the pleasure of watching him: we expect more of him than we expect of baseball players, and in 2010, as in 2002, he's delivering.

#

Things do not look good for the Houston Astros—through seven games four of their regulars have a negative OPS+, and were it not for line-drive hitting, shortstop kind-of-playing reserve infielder Jeff Keppinger nobody would be over 100. Their Pythagorean winning percentage is .105. Roy Oswalt is pitching well but has taken two losses, everybody else is pitching badly and has taken five losses.

There are bad teams out there, but few of them outside Houston acted so like a good team in the offseason. They identified a hole or two and patched it with a decent player, like the Cardinals did with Brad Penny; the difference is that the Astros were missing a whole forest of holes for that one particular tree. When Russ Ortiz, Mike Hampton, and Brian Moehler combine to make 63 starts in one season, signing Pedro Feliz in the next is not a great long-term move.

But as Tony La Russa would tell you, over and over, one must take things a game at a time. The Astros are bad, but somebody has to lose to them, eventually.
From 10NTC: 7 Key Lessons for Integrated Multichannel Fundraising
[Nonprofit] (Connection Café)
Author: Jill Ward Multichannel is the word du jour during the NTC conference in Atlanta @10NTC, but what considerations should nonprofits make before launching the next big campaign? Megan Hawkes @CCCINews, Executive Director, Constituent Engagement at Campus Crusade for Christ, International and Dave Raley @daveraley, Director of New Media at Masterworks presented the session Case Studies in Integrated Multichannel Fundraising and did a great job of answering that question in a series of 7 les ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en
Author: Jill Ward

Multichannel is the word du jour during the NTC conference in Atlanta @10NTC, but what considerations should nonprofits make before launching the next big campaign? Megan Hawkes @CCCINews, Executive Director, Constituent Engagement at Campus Crusade for Christ, International and Dave Raley @daveraley, Director of New Media at Masterworks presented the session Case Studies in Integrated Multichannel Fundraising and did a great job of answering that question in a series of 7 lessons.

Lesson #1: Don’t forget the importance of fundraising fundamentals
Organizations need a good offer, the compelling message, the right audience, and it must be timely and relevant. One of the many great points Dave made was that donors do not give to the need; they give to the impact. So instead of asking for funds that support your need of shipping medical supplies or purchasing construction materials, focus on the impact of saving millions of lives or providing homes for hundreds of families.

Lesson #2: Pizzazz does not equal integration
Focus on what is useful, powerful and engaging. Sometimes technology can get in the way of good integration if too much emphasis is places on the features. Widgets, Flash animation, and/or abstract creative pieces can get in the way.

Lesson #3: Integrate instead of recreating – synergize what you’re already doing.
Don’t be afraid to reuse creative. Just because you’ve seen it a million times and tired of it doesn’t mean your constituency feels the same way. Once you’ve created the core content each additional piece is easier and more efficient, and actually makes it more impactful. The more times a consistent message gets in front of your audience the better — reinforces brand recognition. They also stressed the importance of integrated teams. If your development team and communication team isn’t on the same page you run the risk of duplicating effort, competing goals and priorities and confusing or diluting your brand and message.

Lesson #4: Not all channels are created equal
They broke down three different types of channels: Response vs influence vs engagement.
- Response channels drive direct measureable response and are proven methods to get results including direct mail, email and telephone.
- Influence channels influence response but not in a directly attributable way such as radio, banner advertising and print.
- Engagement channel are great at engaging and interacting, but less response driven such as social media and customer service.
Lesson #5: Measure results by campaign, not just by channel
In an integrated multichannel campaign, define your primary goal up front and determine which channels will get you there. If you the goal is direct response then your focus will be on the response channels mentioned above and you might put less emphasis on social media since that is more of an engagement mechanism. It’s important to know which channels are providing results, but we can get stuck in the granularity of channel metrics and the bigger goal takes a back seat.

Lesson #6: Use video but test
I’ve heard this statistic multiple times at NTC – YouTube is the second largest search engine next to Google. People love videos, and there has been a shift — we no longer think in words we think in pictures. That being said video does cost time and effort so be sure to test what works for you. Try various formats and styles, test length, test if there is no video at all, do you still get the same results? And an important note, you actually have to promote your video to get it seen.

Lesson #7: Don’t forget about relationships
In any integrated effort you typically have the communications team focused on the relationship and the development team focused on donor value. But the central truth in constituent engagement is you have to be balanced in those efforts to be effective. If your organization is always focused on the ask your risk donor burnout, but conversely if you’re always focused on the relationship and never make the ask, your risk rustout.
Gordon Outcoaches Martin, As Habs Flatlined By Islanders
[Montreal, Quebec] (Habs Eyes On The Prize)
I heard it rumoured on radio station CKAC early yesterday that Canadiens forward Dominic Moore had a clause in his contract, one signed with the Florida Panthers, that pays him an additional $500,000 should he help his team to the post season. That clause, as any such clauses in a contract, would be transferable to the Canadiens in the event of his trade. If this in fact is true,it would go a great length in explaining the hunger and determination by which Moore plays every single shift. As a di ...

[details] [close] received 1 year ago published 1 year ago lang: en

I heard it rumoured on radio station CKAC early yesterday that Canadiens forward Dominic Moore had a clause in his contract, one signed with the Florida Panthers, that pays him an additional $500,000 should he help his team to the post season. That clause, as any such clauses in a contract, would be transferable to the Canadiens in the event of his trade. If this in fact is true,it would go a great length in explaining the hunger and determination by which Moore plays every single shift.

As a disclaimer, I have a reason to doubt that such a contractual stipulation can still exist with the rules of the current CBA, which I believe bars such things in all or most contracts. Nevertheless, for now, I'll simply pretend that Moore's clause does exist, by way of making the following points.

On the New York Islanders team, there are currently about 15 players, most of whom were dressed against the Canadiens last night, who have no contract for next season. They too, like Moore, are hungry and determined, playing with desperation that is tied to their hockey futures. In a game that would otherwise be meanlingless to those players, other than the above stated fact, the Islander crew of castaways and potential keepers seemed better prepared for this so called nothing game, than many of the Canadiens players, looking a playoff berth square in the eye.

That is terribly concerning.

If anyone has watched the Islanders of late, they are not playing like the pre-billed patsies they were advertised to be. Since the Olympic break, they have beaten the Blackhawks, Devils, Canucks, Flames, Flyers and Senators - no light task. They are an up and coming team that includes several promising players, and what is on the line for them at this moment is that many of them wish to remain together and on NHL contracts next season.

Many players on the Canadiens side have no such contract and future concerns, they were simply playing for their playoff lives.

Now don't get me wrong, the Habs desperately wanted to clinch tonight, perhaps even more badly than anything the Islanders wanted. But at times, especially the first period (and lapses in the third), the Canadiens played as though it was already in the bag. The Islanders got the step and charged out of the gate, and for twenty minutes the Habs were likely wondering why Washington were wearing such ugly jerseys.

Point blank - Montreal were not prepared to start this game with the requisit hunger. On a team with a great many generals but no real commander, it falls to the coach to direct and prepare the troops, whip them into a frenzy.

Maybe you caught Islanders coach Scott Gordon behind the bench of his team, a ball of kinetic energy, patrolling the tight walkway space and invigorating his charges with instruction and inspiration. There seemed to be little that was imminent that decried Gordon's mannerisms, other that perhaps he really wanted the win.

There is an old ideology - I call it a bullshit spin, personally - that coaches trod out this time of year, saying that it is too late in the season to make changes and bring new ideas and plans to players and a game. While it is perhaps sensibly based in the notion that a team cannot alter its system in game number 79, it is unthinkable that bringing in particular twists or tactics of motivation will not work. Coaches often say that at such a point it falls generally on deaf ears. I don't buy it.

Another mantra that grinds at me is when coaches suggest at this time of the year that preparation is concentrated mainly on the team itself, more than the oppenents they will face on a nightly basis. If that is so, it's a sad notion to think that an opponent is taken that lightly. I don't believe it, and I'll call spin on that bluff too.

What I do suscribe to, is that a passive coach leads to a passive team, and I've ranted enough about Jacques Martin being an icicle of creative thought behind the Habs bench for weeks now.

When big games are on the line, a predictable team becomes a beatable one. A team with no options for creativity digs its own ruts, and in almost every game the Canadiens play of late, they manage to go a good stretch in which they are badly outplayed and appear dismally out of synch.

That happened from the puck drop against the perceived lowly Islanders.

One facet of hockey that will never change is that teams play differently when ahead or behind. Possibly the most unreversable statistic in hockey is that of the team scoring first having the best chances to win. Martin - a defense first coach, in denial until the end - has built his entire system around the one goal lead theory.

Think about it - when the Habs do not have a lead, what does Martin bring exactly.

Does he regularly break up a line at the expense of another, in an attempt to adjust to, or enforce the tempo of play? Is he known for shortening the bench at any given moment in order to skew the roll of lines from his counterpart?

We could ask similar questions of this type all day, but all the answers would be the same.

No, you can see Martin coming for miles. So badly that even an upstart the likes of Scott Gordon gets the better of him. It's become downright embarrassing to witness.

Perhaps you're thinking right about now, "Hey, wait a minute, the Canadiens twice regained the lead. That must be worth something?"

Yes, kudos to the Habs players for twice finding ways to pull ahead, but truly, the Canadiens are the stronger team in every regard, and should have won this game, especially with a better start.

Anyway, nevermind that they twice regained a lead, they twice blew it as well.

To examine why the Canadiens lost this game is to pay subtle attention to the smaller details that are not working among lines and defensemen.

At forward, two guys having a particularly rough go of it of late are Mike Cammalleri and Benoit Pouliot. It's not lack of effort by any means, it could just be concentration, confidence and plain bad luck. I see no valid reason for a permanent dismembering of trios, but the occasional altering may inspire and rekindle a player and a lumbering attack. It may also force the opposing coach into countering when least expected.

I've expounded on this a bit before. When the team sags a bit, why not can the third line for one rolling, and put Sergei Kostitsyn out with the Gomez line, Moore on the left of Plekanec and drop Moen down for a shift with Lapierre and Pyatt?

I understand that many fans hate the line juggling that coaches sometimes do. Perhaps they can't handle the changes without a scorecard, but if that is so, imagine how an opponent might react to different cards being played. It's what coaching is, in fact. It's a game dictated by, and react to, on the fly.

Montreal don't have line changes, they have assembly lines, the product of which goes dry when the occasional new ingredient is not added.

One of the better Habs defenders of late has been Ryan O' Byrne. It has been noted how confortable he has been of late alongside Andrei Markov, and he seems to be coming into his own on some nights. The Islander game would present a perfect opportunity for him to see some extra ice, yet he was the least used of all Canadiens defensemen with 17:59 of ice time.

Looking at the rest of the blueliners ice time reveals more than a few curiosities. Oddly, Marc - Andre Bergeron played 20:44, a little much for him, but he did come out +2 on the game. Perhaps more troubling - and the absence of Jaroslov Spacek plays into this - is that Roman Hamrlik (24:33), Josh Gorges (24:55) and Hal Gill (21:18) all had more ice time than Andrei Markov (21:09), who had two minutes eaten away by a minor penalty as did Gill.

At near twenty-five minutes, Hamrlik is out a bit much. As he receives both PP and PK time, it might be a thought to reduce some of his man advantage minutes by putting Sergei on the PP point a shift or two. It would go a great deal towards managing more appropriate minutes for Hamrlik, ageing fast and brutally burned on the Bergenheim goal.

On the Islanders side, defenseman Mark Streit played a whopping 31:31. Want to win a hockey game badly, get your best defenseman out as much as possible? How often does Markov's minutes come in so low?

It's no stretch of thought that most players perform better and are more in the game the more ice time they receive. Occasionally, that additional ice time is brought upon by circumstance, and in the Islanders case, an injury to Blake Comeau early in the game forced Gordon to roll with mainly three lines. Thus, the Isles' Tim Jackman and Trevor Gillies got much more pine time than their mates. By consequence, several Islander forwards were given extra work. Kyle Okposo played 27 plus minutes. John Tavares timed in at 23:04 and Matt Moulson at 23:07. The player scoring the crucial tying goal for the Isles, Frans Neilson played 24:54.

The lone Canadiens forward to top the 20 minute mark was Tomas Plekanec, with 21:06.

The third period was a good one for Maxim Lapierre, who scored the Canadiens third and almost potted another moments later on a breakaway. Max earned a total of 10:34 in this game, but that does not explain why Andrei Kostitsyn (17:50), Brian Gionta (16:25) and Scott Gomez (15:32) received so little in a game that had 65 minutes of play.

Seems the more this game is examined, the more it becomes apparent that it was lost for good reason. Preparation and adjustment were bungled beyond understanding.

After games, coaches will often explain such performaces by flatly sedating us with the line that the "players did not execute the game plan."

Fans deserve better answers, not one that dumb us down.

Perhaps, "Geez, coach, exactly what was that game plan, and did it invlove not using your better players at opportune times?"

It's as skewed as putting a seven goal scorer out to lead off the shootout!
Give and Let Give: Curbing the Rise Of ACL Injuries in College Football
[New England Patriots, Sports, Fantasy Football] (Bleacher Report - Front Page)
When the NFL’s Injury and Safety Panel released a report last month citing an 88 percent higher frequency of ACL injuries for players on modern synthetic surfaces—like FieldTurf—even casual football fans took the news with little surprise. In the short time that teams have been playing and practicing on surfaces like FieldTurf, the stigma of such grounds yielding a greater number of injuries to the lower extremities has already built in the popular conscious. Given the high rat ...

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When the NFL’s Injury and Safety Panel released a report last month citing an 88 percent higher frequency of ACL injuries for players on modern synthetic surfaces—like FieldTurf—even casual football fans took the news with little surprise.

In the short time that teams have been playing and practicing on surfaces like FieldTurf, the stigma of such grounds yielding a greater number of injuries to the lower extremities has already built in the popular conscious.

Given the high rate of ACL injury as a whole in college football—the Cleveland Clinic puts the probability at 16 percent during a four-year career—should universities be more cautious with plans to replace grass surfaces with artificial ones?

Schools that had long played on original AstroTurf surfaces leapt at the chance to replace such padded artificial playing fields with softer—yet still budget friendly—crumb rubber infill ones, citing an increase in player safety while still maintaining the cost-saving advantages over a grass field.

As dollars in athletic budgets have turned more scarce, many universities have started replacing grass fields—and their higher cost of maintenance—with infill surfaces whose only consistent upkeep involves repairing seams and replacing the infill pellets.

While the NFL study—which analyzed data from the 2002 to 2008 seasons—is far from definitive, it does beg a question that schools, parents, athletes, and conscientious fans should be voicing in the field surface debate:

What is the cost to the athletes?

The question is a loaded one and not easily addressed verbatim. The variant of causes between contact and non-contact, specific knee injury, age of injured, and even gender all have influence on how the discussion is framed.

Looking deeper into each of these causal factors is often complicated and counter-intuitive, but also a necessary first step in reaching intelligent consensus on the matter.

Contact Versus Non-Contact

In an article published in January of this year, Drs. Matthew Gammons and Evan Schwartz cite the number of incidences of ACL injury in the general population at roughly 200,000 per year. Of those, approximately 95,000 are ruptures of the tendon that require reconstructive surgery.

The article also cites a study by Dr. G.F. Hewson, Jr. for the American Journal of Sports Medicine concluding that a college football player has a 100-fold increase in likelihood for ACL injury when compared to the general population.

Most of the injuries—including those requiring surgery—are of the non-contact variety and have four main causes according to Dr. Guy Slowik, FCRS:

1. Planting and Cutting: The leg and body of the individual moving in one direction while the foot is planted firmly on the ground. Example: a running back making a cutback.

2. Straight Knee Landing: Occurs when the player’s foot—and corresponding weight—strikes the ground while the leg is straight and taut. Example: A receiver coming down after catching a pass.

3. One-Step-Stop Landing while Knee Hyper-extended: When the leg abruptly stops in an over-straightened position. Example: a place kicker’s plant leg. An interesting note in the NFL report was the claim that kickers are the most likely of NFL players to suffer ACL injury.

4. Pivoting and Sudden Deceleration: a combination of a rapid slow down with a plant and twist of the foot. Example: the “spin” move.

Specific Knee Injury

Of the two classes of ACL injuries mentioned above—while less frequent—the contact injury as it occurs in football is the most damaging due to the associated injuries inherent in a severe blow to the knee.

Most contact ACL injuries have complimenting ligament and meniscal tears which have greater long term affects on knee degeneration and stabilization.

The long-term success of an ACL-only reconstruction is often quoted as high as 95 percent with a six-to-nine month recovery time.

Surgeries requiring reconstruction of multiple ligaments in the knee are far less successful, with only 20 percent of patients ever reporting their knee heals to within 85 percent of pre-injury strength.

The reasons for this are not unknown. An ACL injury affects knee stabilization, specifically the ability of the knee joint to keep the tibia bone from sliding out in front of the femur. If the meniscal cartilage or collateral ligaments are also ruptured or strained, the knee looses stability at a geometric rate, not a linear one.

Put more simply, the ACL is responsible for about 90 percent of knee stabilization, but is physically incapable of supplanting the support provided by the PCL, MCL or LCL. If any of those ligaments are traumatized as well—which studies conclude happens over 60 percent of the time in a contact injury—the original amount of support the ACL provides is seldom realized.

Another study on NFL players appeared in the AJSM in November of last year supports this claim. Led by Dr. R.H. Brophy, a group of doctors examined the affects of ACL and meniscal reconstructions on the average length of an NFL player’s career.

The group found that players with only ACL reconstructions had similar number of years and games played when compared to players with no ACL surgeries. However, players that underwent reconstructive surgeries for the ACL in addition to another part of the knee had their careers and number of games played reduced by approximately 20 percent.

Age Of Patients With ACL Injuries

The problem with the studies mentioned above as they relate to the question of using modern synthetic playing surfaces for college football is that the subjects in those studies were all older than accepted developmental and growth stages.

Modern techniques for reconstructing the ACL involve drilling holes in the tibia and femur bones in the areas nearest the knee joint to place screws and bone plugs.

In adults, these areas are called the physis.

In children, they are called the growth plates.

Damage to growth plates in children can cause skeletal asymmetry, with bones growing at incorrect angles or not at all.

First quoted in the Pittsburgh Gazette , Dr. Freddie Fu tells the story of a consult he was requested on involving a 14-year-old boy approximately a year after the boy’s ACL construction:

The boy’s leg was 20 degrees out of position in the knee and a full two inches shorter than his other leg.

The most ominous part of what the NFL study concluded may not ever have affect on the game of college football. However, if the study is proven correct as more analysis is completed—given what we know about ACL injuries in children—should it not affect the use of infill surfaces at the youth level?

Municipalities are constructing and replacing youth fields with modern synthetic surfaces for much the same reason as the universities: It makes financial sense.

More kids are involved in sport than ever, and we all are well aware of the benefits children derive from being involved in athletics. With the risks involved in ACL reconstruction in still-growing children, many orthopedic surgeons are recommending that patients wait until they have approached or reached skeletal maturity to have the surgery.

Literally, that can mean a wait of three or four years during which time that young athlete is doing very little athletic.

There are non-surgical alternatives to ACL repair, but rehabilitation times are often twice that of reconstructed surgeries, and studies have shown a greater risk for long-term degenerative issues.

Moreover, non-surgical therapies often require the patient to choose a lesser activity level than the one enjoyed before the injury. While it is likely the person could jog—which requires a lower level of knee stabilization—high-impact and lateral sports are abandoned.

Gender Differences in ACL Injuries

Surprisingly, football players do not have the highest probability of ACL injury: female athletes competing in soccer or basketball are five times as likely to have a severe ACL injury then male football players.

If you think about the odd statistic from the NFL report stating that kickers are the most susceptible to ACL injury, then break down their kicking motion—deceleration, plant and kick—it is easy to understand why soccer with its higher repetition of the same motion results in so many injuries.

But the rates of ACL injury for female soccer players are also much higher than their male counterparts. In fact, rates of ACL injuries in female athletes are higher than males across the board.

Why?

There are few studies that have compiled enough data to offer definitive answers. Most of the answers given by medical practitioners still fall into the category of theory. That said, there is evidence hinting at probable causes:

1. The intercondylar notch is the groove in the femur through which the ACL passes, and has been found to be smaller in women than men. The ACL itself is also smaller.

2. The “Q Angle” refers to the angle of the femur as it approaches the knee from the hips. Anatomically, women have a wider pelvic base which causes a greater angle of descent and places more pressure on the medial aspect of the knee.

3. In men, the hamstrings play the primary role in keeping the tibia from moving forward in conjunction with the ACL; in women, the quadriceps is primary.

4. Women—although this is changing—tend to focus on one sport earlier in their careers than male athletes. Each sport uses and strengthens a different core group of muscles. Over use of a particular muscle group—especially when combined with limited development of other muscular groups—increases atrophy and prohibits rejuvenation.

5. There is a neuromuscular difference in reaction times between men and women that is thought to be a mitigating factor in sports related injuries.

There are more, but of the studies reviewed, these are the most accepted.

While the probability of ACL injury in female athletes has limited direct affect on the game of college football, it is a large part of the debate when considering the use of modern synthetic surfaces.

Additionally, the high frequency has put women’s athletic training at the forefront of preventative measures for ACL injury.

Preventative Measures

Strength programs that focus on the hamstrings and quads, lower body isometrics and even teaching proper jumping and landing technique are all programs that gained popularity in women’s sports training much earlier than they did in male athletics.

Dr. L.R. Roniger led a study published in the Journal of Biomechanics which dealt specifically with the benefits of specialized ACL training in young athletes. Roniger and his colleagues cited two training programs that—in combination—helped reduce the frequency of knee ligament injury:

1. A specialized program that focused on strengthening the knee, and

2. A larger program that focused on overall muscular development and agility of the entire lower body.

If we are to take the NFL study at face value and accept that modern synthetic playing surfaces increase the likelihood of ACL injuries, then the training programs that have been developed by women’s soccer and basketball teams to help curb injuries of this type should soon find their way to the football field.

At the very least, players, parents and coaches should be aware of the risks that playing on such surfaces entail, and of how to keep athletes best prepared to avoid injury.

Proper training is obviously the most important aspect to injury prevention, but things as simple as proper footwear affect injury rates as well. According to Dr. Gammons, “over-cleating” increases the coefficient of friction and yields a higher incidence of ACL injuries.

As athletes and coaches seek any advantage to increase performance, many turn to shoes that have large, tapered cleats around the periphery because those—they are told by manufacturers—are specifically designed to give the player the most traction.

The manufacturers are not misleading: Cleats of this type do just what they are intended to.

It just happens to be a medical fact that such cleats are the worst thing an athlete could wear on infill surfaces if they want to stay injury free.

A Little 'Give and Let Give'

Manufacturers of FieldTurf and its competitors are quick to point out the modeling flaws of the NFL report. They are right; there were conclusions drawn that can be challenged by statistical analysts.

But this is not a courtroom where a case can be tossed on a technicality, and nothing in the structure of the NFL study jeopardizes their larger consensus that playing on newer artificial surfaces increases the risk for ACL injury.

More than that, debating the metrics of the study completely misses the greater intent of what the panel—led by NY Jets Orthopedist Dr. Elliot Hershman—wanted teams, coaches and players to know:

There is a difference between grass and Field Turf, and failure to recognize and prepare for that difference is likely to get you hurt.

There are not enough studies completed to decide on fact whether or not modern synthetic surfaces are truly the root cause for the increase of ACL injuries seen in contemporary sports, much less college football.

But there are plenty of studies that show that treating such surfaces as though they play and react in the same manner as natural grass can soon put you on the operating table.

Natural grass is the safest playing surface because it will give—just a bit—when pushed.

Hopefully, coaches, parents, and athletes will learn that, in trying to get the best out of artificial turfs, the turfs are more likely to get the best of the athlete.

Jeb Williamson covers Ole Miss Football as a Featured Columnist for the Bleacher Report. He appreciates and welcomes all comments. Click here to visit a list of other articles.