Last night I attended one of those infamous "Ann Arbor" events that make this liberal college town so great. Michael Moore showed up to the Michigan Theater with his new documentary in tow, titled "Slacker Uprising," a world premiere in fact (isn't A2 special?). I appreciate that he tried to be cute and wear a Michigan hat while talking, but that only made me less willing to listen to anything he said. Mr. Moore, why are you at times actually capable of making reasonable points about the world we live in and other times completely ignorant? If only you were as committed to being one type of activist as you were to being a Democrat, I might take you more seriously.
I get it that you are pissed that Kerry lost in the election in 2004. But let it go man. You yourself admitted during your speech last night that for the last 8 years the Democrats have not put out good candidates for elected office. Then why were you so stunned when Kerry lost if you didn't think he was qualified in the first place, and also why were you shocked if you knew that historical precedent is that sitting presidents do not lose elections? This is the one major problem I had with your film. I enjoyed most of it, but I am confused at its purpose. You said that you just wanted to make a scrapbook of your slacker tour in which you tried to get young people registered to vote...but I want to know: Why were you only trying to get young people registered as Democrats?? If you believed in our Democracy, why not just get people registered to vote period? It's kind of a distortion to only want people to register for one party isn't it? I see through your claim that you weren't after anything with this movie, and in reality I see an agenda to make people so angry that Kerry didn't win in 2004, that they will go out in even greater numbers to get Senator Obama elected. I am with you in the sense that it's deplorable how low young voter participation is, but please, let them decide who to vote for on their own! It's naive of you to think that the 18-29 age group can single-handedly win the election for Obama, when he's up by 30 points in that demographic regardless of how many people vote for him. It's more stupid for you to think that this country is at heart a liberal nation. The historical pattern is that this country, for the last 40 years, has been a conservative nation, and will continue to swing in that direction. Which president caused that flip? Your hailed Democrat duo of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.
I desperately want to take you seriously, because half of the time, you are in the right to ask some of the questions that you do. But I can't justify that when you ignore the other side completely. I was taken aback that you actually admitted Obama has a few shortcomings with his policies such as health care and a few other things, and I approve of your proposals for him, 100%. I just hate that you are as close-minded as you are when it comes to some of the things that have happened over the last 4 years (Iraq war failure aside).
I close by asking that you do one thing and one thing only: apologize to Senator McCain for your remarks about his terrible experience in Vietnam. It's wrong to look back in hindsight and claim that he is somehow at fault for everything that happened there, and it's more wrong to belittle his arrest and imprisonment as being justified. It doesn't matter how you do it -- a phone call, a telegram, an email (but wait, you all claim he can't use a computer before realizing that he's physically unable to type on one due to his 5 years of torture and having his hands and arms broken repeatedly) -- if you really want the democratic elections and therefore society that you claim have been taken away, don't become the very antithesis of what you want to preach to young people. To believe in America is to respect those that disagree with you, and I hope your Michigan State education at least taught you that much.
19 September 2008
Thoughts About Thomas Friedman
The other day, I finally got to see Thomas Friedman speak in person. He gave the keynote address to the Washtenaw Economic Club a few miles down the road from Ann Arbor on Eastern Michigan's campus on September 18th, and it was great. He was mainly promoting his new book, "Hot Flat and Crowded," but it's still amazing to hear his ideas come from his mouth instead of his pen. Feeling somewhat inspired, I decided to write an Op-Ed that ended up not being published in the Daily (perhaps because it was too dang long) So here it is:
Our E.T. Revolution
As I sat in my idling SUV in traffic attempting to exit from Eastern Michigan’s Convocation Center yesterday, I took note of the types of cars around me. At least half out of every ten cars I counted in this traffic jam were fellow SUV’s. I finally got out to the street, and a mile down the road, I drove by a gas station with an evil-looking bright green sign displaying $4.19 gasoline. Sitting in traffic reminded me: Thomas Friedman is so right.
The New York Times columnist and author of his new book, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded” addressed the Washtenaw Economic Club yesterday, making the case – a plea really – that the United States finally do something about its shortcomings in the search for alternative energy. “If you name an issue, you own it,” Friedman said. Why shouldn’t it be America who takes the lead, takes ownership of solving the problems in this new green energy technology revolution, the successor to the information technology revolution of the early part of this decade? America used to enjoy being the best at everything, but circa 2001, America only wanted to be the best at fighting terrorism. What happened? Why does our government not challenge its citizens anymore to excel at something that serves a greater good?
In the Fifties, we were competing with the Soviet Union to have the most tanks, the biggest missiles, the first moon landing. President Bush doesn’t realize that we’re competing with China, Russia, India, Japan and Latin America to break dependence on fossil fuels in order to survive. “Where would Michigan State be without Michigan? Where would Wayne State be without Eastern Michigan?” Friedman asked. Where is America going to be in 2030 unless it wakes up and gets in the game? We are losing the fight to save our own future, and the rest of the world is going to be waving at us from atop the mountain of energy independence. It’s up to the government to allow America, and subsequently the University, to also climb that mountain, and it isn’t as difficult as it sounds.
In short, Friedman’s claim is that the world is (1) hotter (2) flatter and (3) more crowded than it’s ever been. The planet’s temperature has risen by 0.8 degrees above the normal levels recorded pre-industrial revolution as a result of carbon dioxide emissions, and temperatures will become dangerously high in the next hundred years. Combine that with the following two facts: The UN has data that says by 2053 the world’s population will have increased by the number of people that inhabited the planet in 1953 (2.6 billion) to a global population of 9 billion. Second, all of those people will have access to the global economy, and will need energy to power their computers and iPods. That’s a big challenge to come up with lightbulbs for that number of people, and for America’s part, we don’t have the capacity for it, nor should we expect to get very far with our current infrastructure. Michigan is powered primarily by coal, with one nuclear plant and natural gas power. Would we be able to support a million people suddenly moving to Detroit, in need of power for their homes? Maybe. How about if they all showed up within the next five years, and oil was at $200 a barrel? That’s the urgency we face, and the solution is to use what we already have (creativity) coupled with what we don’t (an enabling government instead of an anti-enabling one).
People began filing out when Friedman explained the economics of what needs to happen, but it’s not that different than what is happening now: American consumer goods are being outmatched by cheaper, better-made goods from China. The same goes for energy: America can’t expect to own the rights to the energy technology revolution if it can’t even scale its prices. And the Bush administration is responsible for this gap. Bush claims to believe in the market, as he says every time the stock market dips, but where on our markets is there affordable commodities such as solar cells, wind turbines and electric car batteries? There’s no scale, and thus no competition against Chinese manufacturers. Government is the enabler of competition when it reformats the market to handle a new industry, just as it did when it reformatted regulations on e-commerce for the dot com boom. This is no different: Encouraging research and development of technology that’s green doesn’t start with an end-product. It doesn’t start with Republicans shouting, “Drill Baby Drill!” at their convention. It starts with a market that is able to handle twenty different producers of a battery as opposed to one foreign producer that charges half the price and the sooner the government changes regulations, the quicker I don’t feel so bad for sitting in traffic for ten minutes in my car burning off five dollars worth of gasoline.
University President Mary Sue Coleman said at the close of Friedman’s speech that it is the state of Michigan’s charge to encourage more students to enter into fields of science and engineering, so that it is Michigan students that come up with the next great green technology, using their creativity to “Invent Baby Invent!” as Friedman put it as opposed to the 20th century American solution of putting it off for another ten years (case-in-point: General Motors unveiling of the Chevrolet Volt electric car last week, seven years after the invention of the Toyota Prius). The two-year old University Research Corridor could be working so much more intensely on this issue, if it only had the necessary federal funding to do so. More students would be getting engineering degrees if Governor Granholm would simply say, “OK, if you want to get a science degree, the state will pay for it.”
Our university can make this our issue, and with some help from the government, the University and the state, can do what so many have not wanted to do for so long: lead. I hope every person leaving the arena was thinking about how to do that as they hopped into their SUVs and sat in that same traffic jam that made me remember just how right Tom Friedman is, and how wrong our government has been.
Our E.T. Revolution
As I sat in my idling SUV in traffic attempting to exit from Eastern Michigan’s Convocation Center yesterday, I took note of the types of cars around me. At least half out of every ten cars I counted in this traffic jam were fellow SUV’s. I finally got out to the street, and a mile down the road, I drove by a gas station with an evil-looking bright green sign displaying $4.19 gasoline. Sitting in traffic reminded me: Thomas Friedman is so right.
The New York Times columnist and author of his new book, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded” addressed the Washtenaw Economic Club yesterday, making the case – a plea really – that the United States finally do something about its shortcomings in the search for alternative energy. “If you name an issue, you own it,” Friedman said. Why shouldn’t it be America who takes the lead, takes ownership of solving the problems in this new green energy technology revolution, the successor to the information technology revolution of the early part of this decade? America used to enjoy being the best at everything, but circa 2001, America only wanted to be the best at fighting terrorism. What happened? Why does our government not challenge its citizens anymore to excel at something that serves a greater good?
In the Fifties, we were competing with the Soviet Union to have the most tanks, the biggest missiles, the first moon landing. President Bush doesn’t realize that we’re competing with China, Russia, India, Japan and Latin America to break dependence on fossil fuels in order to survive. “Where would Michigan State be without Michigan? Where would Wayne State be without Eastern Michigan?” Friedman asked. Where is America going to be in 2030 unless it wakes up and gets in the game? We are losing the fight to save our own future, and the rest of the world is going to be waving at us from atop the mountain of energy independence. It’s up to the government to allow America, and subsequently the University, to also climb that mountain, and it isn’t as difficult as it sounds.
In short, Friedman’s claim is that the world is (1) hotter (2) flatter and (3) more crowded than it’s ever been. The planet’s temperature has risen by 0.8 degrees above the normal levels recorded pre-industrial revolution as a result of carbon dioxide emissions, and temperatures will become dangerously high in the next hundred years. Combine that with the following two facts: The UN has data that says by 2053 the world’s population will have increased by the number of people that inhabited the planet in 1953 (2.6 billion) to a global population of 9 billion. Second, all of those people will have access to the global economy, and will need energy to power their computers and iPods. That’s a big challenge to come up with lightbulbs for that number of people, and for America’s part, we don’t have the capacity for it, nor should we expect to get very far with our current infrastructure. Michigan is powered primarily by coal, with one nuclear plant and natural gas power. Would we be able to support a million people suddenly moving to Detroit, in need of power for their homes? Maybe. How about if they all showed up within the next five years, and oil was at $200 a barrel? That’s the urgency we face, and the solution is to use what we already have (creativity) coupled with what we don’t (an enabling government instead of an anti-enabling one).
People began filing out when Friedman explained the economics of what needs to happen, but it’s not that different than what is happening now: American consumer goods are being outmatched by cheaper, better-made goods from China. The same goes for energy: America can’t expect to own the rights to the energy technology revolution if it can’t even scale its prices. And the Bush administration is responsible for this gap. Bush claims to believe in the market, as he says every time the stock market dips, but where on our markets is there affordable commodities such as solar cells, wind turbines and electric car batteries? There’s no scale, and thus no competition against Chinese manufacturers. Government is the enabler of competition when it reformats the market to handle a new industry, just as it did when it reformatted regulations on e-commerce for the dot com boom. This is no different: Encouraging research and development of technology that’s green doesn’t start with an end-product. It doesn’t start with Republicans shouting, “Drill Baby Drill!” at their convention. It starts with a market that is able to handle twenty different producers of a battery as opposed to one foreign producer that charges half the price and the sooner the government changes regulations, the quicker I don’t feel so bad for sitting in traffic for ten minutes in my car burning off five dollars worth of gasoline.
University President Mary Sue Coleman said at the close of Friedman’s speech that it is the state of Michigan’s charge to encourage more students to enter into fields of science and engineering, so that it is Michigan students that come up with the next great green technology, using their creativity to “Invent Baby Invent!” as Friedman put it as opposed to the 20th century American solution of putting it off for another ten years (case-in-point: General Motors unveiling of the Chevrolet Volt electric car last week, seven years after the invention of the Toyota Prius). The two-year old University Research Corridor could be working so much more intensely on this issue, if it only had the necessary federal funding to do so. More students would be getting engineering degrees if Governor Granholm would simply say, “OK, if you want to get a science degree, the state will pay for it.”
Our university can make this our issue, and with some help from the government, the University and the state, can do what so many have not wanted to do for so long: lead. I hope every person leaving the arena was thinking about how to do that as they hopped into their SUVs and sat in that same traffic jam that made me remember just how right Tom Friedman is, and how wrong our government has been.
20 August 2008
Far Cry 2 Editor Makes Me happy
Just found this over on IGN. The narrator's voice alone makes me want to buy the game. Even though I'm sure that voice doesn't appear anywhere. A better editor than Halo 3's Forge? Possibly.
31 July 2008
And We're Back (again)
We here in Ann Arbor are inside one month until college football starts up again, and more importantly, one month until the vale of secrecy is lifted from the Michigan football program, and we see what the heck Rich Rodriguez (hereto known as "RichRod") has been doing for the past eight months.
Anywho, let's get to some of the great material coming out of the media about the Wolverines:
Oh How I Hate...Mark Schlabach has written a couple ESPN.com articles citing Ohio State as the most hated team in college football, and therefore the most hated team in the Big(11)Ten. Surprise: Michigan is number six!?? I'm actually sort of proud of that, because under Lloyd, no one feared that helmet towards the end of the year. What a difference a new coach and a thumping of Gator Nation makes. Writer Adam Rittenberg also cites the (gasp!) UM-OSU rivalry as Big(11)Ten's best, with UM-MSU in a distant second (?). It's also too early to predict games, but he says OSU by seven points on Nov. 22...
Hungry Hungry From the Big Ten media day in Chi-town: one notable snippet from Rich Rod in an AP story:
"We lost a lot of talent offensively," Rodriguez said. "When you're young, you're hungry. A hungry player is fun to watch."
Hoping they get along John Borton on Rivals.com examines what this new Michigan team could feel like.
RichRod quoted: "Obviously, if a call doesn't go your way, you're going to be upset," he acknowledged. "I used to yell a lot in my younger years as a coach, but then I figured out that they're not going to listen to you anyway. Now, with 100,000-some [in the stands], they're not going to hear you, so why scream and yell?"
Borton says: Just a guess here – he's not going to placidly fidget with his headset and hum "Hang On Sloopy" all the way to November.
Roster! RichRod put out the roster, but no depth chart...guess we'll have to wait and see who comes on the field on August 30th. Roster here. Steven Threet will be the QB, per some Michigan Daily reporting. I'm sort of encouraged by the kind of potential this guy has, I mean, he's gigantic, wants to play after never getting a shot at Georgia Tech, and won't become a John Navarre with Rodriguez in charge. Wide receivers should be adequate, and could fit the spread even better than Manningham/Arrington would have, since each of these guys are likely faster than those two. Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown I'm hoping will split time, because both have strengths that the other doesn't, and some seem to think Mark Moundros is getting the nod over Vince Helmuth, one of my favorite recruits of last year...ugh. I'm really excited about the defense, with Brandon Harrison, Morgan Trent and Donovan Warren leading the group. I expect lots of plays being made, and with a little luck, even the special teams could be good with some of these guys returning kicks/punts. And last but not least, Zoltan will rule all with his bionic leg making it impossible for opposing teams to ever have decent field position.
One last thing: I'd like to point out something that is a microcosm of Michigan's staleness before Rodriguez took over. Here is a collection of the previous coaching staff's pictures. Do any of those guys look like they ever adapt to anything or recognize that they squander talent? Especially linebacker coach Steve Szabo. How old was that guy!?!? Or Mike Gittleson the conditioning coach...he looks like an alcoholic!!
Now look at Rodriguez's coaches and conditioning staff. Big difference, right? First there are about half as many guys total than Lloyd's entire coaching staff, so I wonder if the sidelines will seem less populated this season. Calvin McGee looks like he ate Mike DeBord, Scott Shafer looks like he killed Jim Hermann and took his glasses, and Tony Gibson stares into my soul. And of course we all know the legend of Mike Barwis: here, here, here, and here and below:
New Michigan Strength Coach Mike Barwis
Anywho, let's get to some of the great material coming out of the media about the Wolverines:
Oh How I Hate...Mark Schlabach has written a couple ESPN.com articles citing Ohio State as the most hated team in college football, and therefore the most hated team in the Big(11)Ten. Surprise: Michigan is number six!?? I'm actually sort of proud of that, because under Lloyd, no one feared that helmet towards the end of the year. What a difference a new coach and a thumping of Gator Nation makes. Writer Adam Rittenberg also cites the (gasp!) UM-OSU rivalry as Big(11)Ten's best, with UM-MSU in a distant second (?). It's also too early to predict games, but he says OSU by seven points on Nov. 22...
Hungry Hungry From the Big Ten media day in Chi-town: one notable snippet from Rich Rod in an AP story:
"We lost a lot of talent offensively," Rodriguez said. "When you're young, you're hungry. A hungry player is fun to watch."
Hoping they get along John Borton on Rivals.com examines what this new Michigan team could feel like.
RichRod quoted: "Obviously, if a call doesn't go your way, you're going to be upset," he acknowledged. "I used to yell a lot in my younger years as a coach, but then I figured out that they're not going to listen to you anyway. Now, with 100,000-some [in the stands], they're not going to hear you, so why scream and yell?"
Borton says: Just a guess here – he's not going to placidly fidget with his headset and hum "Hang On Sloopy" all the way to November.
Roster! RichRod put out the roster, but no depth chart...guess we'll have to wait and see who comes on the field on August 30th. Roster here. Steven Threet will be the QB, per some Michigan Daily reporting. I'm sort of encouraged by the kind of potential this guy has, I mean, he's gigantic, wants to play after never getting a shot at Georgia Tech, and won't become a John Navarre with Rodriguez in charge. Wide receivers should be adequate, and could fit the spread even better than Manningham/Arrington would have, since each of these guys are likely faster than those two. Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown I'm hoping will split time, because both have strengths that the other doesn't, and some seem to think Mark Moundros is getting the nod over Vince Helmuth, one of my favorite recruits of last year...ugh. I'm really excited about the defense, with Brandon Harrison, Morgan Trent and Donovan Warren leading the group. I expect lots of plays being made, and with a little luck, even the special teams could be good with some of these guys returning kicks/punts. And last but not least, Zoltan will rule all with his bionic leg making it impossible for opposing teams to ever have decent field position.
One last thing: I'd like to point out something that is a microcosm of Michigan's staleness before Rodriguez took over. Here is a collection of the previous coaching staff's pictures. Do any of those guys look like they ever adapt to anything or recognize that they squander talent? Especially linebacker coach Steve Szabo. How old was that guy!?!? Or Mike Gittleson the conditioning coach...he looks like an alcoholic!!
Now look at Rodriguez's coaches and conditioning staff. Big difference, right? First there are about half as many guys total than Lloyd's entire coaching staff, so I wonder if the sidelines will seem less populated this season. Calvin McGee looks like he ate Mike DeBord, Scott Shafer looks like he killed Jim Hermann and took his glasses, and Tony Gibson stares into my soul. And of course we all know the legend of Mike Barwis: here, here, here, and here and below:
New Michigan Strength Coach Mike Barwis
30 April 2008
01 April 2008
Rolling Stone Retrospective
Check out Rolling Stone magazine's memorable political covers dating back to November 1968
Now if only they had included all the cover stories....
Now if only they had included all the cover stories....
28 March 2008
GTA IV Content Onslaught
Tomorrow marks the one month countdown until Grand Theft Auto IV.
More tidbits will be posted on occasion, and first up is the widget I found:
And the final trailer, which has convinced me that the game will indeed look excellent:
More tidbits will be posted on occasion, and first up is the widget I found:
And the final trailer, which has convinced me that the game will indeed look excellent:
27 February 2008
Election 2008 = Season 7 of the West Wing
Slate Magazine provides an eery comparison between the last season of my favorite show and the potential McCain-Obama general election of 2008:
19 February 2008
Ed Murrow would be proud
One doesn't run into genuinely stirring editorials on cable news very much, but take a look at this thrashing of the FISA bill that Keith Olbermann did on his show last week.
09 January 2008
Election '08 Rolls On
I am dialed into the Democratic and Republican elections at last. It took awhile to ignite interest in this election, but I have realized that it is completely up in the air as we head toward February 5th, and I am glad for that. The 2004 election was thoroughly uninteresting because it was Bush against whoever the Democrats picked out of a hat. This one, on the other hand, is anyone's to win.
Let's see if my analysis makes sense here. We've had Huckabee win Iowa, because he worked hard for it, by talking with the people there and identifying with them. We've had a black man that can be utterly inspiring at times win that same state. And now in New Hampshire a man that I am pulling for proved he can be the Republican front-runner, and a woman won a presidential primary because she mobilized single women who had not previously cared to vote.
Now, Hillary has a slight advantage in total delegates for the nomination over Obama. Romney has a slight lead over Huckabee, with McCain gaining momentum daily. Obama will win Nevada because he got the Culinary Union endorsement just today (helpful for a caucus because they can patrol around the state and tell people how great Obama is), and if Hillary can make a strong case in South Carolina (An Edwards lock) and Florida, the race will continue all the way until Edwards gives up and supports Obama, giving him a 20% boost. For the GOP, Romney and Giuliani are discovering that only pockets of people like them, so I see it as a two man race between McCain and Huckabee. If McCain wins Michigan next Tuesday, he can win the nomination, because that tells me most of the Midwest would follow Michigan.
Prediction: Obama vs. McCain
Let's see if my analysis makes sense here. We've had Huckabee win Iowa, because he worked hard for it, by talking with the people there and identifying with them. We've had a black man that can be utterly inspiring at times win that same state. And now in New Hampshire a man that I am pulling for proved he can be the Republican front-runner, and a woman won a presidential primary because she mobilized single women who had not previously cared to vote.
Now, Hillary has a slight advantage in total delegates for the nomination over Obama. Romney has a slight lead over Huckabee, with McCain gaining momentum daily. Obama will win Nevada because he got the Culinary Union endorsement just today (helpful for a caucus because they can patrol around the state and tell people how great Obama is), and if Hillary can make a strong case in South Carolina (An Edwards lock) and Florida, the race will continue all the way until Edwards gives up and supports Obama, giving him a 20% boost. For the GOP, Romney and Giuliani are discovering that only pockets of people like them, so I see it as a two man race between McCain and Huckabee. If McCain wins Michigan next Tuesday, he can win the nomination, because that tells me most of the Midwest would follow Michigan.
Prediction: Obama vs. McCain
16 December 2007
Michigan Strikes it Rich
Michigan football fans are performing Mexican Hat Dances in the snow-covered streets of Ann Arbor this afternoon, because Rich Rodriguez has been hired! He met with Bill Martin and Mary Sue Coleman in Toledo on Friday, and took part of the weekend to mull over the offer that was on the table. Apparently the offer was so good Rodriguez couldn't pass it up, which leads me to believe that he'll be making at least $3 mil a year and probably has control over who he hires to be his assistants, some incentives for getting to the BCS, scholarships for his kids, a house, who knows.
Before we pat Bill Martin on the back, though, it seems that it may not have been him who inked RR...Mary Sue Coleman has been rumored to be the one who took control of this coaching search and went after RR. So perhaps the next step is to send Sailboat Bill off into the sunset...
More exciting for the football program, though, is the kind of players who could be wearing the winged helmet next year. The fact that Les Miles was not hired means that Sam McGuffie, the top running back in the nation, won't decommit, and now Rivals.com is reporting that Terrelle Pryor, the #1 QB prospect in the nation, who was set to go to West Virginia, is considering Michigan now. Michigan may finally bring the spread offense back, or at least a reincarnation of it. Additionally, if RR has control over who his assistants are, that means Mike DeBord will be canned, and perhaps he would grab John Tenuta from Ga. Tech to replace Ron English, which Les Miles was going to do were he hired.
I'm changing my tune that Miles was the best fit...there was no indication that he would have given the football program the drastic overhaul it needed, maybe just in pockets. He's also 54, and RR is 44...and I don't think he could get the kind of recruits Rodriguez will be able to with a block M on his shirt.
Before we pat Bill Martin on the back, though, it seems that it may not have been him who inked RR...Mary Sue Coleman has been rumored to be the one who took control of this coaching search and went after RR. So perhaps the next step is to send Sailboat Bill off into the sunset...
More exciting for the football program, though, is the kind of players who could be wearing the winged helmet next year. The fact that Les Miles was not hired means that Sam McGuffie, the top running back in the nation, won't decommit, and now Rivals.com is reporting that Terrelle Pryor, the #1 QB prospect in the nation, who was set to go to West Virginia, is considering Michigan now. Michigan may finally bring the spread offense back, or at least a reincarnation of it. Additionally, if RR has control over who his assistants are, that means Mike DeBord will be canned, and perhaps he would grab John Tenuta from Ga. Tech to replace Ron English, which Les Miles was going to do were he hired.
I'm changing my tune that Miles was the best fit...there was no indication that he would have given the football program the drastic overhaul it needed, maybe just in pockets. He's also 54, and RR is 44...and I don't think he could get the kind of recruits Rodriguez will be able to with a block M on his shirt.
15 December 2007
Michigan coaching search = trying to get a date in high school
The University of Michigan football program, at the hands of AD Bill Martin, is becoming a laughing stock in college football. All of us here in Ann Arbor have had our chains jerked around since November 19th, and I can't take it anymore. Sailboat Bill led us to believe Les Miles was coming here, but in reality listened to Lloyd and screwed up the pursuit. Then we had hopes that Greg Schiano was "the guy," yet rejected Billy's offer of $2 million. Wonder why...not that he had a brand new mansion of a house and a program that he himself built or anything. Our hopes spiked again when Billy and Mary Sue actually talked to Miles on the phone, but again they didn't just flat-out say "We want you to be the next coach."
I don't believe for an instant that WVU's Rich Rodriguez is a legit candidate. People think he could just magically turn Ryan Mallet into a Pat White and recruit speed players to place around him, but I think if Martin was serious about hiring him, he would have done so. $4 million is a ludicrous buyout, and MGoBlog has a rumor that he's for sure staying put.
This whole thing reminds me of High School. Les Miles is the cheerleader captain, and we were too shy to ask him out, and only spoke through a proxy, with the overprotective father watching over the whole thing (LSU AD Skip Bertman). So we got rejected, and went after the girl no one was foolish enough to ask out (Schiano), and got rejected again. And now it appears we've been rejected by the crazy girl (Rodriguez) because she just liked to lead us on and then rip our heart out. So what happens is Bill Martin is spending prom night alone in his basement 'cause no one taught him how to ask the dreamgirl out, and will get the pity date to homecoming (Ron English).
My prediction? If there's no hire by the National Championship game it's been Miles all along and the next day he's introduced as coach. He's a smart dude, I think he's handled this beautifully.
I don't believe for an instant that WVU's Rich Rodriguez is a legit candidate. People think he could just magically turn Ryan Mallet into a Pat White and recruit speed players to place around him, but I think if Martin was serious about hiring him, he would have done so. $4 million is a ludicrous buyout, and MGoBlog has a rumor that he's for sure staying put.
This whole thing reminds me of High School. Les Miles is the cheerleader captain, and we were too shy to ask him out, and only spoke through a proxy, with the overprotective father watching over the whole thing (LSU AD Skip Bertman). So we got rejected, and went after the girl no one was foolish enough to ask out (Schiano), and got rejected again. And now it appears we've been rejected by the crazy girl (Rodriguez) because she just liked to lead us on and then rip our heart out. So what happens is Bill Martin is spending prom night alone in his basement 'cause no one taught him how to ask the dreamgirl out, and will get the pity date to homecoming (Ron English).
My prediction? If there's no hire by the National Championship game it's been Miles all along and the next day he's introduced as coach. He's a smart dude, I think he's handled this beautifully.
07 December 2007
Catalogue of Columns
Now that our Fall publishing period is at and end, I have decided to post links to each of the columns I wrote this semester. No matter what I write about, there's always someone out there that finds something wrong with what I say...even though it may not even be an issue where there is two sides. There's still a lot I want to write about, and focusing more on a critical look at the University at that. I feel that as a soon-to-be graduate, I should voice some concerns I have over where I see this place going, because right now I don't like it.
Leadership in Iraq
Where's the real GOP?
A Hail Mary for the Big House
The cause of our time
Talk that Matters
Marketing machine
Comcastic-ally upsetting
Leadership in Iraq
Where's the real GOP?
A Hail Mary for the Big House
The cause of our time
Talk that Matters
Marketing machine
Comcastic-ally upsetting
01 July 2007
Who is taking my order now?
I'd now like to start an ongoing series of posts, telling of my experiences in the globalized world. Working for an internationally-known company now, I feel like I'm right in the middle of globalization now. But I never thought I'd experience it at the drive-thru window ordering breakfast.
Yesterday morning on my way out of town, I pull into McDonald's to order breakfast, and the woman on the speaker greets me, only she has this really thick Indian accent. "Hmm, that's new, I don't remember hearing her a this one before," I thought. I pull around to pay, and to my surprise the girl at the window isn't Indian so I was confused. "Where did the Indian woman go from the time I completed my order to when I pulled around to pay?!?"
Here is the answer to my perplexion. McDonald's has begun to outsource its drive-thru operations to call centers around the country and in India!! USA Today story on this new business strategy
Quick, someone send Thomas L. Friedman to investigate!
Yesterday morning on my way out of town, I pull into McDonald's to order breakfast, and the woman on the speaker greets me, only she has this really thick Indian accent. "Hmm, that's new, I don't remember hearing her a this one before," I thought. I pull around to pay, and to my surprise the girl at the window isn't Indian so I was confused. "Where did the Indian woman go from the time I completed my order to when I pulled around to pay?!?"
Here is the answer to my perplexion. McDonald's has begun to outsource its drive-thru operations to call centers around the country and in India!! USA Today story on this new business strategy
Quick, someone send Thomas L. Friedman to investigate!
14 February 2007
Change of Pace
In an effort to have a wide range of material on this thing, I'll start posting video game news as well. But not yet. First I must gush about how wonderful "Gears of War" for the Xbox 360 is. I got it off eBay the other day for $20 and it is probably the most fun game I've played since Halo. There's something to be said for rushing up to a drooling, snarling locust monster and slicing through him with a chainsaw...
09 February 2007
America's Anchors
I don't really have anything new, so enjoy this Rolling Stone piece written by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times. It's several months old, but it makes me laugh:
Stewart/Colbert Ultimateness
Stewart/Colbert Ultimateness
06 February 2007
Super Bowl Recap
Super Bowl Sunday is most certainly one of the best days of the year. It's one of those times where you feel like you're watching the same thing that every other person in America is watching, and the day after it's the only thing people talk about at the office, in school, on the news, and so on. I was a little skeptical of CBS having the super bowl coverage this year, because I'm a fan of FOX's NFL coverage, but CBS did pretty well. The only things that took away from the broadcast a little bit was CBS advertising its own shit constantly, and Phil Simms acting like a dumbass (my favorite comment of his was when he made some obvious observation about the Colts trying to win), and the CBS camera guys had a problem with not cleaning their dang camera lenses off since it was raining so hard. They couldn't have asked for a better game though in my opinion. The first quarter was amazing and it was a relatively close game up until the last 10 or so minutes. At one point my friends and I started up a chant: "Brian Griese! *clap clap clap clap clap* Brian Griese! since Bears QB Rex Grossman was making some really stupid decisions.
Anyhoo, the commericals were pretty great as well; my favorites were the CareerBuilder.com and Coke ads. The halftime show was also very good, Prince rocked the joint. I kinda wanted him to play 1999 but playing Purple Rain in a South Beach rainstorm seemed way more appropriate. I was perplexed by a report I saw on the news this evening that when Prince was riffing on his guitar behind that giant flapping screen, that it was meant to be a giant condom and that part of his "male/female" symbol guitar that curves outward, when silhouetted, looked like a penis!? WTF!? Some people read into this stuff waaaay too much! I'll post the story as soon as I find it. In the meantime:
Watch the Super Bowl Ads!
Prince being ultimate
ESPN SB XLI Central
*One more thing: What the heck was with the Colts fans? Not only were there like none of them there, but they weren't loud, not even when their team won!
Anyhoo, the commericals were pretty great as well; my favorites were the CareerBuilder.com and Coke ads. The halftime show was also very good, Prince rocked the joint. I kinda wanted him to play 1999 but playing Purple Rain in a South Beach rainstorm seemed way more appropriate. I was perplexed by a report I saw on the news this evening that when Prince was riffing on his guitar behind that giant flapping screen, that it was meant to be a giant condom and that part of his "male/female" symbol guitar that curves outward, when silhouetted, looked like a penis!? WTF!? Some people read into this stuff waaaay too much! I'll post the story as soon as I find it. In the meantime:
Watch the Super Bowl Ads!
Prince being ultimate
ESPN SB XLI Central
*One more thing: What the heck was with the Colts fans? Not only were there like none of them there, but they weren't loud, not even when their team won!
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