Math is a difference of opinion...

This is unbelievable. I can feel his frustration with the fact that these people are idiots and there's nothing he can do...



UPDATE:
So apparently this from a few years ago. You can follow the sequence of events here. With perhaps the best reply here from xkcd.

Sports Perfection Can't Last Forever

So, my the great run of my favorite sports teams had to end at some point, and that was yesterday when UConn beat the crap out of Louisville. More on that in a minute.

1) Steelers win the Super Bowl!

So I went to a CHEGA (Chem Eng Grad Assoc) Super Bowl party decked out in my 1980's Steelers knit cap (complete with poof ball on top), Greg Lloyd jersey, and Starter Steelers windbreaker (the last two from my high school days). j and I were the only ones with team colors and an active cheering interest in the game at the party but it was lots of fun.

I don't know about the greatest Super Bowl ever, but it was a great 4th quarter and the return by Harrison has definitely the best defensive play I've ever seen in a Super Bowl. It was great to see Roethlisberger lead the Steelers back in the 4th quarter as he had several times this year (just ask the Ravens, Cowboys, and Chargers). It was also nice to see him pick a secondary apart in that drive as much as he did my Louisville Cardinals in the 2003 GMAC Bowl.

2) The Kurt Warner Fumble

I was surprise during the game that the play wasn't reviewed on the field, but I thought it was a fumble. I just figured they'd take a look in order to make it look good. They didn't, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that there are now all these conspiracy theories on how the NFL phoned it in for the Steelers.

First of all, if they had phoned it in for the Steelers, then the first TD would not have been called back and they would not have called a holding penalty in the endzone. Secondly, it was reviewed in the booth, by a veteran (retired on-field NFL official) official, whom I have met several times, during a long break between the plays due to the change of possession and the administering of the celebration penalty, he just determined that it was a fumble and didn't buzz the on-field crew. Nothing wrong with that, just would have looked better if they had look at it on the field to confirm.

Then I come home to this shit:

It was obvious even at full speed that his arm was going forward. I hate to be the “NO ONE CAN DISPUTE THIS!” guy, but honestly, no one can dispute this.

It is very easy to dispute. The VP of NFL Officiating, Mark Pereira, actually does a great job discussing that play and several others (like explaining how the officials missed the celebration using the ball as a prop). Basically, you see the ball shift in his hand when Woodley hits Warner. Even though his arm moves forward and the ball goes in the same direction, doesn't mean he has control anymore. More like a basketball pass (at least for me since I can't palm a ball).

It should have been reviewed, but the call would not have changed.

3) Louisville finally lost again last night to a UConn team that was way better. It was TWill and 4 guys playing like I would against a 7'3" center, clueless. I read some fans complaining about the discrepancy in fouls, but when you settle for forced, fadeaway, outside jumpers instead of attacking the rim, you are not going to get fouled. Louisville is still a flawed team, since we can't shoot all that well, and we're relying on so much youth in the post.

I'd like Scott Padgett to teach Samardo Samuals his jump hook while leaning into the shot blocker to take away the space that a shot blocker needs to operate. Padgett was only 2 inches taller than SamSam, but had far superior footwork and post moves. Then again, Padgett was raised by a basketball coach and Samardo has been playing organized ball about 5 years.

TWill still looks great. Clark still looks like he's trying to discover what he does best. I had hoped he figured it out during the NCAA Tournament run he had last year, but he still needs work. He had one really good drop step move yesterday, didn't finish, mostly he settled for long range jump shots.

Oh well, enough for now. I'm going to bed.

Iconic Photos in Louisville Sports

I've kind of had the goal of making a tribute poster/display of the quintessential Louisville athletes. It would include these. I'm open to suggestions.

Ali (Clay at the time)-Liston

Best sports picture of all time. If you ever see the video, his arm is only in that position for an instant as he's yelling at Liston to get up. The picture caught Ali as both the amazing physical being and the world's greatest trash talker.

Secretariat at the Belmont

I don't know what I like more, the jockey taking a peak at the splits on the clock to see if he is going to take the record (he did) or the announcer's "...he is moving like a tremendous machine." line.

Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson

The importance of just being human. Continuing with one of the themes that I had last week on not having the time/what would I have done, Pee Wee Reese took a bold step during a game at Cincinnati early in Jackie Robinson's career. The fans were harassing (to put it mildly) Jackie in every way possible, and Pee Wee (a Southerner) simply went out and put his around Jackie like it was no big deal. This simple act was the beginning of the acceptance of Jackie in major league baseball, but Pee Wee always insisted he was just trying to be human. The world should follow his example.

Mary T Meagher Butterfly Mid-Stroke

While the photo isn't iconic, Mary T is. She will always be the "Madame Butterfly" to me. Her records in the 100m and 200m butterfly set a standard so high that they would not be broken for nearly 20 years (which is ridiculous in speed events). I haven't been able to find the article, but I remember reading in 1996 that when she carried the torch en route the Atlanta Olympics (where she now lives), her neighbors didn't realize that she was a gold medal athlete and (at the time) still held world records. I appreciate that type of modesty, but I must say the neighbors did ask her if she was interested in coaching the neighborhood swim team after that.

Darrell Griffith 1980 Championship

I was thinking that I should probably have a picture of Dr. Dunkenstein dunking the ball, but really this picture (I wish it was larger) is really what it's all about. Can you imagine, leading your home town team, to it's first ever national championship, being the star player? The feeling must be somewhere beyond elation around perfect (although, 2 others were close if Bush could have stayed healthy with Brohm in 2006).

From Fun Vampires via Geekadelphia: "Star Wars: Retold By Someone Who Hasn’t Seen It"

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Wow. That's great.

UPDATE: I don't know if I like the Keep the Faith reference or Hans Solo the best.

I'm Confused by Regulators...

So the same people that couldn't figure out if Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme and failed entirely to deal with the subprime mortgage market are going to investigate the way Apple disclosed Steve Jobs' illness. Am I the only one that is a little confused by this. Do I really want regulators to go into someone's medical records? I used to have faith that they have some knowledge in accounting (apparently they don't), but I know they don't know dick about medicine.

Will I always "too busy"?

Of the long list of rather arbitrary national holidays, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Patriot Day, President's Day, etc; I don't really care that much for them or care about their origins and only mildly about their purpose. While Memorial Day is supposed to be in remembrance of soldiers that have died in battle, it's mostly seen as the beginning of Summer. Likewise, Labor Day is more of a celebration of the end of summer. The one national holiday that I was always a big fan of was MLK, Jr Day.

As a suburban white kid from Louisville that grew up in the 80s, I have no real connection to King. But I've always appreciated the way that he, and many others in the civil rights movement, practiced nonviolent, civil disobedience. His talent as an orator, both brilliant and lyrical, will still bring tears to my eyes. During college and while we still lived in Louisville, I would often use MLK Day to read some of his speeches and essays online. I would often ask myself what I would have done during that time. I definitely think a lot of white America has a very sanitized memory of King. The peace loving preacher with a dream, not the boat rocking rabble-rouser that spoke out vehemently against prejudice, the Vietnam War, and Labor rights.

Since moving from Louisville, my experience on MLK day has been different. While at Northwestern, it was not a holiday. They did suspend classes from 10-2 and had Yolanda King (his daughter) speak, but I found it strange that school was still on. In Philly, it is a holiday at school, but I have found that I'm constantly busy with research, and have not been able to dedicate time and energy to thinking about these issues and ideas.

I like the new focus of MLK Jr Day. Now declared to be "a day of service" in remembrance of King. Now this is definitely a more worthy cause than the cookouts that I would celebrate on Memorial and Labor Days (not that those weren't fun, Word up Dupree Park!). But I find that I've been too busy to participate. Today, I had to finish a paper and maintain my cells I have growing for my experiments. In the 60s, would I have stood up for what was right, or would I have been too busy?

Or is too busy just an excuse?

The end of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's prophetic last speech from the day before he died:

R.I.P. Khan

In the pitch arguments of Star Wars fans and Trekkies, I was always on the side of Star Wars. During my youth, I always loved the Star Wars trilogy. By far more entertaining, the toys rocked, and who didn't make believe about their own light saber battles (that's why this commercial is so frustratingly off target, they start off so close to my childhood, it isn't a magic screen, their graphics are a lot closer to my childhood dreams, a handheld device in which a blade of light extends about 1 meter).

I was just never into the Star Trek franchise. Growing up with the special effects of Star Wars, the TV series from the late 60s just couldn't do it for me. I tried to watch the movies (although never really the Next Generation), but the action lacked the thrill I got from the Star Wars scenes. The first movie was kind of cheesy in it's premise of the Voyager spacecraft returning. Don't even get me started on installments 3-5.

The one exception was Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The villain was cooler, not a race belligerent aliens, but a genetically engineered human. The stakes were high (Spock's "needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, or the one"), and who doesn't love Shatner's furious "KHAN!!!" (heard at the end of the trailer here)? I remember being paranoid about bugs crawling into my ears for years after this movie.

I bring this up for two reasons. Today, Ricardo Montalban, the actor that played Kahn, passed away at age 88. I also remember him fondly as the villain from the first Naked Gun movie. And secondly, I am now looking forward to the release of the new Star Trek movie and think that everything coming out of the Skywalker Ranch nowadays is complete crap. Go figure.