Unscientific Unempirical Totally Ridiculous but Halfway Serious CFB Predictions: Pac-12

In 2009, I went through all the major BCS conferences and created some semi-amusing, totally off-base and (eventually) inaccurate predictions and bowl projections for the upcoming college football season. In 2010, I was working nonstop throughout the summer without a break and never had the chance to put together some predictions. So now that I have some free time on my hands, it’s time to do some predictions – here’s the Pac-12. I took about two weeks off since I was prepping for a few job interviews, and I woke up absurdly early this morning, so I figured I’d make up the time by putting up my Pac-12 predictions. Read the rest of this entry »

Unscientific Unempirical Totally Ridiculous but Halfway Serious CFB Predictions: Big East

In 2009, I went through all the major BCS conferences and created some semi-amusing, totally off-base and (eventually) inaccurate predictions and bowl projections for the upcoming college football season. In 2010, I was working nonstop throughout the summer without a break and never had the chance to put together some predictions. So now that I have some free time on my hands, it’s time to do some predictions – here’s the Big East. Read the rest of this entry »

Unscientific Unempirical Totally Ridiculous but Halfway Serious CFB Predictions: SEC

In 2009, I went through all the major BCS conferences and created some semi-amusing, totally off-base and (eventually) inaccurate predictions and bowl projections for the upcoming college football season. In 2010, I was working nonstop throughout the summer without a break and never had the chance to put together some predictions. So now that I have some free time on my hands, it’s time to do some predictions – here’s the SEC. Read the rest of this entry »

Unscientific Unempirical Totally Ridiculous but Halfway Serious CFB Predictions: ACC

In 2009, I went through all the major BCS conferences and created some semi-amusing, totally off-base and (eventually) inaccurate predictions and bowl projections for the upcoming college football season. In 2010, I was working nonstop throughout the summer without a break and never had the chance to put together some predictions. So now that I have some free time on my hands, it’s time to do some predictions – here’s the ACC. Read the rest of this entry »

Unscientific Unempirical Unscientific Unempirial Totally Ridiculous but Halfway Serious CFB Predictions: Big Ten Conference

In 2009, I went through all the major BCS conferences and created some semi-amusing, totally off-base and (eventually) inaccurate predictions and bowl projections for the upcoming college football season. In 2010, I was working nonstop throughout the summer without a break and never had the chance to put together some predictions. So now that I have some free time on my hands, it’s time to do some predictions – here’s the newly expanded Big Ten Conference and its Legends and Leaders “breakdown”.  Read the rest of this entry »

My Unscientific Unempirial Totally Ridiculous But Halfway Serious 2011 College Football Predictions: Big 12 Conference

In 2009, I went through all the major BCS conferences and created some semi-amusing, totally off-base and (eventually) inaccurate predictions and bowl projections for the upcoming college football season. In 2010, I was working nonstop throughout the summer without a break and never had the chance to put together some predictions. So now that I have some free time on my hands, it’s time to do some predictions – and I’ll start with the conference I know best, the Big 12. Read the rest of this entry »

Almost a year in Texas

I’ve been living here for almost a year now, and while it has been tough in some ways, I’ve also had a lot of fun and it’s been a good growing experience to be truly on my own in an unfamiliar city. Here are some of the highlights in my first year in the Lone Star State:

• The weather. Yes, the temperature is usually higher than 90 degrees every day from May to October, but it’s predictable. You get into a rhythm – you just know every day it’s going to be hot and humid, and you try to minimize exposure to the heat by rushing from your air-conditioned apartment to your air-conditioned car to your air-conditioned office and back again in the afternoon. If you’re daring enough to spend time outside, or (gasp) exercise outside, you drink a ton of water and deal with it. It’s usually more refreshing to then come back into your air-conditioned box. The winter had a few chilly days, but overall wasn’t too bad. I enjoyed DFW’s reaction (or lack thereof) to several inches of snow and ice the week of the Super Bowl in February. By all accounts, it was a complete disaster. Roads weren’t plowed or salted, sidewalks had inches of ice on them, and Cowboys “Stagium” had ice fall off the roof and injure workers. But, hey, we had a few days off from work, so it was all good!
• Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket: I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of this before living in DFW. This station is gold. The morning and afternoon drive time shows are fantastic. Between Gordon Keith’s famous impersonations, which range from Jerry Jones to Nolan Ryan and Billy Tubbs, to Mike Rhyner’s thick Texas drawl discussing the Texas Rangers or Dallas Mavericks, it’s incredibly entertaining and worthwhile sports radio. Beats the heck out of WFAN or any other ESPN radio affiliate I’ve ever listened to. If I don’t stay in DFW, I’ll make every effort to listen online or to podcasts because the stuff they talk about is awesome.
• Shiner Beer and Blue Bell Ice Cream:  Terrific Texas-native products. Tasty beer, tasty ice cream.
• Central Market: Wholefoods on steroids. From the free samples to world-class selection, this place rocks. Plus, the little restaurant areas inside each store sell some really unique and delicious meals.
• Learning about the Texas-based Big 12 schools. Definitely picked up an appreciation for all of them.
• Jim Knox: His antics during Rangers games and Big 12 football games are ridiculous, but hilarious. Seeing it on a fairly-regular basis is great.
• DFW Jets Fans – highly amusing group of people, ton of fun to watch the Jets games with this past year.
• Living within 15 minutes of two major airports – I’m almost equidistant to DFW and Dallas-Love Field. Both have their advantages and drawbacks, but regardless, if you need to leave DFW, it is easy. So nice to have that convenience after having to spend the last 4 years driving 2+ hours to get to a major airport.

I’m sure I’ll think of some more as I go to sleep tonight, but regardless, these are the first things that come to mind.

Joplin Devastation and #21

Why has the spring of 2011 seen so many tornadoes and severe weather issues? I’m dumbfounded at much damage/devastation this spring has seen. I have no idea if it’s “climate change”/global warming behind all this and I’m ignoring conspiracy theorists blaming these deadly storms on outlandish government plots to rule the world, like this. Seeing destruction and suffering like the images we saw after the F-5 tornado that hit Joplin, MO becomes far more personal and disturbing when you know someone who has lived through it. My friend Brandon Spiegel is a sports reporter at KOAM in the Joplin MO/Pittsburg KS market. We graduated from Mizzou together and both spent plenty of time at KOMU covering various events, including several road trips to follow MU football to Kansas State and Oklahoma State. I had exchanged texts with him every once in a while, the last I can recall involved sending one his way while driving through Joplin after Missouri football dismantled Miami (OH) in September of 2010, but thankfully with Twitter and Facebook it’s easy to stay in touch or up-to-date with friends from college so you’re always able to find out what people are up to. It’s very easy for our generation to keep friends.

So upon hearing of the tornado(s) that hit Joplin last week, my first thought of was Brandon and whether he was OK, but I knew since he worked in Pittsburg KS, he may not have been home at the time. I had been following the Weather Channel all day because of thunderstorms in DFW, so I witnessed TWC’s reporter lose his composure during a live shot because of how bad the damage was, and subsequent live hits showing the devastation. I saw several friends on social media sites post messages to Brandon hoping he was OK. On Monday, he posted something to the effect of “I’m fine, apartment is gone”, and later in the week posted pictures of the rubble where his apartment was. He eventually posted this picture of an old #21 Mizzou baseball jersey he owned and recovered in rubble about 100 yards from where his apartment had been.

As Mizzou Athletics’ “One Mizzou” campaign began to help the Joplin area recover, the MU baseball team decided to obtain the jersey and bring it to Oklahoma City for the Big 12 championship. The team hung the jersey in their dugout for the Saturday/Sunday games, in which MU advanced to the championship final game and was within one strike of a miracle upset over heavily-favored Texas A&M, which would have sent the Tigers to the NCAA tournament despite a losing overall record. Beforehand, though, we decided to do a story on the jersey, which, in its second game of the day on Saturday, saw its counterpart, Kelly Fick (also wearing #21) hurl 7 shutout innings against the Big 12 powerhouse Texas Longhorns and advance to the championship final game. Thanks to some extra info from Brandon, I put together this story about the jersey and what its journey to Oklahoma City meant to the upstart Tigers. KOMU also had a story on the jersey for the Sunday sports show, but I haven’t seen it since it’s essentially the same plot as what I did. I tried to make mine more of an overview for the Big 12′s audience that may not know as much about MU’s efforts to help Joplin, as compared to something KOMU would do in a more humanistic/focused story. I am happy my friend is OK, but the images of the storm’s destruction are stomach-churning. While I have no money to contribute to any sort of cause (I’m essentially broke) I’ll do anything to help that area recover. I have plenty of books, clothes, and miscellaneous, unnecessary items people could use. When I move out of Dallas, I know for sure I’ll have items to donate. The least I can do…

Education bubble?

Saw an interesting story out there floated by various economists and think-tanks stating the next “bubble” of economic collapse will come from the higher education industry (and believe me, it’s an industry, as evidenced by my $340 monthly payment to Citibank Student Loans)…

From Tech Crunch’s article by Sarah Lacy:

“Instead, for Thiel, the bubble that has taken the place of housing is the higher education bubble. “A true bubble is when something is overvalued and intensely believed,” he says. “Education may be the only thing people still believe in in the United States. To question education is really dangerous. It is the absolute taboo. It’s like telling the world there’s no Santa Claus.”

I love being in school, and being a student. I’m a knowledge sponge in topics that interest me. I respect teachers and professors. But the way our education system creates a nasty cycle of coziness disturbs me – from the tuition, books, technology/software, and expenses we all pay for that come out of student loans and go right back to big corporations with no regard for their customers.

The next step?

So it’s been months since I’ve posted on here. No surprise, as the hosting expired and I had to renew the domain name in February. But now that my Big 12 internship is approaching its conclusion (ending late June) I’m beginning to look for my next opportunity, where ever it may be. I’d love to stay in the Big 12 “footprint” (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas) because I have lots of friends/acquaintances/professional contacts inside said footprint, especially in the video/internet/broadcast/media realms. And believe me, I love the energy and enthusiasm people have around here for the Big 12 schools. It’s been awesome to get a dose of the Big 12 “South” alumni and fans in Texas after spending four years in Missouri. So in terms of work atmosphere and passion for the “cause” of Big 12 sports, this is a fantastic location as I’m sure the “hubs” of other big D-1 conferences are too, such as Kansas City (Big 12), Chicago (Big Ten), Atlanta (SEC), Charlotte (ACC), and New York (Big East).

Yet, I feel a calling to return to the East Coast where most of my family is. It’s hard to put a price tag on seeing loved ones often, and I know I’ve missed out on a lot of birthdays, holidays, family gatherings, etc. in my years away from home. So that’s what is on my mind as I begin to look for a “real” job…