Final Words

Last words on the college football scene:

• Yes, I pulled for the Ducks. They're my favorite team west of Seymour.
• Something about this Auburn team makes me feel dirty-- like I need to bathe to clean myself off after watching them.
• I would vote TCU First Place in my poll if I were a voter. Just to stir the pot.

And I offer you my alternate postseason:

• Eight team playoff
  
• Champion of each automatic qualifying conference gets in (I would make all the conferences have a championship game).
  
• Two at large qualifiers determined by the BCS Rankings. Teams from Non-automatic qualifying conferences are guaranteed a spot if they are in the top five.
  
• Higher ranked team hosts in their home stadium in first round.
• Semifinals are at the sites of the Fiesta, Rose, Orange and Sugar Bowls on a rotating basis. The two bowls not hosting that year have first choice of match-ups between non-playoff teams.
• Finals rotate among the 4 BCS Bowls each year.
  
• Other teams can go to their bowls (there are 35 total bowls).
  

In my world, the college football postseason would have looked like this:

• #8 Connecticut (Big East Champ) at # 1 Auburn (SEC Champ)
  
• #5 Wisconsin (Big Ten Champ) at #4 Stanford (at large)
• #6 Oklahoma (Big12 Champ) at #3 TCU (at large)
  
• #7 Virginia Tech (ACC Champ) at #2 Oregon (Pac10 Champ)

Semifinals would be:

• Rose Bowl: #5 Wisconsin, #1 Auburn
  
• Sugar Bowl: #3 TCU vs # 2 Oregon
  

While the other BCS bowls invited these non-qualifiers:

• Fiesta Bowl: LSU vs Boise State
  
• Orange: Ohio State vs. Arkansas

The finals in Tempe would then have had:

• TCU vs Auburn

Final score: TCU 25, Auburn 24

Too bad it won't happen. The Conference Presidents say it will extend the season too long and make kids miss class. That despite that the FCS (formerly Division 1-AA) does it every year and no one questions the class time that Duke and Baylor missed last year in the NCAA Basketball tournament. The Conferences also like their contracts with the bowls and ESPN that pay them handsomely, even if most schools lose money attending the bowls.

The BCS is un-American. It is set up for the rich to get richer and limit access for the poor (sorry Mountain West and WAC Conferences). There are no Cinderellas in the BCS. No Baylors.

We who have power will capitalize on our position to increase our prestige while limiting or eliminating competition. That's the BCS. On second thought, maybe it's more American than I first gave it credit for...

Can you tell I hate the BCS?

I Hate/Love Football

I'm pulling for Oregon tonight in the BCS Championship. I need an excuse for a bulleted list, so here's why I like the Ducks:

• State of Oregon > State of Alabama. Salem tops Montgomery, Portland tops Birmingham. Oregon has Crater Lake, Alabama has well, Biloxi. Oregon wins big.
• Duck might not be the toughest mascot, but at least Oregon can decide on one. Unlike the Auburn Tigers/Eagles. Plus, Ducks are original. There are 46 four year colleges that use Tigers (and 74 that use Eagles). Info from this interesting article.
• Autzen Stadium cooler than Jordan-Hare Stadium.
• Oregon's offense is cooler to watch. Makes you tired they move so fast. And anyone can use hand signals and runners, Oregon uses these to call plays:
• I also think there's something dirty about Auburn. I have no proof, but the Newton saga just stinks. If it smells like poop, it just might be poop. And I do believe that Auburn all-world DT Nick Fairley is a dirty player because of his late hits and unnecessary roughness . Mighty talented, but dirty.
  

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I hate the BCS. TCU won a quality football game against a pretty good Wisconsin team. They finished 13-0. Bowl apologists, please never ever tell me again that every game matters. Obviously it doesn't. A team should not win every game and not get a chance to play for a championship.

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Is College Athletics a Sweatshop?

Interesting read. Continuing the spirit of bulleted lists:

• College Athletes have to do an amazing thing by balancing social, academic and athletic obligations. Greg Strobel, head wrestling coach at Lehigh University told me he tells his athletes they can excel at two of the three, but not all three. So they have to choose. But they also get preferential selection of classes, housing and academic tutors. They have lots of help.
• College football programs generate lots of revenue and the poor athletes get nothing from it. I must apologize and say I do not for one moment feel sorry for a big time football or basketball player. They get equipment, training tables with the best food, per diems and leave college with no debt. You know who's starving? I was. And many of my friends and other regular students who had to work their way through college. You know who else is starving? Collegiate wrestlers, gymnasts, lacrosse players and other minor sport athletes. Please don't tell me, Tyrelle Pryor, that football players can't make it.
  
• I would not be opposed to paying college athletes on top of their scholarship. It needs to be something universal across the NCAA, or else Texas, Alabama and Notre Dame will become the Yankees of college sports by paying their athletes the most. Maybe something like you can pay college football players $500 per month, minor sports $250.
  
• I would like to see football and basketball scholarships become more of a loan. If you do not get a degree in 6 years from your first semester (that even lets you go pro and work towards a degree), you are contractually obligated to repay the value of your scholarship. Then maybe we would see more student-athletes in these sports. The ones who are using it for a stepping stone to the pros can then give back to the school that assisted them.

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Final word: As the NFL season winds down, there is a talk of a lockout by the owners. The NBA collective bargaining agreement is expiring soon also. There's lots of things that need to be worked out, but if anyone in the know is reading please remember:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics have January 7 unemployment numbers at 9.4 percent.
  
• Tom Brady is guaranteed 48.5 million in his new contract, $72 million with incentives. I would have to work about 970 years just to reach just his guaranteed money.
• Reggie Bush's 2009 salary was just over $7 million. He ran, caught or returned the football 144 times that year. Basically, he got $48,611 for each time he touched a football.
  
• US Census data has median US income in 2009 at $49,777.
• If there's a lockout, we'll come back to football eventually. But we'll be hurt because many of us will not understand or be able to relate with millionaires who do not have enough money.
  
• Some will wonder why, when they cannot find employment, these men who get to play a game for a living do not want to work.
  
• I hope there is no lockout, because I do love football. But if there's no NFL, I'll ride my bike more, hike after church and pay more attention to the college game.
  

Some Thoughts

First, many prayers to the victims and families of all involved in attack Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. There's been plenty of blame passed along: the left blaming the right and the right blaming the left. Right now, we're still trying to figure everything out. Let's wait until we have all the facts before we start making judgments.

But I do believe that the leaders need to be more responsible with their political rhetoric. Sarah Palin said in March, "Don't retreat, reload" and proceeded to publish a poster with members of Congress in formerly Republican districts that voted for the Health Care Bill. Their districts were marked with Crosshairs from a gunsight. Giffords' opponent in the election, Jesse Kelly, invited supporters to a rally that invited them to "Get on Target" and involved shooting a M16 with the candidate.

Did either Palin, Kelly, Glen Beck or any other pundit endorse the attack on Gabrielle Giffords? I surely hope not. But with the militant talk that you often hear, are you surprised? Even if the attacker was not a right leaning, Fox loving conservative, the speech and hate is irresponsible and incendiary. It would be like me being a parent and swearing all the time and then astonished and angry because my 3 year old daughter cusses.

Two-
I love the Constitution. I consider it one of the great documents in history. I get excited teaching it. It's the oldest Constitution in the world that still is in use. Many countries have modeled their Constitution after ours. So what could ruin the Constitution for me? Congress, of course.

The 112th Congress opened its session last week with a reading of the Constitution. Why would this be so bad? Oh, let me count the ways:

1. This was a political move to appease certain factions (Tea Party) and not a genuine reading because of their "love" of the document. It was purely cosmetic. Yes, it was a bipartisan reading, but do not mistake the partisanship that lead to the reading.
   
2. They read the "deleted" Constitution, not the "amended" one. The 3/5 Compromise was not read. Nor was 18th Amendment that prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcohol (the 21st Amendment that repealed the 18th was read).
3. The GOP introduced new procedures that say all new legislation must cite its Constitutional authority. Sounds good, but it is the role of the judicial system, primarily the Supreme Court, to uphold whether or not legislation is Constitutional. The role of Congress is not to interpret the Constitution, but to make legislation.
   
4. It was boring! I want my students to love the Constitution the way I do. The way Ray Brown does (he walked across the USA to talk about it!). A nearly two hour reading interrupted every 20 something words for a new Representative to come read does not make your average American, much less one of my ninth graders, think: "This thing rocks!" See for yourself:

Three-
I thought Congress rallied really well during the lame duck period to get some crucial things passed. Tax law passed, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repealed, START treaty approved and 9/11 Responder's Bill passed. There was one bill not passed that I was really pulling for: The Dream Act.

I understand, they're in this country illegally. But this was a bill that could help everyone. Students affected by the Dream Act are the very students we want to have contributing to this country. We've had a few students at my school at the top of their class who were not pursue further education because of their legal status. These are students who did not make the choice to come to the United States, who've lived here nearly their entire lives and who would give back to their communities if they had the opportunity.

I hope the Dream Act is not dead. I wonder how different the lives of some of my students would be if they had access to this.

2010

Here's a recap of my 2010 through some of my favorite pictures:

Kodachrome

I list photography as one of my hobbies, so it was with a sad and nostalgic heart that I learned today was the last time anywhere in the world that Kodak Kodachrome was to be developed. Kodak stopped making the film in 2009 and today, in tiny Parsons, Kansas, in a 75 year old family photography business, the last roll will be commercially developed.

Digital is the current wave and future of photography. I still hang on to my old Canon EOS Rebel 35mm because maybe I'll be cool enough to break it out and snap photos and develop them on my own like those nifty people I sometimes meet. This summer, a girl bike touring was carrying a vintage camera from the 50s. Admittedly, she said she hadn't used it a lot because it's so much easier to snap a photo and go with her compact digital. Another guy was riding from Chicago to New Mexico carrying a medium format. And a third was taking photos with just a Polaroid.

Check out these links, there's a small piece of history that we're not getting back now. The human story is told in many ways, photographs just one of the means. As said by Claire O'Neill, "It's not the end of the world, but is certainly the end of an era."

For Kodachrome Fans, Road Ends at Photo Lab in Kansas

A Color-Saturated Sun Sets on Kodachrome

The Kodachrome Project

The Last Roll of Kodachrome Film Ever Will Be Developed Today

Goodbye (Again) To The Last Rolls Of Kodachrome Film

Photos: Steve McCurry's Last Roll Of Kodachrome
- Steve McCurry was given by Kodak the last roll of Kodachrome produced.


ABC News - nice photo montage (and a shout out to Rosie the Riveter).

v

Look at all my friends!

You’ve Got to Have (150) Friends (NY Times)

According to Oxford University anthropologist Robin Dunbar, the most number of friends that we can meaningful relationships with is 150. In the Facebook world, anyone beyond that is simply a "voyeur". They are able to "peek" into your life but do not necessarily meaningfully contribute on social and emotional levels.

I have 654 friends on Facebook. I know, because I just checked. All are great in their own ways and there are so many unique, talented and interesting individuals. But true "friends"? I have old classmates and former students. Co-workers and people I've met in my travels. But the "inner circle" is small. And that's okay; I wouldn't want it any other way.

The part of the article that fascinated me was:

In the real world, according to research by myself and others, we devote 40 percent of our limited social time each week to the five most important people we know, who represent just 3 percent of our social world and a trivially small proportion of all the people alive today.

The world population is in the neighborhood of 6.5 billion people. If this statement is true, most people devote nearly half their social time to 7.6923077e-10 percent (my math) of the people on earth. I think that speaks a little to how insignificant we all are. I also think it speaks volumes about how infinitely significant those closest to us are.

Bell's Invention

I was randomly snapping images with my Canon S90, messing with settings and stuff, and this was one of the images I ended up with.

Why post it? I'm one of the few people I know that still has a land line. It mostly receives telemarketers (I got a call from the NRA today), but I do use it when I am home. So give me a call... if you know the number.