I Hate Basketball Timeouts Too

I was thinking about this during the conference tournies and first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament, about how ridiculous the stoppages have become in basketball. Constant timeouts mixed in with plenty of TV timeouts. It kills the last couple minutes of a game.

Well, John Buccigross agrees and reminded me of it, and he explains why it's so stupid in his weekly NHL (yes, NHL...) column, and compared the final minutes of basketball games to hockey games

I swear Jim Nantz and Billy Packer were about to fall asleep calling the Florida-Villanova game on Sunday. Clang! Oh, Villanova just missed another jump shot. How many timeouts do those evangelist/preacher/sell your soul/coaches get each half?! I screamed across the newsroom to revered ESPN Coordinating Producer Judson Burch last week, "Hey, Jud, was that UConn's 26th or 27th timeout?" He replied: "I believe in nationally televised games, you get an extra eight timeouts inside of two minutes."

What other game allows coaches to stop the game whenever they please?! Whenever the game is at its best, its most passionate, its most exciting, what do they do? They stop the game! Allowed to call a timeout on an inbounds pass? But the game hasn't started again! How can you call timeout when time was never in? Seriously, two timeouts a half. That's it! Can you imagine being allowed to stop a Stanley Cup playoffs game whenever one sees fit, when the crowd is going crazy and there are hits and saves and one-timers?

"Attentions ladies and gentleman. We are all enjoying this athletic event way too much at the moment. Let's all sit down for three minutes and stare at the Jumbotron while Marc Crawford screams at Jarkko Ruutu."

Seriously, someone justify timeouts in basketball at all to me? Hockey does fine with ONE timeout per team, per game (and they both often go unused in many games). Who says you need to stop and micromanage a game to make it exciting and dramatic? And hockey is a much faster, more-flowing sport by comparison.


-- Primis.

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Open Source's Ceiling

Scott Hanselman has a great post pointing to an article in The Economist about Open Source, and why it's not all it's cracked up to be.

The crux of it -- Open Source is no different than Communism. At the core it sounds like a GREAT idea, but in the real world it just never really, truly will work the way everyone makes it sound because people are selfish and people are jerks.

Yes, I just compared Open Source to Communism, but the comparison is apt in that regard. It SOUNDS great, but in reality... not so much.

Scott makes one great point that sums it all up best -- lots of Open Source-types TALK a good game but the majority of them don't actually contribute or do anything, and those contributing are only doing so for selfish, self-centered reasons or else they'd be somewhere doing something else.

You'll never be able to beat a professional team with a professional product. These teams are paid and compensated well for their work, it's THEIR idea(s), and they're chosen because they have reps for doing well in their various areas.

Open Source projects are uncompensated, usually composed of newbies trying to learn an aspect or of people not string in the area they're working in (often flat-out cited as WHY they're doing it, to get better).

You would not go into a five-star dining establishment, walk into the kitchen, whip up something as a quick dish, present it to diners, and expect the patrons to find it equal to the professional, specialized chef's dishes? Why on earth would you, as an Open Source programmer, have those expectations for code and programs?


-- Primis.

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Reflections on the Paul Dana Accident.

For those not in the know, IRL rookie Paul Dana was killed during a warmup accident today in Homestead, FL. I saw the coverage on ESPN2 when ESPNEWS broke in to report it, and sadly saw them announce his passing during a live press conference.

It brought to mind bad memories, memories of Scott Brayton being killed at Indy when he was the pole-sitter, poised to perhaps finally make his mark on the sport. Brayton's hometown was just down the road form mine, and he was one of the big reasons I got interested in open wheel racing.

Brayton's accident was just oen of those things that happen. Unfortunately, Dana's doesn't appear to be.

The racing media is taking Dana's death rather hard and I can't blame them now that I know a bit more about him. Paul Dana started out as a writer on open wheel racing after all.

That's right -- the driver started out first as a journalist.

And so, the media is struggling now with trying to figure out just what happened. Did Dana screw up and miss the signal to slow down for caution, plowing into Ed Carpenter's wrecked car? Was it his overall inexperience? Or are they being too hard on the guy, and was it just... one of those things that happens? Should Dana have even been in a car?

In stock car racing guys hammer into one another every week, because they're reckless and don't respect just how dangerous racing is, hiding behaind all that metal. In open wheel racing it's different. "Rubbing" ain't racing. If you "rub" you might wreck and die. Respect and compliance is important.

It will be very sad if it takes Paul Dana's death to finally get IRL to admit that they're not being as thorough and safe as they could be. When you race at those speeds on ovals every week, things will happen. That's why open wheel racing is usually done on road courses, where speeds are much lower.

At any rate, all of racing loses and has lost. And we find ourselves asking many of the same questions again.


-- Primis.

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NCAA Tourney: The Rally

After an *abysmal* first few rounds of my tourney predictions, a funny thing happened:

The field simply got so screwed-up that everyone else's picks have been decimated as well.

So here I sit in all my pools suddenly with 2 teams in the Final Four -- Florida and UCLA. I haven't checked but... theoretically I could still win a coupel of my pools I think. NOBODY is going to have had George Mason in the Final Four so I'm safe there, and Texas is the one that can hurt me. I'm sure some had Texas in but, did they have UCLA and/or Florida as well?

I have UCLA going to the Championship Game. Wouldn't it be funny if, despite my picking under half the games WRONG, the weight on points as rounds advance (which most pools use) would mean I still manage to eke out a win somewhere in one of those pools? I doubt it but, stranger things have happened.

At any rate, some of my pride has been restored by knowing that everyone else at this point has been destroyed by the tourney as well.


-- Primis.

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Why You, The Public, Are Completely TechStupid

Look, what I'm about to say is out of love and concern.

But you, the public, are complete and utter suckers and idiots when it comes to technology. And the worst part is, you think the exact opposite, that's you're "savvy", "hip", and "bleeding edge".

"But Primis, how can this be?!".

Well, I'll break down for you just how gullible and stupid you've really been, and we'll see if you agree with me in the end.

More...

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UG: "Importance Of Having A Repertoire"

Ultimate-guitar.com has a great article up currently that is geared towards guitarists but is applicable to other aspiring musicians as well.

Entitled "The Importance of Having a Repertoire", the article delves into some of the obvious-yet-brushed-under-the-rug ugliness with beginners, learning to play, and development. One of the dirty little secrets is that many undeveloped guitariusts think they are decent, but couldn't get through one full song of their choosing even if prompted to do so. It's an easy trap to fall into.

I couldn't agree more. Whether you play guitar, or piano, or the spoons you should have a couple of songs you can play all the way through from start to finish without stopping or giving up on. It's then your job to build from there and try to find more songs you can get all the way through, and to keep it fresh so you don't get stale and you continue to push yourself to develop.

I know this maybe sounds stupid to people that don't play, but trust me... it's so easy to get complacent, and if you don't play with someone else or perform somewhere regularly it's easier to fool yourself into thinking you're fairly good when you're not. Having a "go-to set" of songs guarantees that you're constantly working on something and truly have something to show for all your troubles.


-- Primis.

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The Tourney Cannae'd Me

So yeah. For those keeping score at home... this tourney through to the Sweet 16 was an absolute bloodbath for me. That's an apt description because there are so many red X's it looks like someone bled on my bracket.

I knew MSU wouldn't get too far probably but... North Carolina, you killed me. UNC was my pick to go all the way. So much for that -- out in the Round of 32.

For once, all the #1's escaped unscathed as well, which muredered my picks. I have Villanova and Memphis falling early. That didn't happen.

I did call the Geroge Mason-MSU upset, and Xavier came EVER SO CLOSE to knocking off Gonzaga that it teased me and broke my heart.

Not much left to say though. I got hammered. I've never had a predicted tourney go this poorly. It's incredibly disheartening and, be honest now, not many people out there are terribly excited about a Sweet 16 that contains Wichita State, George Mason, and Bradley. It's not a compelling storyline when there's more than one huge underdog, and it makes you wonder how poorly this tourney's been played to allow that to happen.

Viva parity I guess. Or kids leaving early, more than likely.


-- Primis.

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2006 Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament Preview

Is it that time already? Yup, March Madness is here once again, and that means it's time for the annual in-depth preview of each of the 4 regions and what to expect.

Here are a couple rules in general to follow this year:

* The temptation will be great, but do NOT give any of the Missouri Valley Conference teams the benefit of the doubt. They got 4 bids, and only deserved one. They can't and won't play with the big boys, so pick accordingly.

* Do not pick a team to make a deep run if they truly live and die by one guy. Which means... make plans accordingly Duke, Gonzaga, West Virginia, Syracuse, Illinois, etc...

* Do not pick a (16). Just don't. Some years it look like it's tantalizingly-close to a (16) knocking off a (1). This is not one of those years. The (16)'s this year just plain aren't that good.

* Do not have your bracket rely on all the (2)'s beating the (15)'s. While the (16)'s suck this year, the (15)'s wont' be much fun to play and an upset isn't completely out of the realm of possibility.

* You're a fool if you put all (1)'s, or (1)'s and (2)'s in the Final Four. The gap has closed in recent years and we could easily see a Final Four with *no* (1)'s.

Other notes -- shame on CBS for a lousy, miserable Selection Show. It featured, among other things, perrenial moron Jim Nantz getting into a personal argument with the head of the selection committee over 4 MVC teams making the tourney (something I hate too, but Nantz had no right to pick his fight there and then rudely cut him off to once again make his point he'd already made 4 times).

It also featured the single worst sports broadcaster today, Billy Packer, revealing the first part of the Minneapolis region when they were only on the Washington region, because Packer wasn't paying attention yet again. Somewhere CBS's execs cringed as they watched, and Nantz and the others tried to pretend it never happened. Good one, CBS.

A poor show from what is a poor sports network, and only getting worse. I can't wait until the day the tourney moves to another network and/or Packer and Nantz retire.


On to the breakdown...

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Sevendust Guitarist On Detuning, Evolving Sound, and More

One of the real problems with rock guitarists is that most of them are both horrible interviews and not educated enough toi really understand or relay what they're doing and why.

Ultimate-Guitar.com just did an interview of Sevendust guitarist John Connolly though, and he's one very intelligent guy with a GREAT understanding of what he does, and can explain it.

If you're familair with Sevendust and/or interested in guitar of any genre, I suggest you read the interview. You, as a guitarist or musician, will learn SOMETHING from what he has to say, and also how real music is made.

I'm glad intelligent guitarists like John are still around.


-- Primis.

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A March Reminder

Just a reminder to everyone, barring unforseen events I *will* be doing my usual March Madness Extravaganza once again this year. Look for it shortly after the big bracket is released. We'll do the usual -- picks to advance to the Sweet 16, possible upsets, and more.

I've been doing this since sometime prior to the year 2000 (they are lost to history), and I do have archives dating back to 2000 w/ this site.

It's an annual rite of spring you won't want to miss though so... stay tuned through March.


-- Primis.

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AT&T: Resistance Is Futile

AT&T has been gobbling some of its own Baby Bells back up recently, with their acquisition of SBC being the latest and greatest.

However, they may have now gone too far.

AT&T has announced it plans to buy BellSouth, and the combined entity will go under the name... AT&T.

Look, when SBC acquired AT&T I thought it was pushing it, but what could you do... it wasn't big enough yet. But now acquiring BellSouth? That's just too much. AT&T was broken back up in 1984 in an anti-trust suit because of its monopoly. They now seem bent on literally bringing all the break-off companies back into the fold under one roof.

Consumer groups are already vowing to press the DoJ to deny the acquisition. It would leave only one other major carrier left -- Qwest, a company that is in financial trouble and has been openly courting sale.

This is huge. If they don't block the BellSouth deal, a Qwest deal is a given. In which case... well, welcome back to Ma Bell. No, it's technically not AT&T gobbling them all up, it's really SBC gobbling them all up under the AT&T name... but does it really matter?

Perhaps the most-infuriating part of all this is AT&T's own attitude and statement on it. They have the nerve to state that the deal would "benefit consumers and promote competition".

You tell me how eliminating competitors improves competition. What a crock...


-- Primis.

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