I don’t know what took so long to think of this. Bandwagon Jumping really didn’t work for what I was going for. I’ve had Lists for years, so it makes perfect sense. There are many lists. When someone crosses me, they are threatened with being put on The List. But there can be good lists as well. You can have a list for just about anything. For now, we’ll keep it simple: Good and Bad.
Good
MAC OS X Leopard
This will be my first new OS release since being a Mac user. I’ve been excited for OS releases before. Windows 95 and XP being the most notable. The release of Leopard is a little different. An OS is a big change and its not something you want to screw up. So I try to wait until its out for a little while to make sure every computer it touches isn’t bursting into flames. Apple is doing such an amazing job marketing this thing that I’m strongly considering pre-ordering. The biggest hurdle is how ridiculous it is to pre-order an OS. Video games, movies, DVDs, sure. But not software and especially not an OS. I think I’m going to wait a few days. I’m not going to be around for the weekend of the release. When I get back on Sunday or Monday I’ll read up and what people have been going through. If everything seems to be going alright then I’ll swing by the Apple Store one day.
Apple Keyboard
While we’re on the subject of Apple … I decided to order the new Apple Keyboard a few weeks ago and I’m loving the purchase. I previously had the old Apple Keyboard with Bluetooth. The Bluetooth was beginning to act strange, telling me my batteries were dead when I had just charged them. Instead of going through all the trouble of figuring out what was wrong I just ordered the new one, which had just been released. I had gone to the Apple Store and played around with one right after they came out and really liked the feel. The keys are more like a laptop keyboard. It took a little while to get completely used to but now I love it. The only way I’d improve it would be to have some sort of indication on the function keys so I can find them without looking. I went with the wired version because the wireless one doesn’t have a numeric keypad.
Bad
Football Announcers
This week Andre Ware and Brian Baldinger were the color analysts for my college and NFL games this week. If you just listened to Ware you’d be shocked to learn that PSU is a good team and won the game. He spent the entire game talking up Hardy, the Indiana WR. It was so bad a friend of mine had to call and vent about how horrible it was. Baldinger was his usual self. Actually, while Baldy really bothered me during today’s Eagles game, thinking again about Ware makes Baldy look great. One note on Baldy, I think he has positioned himself perfectly to step in for Madden when the time comes. They both have a similar style and even sound a little alike, if you can imagine what Madden might have sounded like 30 years ago. Take a listen next game.
I was looking at the Complete BCS Rankings on ESPN and started looking how the computer rankings were looking. If I’m reading this correctly these would be the computer only rankings from the BCS. Overall BCS Ranking in parenthesis.
1. Boston College (2)
2. LSU (3)
3. Ohio State (1)
4. Arizona State (4)
5. South Florida (10)
6. Virginia (15)
7. Kansas (9)
8. Virginia Tech (8)
9. Oregon (5)
10. West Virginia (7)
10. Florida (11)
12. Kentucky (14)
13. Missouri (13)
14. Oklahoma (6)
15. South Carolina (16)
16. Auburn (22)
16. Connecticut (23)
18. ???
19. Michigan (20)
20. Georgia (18)
21. USC (12)
22. Alabama (24)
23. ???
24. ???
25. ???
27. California (21)
29. Penn State (25)
Not Ranked: Hawaii (17), Texas (19)
The empty spots are teams that were not in the BCS Top 25.
I always side with the computer polls because they shouldn’t have any bias. Looking at these, there is some bias toward mid-majors. Hawaii is undefeated, that should qualify for being in the Top 25 of more than one computer poll. If they saw undefeated that would include a win over Boise State. With other teams losing along the way that has to climb them up into the Top 12.
Here are the large disparities between the Computer and Final BCS rankings. Note that the computer is a third of that BCS score.
Computers have them 5 spots or more better:
South Florida
Virginia
Auburn
Connecticut
Humans have them 5 spots or more better:
Oklahoma
USC
California
Hawaii
Texas
What jumps out is that all but one team that the computers like better is not a very big name (Auburn) and all but one (Hawaii) that the humans like better are consistent powerhouses. This is exactly why the human polls need to be cut out of the process or given a little guidance. The point needs to be driven home that what a team has done in any other year previous to the current one doesn’t matter. There should not be any preseason rankings released from any of the major polls. All they do is screw up the polls the rest of the year. If the fans are desperate to see some preseason rankings then pick up one of the hundreds of magazines put out each year or find some new sites to read on the web.
Colbert
The Colbert links are all over the place thanks to his book release and his Presidential Bid.
Watch – On Larry King, this link is to the Larry King iTunes podcast. CNN doesn’t seem to have any direct links to their podcasts.
Read – From the New York Times Op-Ed page. He wrote Maureen Dowd’s column for her.
I’ve very excited for his run in South Carolina. Anyone who thinks this is a joke that will make a mockery of the primary process has not been paying attention to the primary process. Right now his focus is getting the signatures to get on the Democratic ballot. The $25,000 to get on the Republican ballot is going to be more difficult. Why does it cost so much to get on the ballot? Shouldn’t the chance to run for office be open to anyone? I thought signatures were fairly standard, or having to go and fill out a form and pay a processing fee, but one a little more realistic. The next step needs to be voter registration. At the very least a ton of people who have never voted before will register and go to the polls. A decent showing could spawn a write-in campaign across the country. In the end, two things are accomplished: more people are registered to vote and people take notice that the whole process is actually a joke. Who knows, maybe by defending his right to be in the race he can get some of the other candidates to defend their words and be honest.
Conan
During taping of Conan one night this week an alarm went off. Conan rolled with it and they wound up keeping it in the show. It continued when the next guest, Paget Brewseter, came out.
I’ve been concerned that Conan might not be able to be successful on The Tonight Show when he takes over. I think he’s great, but, to me, The Tonight Show is an entirely different audience. An audience that enjoys Jay Leno, which I cannot understand how that’s possible. After seeing how he played this I realize how truly great he can be and that he can work with any situation. That will make him successful in the new time slot. I’m just hoping he doesn’t change too much and keep the consistent boredom that is the current Tonight Show.
More Goods
Best Dilbert Blogs that I read this week. They may be a little older, I had some catching up to do.
Indoor Recreation – Just for his idea for the Ping Pong Palace.
Some People – Sometimes, you just want to kill someone for no particular reason.
North American Vexillological Association – Flags, flags, and more flags. The kind of site that you think is dumb, and then a few hours go by and you are still looking at it.
The videos follow …
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No IDM this week. Evan is on a field trip the rest of the week so picks are just going to be posted.
Week 8 Picks
Evan: 16-19 (4-1), Mike: 13-22 (3-2)
South Florida (EM) @ Rutgers (Thursday, 7:30)
Tennessee @ Alabama (EM) (Saturday, 12:30)
Texas Tech (M) @ Missouri (E) (Saturday, 3:30)
Kansas State (M) @ Oklahoma State (E) (Saturday, 7:05)
Michigan (EM) @ Illinois (Saturday, 8:00)
Make your own picks.
Last weekend 5 unbeatens fell and one of the winless got a win. Here is what happened to the teams who won’t be joining us on the list this week:
Connecticut lost at Virginia 17-16.
LSU lost at Kentucky 43-37 in OT.
Missouri lost @ Oklahoma 41-31.
California lost vs Oregon State 31-28.
Cincinnati lost vs Louisville 28-24.
North Texas beat Louisiana-Monroe 31-21.
As for this week a few of the unbeatens have off weeks. I not used to midseason off weeks anymore since the Big Ten has stopped scheduling them. All of the winless teams are in action. We have left 6 unbeatens and 4 winless teams in 1A.
Will Remain Unbeaten (off): Arizona State, Boston College, Hawaii
Toughest Games for Undefeated Teams: Kansas (@ Colorado), Ohio State (vs Michigan State), South Florida (@ Rutgers)
Best Chance to Stay Undefeated: No cupcakes this week.
Best Chance at a Win: Florida International (@ Louisiana-Monroe)
Undefeated
Arizona State (7-0, 4-0)
Last Week: W 44-20 vs Washington
This Week: Off
Look out for: California (5-1, 10/27), @ Oregon (5-1, 11/3), @ UCLA (4-2, 11/10), USC (5-1, 11/22)
Boston College (7-0, 3-0)
Last Week: W 27-14 @ Notre Dame
This Week: Off
Look out for: @ Virginia Tech (6-1, 10/25), Florida State (4-2, 11/3), @ Maryland (4-2, 11/3), @ Clemson (4-2, 11/17)
Hawaii (7-0, 4-0)
Last Week: W 42-35 (OT) @ San Jose State
This Week: Off
Look out for: Fresno State (4-2, 11/10), Boise State (5-1, 11/23)
Kansas (6-0, 2-0)
Last Week: W 58-10 vs Baylor
This Week: @ Colorado (4-3)
Look out for: @ Texas A&M (5-2, 10/27), Missouri (5-1, 11/24)
Ohio State (7-0, 3-0)
Last Week: W 48-3 vs Kent State
This Week: Michigan State (5-2)
Look out for: @ Penn State (5-2, 10/27), Wisconsin (5-2, 11/3), Illinois (5-2, 11/10), @ Michigan (5-2, 11/17)
South Florida (6-0, 1-0)
Last Week: W 64-12 vs UCF
This Week: @ Rutgers (4-2) on Thursday
Look out for: @ Connecticut (4-2, 10/18), Cincinnati (6-1, 11/3)
Winless
Colorado State (0-6, 0-3)
Last Week: L 45-21 vs Air Force
This Week: @ UNLV (2-5)
Best Chance: Georgia Southern (1AA, 11/17)
Florida International (0-6, 0-2)
Last Week: Off
This Week: @ Louisiana-Monroe (1-5)
Best Chance: Louisiana-Lafayette (1-6, 11/17), North Texas (1-5, 12/1)
Marshall (0-6, 0-2)
Last Week: L @ Tulsa 38-31
This Week: Southern Miss (3-3) on Sunday
Best Chance: Rice (1-5, 10/27), UAB (2-4, 11/24)
Utah State (0-6, 0-2)
Last Week: Off
This Week: Nevada (2-4)
Best Chance: Louisiana Tech (2-4, 10/27), @ Idaho (1-6, 11/24)
This week’s full schedule.
I’m keeping this as Bandwagon Jumping until I find a better name. After thinking about it, the name doesn’t really make sense. The idea it to start the bandwagon, not jump on it. Bandwagon Starting isn’t all that great a name. So until I figure something out, or hear a good suggestion, here are my weekly look at what I’m liking, and what I’m not.
On
Basic Instructions – I heard about this one from The Dilbert Blog. It was good when I first started reading it, but the last few have been great. Check out this and this.
nhl.com Video Highlights – They show all the goals and great saves. Sometimes even some hits. The stream is 700k, meaning excellent quality and it uses Flash so I haven’t had a problem viewing it anywhere. There is also the option to embed the clip. One problem, controversial plays are skipped. The Flyers-Canucks clip from this week did not show the Boulerice hit that led to his 25 game suspension. I guess that sort of thing requires some voiceover and all the highlights just use the game announcers.
Versus College Football – Last week Stanford beat #1 USC. This week Oregon State beat #2 Cal. I have no idea if the actual coverage is any good, I only watch the last few minutes and at that point you don’t really notice the announcers. I don’t get Versus in HD, but that’s more of a Verizon issue. I’m hoping the Penn State/Ohio State game in two weeks can somehow be covered by Versus.
Angels & Airwaves – My Only Fear – I’m excited for the new A&A album, I-Empire. It comes out on November 6th. I’ve heard some of the songs and My Only Fear hooked me instantly. Don’t be surprised if this album makes the Bandwagon in a month.
Paramore – I’ve like both their albums so far. The reason they are here now is how impressed I am at their live performances. For example, this acoustic version of Misery Business. This week they were on Conan and were amazing doing the normal version of the song.
Dollyrots – Because I’m Awesome – Sirius Hits One is slowly picking up that this song is good. First I like the full of herself attitude of the song. Also, I usually like songs where two people have a conversation in part of it. For example … Guy: I always tell you how smart you are. Girl: It’s cause my brain is really supersized. There are a couple of those type of exchanges in the song.
Natasha Bedingfield – Love Like This – If I like Unwritten and I like this, do I need to get the album? I haven’t heard any other songs.
Off
Finger Eleven – Paralyzer – I was on board with this song early on, then it started spreading. Now its one of the most requested songs on Sirius Hits One. This song just didn’t stand up to being overplayed. Few songs do.
Reaper – I actually like this show. It just didn’t do enough to keep me coming back for more. It isn’t serialized enough. I could watch the first few episodes on their own or in any order and it wouldn’t have made any difference. Its entirely possible that they will figure something out and I’ll be getting these DVDs in a year. For now, I’ve got too many shows that I’m watching every week and something needs to go. I can’t keep up this pace. This is one is the first difficult cut. If you see that its on and you’ve got nothing else to do, you should definitely check it out, you’ll enjoy it.
These got me talking …
Legality of some Pa. marriages is questioned
This one caught my eye because I know some people who were ordained by the Universal Life Church. I was even there when it happened. We had some time to kill after Fitness Walking. Yes, I got credit for walking. We were sitting in the computer lab and two of my friends decided to get ordained. It required them to fill out a form. It was all very official looking and by official looking I mean it was a web site with a form. I decided against it on the grounds that I could make my own certificate, if I really wanted one, and I felt thing signing up would get me involved in the subsequent legal proceedings that were likely to be associated with this organization. There was one wedding performed. While I’m not sure how much the bride and groom talk anymore, I don’t believe there was ever a divorce. I guess now they can rest easy that they can pretend the whole thing never happened.
Comcast holds the line on Big Ten
I’ve talked about this a few times. While I love the idea of having more Big Ten coverage and a chance to watch some Penn State sports besides football and basketball, I’ve been on Comcast’s side the whole time. Two things in this article stand out to me. First, something I’ve been curious about it how much money is actually on the line. According to this if Comcast puts the channel on expanded basic, BTN gets $60 million a year and if it puts it on the Sports Teir, BTN only gets $2.5 million. The article states that the Sports Teir has only 4% penetration. However, those Sports Teir numbers are going to grow. NFL Network is now on the Sports Teir but NFL games don’t start on the channel until Thanksgiving. Also, have some confidence in the drawing power of your channel. The BTN will draw even more subscribers. Getting some money has to be better than nothing at all, especially when you don’t have to do anything extra, the channel is already broadcasting. The second point in the article is even more important and something I hadn’t thought of before. Every major sport has (or will have in baseball’s case) a channel. The Big Ten is the second conference I know of to have a channel (I haven’t been upset that I don’t receive The Mountain West’s channel, which I believe Comcast has a part of). Pretty soon the other major conferences will follow suit. Then it’s going cost a bunch to pay for all of these channels. There won’t be any need for the ESPN PPV packages for college football and basketball. Everyone will be paying those prices and more because all those games will be part of the channels. While I’m an alum of a Big Ten school I want to see games from all the other conferences just as badly. I already subscribe to Verizon’s sports package so that I can see Pac10 and Big 12 games that Fox College Sports shows. I’m an odd case. There are lots of people that don’t care about sports at all, these are people I refer to as ‘people I’d rather not associated with,’ who don’t need to be paying for a bunch of channels they are never going to watch.
TV Related
Table Cloth Challenge
Someone explain to me why there isn’t a Japanese Game Show channel. At least GSN should have a Japanese block which would wind up being so popular it would need its own channel.
Creed Thoughts
Creed from The Office has a blog. I usually don’t even bother reading ‘in character’ blogs. However with Creed I had to make an exception.
Late Night Subdivision
Colbert on Fresh Air
Stephen Colbert has been everywhere promoting his book. I really liked this interview. Its about 45 minutes long so it gets a lot more in-depth than any of the others. He also talks a lot about the character he plays on the show.
Jimmy Kimmel Does Product Testing on Kids
I miss being able to watch Kimmel every day.
It’s official: Conan moving to L.A.
Sure, the show will probably be exactly the same. It definitely won’t be better. So why move?
Fox Considers Joe Buck for Late-Night Show
I can only support this if it means that he won’t be covering sports any more. Who am I kidding? There is already a Tim McCarver show and I still have to listen to him.
Sports Things
Giants Linebacker Injures His Ear
Lesson: Don’t stick a cotton swab in your ear in a crowded locker room.
An Error-Plagued Game, but From the Broadcast Booth
I’ve thought TBS has done a great job covering the playoffs. Although broadcasting a signal already puts them in a tie with Fox and ESPN. I would like to see more of these types of articles, besides in blogs, calling out announcing mistakes.
Fun Stuff
Exploits of a Mom
If you are a fan of SQL injection comics, then this is for you.
Top 40 Demotivational Posters
People in my job love these things. The mocking variety, just like these. My favorite out of this group has to be the Free Candy van.
Audio: mp3
Running Time: 38:41
Hosts: Evan and Mike
Back from a week-long hiatus due to sickness and Phillies playoffness. Speaking of that, the baseball playoffs are underway with a new player this year: TBS. We also look at a few more of Page 2′s College Football Rules and then get into the usual things.
Topics
TBS covers MLB Playoffs
College Football
-ESPN Page 2 College Football Rules #10-23
-Picks
-Heisman
-Conference Champions
-Evan will be at the UF/USC game
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Six weeks into the season and 11 undefeated teams remain. On the flip side, 5 teams remain winless. Time to start keeping track of these teams.
A look at all the teams follows, but first, some of the highlights.
Toughest Games for Undefeated Teams: Missouri (@ Oklahoma), Connecticut (@ Virginia), LSU (@ Kentucky)
Best Chance to Stay Undefeated: Boston College (@ Notre Dame), Ohio State (vs Kent State)
Will Remain Winless: Florida International and Utah State. Both teams off this week.
Best Chance at a Win: North Texas (vs Louisiana-Monroe)
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