There Used To Be Clocks Here

Devolution

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The BCS recently announced its new standings formula and association with the Harris Interactive College Football Poll. While it is being touted by the BCS as a bold new step toward determining who will be eligible to compete for the national championship, it is, for all intents and purposes, the same indecipherable and impractical methodology that is already in place.

It's change for the sake of change. However, even with this change, the formula still falls somewhere between "Things That Should Be Mauled By Godzilla" and "Things That Should Be Urinated On."

How does a 114-member panel of "insiders" and "authorities" make the BCS any better? The answer is simple: it doesn't.

Don't believe me? Read the follow quote from the College Football News story:

“The addition of the Harris Interactive College Football Poll allows us to continue with the BCS formula as it existed in 2004,” said BCS Coordinator and Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg.
So what's the point in the change? Isn't the point of change to make something better; to evolve into something closer to perfection?

I'm not even floating the "p" word because that'll never happen. All I'm saying is that if you want to utilize experts on college football, the BCS should maximize their talents and not limit their ability by forcing them to acquiesce to a standings system that is fundamentally inappropriate.

If you're a fan of Kirk Herbstreit, you should be aware that Herbie has been floating this idea of a panel of experts for quite some time. His proposition, however, allowed for this panel to work independent of the BCS to make rankings determinations and the like. The BCS has taken a square deal proposed by Herbstreit and managed to shove it into a round abyss.

What a waste.

Even with the 11 D-1A receiving "reliable" representation.

How much longer will it take for the BCS to realize that reasonable college football fans will not stand for this kind of abuse of power? It's time to wipe the makeup off this pig and slaughter it.

Glaude v. The Internet

In a perfect world, I could lace myself with dynamite and suicide-bomb the internet.

Just give me some ACME-grade TNT, a cheesy Coast Guard life jacket, and away I go to become a martyr to all those who despise this purveyor of constant frustration.

Of course, if that isn't possible, I'd settle for dropping a 20 ton anvil on the internet. I'd even provide the internet with a comedically apt little blue umbrella and a sign that reads "Help Me!"

I could live with that. So long as the internet couldn't.

In case it isn't blatantly obviously, Blogger chewed up a major essay I composed. The premise was to determine Hakim Warrick's potential contribution to the Memphis Grizzlies for 2005/2006 by examining #19 draft selections over the last twenty-plus years.

This was a major project and unfortunately it is now located somewhere next to Jimmy Hoffa and Lindsay Lohan's virignity.

Godspeed, dear friend.

Anyways, one a more relatity-driven front, things have looked pretty quiet around the blog. I'm half expecting to find cobwebs and tumbleweed in my post archive. However, a lack of official posting does not mean I've been fiddling with the salami betwix my legs. I've been hard at work trying to figure out things that are far too difficult and far too boring to be discovered. For instance:

- I've officially applied Bill James' Pythagorean formula to lacrosse, and the results are looking pretty true. I need to still mess with the exponent a little more to gain a higher degree of accuracy, but as of this writing, the applicability of the method is sound.

- I've also been doing some significant football work. It's all pretty abstract right now, but I'll just say I think I've created a methodology that does work toward a "Lost Opportunity Theorem."

- A cursory football season preview complete with horrifically terrible pre-season predictions.

- And much, much more. Assuming, of course, clients will realize that I don't want my firm to provide services to them.

If you're in the mood for some light reading this afternoon, here's some stuff I find interesting.

College Football Resource is a pretty nice site. While the blog is worth a read about once a week, the information provided through the site's links is top-notch. Here's a note that appeared on the site blog recently that is worth your attention.

Ken Pomeroy is at it again with a particularly weak effort. Pomeroy is usually the tops, but this effort smacks of summer doldrums. Who wins the opening tip? Who cares, especially when using Georgetown as your incentive to write the piece.

Summer recruiting is heating up. OrangeNation has all the information necessary to impress your friends with analysis that is usually second or third hand and has little to no bearing on how an athlete will actually produce two to three years down the line. Or, if you like, you can join the thousands on Scout's message boards and beg Paul Harris to commit to playing for Jim Boeheim for one season.


Search

Text-Based Diarrehea