With no more elections for himself and no democrat needing to shy away from him in the next two years, Obama went on the offensive in the State of the Union Address. It was the type of the best defense is offense theory that I proposed at the midterm election. As I mentioned before, it may not have changed any results but by shying away from Obama, the Democrats were essentially agreeing with the Republicans that Obama was a failure. In reality, as Obama pointed out, by almost any measure he was way more successful than Bush. So now he makes proposals that will have no chance of passing the Republican majority in both chambers. But at least he makes his points. For example, didn't Wall Street screw up the economy last time? So now you are worried about regulations for Wall Street? I think Obama's vision will cause the Republican nominee to lean to the right and will make he/she less likely to win moderates in 2016.
While I agree with Obama in most issues, I don't agree that community colleges should be free. From my experience, when someone gets something free, he is less likely to appreciate it. I think here in California, the cost of attending junior colleges is very affordable. I know a lot of people who go to junior colleges and work to save money to transfer to a 4 year school. If it is necessary to lower the cost of junior colleges, I think they should first have to get rid of the sports programs in these schools before asking for more tax money. I don't think these schools should be a minor league for the pros or 4 year colleges. I know of people who played two years and had no credit toward transferring to a 4 year school. I can't think of any country whose technical schools or colleges spend millions for intercollegiate athletes. If the goal is prepare kids for the real world, don't use these schools to be minor leagues in sports.
I got the feeling that the Patriots are going to throw a ballboy under the bus like USC did a few years ago when they did the same thing. Belichick is the usual bad guy. But I can't imagine he would tell someone to deflate the balls to below standard since he is not the one throwing the ball. I hope Brady is not involved other than telling the ball boy to get it down to 12.5 psi, the lowest allowable level. While the Patriots are not going to be thrown out of the Super Bowl no matter what happens, Brady's legacy could be in jeopardy if he instructed someone to cheat on his behalf. The whole thing is stupid anyway. Why do each team have different balls? Baseball pitchers don't bring their own balls. Why didn't the officials notice a difference of almost 20% among the balls before half time? And if Brady cheated, why was he so stupid? Sure, a softer and lighter ball is easier to grip. But a lighter ball would also be more affected by air resistance. So it would be more difficult to control in bad weather. Think in extreme: would you rather throw a baseball or a ping pong ball in the wind? So why cheat?
Saturday, January 24, 2015
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Did you happen to catch 60 Minutes last night? It was a pretty interesting one, where they interviewed both Senate and House leaders and how they are not going to support anything the president sends over. This is after they and the president talked about getting along.
ReplyDeleteThey also had a thing on Li Na that was pretty interesting. It's amazing to see the government bend after she made demands. I wonder who the next tennis player that wins a major out of China will be.
I don't agree with the free Community College thing either. Though I think that there should be a contract between student and government, where schooling will be paid back by taxing 1-2% of your income after graduation until it is paid off.
If you don't graduate, you have to repay the loan still (I haven't figured that out, but probably a percentage taken out of your paycheck, assuming you are working).
I am of the theory that the Patriots intentionally deflated the balls. It may have been for Brady or it might have been for the running backs. The latter does not get mentioned as much, but it is well known that the running backs had problems holding onto the ball during the season, so it's possible that they wanted to deflate them to make them softer and easier to carry.
Of course this whole thing is stupid, especially since Brady was able to pass much better in the 2nd half. However, they did break a rule and no matter how it happened, should be penalized. Maybe fining the team, since you almost can't find out who ordered the balls to be deflated.
I also thing that teams do try to "cheat" or try to get some advantage on the other team. And I think it's fine, but if you get caught, you must pay the price.
Oh to answer your question about why each team has their own balls: I found out that the teams are given a new set of balls during the week to break in and get used to them. I am assuming that at that time, they are scuffed or roughed up a bit, so that they are not slippery.
What I don't get is, that the refs inspected the balls before the game (supposedly). So what you are telling me is that between the time they were inspected and the start of the game, someone went and deflated them.
If that were the case, then you have to assume that someone had tried to use them before the inspection and thought they were too hard and asked that someone deflate them after the inspection.
The only person who would do that would be Brady.
I see that Kobe Bryant is done for the year. I would hope that the Lakers would tank and play some of its younger players. They really need to get a lottery pick. Do you think they keep Kobe next year? I guess it's the right thing to do and maybe he can have a farewell tour. But if he's not going to retire, what could you pay him?
-LBOAYM
I didn't see 60 Minutes but I am not surprised that the Republicans don't plan on supporting anything Obama sends over. Neither side is going to cooperate with the other so it will be a do nothing year again.
ReplyDeleteChina is willing to bend over backward for athletes that are famous all over the world. I don't think they tried to take a lot of money from Yao Ming either. Stars like Li Na and Sun Yang who did great in sports that China had not done well in the past are going be treated well by China. I don't think ping pong players are going to be treated so well since they can be replaced easily and China would still dominate.
I don't know of any Chinese tennis stars in the horizon to replace Li Na. There are a couple junior female players who may breakthrough but none among the boys. The lack of big men with big serves is probably the main problem. But it maybe the system also. I would think they can produce a Michael Chang or a Kei Nishkori given their population. It is interesting that Chang is coaching Nishikori with some great results. Maybe China should hire him to train their next generation of male players.
Well, I still don't see why they don't just have 24 balls to share between the 2 teams. The qbs can warm up with the game ball, rub them up and give back to an official to keep till game time. An official should randomly pick out a ball to use when needed. I don't think it will affect the quality of the game and nobody can cheat then.
I think the Lakers will keep Kobe next year unless he wants to go to a contending team to finish his career. But on a good team he will be a role player which I don't think he would accept.
What are the Tigers going to do now that Scherzer left?
Well, the Tigers brought it a couple of pitchers that could potentially be added to the rotation. Obviously, the rotation isn't as good on paper. You just hope that Verlander will be better and that Price can live up to expectations.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the hitting will be better too. I think the bullpen is still a question mark.
I can't believe Washington spent so much on Scherzer. I guess they are gearing up for a run at it. The problem I have is that you lock up a guy for 7 years, but in reality, he probably will give you one or two great years. These contracts are out of control. Gotta think the best job in athletics out there is being a major league player. There isn't as much wear on the body and you can play until your 30's at least.
Back to the China athletes discussion. Maybe they didn't concentrate on tennis as much. I would think that the taller athletes went into basketball or volleyball. But if they had sent some of those men to tennis, you might see someone who could compete on a high level.
-LBOAYM