This morning I checked my email and as usual had dozens of spam messages. The one that caught me of guard was one for 1% off Viagra. Have times gotten so hard that spammers can only offer a 1% discount?
Please forgive the pun.
Sue sent me this video. The song that takes up the first 45 seconds is boring, but some of the stuff after is pretty impressive.
The best way to communicate with someone is the way they want to be communicated with. Some people love text messages, some emails, others phone calls. If you are trying to reach out to someone you need to figure out their preference and use it. Using your preference may not get you too far.
For example, trying to have a text conversation with me is useless. I don’t have the attention span for it or the desire to take 20 minutes typing messages that could have been relayed in a 2 minute conversation. Also, thanks to Twitter, I’m used to ignoring my phone when it beeps because more likely than not it’s a random tweet. If you want to get in touch with me I suggest another approach, something that reduces the chance my ADD will kick in.
I’ve been slacking again so I’ll give the cliffs notes version of the past few months. I may fill in some details later, but won’t make any promises now. I was in Atlanta for a few days at a cheerleading competition, imagine that. I met up with King Harrison in person for the first time and we started talking about areas where Fierceboard and Spirit Post could work together. I chatted with Courtney Pope and she told us a great story about a Leprechaun that you should ask her about if you ever run into her. I also met briefly with JG Ketchen to see if Gravadi could work with an idea I have. I also took the greatest 20 minute nap ever.
I have an annoying natural habit of waking up fairly early in the morning, regardless of how late I was up the night before. This happened in Atlanta on Saturday morning despite being up until around 6am the night before. After a long day at the competition, etc. I went back to the room to take a power nap before meeting up with some friends that were also at the competition as David went to another hotel to talk to Carlos. When I woke up David started talking about what happened at the other hotel. To make a long story short, the competition ran late so the kids didn’t get back to the hotel until close to 10. They were hungry and the pool was still open so many kids went to the pool while waiting for their parents to get them food. Near the pool was a restaurant and bar where many of the parents were having a drink or two while waiting for food. Apparently the hotel had a 10pm curfew for kids during sporting events that not everyone was aware of, so security starting kicking kids out of the open pool and sending them back to their rooms. Some of the parents took offense to how the kids were being treated and started griping at security, then 1 parent got slammed against the wall and arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct.
Problem Number 1 – Keeping the pool open past “curfew” was idiotic. You know kids are going to the pool any chance they get, so if they are supposed to be in their rooms you should close the places in the hotel kids are going to want to go.
Problem Number 2 – The person they arrested was not drinking. At all.
Problem Number 3 – The person arrested has virtually unlimited funds and a corporate legal department at her disposal.
David went to the College Park Police Department to bail her out, which he said wasn’t the quickest process, got her back to the hotel, and let her know which parent was watching her kids while she was occupied before coming back to the room. The reason I called this the greatest 20 minute nap ever is because when David came to the room I didn’t realize how much time had passed. Even while he was telling all that happened, I, in my just woken up state, was trying to figure out how all this happened so fast. Then I looked at the clock and realized about 6 hours had passed. I guess I needed some sleep.
When I started writing this I thought I would cover more than Atlanta and the 20 Minute Nap. I guess I’ll pick up where I left off later. There are several weddings to cover, some with more notice than others.
I have a problem with the NCAA right now, specifically the NCAA Clearinghouse. The job of the Clearinghouse is to let you know if an athlete is eligible to play. If the Clearinghouse gives a green light, the kid should be able to play without future penalty to the school. If the Clearinghouse later learns something that would cause the player to be ineligible they can suspend him, but there shouldn’t be a penalty to the school for using him while he was cleared. Please keep in mind I’m not talking about circumstances in which the school illegally of immorally helped the athlete become eligible.
The Clearinghouse has messed this up with Derrick Rose and Eric Bledsoe. Both athletes were cleared by the Clearinghouse and played. After a season of playing questions were raised about them and their eligibility and in Rose’s case, the school he played for was stripped of victories during his playing time. The case with Bledsoe hasn’t made it that far yet, but it shouldn’t even be a concern. In my eyes one the Clearinghouse clearing someone to play the school should be immune to repercussions of using that player. To me this would be similar to the Supreme Court telling you it’s OK to sell a product, you selling it, the Supreme Court changing it’s mind, then prosecuting you for selling it. If they just change their mind and tell you to stop selling it, no problem, if they try to punish you for selling it when they said it was OK, there is a problem.
College athletics are about to change once again with Colorado and Nebraska leaving the Big 12. Colorado is leaving for the Pac 10 and Nebraska for the Big 10. There are all sorts of guesses about what will happen next, with Texas leading the pack, and many thinking Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech will follow Texas, if possible. The most common assumption is all 5 Texas and Oklahoma teams joining Colorado in the Pac 10. I’m not certain this will happen because I think the SEC will make a run at Texas and accept any of the Texas or Oklahoma teams in order to get Texas. Texas is the jewel of the pack because it is the richest athletic department in the nation and it brings a large TV audience with it. If Texas and the other schools decide to go with the Pac 10 expect the SEC to raid the ACC. I’d guess Florida State, Georgia Tech, and Clemson would be on top of the SEC recruiting list because the complete intra-state rivalries in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. I’d also guess the next 2 on the SEC list would be Louisville and Miami.
If the ACC loses any teams, expect them to shift north and take a few Big East teams, which only has 8 football schools. I’d expect the ACC to go after West Virginia, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Connecticut, only needing to get 3 or 4 of them to replace the teams that left for the SEC. They would have competition for Pittsburgh and Syracuse, who I believe the Big 10 would talk to, in addition to Notre Dame, Missouri, Iowa State, and possible Cincinnati and Louisville.
When the 2013 football season kicks off, here are my predictions for Conference membership:
The irony of higher education right now is the Big 10 now has 12 teams while the Big 12 and Pac 10 have 11 teams.
