The Protection of Saint Dogbert
17 December 2009
15 December 2009
Some Texas faculty irked by Brown's $2M raise
Some Texas faculty irked by Brown's $2M raise - from ESPN.com
You know what gets me about articiles like this? It's that you have a group of faculty members that can't see past a headline, consider that has happened to be a tragedy and an attack on academics, and then forget two important facts. First, they not getting past a headline means they never see this line:
Brown's salary is paid with money raised by athletic department revenues.
UT Athletics pays for itself! They're not contributing to the University's budget problems because they pay for themselves. Second, they forget that UT Athletics contributes over $6 million to academic programs. They're taking the money that they made on their own and putting it back into the University. Wouldn't something like that actually help with UT's budget problems? But why point that out? It's easier for a bunch of people with large amounts of eduction but a small amount of common sense to go after the Athletics department and say that it's another example of sports becoming more important than the academic programs in higher education.
This thing probably bugs me so much because we heard it in Tucson non-stop last year. Coach Stoops took UA to a bowl game last year, and was rewarded for it with a raise that put him into the seven-figure range. And, guess what? He had a better season this year, beat USC, tied for second place in the Pac-10, and is taking the team to an even better bowl game this year! He earned the money he's paid. We also hired Sean Miller to be the new Men's Basketball Coach. To lure him away from a very talented program at Xavier, it took some money. Now, just to point out that we didn't just throw money at some scrub of a coach, Xavier went to four NCAA tournaments, in addition to winning three A-10 regular season championships and one conference tournament championship during Miller's tenure of five seasons. The last two years, they made it into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, with an Elite Eight appearance in 2008 and Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2009.
My point in bringing up Coach Stoops and Coach Miller...UA Athletics pays for itself! They take NO STATE FUNDS! Their budget is whatever they bring in! So, if an athletics department wants to pay their coaches whatever amount of money they feel they are worth, let them! And, in the mean time, the professors can go back to worrying about academics and let the coaches and AD worry about athletics!
You know what gets me about articiles like this? It's that you have a group of faculty members that can't see past a headline, consider that has happened to be a tragedy and an attack on academics, and then forget two important facts. First, they not getting past a headline means they never see this line:
Brown's salary is paid with money raised by athletic department revenues.
UT Athletics pays for itself! They're not contributing to the University's budget problems because they pay for themselves. Second, they forget that UT Athletics contributes over $6 million to academic programs. They're taking the money that they made on their own and putting it back into the University. Wouldn't something like that actually help with UT's budget problems? But why point that out? It's easier for a bunch of people with large amounts of eduction but a small amount of common sense to go after the Athletics department and say that it's another example of sports becoming more important than the academic programs in higher education.
This thing probably bugs me so much because we heard it in Tucson non-stop last year. Coach Stoops took UA to a bowl game last year, and was rewarded for it with a raise that put him into the seven-figure range. And, guess what? He had a better season this year, beat USC, tied for second place in the Pac-10, and is taking the team to an even better bowl game this year! He earned the money he's paid. We also hired Sean Miller to be the new Men's Basketball Coach. To lure him away from a very talented program at Xavier, it took some money. Now, just to point out that we didn't just throw money at some scrub of a coach, Xavier went to four NCAA tournaments, in addition to winning three A-10 regular season championships and one conference tournament championship during Miller's tenure of five seasons. The last two years, they made it into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, with an Elite Eight appearance in 2008 and Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2009.
My point in bringing up Coach Stoops and Coach Miller...UA Athletics pays for itself! They take NO STATE FUNDS! Their budget is whatever they bring in! So, if an athletics department wants to pay their coaches whatever amount of money they feel they are worth, let them! And, in the mean time, the professors can go back to worrying about academics and let the coaches and AD worry about athletics!
11 November 2009
Dropkick Favorites
So, I had a great time at the Dropkick Murphys concert last weekend. My only wish is that they had played my two favorite songs. The videos are sandwiching this post. Just thought I'd share.
04 November 2009
Dropkick Murphys Tomorrow!!!
Tomorrow will be my first Dropkick Murphys concert! To make it even better, I'm seeing them in San Diego! I cannot describe how excited I am for this trip! But, just for the fun of it, here's another DKM video!
02 November 2009
College Football - Week 10
So, I once again forgot to put my picks down in writing for Week 9, but I am happy to report that Week 8 went very well for me...4-0 kind of well. Now, I will be traveling this weekend, so I do not plan on watching any of the games that I'll write about, but I expect that they all will be good games. As an added bonus this week, I will be covering all three of the Service Academies this week!
Washington State at #18 Arizona
Arizona is coming off a bye week. A great mid-season opportunity to rest and recover before the final five games of the year. Washington State went to San Antonio and got manhandled by Notre Dame (Go Irish!). Washington State has been a stumbling block for Arizona in the past, but the pass defense of WSU will fold under the pressure of Arizona's spread offense attack. By the way, this game is at Arizona, and the crowd will be ready to welcome their team, ranked in the BCS for a second straight week!
The Wildcats tame the Cougars at Arizona Stadium.
Navy at #22 Notre Dame
In one of college football's storied, yet most lopsided, rivalries, Notre Dame will once again be tested by the triple-option offense of Navy. The Midshipmen are coming into this game in much the same shape at Notre Dame (lots of very close games with just two real blowouts). The difference is that Navy has not had the kind of consistent competition that Notre Dame has defeated.
Notre Dame pulls out the win over Navy for a second year in a row.
#16 Ohio State at #11 Penn State
In the event that Iowa trips up in the next few weeks, both of these teams will be looking to take Iowa's place in Pasadena. Penn State has already fallen to Iowa. Ohio State plays them later this month. Here's the difference between Penn State and Ohio State. PSU lost to Iowa. OSU lost to USC and Purdue. There's a quality of loss difference, plus OSU has dropped two games this year. Sophomore QB Terrell Prior of OSU is not the same caliber QB as Penn State's Senior Captain Darryl Clark.
The experience of the Nittany Lions will stop the Buckeyes on their trip to Happy Valley.
Army at Air Force
ESPN's College GameDay is making the road trip to Colorado Springs as part of ESPN's Veterans Day-week festivities. Air Force has already lost to Navy, knocking it out of contention for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. The only way to keep Navy from taking that trophy back to Annapolis is by Army beating Air Force this weekend and Navy in December. Since Army isn't going to beat Navy, there's no reason for them to beat Air Force.
Air Force's option attack stops the Black Knights in their marching cadence.
Week 8: 4-0 Season: 19-5
Washington State at #18 Arizona
Arizona is coming off a bye week. A great mid-season opportunity to rest and recover before the final five games of the year. Washington State went to San Antonio and got manhandled by Notre Dame (Go Irish!). Washington State has been a stumbling block for Arizona in the past, but the pass defense of WSU will fold under the pressure of Arizona's spread offense attack. By the way, this game is at Arizona, and the crowd will be ready to welcome their team, ranked in the BCS for a second straight week!
The Wildcats tame the Cougars at Arizona Stadium.
Navy at #22 Notre Dame
In one of college football's storied, yet most lopsided, rivalries, Notre Dame will once again be tested by the triple-option offense of Navy. The Midshipmen are coming into this game in much the same shape at Notre Dame (lots of very close games with just two real blowouts). The difference is that Navy has not had the kind of consistent competition that Notre Dame has defeated.
Notre Dame pulls out the win over Navy for a second year in a row.
#16 Ohio State at #11 Penn State
In the event that Iowa trips up in the next few weeks, both of these teams will be looking to take Iowa's place in Pasadena. Penn State has already fallen to Iowa. Ohio State plays them later this month. Here's the difference between Penn State and Ohio State. PSU lost to Iowa. OSU lost to USC and Purdue. There's a quality of loss difference, plus OSU has dropped two games this year. Sophomore QB Terrell Prior of OSU is not the same caliber QB as Penn State's Senior Captain Darryl Clark.
The experience of the Nittany Lions will stop the Buckeyes on their trip to Happy Valley.
Army at Air Force
ESPN's College GameDay is making the road trip to Colorado Springs as part of ESPN's Veterans Day-week festivities. Air Force has already lost to Navy, knocking it out of contention for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. The only way to keep Navy from taking that trophy back to Annapolis is by Army beating Air Force this weekend and Navy in December. Since Army isn't going to beat Navy, there's no reason for them to beat Air Force.
Air Force's option attack stops the Black Knights in their marching cadence.
Week 8: 4-0 Season: 19-5
23 October 2009
Two weeks away...
Two weeks from today I will be waking up in San Diego, with ears will ringing from the previous night's festivities. What are the previous night's festivities? Dropkick Murphys live in concert! While there are multiple traditions that go along with this event, the favorite that I have seen thus far is the one in the video above...the crowd coming on stage for the final song, Skinhead on the MBTA! This video is from their St. Patrick's Day show in 2002.
Of course, when I wake up in two weeks, with ears ringing, I'll be looking forward to the rest of the weekend in beautiful San Diego. This trip is going to be awesome!
21 October 2009
College Football - Week 8
So, I've missed doing my picks for the past two weeks, but I did have a very good Week 5, going 4-0.
Now, back on track for this week's games: (By the way, ranking numbers are now shifting from the AP Poll to the BCS Rankings)
UCLA at #22 Arizona
Arizona is coming off an exciting win over a talented Stanford team. The Arizona offense is running on all cylinders, it's just up to the defense to really begin to step up. UCLA is on the rise, but is not at the same level as Arizona.
The Wildcats stop the Bruins in Arizona Stadium
Boston College at Notre Dame
Notre Dame is coming off another loss to USC. It's been a long time since the Irish have beaten the Trojans...but I digress. Boston College is the only other Catholic University that plays D-I football...I mean, plays FCS Football. This is a major rivalry, and typically produces a very exciting game. Boston College continues to climb their way up the ACC's pecking order, having made multiple appearances in the ACC Championship Game in their brief tenure in that conference.
The Irish look to get the sour taste out of their mouth, and takes it out on BC.
#13 Penn State at Michigan
Penn State wants to climb back into the Top 10 and into the Rose Bowl picture. While this will take Iowa being knocked off a few times, Penn State will need to win out. Michigan is a decent team, but they are not at the same level as Penn State. The Wolverines' advantage will be the location, as this game is being played in the Big House.
The Nittany Lions tame the Wolverines in the Big House.
#8 TCU at #16 BYU
In the revolving door of potential BCS busters, TCU is the ugly stepchild. They're always right there in the mix, until they face either BYU or Utah. The downside to TCU's stellar season...Boise State is also undefeated. If there's going to be a BCS buster this year, it won't be TCU. But, BYU won't be the team to keep them out of the BCS hunt.
TCU wins on the road and stays in the Top 10.
Week 5: 4-0 Season: 15-5
Now, back on track for this week's games: (By the way, ranking numbers are now shifting from the AP Poll to the BCS Rankings)
UCLA at #22 Arizona
Arizona is coming off an exciting win over a talented Stanford team. The Arizona offense is running on all cylinders, it's just up to the defense to really begin to step up. UCLA is on the rise, but is not at the same level as Arizona.
The Wildcats stop the Bruins in Arizona Stadium
Boston College at Notre Dame
Notre Dame is coming off another loss to USC. It's been a long time since the Irish have beaten the Trojans...but I digress. Boston College is the only other Catholic University that plays D-I football...I mean, plays FCS Football. This is a major rivalry, and typically produces a very exciting game. Boston College continues to climb their way up the ACC's pecking order, having made multiple appearances in the ACC Championship Game in their brief tenure in that conference.
The Irish look to get the sour taste out of their mouth, and takes it out on BC.
#13 Penn State at Michigan
Penn State wants to climb back into the Top 10 and into the Rose Bowl picture. While this will take Iowa being knocked off a few times, Penn State will need to win out. Michigan is a decent team, but they are not at the same level as Penn State. The Wolverines' advantage will be the location, as this game is being played in the Big House.
The Nittany Lions tame the Wolverines in the Big House.
#8 TCU at #16 BYU
In the revolving door of potential BCS busters, TCU is the ugly stepchild. They're always right there in the mix, until they face either BYU or Utah. The downside to TCU's stellar season...Boise State is also undefeated. If there's going to be a BCS buster this year, it won't be TCU. But, BYU won't be the team to keep them out of the BCS hunt.
TCU wins on the road and stays in the Top 10.
Week 5: 4-0 Season: 15-5
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