NFL Considers Expanding Season

As reported by many news outlets, the NFL is considering expanding the regular season from 16 to 17 or 18 games. Commissioner Roger Goodell did some spin doctoring, saying the season was 20 games long, but that's including preseason games--which help determine which players should make the team and help the team prepare for when the games count. Goodell's plan would keep the total at 2o by subtracting from the preseason the number of games added to the regular season.

"Fans don't believe preseason games are up to our standards"

That's what Goodell said, regarding the necessity to shift some preseason games to the regular season. The point that Goodell misses is that the problem fans have with the preseason is that the NFL charges full price for them when they are not meant to be the same importance as regular season games.

I have three questions for Roger Goodell:

1. With the expanded injury list coinciding with the expanded schedule, do you really want the players who would be playing in the lower-standard 4th preseason games to be the players playing in the Super Bowl.
2. By expanding the season both in length and later into February, do you run the risk of over-saturation--losing the casual fans and the television ratings they bring
3. How does the expanded schedule "grow the game" on the field? (I understand how it grows the owners' pocketbooks, but how will it improve the game itself?)

That said, I sure won't mind watching another week of games each year. Just start the regular season in August instead of extending it so the Super Bowl is in February.

And have a good day.

The Ol' College Effort

I start classes next week. At least, I hope to. I'm having difficulty figuring out what day of the week one of my evening classes meets.

The registrar's office says it meets one day. The syllabus says another day. We received an e-mail message from the professor who claimed it was a third day.

Along with that, the bookstore wants us to buy the eighth edition of the textbook. The prof mentioned in his syllabus that the bookstore wants us to buy the sixth edition, but we should buy the fifth edition. The fifth edition is from 2000.

Topping it all off is the name of the class: Principles of Management.

If that isn't a clear statement on the state of management these days, I don't know what is.

But, on the bright side, this is why we can so enjoy Dilbert.

And have a nice day.

Baseball's Instant Replay

Baseball is introducing their version of instant replay. This is needed, you see, because several months back there was a home run which was ruled not a home run. Or not a home run which was ruled a home run. Who can remember?

This is vitally important to the game, you see. What would happen if, in game seven of the World Series, an umpire made a mistake? For, like, 2 weeks, people would care. Maybe.

I actually don't care one way or the other about instant replay. What I've enjoyed is that no one's taking the conversation any deeper. Most seem to be in favor of instant replay, but no one is asking the questions. Do we just do home runs? Do we do any call that a manager argues? Do we do something in between? Will that elephant in the room, er, stadium obstruct the view of the replay camera?

In the end, of course, it doesn't matter. The entire point of it is that once or twice there was a slow sports news day. Sports radio had nothing else to talk about so they made it seem like the lack of instant replay was a crisis situation. In the future, there'll be a complaint about how instant replay was handled. It'll be a slow sports news day. And sports radio will have another crisis Du jour to talk about.

So enjoy baseball. Enjoy instant replay. Enjoy the inevitable "crisis" which will come from it.

And have a good day.

Izzy Stradlin - Concrete

According to Beenafix.com, Izzy Stradlin has a new album out: Concrete. It's only available, again, on ITunes.

Tracklist:

1. Ball
2. Circle
3. Easy
4. Concrete
5. Drove
6. Ship
7. G.B.
8. Knuckleheads
9. I Know
10. Raggadubbacrete


Source:

www.beenafix.com
www.chopaway.com

And have a good day.

Campaigns and Web 2.0

I found an article on CNN about how politicians are using Web 2.0 for their campaigns and how they're adding Twitter to their stable of applications. I was going to rant about how, based on the e-mails I receive from candidates, they'd probably just use it to bombard us with requests for money.

However, I decided I should actually try Twitter so I could make an educated comment about it. Since I don't know a whole lot of folks who use twitter, I subscribed to political campaign tweets. Bob Barr kept suggesting I check out the new videos on his site. BarackObama (the first one to sign up to follow me, by the way) kept telling me the locations of his campaign stops. I couldn't find a John McCain account. Ralph Nader was micro blogging about a map. Nary a call for money in the lot. So I was wrong.

But I did think back to Bob Graham's 2004 campaign. I shudder to think of what Graham, who allegedly keeps a meticulous log of his daily activities anyway, would have put on Twitter. It's probably best to forget I even mentioned that.

And have a good day.

Another View on "Web 2.0"

After spending time with my Inbox Zero project, I've finally started catching up on some reading. In the March 2008 issues of Associates, Carol Borzyskowski writes about her and her library's experiences with 23 Things on a Stick, the Minnesota version of Library 2.0. I don't know that there's anything earthshaking in the column, but it is another view on 2.0. Word is spreading.

I did find out, however, there are a few things in 23 Things with which I am not familiar. I'd better get busy learning. After I catch up on my reading. After I finish my Inbox Zero stuff.

And have a good day.

Holiday Reminder

Just a reminder that we have about 15 shopping days until the galactic holiday known as Mark Wentz's Birthday. There are great gift ideas out there for your loved ones. And don't forget to pre-order your doughnuts and pizza as there may limited quantities.


A friendly reminder from Wentzmania.com

And have a good day