In the not too distant future

In retrospect, it might have made more sense to make this, my 101^st blog post, the "let's take a nostalgic and educational look back at my first 100 posts" blog. Then I could have named it "BISdom 101" as a nod to introductory level college courses everywhere.

Today, UNC's men's basketball team dropped from the top 25 rankings for the first time since January 2006 after three straight losses. Of course, that '05-'06 team – much like this '09-'10 team – played the year after winning a national championship and losing a lot of national championship players. And then the freshmen of that '05-'06 team grew up to win a national championship.

So, while it may be simple enough to pout about a down year in Carolina basketball, including recent losses to in-state rival Wake Forest and perennial-punching-bag Clemson, it's also fun to do a little historically educated projecting as to what this current team might grow up to be.

Thanks to an experienced squad and a few early exits in the summer, this Tar Heels team has very few contributing upperclassmen. In fact, in the next two years, UNC is only guaranteed to lose three players who play any regular minutes: Marcus Ginyard, Deon Thompson, and Will Graves.

After that, only a few players (particularly Ed Davis) could be reasonably expected to leave before the '11-'12 season. There are, after all, some benefits to having good but not great players like Larry Drew II, the Wear twins, and Tyler Zeller.

But, just for fun, I'm going to assume that every Carolina player does – as they all say – actually want to graduate, and none leave early. In the '11-'12 season, Roy Williams would be looking at a rotation that looks something like this:

C Ed Davis (SR)
PF Travis Wear (JR)
SF Harrison Barnes (ESPN's #1 recruit for 2010)
SG Dexter Strickland (JR)
PG Larry Drew II (SR)
B1 Tyler Zeller (SR C)
B2 John Henson (JR SF/PF)
B3 David Wear (JR SF/PF)
B4 Leslie McDonald (JR SG)
B5 Reggie Bullock (ESPN's #3 SG for 2010)
B6 Kendall Marshall (ESPN's #6 PG for 2010)
B7 James McAdoo – no relation (ESPN's #1 PF for 2011)
B8 P.J. Hairston (ESPN's #4 SG for 2011)
B9 – just for fun – Justin Watts (SR SG)

But seriously, there's almost no way – considering early exits, transfers, and decommits, not to mention an NCAA Division I men's basketball scholarship limit of 13 full scholarships – that this roster actually materializes, so what's the point of all this hopeful prophesying?

Well, for me at least, it's nice to find a bit of a silver lining in a period where even a win at NC State is questionable.

Event of the Week:

UNC at NC State, tomorrow at 9.

C-Note

This blog turns a hundred today, since this is my 100^th post since moving my blog over to Blogger. I wanted to make this post special, so after a lot of deliberation, I decided to post some facts and statistics about my 99 posts so far. I'm not sure that makes this post special; that's just what I decided after a lot of deliberation. I apologize if that sentence structure suggested any connection between the two.

Number of Events pubbed: 9

Number of Quotes quoted: 9

Number of Questions asked: 81 – Even though I started the "of the Week" features about 8 months in to my 13 months of blogging (roughly), these past five months have not been very bloggy. So the numbers here are pretty uneven.

Worst month for blogging: Evidently November. I only posted one blog for the whole month in 2009. Ironically, it was the following blog (in December) that garnered the title "Blog of the Month."

Bloggiest month: August

Number of blogs with zero comments: 3 (Come out and play, Leftovers, and Fluish)

Number of blogs with comments from random people that I don't know: 3 (Brett Writin' Stuff, I'm [a] PC, and Movember Madness)

Blog with the most comments (all by the same two people): D-pad or joystick? (7)

Number of blogs that reference the St. Louis Cardinals: 20

Number of blogs that mention UNC: 17

My favorite word to use that has the letters "unc" in it: announcer/announced – When I did a search for UNC, Blogger brought up all instances of those three letters contiguously. Other than UNC and UNC-W, announcer/announced was the most common find.

Number of blogs that mention Arrested Development: 6

Number of times I've used the word "dichotomy": 3 (Two in a row is not a streak, BISsie blog, and Chicks dig the long ball)

Longest title: Event of the Day: the premiere of the Event of the Week

Shortest title: B.

Number of titles that include (or are) obscure cultural references: I counted 29, but then this really depends on what you consider "obscure" and what you consider "cultural." And you have to imagine those quotes are air quotes from James Franco's guest appearance on 30 Rock where he used air quotes to set off things like "too controversial for America."

Number of times my initials (BIS) appeared in a blog title: 4 (BISness time, Just call me BISdom, To be fair: "The Daily BISdom" isn't "daily", and BISsie blog)

Amount of time I spent researching and writing this extremely narcissistic blog: about 45 minutes or so

Question of the Week:

What do you think of the first hundred blogs?

My take: I've gone a lot of places in my first 100 posts, some of them not worth revisiting. I'm even proud of some of my blogs but, importantly, I'm comfortable with where it's at now.

(S)wordplay

There are moments when I, as a teacher, just can't get anything to make sense. Usually, it's just because I have too much on my plate, or too many plates spinning, or some other plate analogy.

The beginning of the semester is generally hectic – especially when it begins a week earlier than planned – but I think that hecticness is exacerbated for Tuesday/Thursday classes. I still need to get the same number of projects/things started/finalized, but I have 33% fewer class periods in which to do so.

Right now, I'm dealing with:

• Actually teaching again: for the first few days of any course, I don't do much teaching. But by week 1.5, which is where/when we're at, I'm usually in full teacher mode.
  
• Roll changes: students are still dropping my courses, so I have to check my roster pretty regularly. Right now, I'm down to 72 students (from an original 75). For some reason, I'd hoped to reach 72 as some sort of magical "it" number for this semester. Now that I'm there, it seems surprisingly hollow and unfulfilling.
  
• Role changes: this one's not real; I just like wordplay.
  
• Students setting up their blogs: there are generally a few hiccups with this process; the chances that all of my students successfully and smoothly set up their blogs on time are ridiculously low, like an eighth of a percent. It's really silly to even think about. The bottom line is that I have to do a lot of boring administrative-type work to ensure that I can find all of their blogs on a regular basis to be able to grade them. The good news is that I'll have a whole new blog list in a few days.
  
• Scheduling all of my students for individual presentations: for the first time ever, I'm forcing allowing my students to perform individual presentations that will enlighten their fellow classmates on our discussion topics for each particular day. But first they all need to choose a day and topic on which to present. Since they all want to present on the history of Disney, the scheduling is a bit difficult. And, of course, the chances that all of my students [insert time-sensitive, response-oriented task] on time are ridiculously low.
  
• First essays: we're to talk about their first essays tomorrow, which means I need to have planned and created their first essay prompts by tomorrow. At this point, I can generally recycle essay prompts from previous semesters, but there is almost always something that I need/want to change.
  

On top of all that, I'm trying to start early with good examples for my students, which is why I decided to write this blog despite all of my spinning plates full of food: because writing can really help during stressful situations. Though, now that I've listed all of my tasks and thought a bit more about each, they don't seem that daunting. Huzzah for writing.

So, with this blog finished, I'm going to get back to my *actual* work (despite the fact that I'm not even supposed to be working today).

Event of the Week:

Announcer swap. On Wednesday, ESPN will air the UNC/WFU game with NBA announcers and the subsequent NBA game with college announcer and general sycophant Dick Vitale. Unlike Vitale, the NBA announcers involved in this swap actually improve the games they work. I love Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy's work as color commentators. They make the NBA roughly 10% more watchable (which brings it up to about 103% for me). Mike Breen, their usual play-by-play guy, adds another 2%.

7 months and a mule

Today's blog is going to be one big

Question of the Week:

The lowest-rated of the major broadcast networks is trying to turn things around by personally offending and eventually losing their best late-night talent. While the proverbial chips continue to fall, all of the network late-night hosts are sniping at and laughing at each other (especially the ones who still have jobs). So, the QotW is: how would you rank the late-night hosts/shows?

My take:

Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show: I've watched and loved Conan for years, and when he moved to The Tonight Show at 11:35, I was stoked (though also a bit conflicted because of number two on my list). Now, only seven months later, it seems he's done at NBC and may not have a place to land, though FOX is evidently interested. Conan's comedy is occasionally silly or even immature, but I think that worked perfectly on Late Night because it was late at night and now works well at any time because our cultural sense of humor has seen a significant shift in that silly and immature direction. (South Park, Family Guy, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, even The Office all fit that description to a degree.) Conan has also reunited with Andy Richter since moving to The Tonight Show, and I've decided I like the dedicated sidekick much more than the sidekick/band leader that most late-night shows have gone to in the past 20 years. If that's not enough, Conan also wrote for The Simpsons when it was still getting its legs. Wherever Conan ends up, I'll be watching.

Late Show with David Letterman: I often consider Letterman's humor to be old-man humor. I don't know why – maybe because he's always seemed old. Regardless, I've loved Letterman since I was young. He's weird and perhaps a bit narcissistic though still self-deprecating, but his flaws and mistakes – of which there are many – usually make him seem more human and more likable rather than the opposite. Obviously his Top Ten list is a cultural icon at this point. Whenever I actively watch the shows at 11:35, I usually switch between Letterman and Conan. By the way, Letterman is lapping up this current controversy. He's been vindicated.

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: After a brief period of fandom, I lost interest in Jimmy Fallon's career, but tried to keep an open mind when his show premiered in March of last year. That was not immediately rewarded. I remember in the first few weeks even Fallon would get so angry at his monologue jokes that he would take them into the stands and ask audience members if they could do any better. That's since become more of a reward for audience members than I suppose a punishment, but it points to both the immense shoes Fallon had to fill (Conan's) and the early mediocrity of the writing. The show has improved, fairly dramatically, since those opening weeks, but it's still not great. Fallon is a decent though still inexperienced interviewer, the monologue is usually about half funny, and his audience involvement pieces are actually pretty good. But, the best part about the show is easily the house band: The Roots.

Jimmy Kimmel Live!: Other than during its premiere week, the most I've seen of Jimmy Kimmel's show is on ESPN. So, basically Kimmel gets this spot because of his sports references. I also give him a lot of respect for calling Leno out on Leno's show. I also liked Kimmel's work on Comedy Central, though I doubt I'd appreciate it much now. Either way, I've entered territory of shows that I don't watch very often, so these decisions are bit less informed.

Last Call with Carson Daly: Carson Daly isn't very funny. I get the feeling that both he and Jimmy Fallon were given late-night shows based more on their connections in show business rather than on their comedic ability. For the first few years, Carson's show was obviously unfunny though still attempted to be. However, the last time I watched it (maybe a couple months ago), it seemed like the show had taken a dramatic though genuinely positive turn. Carson had gone away from the traditional hosting-behind-a-desk-with-a-couch thing and was doing a more of a LA-tour-guide-with-great-musical-guests-and-very-personal-interviews-thing. I liked this new format, as it seemed to mesh much more with what Carson is good at: spotting and getting to know musical talent. I actually promised myself I'd watch more of his show, but it's on so late.

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: I've tried to watch Ferguson, but I don't like his humor at all. I turned it on the other night knowing that I would write this blog, and he was hiding underneath the camera holding a fox puppet in the camera's view. The fox was talking. I tried to pay attention. It wasn't funny.

Jay Leno: I've also never found Jay Leno to be funny. His best segment seems to have always been the funny headlines segment, which is specifically not written by his staff (since they use actual funny headlines). My understanding of late-night history is that Leno's popularity only surpassed Letterman's because of one important interview with a freshly-hookered Hugh Grant. I tend to object to that decision by the American people. Regardless of his funniness, Leno has consistently appeared as the villain in late-night wars to me, first when he essentially stole The Tonight Show from Letterman (chronicled in the HBO film The Late Shift) and now as he essentially steals the show again from Conan.

Wanda Sykes gets a blue ribbon for participation.

Chicks dig the long ball

When the McGwire news broke, I told myself I wouldn't write about it, for a number of reasons, none of which are important here. But this piece on ESPN somehow changed my mind. It raises some interesting questions – for me at least – about two underlying issues of this Mark McGwire debate:

1. What does it mean to be a Hall of Famer?
   
2. How culpable should we admit MLB steroid users to be?
   

The first question is most poignantly intimated by ESPN LA writer Tony Jackson, who said, "I will continue to decline to vote for [McGwire on the Hall of Fame ballot] in the years to come despite the fact he put up Hall of Fame numbers over the course of his career and despite his admission" (emphasis mine).

The distinction here between Hall-of-Fame numbers and Hall of Famer is obviously troublesome. The driving principle, of course, is that being a Hall of Famer requires a particular personality (or perhaps adherence to certain rules, which I'll get to in a minute). Personally, I don't find the dichotomy necessary, and I would argue that it is a relatively recent invention, considering the Hall has always been – since day one – specifically filled with drunkards, womanizers, cheaters, and etcetera. This fact, of course, problematizes any arguments based on maintaining the sanctity, prestige, or other historical quality of Cooperstown. Frankly, this distinction seems an affront to that history. Traditionally speaking, the Hall of Fame has specifically undervalued so-called traditional values.

The second question is ultimately more complicated, and I don't know that I could or would even want to fully address it here. I've been thinking for a couple days of an appropriate metaphor to explain the tangled web of player accountability on this matter, but the best I've been able to come up with is this:

In today times, anyone who believes in a geocentric universe would be considered ignorant, but in the time before Copernicus, a person would be considered average or even intelligent for that same belief.

While this distinction is, in part, about our society's growth in scientific knowledge – which I think applies to the steroids debate as well – the more important distinction is about changes in our cultural knowledge. In a culture (pre-Copernican civilization) that believed in and fervently endorsed the geocentric model, it was normal and even self-preservationist to imagine the sun circling the Earth. So, hundreds of years in the future, we wouldn't consider those people idiots, though it's now clear that they were severely misinformed (through their cultural beliefs).

Similarly, in a culture (Major League Baseball) that seems to have believed in and fervently endorsed steroid use, were those who juiced really the social pariahs and evildoers that society at large is chastising years in the future? Or, were they just average MLB players during MLB's steroids era?

The point is: at some point we have to start blaming the institution for people's willingness to accept institutionalized knowledge. If there really was, as so many reports suggest, a "culture of steroids" during the so-called Steroids Era, should we blame members of that culture for succumbing to cultural norms?

Quote of the Week:

So many to choose from...

"What McGwire has suffered – and I can say it straight to McGwire's face – is nothing anywhere remote to what I've suffered. And he sits there and starts crying. Mark, there's no crying in baseball. You know that."

Jose Canseco

Friday only comes twice a week

My normal blogging schedule (MWF) creates a slight conflict with my teaching schedule (TR) for this semester. Since I blog on the days I don't teach, it would seem that this would be a conflict-free zone, but there's a slight problem called a five-day weekend. So, I might skip some Monday and Friday blogs but hopefully not as many as I skipped last semester.

Yesterday was my first day of classes for the semester and my last day of classes for the week. At this point in my teaching career, first days have become pretty predictable. At least, I've come to expect a few certain things will happen:

Something will always go wrong. In my first class, I was in a building I've never taught in before, so I had to get new information about how to get the computer/projector up and running. That caused all sorts of technological problems. I also had to find my way around the building. I'm not sure that this is universal, but at every college I've been to, the buildings are unnecessarily labyrinthine with the threat of spandexed David Bowie around every turn.

I will always pronounce some names incorrectly. Last night, I pronounced a student's name wrong twice. I felt terrible because she went out of her way to introduce herself before class started, but I just wasn't paying all that much attention. Then I asked her to pronounce her name during roll and finally mispronounced it when I was using her as an example since she was one of the only students whose name I thought I knew at the time. I think I have it now. So, at least I know one student's name.

I already like and dislike certain students. These judgments are passing, and I'll probably forget them by Tuesday, but they exist, nonetheless. I have 75 students this semester, and I'd probably only recognize a dozen at this point, but that means one of three things: I've taught you before, you impressed me in some way on day one, or you annoyed me in some way on day one. Everybody else is just chaff at this point.

The later classes will always go more smoothly than the earlier classes. Slightly related note: I have an interesting experience this semester because I teach in one classroom from 5 to about 8. So, when I go into the room, it's still light out, but when I leave, the sun has gone down and the temperature's dropped about 5 degrees.

I'm never really ready. This was exacerbated this semester because the university decided to move the semester forward one week so that we could finish one week earlier. While ostensibly this makes sense, it's the kind of logic Veridian Dynamics would use to make a plant that grows light bulbs or a box that tells time. Regardless, it has decreased my general preparedness by roughly 15%. But, at least it's the weekend.

Question of the Week:

What was the best bowl game you watched?

My take: Texas almost made last night's championship game interesting without Colt McCoy, though not really. I thought the Boise State/TCU game lived up to the quiet but full hype and was entertaining, even if it was ultimately meaningless.

BISsie blog

In order for a thing to be "annual" it must happen at least twice, so here are the second annual BISdom awards. (See last year's awards blog to see rules and caveats.)

THE SPORTS CLASS:

Team of the Year:

New York Yankees. This was tougher than I'd imagined, but with the most wins in the MLB regular season and another World Series trophy added to their Cowboys Stadium-sized trophy case, the Yankees take the crown.

Runner-up:

Florida football. Even though they lost to Alabama in the SEC title game, Florida was still National Champs in all of '09.

Athlete of the Year:

Tie: Tyler Hansbrough and Tim Tebow. Two of the greatest college players ever deserve a little recognition for their senior years.

Runner-up:

Kobe Bryant. Kobe finally earned his first NBA Finals MVP and is officially Bryan's biggest man crush.

Surprise of the Year:

Tiger Woods cheats on his wife. Just kidding – that's not surprising at all.

I'd rather go with the Cardinals' aces Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright getting snubbed for the NL Cy Young.

Runner-up:

Dwight Howard's no-show in the NBA Finals. Howard had one of the best playoff runs/coming out parties since Rajon Rondo before losing his dominance in the Finals.

Fantasy Player of the Year:

Matt Jackling. Jackling was/is in all of the leagues I remember and did pretty well in all of them. He has zero 'Ships, but fantasy playoffs are particularly arbitrary.

Runner-up:

Me because I won the football championship, competed for baseball's, have the best team in basketball, only lost Pick 'Em due to a colossal late-season meltdown, and can't put myself first.

Sporting Event of the Year:

March 12^th six-overtime UCONN/Syracuse Big East Tournament game. This game was so crucial that Jay Bilas made a commercial about it. Fortunately I stayed up to watch it. (And it was on my birthday.)

Runner-up:

The Super Bowl? I thought about using this award last year but then decided against it because it's hard to remember two great games at one time.

THE ENTERTAINMENT CLASS:

Movie of the Year:

I guess it has to be The Hangover, right?

Runner-up:

Funny People. This movie has a lot of personal significance for me since it stars one of my childhood idols and my childhood best friend (in joke). Plus, it was pretty good.

Show of the Year:

30 Rock. I can't imagine this not winning.

Runner-up:

Better Off Ted. This category relies very much on the old "what have you done for me lately" concept. Better Off Ted aired two very funny episodes last night.

Best New Show of the Year:

Modern Family. I almost put this in the previous category because it is that good, but then I decided to include this category too.

Runner-up:

Bored to Death. I could immediately tell that I would like this show, but I was surprised when Bryan and Austin enjoyed it too. Good for it.

THE VIDEO GAME CLASS:

Biggest Disappointment of the Year:

The Lord of the Rings: Conquest. From the makers of the Star Wars: Battlefront series, this game had a lot of promise, but turned out to be one of the worst games I've played this year.

Runner-up:

Puzzle Quest: Galactrix. I'm guessing none of my readers even know what this game is. It should suffice to say that I had unreasonably high expectations and they were not met.

Most Fun Game of the Year:

Halo 3: ODST. The firefight mode of this game approaches Gears 2-horde-mode fun. In fact, if I were to continue the "Gaming Moment of the Year" award, this game would hold both spots for two different games I played with only Nathan and then only Matthew, both of which were extremely fun and ended up going on way too long.

Runner-up:

DJ Hero. I'm hesitant to reward a game that has both limited multiplayer and limited "campaign" length, but this game was just fun. Besides, almost every game has limited multiplayer and limited campaign length anymore.

Best Multiplayer Game:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I should really have separate categories for online multiplayer and local multiplayer, but I'm reaching my blogging fill and I might save that dichotomy for another blog in the coming weeks.

Runner-up:

New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Despite being an immensely frustrating multiplayer experience, this game tends to be really fun and also inviting.

Game of the Year:

Batman: Arkham Asylum. I'm a sucker for super hero games, especially good ones.

Runner-up:

Assassin's Creed II. I realized as I typed up this category that I was basically looking for an excuse to include these two (single-player-only) games. They're both great games, but I don't know that either is really "better" than ODST or CoD: Modern Warfare 2. Maybe I'll rename this category next year.

THE SOCIAL CLASS:

I'm skipping this category this year because I didn't really have time or energy for a social life. That's really sad, now that I've typed it out loud.

THE "OF THE WEEK" CLASS:

Event of the Year:

From "I will give a shout out.":

UNC-W final grades are due today at 2 p.m. Fortunately, I had 118 of my 122 grades submitted by Friday, which allowed me to fully enjoy this weekend's 5^th annual Sherrick Santa Ski. I submitted the other four grades this morning because I was waiting on final essays from those four students. Some of them turned them in.

Runner-up from "Event of the Day: the premiere of the Event of the Week":

I probably couldn't have picked a better week to start the Event of the Week feature since the 5^th Annual Pig Pickin' is only 5+ days away. If this feature were, instead, the Event of the Year, the Pig Pickin' would probably win. As a lead up to this weekend's festivities, this happened:

Quote of the Year:

From "That blog won't hunt":

"It's like a hangover that lasts more than one day."

Brad Gilbert on Andy Murray's loss at the US Open.

Runner-up from today because it's Quote of the Week day:

"Lemon, gift giving is the purest expression of friendship."

Jack Donaghy to Liz Lemon on 30 Rock. This quote really changed the way I shopped for Christmas presents this year, I think for the better.

Question of the Year:

(I only included questions that I posted after I switched to the "of the Week" format.)

From "Scribblenots":

If you could materialize anything out of thin air, what would it be?

My take: Right now, I'd love some sort of machine to grade these 125 student essays I've received over the past few days. Or maybe just my own TA.

Runner-up from "Fluish":

What would be the best Marvel/Disney team-up or collaboration? Here are some suggestions.

My take: Hercules meets Hercules could work. Ariel from The Little Mermaid and the Sub-Mariner. Forge from the X-Men and Tron. The Lion King and the Black Panther. But seriously, any Pixar and Marvel collaboration would be awesome.

LEFTOVER CLASS:

Day of the Week:

Sunday Funday. Sundays have had great TV for about 15 or 20 years now (ever since The Simpsons moved over from Thursdays). This year's Sundays also saw the inauguration of Bryan, Austin, and Brett family dinners and a small increase in my interest in NFL football, though I still consider it an overrated sport.

Runner-up:

Friday. Friday was the one day of the week that I consistently convinced myself that I didn't have much work to do and I could enjoy myself a bit. (I was wrong.)

Best Class:

The last one. Fall semester was really rough on me this year, so I was glad when it was over.

Runner-up:

The other last one. Spring semester was also really rough on me this year.

Biggest Scrumpt:

Wii Fit. EA Sports Active is a much more useful game which can use but doesn't require the Wii Balance Board. So basically, Wii Fit and the accompanying Balance Board are useless to me.

Runner-up:

My blogging. I've made a lot of unfulfilled promises in the last 12 months about my blogging.

Well folks, that ends the second (now annual) BISdom awards. I suppose there isn't much room for acceptance speeches since I skipped the Social Category, but feel free to accept awards that aren't yours – we all know Bryan wants to put on his Kobe Bryant jersey and accept that award – or comment on snubs or things you want to see next year.