Energy is eternal delight

College Football Bowl Season in Review

thafuture — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 07:38:10 +0000

The college Bowl season finally came to an end on Wednesday night as Texas defated USC 41-38 for the national championship. This was one of the best bowl seasons that I have witnesses as many of the games game down to the final minutes and there were many surprise finishes. A few of my favorite games include Tulsa vs. Fresno St, Penn St. vs Florida St, Michigan vs Nebraska, West Virginia vs Georgia and of course Texas vs USC. The biggest surprises of the bowl season include Missouri over South Carolina, Nebraska over Michigan, West Virginia over Georgia, Wisconsin over Auburn, and in many peoples minds (not including mine) Texas over USC…but by far the biggest surprise of the bowl season had to have been LSU destroying Miami 40-3.

Below are some of my thoughts on the bowl games:

The Penn State vs. Florida State game was the longest and most dragged out game I have ever seen. It was a great game but at the same very frustrating to watch. The game went to tripple overtime and lasted over 3 hours. Everyone knew that Penn St. was going to win the game because they were clearly better. Penn State had ample opportunities to end the game in regulation. They gave up several turnovers in ther red zone and missed a field goal. Penn State outplayed Florida State but Penn gave up two big plays to keep Florida State in the game.

The National Championship game was one of the best games I have ever witnessed. It was an amazing game as it came down to the last seconds as Vince Young scored the winning touchdown with 19 seconds left in regulation. Weeks before the National Championship game was played, I made it public to my peers and everyone around me that I believed Texas would defeat USC. I had several reasons for believing this. First, USC plays in a one dimensional conference. The pacific-10 is all offense and no defense as every game is very high scoring. This includes USC themself, there defense is middle of the road. They let many teams put up a lot of points on them. Don’t get me wrong, USC has a fantastic offense, probably the best in the nation, but defense wins championships and no matter how good your offense is, if your team is one dimensional you wont win the big games. They let Fresno St. who finished 3rd in the WAC almost get away with the win. Let me remind you that Fresno St. ended the season by losing 4 in a row. They also let Notre Dame who I believe to be the most overrated team in the nation almost get away with the win. I was also skeptic of USC because there schedule was so weak. The Pac-10 has one, maybe two good teams. Top to bottom they are horrible. Oregon and USC are the only teams you can look at and say they are a good team and even then I have a hard time saying that because Oregon did not have to play UCLA and had a very weak non conference schedule. Some of you might say, “hey what about UCLA!?!?”, well just like every other team in the Pac-10, they are one dimensional, and in fact, had one of the worst ranked defenses in the nation. Like I said earlier, UCLA did not have to play Oregon and the only good team they played was USC. So pretty much USC has a great offense, very mediocre defense. Texas is a much more complete team and they play in a better conference. This is why I cannot understand why people claimed USC to win the national championship before it even happened. Texas’ offense and defense ranked among the top in the nation. They beat who I believe to be the second or third best team in the nation, Ohio St. at home! Ohio St. played Notre Dame (who USC played) in the Fiesta Bowl. Ohio St. took Notre Dame with ease and could have easily beat them by four touchdowns. USC has not seen any time even in the same ballpark as Texas. They have not seen a defense in this same universe as close to Texas and they have not seen any player like Vince Young. I knew from the start that USC would have a very hard time containing Vince Young and they did. I said Texas would win and they did. I can go on a lot longer why I thought Texas would beat USC but these were my main thoughts and points.

I knew Oregon would lose to Oklahoma as I believed from the start that they were a very overrated team as like USC, they are a one dimensional team. They did play better defense than I thought they would but they still could not beat a very one dimensional team.

Marcus Vick…Marcus, Marcus Marcus…you blew it! Virginia Tech gave you more chances then you deserved and you blew it. What will probably happen now is that Marcus will decide to enter the NFL Draft instead of joining a smaller school Randy Moss opted to do when he got kicked out of Florida St. and went to Marshall. Some team will take a chance on Marcus but he wont get picked up until the second day of the draft.

Big 10 was clearly the best conference in football this year. Top to bottom no conference was close. In the bowl games they won half the BCS bowls and Wisconsin beat Auburn, a team that people thought was playing good enough to beat anyone. Big-10 ended the season on a high note and deserved it.

Best Game:
Have to give it to the Rose Bowl with Texas and USC. A fantastic and exciting game with two of the best schools playing there hardest. Second place goes to Penn State and Florida State.

Worst Game:
The Fort Worth Bowl featuring Kansas and Houston. The game that no one cared about lived to its expectations. It was a blowout from the start between the two teams that I could care less about.

Biggest Upset:
By far it was the Peach Bowl with LSU hading Miami its worst bowl defeat in the schools history. LSU won by the score of 40-3. Second place goes to the Emerald Bowl. Utah beat Georgia Tech by a score of 38-10.

Most Underrated:
Motor City Bowl: Memphis 38 Akron 31. Memphis has a great RB in DeAngelo Williams watching him perform alone made this game exciting to watch.

Best Player:
Vince Young out of Texas. Watch out Michael Vick, I think this guy could be better. I believed all along that Young deserved to win the Heisman over Bush. Young’s passing and rushing stats were outstanding. Bush who I thought did not deserve to win the heisman, is a very one dimensional player. He never did any of the dirty work as Lendale White was put in during all the short yardage situations, he is a situational player and will always be one, even in the NFL, and with all USC’s offensive targest including Leinart, Jarret, and Lendale, in additional to the below average defense in the Pac 10, how are you supposed to concentrate on Bush? This made it much easier for Bush to excell then for Young. I dont want to take away all the credit from Bush because I do think he is an outstanding player, but not deserving of a heisman.

The Slingbox, great idea, mediocre product

thafuture — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 23:35:10 +0000

One of the most talked about gadgets this year has to be the Slingbox which is produced by Sling Media. I read about it about a month ago and found the product very intriguing. Slingbox claims that it transforms Windows XP based PCs and laptops into personal on the go digital TVs. It then allows individuals anywhere at any time to access their own television experience with no additional monthly service fee. This enables consumers to watch their cable, satellite or DVR programming from wherever they are. When I first heard about the product I was very skeptic about the picture quality as it is streamed from over the internet. According to Wired News:

“In this media-drenched world, we’re all desperately yearning to keep our eyeballs glued to the set every minute of the day. And while streaming media may show promise for audio, it has yet to demonstrate real usability for video. To that end, the Sling Media Slingbox promised a streaming TV revolution by letting you transmit your favorite shows from your home computer to any other broadband-connected PC. But not everyone keeps their promises, and the Slingbox’s performance barely exceeds that of the average internet video stream. In the age of 50-inch plasmas, the Slingbox’s 320-by-240-pixel playback would be laughable if it weren’t so sad. Still, we like the idea and hope to see a major upgrade in the product’s future.”

I love the idea of the Slingbox but I am not surprised by the verdict on this new technology. Usually I am skeptic about new technology because they have not worked out all the kinks yet. Cars are usually infamous for this as first year models are always advised against purchasing because you dont know what you are getting yourself into. I find it useful to let new technology pan out for a while to make sure you are not making a mistake in a new purchase. In addition, there are usually numerous problems and kinks they did not catch the first time around. I believe the slingbox can work on there idea and product and turn it into something really useful and cool, but until then I do not believe it is worth purchasing unless you do not mind watching TV with the typical “shitty” (excuse my French) quality that you are used to viewing on the internet.

Michigan Wolverines having there first off year in quite some time

thafuture — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 21:42:30 +0000

Since birth, I have been raised as a University of Michigan fan because my Dad graduated from the university and was born and raised in the “glove” state. I have had it pretty easy being a Wolverine fan as the football team is the winningest program in college football history. The school also holds the record for most consecutive bowl game appearences at 31. I have yet to experience a down year from my beloved Wolverine’s, but this year was the first off year I have ever experienced. It was rough watching my team this year. Every game this season we had the lead going into the 4th quarter and lost it in the last minutes because we could not close out the game. This is a result of us playing much to conservative and playing not to lose the game rather then to win it. We lost four games by a total of 17 points! I can confidently say that every game Michigan lost, the opponent did not win the game, Michigan lost the game. What people do not realize is that Michigan was by far the most unfortunate team in the nation with injuries. I have never seen any team battle this many injuries…im not making excuses, im just making a valid point. Even with all the team went through, they still found ways to snap Iowa’s 22 game home streak and was the only team to beat Penn St. this year.

From ESPN.com:

“If Hart had not had to deal with hamstring and ankle problems, and had rushed for more than 588 yards and four touchdowns, then Michigan would have finished with a better record than 7-4, the Wolverines would have won the Big Ten championship, and fans wouldn’t roll their eyes at the mention of defensive coordinator Jim Herrmann’s name.”

Check out Hart’s numbers in the Wolverines’ losses:

Notre Dame: three carries, 4 yards.

Wisconsin: did not play.

Minnesota: 28 carries, 109 yards, one touchdown; one reception, 4 yards.

Ohio State: nine carries, 15 yards; two receptions, 11 yards.

I know everyone loves to finally get the chance to bash Michigan after its first 5 loss season in 21 years, but look for the Wolverines to make a serious run at the National Championship next year. They battled mass injuries all season in key positions, which allowed young guys to get valuable experience; they have every key position returning; and a host of talent at the skill positions (Manningham, Bass, Grady) that will step up next year. Its just a fact of college football that every team has an off year, Michigan’s just took 21 years to happen. Barring injury, the big blue should be a major contender…so all you haters better enjoy it now. Until then…GO BLUE!

17 Steps to Becoming a Mature Man

thafuture — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 01:48:35 +0000

Askmen.com which is one of my favorite websites, is a free online destination for of course…men, designed to provde daily features on subject matters that interst the general male population. I find Askmen.com unique for the fact that unlike other men’s sites or magazines, they update their articles daily. I also enjoy the array of articles the website provides from topics such as career advice, first dates, to gifts and efficient cars. The websites mission is clear and effective…to help men.

Today I read an article which pertained well to someone in my position. I am 20 years old, a Junior in college and within a few years will be entering the working world. Because of where I am in my life, it is important that I start becoming more mature…more of a man. I found these 17 steps interesting and insightful. For more details on the steps visit the website below.

Found at Askmen.com: 17 Steps to Becoming a Mature Man

1. Accept responsability

2. Control your emotions

3. Give back

4. Spend time with family & friends

5. Overcome character flaws

6. Mind your manners

7. Do your own thing

8. Operate with integrity

9. Meet your goals

10. Kick bad habits

11. Keep a youthful outlook

12. Take advantage of opportunities

13. Master patience

14. Diversify your interests

15. Read more

16. Exercise

17. Get a pet

As you continue on your journey toward becoming a mature man, remember that one of the keys is to always maintain a positive outlook. A positive mental attitude about everything in your life will allow you to succeed where others have failed.

No matter how bad things get, if you resolve to be positive and never quit, you’ll always find a way to win in life.

Wedding Crashers Uncorked Edition

thafuture — Mon, 26 Dec 2005 02:36:13 +0000

Wedding Crashers, one of my favorite movies of the year and a highly anticipated DVD release, is finally coming out on January 3rd. The movie which features members of the frat pack (Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn), tells the story of two best friends, John and Jeremy who crash weddings to pick up vulnerable chicks, sleep with them only to move onto another when the next ceremony is announced.

The movie was hilarious as long as you go into it knowing that it is a “stupid comedy.” I think it was humerous how throughout the movie Wilson and Vaughn refer to and stick to the guidlines of the wedding crashing rules. The uncorked edition appears to have a lot of cool features such as an extra nine minutes of footage, deleted scenes, test audience reactions to specific scenes and plenty more. I highly recommend viewing the movie as it provides a good laugh as you would get from any frat pack film, although this one definately ranks as one of the better ones if not the best. Below is am overview done by Maxim.

Found in Maxim Magazine:

How do you improve this gut-busting tale about two sleazebag divorce mediators (Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn – who else?) who bag bridesmaids at weddings, make balloon animals for the kids, and get hand jobs at the family dinner table? Why, you add more boobs! The special “uncorked” edition includes all kinds of naughty unrated scenes, secret footage of test audiences reacting to the movie, two different commentary tracks (one by Wilson and Vaughn), and two featurettes, one of which teaches you the rules of wedding crashing, so you can live out the movie.

Out: January 3 Price: $29

Movie: 5 stars

Special Features: 5 stars

Hello Mozilla, goodbye Internet Explorer

thafuture — Mon, 26 Dec 2005 00:18:36 +0000

Is it me or does internet explorer feel like ancient web browsing? Ever since I have upgraded to Mozilla Firefox and then to 1.5, I have never looked back. My web browsing has been taken to the next level by making a few tweeks that IE never felt the need to do. Mozilla has helped “rediscover the web.” Up until about six or so months ago, I was using IE and I felt like it never evolved from its original format. With drag and drop tabs, search text, spectacular rss features, faster performance, automatic and incremental updates and new security features, it just seems logical to use Mozilla over IE. I also enjoy the built in pop up blocker and the nice array of extentions and plugins. Mozilla has made web browsing more fun and very easy to do, not to mention has more of a clean and sharp look to it then IE. Oh by the way…it’s free!

Some helpful links:

Cnet

Mozilla

Blogging eh

thafuture — Sun, 25 Dec 2005 23:42:33 +0000

So this is my first post with my blog and I am pretty excited to get this up and going. I was first exposed to blogs when a friend recommended that I start reading them. I began by having rss feeds from recommended blogs such as lifehack and techcrunch on my ajax homepage (netvibes) and ever since then I have been addicted.

My personal view on blogs is that it is a more futuristic version of a livejournal or xanga. The key difference that I have noticed is that blogs are more based on sharing information and building communities and websites such as xanga are more personal and friend based.

I decided to choose word press as a recommendation from a friend. I enjoy how user-friendly and simple this site is to use. The customizable capabilities are also very nice. I find the password protect option very unique because this allows an individual to have there blog shared with certain people instead of allowing the whole community to read your posts.

I enjoy speaking about my views and I hope this will be a way for me to connect with other individuals who have similiar interests. Please feel free to chime on in, read my posts, leave a comment…whatever you want to do, just have fun with it.

-Ry Ry