You Heard It Here First - Take Seven - MCLA Division 1 2010 Playoff Seeding

The committee has some decisions to make, sort of.  This year's committee should have about five minutes worth of work to do, or less, if the favorites hold serve tomorrow.  The list below is simply by looking at the playoff brackets for each conference and placing their winner, and in some cases their runner up, and then for the RMLC a third team, the only league to have three teams.  It is possible that The Sage will be right again and the committee will view the SLC as a stronger conference overall then the RMLC, but how do you leave a team out that in the past four weeks has three top ten wins, including a win over # 1Michigan?  Colorado is 6-6 on their regular season, 4-1 since the coaching change, and a team that has split what turned out to be a home and home with # 4 BYU with an overall goal differential between the two teams of 1 goal.

The RMLC has # 2 and # 4, and the SLC has # 3 and # 5.  UCSBs body of work is probably a bit stronger, at least their record is, but how many big wins do they have? None.  Colorado's first half of their year was horrible, with two "bad" losses, New Hampshire and LMU, UCSBs next closest competitor so not sure how bad a loss that was, but they have three "big" wins, Michigan, Michigan State, and BYU.

I think it has to be Colorado with the top ten wins and the victory over Michigan.

Final seeding will be determined largely by what happens tomorrow, and with possible upsets in the PCLL, and the WCLL, possible, but not likely, then the committee will have more than Colorado and UCSB to discuss.  Those are the only two leagues where an upset would put a team from outside the top sixteen in as the AQ by replacing a top sixteen team.  Illinois could get upset tomorrow in the GRLC, but it will have no affect on the bracket at all, except to change the name of the sixteen seed.

If New Hampshire beats Boston College tomorrow, and/or Cal beats Cal Poly, BC being upset by New Hampshire seems possible, Cal beating Cal Poly not so much, but if either of these happen, or both, then the committee has a lot of work to do, because numbers 10 and 11 will have been upset by # 23 and an unranked Cal team.  Woops.

Again, not expected, but if it happens then at least the committee will have earned their money!!  Again, sort of.

The only thing that would really screw this whole thing up is if the first two upsets both happen, and somehow Minnesota beats Minnesota-Duluth, not really possible, but would really make life interesting, and would make this a Big Ten tourney.  Their last game was a 16 to 2 affair, so again, not really possible.

Michigan
Colorado State (CSU gets # 1 if Michigan State beats Michigan tomorrow in their final, not probable)
Chapman
Arizona State (ASU gets # 2 or 3 with win over Chapman tomorrow)
BYU
Simon Fraser
Oregon (Oregon gets 6 spot with win tomorrow over Simon Fraser)
Minn-Duluth
Colorado (the committee could, but shouldn't, choose UCSB) (this spot gets dropped with first upset)
Cal Poly (I don't think they get dropped if upset tomorrow, but they would drop to 13 or 14)
Florida State
Michigan State (gone with second upset)
Boston College (If they get beat by New Hampshire they will drop a spot, maybe)
Florida
Texas State
Illinois

Thank you again for getting this far with me.

Defeated

Depleted.  Drained.  Discouraged.  Disappointed.  Disgusted.

Education.  Educator.  Educate.  Educated.

Main Entry: ed·u·ca·tion 

Pronunciation: \ˌe-jə-ˈkā-shən\

Function: noun

Date: 1531

1 a : the action or process of educating or of being educated; also : a stage of such a processb : the knowledge and development resulting from an educational process education>
2 : the field of study that deals mainly with methods of teaching and learning in schools

Main Entry: ed·u·cate 

Pronunciation: \ˈe-jə-ˌkāt\

Function: verb

Inflected Form(s): ed·u·cat·ed; ed·u·cat·ing

Etymology: Middle English, to rear, from Latineducatus, past participle of educare to rear, educate, from educere to lead forth — more ateduce

Date: 15th century

transitive verb1 a : to provide schooling for home> b : to train by formal instruction and supervised practice especially in a skill, trade, or profession
2 a : to develop mentally, morally, or aesthetically especially by instruction b : to provide with information : inform <educatingthemselves about changes in the industry>
3 : to persuade or condition to feel, believe, or act in a desired way intransitive verb

Main Entry: educated

Function: adjective

Date: 1588

1 : having an education; especially : having an education beyond the average 
2 a : giving evidence of training or practice :skilled  b : befitting one that is educated  c : based on some knowledge of fact 

— ed·u·cat·ed·ness noun

I am an educator.  This is news to me, but I am an educator.  I am also a philanthropist, also news to me.  I am a social worker, a psychologist, a mathematician, an entrepreneur, an artist, photographer, writer, producer, coach, teacher, but most of all I am an educator!!

I am an advocate.  This is also news to me, but I am an advocate.  I am an advocate for my mother, my grandmother, my sisters.  I am an advocate for my students, and my players.  I am an advocate for my friends and for strangers.  I have become an advocate for anyone and everyone that needs advocacy.

I am the keeper of the cause.  I find causes everyday all day long.  I do not actually see it that way, I just simply like helping people, but others have pointed out that I seem to have an awful lot of causes that I have taken up.

All of this is probably very true about me to some extent or another, and probably to a great extent, but my question for everyone on the planet would be why is everyone else, everyone, not the same way.  I know I have written this at some point along the way, but how great a world would this be if everyone on the planet was always trying to help others, always doing what they could for people in their lives, always trying to help a stranger in need??  The answer is it would be an amazing place.

I have no ability to understand anyone who does not do all they can every day for the betterment of the planet.  I do not understand anyone that does anything specifically aginst the betterment of the planet, or even of a small group of people on the planet, and I most definitely cannot understand how anyone can be employed at an educational institution, be it nursery school, kindergarten, elementary, junior high, high school, preparatory school, private college, or state university, and probably most importantly state university, that is not, does not want to be, or has no ability to be, an educator.

State university systems exist to allow those less fortunate in those states get a quality education for a reasonable price, and in some cases essentially no price.  I am now living in Boise, and helping with some of the activities on the Boise State campus, and I am amazed, and impressed with the level of commitment on that campus, in the community, and in the state, to provide the highest possible environment of learning humanly possible.  The students at Boise State pay very little, relatively speaking, as compared to other states.  These students pay a lot relative to their ability to pay, but very little in the grand scheme, and they get a very high level of education.  The people I have been involved with here really care about not just maintaining that level of education, but increasing the level.  The motto that is everywhere in this town is New U Rising.

Why are there other state universities, in other states, where so many people are allowed to be a part of the "educational" process on those campuses, and I use the term very loosely, that either don't care, or don't have a clue, or some combination of both.  There are examples where from the president down the level of educational INTEGRITY is so far beyond low, that it is truly non-existent.  Where the almighty budget is what rules the decision making process, not sound educational principals.

Why have a math department, or a math curriculum, if no math is actually going to be taught, where all math courses that fall under general education, or remedial, or both, are allowed to be taught ON-LINE.  Math cannot be taught effectively on-line, and any IDIOT knows this.  I do not think you could stop a single person on the street and ask them "do you think that teaching algebra over the internet is a good idea," without them making a scrunched up face and saying that is a horrible idea.  How about Statistics??

Likewise, what about the universities that have athletics, but do not support those athletics to any extent.  How is that educational.  How is good education to allow athletic teams to be ill-equipped, whether it is from a coaching standpoint, training standpoint, recruiting, scholarships, travel, scheduling, or anything else that is key to building a successful, competitive program.  It is not about winning and losing, necessarily, at least not from an educational standpoint, but it is about caring enough, and having pride enough in what you do on a field, or court, and especially as part of a team, to be as prepared, focused, and physically ready to give everything you have mentally and physically for the duration of the contest in question.  If an athlete has prepared well, played hard, "left everything on the field," to steal a phrase, then at least they are learning life lessons that they will use as they progress beyond the safe confines of their campus life.

However, if a president, or dean, or vice president, or athletic director, or any and all of the above, allow, even if it is through apathy, athletes, and especially athletic teams, to go out and represent themselves, their teams, and their schools or universities in anything but the best way humanly possible by that athlete and those teams, then not only are those SO CALLED educators not doing their jobs, but they are doing irreparable harm to all involved, and to allow this is as immoral an act as anything imaginable.  These people are stripping these students and athletes of all potential learnings available to them through the building of a strong team environment, but they are also damaging their souls permanently.

It is not ok that we allow this in this country, or in this world.  It is not ok that such apathetic people exist in an educational system, especially in a system built for higher learning, and it is not ok that no one does anything to address or fix these problems, but then again when the president or head of school, or principal does not care enough to instill these educational values and cornerstones then why should anything below that point be any better.

In case anyone is wondering, I am not saying this is a question of pay people more in education, although I know overall for education in this country that is true, but if a president is making $ 280,000 a year, or a professor is making $ 120,000 a year, or an athletic director, or similar position, is making $ 60,000 a year, or more, in a tenured position, this is not about money, this is about disgraceful human behavior, and it should be made to stop.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.

You Heard It Here First - Take Six - MCLA Division 1 2010 Playoff Seeding

First congrats to Florida and Texas State for being the first two in officially, two teams I had written off a few weeks ago.  After spending most of the year believing that Texas State was the best team down there, I faded on them after some last season losses, and solid play by Texas, but they got it done when needed most.  Now it gets interesting.

Second, I fail to see the wisdom with the MCLA Mag and Website guys giving us a poll every week all season long and then not putting one out after the last regular season week, but then again I often fail to see their wisdom.  I also fail to see the wisdom of Laxpower using the CollegeLax poll in their calculations.  Eventually some of the egos are going to have to come together for the betterment of the MCLA.

Third, I have just done what I gave the committee a hard time for doing last year, which is I have moved Colorado to the five seed.  This will be at the very least controversial because some will argue they do not belong in the tournament at all, but based on what they have done in their past six games they are just as good, and in most cases better, than everyone in the top ten, including Michigan, so how can you leave them out, especially when you compare them to the team that would probably take that spot, UCSB.  UCSB went last year when they didn't deserve to be there, maybe this year they deserve to be there, but don't go.  There just isn't room with two teams taking AQs from outside the top 16 and a third, either Illinois or Lindenwood, about to do the same thing.

No matter what happens, this is the field as of now, and it is a much stronger field than last year for sure, at least from top to bottom.  By the way sorry VTech, but you didn't deserve to ranked as highly as you were all year and now you get bumped as well.

Michigan

Colorado State

Chapman

Minn-Duluth

Colorado
Simon Fraser
Arizona State

BYU
Michigan State

Oregon

Florida State

Cal Poly
Boston College

Florida

Texas State

Illinois

Thank you again for getting this far with me.

You Heard It Here First - Take Five - MCLA Division 1 2010 Playoff Seeding

Michigan

Colorado State

Chapman
BYU

Minn-Duluth

Arizona State

Michigan State
Oregon

Simon Fraser
Florida State

Boston College

Cal Poly

Colorado

Virginia Tech
Texas

Illinois

Man is this getting fun.  These teams and seeds are again on body of work with teams such as Virginia Tech dropping in seeding because that really have not done much this year in terms of strength of schedule or quality wins, and Simon Fraser moving up to the 9 seed, where after they get another win in the PNCLL semis their ultimate seed will be determined based on who wins the PNCLL finals and by how much.

I still think Illinois and Texas have the best shot to win their league AQs.  Illinois is a big physical athletic team, as is Texas and thus beyond them winning their AQs I think they make their first round math-ups compelling.  Also, I have put Virginia Tech in and UCSB out.  VTech has not done much to deserve the birth, but they are 9th in the poll and outside the West Coast they have some allegiance.  Also, if UCSB were to go, that would be 3 teams from the SLC, a 12 team conference, and one team, Florida State from a 22 team conference.  This would also mean 4 teams from the old WCLL, 6 teams from the West Coast, and 9 teams from West of the Rockies.  I realize that I am giving the committee far too much credit for wanting to create a fair, equitable and balanced tournament, but so be it.

There are also some compelling math-ups in the first round, and even if the committee moves seeds around to keep from having division rivals play in first round, committee please be careful because you screwed around with the seeds last year and wound up having an amazing semi-final match-up take place in the quarters, Simon Fraser - Chapman, because of your mis-seeding of Colorado.  I would just be excited to see an up and coming Illinois team play Michigan in a first round Big Ten match-up.

Whatever the final seeds, this years tournament looks to be extremely competitive from the first whistle with some truly big name schools, and some great athletes going at each other.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.

100

Post number 100.  This should be a momentous occasion, I guess.  There should be balloons and confetti.  There should champagne popping.

The truth of the matter is that I am no more satisfied with what I have done here than I ever am with what else I do.  I want to do more.   I plan to do more.  I have so much floating around in my head that I want to get down on "paper," that most of the time my head feels like it is going to explode.

All I can do for now is continue to write, continue to try and get more consistent with what I write and how often.  I love writing.  It is just hard at times to get my mind to a place where I can do so with ease, with a "free" mind.  Writing with a "cluttered" mind is not as enjoyable, or as fruitful.

I find it interesting, on a side note, that the A key is the only key that has become rubbed off on my keyboard.  I wonder if that actually means that there are more As in my writing than any other letter??

Thank you again for getting this far with me.

A Better Life

I just saw an ad pop up for Dunkin' Turbo, which led me to think about how much I enjoy the taste of coffee, sweetened and with cream, or "half and half," which is what my grandmother always had, and moreover how much I like the idea of coffee, which then reminded me of a thought that has been popping into my head a great deal the past few years, at least.

I look at where I am now, and I look at the decisions I have made along the way, and I realize, or maybe I should say I conclude, that many of those decisions were a waste given where I have ended up.  I don't drink, and for the most part I have been a nondrinker all of my adult life.  I don't smoke, I may average a cigar a year for the past twenty years, although last year may have brought the average up a bit.  I have stayed away from red meat to a large extent and dairy products as well.  I have, until the last couple of years, been a consistent runner, some would say obsessive runner, not that I was a "runner," but I did run consistently 5 or 6 times a week no matter where I was, and what I was doing.  I would run in Central Park at 9:30 at night because it was near the hotel and that was the only time I had.  I would run up and down the hallway of hotels and through the stairwells if the weather was too bad to run outside.  I have always had water with me and stayed hydrated.  I have tried to "graze" in order to keep my body happy and my materialism where it should be.

I have spent the majority of my adult life trying to live a "better" or "cleaner" life.  I have also spent the better part of my adult life trying to be there for others, and yet somehow I look at where I am now, and where my body is now and I have to ask why??!!

I can't say that I wish I had done all the things I stayed away from, or that I was a totally different person, but it does seem that I have done a lot of these things because I thought them the "right" thing to do, or the healthy way to be, or in some cases because I do not view the alternative as an "acceptable" way to be, but I have to ask "where has it gotten me?"

It has been forty four years of trying to stay on the right path, and two years of allowing myself to slide, at least slide by my standards, no running because of a knee, and more junk food in two years than the twenty before, and all of why I had been making those "life choices" is gone, some never happened.  Fitness level is gone.  Health is not good.  Relationship, or relationships, gone.  It just has to make one ask why?  Or at least it does me.

I look in the mirror now and I am old and fat and out of shape and I start to wonder if I didn't miss something along the way.  Maybe I should have had more "fun" and worried less about trying to be "perfect."  I don't even know right now what I actually believe the answer to be, although I do know that I change my mind a lot.  The reality is that I just felt like rambling.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.

You Heard It Here First - Take Four - MCLA Division 1 2010 Playoff Seeding

Michigan

Colorado State

BYU
Chapman
Minn-Duluth

Michigan State

Arizona State
Oregon
Florida State

Boston College

Virginia Tech

Cal Poly

Simon Fraser

Colorado

Texas

Illinois

When looking at National Tournament field and seedings I am looking at overall body of work, head to head comparisons, not necessarily match-ups, but comparisons, and weighting second half of season, or "what have you done lately," more than early work for lots of reasons.

The last couple of weeks have been wild to say the least.  I had said to watch out for Simon Fraser after they beat Cal Poly, for which Cal Poly paid dearly in the polls, well Simon Fraser has now beaten ASU by a touchdown, and Oregon by two.  Anyone still think it was because Cal Poly is not as good.  Simon Fraser has a ton of losses this year, six to be exact, five of those are to current top five teams, and the sixth...to Colorado.  Oh by the way, Colorado beat Michigan this week, it is amazing what a hot goaltender and some poor shooting will do in this game.

OK, so I have put Simon Fraser in given that it seems whatever issues they were having early in the year they have straightened out, and I have put Colorado in because even though I am not a huge fan of mid-season coaching changes, especially at this level, this seems to have had the desired affect.

I am also leaving Illinois in because when you look at their year versus Lindenwood, both from the GRLC, it is hard to figure out why Illinois has not been ranked until now and why Lindenwood is ranked seven spots above Illinois, but that will sort itself out in the next two weeks.  All the evidence seems to point to Illinois being the better team, and in fact I would watch the Lindenwood - Indiana score this weekend as that game is at Indiana, another Big Ten School that is much improved.

To stay with that comment for a minute, look at the Big Ten this year, Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, all very much improved, with the exception I guess of Michigan who had no way to improve essentially.

Regardless the seedings, if the tournament was next week I would be on my way to Colorado as we speak because I think this is going to be one very balanced and fun field to watch!!

Thank you again for getting this far with me.