- As a huge college football fan, one thing I hate about the sport is the whole head-coach-in-waiting concept, wherein a school designates an assistant coach or coordinator as their future head coach as many as four or five years (sometimes indefinitely) before their current head coach plans to retire. It’s a moronic concept, handing a head coaching position to a guy who often has never been a head coach before and doing so not knowing what will transpire in the interim, both with that coach-in-waiting personally and professionally and also with your program. What happens if your current coach goes in the tank, the program sucks and you want to clean house three years down the road, including getting rid of the coach-in-waiting? Or what if you realize that the guy you’ve chosen as your coach-in-waiting is an abrasive a-hole that players don’t really like? What I’m saying is that it’s a terrible concept and as such, I don’t have any sympathy whatsoever for schools that put it into practice. As such, no sympathy for you, University of Texas, even if UT athletic director DeLoss Dodds is whining that the Longhorns football program was 'singled out' by a new NCAA rule that drastically limits recruiting by defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, the Longhorns' head-coach-in-waiting. The rule places assistants "publicly designated" to be the next head coach under the same recruiting rules as the current head coach. Muschamp, just like current head coach Mack Brown, can make only one off-campus visit with a prospect and it can't be during the spring evaluation period of April 15-May 31. During that dame time, Other assistants can have multiple off-campus visits. Umm, that’s what you get for doing something imbecilic like publicly declaring one of your assistants the next head coach five years or more before he’s actually going to take over, UT. Keep a lid on that news or, better yet, don’t decide who your next head coach is going to be half a decade in advance and you won't have this problem. Other than Texas, the only other major college football program impacted by the rule is Maryland, where offensive coordinator James Franklin has been designated to succeed Ralph Friedgen. "Obviously, since this legislation impacts only two programs in the country, we feel we are being singled out," said Dodds. "We are exploring our options for legislative relief within the NCAA process, since we believe this places our program at a direct disadvantage. Will is our head coach-in-waiting but he is also our defensive coordinator, and this legislation restricts his ability to perform his current job duties.” Yeah, no dice on that argument, AD Dodds. This is your problem and one of your own creation, so you need to quit b*tching and deal with it. Never mind that you are basically handing the head coaching job to a guy without knowing what other great potential head coaches will be out there when Mack Brown finally does retire; you want to operate this way, you reap the whirlwind. Now, Texas could try to have the rule changed at the next NCAA meeting in April, but the NCAA isn’t really big on changing rules such as this one. Texas announced in November 2008 that Muschamp was in line to replace Mack Brown, but the recruiting rule change wasn’t proposed by the Big East conference until June 2009. The rule was finally approved by the football issues committee at the NCAA convention last month, about two weeks before the Feb. 3 national signing day. Maybe now other schools will go in another direction when they consider following Texas’ unsavory example……………
- I am all about exciting archaeological discoveries (and aren’t they all just riveting?), so of course I’m pumped that archaeologists working under the direction of the Israeli Antiquities Authority have uncovered a 1,500-year-old road running through the center of Jerusalem's Old City. My main man, excavation director Dr. Ofer Sion (No. 1 pick in my archaeological fantasy league team this year, as always), explained that the discovery backs up the accuracy of what is known as the Madaba Map -- a Byzantine period mosaic map of the Holy Land that shows an entrance into Jerusalem that leads to a single central street. Previous archaeological finds in Jerusalem have supported the veracity of the Madaba, but the road shown in the mosaic had not been found – until now. "It is proof of this beautiful map and for this street from the Byzantine period," Sion said in an interview at the dig location. The road was located near the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem's Old City, approximately 15 feet under the current street level. It was discovered when city workers began an infrastructure improvement project. That is amazing in and of itself because no matter where in the world you are, city workers doing any actual work at all is stunning – just kidding, city workers, don’t overreact to a joke. The road hearkens back to the period when Jerusalem was under Christian control and was constructed with large stones of more than three feet in length. Archaeologists believe the road connected the western wall of the city to the eastern side of Jerusalem and at the height of its use, hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world (which was much smaller at that time) walked its surface to reach the market of the city. In finding the road, the team excavating the road also discovered a stone foundation which supported a sidewalk and a row of columns. "It is wonderful to see that David Street, which is teeming with so much life today, actually preserved the route of the noisy street from 1,500 years ago," Sion said. The excavation also recovered coins, pottery vessels, and five bronze weights used by merchants for weighing precious metals. But their most valuable accomplishment appears to be validating the Madaba map, a large 8 X 16 meter mosaic located in the church of Saint George in Madaba, Jordan. The oldest-known map of the Holy Land, it depicts the center of Jerusalem in the sixth century AD. Now, we know that it is indeed an accurate portrayal of how Jerusalem looked in its early days…………
- When I hear the acronym WWF, I still think World Wrestling Federation, with due apologies to mis amigos at the World Wildlife Fund. But it is the latter organization that is making big news by dropping some scary knowledge about the dire fare of one of the world’s most recognizable animals. On Wednesday, the WWF warned that tigers could become extinct in the wild in less than a generation and launched a campaign to save them. According to the WWF, the number of tigers in the wild stands at 3,200 -- less than the number held in captivity in the United States alone. "There is a real threat of losing this magnificent animal forever in our lifetime," said Sybille Klenzendorf, director of the WWF-US species conservation program. "This would be like losing the stars in the sky. Three tiger subspecies have gone extinct, and another, the South China tiger, has not been seen in the wild in 25 years. Unless we really crack down on illegal trade and poachers, tigers in the wild have very little chance.” Perhaps that’s a tad alarmist, but when one of the most beloved animals in the world is possibly in danger, you have to be more careful than normal. Yes, there are more tigers in zoos than in the wild, the World Wildlife Fund admits, but tigers in captivity aren’t the same as tigers in the wild and if wild tigers go extinct, it would be a huge loss for the ecosystem. "If the tigers disappear, it is an indication of a comprehensive failure," he said. "It's not just about tigers. If you save the tiger, you are going to save other species. It provides an excellent indicator of commitment to biodiversity. "If they survive, it shows we are doing our job right. If they disappear, it shows we are just talking," Klenzendorf said. There are many dangers to tigers, including "poaching, habitat loss, poorly planned development and illegal trafficking," the WWF said in a statement. "And there are few regulations to keep those tigers from ending up on the black market." They major culprits appear to be certain regions of Asia, where demand for tiger bones, skin, meat, claws and teeth makes the big cats’ lives that much more fraught with peril. To combat the problem, the WWF is partnering with the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine to eliminate the use of traditional remedies such as tiger bones. "Traditional Chinese medicine does not need tiger bones to save lives," said Lixin Huang, president of the ACTCM. "What we are dealing with is an old tradition, an old belief that tiger wine can make their bones stronger.” In other words, a bunch of behind-the-times, old wives’ tales, folk-remedy hocus-pocus is what is killing off tigers faster than they can repopulate. In retaliation, the WWF is launching the Year of the Tiger, which begins on Sunday in the traditional Chinese calendar. The ultimate goal double the current population of wild tigers by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022, which is certainly a tall order. To accomplish that goal, the WWF will need to cooperation of multiple government and at least $13 million a year just for its highest priority sites, Klenzendorf said. As part of its announcement, the WWF published an interactive map that shows 10 tiger trouble spots around the world, including: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Russia, the United States, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. If you are still unconvinced of the severity of this problem, just know that according to the WWF, the were about 100,000 tigers living in the wild at the start of the 20th century. Let’s step up and do something about this problem before it is too late…………
- Let the fire sale begin in Dubai! The suddenly-in-peril nation is reportedly preparing to sell a host of assets, including one of the world's best known cruise ships, to keep from going under financially. The emirate's investment arm is frantically searching for ways to restructure its ginormous pile of debt and that could mean the Queen Elizabeth II, a massive boat, could be on the block. Dubai's state-run private equity firm, Istithmar World, is planning to sell the QE2 and other expendable assets in order to dig out of the hole in which it currently resides. A company spokesman did say that "there are a number of options being considered for QE2. Istithmar is considering which option will best maximize value of the vessel," so selling it may not be the only option. The QE2 was once the largest passenger ship in existence and Istithmar purchased it in 2007 for an estimated $100 million. The plan was to turn it into a floating hotel attached to a man-made, palm-shaped island in the Persian Gulf. Amazingly, a plan involving the creation of a man-made island didn’t work out……I’m shocked. But as tantalizing as the possibility of a ginormous cruise ship on the auction block is, the one potential auction item that interests me the most is Istithmar’s 20 percent stake in Canadian circus group Cirque du Soleil. Not sure what the cost is to own a piece of that freak show, but I’ll be looking into it. The proceeds from all asset sales would be used to pay down the $22 billion in debts that Dubai World, the parent company of Istithmar, accumulated during a ridiculous spending binge. The irony is thick here, as the opulent, showy emirate became one of the world’s first sovereign nations to run into serious debt problems as a result of the global economic meltdown of the past year. When Dubai World, the investment arm of Dubai, announced that it was unable to pay its debts, the world financial market was shaken to its core. Even though the company received a $10 billion bailout in November from fellow emirate Abu Dhabi and sold some assets at a loss already, the picture is still bleak. The December sale of the W Hotel in New York for $2 million in a foreclosure auction was a particularly bitter pill to swallow, as Istithmar reportedly paid more than $200 million for the hotel in 2006. For the math-challenged among you, that’s a 1-percent return on investment. Istithmar has also pawned its stake in Indian budget airline SpiceJet for $37 million and shipping agent Inchcape Shipping Services for $700 million. With a portfolio full of assets still on hand, the fire sale could continue for some time. So fire open those checkbooks and bid freely, because a piece of opulence and excess could be yours…………
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