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Totally stole the headline from a couple of Melissa Harris-Perry's beautifully written and delivered opening block quips - and all roads do lead to Seinfeld.
Seinfeld YouTubes composite extraordinare courtesy of our GottaLaff.
We, as a country, don't seem to know how to talk about wealth any better than we can articulate adult thoughts on sex … or even get on the right side of science as a Nation.
We'd better learn, and fast. Minding the wealth gap, and avoiding the perilous wealth gaffes that politicians of both parties seem to leap into feet first, is a fascinating topic. Apparently there is 'acceptably wealthy' and 'filthy rich', and it's a third rail that needs nimble feet.
One Arugula moment can really pinch.
This Sunday one could flip from the media wealth of David Gregory and a panel of Right Wing Stars slumming on the Clinton Global Initiative and Meet the Press world stage to the sanity of Melissa Harris-Perry. (First footage is worth viewing, so have a gander below when time allows, Carly Demon Sheep Fiorina and Bubba are amusing sparring partners).
Does anyone remember which decade turned us from a nation of folks that just knew presidents and notables were going to be from the more rarified monied population, to people that mind the Wealth Gap and eagerly pile on any candidate who isn't visibly living from paycheck to paycheck?
Cory Booker attended Stanford, he isn't doing too badly … does he fall out of the 98%er Defense League in future when his age and talent bring the inevitable wealth he will accrue from political celebrity? If he falls, it should be for reasons more to do with the content of his character, rather than the size of his possible maybe future
offshore accounts wallet.
Are these wealthy, Not That There's Anything Wrong With That, wannabe public servants, fighting for the regular folk they expect to vote for them? THAT is the question I want answered.
Understanding of a culture you either came from or can relate to is critical, and Americans can smell non-authenticity a mile away. Kennedy's wealth was never a deal breaker … is it Tea Party Tomfoolery or something more?
Melissa Harris-Perry even had the balls to note that liberally beloved Elizabeth Warren was rocking a high six-figure salary at Harvard, so it really truly is a sliding scale of relativity.
Mitt Romney, with the massive wealth of the Mormon Church, his aristocratic family and those pesky details like car elevators to haunt him, didn't offer much in the "I want to knock back a Budweiser with 'ya." category of the Pageant.
Here are the Meet the Press vids, mentioned above.
Robert Todd Lincoln's Vermont estate, Hildene, is just a few miles down the road from our humble home … and his Dad didn't exactly start out with the sterling silver collection that the Hildene docents show off in Manchester today. Just sayin'.

subset: commoncrawl


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Disney Launches Two New Android Phones
Japanese smartphone consumers are a lucky bunch; as logic follows, the rest of us are not, especially if you are a big Walt Disney fan. The animation company is looking to debut two more Android smartphones under its belt, dubbed the DM011SH and the DM010SH. Don't let the "Disney" tag mislead you into thinking that these phones are not to be taken seriously - the 3D-capable DM011SH looks set to top things with a 4-inch 960 x 540 qHD touchscreen, 1GHz processor and an 8-MP camera. Its waterproof slider cousin, the DM011SH, will come with slightly toned down specs, including a 3.4-inch 854 x 480 touchscreen with identical processor and camera hardware.
Engadget - Both Android 2.3 phones come decorated with the signature insignia in tweentastic candy colors like pink and white, with a black version of the DM010SH available for more subdued Mouse House fans. Aside from the phones, Disney also outed the internet-enabled DM001Photo, a 9.4 x 5.6-inch digital picture frame for viewing pictures, videos and emails over 3G for ¥890 (or $11) a month. Although prices have yet to be finalized, the DM010SH is slated to hit the Japanese market in October, while the other two should appear on store shelves by December.
Source: Engadget


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No RA knew what the hell they were talking about, but get a psych major or something, and they THOUGHT they knew what they were talking about.
Hokepoints: Michigan's Running Game, A Diagnosis
The dorm room has a shrine to Fred Jackson they call "Like Borobudur but more majestic"
Seth, doctor of blogging, is acting residential advisor for South-of-South Quad Residence Hall, Floor 1. Having heard reports that the occupant of Rm. 219, registered as "Michigan's Running Game" has 'not been himself' lately, the good doctor attempts to ascertain the source of his charge's recent morosity. He knocks on the door…
So, hey Michigan's Running Game.
Alright if I come in?
You've been kinda quiet this semester.
… Look, I haven't known you to be the kind of dude to go into a shell. Not since you broke up with DeBord, anyway. Um, you okay there man?
… [sigh].
What's wrong?
Oh you know, things.
|Rush YPC*
|Rush S&P+
* (Called running plays when Denard is QB, no short situations. 2012 stats are through Nebraska because this is from my UFR database and Brian hasn't UFR'ed Minnesota yet. S&P+ is a
Fremeau EDIT: Bill Connelly (they're all football outsiders) stat that measures success based on down, field position, and strength of opponent. Higher is better. FWIW these stats have been screwy this year but I think rushing yardage is the part that's actually working.)
That's…that's not so bad man, 5.77 YPC is pretty respectable.
Yeah but I'm supposed to be much better than 'pretty respectable.'
Cause Denard and Toussaint and most of the line back?
That and I'm MICHIGAN fergodsakes. Plus I think a lot of that 5.77 is Denard shooting off long runs against Air Force and Purdue. Here's a table so you know what I mean.
I see. Wait, what the hell is that?
A table of all the runs charted in that stat. So like that gray peak is the 2010 offense getting lots of 4-yard runs, and the yellow peak is the 2011 offense getting stopped for just 2 yards a lot. And the lines at the bottom are polynomial trend lines.
Poly—? Dammit man, I'm a doctor, not a physicist.
See how the yellow and gray lines follow the same trend but the blue one doesn't? The 2012 offense is ripping off big runs more often, but not getting those 5- to 12-yard runs with the same regularity.
I understand. I'll see if I can find what's going on. You mind if I ask some questions?
[After THE JUMP: Is it for want of play calling, tougher competition, or Molk?]
1. Is it the other kids?
Michigan has now played the #2 (Alabama), #18 (Notre Dame), and #31 (MSU) rushing defenses by straight-up YPC. If you want to believe Fremeau's S&P+ for defense, Alabama has the top rushing defense in the country, Michigan State's is 2nd, and Notre Dame's is 6th (we're 17—Mattison all the points). Here's how that stacks up next to last year's (ordered from toughest to easiest)
|S&P+ Rk
|S&P+ Rk
|Notre Dame
|Notre Dame
|Ohio St
|Ohio St
|SD State
|Air Force
I put that parenthetical exclamation next to UMass because that's 124 out of 124. Ultimately this is pretty even, if more dispersed. Note too that the remainder of the schedule is comprised of opponents who tend to be stiff against the run. MSU and the three losses are the only teams better than those coming up, though that's a big gap between Iowa and ND. Anyway there has been ample opportunity to face non-scary run defenses and make up the damage they've wrought—everybody left on the schedule should be more like Nebraska than Purdue.
2. Maybe you're in the wrong major?
This has happened to friends of mine in the past. You meet a nice new coach who points at you, and he and his staff seem uber competent at running a football program, and well gosh just look what they've done with the defense, and all of a sudden you're signing up for all these West Coast Offense and MANBALL classes because that's how they got there. But you gotta be doing what's best for you and your skills.
Yesterday was the fist anniversary of the 5th of November Manball Treason and Plot against Iowa. We still remember. We still keep a detailed database. Let's see if I-form ISOs have been sneaking in when we're not looking (just the called runs):
|O-Form (s)
|4-yr AVG
|Denard Jet
Nothing untoward here. I mentioned earlier in the season that Borges has come to Denard more than the other way around, and you can see some of that in the completely Rodriguezian formation selection we choose to run out of.
And we can check the yardage while we're at it:
|O-Form (s)
|4-Yr AVG
|Denard Jet
It's climbing down. Notably the Ace seems to have lost its novelty. Denard Jet was replaced by Gallon Jet out of the shotgun. When Michigan's gone I-form, it's often in short-yardage situations, or as a "conservative" measure, e.g. the first half of Minnesota, and when Bellomy first came in.
The part that's probably more on Borges is running into stacked fronts, which has been a topic ad nauseum 'round here. Here's Al Borge's inaugural RPS chart.
|Grand Total
2011: +65/-89/-24, = +1 on 14% of plays and a –1 on 19% of plays.
2012: +14/-24/-10 = +1 on 5% of plays and –1 on 8% of plays.
I don't know if that's Brian giving out RPS for fewer plays this year, or if this is evidence that Al's not kidding about "playing conservative" at several points this season. Running into a stacked box 24 times in 9 games feels like a lot to have lived through. What I think we're seeing is he's just been less willing, as the defense has proven it doesn't need as many points to win, to not gamble as much. Again, the UFR numbers are interesting but not canon—the greater evidence is his own comments.
3. Is it just that you miss Molk?
Last year Michigan had the best center in the country. They even gave him a shiny Rimington Award to recognize that fact. The drop-in replacement for the Rimington winner is Elliott Mealer, the guy whom I thought (as of the pre-season) had a good chance of getting replaced by a former walk-on (Burzynski) or a freshman sometime this season. Hoke recently mentioned they're considering this. Mealer's 2012 in UFR Charting:
|Now a lot more worried about Molk transition after flip
|Air Force
|Seems like a decent player.
|Mobility in space a pleasant surprise.
|Notre Dame
|Big time struggles early, did better, also bad snap.
|Can't seal like Molk against big time competition.
|Got blown up pretty good a couple times, otherwise okay.
|Around even usually, which is meh.
|Also also crappy pass blocking.
That's a +50/-37/+13. In an average 2012 game, Mealer will do five really good things and four bad things. Mealer is also consistent—he fared okay against everybody except Bama, be they Louis Nix or Kawann Short or Akeem Spence or Baker Steinkuhler, or Double-A Gap-blitzin' MSU (I know he'll come in for at least one big minus from Hageman this week, but it seemed he started faring better in the 2nd half). As for Molk's 2011, I'll save you a chart and tell you he totaled a +130.5/-38.5/+92. On a per-game basis that's 11 good things and three bad, a major difference-maker. These are subjective and not at all scientific. But they do kind of wink at a story, wherein Mealer isn't any kind of problem so much as Molk was an extraordinary human being who cannot be replaced.
He was also a four-year starter, and if there's a Molk effect going on, it's possible, though hard to judge (Heiko maybe you ask Borges at presser?) without direct knowledge of huddle goings-on what kind of difference it makes that a new starter and new center is in charge of calling out blocking assignments pre-snap as opposed to a guy in his fourth year doing it. I don't remember the coaches saying anything to this regard, but the football players I lean on for this kind of dope are mostly offensive linemen, and one thing they all seem to value more than John Q. Fan is the wisdom of the center.
This is going to be a gross misuse of UFR data but here's the average CHART data for run blocking this year versus last:
The Mealer thing yes, but there's regression across the board. And while Schofield is within the margin of error for treading water with Huyge, the boost that Koger lent to the running game is gone too. As for the returning guys and their apparent regression, maybe that's not having Molk around? No way I can say from this. But it's as good an explanation as any. Feel better?
That depends, how's Denard's arm? Because:
|2012 Michigan Rushing YPC when...
|Denard is QB
|Someone else is
When yer talkin' you ain't drinkin'. Booze will help him forget. Tell him that.
I just threw up in my mouth a little
I'd say Schofield looked much better as a guard last year than as a tackle this year (similiar to Steve Schilling), and he was far better than Barnum has been at left guard. The biggest problem I see with the run game is the three interior linemen just aren't that good. Omameh is probably average in this system, Mealer maybe slightly below,, but Barnum has looked pretty bad. If we had any depth at tackle I'd love to see Schofield replace Barnum at guard, but this is another case of poor OLine recruiting biting us in the ass. No one to play tackle. At least this staff has taken the mantra "OLine depth" to heart.
If lewan stays next year if we could see a lewan-schofield-miller-joeyb-magnusson line.
to see Kalis in there at a guard spot...so if Lewan's back and Miller adds enough weight to start at C, i think it might be a battle between JoeyB and Magnusson (and Bryant? seems doubtful) for the last spot, with Schofield starting at either G or T, depeneding on if they like JoeyB or Magnusson more.
oversight on my part. I was mostly considering a line where Schofield moves back inside to make room for Magnusson
Polynomial curve fits are completely meaningless in this case. It looks good and makes you feel smart, until someone remembers it is just a few mouse clicks in excel.
There are many ways to analyze the data set that would bring more meaning conclusions.
First thing I thought too - a Weibull or generalized Beta would be much better.
TWIS had stanford schade and it sounds a lot like you two smart guys debating data cloud and regression analysis. that is so dope.
Which? I didn't use it to feel "smart" but because it seemed to show the curves. Straight-up trend lines? I'm a history major trying to do my best in a world governed by math.
I put the data in a Googledoc: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlZp0ugnJIGddEtWZjg5MlloQ2F....
Help me.
No curve fitting is really going to get the job done here. If you want to show that there are less 'long runs' in 2012, you are looking at the tail of the popultion with very few points.
I would just look at a data set of only 'long runs' and exclude about 90% of the data to start. Then you wouldn't be looking at a relatively huge number of ho-hum runs and trying to make a conclustion about a long tail.
Stand by, I don't have much love for google docs, but I'll get back to you in a few...
So, here I've plotted sorted run lengths of runs greater than or equal to 8 yards. Why 8? I just wanted a tail of the population and it seemed like a decent cutoff point. Since the 2012 season is not yet over, this isn't a fair one-to-one comparison, HOWEVER, in terms of 20+ yard runs, we are already just about equal to 2010. To try to make up for this and extrapolate to the end of the season, I've randomly sampled all 8+ yard runs from 2012 to make a new data set with a length that is the average number of 8+ yard plays based on the 2010 and 2011 season. (Yes, this is very very crude, I know).
In short, we are basically on pace (if my crude assumptions aren't totally wrong) to match our long run play total from 2011. Our ability to run long distances in one play hasn't changed.
The only thing here is yeah, we are on pace for as many long runs as before, but what I was trying to show is there's a difference in that chunk of 6- to 12-yard runs that Michigan got with relative regularity in 2010 and 2011, but isn't getting this year. The long runs against bad run defenses is what's keeping the YPC high -- the distribution of the runs less than 8 yards per play is where the action is.
So, as an explanation, I'm a nearly done science phd student and 80% of my time is spend on data analysis, writing about that analysis, and then getting it picking apart by my advisor.. and then hopefully improving. Reading back over this thread, I hope you haven't mis-read my tone.
In the OP you stated "The 2012 offense is ripping off big runs more often, but not getting those 5- to 12-yard runs with the same regularity" which is two different statement. When I'm writing manuscripts, I start with making graphs and seeing what the data is like and then draw conclusions from that. When I'm trying to communicate those conclusions to others, I almost always end up creating a entirely new set of figures that have been honed in to just the conclusion I'm pointing out... and not the entire data set. My main issue was a trendline over an entire large data set (from negative yard plays to 70+ yard runs) and making conclusions on only part of that data set.
If you want to make the claim about 5 to 12 yard runs (note, I agree with your conclusion), I would suggest working backward when it is time to make support your claim. In this case (as gbdub makes a post about below) I would suggest looking at the percent of 5 to 12 yard plays as a part of all runs from a given year.
Sorry for the possible overkill on your work. I hope any of this has helped and I would be more than welcome to give advice or run data analysis in the future.
Dork Rule 1556: There's no such thing as "Overkill," just "Enough kill."
As you may note from where I respond, I take criticism, especially correct, well thought out, constructive criticism, way better than acclaim. I very much appreciate any help you can provide.
I totally get what you mean about recreating the graph. I have a tendency with these to want to show my work, but there is always a process very much like what you described. I'm just fumbling my way through all the time.
I made a LOG of the trend lines as a separate thing but then didn't post. Here's that:
click embiggens. Note it cuts off most of the top stuff. I guess this would have worked better. The idea I got from a guy who does the same to stack WAR values of Hall of Fame candidates against each other. Different career lengths and different peaks make for different trend lines but you can clearly see a difference between a guy like Trammell and how he was, by WAR anyhow, way more valuable than any shortstop of his era except for Cal Ripken.
I still can't understand why the run game hasn't shifted to take more advantage of Lewan being Jake Long Jr. It seems the run actively avoids going behind him for some reason. Maybe he isn't as good as he was hyped to be, but you would think he is better than the other 4 guys on the line.
It was especially interesting to see that in the goal line situtation in the last game when they had 7 linemen in that they ran to the right instead of the left. That just blew my mind.
If the RB is getting swallowed behind the guard, it's hard for him to get out behind the tackle.
Also, Lewan's run blocking has never been spectacular.
Finally, it also seems pretty clear that Lewan is hurt. He's limped off the field every game since Alabama.
This is just a guess, but could it be that we are running primarily to the right side because of Denard's injury? His right side is facing traffic when we run left.
I think the bigger problem is probably that Omameh has never been a good pulling guard and Barnum just isn't very good at the point of attack.
And for the record, Lewan is no Jake Long. Frankly, he's not even a Tony Pape. He's more of a Backus/Stenavich. Good, occasionally great, but not a dominator.
So, respectfully....you'd rank Tony Pape ahead of Backus?
It depends on how I'm feeling that day. I think Backus was made to look better than he was because of who he was playing next to. For 4 years, he lined up with the greatest lineman Michigan has ever had and one of the greatest players to ever play his position, Steve Hutchinson. But Backus and Pape were similiar: almost no MAs, almost no MMs, far fewer penalties than Lewan. I think Pape was the better pass protector, while they were pretty even in the run game. And I have a lot of respect for Pape because, as his lack of an NFL career shows, he was not a great athlete, just a great technician and a smart player. But, long story short, it could go either way.
until he cleans up the penalties... taylor is not jake long jr... remember how jake gave up like 2 sacks and 1 penalty in his career? yeah... lewans got time though.
When I look at 2011's run performance compared to 2010's, then 2012's compared to 2011, it's really, really, really hard for me to conclude that Borges is the problem here.
I respect your opinion on these kinds of things - how would you diagnose the issues? Is Borges completely "clean" and it falls on other aspects of the game? Or would you say that Borges's conservative calls have contributed to the reduction in productivity (whether that play-calling be purposeful like vs. MSU or otherwise)? I suspect its like everything else in life . . . people want to place blame on one thing but like Seth describes, it is always multiple things that end up being the cause.
I don't know a thing about scheme.
But I'd always side with "a variety of things".
That being said, I doubt that Borges suddenly forgot how to call this offense. Like, this is the guy that buzz-sawed Illinois, Nebraska, and OSU to close the regular season last year, all of whom were top 30 defenses.
My theory was sparked by Brian's comment that suddenly, there are a ton of unblocked LB's. My thought is:
1. No professional Offensive Coordinator draws up plays where MLB's are routinely unblocked. That just doesn't happen.
2. We replaced a 4-year starter and Rimington winner at C with a guy that became a C 2 days before our first game (if you recall, Barnum was listed as the starting Center on the last depth chart, and Mealer at guard. Furthermore, that guy was nearly beat out by a younger walk-on.
3. Lewan has been visibly close to being a cripple this year. His leg is not, at all, OK.
So, I think Mealer, who has been a C for about 9 weeks, likely doesn't call assignments at the line as well as Molk, a 4-year starter, accounting, to a degree, for unblocked LBs. I also think that the efficacy of Mealer means fewer successful combo blocks (I seem to recall Molk being very effective at doubling with a team-mate, then releasing to the second level). If Mealer and Barnum or Mealer and Omameh can't effectively kill the DL with a double, nobody can leak out to the 2nd level. I think Schofield appears to be a better G than a T, and was definitely better than Barnum. I think Lewan 2012 is not Lewan 2011.
The whole thing, honestly, makes me appreciate Denard more. Our OL can't block, and somehow he was on pace for about 1500 yards.
This post comparing years, while not strong on objective data, is a decent trend on "are things similar". Brian is likely pretty consistent with his subjective UFR judgement the past three years, and if anything would have been biased toward 2010 running.
Another aspect is what you can't know about is the execution of plays in practice. But the coaches definitely know how well the plays are being run this year compared to last year, and if there are plays that the OL just can't execute, then they won't get called, even though schematically they are "the perfect play" for what the defense shows you.
With Borges, and more importantly Hoke stating that they are simplifying and being conservative this year, you really have to ask your self, "is that because they like to be that way or the have to be that way?" Considering how many people are now 20/20 hindsighting the "Devin as WR" decision as clearly wrong, and Hoke stating in his press conference that he essentially would make the same decision again because it was the best decision at the time, I don't think you can really state Hoke is conservative because he's risk averse like Debordian-Lloyd. That leaves, the answer to be, "he's gotta be".
For me the two factors are that the OL is not as strong/smart as it was before, (also remember that Lewan was pretty clear in the press conference that Mealer makes the first call, and Lewan's is based on Mealer's call) and Denard is just not a good decision maker, especially under pressure.
Hoke explicitly stated he took away Denard's ability to audible. Borges said that the plan for MSU was to avoid getting into a "chess match". Put those two together and the coaches decided that the defenses were masking coverages too well and confusing Denard, and baiting him into bad checkdowns. Yes, once you take that away, you take away the ability to constraing the defense, and now you can quote everything "smart football" has transcribed down from all the coaches he has interviewed (he is a sports fan who trained as an attorney, so even though I find his web site informative, I don't think you can consider him a schematic expert, he's likely a well informed amatuer, but he's never had to coach players and watch them mis-execute schemes. He also tracks the NFL quite a bit, where there is no limit on practice time cause they pay those players lots and lots of money)
Yet despite making Denard completely unsurprisingly one dimensional, as long as he stays in the game he is 75% of the offense.
Gardner got some good experience against a less talented team, and if you look at all the young guys who got playing time, you'll notice that the OL stayed as the startes the entire game. I think it's because Hoke knows they need the practice. And now he's thinking of replacing Mealer.
Everything starts with the Center and QB. I hope Jack Miller is the Molk-in-waiting we've hoped he could be.
Very well said. I'd only add that expecting Miller to be Molk is begging for disappointment. I would put Molk out there as the best center Michigan's had since Gerald Ford, certainly the best in my time watching, and that time includes a lot of dudes with long NFL careers and Superbowl rings.
And remember Molk was a hell of a player but also hellishly undersized in 2008--when a guy like Ogbu got leverage, Molk was deposited 9 yards into the backfield. Even if Miller is Molk 2.0, he wouldn't be strong enough yet to go against the hellish DTs all over Michigan's schedule, and in this offense the mitigating ability to get perfect seals on reach blocks wouldn't matter as much since the center is barely ever asked to do that and I don't think Borges or Hoke really think that way.
And though he may not look it now...
This guy might have an argument. He didn't win the award, because it didn't exist then, but he was the best center I've ever seen for Michigan. And Molk was pretty damn great.
I watched every game since '91 but yeah, Everitt (or "Brady Hoke's Pet Viking" as I'm proud to have christened him last year) was something I got to witness before I really knew what I was witnessing. That was several years before Michigan Replay became a staple of my life. I think 1995, when I was a sophomore in high school, is when I started knowing things like "our center is Rod Payne," but even then my knowledge was at like a Talk Radio level--more "Biakabutuka is better than Wheatley!" or Griese-Dreisbach fights than "Jansen, Runyan and Payne are awesome but the guards need help. Dammit in re: Denson!" I've had to re-watch a lot of games that Wolverine Historian puts up to recalibrate.
Anyway there's no way I can really compare Everitt to Molk, whose career I watched in slow-mo while--at least for the last two years--writing professionally about its minutiae. I can say Ford because he seems to be the gold standard. Interesting note: none of these guys was named an All American, weirdly (though Payne was!).
Because (wiki caveat) he's listed as AP and concensus All-American.
Everitt didn't win because also a senior that year was everyone's favorite Lion and 12 yeaer professional Mike Compton. Steve spent a good 7 years in the League, so he got more than a cup of coffee though.
There's way more unknown (is it technique, an injury to Lewan, to Toussaint...?) than known when it comes to a problem that seems to be originating among the Daves.* I hope people noticed that most of the "is it Borges?" section debunked going theories of Borges-blame. The part he does seem culpable for is the conservatism. Since Brian started giving them out, an RPS +1 usually leads to--on average--a 10-yard gain, while an RPS -1 usually led to an average loss of 1. You'll note last year there were bunches of 10-yard gains and bunches of losses of 1. It's possible that was the effect of the "chess match" stuff Borges has said he's not doing this year.
The other thing I hope people noticed here: 5.77 ypc on called rushes and 23rd in the country in S&P+ isn't awful. It is good. Part of the effect is the extremism of the the schedule: we have faced the best rushing defense in college football, AND the worst rushing defense, AND the 2nd best rushing defense, AND the 15th worst, AND the 6th best AND the 28th worst... After 9 games the only defense that you might define as any kind of "norm" was the Blackshirts, and for half of that game we were running into blitzes so that something other than getting the freshman pulverized could happen once in awhile.
The last thing I hope folks notice the difference between interior DL among our opponents vs their DEs. This was something that became apparant while doing that draft-o-snark this summer: that other than State's Marcus Rush, OSU's John Simon, and Illinois's Michael Buchanan there's not a lot of elite edge rushers. On the other hand there's been some monsters lining up directly across from Mealer: Jesse Williams, Hageman, Short, Spence, Nix, even Steinkuhler will probably get drafted. And you know Hankins is still coming up. The best way to clog up a running game is to have a guy who gets a 2-for-1 consistently--that's really hard if you're a linebacker or end who has to pop a fullback or tackle into the pulling guard, but automatic for a DT who demands a double-team every play.
* Dave Baas, Dave Pearson, Dave Petruziello. It has been my goal since 2002 to replace the bulky phrase "interior offensive line" with "The Daves." Join me!
More Kwiatkowski blocking!
I blame all four for our running game's maddening lack of consistency. It seems to be pretty much a bad play or a great play, with very few of the 4-6 yard runs in there.
I am a Borges fan, but you can't let him off the hook. No matter how big the challenge, a coach must find a way to maximize the strengths of his team. Of coures, there's no way of knowing if the guys we have can play better than they have, because, well, they haven't.
Denard's limited skill-set is, by far, the biggest villain. Don't get me wrong, DENARD is not a villain, and I love him as much I love bacon, but he never really made the leap as a passer, and has proven that when he throws the ball, there is a very good chance that he will throw it to the other team. Which is not good strategy. The fact that we know he is an amazing runner who will break a big run at some point in every game combined with the fact that he is a bad passer who will do something dumb in every game has hand-cuffed the offense. And our great defense gives us another reason to be conservative.
The O-Line has not been good. In fact, their inconsistency is probably the biggest reason for our inconsistent output. Yes, they are facing stacked boxes, but you still have to block, and you still have to hold your block. They seem to get their assignments (most of the time) but can't seem to finish blocks...that points to talent more than coaching.
And finally, the Universe. We aren't causing as many turnovers and we lost our starting QB to a freak non-contact injury. Fitz seemed to lose some of his magic wiggle over the summer. The throwback screen has been figured-out by our opponents. I blame the universe. And science.
I think the run game has suffered because 1) the line is not quite as good as they were last year, and; 2) opposing teams have NO respect for our pass game and sell out to stop the run.
But, I still think the biggest factor is Fitz' vision. It looks like he has blinders on sometimes and he just runs into the pile. Granted, he does get swallowed up in the backfield sometimes because of poor blocking, but there are other times when there is a hole or a cutback lane and he completely misses it. Norfleet does the same thing on kickoff returns...
But he had better vision last year? I'm not sure that makes sense to me.
at bat. Sometimes they claim they're "just not seeing the ball", and so they don't hit it. Same thing in basketball. Call them "slumps". In football nomenclature they say "he's not seeing the field well". Its not meant to be taken literally; its more of a timing issue. I'm saying Fitz doesn't appear to see the play/blocking develop in front of him; or, he's being impatient and not letting the play/blocking develop, hence the slamming into the backs of his linemen; or, he's just not seeing the field well. From what I've read, notwithstanding the oline changes, there seems to be a growing consensus that he doesn't look like the same runner as last year. I agree. But, he's not slower; he's not smaller; he's not older... therefore, its likely a timing/vision issue.
Is it just me or did it look in the Minny game like Lewan was calling out some of the blocking assignments?
Lewan has said that Mealer calls assignments, and Lewan coordinates he and Omameh based on Mealer's call.
Between replacing Molk with Mealer, and Lewan clearly not being 100%, it makes sense that the Oline is struggling compared to the last few years. It's still frustrating and concerning that MLBs are filling gaps completely unblocked, and I would love to know if this is a technique or scheme problem.
It's the OL, and since everything starts up front, it's near impossible to get consistent production with a weak OL. Borges could be replaced by Vince Lombardi, and people would be saying Vince has lost his touch. This will be patently obvious next season when Michigan has 3-4 RS Freshman OLinemen starting, and there is a significant improvement in rushing production even without Denard.
Hoke & Co. knew the OL was a weakness this season, but it appears that they felt that burning RS's was not worth it, and that they felt it was time for the upperclassmen on the OL to step up. They haven't, and Michigan's rushing has suffered. Would it be any better with Kalis & Co. starting? Doubtful. We're stuck with the OL we have, but it will all soon be a distant memory as the road graders are here, and more are coming.
I wouldn't say they're a weakness. They were supposed to be a strength. Lewan is the best OL in the conference. Schofield was capital-G Good last year as a guard and has the size and recruiting profile you'd expect to translate to tackle. Barnum too had that profile, and until he was hurt last year he seemed to be completely on track to be a plus-plus interior lineman. And Omameh is a 3-1/2 year starter whose chest is littered with commendations for turning Manti Te'o into a blunt object for blocking safeties[insert DENNIS BERGKAMP here].
The only question mark was Mealer and while Mealer is probably the worst of the group, the sum difference between his play and Barnum or Schofield's isn't all that big.
The pre-season expectation for this OL was they were built to dominate at spread stuff--to combo and release and do mean things to the 2nd level and never even bother with backside ends, and if any of the starters went down it's doom doomy doom. Weirdly you'd think pulling is related to this but they never did seem very adept at pulling, and this offense pulls a lot.
OL recruiting is the biggest crapshoot in recruiting. There's certain commonalities that seem to mean "Oh Yeah!" -- like when a guy comes to it late and then picks up the footwork ridiculously fast but needs to get a lot bigger (examples: Long, Lewan, and Kugler and Magnuson among the newer guys, maybe Chris Fox except he's already almost 300) it seems to turn out better than the highly rated guys who are already 300 lbs in high school and get called a "road grader" and "could already play on and FCS line" Examples of such among recent blue chips--5.9 or higher to Rivals--are Steve Schilling, Alex Mitchell, Dann O'Neill, Corey Zirbel, Brett Gallimore, Marcus Slocum, Justin Boren, and while I'm not down on him at all, yes Kyle Kalis and Kyle Bosch both fit this mold. Obvs, some of those guys turned out to be damn good linemen, or washed out for other reasons. OL recruiting success rates say few and certainly not all of these OL recruits are not going to get to Schilling-level by 2016, let alone win a Rimington like Molk or be the first pick in the draft like Jake Long. If 1/4 of the 2012 and 2013 o-line recruits are All Big Ten starters in five years that's a success. If half are that's wild success.
You might say they're a not weakness, but that doesn't agree with the eyeball test. Further, I listened to the Minn. game on WOOD and Branstader was uber critical of the Michigan OL. The Minn. DL was absolutely LIVING in the Michigan backfield, and every team we've played has too. Whatever the issue, these guys cannot block.
S&P+ is not a Fremeau stat.
FEI is the Fremeau stat and is possession based.
S&P+ is a Bill Connelly stat and is play based.
NCAA F/+ is a combined rating.
Beginning with the 2009 Football Outsiders Almanac, Brian Fremeau and Bill Connelly, originators of Football Outsiders' two statistical approaches -- FEI and S&P+, respectively -- began to create a combined ranking that would serve as Football Outsiders' 'official' college football rankings.
What I'd like to see, but don't currently have the tools/data to show, would be a plot of "% of run plays >/= x yards". This would mitigate the issue of looking at the tail and would normalize for number of run plays. If Seth's diagnosis is correct - we still break long runs because Denard, but can't consistently get medium gains - then you'd expect to see the following:
1) in 2010, the graph would have a gentler slope out to say 4 yards - a very high percentage of runs made 3-5 yards, fewer runs for less than 0 yards.
2) in 2012, there would be a steep dropoff after 2 yards.
3) after you got out to 12-15 yards the two lines would be nearly equal. You could cut off the graph at this point.


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Plan B is Plan B Because It's WorseComments
Timothy Burke is upset that Amanda Marcotte called arguments made by people like Benjamin Wittes that pro-choicers should "let go" of Roe "horseshit." Whether or not one likes Amanda's choice of words, however, I think she certainly has the better of the argument. Burke's post does intelligently express some of the most common "contrarian" arguments about Roe, which are worth attending to.
The first problem with Burke's post is that it's engaged in some obvious strawman demolition. Burke asks: "Does the campaign for the right to choose in Ireland curl up and die because they don't have Roe vs. Wade to begin with? You work with what you got. Go to the barricades for Roe if you like, but if you don't have a Plan B, then don't spit on the people who do." But, of course, nobody is arguing that there shouldn't be a "Plan B," or that pro-choicers should give up if Roe is overturned. What Amanda and other critics of Wittes object to is his claim that Roe being overturned might not affect reproductive rights that much, or perhaps may even be a net positive. I can understand why Burke doesn't want to defend this claim, since (as he essentially concedes) it is transparently wrong. But once you've conceded this, you've conceded that it's important to preserve Roe, and that therefore Wittes' central (and most interesting) argument is incorrect.
So what, exactly, is Burke arguing? He puts forward a couple of other points that try to salvage the Wittes thesis:
- 1)"It's pretty clear [Roe is] going to be overturned sooner or later, either in total or as good as such."
If Burke is right about this, then I agree that Wittes' arguments become more relevant. But there's no reason to believe that he is. As for Roe being directly overturned, this is clearly premature, and I think the odds are against it. Not merely because a Democratic President may well appoint Stevens' or Ginsburg's replacement if they hold on until 2008, but because there's good reason to believe that overturning Roe is not a high priority for the Republican elites. It is entirely possible that Roberts would vote to keep Roe. I'm certainly not saying that Roe is safe, but it's far too early to write the obituaries.
I suspect that a lot of the weight of this argument relies on the "as good as such" qualifier. I assume that he means that if the Supreme Court were to uphold Roe but continue to uphold a variety of regulations such as parental consent and waiting periods, this would be a de facto overturning of Roe. This is a common (and understandable) belief, but it isn't correct. As Mark Graber recently noted, "the empirical evidence suggests that keeping abortion legal has far more powerful effects on access to abortion than any restrictive policy short of outright bans on the procedure." This isn't to say that these types of regulation aren't bad; women shouldn't be subject to a humilating obstacle course when they get an abortion, and as far as I'm concerned one woman being prevented from obtaining an abortion by essentially unprincipled regulations is too many. But there is a huge difference between legal-but-regulated abortion and criminalized abortion. Women who want to get abortions usually get them as long as the procedure remains formally legal. (And, of course, overturning Roe would not reduce the number of obstructionist regulations.)
- 2)"Wittes observes that centering the debate on Roe vs. Wade has prevented those of us who believe in choice and in the right to privacy and self-ownership from securing that right either constitutionally (with an amendment) or through state and federal statutes. We've put all our eggs in the Supremes' basket."
Again, I don't think that this is a very persuasive argument. (Wittes, I think, is falling for the common fallacy that litgation and other forms of polical action are in some sort of zero-sum competition.) Roe hasn't "prevented" anything. With respect to a constitutional amendment, the chances of this happening are absolutely nil with or without Roe, so that's an obvious red herring, and any argument that a constitutional amendment is a more viable prospect than upholding a Supreme Court decision that has already stood for 30 years cannot be taken seriously. That pro-choicers (unlike many pro-life groups) haven't been suckered by the chimera of a hopeless amendment campaign is to their relative credit. With respect to state legislation or state constitutional amendments, again Roe hasn't prevented anything; Washington state enacted a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights after Roe, for example. It's true that such legislation hasn't been a priority, but that's for the obvious reason that it's basically meaningless window dressing. (Burke's analogy with Brown doesn't wash, because school de-segregation required legislative intervention to secure compliance in a way that Roe doesn't.) Such protections will only be possible in states where abortion rights are the most secure in the first place, and can be easily changed should the climate change. (I am frankly puzzled by claims that legislation would somehow be more stable than a Supreme Court decision. With the exception of major entitlements like Social Security, it's easier to change the former than the latter.) For many states, however, Roe is the only viable means of securing legal abortion, and it is therefore entirely rational for pro-choicers to focus on upholding Roe. And even if you think that such legislation would be more effectual than I do, passing it does not require "letting go" of Roe.
- 3)"More importantly, Wittes is right, in my opinion, to note that our reliance on Roe has kept the cultural conservatives from having to actually shoulder the political cost of passing specific statutes that take away a right that the majority voting population of most states supports, from having to actually do something that will have concrete consequences in terms of the everyday lives of most Americans."
This is a very common argument, but I don't understand it. By the same logic, one can argue that keeping Social Security on the books has prevented economic conseravtives from doing something that would be extremely unpopular in most states. Every policy victory, if your position is popular, means that the opposition's unpopular policy isn't being enacted. Forcing the Republican Party to actually gut the New Deal/Great Society rather than just talk about it would certainly be extremely damaging to the Republican Party. This is hardly good reason to hope that this happens. In the most generous construction this seems to be a "heighten-the-contradictions" argument, sacrificing tangible benfits now for speculative benefits later on, and in the case of Roe in my opinion there's no way the future benefits could outweigh the certain costs. (In addition, it's worth noting again that Congress and the states can use "compromise" legislation–delegating abortion policy to medical committees–that would effectively criminalize abortion for poor women, but would be unlikely to decisively undermine the Republican Party. This would be the worst of all worlds–bad policy outcomes that have only limited political damage–and unfortunately would be the most common result.)
I should say that I do agree completely with Burke when he says that the agrument that "history would dispense with the opposition to choice, and that all we had to do was keep strong and organized amongst ourselves" was and is a "folly," although whether this assumption is as widespread as he posits is questionable. The Supreme Court's abortion decisions will not defuse the conflict, and of course we must accept that the abortion debate in the United States will be characterized by incommensurable conflict for the forseeable future even if Roe stands; Burke is certainly right about that. But it is equally naive to think (and here I should emphasize that this many not be Burke's position) that this debate would be defused simply by "returning the issue to the legislatures." This is a pipedream. The abortion debate will rage no matter what. But if it rages without Roe, the result will be greatly restricted reproductive rights, and it is therefore very desirable to make preserving Roe a priority.


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Mall name:
3205 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, Oregon - OR 97005
Phone number to Cedar Hills Crossing mall
503 643 7117
Hours (mall)
Monday - Saturday 10:00 am - 9:00 pm, Sunday 11:00 am - 6:00 pm.
Driving directions
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Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Don't Knock Global Warming
I remember going to the Michigan-Ohio State games as a kid and freezing my ass off. Even bundled under nine layers, I still couldn't feel my toes, my hands or most portions of my face.
Not anymore.
Lately, it's been downright balmy for the annual clash between the Wolverines and Buckeyes. And last Saturday was no exception with temperatures in the upper 40s. Hell, I can't remember the last time it was really, really cold for The Game. As Borat would say, "Niiiiice."
So while it does bum me out that the polar ice caps will melt, flooding the earth; and the human race will become extinct shortly due to disease, pestilence and other ailments brought on by the coming man-made catastrophe, for a few Saturdays each fall, it doesn't seem so bad.
7 comments:
- TitleIX said...
Oh man, when I saw the picture I thought that you were predicting the demise of Michigan Football, since as you know, according to the experts in C-bus, our football program is headed for extinction..
Thank goodness you just went Al Gore on us and not Bucknuts.
Maybe Michigan will become the new new South????
- November 22, 2006 12:48 AM
Everyone knows that there is no such thing as global warming. It is a lie perpetrated by the Democrats in order to scare people into voting for the left.
- November 22, 2006 8:35 AM
That Guys for sure from Ohio
- November 22, 2006 10:27 AM
Hey, as an Ohioan (and Cincinnatian), I'm proud that we finally wised up somewhat down here and kicked the do-nothing Ohio Repubs out. See ya, DeWeiner. Too bad Dr. Strangehair (Steve Chabot) won, though.
- November 22, 2006 10:41 AM
For those of you in Cincinatti, I appreciate you voting those dickwads out of office. All it took was a jailed congressman, corrupt Secretary of State, and of course a completely mismanaged state treasury. Columbus, on the other hand, strikes me as "global warming is a hoax" country, as you can see here
by this dumbass' support of something in 2004
- November 22, 2006 2:54 PM
Global warming my ass. I don't know where you were the whole month of October, but it snowed on Oct. 12th and I watched every one of my son's high school games in long underwear and 3 layers of clothes. Maybe it was warmer this week, but I'm just sayin...
- November 22, 2006 10:24 PM
I remember being at the UM-OSU game in 2002 in Columbus and it was absolutely freezing. And yes, Global Warming is a farce.
- November 23, 2006 1:23 PM


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Yes, you read that correctly: the crack stadium security folks - that never miss the lone plastic water bottle some 65 year old alum is trying to bring in to avoid the concession lines - waved a dude with two - TWO! - M16s right on through.
So, to put it subtly, HOW IN THE &^%$ DID THAT HAPPEN?!
Apparently the man, who is a full-time National Guardsman, pulled the ol' "I'm with the band" trick in which he simply walked in claiming to be part of the on-the-field military personnel who raise the flag, etc. He was busted when - after making it in AND onto the field - an authorized member of the color guard recognized he wasn't part of their group and reported him to police.
When police arrested him, he said he just wanted to see the game but couldn't get a ticket so he figured (correctly) he'd use his uniform to get in.
Now, while some dude sneaking into a bar or a sold-out concert using the oldest sneak-in trick in the world is funny, a guy sporting a pair of high-caliber military weapons in the post-9/11-slash-post-Mumbai world to sneak into a stadium holding 113,000 people isn't quite as amusing.
But it gets even better. Police defended their actions claiming they didn't do anything wrong because they didn't find any ammunition on him or in his gun so they didn't consider him a threat.
Bravo, officers. Bravo.
Yeah, because if he really were a terrorist, he would have never dreamed to have somebody else with a ticket sneak the bullets in.
Surely U-M officials see that, right?
"There wasn't anything that we believe was done incorrectly or improperly by police in any of the checkpoints there," said Diane Brown with the university's Department of Public Safety.
Uh, yes there was...
YOU LET AN UNAUTHORIZED MAN TO BRING TWO M16s INTO MICHIGAN STADIUM!
On the plus side, they did make him leave his Thermos.


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Thursday night's episode of Fox's singing competition "The X Factor" got a bit of an uptick from its low premiere, which aired the previous night.
According to early numbers from Nielsen, the Simon Cowell show drew an average of 6.8 million viewers, an increase of 10% from Wednesday night's premiere. The show garnered a rating of 2.2 in the key demographic of adults ages 18 to 49, up 5% from the first night.
However, that still represents a slide from its first Thursday episode last year. Total viewership fell 18% from last year's premiere, which drew an audience of 8.28 million. Its 18-49 number fell 29%.
ON LOCATION: Where the cameras roll
Fox was the highest rated network, with a 2.2 key demo rating and average viewership of 6.79 million.
Thursday's episode of "Big Brother" drew an audience of 7.46 million and a rating of 2.6 among 18- to 49-year-olds, up 4% from last week. CBS' numbers are subject to change because of the NFL game it aired in New York.
ABC had an NFL game in Boston, so its stats will also be inflated. According to the early numbers, the network's "Wipeout" increased its demo rating 18% to 1.3. The finale of "Rookie Blue" got a 1.4 rating, up 17% from last year's season ender.
On NBC, "The Million Second Quiz" is still sliding from its Monday debut. On Thursday night, it drew 4.2 million viewers and a demo rating of 1.1, down 27% compared with its average for Monday through Wednesday.
'Insidious: Chapter 2' to spook 'The Family' at box office
Clear Channel and Warner Music Group announce partnership
J.K. Rowling to revisit Harry Potter's world in new film series
Follow on Twitter: @rfaughnder
ON LOCATION: People and places behind what's onscreen PHOTOS: Biggest box office flops of 2013 PHOTOS: Celebrity production companies
ON LOCATION: People and places behind what's onscreen
PHOTOS: Biggest box office flops of 2013
PHOTOS: Celebrity production companies


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Continuing our tour of the new version of Collections Online, today we look at topics. As well as making our collections accessible online, we're also trying to make more of our knowledge and research available. One way we are doing that is through topics.
Topics range from simple groupings of content we want to highlight, through to more "authored" hierarchical narratives. They could be something that has come from months of research or simple an idea a curator had at lunch.
As well as creating new topics from current research, we've also gathered up some texts that were scattered around in disparate places, added them to Collections Online, and relating them to objects, people and other topics. This makes information that was previously difficult to find, or maybe only available if you could find the book, available to a wider range of people. It also enables us to share this content with collaborative projects such as DigitalNZ.
Take a look at a few examples:
- On a Pacific Island cruise in 1884 with the Burton Brothers
- Swimwear highlights
- Or the painter Girolamo Nerli (1860 – 1926)
And don't forget, all these topics are linked to collection objects, parties, categories and other topics. Browse away!
Next entry in this Collections Online introduction series: People


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Funeral service for Gloria G. Wilson of Emmetsburg was held Saturday, Oct. 26, at Holy Family Catholic Church in Emmetsburg. The Rev. Clem Currans was the celebrant.
Burial was in the West Bend Catholic Cemetery. The Martin-Mattice Funeral Home in Emmetsburg was in charge of arrangements.
Gloria Gayle Wilson, daughter of Virgil Joseph and Bertha Marie (Marti) Wilson was born Sept. 9, 1966 in Algona. She attended St. Peter and Paul Catholic School in West Bend and graduated from West Bend High School in 1986. She was once married to Walter Wilcoxin. Gloria was employed at Horizon's Unlimited in Emmetsburg for five years.
Her favorite times were when her family got together. Gloria's family was very important to her and her nieces and nephews were especially near and dear to her heart. She enjoyed gardening and caring for her Chihuahua dogs.
Gloria passed away Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 at her home in Emmetsburg, at the age of 47. She was preceded in death by her parents, Virgil and Bertha; two sisters, Marion (Carl) Strong and Betty Marie Fowler; a brother, Virgil Wilson, Jr. and a sister-in-law, Shirley Wilson.
She is survived by her siblings, Susanna Ann (Tom) Bredehoeft of Algona, Glenn Joseph Wilson of Storm Lake, Robert Charles (Sharon) Wilson of West Bend, Linda Jane (Gary) Glaser of Las Vegas, NV, Theron Vincent (Penny) Wilson of West Bend, Marlon Lee (Tammy) Wilson of Emmetsburg, John Leroy Wilson of Inver Grove Heights, MN, William Dean (Sandy) Wilson of Columbus, NE and James Jay (Evelyn) Wilson of West Bend; many nieces and nephews; as well as other relatives and friends.
Condolences can be left at


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Yes, we get it, parents of young children often have their sleep interrupted. And we get that parenting is a huge amount of work. But do they get how tiresome the "You obviously don't have children" phrase is, whenever anyone without children mentions sleep, being tired, etc etc?BG: I have been really exhausted lately. Looking after elderly parent (and yes, I am often woken up in the night with his needs). A million appointments, errands on his behalf, meals, haven't had a weekend to myself (or even a full day for that matter) in months, plus I'm trying to balance this with a new job and getting some of my own administrative needs attended to. I have also been waking up too early and never feel fully rested after a night's sleep. So last night for some reason I got a REALLY good sleep, and posted something about it on Facebook. Immediately a parent (who doesn't know anything about my situation other than I don't have children) chimed in, "You obviously don't have children."Now I really don't hold this against him as he didn't mean any harm and was perhaps just expressing envy that anyone can get a good night's sleep ever, but honestly, I've heard that one before, and it's getting old. The other one is when you mention being tired, and someone always chimes in that you can't possibly know what tired is until you've had children. (By the way, my friend who is balancing children with several very elderly people plus a relative in a mental institution - I don't know how she does it - states that her children are a breeze compared to the demands of the old people). Also, it's a good thing I'm not upset about not having children. A great many women my age are, and that kind of comment would be even more tiresome in that case. Aren't non-parents allowed to be tired? And would it have been rude to reply with something like, "No, but just wait until your parents get old and dependent on you." ?
I would also just delete the comment. But I would be tempted to respond with, "I know! Thank goodness, right?!! Kids are such horrid little bloodsucking leeches." Of course, I don't think kids are really that bad. But I do think that parents who are always comparing people with kids against people without kids make it sound an awful lot like THEY think that.
I made a similar comment on a friends facebook recently - you obviously don't have a daughter'She was moaning about the state of her sons school uniform and said that uniforms with white shirts must have been designed with girls in mind as girls sit quitely and not wreck their clothes - was my response ok, because it is very similar wording to ones being disparraged
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Top 50 Startup Blogs of 2011
By Evan Carmichael on June 28th, 2011
Starting anything is never easy, especially when there is a lot on the line. That is the situation most new entrepreneurs find themselves in. They throw all of their energy, time and resources into developing a new idea that they hope will find its feet in the market. But you can do more than hope!
The 50 bloggers below have established themselves as experts in the field when it comes to starting up a new business. Get their tips, read about their lessons learned, and avoid making the same mistakes they did.Starting up a business is always a challenge, but it should also fun! Let these experts show you how! You can see last year's list here.
News Blogs
1) TechCrunch
http://www.techcrunch.com/– TechCrunch is a leading technology media property, dedicated to obsessively profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news. Founded in 2005, TechCrunch and its network of websites now reach over 10 million unique visitors and draw more than 33 million page views per month.
2) Mashable!
http://mashable.com/ – Founded in 2005, Mashable is the top source for news in social and digital media, technology and web culture. With more than 40 million monthly pageviews, Mashable is the most prolific news site reporting breaking web news, providing analysis of trends, reviewing new websites and services, and offering social media resources and guides.
3) GigaOM
http://gigaom.com/– GigaOM delivers breaking news and in-depth analysis on the business of technology. Their reporters investigate trends and examine emerging. It offers Web 2.0 news, analysis and opinions on startups, new technologies, broadband and online games.
4) VentureBeat
http://www.venturebeat.com/– VentureBeat's mission is to define innovation for forward-thinking executives. In 2008, the New York Times called VentureBeat one of the "best blogs on the Web," and began publishing VentureBeat's articles on its web site. In March 2009, VentureBeat signed a partnership agreement with IDG to produce DEMO, the leading conference for launching emerging technology products.
5) Xconomy
http://www.xconomy.com/– Xconomy is dedicated to providing business and technology leaders with timely, insightful, close-to-the-scene information about the local personalities, companies, and technological trends that best exemplify today's high-tech economy.
6) Crenk
http://crenk.com/– Crenk, founded on September 22, 2007, is a blog dedicated to reviewing some of the newest and best web and mobile apps on the web. Additionally, they have insights and analysis on some of the hottest topics from around the net.
Spot The Trends
7) The Next Web
http://thenextweb.com/ – The Next Web launched in January 2008 as a spin-off to The Next Web Conference. Soon after, the site found a life of its own and the potential for a technology site from an international perspective became a reality. Since then, it has expanded to include a number of "glocal" blogs with technology news in their own language from blogs across the globe, and channels focused on select topics including Apps, Apple and Viral Sensations.
http://www.psfk.com/– PSFK is the go-to source for new ideas and inspiration for creative professionals. They provide readers, event attendees and corporations with fresh trends and innovation stimulus.
9) TrendHunter
http://www.trendhunter.com/– With 35,000,000 monthly views, TrendHunter.com is the world's largest, most popular trend community. Their head office is based in Toronto, Canada, and they are fueled by a global network of 56,000 members. Trend Hunter, Trend Hunter TV and Trend Hunter PRO feature 109,000 micro-trends and cutting edge ideas.
10) Don Dodge On The Next Big Thing
http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing – Don Dodge is a Developer Advocate at Google helping developers build new applications on Google platforms and technologies. Prior to joining Google, Don was a startup evangelist at Microsoft. Don is also a veteran of five start-ups including Forte Software, AltaVista, Napster, Bowstreet, and Groove Networks. Find his advice from years of experience here.
Make Your Marketing Work
11) Seth's Blog
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/– Seth Godin is a bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change. In his blog, Seth riffs on marketing, respect, and the ways ideas spread.
12) Duct Tape Marketing
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog – John Jantsch has been called the World's Most Practical Small Business Expert for consistently delivering real-world, proven small business marketing ideas and strategies. He is a marketing consultant, award winning social media publisher and best-selling author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine. This is his personal blog.
13) A Smart Bear
http://blog.asmartbear.com/ – Jason Cohen's blog is all about marketing and small business. Gear-head geeks like him tend to think these things are inscrutable, best left to MBAs and right-brain types. Jason is here to tell you that's not true!
From The Venture World
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/ – Fred Wilson is a VC and has been since 1986. He helps people start and build technology companies. He does it in NYC, which isn't the easiest place to build technology companies, but it's getting better, he says. Get his advice here!
15) WiredVC
http://wiredvc.com/– WiredVC is a leading source for Venture Capital, Private Equity and Business Entrepreneur news. They focus on covering the ever changing landscape of emerging companies while providing news, in-depth reports and interviews with industry leaders and Venture Capitalists.
16) InfoChachkie
http://www.infochachkie.com/ – John Greathouse has held a number of senior executive positions with successful startups over a period of more than fifteen years. He has repeatedly been one of the very first businesspeople hired, helping build large businesses from the ground up, with an emphasis on market engagement and scalable customer acquisition. Get all of his advice here!
17) TechStars
http://www.techstars.org/ – TechStars is a mentorship-driven seed stage investment program. They run a three month long program once each year, and select 30 companies to get up to $18,000 in seed funding, three months of intensive top-notch mentorship, and the chance to pitch to angel investors and venture capitalists at the end of the program. Follow their progress and get advice on their blog.
Big Ideas
18) Springwise
http://springwise.com/– Helped by a network of 8,000 spotters, Springwise editors scan the globe for smart new business ideas, delivering instant inspiration to entrepreneurial minds. Time to start the next big thing!
19) Inventor Spot
http://inventorspot.com/– InventorSpot.com is a fun and informative website focused on Inventions, Innovations and Interesting Ideas from around the world. They offer serious fun for the inventor in all of us.
20) This is going to be BIG!
http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.com/– Charlie O'Donnell is a Principal at First Round Capital, working on very early stage investments in the New York City area. He founded New York's largest independent innovation community group, nextNY, and was voted one of the 100 Most Influential People in New York Technology the last three consecutive years by Alley Insider. This is his personal blog on BIG ideas!
21) Leveraging Ideas
http://www.leveragingideas.com/ – The mission behind Leveraging Ideas is to provide unique analysis and commentary on early-stage investing, internet startups and entrepreneurship.
Startups 101
22) Startup Professionals Musings
http://blog.startupprofessionals.com/ – Martin Zwilling is the CEO and Founder of Startup Professionals, among other ventures. This is his personal blog where he offers his own musings on launching a startup.
23) Business Pundit
http://businesspundit.com/– Business Pundit is a daily business magazine with forward thinking business ideas. Visit often to stay on top of the game.
24) Chris Dixon's Blog
http://www.cdixon.org/– Chris Dixon is the co-founder of Hunch and a personal investor in early-stage technology companies, including Skype, Foursquare, Kickstarter, Stack Overflow, TrialPay, DocVerse , Invite Media, Gerson Lehrman Group, ScanScout, OMGPOP, BillShrink, Panjiva, Knewton, and a handful of other startups that are still in stealth mode. Get his tips here.
25) Noobpreneur Business Blog
http://www.noobpreneur.com/– Noobpreneur is a business blog offering tips and ideas for small business owners and those who want to enter entrepreneurship with the right mindset. Starting out as a personal business blog, Noobpreneur gradually evolved into a multi-authored blog. The number one benefit of having multiple authors is the many perspectives that they bring.
26) Founder's Blog
http://blog.jitbit.com/– Alex Yumashev is the founder and lead developer at Jitbit Software, a software business. This is his personal blog, where he shares his thoughts on running bootstrapped software startups, entrepreneurship and other "stuff".
27) Steve Blank
http://steveblank.com/ – Put to a vote, Steve Blank might have been chosen "least likely to succeed" in his New York City high school class. His path has taken him from repairing fighter planes in Thailand during the Vietnam War, to spook stuff in undisclosed locations, and he was lucky enough to arrive at the beginning of the boom times of Silicon Valley in 1978. After 21 years in 8 high technology companies, he retired in 1999. He now blogs about his experiences and lessons learned.
28) Stealthmode Blog
http://blog.stealthmode.com/– Self-described geek-to-human translator Francine Hardaway is the co-founder of Stealthmode Partners. She is a serial entrepreneur who counsels and invests in other startup entrepreneurs at Stealthmode. She can tell you how long it really takes to get beyond those early adopters.
29) Learn to Duck
http://learntoduck.com/– Micah Baldwin, the self-proclaimed "coolest dude on earth", writes about succeeding through failing, including startups, entrepreneurship, social media.
30) Paul Graham: Essays
http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html– Paul Graham is an essayist, programmer, and investor. In 1995, he developed the first web-based application, Viaweb, which was acquired by Yahoo in 1998. In 2005 he was one of the founders of Y Combinator. He is currently working on a new Lisp dialect called Arc. Browse through his directory of useful articles on all things startup here.
31) Mixergy
http://blog.mixergy.com/– In his 20s, Andrew Warner used credit cards and ingenuity to create a $30+ mil / year (in sales) internet business with his younger brother. He created Mixergy to help ambitious people who love business as much as he does learn from a mix of experienced mentors. He does that by inviting speakers to live events and online interviews.
32) Up and Running
http://upandrunning.bplans.com/– Up and Running contains the largest single online collection of free sample business plans. In addition, it has helpful tools and know-how for managing your business. It includes practical advice on planning, interactive tools and calculators, and a panel of experts who have answered thousands of questions from people like you.
33) Startup Nation
http://www.startupnation.com/blogs – StartupNation is a free service founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. Rich & Jeff Sloan created this site to be your one-stop shop for entrepreneurial success, and it has grown to be one of the leading online content and community resources for entrepreneurs.
34) Silicon Moon
http://bernardmoon.blogspot.com/– Bernard Moon is Managing Director of the Lunsford Group, a private holding company consisting of entities in real estate, technology, media, research and consulting. This is his personal blog.
35) The Product Guy
http://tpgblog.com/– When you create a new product, there are a lot that of different things that go into it. Here, at the Product Guy, you will read about the challenges, successes, failures, and other learning experiences from which everyone will be able to benefit — and, at least enjoy reading. Topics cover stories of creating and growing start-ups, the challenges of the teams (real and virtual) behind the products, and features about the product design (and launching) process itself; essentially, all the ingredients that go into making a great web product.
36) Startable
http://www.startable.com/– The Startable blog was started by Prasad Thammineni, a serial entrepreneur and founder of OfficeDrop, and Healy Jones, Head of Marketing at OfficeDrop and former venture capitalist, to share their ideas on starting new companies with the world, and hopefully to hear the opinions of smart, experienced people in the startup community.
37) Startup Muse
http://www.startupmuse.com/– Alexander Muse began writing about entrepreneurship and startups back in 2005 amassing a body of more than 2,000 articles and 70,000 monthly readers on the popular Texas Startup Blog. The Startup Muse is a fresh start, a new outlet for his writing.
Niche Startups
38) pluGGd.in
http://www.pluggd.in/ – pluGGd.in is an Indian English-language news service founded in 2007 with focus on business, technology and entrepreneurship around Asia. A well-regarded publication in the business and entrepreneurial community, PluGGd.in is a preferred address for Technology startups.
39) Young Upstarts
http://www.youngupstarts.com/ – At Young Upstarts they like to write about things that change the world in little ways. That's why they focus on small business stories, entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, social causes as well as new ideas that help make the world a better place. They especially love to highlight young people and their small businesses, and celebrate their vision and role in changing the world with their ideas, products and services.
40) Arctic Startup
http://www.arcticstartup.com/ – ArcticStartup, founded in 2007, is the biggest technology website reviewing and reporting on technology startups and growth entrepreneurship from the Nordic and Baltic countries. They aim to encourage entrepreneurship and to help create a radically optimistic entrepreneurial culture in the Nordics and Baltics by writing about the startups, the stories behind them and the events that influence them.
41) The Next Women
http://thenextwomen.com/ – TheNextWomen.com is the first award-winning online Women's Business Magazine and Networking Forum, with a focus on startups and growing businesses, led, founded or invested in by women. It brings news on business, events, funding and tech from a female angle and interviews and profiles Female Internet Heroes, making them notable and quotable.
42) The Mogul Mom
http://www.themogulmom.com/ – If you're a mom entrepreneur, you've come to the right place. The Mogul Mom is where you'll learn how to run a home business, raise a family and rock both.
43) ArabCrunch
http://arabcrunch.com/ – Since 2008, ArabCrunch Group is the only entity from the private sector in the world that is dedicated full time to empower entrepreneurs, startup, tech professional and geeks in the Arab and emerging world via its network of sites and events.
Online Startups
44) TylerCruz.com
http://www.tylercruz.com/ – TylerCruz.com chronicles this blogger's day-to-day operations as a web entrepreneur and someone who makes their living entirely from the Internet. Post topics range from blogging tips, affiliate marketing, inspirational and motivational posts, contests and competitions, guest posts, in-depth articles, reviews, and the occasional personal post.
45) Killer Startups
http://www.killerstartups.com/ – KillerStartups.com is a user driven internet startups community. Entrepreneurs, investors, and bloggers are staying informed on up-and-coming internet startups using their blog platform, where internet entrepreneurs submit their startup to see what others think about it.
46) Startup Meme
http://startupmeme.com/ – Startup Meme is dedicated to covering Facebook and the world of Social Startups. The blog was started by Mohkim Khan in 2007.
47) Blogtrepreneur
http://www.blogtrepreneur.com/ – In February 2006, Blogtrepreneur.com was born as a way for a young entrepreneurial UK student named Adnan to share his ongoing exploration in blogging and business. Since then, the site has grown in readership and popularity thanks to Adnan's passion for online entrepreneurship, and his dedication to building Blogtrepreneur.com into a powerful resource for other businesses, online and off. It was since acquired by Adam and Matthew Toren.
48) OnStartups
http://onstartups.com/ – Hopefully, like Dharmesh Shah, you're interested in startups – more specifically, software startups. During his own process of starting up, Dharmesh figured out that there are others out there that are also fascinated with startups and what it takes to make them succeed. So, he started this blog, a site for and about software startups.
Live The Dream
49) The Blog of Tim Ferriss
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog – This blog offers experiments in lifestyle design from Timothy Ferriss, nominated as one of Fast Company's "Most Innovative Business People of 2007" and Forbes Magazine's "Names You Need to Know in 2011." He is an angel investor (StumbleUpon, Facebook, Digg, Twitter, etc.) and author of the new #1 New York Times bestseller, The 4-Hour Body. He presents entrepreneurship as a tool for ideal lifestyle design and world change.
50) Escape From Cubicle Nation
http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/ – Pamela Slim is a seasoned coach and writer who helps frustrated employees in corporate jobs break out and start their own business. Her blog, Escape from Cubicle Nation, is one of the top career and marketing blogs on the web.
Grab the Badge
Categories: Top 50 List
Tags: 10 million, digital media technology, gigaom, internet products, leading technology, mashable, media resources, michael arrington, million page views, million unique visitors, New York Times, news site, online games, startups, TechCrunch, technology media, top source, venturebeat, web culture, web news


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I can't find a thread for hockey. Karen, if there is one in place already, could you please merge this one to it?
Anyway, hockey. As I'm typing this, the Blackhawks have lost 9 of their last 9 games! Where did our hockey team go?! They are 15 points behind Detroit and 11 behind Vancouver in the conference. Come back, Hawks!


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STOCKTON - For the first time since fire scorched about half of the Woodbridge Wilderness Area and damaged nearby homes in 2008, the 17-acre slice of nature along the Mokelumne River outside Lodi will be open to the public every weekend during the prime summer months.
CORRECTION: May 9, 2013
San Joaquin County estimated it would cost $9,797 to open Woodbridge Wilderness Area an additional 18 weekends a year. Incorrect information was listed in the print and initial online versions of this story. The error has been corrected online.
STOCKTON - For the first time since fire scorched about half of the Woodbridge Wilderness Area and damaged nearby homes in 2008, the 17-acre slice of nature along the Mokelumne River outside Lodi will be open to the public every weekend during the prime summer months.
The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to nearly double the days the wilderness area is open to the public, as long as volunteers, law enforcement or other county staff are on hand to supervise the park.
"If the scheduled supervision cannot be provided for any reason, ... (staff) has the power to close the park," Chairman Ken Vogel said.
After more than a dozen neighbors wary about dangers posed by the park and volunteers pushing for more open hours spoke Tuesday about the pristine wilderness area, Vogel proposed the county's cash-strapped parks department work with budget staff to keep the area open 18 more weekends every year. The staff can come back to the board with a comprehensive master plan to address concerns raised.
Neighbors and access advocates, alike, agreed supervision has helped tamp down problems at the wilderness area.
Fire was a big concern for the dozen or so neighbors, but concerns didn't stop there. They told of personal and relayed experiences of break-ins, and witnessing incidents of underage drinking, drug use and drug dealing taking place, as well as voicing concerns about parking, emergency access and noise.
For 16 years, Steve Newman and his family have lived next to the wilderness area. He said his house has been broken into, his cat has been shot with a pellet gun and, on two occasions, young women came to his house to report attempted rapes. But the supervision has seemed to be a deterrent, he said.
"I saw several instances where people drive up, see the attendants, and drive away," Newman said.
Volunteers pushing for more access, agreed. "It's much safer to have people in there than to have it locked down and have people jumping fences," Jane Humes said.
The difference between historical problems at the park and today are like "night and day," San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore said. First, there's been the addition of a community-policing program for the Woodbridge area, he said. And Sheriff's Office cadets have worked closely with volunteers to keep the park supervised since it reopened in 2011.
Cadets and other staff would be available for the expanded weekends, he said. "If we continue on with this kind of cooperation ... then we can proceed."
Since 2011, volunteers with the Friends of the Woodbridge Wilderness Area have helped keep an eye on the park when it opened as well as clearing brush and trash. The volunteers initially pushed to keep the park open one weekend a month. Now it is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the first and third weekends of the month. Earlier this year, volunteers were frustrated that the park was not open more, and the county's parks and recreation advisory commission recommended opening the park every weekend.
But county staff recommended in March to keep the status quo. The parks division, like others, endured cuts in recent tough budget years and has been covering a deficit by dipping into a trust fund for the parks at a level deemed unsustainable. The board asked for expansion estimates, which came back Tuesday.
The estimates to have the 18 additional weekends came in at about $9,797 more a year. That estimate did not include reducing the fire hazards to neighboring properties with either two or three major brush clearings a year, estimated at $6,000 a piece.
But the fire hazard is there whether the park is open.
"We need to provide fire protection. We need to do it," Supervisor Larry Ruhstaller said, adding that volunteers can help maintain it.
"This is an invaluable asset," he said.
Contact reporter Zachary K. Johnson at (209) 546-8258 or email@example.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/johnsonblog.