Smart Links – 12/14/2011

Wednesday, 14 December 2011 , by : Chris

Indiana’s buzzer-beater to beat Kentucky set to the theme from Hoosiers:

- Craig James runs for Senative.

- What happened to the Triangle Offense? And the last frontier of the Triangle, in Manila.

- Coach Hoover on Tebow.

- Amazon rewarding people who report on higher prices in stores.

- The rise of the “genre-busting” essay as an alternative to fiction. The internet and mobile devices are factors in this.

- Malcolm Gladwell to speak in favor of banning college football.

- David Remnick on Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

- Christopher Hitchens on whether the maxim “that which does not kill you, makes you stronger” is actually true.

- Economist Richard Thaler takes an extremely unpopular position: He would prefer a playoff to the BCS. Shocking, I know.

- Good podcast on the Europe mess. I am not an expert, but I grow increasingly pessimistic about the situation in Europe by the day.

Posted in the Category: grab bag 12 comments
Bookmark and Share
  • PK

    So is Malcolm Gladwell the biggest douche of all time?

  • Josh

    No, craig james is

  • Slander Campaing?

    Somewhat related to James….on the ESPN college football homepage, click on the video “In search of the perfect coach”  They say that the Mike Leach hire at Washington State was the worst coaching hire of the off-season.  How long are they going to carry on with this?

  • Anonymous

    I didn’t really believe your comment until I saw the video myself. This is crazy:

    http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7345965/the-perfect-coach-college-football

    You can agree or disagree with it, but the “worst hire” of the offseason?

  • Blitzology

    Wow that link from ESPN on Mike Leach is shocking. For an ESPN analyst to make those claims about a coach with the declaration “I know for a fact…” is unbelievable. I hope for Ed Cunningham’s sake he does in fact have firsthand knowledge. This piece only furthers Leach’s  defamation lawsuit in my mind. I can’t believe an ESPN editor didn’t keep this off the internet. 

  • Blitzology

    he said “I happen to know” not I know for a fact but the statement is shocking none the less.

  • 4.0 Point Stance

    Well *if* what he said about Leach coming in at 1 or 2 in the afternoon (regularly) is true, you have to admit that’s a huge red flag.

    I also noticed he was introduced as “University of Washington All American Ed Cunningham,” which may explain him dissing Wazzu’s hire.

  • DNak

    I too am not an expert on the European economy (although I did take an upper-level economics class on it as an undergrad) but that podcast was awful.

  • srp

    Best line from Thaler: “Rumor has it that the Big East has offered a spot to the Sorbonne.”

    What’s, Heidelberg, chopped liver?

  • Brophyfootball

    The Gladwell “debate” may as well be held in a wrestling ring for as disingenuous as the premise is…
    I could see arguing against full scholarships.  I could see capping coaching contracts.  However, if the way to treat the labor exploitation of FBS football is to “just eliminate it altogether”, then you’ve already started with a flawed position.  It is attacking a minor symptom and ignoring the acute ailment.  Player compensation/enticement isn’t what is fundamentally “wrong” with college football.  One could argue its our society’s unhealthy obsession with sport (going above and beyond what it was intended for).  

    I would’ve like to seen the debate upon first hearing about it, but its strictly meant for lulz and won’t even scratch the surface of addressing the INDUSTRY of college athletics (include the media outlets in this spotlight, as well)

  • Mew3782

    Great site!  I’m a risk analyst and so I’ll add my two cents on Europe, since I’m totally out of my league regarding football…the consequences of a Eurozone dissolution are so dire that it won’t be allowed to happen…the ‘crisis’ over there is the result of Germany’s putting the screws to the other Eurozone countries to make them behave more like Germany, i.e. be more fiscally responsible, clamp down on wages, etc…the crisis, in fact, could be solved almost overnight through policy-measures (issuance of joint Eurobonds, ‘quantitative easing’ US-style by the European Central Bank that Germany is unwilling to take for political reasons…for the long-run it’s kind of a good idea by Germany, but extremely dangerous, as it relies on an ‘orderly’ escalation in tension that it can control/direct for its purposes…the problem is, if a big bank defaults, or if a nationalist politician rises up in any of these afflicted countries, they will lose control of the process and all heck’ll break loose, possibly worse than 2008…

  • Mew3782

    Great site!  I’m a risk analyst and so I’ll add my two cents on Europe, since I’m totally out of my league regarding football…the consequences of a Eurozone dissolution are so dire that it won’t be allowed to happen…the ‘crisis’ over there is the result of Germany’s putting the screws to the other Eurozone countries to make them behave more like Germany, i.e. be more fiscally responsible, clamp down on wages, etc…the crisis, in fact, could be solved almost overnight through policy-measures (issuance of joint Eurobonds, ‘quantitative easing’ US-style by the European Central Bank that Germany is unwilling to take for political reasons…for the long-run it’s kind of a good idea by Germany, but extremely dangerous, as it relies on an ‘orderly’ escalation in tension that it can control/direct for its purposes…the problem is, if a big bank defaults, or if a nationalist politician rises up in any of these afflicted countries, they will lose control of the process and all heck’ll break loose, possibly worse than 2008…