Postcards from Addis

It’s been about a year since I went to Ethiopia. As part of a University of Michigan sponsored effort (EM-PACE), I spent a month teaching two post-graduate classes at the Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAIT) and got to see, eat, and do some pretty cool stuff. I had a bunch of thoughts while I was there and even managed to write some of them down, but as you can probably tell, never quite fit everything together into a post (or posts) that I was happy with.

Welcome to Atlanta Addis Ababa

Instead, you guys get something else: sports!

A rough draft

The NBA regular season is over which means you’re either celebrating a playoff bid or you’re getting ready for the lottery.

Since the first envelope emerged from the freezer in time immemorial,* teams have schemed for ways to get ahead using the draft. Of course, the NBA has a lottery system to prevent just that. Instead of distributing picks according to record alone, the NBA introduces an element of randomness to discourage teams from losing on purpose to secure a good draft pick.

Chris Klu-less

Last week Chris Kluwe published an open letter on Deadspin taking the Minnesota Vikings organization to task over his firing nearly a year ago. By the end of the letter, it becomes clear that his chief motivation was to discourage anyone in the NFL from hiring Vikings special teams coach Mike Priefer. Ever. Again.* I had initially decided to let this one go, but I’ve been asked about it a couple of times and still see it floating around on the internet nearly a week after, so I suppose I’ll add my two three cents. Here goes:

Poster boy

Something terrible happened to Brandon Knight of the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. I could try to explain, but it’s best if you just take a look at the video after the jump.

Windy >> Indy

Editor’s note: This piece is part of an inter-blog point-counterpoint series on the site of the B1G Championship game. Scoot on over to Crossroads of the Interwebz to hear their take on why this years Leaders-Legends showdown should stay in Indianapolis. Stay here and read why it belongs in the Windy City. Either way, make sure to vote in the poll on the sidebar!

This Saturday Wisconsin and Nebraska will face off in Indianapolis for the B1G* championship. One of those things is wrong, and it’s not that Bucky is playing for a trip to the Rose Bowl despite being the third best team in its division. The major problem with the championship game this year and every year is that it will be held in Indianapolis. Now if this was the Big XII or the Mountain West and we were debating between places like Boise, Idaho and Norman, Oklahoma Indy wouldn’t seem so bad. But we’re not stuck in those flyover states,** we have a world class city at the heart of our region in Chicago. Specifically, the alumni base, ease of travel, stadium, and city itself all make Chicago the ideal place to host the B1G championship game. So why isn’t it played there? I don’t know either, but here’s why it should be.

*Yes, I am going to write it that way for the entire post.

**Mostly at least.

Those who spam will be champions

Athletic departments are expensive ventures. Last year the University of Michigan’s operating expenses totaled nearly $125 million. That’s ok though because they brought in $130. With $27 million of that coming from donations it’s safe to say they know a thing or two about how to fundraise. But that doesn’t mean they know how to write emails.

30 (+7) for 30

What if I told you a documentary series could capture the attention of college-aged males across the country? You would probably think I’m nuts, or that it was about the Playboy Mansion or something like that. But what if I told you it was about the last thirty years of sport?

You would probably punch me in the face for asking all these rhetorical questions. But that’s what Bill Simmons and ESPN did during 2010-11. To celebrate ESPN’s thirtieth anniversary they made 30 documentaries exploring all kinds of sports stories from the last 30 years.

Aaron Craft: The Myth of Genius

Considering how easy it is, I’m fairly impressed at how few sportswriters have resorted to a play on his surname to describe Aaron Craft. The lack of “Craft-y” puns*, however, does not make up for journalists’ overreliance on the “coach’s son” narrative to describe the Ohio State sophomore. A cursory reading of the literature available on Craft would leave one with the impression of him as some sort of basketball genius – Archimedes in Adidas or Newton in Nikes.**

Take me out to the ballpark

You can’t get much further apart than Miami and Minnesota. Lakes versus oceans, cabins versus night clubs, walleye versus dolphins, James, Wade, and Bosh versus this guy*. The Twins and the Marlins, however, have quite a bit more in common than you would think. Both clubs have two World Series championships. Both have spent the majority of the 2000’s as small market teams. And both have brand spanking new stadiums.

The DH and free agency

Last month, Prince Fielder signed a contract with the Detroit Tigers in excess of $200 million. A few weeks earlier, Albert Pujols did the same with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Those two signings mean that four of the five highest paid players (by average annual value of their contracts) now reside in the American League. Sports Illustrated’s Joe Sheehan argues that that salary disparity represents a startling talent gap and is a serious problem.

Picking a Fight with the NHL

I never played hockey.

Alright, so after getting that nearly blasphemous-for-a-Minnesotan statement out of the way it is important to understand that sometimes it takes an outsider to provide necessary insight. Especially for a bold question like:

Why does the NHL allow – even encourage – fighting?

Cutting College Costs

On Thursday, Michigan state Senator Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor) brought a bill before the state legislature calling for the state to fund the lion’s hare of the cost of attending a Michigan university for four years for in-state, public school students.

Creighton Soccer, College Cup, and a Few Good Reasons to Watch

December in college soccer is baseball’s October.  Creighton men’s soccer has played into December several times since the program restarted in 1990.  However, before last weekend, only once had the team hosted a game in December.  In that sweet sixteen game in 2007, the Bluejay’s season ended after a goal was nullified because Chris Shuler is too tall, his stride too stunning, and his headers too immaculate.

Last weekend, the Bluejays welcomed South Florida to Morrison Stadium for an elite eight game.  After Creighton’s home city became Snowmaha, and the field was incapacitated by several inches of snow (in Minnesota we call this a Paul Bunyan dandruff dusting), the game was postponed to Sunday.  Unfortunately for the Bulls, their south Florida warmth wasn’t enough postpone elimination when MAC Hermann (for football people, read: Heisman) candidate Ethan Finley’s scored the winning goal in OT winning goal.  

So, they Jays are on to the Final Four for the fourth time.  Why should you care?

College Football Musings: Part II

As my dad keeps telling me, life’s not fair. So I guess that is as good an explanation as any for what happened Sunday night.

College Football Musings: Part I

Some things just can’t be explained. Mysteries of life if you will. What happened Saturday night in Indianapolis, however, was not a miracle. It was simply cause and effect.

Tobacco ban should go up in smoke

First off, I would like to acknowledge that this is a post about chewing tobacco and dip in baseball. I know neither of those involve smoke - I just needed a good title.

"Smokeless" tobacco is no better than cigars. Or cigarettes. Chewing tobacco is just generally bad for you (apologies for the strange voice-overs).

Since it is bad, America does not want its children to pick up the habit. Happy to play the part of Helen Lovejoy are Reps. Henry Waxman and Frank Pallone. They want Bud Selig*, Major League Baseball, and the players union to ban smokeless tobacco from the field.**

Vikings Week? Weak.

It’s Vikings Week in Minnesota!

Why not NSC Stars Week? They are in the NASL championship (yes, I did have to look that up) this weekend. Or how about  Minnesota Lynx Week? They won the championship a couple of weeks ago.  Or even Nebraska Week?  There will be legions of Cornhuskers flocking to Minnesota this weekend for the UMN-UN football game.  And Nebraska will probably have the largest win of any team playing in the state this weekend, so why embrace a pro-tourism ethic and call it Nebraska Week?

Gameday Etiquette

I suppose there isn’t a much better way to introduce myself to the blogosphere than this: I graduated from the University of Wisconsin in May of 2010.

So yes, I guess that was the freshman and sophomore me (and the upperclassman me and the whenever-the-situation-calls-for-it me) that football coach Bret Bielema and athletic director Barry Alvarez were talking to when they sent this email a week and a half ago. You see, the Camp Randall students have this thing – I won’t get into whether or not it’s a “tradition” – where one section yells “eat shit” and another section returns “fuck you.” The exchange goes back and forth a couple of times until it stops.