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New college football clock rules

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Original URL: http://bamatone.livejournal.com/204650.html

The Birmingham News has a list of some of the new rule changes for the upcoming college football season. It's all about the offense.

40/25-second play clock:
At the end of every play, the 40-second clock will start, as is the rule in the NFL. College rules will still use the 25-second clock after a stoppage, such as a change of possession or a penalty.

Under college's old rules, only a 25-second clock was used and it did not start until the officials marked the ball ready for play. Some coaches wanted the change because officials used different amounts of time to mark the ball ready for play.

This is probably one of the more reasonable rule changes the NCAA has instituted in recent years. I'm ok with this one.

Player out of bounds:
[A]fter a player runs out of bounds, the game clock will now start when the ball is ready for play. This will not apply in the final two minutes of each half. Previously, the game clock did not start until the ball was snapped.

I'm not sure there's any real advantage here except to potentially speed up the game. That's really what the NCAA has been trying to do for years. (Remember the stupid rule about starting the clock before the snap after a change of possession? Yeah, that only lasted for one season.)

I have a better idea to speed the game up, though: Quit holding up the game to run commercials we've seen eleventy billion times already. TV time outs absolutely kill any momentum a team might have. I don't know about you, but I'm against a television network helping to determine who wins a game. It's even more annoying when you're actually attending the game and all you can think about during a break is how much you want to snipe the man in the red cap.

It's hot

"... and loving it!"

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Original URL: http://bamatone.livejournal.com/204128.html

I saw Get Smart over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised. I admit I was worried because I was a fan of the TV show. I mean, how many TV shows and original movies has Hollywood screwed up? Yeah, I lost count, too.

Anyway, there aren't too many people who could pull off Don Adams's humor (a strange mixture of deadpan and slapstick) but Steve Carell did an excellent job. Also, I've never been a huge Anne Hathaway fan, but guys... this chick is way hot. Sprinkle in nice little cameos from Bill Murray, James Caan, Geoffrey Pierson, and Patrick Warburton, and it's a winner.

Also, I was very glad to see them get the classic Get Smart lines in without making them sound too forced. ("Sorry about that, Chief." "Would you believe...?" "Missed it by that much." "Oh, Max!" "This is Kaos. We don't *shush* here!") I give it four stars.

I also saw Secondhand Lions and really enjoyed it, too. I only added it to my queue because 1) Netflix recommended it, and 2) Robert Duval and Michael Caine are pure awesome. And I was right. Also, I do well with movies about old guys for some reason. (Ahem, Grumpy Old Men...)
Who am I??

I'm Hub McCann. I've fought in two World Wars and countless smaller ones on three continents. I led thousands of men into battle with everything from horses and swords to artillery and tanks. I've seen the headwaters of the Nile, and tribes of natives no white man had ever seen before. I've won and lost a dozen fortunes, KILLED MANY MEN and loved only one woman with a passion a FLEA like you could never begin to understand. That's who I am. NOW, GO HOME, BOY!

I would have given it 3.75 stars, but Netflix won't allow such precision... so four stars it was.

Obama, FISA, and the Campaign for Liberty

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Original URL: http://bamatone.livejournal.com/203908.html
February 12, 2008 | WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today released the following statement on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Earlier today, Senator Obama voted in favor of the Dodd-Feingold amendment to repeal retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies (S. Amdt. 3907).

"I am proud to stand with Senator Dodd, Senator Feingold and a grassroots movement of Americans who are refusing to let President Bush put protections for special interests ahead of our security and our liberty. There is no reason why telephone companies should be given blanket immunity to cover violations of the rights of the American people - we must reaffirm that no one in this country is above the law.
July 9, 2008 | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate Wednesday approved a bill to put new rules in place for intelligence agency eavesdropping on suspected terrorists.

The bill also effectively protects telephone companies from being sued for cooperating with a government surveillance program launched in the wake of the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. The White House pushed hard for the provision, with a threat to veto the bill if it did not contain protection for phone companies.

The vote was 69-28, with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois voting in favor.
Epic fail, Obama. Truly epic.

Those of you who were championing the Democratic takeover of Congress in 2006: Are you happy yet? When again does the glorious reformation start?

This two party system is sinking the ship. Care to help right it?
Respect for the Constitution, the rule of law, individual liberty, sound money, and a noninterventionist foreign policy constitute the foundation of the Campaign for Liberty.

I might as well tag this one "potpourri"

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Original URL http://bamatone.livejournal.com/203629.html

Baseball: I had my first losing week two weeks ago. My second one followed immediately. They were 4-5-1 and 4-6, though, so not too bad. Today another manager and I agreed on a trade that will give me Johan Santana, Robinson Cano, and Curtis Granderson for CC Sabathia, Jose Valverde, and Placido Polanco. The SP swap doesn't really make much difference except Santana records slightly fewer strikeouts. I've actually been looking to unload Valverde for the past month or so (ERA and WHIP, bleh...) and this guy needed saves, so that worked out. I'll gain HR and RBI production with Cano, who is a second half player and heating up already. The runs I'll lose from Polanco will come back to me with Granderson, plus I get more stolen bases.

Also, the Braves suck.

Tonight: I started playing Lego Star Wars Complete last night and got into more tonight. So far it's not too challenging at all, but I think that'll change as I move along. I also realized tonight that I am not so into Hamburger Helper anymore. I am, however, into Minute Maid Fruit Punch.

This past weekend: Roasted, toasted, and burned to a crisp. That's what 4-5 hours in the ocean / at the beach will do to you. The burn was pretty bad Saturday and Sunday, but today it's mostly the itching that's killing me. Yes, I wore sunscreen. No, I apparently did not do a good job of applying it.

Random: I'd really like to play Rock Band again, but I don't think my foot can take it yet - which segues nicely into the foot topic. I am off crutches. I am still hobbling around. But yesterday the swelling was down enough for me to get it into a shoe for the first time in over two weeks. Nice!

Freewill by Rush has been stuck in my head for like a week now. And as I upload that to my web space for you, I am reminded that Comcast more than doubled my upload speed. Fancy that! It's kickin' along now at around 120 KB/s. Can't complain about that.

Obama is impressing me less and less these days. McCain last impressed me back in 2000. It doesn't even really matter who wins. Each of them has a one year grace period to figure out wtf is going on, then one year to implement policy. The third and fourth years will be spent campaigning for a second term. I'll probably write in Ron Paul and wash my hands of the whole mess. (Psst. If you're an orphaned Ron Paul supporter and don't know what to do next, check out the Campaign For Liberty.)

I think that in a few minutes I will break open the 12 pack of Red Stripe I bought yesterday.

Angels throw a no-hitter - and lose

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Original URL: http://bamatone.livejournal.com/203365.html

Anaheim Angels pitchers combined to throw a no-hitter against the LA Dodgers Saturday but still managed to lose the game. This has now happend only five times in 108 years.
[Angels pitcher Jered] Weaver actually began his undoing in the fifth when he failed to come up with Matt Kemp's chopper down the first-base line. He bobbled it for what was ruled an error. The first of two very costly errors. Kemp stole second and catcher Jeff Mathis' throw sailed into center for error No. 2, as Kemp easily took third. Rookie Blake DeWitt, with perhaps the biggest RBI of his young career, then drove a ball just deep enough to Vladimir Guerrero in right to get Kemp home from third on a sacrifice fly. And that was your offense for the night. Start the celebration.
Unreal.

Also, the Angels scored exactly one run in their three game series with the Dodgers and still managed to win one of those games. (1-0, obviously.)

The Angels have the third worst offense in the AL (in terms of runs scored), yet somehow lead the AL West by 4.5 games. Scrappy? That and a bad, bad division.

In semi-related news, Sonic Death Monkey lost for the first time this season - but barely. I was losing 1-9 on Friday, led 6-4 on Saturday, and ended up losing 4-5-1 for the week. Not too shabby, I say. Still 73-40-7 on the year and in 2nd place.

Big Red Stadium Seats

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Original URL: http://bamatone.livejournal.com/203217.html

I saw the sports medicine specialist on Monday, and after everything was done I had to wait for the receptionist lady to finish talking to BC/BS for me. So I glanced around, saw some stadium seats (Dr. Laubenthal is a huge sports nut), and plopped down. Then I started looking a little more closely and realized I was sitting in actual stadium seats from Cinergy Field in Cincinnati, where the Reds played for 32 years.

I took some pictures with my phone. Not awesome quality, but you get the idea. My favorite part is the letter of authenticity. The last paragraph reads, "I apologize for the 'collector's chewing gum' that seems to adorn the majority of the seat bottoms. The gum alone should serve as proof of the authenticity of these seats. Where else can you find gum that is possibly 32 years old?"

In hindsight, I probably should have moved the crutches. Oh well. Clicky clicky to see bigger pics.

Cinergy Field seatsletter of authenticitycloseup of letter of authenticity

"Hybrids recoup higher cost in less time"

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Original URL: http://bamatone.livejournal.com/202896.html

At the risk of bringing up old drama, I wanted to talk about hybrid cars again. I saw this in USA Today when it was first published and meant to write about it then, but just forgot.

One of the biggest reasons I couldn't get on board with hybrid cars was because it didn't make enough sense financially. The only way to justify the increased price of the hybrid was to own that car for more than 5 years. (It was 7-8 when I last checked). That was taking into account the price of gas, the price of the hybrid, and the relative trade-in value on the currently owned car. (In my case, I have no trade-in value since my car is leased.)

However, this just in (as of May 12, anyway):
Rising fuel prices and competition among a proliferation of gasoline-electric hybrids have sliced the payback period for hybrids to two or three years in some cases, instead of five years or more that made hybrids harder to justify at lower fuel prices.

That's good news, eh? One of the biggest contributers, of course, is rising gas prices. The "payback period" for hybrids will increase or decrease depending on the price of gas over the next few years. So if you think gas is only going to get more expensive, then it might be time to look into the hybrids.

That was, of course, only one issue I had. Another is the battery itself. I remember when Honda was first releasing their hybrid Civics, the battery had a 10 year warranty. That's great and all, but what happens after 10 years? This technology is still new enough that no one knows how these cars and batteries will react with time. Are they recyclable? I'd sure hate to think I'm saving barrels of oil but adding to landfills.

The other big question was resale value. All cars depreciate with time, but I'd venture to guess that hybrids depreciate a lot more quickly than normal cars. Why? Because of that battery issue. I admit I didn't have time to try very hard, but I couldn't find the trade-in value for a Honda Civic Hybrid on Kelley Blue Book or Edmunds. A quick search brought up this March 2007 column from CNN Money, though, that echoes my thoughts: "Conclusion: A genuine cause for concern."

What if you're the buyer? Are you really going to feel safe buying a used hybrid car that someone has been driving for 5 years? What happens if the battery dies 2 years after you bought it? Will the dealership take care of it? Can you get extended warranties on such a thing? How much will it cost to replace the battery? And does that justify the cost of buying a hybrid in the first place?

Way too many questions for me. I'm not saying I love my gas guzzling SUV and everyone should ignore this hybrid phase. I actually don't like my SUV for a number of reasons. But the bottom line is it's reliable, comfortable, and safe.

The last point I wanted to make is this: What if I don't want a compact car? They make hybrid SUVs, but they aren't really the solution.
Not all hybrids make sense. At current fuel prices, the Toyota Highlander hybrid takes 12.7 years to break even; the Saturn Aura, 24.3 years, Edmunds says.

And the $106,000 Lexus LS600h hybrid, compared with the gasoline LS460L — 102.6 years.

We're heading in the right direction, but I'm not sure I'm ready to jump into the world of hybrid cars yet.

Perfect timing, too.

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Original URL: http://bamatone.livejournal.com/202714.html

It's official: I broke my foot playing soccer this past Saturday. ER doctors evidentally can't read x-rays very well, but a sports medicine doctor today confirmed it. I also have a bone chip floating around on the top of my foot that will eventually dissolve. So I'm on crutches... Hopefully not for too long.

I also had an MRI done to see if a particular other bone was broken. The doctor didn't think it was, but he wanted to be sure because if it is broken, then I have to have surgery. I'll know about that in a day or two.

Getting around the apartment with only one good foot is actually pretty damn hard. I can't put any weight on my right foot. I even worked the gas and brake pedals with my left foot today. I can deal with all of that, though. The hardest part of this hands down is the stairs outside my apartment.

Last night's bar hopping adventure

Original URL: http://bamatone.livejournal.com/202272.html

Wilhagan's, Cheap Shots, Red Shed, Gallette's, Mugshots, Innisfree, Gallette's again, and outside Cheap Shots to collect everyone.

Taco Bell on the way home, of course.

I feel surprisingly good today. Grant does not.