First politics, death, destruction, etc., and then the important stuff.
1. I can't wholeheartedly back either side in the Israel/Arab fight. Both sides have great arguments and claims, but every time I research such claims they end up with so many caveats, exceptions, and shady back story that I lose some sympathy.
But the idea (which the BBC especially espouses) that Israel is using too much force, or that their response is inappropriately disproportionate, is ridiculous. If you get in a fight, you don't win by hitting the other person just as hard and just as often as they hit you. You have to hit them harder and more often.
If Hamas stops firing rockets but Israel continues their assault, I might understand the 'disproportionate' argument. But if Israel's goal is to stop the Hamas rockets, and Hamas is still firing those rockets, then it doesn't seem disproportionate to me.
2. The BCS format has just about ruined the New Year's Day bowl-watching experience. I hate it. What a bunch of useless games.
A small article in yesterday's sports section about the 1985 Orange Bowl reminded me of how much fun it used to be. This year's Virginia Tech vs Cincinnati Orange Bowl (yawn) pretty much typifies how it is now.
The few good games are now stupidly moved to other dates. Texas/Ohio State is interesting. I'd love to watch it today. Too bad it'll end late Monday night. I'll read about it Tuesday, I guess. Thankfully, we still have that clash of titans, Ball State vs Tulsa, to look forward to sometime next week.
3. Speaking of useless bowl games, my first 2009 Kentucky football prediction is: Victory!
Based on their scores and stats, East Carolina's Sagarin rating of 52nd seems about right, and makes the 3 point spread about right, too. But East Carolina seems to have a lot less room to improve. From what I saw this year, Kentucky probably benefited more from the last month of practice and healing than any other bowl team. I expect they'll look a lot better, and I expect some receiver to step forward like Stevie Johnson did a couple of years ago.
4. My first basketball prediction of 2009: Victory! I'm so unsure of this that I wrote a paragraph about how Louisville was going to win, and how Kentucky's back court is still not ready to handle Louisville's pressure and athleticism, but then I deleted it and changed my prediction. Kentucky's a better team right now. They'll be intense on defense, and this year's game seems like just the kind of scenario that will end up with Michael Porter or some other unlikely Wildcat scoring 15 points and becoming a youtube hero.
Finally, a note I'll probably put on every post for awhile, in hopes of attaining a few of my lost contacts. I changed email and lost my email address book. My new email is almost the same as the old one- just add the number "1" before '@' and you have my new email. If we sometimes correspond, please send me an email to that address so that I'll have your address, too.
2 comments:
I'll save my long and passionate discourse on bowl games for some other time, just say I agree with you on the Iraeli/Palestinian thing. Both sides have effed one another over so much that it's hard to feel a lot of sympathy except on an individual basis. And I really don't get the "proportionate use of force" thing in this regard. If Hamas were staging peaceful sit-ins and Israel shot at them, that's disproportionate. But constant rocket attacks, even ones that don't hit much, aren't even in the same ball park.
the e mail address didn't work for me. I think I have your address from two addresses ago. I'll relay through our brother.
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