Valley news, RPI, and more about Duke (no, not the team, the school board shooter)

Here's some RPI news.....not that it matters much since it's doubtful any MVC team would ever get an at-large bid with the RPI's they all have...even Wichita State's RPI is in the 80's -- not at-large quality!!
http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_mvc_Men.html

...scroll down and look at the teams at the absolute bottom of the RPI-
http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_mvc_Men.html

Note it is filled with many of the usual suspects, independent teams and teams that just recently went to Div I like #348 Morris Brown?
But the lowest rated school from a major conference is Oregon State at #330!
Next is Auburn at #325, then DePaul at #313, but then you have to go all the way up to #264 Wake Forest and #255 Alabama.

And here is the MVC-
http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_mvc_Men.html

Note the worst RPI in the MVC is Illinois State!!
Bradley's doing bad, but we have real reasons to explain it...what's ISU's alibi??
The MVC looks weak. Only 3 teams in the top 140..

Bradley has unfortunately gotten much weaker since the start of the season due to the losses, but ISU should be getting stronger since they now have their superstar new addition eligible after sitting out his penalty of 5 games..

But their new addition in "mid-season"....hasn't been helping that much -- (John Wilkins)
as they've lost all their road games and lost every game to any team whose RPI is better than 177....and plummeted to the lowest spot in RPI in the entire Valley!
I know BU has a bad RPI, but missing three starters has a little to do with that....

Painful to see a full strength Missouri Valley school (ISU) get their schedule rated at 327th in D-I and their RPI >> 250...and keep in mind the only game saving that team from having a 345 SOS was the one they did not schedule, as it was part of the MVC/MWC setup..



Here are some interesting RPI findings-
Duke is only #3 in RPI despite being everyone's consensus #1 team-
http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_Men.html

The MVC is still #13- the worst they've been for years!!
http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_conf_Men.html

Here's a surprise --- Oregon State is- RPI #330! As you know the head coach at Oregon State is President Obama's brother in law...so obviously this must be a political attack or else just more of the bad karma that's hitting the Prez...
http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_pac10_Men.html




Here's something odd.......
.... a story on Tel Aviv Maccabi team trying to develop basketball in Israel..
and it says Anthony Parker was a Jew!!

"Brody addresses many controversial issues..
.. I also talked about Israel to the African-American
community. I told them about African-American
basketball players in Israel and the Ethiopian
community. They didn't know there are black Jews.
Many of these kids are going home and passing the
message: 'Anthony Parker of Cleveland played for two
years for Maccabi Tel Aviv - and he's one of us.' "
http://www.israel21c.org/201012148611/people/from-high-hoops-to-home-truths

Just in case you have any doubts, Anthony Parker has been very public about his religious beliefs...
he is an outspoken member of the Fellowship of CHRISTIAN Athletes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tut75fJCtYI



Some ISU news -- and a little rebuttal....
In an online Q&A the main writer for Illinois State from the Pantagraph speaks to some of the issues of this year's Redbirds...but some of this answers are kinda debatable..so I will bite and debate them...
Overall -- the piece is just fine, but I wanted to add a few thoughts......

From MVCfans...

"Question 1.
Dinma Odiakosa and Osiris Eldridge completed their NCAA eligibility
without a trip to the NCAA tournament. How disappointing was this to
Redbird fans and Coach Tim Jankovich? With whom does blame (if any) fall?

A. ISU fans, coaches and players alike were all extremely disappointed...
(but)......There is really no one to blame."

..but I disagree...clearly they missed trips to the NCAA and failed to get their team prepared for tough competition by scheduling so incredibly poorly -- and blame falls squarely on the head coach, Tim Jankovich, and the AD Zenger.


"Question 2.
The Bradley-Illinois State series is widely acknowledged as the best
MVC rivalry. How would you describe the importance of this game to fans
of other teams who might not understand the rivalry?

A. To ISU fans, the importance of the ISU-Bradley series is evident by
the attendance. The game usually sells out at Redbird Arena. No other
game does."

..so finally an admission that the following of ISU basketball is abysmal -- unable to sell any tickets for any game at all, except when Bradley comes, the place sells out...so just WHO is it responsible for that sellout?? It's obviousl that they just admitted that Bradley is a bigger draw than their team and all their other opponents put together!!


"Question 3.
Illinois State has taken a lot of criticism from fans of other MVC
teams due to their scheduling philosophy. How do you think the perceived
"soft" out of conference schedule has helped or hampered the Redbirds? Do
you think the criticism was valid?

A. There is some valid criticism to ISU's nonconference schedule,
although whether it has hurt the Redbirds come MVC time is debatable.
Personally, I don't think it has."

...wow this is total BULLPUCKY...the schedule is the thing that has killed them plain and simple...
Sure, they play lousy once in a while and draw poorly -- but that's really not what the NCAA sees when placing ISU well beyond even the "bubble"....trust, me - if ISU had two NCAA bids out of the last 3 years -- they'd be hootin' and a-hollerin' about their prowess...nope -- the schedule that we told them about years ago -- has now come back to haunt them and they still haven't figured it out.

"Question 4.
Sophomore John Wilkins became eligible recently and many Redbird fans
are excited about his future. How does his presence change the team?

A. John Wilkins is going to make a huge impact for ISU this season. He
is a good 3-point shooter who has the ability to spread the court when
opposing power forwards have to come out and guard him. However, Wilkins
has not played a game in the last two years because his transcripts and
eligiblity were in question."

...The jury is still out...and I like John Wilkins and believe he has the potential to be a really good player...
but here are some facts...
--first -- his transcripts had NOTHING to do with not playing last year....
Newsflash, Mr. Benson --- it was because he was deemed a professional and got caught in some shady and corrupt NJCAA decision on his pro-team play, not because of transcripts -- even kids with NO transcripts or kid who flunk out of high school can enroll in junior college and be eligible to play there -- remember kids with grades issues like Edgerson and kids with no transcripts like Shang Ping??

Also -- thus far -- against woefuly weak opponents - his 3-pt FG% is... 33.3% and his overall shooting pct. is under 38% -- he is clearly taking way too many 3-pt and long attempts and would be better to play as a big guy -- but apparently that was not what JW got in his "promises".

"Question 5.
llinois State has had three consecutive twenty win seasons and Top 3
MVC finishes. This year looks to be a rebuilding year in a lot of ways. ...

A. Jankovich .. is perplexed why the Redbirds have struggled so much ....If a couple of the young ISU players mature by the first week in March..."

...so they're using the young and inexperienced excuse...??
..but note that four of their top 7 players are seniors...and even all their other guys are juniors, sophomores, and SIX of their guys have benefited from at least one redshirt year!

I know they lost three good players, but what they have left is still a team with a lot of experience...and if they face BU with the lineup they're using, they'll average at least 1-2 years older across the board than the Braves, and a good year or two more experience per player than Bradley!!!.....so again, I don't buy it.....




Here's the non-sports section............

Here's an interesting sequence of news headlines..

1920's - Panic about global cooling

1930's - Panic about global warming

1970's - Panic about global cooling again

1990's - to present - Panic about global warming...
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/30713

Do you maybe get the idea that the panic is created artificially by the media and they want "panic" because it creates interest and sells newspapers??
Kinda shines a little different light on what's really happening...

Here's even more evidence of media dishonesty...
Surely you have all seen the panic and hysteria about the melting of the regional ice shelf called the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
Most reports are accompanied with hysteria about worldwide global warming claiming this Ross phenomenon is further proof of how widespread the warming is...

But is that true...here's their own faulty and dishonest data -- this is their OWN STUFF .. and note that the only tiny warm spot anywhere hear Antarctica is the Ross Ice Shelf, and everything else for thousands of miles is either average or COLDER than average...
In other words...the whole Ross Ice Shelf issue is nothing but a tiny area, a regional anomaly and has NOTHING at all to do with any worldwide phenomenon!!

Here's the map.......
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2010/12/with_climate_change_its_the_lo.html

--first, note the single warm spot on the Ross ice shelf in Antarctica...
almost ALL of the rest of Antarctica is normal or cooler than normal..thus exposing how dishonest the warmers are when using the Ross ice shelf as proof of anything when it's clearly a very small, isolated phenomenon..

--then note there HAS to be some dishonesty here..

Much of England and northern Europe for a FULL year has been in the throes of RECORD cold weather..
yet -- that's not what this map says...they have all of England and northern Europe as being warmer than usual over the past year!
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/214932/THE-COLDEST-WINTER-FOR-100-YEARS-SO-WHERE-ARE-THE-GRITTERS
http://news.carrentals.co.uk/coldest-november-weather-for-17-years-grips-britain-34225518.html

Every single month since July in England has been at least 0.8 degrees below average..
http://www.meteogroup.co.uk/uk/home/weather/weather-news/news/ch/7f4f9ce2789b31b0e1f4c3a1205b13bb/article/uk_monthly_weather_review_august_2010.html

September was 4.4 incredible degrees colder!! Coldest since 1993!!
http://www.meteogroup.co.uk/uk/home/weather/weather-news/news/ch/3a6ed8d775cafdddaa06fbf9228a9a5b/article/review_of_septembers_weather.html
http://www.meteogroup.co.uk/uk/home/weather/weather-news/news/ch/d58a89791834d14ea0983ecc18b77e7e/article/autumns_temperatures_fall.html

...and November & December have been setting all kinds of cold records!!!

.......so as usual -- I just don't buy the data on global temps if they are so vastly different from what the people in England are saying!!
remember -- they are actually there!!



Then this interesting story......
...they say this forest of trees is 2 million years old..
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-12/16/mummified-forest-in-canada

http://cdni.wired.co.uk/620x413/k_n/mummyforest3.jpg

I think they are absolutely insane -- those trees are probably less than a thousand yrs old...and if they were honest, they'd essentially blow their whole "ancient earth"/millions of years philosophy!!



More bizarre and unanswered questions about Clay Duke-- the school board gunner....

But this msnbc story almost sounds like it's written by his ex-wife -- giving all kinds of alibis and excuses for what he did and making him sound like he was such a nice guy -- intentionally misfiring to save lives!!

-why was the woman he claimed was his wife, who he was so impassioned about that he was willing to die and also shoot up a bunch of innocent people...
why was she calling herself by a different last name and not living with Clay Duke, but instead living with her mother "in a nearby town."
In fact, the reports suggest she hadn't been living with him for quite some time and hadn't seen him in a while.

-She said -- "The economy and the world just got the better of him," ... in a rambling press conference."
..gimme a break -- the guy had every great opportunity a person can have, a college education, freedom, etc..

-the guy had at least 25 more rounds of ammo in his pockets...so you think he was only going to put a couple bullet holes in the wall??

No...he's a coward and would have planned to go down firing had he not been nailed by the security guard

--"Duke's wife said Wednesday he was an excellent marksman and probably missed the five board members — sitting steps away — on purpose"
..I don't buy this -- he was probably drunk or on drugs and he "missed by inches" according to others...and if you are going to fire that close, then you know you are going to hit someone.

Note he married this current wife, Rebecca, in 1999 but in 2000 he was still stalking his previous ex-wife -- that's when he got arrested for stalking and shooting at her.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40691150/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Note one of the reader responses..
"I really feel for this guy..and he was totally right about the wealthy in this country.
Heck we resemble a third world country at this point! RIP."

Really?? Even the poorest among us drives a car, has a color TV, lives in an air conditioned home, and has a cell phone..
tell me what about the US even remotely resembles a third world country?

But again -- in that entire long article -- where'd he get the gun??
How come nobody in any report yet seems to have addressed this issue of where the gun came from??
The guy was a convicted felon and a "psychotic" according to reports, and they just don't hand out pistols to guys like this.

Here's an idiot who writes that Clay Duke's "Psychotic behavior"
is similar to.......
get this....
"over-reaction to a person on an airplane who's wearing Muslim religious headdress."
then later likens this guy's rant to being a racist..
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail?entry_id=79245

Does this description from that link sound familiar....?
"The overall idea that "someone is out to get you" is
coupled with people who make threats to the same
people. And all for no reason. The Internet has
become the great bullhorn for people who may, either
temporarily or permanently have such problems."

...Hmmm...they must be viewing message boards....this sounds familiar.....



Lastly...football's Tony Romo (Dallas Cowboys' quarterback) -- who just recently broke up with starlet Jessica Simpson....just got engaged.......

Kind of interesting that he'd get engaged to a Jessica Simpson look-alike after breaking up with Jessica Simpson...
Here's his fiancee on the left, Jessica on the right...



http://www.theunticket.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/candice-crawford-romo.jpg
http://jessicasimpson.celebden.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/jessica_simpson.jpg

Maybe this is why he has played so poorly this season- he's getting distracted??
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20451599,00.html