Guess who's in the midwest recruiting hard -- "UC-Davis"
http://twitter.com/#!/srchoops/status/97450012258209792
also -- one premium site says JL was tracking Kellon Thomas at Ft. Wayne Speice AAU Event --
"Kellon Thomas has offers from Austin Peay, Kent State, Loyola, IUPUI, UC-Davis, Florida Atlantic, Gardner Webb, Morehead State, and SIU-Edwardsville."
http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/1090764.html
Today = last day of AAU season and open recruiting.
Duke commits violation -- better read it now as this'll be the last we ever hear about it. It'll be a cold day in you-know-where when the NCAA ever goes after Duke.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/duke-investigating-possible-ncaa-recruiting-violation-of-top-high-school-player/2011/07/30/gIQAnUejjI_story.html
More on Bruce Pearl -- who was as recently (and maybe still is to some blind worshippers) as a year ago being lauded as one of the best coaches ever.
In a thread about a year ago on BradleyFans discussing the worst college basketball coaches, many Pearl-worshippers argued vehemently that Bruce was a great coach and should never be listed on the same page as guys like those other cheaters.
But, oh how times have changed. And probably we see only a tiny smattering of how much Bruce Pearl breaks rules, cheats, and lies. We know he tampered with Bradley's Joah Tucker in luring Tucker to leave BU and transfer to UW-M, and now it's been exposed that Pearl had illegal recruiting violations at Iowa, at UW-M, and even at University of Southern Indiana. And even before his most recent exposure of cheating and lying that got him finally fired at Tennessee -- we knew that he had the biggest collection of drug using, felony committing, and bar brawling recruits and players of any coach in the history of college basketball.
Just a few examples --
Link - Link - Link - Link - Link - Link - Link
Now Bruce is saying Tennessee knew about the photo and that the NCAA was laying a trap for him but neglected to tell him -- so instead of taking the blame for his own cheating and lying -- he's cowardly trying to shift the blame to someone else...
http://m.govolsxtra.com/news/2011/jul/25/pearl-ut-delayed-info-on-photo/
BUT -- now the evidence is clear that Bruce is not so innocent -- in fact he's been in the news for several reasons...
-But first -- it seems there are still a lot of Bruce Pearl lovers out there - unwilling to admit they had the guy pegged so badly wrong and thought he was a good man and a good coach. They are still in denial, as a few voted to hire Pearl in a recent poll on the message boards where anonymously a lot of folks think we ought to have hired Pearl to coach at Bradley believe it or not!!
-Then, now that the facts show how dishonest and scummy Pearl is-- you can go back and see that many have supported him and praised him for his honesty, coaching abilities, and integrity -- right here on BradleyFans! Boy -- were they ever wrong!
-Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings had it right almost 5 years ago -- when he called Bruce Pearl "an idiot asshole"...
http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2007/jan/26/stallings-called-pearl-145idiot-a------146/
-This editorial writer amazingly actually says the Milwaukee Bucks ought to hire Pearl!! Hey -- they just lost Kelvin Sampson to the Rockets -- so they have an opening in the scum department!!
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/126293368.html
-BUT the big thing in the news about Pearl is Pearl re-iterating his claim that he was hung out to dry by Tennessee and then UT turns around and defends their really STOOPID decision to keep Pearl on the payroll even after knowing how crooked and dishonest he was!
http://www.clickondetroit.com/sports/28680232/detail.html
Of course all of this is just jockeying for some line of defense when the NCAA finally gets around to handing down the penalties to Tennessee -- which of course will be far less than SEMO got when one of their boosters bought a pizza for a player.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
CRob update..
Chris Roberts getting famous...including a new twitter site...
http://www.nba.com/dleague/texas/roberts071411.html
http://lockerz.com/s/124786838
Follow Bradley Braves News on Facebook and twitter -- catch on and let us know who you are and you're in......
http://twitter.com/#!/xb7
also
http://twitter.com/#!/BUBravesNews
and on Facebook - exclusive site -
BUT PM me and identify -- as no ISU fans or phonies allowed........thanks for the great support for Bradley basketball!
http://www.nba.com/dleague/texas/roberts071411.html
http://lockerz.com/s/124786838
Follow Bradley Braves News on Facebook and twitter -- catch on and let us know who you are and you're in......
http://twitter.com/#!/xb7
also
http://twitter.com/#!/BUBravesNews
and on Facebook - exclusive site -
BUT PM me and identify -- as no ISU fans or phonies allowed........thanks for the great support for Bradley basketball!
BU, Valley, and NCAA news....
As I said elsewhere -- I really doubt even one of the coaches in the Salinas play for pay scandal will ever even get a letter from the NCAA. That's because there are so many of the top college coaches that it would bring down the entire NCAA to go after this many guys who are in the upper echelon of Division I basketball.
I note Kirk Wessler has a blog entry saying he thinks rules should be changed in the NCAA because way too many coaches are breaking rules and getting caught. He also seems to be against the paying of players that some promote...which would create chaos in college sports if it happens -- then every other athlete - even the people on the cheerleading squad and guys on the debate team would expect to get paid -- and if you don't think that'll happen, then check all the Title IX lawsuits as silly as they all are...
KW says this...
"Great argument against paying college athletes..... I certainly agree major changes are needed, and some measures I think are just common sense. (For one thing, I think it’s ludicrous for NCAA rules to prohibit athletes from selling their swag...)
... The rule book needs to be simplified, not made more complicated."
Earth to everyone who thinks the rules should be softer, or eliminated -- those rules took 100 years to draw up and refine.....
they don't need to be "eliminated" -- they need to be enforced!!!
Kirk is wrong--
his answer is "simplify the rules"...
and other people say pay the players, etc., etc...
but I say it is even easier than that...
JUST catch and enforce the rules against the cheaters...
that's all it would take --
The reason we have come to the point of so many top coaches and programs cheating is because they've found over the decades that they can do so with impunity -- that they've been able to jack the rules time and time and time again without any fear of getting caught..
and even the ones who got caught never got any serious penalties..
JUST catch the cheaters and enforce the rules that are already there, just as it was intended when the rules were devised!
MISSOURI STATE'S JERMAINE MALLETT just signed with a Polish team -
LKS Sphinx Petrolinvest Lodz .... in Lodz, Poland a city 200 miles north of Krakow.
Anyone remember Quinton Watkins?? Illini fans might - he was a 4-Star guard signed and even enroilled by Bruce Weber who then never played.
He eventuallly transferred to San Diego State, and didn't qualify there. Then he went to College of Southern Idaho. But he never played there either. He ended up at Fresno City College last year, and averaged 17 ppg. Now he is going to a D2 school Cal State-Los Angeles.
Because of how the "clock" issue relates to D1 players, he only has 1 semester of eligibility left if he goes to D1, but he has 3 seasons left at D2!
So - another 4-Star kid going D-II !!
http://jucojunction.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1245258
According to one IU Hoosier observer at the Indianapolis Pro-Am league...
..Matt Roth's team lost but Matt had only a layup and one FT for 3 pts
Skip Mills (23 pts), Andre Owens (22 pts), and George Hill & Eric Gordon each went for 30 in other games....many guys putting up some big numbers.
Here's Matt Roth's team
http://www.indyproam.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110&Itemid=144
Matt's team is 1-4 and out of the playoffs.
Familiar names such as....Kenton Walker, Jake Kelly, Gordon Hayward, SIU's Jermaine Dearman, Josh Crawford, Shy Ely, and other Valley players are playing on the various Indy pro-am teams.
Here's a video of a Butler kid doing a pretty awesome alley-oop slam
http://www.ballinisahabit.net/2011/07/posterized-chrishawn-hopkins-rises-up.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
For those of you guys who like women in bikinis -- I thought I'd give you this link --
ENJOY!!!!
http://www.kval.com/news/local/126289188.html
If anyone wants to see a copy of the full letter sent by JL in regards to the contract dispute - let me know --
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Jank implicated in play for pay?
ISU's Tim Janklovich continues to be in the news as part of and tied into this investment scam/scandal that was run by Houston AAU kingpin David Salinas.
Jank is described as a very good friend of Salinas' and did, indeed, land a very key players who was an AAU player for Salinas.......maybe implicated in a pay for play payoff getting a Houston Select player for his money??
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?p=233808#post233808
BUT here are some of the amazing facts about this guy Salinas...
- he was not a registered investment adviser or representative - so why would anyone give their money to him most of all give the guy MILLIONS!
- The guy flunked out of college -- he had no degree - he left school "under academic suspension"!
- He bilked more than $55 million from people (coaches and non-coaches) just in this one scam alone! How can people be so incredibly stupid??
- the investment firm's own literature says that it was NOT an actual nor licenses brokerage firm! Doesn't anyone read before writing checks for millions?
- The guy Salinas drove a Bentley and flew private jets....
- the guy appears to be the classic con-artist and scammer -- lots of evidence and paper trails...
- Clearly the guy broke NCAA rules ..note this comment...
"Canvass former players and coaches for Salinas stories, and the phrase you're most likely to hear is, "I don't know if this was legal, but .."
...so obviously everyone knew he was skirting the NCAA rules!
- Further reports prove beyond quesiton the guy was throwing his (actually not his, but the money he stole) money around, constantly breaking NCAA rules (see link below)
http://cnnsi.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?=&urlID=457254472&action=cpt&partnerID=289881
Now many more news outlets are listing more and more names of college coaches who sent this guy a bunch of money.
Why would anyone do that -- think about it -- there are fine investment brokers everywhere. Maybe I could see it if Salinas had a great track record of producing sound investment advice and making money for his clients. BUT -- that undoubtedly was NOT the case at all. In fact -- one has to wonder how anyone can leave his money with a guy who is flittering it all away and not know it?
Wouldn't you expect a statement every month? Wouldn't you demand an accurate accounting of your money -- especially if you are sending the guy HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars as Jankovich did? Who gives this kind of money to anyone without expecting something in return??
One blogger shows that of the last 50 D-I players produced by Salinas -- at least 17 went to schools & coaches who had sent him money and the number could be higher!
That's more then 1/3 of all his D-I caliber players going where the money came from!
Pretty danged suspicious!!
http://twitter.com/#!/Zagacious/status/96317649188962305
http://twitter.com/#!/Zagacious/status/96295797741727745
Jank is in the news in one other way, also....
You remember that many players have been run off by Jank -- kids like Bobby Hill, Kellen Thornton, Terrence Johnson, and most recently Justin Clark. These players didn't just up and leave of their own accord - there's clear evidence they were booted. Bradley's players who leave always leave behind notes, letters, and tweets that prove they DID leave of their own accord and were NOT run off. I don't know of a single BU player who was "run off" - not even TCS who despite his charges and the disagreements he had with coaches - TCS still left of his own choosing and openly admitted that he did.
BUT -- there's an article in a Missouri paper telling about ISU's Justin Clark landing at an unknown D-II school in Missouri... and it confirms Clark was run off ...
LINK
ISU is already practicing for their 4-game Canadian exhibition tour...
Today is one day that I can definitely agree with the main editorial in the PJ Star which condemns the a$$hole who gunned down dozens of innocent people in Norway for his own perverted purposes.
The really sad thing to the story is that the maximum this guy could ever serve in jail is just 21 years -- that's the law in Norway!!!
I sincerely hope that the weak minded and lily-livered people who would ever devise such a soft penal system iwll not have an awakening and realize you have to destroy the vermin that lives among us.
Starting within just the past generation, the laws in this murderer's own nation of Norway have a maximum sentence of just 21 years no matter how horrific the crime.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/8658063/Norway-shootings-Anders-Breivik-cannot-get-more-than-21-years.html
Claims that this guy was a Christian are a little hard to support since now a full week later nobody has yet found ONE single thread of evidence of any Christian organizationb the killer has ever been associated with and it is clear he never went to church and he was never known by even his own family or acquaintences as a Christian or espousing Christian viewpoints. This man was NOT a Christian so any reports as such are phony.
In reality the guy's manifesto borrowed things from "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski's manifesto, from Nazi writings, and from other weirdo sources, it shows he hates basically all religions and trends towards being a Neo-Nazi, BUT -- that he STATES he admires Vladimir Putin, even rambles about the Knights of the Templar as if he has just seen "The Da Vinci Code".....but nothing in the manifesto even remotely looks like or comes from any Christian writings.
Wouldn't you think if he was a Christian someone would recall seeing the killer attend a church at some time?
The killer is also a product of a broken homes, several divorces between his mother & father -- hasn't seen his father much nor had any meaningful relationship with his father since age 1, and was raised in a fairly permissive and liberal society.
Other evidence shows he once owned a natural organic farm, liked "war-themed video games & movies", but was never known by any of his acquaintances to have ever demonstrated Christian beliefs..
But here's the text from the PJ Star editorial I like in describing this Norweigan murderer....a wormy little guy who thinks he is somebody -- an ego as large and the man is puny.
"There can never be any justification for it. (Extremism) Those prone to extremism often latch arbitrarily on to some concept - it could be one thing one day, the polar opposite the next - and obsess about it, working themselves into a frenzy because that's how they're wired.
So why all the handwringing about what the political leanings of a 32-year-old who lived with his mom were?
How can anyone put any stock in the twisted musings of yet another psychopath with a martyr complex and delusions of grandeur, a nobody trying to prove he's somebody, and failing yet again? There is no way to rationalize the irrational, to make sense of the senseless. A murderer is a murderer.
Who kills kids and believes that will win him converts? This guy may or may not be insane, he may or may not have been high on drugs, but he is seriously clueless."
Link
Here's one I like -- one piece of evidence that's been used for decades as the strongest proof of evolution - especially evolution of reptiles into birds...
has been debunked as a bird and is now seen to just be another ugly reptile!!!
So when will the evolutionists ever get their wrguemtn straight without having to undo and correct themselves?
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2011/07/28/3280257.htm?site=science/opinion&topic=ancient
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Post prospect Jonathan Wilkins
The younger brother of ISU's John Wilkins is named Jonathon Wilkins and he is currently playing basketball for a club team in Belgium.
We've had discussion about him for more than 3 years ever since his older brother John broke onto the scene. And the younger Jonathan did play one AAU tourney with the AAU Wolves a year ago and was said to be coming back this summer but plans changed.
Now Jonathan is coming to enroll at La Lumiere HS as noted here.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18882
One fine ISU fan tipped me off to this a month ago but now I have heard it from several sources...
Wilkins is playing for the Belgian team BC Cointe --
AND he rarely also plays with the parent club Liege but is not on their roster page..
(Blake Griffin's brother is)
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Djonathan%2Bwilkins%2Bcointe%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D994%26bih%3D636%26prmd%3Divnso&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=fr&twu=1&u=http://www.belgacomliegebasket.be/index.php%3Fpage%3Dl-equipe&usg=ALkJrhi34vQwGzQDkRqM5FY-kVZaWfuyRQ
A few months back this guy came on to BradleyFans.com and and told us that -
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=210389&postcount=45
I PM'ed him and he told me Wilkins - whose first name is Jonathon not Jonathan - was very skinny and 6-10 and gave me a link to a photo of him.
http://www.belgacomliegebasket.be//content/Finale%20Interscolaire/DSC_0059.jpg
If you use the right spelling and "Cointe" you can find lots on him on the searches...
Most of these following links have been through a translator....
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.vlanspectacle.be/photos/photo/news/lequipe-championne-de-belgique/%3Ftx_ttnews%255BbackPid%255D%3D1403%26cHash%3Dab72907cc0&ei=zOgpTuKMCYqctwe2jqnXAg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB4Q7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522jonathon%2522%2Band%2B%2522wilkins%2522%2Band%2B%2522cointe%2522%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D994%26bih%3D636%26prmd%3Divns
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:x1Z0ztf7JXkJ:www.cointe.be/gazette/gaz122.htm+%22j+wilkins%22+and+%22cointe%22&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:hRtqZIEQYWQJ:www.cointe.be/news.htm+%22jonathon+wilkins%22+and+%22cointe%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.belgacomliegebasket.be/index.php%3Fmact%3DNews,cntnt01,detail,0%26cntnt01articleid%3D222%26cntnt01returnid%3D17&ei=ouUpTsaLK8u4tgevg8TXAg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CFwQ7gEwBw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Djonathan%2Bwilkins%2Bcointe%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D994%26bih%3D636%26prmd%3Divnso
Here is one of the best pictures of Jonathon...
#9 back row -
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150115591351868&set=a.10150115591141868.281013.103574636867&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150141182176868&set=a.10150141182001868.284883.103574636867&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150141182001868.284883.103574636867&type=1
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150141182356868&set=a.10150141182001868.284883.103574636867&type=1&theater
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150166329266868&set=a.10150165548901868.301253.103574636867&type=1&pid=6809490&id=103574636867
Also this page lists two different birthdays for Jonathon Wilkins..
10-19-94
and
06-04-94
http://www.cointe.be/jeunes20022003.htm
Anyway -- he seems like a good post prospect - and since he's already played games with the parent club -- a PROFESSIONAL club in Belgium -- he may be subject to the same pro penalty his brother got...so be careful!!
Friday, July 22, 2011
More talk on the SEMO game in Renaissance Arena - and more...
Seems that this is the most active topic of discussion both on message boards and when I bump into people here & there...
Here are just a few thoughts - I will - as usual - post logic and facts but make what you want of it as everyone seems to form their own opinions regardless of what's obviously true or untrue...
---as I have done in each of my other posts in this thread -- I have shown that a number of other mid-major and major programs DO play games at alternate HOME arenas...
BELIEVE it or not even Wichita State does and last year when they did there was a little angst as people who had great seats at their Koch Arena were worried that they might get crummy seats at the InTrust Bank Arena in Wichita. BUT -- the grumbling was quite minimal and really never went further than a few polite gripes on their message board.
http://blogs.kansas.com/shockwaves/2010/12/09/curious-about-your-seats-at-intrust-bank-arena/
http://www.shockernet.net/sn/viewtopic.php?t=17913&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=19
BUT once the game was played virtually every bit of the complaining totally disappeared.....almost everyone loved the game and loved the entire experience.
http://blogs.kansas.com/shockwaves/2010/12/22/tulsa-at-wichita-state-day-after/
In fact --- it turned out to be such a success and silenced all the grumbling and critics -- that THIS YEAR Wichita is planning to do the exact same thing and now NOBODY is complaining -
Here is just one representative post by a long time Shocker fan about this year's game at the alternate arena...
"Last year I was upset with the seats given to me at IBA. I was on the verge
of not even going. I felt that being a season ticket holder for 13 years I
deserved a better seat than 3 rows from the ceiling. I can't afford the big
SASO donations, but I still donate what is required of me none-the-less. I
still feel I deserved better seats.....
HOWEVER, once the game got going my anger faded quickly. I can say that I
was as into the game as ever. I could see the game without a problem and
the crowd around me was pretty electric. Was it as good as the best
atmosphere at Koch? No, but not many places are. It was still a pretty
electric crowd. Even coach and many players mentioned how big time the
whole experience felt and how great the crowd was. Never have so many
shocker fans been able to gather at one place in town to cheer on their
team. It's not fair to compare ANY place to Koch Arena. Koch Arena will come
out a winner majority of the time. IBA is just a good venue to help more
Shocker fans enjoy a game. I think it's great! Seating won't keep me away
from watching the Shox play."
http://www.shockernet.net/sn/viewtopic.php?p=399591&highlight=iba#399591
and..."Marshall and the players loved it. From my perspective, it was a great atmosphere and a good night for the arena and the community."
http://blogs.kansas.com/shockwaves/2010/12/22/tulsa-at-wichita-state-day-after/
Hmmm...wow -- you wonder if maybe all that grumbling and whining was wasted as those folks that really enjoyed the game in the new venue were pretty happy to have gone!
---second -- there's a whole lot of totally ignorant things being said -- but everyone has a right to say what they want.
Examples...
-"how can they call it a season ticket package when you have to pay extra and land tickets for one extra game?"
duh....read carefully - Bradley is not calling the package a "season ticket package" - they are quite carefully saying the season ticket holders are first being offered a "Carver Arena ticket Package".
-"it's all about money" - this one really gets me --- did you just figure out that money is part of college athletics?? Of course money drives many decisions -- otherwise they'd let everyone in for free!!
If Bradley can seat 4500 for a game that wouldn't draw any more than that anywhere in the world...and if they can make roughly $80,000 profit by doing it on campus compared to losing about $50,000 hosting it in an arena that is quite costly -- and if in the process the season ticket holders STILL get 16 quality games downtown in Carver Arena (this game is a complete and 100% bonus EXTRA game!) -- then who in their right mind wouldn't agree this is a no-brainer.
-the very same people who have been whining for years about wanting Bradley to do something to get more students involved are the ones now whining that doing this and saying the students were part of the reason is a lie and that BU shouldn't care about the students since the students don't care about anything but winning.
Anyway -- almost all of the current fans - including the big time donors - were once students and if nobody tries to get them involved at the student stage and get them interested -- then down the road it will be disastrous for the fan base in general -- I agree 100% with Dr. Cross' plan to get the students more involved NOW!
-"the students don't come because when they moved games to the Civic Center that ticked off the students"
...ha, ha ...LOL ...30 years have passed since they moved to the Civic Center -- the kids who were students when that happened are not students now....the current students have all been born, raised, and attend Bradley with Carver Arena as the Braves home court - so if moving TO Carver was bad 30 years ago -- the surely the same argument would demand that MOVING back to campus NOW MUST BE good for the students and will get them more engaged!
-"Bradley only cares about corporate donors"
...this is really a childish rant....and one of the silliest things I have ever heard.
Bradley only has a couple dozen "corporate donors" and of course they DO care about them but if they cared only about them how do we regularly get 10K fans -- think about things before you say something so silly.
-"I would be upset if I were a season ticket holder"
...in other words you don't even follow nor care about Bradley but you like to try to always find something to get upset about...
-the very same people who for years have lamented that BU didn't have an on-campus arena or play games on campus -- are now griping that the very thing they wanted is now happening ..
-"This is just the beginning - they're going to try to move all the game on campus" -- hmmm...this is absolutely ridiculous -- and even if anyone proposed it it would get shot down for the very same reasons why Creighton will never move their men's game in the big downtown arena to their smaller on-campus arena where they play their women's games and volleyball.
BUT -- they do have their Bluejay Madness there -- just as any reasonable person would expect...
Lastly -- it doesn't take a genius to see that the very people who were so upset that others opposed the administration's actions in firing JL -- are the ones who are attacking that same administration right now. hmmm...
BTW -- did you see this -- ISU's Tim Jankovich is teaching a run and gun offense!!!
He hopes to cash in on it and get rich!
http://www.basketballgearreviews.co.cc/tim-jankovich-beating-pressure-with-early-offense-dvd/
Lastly -- after more than 600 entries in this blog over TWO years -- I have still NOT seen even one person or one comment anywhere -- neither here (by reader response) nor posted elsewhere - refuting or proving wrong even one fact or statement ever made.
That's a pretty good record that I intend to continue.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
THREE Questions Answered...
Three questions:
1- Will Bradley playing a regular season game on campus in the new arena be a negative or a positive?
I think it'll be a big positive for all the reasons stated. BUT the bottom line is that it's just one game against a low level opponent that many people just won't care much about.....leaving plenty of tickets for those who want to be there.
It'll be little different in the end from an exhibition game, and so attendance won't be great and anyone who really wants tickets will easily get them and enjoy the game at the new Bradley Renaissance Arena.
The most ridiculous comment I have seen in all the discussion so far -- and I won't link to it as to avoid embarrassing anyone...
Is this comment on one local message boards regarding whether we can schedule NAIA and NCAA games on campus.......
"They've played NCAA teams at the Fieldhouse. I was at a game in the recent past that Bradley lost.It is what it is...."
Hmmm... well since Bradley moved to Carver Arena 30 years ago -- the only games ever played at the Fieldhouse have been preseason exhibitions and the one game in 1993 against Illinois Wesleyan.
I don't recall losing any recently and I don't recall any game that could fit this description -- so what alternate universe are talking here???
2) What's with the hot weather?
(and don't get duped by the manufactured number called heat index that they use to impress you with hotness)
So -- what's with the heat? Is this proof of global warming?? Some will surely claim it is...and you will hear many claims that worldwide temperatures are higher than ever, but choose to believe what you want -- it simply isn't true.
Just keep in mind that so many things being claimed are already proven false, based of selected, biased, and worthless data, and driven by certain agendas...
Did you know that despite a few record temperatures being set by this heat, that most areas of Illinois and of the midwest are NOT having record temps?...and in some cases we're plenty short of the records...
In almost every area of Illinois -- all the records for virtually every day in June or July were set YEARS ago ---
Example -- yesterday's record high for Peoria was 103 in 1930 - so we fell five degrees short..we weren't even that close....
Again -- almost all the records for hottest temps on any July day were 103, 105, and even some 107's set back in the 1930's long before worries of global warming and carbon dioxide increases...
In fact - the last time we set a high temperature record in Peoria on any day in July was 1988
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/climate/rec3pia.php
And only TWICE have we set a temp record since 1936!!! ONLY TWICE in 75 years!
Yup -- only two July days since 1936 in Peoria have set high temperature records..13 different days in July of 1936 alone set records that still stand!!! How'd ya like to have been living in Peoria in 1936 -- especially if your air conditioning broke down!
Same is true for other months...
Virtually NO new high temp records in decades -- mostly since the 1930's
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/climate/rec2pia.php
And there's a lot more that you haven't been hearing.....
BUT by contrast -- numerous cold temp records have been set in Peoria over just the past decade or so
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/climate/rec1pia.php
Then add this to your equation...
Almost all of the west, the northwest, and all across the upper great plains and much of Canada are having unseasonably cool temperatures....
High of just 68 in Seattle yesterday, 69 in San Francisco, lows in the 50's all over the place from LA to Washington, Montana, South Dakota...
Meanwhile the entire rest of the northern hemisphere and much of the southern hemisphere are having....
get ready for this, since you won't read it anywhere in the American press, ...
very cool temperatures...
http://www.smh.com.au/wa-news/no-surprises-here-perths-on-another-record-cold-spell-20110711-1ha94.html
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2011/06/24/326631_weather-news.html
Ski resorts from California to Colorado were open on the Fourth of July!!!!
This was absolutely astounding and a very rare event but I'll bet you never saw those headlines -- ever wonder why?? Could there be a selective bias in media??
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h_hB_x_tgPSqkgTzFeDLW6szi4uQ?docId=2735e2a4c0ed4968a853721c395a0ea2
Almost all of South America is having RECORD cold and snowfalls!!!
http://www.mnnonline.org/article/15984
So believe what you want - but use some common sense -- we've had heat waves before -- and many of the ones even in our lifetimes have been far worse and nobody foretold that it was a sign of global warming.
The data for July is obviously not yet available but let's look at the past few months here in Illinois...
Here's an authoritative source proving that for the month of June, 2011, the majority of Illinois was at or under their historical average temperature -- but you never heard that did you...
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m06_11.tdev.png
BUT even more impressive is that for Jan., Feb., March, April, and May of 2011 - virtually every single square inch of Illinois was at or under --and much was considerably under their average temperatures...
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m05_11.tdev.png
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m04_11.tdev.png
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m03_11.tdev.png
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m02_11.tdev.png
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m01_11.tdev.png
And be sure you check January and February of 2011 in those links and see that most all of Illinois was as much as 3, 4 and 5 degrees below average temperatures...
Amazing what a few little facts actually show when you look for them!!
You can also show we are sure NOT having drought as nearly every square inch of Illinois is well above precipitation averages and has been for almost every single month of every single year over the past SIX years!!!
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m04_11.pperc.png
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m02_11.pperc.png
Much of Illinois was hitting 200% of their usual precipitation...
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m04_11.pperc.png
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m06_11.pperc.png
And remember that all the floods along the Missouri, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers this year were all attributed to the massive precipitation & snowfalls and late melt-off of the past winter!
Then this -- evidence that in almost every single state -- the record for the greatest snowfall has come within the past couple decades - even many states' records coming in the 1990's and 2000's.
http://www.currentresults.com/Weather-Extremes/US/snowiest-year.php
And FIVE of the coldest 16 temperatures ever recorded in the US have come since 1985 when global warming supposedly has hit us.
http://www.currentresults.com/Weather-Extremes/US/coldest.php
And NOT ONE of the eighteen HOTTEST US temperatures on record have occurred within the past 16 years -- when we've supposedly been hit with a new era of massive global warming and record temps - not one!!!!
http://www.currentresults.com/Weather-Extremes/US/hottest.php
The data speaks for itself.
3) With all the dismal economic reports what's the best thing to do with my money?
Answer -- since it's worth as little now as ever then now's the best time to give your money away!
Remember - Matthew 6:20
"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."
and "...you will have treasure in heaven." Matthew 19:21
http://bible.cc/matthew/6-20.htm
If you give your money to a Godly cause you will gain great benefits.
BUT -- be careful -- I have suspicions about some people who ask for your money -- demand accountability.
Recall how many "charities" have been proven to be scandalous -- Jim Bakker's ministry, the United Way was bilking people and paying a million dollar salary for CEO's to ride on private jets, etc....
Here's just a few thoughts about one charity that gets lots of airplay in Peoria....
The Race for the Cure is a really big thing in Peoria and gets tremendous coverage via the local media..
Every year thousands participate, and even many more thousands are supporters, workers, volunteers, and organizers.
http://www.centralillinoisnewscenter.com/news/local/Race-For-The-Cure-Brings-Thousands-Together-121452454.html
In all it is estimated that at least 50,000 people spent at least 4 hours of their day involved with this race and trying to help raise money...and then claims that more than $800,000 was raised with hopes some day of raising a million dollars.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8sjPzO10SmwJ:www2.pjstar.com/index.php/race/article/race_sets_1_million_goal/+peoria+race+for+the+cure+million&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com
Similar numbers elsewhere -- St. Louis - 64,000 race participants and claims of over $3 million
The entry fee $30 so multiply that by 15,000 runners/walkers (almost 1/2 million)..
And their brochure encourages people to get sponsors and raise even more ..
"If every Race participant raised an average of $100 over the registration fee, the Komen Peoria Affiliate would raise an additional $1.9 million ..."
They say in their own literature that they spend only 12% of all their funds on administration and a large percentage goes to funding research and education...but even their own claims cite 34% of their funds go to "Education" and they never quite say what that is...
BUT -- even by their own literature, of the $421 million they raised worldwide in 2010, only $75 million went to "Research"..and only $20 million to "Treatment"..
that's an incredibly small percentage!!
http://ww5.komen.org/uploadedFiles/SGKFTC_FY10AnnualReport.pdf
But -- the facts may even be a bit more surprising as tracked by this charity watchdog organization....
First -- they pay their CEO half a million
http://content.opportunityknocks.org/2009/11/20/komen-ceo-leaves-3-days-after-new-federal-cancer-guidelines/
They spend nearly 80% of the $316 million they raised in 2009 on themselves as list the expenditures as "Program Expenses", "Administration Expenses" and "Fund Raising Expenses".
This charity tracking site gives info and rates the Komen organization as raising only 9 cents for every dollar they take in...
in other words $.91 out of every dollar they get they spend on themselves.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4509
So as best as I can reckon -- the 50,000 participants spending about 4-5 hours each on that cool May morning -- (200,000 to 250,00 man-hours of time spent) are raising about $4 or $5 per hour of effort.
Good for them but if they all just went to work and then donated just ONE or TWO hours of their pay they'd raise at least as much -- and if they donated the pay they'd have made from the same number of hours -- 4 or 5 that morning, then they'd have easily raised more than TWICE as much money.
Add to that the vague and cloudy detailing of where all this money goes, the exhorbitant salaries they pay to their upper echelon people, and one more fact as well -- that almost ALL breast cancer research -- indeed almost all medical research is funded by government grants or is funded privately by the drug companies as they are researching new treatments...
....then I have to say I am just a bit skeptical about where's all the money going??
I am not saying they don't do good -- I would just expect a little more accountability and openness.
Peorple are free to give their money where they want -- but beware of any and all charities....
Remember these stories of corruption inside of big name charities...
The United Way CEO makes a $ million per year!
Some cancer charities pay their CEO's about a $ Million and are irresponsible..
And many charities are incredibly irresponsible with the money given them...some are downright CORRUPT -- with plenty of their big wigs living high on the hog at the expense of the people contributing.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/26/15-highest-paid-charity-ceos.html
http://www.mainstreet.com/article/moneyinvesting/news/20-worst-charities-america?page=4
http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/09/25/united-way-agency-corruption/
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/5/15/corrupt-charities-pstrongcorrection-appended-see-belowstrongp/
One other thing the Komen people do with their charitable funds is sue HUNDREDS of other people just for using the color pink or for daring to use the WORD "Cure"!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/komen-foundation-charities-cure_n_793176.html?ref=fb&src=sp
Stephen Colbert even ripped Komen for muscling and suing other home-grown charities out when they try to raise money for their causes....nice guys!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/04/colbert-komen-cure-cancer_n_804233.html
1- Will Bradley playing a regular season game on campus in the new arena be a negative or a positive?
I think it'll be a big positive for all the reasons stated. BUT the bottom line is that it's just one game against a low level opponent that many people just won't care much about.....leaving plenty of tickets for those who want to be there.
It'll be little different in the end from an exhibition game, and so attendance won't be great and anyone who really wants tickets will easily get them and enjoy the game at the new Bradley Renaissance Arena.
The most ridiculous comment I have seen in all the discussion so far -- and I won't link to it as to avoid embarrassing anyone...
Is this comment on one local message boards regarding whether we can schedule NAIA and NCAA games on campus.......
"They've played NCAA teams at the Fieldhouse. I was at a game in the recent past that Bradley lost.It is what it is...."
Hmmm... well since Bradley moved to Carver Arena 30 years ago -- the only games ever played at the Fieldhouse have been preseason exhibitions and the one game in 1993 against Illinois Wesleyan.
I don't recall losing any recently and I don't recall any game that could fit this description -- so what alternate universe are talking here???
2) What's with the hot weather?
(and don't get duped by the manufactured number called heat index that they use to impress you with hotness)
So -- what's with the heat? Is this proof of global warming?? Some will surely claim it is...and you will hear many claims that worldwide temperatures are higher than ever, but choose to believe what you want -- it simply isn't true.
Just keep in mind that so many things being claimed are already proven false, based of selected, biased, and worthless data, and driven by certain agendas...
Did you know that despite a few record temperatures being set by this heat, that most areas of Illinois and of the midwest are NOT having record temps?...and in some cases we're plenty short of the records...
In almost every area of Illinois -- all the records for virtually every day in June or July were set YEARS ago ---
Example -- yesterday's record high for Peoria was 103 in 1930 - so we fell five degrees short..we weren't even that close....
Again -- almost all the records for hottest temps on any July day were 103, 105, and even some 107's set back in the 1930's long before worries of global warming and carbon dioxide increases...
In fact - the last time we set a high temperature record in Peoria on any day in July was 1988
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/climate/rec3pia.php
And only TWICE have we set a temp record since 1936!!! ONLY TWICE in 75 years!
Yup -- only two July days since 1936 in Peoria have set high temperature records..13 different days in July of 1936 alone set records that still stand!!! How'd ya like to have been living in Peoria in 1936 -- especially if your air conditioning broke down!
Same is true for other months...
Virtually NO new high temp records in decades -- mostly since the 1930's
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/climate/rec2pia.php
And there's a lot more that you haven't been hearing.....
BUT by contrast -- numerous cold temp records have been set in Peoria over just the past decade or so
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/climate/rec1pia.php
Then add this to your equation...
Almost all of the west, the northwest, and all across the upper great plains and much of Canada are having unseasonably cool temperatures....
High of just 68 in Seattle yesterday, 69 in San Francisco, lows in the 50's all over the place from LA to Washington, Montana, South Dakota...
Meanwhile the entire rest of the northern hemisphere and much of the southern hemisphere are having....
get ready for this, since you won't read it anywhere in the American press, ...
very cool temperatures...
http://www.smh.com.au/wa-news/no-surprises-here-perths-on-another-record-cold-spell-20110711-1ha94.html
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2011/06/24/326631_weather-news.html
Ski resorts from California to Colorado were open on the Fourth of July!!!!
This was absolutely astounding and a very rare event but I'll bet you never saw those headlines -- ever wonder why?? Could there be a selective bias in media??
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h_hB_x_tgPSqkgTzFeDLW6szi4uQ?docId=2735e2a4c0ed4968a853721c395a0ea2
Almost all of South America is having RECORD cold and snowfalls!!!
http://www.mnnonline.org/article/15984
So believe what you want - but use some common sense -- we've had heat waves before -- and many of the ones even in our lifetimes have been far worse and nobody foretold that it was a sign of global warming.
The data for July is obviously not yet available but let's look at the past few months here in Illinois...
Here's an authoritative source proving that for the month of June, 2011, the majority of Illinois was at or under their historical average temperature -- but you never heard that did you...
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m06_11.tdev.png
BUT even more impressive is that for Jan., Feb., March, April, and May of 2011 - virtually every single square inch of Illinois was at or under --and much was considerably under their average temperatures...
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m05_11.tdev.png
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m04_11.tdev.png
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m03_11.tdev.png
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m02_11.tdev.png
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m01_11.tdev.png
And be sure you check January and February of 2011 in those links and see that most all of Illinois was as much as 3, 4 and 5 degrees below average temperatures...
Amazing what a few little facts actually show when you look for them!!
You can also show we are sure NOT having drought as nearly every square inch of Illinois is well above precipitation averages and has been for almost every single month of every single year over the past SIX years!!!
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m04_11.pperc.png
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m02_11.pperc.png
Much of Illinois was hitting 200% of their usual precipitation...
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m04_11.pperc.png
http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/cliwatch/months/m06_11.pperc.png
And remember that all the floods along the Missouri, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers this year were all attributed to the massive precipitation & snowfalls and late melt-off of the past winter!
Then this -- evidence that in almost every single state -- the record for the greatest snowfall has come within the past couple decades - even many states' records coming in the 1990's and 2000's.
http://www.currentresults.com/Weather-Extremes/US/snowiest-year.php
And FIVE of the coldest 16 temperatures ever recorded in the US have come since 1985 when global warming supposedly has hit us.
http://www.currentresults.com/Weather-Extremes/US/coldest.php
And NOT ONE of the eighteen HOTTEST US temperatures on record have occurred within the past 16 years -- when we've supposedly been hit with a new era of massive global warming and record temps - not one!!!!
http://www.currentresults.com/Weather-Extremes/US/hottest.php
The data speaks for itself.
3) With all the dismal economic reports what's the best thing to do with my money?
Answer -- since it's worth as little now as ever then now's the best time to give your money away!
Remember - Matthew 6:20
"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."
and "...you will have treasure in heaven." Matthew 19:21
http://bible.cc/matthew/6-20.htm
If you give your money to a Godly cause you will gain great benefits.
BUT -- be careful -- I have suspicions about some people who ask for your money -- demand accountability.
Recall how many "charities" have been proven to be scandalous -- Jim Bakker's ministry, the United Way was bilking people and paying a million dollar salary for CEO's to ride on private jets, etc....
Here's just a few thoughts about one charity that gets lots of airplay in Peoria....
The Race for the Cure is a really big thing in Peoria and gets tremendous coverage via the local media..
Every year thousands participate, and even many more thousands are supporters, workers, volunteers, and organizers.
http://www.centralillinoisnewscenter.com/news/local/Race-For-The-Cure-Brings-Thousands-Together-121452454.html
In all it is estimated that at least 50,000 people spent at least 4 hours of their day involved with this race and trying to help raise money...and then claims that more than $800,000 was raised with hopes some day of raising a million dollars.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8sjPzO10SmwJ:www2.pjstar.com/index.php/race/article/race_sets_1_million_goal/+peoria+race+for+the+cure+million&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com
Similar numbers elsewhere -- St. Louis - 64,000 race participants and claims of over $3 million
The entry fee $30 so multiply that by 15,000 runners/walkers (almost 1/2 million)..
And their brochure encourages people to get sponsors and raise even more ..
"If every Race participant raised an average of $100 over the registration fee, the Komen Peoria Affiliate would raise an additional $1.9 million ..."
They say in their own literature that they spend only 12% of all their funds on administration and a large percentage goes to funding research and education...but even their own claims cite 34% of their funds go to "Education" and they never quite say what that is...
BUT -- even by their own literature, of the $421 million they raised worldwide in 2010, only $75 million went to "Research"..and only $20 million to "Treatment"..
that's an incredibly small percentage!!
http://ww5.komen.org/uploadedFiles/SGKFTC_FY10AnnualReport.pdf
But -- the facts may even be a bit more surprising as tracked by this charity watchdog organization....
First -- they pay their CEO half a million
http://content.opportunityknocks.org/2009/11/20/komen-ceo-leaves-3-days-after-new-federal-cancer-guidelines/
They spend nearly 80% of the $316 million they raised in 2009 on themselves as list the expenditures as "Program Expenses", "Administration Expenses" and "Fund Raising Expenses".
This charity tracking site gives info and rates the Komen organization as raising only 9 cents for every dollar they take in...
in other words $.91 out of every dollar they get they spend on themselves.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4509
So as best as I can reckon -- the 50,000 participants spending about 4-5 hours each on that cool May morning -- (200,000 to 250,00 man-hours of time spent) are raising about $4 or $5 per hour of effort.
Good for them but if they all just went to work and then donated just ONE or TWO hours of their pay they'd raise at least as much -- and if they donated the pay they'd have made from the same number of hours -- 4 or 5 that morning, then they'd have easily raised more than TWICE as much money.
Add to that the vague and cloudy detailing of where all this money goes, the exhorbitant salaries they pay to their upper echelon people, and one more fact as well -- that almost ALL breast cancer research -- indeed almost all medical research is funded by government grants or is funded privately by the drug companies as they are researching new treatments...
....then I have to say I am just a bit skeptical about where's all the money going??
I am not saying they don't do good -- I would just expect a little more accountability and openness.
Peorple are free to give their money where they want -- but beware of any and all charities....
Remember these stories of corruption inside of big name charities...
The United Way CEO makes a $ million per year!
Some cancer charities pay their CEO's about a $ Million and are irresponsible..
And many charities are incredibly irresponsible with the money given them...some are downright CORRUPT -- with plenty of their big wigs living high on the hog at the expense of the people contributing.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/26/15-highest-paid-charity-ceos.html
http://www.mainstreet.com/article/moneyinvesting/news/20-worst-charities-america?page=4
http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/09/25/united-way-agency-corruption/
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/5/15/corrupt-charities-pstrongcorrection-appended-see-belowstrongp/
One other thing the Komen people do with their charitable funds is sue HUNDREDS of other people just for using the color pink or for daring to use the WORD "Cure"!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/komen-foundation-charities-cure_n_793176.html?ref=fb&src=sp
Stephen Colbert even ripped Komen for muscling and suing other home-grown charities out when they try to raise money for their causes....nice guys!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/04/colbert-komen-cure-cancer_n_804233.html
Monday, July 18, 2011
A bunch of oddball Valley news...
Here's just a sampling of what other fans around the Valley generally think of the issues with Bradley & the lawsuits...here's what other fans think-
http://www.shockernet.net/sn/viewtopic.php?p=399433#399433
I saw some discussion on the SIU board about their new players and one guy said...
"..that their new guy Dantiel Daniels must be 6-6 since he's 2 inches taller than Bocot who is 6-4"
That got me thinking -- I have stood right next to Justin Bocot and seen him plenty of times next to other players and I feel there's no way Bocot is 6-4..regardless of what he's listed at..
He's probably closer to 6-2 but may be between 6-2 & 6-3 with thick shoes on...
Here's an article on Missouri State & one of their players coming back from a bad knee injury...
http://www.news-leader.com/article/20110716/SPORTS040101/107160357/MSU-guard-Pickens-nearly-recovered-from-devastating-knee-injury?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Sports
The governor of Indiana claims Indiana University and Purdue are inefficient and he wants them to cut back on spending -- using Indiana State - who made cuts a few years ago - as an example
http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=48459
http://www.silobreaker.com/daniels-wants-universities-to-cut-back-programs-5_2264669584403464280
Evansville realizes one of their new players is simply NOT D-I caliber and goes right ahead and janks the kid's scholarship that Marty had awarded...
..... Dustin Clements is cut loose and he goes to Bethune-Cookman instead...
Now Marty Simmons has an open scholarship for this coming year and is beating the bushes for another big man - not finding much...
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/jul/06/search-on-for-aces-missing-piece/
Here's a little bit on their new Lithuanian big man who is a bit inexperienced and has little experience with college basketball...
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/jul/12/145sunshine-ready-to-warm-up-aces/?partner=RSS
That same page yielded this -- a video of some summer play at University of Southern Indiana -- and if you want to look close -- you'll see some familiar guys - Ryan Hare, Kenyon Smith, but I didn't see John Riek.
http://www.news25.us/category/160915/sports
Rayvonte Rice is supposedly sporting a new hairdo - a flattop - that can be seen here -
http://twitpic.com/5c3keu
Ex-Illini Roger Powell takes assistant coaching spot at Valparaiso
http://posttrib.suntimes.com/sports/6210240-556/drew-adds-powell-to-staff-at-vu.html
http://illinois.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1241100
Sunday, July 17, 2011
College Basketball's Top 10 Cheaters
Let's cut the spin, ignore the hype and falsehoods, and actually count the REAL cheating. Cheating that's bold, intentional, and in-your-face -- almost as if those cheaters themselves know the NCAA will be looking the other way.
(And usually they are unless some of the bloggers and sports writers actually catch the cheaters and report on it.)
Cheating on recruiting, cheating to keep players eligible, academic fraud, pulling strongs to get an advantage, even cheating in games. I know there's room for a difference of opinion - but a guy who cheated only once or twice isn't even going to come close to making this list...and it doesn't matter if the NCAA went soft on you or cut you slack -- because cheating is cheating no matter whether you got your penalties or not.
This TOP 10 are the real cheaters - the guys who trump everyone else...
To make this list you have to....
1-- Cheat and cheat plenty and do it in a bold and arrogant fashion
2-- Cheat at the top level - because a cheater at the D-II level or a cheater at Binghamton just isn't in the same ball park as these guys who cheat at the highest level of their game
3-- Cheat without conscience -- cheat as if it is YOUR RIGHT to cheat and get away with it, and then defend your actions like those who caught you had no danged right to even be watching you!
4-- Cheat and then compound it even more by lying and covering it up and even coercing those under you to lie as well
5-- Cheat with an in-your-face style where you never show remorse, never apologize or admit your guilt, and then just move on to another top level coaching job and cheat more there...a cheating bully who never admits his actions are downright wrong
OK here goes.........
#10 - Bobby Knight - yeah -- I know what some will say -- that he has never been caught cheating. Again -- go look at the original criteria..
Anyway -- using foul language, abusing your players then intimidating them to shut up and not talk about the violations, hitting and choking innocent kids that you've recruited, cursing at refs, picking up technicals, joking about rape, and throwing chairs across the floor....Knight has cheated plenty...and was the epitome of negative coaching techniques and behavior.
PLUS -- calling people "chickenshit" on national TV, defending cheaters like Jim Tressel and calling Tressel an honorable guy, and stooping to acting out a silly "reality" show -- all the while scripting things that you are claiming are "REALITY" -- isn't that cheating the viewers as well??
These are all augmenting factors...as are the facts that he did NOT "always graduate his players" -- in fact they didn't graduate any more than anyone else's players. Plus Knight proved once he no longer had the recruiting prowess that came from being at Indiana -- he was little more than mediocre -- just look at his numbers at Texas Tech and his sub-.500 Big 12 performance.
#9 - Bill Self -- Self hasn't been penalized much but that's because the NCAA always goes easy on the guys running the big programs. But the cheating scandal he got caught with when JR Giddens and Darnell Jackson got caught taking money to play at Kansas -- and then hiring the fathers of several key players -- illegal contact with John Wall & other recruits - not to mention all the mayhem his players routinely do and seem to get away with it from shooting people out their dorm windows, forming on-campus mobs to attack other students, bar fights and drunken fights with their girlfriends.
If you actually do a count Bill Self might actually have more cheating issues than all the others on this list.
#8 - Dave Bliss -- lots of people claim Bliss was worse and should be higher on the list. But seriously, he cheated at Baylor -- not exactly the upper echelon of college basketball and his cheating was artificially amplified by a tragic shooting that really wasn't Bliss fault.
#7 -- John Calipari -- Cal has to have an asterisk since he's still cheating on a regular basis...and after enough of his players finally get caught getting paid, and after enough of his games and even Final Four appearances get vacated - and his players ACT and SAT test scores are proven to have been taken by someone else..then Cal will maybe move higher on this list. But then the guys above him are going to be hard to catch!!
#6 -- Tim Floyd -- Floyd hasn't been caught cheating a whole lot but his efforts are legendary. Paying cash in envelops to funnel players like OJ Mayo to USC, then enabling agents to provide OJ with wide-screen TV's, clothes, cars, and cash. Then the clincher that gets him to #6 is offering a full scholarship to marginally talentless rapper Master P (Percy Miller) just to get DeMar DeRozan to come to USC.
#5 -- Jim Calhoun -- we're only now seeing the tip of the iceberg with Calhoun as a cheater and the NCAA is letting him get away with a lot of it...but those thousands of illegal phone calls, and hiring a known agent as your team manager are some pretty bold ideas....
#4 -- Jim Harrick - a lot of people don't remember the depth to which Harrick sank in cheating and even formulating his phony tests for academic fraud purposes - tests to make sure all his players would get "A's" on their tests...questions like "how many players play at one time on a basketball team"..
Here's a reminder of just some of Harrick's cheating but Georgia got off practically scott-free.
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/03/28/spt_harrick28.html
Here's a recap on how minimal the Georgia penalties were in the face of such massive cheating...
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1309
#3 -- Clem Haskins -- again, a lot of people won't really remember - but Clem cheated in so many ways and so blatantly and openly with arrogance, that I am surprised more people don't use him as their top example.
ESPN even ranked this cheating scandal as the highest college basketball cheating scandal since 1950.
Hardly a single player during his tenure at Minnesota ever had to take a test -- Clem always had someone else take them for the players and ace them.
And again -- even with cheating, scandals, and violations so severe that many thought Minnesota was risking the death penalty -- the NCAA handed them simple probation...
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/199903/11_newsroom_cheating/
#2 -- Kelvin Sampson -- his name literally means cheating and his name will always be spoken with a context of perennial, cold, calculating cheating in mind -- literally several hundreds of broken NCAA rules -- perhaps more in sheer number of rules broken than any other coach!!
All his cheating was amplified because his fans at IU bragged about how he's going to get away with it, he's a great coach and a great recruiter, and anyway - it was Indiana and the NCAA isn't going to hutr Indiana (which of course they didn't).
And his exploits at two different schools got NCAA sanctions and one of the top two spots on this list..and oddly gets Indiana, who people claim is such a squeaky clean school, gets TWO spots on this list!!!
Kelvin would have been sitting atop this list except for the recent exploits of the man in orange -- the guy who likes to take his shirt off and sweat for fans....see below....
#1 -- Bruce Pearl -- what can I say ??? For years I have said this guy is a sleazy, lying cheater...and people responded with foolish mantra like -- "but he's a good coach" or "but nobody's ever caught him cheating that much.." or "he doesn't even belong in this discussion"......
Those Bruce Pearl apologist have all ducked into holes or have left the building and gone into hiding.
Yeah....right.........BP-apologists -- well this is a new century and now we know Bruce Pearl not only cheated plenty at Tennessee, but he cheated plenty in many of the same ways with illegal recruiting at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and even at University of Southern Indiana. We also know he was cheating at Iowa because of the NCAA findings back then when Bruce ratted on Illinois. But wait -- that's not all....
Bruce defends his cheating and lies regularly about -- not just to NCAA but he lies to his own people and his own bosses....
BUT surely many of his own people DID know about his cheating and played a part in it...
I even recall a conversation I had with a UW-M apologist when Bruce cheated and tampered with Joah Tucker to lure him away from Bradley and land him at UW-M -- and the jerk even claimed it didn't matter if Bruce cheated because he was able to do it in a manner that wouldn't get caught and anyway he was still a good coach!
Bruce Pearl has been cheating in so many ways and for so long that it is part of his very makeup and I really doubt he could coach without cheating. So anyone who claims Pearl is a good coach has no clue nor any real way to prove it since Bruce has NEVER coached without cheating so there's no evidence he ever could.
Of course Pearl also has the indoor record for the number of his recruits and players who had drug arrests and failed drug tests, kids booted and sent packing for serious transgressions -- kids who were caught with dope in their dorm rooms then started the very next game, -- kids who failed so many drug tests before getting booted that even Pearl himself lost count, plus bar fights, women beaters, and felons....
Pearl is so far in first place on this list that I just can't see any active coach ever catching up except just maybe Calipari but he'd really have to try hard.
Honorable Mention goes to Jim O'Brien of Ohio State - but since he's never coached again since his scandal -- it's hard to know if he as incorrigible of a cheater as the rest...
Anyway O'Brien not only cheated by paying players to come and play at Ohio State - he also provided lots of other amenities - including a live-in nanny - one who even provided sexual services for the recruits. Since we're not spinning this just to sound nice....then let's face it - where we live, we call that a whore...
http://www.redszone.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-34549.html
Friday, July 15, 2011
Some Friday News...and a thought on message boards...
In this day of cutting back to save on costs....I have a great idea for ISU --
not only can use the same uniforms and jerseys as last year...they can even save money on the player names on the backs...
.......they just got rid of Bobby Hill, Justin Clark, and Julius Moor..
and now they have Johnny Hill, Darious Clark, and Nic Moore.....they can re-tool and re-use some of their old jerseys quite easily!
Someone alerted me that one of the ISU players is driving a nice, late model BMW and has new pics of it on his Facebook...
Is ISU taking lessons from Coach K and getting cars for the players??
BTW - ISU is so desperate to get their schedule better -- they want fans to call in and tell them how they can do it!!
http://wjbc.com/whats-the-best-way-to-strengthen-the-illinois-state-univeristy-mens-basketball-schedule/
Speaking of Illinois State -- there's a lingering rumor out there that ISU may not YET be done with their player departures....
They are a close 2nd to SIU on how many kids have left their program in just the last couple years...but a rumble says they may yet have one more unexpected open scholarship for next year, even though of their 14 rostered players - EIGHT of them already are newbies - have either never played college ball - or for the two juco kids - have never played for ISU.
EIGHT newbies -- anyone remember the Kirk Wessler article titled
"Seven D-I Virgins" in which he slammed our staff for bringing in too many newcomers at once?
(but strangely he referred at that time to the era from 2005-2007 - players like Tony Bennett, David Collins, Theron Wilson, Sammy Maniscalco...)
and BU actually did pretty well considering all the players lost to injury back then with post-season play in all those years anyway!
Wonder how Kirk feels about ISU landing 8 D-I Virgins for this season??
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6423
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:OscuqstdUH8J:www2.pjstar.com/index.php%3F/wessler/article/bradleys_seven_virgins/+%22I+started+this+drumbeat+back+in+May,+when+a+Bradley+basketball+fan+asked+me+what%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com
Is this predictable or what???
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20110708/NEWS02/110709895/isac-chief-andrew-davis-departs-troubled-college-illinois-agency
First - any story that talks of failure and corruption in government is hardly surprising...
but Illinois has had a pre-paid college tuition program for several years --
Parents can start paying into a fund and then when their kid goes to any state college they get a break and lesser tuition...
BUT -- guess what -- the entire fund -- $1.1 BILLION is going under and the guy running it is corrupt -- and just got fired...
I guess I am thankful this doesn't affect Bradley at all, just the state schools...but more news on financial doom at the state schools is just around the corner......
Looks like Matt Roth has quit his summer pro-am league team -- not playing with them any more. he was having trouble scoring, but I have heard some rumors - more on that later...
COREY HAWKINS - Hersey's 2nd son who left Arizona State tweeted that he will make his final decision next week where he'll play next year. There were comments that he was looking at UMass, UC-Davis, and St. Mary's - but he's definitely ruled UMass out.
I'm thinking St. Mary's but I also think he'd be a ton at UC-D...or maybe some other school will get in late.
I note that HOI Fair attendance is way down -- could the riots, mobs, and unruly youths that have plagued the fair for years - teamed with news of recent mobs and riots be having an effect?
I have a few thoughts on MESSAGE BOARDS -- and the first & foremost is that I am so appreciative that BU's most knowlegable sports guy Bobby Parker
is now on the BradleyFans.com boards and posting up to the minute BU news and info -- thanks Bobby...
The second thing is that I have been informed via several routes that players as well as BU personnel watch and read the boards
so keep that in mind when posting -- I know we all have opinions but slams should not be allowed on this board
(even tho I know they are kinda routine elsewhere on other boards).
Lastly I just checked this morning and BradleyFans.com had 132 people currently online and viewing...
This is solid evidence of an amazing level of interest even in the off-season in Bradley basketball....
It just never changes -- it's always busy at BradleyFans even when things are slow.....but this is NOT the case on most message boards.
In BF's case I think it is clearly because of the tremendous info on the team, on recruiting, on the contributions of people like Bobby
and other fans, and as a factor of Bradley's super fans base that wants to talk BU basketball all year long.
It never fails - even in an average workday of mine at least a dozen people (who of course all know I am a big BU fan or who see me
wearing my Bradley apparel or see my Bradley memorabilia around my office) will always want to strike up a conversation on BU basketball, this year's team, and current events.
So -- I did a quick check of the other 11 message boards in the Valley (there are nine other teams, but Indiana State has two boards
and Bradley possibly could be considered to have the PJ Star-sponsored board - although that contribution is negligible (only 2 unregistered guests online currently)..and the TOTAL number of people online on the other ELEVEN board combined was just under 100...
with Creighton & Wichita being the busiest besides BradleyFans (around 20-25 people) but Indiana State's board surprisingly beating out the rest for 4th busiest...and amazingly SIU in dead last place without a single person online when I checked -- not one besides me as I viewed to see their numbers! (ISU had only 4 on their basketball board)
Great work BradleyFans and all the great posters who make it work and who make it fun.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Another look at lawsuits and silly comments...
Just thought I'd check the few examples I can find of a head coach firing that led to a lawsuit...
BUT as you will quickly see -- none - NOT ONE - of the few cases I can find center on the failure to pay the fired coach...
--Ohio State head football coach Jim O'Brien sues Ohio State -- wrongful termination...he ended up getting everything he was owed, much to the dismay of OSU.
http://ohiostate.scout.com/2/317631.html
--Washington head football coach Rick Neuheisel sues Washington for wrongful termination ..and Neuheisel won a $3 million settlement much to the dismay of Univ. of Washington.
http://www.seattlepi.com/sports/article/Neuheisel-s-lawsuit-vs-UW-NCAA-approaches-1164690.php
--Binghamton fired head coach Kevin Broadus but he sues and ends up with a $1.2 million settlement -- roughly 6 times what his remaining contract would have paid him, much to the dismay of Binghamton and the New York taxpayers who had to pony up the $$.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Broadus
--Arkansas fired head coach Nolan Richardson for inflammatory things Nolan said including...
"if they go ahead and pay me my money, they can take my job tomorrow"
BUT -- Arkansas PAID the full remaining amount on Richardson's lucrative contract the highest in the entire SEC - and he STILL sued them for various things including racial discrimination...
After having to spend millions of the Arkansas taxpayers' money -- the suit finally was dropped...but not until severe negative publicity damaged Arkansas' reputation and severely hurt their ability to recruit as Nolan was well liked and other African-American kids perhaps believed his views that there was racial bigotry and discrimination at U of A. It really hurt Arkansas BIG TIME.
Interestingly -- after Nolan won a National Championship there and led them to the SWEET SIXTEEN six times and Final Four THREE times while he was there -- the Razorbacks have not been back to the Sweet 16 since Richardson's dismissal.
--Billy Gillispie was fired at Kentucky even though his formal contract had never been fully completed -- nonetheless, Kentucky was still on the hook for paying Billy and ended up paying Billy $3 million that they didn't want to pay the guy!
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4210508
http://www.kentucky.com/2009/10/13/976088/uk-settles-with-gillispie-for.html
--Even once when a coach was fired for using the "N-word" at his players, he sued and won..with NINE of his players joined Dambrot in suing the school!
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-04-16/sports/9304160170_1_central-michigan-basketball-coach-keith-dambrot-leonard-drake
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-6th-circuit/1316590.html
--A handful of other fired coaches also sued the schools -- all of them either won or got a tidy settlement!!
http://uwire.com/2011/01/12/usf-leavitt-reach-settlement/
http://www.topusnewstoday.com/kansas-state-university-reaches-settlement-with-former-football-coach-ron-prince.html
http://newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/549220/Stewart-settlement-totals--1-65-million.html?nav=5063
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/01/sdsu-coach-receive-27-million-settlement/
http://books.google.com/books?id=EbQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46&dq=%22otis+washington%22+and+%22southern%22&source=bl&ots=d0VBta_ZT1&sig=L5CEb_w030sp5vd3C3HGB-07GSM&hl=en&ei=1hIfTv6QCdCr0AGj9azMAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22otis%20washington%22%20and%20%22southern%22&f=false
--there's a few more that involve women coaches suing for gender bias, gender discrimination, and a couple involving coaches claiming who were fired when they committed violations - LINK - but these aren't even relevant to our discussion except to say that even those lawsuits generally end up BAD for the University.
So in the end - I think it can easily be said that whenever a coach feel he or she has reason to sue the university -- it invariably is when the coach is right and he ends up winning big time and the school ends up paying up and looking bad in the media.
The schools generally all end up losers.......
I won't bother with all the stupid things I have read lately in regards to the BU coaching issue...but here are just a tiny handful of maybe the most ignorant things I have seen -- that really just make you laugh!!!
--The first and foremost of any statements is along this line..
"I know that..."
....none of us knows the full story so we can have an opinion but we should remain open minded that maybe the truth is somewhere in between...and none of this is at all good for either party.
--"I'm a lawyer and I just don't see why anyone should ever be worried about a lawsuit."
...sure -- I guess if you are a lawyer - then you'd probably like to see everyone suing everyone else -- makes sense if you are greedy and want as much business as possible. But lawsuits destroy untold number of people's lives and businesses every single year and every person and small business fears getting sued - especially getting sued by a BIG corporation that has endless resources and big time teams of lawyers.
NOTE *** that currently NO lawsuit exists between BU and Coach Les -- so we're not there yet.
Individuals and small businesses greatly fear getting sued - as it can literally spell disaster even if you win or the case is thrown out...
In fact it is widely known in many industries that the entire plan or method of doing business is centered defensively on avoiding anything that might result in lawsuits -- often resulting in higher costs and lesser benefits or care for clients or customers just because of the fear of lawsuits.
In the medical industry alone -- the oft cited HIGH cost of medical care is LARGELY due - as much as 34% - to unnecessary tests and action done purely for defensive purposes.
Anyone who owns or runs a small business knows that all it takes is one guy who slips on a wet floor or one well-funded BIG organization or corporation filing a lawsuit -- then you are forced to hire lawyers, spend inordinate time doing research, meeting with attorneys, giving depositions, etc...you can easily be destroyed in the process.
--"It is Jim Les' duty to mitigate any financial damages or payments that BU has to make according to the contract."
...ha -- I think not -- if payments are due via contract requirements, then it's not JL's job to help out the school by doing whatever he has to and reduce those payments.
--"JL was the one who sent the letter (email) to the press"
...no evidence of such and I have reason to believe it was otherwise.
--"Lawsuits like this are common"
...nope -- not common by any stretch -- indeed they are more than rare -- they are previously non-existent...
I dare you to find another example even though 50-60 D-I coaches get fired every year and if you add in all the D-II, D-III, juco, and other coaches who work under multi-year contracts, then we're probably talking 400-500 different examples yearly of such a coach getting fired, and I cannot find another case anywhere close to this one. some law suits involve contesting being fired - esp. if fired without cause..but again, that's not what this possible suit would be about.
--this is a case of..."a jilted partner tries to publicly blackmail their former partner with the threat of bad press/public opinion"
...again - nope -- everything JL has done has been confidential and private -- when the truth is finally known we will see it was NOT JL that caused this to go public.
--"nobody ever sends confidential things by e mail, sealed letters are so much more secure..."
..yeah...right ...just like the sealed package that fell open going from Kentucky to recruit Chris Mills and dumped gobs of cash on the floor...
and like the sealed cash in the envelop that Tim Floyd got fired over...
....sorry but this statement is so wrong on so many different fronts.
I work in a profession where security of information, confidentiality, and privacy are INCREDIBLY serious issues and one can not only lose their job if faulted but NUMEROUS major federal laws constantly apply over the way info is transmitted...
and yet sending the info in sealed letters has been TOTALLY phased out in favor of sending the info electronically by e mail, fax, and by simply placing it on a computer screen on a supposedly secure site.
(Where if a violation occurs - it also can be tracked electronically.)
In fact - confidential discussion between lawyers, politicians, and others sending extremely secure info almost always goes electronically and not by snail mail any more.
Letter-mail is no more secure than any other means -- hey, I get letters in my mailbox all the time that were either addressed to someone else or meant for someone else...and where I work I constantly get letters, documents, and private info in my mailbox that is meant for someone else but delivered to MY mailbox because of similarity of names or by just plain error.
So anyone who says it was inept to send anything by e mail must not know facts or be living in the 1970's.
In the end we see that Jim Les has yet to make even a single public statement since his June 6 firing...while the other party has made numerous public statements, and is now making MORE public releases and even a letter to the editor...so who is the one taking this public?? Gimme a break......
--"Why would Jim Les ever accept a salary of $125K, this must be phony"
..the answer as proven time and time again is because that's just what UCD offers, and it's also exactly what the previous coach was getting -- enuf said..
--"this is like a tenant leaving before the landlord breaks the lease"
..no, in fact it is the exact opposite...in the JL case the pay is GOING TO the guy who left before the end of the contract term...
In the silly tenant case, the money was going FROM the guy who left to one who drew UP the contract.....easy thing for me to see the difference.
--"JL's contract was way different from the way anyone else's contract would be..."
..nope it's virtually identical to the way the previous UC-Davis coach's contract was -- slam dunk.
--"This is greedy of JL"
...then what would it have been if JL didn't take a job for 3 years and just sat by collecting his pay for doing nothing?
By going to work for UC-D under any circumstance -- he lessens the financial burden of BU and it doing a tremendous favor for them. This is so easy to see that a caveman can do it!
--"JL is trying to stick it to BU"
...no -- it is quite clear he is trying NOT to... and is also trying NOT to get stuck...
he has NOT filed a lawsuit contrary to what apparently most uninformed people think -- he's just trying carefully and privately to get his due without a lawsuit...
BU is also trying to do the same and resolve this issue confidentially as it is in nobody's interest that this stuff be in the headlines.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Solar energy - a hi tech, modern thing, right??
Who invented solar energy?? When was it first used as an energy source?
By this I mean who (or what) developed the ability to collect and convert the sun's rays into usable energy -- specifically into electrical energy?
You will be astounded at the answer...
I am not talking about plants using solar energy in photosynthesis.
Nor am I talking about using the sun's rays and heat to dry or prepare food or heat water.
If you were asked these questions and were required to write an essay answer...
Then in short you'd say that in 1883 Charles Fritz invented the first solar cell...
and improvements and new concepts were added by Einstein in the 1920's as well as Lange, von Siemens, Maxwell, and Ohl...
But in the 1950's the silicon solar cell was developed which is in use still otoday.....
Pearson, Fuller, Chapin being the main names responsible.
OK - so there you have it, right?? this is a fairly modern development and nobody back much more than 100 years would have had a clue nor could they have possibly converted sunlight into usabe electricity -- unless you believe one of those stupid "aliens came to earth long ago" theories.
But the answer is something that I bet you've never envisioned.....
Nope -- photoelectric energy was used effectively many, many eons earlier than any of this. And I will leave it to you to name the actual "Inventor"...
Here is the proof...
This first article from 2010 is widely acclaimed and backed by the NIH
http://blogs.discovery.com/files/fulltext.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21052618
If you don't want to read the scientific articles, then I will summarize...
Science has proven -- confirmed beyond doubt - that this wasp - the Oriental Wasp (scientific name = Vespa orientalis (how many people have ridden a Vespa - Latin for wasp - and Vespa motorbikes even sound like little hornets, right?))
...but this Oriental Wasp is endowed with a system by which they can convert the sun's rays to usable electric energy!
In other words -- they no longer would need food to keep going during the busiest part of their pollinating day job - they can simply draw energy direct from the sun....and keep right on going!
This is a concept that would have been considered preposterous throughout all of history until about a year ago...but this concept DOES exist and obviously HAS existed in nature, in this wasp and possibly others, since long ago - long before science or history ever existed!
Here's a slightly more readable version of the article - from January 2011...made for the layman...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110105102725.htm
"...the brown and yellow stripes on the hornet abdomen can absorb solar radiation, and the yellow pigment transforms that into electric power.
The team determined that the brown shell of the hornet was made from grooves that split light into diverging beams. The yellow stripe on the abdomen is made from pinhole depressions, and contains a pigment called xanthopterin. Together, the light diverging grooves, pinhole depressions and xanthopterin change light into electrical energy. The shell traps the light and the pigment does the conversion."
So the answer of who or what developed photovoltaic energy first - takes us back eons.
I don't know if this wasp was first, maybe something did it even earlier...but we know wasps have remained essentially unchanged since prehistoric times -- and as far back as 30-50 million years according to some science...
Here's proof, as wasps were trapped in amber long ago...
http://petrifiedwoodmuseum.org/Images/AmberBaltic230.jpeg
http://www.ambericawest.com/gramber.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/first-african-amber-pictures--thunder-fly--wasps--more/
You can even buy one of these specimens that are said to be 30 to 40 to even 60 million years old..
http://wasp.amberdepot.com/
But there are two other intriguing factors here --
This research - done by scientists in Tel Aviv - has been largely ignored by the scientists elsewhere. Nobody can really explain why, but it's pretty earth shattering science...and may have some very valuable practical applications if it can lead to more efficient and lucrative ways of converting sunlight to usable energy. so why is the rest of the world so stunned at this discovery that they simply don't know what to make of it yet are ignoring it currently?
First -- there's always a worldwide bias against Jewish scientists so many could simply NOT want to give these guys their due...
But there appears to be even more to this...maybe a fear by some scientists that this system found inside of incredibly ancient and tiny creatures is far, far, far too complex to have simply evolved by itself over eons of mutations and happenstance...
it is more complex and refined that systems that man in all his intelligence has designed in 2011!!
In other words...if you believe in evolution, this should be interesting to you because it should challenge you to find some explanation of how such a "simple" creature that existed apparently millions of years before humans could have such a complex and highly specialized function beyond what anyone who proposes evolution can explain..
you shouldn't run away from this remarkable discovery just because it shatters your pre-held foundations.
Or if you believe in creation then this one is quite easy for you since some One of extremely HIGH intelligence could have easily designed this any time in the distant past.
Remember the worldwide publicity that was given to the supposed discovery of arsenic in organisms, even though much of that bad science has since been totally debunked...
and to the discovery of vague evidence of a planet in some other star system that just might have a 1 in a million chance of being like earth??
http://www.space.com/9631-arsenic-eating-bacteria-opens-possibilities-alien-life.html
The how come nobody's made much of this discovery in the past year -- a discovery that can have massive implications about life but also might be as valuable for our future energy needs as the discovery of insulin was to the future needs of diabetic patients.
I don't know if I can answer this except to say only a couple standard media articles covered this then the whole story fell into obscurity...
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/animals/news-amazing-oriental-hornet-living-solar-cell
but I think we'll be hearing more....but more of what shatters long held evolutionary theories is what the majority of scientists in the scientific community seem to NOT want to hear...
You are free to believe as you wish - but as science marches on -- I think you folks with your ancient, slow, gradually, happenstance mutations-based theory are gonna be embarrassed....
And just in case you want one more to stump you...try this one on...
well preserved proteins found in dinosaur fossils that couldn't have possibly survived and still be in their organic, soft, protein form after "80 millions years".
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/316/5822/277
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/324/5927/626
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110614/full/news.2011.369.html
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=1379096
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Thoughts on Jim Les, lawsuits, and Einstein...
I have just a couple further comments about the Jim Les contract mess that's emerged...
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x910594697/Report-Les-intends-to-sue-Bradley
This morning's expanded column has a few comments of interest..
--first it is clear that BU does owe Jim Les the pay as spelled out in his contract, but if he earns money coaching elsewhere (UC-Davis) then that pay would offset what BU owes Coach Les...but only coaching salary earned elsewhere. Salary earned for teaching or anything else is outside the terms.
The issue at the center of this dispute is how the UC-D contract is drawn up, and BU claims that Les and UC-D somehow conspired to draw up an oddball contract to make BU pay more.
Well - no matter what side you take on this -- you have to admit this is the first time you've ever heard of such an excuse being used to NOT pay a fired coach...this is unprecedented. BU is clearly pulling all the strings to dodge paying on Jim Les' contract.
60-80 D-I head coaches are fired every season while their contracts are in effect - so this scenario happens all the time and is resolve just fine. Likewise it happened with jim Molinari where Jim was still under contract and was paid by Bradley for 3 years even while working as an NBA scout.
--Jim Les' statement...
"In retrospect, I guess I should have sat at home for the next three years and just collected the balance of my contract instead of saving BU money"
This is true -- by going to work for UC-Davis, Jim Les is saving hundreds of thousands of dollars for Bradley. Every penny Les earns coaching at UC-D is a penny BU does NOT have to pay on the contract -- so Coach Les is 100% correct here....Bradley benefits big time from Jim working at UC-D so they should be HAPPY not upset about his working there.
--Then Dave Reynolds concludes his column with this comment...
"The man who replaced Les, former Kent State head coach Geno Ford, is also facing a contractual battle with his former employer.
Kent State has filed a $1.2 million breach of contract lawsuit against Ford, who has asked an Ohio judge for a dismissal of the lawsuit."
BUT -- does anyone note what I note?? Dave seems to totally ignore that Kent State is also suing Bradley University as well....so the university is also facing this Kent State suit - not just Geno...
why does DR leave that major, significant fact out??
http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2011/05/kent_state_files_suit_against.html
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18598
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x447606969/Kent-State-suing-Bradley-coach
The new Renaissance Coliseum is in the news...
It is being reported that Peoria District 150 high schools are looking into having their graduation ceremonies (all three groups of seniors would graduate in consecutive ceremonies - Manual, Central, Richwoods) AT the new Bradley on-campus arena, Renaissance Coliseum.
They are tentatively planning for the 2012 graduations to be at the Renaissance Coliseum...details to be worked out.
"The District 150 School Board wants to make graduation cool.
On the agenda for Monday's board meeting is a vote that could move the three public high schools' graduation ceremonies out of their respective gymnasiums and into Bradley University's air-conditioned Renaissance Coliseum.
If the vote passes, next year's graduations will take place June 2. The three schools' ceremonies will be staggered throughout the Saturday as they were this year."
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1850042935/District-150-to-vote-on-moving-graduations
Everyone knows this Albert Einstein quote...
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Well, the guy who wrote one of the main editorials in the Journal Star this morning is NO EINSTEIN!!
A man named Mr. Kevin Williams writes his political views -- but note how he uses an altered version of this Einstein quote, and then makes some incredibly glaring errors!
He starts with ..
"An open letter to Congressmen Schock and Shilling:
Then he blasts certain past economic policies - which he has every right to if he chooses - and then says this...
"Those who repeat the same ideology and expect different results are insane.
Congressmen who represent their constituencies should vote their interests..
First, the rich are not paying their share in taxes.
Second, they are not creating jobs.."
http://www.pjstar.com/opinion/spotlight/x1850042925/In-the-Spotlight-A-congressmans-loyalty-belongs-to-constituency
Well...I will challenge this guy's "facts"...because the numbers are UNDENIABLE...
First - congressman are under no obligation to vote some way just because someone in their district demands it. NOPE - those congressmen have a mind of their own and can vote as they want. After all they were elected and can vote as they wish.
In fact there's clearly NO WAY any representative could possibly vote the way all their constituents want since their constituents come in all shapes, sizes, opinions, and wants -- you'd never make everyone happy -- so you have to vote the way you want.
Then he says the "rich" (which he does not define) are not paying their share in taxes?
This is hogwash as the rich by any definition are paying far, far more than their share!
Here are proven facts...
"the Bush tax cuts "actually shifted the total tax burden farther toward the rich so that in 2000-2004, total income tax paid by the top 40% of income-earners grew by 4.6% to 99.1% of the total."
"the top 1% of earners pay 38-40% of income taxes"
"the top 10% of earners pay 70% of income taxes"
"the bottom 50% of taxpayers pay only 2.7% of income taxes"
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/03/lying_about_bushs_tax_cuts.html
http://ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html
Then - who are the job creaters? First - the government does create some jobs but those jobs do NOT help our economy since for every job the government creates, then the private sector must create 6-10 jobs in order to collect the taxes to support that government job! More government jobs will HURT our economy because it increases government spending!
So the only job creation that matters in a bad economy are the privately created jobs - and guess who is creating those jobs??
"They" (the rich people Mr. Williams is referring to) create almost ALL the jobs...
The top 10% of earners create 96-98% of ALL the new jobs.......but it sure wouldn't take a genius to figure this one out -- since the lower half of the earners sure aren't the ones starting new businesses and hiring people....all the new jobs in the US that matter are being created by the higher wage earners.
Lastly -- I do agree with Mr. Williams' point that government should get rid of subsidies. But most subsidies are pork and pet projects mostly of or from the left as political gifts back to local supporters....
The biggest example of a government subsidy was the TRILLION dollar handout (bailout) to the auto industry -- coming from our current very liberal President and given mainly as a big time gift to his union supporters.
Other subsidies - especially farm subsidies have some reasonable value but I would agree most government handouts hurt our nation and hurt our economy instead of helping.
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