Eat your heart out, Andrew Sullivan. Dusk over downtown Denver:
12-team Big Ten reveals laughable new logo, stupid division names
As if the fuzzy math inherent in its conference name wasn’t bad enough, the Big Ten — after literally months of thought and consideration by its, uh, braintrust — today revealed a new logo and division names that are in the process of being universally mocked, ridiculed, and generally snarked into oblivion by the Twitter hordes. And with good reason, as you can see at right.
Seriously, Jim Delany? Seriously? You’re supposed to be the Dark Lord of college football, and that’s the best you could do? “Legends” and “Leaders”?!? It makes the ACC “Atlantic” and “Coastal” divisions seems like a branding triumph by comparison! And that logo? Did you hire a graphic-design consulting firm of third graders? WTF!!
As they say on Twitter: Graphic Design #FAIL … Branding #FAIL … Overall #EPICFAIL.
P.S. A lot of the entries under Twitter hashtag #BigTenDivisionNames are pretty funny… and better than the actual Big Ten Division Names!
UPDATE: Karl Benson has announced that the WAC hired the same firm as the Big Ten to design its new logo. Here’s the result:
UPDATE 2: The Big XII has also unveiled its new logo.
Heh.
Metrodome roof collapses due to snow
Awesome video of the cave-in:
Denver falls to 2-8 with loss, but coach remains confident in “Chase’s team”
Comments Off on Denver falls to 2-8 with loss, but coach remains confident in “Chase’s team”
Denver opened up an 11-point first-half lead over favored Portland of the WCC, but allowed it to quickly evaporate, then faded down the stretch as the Pilots’ hot shooting led them to a 71-64 win at Magness Arena.
Pioneers head coach Joe Scott said the offense played well, but “our defense let us down,” expressing frustration with the team’s inability to stop Portland’s Jared Stohl and Nemanja Mitrovic — who combined for 34 points, the bulk of them coming on 9 three-pointers in 15 attempts — from shooting the 3. Scott said denying Stohl and Mitrovic was a central focus of Denver’s scouting report for Portland, but the players didn’t execute their plan to contain those two hot shooters.
Scott said the players’ instructions were, “Don’t even let them shoot them. … It doesn’t mean, be on the guy, contest the shot afterwards. It means, don’t let [Stohl] and don’t let [Mitrovic] even get ’em off. And we did. We let those guys shoot the ball.” Their hot shooting helped lead Portland to percentages of 51.3% from the field and 66.7% from three-point range.
Even so, Scott was not overly discouraged with the loss — notwithstanding that it dropped Denver to 2-8 on the season. “I think we played more confidently today,” he said. “We did what we needed to do; we actually played pretty well,” but weren’t able to make the key plays necessary to win the game down the stretch.
The Pioneers’ offense was certainly much improved, shooting a season-high 50 percent from the field — a category in which they were 7th in the nation last year, shooting 49%, but have struggled this season — and shattering their highest offensive efficiency rating of the year with 1.211 points per possession. The Pioneers had only been above 1 O-PPP in one previous game, the loss to Colorado State. (Unfortunately, the defense also turned in its least efficient night of the season by far, giving up 1.354 points per possession.)
A particular bright spot was the performance of Chase Hallam, who scored 24 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the field, and 5-for-5 from the line. After the game, Scott declared the Pioneers to be “Chase’s team” going forward.
It’s beginning to look a lot like… interstellar warfare?
Always my favorite two ornaments on our Christmas tree:
DU-Portland liveblog & BALLY CAM!!! (plus ND-Gonzaga, Heisman ceremony)
Although college football’s regular season is over (*sniff*), It’s going to be another busy Saturday afternoon/evening of sports here at The Living Room Times and Pioneer Pulse, with the Denver-Portland game at 4:00 PM Mountain Time, followed by the Heisman Trophy ceremony from 6-7, and a favorite team vs. alma mater battle, Gonzaga-Notre Dame, starting at 6:30. All three will be live-tweeted here. Plus… BALLY CAM!!!!
It’s official: Hawaii leaves the WAC. Karl Benson: “Braaaaaaaaains.”
As if Denver didn’t have enough to worry about on the basketball court, the expected bad news about its planned future conference home has become official: Hawaii is leaving the WAC to join the Mountain West in football and the Big West in all other sports.
Folks, Denver joined a zombie conference.
Hawaii’s departure does more than just rob the WAC of what had been its most glamorous remaining team after Boise, Fresno and Nevada jumped ship (although, that too!). It leaves the conference as of 2012-13, the year Denver is supposed to join, with just five “core” members who have been together at least five years — Utah State, New Mexico State, Idaho, San Jose State and Louisiana Tech — and just seven football members — the aforementioned schools plus Texas State and Texas-San Antonio (with Denver joining as a non-football member). Both of those numbers are one short of what the WAC needs for NCAA autobids (six core members) and Football Bowl Subdivision membership (eight football-playing members).
The WAC wants to survive, of course, so it has been actively trying to replace the Warriors. But everyone from Montana to North Texas to UC-Davis has turned down commissioner Karl Benson’s overtures, presumably due in part to the conference’s lack of stability. This has led to the creation of a Brendan Loy Meme (of which this remains my favorite example, although I also really liked this one). But in all seriousness, it’s not clear where the conference turns now, as it tries to shore up its ranks before any further defections take place. The WAC’s quandry is that it needs to add team(s) to demonstrate stability, but nobody wants to join when it doesn’t look stable. As they say (well, as I say) on Twitter, #PANIC!
Pregnant pedestrian in Denver run over by car; driver flees; baby dies
Well, this is godawful:
DENVER — A pregnant woman was run over in Denver’s Stapleton neighborhood Thursday and the woman’s baby did not survive.
The accident was reported at 5:02 p.m., at the intersection of East 29th Avenue and Central Park Boulevard, according to Detective John White. The driver did not stop.
Shawn Mercer told 7NEWS he was in his home when he heard a loud thump and then a woman moaning in pain outside. Mercer said he found the woman lying in the middle of the street.
The 27-year-old woman told Mercer that she was 34 weeks pregnant.
Mercer’s girlfriend, a registered nurse, tried to provide immediate care.
“She was basically in tears, and told me, ‘I’m scared,'” said Mercer. “And, ‘I’m afraid she’s going to lose the baby.’ You could see car marks on her stomach.”
Denver police said the woman was walking in the crosswalk when she was hit.
The woman was rushed to Denver Health Medical Center where she was listed in serious condition with significant internal injuries. Doctors were forced to delivered her baby but the infant did not survive.
The only description of the hit-and-run vehicle is that it was a dark colored sport utility vehicle or pickup last seen heading south on Central Park Boulevard.
What an awful tragedy. Hopefully the driver’s conscience compels him or her to turn him/herself in.
Meanwhile, I suspect that this will add momentum to the local outcry for adding more stoplights along Central Park Boulevard, which is only going to get busier once it gets its own stimulus-funded I-70 exit. The wisdom of turning Central Park Boulevard, which runs smack through the middle of a neighborhood whose “walkability” is a prime selling point, into a major southbound surface thoroughfare for traffic coming off the 70, is debatable to say the least — though I’m pretty sure that ship has already sailed, and the new exit is coming whether folks like it or not.
GOP loves millionaires, hates 9/11 first responders
So, in addition to blocking Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell repeal, the Republicans in the Senate are blocking another important bill in their temper tantrum to get tax breaks for millionaires. This one would provide health and other benefits to 9/11 first responders. That’s right, those good old “We love America,” flag-waving, here-for-the-common-Joe Republicans would rather those brave police and firefighters who risked their lives on 9/11 go without needed help so that A-Rod can keep even more of his millions. Good to know where their priorities lie.
How to save the BCS & the bowls, and appease the critics
In an op-ed for USA Today, BCS Head Bill Hancock lays out his defenseof the BCS, arguing that the system worked. He’s dead wrong, and either doesn’t get it or doesn’t care. The system didn’t work because teams like Boise State, if they had finished undefeated, or TCU, who DID finish undefeated, don’t get a shot at the national championship.
[ADDENDUM BY BRENDAN: Stunningly, Hancock flatly contradicts this, asserting that Boise State would have played in the national title game if they’d won out — an obvious lie. We don’t know, we’ll never know, whether Boise would have, say, beaten out Auburn for the #2 spot if Boise had beaten Nevada and the Tigers had lost to Alabama, then beaten South Carolina for the SEC title. But that scenario isn’t even what Hancock posits. He simply asserts that Boise was, as things stood, in line for the title game until they lost, which is just not true. Either Auburn or Oregon also needed to lose, and they didn’t. So Boise (like TCU) was out of luck, win or lose. –ed.]
After discussing Boise, Hancock then cites TCU getting to play in the Rose Bowl as vindication for the BCS, without even mentioning that TCU might also like a chance to win the national title. Granted, the trip to Pasadena is great for Horned Frogs fans, but let’s not kid ourselves that they wouldn’t rather be facing off in Glendale for a shot at the crystal football.
The inherent flaws in the system have led many to cry out for a full 16-team playoff like that which is played in the lower division. While I understand their frustration and motivation, these people are just as wrong as Hancock. A 16-team playoff would kill or severely maim the bowls, and while it’s fun to make fun of the “Beef O’Brady Bowl” and such, the simple fact is that bowls ARE an important and historical part of college football. They are good for teams, for fans, and for the cities that put them on. I’m not saying having 35 bowls is necessary, mind you, I think that’s a little much, but games like the Rose Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, etc. are great, classic games that bring a lot to the table.
So how can we avoid harming the bowls while also improving the system to allow teams like TCU a shot at the title? The answer is a limited playoff. Here are two solutions that could work.