The wheels seem to be coming off the Mike Leach express at Texas Tech. I wonder what Leach's exit strategy is? For whatever reason, he doesn't seem to interview well, and has been passed over for more than a couple more glamorous jobs than Texas Tech over the past couple of years (UCLA, Washington, and Tennessee were all rumored). Probably just natural when you ask a bunch of guys to commit to your program and it seems you are unwilling to do the same.
A reader, Guy Bobianno (like that's his real name), pointed this out to me:
Saturn "Pundits" followed by Saturn "We're Still Here" which leads us to this:
Saturn "Pundits" followed by Saturn "We're Still Here" which leads us to this:
GM TO WIND DOWN SATURN BRAND, DEALERSHIPS ON PENSKE DECISION 2009-09-30 20:28:35.675 GMT
Sept. 30, 2009
General Motors Media Statement Attributed President & CEO Fritz Henderson:
Today we learned that Penske Automotive Group (PAG) has decided to terminate discussions with General Motors to acquire Saturn.
This is very disappointing news and comes after months of hard work by hundreds of dedicated employees and Saturn retailers who tried to make the new Saturn a reality. PAG’s announcement explained that their decision was not based on interactions with GM or Saturn retailers; rather it was because of the inability to source new products beyond what it had asked GM to build on contract.
As a result of PAG’s decision, we will be winding down the Saturn brand and dealership network, in accordance with the wind-down agreements that Saturn dealers recently signed with GM. Pursuant to the terms of those agreements, the wind down process will be determined and communicated shortly.
Saturn customers and owners will continue to be able to purchase and have their vehicles serviced at Saturn retailers during this process. Once the wind down is complete, Saturn owners will still be able to have their vehicles serviced at other GM dealerships. We will be communicating with our customers very soon to explain the next steps in this process.
Today’s disappointing news comes at a time when we’d hoped for a successful launch of the Saturn brand into a new chapter. We will be working closely with our dealers to ensure Saturn customers are cared for as we transition them to other GM dealers in the months ahead. I’d also like to thank every GM employee and Saturn retailer who worked so hard to try to make this new beginning happen for Saturn.
File this one under these people are lunatics. From the comments section from someone named "CC":
"The Left doesn’t seem to be doing so well now that it is operating in the open for all to see."
The Hostile Hump List:
1. I have no idea how this could possibly happen. What a scary situation. Glad he seems to be recovering well.
2. The hostile take likes whatever action we can get our hands on and as such has been running a college football confidence pick'em pool for 4 years now. There have been at least 25 participants for the past couple of years, so I am creating a nice sample size of actual bets. I am working through the data to report any trends I can find. Stay tuned.
3. A good look at who Vegas thinks should be in the college football top 10. The teams that really jump out at me in their poll are Cal at #6 especially after their Oregon debacle and Nebraska at #13 on their strength of victories against Florida Atlantic, Arkansas State, and La - Lafayette all while ahead of #21 Virginia Tech? Looks like Cal vs USC is a huge game this weekend.
4. Despite the pure wit, I have to be honest, I can't believe they/he/her has kept this blog running 9 months after the election. Personally, I love the caption "because there is no POTUS without TOTUS". Brilliance.
5. But, Man, Can He Recruit: this weeks installment. Good thing this was his first incident, errrr:
7. I am not a big fan of these talent contests but this performance by Stavros Flately is absolutely phenomenal.
8. The University of Minnesota's new football stadium looks really cool. I am a big fan of the "urban" type schools having more intimate settings.
2. The hostile take likes whatever action we can get our hands on and as such has been running a college football confidence pick'em pool for 4 years now. There have been at least 25 participants for the past couple of years, so I am creating a nice sample size of actual bets. I am working through the data to report any trends I can find. Stay tuned.
3. A good look at who Vegas thinks should be in the college football top 10. The teams that really jump out at me in their poll are Cal at #6 especially after their Oregon debacle and Nebraska at #13 on their strength of victories against Florida Atlantic, Arkansas State, and La - Lafayette all while ahead of #21 Virginia Tech? Looks like Cal vs USC is a huge game this weekend.
4. Despite the pure wit, I have to be honest, I can't believe they/he/her has kept this blog running 9 months after the election. Personally, I love the caption "because there is no POTUS without TOTUS". Brilliance.
5. But, Man, Can He Recruit: this weeks installment. Good thing this was his first incident, errrr:
"Earlier this year, Locksley and UNM were sued by a former office assistant for sexual harassment and wrongful termination. That suit is still pending."6. "Hump" is for Wednesday. Come on.
7. I am not a big fan of these talent contests but this performance by Stavros Flately is absolutely phenomenal.
8. The University of Minnesota's new football stadium looks really cool. I am a big fan of the "urban" type schools having more intimate settings.
The WSJ: small investors make big bets on currencies . It is so appealing because of the "vast leverage available, sometimes as much as 500:1". Only good things can come of this:
"The dollar is zigzagging, falling below the 90 yen mark Friday and testing the depths it plumbed against the euro a year ago. That kind of action is music to the ears of investors such as Ray Firetag.Oyh.
As most of America slept on a recent Monday night, Mr. Firetag was in front of his computer in Elk Grove, Calif., wagering on the Australian dollar.
Gold, silver and oil had slipped, and trading in Asian stocks had been weak. The 43-year-old speculator figured the Australian dollar, strongly tied to commodities, would spurt higher against the Japanese yen, then fall as investors overseas responded to weaker commodity prices. He was right, and his trade proved profitable.
"I love this work," says Mr. Firetag, who last year left a 14-year career in real estate to trade currencies online full-time. He says he turned his initial $50,000 investment into "something north of seven figures."
From Contentions via Glenn Reynolds. I especially like this quote:
When you have never executed on anything in your brief "career" except to campaign for the NEXT job, why would we expect it to stop now? In times of distress it is only natural for an individual to fall back to their core competency, unfortunately for the United States, and ignoring corruption and graft, campaigning is his ONLY competency.
"You know things are bad when Obama’s squishiness as commander in chief is too much for Richard Cohen to bear: “Sooner or later it is going to occur to Barack Obama that he is the president of the United States. As of yet, though, he does not act that way, appearing promiscuously on television and granting interviews like the presidential candidate he no longer is. The election has been held, but the campaign goes on and on. The candidate has yet to become commander in chief.”
When you have never executed on anything in your brief "career" except to campaign for the NEXT job, why would we expect it to stop now? In times of distress it is only natural for an individual to fall back to their core competency, unfortunately for the United States, and ignoring corruption and graft, campaigning is his ONLY competency.
From the boys at Every Day Should Be Saturday:
This was the hit that made me fall in love and Burfict's first play this year.
V is for Vontaze. Vontaze Burfict, ASU linebacker, was so terrifying on Saturday night he got away with tossing an official into Georgia’s offensive line. We still have no idea what happened, but Burfict rushed forward, pitched the field judge into the Bulldog line, and then stood there as a shocked official tossed a flag at him. More baffling still: the officials conferred, and then picked up the flag, presumably terrified of what Burfict would do if they actually penalized him. The way he played against Georgia, it would have taken riot police to subdue him (and he’s just a freshman. Yay you, Sun Devils. Have fun watching that explode for three years.)I implore any college football fan to watch this kid play, he is going to be special. From Dennis Erickson:
A more reliable evaluation is ASU coach Dennis Erickson, who on Wednesday compared Burfict with Ray Lewis. Lewis began an All-America career at the University of Miami under Erickson and has gone on to be a six-time NFL All-Pro first-team linebacker.
“You watch (Burfict) on tape, and every time he plays he dominates,” Erickson said. “When he hits you, it hurts. He's got that kind of attitude. I hate to put pressure on a freshman coming in because it's a different game; I don't care how good you are. But this guy is beyond his years. In fact, I'm going to start coaching middle linebackers now.”
This was the hit that made me fall in love and Burfict's first play this year.
From the LA Times: hurry please. Sure seems like the Canucks are moving towards a more free market approach to most policies while the US is moving away? Honestly, I don't know what surprises me more.
Rasmussen with their latest health care poll. Only 41% of voters now favor the health care "reform" outlined by the President. Take a look at the trend box on the right hand side. Looks trend right to me!
As much as I disagree with the current administration's policy on, well, everything, I just can't understand (no matter how statist your policies may actually be) that a US President could ever be putting road blocks up for free elections in Honduras.
I haven't watched CNBC since slightly after the elections when the GE "influence" (cough cough partisan pandering cough cough) combined with the annoying screaming from Democratic "strategists" made it not only financial fiction but just plain annoying. But, since my cable provider doesn't see the necessity of Bloomberg TV I was stuck having some of their post-market shows on as background noise for an otherwise dull period of the day. I remember seeing Jeff Macke and thinking at the very least he seemed knowledgeable and somewhat entertaining. Then I checked his website and had no idea what he did or what he managed. Apparently, the answer to both was not much.
The Hostile 10 September 27th Edition:
My first cut at the college football Top 10. I place a heavy premium on actual results in actual games. Obviously, I may perceive some teams to be better than their ranking, but that is the beauty of this list, it is dynamic and once those teams (cough cough Florida cough cough Texas) actually dominate a team of worth they will move up the board accordingly. You do control your OOC scheduling and as such you should be punished (or at least not rewarded) when you don't test yourself against the best early.
1. Alabama: They probably have the 2nd best win in the country (VT @ neutral site) to date and stifled an Arkansas offense that just put up 41 on a decent Georgia team. The only real knock on them is that they really only have 2 "tough" games left, LSU (see #10) and MAYBE Auburn.
2. Iowa: I am as anti-Big 10 as they come. The next big game OOC win they have will be the first in probably 5 years, so stay with me here. They have the 8th best scoring defense against what is the 11th toughest SOS to date, plus a win at Happy Valley and an OOC win vs what is most likely a bowl eligible Arizona team. Given, this team probably loses 2-3 games this year and PSU will most likely be looked upon as vastly overrated when all do their end of season post-mortem.
3. Florida: I am not impressed yet. The defense is lights out as you would expect with everyone from the 2 deep returning. They have the 95th SOS. That is right, the defending champions, have a bottom quartile SOS. Not to mention 8 home games. A sound beating of @ LSU might move them up, it might not.
4. Texas: I feel somewhat obligated to do this simply because I can't justify a 1 loss team ahead of them. A 101 ranked SOS makes Florida's SOS look like they play in NFC East. Do I dare even waste my time trying to break down UL-Monroe, Wyoming, Texas Tech, and UTEP?
5. Virginia Tech: They have no margin of error from this point on. That being said, their only loss came against my #1 team in the country and they already have 2 wins vs top 20 ranked teams (Neb, Miami) and the 4th toughest SOS in the land. They single-handedly stopped the "U's" revival this weekend and now Luther Campbell will have to postpone his 5th coming out party. Tyrod Taylor and the 79th ranked offense probably means the stay up here will be brief.
6. Boise State: What to do with Boise State? Do I think this is the 6th best team in the country? No way. Do I think if they had to play in a BCS conference that their lack of depth would cause them 3+ loses per year? Sure. It is a whole lot easier to play Oregon one week and then rest up a bit with Miami (OH), Bowling Green, and UC Davis. But, Boise State really is a system quandary for me. They have already played their only team of substance (Oregon) this year and it is starting to look like that team is nothing like they appeared to be on the blue turf. All will be much easier when Oregon drops another but I don't see this Boise State team ever moving up from here.
7. Cincinnati: Strictly a "to date" ranking for Cincinnati. As bad as their SOS has been they have still played a tougher slate than both Florida and Texas, plus they actually went on the road to Corvallis, which is some dinky farming town in the Pacific Northwest that not many come out alive from. Pitt and W. Virginia look like the only 2 tough games remaining, but win them all and Cincinnati will be a mainstay in these rankings. Hard to find a better young football mind than Brian Kelly.
8. Oregon: The loss to Boise State was a debacle, a complete embarrassment (although not as embarrassing as it must have been personally for new HC Chip Kelly to have current AD and former HC Mike Bellotti whispering sweet nothings in his ear on the sideline as the game was actually going on). So, what do we have now? A return to the high octane offense ways of the past, a RB that doesn't fling rights and stays away from the buffet, the 3 best wins of any team in the country against the 3rd toughest SOS in the country.
9. USC: They have the best win of any team right now in the country and at this point in the season it is all about wins. Their loss at UW came without the best defensive player in college football, their starting QB, their starting center, their #2 WR, and a limping #1 RB. As we seem to say every year, they still should have won that game and my guess is this is a 3 loss team. Still, this program under PC is the best "big game" team I have ever seen. A loss to Cal next week and they may be banished for the remainder of the season.
10. TCU: I started to list out LSU here, but then I dug a little deeper and the whole thing just stunk and I found myself defending a statistically abysmal team who beat a Mississippi State team thanks to the Bulldogs proclivity for passes on the 2 foot line. LSU can prove me wrong this weekend against Georgia. So, I showered the dirt off and came back to TCU. They are already 2-0 in the ACC with wins against Virginia and Clemson and they have the 12th rated defense in the country right now. With wins vs BYU and Utah, this is the most likely team to break into BCS.
My BCS predictions:
NC Game: Florida vs Texas
Rose Bowl: Oregon vs Ohio State
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs TCU
Orange Bowl: Cincinnati vs Virginia Tech
Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs USC
1. Alabama: They probably have the 2nd best win in the country (VT @ neutral site) to date and stifled an Arkansas offense that just put up 41 on a decent Georgia team. The only real knock on them is that they really only have 2 "tough" games left, LSU (see #10) and MAYBE Auburn.
2. Iowa: I am as anti-Big 10 as they come. The next big game OOC win they have will be the first in probably 5 years, so stay with me here. They have the 8th best scoring defense against what is the 11th toughest SOS to date, plus a win at Happy Valley and an OOC win vs what is most likely a bowl eligible Arizona team. Given, this team probably loses 2-3 games this year and PSU will most likely be looked upon as vastly overrated when all do their end of season post-mortem.
3. Florida: I am not impressed yet. The defense is lights out as you would expect with everyone from the 2 deep returning. They have the 95th SOS. That is right, the defending champions, have a bottom quartile SOS. Not to mention 8 home games. A sound beating of @ LSU might move them up, it might not.
4. Texas: I feel somewhat obligated to do this simply because I can't justify a 1 loss team ahead of them. A 101 ranked SOS makes Florida's SOS look like they play in NFC East. Do I dare even waste my time trying to break down UL-Monroe, Wyoming, Texas Tech, and UTEP?
5. Virginia Tech: They have no margin of error from this point on. That being said, their only loss came against my #1 team in the country and they already have 2 wins vs top 20 ranked teams (Neb, Miami) and the 4th toughest SOS in the land. They single-handedly stopped the "U's" revival this weekend and now Luther Campbell will have to postpone his 5th coming out party. Tyrod Taylor and the 79th ranked offense probably means the stay up here will be brief.
6. Boise State: What to do with Boise State? Do I think this is the 6th best team in the country? No way. Do I think if they had to play in a BCS conference that their lack of depth would cause them 3+ loses per year? Sure. It is a whole lot easier to play Oregon one week and then rest up a bit with Miami (OH), Bowling Green, and UC Davis. But, Boise State really is a system quandary for me. They have already played their only team of substance (Oregon) this year and it is starting to look like that team is nothing like they appeared to be on the blue turf. All will be much easier when Oregon drops another but I don't see this Boise State team ever moving up from here.
7. Cincinnati: Strictly a "to date" ranking for Cincinnati. As bad as their SOS has been they have still played a tougher slate than both Florida and Texas, plus they actually went on the road to Corvallis, which is some dinky farming town in the Pacific Northwest that not many come out alive from. Pitt and W. Virginia look like the only 2 tough games remaining, but win them all and Cincinnati will be a mainstay in these rankings. Hard to find a better young football mind than Brian Kelly.
8. Oregon: The loss to Boise State was a debacle, a complete embarrassment (although not as embarrassing as it must have been personally for new HC Chip Kelly to have current AD and former HC Mike Bellotti whispering sweet nothings in his ear on the sideline as the game was actually going on). So, what do we have now? A return to the high octane offense ways of the past, a RB that doesn't fling rights and stays away from the buffet, the 3 best wins of any team in the country against the 3rd toughest SOS in the country.
9. USC: They have the best win of any team right now in the country and at this point in the season it is all about wins. Their loss at UW came without the best defensive player in college football, their starting QB, their starting center, their #2 WR, and a limping #1 RB. As we seem to say every year, they still should have won that game and my guess is this is a 3 loss team. Still, this program under PC is the best "big game" team I have ever seen. A loss to Cal next week and they may be banished for the remainder of the season.
10. TCU: I started to list out LSU here, but then I dug a little deeper and the whole thing just stunk and I found myself defending a statistically abysmal team who beat a Mississippi State team thanks to the Bulldogs proclivity for passes on the 2 foot line. LSU can prove me wrong this weekend against Georgia. So, I showered the dirt off and came back to TCU. They are already 2-0 in the ACC with wins against Virginia and Clemson and they have the 12th rated defense in the country right now. With wins vs BYU and Utah, this is the most likely team to break into BCS.
My BCS predictions:
NC Game: Florida vs Texas
Rose Bowl: Oregon vs Ohio State
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs TCU
Orange Bowl: Cincinnati vs Virginia Tech
Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs USC
I am not sure why they would arrest him now seems like something that should have been done 30 years ago. This paragraph jumps out to me more than anything else:
I am assuming this "honorary award" was not for his escapade in the late 70's, but the way (and to whom) these liberals hand out awards you just never really know.
"Polanski was scheduled to receive an honorary award at the festival when he was apprehended Saturday at the airport, the Swiss Justice Ministry said in a statement."
I am assuming this "honorary award" was not for his escapade in the late 70's, but the way (and to whom) these liberals hand out awards you just never really know.
"The Big 12 gets a lot of notoriety for their quarterbacks because of their stats. I am going to make a prediction that the three quarterbacks in the SEC, Tim Tebow, Jevan Snead and now [Ryan] Mallett eventually will be drafted higher than any three quarterbacks now playing in any other conference," Danielson said. "Snead may go No. 1 in the draft this year if the team drafting needs a quarterback. He will be the first quarterback taken in the draft and Tebow will go in the first round. Mallett next year, or the year after, will be the first quarterback taken."
I am not one to make fun of any type of unabashed homerism, I have been to show a bit in my time, but Gary Danielson might be spending too much time drinking southern hooch. Jevan Snead would still be backing up Colt McCoy if he stayed at Texas. Tim Tebow will make a great NFL FB and any NFL team that spends more than a 4th round pick on him deserves 3 years of Matt Millen draft consultation. Mallet looks good early, even for a guy who couldn't start on a 4 win Big 10 team. Besides, any SEC QB this year taken ahead of Sam Bradford is solely because of his unfortunate injury. Stay classy Gary!
I am not one to make fun of any type of unabashed homerism, I have been to show a bit in my time, but Gary Danielson might be spending too much time drinking southern hooch. Jevan Snead would still be backing up Colt McCoy if he stayed at Texas. Tim Tebow will make a great NFL FB and any NFL team that spends more than a 4th round pick on him deserves 3 years of Matt Millen draft consultation. Mallet looks good early, even for a guy who couldn't start on a 4 win Big 10 team. Besides, any SEC QB this year taken ahead of Sam Bradford is solely because of his unfortunate injury. Stay classy Gary!
Great post, as usual, by Vegas Watch on his college basketball predictive regression model. A great read even if you only have a slight understanding of statistics and regression models.
Looks like he has updated the model to account for recruiting classes and returning players.
No real surprise that his model predicts Kansas as the early favorite. No word if he has incorporated intra-squad fights into the regression formula.
Looks like he has updated the model to account for recruiting classes and returning players.
No real surprise that his model predicts Kansas as the early favorite. No word if he has incorporated intra-squad fights into the regression formula.
As you will come to know I am a huge college football fan. I have never had much affinity for the human generated polls primarily for these reasons:
1. The pre-season rankings have an impact on the final rankings far too much and completely skew the margin of error for different teams with different schedules.
2. There is no clear mandate for "how" a person should vote. Is it the perceived best team? Is it the perceived best wins to date? Is it the best records? Does it matter if teams win big, on the road, and against what opponents?
3. There never seems to be enough of an emphasis placed on actual strength of schedule and often, if there is, it is based upon pre-season rankings that have no bearing on the current point in time. If a top 10 pre-season team loses 2 games in September in the woods and there is nobody in the stands, was it ever a top 10 team?
4. Teams don't ever seem to get punished for what they can control, their OOC schedule. Given, games are booked years in advance, but recent trends tell you that you are easily a 6 figure buyout and phone call to ESPN away from scheduling whomever you wish.
5. The voters, especially the coaches, abdicate their position to an underling because there is no possibility they can prepare for a game, coach the game, and have any clue as to what is going on outside their stadium let alone across the country.
As such, no poll should come out until the last games in September are played, and at the very least. I will be releasing the Hostile Take top 10, at the conclusion of this weekends games. I will make my thesis quite clear with an emphasis placed on actual game performance and results.
1. The pre-season rankings have an impact on the final rankings far too much and completely skew the margin of error for different teams with different schedules.
2. There is no clear mandate for "how" a person should vote. Is it the perceived best team? Is it the perceived best wins to date? Is it the best records? Does it matter if teams win big, on the road, and against what opponents?
3. There never seems to be enough of an emphasis placed on actual strength of schedule and often, if there is, it is based upon pre-season rankings that have no bearing on the current point in time. If a top 10 pre-season team loses 2 games in September in the woods and there is nobody in the stands, was it ever a top 10 team?
4. Teams don't ever seem to get punished for what they can control, their OOC schedule. Given, games are booked years in advance, but recent trends tell you that you are easily a 6 figure buyout and phone call to ESPN away from scheduling whomever you wish.
5. The voters, especially the coaches, abdicate their position to an underling because there is no possibility they can prepare for a game, coach the game, and have any clue as to what is going on outside their stadium let alone across the country.
As such, no poll should come out until the last games in September are played, and at the very least. I will be releasing the Hostile Take top 10, at the conclusion of this weekends games. I will make my thesis quite clear with an emphasis placed on actual game performance and results.
I try to stay away from the WSJ for anything related to sports "analysis and insight", but it is finally nice to see that someone looks at records, and not simply the biased polls and perception, to determine the Pac 10 might just be the best college football conference over the last 10 years. Just as the Pac 10 is highly discounted by most college football fans it comes as no surprise to see that the Big 10 simply stinks.
Our friends south of the border would call this as having "cojones". Nice to see one administration with them.
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