The Rant of All Rants

As I mentioned in my podcast with Joe, this is a tremendous year of Cubs anniversaries. The first one arrives tomorrow. 25 years ago on April 29, 1983, then-Cubs manager Lee Elia delivered one of the most famous tirades of all time. It is well-worth a listen. This is an understatement, but suffice it to say, this is NSFW.

Things that make Matt happy

1. Winning AHL Playoff Hockey (3 games into the series...all three have gone to OT... and the home team's up 2-1 after a 16-game winning streak to earn home ice for the playoffs).

2. Guttermouth's "Hot Dog to the Head."

3. Fishing season starts in a week.

4. Happy hour starts in four hours.

You Play Who You Play

Chicago Cubs fans opened their Chicago Tribune on Monday morning to read a spate of stories about how the Cubs may be 12-6, but six of those wins came against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates. (The Pirates may have been 7-11 at the time, but that does mean that they were 7-5 against non-Cub opponents.)

These stories took me back to this blog in May of 2005 when a certain Red Sox fan wrote this. I didn't think it held water then - my response was here - and it was the opposite of prescient given that season's outcome. I think the same thing today. You play who you play. It's not college basketball where you set up a challenging schedule to test your team. It's baseball.

Anyway, I hope we won't be seeing those stories for a while after the Cubs demolished the Mets in two games by a total score of 15-3 or something like that. But then again, sportswriters have to write something.

You're an old, old man in a young, young crowd

Happy Birthday Matt!

More bluntly

I don't trust that any of my governments are competent enough to organize taking a crap, much less the administration of death.

In the wake of today's decision...

...by the Supreme Court, I ask ye who read this blog, "Do you support the death penalty?"

I support a death penalty as the ultimate punitive measure taken by a civilized society in response to heinous criminal behavior that alienates man from his fellow men. If liberty is the most sacred possession of man, and life is the most basic form of liberty, and deprivation of liberty is an appropriate sanction for criminal behavior, then execution represents the ultimate deprivation of liberty by a society. And, I support the right of society to express and demonstrate its disapproval of heinous criminal behavior by implementing this ultimate sanction.

However, from a practical perspective, I would hold any state to the following requirements:

1. Death must be restricted to sanctioning what society considers the most awful and heinous crimes -- say, multiple murders, multiple rapes, etc.

2. The implementation of the death penalty must be predicated on a process of investigation, trial, and appeals, that includes the following:

A. A comprehensive investigation process that thoroughly and competently investigates crimes and yields...
B. Evidence that leaves no reasonable doubt of guilt
C. A competent jury following the judge's instructions, focused on the evidence, and untainted by bias(es) that might result in improper verdicts
D. A prosecution that operates above reproach and rigorously follows criminal law procedures and rules of evidence
E. An effective defense
F. A judge interested solely in the administration of justice
G. An appeals process that thoroughly and effectively investigates and adjudicates all possible faults in the investigatory and trials phase of the process

In our country, we've had significant problems meeting the criteria above. In fact, the American Bar Association is so deeply concerned about the administration of the death penalty that in 2001, it launched the "Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project." The ABA has stated that, "Over the course of the past thirty years, the American Bar Association (ABA) has become increasingly concerned that capital jurisdictions too often provide neither fairness nor accuracy in the administration of the death penalty."

Beginning in 2003, it undertook to investigate death penalty implementation, starting with 8 sample states -- Ohio, Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida. The goal is to assess the extent to which state capital crime adjudication processes "achieve fairness and provide due process".

After studying state performance using local legal experts examining compliance with 93 ABA protocols in 12 different categories, the ABA found that "the process" of implementing the death penalty in those states is "deeply flawed". 5 of the 8 local legal teams representing the ABA were so disturbed by their findings that they recommended immediate moratoria on the use of the death penalty. Those teams were from Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee. The press release describing the study's findings can be found here.

The ABA's conclusions comport with other studies and build a powerful case for the conclusion that in our country, we do a poor job of administering the death penalty. This means that we try, convict, and possibly execute innocent people -- and this is unacceptable.

So, though I support the death penalty philosophically, I do not support it as administered in this country.

So I have a new blog...

Ok, technically, it's not new.

Four years ago, not long after Matt, Amanda, Josh, etc., started using LiveJournal, I decided I'd do the same. And then I promptly ignored my own blog in favor of Malt Shop Logic for 4 years. Well, I've finally begun to use it. Click here to read my Nomadic Scribblings.....................

Denied...but that's ok.

The recent interview process I referred to on this blog has concluded with a negative answer from the firm interested in hiring me. But, that's ok. Go here to read more detail....

The very best thing

Yes, I fight dirty.

Cut-and-paste,

http://www.howmanyfiveyearoldscouldyoutakeinafight.com/

Well, My System Works (This Year, At Least)

Too bad I didn't follow it all the way to get the correct championship game (which is exactly why I have a system to prevent me from outthinking myself). Here's your top 5 Adjusted Scoring Margin rankings for this year's tournament and the finish:

1. Kansas 22.2 - Championship Game
2. Memphis 21.1 - Championship Game
3. UNC 19.5 - Final Four
4. Duke 18.5 - Second Round
5. UCLA 17.2 - Final Four

Here's your top 8 Efficiency Margin (major conference games only) rankings for this year's tournament and finish:

1. Memphis 28.78 - Championship Game
2. Kansas 24.23 - Championship Game
3. Wisconsin 18.34 - Sweet 16
4. UCLA 17.26 - Final Four
5. Tennessee 15.01 - Sweet 16
6. UNC 14.67 - Final Four
7. Louisville 14.65 - Elite 8
8. Xavier 14.41 - Elite 8

The system, having been redeemed, shall be posted next year.

Goddamn Cubs Thud

Season's first crack o' the bat... and one over the fence.

Here we go again.

On the bright side, the hometown AHL squad is at nine wins and running (a team record) and points in the last 17 (AHL record is 23) and has clinched the playoffs, and is on the way to home ice with four games to go.

And the caps -- yes, the lowly caps! Are one point out with four to go.

SU basketball? Maybe not so much.