Jumping ahead: Bowl games and the National Championship

[Ian Pike Hammer]

What a mess the season could be!!! Suppose a highly ranked team like Alabama goes 3-0 to start, then has to cancel the rest of their season? Do they make it into the Championship undefeated over say, a team that goes 9-2, 10-1, or any other scenario? Which teams will whine the most for being "slighted". How many wins to be eligible for a bowl game? We can no longer go by 6 wins, as many teams will be playing a shortened season. Does a 4-5 Wl/L record in a power 5 conference constitute a better season than a Mid-Major who was 8-2 or something, but beat a lot of nobodies?? Would you want to be on the committee that decides any of this? SHOULD WE BE PLAYING AT ALL??

 

[Motigerhawk]

What if a tornado hits Kinnick when Iowa is playing Wiscy for the championship and Iowa is ahead by 1? Do we make the game?

What if a dragon eats the entire Ohio St. team before Iowa plays them in the championship game? So we qiualify?

What if the SEC and ACC and B1G have a mass outbreak and every league has to shut down? Do we really have to suffer through a Big 12/Pac 12 championship?

 

[Fryowa]

What a mess the season could be!!! Suppose a highly ranked team like Alabama goes 3-0 to start, then has to cancel the rest of their season? Do they make it into the Championship undefeated over say, a team that goes 9-2, 10-1, or any other scenario?

Drinking before posting is never recommended unless your name is @earlkoppelman

They got some good reefer in the Phillipines, eh?

 

[Ree4]

What a mess the season could be!!! Suppose a highly ranked team like Alabama goes 3-0 to start, then has to cancel the rest of their season? Do they make it into the Championship undefeated over say, a team that goes 9-2, 10-1, or any other scenario? Which teams will whine the most for being "slighted". How many wins to be eligible for a bowl game? We can no longer go by 6 wins, as many teams will be playing a shortened season. Does a 4-5 Wl/L record in a power 5 conference constitute a better season than a Mid-Major who was 8-2 or something, but beat a lot of nobodies?? Would you want to be on the committee that decides any of this? SHOULD WE BE PLAYING AT ALL??

I'd venture to say that there are way too many variables, many of them unknown, to warrant the expense of any energy at all regarding hypotheticals. Let the season play out as much as it can and then deal with it. Wayyy too many what-ifs.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I'd venture to say that there are way too many variables, many of them unknown, to warrant the expense of any energy at all regarding hypotheticals. Let the season play out as much as it can and then deal with it. Wayyy too many what-ifs.

Have you ever read a book called "Class: A Guide Through the American Status System" by a gentleman named Paul Fussell? It's a bit old, but is a phenomenal armchair economics book describing class systems in America. Dr. Fussell points out a tendency of what he calls "proles" to really focus a huge amount of brainpower on things like sports matchups because it is a way for them to, despite their lack of education and raw IQ, emulate the upper classes by being an expert in something and in essence copy the aristocrats by having heated arguments in areas within their so-called expertise. I think you would genuinely like it. It's $10 on Amazon. It's one of my favorite books.

 

[Ree4]

Have you ever read a book called "Class: A Guide Through the American Status System" by a gentleman named Paul Fussell? It's a bit old, but is a phenomenal armchair economics book describing class systems in America. Dr. Fussell points out a tendency of what he calls "proles" to really focus a huge amount of brainpower on things like sports matchups because it is a way for them to, despite their lack of education and raw IQ, emulate the upper classes by being an expert in something and in essence copy the aristocrats by having heated arguments in areas within their so-called expertise. I think you would genuinely like it. It's $10 on Amazon. It's one of my favorite books.

Hahah, sounds pretty interesting. I'd say the premise is pretty spot on - I guess that's why I'm here. It's definitely an interesting thought. If people were to forego sports and spend their time and brainpower on a specific topic or learning a skill, many could probably participate is some of those aristocratic-type discussions. Who in their right mind would want to give up sports though?

I'll add it to the list, I have a huge backlog of books I want to read but havent had the time. Maybe I can convince the socialists at the public library downtown to let me borrow it for a few days Believe it or not, my favorite topic to read about for years has been astronomy and astrophysics. Riveting stuff.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Hahah, sounds pretty interesting. I'd say the premise is pretty spot on - I guess that's why I'm here. It's definitely an interesting thought. If people were to forego sports and spend their time and brainpower on a specific topic or learning a skill, many could probably participate is some of those aristocratic-type discussions. Who in their right mind would want to give up sports though?

I'll add it to the list, I have a huge backlog of books I want to read but havent had the time. Maybe I can convince the socialists at the public library downtown to let me borrow it for a few days Believe it or not, my favorite topic to read about for years has been astronomy and astrophysics. Riveting stuff.

Ditch your cable, use the savings to buy a Celestron Nexstar 8SE. Not the 6, 5 or 4, but the 8. It has an 8 inch mirror on the back and a series of mirrors inside that give it the power of a 6 foot long scope with a big lens. With a Barlow lens and the right eyepiece and some tuning, you can see the spot on Jupiter. You can see the 4 Galilean moons. My son is journaling their positions around the planet and with the Celestron app you can even pinpoint each specific moon. You can see the rings of Saturn and dang near every imperfection on the surface of the moon. It is a million times better pulling the scope out at night with my son than listening to some ESPN analyst give a hot take about sports bullshit. My area has a shitload of trees and a ton of light pollution. I'd love to have something like this scope in Iowa where it's way flatter and you don't have the near daily early evening cloud cover from the combo of mountains and humidity during the summer.

Also, when you get rid of cable, get a streaming service called Curiosity Stream. It has a bunch of programming on astronomy. $20 for a year. I like the Hawks and a handful of the classic SEC matchups plus Michigan-OSU, but aside from the Hox and a few marquis games, I'm far more intrigued by astronomy and the questions of the universe.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Have you ever read a book called "Class: A Guide Through the American Status System" by a gentleman named Paul Fussell? It's a bit old, but is a phenomenal armchair economics book describing class systems in America. Dr. Fussell points out a tendency of what he calls "proles" to really focus a huge amount of brainpower on things like sports matchups because it is a way for them to, despite their lack of education and raw IQ, emulate the upper classes by being an expert in something and in essence copy the aristocrats by having heated arguments in areas within their so-called expertise. I think you would genuinely like it. It's $10 on Amazon. It's one of my favorite books.

What if Mr Fussell sold the book for $8 on Amazon? Would he be better off with more sales at $8 or make more money selling less books for $10?

 

[okeefe4prez]

What if Mr Fussell sold the book for $8 on Amazon? Would he be better off with more sales at $8 or make more money selling less books for $10?

As Lord Keynes famously said, "In the long we're all dead." Dr. Fussell died in 2012, so my guess is that he harbors no opinion on the price of his book.

 

[Motigerhawk]

Here is a great video of a guy who wanted to take a picture of a galaxy. He goes through the entire process of how he did it. This a great story and something you and your son may be interested in doing

 

[guffus]

I am still wondering why any school would want to send a team to a minor bowl while the pandemic is still in effect. Would schools still be required to purchase tickets for a game that fans may not be able to attend? Do you send players and the band on this long cross country trip? Do you just lock them in a hotel for the whole trip?

In the end, if schools go to bowls at all, they will probably send no fans, team just flies in the night before and then gets out of town immediately.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Here is a great video of a guy who wanted to take a picture of a galaxy. He goes through the entire process of how he did it. This a great story and something you and your son may be interested in doing

Astrophotography is a hobby that can get real pricy real quick. I ain't interested in it. The biggest issue is you need some sort equatorial mount for your scope and good ones cost thousands. The camera and mount system is also pricy.

 

[Ree4]

Ditch your cable, use the savings to buy a Celestron Nexstar 8SE. Not the 6, 5 or 4, but the 8. It has an 8 inch mirror on the back and a series of mirrors inside that give it the power of a 6 foot long scope with a big lens. With a Barlow lens and the right eyepiece and some tuning, you can see the spot on Jupiter. You can see the 4 Galilean moons. My son is journaling their positions around the planet and with the Celestron app you can even pinpoint each specific moon. You can see the rings of Saturn and dang near every imperfection on the surface of the moon. It is a million times better pulling the scope out at night with my son than listening to some ESPN analyst give a hot take about sports bullshit. My area has a shitload of trees and a ton of light pollution. I'd love to have something like this scope in Iowa where it's way flatter and you don't have the near daily early evening cloud cover from the combo of mountains and humidity during the summer.

Also, when you get rid of cable, get a streaming service called Curiosity Stream. It has a bunch of programming on astronomy. $20 for a year. I like the Hawks and a handful of the classic SEC matchups plus Michigan-OSU, but aside from the Hox and a few marquis games, I'm far more intrigued by astronomy and the questions of the universe.

I don't watch any TV except for sports, but the wife and kids do so that's not gonna happen! I've considered getting a telescope but that's not a huge interest for me - more the math and the science (known and speculative) behind the universe is where my interests lie. I'm content looking at Hubble images - maybe someday I'll pull the trigger.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I don't watch any TV except for sports, but the wife and kids do so that's not gonna happen! I've considered getting a telescope but that's not a huge interest for me - more the math and the science (known and speculative) behind the universe is where my interests lie. I'm content looking at Hubble images - maybe someday I'll pull the trigger.

Hubble images are insane. There's so much stuff on the internet to see that it is nearly overwhelming. One good thing about my son being interested in space is that he says he wants to be a "super scientist" who knows everything and we have been able to utilize that to get him to really focus on reading and math skills.

 

[AreWeThereYet]

Here is a great video of a guy who wanted to take a picture of a galaxy. He goes through the entire process of how he did it. This a great story and something you and your son may be interested in doing

Getting a working knowledge of how to use the tracking software can be a bit of a leap for anyone who isn't familiar with math. The calculations are done by the controller program but you still have to gain a rudimentary concept of the relative motion of objects and be able to set up the software for what you want to look at.

Extremely high precision servo motors are required to track faint deep space objects for doing long exposures, otherwise you are going to end up with a smudge. This makes the hobby pretty expensive for people that are serious about it. Superimposing shorter exposures is a way to get around the limitations of your tracking telescope, tracking equipment and viewing conditions. Of course brighter objects like planets require less exposure.

Sometimes you can get hold of older used equipment suitable for planetary observations to learn the basics and see if it is a long term hobby.