Two wins in a row = WINNING STREAK!

Toledo beat Florida Gulf Coast last night and Valpo in its previous game.  Normally, those two wins in a row wouldn't get people excited, but when a program has not won two games in a row over Div. I teams since January 2009, then you have no choice but to get excited.

Toledo defeated FGC 75-63 behind Reese Holliday's double-double (11 points, 13 rebounds) and J.T. Thomas' 16 points.  The Rockets also got strong performances from Anthony Wright, Malcolm Griffin, and Delino Dear.

Like I posted last week, if the young core of Holliday, Thomas, Dear, Hayden Humes, and Griffin (four freshmen and a sophomore) can continue to improve and play well together, this program will make noise in the future.  Heck, if they continue to cut down on mistakes and play like they have in the last two games, they will make noise in the dreadful MAC this season.

Up next is NAIA opponent Indiana-Northwest in what amounts to an exhibition game (NAIA opponents are not taken into consideration by the NCAA or NIT, not that UT will have to worry about either tournament this year), followed by road games at UNC Wilmington and Alabama.

Song of the Day

No more work til Monday!

Song of the Day

Billboard's #1 song this week in 1994

Links of the day

The Oklahoman - Man pretends to be autistic to con babysitters

CNET - Blockbuster laughed at company that eventually put them into bankruptcy

ESPN.com - Mark Cuban proposes NCAA Div. I playoff

McDonald's, Happy Meals, and free will

As most of you have probably heard, McDonald's has been sued by the Center for Science in the Public Interest because of their marketing practices associated with the very popular Happy Meals.  Yes, obesity is a health issue, but the roots of issue lie within the decision making and free will of the consumer.  This law suit is not going to solve the roots of the issue.

This lawsuit, no matter how successful or unsuccessful it is, will not address the real issue.  Americans are afraid to address the real issue.  The issue is that everybody has to do a better job taking care of themselves and those around them.  We need to make decisions for ourselves and our children, even if they are tough ones.  We cannot let McDonald's and three cent toys make the decisions for us.

If a parent cannot stand up to your 5-year-old and tell them "NO!" when they demand a Happy Meal, then the kid will have heart disease at age 25 because of the parent, not because of McDonald's.  My parents took us to McDonald's at times while growing up, but they told us "NO!" and made dinner time as a family a priority and a ritual.  We ate good food as a family and occasionally had fast food.  My sister and I turned out just fine and our parents made the McDonald's decision for us, even if that meant missing out on that three cent toy.

This makes me think of Nick Naylor's speech in "Thank You For Smoking."  It's a satirical film (and a brilliant film), but his speech at the end has a lot of truth in it: "Gentleman. It's called education. It doesn't come off the side of a cigarette carton. It comes from our teachers, and more importantly, our parents. It is the job of every parent to warn their children of all the dangers of the world including cigarettes so that one day when they get older, they can choose for themselves."


That's the way it is with fast food.  Having McDonald's run a couple fewer commercials or keeping them off Saturday morning TV or having them promote health food (which will actually be profitable for McDonald's in the long run from a marketing perspective) will not change the way the adults in our country think and will not make individuals take responsibility for their actions.

Song of the Day

Double shot for you...

Two songs heard on the music TV channel that was on in the background during my work team's Christmas dinner tonight:

The Tokens - "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"

Fats Domino - "Blueberry Hill"

Links of the day

Toledo Blade - UT football close to adding brothers of NFL cornerback Joe Haden

Yahoo! Sports - Top 5 worst moments in Charlotte sports 2010

Reuters - Judge declares key part of Obamacare unconstitutional

Song of the Day

Jackson Browne - "Doctor My Eyes"

Seton Hall cruises past UMass

No Jeremy Hazell?  No problem!  Finally some signs of life on offense for the Pirates with a 104-79 hammering of UMass.  Seton Hall set the record for most points ever scored in one game at the Mullins Center.

Jordan Theodore scored 17 points to lead seven players in double figures.  Herb Pope had 11 points, 13 rebounds, and five blocked shots.  Ferrakohn Hall came off the bench to score 15 points.  In addition to his 17 points, Theodore dished out eight assists.

This was the type of game the Pirates need to play to remain competitive while Hazell is out.  Heck, when Hazell is back, they need to continue to play this way.  The game was based on the penetration and passing of Theodore, Eniel Polynice, and Keon Lawrence.  Good, crisp passing led to many easy lay-ups, a stark contrast to the outside shooting team we have seen this season.

It is a pleasant surprise because the team has been so set on taking three pointers and long-range jumpers this year.  For a team so set on taking long shots, the only consistent scorer from outside is Hazell, and he is not available.  The rest of the team, full of bad outside shooters, have been just firing shots up, but played in control and concentrated on finding quality shots last night and it showed.  It reflected on the stat sheet as the Pirates shot 60% last night.  SIXTY!  That is unheard of this year.

Hopefully this trend of quality shots and efficiency on offense continues.  They have tough tests against Dayton and Richmond coming up before the Big East season starts.  Those will be key games.

Toledo gets first win in comeback over Valpo

Last night, the Rockets pulled out their first win of the season, knocking off Valparaiso 75-72 in overtime at Savage Arena.  It's been a long season so far and it will continue to be a long season with few wins, but this team is on the right track with the right coach and the right players.

Toledo is in a low place right now after a point-shaving scandal, a coach who lost his job because of that, a coach being hired who just decimated the entire program and won very few games, that coach getting fired because of his on-court record and off-court extra curricular activities, and a new coach taking over a program in worse shape than NJIT.

Head coach Tod Kowalczyk has proven himself at Wisconsin-Green Bay and is doing well with very little this season.  He has three players sitting out this season due to transfer rules and he took over a roster with very few players on it.  He has built a solid core since he took over the program in April (the players who carry the load consists of four freshmen, one sophomore, and one fifth-year senior who committed when Kowalczyk took over) and when his three transfers become eligible (two from Green Bay, one from Iowa State), they will have, at the very least, an above average MAC team.  One could say they would be teetering on the edge of being *gasp* good.

Congrats to Coach Kowalczyk on his first of hopefully many wins in Toledo.  Valpo is having a good year and is a legit team.  Toledo has shown signs of life in spurts this year and have been close to a couple victories, but they put it all together and took home the much-deserved victory.

Notes from the game:
Valpo coach Homer Drew picked up a technical foul in the second half while Toledo was starting their comeback.  Instead of the T inspiring his team, the Rockets looked much more inspired for the rest of the second half and overtime.

Toledo had a five-point lead with 48 seconds remaining.  Valpo's Brandon Wood capitalized on some Toledo  mistakes, went on his own 5-0 run and the score was tied with 26 seconds remaining.  My heart sunk because I thought the chance for a win was over, but the Rockets prevailed in OT (after withstanding another scoring run by Wood).

I hope Kowalczyk is a calm person because between the freshman mistakes by his players, the missed easy shots (the team should have three wins right now if they could convert easy shots), and Brandon Wood, he could be on track for an ulcer by February.

Kowalczyk's two little kids running up to him and hugging him at the end of the game and him carrying them to the locker room was very cute.

The Rockets outrebounded Valpo 48-34.  Freshmen Hayden Humes and Reese Holliday both recorded double-doubles.  Toledo was down by 12 points in the second half

Song of the Day

Steve Miller Band - "Take the Money and Run"

Links of the day

Newark Star-Ledger: Big East upset with SHU student section

Lexington Herald-Leader: UK quarterback and cheerleader arrested at bar

Charlotte Observer: Back-to-Back for Butler H.S.

CBS Sports: Cam Newton left off FWAA All American team

Wall Street Journal: Globalization keeping U.S. economy afloat

Bloomberg: A sad story grows even sadder

Hunterdon County Democrat: Have you seen this man?

Seton Hall at UMass

Luther Wright is back in control of his life

Whatever happened to Lou Roe?

The pictures are from 1994, the last time either program was relevant.  At least Luther Wright has gotten onto the right track in life.  I think John Calipari sent Lou Roe to swim with the fishes in order to keep valuable evidence away from the NCAA. Or maybe he's Marcus Camby's butler.

Seton Hall has had an, um, interesting season so far.  Things looked up when they knocked off Alabama in the Virgin Islands, but they have looked lost without Jeremy Hazell.  But that was nearly a month ago.  The team has had three weeks to practice without Hazell, yet they still cannot play offense consistently.  I can understand losing to Xavier and Clemson in the Virgin Islands because the team did not get a chance to practice without the leader in points, minutes played, and shots taken, but the excuse time is over.

This game is a big one because UMass, while very beatable, is not a pushover.  If UMass wins this one, the Pirates could very well lose to Dayton and Richmond (both better that UMass in the Atlantic 10) and be in horrible shape going into the Big East season. The Pirates are 3-4 now and having six or seven losses before Big East play most likely means at least 16 losses at the end of the year.

UMass has played a very easy schedule and has lost to a terrible Boston College team and a three-win Maine team.  This game is Seton Hall's for the taking, but it is being played at the Mullins Center, which has not been a kind venue to Big East teams.

My final prediction is Seton Hall winning 70-62, but a loss would not surprise me.

Why robots are stupid

I really don't care about SkyNet and John Connor, robots are not going to take over the world.  On Twitter, there is a countless number of robot-generated tweets and accounts.  One in particular has convinced me that robots will never overtake humans.

There is a robot account called, "Toledo Daily."  It searches the series of tubes for articles that mention my hometown of Toledo, Ohio and posts them on Twitter.  Simple enough, right?  Well, Toledo Daily's avatar and background picture do not depict Toledo, Ohio, they depict Toledo, SPAIN!  The robot Twitter account lifted the picture directly from Toledo, Spain's Wikipedia page.

People go too far with automation and robots.  People rely on robots too much.  We have to remember that humans give robots life and humans can easily take that life away.

Please do not be scared of robots, do not let robots sense any fear, and for goodness sake, don't spend $4 a month on robot insurance.

Song of the Day

Cake - "Sick of You"

Feel free to send me suggestions for the "Song of the Day."

First post

Good morning!  Over the last couple years, I have moved to Charlotte and have become very independent.  Unfortunately, during this time one thing that I have not acted on is my passion for writing.  This will be a good outlet for me to venture back into the writing world and hopefully regain that passion.

Well, I'm off to breakfast to refuel from my three mile early morning run.  Go Pirates!  Don't blow it against the Fightin' Lou Roes.  Enjoy your Saturday.