Tuesday, November 28, 2006

"The Answered Prayer" BYU vs. Utah 2006

Football highlights. John Beck completed a pass to Johnny Harline with no time left in this heated rivalry. Harline caught the pass in a kneeling position as if he were praying, thus "The Answered Prayer."

posted by bylaw @ 1:28 PM 0 comments

holy war and refs

If you missed the Holy War last Friday, you missed a doozy. I was unable to see most games this season thanks to the mtn fiasco, but I did get to see the annual rival matchup between BYU and Utah. You would have to be near dead to have not uttered something on the last play of that game. I know where I was watching the game, we raised the roof with our yell. It was incredible.

The game was a lot closer than it really should have been. I know people say refs don't win or lose games, but that is bunk. I don't win or lose games, because I am not part of the game. Players? They are a part of the game. Coaches? They are a part of the game. Fans (at the stadium)? They are a part of the game. Refs? They are a part of the game. Everyone of these entities plays a role in the outcome of the game. Some moreso than others. The referees play a significant role and can seriously impact the outcome of the game. If they make a mistake, they can be held every bit as culpable in the game's outcome as a player can, because their role is that significant. If the Utes want to blame the refs for their loss then so be it (they're wrong), but they have every right to include the refs in the reasons for their loss, just as we would if we had lost.

The refs really stunk it up with a number of calls/no calls. Some which significantly impacted the game. There was a blatant roughing the kicker no-call that prevented a momentum shifting first down, a block in the back on a fake punt that allowed a momentum shifting first down, an overturned fumble which had been returned for a touchdown but instead resulted in the Yewts driving for a score, loads of pass interference that was not called, and others. It should not have come to that final play, but it did. I am glad the Cougars won. They deserved that game. The Yewts never should have been in it, but I am glad that the Cougars overcame some lousy calls and won the game regardless.

If you missed the game, check out the highlights above.

posted by bylaw @ 1:16 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

heroes

OK. I admit it. I love the show Heroes. I could probably do a fair number of blogs on Heroes itself. It's one of the few indulgences I allow myself. Save the cheerleader. Save the world. Btw, the paintings had two cheerleaders - Claire and the other girl. Which cheerleader was supposed to be saved? Claire survived. Was that mission accomplished or was her former bff dying a failure? I'm probably stretching. But just a question to throw out. This show makes it too easy to speculate because it is so full of misdirection. They have some really good writing. I'm sure they leave loose ends, but not too many and its amazing how some even small details become so important in the story. It has a big following watching very closely.

Here is a screenshot from the previews for next week. Who is that with Chandra? *Gasp* It's Syllar! I get the impression from the look of shock on Syllar's face after he makes the glass fly off the table that he is under tutelage from Chandra. Maybe the secret room with all the "Please forgive me" writing on the wall that Mohinder found in N.Y. was Chandra's, not Syllar's. Maybe Chandra regrets helping Syllar? Maybe this is a big mis-direction. Maybe Syllar turns out in some weird way to be a good guy? It'll be fun to watch and find out.

posted by bylaw @ 11:34 AM 0 comments

Saturday, November 18, 2006

significant saturday

It was a good day today. The Cougars dispatched the Lobos in fine fashion. Friends and family of the Snyders had a fine send-off for Brent (a good friend of mine who passed away last week). I was inspired to, like Brent, leave a legacy (or to answer affirmatively to the inquiry posed in the final song of Brent's service - "Have I done any good in the world today?"). I've been meaning to take my specifications and do something with them. So I just joined a group on OpenOffice.org's project lists and will start working towards bringing at least one significant idea to fruition. I may not be able to develop my application, but I can design and contribute in other ways and the OO.o community seems like a good group of talented people that are dedicated in their own way to making the world a better place. I only hope that my application design is something that will resonate with their community and spark an interest in pursuing its development.

I think I may see about configuring a family blog as my Christmas gift for mine and Becky's families. I also was thinking today, that somebody should have a service that can format and print out bound hard copies of blogs. A great number of blogs have significant followings, some of which might appreciate an option to purchase a nice bound copy of the year in that blog's entries. The same would also hold true for journal entry style blogs as well (I know I like to keep hard copies of journal entries).

posted by bylaw @ 11:10 PM 0 comments

Saturday, November 11, 2006

DIY broadcasting

I had an interesting idea this morning. What if we went strictly with an internet feed for broadcasting sporting events? What if the entity filming the games provided not only the broadcast, but also a vcast shell where any subscriber could take the video feed and using tools provided, put together their own broadcast (or vcast) in addition to the provider's own broadcast?

There could be different levels of tools provided at different price points (depending on what kind of vcast you wanted to put together). All these amateur vcasts would be channels contained within the broadcast shell and the broadcasting entity could retain rights to all advertising (except maybe to vcasters paying some premium). Anyone could start vcasting games and throw in cool phrases like "boom goes the dynamite" or whatever. TBS, sportswriters, fans, rivals, anyone. Vcasters could pick and choose the video feeds, their commentary, stats to present and using the tools provided, compile them together in their own broadcast. Different levels of vcasting subscription would provide different sets of tools (like stats feeds, dynamic scrimmage/1st down lines, etc.) to help put together a vcast.

The provider could make money off amateurs that wanted to try their hand at broadcasting as well as off viewers who subscribed to the service. The sportswriters from the local rag could see if they are as good as they think they are. Some vcasters would set themselves apart from the competition and others would flounder. If they wanted to spend a whole quarter qvatching about a blown call they could do that (to their benefit or their detriment). Some would garnish followings and some would die a quick death.

I could pick and choose broadcasters. Sometimes I might like the original broadcast of the broadcasting entity, sometimes I might prefer the homercast, sometimes I might like the oppositioncast, and for laughs, I might try the Utecast or Hickcast occassionally. Could you imagine a Utecast of a BYU game? Or a Cougcast of a Ute game? Flashbacks of Wayne's World. Could be hilarious (or infuriating). It could sprout some serious broadcasting contenders. Then, instead of too few options to view my Cougars, I would have tons of options for any game the provider provided.

There would be some hurdles to overcome. Amateur broadcasters would have to agree to certain restrictions (language, spamcasting, etc), but I think it is doable and that it could be cool revolution to broadcasting.

posted by bylaw @ 9:33 AM 0 comments