Here is the age old question again which keeps popping up from the bedroom to the boardroom. You can add your two cents by posting a comment depending on your experience in work or play.
I pose the question in response to the recent news that the National Football League (NFL) has plans to extend its season by 2 more games. The league wants to generate more income. This is a shame because football is the only sport that ~ more or less ~ follows the seasonal pattern of Mother Nature. The NFL regular season begins after Labor Day (in America) and finishes about the end of January. Football is suppose to be played in the cool of autumn.
Professional basketball and hockey start in October and now finish in June ~ roughly consuming three long periods: autumn, winter and spring and then some.
Baseball ~ America’s “summer game” ~ begins in chilly April and the final game of the World Series is now played in late October. Here was the weather report in Philadelphia during the recent championship series:
Tonight, when Game 5 is expected to resume, the weather should be better for baseball - but it won't be an evening stroll on the beach. The forecast calls for winds blowing in from left field at 15 to 25 m.p.h. with temperatures near 40 around game time, then falling into the 30s. There is a slight chance of a shower.
What fun. Can anyone chip the ice off the beer?
So, football, the game which currently fits closest to the seasonal pattern of things is now in danger of being extended: starting in August or ending in February. Too long in my opinion.
Is bigger really better?
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Time out!
I feel like I’m back in 7th grade thinking of excuses as to why I haven’t handed in my weekly composition. This blog has been blank for 2 1/2 weeks. What’s up Mr. Clermont?
Well, here are my lame excuses: a ten day working trip to El Salvador and San Francisco and the on-rushing NCAA March Madness basketball tournament. College basketball Championships Week [March 11 – 15] involved only 31 conferences playing over 400 games and many of them were televised.
In other words – I’ve taken a time out from writing.
Speaking of time out – the last few moments of a college basketball game these days can take 10 – 15 minutes. Coaches have perfected strategies for the final tense moments of close games. Each team can call several time outs and then add the mandatory “media” breaks for commercials if the game is on TV. In between players are fouling one another banking on the odds that a free throw is less likely to go in the basket than a dangerous 3 point shot from the perimeter. Games (the final few minutes) take forever.
Sports writer Mike Sorensen:
As far as I'm concerned, the glut of timeouts in college basketball is spoiling what is one of the best sporting events on earth. The players seem to do as much sitting as running in your average basketball game. These days you have a minimum of eight timeouts per game with the possibility of as many as 18 per game. In a 40-minute game, that's one every two minutes and 12 seconds of action.
Well, it’s just about time to turn on the TV and catch the first round of March Madness – time out or not.
Well, here are my lame excuses: a ten day working trip to El Salvador and San Francisco and the on-rushing NCAA March Madness basketball tournament. College basketball Championships Week [March 11 – 15] involved only 31 conferences playing over 400 games and many of them were televised.
In other words – I’ve taken a time out from writing.
Speaking of time out – the last few moments of a college basketball game these days can take 10 – 15 minutes. Coaches have perfected strategies for the final tense moments of close games. Each team can call several time outs and then add the mandatory “media” breaks for commercials if the game is on TV. In between players are fouling one another banking on the odds that a free throw is less likely to go in the basket than a dangerous 3 point shot from the perimeter. Games (the final few minutes) take forever.
Sports writer Mike Sorensen:
As far as I'm concerned, the glut of timeouts in college basketball is spoiling what is one of the best sporting events on earth. The players seem to do as much sitting as running in your average basketball game. These days you have a minimum of eight timeouts per game with the possibility of as many as 18 per game. In a 40-minute game, that's one every two minutes and 12 seconds of action.
Well, it’s just about time to turn on the TV and catch the first round of March Madness – time out or not.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
20th century + 21st century =
This time last week I was stressed anticipating my promotion from a committee member to a Commission member. Here’s an update.
The cold and windy mid-western city is still cold and very windy ... Lord ... how do people live in that weather – asked the spoiled Floridian?
There is no difference between committee work and Commission work other than the latter sounds grander. What always happens with a committee? You are correct, dear Reader. Not much gets done and you walk away with more work. Same with a Commission.
That’s exactly what happened in the cold and windy mid-western city as we gathered to talk about 21st century learning skills. Everyone had a different opinion. Getting people to agree on a common set was difficult. When there is a lack of unanimity, send everyone away to do more research for the next meeting.
I have my reading assignments.
One of these weeks I’ll get down in writing what many other educators have already identified – there is a core set of new skills that we (oldies and young ones) need to master.
By the way, we are one-tenth of the way though the new century already.
The cold and windy mid-western city is still cold and very windy ... Lord ... how do people live in that weather – asked the spoiled Floridian?
There is no difference between committee work and Commission work other than the latter sounds grander. What always happens with a committee? You are correct, dear Reader. Not much gets done and you walk away with more work. Same with a Commission.
That’s exactly what happened in the cold and windy mid-western city as we gathered to talk about 21st century learning skills. Everyone had a different opinion. Getting people to agree on a common set was difficult. When there is a lack of unanimity, send everyone away to do more research for the next meeting.
I have my reading assignments.
One of these weeks I’ll get down in writing what many other educators have already identified – there is a core set of new skills that we (oldies and young ones) need to master.
By the way, we are one-tenth of the way though the new century already.
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