Senior Citizens Checking up On College Student Athlete Attendance

Thomas sent me an article on senior citizens that check up on student athlete attendance at the University of Kansas.  See:

http://on.wsj.com/hQLx8d

What Baseball Is

Thomas pointed me to this blog entry which quotes a speech given by Ernie Harwell, who died today.
Update:  NPR also did a story on him.

Olympics and Trademarks

Yesterday (but not today), Google had the Olympic rings on its home page.  Unfortunately for Google, the Olympic rings are protected by law.  The law provides that no one but the United States Olympic Committee has the right to use the Olympic rings for "for the purpose of trade [or] to induce the sale of any goods or services..."  Even if Google is not selling anything, I think that they are definitely using it for the purpose of trade.  If you put aside the commercialization of the Olympics, keep in mind that corporations like Visa probably pay lots of money to use the Olympic rings in their logos.  It's not right for Google to use the Olympic rings on its page without paying.
As an aside, I like the logos that Google is using, because of all the blue and the nice artistic syling.  It's different from what they did for Beijing and Torino.

Helmets at Ski Resorts

Saw this article in the Times about how helmets are becoming more widespread at ski resorts.  When I was starting to ski in the boy scouts in the mid 1990s, no one even thought to wear a helmet.  Even when I went skiing a few years ago, I don't remember seeing that many people wearing helmets.  Now, I wonder how people think about helmets with skiing, and whether they are going to become more widespread.
At the same time, though, as one person in the article points out, if you're speeding down a ski slope and crash into a tree, the helmet is not going to do much good.

Cross Country Uniforms

As a former high school cross country runner (and I remember we were only allowed to wear white T-shirts in addition to our uniforms), I can relate to this article.  Someone in my high school wore a different colored hair band and was disqualified.  While on the one hand, rules are rules, I'm not entirely sure what the point of the rule is.  I mean, so long as one team isn't trying to disguise itself as another team, I don't see why there can't be a slight variation in uniforms.

Trademarks and March Madness

Although it is after March Madness, I wanted to post about this story on NPR the other day about how aggressively the NCAA and its attorneys pursue trademark infringement relating to March Madness.  Unfortunately, it looks like you'll have to listen to the audio to get the whole thing.  From my conversations with someone who knows a lot more about trademark law than I do, I can understand why they are so aggressive about it.

Runners and Cars, as well as a Useful Link

There was an article in the New York Times a little while back about runners and cars.  When I can, I like to avoid running with cars, but, unfortunately, living in an urban area, that's sometimes difficult.  I usually try to defer to cars, but it can annoy me when cars don't yield to me when I am in a cross walk.  Right now, on weekends, I like running in Rock Creek Park on Beach Drive.  At least a portion of that road is closed to vehicular traffic.
I also discovered a useful link, that lets you see what your pace is based on mileage run and distance traveled.

They are Penn State...Too

There was an article in the Times about Penn State's football team and how, to fundraise, they have to clean the seats at Beaver Stadium after football games.
I think this is wrong. The football team (except this year, when they are being punished for alleged misdeeds) does not have to clean Beaver Stadium after the game. I realize that the fencing team does not generate the same type of revenue for Penn State that the football team does. But, it strikes me that Penn State could invest some of the vast fortune that football generates and put it into the fencing team (and other "minor" sports). The fencing team, after all, had a better record than Nittany Lions Football last year. Of course, then Penn State will have to hire someone to clean the football stadium, rather than using free slave labor from the fencing team.
A disclosure: In high school, I was on a fencing team, not a football team.

Astroturf in New York City Parks

On Gothamist, there was a blog entry explaining how New York City wants to put astro-turf in its parks for use as athletic fields. I don't think this is a good idea. I think that plastic grass (at least the type that I am picturing) is not really that comfortable to use, at least compared to regular grass. I think it would be easier to skin one's knee if one fell on artificial turf. This is also New York City we're talking about. What happens if someone spills something on the artificial turf. With dirt, it would soak right in (or the grass would grow out). But that won't happen with artificial turf. The gum, or whatever it is, will stay stuck in it. I wouldn't want to play on a field that looked like the bottom of a subway track.
Or, someone could spray-paint "D wuz here" on the turf. If one did that on grass, they would be pretty stupid, because it would grow right out. But on turf? It would be permanent.
I realize that grass has its own problems. If it rains, I realize that one football game can ruin the grass, but I still think that natural grass may be better.

Thomas has a Blog Too

Thomas (or Tom) co-authors a blog too -- he blogs about sports for Gothamist. The link is:
http://www.gothamist.com/sports/
There is a link to the feed too:
http://www.gothamist.com/sports/index.xml
He says that he does about half the posts. It looks like they are mostly about New York teams, so those of you reading the blog from out-of-town might not find it so interesting.
Oh, and I took the picture for his bio on the blog.

Basketball Shot Clock

I'm in Syracuse for a cousin's Bar Mitzvah and during some off time, we went to a museum about the Erie Canal. They also have exhibits relating to exciting happenings in Syracuse. And they had an interesting trivia item.
Why is the basketball shot clock 24 seconds? See the comments for the answer.