From: Al in D.C. 
Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009 8:19 PM
To: O’Toole, Tom
Subject: RE: the spin doctor is in

How good is Boise ’s WAC, where Nevada can be 4-0 but lost to Missouri (one Big 12 win), Colorado State (last in the Mountain West) and Notre Dame (by 35) in out-of-conference play?

How good is Pac-10, where the league leader ( Oregon ) beat Purdue — at home — by 2?

Didn’t Michigan , tied for ninth in the Big Ten, beat Notre Dame?

And the Big 12 without Sam Bradford … is there even a second powerhouse team? The Big 12 North leader, K-State, lost to La.-Lafayette. One of the North contenders ( Iowa State ) was beaten by 32 at home by Iowa .

Can’t argue that the SEC isn’t the best conference. But you can’t start questioning the Big Ten without also questioning every other conference.

Wouldn’t Iowa be ranked #4 or higher (by humans, who ultimately will decide the BCS contestants) if its jerseys said ” Penn State ” or ” Ohio State “?

It’s all about preconceived perception, bias.

In the Big Ten, you can look at Purdue beating Ohio State as either a strength or a weakness for the conference. After all, Purdue lost @ vaunted Oregon by only 2 and beat Ohio State by 8. But the Boilers are 3-6 and lost to Wisconsin by 37. What in the world does that tell us??? You could argue that (1) the Pac-10 must be terrible; (2) the Big Ten’s apparent power program can’t even beat Purdue; (3) the Big Ten is strong top to bottom where anyone can beat anyone. Which is correct? It just depends on perception and bias, and unfortunately the ESPN types (and therefore voters, who listen to these folks) come from a biased perspective that give the USCs, Texases , Notre Dames, etc., a birthright to a poll position if pitted against another team of an equal record. Which is why USC was ranked #4 with a bad loss while Iowa was ranked #8 with no loss, and why Texas will never be voted behind Iowa despite playing a (perceived) far inferior schedule.

wow. so intense.

how good is the big ten, though?

This year, the best team actually won the World Series. The New York Yankees routed the Phillies in Game 6 to win their 27th world championship.

Hideki Matsui was series MVP after driving in six runs in the finale.

Baseball season is officially over.

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I watched the game with my good friend Mark at AllPlay sports bar in downtown Des Moines. Only a few folks ventured out to watch the game; the place was mostly empty. I guess there were no football games to watch.

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Lakers improved to 4-1 after winning a close one in Houston. Kobe Bryant scored 41 points.

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Working from home today, as I keep one eye on Maisa’s shenanigans. She’s just walking all over the house, acting like she owns the place.

I’m happy to report that Maisa received her first H1N1 vaccination yesterday.

We had to travel to Indianola, home of Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake, to get it done. The lines at the Polk County vaccination clinics are a mile long; at Indianola, we waited about 20 minutes.

Maisa will have to get another H1N1 shot in about a month, but we’re relieved and thankful that we were able to get her 50% of the way there yesterday.

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Maisa is being a trooper as her mouth fills up with teeth. It has to be painful for her as several molars are coming in, but she doesn’t seem too fazed by it.

Maisa’s favorite thing right now: Saying “hiiii–iiiii” to everyone she sees. It’s really cute.

Chase Utley, my favorite baseball player for a couple years now, hit two more home runs Monday to help the Phillies beat the Yankees 8-6.

The victory forces a Game 6 on Wednesday night in New York.

Utley has five home runs in this World Series, tying Reggie Jackson’s 1977 record (Reggie’s 1977 opponent? The Los Angeles Dodgers).

The 1977 series went six games. Utley has five homers in five games this year.

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Dodgers third-base coach Larry Bowa intimated this week that the Phillies steal signs. Bowa says that’s part of the reason the Yankees have so many mound meetings.

Bowa’s words upset some Phillies, but they shouldn’t. Stealing signs is not illegal, and every team tries to do it. Big deal.

Philadelphia is a good team regardless of whether it steals signs or not — although it certainly would help a player such as Jimmy Rollins if he knew whether Jon Broxton’s 99 mph fastball would be on the outside or inside half of the plate (wink, wink).

A pretty good e-mail thread below — the top part is from my best buddy Al in D.C., who knows more about the Hawkeyes than just about anyone. The bottom part of the thread comes from Iowa sports information director Phil Haddy.

There’s no question Iowa has had a great season. Nine wins and zero losses pretty much speaks for itself. Could the Hawkeyes compete against the likes of Florida, Texas and Alabama? Maybe we’ll never know.

Here’s DodgerKramer’s take on the Hawkeyes:

• Clearly, Iowa’s offense has reached running-in-quicksand status. Much of the trouble is directly related to injuries. Some of the trouble comes from an underachieving/overrated offensive line. A small portion of the trouble comes from QB Ricky Stanzi’s uneven play.
• The defense is one of the nation’s best, with playmakers on the D-line, in the defensive backfield and in the linebacking corps.
• The coaching staff is perhaps the best in the United States.
• Should the Hawkeyes be ranked No. 1 or No. 2 or No. 3? In my opinion, the answer is no. The offense has been much too erratic. No. 4 seems about right, although I felt like I was watching a No. 23 or No. 24 team for most of the Indiana game.
• The Big Ten has slowly been getting worse for about decade now. Meanwhile, the Iowa program has continued to get stronger and more stable over the last decade. The result is 9-0 Iowa.

Anyway, that’s enough analysis from me. Here’s that e-mail…

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From: Al in D.C.

To: Dodgerkramer

I have been making this point for weeks. Meanwhile, look at the horrendous schedule Texas is playing this year. For fun, examine the Horns’ remaining games and for more fun see what challenging foe they might face in the Big 12 title game.

I’m not sure what people want from Iowa, which has three wins against top-25 teams (Penn State, Arizona, Wisconsin), with all of those wins coming by double digits and two of them on the road. Combined, those teams have two losses outside of playing the only 9-0 team in the country — Arizona on the flukiest interception you might ever see — http://www.videosift.com/video/The-Immaculate-Interception-Arizona-vs-Washington — and Wisconsin when it doubled Ohio State in yardage at the Horseshoe. I find it hard to believe that if Iowa’s uniforms said “NOTRE DAME” or “OHIO STATE” that the Hawkeyes wouldn’t be ranked #4 or higher in the human polls. I would argue that it’s a sign of an elite team that can win by 18 (no matter the opponent) despite 6 turnovers + an 8-yard punt in your own territory. In 2002, it certainly didn’t matter to anybody that Ohio State won most of its games in the same manner and then went ahead and beat Miami (Fla.) for the national crown.

If Iowa loses at Ohio State (really, has any team in Big Ten history succeeded with such a scheduling death march?), the pundits will say “we told you so” about the Hawkeyes even if it’s a close game, and they will probably plunge to about 13-15 in the polls behind some two-loss teams. Meanwhile, USC can lose to winless-in-2008 Washington and still be ranked ahead of Iowa and other unbeatens until they absorb a 2nd loss, and even then the Trojans are on the doorstep of the top 10.

I do not fool myself into thinking that Iowa would “100% definitely” play a close game with Florida or Alabama, but it hasn’t lost by double digits in almost 750 days (Oct. 20, 2007) and has won 13 games in a row, including twice vs. Penn State, once vs. South Carolina (by 21), twice vs. Wisconsin (by a combined 32), once vs. Michigan, once vs. Michigan State and once vs. Arizona. And then you have a team like TCU, ranked #4 in one poll and counts as its best wins Clemson (which lost to Maryland) and BYU (which lost by 26 at home to awful Florida State!). On what merits should Iowa not be considered at least the #4 team in the country? Do voters really believe TCU and Boise State would go into Happy Valley and Madison and win by double digits?

If Iowa wins out (BIG if), will the human polls and pundits finally relent and admit the Hawkeyes might actually be a good team?

TO: College Football Media

FROM: Phil Haddy

GET THE CORRECT FACTS ON IOWA FOOTBALL

It seems popular for national pundits to criticize the University of Iowa football team these days. Many have said Iowa doesn’t belong on the same board with Florida, Texas, Alabama, Cincinnati, TCU, Oregon or Boise State. Iowa’s schedule has been rated the seventh toughest in the nation. Only one team in Big Ten history has beaten Penn State, Michigan State and Wisconsin on the road in the same season (Michigan did it in 1997). The two schools Iowa does not play in the Big Ten this year have the worst overall records (Purdue and Illinois) in the league. To say Iowa hasn’t played a strong enough schedule is to be totally misinformed. Please look at the facts below.

Number of opponents defeated that currently have winning records:

1.  Iowa                6

2.  Cincinnati        4

TCU                4

4.  Oregon            3

5.  Boise State      2

Total won-lost records (and winning %) of defeated opponents:

1.  Iowa                44-31     .586

2.  Oregon            29-28     .508

3.  TCU                34-33     .507

4.  Cincinnati        30-36     .454

5.  Boise State     27-37     .421

Total won-lost records of opponents defeated in their home stadiums (i.e. road wins)

1.  Iowa               23-12      .657

2.  TCU               19-14      .575

3.  Cincinnati       21-20      .512

4.  Boise State    14-18      .437

5.  Oregon            6-10      .375

Number of defeated opponents ranked in current BCS Top 25:

1.  Iowa                3  (Penn State, Arizona, Wisconsin)

Oregon             3  (USC, Utah, California)

3.  Boise State      1  (Oregon)

4.  Cincinnati         1  (South Florida)

5.  TCU                 0

Won-lost records of remaining teams left on schedule:

1.  Iowa                 17-10    .629

2.  Oregon             19-12    .612

3.  Cincinnnati        19-13    .593

4.  Boise State       20-22    .476

5.  TCU                  15-17    .468

Wow, I was tired when bedtime came Sunday night. A brief look at my busy day…

• Woke up, drove to Harlan to have lunch with Gramma and Grampa Brinker and Jill and Maisa.
• Transferred Jill and Maisa’s stuff from Grampa’s van to our Honda, then drove back to Ankeny.
• Immediately started raking the six billion leaves in our backyard and driveway, filled up 10 bags before it got dark.
• Went up on the roof (before it got dark) to clean out the gutters.
• Drove downtown to my buddy Mark’s Vikings party at Zimm’s. Missed the Vikings game, but had a sandwich and saw the first few innings of the World Series game.
• Drove back to Ankeny, put Maisa to bed, read about 50 pages of “Helter Skelter,” watched the end of the World Series game and…
• …and fell asleep till 7:30 this morning, when Maisa woke me up.

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The Yankees took a commanding lead in the World Series by winning 7-4 on Sunday. They lead the series 3-1 and can finish off the Phillies tonight.

The difference between the teams so far: New York has better pitching, and those Yankee pitchers have been able to shut down Ryan Howard. The big fella is 3-for-17 with 10 strikeouts.

• Iowa scored 28 points in the fourth quarter to beat Indiana 42-24 on Saturday. Hawkeyes are 9-0.
• Iowa State struggled at College Station, losing 35-10 to Texas A&M. Iowa State is 5-4.
• USC’s national title hopes died in a blowout loss at Oregon, the Trojans’ worst loss in 12 years.
• The Lakers will try to get back on track tonight at home vs. Atlanta. Friday’s loss to Dallas was an embarrassment.

I love celebrity culture. I’m fascinated by Hollywood big-wigs.

I think folks in the entertainment industry generally have the world’s best interests in mind as they live their lives. It feels like their hearts are usually in the right place on many important issues.

Having said all that, I must say that I am appalled by the amount of empathy Hollywood is showing legendary film director Roman Polanski. There’s no nice way to say it: Polanski is a pedophile, and needs to be imprisoned for what he has done.

Polanski skipped town back in the 1970s after getting busted for having inappropriate contact with a very young girl. He’s been living in Europe ever since, but was recently arrested by Switzerland authorities.

In the weeks that followed, many in Hollywood have been rushing to Polanski’s defense. They say L.A. police should just forget about the whole thing.

I say, that’s bologna.

What kind of message would it send to pedophiles nationwide if the Polanski case is dropped? That if you have a lot of money, it’s OK to do these types of things?

Polanski deserves to serve some hard time for what he did, and his showbiz colleagues need to wake up and understand that.

I know people within the same profession stick up for each other. Teachers speak out in defense of teachers. Baseball players don’t say bad things about other baseball players. Coaches always howl when another coach is fired. Police officers would never criticize another police officer. OK, OK, I get all that.

But when one of your people commits murder, rape or a crime of that magnitude, it’s time to get real.

I hope Polanski is shipped back to California and forced to serve at least a few years at San Quentin. That would be justice served.

I started reading “Helter Skelter” yesterday. It’s the quintessential book about the 1969 Manson murders, written by Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi.

I’m sort of an amateur Manson historian. I’ve seen most of the documentaries on A&E, History Channel, etc. I know most of the main characters. But I’ve never read “Helter Skelter,” mostly because I didn’t realize Bugliosi was the guy who wrote it. Duh!

So, anyway, I read to page 85 when I got home from work Friday night. Jill and Maisa are at Gramma and Grampa’s house in Harlan, so the combination of the book and the empty house kinda freaked me out. I’m not ashamed to admit I slept with the lights on. Hahaha.

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The three historical events that interest me most: 1) The 1969 Manson murders; 2) The 1963 Kennedy assassination; 3) The 1994-95 O.J. Simpson saga.

I also have studied the Civil War, Vietnam, the Golden Age of Hollywood, and European history. I love history, sports, celebrity culture and politics. Hollywood murders (Manson, Simpson, Spector, Blake, Black Dahlia, John Holmes, etc.) are tragic, intriguing stories.

I feel like I’m interested in a lot of different things. Baseball is at the top of the list of interests, but it truly is a long list.

Stupid Yankees tied the World Series on Thursday, winning 3-1 over Philly.

Now the series moves to Philly for three games. Game 3 is Saturday.

Interesting scenario on Sunday: The Philadelphia Eagles host the New York Giants at 1 p.m. Eastern, then the Philadelphia Phillies host the New York Yankees at 8 p.m Eastern. Those two cities will hate each other even more by the end of that day.

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Maisa’s new rule: If she can reach it, she will climb it.

At her current rate, she’ll be navigating Mount Everest by age 15.