Saturday, June 19, 2010

Digression: It's Top Chef Time, Guys!


Once again, it's the season for everybody's favorite non-sport sport here at the Superstar, as a new season of Top Chef has kicked off. I don't get why they hired Eric Ripert instead of the vastly more entertaining Anthony Bourdain, but I'm guessing it's because him and Colicchio are buddies. Which means, once again, the chefs will decide who wins, rather than the ladies. Sorry, Padma. I don't care what you think about horseradish.

Anyway, good first episode (you can view it on Hulu until June 30). Again, the favorites are pretty clear. We'll get to the power rankings soon, but I just wanted to make a quick note on this.

This guy:

looks just like This Lady (Carla from two seasons ago):
Right? And they both give me the creeps.

Anyway, now back to your regularly scheduled soccer. C'mon, Denmark. Daddy needs some POINTS!

Friday, June 18, 2010

World Cup Standings

These are the standings after all games played going into the USA/Solvenia Match

Steve: 10
Dave: 8
Colin: 8
Derek: 8
Ryan: 7
Tim: 7
Dan: 5
Mark: 4


Dave Weir 8
Brazil 3
Greece 3
Paraguay 1
New Zealand 1

Mark Fodor 4
Spain 0
Uruguay 4
Denmark 0
North Korea 0

Derek Wilson 8
Italy 1
Mexico 4
Chile 3
Algeria 0

Ryan Parrent 7
Netherlands 3
Ivory Coast 1
Ghana 3
Honduras 0

Colin Newman/O'Shea 8
Argentina 6
Cameroon 0
Slovakia 1
South Africa 1

Steve Noffke 10
Germany 3
United States 1
Switzerland 3
South Korea 3

Tim Transon 7
Portugal 1
Serbia 3
Nigeria 0
Slovenia 3

Dan Noffke 5
England 1
France 1
Japan 3
Austrailia 0

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Bawa's A Goner: *tear*

Sad, sad news for the Indiana Hoosiers basketball program today, as sophomore Bawa Muniru has decided to leave the program for greener pastures elsewhere.

/sarcasm.
Bawa is one of those guys who has some of the things you need to have if you wanna ball. He can jump. He is almost seven feet tall.

Unfortunately, he is also missing basic things like, um, the ability for your brain to tell your hands to get to a ball within two seconds, or a shooting eye, or anything resembling rebounding instincts.

We were looking at a kid whose ceiling was best described as "a poor man's Tijan Jobe." At least Tijan was entertaining. At least Tijan looked good playing defense. Muniru never played more than eight minutes in a game (the infamous Bryant game, where we lost Creek) when he managed two rebounds and two blocks to go with an 0-for-1 shooting performance.

With Guy-Marc Michel coming in, our spot for 'token 7-footer with limited offensive skills' was already filled anyway.

Anyway, I wish Bawa the best at St. Cloud State or Mideastern Tennessee State or wherever he ends up. Also, this opens up a scholarship for 2011, which maybe we can fill with somebody who can actually play basketball. How 'bout it, Crean?

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

US Open Preview

It’s about that time again to talk about the US Open. This year’s championship will be played at the famous Pebble Beach in California. If I had to pick anywhere to have the US Open it would be Pebble Beach. The scenery is absolutely beautiful especially the 18th hole that runs along the ocean. It has the white sand traps and amazing views wherever you are on the course. I hope to one day be able to play Pebble Beach. Phil Mickleson will hope to continue his Masters success and continue his run at a grand slam (winning all 4 major golf championships in a row).

Now there are a few questions that people will be asking about this year. One of them is will the weather cooperate this year unlike last year. For those who don’t remember last year was a very wet weekend which had many off their game and multiple rounds being played in one day. Will this weekend be nice for this year US Open? I sure do hope so.

Another question will be of course how Tiger will do. A couple of weeks ago Tiger withdrew from a tournament complaining about back problems blah blah blah. I can’t see Tiger doing well this weekend in fact I’m pretty sure it’s a lost year for him, that’s just my opinion though. He really hasn’t shown any type of dominance in the little he has played this year and I don’t expect him to show it this weekend. The US Open is known for higher scores due to the long rough and slick greens. He certainly has the ability, but don’t think he will show it this weekend.

One other question that comes to mind is will Robert Garrigus carry an extra pair of pants? For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about Robert Garrigus was the golfer that had a 2 stroke lead going in the final hole and gave it up by triple bogeying 18. However he is also the golfer who had HUGE swamp ass. Literally it looked like he decided to sit in a puddle. If you want to know what I’m talking about just search for it you’ll know what I’m talking about.

I can’t tell you will win this weekend and I really have no idea who will play well this weekend. I’ll give the usual names that I always look for and that are Mickleson, Furyk, and Woods. I’ll give you a sleeper pick and no it’s not you Sergio, but Justin Leonard. Why you ask because his name jumped in my head and I got this feeling that he might do well. Alright have a good weekend.

Thank Goodness IU is in the Big Ten



After all the hype and guess work followed by intense lobbying and jockeying for position it appears that the conference realignment has settled down for now. I for one have enjoyed most of the talk and am glad that the Big Ten landed Nebraska, my number one choice all along. I think what made the experience even more enjoyable was know my alma mater wasn’t going to be moving anywhere. It’s a good thing Indiana is in the Big Ten already, the reason why? Security.

All the major moves or attempted moves by conferences were clearly about 1 thing and 1 thing only. Football. As we all know Indiana is not a football power house. Of the Six Power conferences I’d say Indiana is the third worst football school. Duke is a clear choice for number one followed up by Iowa State who has never won the Big 8 or the Big XII North. I have Indiana at three but would be willing to listen to arguments about Vanderbilt and Baylor.

Secondly, Indiana is not a school with an extremely desirable television market that conferences might ignore whether the school has been successful on the field, like Rutgers. Indiana is in third place in football in the 16th most populated state and doesn’t exactly carry the TV markets of its two closest metropolitan areas which are Indianapolis (25th nationally) or Louisville (50th). No conferences are going out of their way to try to get a school like this.

If there was a bidding war for Big Ten teams, I see Indiana playing out much like Kansas. Yes the school is a huge brand name for basketball, but without the football to back it up, nobody really cares. Kansas was going to be left on the outside looking in, and I fear Indiana would have been in the same situation.

In all honesty, I think that’s the reason I enjoyed the conference realignment talk so much, cause I knew my school was safe. I think if I had been in a situation like Kansas, K-State or any other school that could have been left on the outside looking in, I would have been terrified about every rumor I heard. Needless to say, I’m glad Indiana is already in, because there would be no invitations coming if they weren’t.

Shoulda Gone With My Gut

Spain: The favorite. The safe pick. I had to take 'em at No. 2, right?

Uhhhh...

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=264073&cc=5901&ver=us


1-0 Switzerland. The same Switzerland that I almost picked at No. 15.

I think you rigged this thing, Noffke.

Oh well, at least Uruguay got a tie for me.

Monday, June 14, 2010

ACSS World Cup Standings

Here are the standings after all teams have played 1 game

Steve: 10
Ryan: 7
Dan: 5
Colin: 5
Derek: 5
Dave: 5
Tim: 4
Mark: 1


Below is a breakout of the teams

Dave Weir 5
Brazil 3
Greece 0
Paraguay 1
New Zealand 1

Mark Fodor 1
Spain 0
Uruguay 1
Denmark 0
North Korea 0

Derek Wilson 5
Italy 1
Mexico 1
Chile 3
Algeria 0

Ryan Parrent 7

Netherlands 3
Ivory Coast 1
Ghana 3
Honduras 0

Colin Newman/O'Shea 5
Argentina 3
Cameroon 0
Slovakia 1
South Africa 1

Steve Noffke 10
Germany 3
United States 1
Switzerland 3
South Korea 3

Tim Transon 4
Portugal 1
Serbia 0
Nigeria 0
Slovenia 3

Dan Noffke 5
England 1
France 1
Japan 3
Austrailia 0