Plot Showing Why BYU Football Should Be Proud.

The plot below, taken from the Wall Street Journal, shows why BYU Football should be proud and excited to kick off the new year tomorrow.  BYU's football team, better than most schools (good job Stanford), represents the the school very well both on and off the field very well.

Go Cougars!

Goooaaaaaaal!!!

Not that this has anything to do with physics, but some things just need to be posted.  Check out a nice description of the game over at Dirty Tackle.


Parabolic motion + a well placed head = Pure manic soccer joy.

BYU Puts Honor Code Over Potential Final Four Appearance

As most of our bloggers are BYU graduates we often comment on times when BYU makes the news here, and if you follow college basketball at all you know that BYU is having possibly its best season ever in men's basketball.  The team is ranked #3 in the country, their point guard Jimmer Ferdette is the leading candidate for national player of the year honors, and the team is likely to get a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament later this month.

The big story to me, however, isn't the success on the court but rather the commitment to the schools very rigorous honor code.  From the Salt Lake Tribune:

Three days after recording the biggest regular-season win in program history, a win over San Diego State that propelled the BYU basketball team to a No. 3 national ranking and into serious consideration for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Cougars’ postseason hopes were dealt a devastating blow. Starting center Brandon Davies was dismissed from the team on Tuesday because he ran afoul of the school’s strict honor code. BYU announced in a terse news release that Davies, a 6-foot-9 sophomore from Provo High, “will not represent the university on the men’s basketball team throughout the remainder of the 2010-11 season” because of a “violation of the BYU Honor Code.”

Among other things, the code forbids premarital sex, the use of alcohol and illegal drugs, and cheating on schoolwork.

So let's get one thing straight:  the honor code is strict but not draconian.  Davies did not get booted from the basketball team for sipping a coffee, swearing, or growing a beard.  BYU never reveals details about honor code issues to the public, so unless Davies talks we'll never know what he did.

The amazing thing to me is that BYU is actually getting a lot of respect in some media outlets for their actions.  For example, here is a clip from ESPN singing BYU's praises:


BYU put their standards before fame and fortune, and I applaud them for it.

Selling the Foul In Sports.

Chris Bosh was only 1 for 18 shooting in Miami's loss to Chicago last night, but perhaps he is preparing to get an academy award?

It is almost as bad as watching the soccer players in the world cup!

Boise State Joins The Mountain West Conference!

From KSL:

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Boise State on Friday accepted an invitation to join the Mountain West Conference in 2011 as the two-time Fiesta Bowl winner seeks out a league that's a better launching pad into lucrative postseason bowl games.

The Mountain West is going to have a strong conference this football season.   Take that BCS!

It's funny, I just commented on Nick's post this needs to happen.

What We Can Learn From Kobe Bryant About Focus.

We've already debated whether Kobe Bryant is a great player or the greatest player ever to touch the face of the earth.  Perhaps this video gives us a better understanding of just why that may be.

For those fortunate enough to watch the Lakers hand Boston a loss in game one of the finals last night, (102-89) you may have noticed the above clip.  Things like this are why Kobe is mentioned in the same category as the other great players who went before him. (I say went before as nobody else currently can compare.  Tell me when Lebron can actually make it into a finals.)

But even if you aren't a Kobe fan, you have to admit, having this level of focus is amazing.  Chris Rock is right in his ear and he isn't even phased at all.

I think the only time I ever had this kind of focus was the week before the candidacy exam here.  I was so focused I didn't eat, sleep or anything else I probably should have been doing.  I just consontrated 100% on passing the exam, and it payed off. (However, if Chris Rock showed up at my door, I would have have a hard time ignoring him.)

The picture below is yet another Kobe record he acquired this year: (Along with Phil Jackson.)

A Perfect Game Blown On A Bad Call. Major Tragedy.

I was a pitcher in baseball in high school so I know how big of a deal this would have been.

Armando Galarraga pitched a perfect game, a feat so difficult it has only happened 20 times in baseball history. Well, he did if it wasn't for a bad call. On the last out of the game, the umpire says the runner at first was safe when he was clearly out.

What a tragedy!

Resurrecting Old Species, Life on Mars and The Suns.

Three news stories struck me as interesting:

Scientists Rebuild Wooly Mammoth Blood

Scientists have already "resurrected" an extinct goat through cloning.  Now, it looks like scientists have used ancient DNA of a Woolly Mammoth to rebuild the extinct creature's blood.

Look, I know I should be more skeptical, but I just may live to see the day when Jurassic Park is more of a reality.

NASA cites new evidence for life on Mars.

This is another one of those "I hope to see before I die" things.  I'm sure there is life outside of planet Earth.

It really doesn't make sense that there wouldn't be, unless you are a skeptical extremist.  I say extremist because on one hand the evidence supporting the idea is mounting (the above link is one example) and then there's that whole Copernican Revolution from which good scientists learn that they shouldn't consider this Earth as "the one special place in all the cosmos". (And the cosmos is pretty big might I add.)


Suns to wear 'Los Suns' jerseys for Game 2

This is not a political statement.  No matter where you stand on this law, you have to admit the Suns wearing "Los Suns" for Cinco De Mayo in light of Arizona's new immigration law is pretty funny.

NCAA Championship: A Study in Statistics and Multi-Dimensional Parameter Space

As most of you may have heard UNC won the NCAA Basketball championship yesterday. To some people this came as no surprise as they were favored to win. And considering how they played in the first two rounds it also comes as no surprise. So now here comes the critical question, did they win because they were good or because they were statistically preselected by the NCAA championship committee to win?

Previously I have written on conspiracy theories ranging from a US invasion of Canada to the sudden drop in oil prices last year. So now I present my latest conspiracy theory: UNC was selected to win the NCAA championship at the beginning of of March, if not sooner.

You are probably aware of the fact that computer scientists all over the US spend an inordinate amount of time and effort writing a program that will analyze each team and select who will win each game and thus who will ultimately win the championship. The reasons for this are simple, on the one hand it presents and interesting statistical problem in multi-dimensional parameter space that can be solved. On the other hand it is a good way to make money. If you can write a good program that can predict who will win, then you can bet on that team and make a lot of money. It's the same reason people study the statistics of gambling (in one sense this is studying the statistics of gambling). These people who bet on their team obviously don't want to loose money, so they make sure that their program works best.

Now consider that it isn't just college professors betting on online brackets, but now you are a corporation betting on advertising revenue (ESPN, CBS, NCAA, etc.) but now you are not just trying to predict the outcome of a random event, but rather you are trying to maximize your returns, and you have some influence over these seemingly "random events". So lets say you get your hands on one of these predictive programs that seems to work fairly well, but the bracket and tournament has not been decided yet. You have several teams to choose from, to put into 16 slots. You can also determine how these 16 teams will go into the slots.

So you input the data and you see that team A is good at offense OK at defense and good at free throws. Team B is OK at defense but good at offense and free throws. If these two teams played they would be evenly matched, but team A tends to foul more than team B, thus if they played, team B would be more likely to win. So you look at this multi-dimensional parameter space and while there are a number of variables, they all can be reduced to one variable, the score. This makes it immensely simple. So now you look at team C and see that they are good at offense OK at defense and OK at free throws. Now we see that if team A plays team C, the fact that team A tends to foul no longer matters because team C can't make free throws. Thus if you seed team A against team B, team B is guaranteed to win, but if you seed team A against team C it could go either way and come down to a buzzer shot.

As long as the people organizing the bracket have no personal interest in the matter (i.e. they don't or can't bet, and they don't hold personal feelings towards team B) then they just might do it randomly. But now let us introduce another parameter. The organizers know that if they have team A and team B play, team B will win. They know that if team C and team D play, team D will win. Which means team B will play team D in the next round. If you switch the original bracket, then you may have team C playing either team D or A in the final. Now here's the catch. If you have B and D play in the final you can get more sponsors and you get more money. So if all you care about is revenue from sponsorship then it would be easy to "fix" the bracket in order to maximize your revenue.

As a real example of maximizing revenue. Say you have a football (soccer) championship. Would you want the championship game to be played between Newell's Old Boys and Chaco Forever, or would you want the championship game to be played between Real Madrid and Manchester United? (note: Chaco Forever doesn't even have a Wikipedia page...oh wait! I found it, it was spelled wrong) So how much money could be made either way? If you could affect the outcome, and make a little money would you do it? Especially if it appears for all intents and purposes to be legitimate and random? (But really isn't).

So here is my conspiracy theory, whenever it became obvious that they could organize the bracket so that UNC could win, and that they would maximize their advertising revenue that way, the set the bracket and UNC was guaranteed a win. Looking at the point spread for the entire tournament, it has the appearance of being rigged. Just a thought.

Now for your viewing pleasure: This is the celebration that took place on Franklin Street after the game. This is the corner of Columbia and Franklin Streets, which is about a block from the Physics Department. We also have to drive down Columbia Street every time we go to church, to give you some reference.

Timelapse: Franklin Street after the victory from The Daily Tar Heel on Vimeo.

And another video:

Franklin Street: The Celebration from The Daily Tar Heel on Vimeo.

True Ironman Basketball

I've played my share of sports while a teenager, and let me say I know how exhausted you are after its over, *especially* if you had to survive through an overtime.

Syracuse and UConn had to survive 6, that's right, 6 overtimes! I don't know how the players did it. I don't know how they lasted so long without fouling out.

Dodgers Beat Angels Without a Hit

I played baseball in high school so I can really enjoy how bizarre this story is. (As can any fan of baseball.)

The Dodgers were not able to get a single hit in their game against the Angels. Usually that means you are going to lose and the opposing pitcher is going to be held as a hero throwing a seldom "no-hitter".

However, the Dodger's Matt Kemp got to first off of an error, stole second, and continued to third of of the catcher's throwing error. He then scored off of a sacrifice fly. The Dodgers went on to win 1-0.

This has happened only 5 times in major league history so it is a rare occurrence indeed.

Ubuntu Leads to NBA Championship.

I have to confess I was hoping the Lakers could win the NBA Championship being the home town favorite and all.

However, I was kicking against the pricks. The Boston Celtic motto is: Ubuntu. They thought Ubuntu would lead the to a championship and of course Ubuntu delivered. Boston Celtics are now the 2008 NBA Champions.

Momentous Day In Baseball

Today two home run records were achieved. Barry Bonds tied Hank Aaron with hitting 755 home runs in a career and Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player to hit 500 home runs. Though I am hesitant to celebrate over what Bonds did, it is still an incredible accomplishment. If A-Rod keeps up the pace we will have a person who looks a little better in the ethical light to cheer for as the best all-time HR hitter.

Bonds One HR Away From Tying Record

Whether you like it or not, Barry Bonds will tie then beat the all time home record any day now. People have been waiting a long time for this. Unfortunately, there is enough of a scandal cloud over Barry Bonds that people may not be excited that he is the one that accomplishes it. I too do not want to reward players who cheat.

But since I do want to assume innocence until proven guilty, I am excited to see Barry do it. Steriods or not, it is an amazing accomplishment. But, it would be nice to have someone break the record you know is clean.

From The USA Today:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Hammerin' Hank, here comes Barry Bonds.

Bonds hit his 754th career home run Friday night, moving within one of tying Hank Aaron's record.

Bonds sent a 2-1 pitch from rookie Rick Vanden Hurk over the wall in left-center in the first inning for a solo shot against the Florida Marlins, his 20th homer of the season.

Bud Selig wasn't there to see it, sending MLB president and chief operating officer Bob DuPuy in his place. The commissioner was back in Milwaukee, preparing to go to Sunday's Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Bonds drew ball one and ball two — with boos raining down on Vanden Hurk — before a called first strike. Then, the 96 mph fastball was gone

Bonds stood and watched his ball sail, then began another trot and clenched his fist — hitting his latest homer in the Giants' waterfront ballpark where he's hoping to make history.

Fans, already on their feet for Bonds' first at-bat, screamed in delight as the ball was clearly a home run — Bonds' first at home since he connected for No. 750 on June 29 against Arizona's Livan Hernandez. They chanted "Barry! Barry!" as he rounded the bases...

A "Road to History" tribute played on the main center-field scoreboard with a greeting from Michael Jordan.

"Hey Barry, it's Michael Jordan," the message said. "I just want to congratulate you on your historic event. I'm very happy for you. Ever since the first day I saw you in the batting cage, you've been working toward this for a long period of time. So I want to wish you and Elizabeth and that beautiful girl of yours congratulations. I'm very happy for you."...

Selig is scheduled to be in Los Angeles starting Tuesday, when the Giants open a series against the rival Dodgers.