Ref Bias: Winning Team Gets More Calls Against Them

Just finished watching Kentucky beat Vandy today. What sticks in my mind was how bad the referees were; on both sides! But remember:

Refs favor the home team, the academics say. They’re big on “make-up” calls. They make more calls against teams in the lead, and the discrepancy grows if the game is on national TV.

This comes from an AP story about an article published in the The Journal of Sports Sciences. Bottom line? Refs are simply human too and, at least subliminally, pull for whoever is losing.

More interesting stuff in the article.

Should the iPad Be Your 2nd Computer?

My wife is constantly on Facebook and does send some emails. Maybe this would be great for her? (Note of honesty: That just be me trying to justify a purchase… I certainly won’t deny it.)

Dojo Info 1/27/10

1. UK 7-year-old raises tens of thousands for Haiti
   Only thing cooler than this would be if the 7-year-old was a student at UK.
2. Dutch adoption plane airlifts 106 Haitian kids
   I’m sure there are other countries doing the same thing. Awesome!
3. CBS Faces Pro-Abortion Pressure to Scrap Pro-Life Ad Featuring Tim Tebow
   If you want to present a differing opinion, buy an ad. This is America after all. But hey, NBC censored free speech last year, what’s to stop CBS from doing it this year?
4. Rock Band 3 in the works
   No real “news” as everyone already knows they’re working on what comes next but I’m anxious for a new release. Not sure that Project Natal would work for this, would it?
5. Obama Jinxes No. 1 Kentucky
   I’m sure our kids didn’t need to get their big heads any larger but what can you do when the President calls. Not a good game for Kentucky.

Flash Animation Gone Wild

Terrific stuff! Go watch it now!

Sherlock Holmes a Jolly Good Time

I don’t see many movies, which is a good thing and a bad thing. I like movies so I wish I could see more, but at least the ones I do see have the most potential to be worthwhile.

I thought Sherlock Holmes was terrific. And because of that, I’ve now lost faith in the Net collective MetaCritic as a reliable measure. Maybe it’s not the site’s fault as much as the self-important slew of “critics” who blew it up. From their comments, it seems they have more against Guy Ritchie than the movie itself, but whatever, I don’t care. I thought it was great fun, with a just a few complaints. 9 out of 10

Spreading UK Love in Iraq

Just saw this over on Kentucky Sports Radio.

The above picture is of a long-time KSR reader David Kaelin, who has been in Iraq and Afghanistan for some time and presented a Patrick Patterson jersey to two members of the Iraqi Government last week.

How cool is that?

Obama Wants to Own You

Scary, scary stuff here. Obamacare is socialistic medicine… no question about it.

Dojo Info 1/17/10

1. Steam Account Sells for $1,000 on eBay
   Why would this crazy resort to utter madness? “I am going to try to spend more time with my family and doing other hobbies.” Oh. That’s fair… I guess.
2. Dylan Cuthbert: Game Funding Model Is “Fundamentally Broken”
   Publishers hold the power and will only bank of titles they believe have sure-fire success written all over them. That’s why any developer who wants to take risks and innovate, needs to find a relatively small publishing company or go it alone. Yes, I agree it’s broken.
3. Bump Goes Cross-Platform With New Android App; Upgrades iPhone Version Too
   Too hip app that I must have.
4. Live coverage of Google’s Android phone announcement
   World domination! Watch out for Google!
5. Video game sales explode in industry’s best month ever
   I think it’s inventive games on the Wii that are the big surprise. Nintendo is quite visionary in that regard.

T-Mobile Commercial Takes a Different Tact

Very different road to customer loyalty, wouldn’t you say?

Triumph Rules Low Brow Comedy

While I further contemplate the meaning of the universe (and this blog’s role in it) take a few minutes to laugh. I heard somewhere that laughter is good for you.

John Wall on the Cover of Sports Illustrated

I’ve been giving it a lot of thought and I’ve decided to devote this entire blog to John Wall. So with that in mind, I give you…

I still might change my mind, but for now… let’s run with this.

Paladin Does 2010

What to do… what to do… I’m not sure really.

I’ve been blogging since 1996 and wonder if there’s truly nothing new under the sun. I may take this site in a completely different direction… or maybe not. I’ve not yet decided but it seems there may be a need to ramp things up.