Friday, May 28, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Hawks Open Big Ten Baseball Tournament
Iowa's baseball team has gradually improved throughout the year. Strong starting pitching and solid infield play has propelled the Hawkeyes into the four seed this week in Columbus, Ohio. The first seed Minnesota finished the Big Ten season only a few games ahead of sixth and final seed Indiana, making the tournament as wide open as ever. This Iowa baseball team has as good of a shot to bring home the hardware as any.
If the Hawkeyes make the championship game there is no reason the manager of the Hawkeyes, Jack Dahm shouldn't be named Big Ten Coach of the Year. Early on the Hawkeyes faced some stiff competition, gained valuable experience but couldn't muster any "Ws." But Dahm kept his young team together and positive taking two out of three over Penn State and Ohio State before the three game sweep of Purdue. One of the best coaching jobs by Dahm in his years at Iowa. And if the Hawkeyes continue to play as well as they have the last three weeks of the season, Iowa should be in the championship game.
A win in Columbus will be the first for the Hawkeye baseball team since a 6-4 victory over Ohio State in 1990. While Dahm emphasizes to his team that they have nothing to do with that winless streak over the years, a win over Purude could propel them to something this program hasn't done, win the Big Ten Tournament Championship.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Lost - The End
The finale gave us one more look at some characters we haven't seen in a long time. We found closure with Shannon, a character we haven't seen since Season 1. Bennard and Rose continued to survive on an island in peace and solitude. The continued to have their ocean view along with Vincent, the dog that belonged to Walt. Penny and Desmond were re-united as well as Sun and Jin was the feel good moment of the "resurrections." But we missed Walt and Mr. Eko. Two characters the writers made us curious of, but were quickly forgotten as if their part wasn't important at all.
I was disappointed in the ending, but I felt I was let down as the time leading up to the scene in the church was next to brilliant. We were able to have closure with the characters. Although the writers didn't want us to believe the survivors of Flight 815 were in Purgatory, that is what we are led to believe. In the end, I was waiting for brilliant, but got the expected. That was my let down. A series that had brilliant writing--where you would rewind over and over again to make sure you heard them correctly--and terrific character development, the letdown came from an ending that had been predicted by many.
Some of my memorable moments from last night:
- Kate on the name of Jack's father: "Christiant Shepherd? You're kidding, right?"
- Ben, communicating with Lapidus who was fixing the plane: "I think they are making progress."
- We now know Jack wasn't invincible. He, too died like the others. He just wasn't the last one.
- Vince, symbollically representing Walt at the end.
- In the Sideways world, Jack and Juliet, husband and wife.
- And although I won't remember them, the Target commercials were very "Super Bowl" like.
Other links worth reading:
And there are others linked within some of these sites. Enough reading to continue the "Lost" fix. However people, it is a tv show, and it was a great one. But some of the comments that were provided by viewers courtesy of Verizon were downright pathetic. I'm going to miss the show, too, but I do have a life away from the tv.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Coralville Yankees
Inside the Big Ten Meetings
Within the smaller session the football coaches had the opportunity to learn about the advancments in video technology. Along with myself, Rob Porteus of Wisconsin and Phil Bromley of Michigan had the one-time opportunity to speak of the transition to HD for video exchange. Already the Big Ten Network is utilizing HD and relies on video from the team's video department for segments of their "4-Pack" shows. The upcoming 2010 season will be the first for HD replay. The last piece of the puzzle is coaching video.
Currently there are no college or NFL teams operating a full HD network, so there are many questions that need to be answered. What will be the HD format? Will the teams continue to exchange video over the internet at the same speed teams are accustomed to today? How will each school pay for the upgrade? Already teams have begun to transition to HD, but not one have all the necessary components. By early 2011 all the necessary parts will be available and the act of teaching from video will be taken to a new level as the clarity will be significantly improved.
Within the HD presentation was the proposal to mandate the H.264 8MB HD codec. The advantage of this "flavor" is to provide HD quality video in a smaller video file than the current Standard Definition DV25 file. With the smaller video file, less storage will be necessary and the exchange times of video between schools will be quicker.
Currently all Big Ten schools are in different phases of the HD transition. Those with newer facilities already have HD monitors and projectors. However there are still a couple of schools that need to upgrade their software, replace current hardware or are still deciding on the best camera set up for them. While the ideal time frame to convert all schools to HD is following the 2010 season, many of us know that it will be a gradual upgrade for others. The SEC also discussed the topic at their Video Coordinators meeting earlier this week. Their time frame is still two years away, and the knowledge they have on the subject is not as in-depth as that put in by us in the Big Ten.
Big Ten Expansion Talk
Friday, May 14, 2010
CSVA
In between sessions video coordinators and their staffs have the opportunity to visit with those who have a direct affect on their jobs. Over twenty vendors set up shop and discussed the latest and greatest they have to make a video coordinator help prepare their team best.
The banquet on the last night, the highlight is the announcing of the CSVA Video Coordinator of the Year award. Each conference's winner is among those who can be voted the national winner. Matt Harper and Tom Shepherd of Michigan State represented the Big Ten, but were unable to take the national honor. That special recognition was awarded to Doug Aucoin of Louisiana State University.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Lost May 11
Orange Bowl Looks to Sweeten Its Deal
(Special thanks to Engy's reader, Pete VanElswyk for the tip)
How an All Star Uses Video
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Video Staff Golf Outing
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Lost May 4
Spoiler alert for those who may not have watched it yet...This may have been the most difficult episode of Lost since the passing of Charlie. This was definitely not the outcome anyone was hoping for. The Oceanic Six is no longer and in the sideways world people are beginning to link those on Oceanic 815.
There aren't many more episodes until the series finale.
(Many good write-ups on the episode. I'll continue to link them.)