Why the hell...

is a short cut that starts on the same side of the wake as the ramp called a single, when a longer cut in which the skier crosses the wakes called a three-quarter cut? Last time I checked, .75 < 1.

Observe:

A "three-quarter" cut


A "single" cut



The "single" looks more like a half-cut.
The "three-quarter" looks more like half of a double cut. Half of a double is a, what's it called, oh yeah, a single.

Go figure

*By the way, I must credit Libby, my wife, with the idea for this post. Every time I mention jumping and she is within earshot, she tells me that these two cuts are misnamed.

Don't you just hate it ...

when Mace Windu rides in the boat and doesn't even have the courtesy to keep his lightsaber turned off.




Maybe a disturbance in the force caused all of those damn rollers
(No picture, I don't want to be sued by Lucasfilm)

Shout out to the CRB-- The Lake of Sin is open for business! Of course it's full of backwash and it feels like the beginning of the year all over again (minus the drysuits/shrinkage)

I forgot to...

tell Pat that we were only taking skiing pics. Pat, to paraphrase Shakespeare, "get thee to a [podiatrist]."

We hath begun to awaken...

the sleeping ramp.

Note: all spirited commentary courtesy of 6-year-old Rachel, soon to be a skier herself

Pat has been doing mainly cut sets



I've done a few singles



Screw the singles, I'll just do a few easy three-quarter cuts.



Rick is still slaloming

though not quite up to snuff yet.

Nola, as always, has been providing dockside encouragement/harrassment.


Next: a quandary over jump terminology

This picture needs no...

clever description




Back to skiing.

Neither Rick nor myself have slalomed much this year. The skiing doesn't deserve a clever description.

Rick


Me


Too much of this

right now

I'm not the only one...

spending too much time in the water these days...



How does that dog not need a wetsuit?

I still have to...

shake quite a few cobwebs off of my tirck ski



Edge all the way up the wake, you moron!





Don't let your ass get behind you on your way up the wake, you moron!
Notice how my ski is basically in the sideslide position when it hits the water, no wonder it slides right out from under me.



Early in the year, I like to do a lot of series of WB WF R R 's. It helps get me in a ryhthm of quick transitions between tricks.



I do the same drill with WBB's too, although this one looked like shit.

One days I need a fourth person when I'm tricking so I can critique my toe tricks in the same way. Unfortunately, hold release + hold camera= shredded ligaments

Part 2 of I finally remembered...

my camera.

This is me riding my jumpers.

I always start with the crane drill.






Then I cut at (approximately-- the speedos on the Moomba are not yet calibrated) 35 mph







And there is the traditional crapping out at the end of the set.



I'm tired of just cutting. I want to hit the ramp

I finally remembered...

to bring my camera out to the lake.
See Tom*.
See Tom slalom.








See Tom's much improved technique. Well, I guess that's difficult because I didn't get any footage from earlier in the week. So instead, see blog reader taking poster's word for it.

*Tom is part of a family legacy On The University Of Iowa Waterski Team. His sister (Dr. Marie) skied @ Iowa from 98-02

Potential potential...

for injury. I am in the process of making a hardshell trick binding out of an old rollerblade boot and a wiley jump plate from one of my my old jump binding




I used a Dremel tool (Thanks Libby) to slice the runners off of the boot.



I'm still working out a lot of the what-hardware's and the how-to's.


Optical illusion time: Doesn't it look like the water goes right up to the concrete?

The cooler theft is bigger...

than anyone at Lakerykert or The Creaky Rowboat could have ever imagined. It is not just the CRB cooler. It is helpless coolers from all over this land. Nola masterminded the entire operation.
How do I know, you ask? The proof was in my backyard this morning. Coolers everywhere. CRB crew, you are not the only victim Everywhere, people languish in sobriety.
Look in horror:



CRB, Don't think that this is over and you are safe now. Nola's reign of terror has become a personal canine vendetta. Look at your siderails. Are you missing something? Something critical to the operation to a rowboat?


A paddle, perhaps?

After all of this crime and beer deprivation, the most important question to ask now is why? Why does my dog steal coolers, and now paddles?
The answer is simple, she has a criminal mind. I did some research and I unearthed this photo:


It turns out Nola did some time in puppy prison before perfecting the puppy-dog eyes and moving in to the home of an unsuspecting couple in Iowa. Providing a home, I thought my wife and I were safe. As it turns out, she was playing me all this time. I just called my bank today and I discovered that my accounts had been drained, converted to rawhide and chicken livers.

What next, you conspiring canine????


By the way, Nola only stole the cheez-its were to bribe Cujo. Cujo was necessary to keep up Nola's (man's best)friendly image.

I was called out...

By the Creaky RowBoat crew on my MS Paint skills. Weel, Abides, Ol'Dirty Bass Fisherman, and CRB Minion, here is my answer. You said New USA Waterski
ED Steve Locke can drink from the CRB cooler. I noticed there is no CRB cooler on the site.
Do you know why there is no CRB cooler on your site? Because Lakerykert's blog dog fetched it and brought it to me. Good girl Nola! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Skier Warning: off-topic post

While trying find this blog on this vast series of tubes we all love to surf, my Dad has run across a conceptual snag. Thast's right, not a technical snag, but a conceptual snag. If he cannot find a site immediately, he assumes that the site in question "must not be on his internet." He assumes that there exist several (or perhaps many, many more) internets, among which all sites are divided. So if you do not like that sites to which your internet provider gives access, you must either accept that, or get a different provider. So, Dad if you indeed find my blog on "your" internet, here is a conceptual diagram of the essence of the internet, as it relates from computer to computer.

Key: PC=personal computer
Mac=Macintosh
ISP=Internet Service Provider

Dad, this is your concept of the internet


This, however, is a concpet which is congurent with reality


Dad, your concept of the internet, while dead wrong, has not been without literary and philosophical precedent. Gottfried Leibiniz was an early Modern Philospher who was a leading proponent of the multiple universes. Also, any astute reader of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy understands both the possibilities and perils of the existence of multiple worlds.
Whether this is the greatest of all possible worlds, as Leibniz argues, or there exist multiple worlds-and the possibility of paths between them can lead a mortal to wage war on heaven- as Pullman dooms, there is still just one internet, in this world.

Next post: more skiing, hopefully

More footage...

of early season skiing. I tricked today and it was even rustier than my last set. Luckily, the rope release puller couldn't hold the camera at the same time. So for your viewing enjoyment (that's both of you), I have a few clips of Leah riding her jumpers.

I'm a big believer in the crane drill. I start all my just-cutting jump sets with it. Leah has been doing it too.


Coming of age post-PerfectPass, Christy

has not done much of old-fashioned (hand throttle) jump driving. I helped her out by hollering "GAS!"




I'm still working out the kinks uploading this one.


As you see here, early fatigue is common this time of year.

An unauthorized autobiography...

of your blog moderator

I spent much of youth carving up the bayous of just north of New Orleans, 'till that fateful day when I became a wanderer. I ran over an alligator. The fin on my 1993 Kidder Redline slalom sliced Clean through the old beast's cranium. Horribly, It was Gaston, The venerable 15-foot alpha-gator Emeritus of the Tchefuncte River. From that day forth, I was a marked man. Every Gator on that river knew my name, and wanted revenge.
Fearing the aptly-named death roll, I fled. I passed the latter half of the 90's in East-Central Alabama, studying philosophy and honing my craft in relative anonymity. That was until I heard a rumor I knew in my heart to be true.
North of Mobile, the state of Alabama is supposed to be devoid of gators. So when a friend told me about gator sightings in a local tributary affectionately (and aptly) named drunk creek, I knew I had been found. Lake Martin fed Drunk creek, and Lake Martin was our ski team's practice site. Drunk creek's water held my scent. Gaston's descendants were on the verge of capturing me.
So I fled once again, this time to the tobacco fields of eastern North Carolina to live as a ski instructor in a small, isolated catfish pond. Inevitably, I caught wind of a gator sighting on the banks of the Cape Fear river. Though an unconfirmed sighting, it was the impetus I needed to leave. AS months passed, I sensed a seething insanity in the family that kept me, as if I were a guest in the House of Usher. Escape compelled me again.
Needing to regroup for a while, I landed back In New Orleans for a time. I knew Gaston's progeny were sullied across the south in their search so I had a window, to once again indulge in raw oysters and shrimp po'-boys.
Quickly, the window shut. On a crescent bend in the Mississippi river, peering eyes followed me, from just above the surface, every time I jogged along the levee. The gators had followed my scent back home. Luckily, a girl from Iowa was kind enough to offer me asylum in the maize-fields of the great white north. There I've stayed, sacrificing the warmth of year-round skiing for the safety of a frigid Gator-barrier.

Finally...

ski season has begun. This past Friday (April 4th), to be exact. I was supposed to get on the water the day before (April 3rd), but there was one small problem.





The snow was not the main problem. It was the lightning stikring the area in the hours before the snow. I lack, however, the photographic acumen to catch a bolt on (digital, or any) film.

Friday's conditions (minus the 40-something degree water temperature coupled with slight wind chop on the Coralville reservoir), were perfect. Eagerly, I hitched up the (oh-how-she-shows-her-age) Moomba. Notice the missing giude bar on the back of the trailer. I believe that costs extra, just like the starter that accepts vintage car keys, flathead screwdrivers, and Swiss Army can openers. It also accepts as its own (precision-machined) ignition key.



I managed to take anything-but-fall-please trick set, and I rode my jumpers. I had big plans to get lots of video footage, but my camera battery crapped out early. All I managed to get were a couple clips of wake jumping and a few surface tricks. Oh well, It's early yet, and and I skied like it.
Observe.









Not terribly exciting footage. Like I said, it's early.

BAD IDEA BAD IDEA

For everyone's sanity, this is a new version, hopefully free of typos

There has been a recent thread on the skifly.com message board
about a push to get waterskiing recognized (and thereby governed) by the NCAA. Skiers, stay the hell away from this. It is, simply put, a dangerous, bordering on stupid, idea.

Anyway, here's the slightly revised version of what I wrote:

This topic came up on a couple of years ago. It was a bad idea then and it's a bad idea now.



1. Title IX-- the only thing that will happen is that women's teams would be funded and given partial scholarships and men's teams will receive no scholarship money. Sorry national champ caliber skier, the fifth string punter on the football team needs his full ride, otherwise he might attend his major in-state rival.
Collegiate Waterskiing already achieves something that NCAA sports, their rulebooks stacking as high as all volumes of the venerable Encyclopedia Britannica, have yet to achieve: full gender equality. It does this simply by awarding titles on combined team scores and weighing the men's and women's scores equally. If it ain't broke...

2. Scholarships-- It is highly doubtful that waterskiing scholarships would be the all-expenses-paid stipends skiers hope they would be. Since waterskiing would no doubt be a "nonrevenue" sport, each member would not receive a full scholarship, requiring a small percentage of scholarships to be distributed to the entire team. The New York Times recently wrote about this, here's a link
link.


3. Regulation, Regulation, Regulation-- the governing structure of the NCAA is so mind-numbingly overreaching that the way collegiate skiing is governed (i.e., by the skiers themselves) would immediately cease to exist.

*Decisions about waterskiing would be made by people with backgrounds in football, baseball, etc. Conference/regional boards governed by student representatives-- done for.

*Skiers working toward officials' ratings by judging/driving at Collegiate tournaments-- gone. No way in hell the NCAA would let active competitors officiate an event

*Practice begins when the weather permits-- nope. Mandatory start dates. Team takes the boat to Okeheelee for spring break to train-- not without Committee approval and a feasibility study.

*Lake owners bring a local boys/girls 3 skier out to the lake when a collegiate team is practicing-- whoops, NCAA rules violation, that was an unsanctioned recruiting visit, now your school is on probation.

*What if one of the Alums at your school gives you his old jump sling? Violation. Improper gift to an athlete. No postseason for your school for the next two years.

4. Pros--None of the " top dogs" would be able to be collegiate skiers. Anyone who has won, or perhaps even competed, at a cash prize tournament is out, ineligible. This will surely include skiers who have worked in a ski show--you are now ineligible. Worked at a ski school?--prepare to show a lot of documents proving that all you did was cut grass. And if a coach shows up in the off season at your ski school, you were having a sanctioned practice out of season- your school is on probation.



5. More exposure? Forget it. Waterskiing will surely be promoted about as much as Field Hockey or Rowing. It's a nonrevenue sport

It basically comes down to the end of collegiate waterskiing being controlled by waterskiers, and the beginning of Collegiate waterskiing being controlled by ex-football coaches and compliance officers. Personally, I think autonomy in a sport is a good thing. There will be none in NCAA waterskiing.


Excuse me as this rant a little off-the-cuff




Commenters, Feel free to bitch me out if I am the stupid one.

Three days into...

spring and twenty-four degrees.

To quote Wile E. Coyote, " ? "

More...

On the (great?) waterski/ water ski debate.
From it's inception until 1995, The American Water Ski Association (AWSA-not the two-word moniker) )was the name of the sport's national organizing body. In 1996, The organizing body was reorganized under the name USA Waterski (note the single word), of which AWSA became one of several sport divisions. One may deduce that the unofficial stance of the new organizing body is that 'waterski' is a generic term, encompassing all watersports. 'Water ski' then refers to traditional three-event competition skiing.

Or did the new logo just happen to look better, a little tighter perhaps, without the space?

Interestingly enough, the sport's worldwide governing body is the International Water Ski Federation (IWSF-two-word moniker). Wakeboarding and three-event skiing fall under the governance of the IWSF and their two-word classification. So is it the US vs. the world?

Look at a few other English-speaking national federations:

Australian Waterski and Wakeboard federation

Water Ski and Wakeboard Canada

British Water Ski


More on this topic as new information is unearthed. It just keeps getting bigger

"We're at war,...

pick a side!" To quote the sagacious Stephen Colbert, It's time to take a stand on the most controversial issue in out sport. We align ourselves every time we write a blog post, or google search the latest neoprene acceessory.

Is it waterskiing or water skiing?
Space or compound word??????

Even dictionary.com
gives no clear answer, as both versions appear.


ebay searches give a different set of results for waterski and water ski keyword searches.


Again borrowing form the esteemed Mr. Colbert, the market -always a good starting point for shouting matches- has apparently spoken on this one. Keyword "waterski" nets 66 items. Keyword "water ski" turns up 345.

Let the polarizing debate and mudslinging begin.
Courageously, I'll wait this one out, go with the enentual winner, and claim I was right all along.

Ouch

Just watch...

and think happy thoughts...



until you walk outside your front door, only to face a cold, white, reality check...









with a gratuitous dog shot thrown in for good measure.




DAMN YOU PUXATAWNEY!!!

Update...

on the quest to rid the world of Puxatawney, and his icy plague.

Lakerykert has been tipped off by Knit Tidbits, that Puxatawney's plot is bigger than first intended. That fiendish rodent has enlisted minions all across this land to spy on us. One of Pux's Pawns has even set up shop under by shed back in the summer. Puxatawney does not just continue winter, he induces it as well. No groundhog with a network that large would be satisfied with just extendig winter. Be alert, be vigilant, spies are everywhere.

Even under my shed:


This was taken back in the summer. I have been a target for months now. Anyone reading this blog will be percieved as a threat to Puxatawney, and placed on his watch list. His reach is wide.

A little proposition...

for my fellow bloggers, the crew of the Rowboat, and the Wisconsin cheeseheaded waterski blog formerly known as Water on the Brain.

Winter is pounding us, mercilessly. I know where fault lies. Simply put,
We must hunt down and kill that dreaded Groundhog. I know just the people to help us.

Here's their story:



Now watch them in action.


I'd be willing to front a third of the Dough to thwart Puxatawnwey's reign of terror. Face it, Despite our immense combined strength, He just too much for three blogs to handle. Look at him.


(Photo part of Lakerykert's "ememny of the lake" surveillance operation)

He can't be stopped with nothing but a mouse, a frozen jump sling, a (well-worn)Dallas Friday poster, and one of those barefoot handles with the teeth-holder trick attachment.


For this call to arms, bloggers, I ask, are you in????

You're either with me or you're with Puxatawney.

This time, I will leave the Bitching...

about winter to the professionals.





Just two more months of this shit, hopefully.

Incessant...

winter

misery


This is a blizzard, shot from my frontyard


Th,th,th,this is the view f,f,f,f,f,from th,th,th,th,the backyard


How long until ski season?????????

The little man in the box....

is taunting me, with integers.




Seriously, when is this shit going to end?

This is an experiment...

in video uploading. My new camera has video has video as well as still pics, so I am tyring to learn how to post clips on my blog. So here it is, a 22 second clip of my dog.

Embedded from YouTube:


Directly uploaded to Blogger:


Happily, my camera allows clips long enough for slalom passes, trick runs, and double-cut jumps. Sadly, those clips are a few months away.

One of my new...

Year's resolutions is to be a more consistent blogger. Being that it is January, I don't know how the hell I'm going to come up with content. When you can't concoct it, youtube it.

Grab an ice pack and 3 advil gelcaps and enjoy this montage.









Water is softer than ice




Uhh, maybe percocet instead

Is it....

ski season yet?

Once more...

I bring you, my loyal reader(s), a double dip from the skiing and holiday goodie jar-also known as YouTube- sprinkled with chocolatey commentary.
Here is the world record that never was, according to IWSF. Oops, someone forgot to take centerline video.

These are simple views of Jamie's unofficial record pass. While not perfect shots, they do capture the accelleration and angle required to slalom into 43'off
41' off


43' off


Here is another view of Jamie's record. I think this is an example of the "less is more" mantra when it comes to fancy camera work in water skiing. Maybe I am a crumudegon, but the simple shot in the first two videos makes the skiing lok all the more impressive. in the Last video, all the zooming in and slomo seems like Mr. Camerman is trying too hard to make Jamie look cool, you know, for the kids. The vid makes Jamie look like he is trying harder to 'strike a pose'
than break a formidable world record. Leave the posing to the male models.




Our sport does not need anthing that gimmiky (did I hear cheesy)? That reminds me, I need to perfect my post(stand up)-toe pass hair flip this winter.


Note: I am not criticising Jamie's not-so-subtle plugs to his sponsors in the post-pass interview. The man has bills to pay.
Note: Three videos do not constitute a triple-dip into the goodie jar. I consider the first two to be one video in two parts.

As promised, a Holiday gem on this most sacred of days for the rest of us.



HAPPY FESTIVUS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD FIGHT!

A couple of...

Christmas goodies for (both of) my loyal readers.

First, this is the best perspective shot of jumping i've ever seen. This clip gives a near-perfect view of how wide, and how fast, and how far a big jump really is.


Damn.



Second, nothing quite captures the spirit of the season like this clip from SNL, circa 2001.


Crikey. I will have mad respect, forever, for Hugh Jackman.

Reason # 334,435,748,135,111...

why winter sucks ass

This post has nothing to do...

with water-skiing. As it is the off-season, I believe I have creative lecense to stray off-topic for a post or two.
This post is related to something for which I am almost as passionate as I am about water-skiing: my raging, burning, seething, gnashing, grating hatred of the evil, evil, BCS. My wife and I collaberated on a manifesto concerning said plague on soceity, so here goes. Libby (my aforementioned wife)is also posting it on her blog, knit tidbits




So, it is with great despair that we discuss a topic for which we are passionate: the ridiculous BCS "System" . It is, without a doubt, the most ridiculous thing. Ever. Libby and I have a solution (that has also been proposed by others) - a NCAA Basketball play-off type system which would incorporate the bowls, even the playing the field, and allow the big sponsors (Allstate, Tostinos, etc) to still make their millions.

Why, you may ask, am I passionate about this? Well, Libby went to school at one of the little guys, a non-BCS Conference school with a fledgling Division I football team. You see, each of the six BCS conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, SEC, Pac 10, and Big East) are guaranteed a spot in one of the BCS bowls. One automatic berth is given to the highest ranked champion of a non-BCS Conference IF (and only if) (1) it is ranked in the top 12 or (2) ranked in the top 16 and higher than one of the BCS Conference champions. This is crazy, right? So, with the Conference Champions of the top six conferences taking up 6 of the 10 spots there's little room for the rest.

My sophomore year, 1998, Libby's Greenies actually achieved the seemingly impossible, and went undefeated. (Insert your arguments about the lack of competiveness of Conference USA here.) Yet, despite their extraordinary season, the 1998 Green Wave was given no access to a major bowl game (and the national exposure that would come with it) or the National Championship. If you play your season, and you win out, then you should have equal opprtunity to play for all of the marbles. See Boise State last year or Hawaii this year. The current system relies on computers and polls, preseason rankings and "strength of schedule" to determine the top two teams. There is never a clear and undisputed National Champion. The year of Tulane's perfect season there was only one other undefeated team, University of Tennessee. Their opponent, Florida State, was beaten once in the regular season. Tennessee ended up winning the Mythical National Championship. And Tulane's Tommy Bowden, left for the greener pastures of Clemson where he would actually have the opportunity to play for a national championship under the current system. While recent "tweaks" to the BCS have marginally increased the odds of a Non-BCS school being included in a BCS bowl (Utah 2004, Boise State 2006, Hawai'i 2007), no non-BCS school has ever competed for the National Champoinship under the current system, even when being one of only 1 or 2 undefeated teams in the country. The current system practically assures that this will continue into perpetuity.

This year has been very competitive as far as college football games with lots of flipping around in the polls (for whatever that is worth), overtime games, and general parity among teams. No clear number 1 has emerged and clearly dominated its opponents. LSU suffered two losses by unranked opponents; Ohio State got beat by Illinois who even Iowa, having a rebuilding year, managed to beat. I'm somehow unsurprised that the coordinator of the BCS is also the head of the SEC, representing what I would call a significant conflict of interest. I mean even Tulane played with LSU for 3 quarters of a game. The score on the LSU/ Tulane game was farther apart than the actual game. A Number 1 or 2 team should have dominated Tulane this season.

The BCS System is, at best, a corrupt and ridiculous system. It is, at worst, completely anti-competitive and a violation of Anti-Trust laws. Why does it matter? Well, it matters because if you are a little guy in a non-BCS conference like Tulane, the only chance you have to capitalize on an extraordinary season is to get the exposure and monetary compensation (yes schools make money for playing in bowl games the teams that play in the BCS shared like $150+ million last year) that comes with playing in a BCS game - it's imperative for recruiting and sustainability. Yet, those schools do not have equal access to compete in those games.

My distate for the system boiled over in 2004 when my beloved Auburn Tigers were aced out of a shot at the Mythical National Championship, though undefeated, by USC and Oklahoma. That year, Auburn defeated a top-25 team in Tennessee to win the SEC championship, while Oklahoma beat un unranked Colorado Team in The Big 12 championship game. Clearly undermanned, USC trounced Oklahoma 55-19 in the B(silent C)S championship game. Auburn defeated a top-10 Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl 16-13. By the way, non-BCS Utah finished that season undefeated as well.

The problem is the system, and it is not the fault of the teams that were chosen. Schools, coaches, players, pundits, and fans should be outraged at the system as it now exists. I'm completely shocked by the mainstream football commentators who attempt to justify the system. It is inherently subjective and unfair. A play-off style system would alleviate controversy and name a single, undisputed national champion. I have never heard anyone make a convincing argument as to why there cannot be a play-off system and why the BCS System, as it currently exists, is satisfactory. The justifications for the Iraq war make more sense than those put forth about the BCS. That's a sad state of affairs. I.e., there is a better chance for the president to find Iraqi WMD under the couch in the oval office than ther is to find a pro-BCS argument that can hold up after even a half-assed attempt logical scrutiny.
If you look at other Division IA collegiate sports (Baseball and Basketball, for example), all teams are able to compete regardless of size and the classification of their conference. So a Tulane can make it to the Baseball World Series or the Final Four and play with the Tennessee's and the LSUs and the Ohio States.

One more thing, if you are going to try to argue about the "traditions" of the bowls, please spare me. The whole bowl system has gotten unbelievably ridiculous. I mean, do you remember with great nostalgia the the " Papajohns.com Bowl" or the "AutoZone Liberty Bowl" or the "Pacific Life Holiday Bowl" or the "New Mexico Bowl," which features, big surprise, the University of New Mexico, of old. We are just a season away from the Tampax Bowl. Seriously. Our all-time favorites: the Continental Tire Bowl and the Poulan Weed-Eater Independence Bowl

So here is what we suggest. Each of the 11 Division IA conferences will name a winner who will receive an automatic berth to the play-off for the National Championship. If you can't win your conference, then clearly you may not be the best team in the nation. If you aren't in a conference (I'm talking about you Notre Dame), then get over yourself and join up, or be at the mercy of the at-large selection process. No automatic bid for a single school based on record/rankings. There would be a few at-large berths to accomodate situations where a single conference is particularly competitive and to fill out the bracket. The Conference Champions and few at-large teams are then seeded and placed into a single elimination bracket culminating in a single National Championship Game. The semifinals, etc. can still be bowl games - The Fiesta Bowl Quarterfinal, etc. If corporate sponsors want to sponsor low-stakes, ridiculous bowl games ( i.e. the Tampax Bowl), then they can do so with the remaining teams. Bowl sponsors could still make their money, and fans/alumni would see more than one meaningful bowl game and several consolation games.

And now we bust some of the weak arguments that will be thrown against our plan:
(1) Don't fix what isn't broken; the current system works. You're kidding me with this one, right? The current system does not work. The current system creates a tiered system where the haves ( i.e. BCS Conference schools) are given advantages over the have nots (the non-BCS Conference Schools) without any regard for performance on the field. Tulane, Marshall, and BYU have all posted perfect records since 1998 and have been locked out of high-payout BCS games. Utah, Boise State, and Hawai'i, while allowed token appearances in BCS bowls following undefeated regular seasons, have been consistently left out of any serious consideration for playing in the championship game. The current system does not work. There has never been a better example than this year, where a clear-cut #1 and #2 simply do not exist.

(2) The Regular Season Won't Count Anymore. Again, are you serious? Unlike college basketball where a team plays 30+ regular season games, football teams play 12-13 games. These games will mean just as much because you will have to win your conference and you can't do that by just lazing about all fall. Further, 5 at-large bids will be necessary if a conference is particularly competitive with two amazing teams. Conference games will be just as meaningful, if not more so, than before, thanks to automatic bids. Conference championship games would hold even greater stakes. Top tier teams would also have more incentive to schedule top-tier nonconference opponents, as a win over a quality opponent could separate teams with identical records when vying for an at-large berth. Instead of first week tune-ups, fans could see intriguing matchups in early-season games.

As it exists now the, Schools with "traditions" i.e. major conference schools, are at an advantage to create a softer schedule (weak nonconference opponents), causing a glut of yawner blowouts throughout the course of a season. People say the regular season is like a playoff now. Wrong, Wrong, Wrong. It may indeed be like a playoff, but that is only for teams that are undefeated, so one loss means you are "eliminated." To quote ESPN's Lee Corso, "Not so fast." LSU lost twice this year. Twice-beaten (though they did not even win their division, much less their conference) Georgia was a possibility to play in the championship game until the very end, as was 2-loss Oklahoma. Ohio State lost to its only truly tough opponent (Illinois) and backed into the BCS championship by NOT PLAYING. And does anyone in Honolulu think the regular season is like a playoff? My guess is no. Where is the do or die in this scenario?

Currently, the regular season is like a playoff for a decreasing number of teams week-to-week, provided a perfect set of circumstances. In a 16 team playoff, the stakes would be raised for more teams throughout the course of the season. Teams that might have lost a shot at their conference champoinship would have everything to play for, as they still must seek an at-large berth. Instead of a decresing number of games with championship implications, as exists now, an increasing number of games would have playoff implications.

(3) A play-off would ruin the tradition of the bowl games. Late-round games can be played at major bowl sites. Also, tradition is overrated (See list of nostalgic bowls above). The tradition is gone for a handful of meaningless games. Whoopity-doo. Libby rests here case.

(4) The Season would last too long. It lasts later and later every year as it is. Division IAA does this and it is successful. It would be, at most, an extra couple of weeks. Nobody would be complaining, because it is down time now between the regular season and the bowl games.

So there it is, our anti-BCS manifesto. Do I have any football fans among my readers who have an opinion on this?






Here is a link to a good article about a 16-team playoff system that allows ALL teams a fair chance to play for all the marbles.
The Wetzel Plan

Gratuitious...

fun with MS Paint

It's time to stop...

letting sleeping dogs lie. It's time to get off my ass (or is that 'back on my ass') and start blogging again.

BTW, that is lakerykert (and the Waterhawk three-event team)'s new mascot, Nola

skier's canned lament:

THis afternoon, I'm meeting Rick
at the Lake to get 2-3 set of slalom today. Winds are supposed to be 10-20 MPH. I have not taken one slalom practice set in calm water this year. Sooner or later, the lake has to look like this


It has to get calm eventually, right?

I thought I was...

Jumping Pretty well so far this year. But my flight position is downright crappy, not to mention inefficient. Observe





The pink lines are perpendicular to the surface of the water and my direction of travel. The yellow lines represent ideal position. I've outlined my body segment and ski angles in blue.

Bacically, I am hitting the ramp on my heels, and my hips are getting behind my toes

It's the most wonderful...

time of the year, so the oft-parodied Christmas song goes. Bite me, Burl Ives, give me tournament season anyday.

Enjoy the following words and pictures.
(That tagline was so understated that it was pompus--like my blogging is too profound to be hyped. Don't you hate it when people do that. Oh, wait,I just did)


Driving the pick-up boat at Waterhawk tournaments is normally a way to become bored and sunburned at the same time. Unless, you spend you time trying to manuver that rustbucket into position for photos.


Amy, shot while foating in line with the 2-ball and the boat guides. I think this was 34mph/15off

I was trying to get Todd right as he came through the entrance gates.

He missed #1 and I missed my picture spot.

It just so happenned thatI was able to get a bunch of Jump pics. Dan Shuman took several of these when he was safety swimmer while I was driving the pickup boat.

Speaking of Dan, here's a shot.

Todd, Bitchin' flame decals on the hat.

This is Dan's Trophy shot: Brian Reed (or reedski as he is known to passing motorists and lurkers on the skifly.com message board)halfway up the ramp. It took several shots to get this one.

This is damn tricky to shoot when your camera has a 1-2 second shutter delay.

How about some good Leah, bad Leah?

Good Leah:
Nice balanced position on the counter cut.

Bad Leah:

How the hell did she not go OTF?

Keep your chest up!!!

Here is another instance of an RN advising a first year medical resident:
The finger is me telling Marie to edge all the way through the ramp, in that direction.



I got a few more Pics on my Flickr page But that's all I've got for now.

There are two surefire...

signs of tournament season

1. You see skiers giving a little extra TLC to their equipment



2. The PJD



More to come later