Archive for March, 2011

Can BYU still reach the virgin territory of the Final Four?

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One of the most interesting story lines in the week leading up to Sunday’s NCAA College Basketball Tournament selections is Brigham Young, where a Final Four appearance would be truly virgin territory.

A week ago, BYU was cruising with a 27-2 record, ranked No. 3 in the nation and on the bubble for a No. 1 seed. Some pundits thought the team was better than their best previous one, the 1980-81 Danny Ainge-led squad that got as far as the Elite Eight.

Then the university suspended forward Brandon Davies for the season for violating the honor code, apparently by having premarital sex with his girlfriend, a no-no at the Mormon school in Provo, Utah. The 6-9 Davies was the team’s leading rebounder (stats) and third leading scorer.

BYU’s Brandon Davies cheers on his team against Wyoming om Saturday. Davies was suspended from the team last week for violating BYU’s honor code. (AP Photo)

The suspension touched off a lively debate over whether it was the right thing to do. One opinion heard frequently is that since he agreed to the Honor Code, he needed to live with it, even if many Americans (and almost all Europeans) would consider the sex ban ridiculous.

After being blown out by New Mexico 82-64 its first game without Davies, the Cougars dropped in the rankings to No. 8. The bracketology masters at CBS Sports have them as no better than a No. 4 seed.

BYU recovered by blowing out Wyoming 102-78 in its last home game Saturday night, and Coach Dave Rose let Davies help cut down the nets, drawing a huge cheer from the crowd.

Will the Cougars be able to make the Final Four without Davies? Possible, but not likely. The Cougars do still have a superstar scorer in guard Jimmer Fredette, who averages 27.9 points per game, but there’s a serious hole in the defense.

BYU’s chances of improving its seeding depend on its winning the Mountain West tournament, which begins Wednesday in Las Vegas. Their toughest competition? Cinderella story San Diego State.

Forget Watson – Play rock-paper-scissors against a machine (NYT)

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Imagine this: Arnold Schwarzenegger travels back in time to defeat Sarah Connor, mother of the future rebel leader John Connor. But instead of a shotgun, his only weapons are … rock, paper and scissors.

You now have the chance to beat the Terminator in a new online game of rock-paper-scissors on The New York Times’ website.

Sound boring? It’s not. The machine hand you compete against represents a sophisticated computer program that can learn your patterns and strategies. The longer you play, the more it learns — and the harder the game gets.

And it gets really hard if, instead of choosing the “beginner” difficulty level, you choose “advanced.” Then you’re playing roshambo against a computer that has learned overall patterns of all the human opponents it has faced since going live on NYTimes.com Saturday.

Check it out at NYTimes.com. The game may not be as sophisticated as IBM’s Watson on “Jeopardy” last month, but it’s much more accessible. And much more of a fun time-killer for your Monday back at work.

rockpaperscissors

Crazy downhill ride: Kids, don’t try this at home

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Helmet-cam from the Valparaiso Cerro Abajo 20011. Insane.

Charlie Sheen goes highbrow. Kinda.

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(Image via Buzzfeed)

It was inevitable given the brief popularity of the Kanye West tweet/New Yorker cartoon mashups last summer that a Charlie Sheen incarnation would be making an appearance. He is — after all — the gift that keeps on giving.

This was apparent as soon as New York magazine released its ‘Sheen, Beck, or Qaddafi?’ game earlier this week. Or was it when in 24 hours he amassed 900,000 Twitter followers eager for front-row seats to the train wreck. Or when Jimmy Fallon launched into a spot-on impression with everyone’s favorite Sheen-isms. Or when…

FALLON AS SHEEN:

Kim Kardashian debuts new single ‘Jam (Turn it Up)’

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What’s new with Kim Kardashian? Not a new perfume, not a new fitness DVD, not even a new clothing company — it’s a new single. As in a song. The kind you sing.

Photo by Getty Images

Kardashian made her first venture into the music industry this morning.

The song, “Jam (Turn it Up)” premiered on Ryan Seacrest’s KISS-FM show after Kardashian admitted she was “nervous” because it was something she’d never done before.

Listen to the song here.

It’s about what you’d expect: Auto-Tuned vocals over a synthesizer-heavy track while Kardashian sings of “picking out any boy I want” in the club. Let’s just say by the time it was over, I was longing to hear some Ke$ha, Taylor Swift or any other artist who more successfully hides their (lack of) vocals behind the Auto-Tune plug-in.

To her credit, though, Kardashian is donating all benefits from the song to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. And let’s face it: nobody will be the least bit surprised if this becomes a chart-topper.

Even better, a music video will soon follow. Check out pictures from its production on Kardashian’s blog.

Charlie Sheen’s explosive Twitter account

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Twitter’s newest sensation emerged Tuesday when actor Charlie Sheen decided to join the ranks of the tweeters.

It seems he thought he wasn’t getting enough media attention already.

Before he even typed a single tweet, the actor had more than 100,000 followers, The Guardian reports. Between noon and 1 p.m. Tuesday, he gained eight new followers a second. At time of writing, Sheen was nearing 900,000 followers — only one day after his account was created.

If you visit Sheen’s Twitter page, you’ll find many references to winning and to the tiger blood Sheen says is running through his veins. And since the hashtag #tigerblood is trending worldwide, it seems the world needs its Charlie Sheen fix.

5-year-old wants job before marriage

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In a time when universities are full of girls who are — self-admittedly — working on their M-R-S degrees and women think the ideal age to be married is 25, is it refreshing to see this 5-year-old YouTube sensation who “wants to do something special” before marriage?

Or maybe it’s disturbing that a girl so young is already thinking about her marriage and career at the age most girls are thinking mostly about swings and ponies (or at least I was when I was five). Either way, you have to admit that this sassy kid has a point.

‘Dancing With the Stars’ 2011 cast announced

I started watching DWTS back when Nicole Scherzinger, Erin Andrews and Chad Ochocinco were burning up the dance floor. I was drawn to the “stars” that season because they were energetic, fun and real.

I became truly invested in the show and actually found myself voting some weeks (I’m about as likely to cast a vote in something like that as I am to watch reality TV). The show was, in a word, addicting.

Last season was a bit of a disappointment and no one really drew me in. In fact, I can’t even remember who won (was it Kate Gosselin?) without hitting Google.

I have a feeling this year will be the same. The cast is filled with a bunch of people who not only don’t interest me, but flat out turn me off. They’ve got at least three Niecy Nash-type showy loudmouths in the form of Wendy Williams, Kirstie Alley and Kendra Wilkinson. I have a feeling Romeo may not be much more subtle.

I had to look up Mike Catherwood, Chelsea Kane (not the same as Chelsea of “Chelsea Lately,” I found) and Chris Jericho and I thought Sugar Ray Leonard was Mark McGrath (oops).

Ralph Maccio is probably going to be another Florence Henderson/Buzz Aldrin, so that leaves me with Hines Ward or Petra Nemcova. At the very least, those two are easy on the eyes.

Here’s the full line-up vying for the mirrorball trophy:

Kirstie Alley
Mike Catherwood
Chelsea Kane
Ralph Macchio
Chris Jericho
Sugar Ray Leonard
Petra Nemcova
Romeo
Hines Ward
Kendra Wilkinson
Wendy Williams

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