U of O ultimate frisbee team suspended for playing nude

One thing stuck out to me in this ESPN Page 2 article about how the University of Oregon ultimate frisbee team was suspended for nudity. Well, besides the fact that, you know, the U of O ultimate frisbee team was suspended for nudity.

It's that the team was "ranked No. 3 in the nation at the time of their suspension."

OK, not even that they were ranked number three. I have no idea what schools are good or bad at ultimate frisbee (though apparently Colorado is a "perennial power").

No, what shocked me is that there are actually national rankings for ultimate frisbee.

Sadly, the University of New Mexico ranks a lowly 100th. At least that's higher than New Mexico State who, apparently, doesn't even have a team.

Will Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online revolutionize online gameplay?

There is an interesting article at Mashable about EA Sports' latest announcement.

From the announcement:

Available this fall, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online is an authentic golf simulation experience that is dynamically streamed to a web browser and requires no game installation, no disc, and no additional peripherals. This game is easily accessible and available anywhere, via a web browser and an internet connection.

I can't say that Sony (with the PlayStation3), Microsoft (with the XBox) and Nintendo (with the Wii) will be happy about this. Unless they also offer a version on the PS3, Xbox and Wii online.

This is a serious shot across the bow of the gaming platforms. EA is cutting out a number of middlemen -- instead of needing to package their discs and send them to outlets to sell to gamers who also need to own a PS3, Xbox or Wii, now all that is required is a computer and a broadband internet connection.

No more trips to Best Buy or GameStop to grab the latest title. Instead, people can sit at home and download the latest golf course.

But, Mashable writes:

A big part of EA’s bet here is that they’ll be able to change user behavior. As significant as the advantages of online gameplay might sound, buying the latest version of Madden (and other EA games) is almost a religious experience for many people. Additionally, some EA games have already implemented online features, and will likely continue to do so, making some of the advantages of online-only games less relevant.

Of course, it’s not necessarily an either/or decision between online and console. Diehard gamers might want to play Tiger Woods both on their console at home and online when they’re on-the-go. And EA is likely to continue to offer both options for the foreseeable future, using the Tiger Woods game as a measuring stick for whether they’ll be able to successfully apply the model to some of their other, huge franchises. It all makes sense on paper, but ultimately the gamers will decide.

So perhaps it will lead to this: a stripped-down online version for a tiered-monthly fee. And those who also purchase the physical game for their gaming console (or even PC) will get some extras.

In other words, EA Sports may have founda way to get more milk from the same cow.

Spock:Obama::Kirk:McCain?

In the New Yorker, Hendrik Hertzberg takes the "Obama=Spock" meme one step further, and says that not only is President Barack Obama analogous to Dr. Spock (the Star Trek one, not the children's health dude), but Captain James T. Kirk is analogous to none other than John McCain.

Kirk is a wise-ass and a troublemaker. He’s reckless and insubordinate. He’s a skirt chaser. He relishes getting into fights. He wrecks cars. He’s a flyboy. He’s rebellious. He doesn’t do things by the book—he’s a maverick.

The latest revelation comes after Hertzberg read a Newsweek article in which Obama said the last movie he saw was Star Trek (I still have yet to see it, making me the last person under the age of 30 in the United States to not have seen the movie yet).

And the last movie you saw?
Now, movies I've been doing OK [with] because it turns out we got this nice theater on the ground floor of my house … So Star Trek, we saw this weekend, which I thought was good. Everybody was saying I was Spock, so I figured I should check it out and—[the president makes the Vulcan salute with his hand].

Very good.
Yes, absolutely.

Did you watch that when you were growing up?
I used to love Star Trek. You know, Star Trek was ahead of its time. There was a whole—the special effects weren't real good, but the storylines were always evocative, you know, there was a little commentary and a little pop philosophy for a 10-year-old to absorb.

Torre says Manny should skip All-Star game

Joe Torre (or "That vampire from the Yankees") is saying that his left fielder, Manny Ramirez, should skip the All Star game if he is voted in, according to the Associated Press.

Sure, he was suspended 50 games for using performance enhancing drugs, but should he really be banned from the All Star game if the fans vote him in?

After all, his suspension will be up by the All Star break, so he'll be eligible for it. And New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter is leading in the All Star balloting even though he is clearly not the best player at his position in the American League this year (that would be Jason Bartlett).

I keep voting for Manny mainly because it's funny. While the guy at Vote For Manny is doing out of some weird sense that he's going to fix baseball, I think my reasoning is much more entertaining and much more realistic.

Sarah Palin to be on Colbert

Via her Twitter account:

Getting ready to tape shout-out for our awesome US troops serving overseas! Will be on ‘Colbert Report’ next month, broadcast from Iraq…

Colbert vs. Palin on his turf?

Not fair.

The HDNet vs Time Warner fight

High definition cable TV network HDNet is going to be dropped from Time Warner Cable by the end of the month if a deal isn't worked out. Is this like the recently resolved high-profile fight between the NFL Network and Comcast, where the cable company argues that the cable network wants too much money?

Nope.

From the OC Register:

Time Warner confirmed two weeks ago that it is parting ways with the Dallas-based high-definition TV network because the two failed “to reach terms.” Time Warner wouldn’t elaborate on the loss of the channels, which were part of the $5/month “HD Tier.” In their place, Time Warner added the Smithsonian HD Channel and Crime & Investigation HD.

But according to HDNet owner Mark Cuban (yes, he’s also the owner of the Dallas Mavericks), the deal wasn’t about the usual increase in carriage fees, which is the money companies pay per subscriber to offer a network’s TV channels. (Remember the whole Viacom fiasco when Viacom’s fee increase nearly resulted in the loss of Jon Stewart, Sponge Bob and MTV?)

“No, the exact opposite. We cut the fees considerably,” said Cuban, via e-mail.
Interestingly, Cuban says he was trying to get HDNet to become part of Time Warner’s digital basic cable package so that all customers could access the channel. HDNet Movies would remain on the special HD tier. The new deal would be “considerably less than what they were paying to have both on the (HD) tier,” he said.

In other words, Cuban and HDNet wanted to be available to a larger audience than just those who were willing to pay an extra $60 a year to get HD channels. In order to do so, Cuban says they "cut the fees considerably."

And yet Time Warner is all set to cut loose HDNet and HDNet Movies and replace them with the Smithsonian Channel HD and MavTV in most areas.

One day, all channels will be broadcast in high definition. That's just the way TV technology and the TV industry is going. In a few years, people will look back at this battle and wonder what the hell Time Warner was thinking.

NYTimes on teens texting

Apparently constant texting might be bad for teenagers. At least according to a story in the New York Times.

Spurred by the unlimited texting plans offered by carriers like AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless, American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the Nielsen Company — almost 80 messages a day, more than double the average of a year earlier.

The phenomenon is beginning to worry physicians and psychologists, who say it is leading to anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation.

I send a lot of text messages from my phone (a Blackberry Storm). With Verizon, you just need to dial #3282 (#DATA) to see the amount of text messages sent in that billing period.

Mine? Well I've sent 2117 text messages since May 4.