Dreamin'

Thoughts on the recently concluded Dream Job, ESPN’s entry into the reality-show world where 12 contestants competed to become a SportsCenter anchor:

• I’ve been saying for two weeks something similar to what Kit said tonight: that the last six finalists were all nearly certain to get jobs in the field. Think about it: the finalists have all essentially been through a month-long ESPN boot camp of sorts.
• The weakest parts of the show were the non-job-related events — particularly the stupid little games in the early rounds. The quiz segments could have been punched up a little bit too — they did a good job with that in the Mike-vs-Aaron final.
• I voted to cut Mike, because Aaron had better sports knowledge, but it was basically an even competition after Maggie and Zach were punted.
• Speaking of Zach, ESPN had better hope that there was a non-compete clause in his Dream Job appearance contract, because I expect Fox Sports Net to be lighting up his cell phone as I’m typing this. He was a little too edgy for ESPN, but Murdoch’s boys have no problem with that kind of thing.
• Shocker of the day: Maggie holding her own against Tony Kornheiser in PTI.
• Two things probably did Aaron in: his head-on-a-hinge Braves-Cards lead when the teleprompter got pulled versus Mike’s strong April-19 pull on Yankees-Red Sox, and that he wasn’t quite as strong in PTI as Mike.

Read More »

Ron Francis and Unexpected Outcomes

Although the Carolina Hurricanes’ season isn’t technically over yet, the team’s management threw in the towel two months ago with three deals:

• Danny Markov to Philadelphia for Justin Williams, on 21 January
• Bob Boughner to Colorado for a college prospect, on 20 February
• and most importantly, Ron Francis to Toronto for an ‘05 fifth-rounder, at 9 March trade deadline

…which makes the Canes’ recent runs rather intriguing. As highlighted today by the News & Observer, Carolina has gotten at least one point from its last six games, and they’ve won six of the last ten. By my count, since the Boughner trade in particular, they’re 8-3-2-2, for 20 points in 15 games (for non-hockey folks, that’s the same thing as 10-5 in the standings).

The money paragraphs in the N&O read:

It isn’t a coincidence that the Canes have played some of their best hockey since Francis was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 9.

It wasn’t that Francis was hurting the team with his play or his presence. But Francis was such a dominant personality in the dressing room that with him gone, some players have felt looser and less constrained in their behavior while others have become more vocal leaders.

The atmosphere that now surrounds the team could perhaps be described as marginally less professional but substantially more fun and considerably more youth-oriented. A large, disparate group went to see “Starsky and Hutch” together in Atlanta last week, the kind of all-hands-on-deck outing that was rare in the more sedate Francis era.

“There’s a sense of togetherness in the room right now,” Cole said. “You can definitely feel it. … You start winning games in the third period. You find ways to win.

Cole went on to credit Francis with fostering that atmosphere before he left. But don’t be fooled: it’s a pretty bold statement for writer Luke DeCock to say that the Canes are a better team without the NHL’s #4 career points (goals plus assists) man.

Read More »

Madrid: Good News, Bad News

I’ll reverse the usual order and go with the good news first: Paul heard from his friend Alina, and she’s fine.

The rest of today’s news from Madrid isn’t so good for us here in the States. The Socialist opposition won today’s Spanish general election, defeating current prime minister Jose Maria Aznar’s Popular Party. The presumptive new PM, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, was an outspoken opponent of Spain’s alliance with the U.S. and Britain to participate in last year’s Iraq war. The Socialists’ victory was not expected before Thursday’s attacks.

I’ll leave the Spanish political analysis to those more knowledgeable. But consider what just happened from the perspective of al-Qaeda: they executed a major terrorist attack three days before an election, and the side less likely to directly confront them promptly pulled off an upset win. The implication for this October in the U.S. should be pretty obvious.

And it doesn’t matter that such an attack might well backfire in the American political environment (especially if Kerry has managed to turn the discourse away from national security), just like it doesn’t matter whether or not the Madrid attack was intended to achieve this political end. I don’t expect sophisticated American political analysis from al-Qaeda, and a successful attack would appeal to them no matter what the timing. But the possibility (in their mind) of a Democratic victory, with the attendant retreat from corners of the globe where we are currently forcing them to expend resources merely to survive, might be enough to highlight the last week of October on the calendar.

Be wary if Bush-Kerry is a 10-point race by then.

That Loony* Dollar Coin

(As you may notice, I’ve decided to change gears and aim for shorter, more frequent entries here at BTN. I might still throw in the odd epic every once in a while, but shorter stuff is easier both for me to write and, probably, for you to read.)

Daryl Lang highlighted an interesting coinage proposal at his new D103.com site Thursday: two members of Congress are introducing legislation to put the faces of U.S. Presidents in rotation on the golden dollar coin.

A more detailed story from Coin World and the press release by co-sponsor Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) indicate that the proposal is for four former presidents per year to start appearing on the front in 2006 (the sitting president is specifically excluded from the rotation), and for the Statue of Liberty to appear on the reverse. Whether living ex-presidents are to be included is unclear. If they aren’t, the program would run out at the end of 2015 (presuming that at least G.W. Bush, W’s successor(s), Bill Clinton, and either Jimmy Carter or G.H.W. Bush are still alive at that point); if they are included, the earliest it could end would be the second quarter of 2017 (if, as seems likely, they would hold off the 1Q 2017 issue until after 15 January for a 2009-2017 two-termer). Furthermore, the bill spells out some fairly specific design decisions: the drafters want full rim-to-rim images, which would require at least some inscriptions to be moved to the coin’s rim à la €2 and £2 coins.

I like the idea, though I’d rather not write detailed design decisions into law — leave those to the professionals at the U.S. Mint. Unlike Daryl, though, I doubt that the failure of the Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea dollars had anything to do with having a woman on the coin. I think it’s more that two things will be necessary for any US$1 coin to succeed: universal acceptance in vending machines, and a rampdown in production of $1 bills. A tough, but not insurmountable, political problem for that second part is that there’s likely to be a psychological inflationary effect if the dollar becomes primarily a coin rather than a bill. I know that when I travel, I have trouble remembering that my pocket is likely to be holding around US$6 in coins rather than the usual $0.75 or so, and it was very easy in Paris to drop €1.80 (US$2.25) in a Métro-platform vending machine for a 500 mL Pepsi without thinking about the cost (“it’s just spare change”). And even though Washington would both remain on the quarter and appear on the first 2006 $1 coin, I’d expect some outcry over de-emphasizing George.

But I do like it, and hope it passes. From World War II through 1999 (when the State Quarter program began), U.S. coinage was about as boring as it gets. ‘99 was a good start, but I’m all for introducing a little bit more fun into our daily fumble for change in the lunch line.

* Bad pun on the CDN$1 coin’s name completely intended, as both the Sacagawea dollar and the proposed new dollar are the same size and color (though not shape — ours is round, theirs is 11-sided) as the Canadian loonie. It, by the way, will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2006, as we (potentially) make our third effort to get $1 coins going.

Madrid Bombings, Historic Spanish Islam, and Busy Work

Paul Jané has been all over the simultaneous bomb attacks on several commuter trains in Madrid this morning, as he spent his high school days in Barcelona and his good friend from those times recently moved to Madrid. Also up North, Debbye of Being American in T.O. has an excellent roundup post.

The Basque separatist terrorist group ETA drew automatic suspicion, as is the norm for such events in Spain. But late indicators point toward al-Qaeda. The group claiming responsibility for al-Qaeda also claimed the Istanbul attacks in November the same way — via a letter to a favored London Arabic newspaper. The group itself, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, is named after a former associate of Osama bin Laden who was killed early in the post-9/11 Afghanistan campaign.

It’s worth briefly noting the historical context when we consider (possible) Islamic terrorism in Spain, in addition to Spain’s current alliance with the U.S. and Britain on Iraq. Spain was a Muslim stronghold until the days of Ferdinand and Isabella — before they bankrolled Christopher Columbus, their first major success was finishing up the Reconquista, completely driving the Muslim Moors out of the Iberian peninsula in early 1492. al-Qaeda likes to add the 760-year decline and eventual defeat of European Islam (beginning in 732 with Charles Martel at Tours, France) to its long litany of “sins of the Jews and Crusaders”, and “returning” Spain to Islam is up there on its wish list. It’s a curious form of irredentism, seeking to redeem historical land that its current inhabitants have no interest in returning to the previous possessor. (Oddly enough, the closest parallel I can think of puts the Muslims on the opposite side: Kosovo.)

It’s a mistake to take those historical considerations too seriously, though. At base the ideology behind their current actions was summarized by a much more modern source: Vladimir Lenin, as quoted by a character in Tom Clancy’s Patriot Games: “The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize.” At this point, they have no coherent strategic plan on the global stage, just indiscriminate killing. The danger lies in their capability to leverage modern technology to increase their striking power. Draining the swamp (so to speak) of their support is valuable in the long term, but I’m convinced that the most important immediate action in the overall war is keeping them busy trying (and hopefully failing) to survive. That’s why Afghanistan is still important, staying the course in Iraq is important, and northern Africa is becoming that way.