Jenksismyhero

Nice win for Illinois. Thought they were going to lose yet another game they were leading, but they weathered the storm and controlled the last 10 minutes. I think the biggest problem with this team is Jordan. He's awful. He's less of a threat on the offensive end than Frazier, and that's really saying something. Teams practically ignore him, so it's really 4 on 5 and the offense just stops. Cole is a threat, Keller is a threat. I dunno why Jordan gets any minutes at all. I understand that you gotta give Richardson/McCamey/Paul a breather, but those three should be the guard rotation, and Tisdale/Griffey/Cole/Davis/Keller should be the front court rotation. Two major observations: (1) These guys have the talent and the tools to be really good. You can tell that. They look like robots sometimes, that just do what the coaches have tought them. This was evident when penn state made their run and got up by a couple baskets. Illinois ran set plays, got the ball to Tisdale, who made a 6-8 foot hook shot. They need to have more of an edge though, which has been lacking all year. They need a killer drive. They become content with a 10 point lead. They need to get up by 20 before they do that. (2) The expectations for this team were unreasonable. This team relies on two freshman and three juniors, with another freshman coming off the bench. As talented as Paul, Richardson and Griffey are, they're not the John Wall type recruits that can lead teams. They need to mature and continue to learn the game. Next year should be a good year, but even then expectations can't get out of whack.

Must win for Illinois tonight in Happy Valley.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 12:40 PM) It's nice, but buying apps through iTunes really sucks. I was hoping for something closer to OS X than iPhoneOS. It's iPhoneOS on steroids. what sucks about it? seems perfectly fine to me.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 12:15 PM) Here's a reason. It's like reading a newspaper. Meh. Doing that isn't as cool as it should be. I guess it depends on how they set it all up. Reading a newspaper on my iphone or my fiance's Kindle isn't all that exciting.

What kind of argument is it that you don't want to watch this commercial during a football game?! I don't want to sit through 6 hours of 65 year olds talking about erection problems, but such is life.

http://people-press.org/report/584/policy-priorities-2010 Pretty interesting read. I think terrorism is a bit high and financial regulation is a bit low, but otherwise I'd generally agree with that list. Edit: The most interesting portion of that article is the "dueling partison agendas." Clearly the top are liberal issues (universal health care, global warming, the poor), and the bottom are conservative (military spending, immigration, and lobbying?). What's interesting is that there are wider gaps when talking about "liberal issues" than conservative ones. Also, I figured the lobbying agenda would be pretty equal. Suprised to see more conservatives than liberals consider that a priority.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 07:20 AM) This isn't telling someone to fill out their bucket list because they are ill. This is rubbing a gamble in the face of an incredibly complex issue. I'm just not seeing this as you are, Tex. I think you're assuming the message is going to be, "I risked my life because I think abortion is murder, plain and simple. And you should make the same choice, not because of medical advice, but because the end result could be like mine, my son, Jesus reincarnate." I'm in 100% agreement with Tex. So long as the message isn't a blatant "abortion is murder" message, this is simply some family telling its story.

I completely disagree about this not having some affect. It's a real life example that is going to resonate with some people to act different, and reenforce beliefs in others. If it was so clear that their story would fall on deaf ears, I highly doubt Focus on the Family would waste the money.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 03:27 PM) I don't have any problem with the Tebow's message if it is a simple pro-life message. But assuming the commercial is NOT a simple pro-life message, but instead one that involves risk to the fetus and/or mother, do you really think young women who might undergo an abortion because it is "just a simple procedure" are the ones it is targeting? I don't think they're targeting any specific group. For the money they're spending I think it's going to be a more general "hey abortion isn't always the best route" message that could be applicable to a lot of people. I dunno why having such a message requires that you target a specific group.

QUOTE (Soxy @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 03:07 PM) So, getting an abortion is equivalent to giving $20 to charity? Yep. That's my point. (not really)

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 02:59 PM) So far that telethon has raised $60 million or so. so then it's not unreasonable to think that the Tebow's message might resonate with some women out there?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 02:47 PM) So are you saying a message from Tim Tebow during the Super Bowl might have been helpful to your friend? Is that really the requirement? Cuz I tell you what, having a bunch of celebrities tell me to give money for Haiti relief didn't do a damned thing for me, guess that was a waste of their time huh?

And for the record I'm not a pro-life guy. I just think it's hilarious that when people even hint at being on that side of the aisle, without preaching to anyone about abortion being murder or whatever, it's instantly an awful thing. My god, how awful it is to advocate the position that babies are awesome and wonderful!

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 12:09 PM) Well luckily all of these women now have Tim Tebow to look up to. I'm sure any woman who's been advised that the baby in their womb is at great risk of defect or possibly even death will ignore their doctor and listen to a football player. Yep, there's the "stop preaching to me!" perspective.

QUOTE (Soxy @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 12:03 PM) Ultimately that's what bothers me about this. It assumes that women make this choice so flippantly that a celebrity could change their mind. Of the women I've known to have an abortion all undertook it seriously, with great thought. This isn't something that people decide based on a commercial or celebrity. To me, it's offensive that people think most women would undergo an abortion without any serious consideration. You say this like having celebrity endorsements means nothing. Clearly it does or companies wouldn't spend billions on having people endorse their products. Consumers use celebrities all the time when it comes to issues that are more serious than which soft drink to purchase.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 11:50 AM) Do you believe that a substantial amount of people believe it is not a serious choice? In fact I do. I think a lot of young women think of it as a simple procedure, and only later reflect on the decision they made. Studies have shown that women who have abortions succomb to depression and anxiety after the fact, sometimes long after the fact. Adding yet another reminder that it's a serious choice isn't a horrible thing IMO.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 11:36 AM) Honestly, I think that's where most of the anger comes from on this. Over the past few years CBS and the SuperBowl have rejected ads that have covered topics like eating vegetables instead of meat, churches that allow gay people to go to them, some crazy moveon ad, etc. In some cases, I'm sure there were legitimate content reasons to reject the ad - but in most, they cited "issue advocacy" as a reason to reject the ad and the money. Now, Focus on the Family, is using a sports player to broach a controversial issue in a setting that is, frankly, not an appropriate venue and also the most watched event of the year. And nobody is blinking an eye. Maybe this commercial is harmless, but the speculation from reports surrounding this commercial indicates that it grapples with a difficult issue and advocates a specific position. Instead, it seems to indicate that issue advocacy is A-OK this year, as long as it represents a conservative worldview. And that is concerning. We'll have to see what the ad says before we can conclude that it's advocating a specific position in this debate. Clearly she's on one side, and she's advocating HER belief that the life of HER baby is important enough to risk HER own life. I don't think that means she's on the "abortion is always wrong no matter what" side. She might be, and the ad might have that message, but at this point we don't know. I guess I just see a difference between making people aware that it's a serious choice with serious consequences (including possibly killing Jesus II), versus claiming that all abortion supporters are murderers.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 10:16 AM) The commercial will probably be a lot less controversial than anyone on either side of the issue picks. However, I think some of the offense taken is legitimate. CBS and the SuperBowl has a history of rejecting advocacy group's ads - and I don't think there's any other legitimate definition of what Focus on the Family is. That's a complaint I can deal with - one against CBS for changing its practices. But even then I think financially they're probably forced to, and the guy in the commercial is a popular football player who's probably going to be a recognizable figure in the NFL.

I think it's pretty funny the view people have taken on this commercial without it ever being aired. We have no idea what the message will be, how strongly the message will be delivered, and in what fashion it's going to be delivered. It's pretty evident that people are just using their anti-pro-abortion people opinions on this.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jan 23, 2010 -> 09:10 PM) 0 pts and 2 boards for Mike Davis. Way to come to play. I really can't stand him right now. Somebody needs to do a man check to make sure he didn't lose his balls. Also, Cole and Jordan suck, it really sucks that Bertrand got hurt and Legion was such a bad basketball player that those two have to play. Jordan gives the team nothing. Cole actually does provide lock down D. It's time to play the freshman and let them gain as much experience as possible. A tourney bid is pretty unrealisic without 2-3 upsets.

Illinois trying its best to piss away yet another game

Like everything, there's the good, and there's the bad. There's more information out there, which means more information that can be destorted. But at the same time, we have more news outlets with more exposure so things can't slip through the cracks as easily (though i guess some would argue if you have 2-3 people at the head of all of those outlets it really doesn't matter). Also, the fact that I can be arguing with someone about topic X, and be able to pull up the right answer on the interwebs on my phone within 30 seconds, is absolutely amazing. I dunno how this country functioned prior 2000. Seriously.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 21, 2010 -> 12:25 AM) I disagree with nearly all of this, and I'm a pro-choice guy who's not religious at all. You ignore the countless commercials for finding a bank for a mortgage, goods/services to upgrading your home, taking prescription drugs, investment advice, etc etc, all things that shouldn't just be bought up in 10 seconds simply by seeing some hot broad show some cleavage, yet they're still advertising their product without such a negative response. Really? You can't just tune it out, like everyone tunes out every other commercial that's on tv? And I think there's a huge assumption here on what the message is. If they both scream at the tv "ABORTION IS MURDER, YOU"RE GOING TO BURN IN HELL IF YOU DO IT" then I'd agree with you. But that won't be the message. The message will be - i valued the life of my unborn son, despite the odds. That's an option you can choose too. Is it really that awful to say "hey baby's are important too?" And again, I don't think they're going to be telling people what to do, I think they're going to tell people that abortion is serious business and that you should consider the alternative. I suppose. But I think the message is a good one, so why not celebrate the fact that for 30 seconds out of a 6 hour broadcast someone actually states something meaingful versus shoving boobs/beer/chips in my face? I don't think that's the intent behind the commercial. Again, it's "hey, here's our story, we didn't immediately think about aborting our child, maybe you should think about that too."

f*** this Illinois team. Can't hit free throws, can't box out, can't keep a lead. They don't deserve to win

Big game in Champaign tonight. Illinois needs the win to maintain hope of contending for the title. Purdue needs a win to stop a 3 game skid. Illinois owned Purdue last year with an inferior team. Hopefully they show up ready to play 40 minutes.